The Spread of Christianity

1
The Spread of Christianity

• Roman Politics
• And
• Christianity

2
Constantine

• Born 280
• Mother St. Helena responsible for churches
  and basilicas in Bethlehem and Jerusalem
• He had a dream at the battle of Milvian Bridge
  in 312 he placed the Chi-Rho on the shields and
  banners of his men. If he did this he would win.
  He did!
• Became Emperor of the Western Roman Empire

3
Edict of Milan

• Constantine Western Roman Empire
• Licinius Eastern Roman Empire
• 313 Edict of Milan tolerated Christianity
• All religious freedom
• Favored the Christian Church
• Clerics exempt from taxation
• Property returned to the Christians
• Persecution of Christians came to a hault

4
Constantine

• 324 Constantine defeated Licinius
• An absolute monarch who united the empire
• Byzantium seat of government
• Byzantium renamed Constantinople (Turkey)
• Christianity a strong unifying force in the
  Empire
• He was superstitious dream Chi-Rho

5
Constantine

• Points of unity that Christianity offered
• Monotheism
• Ethical code that embraced all people
• Hierarchical system of Church governing
• Helped the empire maintain order and stability

6
Constantine

• He became personally active in Church affairs
• Because the theological rifts threatened the
  unity of the empire
  
  
  
• Heresy
• Arianism challenged Christs divinity, by
  convoking the first Ecumenical Council of Nicea
  in 325

7
Legalized Christianity

• Emperor Theodosius I 380
• Christianity became the official religion of the
  Empire
• Evangelization became easier to the barbarians
  and the non-believers
• Eight councils were held between the fourth and
  the ninth centuries in the eastern portion of the
  empire
• All decrees of the councils had to be confirmed
  by the canons and the decrees of the Pope.

8
Church Administration

• Five great patriarchates
• Rome
• Constantinople
• Alexandria
• Antioch
• Jerusalem
• Rome was preeminent because Peter had been the
  first bishop there and died there.

9
Church Administration

• Church administration modeled the Roman style
• Parishes and Diocese resembled the Roman
  political divisions.
• Popes like Damasus, Leo the Great, and Gelasius
  asserted their power especially when there was a
  power vacuum in the Empire
• (empire capital was moved to Constantinople)

10
Church and Pagan Religions

• Adapted many features of the pagan religions
• The use of candles and incense in liturgies
• Promoted the veneration of the saints
• Saints gave the faithful heroes to look up to and
  imitate
• Saints helped keep many new converts from their
  worship of pagan gods.

11
Legalized Christianity and Challenges

• Some emperors became defenders of the Church
• Interfered in Church affairs
• Caesaropapism combining the power of the
  secular government with the authority of the
  Church.
• Eastern churchs more subject to the whims of the
  political rulers.
• Western churchs more independent the Pope,
  weak Western emperors distance from Eastern
  capital.

12
Legalized Christianity and Challenges

• Theological Debates
• Eastern Church
• 1. Alexandria in Egypt
• 2. Antioch in Syria
• Church fathers from the East debated core faith
  issues - Arianism

13
Arianism

• Denied Jesus divinity
• Arius a priest from Alexandria (250-336)
• Influenced by Greek philosophy
• Exalted belief in God
• A human God was incomprehensible
• Platos idea demiurge the creator of the
  material universe who was not identical with the
  supreme God.

14
Arianism

• Arius believed was Christ was Gods greatest
  creature who was made before time.
• He believed that Christ was an adopted son not
  divine.
• This gave consequences for Christian teaching on
  salvation
• Only God can effect Redemption
• The Word of God was not God
• Humans would not be Redeemed

15
Churches Response to Arianism

• First Ecumenical Council of Nicea - 325
• Condemned Arius teaching
• Council spelled out clearly that Jesus is
  consubstantial with the Father
• Christ possess the same nature as God the Father
• At Mass Jesus divinity and equality to the
  Father We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ

16
The Church Respons to Arianism

• Arianism was slow to die out after the council
• St Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, defended the
  Church
• He taught that Christ was made man that we may
  be made divine.
• If Christ were not God then he would not be our
  Savior

17
The Church Responds to Arianism

• St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, would combat
  Arianism in the West.
• Clashed with Empress Justina when she tried to
  establish an Arian Church in Milan.
• Theodosius I, with Ambroses help, issued a
  series of edicts outlawing Arianism and paganism.

