1.
Christianity in the 3rd century
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Christianity in the 3rd century was largely the time of the Ante-Nicene Fathers who wrote after the Apostolic Fathers of the 1st and 2nd centuries but before the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Although lasting only a year, the Decian persecution was a departure from previous imperial policy that Christians were not to be sought out. Even under Decius, orthodox Christians were subject to arrest only for their refusal to participate in Roman civic religion, gnostics seem not to have been persecuted. The era of coexistence ended when Diocletian launched the final and Great Persecution in 303, the Biblical canon began with the officially accepted books of the Koine Greek Old Testament. The Septuagint or seventy is accepted as the foundation of the Christian faith along with the Gospels, Book of Revelation, before 325, the heretical nature of some beliefs was a matter of much debate within the churches. After 325, some opinion was formulated as dogma through the canons promulgated by the councils, Christian art emerged only relatively late. According to art historian André Grabar, the first known Christian images emerge from about AD200, although many Hellenised Jews seem, as at the Dura-Europos synagogue, to have had images of religious figures, the traditional Mosaic prohibition of graven images no doubt retained some effect. The oldest Christian paintings are from the Roman Catacombs, dated to about 200, institutional Christian monasticism seems to have begun in the deserts in 3rd century Egypt as a kind of living martyrdom. Anthony of Egypt is the best known of these early hermit-monks, Anthony the Great and Pachomius were early monastic innovators in Egypt, although Paul the Hermit is the first Christian historically known to have been living as a monk. Eastern Orthodoxy looks to Basil of Caesarea as a founding monastic legislator, shortly after 360 Martin of Tours introduced monasticism to the west. Benedict of Nursia, who lived a century later, established the Rule that led to him being credited with the title of father of western monasticism, little attribute the rise of monasticism at this time to the immense changes in the church brought about by Constantines legalization of Christianity. The subsequent transformation of Christianity into the main Roman religion ended the position of Christians as a small group, in response, a new more advanced form of dedication was developed. The long-term martyrdom of the replaced the violent physical martyrdom of the persecutions. From the earliest times there were probably individual hermits who lived a life in isolation in imitation of Jesus 40 days in the desert and they have left no confirmed archaeological traces and only hints in the written record. Communities of virgins who had consecrated themselves to Christ are found at least as far back as the 2nd century, Anthony the Great was the first to specifically leave the world and live in the desert as a monk. Anthony lived as a hermit in the desert and gradually gained followers who lived as hermits nearby, One such, Paul the Hermit, lived in absolute solitude not very far from Anthony and was looked upon even by Anthony as a perfect monk. This type of monasticism is called eremitical or hermit-like, among these earliest recorded accounts was the Paradise, by Palladius of Galatia, Bishop of Helenopolis. Athanasius of Alexandria, Jerome, and other anonymous compilers were also responsible for setting down very influential accounts, as Christianity spread, it acquired certain members from well-educated circles of the Hellenistic world, they sometimes became bishops but not always
2.
Christianity in the 5th century
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In the 5th century in Christianity, there were many developments which led to further fracturing of the State church of the Roman Empire. Emperor Theodosius II called two synods in Ephesus, one in 431 and one in 449, that addressed the teachings of Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius and similar teachings. Nestorius had taught that Christs divine and human nature were distinct persons, the Council rejected Nestorius view causing many churches, centered on the School of Edessa, to a Nestorian break with the imperial church. Persecuted within the Roman Empire, many Nestorians fled to Persia, by the end of the 5th century, the global Christian population was estimated at 10-11 million. In 451 the Council of Chalcedon was held to clarify the issue further, the council ultimately stated that Christs divine and human nature were separate but both part of a single entity, a viewpoint rejected by many churches who called themselves miaphysites. The resulting schism created a communion of churches, including the Armenian, Syrian, and Egyptian churches, in spite of these schisms, however, the imperial church still came to represent the majority of Christians within the Roman Empire. At the end of the 4th century the Roman Empire had effectively split into two states although its economy and the Church were still strongly tied, by the 5th century scholars in the West had begun to abandon Greek in favor of the use of Latin. The Church in Rome, in particular, began to encourage the use of Latin in the provinces and published Jeromes Vulgate. At the same time as these changes were taking place the Western Empire was beginning to decay rapidly, Germanic tribes, particularly the Goths, gradually conquered the western provinces. The Arian Germanic tribes established their own systems of churches and bishops in the provinces but were generally tolerant of those who chose to remain loyal to the imperial church. The Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451 led to the schism with Church of the East, the latter schism established what is today known as Oriental Orthodoxy. In November 448, a synod at Constantinople condemned Eutyches for unorthodoxy, an archimandrite of a large Constinapolitan monastery, Eutyches taught that Christ was not consubstantial with humanity. Theodosius II called a council to settle the Nestorian controversy, Eutyches was exonerated and returned to his monastery. Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, opposed use of the term Theotokos and this term had long been used by orthodox writers, and it was gaining popularity along with devotion to Mary as Mother of God. He reportedly taught that there were two persons in the incarnate Christ, though whether he actually taught this is disputed. Nestorius, on the hand, saw the incarnation as primarily a moral and ethical example to the faithful. Cyril repeatedly stressed the idea that it was God who walked the streets of Nazareth. The council deposed Nestorius, repudiated Nestorianism, proclaiming the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos, the Second Council of Ephesus was held in 449 but was later repudiated by the Council of Chalcedon and labeled a robber council
3.
History of late ancient Christianity
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The end-date of this period varies because the transition to the sub-Roman period occurred gradually and at different times in different areas. Christianity began to spread initially from Roman Judaea without state support or endorsement and it became the state religion of Armenia in either 301 or 314, of Ethiopia in 325, and of Georgia in 337. With the Edict of Thessalonica it became the religion of the Roman Empire in 380. In April 311, Galerius, who had previously been one of the figures in the Christian persecutions. After halting the persecutions of the Christians, Galerius reigned for another 2 years and he was then succeeded by an emperor with distinctively pro Christian leanings, Constantine the Great. The Emperor Constantine I was exposed to Christianity by his mother, there is scholarly controversy, however, as to whether Constantine adopted his mothers Christianity in his youth, or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life. Christian sources record that Constantine experienced a miraculous event in 312 at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. The Roman coins minted up to eight years subsequent to the battle still bore the images of Roman gods, nonetheless, the accession of Constantine was a turning point for the Christian Church. Despite the fact that he seems to have considered himself to be a Christian during his lifetime, for reasons unknown, in 313, he issued the Edict of Milan, officially legalizing Christian worship. In 316, he acted as a judge in a North African dispute concerning the Donatist controversy, the reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian Emperor in the Church. Emperors considered themselves responsible to God for the health of their subjects. The emperor did not decide doctrine — that was the responsibility of the bishops — rather his role was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, the emperor ensured that God was properly worshiped in his empire, what proper worship consisted of was the responsibility of the church. The reign of Constantine did not bring the total unity of Christianity within the Empire and his successor in the East, Constantius II, was an Arian who kept Arian bishops at his court and installed them in various sees, expelling the orthodox bishops. Intent on re-establishing the prestige of the old beliefs, he modified them to resemble Christian traditions such as the episcopal structure. Julian eliminated most of the privileges and prestige previously afforded to the Christian Church, however, Julians short reign ended when he died while campaigning in the East. Christianity came to dominance during the reign of Julians successors, Jovian, Valentinian I, on February 27,380, the Roman Empire officially adopted Trinitarian Christianity as its state religion. In 385, this new authority of the Church resulted in the first case of many to come, of the capital punishment of a heretic. The earliest controversies were generally Christological in nature, that is, docetism held that Jesus humanity was merely an illusion, thus denying the incarnation
4.
Christianity in the 6th century
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Though he was temporarily successful in recapturing much of the western Mediterranean he destroyed the urban centers and permanently ruined the economies in much of the West. Rome and other cities were abandoned, in the coming centuries the Western Church, as virtually the only surviving Roman institution in the West, became the only remaining link to Greek culture and civilization. In the East, Roman imperial rule continued through the period historians now call the Byzantine Empire, the advent of the Early Middle Ages was a gradual and often localised process whereby, in the West, rural areas became power centres whilst urban areas declined. Although the greater number of Christians remained in the East, the developments in the West would set the stage for major developments in the Christian world during the later Middle Ages, Emperor Justinian condemned the Three Chapters, hoping to appeal to monophysite Christians with his anti-Nestorian zeal. Monophysites believe that in the Incarnate Christ there is one nature, Eastern patriarchs supported the emperor, but in the West his interference was resented, and Pope Vigilius resisted his edict on the grounds that it opposed the Chalcedonian decrees. Justinians policy was in fact an attack on Antiochene theology and the decisions of Chalcedon, the pope assented and condemned the Three Chapters, but protests in the West caused him to retract his condemnation. The emperor called the Second Council of Constantinople to resolve the controversy, the council met in Constantinople in 553, and it has since become recognized as the fifth of the first seven Ecumenical Councils. The council condemned certain Nestorian writings and authors and this move was instigated by Emperor Justinian in an effort to conciliate the monophysite Christians, it was opposed in the West, and the popes acceptance of the council caused a major schism. The council, attended mostly by Eastern bishops, condemned the Three Chapters and, indirectly and it also affirmed the Easts intention to remain in communion with Rome. Vigilius declared his submission to the council, as did his successor, the council was not immediately recognized as ecumenical in the West, and the churches of Milan and Aquileia even broke off communion with Rome over this issue. The schism was not repaired until the late 6th century for Milan, in the 530s the second Church of the Holy Wisdom was built in Constantinople under Justinian. The first church was destroyed during the Nika riots, the second Hagia Sophia became the center of the ecclesiastical community for the rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium. Theology tended to more localised, more diverse, more fragmented. Throughout this period, theology tended to be a more monastic affair, flourishing in monastic havens where the conditions, important writers include, Caesarius of Arles Boethius Cassiodorus Pope Gregory I Saint Gregory I the Great was pope from September 3,590 until his death. He is also known as Gregorius Dialogus in Eastern Orthodoxy because of the Dialogues he wrote and he was the first of the popes from a monastic background. Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the four great Latin Fathers of the Church, of all popes, Gregory I had the most influence on the early medieval church. Benedict of Nursia is the most influential of Western monks and he was educated in Rome but soon sought the life of a hermit in a cave at Subiaco, outside the city. He then attracted followers with whom he founded the monastery of Monte Cassino around 520, in 530, he wrote his Rule of St Benedict as a practical guide for monastic community life
5.
Constantine the Great and Christianity
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While the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great reigned, Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Historians remain uncertain about Constantines reasons for favoring Christianity, and theologians and historians have argued about which form of Early Christianity he subscribed to. There is no consensus among scholars as to whether he adopted his mother Helenas Christianity in his youth, some scholars question the extent to which he should be considered a Christian emperor, Constantine saw himself as an emperor of the Christian people. If this made him a Christian is the subject of, although he allegedly received a baptism shortly before his death. In 313, Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan decriminalizing Christian worship and he is revered as a saint and isapostolos in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church for his example as a Christian monarch. According to Church tradition, it was during the reign of Nero that Peter, Christians suffered from sporadic and localized persecutions over a period of two and a half centuries. Their refusal to participate in Imperial cult was considered an act of treason and was punishable by execution. The most widespread official persecution was carried out by Diocletian, during the Great Persecution, the emperor ordered Christian buildings and the homes of Christians torn down and their sacred books collected and burned. Christians were arrested, tortured, mutilated, burned, starved, Constantine, Caesar in the Western empire and Licinius, Caesar in the East, also were signatories to the edict of toleration. It has been speculated that Galerius reversal of his policy of Christian persecution has been attributable to one or both of these co-Caesars. It is possible that Constantines mother, Helena, exposed him to Christianity, writing to Christians, Constantine made clear that he believed that he owed his successes to the protection of that High God alone. Constantine commanded his troops to adorn their shields with a Christian symbol, the Roman coins minted up to eight years after the battle still bore the images of Roman gods. The monuments he first commissioned, such as the Arch of Constantine, the Edict of Milan went a step further than the earlier Edict of Toleration by Galerius in 311, returning confiscated Church property. The Edict of Milan did, however, raise the stock of Christianity within the empire, the accession of Constantine was a turning point for early Christianity. After his victory, Constantine took over the role of patron of the Christian faith, between 324 and 330, Constantine built a new imperial capital at Byzantium on the Bosporos, which would be named Constantinople for him. Unlike old Rome, the city began to employ overtly Christian architecture, in doing this, however, Constantine required those who had not converted to Christianity to pay for the new city. Only the chronicler Theophanes has added that temples were annihilated, Constantine respected cultivated persons, and his court was composed of older, respected, and honored men. Constantines laws enforced and reflected his Christian attitudes, crucifixion was abolished for reasons of Christian piety, but was replaced with hanging, to demonstrate the preservation of Roman supremacy
6.
