Transcript Early Church to the Reformation
Early Church to the Reformation
BI 3321
Texts on the Persecution of the Early Christians . Compiled by Michael Marlowe Original Sources:
1.
Pliny's Letter to the Emperor Trajan 2.
3.
4.
Persecution after the Fire of Rome Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs False Reports and Accusations 5.
6.
7.
Scapegoats for Every Misfortune The Diocletian Persecution Libelli - Certificates of Paganism http://www.bible-researcher.com/persecution
Detail from The Christian Martyrs’ Last Prayer by Jean Leon Gerome (1883) “Christianus Sum”
A. Persecuted Servants
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
Tertullian —“We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed.” Jerome –“The church of Christ has been founded by shedding its own blood, not that of others; by enduring outrage, not by inflicting it. Persecutions have made it grow; martyrdoms have crowned it.”
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution Rome generally tolerated foreign religions that were no danger to morality and discipline.
Xtianity at first received shelter under Jewish privileges.
But after the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, it became clear that Xtianity was a distinct religion from Judaism and was judged by Rome on its own merits or demerits.
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution a. Christians refused emperor worship.
b. Renounced and opposed all heathen worship.
c. They were atheists (they had no images & did not believe in the Roman gods).
d. They preached foolish and unreasonable doctrines (incarnation, resurrection, worship of a crucified Jew).
e. They injured trades that depended on idolatry.
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution f. They earned dislike & mistrust by their aloofness from society.
g. They were accused of promiscuous immorality (a non-Xtian misunderstanding about “Agape”) h. They were accused of cannibalism (from a similar misunderstanding about the Lord’s Supper).
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution i. They were often blamed for natural disasters —earthquakes, floods, famines, and pestilence.
j. They were criticized for professing to know more of life & reality than the learned philosophers.
k. The Christian claim of uniqueness was a grave problem.
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution l. Xtianity was never licensed, causing suspicion and mistrust (every new religion was required to be licensed).
m. Xtianity frequently caused unrest and uproars as it grew.
n. Xtianity held secret meetings thought to be politically dangerous.
o. Most Xtians avoided civil and military service.
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution Added to all of this must have been the inescapable animosity and antipathy of sinful hearts to a cleansing gospel.
Non-Xtian society expressed its opposition through — a. social ostracism b. oral discussions c. injury to position and business d. literary attacks e. personal persecutions
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution The persecutions involved — a. confiscation of property b. banishment c. imprisonment d. labor in the mines e. torture f. execution by fire and wild beasts g. Roman citizens were executed by the sword.
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution Christian reactions — a. Those who suffered death were called
martyrs
.
b. Those who survived great punishments and remained true to the faith were called
confessors
.
c. Those who renounced Christ (permanently or temporarily) to escape torture, were called the
lapsed
.
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution Christian reactions — d. Those who bribed officers or purchased certificates that they had sacrificed to the gods were called
libellatici
.
e. Those who delivered up copies of Scriptures were called
traditores
.
Libelli
The
libelli
were documents notarized by Roman authorities to certify that someone had offered sacrifice to their idols. In times of persecution these documents were accepted as proof that someone was not a Christian. Many of these
libelli
have been discovered in excavations in Egypt.
A Libellus of the Decian Persecution (A. D. 250)
To those in charge of the sacrifices of the village Theadelphia, from Aurelia Bellias, daughter of Peteres, and her daughter, Kapinis. We have always been constant in sacrificing to the gods, and now too, in your presence, in accordance with the regulations, I have poured libations and sacrificed and tasted the offerings, and I ask you to certify this for us below. May you continue to prosper.
(2 nd hand) We, Aurelius Serenus and Aurelius Hermas, saw you sacrificing.
(3 rd hand) I, Hermas, certify.
(1 st hand) The 1 st year of the Emperor Caesar Gaius Messius Qunitus Traianus Decius Pius Felix Augustus, Pauni 27.
To the Commissioners of Sacrifice of the Village of Alexander’s Island: From Aurelius Diogenes, the son of Satabus, of the Village of Alexander’s Island, aged 72 years: ---scar on his right eyebrow.
I have always sacrificed regularly to the gods, and now, in your presence, in accordance with the edict, I have done sacrifice, and poured the drink offering, and tasted of the sacrifices, and I request you to certify the same. Farewell.
-----Handed in by me,
Aurelius Diogenes
. -----I certify that I saw him sacrificing [signature obliterated]. Done in the first year of the Emperor, Caesar Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius Pius Felix Augustus, second of the month Epith. [June 26, 250 A.D.]
A. Persecuted Servants
1. Causes For Persecution Persecutions began almost accidentally, at least spontaneously, but soon became a planned and legal policy of the state.
From local situations, the persecutions spread out to include the vast territory of the empire, affecting Xtians wherever they were found.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution Orosius (5 th c. ch. hist.) listed 10 periods of persecution; this was too many for the general persecutions and too few for the provincial and local.
Some persecuting emperors (e.g., Nero, Domitian, Galerius) were monstrous tyrants.
Others (e.g., Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Decius, Diocletian) were motivated not by hatred but by a determination to maintain law and the power of the government.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution Some were relatively favorable to Xtians.
One thing that all the emperors had in common was a basic ignorance of the true nature and character of the new religion.
The 10 traditional periods of persecution are the following:
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution a. Nero 54-58; began a reign of great prosperity & enterprise; became decadent and ruthless.
Unchecked extravagances brought grave financial difficulties to the empire.
Executed nobles who opposed him; suspected of causing the fire which destroyed a large part of Rome in 64.
Sought to blame the Xtians at Rome for the fire.
Nero
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution a. Nero Severely punished them for the fire & for their “hatred of the human race.” The Caesar to whom Paul appealed (Acts 25:10) —unknown whether he took part in Paul’s trial.
Tradition says both Peter and Paul were martyred at Rome during his reign.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution a. Nero Increasing unpopularity, revolts throughout the empire and desertion by the Praetorians caused N. to commit suicide in June 68.
After his death was a widespread belief that the tyrant would return (“Nero redivivus”); this myth sometimes considered the basis for the “Beast” of Rev. 13:11-18.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution a. Nero “Number of the beast,” 666, corresponds to “Neron Caesar” in Gk notation.
Nero’s persecution set a precedent for treating them as criminals and condemning them “for the Name” (of Christ) by summary magisterial jurisdiction.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution b. Domitian 81-96; gradually assumed despotic powers and demanded that public worship be given to him as
Dominus et Deus
.
Toward end of his reign, he declared a widespread persecution of Christians and Jews.
Executed Flavius Clemens & Glabrio and banished Domitilla for Atheism —all personally related to him but suspected of being Xtians.
Domitian
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution b. Domitian Tradition holds it was during the Domitian persecutions that the apostle John was banished to Patmos, where he received the revelations recorded in the Apocalypse (the NT book of Revelation).
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution c. Trajan 98-177; one of the best emperors.
But when he revived the rigid laws against secret societies, his provincial officers applied them to Xtians because of their frequent meetings for worship.
In 112 issued regulations which made Xtianity formally an illegal religion, and which formed the basis of all subsequent state persecutions.
Trajan
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution c. Trajan Regulations: 1) Xtians as such were not to be sought out by officials.
2) But when accused and convicted, they were to be executed.
3) Those who denied being Xtians and those who renounced Xtianity were to be freed.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution c. Trajan 4) anonymous accusations against Xtians were not to be considered.
Overall, Trajan left the matter of carrying out these regulations in the hands of provincial governors, resulting in a wide variety of intensity in persecutions.
Following Trajan, emperor Hadrian tended toward toleration rather than repression.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution c. Trajan Churches were allowed to hold property, but by grace, not by law.
He is said to have decreed that Xtians should be executed only if they had committed specific crimes.
Was during Hadrian’s reign that the Apologists did most of their writing, several directing their pleas directly to the emperor, perhaps influenced by his leniency.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution d. Marcus Aurelius 161-180; deeply concerned for the moral strength & material prosperity of the empire Felt that the Xtians were in conflict with his avowed purposes because their ethic was irreconcilable with his extreme Stoicism.
They also resisted the official state religion and recognized Romans and barbarians as equals since neither were Xtians.
Marcus Aurelius
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution d. Marcus Aurelius He sanctioned severe persecutions at Lyons.
The leading apologist, Justin Martyr, was beheaded at Rome during these widespread persecutions.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution e. Septimius Severus Not an active persecutor, but was responsible for some notable martyrdoms.
202, he forbade conversion to Xtianity & Perpetua was imprisoned & condemned to execution in the arena at Carthage.
Tertullian (who recorded Perpetua’s martyrdom) made a strong appeal to Severus for toleration.
Septimius Severus
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution e. Septimius Severus T. seems to have had some effect on the emperor.
Following S’s death in 211, a long period of peace ensued under his successor Alexander Severus, who appeared well disposed toward the Xtians.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution f. Maximus Thrax 235-238; resorted again to persecution, some think out of mere opposition to his predecessor.
He gave free course to the popular fury against Xtians, called the “enemies of the gods,” & accused them of causing a devastating earthquake.
Is credited with especially ordering bishops to be executed.
Maximus Thrax
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution f. Maximus Thrax Some records indicate his order included the entire clergy.
Legend in 10 th c. accused him of the martyrdom of Ursula, a British princess, & her company of 11,000 virgins (probably highly exaggerated).
But facts of history fix him as a rude barbarian who slaughtered Xtians and plundered heathen temples.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution g. Decius 249-251; short, but lasting, effect upon the status, & even the theology, of Xtianity.
First systematic persecution of Xtians, beg. with the execution of Fabian, Bishop of Rome, in Jan. 250.
Decreed that all citizens were required to furnish proof of having offered sacrifice to the emperor and state gods under pain of death.
Decius
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution g. Decius The obvious move against Xtianity reveals how seriously the new religion was considered a threat to the state.
Many were put to death, but many other denied the faith (the “lapsed”) or escaped through bribery (the “libellatici”), which led to controversy over penance, rebaptism and reconciliation.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution g. Decius The conflict & resulting theological disputes between Cyprian, Novatian, and Cornelius set precedents for the developing episcopate.
The persecutions by Decius were ended when he was killed in battle with the Goths in 253.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution h. Valerian 253-260; at first mild toward Xtianity, but changed in 257, making an effort to stop the progress of Xtianity without bloodshed.
Banished ministers and prominent laymen, confiscated their property, & prohibited religious assembly.
When these measures failed, he brought the death penalty back.
