Foundation Stones of Christianity Chapter 5 #2

Christianity Spreads around the Mediterranean Sea  Christian Churches & communities are formed in Greek cities and the Roman Empire  St. Peter & St. Paul established the Church in Rome  Centre of Christianity  Both were martyred

Christianity was built on 4 major foundation stones:  Keeping the memory of Jesus alive  Disciples, Gospels, Letters of Paul  Professing the one faith: the creeds  Ministers of the Church: Bishops  Ecumenical Councils

Keeping alive the memory of Jesus  Jesus did not write down his teachings  Disciples told the story of Jesus  During the 1 st Century, Apostles wrote down these memories forming the New Testament  27 Books  4 Gospels  22 Letters (mostly by Paul)  Book of Revelation

Gospels  “Good News”  Evangelion in Greek  Evangelists: writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John  Gospels are stories of faith  Each evangelist wrote from a different perspective  The Church accepted 4 gospels as authentic accounts

Four Gospels  Synoptics  “same eye”  Matthew (85 CE)  Jewish community  Jesus the New Moses  Mark (65 CE)  Roman church  Suffering Messiah  Luke  Greek Christians  Jesus “Great Example”  Mary “magnifies the Lord”  John  Near the end of 1 st C.  Wrote like a theologian whose focus was the mystery of Jesus as the Word of God  Jesus: the Light of the World, God’s Word

Paul’s Letters  Written in the 50’s CE, before the Gospels  b. as Saul of Tarsus  He studied the Torah in Jerusalem, as a Pharisee, interested in Jewish law  Heard about Jesus, didn’t know Jesus personally  Thought Christian proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah offensive  Went to Damascus to arrest Jesus’ disciples, met Risen Lord along the way, blinded, regained his sight, baptized  Preached to Gentiles  Wrote letters  Martyred, 64. CE

Stone 2: Professing the One Faith, Creeds  Creeds are belief statements  Summaries of the Gospels  Used at baptism & Eucharist  Used in all churches to ensure that all Christians professed the same faith

Stone 3: Ministers of the Church  Within 30 years after the Resurrection, churches were founded in Jerusalem, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Italy & Spain  Head of each church: Bishop, episcopos or overseer  Bishops: successors to the Apostles,  Preaching the Gospel  Keeping people faithful to the creeds  They along with other famous teachers converted many to Christianity  giving up the Roman state religion  These early bishops & theologians: The Church Fathers

Stone 4: Ecumenical Councils  Disagreements / conflicts arose occasionally  E.g., early 4 th Century, Arius  “Jesus wasn’t God, only the 1 st & highest creature”  Conflict over this issue became intense,  Constantine concerned about the unity of the empire  Ecumenical Council called to deal with Arius, 325 C.E.  Nicene Creed  Councils bring together bishops  21 Ecumenical Councils over the history of the Church

Western Church in Middle Ages  313 C.E., Constantine  Edict of Milan  Christians free to worship without interference  330 C.E., Great change in Empire  Capital, Rome  Constantinople, the centre of Eastern Empire / Eastern Christianity  380 Christianity the Official Religion of the Empire  410 C.E. Visigoths invaded, destroyed Rome  Islam began 622 C.E., eventually much of the territory around the Mediterranean Islamic  Period of poverty began  Christianity unified Western Europe

Structure of the Church  As the Roman Empire collapsed, the Church maintained it organizational structure  Bishop: head of a local church  Bishop of Rome: leader of all the bishops, Pope  Local churches, led by Pope, became a source of continuity & stability

Scriptures  Bible unified European communities, helped them to cope in difficult times  Copies of the Bible & biblical commentaries were made & distributed  Unity of teaching & doctrine developed in the Church

Theology of St. Augustine  His teaching helped the Church become a stable force in Europe  Prolific writer  Wrote about his vision of God & the Church, addressing controversies of his day  City of God: to show how Christianity could continue without Rome’s protection / customs  Catholic teaching could form a basis for a way of life for all believers

Monasteries  Influenced how Christianity sees holiness & spirituality  A Christian life centred on prayer, work & learning  Monks prayed, worked in fields, cared for animals  Monasteries places of stability & dedication to the Gospel 

The Divine Office: The Liturgy of the Hours  Matins (a.k.a. Vigils, Nocturns)  During the night, midnight  Lauds* Dawn or 3 a.m.  Prime (Early Morning prayer) First Hour, about 6  Terce* (Mid-Morning) 9 am  Sext* (Midday)noon  None* (Mid-Afternoon)3 pm  Vespers* (Evening)6 pm  Compline* (Night)9 pm (before retiring)

Schism: Church Splits East & West  Differences over how they lived their faith  Icons  Paintings, mosaics of Jesus, angels & saints  East: more devotion to images, using them in processions and praying to them  Some Christians agreed with the Jewish & Muslim prohibition on images of God  Iconoclasm: destruction of icons  787 C.E., Second Council of Nicaea in favour of icons  Western Church: East gone too far “worshipping” icons

Creed  A second controversy, the Western Church added the phrase “and the Son” to the Creed  Eastern Church saw this as theologically unacceptable  1054 C.E., conflicts led to a break between the Eastern & Western Churches