First Council of Nicaea
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The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD325. Constantine I organized the Council along the lines of the Roman Senate and presided over it and this ecumenical council was the first effort to attain consensus in the Church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. Hosius of Cordoba, who was one of the Papal legates. The First Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Church, St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position, the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianism comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly, through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt creeds and canons. This council is considered the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils in the History of Christianity. The First Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine the Great upon the recommendations of a synod led by Hosius of Córdoba in the Eastertide of 325 and this synod had been charged with investigation of the trouble brought about by the Arian controversy in the Greek-speaking east. To most bishops, the teachings of Arius were heretical and dangerous to the salvation of souls and this was the first general council in the history of the Church summoned by emperor Constantine I. In the Council of Nicaea, The Church had taken her first great step to define revealed doctrine more precisely in response to a challenge from a heretical theology. Constantine had invited all 1,800 bishops of the Christian church within the Roman Empire, Eusebius of Caesarea counted more than 250, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, and Eustathius of Antioch estimated about 270. Later, Socrates Scholasticus recorded more than 300, and Evagrius, Hilary of Poitiers, Jerome, Dionysius Exiguus and this number 318 is preserved in the liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Delegates came from every region of the Roman Empire, including Britain, the participating bishops were given free travel to and from their episcopal sees to the council, as well as lodging. These bishops did not travel alone, each one had permission to bring him two priests and three deacons, so the total number of attendees could have been above 1,800. Eusebius speaks of an almost innumerable host of accompanying priests, deacons, the Eastern bishops formed the great majority. Of these, the first rank was held by the three patriarchs, Alexander of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, and Macarius of Jerusalem and this position is supported by patristic scholar Timothy Barnes in his book Constantine and Eusebius. Historically, the influence of these marred confessors has been seen as substantial, Athanasius of Alexandria, a young deacon and companion of Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, was among the assistants. Athanasius eventually spent most of his life battling against Arianism, Alexander of Constantinople, then a presbyter, was also present as representative of his aged bishop. The supporters of Arius included Secundus of Ptolemais, Theonus of Marmarica, Zphyrius, other supporters included Eusebius of Nicomedia, Paulinus of Tyrus, Actius of Lydda, Menophantus of Ephesus, and Theognus of Nicaea
7.
First seven Ecumenical Councils
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The Church of the East accepts the first two of the seven councils, but rejects the third, the Council of Ephesus, and subsequent councils. The first scholar to consider this period as a whole, Philip Schaff, wrote The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church. These seven ecumenical councils are, However, not all of these councils have been recognised as ecumenical. As indicated above, the Church of the East accepts only the first two, and Oriental Orthodoxy only three. Nontrinitarians, such as Oneness Pentecostals, Unitarians, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Quakers, Christadelphians and Jehovahs Witnesses, Emperor Constantine convened this council to settle a controversial issue, the relation between Jesus Christ and God the Father. The Emperor wanted to establish universal agreement on it, representatives came from across the Empire, subsidized by the Emperor. Previous to this council, the bishops would hold local councils, such as the Council of Jerusalem, the council drew up a creed, the original Nicene Creed, which received nearly unanimous support. The councils description of Gods only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as of the substance with God the Father became a touchstone of Christian Trinitarianism. The Council was opposed by the Arians, and Constantine tried to reconcile Arius, after whom Arianism is named, with the Church. Even when Arius died in 336, one year before the death of Constantine, in 359, a double council of Eastern and Western bishops affirmed a formula stating that the Father and the Son were similar in accord with the scriptures, the crowning victory for Arianism. In 331, Constantine I commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople, athanasius recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for Constans. Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation, for example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists, and that Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles, the council approved what is the current form of the Nicene Creed as used in most Oriental Orthodox churches. The Eastern Orthodox Church uses the text but with the verbs expressing belief in the singular. The Latin Rite of the Catholic Church also uses the singular and, except in Greek, the form used by the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, has many more additions. This fuller creed may have existed before the Council and probably originated from the creed of Constantinople. The council also condemned Apollinarism, the teaching there was no human mind or soul in Christ. It also granted Constantinople honorary precedence over all churches save Rome, the council did not include Western bishops or Roman legates, but it was later accepted as ecumenical in the West
8.
State church of the Roman Empire
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Nicene Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 CE, when Emperor Theodosius I made it the Empires sole authorized religion. A series of ecumenical councils met during the 4th and 5th centuries, but Christianity continued to suffer rifts and schisms surrounding the issues of Arianism, Nestorianism, and Miaphysitism. However, apart from the aforementioned schisms, the church as an institution persisted in communion, if not without tension, in the 6th century the Byzantine armies of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I recovered Italy and other sections of the western Mediterranean shore. The Eastern Roman Empire soon lost most of gains, but it held Rome, as part of the Exarchate of Ravenna, until 751. Pope Gregory III became the last Bishop of Rome to ask the Byzantine ruler to ratify his election, by then, the Roman Empires state church as originally conceived had ceased to exist. The Eastern Roman Empire finally collapsed with the Fall of Constantinople to the Islamic Ottoman Turks in 1453, Western missionary activities created a communion of churches that extended beyond the empire, the beginnings of which predated the establishment of the state church. The legacy of the idea of a universal church polity carries on, directly or indirectly, in todays Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as in others, before the end of the 1st century, the Roman authorities recognized Christianity as a separate religion from Judaism. Pliny the Younger, when propraetor in Bithynia in 103, assumes in his letters to Trajan that because Christians do not pay the tax and their refusal to worship the Roman gods or to pay homage to the emperor as divine resulted at times in persecution and martyrdom. Church Father Tertullian, for instance, attempted to argue that Christianity was not inherently treasonous, Christians accounted for approximately 10% of the Roman population by 300, according to some estimates. In 301, the Kingdom of Armenia, which Rome considered de jure a client kingdom though yielded de facto to the Parthians, Constantine began to utilize Christian symbols such as the Chi-Rho early in his reign but still encouraged traditional Roman religious practices including sun worship. In 330, Constantine established the city of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire, the city would gradually come to be seen as the intellectual and cultural center of the Christian world. Over the course of the 4th century the Christian body became consumed by debates surrounding orthodoxy, a church synod, or council, was held in Rome in 313, followed by another in Arles in 314, the latter presided over by Constantine while still a junior emperor. However, during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate, the Donatists, Christian scholars and populace within the Empire were increasingly embroiled in debates regarding christology. Opinions ranged from belief that Jesus was entirely human to belief that he was entirely divine, emperors thereby became ever more involved with the increasingly divided Church. Constantine was of divided opinions, but he backed the Athanasian side. His successor Constantius II supported a Semi-Arian position, Emperor Julian returned to the traditional Roman/Greek religion, quickly quashed by his successor Jovian, a supporter of the Athanasian side. A Council of Rimini in 359 supported the Arian view, a Council of Constantinople in 360 supported a compromise. The Council of Constantinople in 381, called by Emperor Theodosius I reasserted the Nicene or Athanasian view and this council further refined the definition of orthodoxy, issuing, according to tradition, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed
9.
Church of the East
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The Church of the East, also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church within the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. It was the Christian church of the Sassanian Empire, and quickly spread widely through Asia, between the 9th and 14th centuries, the Church represented the worlds largest Christian church in terms of geographical extent, with dioceses stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to China and India. Several modern churches claim continuity with the historical Church of the East, the Church of the East was headed by the Patriarch of the East, continuing a line that, according to tradition, stretched back to the Apostolic Age. Liturgically, the church adhered to the East Syrian Rite, and theologically, it adopted the doctrine of Nestorianism, which emphasises the distinctness of the divine and human natures of Jesus. This doctrine and its namesake, Nestorius, were condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431, leading to the Nestorian Schism and a subsequent exodus of Nestorius supporters to Sasanian Persia. The existing Christians in Persia welcomed these refugees and gradually adopted Nestorian doctrine by the 5th century, the church grew rapidly under the Sassanians, and following the Muslim conquest of Persia it was designated as a protected dhimmi community under Muslim rule. In the 13th and 14th centuries the church experienced a period of expansion under the Mongol Empire. From its peak of geographical extent, the experienced a rapid period of decline starting in the 14th century. The Ancient Church of the East further distinguished itself from the Assyrian Church of the East in the 20th century over reforms such as the use of the Gregorian Calendar. In the early 21st century, both the Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church had approximately 500,000 members, the Church of the East was headed by the Patriarch of the East, an office that traces its origin to the Apostolic Age. The head of the church bears the title Catholicos. Like the churches from which it developed, the Church of the East has an ordained clergy divided into the three orders of deacon, priest, and bishop. Also like other churches, it has an episcopal polity, organisation by dioceses, each headed by a bishop, dioceses are organised into provinces under the authority of a metropolitan bishop. The office of bishop is an important one, and comes with additional duties and powers. The Patriarch also has the charge of the Province of the Patriarch, most of these latter were located farther afield within the territory of the Sasanian Empire, but very early on, provinces formed beyond the empires borders as well. By the 10th century, the church had between 20 and 30 metropolitan provinces including in China and India, the Chinese provinces were lost in the 11th century, and in the subsequent centuries, other exterior provinces went into decline as well. However, in the 13th century, during the Mongol Empire, other names for the church include Persian Church, Syriac or Syrian, and Assyrian. Nestoriuss doctrine represented the culmination of a philosophical current developed by scholars at the School of Antioch and this became a source of controversy when Nestorius publicly challenged usage of the title Theotokos for the Virgin Mary
10.
Roman Syria
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Syria was an early Roman province, annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War, following the defeat of Armenian King Tigranes the Great. Following the partition of the Herodian Kingdom into tetrarchies in 6 AD, it was absorbed into Roman provinces, with Roman Syria annexing Iturea. Later, in 135 AD, in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt, Syrian province was merged with Judea province, one province During the early empire, the Roman army in Syria accounted for three legions with auxiliaries, they defended the border with Parthia. Syrian province forces were engaged in the Great Jewish Revolt of 66–70 AD. In 66 AD, Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, brought the Syrian army, based on XII Fulminata, reinforced by troops, to restore order in Judaea. The legion, however, was ambushed and destroyed by Jewish rebels at the Battle of Beth Horon, the future emperor Vespasian was put in charge of subduing the Jewish revolt. In the summer of 69, Vespasian, with the Syrian units supporting him, the governor of Syria retained the civil administration of the whole large province undiminished, and held for long alone in all Asia a command of the first rank. It was Severus who at length withdrew the first place in the Roman military hierarchy from the Syrian governor, the emperor Septimius Severus divided up Roman Syria in the fashion it would remain until the rule of the Tetrarchs. From the later 2nd century, the Roman senate included several notable Syrians, Syria was of crucial strategic importance during the crisis of the third century. In 244 AD, Rome was ruled by a native Syrian from Philippopolis in the province of Arabia Petraea, the emperor was Marcus Iulius Philippus, more commonly known as Philip the Arab. Philip became the 33rd emperor of Rome upon its millennial celebration, in 259/260 a similar event happened when Shapur I again defeated a Roman field army and captured the Roman emperor, Valerian, alive at the battle of Edessa. Again Roman Syria suffered as cities were captured, sacked and pillaged, from 268 to 273, Syria was part of the breakaway Palmyrene Empire. Following the reforms of Diocletian, Syria Coele became part of the Diocese of Oriens, after c.415 Syria Coele was further subdivided into Syria I, with the capital remaining at Antioch, and Syria II or Syria Salutaris, with capital at Apamea on the Orontes. In 528, Justinian I carved out the coastal province Theodorias out of territory from both provinces. The region remained one of the most important provinces of the Byzantine Empire and it was occupied by the Sassanids between 609 and 628, then recovered by the emperor Heraclius, but lost again to the advancing Muslims after the battle of Yarmouk and the fall of Antioch. The city of Antioch was recovered in 963 AD along with other parts of the country. A reconquest undertaken by the Fatimad caliphate in the 970s retook most parts of Syria from the Byzantines, however, the Byzantine emperor Basil II reconquered all of Syria from Muslims by 1000 AD. Frequent rebellions, however, weakened Byzantine control over Syria, by 1045 only the city of Antioch remained Byzantine
11.
Sasanian Empire
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The Sasanian Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Parthian Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus V. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani, in many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilization. Persia influenced Roman culture considerably during the Sasanian period, the Sasanians cultural influence extended far beyond the empires territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art, much of what later became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture, music and other subject matter was transferred from the Sasanians throughout the Muslim world. Conflicting accounts shroud the details of the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was originally the ruler of a region called Khir, however, by the year 200, he managed to overthrow Gochihr, and appoint himself as the new ruler of the Bazrangids. His mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of the governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power all of Pars. The subsequent events are unclear, due to the nature of the sources. It is certain, however, that following the death of Papak, Ardashir, sources reveal that Shapur, leaving for a meeting with his brother, was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him. By the year 208, over the protests of his brothers who were put to death. Once Ardashir was appointed shahanshah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars, the city, well supported by high mountains and easily defendable through narrow passes, became the center of Ardashirs efforts to gain more power. The city was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgird, in a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus V himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where Artabanus V met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir I went on to invade the provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, in the next few years, local rebellions would form around the empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana, Balkh and he also added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanids possessions. In the west, assaults against Hatra, Armenia and Adiabene met with less success, in 230, he raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir Is son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria, invading Roman Mesopotamia, Shapur I captured Carrhae and Nisibis, but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated the Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories
12.
