|
HOME>
Christianity> History >The
5th & 6th AD Centuries <<<YOU
ARE HERE.
|
|
|
The 5th and the 6th Centuries AD.
|
(5/5)
431 AD::
The Council of Ephesus was called to debate the precise
nature of Jesus. Again, there were two main competing
belief systems:
1. From the city of Alexandria, scholars developed the
Alexandrian school of thought which: Promoted the
allegorical interpretation of the Bible -- that it
contained hidden meanings, Emphasized the divinity of
Christ & Recognized that Jesus had both a human and divine
nature, tightly united.
2. Within the city of Antioch, Nestorius and other
scholars developed the Aniochene school which: Rejected an
allegorical interpretation of the Bible, Emphasized the
humanity of Jesus & Saw the two natures of Jesus as being
loosely connected
The council excommunicated Nestorian and declared his
beliefs (Nestorianism) to be heresy. The Virgin Mary's
status was elevated from the mother of Jesus to "theotokos",
the mother of God.
440 AD:
Pope Leo I became the Bishop of Rome -- a post that he
held for 21 years. He maintained that the pope was highest
ranking of the Christian bishops.
451 AD:
Emperor Marcian called the Council of Chalcedon to resolve
still another debate about Jesus. The traditional belief
that Jesus had both a divine and human nature was being
challenged by Monophysitism, an outgrowth of the
Alexandrian school. Their followers believed that Christ
had only a single divine nature. The council rejected that
belief.
In their Chalcedonian Definition, they affirmed that
Christ had two natures, human and divine. These were
without confusion, without change, without division,
without separation." This formulation has survived as the
traditional belief to the present day among almost all
branches of Christendom.
The East Syrian (Nestorian) church or the Assyrian Church
and the Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches disagreed
with the council's decision, and split off from the rest
of Christianity in the first major schism in Christendom.
The Oriental Orthodox Churches though wrongly labelled as
Monophysites, broke off because of the disagreement in the
final text of the council which lay stress on the
seperation of the two natures. Our Church which belongs to
the family of Oriental Orthodox Churches beleives that the
two natures, divine and human are so integrated in one
that they cannot be seperately viewed.
During the 5th century AD, various Germanic tribes invaded
Rome and destroyed much of the Western Roman Empire.
Meanwhile, the Church centered in Rome successfully
converted the invaders to Christianity. Authority within
the church was coalescing around the Bishop of Rome in the
west and the Patriarch of Constantinople in the east.
Divisions between the two power centers in the Christian
church gradually intensified.
The Eastern Roman Empire continued until the 15th century
under the banner of the Byzantine Empire capitalled at
Constantinople ( or ancient Greek Byzantium) until it was
overrun by the Turks in 1453.
Meanwhile, Gnostic Christianity's membership went into a
steep decline.
Please note that our Church (OO Family) developed
indepedently of all further councils and did not
participate in the seven Ecumenical councils recognized by
all the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Roman Catholics
have had many other councils even until very recent times.
Each canonical local Orthodox Church (Eastern + Oriental)
has its synod (or council) which ratifies the code or
canon to be followed by the respective Church in addition
to the Ecumenical councils that it recognizes. (4 for the
OO Family and 7 for the EO Family).
The sixth century:
553 AD:
Emperor Justinian called The Second Council of
Constantinople. He invited equal numbers of bishops from
each of the five patriarchal sees. The Bishop of Rome,
Pope Vigilius saw that many more bishops from the east
than from the west would be present; he refused to attend.
The council concentrated on the writings of three
Christian leaders: Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret and
Ibas. All three were condemned by the council as heretics:
"We observed that the pupils of Nestorius were trying to
bring their heresy into the church of God by means of the
heretical Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia and his books as
also by the writings of the heretical Theodoret and the
disgraceful letter which is alleged to have been sent by
Ibas to Mari the Persian. Our observations prompted us to
correct what was happening. We assembled in this imperial
city, summoned here by the will of God and the command of
the most religious emperor."
Gnostic Christianity ceased being a significant force by
the 6th century. The only group to have continuously
survived into modern times is the Mandaean sect of Iraq
and Iran. This group currently numbers fewer than 15,000.
With the rise of Islam, the influence of church leaders in
Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem was severely reduced.
Over time, the two power centers of Christianity, centered
in Constantinople in the East and Rome in the West,
drifted apart. They developed divergent paths in the areas
of creeds, beliefs, practices, liturgy, the use of icons,
organizational structure, etc.
The eastern and western branches of Christianity continued
their process of separation. This was caused by a variety
of factors: The Slav invasions in the Balkans. The
religious language in the west was Latin, while the
eastern church used Greek. Bilingual theologians became
increasingly rare. "While the intellectual thought of
Eastern Christianity was driven by Greek teachers, Western
Christianity came to be dominated by the teachings of
Augustine of Hippo." (354 - 386 AD).
"Although the two regions belonged to the same church,
they became increasingly remote from each other." A formal
split did not occur until 1054 AD when the Roman Catholic
church and Eastern Orthodox churches formally separated.
In recent centuries, the relation between the two churches
has degenerated, in part because of a move by the Roman
Catholic church to establish parishes in Eastern Orthodox
territory -- notably Greece and Russia and due to
incessant chipping away at Eastern churches to form Uniate
Churches in communion with Rome.
The Reformation in the 16th century later divided western
Christianity between Roman Catholicism and a variety of
Protestant churches (Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian etc.
and more recently Pentecostal or Evangelical) . The
Orthodox (Catholic as in Univesal)) Churches have been
organized largely on national grounds; it is today a
fellowship of some separate, autocephalous churches, each
led by its bishop (known as a Patriarch or Catholicos or
Archimandrite or ArchBishop etc).
|
|
Back to Christian History |
Previous (4/5) |
|
|
|
|
Wait...Sign Guestbook |
Tell A friend |
View Member Articles |
Give
Feedback |
| Please note that the views posted on
this site are solely as presented by the members of the
MGOCSM-ANDHERI and has no bearing with the Church's official stand
on issues of doctrine or church relations. Nobody may be held
responsible for any misrepresentation of data and we apologize for
the same. Please feel free to contact us. Help us provide quality
and accurate information. For any comments or suggestions about the
layout and content mail the
[email protected].
|
|
