Wilken's ch. 33 turns our attention to the Christians in Egypt and North Africa in the early days of Muslim rule.
After the fall of Syria to the Muslims, including Jerusalem in 638, Egypt also quickly came under Muslim rule. The Egyptian Muslims chose to locate their capital at a fortress called Babylon (wikipedia). They named their new city Fustat (wikipedia).
Pope Benjamin I of Alexandria (c. 590–662; wikipedia).
In this context, the title "pope" refers to the bishop of Alexandria in the Coptic Orthodox Church (wikipedia). Here Wilken describes the significance of Benjamin, with reference also to the one-time Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria and prefect of the region, named Cyrus of Alexandria (wikipedia), who wanted to bring the Coptic Christians into line with the imperial church.
Though he [Benjamin] is a major figure in Coptic history, revered with the likes of Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria, he is hardly known in the West. His name does not merit an entry in the major encyclopedias of Christian history. Yet he guided Egyptian Christians through three major upheavals, the Persian occupation of Egypt in 618–629, the repressive years under Cyrus, the Byzantine governor, and the early years of transition to Muslim rule. (Wilken p. 317)
Wilken describes a sermon by Benjamin on the wedding at Cana (John 2:1–11). The sermon has been translated and is available here (pdf).
Benjamin also had the cathedral of Saint Mark in Alexandria (wikipedia) repaired after damage suffered during the Muslim conquest. "So he moved quickly to rebuild it and claim Saint Mark as the founder of the Coptic Church, and to assert that as patriarch, or bishop of Alexandria, he was in a direct line of succession from the apostle" (Wilken p. 318).
The relations between Christians and their Muslim rulers was at first fine. "The Muslims had little interest in having Christians convert to Islam; they were needed to run the government, to provide financial support, and to till the fields" (Wilken p. 318). But later the Muslim governor took a direct interest in some Christian affairs, especially the election of the patriarch of Alexandria.
The Christian writer quoted by Wilken (pp. 318–19) as lamenting the loss of the Coptic language was apparently (according to this article, p. 426) an eleventh-century writer posing as the seventh-century Samuel the Confessor (wikipedia). But this lament was written in Arabic, as was also the History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church in Alexandria (wikipedia). "In the monasteries, however, the monks continued to chant the psalms in Coptic, a practice that continues to this day" (Wilken p. 319).
Now, to North Africa.
The last few pages of this chapter cover events west of Egypt. Wilken first reviews the history of Latin-speaking Christianity in this area, especially Carthage (Scillitan martyrs, Latin Bible, Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, Donatists, the Vandals). One of the points Wilken makes is that the expression of Christianity in North Africa differed from that in Egypt in that there was no indigenous Christian culture that took on the native language of the area. In Egypt, there was (and is) the Coptic Church, but in North Africa there was the Latin-speaking church and not much else.
The Vandals, who were Arian Christians, conquered North Africa in the 430s (wikipedia). Catholic Christian culture waned somewhat, but Wilken mentions a leader, Fulgentius of Ruspe (wikipedia), who was persecuted by the Arian rulers but also wrote some things that survive. "Fulgentius was not a major figure in Christian history, and his writings lack originality, but he is a pointed reminder that the venerable Latin Christian tradition of the North African Church was alive in the dark and perilous years of Vandal rule" (Wilken p. 321).
Justinian reconquered North Africa for the Romans/Byzantines. At one point, Maximus the Confessor fled to Carthage.
Then the Muslims came. The decisive engagement was the Battle of Sbeitla (wikipedia) in 647, but it wasn't until 698 that Carthage was taken (wikipedia). And that pretty much spelled the end for Christianity in North Africa (wikipedia).
After the fall of Carthage many Christians from North Africa fled by sea to Italy, Spain, and islands of the Mediterranean. Their exodus deprived the local communities of the cream of Christian society, its educated and elite members. This may explain the lack of written sources after the conquest. A great silence descends on Christianity in Africa. Whatever the reason for the silence, the lack of Christian writings and the paucity of other evidence on the internal life of the churches has fueled speculation that Christianity in North Africa went into steep decline from the beginning of Muslim rule. (Wilken p. 322)
Wilken immediately pushes back on that narrative, and he is able to cite some hints of a continuing Christian presence, but it is much less impressive than in the days of Cyprian and Augustine. "By the eleventh century the bishop of Carthage could not muster two other bishops to make up the required number of three to ordain a bishop" (Wilken p. 323). His final comment in this chapter: "Unlike the Middle East and Egypt, today there is no indigenous Christian community in North Africa that can trace its history back to the time of Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, and Fulgentius of Ruspe" (Wilken p. 323).
