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Paul of Samosata

Henry Chadwick

in The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great

Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch in the 160s, when it was ruled by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, was criticized for his doctrine of Christ and his worldly lifestyle. A synod decided that he be removed ... More

Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch in the 160s, when it was ruled by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, was criticized for his doctrine of Christ and his worldly lifestyle. A synod decided that he be removed from office, but he had enthusiastic support from many people in Antioch. The fall of Zenobia changed the political situation, and emperor Aurelian ruled in favour of Roman doctrine.Less

Nicaea

Sara Parvis

in Marcellus of Ancyra and the Lost Years of the Arian Controversy 325-345

This chapter examines the evidence for membership of the two alliances which squared up against one another before Nicaea, including the names and numbers on both sides, and the degree to which ... More

This chapter examines the evidence for membership of the two alliances which squared up against one another before Nicaea, including the names and numbers on both sides, and the degree to which nameable individuals committed themselves politically. The theological affinities and differences of Alexander of Alexandria’s allies are studied, particularly those of Marcellus with each of the rest. The significance of the initial calling of the ‘great and priestly synod’ for Ancyra rather than Nicaea is considered. It is argued that the synod was not originally called by Constantine but by the pro-Alexander alliance, and moved by him to his own palace to promote peace. The Synod of Antioch is discussed and dated to 324. It is argued that Marcellus had little influence on the Nicene Creed, which was not characteristic of his theology and which he never defended, but probably rather more on the canons of Nicaea.Less

From Nicaea to the Death of Constantine

Sara Parvis

in Marcellus of Ancyra and the Lost Years of the Arian Controversy 325-345

This chapter argues that Eustathius of Antioch’s deposition took place in autumn 327 as a result of real or faked evidence of sexual misdemeanour, triggering a reversal by Constantine of his previous ... More

This chapter argues that Eustathius of Antioch’s deposition took place in autumn 327 as a result of real or faked evidence of sexual misdemeanour, triggering a reversal by Constantine of his previous ecclesiastical policy. It is suggested that Marcellus wrote his Against Asterius partly in response to this event and to the subsequent return of Eusebius of Nicomedia. It is argued that Marcellus, like Athanasius, was trapped by a summons to the Synod of Tyre in 335 when he refused to accept Arius’ reception back into communion at Jerusalem, despite Constantine’s orders. Marcellus’ trial is examined from the accounts of Sozomen and Eusebius of Caesarea, and his innocence established of the theological charges brought.Less

The Influence of Athanasius' Polemic 339–46

David M. Gwynn

in The Eusebians: The Polemic of Athanasius of Alexandria and the Construction of the `Arian Controversy'

This chapter examines the influence of Athanasius’ polemic upon the western Church in the period 339-46. This influence is particularly visible in two texts quoted by Athanasius in his Apologia ... More

This chapter examines the influence of Athanasius’ polemic upon the western Church in the period 339-46. This influence is particularly visible in two texts quoted by Athanasius in his Apologia Contra Arianos: the letter of Julius of Rome in 340/1, and the letters of the Western Council of Serdica in 343. All these letters endorse Athanasius’ construction of the ‘Eusebians’ and seek to impose this construct upon his eastern foes.Less

The ‘Arianism’ of the ‘Eusebians’

David M. Gwynn

in The Eusebians: The Polemic of Athanasius of Alexandria and the Construction of the `Arian Controversy'

This chapter assesses Athanasius’ presentation of the ‘Eusebians’ as ‘Arian’. After a brief introduction to Athanasius’ highly polarized heresiological polemic, it traces Athanasius’ construction of ... More

This chapter assesses Athanasius’ presentation of the ‘Eusebians’ as ‘Arian’. After a brief introduction to Athanasius’ highly polarized heresiological polemic, it traces Athanasius’ construction of the ‘Arianism’ which he imposes upon his opponents. A comparison between this ‘Athanasian Arianism’, the doctrines of Arius himself, and the known doctrines of Eusebius of Nicomedia and Asterius ‘the Sophist’ reveals that these two alleged ‘Eusebians’ differ theologically both from Arius’ and from Athanasius’ definition of ‘Arianism’. Indeed, Eusebius and Asterius appear to have been representative of a widespread theological position held by a significant number of eastern bishops in the first half of the 4th century, a theology expressed above all by the ‘Dedication Creed’ of the Council of Antioch in 341. The chapter then turns to the methodology through which Athanasius created his distorted polarized construct of the ‘Arian Controversy’, and concludes with a brief assessment of how this construct influences Athanasius’ interpretation of the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed.Less

