What is church history where do i find resources on church history why would i study history to begin with these are all valid questions that many of us have this series aims to answer these questions before we delve into historical events of church development i want to shed light on the benefits we can learn from church history church history is the study of past events councils and affairs pertaining to the church we learn about historical events from multiple resources for example we learn about the birth of the early church from the book of acts we
can learn about the persecuted church from roman records the writings of historians such as josephus and the writings of the early church fathers such as ignatius of antioch we can learn about the liturgical life of the church from individuals such as justin the martyr we can learn about the expansion of the church during the time of the apostles and beyond their times from irenaeus of leon's's against the heresies Or the ecclesial history of the church by eusebius we can learn about the councils of the church from their written minutes or the writings of the fathers
who participated in these councils like gregory the theologian who wrote about his experience at the council of constantinople in 381 many other resources can be found to explore church history but i will stop listing them as you will see them throughout the episodes of this series the question of why study church history might still be going through your mind the study of church history gives you an idea of how the church handled her affairs throughout the centuries there are things you can learn to emulate in the event and there are things you can learn to
avoid for example you can learn to imitate paul and bernabbus who despite having a conflict did not quit service but rather continued on their separate routes and brought the gospel to different locations you can learn to avoid mingling the church with the political world when you read about the council of chelsean where the fight for power put on a theological Mask and left the church in schism and the list goes on studying history can help you identify the cultural elements versus the dogmatic elements of your expression of orthodoxy for instance the fathers of the church
were able to utilize the language of their culture to formulate doctrines such as that of the trinity christology or soteriology in doing so they were able to use the culture of the time without conforming to the evils associated with paganism this can be a lesson in how we deal with our own culture whether it's western or eastern gregory of nissa in his book life of moses where he was likely influenced by origin of alexandria tells his readers that the israelites plundered the egyptians and as much as they took gold and silver from them to use
it later on for the building of god's tabernacle likewise christians can use secular philosophical language to formulate their orthodox theology that being said in studying how the fathers spoke the language of their time to spread and simplify the message of the gospel we might be able to further spread the gospel using the very same strategy Let us turn to historical events pertaining to church development in the early centuries of christianity the church was born on the day of pentecost a jewish feast marking the gathering of the harvest into barns the church's pentecost marked her sharing
in her faith which was harvested throughout the time jesus walked on earth with everyone in the world on the day of pentecost the holy spirit came upon the disciples as prophesied by joel in joel chapter 2 verse 28. and as promised by christ in john chapter 14 verse 26. the spirit came in the form of divided tongues of fire which rested upon the heads of those who were gathered in the upper room and they began speaking in tongues simultaneously there was a sound of great wind happening outside when the disciples left the room speaking in
tongues the masses which witnessed the wind and saw them speak in tongues were astonished and began speculating what was happening to end their speculations peter gave the masses a summary of the gospel The sermon captivated the hearts of three thousand men who became the first batch of believers joining the kingdom of god on earth the church the disciples continued to preach in jerusalem predominantly but some began to move around to preach the good news to the gentiles those in jerusalem experienced early persecution from the jewish high priests stephen was the first martyr followed by james
who was pushed off a building peter was imprisoned but god sent an angel to free him prior to the day of his execution this did not stop the disciples from preaching the good news when persecution was stirred some began moving to antioch and damascus antioch was the place where the followers of jesus were called christians leading the jewish persecution of christians was a man named saul of tarsus or paul of tarsus he was a committed pharisee from the tribe of benjamin who found christianity to be a jewish heresy that ought to be eliminated after persecuting
christians in jerusalem to the point where they fled to antioch he requested that the jewish authorities grant him permission To continue eliminating the followers of jesus beyond israel his wish was granted and he began his travel with a number of helpers to damascus on the way he was surrounded by light and had a mystical experience where he saw jesus christ after a short dialogue with the resurrected christ paul lost his eyesight and was not eating or drinking for three days when he was ready to become christian christ appeared to ananias and commanded him to heal
paul and baptize him with some hesitation ananias conceded and paul became a preacher of the gospel he once persecuted there are two accounts of the events following the conversion of paul one is recorded by his companion luke in the book of acts and another is recorded by paul himself in the episode to the galatians both accounts emphasize and omit different events according to acts paul begins preaching to jews around him in the synagogues understandably he is met with doubts about his loyalty to the gospel then paul leaves the city in secret and heads to jerusalem
to meet the disciples according to the account in galatians paul goes to arabia First on a retreat with god then to damascus three years later paul would see cephas and james only returning to the original circle of disciples peter had an encounter with an italian centurion named cornelius after a vision where peter is commanded by god not to call anything or anyone he made unclean peter sees cornelius and preaches to him the gospel upon cornelius acceptance of the gospel peter baptizes him and all his household peter would then become ever convinced that the gentiles have
a place in the church peter then moves to antioch while paul begins traveling with his companion barnabas to preach the good news to both jews and gentiles unfortunately the first dispute begins then zealous jews insisted that gentiles ought to become jewish first through circumcision and keeping of the sabbath and only then can they become christians this brings the first missionary trip to a halt as paul and barnabas return to the apostles and the first council in church history begins in jerusalem there the disciples unanimously and under the guidance of the spirit decreed that gentiles ought
not to keep the customs of the Jews but rather abstain from blood animals that are strangled and sexual immorality paul and barnabas then resumed their journey but this time with john mark barnabas nephew according to tradition during the journey john mark abandons paul and barnabas as the second journey would begin paul and barnabas got in an argument over whether mark should join or not they separate path and paul takes silas with him while bernabbis takes mark paul later went on a third missionary journey with luke and silas which is recorded in great detail in the
