The Carolingian Church
Posted: April 19, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History 1 Comment
After Europe started to decline, the papacy started to become corrupted, the royalty’s standards for life and religion waned and the clergymen’s intellectual and spiritual state deteriorated. In the 8th century the much needed revival was started by the flourishing
Anglo–Saxon missionaries from Frankish Gaul. Also doing missionary work in the 6th century were the Irish missionaries, one of which was Columban, in Gaul and Italy. Although they were many these European missionaries did not consolidate their work resulting in a complete do over by Christianity later in the 7th century. After these men continued in their work a new era resulted in a “new royal house”, the taking of office of Martel’s heirs, who had been raised in the monastery of St Denis near Paris. These men, Carloman and Pepin, were two Frankish rulers that carried out a major restructuring of the Frankish church. These two men created reforms of the clergy and church organization that brought on a rekindling of religious and intellectual life. Religious growth in the East made possible the opportunity for the papacy to break free.
Meanwhile, in the west Pope Gregory II not only rejected the edict banning the use of icons. Later, the pope’s claim to sovereign rule in Italy and independence from the Eastern Roman Empire was backed up what is known as one of the great forgeries of the Middle Ages, The Donation of Constantine. This document supposed that Constantine had bestowed Rome and the western part of the Empire. The Donation was not exposed as a forgery until the fifteenth century.
On Christmas Day 800, Charlemagne, was crowned the next emperor by Pope Leo III. Although this decision revived the Empire in the West, Charlemagne did not delight in the thought of owing his crown to the pope. The new emperor kept educating the new reform in the church as his father, Pepin along with His chief educational adviser Alcuin of York. The empire that Charlemagne started did not last much past his own life it brightened European culture during a hard dark time that came to be in that time. This ‘Carolingian Renaissance’ turned to classical ancient times also turned to early Christianity for its model. The deepness of this new Carolingian Renaissance and the political vitality of it revived the Empire and stimulated new theological activities.
There were many theological disputes during the time of the Carolingian Renaissance. Some of these areas that Alcuin had to fight against were: alleging that Christ in his humanity was only the ‘adopted’ Son of God, the perpetual virginity of Mary, the question of predestination. After Charlemagne died the new Carolingian Empire was destroyed by civil wars. The state of the political and church standings threatened the independence of the bishops. A new system laid down by the now ruling laymen in the church, ‘proprietary’ system, provided the land and erecting of the church building. Although during the tenth and the first half of the eleventh century the popes were many timed corrupt the papal institution continued to function and to be valued throughout the West.
The Celtic Church and the Synod of Whitby
Posted: April 18, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
Martin of Tours, who died in 397 inspired monasticism in the West. After living a military life he spent time in a solitary place in France, which also inspired many others to join him till they had a semi-community. Against his will, he was convinced to become the bishop of Tours in 372, and then transferred to living as a hermit in a small room, or cell next to the church. After enduring many criticisms and questions from the people, he moved to Marmoutier and started a monastery to help facilitate evangelism in much of the still–ungodly country France. A popular biography written up about Martin is one of the reasons this way of life was promote, and was later exalted as a Saint of the early church. It was said that, “Martin of Tours set the pattern for the Dark Age ‘holy man’”. Later, Augustine of Hippo, along with Jerome and Rufinus belonged to a similar groups put a new way of thought and living structure to Martin’s hermit-like living; the agreement whereby a grouping of celibate clergy lived together and served a local church.
In Egypt a more organized and armed group of monks took sides in theological battles and took part in a more political fight. In the front of this more active movement was the man, Schnoudi, who later would be destined for heresy at the council of Ephesus in 431. A great writer in the west on monasticism was John Cassian. His writings included much detail in instructing, promoting the monastic movement extensively. He covered not only subjects such as what clothing was to be worn but some of the very practices of Monks. This detailed writer also examined extensively the temptations which a monk had to fight against in living each day. Cassiodorus, another great man in the history of monasticism placed a vast emphasis on the copying of manuscripts and also the study of the ancient writings.
