Simony

The term came from the name of the Samaritan sorcerer Simon , who tried to redeem from the Apostle Peter and Apostle John the gift (grace) of the Holy Spirit or, otherwise, buy the priesthood for money:

The selfishness and use of the Church in earthly interests was firmly censured in Christianity . It was only to the merchants that Jesus Christ used violence when he expelled them from the temple . Judas Iscariot , who shamelessly sold his Divine teacher for 30 pieces of silver, became the traitor of Christ to death. For hiding their personal money, Ananias and Sapphira were publicly punished by instant death.

Ecumenical Church and Byzantium

Simony was still forbidden by the rules of Ecumenical Councils: the 29th rule of the Holy Apostles , the 2nd rule of the 4th Ecumenical Council , the 22nd and 23rd rules of the VI Ecumenical Council , the 4th and 5th rules of the VII Ecumenical Council , 90th the rule of Basil the Great . According to these rules, those who trade in grace (supplied and delivered) must not only be expelled from the priesthood, but also excommunicated and even anathematized .

The canon of the Church includes two epistles in which the sin of simony is convicted: the District Epistle of Gennady, the Patriarch of Constantinople , and with him the Holy Cathedral, to all the Most Reverend Metropolitans and to the Pope (459) ^[1] and the Message of Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople , to Adrian , Pope of Rome (787) ^[2] . In the latter, Tarasius names the main reason why simony is prohibited:

Later - during the Ottoman Empire - the Turkish sultans admitted to the occupation of the Constantinople Patriarchal Chair (and other departments) those applicants who would pay more money ^{[3] [4]} .

Catholicism

In Europe in the Middle Ages in connection with the struggle for investiture, simony was understood as giving a church post to a secular person for money or for free (for example, the appointment of a bishop as king). Simony was actively practiced in Europe already in the X century (the papacy was then in deep decline ). Despite the fact that at the Lateran Council of 1059-1060, Pope Nicholas II designated simony as a “triple heresy” (a person who received a church office by simony should be cast out of the rank), and then its prohibition was confirmed by the Second Lateran (1139) and the Third By the Lateran (1179) cathedrals, simony in the West continued to be practiced, reaching a peak in the late XV - early XVI centuries. Pope Innocent VIII , who ascended the throne thanks to simony, became famous for his witch hunt and support for the Inquisition , as well as the charismatic Girolamo Savonarola opposed him (and, in particular, against simony). Next in time, Pope Alexander VI received his high post also thanks to the intrigues and simony in the conclave . Catholic symony is considered the most important and immediate prerequisite for the emergence of a protest movement in Christianity of the 16th century - Protestantism .

Simony was finally and decisively condemned by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1545-1563.

Orthodox Russia and Russia

Soon after the Baptism of Rus , a new sympathy appeared in the Russian principalities under the guise of duties , which Metropolitan Kirill fought at the Vladimir Cathedral in 1274 . In medieval Russia, the practice of “delivering pastors to the bribe” became one of the main prerequisites for the emergence of the movement of strigolniks .

In the modern Russian Orthodox Church, the duties imposed are officially prohibited ^[5] .

• Economic activity of the Russian Orthodox Church
• Church tax