State church of the Roman Empire
Encyclopedia
The state church of the Roman Empire was a Christian institution organized within the Roman Empire
during the 4th century
that came to represent the Empire's sole authorized religion. Both the Roman Catholic Church
and the Eastern Orthodox churches claim to be the historical continuation of this same church. This church emerged as Roman Emperor Constantine
established tolerance for Christianity during his reign and established a precedent of imperial involvement in matters of the Christian faith. By the end of the 4th century Emperor Theodosius
had established a single Christian doctrine (the details would be formalized by the first seven Ecumenical Councils
) as the state's official religion
. The officially sanctioned church would go on to become a key part of the empire and its identity throughout the Middle Ages
. The emperor himself came to be seen as the church's defender and leader, along with the bishops.
The Christian religion, which emerged in the 1st century
, had become a target of persecution in the Roman Empire during Christianity's early history
, mostly in the 2nd
and 3rd
centuries. Emperors Galerius and Constantine permanently ended the general persecution in the early 4th century with the Edict of Milan
. As a result of the Donatist controversy Constantine convened councils of Christian bishops to define an orthodox
, or correct, Christian faith, expanding on earlier Christian councils. Numerous councils were held during the 4th and 5th centuries leading to rifts and schisms including the Arian schism
, the Nestorian schism
, and the Miaphysite schism
. Throughout this process emperors became increasingly involved in the church, funding construction of church buildings, presiding over church councils, and even becoming involved in the appointment of bishops. In 380 Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica
, which formally established the Christian doctrine established at the First Council of Nicaea
as the Empire's sole recognized religion. The church hierarchy in the Empire would continue to evolve throughout its history. In the 6th century Emperor Justinian
established the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem as the leadership of the imperial church, referred to as the Pentarchy
.
While the Western Empire decayed as a polity
, with Rome
being sacked in 410
, 455
, and 546
, and Romulus Augustus
being forced by Odoacer
to abdicate in 476, the church as an institution persisted in communion
, if not without tension, between the east
and west
. While the Muslim conquests
of the 7th century would begin a process of converting most of the Christian world in West Asia and North Africa
to Islam severely weakening both the Byzantine Empire
and its church, missionary activities throughout its history created a communion of churches that extended beyond the empire, as such a communion extending beyond the empire existed even before the establishment of the state church of the empire. In the west, the obliteration of the empire's boundaries by Germanic peoples
and an outburst of missionary activity among these peoples, who had no direct links with the Byzantine Empire
, and among Celtic peoples, who had never been part of the Roman Empire, fostered the idea of a universal church free from association with a particular polity. With the 25 December
800 AD crowning of Charlemagne
as Imperator Romanorum by his ally, Pope Leo III
, the de facto political split between east and west became irrevocable and the church in the west was clearly no longer part of the state church of the Byzantine Empire. Spiritually, the Chalcedonian Church
, as a communion broader than the imperial state church, continued to persist as a unified entity, at least in theory, until the Great Schism
and its formal division with the mutual excommunication in 1054 of Rome and Constantinople
.
Modern authors refer to this state church in a variety of ways: as the catholic church, the orthodox church, the imperial church, the imperial Roman church, or the Byzantine church, some of which terms they use also of wider communions extending outside the Roman Empire. Its legacy carries on, directly or indirectly, in today's Roman Catholic Church
, Eastern Orthodox Church
and in others, such as the Anglican Communion
.
s, either by birth or conversion, referred to by historians as the Jewish Christians
. An evangelical movement developed as Christian Apostles
, including Paul of Tarsus
, Simon Peter
, and Didymus Thomas
, spread the religion outside Judea
, both inside and outside of the Jewish community
, presumably following the Great Commission
to spread Jesus' teachings to "all nations". By the end of the 1st century, Christianity began to be recognized as a separate religion from Rabbinic Judaism
. Within the Roman Empire the primary language through which the religion was transmitted was Greek
, whereas to the east Aramaic
and other languages played at least as large a role. Church Fathers
further developed Christian theology
and laid the groundwork for the doctrine of the Trinity
.
The spread of the faith in the western Mediterranean and western Europe
was relatively limited in the first few centuries though some significant Christian communities emerged in Rome
, Carthage
, and other urban centers. Nevertheless, by the end of the 3rd century
Christianity had become the dominant faith in some urban centers. Christians accounted for approximately 10% of the Roman population by 300, according to some estimates. In 301, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity
.
Early Christians suffered sporadic persecution because they refused to worship the Roman gods or to pay homage to the emperor as divine
. The Jews likewise objected to these Roman practices, but were granted an exemption so long as they paid the Fiscus Iudaicus. Christians in Rome may have been first distinguished from the Jews by their refusal to pay this tax. According to Will Durant
, the Christian Church
prevailed over Paganism
because it offered a much more attractive doctrine and because the church leaders addressed human needs better than their rivals. The First Council of Nicaea
generally marks the end of Early Christianity and the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils
(325 - 787).
Diocletian's successors ended the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 311 Emperor Galerius
established religious tolerance and formally recognized the right of Christians to practice their faith. In 313 Emperor Constantine
issued the Edict of Milan
reaffirming the tolerance of Christians and returning previously confiscated property to the churches. Constantine himself began to utilize Christian symbols early in his reign such as the Chi-Rho but still encouraged traditional Roman religious practices including sun worship. In 330 he established the city of Constantinople
as the new capital of the Roman Empire. The city would gradually come to be seen as the intellectual and cultural center of the Christian world. Constantine is also associated with the topic of the Fifty Bibles of Constantine
, but little is known about the details.
Over the course of the 4th century the Christian body
became consumed by debates surrounding orthodoxy
, i.e. which religious doctrines are the correct ones. By the early 4th century a group in North Africa, later called Donatists, who believed in a very rigid interpretation of Christianity that excluded many who had abandoned the faith during the Diocletian persecutions, created a crisis in the western Empire. A Church synod
, or council, was called in Rome in 313 followed by another in Arles
in 314. The latter was presided over by Constantine while he was still a junior emperor (see Tetrarchy
). The councils ruled that the Donatist faith was heresy and, when the Donatists refused to recant, Constantine launched the first campaign of persecution by Christians against Christians. This was only the beginning of imperial involvement in the Christian theology. However, during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate
, the Donatists, who formed the majority party in the Roman province of Africa for 30 years, were given official approval, a situation that has been described as making them a state church of the Roman Empire.
Christian scholars within the Empire were increasingly embroiled in debates regarding christology
(i.e. debates regarding the nature of the Christ
). Opinions were widespread, ranging from the belief that Jesus was entirely human to the belief that he was entirely divine
. The most persistent debate was that between the homoousian, or Athanasian
, view (the Father and the Son are one and the same, eternal) and the homoiousian
, or Arian
, view (the Father and the Son are similar, but the Father is greater than the Son). This controversy led to Constantine's calling a council meeting at Nicaea in 325. This council supported the Athanasian view and was later compared to the apostolic Council of Jerusalem
which established the conditions under which gentile
s (non-Jews) could join the Church.
Christological debates raged throughout the 4th century with emperors becoming ever more involved with the Church and the Church becoming ever more divided. The Council of Nicaea in 325 supported the Athanasian view. The Council of Rimini
in 359 supported the Arian view. The Council of Constantinople in 360 supported a compromise that allowed for both views (see Semi-Arianism
). The Council of Constantinople in 381
re-asserted the Athanasian view and rejected the Arian view. Emperor Constantine was of divided opinions (even as to whether he was Christian) but he largely backed the Athanasian faction (though he was baptized on his death bed by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia
). His successor Constantius II
supported a Semi-Arian position. Emperor Julian
favored a return to the traditional (pagan) Roman/Greek religion but this trend was quickly quashed by his successor Jovian, a supporter of the Athanasian faction.