Valerian
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution h. Valerian Ordered the execution of all clergy & laymen of high rank who would not recant.
Most distinguished martyrs of this persecution were the bishops Sixtus II of Rome and Cyprian of Carthage.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution i. Aurelian 270-275; is listed by Orosius as one of the persecutors, but in fact he did not seriously trouble the church.
His predecessor, Gallienus (260-268) had given peace to the church, even recognizing Xtianity as a legitimate religion.
Aurelian, warlike & energetic, sought to overthrow Gallienus’ policies & issued an edict of persecution.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution i. Aurelian The edict was made void by his assassination.
6 emperors who followed rapidly from 275 to 284 did not bother the Xtians.
So, for some 40 yrs Xtianity enjoyed a calm and a great period of growth and prosperity.
Large & splendid houses of worship were built in the chief cities.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution i. Aurelian Churches amassed wealth, collections of sacred books, & vessels of silver & gold for administering the sacraments.
Period was also filled with quarrels, intrigues, factions & worldliness in the ch.
While they had grown spiritually during persecutions, Xtians now appeared to grow physically & diminish spiritually during prosperity.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution Greatest & last persecution loomed on the horizon.
j. Diocletian 284-305; made his main purpose to stabilize & reform the empire.
Created an absolute monarchy, centering all power in himself as the semidivine ruler & making his palace the “domus divina” and his own person sacred.
Diocletian
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution j. Diocletian Divided the empire into East & West for administration, strengthening power of Rome in areas where had been weak.
At first, Xtians continued in the policy of toleration & the atmosphere of calm.
But in 303 the Great Persecution broke out when D. issued an edict ordering the demolition of all Xtian churches & the burning of Xtian books.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution j. Diocletian Incidents which followed (fires & unrest) led to further edicts, solely against the clergy, inflicting imprisonment, torture, & death for the crime of resistance.
A 4 th edict in 304 extended these penalties to the laity also.
The persecution resulted in a number of martyrdoms, & continued for several years even after Diocletian abdicated.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution j. Diocletian His nephew, Maximin Daza, who had been given supreme command of Egypt and Syria, issued a fifth edict in 308.
He commanded all Xtians to sacrifice & eat the accursed offerings, ordering that all food in the markets be sprinkled with sacrificial wine.
Xtians were left with no alternative but apostasy or starvation.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution j. Diocletian During the 10 yrs of D’s persecutions, Xtians throughout the empire were barbarously mutilated, condemned to lingering deaths in prisons & mines, & slaughtered by beasts in the arenas.
Eusebius lived during this period, witnessed the persecutions in Caesarea, Tyre and Egypt and was himself imprisoned but released.
A. Persecuted Servants
2. Periods of Persecution j. Diocletian He vividly describes the atrocities and the heroics of the persecuted.
At last, he said, bloody swords became full and shattered, the executioners became weary, but the Xtians sang hymns of praise & thanksgiving in honor to their God, even to their last breath.
B. Persevering Believers
The Xtian faith did not survive accidentally or easily.
Strong hearts & strident voices appeared when needed the most, & their perseverance more than matched their foes’ persecution.
By the end of the 1 st c. thriving Xtian communities could be found throughout the eastern, southern & western parts of the empire.
B. Persevering Believers
Xtianity had begun its worldwide conquest, but its expansion had been dependent upon the vision and leadership of the apostles, who were now all gone.
New leaders & thinkers were needed for the new kind of encounters the church faced.
Persecutions had already begun, heresies were springing up & intellectual challenges were arising.
B. Persevering Believers
Most of the available information on the post apostolic era comes from the
Ecclesiastical History
of Eusebius, written sometime before 325 AD.
Eusebius=bishop of Caesarea, personal friend of the emperor Constantine & leader of the Council of Nicaea.
He had access to the Xtian libraries of Caesarea and Jerusalem.
B. Persevering Believers
His work is our principal source for Xtian history of the period and has earned E. the title of “Father of Church History.” Other valuable writings of the period were produced by the leaders & thinkers who were combating the adversaries of the church, and were the actors as well as the preservers of church history.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers Since late 17 th c. the title “Apostolic Fathers” has been given to a group of church fathers who immediately succeeded the NT period.
Writings were so named because it was long believed they were personal disciples of the apostles; this erroneous idea has died but the title did not.
Are 8 or 9 works of these writers, some of which hovered for a time on the edge of being included in the NT canon.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers a. Clement of Rome (fl. c. 96) Earliest of A.F.; possibly the 3 rd bishop of Rome & possibly the Clement in Phil. 4:3.
The epistle (commonly called I Clement) was written from Rome to Corinth to deal with the division in the Corinthian ch. over certain presbyters who had been deposed.
Clement provides information on the state of the ministry of the time, on the history of the Roman church, and the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul.
Clement of Rome
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers a.
Clement of Rome
(fl. c. 96)
II Clement
is a homily (sermon), the earliest surviving Xtian sermon, setting out in general terms the character of the Xtian life and the duty of repentance.
Because of the different style, it is generally considered to be by a separate author.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers a. Clement of Rome (fl. c. 96)
II Clement
is a homily (sermon), the earliest surviving Xtian sermon, setting out in general terms the character of the Xtian life and the duty of repentance.
Because of the different style, it is generally considered to be by a separate author.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers b.
Ignatius of Antioch
(c. 35-107) Early in 2 nd c., I., bishop of Antioch, was seized in a persecution and taken to Rome to be thrown to wild beasts in the arena.
On the way to martyrdom he wrote at least 7 epistles.
From Smyrna he wrote to chs. in Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, and Rome; from Troas he wrote to Smyrna & Philadelphia & to Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna.
Ignatius of Antioch
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers b.
Ignatius of Antioch
(c. 35-107) These epistles are the most imp. documents of the period; reveal that the writer was passionately devoted to X & had a consuming desire for martyrdom.
With unusual insight into controversies yet to come in the ch, he insisted on the reality of both the divinity and humanity of X, & upheld the office of bishop as the best hope for unity in Xtianity.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers b.
Ignatius of Antioch
(c. 35-107) He may have been the first to use the 3 fold order of bishop, elder, and deacon.
Ignatius
In like manner let all men respect the deacons as Jesus Christ, and the presbyters as the council of God; and as the college of Apostles.
Apart from these there is not even the name of a church.
To the Trallians, 3
Let no man do aught of things pertaining to the Church apart from the bishop. Let that be held a valid eucharist which is under the bishop or one to whom he shall have committed it. Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there lit the people be; even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal Church. It is not lawful apart from the bishop either to baptize or to hold a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve, this is well-pleasing also to God; that everything which ye do may be sure and valid.
To the Smyrneans, 8
Ignatius
I write to all the churches, and I bid all men know, that of my own free will I die for God, unless ye should hinder me. I exhort you, be not an unseasonable kindness to me. Let me be given to the wild beasts, for through them I can attain unto God. I am God’s wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beast that I may be found pure bread [of Christ]. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my sepulchre and may leave no part of my body behind, so that I may not, when I am fallen asleep, be burdensome to any one. Then shall I be truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not so much as see my body. Supplicate the Lord for me, that through these instruments I may be found a sacrifice to God.
To the Romans, 4
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers c.
Polycarp of Smyrna
(c. 69-155) Bishop of Smyrna; leading Xtian figure in province of Asia in middle of 2 nd c.
His long life was an important link between the apostolic age and the prominent Xtian writers at the end of the 2 nd c., one of whom (Irenaeus) said that Polycarp had talked with John & the rest of those who had seen the Lord.
Polycarp of Smyrna (unknown artist)
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers c.
Polycarp of Smyrna
(c. 69-155) P. was a staunch defender of orthodoxy, combating such heretics as the Marcionites and Valentinians.
A letter addressed to him by Ignatius survives, as does his own
Epistle to the Philippians
.
He was arrested during a pagan festival in Smyrna & ordered to renounce Christ.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers c.
Polycarp of Smyrna
(c. 69-155) Proclaiming that he had served X for 86 yrs., he refused to recant his faith and was burned to death.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers d.
Hermas of Rome
(c. 100-140) Initially a Xtian slave, Hermas was sold to a woman called Rhoda, who set him free.
He married & became a wealthy merchant.
In persecution, he lost all his property, was denounced by his own children & went through a period of penance.
His book,
The Shepherd
, upholds the necessity of penance, and suggested
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers d.
Hermas of Rome
(c. 100-140) The possibility of the forgiveness of sins at least once after baptism (a doctrine which causes Tertullian to call it the “Shepherd of the Adulterers”).
It was, however, greatly esteemed for its teachings on Xtian behavior & virtues and served as an early textbook for catechumens.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers e.
Papias
(c. 60-130) This little-known bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor is said by Irenaeus to have been a disciple of John and a companion of Polycarp.
His work in five books survives only in quotations in Irenaeus & Eusebius.
It contained many oral traditions, legendary accounts, and gospel material.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers e.
Papias
(c. 60-130) He did leave some valuable and original insights into the origin of the gospels of Matthew and Mark.
He states on the authority of the Elder (John?), that Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, set down accurately, though not in order, everything that he remembered of the words and actions of Jesus.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers e.
Papias
(c. 60-130) He said that Matthew composed his work in Hebrew and everyone translated it as best he could.
He was one of the first Millenarians, believing that there would be a period of a 1000 yrs after the general resurrection during which the kingdom of X would be set up on earth in a material form.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers f.
The Epistle of Barnabas
An epistle of early Xtian times ascribed by Clement of Alexandria to the Barnabas who accompanied Paul.
This is very unlikely; the author was probably a Xtian of Alexandria who wrote between AD 70 & 100.
The work contains a strong attack against Judaism.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers f.
The Epistle of Barnabas
The epistle explains animal sacrifices and the temple as mistakes due to Jewish blindness which were never God’s will.
It also interprets the OT in a “typical” (allegorical) sense in order to build the case for Christianity against Judaism.
Barnabas
And Moses understood, and threw the two tables from his hands; and their covenant was broken in pieces, that the covenant of the beloved Jesus might be sealed unto our hearts in the hope which springeth from faith in Him.
Barnabas, 4
Barnabas
For the scripture saith;
And Abraham circumcised of his household eighteen males and three hundred.
What then was the knowledge given unto him? Understand ye that He saith
the eighteen
first, and then after an interval
three hundred.
In the eighteen Ι stands for ten, H for eight. Here thou hast Jesus (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ). And because the cross in the Τ was to have grace, He saith also
three hundred.
