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CLASS 3:

Introduction

In this class we will explore the development of Christianity from about 50 C.E., through the collapse of the Roman Empire, and up to the beginning of the middle ages. We will develop some idea about how the early church fathers defined what Christianity was (and wasn't), and how the church dealt with challenges to its teachings. We will look at the development of the power base of the church (the papacy and the monasteries), since these are important to a discussion of the reformation and the formation of our own denomination. There are several excellent books on this period of development, and a few of these are listed in the bibliography.

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Early Christian Expansion: Conflicts and Persecution

The Early Expansion of Christianity

The early Christian communities were marked by their allegiance to Jesus (see McManners, 1-26). They elevated him to a high station, and in him they believed God had visited God's people. Jesus was a prophet and more than a prophet; he was an example and a teacher of a way of truth and righteousness that surpassed John the Baptist, Jesus' immediate forebear. He was the messiah, the leader of ancient expectation. His work, life, and ministry was felt by high-ranking priestly families of Jerusalem to be a threat to their power and to their political collaboration with the occupying Roman forces. The claim that with his coming, God had inaugurated his dominion left Jesus open to charges of blasphemy, which were quickly changed into charges of sedition. He was arrested, tried, and sentenced to die the death of a political criminal: crucifixion. Curiously, about 400 years earlier, the Greek philosopher and teacher Socrates had observed that a really righteous person would be so unacceptable to human society that he would be subjected to every humiliation and then crucified.

Jesus followers - chiefly the disciples - did not believe that Christ’s crucifixion was the end of the story. The rising again of Jesus from the dead is described in the earliest Christian and texts. These descriptions to take two forms. The first speaks of Jesus rising and appearing to apostles, women disciples, and other witnesses. The second speaks of Jesus being delivered from the limitations and particularity of human form to be present to human beings at all times and in all places. No one can know with certainty the mystery of that first Easter, but historians do know that something extraordinary transformed the disciples from frightened men into bold missionaries willing to risk their lives for their faith.

The community that believed in Jesus experienced his presence in their worship, visibly embodied in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The presence of Jesus in and with the community was a sign of the kingdom of God on earth.

The earliest Christians believed that by the death of Jesus - the suffering servant of Isaiah - God had formed a new covenant not only with the Jews, of which they were a part, but with all peoples of the earth. Inclusion of Gentiles by the earliest Christians was hotly contested in the apostolic community. Many conservative Jews did not want their national religion assimilated into the surrounding Gentile world. James, the brother of Jesus, emerged as the head of the Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem. James was a strict conservative and wished the moral and ceremonial law to be observed. Peter was recognized as a prominent leader among the Apostles, and he took the lead in opening a membership of the church to Gentiles. He could be described as a moderate Jewish-Christian. He believed that Gentile Christians did not need to be circumcised or had to keep the traditional Jewish festivals.

Another leader of the mission to the gentiles was Saul for Paul of Tarsus. Paul was a Hellenized Jew with Roman and citizenship. He was a Pharisee with a once conservative view; he persecuted the early church (Acts 8:1-3). But following a conversion experience in which he had a vision of the risen that Jesus, Paul became a fervent missionary. He rejected the view that non-Jewish believers should keep the law of Moses. This eventually led to a break between the church and of the synagogue. Others have observed that the conservatives led by James were more traditionally "Hebrew" in their thinking and political leanings, whereas the more liberal faction was more Hellenized.

Paul understood the distinctive heart of Christianity to lie in the historic facts of the gospel; that is, the Jesus of history was one with the Christ of his faith. Jesus represented the eternal wisdom of God in creation. Like the author of the gospel of John, Paul believed that God was uniquely present in Jesus. Other writers of new testament literature also saw the incarnational manifestation of God in Jesus. The writer of Hebrews for example, emphasizes the fullness of the Jesus’ humanity and his position as the eternal son of the father. The author of the Gospel of John was Jesus as the means by which God will unite believers to God self; Jesus is our representative bringing to the Father and to the heavenly company all those who put their trust in Jesus.

Paul's First Missionary Journey

Paul's Second Missionary Journey

Paul's Third Missionary Journey

The Missionaries and the Gentile Mission

Paul together with Barnabas went to Antioch where they spent a year teaching about Jesus and spreading the gospel. It was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Finally, in a number of missionary voyages, first with Barnabas and then with others, Paul took the gospel to the island of Cyprus, to several cities of Asia Minor, and to Rome. There is a tradition that Paul also Spread the gospel to Spain, but that cannot be confirmed.

Paul was not the only evangelist. There were many others preaching the gospel. Barnabas and St. Mark went to Cyprus. The Alexandrine Jew, Apollos, preached in Ephesus and Corinth.

It is of the interest to note that Paul, who felt called to preach to the Gentiles, often went to the synagogue after arriving at a new town to preach to the Jewish community. Paul did not believe that he was creating a new religion, but rather that he was preaching the fulfillment of God’s promises made to Israel. Paul did not believe that Israel had been abandoned by God or that the Gentiles were to replace the Jews. Rather, through the resurrection of Jesus, the age of the Messiah had dawned, and therefore the way was made open for Gentiles to join the people of God.

By about 35 C.E., the gospel had spread from Jerusalem to include most of Judea (including Capernaum, the town where Jesus spent most of his time as an adult). By 40 C.E. it has spread to Antioch and Cyprus. By 48 C.E. it had spread to Asia Minor, including Ephesus and Laodicea. By 52 C.E., Greece was hearing the gospel in Corinth, Athens, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. By 60 C.E., it has spread to Rome.

This was possible because of the missionary trips taken by Philip, Peter, Paul and other evangelists. Paul made three missionary journeys as shown in the maps to the right.

 

Conflicts and Persecution (100-200 C.E.)

