Tag: Nicene Christology

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Emperor Theodosius made Nicene theology the State Religion.

Overview

Theodosius was a military commander. Western Emperor Gratian appointed him as Eastern Emperor in January 379.

In the Christian Roman Empire, the Emperor was the Head of the Church and the ultimate judge in doctrinal disputes. The emperors controlled the Church because they believed a divided Church could divide the Empire. Consequently, the Church and State became one. Bishops received judicial authority but functioned under the authority of the Empire.

When Theodosius came to power, in what is known as the Meletian Schism, the Nicenes were divided between the Western view that the Father and Son are a single hypostasis (Person) and the Eastern (Cappadocian) view that the Son is a distinct hypostasis. (The view that God is both one and three (one Being but three Persons) did not yet exist.)

In 380, the emperors issued the Edict of Thessalonica jointly, requiring all to accept Western ‘one hypostasis’ theology. The Edict made this the sole legal religion of the Empire. It was not a Church Creed but a Roman Law applicable to all Roman citizens.

The Edict outlawed all other factions of Christianity, with threats of punishment. In the subsequent years, Theodosius eliminated opposing views through severe persecution, beginning before the Second Ecumenical Council of 381. He prohibited “heretics” from settling in cities, from owning or using churches, and from meeting for worship in towns or cities. He seized churches that belonged to ‘heretics’ and gave the buildings to Nicene bishops.

Theodosius acted as the Head of the Church. For example, he himself appointed the Bishop of Constantinople and decided which factions complied with his law. 

Theodosius was the turning point after Arianism dominated most of the 4th century, not the Council of Constantinople of 381. Already in the year before that council, in February 380, Theodosius made Nicene Christianity the State Religion and outlawed Arianism. Therefore, only Nicene Christians were allowed to attend.

It was not even a Church meeting. It was a meeting of selected Church officials through which Theodosius ensured that his policies be implemented in the Church. 

All previous emperors attempted to ensure unity. Theodosius succeeded through ferocious coercion. The Arian Controversy began soon after Christianity was legalized, and Roman persecution was suspended. But the Controversy ended when non-Nicene Christianity was outlawed, leading to a resurgence of Roman persecution, now Christian-on-Christian persecution.

Authors Quoted

This article series is primarily based on the books and articles on the Arian Controversy of the last 50 years.

Lewis Ayres, Nicaea and its legacy, An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology, 2004

R.P.C. Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God – The Arian Controversy 318-381, 1987

Boyd, The Ecclesiastical Edicts of the Theodosian Code, 1905

Emperor Theodosius

Theodosius was a military commander. Show More

In 378, in the war on the Eastern Front, the previous Eastern Emperor (Valens) was killed, and a large part of the Roman Army was destroyed. In this time of crisis, the young Western Emperor Gratian made Theodosius, aged 32 or 33, the Eastern Emperor in January 379. Theodosius later became emperor of the entire Empire and ruled until he died in 395. He was the last emperor to rule the entire Roman Empire. At his death, the empire became permanently divided between the West and the East. Show More

Christian Emperors

With respect to the role of the emperors in the Christian Roman Empire in general:

The Emperor was the Head of the Church and the ultimate judge in doctrinal disputes. 

In the Christian Roman Empire, the emperors determined what the Church must believe. Show More

Emperors controlled the Church because a divided Church could divide the Empire. 

The Roman Emperors viewed religious disagreements as a menace because disunity in the Church also threatened the unity of the Empire. On the other hand, a unified Church helps to unify the Empire. For that reason, the emperors attempted to resolve disagreements, not to protect some doctrine. Show More

Church and State became one, functioning under the authority of the Emperor. 

Believing that the church must contribute to the social and moral strength of the empire, the emperors gave bishops a powerful place in the judicial system, equal to and even exceeding that of civil judges. In this way, the State and Church blended, and the hierarchy of bishops functioned as part of the Roman system of government. Show More

Theodosius’ Religious Policy

The Nicenes were divided between ‘one Person’ and ‘three Persons’ views. 

