CHAPTER 4

• Constantine and Licinus the Emperors: '"…it is our pleasure that all restrictions which were previously put forward in official pronouncements concerning the sect of the Christians should be removed and that each one of them... may endeavor to practice its precepts without any fear or danger..."'
• Constantine and Licinus the Emperors: '"We, Constantine and Licinus the Emperors… are of the opinion that among the various things which could profit men… was to be found the cultivation of religion; we should therefore give both the Christians and to all others the free facility to follow their religion…"'
• What prompted Constantine to issue such a decree? Was it religiously or politically motivated?
• Constantine was criticized by some as a shrewd political strategist who used Christianity for his self-serving intentions.
• "in hoc (signo) vinces"
• (the Christian God)
• "to deliberate on Church affairs, make decisions and lay regulations"
• Ecumenical councils
• identity of Jesus Christ
• ◼ Arius
• First Ecumenical Council of Nicea
• Son of God
• (381 A.D.)
• If Jesus Christ was "very God," how could he be "true man"?
• "incapable of sin because he did not have a human soul which was capable of sin and error."
• "For Apollinaris, the Word is the unique principle of the flesh of Jesus. If Christ had a human soul or mind, then the Word would have been in a man… but the Word itself would not have been made flesh."
• "How can God become a human being without ceasing to be God except by taking the place of the mind in a human being?"
• "We condemn those who say that the Word of God dwelling in human flesh took the place of the rational and spiritual soul since the Son (Jesus) did not replace the rational and spiritual soul in His body but assumed our soul... without sin and saved it."
• (431 A.D.)
• hypostatic union
• RISE OF MONASTICISM
• best keepers
• worldly concerns
• mundane desires
• power prestige
• He was later, was followed by at least five thousand monks.
• prayer work
• communal activities
• status quo
• poverty purity
• materialism pleasure