Oriental Orthodoxy
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Oriental Orthodoxy has approximately 84 million adherents worldwide. Oriental Orthodox Churches uphold their own ancient ecclesiastic traditions of apostolic succession and these Churches rejected the definition of the two natures of Christ, known as the Chalcedonian Definition, which was issued by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The Eastern Orthodox maintain numerous theological and ecclesiological similarities with the Oriental Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox Churches are in full communion with each other, but not with the Eastern Orthodox Church, despite the similar name. The schism between Oriental Orthodoxy and the Great Church was based on differences in Christology, the First Council of Nicaea, in 325, declared that Jesus Christ is God, that is to say, consubstantial with the Father. Later, the ecumenical council, the Council of Ephesus, declared that Jesus Christ, though divine as well as human, is only one being. Thus, the Council of Ephesus explicitly rejected Nestorianism, the Christological doctrine that Christ was two distinct beings, one divine and one human, who happened to inhabit the same body. The Churches that later became Oriental Orthodoxy were firmly anti-Nestorian, and those who opposed Chalcedon saw this as a concession to Nestorianism, or even as a conspiracy to convert the Church to Nestorianism by stealth. As a result, over the decades, they gradually separated from communion with the Great Church. Monophysitism was condemned as heretical alongside Nestorianism, and to accuse a church of being Monophysite is to accuse it of falling into the opposite extreme from Nestorianism, however, the Oriental Orthodox themselves reject this description as inaccurate, having officially condemned the teachings of both Nestorius and Eutyches. They define themselves as Miaphysite instead, holding that Christ has one nature, the schism between the Oriental Orthodox and the rest of Christendom occurred in the 5th century. They would accept only of or from two natures but not in two natures and it is not entirely clear that Nestorius himself was a Nestorian. The Oriental Orthodox churches were often called Monophysite, although they reject this label, as it is associated with Eutychian Monophysitism. It was not until 518 that the new Byzantine Emperor, Justin I, Justin ordered the replacement of all non-Chalcedonian bishops, including the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. The extent of the influence of the Bishop of Rome in this demand has been a matter of debate, Justinian I also attempted to bring those monks who still rejected the decision of the Council of Chalcedon into communion with the greater church. The exact time of event is unknown, but it is believed to have been between 535 and 548. St Abraham of Farshut was summoned to Constantinople and he chose to bring with him four monks, upon arrival, Justinian summoned them and informed them that they would either accept the decision of the Council or lose their positions. Abraham refused to entertain the idea, theodora tried to persuade Justinian to change his mind, seemingly to no avail. Abraham himself stated in a letter to his monks that he preferred to remain in exile rather than subscribe to a faith which he believed to be contrary to that of Athanasius of Alexandria
13.
Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)
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The Kingdom of Armenia, also the Kingdom of Greater Armenia, or simply Greater Armenia, was a monarchy in the Ancient Near East which existed from 321 BC to 428 AD. Its history is divided into successive reigns by three dynasties, Orontid, Artaxiad and Arsacid. It is widely believed to be the region with which all Armenians descend from and it was one of the largest empires in the history of the Middle East. Under the Seleucid Empire, the Armenian throne was divided in two – Armenia Maior and Sophene – both of which passed to members of the Artaxiad dynasty in 189 BC. The remaining Artaxiad kings ruled as clients of Rome until they were overthrown in 12 AD due to their allegiance to Romes main rival in the region. During the Roman–Parthian Wars, the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia was founded when Tiridates I, throughout most of its history during this period, Armenia was heavily contested between Rome and Parthia, and the Armenian nobility was divided among pro-Roman, pro-Parthian or neutrals. From 114 to 118, Armenia briefly became a province of the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan, the Kingdom of Armenia often served as a client state or vassal at the frontier of the two large empires and their successors, the Byzantine and Sassanid empires. In 301, Tiridates III proclaimed Christianity as the religion of Armenia. During the Byzantine–Sasanian wars, Armenia was ultimately partitioned into Byzantine Armenia in 387, the Kingdoms symbol and most famous icon was Mount Ararat, arguably the tallest mountain in the kingdom. The geographic Armenian Highlands, then known as the highlands of Ararat, was inhabited by Proto-Armenian tribes which did not yet constitute a unitary state or nation. The highlands were first united by tribes in the vicinity of Lake Van into the Kingdom of Van, the kingdom competed with Assyria over supremacy in the highlands of Ararat and the Fertile Crescent. Both kingdoms fell to Iranian invaders from the neighbouring East in the 6th century BC and its territory was reorganized into a satrapy called Armenia. The Orontid dynasty ruled as satraps of the Achaemenid Empire for three centuries until the defeat against Alexander the Greats Macedonian Empire at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. After Alexanders death in 323 BC, a Macedonian general named Neoptolemus obtained Armenia until he died in 321 BC and the Orontids returned, not as satraps, Orontes III also defeated the Thessalian commander Menon, who wanted to capture Spers gold mines. The Seleucid Empires influence over Armenia had weakened after it was defeated by the Romans in the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, a Hellenistic Armenian state was thus founded in the same year by Artaxias I alongside the Armenian kingdom of Sophene led by Zariadres. Artaxias seized Yervandashat, united the Armenian Highlands at the expense of neighboring tribes, according to Strabo and Plutarch, Hannibal Barca received hospitality at the Armenian court of Artaxias I. The authors add a story of how Hannibal planned and supervised the building of Artaxata. The new city was laid on a position at the juncture of trade routes that connected the Ancient Greek world with Bactria, India
14.
Egypt (Roman province)
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The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai Peninsula. Aegyptus was bordered by the provinces of Creta et Cyrenaica to the West, the province came to serve as a major producer of grain for the empire and had a highly developed urban economy. Aegyptus was by far the wealthiest Eastern Roman province, in Alexandria, its capital, it possessed the largest port, and the second largest city, of the Roman Empire. As a province, Egypt was ruled by a uniquely styled Augustal prefect, the prefect was a man of equestrian rank and was appointed by the Emperor. The second prefect, Aelius Gallus, made an expedition to conquer Arabia Petraea. The Red Sea coast of Aegyptus was not brought under Roman control until the reign of Claudius, the third prefect, Gaius Petronius, cleared the neglected canals for irrigation, stimulating a revival of agriculture. Petronius even led a campaign into present-day central Sudan against the Kingdom of Kush at Meroe, failing to acquire permanent gains, in 22 BC he razed the city of Napata to the ground and retreated to the north. From the reign of Nero onward, Aegyptus enjoyed an era of prosperity which lasted a century, under Trajan a Jewish revolt occurred, resulting in the suppression of the Jews of Alexandria and the loss of all their privileges, although they soon returned. Hadrian, who twice visited Aegyptus, founded Antinoöpolis in memory of his drowned lover Antinous, from his reign onward buildings in the Greco-Roman style were erected throughout the country. Under Antoninus Pius oppressive taxation led to a revolt in 139, of the native Egyptians and this Bucolic War, led by one Isidorus, caused great damage to the economy and marked the beginning of Egypts economic decline. Avidius Cassius, who led the Roman forces in the war, declared emperor in 175. On the approach of Marcus Aurelius, Cassius was deposed and killed, a similar revolt broke out in 193, when Pescennius Niger was proclaimed emperor on the death of Pertinax. The Emperor Septimius Severus gave a constitution to Alexandria and the capitals in 202. There was a series of revolts, both military and civilian, through the 3rd century, under Decius, in 250, the Christians again suffered from persecution, but their religion continued to spread. This warrior queen claimed that Egypt was a home of hers through a familial tie to Cleopatra VII. She was well educated and familiar with the culture of Egypt, its religion, two generals based in Aegyptus, Probus and Domitius Domitianus, led successful revolts and made themselves emperors. Diocletian captured Alexandria from Domitius in 298 and reorganised the whole province and his edict of 303 against the Christians began a new era of persecution. This was the last serious attempt to stem the growth of Christianity in Egypt
15.
Donatism
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Donatism was a religious movement that separated from the proto-catholics in the 4th century. Donatism made the assumption that Christian clergy are required to be faultless for their ministrations to be effective and for the prayers and this belief was once held strongly among Berber Christians. Donatism had its roots in the social pressures among the long-established Christian community of the Roman Africa province, Donatism was an indirect outcome of Diocletians persecutions. The governor of the Africa province had been lenient towards the large Christian minority under his rule during the persecutions and he was satisfied when Christians handed over their Scriptures as a token repudiation of their faith. Some Christians acceded to this convenient action, when the persecutions came to an end, however, they were branded traditores, those who handed over by their critics, mostly from the poorer classes. They were still a force at the time of Saint Augustine of Hippo at the end of the fourth century, the rest of the Church was far more forgiving of these people than the Donatists. The Donatists refused to accept the sacraments and spiritual authority of the priests, during the persecution some Church leaders had gone so far as to turn Christians over to Roman authorities and had handed over religious texts to authorities to be publicly burned. These traditors had returned to positions of authority under Constantine I, the first question, therefore, was whether the Sacrament of Penance can effect a reconciliation whereby the apostate, or in some cases specifically the traditor, may be returned to full communion. The Donatists held that such a crime, after the forgiveness of baptism, disqualified one for leadership in the Church, the second question was the validity of sacraments celebrated by priests and bishops who had been apostates under the persecution. The Donatists held that all such sacraments were invalid, by their sinful act, hence, to the Donatists, a priest who had been an apostate but who repented could speak the words of consecration forever, but he could no longer confect the Eucharist. As a result, many towns were divided between Donatist and non-Donatist congregations, the sect had particularly developed and grown in northern Africa. There was growing unrest and threats of riots in Carthage connected to the bishop controversy, Constantine, hoping to defuse the unrest, gifted monies to the catholic bishop Caecilian as payment for church buildings that had been damaged or confiscated during the prior period of persecution. No gifts were made to the Donatists, the Donatists appealed to Rome for equal treatment, Constantine tasked Miltiades to sort the issue which led to the 313 commission mentioned above. The Donatists refused to abide by the decision of the Roman Council and this attempt failed to produce a good hearing and the Donatists appealed directly to the Emperor. From his letter that survives, Constantine shows frustration that the church come to a good conclusion and he calls for a larger council. Again, the decision went against the Donatists and again appealed to Constantine. The Emperor demanded that all parties be brought to Rome for a hearing, Constantine ruled in favor of Caecilian, a delegation from Rome traveled to Carthage to seek a compromise – this trip failed miserably. Donatist extremists were stirring up protests and violence in the streets, the Donatists refused to accept any compromise or decision in favor of the catholic bishop
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North Africa during Antiquity
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The Roman Republic established the province of Africa in 146 BCE after the defeat of Carthage. The Roman Empire eventually controlled the entire Mediterranean coast of Africa, adding Egypt in 30 BCE, Creta et Cyrenaica in 20 BCE, and Mauretania in CE44. Initially, in the east, Egypt was under Persian rule during the phase of classical antiquity. Libya was inhabited by Berber tribes, while along the coast Phoenician, rome lost parts of Africa to the Vandals in the 5th century. The Byzantine Empire finally lost all control of Africa as the fell to the Umayyad conquest of North Africa by the close of the 7th century. After Alexanders death in 323 BCE, Egypt fell to Ptolemy I Soter who eventually established the Ptolemaic Kingdom in 305 BCE, in 2013, the first genetic analysis utilizing next-generation sequencing was conducted to ascertain the ancestral lineage of an Ancient Egyptian individual. DNA was extracted from the heads of five Egyptian mummies, all the specimens were dated to between 806 BC and 124 AD, a timeframe corresponding with the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic periods. The researchers observed that one of the individuals likely belonged to the mtDNA haplogroup I2. Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 BC, by the 6th century BCE, a Punic presence existed at Tipasa. Hippo Regius and Rusicade are among the towns of Carthaginian origin on the coast of present-day Algeria, as Carthaginian power grew, its involvement in the indigenous population increased dramatically. Berber civilization was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, by the early 4th century BC, Berbers formed one of the largest element, with Gauls, of the Carthaginian army. Egypt was not considered part of Libya in Hellenistic geography, the boundary between Africa and Asia was at Catabathmus Magnus, separating Libya proper from the Libyan Nomos of western Egypt. In the Revolt of the Mercenaries, Berber soldiers participated from 241 to 238 BCE after being unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. Berbers succeeded in obtaining control of much of Carthages North African territory, the Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars, in 146 BCE the city of Carthage was destroyed. As Carthaginian power waned, the influence of Berber leaders in the hinterland grew, by the 2nd century BCE, several large but loosely administered Berber kingdoms had emerged. Two of them were established in Numidia, behind the areas controlled by Carthage. West of Numidia lay Mauretania, which extended across the Moulouya River in Morocco to the Atlantic Ocean. The high point of Berber civilization, unequaled until the coming of the Almohads and Almoravids more than a later, was reached during the reign of Masinissa in the 2nd century BCE
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Germanic Christianity
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The Germanic peoples underwent gradual Christianization in the course of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. By AD700, England and the Frankish Empire were officially Christian, in the 4th century, the early process of Christianization of the various Germanic people was partly facilitated by the prestige of the Christian Roman Empire among European pagans. Until the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes who had migrated there had converted to Christianity, many of them, notably the Goths and Vandals, adopted Arianism instead of the Trinitarian beliefs that were dogmatically defined by the Catholic Church in the Nicene Creed. The gradual rise of Germanic Christianity was, at times, voluntary, from the 6th century, Germanic tribes were converted by missionaries of the Catholic Church. Many Goths converted to Christianity as individuals outside the Roman Empire, most members of other tribes converted to Christianity when their respective tribes settled within the Empire, and most Franks and Anglo-Saxons converted a few generations later. In the 3rd century, East-Germanic peoples migrated into the steppes, north of the Black Sea in what today is South West Ukraine, Crimean Peninsula and from there to Bessarabia and todays Romania. The Greuthungi or Ostrogoths lived in Bessarabia and the Thervingi lived in the provinces of Moldova and Valachia, Gothic culture and identity emerged from various East-Germanic, Sarmatian, local Dacian, and Roman influences. In the same period, Gothic raiders took captives among the Romans, including many Christians, Ulfilas, or Wulfila, was the son or grandson of Christians from Sadagolthina in Cappadocia who had been taken captive by the Goths. In 337 or 341, Ulfilas was sent by Arian emperor Constantius II to preach to the Goths in their language, and became the first bishop of the Goths. By 348, one of the Gothic kings began persecuting the Christian Goths, between 348 and 383, Ulfilas translated the Bible into the Gothic language. The Chronicle of St. Denis relates that, following Clovis conversion, a number of pagans who were unhappy rallied around Ragnachar, though the text remains unclear as to the precise pretext, Clovis had Ragnachar executed. Remaining pockets of resistance were overcome region by region, primarily due to the work of a network of monasteries. The Alamanni became Christians only after a period of syncretism during the 7th century, the Lombards adopted Catholic Christianity as they entered Italy, also during the 6th century. Until 1066, by time the Danes and the Norse had lost their foothold in Britain, theological and missionary work in Germany was largely organized by Anglo-Saxon missionaries. A key event was the felling of Thors Oak in 723 near Fritzlar by Boniface, apostle of the Germans, Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England began around AD600, influenced by the Gregorian mission from the south-east and the Hiberno-Scottish mission from the north-west. Gregory I sent the first Archbishop of Canterbury, Augustine, to southern England in 597 and this process was often only partial, perhaps due to confusion as to the nature of the new religion, or for a desire to take the best of both traditions. A famous case of this was king Raedwald of East Anglia and his suspected burial place at Sutton Hoo shows definite influences of both Christian and pagan burial rites. The last pagan Anglo-Saxon king, the Jutish king Arwald of the Isle of Wight, was killed in battle in 686 fighting against the imposition of Christianity in his kingdom, Scandinavia was the last part of Germanic Europe to convert and most resistant
18.
