The Inquisition and its role in the fight against dissent. Inquisition in the Middle Ages How an inquisitor fought heretics

In the XII-XIII centuries. in Europe were further developed, the growth of cities continued, and the free-thinking associated with it spread. This process was accompanied by the struggle of the peasantry and burghers against the feudal lords, which took the ideological form of heresies. All this caused the first serious crisis. The Church overcame it through organizational changes and ideological renewal. Mendicant monastic orders were established, and the teaching of Thomas Aquinas on the harmony of faith and reason was adopted as the official doctrine.

To combat heresies, she created a special judicial institution - the Inquisition(from Latin - “search”).

The activities of the Inquisition began in the last quarter of the 12th century. In 1184, Pope Lucius III ordered all bishops that in places infected with heresy, they personally or through persons authorized by them sought out heretics and, after establishing their guilt, handed them over to the secular authorities to carry out the appropriate punishment. These kinds of episcopal courts were called inquisitorial.

On IV Lateran Council in 1215 compulsory confession was introduced. Persons who evaded it were not allowed to receive communion and were excommunicated from the church with all civil consequences. The Council prohibited the reading of the Bible by the laity and made it obligatory for metropolitans to search for heretics, using lay zealots in inquisition activities. Toulouse Cathedral in 1229 he demanded the creation of special organizations of the laity that would search for heretics. Since 1227, special tribunals began to be created in those countries and provinces where any heretical movements existed. The Inquisition in Spain was particularly cruel. Thomas Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, introduced the practice auto-da-fe(act of faith) - public execution of the sentence over heretics, created a code and procedure for the inquisitorial court.

The Dominican Order played the main role in the organization and implementation of the Inquisition. The monks found theoretical justification for their activities in the decrees of the popes and the theoretical arguments of theologians. The names of the German inquisitors became famous Heinrich Institoris And Jacob Sprenger, authors of the book "Witches Hammer"(“Hammer on Sorcerers”). The concept of witchcraft is one of the important elements of medieval religiosity. Until the 13th century. punishments of sorcerers were not widespread. In the 13th century a view is established on witchcraft as a heresy, which is subject to the Inquisition. Sorcerers are accused of having connections with the devil, from whom they receive their power, in order to inflict all sorts of atrocities on people.

Periods of the medieval Inquisition

Several periods can be distinguished in the history of the Inquisition:

• initial - XIII-XV centuries, when mainly popular sectarian movements were persecuted;
• the Renaissance, when cultural and scientific figures were persecuted;
• the Age of Enlightenment, when supporters of the French Revolution were persecuted.

In many countries the Inquisition was destroyed with the adoption of Protestantism; in France it was abolished by Napoleon. In Spain it existed until the middle of the 19th century.

The most important aspect of papal policy was the fight against heresies. Heresies- religious teachings that, to one degree or another, deviate from the dogmas of the official church. Heresies accompany Christianity throughout its existence, starting from its first steps as an independent religion. However, heretical movements gained their greatest scope and significance in the era of feudalism.

The Christian religion in medieval Europe determined the worldview of people.

In the early Middle Ages, when feudal relations had not yet formed, Europe did not yet know mass heretical movements. Their rise occurs during the developed Middle Ages, which is associated with the emergence and growth of cities. The increasing exploitation of the peasantry created the ground for its involvement in heretical movements. “Revolutionary opposition to feudalism,” wrote F. Engels, “runs through the entire Middle Ages. It appears, according to the conditions of the time, sometimes in the form of mysticism, sometimes in the form of open heresy, sometimes in the form of an armed uprising.”

Social essence and main ideas of medieval heresies. According to their social orientation, two types of medieval heresies can be distinguished - burgher and peasant-plebeian. The first expressed the protest of the townspeople against the feudal shackles that hindered the development of the city economy. It provided for the elimination of the special position of the clergy, the political claims of the papacy, the land wealth of the church, they sought to simplify and reduce the cost of rituals and improve the moral character of the clergy. The ideal of these heretics was the early Christian "apostolic" church - simple, "cheap" and "pure". Heresies of this type opposed only “church feudalism” and did not affect the foundations of the feudal system as a whole. Therefore, entire groups of feudal lords sometimes joined them, trying to use the burgher heresy in their own interests (for the sake of secularizing church property or limiting the political influence of the papacy). This was the case during the era of the Albigensian wars in Southern France, the Hussite wars in the Czech Republic, and during the time of Wycliffe in England.