book of acts the first journey of paul was approximately two thousand kilometers and the second and third journey both involved over four thousand kilometers traveling was largely done on foot the last details we hear about paul come from acts where he is under house arrest in rome preaching the gospel historians are divided as to what happens afterward some suggested that he was freed and that he went as far as spain and then was arrested once more and was executed then others believe that he was eventually put on trial and executed after the house arrest During
the first century many of those who have seen and heard christ began to pass away in fear of losing the memory of jesus the apostles began writing what justin the martyr calls the memoirs of the apostles these came later to be known as the four accounts of the gospel known to us as matthew mark luke and john the last of those accounts might have been written with the dawn of the second century as the disciples would preach the gospel and then move to the next country they are about to preach in they would send letters
to reach out to those who have already believed confirming them in the faith and advising them to walk worthy of the calling by which they were called these letters were immediately seen as authoritative by those who received them however no one would see them as a canon of scripture until the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century when we would see the first list of books of the new testament other edifying writings were composed such as the shepherd of hermes local churches had different ideas of what books were authoritative and
what books were not For example the second episode of peter james and jude were seen by some as authoritative while others saw them as simply letters or even disputed letters the major seas of christianity began forming throughout the first century eusebius and irenaeus of leon gives us a record of how peter and paul together established the church of rome which emerged as a number of bishoprics that came later to be united under one bishop with the preaching of mark considered a disciple of peter by irenaeus the church of alexandria was established mark would write a
gospel around the year 60 a.d and compose a liturgy which was later edited by the alexandrian pillar of faith cyril of alexandria in the 5th century paul and andrew would preach in greece and what would later become the church of constantinople it is believed that one of the churches there was presided over by onesimus the slave paul freed through his plead with his master philemon in a letter which would later become part of the new testament antioch as mentioned earlier had peter paul and bernabbus play a role in its establishment the church of Antioch would
bring forth a bishop named ignatius of antioch who would compose a number of letters that would tell us plenty about the ecclesial life in the second century of christianity it is difficult to pinpoint historical events during the second and third centuries these two centuries mark various processes of ecclesial development such as ecclesial hierarchy annihilation of gnosticism canonization of scripture determining the date of easter etc let's begin with ecclesial hierarchy church unity meant to many early christian thinkers that the believers gather around one bishop celebrating the one eucharist with a choir of presbyters and deacons assisting
him the title bishop encompassed other roles and titles that were confirmed as ranks in the church in subsequent centuries such as metropolitans or the bishop of a mother city or a capital hoary episcopus or a bishop in charge of a village the role of the hoary episcopus later becomes that of an auxiliary bishop who works in conjunction with a metropolitan patriarchs the head of a major sea such as alexandria or antioch and arge bishops who were similar to patriarchs But were not in charge of a major sea they usually had more than one bishop report
to them the title presbyter encompassed priests as we know them now but also hiero monks a monk who is also a priest arch priests arkham managerite or the head of a large monastery or group of monasteries and hegemons who was an elder priest typically a monk in the past who would take precedence among other priests or monks especially with regard to administrative matters the title deacon included deacons archdeacons and proto-deacons who had presidents when serving with other deacons developing these roles certainly took much longer than the second and third centuries however the beginning of such
development begins then as we see in the writings of saint ignatius of antioch who writes in his letters you must follow the lead of the bishop as jesus christ followed that of the father follow the presbyter as you would the apostles reverence the deacons as you would god's commandment wherever the bishop appears there let the people be even as wheresoever christ jesus is there is the catholic church the clear difference we see here between bishops and presbyters Was not present in the first century where often the two titles were used interchangeably gnosticism emerged as a
mixture of platonic thought with greek egyptian and mesopotamian mythology along with the christian doctrine they believed in a good god and in an evil god the latter of whom created the material world in order to be saved you had to have the special knowledge the gnosis that is free from all that is material christ was sent as the logos of the good god to free us from the material world created by the evil god who was often associated with the god of the old testament among the prominent figures of gnosticism was a man named marcion
marcion created an edited version of the gospel of luke and the episodes of paul where nothing about the material world appears marcion together with other figures before him such as valentinus were vemently opposed by the church through figures like ignatius of antioch and irenaeus of leon in irenaeus of leon's opposition to marcion the former realized the necessity of forming a list of the books the church considers as canonical scriptures There are various lists that circulated during the second and third centuries which attempted to compile the books accepted as authoritative texts within the new testament irenaeus
of leon makes a formal mention of the four gospels and alludes to other books of the new testament others like eusebius of caesarea and athanasius of alexandria give a formal list on which books should be included as authoritative or authentic new testament books irenaeus composed his list in his masterpiece against the heresies in which he commented gnosticism irenaeus was among the first christian thinkers to associate the four accounts of the gospel with the four incorporeal beasts carrying the throne of god in the book of revelation irenaeus writes the gospels could not possibly be either more
or less in number than they are since there are four zones of the world in which we live and four principal winds while the church has spread over all the earth and the pillar and foundation of the church is the gospel and the spirit of life it fittingly has four pillars everywhere breathing out in corruption and revivifying men From this it is clear that the word the artificer of all things being manifested to men gave us the gospel fourfold in form but held together by one's spirit as david said when asking for his coming o
sitter upon the cherubim show yourself for the cherubim have four faces and their faces are images of the activity of the son of god for the first living creature it says was like a lion signifying his active and princely and royal character the second was like an ox showing his sacrificial and priestly order the third had the face of a man indicating very clearly his coming inhuman guise and the fourth was like a flying eagle making plain the giving of the spirit who broods over the church now the gospels in which christ is enthroned are
