Christianity in the 4th century
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by
Christian persecutions
Major communions of
the 4th-5th centuriesCommunion Primary centers Roman Empire and
western EuropeRome, Alexandria,
ConstantinopleChurch of the East Syria, Sasanian
(Persia) Empire[1]Oriental Orthodox or
Non-ChalcedonianEgypt[2]Donatist Church North Africa[3]Gothic Arian ChurchGothic tribes[4]
With Christianity the dominant faith in some urban centers, Christians accounted for approximately 10% of the Roman population by 300, according to some estimates.
Roman Empire
Under Galerius
In April 311,
Constantine I
Christian sources record that Constantine experienced a dramatic event in 312 at the
The conversion to Christianity
The accession of Constantine was a turning point for the Christian Church. In 313, Constantine issued the
Sociologist Joseph Bryant asserts that, by the time of Constantine, Christianity had already changed from its first century instantiation as a "marginal, persecuted, and popularly despised Christian sect" to become the fully institutionalized church "capable of embracing the entire Roman empire" that Constantine adopted.[14]: 304 Without this transformation that Peter Brown has called "the conversion of Christianity" to the culture and ideals of the Roman world, Brown says Constantine would never have converted himself.[15]
By the end of the second century Christianity was steadily expanding and its membership was socially rising. The church was becoming increasingly institutionalized, and there is evidence of moral erosion and declining commitment amongst its expanding membership.[14]: 313 Bryant explains that, "The governing principle of the [sect is] in the personal holiness of its members".[14]: 320 A church, on the other hand, is an organization where sanctity is found in the institution rather than the individual.[14]: 306 To become a church, "Christianity had to overcome its alienation from the 'world' and successfully weather persecution, accept that it was no longer an ecclesia pura, (a sect of the holy and the elect), but was instead a corpus permixtum, a 'catholic' Church geared to mass conversions and institutionally endowed with extensive powers of sacramental grace and redemption".[14]: 333 This "momentous transformation" threatened the survival of the marginal religious movement as it naturally led to divisions, schisms and defections.[14]: 317, 320 Bryant explains that, "once those within a sect determine that "the 'spirit' no longer resides in the parent body, 'the holy and the pure' typically find themselves compelled – either by conviction or coercion – to withdraw and establish their own counter-church, consisting of the 'gathered remnant' of God's elect".[14]: 317 According to Bryant, this describes all the schisms of Christianity's first 300 years including the Montanists, the schism created by Hippolytus in 218 under Callistus, the Melitian schism, and the Donatists.
It is the Donatist schism that Bryant sees as the culmination of this sect to church dynamic.[14]: 332 During the Melitian schism and the beginnings of the Donatist division, bishop Cyprian had felt compelled to "grant one laxist concession after another in the course of his desperate struggle to preserve the Catholic church".[14]: 325 Roman emperors had always been religious leaders, but Constantine established precedent for the position of the Christian emperor in the Church. These emperors considered themselves responsible to God for the spiritual health of their subjects, and thus they had a duty to maintain orthodoxy.[16] The emperor did not decide doctrine – that was the responsibility of the bishops – rather his role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity.[17] The emperor ensured that God was properly worshiped in his empire; what proper worship consisted of was the responsibility of the church. Constantine had commissioned more than one investigation into the Donatist issues and they all ruled in support of the Catholic cause, yet the Donatists refused to submit to either imperial or ecclesiastical authority.[14]: 332 For a Roman emperor, that was sufficient cause to act. Brown says Roman authorities had shown no hesitation in "taking out" the Christian church they had seen as a threat to empire, and Constantine and his successors did the same, for the same reasons.[18]: 74 Constantine's precedent of deferring to councils on doctrine, and accepting responsibility for their enforcement, would continue generally until the empire's end, although there were a few emperors of the 5th and 6th centuries who sought to alter doctrine by imperial edict without recourse to councils.[19]
In 325 Constantine called for the
Constantius II
Constantine's sons banned pagan State religious sacrifices in 341 but did not close the temples. Although all State temples in all cities were ordered shut in 356, there is evidence that traditional sacrifices continued. When
There was not a total unity of Christianity however, and Constantius II was an Arian who kept Arian bishops at his court and installed them in various sees, expelling the orthodox bishops.
