Today, Christianity is a world religion with millions of followers worldwide. But when Christianity emerged in the first half of the first century, it was seen as just another sect of Judaism. During the course of the first century, Christianity split off, after which the early Christian church was born. While Christians in the first three centuries of the common era were still regularly persecuted for their ideas, Christianity became the state religion of the country of Armenia in the fourth century.
Contents
- Background
- Christianity in the Fourth Century
- Councils and Patriarchates
- Division between East and West
- Christianity in the fifth century
- Split within ‘eastern’ Christianity
- The Church in Late Roman Times
Background
In order to understand how Christianity developed in the fourth to sixth centuries, it is important to know how Christianity originated.
Origin of Christianity
Christianity emerged at the beginning of the first century, during the life of the prophet Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus’ followers (called disciples and/or apostles) believed that Jesus was the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Latin) prophesied and announced in the Old Testament. After Jesus’ death, his apostles went into the wide world to proclaim the gospel (the good news from the Bible), which was the beginning of the Roman Christian church.
Spread
After the city of Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70, both Jews and Christians living there were forced to seek refuge elsewhere and entered the Roman Empire. The Christians in particular quickly managed to found many new Christian communities and missionaries from the new communities moved further into the Roman Empire. Simultaneously with the rise of the Christian communities, the church hierarchy also emerged. Bishops, presbyters (priests) and deacons were appointed, who played an important role within the Christian community.
The New Testament and the Church Fathers
We know how Christianity developed from the second half of the first century onwards from the writings that together form the New Testament and from the writings written by the so-called ‘church fathers’. The Church understood a church father to be a writer or teacher (bishop) whose early Christian theological works have been preserved. The Church Fathers wrote mainly about how Christianity was defended and explained to pagans and about theological and philosophical issues.
Christianity in the Fourth Century
While Christians were still persecuted for their ideas in the first three centuries of our era, Christianity was elevated to the state religion in certain areas in the fourth century.
Difference between East and West
At the end of the third century, the immense Roman Empire was divided on ‘paper’ into two parts: The Eastern Roman Empire, with its capital in Constantinople, and the Western Roman Empire, with its capital in Rome. Christianity was already a well-known religion in both parts of the former Roman Empire, but the Eastern Roman protectorate of Armenia decided to be the first country in the Roman Empire to appoint the religion as a state religion. This is because the Armenian king Tiridates IV (c. 280 – c. 330) had voluntarily converted in the year 301. The number of Christians in the Eastern Roman Empire increased significantly in a short time and Emperor Galerius (c. 250 – 311) was afraid that oppressing Christians in the east would lead to unrest throughout the Roman Empire, partly because of the persecution of Christians in the Western Roman Empire had already ended several years earlier.
Edict of Nicomedia and Milan
To prevent chaos from breaking out in the Roman Empire after his death, Emperor Galerius decided to put an end to Christian persecution in the Eastern Roman Empire through the Edict of Nicomedia. The Christians in the east were allowed to rebuild their churches, provided this would not cause a nuisance to public order. In the year 313, the Roman emperors Constantine the Great (c. 280 – 337) and Licinius (c. 265 – 325) went one step further by granting religious freedom to the inhabitants of the Roman Empire through the Edict of Milan. King Mirian III (date of birth unknown – circa 345) of Iberia (modern-day eastern Georgia) also converted to Christianity in the year 326, after which the religion also became a state religion in Iberia. As the number of Christians increased, so did the number of views on Christian doctrine and Christology (the part of Christian theology that studies and defines who Jesus was and is).
Arianism
At the beginning of the fourth century, Christianity came into contact with a new movement called Arianism, which ensured that Christians from both parts of the Roman Empire stood united. Arianism was a movement named after its founder, Arius (between 250 and 256 – 366), who was a priest in the Eastern Roman city of Alexandria. The followers of Arianism did not accept the Church’s dogma on the Holy Trinity: There is one God and he consists of three divine identities; God (the Father), Jesus Christ (the Son) and the Holy Spirit. The Arians, on the other hand, believed that both Jesus and the Holy Spirit were created by God and therefore subordinate to him. Jesus was only subordinate to God, but the Holy Spirit was subordinate to both God and Jesus Christ.