With the Edict of Thessalonica
of 27 February 380, Emperor Theodosius I
established the Christianity of the First Council of Nicaea
as the official state religion
, reserving for its followers the title of Catholic Christians:
Theodosius called the Council of Constantinople in 381
to further refine the definition of orthodoxy, and according to tradition, issue the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. In 391 Theodosius closed all of the pagan (non-Christian/non-Jewish) temples and formally forbade pagan worship. The churches adhering to Theodosius' prescriptions had effectively become a department of the Roman state. Theodosius's 380 decree explicitly declared that those who were not followers of the religion taught in Rome (literally referring to their leader Pope Damasus I
) and Alexandria (literally referring to their leader Pope Peter of Alexandria
) were to be called heretics
.
The 5th century
would see further fracturing of the Roman Church. Emperor Theodosius II
called two synods in Ephesus
, one in 431 CE and one in 449 CE, that addressed the teachings of then-Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius
and similar teachings. Nestorius had taught that Christ's divine and human nature were distinct persons, and hence Mary
was the mother of Christ but not the mother of God. The Council rejected Nestorius' view causing many churches, centered around the School of Edessa
, to break with the imperial church (see Nestorian schism
). Persecuted within the Roman Empire many Nestorians fled to Persia and joined the Sassanid Church (the future Church of the East
) thereby making it a center of Nestorianism
. In 451 the Council of Chalcedon
was held to clarify the issue further. The council ultimately stated that Christ's divine and human nature were separate but both part of a single entity, a viewpoint rejected by many churches who called themselves miaphysites. The resulting schism created a communion of churches, including the Armenian, Syrian, and Egyptian churches, that is today known as Oriental Orthodoxy
. In spite of these schisms, however, the imperial church still came to represent the majority of Christians within the Roman Empire.
At the end of the 4th century the Roman Empire had effectively split into two states although its economy (and the Church) were still strongly tied. The two halves of the Empire had always had cultural differences, in particular exemplified by the widespread use of the Greek language in the Eastern Empire and the more limited use of Greek in the West (Greek was used in the West but Latin was the spoken vernacular
). By the 5th century scholars in the West had begun to abandon Greek in favor of the use of Latin. The Church in Rome, in particular, began to encourage the use of Latin in the western provinces and published Jerome
's Vulgate
, the first authorized translation of the Bible in Latin.
At the same time as these changes were taking place the Western Empire was beginning to decay
rapidly. Germanic tribes, particularly the Goths
, gradually conquered the western provinces. Rome was sacked in 410
, 455
, and 546
, and by 476 CE the Germanic chieftain Odoacer
had conquered Italy
and deposed the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus
, though he nominally submitted to the authority of Constantinople. Thus, in theory Rome was re-united with the East, but in practice Rome was more remote from Constantinople than it had been. The Arian Germanic tribes established their own systems of churches and bishops in the western provinces but were generally tolerant of those who chose to remain loyal to the imperial church.
In 533 Roman Emperor Justinian
in Constantinople launched a military campaign to reclaim the western provinces from the Arian Germans, starting with North Africa
and proceeding to Italy. Though he was temporarily successful in recapturing much of the western Mediterranean he destroyed the urban centers and permanently ruined the economies in much of the West. Rome and other cities were abandoned. According to the entry in Liddell & Scott, the term orthodox
first occurs in the Codex Justinian I.5.21 .
By the end of the 6th century the Roman Church had become firmly tied with the imperial government. The non-Christian religious traditions of the Germanic tribes that controlled many parts of the Empire and beyond greatly influenced the Church and changed many of its practices.
The Rashidun conquests began to expand the sway of Islam
beyond Arabia in the 7th century, first clashing with the Roman Empire in 634.
Shortly before this new threat, the Roman Empire and Sassanid Persian Empire had concluded decades of war leaving both empires crippled.
By the late 8th century the Umayyad caliphate had conquered all of Persia and much of the Eastern Roman
(Byzantine) territory including Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.
Suddenly much of the Christian world was under Muslim rule. Over the coming centuries the Muslim nations became some of the most powerful in the Mediterranean world.
Though the Roman Church had claimed religious authority over Christians in Egypt and the Levant
, in reality the majority of Christians in these regions were miaphysites and other sects that had long been persecuted by Constantinople. The new Muslim rulers, in contrast, offered religious tolerance to Christians of all sects. Additionally subjects of the Muslim Empire could be accepted as Muslims simply by declaring a belief in a single deity and reverence for Muhammad (see Shahada
). As a result the peoples of Egypt and Palestine largely accepted their new rulers and many declared themselves Muslims within a few generations. Muslim incursions later found success in parts of Europe, particularly Spain (see Al-Andalus
).
During the 9th century
, the Roman emperor encouraged missionary expeditions
to nearby nations including the Muslim caliphate, the Turkic
Khazars
, and Slavic
Moravia
. The success of these missions in Moravia led to further missions in Slavic Bulgaria
and among the Kievan Rus'
. The Roman Church, specifically the branch loyal to Constantinople, would gradually come to be the official state religion for most nations in Eastern Europe
.
By the 700s
the Frankish Kingdom, a Germanic kingdom that had originated east of the Rhine, ruled much of western Europe, particularly in what is now France
and Germany
. The first Frankish king, Clovis
had joined the Roman Church in 496 and since that time the Franks had been part of the Church. In 768 Charles
, son of King Pepin the Short, succeeded to the Frankish throne. During the 770s Charles the conquered the Lombards
in Italy extending the Frankish realm over almost all of Italy. On Christmas Day in 800, the Roman Patriarch Leo III coronated Charles as the Roman Emperor, in essence denying the status of the Roman (Byzantine) Empress Irene, reigning in Constantinople. This act caused a substantial diplomatic rift between the Franks and the Byzantine Empire, as well as between Rome and the other patriarchs in the East. Though the rifts were settled to some degree and the Church in Rome in theory remained united with Constantinople and the rest of the imperial church, from this point forward East and West followed largely independent paths cultimating in the Great Schism
.
Charles followed a policy of forcible conversion of all Frankish subjects to the Roman Church, specifically declaring loyalty to Rome (as opposed to Constantinople). The strength of the Frankish armies helped repel further incursion of Muslim forces in Europe. Charles was seen in the West as having revived the Roman Empire and came to be known as Charles the Great (Charlemagne
in French). The re-unification of Europe led to increased prosperity and a slow re-emergence of culture and learning in Western Europe. Charlemagne's empire came to be called the Holy Roman Empire
by its inhabitants. The Church in Rome became a central defining symbol of this empire.
In 1054, following the death of the Patriach of Rome Leo IX
, papal legates (representatives of the Pope) from Rome traveled to Constantinople to deny Michael Cerularius, the reigning Patriarch of Constantinople, the title of Ecumenical Patriarch and to insist that he recognize the Church of Rome's claim to be the head and mother of the churches. Cerularius refused resulting in the leader of the contingent from Rome excommunicating Cerularius and the legates in turn being excommunicated by Constantinople. Though the event, in and of itself, was relatively insignificant (and the authority of the legates in their actions was dubious) it ultimately marked the end of any pretense of a union between the eastern and western branches of the Church (see East–West Schism
). Though efforts were made at reconciliation at various times, they remained divided, each claiming to be the true Roman Church.