Julian the Apostate
Constantius's successor,
Christian emperor).Nicaea Christianity becomes the state religion of the Roman Empire
Over the course of the 4th century the Christian body became consumed by debates surrounding
Christian scholars within the empire were increasingly embroiled in debates regarding Christology. Opinions were widespread ranging from the belief that Jesus was entirely mortal to the belief that he was an Incarnation of God that had taken human form. The most persistent debate was that between the homoousian view (the Father and the Son are one and the same, eternal) and the Arian view (the Father and the Son are separate, but both divine). This controversy led to Constantine's calling a council meeting at Nicaea in 325.[22]
Christological debates raged throughout the 4th century with emperors becoming ever more involved with the Church and the Church becoming ever more divided.
In 380 Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which established Christianity as the official state religion, specifically the faith established by the Council of Nicaea in 325:[24] Theodosius called the Council of Constantinople in 381 to further refine the definition of orthodoxy. In 391 Theodosius closed all of the pagan (non-Christian and non-Jewish) temples and formally forbade pagan worship. These adhering state churches can be seen as effectively a department of the Roman state. All other Christian sects were explicitly declared heretical and illegal. In 385, came the first capital punishment of a heretic was carried out on Priscillian of Ávila.[25][26]
Ecumenical Councils of the 4th century
The First Council of Nicaea (325) and the First Council of Constantinople (381) were a part of what would later be called the first seven Ecumenical Councils, which span 400 years of church history.
First Council of Nicaea
The
The purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements in the
The council was historically significant because it was the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom.[28] With the creation of the Nicene Creed, a precedent was established for subsequent general councils to create a statement of belief and canons which were intended to become guidelines for doctrinal orthodoxy and a source of unity for the whole of Christendom – a momentous event in the history of the Church and subsequent history of Europe.
The council was opposed by the Arians, and Constantine tried to reconcile Arius with the Church. Even when Arius died in 336, one year before the death of Constantine, the controversy continued, with various separate groups espousing Arian sympathies in one way or another.[29] In 359, a double council of Eastern and Western bishops affirmed a formula stating that the Father and the Son were similar in accord with the scriptures, the crowning victory for Arianism.[29] The opponents of Arianism rallied, but in the First Council of Constantinople in 381 marked the final victory of Nicene orthodoxy within the empire, though Arianism had by then spread to the Germanic tribes, among whom it gradually disappeared after the conversion of the Franks to Catholicism in 496.[29]
First Council of Constantinople
The First Council of Constantinople approved the current form of the
The council also condemned Apollinarism,[32] the teaching that there was no human mind or soul in Christ.[33] It also granted Constantinople honorary precedence over all churches save Rome.[32] The council did not include Western bishops or Roman legates, but it was accepted as ecumenical in the West.[32]
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
Late Antique Christianity produced a great many renowned Church Fathers who wrote volumes of theological texts, including Augustine of Hippo, Gregory Nazianzus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan, Jerome, and others. Some, such as John Chrysostom and Athanasius, suffered exile, persecution, or martyrdom from heretical Byzantine emperors. Many of their writings are translated into English in the compilations of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.
Influential texts and writers between 325 and c.500 include:
- Athanasius(298–373)
- The Cappadocian Fathers (late 4th century)
- Ambrose (c. 340–397)
- Chrysostom(347 407)
Greek Fathers
Those who wrote in Greek are called the Greek (Church) Fathers.
Athanasius of Alexandria
John Chrysostom
Chrysostom is known within Christianity chiefly as a
Latin Fathers
Those fathers who wrote in Latin are called the Latin (Church) Fathers.