Wilken's ch. 32 is on early Arabic-speaking Christians in the Middle East. Near the end of the chapter, Wilken offers this evaluation.
The Christian scholars and thinkers who wrote in Arabic were engaged in a major intellectual project that stretched over three hundred years, from the middle of the eighth century up to the Crusades at the end of the eleventh century. They were faced with the challenge of making Christian faith intelligible in the emerging Arabic Muslim culture. What made their situation unique is that the language they translated Christian writings into and the idiom they explained Christian beliefs and practices in was the language of another religion with universal ambitions. (Wilken p. 315)
This issue of translating Christianity into the language of Islam (if I may thus loosely characterize what Wilken describes) is the subject of a recent book, which has been recognized for an award by Christianity Today, which is how the book came to my attention. But from my brief perusal of the book on Google, it seems to be about very recent Arabic translations of Christian Scripture.
Back to Wilken: he first discusses the language situation for Christians in Muslim lands. Not everyone adopted Arabic, of course. Wilken focuses his chapter on the Middle East and especially Mesopotamia (Baghdad), where Christians did come to write important Arabic works. But in other Arabic speaking lands, Christians did not necessarily adopt the dominant language. In Spain (the subject of ch. 34), some Christians embraced Arabic, others held onto Latin. Arabic was never adopted by the Christians of Armenia or Ethiopia. And in Egypt (a subject in ch. 33), Christians early on retained Coptic but eventually adopted Arabic. We have no substantial Arabic literature from Egyptian Christians until the late tenth century (see wikipedia). An early example of a Christian in Egypt writing in Arabic is Severus ibn al-Muqaffa (d. 987), Coptic Orthodox patriarch of Hermopolis (wikipedia).
For the rest of the chapter, Wilken discusses three prominent Christians in the Middle East (see below: John, Timothy, Theodore) who wrote their major works in three different languages (Greek, Syriac, Arabic), and then he discusses the Arabic Bible, and concludes with a brief nod to Christian philosophers writing in Arabic.
John of Damascus (655–750; wikipedia; Wilken pp. 308–9). He has come up in the previous two chapters, as well. He lived at Mar Saba Monastery in the Judean Desert east of Bethlehem.
His major work: Fount of Knowledge, the first summa theologica in Christian history. It is written in Greek. The 1958 translation in the Fathers of the Church series is available for borrowing at archive.org. The third part of the Fount of Knowledge, called On the Orthodox Faith, has more recently been translated in the Popular Patristics series issued by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
The second part of the Fount of Knowledge is on "Heresies," and John treats 103 different heresies (including defunct Jewish sects, like Sadducees, etc.). The 101st heresy he treats is Islam, which he calls "Ishmaelites," and he interacts with specific passages from the Quran. Wilken notes that John comments on Muhammad, but this is not the earliest preserved Christian appraisal of Muslim prophet (which is documented at wikipedia).
Timothy I (728–823, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 309–10), patriarch of the Church of the East. Timothy was mentioned in an earlier chapter by Wilken due to his interest in evangelism in places like China. (A book on this topic was also recognized in the recent Christianity Today book awards.) All of his works are in Syriac. He lived in Baghdad, founded in 762 to be the home of the Abbasid caliphate. At the request of the caliph, Timothy translated a portion of Aristotle from Greek into Arabic.
In 781, Timothy had a discussion in Baghdad with al-Mahdi (wikipedia), the third Abbasid caliph.
The caliph asked, for example, how someone so learned could say that God married a woman and begot a son. Timothy replied that no Christian would say that. But, said the caliph, did you not say that Christ is the son of God? True, Timothy answered, but how this could be is beyond our grasp; we can only speak in analogies. As light is born of the sun and the word of the soul, so Christ who is Word is born of God before all worlds. (Wilken p. 310)
A translation of this exchange by A. Mingana and introduced by J. Rendel Harris is available at tertullian.org. A recent essay on the dialogue is here. "The debate was very cordial, and each side knew a great deal about the other. The caliph could cite the Scriptures and argue about how texts were to be interpreted, and the patriarch knew the Qur'an and used passages fromt eh Muslim sacred book to buttress his arguments" (Wilken, p. 310).
As Timothy wrote in Syriac, Wilken also mentions other Christians who were still writing in Syriac: Ishodad of Merv, Michael the Syrian (twelfth century, Antioch), Bar Hebraeus (thirteenth century, Aleppo). "Each writer bears witness to the vitality of Syriac as a Christian language long after the Muslim conquest" (p. 310).