In the period leading up to Theodosius, in what is known as the Meletian Schism, a dispute in the fourth century between two Pro-Nicene groups, the two most prominent Pro-Nicenes of that era found themselves in opposition. While Athanasius supported the view that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are a single hypostasis (Person), Basil of Caesarea maintained three hypostases; three distinct Being:

The Western pro-Nicenes, led by Athanasius (died 373), Damasus of Rome, and Peter of Alexandria, believed that Father, Son, and Spirit are a single Person (hypostasis). See here for a discussion of Athanasius’ view. He presented himself as the preserver of Biblical orthodoxy. In reality, if Sabellianism is defined as the belief that the Father and Son are one hypostasis (a single Person), he was a Sabellian because he believed that the Son is part of the Father. Show More

The Eastern pro-Nicenes (the Cappadocians) maintained that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three distinct Persons (three equal hypostases). See here for a discussion of Basil’s view. In the orthodox Trinity doctrine, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one Being (one indivisible substance). However, Basil of Caesarea, a prominent pro-Nicene, taught that there are three distinct Beings (three substances).

It is called the Meletian Schism because it manifested particularly in a dispute over the rightful bishop of Antioch: Meletius, who believed the Son is a distinct Person, or Paulinus, who thought the Father and Son are a single Person. Therefore, the main issue was the number of divine hypostases. Show More

The view that God is both one and three (one Being but three Persons) did not yet exist. 

During the Arian Controversy, while some claimed that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three Persons (three hypostases), others held that they are one Person (one hypostasis). The concept that God is both one and three resulted from later theological theorizing. Show More

The emperors issued the Edict of Thessalonica jointly. 

In 380, the year after he became emperor and the year before the Council of Constantinople, Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica jointly with the Western Emperor Gratian, implying that it applied throughout the Empire. Show More

The Edict required all to accept Western ‘one hypostasis’ theology. 

The Edict shows that the emperors adopted the Western ‘one hypostasis’ view:

(1) While the Cappadocians believed in three hypostases, the Edict describes the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as “the single deity” (Ayres, 251). Show More

(2) The Edict identifies “Damasus, bishop of Rome, and Peter, Athanasius’ successor in Alexandria” (Ayres, p. 251) as norms of its theology. By then, Athanasius was dead, and Damasus and Peter were the leaders of Western ‘one Person’ theology. Show More

(3) The Nicene term homoousios (same substance) can mean ‘one substance,’ which is how the Westerners understood it, or it can mean two distinct substances of the same type, which is how the Cappadocians understood it (See Basil). Theodosius’ second decree, a year later, in January 381, explicitly describes the Father, Son, and Spirit as a single undivided substance, which was the Western understanding. Show More

However, Theodosius’ later decrees were more aligned with Cappadocian theology. Show More

The Edict made this the sole legal religion of the Empire. 

Theodosius did not unite Church and State. It was already united. However, there was a division between the Western and Eastern Churches, supported by the views of the Western and Eastern emperors. But Theodosius, the Eastern Emperor, became convinced of the Western view and made it the only legal religion, outlawing all other factions. It was not a Church Creed and was not addressed to Christians. It was an official Roman law, applicable to all Roman citizens. Show More

Threats of Punishment

The Edict of Thessalonica determined that only Nicene Christians could call themselves “catholic” and call their places of worship “churches.” It described all other people as heretics, “foolish madmen,” and “out of their minds and insane.” Show More

That edict authorized imperial punishment for the “heretics:”

It said of those who contravene the Edict: “They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of the divine condemnation and in the second the punishment of our authority which in accordance with the will of Heaven we shall decide to inflict” (Henry Bettenson, editor, Documents of the Christian Church, 1967, p. 22).

“Heretics would be punished” (Hanson, p. 402).

Severe Persecution

Through severe persecution, both before and after the Council of Constantinople, Theodosius eliminated ‘Arianism’ from among the ruling class and elite of the Eastern Empire.

In subsequent years, Theodosius implemented the Edict of Thessalonica through further decrees. In January 381, still before the 381 Council, Theodosius prohibited “heretics” from settling in cities, from owning or using churches, and from meeting for worship in towns or cities. Show More

Theodosius’ third decree, issued in 382 (the year after the Council of Constantinople), seized churches that belonged to ‘heretics’ and gave the buildings to Nicene bishops. This caused great disturbances and riots. Show More

The Controversy began when persecution ended and ended when persecution resumed. 