like these eusebius provides a commentary in his famous book on church history on the new testament's writings that are accepted or rejected in different christian communities he also includes a list of writings that were considered debatable as eusebius puts it it is proper to sum up the writings of the new testament Which have been already mentioned first then must be put the holy quaternion of the gospels following them the acts of the apostles the epistles of paul the epistle of john the episode of peter after them is to be placed if it really seemed proper
the apocalypse of john concerning which we shall give the different opinions at the proper time these then belong among the accepted writings among the disputed writings or anti-lagomina which are nevertheless recognized by many are extant the so-called episode of james and that of jude also the second episode of peter and those that are called the second and third of john whether they belong to the evangelist or to another person of the same name among the rejected writings must be reckoned also the acts of paul and the so-called shepherd and the apocalypse of peter and in
addition to these the extant episode of barnabas and the so-called teachings of the apostles and besides as i said the apocalypse of john if it seemed proper which some as i said reject but which others class with the accepted books you certainly can see How some writings such as the apocalypse of john was seen differently by different communities the catholic epistles were debated since the times of eusebius who lived between 236 to 339 a.d syriac copies of the new testament did not include the catholic episodes until much later prominent figures such as ephraim the syrian
and john chrysostom used bibles that only included the pauline literature including hebrews without the catholic episodes hebrews was another debated book as its authorship was attributed to different people from the first century such as paul or apollos who was an unknown disciple of either paul or barnabas athanasius of alexandria in his 39th festival letter also mentions the books of the new testament that are considered canonical athanasius's list resembles the canon of the new testament we see in scripture today he says again it is not tedious to speak of the books of the new testament these
are the four gospels according to matthew mark luke and john afterwards the acts of the apostles and episodes called catholic seven this of james 1 of peter 2 of john 3 after these One of jude in addition there are 14 episodes of paul written in this order the first to the romans then two to the corinthians after these to the galatians next to the ephesians then to the philippians then to the colossians after these two to the thessalonians and that to the hebrews and again two to timothy one to titus and lastly that to philemon
and besides the revelation of john these are fountains of salvation that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain and these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness let no man add to these neither let them take out from these for concerning these the lord put to shame the sadducees and said you are wrong not knowing the scriptures and he reproved the jews saying search the scriptures for these are they that testify of me it was obvious to the readers of the four accounts of the gospel that there are discrepancies and
rough edges between the different accounts regarding the same event how many were present at the feeding of the followers of christ five thousand or seven thousand How many loaves were there five or seven how many times did jesus appear after his resurrection and to whom these were questions that the early believers had but did not concern themselves with them as much as we do today since they did not read scripture as a mere historical account they continued to regard all four accounts as authoritative even as they struggled with such questions or as they sometimes refer
to them as stumbling blocks attempts to harmonize such texts was prominent in the second and third century as david bentley hart puts it the four gospels were regarded as authoritative from a very early date though they were often read not as discrete documents but in a combined harmonized form the most virtuosic of these harmonies was called the diatesseron which literally means taken from the fore which was the work of the christian philosopher tatian in the year 185 a.d a second century hellenized syrian tatian of adiabean sought to combine all the material of the four gospels
that of matthew of mark luke and john into a single narrative that accounts for jesus's life and death Someone like origen of alexandria claimed that the questions or stumbling blocks were placed providentially by the holy spirit that the reader may look for the deeper meaning behind these discrepancies origen would associate christ's words of blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of god with the theologians who would harmonize various texts of scripture eusebius of caesarea records the events of the controversy surrounding the date of easter at the time of pope victor the first
around 190 a.d it was common for the churches of asia to celebrate easter on the 14th day of the jewish month of nisan regardless of whether it was a sunday or not as such they observed the feast of christ's pasca and resurrection whenever the jews did the churches in the rest of the world would determine the day of easter being a sunday the controversy reached a climax when pope victor the first contemplated excommunicating those who celebrated the feast of the resurrection on the fourteenth day of nisan he was however rebuked by erenaeus of leon in
a letter to irenaeus The difference in practices while maintaining communion with the churches confirmed the unity of faith at this point the church agreed to disagree when it came to the dating of easter the fathers of the early church were aware that unity is not equated with uniformity the challenge was identifying and maintaining coherence and unity within a diverse body the church would later determine the date of easter and the council of nicaea in 325 a.d and most orthodox churches continue to follow the date as determined by the formula of nicaea however there are exceptions
today such as the orthodox church of finland the armenian apostolic oriental orthodox church and the roman catholic church regardless the celebration itself and its place theologically and spiritually greatly surpass the timing of the celebration the early church suffered immense persecution since her birth especially in rome and alexandria the persecution differed with different emperors and rulers but there was almost always persecution if persecution was not imperial throughout the empire There was certainly local waves of persecution when an imperial persecution took place it often came with the goal of exterminating christianity the persecution and bloodshed compelled an
early christian thinker named tertilian to say the more you mow us down the more we grow the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church examples of waves of persecution were experienced under maximinous thrax around 235 a.d dcs around 250 a.d valyrian around 257 a.d and the great persecution under diocletian around 302 a.d cyprian of carthage and sixtus ii of rome were among the bishops who fell victims of the persecution of valerian diocletian's persecution was too vicious that it marked the beginning of an ecclesial calendar adopted in alexandria known as the calendar of