The peasant-plebeian heresies were much more radical in nature, reflecting the hostile attitude of the dispossessed lower classes of the city and countryside not only towards the church and clergy, but also towards the nobility. Sharing all the religious demands of the burgher heresy, the peasant-plebeian heresy also demanded equality between people, thereby denying class differences. Peasant-plebeian heresies, as a rule, also demanded the abolition of serfdom and corvée, and some extreme sects called for the establishment of property equality and community of property. In the XIV-XV centuries. the most radical peasant-plebeian heresies were often combined with popular uprisings (Apostolics, Lollards, Taborites, etc.).

At the same time, throughout the Middle Ages, there were also heresies in which the elements of both of these movements - burgher and peasant-plebeian - were not clearly distinguished.

Dogmatics of heretical teachings: a critical attitude towards the clergy of all ranks, including the pope, criticism of indulgences. The more moderate part of the heretics considered themselves true Catholics, striving to help correct the church. Another, no less significant part openly broke with the Catholic Church, creating their own religious organizations (Cathars, Waldensians, Apostolics, Taborites); the most radical among them (especially the apostles and Lollards of the 14th century) transferred their hostile attitude towards the Catholic Church to the entire feudal social system.

The overwhelming majority of heretical teachings were also characterized by the desire to follow the Gospel, recognizing it as the only source of faith in contrast to the writings of the “church fathers”, decisions of councils, papal bulls, etc. One of the most popular ideas in the circles of heretics was the idea of ​​“apostolic poverty, the ideal of asceticism, Mystic.

The historical role of heresies: they undermined the authority and spiritual dictate of the Catholic Church, contributed to the spread of free-thinking (although heretics themselves most often did not show free-thinking, they were characterized by fanaticism and intolerance towards dissenters, and they also undermined the feudal system.

The main heretical movements of the XI-XIII centuries. Certain sects of heretics became widespread in Western Europe already at the beginning of the 11th century. in France, Italy, Germany. In the second half of the 11th century. Broad popular movements developed in Italian cities (Milan, Florence). One of the first creators of an independent heretical teaching was Arnold of Brescia, who headed in the middle of the 12th century. antipapal revolt in Rome. The sect he created (the Arnoldists), which represented the early burgher heresy, continued to exist even after the execution of its leader. Rise of heretical movements falls on the second half of the 12th and 13th centuries. There were especially many of them in these centuries in Southern France and Northern Italy, where heretics made up a significant part of the population. Among the most widespread heretical movements of the 12th century. applies Cathar heresy(from the Greek “katharos” - pure). They refused to recognize the power of the state and rejected physical violence and the shedding of blood. They considered the Catholic Church, as well as the entire earthly world, to be the creation of Satan, and the pope as his vicegerent.

Great influence among heretics of the 12th-13th centuries. used the ideas of Joachim of Flora (or Calabria), one of the greatest mystics of that time.. According to the Joachimites, the kingdom of peace and truth on earth should come as a result of a “universal revolution” between 1200 and 1260. The ideas of Joachimiteism enjoyed great popularity among the people for a long time.

Evangelical ideas were especially widespread among the heretics. Among the many sects that dreamed of reviving the orders of the early Christian church, of particular importance in the 13th century. purchased Waldensians. The son of a wealthy Lyon merchant, Peter Wald, who lived in the last quarter of the 12th century, began actively preaching poverty and asceticism. His followers - the Waldenses, along with sharp criticism of the priests, put forward ideas challenging church dogma: they denied purgatory, most sacraments, icons, prayers, the cult of saints, the church hierarchy, their ideal was the “poor” apostolic church. They also opposed church tithes, taxes, military service, the feudal court and denied the death penalty. Some Waldensians moved to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland, where in the 14th century. Waldensism spread widely among peasants and small urban artisans.

In Italy, evangelical ideas were professed by the flagellant sect. The flagellants (“scourges”) went out onto the roads and streets in rags, barefoot and publicly tortured themselves, bringing their supporters to a state of ecstasy.

