Update Thirteen

II: The Councils

 

            i: Introduction

 

For the first time a secular ruler was dictating the course of the Church.  Nicaea would no be the last, as many more councils would be convened to settle the doctrine of the Church and to establish what is orthodoxy.

 

            ii: Nicaea I (325)

 

In the year 311 a lowly presbyter stepped out into the light.  This man, a leader in the Alexandrian church, stood up to what he saw as the near heretical teaching of the Bishop Alexander.  In Alexander’s teaching this presbyter, Arius, saw a hint of Sabellism, a heresy much like Modalism.  Trying to defend the Church from a false teaching that Jesus is the Father, Arius constructs a doctrine teaching that Jesus was a great divine being created before all time that created all things.  Due to the heavy Greek influence on him, Arius just couldn’t reconcile God becoming man.  No, Arius would say, Jesus is not God.  He is merely very special and very powerful.  Not being God it would be far easier to see Him becoming man.  Arius took this teaching, with his charismatic style and songs, to the people and grew in popularity.  Eventually he would hold debates with Alexander to try and push his ideas but Alexander would not give in, knowing deep within him that this teaching was damnable.  Thank God that during this time from the shadows watched Alexander’s assistant and pupil, Athanasius.  Arius would organize his people and hold protest against Alexander, parading by his church and home with signs bearing the slogans of Arius, such as ‘there was when Christ was not.’ In the year 318, as demonstrators from both sides of the conflict met on the streets of Alexandria, a riot broke out.  Alexander finally had had enough of this upstart presbyter.  The kind and gentle bishop was given no other recourse in the defense of his flock than to call a synod of nearby bishops to condemn Arius as a heretic and exile him from Alexandria.  Forced to run, Arius went to an old schoolmate of his, one of his oldest friends, the powerful bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia.  With the support of Eusebius, who held similar views to Arius, Arius began a letter writing campaign putting down the bishop Alexander and promoting his form of theology.  Unfortunately, in the Greek world, which saw God as unable to change, Arius views caught on quickly.  Even though called a heretic the synod of Alexandria, this synod was not well known and many did not agree with its scope of findings.  Alexander was forced to write responses to defend himself and Apostolic Christianity.  Finally his efforts hit the wall.  Alexander simply did not have the influence to effect the change necessary.  But the Church was no longer without an outside powerful advocate.  There was still one person orthodox Christianity could turn to.  That one person was Constantine.  Constantine did not like the effect that this dispute was having on what he had hoped would be the glue of the Empire.  To combat it the Emperor called all bishops together, paid for by the Empire, to assemble in the small town of Nicaea and once and for all settle this issue.  The first ecumenical (Church wide/ Universal) council was called to order.  The battle for the soul of the Church began in 325.  318 bishops gathered from all across the Roman world at Constantine’s command.  For two months the debates raged on, all the while Constantine sat on his throne and pondered what was being said.  Despite its size, Arianism was only held by 28 of the attending bishops.  Arius himself was not allowed to attend so Eusebius of Nicomedia represented him in the debating.  Alexander led the debate against Arianism, assisted by the young Athanasius.  Despite this set up of events the bishops were still slow to condemn Arius as a heretic as his monarchism was a useful tool against the more pervasive Modalism.  According to Eusebius the historian, the council opened with some one asking what in the world they were debating about.  To the benefit of Alexander Eusebius of Nicomedia got up and read a position paper of Arius that blatantly denied the deity of Christ, leading some members to cover their ears and shout for the blasphemy to be silenced.  After a small riot broke out the emperor stepped in to quiet things down.  When expressed so blatantly the ideas of Arius were enough to galvanize the many dispersed camps of the issue into working towards a condemnation of Arius.  As the issued was being worked on the idea of a unifying creed grew in importance and eventually the emperor had them work on one.  It was Constantine himself who insisted they use the word homoousios, one substance, to explain the connection between Father and Son. Using this word the orthodox crowd was able to disallow Arianism.  Still, some bishops who feared Modalism did not want to make Arius out to be a heretic.  At the end, though, the council anathematizes (declares heretical) Arius and his followers.  The emperor orders all the Arian bishops and Arius himself exiled.  The creed was finished and all but two bishops signed it, Eusebius of Nicomedia and his supported Theognis of Nicaea.  That creed we know today as the Nicene Creed:

 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

 

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

 

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

 

And I believe in the Holy Ghost

 

[But those who say: 'There was a time when he was not;' and 'He was not before he was made;' and 'He was made out of nothing,' or 'He is of another substance' or 'essence,' or 'The Son of God is created,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable' — they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.]