Ambrose of Milan
Monasticism
Desert Fathers
The
Early Christian monasticism
The first efforts to create a proto-monastery were by
Pachomius was called in to help organize others, and by one count by the time he died in 346 there were thought to be 3,000 such communities dotting Egypt, especially the
Eastern monasticism
Orthodox monasticism does not have religious orders as in the West,[41] so there are no formal monastic rules; rather, each monk and nun is encouraged to read all of the Holy Fathers and emulate their virtues. There is also no division between the "active" and "contemplative" life. Orthodox monastic life embraces both active and contemplative aspects.
Gaul
The earliest phases of monasticism in Western Europe involved figures like
One Roman reaction to monasticism was expressed in the description of Lérins by
- A filthy island filled by men who flee the light.
- Monks they call themselves, using a Greek name.
- Because they will to live alone, unseen by man.
- Fortune's gifts they fear, dreading their harm:
- Mad folly of a demented brain,
- That cannot suffer good, for fear of ill.
Lérins became, in time, a center of monastic culture and learning, and many later monks and bishops would pass through Lérins in the early stages of their career. Honoratus was called to be
Defining scripture
In 331, Constantine I commissioned
In order to
Bishops
After legalisation in 313, the Church inside the Roman Empire adopted the same organisational boundaries as the empire: geographical provinces, called
Constantine erected a new capital at
Tensions between the East and the West
The divisions in Christian unity which led to the East–West Schism started to become evident as early as the 4th century. Although 1054 is the date usually given for the beginning of the Great Schism, there is, in fact, no specific date on which the schism occurred.
The events leading to schism were not exclusively theological in nature. Cultural, political, and linguistic differences were often mixed with the theological. Unlike the Coptics or Armenians who broke from the Church in the 5th century and established ethnic churches at the cost of their universality and catholicity, the eastern and western parts of the Church remained loyal to the faith and authority of the seven ecumenical councils. They were united, by virtue of their common faith and tradition, in one Church.
The
Disunion in the Roman Empire further contributed to disunion in the Church. Emperor Diocletian divided the administration of the eastern and western portions of the empire in the early 4th century, though subsequent leaders (including Constantine) aspired to and sometimes gained control of both regions. Theodosius I, who established Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, died in 395 and was the last emperor to rule over a united Roman Empire; following his death, the division into western and eastern halves, each under its own emperor, became permanent. By the end of the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire had been overrun by the Germanic tribes, while the Eastern Roman Empire (known also as the Byzantine Empire) continued to thrive. Thus, the political unity of the Roman Empire was the first to fall.
In the West, the collapse of civil government left the Church practically in charge in many areas, and bishops took to administering secular cities and domains.[35] When royal and imperial rule reestablished itself, it had to contend with power wielded independently by the Church. In the East, however, imperial and, later, Islamic rule dominated the Eastern bishops of Byzantium.[35] Whereas the Orthodox regions that were predominantly Slavic experienced period foreign dominance as well as period without infrastructure (see the Tatars and Russia).
Rome
In the 4th century when the Roman emperors were trying to control the Church, theological questions were running rampant throughout the Roman Empire.
After Constantine built Constantinople, the centre of the empire was recognised to have shifted to the eastern Mediterranean. Rome lost the Senate to Constantinople and lost its status and gravitas as imperial capital. The bishops of Rome sent letters which, though largely ineffectual, provided historical precedents which were used by later supporters of papal primacy. These letters were known as 'decretals' from at least the time of Siricius (384–399) to Leo I provided general guidelines to follow which later would become incorporated into canon law.[50]
Spread of Christianity
In the 4th century, the early process of
Wulfila or
Between 348 and 383, Wulfila translated the Bible into the Gothic language.[53][54] Thus some Arian Christians in the west used the vernacular languages, in this case including Gothic and Latin, for services, as did Christians in the eastern Roman provinces, while most Christians in the western provinces used Latin.
