Radagast's Church History Project
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
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| Tuesday, August 16th, 2005 | | 5:52 pm |
| | Friday, August 12th, 2005 | | 6:53 pm |
The 410s: “City of God”
To visualise the situation facing Augustine when he began writing his book City of God in 413, imagine that he was Bishop of (for example) Phoenix, Arizona, in an alternate universe in which the Soviet Union invaded the USA. Soviet forces have invaded the East, destroyed Washington, DC, and are starting to approach Augustine’s home state.
“How could God allow such a thing to happen?” is the obvious question. In his book, Augustine first addresses people who are thinking of abandoning Christianity and going back to the old Roman gods. In 400 or so pages, he explains that the Roman “gods” had nothing to offer. This may seem irrelevant to modern times, but his comments on astrology—pointing out that differences in the lives of twins show that it doesn’t work—are still useful today. However, Augustine has considerable respect for the Neoplatonist philosophers, and points out that of all non-Christians, they had come closest to the truth. Like the Neoplatonists, he explains mathematics by saying that mathematical ideas exist in the mind of God.
Augustine then turns to the history of the world, beginning with the nature of the Trinity and the moment of Creation. He points out that Time began when the Universe did, so that there was no “before” Creation (God is not “before” Time, but “outside” Time). Surprisingly, this concept of Time was hailed as original when Stephen Hawking reinvented it in 1988.
Augustine explains that God did not create evil—that God only created good things, and evil is simply a “vacuum” where good is absent, because of bad choices by angels or human beings.
However, God can turn these bad choices to good use in His plan for the Universe:
And God was not ignorant that man would sin, and that, being himself made subject now to
death, he would propagate men doomed to die, and that these mortals would run to such enormities
in sin, that even the beasts devoid of rational will, and who were created in numbers from the waters
and the earth, would live more securely and peaceably with their own kind than men, who had been
propagated from one individual for the very purpose of commending concord. For not even lions
or dragons have ever waged with their kind such wars as men have waged with one another.
But
God foresaw also that by His grace a people would be called to adoption, and that they, being
justified by the remission of their sins, would be united by the Holy Ghost to the holy angels in
eternal peace, the last enemy, death, being destroyed [I Corinthians 15:26]; and He knew that this people would derive
profit from the consideration that God had caused all men to be derived from one, for the sake of
showing how highly He prizes unity in a multitude.
(Augustine, City of God, translated by Marcus Dods, Book 12, Chapter 22 (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.html). The passage also appears on page 503 of the Penguin Classics edition).
After some fascinating philosophy and theology, Augustine describes two “Cities:” the Earthly City, of which Rome was the latest instance, and the Heavenly City, which was the community of believers:
Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to
the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former,
in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest
glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the
other says to its God, “Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” [Psalm 3:3]. In the one, the princes
and the nations it subdues are ruled by the love of ruling; in the other, the princes and the subjects
serve one another in love, the latter obeying, while the former take thought for all. The one delights
in its own strength, represented in the persons of its rulers; the other says to its God, “I will love
Thee, O Lord, my strength” [Psalm 18:1].
And therefore the wise men of the one city, living according to
man, have sought for profit to their own bodies or souls, or both, and those who have known God “glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise” – that is, glorying in their own
wisdom, and being possessed by pride – “they became fools, and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts,
and creeping things” [Romans 1:21–23].
For they were either leaders or followers of the people in adoring images, “and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever” [Romans 1:25]. But
in the other city there is no human wisdom, but only godliness, which offers due worship to the
true God, and looks for its reward in the society of the saints, of holy angels as well as holy men, “that God may be all in all” [I Corinthians 15:28].
(Augustine, City of God, translated by Marcus Dods, Book 14, Chapter 28 (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.html). The passage also appears on pages 593–594 of the Penguin Classics edition).
The Earthly City began with Cain (Genesis 4:17 says that he founded a city), but the Heavenly City exists with God, although it has citizens here on earth. Augustine then traces these two Cities through the Old Testament: Abel (Heavenly), Seth (Heavenly), Enoch (Heavenly), Noah (Heavenly), Babel (Earthly), Abraham (Heavenly), Assyria (Earthly), and Jerusalem (both together). Augustine discusses the Old Testament prophecies of Christ, which refer to the Kingship not of the Earthly Jerusalem (which was destroyed by the Romans), but of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Although earthly cities like Rome may rise and fall, the God who guided history to the first coming of Christ will continue to guide history to His second coming, and to the triumph of the City of God:
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:2–5)
Augustine writes at length about the Resurrection, pointing out that the God who created so many good things here on earth, will provide even better things in Heaven. After more than 1000 pages, he concludes by saying:
… But there is not now space to treat of these ages; suffice it
to say that the seventh shall be our Sabbath, which shall be brought to a close, not by an evening,
but by the Lord’s day, as an eighth and eternal day, consecrated by the resurrection of Christ, and
prefiguring the eternal repose not only of the spirit, but also of the body. There we shall rest and
see, see and love, love and praise. This is what shall be in the end without end. For what other
end do we propose to ourselves than to attain to the kingdom of which there is no end?
I think I have now, by God’s help, discharged my obligation in writing this large work. Let
those who think I have said too little, or those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let
those who think I have said just enough join me in giving thanks to God. Amen.
(Augustine, City of God, translated by Marcus Dods, Book 22, Chapter 30 (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.html). The passage also appears on page 1091 of the Penguin Classics edition).