Christianity was no simple matter. The first person recorded to die for his belief in Christ was Stephen following his witness before the council of the Jews (Acts 6:8-7:60). James was then killed by the order of Herod Agrippa. To conservative Jews, nascent Christianity was a heresy: good Jews were being subverted. Thus, the earliest form of persecution experienced by Christians was at the hands of the Jews. The Christians in turn, sought refuge under the Romans (see Acts 18:14-15). And for the most part, as long as the conflict was seen by the Romans as a disagreement among Jews, there was little cause for concern. But when there was public disorder or a riot, severe action was taken.

Claudius expelled all of the Jews from Rome around 51 C.E. apparently because of their disorderly conduct over "Chrestus" whom most historians agree was Christ. This was intolerable - especially in the Imperial City - so the Jews were expelled. But as the evangelistic efforts of Paul and others were increasingly successful, Gentile numbers increased and Jewish numbers decreased within Christianity. Then, as the Jews began to be more openly insurgent against Rome (between 60 and 135 C.E.), the Christians sought to distance themselves from Jews, so as to not suffer the wrath of the Empire. But that meant that Rome began to see Christianity as something quite different from Judaism. This eventually led to 250 years of Roman persecution of Christians from the time of Nero to the conversion of Constantine.

 

 

The First Persecution

On June 18, 64, a great fire broke out in Rome. The fire lasted six days and seven nights, with sporadic fires for three days after that. Ten of 14 sections of the city were destroyed. The people screamed for justice. Many people blamed Nero for the fire, for his desire to rebuild Rome according to his fancy was well known. Nero tried to deflect the blame, but the rumors of his culpability persisted. Eventually he blamed the Christians, and we have the Roman historian Tacitus' account. Tacitus says that those who confessed to be Christian "were arrested, and on the basis of their testimony, were condemned, although not so much for the fire itself as for their hatred of humankind" (Annals 15.44).

Thus, under Nero, the great persecutions began. He had some dressed in furs to be torn apart by dogs. Others were crucified. Still others were set on fire in the early night to illuminate the streets. His own gardens were lighted in this way, and he opened the garden gates to the public. Peter and Paul were likely among the martyrs of the Neronian period.

Under Domitian, persecution was especially severe in Asia Minor, where the author of the Revelation of John was imprisoned. Gonzales writes that "for generations the Church in Asia Minor remembered the reign of Domitian as a time of trial" (Gonzales, 1984, page 37). Domitian was a tyrant who was eventually killed by a conspiracy involving his own wife.

Other Persecutions

By the end of the second century, Christian martyrdom was well known, and well described. Bishop Ignatius of Antioch wrote seven letters while on his way to martyrdom. Legal precedents were put in place to deal with Christians (they should not be sought out, but if found out they should be punished). Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna was another high ranking Christian to suffer martyrdom. From these and other visible Christians who died for their faith, the idea emerged that martyrdom was not something that one chose, but as something for which one was chosen by God.

Marcus Aurelius came to power in 161 C.E., and although a politically enlightened man, he ordered Christian persecutions. Under his reign the widow Felicitas and her seven sons were martyred in Rome, and the Christian apologist, Justin, was killed. After Aurelius' death in 180 C.E., Christian persecution abated because there was a period of civil war. But when Septimus came to power in 193, persecutions picked back up again.

The Great Persecution

Early in the 4th century C.E., the period of the worst persecutions began. Diocletian was one of four co-presiding emperors. He had reorganized the empire and placed administrative authority on four emperors, two of whom had the title "Augustus," an two of whom had the title of "Caesar." Christianity had been growing during these three hundred years, and there were many soldiers in the army. While most church leaders did not think Christians should be soldiers, there was no consensus on this point. In about 295 C.E., there were a large number of Christian soldiers put to death because of their faith. All Christians were expelled from the legions. Curiously, fires broke out in the Imperial palace, and the emperor accused the Christians of setting it. Seeking revenge, the emperor order churches destroyed and sacred Christian books burned. Diocletian became convinced that all Christians were plotting against him, and he unleashed the most cruel pogrom against Christians in history. They were killed with "refined cruelty."

Eventually, one of the emperors, Galerius, revised his anti-Christian stance, and on April 30, 311 pardoned all Christians, and required that they pray for the public good so that the state could live in peace. Galerius died shortly after delivering this edict. Constantine, the son of Constantius, one of the four emperors, began to maneuver into a position of power upon Galerius' death. Eventually, Constantine had to do battle with the son of one of the other original four emperors. Legend has it that Constantine put the Chi-Rho on the shields of his soldiers. Constantine won the battle for Rome. He quickly made an alliance with the other principle parties, and agreed that all persecution of Christians would cease in 313 C.E.. This agreement became known as the Edict of Milan. When Constantine became the sole emperor, all persecution of Christians ended.

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Orthodoxy: Making Christianity Christian

Shortly after Christ's death, Christianity was not a unified religion. Faithful people in the Roman-Jewish world had different perceptions of Jesus, different ideas about salvation and Jesus' role in the salvific work of God, even as they professed Jesus as Lord and Savior. Complicating that was the profound influence of the Hellenistic influence on Jewish thinking. The philosophy of the Greeks had appeal to some, but not all early Christian groups. In addition, there were many other religions in the Roman territories other than Judaism and early Christianity. Paganism and mystery cults abounded, and their influence was to be felt as Christianity wrestled with its own self-definition. The early years of the church were involved with defining what was meant by professing Jesus as Lord and Savior. Irenaeus is credited with establishing the need for Christianity to define itself against a very popular rival view: Gnosticism. In this section we'll look at the theology of four leaders of the early church, and in the next section we'll examine the views of the Gnostics and other heterodox ideas.