the martyrs although such waves of persecution would end with many devout christians who shed their blood for christ as martyrs or confessors some felt weak under the yoke of persecution and apostatized this compelled the church to answer questions such as should one run toward Martyrdom should one avoid martyrdom what do we do with apostates who desire to return to the church theologians such as origen of alexandria encouraged pursuing martyrdom as a teenager he himself tried to be martyred but because his mother hid his clothes he was embarrassed to leave the house however he died because
of his wounds at an old age cyprian of carthage preferred that people avoid persecution lest they fall weak and apostatize if one is caught and tortured cyprian would say they should not deny christ whether in reality or in appearance as some would pretend to deny christ so they could escape persecution while still believing in their hearts cyprian considered those who denied christ whether in reality or in appearance as apostates when an apostate desired to return to the church there was a controversy as to how they ought to be received some insisted that they would not
be accepted into the church after having apostatized cyprian had a more moderate position which required them to live in repentance and not approach the chalice or partake of the holy communion until they are on their Deathbed this controversy caused minor schisms and carthage and its surrounding regions in africa carthage was an important sea of africa but it certainly did not compare in importance to the sea of alexandria and its school the unparalleled attributes in egypt made it a rich environment in which the gospel and theology could flourish as philip schaff puts it alexandria was the
metropolis of egypt the flourishing seat of commerce of grecian and jewish learning and of the greatest library of the ancient world and was destined to become one of the great centers of christianity the rival of antioch and rome there the religious life of palestine and the intellectual culture of greece commingled and prepared the way for the first school of theology which aimed at a philosophic comprehension and vindication of the truths of revelation the school of alexandria was not limited to the teaching of christian theology rather it began with secular science moral and religious philosophy christian
theology was divided over three major sections a course for catechumens Who were candidates for baptism and were being introduced to the principles of christianity a course on christian morals and ethics and an advanced course on divine wisdom and christian spirituality among the greatest teachers of the school of alexandria was origen who composed voluminous commentaries on scripture george leonard prestige records how one of origin's famous students felt about learning under his guidance he says to be under the intellectual charge of origin says gregory probably the thaumaturgos was like living in a garden where fruits of the
mind sprang up without toil to be happy with gladness by the happy occupants he truly was a paradise to us after the likeness of the paradise of god to leave him was to renascent the experience of adam after the fall few teachers have ever won so remarkable a testimonial from their pupils father tadrus mality records the main characteristics of the school of alexandria in his book on the school of alexandria before origin among these characteristics are first the centrality of deification second the centrality Of soteriological theology third the oneness of the life among the students
and teachers fourth a life of repentance fifth the usage of theological terms from greek philosophy sixth minimal time spent on defining theological terms and seventh an ecumenical spirit where students from different dioceses were equally welcomed into the school of alexandria the second and third centuries were blessed with a number of christian theologians who shaped the expression of the early church's faith we will explore three figures in this episode namely ignatius of antioch justin the martyr and origin of alexandria let's begin with ignatius of antioch ignatius of antioch was born around 50 a.d in rome in
syria and was martyred around the year of a.d in rome as he was devoured by beasts in a roman arena his remains or his relics are now buried in saint peter's basilica not a lot of details about his life are known and virtually all we know about him comes from the seven letters he composed on his way to be executed in rome He was known for his opposition to judaisers who taught that it was necessary to adopt the jewish customs and practices in order to become a christian he also opposed docetists a branch of gnosticism
scholars speculate that he might have known the apostle john some of the main themes that appear in his writings include the double identity of christ as god and man martyrdom as unity with christ and the unity of the church gathered around one bishop and one eucharist justin the martyr was born around the year of 100 a.d in flavia palestine and was martyred in 165 a.d in rome after a long journey of exploring philosophy justin came to find the fullness of truth around the year 130 a.d he continued to appreciate the elements of truth in philosophy
as he continued to wear the philosopher's cloak even after his conversion he wrote two apologies or statements in the defense of christianity to roman rulers of his time in these two apologies he juxtaposed christianity with paganism and other philosophies showing the former to be superior Justin recorded in these apologies a coherent summary of christian theology and life for example justin summarizes the events of the liturgy in the following quote on the day called sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a given city or rural district the memoirs
of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits then when the reader ceases the president in a discourse admonishes and urges the imitation of these good things next we all rise together and send up prayers when we cease from our prayer bread is presented in wine and water the president in the same manner sends up prayers and thanksgivings according to his ability and the people sing out their ascent saying the amen a distribution and participation of the elements for which things have been given is made to each person
and to those who are not present they are sent by the deacons those who have means and are willing each according to his own choice gives what he wills and what is collected is deposited with the president he provides for the orphans and widows those who are in need on Account of sickness or some other cause those who are in bonds strangers who are sojourning and in a word he becomes the protector of all who are in need justin was convinced that philosophies of his time included elements of the truth which he titled seeds of
the logos the fullness of the logos however is only found in christ as confessed in christianity as justin's voice of preaching kept getting louder he was arrested for treason and was killed as he said if we are punished for the sake of our lord jesus christ we hope to be saved origen was born in 184 a.d in alexandria and died after he was arrested and tortured in 253 a.d entire in lebanon origen acted as a presider or dean of the school of alexandria due to arguments between origen and the patriarch of alexandria demetrius origen chose
to leave alexandria and was ordained a priest in lebanon some believe that the arguments between origen and demetrius were theological while the majority of scholars believe that they were the result of demetrius's concern With origin's popularity compromising his own authority as patriarch of alexandria though origen died in communion with the church he was anathematized or his teachings were renounced in the council of constantinople ii in the year 553 a.d origen died having left the church with a legacy of writings that reached approximately six thousand works including on first principles hundreds of commentaries on scripture and
