By 180: Trinitarian Doctrine - “God the Father and of God the Son and of the Holy Spirit” - Athenagoras of Athens - use of the term “Trinity” to describe God - Saint Theophilus of Antioch

180: Threats from the North - Roman Empire had expanded to its maximum, protected by Hadrian’s wall across Britain & Die Roemer across Germany - Northern tribes beyond Rhine and Danube began threatening these fortifications - marked the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire, which took 320 years, ending in 476

202: Emperor Septimus Severus - All subjects of the Roman Empire must worship Sol Invictus, the invincible sun - Judaism and Christianity are outlawed!

~215: The Heresy of Sabellianism - reaction to Apologists’ writings that Jesus was 2nd divine being, begotten by the Father before creation - proponents Sabellius, Paul of Samosata & Theodotus - God is one person working in 3 modes (I.e. non-Trinitarian) - Christ was mere man, born of the virgin Mary & the Holy Spirit, upon whom divine power was bestowed at baptism and divine adoption at resurrection - Theodotus had aposticized, saying it OK because Christ was man, not God he denied, thus excusing his fall - Theodotus expelled by Rome; heresy condemned in 381 and quickly died out

~215: Catechetical School of the Church of Alexandria ~ time of Christ: Philo - Logos intermediary between God & his creation May have inspired Apostle John to use term Logos to describe the 2nd person of the Trinity - Christ Influenced creation of the catechetical school in Alexandria, under Pantaneus Emphasized the divinity of Christ and that deification, or becoming like God through His grace and intimate communion with Him, is the meaning of salvation

215: Clement of Alexandria 2nd leader of the Alexandrian catechetical school, seeing his mission as helping those seeking deeper truth and of being a defender of the faith while being a proponent of secular learning and culture: “Perchance too, philosophy was given to the Greeks directly and primarily, until the Lord should call the Greeks. For this was a schoolmaster to bring the Hellenic mind, as the law of the Hebrews, to Christ… There seems to me to be a first kind of saving change from heathenism to faith, a second from faith to knowledge; and this latter, as it passes on to love, begins at once to establish a mutual friendship between knower and known, until the self presses on to that which is indeed the Lord’s abode and remains there as a light standing and abiding; forever absolutely secure from all vicissitude.”

: Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus - Tertullian of Carthage, probably a lawyer, first theologian to write in Latin, became a Montanist in the soul is Christian by nature; only the Church has the right to interpret Scripture; all speculation is condemned - Christians have no business serving in the army, in government, and in businesses & educational institutions related to pagan religions - those who fall into serious sin after baptism can only once be restored by repentance - the Church cannot tolerate adultery & fornication; they along with blasphemy and apostasy cannot be forgiven

: Tertullian of Carthage - one divine substance exists as three, distinct, continuous persons - Father, Logos/Son and Spirit - Christ is a union of two, distinct, unconfused substances, divine & human, in a single person - those who wish to be forgiven by God must offer God satisfaction for their sins. The soul must undergo some compensatory discipline in hades to amend for the very smallest offense (thus leading to the concept of purgatory) - created the foundation for schism between Eastern churches & Rome & was a major cause for the Protestant Reformation - “founder of Western theology” never canonized by the Orthodox Church

235: Threats from the Southeast - Emperor Alexander Severus murdered by his troops - Persians begin retaking kingdoms of Darius & Xerxes - Increased taxation & diminishing of upper class - Oh, for the better times of the past! - Our gods are punishing us because we did not worship them enough!

Just how forgiving is God? Just how forgiving is the Church?