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| A map of the Byzantine Empire, c.1180AD |
The Crusades were a product
of the Dark
Age of Europe just about the time when the Medieval Age was coming
to an
end. In the Tenth and Eleventh centuries Europe was a kaleidoscope of
powers
which were constantly struggling against each other. The Germans,
Franks and
Normans were the dominant powers, each one trying to control the many
other
lesser powers which existed and in this way become the ruling force.
One of the
lesser powers which played a significant role in this struggle for the
domination of Europe was the Papacy. Life in Europe during this age and
earlier
revolved around these struggles. Poverty and disease, which were ever
present,
made the life of the average person of that age unbearable.
Learning had become virtually
non-existent
in this Feudal society where the majority of people were either serfs
or
slaves, totally dependent on the lord of the land to which they were
attached. The
clergy were just about the only ones who had an access to learning.
More often
than not, the Lord of the land was illiterate and depended on various
clergy to
undertake the administration of the land. This along with the fact that
the clergy,
as Gods vicars, could guarantee Eternal Beatitude, gave such power to
the
Church, that the Kings, Lords and Knights of Europe were constantly
trying to
find ways to control the Roman Church. The feudal lords came to control
all
ecclesiastical positions. Bishops and abbots were appointed by
the lords.
These bishops and abbots often were appointed to powerful positions in
the
lord’s administration. Not to be outdone, the Church also struggled to
control
the secular rulers. This resulted in many power struggles.
In Medieval Society there
were only two
paths which might alleviate the misery of the individual: join the
clergy or be
part of an army. The whole of European Society was controlled by the
Lords and
their Knights on one hand and the Bishops and their clergy on the
other. The
Feudal way of life had permeated every aspect of Medieval Society. Even
the
Church eventually succumbed and was eventually absorbed by the
feudalistic
society which surrounded it. The taking up of arms was blessed by the
Roman
Church and made holy. Special monastic military orders were established
and it
was at this time that the Knights Templar, the Teutonic
Knights
and the Knights of St. John Hospital were founded by the
Church. For a
sacred cause, monks, priests, bishops and even the Pope would take up
arms and
go into battle.
This was contrary to the
Canons of the Ancient Church and when Orthodox Christians came into
contact with such clergy they were
thoroughly scandalized. Anna Komnene, a Byzantine princess during the
Fourth
Crusade expresses the common feelings of the Orthodox in the following
words:
The Latins have not the same
notion of a
priest as we have. . .The Latin barbarian celebrates the divine
mysteries and
at the same time girds a shield on his left arm and holds a lance in
his right:
while he gives communion with the divine Body and Blood, he watches
carnage and
becomes a man of blood himself (Alexiad, 10, 8).
The Papacy during the tenth
and eleventh
century had capitulated to the Feudal spirit thereby affecting its life
and
theology. It was going through some of the worse days in its history.
The
Papacy was no longer in control of its destiny. The Vatican had become
a minor
power in the secular world, alternately at the mercy of Roman nobility,
the
German King or the Norman chieftains, Corruption was rampant to such an
extent
that we find the Papacy during the tenth century ruled by the Pope’s
mistress, the
infamous Roman noblewoman, Marozia (c. 890 – 932/937). She was so
powerful that
she was able to place her illegitimate son and grandson on the throne
of Rome. In 962, Pope John XII, her grandson was forced to crown Otto,
King of Germany,
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Within a year, Otto deposed John XII
and
forced the Romans to accept his young cousin as the first German Pope
of Rome. Church strife was so intense that it led to the simultaneous
existence of many
Popes. In 1046, just eight years before the Schism, the turmoil in Rome
had led to the existence of three separate Popes. This conflict between
Rome and Germany lasted for many years and during this time the Germans
were able to force
the Papacy to accept the Filioque and its theology as developed
by
Carolingian court theologians.
The Normans were descendants
of the
Vikings who settled in northern France, thereafter known as Normandy.
In 911
they accepted Christianity and started to take an active part in the
life of Europe and the Papacy. In the eleventh century Europe
experienced a population explosion
which led the major powers to look for new lands to inhabit. The
Germans
absorbed Slavic territories in the East, whereas the Normans conquered
England, southern Italy and Sicily. When they invaded Italy they found
that they were opposed by the
German Pope Leo IX. In June 1053, Pope Leo IX, in full armour, led his
army
against the Normans and was defeated. The Normans now faced a dilemma.
