Transcript Document

CHURCH HISTORY – PART I
THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES
HISTORY BEGINS WITH…
B.C. = Before Christ
A.D. = Anno Domini (Nostri Iesu Jesu Christi) "In the Year of
Our Lord Jesus Christ"
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WHY IS THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
IMPORTANT?
• 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God
sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the
law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption as sons. (Gal.
4:4-5)
• God, who at various times and in various ways
spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…
(Hebrews 1:1-2)
3
THE LIVING BODY
• Christ Himself wrote nothing, but
furnished endless material for books
and songs of gratitude and praise.
The living Church is His book.
•
2 You
are our epistle written in our
hearts, known and read by all men;
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ,
ministered by us, written not with
ink but by the Spirit of the living
God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
(2 Cor. 3:2,3)
4
WHAT IS TRADITION?
• Tradition – “the handing down of information, beliefs,
and customs by word of mouth or by example or by
writing from one generation to another.”
• 1 John 1:1-5
SCRIPTURE VS. TRADITION
• The church
• Wrote the scriptures
• Kept the scriptures
• Interpreted the scriptures
Sola scriptura (Latin "by
scripture alone") is the
doctrine that the Bible
contains all knowledge
necessary for salvation and
holiness.
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TRADITION
Orthodox spirituality is meant
to be passed down from
generation to generation.
Christ
gave
Apostles
preached
Church Fathers and Ecumenical Councils
preserved, protected and reaffirmed 7
ST. ATHANASIUS THE APOSTOLIC
"Let us look at the very
tradition, teaching, and
faith of the Catholic
[Universal] Church from the
very beginning, which the
Logos [Jesus Christ] gave,
the Apostles preached,
and the Fathers preserved.
Upon this the Church is
founded.”
MAJOR EVENTS IN 1ST CENTURY
• ~30-33AD Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord,
Pentecost
• ~32-35 Martyrdom of St. Stephen and conversion of
Saul of Tarsus
• 35 Birth of St. Ignatius. His letters to churches and to
St. Polycarp are widely quoted in the early church
• ~48 1st Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15)
• 51 The Jewish persecution of Christians in Rome
becomes so disruptive that the Jews are expelled
from the city
• NT written between ~50 - ~95
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MAJOR EVENTS IN 1ST CENTURY
• 64 Emperor Nero blames the fire that destroys much
of Rome on the Christians. He persecutes the
church ruthlessly, and uses Christians as candles to
light his garden. St. Peter and St. Paul martyred
during this persecution
• 68 The end of Nero's reign
• 69 Birth of St. Polycarp (disciple of St. John the
Apostle)
• 70 destruction of Jewish temple (Matt. 24:2, Mark
13:2, Luke 21:6)
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MAJOR EVENTS IN 1ST CENTURY
• 81 Domitian becomes Emperor. As Emperor, he
persecuted both Jews and Christians
• 96 The end of Domitian's reign and death of St.
Clement of Rome. He wrote influential epistles to
Corinth.
• 98 Trajan becomes Emperor. Trajan eventually
instituted a policy toward Christians that stayed in
effect until the time of Aurelius. His policy was not to
seek Christians out, but if they were brought before
the authorities they were to be punished, usually
executed, for being Christians
• 100 St. John the Apostle dies
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MAJOR EVENTS IN 2ND CENTURY
• 107 St. Ignatius led to Rome and martyred
• 115 b. Ireneaus, author of Against Heresies, a treatise against
the gnostics
• 130 Conversion of Justin Martyr. One of first apologists
• 144 Marcion excommunicated for rejecting the Old
Testament, rejecting most of the New Testament, and
teaching that Christ only appeared to be human (Docetism).
• 150 Birth of St. Clement of Alexandria. Apologist who used
Plato to support Christianity, and tried to reach gnostics by
showing that only the Christian had real "gnosis." He helped
establish the allegorical method of interpreting scripture.
• 155 St. Polycarp was martyred in Smyrna by being burned to
death. St. Polycarp declared, "Eighty and six years have I
served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I
blaspheme my King and my Savior?" The only known writings
to survive are parts of letters he wrote to the Philippians
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MAJOR EVENTS IN 2ND CENTURY
• 156 Possibly the beginning of the Montanist movement.