the hexapola which is a document where origen compared different translations and versions of the biblical verses of the old testament years after his death basil of caesarea and gregory of naziensis relied on origin in learning the christian philosophy and theology they compiled his spiritual sayings on prayer in what came to be known as the filo calia of origin of alexandria the fourth century marks critical elements of church development as foundational doctrines were being formulated in ecumenical councils and as christianity was becoming part of the empire after centuries of persecution the fourth century marks the birth
of monasticism in egypt And later in the rest of the empire until it reached rome and ireland after a complex history of internal battles within the empire constantine who lived between 272 to 337 a.d became the emperor of rome according to eusebius constantine beheld a vision of a cross with which he would conquer constantine marked his banners with the sign of the cross and triumphed in battle when he became emperor he decreed that there would be a policy of religious tolerance of christianity in the edict of milan in 313 a.d theodosius the great was one
of his successors who made christianity the state's religion the christening of the roman empire led waves of persecution to come to an end and christianity flourished when waves of persecution came about many who knew their potential weakness before the edge of the sword retreated to the desert where they dedicated their lives to god when persecution came to an end some who could not offer their life to god through martyrdom chose to offer it to him through the monastic vocation Organized monasticism appeared first in egypt under the leadership of saint anthony the great who lived between
251 to 356 a.d and who lived in seclusion in the mount of the red sea for approximately 20 years in which he reached spiritual maturity later he would disciple a large number of ascetics some of whom would become monastic leaders themselves such as macarius of egypt macarius of egypt who lived between 300 to 391 a.d retreated to the western desert of egypt where he began a monastic community which remains to this day like anthony his disciples lived in secluded life of contemplation unlike anthony however macarius required his disciples to meet once a week on sunday
to partake of the eucharist and potentially hold a spiritual meeting or share a common meal pachomios of egypt who lived between 292 to 348 a.d was a pagan soldier who was captivated by the hospitality of christians in upper egypt and he decided to consecrate himself to the god of christians pachomios would establish a number of monastic communities and monasteries where monks lived in a communion of love Under one roof he commissioned his sister to lead a similar life and convents for women who desired the monastic vocation monasticism was taken to the west at the hands
of athanasius who shared the monastic way with the people of ireland in one of his exiles the formal transmission of monastic wisdom to the west came about at the hands of john cassian who lived between 360-435 a.d john went through the eastern deserts collecting monastic wisdom and customs which he recorded in his books on the conferences and the institutions in the 5th century benedict who lived between 480 to 546 a.d would start a revival of western monasticism that would create numerous monasteries dedicated for the service of the masses in the 4th century a famous alexandrian
priest with the name arius claimed that christ was god and as much as he is greater than us but he is not equal to the father in reality aries said that there was a time when the son was not he propagated his ideas with the use of music and chance which captivated the hearts of illiterate christians this caused immense Turmoil and disturbed the peace of the church and the empire consequently constantine called for a council of 318 bishops to settle the matter in nicaea in 325 a.d in nicaea the faith of arius was anathematized or
denounced and the creed was written down until we believe in the holy spirit nicea upheld the consubstantiality of the son with the father or that the son is of the same essence or of the same substance as the father before all ages and that he is true god from true god in every sense this did not settle the matter as the successors of constantine would adopt nicean orthodoxy at times and arianism other times athanasius was a learned deacon a disciple of anthony the great and a disciple of alexandrius of alexandria athanasius assisted alexandrius of alexandria
and combating arianism in the council of nicaea later athanasius would become the patriarch of alexandria who would suffer exile five times at the hands of successors of constantine whether before his elevation to the patriarchal throne or in exile or in his sea athanasius spared no effort to write and educate his people Through theological texts such as against the aryans or on the incarnation or against the heathens or the four letters of serapion or spiritual texts such as the life of anthony aside from the council of nicaea's decisions against arianism it unified the date of easter
which would be determined by the patriarch of alexandria finally ending a controversy that took place as early as the second century the council dictated that there would be no kneeling on sunday and that there should be only one bishop per jurisdiction the council was by no means conclusive as it did not put an end to the controversy the churches of the east were divided among themselves as some were aryans some adhered fully to the nicean faith and others adhered to the nicean faith but could not accept the theological formulation of homo osios or the consubstantiality
of the father with the son that is the father and the son share the same substance or essence the west was committed to the nicean cause in terms of theology formulation and pastoral decisions in the east some who were aryans began To accept the consubstantiality of the father and the son but rejected the divinity of the spirit athanasius had to combat them in four letters he sent to serapion a bishop in egypt in which he elucidated the doctrine of the holy spirit athanasius would die before the controversy around the holy spirit and his legacy would
be upheld after him by the cappadocian fathers the three cappadocian fathers are basil the great who lived between 329 to 379 a.d his brother gregory of nissa who lived between 335 to 394 a.d and his friend gregory of niziensis who lived between 330 to 389 a.d basil and gregory of nissa lived in the same household where they were heavily influenced in their theology and spirituality by their sister macrina who consecrated herself to christ after the passing away of the man she was betrothed to basil received education to be a lawyer and an orator with his
friend gregory of naziensis under the influence of macrina basil became an ascetic then a priest until he became bishop of caesarea in 370 a.d basil was dedicated to the nicean cause Along with the expansion of ministry for the poor and marginalized and the geographical expansion of his diocese to prevent aryan bishops from rising to influential ecclesial rings in the course of the geographic expansion of his diocese basil appointed his brother gregory a bishop over nissa where he spent the rest of his life serving until he was exiled out of the empire gregory of nissa unlike
his brother was a married man a philosopher and a mystic gregory believed in universal salvation though he was not anathematized with originists in the fifth ecumenical council who followed origen's view on universal salvation gregory of nissa may be described as a man of sorrows as he lived through the death of the most influential figures of his life his brother basil and his sister macrina gregory of niziensis was also known as gregory the theologian the title only given to him and john the evangelist in the oriental orthodox churches and to simeon the new theologian as well