Introduction: Gregory's Life and Work

Gregory A. Beeley

in Gregory of Nazianzus on the Trinity and the Knowledge of God: In Your Light We Shall See Light

The introduction provides an orientation to Gregory's' life and works within his multiple contexts. It covers Gregory's family, childhood, education, training in biblical study and Greek ... More

The introduction provides an orientation to Gregory's' life and works within his multiple contexts. It covers Gregory's family, childhood, education, training in biblical study and Greek philosophical rhetoric; his pioneering, moderate form of monasticism as a “middle path” between solitude and public service; his strong influence by Origen and complicated relationship with Basil; his theological and ecclesiastical leadership as a priest and bishop; his central role in the consolidation of the Trinitarian faith and the pro‐Nicene movement in Constantinople; and his retirement, literary corpus, and the distinctive character of the Theological Orations. In addition, it offers a summary narrative of the mid‐fourth‐century theological controversies, in which Gregory played a key part—with attention to Marcellus of Ancyra, the Council of Nicaea 325, Eusebius of Caesarea, Athanasius, Basil of Ancyra, George of Laodicea, Melitius of Antioch, Damasus and the Western synods, Eunomius and the Heterousians, the Homoiousians, the Pneumatomachians, the homoian regimes of Constantius and Valens, the synod of Antioch in 372, the religious policy of Theodosius, and other church councils; an account of the negative effects of the Antiochene schism, and a reconstruction of the Council of Constantinople 381.Less

The Schism of the Non‐Chalcedonians

Volker L. Menze

in Justinian and the Making of the Syrian Orthodox Church

Chapter 1 analyses the accession of Justin I in 518 and questions the conventional view that Justin was a convinced Chalcedonian. It argues that the emperor became Chalcedonian for raisons d'état. ... More

Chapter 1 analyses the accession of Justin I in 518 and questions the conventional view that Justin was a convinced Chalcedonian. It argues that the emperor became Chalcedonian for raisons d'état. He came to terms with Pope Hormisdas and then implemented a papal understanding of Chalcedon in the East which created a clear-cut chasm between eastern Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians whose ecclesiastical positions had been rather diverse so far. Every bishop was required to sign the libellus of Pope Hormisdas but the non-Chalcedonian bishops preferred exile to subordinating themselves and their followers to the papal perspective of the Christian past. Using the available prosopographical data, Chapter 1 concludes with a discussion of how the religious landscape in the patriarchate of Antioch changed in the 520s.Less

Trinitarian Debates from Nicaea (325) to Sirmium (351)

Carl L. Beckwith

in Hilary of Poitiers on the Trinity: From De Fide to De Trinitate

This chapter discusses the Trinitarian debates from the Council of Nicaea (325) to the synod of Sirmium (351) and the emergence of the creed from Nicaea in the West as a standard of orthodoxy.

The Julian Romance

Philip Wood

in ‘We have no king but Christ’: Christian Political Thought in Greater Syria on the Eve of the Arab Conquest (c.400-585)

The final three chapters examine the disparate ways in which Edessene and Suryoyo identities evolved in the course of the Christological controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries. This chapter ... More

The final three chapters examine the disparate ways in which Edessene and Suryoyo identities evolved in the course of the Christological controversies of the fifth and sixth centuries. This chapter discusses the Edessene Julian Romance, a hagiographical history written in the sixth century about the fourth‐century reign of Julian the apostate. Unlike the Doctrina, this text presents Edessa as the donation of Constantine to Christ, and expresses Edessa's special position in much more Roman terms. In this text, the history ofJulian's reign is invoked to undermine Edessa's sixth‐ century opponents, Antioch and Constantinople and to assert the conditional nature of imperial authority. If Edessa belonged to Christ, then the emperor's right to the allegiance of the city depended on his orthodoxy, lest the city be rules by ‘a friend of the Jews’.Less