The Arian Controversy began soon after Christianity was legalized, and Roman persecution of the Church was suspended. But the Controversy ended when non-Nicene Christianity was outlawed, leading to a resurgence of Roman persecution, now manifesting as Christian-on-Christian persecution.

Head of the Church.

Theodosius acted as Head of the Church.

He appointed the senior bishops.

Having announced the State Religion of the Roman Empire, Theodosius assumed complete and unilateral control of who the leading bishops would be: 

At the time, the incumbent bishop of Constantinople was an Arian (a Homoian – Demophilus). In the same year that the Edict was issued, two days after Theodosius had arrived in Constantinople, on 24 November 380, and still before the Council of Constantinople, he expelled Demophilus and also chased Lucius, who was at that time bishop of Alexandria, out of that city. Show More

Theodosius appointed Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the Cappadocian Fathers and the leader of the relatively small Nicene community in the city, as bishop of Constantinople. When Gregory resigned, Theodosius made an unbaptized government official both chair of the Council of Constantinople and the bishop of Constantinople. 

He himself decided which factions complied.

Theodosius not only defined the Empire’s official faith, but he also required all Christian factions to submit their theologies in writing to him, and he decided which complied. Show More

He perfected the unity of Church and State. 

The Nicene Church, with its hierarchy of bishops, became part of the Empire; the religious arm of the Empire. Show More

Turning Point

Theodosius, not the Council, was the turning point after Arianism dominated most of the 4th century. 

In the traditional account of the Arian Controversy, at the Second Ecumenical Council (the Council of Constantinople of 381), the Church finally accepted Nicene theology and rejected Arianism, which dominated the Church for most of the 4th century.

In reality, already in the year before that council, in February 380, the Roman Emperor Theodosius, through Roman Law – the Edict of Thessalonica – made Nicene Christianity the State Religion of the Roman Empire and outlawed and criminalized Arianism. 

The Second Ecumenical Council was not ecumenical. 

‘Ecumenical’ means it represents all Christian Churches and views, but this meeting was certainly not ecumenical. Since Theodosius had already made Nicene Christianity the State Religion of the Empire, banished the previous Homoian bishop of the capital, replaced him with a pro-Nicene theologian, and outlawed all non-Nicene views, with the threats of punishment, only Nicene Christians were allowed to attend. Not even Homoiousians, the Arian faction most similar to the Nicenes, were allowed. Show More

Furthermore, Theodosius summoned the so-called ‘ecumenical’ Council of Constantinople of the year 381, not the church. It was not a Church meeting. It was the emperor’s meeting by which he ensured that the Church implement his religious policy. It can only be regarded as a church meeting if one accepts that the emperor was the head of the church.

Gregory resigned during the council. To ensure complete control of the Council, Theodosius then took the unprecedented step of appointing an unbaptized government official (Nectarius) as chairperson and as bishop of Constantinople, the capital of the Empire. (Hanson, p. 322) Show More

The fact that this Council is classified as the Second Ecumenical Council exemplifies how the traditional account of the Arian Controversy is distorted. Show More

All previous emperors attempted to ensure unity. Theodosius succeeded through ferocious coercion. 

All or most emperors sought unity in the church because division would threaten the unity of the Empire as well. However, all previous emperors failed to achieve lasting unity. We may ask why Theodosius succeeded where others failed. All emperors manipulated councils and exiled bishops, but only Theodosius:

      • Made a law to define the only legal theology,
      • Formally outlawed other views with threats of punishment, 
      • Appointed bishops unilaterally.

Furthermore, Theodosius’s persecution far exceeds that of the previous emperors in ferocity. Show More

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Arianism dominated after the Fall of Rome.

Overview

In the 4th century, the Church functioned as part of the Empire, with the emperor as its head. On the other hand, the bishops shared in the political and judicial powers of the State.

In 380, Emperor Theodosius made Nicene Christianity the State Religion of the Roman Empire. 