Heresies in the 12th and 13th centuries. widespread not only among the lower strata of the population, but also among the educated part of the townspeople

The fight of the church against heretical movements. Inquisition. The church waged the fight against heretical ideas and anti-clerical movements with cruel fanaticism and intransigence. Church cathedrals of the 12th-13th centuries. obligated not only the clergy, but also the secular authorities to take an active part in this struggle. At various times at the councils, the Cathars, Pataraens, Waldenses, and later the Beguins were anathematized. The teachings of Joachim of Flora, Amaury of Vienna, and later Peter Olivi were recognized as heresy and prohibited in the 15th century. - John Wycliffe and Jan Hus. Hundreds of leaders of heretical trends and sects were convicted and burned, and ordinary heretics were subjected to severe persecution. The bloodiest form of reprisal against heretics were the crusades inspired by the church and the papacy: against the Albigenses (began in 1209), against the Apostles (1306-1307), five crusades against the Hussites (1420-1431), etc.

The Inquisition (from the Latin inquisitio - investigation) played a special role in the fight against heresies. Originated at the end of the 12th century. As a form of ecclesiastical court, carried out first by bishops, the Inquisition was gradually removed from the control of bishops and became in the first half of the 13th century. into an independent organization that had enormous powers and was subordinate directly to the pope. Gradually, the Inquisition created a special system of search and judicial investigation in cases of heretics. She widely introduced espionage and denunciations into practice. Sophisticated torture was used against those who persisted. The zeal of the inquisitors and their informers was rewarded by the division among them of part of the property confiscated from the condemned. Already in the 13th century. Along with heretics, the Inquisition began to persecute scientists and philosophers who showed freethinking. The most common punishment for heretics was burning at the stake, often in groups (the so-called auto-da-fe - from the Portuguese auto-da-fe - matter of faith). One of the most tragic pages in the history of mankind is associated with the activities of the Inquisition.

Heretical movements of the XIV-XV centuries.

Despite severe persecution and the activities of the mendicant orders, heretical movements did not stop. New heresies arose to replace the old ones. In the XIV-XV centuries. their center moved from Southern France and Lombardy to Northeastern France, the Netherlands, England, Southern and Western Germany, and the Czech Republic. An important feature of the heretical movements of this period was a clear demarcation between burgher and peasant-plebeian heresies, the transformation of the latter into radical heresies, which sometimes merged with peasant uprisings. Thus, the sect of the Apostles led by Dolcino at the beginning of the 14th century. played a leading role in the peasant-plebeian uprising, the leader of which was Dolcino. The heresy of the early Lollards, like-minded people of John Ball, merged with the rebellion of Wat Tyler.

One of the most massive heretical movements of the late XIII-XIV centuries. - the movement of the Beguins, as well as the Begards and Fraticelli close to them, which covered the Southern Netherlands, the German lands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy and France. The views of the theologian Olivi had a great influence on the heretics.

In the 15th century the most significant heretical movements were the English Lollardism and Gusism. Lollards of the 15th century. based on the teachings of John Wycliffe. They sharply criticized the clergy, opposed the church hierarchy, most sacraments, icon veneration, church tithes, demanded the secularization of church property, freedom of preaching for everyone, including the laity, worship in their native language, but did not encroach on the existing system.

Hussite movement. Opposition against the abuses of the German clergy, opposition to the Catholic Church and the struggle for the national Czech Church resulted in a broad social movement that took a religious form. This movement was led by Jan Hus, a professor of theology at the University of Prague (c. 1369-1415). He denounced the vices of the Catholic clergy, spoke out against church wealth and demanded the secularization of church property. He led the fight against the Germans who dominated the University of Prague. It ended with the transfer of control of the university to the Czechs (1409) and the election of Jan Hus as rector of the university.

The Catholic Church and the German clergy of the Czech Republic waged a fierce struggle against Hus. First, he was excommunicated from the church and had to leave Prague (1412), and after some time the pope summoned him to a church council in Constance. Here Huss was condemned for his beliefs as a heretic and burned at the stake (1415).

Hussite heresy, which arose in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the 15th century. attracted a variety of social strata into its orbit. Initially, Husism was based on the moderate burgher teachings of Jan Hus, which also reflected the desire of all layers of Czech society for liberation from German dominance and the dictates of the papacy. But then the movement split into two camps: moderate - Chashnikov, heretics of the burgher type, and radical - taborist, in which in the early 20s of the 15th century. revolutionary peasant-plebeian, in particular chiliastic, ideas about the imminent establishment of the kingdom of God on earth prevailed.

Such a concept as “heresy,” for which it must be punished severely, including the death penalty, was practically absent in other mass religions. This ancient Greek word itself (meaning choice, direction, trend, school, sect) had no judgmental meaning. Heresy turned into a terrible crime only in Christianity.