Christianity outside the Roman Empire
The
The Germanic migrations of the 5th century were triggered by the destruction of the Gothic kingdoms by the Huns in 372–375.
Great persecution
The great persecution fell upon the Christians in Persia about 340. Though the religious motives were never unrelated, the primary cause of the persecution was political. When Rome became Christian, its old enemy turned anti-Christian. For the first three centuries[clarification needed] after Christ it was in the West that Christians were persecuted. The Parthians were too religiously tolerant to persecute, and their less tolerant Sassanian successors on the throne were too busy fighting Rome, so Persian emperors were inclined to regard them as friends of Persia.
It was about 315 that an ill-advised letter from Christian Emperor Constantine to his Persian counterpart Shapur II probably triggered the beginnings of an ominous change in the Persian attitude toward Christians. Constantine believed he was writing to help his fellow believers in Persia but succeeded only in exposing them. He wrote to the young shah:
- "I rejoice to hear that the fairest provinces of Persia are adorned with...Christians...Since you are so powerful and pious, I commend them to your care, and leave them in your protection[1]".
It was enough to make any Persian ruler conditioned by 300 years of war with Rome suspicious of the emergence of a fifth column. Any lingering doubts must have been dispelled when about twenty years later when Constantine began to gather his forces for war in the East. Eusebius records that Roman bishops were prepared to accompany their emperor to "battle with him and for him by prayers to God whom all victory proceeds".[2] And across the border in Persian territory the forthright Persian preacher Aphrahat recklessly predicted on the basis of his reading of Old testament prophecy that Rome would defeat Persia.[3]
When the persecutions began shortly thereafter, the first accusation brought against the Christians was that they were aiding the Roman enemy. The shah Shapur II's response was to order a double taxation on Christians and to hold the bishop responsible for collecting it. He knew they were poor and that the bishop would be hard-pressed to find the money. Bishop Simon refused to be intimidated. He branded the tax as unjust and declared, "I am no tax collector but a shepherd of the Lord's flock."
A second decree ordered the destruction of churches and the execution of clergy who refused to participate in the national worship of the sun. Bishop Simon was seized and brought before the shah and was offered gifts to make a token obeisance to the sun, and when he refused, they cunningly tempted him with the promise that if he alone would apostatize his people would not be harmed, but that if he refused he would be condemning not just the church leaders but all Christians to destruction. At that, the Christians rose up and refused to accept such a deliverance as shameful. In 344, Simon was led outside the city of Susa along with a large number of Christian clergy. Five bishops and one hundred priests were beheaded before his eyes, and lastly he was put to death.[4]
Sometime before the death of Shapur II in 379, the intensity of the persecution slackened. Tradition calls it a Forty-Year Persecution, lasting from 339–379 and ending only with Shapur's death. When at last the years of suffering ended around 401, the historian Sozomen, who lived nearby, wrote that the multitude of martyrs had been "beyond enumeration".[5] One estimate is that as many as 190,000 Persian Christians died in the terror.
Conditioning factors of missionary expansion
Several important factors help to explain the extensive growth in the Church of the East during the first twelve hundred years of the Christian era. Geographically, and possibly even numerically, the expansion of this church outstripped that of the church in the West in the early centuries. The outstanding key to understanding this expansion is the active participation of the laymen – the involvement of a large percentage of the church's believers in missionary evangelism.[6]
Persecution strengthened and spread the Christian movement in the East. A great influx of Christian refugees from the Roman persecutions of the first two centuries gave vigour to the Mesopotamian church. The persecutions in Persia caused refugees to escape as far as Arabia, India, and other Central Asian countries.
Christianity penetrated Arabia from numerous points on its periphery. Northeastern Arabia flourished from the end of the 3rd to the end of the 6th and was apparently evangelized by Christians from the Tigris-Euphrates Valley in the 4th century. The kingdom of Ghassan on the northwest frontier was also a sphere of missionary activity. In fact, by 500 many churches were also in existence along the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf and in Oman, all connected with the Church of the East in the Persian Empire. Arabian bishops were found among those in attendance at important church councils in Mesopotamia.