The Primary Teachers of the Early Church

Irenaeus (The Latin School)

Many might consider Irenaeus to be the ultimate shaper of early Christian theology. It is from his writings that orthodoxy will emerge. Irenaeus lived between 130 and 200 C.E. He heard Bp. Polycarp of Smyrna as a boy. He became the Bp. of Lyons in 178 C.E. He grew up in the church at a time when Gnosticism was a serious threat to the church. His principle work was to attack Gnostics - particularly Valentinus. He opposed Gnosticism by emphasizing the union between Father and Son in the redemption of creation. Elaine Pagels writes in her book, Beyond Belief that Irenaeus saw Gnostic as innovators who abandoned the gospel. He set about separating lies from truth. She writes,

Irenaeus says that there is only one way to be safe from error: go back to what you first learned, and "hold unmoving in [your] heart the canon of truth received in baptism." He writes that this truth was received from the apostles themselves and includes faith in 'one God, Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and the seas ... and in one Christ Jesus, the son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation, and in the holy spirit ... and the birth from a virgin, and the suffering, and the resurrection from the dead, and the heavenly ascension in flesh ... of our beloved Christ.' (Pagels, 129).

This is an early creedal confession that probably formed the nucleus of what the church would later develop into the Nicene Creed. Irenaeus privileged an apostolic understanding of the meaning of the person of Jesus. He wanted what his teacher Polycarp wanted: a universal church. But, he included a wide range of traditions that spanned a century and a half, and which were shared by Christians in Europe, Africa, Palestine, and Asia Minor. He encouraged his fellow believers to tolerate certain viewpoints and practices. He argued against those who pushed for only one gospel, such as the Ebionites, who only accepted the Gospel of Matthew. He argued against his contemporary Tatian who attempted to harmonize the gospels into one single document. Irenaeus was the first to urge believers to accept all four distinct gospels, despite their differences.

A particular practice of the Gnostics that Irenaeus disliked was the idea of a second baptism, termed apolutrosis. The Gnostics felt that only certain people were receptive to the truth, and that once identified, those special people were to engage in a long period of preparation so that they could receive apolutrosis. This moved these "special" Christians beyond their present community into a circle of the spiritually mature (Pagels, 137). In other words, Gnostics believed that the first step toward enlightenment was baptism, but that a second step was necessary. Irenaeus was dismayed that such practices were splitting Christianity. He felt that those who believed in re-baptism were inspired by Satan to "deny that baptism is rebirth t God." Irenaeus wanted people to return to the simple, basic foundation of the faith.

Irenaeus' theology was such that God was the creator of all things, and Christ was the basis for the continuity between creation and redemption. We were made by the same God who now in Christ offers us salvation. Irenaeus saw Christ as the head of a new humanity. God's plan for the redemption of humanity reaches its ultimate expression in the incarnation of Jesus.

Tertullian (The Latin School)

Tertullian was a North African, who had a major impact on the development of Western (i.e., Roman) Christianity. He was born in Carthage about 40 C.E. He was a Christian, but left the church in about 207 C.E. to become a Montanist, which was a rival apocalyptic Christian sect that believed that the second coming was coming soon. Montanists were very disciplined ascetics, for whom self denial was very important. Tertullian was convinced that the North African church had become lax (weak on sin and repentance), an that is why Montanism appealed to him.

He wrote against all sort of heretical movements in the early church, including the Gnostics (notably Valentinus) and the Docetists. He saw the Gospel as a new form of law, and argued like a lawyer. He absolutely rejected the injection of philosophy into Christian faith (contrast this with the Alexandrian school below). He fiercely saw the Church as the keeper of the new law, and argued that all discussion with heretics on the basis of scripture is out of order, for heretics have no claim on scripture. To Tertullian, only the church may use scripture, and this is confirmed in apostolic succession. The rule of faith was given by Christ to the Apostles, and from them to their successors, and so forth. In the end, the church, and only the church, has the right to use the scriptures, and to determine what is Christian doctrine and what is not.

Tertullian's view of the Trinity was one of subordinationism, but he was the one to coin the use of the phrase, "one substance, three persons." Another important contribution to Christian thought was Tertullian's idea that the soul is derived from the soul of one's parents. On the basis of this idea, Tertullian believed that just as the soul is transmitted from parent to child, sin can be transmitted from parent to child. This concept of original sin will be greatly amplified by the work of St. Augustine (see below).

Clement of Alexandria (The Alexandrian School)

The Alexandrian school, of which Clement and Origin were members, was a school of Christians who wrestled with the nature of God in the context of a heavily Greek culture.

Clement (ca. 150 - ca. 215 C.E.) was probably born in Athens of pagan parents. He arrived in Alexandria (Egypt) and became the student of Pantaneus, whom he succeeded as a teacher in about 190 C.E. He fled Alexandria during the persecutions of Septimus Severus (202 C.E.). Clement was a Christian apologist who argued that just as the law had been given to the Jews, logic (or rationalism) had been given to the Greeks, and the sole purpose of both was to serve as a handmaiden to lead them to Christ. Celsus, a prominent Greek pagan, said that Christianity was a religion for the ignorant. Clement saw Christianity as the fulfillment of Old Testament scripture and Greek philosophy. Clement wrote that Truth is one and comes from God, so that Christians can and must see in Philosophy the reflection of the same truth that has been revealed to them. If some fear this may lead them to error, they lack faith in the power of truth, which can overcome its enemies (as quoted in Gonzales 1970, 193).

Origen of Alexandria (The Alexandrian School)

Origen was born in Alexandria of Christian parents. His father was martyred under the persecution of Septimus Severus. He was a student of Clement (see above), and at the age of 18 became a catechist at the request of Demetrius, Bp.of Alexandria. He was a zealot of the first order, having castrated himself after reading the gospel reference, "those who make themselves eunuchs because of the kingdom of heaven." His teaching was renowned, and many pagans in addition to catechumenates wanted to hear him. He eventually became ordained, and was eventually tortured under the emperor Decius because of his faith. He was prolific, having written over 6000 works. We have few of them intact. But the one we do is knows as On First Principles and it outlines his theology.