Augustine experienced the reality behind these words not long after completing City of God in 426: he died in 430 while the Vandals were besieging his city of Hippo. | | Monday, August 8th, 2005 | | 6:00 pm |
Brief hiatus
Due to this and that, the next entry here will be slightly delayed. It's hard to do justice to Augustine, and also I've been ill. But Radagast will be back soon... | | Monday, July 25th, 2005 | | 8:00 pm |
The 400s: Barbarian Invasions
The 400s saw increased Barbarian attacks on the Empire. In about 407, the Franks invaded the province of Gaul, resulting in the eventual renaming of the territory to “France.” That same year, the Romans began to pull out of Britain, which was eventually taken over by the non-Christian Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. This destroyed the English Church: England was not reconverted until the 7th Century. However, Christianity did survive in parts of Britain among the Celts.
In 409, the Vandals invaded Spain, giving their name to the region of Andalusia. However, they are mostly remembered for mindless destructiveness, and their tribal name has become a label for anyone who engages in pointless destruction. In 429, the Vandals crossed into North Africa. Most disturbing of all, in 410, Alaric the Goth sacked the city of Rome. Many Christians asked how God could allow that to happen, and it was partly to answer this question that Augustine wrote his City of God.
But all was not entirely dark in this decade. In 406, Mesrob (361–441) invented an alphabet for the Armenian language, and spent the next thirty years translating the Bible, thus giving the century-old Armenian Church the Scriptures in their own language (see http://armenianbible.org/ for an online version). Mesrob also evangelized the Georgians and Albanians.
In the Empire, Jerome was translating the Bible into Latin, producing a version known as the Vulgate, because it could be read in the West by ordinary people, and not just by Greek scholars. Jerome was born in 341 in Dalmatia, and eventually became a hermit in Palestine and Syria, where he learnt Hebrew. He studied for a time with Gregory of Nazianzus in Constantinople, and then began to translate the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew. He completed this great task in 406, and died in 420 in Bethlehem. | | Wednesday, July 20th, 2005 | | 8:35 pm |
The 390s: Augustine and Chrysostom
John “the Golden Mouth” (Chrysostom in Greek) was born in 347 in Antioch. Trained as an orator, he became a monk at about the age of 36. In 386, he became a priest, and in 398, Bishop of Constantinople. He took a strong stand against immorality in the Capital, for which he was exiled in 404. He died in 407. John Chrysostom is remembered for his commentaries on Matthew, John, and the Pauline Epistles (including Galatians: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2310.htm), and for a great many sermons (homilies), including:
Aurelius Augustine was one of the giants of the early Church. He was born in Tagaste (in what is now Algeria) in 354, to a pagan father and a Christian mother (called Monica). Having previously been a Manichean (a kind of Persian Gnostic), he became a Christian when he was 33. His Confessions (which we mentioned in relation to St Antony in the 270s) is one of the earliest and greatest examples of personal testimony, and is still read today (it is available in Penguin Classics, and online at http://www.ccel.org/a/augustine/confessions/confessions.html). Ambrose played a part in this conversion, since Augustine taught for some time in Milan:
… And by letters I notified thy bishop, the holy man Ambrose, of my former
errors and my present resolution. And I asked his advice as to which of thy books it
was best for me to read so that I might be the more ready and fit for the reception of
so great a grace. He recommended Isaiah the prophet; and I believe it was because
Isaiah foreshows more clearly than others the gospel, and the calling of the
Gentiles. But because I could not understand the first part and because I imagined
the rest to be like it, I laid it aside with the intention of taking it up again later,
when better practiced in our Lord’s words.
… Then I slept, and when I awoke I found my grief not a little assuaged. And as
I lay there on my bed, those true verses of Ambrose came to my mind, for thou art
truly … “Deus, creator omnium, …”
… Thus I
set free the tears which before I repressed, that they might flow at will, spreading
them out as a pillow beneath my heart. And it rested on them, for thy ears were
near me – not those of a man, who would have made a scornful comment about my
weeping. But now in writing I confess it to thee, O Lord! Read it who will, and
comment how he will, and if he finds me to have sinned in weeping for my mother
for part of an hour – that mother who was for a while dead to my eyes, who had for
many years wept for me that I might live in thy eyes – let him not laugh at me; but if
he be a man of generous love, let him weep for my sins against thee, the Father of
all the brethren of thy Christ. …
(Augustine, Confessions, translated by Albert C. Outler, Book 9, Chapter 5 & 12 (http://www.ccel.org/a/augustine/confessions/). The passage also appears on pages 189–203 of the Penguin Classics edition).
In 391, Augustine was ordained a priest, and in 396, Bishop of Hippo. That same year, Alaric the Visigoth sacked the city of Athens, so Augustine was living in difficult times. Augustine wrote very extensively, and perhaps his most famous book is City of God (also available from Penguin Classics, and online at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.html), which was written between 413 and 426. | | Monday, July 18th, 2005 | | 9:37 pm |
Been away
I've been on holiday... but, faithful reader, the next entry should be up in another day or two. | | Wednesday, July 6th, 2005 | | 7:30 pm |
New look
I'm experimenting with a new look for this journal. Let me know what you think, dear reader. | | 4:40 pm |
The 380s: The Council of Constantinople
In 381, Theodosius called a second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople, which again addressed the question of the Trinity, particularly the nature of the Holy Spirit. Sabellius had denied the Trinity, saying that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were simply aspects in which God revealed Himself at different times: that God revealed himself as “Father” in the Old Testament, as “Son” while Christ was alive, and as “Holy Spirit” since the Crucifixion. The Council of Constantinople condemned both this position and the Arian one.
The 186 bishops present at the Council (including Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa) reaffirmed the Nicene Creed, and added the clarifying words shown in bold, particularly relating to the deity of the Holy Spirit (the so-called filioque—the familiar phrase “and the Son”—was not part of the Creed that this time, and is still not accepted by the Orthodox Churches):
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead. Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver-of-Life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets. And [we believe] in one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, [and] we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
(Canons of the First Council of Constantinople: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3808.htm).
