Vasilios N. Makridis is Professor of Religious Studies (specializing in Orthodox Christianity) at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Erfurt (Germany). We carefully read his comment: “In fact, with Loyola and the Jesuits, we live in an era of early confessionalization of Western Christianity. This multifaceted process initially and primarily concerns Protestantism, but subsequently necessarily involves the Roman Catholic Church, which is looking for ways to respond to the Reformation and strengthen itself through radical structural changes in the broader context of the Counter-Reformation. This is a period of intense religious competition in which new forms of control over believers develop, such as the strict delineation of doctrinal differences and the social discipline of religious practice and life in general.

The emphasis on absolute blind obedience in the context of the Jesuits is one such mechanism for increasing the cohesion and homogenization of the Roman Catholic Church. Of course, the ideal of obedience is not historically new to Christian monasticism, but here it manifests itself much more radically with far-reaching consequences, given the strong secularism (presence in the world) of the Jesuits and their global action through the mission.

Although the obedience of the Jesuits seems to be in stark contrast to the individualization that received a huge boost from the Reformation, these processes are not mutually exclusive. The emergence of the modern subject is also possible in many forms in the context of the Jesuits, for example, by interiorizing new values/ideals and overcoming old forms of communal organization. The important thing is that these processes concern not only churches and religious communities, but also the early modern state, which intervenes and decisively regulates religious affairs on its territory. They also concern the formation of collective social attitudes (cf. the Jesuits as enlighteners), which have been fixed for centuries and largely secularized, losing their original religious origins.”

Where did Loyola’s need for discipline and obedience come from, which, however, he himself aspired to. He was often subjected to self-punishment or intense ecstatic states when he caused tears, filling his soul with doubts about their origin. An evil or good demon affected his conscience: his vile “exercises”, which had as their ultimate goal the distinction between the essential and the secondary significance of things, consist of the soft claws of his spiritual life. From the infant stages of his quest.

Demanding and strict duties of authority

The capricious person is aware of the need for precautions in order to maintain their inner coherence. Purposefulness creates the conditions for submission to the highest authority. For the exuberant Ignatius, the Pope, as Christ’s representative on earth and head of the church, is the ideal authority of submission. The drama begins when his worldly appetites clash with the ascetic religious life from which he has completely abstained. The mission of the little immobile Basque was in the world. His ability to proselytize was extraordinary. Friends, fellow soldiers, fellow students, professors, women, inquisitors, cardinals, and the Pope himself seemed helpless before the power of his persuasion.

But let us also cite the observations of a person with knowledge of the matter, such as the Reverend Father Andre Ravier: “The authorities have demanding and strict tasks: the task of exhaustive information, the task of giving opinions and discussing not only with familiar advisers, but with every person competent in this question, the task of a deep spiritual conversation, which consists in an exchange between two consciousnesses, yours and the person concerned, in order to maximally adapt the corresponding command to his psyche and to the power of grace that he possesses – the obligation to reckon (as if by a great divine sign) with the opinion of the majority Finally, the duty of prayer and election before one’s conscience and before God. Only if he respects his obligations can the abbot have the right to decide and give orders. The exercise of power, as provided for by the Statute, is an extremely spiritual act, requiring the greatest possible human prudence.

Moral energy was adapted to the situation, served a purpose. Not for your own benefit. All have stepped up for a great purpose: the imperialist spread of Christianity through missionary raids carried out by its people all over the world. His order conquered the world. Led the Counter-Reformation. He supported the faltering Catholic papal church. Most of the book details missions to India, Japan, South America. He himself corresponded: “… The correspondence of Ignatius Loyolas, which he very often dictated to the Ambassador from 1547, but sometimes the latter wrote it directly, and the signer read and reread it with unflagging thoroughness, is a monument: 6800 letters, some of them especially long, meticulous, argumentative, which are obviously the product of persistent reflection or preliminary discussions and which sometimes seem to be the result of one of those endless prayers into which a man with a tanned face plunged. . A commander from afar, without a mobile phone, but what a commander!