Christianity first raised the question of the salvation of the human soul from the eternal torment of hell. Therefore, the question of the only correct path to Salvation became the most important issue of the new religion. Any deviations from this path became grave crimes and had to be punished most severely.

Differences in fundamental questions of faith in the Christian Church, religious strife between theologians, hierarchs and the masses of believers who supported them began at the very birth of the religion. But which path to general Salvation should be chosen among the many proposed options, how to determine its truth? - After all, only the Lord Himself can indicate it!

The way to determine the truth of the decisions of the earthly Church was the Ecumenical Councils - meetings of pastors of communities of believers (bishops) from all over the Christian world. Their decrees, adopted in the development of the original teachings and church traditions, began to be considered the only true, divinely revealed ones, since the work of the councils was guided by the Holy Spirit Himself. All opinions and teachings that contradict the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils began to be considered false, leading people to destruction straight to hell - heresy.

In the first centuries, when Christianity in the Empire was a persecuted religion, priests identified heretics among their “children,” but the most they could do with them was expel them from the community and excommunicate them from the Church. When the Roman and Constantinople emperors themselves became Christians, the possibilities of combating heresies expanded significantly.

However, extremes in the fight against heresies were not welcomed at that time. Once, in the 4th century, by the verdict of a local church council and by order of the emperor, a Spanish bishop accused by his colleagues of “magic” was executed. This caused such indignation among the then recognized authorities of the Church that the executions of heretics stopped for six centuries.

The closer the millennium of Christianity approached, the more intensely people waited for the year 1000. All of Christian Europe, with horror and hope, was preparing for the beginning of the grandiose events described with such formidable force - the End of the World, the Last Judgment. And so, this fateful date came, but... nothing happened. Everyone thought that they were mistaken, that the end of earthly humanity should be expected, counting a thousand years from the moment of the Crucifixion - and again nothing happened. Earthly life had to be continued...

However, the shock of the first millennium was so strong that religious ferment gradually began to grow. And here the Church could fully appreciate the danger of heresies.

It all started in Bulgaria, where one of the priests, Bogumil, preached a teaching in the 10th century that was very different from the model approved by the Church. He argued that God is not omnipotent, that he is opposed by his former angel Satanail, and the earthly world is their battlefield, that only those who have rejected the earthly world (the kingdom of Satan) can be saved from hell, that no one will help them on the path to Salvation. The Old Testament, nor the Church with its temples, services and veneration of icons and saints.

Bohumilism spread widely in the Roman Empire (Byzantium), where it took several centuries to eradicate it. It also penetrated to the West, where, under different names (Cathars, Waldenses, Albigensians, “weavers”), many communities arose in Northern Italy and Southern France, based on the Gospels, but rejecting the official Church.

The temples were empty, no one wanted to listen to even the most famous preachers of Rome. The Qatari communities elected their own bishops, who performed rituals for the salvation of souls and the remission of sins. In fact, a new, parallel to the Catholic Church, renewed on evangelical foundations, was created. At the same time, the Cathars claimed that they were the only “correct” Christian Church, and the Roman Church was a deviation from the teachings of Christ.

Two centuries of confrontation between the Cathars and the Roman Church ended in open conflict. The Catholic Council recognized the Cathars as apostates, heretics, non-Christians, and excommunicated the secular rulers who supported them. The Pope declared a Crusade against them, and at his call knights from all over Europe moved to southern France.

When one of the leaders of the crusaders, on the eve of the assault on the first Cathar city, asked the papal representative how to distinguish Catholics from heretics, he replied: “ Caedite eos! Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius" - "Kill everyone! The Lord will recognize his own." It was a war for the complete destruction of the Cathars, for their merciless, total, physical extermination. It is now difficult to establish the scale of the victims, but we are talking about hundreds of thousands of people.

The most appropriate way to kill heretics was considered to be their public burning at the stake alive. Firstly, it was an execution “without shedding blood”, and secondly, the fire of the fire was considered “cleansing”, after which the soul of the executed had a chance of going to heaven.

In open battles and sieges of fortresses, the forces were clearly unequal, but the “Cathar” (“Albigensian”) wars continued at the beginning of the 13th century for two decades - the Cathars switched to partisan actions, tried to keep their communities underground, sheltered their preachers and bishops, and organized a secret network of resistance. To expose and destroy the Cathars, the Inquisition was created by the pope in 1215 ( inquīsītiō- “search”, “investigation”).

