A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH By LARS P. QUALBEN St. Olaf College Revised and Enlarged WIPF & STOCK « Eugene, OregonWipf and Stock Publishers 199 W 8th Ave, Suite 3 Eugene, OR 97401 A History of the Christian Church By Qualben, Lars P, ISBN 13: 978-1-60608-167-9 Publication date 9/2/2008 Previously published by Thomas Nelson, 1933CHAPTER V Tue Post-Nicene Era. A.D. 325-590 The history of the Church in this era deals primarily with three lines of development: first, the relation of the Church to the Empire; second, the development of Christian doctrine; third, the development of church organization and cultus. (1) Christianity was established as the only authorized religion of the Empire, while heathenism and heresy were prohibited by law. The Gospel was preached among the barbaric tribes to the north and to the east. The Empire weakened, while the Church grew strong, gradually taking over the Dower of the State. After the destruction of the western part of the Empire, the Church was for several centuries the sole links with the past. (2) Since Christianity was considered the chief unifying factor in the Empire, great efforts were made to unify the doctrine of the Church. These attempts led the attention to the various theological controversies; to the formulation of creeds; to the five General Councils; and to the illustrious Christian writers of the period. (3) Efforts were made to unify the Church in organization and practice. Church government centered increasingly around the clergy; worship became ritualistic and external; secularity and corruption prevailed maturing the Church for the punishment son to come through Mohammedanism and the great tribal movements. I. The Church and the Empire—The Imperial Edicts of giz and 313 A.D. marked a great turning-point. In 311 Christians were granted a limited toleration, and in 313 the two émperors inius and Constantine declared: "We grant to the Christians and to all others full liberty of following that religion which each may choose.” These two edicts, which some have called the Magna Charia of Christianity, are among the most important documents in the history of mankind. It is interesting to note that as Christianity passed through the great triumphal Arch of Victory, the principle of full religious liberty was declared. Constantine saw that Christian principles could not be made a matter of law. Christianity must begin from within. But he clearly manifested, by subsequent edicts, that he favered the Christian religion, and after he became sele Emperor, he issued a general exhortation to his subjects to embrace Chris- tianity. At the same time he avoided the alienation of the pagan majority by retaining the title, and by performing the dutics of the Pontifex Maximus, High Priest for the official pagan religion. 116THE POST-NICENE ERA. A.D. 325-590 7 He moved cautiously but successfully where an ordinary ruler would have rushed forward, only to stumble and to fall. Constantine effected one of the greatest transformations in history, Before his death the Roman Empire had fargely emanci- pated itself from the old, pagan religions. Christianity was estab- lished as the great unifying bond of the Empire. That does not mean that everybody by this time professed Christianity. There still existed a powerful pagan majority, and a pagan nobility ; but a fundamental change had taken place in the public consciousness that was soon to bring visible and far reaching results. While Christianity was not formally adopted by Constantine as the religion of the State, he virtually gave it this position. The privileges that had belonged to the religious institutions of old Rome were given to the Church, with several new ones added. He exempted the Christian clergy from military and municipal duties and their property from taxation (313). He abolished various customs and ordinances offensive to Christians (315). He gave the Catholic but not the heretical churches right ta receive legacies (321). He enjoined the civil observance of Sunday (321), He contributed liberally to the building of churches, to the circula~ tion of the Scriptures, and to the support of the clergy. The Catho- lic churches were given the privilege of asylum. He preferred Christians to fill the chief offices, surrounded himself with Chris- tian councilors, ancl gave his sons a Christian education. This elevation of Christianity made Constantine the first repre- sentative of a Christian theocracy,? a policy which involved: (1) the assumption that all subjects are Christians just as the Old Testament theocracy assumed that all subjects of that government were Israelites; (2) an intimate connection between civil and religious rights; and (3) the belief that Church and State as divine institutions were the two arms of one and the same divine govern- ment on earth, This idea was more fully developed in the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, and has re-appeared in various forms even down to the present time. Constantine continued as the supreme pontiff of the religious affairs of the State. He called himself the bishop of bishops, and Eusebius and other church officials willingly granted him this title. When the Empire was shaken to its very foundations by internal dissensions and outward pressure by the barbarians, he relied upon Christianity as the only power capable of renovating and building a Theoerscy (Theor: God + tratea: rule),18 A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH up society and tottering political organization, He tried in every way to strengthen and to unify the Church. In 314 he called the Council of Arles to settle the Donatist controversy, and in 325 he called the first General Council of the Church, held at Nicea in Asia Minor, To this Council bishops came from all parts of the Empire, but few came from the West. They traveled by the im- perial post and at government expense. Constantine himself was Present at Nicea, and took part in some.of the meetings. In 330 he transferred the seat of government to Byzantium,? mainly because of his dislike of the heathenism still prevailing in Rome. The selection of this unrivalled locality for the building of Location oF Trusts, A.D. 500 a new Christian Rome (Constantinople) profoundly affected the future course of history. One result was a divided Empire and a divided Church although Constantine tried to make the new gov- ernment seat the real center of Christianity, He built magnificent churches; he had works of art brought from all parts of the world; and he elevated the Bishop of Constantinople to a position equal to that of the Bishop of Rome.