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Ancient Church History 211 Redeemer Seminary, Dr.

Stephen Yuille

Jonathan Martinez

Lecture 6:

Summary Eusebius, Dowley 22. Eusebius bishop of Cesarea in 313-314 was born in Palestine around 263. He is known to set the pattern for church history and was quoted heavily by Jerome and Bede. He endured the Great persecution in which he witnessed many martyrdoms and spent time incarcerated for the faith. His works include, Chronicles and Church History which closes with the triumph of his admired friend Constantine in 324. He originally finished the work in 303 or 311, but supplements were added to bring the book up to Constantines reign. His writings give insight into apostolic succession of bishops, heresies and sufferings of Jews and Christians.

Summary of Constantine and the Christian Empire, Dowley 139-144 In A.D. 312 Christianity was just a small persecuted minority in the time of Constantine conversion. With his conversion to Christianity, it flourished and became gradually institutionalized and became the official religion of the Christian Empire by the end of the century. Constantine mother Helen was a Christian,she may have had an influence in his conversion. His conversion experience is still debated due to the fact that he saw Christ giving him a sign, the letters in greek for Christ Chi-Rho of which he placed in the shields of his soldiers as they marched to battle against Maxentius whom they defeated. Yet in the background of this Christ was the image of the sun. This is important because Constantines prior religion was related to sun worship. The unconqueres Sun was his favorite deity. We see from this point on an evident syncretism within the Christian traditions that developed in this time. From this same sun worship the celebration of Christ s birth was established on the 25th of December to coincide with the birthday of the sun. Saturnalia the Roman winter festival between the 17th and the 21st of December exhibited merriment, gift giving and the use of candles. Sunday was established as a holiday due to the veneration of the Sun. Other syncretisms that developed during this time was the worship of the Virgin Mary. This was mainly stimulated by the prior worship of the pagan goddess Diana. The goddess Issis also had some influence as she was identified as the Great Virgin Mother of the God . Not only did cult of mary arise but also cult of martyrs and saints. The plethora of gods that the Romans venerated were now replaced by saints and martyrs who took their place of gods in their temples. The struggle between church and state started to become an issue especially with the Donatist movement. As Constantine tried to establish power and control over the church he sought to punish and repress the Donatist, whom questioned his authority over the church, which in the end was counterproductive in keeping the church and the empire united. It was Constantine s sons especially under the influence of Ambrose that eventually led to the banning of the pagan religious practices in the roman empire. What are we to make of those practices still evident as a result of the syncretism of the early church in the Constantine empire which have carried on till today?

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