The Inquisition was a permanent religious tribunal, independent of local bishops. She based her investigations on denunciations and information from confessions. This effective system was able to destroy the Qatari underground within several generations. The last identified Cathar was burned at the stake in 1321.

In the East, in the Roman Empire, and in the countries “baptized by Constantinople,” heretics were also burned and drowned, although on a smaller scale, and no specialized body dealing with heresies was created there.

But the fight against the Cathar heresy, to which, in fact, the Holy Inquisition owes its appearance, is now little known. It was obscured in European memory by a gloomy

I am the glory of the inquisitorial rule in Spain, which began a century and a half later and lasted three and a half centuries, almost until the middle of the 19th century. Even the stable phrase “Spanish Inquisition” arose.

When the Christian kingdoms finally conquered the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims, Muslims and Jews were asked to either be baptized or leave the country. Some of them, not wanting to leave their homeland, converted to Christianity - and this became a big problem for the Spanish rulers. A suspicion immediately arose that the transition of the Gentiles to Christianity was purely formal, insincere, and that they continued to profess their former, traditional religions. In 1478, the king-consorts Ferdinand and Isabella obtained from the pope the establishment of their own, the Spanish Inquisition, subordinate not to Rome, but directly to the kings of Spain. The most famous Grand Minquisitor was the Dominican monk, the grandson of baptized Jews, the organizer of a complex and extensive apparatus for identifying and punishing heretics, Thomas Torquemada. His very name became a synonym for a cruel religious fanatic.

Arriving in a particular area, the inquisitors proclaimed the “Edict of Mercy”, which was valid for one month. During this time, secret Jews could voluntarily confess their sin and repent. Then came the period of consideration of denunciations, arrests based on them and interrogations. If they refused to testify, the arrested person was subjected to torture (which was, however, widely practiced at that time by secular courts).

The jurisdiction of the inquisitorial authorities included not only heresies, but also everything that violated the “natural order” - love or any other magic, attempts to communicate with otherworldly forces, homosexuality, etc.

The Inquisitorial Tribunal rarely acquitted the accused. The most widespread punishments for public penitents were fines, imprisonment, confiscation of property acquired from the moment of established sin; convicts were required to wear special penitent clothing for a certain period of time, sanbenito(yellow bag with a red cross and a tall cap), from which people shied away in the street.

The Inquisition remained in the memory of posterity and is notorious for its theatrical executions, the main “entertainment” of the crowds of “good Catholics” who flocked to the bonfires. However, the share of death sentences in the total volume of punishments was relatively small - at the “peak” times of repression it did not exceed 2%.

Life in Spain and Portugal under the unrelenting and strict control of the Inquisition for three and a half centuries (that’s almost fifteen generations) could not but affect the mass inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula.

In other European Catholic countries, the spiritual control of the Inquisition over the population was not so comprehensive and dense (needless to say, it did not exist at all in Protestant countries).

If in the 13th-14th centuries the Catholic Church, with the help of the Inquisition, managed to physically exterminate the Cathars who had fallen away from it, then in the 16th century, with the beginning of the spread of the “Lutherian heresy,” it was no longer possible to exterminate those who left the Church. It was necessary to learn to coexist with the “heretics,” to compete with them, to fight with them for the souls of people. The repressions of the Inquisition could no longer help with this, and in the 17th century the activity of the Inquisition courts decreased significantly. Now, with the development of printing, the emphasis was shifted to censorship, to determining which books could be considered “truly Catholic” and which texts contained heresy - now it was not the authors who were burned at the stake, but their books.

In the 18th century, with the spread of ideas of religious tolerance, the Inquisition fell into decline. And although lists of “non-Catholic” books continue to be compiled (even to this day), little attention is paid to them.

Recognizing state and linguistic boundaries, from the beginning of the 12th century the church began to wield immeasurable power and achieved great power. Not a single event, be it a wedding, the sacrament of birth or death, was complete without the church. The Europeans of that time could not even imagine that things could be different. All everyday affairs, actions, even thoughts were inspired by church dogmas and were part of the order established by the church. The Catholic and Christian world was inextricably linked with religion.

Main tenets

Along with the emergence of the main class - the clergy - in the Middle Ages, people also appeared who dared to go against the opinion of the servants of the Lord. This is perhaps the most superficial explanation of what a heretic is. The appearance of heretics occurs at a time when the church approved the main dogmas at its meetings.

