Crumbs from the Table

It was at Antioch that those scattered in the persecution after the murder of Stephen "spoke to Greeks also" and many believed. It was an Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.   By the 300s, Antioch was established as a major centre for the Christian faith. When, at the Council of Nicea in 325, particular cities and bishops were identified as having a "place of honour" with wider jurisdiction over other bishoprics (canon 6 of the Council of Nicea), the top four were Rome, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem (later, Constantinople was identified as second).  In the early centuries, the classes for new converts (catechetical schools) morphed into centres for Christian thought, sometimes compared to modern-day universities. There were catechetical schools at Alexandria, and at Antioch.  The school of Antioch has become associated with a plain interpretation of Scripture and also with the teachings of Nestorius, condemned at the 431 council of Ephesus....

The church where I currently serve as pastor uses the ESV translation of the Bible. This translation has many merits, but over the time I have been at the church again and again I have noticed how "clunky" it is.  The ESV translation of the Bible is not a new translation of the Bible, but rather a revision of an existing translation, namely the RSV. The existing word order of the RSV appears to have been retained, meaning that when you read it, the translation sounds rather stilted.  Here is an example (Mark 5:35): Original RSV: "While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said..." Current ESV: "While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said..." (in this case the ESV has used the RSV version unchanged) ESV rearranged based on word order in 2025 English: "While he was still speaking, some people came from the ruler's house who said..." In 2025 English, it is unnatural to order the ...

Leo was born in Tuscany perhaps in 391.  By the late 430s, he was consecrated as deacon. As deacon, he had responsibilities for managing the money and property of the church, and for caring for the poor. Leo was well known in the wider church to the extent that in 431 John Cassian dedicated his letter on the Nestorian controversy to Leo.  In 440, shortly before becoming bishop of Rome, Leo was sent to Gaul by the Emperor on a diplomatic mission. This demonstrates his skill in mediation, and also the new secular role of the church at this time of the decline of the Roman Empire.  That same year, in 440, on the death of the previous bishop of Rome, Sixtus III, Leo was elected to take his place. Prosper of Aquitane served as his secretary.  Leo fought against the Pelagian heresy, and dealt with the issue of clergy ordained without a clear abjuration of that false teaching.  In 443, he also conducted examinations into the community of Manicheans which had been ...

Theophilus of Alexandria was a Christian bishop at Alexandria in the 300s/400s.  Little is known of Theophilus' earlier life, other than that he had a sister.  In 385, Theophilus was elected bishop of Alexandria, which at the time was the fourth most senior bishop in the Christian church. The position he occupied had previously been held by Athanasius 328-373.  During his tenure as bishop, Theophilus appointed his nephew and future successor, Cyril of Alexandria, as deacon.   Theophilus is best known for controversies.  In 391, in the wake of the law passed by Emperor Theodosius, Theophilus embarked on a an anti-pagan campaign, which led to the destruction of the pagan temple/library the Serapeum and a Christian church built in its place.  In 394, Theophilus took part in a peaceful council at Constantinople. However, in 401 there was major fallout in Egypt over the theological teaching of the late Origen, which Theophilus rejected (having earlier espou...

Cyril of Alexandria was born in Egypt in 376.  As a young man, Cyril trained for six years at the monastery of Macarius in the Nitreia hills.   From 385, Cyril's uncle on his mother's side was bishop Theophilus of Alexandria.  Upon leaving the monastery, Cyril was ordained as a deacon by his uncle.   Cyril attended the controversial "Synod of the Oak" along with his uncle in 403. When Theophilus died in 412, Cyril took on his role as bishop of Alexandria, which at the time was the fourth most important bishop in the Christian church.  During his tenure as bishop between 412 and 444, Cyril was involved in many controversies.  Cyril, as head of the mainstream church, closed down the rival assemblies of the Novatians, a break-away Christian group.  In 415, he was involved in a standoff with the Jewish community, challenging the secular authority of the governor Orestes. A follower of Cyril, Ammonius, even attacked the Roman official, injuring him with a s...

John Cassian was originally from the region of Lesser Scythia (modern-day Romania/Bulgaria), where he was born in the year 360.  As a young man, Cassian travelled to a monastic settlement near Bethlehem, and later spent seven years in Egypt among Desert Fathers such as Evagrius.  In the 400, during the time of Chrysostom, John Cassian came to Constantinople.  Later, when Chrysostom was overthrown, he relocated to Rome in 404. Eventually, John Cassian settled in southern France in 415, where he founded a monastery and nunnery near Marseille, the Abbey of St Victor.  John Cassian was a figure who connected east and west, and it was he who brought the monastic experience and wisdom of the east to the west. He is the author of the Institutes. He is also known for his critical response to Augustine's teaching on grace, reflecting the Eastern teaching on "synergy" as opposed to the western emphasis on monergistic grace. Cassian and Augustine were contemporaries. ...

Jerome, the church father, was born in Stridon, Dalmatia (modern day Slovenia/Croatia) in 347. He studied at Rome, and was baptised in 370 (aged approx. 23).  In 372, Jerome set out on a journey through the Middle East, eventually settling in the Syrian desert in 374, where he learnt the Hebrew language - virtually no one else in the church knew Hebrew at the time.  In 379, Jerome was ordained as presbyter at Antioch, and shortly thereafter he studied theology under Gregory of Naziazus at Constantinople.  In 382, Jerome relocated from Constantinople to Rome, where bishop Damasus commissioned him to produce a new Latin translation of the Bible. This project, producing a fresh translation of the Bible into Latin from the original languages, took a whole 23 years, and what is known as the Vulgate (Jerome's translation of the Bible into Latin) was completed in 405. It is for this work of translation that Jerome is known as "patron saint of translators".  While at Rome 38...

At church we are coming to the end of a series in the gospel of Matthew on the "kingdom", arguably the key theme is Jesus' preaching. Before embarking on this series, after many years in ministry, I had a working definition of "kingdom" which went something like this: "The kingdom of God/heaven is the saving rule or reign of God in the lives of people through the person of Jesus Christ."  While there is much that is true in the working definition above, most particularly the centrality of Christ's person (without him there is no kingdom), I do now think this definition could be misleading in suggesting that the kingdom is now, when the consistent teaching of the Lord and his Apostles is that the kingdom is future; the "kingdom of God" is virtually synonymous with " the age to come ".  It is something of a commonplace that the kingdom is not a place. It might however be true to say that the kingdom *is* a time (namely the age to ...