The Council confirmed that Bishops were “not to go beyond their dioceses to churches lying outside of their bounds,” confirmed the role of the Metropolitan bishops in administering their various areas, and stated that “the Bishop of Constantinople … shall have the prerogative of honour after the Bishop of Rome; because Constantinople is New Rome”. | | Wednesday, June 29th, 2005 | | 6:31 pm |
The 370s: Ambrose and Theodosius
In the 370s, the savage Huns began to invade Europe from Asia. This in turn put pressure on the Goths and other European barbarian tribes. In 376, tens of thousands of Visigoths were permitted to settle in the Empire. They repaid this hospitality by looting and pillaging, first in Greece, and later in Italy. In 410, the Goths sacked Rome, and the Western Empire slowly crumbled, ceasing to exist in 476. From the 370s, fear of barbarian incursions was something the Church was forced to live with.
In 374, Ambrose became Bishop of Milan (the Western Capital of the time) by popular acclaim. He had been born in 339 in what is now Trier in Germany. Influenced by Origen and Basil, he wrote against Arianism, and was to play a part in the conversion of Augustine. Ambrose wrote many hymns, which became part of monastic liturgy. Translations of his hymns are still sung today, including the evening hymn “Te Lucis Ante Terminum,” translated into English as “Now That the Daylight Dies Away.”
Now that the daylight dies away,
By all Thy grace and love,
Thee, Maker of the world, we pray
To watch our bed above.
Let dreams depart and phantoms fly,
The offspring of the night,
Keep us, like shrines, beneath Thine eye,
Pure in our foe’s despite.
This grace on Thy redeemed confer,
Father, co-equal Son,
And Holy Ghost, the Comforter,
Eternal Three in One.
|
Te lucis ante terminum,
rerum Creator, poscimus
ut pro tua clementia
sis praesul et custodia.
Procul recedant somnia
et noctium phantasmata;
hostemque nostrum comprime,
ne polluantur corpora.
Praesta, Pater piissime,
Patrique compar Unice,
cum Spiritu Paraclito
regnans per omne saeculum. Amen.
| |
See http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/n/o/nowddies.htm for music.
|
Ambrose has sometimes also been credited with writing the famous “Te Deum,” and many other hymns. Ambrose died in 397, and is buried in Milan.
O God, we praise Thee, and confess
That Thou the only Lord
And everlasting Father art,
By all the earth adored.
To Thee all angels cry aloud;
To Thee the powers on high,
Both cherubim and seraphim,
Continually do cry.
O holy, holy, holy, Lord,
Whom heavenly hosts obey,
The world is with the glory filled
Of Thy majestic sway!
Th’apostles’ glorious company,
And prophets crowned with light,
With all the martyrs’ noble host,
Thy constant praise recite.
The holy Church throughout the world,
O Lord, confesses Thee,
That thou eternal Father art,
Of boundless majesty.
Thine honored, true and only Son;
And Holy Ghost, the Spring
Of never ceasing joy; O Christ
Of glory Thou art King.
|
Te Deum laudamus:
te Dominum confitemur.
Te aeternum Patrem
omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes Angeli;
tibi Caeli et universae Potestates;
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim
incessabili voce proclamant:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt caeli et terra
maiestatis gloriae tuae.
Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus,
Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus,
Te Martyrum candidatus
laudat exercitus.
Te per orbem terrarum
sancta confitetur Ecclesia,
Patrem
immensae maiestatis:
Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium;
Sanctum quoque
Paraclitum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe.
| |
See http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/g/ogweptac.htm for music.
|
In 379, Theodosius the Great became Emperor. A champion of Christianity, he forbade worship of the old Roman gods. However, in 390, Theodosius put down a rebellion in Thessalonica, massacring thousands of people in the process. Ambrose responded to this by denying Theodosius Communion, and forced him to undergo a public and humiliating penance, thus demonstrating that not even a Christian Emperor was above the authority of God’s law and of the Church. | | Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005 | | 8:38 pm |
The 360s: A Turbulent Decade
The 360s were a turbulent decade. About this time, the Arian Bishop Ulfilas (311–381) brought Christianity to the Gothic barbarians of Western Europe, translating the Bible into the Gothic language (and inventing an alphabet to do so). Because of the warlike behaviour of the Goths, he chose not to translate the books of Kings and Chronicles.
St Ephraim, born about 306 in Nisibus in Mesopotamia, became head of the Cathedral school there. In 363 the Persians captured Nisibus, and their hostility made Ephraim a refugee. He became a hermit, living in a cave near Edessa (now in Turkey), where he composed a large number of hymns. He died in 373. His first hymn on the Nativity begins:
This is the day that gladdened them, the Prophets, Kings, and Priests, for in it were their words fulfilled, and thus were the whole of them indeed performed! For the Virgin this day brought forth Immanuel in Bethlehem. The voice that of old Isaiah spake (Isaiah 10:19), to-day became reality. He was born there who in writing should tell the Gentiles’ number! The Psalm that David once sang, by its fulfilment came to-day! (Psalm 87:6) The word that Micah once spake (Micah 5:2), to-day was come indeed to pass! For there came from Ephrata a Shepherd, and His staff swayed over souls. Lo! from Jacob shone the Star (Numbers 24:17), and from Israel rose the Head (Hosea 1:11). The prophecy that Balaam spake had its interpreting to-day! Down also came the hidden Light, and from the Body rose His beauty! The light that spake in Zachary, to-day shined in Bethlehem! Risen is the Light of the kingdom, in Ephrata the city of the King. The blessing wherewith Jacob blessed, to its fulfilment came to-day! …
(Ephraim the Syrian, Hymns on the Nativity I, translated by the Rev. J. B. Morris: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf213.iii.v.ii.html)
In a terrifying reminder of the past, the non-Christian Julian (“the Apostate”) became Emperor in 361 and attempted to suppress Christianity. Julian died in 363 in a bungled campaign against the Persians, without having had much impact.
