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Do not fill this in! ==Late Antiquity to Early Middle Ages (313–600)== {{See also|Christianity in late antiquity|Christianity in the 4th century|Christianity in the 5th century}} ===Influence of Constantine in Late Antiquity=== {{Main|Constantine the Great and Christianity}} {{Further|Historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire|Religious policies of Constantine the Great}} [[File:Nicaea icon.jpg|thumb|Icon depicting the [[Constantine I|Emperor Constantine]] (centre) and the [[bishop]]s of the [[First Council of Nicaea]] (325) holding the [[Nicene Creed#Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed|Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381]]|alt=this is a photo of an old eastern icon depicting the Emperor Constantine in the center and a few bishops holding the Nicene Creed in front of them]] The Roman Emperor [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine the Great]] became the emperor in the West and the first Christian emperor in 313. He became sole emperor when he defeated [[Licinius]], the emperor in the East, in 324.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|p=542}} In 313, Constantine issued the [[Edict of Milan]], expressing tolerance for all religions, thereby legalizing Christian worship.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|p=542}} Christianity did not become the official religion of the empire under Constantine, but the steps he took to support and protect it were vitally important in the history of Christianity.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|pp=538, 544}} Constantine established equal footing for Christian clergy by granting them the same immunities polytheistic priests had long enjoyed.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|pp=538, 544}} He gave bishops judicial power.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|p=546}} By intervening in church disputes, he initiated a precedent.{{sfn|Gerberding|Moran_Cruz|2004|pp=55–56}}{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|p=545|ps=: "In one of the most momentous precedents of his reign, during Constantine’s twentieth anniversary celebrations in 325, some 250 bishops assembled at Nicaea in the emperor’s presence and at his order to settle difficult issues of contention across the empire about the date of Easter, episcopal succession and Christology. Constantine made a point of deferring to the bishops. He did not preside himself and only took his seat when they did, but it was the emperor who had summoned the council, and the sanctions that followed for the small number of dissenters including Arius were also imposed by him."}} He wrote laws that favored Christianity,{{sfn|Southern|2015|p=455–457}}{{sfn|Gerberding|Moran_Cruz|2004|pp=55–56}} and he personally endowed Christians with gifts of money, land and government positions.{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=243}}{{sfn|Leithart|2010|p=302}} Instead of rejecting state authority, bishops were grateful, and this change in attitude proved to be critical to the further growth of the Church.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|p=546}} Constantine's church building was influential in the spread of Christianity.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|p=546}} He devoted imperial and public funds, endowed his churches with wealth and lands, and provided revenue for their clergy and upkeep.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|p=547}} This led to similar efforts on a local level, leading to the presence of churches in essentially all Roman cities by the late fourth century.{{sfn|Cameron|2006b|p=547}} ===Synthesis or state religion=== {{See also|Christianity as the Roman state religion|Christianity and Judaism|Supersessionism}} {{Further|Christianity and paganism|Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire|Theodosius I|Religious policies of Constantius II|Christian monasticism|Chronology of early Christian monasticism}} Late Roman culture accommodated both Christian and Greco-Roman heritage. Christian intellectuals adapted Greek philosophy and Roman traditions to Christian use.{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1992|p=179}} Substantial growth in the third and fourth centuries made Christianity the majority religion by the mid-fourth century. All Roman emperors after Constantine, except [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]], were Christian. Christian Emperors wanted the empire to become a Christian empire.