The Eastern Roman or Byzantine imperial church headed by Constantinople continued to assert its universal authority. By the 1200s
this assertion was becoming increasing irrelevant as the Eastern Roman Empire shrank and the Ottoman Turks
took over most of what was left of the Empire (indirectly aided by an invasion from the West
). The other Eastern European churches in communion with Constantinople were not part of its empire and were increasingly acting independently, achieving autocephalous status and only nominally acknowledging Constantinople's standing in the Church hierarchy. In Western Europe the Holy Roman Empire fragmented making it less of an empire as well.
The leaders of the Christian communities periodically gathered at synod
s, or councils, to organize the Church and establish doctrine, the very first being the Council of Jerusalem
around the year 50. Early councils, including the Synods of Antioch
, had taken place prior to Constantine's involvement in the Church. As the Roman emperors became involved, they commonly called and even presided over the councils within the empire. Separate councils, such as the Persian Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
in 410 CE, the Council of Dvin in 506 CE, the Council of Orléans
in 511, and the Synod of Whitby
in 664, were held outside the Roman Empire and outside the Roman Church to formally organize non-Roman Christians.
Beginning with those called by Constantine, the most significant role of the councils of the 4th and 5th centuries was to define orthodoxy within the Empire and to brand competing philosophies as heresies. As a side effect of this process a tradition of persecution against unorthodox Christians was established that lasted in Europe long after the age of the Roman Empire. Successive councils frequently contradicted one another. Councils were often declared as ecumenical
(i.e. general and binding) only to be declared heretical later.
The Council of Nicaea
in 325 CE established a general statement of faith known as the Nicene Creed
. Though this statement of faith would be debated and revised by future councils, it still remains a key statement of faith for many Christian sects today. This council and most of the other councils of the 4th century dealt with the debate between the Athanasian and Arian christological viewpoints. The Council of Nicaea backed the Athanasian view whereas the Council of Rimini backed the Arian view (Rimini actually had more attendees than Nicaea). Ultimately the Athanasian view with its formulation of the Holy Trinity became the official state religion.
During the 5th century the Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Chalcedon
in 451 led to the schism with the Church of the East
and the schism with the Miaphysites. The latter schism established what is today known as Oriental Orthodoxy
.
, Alexandria
and Antioch
, while canon 7 granted special recognition to Jerusalem
. Debate followed even after Justinian I
established a Pentarchy
consisting of Rome
, Constantinople
, Alexandria
, Antioch
, and Jerusalem
. The emperor's decree was given ecclesiastical sanction in the Quinisext Council
of 692, whose decisions, however, were never fully accepted by the Western Church. In the East the pentarchy of these five patriarchates was recognized as the leadership of the state church, but not by the popes, who recognized as holding a real patriarchal function only the three "Petrine
" sees of Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, in accordance with the canons of the First Council of Nicaea. In the East too, under the influence of the imperial model
of governance of the state church, in which "the emperor becomes the actual executive organ of the universal Church", the pentarchy model of governance of the state church regressed to a monarchy of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Following the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches various emperors and patriarchs at times sought to re-unite the Church. These efforts were not successful in any meaningful way. As the Eastern Roman Empire crumbled, the notion of Christian unity under the old imperial church would be invoked by Constantinople in an attempt to seek assistance from the Patriarch of Rome (the Pope) and Western Europe against the Muslims who had gradually conquered Roman territories. The result was the Crusades
, centuries of warfare between Christians from all over Europe and Muslims in Asia and Africa. The effort did not unify the Christian world. Ironically it was the Western Crusaders who ultimately broke the back of the Eastern Roman Empire (see Fourth Crusade
).
Throughout Europe, even after the fall of Constantinople to the Muslim Turks, an ideal of a never-ending imperial church connected to the old Roman Empire particularly in the Western Europe and the Russian Empire. Author Arthur Boak, in discussing the see of Rome, states
The reference book Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society, now in its ninth edition, with "its enhanced focus on religion and philosophy", presents western Europe as abandoning the idea of a single universal empire in favour of the idea of a single universal supranational church: "Membership in a universal church replaced citizenship in a universal empire. Across Europe, from Italy to Ireland, a new society centered on Christianity was forming."
As East and West continued to divide, the Western Church
would come to emphasize the term Catholic in its identity, emphasizing its assertion of universality, whereas the Eastern Church
would come, after the episode of Byzantine iconoclasm, to emphasize the term Orthodox in its identity, emphasizing its assertion as holding to the true teachings of Jesus. Both churches would claim to be the unique continuation of the Roman Church. Many of the churches that emerged from the Protestant Reformation
, including the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Church, similarly claimed legitimacy, retaining the core doctrinal formulations of the First Seven Ecumenical Councils.
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
during the 4th century
Christianity in the 4th century
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated by Constantine the Great, and the First Council of Nicea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils and the attempt to reach an orthodox consensus and to establish a unified Christendom as the State church of...
that came to represent the Empire's sole authorized religion. Both the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and the Eastern Orthodox churches claim to be the historical continuation of this same church. This church emerged as Roman Emperor Constantine
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
established tolerance for Christianity during his reign and established a precedent of imperial involvement in matters of the Christian faith. By the end of the 4th century Emperor Theodosius
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
had established a single Christian doctrine (the details would be formalized by the first seven Ecumenical Councils
First seven Ecumenical Councils
In the history of Christianity, the first seven Ecumenical Councils, from the First Council of Nicaea to the Second Council of Nicaea , represent an attempt to reach an orthodox consensus and to establish a unified Christendom as the State church of the Roman Empire...
) as the state's official religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
. The officially sanctioned church would go on to become a key part of the empire and its identity throughout the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. The emperor himself came to be seen as the church's defender and leader, along with the bishops.
The Christian religion, which emerged in the 1st century
Origins of Christianity
For centuries, the traditional understanding has been that Judaism came before Christianity and that Christianity separated from Judaism some time after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE....
, had become a target of persecution in the Roman Empire during Christianity's early history
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
, mostly in the 2nd
Christianity in the 2nd century
The 2nd century of Christianity was largely the time of the Apostolic Fathers who were the students of the apostles of Jesus, though there is some overlap as John the Apostle may have survived into the 2nd century and the early Apostolic Father Clement of Rome is said to have died at the end of the...
and 3rd
Christianity in the 3rd century
The 3rd century of Christianity was largely the time of the Ante-Nicene Fathers who wrote after the Apostolic Fathers of the 1st and 2nd centuries but before the First Council of Nicaea in 325...
centuries. Emperors Galerius and Constantine permanently ended the general persecution in the early 4th century with the Edict of Milan
Edict of Milan
The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by emperors Constantine I and Licinius that proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire...
. As a result of the Donatist controversy Constantine convened councils of Christian bishops to define an orthodox
Orthodoxy
The word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...
, or correct, Christian faith, expanding on earlier Christian councils. Numerous councils were held during the 4th and 5th centuries leading to rifts and schisms including the Arian schism
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
, the Nestorian schism
Nestorianism
Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...
, and the Miaphysite schism
Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy is the faith of those Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon...
. Throughout this process emperors became increasingly involved in the church, funding construction of church buildings, presiding over church councils, and even becoming involved in the appointment of bishops. In 380 Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica
Edict of Thessalonica
The Edict of Thessalonica, also known as Cunctos populos, was delivered on 27 February 380 by Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II in order that all their subjects should profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria...