Central Asia
The agents of missionary expansion in central Asia and the Far East were not only monks and clergy trained in the mesopotamian monastic schools, but also in many cases Christian merchants and artisans, often with considerable biblical training. They frequently found employment among people less advanced in education, serving in government offices and as teachers and secretaries and more advanced medical care. They also helped to solve the problem of illiteracy by inventing simplified alphabets based on the Syriac language.
Persecution often thrust Christians forth into new and unevangelized lands to find refuge. The dissemination of the gospel by largely Syriac-using people had its advantages, but it was also a hindrance to indigenizing the church in the new areas. Because Syriac never became dominant, competition from ethnic religions was an issue. For these reasons of political vicissitude, in later centuries Christianity suffered an almost total eclipse in Asia until the modern period. The golden age of early missions in central Asia extended from the end of the fourth to the latter part of the 9th century.
Christianity had an early and extensive dissemination throughout the vast territory north of Persia and west and East of the
Timeline
- 296–304 Pope Marcellinus, offered pagan sacrifices for Diocletian
- 301 – Armenia accepts Christianity as state religion [7]
- 303 Saint George, patron saint of England, and other states
- 303–312 Diocletian's Massacre of Christians, included burning of scriptures (EH 8.2)
- 304? Victorinus, bishop of Pettau
- 304? Pope Marcellinus, having repented from his previous defection, suffered martyrdom with several companions.
- 306 – The first bishop of Nisibis is ordained[55]
- 306 Synod of Elvira, prohibited relations between Christians and Jews
- 290–345? St Pachomius, founder of Christian monasticism
- 310 Maxentius deports Pope Eusebius and Heraclius [8] [9] to Sicily (relapse controversy)
- 312 School of Antioch, martyred
- 312 Vision of Constantine: while gazing into the sun he saw a cross with the words by this sign conquer, see also Labarum, he was later called the 13th Apostle and Equal-to-apostles
- 313 Edict of Milan, Constantine and Licinius end persecution, establish toleration of Christianity
- 313? Lateran Palace given to Pope Miltiades for residence by Constantine
- 314 Donatistschism
- 314 Arsacid Armenia first to adopt Christianity as state religion(mainstream date; traditionally 301)
- 313 – Emperor
- 317? Lactantius
- 314 – Tiridates III of Armenia and King Urnayr of Caucasian Albania converted by Gregory the Illuminator
- 321 Constantine decreed Sunday as state "day of rest" (CJ3.12.2), see also Sol Invictus
- 251–424? Synods of Carthage
- 314–340? Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, church historian, cited Caesarean text-type, wrote Ecclesiastical History in 325[57]
- 325 The First Council of Nicaea
- 325 The Kingdom of Aksum (Modern Ethiopia) declares Christianity as the official state Religion becoming the second country to do so
- 325 Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, ordered by Constantine
- 326, November 18 Basilica of St. Peterbuilt by Constantine the Great over the tomb of the Apostle.