Goths
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The Goths were an East Germanic people, two of whose branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe. In the Gothic language they were called the Gut-þiuda, most commonly translated as Gothic people, gut-þiudai, or Gutans Inferred from gen. pl. gutani in Pietroassa inscription. In Old Norse they were known as the Gutar or Gotar, in Latin as the Gothi, the exact origin of the ancient Goths is unknown. Evidence of them before they interacted with the Romans is limited, Modern academics have generally abandoned this theory. Today, the Wielbark culture is thought to have developed from earlier cultures in the same area, archaeological finds show close contacts between southern Sweden and the Baltic coastal area on the continent, and further towards the south-east, evidenced by pottery, house types and graves. Rather than a migration, similarities in the material cultures may be products of long-term regular contacts. However, the record could indicate that while his work is thought to be unreliable. Sometime around the 1st century AD, Germanic peoples may have migrated from Scandinavia to Gothiscandza, early archaeological evidence in the traditional Swedish province of Östergötland suggests a general depopulation during this period. However, there is no evidence for a substantial emigration from Scandinavia. Upon their arrival on the Pontic Steppe, the Germanic tribes adopted the ways of the Eurasian nomads, the first Greek references to the Goths call them Scythians, since this area along the Black Sea historically had been occupied by an unrelated people of that name. The earliest known material culture associated with the Goths on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea is the Wielbark culture, centered on the modern region of Pomerania in northern Poland. This culture replaced the local Oxhöft or Oksywie culture in the 1st century, the culture of this area was influenced by southern Scandinavian culture beginning as early as the late Nordic Bronze Age and early Pre-Roman Iron Age. In Eastern Europe they formed part of the Chernyakhov culture and it has been suggested that the Goths maintained contact with southern Sweden during their migration. In the first attested incursion in Thrace, the Goths were mentioned as Boranoi by Zosimus, the first incursion of the Roman Empire that can be attributed to Goths is the sack of Histria in 238. Several such raids followed in subsequent decades, in particular the Battle of Abrittus in 251, led by Cniva, at the time, there were at least two groups of Goths, the Thervingi and the Greuthungs. Goths were subsequently recruited into the Roman Army to fight in the Roman-Persian Wars. The Moesogoths settled in Thrace and Moesia, the first seaborne raids took place in three subsequent years, probably 255-257. An unsuccessful attack on Pityus was followed in the year by another
19.
Diocletian
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Diocletian, born Diocles, was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia, after the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor. The title was claimed by Carus other surviving son, Carinus. Diocletians reign stabilized the empire and marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and he appointed fellow officer Maximian as Augustus, co-emperor, in 286. Diocletian delegated further on 1 March 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as Caesars, under this tetrarchy, or rule of four, each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. Diocletian secured the borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi during several campaigns between 285 and 299, the Alamanni in 288, and usurpers in Egypt between 297 and 298, Galerius, aided by Diocletian, campaigned successfully against Sassanid Persia, the empires traditional enemy. In 299 he sacked their capital, Ctesiphon, Diocletian led the subsequent negotiations and achieved a lasting and favorable peace. He established new centres in Nicomedia, Mediolanum, Antioch. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, and construction increased the states expenditures. From at least 297 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, not all of Diocletians plans were successful, the Edict on Maximum Prices, his attempt to curb inflation via price controls, was counterproductive and quickly ignored. Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the office on 1 May 305. He lived out his retirement in his palace on the Dalmatian coast and his palace eventually became the core of the modern-day city of Split in Croatia. Diocletian was born near Salona in Dalmatia, some time around 244 and his parents gave him the Greek name Diocles, or possibly Diocles Valerius. The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes his official birthday,22 December, other historians are not so certain. Diocles parents were of low status, and writers critical of him claimed that his father was a scribe or a freedman of the senator Anullinus, the first forty years of his life are mostly obscure. The Byzantine chronicler Joannes Zonaras states that he was Dux Moesiae, the often-unreliable Historia Augusta states that he served in Gaul, but this account is not corroborated by other sources and is ignored by modern historians of the period
20.
Diocletianic Persecution
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The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Later edicts targeted the clergy and ordered all inhabitants to sacrifice to the Roman gods, the persecution varied in intensity across the empire—weakest in Gaul and Britain, where only the first edict was applied, and strongest in the Eastern provinces. Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors at different times, but Constantine and it was not until the 250s, under the reigns of Decius and Valerian, that such laws were passed. Under this legislation, Christians were compelled to sacrifice to Roman gods or face imprisonment, when Gallienus acceded in 260, he issued the first imperial edict regarding tolerance toward Christians, leading to nearly 40 years of peaceful coexistence. Diocletians accession in 284 did not mark an immediate reversal of disregard to Christianity, in the first 15 years of his rule, Diocletian purged the army of Christians, condemned Manicheans to death, and surrounded himself with public opponents of Christianity. Diocletians preference for autocratic government, combined with his self-image as a restorer of past Roman glory, in the winter of 302, Galerius urged Diocletian to begin a general persecution of the Christians. Diocletian was wary, and asked the oracle of Apollo for guidance, the oracles reply was read as an endorsement of Galeriuss position, and a general persecution was called on February 24,303. Persecutory policies varied in intensity across the empire, where Galerius and Diocletian were avid persecutors, Constantius was unenthusiastic. Later persecutory edicts, including the calls for sacrifice, were not applied in his domain. His son, Constantine, on taking the office in 306, restored Christians to full legal equality. In Italy in 306, the usurper Maxentius ousted Maximians successor Severus, Galerius ended the persecution in the East in 311, but it was resumed in Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor by his successor, Maximinus. Constantine and Licinius, Severuss successor, signed the Edict of Milan in 313, Licinius ousted Maximinus in 313, bringing an end to persecution in the East. The persecution failed to check the rise of the church, by 324, Constantine was sole ruler of the empire, and Christianity had become his favored religion. Although the persecution resulted in death, torture, imprisonment, or dislocation for many Christians, the persecution did, however, cause many churches to split between those who had complied with imperial authority, and those who had remained pure. Certain schisms, like those of the Donatists in North Africa, the Donatists would not be reconciled to the Church until after 411. In the centuries that followed, some consider that Christians created a cult of the martyrs. These accounts were criticized during the Enlightenment and afterwards, most notably by Edward Gibbon, modern historians, such as G. E. M. de Ste. Croix, have attempted to determine whether Christian sources exaggerated the scope of the Diocletianic persecution, from its first appearance to its legalization under Constantine, for the first two centuries of its existence, Christianity and its practitioners were unpopular with the people at large
21.
Metropolitan bishop
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Before the establishment of patriarchs, metropolitan was the highest episcopal rank in the Eastern rites of the Church. They presided over synods of bishops, and were granted privileges by canon law. The Early Church structure generally followed the Roman imperial practice, with one bishop ruling each city, the bishop of the provincial capital, the metropolitan, enjoyed certain rights over other bishops in the province, later called suffragans. The other bishops are known as suffragan bishops, the metropolitan is obliged to request the pallium, a symbol of the power that, in communion with the Church of Rome, he possesses over his ecclesiastical province. This holds even if he had the pallium in another metropolitan see and it is the responsibility of the metropolitan, with the consent of the majority of the suffragan bishops to call a provincial council, decide where to convene it, and determine the agenda. It is his prerogative to preside over the provincial council, no provincial council can be called if the metropolitan see is vacant. As of April 2006,508 archdioceses were headed by metropolitan archbishops,27 archbishops lead an extant archdiocese, but were not metropolitans, see also Catholic Church hierarchy for the distinctions. In those Eastern Catholic Churches that are headed by a patriarch, similarly, a metropolitan has the right to ordain and enthrone the bishops of his province. The metropolitan is to be commemorated in the liturgies celebrated within his province, a major archbishop is defined as the metropolitan of a certain see who heads an autonomous Eastern Church not of patriarchal rank. The canon law of such a Church differs only slightly from that regarding a patriarchal Church, there are also autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches consisting of a single province and headed by a metropolitan. In his autonomous Church it is for him to ordain and enthrone bishops, in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the title of metropolitan is used variously, in terms of rank and jurisdiction. In terms of rank, in some Eastern Orthodox Churches metropolitans are ranked above archbishops in precedence, primates of autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches below patriarchal rank are generally designated as archbishops. In the Greek Orthodox Churches, archbishops are ranked above metropolitans in precedence, some Eastern Orthodox Churches have functioning metropolitans on the middle level of church administration. In Romanian Orthodox Church there are six regional metropolitans who are the chairmen of their respective synods of bishops, for example, Metropolitan of Oltenia has regional jurisdiction over four dioceses. On the other hand, in some Eastern Orthodox Churches title of metropolitan is only honorary, in Serbian Orthodox Church, honorary title of metropolitan is given to diocesan bishops of some important historical sees. For example, diocesan bishop of the Eparchy of Montenegro and the Littoral is given the title of metropolitan. Diocesan bishop of the Eparchy of Dabar-Bosnia is also given the title of metropolitan. Non-canonical Eastern Orthodox Churches generally use metropolitan title according to traditions of usage in Churches from which they were split
22.
Armenian Apostolic Church
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The Armenian Apostolic Church is the national church of the Armenian people. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian communities, Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in the early 4th century. The church claims to have originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and it is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Orthodox Church or Gregorian Church. It is also known as the Armenian Church. The Armenian Church believes apostolic succession through the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus, according to legend, the latter of the two apostles is said to have cured Abgar V of Edessa of leprosy with the Image of Edessa, leading to his conversion in 30 AD. After this, Bartholomew came to Armenia, bringing a portrait of the virgin Mary, Bartholomew then converted the sister of Sanatruk, who once again martyred a female relative and the apostle who converted her. Both apostles ordained native bishops before their execution, and some other Armenians had been ordained outside of Armenia by James the Just. According to Eusebius and Tertullian, Armenian Christians were persecuted by kings Axidares, Khosrov I, and Tiridates III, ancient Armenias adoption of Christianity as a state religion has been referred to by Nina Garsoïan as probably the most crucial step in its history. This conversion distinguished it from its Iranian and Mazdean roots and protected it from further Parthian influence, other scholars as well have stated that the acceptance of Christianity by the Arsacid-Armenian rulers was partly in defiance of the Sassanids. When King Trdat IV made Christianity the state religion of Armenia between 301 and 314, it was not a new religion there. It had penetrated the country from at least the third century, Tiridates declared Gregory to be the first Catholicos of the Armenian Church and sent him to Caesarea to be consecrated. Upon his return, Gregory tore down shrines to idols, built churches and monasteries, while meditating in the old capital city of Vagharshapat, Gregory had a vision of Christ descending to the earth and striking it with a hammer. From that spot arose a great Christian temple with a huge cross and he was convinced that God intended him to build the main Armenian church there. With the kings help he did so in accord with his vision and he renamed the city Etchmiadzin, which means the place of the descent of the only-begotten. Initially the Armenian church participated in the church world. Its Catholicos was represented at the First Council of Nicea and the First Council of Constantinople, although unable to attend the Council of Ephesus, the Catholicos Isaac Parthiev sent a message agreeing with its decisions. Christianity was strengthened in Armenia in the 5th century by the translation of the Bible into the Armenian language by the theologian, monk. Before the 5th century, Armenians had a language
23.
