Transcript Early Church to the Reformation

Early Church to the
Reformation
Part II
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B. Theologians Become Activists
The 2nd half of the 4th c. witnessed the
flowering of the golden age of the Church
Fathers.
 This was the period of the greatest writers
& thinkers of Xtian antiquity.
 But they were not just thinkers & writers;
they were actively involved in shaping the
destiny of both state and church.
 They considered practically every issue,
local or universal.

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B. Theologians Become Activists
Theological issues & scriptural expositions
were brought into the midst of social,
political and ecclesiastical controversies.
 These great theologians were
contemporaries & many had direct
relations with others or exercised mutual
influence wielded by this group.

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B. Theologians Become Activists

1. Athanasius (c. 296-373)
 A.
was the outstanding obstacle to the
triumph of Arianism in the East.
 His career began when, as secretary to
Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, he attended
the Council of Nicaea in 325.
 He succeeded Alexander as bishop in 328 &
refused to compromise with Arianism.
 He was deposed & exiled to Trier in 336.
 He returned on the death of Constantine in
337, but in 339 was forced to flee to Rome.
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5
Athanasius
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B. Theologians Become Activists

1. Athanasius (c. 296-373)
 He
was restored in 346 by Constans, but
Constantius drove him out again in 356.
 He remained in hiding until the accession of
Julian (361), who exiled him again in 362.
 He returned on Julian’s death in 363, & after
another brief exile (356-66), he worked the
rest of his life to build up the new Nicene
party, which triumphed over Arianism at the
Council of Constantinople in 381.
 He died in Alexandria in May 373.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

1. Athanasius (c. 296-373)
 A.
is remembered for his role in preserving
orthodoxy in the ch’s trinitarian theology.
 While in his 20s he wrote De Incarnatione, in
which he showed how God the Word, by his
union with manhood, restored fallen man to
the image of God, & by his death &
resurrection met & overcame death, the
consequence of sin.
 He was the greatest & most consistent
opponent of Arianism, against which he wrote
a series of works from 339-359.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

1. Athanasius (c. 296-373)
 He
also upheld the deity of the HS and the full
manhood of X against Macedonian &
Apollinarian tendencies.
 He aided the ascetic movement of
monasticism, & generally strengthened the
spirituality as well as the orthodoxy of the
church.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

2. Ambrose (c. 339-97)
 A.
was a practicing lawyer when he was
appointed governor of Aemiloia-Liguria, with
his seat at Milan.
 When Auxentius, the Arian bishop of Milan,
died in 374, the laity demanded that Ambrose
succeed him.
 As bishop, he was famous as preacher &
renowned as an upholder of orthodoxy.
 He is credited mainly with the conversion of
Augustine (386).
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Ambrose
(c. 339-397)
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B. Theologians Become Activists

2. Ambrose (c. 339-97)
 Political
& ch events involved him personally
with the rulers of the western empire, & he
had great influence with Gratian, Maximus,
Justina, & Theodosius I.
 He fought paganism & Arianism, maintained
the independence of the ch from civil power,
& championed morality.
 His most notable work was De Officiis
Ministorrum, a work on Xtian ethics with
special reference to the clergy.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

2. Ambrose (c. 339-97)
 He
wrote on ascetic subjects, encouraged
monasticism, wrote several well-known Latin
hymns, & through his knowledge of Gk,
introduced much eastern theology into the
West.
 Ambrose is one of the 4 traditional doctors of
the Latin church, the other 3 being Jerome,
Augustine and Gregory the Great.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

3. Jerome (c. 342-420)
 J.
was one of the greatest biblical scholars of
the early ch.
 He originally devoted himself to an ascetic
life, settled as a hermit into the Syrian desert,
& learned Hebrew.
 On his return to Antioch, he was ordained a
priest, spent some time in Constantinople, &
eventually became secretary to Pope (Bishop)
Damasus.
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Jerome
(c. 342-420)
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Jerome in his study
French, c. 1495-1515
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The Penitence of St. Jerome
Albrecht Altdorfer
1507
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B. Theologians Become Activists

3. Jerome (c. 342-420)
 After
Damasus’ death, he visited Antioch,
Egypt, & Palestine.
 In 386 he finally settled in Bethlehem, where
he ruled the men’s monastery & devoted the
rest of his life to study & writing.
 His greatest achievement was his translation
of the Bible into Latin from the original
languages.
 Known as the Vulgate, it was finished around
404.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

3. Jerome (c. 342-420)
 The
Vulgate was established by the Council of
Trent in the mid 1500s as the official Roman
Catholic version of the Bible—remains so
today.
 J. also wrote 3 revisions of the psalter, many
biblical commentaries, a bibliography of
ecclesiastical writers, translated the works of
Origen & Didymus into Latin, developed the
relationship of the Apocrypha to the Hebrew
canon, & translated & continued Eusebius’
Chronicle of Church History.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

3. Jerome (c. 342-420)
 Although
he advocated extreme asceticism,
he was personally involved in many
passionate attacks against Arianism,
Pelagianism and Origenism.
 Jerome’s scholarship & dedication were
unsurpassed in the early church & set models
for all succeeding theological writers.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

4. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)
 C.
was bishop of Constantinople & a
renowned preacher.
 His powers of oratory earned him the name of
Chrysostom, “the golden-mouth.”
 He combined his preaching ability with
dedicated scholarship & his series of
“homilies” on various books of the Bible
established him as the greatest Xtian
expositor of his day.
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John Chrysostom
(c. 347-407)
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B. Theologians Become Activists

4. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)
 He
saw the meaning of scripture & at the
same time was able to make practical
application.
 He was made patriarch of Constantinople in
398, & set about reforming the city from its
corruption of court, clergy and society.
 His honesty, asceticism, & tactlessness won
him many enemies; chief among them were
Theophilus, the unworthy patriarch of
Alexandria & the Empress Eudoxia, who took
all attempts at moral reform as a censure of
herself.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

4. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)
 They
succeeded in having him removed from
his post and banished.
 Although he was supported by the people of
Constantinople, Pope Innocent I, & the entire
Western ch, he was exiled to Antioch, moved
to Pontus, & finally deliberately killed by
enforced travel on foot in severe weather.
 He has been remembered for his personal
holiness, his matchless preaching, his
scholarly exegesis, & his liturgical reforms.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

4. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407)
work On the Priesthood is a good
description of the responsibilities of the
Christian minister.
 His
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 The
theological development of this period
reached its zenith in the person of Aurelius
Augustine, bishop of Hippo, whom many rank
as second only to the Apostle Paul in the
development of western Christian theology.
 Aquinas, Luther, Calvin and Pascal drew
heavily on him.
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Augustine of Hippo
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Augustine
(from Andre Thevet)
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 a.
The Conversion of Augustine.
 He was born in North Africa of a pagan father
& a Xtian mother, Monica.
 He received a Xtian education, studied to
become a lawyer, but decided instead on
literary pursuits.
 He left Xtianity and took a mistress, to whom
he was faithful for 15 yrs, having a son by
her.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 a.
The Conversion of Augustine.
 Writings of Cicero awakened an intense
interest in philosophy & he soon became a
Manichaean, which he remained for 9 yrs.
 Disillusioned by the all-too-simple Manichaean
explanation of evil in terms of matter, he left
them & Africa.
 He went to Rome & opened a school of
rhetoric, where he became disgusted by the
behavior of his pupils, & left for a
professorship at Milan.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 a.
The Conversion of Augustine.
 By the time he arrived in Milan, he was
embracing the philosophy of the “Academics,”
which denied the possibility of attaining
absolute truths.
 A little later he became a Neo-Platonist &
drew nearer to Xtianity.
 He was attracted to the preaching of
Ambrose, bishop of Milan, for the literary
quality of his sermons & for the biblical
answers given to many of his objections.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 a.
The Conversion of Augustine.
 When he heard of the conversion of the NeoPlatonist philosopher Victorinus to Xtianity, A.
turned in earnest to search the NT.
 A major obstacle to becoming a Xtian was his
moral incontinence.
 Although he had dismissed his concubine at
his mother’s insistence, he had entered
another illicit affair.
 Another obstacle was his concern about
“inconsistencies” in the Bible.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 a.
The Conversion of Augustine.
 With great heaviness of heart (a “sickness
unto death”) A. went alone one day to a
garden, where he tore his hair & beat his
breast.
 He had been deeply moved and shamed by
the story of Anthony & the Egyptians hermits,
& how they withstood temptation.
 From next door he heard a child crooning,
Tolle, lege” (“take up and read”).
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 a.
The Conversion of Augustine.
 He then saw a copy of the NT on a bench, &
opening it to Romans 13:13, he read: “Not in
reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery
and licentiousness, not in quarreling and
jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make no provision for the flesh to gratify
its desires.”
 The verse enabled him to surrender himself
completely to X.
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This version of
Augustine’s garden
conversion comes
from Gozzoli (14241497). He is reading
from Romans 13:14.
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In the Garden in Milan (Augustine’s Conversion)
In the artist’s mystical interpretation, Augustine, seated
in the garden in Milan, sees childlike angelic beings calling
him to “Tolle lege, tolle lege” (Take up and read, take up an
read) the Scriptures. The Bible is open to Romans 13:1314, “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in
concupiscence.”
“No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at
the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity
infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished
away.”
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This picture, taken from a fresco on a wall
of the Lateran Palace, is thought to be the
oldest known portrait of Augustine—perhaps
based on an image taken from his own signet
ring.
A. is dressed in a tunic, mantle and sandals,
thus being depicted as a scholar rather than
as a bishop. In his left hand he holds a
scroll; with his right hand he makes an oratorical gesture toward the great book open on
the lectern. The scroll alludes to his own
works; the great book to the greatest of
books, the Bible.
The Latin inscription at the bottom reads:
“The different fathers said different things,
but with Roman eloquence this man said all
things, thundering forth the sense of the
mysteries.”
The painter did not think it necessary to use
Augustine’s name in the painting. The laudatory inscription was thought sufficient to
identify Augustine.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 a.
The Conversion of Augustine.
 He viewed the conversion experience as
comparable to that of Paul on the road to
Damascus.
 Several months later he & his son Adeodatus
were baptized by Ambrose.
 With his mother & son he set out for Africa,
but his mother died in route & his son died
shortly after arriving in Africa.
 A. entered the monastery at Tagaste.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 a.
The Conversion of Augustine.
 He became a priest in 391, but continued to
live the monastic life until he was consecrated
coadjutor bishop to Valerius, bishop of Hippo,
& after 396 served as the sole bishop of
Hippo.
 At Hippo he commenced his outstanding
career as administrator, pastor, and
theologian.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 A. was confronted with 4 major controversial
issues & it was mainly through his struggles
with these issues that his own theology was
formed.
 Manichaeism was the 1st & least dangerous.
 A. embraced M. for 9 yrs before his
conversion & later strongly opposed its
simplistic concepts of light & dark & good &
evil.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 Now he opposed the Manichaean attempt to
solve the problem of evil by positing an evil
agency eternally opposed to the good God.
 A. maintained that God was the sole creator &
sustainer of all things, that evil is the privation
of some good which ought to be had, & that
moral evil springs from free will.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 The Donatist controversy was more urgent
because of the deep divisions it had caused in
the African church.
 The D. issue was almost a century old, dating
from the traditore controversy of the
persecution era.
 The issue was whether or not the sacraments
were valid if administered by unholy men.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 The D. insisted that sacraments administered
by traditores (those who had given up the
Scriptures in the Diocletian persecution),
unholy men, or heretics, were invalid.
 And since theirs was the only ch which
maintained its purity on this issue, the D.
claimed to be the one true ch.
 A. refuted this claim & taught that the
sacraments are X’s, & the validity of the
sacraments rests in the sacrament itself & not
the administrator.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 He acknowledged that unholy persons were in
the ch, as the parable of the wheat & tares
indicated, but the D. were wrong in trying to
claim final blessedness now.
 This led A. to define a sacrament as a sign of
the invisible grace of God in which God
