Chapter 3
THEO 300: ECCLESIOLOGY
Christianity
- As state religion, the ecumenical councils,
and the rise of monasticism.
Period of Christianity
- In this chapter, we shall highlight the
declaration of Christianity as the Roman
State Religion, the Christological heresies,
the Ecumenical Councils and the
emergence of Monasticism.
End of Persecution
- The persecution of the Christians ended
at the time of the Emperor Galerius who
gave the Edict of Toleration in 311 A.D.,
thereby granting an imperial assurance of
safety, respect, and independence in the
conduct of the Christian faith.
Christianity won
- It was Galerius’ dying wish through an
edict that “formally ended the
persecution, freed imprisoned Christians
and restored Christianity.
Roman Oppositions
- But there were authorities who still
insisted that Christians must pay homage
to the Roman gods.
Anti – Christians
- Inscription from Arycandia in Lycia
preserves the petition of the provincial
councils of Lycia and Caria demanding
the ‘atheists’ (Christians) should be made
to sacrifice or be expelled from their
midst.
- The same tone was adopted by the
councils of Nicomedia, Antioch, and Tyre.
At Damascus, the military commander
rounded up prostitutes and coerced them
to confess to having witnessed disgraceful
scene in Christian churches.
Killing of Christians
- The savage outbreak of killing between
November 311 to January 312 deprived
the Christians in the East of some of their
foremost leaders
Persecution Resumed
- It seemed like persecution was not yet
fully subdued. Christians re-experienced
the horror of persecution and at the same
time, the gift of martyrdom.
End of Persecution
- Edict of Toleration
‫ﻩ‬ But through an edict, Constantine
who with Licinus, gave the
persecution its final and definitive
halt in 313 A.D., right after
defeating Maxentius in October
312
The Edict of Milan
‫ﻩ‬ “…it is our pleasure that all
restrictions which were previously
put forward in official
pronouncements concerning the
sect of the Christians should be
removed and that each one of
them … may endeavor to practice
its precepts without any fear or
danger…”
‫ﻩ‬ “ We, Constantine and Licinus the
Emperors… are of the opinion that
among the various things which
could profit men… was to be found
the cultivation of religion; we
should therefore give both the
Christians and to all others the
free facility to follow the religion…”
× ALLELUIA! – After a thousand lives had
been slaughtered for the conviction which
they paid by their blood, the Christians
felt that their prayers were finally
answered and their faith triumphed
against the evil of persecution.
× WHAT is the MOTIVATION? - But we may
ask this question: What prompted
Constantine to issue such a degree? Was
it religiously or politically motivated?
CONSTANTINE: A political opportunist or
religious hero?
- Constantine: opportunist or hero?
‫ﻩ‬ Constantine was criticized by
some as a shrewd political
strategist who used Christianity
for his self-serving intentions.
‫ﻩ‬ Accordingly, he used such religion
to expand the territory and power
of the Roman Empire, multiplied
the number of his army and
exploited the Christian teachings
to control and regulate the
behaviors of his subjects.
- Historical Events
‫ﻩ‬ Time of War and the Vision
Constantine’s victory over the
Emperor Maxentius at the Milvian
Bridge on October 312.
¦ Constantine started his
journey to Christianity
 when he received the vision
“with a cross of light
inscribed “in hoc (signo)
vinces, as described by
Eusebius.”
¦ The victorious emperor had
his soldiers marked the
Chi-rho monogram on the
shields before the historic
war.
¦ Constantine’s victory over
the Emperor Maxentius at
the Milvian Bridge on
October 312.
‫ﻩ‬ Edict of Milan
Decree of unrestricted freedom to
the Christians.
¦ The Edict of Milan
proclaimed by Roman
Emperors, Constantine and
Licinus bestowed tolerance
for Christianity and other
religions.
¦ The decree also granted full
independence of pagan
religions to practice their
worship.
¦ But as Constantine
progressed in his reign as
the head of the Roman
Empire, his strong
inclination towards
Christianity was gradually
revealed.