He was a Bible expert. He saw the text as inspired by God, and the text was meant to be interpreted spiritually. He saw all Biblical texts as having three meanings: a literal one, a moral one, and a spiritual one. The spiritual interpretation allowed Origen to make connections to Greek philosophers and Jewish theology. He had a rule of faith. All faith refers to God, and God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This makes Origin one of the first trinitarians, but his theology sounded slightly of subordinationism. He also felt that the Spirit "proceeds from the Father." Origin felt that all creatures derive their being from the Father; in those who are rational, the Son is at work; and those who are sanctified have experienced the intervention of the Holy Spirit.

Origen was, because of his culture and heritage, heavily influenced by Greek philosophy - particularly Philo. Although this philosophy is interpreted differently by different people, the essence is that God is perfect and creation is imperfect (this comes from the Platonic school). In this world, human beings go through a period of trials, making use of our freedom, in order to return to the unity and harmony of all intellectual beings which is the purpose of God. The divine purpose is thus to restore the original unity of the cosmos - including that of human beings. Throughout Origin's works is the idea of purification of the soul.

In Origen's view, Christ was a single being in whom the divine and human natures co-existed in mystery. Since we are imperfect beings, and unable to contemplate the divine, Christ was sent to us to achieve that contemplation of the divine. Christ is therefore a victorious savior (the resurrection), and an example, and an illuminator. In him we see God, and we see how to redirect our lives, in order to be saved.

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When is Christianity not Christianity?

Challenges to The Primary Teachers

It is helpful to begin this section with an overview of Gnosticism. In general (and this is a very broad generalization), the Gnostic position was that the prime deity (god) existed outside (or above) the sensate world. Thus, God was the divine One from whom the divine nature o human beings emanated. But that divine nature (the soul) became entrapped in the inferior, material, sensate world. Because God was divine, and incapable of creating anything that was not perfect, a lower deity was responsible for the creation of the sensate world. The lower deity was called the demiurge, and he was assisted by still lower beings called archons. Knowledge was seen as the key to allow the soul to escape the material world and return to the unknown true God through an awakening saving call or the revelations of the redeemer. In time Jesus became to be seen as the redeemer person, but the Gnostic idea of the redeemer predates Christianity in pagan and Jewish thought. The real threat to orthodox Christianity took form in the second century C.E. when the Christian Gnostics developed very profound and intriguing mystical systems that incorporated elements of the gospel into the earlier forms of Gnosticism. Hellenism influenced Gnosticism as well, notably though the Philosophies of Plato and Plotinus. Alistair Logan describes the Gnostic view as follows:

Human beings are made by the demiurge in the outward image of a human being. They are trapped in an earthly body subject to sex, law, and fate, but this world is necessary as a 'vale of soul-making' for the divine element. The creator is not evil, but by his arrogance and ignorance, he is responsible for evil. Human salvation is apparently by nature but it has to be worked out by ascetic effort; it remains a matter of grace and can be lost or rejected. Thus, the basic stance is ascetic reflecting he need to exist in this world without being affected by it until death. The attainment of true 'gnosis' allows the ascent of the soul through successive stages, each requiring its password, to union with the unknown supreme God, made possible by the knowledge revealed by his Son. Christ is central to this Gnostic myth as the archetype of our experience of initiatory rebirth and ascent ... An appeal is made to a Gnostic succession of teachers and secret oral tradition deriving from Jesus and his true Gnostic apostles. One example of whom is the Valentinian Ptolemy. (Alastair H.B. Logan, 268-269)

Marcion

Marcion lived in the middle of the second century; he died about 160 C.E. He was convinced that the apostolic writing has been corrupted by persons unknown who were determined to keep Christianity Jewish. He and his followers listed the moral contradictions between the Old and the New Testaments as proof. He therefore set out to produce a corrected text of the letters of Paul, who was his hero, and a corrected version of the gospel of Luke. Marcion lived in Rome, and was excommunicated from the Church. His central thesis was that the Christian Gospel was wholly a Gospel of Love to the absolute exclusion of Law. Jesus' purpose, according to Marcion, was to overturn the Demiurge. Most of Marcion's communities were later absorbed in Manichaeism.

The Valentinian Gnostics

Valentinus lived during the second century, and was at one time in line to become Bp. of Rome (the Pope). If that had happened, the face of Christianity today might be very gnostic! Valentinus believed that the spiritual world, called the pleroma, comprises 20 aeons that were emanated by the Primal Ground of Being (this is the parallel of the Primer Mover in Platonic philosophy). The sensate world owes its origin to the fall of Sophia (wisdom). Sophia's offspring is the demiurge, which in Valentinus' view was the God of the Old Testament. The divine element (soul) in human beings was trapped in the alien imperfect sensate world, and was at the mercy of the demiurge and the archons, the ruler of the planetary spheres. Redemption of the soul is accomplished by another aeon, Christ, who joins with the human being Jesus, to bring the soul of human beings the saving knowledge ("gnosis") of its origin. But the gnosis was only given to the Valentinians. Life after death took three forms. First the Valentinians were destined to return to the pleroma. Christians who received the teaching of the Valentinians could attain salvation to a form lower than the pleroma through good works and faith. The rest of humanity who did not receive the teaching were doomed to eternal perdition.

Manichaeism

Mani (216-276 C.E.), born in the capital of the Persian Empire, was the founder of Manichaeism. Manichaeism was completely dualistic in its outlook, meaning that there was a cosmic battle between the dark forces of evil with the bright forces of good. Mani believed that Satan had stolen 'particles of light' from the World of Light and imprisoned in the brains of human beings. Religion was to release these particles and allow them to return to the World of Light. Enlightened persons like Jesus, Buddha, the prophets, and Mani were to help in this task. Manichaeism was very cosmic in its outlook; every position of the stars and planets was significant in terms of the whole of creation seeking to free the trapped particles of light. There were severely ascetic and very moralistic. The most famous follower of Mani was St. Augustine of Hippo.

Arius

Arius (ca. 260 - 336 C.E.) was the preeminent subordinationist. He believed that God was impassible, unbegotten, eternal, and deathless. Jesus was a human being, but a human being that God willed to be the redeemer. Therefore Jesus, as a human being, was somewhere midway between the Creator and the rest of creation that needed redemption. Arius' view was supported by the Alexandrian school, including Eusebius, a very famous church historian, and someone who had influence with Constantine, the then emperor of Rome.

