Caesaropapism is the idea of combining the
social and political power of
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
government with religious power, or of making secular authority superior to the spiritual authority of the Church; especially concerning the connection of the Church with government. Although
Justus Henning Böhmer
Justus Henning Böhmer (29 January 1674 in Hanover – 23 August 1749 in Halle) was an outstanding German jurist, ecclesiastical jurist, Professor of the University of Halle and also Geheimer Rat, count palatine and chancellor of the Duchy of M ...
(1674–1749) may have originally coined the term ''
caesaropapism
Caesaropapism is the idea of combining the social and political power of secular government with religious power, or of making secular authority superior to the spiritual authority of the Church; especially concerning the connection of the Chur ...
'' (''Cäseropapismus''), it was
Max Weber (1864–1920) who wrote: "a secular, caesaropapist ruler... exercises supreme authority in ecclesiastic matters by virtue of his autonomous legitimacy".
According to Weber, caesaropapism entails "the complete subordination of priests to secular power."
In an extreme form, caesaropapism is where the
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
, notably the emperor ("Caesar", by extension a "superior" king), is also the supreme head of the church (pope or analogous religious leader). In this form, caesaropapism inverts
theocracy
Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs.
Etymology
The word theocracy originates fr ...
(or
hierocracy in Weber), in which institutions of the church control the state. Both caesaropapism and theocracy are systems in which there is no
separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
and in which the two form parts of a single power-structure.
Eastern Church
![Nicaea icon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Nicaea_icon.jpg)
Caesaropapism's chief example is the authority that the
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
(East Roman) Emperors had over the
Church of Constantinople and
Eastern Christianity from the 330 consecration of
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
through the tenth century. The Byzantine Emperor would typically protect the Eastern Church and manage its administration by presiding over
ecumenical councils and appointing
Patriarchs
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certa ...
and setting
territorial boundaries for their jurisdiction.
The Emperor exercised a strong control over the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and the
Patriarch of Constantinople could not hold office if he did not have the Emperor's approval. Such Emperors as
Basiliscus
Basiliscus ( grc-gre, Βασιλίσκος, Basilískos; died 476/477) was Eastern Roman emperor from 9 January 475 to August 476. He became in 464, under his brother-in-law, Emperor Leo (457–474). Basiliscus commanded the army for an inva ...
,
Zeno
Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to:
People
* Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Philosophers
* Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes
* Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
,
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...
,
Heraclius, and
Constans II published several strictly ecclesiastical edicts either on their own without the mediation of church councils, or they exercised their own political influence on the councils to issue the edicts. According to
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, the historical reality of caesaropapism stems from the confusion of the Byzantine Empire with the
Kingdom of God and the zeal of the Byzantines "to establish here on earth a living icon of God's government in heaven."
However, Caesaropapism "never became an accepted principle in Byzantium." Several Eastern churchmen such as
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος; 14 September 407) was an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of ...
, Patriarch of Constantinople
and
Athanasius
Athanasius I of Alexandria, ; cop, ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲡⲓⲁⲡⲟⲥⲧⲟⲗⲓⲕⲟⲥ or Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲩ ⲁ̅; (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, ...
,
Patriarch of Alexandria, strongly opposed imperial control over the Church, as did
Western theologians like
Hilary of Poitiers
Hilary of Poitiers ( la, Hilarius Pictaviensis; ) was Bishop of Poitiers and a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" () and the "Athanasius of the West". His name comes from the Latin word for happy or ...
and Hosius,
Bishop of Córdoba. Saints, such as
Maximus the Confessor
Maximus the Confessor ( el, Μάξιμος ὁ Ὁμολογητής), also spelt Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar.
In his ear ...
, resisted the imperial power as a consequence of their witness to orthodoxy. In addition, at several occasions imperial decrees had to be withdrawn as the people of the Church, both lay people, monks and priests, refused to accept inventions at variance with the Church's customs and beliefs. These events show that power over the Church really was in the hands of the Church itself – not solely with the emperor.
