2 February 962 A.D. Otto crowned (Holy Roman) Emperor by the
Bishop of Rome, John XII.
Dr. Rusten tells
the story.
Rusten, E.
Michael and Rusten, Sharon. The One Year
Christian History. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2003. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Year-Christian-History-Books/dp/0842355073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393302630&sr=8-1&keywords=rusten+church+history
John XIIl
was one of the worst in the long line of reprobates in the Roman see.
King Otto
1 was one of the better and strong German sovereigns.
John XII
crowned Otto 1 as Emperor on 2 February
962. This was done in the Italian
hellhole of Rome. As such, according to
Dr. Rusten, the Pope was signing his own political death certification while
re-issuing the rebirth certificate for the strengthened (Holy Roman) Empire.
The (Holy
Roman) Empire received its ceremonial warrant with Charlemagne on Christmas
Day, 800 A.D. Charlemagne was
worshipping quietly at St. Peter’s in Rome when the bishop of Rome, Pope Leo
III, stepped down and crowned him successor to the Roman Caesars. Of course, that tagged the Pope as the
Ego-man with the authority to confer such in the first place, as if such were
legitimated by the Biblical witness, to make or break kings or queens. Later bishops of Rome would turn this into
quite an art form.
Charlemagne’s
successors did not succeed in holding things together. There was no central
government. Norseman from the North were
invading targets of opportunity including England. Feudalism emerged and varied
alliances and allegiances were on offer. By the end of the 9th and
first half of the 10th century, the Popes were doing jigs of
subordination to varied political entities.
Greed,
violence, intrigue and more informed the Pornocrats in Rome. Popes were deposed
or installed at whim. Drunken orgies
were held in the Lateran Palace under John XII.
Meanwhile,
Otto 1 was growing in power and prestige. He generously granted large
land-grants to German bishops whose loyalty turned towards him rather than the
southern bishop of Italy. A certain independence developed amongst German
bishops.
As
previously noted, Otto 1 rode into Rome quietly and peaceably. John XII did the honors. But, Otto witnessed first-hand the moral
degradation. He was horrified by it all,
something Luther and Cranmer would centuries later. Something we’ve witnessed
in our times with the massive pedophilia coverups, but we digress.
A year
later, 963, Otto returned to Rome. He
summoned John XII before an ecclesiastical tribunal on charges of adultery,
incest, bribes of bishops, and for turning the Papal palace into a
brothel. John XII disregarded the
summons and went hunting.
The
Cardinals, however, removed John XII and put in a layman. The new Pope, Leo VIII, now answered to Otto
1, a convenient State-over-Church arrangement that would be seen in other
nations, e.g. Tudor and Stuart England.
Subsequent
Popes would attempt to readjust that relationship. The Full-of-Bull Uanm Sanctum of 1301 claimed the Pope to be sovereign in both
realms of Church and State. France’s
King was unamused by the Bull, but that’s for another day.
We
remember this day when John XII crowned Otto 1.
Questions
- What about modern Popes? TBN? Large mega-ministries? Mark Driscoll? CJ Mahaney before his recent demise?
- What good academic studies are there dealing with the church-state relationship through the ages?
- What role does the Civil Magistrate play today?
- Was Otto 1 right in getting John XII deposed? Was the deposition largely ecclesiastical? Should modern leaders, e.g. Queen Elizabeth, move ecclesiastical leaders to depose some English bishops?
- Should US Presidents use the bully pulpit on theology? To pressure churches themselves to discipline liberals, for example? That is, use moral force so the churches would do their duty and clean their barns of the horse crap?
Sources
Schaff,
Philip. History of the Christian Church. 4:
283-84.
Walker, Williston. A History of the Christian Church.
Rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 1959. 188.
No comments:
Post a Comment