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Becoming the World Religion

Christianizing the Empire Under Constantine

Bronze bust of Constantine

As noted above, Constantine was the son of one of the four emperors who ruled Rome at the same time. Upon his father's death, he was able to use military and political means to secure the throne for himself. In 313 when he had eliminated all other contenders to the throne, he issued the Edict of Milan which promoted tolerance of all religions - including Christianity. This made it possible for the church to own property. This also changed the face of Christianity, and one of its principle spokespersons was Eusebius of Caesarea.

Eusebius (ca. 260 - ) was a very learned Christian and an historian. We owe much to his histories. He eventually became bishop of Caesarea, and for him the peace and unity of the church was very important. He knew Constantine, although they were not friends. Constantine knew of his Eusebius' intellectual capabilities and sought him out for the Council at Nicea. Eusebius saw in Constantine's ascension to the throne the fulfillment of both Christian philosophy and the Empire. Eusebius' history is a decidedly Christian one. It was not just a collection of facts, but rather a demonstration of the penultimate truth of Christianity and the culmination of human history. Consequently he did not write a critical history, but rather wrote a history as told from the vantage point of the victor (as many histories are written!). Eusebius loved to see the building that Constantine was ding throughout the empire. Constantine was building huge and ornate churches in many places. The liturgies that were written for these churches were grandiose. All of this facilitated the development of a clerical elite similar to the imperial aristocracy. The church imitated the empire in its function and in its social structure.

Eusebius began to see that the Kingdom of God was fulfilled in Constantine and his successors. This was because the peace that followed Constantine represented the triumph of Christianity over its enemies.

From Rome to Constantinople

Constantine reigned for 13 years as emperor. It was a period of prosperity and rebuilding. One of the projects was to build a New Rome, the City of Constantine or "Constantinople." Constantinople was in the heart of ancient Byzantium. It was in a strategic military location to deal with the Germanys and the Persians, and was in an ideal location with regard to the trade routes. In the center of the city was a statue of Apollo, set atop a huge stone column brought from Egypt. Constantine left this statue in the city, but had the head removed so that his own bust could be placed on Apollo's body. It was a prosperous city, and grew rapidly, thanks in part to Constantine granting that those who came to live there would be exempt from taxes and military service. It later became customary to give free oil, wheat and wine to the citizens of the city. When Rome was overrun by the barbarians from the north, Roman culture was kept alive in the eastern empire for a thousand years (until the rise of Islam in 600 C.E.).

The Arian Controversy and the First Church Councils

In 324 Constantine defeated Licinius and became the first Christian Roman Emperor. But there was a major theological dispute in progress in the Christian Church. It began as a local quarrel between the bishop of Alexandria, Alexander and one of his presbyters, Arius. Arius was condemned and exiled by a council convened in Alexandria (318-319). Arius found a principle supporter in Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia which is where he went when he was exiled. Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea was also sympathetic. Hearing about the disruptive controversy in Egypt, Constantine sent his ecclesiastical advisor to Alexandria with a letter demanding reconciliation, because Constantine didn’t want anything disrupting his rule. The advisor ended up making matters worse, and Constantine called for a general council to be held at Nicea.

The Council of Nicea was held in 325, attended by Constantine and some 220 bishops. All but four or five came from the East. The Council restored Eusebius of Caesarea but produced a sharply anti-Arian creed affirming that the Father and the Son were “homoousios,” “of one substance.” The creed was accepted almost unanimously, however, the crucial term, “homoousios” was ambiguous. This ambiguity was good because it allowed for accommodation of diverse views. Despite their defeat, therefore, the Arians were able to re-establish considerable support after 325, especially thanks to the leadership of Eusebius of Nicomedia. In 334, Arius was recalled from exile and returned to Alexandria. Athanasius, a year before his own exile, refused to re-admit him to communion. Eventually, it was decided that Arius should receive formal restoration at Constantinople but, in 336, before this could occur, he died. Constantine died the following year.

Eusebius of Nicomedia (died c.342), leader of Arian party in 4th century. Eusebius had been a fellow-pupil with Arius of Lucian of Antioch. As bishop of the imperial capital in Asia Minor, he used his influence in the royal court to advocate Arian views and oppose anti-Arians such as Athanasius. He signed the creed at Nicea but was exiled for his opposition shortly afterwards. He returned ca. 328. In 335, Eusebius negotiated the deposition of Athanasius and, in 337, baptized the dying Constantine.

Development of the Creeds

In Christianity, there are over 150 officially recognized creeds and confessions. In part this is because the church was from the beginning doctrinally oriented, making the acceptance of a specific creed (or kerygma) a condition for membership. The faith of the community was expressed in acclamations such as “Jesus is Lord” (e.g., Rom. 10:9, I Cor. 12:3) and in longer, partly stereotyped summaries of essential beliefs (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:3 ff.) For the New Testament community, in contrast to some Christian groups in later times, a creed less Christianity was inconceivable.

What does the Book of Common Prayer teach about the Creeds? Click Here to Find Out!

Fully formed creeds first developed for use in baptismal rites and catechetical instruction. They generally had three sections concerned with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, but were variable in wording and content and only gradually became standardized.

This process culminated in the West in the Apostles’ Creed, which is now almost universally recognized by Western churches, and is still used in baptismal rites as well as public worship by Catholics and most Protestants. This creed is wholly derived from the New Testament. The Twelve Apostles were not its authors. Its sources are to be found in earlier baptismal creeds, going back to the 2nd century. As is true of other creeds, it is in part intended to exclude heretical views. For example, against Gnosticism and Marcionism (dualistic heresies), it emphasizes that God, not an evil demiurge, is the creator of the world, and against docetic views that Jesus was a heavenly being with a phantom body, it insists that he was born of the Virgin Mary and actually suffered and died and was buried.