Although the roots of monasticism in Ireland and surrounding area are very vague it was said that Patrick was the founder or starter of this movement. When looking at the severe severity of Irish hermits and the arrangement of living compartments or cells, within an outer boundary wall, it strangely reflects Egyptian influences, brought on by Martin of Tours’ monastic ideals. What provided the ultimate rule for monasteries in the west was a man named Benedict of Nursia. In the late sixth century his system gradually outdated other Western monastic rules. Benedict promoted a rule that is founded on the two activities of prayer and works. In order for a monk to show high moral character, they had to hold strictly to these precepts along with remaining in the same monastery where he had taken his vows. The monasteries’, with their emphasis on worship, and stable, well–ordered communities deeply assisted to keep up spiritual standards during these centuries.
Patrick and the Evangelization of Ireland
Posted: April 17, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
Patrick, the great missionary to the Irish, lived around the time 389–461. He was most likely born in Roman Britain but sources are not completely positive. Calpurnius, who was Patrick’s father, was a deacon and magistrate. Although we know of Patrick the details of his life and ministry are widely debated and many myths and legends are passed down from generation to generation. The two sources that tell of accounts about this Irish missionary are, The Confession and A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus. At the young age of sixteen, Patrick was working on his father’s farming property when a group of raiders stole him away to be a slave on the Irish slave market. While being held captive, Patrick’s love and devotion for Christ deepened. Instead of becoming bitter he grew in his heart a vision for evangelizing his dear homeland, Ireland. After six years of shepherding for his captors and masters, he escaped and eventually reached home again. In 432 when Patrick returned home to Ireland, he came as a bishop and spent his next thirty years ministering to the people there. Although he was not a widely educated man he encouraged learning and possibly gained his ideals from the contact with the strict monasteries in Gaul that he came into contact with while in captivity. Later in the Irish church the basic element became the monastery led by the abbot, rather than the bishop’s diocese. He later began to emphasize the ascetic life and monasticism. During the sixth and seventh centuries Patrick was a large encourager of evangelizing of Western Europe.
Leo I
Posted: April 16, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
I. Cyril’s early life
a. Obscure to most historians
b. Accepted into Clergy Ranks by Nephew (Theophilus)
c. In 403 accompanied Theophilus to Constantinople
d. In 412 elected to succeed Theophilus as Patriarch of Alexadria
e. In 431 he headed the Council in Ephesus
II. Cyril’s Theological Talent
a. Preserving Christ’s human nature
b. Christ’s two natures evolved into one
1. Result of that: Blamed for reviving Apollinarianism
III. Cyril’s End
a. Showed himself to be a ruthful antagonist
b. Died in 444
Jerome
Posted: April 13, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
In A.D. 331, Jerome was born to a well to do family that lived in Stridon, an Italian town. Since his family was very well off they would send Jerome off to study in Rome to study grammar and rhetoric. After living in Rome for some time he decided to become baptized and started collecting and reading theology books. The ascetic way of life called to him and he soon become part of a group at Aquileia in Italy. Unfortunately for Jerome, he had acquired a sharp tongue, and lacked tact which caused many rifts in the group that would soon lead to its break up. Jerome left and started out for Palestine but stopped at Antioch where he grew in his knowledge of Greek. By orders of a dream he stopped the Christian way of life and went to Syria to become a hermit. The hermit life did not do him well and many inner temptations plagued him during this time, so through a series of events Jerome ended up in Rome from 382 to 385. He was put to a job by the bishop of Damascus that would end up being his main contribution to western civilization, the Latin translation of the gospels, Psalms and eventually a large portion of the Old Testament. Jerome and a widow woman that he had a ministry with settled in Bethlehem where they established separate monasteries for men and women.