They were an aescetic movement with apocalyptic
visions. They claimed the Spirit spoke directly through
their prophets and prophetesses
• 160 Birth of Tertullian.
• 161 Marcus Aurelius becomes emperor. He abandoned
Trajan's passive approach and actively sought Christians
to persecute them throughout the empire
• 165 St. Justin is martyred
• 185 Birth of Origen. Pupil of St. Clement of Alexandria, he
further develops the allegorical method.
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MAJOR EVENTS IN 3RD CENTURY
• 202 Septimus Severus tries to unite the empire under
one religion, the worship of the Unconquered Sun.
Both Jews and Christians refuse and are vehemently
persecuted
• 202 St. Irenaeus is martyred
• 216 Birth of Mani, founder of Manichaeism. He fused
Persian, Christian, and Buddhist elements into a
major new heresy
• 225 Death of Tertullian
• 245 Conversion of St. Cyprian
• 247 St. Cyprian becomes Bishop of Carthage
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MAJOR EVENTS IN 3RD CENTURY
• 249-251 The reign of Decius. He ordered everyone in the empire
to burn incense to him. Those who complied were issued a
certificate. Those who did not have a certificate were
persecuted. Many Christians bought forged certificates, causing
a great controversy in the church. St. Cyprian went into hiding
during the persecution and ruled the church by letters
• 251 birth of St. Antony
• 254 death of Origen
• 258 St. Cyprian is martyred
• 263 birth of Eusebius of Caesarea. He was the first church
historian. Many works of the early church survive only as
fragments in Eusebius's writing
• 284 The beginning of the Diocletian persecution
• 286 birth of St. Pachomius, Egyptian pioneer of cenobitic
(communal rather than solitary) monasticism
• ~300 birth of St. Athanasius, the defender of Orthodoxy during the
Arian controversy of the fourth century.
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WHO IS A CHURCH FATHER?
HOLINESS
ORTHODOXY
Lived a life others can imitate in order to attain the
early Church’s spirit (life has to imitate his faith)
Examined church life w/o deviation
from Orthodox doctrines
CHURCH ACCEPTANCE
&
ANTIQUITY
Writings remained consistent
with the Church’s beliefs and
doctrines
Lived within the time period of the first to the 5th
century
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CHURCH FATHERS BY TIMELINE
Three ecumenical
councils the Church
accepts occurred in this
time period as the fathers
defended church doctrine
from heresies
Came into personal
contact with the apostles
or received instructions
from their disciples
APOSTOLIC
FATHERS
0 AD
100
AD
GOLDEN AGE FATHERS
200 AD
APOLOGETIC
FATHERS
Defended the faith
against paganism and
Judaism
300 AD
400 AD 431 AD –
Council
of
Ephesus
381 AD – Council
of Constantinople
325 AD – Council of Nicea
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TRADITION
How can I trust tradition?
• Consensus patrum
• No father is perfect.
• No infallibility to
ANYONE.
• The church as a
whole, is always
preserved in her faith
by the Spirit of God.
• See St. Vincent of Lerins
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HOW SHOULD WE USE THE WRITINGS
OF THE FATHERS?
• 1. We must not rely on the writings of a single Father,
because no one is capable of acknowledging the
“truth” in its entirety. We only accept the opinion of
a Father, if it is in harmony with the Bible and the
church tradition.
• 2. We must not rely on one or more separate
quotations from any Father, but rather study all his
thoughts and understand the quotations within his
whole work. We must also consider the
circumstances and the church environment, at that
time. We must not single out one or more
quotations to form our own opinion.
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HOW SHOULD WE USE THE WRITINGS
OF THE FATHERS?
• 3. We must study the meaning of the terms which a
Father used. Sometimes they had certain
contemporary philosophical or popular concepts of
the era. Some Fathers used the same pagan or
heretical terms of that time, especially when they
wrote to certain worldly groups. They wrote to them,
using their (pagan) terms, language and concepts.
• 4. It is important to study the meaning of some
difficult terms by comparing them with the same
terms used by their contemporary Fathers.
