Christianity began in Palestine, as an offspring of Judaism. While Judaism was an ethnic religion, christianity appealed to everyone, without
regard of his nationality. Christianity was a religion for the appealing to the poor, the suffering, the exploited. It's main message was hope, the
promise for a better time, and if it only was to come only in the afterlife. In a Roman Empire, where, especially under Sejanus, Caligula, Nero,
under Domitian and Elagabalus, madness and chaos seemed to govern, eastern religions such as the cults of MITHRA and ISIS, but also
those emphasizing ethics, such as Christianity and MANICHAEISM spread across the Empire.
Soon christian communities were to be found in every major city, in legion's camps etc. The communities were headed by priests, a number
of communities by a BISHOP. Rome claims St. Peter as it's first bishop. Nero, facing public dissatisfaction, used the christians as
scapegoats and ordered the first PERSECUTIONS; Christians had to fight wild beasts in the arena, or were CRUCIFIED. Christianity turned into
an underground religion. They could not run churches, as they were too visible. Community meetings, holy masses were held in secret, in
Rome in the CATACOMBS. Careful not to identify themselves as Christians in public, they used secret codes; the fish (Greek Ichthys) was
used as a symbol of christianity (St. Peter had been fisherman). Monotheistic from the start, christianity was hostile toward other religions.
Christians who were caught by the state authorities and who were executed because they refused to renounce their faith were regarded
MARTYRS, and were revered. Other values esteemed were chastity and ASCETICISM. Some men went into the desert to get away from worldly
life and seek quietness to contemplate. These HERMITS were revered; people sought their advice. Groups of Hermits established monasteries,
thus creating MONASTICISM.
The underground period of church history lasted until A.D. 330. Christians were persecuted under Nero, then again under Decius (249-251)
and then under Diocletian and Galienus (310-311). By the early 4th century, christianity was well established throughout the Roman Empire,
with vivid communities in Antioch, Alexandria, Carthago, Rome and Byzantium. However, the church organisation had to be secret, and this
was to have consequences.
B.) CHRISTIANITY AS STATE RELIGION : CONSTANTINE, THEODOSIUS ETC.
When CONSTANTINE THE GREAT converted to Christianity, a new era began. From now on, Christianity was a respectable religion - and
Roman society split in two camps, the pagans and the christians. However, there were many different interpretations of christianity. So,
Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in 325, the first COUNCIL, as a forum to decide on many matters pertaining to Christian
belief and the organisation of the church. 3 (later 5) PATRIARCHATES were recognized : Alexandria, Constantinople, Rome, to which later
Antioch and Jerusalem were added. A number of interpretations were branded as HERESIES : ARIANISM, DONATISM, NESTORIANISM. It has to
be said that the councils all were held in or near Constantinople, and that the Emperors, starting with THEODOSIUS, attempted to interfere in
church politics. Church policy and Byzantine policy went parallel, and the Emperor influenced the appointment of bishops. Having
interpretations of christianity branded as heresies did only matter in the area firmly under the Emperor's control. Arianism, after being branded
a heresy in 325, was the religion of the converted Germanics until into the 6th century, in Lombard Italy until 680. Nestorian christians, also called
MONOPHYSITES, from 431 looked upon Constantinople with deep suspicion. The christian communities in the East - the COPTIC CHRISTIANS,
SYRIAN JACOBITES, Armenians, Ethiopians and Malabarite Jacobites are all offsprings of the Monophysites. Following
Nestorius, they refuse to accept the DOGMA of the TRINITY, which is the central message of the NICENE CREED, upheld by the CATHOLICS
since ATHANASIUS (325). The Monophysites argue that Jesus was human, not god. Basically, the councils of Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon
(451) layed the roots for the schism of eastern chritianity in the Greek-Catholic west (Greece and Anatolia) and the Monophysite East (Syria,
Armenia, Egypt). In those days, Rome was of little significance.
Prominent writers in church theory were called CHURCH FATHERS, the most famous being ST. AUGUSTINE. They shaped christianity by
separating what was to be believed from heretical thought, by describing how christians should live, how priests and bishops should act,
how christian festivities should be celebrated. They were major actors on church councils, and often bishops themselves.
C.) THE CHURCH IN THE WEST : ARIAN GERMANICS AND CATHOLIC ROMANS
The BARBARIC PEOPLE'S MIGRATION reshaped the political map of western Europe. In 490 here were the countries under the rule of Arian
Germanics - VANDAL North Africa, SUEBIC Galicia, VISIGOTHIC Spain and Aquitaine, OSTROGOTHIC Italy and Dalmatia, BURGUNDIAN Burgundy,
and the lands under heathen Germanic rule : FRANKISH Belgium, Rhineland, the Ile de France, ANGLO-SAXON England. the
ALEMANNIC Alsace and northern Switzerland.