{{sfn|Salzman|1993|pp=362–365}}{{sfn|Stark|1996|pp=5, 7–8}} In the centuries following his death, Roman Emperor [[Theodosius I]] (347–395) was acclaimed by the Christian literary tradition, as the emperor who destroyed paganism and established Nicene Christianity as the official religion of the empire. Many twenty-first century scholars see this as a distortion created by Nicene Christian authors as part of their war with the Arians.{{sfn|MacMullen|1986|p=337}}{{sfn|Cameron|1993|p=74 (note 177)}}{{sfn|Errington|2006|pp=248–249}}{{sfn|Hebblewhite|2020|loc=chapter 8}}{{sfn|Rosser|1997|p=795}} New explanations of "multiculturalism, cohabitation, cooperation, identity and group cohesion" have shifted modern understanding.{{sfn|Sághy|Schoolman|2017|pp=1-3}}{{refn|group=note|[[R. Malcolm Errington]] studied responses to imperial law by Christian and non-Christian historians and commentators who wrote during and following the publication of the [[Theodosian Code]] of 438.{{sfn|Errington|1997|p=398}} Errington writes that these authors were almost universally unaware of the existence of these laws, "even about rulings such as [[Edict of Thessalonica|''Cunctos Populos'']] or ''Episcopis Tradi'' which in modern times have been stylized into turning points in the history of Christianity".{{sfn|Errington|1997|p=435}} {{paragraph break}} Some previous scholars interpreted the [[Edict of Thessalonica]] (380) as establishing Christianity as the state religion.{{sfn|Sáry|2019|pp=67; 70}} German ancient historian {{ill|Karl Leo Noethlichs|de}} and Hungarian legal scholar Pál Sáry say the Edict made no requirement for pagans or Jews to convert to Christianity, since in the years after 380, Theodosius said "the sect of the Jews was forbidden by no law."{{sfn|Sáry|2019|pp=72–74; fn. 32, 33, 34; 77}} {{paragraph break}} Ehrman says these laws lacked empire wide enforcement clauses.{{sfn|Ehrman|2018|pp=251, 258}} According to S. L. Greenslade, Theodosius's immediate concern was heresy. The ''Episcopis tradi'' uses communion with named orthodox bishops to reveal heretics, not convert pagans against their will.{{sfn|Greenslade|1972|p=14}}}} Errington has written that none of the imperial laws recorded in the [[Theodosian Code]] made a noticeable contribution to establishing Christian Orthodoxy in the west, nor did Theodosius ever see himself "as a destroyer of the old cults".{{sfn|Errington|2006|p=251}}{{sfn|Cameron|2011|p=71}}{{sfn|Errington|1997|p=435}} No legislation forcing the conversion of pagans existed until the reign of [[Justinian I|Justinian]] in A.D. 529.{{sfn|Salzman|1993|p=364}} ====Relations with polytheists==== Christians of the fourth century believed Constantine's conversion was evidence the Christian God had conquered the many polytheist gods in Heaven.{{sfn|Stark|1996|p=5}}{{sfn|Brown|1993|p=90}}{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=634}} This "triumph of Christianity" became the primary Christian narrative in writings of the late antique age in spite of the fact that Christians represented only ten to fifteen percent of the population in 313. As a minority, triumph did not generally involve an increase in violence aimed at polytheists – with some exceptions.{{sfn|Johnson|2015|p=xx}}{{sfn|Brown|1998|pp=632–635}}{{sfn|Salzman|2006|pp=266–267, 272, 285}} In general, there was more violent rhetoric than actual violence.{{sfn|Bremmer|2020|p=9}} Constantine wrote the first laws against sacrifice. Thereafter, sacrifice largely disappeared by the mid-fourth century.{{sfn|Drake|1995|pp=3, 7}}{{sfn|Kahlos|2019|p=35}}{{sfn|Boyd|2005|p=21}} [[Peter Brown (historian)|Peter Brown]] notes that the language of these anti-sacrifice laws "was uniformly vehement", and the "penalties they proposed were frequently horrifying", evidencing the intent of "terrorizing" the populace into accepting removal of this tradition.{{sfn|Brown|1998|p=638}} Even so, polytheistic religions continued.{{sfn|Cameron|1993|pp=4, 112}} The fourth century historian [[Eusebius]] also attributes to Constantine widespread temple destruction, however, while the destruction of temples is in 43 written sources, only four have been confirmed archaeologically.{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|pp=xxvii; xxiv}}{{refn|group=note| At the sacred oak and spring at [[Mamre]], a site venerated and occupied by Jews, Christians, and pagans alike, the literature says Constantine ordered the burning of the idols, the destruction of the altar, and erection of a church on the spot of the temple.{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|p=131}} The archaeology of the site shows that Constantine's church, along with its attendant buildings, occupied a peripheral sector of the precinct leaving the rest unhindered.