So He revealeth Jesus in the two letters, and in the remaining one the cross. He who placed within us the innate gift of His covenant knoweth; no man hath ever learnt from me a more genuine word; but I know that ye are worthy.
Barnabas, 9
Barnabas
But forasmuch as Moses said;
Ye shall not eat swine . . .
So then it is not a commandment of God that they should not bite with their teeth, but Moses spake it in spirit. Accordingly he mentioned the swine with this intent. Thou shalt not cleave, saith he, to such men who are like unto swine; that is, when they are in luxury they forget the Lord…
Ye shall eat everything that divideth the hoof and cheweth the cud.
What meaneth he? Cleave unto those that fear the Lord, With those who meditate in their heart on the distinction of the word which they have received, with those who tell of the ordinances of the Lord and keep them, with those who know that meditation is a work of gladness and who chew the cud of the word of the Lord.
Barnabas, 10
Barnabas
Moreover concerning the sabbath likewise it is written in the Ten Words…Of the sabbath he speaketh in the beginning of the creation;
And God made the works of His hands in six days, and He ended on the seventh day, and rested on it, and He hallowed it.
children, what this meaneth;
He ended in six days.
Give heed, He meaneth this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifieth a thousand years; …Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end.
Barnabas, 15
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers g.
The Epistle to Diognetus
A letter written by an unknown Xtian to an unknown inquirer.
The author explains why paganism and Judaism cannot be tolerated, describes Xtians as the soul of the world, and insists that Xtianity is the unique revelation of God, whose love works man’s salvation.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers h.
The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles)
A short early Xtian manual on morals and church practice.
First section describes the “Two Ways” of life and death.
The second section contains instructions on baptism, fasting, prayer, the Eucharist, and how to treat prophets, bishops, and deacons.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers h.
The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles)
The third section contains prophecies of the Anti-christ and the second advent of X.
The book is of special interest to the student of early Xtian worship.
The author, date and place of origin are unknown.
Was long thought to have been written during reign of emperor Trajan (d. 117).
Concerning baptism, baptize in this way. After you have spoken all these things, “baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” in running water. If you do not have running water, baptize in other water. If you are not able in cold, then in warm. If you do not have either, pour out water three times on the head “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Before the baptism the one baptizing and the one being baptized are to fast, and any others who are able. Command the one being baptized to fast beforehand a day or two.
Didache, 7
Concerning the eucharist, give thanks in this way: First concerning the cup, “We give thanks to you, Our Father, for the holy vine of David, your Servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your Servant. To you be the glory forever.” Concerning the broken bread, “We give thanks to you, Our Father, for the life and knowledge which you made known to us through Jesus your Servant. To you be the glory forever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and being Gathered together became one loaf, so may your church be gathered together from the ends of the Earth into your kingdom. Because the glory and the power are yours through Jesus Christ forever.” No one is to eat or drink of your eucharist except those who have been baptized in the name of the Lord.
For also concerning this the Lord has said, “Do not give that which is holy to the dogs.”
Didache, 9
Having earlier confessed your sins so that your sacrifice May be pure, come together each Lord’s day of the Lord, break bread, and give thanks. No one who has a quarrel with his fellow is to meet with you until they are reconciled, in order that your sacrifice may not be defiled. For this is what was spoken by the Lord, “In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice, because I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is marvelous among the nations.”
Didache, 14
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers h.
The Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles)
Recent scholarship has put it later.
Its significance lies in the fact that it is the earliest of “church orders” and formed the basis of the Seventh Book of the Apostolical Constitutions.
B. Persevering Believers
1. The Apostolic Fathers The writing of Xtian literature continued, furnishing the ch with instruction and inspiration.
This literature, however, tended to be moralistic and considerably below the spiritual level of the NT.
The vast world of non-Xtians did not understand this literature or the message of the church.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists To address the questions & opposition of unbelievers, another important group of Xtian thinkers developed.
Those Xtian writers who first gave themselves (c. 120-220) to task of making a reasoned defense & recommendation of their faith to outsiders.
They met pagan philosophy and Jewish objections head on.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists Applied OT prophecy to Xtianity & defended divinity of X in relation to monotheism.
Were not primarily theologians.
Were devoted thinkers who desired to present Xtianity to emperors and to the public as politically harmless.
Also defended Xtian morality which was under attack.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists a.
Aristides
Philosopher of Athens who sought to defend the existence and eternity of God.
Endeavored to show that Xtians had a fuller understandings of God than either the barbarians, the Greeks, or the Jews.
Emphasized the nature of Xtian love as evidence of the Xtians’ superiority.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists a.
Aristides
According to Eusebius, A. delivered his Apology to the emperor Hadrian in 124, but later arguments insist that it was addressed to Antoninus Pius (d. 161) early in his reign.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists b.
Justin Martyr
(c. 100-165) After a long search for truth in pagan philosophy, J. embraced Xtianity c. 130.
For a time he taught at Ephesus where he engaged in the famous disputation with Trypho the Jew (c. 135).
Later he moved to Rome & opened a Xtian school, where he wrote his “First Apology” (c. 155) addressed to Emperor Antonius Pius.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists b.
Justin Martyr
(c. 100-165) Soon afterward he issued his “Dialogue with Trypho.” His “Second Apology,” addressed to the Roman senate, was written shortly after the accession of Marcus Aurelius (161).
Justin and some of his disciples were denounced as Xtians, & on refusing to sacrifice they were scourged & beheaded.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists b.
Justin Martyr
(c. 100-165) J. was the most outstanding of the Apologists, being the 1 st Xtian thinker to seek to reconcile the claims of faith and reason.
He held that though traces of truth could be found in pagan thinkers, Xtianity alone was the truly rational creed.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists b.
Justin Martyr
(c. 100-165) In his “First Apology” he stressed the transcendence of God, the incarnation of the Word, and millennialism.
In his “Second Apology” he rebutted certain specific charges against Xtians.
In “Dialogue with Trypho” he developed the ideas of the transitoriness of the Old Covenant, the identity of the Logos with the God of the OT, and
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists b.
Justin Martyr
(c. 100-165) And the vocation of the Gentiles to take the place of Israel.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists c.
Tatian
(c. 160) A native of Assyria, educated in Gk rhetoric and philosophy.
Became a Xtian in Rome bet. 150 & 165 & was a pupil of Justin Martyr.
He soon showed leanings toward heresy, & in 172 he founded the Gnostic sect of Encratites.
Is author of an apology called “Oratio ad Graecos.”
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists c.
Tatian
(c. 160) “Oratio…”—a passionate defense of the venerable age & divine purity of Xtianity combined with a violent attack on Greek civilization.
His chief claim to fame is the
Diatessaron,
a history of the life of X compiled from the 4 gospels.
His literary opponents included Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, and Origen.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists d.
Athenagoras
“The Christian Philosopher of Athens” Delivered his “Apology” or “Supplication” to Marcus Aurelius in 177, seeking to rebut current charges against the Xtians, such as atheism because they refused to participate in pagan ceremonies, & immorality because both sexes met together at night.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists d.
Athenagoras
Later he wrote “on the Resurrection of the Dead” to refute erroneous objections and defend the Xtian belief in the resurrection.
A. was one of the ablest & most gifted of the Apologists, and was the first to give a philosophical defense of the Xtian doctrine of God as “three in one.”
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists e.
Theophilus
Bishop of Antioch; wrote his “Apology” to Autolycus for the purpose of setting before the pagan world the Christian idea of God and the superiority of the doctrine of creation over the immoral myths of the Olympian religion.
He developed the doctrine of the Logos further than any of his predecessors, being the 1 st to use word “Triad” of the Godhead.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists f.
Minucius Felix
An African; wrote in Latin an elegant defense of Xtianity in the form of a conversation between Octavius, a Xtian, and Caecilius, a pagan, who was converted by the argument.
The book, named
Octavius
, refutes the current charges against Xtians, argues for monotheism and providence, and attacks mythology.
B. Persevering Believers
2. The Apologists f.
Minucius Felix
It is not clear whether the work was before or after Tertullian’s day, but it definitely reflects the latter’s interests.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms All the literary work during the 2 nd & 3 rd c. was not constructive in the progress of the church.
All the doctrine was not orthodox; already the ch was experiencing extreme tensions from heretical teachings which reflected perversions of Xtianity, leading to schisms within the faith.
Heresy was a problem even during the NT period.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms I John, 2 Peter, Jude and the pastoral epistles denounce teachings which were obviously related to later Gnosticism.
But the earliest heretic appeared in the book of Acts; Simon Magus, “the patriarch of heretics,” was a sorcerer who professed Xtianity, but attempted to obtain spiritual powers from the apostles for money (Ax 8:9-24).
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms Centuries later, the term “Simony” was applied to the purchase or sale of spiritual offices.
A Gnostic sect in the 2 nd & 3 rd c. traced its origins to this Simon, who was said to have come from Gitta in Samaria to Rome in the time of emperor Claudius (41-54).
This sect held to Phoenician mythology & oriental syncretism & exhibited the earliest signs of speculation clearly defined in later Gnosticism.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms While it is generally doubted that Simon of Gitta & Simon Magus were the same person, it is certain that the latter was the first to attempt to pervert the gospel and selfishly control the HS.
The heresies and schisms in the early ancient ch can generally be divided into 5 classifications.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms 1) Judaizing Christianity 2) Gnosticism 3) Marcionism 4) Montanism 5) Monarchianism
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms a.
Judaistic Heresies
The earliest confrontation with the Judaizers resulted in the Jerusalem Conference (Ax 15) and the ch’s stand against those who stubbornly insisted upon adherence to Mosaic law, even for Gentile converts.
This mind-set continued to be a thorn in the side of the early ch, producing some rather influential sects.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms a.
Judaistic Heresies
1) The Ebionites. A sect flourishing east of the Jordan who called themselves Ebionites (“poor men”) adopted a severe ascetic mode of life.
They continued to emphasize the binding character of the Mosaic law and said that Jesus was the human son of Mary & Joseph.
They used only the Gos. of Matthew, rejecting the Pauline epistles.
To them, Paul was an apostate & enemy of the Mosaic law.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms a.
Judaistic Heresies
2) Cerinthus.
Taught the the world was not created by God, but by an angelic being (demiurge), and that Jesus was a mere man.
He had connections with both the Ebionites and Alexandrine Gnosticism.
Irenaeus says that John wrote his Gospel to refute Cerinthus.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms a.
Judaistic Heresies
3) The Elchasaites. This strange group traced their origins to one named Elchasai (“sacred power”) who lived east of the Jordan during the reign of Trajan (AD 98-117).
