Christianity in the 4th century
In the 4th century, Christianity went through important changes following three centuries of persecution within the Roman Empire.[1] Christianity turned from a persecuted sect of Judaism into the state religion of the Roman Empire.[1]
Background
[change | change source]Events
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Reign of Constantine the Great: 306 ‒ 337 AD
[change | change source]Constantine the Great was Roman Empire's first Christian emperor.[1] He became the emperor in 306 AD in York, Britain.[1] He held the Council of Nicaea in 325 to make a unified Christian doctrine in response to the Arian controversy.[1] He died in 337, seven years after he founded Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey).[1]
Under Constantine the Great, persecution of Christianity stopped after he rolled out the Edict of Milan in 313 to grant Christians their freedom of religion,[1] with a closer relationship between the Christian church and the imperial state.[1]
Reign of Constantius II: 337 ‒ 361 AD
[change | change source]Constantine the Great was succeeded by his third son Constantius II,[2] who ruled from 337 ‒ 361.[2] Constantius II was Arian,[3] who held the heretical view that "Jesus is not God [...] but a creature with a beginning".[3]
Reign of Julian the Apostate: 361 – 363 AD
[change | change source]Constantius II was succeeded by Julian the Apostate, the nephew of Constantine the Great.[4] Under Julian's brief rule, he rejected Christianity and promoted Neoplatonic Hellenism,[4][5] a form of Greek philosophy.[4][5] Nevertheless, Christianity survived.[1][4]
Reign of Theodosius I: 379 – 395 AD
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Theodosius I, the son of Count Theodosius serving as a commander under Valentinian I (reign 364 – 375),[6] succeeded Julian in 379.[1][6] In 380, Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion.[1][6] Since then, the church had become a core part of the imperial government, with government roles granted to Christian bishops across the empire.[1][6]
Bishops got privileges ‒ or special rights ‒ they had never had in the previous three centuries. St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan between 374 and 397,[1][6] wrote that the Christian church and the Roman Empire had become so interlinked that "Roman" and "Christian" had literally the same meaning.[1][6] By 400, the patriarch of Constantinople "enjoyed precedence at court before all civil officials.[1][6]
Monasticism
[change | change source]4th century also saw the rise in popularity of Christian monasticism.[1] Some Christians moved to deserts to become monks in monasteries and go about such simple lives as they believed Jesus to have lived.[1] As per Robert Louis Wilken, a historian specialized in Christian history,
By creating an alternate social structure within the Church they laid the foundations for one of the most enduring Christian institutions.
Select list of early Christian monks
[change | change source]- St. Anthony (251 – 356)
- St. Pachomius (c. 290 – 346)
- St. Basil, bishop of Caesarea Cappadociae (370 – 379)
- St. John Cassian of Marseille (c. 360 – 435)
- St. Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – 547), commonly deemed the father of Western monasticism
Work
[change | change source]Many Christian monks spent their days copying manuscripts and keeping their monasteries well-run.[1]
Pelagian controversy
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In addition to the Arian controversy as mentioned, which led to the condemnation of Arianism and consolidation of Trinitarianism at the Council of Nicaea in 325,[1] another notable theological controversy is the Pelagian controversy.[1]
The controversy happened when Pelagius, a British monk, believed that men were not born with the original sin but had the free will to choose to be good or bad without divine grace[1] (the unmerited and spontaneous gift from God,[7] such as salvation and sanctification.)[7]
St. Augustine, a North African monk, objected to Pelagius' view,[1] followed by Pelagius' criticism of Augustine's denial of human responsibility for his or her behavior.[1] Rather than seeking compromise, Augustine penned a series of treatises to scold Pelagius.[1] The dispute peaked in the condemnation of Pelagius by the Council of Carthage (416), Milevis (416), and Ephesus (431).
Later development
[change | change source]Eastern Orthodoxy
[change | change source]Though Pelagius got overwhelmed in the said theological dispute in the 5th century, his ideas was partly adopted by the Eastern Orthodox Church, which believed that the "original sin" referred to the "first sin" of Adam and Eve rather than something everyone was born with,[8] i.e. everyone is merely guilty of his or her own sins.[8] For illustration, the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) gave an example:[8]
If one of your close relatvies was a convicted serial killer, you might bear the consequences of his or her action as others might avoid you. However, you are not guilty of his or her sin.
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 Spencer, Sidney; Crow, Paul A. (February 28, 2025). "The alliance between church and empire". Britannica. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1
- Jones, A.H.M.; J.R. Martindale & J. Morris (1971). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire Volume 1: A.D. 260–395. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07233-6.
- Kent, J.P.C., Hirmer, M. & Hirmer, A. Roman Coins (Thames and Hudson, 1978)
- Matthews, John (1989). The Roman Empire of Ammianus. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-9799-7132-7.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Beliefs and controversy of Arianism - Britannica". Britannica. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Freeman, Philip. Julian: Rome's Last Pagan Emperor. Yale University Press. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 De Leseleuc, Anne (2013). Julien le philosophe : César des Gaules. Sagittaire.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Hebblewhite, Mark (2020). Theodosius and the Limits of Empire. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315103334. ISBN 978-1-138-10298-9. S2CID 213344890.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Grace | Definition, Description, Christianity, & Beliefs". Britannica. Retrieved March 2, 2025.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "St. Augustine & Original Sin". Orthodox Church in America (OCA). Retrieved March 2, 2025.