, which formally established the Christian doctrine established at the First Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
as the Empire's sole recognized religion. The church hierarchy in the Empire would continue to evolve throughout its history. In the 6th century Emperor Justinian
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
established the bishops of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem as the leadership of the imperial church, referred to as the Pentarchy
Pentarchy
Pentarchy is a term in the history of Christianity for the idea of universal rule over all Christendom by the heads of five major episcopal sees, or patriarchates, of the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem...
.
While the Western Empire decayed as a polity
Polity
Polity is a form of government Aristotle developed in his search for a government that could be most easily incorporated and used by the largest amount of people groups, or states...
, with Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
being sacked in 410
Sack of Rome (410)
The Sack of Rome occurred on August 24, 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths, led by Alaric I. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, replaced in this position initially by Mediolanum and then later Ravenna. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a...
, 455
Sack of Rome (455)
The sack of 455 was the second of three barbarian sacks of Rome; it was executed by the Vandals, who were then at war with the usurping Western Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus....
, and 546
Sack of Rome (546)
The Sack of Rome in 546 was carried out by the Gothic king Totila during the Gothic War of 535–554 between the Ostrogoths and the East Romans . Totila was based at Tivoli and, in pursuit of his quest to reconquer the region of Latium, he moved against Rome...
, and Romulus Augustus
Romulus Augustus
Romulus Augustus , was the last Western Roman Emperor, reigning from 31 October 475 until 4 September 476...
being forced by Odoacer
Odoacer
Flavius Odoacer , also known as Flavius Odovacer, was the first King of Italy. His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire. Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos' death in 480, of the...
to abdicate in 476, the church as an institution persisted in communion
Communion (Christian)
The term communion is derived from Latin communio . The corresponding term in Greek is κοινωνία, which is often translated as "fellowship". In Christianity, the basic meaning of the term communion is an especially close relationship of Christians, as individuals or as a Church, with God and with...
, if not without tension, between the east
Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity comprises the Christian traditions and churches that developed in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Northeastern Africa, India and parts of the Far East over several centuries of religious antiquity. The term is generally used in Western Christianity to...
and west
Western Christianity
Western Christianity is a term used to include the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church and groups historically derivative thereof, including the churches of the Anglican and Protestant traditions, which share common attributes that can be traced back to their medieval heritage...
. While the Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
of the 7th century would begin a process of converting most of the Christian world in West Asia and North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
to Islam severely weakening both the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
and its church, missionary activities throughout its history created a communion of churches that extended beyond the empire, as such a communion extending beyond the empire existed even before the establishment of the state church of the empire. In the west, the obliteration of the empire's boundaries by Germanic peoples
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
and an outburst of missionary activity among these peoples, who had no direct links with the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, and among Celtic peoples, who had never been part of the Roman Empire, fostered the idea of a universal church free from association with a particular polity. With the 25 December
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
800 AD crowning of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
as Imperator Romanorum by his ally, Pope Leo III
Pope Leo III
Pope Saint Leo III was Pope from 795 to his death in 816. Protected by Charlemagne from his enemies in Rome, he subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position by crowning him as Roman Emperor....
, the de facto political split between east and west became irrevocable and the church in the west was clearly no longer part of the state church of the Byzantine Empire. Spiritually, the Chalcedonian Church
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
, as a communion broader than the imperial state church, continued to persist as a unified entity, at least in theory, until the Great Schism
East–West Schism
The East–West Schism of 1054, sometimes known as the Great Schism, formally divided the State church of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively...
and its formal division with the mutual excommunication in 1054 of Rome and Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
.
Modern authors refer to this state church in a variety of ways: as the catholic church, the orthodox church, the imperial church, the imperial Roman church, or the Byzantine church, some of which terms they use also of wider communions extending outside the Roman Empire. Its legacy carries on, directly or indirectly, in today's Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
and in others, such as the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
.
Early Christianity in relation to the state
The first Christians were all Jewish or Jewish proselyteProselyte
The biblical term "Proselyte", derives from the Koine Greek προσήλυτος/proselytos, as used in the Septuagint for "stranger", i.e. a "newcomer to Israel"; a "sojourner in the land", and in the New Testament for a convert to Judaism from Paganism...
s, either by birth or conversion, referred to by historians as the Jewish Christians
Jewish Christians
Jewish Christians is a term which appears in historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with Gentile Christians, both in discussion of the New Testament church and the second and following centuries....
. An evangelical movement developed as Christian Apostles
Apostle (Christian)
The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex...
, including Paul of Tarsus
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
, Simon Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
, and Didymus Thomas
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
, spread the religion outside Judea
Early centers of Christianity
Early Christianity spread from Western Asia, throughout the Roman Empire, and beyond into East Africa and South Asia, reaching as far as India. At first, this development was closely connected to centers of Hebrew faith, in the Holy Land and the Jewish diaspora...
, both inside and outside of the Jewish community
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
, presumably following the Great Commission
Great Commission
The Great Commission, in Christian tradition, is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples, that they spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. It has become a tenet in Christian theology emphasizing missionary work, evangelism, and baptism...
to spread Jesus' teachings to "all nations". By the end of the 1st century, Christianity began to be recognized as a separate religion from Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Talmud...
. Within the Roman Empire the primary language through which the religion was transmitted was Greek
Greek Primacy
Greek primacy is a scholarly term in general use for the dominance of Hellenism at certain periods of history. In the context of the language of the New Testament, "Greek primacy" is a Wikipedia neologism for the majority view that the New Testament or its sources were originally written in Koine...
, whereas to the east Aramaic
Aramaic of Jesus
It is generally agreed that the historical Jesus primarily spoke Aramaic, perhaps along with some Hebrew and Greek . The towns of Nazareth and Capernaum, where Jesus lived, were primarily Aramaic-speaking communities, although Greek was widely spoken in the major cities of the Eastern Mediterranean...
and other languages played at least as large a role. Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
further developed Christian theology
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
and laid the groundwork for the doctrine of the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
.
The spread of the faith in the western Mediterranean and western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
was relatively limited in the first few centuries though some significant Christian communities emerged in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
, and other urban centers. Nevertheless, by the end of the 3rd century
Christianity in the 3rd century
The 3rd century of Christianity was largely the time of the Ante-Nicene Fathers who wrote after the Apostolic Fathers of the 1st and 2nd centuries but before the First Council of Nicaea in 325...
Christianity had become the dominant faith in some urban centers. Christians accounted for approximately 10% of the Roman population by 300, according to some estimates. In 301, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity
Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
.
Early Christians suffered sporadic persecution because they refused to worship the Roman gods or to pay homage to the emperor as divine
Imperial cult (ancient Rome)
The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority of the Roman State...
. The Jews likewise objected to these Roman practices, but were granted an exemption so long as they paid the Fiscus Iudaicus. Christians in Rome may have been first distinguished from the Jews by their refusal to pay this tax. According to Will Durant
Will Durant
William James Durant was a prolific American writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant and published between 1935 and 1975...
, the Christian Church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
prevailed over Paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
because it offered a much more attractive doctrine and because the church leaders addressed human needs better than their rivals. The First Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
generally marks the end of Early Christianity and the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils
First seven Ecumenical Councils
In the history of Christianity, the first seven Ecumenical Councils, from the First Council of Nicaea to the Second Council of Nicaea , represent an attempt to reach an orthodox consensus and to establish a unified Christendom as the State church of the Roman Empire...
(325 - 787).