They observed the Mosaic law (circumcision, Sabbath, the ceremonies), but without the blood sacrifices.
They believed in baptism for the remission of sins, in Chaldean astrology & magic, abstaining from meat and wine, & ritualistic ablutions.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms a.
Judaistic Heresies
3) The Elchasaites. They preached that the Redeemer X was the first ambassador of the most high God, & that he was a spirit of fantastic proportions who appeared in various forms, but first of all in Adam.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms a.
Judaistic Heresies
4) The Pseudoclementines. The works from this group include 20 books called the “Preaching of the Apostle Peter” and probably originated around 220-230 in Syria.
They taught that Xtianity is nothing more than Judaism purged of all ambiguity and error.
Jesus was a prophet greater than Moses, but not the Redeemer, and neither true God nor true man.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms a.
Judaistic Heresies
4) The Pseudoclementines. They also taught that believers should abstain from meat, marry early, and practice poverty.
Thus, Jewish Xtianity in various forms continued as a disturbing factor until almost the 5 th century.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
One of the most insidious dangers to early Xtianity was the movement known as Gnosticism.
Strictly speaking, Gnosticism was not a Xtian heresy but a religion in its own right.
The main tenets of Gnosticism came from the syncretism of oriental religion and Hellenic mysticism, and were already well established before the Xtian era.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
Term (Gnosticism) derived from the Gk word
gnosis
(knowledge), and claimed a superior revealed knowledge of God & of the origin and destiny of mankind.
Upon confronting Xtianity, Gnostic teachings attempted to satisfy the longing of the pagan world for salvation by reconciling the religion of X with the culture & philosophy of Babylonia, Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, India, and the Judaism of Philo.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
Because they believed, as did Xtians, in salvation, a supreme deity, & heavenly beings, the Gnostics often became associated with the Xtian chs.
But, while maintaining the centrality of X in human history & a divine plan of salvation, the Gnostics claimed higher kinowledge than was offered in the simple truths of the Gospels.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
The source of this special
gnosis
was held to be that of the apostles themselves (handed down by the secret tradition) or a direct revelation given to the founder of a particular sect.
Although embracing a great variety of forms & philosophies, basic Gnosticism supported the following tenets:
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
(1) Dualism With the background of Persian dualism, which viewed light & darkness as two antagonistic principles, G. developed a metaphysical dualism of spirit & matter.
World of matter is under the governance of the evil principle, & is from all eternity in violent opposition to the world of spirit, which is ruled by the good god.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
(1) Dualism In this eternal conflict, some of the spiritual elements became imprisoned in the world of matter, producing the world, man, sin, and misery.
The ethical problem which dualism presented was twofold.
If the physical body is of the principle of evil, then it must be subjugated, denied, disciplined, and punished.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
(1) Dualism On the other hand, if the body was entirely separated from the spirit world, then what the body did would not affect the status of the soul.
The second point led to all sorts of promiscuous moral anarchy.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
(2) Emanation This theory served to explain how the world & man came into existence.
From the hidden God there emanated (over flowed) a long series of divine essences (
aeons
) whose inherent power diminished as the distance form the original source increased.
The process continued until the spiritual element came into contact with matter & was imprisoned in a material body.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
(2) Emanation Thus man & the world were created by the demiurge (“the middle god”), and angelic being who was inferior to & ignorant of the good god, and had unwittingly brought the world & man into existence.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
(3) Docetism Central doctrine of Xtianity the incarnation, which G. rejected, declaring that X could not possibly have a real human body.
This docetic view was based on the ideas that the absolute cannot enter into a real union with the finite, & that matter is evil and the spiritual world is ever in conflict with it.
Word
docetism
“to seem.” comes from a Gk verb meaning
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
(3) Docetism Gnostics taught that X was not really a man, but only “seemed” to live & suffer from mankind’s sins, simply joining himself for a brief time with the body of a good man called Jesus.
This union was accomplished either at the birth or baptism of Jesus, & was dissolved shortly before the crucifixion so that X was not really crucified.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
(3) Docetism Although G. clearly derived its Christology from pagan philosophy, the issue of docetism was to have profound effect on the Christological councils in years to come.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
These basic tenets of G. were articulated most clearly in the works of Valentinus, founder of the G. sect of the Valentinians.
He was a native of Egypt, but lived at Rome from c. 136-165, where he seceded from the church.
His system was founded on the platonic conception of a parallelism between the world of ideas & the world of phenomena.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
Valentinus taught that the demiurge who created the world was the God of the OT, & that redemption was accomplished by the
aeon
Christ who united himself to the man Jesus at his baptism to bring men the
Gnosis.
Another, although somewhat less influential, G. leader was Basilides, who taught at Alexandria in the 2 nd quarter of the 2 nd c.
He claimed to have a secret tradition transmitted from Peter.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
This tradition spoke of a supreme God separated from the world by many heavens & grades of spiritual beings.
The God of the Jews was the creator God of the lowest rank who tried to subject men to himself.
In order to free man, the supreme God sent his
nous
(mind) into the world to dwell in the man Jesus (who suffered in appearance only).
In order to gain freedom & rise to the supreme God, man must follow the
nous
as revealed in Jesus.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
Because G. posed a serious threat to Xtian orthodoxy & unity, much of the development of early Xtian doctrine was to a large extent a reaction against G.
To counteract docetism, which negated the humanity of X & denied the reality and necessity of atonement, the Fathers of the ch, especially Irenaeus, underscored the reality of the incarnation & stressed the importance of the work of X.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
When the G. rejected the OT & denied the reality of creation as the arena for God’s activity, the Fathers developed a theology of history, strongly identifying God as both Creator and Savior.
When G. denied the unity of human beings & divided them into spiritual, psychic, & material categories, the Fathers developed the doctrine of free will & emphasized the personal responsibility of each individual.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
One reason that G. appealed to so many Xtians was its central concern for answering the problem of evil.
Serious Xtians wanted to know the nature of evil & how man can be redeemed from it.
G. held that men are essentially spiritual & that redemption is the freeing of the pure human spirit from the impure, evil, physical world.
Through special revelation man becomes conscious of his origin, essence, & transcendent destiny.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
This revelation, however, is not on the same plane as Xtian revelation, which is rooted in history & transmitted by Scripture.
Neither is it to be equated with philosophical enlightenment, for it cannot be acquired by the forces of reason.
G. revelation was the intuition of the mystery of the self.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms b.
Gnosticism
Throughout the centuries, those who have claimed special knowledge beyond the revelations of history, Scripture, & reason have reflected G. tendencies & concepts.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
Although Marcion stood in the tradition of current Gnosticism, his influence was so great that his teachings & followers were the chief danger to orthodox Xtianity in the latter half of the 2 nd c.
Thus his heresiarchy is usually listed separately.
Marcion was a native of Sinope in Pontus & a wealthy shipowner.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
In 144 was formally excommunicated from the orthodox ch by his own father, a bishop, on grounds of immorality.
He organized a systematic philosophy of Xtianity which he propagated in established compact communities throughout a large part of the empire.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
He was widely opposed by some of the great minds of early Xtian theology, including Dionysius of Corinth, Irenaeus of Lyons, Theophilus of Antioch, Tertullian of Carthage, Hippolytus & Rhodo at Rome, & Bardesanes at Edessa.
This imposing list of enemies attests to Marcion’s success & danger to the ch.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
M’s central thesis was that the Xtian gospel was wholly a gospel of love to the absolute exclusion of law.
Thus he rejected completely the OT; he said that the creator God, or demiurge, revealed in the OT, had nothing in common with the God of Jesus Christ.
The OT God was fickle, capricious, ignorant, despotic & cruel.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
The supreme God of love whom J. came to reveal was entirely different, & it was his purpose to overthrow the demiurge.
M. believed that only Paul understood the contrast of law & spirit, & that the apostles and Gospel writers were blinded by the remnants of Jewish influence.
Hence, for M. the only acceptable Scriptures were ten of the epistles of P.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
M. rejected the pastoral epistles, but accepted an edited version of the Gospel of Luke.
His rejection of the other 3 gospels influenced the ch to differentiate between true and spurious works & to begin serious construction of the canon.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
In the main line of Gnosticism, M’s Christology was docetic, making the passion & death of Christ the work of the old creator God, not the supreme God of love.
M. imposed a severe morality upon his followers, many of whom suffered in the persecutions.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
By the end of the 3 rd c., most of the Marcionite communities had been absorbed into
Manichaeism,
a highly ascetic philosophy developed by Manichaeus (Mani), in the capital city of the Persian Empire. Mani (c. 215-275) based his eclectic teachings on the supposed primeval conflict between light and darkness.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms c.
Marcionism
He taught that Satan had stolen particles of light from the world of light and imprisoned them in man’s brain, & that Jesus, Buddha, the prophets, & Mani had been sent to help release these particles of light.
Although the phil. of M. was never a threat to orthodox Xtianity, its ascetic standard of austere morality is believed to have influenced several branches of Xtian thought.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms d.
Montanism
Ca. 156 (says Epiphanius) or 172 (says Eusebius), Montanus, a recently converted pagan priest, appeared on the scene to mark the transition from the extra-Xtian heresies to the reactionary & reformatory movements within Xtianity.
Montanism has often been called the 1 st movement of any distinction that was called forth by the problem of the ch’s worldliness.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms d.
Montanism
M. protested against the secularization of the ch & sought to restore it to its original status.
M. was an attempt to preserve the eschatological mood of early Xtianity which was disappearing at the end of the 2 nd c., but a brief look at its main tenets will reveal the sad story of a good idea gone bad.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms d.
Montanism
M. claimed to possess the spirit of prophecy, &, in fact, he declared himself to be the manifestation of the Paraclete promised in John 14.
The period of revelation was closing, & with its conclusion would come the end.
“After me there will be no further prophecy; then shall the end be.”
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms d.
Montanism
M. recognized the stages of revelation in the OT & NT, but the new revelation was to be in the area of ethics & ecclesiology, with the sternest discipline being emphasized.
It prohibited 2 nd marriages, condemned the existing regulations on fasting as being too lax, forbade flight in persecution, & condemned the penitential discipline in Rome as being too lenient.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms d.
Montanism
Only those Xtians who met the stringent demands of the Paraclete were the true Xtians, the communion of saints.
M. proclaimed that the heavenly Jerusalem would soon descend near Pepuza in Phrygia, & his goal was to prepare a called out people to be ready for that eschatological event.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms d.
Montanism
ca. 207 Tertullian became the most famous follower of Montanism.