Galerius
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Galerius was Roman Emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sassanid Empire and he also campaigned across the Danube against the Carpi, defeating them in 297 and 300. Although he was an opponent of Christianity, Galerius ended the Diocletianic Persecution when he issued an edict of toleration in 311. Galerius was born in Serdica, though modern scholars consider the strategic site where he later built his palace named after his mother – Felix Romuliana – his birth. His father was a Thracian and his mother Romula was a Dacian woman and he originally followed his fathers occupation, that of a herdsman, where he got his surname of Armentarius. After a few years campaigning against Sarmatians and Goths on the Danube, soon after his appointment, Galerius would be dispatched to Egypt to fight the rebellious cities Busiris and Coptos. In 294, Narseh, a son of Shapur I who had passed over for the Sassanid succession. Narseh probably moved to eliminate Bahram III, a man installed by a noble named Vahunam in the wake of Bahram IIs death in 293. In early 294, Narseh sent Diocletian the customary package of gifts and he sought to identify himself with the warlike reigns of Ardashir and Shapur, who had sacked Roman Antioch and captured Emperor Valerian. In 295 or 296, Narseh declared war on Rome and he appears to have first invaded western Armenia, retaking the lands delivered to Tiridates in the peace of 287. He would occupy the lands there until the following year, the late historian Ammianus Marcellinus is the only source detailing the initial invasion of Armenia. Narseh then moved south into Roman Mesopotamia, where he inflicted a defeat on Galerius, then commander of the Eastern forces. In Antioch, Diocletian forced Galerius to walk a mile in advance of his imperial cart while still clad in the robes of an emperor. The message conveyed was clear, the loss at Carrhae was not due to the failings of the soldiers, but due to the failings of their commander. It is also possible that Galerius position at the head of the caravan was merely the conventional organization of an imperial progression, Galerius had been reinforced, probably in the spring of 298, by a new contingent collected from the empires Danubian holdings. Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia, leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia, Diocletian may or may not have been present to assist the campaign. Narseh retreated to Armenia to fight Galerius force, to Narsehs disadvantage, the rugged Armenian terrain was favorable to Roman infantry, local aid gave Galerius the advantage of surprise over the Persian forces, and, in two successive battles, Galerius secured victories over Narseh. During the second encounter, the Battle of Satala in 298, Roman forces seized Narsehs camp, his treasury, his harem, and his wife
24.
Edict of Toleration by Galerius
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The Edict of Toleration by Galerius was issued in 311 in Serdica by the Roman emperor Galerius, officially ending the Diocletianic persecution of Christianity. The Edict implicitly granted Christianity the status of religio licita, a recognized and accepted by the Roman Empire. It was the first edict legalizing Christianity, preceding the Edict of Milan by two years, on February 23,303, on the Terminalia feast, Emperor Diocletian, by proposal of Galerius, issued a persecutory edict. At that time, Galerius held the position of Caesar of the Roman Empire, promulgated in the name of the other official members of the Tetrarchy, the edict marked the end of persecutions against the Christians. Finally when our law had been promulgated to the effect that they should conform to the institutes of antiquity, many were subdued by the fear of danger, but we shall tell the magistrates in another letter what they ought to do. This edict is published at Nicomedia on the day before the Kalends of May, in our eighth consulship and the second of Maximinus
25.
Constantine the Great
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Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer and his father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian, in 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, the government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation and it would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was adopted by Christians, in military matters, the Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. The age of Constantine marked an epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself. It would later become the capital of the Empire for over one thousand years and his more immediate political legacy was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletians tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and centuries after his reign, the medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Critics portrayed him as a tyrant, trends in modern and recent scholarship attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on his orders at the site of Jesus tomb in Jerusalem. The Papal claim to power in the High Middle Ages was based on the supposed Donation of Constantine. He is venerated as a saint by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics, though Constantine has historically often been referred to as the First Christian Emperor, scholars debate his actual beliefs or even his actual comprehension of the Christian faith itself. Constantine was a ruler of major importance, and he has always been a controversial figure, the fluctuations in Constantines reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but have strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period. There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantines life, the nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesareas Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography
26.
Battle of the Milvian Bridge
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The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on October 28,312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber, Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle and his body was taken from the river. According to chroniclers such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantines conversion to Christianity, Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision sent by the Christian God. This was interpreted as a promise of victory if the sign of the Chi-Rho, the underlying causes of the battle were the rivalries inherent in Diocletians Tetrarchy. After Diocletian stepped down on 1 May 305, his successors began to struggle for control of the Roman Empire almost immediately, although Constantine was the son of the Western Emperor Constantius, the Tetrarchic ideology did not necessarily provide for hereditary succession. When Constantius died on 25 July 306, his fathers troops proclaimed Constantine as Augustus in Eboracum, in Rome, the favorite was Maxentius, the son of Constantius imperial colleague Maximian, who seized the title of emperor on 28 October 306. But whereas Constantines claim was recognized by Galerius, ruler of the Eastern provinces, Galerius, however, recognized Constantine as holding only the lesser imperial rank of Caesar. Galerius ordered his co-Augustus, Severus, to put Maxentius down in early 307, once Severus arrived in Italy, however, his army defected to Maxentius. Severus was captured, imprisoned, and executed, Galerius himself marched on Rome in the autumn, but failed to take the city. Constantine avoided conflict with both Maxentius and the Eastern emperors for most of this period, by 312, however, Constantine and Maxentius were engaged in open hostility with one another, although they were brothers-in‑law through Constantines marriage to Fausta, sister of Maxentius. In the spring of 312, Constantine gathered his forces and decided to oust Maxentius himself. He easily overran northern Italy, winning two battles, the first near Turin, the second at Verona, where the praetorian prefect Ruricius Pompeianus, Maxentius most senior general, was killed. It is commonly understood that on the evening of 27 October with the armies preparing for battle, some details of that vision, however, differ between the sources reporting it. Lactantius states that, in the night before the battle, Constantine was commanded in a dream to delineate the heavenly sign on the shields of his soldiers and he followed the commands of his dream and marked the shields with a sign denoting Christ. Lactantius describes that sign as a staurogram, or a Latin cross with its upper end rounded in a P-like fashion, there is no certain evidence that Constantine ever used that sign, opposed to the better known Chi-Rho sign described by Eusebius. From Eusebius, two accounts of the battle survive, the first, shorter one in the Ecclesiastical History promotes the belief that God helped Constantine but does not mention any vision. In his later Life of Constantine, Eusebius gives an account of a vision
27.
In hoc signo vinces
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In hoc signo vinces is a Latin phrase meaning In this sign you will conquer, often also rendered in early modern English as In this sign thou shalt conquer. It is a translation, or rendering, of the Greek phrase ἐν τούτῳ νίκα en toútōi níka, literally meaning in this and his work De Mortibus Persecutorum has an apologetic character, but has been treated as a work of history by Christian writers. Here Lactantius preserves the story of Constantines vision of the Chi Rho before his conversion to Christianity, the full text is found in only one manuscript, which bears the title, Lucii Caecilii liber ad Donatum Confessorem de Mortibus Persecutorum. Eusebius then continues to describe the Labarum, the standard used by Constantine in his later wars against Licinius. They would thence turn right into the atrium of St. Peters Basilica, the Kingdom of Portugal have used this motto, since the 1143, according with the legend in Lusíadas. Coat of Arms of the Russian Government,1919, see White movement Inscribed on the Colours of the Irish Brigade. The motto of the Mauritius National Coast Guard The motto of U. S, public motto of the Sigma Chi international fraternity. Is the motto on the Coat of arms of the Vlaamse Verdedigings Liga, public motto of the English Defence League. Used as the title of the manifesto of George Lincoln Rockwell. Is the motto on the coat of arms of the city of Plzeň, the phrase is in the coat of arms of the city of Birkirkara, the largest city on the island of Malta, and the city of Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Is the motto on the Coat of Arms of ODonnell Appears in one of the paintings of the Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński and it has been used in some versions of logo for the brand of cigarettes, Pall Mall. Eusebius - Constantine and the sign of the cross, Lucii Caecilii liber ad Donatum Confessorem de Mortibus Persecutorum
28.
Labarum
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The labarum was a vexillum that displayed the Chi-Rho symbol ☧, a christogram formed from the first two Greek letters of the word Christ — Chi and Rho. It was first used by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, since the vexillum consisted of a flag suspended from the crossbar of a cross, it was ideally suited to symbolize the crucifixion of Christ. Ancient sources draw a distinction between the two terms labarum and Chi-Rho, even though later usage sometimes regards the two as synonyms. The name labarum was applied both to the standard used by Constantine the Great and to the many standards produced in imitation of it in the Late Antique world. Beyond its derivation from Latin labarum, the etymology of the word is unclear, the Oxford English Dictionary offers no further derivation from within Latin. Some derive it from Latin /labāre/ to totter, to waver or laureum, an origin as a loan into Latin from a Celtic language or Basque has also been postulated. There is a traditional Basque symbol called the lauburu, though the name is attested from the 19th century onwards the motif occurs in engravings dating as early as the 2nd century AD. Lactantius states that, in the night before the battle, Constantine was commanded in a dream to delineate the heavenly sign on the shields of his soldiers. Obeying this command, he marked on their shields the letter X, with a line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top. Having had their shields marked in this fashion, Constantines troops readied themselves for battle, from Eusebius, two accounts of a battle survive. The first, shorter one in the Ecclesiastical History leaves no doubt that God helped Constantine, in his later Life of Constantine, Eusebius gives a detailed account of a vision and stresses that he had heard the story from the emperor himself. According to this version, Constantine with his army was marching somewhere when he looked up to the sun and saw a cross of light above it, the traditionally employed Latin translation of the Greek is in hoc signo vinces— literally In this sign, you will conquer. However, a translation from the original Greek text of Eusebius into English gives the phrase By this. At first he was unsure of the meaning of the apparition, Eusebius then continues to describe the labarum, the military standard used by Constantine in his later wars against Licinius, showing the Chi-Rho sign. Those two accounts have been merged in popular notion into Constantine seeing the Chi-Rho sign on the evening before the battle and its first appearance is on a Constantinian silver coin from c. 317, which proves that Constantine did use the sign at that time and he made extensive use of the Chi-Rho and the labarum later in the conflict with Licinius. The vision has been interpreted in a context, which would have been reshaped to fit with the Christian beliefs of the later Constantine. A Description of the Standard of the Cross, which the Romans now call the Labarum, now it was made in the following manner
29.
Edict of Milan
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The Edict of Milan was the February 313 AD agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. The Edict of Milan gave Christianity a legal status, but did not make Christianity the official religion of the Roman empire until Emperor Theodosius I did so in 380 AD. The document known as the Edict of Milan is found in Lactantius De Mortibus Persecutorum, whether or not there was a formal Edict of Milan is debatable. The version found in Lactantius is not in the form of an edict and it is a letter from Licinius to the governors of the provinces in the Eastern Empire he had just conquered by defeating Maximinus later in the same year and issued in Nicomedia. Ever since the fall of the Severan dynasty in 235, rivals for the throne had bid for support by either favouring or persecuting Christians. The previous Edict of Toleration by Galerius had been issued by the emperor Galerius from Serdica and was posted at Nicomedia on 30 April 311. By its provisions, the Christians, who had followed such a caprice and had fallen into such a folly that they would not obey the institutes of antiquity, were granted an indulgence, the actual letters have never been retrieved. Eusebius of Caesarea translated both documents into Greek in his History of the Church, in his description of the events in Milan in his Life of Constantine, Eusebius eliminated the role of Licinius, whom he portrayed as the evil foil to his hero Constantine. The Edict was in effect directed against Maximinus Daia, the Caesar in the East who was at that time styling himself as Augustus. Following Galerius death, Maximin was no longer constrained, he took up renewed persecutions in the eastern territories under his control. The Edict is popularly thought to concern only Christianity, and even to make Christianity the official religion of the Empire, Constantines own policy went beyond merely tolerating Christianity, he tolerated paganism and other religions, but he actively promoted Christianity. The document instead should more accurately be seen as the first step in creating an alliance with the Christian God, whom Constantine considered the strongest Deity. Constantine at that time was concerned about social stability and the protection of the empire from the wrath of the Christian God than he was for justice or care for the Christians. The Edict of Milan is more indicative of the Roman culture’s obsession with seeking the gods intervention than of Constantines or Licinius’s religious beliefs, the Edict of Milan required that the wrong done to the Christians be righted as thoroughly as possible. From the state’s perspective all wrongs should be righted as it claims “it has pleased us to all conditions whatsoever. ”These provisions indicate that more than just the establishment of justice was intended. The sense of righting wrongs reflects the leaders desires to avoid unfavorable consequences. The sooner the Romans maintained a state of justice with the Christians, the sooner the state could become stable because, it was thought, the forces of evil would be more balanced. Constantine was known to be superstitious and believed enough in the existence of the gods to not want to offset the balance of good
30.