Theodore Abu Qurrah (755–825, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 311–12), bishop of Harran. His major writings are in Arabic.
Wilken describes a treatise by Theodore on the veneration of images. This treatise has been translated by Sidney Griffith. It was written at the request of a member of the church at Edessa, which possessed a well-known icon of Christ "made without hands" (wikipedia). "Theodore's aim in the treatise was to convince wavering and conflicted Christians that the traditional practice of venerating images is supported by the Christian Scriptures and can be defended against Muslim critics on the basis of their holy book" (Wilken p. 312).
Arabic Bible (Wilken pp. 312–14). Principal places of translation: monasteries at Mar Saba and Mar Chariton and Saint Catherine.
Anthony David of Baghdad. (See the article by Griffith.) The colophon of two manuscripts copied at Mar Saba in 885–886. One manuscript contains patristic works. Wilken (pp. 312–13) quotes the colophon.
Stephen of Ramla at Mar Chariton. (See the article by Griffith.) We again have two manuscripts with Stephen's name in the colophon, one in the British Museum and dated to 877, others at Saint Catherine's and dated to 897. One is a translation of the four Gospels from Greek to Arabic. The other manuscript contains Christian treatises.
Christian philosophers writing in Arabic. Wilken singles out Hunayn ibn Ishaq (808–873, wikipedia), who became a court physician to Caliph al-Mutawakkil. "While at the court he oversaw a workshop of translators, but he wrote original philosophical works in defense of Christianity, a treatise of proofs for the existence of God, and another on criteria for determining whether a religion is true" (Wilken p. 315).
Wilken's ch. 31 covers "Images and the Making of Byzantium." It's mostly on the iconoclasm controversies in the eighth and ninth centuries (wikipedia). Of course, these were periods in which the Byzantine empire was greatly reduced in extent and power and threatened by Muslims, so Wilken covers some of that ground, as well.
Siege of Constantinople (674–678, wikipedia) by the Muslims for a period of four years. The Greeks were able to overcome partly by "Greek Fire" (wikipedia). This was not the first siege of Constantinople, even in the same century. Fifty years earlier the city had been besieged by the Persians and Avars (wikipedia).
Wilken prepares for talking about iconoclasm by tracing some early Greek Christian thoughts about images. Images were brought up in a couple of canons of the Council in Trullo (692, wikipedia), a.k.a., the Quinisext Council, called by the emperor, Justinian II. It met in a hall covered by a dome (trullus) in the imperial palace (wikipedia) of Constantinople, and it was intended to complete the work of the fifth and sixth ecumenical councils. Though the assembly considered itself to be an ecumenical council, it was basically an eastern council, as Wilken (pp. 298–99) shows.
The acts of the Council in Trullo are available in several editions, but a most convenient edition, printing the acts in Greek, Latin, and English, appeared in 1995.
The council discussed all kinds of issues, and one who looks through the canons (as I have done, in that 1995 edition) will be struck by how much they talk about marriage and sex. Wilken mentions this topic as the first major thing addressed by the council (canon 3, pp. 69–74 in the 1995 edition), and they stressed that the eastern practice allowed for marriage of priests, whereas the western practice preferred a celibate priesthood (which would become canon law in the west in the twelfth century). But in the East, a married bishop could not live with his wife (canon 12, pp. 82–83).
The gathered bishops stressed in other canons their distinction from Rome (wikipedia) and other eastern groups (e.g., Armenians, wikipedia), such as on the practice of fasting on Saturdays during Lent (see canons 55–56, cf. canon 99).
The Council in Trullo claimed to speak for the Church at large, but as one reads through its canons it is apparent that it is describing a distinctly Byzantine Christian world that was emerging in the years after the hammering it had taken from the Arabs. And it is this feature that gives the council its historical significance: it offers us a glimpse of the form of Christian life that would define the Greek East and later the Slavic Christian world, what came to be called Eastern Orthodoxy. (Wilken p. 299)
Back to images. Wilken mentions two particular canons, one on crosses and the other on depictions of Christ. Here are the relevant canons, copied from the 1995 edition.