{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=31}}{{paragraph break}} Sources on what happened to the temples conflict. The ancient chronicler [[John Malalas|Malalas]] claimed Constantine destroyed all the temples; then he said Theodisius destroyed them all; then he said Constantine converted them all to churches.{{sfn|Trombley|2001|pp=246–282}}{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=110}}{{paragraph break}}A number of elements coincided to end the temples, but none of them were strictly religious.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=82}} Earthquakes caused much of the destruction of this era.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=28}} Civil conflict and external invasions also destroyed many temples and shrines.{{sfn|Lavan|Mulryan|2011|p=xxvi}} {{paragraph break}} Neglect led to progressive decay that was accompanied by an increased trade in salvaged building materials, as the practice of [[recycling]] became common in Late Antiquity.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=2}} Economic struggles meant that necessity drove much of the destruction and conversion of pagan religious monuments.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=82}}{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|p=353}}{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=60}} In many instances, such as in [[Tripolitania]], this happened before Constantine the Great became emperor.{{sfn|Leone|2013|p=29}}}} What is known with some certainty is that Constantine was vigorous in reclaiming confiscated properties for the Church, and he used reclamation to justify the destruction of some Greco-Roman temples such as [[Aphrodite|Aphrodite's]] temple in Jerusalem. For the most part, Constantine simply neglected them.{{sfn|Wiemer|1994|p=523}}{{sfn|Bayliss|2004|p=30}}{{sfn|Bradbury|1995|p=132}} ====Relations with Jews==== In the fourth century, [[Augustine of Hippo]] argued against the persecution of the Jewish people. A relative peace existed between Jews and Christians until the thirteenth century.{{sfn|Abulafia|2002|p=xii}}{{sfn|Bachrach|1977|p=3}} Significant Jewish communities existed throughout the Christian Roman empire, and attitudes varied in different areas.{{sfn|Stroumsa|2007|p=abstract}} Jews and Christians were both religious minorities claiming the same inheritance, and competing in a direct and sometimes violent clash.{{sfn|Stroumsa|2007|p=abstract}} Although anti-Semitic violence erupted occasionally, attacks on Jews by mobs, local leaders and lower level clergy were carried out without the support of church leaders who generally followed Augustine's teachings.{{sfn|Cohen|1998|pp=78–80}}{{sfn|Roth|1994|pp=1–17}} Sometime before the fifth century, the theology of [[supersessionism]] emerged, claiming that Christianity had displaced Judaism as God's chosen people.{{sfn|Tapie|2017|p=3}} Supersessionism was not an official or universally held doctrine, but replacement theology has been part of Christian thought through much of history.{{sfn|Aguzzi|2017|pp=xi, 3, 5, 12, 25, 133}}{{sfn|Vlach|2010|p=27}} Many attribute the emergence of [[antisemitism]] to this doctrine while others make a distinction between supersessionism and modern anti-Semitism.{{sfn|Kim|2006|pp=2,4, 8–9}}{{sfn|Gerdmar|2009|p=25}} ====Relations between East and West==== Eastern Christianity was becoming more and more distinct from Western Christianity by the fourth century. The western church spoke Latin, while the East spoke and wrote in at least five other languages. Theological differences became more pronounced. The Christian church related to the State in almost opposite ways in these different regions.{{sfn|Brown|1976|pp=1-8}}{{sfn|Eastern Christianity|2024|p=n/a}} In the Roman west, the church condemned Roman culture as "demonic" and sinful, keeping itself as separate as possible, remaining resistant to State control for the next 800 years.{{sfn|Brown|1976|pp=7-8}}{{sfn|Rahner|2013|pp=xiii, xiv}}{{sfn|Eichbauer|2022|p=1}}{{sfn|Thompson|2016|pp=176–177}} This is in pointed contrast with eastern Christianity which acclaimed harmony with Greek culture, and whose emperors and Patriarchs upheld unanimity between church and state.{{sfn|Brown|1976|pp=7-8}}{{refn|group=note| This difference was determined largely by how East and West defined what was "holy" in relation to society.