By 381, Christianity had become quite established. Internally, at the Councils of Nicea (325) and Constantinople (381), the church had settled its understanding of the Trinity. Externally, Christianity had become the religion of the Roman Empire. In 380, Emperor Theodosius I had decreed illegal all religions except that of “catholic Christians” (by which he meant mainstream Nicene Christians, i.e those that held to the faith proclaimed at the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople). At this time, there were even some cases of Christian religious violence, often spearheaded by monks, such as the destruction of the synagogue at Callinicum in 388, or the assault on the library in the pagan Serapeum temple at Alexandria in 391. This did not of course mean that paganism ceased to exist or was inactive, but it did demonstrate the extent to which, within 70 years, Christianity had come to dominate the Empire.
A short time later, in 395, the Roman Empire was divided into two administrative halves, with their respective capitals at Rome and Constantinople. The destinies of these two halves of the Empire would be vastly different.
A leading preacher in the Eastern half of the Empire was John Chrysostom. Born around 344, John was brought up by a Christian mother, Anthusa. For a time, when Arian teaching dominated the Antioch church, John along with this mother had attended services outside the city led by Meletius. John was theologically trained by Diodorus of Tarsus. Having abandoned a prospective career in law to become a monk in 370, John spent ten years in a cave outside Antioch. Returning to that city in 380, John rose to prominence as a preacher. He was ordained deacon in 381, and priest in 386. His sermons expounded Scripture rigorously and systematically, and he applied the text with insight and forthrightness to the social issues of the day. This earnt him the nickname “golden mouth” (in Greek, Chrysostomos). Soon his talents caught the attention of the capital city, and in 397 he was, literally, kidnapped to become the next archbishop of Constantinople (a role later known as "Patriarch").
At Constantinople, Chrysostom served at the church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia). People were spell-bound by his preaching, and it was not unheard of for his hearers to break out into applause, or to exclaim, “Make John an Apostle!” As bishop, John promoted missionary work among the Goths, in Palestine, in Persia and among the nomadic Arabs. One of the themes of his preaching was a call to embrace voluntary poverty: “riches are not bad for you because they set robbers against you and completely darken your mind, but more because they make you prisoners of what you have and remove you from the service of God.” John came into conflict with the Imperial family, because, by implication, he was criticising their lavish lifestyle. In one of his sermons, he spoke about the evil queen Jezebel in the Bible in such a way that people understood him to be referring to Eudoxia, the Empress of Constantinople. He also fell out of favour with the patriarch of Alexandria for harbouring a controversial group of monks (the "Tall brothers"). Having made these enemies, twice John was banished into exile. The first time, his exile was accompanied by a powerful earthquake, and he was allowed to return. The second time, from 404, he was forced to march long distances, and, as a result, he died in Armenia in 407. He wrote many letters from exile, which have been preserved. He is considered one of three teachers of the Eastern church.
Meanwhile, in the western half of the Empire, Augustine of Hippo, born in 354, was just ten years Chrysostom's junior, and grew up and later lived and died in the Roman province of Africa (which corresponds to today’s Algeria and Tunisia). Augustine’s mother, Monica, was a Christian, but his father was not a believer. Having had major Christian influence in childhood, and having at one time joined the ranks of the catechumens (those preparing for baptism), as Augustine grew older he moved away from the faith. He was something of a prodigal son, following various philosophical and religious movements, and fathering a son outside of marriage. While working as a rhetorician at Milan between 383 and 386, thirty-year-old Augustine attended the services of the Milan church under the leadership of bishop Ambrose, arguably “the most influential churchmen in Christendom” at the time. Augustine was captivated by the preaching and the singing at the Milan church. However, he did not want to break with his life of sin. Famously, he prayed to God, “Give me chastity and continence, but not just yet.” One day, walking in a garden, he heard the words of a child, “Pick up and read.” Picking up the Scriptures, he read the following words, “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Romans 13:13-14). These words brought Augustine to repentance and faith. It was the year 386.
The terminology of the ruling by the Council at Chalcedon (451) alienated the followers of Cyril of Alexandria (see above). Following Cyril's terminology, they used the word “nature” to mean what others meant by the “person” of Christ. So for the Council to affirm "two natures in Christ" sounded similar to the heresy of Nestorius. For this reason, churches in Egypt (later known as Copts) and Syria (later known as Jacobites) did not accept the ruling of the Council. They are now known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches ("Monophysites" or "Miaphysites"). These churches, both Copts and Jacobites, engaged in missionary work, covering an area comparable to the work of the Church of the East. A particularly successful Monophysite churchman and missionary was Jacob Baradaeus (578) based in Antioch; there was a parallel Monophysite movement centred in Egypt. By 575, in these places, parallel structures had been set up for what have become known as the Oriental Orthodox (i.e. non-Chalcedonian) Churches. Meanwhile, the Chalcedonian church structure remained, and was known as the Melkite (i.e. Imperial) church.