Was particularly attracted by the disciplined life-style & the idea that only the pure ch of the true saints, not the externally organized ch, possessed the power of absolution.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms d.
Montanism
“Therefore the Church will indeed forgive sins; but only the Church of the Spirit can do this through Spirit-filled people, and not the Church which consists of a number of bishops.” Thus, Montanism was one of the first manifestations of an ecclesiastical reaction as well as a reform movement.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms e.
Monarchianism
This theological movement of the 2 nd & 3 rd c. attempted to safeguard monotheism & the unity (hence “monarchy”) of the Godhead.
However, in failing to do justice to the independent subsistence of the Son, the movement became heretical.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms e.
Monarchianism
Were two distinct groups of Monarchian theologians —(1) the Adoptionist or Dynamic Monarchians; and (2) the Modalists or Sabellians.
Adoptionists maintained that Jesus was God only in the sense that a power or influence from the Father rested upon his human person.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms e.
Monarchianism
Leading proponent of Adoptionism was Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, who was condemned for his heretical teachings and deposed in 268.
His controversial Christology taught that X differed only in degree from the prophets, & his adoptionist views laid the foundation for Nestorianism and the basic issue of the later Christological councils.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms e.
Monarchianism
Other leading adoptionist Monarchians were Theodotus & Artemon.
The modalist Monarchians held that in the Godhed the only differentiation was a mere succession of modes or operations.
They were also called “Patripassians,” indicating that the Father suffered as the Son.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms e.
Monarchianism
An alternative title for the Modalist form of Monarchianism is Sabellianism, named for Sabellius, an early 3 rd c. theologian of Roman origin.
Other notable Modalists were Noetus and Praxeaus.
Thus the Trinitarian controversy stirred by the Monarchians presented a double edged heresy.
B. Persevering Believers
3. Heresies and Schisms e.
Monarchianism
Adoptionists overemphasized the unity of God, denying the divinity of persons.
Modalists contended that the Father merely appeared in different modes or ways, thus denying the distinction of persons.
In order to challenge & correct these heresies, unprecedented attention was given to developing orthodox theology in this critical period.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians “Catholic” is derived from a GK word meaning general or universal.
One of its earliest appearances is in the writings of Ignatius of Antioch (c. 115).
To combat the growing heresies of the 2 nd & 3 rd c., the term became widely used in making the distinction between orthodoxy and heterodoxy.
Doctrine which agreed with Scriptures & the faith of the ch was received as catholic, or universal.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians Every departure from the general sentiment of the ch was considered heresy.
The concern of the ch to preserve apostolic tradition & teaching resulted in the emergence of some great scholars & theologians.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians a.
Irenaeus
(c. 130-c. 200) 1 st great catholic theologian is generally conceded to be Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, who opposed Gnosticism by emphasizing the traditional elements of the ch, esp. the episcopate & the canon of Scripture.
In his most famous work
Against Heresies
, he refuted the teachings of Valentinus & other Gnostics, contending that God is the creator of both matter & its form & that all creation is dependent on God.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians a.
Irenaeus
(c. 130-c. 200) He does not reject the world as evil, but sees God involved in his world.
In fact, in the incarnation of Jesus X, God took on full human nature & exhibited what perfect man was intended to be at every level of life.
I. developed a doctrine of “recapitulation,” or summary, of human development in the humanity of the incarnate X.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians a.
Irenaeus
(c. 130-c. 200) He laid great stress on the coordinated authority of the 4 gospels, strengthened the unity of the teachings of the ch, & substantiated the written records of the ch.
As the 1 st great Latin theologian, he furnished much of the theological thought of the great western theologian, Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullian.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians b.
Tertullian
(c. 160-220) This African ch father, ranks beside Augustine as one of the greatest western theologians of the patristic period.
A native of Carthage, he received a pagan education, became a lawyer, & moved to Rome where he became a Xtian in 195-6.
He returned to Carthage & became a priest.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians b.
Tertullian
(c. 160-220) He joined the apocalyptic movement of Montanism, especially because of its ascetic traits & rigorous discipline.
He soon, however, broke away & formed his own party, the Tertullians, who survived until the 4 th c.
T. was the author of many apologetic, theological, controversial, & ascetic works in Latin, & some in GK.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians b.
Tertullian
(c. 160-220) His renowned defense of Xtianity, the
Apologeticum
(c. 197) deals with the absurdity of the assusations brought against the Xtians; it maintains that Xtians are good citizens who refuse to give divine honors to the emperor because of their monotheistic religion.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians b.
Tertullian
(c. 160-220) He gives a vivid description of life in Xtian communities & warns that persecution only multiplies Xtianity.
He wrote definitive works against heresies within the ch, such as
Against Marcion
&
Against Praxeaus
.
In his attack against Patripassianism, he elaborated the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians b.
Tertullian
(c. 160-220) In fact, this is the 1 st time that the term “Trinity” is applied in Xtianity to the 3 divine persons.
His
De Anima
was probably the 1 st writing on psychology.
Xtian In it he stresses the unity of the soul & body.
More than anything else, T. created the language of western theology.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians c.
Clement of Alexandria
(c. 150-215) An Athenian by birth, Clement studie Xtianity & philosophy in several cities, became a pupil of Pantaenus, & succeeded him in 190 as head of the catechetical school at Alexandria.
He was succeeded in turn by his pupil Origen.
C. fled in 202 to escape the persecution of Severus & possibly suffered a martyr’s death in 215.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians c.
Clement of Alexandria
(c. 150-215) C. agreed with the Gnostics in holding that
gnosis
, religious knowledge or illumination is the chief element in Xtianity.
But for him the only true
gnosis
was that which presupposed the faith of the ch.
He saw ignorance & error as more fundamental evils than sin, & he had an optimistic view of the ultimate destiny of even the most erring.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians c.
Clement of Alexandria
(c. 150-215) By making Xtianity philosophical, C. made it acceptable to Alexandria’s cultured society, but unfortunately he left the impression that Xtianity should cater to the intellectual superior.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians d.
Origen
(c. 184-254) The brilliant young pupil of Clement succeeded him & became one of the most controversial figures in church history.
O. was a biblical critic, exegete, theologian, & spiritual writer.
His principal work,
De Principiis
, is a systematic explanation of Xtian thought about God, man, the world & Scripture.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians d.
Origen
(c. 184-254) His
Exhortation to Martyrdom
was written during the persecutions of Maximinus in 235 & presents O’s ascetic austerity.
On Prayer
, a treatise on the communion of the soul with God, was widely read.
O. saw a triple sense in Scripture: the literal, the moral, & the allegorical--& he preferred the last.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians d.
Origen
(c. 184-254) He believed that God was perfect Being, expressing himself eternally in 3 hypostases (substances, essences) as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.
Although he attempted to keep the Father & Son coequal, O. ended with the Son being subordinate because he cannot precede the Father.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians d.
Origen
(c. 184-254) In prayer, petitions are to be addressed to God and presented by Christ.
The HS is definitely subordinate, brought into being through the Son.
To the Father, O. ascribed existence, to the Son rationality, & to the HS sanctity.
His teachings on souls created perhaps the greatest controversy.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians d.
Origen
(c. 184-254) He taught that all spirits were created equal, but that they developed in hierarchical order (thru their own free will), & some fell into sin & became demons or souls imprisoned in bodies.
Death does not finally decide the fate of the soul; it may turn into a demon or an angel.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians d.
Origen
(c. 184-254) This process of ascent & descent goes on until the final “Apokatastasis” when all creatures, even the devil, will be saved.
O’s mystical theology—that one advances from purgation to illumination to union —is the foundation of all later mysticism in the church.
300 yrs after his work, O. was condemned at the 1 st Council of Constantinople in 543.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians d.
Origen
(c. 184-254) He was condemned again at the 2 nd Council of Constantinople in 553.
B. Persevering Believers
4. Early Catholic Theologians The period from Apostolic Fathers through the early Catholic theologians was one of doctrinal development & systematic defense of the faith.
Intellectual activity, however, was not the only pursuit of the ch during this period.
Political machinations were at work, & the structure of church government was taking shape.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate The notion of one bishop at the head of the ch has a hazy & spotted beginning, but accelerates into a well-documented movement relatively early in church history.
a. Bishops and Mother Churches.
Ignatius of Antioch (d. 115) was the 1 st employ the term “catholic.” to He was also the 1 st to speak of one bishop at the head of the presbyters & deacons in each congregation.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
a. Bishops and Mother Churches.
(Bishop in this context is somewhat analogous to the modern term pastor).
He insisted upon the monarchical episcopate as a necessity for the ch.
Yet he was speaking of local congregations only, with no thought of one bishop for all of Christendom.
The idea for the episcopate was traced back to Acts 15 where James presided over the council of Jerusalem.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
a. Bishops and Mother Churches.
Eusebius says that James was succeeded by Simeon, also a relative of Jesus.
So, a kind of episcopacy was seen as a tradition in Jerusalem & then carried to Antioch.
The bishops of individual chs cooperated in keeping the churches in the unity of the faith during the assaults of persecutions & heresies.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
a. Bishops and Mother Churches.
This solidarity was accomplished by appealing to the authority of the “mother churches” where the apostles themselves had labored, such as Smyrna, Ephesus, Jerusalem, Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, and especially Rome.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
b. Callistus and Rome.
Among the mother chs, Rome was regarded as preeminent.
Tradition held that the apostles Peter & Paul had both taught & died there.
Also, the Roman ch was in possession of a confession of faith, the Roman symbol, which was accepted by other chs in the West.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
b. Callistus and Rome.
Heretics were kept out of the Roman ch with better success than in Alexandria & Constantinople, & Rome soon came to be looked upon as guardian of the unity of Xtianity.
Rome was also the political center of the empire.
Callistus was bishop of Rome 217-222.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
b. Callistus and Rome.
In his short rule he established a precedent for the idea of the superiority of Roman bishops.
He claimed such titles for himself as
Pontifex Maximus
(“highest pontiff”) &
Episcopus episcoporum
bishops”).
(“bishop of Tertullian furiously resisted such claims & insisted upon the equality of the various churches.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
b. Callistus and Rome.
C. took the position that the ch is subject to the control of the bishop who pardons or retains sin by divine authority, & that the bishop is, therefore, lord over the faith & life of the people by virtue of divinely bestowed supremacy.
He further argued that the regulation of repentance belonged to the council of bishops.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
b. Callistus and Rome.
The power of the keys had been given to Peter as representative of the bishops, & that since P. was generally conceded to be the first bishop of Rome, the obvious conclusion was the monarchical episcopate with its ultimate authority in the Roman See.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
c. Cyprian and Novatian.
