Church History

The Age of the Church Fathers

Contents

The Disciples’ Disciples 2

Persecution, Heresy, and the Apologists 3

Constantine and the Legalization of Christianity 4

Athanasius and the Fight for Orthodoxy (Nicaea) 6

Solidifying Orthodoxy (Constantinople) 8

Augustine 11

Defining Orthodoxy (Chalcedon) 12

The Church Fathers and the Bible 14

The Church Fathers and the Church 18

Map of Ancient Rome 21

The disciples’ disciples

“And we, too, being called by His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

· 1 Clement, 32

Clement of Rome (d. AD 99)

Ignatius of Antioch (30 - 107)

“… when I suffer, I shall be free in Jesus Christ, and with him shall rise again in freedom… I am God’s wheat, to be ground by the teeth of beasts, so that I may be offered as pure bread of Christ.”

· Ign. Rom.

· Associate of the Apostles (Phil. 4:3)

· Bishop of Rome

Polycarp of Smyrna (69 - 156)

“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?”

· Martyrdom of Polycarp

· Bishop of Antioch

· Taken to Rome for execution

· Wrote 7 letters to churches and delegates

· Discipled by Apostle John & friend of Ignatius

· Bishop of Smyrna

· Burned at the stake for refusing to forsake Christ

PErsecution, Heresy, and the apologists· Nero (AD 54-68)· Year of the Four Emperors · Vespasian (69-79)· Titus· Domitian (81-96)· Trajan (98-117)· Hadrian (117-138)· Marcus Aurelius (161-180)· Commodus· Septimius Severus (193-211)· Caracalla· Elagabalus (218-222)· Alexander Severus (222-235)· Maximin· Philip (242-251)· Decius (249-251)· Diocletian (285-305)

Major Emperors

Aristides (d. 134)

Justin Martyr (100-165)

Athenagoras (d. 185)

Irenaeus of Lyon (130-203)

Tertullian (155-220)

Cyprian of Carthage (200-258)

Constantine and the legalization of christianity

West

East

Augustus

Maximian (285-305)

Diocletian (284-305)

Caesar

Constantius Chloras

Galerius

AD 305

West

East

Augustus

Constantius Chloras

Galerius

Caesar

Severus

Maximinus Daia

West

East (unofficial)

East (official)

Augustus

Maxentius

Galerius

Licinius

Caesar

Maximinus Daia

Edict of Toleration

AD 311

AD 306

Far West

West

East (unofficial)

East (official)

Caesar

Constantine

Maxentius

Maximinus Daia

Licinius

AD 312

West

East (unofficial)

East (official)

Caesar

Constantine

Maximinus Daia

Licinius

Edict of Milan

AD 313

West

East

Caesar

Constantine

Licinius

AD 322

Sole Emperor

Constantine (d. 337)

Effects of the Constantinian Era

1) Donatist schism

2) Rise of Monasticism

3) Increased theologizing

Athanasius and the Fight for Orthodoxy (Nicaea)

“The Son has a beginning, but God is without beginning…”

· Letter to Eusebius (319)

“The Father and the Son… are inseparable from one another… The Word of God is not numbered with those who come into existence…”

· Letter to Alexander of Thessalonica (319)

Arius (256 - 336)

Alexander of Alexandria (250 - 326)

“We believe in one God, Father, all-sovereign, maker of all things seen and unseen; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father as only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, homousios with the Father, through whom all things came into existence, the things in heaven and the things on the earth, who because of us men and our salvation came down and was incarnated, made man, suffered, and arose on the third day, ascended into heaven, comes to judge the living and the dead; and in one Holy Spirit.

And those who say ‘there was once when he was not’ or ‘he was not before he was begotten’ or ‘he came into existence from nothing’ or who affirm that the Son of God is of another hypostasis or substance, or a creature, or mutable or subject to change, such ones the catholic and apostolic church pronounces accursed and separated from the church.”

Council of Nicaea, AD 325

“But the Christian faith knows an unmoved, perfect, constant, blessed Triad. It neither adds something more to the Triad nor considers that it has a need – each of these possibilities is impious. Therefore it knows that the Triad does not mix with originated things. On guard it worships the individual oneness of its Godhead and flees the blasphemies of the Arians, and confesses and knows that the Son always is. He is everlasting as the Father, whose everlasting Word he is.”

· Orations Against the Arians

Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373)

“We are unable to add anything to the Nicene creed, not even the smallest addition, except the glorification of the Holy Spirit, because our fathers made mention of this part cursorily, since at that time no controversial question concerning it had yet arisen.” – Basil, Letter 258.2

Solidifying orthodoxy (constantinople)

Basil of Caesarea (330-379)

· Highly educated

· Monastic reform (357)

· Bishop of Caesarea (370)

· On the Holy Spirit

Macrina (327-379)

Gregory of Nyssa (335 – 394)

Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390)

· Monastic reform

· Five Theological Orations

“This, then, is my position with regard to these things, and I hope it may be always my position, and that of whosoever is dear to me; to worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, Three Persons, One Godhead, undivided in honour and glory and substance and kingdom.”