forgives sin.
 He finally urged the state to force the D. back
into the fold of orthodoxy, quoting Lk 14:23,
“Compel them to come in.”
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 Since he believed the ch is superior to the
state, he believed that the state should
execute the commandments of God, as
instructed by the church.
 A’s later yrs were taken up with the Pelagian
controversy.
 Pelagius was a very moral & learned lay monk
who came to Rome from the British Isles
about 385.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 Shocked by the low morality of Rome,
Pelagius devoted his preaching & writing to
the issues of morality and sin.
 He denied the idea of inherited sin, stating
that Adam’s sin was a bad example which
men have chosen to follow, that sin is really
self-generated.
 Actually, man could be sinless if he so desired,
thus placing salvation in the hands of man
himself.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 P. was condemned for his teaching by two
African councils & then excommunicated by
Pope Innocent in 417.
 The chief heresies with which P. was charged
was:
 1)
that Adam would have died even if he had not
sinned.
 2) that the sin of Adam injured himself alone & not
the whole human racel.
 3) that newborn children are in the same condition
as Adam was before he fell.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 The chief heresies with which P. was charged
was:
 4)
that the whole human race does not die
because of Adam’s death or sin, nor will it rise
again because of X’s resurrection.
 5) that the law as well as the gospel offers
entrance to heaven.
 6) that even before the coming of X there were
men wholly without sin.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 P. developed much of his theology as a
reaction to Augustine’s often quoted prayer in
his Confessions: “Grant what Thou
commandes and command what Thou wilt.”
 P. inferred this to means that man is not
responsible for good or evil deeds, that it is all
in the hands of God.
 If this is so, man’s entire moral structure was
imperiled, for it served as an invitation to
indulge in sin.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 Refuting P., A. maintained that man was
created with certain supernatural gifts which
were lost by the fall of Adam; and, as a result,
man suffers from a hereditary moral disease,
is subject to the inherited legal liability of
Adam’s sin, and can be saved from these evils
solely by the grace of God.
 P. drove A. to a belief in predestination,
irresistible grace, & divine control of all that
happens.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 Most of A’s theology on sin & salvation was
worked out as a reaction to P., which he
refuted with minute exegesis of the biblical
text.
 Paganism became another major adversary
for A. with the fall of Rome to Alaric in 410.
 This even caused great consternation
throughout the civilized world, & pagans
blamed the fall on Xtians who had abolished
heathen worship.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 They contended that the pagan gods were at
last venting their wrath.
 A. took it upon himself to reply to the pagan
charge, producing in his reply the
monumental 22-book work, The City of God.
 For A., there were 2 major questions
concerning the fall of Rome:
 1) Why had God allowed this to happen?
 2) Should Xtians have recourse to war to
repulse the barbarians?
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 In answer to the 1st question, A. emphatically
rejected the notion that Xtians were to blame,
& demonstrated how Rome, through the
sovereign will of God, had fallen because of
her own crimes.
 To the 2nd q., he was emphatic again in
justifying the right of Xtians to take arms
against the barbarians under these
conditions:
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 b.
Augustine’s Controversies.
 1) if the object is to vindicate justice & restore
peace.
 2) if the motive is love.
 3) if the war is just (which means that one
side must be unjust).
 A. envisioned a world in which the state,
through its power of government (even war if
necessary), made society a safe & stable
place where the ch could apply its teachings &
principles.
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58
B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 c.
Augustine’s Contributions.
 The literary contributions of A. are
overwhelming in their volume alone.
 His best known works are The Confessions,
The City of God, and The Enchiridion, but he
also wrote 14 treatises against the
Manichaeans, 6 against the Donatists, & 14
against the Pelagians, in addition to a number
of philosophical works, & numerous sermons,
letters, and commentaries.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 c.
Augustine’s Contributions.
 The City of God volumes follow a clear &
purposeful outline.
 The 1st 5 books refute the charge that Rome
was destroyed because of the Xtian ban on
pagan worship.
 The next 5 demonstrate the worthlessness of
worshipping pagan deities.
 Books 11-14 trace the rise of the divine &
earthly cities.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 c.
Augustine’s Contributions.
 Books 15-18 show the growth of these cities.
 Books 19-22 demonstrate their proper ends.
 The analysis of the 2 cities is always set
against the backdrop of God’s action in
history.
 For A., history had its beginning in creation,
its climax in the coming of X, & its conclusion
in the day of judgment.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 c.
Augustine’s Contributions.
 The Confessions was written shortly before
400 & is the story of A’s life before & including
his conversion.
 It is the world’s 1st spiritual autobiography,
tracing his tortuous course in searching for
meaning & happiness.
 In describing his search, he sees himself as
representing all mankiind, as an example of
man’s corruption, redemption and continuing
imperfection.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 c.
Augustine’s Contributions.
 the culmination of his search is the famous
conclusion that man is restless & cannot find
rest until he rests in God.
 A’s formative theological contributions are
influential to this day.
 His doctrines of original sin & salvation by
grace alone were highly influential on Luther.
 His conclusions about predestination led
Calvin in further elaborations on this theme.
63
B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 c.
Augustine’s Contributions.
 A’s concepts of society, especially the
relationship of ch & state, continue to
influence politics and ecclesiology.
 His support of just wars stamped him as the
father of the war-guilt theory.
 He is credited with giving definitive shape to
the Catholic teaching against birth control,
maintaining that the primary purpose of
marriage is procreation.
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B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 c.
Augustine’s Contributions.
 He firmly entrenched infant baptism by
insisting that babies who die unbaptized go
into everlasting perdition.
 He drew guidelines for ecclesiastical &
theological authority which are still in use.
 His infoluence on the sacraments and
ecclesiology of the Roman Catholic Church
has been profound & lasting.
65
B. Theologians Become Activists

5. Augustine (354-430)
 c.
Augustine’s Contributions.
 A’s views on grace & predestination, ch &
state, war & peace, sex & marriage, &
tolerance & constraint, continue to make their
impact on each succeeding generation in the
western ch, whether Catholic or Protestant.
66
C. Bishops Become Popes
In addition to the rise of the state-church
& the development of formative theology,
this extremely important period of history
also produced the unmistakable patterns
of ecclesiastical organization, including the
papal hierarchy.
 1. Political and Church Organization
 After Theodosius made Xtianity the official
religion of the state, the bishops organized
the ch on the basis of the political
organization of the empire.