Council of Jerusalem
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The Council of Jerusalem or Apostolic Council was held in Jerusalem around 50 AD. The council decided that Gentile converts to Christianity were not obligated to keep most of the Law of Moses, accounts of the council are found in Acts of the Apostles chapter 15 and also possibly in Pauls letter to the Galatians chapter 2. Some scholars dispute that Galatians 2 is about the Council of Jerusalem while other scholars dispute the reliability of the Acts of the Apostles. The Council of Jerusalem is generally dated to 48 AD, roughly twenty five years after the crucifixion of Jesus, at the time, most followers of Jesus were Jewish by birth and even converts would have considered the early Christians as a part of Judaism. According to Alister McGrath, the Jewish Christians affirmed every aspect of then contemporary Second Temple Judaism with the addition of the belief that Jesus was the Messiah, unless males were circumcised, they could not be Gods People. Circumcision as a mandate was associated with Abraham, but it is cited as the custom of Moses because Moses is considered the giver of the Law as a whole. The circumcision mandate was made official and binding in the Mosaic Law Covenant. In John 7,22 the words of Jesus are reported to be that Moses gave the people circumcision, Some of the Pharisees who had become believers insisted that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command to keep the law of Moses. The primary issue which was addressed related to the requirement of circumcision, as the author of Acts relates, the rules of traditional Judaism, and Paul the Apostle, who believed there was no such necessity. At the Council, following advice offered by Simon Peter, Barnabas and Paul gave an account of their ministry among the gentiles, and the apostle James quoted from the words of the prophet Amos. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath, Acts 15, 23–29 sets out the content of the letter written in accordance with James proposal. The Western version of Acts adds the form of the Golden Rule. This determined questions wider than that of circumcision, particularly dietary questions, but also fornication and idolatry and blood, if you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. And this Apostolic Decree was considered binding on all the other local Christian congregations in other regions, see also Biblical law directed at non-Jews, Seven Laws of Noah, Biblical law in Christianity, and the Ten Commandments in Christianity. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, the description of the Apostolic Council in Acts 15, generally considered the same event described in Galatians 2, is considered by some scholars to be contradictory to the Galatians account. The historicity of Lukes account has been challenged, and was rejected completely by some scholars in the mid to late 20th century, however, more recent scholarship inclines towards treating the Jerusalem Council and its rulings as a historical event, though this is sometimes expressed with caution. An extensive literature exists on the text and exegesis of the Apostolic Decree, however, the Council did retain the prohibitions against Gentile converts eating meat containing blood, or meat of animals not properly slain
31.
Arianism
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Arian teachings were first attributed to Arius, a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt. The teachings of Arius and his supporters were opposed to the views held by Homoousian Christians, regarding the nature of the Trinity. The Arian concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten by God the Father, there was a dispute between two interpretations based upon the theological orthodoxy of the time, both of them attempted to solve its theological dilemmas. So there were, initially, two equally orthodox interpretations which initiated a conflict in order to attract adepts and define the new orthodoxy, homoousianism was formally affirmed by the first two Ecumenical Councils. All mainstream branches of Christianity now consider Arianism to be heterodox, the Ecumenical First Council of Nicaea of 325 deemed it to be a heresy. According to Everett Ferguson, The great majority of Christians had no clear views on the Trinity, at the regional First Synod of Tyre in 335, Arius was exonerated. Constantine the Great was baptized by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, after the deaths of both Arius and Constantine, Arius was again anathemised and pronounced a heretic again at the Ecumenical First Council of Constantinople of 381. The Roman Emperors Constantius II and Valens were Arians or Semi-Arians, as was the first King of Italy, Odoacer, and the Lombards till the 7th century. Arius had been a pupil of Lucian of Antioch at Lucians private academy in Antioch and he taught that God the Father and the Son of God did not always exist together eternally. A verse from Proverbs was also used, The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, therefore, the Son was rather the very first and the most perfect of Gods creatures, and he was made God only by the Fathers permission and power. Controversy over Arianism arose in the late 3rd century and persisted throughout most of the 4th century and it involved most church members—from simple believers, priests, and monks to bishops, emperors, and members of Romes imperial family. Two Roman emperors, Constantius II and Valens, became Arians or Semi-Arians, as did prominent Gothic, Vandal, such a deep controversy within the Church during this period of its development could not have materialized without significant historical influences providing a basis for the Arian doctrines. Of the roughly three hundred bishops in attendance at the Council of Nicea, two bishops did not sign the Nicene Creed, which condemned Arianism, Arians do not believe in the traditional doctrine of the Trinity. The letter of Arian Auxentius regarding the Arian missionary Ulfilas gives a picture of Arian beliefs. Arian Ulfilas, who was ordained a bishop by Arian Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his people to work as a missionary, believed, God, the Father, always existing, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, begotten before time began and who is Lord/Master. By the 8th century it had ceased to be the tribes mainstream belief as the tribal rulers gradually came to adopt Nicene orthodoxy. This trend began in 496 with Clovis I of the Franks, then Reccared I of the Visigoths in 587, the remaining tribes – the Vandals and the Ostrogoths – did not convert as a people nor did they maintain territorial cohesion. Having been militarily defeated by the armies of Emperor Justinian I, the Vandalic War of 533–534 dispersed the defeated Vandals
32.
Nicene Creed
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The Nicene Creed is a Symbol of faith widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene /ˈnaɪsiːn/ because it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople, the Anglican and many Protestant denominations generally use the singular form, but sometimes use the plural. The Apostles Creed is also used in the Latin West, on Sundays and some other days, one or other of these two creeds is recited in the Roman Rite Mass after the homily. The Nicene Creed is also part of the profession of faith required of those important functions within the Catholic Church. In the Byzantine Rite, the Nicene Creed is sung or recited at the Divine Liturgy, immediately preceding the Anaphora, Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed can stand for the revised version of Constantinople or the later Latin version or various other versions. Icon/Symbol of the Faith is the designation for the revised version of Constantinople 381 in the Orthodox churches. Profession of Faith of the 318 Fathers refers specifically to the version of Nicaea 325, profession of Faith of the 150 Fathers refers specifically to the version of Constantinople 381. In musical settings, particularly when sung in Latin, this Creed is usually referred to by its first word, the purpose of a creed is to provide a doctrinal statement of correct belief, or orthodoxy. For that reason a creed was called in Greek a σύμβολον, a word that meant half of an object which. The Greek word passed through Latin symbolum into English symbol, which later took on the meaning of an outward sign of something. The Nicene Creed was adopted in the face of the Arian controversy, whose leader, Arius objected to Alexanders apparent carelessness in blurring the distinction of nature between the Father and the Son by his emphasis on eternal generation. Alexander accused Arius of denying the divinity of the Son and also of being too Jewish, both Arius and Alexander rejected Gnosticism, Manichaeism and Sabellian formulae. The Nicene Creed was created as a result of the adoption of the doctrine of Arius far outside Alexandria. The Nicene Creed of 325 explicitly affirms the co-essential divinity of the Son, the 381 version speaks of the Holy Spirit as worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. The Athanasian Creed describes in much detail the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Apostles Creed makes no statements about the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit, but, in the view of many who use it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted in 325 at the First Council of Nicaea, at that time, the text ended with the words We believe in the Holy Spirit, after which various anathemas against Arian propositions were added
33.
Christendom
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The term cristendom existed in Old English, but it had the sense now taken by Christianity. The current sense of the word of lands where Christianity is the dominant religion emerges in Late Middle English, English Christianity equalling German Christentum, French christianisme. The reason is the fragmentation of Western Christianity at that time both in theological and in political respect. Christendom as a term is thus meaningful in the context of the Middle Ages, and arguably during the European wars of religion. The Christian world is known collectively as the Corpus Christianum. The Christian polity, embodying a less secular meaning, can be compatible with the idea of both a religious and a body, Corpus Christianum. The Corpus Christianum can be seen as a Christian equivalent of the Muslim Ummah, the word Christendom is also used with its other meaning to frame-true Christianity. In its most broad term, it refers to the worlds Christian majority countries, unlike the Muslim world, which has a geo-political and cultural definition that provides a primary identifier for a large swath of the world, Christendom is more complex. For example, the Americas and Europe are considered part of Christendom and it is also less geographically cohesive than the Muslim world, which stretches almost continuously from North Africa to South Asia. There is a common and nonliteral sense of the word that is much like the terms Western world, when Thomas F. Connolly said, There isnt enough power in all Christendom to make that airplane what we want. In the beginning of Christendom, early Christianity was a spread in the Greek/Roman world and beyond as a 1st-century Jewish sect. The post-apostolic period concerns the time roughly after the death of the apostles when bishops emerged as overseers of urban Christian populations, the earliest recorded use of the terms Christianity and Catholic, dates to this period, the 2nd century, attributed to Ignatius of Antioch c. Early Christendom would close at the end of persecution of Christians after the ascension of Constantine the Great and the Edict of Milan in AD313. Christendom has referred to the medieval and renaissance notion of the Christian world as a sociopolitical polity, in this period, members of the Christian clergy wield political authority. This model of relations was accepted by various Church leaders. The Church gradually became an institution of the Empire. Emperor Theodosius I made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, the Byzantine Empire was the last bastion of Christendom. Christendom would take a turn with the rise of the Franks, on Christmas Day 800 AD, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne resulting in the creation of another Christian king beside the Christian emperor in the Byzantine state
34.
Sol Invictus
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Sol Invictus was the official sun god of the later Roman Empire and a patron of soldiers. In 274 AD the Roman emperor Aurelian made it an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults, scholars disagree about whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol, a revival of the cult of Elagabalus or completely new. The god was favored by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until Constantine I, the last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to AD387, and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that Augustine found it necessary to preach against them. Different explanations for the date similarity are considered to be academically thoroughly viable hypotheses by some, Invictus was an epithet for several deities of classical Roman religion, including the supreme deity Jupiter, the war god Mars, Hercules, Apollo, and Silvanus. It had been in use from the 3rd century BC, the Roman cult to Sol is continuous from the earliest history of the city until the institution of Christianity as the exclusive state religion. Scholars have sometimes regarded the traditional Sol and Sol Invictus as two separate deities, but the rejection of this view by S. E. Hijmans has found supporters. An inscription of AD102 records a restoration of a portico of Sol in what is now the Trastevere area of Rome by a certain Gaius Iulius Anicetus, another, stylistically dated to the 2nd century, is inscribed on a Roman phalera, inventori lucis soli invicto augusto. Augustus is a regular epithet linking deities to the Imperial cult, Sol Invictus played a prominent role in the Mithraic mysteries, and was equated with Mithras himself. The relation of the Mithraic Sol Invictus to the cult of the deity with the same name is unclear. According to the Historia Augusta, Elagabalus, the teenaged Severan heir, adopted the name of his deity, once installed as emperor, he neglected Romes traditional State deities and promoted his own as Romes most powerful deity. This ended with his murder in 222, the Historia Augusta refers to the deity Elagabalus as also called Jupiter and Sol. While this has seen as an attempt to import the Syrian sun god to Rome. The Roman gens Aurelia was associated with the cult of Sol, after his victories in the East, the Emperor Aurelian thoroughly reformed the Roman cult of Sol, elevating the sun-god to one of the premier divinities of the Empire. Every pontifex of Sol was a member of the senatorial elite, Aurelian also built a new temple for Sol, which was dedicated on December 25,274, and brought the total number of temples for the god in Rome to four. He also instituted games in honor of the sun god, held four years from a. d.274 onwards. The identity of Aurelians Sol Invictus has long been a subject of scholarly debate, based on the Augustan History, some scholars have argued that it was based on Sol Elagablus of Emesa. Professor Gary Forsythe discusses these arguments and adds a more recent one based on the work of Steven Hijmans. Hijmans argues that Aurelians solar deity was simply the traditional Greco-Roman Sol Invictus, statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch of Constantine
35.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
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Church architecture
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Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of Christian churches. These large, often ornate and architecturally prestigious buildings were dominant features of the towns, however, far more numerous were the parish churches in Christendom, the focus of Christian devotion in every town and village. In the 20th century, the use of new materials, such as steel, the history of church architecture divides itself into periods, and into countries or regions and by religious affiliation. The simplest church building comprises a single meeting space, built of locally available material, such churches are generally rectangular, but in African countries where circular dwellings are the norm, vernacular churches may be circular as well. A simple church may be built of mud brick, wattle and daub and it may be roofed with thatch, shingles, corrugated iron or banana leaves. However, church congregations, from the 4th century onwards, have sought to construct buildings that were both permanent and aesthetically pleasing. This had led to a tradition in which congregations and local leaders have invested time, money and personal prestige into the building, within any parish, the local church is often the oldest building, and is larger than any pre-19th-century structure except perhaps a barn. The church is built of the most durable material available. To the two-room structure is often added aisles, a tower, chapels, in the first three centuries of the Early Christian Church, the practice of Christianity was illegal and few churches were constructed. In the beginning Christians worshipped along with Jews in synagogues and in private houses, after the separation of Jews and Christians the latter continued to worship in peoples houses, known as house churches. These were often the homes of the members of the faith. Saint Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians writes, aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, greet you warmly in the Lord. Some domestic buildings were adapted to function as churches, one of the earliest of adapted residences is at Dura Europos church, built shortly after 200 AD, where two rooms were made into one, by removing a wall, and a dais was set up. To the right of the entrance a small room was made into a baptistry, some church buildings were specifically built as church assemblies, such as that opposite the emperor Diocletians palace in Nicomedia. The books of the Holy Scriptures were found, and they were committed to the flames, the utensils and furniture of the church were abandoned to pillage, all was rapine, confusion, tumult. That church, situated on rising ground, was within view of the palace, and Diocletian and Galerius stood, as if on a watchtower, disputing long whether it ought to be set on fire. The sentiment of Diocletian prevailed, who dreaded lest, so great a fire being once kindled, some part of the city might he burnt, for there were many and large buildings that surrounded the church. Then the Pretorian Guards came in battle array, with axes and other iron instruments, from the first to the early fourth centuries most Christian communities worshipped in private homes, often secretly
