The Ecclesiastical World of Western Europe as Viewed by St. Columbanus

пяти писем св. Колумбана. The thesis is a research of the views of St. Columbanus (c. 550-615), an Irish monk and preacher, on the ecclesiastical world of Western Europe. As the principal source for this reconstruction the saint’s own letters were used. In order to build a comprehensive model of Columbanus’s perception of contemporary state of the Christian church in Western Europe, three key problems were studied, corresponding to three chapters of the thesis. The first chapter outlines Columbanus’s views on the Irish church, its origins and its place in the European context. This question is also closely connected with Columbanus’s topographic and symbolic perception of Europe’s ecclesiastical space. The second chapter examines Columbanus’s position towards papacy and their claims to the primacy among the Western churches. This problem is encountered from the point of view of the image of the Roman see as seen by Columbanus, as well as from the point of view of his relations with particular pontiffs, namely Gregory the Great and Boniface IV. The third chapter analyses Columbanus’s relationships with the Frankish church during his sojourn in Gaul. Since the main conflict of these relationships was the Easter controversy, Columbanus’s views on the status of the Frankish church are studied in its light. The conflict with the Gallic bishops also helps to establish Columbanus’s perception of the relations between monastic and clerical organizations within the church. The study is complemented with an appendix containing the first to date Russian translation of five letters of St. Columbanus.