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C. Bishops Become Popes
1. Political and Church Organization
 City
territory the smallest unit in the political
administration; and the diocese, embracing
the city territory, was the smallest unit in ch
administration.
 It was headed by a bishop.
 Over the city territory was the province with
its provincial governor; and the corresponding
ch office was that of the metropolitan
(archbishop), led by the provincial city.
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C. Bishops Become Popes
1. Political and Church Organization
 Several
provinces were governed by an
imperial governor (vicarius); the ch’s
corresponding officer was the patriarch
(cardinal).
 The imperial council (senate) had its
counterpart in the assembly of patriarchs
(college of cardinals).
 Eventually the emperor found his
ecclesiastical counterpart in the pope.
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C. Bishops Become Popes
1. Political and Church Organization
 When
the 1st Catholic (universal or
ecumenical) Council met in Nicaea in 325,
very distinct characteristics surfaced which
permanently shaped a great portion of
Christendom.
 These included:
 1) the idea of a visible universal ch composed
of the bishops.
 2) the belief that the sacraments (as they now
were called) carries a supernatural power of
transforming grace.
70
C. Bishops Become Popes
1. Political and Church Organization
 3)
the employment of a special priesthood,
the clergy, which had sole authority to
administer the sacraments.
 4) the recognition of the bishops as the ruling
officers (episcopal government).
 All of these characteristics are still observed
by Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics, and
Anglo-Catholics.
71
C. Bishops Become Popes

2. Presumed Basis For The Papacy




It is impossible to document a precise date for the
beg. of the papacy.
While the Catholic Ch insists that Peter was the 1st
pope, others look to Leo the Great or perhaps
Damasus, but hardly ever anyone earlier than
Stephen of Rome.
Toward the end of the 2nd c., Irenaeus stated the case
for apostolic succession clearly & forcefully.
I. had known Polycarp, b. of Smyrna, who claimed to
have been instructed by the apostles & to have talked
with many who had seen X.
72
C. Bishops Become Popes

2. Presumed Basis For The Papacy
 I.
was convinced that the apostles had
transmitted faithfully & accurately what had
been taught by X.
 And furthermore, he believed they had
appointed as their successors bishops to
whom they had committed the churches.
 The bishops had been followed by others in
unbroken line.
 In the 1st quarter of the 4th c., Eusebius gave
the lists of the bishops of the chs, indicating
the importance of the succession theory.
73
Eusebius
Of
Caesarea
(from Andre
Thevet)
74
C. Bishops Become Popes

2. Presumed Basis For The Papacy
 When
Xtianity was troubled by heresy &
schism, the bishops began meeting together
for consultation & common action.
 In this fashion it dealt with the heresies of
Gnosticism, Marcionism, & Montanism, & in
the process developed an administrative
system centered around its bishops.
 Thus, the idea of papal primacy—among other
things—evolved from the notion of apostolic
succession, which applied to all bishops.
75
C. Bishops Become Popes

2. Presumed Basis For The Papacy
 Tertullian
also strengthened the concept of
apostolic succession by insisting that only
those chs were valid which agreed in their
teaching with those founded by the apostles
& where faith had been kept pure by a
succession of bishops going back to the
apostles.
 Cyprian, bishop of Carthage in the 3rd c., held
that there was only one true ch,
authenticated by the presence of the bishop,
& that anyone who was not with the bishop
was not in the ch, & therefore not a Xtian.
76
Cyprian
of
Carthage
77
C. Bishops Become Popes

2. Presumed Basis For The Papacy
 Cyprian
regarded all bishops as equal, but
esteemed the bishop of Rome as the first
among equals.
78
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 The
Council of Nicaea in 325 had designated
the bishops of Rome, Alexandria, & Antioch as
“superior” metropolitans (patriarchs), but the
bishop of Rome refused to be listed as equal,
insisting that it had always held primacy.
 Between this 1st council & the 4th held in
Chalcedon in 451, the Roman bishops laid the
foundation for the ecclesiastical monarchy,
which exists to this day.
 The Roman ch claimed not only human but
divine right for supremacy—that X gave Peter
the eminent position in founding the church.
79
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 It
was claimed that he Peter a supremacy of
authority over the other apostles, that this
supremacy was official, hereditary, &
transferable.
 It was believed that P. was bishop of Rome
until his martyrdom, that he appointed his
successor, & that all bishops of Rome, as
successors of Peter, have enjoyed & exercised
universal jurisdiction over all other churches.
 Though disputed, the practical & political
supremacy of Rome prevailed.
80
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 Some
claim the 1st e.g. of a papal attitude is
found in Clement (d.102) (in the Apostolic
Fathers collection).
 Dealing with the issue of deposed presbyters
in the Corinthian ch, Clement called for
repentance & insisted that God required the
deposed presbyters be reinstated & legitimate
superiors obeyed.
 Ignatius (c. 35-107), bishop of Antioch, in Ep.
to the Romans, ascribes laudatory titles to the
Roman ch, but does not mention Clement or
any other bishop.
81
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 Irenaeus
(c. 130-220), bishop of Lyons, called
Rome the greatest ch, acknowledged by all &
founded by Peter & Paul.
 However, I. rebuked Victor, b. of Rome, in 190
for forcing uniformity on the chs of Asia Minor.
 Tertullian (c. 160-220), in confrontation with
the heretics, pointed to the apostolic mother
chs as the repositories of true doctrine, with
special commendation for the ch of Rome.
82
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 Later,
however, T. opposed R. for its loose
penitential discipline.
 Cyprian (d. 258) called the R. ch the chair of
Peter, the foundation of priestly unity, &
mother of the Catholic Church.
 He still insisted, however, on the equality of
other bishops & opposed Stephen of R. in the
controversy over heretical baptism.
 The growing influence of the Roman ch &
bishop seems to have been rooted in the
need for unity in the early church.
83
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 Historical
& practical reasons also contributed
to the ascendancy of Rome.
 Located in the geographical & political center
of the world, the R. bishop enjoyed a unique
prestige.
 Since AD 100, the congregation in R. was
probably the largest in Christendom.
 It was wealthy, hospitable to strangers, &
generous to the poor.
 Successful opposition to Gnosticism, Arianism
& Montanism gave it added prestige.
84
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 That
Paul wrote the longest & most profound
of his epistles to Rome, & the tradition that he
was martyred there, had given additional
apostolic weight, along with the traditions of
Peter’s ministry & death there.
 The many missionaries sent out by R. caused
new chs to feel affection & loyalty to the
mother ch.
 During the barbarian invasions, when the
emperors failed to defend R., the popes saved
the city through their intercession.
85
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 Pope
Leo the Great is credited with stopping
both Attila (452) & Gaiseric (455).
 When Constantine moved to C., the R. bishop
became the most imp person in R., & when
the western empire fell in 476, the Roman
popes became the most imp figures of
western Europe, gradually taking over the
power of the state.
 During the later Mohammedan conquests, the
cities of Antioch, Jerusalem & Alexandria fell
to the Moslems, eliminating them forever as
candidates for ch supremacy.
86
Leo the Great (440-461)
When Atila the Hun was sacking northern Italy and closing in on Rome during the fifth century,
Pope Leo traveled to Mantua and, as this Raphael mural tells it, personally fought Atila in sword87
to-sword combat. Pope Leo also expanded the authority of the papacy by declaring command
over bishops and secular matters.
C. Bishops Become Popes