St Hilary was born in Poitiers (France) in about 315 to pagan parents. In 350 he became Christian, and in 353, Bishop of Poitiers. Exiled for his Trinitarian stand, he returned to Poitiers in 360. Hilary wrote extensively on the Trinity and other subjects:
Let Sabellius, if he dare, confound Father and Son as two names with one meaning, making of them not Unity but One Person. He shall have a prompt answer from the Gospels, not once or twice, but often repeated, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, Matthew 17:5). He shall hear the words, “The Father is greater than I” (John 14:28), and “I go to the Father” (John 14:28), and “Father, I thank Thee” (John 11:41), and “Glorify Me, Father” (John 17:5), and “Thou art the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). … Thus our one immovable foundation, our one blissful rock of faith, is the confession from Peter’s mouth, “Thou art the Son of the living God.” On it we can base an answer to every objection with which perverted ingenuity or embittered treachery may assail the truth.
(Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity Book 2, Section 23: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/330202.htm)
St Martin was another famous Christian figure of the time. Born in Hungary in about 316, he was a soldier, but like Maximilian a century earlier, he felt that Christianity was incompatible with military service, and was imprisoned as a result. In 360 he joined Hilary in Poitiers and became Bishop of Tours in 372. He founded several monasteries, and was instrumental in spreading Christianity to the countryside: up till now, Christianity had been a religion mostly of the towns (indeed, the word “pagan” originally meant “rural”). Taking a rather direct approach, Martin achieved this partly by having pagan shrines in his diocese forcibly destroyed. Martin died in 397.
In 361, Apollinaris became Bishop of Laodicea. He taught that Jesus had a human body, but not a human mind or spirit: that Jesus was a purely Divine spirit simply “occupying” a physical human body. This of course denies Hebrews 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”
A Church Council in Alexandria in 360 condemned this point of view (Apollinarianism), reaffirming that Jesus was fully Man as well as fully God, as stated in what is called the Athanasian Creed (written about this time, but probably not by Athanasius):
(1) Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; (2) Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
(3) And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; (4) Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. (5) For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son and another of the Holy Spirit. (6) But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. (7) Such as the Father is, such is the Son and such is the Holy Spirit. (8) The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Spirit uncreate. (9) The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible. (10) The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. (11) And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal. (12) As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensibles, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible. (13) So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; (14) And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty. (15) So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; (16) And yet they are not three Gods, but one God. (17) So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; (18) And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord. (19) For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord; (20) so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say: There are three Gods or three Lords. (21) The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten. (22) The Son is of the Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten. (23) The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. (24) So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. (25) And in this Trinity none is afore, nor after another; none is greater, or less than another. (26) But the whole three persons are co-eternal, and co-equal. (27) So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. (28) He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.
(29) Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. (30) For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. (31) God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and made of the substance of His mother, born in the world. (32) Perfect [fully] God and perfect [fully] man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. (33) Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. (34) Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. (35) One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God. (36) One altogether, not by the confusion of substance, but by unity of person. (37) For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ; (38) Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead; (39) He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty; (40) From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. (41) At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; (42) And shall give account of their own works. (43) And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
(44) This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
(Athanasian Creed: http://www.prca.org/es_text3.html#athanasian)
The year 367 was significant because of a letter by Athanasius announcing the date of Easter (a traditional responsibility of the Bishop of Alexandria). The letter of 367 (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html) was the first document to specify exactly the Canon of the New Testament that we recognise today (see our discussion of the 180s). The Canon was confirmed by several Church Councils, including that of Carthage in 419 (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3816.htm). | | Wednesday, June 15th, 2005 | | 6:01 pm |
The 350s: Four Great Cappadocians
Gregory of Nazianzus was born in about 330. His father was the Bishop of Nazianzus in Cappadocia (in what is now Turkey). His close friend Basil (later called the Great) was born about the same time in Caesaria, and they studied together in Athens. In about 358, the two friends became hermits in Pontus, where their theological discussions were to bear fruit in sermons by Basil and hymns by Gregory. Basil acquired a reputation for helping the poor, and in 370 became Bishop of Caesaria, while Gregory was ordained as a priest, and assisted his father at Nazianzus.
Basil also articulated the rules of monasticism for the Greek Church (as Benedict was to do for the Latin Church). Basil died in 379 and his writings include De Spiritu Sancto on the Divinity of the Holy Spirit (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3201000.htm), and nine sermons on the Six Days of Creation (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3201.htm):
… “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” I stop struck with admiration at this thought. What shall I first say? Where shall I begin my story? Shall I show forth the vanity of the Gentiles? Shall I exalt the truth of our faith? The philosophers of Greece have made much ado to explain nature, and not one of their systems has remained firm and unshaken, each being overturned by its successor.
… Deceived by their inherent atheism it appeared to them that nothing governed or ruled the universe, and that was all was given up to chance. To guard us against this error the writer on the creation, from the very first words, enlightens our understanding with the name of God; “In the beginning God created.” What a glorious order! He first establishes a beginning, so that it might not be supposed that the world never had a beginning. Then be adds “Created” to show that which was made was a very small part of the power of the Creator. In the same way that the potter, after having made with equal pains a great number of vessels, has not exhausted either his art or his talent; thus the Maker of the Universe, whose creative power, far from being bounded by one world, could extend to the infinite, needed only the impulse of His will to bring the immensities of the visible world into being.
