History of Christendom

Chapter 5 notes:

Over the many years, there have been many different types of councils. A provincial council was where the churches of a providence were represented. A national council is where churches of an entire country were represented. A general council was where all the churches of all countries were represented. That can also be called an ecumenical council. The Council of Nicaea in 325 was the first ecumenical council.
We will be taking a look at four different general/ecumenical councils: the Council of Nicaea (325), the Council of Constantinople (381), the Council of Ephesus (431), and the Council of Chalcedon (451).
The Council of Nicaea: This council was created for the purpose of answering the question of whether Christ, the Son, was as truly and fully God as the Father. We know already that He is just that. So the real debate then would have been over whether the Trinity really existed. The two greatest debaters on this issue were Arius and Athanasius. Athanasius was still a young man, but Arius was advanced in years. Arius believed that if Christ was really as God as the Father, that would make two Gods…and that could not be because Christianity was monotheistic. So according to Arius, Christ is the highest and most powerful being created. Notice the word created there would mean that God made him like humans. On the other hand, Athanasius taught that Christ is as God-like as the Father and the Holy Spirit. This debate is not to be brushed over lightly. This was a very important issue…the belief of the Trinity was at stake here. After a while of them just fighting back and forth, the emperor, Constantine made a general council to decide which was more plausible. More than 300 bishops were present to consider the two matters. The outcome of the whole ordeal was that what Arius had to say was pure heresy. They took Athanasius’s idea and refined it into a creed now called the Nicene Creed.
The Council of Constantinople: But even the Nicene Creed couldn’t stop Arius’s heretical doctrine. Even up to his death, Athanasius fought valiantly for what he believed in. After he died, the office of orthodoxy (the right way of teaching) was handed over to three men known as “the three great Cappadocians.” They came from Cappadocia in Asia Minor. Their real names were Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa. The Nicene Creed had said nothing about the Holy Spirit and so in the year 381, another council to declare its belief in the Holy Spirit. From this point on, Arianism disappeared.
The Council of Chalcedon: Even after all this, the church had a long way to go before it had its understanding was complete. There had been plenty of different views on the true deity of Christ. In 451, yet another council was formed: the council of Chalcedon. There is said to have been 600 bishops attending. In this creed that they made, they reconfirmed the divinity of Christ and then His equally, full humanity.
Ambrose: Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine were three great leaders who lived during the end of the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth century. Ambrose (340-397) lived a life of high status and was well educated. He was elected the bishop of the church in Milan in 374. It was because of Ambrose’s strong faith and discipline that the emperor pulled his act together and acted a bit more Christian.
Jerome: Another leader was born in 340 and was educated in Rome like Ambrose. He loved to travel and went all over the Roman Empire but spent his last 34 years in Bethlehem. Jerome knew Hebrew and went on to make a new Latin translation of the Bible. This was known as the Vulgate.
Augustine: The church father who is said to have been the greatest was Augustine. He was born in 354 and his mother was said to have been the most famous mothers in history. Augustine was given many chances to learn and become a very educated young man, but he often neglected those opportunities. At age sixteen, he went to Carthage, the largest city in North Africa to study. Unfortunately this was a city of evil and he soon fell into the immorality. His mother, however, prayed constantly for his conversion. A Christian friend encouraged her by saying, “A son of so many prayers cannot be lost.” Augustine continued in his evil ways, but did seek for truth. For nine years he followed the ways of Manichean. He often went and listened to Ambrose preach. He didn’t go because he liked to hear what he said, but rather just to listen. His mother joined him in Milan and soon he began to turn from his Manichean thinking. I won’t go into all the details about the story of his conversion, but in the summer of 386, he changed his life around for the good.
Augustine Defending and Expounding: Augustine eventually became the bishop of Hippo in North Africa. He was extremely devoted to the Church. He fought in writing against many different heresies. The ones he spent the most time on were the Manicheans, the Donatists, and the Pelagians. The Donatists believed that if a person had denied the faith and left the church, they were not to be readmitted to the church. This created schism among many Christians. They eventually retreated and created churches of their own. Soon there were more Donatists than Catholics in North Africa. Augustine held firm though and preached that the Catholic Church was the one to follow. Against Pelagianism, Augustine told the true doctrine of man and the manner of his salvation. Pelagianism denied that man had fallen into sin. They didn’t believe in original sin, the total depravity of man, and predestination. Man is not born corrupt. The council of Ephesus in 431 condemned the teachings of Pelagius. However, it didn’t stop there, for in 529, the Synod of Orange condemned the teachings of the Semi-Pelagians saying that it was up to the individual person to accept or refuse God’s offer of grace. The two works he is most known for are The City of God, and Confessions.
The Metropolitan and Patriarchal Systems: We are now going back to our discussion about organization a couple chapters back. Each bishop was considered all on an equal level for a while, but eventually, there would be one bishop who began to take more and more rule in his hand until he became pope.
To explain how this is done, we will talk about the different levels. The bishops in the churches in the larger cities were more looked up to and were soon called metropolitan bishops. Then, the churches of the five cities (Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome) were even more looked up to and respected. The bishops there were called patriarchs.
Jerusalem was considered the foundation and motherhead of all the churches because she had been there when there weren’t any other churches. However, Jerusalem was soon overshadowed by newer churches. This happened especially after 70 AD. Nevertheless, because it had withstood many persecutions and trials, it was named a patriarch.
Antioch was well known because of Paul’s work there and the different missionaries’ work. It had become known for its deep theological thinkers there. It was also the third city in size and importance in the Empire. So the bishop there also received the title of patriarch.
Alexandria couldn’t boast of an ecclesiastical decent, it was the second city in size and importance and it too had fathered a school of theological thinking. So here also the bishop was allowed the name of patriarch.
Constantinople, which was originally named Byzantium, was not known for its spirituality or archaicism, but it owed its title of patriarch to the fact that it was located in the city which had become the dwelling place of the emperor.
Rome was the first city in size and importance in the Empire. Paul had labored there and it was claimed that Paul had handed the power of the keys of the kingdom to the bishops of Rome. In every disagreement or dispute, the bishop of Rome would be appealed to. There was no church who would dare to compete with the church in Rome. It was finally decided that the bishop of Rome would be named pope (from the Latin word papa which means “father”). Pope Leo I, the bishop first named pope, has been called the last of the ancient and the first of the medieval popes.

1) The councils were so that theological debates could be decided on.
2) The Council of Nicaea (325) made the Nicene Creed; the Council of Constantinople (381) made the statement that in addition to the Nicene Creed, the Holy Spirit was also God; the Council of Ephesus (431) condemned the heresy of Pelagians, and the Council of Chalcedon (451) made the Chalcedon Creed.
3) Ambrose played a major role in the converting of Augustine, promoted Christian hymnology, and forced his emperor, Theodosius to submit to God. Jerome served as secretary to Pope Damasus, established a monastery at Bethlehem, and translated the Bible into Latin. Augustine was known for his apologetic books, and influencing classical thought to Christian teaching creating a theological system of great power.
4) That Irenaeus had written that all the other churches had to submit to the church in Rome, and they were sort of the church in charge anyways.
5) Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople.
6) I already answered this earlier in my notes.
7) Donatism: He taught that the only true Church is the Catholic Church. Pelagianism: He taught that man is born into sin and the only way to salvation is the grace of God.
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