During a speech at the St. Procopius Unionistic Congress in 1959, Fr.
John Dvornik stated, "...the attitude of all Orthodox Churches toward the State, especially the Russian Church is dictated by a very old tradition which has its roots in early Christian political philosophy... the Christian Emperor was regarded as the representative of God in the Christian commonwealth, whose duty was to watch not only over the material, but also the spiritual welfare of his Christian subjects. Because of that, his interference in Church affairs was regarded as his duty."
Following the
Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Sultans of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
took control of appointing the
Patriarch of Constantinople and all Byzantine Rite Bishops within their dominions. According to historian Charles A. Frazee, the Greek Hierarchs appointed by the Sultan and his advisors were almost invariably opposed to the reunification decrees at the
Council of Florence and rejected the authority of the
Papacy
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
.
At the same time, however, so great was the suffering of the
Greek people under the Sultans that, in the February 14, 1908
Papal allocution
In the Roman Catholic Church, a papal allocution (from the Latin ''allocutio'', a commander's battle speech to his troops) is a solemn, private form of address or speech employed by the Pope on certain occasions. Historically, papal allocutions w ...
''Ringraziamo Vivamente'',
Pope Pius X accused the Greek Orthodox Church under Turkish rule of having preferred, "a harsh yoke (that of
Islam) to the tenderness of their mother."
Caesaropapism was most notorious in the
Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I ...
when
Ivan IV the Terrible
Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584.
Ivan ...
assumed the title
Czar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the t ...
in 1547 and subordinated the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
to the state. In defiance of the Tsar's absolute power,
St. Philip, the Metropolitan of Moscow, preached sermons in Tsar Ivan's presence that condemned his indiscriminate use of
state terror against real and imagined traitors and their families by the
Oprichnina
The oprichnina (russian: опри́чнина, ) was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass repression of the boyars (Russian aristocrats), including public executions and ...
. Metropolitan Philip also withheld the traditional blessing of the Tsar during the
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of ...
. In response, the Tsar convened a Church Council, whose bishops obediently declared Metropolitan Philip deposed on false charges of moral offenses and imprisoned him in a monastery. When the former Metropolitan refused a request from the Tsar to bless the 1570
Massacre of Novgorod, the Tsar allegedly sent
Malyuta Skuratov
Grigory Lukyanovich Skuratov-Belskiy (russian: Григорий Лукьянович Скуратов-Бельский), better known as Malyuta Skuratov () (? – January 1, 1573) was one of the most odious leaders of the Oprichnina during th ...
to smother the former Bishop inside his cell. Metropolitan Philip was canonized in 1636 and is still commemorated within the Orthodox Church as a, "pillar of orthodoxy, fighter for the truth, shepherd who laid down his life for his flock."
Tsar Ivan's level of caesaropapism far exceeded that of the Byzantine Empire but was taken to a new level in 1721, when
Peter the Great and
Theophan Prokopovich
Feofan/Theophan Prokopovich (18 June 168119 September 1736) was a Russian Imperial Orthodox theologian, writer, poet, mathematician, and philosopher of Ukrainian origin. Rector of the Academia Mohileana in Kiev (now Kyiv, Ukraine), and Archbish ...
, as part of their
Church reforms, replaced the
Patriarch of Moscow
The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' (russian: Патриарх Московский и всея Руси, translit=Patriarkh Moskovskij i vseja Rusi), also known as the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, is the official title of the Bishop of Mo ...
with a department of the
civil service headed by an
Ober-Procurator and called the
Most Holy Synod, which oversaw the running of the church as an extension of the Tsar's government.
During the reign of Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
, Orthodox
Hieromonk
A hieromonk ( el, Ἱερομόναχος, Ieromonachos; ka, მღვდელმონაზონი, tr; Slavonic: ''Ieromonakh'', ro, Ieromonah), also called a priestmonk, is a monk who is also a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church an ...
s who wanted to be bishops would routinely send bribes and other expensive gifts to Most Holy Synod officials,
Gregory Rasputin, and other favorites of the Imperial Family.