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God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
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Gratian
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For other figures with this name, including his paternal grandfather, see Gratian. Gratian was Roman emperor from 367 to 383, the eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratians brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his fathers soldiers, in 378, Gratians generals won a decisive victory over the Lentienses, a branch of the Alamanni, at the Battle of Argentovaria. Gratian subsequently led a campaign across the Rhine, the last emperor to do so and that same year, his uncle Valens was killed in the Battle of Adrianople against the Goths – making Gratian essentially ruler of the entire Roman Empire. He favoured Christianity over traditional Roman religion, refusing the divine attributes of the Emperors, Gratian was the son of Emperor Valentinian I by Marina Severa, and was born at Sirmium in Pannonia. He was named after his grandfather Gratian the Elder, Gratian was first married to Flavia Maxima Constantia, daughter of Constantius II. His stepmother was Empress Justina and his half siblings were Emperor Valentinian II, Galla. On 24 August 367 he received from his father the title of Augustus, on the death of Valentinian, the troops in Pannonia proclaimed his infant son emperor under the title of Valentinian II. The division, however, was nominal, and the real authority remained in the hands of Gratian. Gratians general Mallobaudes, a king of the Franks, and Naniemus, completely defeated the Lentienses, upon receiving news of the victory, Gratian personally led a campaign across the Upper Rhine into the territory of the Lentienses. After initial trouble facing the Lentienses on high ground, Gratian blockaded the enemy instead, the Lentienses were forced to supply young men to be levied into the Roman army, while the remainder were allowed to return home. Later that year, Valens met his death in the Battle of Adrianople on 9 August. Valens refused to wait for Gratian and his army to arrive and assist in defeating the host of Goths, Alans and Huns, as a result, Gratianus and Theodosius then cleared the Illyricum of barbarians in the Gothic War. A Roman general named Magnus Maximus took advantage of this feeling to raise the standard of revolt in Britain, Gratian, who was then in Paris, being deserted by his troops, fled to Lyon. There, through the treachery of the governor, Gratian was delivered over to one of the generals, Andragathius. The reign of Gratian forms an important epoch in ecclesiastical history, Gratian also published an edict that all their subjects should profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria. The move was mainly thrust at the various beliefs that had arisen out of Arianism, Gratian, under the influence of his chief advisor the Bishop of Milan Ambrose, took active steps to repress pagan worship. This brought to an end a period of widespread, if unofficial, in 382, Gratian appropriated the income of the Pagan priests and Vestal Virgins, forbade legacies of real property to them and abolished other privileges belonging to the Vestals and to the pontiffs
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Pontifex Maximus
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The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, a distinctly religious office under the early Roman Republic, it gradually became politicized until, beginning with Augustus, it was subsumed into the Imperial office. Its last use with reference to the emperors is in inscriptions of Gratian who, however, although the most influential office within Roman priesthood, the pontifex maximus was ranked the fifth in the ranking of the highest Roman priests, behind the rex sacrorum and the flamines maiores. It is not included in the Popes official titles, but appears on buildings, monuments and coins of popes of Renaissance, according to the usual interpretation, the term pontifex literally means bridge-builder, maximus literally means greatest. However, it was understood in its symbolic sense as well. The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it, others have held that the word was originally pompifex. The word pons originally meant way and pontifex would thus mean maker of roads, another opinion is that the word is a corruption of a similar-sounding but etymologically unrelated Etruscan word for priest. Yet another hypothesis considers the word as a loan from the Sabine language, in which it would mean a member of a college of five, from Osco-Umbrian ponte, the pontifex would thence be a member of a sacrificial college known as pomperia. The term ἀρχιερεύς is used in the Septuagint text of the Old Testament, the Collegium Pontificum was the most important priesthood of ancient Rome. The foundation of this college and the office of Pontifex Maximus is attributed to the second king of Rome. Much of what is known about the Regal period in Roman history is semi-legendary or mythical, the Collegium presumably acted as advisers to the rex in religious matters. The collegium was headed by the pontifex maximus, and all the pontifices held their office for life, Numa is said to have founded Roman religion after dedicating an altar on the Aventine Hill to Jupiter Elicius and consulting the gods by means of augury. Numa wrote down and sealed these religious instructions, and gave them to the first Pontifex Maximus, in the Roman Republic, the Pontifex Maximus was the highest office in the state religion of ancient Rome and directed the College of Pontiffs. The rex sacrorum was explicitly deprived of military and political power, the official residence of the Pontifex Maximus was the Domus Publica which stood between the House of the Vestal Virgins and the Via Sacra, close to the Regia, in the Roman Forum. His religious duties were carried out from the Regia, unless the pontifex maximus was also a magistrate at the same time, he was not allowed to wear the toga praetexta, i. e. toga with the purple border. The Pontifex was not simply a priest and he had both political and religious authority. It is not clear which of the two came first or had the most importance, in practice, particularly during the late Republic, the office of Pontifex Maximus was generally held by a member of a politically prominent family. It was a position mainly for the great prestige it conferred on the holder, Julius Caesar became pontifex in 73 BC
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Constantius II
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Constantius II was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II, in 340, Constantius brothers clashed over the western provinces of the empire. The resulting conflict left Constantine II dead and Constans as ruler of the west until he was overthrown, unwilling to accept Magnentius as co-ruler, Constantius defeated him at the battles of Mursa Major and Mons Seleucus. Magnentius committed suicide after the battle, leaving Constantius as sole ruler of the empire. His subsequent military campaigns against Germanic tribes were successful, he defeated the Alamanni in 354 and campaigned across the Danube against the Quadi, in contrast, the war in the east against the Sassanids continued with mixed results. Shortly thereafter, in 355, Constantius promoted his last surviving cousin, Gallus younger half-brother, Julian, however, Julian claimed the rank of Augustus in 360, leading to war between the two. Ultimately, no battle was fought as Constantius became ill and died late in 361, Constantius was born in 317 at Sirmium, Pannonia. He was the son of Constantine the Great, and second by his second wife Fausta. Constantius was made Caesar by his father on 13 November 324, in 336, religious unrest in Armenia and tense relations between Constantine and king Shapur II caused war to break out between Rome and Sassanid Persia. Though he made preparations for the war, Constantine fell ill. Before Constantius arrived, the Persian general Narses, who was possibly the brother, overran Mesopotamia. Constantius promptly attacked Narses, and after suffering minor setbacks defeated and killed Narses at the Battle of Narasara, Constantius captured Amida and initiated a major refortification the city, enhancing the citys circuit walls and constructing large towers. He also built a new stronghold in the nearby, naming it Antinopolis. In early 337, Constantius hurried to Constantinople after receiving news that his father was near death, after Constantine died, Constantius buried him with lavish ceremony in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Eutropius, writing between 350 and 370, states that Constantius merely sanctioned “the act, rather than commanding it”, the massacre killed two of Constantius uncles and six of his cousins, including Hannibalianus and Dalmatius, rulers of Pontus and Moesia respectively. Soon after, Constantius met his brothers in Pannonia at Sirmium to formalize the partition of the empire, Constantius then hurried east to Antioch to resume the war with Persia. Despite initial success, Shapur lifted his siege after his army missed an opportunity to exploit a collapsed wall, when Constantius learned of Shapurs withdrawal from Roman territory, he prepared his army for a counter-attack, drilling them. Constantius repeatedly defended the border against invasions by the aggressive Sassanid Empire under Shapur
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Julian (emperor)
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Julian, also known as Julian the Apostate, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. A member of the Constantinian dynasty, Julian became Caesar over the provinces by order of Constantius II in 355 and in this role campaigned successfully against the Alamanni. Most notable was his victory over the Alamanni in 357 at the Battle of Argentoratum. In 360 in Lutetia he was proclaimed Augustus by his soldiers, before the two could face each other in battle, however, Constantius died, after naming Julian as his rightful successor. In 363, Julian embarked on an campaign against the Sassanid Empire. Though initially successful, Julian was mortally wounded in battle and died shortly thereafter, Julian was a man of unusually complex character, he was the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters. He was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, and it was his desire to bring the Empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to, as he saw it, save it from dissolution. He purged the state bureaucracy and attempted to revive traditional Roman religious practices at the expense of Christianity. His anti-Christian sentiment and promotion of Neoplatonic paganism caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate by the church and he was the last emperor of the Constantinian dynasty, the empires first Christian dynasty. Both of his parents were Christians and his paternal grandparents were Western Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife, Flavia Maximiana Theodora. His maternal grandfather was Julius Julianus, praetorian prefect of the East under emperor Licinius from 315 to 324, the name of Julians maternal grandmother is unknown. Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II were proclaimed joint emperors, Julian and Gallus were excluded from public life, were strictly guarded in their youth, and given a Christian education. They were likely saved by their youth and at the urging of the Empress Eusebia, if Julians later writings are to be believed, Constantius would later be tormented with guilt at the massacre of 337. After Eusebius died in 342, both Julian and Gallus were exiled to the estate of Macellum in Cappadocia. Here Julian met the Christian bishop George of Cappadocia, who lent him books from the classical tradition, at the age of 18, the exile was lifted and he dwelt briefly in Constantinople and Nicomedia. He became a lector, an office in the Christian church. Julian studied Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 351, at first under Aedesius, the philosopher and he was summoned to Constantius court in Mediolanum in 354 and kept there for a year, in the summer and fall of 355, he was permitted to study in Athens. While there, Julian became acquainted with two men who became both bishops and saints, Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great
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Neoplatonism
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Neoplatonists were heavily influenced by Plato, but also by the Platonic tradition that thrived during the six centuries which separated the first of the Neoplatonists from Plato. In defining the term Neoplatonism, it is difficult to reduce the school of thought to a set of ideas that all Neoplatonic philosophers shared in common. The work of Neoplatonic philosophy involved describing the derivation of the whole of reality from a single principle, instead, the most concise definition of Neoplatonism casts it as a historical term. Thinkers of this period include Syrianus, Olympiodorus the Younger. Neoplatonism has been influential throughout history. In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were integrated into the philosophical and theological works of many of the most important medieval Islamic, Christian, yeats and T. S. Eliot, among many more. The term Neoplatonism has a function as a historical category. On the one hand, it differentiates the philosophical doctrines of Plotinus, on the other, the term makes an assumption about the novelty of Plotinus interpretation of Plato. The term Neoplatonism implies that Plotinus interpretation of Plato was so distinct from those of his predecessors that it should be thought to introduce a new period in the history of Platonism. Some contemporary scholars, however, have taken issue with this assumption and have doubted that Neoplatonism constitutes a useful label and they claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus teachings from those of his immediate predecessors. Whether Neoplatonism is a meaningful or useful historical category is itself a central question concerning the history of the interpretation of Plato, for much of the history of Platonism, it was commonly accepted that the doctrines of the Neoplatonists were essentially the same as those of Plato. The Renaissance Platonist Marsilio Ficino, for instance, thought that the Neoplatonic interpretation of Plato was an authentic, contemporary scholars often identify the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher as an early thinker who took Platos philosophy to be separate from that of his Neoplatonic interpreters. However, others have argued that the differentiation of Plato from Neoplatonism was the result of a historical development that preceded Schleiermachers scholarly work on Plato. The most important forerunners of Neoplatonism are the Middle Platonists, such as Plutarch, Neoplatonism is generally a metaphysical and epistemological philosophy. Neoplatonism is a form of idealistic monism combined with elements of polytheism, although the founder of Neoplatonism is supposed to have been Ammonius Saccas, the Enneads of his pupil Plotinus are the primary and classical document of Neoplatonism. One of the features of Plotinus system, which was also taken up by subsequent Neoplatonists, is the doctrine of the One beyond being. For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is a simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. Although, properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist or to be a being
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Judaism
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Judaism encompasses the religion, philosophy, culture and way of life of the Jewish people. Judaism is an ancient monotheistic Abrahamic religion, with the Torah as its text, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the relationship that God established with the Children of Israel. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth-largest religion in the world, Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Modern branches of Judaism such as Humanistic Judaism may be nontheistic, today, the largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism. Major sources of difference between groups are their approaches to Jewish law, the authority of the Rabbinic tradition. Orthodox Judaism maintains that the Torah and Jewish law are divine in origin, eternal and unalterable, Conservative and Reform Judaism are more liberal, with Conservative Judaism generally promoting a more traditional interpretation of Judaisms requirements than Reform Judaism. A typical Reform position is that Jewish law should be viewed as a set of guidelines rather than as a set of restrictions and obligations whose observance is required of all Jews. Historically, special courts enforced Jewish law, today, these still exist. Authority on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person or organization, the history of Judaism spans more than 3,000 years. Judaism has its roots as a religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions, the Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as Jews in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title Children of Israel. Judaisms texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam, many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Jews are a group and include those born Jewish and converts to Judaism. In 2015, the world Jewish population was estimated at about 14.3 million, Judaism thus begins with ethical monotheism, the belief that God is one and is concerned with the actions of humankind. According to the Tanakh, God promised Abraham to make of his offspring a great nation, many generations later, he commanded the nation of Israel to love and worship only one God, that is, the Jewish nation is to reciprocate Gods concern for the world. He also commanded the Jewish people to one another, that is. These commandments are but two of a corpus of commandments and laws that constitute this covenant, which is the substance of Judaism