73. That the sign of the cross must not be set into the floor.
The life-giving cross has shown us salvation, and we ought with all diligence to render fitting honour to that through which we have been saved from the ancient fall. Wherefore, paying reverence to it in mind and word and sentiment, we command that signs of the cross which have been set into the floor by certain persons should be erased completely, in order that the trophy of our victory may not be insulted by the trampling feet of those who walk upon it. We decree, therefore, that those who henceforth set the sign of the cross into the floor should be excommunicated. (p. 155)
82. That artists are not to protray the Forerunner pointing to a lamb.
In some depictions of the venerable images, the Forerunner is portrayed pointing his finger to a lamb, and this has been accepted as a representation of grace, prefiguring for us through the law the true Lamb, Christ our God. Venerating, then, these ancient representations and foreshadowings as symbols and prefigurations of truth handed down by the Church, nevertheless, we prefer grace and truth, which we have received as fulfilment of the law. Therefore, in order that what is perfect, even in paintings, may be portrayed before the eyes of all, we decree that henceforth the figure of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, Christ our God, should be set forth in images in human form, instead of the ancient lamb; for in this way we apprehend the depth of the humanity of the Word of God, and are led to the remembrance of his life in the flesh, his passion and his saving death, and of the redemption which thereby came to the world. (pp. 162–64)
As for canon 73, Christians should reverence images of the cross, which means not putting them in the floor. And for canon 82, Christ should not be depicted as a lamb. Wilken (p. 300) gives the example of such a depiction as the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. The Wikipedia page has a not-very-close picture of the image of Christ as a lamb on the ceiling of this church building. A better shot is provided by this website or in the video produced by the tourism board of Ravenna.
Another example known to me is from a ninth-century Tours Bible—so, a western product (see images here, fol. 339v).
As I was reading through the canons, I noticed another one that has something to do with images, though Wilken does not mention this one.
100. "That those things which incite pleasures are not to be portrayed on panels."
Wisdom commands, Let your eyes look directly forward and Keep you heart with all vigilance (Prov 4:25, 23); for the sensations of the body all to easily influence the soul. Therefore, we command that henceforth absolutely no pictures should be drawn which enchant the eyes, be they on panels or set forth in any other wise, corrupting the mind and inciting the flames of shameful pleasures. If anyone dares to do this, he shall be excommunicated. (pp. 180–81)
Wilken points out some ways in which even earlier the significance of images had been noted. He quotes a passage that he attributes to Basil of Caesarea, encouraging artists to work well in depicting the recent martyr Balaam—apparently a typo for Barlaam. Basil's work on Barlaam is labeled homily 17. I can't find a translation, except a partial one here, which also contains a reference to Migne's text (PG 31.484–489), apparently the most recent edition. The same website also labels the attribution of the sermon to Basil "dubious." The same martyr was also praised by John Chrysostom in an undisputed sermon.
Wilken then cites Gregory of Nyssa's comment that every time he sees an artistic rendering of the Akedah, it brings him to tears. This is a comment Gregory of Nyssa makes in a minor treatise called De deitate filii et spiritus sancti et in Abraham. I haven't found an English translation of this work, but I did find an English translation of the relevant passage in an open access journal article, which cites the passage from Migne's edition (PG 46.572c–d). But there is a more recent and authoritative edition of the works of Gregory of Nyssa, the series Gregorii Nysseni Opera (GNO), and archive.org makes available to relevant volume: GNO 10.2. The relevant comment comes near the end of the treatise in the GNO edition on pp. 138–39: εἶδον πολλάκις ἐπὶ γραφῆς εἰκόνα τοῦ πάθους καὶ οὐκ ἀδακρυτὶ τὴν θέαν παρῆλθον, ἐναργῶς τῆς τέχνης ὑπ᾽ ὄψιν ἀγοήσης τὴν ἱστορίαν, "I have often seen an image of the suffering in a picture (γραφή) and I pass by the sight not without tears, what with the art bringing the story distinctly under the eye."
By the way, this is the same work with another famous comment from Gregory, noted here by Roger Pearse, about the way discussions of trinitarian theology were so commonly heard on the street. That passage is at GNO 10.2, p. 121.
It was Epiphanius who said "When images are put up the customs of the pagans do the rest" (Panarion 27.6.10). Here is the fuller context, in the translation by Frank Williams. Epiphanius is talking about the Carpocratians:
They have images painted with colors—some, moreover, have images made of gold, silver and other material—which they say are portraits of Jesus, and made by Pontius Pilate! That is, the portraits of the actual Jesus while he was dwelling among men! They possess images like these in secret, and of certain philosophers besides—Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and the rest—and they also place other portraits of Jesus with these philosophers. And after setting them up they worship them and celebrate heathen mysteries. For once they have erected these images, theygo on to follow the customs of the heathen. But what are <the> customs of the heathen but sacrifices and the rest? (Panarion 27.6.9–10; trans. Williams, p. 114)
As Williams notes, Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.25 also treats the Carpocratians, and at §6 he mentions their images, with some of the same comments that Epiphanius makes here.