 

The first council was over.  By all appearances Arianism was defeated.  But appearances can be deceiving.  Arianism was not defeated.  It had barely begun the fight, a fight which would push the church to the brink of destruction. 

 

            iii: Constantinople I (381)

 

The fight leading to the Council of Constantinople was dominated by the new bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius.  After Nicaea the coalition of Christological ideas that had come together to condemn Arius fell apart.  Many bishops holding onto diverse ideas ranging from Modalism (one prominent bishop and supporter of Alexander, Marcellus of Ancyra, ended up coming out as a modalistic heretic) to orthodoxy had banded together in light of the threat of Arianism.  With that threat thought to be gone, bickering and divisions sprang up.  Unfortunately, fear of Modalism caused many bishops to turn to some of the Arian ideas to combat it.  The Arian bishops who signed the creed so as to not get exiled slowly gained the confidence of the other bishops.   The tide was turning against orthodox Christianity as one bishop after another began to take on beliefs called semi-Arian.  Even the emperor was slowly convinced, coming more and more towards the side of the Arians.  By 332 Constantine ordered the two exiled bishops and Arius to return, passing orders on to Athanasius, newly appointed bishop of Alexandria, to reinstate him as presbyter.  Eusebius would return as Constantine’s personal chaplain but Athanasius refused to reinstate Arius unless he would agree to the use of homoousios.  After repeated threats by the emperor Athanasius continued to refuse so the emperor exiled him in 335 to the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire.  Enduring this exile, Athanasius remained bishop of Alexandria as the people would not choose a new one.  His exile proved fruitful as it enabled him to come into contact with many western bishops not involved with the controversy and gain their support.  Athanasius also was able to spread the ideas of monastic life to the west, and event to have considerable influence on the world in years to come.  As it was, Arius never did return as presbyter as he would die just one day before the planned ceremony to reinstate him.  Constantine would follow Arius in death a few months later, leaving the empire in the hands of his son Constantius, a devoted semi-Arian.  Athanasius was returned to Alexandria by the emperor but the two did not get along.  Constantius, siding with the semi-Arians, sought to replace homoousios with homoiousius (of like substance) and affirm that Jesus was not God in the sense of the Father being God.  He resented Athanasius, seeing in him a stubborn man and the last major bishop to refuse the change.  With the Empire and the Church against him, Athanasius still stood by his beliefs, refusing despite any number of threats.  If not for Athanasius at this point in time the theology of the whole Church would be that of the Jehovah Witnesses (indeed, the layout of Arianism reads just like the doctrines of the Jehovah Witnesses).  In 339 Athanasius was run out of Alexandria on trumped up charges and went to Rome.  Shortly after this he returned only to be harassed by the emperor further.  He brought it upon himself though, as it is said that when the emperor came to visit he ran out to the parade and grabbed the reigns of Constantius’ horse in order to try and educate the emperor in proper education.  Roman soldiers would break into Athanasius’ church in an attempt to kill him but made a quick escape when his congregation got up and defended him against the soldiers.  This was the beginning of his third exile, which he spent for six years in the desert with the desert monks.  During this time period Athanasius was successful in gathering a synod in Alexandria to affirm the anti-Arian thrust of Nicaea.  While not well attended this synod would lead to Athanasius’ final victory.  Enduring two more exiles under two more emperors, one a pagan and the other a strong Arian, Athanasius continued the fight for the apostolic faith.  In 360 he wrote his Against the Arians in which he attempted to bring down what was at the time about to become the orthodoxy of the Church.  A dangerous work in such a time, the book did its work as it strengthened the minority of bishops holding to apostolic faith.  Athanasius, with the help of the trio of great church fathers known as the Cappadocian Fathers, was able to hold out against the entire world and yet still upheld right doctrine.  Under the Arian Emperor Valens, Athansius would endure his last exile, totaling seventeen years of his forty-three year ministry in Alexandria as bishop.  Valens eventually allowed Athanasius to return.  Athanasius would die in the year 373, his work not yet completed as Arianism was still vying for control.  Victory would come, though.  Valens would die shortly after Athanasius, leaving the Empire to Theodosius.  This man was a strong Christian who opposed Arianism in the path of Athanasius.  He would declare the faith of Athanasius to be the official legal religion of the Empire and would call the second council, the council of Constantinople, to set down this doctrine in a universal creed modeled after Nicaea which would be officially binding to all.  Athanasius had won.  The council of Constantinople was called to order and set down the creed which is binding to Christians to this very day, the Constantinopolitan Creed, and to confirm the deity of the Holy Spirit.  Commonly referred to as the Nicene Creed, this is the Constantinopolitan Creed:

