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The UK Bible Students Website History Corner |
H. W. Roberts On Ratramnus
The monk Ratramnus lived in the town of Corbie, in the district of Picardy, in northern France.
It is not known when he was born, but he was certainly active there in A.D. 840, and lived until at least A.D. 870.
One ecclesiastical biographer writes of him, ‘Nothing is known of his private life, but in his time he was famous as a writer on matters of ecclesiastical controversy’.
Such was his recognised authority in religious matters that he was consulted by the French king, Charles the Bald, and in such a powerful patron and protector there was, of course, a providential shelter for Ratramnus as he went about his work of religious reform.
Apart from those writings that were of his own volition, he wrote also at the king’s request.
It is important to note that in those days kings could not of themselves escape the encroachments of the Roman Church.
Being unable to defend their position against arguments based on misapplied Scriptures, they needed scholarly help to keep at bay the pretensions of the Pope.
In addition to this, in his own wide-sweeping review of the prevailing religious situation in his day, Ratramnus wrote against the theology of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Among his many spiritual activities, this fearless and energetic reformer defended the teaching that Jesus was born of a normal woman (Mary) in the natural manner of childbirth, against the views of the Abbot of Corbie, Paschasius Radbertus, who proclaimed the perpetual virginity of Mary (an error which eventually came to the fore in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, defined in 1854 by Pope Pius IX).
The teachings of Ratramnus continually troubled the Roman Church. His writings became so influential that they were still being condemned by the Church authorities two hundred years later.
His principal written work was his refutation of the doctrine of Transubstantiation, which asserted the ‘real presence’ of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist, whereby the emblems become the actual body and blood of Jesus. Later theologians regularly invoked his writings in the various controversies of their own times.
Notable among these was the English bishop, Nicholas Ridley, who as long as seven hundred years after Ratramnus’ death, was guided by his study of Ratramnus’ teachings on the Eucharist.
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