Finally we get to the iconoclasm controversy, and I'll just put down a few notes.
Emperor Leo III (d. 741, wikipedia), in response to a volcanic eruption on the island of Thera: "The emperor thought the empire had been abandoned by God because the people had fallen into idolatry through venerating images. But there was no official prohibition and no systematic destruction of images" (p. 302).
Constantine V (emperor 741–775, wikipedia) was more opposed to images.
Council of Hieria in 754 (wikipedia). Wikipedia says there were 338 bishops in attendance, and they opposed icons.
John of Damascus (d. 750) had been a defender of the veneration of icons. He wrote Against Those Who Denounce the Sacred Images. Three treatises by John on the topic have been translated by Andrew Louth for the Popular Patristics series.
His signal contribution was to show that the prohibition of icons challenged the Christian belief in the Incarnation, that God who is before time and beyond space became man in the person of Jesus Christ and lived at a particular time and place in history. Because the divine Word, the eternal Son of God, had taken on human flesh, writes John, it is possible, indeed necessary, to "draw his image and show it to anyone willing to gaze at it." ... John readily granted that the Scriptures forbid the making of images of God, but the command against making graven images was given in ancient times to the Jewish people before the coming of Christ. Because God clothed himself in human form and became visible, says John, "you may draw his likeness." (Wilken pp. 302–3)
Leo IV (emperor 775–780, wikipedia) did not leave much of a mark, at least, not in the telling of Wilken. His widow was Irene or Athens (c. 750–803, wikipedia), and she was regent until her son, Constantine VI, came of age. Irene was less iconoclastic than the imperial family had been. Wilken makes it sound like she forced out Paul IV, the iconoclastic patriarch of Constantinople (wikipedia), though Wikipedia does it present Paul's retirement in those terms. Paul was replaced by Tarasios (wikipedia), who presided at the seventh ecumenical councils, Nicaea II (787, wikipedia), which condemned iconoclasm.
Theodore of Studium (759–826, wikipedia) was a pro-icon leader during the second wave of the iconoclasm controversy in the ninth century (wikipedia), which came to an end at the Council of Constantinople (843, wikipedia).
At the end of the chapter, Wilken says that the decisions at Nicaea II were not well-received in Charlemagne's court, and Theodulf of Orléans—whom I know more for his edition of the Vulgate—"prepared a lengthy refutation of the acts of the Council of Nicaea."
Wilken's ch. 30 is on Islam. Most of the chapter is just a summary of Muhammad's life and an introduction to Islam in the early years. Wilken also covers the early expansion of Islam through conquest, including the conquest of Jerusalem.
Wilken mentions early on some pre-Islamic Arabic goddesses: Allat (wikipedia); al-Uzza (wikipedia); and Manat (wikipedia)
See the Book of Idols (wikipedia) by the eighth-century Arab writer Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (wikipedia), available in English at archive.org.
The Byzantine Chronicler mentioned by Wilken (p. 288) is Theophanes the Confessor (c. 759–818, wikipedia), who continued the chronicle of George Syncellus, at the latter's request (according to Wikipedia). There is a translation of the Chronicle, by Cyril Mango and Roger Scott (Oxford, 1997), available in full at archive.org, or from Oxford for $450. The portion about Muhammad appears on p. 464, and Roger Pearse also excerpted the relevant portion (here).
The Armenian chronicler mentioned by Wilken (p. 292), is Sebeos (wikipedia), whose chronicle was translated by R. W. Thomson (Liverpool, 1999), and which is also available in full at archive.org. The portion quoted by Wilken appears at p. 97.
Wilken briefly describes the Battle of the Yarmuk (wikipedia) in August 636, a decisive Muslim victory over the Byzantine army that spelled the end of Roman/Byzantine rule in Syria after seven centuries.
Jerusalem was besieged in 636/637 (wikipedia), and Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, negotiated surrender with the caliph, Umar.
The "Christian chronicler who wrote in Arabic in Egypt in the tenth century," quoted by Wilken (p. 293), is Eutychius of Alexandria (wikipedia).
Wilken describes the place of Christians in this new society.