Establishment and early controversies
| Communion | Major churches | Primary centers |
|---|---|---|
| Chalcedonian Christianity |
Roman imperial church Frankish church |
Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople |
| Nestorianism Nestorianism Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus... |
Persian church Church of the East The Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia... |
Syria Syria (Roman province) Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The... , Sassanid Empire Sassanid Empire The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651... (Persia) |
| Miaphysitism Miaphysitism Miaphysitism is a Christological formula of the Oriental Orthodox Churches and of the various churches adhering to the first three Ecumenical Councils... |
Armenian Church Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church... Coptic Church Syriac Church Syriac Orthodox Church The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St.... , Ethiopian Church Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the predominant Oriental Orthodox Christian church in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Church was administratively part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All... Georgian Church |
Armenia, Syria Syria (Roman province) Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The... , Egypt |
| Donatism | North Africa | |
| Arianism Arianism Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father... |
Gothic tribes Goths The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe.... Amory , pp. 259–262. |
Diocletian's successors ended the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 311 Emperor Galerius
Galerius
Galerius , was Roman Emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sassanid Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across the Danube against the Carpi, defeating them in 297 and 300...
established religious tolerance and formally recognized the right of Christians to practice their faith. In 313 Emperor Constantine
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
issued the Edict of Milan
Edict of Milan
The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by emperors Constantine I and Licinius that proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire...
reaffirming the tolerance of Christians and returning previously confiscated property to the churches. Constantine himself began to utilize Christian symbols early in his reign such as the Chi-Rho but still encouraged traditional Roman religious practices including sun worship. In 330 he established the city of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
as the new capital of the Roman Empire. The city would gradually come to be seen as the intellectual and cultural center of the Christian world. Constantine is also associated with the topic of the Fifty Bibles of Constantine
Fifty Bibles of Constantine
The Fifty Bibles of Constantine were fifty Bibles commissioned in 331 by Constantine I and prepared by Eusebius of Caesarea. They were made for the use of the Bishop of Constantinople in the growing number of orthodox churches. It was described by Eusebius in his Life of Constantine and his account...
, but little is known about the details.
Over the course of the 4th century the Christian body
Christianity in the 4th century
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated by Constantine the Great, and the First Council of Nicea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils and the attempt to reach an orthodox consensus and to establish a unified Christendom as the State church of...
became consumed by debates surrounding orthodoxy
Orthodoxy
The word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...
, i.e. which religious doctrines are the correct ones. By the early 4th century a group in North Africa, later called Donatists, who believed in a very rigid interpretation of Christianity that excluded many who had abandoned the faith during the Diocletian persecutions, created a crisis in the western Empire. A Church synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
, or council, was called in Rome in 313 followed by another in Arles
Synod of Arles
Arles in the south of Roman Gaul hosted several councils or synods referred to as Concilium Arelatense in the history of the early Christian church.-Council of Arles in 314:...
in 314. The latter was presided over by Constantine while he was still a junior emperor (see Tetrarchy
Tetrarchy
The term Tetrarchy describes any system of government where power is divided among four individuals, but usually refers to the tetrarchy instituted by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293, marking the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and the recovery of the Roman Empire...
). The councils ruled that the Donatist faith was heresy and, when the Donatists refused to recant, Constantine launched the first campaign of persecution by Christians against Christians. This was only the beginning of imperial involvement in the Christian theology. However, during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
, the Donatists, who formed the majority party in the Roman province of Africa for 30 years, were given official approval, a situation that has been described as making them a state church of the Roman Empire.
Christology
Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...
(i.e. debates regarding the nature of the Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
). Opinions were widespread, ranging from the belief that Jesus was entirely human to the belief that he was entirely divine
Docetism
In Christianity, docetism is the belief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die...
. The most persistent debate was that between the homoousian, or Athanasian
Athanasius of Alexandria
Athanasius of Alexandria [b. ca. – d. 2 May 373] is also given the titles St. Athanasius the Great, St. Athanasius I of Alexandria, St Athanasius the Confessor and St Athanasius the Apostolic. He was the 20th bishop of Alexandria. His long episcopate lasted 45 years Athanasius of Alexandria [b....
, view (the Father and the Son are one and the same, eternal) and the homoiousian
Homoiousian
Homoiousianism was a 4th century AD movement which arose in the early period of the Christian religion out of a wing of Arianism...
, or Arian
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
, view (the Father and the Son are similar, but the Father is greater than the Son). This controversy led to Constantine's calling a council meeting at Nicaea in 325. This council supported the Athanasian view and was later compared to the apostolic Council of Jerusalem
Council of Jerusalem
The Council of Jerusalem is a name applied by historians and theologians to an Early Christian council that was held in Jerusalem and dated to around the year 50. It is considered by Catholics and Orthodox to be a prototype and forerunner of the later Ecumenical Councils...
which established the conditions under which gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
s (non-Jews) could join the Church.
Christological debates raged throughout the 4th century with emperors becoming ever more involved with the Church and the Church becoming ever more divided. The Council of Nicaea in 325 supported the Athanasian view. The Council of Rimini
Council of Rimini
The Council of Rimini was an early Christian church synod held in Ariminum ....
in 359 supported the Arian view. The Council of Constantinople in 360 supported a compromise that allowed for both views (see Semi-Arianism
Semi-Arianism
Semi-Arianism is a name frequently given to the Trinitarian position of the conservative majority of the Eastern Christian Church in the 4th century, to distinguish it from strict Arianism....
). The Council of Constantinople in 381
First Council of Constantinople
The First Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Second Ecumenical Council by the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox, the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was the first Ecumenical Council held in...
re-asserted the Athanasian view and rejected the Arian view. Emperor Constantine was of divided opinions (even as to whether he was Christian) but he largely backed the Athanasian faction (though he was baptized on his death bed by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia
Eusebius of Nicomedia
Eusebius of Nicomedia was the man who baptised Constantine. He was a bishop of Berytus in Phoenicia, then of Nicomedia where the imperial court resided in Bithynia, and finally of Constantinople from 338 up to his death....
). His successor Constantius II
Constantius II
Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....
supported a Semi-Arian position. Emperor Julian
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
favored a return to the traditional (pagan) Roman/Greek religion but this trend was quickly quashed by his successor Jovian, a supporter of the Athanasian faction.
With the Edict of Thessalonica
Edict of Thessalonica
The Edict of Thessalonica, also known as Cunctos populos, was delivered on 27 February 380 by Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II in order that all their subjects should profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria...
of 27 February 380, Emperor Theodosius I
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
established the Christianity of the First Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
as the official state religion
State religion
A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...
, reserving for its followers the title of Catholic Christians:
Theodosius called the Council of Constantinople in 381
First Council of Constantinople
The First Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Second Ecumenical Council by the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox, the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was the first Ecumenical Council held in...
to further refine the definition of orthodoxy, and according to tradition, issue the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. In 391 Theodosius closed all of the pagan (non-Christian/non-Jewish) temples and formally forbade pagan worship. The churches adhering to Theodosius' prescriptions had effectively become a department of the Roman state. Theodosius's 380 decree explicitly declared that those who were not followers of the religion taught in Rome (literally referring to their leader Pope Damasus I
Pope Damasus I
Pope Saint Damasus I was the bishop of Rome from 366 to 384.He was born around 305, probably near the city of Idanha-a-Velha , in what is present-day Portugal, then part of the Western Roman Empire...
) and Alexandria (literally referring to their leader Pope Peter of Alexandria
Pope Peter of Alexandria
Pope Peter of Alexandria was Pope of Alexandria . He is revered as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church.-Life:...