Councils and Patriarchates
As Arianism gained followers, especially in the Eastern Roman Empire, unrest among Christians increased rapidly. In the hope of calming the mood, Emperor Constantine the Great decided to organize a council where questions regarding Christology were discussed.
First Council of Nicaea
In the year 325, 318 bishops gathered in the city of Nicaea during the first ecumenical council to, among other things, judge Arianism. There was great unity here and Arianism was rejected by the bishops and labeled as heresy. The bishops also determined on which date Easter would be celebrated, drew up some rules regarding canon law (ecclesiastical law) and determined the ranking of the patriarchates. The most important event during this council was undoubtedly the drafting of the confession of faith. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed defined Christ as homoousios (of the same substance as) to God, the Father. With this the Church confirmed the dogma of the Holy Trinity.
Patriarchates
During the council, the bishops decided to rank the Christian patriarchates and this rank was determined on the basis of the apostolic tradition. Because Apostle Peter was considered the first of the twelve apostles and because he was the first bishop of Rome and Antioch, Rome came first and Antioch came second. Third place was taken by Alexandria where the apostle (John) Mark had been the first bishop. In line with this, Bishop Siricius (c. 334 – 399) of Rome decided to call himself Pope (Greek: Pappas – Latin: Papa, as in the sense of father), after which his successors followed his example.
Division between East and West
At the end of the fourth century, the Roman Empire officially divided into two parts, with the Western Roman Empire collapsing in the fifth century and the Eastern Roman Empire surviving for a long time. Parallel to the separation of the Roman Empire, a separation would also occur between the Christians in the east and those in the west.
State religion
In the year 379, Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian through and through, came to power in the Eastern Roman Empire and one of his first acts was to issue laws against pagans and Christian heresies, in effect declaring Christianity the state religion. In the hope of crushing the Arians, who were still growing in number despite the rulings of the first Council of Nicaea, and further strengthening the bond between Christians, Theodosius organized the Council of Constantinople I in the year 381. Here the creed drawn up at the Council of Nicaea was reaffirmed and thus also the dogma of the Church regarding the Holy Trinity. Despite the harsh measures taken by the Church against Arianism, the religion did not completely die out until the seventh century.
Patriarchate of Constantinople
During the Council of Constantinople, the bishops present also decided to place the Patriarchate of Constantinople in second place in the order of precedence. So under the see of Rome, but before the see of Antioch. This while Constantinople had no apostolic tradition. In the year 392, Emperor Theodosius went one step further in favoring Christianity when he banned all religions other than Christianity. In 394, Theodosius managed to expel several tribes from the former Western Roman Empire and reunited the Empire. After his death, the Roman Empire finally split into two parts when it was divided between his two sons. Parallel to the growing apart of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, there was also a division between Christians in both areas.
Christianity in the fifth century
In the fifth century, the Western Roman Empire fell and the city of Rome in particular had a hard time. Various discussions also arose within the Church regarding ‘free will’ and the two natures of God.
The fall of Rome
After the Roman Empire was split into two parts, the Western Roman Empire was soon attacked by various Germanic peoples. The capital Rome in particular was under heavy fire and was captured and plundered for the first time in the year 410 by the Visigoths. The Vandals attacked the city in the year 455 and in the year 476 they were hit again, but this attack was the final downfall of Rome and the Western Roman Empire. While the (non-Christian) Germanic tribes flood the former Western Roman Empire, the (mainly Christian) Eastern Roman Empire manages to hold its own.
The Fall
At the beginning of the fifth century, a discussion arose in the former Western Roman Empire about the Fall and man’s free will. On one side was the monk Pelagius (date of birth unknown – after 418) who denied original sin and believed that man could freely decide at any time about good or bad. Diametrically opposed to Pelagius was church father Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), who was of the opinion that man was always naturally inclined towards evil. The discussion between the two gentlemen continued until the Council of Carthage in the year 418.