- 327 – Georgian King Mirian III of Iberia converted by Nino[58]
- 330 – Ethiopian King Ezana of Axum makes Christianity an official religion
- 330 Old Church of the Holy Apostles, dedicated by Constantine
- 330, May 11: Constantinople solemly inaugurated. Constantine moves the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, renaming it New Rome
- 331 Constantine commissioned Eusebius to deliver 50 Bibles for the Church of Constantinople[59]
- 332 – Two young Roman Christians,
- 334 – The first bishop is ordained for Merv / Transoxiana (area of modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and southwest Kazakhstan)[61]
- 335 Council in Jerusalem, reversed Nicaea's condemnation of Arius, consecrated Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- 337 Mirian III of Georgia, third to adopt Christianity as state religion
- 337, May 22: Constantine the Great dies. Baptized shortly prior to his death
- 341–379 Persian Christians
- 343? Council of Sardica
- 337 – Emperor
- 341 – Ulfilas begins work with the Goths in present-day Romania[63]
- 328–373 Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, first cite of modern 27 book New Testament canon
- 350? Julius Firmicus Maternus
- 350? Codex Sinaiticus(א), Codex Vaticanus(B): earliest Christian Bibles, Alexandrian text-type
- 350? Ulfilas, Arian, apostle to the Goths, translated Greek NT to Gothic
- 350? KJV)
- 350? Aëtius, Arian, "Syntagmation": "God is agennetos (unbegotten)", founder of Anomoeanism
- 350? School of Nisibis founded
- 350 – Bible is translated into Saidic, an Egyptian language[64]
- 354 – Theophilus "the Indian" reports visiting Christians in India [10]; Philostorgius mentions a community of Christians on the Socotra islands, south of Yemen in the Arabian Sea [11]
- 357 Third Council of Sirmium, issued so-called Blasphemy of Sirmium or Seventh Arian Confession,[65]called high point of Arianism
- 359 Council of Rimini, Dated Creed (Acacians)
- 360 Julian the Apostatebecomes the last non-Christian Roman Emperor.
- 364 – Conversion of Vandals to Christianity begins during reign of Emperor Valens[66]
- 353–367 bishop of Poitiers
- 355–365 Antipope Felix II, Arian, supported by Constantius II, consecrated by Acacius of Caesarea
- 363–364 Council of Laodicea, canon 29 decreed anathema for Christians who rest on the Sabbath, disputed canon 60 named 26 NT books (excluded Revelation)
- 366–367 Antipope Ursicinus, rival to Pope Damasus I
- 370? 3 Corinthians) Syriac Orthodox Church
- 370 – Wulfila translates the Bible into Gothic, the first Bible translation done specifically for missionary purposes
- 378 – Jerome writes, "From India to Britain, all nations resound with the death and resurrection of Christ"[60]
- 367–403 Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, wrote Panarion against heresies
- 370–379 Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea
- 372–394 Gregory, Bishop Of Nyssa
- 373 Ephrem the Syrian, cited Western Acts
- 374–397 Ambrose, bishop & governor of Milan
- 375–395 Ausonius, Christian governor of Gaul
- 379–381 Bishop of Constantinople
- 380, February 27: Emperor Theodosius I issues the edict De Fide Catolica declaring Christianity as the official state religion of the Roman Empire[67]
- 380, November 24: Emperor Theodosius I is baptised.
- 380 Roman Emperor Theodosius I makes Christianity the official state religion[68]
- 381 ecumenical, Jesus had true human soul, Nicene Creed of 381
- 382 Biblical Canon, listing the inspired books of the Old Testament and the New Testament(disputed)
- 382 – Jerome is commissioned to translate the Gospels (and subsequently the whole Bible) into Latin (Price, p. 78)
- 383? Frumentius, Apostle of Ethiopia
- 385 Priscillian, first heretic to be executed?
- 386 – Augustine of Hippo converted[69]
- 390? Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea, believed Jesus had human body but divine spirit
- 391: The Theodosian decrees outlaw most pagan rituals still practiced in Rome.
- 390 – Nestorian missionary Abdyeshu (or Abdisho) builds a monastery on the island of Bahrain
- 397 –
- 397?
- 400 – Hayyan begins proclaiming gospel in Yemen after having been converted in Hirta on the Persian border; in starting a school for native Gothic evangelists, John Chrysostom writes, "'Go and make disciples of all nations' was not said for the Apostles onlyu, but for us also"[60]
- 400: Jerome's Vulgate Latin edition and translation of the Bible is published.