If they
allowed the Pope to go free he would be a threat, but they could not
place the
leader of their Church in a prison. They decided to take the Pope
captive and
to treat him as a guest. He brought his whole court with him to
Benevento. He
returned to Rome in March 1054 and died on April 19, 1054.
While still a captive of the
Normans, Pope Leo IX received a letter from Michael Cerularios, the
Patriarch of Constantinople,
who complained about certain Papal innovations of which the Filioque
was
the most important. The Pope, who upon his returning to Rome, was now
under the
control of the most powerful member of the Roman Curia, Cardinal
Humbert, who
was appointed by the Germans to control the Pope. It was decided that
Cardinal
Humbert would lead a delegation to Constantinople to protest what was
considered an insult on the part of Patriarch Michael. Early in the
spring of 1054,
Cardinal Humbert started his trip to Constantinople which he reached
in July.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo IX died in captivity on April 19th, 1054 thus
nullifying
the authority of the delegation.
There was no Pope of Rome
until September
1054 when Henry, the King of Germany, appointed a new one. On Saturday,
July
16th, 1054, however, Cardinal Humbert with the other legates entered
the Church of Aghia Sophia durIng the Divine Liturgy. In his hands he
held a Bull which
he himself had authored. He then paraded up to the Holy Table where he
laid the
Bull, excommunicating and anathematizing Patriarch Michael and
all those
who followed him. Cardinal Humbert then rushed out of the Church
stopping only
to symbolically shake the dust off his robes. In this manner the Papacy
officially separated itself from the Church of Christ. Cardinal Humbert
returned to the Papacy where he still was very influential and was
successful
in having his actions approved.
In the following years a
reform movement
sought to consolidate the power of the Papacy and to force its rule on
all
Christians. By 1059 the reform movement within the Papacy had fully
allied
itself with the Normans and with their support the College of
Cardinals
received its first definite constitution as the electors of the Pope.
The
Papacy was increasing its power base.
In 1095 Pope Urban II
realized that it
would be extremely beneficial for the Papacy to be able to unite all
the
warring factions of Europe in a struggle against a common foe. On
Thursday,
November 27th, Pope Urban II preached a sermon in France during which
he
summoned all the warring powers of Europe to unite, take up the banner
of the
Cross and go off to fight a Holy War to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy
Cross
from the hands of the infidel Arabs. All this was said knowing full
well that
although the Arabs were the political masters of the Holy Lands, all of
the
Holy Sites were in the hands of the local Orthodox Christians. In
actuality,
the Pope had a greater hatred for the Orthodox Christians than for the
Moslem Arabs
and this contempt was shown in the manner with which they dealt with
the
Orthodox population of the lands which the Crusaders conquered.
Preachers, monks, priests and
bishops were
dispatched throughout Europe to instruct the faithful that it was their
sacred
duty to fight for Christ. Within the next three hundred years hundreds
of
thousands of Europeans would set out for the East bringing havoc and
destruction to the Orthodox Christians of Southern Italy and Sicily,
Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Asia Minor and the Middle East. Their
destruction did not suffice;
they wanted complete control. To accomplish this they formed various
kingdoms
within the conquered lands and, after expelling the local Orthodox
hierarchs,
they would, replace them with Papal bishops. The Crusades were
responsible for
the virtual destruction of the Christian Church of the Middle East.
They
weakened the Byzantine Empire so much that it could not survive the
attacks of
the Turks. The Papacy, however, did not restrict the use of the
Crusades
against the schismatic Greeks and the infidel Arabs but soon learned
how to
destroy heretics in Southern France and the Hohenstaufen dynasty of
Germany. Years later the tortures and deaths of the inquisitions which
plagued Europe were a result of this new doctrine of sacred warfare.
Wave after wave of kings and
nobles with their
armies descended on the East. During the Third Crusade on May 6th 1191,
on his
way to Jerusalem, Richard the Lion-hearted, the Norman King of England,
stopped to attack and conquer the island of Cyprus. Within a few months
he sold it to the
Knights Templar and they soon sold it to the deposed King of Jerusalem.