In the next (fifth) century, Germanic people, who previously migrated into the Empire, attained such high numbers and such high positions in the Roman military that they dominated the Western Empire. They were Arians because they were converted to Christianity through the missionary efforts of the Arian Church. However, they tolerated the Roman Church. In fact, the Roman Church grew in strength.

This is an article in the series on the Origin of the Trinity doctrine. The current article considers the events of the Fifth Century.

Fall of the Roman Empire

Emperor Theodosius

Theodosius became emperor in 379. The next year, in 380, he issued the Edict of Thessalonica, making Nicene theology the only legal religion in the Roman Empire. 

While the Nicene Creed still identifies the “one God” as the Father, Theodosius’ edict identified the “one God” as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His edict was, therefore, a significant development from the Nicene Creed in the direction of the Trinity doctrine as we know it today. Show More

The Edict of Thessalonica outlawed all forms of non-Nicene Christianity. Through further decrees over the next few years, Theodosius ruthlessly persecuted all opposition to Nicene theology. He expelled their bishops, forbade ‘heretics’ to meet and preach, and confiscated and gave their churches to Nicene bishops. He was responsible for the first official executions of Christian ‘heretics’. [Jones 1964, p. 164] Show More

The West became Germanic-dominated.

Large numbers of Germanic peoples migrated into the Empire over the preceding centuries. Many of them were recruited into the Roman army, to such an extent that the Imperial Forces became dependent on Germanic soldiers. They were also appointed to top positions in the military. Since Roman generals were very influential in the Roman Empire, this gave these ‘barbarians’ much political power.

Soon after Theodosius died in 395, Germanic people effectively had control of the Western Roman Empire. Nevertheless, the Graeco-Roman population still treated them as second-class citizens. Therefore, to demand equal rights and permanent residency in the empire, the Germanic people revolted against the severe conditions of their tenure in the Roman Empire. They sacked Rome in 410 and again in 455. (See Fall of the Roman Empire.)

Although they dominated the Western Empire already from the beginning of the 400s (the fifth century), they tolerated figurehead Western Roman Emperors until 476, when Odoacer—an Germanic chieftain—deposed the last Western Roman Emperor and soon subjected the whole of Italy.

The Germanic people then divided the territory of the Western Empire between the Germanic tribes. However, these tribes continued to function as part of the Roman Empire. In name at least, they were subject to the Emperor in Constantinople. For these reasons, historians today prefer to refer to the TRANSFORMATION of the Western Roman Empire; rather than to its FALL. It was a slow process over several decades during which the Germanic people wrestled control of the Western Empire from the Romans. 

The Germanic people were Arians.

Theodosius had exterminated opposition to Nicene theology from among the Roman people. But the Germanic nations (called ‘barbarians’ by the Romans) converted to Christianity through the Church’s missionary efforts in the time before Theodosius, when ‘Arianism’ dominated the church. Despite Theodosius’ efforts, they remained Arians. Consequently, after they had taken control of the Western Roman Empire, it was once again ‘Arian’. dominated. Show More

The Roman Church

United with the Roman Empire.

The Roman Church survived throughout this period. There are at least two reasons why we might have expected the Church in Rome to perish with the demise of the Western Empire:

Firstly, as stated, while the Roman Church was Nicene, the Germanic peoples were ‘Arian’. 

Secondly, the Roman Church was part of the government of the Roman Empire. After Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 AD, the Church became united with the state. Division of church and state was not a reality. The emperors not only decided which religions were legal, but they also acted as the ultimate judges in doctrinal disputes. Effectively, they were the head of the church.

For example:

Emperor Constantine had a huge role in the decisions of the Council of Nicaea. He called the council, guided the discussions, proposed and enforced the important word homoousios, and exiled the bishops who refused to sign the Creed. 

When Theodosius I became emperor in 379, the imperial capital was solidly Arian. But he almost immediately outlawed all non-Trinitarian forms of Christianity, exiled Arian bishops, and excluded Arians from the Council of 381. (See Theodosius.)

The ‘Germans’ tolerated the Roman Church.