• God is one, but can exist in three forms (father, son, Holy Spirit).
• The Church is the unconditional mediator between humanity and the Lord.
• The immaculate birth of Jesus (by the will of the Holy Spirit), etc.

What is a heretic? This is a person who disagreed at least slightly with the main tenets of the church. People who opposed the exorbitant wealth of the highest church ranks were called heretics. In those days, as we know, the richest were not the rulers running the states, but the church elite. Enormous wealth and an incredible amount of land - all this belonged to the church.

The church is corrupt

Many did not like the obligatory payment of church tithes, the sale of church relics and even positions. Of course, fearing reprisals, persecution and punishment from the Lord, people did not seek to express their opinions, although they had personal views on the behavior of the church. But there were knights, wandering monks and simple priests from small villages who, despite their fear, were able to openly express dissatisfaction with the actions of the church. This will, perhaps, be a more accurate definition of what a heretic is.

This is what they called people who believed that the church had become too corrupted by power and exorbitant wealth. The heretics did not see the benefit and need for too expensive church rites and celebrations. The church and heretics were like two sides of the same coin. Some did not understand the reluctance of people to follow the precepts of the church, while others did not recognize the magnificent church services and called on the church to abandon tithes, wealth and lands.

The Gospel as the only source of faith

What did the heretics preach and what did they achieve? People who did not recognize the dogmas of the church believed that the Gospel could be considered the only source of true faith. After all, it is there that it is written that people should be united, should help their neighbors who are worse off than themselves. The heretics called on the church to distribute its wealth and lands to the poor in order to make people equal.

Understanding what the heretics preached, it will not be surprising to learn that they themselves often gave away their wealth, gave the last to their neighbors, and themselves ate what good people gave. Heretics believed that eating alms was not a sin, but, on the contrary, a great power, “the reign of justice and equality.”

How to fight heretics

In those days, the most terrible punishment was excommunication. This is exactly how heretics were punished at first. But, in fact, all the people surrounding the heretic suffered. What is a heretic? This is a person who has spoken out against the church, while living in a village or city, with neighbors, friends and relatives. Having found out about a heretic, the church could impose an interdict on an entire city or region. People in this place became outlaws.

In addition to the fact that the person himself could not be sheltered, fed or helped in any way, the punishment also applied to the heretic’s inner circle. In cities where there were heretics, churches and temples could be closed. And this entailed terrible consequences for those times: children remained unbaptized, the dead were not inveterate. All believers were afraid that restless souls or infants who had not undergone baptism were doomed to eternal torment.

Forgiveness of sins

In some settlements there were too many heretics. People did not want to remain silent about the unfair (in their opinion) interpretation of the Bible and the forgetting of apostolic poverty. The struggle of the church against heretics in such places became especially tough. Entire armed detachments were sent to the villages with the only order - “destroy.” The church explained the murders of thousands as true forgiveness of sins.

According to historians, the inhabitants of medieval France were especially opposed to church dogmas. It is known that at the beginning of the thirteenth century entire cities were destroyed. The Catholic Church and the heretics waged a constant struggle. However, the clergy had two advantages - enormous power and untold wealth. Many knights went to kill heretics not because of any of their beliefs and beliefs, but in the hope of getting a decent sum of money.

Residents of Albi

Perhaps the historical story about the Albigensians will continue to inspire horror and cause open hostility for a long time. In one of the richest regions of southern France, centered in the city of Albi, especially many heretics gathered. It was there that punitive detachments of the Catholic Church were sent. People living in the city believed that the church, like the clergy, was the messenger and servant not of the Lord God, but of the Devil.

After the punitive “operation” of the church and the “forgiveness of sins,” a countless number of French cities were destroyed, including Albi. And not just destroyed, but completely destroyed. Soldiers and hired punitive forces robbed houses, killed heretics and their families, including small children and old people, and burned entire neighborhoods.

According to the chronicle, more than twenty thousand people were killed in one of the cities of southern France. Before the campaign, the soldiers asked the pope: “How to distinguish a “good Catholic” from a heretic?” Today the answer would shock many: “Kill everyone who gets in the way. God himself will then figure out in Heaven who was his own and who was a stranger.”