To deal with the non-Muslim population the Arabs adopted a system similar to what had been in effect in the Persian Empire: the imposition of a tax on a segment of society. The Arab Muslims were considered privileged, and non-Muslims were required to pay a tribute, called jizyah [wikipedia], levied on males of military age, including Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Samaritans, collectively known as the "people of protection") ahl al-dhimma in Arabic, or dhimmis). The basis for the legislation was found in a passage in the Qur'an: "Fight those who believe not in God and the last Day and do not forbid what God and his messenger have forbidden—such men as practice not the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the book—until they pay the tribute readily and have been humbled" (Qur'an 9:29). Christians were allowed to live in the lands that were formerly theirs and to follow their own laws on matters that concerned their religious life—on the condition that they submit to Muslim law in civl and criminal matters and pay the jizyah. The several Christian groups became societies within society, and int he early years they were able to carry on their affairs largely independent of the Muslim rulers. (Wilken pp. 294–95)
Wilken cites as an interesting example Sarjun ibn Mansur (wikipedia), a Melkite Christian, who served as CFO of Syria during the early Umayyad Caliphate. His son was John of Damascus (wikipedia). But, as Wilken notes, soon enough Muslim society was not quite as happy to employ Christians in such high-ranking positions.
Wilken's ch. 29 is covers the city of Jerusalem in the first half of the seventh century, and christological controversies in that period.
Madaba Map (wikipedia). Near the beginning of the chapter, Wilken briefly mentions this mosaic map of Jerusalem discovered in a sixth-century church building in Jordan "several decades ago," that is, at the end of the nineteenth century. The church building was largely destroyed in the late eighth century. As Wilken notes, the map identifies Jerusalem as "the holy city," which is visible (in Greek) at the top left of the image (the section with a white-ish background). (Wilken p. 301 mentions this map again in chapter 31 as an example of the influence of Islam on Christian art, since someone has rearranged the tiles so that the oarsmen on the Dead Sea have no faces.)
The True Cross (wikipedia). According to Wikipedia, "The Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Church of the East all claim to possess relics of the True Cross as objects of veneration. Historians generally dispute the authenticity of the relics, as do Protestant and other Christian churches, who do not hold them in high regard." In 1992, Jan Willem Drijvers published a book (his 1989 Groningen dissertation) on the finding of the True Cross by Helena, mother of Constantine, and he has made the whole book available on his academia page (here).
Wilken quotes Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 10.19, available in translation here. Wikipedia also includes a little section on Cyril's comments on the True Cross, in which it cites his Lecture 4 and his Letter to Constantius II. This latter work is apparently not available in English (or, at least, my light googling has uncovered no translation), but this article tells me that the standard edition is available in this article, to which I do not have access right now.
Wilken next talks about the wars between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Persian Empire in the early seventh century (wikipedia). During this war, Jerusalem fell to the Persians in 614 (wikipedia). About 15 years ago, Gideon Avni published an archaeological report of the conquest (here and here). Of the written sources for the conquest (wikipedia), the most detailed account is by the monk Antiochus Strategos (wikipedia), whose sermon has recently appeared in a new translation (open access). The patriarch of Jerusalem was Zacharias (wikipedia), and the Byzantine emperor was Heraclius (wikipedia).
There is no more doleful scene in the Church's early history, no event that evoked such an outpouring of grief among the Christian people. The only thing comparable was the sack of Rome by the Visigoths in 410, a catastrophe that stunned the Christian world. Rome's fall was an intellectual challenge, for pagan critics charged that Christians were to blame for abandoning the worship of the gods of their ancestors. The sack of Jerusalem, however, was an event of another magnitude. For the Jerusalem occupied by the Persians was the city celebrated in the Psalms, denounced by the prophets, Zion, the city of David celebrated in the Church's prayers and sung in its hymns, the city of Christ's death and resurrection. (Wilken p. 282)
Wilken quotes from two poems by Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem 634–638 (wikipedia), lamenting Jerusalem's fall. However, by the time Sophronius was elected patriarch, Jerusalem was back under Byzantine control, having been retaken by Heraclius in 630. Sophronius did not die before Jerusalem was captured once again, but Wilken saves that story for the next chapter.
Christology, again. Wilken spends the second half of this chapter catching up on the developments in the christological controversies created by Chalcedon. He introduces us to Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662, wikipedia; see the Oxford Handbook), whom he describes as "a thinker of uncommon brilliance, spiritual depth, courage, and sheer doggedness" (p. 283).