Cyprian, the Bishop of Carthage (248-258), laid the foundation of the development of the ch into the Roman hierarchy.
He believed that Rome represented the unity of the ch universal as Peter represented that unity among the apostles.
His most important work,
On the Unity of the Church
, was occasioned by the conflict over the regulation of repentance.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
c. Cyprian and Novatian.
During the Decian persecution (250), large numbers of Xtians had lapsed from their faith.
The
confessors
, those who had stood firm, were reconciling the lapsed on easy terms by virtue of the merits of the martyrs.
C. strongly opposed this practice & led councils to decide that the lapsed should be reconciled only after suitable penance & delay.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
c. Cyprian and Novatian.
Meanwhile, Novatian, a roman presbyter, opposed Cornelius, the Bishop of Rome, for the latter’s lenient policy toward the lapsed.
N. insisted on a pure congregation, requiring excommunication for such sins as homicide, idolatry, fraud, blasphemy, adultery, fornication, & the denial of the faith in times of persecution.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
c. Cyprian and Novatian.
Novatian organized a rigorist party & was consecrated rival Bishop of Rome.
He insisted upon the rebaptism of all who joined him, & called for the appointment of likeminded bishops in other places.
Cyprian sided with Cornelius against Novatian, especially in the matters of rebaptism & the appointment of new bishops.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
c. Cyprian and Novatian.
While Cyprian opposed leniency toward the lapsed, he felt even stronger about presbyters judging bishops.
He said that the ch was established upon bishops, that they could be judged by no one except God, & that to criticize a bishop was rebellion.
He further supported the college of bishops (the episcopate) as the authority of the ch.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate
c. Cyprian and Novatian.
Indicating that the Bishop of Rome was the “first among equals,” he openly recognized the preeminence of Rome, especially when Rome agreed with him.
Although C. did not suggest or favor the papal system, his leadership & attitude laid the foundation for establishing the Bishop of Rome as the head of the Catholic Church.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate When Diocletian launched his great persecution in the early part of the 4 th c., he collided with a force which had grown stronger instead of weaker during the long siege of persecutions.
That strength had accrued from the Xtians’ capable & articulate defense of their faith, the movement of their chs toward ecclesiastical unity, & the increasing influence of their testimony among their non-Xtian neighbors.
B. Persevering Believers
5. The Monarchical Episcopate Diocletian not only miscalculated the strength of the Xtians; he also misread the attitude of the citizenry.
Xtianity had not only become an established force within the Roman Empire; it was about to take over the empire itself.
THE OVERCOMERS: AN IMPERIAL CHURCH (313-590)
A. Victims Become Victors
“There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians, scorned or oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trails with a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the Word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has known. Caesar and Christ had met in the Arena, and Christ had won!” Will Durant,
The Story of Civilization
A. Victims Become Victors
The incredible irony of the Diocletian persecution, which was intended to stamp out Xtianity once & for all, became instead the catalyst for the Xtian takeover of the Roman Empire.
Heroic martyrs strengthened the faith of the wavering & won new converts.
As the brutalities of the persecution increased, the citizens of the empire were themselves repulsed.
A. Victims Become Victors
They became openly critical of their government for the unjustified oppression.
Many of them risked death to hide & protect Xtians.
Throughout the empire the cry went up for the persecutions to cease.
The wife of Emperor Galerius begged him to make peace with the undefeated God of the Xtians.
A. Victims Become Victors
In 311 Galerius issued an edict of toleration, recognizing Xtianity as a lawful religion.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor Standing in the wings, ready to assume his spectacular role on the state of human history, was brave & energetic young soldier-politician, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, who would become known as Constantine the Great.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor a.
The Rise of Constantine
Born 272 or 274, C. was the illegitimate son of Constantius by his legal concubine, Helena.
When Constantius became a “Caesar,” he was required by Diocletian to put away Helena & to take Maximian’s stepdaughter Theodora as his wife.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor a.
The Rise of Constantine
His son, Constantine, however, remained deeply devoted to his natural mother, Helena, who figured largely in his accomplishments as a Xtian emperor.
C. became emperor through a long chain of complicated & controversial events.
Diocletian had retired as emperor in 305 & had set up an intricate organizational scheme in an effort to avoid civil war.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor a.
The Rise of Constantine
He decentralized the government by dividing the empire into two great districts, East and West.
Each was to be administered by an official called an Augustus, assisted by a subordinate called a Caesar.
The Augusti were to retire at a specified time, to be succeeded by their Caesars.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor a.
The Rise of Constantine
Diocletian was the first Augustus in the East & Maximian was the first Augustus in the West.
The Augusti were not exactly equal, since Diocletian retained supreme control.
When he & Maximian retired as planned, their Caesars succeeded them, Galerius in the East & Constantius Chlorus (father of Constantine) in the West.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor a.
The Rise of Constantine
New Caesars were appointed to replace them, Severus in the West & Maximines Daza in the East.
D’s scheme seemed to be working as planned until the death of Constantius.
His troops had been deeply loyal to him & now acclaimed his son Constantine not merely as “Caesar” but as Augustus, emperor.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor a.
The Rise of Constantine
Galerius, too distant to intervene, reluctantly consented to recognize him as a Caesar.
Since C. had successfully succeeded this father without the due process of appointment, Maxentius, the son of Maximian, undertook to succceed his retired father.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor a.
The Rise of Constantine
He killed Severus, entrenched himself in Rome & demanded recognition.
Galerius refused & instead appointed Licinius to succeed the slain Severus. These events brought Maximian out of retirement to reclaim the title of Augustus.
Now there were 6 men claiming to be the ruler of the empire.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor a.
The Rise of Constantine
Civil war, the very disaster that Diocletian had sought to avert, was upon the empire.
b.
The Conversion of Constantine
In the struggle for supremacy in the West, Constantine had to defeat Maxentius, still entrenched in Rome.
C. invaded Italy from Gaul (France) & descended upon Rome.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
Until now he had been an adherent of the religion of Helios, the sun god, & had replaced the image of the sun upon his coins.
Just before his encounter with Maxentius he made the astonishing announcement of his conversion to Xtianity.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
Eusebius (the “Father of Church History”, c. 260-c. 340) says that on the afternoon before the battle with Maxentius, C. saw a flaming cross in the sky, with the words, “in this sign conquer.” To confirm the vision, Eusebius says that early the next morning C. dreamed that a voice commanded him to have his soldiers mark their shields with the letter X.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
The X had a line drawn through it & curled around the top, the symbol of Christ.
That morning C. marched to the forefront of the battle behind a standard (called the
labarum
) carrying the initials of Christ interwoven with a cross.
Maxentius left the protection of the walls of Rome & clashed with C. while crossing the Tiber River over the Mulvian Bridge.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
M. & thousands of his troops were defeated & drowned in the Tiber.
His father, Maximian, who had conspired against C., was captured & granted the courtesy of suicide.
Thus, in 312, C. entered Rome the undisputed master of the West.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
Early in 313 C. met with Licinius, whom Galerius had appointed to succeed the slain Severus.
They both desire to coordinate their rule & to consolidate Xtian support throughout the empire.
Meeting at Milan, they issued the famous “Edict of Milan,” which confirmed the religious toleration proclaimed by Galerius.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
In addition the edict extended freedom to all religions & ordered restoration of Xtian properties seized during the recent persecutions.
Historians & theologians continue to debate to this day the sincerity & motive of C’s conversion.
Undoubtedly many influences converged that day at the Mulvian Bridge.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
His mother, Helena, had converted to Xtianity when divorced & surely acquainted her son with the positive aspects of Xtian teaching.
C. had observed the failure of 3 persecutions during his lifetime, & had noted that Xtianity had grown in spite of them.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
He had been impressed with the order & morality of Xtian conduct.
In spite of the bitter persecutions, the Xtians had rarely revolted against the state & even taught submission to civil powers.
C. doubtless speculated as to how these attitudes & doctrines couild be used effectively to purify roman morals & solidify the empire.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor b.
The Conversion of Constantine
Subsequent decisions & actions would cause many to question the validity of his conversion; but, for the time, the Xtian world rejoiced over the unbelievable news that the Roman Empire had a Xtian upon the throne.
C. declined, however, to be baptized until he was almost dead, at age 64.
He wanted to be sure that baptism would come late enough to cleanse away all the sins of his crowded life.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
Although C. had openly embraced Xtianity, he found it difficult to completely extricate pagan religion & culture.
His world was still predominately pagan & being a man-of-the-world politician, C. used a gradual plan of supplanting paganism.
He restored pagan temples, used pagan magic formulas to protect crops & heal diseases.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
He used pagan as well as Xtian rites in dedicating Constantinople.
It was not till 317 that his coins dropped the use of pagan images.
As a former worshiper of the Unconquered Sun, C. obviously continued to identify the sun with Xtian God in some way.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
In 321 he made the 1 holiday & called it “the venerable day of the Sun” (Sunday).
st day of the week a The celebration of X’s birth on the 25 th of Dec. appears to be related to the annual sun festival.
The Philocalian calendar, representing Roman practices in 336, is the earliest mention of the observance on Dec. 25.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
Some historians contend that the date was chosen to oppose, others that it was chosen to coordinate, the feast of the
Natalis Solis Invicti
Unconquered Sun).
(the birth of the Regardless of the original intention, the date was definitely influenced by the sun festival, & Xtian records of the time repeatedly refer to X as the “Sun of Righteousness.”
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
As C’s reign grew more secure, he favored Xtianity more openly.
Although he never made Xtianity the official religion of the empire, he encouraged all his subjects to become Xtians.
He gave Xtian bishops the authority of judges in their dioceses & exempted ch realty from taxation.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
He gave money to needy congregations, built several chs in Constantinople & throughout the empire & forbade the worship of images in the new captial.
In the Edict of Milan he had proclaimed toleration & freedom for all religions.
He now revoked that freedom as it applied to heretical sects & ordered destruction of their meeting places.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
He gave his sons a Xtian education & financed his mother’s many Xtian philanthropies.
He ordered a ch. of the Holy Sepulcher to be built over the alleged tomb of X in Jerusalem, & Helena built a chapel over the traditional site of Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem (both edifices remain today).
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
When Eusebius wrote his
Life of Constantine
he used eight chapters to extol the virtues of the emperor’s piety and good works, telling how he “governed his empire in a godly manner for more than thirty years.” He neglected to tell that C. executed his son, nephew and second wife.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor c.