in the eastern orthodox church after finishing his studies with basil gregory sought solitude And became an ascetic his ascetic life was interrupted by his father gregory the elder who needed assistance in shepherding his flock as such gregory the theologian became involved in the ecclesial life he moved between different dioceses like niziensis and constantinople which was not accepted by other bishops as it opposed the decrees of nicaea gregory accepted the disapproval of some bishops who opposed his shifts of jurisdiction and he returned to live an ascetic life toward the end of his life basil with gregory
the theologian compiled the filocalia of origin basil composed a treatise on the human condition another titled six days of creation or the hexamiron and a defense on the doctrine of the holy spirit gregory of nissa composed biographies such as the life of moses and the life of macrina he composed a number of theological writings such as the great catechism on the soul and resurrection against eunomius the creation of man and on virginity gregory the theologian is mostly known for his orations and numerous letters His five theological orations are what earned him the title theologian the
time of the cappadocian fathers was a difficult time for the church sabilianism and apollinarianism were on the rise while the danger of arianism and pneumatomachians persisted sabilianism claimed that there is only one hypostasis or person which was manifested in three different ways the father in the old testament the son in the new testament and the holy spirit after the ascension please note the term hypostasis refers to an underlying reality or a substance this may sometimes refer to a concrete thing or a person apolinarius was initially committed to the nicean cause and often supported athanasius in
his commitment to the divinity of christ and oneness of christ after the incarnation he fell into the extreme of believing that christ had flesh without a soul in other words he was not a rationally animated being this was considered by the cappadocian fathers a compromise of the humanity of christ and the economy of the incarnation how can christ not Have a rational mind or a soul he must be a perfect human being in order to save humans pneumatomachians is a name for those who considered the holy spirit as inferior to the father and the son
and counted the holy spirit with the angels seeing that these controversies were dividing churches especially in antioch which had four bishops at one point emperor theodosius deemed it fix that he calls for a council of 150 bishops in constantinople in the year 381 a.d the council dealt with the aforementioned heresies together with pastoral and jurisdictional matters the council is credited with having completed the creed from after the clause we believe in the holy spirit until the end the formulation of the doctrine of the spirit entailed him being called the lord and giver of life who
is to be worshipped with the father and the son the fathers at the council standardized the use of the terms usia and hypostasis putting an end to the trinitarian controversy usia refers to the general or the essence of god in the trinity and hypostasis refers to the particular or the person in the trinity methods of Receiving the heretics and schismatics into the catholic church were discussed and formalized the church of constantinople was elevated as the second rome which would deal with jurisdictional issues as a court of appeal for other churches despite timothy of alexandria's presence
and precedence over the council of constantinople along with others such as malicious of antioch gregory of niziensis and nictarius of constantinople the council was not acknowledged by alexandria for a while before it became universally acceptable it was deficient as a council that it had to be followed up by two local councils in 382 and 383 a.d the theological success of the council of constantinople was not immediately recognized the fact that it did not reach conclusive solutions for jurisdictional issues and its failure to resolve the antiochian schisms topped off this lack of recognition the council only
received its status as an ecumenical council in the year 451 a.d in the council of chalcedon though the lives of saints such as athanasius of alexandria basil the great gregory of nissa And gregory the theologian have been addressed one cannot conclude the fourth century without mentioning the greatest christian author of western christianity augustine of hippo and the greatest christian orator of eastern christianity john chrysostom john was born in antioch around 347 a.d and died in exile in the year 407 a.d he was raised by his widowed mother to be a rhetorician then later a theologian
after he became committed to christianity john was a reader in the church for a number of years until he became an ascetic opposing all offers of priesthood against his will he was ordained a deacon then a priest and finally archbishop of constantinople in 398 a.d because of his strong views about the behavior of the emperor his popularity in the palace deteriorated immensely at the hand of the empress along with theophilus of alexandria john chrysostom was exiled twice during the second exile john was not assigned a place of exile this meant that he was to walk
with no determined destination until his soul leaves his body Having died excommunicated by alexandria john's name was later reinstated in the diptychs of alexandria by cyril of alexandria who was theophilus's nephew and who would succeed him to the patriarchal throne now the term diptyx refers to the official lists of the living and departed that are commemorated by the church during the liturgical gatherings john left behind him a collection of six books on the priesthood a number of letters and countless homilies ranging from commentaries on the scripture to christian morals and ethics such as marriage fasting
and giving alms augustine was born in 354 a.d in algeria to a middle-class family and died there in 430 a.d before the siege of hippo at the hands of the barbarians who put an end to the presence of christianity in the 6th century augustine received first class education through his parents who borrowed money to ensure that he received proper education augustine had an immense interest in philosophy but lived a hedonistic lifestyle indulging in sensual pleasures which resulted In a child born in adultery his mother monica was in sorrow and tears desiring the repentance of her
son eventually augustine would repent and become an ascetic then later a bishop in 395 a.d though augustine composed numerous theological writings and commentaries on scripture it should be noted that he did not know hebrew and greek as such he relied exclusively on the vulgate which is the latin translation of scripture and which as some scholars suggest contains inaccuracies in its translation which would eventually affect augustinian theology and augustine's perception of the ancestral sin the purgatory and the filioque augustine's legacy included treatises such as on christian doctrine on the trinity the confessions city of god and
numerous commentaries on scripture the fifth century is packed with numerous theological controversies which left the church in schisms that persist to this very day despite being a tragic century in this sense it included numerous figures who upheld the orthodox faith as received from the apostles through the fathers of the fourth century to those of the fifth century With the dawn of the fifth century a new patriarch named nistorius was elevated to the patriarchal throne of constantinople after john chrysostom had died in exile like chrysostom nestorius was a committed disciple of the school of antioch and