3. The Preeminence of Rome
 Whether
it can be supported by scriptural
injunction (it can’t) or accepted by universal
allegiance, the ascendancy of Rome to papal
primacy has been an obvious & permanent
fact of history.
88
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 Without
question, the ch at R. has always
maintained a list of her bishops which
surpasses the list of any other ch in age,
completeness, integrity of succession &
consistency of doctrine & policy.
 While the Protestant world recognizes the
historical worth of such a list, it does not
accept the RC tradition of calling each of
these bishops a pope.
89
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 Most
Protestants have difficulty in accepting
at face value the claim of Peter’s episcopate in
Rome, which has no verifiable evidence in
Scripture or history.
 The successor, according to the claim, is
Clement (according to Tertullian) or Linus
(according to Irenaeus, Eusebius).
 Then follows Anacletus, Alexander, Sixtus I,
etc.
 Several “popes” in 1st 5 c. exercised authority
& wielded influence in secular history.
90
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 a.
Victor I.
A
step toward papal supremacy occurred
when Victor, bishop at Rome 189-198,
assembled a council at Rome to
excommunicate chs which did not subscribe
to the Roman ch’s dating of Easter.
 He later excommunicated Theodotus for
denying the divinity of Christ.
91
Victor
(189-199)
92
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 b.
Stephen I (254-257).
 Intervened
in theological disputes in South
Gaul & Spain, & became involved in a long &
bitter controversy with Cyprian over the
validity of baptism by heretics.
 During the controversy he invoked Matt.
16:18, implying his supremacy as Peter’s
successor.
93
Stephen
(254-257)
94
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 c.
Sylvester (314-335).
 Baptized
Emperor Constantine & established
the Lateran ch as the cathedral of Rome on
territory give him by the emperor.
 It was claimed that he received the Donation
of Constantine, which provided him with wide
temporal rights over the ch.
 The Donation of Constantine was exposed as
a forgery in the 15th c.
95
Sylvester I
(314-335)
96
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 d.
Damasus (366-384).
 Was
the 1st to seriously & staunchly employ
the Petrine passage of Matt. 16:18 as biblical
basis for primacy.
 He also commissioned Jerome to prepare the
Vulgate version of the Bible, promulgated a
canon of scriptural books, & indicated that the
Council of Nicaea was valid only because it
had been approved by his predecessor,
Sylvester.
97
Damasus
(366-384)
98
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 e.
Innocent I (402-417).
 Made
more substantial claims for the papacy
than any of his predecessors at Rome.
 He insisted that major cases of dispute should
be brought to the judgment of the Roman
see.
 Innocent claimed that the R. ch had sole
custody of apostolic tradition & primacy over
all bishops because of Peter’s primacy among
the apostles.
99
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 e.
Innocent I (402-417).
 He
also exhibited determination & ability to
exercise authority in the East as well as the
West.
 He was a powerful influence with the civil
powers, & it was through his influence that
Emperor Honorius issued his decree against
the Donatists in 404.
100
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 f.
Leo I (440-461).
 Leo
would receive wide support among
historians as “the first pope.”
 He claimed that his see was of divine &
scriptural authority.
 He pressed his claims to jurisdiction over all
the western provinces.
 Without reservation or hesitation, Leo
proclaimed that anyone who does not
acknowledge the R. bishop as the head of the
ch is not of the body of the ch.
101
Leo the Great
(440-461)
102
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 f.
Leo I (440-461).
 His
legates presided over the Council of
Chalcedon (451) where his personal Tome to
Chalcedon was accepted as the standard for
Christology. (Orthodox Christians dispute this
decision).
 In the political arena, he increased papal
prestige by persuading the Huns to withdraw
beyond the Danube (452) & secured
concessions when the Vandals took Rome
(455).
103
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 f.
Leo I (440-461).
 History
has named him “Leo the Great”.
 For his unparalleled contributions to the
strength & permanence of the papacy, he has
deserved the name.
104
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 g.
Gelasius (492-96).
 Must
be mentioned in the list of early popes
for his effectiveness in establishing claims that
priestly power is above kingly power & that
there can be no legitimate appeal from the
chair of Peter.
 In civil affairs, he declared, clergy are to
submit to the emperor, but in ecclesiastical
affairs, the emperor is to submit to the pope.
105
Gelasius
(492-496)
106
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 g.
Gelasius (492-96).
 He
personally & tenaciously upheld the
primacy of the Roman see against
Constantinople during the Acacian Schism.
 The conquests of Justin & Justinian reversed
things & rendered the papacy subservient to
the eastern emperor for a short time.
 However, Leo & Gelasius had already laid the
unshakable foundations for the expansion of
the papacy in the Middle Ages.
107
C. Bishops Become Popes