What does the Book of Common Prayer teach about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Click Here to Find Out

The Nicene Creed exists in two versions and represents a new type of doctrinal statement. It was first formulated at Nicea in 325 by the first of the universal, or ecumenical, councils, after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and was designed not as a baptismal confession but as a binding standard of orthodox teachings. Its second version has become the most fully ecumenical of Christian creeds, accepted in East and West alike, including the major Protestant bodies. In Eastern churches, it is regularly employed in both Baptism and eucharistic worship; in the West, only in the Eucharist, and chiefly by Roman Catholics, Anglicans (Episcopalians), and Lutherans.

The first version of this formulary is that promulgated at the Council of Nicea in 325, but the second version, the “Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed,” which has everywhere become standard and is generally referred to as the Nicene Creed, was affirmed at the Council of Chalcedon (451) as the Nicene “faith of the 150 fathers” (i.e., the Council of Constantinople of AD 381). Both versions make the same fundamental affirmations against the Arian heresy that denied the equality of the Father and the Son, asserting that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is homoousios (“of one substance”) with the Father.

The filioque clause, affirming that the Spirit proceeds “from the Son” as well as the Father, was inserted into the text in Spain during the 6th century and gradually spread to all Western churches, but was probably not used in Rome itself until 1014. Eastern Christians continue to reject this addition, though now they do not generally regard it as heretical, especially if it is understood in the sense of “through the Son.” (see the section on the filioque below).

The Athanasian Creed, also called the Quicumque vult from its initial words, is the last of what in the West are regarded as the three catholic or ecumenical creeds. It has received some slight recognition in the East, but only since the 16th century. While officially accepted in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran communions, its liturgical use has greatly declined in recent centuries. In part this is because it is in form more a theological exposition than a creed, and in part because of the damnatory clauses that exclude from salvation all those who do not accept every detail of its teaching. The main themes are the nature of Christ and the Trinity, and these are developed in opposition not only to Arianism but also apparently to later heresies such as Nestorianism and Eutychianism. While its doctrine can in general be attributed to the 4th-century Church Father Athanasius, he was not its author. It probably originated in southern France about 450-500, although there is no complete consensus on this point.

Augustine of Hippo

St. Augustine

No discussion of early Christianity would be complete without including St. Augustine. Born in North Africa in 354 C.E., Augustine would become one of the greatest influences on the church, perhaps only equalled by Thomas Aquinas. Augustine was dominated by his zealously Christian mother Monica, and when he was 17 he was sent by his parents to Carthage, the seat of learning in North Africa. He was a precocious youth and had one son by his girl friend.

Eventually he was attracted to Manichaeism because it was a very rational religion. Augustine had trouble with two elements of Christianity (which many of us are bothered by as well). First, the Bible is a series of inelegant writings mixed with barbaric stories of rape, deceit, murder, intrigue, etc. It is not terribly godly! The second question was the origin of evil. Monica taught Augustine that God was the source of all, and this made Augustine whether God was responsible for evil in the world too. If so, that made God something less than perfect in Augustine's eyes. Manichaeism solved this. The Biblical world - particularly the Old Testament - was not the word of the eternal God of light. It was about the lower god, the demiurge. Second, evil was caused by god, but by the forces of darkness.

Later, Augustine studied neoplatonism in Milan. The goal of the neoplatonists was to experience ecstasy in contemplation. Neoplatonism said that there was only one Principle, and everything emanated from that Principle. The realities closer to the Principle were more perfect than the ones further away. Hence "evil" was far away from the source ("evil" was in a sense the absence of "good").

After hearing the sermons of the famous rhetorician, Ambrose of Milan, who interpreted scripture allegorically, Augustine heard scripture metamorphosed from something crude, into something more acceptable. Eventually, Augustine professed the Christian faith, and threw himself into it with great enthusiasm, and the church is forever in his debt (some might say "under his curse").

Augustine eventually became a bishop. As a Christian, but one with considerable knowledge of Manichaeism, he first attacked the Manichees. The Manichees did not believe in free will, and Augustine argued that human beings do in fact decide for themselves what is and what is not needed out of circumstance or of an inner necessity. This meant that evil was not a "thing" like the Manichees imagined, but it was rather a conscious, willful choice to negate good.

A group of conservative Christians argued that any ordination of an "unworthy priest" would invalidate any sacrament given by that priest. This meant that people might seriously question the validity of their baptism. Augustine argued that since it was Christ who actually administered the sacraments, the rite is valid regardless of the fault of the priest. The church has affirmed this repeatedly.

Augustine also developed a theory of just war.

Augustine formed a very complicated doctrine of sin. He held that although we have free will, there are times when our sinful nature is so powerful that we cannot willfully overcome it. He argued that in the divine realm (and before the Fall), human beings could choose to sin or not sin. In the earthly realm (after the fall), humans can only choose among various sinful things. After we die, Augustine continues, we will be only be free to not sin (assuming we go to heaven). The only way that human beings can in this world choose to not sin is through the power of God's grace. And the initiative is God's and God's alone. Consequently, those who are saved are God's chosen ones, or the elect.

Another prevailing view (and which is still quite alive in congregations today) was that promoted by Pelagius. Pelagius claimed that each of us comes to the world with complete freedom to sin or not to sin. He believed that there is no such thing as original sin, nor is there a corruption of human nature that forces us to sin. Children, he argued, have no sin until they choose to sin.

Augustine wrote The City of God in reference to the fall of Rome to the barbarians in 410 C.E. The thesis of his book is that there are two cities. The city of God is built upon love of God. The other city is built on love of self. Augustine believed that both metaphors co-exist in all institutions, and that there is an ongoing battle between these "cities." Eventually only the city of God will remain. In the case of Rome, Augustine felt that God allowed the city to follow its free will, and to spread the Gospel. Having done that the city could now follow its human destiny, and be destroyed.

Augustine became one of the great doctors of the Church and he became the favorite theologian of the 17th century reformers. He is, without doubt, the most influential theologian of the Western Church, both Protestant and Catholic.