… Let us glorify the supreme Artificer for all that was wisely and skillfully made; by the beauty of visible things let us raise ourselves to Him who is above all beauty; by the grandeur of bodies, sensible and limited in their nature, let us conceive of the infinite Being whose immensity and omnipotence surpass all the efforts of the imagination. Because, although we ignore the nature of created things, the objects which on all sides attract our notice are so marvellous, that the most penetrating mind cannot attain to the knowledge of the least of the phenomena of the world, either to give a suitable explanation of it or to render due praise to the Creator, to Whom belong all glory, all honour and all power world without end. Amen.
(Basil the Great, First Sermon on the Hexaemeron: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/32011.htm).
Basil’s older sister Macrina also died in 379. She had played a large part in the education of her younger siblings, and founded a convent on the family estate at Annesi in Pontus.
Gregory of Nazianzus preached several famous sermons on the Trinity. For a time he was Bishop of Constantinople, but Arian opposition forced him to resign. In retirement, he wrote several religious poems and hymns, and died in about 390. His hymn “O Light that Knew No Dawn” was translated into English by John Brownlie in about 1900:
O Light that knew no dawn,
That shines to endless day,
All things in earth and Heav’n
Are lustered by Thy ray;
No eye can to Thy throne ascend,
Nor mind Thy brightness comprehend.
…
In supplication meek
To Thee I bend the knee;
O Christ, when Thou shalt come,
In love remember me,
And in Thy kingdom, by Thy grace,
Grant me a humble servant’s place.
Thy grace, O Father, give,
I humbly Thee implore;
And let Thy mercy bless
Thy servant more and more.
All grace and glory be to Thee,
From age to age eternally. | |
See http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/l/olitknew.htm for music and remaining words.
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Basil’s younger brother (another Gregory) was also a significant figure. Born in about 335, he at first married, and became a teacher of rhetoric. Later he became a priest, and in 371 he was ordained Bishop of Nyssa. His extensive sermons on the Trinity and other subjects benefited from his training in rhetoric. In particular, he used the language of Plato and Plotinus to express Christian theology, building the foundation for later Christian mystics such as St John of the Cross and St Bonaventure. For example, his On the Soul and the Resurrection (http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2915.htm) is based on a discussion with Macrina after Basil’s death:
… The speculative and critical faculty is the property of the soul’s godlike part; for it is by these that we grasp the Deity also. If, then whether by forethought here, or by purgation hereafter, our soul becomes free from any emotional connection with the brute creation, there will be nothing to impede its contemplation of the Beautiful; for this last is essentially capable of attracting in a certain way every being that looks towards it. If, then, the soul is purified of every vice, it will most certainly be in the sphere of Beauty. The Deity is in very substance Beautiful; and to the Deity the soul will in its state of purity have affinity, and will embrace It as like itself. Whenever this happens, then, there will be no longer need of the impulse of Desire to lead the way to the Beautiful. Whoever passes his time in darkness, he it is who will be under the influence of a desire for the light; but whenever he comes into the light, then enjoyment takes the place of desire, and the power to enjoy renders desire useless and out of date. It will therefore be no detriment to our participation in the Good, that the soul should be free from such emotions, and turning back upon herself should know herself accurately what her actual nature is, and should behold the Original Beauty reflected in the mirror and in the figure of her own beauty. For truly herein consists the real assimilation to the Divine; viz. in making our own life in some degree a copy of the Supreme Being.
… Becoming by this assimilation to the Good all that the nature of that which it participates is, the soul will consequently, owing to there being no lack of any good in that thing itself which it participates, be itself also in no lack of anything, and so will expel from within the activity and the habit of Desire; for this arises only when the thing missed is not found. For this teaching we have the authority of God’s own Apostle, who announces a subduing and a ceasing of all other activities, even for the good, which are within us, and finds no limit for love alone. Prophecies, he says, shall fail; forms of knowledge shall cease; but “charity never faileth” (I Corinthians 13:8).
… Not in hatred or revenge for a wicked life, to my thinking, does God bring upon sinners those painful dispensations; He is only claiming and drawing to Himself whatever, to please Him, came into existence. But while He for a noble end is attracting the soul to Himself, the Fountain of all Blessedness, it is the occasion necessarily to the being so attracted of a state of torture. Just as those who refine gold from the dross which it contains not only get this base alloy to melt in the fire, but are obliged to melt the pure gold along with the alloy, and then while this last is being consumed the gold remains, so, while evil is being consumed in the purgatorial fire, the soul that is welded to this evil must inevitably be in the fire too, until the spurious material alloy is consumed and annihilated by this fire. If a clay of the more tenacious kind is deeply plastered round a rope, and then the end of the rope is put through a narrow hole, and then some one on the further side violently pulls it by that end, the result must be that, while the rope itself obeys the force exerted, the clay that has been plastered upon it is scraped off it with this violent pulling and is left outside the hole, and, moreover, is the cause why the rope does not run easily through the passage, but has to undergo a violent tension at the hands of the puller. In such a manner, I think, we may figure to ourselves the agonized struggle of that soul which has wrapped itself up in earthy material passions, when God is drawing it, His own one, to Himself, and the foreign matter, which has somehow grown into its substance, has to be scraped from it by main force, and so occasions it that keen intolerable anguish.
… When such, then, have been purged from it and utterly removed by the healing processes worked out by the Fire, then every one of the things which make up our conception of the good will come to take their place; incorruption, that is, and life, and honour, and grace, and glory, and everything else that we conjecture is to be seen in God, and in His Image, man as he was made.
(Gregory of Nyssa , On the Soul and the Resurrection (380 AD), translated by William Moore and Henry Austin Wilson: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205.x.iii.ii.html)
Gregory of Nyssa died in about 395. | | Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 | | 7:47 pm |
The 340s: St Nicholas
St Nicholas is one of the most popular Christian Saints, and like many popular saints, almost nothing is known with certainty about him. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra (now Mugla in Turkey) some time in the Fourth Century, and had a considerable reputation for charity.