4. The Earliest Popes
 g.
Gelasius (492-96).
 The
popes had a firm grasp on the keys which
they claimed had been given them by Christ
himself.
108
D. Monks Become Missionaries
While the politically minded bishops were
debating supremacy & consolidating power,
another segment of Xtianity was proceeding
down an entirely different path.
 The humble & selfless monks were keeping their
vows of poverty, chastity & obedience & going
about their daily activities of prayer & work.
 Their quiet influence thoroughly penetrated the
ch, & some of them left the monasteries for
evangelistic preaching and foreign missions.

109
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 Constantine
confronted the challenge of
monasticism, believing that the retreat from
society reflected on the society he was
building.
 Thanks to Basil, the movement was brought
into line with normative Xtianity & ch
organization.
 Jerome united the movement with scholarship
& service.
 M. became a massive movement that
attracted 1000s in the 4th & 5th c.
110
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 It
was essentially a lay counterculture of
withdrawal that developed into a powerful
social force within a century.
 a. Ulphilas (311-383) was known as the
Apostle of the Goths because of his ministry
among his people.
 He had been consecrated bishop at
Constantinople, but retreated to his native
Cappadocia where he spent isolated years
translating the Bible into the Gothic language.
111
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 a.
Ulphilas (311-383)
 He
spent much of his of his life as a dedicated
missionary beyond the confines of the empire.
 Although never identified with monasticism as
such, his personal spiritual habits certainly
anticipated the rudiments of monasticism to
come.
 Because he was an Arian, U’s influence on the
Goths caused them to embrace Arianism for
several centuries.
112
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 b. Martin of Tours (335-397)
 Was the son of a pagan & served in the
Roman army.
 After becoming a Xtian founded the
monastery of Liguge, the first in Gaul
(France).
 Becoming bishop of Tours in 372, he
encouraged the spread of monasticism in
Gaul.
 He himself set out to evangelize the hitherto
neglected countryside, & introduced a
rudimentary parochial system.
113
Martin of Tours
(Dividing his cloak
in half with a beggar)
(by El Greco)
114
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 c.
Patrick (389-461)
 The
“Apostle of the Irish” was born in Roman
Britain, the son of a deacon & magistrate.
 At age 16 he was kidnapped on his father’s
farm by raiders & sold as a slave in Ireland.
 After 6 yrs of service as a shepherd, he
escaped & eventually reached home again.
 During his captivity his faith had deepened, &
he felt compelled to return to evangelize
Ireland.
115
St. Patrick
(Currier & Ives)
116
St. Patrick casting out the serpents
S
117
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 c.
Patrick (389-461)
 He
studied in the monastery of Lerins & was
ordained a deacon in 417.
 He was sent to Palladius in Ireland & upon the
bishop’s death he was made bishop in 432
 At the court of High King Laoghaire he gained
toleration for Xtianity & converted several
members of the royal family.
 He preached extensively & established
numerous chs.
118
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 c.
Patrick (389-461)
 He
founded the Cathedral Church of Armagh,
which became the educational &
administrative center of the Irish ch.
 He emphasized the ascetic life & monasticism
throughout his ministry, but continued his
evangelistic efforts.
 He taught the priority of mission to Celtic
Xtianity, which produced great numbers of
monks who evangelized western Europe
during the 6th & 7th c.
119
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 c.
Patrick (389-461)
 P.
organized the scattered Xtian communities
in Northern Ireland & brought the country
into much closer relations with the rest of the
western ch.
 He encouraged the study of Latin, & tried to
raise the general standards of scholarship.
 P. is a classic e.g. of spiritual monasticism
going forth to the world in love and
dedication.
120
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 d.
Columba (521-597)
 C.
is credited with turning the religious,
political & social life of Scotland to Xtianity.
 He came from a noble Irish family, was
trained in Irish monasteries, & founded
several chs & monasteries in his country.
 Compelled by missionary zeal, he left his
home in 563 & settled with 12 companions on
the island of Iona on the west coast of
Scotland.
121
Columba Landing on Iona
122
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 d.
Columba (521-597)
 There
he established a monastery which
served as a base for evangelism among the
Scots & Picts.
 He preached forcefully to people who were
under the influence of the Druids, dread
opponents of Xtianity.
 Brude, king of the Picts, was converted under
his preaching, many chs were founded, &
practically all of Scotland was Xtianized.
123
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 d.
Columba (521-597)
 He
was a man of deep visionary piety, who
practiced effective involvement in the affairs
of kings & chiefs and had concern for Xtian
scholarship.
124
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 e.
Benedict of Nursia (480-542)
 B.
is known as the “Patriarch of western
monasticism.”
 He was educated in Rome, where the
immorality of society led him to withdraw
from the world & retire to a cave at Subiaco.
 A community grew up around him & he
established 12 monasteries with 12 monks
each, with abbots appointed by himself.
 In 525 he established the famous monastery
at Monte Cassino, south of Rome.
125
126
Benedict of Nursia
(480-542)
127
Monte Cassino
128
Bombardment of Monte Cassino
129
Battle of Monte Cassino 1943
130
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 e.
Benedict of Nursia (480-542)
 Here
he elaborated his plans for the reform of
monasticism & composed his celebrated Rule
of St. Benedict, which became the universal
monastic rule in the Middle Ages.
 B. did not stress poverty, nor discourage
possessions, which enabled his monks to do
works of mercy.
 The sick & guests received special treatment
in Benedictine monasteries.
131
D. Monks Become Missionaries

1. Monasticism
 e.
Benedict of Nursia (480-542)
 B.
monasteries became centers of hospitality,
learning, worship, & liturgical art.
 The ch found the B. monasteries especially
effective in transmitting culture to the
barbarians during the Dark Ages.
132
E. Beliefs Become Creeds
The joy of Xtianity’s victory over the
Roman Empire had been shattered by an
internal Xtological dispute which
Constantine was determined to settle once
& for all.
 This issue was not settled, finally,
however, until a century & a quarter later.
 4 ecumenical councils were called during
this time as the controversy raged back &
forth & threatened to split Xtianity
irreparably.