The
Patriarchate
Patriarchate ( grc, πατριαρχεῖον, ''patriarcheîon'') is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, designating the office and jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical patriarch.
According to Christian tradition three patriarchates were est ...
was only restored on November 10 (
October 28 O.S.), 1917, 3 days after the
Bolshevik Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, by decision of the
All-Russian Local Council.
Seeking to convince
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
authorities to stop
the campaign of terror and persecution against the Church,
Metropolitan Sergius, acting as patriarchal ''
locum tenens
A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for physicians or clergy. For example, a ''locum tenens physician'' is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician. ...
'', tried to look for ways of peaceful reconciliation with the government. On July 29, 1927, he issued : an
encyclical letter where he professed the absolute loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
and to its government's interests.
This declaration, sparked an immediate controversy among the Russian Eastern Orthodox, many of whom (including many notable and respected
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
s in prisons and exile) broke
communion with Sergius. This attitude of submission to the Soviet Government is sometimes derogatorily called "
Sergianism", after Met. Sergius and his declaration, and is to this day deemed by some Eastern Orthodox Christians, especially
True Orthodox
True Orthodox church, True Orthodox Christians, True Orthodoxy or Genuine Orthodoxy, often pejoratively "Zealotry", designates groups of traditionalist Eastern Orthodox churches which have severed communion since the 1920s with the mainstream Eas ...
, as a
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
.
Later, some of these bishops reconciled with Sergius, but many still remained in opposition to the "official Church" until the election of
Patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
Alexius I
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
in 1945.
Western Church
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...
conquered the Italian peninsula in the
Gothic War (535–554)
The Gothic War between the Eastern Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Justinian I and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy took place from 535 to 554 in the Italian Peninsula, Dalmatia, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica. It was one of the last ...
and
appointed the next three popes, a practice that would be continued by his successors and later be delegated to the
Exarchate of Ravenna
The Exarchate of Ravenna ( la, Exarchatus Ravennatis; el, Εξαρχάτο της Ραβέννας) or of Italy was a lordship of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) in Italy, from 584 to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the ...
. The ''Byzantine Papacy'' was a period of
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
domination of the
papacy
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the
Byzantine Emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...
for
episcopal consecration
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, and many popes were chosen from the ''
apocrisiarii'' (liaisons from the pope to the emperor) or the inhabitants of
Byzantine Greece
Byzantine Greece has a history that mainly coincides with that of the Byzantine Empire itself.
Background: Roman Greece
The Greek peninsula became a Roman protectorate in 146 BC, and the Aegean islands were added to this territory in 133 BC. ...
,
Byzantine Syria
Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia Tigranes the Great.
Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea into tetr ...
, or
Byzantine Sicily
The history of Sicily has been influenced by numerous ethnic groups. It has seen Sicily controlled by external powers – Phoenician and Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, Vandal and Ostrogoth, Byzantine Greek, Aghlabid, Fatimid, Kalbid, Norman, Ar ...
.
Anglican Communion
![1491 Henry VIII](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/1491_Henry_VIII.jpg)
During the dispute between
Henry VIII and
Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII ( la, Clemens VII; it, Clemente VII; born Giulio de' Medici; 26 May 1478 – 25 September 1534) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the ...
over Henry's wish to have his marriage to
Catherine of Aragon annulled
Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost ...
, the
English Parliament
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...
passed the
Act in Restraint of Appeals
The Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532 (24 Hen 8 c 12), also called the Statute in Restraint of Appeals, the Act of Appeals and The Act of Restraints in Appeals, was an Act of the Parliament of England.
It was passed in the first week of April 1533 ...
(1533). It stated
The next year Parliament passed the
First Act of Supremacy (1534) that explicitly tied the head of church to the imperial crown:
The
Crown of Ireland Act, passed by the Irish Parliament in 1541 (effective 1542), changed the traditional title used by the Monarchs of England for the reign over Ireland, from
Lord of Ireland to
King of Ireland and naming Henry head of the
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...