Specific anecdotes about St Nicholas (such as that he saved three poor girls from life on the streets by anonymously giving them bags of gold to use as dowries) are of dubious authenticity. However, his reputation led to him becoming the patron saint of children, and in the Netherlands in particular, gifts were given to children on his feast day of 6 December.
This practice of giving gifts on his feast day survived the Reformation—Dutch Protestants abandoned all other Saints, but retained the annual St Nicholas presents (as Luke 11:11–12 asks, “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”). When Dutch and English Protestants mingled in New Amsterdam (later New York), English children wished to adopt the practice, but their parents objected to the taint of Roman Catholicism. Presumably on the principle of “better pagan than papist,” the English replaced the Christian St Nicholas with folkloric stories of an Arctic magician, brought to New York by Swedish immigrants. The result was the modern “Santa Claus” and his reindeer. | | Saturday, June 4th, 2005 | | 6:13 pm |
Another break
I'm taking a short break again. While I'm away, I would like to collect suggestions for most important Christian people or events of the 20th Century. | | Tuesday, May 31st, 2005 | | 6:31 pm |
The 330s: Three Centuries of Church History
Three hundred years after the Resurrection, Christianity had survived the last (and worst) of the Roman persecutions. The Roman Empire had become officially Christian (the country of Armenia, of course, had been Christian for almost three decades).
St Antony had established solitary (eremitical) monasticism in Egypt. An alternative form of monasticism (cenobitical monasticism) was established by St Pachomius, another great Egyptian. Born in about 286, and converted in 313, he founded his first monastery in 320. His sister Mary founded convents, and at his death in 346 they had at least a dozen institutions. The essence of cenobitical monasticism was group activity: praying, singing psalms, and eating together. It was to become the dominant form of monasticism in Western Europe.
In 330, Athanasius was Bishop of Alexandria, and had consecrated (or was soon to consecrate) Frumentius as a missionary Bishop to Abyssinia. In a story reminiscent of St Patrick, Frumentius had been captured and enslaved in Abyssinia as a boy in 316, where he took the opportunity to spread the Gospel. Eventually returning to Egypt, Frumentius suggested that a bishop be sent: Athanasius could think of no better candidate than Frumentius himself. At the same time, the eastward evangelism of the Syriac Church resulted in the consecration of a Bishop in Merv (in what is now Kazakhstan) in 334.
The cessation of persecution allowed Christians to travel more easily, and provided the opportunity to resolve theological differences. This began with the Council of Nicaea, although a Council held in Jerusalem in 335 backed off from the condemnation of Arianism.
In 335 Constantine finished construction of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on the site of what Christians in Jerusalem told him was the tomb in which Christ was buried. Destroyed by the Persians in 614, it was rebuilt in 638 (and several times afterwards):
In the process of construction, Constantine’s mother Helena claimed to find the original cross on which Christ was crucified. Fragments of the cross were eventually distributed to other Christian cities, and led to the practice of kissing the cross at Good Friday celebrations.
In 339, Eusebius, the great church historian (and Bishop of Caesaria) died. The remainder of this historical survey will therefore have to continue without his wonderful History. | | Monday, May 23rd, 2005 | | 7:14 pm |
The 320s: A Christian Empire
Licinius, Emperor of the East, did not keep to the terms of the Edict of Milan, and his victims included the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. These 40 soldiers were martyred in 320 by being forced to remain naked on a frozen lake overnight, and their endurance was an inspiration to many Greek Christians.
After a period of conflict, Constantine defeated Licinius in 324, unifying the Western and Eastern Empires. As Eusebius says at the end of his History (finished in 325):
All fear therefore of those who had formerly afflicted them was taken away from men, and they celebrated splendid and festive days. Everything was filled with light, and those who before were downcast beheld each other with smiling faces and beaming eyes. With dances and hymns, in city and country, they glorified first of all God the universal King, because they had been thus taught, and then the pious emperor with his God-beloved children.
There was oblivion of past evils and forgetfulness of every deed of impiety; there was enjoyment of present benefits and expectation of those yet to come. Edicts full of clemency and laws containing tokens of benevolence and true piety were issued in every place by the victorious emperor.
Thus after all tyranny had been purged away, the empire which belonged to them was preserved firm and without a rival for Constantine and his sons alone. And having obliterated the godlessness of their predecessors, recognizing the benefits conferred upon them by God, they exhibited their love of virtue and their love of God, and their piety and gratitude to the Deity, by the deeds which they performed in the sight of all men.
(Eusebius, The History of the Church, translated by the Rev. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Book 10, Chapter 9 (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.xvi.ix.html). The passage also appears on pages 332–333 of the Penguin Classics edition).
Now secure in his position, Constantine no longer needed to move cautiously, and declared himself a Christian. Christianity was not merely to be tolerated, but was now the official religion of the Empire. The pagan symbol of the Sun no longer appeared on Roman coins, and soldiers were now obliged to attend Christian worship.
In a move which was to have great significance, Constantine founded a new capital on the site of the city of Byzantium. The new city was to be called Constantinople (now Istanbul), and was to be a Christian capital until 1453.
A Christian Empire gave the Church an opportunity to slowly introduce Christian morality into Roman laws (for example, regarding the treatment of slaves). Constantine also took the opportunity to address divisions within the Church. The most significant of these was theological, regarding the doctrine of Arianism.
Arius was an Alexandrian theologian, born in about 250, who developed a theory of the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. Rather too heavily influenced by Platonism, Arius asserted that Jesus was not God, but instead was the first and greatest of created beings, and that therefore “there was a time when the Son of God was not.”
Arius interpreted John 1:3 (“Through him all things were made”) as “all other things.” Arianism fitted well with verses in the Gospels which asserted Jesus’ subservience (e.g. John 4:34: “My food … is to do the will of him who sent me,” or John 6:57: “I live because of the Father,” John 5:19, John 5:26, Colossians 1:15, etc).