The Tenacity of Paganism
The reasons have never been clear, but the fact of the executions indicates that the first Christian emperor had a difficult time being thoroughly Christian.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3 dark clouds darkened the bright new day of the Xtian world, all of them theological & terribly frustrating to C.
He was a man of politics and war, not religion.
Yet he had become the champion of Xtianity & therefore also its defender.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
Xtianity was a means, not an end, for C.
He was a statesman, not a theologian.
Agitated by the theological issues that threatened his empire’s peace, he summoned the bishops to be his political aides, presided over their councils, and enforced their decisions.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
A secluded life-style which has continued as one minor expression of Xtianity began as early as the late 3 rd & early 4 th c.
Monastic asceticism was a reaction against the growing worldliness of the church.
Even before C. united the ch. & empire, the general toleration of Xtianity had brought in many new members to the chs, & a corresponding lowering of standards.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
Between Decian & Diocletian persecutions, the ch. had become the richest religious organization in the empire.
Xtians were obsessed with gaining wealth; bishops held lucrative offices of state, made fortunes, & lent money at usurious interest.
A devout minority feared for the direction Xtianity was going & sought to return to absorption in spiritual matters.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
They believed that the only hope was to renounce all possessions & retreat to the desert.
Thus hermits & monks became a permanent expression of piety.
Hermit
—from GK word meaning “desert.”
Monk
—from GK word meaning “alone.”
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
Anthony, a Coptic peasant from Egypt, the 1 st famous hermit.
Ca. 275, he began 25 yrs of isolated existence & is said to have battled demons in the desert.
His reputation for sanctity spread widely & peopled the desert with disciples who tried to emulate him.
Ca. 305 A. came out of solitude to organize his followers.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
He retired again to solitude in 310, but remained influential in support of the Nicene party in the Arian controversy.
After the conversion of C., the ch received another invasion of worldliness; while Xtianity converted the world, the world also converted Xtianity.
The natural impulses of pagan humanity were openly displayed among professing Xtians.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
Likely of tens of 1000s had followed their emperor into the ch without ever experiencing a new birth.
What had at first appeared to be the gift of an entire empire to the ch became an albatross around the necks of spiritual Xtians.
Monks retreating to desert solitude again became a familiar sight.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
In 325, a converted soldier named Pachomius accepted the principle of monasticism but rejected extremism.
Believing that absolute solitude was selfish, he established the first monastic community where spiritual brothers could retreat together to renounce the world & devote their time to Scripture and meditation.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
This is the 1 st e.g. of monasticism known as
cenobitic
, so called from the GK words,
koinos bios
, meaning “the life in common.” Martyrdom had died out, & whereas martyrs had once been the spiritual elite of the faith, that position now went to the monks.
Yet these spiritual recluses began to exhibit some of the very traits of humanity they had sought to flee.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
While they were critical of the worldly competition of the marketplace, they became competitive in their religious devotions.
They competed to see who could stand longest on one leg without food or sleep, or who could remain the longest time on the highest pillar.
Those who had sought to call the ch back to the fundamentals of the faith often became engrossed with trivia themselves.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
C. did not understand the emphasis of the ascetics, & their retreat from society reflected negatively against the culture he was attempting to build.
He turned to the ch fathers for answers & assistance, & at 1 st many bishops opposed the monastic movement.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
However, they gradually began to accept it as a necessary balance to the church’s increasing involvement with commerce & government, & because the sincerity of the monks’ piety could not be ignored.
Basil the Great (330-79) contributed the most to a harmonious relationship between orthodox Xtianity & monastic asceticism.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
Highly educated at Constantinople & Athens, & made a bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, he nonetheless believed that monasticism was a valid expression of normative Xtianity.
He integrated the monastic ocmmunities more closely with the ch & insisted that the bishop should have ultimate authority over a monastery.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
He began the first outward-looking concerns of monasticism, providing education and medical treatment for the poor.
B’s imp. theological works, his stand against the Arian party in the Christological controversies, his extensive organization of benevolent work, & his sincere personal holiness have ranked him in Xtian history as one of the 3 great Cappadocian Fathers.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
Other two —Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus, & Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa.
These 3, all Cappadocians by birth, were the chief influence which led to the final defeat of Arianism at the Council of Constantinople in 381.
Rather than splitting the ch & damaging the empire, monasticism was allowed to express itself somewhat like “the loyal opposition.”
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
1) Monasticism.
The monks were opposed to the worldliness of the ch, but still recognized it as the legitimate Body of Christ on earth.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
2) Donatism.
Another cloud which threatened C’s clear sky was the Donatist schism which traced its grievances back to the severe Diocletian persecutions.
One edict of the persecution was that all copies of Scripture be handed over to the state upon threat of death for the entire congregation.
Many bishops had complied in order not to imperil the lives of their flock.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
2) Donatism.
Rigorists who had refused called these
traditores
(“handers over”) of Scripture, obviously carrying the sense also of traitor), & insisted that they should not be restored to communion, let alone to the ecclesiastical office.
A large contingency of rigorists in North Africa refused to accept Caecilian as Bishop of Carthage because his consecrator, Felix of Aptunga, had allegedly been a
traditore.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
2) Donatism.
The African bishops consecrated Majorinus as a rival to Caecilian, & he was soon afterward succeeded by Donatus, from whom the schism was named.
D. insisted that clergy who had surrendered the Scriptures to the pagan police during the persecution had forfeited their office & powers.
He held that baptisms or ordinations performed by such clergy were null and void.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
2) Donatism.
This led naturally to the position that the validity of sacraments depends in large part upon the spiritual state of the administrator.
“Donatism” remains the designation for such a position.
The ch refused to approve this stringent creed, & the Donatists set up rival bishops wherever existing ones did not meet their tests.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
2) Donatism.
Constantine had thought that Xtianity would be the one great unifying force that the empire needed, & now it threatened that empire with divisiveness & chaos.
The emperor became personally involved when the issue evolved into legal claims over property.
In Edict of Milan he had decreed the restitution of ch bldgs. confiscated in the persecution.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
2) Donatism.
But, in the light of the Donatist schism, which party had the rightful claim to these buildings?
C. referred the matter to the bishop of Rome, who decided against the Donatists, a decision confirmed by the Council of Arles in 314.
The rigorists still refused to submit, violence erupted, the Donatists appealed directly to the emperor, & C. grudgingly gave them a semblance of toleration.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
2) Donatism.
A century later the Donatists outnumbered the orthodox in North Africa, where they received their greatest theological blow from Augustine.
They continued, however, to exist & oppose the orthodox until both were overthrown by the Saracens (Moslems) in the 7 th & 8 th centuries.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
If C. had been out of his element in trying to understand the holiness of ascetics & in trying to unravel the ecclesiastical disputes of rival bishops, he was completely at sea when the peace of his empire was threatened by theological debate about the person & nature of Jesus Christ.
This Christological controversy was to embroil all of Christendom until 451.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
It was ignited by a priest in Alexandria named Arius.
Because his teachings were branded as heresy, Arius went down in history as one of Xtianity’s 1 st & most famous heresiarchs.
A. denied the true divinity of Jesus Christ.
He maintained that the Son of God was not eternal but created by the Father, that he was therefore not God by nature, but a changeable creature.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
His dignity as the Son of God was bestowed upon Jesus by the Father because of his righteous life.
X was not “consubstantial” with the Father, & the HS was begotten by the Logos (Christ), which makes him still less of God than the Logos.
The philosophical ideas from Plato thru the Stoics, Philo, Plotinus, & Origen to Arius were obviously at work.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
Platonism, which had so deeply influenced Xtian theology, was now fomenting conflict in the ch.
Arius’ bishop, Alexander, condemned the heretical teachings & called a council which removed Arius & his followers.
Many priests sympathized with Arius; & throughout the empire, clergy as well as laity were divided on the issue.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
Eusebius said there was such “tumult and disorder that the Xtian religion afforded a subject of profane merriment to the pagans even in their theaters.” It was 318 & C. was still trying to stabilize the empire, having just returned from overthrowing Licinius.
He was extremely agitated with both Arius & Alexander & wrote a scathing letter to them.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
He stated that he was about the business of leading the people back to a single idea of the Deity, & they were causing dissension & strife among believers.
To both, C. said, “There was no need to make these questions public . . . Since they are problems that idleness alone raises, and whose only use is to sharpen men’s wits . . . These are silly actions worthy of inexperienced children, and not of priests or reasonable men.”
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
The letter reflected the political purpose of C’s religious policy & his vast lack of knowledge of theology & its importance.
To the ch, the question was vital both theologically & politically.
If X was not God, the whole structure of Xtian doctrine was in question.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
Further, if division were permitted on this issue, confusion of belief might destroy the unity & authority of the ch, & therefore its usefulness to the state.
When C. began to see the serious implications, he called the 1 st ecumenical (universal) council of the ch.
Meeting at Nicaea in 325 (May 20-July 25), the summoned bishops debated the nature of the person of Jesus Christ.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
Arius reaffirmed his view that X was a creature, not equal to the Father, but “divine only by participation.” He was opposed by the eloquent archdeacon Athanasius from Alexandria.
Ath won the first great Xtological debate, & the council issued the famous creed of Nicaea which firmly presents X as “being one essence [
homo-ousios
] with the Father.”
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
Arius & other heretical bishops were banished, but the empire had not seen the last of them, nor of the issue of Arianism.
Constantine was at 1 st an ardent promoter of the Nicene faith, but he soon began to waver, probably due to the influences of his sister, Constantia, who favored Arianism.
In 328 several of the banished priests were allowed to return & they immediately began intrigue against the Nicene party.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
They were so successful in gaining support that in 335 Athanasius, who had been made bishop of Alexandria in 328, had to go into exile.
Arius gained recognition as being orthodox & was scheduled for reinstatement in the ch when he died suddenly in 336.
But the controversy did not die, and subsequent councils & creeds would testify to the poor judgment of C when he tried to dismiss the issue as trivial squabbling.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
Aside from the theological issues involved, the council at Nicaea must have had a profound impact upon the participants.
The gathering of the leaders of lthe church was impressive in itself, but the unbelievable fact was that the council had been summoned & presided over by none other than the Roman emperor.
A. Victims Become Victors
1. The First Christian Emperor d.
The Threat of Controversy.
3) Arianism.
Every bishop present was old enough to remember the persecutions, & now they were all discussing with the emperor, a fellow Xtian, the nature of X & the doctrine of the Trinity.
Even the most optimistic could not have hoped for this phenomenal turn of events.
The victims had become victors.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire Religion was not the sole concern of the emperor; after all, he had an empire to run & a civilization to maintain.