) were to be called heretics
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
.
Late antiquity
Christianity in the 5th century
The 5th century would see further fracturing of the State church of the Roman Empire. Emperor Theodosius II called two synods in Ephesus, one in 431 and one in 449 AD, that addressed the teachings of then-Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius and similar teachings...
would see further fracturing of the Roman Church. Emperor Theodosius II
Theodosius II
Theodosius II , commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Byzantine Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople...
called two synods in Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
, one in 431 CE and one in 449 CE, that addressed the teachings of then-Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius
Nestorius
Nestorius was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 22 June 431.Drawing on his studies at the School of Antioch, his teachings, which included a rejection of the long-used title of Theotokos for the Virgin Mary, brought him into conflict with other prominent churchmen of the time,...
and similar teachings. Nestorius had taught that Christ's divine and human nature were distinct persons, and hence Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
was the mother of Christ but not the mother of God. The Council rejected Nestorius' view causing many churches, centered around the School of Edessa
School of Edessa
The School of Edessa , often mistaken to be one and the same as the School of Nisibis, was a theological school of great importance to the Syriac speaking world. It had been founded as long ago as the 2nd century by the kings of the Abgar dynasty. In 363 Nisibis fell to the Persians, causing St....
, to break with the imperial church (see Nestorian schism
Nestorian Schism
The Nestorian Schism was the split between the Orthodox Church and churches affiliated with Nestorian doctrine in the 5th century. The schism rose out of a Christological dispute, the key figures in which were Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius...
). Persecuted within the Roman Empire many Nestorians fled to Persia and joined the Sassanid Church (the future Church of the East
Church of the East
The Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
) thereby making it a center of Nestorianism
Nestorianism
Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...
. In 451 the Council of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
was held to clarify the issue further. The council ultimately stated that Christ's divine and human nature were separate but both part of a single entity, a viewpoint rejected by many churches who called themselves miaphysites. The resulting schism created a communion of churches, including the Armenian, Syrian, and Egyptian churches, that is today known as Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy is the faith of those Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon...
. In spite of these schisms, however, the imperial church still came to represent the majority of Christians within the Roman Empire.
At the end of the 4th century the Roman Empire had effectively split into two states although its economy (and the Church) were still strongly tied. The two halves of the Empire had always had cultural differences, in particular exemplified by the widespread use of the Greek language in the Eastern Empire and the more limited use of Greek in the West (Greek was used in the West but Latin was the spoken vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
). By the 5th century scholars in the West had begun to abandon Greek in favor of the use of Latin. The Church in Rome, in particular, began to encourage the use of Latin in the western provinces and published Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
's Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
, the first authorized translation of the Bible in Latin.
At the same time as these changes were taking place the Western Empire was beginning to decay
Decline of the Roman Empire
The decline of the Roman Empire refers to the gradual societal collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Many theories of causality prevail, but most concern the disintegration of political, economic, military, and other social institutions, in tandem with foreign invasions and usurpers from within the...
rapidly. Germanic tribes, particularly the Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, gradually conquered the western provinces. Rome was sacked in 410
Sack of Rome (410)
The Sack of Rome occurred on August 24, 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths, led by Alaric I. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, replaced in this position initially by Mediolanum and then later Ravenna. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a...
, 455
Sack of Rome (455)
The sack of 455 was the second of three barbarian sacks of Rome; it was executed by the Vandals, who were then at war with the usurping Western Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus....
, and 546
Sack of Rome (546)
The Sack of Rome in 546 was carried out by the Gothic king Totila during the Gothic War of 535–554 between the Ostrogoths and the East Romans . Totila was based at Tivoli and, in pursuit of his quest to reconquer the region of Latium, he moved against Rome...
, and by 476 CE the Germanic chieftain Odoacer
Odoacer
Flavius Odoacer , also known as Flavius Odovacer, was the first King of Italy. His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire. Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos' death in 480, of the...
had conquered Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and deposed the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus
Romulus Augustus
Romulus Augustus , was the last Western Roman Emperor, reigning from 31 October 475 until 4 September 476...
, though he nominally submitted to the authority of Constantinople. Thus, in theory Rome was re-united with the East, but in practice Rome was more remote from Constantinople than it had been. The Arian Germanic tribes established their own systems of churches and bishops in the western provinces but were generally tolerant of those who chose to remain loyal to the imperial church.
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
in Constantinople launched a military campaign to reclaim the western provinces from the Arian Germans, starting with North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and proceeding to Italy. Though he was temporarily successful in recapturing much of the western Mediterranean he destroyed the urban centers and permanently ruined the economies in much of the West. Rome and other cities were abandoned. According to the entry in Liddell & Scott, the term orthodox
Orthodoxy
The word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...
first occurs in the Codex Justinian I.5.21 .
By the end of the 6th century the Roman Church had become firmly tied with the imperial government. The non-Christian religious traditions of the Germanic tribes that controlled many parts of the Empire and beyond greatly influenced the Church and changed many of its practices.
Rise of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
beyond Arabia in the 7th century, first clashing with the Roman Empire in 634.
Shortly before this new threat, the Roman Empire and Sassanid Persian Empire had concluded decades of war leaving both empires crippled.
By the late 8th century the Umayyad caliphate had conquered all of Persia and much of the Eastern Roman
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(Byzantine) territory including Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.
Suddenly much of the Christian world was under Muslim rule. Over the coming centuries the Muslim nations became some of the most powerful in the Mediterranean world.
Though the Roman Church had claimed religious authority over Christians in Egypt and the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, in reality the majority of Christians in these regions were miaphysites and other sects that had long been persecuted by Constantinople. The new Muslim rulers, in contrast, offered religious tolerance to Christians of all sects. Additionally subjects of the Muslim Empire could be accepted as Muslims simply by declaring a belief in a single deity and reverence for Muhammad (see Shahada
Shahada
The Shahada , means "to know and believe without suspicion, as if witnessed"/testification; it is the name of the Islamic creed. The shahada is the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet...
). As a result the peoples of Egypt and Palestine largely accepted their new rulers and many declared themselves Muslims within a few generations. Muslim incursions later found success in parts of Europe, particularly Spain (see Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
).
During the 9th century
Christianity in the 9th century
The High Middle Ages begins in the 9th century with the coronation of Charlemagne in 800 and continued with the Photian schism.- Carolingian Renaissance :...
, the Roman emperor encouraged missionary expeditions
Saints Cyril and Methodius
Saints Cyril and Methodius were two Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessaloniki in the 9th century. They became missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic peoples of Bulgaria, Great Moravia and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they...
to nearby nations including the Muslim caliphate, the Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
Khazars
Khazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
, and Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
. The success of these missions in Moravia led to further missions in Slavic Bulgaria
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state founded in the north-eastern Balkans in c. 680 by the Bulgars, uniting with seven South Slavic tribes...
and among the Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
. The Roman Church, specifically the branch loyal to Constantinople, would gradually come to be the official state religion for most nations in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
.
