Transcript Document 7230159

Catholic Church History
312 – 900 AD
Ann T. Orlando
13 Jan. 2005
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TCC Church History IAP 2005
Lecture 2
Introduction
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Review of Third Century
Importance of Constantine
Early Church Councils
Great Theologians
Augustine
Fifth and Sixth Century Events
Rise of Islam
Christian Response
Charlemagne
Ninth Century and Looking Forward to ‘Middle Ages ‘
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Review of Third Century
• Increased pressure on Rome from Persia and northern
barbarians
• Political instability; murder and succession of generals
as emperors
• Empire-wide persecution of Christians
• Martyrs
– Greek for ‘witness’
– Do not need to die to be considered a martyr, rather someone
who suffered (imprisonment, slavery, torture) for faith
– Martyrs were popularly considered people who could forgive
sins, especially the sin of apostasy
– Commemorative meals and liturgies held at tombs of martyrs
(catacombs in Rome)
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Political Situation at Beginning of
Fourth Century
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Diocletian becomes emperor in 284.
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A few problems with Diocletian’s plan:
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Both Augusti and both Caesars headed their own armies and areas of influence
Except for Diocletian himself, the three other members of this tetrarchy saw this scheme as a
stepping stone for them to take over the Empire when Diocletian died
When Diocletian retires, political intrigues and battles break about among the
successors:
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Very strong ruler
Decides that best way to protect Empire is to divide it between two Augusti (East and West)
supported by two Caesars (Augusti in waiting)
Although some of his family members were Christians, unleashes worst persecution of all
Manages to retire and force his co-Augutus, Maximian, to retire with him(305) and die in his
own bed of natural causes
Constantius, Augustus, controlled England and Gaul, father of Constantine
Severus, Caesar, ruled Rome
Maximius, Caesar in Greece
Galerius, Augustus, in East
When Constantius dies, his troops proclaim his son, Constantine, Augustus
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Constantine the Great
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Key battle in Constantine’s take over of entire Empire was battle of Milvian
bridge over Tiber in Rome against Maxentius, son of Maximian in 312.
– Constantine credits his victory to a vision he had in which he was told to go into
battle with the Christian symbol
– Troops carry chi-rho on their shields
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By 314 Constantine has captured all of the Empire and officially declared
that Christianity was to be tolerated (Edict of Milan)
‘Gives’ most of Rome to the Catholic Church (Vatican, St. Paul outside the
Walls, Lateran)
Establishes Constantinople (on site of ancient Byzantium) as his new capitol
Builds Churches, with his mother Helen, in Holy Land (Church of Holy
Sepulcher in Jerusalem, Church of Nativity in Bethlehem)
Moves against the Donatists in North Africa
Calls Council of Nicea to decide between Athanasius and Arius on relation
between Father and Son; Council supports Athanasius and Son as ‘one in
being with the Father’: The Nicene Creed
Dies in 337 (after murdering his wife several of his sons whom he
considered treacherous); baptized by an Arian bishop shortly before he dies
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The Ecumenical Councils
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Nicea I, 325, called by Constantine the Great
– Condemned Arianism
– Son of one substance with the Father
– Nicene Creed
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Constantinople I, 381, Called by Theodosius the Great
– Affirmed divinity of Holy Spirit
– Modified Creed; what we have now
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Ephesus, 431, called by Valentinian III
– Condemned Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople
– Jesus was not two separate persons, but one person both human and divine
– Mary as ‘Theotokos’ Mother of God
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Chalcedon, 450, called by Empress Pulcharia at request of Pope Leo I (the
Great)
– Condemned monophysites: single nature
– Christ has two natures: human and divine
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Note: Both Nestorianism and Monophysitism are still present in a few
Eastern churches
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Key Historical Events in 4th and 5th
Centuries after Constantine
• Some of Constantine's successors in 4th C were Arians;
sent missionaries to barbarians north of Danube
• Some of those barbarians attacked and sacked Rome in
410 AD
• Center of power in Empire moved East to Constantinople
• Increasingly West was under pressure from northern
tribes; last Roman emperor in Rome abdicated in 476
• Note: There was a Roman Emperor in East until 1453
• Church in West becomes only source of learning, order,
justice
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Great Theologians of
4th and 5th Centuries
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Most of them were Bishops
All of them had important intellectual and spiritual relationships with women
Eastern (Greek) Theologians