Holy Inquisition

In order to fight heretics even more thoroughly and reliably, the church created special detachments at the end of the 15th century. The Holy Inquisition used all available means to overcome dissent (denunciations, torture, executions). It was at this time that death sentences were imposed by hanging. It was then that those who “conspired with evil spirits,” who used magic, or were witches or sorcerers, became heretics. The church could accuse entire villages of making a deal with the Devil. The 16th and 17th centuries were remembered by everyone for the numerous trials of witches, who were tortured, hanged, burned at the stake, drowned, etc.

Joan of Arc

Perhaps the most famous heretic was the Frenchwoman Joan of Arc. The Church called her a witch, an assistant of evil spirits, a sorceress. People considered her a national heroine, a savior and a saint.

In the middle of the 15th century, Joan of Arc was subjected to torture, bullying and painful death at the stake. She was accused of heresy and magic. The most terrible, absurd, terrible, incomprehensible thing is that just two decades later the case of the witch d'Arc was revised , and the girl was declared innocent by Pope Calixtus III himself. In the mid-twentieth century, she was canonized and called the savior of France. And after Jeanne there was Kaepernick, Jan Hus, Giordano Filippo Bruno, Martin Luther.

These are the most striking documented examples of the church’s struggle against heretics that have survived to this day. The brightest, but far from the only ones. And it is hardly possible to come up with something more terrible than “saving human souls” through the use of inquisitorial tribunals.

In the 4th century AD e. Emperor Constantine turned the persecuted Christian religion into an official one, accepted everywhere in the vast expanses of the Roman Empire. After this, the persecuted and oppressed supporters of Christianity themselves began to reject and persecute their enemies, attributing to them unorthodox, non-generally accepted beliefs. At the same time, the Roman bishops developed a system of views and concepts, which later became the basis of Catholicism. Everything that did not fall under this system began to be despised, and later cruelly persecuted. People who disagreed with generally accepted religious views were called heretics, and the teachings themselves began to be called heresies.

Social causes of heresies

The emergence of heresies in Christianity is usually associated with the social and ideological changes that arose in the lives of Christians during the period of persecution. The poorest segments of the population sought reconciliation and equality in the new religion. Therefore, the gradual process of enriching the clergy, strengthening the administrative principle, and apostasy during the period of persecution could not but cause condemnation from ordinary believers. The ideals of a modest and simple early Christian life continued to live in the poorest segments of the population. The contradictory moods of the masses, varied interpretations of Christian teaching and general dissatisfaction with the well-fed life of the higher clergy gave impetus to the emergence and spread of ideas preached by heretics, with whom the Catholic Church waged a long and bloody struggle.

Council of Nicaea

In 313, he issued the Act of Tolerance, according to which all citizens were granted freedom of religion. This document, later called the Edict of Milan, essentially designated Christianity as a full-fledged religion. After this, in 325, it took place in Nicaea, where the word “heresy” was used for the first time. The first heretic was Bishop Arius, who until then was considered one of the pillars of Christianity. Arius preached the creation, the secondary nature of Jesus Christ in comparison with God. Orthodox was the equality between God and Jesus Christ, which later formed the basis of the dogma of the Trinity. Arius and his followers, called Arians, became the first bearers of the ideas that the heretics preached.

Centuries without heretics

In 384, Priscillian was executed, the last of those officially condemned for his faith in the Roman Empire. But the political vision and methods of strengthening power left as a legacy by this powerful state were accepted and actively applied by the Catholic Church. For centuries, Catholicism did not pay attention to the discrepancies in the New Testament, but actively converted European peoples to Christianity. And only after the establishment of the Carolingian empire - that is, with the strengthening of secular power, at the turn of the millennium, Catholicism became a generally accepted religion, and the word “heresy” reappeared in the chronicles and annals of that time.

Causes

Monks who lived at the beginning of the second millennium often described the healing abilities of holy relics and various miracles happening to believers. In these same records there is also an extremely disapproving mention of those who treated holy relics with ridicule; perhaps the first heretics were those people who did not recognize “holy miracles.” These ridicule resulted in protests that took place in the name of the Gospel - the Gospel of meekness, justice, poverty and humility, the Gospel of the first Christians and the apostles. The views that the heretics preached were based on evangelical concepts, which, in their opinion, reflected the very essence of Christianity.