18
Council of Constantinople 381

• Correct the heresy Macedonianism
• Heresy - The Son created the Holy Spirit who was
  in turn subordinate to the Father and the Son.
• The Council taught the divinity of the Holy
  Spirit
• The Council did not address the relationship
  between the Son and the Holy Spirit
• This would be a major factor in the schism
  between the Church in the East and the Church in
  the West.

19
Christological Debates

• Theological debate focused on how Christ was both
  divine and human
• Alexandrian school maintained that Christs
  perfect divinity penetrates his human nature an
  internal unity results
• Antioch theologians stressed Christs perfect
  humanity as if his divinity indwelled in the man
  Jesus

20
Christological Debates

• Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, refused
  to acknowledge that Mary could be the Mother of
  God.
• Two persons in Christ
• One divine
• Only human
• Mary was only Christotokos mother of the human
  Jesus
• Theotokos Mary is God-bearer or Mother of God
• Theotokos defended by St. Cyril of Alexandria

21
Christological Debates

• St. Cyril taught Jesus was one divine person, the
  Second person of the Trinity.
• Council of Ephesus 431 endorsed the position of
  St. Cyril and condemned Nestorianism.
• After the death of St. Cyril theologians
  diagreed with the Ephesus Council
• They preached that Christs human nature was
  absorbed into his divine nature

22
Monophysitism

• Heresy Jesus Christ possessed only one nature-
  a divine nature. It denied that Christ was really
  a human being.
• This Heresy took root in Egypt
• Council of Chalcedon 451
• Taught the doctrine of hypostatic union
• Jesus Christ one divine person subsists in two
  natures, the divine and the human.
• Pope Leo I wrote
• Accordingly while the distinctness of both
  natures and substances was preserved, and both
  met in one Person, lowliness was assumed by
  majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity

23
Council of Chalcedon

• The council fathers affirmed the teachings of the
  councils of Nicea, Constantinople, and Ephesus
• The Third Council of Constantinople 681
• convened to restate prior teachings
• Christ is one divine person
• Two distinct natures
• one human one divine
• Two distinct natures
• two wills one divine and the other
• human.

24
Christological Debates

• West was beset with one major theological
  question
• The interaction of divine grace and human freedom
• Whether or not people can save themselves due to
  their own good efforts
• That all people accept Christ as their Savior.
• Pelagius, a monk teacher in Rome, he emphasized
  human freedom and the need to strive for personal
  holiness.
• Pelagius eventually he held an exalted view of
  human nature, denying that the Original sin of
  Adam and Eve had been transmitted to humans.

25
Christological Debates

• Pelagius argued that humans do not need divine
  assistance or grace as a help to achieve personal
  holiness or salvation.
• He believed that humans could save themselves
  without Gods supernatural help.
• St. Augustine of Hippo 354-420 was his major
  opponent.
• St. Augustine explained that humans are born with
  fallen natures because of Original Sin and its
  effects.
• He taught that Gods grace is absolutely
  necessary for personal salvation
• Pelagianism was officially condemned at the
  Council of Ephesus (431)

26
Christological Debates

• Pelagianism Heresy died out by the 6th century
• Protestant Reformation of the 17th century
• Relationship between good works, grace, and
  salvation
• Commentators have observed that remnants of
  Pelagian self-reliance, with its denial of the
  need for Gods grace and help, appear in many
  21st century European and Americans.
• Many self-sufficient contemporaries seem to rely
  on human ingenuity and the discoveries of
  science, technology, and medicine as the sources
  of their personal safety and salvation.

27
The Fall of Rome

• 476 is the collapse of the Roman Empire in the
  West.
• The Roman Empire can be traced to 27 BC.
• Pegans blamed Christians and their God for the
  collapse.
• Christians questioned how God could permit the
  deaths of innocents and the destruction of the
  center of civilization.