- 400? Ethiopic Bible: in Ge'ez, 81 books, standard Ethiopian OrthodoxBible
- 400? Peshitta Bible in Syriac (Aramaic), Syr(p), OT + 22 NT, excludes: 2Pt, 2–3Jn, Jude, Rev; standard Syriac Orthodox Church Bible
See also
- History of Christianity
- History of the Roman Catholic Church
- History of the Eastern Orthodox Church
- History of Christian theology
- Christian martyrs
- History of Oriental Orthodoxy
- Ante-Nicene Period
- Church Fathers
- List of Church Fathers
- Christian monasticism
- Patristics
- Great Church
- Development of the New Testament canon
- Christianization
- History of Calvinist-Arminian debate
- Timeline of Christianity
- Timeline of Christian missions
- Timeline of the Roman Catholic Church
- Chronological list of saints in the 4th century
Notes
- ^ O'Leary (2000), pp. 131–137.
- ^ Price (2005), pp. 52–55.
- ^ Dwyer (1998), pp. 109–111.
- ^ Anderson (2010), p. 604.
Amory (), pp. 259–262. - ^ Hopkins(1998), p. 191
- ^ Irvin (2002), p. 161.
- ISBN 978-0691027494.
- ^ Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum ("On the Deaths of the Persecutors") ch.34–35
- ^ a b Gerberding, p.55
- ^ cf. Eusebius, Life of Constantine
- ^ Gerberding, pp.55–56
- ^ Gerberding, p. 56
- ^ Payton (2007), p.29
- ^ JSTOR 591221.
- ISBN 978-0500320228.
- ^ Richards, pp.14–15
- ^ Richards, p. 15
- ^ Peter Brown, The Rise of Christendom 2nd edition (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2003)
- ^ Richards, p.16
- ^ KAYE, John. Some account of the Council of Nicæa in connexion with the life of Athanasius. United Kingdom, n.p, 1853.
- ^ Irvin (2002), p. 164, ch. 15.
- ^ Carroll (1987), p. 11.
- ^ Irvin (2002), p. 164, ch. 16.
- ^ Bettenson (1967), p. 22.
- ^ Halsall, Paul (June 1997). "Theodosian Code XVI.i.2". Medieval Sourcebook: Banning of Other Religions. Fordham University. Archived from the original on 2007-02-27. Retrieved 2006-11-23.
- ^ "Lecture 27: Heretics, Heresies and the Church". 2009. Retrieved 2010-04-24. Review of Church policies towards heresy, including capital punishment.
- oikoumenikos, literally meaning worldwide but generally assumed to be limited to the Roman Empire as in Augustus' claim to be ruler of the oikoumene (world); the earliest extant uses of the term for a council are Eusebius' Life of Constantine 3.6 around 338 "σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν συνεκρότει" (he convoked an Ecumenical council), Athanasius' Ad Afros Epistola Synodica in 369, and the Letter in 382 Archived 2006-06-13 at the Wayback Machine to Pope Damasus I and the Latin bishops from the First Council of Constantinople.
- ISBN 0-684-18275-0
- ^ a b c Cross, FL, ed. (2005), "Arianism", The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Armenian Church Library: Nicene Creed
- ^ "Nicene Creed." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
- ^ a b c "Constantinople, First Council of." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
- ^ "Apollinarius." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
- ^ Athanasius, On the Incarnation 47
- ^ ISBN 1-56731-014-1
- ^ Pope Vigilius, Constitution of Pope Vigilius, 553
- ^ "St John Chrysostom" in the Catholic Encyclopedia, available online; retrieved March 20, 2007.
- ISBN 0-19-530429-2. 48
- ISBN 965-07-0665-8.
- ^ Known in Latin and Low Franconian as Ambrosius, in Italian as Ambrogio and in Lombard as Ambroeus.
- ^ One may hear Orthodox monks referred to as "Basilian Monks", but this is really an inappropriate application of western categories to Orthodoxy.
- ^ McDonald & Sanders, The Canon Debate, pp.414–415
- ^ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ Easter letter of 367
- ^ McDonald & Sanders' The Canon Debate, Appendix D-2, note 19: "Revelation was added later in 419 at the subsequent synod of Carthage." "Two books of Esdras" is ambiguous, it could be 1 Esdras and Ezra–Nehemiah as in the Septuagint or Ezra and Nehemiah as in the Vulgate.
