RELG 330 - History of Christianity
Course Notes
Chapter 8
Pages 97-98 - Constantine was initially a pagan soldier, a general who became Emperor and who became a Christian and legalized Christianity in his Empire. The early Christian historian Eusebius was a friend of Constantine, and wrote a book named "The Life of Constantine" which contains eye-witness accounts of some of the events of his reign.
in AD 312, just before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine saw what appeared to be a fiery cross above the sun in the sky, and the Greek words for "conquer in this sign". Constantine won the battle and became emperor.
In AD 313 he published the Edict of Milan, which gave freedom of religion to his empire, and made Christianity a legal religion.
As Emperor he built churches and basilicas.
Between 324 and 330, Constantine built his new imperial capital at Byzantium, which he named Constantinople. This was intended to be a "New Rome" and contained churches but no pagan temples.
Because people at that time were so afraid that if they sinned after they were baptized they would lose their salvation, Constantine was not baptized as a Christian until he was dying.
The name of the city which Constantine founded was "Constantinople". It was on the site of an early town called "Byzantium", and that name was restored later. It was sometimes referred to as "New Rome" but that was not its name, just a description.
One serious consequence of the conversion of Constantine was that the Church became a political power. Large numbers of people joined the church, many of them probably just because they thought it would please the Emperor, and not because they really accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord. Also, Constantine started to direct the affairs of the Church - by calling councils and telling them what decisions he wanted, and who were to be appointed to various positions.
Page 99 - Pilgrims, and the origin and growth of Pilgrimages - Pilgrimages to places associated with Jesus or to saints became popular during and after the time of Constantine.
In AD 326-328 Constantine's mother Helena traveled to the Holy Land to identify and visit such places as the Holy Sepulcher - believed to be built on the hill of Calvary where Jesus was crucified and his body lay in a tomb for three days.
One of the other early pilgrims was a lady named Egeria, who wrote an account of her travels in AD 381-384
Page 99 - Map of the Extent of Christianity - The colors chosen are confusing. There are only a few regions where the majority of the population was Christian. These were the provinces of Asia, Bithynia and Pontus, the Kingdom of Armenia, and a region (not named on the map) around Carthage in Northern Africa. All the rest of the regions colored orange had populations with few Christians.
Page 101 - The Donatist schism (see Page 39). The Donatist Schism originated in North Africa, where Donatus (ca.?-ca.355) held ideas similar to those of Novatian - Christians who denied their faith under torture or persecution were to be excommunicated and could never be forgiven by the church. The Donatists wanted to be martyrs. They objected to the election and consecration of a bishop whom they thought wasn't "pure" enough, and thought that the sacraments were invalid if the priest performing them was not "pure" enough. They made Christians who had been baptized by other priests get "re-baptized" by Donatist priests (actually, one can only be baptized once). They were condemned by the Synod of Arles (AD 314) and by the Roman Emperor Constantine I, so they seceded and set up their own church. Augustine opposed their teaching, and in AD 411 the Council at Carthage condemned them. After the Muslims invaded Africa in AD 639 the Christians were marginalized and the Donatist church died out.
Page 102 - The First Ecumenical Council - (see also Pages 111 & 208) was one of several called to solve disputes and promote unity in the Church.
"Ecumenical" means that they were accepted by the whole Church all over the civilized world (the Oecumene)
The first seven Ecumenical Councils were :
- AD 325 - the First Council of Nicaea - to deal with Arianism, formulated the original Nicene Creed
- AD 381 - the First Council of Constantinople - to deal with Arianism and Macedonianism, and revise the Nicene Creed
- AD 431 - the Council of Ephesus - to deal with Nestorianism and Pelagianism
- AD 451 - the Council of Chalcedon - to deal with Monophysitism, formulated the Chalcedonian Creed
- AD 553 - the Second Council of Constantinople - to deal with Nestorianism
- AD 680-681 - the Third Council of Constantinople - to deal with Monothelitism and Monoenergism
- AD 787 - the Second Council of Nicaea - to deal with iconoclasm and to restore the use of icons as spiritual aids
Page 102 - 'homoousios' (pronounced hoe-moe-OO-see-oss) is a Greek word meaning literally "of the same being" - the textbook gives a dynamic translation which conveys the meaning in more modern English concepts. Versions of the Creed often express this as "of one Being" or "of one Substance". Arius and his followers did not accept the term 'homoousios'.
Page 103 - Division of the Empire - After the death of Constantine I the Empire was divided between his three sons, but one was killed by one of his brothers, so then there were two Emperors : Constans took the Western Latin-speaking territory, and Constantius took the Eastern Greek-speaking region.
It was also a time when new heresies started up in the Church, and new theologians arose to combat them.
Constans seems to have held the mainstream Christian view, but Constantius was an Arian (believed that Jesus was a created being, inferior to God the Father)
In AD 350 Constans was killed, and Constantius gained control of the whole Empire and tried to enforce Arianism, and tried to say that he could run the Church as he wished.
However, Constantius died in AD 361, and there was a time of political instability culminating in the reign of Julian the Apostate, who tried to reintroduce paganism. Julian died in AD 363. Barbarian tribes started invading, and the Empire was split into two parts again.
Pages 107-109 - Theodosius I (see also page 125). Theodosius I (ca. AD 346-395) was the son of a Christian general, and served in the army. His father was executed due to political intrigue by his enemies, and Theodosius retired to Spain. However, when the Eastern Emperor Valens died in 378 the Western Emperor Gratian called Theodosius to become Emperor of the East (379). Theodosius fought off the invading Goths, Vandals, and Huns, and then set about strengthening the position of the Christian Church in the Empire. He published an edict ordering people to become Christians, but he did not persecute non-Christians, Arians, or Manichaeans - he said he only wanted to frighten them into becoming Christians.
Gratian, the Western Emperor, was murdered in 383 and Maximus usurped the Western Empire. Theodosius told Maximus to let Gratian's brother Valentinian rule Italy, but in 387 Maximus drove Valentinian out. Theodosius brought Valentinian back, killed Maximus, and defeated his pagan army.
Theodosius put an end to paganism and fought heresy in the Empire. He became sole Emperor in 392. On his death in 395 the Empire was divided between his two sons, and it was never again a united Empire.
In AD 381 Theodosius called the Council of Constantinople with the aim of uniting the Western and the Eastern Empires under orthodox Nicaean Christianity. The Council confirmed Gregory Nazianzus as Patriarch of Constantinople and issued an updated version of the Nicene Creed (the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) which affirmed the Trinity as three Persons of one Being, and clarified that the Holy Spirit is divine. This version of the Nicene Creed became the Creed used in Baptism - the declaration of faith made by all Christians. At the end of the Council, Theodosius passed an imperial decree restoring all churches to bishops who affirmed the Trinity, thereby driving Arianism out of the Eastern Church.
Copyright © 2005 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