Given the unity of the Roman Church and the Roman Empire, one might have expected the Germanic peoples to oppose the Roman Church in the West. However, the Roman Church survived in the West. The new Arian rulers in the Western Empire allowed the Roman Church (the Church of the Roman Empire) to co-exist unimpeded. The Germanic people, after they took control of the Western Empire, intended to remain part of the Roman Empire and tolerated the Roman Church because it was an official part of the Roman system of government; accountable to the emperor. The Germanic people voluntarily—in name at least—subjected themselves to the Roman Emperor, who reigned from the east. Consequently, Arianism and the Trinitarian Church of the Roman people existed side by side. The Jewish Encyclopaedia describes the situation:

“Most Germanic peoples—such as the eastern and western Goths, as also the Franks, the Lombards, the Suevi, and the Vandals—were baptized into Arian Christianity. These tribes settled in widely spread districts of the old Roman empire. A large number of Jews, already resident in those lands, fell under Arian domination. In contrast with the domination of the orthodox church, the Arian was distinguished by a wise tolerance and a mild treatment of the population of other faiths. This conduct was traceable to some degree to certain points of agreement between the Arian doctrine and Judaism. The very insistence upon the more subordinate relationship of the Son to the God-father is much nearer to the Jewish doctrine of the Messiah than to the conception of the full divinity of the Son, as enunciated at Nicaea.” (Kohler, Kaufmann; Krauss, Samuel. “ARIANISM”. Jewish Encyclopedia. Kopelman Foundation.)

The tolerance of the Arian tribes towards other religions resulted in entirely distinct Arian and Trinitarian systems of churches and bishops in the previous Western Empire. 

Although the Arian Germanic tribes were generally tolerant towards Nicene Christians, the Vandals in North Africa tried to force their Arian beliefs on their North African Nicene subjects, exiling Nicene clergy, dissolving monasteries, and exercising heavy pressure on non-conforming Nicene Christians. This matter will become important when we read of Emperor Justinian’s efforts in the sixth century to regain control of the Western Empire, for the first ‘barbarian’ nation that he attacked was the Vandals.

The Roman Church became stronger.

Actually, instead of perishing, the Church in Rome grew in strength after the ‘barbarians’ wrestled control of the western provinces from the original Graeco-Roman population (Britannica). The reasons include the following:

(A) The Church had a strong, centralized organization: The pope in Rome is the head of the Church. All clergy, including bishops and priests, fell under his authority. Bishops supervised priests; the lowest-ranking members of the clergy. For most people, local priests served as the main contact with the Church.

(B) At the same time, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, there was no single state or government that united all people who lived on the European continent. The transformation of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century was a time of great political chaos and warfare and the well-organized church became the only stabilizing force. As secular governments came and went, the Papacy remained. The church was a stable force during an era of constant warfare and political turmoil.

(C) The Church also bonded people together. It gave a sense of communal identity. At the local level, the village church was a unifying force in the lives of most people. It served as a religious and social center. Religious holidays, especially Christmas and Easter, were occasions for festive celebrations.

Arians converted to the Roman Church.

One consequence of the growing strength of the Roman Church was that the Germanic peoples converted to the Trinity doctrine, rather than to Arianism. The Franks were the first to convert.

The Franks and the Anglo-Saxons also were Germanic peoples but never were Arians. They entered the Western Roman Empire as Pagans.

The Franks were the first to convert. In 496, Clovis, king of the Franks, converted to Nicene Christianity—as opposed to the Arianism of most other Germanic tribes. Consequently, sometime between 496 and 508, Clovis I forcibly converted the Franks to Christianity. (So much for religious freedom!) This led to widespread conversion among the Frankish peoples across what is now modern-day France, Belgium, and Germany.

Æthelberht of Kent did the same for the Anglo-Saxons (see also Christianity in Gaul and Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England). 

Visigothic Spain was Arian until 589. 

The Lombards were Arians until the 7th century.

CONCLUSIONS

The religious preferences of the Roman Emperors determined the Christology of the church. The current article refers to the roles which Constantine and Theodosius played. As the next article will show, in the sixth century, Emperor Justinian gave Arianism a death wound and it died during the subsequent Byzantine Papacy. The fact that the church today is dominated by the Trinity doctrine is the direct result of decisions taken by Roman Emperors.

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