Durham E-Theses The Meletian schism at antioch Barker, Celia B. How to cite: Barker, Celia B. (1974) The Meletian schism at antioch, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9969/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk THE MSLETIAN SCHISM AT ANTIOCH THE MELETIAN SCHISM AT ANTIOCH THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM BY CELIA B. BARKER, B.A. (Dunelm) FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS Department of Theology, Date: April,1974. University of Durham. (1) The object of this thesis is to examine the schism in the Church of Antioch during the Arian Controversy of the Fourth century, with a view to establishing what coherent order, if any, can be found in the course of events, and to show how the interaction of theological emphases and personal prejudices exacerbated and prolonged the Antiochene divisions. Proceeding from this investigation an attempt will be made to relate the events at Antioch to the theological controversies of the Fourth century as a whole and their legacy in determining the character of subsequent Christological debates in the East in the Fifth century. It is hoped to demonstrate both the complexity of ecclesiastical politics in the patristic period and to indicate the unreliability of any facile distinction between 'Eastern' and 'Western' theological tendencies. (2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I should like to express my grateful thanks to my Supervisor, Mr. G. Bonner, for his many helpful suggestions and for his guidance and encouragement during the course of my work. I am also deeply indebted to the Staff of the Sheffield City Library for so speedily and efficiently supplying me with many of the necessary books* (3) CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 CONTENTS 3 CHAPTER ONE 325 - 360 'Fair Crown of the Orient*. 6 The eloquence of Antioch ^ Lucian, Origen and Arius 9 Eusebius of Nicomedia and Alexand^r of Alexandria 12 The Council of Nicaea (325) and the faomoousios. 14 Constantine, the lately-Christianised emperor. 21 Eustathius of Antioch 324 - 330 22 The Eustathian schismatics. 28 Arian bishops at Antioch 330 - 360 29 Stephen, Leontius and Eudoxius 31 Meletius at Antioch 360* 38 CHAPTER TWO 360 - 370 Julian the Apostate 49 Athanasius and the Council of Alexandria 362 51 Lucifer of Cagliari 56 Meletius and Acacius of Caesarea 59 Athanasius rejects Meletius 61 The fortunes of Meletius during the reign of Valens64 364 - 378 CHAPTER THREE 370 - 381 Basil of Caesarea 370 - 379 67 The missions of Dorotheus and Sanctissimus 70 Paulinus officially recognised by the West, 375. 76 The consecration of Vitalis, 376 83 The Council of Rome, 377 84 (4) CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE 370 - 381 PAGE The death of Basil, 379 85 Meletius and the Council of Antioch, 379 87 Sapor in Antioch, 381. 89 'Agreement* between Meletius and Paulinus 90 Meletius presides at the Council of Constantinople,381. 93 CHAPTER FOUR 381 - 414 Course of the Council of Constantinople 97 Flavian elected bishop of Antioch 99 The Council of Aquileia, 381. 102 The Council of Constantinople, 382. 103 The Council of Rome, 382. 104 Consecration of Evagrius, 388. 106 Flavian, Evagrius and the West. 107 Official recognition of Flavian, 393. HO The death of Evagrius. HO The Catholic Church reunited by Chrysostom, 398. HI Reconciliation at Antioch, 414. 114 CONCLUSION 117 NOTES 123 TABLE SHOWING THE EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION AT ANTIOCH 188/189 IN THE FOURTH CENTURY COMPARATIVE CHRONOLOGY OF BASILIAN LETTERS RELEVANT TO THE SCHISM AT ANTIOCH 190 BIBLIOGRAPHY 191 (5) CHAPTER ONE 325 - 360 (6) The city of Antioch on the Orontes, situated some twenty miles from the sea in a river valley famous for its beauty, was long ago described by the historian Ammianus Marcellinus as the "fair crown of the Orient". Even before its foundation, Greek legend told how the Argives, then Kassos, and later the children of Hercules, had settled at Mount Silpius, thus favouring the site of the future city. It was actually founded about 300 BC by Seleucus Nicator, a general of Alexander the Great, who had observed the site during the battle of Issus in 333 BC and had vowed to build a city there after his campaigns. It was named after his father, the Macedonian general Antiochus, and was intended as one of the centres of Hellenic civilisation which were to dominate the Oriental lands conquered by Alexander. When Rome occupied Antioch in 64 BC, a new and vigorous development of the city's history began, so that Libanius, who was by no means friendly to Rome, could write that the city flourished under its new rulers. Antioch was now the capital of the Roman province of Syria, and formed the military base for operations against the Persians in Mesopotamia. Its strategic position on the important trade routes between the East and the Graeco-Roman world meant that Antioch soon became one of the leading cities of the East, and a sophisticated culture evolved in its cosmopolitan society. In the Apostolic Age Antioch provided an ideal base for the Christian mission to the Gentiles, although the Christianity of its own citizens seems to have been of a very worldly character as reflected in Julian's treatise Misopogon (1) which (7) was written after his visit to Antioch in July 362 and expresses his increasing vexations caused by the frivolities of the Antio.chenes (2). Although his visit took place many years after Christianity had been emancipated by Constantine, and pagans and temples were steadily diminishing, pagan influences were still to be seen in music, dancing and merrymaking, in the wearing of pagan magical objects, and in the dramatisation of the private lives of the gods and goddesses. At a later date, John Chrysostom was to be worried by the levity of his flock while he was a priest at Antioch. Moreover, the tendency of the citizens to turbulence, strikingly revealed in the affair of the tomb of St Babylas and the notorious affair of the imperial statues in the episcopate of Flavian may cast light on various episodes in the history of the Church of Antioch. Nevertheless, as the capital of the Diocese of the East, Antioch became with Rome and Alexandria one of the three main centres of the ecclesiastical world, and remained so until its sack by the Persian Khosrau in AD 540. Antioch was rebuilt by Justinian, only to be captured in 638 by the Arabs who preferred, however, to establish their capital at Damascus. With the advancement of Damascus the position of Antioch began to decline. Captured and re-captured by Byzantine and Latin crusading Christians and Moslems during the middle ages,, it finally passed into the hands of the Turks in 1517. Today, with its predominantly Turkish - speaking inhabitants, Antioch is still one of the four senior patriarchates of the Eastern Orthodox Church, but remarkably little can be seen of the former glories of the ancient metropolis. A few bastions and wall — walks on the slopes of (8) Mount Silpius, and the superstructure of the famous Iron Gate may be appreciated, but most of the ancient city lies buried beneath a thick deposit of alluvium. It was in the third and fourth centuries AD, the period which concerns us here, and a period of the city's greatest prosperity under the Romans, that a vigorous intellectual atmosphere was inspired in the Antiochene Church by the famous school of Antioch. The pagan orator Libanius, who in his day was recognised as the leading citizen of Antioch, regarded the 'eloquence of Antioch' as one of its chief virtues: 'The power of the city drew to it strangers who wished to partake of its surpassing education. Those who came to Antioch as rulers became lovers of the city because of its wisdom and its literary distinction, and the people of Antioch itself enjoyed a social life and a kind of intellectual association such as other cities did not.' (3) Much of the intellectual excitement was a result of the interaction of Christianity with paganism. Libanius himself, who had been highly educated at Athens in philosophy and literature,, and during the years 336 - 340 was friendly with Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus, was unable to understand the Christian doctrine or appreciate the Christian way of life. In fact, his history and encomium of Antioch, the Antiochikos, reveals his belief that Christianity was threatening the basis of pagan education, and his determination to keep alive the classical tradition. His hostile attitude was, at one time, reciprocated by Christians and had at the end of the Second century prompted Tertullian to pose his famous question: 'What has Athens to do with Rome?' but gradually (9) theologians like Clement of Alexandria and Origen began to see that some of the best elements of pagan Greek thought and literature could be useful in the ethical and intellectual training of Christians. It is significant that the great Antiochene preacher, John Chrysostom, 'John of the Golden Mouth', had been taught rhetoric by Libanius himself.