its leader theodore of mob sowestia in contrast to the school of alexandria the school of antioch emphasized the distinction between the divinity and the humanity in the person of jesus christ the school of alexandria however emphasized the unity of christ's being and did not focus on the distinction between humanity and divinity nistorius used the rationale of his school to form a new opinion where he refused to call mary the mother of god or theotokos and preferred to call her christotokos mother of christ or anthropotokos mother of the man this was based on the proposition that
mary gave birth to an ordinary man who later became conjugated with the logos or the word of god this claim was based on the school of antioch's teachings the claim that mary was the mother of christ or man was met with resistance from the people of constantinople Cyril of alexandria who was the nephew and successor of theophilus the one who had excommunicated john chrysostom the predecessor of nestorius was highly displeased with such notions and began exchanging letters with nestorius when the exchange of letters failed to end the controversy emperor theodosius ii convened a council of
200 bishops in ephesus in 431 a.d the council took place during the reign of pope selastian of rome and his deacon leo who were not present at the council but rather sent delegates on their behalf leo would later become the pope of rome during the time of the council of chalcedon in 451 a.d alexandria's representatives were cyril and his deacon dioscoros from constantinople nestorius was present with his bishops his supporters from antioch headed by john of antioch arrived late to the council so that the council began its sessions prior to their arrival the council of
ephesus consisted of seven sessions which ran from june 22 until july 31st the council condemned the heresy of nestorius and upheld the orthodoxy of the title theotokos used by cyril of alexandria Nostorius was exiled deposed from his office and replaced with flavian of constantinople cyril's theology was predicated upon the unity of christ in cyril's conception jesus christ was one incarnate nature meaning one subject and one hypostasis after the incarnation cyril used the terms nature and hypostasis interchangeably as did the alexandrians and some antiochians hypostasis denotes a concrete reality that may be simple or composite in
the case of christ the one hypostasis encompassed the divinity and humanity in their fullness yet christ remained one subject and one hypostasis to cyril christ's oneness does not compromise the distinction of the divinity and humanity from which the one christ is composed though this distinction is in contemplation alone or in one's thoughts alone this language which cyril used together with the fact that the council began prior to the arrival of the antiochian party caused the church of antioch to impeach communion with the church of alexandria when a schism was clearly emerging cyril of alexandria approached
John of antioch to reunite and compose a formula of reunion which ended the schism between the two churches the formula of reunion allowed the antiochians to use the two nature language instead of the one nature language initially used by cyril and the alexandrians though only if it is accompanied by sufficient qualifications that preserve the unity as john mcgugan puts it cyril had no intention of using such language i.e the two-nature or the diphysite language himself and in the letter to yologius and that the christ is one he says explicitly that he regarded their whole way
of thinking and arguing as obscure he admitted that diophysite terms could be orthodox on two grounds the first was that the natures in question mean natural properties not independent subject entities and therefore one was talking about states or conditions and not persons the second was that their continuing coexistence should be radically qualified by sufficient indications that these two realities had actually been united made one were inseparable in mutual communion or only notably separable like body And soul and not practically divisible cyril seems to have reassured them i.e the cerulean party his own party on the
basis that it was a concession to be understood in terms of his previous teaching not as an amendment of it as such it became clear that the decrees of the council and the formula of reunion were to be always paired together to formulate the christology of the church the tension between the one and two nature or thesis formulations continue to persist especially with extremists at both ends of the spectrum an example of this is yutikis a constantinopolitan archaemenidrite who had minimal theological training and who planted the seeds of a church schism that would persist to
this very day ut keys who lived between 378 to 456 a.d had a large group of monks following him he was sincerely committed to the alexandrian formula of the one nature which cyril coined and the council of ephesus upheld because of his ignorance eutikis made a false claim entailing that christ's humanity was overwhelmed by the divinity And that christ's humanity ceased to have real existence and as such the only nature in christ is the divine nature when flavian bishop of constantinople heard this he excommunicated yutikis and contacted leo who was the pope of rome after
celestine passed away leo responded to flavian in a letter that came to be known as the tome of leo the letter elucidated the erroneous teachings of eutikis in combating yutikis's faulty definition of the one nature leo did not adhere to the explanation of the one nature formula but rather appealed to the formula of reunion and used the two-nature formula in an exclusive manner that could be misinterpreted as crypto nestorian yutike's feeling misunderstood appealed to emperor theodosius ii and dioscoros the pope of alexandria who succeeded cyril of alexandria theodosius ii convened a second council in ephesus
in the year 449 a.d co-headed by the ascorus of alexandria and juvenile of jerusalem this was later known as the second council of ephesus in this council yutiki's anathematized or denounced the teachings of nestorius and apollinarius and admitted in a Written confession that he who is the word of god came down from heaven without flesh and was made flesh in the holy virgin's womb unchangeably and unalterably as he himself knew and willed and he was always perfect god before the ages was also made perfect man in the end of days yutikes claimed that this had
been always his faith and that flavian accused him of heresy based on this confession consequently flavian was condemned by the council as a heretic and the letter or the tome of lao was not read the same council anathematized ibass of edessa and theodorette of cyrus based on their nestorian writings in which they vemently attacked cyril and his legacy which has been confirmed by the council of ephesus in 431 a.d it is claimed that dioscorus of alexandria and juvenile of jerusalem used rather stern measures in dealing with bishops and resolving conflicts consequently leo of rome called
the second council of ephesus the robber council not long afterward theodosius ii fell off his horse and died marcion a general in theodosius ii's army succeeded him after marrying pulcheria who was theodosius ii's sister Pulcheria and marcion were more sympathetic towards constantinople and rome and had little tolerance towards alexandria unlike their predecessor theodosius as father john mayendorf puts it there is no doubt however that marcian and pulcheria had definitely decided to put an end to the de facto power of the bishop of alexandria for decades the latter was able to impose his will upon the