, for similar reasons.
During the reign of
Mary I
Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...
, the First Act of Supremacy was annulled, but during the reign of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
the
Second Act of Supremacy, with similar wording to the First Act, was passed in 1559. During the
English Interregnum the laws were annulled, but the acts which caused the laws to be in abeyance were themselves deemed to be null and void by the Parliaments of the
English Restoration
The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to ...
.
When Elizabeth I restored royal supremacy, she replaced the title "
Supreme Head" with that of "
Supreme Governor
The supreme governor of the Church of England is the titular head of the Church of England, a position which is vested in the British monarch. Queen and Church > Queen and Church of England">The Monarchy Today > Queen and State > Queen and Chur ...
", a conciliatory change to moderate English Catholics and Protestants.
According to Fr.
Nicholas Sanders, however, "The Queen lays down for her clergy a rule of life, outside of which they dare not move, not only in those things which Protestants call indifferent, but in all matters of Faith, discipline, and doctrine, in virtue of that supreme spiritual power with which she is invested: she suspends her bishops when she pleases, she grants a license to preach, either to those who are ordained according to her rite or to simple laymen, in the same way at her pleasure reduces those whom she will to silence. To show her authority in these things, she occasionally, from her closet, addresses her preacher, and interrupts him in the presence of a large congregation, in some such way as this: 'Mr. Doctor, you are wandering from the text, and talking nonsense. Return to your subject.'"
[ Philip Caraman (1960), ''The Other Face: Catholic Life under Elizabeth I'', Longman, Green, and Co. Page 65.]
Since then, the monarchs of England, of Great Britain, and of the United Kingdom have claimed the "Supreme Governor" status as well as the title of ''
Defender of the Faith'' (which was originally bestowed on Henry VIII by
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X ( it, Leone X; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521.
Born into the prominent political an ...
but later revoked by
Pope Paul III, as that was originally an award for Henry VIII's ''
Defence of the Seven Sacraments'').
Despite his continued persecution of both Catholic
Recusants
Recusancy (from la, recusare, translation=to refuse) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation.
The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ...
and
English Dissenters,
King James I
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
preferred not to do anything else that might otherwise encourage factional strife within the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
. His son and heir,
King Charles I, through his insistence upon promoting the
High Church reforms advocated by the
Caroline Divines
The Caroline Divines were influential theologians and writers in the Church of England who lived during the reigns of King Charles I and, after the Restoration, King Charles II (Latin: Carolus). There is no official list of Caroline-era divi ...
and by Archbishop
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...
, alienated opponents of
Anglo-Catholicism
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
and lost both his throne and his head at the end of the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
.
The
1688 overthrow of the
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...
was caused by the efforts of
King James II
James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...
to partially annul the Act of Supremacy by granting
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
more than two hundred years before
Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...
. As this was seen by many Anglicans as a violation of the King's Coronation Oath, Parliament blocked every bill, which caused the King to simply order Catholic Emancipation into effect using his
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...
. In response, Parliament successfully invited the King's son in law,
William of Orange to invade England and take the throne.
Even though King James II and his exiled heirs remained Catholics, their overthrow divided the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
in what is now known as the
Non-juring schism
The Nonjuring schism refers to a split in the established churches of England, Scotland and Ireland, following the deposition and exile of James II and VII in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. As a condition of office, clergy were required to swear ...
. Anglican
Jacobites
Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to:
Religion
* Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include:
** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometime ...
, or Non-Jurors, embraced the
Anglo-Catholicism
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...
advanced by the Stuart monarchs since the reign of James I. During every one of the
Jacobite risings
, war =
, image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766
, active ...
, Non-Juring Anglican chaplains accompanied the Jacobite armies. The schism ended only following the 1788 death of Prince
Charles Edward Stuart and the inheritance of his claim to the throne by his younger brother, Prince
Henry Benedict Stuart
Henry Benedict Thomas Edward Maria Clement Francis Xavier Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York (6 March 1725 – 13 July 1807) was a Roman Catholic cardinal, as well as the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of Great Brita ...