Rise of the West / Decline of the East
Christianity in the 8th century
- Eastern Church :By the late 8th century the Muslim empire had conquered all of Persia and much of the Eastern Roman territory including Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Suddenly much of the Christian world was under Muslim rule...
the Frankish Kingdom, a Germanic kingdom that had originated east of the Rhine, ruled much of western Europe, particularly in what is now France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The first Frankish king, Clovis
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
had joined the Roman Church in 496 and since that time the Franks had been part of the Church. In 768 Charles
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, son of King Pepin the Short, succeeded to the Frankish throne. During the 770s Charles the conquered the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
in Italy extending the Frankish realm over almost all of Italy. On Christmas Day in 800, the Roman Patriarch Leo III coronated Charles as the Roman Emperor, in essence denying the status of the Roman (Byzantine) Empress Irene, reigning in Constantinople. This act caused a substantial diplomatic rift between the Franks and the Byzantine Empire, as well as between Rome and the other patriarchs in the East. Though the rifts were settled to some degree and the Church in Rome in theory remained united with Constantinople and the rest of the imperial church, from this point forward East and West followed largely independent paths cultimating in the Great Schism
East–West Schism
The East–West Schism of 1054, sometimes known as the Great Schism, formally divided the State church of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively...
.
Charles followed a policy of forcible conversion of all Frankish subjects to the Roman Church, specifically declaring loyalty to Rome (as opposed to Constantinople). The strength of the Frankish armies helped repel further incursion of Muslim forces in Europe. Charles was seen in the West as having revived the Roman Empire and came to be known as Charles the Great (Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
in French). The re-unification of Europe led to increased prosperity and a slow re-emergence of culture and learning in Western Europe. Charlemagne's empire came to be called the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
by its inhabitants. The Church in Rome became a central defining symbol of this empire.
In 1054, following the death of the Patriach of Rome Leo IX
Pope Leo IX
Pope Saint Leo IX , born Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg, was Pope from February 12, 1049 to his death. He was a German aristocrat and as well as being Pope was a powerful secular ruler of central Italy. He is regarded as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, with the feast day of April 19...
, papal legates (representatives of the Pope) from Rome traveled to Constantinople to deny Michael Cerularius, the reigning Patriarch of Constantinople, the title of Ecumenical Patriarch and to insist that he recognize the Church of Rome's claim to be the head and mother of the churches. Cerularius refused resulting in the leader of the contingent from Rome excommunicating Cerularius and the legates in turn being excommunicated by Constantinople. Though the event, in and of itself, was relatively insignificant (and the authority of the legates in their actions was dubious) it ultimately marked the end of any pretense of a union between the eastern and western branches of the Church (see East–West Schism
East–West Schism
The East–West Schism of 1054, sometimes known as the Great Schism, formally divided the State church of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively...
). Though efforts were made at reconciliation at various times, they remained divided, each claiming to be the true Roman Church.
The Eastern Roman or Byzantine imperial church headed by Constantinople continued to assert its universal authority. By the 1200s
Christianity in the 13th century
The Eastern Roman imperial church headed by Constantinople continued to assert its universal authority. By the 13th century this assertion was becoming increasingly irrelevant as the Eastern Roman Empire shrank and the Ottoman Turks took over most of what was left of the Empire...
this assertion was becoming increasing irrelevant as the Eastern Roman Empire shrank and the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes. Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks is scarce, but they take their Turkish name, Osmanlı , from the house of Osman I The Ottoman...
took over most of what was left of the Empire (indirectly aided by an invasion from the West
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
). The other Eastern European churches in communion with Constantinople were not part of its empire and were increasingly acting independently, achieving autocephalous status and only nominally acknowledging Constantinople's standing in the Church hierarchy. In Western Europe the Holy Roman Empire fragmented making it less of an empire as well.
Councils
| Year | Location | Bishops in attendance | Recognized as ecumenical | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 313 | Rome | no | ||
| 314 | Arles Synod of Arles Arles in the south of Roman Gaul hosted several councils or synods referred to as Concilium Arelatense in the history of the early Christian church.-Council of Arles in 314:... |
no | Donatist schism | |
| 325 | Nicea | 318 | yes | |
| 335 | Tyre First Synod of Tyre The First Synod of Tyre or the Council of Tyre was a gathering of bishops called together by Emperor Constantine I for the primary purpose of evaluating charges brought against Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria.-Background:... |
no | ||
| 353 | Arles Synod of Arles Arles in the south of Roman Gaul hosted several councils or synods referred to as Concilium Arelatense in the history of the early Christian church.-Council of Arles in 314:... |
no | ||
| 357 | Sirmium Council of Sirmium The Council of Sirmium generally refers to the third of the four episcopal councils held in Sirmium between 357 AD and 359 AD. Specifically one was held in 357, one in 358 and one in 359. The third council marked a temporary compromise between Arianism and the Western bishops of the Christian... |
no | ||
| 359 | Rimini Council of Rimini The Council of Rimini was an early Christian church synod held in Ariminum .... |
400 | no | Supported Arianism Arianism Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father... |
| 359 | Seleucia Council of Seleucia The Council of Seleucia was an early Christian church synod at Seleucia Isauria .In 358, the Roman Emperor Constantius II requested two councils, one of the western bishops at Ariminum and one of the eastern bishops at Nicomedia to resolve the Arian controversy over the nature of the divinity of... |
no | ||
| 359 | Constantinople | no | Supported Semi-Arianism Semi-Arianism Semi-Arianism is a name frequently given to the Trinitarian position of the conservative majority of the Eastern Christian Church in the 4th century, to distinguish it from strict Arianism.... |
|
| 381 | Constantinople First Council of Constantinople The First Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Second Ecumenical Council by the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox, the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was the first Ecumenical Council held in... |
150 | yes | Condemned all Arianism Arianism Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father... |
| 382 | Rome Council of Rome The Council of Rome was a meeting of Christian Church officials and theologians which took place in 382 under the authority of the bishop of Rome, Damasus I. The previous year, the Emperor Theodosius I had appointed the "dark horse" candidate Nectarius Archbishop of Constantinople... |
no | ||
| 431 | Ephesus | 160 | yes | Nestorian schism Nestorian Schism The Nestorian Schism was the split between the Orthodox Church and churches affiliated with Nestorian doctrine in the 5th century. The schism rose out of a Christological dispute, the key figures in which were Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius... |
| 449 | Ephesus Second Council of Ephesus The Second Council of Ephesus was a church synod in 449 AD. It was convoked by Emperor Theodosius II as an ecumenical council but because of the controversial proceedings it was not accepted as ecumenical, labelled a Robber Synod and later repudiated at the Council of Chalcedon.-The first... |
140 | no | |
| 451 | Chalcedon Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th... |
370 | yes | Miaphysite schism Oriental Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy is the faith of those Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon... |
| 475 | Ephesus Third Council of Ephesus The Third Council of Ephesus was held in the Anatolian city of Ephesus in 475, and it was presided over by Pope Timothy II of Alexandria. It was also attended by Peter the Fuller, then Patriarch of Antioch, Paul the Exarch of Ephesus and Anastasius I of Jerusalem. There were reportedly between... |
no | ||
| 553 | Constantinople Second Council of Constantinople The Second Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Fifth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was held from May 5 to June 2, 553, having been called by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian... |
558 | yes | |
| 680 | Constantinople Third Council of Constantinople The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and other Christian groups, met in 680/681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical and defined Jesus Christ as having two energies and two wills... |
174 | yes | |
| 692 | Constantinople Quinisext Council The Quinisext Council was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Justinian II. It is often known as the Council in Trullo, because it was held in the same domed hall where the Sixth Ecumenical Council had met... |
215 | no | |
| 754 | Hieria/ Constantinople Council of Hieria The iconoclast Council of Hieria was a Christian council which viewed itself as ecumenical, but was later rejected by the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. It was summoned by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V in 754 in the palace of Hieria opposite Constantinople. The council... |
338 | no | |
| 787 | Nicea Second Council of Nicaea The Second Council of Nicaea is regarded as the Seventh Ecumenical Council by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic Churches and various other Western Christian groups... |
350 | yes | |
| 869-870 | Constantinople | 102 | west only | |
| 879-880 | Constantinople | 383 | initially accepted by both east and west, later only by the east |
Condemned the Filioque addition to the Creed |
The leaders of the Christian communities periodically gathered at synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
s, or councils, to organize the Church and establish doctrine, the very first being the Council of Jerusalem
Council of Jerusalem
The Council of Jerusalem is a name applied by historians and theologians to an Early Christian council that was held in Jerusalem and dated to around the year 50. It is considered by Catholics and Orthodox to be a prototype and forerunner of the later Ecumenical Councils...
around the year 50. Early councils, including the Synods of Antioch
Synods of Antioch
Beginning with three synods convened between 264 and 269 in the matter of Paul of Samosata, more than thirty councils were held in Antioch in ancient times. Most of these dealt with phases of the Arian and of the Christological controversies...