A Ministry beyond the Letter (2 Cor 3:1–6)

Jerome Murphy‐O'Connor

in Keys to Second Corinthians: Revisiting the Major Issues

The passage contains hints that Paul's opponents were composed of ‘Spirit‐people’ (pneumatikoi) (2 Cor 2:16; 3:5) and newly arrived Judaizers (3:3, 6). In the Postscript I correct what I said in the ... More

The passage contains hints that Paul's opponents were composed of ‘Spirit‐people’ (pneumatikoi) (2 Cor 2:16; 3:5) and newly arrived Judaizers (3:3, 6). In the Postscript I correct what I said in the article. The intruders came from Antioch, not Jerusalem. The key element in Paul's response was to distinguish a ‘new covenant of the spirit’ from a ‘new covenant of the letter’.Less

Administration and Imperial Authority on the Eastern Frontier

Catherine Homes

in Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976-1025)

This chapter looks behind the distorting mirror of the historiographical record of Basil II's reign. It focuses on the administration of the Byzantine Empire's eastern frontier using the contemporary ... More

This chapter looks behind the distorting mirror of the historiographical record of Basil II's reign. It focuses on the administration of the Byzantine Empire's eastern frontier using the contemporary Arabic historiographical record (especially the history of Yahya ibn Sa'id), Byzantine sigilliographical evidence; and an important administrative record from the 970s, the Escorial Taktikon. In the case of military administration, the chapter concentrates on the office of doux; in the case of civil on that of kourator. It is argued that Byzantine administration in the east was not as rigid or as heavily militarized as sometimes thought. Instead, governance was typified by flexibility and a willingness to devolve practical power to local elites on both sides of the frontier. This was particularly true in the second half of the reign when Basil II's most loyal commander, Nikephoros Ouranos, played a particularly prominent role in frontier governance as doux of Antioch.Less

The Six Days of Creation According to the Greek Fathers

Andrew Louth

in Reading Genesis after Darwin

This chapter shows what may be learned for readers of Genesis after Darwin by attending to the profound—often strange—ways in which Genesis was read long before Darwin, particularly by Greek-speaking ... More

This chapter shows what may be learned for readers of Genesis after Darwin by attending to the profound—often strange—ways in which Genesis was read long before Darwin, particularly by Greek-speaking Christians and Jews of the early centuries of the Common Era. Observing that the six days of creation (the Hexaemeron) provided a recurring focus for theological reflection, the suggestion is made that the fathers offer an understanding of the cosmos that is of abiding relevance. Characteristics of this understanding are a resistance to a deterministic account of the cosmos, attention to wonder at creation as God's gift, humility as the appropriate moral corollary, and a conviction of the wholeness and interconnectedness of all created things.Less

Grace and the Logos' Double Birth in the Early Church

Donald Fairbairn

in Grace and Christology in the Early Church

In the light of the book's treatment of grace and christology, this chapter argues that the central issue in patristic christology was not whether Christ was one person or two or whether one spoke of ... More

In the light of the book's treatment of grace and christology, this chapter argues that the central issue in patristic christology was not whether Christ was one person or two or whether one spoke of one nature or two, but whether God the Son was personally present on earth through the incarnation. The chapter asserts that the key phrase expressing this issue was the ‘double birth’ of the Logos. Those who insisted that God the Son must be and was personally present insisted that the Logos was born twice (of the Father eternally and of Mary in time). This chapter looks briefly at John Chrysostom, John of Antioch, Celestine, Leo, and the Chalcedonian Definition and concludes that belief in the double birth of the Logos was the faith of the entire Church in the fifth century, with only a small handful of dissenters.Less

Ignatius of Antioch

Henry Chadwick

in The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great

The letters of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, written some time in the early second century while he was being taken to Rome and martyrdom, illustrate in a lively and idiosyncratic way themes such as ... More

The letters of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, written some time in the early second century while he was being taken to Rome and martyrdom, illustrate in a lively and idiosyncratic way themes such as the power of bishops, martyrdom, heresies, Biblical interpretation, the heresy known as ‘docetism’, Judaizers, and the eucharist. His letters to Rome show the existence of influential Christians there in the first or second decade of the second century. The correspondence between Pliny, governor of Bithynia, and the emperor Trajan, at roughly the same time as Ignatius’ letters, shows that Christians were now being persecuted ‘not for what they had done but for what they now were’.Less