· Gregory of Nazianzus, Theological Orations V.28

Spectrum of Trinitarian Heresy & Orthodoxy

Emphasizing Distinction of God’s Persons

Emphasizing Unity of God’s Essence

Tritheism

Modalism

Orthodoxy

A Problem with Language

The Western Latin-speaking Fathers had terms describing both God’s Threeness (Persona) and Oneness (Substantia). In reaction against the Arians, the Greek-speaking Nicene Christians had developed plenty of terms describing the unity of God. Because of this emphasis, Arians charged Nicenes with modalism, revealing the need for Nicene Christians to establish a term describing the Threeness of God. One term in particular, hypostasis, had previously been employed by Origen to such an effect. However, two problems needed to be addressed if this interpretation of hypostasis were to become standardized: (1) it was equated with ousia (essence) in the Nicene Creed, and (2) it was interpreted by the Western Fathers as an equivalent to substantia.

The Cappadocians Developing a Greek Trinitarian Terminology

1. Basil’s work distinguishing between ousia and hypostasis“The hypostases are confessed and the pious dogma of the monarchy does not collapse.” – Basil, On the Holy Spirit, 18.47

2. Gregory of Nyssa’s work distinguishing between Latin substantia and hypostasis“For in speaking of the mysteries, we acknowledge three hypostases and recognize there is no difference in nature between them.” – Gregory of Nyssa, On Not Three Gods

Filioque addition of the West in 5th c. Toledo, Spain

“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 Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten, not made; of one essence (homoousion) with the Father; by whom all things were made: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man; And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried; And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father;And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets; And we believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins. We look for the Resurrection of the dead,

And the Life of the age to come. Amen.”

· Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed

Council of Constantinople, AD 381

augustine

THE PRODIGAL SON

The Pastor

· Born 354 in Tagaste, North Africa

· Pagan father and Christian mother (Monica)

· Baptized with his son Adeodatus by bishop Ambrose

· Confessions

· Most influential theologian in church’s history

· On the Holy Trinity

· Against the Pelagians

· On the Predestination of the Saints

· On the Grace of Christ and on Original Sin

· Christian Doctrine

· The City of God

THE THEOLOGIAN

Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

Defining orthodoxy (Chalcedon)

Emperors

· Arcadius (395-408)

· Theodosius II (402-450)

· Pulcheria & Marcian (450-453)

Patriarchs

· Gregory of Nazianzus (379-381)

· Nectarius (381-397)

· John Chrysostom (398-404)

· Arsacius of Tarsus (404-405)

· Atticus (406-425)

· Sisinius I (426-427)

· Nestorius (428-431)

· Maximianus (431-434)

· Proclus (434-446)

· Flavian Phlabianus (446-449)

· Anatolius (449-458)

Eastern Emporers & Patriarchs

Emperors

· Honorious (395-423)

· Valentinian III (424-455)

Popes

· Damasus (366-384)

· Siricius (384-399)

· Innocent I (401-417)

· Zosimus (417-418)

· Boniface I (418-422)

· Celestine I (422-432)

· Sixtus III (432-440)

· Leo I the Great (440-461)

Western Emporers & Popes

Roman Empire

Byzantine Empire

CHRISTOLOGICAL HERESIES

1) Docetism – Christ only appeared to be human; not truly human

2) Arianism – Christ is not truly Divine

3) Apollinarianism – Jesus took upon Himself a human body but not a human soul

4) Nestorianism – Jesus is 2 Natures (Divine and human) in 2 Persons (Divine & human)

5) Monophysitism – Jesus is 1 (theanthropic) Nature in 1 Person (Divine)

Emphasizing the Humanity of Christ

“Following the holy Fathers we teach with one voice that the Son [of God] and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be confessed as one and the same [Person], that he is perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood, very God and very man, of a reasonable soul and [human] body consisting, consubstantial with the Father as touching his Godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood; made in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; begotten of his Father before the worlds according to his Godhead; but in these last days for us men and for our salvation born [into the world] of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God according to his manhood.  This one and the same Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son [of God] must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably [united], and that without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union, but rather the peculiar property of each nature being preserved and being united in one Person and subsistence, not separated or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten, God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophets of old time have spoken concerning him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us, and as the Creed of the Fathers hath delivered to us.”