, a
Roman Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
and Cardinal.
Since 1948, the
Church Commissioners have been charged with administering the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
and recommending potential Bishops to
Her Majesty's Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_est ...
.
In popular culture
* The
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest ( German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture) and abbots of mona ...
between
King John of the
House of Plantagenet and
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...
, who is represented onstage by Cardinal
Pandulf Verraccio
Pandulf Verraccio (died 16 September 1226), whose first name may also be spelled Pandolph or Pandulph (''Pandolfo'' in Italian), was a Roman ecclesiastical politician, papal legate to England and bishop of Norwich.
Early life
Pandulf was born ...
, over both the appointment of Archbishop
Stephen Langton
Stephen Langton (c. 1150 – 9 July 1228) was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Canterbury between 1207 and his death in 1228. The dispute between King John of England and Pope Innocent III over his ...
to the
Diocese of Canterbury
The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering East Kent, eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest episcopal see, see of the Church o ...
and Crown vs. Vatican control over the English Church is a major
plotline
Dramatic structure (also known as dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of dramatic structures worldwide which have been hypothesized by critics, writers and schola ...
of the play ''
The Life and Death of King John
''The Life and Death of King John'', a history play by William Shakespeare, dramatises the reign of John, King of England (ruled 1199–1216), the son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and the father of Henry III of En ...
'' by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
.
* The alleged
careerism
Careerism is the propensity to pursue career advancement, power, and prestige outside of work performance.
Cultural environment
Cultural factors influence how careerists view their occupational goals. How an individual interprets the term "caree ...
and subservience of
Anglican clergy to multiple contradictory religious beliefs imposed upon their denomination by different English monarchs is satirized in the
17th-century ballad ''
The Vicar of Bray''.
* The conflict between
Tsar Ivan the Terrible and
Metropolitan Philip
Saint Philip II of Moscow (11 February 1507 – 23 December 1569) was the Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus' from 1567 to 1568. He was the thirteenth Metropolitan in Moscow to be appointed without the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Con ...
is shown onscreen in
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, scree ...
's 1944 film ''
Ivan the Terrible''.
*
Robert Bolt
Robert Oxton Bolt (15 August 1924 – 20 February 1995) was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, known for writing the screenplays for ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Doctor Zhivago'', and '' A Man for All Seasons'', ...
's play ''
A Man for All Seasons'' centers around the efforts of
King Henry VIII and
Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...
to coerce the former
Lord Chancellor of England
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
, Sir
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...
, to express approval of the King's claim to control the
Catholic Church in England and Wales. The play has seen multiple revivals and was made into a multi–
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
–winning
1966 feature film starring
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seve ...
and a
1988 television movie starring
Charlton Heston.
* In the BBC
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''
Yes, Prime Minister
''Yes Minister'' is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister'', ran for 16 episodes fro ...
'', the episode "
The Bishop's Gambit", which first aired on 20 February 1986, satirizes the damage that the control wielded over the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
by politicians and the
British civil service
His Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as His Majesty's Civil Service, the Home Civil Service, or colloquially as the Civil Service is the permanent bureaucracy or secretariat of Crown employees that supports His Majesty's Government, which ...
continues to have on who gets appointed to the Hierarchy.
* The conflict between
Tsar Ivan the Terrible and
Metropolitan Philip
Saint Philip II of Moscow (11 February 1507 – 23 December 1569) was the Metropolitan of Moscow and all Rus' from 1567 to 1568. He was the thirteenth Metropolitan in Moscow to be appointed without the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Con ...
is the primary theme of
Pavel Lungin
Pavel Semyonovich Lungin (russian: Па́вел Семёнович Лунги́н; born 12 July 1949) is a Russian film director. He is sometimes credited as Pavel Loungine (as in the American release of '' Tycoon''). Lungin was awarded the disti ...
's 2009 film ''
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
''.
See also
Communism
*
Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association
The Catholic Patriotic Association (), abbreviated CPA, is a state-sanctioned organization of Catholicism in the People's Republic of China. It was established in 1957 after a group of Chinese Catholics met in Beijing with officials from the C ...
*
Liberation Theology
Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". I ...
*
Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow
Patriarch Alexy I (Alexius I, russian: Патриарх Алексий I, secular name Sergey Vladimirovich Simansky, russian: Серге́й Влади́мирович Сима́нский; – 17 April 1970) was the 13th Patriarch of Moscow ...
*
Renovationism
*
Three-Self Patriotic Movement
The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM; ) is the official government supervisory organ for Protestantism in the People's Republic of China. It is colloquially known as the Three-Self Church ().
The National Committee of the Three-Self Patriot ...
Fascism
*
German Christians (movement)
German Christians (german: Deutsche Christen) were a pressure group and a movement within the German Evangelical Church that existed between 1932 and 1945, aligned towards the antisemitic, racist and ''Führerprinzip'' ideological principles o ...
*
German Evangelical Church
The German Evangelical Church (german: Deutsche Evangelische Kirche) was a successor to the German Evangelical Church Confederation from 1933 until 1945.
The German Christians, an antisemitic and racist pressure group and ''Kirchenpartei'', ga ...
*
Relationship between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Iron Guard
Monarchism
*
Avignon Papacy
The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during which seven successive popes resided in Avignon – at the time within the Kingdom of Arles, part of the Holy Roman Empire; now part of France – rather than in Rome. The situation a ...
*
Byzantinism
*
Christianity and politics
The relationship between Christianity and politics is a historically complex subject and a frequent source of disagreement throughout the history of Christianity, as well as in modern politics between the Christian right and Christian left. There ...
*
Church and state in medieval Europe
Church and state in medieval Europe was the relationship between the Catholic Church and the various monarchies and other states in Europe during the Middle Ages (between the end of Roman authority in the West in the fifth century to their end ...
*
Concordat of Worms
*
Constantinian shift
''Constantinian shift'' is used by some theologians and historians of antiquity to describe the political and theological changes that took place during the 4th-century under the leadership of Emperor Constantine the Great. Rodney Clapp claims th ...
*
Erastianism
Thomas Erastus (original surname Lüber, Lieber, or Liebler; 7 September 152431 December 1583) was a Swiss physician and Calvinist theologian. He wrote 100 theses (later reduced to 75) in which he argued that the sins committed by Christians shou ...
*
Gallicanism
Gallicanism is the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the Pope. Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it has so ...
*
Great Apostasy
The Great Apostasy is a concept within Christianity to describe a perception that mainstream Christian Churches have fallen away from the original faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through his twelve Apostles.
A belief in a Great Apostasy ...
*
Guelphs and Ghibellines
*
Joseph of Volotsk
*
Massacre of Thessalonica
The Massacre of Thessalonica in Macedonia, Greece was a massacre of local civilians by Roman troops. The best estimate of the date is 390. The most probable cause was the murder of a Roman official in an urban riot, which was likely caused by t ...
*
Political Catholicism
The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. Historically, the Church opposed liberal ideas such as democracy, freedom of speech, and the separation of church and state und ...
*
Priest hunter
A priest hunter was a person who, acting on behalf of the English and later British government, spied on or captured Catholic priests during Penal Times. Priest hunters were effectively bounty hunters. Some were volunteers, experienced soldiers o ...
*
Richard Topcliffe
Richard Topcliffe (14 November 1531 – late 1604)Richardson, William. "Topcliffe, Richard (1531–1604)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, « Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008. Accessed 26 July 2013. ...
*
Roman State religion
*
Robert Barnes
*
State church of the Roman Empire
* ''
Syllabus of Errors
The ''Syllabus of Errors'' ( la, Syllabus Errorum) is a document issued by the Holy See under Pope Pius IX on 8 December 1864, as an appendix to the encyclical. It condemns a total of 80 errors or heresies, articulating Catholic Church teach ...