¦ Constantine instructed the
proconsul of Africa,
Anulinus, to see that the
Catholic Church in North
Africa received back in toto
the possessions forfeited in
the persecutions, even if
these were now in the
hands of private citizens.
¦ At the same time, he wrote
to Anulinus, the proconsul,
instructing him that the
clergy “in the Catholic
Church over which
Caecilian presides, were to
be granted immunity from
state burdens.”
‫ﻩ‬ Devotion and Conversion
He speaks of the “Christian God”
as our God (famulum Dei). His
obedience to “the will of God” was
absolute.
¦ Constantine’s personal
devotion to the Christian
religion became more
pronounced.
¦ An increase of Christian
infrastructure and
monetary favor was also
noticeable. There was “the
gift of his wife Fausta’s
palace on the Lateran to
the Church in 313;
¦ Followed by the grant of
lands to various churches
in Rome, in c. 322 by the
building of monumental
church in honor of St.
Peter.
¦ Great privilege was given to
the clergy of the Christian
Churches in the form of
immunity granted from the
financial burdens of
municipal administration.
¦ Bishops were assigned
jurisdiction the same
validity as that of
magistrate. Clergy were
being recognized as civic as
well as religious leaders
and accorded a
corresponding status.
¦ On 11 May 330, two
months before his 25th
anniversary as Augustus,
he dedicated the new
capital Constantinople. He
forbade the offering of
sacrifices in the pagan
temples that had been
erected there. There was to
be no idolatrous worship
and no pagan festival.
¦ While the Christians, who
only consisted one-fifth
(1/5) of the empire’s
population at that time,
were enjoying full imperial
vindication in the practice
of their worship.
× IS IT SINCERE?
No matter how great the words and works
of Constantine towards Christianity, some
historians remained doubtful regarding
his sincere conversion to Christian faith,
which only took place on his deathbed.
Great Ecumenical Councils
- While Constantine bestowed the Church
with so much temporal privilege, peace
and power, it was not immune from
internal threats to her unity.
- The Church encountered differences of
interpretations pertaining to its dogma
and doctrines.
- By definition, an ecumenical council is
“literally a council drawn from the whole
wide world or a “meeting of all the bishops
of the inhabited world (in Greek,
oikumene)”
- In order “to deliberate ecumenical
councils of the 4th century were primarily
focused on Christological heresies - a
dispute pertaining to the person and
identity of Jesus Christ.
Claim of Arius - Arianism
‫ﻩ‬ Arius, a priest at Alexandria,
preached that the Jesus Christ is
God’s foremost creature and
creator of all the others, but He is
not of the substance of God the
Father and not eternal.
‫ﻩ‬ The Son is a creature, created in
time by the Father and then used
by the Father in the creation of the
world.
‫ﻩ‬ Thus Christ was neither God nor a
human being. Rather, he was less
than God but more than human.
He was a kind of composite
intermediary being.
Council of Nicea
‫ﻩ‬ Arius disturbed the unity of the
Christians and sowed the seed of
confusion. He managed to
convince a few believers and went
around continuously teaching his
belief on Jesus being subordinate
to the Father.
‫ﻩ‬ The First Ecumenical Council of
Nicea, which was attended “by 230
bishops” condemned Arius as a
heretic and affirmed its faith in
Jesus as equal to the Father in the
famous Nicene Creed of 325 A.D.
‫ﻩ‬ Through the council, “the bishops
added the adjectives homoousios
in speaking of the Son of God; that
is to say that the Son is of the
same substance (ousia) with the
Father or consubstantial with him.
‫ﻩ‬ The Council affirms Jesus as fully
divine, eternal, not made and truly
human.
‫ﻩ‬ Athanasius the bishop of
Alexandria, was responsible for
the partial defeat of Arianism. He
was considered as “the greatest of
the 4th century defenders of 1st
Council of Nicea.
1st Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.)
‫ﻩ‬ Even with the fruits of the Council
of Nicea, heresies still persisted.
Another controversy came up
because of this question: If he
Jesus Christ was “very God,” how
could he be “true man?”