28
Barbarian Invasions

• Migration of Nations
• Asiastic Huns migrated West
• Benefits
• Fertile lands
• Economic opportunities
• Protection from other warring tribes
• Germanic Tribes
• Benefits
• trade with Roman
• served as mercenaries in Roman armiesBarbarian
  Invasions
• 4th Century, increases in population
• Declining strength of the Roman armies
• Pressure from the Huns,

29
Byzantine Empire

• Emperor Justinian, 527-565
• Married actress Theodora
• Justinian had control Of Rome
• He supervised the rebuilding of the Hagia Sophia
  (Holy Wisdom) church in Constantinople still
  stands today
• He instituted a major reform of laws later
  became the basis of European law.
• The Christian influence gave women and children
  more protection.
• Punishment still reflected the times mutilation
  of the body for some crimes, repressive measures
  against non-Christians, including the Jews

30
Byzantine Empire

• Justinians successor were weak.
• Reluctant co operation between the Byzantine
  Emperors and the patriarchs of Constantinople and
  the Pope contributed to the schism between
  Eastern and Western Christianity in 1054.
• Eastern Christianity vibrant liturgical life,
  exquisite art and music, a spiritual depth which
  resulted in hundreds of monasteries.
• The Eastern Empire survived until 1453 under the
  Ottoman Turks.
• Muslim, followers of the Islamic faith, shook the
  foundation of the Eastern Christianity

31
The Rise of the Papacy

• Pope Leo the Great 440-461
• Ability to use biblical, historical, and legal
  arguments to assert the primacy of the Pope among
  all bishops
• Pontifex Maxium Highest Bridge Builder
• Bishops looked to the Pope as supreme teacher,
  ruler, and judge in the Church
• Pope Gregory the Great 590-604
• Title Servant of the Servants of God
• Reform of liturgy Gregorian chant
• His authority stabilized the Church throughout
  Europe and promoted missionary activity

32
Conversion of Clovis

• As the leader goes so goes the tribe
• Clovis converted to Catholicism in 496
• He forced the Goths to convert from Arian
  Christianity to accept the orthodox faith
• Clovis and the Franks helped convert many of the
  barbarian tribes
• Magyars became Catholic because of the conversion
  of their king, St. Stephen
• Bohemians because of the baptism of St.
  Wenceslaus
• Poles because of the conversion of the leader,
  Mieszko

33
Missionaries of the Era

• St. Patrick 389-461
• Apostle to Ireland
• A Roman citizen in Britian
• Son of Christian parents
• Patrick was captured by Irish pirates at the age
  of 16
• Made a bishop in 432 and returned to Ireland to
  convert most of the local Celtic kings
• Established monasteries, continued
  evangelization, and education
• Irish Christianity thrived and helped to preserve
  Christianity during the Dark Ages

34
Words of Wisdom

• Pope Gregory the Greats words of instruction to
  St. Augustine
• destroy as few pagan temples as possible only
  destroy their idols, sprinkle them with holy
  water, build altars and put relics in the
  buildings, so that, if the temples have been well
  built, you are simply changing their purpose.
  (Letters,XI,56)

35
Monasticism

• A spiritual and social movement in which men and
  women withdrew from the world to live solitary or
  communal lives to attain personal holiness.
• Monasticism derived from Greek word monos
  alone or single
• Monasticism became an opportunity to live
  discipleship to it extreme.
• It was called a bloodless martydom a way of
  witnessing to the faith and pursuing pure
  Christian holiness

36
Benefits of Monasticism

• Economics
• Good example of land management
• Reestablish agriculture after the barbarian
  invasions
• Spirituality
• Respect for the liturgy
• Value of daily prayer life
• A countercultural response to Christianity that
  had grown tepid
• Stability
• Refuge to travelers
• Centers of learning
• Educated future Church leaders
• Christianity
• Kept alive and spread

37
Negative effects of Monasticism

• Monastic asceticism self-mutilation to tame
  their weak human nature
• St. Jerome praised celibacy so much that he ended
  up teaching that marriage is not a means to
  holiness, but a necessary evil
• Religious life was the only true model of
  holiness
• A healthy lay spirituality was neglected for
  centuries.

38
Rule of St. Benedict

• Laughter
• Obedience
• Prayer
• Respect
• Temperance
• Work

39
Fathers of the Church

• St. John Chrysostom
• St. Ambrose
• St. Jerome
• St. Augustine
• From chapter 2
• St. Clement of Rome
• St. Ignatius of Antioch

40
Prayer

• God is great and glory to you, O God.
• Yours is the praise.
• Blessed is your name, and exalted is your majesty
• There is no deity to be worshiped but you.
• I seek refuge in God from the evil one, the
  accursed.
• Praise be to God, Lord of all that is
• The compassionate, the merciful
• Ruler on the day of reckoning
• You alone do we worship, and you alone do we ask
  for help
• Guide us on the straight path,
• The path of those who have received your grace
• Not the path of those who have brought down
  wrath,
• Nor of those who wander astray.