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Session 3 (300 – 400’s)

For more information on the 21 Ecumenical Church Councils click here Councils

• Edict of Milan in 313 gives Christianity legal footing as a recognized religion in the Roman empire. • Emperor Constantine emphasizes Christianity as a state religion.
• Empire Challenges Church -- Paganism didn't give up without a battle. Emperor Julian (361-363) attempted unsuccessfully to reestablish paganism.
• Empire Adopts Church --Christianity was officially made the state religion under emperor Theodosius IX in the year 381.
• The Canon of the New Testament is discussed and confirmed. In the 367 AD Easter letter of Athanasius, and at Councils in 382 and 397, final recognition was given. These do not create the Christian scriptures but confirm what was already generally recognized and accepted.
• 21 Ecumenical Councils – Nicea, Synod of Rome, Councils of Hippo and Carthage. Church now needs to clarify and define what it believes, especially concerning the person and nature of Christ. Under Emperor Constantine the first major council of church held in Nicea (modern Turkey) in 325. Second major Council held at Constantinople in AD 381.

Easter and Christmas begin to be celebrated. For more on the "Christian Calendar" click on these Christian Jewish

• Church Buildings Flourish -- After legalization the church gets big into real estate. Often its great basilicas are built on the sites of what were formerly pagan temples.
• Capital of Empire moves to Constantinople -- In 324 city founded Byzantine. City dedicated on May 11, 330. Rome no longer the center of power for the empire and church begins to fill in the gap at Rome.
• Eusebius -Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea becomes the first significant church historian and gives us invaluable documentation on the early church. Called the "Father of Church History"
• Augustine converted in AD 386. He would become one of the most important theologians in all of church history. Other major Church leaders include; Athanasius, Jerome, Ambrose, John Chrysostom. Church writers

400

• As the barbarians increasingly threatened the Empire, sacking the city of Rome, Augustine wrote City of God (413-426), showing that the true movement of history was the unseen conflict between sin and salvation, between the city of man and the kingdom of God.
• 406 Jerome’s Latin Vulgate written.
• 410 Rome sacked.
• Nestorianism spreads in the eastern church, emphasizing a distinction between Christ's human and divine natures. Chalcedon creed describes Jesus Christ as fully human and fully divine, with the two natures existing together without confusion.
• As the emperor's power declines, the Bishop of Rome's increases. Pope Leo I (440-461) negotiates and saves Rome from Attila the Hun (452). He asserts authority over other bishops, claiming bishop of Rome is successor to Apostle Peter.

• Third Ecumenical Council: Council of Ephesus (431) Pope Celestine I, defined the true personal unity of Christ, and declared Mary the "Mother of God" Theotokos and maintain her Perpetual Virginity 5 Dogmas of Mary

• Patrick (c. 390-460) sold as slave at age 16. He later escapes, goes to Ireland where he undertakes monumental mission.
• 496--Frankish King Clovis converted to Christianity and baptized. Conquers half of France and paves the way for Charlemagne's "Holy Roman Empire."

Discussion Question

Did Christianity becoming a state religion begin its downfall?

Session 4 (500 – 900’s)
• We are now in the early Middle (Medieval) Ages, the longest era in Christian history. Kellner coins the phrase in 1669 to describe 3 divisions in history; ancient, middle and modern. Later the term “post-modern” is used to describe the 20th century.
-- The development of the Mass (dismissal service). For more information on the Mass click here Mass.
-- Migrations of barbarian tribes that reshaped Roman world
-- Missions--often heroic ventures that over seven centuries reached all Europe
-- Monasticism--first a reaction against worldliness, becomes preserver of learning, Scripture and spearhead of missions and education
-- Men of the papacy
-- Manorial culture and economy
-- Mutuality of Church and State
-- Menace of Church divisiveness--quest for truth has never been easy nor always clean
-- Islam which overtook established Christian centers and posed grave threat to Christianity
-- Mentality of accommodation to paganism as "the stream imbibes the color of the soil through which it flows."
-- Mysticism of High Middle Ages
• 529--Responding to growing secularization of the church, Benedict of Nursia establishes monastery of Monte Cassino and the Benedictine Order. Benedict's "Rule" for monks (c. 540) will become the most influential over future centuries.
• 530-532--Boniface II, first pope of Germanic ancestry.
• Church buildings become more monumental. Justinian builds Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, dedicated to Christ as the "Holy Wisdom." Constructed 532-537.
• Dionysius Exiquus (550), a monk in Rome, establishes modern system of dating, using events after Christ as "Anno Domini," in the year of our Lord. (He missed the date of Christ's birth by a few years.)
• Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) gives the Mass much of the shape it has today.