‫ﻩ‬ Apollinaris of Laodicea “denied the
full humanity of Jesus saying that
the rational soul in him had been
replaced by the divine Logos.”
‫ﻩ‬ Therefore, making Jesus
“incapable of sin because he did
not have a human soul which was
capable of sin and error.”
‫ﻩ‬ Richard McBrien further explains:
“How can God become a human
being without ceasing to be God
except by taking the place of the
mind in a human being?”
Apollinaris asked.
‫ﻩ‬ The Emperor Theodosius I, who
declared Christianity as the official
religion of the Roman Empire,
appointed a new bishop of
Constantinople, Gregory of
Nazianzus.
‫ﻩ‬ The Council of Constantinople
indeed re-affirmed Nicea and
condemned Apollinarianism and
Arianism.”
Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.)
‫ﻩ‬ After the achievements of the
councils at Nicea and
Constantinople, a new question
assailed the church authorities
and divided its leaders.
‫ﻩ‬ Nestorius, patriarch of
Constantinople, “divided the two
natures in Christ, one divine and
the other human and each has its
own personal manifestation.
‫ﻩ‬ Nestorius conceded that she
[Mary] was Christ-bearer
(Christotokos) but not the “Mother
of God” (Theotokos) as it was
“called by both Origen and
Eusebius of Caesarea.
‫ﻩ‬ On the other hand, Cyril, bishop of
Alexandria, attacked the claims of
Nestorius. An intelligent
theologian who is faithful to Nicea.
‫ﻩ‬ Cyril worked to emphasized the
unity of divine and human in
Christ” and strongly argued that
the title Theotokos for Mary is
“permissible.”
‫ﻩ‬ The Council of Ephesus
condemned the views of Nestorius
and declared Mary as Theotokos.
! Council of Chalcedon
“Jesus is a blend of God and
Man.”
Theology fail
 ‫ﻩ‬ Dissatisfied with the previous
declarations on the person of
Christ, Eutyches, a monk from
Constantiople, “asserted that,
although there were 2 natures
before the union of the
Incarnation, there resulted only 1
nature, the divine, after the union.
‫ﻩ‬ In other words, “Christ’s human
nature was completely absorbed
by the divine nature.” Such new
heresy was termed as
“monophysitism, the doctrine of
one nature in Christ.”
‫ﻩ‬ Since heresy deliberately and
clearly violated the teachings of
the previous councils, “Flavian,
the bishop of Constantinople had
Eutyches condemned and
excommunicated.”
‫ﻩ‬ While personal prayer and
work can be pursued, this
group set a common time of
prayer, work and various
communal activities.
‫ﻩ‬ They still practice the vows of
poverty and celibacy with the
addition of the pledge of
obedience to their superior or
abbot for an orderly communal
life.
c. Stylites Monks
‫ﻩ‬ Strange but true, the stylites
(from the Greek word, stulos,
meaning pillar) made their
sincere act of penance by living
at the top of a pillar.
‫ﻩ‬ Strange but true, the stylites
(from the Greek word, stulos,
meaning pillar) made their
sincere act of penance by living
at the top of a pillar.

Rise of Monasticism

- Monks
They were the best keepers of the Church
at a time when Christianity was
bombarded with worldly concerns and
immersed with mundane desires, earthly
allurements of power, prestige and
privilege.
- 3 Variety of Early Monastic Life:
Categories given by Richard Cronin
a. Eremitical Monks
‫ﻩ‬ The word eremitical is from the
Greek word eremos which
means solitary.
‫ﻩ‬ It was thought that “St.
Anthony (251-356), the Father
of Monasticism chose to live in
a life of solitary existence in
the desert of Egypt, of celibacy
and of self-mortification.
‫ﻩ‬ He was later, was followed by
at least five thousand monks.
b. Cenobitical Monks
‫ﻩ‬ From the Greek word
koinobion meaning convent)
‫ﻩ‬ In contrast to the solitary life
of the eremitical monastics,
the cenobitical monks lived
with their fellow monks in a
community under the
guidance and leadership of an
abbot.