Throughout this period from the late 300s to the 400s, there were attacks on the Empire from an easterly direction by various Germanic tribespeople such as the Goths and Vandals. Living in north Africa in 410, as the Vandals invaded, Augustine wrote "City of God" as his attempt to think through the fall of a Christian empire. He distinguished the everlasting City of God (God's Kingdom) from the City of Man (human civilisation, e.g. Rome). While the eastern half of the Empire survived this onslaught, the western half succumbed, and the western Roman Empire was finally irrevocably toppled in 476.
Even as the western Roman Empire fell to tribespeople holding to a debased form of Christianity (Arianism), elsewhere, the Franks (Germanic tribespeople like the Goths), and the Irish were being won for the gospel. The “apostle” to the Franks was Martin of Tours (316-397). Later, maybe in 508, the Frankish ruler, Clovis, would be baptised. Unlike other Germanic tribespeople, the Franks accepted Nicene Christianity, without previously being Arian in belief. Meanwhile, it was Patrick (d. c. 460 or c. 493) who led the conversion of the Irish. Patrick had grown up in a Christian family in Britain and was kidnapped and enslaved by Irishmen, before escaping, only to return to Ireland later in life to bring the gospel. Both Franks and Irish, now converted to Christianity, would come to play a key role in the ongoing history of the church.
A short time later, in 395, the Roman Empire was divided into two administrative halves, with their respective capitals at Rome and Constantinople. The destinies of these two halves of the Empire would be vastly different.
The place that encapsulates this stage in the unfolding journey of the Christian church is the small town of Chalcedon (the modern-day suburb of Kadıköy), on the opposite coast of the Bosporus sea from the eastern imperial capital of Constantinople, and which, in 451, served as the venue of the Fourth Ecumenical council. That council would provide additional clarity on the theological "hot topic" of the day, but also proved divisive as not all the church felt able to "sign up" to the decisions made. But more of that later.
A leading preacher in the Eastern half of the Empire was John Chrysostom. Born around 344, John was brought up by a Christian mother, Anthusa. For a time, when Arian teaching dominated the Antioch church, John along with this mother had attended services outside the city led by Meletius. John was theologically trained by Diodorus of Tarsus. Having abandoned a prospective career in law to become a monk in 370, John spent ten years in a cave outside Antioch. Returning to that city in 380, John rose to prominence as a preacher. He was ordained deacon in 381, and priest in 386. His sermons expounded Scripture rigorously and systematically, and he applied the text with insight and forthrightness to the social issues of the day. This earnt him the nickname “golden mouth” (in Greek, Chrysostomos). Soon his talents caught the attention of the capital city, and in 397 he was, literally, kidnapped to become the next archbishop of Constantinople (a role later known as "Patriarch").
At Constantinople, Chrysostom served at the church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia). People were spell-bound by his preaching, and it was not unheard of for his hearers to break out into applause, or to exclaim, “Make John an Apostle!” As bishop, John promoted missionary work among the Goths, in Palestine, in Persia and among the nomadic Arabs. One of the themes of his preaching was a call to embrace voluntary poverty: “riches are not bad for you because they set robbers against you and completely darken your mind, but more because they make you prisoners of what you have and remove you from the service of God.” John came into conflict with the Imperial family, because, by implication, he was criticising their lavish lifestyle. In one of his sermons, he spoke about the evil queen Jezebel in the Bible in such a way that people understood him to be referring to Eudoxia, the Empress of Constantinople. He also fell out of favour with the patriarch of Alexandria for harbouring a controversial group of monks (the "Tall brothers"). Having made these enemies, twice John was banished into exile. The first time, his exile was accompanied by a powerful earthquake, and he was allowed to return. The second time, from 404, he was forced to march long distances, and, as a result, he died in Armenia in 407. He wrote many letters from exile, which have been preserved. He is considered one of three teachers of the Eastern church.
Meanwhile, in the western half of the Empire, Augustine of Hippo, born in 354, was just ten years Chrysostom's junior, and grew up and later lived and died in the Roman province of Africa (which corresponds to today’s Algeria and Tunisia). Augustine’s mother, Monica, was a Christian, but his father was not a believer. Having had major Christian influence in childhood, and having at one time joined the ranks of the catechumens (those preparing for baptism), as Augustine grew older he moved away from the faith. He was something of a prodigal son, following various philosophical and religious movements, and fathering a son outside of marriage. While working as a rhetorician at Milan between 383 and 386, thirty-year-old Augustine attended the services of the Milan church under the leadership of bishop Ambrose, arguably “the most influential churchmen in Christendom” at the time. Augustine was captivated by the preaching and the singing at the Milan church. However, he did not want to break with his life of sin. Famously, he prayed to God, “Give me chastity and continence, but not just yet.” One day, walking in a garden, he heard the words of a child, “Pick up and read.” Picking up the Scriptures, he read the following words, “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Romans 13:13-14). These words brought Augustine to repentance and faith. It was the year 386.
