through the medium of the sacraments of which the Church is the sole dispenser.
2. Gregory the Great was not an original thinker on Christological questions. He went far beyond Augustine in his ecclesiasticism and sacramental- ism, and while professing to be a devout follower of Augustine, greatly enervated his doctrines in reproducing them. In his teaching regarding the atoning work of Christ he laid more stress than did Augustine on the rightful power of the devil over mankind, and the ransom paid him by Christ in His death. The God-man, virgin-born and with- out concupiscence, he regarded as both a mediator between God and man, and an example for us. The atoning work of Christ does not avail for human salvation unless man fills up by a life of humility and suffering that which remained of the sufferings of Christ. ' He who strives to be re- deemed and to rule with Him must be crucified.'
' Without intermission the Redeemer offers up a burnt-offeriiig for us, in that without ceasing He shows to the Father His in- carnation on our behalf ; since His incarnation is an oblation for our cleansing : and when He showed Himself as man, by intervening, He washed away the faults of man. And by the mysterj- of His humanity He perennially offers sacrifice, because these faults also which He cleanses away are eternal ' {Moral. 1. 24).
He laid much stress upon the constant interces- sion of Christ ; but this was supposed to be mediated by angels, saints, alms, masses, and by other forms of meritorious works. In fact, he was so over- mastered by the efficacy of sacramental forms and the continuous sacrifice, that he regarded the death of Christ as not absolutely necessary for man's redemption. God who created us might have de- livered us from the consequences of sin without the death of Christ. He thought of the death of Christ as an exhibition of the Divine love, and as an example wherewith to teach us not to fear the misfortunes and sufferings of this world, but rather to avoid earthly good fortune. His sacrificial view of the Lord's Supper, with its sacerdotal accom- Ijaniments, greatly enervated his conception of the Person of Christ and its historical significance. In this rite the sutiering of Christ is repeated con- tinuously for our reconciliation, ' the whole Christ being in each portion ' of the consecrated elements. In the words of Harnack :
' Christ as a person is forgotten. He is a great title in dog- matics . . . ; but the fundamental questions of salvation are not answered in relation to him, and in life the baptized person has to avail himself of " means " which exist partly side by side with him (Christ), partly without him, or only bear his badge ' {Dogmengesch. iii. 241 f. [Eng. tr. v. 271]).
Fear and hope take the place of faith and love ; fear of punishment takes the place of repentance for sin. Thus the mediaeval type of ascetical piety was fully established (cf. Harnack, I.e.).
3. A vigorously led Adoptianist movement in Spain during the later years of the 8th century, probably influenced by Saracen thought, led Alcuin, supported by Charlemagne and the Council of Frankfurt (794), to set forth as the Christological teaching of tlie Prankish Church, in opposition to the Nestorian doctrine, alleged to be involved in the Adoptianism of bishops Elipandus of Toledo and Felix of Urgel, a doctrine scarcely distinguish- able from Eutychianism. Alcuin insisted that Christ is not ' man,' but the ' God-man ' ; that He is not 'in everything like us apart from sin,' but ' in many things.' He taught that in the union of the Divine and the human the human personality was blotted out (deleri) or consumed (consumi) by the Divine, and that the Divine personality took the place of the destroyed human personality. ' In the assumption of flesh by God the person of man perished, not the nature' (adv. Felicem, 2. 12). Thus Adoptianism provoked a reaction in the Western Church against an extreme as well as against the natural and proper interpretation of
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tlie Clialcedonian Symbol ; and while it did not lead to the general acceptance of pure Eutychianism, it came perilously near eliminating from Western Christology the conception of the real and com- plete humanity of Christ.
It has been pointed out by Corner, with admir- able insight (II. i. 270 tt".), that while Christ con- tinued to be regarded by the Greek Church as the revealed wisdom of God, and stress was laid upon His prophetic office employed in the dittusion of enlightenment as embodied in the ' orthodox faith,' in the Latin Church He was regarded during the mediaeval time as first and foremost a King, Chris- tianity was regarded as a means of securing power, and the hierarchy was supposed to have been ap- pointed by Christ to occupy His place, rule in His stead, virtually to supersede Him in personal government, and to abolish any direct intercourse between Him and believers. No longer was per- sonal fellowship of the believer with Christ thought of as the supreme good or even as a possibility. Having founded the Church and endowed it with plenary powers, Christ was no longer needed as a personal presence, and was deistically regarded. If a personal and highly sympathetic supernatural was desiderated, this w'as to be found in the Virgin Mary, who had already been exalted to almost Divine proportions. The Church came to be re- garded as the present living incarnation of Christ.