The Errors of the Greeks
Chapter Eight
The Errors of the Greeks
“The prayerless soul advances in nothing.”
—Thomas Aquinas
Even while hammering out his masterworks, from the outset of the 1260s, Thomas Aquinas was a man on the move. In 1261, Aquinas was summoned by none other than Pope Urban IV. The new pope wished to finally put an end to much of the strife that marked the reign of his predecessor, and it was the wisdom of Thomas Aquinas that he sought most in order to help him mend rent theological fences.
One of the greatest of these theological tears was one that predated even the previous pope: The Great Schism between the western and eastern Catholic churches. The east, largely composed of Greek-speaking peoples, had fallen out with their Latin-based brethren in the west. They had become known as the Greek Orthodox Faith and were considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church for their differing beliefs in matters of the Holy Spirit, communion, and the ultimate authority of the pope.
It was on this topic that Thomas Aquinas began to write a lengthy treatise called Against the Errors of the Greeks . One could consider it perhaps a faux pas to think that you could convince anyone of anything simply by telling them that they are wrong, but the pope apparently felt that the work was substantial enough that it might work. Rather than beat around the bush, Aquinas was of the mind to tackle such ideological squabbles head-on. Even though at first glance some of his arguments may have seemed a bit aggressive in their bent to undermine his opponents, he always did so with love rather than avarice.
Much of the time, even his most ardent of challengers couldn’t help but be taken with the passion and conviction with which Aquinas laid out his arguments. For most, it never seemed that Aquinas was simply trying to prove the other side wrong; it was just his deep-felt compassion for others that led him to pull him over to what he believed to be right. Thomas Aquinas was ever the zealous intellectual proselytizer, and in the church’s greatest struggle between east and west, his talents and no-holds-barred approach were deemed to be necessary. If anyone could bridge the gap between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Catholic Church, it was believed that Thomas Aquinas could. It was a role that he seemed born to fulfill. As such, he quickly had the finished copy sent off to Michael Palaeologus, the current emperor of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire.
Thomas Aquinas’s next trip abroad would be to London, England, in 1263. Not a whole lot is known about what transpired during this visit, but it is said that he was able to draw large crowds as was usually the case with his theological lectures. A total of some 300 were present to hear Thomas Aquinas speak. Furthermore, it is recounted that the King Henry III of England was among those present, and in order to show his esteem to Aquinas and the order, he handed out new priestly robes to all the monks present.
Right around this time, the Vatican was rocked by changes once again in the form of the sudden passing of Pope Urban IV in 1264 and the election of Pope Clement IV. This new pope, like the one that came before him, thought rather highly of Thomas Aquinas—so much so in fact that he nominated him to become the archbishop of Naples. Aquinas decided not to accept this prestigious position, however, and continued to teach in cities such as Bologna and Paris. During the following years, he also worked diligently on his unfinished books and wrote a plethora of treatises. Many years would pass before Aquinas finally returned to Naples.
Arriving in Naples in 1272, Aquinas set up his own university, enlisting handpicked faculty to teach new recruits of the Dominican order. Although he was quite busy in the lecture circuit at Naples, he still found time to continue working on what would become his most famous work, Summa theologiae . Now in his late forties, Thomas Aquinas was in his intellectual prime.