Transcript THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY - Newark Catholic High School

THE SPREAD OF
CHRISTIANITY
Roman Politics
And
Christianity
CONSTANTINE
Born 280
 Mother – St. Helena – responsible for churches
and basilicas in Bethlehem and Jerusalem
 He had a dream – at the battle of Milvian Bridge
in 312 he placed the Chi-Rho on the shields and
banners of his men. If he did this he would win.
He did!
 Became “Emperor of the Western Roman
Empire”
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EDICT OF MILAN
Constantine –Western Roman Empire
 Licinius – Eastern Roman Empire
 313 Edict of Milan – tolerated Christianity
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All religious freedom
 Favored the Christian Church
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Clerics exempt from taxation
 Property returned to the Christians
 Persecution of Christians came to a hault
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CONSTANTINE
324 Constantine defeated Licinius
 An absolute monarch who united the empire
 Byzantium – seat of government
 Byzantium renamed Constantinople (Turkey)
 Christianity a strong unifying force in the
Empire
 He was superstitious – dream = Chi-Rho
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CONSTANTINE
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Points of unity that Christianity offered
Monotheism
 Ethical code that embraced all people
 Hierarchical system of Church governing
 Helped the empire maintain order and stability
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CONSTANTINE
He became personally active in Church affairs
 Because the theological rifts threatened the unity
of the empire
 Heresy
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Arianism – challenged Christ’s divinity, by convoking
the first Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325
LEGALIZED CHRISTIANITY
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Emperor Theodosius I – 380
Christianity became the official religion of the
Empire
 Evangelization became easier to the barbarians and
the non-believers
 Eight councils were held between the fourth and the
ninth centuries in the eastern portion of the empire
 All decrees of the councils had to be confirmed by the
canons and the decrees of the Pope.
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CHURCH ADMINISTRATION
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Five great patriarchates
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Rome
Constantinople
Alexandria
Antioch
Jerusalem
Rome was preeminent because Peter had been
the first bishop there and died there.
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION
Church administration modeled the Roman style
 Parishes and Diocese resembled the Roman
political divisions.
 Popes like Damasus, Leo the Great, and Gelasius
asserted their power especially when there was a
power vacuum in the Empire
 (empire capital was moved to Constantinople)
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CHURCH AND PAGAN RELIGIONS
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Adapted many features of the pagan religions
The use of candles and incense in liturgies
 Promoted the veneration of the saints
 Saints gave the faithful heroes to look up to and
imitate
 Saints helped keep many new converts from their
worship of pagan gods.
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LEGALIZED CHRISTIANITY AND CHALLENGES
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Some emperors became defenders of the Church
Interfered in Church affairs
 Caesaropapism – combining the power of the secular
government with the authority of the Church.
 Eastern church’s more subject to the whims of the political
rulers.
 Western church’s more independent – the Pope, weak
Western emperors – distance from Eastern capital.
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LEGALIZED CHRISTIANITY AND CHALLENGES
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Theological Debates
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Eastern Church
1. Alexandria in Egypt
 2. Antioch in Syria
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Church fathers from the East debated core faith
issues - Arianism
ARIANISM
Denied Jesus’ divinity
 Arius a priest from Alexandria (250-336)
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Influenced by Greek philosophy
 Exalted belief in God
 A human God was incomprehensible
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Plato’s idea – demiurge – the creator of the
material universe who was not identical with the
supreme God.
ARIANISM
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Arius believed was Christ was God’s greatest creature
who was made before time.
He believed that Christ was an adopted son not
divine.
This gave consequences for Christian teaching on
salvation
Only God can effect Redemption
The Word of God was not God
Humans would not be Redeemed
CHURCHES RESPONSE TO ARIANISM
First Ecumenical Council of Nicea - 325
 Condemned Arius teaching
 Council spelled out clearly – that Jesus is
“consubstantial” with the Father
 Christ possess the same nature as God the
Father
 At Mass – Jesus’ divinity and equality to the
Father – We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ…
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THE CHURCH RESPONS TO ARIANISM
Arianism was slow to die out after the council
 St Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, defended
the Church
 He taught that Christ “was made man that we
may be made divine.”
 If Christ were not God then he would not be our
Savior
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THE CHURCH RESPONDS TO ARIANISM
St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, would combat
Arianism in the West.
 Clashed with Empress Justina when she tried to
establish an Arian Church in Milan.
