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Handout #100 |
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Sentence of excommunication delivered by Cardinal Humbert against Michael Cerularius |
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In 1015 A.D. Humbert entered the monastery of
Moyenmoutier in the Vosges and became a fervent supporter of reforming the
church. Pope Leo IX, who had been Bishop of Toul, brought him to Rome as
secretary, made him a cardinal and entrusted several missions to him,
including one to Constantinople. He was a man of character but unbending,
uncompromising and without pity.
Michael Cerularius (1000-1058 A.D.), born of a great family in Constantinople, had become a monk following his imprisonment for a plot against the emperor. The friendship of another emperor brought him the status of patriarch in 1043 A.D. He proved very hostile to the Latins. In 1058 A.D. he was arrested and deported by the Emperor Isaac Conmenus and died before being brought to trial. As for Michael, who has improperly been given the title patriarch, and those who share in his folly, they sow an abundance of heresies each day in their midst (in the city of Constantinople). Like the Simonians, they sell the gift of God; like the Valesians, they make their hosts eunuchs and then elevate them up not to the priesthood but also to the episcopate. Like the Nicolaitans, they allow ministers of the holy altar to be contracted in marriage ... Like the Pneumatomachi (those who fought against the Spirit) they have suppressed the procession of the Holy Spirit a filio in the creed. Like the Manichaeans, they declare that fermented bread is alive ... Moreover, allowing beard and hair to grow, they refuse communion with those who, following the custom of the Roman church, cut their hair and shave their beard ... That is why, being unable to bear these unprecedented injuries and these outrages directed against the chief apostolic see... we sign against Michael and his supporters the anathema that our most reverend pope has pronounced against them if they do not return to their senses ... May Michael, the neophyte, who improperly bears the title of patriarch . . . and all those who follow him in the above mentioned errors, may they all fall under the anathema, Maranatha, with the Simonians. .. and all the heretics, and indeed with the devil and his angels, unless they return to their senses ... Amen, Amen, Amen! |