Needless to say, the inhabitants of Cyprus were the ones who were
expected to
pay the costs. The Crusaders established themselves on Cyprus,
immediately making the inhabitants serfs. All educated persons were
expelled and
the Orthodox Dioceses were now headed by Latin bishops. It appeared as
if the
Orthodox Church in Cyprus would be annihilated in a matter of time.
Through God’s Providence, the
Papal plans
were not allowed to bear fruit. The Orthodox people of Cyprus had at
that time a great man of God in their midst and through his efforts the
people were strengthened in their Orthodox Faith.
St.
Neophytos
was
born
in
the
year
1134
of
pious
Orthodox
parents
who
had eight children. His parents, Athanasios
and
Evdoxia, strove to impart to their children a love for our Lord.
Evdoxia upon
the death of her husband entered a convent. The family was extremely
poor and
the Saint had to till the fields with his father and was not able to
attend
school even for one day. When Saint Neophytos became eighteen years
old, his
parents, according to the custom of the time, undertook to arrange a
marriage
for him.
The blessed one, even at that
young age,
had come to understand the vanity of this world and his soul desired to
give
itself completely to out Saviour. He secretly departed from his
paternal home
and sought to find a monastery where his parents would not find him. He
reached Mount
Koutsoventes where he found a monastery dedicated to
Saint John
Chrysostom. When the Holy one arrived at the monastery, the Fathers
were in
Church and so Saint Neophytos entered. The Fathers were reading the
first verse
of the Book of Genesis, In the beginning God created the Heaven and
the
Earth. These words filled the Saint’s soul with a joy that he had
never
felt before. In his heart there was kindled the love of the knowledge
of the
Mysteries of God. He asked God to give him the Grace to understand the
words of
the Divine Books, for as we said earlier, he was illiterate.
The Holy Neophytos struggled
devoutly in
the monastery. He was obedient to the rule that he was given and
supplemented
it with trying to teach himself to read the Service Books of the
Church. Cyprus, however, does not cover a great expanse and his parents
soon discovered where he
was concealed. His parents pleaded with him for many hours to return to
their
home and Neophytos as an obedient son agreed to follow them. Upon
returning he
immediately began to speak to them of his fervent desire to follow the
angelic
life. He appealed to them to grant him their blessing and when his
parents saw
the fervour of his faith, they acceded to his request. Once again he
set out
for the Monastery of Saint John Chrysostom.
On arriving, he sought out
the abbot and
begged him to put upon him the holy Schema of the monks. Wherefore, the
righteous one was tonsured and was clothed in monastic garments. As
soon as the
service was completed the blessed one began to weep with joy and to
kiss his
new robes, all the while fervently praying that the Lord would give him
the
Grace to keep his garment pure. Saint Neophytos describes the joy that
he felt
at that moment In the following words: Never has anyone been so
captivated
by their wedding clothing as much as I have by the wearing of the
monastic
garment.
In the monastery, the Saint
was given the
obedience to work in the vineyards. He remained in this service for
five years,
praying and studying the word of God night and day. Although
unlettered,
through the Grace of God he was soon not only able to read, but could
recite by
heart the Psalms of Prophet David. Here we see a great wonder. We know
that
Saint Neophytos had never attended a school even for one day and yet
our Lord
gave him such understanding that his writings can be compared with the
works of
the great Fathers of the Church. It is estimated that he was the author
of many
works totaling as much as five thousand pages. Currently scholars at
the University of Edinburgh Scotland are preparing to publish the
surviving writings of Saint
Neophytos. They expect that the publication will contain about one
thousand
pages. This great Father wrote interpretations to the Psalms, Song
of
Songs and the Six-day Creation. Included In his works are
many
Homilies, Hymns and Odes along with many letters written to the
faithful. This
is an accomplishment which can only be brought about by the Grace. of
God.
There are many events in the
Saints life
that witness to the fact that his gift was God-sent. On one occasion
the
righteous one was visited by a priest who had a great veneration for
Saint
Diomedes and requested that the Saint compose a homily on Saint
Diomedes so
that those who would hear it would be encouraged to emulate the Saint.