 Theodosius I, with Ambrose’s help, issued a
series of edicts outlawing Arianism and
paganism.
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COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE 381
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Correct the heresy – Macedonianism
Heresy - The Son created the Holy Spirit who was in
turn subordinate to the Father and the Son.
The Council taught the divinity of the Holy Spirit
The Council did not address the relationship between
the Son and the Holy Spirit
This would be a major factor in the schism between
the Church in the East and the Church in the West.
CHRISTOLOGICAL DEBATES
Theological debate focused on how Christ was
both divine and human
 Alexandrian school maintained that Christ’s
perfect divinity penetrates his human nature –
an internal unity results
 Antioch theologians stressed Christ’s perfect
humanity as if his divinity indwelled in the man
Jesus
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CHRISTOLOGICAL DEBATES
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Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, refused to
acknowledge that Mary could be the Mother of
God.
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Two persons in Christ
One divine
 Only human
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Mary was only Christotokos – mother of the human
Jesus
 Theotokos – Mary is “God-bearer” or Mother of God
 Theotokos defended by St. Cyril of Alexandria
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CHRISTOLOGICAL DEBATES
St. Cyril taught Jesus was one divine person, the
Second person of the Trinity.
 Council of Ephesus 431 endorsed the position of
St. Cyril and condemned Nestorianism.
 After the death of St. Cyril – theologians
diagreed with the Ephesus Council
 They preached that Christ’s human nature was
absorbed into his divine nature
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Monophysitism
Heresy – Jesus Christ possessed only one naturea divine nature. It denied that Christ was really
a human being.
 This Heresy took root in Egypt
 Council of Chalcedon – 451
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Taught the doctrine of hypostatic union
Jesus Christ one divine person subsists in two natures, the
divine and the human.
 Pope Leo I wrote;
 Accordingly while the distinctness of both natures and
substances was preserved, and both met in one Person,
lowliness was assumed by majesty, weakness by power,
mortality by eternity
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Council of Chalcedon
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The council fathers affirmed the teachings of the
councils of Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus
The Third Council of Constantinople – 681
convened to restate prior teachings
Christ is one divine person
Two distinct natures –
one human & one divine
Two distinct natures –
two wills – one divine and the other
human.
Christological Debates
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West was beset with one major theological
question
The interaction of divine grace and human freedom
 Whether or not people can save themselves due to
their own good efforts
 That all people accept Christ as their Savior.
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Pelagius, a monk teacher in Rome, he
emphasized human freedom and the need to
strive for personal holiness.
 Pelagius – eventually he held an exalted view of
human nature, denying that the Original sin of
Adam and Eve had been transmitted to humans.
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Christological Debates
Pelagius – argued that humans do not need
divine assistance or grace as a help to achieve
personal holiness or salvation.
 He believed that humans could save themselves
without God’s supernatural help.
 St. Augustine of Hippo 354-420 – was his major
opponent.
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St. Augustine explained that humans are born with
fallen natures because of Original Sin and its effects.
 He taught that God’s grace is absolutely necessary
for personal salvation
 Pelagianism was officially condemned at the Council
of Ephesus (431)
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Christological Debates
Pelagianism Heresy died out by the 6th century
 Protestant Reformation of the 17th century
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Relationship between good works, grace, and salvation
Commentators have observed that remnants of
Pelagian self-reliance, with its denial of the need for
God’s grace and help, appear in many 21st century
European and Americans.
 Many self-sufficient contemporaries seem to rely on
human ingenuity and the discoveries of science,
technology, and medicine as the sources of their
personal safety and salvation.
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The Fall of Rome
476 is the collapse of the Roman Empire in the
West.
 The Roman Empire can be traced to 27 BC.
 Pegans blamed Christians and their God for the
collapse.
 Christians questioned how God could permit the
deaths of innocents and the destruction of the
center of civilization.
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Barbarian Invasions
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“Migration of Nations”
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Asiastic Huns migrated West
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Benefits
 Fertile lands
Economic opportunities
Protection from other warring tribes
Germanic Tribes
Benefits
trade with Roman
served as mercenaries in Roman armiesBarbarian
Invasions
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4th Century, increases in population
Declining strength of the Roman armies
Pressure from the Huns,
Byzantine Empire
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Emperor Justinian, 527-565
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Married actress – Theodora
Justinian had control Of Rome
He supervised the rebuilding of the Hagia Sophia
(Holy Wisdom) church in Constantinople – still
stands today
He instituted a major reform of laws – later became
the basis of European law.