– Athanasius: Bishop of Alexandria, On the Incarnate Word
– Basil (Caesaria), Gregory Nazianzus (Constantinople), Gregory of Nyssa
(Nyssa): the Cappadocians: Basil’s Monastic Rule; Theology of Trinity; Gregory
Nyssa’s Spiritual steps
– John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople: Liturgy, preaching for poor; rules for
clergy
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Western (Latin) Theologians
– Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, established priority of Church over State with
Theodosius; translated many Greek works into Latin
– Jerome, translated Bible from Greek and Hebrew into authoritative Latin version
(Vulgate)
– Pope Leo I the Great: Two natures of Christ; stopped Attila the Hun at gates of
Rome
– Patrick of Ireland: established unique type of Christianity in Ireland; monasteries,
not bishops, provided Church leadership; encouraged regular private confession
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The Greatest of All in West:
Augustine (363 - 430)
• Impact and authority that has lasted to today;
Doctor of Grace
• In confronting three heresies, he set the
direction for much of Western Christianity
• His mother (Monica) was a devout Christian;
father baptized at the end of his life
• Bishop of Hippo in North Africa
• Dies in 430 with Vandals laying siege to Hippo
• Please find time to read Augustine’s The
Confessions
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Augustine and Manichaeism
• A type of gnosticism developed by Mani (Persian) midthird century;
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Two gods,
OT associated with evil god;
Created world evil
Believers have access to secret knowledge
Jesus not really human, did not really suffer on cross
• Augustine’s response
– Actually, he was a Manichean ‘hearer’ (catechumen) for about 5
years; see Book 3 of Confessions
– The OT should be read on multiple levels, including allegorically
– Neo-Platonism is the correct way to view evil: the absence of
good; this preserves the goodness of all creation
– Everyone has access to the good news
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Augustine and Donatism
• Donatists believed
– Church of the pure
– No penance
– Efficacy of sacraments depended upon the purity of
the minister
• Augustine's response
– Church is made of saints and sinners (mostly sinners)
– The grace of Jesus grace is mediated by His Church,
not individual ministers
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Augustine and Pelagianism
• Pelagius:
– English monk who believed that grace was the reward for our good
works
– By proper training of free will, we can ‘save’ ourselves
– Original sin did not fundamentally disrupt our relationship to God
• Augustine’s response
– Grace is God’s free gift
– We cannot perform good works without God’s grace
– Original sin fundamentally disrupted out relation with God; that tear was
repaired by Jesus Christ
– Baptism is a necessary condition for salvation; but not sufficient
condition
– God decides who will be saved or not (predestination); our of justice,
God condemns most of us to hell
• Church rejected Augustine’s view that people are predestined to hell
at council of Orange,529
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After Augustine in West
• Retreat to monasticism
• Benedict
– Wrote rule for monk’s at Monte Cassino (c. 530)
– Based on monastic rules developed by desert fathers in Egypt
– Became the basis for Western monasticism
• Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604)
– Benedictine monk
– Reformed clergy along monastic lines; required priests to have
some training; encouraged celibacy; encourage work with poor
– Sent Augustine of Kent to England; other missionaries to
Germany to evangelize the northern barbarians
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Rise of Islam
• Muhammed was born 570; in 622 fled
Mecca for Medina, died 632
• Founded a religious and political
movement aimed at uniting all Arab tribes.
• By 716 all of North Africa, Sicily and the
Iberian peninsula was under Muslim
control
• By 730 France and Constantinople were
threatened
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Western Christian Response
• Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer)
stopped the Muslim army at Tours in 732
– Charles was ruler of tribe of the Franks,
Catholics
– Pope asked Charles and his son, Pippin, for
assistance against Muslims and Lombards
(another German tribe)
• Pippin gave central Italy to the Pope in
754; beginning of Papal States (lasted
until 1848)
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Charlemagne
• Pippin’s son
• Conquered much of northern Spain from
Muslims (Song of Roland)
• Defeated Saxons and forced their conversion to
Catholicism
• United Western Europe
• Crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope in
Rome Christmas Day 800
• Note a problem: there was already a Holy
Roman Emperor in Constantinople
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Impact of Charlemagne’s Rule
• Enforced Latin, Roman liturgy
• Established centers of learning for clergy
and monks (although he could not read)
• Setup European-wide system of
administration
• Establish precedent of Western Holy
Roman Empire
• Special relationship between Pope and
France
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Next Week
• Middle Ages
– Monasticism
– Scholasticism
• Crusades
• Relationship between Popes and Secular
Rulers
• Beginning of Reformation
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