While living in Bethlehem, Jerome become more and more convinced that his translations for the Old Testament must be done with Hebrew and not Greek and so became what is known as the Vulgate. Later John Wyclif and Douay’s versions were based off the Vulgate. Jerome’s theory for translation was to “render sense for sense and not word for word”. One of his literary aspirations was to become a Christian Cicero, who would b a teacher and model of Christian culture. These dream roles in life could be what drove him to his insistent work and contradictions in character. Although he struggled with these things he came up with the first Historic Christian Work, “Lives of Illustrious Men”, which was written to prove to the pagans that Christians can produce distinguished literary works.
Augustine of Hippo
Posted: April 12, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
Although his father was not a Christian at all his mother, Monica was a tremendous influence on him for she was a devout follower even in the years he completely turned his back on her religion. During his young adulthood he would go into the city of Carthage and waste no time indulging himself in the sins of this world. He had for himself a concubine and fathered an illegitimate child before he was 20 years old. Soon he become involved in a religious system known as the Manichaeism, which held to the belief that good, and evil, light and dark, were eternal. This way of thought seemed to deal with evil in a more superior way than Christianity and that appealed to Augustine. The fact that it had less moral burden put upon life let him live as he wanted and desired too do. He soon saw that this Manichaeism way of thought was not as it seemed and many times left him searching for more answers. He found those answers in the bishop of Milan , who helped him see that many of Christianities down faults were not because they were true but because they were misconceptions of the truth based upon the faith. For a small while Augustine dabbled in skepticism and following that was the writings of certain “Platonists”. By seeing the inconsistencies in these other religious ways it gave him the foot stones for the path to Christianity. In Augustine’s conversion he claimed to have heard a voice saying to him to go up and read, so he pick up the volume of the Apostle and read verses that spoke of giving up his old life of drunkenness and lustful youth and picking up the sword of the Lord and moving on in faith. So after being baptized he gathered up his son, Adeodatus, and his partner Monica. Later after both his beloved Monica and son died he studied philosophy and theology. He wrote many a short book including the works, “Against the Skeptics”, “On the Happy Life, and “soliloquies”. Soon he would complete what would be his best work yet, “The Confessions” in the year 400. This book provides a look into his life prior to 387 and shows most importantly the moral of his spiritual journey. “The City of God”, was later written in response to the pagan accusations about the Christians. After the Manichaeans had ridiculed faith as an “activity unworthy of any cultured and educated person” Augustine began to write works stating that all knowledge begins in faith and is a fundamental part of any religion. If anyone is going to understand the history of Christianity it is not possible to skip over the life and writings of Augustine of Hippo, for he laid many new foundations for the faith.
Creed of Constantinople
Posted: April 11, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
1. the significance of the phrase “the Lord and life-giver”?
The contemporary significance of the Holy Spirit is to show that He is no less than the Father and the Son. Understanding this about the Holy Spirit not only leads to the correct view of the triune God, or the speaking through the prophets, and the forgiveness of sins but leads to the correct worship of the trinity. Without a correct view of the trinity leads to an incorrect view of worship.
Basil Against Eunomius
Posted: April 10, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
A Outline of the theological and scriptural argument of Basil whereby he concludes that the activity of the Holy Spirit is conjoined with the activity of the Father and the Son.
a. Creator of the heavens
b. So the Holy Spirit imparts to the heavenly powers the quality of firmness and stability
II. Job Says
a. Spirit of God which made me
b. Speaking about creation but about fulfillment in respect of human excellence
III. Isaiah Says
a. He speaks in the person of the Lord(in respect to his humanity)
1.”The Lord has sent me, and his Spirit”
IV. The Psalmist Declares
a. The power of the Spirit pervades the whole universe
V. Lord Himself
a. Gave to those who received him the power to become the children of God
b. The Holy Spirit- The Spirit of adoption
c. The Father- distributing the activities among those who are working to receive them
1. Both of the Holy Spirit and Father are conjoined in their activity
2. Showing complete authority
Basil the Great
Posted: April 5, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
Basil the Great was a man on a mission, and that mission was to clean up the church that had broken off, and scattered. It was a tattered church and he was there to repair it. Unfortunately he had very little success in the west and he had to call upon the help of Pope Damascus but to no avail, for Damascus refused to help Basil. As the great divide widened in the theology, Basil and Pope Damascus became more and more detached, which put the peace of the west and the east in jeopardy.