The Christian influence gave women and children
more protection.
Punishment still reflected the times – mutilation of
the body for some crimes, repressive measures
against non-Christians, including the Jews
Byzantine Empire
Justinian’s successor were weak.
 Reluctant co operation between the Byzantine
Emperors and the patriarchs of Constantinople
and the Pope contributed to the schism between
Eastern and Western Christianity in 1054.
 Eastern Christianity – vibrant liturgical life,
exquisite art and music, a spiritual depth which
resulted in hundreds of monasteries.
 The Eastern Empire survived until 1453 under
the Ottoman Turks.
 Muslim, followers of the Islamic faith, shook the
foundation of the Eastern Christianity
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The Rise of the Papacy
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Pope Leo the Great 440-461
Ability to use biblical, historical, and legal arguments
to assert the primacy of the Pope among all bishops
 Pontifex Maxium = Highest Bridge Builder
 Bishops looked to the Pope as supreme teacher, ruler,
and judge in the Church
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Pope Gregory the Great 590-604
Title – Servant of the Servants of God
 Reform of liturgy – Gregorian chant
 His authority stabilized the Church throughout
Europe and promoted missionary activity
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Conversion of Clovis
“As the leader goes so goes the tribe”
 Clovis converted to Catholicism in 496
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He forced the Goths to convert from Arian
Christianity to accept the orthodox faith
Clovis and the Franks helped convert many of
the barbarian tribes
 Magyars became Catholic because of the
conversion of their king, St. Stephen
 Bohemians because of the baptism of St.
Wenceslaus
 Poles because of the conversion of the leader,
Mieszko
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Missionaries of the Era
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St. Patrick 389-461
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Apostle to Ireland
A Roman citizen in Britian
 Son of Christian parents
 Patrick was captured by Irish pirates at the age of 16
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Made a bishop in 432 and returned to Ireland to
convert most of the local Celtic kings
Established monasteries, continued evangelization,
and education
Irish Christianity thrived and helped to preserve
Christianity during the Dark Ages
Words of Wisdom
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Pope Gregory the Great’s words of instruction to
St. Augustine
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“destroy as few pagan temples as possible; only
destroy their idols, sprinkle them with holy water,
build altars and put relics in the buildings, so that, if
the temples have been well built, you are simply
changing their purpose.” (Letters,XI,56)
Monasticism
A spiritual and social movement in which men
and women withdrew from the world to live
solitary or communal lives to attain personal
holiness.
 Monasticism – derived from Greek word monos =
alone or single
 Monasticism became an opportunity to live
discipleship to it extreme.
 It was called a “bloodless martydom” – a way of
witnessing to the faith and pursuing pure
Christian holiness
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Benefits of Monasticism
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Economics
Good example of land management
 Reestablish agriculture after the barbarian invasions
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Spirituality
Respect for the liturgy
 Value of daily prayer life
 A countercultural response to Christianity that had grown
tepid
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Stability
Refuge to travelers
 Centers of learning
 Educated future Church leaders
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Christianity
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Kept alive and spread
Negative effects of Monasticism
Monastic asceticism – self-mutilation to tame
their weak human nature
 St. Jerome praised celibacy so much that he
ended up teaching that marriage is not a means
to holiness, but a necessary evil
 Religious life was the only true model of holiness
 A healthy lay spirituality was neglected for
centuries.
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Rule of St. Benedict
Laughter:
 Obedience:
 Prayer:
 Respect:
 Temperance:
 Work:
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Fathers of the Church
St. John Chrysostom
 St. Ambrose
 St. Jerome
 St. Augustine
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From chapter 2
 St. Clement of Rome
 St. Ignatius of Antioch
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Prayer
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God is great and glory to you, O God.
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Yours is the praise.
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Blessed is your name, and exalted is your majesty
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There is no deity to be worshiped but you.
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I seek refuge in God from the evil one, the accursed.
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Praise be to God, Lord of all that is
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The compassionate, the merciful
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Ruler on the day of reckoning
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You alone do we worship, and you alone do we ask for help
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Guide us on the straight path,
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The path of those who have received your grace;
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Not the path of those who have brought down wrath,
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Nor of those who wander astray.