600

609--Pagan pantheon in Rome consecrated as church of St. Maria Rotunda. As part of the dedication, Pope Boniface (609-610) confirmed All Saints Day.
• Organs begin to be used in churches. Church bells are used to call people to worship and Learning flourishes in Anglo-Saxon monasteries
• 648--Emperor Constans II issues "The Typos" limiting Christian teachings to that defined in first five ecumenical councils. Pope Martin I (d. 655) refuses to sign Typos. Martin is seized and banished to Crimea and dies. He is last pope to be venerated as a martyr.
• 664--After conflict between the original Celtic church and the Roman missionaries, England adopts the Roman Catholic faith at the Synod of Whitby.
• Mohammed (c. 570-629) begins the religion of Islam, which begins to supplant Christianity across the Middle East and North Africa.
• 638--Islamic capture of Jerusalem

700
• 731--The "Venerable Bede" (c. 673-735) completes his Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
• Spain is invaded by the Moors, Moslems from North Africa; Charles Martel defeats them at the Battle of Tours in 732--a decisive juncture in Christian resistance to Moslem advance.
• Boniface of England is a missionary to the Germans for 40 years. Finally is murdered by pagans in 754.
• Iconoclastic (image breaking) controversy over the veneration of images divides the Byzantine (Eastern Church) Emperor and the Pope, west. 2nd Council of Nicea settles issue.
• Papacy asserts its earthly rule and establishes the Papal States in Italy. Pope Leo III (d. 816) separates from the Eastern Empire and becomes supreme bishop in the West. For a list of Popes click here "Popes"
• Charlemagne becomes sole King of the Franks in 771.
• Schools for church music are established at Paris, Cologne, Soissin, and Metz.
• 781--Alcuin of York, England becomes advisor to Charlemagne and catalyzes the "Carolingian Renaissance."

800
• 800--On Christmas day Charlemagne (Charles the Great, c. 742-814) is crowned the first "Holy Roman Emperor" by Pope Leo III at St. Peters in Rome. Charlemagne noted for military conquests, strong central government, ecclesiastic reform and educational patronage.
• 831--Radbertus (c. 790-865) publishes first writing in the West on the Eucharist. It provokes controversy and anticipates later Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation
• John Scotus Erigena (c. 810-877), one of greatest theologians of early middle ages, helps pave way for scholasticism. Involved in eucharistic controversy with Radbertus and maintains in the supper we partake of the Lord "mentally not dentally."
• Significant missionary efforts make further inroads among heathen peoples of Europe.
• Photius (c. 820-895), a renowned scholar and layman, made Patriarch of Constantinople in 858. Later deposed and reinstated at least twice. Conflicts with pope and Rome over spiritual jurisdiction and doctrine Filioque controversy foreshadow deepening rift and eventual split between churches in East and West. “H.S. proceeds from the Father and the Son.”
• 862 the Great Church Schism begins.
• 869 4th General Council of Constantinople.

900
• Christianity continues to spread among the peoples of Eastern Europe during this century.
• To the east, Hungarians and Poles begin to convert to Christianity, and Christianity reaches Iceland and Greenland to the west.
• Ecclesiastical leaders were increasingly becoming embroiled in the political struggles of the European continent.
• Benedictine monastery established 909 at Cluny; becomes the center of a reform movement for the church to rid itself of the increasing secularization of its institutions and practices.
• Bohemian people embrace Christianity, but their "Good King Wenceslaus" is soon murdered c. 929 by opposing pagan rivals.
• Otto the Great (emperor 936-973) revives Charlemagne's dream of a Holy Roman Empire among the German people. In some form Otto's empire continues until the time of Napoleon.
• 993--Saints begin to be officially canonized by the Roman church.
• Papacy reaches a low point in morality.
• As the year 1000 approaches, many prepare for the coming of the Lord.

Discussion Questions

How has Worship changed and developed?
- the Mass - music – buildings – leadership

What are Icons (worshiped or revered)?

What was the Byzantine Empire?

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