Shortly thereafter, Augustine was baptised by Ambrose at Easter 387. He then became a monk and returned to his native Africa. He was ordained priest in 391, and consecrated as bishop of the town of Hippo in 395 (two years before Chrysostom was taken from Antioch to Constantinople). It was based in North Africa as a local pastor (bishop), that Augustine contended with various forms of wrong teaching: Manicheanism (which taught that good and evil are equal in power), Donatism (which held that the power of the Christian sacraments lies in the character of the one administering them), and the Pelagian heresy (which claimed that salvation is found in following God’s commands and Christ’s example, but without the the aid of God’s grace). Central to Augustine’s thought was grace – God’s undeserved gift of salvation in Christ.
Augustine also led the way with a alternative concept of the Trinity. Instead of beginning with the person of the Father of whom the Son is begotten (fathered), and the Spirit proceeds (comes out), Augustine began with the unity of the Godhead. Within the Godhead there is the One who loves (the Father), and the One who is loved (the Son), and the Spirit is the love that proceeds from Father to Son and back again. Thus, according to Augustine’s conception of the Trinity, the Spirit proceeds from the Father (to the Son), and from the Son (to the Father). This understanding holds to what is known as the Filioque (from the words “and from the Son”), and represents a longstanding area of disagreement and bone of contention between east and west.
Augustine died in 430. He is considered one of four major teachers of the western church: Ambrosius, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory the Great (d. 603).
A contemporary and friend of Augustine was Jerome of Stridon (d. 420), who is most famous for his Latin translation of the Bible, the Vulgate. Jerome spent a major part of his life as a monk at Bethlehem.
The same year that Augustine died (430), Constantinople, a successor of John Chrysostom's, was embroiled in theological controversy. The controversy surrounded the issue of Christology (the relationship between the divine and the human in Christ).
A contemporary and friend of Augustine was Jerome of Stridon (d. 420), who is most famous for his Latin translation of the Bible, the Vulgate. Jerome spent a major part of his life as a monk at Bethlehem.
The same year that Augustine died (430), Constantinople, a successor of John Chrysostom's, was embroiled in theological controversy. The controversy surrounded the issue of Christology (the relationship between the divine and the human in Christ).
Earlier, back in 381, the Council of Constantinople had condemned the teaching of a certain Apollinarius. Apollinarius had taught that Christ had no human soul. Apollinarius held that, in Christ’s case, the human soul was replaced by the eternal Logos (the eternal Son of God). By contrast, one of the leading theologians of the time, a major church father, Gregory of Nazianzen, had famously rejected the teaching of Apollinarius by stating the maxim that “the unassumed is the unhealed”. In other words, any part of our human nature which Christ did not take on (for example, a human soul) has not been saved.
This theological controversy over Christology entered a second phase with Nestorius, who briefly served as bishop of Constantinople (428-430). Like Chrysostom his predecessor, Nestorius had served at Antioch and had been trained in the same theological tradition; Nestorius' teacher was Theodore of Mopsuetia. The controversy surrounded the title "God-bearer" (Theotokos) ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Nestorius preferred the title "Christ-bearer", and was understood to be teaching that the eternal Son of God and the man Jesus are in fact two distinct persons. Thus, the baby in Mary's womb was just a human. This teaching was opposed by firebrand theologian from Egypt, Cyril of Alexandria, who proclaimed “one incarnate nature [sic] of the Logos”. As a result, the 431 Council of Ephesus proclaimed Mary as Theotokos, the God-Bearer, thus affirming Christ as a single person, and Nestorius was banished to Antioch and later Egypt.
The decision made at the Council of Ephesus in 431 alienated a party within the church associated with the Syrian theological School of Edessa, which relocated outside the borders of the Empire to Nisibis. The "Church of the East", the Christian church in the Persian Empire, had already, in 424, proclaimed itself autonomous and was headed by a Catholicos (a Patriarch-like presiding bishop of a connexion of churches based outside the Empire). The headquarters of the Church of the East were in the city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. By the end of the fifth century, the self-styled "Church of the East" had embraced the theology of Nestorius, teaching that the union between the Son of God and the human Jesus was not a "hypostatic" union, but a "prosopic" union (a union between two persons). The Church of the East no longer maintained communion with the church inside the Empire. The Church of the East was very missionary minded and reached into Central Asia, India, the Mongols and China. The height of its influence was under Catholicos Timothy I (780-823).