- ^ Second Ecumenical Council, Canon III
- ^ Second Ecumenical Council, Canon II
- ^ John Binns, An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2002, pp 162–164
- ^ John Binns, An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2002, p68
- ^ Schimmelpfennig, p. 47
- ^ a b Padberg 1998, 26
- ^ Auxentius of Durostorum, Letter of Auxentius, quoted in Heather and Matthews, Goths in the Fourth Century, pp. 141–142.
- ^ a b Philostorgius via Photius, Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius, book 2, chapter 5.
- ^ Auxentius of Durostorum, Letter of Auxentius, quoted in Heather and Matthews, Goths in the Fourth Century, p. 140.
- ^ Barrett, David B., Todd M. Johnson, Christopher R. Guidry, and Peter F. Crossing. World Christian Trends, AD 30–AD 2200, William Carey Library Publishers, 2001, p. 115
- ^ Kane, p. 33
- ^ Eusebius. "The Church History Of Eusebius". Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
- ^ Fortescue, Adrian. The Eastern Churches Trilogy, Gorgias Press LLC, 2001, p. 17
- ^ The Canon Debate, McDonald & Sanders editors, 2002, pages 414–415
- ^ a b c Barrett, p. 24
- ^ Korolevsky, Cyril. Living Languages in Catholic Worship: An Historical Inquiry, Longmans, Green, 1957, p. 14
- ^ Anderson, 149
- ^ Neill, p. 48
- ^ Latourette, 1941, vol. I, p. 257
- ^ "The Seventh Arian (or Second Sirmium) Confession Sirmium (357)". Archived from the original on 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
- ^ Herbermann, 268
- ^ Theodosian Code XVI.1.2 Archived 2007-02-27 at the Wayback Machine Medieval Sourcebook: Banning of Other Religions by Paul Halsall, June 1997, Fordham University, retrieved September 25, 2006
- ^ Walker, pp. 117–118
- ^ Latourette, 1953, p. 97
- ^ Latourette, 1941, vol. I, p. 199
References
- Gerberding, R. and J. H. Moran Cruz, Medieval Worlds (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004)
- Richards, Jeffrey. The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages 476–752 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979)
Further reading
- R. T. Meyer, St. Athanasius: The Life of Anthony, ACW 10 (Westminster, Maryland: Newman Press 1950)
- Chitty, D. J. The Desert a City (Oxford: Basil Blackwell 1966)
- MacMullen, Ramsay, Christianizing the Roman Empire, AD 100–400 Yale University Press (paperback, 1986 ISBN 0-300-03642-6)
- Trombley, Frank R., 1995. Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370–529 (in series Religions in the Graeco-Roman World) (Brill) ISBN 90-04-09691-4
- Fletcher, Richard, The Conversion of Europe. From Paganism to Christianity 371–1386 AD. London 1997.
- Esler, Philip F. The Early Christian World. Routledge (2004). ISBN 0-415-33312-1.
- Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan. The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100–600). University of Chicago Press (1975). ISBN 0-226-65371-4.
- Schatz, Klaus (1996). Papal Primacy. Liturgical Press. ISBN 0-8146-5522-X.
- Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard (1992). The Papacy. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-07515-2.
External links
- Links to 4th century background information plus original language texts and translations, major creeds and canons etc. at earlychurchtexts.com
- Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Christian Origins Archived 2014-08-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Guide to Early Church Documents
- Chart of Church Fathers at ReligionFacts.com Archived 2009-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
- Church Fathers' works in English edited by Philip Schaff, at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
- Church Fathers at Newadvent.org
- Faulkner University Patristics Project A growing collection of English translations of patristic texts and high-resolution scans from the comprehensive Patrologia compiled by J. P. Migne.
- Primer on the Church Fathers at Corunum
- Fourth-Century Christianity