universal church without paying any attention to the honorary position acquired by constantinople in the year 381 a.d that is the year of the council of constantinople the imperial couple felt the need to put an end to alexandria's immense ecclesial power the rumors concerning the use of force and violence at the council of ephesus ii in 449 a.d did not help the situation although the use of force and violence was common of church councils in this era two years after ephesus ii in 449 a.d emperor marcion called for the council of chalcedon to set aside ephesus
ii and the church of alexandria though the council of chalcedon had political elements to it The gathered bishops dealt with theological jurisdictional and pastoral matters the council of chalcedon is credited with universalizing the acceptance of the council of constantinople the first which was conducted in 381 a.d and which was not universally recognized before chalcedon the council coined a substantial list of canons assisting in church governance the council also deposed eutecus on theological grounds given his vacillating or wavering behavior which was expressed before and during the council of ephesus ii in 449 a.d negative elements of
the council of chalcedon are seen in its framing of dioscoros as the sole responsible individual for all the inadequacies that took place in ephesus ii despite the council being headed by both dioscoros of alexandria and juvenile of jerusalem when dioscoros saw the way he was framed he refused to appear before the council as per the protocol of ecclesial councils he was deposed after having been summoned three times and refused to appear before the council dioscoros as such was deposed on procedural grounds rather than theological grounds as it became apparent In the council that he did
not share the erroneous thoughts of eutecus another negative element of the council was its leniency towards theodorate of cyrus and abbas of edisa who were readmitted into communion and were rehabilitated as bishops despite their nestorian allegiance finally the council endorsed the tome of leo which he had sent to flavian as the authoritative definition of faith despite a number of bishops finding ambiguous statements in the tome there was yet another definition of faith composed by the council in 451 a.d which goes as follows therefore following the holy fathers we all with one accord teach men to
acknowledge one and the same son our lord jesus christ at once complete and godhead and complete in manhood truly god and truly man consisting also of a reasonable soul and body of one substance with the father as regards his godhead and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood like us in all respects apart from sin as regards his godhead begotten of the father before the ages but yet as regards his manhood begotten for us men and for our salvation of mary the virgin The god-bearer one and the same christ
son lord only begotten recognized in two natures without confusion without change without division without separation the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence not as parted or separated into two persons but one and the same son and only begotten god the word lord jesus christ even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him and our lord jesus christ himself taught us and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us the alexandrians
and some antiochians were not fond of the treatment of the ascorus of alexandria in the council of chalcedon or the way the tome of leo was imposed on all the churches indeed some saw the council as a betrayal of cyril of alexandria because it canonized the language of the two natures which he had only conceded to for the sake of reunion as in the formula of reunion but he had never established it as the standard statements in the tome of lao such as the one Of these shines out in miracles referring to the divine nature
the other succumbs to injuries referring to the human nature seemed to be betraying the line of thinking of cyril where all attributes and activities are to be attributed to the person rather than the individual natures in other words only one person namely christ can be born suffer or perform a miracle rather than ascribing hunger thirst and suffering to the human nature as an isolated nature from the divinity which in that case would only perform miracles consequently the divinity wouldn't be in full unity with the humanity the tome of leo sounded both ambiguous and unfit to
be the standard of faith due to its usage of the latin term such as persona which could be translated to mean prosopon in reference to the unity between the divinity and humanity rather than the hypostatic union the unity of the divine and human natures at the level of the persona implied external realities becoming united as opposed to hypostatic union or natural unity which is a more of an internal union in other words cyril was inclined to Emphasize the union of the divine nature and human nature in one composite nature to affirm the reality of the
union being natural that is hypostatic and internal the latin reading of the tome of leo however could imply the unity to be between a divine and a human person thus rendering the unity to be a mere conjunction that is prosopic and external this implication raised skepticism on the side of a number of the attending bishops including those who subscribed to chalcedon and those who rejected it these factors together with the political elements of deposing dioscoros of alexandria for example without deposing juvenile of jerusalem who had attended with dioscoros the second council of ephesus in 449
a.d and the readmission of abbas of edessa enfioteret of cyrus was seen by the antichalcedonians negatively and one that is leaning towards the teaching of nestorius this caused a violent schism between the calcidonians and anticalcedonians the chalcedonians accused the antichalcedonians of being monophysites or eutychians who were those that adopted the single nature Form of christology where christ's humanity was engulfed by the divinity to form a single nature the anti-calcidonians accused the chalcedonians of being an astorian viewing them as ones who believed in two separate natures in christ this caused riots and mobs to cause disturbance
within alexandria and antioch a lot of blood was shed to the extent that ten thousand anticalcidonian christians in alexandria were killed at one time for choosing their own patriarch rather than succumbing to the imperially appointed chalcedonian patriarch the anti-calcidonians have also been accused of murdering one of the calcidonian patriarchs who acted as both patriarch and prefect or governor simultaneously his attempts to subdue anti-calcidonians were seen as attempts of colonization under the veil of accepting the council the schism in the east was treated by the henotikon a formula of faith coined by emperor zeno in 481
a.d the emperor that was christologically satisfactory to both sides and as much as the henotikon clarified that both sides had the same faith regarding christ However its omission of anything related to chalcedon was infuriating for the church of rome thus rome impeached communion with all the bishops of the east who signed the document as it was seen as a betrayal of the perfection of chalcedon this schism came to be known as the occasion schism after achakius bishop of constantinople who accepted the henotikon despite felix of rome not accepting it alexandrians were no less suspicious of
chalcedon and the henotikon and wished that chalcedon may be fully omitted from church history anti-calcidonian masses were suspicious of their own patriarchs and bishops who would sign the henotikon in a way the schism persisted because of the fundamentalism of anticalcedonians in alexandria and the fundamentalism of chalcedonians in rome the former party saw calciton in a purely negative light whereas the latter perceived chalcedon's authority to be authoritative and unquestionable eventually the reunion of the henotikon would ultimately fail and the schism would persist after zeno died in 491 a.d