, had taken place prior to Constantine's involvement in the Church. As the Roman emperors became involved, they commonly called and even presided over the councils within the empire. Separate councils, such as the Persian Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
The Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, also called the Council of Mar Isaac, met in AD 410 in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sassanid Empire of Persia. The council, extended official recognition to the Empire's Christian community, known as the Church of the East, and established the Bishop of...
in 410 CE, the Council of Dvin in 506 CE, the Council of Orléans
First Council of Orléans
The First Council of Orléans was convoked by Clovis I in 511. Shortly before his death, Clovis called a synod of Gallic bishops to meet at Orléans to reform the church and create a strong link between the crown and the Catholic episcopate. 33 bishops assisted and passed thirty-one decrees on the...
in 511, and the Synod of Whitby
Synod of Whitby
The Synod of Whitby was a seventh century Northumbriansynod where King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome, rather than the customs practised by Iona and its satellite institutions...
in 664, were held outside the Roman Empire and outside the Roman Church to formally organize non-Roman Christians.
Beginning with those called by Constantine, the most significant role of the councils of the 4th and 5th centuries was to define orthodoxy within the Empire and to brand competing philosophies as heresies. As a side effect of this process a tradition of persecution against unorthodox Christians was established that lasted in Europe long after the age of the Roman Empire. Successive councils frequently contradicted one another. Councils were often declared as ecumenical
Ecumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
(i.e. general and binding) only to be declared heretical later.
The Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
in 325 CE established a general statement of faith known as the Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...
. Though this statement of faith would be debated and revised by future councils, it still remains a key statement of faith for many Christian sects today. This council and most of the other councils of the 4th century dealt with the debate between the Athanasian and Arian christological viewpoints. The Council of Nicaea backed the Athanasian view whereas the Council of Rimini backed the Arian view (Rimini actually had more attendees than Nicaea). Ultimately the Athanasian view with its formulation of the Holy Trinity became the official state religion.
During the 5th century the Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
in 451 led to the schism with the Church of the East
Church of the East
The Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...
and the schism with the Miaphysites. The latter schism established what is today known as Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy is the faith of those Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon...
.
Patriarchates
From the earliest times of the imperial church bishops sought to establish hierarchy within the Church structure. The First Council of Nicea in 325, in canon 6, recognized the already existing special authority of the sees of RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
and Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
, while canon 7 granted special recognition to Jerusalem
Jerusalem in Christianity
For Christians, Jerusalem's place in the ministry of Jesus and the Apostolic Age gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible.-Jerusalem in the New Testament and early Christianity:...
. Debate followed even after Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
established a Pentarchy
Pentarchy
Pentarchy is a term in the history of Christianity for the idea of universal rule over all Christendom by the heads of five major episcopal sees, or patriarchates, of the Roman Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem...
consisting of Rome
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
, Alexandria
Patriarch of Alexandria
The Patriarch of Alexandria is the Archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation of Pope , and did so earlier than that of the Bishop of Rome...
, Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its earliest period...
, and Jerusalem
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is the head bishop of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine Patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since 2005, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem has been Theophilos III...
. The emperor's decree was given ecclesiastical sanction in the Quinisext Council
Quinisext Council
The Quinisext Council was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Justinian II. It is often known as the Council in Trullo, because it was held in the same domed hall where the Sixth Ecumenical Council had met...
of 692, whose decisions, however, were never fully accepted by the Western Church. In the East the pentarchy of these five patriarchates was recognized as the leadership of the state church, but not by the popes, who recognized as holding a real patriarchal function only the three "Petrine
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
" sees of Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, in accordance with the canons of the First Council of Nicaea. In the East too, under the influence of the imperial model
Caesaropapism
Caesaropapism is the idea of combining the power of secular government with, or making it superior to, the spiritual authority of the Church; especially concerning the connection of the Church with government. The term caesaropapism was coined by Max Weber, who defined it as follows: “a secular,...
of governance of the state church, in which "the emperor becomes the actual executive organ of the universal Church", the pentarchy model of governance of the state church regressed to a monarchy of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Legacy
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, centuries of warfare between Christians from all over Europe and Muslims in Asia and Africa. The effort did not unify the Christian world. Ironically it was the Western Crusaders who ultimately broke the back of the Eastern Roman Empire (see Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
).
Throughout Europe, even after the fall of Constantinople to the Muslim Turks, an ideal of a never-ending imperial church connected to the old Roman Empire particularly in the Western Europe and the Russian Empire. Author Arthur Boak, in discussing the see of Rome, states
The reference book Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society, now in its ninth edition, with "its enhanced focus on religion and philosophy", presents western Europe as abandoning the idea of a single universal empire in favour of the idea of a single universal supranational church: "Membership in a universal church replaced citizenship in a universal empire. Across Europe, from Italy to Ireland, a new society centered on Christianity was forming."
As East and West continued to divide, the Western Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
would come to emphasize the term Catholic in its identity, emphasizing its assertion of universality, whereas the Eastern Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
would come, after the episode of Byzantine iconoclasm, to emphasize the term Orthodox in its identity, emphasizing its assertion as holding to the true teachings of Jesus. Both churches would claim to be the unique continuation of the Roman Church. Many of the churches that emerged from the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, including the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Church, similarly claimed legitimacy, retaining the core doctrinal formulations of the First Seven Ecumenical Councils.
See also
- Arian controversyArian controversyThe Arian controversy describes several controversies between the Christian Church fathers Arius and Athanasius related to Christology which divided the Christian church from before the Council of Nicaea in 325 to after the Council of Constantinople in 381...
- CaesaropapismCaesaropapismCaesaropapism is the idea of combining the power of secular government with, or making it superior to, the spiritual authority of the Church; especially concerning the connection of the Church with government. The term caesaropapism was coined by Max Weber, who defined it as follows: “a secular,...
- Chalcedonian Christianity
- Christianity in IranChristianity in IranChristianity in Iran has a long history, dating back to the early years of the faith. It has always been a minority religion, with the majority state religions — Zoroastrianism before the Islamic conquest, Sunni Islam in the Middle Ages and Shia Islam in modern times — though it had a much larger...
- Early ChristianityEarly ChristianityEarly Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
- History of late ancient ChristianityHistory of late ancient ChristianityThe history of late ancient Christianity traces Christianity during the Christian Roman Empire - the period from the rise of Christianity under Emperor Constantine , until the fall of the Roman Empire in the West . The end of this period is variable because the transformation to the sub-Roman...
- History of the Catholic Church
- History of the Orthodox Church