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Empires

The Collapse of the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire in the West is often quoted as ending in 410 when Alaric, a barbarian from the north, sacked Rome. But the fall of the Roman empire was not instantaneous. Several groups invaded previously occupied Roman territories. The Vandals crossed the Rhine in 407 C.E., and proceeded into Gaul, Spain, and North Africa,taking Carthage in 439 C.E. The Visigoths, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Saxons, the Merovingians, the Lombards, the Ostrogoths, and the Sueves were all groups from Europe who invaded the old empire and divided it into smaller territories (see map below). It is important to note that the invaders often brought Arianism with them into Roman territories. This is because early Arian missionaries had converted many of the gothic tribes to Arianism.

The divison of the Roman Empire by the invading Barbarians

 

The Rise of Monasticism

With the Edict of Milan, Constantine allowed Christianity to flourish. But this new situation was not accepted by all. Some felt that the narrow gate of which Jesus had spoken had become too wide. Some bewailed the low level to which Christianity had descended. Some wanted prestige and position, and did not care to delve too deeply into the meaning of baptism and the life of the cross. Bishops competed with each other for power. Many saw the relative peace promised by the Edit of Milan as the trap of Satan. Many fled the church. They left behind the world and moved into the country. An exodus of people into the church was equaled by an exodus of people seeking solitude.

In addition to institutional reasons for leaving the formal institutions of the church, many left because of the influence of philosophy. Several schools felt that the body was the prison of the soul, and that earthly temptations, passions an sensations were the enemy of the soul.

The Egyptian desert was especially prominent for the development of monasticism. Anchorites, so called because they withdrew from society to live as solitaries, became numerous. But other monastics sought to live in community. Pachomius is considered by many to be among the first of the monks to promote community life. A hierarchical order was defined with a superior as the head of each housing unit, who had to obey the head of the monastery, the abbot. The monastic life was characterized by a rule of life that governed behavior of the monks day and night.

Monasticism grew in Egypt and elsewhere during the 4th century. After the Barbarian invasions of Italy in the mid fifth century, many monks fled to Africa and Palestine ahead of the Goths and Vandals, the northern invaders. This led to a dispersion of the monastic traditions. Later under pressure from various Vandal kings, monks fled North Africa and went to Spain. Despite dispersion, or perhaps because of it, monasticism grew during the sixth and seventh centuries. Eventually, the monastic movement took on a certain "empire" quality.

The Monastic Order of St. Benedict

St. Benedict was the founder of a small community in 529 C.E. in Italy. His sister founded an order for women as well. Indeed, women were very influential in the development of monasticism. Benedict is most famous for his Rule in which obedience is a major ingredient. Prayer was central to the Benedictine life. There were eight hours of prayer: Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, Nome, Vespers, and Compline. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer contains some of these prayer forms (termed "offices").

Many monasteries were established on marginal agricultural lands. But they were brought into production by the labor of the monks. This brought countless acres of land into production in Europe. The Rule of Benedict was widely followed in many monasteries, and was even followed by Pope Gregory VII, one of the most able men to ever occupy the Papacy.

By the end of 1000 C.E. , some monasteries had became large financial and politically powerful institutions. Some men became abbots by buying their posts, or even through homicide. MAny abbots gave themselves to the easy life on the basis of their abbot's income. Benedict's Rule was ignored. Monastic reform eventually came about as a consequence of much needed church reform. But that is the topic of next week's class.

The Rise of the Papacy

The rise of the Papacy might seem obvious from Jesus' words to Peter, "Upon this rock I will build my church." But those words are accretions added to the Gospels by the church itself. The role of Rome as the natural leader of the church goes back to a very early period. The apostle Paul had a rather independent attitude toward the church in Jerusalem, and in his work with the Gentiles, he focused on their capital, Rome. Monuments to Peter and Paul were erected in Rome by 160 C.E., and their position as "guardians" of the apostolic tradition was being secured. By the end of the second century Pope Victor insisted that all churches celebrate Easter on the same day. By the end of the third century, Rome was accepted as the first among equals. It was not actually until 382 that the Petrine text cited above became theologically and scripturally foundational for the see of Rome.

It was in about 382 that the Bishop of Rome (which is the title of the Pope) began to make claims of control over the rest of Christendom. Soon regular meetings of the metropolitans of the eastern churches and the bishops of other churches began to take place. By the 4th century, it became apparent that a system of ecclesiastical law was needed, and one of the famous Cappadocians, Basil of Caesarea, began to collect and catalog the canons of the church passed by various church synods. Once the law had been collected, Papal letters began to take on the tone of decrees, based upon canon law.

The writings of Irenaeus refer to the office of the Pope. Popes Leo I and Gelasius I were the first to write explicitly about the magisterial and jurisdictional primacy of the Bishop of Rome; it was Gelasius I who was first referred to as the "Vicar of Christ." The power of the papacy was developed by Gregory VII, Innocent III, and Boniface VIII. Between 756 and 1870 the papacy itself exercised temporal power, and in 1987, the Pope declared the Pope infallible, and the absolute ruler of the Church.

The primacy of the Pope was never accepted by the eastern churches under the control of Constantinople.

A note about nomenclature. The organization of the church followed Roman tradition. Each city and its surrounding territory was governed by a bishop, and in each province the bishop of the civil metropolis came to possess rights over his comprovincial bishops, later called suffragans. These rights were determined by local custom. The term "metropolitan" first appears in canon 4 of the Council of Nicea. In the western church, the term "metropolitan" is replaced by the word "archbishop" (Roman Catholic) or "primate" (Anglican).