However, Arianism fitted less well with verses asserting the equality of the Father and Son (e.g. John 1:1: “the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John 10:30: “I and the Father are one,” John 8:58, John 14:11, etc).
Arius was strongly opposed by Athanasius, a young fellow-Alexandrian, who was born in 296, and was to become Bishop in 328. Christians all over the Empire took one side or the other. In 325, Constantine decided to resolve the conflict by calling a Universal (Ecumenical) Council in Nicæa. A total of 318 bishops attended, together with other clergy (including Athanasius). The bishops voted 313 to 5 to accept an anti-Arian creed (which forms the basis of what we today call the Nicene Creed):
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father. By whom all things were made, both which be in heaven and in earth. Who for us men and for our salvation came down [from heaven] and was incarnate and was made man. He suffered and the third day he rose again, and ascended into heaven. And he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead. And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost. And whosoever shall say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, or that before he was begotten he was not, or that he was made of things that were not, or that he is of a different substance or essence [from the Father] or that he is a creature, or subject to change or conversion—all that so say, the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes them.
(Canons of the First Council of Nicæa: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3801.htm).
Not that this explains fully the relationship between the Father and the Son: it says that the Son is “begotten, not made,” but fails to explain exactly what “begotten” means—it simply states what it does not mean.
The Council also made 20 other wise decisions, including:
- Recent converts should not be made bishops.
- Bishops should not have women living with them, except for “a mother, or sister, or aunt, or such persons only as are beyond all suspicion.”
- Bishops should be ordained by at least three other bishops, with the approval of the Bishop of the nearest large city, or metropolis (Alexandria, Rome, Antioch, etc).
- Anyone excommunicated by one bishop should be regarded as excommunicated everywhere, unless the excommunication was “through captiousness, or contentiousness, or any such like ungracious disposition in the bishop.”
- The Bishop of Jerusalem (or Aelia: see the 130s) had a special place of honour, but had no authority over the Metropolitan Bishops (interestingly, there was no special place for Rome, other than as a metropolis).
- Provisions were made for readmission of unorthodox Christian groups, including accepting their bishops in some circumstances.
- Those who sacrificed to the Roman gods “without compulsion, without the spoiling of their property, without danger or the like” should go through a 12-year process of penance (if baptised), or a 3-year process (if not), but Communion should nevertheless be provided to anyone near death.
- There should be no roving bishops, since that caused too much trouble: bishops should remain where they were ordained (this rule was to be broken often).
- No clergy should lend money at interest.
- Some Christians prayed kneeling, and others standing, which caused confusion. Prayer while standing would be the standard for public worship.
Unfortunately, the Council of Nicæa did not finalise the issue of Arianism. In an attempt to solve the conflict, various future Emperors backed first one side and then the other (Constantine himself was eventually baptised by an Arian bishop). Because of his strong stand for Trinitarian Christianity, Athanasius was sent into exile five times (for a total of 17 years) between 335 and 365, although when he died in 373 he was peacefully in charge of his flock in Alexandria. The Arians were strongly evangelistic, and sent missionaries to the barbarians of Northern Europe (particularly to the Goths). It was not until 589 that the last Arian Goths (those who had moved to Spain) joined the mainstream Church.
Today, acceptance of the Nicene creed can be almost taken as a definition of Christianity (as it is on one online forum: http://www.christianforums.com), although Arianism survives among the so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses (http://www.watchtower.org). | | Monday, May 16th, 2005 | | 4:49 pm |
Skipping a week
There will be no entry this week, due to illness. Next week the entry for the 320s will be up, though. | | Wednesday, May 11th, 2005 | | 4:04 pm |
The 310s: The Battle of Milvian Bridge
On 28 October in 312, Constantine fought a battle with Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge across the Tiber River, outside Rome. On the day before the battle, he had seen a cross of light in the sky, and seen or heard the message “in this [sign] you shall conquer.” A famous fresco on the walls of the “Constantine Room” in the Vatican Museum, designed by Raphael (and completed by his students in 1524), illustrates Constantine’s vision:
Constantine went into battle the next day with a standard in the form of a cross, and bearing the Chi-rho monogram (the first two letters of ‘Christ’ in Greek). His soldiers, many of whom were Christian, were victorious, and Constantine took over control of the Western Empire. Another fresco in the “Constantine Room” shows the battle:
As ruler of the Western Empire, Constantine gave Christians equal rights, and restored confiscated Church property. In 313, he met with Licinius, the Eastern Emperor, in Milan, and they issued a joint edict making this official for the Empire as a whole. That year Constantine also began building the first large Christian church—or basilica—in Rome, the church of St John Lateran, by rebuilding the palace of the Laterani family. The work was completed in about 322. Constantine was to build several other churches, both in Rome and around the Empire. | | Wednesday, May 4th, 2005 | | 2:55 pm |
The 300s: Diocletian’s Reign of Terror
In 303, Diocletian issued an edict ordering the destruction of all Christian churches, and the burning of all Scriptures, as well as depriving Christians of their civil rights. J.M. Roberts, in his History of the World, suggests that about 10% of the Roman Empire would have been Christian at this time. Shortly afterwards, Diocletian also ordered the torture and death of all clergy. In 304, he demanded that all Christians sacrifice to the Roman gods, or face torture and death. Eusebius describes the persecution, which occurred during his lifetime:
It was in the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, in the month Dystrus, called
March by the Romans, when the feast of the Saviour’s passion was near at hand, that royal edicts
were published everywhere, commanding that the churches be leveled to the ground and the
Scriptures be destroyed by fire, and ordering that those who held places of honor be degraded, and
that the household servants, if they persisted in the profession of Christianity, be deprived of
freedom.