Maximus defended Chalcedon's wording of "two natures," and—contra Sergius, patriarch of Constantinople—two wills, citing as evidence of two wills the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane. Maximus thus was a dyothelite, and Sergius was a monothelite. "For Maximus the doctrine of the one will placed in jeopardy the full reality of the incarnation" (Wilken p. 285). As wikipedia tells us (and Wilken gets to it at the very end of this chapter), monothelitism was rejected by the Sixth Ecumenical Council (wikipedia).
But monothelitism was supported imperially by the Ekthesis of Heraclius (wikipedia), but this was opposed by immediately succeeding popes, including Martin the Confessor (wikipedia), leading to the pope's arrest by the emperor. Martin was tried in Constantinople and condemned for treason, and exiled to the Crimea. "In the end even the faithful in Rome abandoned him and elected a successor while he was still alive. A year later in September 655 he died in exile from cold and starvation. For his faithfulness in the face of deposition, humiliation, exile, and death, later generations bestowed on Pope Martin the venerable title of martyr, the last pope in history to have been given that honor" (Wilken p. 286). He is recognized as a saint by both Catholics and Orthodox.
Maximus the Confessor was also placed on trial, convicted, and his tongue cut out and his right hand cut off, and then exiled. Accounts of the trial were preserved, and the documents have been collected and edited by Pauline Allen and Bronwen Neil.
UPDATE (9 Jan 2025): I updated the section on the Madaba Map to reflect my further reading of Wilken's book.
Wilken's ch. 28 is called "Latin Christianity Spreads North." Here he covers Ireland, England, Germany, and some other spots. Early in the chapter Wilken mentions the Christianization of Lithuania (wikipedia), which didn't occur until almost the turn of the fifteenth century. I had no idea it was that late.
Ireland: Palladius (wikipedia), Saint Patrick (wikipedia; Wilken pp. 269–70). Patrick wrote two surviving works: a Confessio and an Epistola (both here at the Royal Irish Academy).
Springmount Bog Tablets (wikipedia; online CLA). Wilken (pp. 270–71) mentions these tablets discovered in an Irish bog in 1914 as "a fascinating artifact of how Latin was transmitted in the early Middle Ages." They contain Psalms 30–31 in Latin as a schoolboy exercise.
Columba (521–597, wikipedia, Wilken p. 271), an Irish monk who evangelized in Scotland. Unmentioned by Wilken is the Cathach of St. Columba (wikipedia), the oldest surviving manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest Latin Psalter in the world, traditionally attributed to Columba's scribal activity. Digital Images.
Columbanus (543–615, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 271–72), founder of monasteries among the Franks and Lombards.
Bede (672/3–735, wikipedia), monk at Wearmouth-Jarrow in Northumbria (wikipedia). He wrote a whole bunch of stuff, but he is best remembered for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. This is available in a Loeb edition. Wilken does not mention here the Codex Amiatinus, the oldest surviving complete Latin Bible (I think Wilken mentioned it in a previous chapter). The manuscript was produced at the same monastery where Bede was, and Bede described its production, along with two other sister pandects.
Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 273–76), archbishop of Canterbury from 597. His story is told in Bede's Ecclesiastical History. First landed in Britain on the Isle of Thanet (wikipedia), which is no longer an island. The king of Kent was Ethelbert (c. 550–616, wikipedia), a pagan who allowed the Christian missionaries to settle in the chief city of his realm, Canterbury. Soon enough Ethelbert converted. On what to do with the pagan temples in England, Pope Gregory the Great sent a well-known letter to Abbot Mellitus near the turn of the seventh century (available here).
Synod of Whitby, 664 (wikipedia, Wilken p. 276), on the date of Easter. This also is reported by Bede.
Boniface, apostle to the Germans (c. 675–754, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 276–78), born as Wynfrith in Wessex. "...he made his way to Rome, and in 719 Wynfrith received a formal commission from Pope Gregory II to evangelize the hethen and was named Boniface after an early Christian martyr" (Wilken p. 277). His life was told by Willibald of Mainz (e.g., here). Wilken tells the story about Boniface chopping down a sacred tree and using its wood for a church building, and about his death. The Gospel Book that he supposedly used to defend himself is the Ragyndrudis Codex (wikipedia).
Wlken's ch. 27 is on Latin Christianity in the sixth and early-seventh centuries. He discusses a series of major characters.
Ulfilas (c. 311–383, wikipedia), a Goth and an Arian Christian, who developed the gothic alphabet and is traditionally credited with the translation of the Gothic Bible (wikipedia). The "apostle to the Goths" ensured that the Germanic tribes were Arians until the time of Clovis.