– Definition of Faith

Council of Chalcedon, AD 451

Arianism

Apollinarianism

Nestorianism

Spectrum of Christological Heresy & Orthodoxy

Jesus =

2 Natures in

1 Person

Orthodoxy

Monophysitism

Docetism

Emphasizing the Divinity of Christ

The church fathers and the bible

Canonization: Recognizing the authority of Christ

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

– John 10:14-16

The Voice of the Shepherd…

carried Through the Apostles…

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

– Matt. 16:19

“… beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.”

– Acts 1:22

“And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.”

– 2 Pet. 3:15-16

and recognized by the Church…

“The Apostles received the Gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ was sent from God. The Christ therefore is from God and the Apostles from Christ.”

– 1 Clement 42.1.2

Clement of Rome (d. AD 99)

Justin Martyr (d. 165)

“For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number… by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God.”

– 1 Apology 39

Irenaeus of Lyons (130-203)

““We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, that from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith

– Against Heresies 3.1.1

distinguished from merely good books…

“But Hermas wrote the Shepherd very recently, in our times, in the city of Rome, while bishop Pius, his brother, was occupying the [episcopal] chair of the church of the city of Rome. And therefore it ought indeed to be read; but it cannot be read publicly to the people in church either among the Prophets, whose number is complete, or among the Apostles, for it is after [their] time.”

– Muratorian Fragment, 2nd c.

and those that were forged…

“For we, brethren, receive both Peter and the other apostles as Christ; but we reject intelligently the writings falsely ascribed to them, knowing that such were not handed down to us.”

– Serapion of Antioch (d. 211) in Hist. eccl. 6.12.3

Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

“I have learned to give respect and honor to the canonical books of Scripture. Regarding these books alone, I most firmly believe that their authors were completely free from error. If in these writings I am confused by anything which appears to me opposed to the truth, I do not hesitate to suppose that either the manuscript is faulty, or the translator has not caught the meaning of what was said, or I myself have failed to understand it.”

· Letters, 82

“Again it is not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Afterwards, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, viz. of James, one; of Peter, two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; after these, to the Galatians; next, to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians, and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly, that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John.

These are fountains of salvation, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these. For concerning these the Lord put to shame the Sadducees, and said, ‘Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures.’ And He reproved the Jews, saying, ‘Search the Scriptures, for these are they that testify of Me.’

But for greater exactness I add this also, writing of necessity; that there are other books besides these not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of godliness. The Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Sirach, and Esther, and Judith, and Tobit, and that which is called the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd. But the former, my brethren, are included in the Canon, the latter being [merely] read; nor is there in any place a mention of apocryphal writings. But they are an invention of heretics, who write them when they choose, bestowing upon them their approbation, and assigning to them a date, that so, using them as ancient writings, they may find occasion to lead astray the simple.”

– Athanasius, 39 Letter of 367

Athanasian Canon

The church fathers and the church

BAPTISM

“And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if you have not living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot in cold, in warm. But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever others can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.”

· Didache, 1st c.

For believers…

“I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ…

As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them…”

· 1 Apology, 61

Justin Martyr (d. 165)

to be immersed…

in the Name of the Trinity…

“For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water.”

· 1 Apology, 61

For believers…

Lord’s Supper

“And this food is called among us [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins…”

· 1 Apology, 66

“Now concerning the Thanksgiving (Eucharist), thus give thanks. First, concerning the cup: We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David Your servant, which You made known to us through Jesus Your Servant; to You be the glory forever. And concerning the broken bread: We thank You, our Father, for the life and knowledge which You made known to us through Jesus Your Servant; to You be the glory forever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Your kingdom; for Yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever. But let no one eat or drink of your Thanksgiving (Eucharist), but they who have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs… But permit the prophets to make Thanksgiving as much as they desire.”

· Didache, 1st c.

to remember the Gospel of Christ…

“…the signs of divine things are, it is true, things visible, but that the invisible things themselves are also honored in them…”

· On Catechizing the Uninstructed 26.50

Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

and enjoy communion with Christ and one another…

“One bread; what is this one bread? The one body which we, being many, are. Remember that bread is not made from one grain, but from many… Be what you can see, and receive what you are… So too with the wine. Brothers and sisters, just remind yourselves what wine is made from; many grapes hang in the bunch, but the juice of the grapes is poured together in one vessel.” – Sermon 272

CHURCH POLITY

Polycarp of Smyrna (69 - 155)

Clement of Rome (d. AD 99)

Cyprian of Carthage (d.258)

Ignatius of Antioch (35-108)

Stephen of Rome (d. 257)

Gregory the Great (540-604)

Trinitarian Formula

Father

Son

Holy Spirit

Elders

Deacons

Elders

Deacons

Bishop

Elders

Deacons

Bishop of Rome

Regional Bishops

Geographic Bishops