133
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

The councils, their dates & the chief
subjects dealt with were:
 1) Nicaea, 325 Arianism
 2) Constantinople, 381, Apollinarianism
 3) Ephesus, 431, Nestorianism
 4) Chalcedon, 451, Eutychianism
 Although
each of the councils dealt
with many matters pertinent to the
life of the ch, the main issue was that
of the doctrine of the person of X.
134
E. Beliefs Become Creeds
From the beginning the centrality of
Xtianity resided not in functions, liturgies,
& mystical experiences, but in rationally
held doctrines or beliefs, which were
expressed in worship & witness.
 The beliefs about Jesus X were absolutely
fundamental to the very existence of the
church.
 The prolonged controversies of the 4th &
5th c. were about the person of X.

135
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

The controversies were about:
 How Christ, the Son of God, was
actually himself God (the doctrine of the
Trinity), and how he was both man and
God (the doctrine of Christology).
136
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

1. Nicaea
 Constantine
personally convened & opened
the 1st council at Nicaea in Bithynia in 325.
 His main interest was to secure unity rather
than any predetermined theological verdict.
 The controversy had begun in 319 when
Arius, a priest in of the chs in Alexandria, had
clashed with his bishop, Alexander.
 Arius had been teaching that the Father alone
was really God & that the Son was essentially
different from the Father.
137
138
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

1. Nicaea
 He
believed that the dignity of Jesus as the
Son of God was bestowed upon him by the
Father on account of his foreseen
righteousness.
 Arianism maintained that the Son was not
eternal but created by the Father as an
instrument for creating the world.
 For his subordinationist teachings, Arius was
excommunicated by Alexander, but not before
he had gained a strong following, including
Eusebius of Nicomedia (causing sympathizers
to be known as Eusebians).
139
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

1. Nicaea
 When
C. could not settle the issue through a
personal envoy to Alexandria, he convened
the council in 325 to settle the matter.
 Arius was rather quickly condemned by his
own words, & Athanasius, assistant to
Alexander, emerged as the champion of
orthodoxy.
 Eusebius of Caesarea (the historian) was
present & laid before the council the
baptismal creed of his own church.
140
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

1. Nicaea
 This
creed became known as the Nicene
Creed, & with 4 anti-Arian anathemas
attached, was subscribed to by all the bishops
present, except for 2 who were deposed and
banished.
141
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 Nicaea
was followed by more than ½ c. of
discord & disorder in the eastern ch, which
also affected the stability of the West.
 Arianism both ascended & descended,
Athanasius was alternately praised & banned.
 Councils called at Antioch (341) & Sardica
(342) did more harm than good toward
reconciliation.
 The N. Creed remained officially in force until
Constantine’s death.
142
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 But
when his son Constantius died, Arianism
was practically dominant in the East.
 Constantius forced the western bishops to
condemn & banish Athanasius, & encouraged
the writing of anti-Nicene creeds.
 The situation caused Jerome to write, “The
whole world groaned in astonishment at
finding itself Arian.”
 A decisive step toward repairing the damage
was taken by Basil the Great.
143
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 B.
had so strongly influenced eastern
monasticism & other Cappadocians (Gregory
of Nyssa & Gregory of Nazianzus).
 Their complex doctrine of the Trinity served to
demonstrate that it was possible to accept
both Nicaea (homoousios) & the distinct
persons (hypostaseis) of Father, Son, & Spirit
at the same time.
 By giving precise meanings to the terms used
in talking about the Trinity, Basil paved the
way for the work of the Council of
Constantinople in 381.
144
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 Theodosius,
a westerner & strong supporter
of Nicaea, became eastern emperor in 379 &
summoned the C. of Con. To reaffirm the faith
of Nicaea.
 The creed of N. was upheld & then became
known as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan
Creed.
 This council marked the end of Arianism
within the empire.
 There was, however, another controversy
raging.
145
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 It
raged over the Christological question
precipitated by Apollinarius, bishop of
Laodicea in Syria.
 Thus, Apollinarianism became the central
issue at Constantinople rather than Arianism.
 Beg. with the N. doctine, A. had carried the
unity of the Father & Son to such extremes as
to deny the complete manhood of X, & thus
to make Apollinarianism the 1st great
Christological heresy.
146
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 In
emphasizing the deity of X, Apollinarius
rejected the idea of moral development in X’s
life, & asserted that while X had a human
body & soul, the human spirit, or rational
soul, had been replaced with the divine
Logos.
 God in X was transmuted into flesh, & this
flesh was then transmuted into something by
divine nature.
 X did not receive his human nature from Mary.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 He
brought with him from heaven a heavenly
kind of flesh.
 The womb of Mary simply served as a
passageway.
 The fundamental objection to Appollinarius’
teaching was that if there is no complete
manhood in X, he is not a perfect e.g. for us,
nor does he redeem the whole of human
nature but only its spiritual elements.
 The C. of Con. explicity & conclusively
Apollinarianism.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 It
struck down the possibility that docetism
would gain a foothold in Xtian theology.
 Because of its imp. place in determining the
future of orthodoxy in Xtian teaching, it is
useful to see the Nicene-Constantinople in its
entirety:
 We
believe in one God the Father allsovereign, maker of heaven and earth, and of
all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord
Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God.
149
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 Begotten
of the Father before all ages, Light
of Light, true God of true God, begotten not
made, of one substance with the Father,
through whom all things were made, who for
us men and our salvation came down from
the heavens, and was made flesh of the Holy
Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man,
and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
and suffered and was buried, and rose again
on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into the heavens, and sits on
the right hand of the Father, and comes
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

