History of Christianity

381 was a busy year in Christianity. In this year it was officially made the state religion of Rome by emperor Theodosius IX . Also in 381 it was determined by the council that the bishop of Constantinople would be given special honor, since Constantinople was considered to be the "New Rome" and a leading Christian city. As you can imagine, this didn't sit well with Rome, and therefore the bishop of Rome did not formally recognize its claim. This also caused tension with the city of Alexandria located in Egypt, because the leader of Christianity in Alexandria also had the title of Pope and wanted to maintain its power over the church in the east, not give this honor to Constantinople.

Alexandria was headed by Theophilus, and who was able to force the bishop of Constantinople into exile. His successor, Cyril of Alexandria was able to get a second bishop of Constantinople exiled in 431 when he teamed up with Empress Eudoxia after John Chrysostom (then bishop) directed his sermons at her and criticized her greed . Besides the competition to be the leading Christian city in the east, the other underling dispute between Alexandria and Constantinople was the previously mentioned problem concerning Jesus' humanity and divinity.

One bishop of Constantinople was Nestorius who was well studied in the bible and Christian philosophy, and concluded that both human and divine nature, in a union, dwelt within Jesus Christ, and this being the case to call the virgin Mary the mother of god was wrong and left open the possibility for people to confuse the divine and human natures in Jesus. She, he argued, was the mother of Jesus Christ, not God.

Nestorius' opposition to calling Mary the mother of god was exactly what Cyril needed, and in 431 Nestorius was excommunicated. This however did not stop his teaching. He and his followers, now called Nestorians, moved to Persia and founded their own version of the church. He continued to oppose Monophisites, as they made Christ so divine that it sacrificed his humanity.

Over time, the argument seemed to exaggerate both sides, such that the Alexandrians had concluded that Jesus had a single divine nature, and the Nestorians overstressed his humanity. Flavin who was now the bishop of Constantinople, used this to have Eutyches (one of the Nestorians main opponents, and a friend of the late Cyril) excommunicated based on Pope Leo I's Tome defining the nature of Christ. Dioscurus of Alexandria, another friend of Cyril and his successor in Alexandria, restored Eutyches at a council at Ephesus and condemned Flavin thus ignoring Pope Leo's Tome. This however was reversed in a new council two years later called by Empress Pulcheria. Pope Leo's Tome basically said that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine, both occupying one body. This just reiterated the two natures of Christ. This disputed the Monophisites in Alexandria, but also went against Nestorius who thought that the natures of Jesus could be separated. The council and Pope however felt that they could not be separated. This, the fourth ecumenical council, embraced Pope Leo's Tome and concluded with the formation of the orthodox formulation of the doctrine of Christ.

By the middle of the 5th century it was clear that the two leading Christian cities were Rome and Constantinople. But following them were Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. These cities formed a pentarchy within the Christian empire . Some of the debate over Jesus had been explained and made doctrine helping to resolve some of the internal struggle within the church.

Another area of debate mentioned in this chapter had to do with the permanence of hell. Does damnation last forever or is it just a temporary state. During the third century it was thought by Tertullian , a Christian writer and studied man, to be an eternal punishment. He also divided sins into different classes of severity for punishment. Origen however disagreed and said that the fires of hell where purifying, and once a soul had been made pure they no longer needed to burn and where reborn into other worlds. This idea of reincarnation however was rejected by the mainstream church. For them the idea of an eternal hell demonstrates the divine power of God to judge, condemn, exclude and punish sinners for their crimes.

The idea of a purifying fire however was generally accepted throughout the church. The Christian philosopher Lactantius said that at last judgment when people would be tried by God it would be a trial of fire, and for righteous people, the fire would purify them before they went to heaven. This helped to form the idea of purgatory , as a temporary place where a person was purified of their sins before being allowed into heaven. Augustine continued with this belief and said that praying for the dead, although it could not help evil people destine for hell or demons, could help people who were neither good nor overly bad.

In conclusion, although it was geographical regions and a struggle for control of religious power that caused some tension in this still growing religion, inconsistencies in the teachings about Jesus' humanity and divinity were used to fuel these fires. After several councils, many people being excommunicated, and finally Pope Leo's Tome being written and accepted by council, the Jesus debate had been concluded. But doing this, it helped to solidify the chain of power geographically and eased some of the tensions within the church, thus making it a stronger more unified force.