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WRITINGS AT THE TIME OF THE
APOSTOLIC FATHERS
1. The epistle attributed to Barnabas.
2. The book “ The Shepherd “ by Hermas.
3. Two letters: one by Clement of Rome and the other was
attributed to him.
4. The seven letters of Ignatius.
5. A letter by Polycarp and an article about his martyrdom.
In 1765 Andras Gallandi, in his series Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum,
added to them the following works:
6. A letter to Diognetus (author unknown).
7. Experts by Papias of Hieropolis, and the unknown author of the
Epistle to Quadratus.
8. In 1873 the “Didache” or “The Lord’s teachings to the Gentiles as
conveyed by the 12 Apostles” was discovered. This was added to
the writings of the Apostolic Fathers.
Finally, some of the scholars were of the opinion to add what was
known as “The Apostles’ Creed” to the collection of the writings of
the Apostolic Fathers. However, the majority did not agree to this.
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APOSTOLIC FATHERS
THEMES
• Saw the second coming of Christ as imminent
• Revealed a deep longing for Christ
• Provided a unified doctrine that Christ is the Son of God,
who is pre-existent, and who collaborated in the creation of
the world
STYLE
• Pastoral in character
• Closely related in style and content to the New Testament
writings, especially to the Epistles
• Served as connecting links to the time of revelation and the
time of tradition and as very important witnesses to the
faith
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APOSTOLIC FATHERS
LOCATION
• Authors belonged to many different regions of
the Roman Empire – Asia Minor, Syria and Rome
EXAMPLES
St. Clement of Rome
St. Ignatius of Antioch
St. Polycarp of Smyrna
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APOLOGETIC FATHERS
THEMES
• Challenged paganism and Judaism and the slanderous
statements that the Church was a peril to the State
• Stated the Christian faith was a dominant force for the
maintenance and welfare of the world
• Exposed the deception and immoralities of pagan religions
and demonstrated that the Christian alone has a right
understanding of God and universe
• Defended the unity of God, monotheism, divinity of Christ
and resurrection of the body
• Rebutted philosophers claims for they relied on human
reason and contained errors and Christianity possessed
absolute truth
STYLE
• Closely related to Greek rhetoric – mainly dialogue
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APOLOGETIC FATHERS
LOCATION
Alexandria, Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem
EXAMPLES
St. Justin the Martyr
St. Melito of Sardis
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GOLDEN AGE FATHERS
LOCATION
Widely Spread through Asia Minor, Europe
with Alexandria being the seat of high
learning
EXAMPLES
St. Athanasius
St. Cyril
St. John Chrysostom
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HOW WERE THESE WRITINGS
PRESERVED?
• Preserved as part of the deposit of faith.
“It is fit for us to preserve the tradition we have received
from our forefathers without change.” (St. Gregory of
Nyssa)
“I am a lover of the true teachings, pursuing the spiritual
steps of my Fathers.” (St. Cyril of Alexandria)
• Discipleship
• Some believers were eager to record the sermons of
their spiritual fathers.
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HOW WERE THESE WRITINGS
PRESERVED?
• Many diaries, memoirs and books were written by
pilgrims. Ex. St. John Cassian, Palladius, Rufinus
• The school of Alexandria attracted many church
leaders who transferred its literature to their
churches.
• Translation of Patristic literature, especially from
Greek to Latin, Syriac and Ethiopian.
• Many Coptic monks and deans of the school of
Alexandria visited other countries with the aim of
preaching and establishing monasteries.
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CHURCH FATHERS BY LANGUAGE
Greek regarded as the original language
EAST
But superseded by the following languages in the East
• Syriac
• Coptic
• Armenian
WEST
• Displaced by Latin in the West
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OTHER IMPORTANT FATHERS
• Ante-Nicene Fathers, Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers
•
•
•
•
•
•
St. Basil the Great
St. Gregory of Nyssa
St. Gregory the Theologian
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
St. Jerome
St. Ambrose of Milan
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SCHOOL OF ALEXANDRIA
• Alexandria was well known for its many
schools
• Established by St. Mark
• Began as a Catechetical school
• Famous Deans:
•
•
•
•
•
Clement of Alexandria
Origen
St. Didymus the Blind
St. Dioscorus
Revived by Archdeacon Habib Girgis and HH Pope
Shenouda III
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