Church History Part VIII 073006

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Church History Part VIII07/30/06

• How did Mel Gibson reignite the fires of 737
  A.D.?
• How did the Eastern Church become Orthodox?
• How Orthodox is it?
• Is it better to baptize pagan culture and
  worship to make it Christian, or to demo and
  start from scratch?
• Could Jesus have sinned?

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When we last left off,Augustine (596)

• Resources
• Conversion of England by the Venerable Bede his
  Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation
  (672-735)
• Textbook example of the Roman Catholic missions
  mindset Letter to Mellitus from Gregory the
  Great
• In what ways could this be problematic?

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Why does it matter if we baptize or demolish?
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Boniface (680-754)

• Pope Gregory IIs letter to Boniface
• Bonifaces missions mindset? 1 Kings 18
• Fruit of Bonifaces labor?

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Solomon, I have surpassed you Justinian, upon
completing the Hagia Sophia
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So how did the church in the East become the
Eastern Orthodox church?

• It is impossible to understand EO without
  understanding 2 movements and 3 main figures
• John Golden Mouth Chrysostom (400)
• Monothelitism Maximus the Confessor (600)
• Iconoclastic Controversy John of Damascus (730)
• John Golden Mouth Chrysostom

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John Chrysostom (400)

• Contemporary of Augustine
• Appointed bishop of Constantinople by Emperor
  Theodosius I in 397
• Grammatical-historical preacher known for his
  exegetical and powerful preaching
• Hence the nick name.
• Reformer of church and state
• He believed that the favoritism the emperor and
  imperial court showed to Christianity had led to
  a moral and spiritual lethargy and that he was
  called by God to shape up the church and get it
  on the right track ibid., 294
• Championed social outreach and reform
• Sermon ex.
• Began to attack ceasaropapism or ceasar as
  pope
• Why is he significant?
• He is the epitome of what EO comes to admire
  not systematicians,but those who pray mightily,
  preach well, and have a theology centered around
  the experience and practice of worship and not
  propositional pursuits.

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Monothelitism Maximus (600)

• What is monothelitism?
• Who was Maximus?
• Life
• Role in the controversy
• He believed this undermined the core of Jesus
  real humanity. What has not been assumed has
  not been healed. Gregory of Nazianzus
• Theologically, he defended Jesus two wills by
  arguing that at every point along the way Christ
  freely chose to cooperate with his divine will
• Illustrates the problem with words
• Nevertheless he campaigned in Rome against the
  monothelite Emperor.
• Maximus at one point said, I think not of the
  unity or division of Romans and Greeks, but I
  must not retreat from the correct faithIt is the
  business of priests, not emperors, to investigate
  and define the salutary dogmas of the Catholic
  church.
• While in Rome an Eastern army came through in 650
  trying to reunify the Empire and root out
  opposition.
• Refused to recant his views,was tortured to
  death on Aug 13th, 661.
• What was his contribution to EO?

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Maximus establishes the EO worldview

• Creation
• All of creation is the garment of God, reveals
  God, and was to be united to God in the
  incarnation of Christ
• Fall
• The cosmic fall postponed the incarnation,and
  all creation, including humanity, now needs help
  to return to the state of being able to unite
  with God
• Redemption
• Jesus incarnation re-united physical and
  spiritual and provides the paradigm for our
  personal re-unification with the divine
• And he inalterably united human nature with
  himself-so that he himself should become a man,
  as he himself knows, and so that he should make
  man a god through union with himself. Maximus,
  Byzantine Fathers of the 6th to 8th Century Vol.
  9220
• Salvation?
• Harmonizing the physical and spiritual in
  oneself,re-enacting the incarnation each
  day,making oneself a fit dwelling for God by
  cooperating with Gods grace through good works.
  