Even if C had not turned the course of world history because of his Xtian conversion, he would have been renowned for his impact on culture & civilization.
His legacy in this area was the magnificent Byzantine Empire.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire a. Constantinople, The New Rome.
In 330 C moved the capital of the empire from Rome to a new city he called
Nova Roma
(New Rome), which had been built upon the ruins of the ancient fortress town of Byzantium, form which the term “Byzantine” is derived.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire a. Constantinople, The New Rome.
Strategically located on the Bosphorus, the gateway between the Mediterranean & the Black Sea, the new capital was a bulwark to withstand enemies from the East & positioned the government close to the main focus of the empire’s trade.
New Rome soon became known as Con, the city of Constantine.
The modern city, Istanbul, Turkey, sits on the site.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire a. Constantinople, The New Rome.
Con was the center of Byzantine civilization & seat of economic & political power.
It remained the capital of the Eastern Empire for more than a 1000 yrs, becoming the Turkish capital in 1453.
Here C surrounded himself with the pomp & pageantry of an oriental court.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire a. Constantinople, The New Rome.
He improved the army, gave support to the arts, strengthened the schools at Athens & founded a new university at Con.
He improved the status of physicians & teachers, & decreed that artists were exempt from civic obligations in order to pursue & teach their art.
From across the empire, great art treasures were brought to Con to make it an elegant capital.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire a. Constantinople, The New Rome.
While the move from Rome to Con was not intended to affect the ch directly, it had far reaching implications & influences.
The bishop of Rome became for all practical purposes the heir to the authority of the Caesars in the West.
As a counterbalance, C elevated the bishop of Con to a position equal to that of the b. of Rome.
The result was a divided empire & church.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal In 337, at age 64, C finally received baptism, & died.
At his death C’s empire was divided among his 3 sons, Constantine II, Contantius, & Constans.
Constantine II took over the West.
Constantius the East.
Constans the middle, Africa, Greece & Italy (including Rome).
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal Each ruler supported the religious view that prevailed in his respective territory.
The East was predominately Arian, so Constantius backed the reaction against Nicaea.
Constantine II and Constans were both pro-Nicene, but a rivalry between flamed into a war in which Constantine II was killed in 340.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal Constans unified the Nicene areas & thereby reversed the predominance against the Arians.
10 yrs later, however, Constans was assassinated by a usurper, Magnentius, who in turn was defeated by Constantius two yrs later.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal Now, Constantius ruled the whole empire, & since he was increasingly inclined toward Arianism, Jerome later observed, “The whole world groaned and was amazed to find itself Arian.” From 354 to 360, Constantius held a series of councils in various parts of the empire in an attempt to solidify the position of Arianism.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal He succeeded in forcing an anti-Nicene creed on reluctant bishops & in securing the condemnation of Athanasius, leader to the Nicene party.
In 358, Athanasius issued his famous statement which was the first open break of the ch with the state since the beginning of the Constantine era.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal Athanasius asked, “When did a judgment of the church receive its validity from the emperor?” Hosius of Cardova, who had helped shape C’s policy toward the ch, now reversed & even quoted Jesus against the emperor.
He said, “Do not intrude yourself into church matters, nor give commands to us concerning them. . . .
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal …God has put into your hands the kingdom; to us he has entrusted the affairs of his church. . . . It is written, ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.’” For their opposing efforts, Constantius banished Athanasius & Hosius along with Liberius, the bishop of Rome.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal At the death of Constantius in 361, his cousin Julian (nephew of Constantine) became emperor, his infamous reign lasting for only two years.
Yet in this brief time he so thoroughly shattered the empire with his return to paganism that he went down in history as Julian the Apostate.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal A Platonist in philosophy, J. attempted to lead the empire into a new religion he called Hellenism.
He restored pagan worship & revoked the special privileges of Xtian clergy.
Yet there was no open persecution of Xtians, &, in fact, toleration was decreed for all religions.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal He even allowed the banished bishops to return.
He thus became the unwitting instrument of securing the Nicene position, since the orthodox resumed their offices.
Even though J. thought that C. had made a great mistake in adopting Xtianity, he exhorted his pagan priests to imitate the sobriety, hospitality, & philanthropy of the Xtians.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal J. died in 363, & with him the zeal of paganism.
Athanasius had rightly predicted, “Be of good courage; it is but a cloud which will quickly pass away.” All succeeding emperors placed themselves on the side of Xtianity.
Jovian followed J. in 363 & proclaimed universal religious toleration.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal He was soon succeeded by Valentinian I (364-375) who extended the toleration include Arians although he was personally of the Nicene faith.
Valentinian appointed the younger brother Valens to rule the East (364-78), & he vigorously opposed the Nicene party.
Attempting to withstand the invading Germanic tribe of Visigoths, Valens was killed in the battle of Adrianople in 378.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal All subsequent emperors, in East as well as West, were orthodox (Nicene).
When Valentinian died, his son Gratian became ruler of the East also.
He soon realized, however, that he could not govern the whole empire alone, & he appointed Theodosius, an experienced Spanish soldier, to rule the East (379-95).
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal Gratian was killed in a rebellion by another Spanish officer, Magnus Maximus, in 383.
This usurper became the 1 st Xtian emperor to inflict the death penalty upon a heretic, Pricillian of Spain.
Meanwhile, in the East, Theodosius I was striking a mortal blow against paganism, prohibiting all sacrifices & closing pagan temples.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal Heretics were forbidden to worship, their chs were confiscated, & they lost their right to inherit property.
In Xtian history, Theodosius I is perhaps best known for convening the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 381.
This was a concerted effort to unite the eastern ch at the end of the long Arian controversy on the basis of Nicene faith.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal The Council of Nicaea was reaffirmed with slight modifications.
While Theodosius was seeing the actualization of a full Xtian state, he was also realizing the dramatic increase in the power of the ch.
When people of Thessalonica murdered the military commander of the city….
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal T. avenged his death by the massacre of 7,000 citizens, both guilty & innocent.
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (where T. held court), excommunicated the emperor until he did penance, publicly asking forgiveness in the ch.
To the popular question of the day, “What has the emperor to do with the church?”
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire b. Division, Defection, & Renewal Ambrose had given a ringing answer: the emperor was within the church, not above it.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire c. The Fall of Rome.
After the death of Theodosius (395), the empire was ruled by his two sons, Arcadius in the East, Honorius in the West.
Tension between them developed into hostility, & Alaric, the new king of the Visigoths, too advantage of the breach.
Night of Aug. 24, 410, A. stormed the walls of Rome in a surprise attack.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire c. The Fall of Rome.
For the 1 st time in 800 yrs Rome was taken by a foreign enemy.
Jerome, from his monastery in faroff Bethlehem, lamented: “The city which has taken the whole world is itself taken.” Augustine of Hippo wrote a monumental defense of the Xtian’s position in the fall of Rome, titled
The City of God
.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire c. The Fall of Rome.
The sack of Rome did more psychological than actual damage.
Honorius had already moved his court to the coastal city of Ravenna & after Alaric’s sudden death, the Visigoths returned to Gaul.
In 452 Attila the Hun invaded Italy & purposed to destroy Rome, but was persuaded to withdraw (according to tradition) by Pope Leo I.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire c. The Fall of Rome.
In 455, another Germanic tribe, the Vandals, led by Gaiseric, attacked Rome.
It was reported that Leo again saved the city by his personal pleading.
The next two decades witnessed against the Vandals and complicated intrigues, in which puppet emperors were set up & deposed by barbarian generals.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire c. The Fall of Rome.
In 476 Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor in the West.
Odoacer was overthrown by Theodoric in 526, the eastern emperor Justinian temporarily reconquered Italy, but the imperial army was unable to hold Italy after Justinian’s death.
Italy was once more dominated by barbarians, & Rome itself was governed by her bishop.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
The decline & fall of Rome served to emphasize the strength & dominance of Constantinople, which was soaring toward the zenith of the Byzantine era.
Theodosius II (408-450), summoned the Council of Ephesus in 431, & enacted the highly influential Theodosian Code.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
Issued in 438, the Theodosian Code inflicted the death penalty on those who denied the Trinity (the Arians) & on those who repeated baptism (the Donatists).
It also banned paganism, regulated the position of the clergy, & determined the relation between church & state.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
When Theodosius II was killed in a fall from his horse in 450, his brother-in-law Marcian became emperor (450-457), & stabilized his reign with financial reforms.
His theological contribution was the successful repression of Monophysitism at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
Over the next 70 yrs the eastern empire was threatened politically by the invading Germans & theologically by the Monophysite controversy.
“Monosphysite” comes from Gk word meaning “one nature.” The controversy centered around the doctrine that in the person of the incarnate X there was but a single nature, & it was divine.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
In 527 Justinian became emperor.
J. inherited an unwieldy accumulation of legal codes, & determined to produce one great code of law.
The result was the
Codex Justinianus
, the Code of Justinian, which survived for centuries as the Roman law in East and West alike.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
Like the Theodosian Code a century earlier, the Justinian Code enacted Xtianity into law.
It began with a strong section favoring the Trinity, & condemning a long list of heresies, some to be punishable by death.
It gave qualifications for bishops & ecclesiastical officers, & proclaimed the authority of the Roman ch over all Xtians.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
At the same time, it clearly stipulated that all ch matters were subject to the state.
The emperor had dominion over the ch, & all ecclesiastical law had to come from the throne.
Pagan sacrifice was declared a capital offense, as was the lapsing of any Xtian into paganism.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
Jews were forbidden to convert Xtians or to hold Xtian slaves.
Detailed laws dealing with such matters as property, courts of law, military service, & the status of women presented some innovative & far-reaching judicial precedents.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
In effect, the characteristic element of this Byzantine church-state pattern was harmony,
symphonia,
in which the spiritual & civil authorities supported each other.
Some have called this
Caesaropapism
.
Other historians resent this term, pointing out that the emperor was not a priest & that he himself could be excommunicated.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
However, the emperor did control the election of the patriarch, and not even the decision of a church council was valid without his consent.
Overall, Justinian’s greatest contribution was that he gave a definitive form to Byzantine culture.
It was a mixture of Roman law, Xtian faith, & Hellenistic philosophy.
A. Victims Become Victors
2. The Byzantine Empire d. Justinian the Great.
He was a great conqueror, a great lawgiver, a great diplomat, and a great builder (e.g., Hagia Sophia).
But at the last he became a heretic & announced that the body of X was incorruptible & never knew the indignities of mortal flesh.
In 565 he died at 83 after reigning for 38 years.