Dr. Pothana

1. COACH Institute of Intercultural Studies, Hyderabad
History of Christianity-1
Dr. Pothana

2. 4) Macedonianism: It is important
to mention this heresy in connection
with the failure of Nicaea because
the doctrine of the divinity of the
Holy Spirit was also at issue at the
time and
because it became part of the
discussion at Constantinople.
a) Macedonius, bishop of
Constantinople declared that the
Holy Spirit was a creature
subordinate to the Son.
b) Also called Pneumatomachians
(from pneuma, spirit, and
machomai, to speak evil against).
c) Hilary of Poitiers’ writing on the
Holy Spirit represented the
orthodox viewpoint over and against
the Macedonians.

3. c. The Council of Constantinople (381)
1) Convened by Theodosius (a Nicene
Emperor)
2) Revised the Nicene Creed,
reaffirming and extending the teaching
of the Council of Nicaea.

4. 3) Athanasius (293-373)48
a) Patriarch of Alexandria
b) Champion of Trinitarian orthodoxy
c) Helped bring the East together
against the Arians
d) The impetus for his argument was
from the doctrine of salvation: if
salvation is union with Christ, if through
Christ we become “partakers of the
divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), then Christ
must be both God and man, because no
creature can unite us to God.

5. e) Key works
•Apology against the Arians
•Four Orations against the Arians
•History of the Arians
•The Incarnation of the Word of God
f) Five times driven into exile for his
orthodox beliefs (spent 17 of his 45
years as patriarch in exile)

6. 4) The Cappadocian
Fathers (three natives
of the province of
Cappadocia in Asia
Minor)
a) Who they were
Basil of Caesarea (330-379)
Gregory of Nyssa (335-394)
Gregory of Nazianzus (330-90)

7. b) What they did
Very basically, they were able to
clarifying the language used
to describe God, language that the
Niceans and Origenists
could agree upon in unity against the
Arians.
Homoousia: The one nature, being, or essence of
God that Father and Son share fully and equally,
making them one God.
Hypostasis: The particular and distinct form in
which the divine nature exists in Father and Son,
making them two distinct persons.

8. They also settled a dispute
surrounding the deity of the
Holy Spirit by extending the
term homoousios to the Holy
Spirit.
They are responsible for the
contemporary expression of
the doctrine of the Trinity;
namely that God is three
persons existing eternally in
one single being or nature.
Three hypostases in one
ousia.

9. The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381): 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 the Father before all worlds, 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; who for us
men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was
incarnate by the Holy Spirit of 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 sits on 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. Andin the Holy
Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and
the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and
glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe 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.

10. C. Church-State Relations:
From Persecution to Power
1. Under Emperor Galerius (d. 311)
a. This represented the last and most
terrible persecution of the church
by the Roman Empire.
b. Four anti-Christian edicts:
1) All church buildings were to be destroyed, all Bibles burnt,
and all Christian worship forbidden (303)
2) All clergy arrested and imprisoned (303)
3) All clergy must offer sacrifice to the gods or face torture (303)
4) All citizens throughout the Empire were to sacrifice to the
gods or face execution (304)

11. c. In 311, the Emperor admitted
that he could not squash
Christianity, so he issued a new
decree – one of religious toleration.
Sick at the time, he asked Christians
to pray for him. He died the same
year.

12. 2. Constantine (274-337)
a. 306: Constantine
proclaimed emperor of
the West, but the West
was divided between
Constantine (Britain,
France, and Spain) and
Maxentius (Italy and
Northwest Africa).
Constantine tolerant;
Maxentius anti-Christian.

13. b. Battle of the Milivian Bridge (312)
1) “By this sign (the labarum)
you will conquer”: [H]e saw
with his own eyes the trophy
of a cross of light in the
heavens, above the sun, and
an inscription, conquer by
this attached to it….Then in
his sleep the Christ of God
appeared to him to make a
likeness of that sign which he
had seen in the heavens, and
to use it as a safeguard in all
engagements with his
enemies

15. 2) Constantine, with a far
smaller army, prayed to
the Christian God for
victory and triumphed
miraculously over
Maxentius who died in
the battle.
3) Believed that the
Christian God had granted
him victory, and so
become the great
champion and protector
of Christians.

16. c. At age 32 was master of the West
d. 313: Edict of Milan
1) While Constantine was winning the West,
Licinius won the East, controlling the eastern
half of the Empire. Constantine and Licinius met
in Milan and agreed on a policy of religious
freedom for all religions, Christian and pagan.
2) This was the first time that a head of state
gave Christianity full
legal status.

17. 3) Christianity
not declared
state religion
under
Constantine, but
it did change the
relationship
between church
and state.

18. e. 324: the Battle of
Chrysopolis (in Bithynia, Asia
Minor)
1) Constantine invaded the
East to fight what he thought
was a holy war against
Licinius, to rescue the Eastern
Church from persecution by
an anti-Christian tyrant.
2) Licinius taken prisoner and
executed
3) Constantine became the
single undisputed mater of
the entire Roman Empire

19. 4) Constantine’s
conversion the most
significant since the
Apostle Paul’s,
because it changed
the religious destiny
of the Roman
Empire.

20. f. Council of Nicaea (325)
1) Constantine’s twofold
rationale: “[F]irst, to bring
the diverse judgments found
by all nations respecting the
Deity to a condition, as it
were, of settled
uniformity…and, second, to
restore a healthy tone to the
system of the world, [which
was] then suffering under
the power of grievous
disease.”

21. 2) Constantine also helped
formulate the Creed of Nicaea
3) Again we see the
government intervening not
only in the
administrative affairs of the
church, but the doctrinal ones.
4) The banishment of Arius
was the first time that the
state had punished someone
for heresy

22. g. Addressing the Donatists
1) Constantine ordered the
return of Christian property
2) It was returned not to
Donatus, but Caecilian.
3) Turmoil and religious
violence between the churches
ensued.
4) Constantine allowed
tribunals of various bishops to
investigate
and they decided against the
Donatists

23. 5) Constantine ordered all Donatists
exiled and their property to be
turned over to Celina (316). The
decree failed to achieve what
Constantine hoped – the return of
the Donatists to the Catholic
Church. He rescinded the decree in
321.
6) This is the first time that an
emperor had used the power of the
state to try to force dissenting
Christians back into fellowship with
the Catholic Church.