Politics, Religion and Heresy 4th-6th Centuries

The Christian Church and the development of Christianity were fundamental to the cultural and political evolution of the empire. For Constantine I the Church had been a valued political ally in his effort to stabilise the empire and to consolidate his own power. For that reason it had been essential that the church remained united: discord and disagreement was politically threatening for an emperor who privileged the Christian Church in terms of landed property and formal recognition in his political plans. But Constantine had to deal with a major split within the church, brought about by the appearance of Arianism, a heresy about the Trinity and the status of Christ. Arius (250-336) was a deacon of the church at Alexandria. Trained in Greek philosophy, he became an ascetic, and in his attempts to clarify the nature of the Trinity, produced a creed that was for many contemporaries heretical. He could not accept the notion that God could become man: he taught that Jesus was not eternal and co-equal with the father, but created by Him. Arius was excommunicated in 320 by the Bishop of Alexandria, and in 325 at the Council of Nicaea he was condemned and exiled. Unfortunately, Constantine himself began later to favour the Arian position, and after his death in 337 his son and heir Constantius adopted it in the eastern part of the empire. The Emperor Constans in the west supported the Nicene position. Many synods were held to debate the issue, until in 350 Constans died and the Nicenes were persecuted. But the Arians were themselves split in three factions: those who argued that Father and Son are unlike; those who believed that Father and Son are alike, but not consubstantial; and those who thought that Father and Son were of almost one substance - a group which eventually accepted the Nicene position. Constantius died in 361, in 362 the Council of Alexandria restored Orthodoxy, and in 381 the ecumenical Council of Constantinople reaffirmed Nicaea.

The early fifth century saw a further Christological split in the form of Nestorianism, which took its name from Nestorius, a monk of Antioch who had studied under Theodore of Mopsuestia. In 428 he was appointed Bishop of Constantinople by Theodosius II, but aroused considerable hostility in Constantinople when he publicly supported the preaching of his chaplain, that Mary should not be referred to as the ‘Theotokos'" - the God-Bearer. The Nestorians developed a theology in which the divine and human aspects of Christ were seen not as unified in a single person, but operated in conjunction. Their position was condemned in 431 (Council of Ephesus), and they then seceded, establishing a separate church at their own council at Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Persia in 486, where they established a firm foothold and carried out successful missionary activity across northern India and central Asia as far as China during the following centuries. Nestorianism survives today, particularly in northern Iraq, as the Assyrian orthodox church.

The debates thus contributed to the evolution of a much more significant split within Christianity in the form of the Monophysite movement, which - although only referred to under this name from the seventh century - represented a reaction to some of the Nestorian views. The key problem revolved around the ways in which the divine and the human were combined in the person of Christ, and two ‘schools’ of Monophysitism evolved. The most extreme version argued that the divine was prior to and dominated the human element - hence the description ‘monophysite’: mono - ‘single’ and physis - ‘nature’. A council held at Ephesus in 449 found in favour of the Monophysite position. But at the Council of Chelcedon in 451 a larger council rejected it and redefined the traditional creed of Nicaea to make the Christological position clear. The political results can be seen in the politics of the court at Constantinople and in the regional identities of different regions of the empire. In Egypt and Syria in particular Monophysitism became established in the rural populations. At court, in contrast, imperial policy varied from reign to reign leaving some confusion within the church as a whole, and involving persecutions by both sides. The Emperor Zeno (474-491) issued a decree of unity, the Henotikon, which attempted to paper over the divisions. Anastasius supported a Monophysite position, Justin I was ‘Chalcedonian’, and Justinian, partly influenced by the Empress Theodora (d. 548) swung between the two. Theodora lent her support to the Syrian Monophysites by funding the movement led by the bishop Jacob Baradaeus (whose name was afterwards taken to refer to the Syrian ‘Jacobite’ church); a similar ‘shadow’ church evolved in Egypt, and the Armenian church also adopted a Monophysite view. In each of these cases the form of traditional belief may have been one of the most important factors, but alienation from the imperial regime also played a role.

These were not the only heretical movements to affect the church and directly involve the emperors. The ‘Donatist’ movement was a strictly North African heresy, led by a puritan sect claiming that the tradition of consecration of bishops of Carthage was improper. Because the church authorities were supported from Rome, African regional feeling was inflamed, and the heresy flourished, although as a small minority until the seventh century. Other regional heresies included Messalianism, a Syrian monastic heresy that spread from Mesopotamia to Syria in the fourth century, but was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431. Pelagianism was a largely western heresy, begun by a British or Irish monk, Pelagius, during the later fourth century, condemned repeatedly - in 411 and again in 416-448, and finally - because its chief spokesman Celestius associated himself with Nestorianism - at Ephesus in 431. These local heresies had few longer-term results, but directly involved the emperors on every occasion and cemented the association between the interests of the church and those of the imperial government.

From c. 320 - Arian leader, makes Arianism an ecumenical controversy, but in 325 he signs anti-Arian creed of Nicaea.

2 Eusebius (c. 260-c. 340); c. 315 - Bishop of Caesarea; 325 - attempts reconciliation with Arianism at Council of Nicaea; later accepts anti-Arian creed of Nicaea.

Of Athanasius and opponent of Arianism - teachings condemned (347-481); secedes from orthodox church c. 375.

6 Donatist schism divides part of African church away from Rome c. 311.

Condemns Arian views.

11 355 - Council of Milan. Arianism re-established under Constantius.

3 Arius (c. 250-336) ascetic and preacher, whose teachings split orthodox church from c. 319 - leading to Council of Nicaea in 325. He was excommunicated and his teachings condemned.

4 Athanasius (c. 296-373) - Bishop of Alexandria: greatest opponent of Arianism; attempts reconciliation with Arianism at Council of Alexandria (365) defeats Arianism within orthodox church at Council of Constantinople (381).

7 Augustine (354-430). Bishop of Hippo, defines orthodox beliefs in response to Manichaeism, Donatist and Pelagian heresies.

8 Jerome (c. 342-420), 382-385 secretary to Pope Damasus (later ascetic in Palestine) opposed Arian and Pelagian heresies.

9 Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa oppose Arianism.

12 Ambrose (c. 339-97), Bishop of Milan, opponent of Arianism.

13 Ulfilas (c. 311-83), preaches among Goths, translates Bible into Gothic.

14 Pelagius, British or Irish monk, goes to Rome, Africa and Palestine early in 5th century; opposes teachings of St Augustine; excommunicated in 417.

Map 4.1 Politics, religion and heresy, 4th-5th centuries.