The beginning of the persecution

According to medieval annals and chronicles, those who were called heretics denied the authority of the Councils, refused to baptize children, and did not recognize the sacraments of marriage and confession. The first example of how the church fought against heretics that reached historians dates back to 1022. The sentences of the dissidents burned in Orleans conveyed to posterity the essence of what the heretics preached. These people did not recognize the sacrament of communion, baptism was performed with one laying on of hands, and they denied the cult of the Crucifixion. It cannot be assumed that heretics came from low strata of the population. On the contrary, the first victims of the fires were educated confessors of that time, using theology to justify their dissent.

The execution in Orleans opened the way to the most severe repressions. The fight against heretics lit fires in Aquitaine and Toulouse. Entire communities of other faiths were brought to the bishops, who appeared before church courts with the Bible in their hands, proving and explaining with quotations from the Holy Scriptures the correctness of what the heretics preached. How it fought against heretics is clear from the verdicts of church judges. The condemned were sent to the stake in their entirety, which spared neither children nor the elderly. Bonfires in Europe are a vivid example of how the church fought against heretics.

In the 12th century, fires began to burn in the Rhineland. There were so many heretics that the monk Everwin de Steinfeld requested help from the Cistercian monk Bernard, who had a reputation for consistent and cruel persecution of infidels. After large-scale pogroms and raids, fires burned in Cologne. Judicial investigations and sentences of dissidents were no longer a set of unfounded accusations of witchcraft and debauchery, but contained clear points of disagreement between heretics and orthodox church concepts. The convicted and sentenced “apostles of Satan” accepted their death so steadfastly that they caused concern and murmurs from the crowd present at the burning.

Pockets of heresy

Despite the fierce repression of the church, pockets of heresy arose throughout Europe. The popular concept of dualism, as the struggle between good and evil, found a second wind in heretical movements. The principle of dualism was that the world was created not by God, but by the rebel angel Lucifer, which is why there is so much evil, hunger, death and disease in it. At the end of the 12th century, dualism was considered one of the most serious heresies. The concept of the battle between good and evil, angel and dragon, was widespread in the world, but the church began to fight this idea much later. This was explained by the fact that in the 12th century, royal and church power strengthened in Europe, life became relatively stabilized, and the principle of dualism - struggle - became unnecessary and even dangerous. The power and might of God, and therefore the Church, is what the heretics opposed, and what was dangerous for the strengthening of Catholicism.

Spread of heresies

In the 12th century, the lands of Southern Europe were considered the main centers of heresies. Communities were built in the image and likeness of Catholic churches, but, unlike the orthodox clergy, women were also given a place in the management of the church. Heretics in the Middle Ages were called “good men” and “good women.” Later historians began to call them Cathars. This name comes from the Middle Ages, the word cattier is translated as a sorcerer who worships a cat.

It is known that the Cathars had their own church institutions, held their own councils, and attracted more and more adherents to their ranks. If France and Germany destroyed dissent in the bud, then in Italy and Languedoc the Cathars expanded and strengthened their influence. Many noble families of that time accepted the new faith and provided food and shelter to their persecuted coreligionists and spread the teachings that the heretics preached.

How the Catholic Church fought heretics

At the beginning of the 13th century. ascended the papal throne whose goal was to unite the entire European world and return the southern European lands to the monastery of the church. After a series of failures, the Catholic Church, having assumed full powers to eradicate heresies and entered into an alliance with the king of France, led a crusade against dissidents. Twenty years of incessant wars and mass burnings of people led to the complete capture of Languedoc and the introduction of the Catholic faith. But there remained entire families and communities of people who secretly preserved the customs of their ancestors and resisted the conquerors. It was with the goal of identifying and eradicating the rebellious that the Inquisition was created.

Inquisition

In 1233, the papacy created a special body that had the power to impose penance and punish the disobedient. The power of the Inquisition was transferred to the Dominicans and Franciscans, who brought a new sermon to the Southern lands, based on the dogmas of the Catholic Church. Instead of open armed terror, the Inquisition used denunciations and slander as a tool to identify and destroy the disobedient. Compared to the mass executions of the past, the Inquisition killed few, but it was all the more terrible to be in its hands. Simple repentants could get away with public repentance; for those who defended their right to faith, the sentence was the fire. Even the dead were not spared - their remains were exhumed and burned.

Thus, the Catholic Church and the heretics fought an unequal battle for the same faith, for the same God. The entire history of the formation of Catholicism is illuminated by the fires of those who died for their faith. The extermination of heretics served as further proof of how one powerful Church, in the name of Christ, destroyed another, weaker Church.