• It is deification become like God by
  cooperating with the spark of divine grace
  within us all.
• We need to appropriate Gods energies through
  worship to achieve this goal.
• Assessment?
• Fruit? Council of Constantinople 680-681, called
  by Emperor Constantine IV

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The Iconoclastic Controversy

• Icons from 500-730 use and abuse
• Imperial Precedent
• Emperor Justinian II, Quinisext Council of 692
• left out all western bishops and mandated eastern
  customs.
• Canon 82 of the Quinisext Council declared that,
  the grace and truth of the incarnate God the
  Word could be better represented by a depiction
  of Christ as a man than by symbols such as the
  lamb, which served simply to foreshadow the
  truth. - Neil
• Imperial Reversal under Emperor Leo III (717)
• Reasons?
• Result?

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John of Damascus (c.675-c.749/53)

• His life
• His writings
• Orations (726)
• Against Those Who Attack Divine Images (730)
• 4 Pronged Theological Attack
• Where Christ is represented, he is spiritually
  present
• There is a disctinction between worship (latria)
  and veneration (proskynesis)
• Icons are useful as books for the illiterate
• If Christ can not be depicted, then his humanity
  and therefore the incarnation must not be real

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Why does it matter?

• Because it deals with the broader issue of media
  in worship
• where do YOU draw the line? Why? Why not?
• Because one side accuses the other of sin, and we
  have an obligation to help those who are living
  in sin
• Because new issues are quite old

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Why does it matter Part II The controversy
widens the gulf between East and West

• Emperor Constantine V called an Ecumenical
  council which met from February 10th, 754 to
  August 8th.
• 338 Bishops attended the Council despite noted
  absences from the see of Constantinople, Rome,
  and the Patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and
  Jerusalem.
• Empress Irene ascended to the throne and sought
  to mend the gap between East and West (and east
  and east) by calling a council to restore icons
• An armed militia of Imperial iconoclasts stormed
  the council and violence was avoided when someone
  shouted we won and everybody left.
• Irene send out invites to the 7th, and final,
  ecumenical council aka Nicea II, which began at
  the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, 787.
• 7 Sessions, Sept. Oct.
• Endorsed John of Damascus arguments, overturned
  Constantine Vs council, declared anyone cursed
  who does not endorse icons.
• Appealed to Ex. 3517 Num. 78-9 Heb. 91
  Gen. 3134

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Eastern Orthodoxy Won the Day

• John of Damascus Contribution?
• Veneration of icons a permanent fixture in EO
  RC
• Re-emphasized key principles common to EO
  theology
• Saving incarnation
• Deification of humanity through Jesus
• Ineffable essence of God beyond all comprehension
• Centrality of worship to all EO theology
• So how did EO spread?
• Before the iconoclastic controversy, through the
  Emperors like Justinian who composed liturgies
  and administered the Lords Supper
• After the iconoclastic controversy, primarily
  through civil leaders and monks

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Spread of EO

• Patriarchs of Constantinople encourages missions
  next door in Moravia, Russia, the Balkans
  (800s).
• When church and state are one, wherever the
  Empire expands, so does the church!
• Pre-Wycliffe translation efforts!
• Vladimir (988) in Kiev
• Sava, King of Serbia (1200s) Simeon the
  Myrrh-Gusher
• Spread to Moscow through monasteries
  spiritually minded princes and kings
• Icons were huge! Our Lady Vladimir
• 1453 Turks take Constantinople, so the EO
  influenced Russia tries to rebuild the Empire
• Ivan 4th calls himself Czar
• Holy Mother Russia is to Eastern Orthodoxy as
  Manifest Destiny is to Christianity

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Why does it matter?
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The East West (Church State) Formal Split
(737-1054)

• The Pope was forging deals with the Caroligians
  in France to protect its missionary endeavors
  inside their territory
• Charlemagne (742-814) takes over
• Conquers a huge portion of Europe,like Roman
  Empire size!
• Mass Conversions to Christianity!
• Donates the Papal states
• Christmas Day, 800, crowned King by Pope Leo III
• Who has authority over who? And who has the power
  to give authority to whom?
• Results?
• Secularization of the church is its spiritual
  death knell. (Fulda owned 15,000 villas!)
• 600 years of war till the Renaissance said
  phooey on the whole church.