Basil, along with his brother Gregory of Nyssa and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus, labored hard over bringing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity to the East. They thought it misleading to encourage the thought of the Father just being equal to the Son, for it made it look like several gods, so they emphasized that the Father and Son must also be recognized as one God. These men’s thoughts on the Trinity were “complex and at points controversial”, and they used examples that were slightly inexact but Basil insisted that Father, Son and Spirit are equal but distinct. The Cappadocians, stated that the three operated inseparably, none ever acting independently of the others. “Every divine action begins from the Father, proceeds through the Son and is completed in the Holy Spirit”. Everything that Father touches the Son touches and inadvertently the Spirit touches.
http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Basil_Great.htm
The Nicene Creed and Christology
Posted: April 3, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
How does this creedal statement affirm the full deity of Christ?
It states especially in the part that I have Capitalized, the unity of Christ when it states, “and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only begotten, that is from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, OF ONE SUBSTANCE WITH THE FATHER.” He goes on to tell that Christ came down incarnate, becoming man suffered but then rose as only the Christ full of Deity can do, do the heavens.
Is the Christology of this Creed biblical.
What Happen?: The Council of Nicea
Posted: April 2, 2007 Filed under: Patristic Church History Leave a comment
What happened at the council of Nicea was of monumental importance, for in that council the doctrine that was essential to Christianity was formally affirmed for the first time in history, Christ’s Divinity. Alexander of Alexandria began to lecture at a meeting with Presbyters about the Holy Trinity. He had been discussing the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for quite some time when an interruption from a presbyter called, Arius came from the crowd. What happened is debated but the man called Arius accused Alexander of a heresy that involves a belief in the unity of God at the expense of the reality of the Trinity. What Arius did not realize was that in combating Alexander he himself fell into a heresy of his own. He announced, “If the Father begat the Son, then he who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this it follows there was a time when the Son was not.” These words were a direct attack on the eternality of God and unfortunately these words influenced the church for history. Meanwhile, Alexander was appalled at this new heresy and knew that it would take serious actions to combat it. Now that the statement was said he would have to combat the thought that possibly that Son could be infinitely lower than the Father. Alexander and Athanasius stood firmly on the foundation that Christ is absolute God.
When Alexander realized that this heresy was out of his hands, and private meetings and pleadings with Arius were not going to persuade him otherwise then it was time to take action. He drew up a letter that explained the totality of the heresy, unfortunately this was not what the people wanted to hear, and Arius’ catching phrases like, and “there was a time when the Son was not” became popular among the speech of the people. The news of the controversy traveled to the ears of the emperor Constantine, and he became worried about the unity which he regarded as, “the mother of order”, instead of theology. He wrote up a personal letter ordering that this quarrel come to a stop, but the letters orders were to no avail.
Constantine fed up with the bloodshed on this issue decided to call a meeting in the small city of Nicea and called 1,800 bishops and their invited presbyters to come to the meeting. Although the bishops did not make it in the numbers invited, pastors, presbyters, deacons, sub-deacons, and laymen showed up by the numbers! When the actually meeting ensued, Constantine in all his finery gave an opening remark that gave an underlying threat, remove this dissension among you and establish peace. When Arius was given his time to speak, he broke out in his chanting that embodied his beliefs. After the rhymes and song were finished Hosius announced that the best way to reach an agreement was to draw up a creed. They came up with a creed that believed each of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be and to have existed. Although the heresy still existed Constantine was soon won over that this must be stopped. The burning of all Arius’ works took place, but the Arian way of thought thrived in the towns. When the council ended Constantine dismissed the aged and persecuted popes with gentleness.
Gospel-Centered Musings 