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=8}} In the west, holiness was only truly achieved after death and was, therefore, increasingly connected to the monastery and great basilica-shrines with relics of dead saints and martyrs. In the Byzantine empire, holiness remained a part of the vast ceremoniousness of Byzantine urban life.{{sfn|Brown|1976|p=20}}}} Increasing diversity formed competing orthodoxies.{{sfn|Löhr|2007|p=abstract}} Theological controversies led to the Armenian, Assyrian, and Egyptian churches combining into what is today known as [[Oriental Orthodoxy]], one of three major branches of Eastern Christianity, along with the [[Church of the East]] in Persia and [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] in Byzantium.{{sfn|Adams|2021|pp=366–367}}{{sfn|Micheau|2006|p=375}}{{sfn|Bussell|1910|p=346}} Asian and African Christians did not have access to structures of power, and their institutions developed without state support.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|pp=118-119}}{{refn|group=note|There is no consensus on the origins of Christianity beyond Byzantium in Asia or East Africa. Though it is scattered throughout these areas by the fourth century, there is little documentation and no complete record of it from this period.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|pp=119-122; 125}} There are some good sources from Syria, Armenia and Georgia, a few "suggestive" ones from Soghdia, China and India, while Coptic and Ethiopic sources tend to be recent, and in other places only a few sources survive at all.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|pp=119-120}}}} Practicing the Christian faith sometimes brought opposition and persecution.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|p=118}} Asian Christianity never developed the social, intellectual and political power of Byzantium or the Latin West.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|p=118}} Yet, in 314 [[Urnayr|King Urnayr]] of [[Caucasian Albania]] adopted Christianity as the state religion. [[Christianization of Armenia|Armenia]] also adopted Christianity as their [[state religion]] in the fourth century,{{sfn|Cowe|2006|pp=404–405}} as did [[Christianization of Iberia|Georgia]], [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]].{{sfn|Cohan|2005|p=333}}{{sfn|Rapp|2007|p=138}}{{sfn|Brita|2020|p=252}} In an environment where the religious group was without cultural or political power, the merging of church and state is thought to instead represent survival of the ethnic group.{{sfn|Bundy|2007|p=144}} [[File:Justinien 527-565.svg|thumb|The extent of the Byzantine Empire under Justin I is shown in the darker color. The lighter color shows the conquests of Justinian I|alt=this is a map showing the area that Justinian I conquered]] Events in the Western Roman Empire after 476 had little direct impact on the Eastern Roman Empire centered in Constantinople.{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1992|pp=181; 198–199}} By the time of the Byzantine emperor [[Justinian I]] (527–565), Constantinople was the largest, most prosperous and powerful city on the Mediterranean.{{sfn|Brown|2008|p=3}} Justinian attempted to unite East and West by fighting the western tribes, taking territory and control of the Church. From 537 to 752, this meant [[Byzantine Papacy|Roman Popes had to be approved by the Eastern emperor]] before they could be installed. This required consistency with Eastern policies, such as forcing conversion of pagans, that had not previously been policies in the west.{{sfn|Ekonomou|2007|pp=245–247}}{{sfn|Salzman|1993|p=364}} === Regional developments (300–600) === {{See also|Christianization|Byzantine Empire|Justinian I|Byzantine Papacy}} Christianity had no central government, and differences developed in different locations.{{sfn|Hartog|2015|p=242}}{{sfn|Robinson|1988|p=36}}{{sfn|Sanmark|2004|p=15}} [[Donatism]] developed in North Africa. Some Germanic people adopted Arian Christianity while others, such as the Frankish King [[Clovis I]], (who was the first to unite the [[Franks|Frankish tribes]] under one ruler), converted to Catholicism.{{sfn|Brown|2003|p=137}}{{sfn|Nelson|1996|p=100}}{{sfn|Clark|2011|pp=1–4}}{{sfn|Cameron|2015|pp=39, 52}} [[Migration Period|Various Germanic peoples]] in the West — many of whom had [[Arianism#Among medieval Germanic tribes|already converted to Christianity]] — sacked Rome, invaded Britain, France, and Spain, seized land, and disrupted economies. For multiple and various reasons, the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|Western Roman Empire]] began to split into separate kingdoms.