 

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

 

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds (æons), Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth]; by whom all things were made;

 

who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man;

 

he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;

 

from thence he shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead;

 whose kingdom shall have no end.

 

. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets. In one holy catholic and apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

 

With the signing of this creed orthodoxy was set.  Still, however, Arianism was not dead.  During the turmoil of this time the Arians had sent several missionaries into the yet unreached forests of the north.  These missionaries would do their work well, appealing to the warrior nature of the Germanic people, and would win an army to their side.  For years to come Arian Germans would fight fierce battles with the orthodox Church, and the soon to come Christian kingdoms, as it spread northward and westward.

 

            iv: Ephesus (431)

 

The council of Ephesus was called in response to the heresy of Nestorius, who claimed that Jesus was not the Son in His early life but was merely a man whom the Christ would come on in power in the baptism.  According to Nestorius Jesus was truly intertwined with the Logos since birth but not in that the man Jesus was God at birth.  Primarily, Nestorius rejected the idea of the Theotokos (God-bearer) for Mary.  The council condemn this as heresy as well as condemning Pelagianism, a heresy which claims that the life and death of Christ brings salvation only in that it shows us how to live a life worthy of salvation (works based salvation; this theology would eventually be somewhat adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in the form of semi-pelagianism).

 

 

 

 

v: Chalcedon (451)

 

Convened under Pope Leo the Great, the council of Chalcedon set down the critical doctrines of the person of Christ.  It was here that the doctrines were set down that defined Christ as having two natures rather then the proto-mixture nature of Eutychus.

 

            vi: Constantinople II (553)

 

The second council of Constantinople finished the work of Chalcedon by reinforcing the idea that while Christ may be though of as having two natures, in the end Christ is one God-man, indivisible.  This culminated in the idea known as the hypostactic union (the union of the two states) which is the central tenant of Christology to this day.  Further, this council went on to condemn Origen’s work and to name him a heretic, three centuries after his death.

 

            vii: Constantinople III (680-681)

 

The third council of Constantinople, while not seen as critical as the others by Protestants, had great influence on the Eastern Orthodox Church.  It settled the issue over the two will of Christ, finally making clear that though Christ is one he did have two wills, one divine and one human.  The council further confirmed the earlier councils of the Church.

 

            viii: Nicaea II (787)

 

The final council universally considered ecumenical (the Great Schism would soon break the Eastern Church from the Western Church and Protestants typically deny the validity of all councils after this one).  This council settled the Iconoclasm controversy, declaring the use of icons to be against the ideas of the Church.  This would have great effect on later reformers of the Roman Church as some reformers would take the ideas expressed here to give allowance to throw out all Church art, creativity, and complex music.  The second council of Nicaea marked the end of unity in the Church as a door to the past eight centuries was closed and a new world was about to be formed.

 

           

 

VI: Further Reference

 

Everett Ferguson’s Church History v.1

 

Roger Olson’s The Story of Christian Theology

 

William C. Placher’s Readings in the History of Christian Theology v.1

 

Paul Spickard and Kevin Cragg’s A Global History of Christians

Update Twelve

One Faith Day Three

 

The Ecumenical Council

4th century-8th century

 

I: Of Heresies and EmperorsHere

 

            i: Introduction

 

We take a step back now on our journey through history.  Last time we made it as far as the emperor Theodosius in the year 380.  The Church at that time was finally being set up as the orthodoxy (the right thinking) that we know of today.  But where we start today the Church was anything but set.  Turmoil boiling over from the controversies left by the last three great teachers of the Church (Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian of Carthage, and the infamous Origen) mixed with the tumultuous times to explode in a conflict which origins were rooted in the very beginning of the Church and whose effects would time and again divide the Church and let loose a string of consequences and sects that we still experience to this day.   Our journey takes us back to the beginning of the fourth century as one of the most renowned men of all time stepped onto the scene, the Roman Emperor Constantine.

 

            ii: Roman Influence

 

At this time as the Church entered the fourth century, Roman persecution cut off abruptly.  For the past half century the Church had endured the fiercest and most systematic persecution yet at the hands of the Roman emperors.  Diocletian, emperor at the start of the fourth century, was no exception to this rule and instituted what was known as the Great Persecution, a persecution so great that for centuries after theologians would deal with its implications on the church.   Yet within in just a few short years his ambitious political schemes lay in ruins and his successors were either dead or sworn to serve the conqueror, the first Christian Roman Emperor Constantine.  Having defeated the complex political structure his father had followed Constantine had risen to power on the shoulders of his father’s troops led by a vision from God.  With the Christian Chi Rho emblazoned over the shields of his legions he had rode out with inferior forces to crush the last vestiges of pagan Rome.  Upon the defeat of his adversaries at the battle of Milvan Bridge Constantine forced his eastern ally to sign the famous Edict of Milan, for the first time guaranteeing for all Christians the legal liberty and freedom they had never known.  Christians went from being a persecuted classless group of people to being the premier citizens of the Empire in just a few short years.  Now the Church was second in power throughout the empire only to the imperial throne.  Legal power was given to officials of the church to settle legal disputes.  Money form the imperial treasury started to pay the salaries of officials in the Church.  Great buildings were designed and built by order of Constantine for the Church’s use.  The tables were suddenly and irrevocably reversed.  But with this change of fortunes came an awful price.  As the Church received legal liberties and support from the state, the state stepped in to claim its due.  The state was now an authority in the Church.  No more would this be evident then in 325 when, as a great heresy was on the verge of destroying the Church, the emperor Constantine invoked his authority and called the bishops together.  Sitting in a throne high above the bishops Constantine, acting in his role as the vicar of Christ, took upon himself the title of Bishop of Bishops and told the Church what it was going to believe.

 

            iii: Growing Heresies

 

Since the Church was organized and structured beliefs not taught by Jesus or the apostles had continually infiltrated the beliefs of Christians in the Church.  Some were passing fancies that haven’t survived in any writings or correspondence.  Others grew to be great heresies, some as large as or larger than the Church itself.  In this time period numerous false teachings came about, particularly in theology regarding the Trinity and the personhood of Jesus Christ.  The common erroneous teachings regarding the Trinity were Modalism, teaching that there was only one person in the Trinity who shows himself in three ways, Monarchism, teaching that there is one God who created the Son and the Spirit, and Tri-theism, teaching that there are three separate gods.  The common erroneous teaching regarding Christ were Adoptionism, teaching that Christ was just a man adopted by God, and Creationism, teaching that Jesus is a divine being created before the world was created.  Some heresies were more then just teachings, but were structured churches in themselves.  One of these, Gnosticism, had been extant in some forms since the very beginning of the Church and was long its chief adversary.  Luring in people with complex tales aimed to show just how elite they were this teaching had created a completely separate church and led many astray.  Montanism, teaching people that the revelations of the past were faulty and leading people to follow the ever changing New Revelation, created a charismatic movement that nearly tore the Church apart.  Marcion, whose anti-Hebrew theology denied the God of the Old Testament, created such a church that it rivaled the Apostolic Church itself.  These heretics, from Montanus to Marcion, led many astray over the centuries.  Some heretics were even long accepted by the Church, like the great teacher Origen or the conservative Tertullian.  For the past three centuries the bishops would call together synods, or groups of local bishops, to settle these disputes in theology.  Due to the persecutions and the great dangers involved with travelling in this time period, the synods were never well attended and news of their decisions were long in getting out to the other churches throughout the empire.  Now that the Church was supported by the State, greater meetings could be devised.  This would soon be needed as the greatest theological danger the Church would ever see was about to rear its head in the volatile yet fertile thinking grounds of Alexandria.

Update Eleven

II: A Roman Church

 

            I: Introduction

 

During and following this time of theological upheaval, the administrative portion of the Church was changing drastically.  Under Decius’ persecution of the 250s Christians were experiencing the greatest physical assault on Christianity yet.  The comfortable place that Christianity had occupied for one hundred years was destroyed.  Under emperors interested in Christianity and some even speculated to be secret Christians they had long been treated as equals within the Empire and for the most part had grown lax and unprepared.  Morals had slipped away and many a Christian looked just like their pagan counterpart.  When the persecution started up again the unprepared Christians quickly gave in, making sacrifices to the emperor to save their skins.  Those that refused were quickly executed or exiled.  The suffering of the Church was thankfully short, as Decius died an early death in 251 and a plague took attention away from Christians.  Valerian would start up the persecutions again in 257 but his son Galienus would again reverse this and once again the Church found itself favored.  Incidentally, this time period would see a massive rise in the population of Christians as the plague ravaging the empire had less of an effect on Christians due to their medical attentions to the sick.  Their numbers would continue to grow larger as the Church neared the fourth century.  For half of a century, following Galienus, not much would change in the empire except its accelerating decline.  Yet as the fourth century dawned the empire would be utterly transformed and the course of history would be irrevocably rewritten.

 

ii: Diocletian

 

Becoming emperor at the turn of the fourth century Diocletian was given rule of a faltering empire.  Split by numerous civil wars and corrupt in every aspect, the glory of Augustus’ empire was no more.  Countless barbarians attacked from every angle while barbarians were making up larger parts of the Roman army.  The different ethnicities within the empire were tearing it apart.  The empire would be dead if drastic action would not be taken.  To save the empire from warring generals Diocletian split the empire into four Prefectures made up of twelve dioceses.  Two Augusti, or supreme leaders, would rule a prefecture each while being assisted by two Caesars, each with a prefecture.  Every ten years the Augusti would retire as the Caesars became Augusti and new Caesars were appointed.  This method stopped the rampant civil wars and led to peace in the empire.  After solidifying peace, however, Diocletian set about extermination.  He initiated the Great Persecution, the most systematic persecution to date.  All Christian buildings were destroyed, all scripture burned, all bishops arrested, and all were made to sacrifice.  Soon the killing began.  Persecution was great, but thankfully for the Church Diocletian followed his own setup and retired, forcing the other Augusti to do so as well.  Constantius Chlorus took over as Augusti.  He had never followed through with the persecutions of the Christians, as had the others.  Galerius, the other new Augusti had persecuted but in 311 sent out the edict of toleration, outlawing the mistreatment of Christians, while also asking for the prayers of Christians as he lay dying.  Both were dead shortly.

 

 

 

            iii: Constantine

 

One of the most influential men ever in all the world, Constantine was the man who set the world down a new course and was seen by the historian Eusebius as being the very vicar of Christ on Earth.  The son of Constantius Chlorus, a man tolerant of Christianity, Constantine had been raised by his Christian mother.  On the death of his father he had a vision telling him he would become the emperor of all of the empire.  Constantine soon came to power as the armies of his father went against Diocletian’s reforms and declared him the emperor.  Following this event a civil war ensued between the leaders of the empire.  In 312, as he was moving against Rome itself, Constantine had a vision.  He was told to take the Chi Rho (the first two letters of Christ) as his symbol and to conquer by it.  He also experienced a vision at night in which Jesus came to him.  Following these visions Constantine led his smaller army to victory in the battle of Milvan Bridge.  He now held all of the western empire while his ally Licinius held the East.  After this experience Constantine began to favor Christians more and started to change the ancient pagan underpinnings of the Roman society.  Rome had its first Christian emperor.  In 313 Constantine had Licinius sign the Edict of Milan, proclaiming liberty to all Christians in the east as they had it in the west.  The pagan emperor Licinius did not follow this, however and once again took up persecution.  Constantine would not stand for this and conquered his empire, uniting the empire once again in 324.  With this victory Constantine dropped the image of him representing the sun god and took up the image of him representing Christ.  Dissatisfied with the pagan atmosphere of Rome, Constantine built the New Rome on the former Byzantium, calling it Constantinople, modern day Istanbul.  This he built into the greatest city on earth.  It would become the center of a whole new empire, the Byzantium Empire, after the fall of Rome, and would last more than a thousand years, until the Turkish invasion of the 1400s.  Constantine would rule in splendor and begin the rebuilding of the empire.  He acted with authority in the Church, presiding over councils that will be discussed later.  He granted many privileges to the Church formerly given only to Pagan religions, and supported the Church through the state.  His massive building projects left great wonders to the Church.  The Church had never known it so good.  Yet still error abounded.  The greatest theological heresy was birthed in this period out the wanderings of a lowly presbyter, Arius.  His thoughts gave birth to Arianism, the theological forbearer of Mormonism and many other heretical sects.  This is the view that Jesus is a created divine being.  Constantine, while overtly supporting the councils against this heresy, might have held some Arian tendencies.  It is true that his baptizer Eusebius of Nicomedia, having baptized Constantine on his deathbed, as was custom for many, was an Arian priest.  As so many before him he left a troubling legacy.  Some see him as a saint elevating the Church.  Others see him as a pagan who orchestrated the fall of the Church.  The truth is likely to be somewhere in he middle, but his sons proved to be easier to pinpoint.

 

iv: Constantanius II

 

One of Constantine’s son, through war he gained control of the empire from his brothers.  During his rule Arianism star was rising.  He himself was Arian and sought to make this the true Church.  As Eusebius of Nicomedia and Athanasius battled each other for the soul of the Church, Constantanius threw his support to Eusebius and the Arians and the heresy quickly spun out of control as Arians took control of the councils.

 

            v: Julian the Apostate

 

Sadly, Julian, a throwback to the pagans, saved the Church.  Julian reinstituted persecutions but denied the Arian’s his support, giving the Church a theological break it needed so Athanasius (whose Easter Letter gave us the New Testament) could against all odds save the day.

 

            vi: Theodosius I

 

Finally the capstone of the imperial trend of the church came in the person of Theodosius.  Emperors had now been involved with many theological changes and over nearly seventy years.  Arianism had won out several times but Apostolic Christianity held out against all odds and finally rose to prominence again.  Coming to power in 379 Theodosius was a true believer of apostolic Christianity.  In 380 he for the first time officially declared that the religion of the empire was apostolic Christianity.  Christianity had won the day.  Rome was now the first Christian Empire.  Christendom was born.

 

III: Further Reference

 

Everett Ferguson’s Church History v.1

 

Roger Olson’s The Story of Christian Theology

 

William C. Placher’s Readings in the History of Christian Theology v.1

 

Paul Spickard and Kevin Cragg’s A Global History of Christians

Update Ten

One Faith Day Two

 

The Imperial Church

 

 

I: The Legacy of the Fathers

 

            i: Introduction

 

This part of our story begins at the turn of the third century, more than a hundred years since the last apostle had died.  No longer alive were those who had known the apostles.  Those that had known them, the early fathers of the Church, had labored hard to set the foundation of the Church firmly down.  Their work was finally showing fruition as the Church was becoming more and more organized and distinct from other sects.  The Church started taking on some of the administrative order seen in the Roman Empire as Church leaders began to hold church offices of greater size and influence.  Christians were now at all levels government save the imperial family.  Yet despite these improvements persecution in sporadic forms persisted.   Various emperors and prefects initiated laws to restrict Christians from office and to exclude Christians from the landed gentry.  Times were troubling, but some of the greatest dangers to the Church loomed just on the horizon.  The greatest, most widespread, and enduring heresy was about to spring up.  Imperial forces would for the first time initiate empire wide empire sanctioned persecutions.  Possibly most dangerous of all, as the slowly decaying empire sought to restore its former glory, it offered the Church what may have become a deal with the devil.  With all this trouble coming to a front the Church had three great theologians preparing to enter the fight for the faith.  But would they be enough?  Two of them would be bitter theological enemies and the third labeled a heretic, but they were the men that God used to prepare the Church for its great trials.

 

            ii: Clement of Alexandria

 

Clement came onto the scene as the head of Alexandria’s catechetical school around 200.  His early life is shrouded in mystery.  Even his time as the principal of Alexandria’s school is somewhat curious as he never included thoughts of his community in his work and he was not included in much of the theological discussion of the time.  He was never ordained nor did he ever take up a high church position and his relationship with the Church of Alexandria is another aspect of his life that was shrouded in mystery. Yet his writings were so influential and fundamental to the growing theological work that he is still considered on of the great fathers of the Church. He is mostly known for a handful of writings that we have to this day consisting of five books.  Being the theological successor of Justin Martyr, Clement’s work was heavily philosophical and based upon what was called Middle Platonism.  In his view the Greek philosophies had been a God given precursor for the Gospels.  Men like Socrates and Plato, according to Clement, had been Godly men that God had used to prepare the world for the coming of the Good News.  It was Clement who actually penned the saying “all truth is god’s truth.”  With this mindset Clement set out to further harmonize philosophy and theology, bringing it closer to the theological methods of today.  His three most well known writings were his Exhortation to the Heathen, The Instructor, and the Stromata.  In his Exhortation Clement attacked paganism, trying to tear down institutions of superstition and idolatry by showing the inconsistencies and licentiousness presented in the Greek and Roman polytheistic religions.  This was particularly effective in the increasingly ascetic (literally exercise; a disciplined way of life attempting to get rid of material pleasures) culture of the times. In doing attacking the pagans Clement promoted Plato and Socrates, showing how they had borrowed from the Hebrews or received from divine revelation the knowledge to build their philosophical systems.  It was easy for Clement to take this stance, as the philosophy of Plato was one of an eternal monotheistic God perfect in every way and his Logos that was the mediation between God and Man.  In The Instructor Clement laid out his Christology presenting Christ, the Logos, as the great instructor to man, teaching him ethics:

 

Now, O you, my children, our Instructor is like His Father God, whose son He is, sinless, blameless, and with a soul devoid of passion; God in the form of man, stainless, the minister of His Father's will, the Word who is God, who is in the Father, who is at the Father's right hand, and with the form of God is God. He is to us a spotless image; to Him we are to try with all our might to assimilate our souls. He is wholly free from human passions; wherefore also He alone is judge, because He alone is sinless. As far, however, as we can, let us try to sin as little as possible. For nothing is so urgent in the first place as deliverance from passions and disorders, and then the checking of our liability to fall into sins that have become habitual. It is best, therefore, not to sin at all in any way, which we assert to be the prerogative of God alone; next to keep clear of voluntary transgressions, which is characteristic of the wise man; thirdly, not to fall into many involuntary offences, which is peculiar to those who have been excellently trained. Not to continue long in sins, let that be ranked last. But this also is salutary to those who are called back to repentance, to renew the contest.

 

In the Stromata Clement presents his own particular view of theology and philosophy, weaving in several philosophical threads to build a hodgepodge system of thought showing just how well the two institutions work together.  In this book he brings up his controversial idea of the “true Gnostic,” the man who is able by knowledge to become God on earth.  He admits that he does not mean truly God but so close to God that one is like Him, having reached a level of deification (becoming God, an important idea in the modern Greek Church).  To support this philosophical foundation Clement used three methods.  First, he claimed that the Greeks had received philosophy from God as the Hebrews had received the Covenant.  Second, he claimed that what truth that the Greeks had was based on scriptures.  Third, he assented to the modern later idea of “plundering Egypt, taking the good things others offer as the Hebrews took the gold and good things from the Egyptians when they left their captivity.  Clement fought to continue the fight of the Church in the changing world he lived in.  Yet behind him he left a somewhat troubling legacy, as many would consider him the first liberal theologian.

 

 

            iii: Tertullian

 

Tertullian, born in the mid second century, lived his life in Carthage, on the other side of Northern Africa from Clement, yet he would continue to fight against Clement’s theology for all of his life.  Born in the conservative city of Carthage, former birthplace of the Great Hannibal and the greatest contender with early Rome for dominance, Tertullian, trained a lawyer, despised the way Greek philosophy was infiltrating Christian theology.  He felt very strongly that helpful truth could only be found within divine revelation and that all else took away from this, completely polar opposite of Clement who sought to base his theology on Greek philosophy.  Tertullian would rightly be called the conservative theologian of his time.  Of his writings thirty books exist to this day, mainly targeting the rampant heresies spring up in Rome and throughout the Empire.  His largest work was Against Marcion.  Marcion was a heretic who had created what as one time the largest heresy in the Church, Marcionism.  At its height it nearly rivaled the Church.  The basis of Marcionism was that the God of the Old Testament, the creator, was an evil corrupt god bent on war and death.  The god of the New Testament was in the person of Jesus, who through a faked death won the war against the creator god and now reigns.  Marcion rejected the Hebrews and all their teachings, which still held sway in the Church.  An ascetic group, they denied the eating of any product that came of sexual reproduction and denied full fellowship to any married person, following their belief that Jesus wasn’t really a men since that would imply sexual reproduction.  Tertullian beat this heresy apart with his five massive volumes of Against Marcion.  Another major writing of his was Against Praxeas.  Praxeas was the first Christian teacher to explain the trinity in writing but in doing so he formed the heresy known as Modalism.  This heresy claims that the triune God really is not three persons but one person who shows us three roles.  Praxeas also was against any form of prophecy, leading Tertullian to pen his famous quote, “Praxeas put to flight the Paraclete and crucified the Father.”  In his Apology Tertullian lays out a clear picture of Christian practice and faith in an attempt to show the emperors a good picture of Christianity.  Through this writing and his anti-heretical ones he began to lay out a foundation for the theology of the Trinity and the Person of Christ, something that would have massive impact in just a few years.  Yet despite this man seeming to be such a hero of the faith, even his path is muddied, as Tertullian had turned away from the Church.  In line with his views on the importance of divine revelation and the works of the spirit, Tertullian joined the Montanist church.  This man, from whom so much of our theology flows, was a heretic in the eyes of the Church.

 

            iv: Origen

 

Coming after such a troubling legacy as one teacher was a sell out and the other a heretic, Origen steps into the light.  He was born in Alexandria around the year 185 and was taught by Clement in the ways of theology.  He took after his two precursors, building on the theology of Clement and taking up the maverick nature of Tertullian.  At a young age he tried to go with his father when his father was executed in a pogrom in hopes of attaining martyrdom.  Following this Origen proceeded to castrate himself in order to be a eunuch for God after reading the words of Jesus talking about “eunuch for the kingdom of heaven.”  At the age of eighteen he took over the principal position of the school of Alexandria when Clement was forced to flee the city.  In his time he worked as apologist, church father, and theologian, leaving some eight hundred writings.  While in Alexandrian he fell into disfavor with the bishop and was denied the priesthood supposedly for his self-castration.  Leaving Alexandria Origen settled in Caesarea, where he used the school there as a missionary school for young pagans interested in Christianity.  During his time as teacher his writings touched on many subjects and built up the most comprehensive theology of that time.  Many theologians through the ages owe a great deal to this man.  His two greatest writings were Contra Celsus and On First Principles.  Celsus was an early critic against Christianity who wrote a great book against Christianity, On True Doctrine.  All we know of Celsus comes form Origen as he quoted nearly the entirety of On True Doctrine in Contra Celsus.  Origen puts together several arguments to go against Celsus.  Taking a side similar to Clement, Origen claims that much of Christianity is reconcile with Greek philosophy.  It was Origen who penned the term “plundering the Egyptians” and he used this idea as readily as Clement.  Despite this he admitted that philosophy had no power to save and was intrinsically mingled with sin, a belief more akin to Tertullian.  Origen also laid out historical proofs as evidence for the truth of Christianity, finally focusing on the resurrection as the ultimate proof.  In On First Principle Origen laid out his idea of Christian Philosophy, related much of his theology, and built the first level of theology for all those who would follow him.  In it he teaches hermeneutics in the fashion of Philo, reading three meanings in all of the scriptures, and he gives out his teachings of everything from Christology to the Trinity.  Yet despite all this great work Origen leaves a more troubling legacy than either Clement or Tertullian.  Even though he gained his martyr’s death he would eventually be pulled from the grave and condemned for his heretical teachings.  These teachings were that souls were preexistent and that all souls would be saved, even Satan.  While he surely taught the preexistence of souls his other teaching is a little more vague though still universalistic.

 

 God will be “all,” for there will no longer be any distinction of good and evil, seeing evil nowhere exists; for God is all things, and to Him no evil is near: nor will there be any longer a desire to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the part of him who is always in the possession of good, and to whom God is all. So then, when the end has been restored to the beginning, and the termination of things compared with their commencement, that condition of things will be re-established in which rational nature was placed, when it had no need to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; so that when all feeling of wickedness has been removed, and the individual has been purified and cleansed, He who alone is the one good God becomes to him “all,” and that not in the case of a few individuals, or of a considerable number, but He Himself is “all in all.” And when death shall no longer anywhere exist, nor the sting of death, nor any evil at all, then verily God will be “all in all.”

 

With this troubling legacy Origen was deemed a heretic of the first order.  Yet he is indescribably important for the development of the Church.  As he died at the hands of the emperor Decius the church lost a great thinkers.  But no longer was it the time of great thinkers.  Now politics would reign as the great persecution of Decius would set in motion the events leading to the ascendancy of the Church.