Athanasius, Marcellus, and the Gathering Storm

Henry Chadwick

in The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great

Church history in the fourth century was the history of the emperors of the Constantinian dynasty and also of dissensions over theology, which were not merely struggles for power but also about the ... More

Church history in the fourth century was the history of the emperors of the Constantinian dynasty and also of dissensions over theology, which were not merely struggles for power but also about the authentic form of divine truth. Athanasius, exiled from his see of Alexandria, was in the forefront of the struggle against both paganism and Arianism. The fates of Athanasius and his fellow exile, Marcellus of Ankyra, were intimately bound up with the political power struggles following the division of the Empire. Debates continued at the Dedication Council of Antioch in 341, and when appeal was made to Rome, Pope Julius replied by proclaiming the leading role of Rome in the safeguarding of tradition.Less

Constantius' Double Council of Unity

Henry Chadwick

in The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great

Constantius II organized councils in 359–60 for the acceptance of the Dated Creed, the western bishops meeting at Ariminium (Rimini), and the easterners at Seleucia. The majority in the west adhered ... More

Constantius II organized councils in 359–60 for the acceptance of the Dated Creed, the western bishops meeting at Ariminium (Rimini), and the easterners at Seleucia. The majority in the west adhered to the Nicene Creed, and agreement imposed by Constantius was seen as a compromise and against the rights of the see of Rome as the ultimate judge of truth in the Church. The eastern council was bitterly divided: one party was persuaded by the emperor to accept the western formula; the other held a rival council in Constantinople. When the see of Antioch became vacant, the claims and differences of rival claimants created a schism with long‐lasting consequences.Less

Basil of Caesarea (Cappadocia)

Henry Chadwick

in The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great

Discusses the life and career of Basil as bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia and his role in early monasticism. In the constant disagreements amongst the bishops of Asia Minor, Basil supported the ... More

Discusses the life and career of Basil as bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia and his role in early monasticism. In the constant disagreements amongst the bishops of Asia Minor, Basil supported the Nicene Creed and the asceticism of Eustathius of Sebaste. His letters on canon law became authoritative and he laid down rules for monks and nuns. However, his plans for filling all the sees of Cappadocia with pro‐Nicene bishops were hampered by the division of the province into two by the emperor Valens. Basil also wrote with authority on moral problems, the liturgy, festivals, and relics of martyrs. But his ‘supreme quest’ for church unity was ruined by the schism at Antioch, where two Nicene groups refused to worship together.Less

Schism at Antioch: The Council of Constantinople (381)

Henry Chadwick

in The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great

Discusses how schism in the church at Antioch throughout the fourth century impinged on the question of superiority among the eastern sees and on Theodosius I's council held at Constantinople in 381. ... More

Discusses how schism in the church at Antioch throughout the fourth century impinged on the question of superiority among the eastern sees and on Theodosius I's council held at Constantinople in 381. Under Theodosius (379–95), the Nicene version of the nature of Christ and the Trinity became the required standard of orthodox faith in the Greek churches. The canons of the council of Constantinople produced a modified version of the Nicene Creed and affirmed the status of Constantinople as second only to Rome and therefore superior to Alexandria and Antioch. Its conclusions were rejected by western theologians and Pope Damasus as demeaning to Roman authority.Less

John Chrysostom

Henry Chadwick

in The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great

Discusses the career and reputation of John Chrysostom (c.347–407) and the religious consequences of the political events of his time. John first came to prominence at Antioch through his strict ... More

Discusses the career and reputation of John Chrysostom (c.347–407) and the religious consequences of the political events of his time. John first came to prominence at Antioch through his strict moral teaching, and he became bishop of Constantinople, despite considerable opposition, in 397. Under the emperor Arcadius and his consort Eudoxia, John became involved in court politics and dealings with the barbarian soldiers in Roman service. His sympathy for ascetic admirers of Origen expelled from Egypt to Constantinople provided John's enemies with the opportunity to move against him. On his expulsion over the immediate issue of the erection of a statue of Eudoxia, the church at Constantinople was divided between his supporters and opponents.Less