Rome fell five times, three times to Byzantium, two times to the Goths and reduced to a small town. Africa, which had been more or less recovered by Justinian, had the same experience. At first his army was welcomed; later people became aware of the corruption of Byzantine administration and the dangers of exorbitant taxes. In the end, many people would rather the Goths or the Vandals return. The Church of Rome, however, firmly supported Justinian into his old age because of his orthodoxy. He did not attempt to reconquer Gaul, partly because of the distance and partly because the Franks belonged to the Orthodox sect. In 568, three years after Justinian's death, Italy was invaded by a fierce new Germanic tribe, the Lombards. Their war with Byzantium continued on and off for two hundred years, ending almost entirely with Charlemagne. Byzantium lost Italy city by city; in the south they had to resist the Saracens. Rome was still nominally Byzantine, and the popes treated the emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire with deference. After the Lombard invasion,outdoor ficus tree, however, the emperors had little or no authority over most of Italy. The destruction of Italian civilization coincided with the founding of Venice by refugees from the Lombards, not, as legend would have it, by refugees from Attila. wwＷ。 xiaoshuotxt=com Chapter 6 The Holy Edge,large palm trees for sale, Neddict and Gregory the Great Small ~ say ~ t. Xt'heaven ~ hall The successive wars of the sixth century and the following centuries led to a general decline of civilization, during which some of the remaining cultures of ancient Rome were preserved mainly by the church. But the church did this work imperfectly, for even the greatest priests of the time were prone to religious fanaticism and superstition, and secular learning was considered evil. Nevertheless, the organizations of the church created a solid system in which learning and literature were later revived. Three kinds of activity of the Christian Church deserve special attention in the times in question: first, the monastic movement; secondly, the influence of the church, especially under Gregory the Great; and thirdly, the conversion of pagan barbarians to Christianity by means of preaching. As for the above three items, I will discuss them in turn. Monasticism began in both Egypt and Syria around the beginning of the fourth century. There are two forms of monasticism: a hermit living alone and a monk living in a monastery. Saint Anthony, Faux cherry blossom tree ,artificial banyan trees, the first devout hermit, was born in Egypt about 250 AD and began living in seclusion around 270 AD. After fifteen years of solitude in a cottage not far from his home, he had lived for twenty years in a distant desert. However, he became so famous that large crowds were eager to hear him. So he was born around the year 305 to preach and encourage people to live in seclusion. He practiced extremely hard practice, reducing his diet and sleep to the limit of sustaining his life. The devil often attacked him with erotic visions, but he resolutely resisted Satan's vicious temptation. In his later years, Cyberd was filled with hermits inspired by his example and teachings. A few years later, around 315 or 320 A.D., another Egyptian, Percomius, founded the first monastery. Monks here live a collective life, have no private property, eat common food and observe common religious rituals. Monasticism won the Christian world not in the way of St. Anthony, but in this way. In the monasteries of the Percomians, monks engaged in many tasks, mainly agricultural labor, so as not to devote all their time to resisting the temptations of carnal desire. At about the same time, monasticism also emerged in Syria and Mesopotamia. Here, asceticism is practiced far more than in Egypt. Saint Shemian, the apostate, and the other chief hermits were Syrians. The monastic system spread from the East to the Greek-speaking countries, largely thanks to St. Basil (around A.D. 360). His monastery was less ascetic; it had an orphanage and a school for boys. (Not intended for boys preparing to become monks). The monastic system was originally a spontaneous movement completely independent of the church organization. It was Saint Athanasius who merged the monastic system and the priesthood. At the same time, it was partly due to his influence that he established the rule that monks must serve as priests. While living in Rome in 339 A.D., he spread the movement to Western Europe. St. Jerome did a lot to promote this movement, and St. Augustine spread it in Africa. Saint Martin of Tours in Gaul and Saint Patrick in Ireland also founded monasteries. The monastery of Iona was founded by Saint Columba in 566 AD. At first, before the monks were incorporated into the church, they were the source of religious disputes. In the first place, among the monks, it is impossible to distinguish who is a sincere ascetic and who is a monk who, forced by the embarrassment of life, sees that monastic life is more comfortable. There was another difficulty; the monks were often so vehement in their support of their favorite bishops that the local synod (and almost the ecumenical synod) fell into heresy. The monotheistic local synod of Ephesus (not the Ecumenical Synod) was under the monastic reign of terror. Had it not been for the Pope's opposition, the monosexuals might have won a lasting victory. However, in later generations,fake ficus tree, such riots have never happened again. As early as the middle of the third century AD, before there were no male monks, there seemed to have been nuns. hacartificialtree.com