2. Constantinople
 Again
with glory to judge the living and dead,
of whose kingdom there shall be no end: And
in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and the Life-giver,
that proceeds from the Father, who with the
Son is worshiped together and glorified
together, who spoke through the prophets: In
one holy catholic and apostolic church: We
acknowledge one baptism unto remission of
sins. We look for a resurrection of the dead
and the life of the age to come.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

3. Ephesus
 Following
the C. of Con., Xtological disputes
continued to disrupt the East.
 The question of how one was to conceive of
the human-divine in the historical X had
obviously not been settled to everyone’s
satisfaction.
 Adding to the controversy was a growing
devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
 If Jesus were truly God, did not this imply
that Mary was also the mother of God?
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

3. Ephesus
 Nestorius,
bishop of Con., rejected & attacked
this notion which was expressed in the term
“Theotokos” (God bearer), & proposed
instead the term “Christotokos.”
 Strongly opposing both Apollinariansim & the
growing popularity of “Theotokos,” N. worked
out a Xtology which came to be interpreted as
saying that X was constituted of 2 natures.
 He did not deny the deity of X, but he spoke
of a “conjunction” rather than a union of the
two natures.
153
154
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

3. Ephesus
 He
never divided X into 2 sons, the Son of
God & the Son of Mary (as he was accused of
doing), but he refused to attribute to the
divine nature the human acts & sufferings of
the man Jesus.
 He insisted that to call Mary the mother of
God was to declare that the divine nature
could be born of a woman, or that God could
be two days old.
 Apparently N. believed in 2 different natures
& two different persons in Christ.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

3. Ephesus
 This
was directly opposed to the orthodox
doctrine that the incarnate X was a single
person.
 Cyril of Alexandria & Egyptian monks began
severe attacks on Nestorius in 428.
 Both sides appealed to Rome, where Pope
Celestine decided against Nestorius.
 In 431, Emperor Theodosius II called the
Council of Ephesus to dispose of the matter,
which it did by disposing of Nestorius.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

3. Ephesus
 Defeated,
N. was deposed from his see of
Constantinople & excommunicated, his
doctrines condemned, and the Creed of
Nicaea reaffirmed.
 In its rejection of Nestorianism, the council
also gave formal approval to the concept of
“Theotokos.”
 After the C. of Ephesus, the eastern bishops
who refused to accept the decision of the
council, constituted themselves into a
separate Nestorian church.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

3. Ephesus
 It
had its center in Persia, & survived
centuries of hostility, Moslem conquests, &
pagan influences.
 A remnant still remains today, sometimes
called Assyrian Christians.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

4. Chalcedon
 In
the early 440s a new generation took over.
 There was, however, an aged monastic
superior in Con., named Eutyches, who
continued to attack the doctrine of “two
natures after the union.”
 In the terms of a “single-nature” doctrine he
suggested that X’s humanity was absorbed by
his divinity like a drop of wine in the sea.
 In his zealous opposition to the Nestorian
heresy, he developed his own heresy of
maintaining that that there were “two natures
before, but only one after, the union.”
159
Eutyches
160
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

4. Chalcedon
 Eutyches
was condemned by his patriarch
Flavian (Con.), but strangely supported by
Dioscorus (Alexandria).
 Countercharges, intrigues, & disorder caused
Theodosius II to summon another council at
Ephesus in 449.
 Leo, opposing Eutyches, sent a statement of
doctrine (Tome) for the bishops to approve,
but it was refused a hearing.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

4. Chalcedon
 Dominated
by Dioscorus, the council deposed
Flavian, reinstated Eutyches, & banned the
two-nature doctrine of Constantinople.
 Leo labeled the council, or synod, a “robber
band.”
 After the death of Theodosius II, his sister
Pulcheria reigned with her husband Marcian,
& Leo persuaded them to call the great
Council at Chalcedon in late 451.
 Located across the Bosphorus from Con.,
Chalcedon became the site of the last major
Christological council.
162
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

4. Chalcedon
 The
actions of the “robber synod” were
rescinded, Dioscorus was deposed, &
Eutyches condemned.
 The council put out a composite Definition
which consisted of the Creeds of 325 & 381,
two letters of Cyril refuting Nestorius, Leo’s
Tome, & a new confession.
 The Xtological formula of the Definition of
Chalcedon became and remains to this day
the orthodox statement about the person of
Jesus Christ--164
Cyril
of
Alexandria
165
Leo
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

4. Chalcedon
 “We
all with one voice confess our Lord Jesus
Christ one and the same Son, at once
complete in Godhead, and complete in
manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting
of a reasonable soul and body; of one
substance with the Father as regards his
Godhead, of one substance with us as regards
his manhood, like us in all things, apart from
sin; begotten of the Father before the ages as
regards his Godhead, the same in the last
days, for us and for our salvation, born from
167
E. Beliefs Become Creeds

4. Chalcedon
 the Virgin Mary, the God-bearer (Theotokos),
as regards his manhood; one and the same
Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be
acknowledged in two natures, without
confusion, without change, without division,
or without separation; the distinction of
natures being in no way abolished because of
the union, but rather the characteristic
property of each nature being preserved, and
coming together to form one person
(prosopon) and one entity (hypostasis), not
as if Christ were parted or divided into two
persons. . . .”
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

4. Chalcedon
 It
had been almost 500 yrs since Jesus of
Nazareth had walked on the earth; it seemed
now that a consensus had been reached as to
who he really was.
 The ch rejected adoptionism, which
emphasized the humanity of X to the neglect
(or denial) of his divinity, & it had rejected the
opposite heresy of docetism, which
emphasized the divinity of X to the neglect of
his humanity.
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E. Beliefs Become Creeds

4. Chalcedon
 According
to Chalcedon, Jesus was to be held
to be both “truly God and truly man.”
170