* All succeeding emperors, with the exception of Julian the Apos- tate (361-363) placed themselves on the side of Christianity. The three sons of Constantine did not follow his wise policy, but tried p above, 5S Bt gave away 0 splendid copies of the Bible prepared under the direction of Euscbius of Caesarea.THE POST-NICENE ERA, A.D. 325-590 119 to suppress paganism by force. Julian the Apostate tried to revive Graeco-Roman paganism, but this reaction was short-lived and futile, The immediate successors of Julian gradually restored to the churches the privileges they had enjoyed under Constantine and his sons. In 392 Theodosius the Great declared all heathen sacrifices to be high treason, and in §29 paganism lost its last sup- port when Justinian the First closed the school of philosophy at Athens. All rivals of Christianity were vanquished. The Church enjoyed peace, popularity, and power. Shortly after Christianity had become firmly established in the Empire, “the fullness of time” came for a large number of invad- ing barbaric tribes. The great “Human Gateway” between the Caspian Sea and the Ural Mountains opened wide, and hordes of people moved swiftly into Europe, These invading tribes soon broke the boundaries of the Empire, and after many bitter strugg'es one of the barbaric chicfs, Odoacer of the Ostrogoths, dethroned the last of the western Emperors in 476. A number of barbaric kingdoms were set up: the Kingdom of the Visigoths (41g-711) in Spain and Southern Gaul; the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths (403-554) in Italy; the Kingdom of the Burgundians (443-534) in Southeastern Gaul; the Kingdom of the Vandals (429-533) in North Africa ; the Kingdom of the Franks under the Merovingians { 486-752) ; the Kingdom of the Lombards (586-774) in Northern Italy. Between 443-485 the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes left Denmark and North Germany and settled in South Britain. Slavic tribes also moved into the Eastern Empire. Tremendous changes took place in Europe as a result of these tribal movements, Can you sce the providence of God in prepar- ing the Church to sow the seeds of Christianity among these barbarians? What would have happened if these tribes had over- run Europe at the time of Pericles, at the time of Caesar Augustus, or even at the time of the Apostle John? Now the Church was ready to preach the Gospel among the barbarians. All Teutonic tribes were converted to Christianity either before, or shortly after their entrance into the Empire. The beginning was made by the Visigoths (Western Goths). Christian captives taken in war brought the Gospel to them, and Ulfilas (311-383) gave them an alphabet, and translated the Bible into their tongue. From the Visigoths Christianity came to the Ostro- goths {Eastern Goths), to the Vandals, and to the Lombards. The King of the Franks, Clovis (48r-gtr), became acquainted with Christianity through his queen, Clotlilda, a Catholic Bur-1z0 A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH gundian princess. After the battle with the Alemanni he de- cided to embrace Christianity. He was baptized, and he compelled his army to be baptized. In 587 the King of Spain, Ricarred, accepted Christianity. The Anglo-Saxons in Britain came in direct contact with Christianity through the Britons and the Celts, and the Christian Church was established in distant Abyssinia. Did the Church of this era remain true to her divinely ap- pointed mission by permitting hersclf to be adopted as the State Church? The question may not scem easy to answer. In general it may be said that while the masses were Christianized, the Church was secularized and paganized, Many other results may be registered, but the Church had no choice. Christianity had, even before Constantine, become a powerful factor in the Empire. Many worldly elements had entered the Church which now stood ready to receive the masses. Heathenism had collapsed. But people must have a religion, and Christianity was the religion that could properly take the throne. Suppose Diocletian had succeeded and Christianity had remained the religion of a small minority, European culture would then have developed under the influence of the Mithra religion (Sun- worship), the most powerful rival of Christianity at that time, Would this have given the Church a better opportunity to fulfill her mission? The Church of Europe might have been obliged to exist under much the same conditions as the Christian Church in the Mohammedan lands during the last twelve centuries. 19. REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. What general lines of development did the Chureh follow ? Vhy was Christianity for two centuries an unlawful, persecuted, and despised religion? | 3. Why are the edicts of 311 and 313 called the Magna Charta of Chris- Nianity ? 4. Why did Constantine succeed in bringing about such a marvelous trans- v i by the statement that Constantine beeame the first representative of a Christian theocracy ? Do you discover any difference between the theory of religious liberty to Constantine and that of the modern Protestantism? How do the two theories differ? . Why did Constantine transfer the seat of government to Constantinople? Did this transfer have any effect upon the future course of the Church? Why, do you think, did the “fullness of time" come for the Teutonic tribes at this particular time, and not earlier? What did the Church do for these barbarians? Was it a geod thing that Christianity became a State relig a » ~ Be