… Then truly a great many rulers of the churches eagerly endured terrible sufferings, and
furnished examples of noble conflicts. But a multitude of others, benumbed in spirit by fear,
were easily weakened at the first onset. Of the rest each one endured different forms of torture.
The body of one was scourged with rods. Another was punished with insupportable rackings and
scrapings, in which some suffered a miserable death.
… It would be impossible to describe the outrages and tortures which the martyrs in Thebais
endured. They were scraped over the entire body with shells instead of hooks until they died.
Women were bound by one foot and raised aloft in the air by machines, and with their bodies
altogether bare and uncovered, presented to all beholders this most shameful, cruel, and inhuman
spectacle.
Others being bound to the branches and trunks of trees perished. For they drew the stoutest
branches together with machines, and bound the limbs of the martyrs to them; and then, allowing
the branches to assume their natural position, they tore asunder instantly the limbs of those for
whom they contrived this.
All these things were done, not for a few days or a short time, but for a long series of years.
Sometimes more than ten, at other times above twenty were put to death. Again not less than thirty,
then about sixty, and yet again a hundred men with young children and women, were slain in one
day, being condemned to various and diverse torments.
We, also being on the spot ourselves, have observed large crowds in one day; some suffering
decapitation, others torture by fire; so that the murderous sword was blunted, and becoming weak,
was broken, and the very executioners grew weary and relieved each other.
(Eusebius, The History of the Church, translated by the Rev. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, Book 8, Chapters 2, 3 & 9 (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.xiii.iii.html). The passage also appears on pages 258–265 of the Penguin Classics edition).
Those who were martyred in this persecution included St Agnes in Rome, and St Alban in England.
In the Western Empire, the persecution ceased when Diocletian abdicated in 305, but in the East it continued for several more years. In 306, Constantius, Diocletian’s replacement, died while in Britain, and his son Constantine was declared Emperor by the Roman Army at York. However, the city of Rome appointed Maxentius as Emperor, creating a dilemma that was not resolved until 312. | | Wednesday, April 27th, 2005 | | 6:42 pm |
Summary: The Third Century
Entries for the Third Century were:
- The 200s: Great African Theologians (2) – Tertullian
- The 210s: Great African Theologians (3) – Origen
- The 220s: Slaves in the Church
- The 230s: Two Centuries of Church History
- The 240s: The Decian Persecution
- The 250s: Baptism and the Council of Carthage
- The 260s: Christians in the Army
- The 270s: St Antony of the Desert
- The 280s: Diocletian Takes Power; the Date of Easter
- The 290s: Armenia – the First Christian Country
These have all been archived at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dekker/essays/history.html | | Tuesday, April 26th, 2005 | | 6:41 pm |
The 290s: Armenia – the First Christian Country
In the late Third Century, Armenia was an independent country. Gregory the Illuminator, born in about 257, was a descendant of the Armenian nobility. His father assassinated the King, however, and was killed in response, and so Gregory’s Christian nurse fled with the young boy to Caesaria in Cappadocia. There Gregory was brought up as a Christian. In about 280, Gregory decided to return to Armenia, were at first he was tortured and imprisoned. However, his conduct and witness succeeded in winning over Tiridates, the Armenian king, who became a Christian sometime in the 290s. In 301, the king declared Armenia an officially Christian country, with Gregory as its first Bishop, and a cathedral was built at Etchmiadzin. The current cathedral was rebuilt in 480, and still stands, although it has been extensively renovated and repaired:
Gregory died in about 330. In 406, Mesrob invented an alphabet for the Armenian language, and over the next few years produced an Armenian translation of the Bible. The Armenian Church (http://www.armenianchurch.org) was the first of several branches of the Church separated by geographical, political, and linguistic boundaries. The other branches were:
- The Greek Church
- This included the Eastern (Greek-speaking) Roman Empire, centred on what is now western Turkey. The Greek Church preserved the New Testament in the original language. The result of Greek copying and recopying the New Testament was the Textus Receptus, on which the King James New Testament was based. More modern versions of the New Testament also use the older Greek manuscripts, such as the Codex Sinaiticus (although the differences are small). Over the next few centuries, the Greek Church evangelised northwards into Eastern Europe.
- The Latin Church
- This included the Western (Latin-speaking) Roman Empire, centred on Rome. The Latin Church used a Latin translation of the Bible, which was later replaced with a new Latin translation by Jerome, produced between 383 and 405. Known as the Vulgate, it was the Bible of Western Europe for more than a thousand years. The Latin Church also slowly evangelised northwards.
- The Syriac Church
- Initially centred on Antioch, and using the Aramaic language (the language of Syria and Palestine), the Syriac Church used an Aramaic translation of the Bible, the Peshitta, produced during the Second, Third, and Fourth Centuries. The Syriac Church evangelised eastwards into Mesopotamia, Persia, and Asia. William Dalrymple in his book From the Holy Mountain describes the practices of the Syriac Church, which have been preserved since ancient times.
- The Coptic (Egyptian) Church
- While the Church in Alexandria spoke Greek, the bulk of Egypt spoke Coptic, the traditional language of Egypt (the Egyptian hieroglyphs record an ancient form of Coptic). There were, in fact, four dialects of Coptic, and translations of the Bible into all four were produced during the Second, Third, and Fourth Centuries. The theologians of Alexandria and the monks of the Egyptian desert had a far-reaching influence on the Christian Church as a whole, for example in the development of Irish monasticism. The Coptic Church survives today, in spite of persecution: see http://www.copticchurch.net/
- The Ethiopic Church
- The Ethiopic Church was established when Frumentius preached the gospel in Abyssinia in the early Fourth Century. A branch of the Coptic Church, they soon had their own Ethiopic Bible, and Ethiopia was a Christian country for several centuries.
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