Who Is Gregory The Great: Idolatry And Iconoclasm?
Gregory the Great: Idolatry and Iconoclasm
By: Meghan Cessna
Western Civilizations WI
Father Bud
21 November 2014
Gregory the Great has been called the Destroyer of Idols wrongly, because there is not enough evidence to support this claim. However, did Gregory the Great open the door to the first iconoclastic period of the 8th century? How can Gregory the Great be wrongly accused of being a destroyer of idols, but yet open the door to the first iconoclastic period? These are important questions that will be investigated so as to better understand Gregory the Great and the end of the 6th century leading into the 8th century.
Gregory the great was born around 540 in Italy. Some background into what was going on around the time …show more content…
In it he speaks about the pagan temples in England. It is the only letter in which he directly speaks of destroying idols. He says that “the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let water be consecrated and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected, and relics placed there. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God.” So what it seems like Gregory is doing is taking the temples, leaving them, and transforming them into Christian places of worship. It seems to be a way of incorporating the two religions in a sense, but it is almost like taking the body of a car and putting a different engine in it. The outside looks the same and has not been demolished, but the inside has been changed with a different engine that is taking the car in a different direction. This can be backed up by his next sentence which says, “seeing their temples not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true God, may they more freely resort to the places of which they have been accustomed.” Basically he is saying that if they leave the temples, they will continue their routines and continue practicing but towards the true God rather than the pagan idols they were used to worshiping. He then goes onto speaking about how to go about the sacrificing of oxen. He says they should continue this practice, but instead kill cattle and offer them to God. He then uses a biblical reference about the exodus from Egypt. In this reference, God says that sacrifice in the name of God can be used as a way to praise him, as long as it is not to idols, for that is a sin. From this letter, it can be concluded that there is in fact evidence of Gregory ordering a destruction of idols. Yet, considering
By: Meghan Cessna
Western Civilizations WI
Father Bud
21 November 2014
Gregory the Great has been called the Destroyer of Idols wrongly, because there is not enough evidence to support this claim. However, did Gregory the Great open the door to the first iconoclastic period of the 8th century? How can Gregory the Great be wrongly accused of being a destroyer of idols, but yet open the door to the first iconoclastic period? These are important questions that will be investigated so as to better understand Gregory the Great and the end of the 6th century leading into the 8th century.
Gregory the great was born around 540 in Italy. Some background into what was going on around the time …show more content…
In it he speaks about the pagan temples in England. It is the only letter in which he directly speaks of destroying idols. He says that “the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in them be destroyed; let water be consecrated and sprinkled in the said temples, let altars be erected, and relics placed there. For if those temples are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of devils to the service of the true God.” So what it seems like Gregory is doing is taking the temples, leaving them, and transforming them into Christian places of worship. It seems to be a way of incorporating the two religions in a sense, but it is almost like taking the body of a car and putting a different engine in it. The outside looks the same and has not been demolished, but the inside has been changed with a different engine that is taking the car in a different direction. This can be backed up by his next sentence which says, “seeing their temples not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true God, may they more freely resort to the places of which they have been accustomed.” Basically he is saying that if they leave the temples, they will continue their routines and continue practicing but towards the true God rather than the pagan idols they were used to worshiping. He then goes onto speaking about how to go about the sacrificing of oxen. He says they should continue this practice, but instead kill cattle and offer them to God. He then uses a biblical reference about the exodus from Egypt. In this reference, God says that sacrifice in the name of God can be used as a way to praise him, as long as it is not to idols, for that is a sin. From this letter, it can be concluded that there is in fact evidence of Gregory ordering a destruction of idols. Yet, considering