The Holy Roman Empire and the Rise of Feudalism

Charlemagne

History. The Holy Roman Empire officially began Christmas Day in 800 when the Pope Leo III declared Charles, the King of the Franks - later known as Charlemagne - the first Holy Roman Emperor of the West. This time, the Roman Empire was incarnated under the auspices of the Church. Charlemagne began a series of military moves designed to consolidate his power, and demonstrate his sovereignty. He battled the Saxons and their Frisian allies. He also invaded Spain. He felt called to be the civil and ecclesiastical ruler, and he appointed bishops and named generals. He was also a patron of education (although himself not well educated), and he revived and reformed many schools.

The empire did not last long after Charlemagne's death, and several factors led to its decline. The Arab conquest of the Mediterranean beginning in about 600 C.E. made trade difficult, because land routes were blocked. Currency became less valued, and land became more important. This was the beginning of hierarchical Feudalism, based on the holding of land. This ultimately led to fragmentation of power for the fledgling nations of Europe, as well as for the Church. This was because the monasteries had now vast holdings of land, and bishops, abbots, and abbesses became very rich and influential.

Theological Issues. There were several theological controversies that arose during Charlemagne's rule. The first was over the presence of Christians in Moorish occupied Spain. When Charlemagne conquered some of these lands, it was discovered that there were Christians who had been worshipping in isolation for centuries. These "Mozarabic Christians" kept their pre-Islamic traditions. Charlemagne's Frankish priests wanted the Mozarabs to use the Roman and Frankish rites. The second issue had to do with the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Radbertus worte a book that declared that at the moment of consecration, the bread and wine became transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. Radbertus said that this transformation was a mysterious process, but that there were extraordinary cases where a believer was allowed to see he body and blood instead of the bread and wine. We will continue this discussion in the next class period when we speak of the doctrine of transubstantiation that was proclaimed by the ROman Church in 1215 at the Fourth Latern Council.

The Carolingians. An important note. Charles, King of the Franks was the first of the Carolingians, which is what the dynasty of Charles' family was called. This will become important later.

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The East Versus the West and the Early Middle Ages

Introduction

The Council of Nicea in 325 C.E. and the Council at Constantinople in 381 C.E. were essentially called to settle the question of the basic tenets of the Christian faith. They were necessary because the church wanted to define itself against Arianism, a philosophical position that the church deemed heretical. But because of the movement of the center of power from Rome to Constantinople by Constantine, the church found itself in two cultural worlds, and those cultural differences affected the understanding of the person of Jesus.

The eastern empire spoke Greek and the western empire spoke Latin. The vacuum of power in the west with the collapse of the political structure in Rome gave the Bishop of Rome the opportunity to fill the void and become an increasingly important political power. The eastern empire was politically stable and would last 1000 more years until the rise of Islam.

The Council at Calcedon, 451 C.E.

The Western church was content to stand by Tertullian's formula of the Godhead: in Christ there were two natures united in one person. In the east, there were two schools of thought: one (the Alexandrines like Clement and Origen) thought Jesus was more divine than human, and the other (the Antiochenes from Syrian Antioch) emphasized Jesus' humanity. Whether Jesus was a human with a divine mind or whether he was a person with two natures and two persons became very important theological issues. Eventually the eastern controversy swamped the entire church, and a Council was called to meet in Ephesus in 449 C.E. But the western church was forcibly excluded from this council. Eventually the next emperor called an ecumenical Council at Calcedon in 451 C.E. to which all members of the church were invited. The council affirmed the nature of Christ:

Following then, the holy fathers, we all with one voice that it is to be confessed that our Lord Jesus Christ is one and the same God, perfect in divinity, and perfect in humanity, true God and true human, with a rational soul and a body, of one substance with the Father in his divinity, and of one substance with us in his humanity, in every way like us, with the only exception of sin, begotten of the Father before all time in his divinity,a nd also begotten in the latter days, in his humanity, of Mary the virgin bearer of God.

This is the one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, manifested in two natures without any confusion, change, division, or separation. The union does not destroy the difference of the two natures, but on the contrary the properties of each are kept, and both are joined in one person, and both are joined in one person and hypostasis. They are not divided into two persons, but belong to the one Only-begotten Son, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. All this, as the prophets of old said of him, and as he himself has taught us, and as the Creed of the Fathers has passed on to us.

While all of the Western Churches subscribed to this "Definition of Faith," not all of the Eastern churches did.

The Filioque and the Division of the Church into the Eastern and Western Branches; The Schism of 1054

The original Nicene Creed said that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father." In the sixth century the words "and from the Son" (called the filioque) were added to this sentence so that it reads, "from the Father and from the Son." The eastern churches saw this as tampering with the Definition of faith. By Charlemagne's time, the filioque was recited in the Frankish churches. In Rome, the Pope tried unsuccessfully to avoid alienating the eastern churches by using the Apostle’s Creed instead of the Nicene Creed.

There were two other problems the eastern churches had with the west. One was that the western churches began to use leavened bread for communion (such as we use at St. George's), and the second was that the Western church had declared celibacy for its priests a universal rule (eastern clerics could marry). The western church had a problem with the power that the Byzantine emperor had over the Christian churches (as a result of the stability of the eastern political empire).

Finally, on June 16, 1054, the Pope excommunicated the patriarch of the eastern church, and the final break between the eastern and western churches was completed.

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Bibliography

Henry Chadwick. The Early Church, Revised Edition. London, England: Penguin Books. 1993.

Justo L. Gonzales. A History of Christian Thought, Vol 1, Revised Edition: From the Beginnings to the Council of Chalcedon. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1970. pp. 157-185.

Justo L. Gonzales. The History of Christianity, Vol 1: The Early CHurch to the Dawn of the Reformation. New York, NY: HarperSanFrancisco. 1984.

Judith Herrin. The Formation of Christendom. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 1987.

E. Glenn Hinson. The Early Church: Origins to the Dawn of the Middle Ages. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1996.

W.H.C. Frend. The Early Church. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. 1991.

Alastair H.B. Logan. "Gnosticism." The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought. Edrain Hastings, Alistair Mason, Hugh Pyper, eds. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 2000.

John Manners (ed). The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 1990.

Pagels, Elaine. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. New York: Random House, 2003.

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