{{sfn|Cameron|2015|pp=10, 17, 42, 50}}{{sfn|Matthews|Platt|1992|p=163}} [[File:StAnthony.jpg|thumb|[[Coptic Orthodox Church|Coptic]] [[icon]] of St. [[Anthony the Great]], father of Christian monasticism and early [[anchorite]]. The [[Coptic language|Coptic]] inscription reads {{lang|cop|Ⲡⲓⲛⲓϣϯ Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ}} ('the Great Father Anthony')|alt=picture of icon of St.Anthony]] Though dates and details are disputed by a minority, archaeology supports the slow conversion of the Irish as beginning in the early fifth century.{{sfn|Harney|2017|p=103; 122}} [[Pope Gregory I|Pope Gregory the Great]] sent a long-distance mission to Anglo-Saxon England.{{sfn|Schäferdiek|2007|p=abstract}} The [[Gregorian mission]] landed in 596, and converted the [[Kingdom of Kent]] and the court of Anglo-Saxon [[Northumbria]].{{sfn|Wood|2007|pp=20–22}} However, archaeology indicates Christianity had become an established minority faith in some parts of Britain in the second century. Irish missionaries went to [[Iona]] (from 563) and converted many [[Picts]].{{sfn|Sharpe|1995|pp=30–33}}{{sfn|Thomas|1997|p=506–507}} A "seismic moment" in Christian history took place in 612 when the [[Visigoths|Visigothic]] [[Sisebut|King Sisebut]] declared the obligatory conversion of all Jews in Spain, overriding Pope Gregory who had reiterated the traditional ban against forced conversion of the Jews in 591.{{sfn|García-Arenal|Glazer-Eytan|2019|pp=5–6; 15}} Christian monasticism had emerged in the third century, and by the fifth century, was a dominant force in all areas of late antique culture.{{sfn|Crislip|2005|p=3}}{{sfn|Rubenson|2007|p=abstract}} [[Basil of Caesarea|Basil the Great]] was the central figure in the East, founding the first public hospital ([[History of hospitals|the Basiliad]]) in 369.{{sfn|Crislip|2005|pp=103-106}} In the West, [[Benedict of Nursia|Benedict]] wrote the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]] which would become the most common rule throughout the Middle Ages and the starting point for other monastic rules.{{sfn|Dunn|2003|p=137}} Monastics developed an unprecedented [[Health system|health care system]] which allowed the sick to remain within the monastery as a special class afforded special benefits and care by those dedicated to that care.{{sfn|Crislip|2005|pp=8-9, 38-39}} This [[Social stigma|destigmatized]] illness, transformed health care in Antiquity, formed the basis of public health care in the Middle Ages, and led to the development of the [[hospital]].{{sfn|Crislip|2005|pp=99-103}} ==== Heresy and the Ecumenical councils (325–681) ==== {{Main|First seven ecumenical councils}}{{See also|Arianism|Arian controversy|Nestorian schism|Monophysitism}} {{Further|Diversity in early Christian theology|Germanic Christianity|Gothic Christianity}} [[File:Ariusz.JPG|thumb|Imagined portrait of [[Arius]]; detail of a [[Cretan School]] [[icon]], {{circa|1591}}, depicting the [[First Council of Nicaea]]|alt=this is a photo of a detail from an icon by the Cretan school, painted around 1591, depicting Arius at the First Council of Nicaea holding his head as if in pain]] From the fourth century on, [[seven ecumenical councils]] were convened to resolve theological controversies.{{sfn|Lyman|2007|p=298}} The first major disagreement was between [[Arianism]], which said the divine nature of Jesus was not equal to the Father's, and [[Trinity|orthodox trinitarianism]] which says it is equal. Arianism spread throughout most of the Roman Empire from the fourth century onwards.{{sfn|Berndt|Steinacher|2014}} The [[First Council of Nicaea]] was called by Constantine in (325) to address it and other disagreements. Representatives of some 150 episcopal sees in Asia Minor attended along with many others.{{sfn|Trombley|2007|p=abstract}} Nicaea and the [[First Council of Constantinople]] (381) resulted in a condemnation of Arian teachings and produced the [[Nicene Creed]].{{sfn|Berndt|Steinacher|2014}}{{sfn|Kohler|Krauss|1906}} The [[Council of Ephesus|Third]] (431), [[Council of Chalcedon|Fourth]] (451), [[Second Council of Constantinople|Fifth]] (583) and [[Third Council of Constantinople|Sixth ecumenical councils]] (680{{Endash}}681) are characterized by attempts to explain Jesus' human and divine natures.{{sfn|Sabo||2018|p=vii}} The category of ‘[[schism]]’ developed as a middle ground, so as not to exclude all who disagreed as ‘heretic’.{{sfn|Lyman|2007|pp=297–298}} Schisms within the churches of the Nicene tradition broke out after the [[Council of Chalcedon]] in 451.{{sfn|Löhr|2007|p=abstract}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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