Clovis I (c. 466–511, wikipedia), the first king to unite the Franks, and the first Frankish king to reject Arianism and embrace Nicene Christianity. His father was Childeric I (wikipedia), whose father was Merovech (wikipedia), after whom the dynasty is named Merovingian (wikipedia).
Gregory of Tours (c. 538–594, wikipedia), the "father of French history," wrote the History of the Franks in ten books. (The wikipedia entry is very well-done, with a great bibliography.) The history is available in Latin at the Latin Library. A partial English translation is at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. There is a complete translation by Lewis Thorpe, published by Penguin, but Wikipedia thinks that "contemporary historians" do not like Thorpe's introduction and notes.
By the way, Gregory's Lives of the Fathers is available in English with facing Latin in a book by Giselle de Nie (reviewed at BMCR), together with his works on the miracles of the martyr Julian and of Saint Martin. His works The Gory of the Confessors and The Glory of the Martyrs are available in English translation by Raymond Van Dam.
In the History, Gregory tells the story of Clovis' baptism into Catholic Christianity, retold by Wilken (pp. 259–60). It took place on Christmas Day, 508.
Clovis, king of the Franks, stands at the beginning of a new epoch in the history of Christianity in the West. His conversion set in motion forces that would advance the establishment of Catholic Christianity among the Germanic peoples living north of the Alps. Other Germanic peoples would soon follow: the Burgundians in southern Germany abandoned Arianism in 516, the Visigoths in Spain in 589. A new direction was being set. On his death Clovis left behind a Christian kingdom whose bishops were in fellowship with Rome, and in the next century the alliance between Christian kings and the papacy would set the course of medieval history for centuries. (Wilken p. 260)
Benedict of Nursia (480–547, wikipedia; Wilken pp. 260–63). The Rule of Saint Benedict (wikipedia) at the Latin Library, and here is a translation. About 530, he founded his monastery on Monte Cassino.
The pimary "work" of the community was to pray. The monastery was not established to engage in any other activity, as for example teaching the young or caring for the sick or needy. In Benedict's words, "Nothing is to take precedence over the work of God," by which he meant the regular hours of prayer. "On hearing the signal for an hour of the divine office," writes Benedict, "the monk will immediately set aside what he has in hand and go with utmost speed." At the same time the monks had to support themselves, so work became an integral part of their life, tending the garden, cooking and baking, practicing useful crafts such as shoemaking, caring for the buildings, and the like. Manual labor was held in high regard. Though later some monastic communities became centers of learning, Benedict was more interested in the increase of virtue than growth in learning. (Wilken p. 263)
Boethius (480–524, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 263–65), born in Rome, studied at Athens, the son of a consul to Theodoric, he also became consul to Theodoric in 510, though he was a Catholic and Theodoric was Arian. "What brought about his downfall, however, was an ill-considered attempt to defend a senatorial colleague [= Caecina Albinus, wikipedia] who had been charged with disloyalty to the king. Boethius was implicated in a widespread conspiracy and summarily tried, condemned to death, and imprisoned at Pavia, a town in northern Italy not too far from Milan. While awaiting death he wrote a treatise entitled the Consolation of Philosophy [wikipedia], one of the most beloved, influential, and widely read books of medieval times" (Wilken p. 264). There is a Loeb edition of Boethius.
Cassiodorus (c. 485– c. 585, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 265). When he retired from public life, he established a monastery called Vivarium (wikipedia). Apparently there is a 2019 film with the same name (wikipedia), but it has nothing to do with Cassiodorus (I think). Wilken describes the great work of Cassiodorus, the Institutes of Divine and Human Letters, available in a 2004 translation, which is also online.
Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 266). "The work that best represents his genius is known as Etymologies, a vast encyclopedia that attempted a summary of all branches of knowledge by drawing on the deep reservoir of classical writers" (Wilken p. 266). This work has a wikipedia page. The Latin text is available at the Latin Library. A 2006 translation is available online (pdf).
Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530–609, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 266–), a poet who wrote two hymns still sung: Pange lingua (wikipedia) and Vexilla regis prodeunt (wikipedia; and a fuller version). Born in Italy, he died as bishop of Poitiers. Both hymns reflect on the crucifixion and specifically on the cross, even its wood. The Vexilla regis prodeunt was composed for the procession of the True Cross
"Something new is at work here that will shape Western piety for centuries. Reading Fortunatus's hymns, one understands why the crucifix became the most prominent object of devotion in Western Christianity and the ritual of kissing a wooden cross part of the Church's liturgy on Good Friday" (Wilken p. 268).