The man
of God, however, did not heed the priest’s request. Earlier he had
decided not
to write any more because some people inspired by Satan were
scandalized by the
abundance of the Saints writings. The priest would not leave the site
of the
cave. After twenty four hours, Saint Neophytos, not wishing to be
unbending,
acceded to the priest’s pleas. That very night, Saint Diomedes appeared
to the
great ascetic and asked him to put his life in writing. When Saint
Neophytos
awoke he realized that this day was the feast day of Saint Diomedes.
After working obediently in
the
monastery’s vineyard for five years, he was given a blessing by the
abbot to
become the monastery’s ecclesiarch in which capacity he served for two
years.
At this time he asked for a blessing to become a hermit but the abbot
would not
give this blessing. Obediently he continued in his position as
ecclesiarch and
then a year later the abbot approached him and told him that he was
free to go
and become a desert dweller. His desire was to go to the Holy Lands to
live as
an ascetic under the guidance of a desert father. Upon reaching the
Holy Land
he venerated all the holy places around Jerusalem. He then set forth
northwards
to the mountains of Magdala, Tabor and Jordan. During his six-month
stay in the
Holy Lands he sought out every cave and crevice in search of one to
whom he
could place himself under obedience. The fathers of the Palestinian
deserts,
however, had been driven away by the incursions of the Arabs and later
by those
of the Crusaders. In vain did the righteous one search for a spiritual
guide.
One day as he was asking for Gods direction our Lord appeared to him
and spoke
to him in the following words: Not in this desert but go to another
place
where the king will descend and grant you a morsel.
 |
| Letter by Manuel I Komnenos to Pope Eugene III on the issue of the crusades (Constantinople, 1146, Vatican Secret Archives) |
Saint Neophytos returned to
the Monastery
of Saint John Chrysostom until he could determine to which desert our
Lord was
directing him. He learned that many desert fathers had fled from
Palestine and Egypt to Mount Latros in Asia Minor. Once more with the
blessing of the
abbot he set out In search of the desert which his soul longed for. The
Lord
God in His wisdom and out of love for the Orthodox people of Cyprus did
not allow the blessed one to leave the Island. When the Saint reached
the port city of Paphos, he was arrested by the guards of that city who
suspected that he was a fugitive.
He was bound and cast into prison where he remained for a sufficient
length of
time. Certain Christians of the city learned of his situation and
arranged for
his release. Seeing this as a sign from God, he determined not to leave
Cyprus.
Not having any particular
place in mind he
left the city and directed himself toward the highlands. North of
Paphos, high
on a mountain he found a desert place with a steep precipice On closer
examination he was able to discern a small cave and immediately the
Saint knew
that this was the desert which the Lord selected for him. This cave was
found
on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, June 24th, 1159. He began
cleaning and
leveling it out, using his own hands or stakes that he found
nearby. The
site was extremely rugged and it took him about fifteen months to
complete his
task. On the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross his cave
was
ready. He dedicated it to the Feast not only because on that day his
labours
ceased but more so in order to have the Cross of our Lord always before
him.
For the Saint, a monk had to be above all a Cross-bearer. He had a
great love
for the Holy Cross and this can be seen in the many hymns he wrote
glorifying
the Precious Cross.
Along with preparing a place
to sit and
lie down he also prepared his tomb inside the cave. Once the tomb was
completed
he inscribed underneath it the following: You will gain no more
than this,
even if you should acquire the whole world. Truly the King
descended here
and granted His Saint much Grace. One may imagine the suffering and
hardships
of the flesh that Saint Neophytos must have endured in that desert
place. These
the man of God countered with readings from the Holy Fathers, prayers,
prostrations, vigils and standing all night with his hands extended
towards our
Heavenly Father begging for a morsel of His Grace. Here he would
remember that Paradise was lost because of sin and that man was a
prince who had lost his inheritance. He
would weep and lament for hours, pleading to regain Divine Sonship. He
was no
longer the Kings son but a stranger in a strange land, a captive in a
foreign
land. How could he not weep?
Within this cave he vowed to
enclose
himself giving it the name Enkleistra or Enclosure. He
confined
himself to physical darkness so that he may receive the Heavenly and
Uncreated
Light of the Most Holy Trinity. In a vision our Lord revealed to the
Saint the
time of his departure from this life. Our Lord first told him that he
would be
taken up to worship the Heavenly Cross in fifty years and then said
that it
would take place in sixty years. This extension was given so that Saint
Neophytos would be able to make the faith of the Cypriot people firmer.
The
holy one then increased his ascetic struggles vowing not to eat cooked
food and
to wear chains on his body. Later he commanded his disciples to bury
him with
these chains.
His fame spread
everywhere and many
flocked to him for his prayers and blessing. Those who loved this
God-loving
man came nearly every day and besought him fervently to become his
disciples.
After much pleading he consented to accept a few disciples, later
commanding
that his monastery never exceed eighteen fathers. The holy one avoided
the
esteem of men, but the all-merciful God, Who cares for the salvation of
our
souls ordained that the Saint’s Grace become known to all. In a divine
vision
Basil, the Bishop of Paphos, was commanded by our Lord to ordain His
Saint to
the Priesthood. For four years the bishop, who had great love and
veneration
for Saint Neophytos, pleaded with him to accept ordination from his
hands.
Finally, in obedience the man of God received the Grace of the
Priesthood. He
was thirty-six years of age when through Gods Providence he entered the
final
stage of preparation which would make him the spiritual father of all
Cyprus when the Latin cloud would descend upon it.
Every day during the Divine
Liturgy he
would receive the Sacred Mysteries which would restore the lost
sonship. With
his few disciples he started the construction of a monastery not too
far from
his cave. For thirteen years they worked unceasingly to build this
future
spiritual centre of Cyprus, as if the man of God knew what the Lord had
ordained for him. The people of Cyprus were about to go through great
temptations, but the Lord would provide them with the means to
withstand. The
funds for the construction of the monastery were provided by the
Emperor of
Constantinople himself and many other Byzantine nobles, as a
Patriarchal
document which survives to this day attests to.
The Saint called the fathers
of the
monastery the Enkleistoi or the Enclosed Ones. He
diligently
instructed them not only in the ways of ascetic struggle but also gave
much
attention to teaching them the Orthodox Faith. Not only did he insure
that the
monastery had as many writings of the great Fathers as possible, but he
zealously endeavoured to acquire the Holy Relics of many Saints for the
fathers
to venerate and from which they would receive enlightenment.
The monastery was filled with
many Holy
Ikons. Especially noteworthy are the frescoes depicting scenes from the
Holy
Gospels. It is at this point where we notice how concerned Saint
Neophytos was
to lead not only his monks but all Christ-loving people closer to our
Lord. We
observe that the Saint commanded the ikonographer to include him in
many of the
ikons. In the ikon of the Mystical Supper he places himself next to
Judas, in
the Washing of the Disciples feet, near Saint Peter, and in the Descent
from
the Cross he puts himself in the place of Saint Joseph of Arimathea.
This was
done to set an example of how we should fervently desire to be
inseparably
united to our Lord.
On May 6th 1191, Richard the
Lion-hearted
invaded and captured Cyprus on his way to Jerusalem to take part in the
Third
Crusade. From this day on the people of Cyprus were ruled by
non-Orthodox
foreigners until 1958. Richard the Lion-hearted sold Cyprus to the
monastic
order of the Knights Templars, who in turn sold it to the deposed King
of
Jerusalem, Guy de Lusignan, in 1192. The Franks introduced the Feudal
system
and all Cypriots became serfs. The Orthodox Church was persecuted and
all
educated people and most bishops were forced to leave. Using similar
methods in
Southern Italy and in Sicily, the Papacy forced the people to become
Roman
Catholics.
Saint Neophytos, at
fifty-eight years of
age, was called on by God to undertake a new struggle as the spiritual
guide of
all Cyprus. In 1196 under the direction of Pope Celestine III, a Latin
Metropolitan along with suffragan bishops were given the spiritual
leadership
of the people of Cyprus. This was the Papal policy in all the conquered
lands
where there were Orthodox. Saint Neophytos led the resistance against
the
latinization of Cyprus without going against his vow to remain in his
cave.
When it was necessary, he would write general epistles which were sent
to the
various parish throughout Cyprus. On Sunday or a Feast day the priest
would
read the epistle to the people who had come to partake in the Divine
Liturgy.
The Orthodox Christians would heed the words of the Saint just as if
they were
coming directly from the mouth of God. The righteous one would instruct
the
faithful in all the matters that were needed for one to remain in the
Faith.
His letters would include admonitions against laxity regarding the holy
fasts,
the significance of the Great Feasts, and exhortations to stand firm in
the
current struggle against the Latins. On occasion he would also
stipulate that
an epitimion should be given for violating the Holy Canons. In
one
letter when he referred to the Crusaders coming to save Jerusalem, he
wrote
that it is similar to the wolves coming to chase away the dogs...
In
another
letter
he
wrote:
Our country now is no better than that of
a raging
sea, under a great storm and tempest. Nay it is worse than a wild sea.
For a
calm succeeds the wildness of the sea, but here day by day the tempest
increases
and its fury knows no end.
Saint Neophytos observed that
the growing
numbers of the faithful and those who desired to attend to his teaching
were
depriving him of his cherished solitude. He decided that after forty
years in
his beloved cave of the Holy Cross he would have to leave and go higher
up on
the precipice. Placing a ladder on the ledge outside his cave he stood
on top
of the ladder and excavated a small opening which with time he enlarged
so that
it would become his new place of habitation. Once the new cave was
complete he
wished to make a ledge upon which he could walk. As the ledge was
nearing
completion, Satan, the hater of good, caused a boulder to dislodge and,
as it
rolled, it took with it the man of God. The Lord, however, wished to
glorify
His Saint even more and just as the Saint was about to roll off the
ledge and
fall to his death, the boulder was held back by the hand of God.
Underneath the
boulder the Saints right hand and part of his robe were caught whereas
the rest
of him was already over the ledge. The Fathers who were watching
helplessly from
down below glorified God for His mercy and rushed to dislodge the Saint
from
the boulder.
This new cave was named New
Zion. There,
he accustomed himself to living in total silence not even attending the
Divine
Services except on the Lords Day, on which day he would also instruct
his
disciples. At other times he would listen to the Divine Services and
prayers of
the fathers through a hole which was his only contact with the cave
below. The
Saint struggled in this way for a long time. He foreknew the day of his
departure from this world, which he did not hide from his disciples;
rather he
summoned them and instructed them both verbally and in writing on how
they were
to continue after his departure. He also ordered that, after the
funeral
service, they bury him in the tomb which he had prepared and that it
should be
walled up and an ikon painted on the wall because he wished his tomb to
remain unknown.
He also expressed his desire to be buried
in the burial garments
which
he himself had prepared and with the chains which he always wore. He
bade them
live in peace and harmony and in a God-pleasing manner to obey the
abbot they
would elect. After he uttered these things, he
prayed for them, gave them
his blessing, and gave up his blessed soul into the hands of God.
The man of God reposed on April 12th, 1219 after having given the people of Cyprus the guidance which would assist them in resisting the efforts of the Papists to separate them from the Kingdom of Heaven. He had become a spring of living water that did not dry up after his departure from this world. The sixty years of his struggle in the Enkleistra, just as the Lord had foretold him, had come to an end. The Grace that flowed from that holy cave, however, would not cease. His presence was something the people of Cyprus always felt although for hundreds of years no one knew where his Holy Relic was. Through the Grace of God its presence was revealed in the following manner. On September 27th, 1750, a certain monk who had thought that he found a hollow space in the wall of the Enkleistra was overcome by temptation and imagined that there was a treasure to be found behind the wall. That night he waited for the fathers to sleep and he went to the Cave of the Holy Cross with a pickaxe and made an opening in the wall. He was then struck down by a Divine hand. When he came to himself, he ran to the abbot to confess his sin. The abbot, realizing the true nature of the treasure that was found, summoned the other fathers and lifted the marble cover and immediately the cave was filled with indescribable fragrance. Since then the 28th of September is also kept as a feast day by our Holy Church.
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