The church in the Roman Empire thus adopted the teaching of Cyril of Alexandria (although not his terminology): Christ is one person. However, this affirmation of the unity of Christ's person later needed to be balanced out with an affirmation of the distinction between his divine and human natures. Did Christ have one composite divine-human nature, as someone called Eutyches taught? The bishop of Rome (“Pope”), Leo the Great, in his “Tome”, formulated the orthodox answer to this question, speaking of one person in two natures that are united but distinct from one another. This position was adopted as the ruling of the 451 Council at Chalcedon.
This theological controversy over Christology entered a second phase with Nestorius, who briefly served as bishop of Constantinople (428-430). Like Chrysostom his predecessor, Nestorius had served at Antioch and had been trained in the same theological tradition; Nestorius' teacher was Theodore of Mopsuetia. The controversy surrounded the title "God-bearer" (Theotokos) ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Nestorius preferred the title "Christ-bearer", and was understood to be teaching that the eternal Son of God and the man Jesus are in fact two distinct persons. Thus, the baby in Mary's womb was just a human. This teaching was opposed by firebrand theologian from Egypt, Cyril of Alexandria, who proclaimed “one incarnate nature [sic] of the Logos”. As a result, the 431 Council of Ephesus proclaimed Mary as Theotokos, the God-Bearer, thus affirming Christ as a single person, and Nestorius was banished to Antioch and later Egypt.
The decision made at the Council of Ephesus in 431 alienated a party within the church associated with the Syrian theological School of Edessa, which relocated outside the borders of the Empire to Nisibis. The "Church of the East", the Christian church in the Persian Empire, had already, in 424, proclaimed itself autonomous and was headed by a Catholicos (a Patriarch-like presiding bishop of a connexion of churches based outside the Empire). The headquarters of the Church of the East were in the city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. By the end of the fifth century, the self-styled "Church of the East" had embraced the theology of Nestorius, teaching that the union between the Son of God and the human Jesus was not a "hypostatic" union, but a "prosopic" union (a union between two persons). The Church of the East no longer maintained communion with the church inside the Empire. The Church of the East was very missionary minded and reached into Central Asia, India, the Mongols and China. The height of its influence was under Catholicos Timothy I (780-823).
The church in the Roman Empire thus adopted the teaching of Cyril of Alexandria (although not his terminology): Christ is one person. However, this affirmation of the unity of Christ's person later needed to be balanced out with an affirmation of the distinction between his divine and human natures. Did Christ have one composite divine-human nature, as someone called Eutyches taught? The bishop of Rome (“Pope”), Leo the Great, in his “Tome”, formulated the orthodox answer to this question, speaking of one person in two natures that are united but distinct from one another. This position was adopted as the ruling of the 451 Council at Chalcedon.
The terminology of the ruling by the Council at Chalcedon (451) alienated the followers of Cyril of Alexandria (see above). Following Cyril's terminology, they used the word “nature” to mean what others meant by the “person” of Christ. So for the Council to affirm "two natures in Christ" sounded similar to the heresy of Nestorius. For this reason, churches in Egypt (later known as Copts) and Syria (later known as Jacobites) did not accept the ruling of the Council. They are now known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches ("Monophysites" or "Miaphysites"). These churches, both Copts and Jacobites, engaged in missionary work, covering an area comparable to the work of the Church of the East. A particularly successful Monophysite churchman and missionary was Jacob Baradaeus (578) based in Antioch; there was a parallel Monophysite movement centred in Egypt. By 575, in these places, parallel structures had been set up for what have become known as the Oriental Orthodox (i.e. non-Chalcedonian) Churches. Meanwhile, the Chalcedonian church structure remained, and was known as the Melkite (i.e. Imperial) church.
Throughout this period from the late 300s to the 400s, there were attacks on the Empire from an easterly direction by various Germanic tribespeople such as the Goths and Vandals. Living in north Africa in 410, as the Vandals invaded, Augustine wrote "City of God" as his attempt to think through the fall of a Christian empire. He distinguished the everlasting City of God (God's Kingdom) from the City of Man (human civilisation, e.g. Rome). While the eastern half of the Empire survived this onslaught, the western half succumbed, and the western Roman Empire was finally irrevocably toppled in 476.
Even as the western Roman Empire fell to tribespeople holding to a debased form of Christianity (Arianism), elsewhere, the Franks (Germanic tribespeople like the Goths), and the Irish were being won for the gospel. The “apostle” to the Franks was Martin of Tours (316-397). Later, maybe in 508, the Frankish ruler, Clovis, would be baptised. Unlike other Germanic tribespeople, the Franks accepted Nicene Christianity, without previously being Arian in belief. Meanwhile, it was Patrick (d. c. 460 or c. 493) who led the conversion of the Irish. Patrick had grown up in a Christian family in Britain and was kidnapped and enslaved by Irishmen, before escaping, only to return to Ireland later in life to bring the gospel. Both Franks and Irish, now converted to Christianity, would come to play a key role in the ongoing history of the church.
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