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Jovian (emperor)
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Jovian was Roman Emperor from 363 to 364. Upon the death of emperor Julian the Apostate during his campaign against the Sassanid Empire and he sought peace with the Persians on humiliating terms and reestablished Christianity as the state church. His reign lasted only eight months, Jovian was born at Singidunum in 331 AD, the son of Varronianus, the commander of Constantius IIs imperial bodyguards. He also joined the guards and by 363 had risen to the command that his father had once held. In this capacity, Jovian accompanied the Roman Emperor Julian on the Mesopotamian campaign of the year against Shapur II. After the Battle of Samarra, a small but decisive engagement, Julian, mortally wounded during the retreat, died on 26 June 363. The next day, after the aged Saturninius Secundus Salutius, praetorian prefect of the Orient, had declined the purple, Jovian, a Christian, reestablished Christianity as the state church, ending the brief revival of paganism under his predecessor. Upon arriving at Antioch, he revoked the edicts of Julian against Christians, the Labarum of Constantine the Great again became the standard of the army. He issued an edict of toleration, to the effect that, while the exercise of magical rites would be punished, his subjects should enjoy full liberty of conscience. In 363, however, he issued an edict ordering the Library of Antioch to be burnt down and he extended the same punishment on 23 December to participation in any pagan ceremony. Jovian entertained a great regard for Athanasius, whom he reinstated on the archiepiscopal throne, in Syriac literature, Jovian became the hero of a Christian romance. From Jovians reign until the 15th century Christianity remained the dominant religion of both the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, until the Fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453, Jovian continued the retreat begun by Julian. Though harassed by the Persians, the army succeeded in reaching the banks of the Tigris, there, deep inside Sassanid territory, he was forced to sue for a peace treaty on humiliating terms. The Romans also surrendered their interests in the Kingdom of Armenia to the Persians, the Christian king of Armenia, Arsaces II, was to stay neutral in future conflicts between the two empires and was forced to cede part of his kingdom to Shapur. The treaty was seen as a disgrace and Jovian rapidly lost popularity. After arriving at Antioch, Jovian decided to rush to Constantinople to consolidate his position there. While en route, he was dead in bed in his tent at Dadastana. His death has been attributed to either a surfeit of mushrooms or the carbon monoxide fumes of a charcoal warming fire
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Valentinian I
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Valentinian I, also known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. Upon becoming emperor he made his brother Valens his co-emperor, giving him rule of the provinces while Valentinian retained the west. During his reign, Valentinian fought successfully against the Alamanni, Quadi, most notable was his victory over the Alamanni in 367 at the Battle of Solicinium. His brilliant general Count Theodosius defeated a revolt in Africa and the Great Conspiracy, an assault on Roman Britain by Picts, Scots. Valentinian was also the last emperor to conduct campaigns across both the Rhine and Danube rivers, Valentinian rebuilt and improved the fortifications along the frontiers, even building fortresses in enemy territory. Due to the nature of his reign and the rapid decline of the empire after his death. He founded the Valentinian Dynasty, with his sons Gratian and Valentinian II succeeding him in the half of the empire. Valentinian was born in 321 at Cibalae in southern Pannonia, Valentinian and his younger brother Valens were the sons of Gratianus Major, a prominent commander during the reigns of emperors Constantine I and Constans I. He and his brother grew up on the estate where they were educated in a variety of subjects. Gratian the Elder was promoted to Comes Africae in the late 320s or early 330s, however, Gratian was soon accused of embezzlement and was forced to retire. Valentinian joined the army in the late 330s and later acquired the position of protector domesticus. Gratian was later recalled during the early 340s and was made comes of Britannia, after holding this post, Gratianus retired to the family estate in Cibalae. In 350, Constans I was assassinated by agents of the usurper Magnentius, Constantius II, older brother of Constans and emperor in the East, promptly set forth towards Magnentius with a large army. The following year the two met in Pannonia. The ensuing Battle of Mursa Major resulted in a victory for Constantius. Two years later he defeated Magnentius again in southern Gaul at the Battle of Mons Seleucus, Magnentius, now realizing the futility of continuing his revolt, committed suicide in August that year, making Constantius sole ruler of the empire. It was around this time that Constantius confiscated Gratianus property, for supposedly showing hospitality to Magnentius when he was in Pannonia. Despite his fathers fall from favor, Valentinian does not seem to have adversely affected at this time
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Valens
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Valens, fully Flavius Julius Valens Augustus, was Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latters accession to the throne. Valens, sometimes known as the Last True Roman, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Adrianople, Valens and his brother Valentinian were both born in Cibalae into an Illyrian family in 328 and 321 respectively. They had grown up on estates purchased by their father Gratian the Elder in Africa, while Valentinian had enjoyed a successful military career prior to his appointment as emperor, Valens apparently had not. He had spent much of his youth on the estate and only joined the army in the 360s. In February 364, reigning Emperor Jovian, while hastening to Constantinople to secure his claim to the throne, was asphyxiated during a stop at Dadastana,100 miles east of Ankara, among Jovians lieutenants was Valentinian, a tribunus scutariorum. He was proclaimed Augustus on 26 February,364, Valentinian felt that he needed help to govern the large and troublesome empire, and, on 28 March of the same year, appointed his brother Valens as co-emperor in the palace of Hebdomon. The two Augusti travelled together through Adrianople and Naissus to Sirmium, where they divided their personnel, Valens obtained the eastern half of the Empire Greece, Egypt, Syria and Anatolia as far east as Persia. Valens was back in his capital of Constantinople by December 364, in 365, an undersea earthquake between magnitudes 8 and 9 near Crete caused a tsunami that hit the coasts of the Eastern Mediterranean. Valenss first priority after the winter of 365 was to move east in hopes of shoring up the situation, by the autumn of 365 he had reached Cappadocian Caesarea when he learned that a usurper, named Procopius, had proclaimed himself in Constantinople. When he died, Julian the emperor had left one surviving relative. Procopius had been charged with overseeing a northern division of his relatives army during the Persian expedition and had not been present when Jovian was named his successor, though Jovian made accommodations to appease this potential claimant, Procopius fell increasingly under suspicion in the first year of Valens reign. This program met with success, particularly among soldiers loyal to the Constantinians. When news arrived that Procopius had revolted, Valens considered abdication, even so, Valens sent two legions to march on Procopius, who easily persuaded them to desert to him. Later that year, Valens himself was captured in a scramble near Chalcedon. Troubles were exacerbated by the refusal of Valentinian to do any more than protect his own territory from encroachment, the failure of imperial resistance in 365 allowed Procopius to gain control of the dioceses of Thrace and Asiana by years end. Only in the spring of 366 had Valens assembled enough troops to deal with Procopius effectively, marching out from Ancyra through Pessinus, Valens proceeded into Phrygia where he defeated Procopiuss general Gomoarius at the Battle of Thyatira. He then met Procopius himself at Nacoleia and convinced his troops to desert him, Procopius was executed on 27 May and his head sent to Valentinian in Trier for inspection
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Orthodoxy
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Orthodoxy is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. In the Christian sense the term means conforming to the Christian faith as represented in the creeds of the early Church, the first seven Ecumenical Councils were held between the years of 325 and 787 with the aim of formalizing accepted doctrines. In classical Christian usage, the term refers to the set of doctrines which were believed by the early Christians. A series of councils, also known as the First seven Ecumenical Councils, were held over a period of several centuries to try to formalize these doctrines. The most significant of these decisions was that between the Homoousian doctrine of Athanasius and Eustathius and the Heteroousian doctrine of Arius and Eusebius. The earliest recorded use of the term orthodox is in the Codex Iustinianus of 529–534, following the 1054 Great Schism, both the Western and Eastern Churches continued to consider themselves uniquely orthodox and catholic. Over time, the Western Church gradually identified with the Catholic label and this was in note of the fact that both Catholic and Orthodox were in use as ecclesiastical adjectives as early as the 2nd and 4th centuries respectively. Today the two largest Orthodox Christian communions are the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy, Orthodox Judaism is split into various different movements and factions. They have different ways of interpreting and following the laws and traditions of Judaism, Orthodox Judaism is distinct from Conservative Judaism. The term Orthodox Islam generally refers to the teachings and religious practices of traditional Sunni Islam. The term Orthodox Hinduism commonly refers to the teachings and practices of Sanātanī. In this sense, the term has a pejorative connotation. Among various orthodoxies in distinctive fields, most common terms are, Political orthodoxy, Social orthodoxy, Economic orthodoxy, Scientific orthodoxy, Orthodoxy is opposed to heterodoxy or heresy. A deviation lighter than heresy is commonly called error, in the sense of not being enough to cause total estrangement. Sometimes error is used to cover both full heresies and minor errors. The concept of orthodoxy is prevalent in many forms of organized monotheism, syncretism, for example, plays a much wider role in non-monotheistic religion. The prevailing governing norm within polytheism is often rather than the right belief of orthodoxy. Henderson, The Construction of Orthodoxy and Heresy, Neo-Confucian, Islamic, Jewish, and Early Christian Patterns, SUNY Press 1998
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Synod
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A synod /ˈsɪnəd/ historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word refers to the governing body of a particular church. It is also used to refer to a church that is governed by a synod. The word synod comes from the Greek σύνοδος meaning assembly or meeting, originally, synods were meetings of bishops, and the word is still used in that sense in Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Sometimes the phrase general synod or general council refers to an ecumenical council, the word synod also refers to the standing council of high-ranking bishops governing some of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches. Similarly, the governance of patriarchal and major archiepiscopal Eastern Catholic Churches is entrusted to a permanent synod. The synod in the Western churches is similar, but it is distinguished by being limited to an assembly of bishops. The term is found among those Eastern Orthodox Churches that use a Slavic language, kievan Rus chronicles record the first known East Slavic church sobor as having taken place in Kiev in 1051. Sobors were convened periodically from then on, one notable assembly held in 1415 formed a separate metropoly for the church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuanian lands, such diocesan sobors may be held annually or only occasionally. However, in use, synod and council are applied to specific categories of such meetings. A synod generally meets every three years and is designated an Ordinary General Assembly. However, Extraordinary synods can be called to deal with specific situations, there are also Special synods for the Church in a specific geographic area such as the one held November 16-December 12,1997, for the Church in America. The pope serves as president of an assembly or appoints the president, determines the agenda, and summons, suspends, thereafter they continued by the hundreds into the sixth century. Those authorized by an emperor and often attended by him came to be called ecumenical, today, Council in Roman Catholic canon law typically refers to an irregular meeting of the entire episcopate of a nation, region, or the world for the purpose of legislation with binding force. The pope alone has the right to convoke, suspend, and dissolve an ecumenical council, he presides over it or chooses someone else to do so. The vacancy of the Holy See automatically suspends an ecumenical council, laws or teachings issued by an ecumenical council require the confirmation of the pope, who alone has the right to promulgate them. The role of the pope in a council is a distinct feature of the Catholic Church. Plenary councils, which are meetings of the episcopate of a nation, are convoked by the national episcopal conference
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Ecumenical council
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The word ecumenical derives from a Greek term which literally means the inhabited world, but which was also applied more narrowly in antiquity to refer to the Roman Empire. Starting with the ecumenical council, noteworthy schisms led to non-participation by some members of what had previously been considered a single Christian Church. Thus, some parts of Christianity did not attend later councils, or attended, Bishops belonging to what became known as the Church of the East only participated in the first two councils. Bishops belonging to what became known as Oriental Orthodoxy participated in the first four councils, acceptance of councils as ecumenical and authoritative varies between different Christian denominations. Disputes over christological and other questions have led certain branches to reject some councils that others accept, the Church of the East accepts as ecumenical only the first two councils. Oriental Orthodox Churches accept the first three, both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church recognise as ecumenical the first seven councils, held from the 4th to the 9th century. In all, the Roman Catholic Church recognises twenty-one councils as ecumenical, anglicans and confessional Protestants accept either the first seven or the first four as ecumenical councils. Such decrees are often labeled as Canons and they often have an attached anathema, the doctrine does not claim that every aspect of every ecumenical council is infallible. Both the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches uphold versions of this doctrine, protestant churches would generally view ecumenical councils as fallible human institutions that have no more than a derived authority to the extent that they correctly expound Scripture. Church councils were, from the beginning, bureaucratic exercises, written documents were circulated, speeches made and responded to, votes taken, and final documents published and distributed. A large part of what is known about the beliefs of heresies comes from the documents quoted in councils in order to be refuted, most councils dealt not only with doctrinal but also with disciplinary matters, which were decided in canons. Study of the canons of councils is the foundation of the development of canon law. Canons consist of doctrinal statements and disciplinary measures – most Church councils, of the seven councils recognised in whole or in part by both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church as ecumenical, all were called by a Roman Emperor. The emperor gave them legal status within the entire Roman Empire, all were held in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. The bishop of Rome did not attend, although he sent legates to some of them, Church councils were traditional and the ecumenical councils were a continuation of earlier councils held in the Empire before Christianity was made legal. The first seven councils recognised in both East and West as ecumenical and several others to such recognition is refused were called by the Byzantine emperors. This too ceased to be considered an ecumenical council, of the twenty-one ecumenical councils recognised by the Roman Catholic Church, some gained recognition as ecumenical only later. Thus the Eastern First Council of Constantinople became ecumenical only when its decrees were accepted in the West also
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Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Canon of the New Testament". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "