Eastern Christianity

Church History: the early church & middle ages

Eastern Roman Empire believers developed unique practices leading to a major branch of Christianity.

f you are married, you probably wear a wedding ring as a symbol of your marriage. The ring is not the marriage itself, and neither are the two of you—marriage is a bond between you that is more than the two of you. That intangible bond is what I your ring represents. As Christians, we believe we are more than simply creatures of earth—we are spiritual creatures made in the image of God, made to personally know God and his truth. But how do we know and experience those heavenly truths? And what are appropriate ways of representing these truths?

Eastern Christianity answered these questions in ways that often strike Westerners as odd, or even wrong. In this lesson, we’ll look at the temperament, thought, and forms of the Eastern Orthodox Church, home to about 10 percent of the world’s Christians. We’ll consider their use of icons (paintings) as an aid to devotion, their speculative theology as expressed in the early creeds they wrote, and their understanding of church leaders and political leaders (the emperors) as a kind of merging of heaven and earth.

In particular, their practice of faith raises a question all Christians need to answer one way or another: To what degree does God communicate spiritual reality through physical things?

Scripture: Exodus 20:4; John 1:14; Colossians 1:15–20

Based on: The Christian History issue “The 100 Most Important Events in Church History,” including the articles “Vladimir Adopts Christianity” and “The East-West Schism”

Part 1 Identify the Current Issue Note to leader: Provide each person with the articles included at the end of this study. Ask everyone to read “A Primer on the Spirit of Eastern Christianity” before you begin.

In A.D. 330, Emperor Constantine turned the ancient city of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey) into the capital of the Roman Empire, renaming it Constantinople. This established a center of power for the Roman Empire in the East, which eventually became known as the Byzantine Empire.

The East was the cradle of the monastic movement, which sprang up in the fourth century. Many of Eastern (and Western) Christianity’s most revered theologians and teachers, such as Basil the Great (c. 330–79), John Chrysostom (c. 347–407), and Gregory of Nazianzus (329–89), were monks. Monasticism remains an important aspect of the Eastern Orthodox Church to this day.

Seven ecumenical (all-church) councils were held in cities in the East. Eastern Orthodox Christians believe these seven councils define the essential matters of faith and doctrine. Roman Catholics also adhere to 14 later councils, and most Protestants respect only the first few councils, and then just a few of their rulings. The first councils answered the question of Christ’s nature: Nicaea affirmed that Christ is truly divine—“of one substance” with God the Father (the Arians said Jesus was a creature)—and Chalcedon clarified how Christ is human and divine at the same time.

When Justinian I (483–565) became Roman emperor in 527, he tried to reunite the western and eastern sides of the empire. He also commissioned elaborate building projects, including major churches in Ravenna, Italy, and in Constantinople (such as Hagia Sophia), and sought to uniformly apply orthodox teaching and practice throughout his empire. His legal policies (the Justinian Code) attempted to create a truly Christian empire, distinguishing secular and ecclesiastical authority yet connecting them in key ways. The Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) basilica in Constantinople is a marvel of oriental architecture. Its huge dome sits atop a row of windows, making it seem suspended from heaven—an apt image for the Eastern church. The conquering Turks made it into a mosque. Today it stands as a museum.

In 726, Emperor Leo III declared the use of icons idolatrous and ordered them destroyed. However, a bitter conflict ensued. The iconoclasts—“image-breakers” who opposed the use of icons—included Leo’s two successors. Those opposing the iconoclasts included the Roman pope, the patriarchs of the major metropolitan churches, and the monks. The seventh general council (Nicaea, 787) supported the use of icons, but fighting over icons continued until about 843, when the East settled on the qualified use of icons.

John of Damascus (c. 675–c. 749) produced The Fount of Knowledge, a treatise summarizing Eastern Orthodox theology. One section, called “The Orthodox Faith,” outlines the teachings of the major Greek Fathers on subjects such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, Creation, images, the sacraments, and Mary. This work has remained in more or less constant use to the present day.

In 988, Prince Vladimir of Russia sent emissaries to find true religion. The emissaries were disappointed with what they saw of Islam, Judaism, and Western Christianity, but when they observed the Eastern liturgy practiced in Hagia Sophia, they reported they “did not know whether they were in heaven or on earth.” Vladimir was baptized, as were masses of his subjects. He erected churches and monasteries and adopted Eastern devotional practices. Moscow became the “third Rome” after the fall of Constantinople and the crushing of the Byzantine Empire in 1453.

In 1054, the pope in Rome and the patriarch in Constantinople excommunicated each other. The causes stemmed from long-standing differences between the East and the West over matters of culture, language (Latin vs. Greek), political alliances, liturgical practice, and theological emphasis. Fueling the division was a deep suspicion in the Eastern Church that the popes of Rome wished to dominate their affairs. To this day the Eastern churches have no formal connection with Roman Catholics or Protestants. One key disagreement was about whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only (as the original Nicene Creed had it), or from the Father and the Son (as Western Christians added in the sixth century).

In the 600s, Islam became a major threat to Byzantine (Eastern) Christianity and the church suffered losses of territory and adherents. For 700 years, Constantinople itself was repeatedly under threat of falling to the Muslims. Finally, in 1453 it was decisively conquered by the Turks, bringing an end to the Byzantine Empire—but not the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Discussion Starters: [Q] Is it idolatrous to incorporate paintings and pictures of Jesus and the saints into our worship? Why or why not? [Q] How do you know and experience spiritual truths? [Q] To what degree does God communicate spiritual reality through physical things?

Part 2 DISCOVER THE ETERNAL PRINCIPLES

Teaching Point One: God communicates spiritual reality through physical things.

According to Eastern Christianity, if many things in our earthly experience can be sacramental, then the use of the physical senses can be the means of heavenly knowledge. Icons of Jesus, Mary, and saints can lead one devotionally closer to God, because in some mysterious way, the icon is a window to heaven, giving us a glimpse into eternity. They are holy objects and a means of revelation. The possibility that people can naively fall into worshiping icons does not thereby negate their proper use. Church architecture, too, should be a kind of revelation of heavenly reality (for instance, the paintings of Christ seated in heaven as Lord of all in the large domes of Eastern basilicas). Candles, incense, and priestly vestments all help the worshiper worship.

[Q] If you had lived during the iconoclastic controversies, would you have been on the side of those who said paintings and icons should be destroyed, or on the side of those who said they could be used devotionally, that they are a means by which God supernaturally gives grace? Why? [Q] How does the second commandment (Exod. 20:4) relate to icons? • How would an Orthodox believer understand the verse?

[Q] Are stained-glass windows that show the saints or Jesus any different from icons? • What about stained glass that doesn’t depict people?

• What about steeples or other architectural elements?

[Q] Defenders of icons say the Incarnation connected the earthly with the heavenly. No one can see God and live, they admit, but they also point out that in Jesus “we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Do you agree that the Incarnation justifies using earthly images in prayer and worship?

• Is there anything physical or aesthetic that helps you in your spiritual walk or helps you feel closer to God (art, waterfalls or woods, a photo, music, a cross, pilgrimages to the Holy Land to see where Jesus walked)? How do these compare with the use of icons?

[Q] What role does the Lord’s Supper or Communion play in your spiritual experience? How important is it that this physical and spiritual act involves your senses of sight, smell, taste, and touch?

Optional Activity: Purpose: To consider the use of icons in worship. Activity: Before your group meets, search the web for Eastern Orthodox icons (for example, www.orthodoximages.com). Print off color copies or assemble them into a PowerPoint display. Discuss with your small group: How might these images enhance worship for Eastern Orthodox Christians? How might they enhance, or detract from, your worship? Are there any physical symbols or images that enhance your worship?

Teaching Point Two: God and faith can be mysterious.

[Q] How does Scripture communicate God as “mystery”?

[Q] Orthodoxy emphasizes the mystery of God and of faith. What are three biblical truths you hold to that are largely mysterious?

[Q] What would you say to a nonbeliever who says that our appeal to mystery is just the easy way out of inherent contradictions, or a cover-up for lack of knowledge?

[Q] Does your church tradition encourage theological speculation, or is it considered better to accept Christian doctrine without delving into exactly how a doctrine might be true? What encourages you about that approach? What frustrates you about it?

Part 3 APPLY YOUR FINDINGS

Summarize the discussion and any agreements your group has come to. End with this prayer from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the main liturgy of Eastern Orthodoxy:

“It is fitting and right to sing of you, to praise you, to thank you, to adore you in all places of your dominion. For you are the ineffable God, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, existing forever and yet ever the same, you and your only-begotten Son and your Holy Spirit. You brought us into being out of nothingness, and when we had fallen, you raised us up again. You have not ceased doing everything to lead us to heaven and to bestow upon us your future kingdom. For all this do we thank you and your only-begotten Son and your Holy Spirit—for all the benefits of which we know and those of which we are ignorant, for those that are manifest to us, and those that lie concealed.” Amen.

Action Point: Enjoy the mysterious yet personal God this week. Set aside a half hour or more to be alone with God. Meditate on Colossians 1:15–20.

— Study adapted by Kyle White

A Primer on the Spirit of Eastern Christianity

We can better understand the spirit of Eastern Christianity by examining its emphases on the following six points, especially in contrast to the thought of Western Christianity:

Theology and speculation: In the early church, Christians in the Latin-speaking West tended to be more pragmatic and practical. For instance, matters of church order sometimes got as much attention as debates about the Trinity. In the East, however, a bent toward philosophy meant that Christian teachers and leaders—and even ordinary Christians—more readily discussed things such as the nature of Christ or the exact distinctions between the persons of the Trinity.

Faith and mysticism: Some Christians put a lot of confidence in reason, believing that faith follows the contours of logic. For them, theology can be systematized, and truth can be defined in propositional statements. Eastern Christianity from the earliest centuries, by contrast, has believed that faith is mostly knowledge of the mystery of God. Often this theology emphasizes not knowing (theologians refer to this as apophatic—denial—theology). For example, though it is difficult to describe what God is, it’s relatively easy to say what he is not: he is not finite; he does not die; he does not have a body. Thus, the Eastern Orthodox liturgy says, “You are the ineffable God, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible . . .”

A sacramental view of life: All branches of Christianity that emphasize the sacraments (such as baptism and Communion) view them as physical events that convey or represent a knowledge and experience of God, who is Spirit. Eastern Christians see sacramental value in many aspects of life in this world, which God created.

The use of icons: If many things in our earthly experience can be sacramental, then the use of the physical senses can be the means of heavenly knowledge. Icons of Jesus, Mary, and saints can lead one devotionally closer to God, because in some mysterious way, the icon is a window to heaven, giving us a glimpse into eternity. They are holy objects and a means of revelation. The possibility that people can naively fall into worshiping icons does not thereby negate their proper use. Church architecture, too, should be a kind of revelation of heavenly reality (for instance, the paintings of Christ seated in heaven as Lord of all in the large domes of Eastern basilicas). Candles, incense, and priestly vestments all help the worshiper worship.

Salvation and deification: Western Christians tend to emphasize the “legal” dimensions of salvation (how we are forgiven and made one with God). Eastern Christianity has emphasized how we are transformed and restored into the full image of God. The Incarnation—God becoming human—is where salvation begins. The incarnate life of Christ is not merely a prelude to Calvary. The resurrection of Christ is as important as his crucifixion, for in it we see the power of God to restore and reshape life. Biblical passages that speak of being re-made into the image of God and statements such as 2 Peter 1:4 (“you may participate in the divine nature”) are important. It is not that we become God, but we become God-like, as we were intended to be.

Church and state: Because things of heaven and earth are vitally connected, there should not be a disconnection between secular and ecclesiastical authority. In the West, the princes and popes, local magistrates and bishops each tried to carve out areas of influence in the political and religious spheres. But Eastern emperors such as Justinian acted as head of both earthly and ecclesiastical matters. The splendor of the Byzantine emperor’s garments, the church architecture, and the worship rituals worked together to unify church and state.

Glossary of Names and Terms:

Byzantine Empire: The continuation of the Eastern (largely Greek-speaking) Roman empire, which lasted for more than one thousand years. Many date the beginning of the Byzantine Empire to A.D. 330, the year Emperor Constantine rebuilt the ancient city of Byzantium, named it Constantinople, and made it the capital of the empire (instead of Rome). Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Eastern Orthodox Church: A family of 13 self-governing national churches—including Russian, Greek, Serbian, Romanian, and Cypriot—today located mostly in Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Each church has its own national head, but they hold a common theology and approach to worship.

Icons/iconography: Pictures (eikon, the Greek word for image) painted on wood and other materials depicting Christ, Mary, or saints and used as objects of devotion. They became common from the fifth century onward in the East, and are a prominent feature in the churches of Eastern Orthodoxy to this day. The Orthodox believe the icons are windows to heaven and means by which God and his saints can communicate grace to believers.

Iconoclastic controversy: A bitter struggle in the eighth century over the theology and devotional use of icons. The iconoclasts, or “image-breakers,” sought to do away with icons.

Patriarch: Starting in the sixth century, the title of the principal bishop of five major cities: Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. Today used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for the heads of the churches of Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia. The Patriarch of Constantinople has honorary primacy among the churches.

John Chrysostom (c. 347–407): A monk as a young man, he eventually became the bishop of Constantinople, but is best known as one of the greatest preachers of all time (Chrysostom means Golden Mouth). His uncompromising principles resulted in his exile and death at the hands of the emperor and empress.

Gregory of Nazianzus (329–89): Bishop of Nazianzus and respected theologian, he wrote and spoke decisively against the Arians, who denied the deity of Christ.

Basil the Great (c. 330–79): Educated in Athens, this theologian eventually became the bishop of Caesarea. He possessed eloquence, statesmanship, and integrity. He devoted himself to defending the orthodox view of the person of Christ against the Arians.

Gregory of Nyssa (330–c. 395): The younger brother of Basil, he also fought against Arian doctrine. At the Council of Constantinople in 381, after his brother had died, he defended the Nicene Creed.

The East-West Schism Long-standing differences between Western and Eastern Christians finally caused a definitive break, and Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox still remain separate. Dr. George T. Dennis

On Saturday, July 16, 1054, as afternoon prayers were about to begin, Cardinal Humbert, legate of Pope Leo IX, strode into the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, right up to the main altar, and placed on it a parchment that declared the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, to be excommunicated. He then marched out of the church, shook its dust from his feet, and left the city. A week later the patriarch solemnly condemned the cardinal.

Centuries later, this dramatic incident was thought to mark the beginning of the schism between the Latin and the Greek churches, a division that still separates Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox (Greek, Russian, and other). Today, however, no serious scholar maintains that the schism began in 1054. The process leading to the definitive break was much more complicated, and no single cause or event can be said to have precipitated it.

Immediate Causes of the Break In 1048 a French bishop was elected as Pope Leo IX. He and the clerics who accompanied him to Rome were intent on reforming the papacy and the entire church. Five years earlier in Constantinople, the rigid and ambitious Michael Cerularius was named patriarch.

Problems arose in Southern Italy (then under Byzantine rule) in the 1040s, when Norman warriors conquered the region and replaced Greek [Eastern] bishops with Latin [Western] ones. People were confused, and they argued about the proper form of the liturgy and other external matters. Differences over clerical marriage, the bread used for the Eucharist, days of fasting, and other usages assumed an unprecedented importance.

When Cerularius heard that the Normans were forbidding Greek customs in Southern Italy, he retaliated, in 1052, by closing the Latin churches in Constantinople. He then induced bishop Leo of Ochrid to compose an attack on the Latin use of unleavened bread and other practices. In response to this provocative treatise, Pope Leo sent his chief adviser, Humbert, a tactless and narrow-minded man with a strong sense of papal authority, to Constantinople to deal with the problem directly.

On arriving in the imperial city in April 1054, Humbert launched into a vicious criticism of Cerularius and his supporters. But the patriarch ignored the papal legate, and an angry Humbert stalked into Hagia Sophia and placed on the altar the bull of excommunication. He returned to Rome convinced he had gained a victory for the Holy See.

Dramatic though they were, the events of 1054 were not recorded by the chroniclers of the time and were quickly forgotten. Negotiations between the pope and the Byzantine emperor continued, especially in the last two decades of the century, as the Byzantines sought aid against the invading Turks. In 1095, to provide such help, Pope Urban II proclaimed the Crusades; certainly there was no schism between the churches at that time. Despite episodes of tension and conflict, Eastern and Western Christians lived and worshiped together.

In the latter half of the twelfth century, however, friction between the groups increased, caused not so much by religious differences as by political and cultural ones. Violent anti-Latin riots erupted in Constantinople in 1182, and in 1204 Western knights brutally ravaged Constantinople itself. The tension accelerated, and by 1234, when Greek and Latin churchmen met to discuss their differences, it was obvious they represented different churches.

Underlying Causes of the Break What caused the schism? It was not the excommunications of 1054; not differences in theology, discipline, or liturgy; not political or military conflicts. These may have disposed the churches to draw apart, as did prejudice, misunderstanding, arrogance, and plain stupidity. More fundamental, perhaps, was the way each church came to perceive itself.

The eleventh-century reform in the Western Church called for the strengthening of papal authority, which caused the church to become more autocratic and centralized. Basing his claims on his succession from St. Peter, the pope asserted his direct jurisdiction over the entire church, East as well as West.

The Byzantines, on the other hand, viewed their church in the context of the imperial system; their sources of law and unity were the ecumenical councils and the emperor, whom God had placed over all things, spiritual and temporal. They believed that the Eastern churches had always enjoyed autonomy of governance, and they rejected papal claims to absolute rule. But neither side was really listening to the other.

In addition, since the ninth century, theological controversy had focused on the procession of the Holy Spirit. In the life of the Trinity, does the Spirit proceed from the Father only, or from the Father and from the Son (Filioque in Latin)? The Western church, concerned about resurgent Arianism, had, almost inadvertently, added the word to the Nicene Creed, claiming that it made more precise a teaching already in the creed. The Greeks objected to the unilateral addition to the creed, and they strongly disagreed with the theological proposition involved, which seemed to them to diminish the individual properties of the three Persons in the Trinity. In 1439 Greek and Latin theologians at the Council of Florence, after debating the issue for over a year, arrived at a compromise that, while reasonable, has not proven fully satisfactory.

After the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453, the Eastern church lived on under Turkish rule and then in various nations. Millions of Orthodox Christians in those lands are still separated from the millions of Christians adhering to Rome. Today greater efforts are made to address the issues, but neither side seems willing to make the necessary concessions. As a result, Christians who share a common belief and accept Jesus as head of the church, feel that they cannot share his Eucharist.

Dr. George T. Dennis is professor of history at Catholic University of America in Washington. D.C., and author of several books on the Byzantine Empire.

Taken from the Christian History issue “The 100 Most Important Events in Church History.”

Vladimir Adopts Christianity The pagan prince of Kievan Rus’ embraced a new faith, leading to the Christianization of the Ukrainian, Russian, and Byelorussian peoples.

In 1988 the Christian world celebrated the thousand-year anniversary of Christianity in Russia. Although 988 was indeed a pivotal year for Russian Christians, it isn’t quite accurate to describe it as the birth year of Christianity there.

Christianity had, in fact, penetrated “Russia” by the early 900s, when at least one church had been built in the ancient city of Kiev. In the 950s, Olga, the grandmother of Vladimir, was baptized. She asked German king Otto I to send missionaries to her country, but apparently they met little success.

Olga’s grandson Vladimir practiced the old religion. He built a number of pagan temples and was renowned for his cruelty and treachery. Vladimir had eight hundred concubines and several wives, and he spent his non-warring time in hunting and feasting. He hardly seemed the person to spread Christianity among the Ukrainians.

Shopping for a Church Vladimir apparently wanted to unite the people under one religion, so around 988 he sent envoys to examine the major religions. The options? Islam, Judaism, the Catholic Christianity of Western Europe, and the Orthodox Christianity of Eastern Europe (though as yet, there was no official break between the Orthodox and Catholic Christians).

The story of Vladimir’s choosing Orthodox Christianity is part legend, part fact. According to the tradition, Vladimir didn’t like the dietary restrictions of Islam and Judaism. Catholic Christianity was all right, but what impressed the grand prince was the dazzling worship his ambassadors described seeing in the great Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople: “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendor or beauty anywhere upon earth. We cannot describe it to you. Only we know that God dwells there among men, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. We cannot forget that beauty.”

So Vladimir opted for Orthodoxy because of its beautiful worship. The name of Vladimir’s chosen religion was, in fact, Pravoslavie, a word which meant “true worship” or “right glory.” Orthodoxy was also the religion of the most powerful, wealthy, and civilized of Russia’s border nations, the Byzantine Empire. And if Vladimir was impressed by Orthodoxy’s beauty, he also was impressed by another beauty: Anna, sister of Byzantine emperors Basil II and Constantine, who offered her to Vladimir as a bride with the condition that he be baptized.

In 988 Vladimir was baptized. In 989 he married Anna. Neither act was a sign that he was submitting to the authority—religious or political—of the Byzantine Empire. Though it adopted the Byzantine religion, the “Russian” church has always been independent.

Forging a National Church Significant for church history, Vladimir then ordered all the inhabitants of Kiev to appear at the Dnieper River for baptism or be considered enemies of the kingdom. This doesn’t mean that the Slavic nation became a Christian society overnight. But with the help of monks, always a prime force in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the new religion began to make its influence felt.

As for Vladimir himself, his lifestyle was clearly affected. When he married Anna, he put away his five former wives. Not only did he build churches, he also destroyed idols, abolished the death penalty, protected the poor, established schools, and managed to live in peace with neighboring nations. On his deathbed he gave all his possessions to the poor.

Centuries later, when Moscow, not Kiev, was the capital of Russia, Russian Orthodoxy had become such a force that Moscow considered itself the Third Rome, the new capital of a Christian empire. Vladimir didn’t know it, but by embracing Christianity he was paving the way for a Russian republic described by one writer as “among the ‘most Christian’ nations in the world—a land with a rich, age-old history of churches and monasteries, the wellspring of numerous revered saints and martyrs, with a cherished and abundant legacy of sacred music, iconography, and spiritual literature.”

Yet the Russian Orthodox Church became so closely aligned with the tsarist regimes that it was largely unprepared for the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Since then, the church has suffered greatly, but it continues to survive. The tale of the church that traces its roots to Prince Vladimir is not yet finished.

Taken from the Christian History issue “The 100 Most Important Events in Church History.”

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