'' (
Pope Pius IX, 1864)
*
Temporal power (papal)
The temporal power of the Holy See designates the political and secular influence of the Holy See, the leading of a state by the pope of the Catholic Church, as distinguished from its spiritual and pastoral activity.
Origins
Pope Gregory ...
*
William Tyndale
William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his execu ...
Opposition to Caesaropapism
*
Alexander Men
*
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
*
Bartholomew Remov
*
Brownist
The Brownists were a group of English Dissenters or early Separatists from the Church of England. They were named after Robert Browne, who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England, in the 1550s. A majority of the Separatists aboard the ' ...
*
Catacomb Church
The Catacomb Church (russian: Катакомбная церковь) as a collective name labels those representatives of the Russian Orthodox clergy, laity, communities, monasteries, brotherhoods, etc., who for various reasons, have moved to a ...
*
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German ...
* ''
Dictatus papae
''Dictatus papae'' is a compilation of 27 statements of authority claimed by the pope that was included in Pope Gregory VII's register under the year 1075.
Principles
The principles expressed in ''Dictatus Papae'' are mostly those expressed b ...
'' (
Pope Gregory VII, 1075)
*
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have ...
*
English Dissenters
*
Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
*
Gleb Yakunin
Gleb Pavlovich Yakunin (russian: Глеб Па́влович Яку́нин; 4 March 1936 – 25 December 2014) was a Russian priest and dissident, who fought for the principle of freedom of conscience in the Soviet Union. He was a member of ...
*
Gregorian Reform
The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, c. 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. The reforms are considered to be na ...
*
House church (China)
In China, house churches or family churches (), are Protestant assemblies in the People's Republic of China that operate independently from the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and China Christian Council (CCC). They represen ...
*
Investiture Controversy
The Investiture Controversy, also called Investiture Contest ( German: ''Investiturstreit''; ), was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops ( investiture) and abbots of mona ...
*
Irish Martyrs
*
John Fisher
John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic bishop, cardinal, and theologian. Fisher was also an academic and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI.
Fisher was executed by o ...
*
Joseph (Petrovykh)
Metropolitan Joseph (secular name Ivan Semyonovich Petrovykh, russian: Иван Семёнович Петровых; 15 December 1872 – 20 November 1937) was a metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was a leader of the anti-Soviet non ...
*
London Underground Church The London underground church was an illegal puritan group in the time of Elizabeth I and James I. It began as a radical fringe of the Church of England, but split from the Church and later became part of the Brownist or puritan Separatist movemen ...
*
Mass rocks
*
Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony)
*
Radical Pietism
Radical Pietism are those Christian churches who decided to break with denominational Lutheranism in order to emphasize certain teachings regarding holy living. Radical Pietists contrast with Church Pietists, who chose to remain within their Lut ...
*
Richard Gwyn
Richard Gwyn (ca. 1537 – 15 October 1584), also known by his anglicised name, Richard White, was a Welsh teacher at illegal and underground schools and a Bard who wrote both Christian and satirical poetry in the Welsh language. A Ro ...
*
Russian Greek Catholic Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow,_Catholic_Church_in_Presnya.jpg
, imagewidth = 200px
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
, abbreviation =
, ty ...
*
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...
*
Søren Kierkegaard
*
Symphonia (theology)
*
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs.
Etymology
The word theocracy originates fr ...
*
Tikhon of Moscow
Tikhon of Moscow (russian: Тихон Московский, – ), born Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin (russian: Василий Иванович Беллавин), was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). On 5 November 1917 ( OS) he was ...
*
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
*
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...
*
Underground church
The term underground church () is used to refer to Chinese Catholic churches in the People's Republic of China which have chosen not to associate with the state-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association, they are also called ''loyal church'' (). U ...
References
; Attribution
* (not fully exploited)
External links
*
{{Religion and politics
Caesaropapism
Catholic ecclesiology
Christianity and government
Christianity and political ideologies
Christian terminology
Confessionalism
Eastern Orthodoxy-related controversies
Ecclesiology
History of Eastern Christianity
Political theories