The Council of Carthage
The most important event during the Council of Carthage was that the canon of the Bible (composed in the first and second centuries) was ratified. This meant that from that moment on there was unanimous agreement with the canon that the Church had compiled in recent centuries. Another important point of this council was the condemnation of the Pelagianism of the monk Pelagius. The bishops present at the council believed that Pelagius’ teaching was an error within Christianity and therefore rejected his teaching. Remarkably, the discussion about free will was limited purely to Christians in the west, Pelagius and his movement did not gain a foothold in the east.
Split within ‘eastern’ Christianity
After the discussion about free will had subsided in the West, the next discussion soon flared up and this time it was the turn of the Eastern Roman Empire. Since some of the ‘eastern’ Christians could not agree with the definition of the Church, a schism arose.
Council of Ephesus
About the middle of the fifth century, a discussion about Christology arose in the Eastern Roman Empire. The question at hand was how the two natures of Christ, divine and human, were related to each other. On one side was the Church, which held that Christ was one person, in whom the divine and human natures were united in a way inexplicable to us. On the other side was Nestorius (381-451), the patriarch of Constantinople, who believed that Jesus had two natures, one divine and one human. During the council of Ephesus in the year 431, it was decided to label Nestorius’s teachings as an error and Nestorius’ ideas were rejected.
Council of Chalcedon
Soon after the emergence of Nestorianism, a new movement followed which was called Miaphysitism. The Miaphysites disagreed with the Church’s dogma that Christ had two natures united to each other, but they also disagreed with Nestorianism’s teaching that Christ consisted of two persons. The Miaphysites held that the two natures of Christ had merged into one nature, namely the god-human nature. At the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451, the bishops also rejected the doctrine of Miaphysitism and also adopted a confession of faith which stated that Jesus, as the second person in the Holy Trinity, was in two natures; human and divine, is recognized.
Schism
The consequence of the council of Ephesus and Chalcedon was that a major schism (Greek) or split (Dutch) took place between the Christian parties in the east. The Nestorians refused to accept the rulings of the Council of Ephesus and decided to go their own way. In the years that followed they founded the Nestorian Church, which today is also called the Assyrian Church of the East. The Miaphysites also refused to accept the rulings of both the Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon and they also split off. The Miaphysites became known as the ‘Oriental Orthodox Church’, which included the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and the Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church of India.
The Church in Late Roman Times
How the Church and Christianity developed could be followed from the writings of various historians. They not only mentioned how the Christians lived, but also what developments the church service was experiencing.
Historians
Important historians of the late Roman period included Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263 – 339), Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430) and Jerome of Stridon (c. 347 – 420). For example, Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, wrote the ,Ekklèsiastikè Historia, (Church History) in which he described developments in Christianity using quotations from writings that no longer exist today. The aforementioned Augustine of Hippo tried to defend Christianity against the (Roman) pagans in his ‘De civitate Dei’ (On the City of God). Church Father Jerome of Stridon wrote ‘The Vulgate’ between the years 390 and 405; a translation of the Hebrew Bible into everyday Latin, which from then on also made the Bible accessible to ‘common people’.
Developments in the church service
Church Father Ambrose (339 – 397) was bishop of Milan and became famous for baptizing Augustine of Hippo. According to legend, Ambrose and Augustine sang the text of the Gregorian Te Deum in turn during Augustine’s baptism, and for this reason the hymn was also called the Ambrosian hymn. The Te Deum is still often performed, especially at solemn thanksgiving services or after processions.
Christian holidays
Not only the Te Deum originated in late Roman times, the Christian holidays Epiphany and Christmas also date from this period. Epiphany (Greek: epiphaneia = appearance) originated in Eastern Christianity and was originally intended to celebrate the appearance of the incarnate Son of God on earth. Signs that stood for Jesus’ divinity were commemorated, such as his birth from the Virgin Mary, the visit and worship of the wise men from the East and Jesus’ baptism. Epiphany slowly found its way to the west via the east. Christmas originated there and precisely in Western Christianity and would be adopted by Christians in the East. During Christmas the focus was on the birth of Jesus.