In the areas conquered by heathen Germanics, for instance in Anglo-Saxon England, most traces of Roman civilization, including christian
communities, disappeared. The area was newly settled by the invaders, Germanic language, law and religion prevailed. An exception was the
Ile de France which was ruled by Roman Syagrius until 486; here the Roman population heavily outnumbered the Frankish settlers. In the areas
under Arian rule, the Germanic settlers were also heavily outnumbered by the local Roman population, which was mostly Catholic. The Germanics
accepted the Catholic bishops as representatives of the Roman population. However, at times the Catholics (Romans) found themselves
oppressed by the Arian Germanics, especially in Vandal North Africa. Some of the oppressed found their way to Constantinople where they
appealed for help.
In southeastern Wales, in the area around Cardiff, one Christian community survived the Anglo- Saxon conquest. From here, all of Wales, and
with ST. PATRICK, Ireland were converted. Ireland again was the starting point for the conversion of Scotland. Communications with Rome (the
Patriarchate of the West) were poor, and the IRO-SCOTTISH CHURCH developed in a peculiar way. The Irish and Scottish churches were not
headed by bishops, but by LAY ABBOTS, who were married and had children.
In 496, King CLOVIS of the FRANKS converted to Catholicism, Within a decade, The Catholic kingdom of the Franks had conquered the Alemanni
and Visigothic Aquitaine, and in 516 Arian Burgundy converted to Catholicism. At that time, Rome was under control of the Arian Ostrogoths. The
church of the kingdom of the Franks was organised in communication with Rome, bishoprics and archbishoprics were established.
In Ostrogothic (Arian) Italy, ST. BENEDICT, disappointed by the political reality of his time, sought a mountain retreat where he established the
monastery of Monte Cassino. Monasteries had existed in the west since the 4th century, after earlier Egyptian models. St. Benedict
established rules for monastic life - the Benedictine Rule. Many monasteries would take it over and would together form the BENEDICTINE
ORDER, the only monastic order for the next 400 years.
D.) THE CHURCH IN THE WEST : JUSTINIAN'S CONQUEST AND THE LOMBARD THREAT
Responding to complaints of Roman North Africans about Vandal persecutions of Catholic christians, Byzantine Emperor JUSTINIAN in 533 sent
his general BELISARIUS with a fleet to Vandal North Africa. Within 6 months, the conquest was completed, the Vandal kingdom conquered, the
province of Africa added to the Byzantine Empire. Ostrogothic Italy proved more difficult to conquer. It took 18 years, but in 553 it also was turned
into a Byzantine province, as were the coastal regions of southern Spain. In these regions Catholicism was the official religion. The
POPES in Rome took that as a mixed blessing. For the Emperor in Byzantium ruled the church through the patriarch of Constantinople, and had
all bishops in the provinces observed. Byzantinian rule in the west was not that popular, as the wars had been costly, and the Byzantine
administration charged high taxes to pay for the expenses. The tax collectors, usually Greeks, ruled Italy like a colony, trying to get as much out
of it as possible, partially for personal profit. Many of Rome's statues and artefacts were removed (to Constantinople), a fact the Vandals have
been unduly credited with.
In 568, the Arian LOMBARDS invaded Italy, without major opposition. The Byzantinian Empire financially was exhausted, and the Roman population
of Italy saw the conquest as a relief from an administration which severely overtaxed them. However, the Lombards were not experienced in
siege technique; while they took most of countryside Italy, they were not able to take the cities of Rome, Ravenna, Naples, the southern coast and
the islands. These remained under Byzantine control for centuries to come. The Byzantines were able to hold on to the road connecting Rome
and Ravenna, the Via Flaminisa. The Lombards repeatedly attempted to take these Byzantine strongholds. Byzantium, meanwhile, had more
important things to worry about than Italy. The popes in Rome had to find their own way to cope with the Lombard threat. In 750, Pope Zachary
appealed to Frankish strongman, Mayor PEPIN THE SHORT, for assistance, and in 773 Pope Hadrian I. appealed to Pepin's son
CHARLEMAGNE. In both cases the Franks responded. Politically, Rome had switched from Byzantine protection to Frankish protection. Pepin the
Short had himself crowned king by the pope, legitimizing his removal of the last Merovingian king. Charlemagne had himself crowned Emperor. But
both Frankish kings did not directly interfere in papal politics. Moreover, they granted rule over the stretch of land between Rome and Ravenna to the
pope; according to a forged document, it came to be known as the CONSTANTINIAN DONATION. The popes had gained political independence -
from Constantinople, that is.
This page is part of World History at KMLA Last revised on August 26th 2001
