The Church of Rome 2

Baptism

By AD 300, the universal practice in the ancient church was to baptize the children of believers. But there is no evidence to show that it existed in the earliest stages of the church

There is very little textual evidence on the practice.

The Didache, a document from the second generation of Christians that outlines church order and practices that should be taken, says this on baptism

Concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19 in living water. But if you have not living water, baptize into other water; and if you can not in cold, in warm. But if you have not either, pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whatever others can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before.

Infant baptism is often considered to have arisen later in the church on account of a superstitious notion that baptism washes away sins.

Worship in the Early Church

Christianity was originally a poor and outlawed religion of the empire. Therefore, worship services were humble and not elaborate.

Only after the legalization of Christianity did wealthy Christians, in efforts to demonstrate their piety, devote money to the building of elaborate sanctuaries.

This increasing elaboration also promoted an emphasis on holy days.

Until the fifth century, there were very few holy days, with Christmas not being recognized as a holy day until the fifth century.

Until the fourth century, all the Christian fathers spoke against the use of artwork, representational art, to serve God. There were no statues or images of God or Christ in the churches, and worship remained relatively simple.

No music existed in the whole history of the worship of the ancient church, and this practice was instituted only around AD 1000.

An example of this change occurred when Emperor Justinian, who reigned from AD 527–565, built the Hagia Sophia (the Church of Holy Wisdom).

The church was the largest in Christendom and for nine hundred years received adornment and elaboration.

Justinian built it to express the majesty of his empire.

The use of icons developed in this period.

i. Icons were religious objects with pictures of saints painted in a stylized manner on wood.

ii. These were intended to exploit artistic ability in the service of the church.

iii. In the eighth and ninth century, the Eastern Empire fought over the place of icons in the church, and eventually those in favor of icons emerged as victorious because they emphasized the role of sight in the Christian life of piety.

Although the Western church initially hesitated to employ art, icons, and music into the Christian life, it turned around during the Medieval period when the Church indulged in all of these forms of elaboration, largely in an effort to satisfy the desires of the people.

The Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper

A. The doctrine of transubstantiation has relatively little support in the ancient period.

i. The doctrine was defined at the fourth Lateran Council in 1215.

ii. The doctrine states that the bread and the wine, by the miraculous work of the priest, are changed into the body and blood of Christ. They are so completely changed that that bread is no longer bread at all, it is purely and entirely the body of Christ; and the wine is no longer wine at all, it is purely and entirely the blood of Christ.

iii. Since the bread and wine have been turned completely into the body and blood of Jesus, they merit worship.

B. The notion that in some sense the Lord’s Supper is a sacrifice before God existed in the ancient church.

i. Contrary to Roman Catholic belief, the early church understood this sacrifice to be a thanksgiving sacrifice (the Eucharist), not one of propitiation.

ii. Nonetheless, there does exist ambiguity among the church fathers, as even John Chrysostom calls the Lord’s Supper a sacrifice at one point, and a memorial at another.

The “Middle Ages” (approx 500-1400)

The time of transition between the ancient period and the modern period

An Experiment in Christian Civilization

The governing ideal of the Middle Ages was the effort to create a society in which Christianity would be the dominant influence.

Not every person shared this ideal, and those who held it did not always carry it out consistently.

Yet, the quest of establishing a stable and secure Christian civilization was the overriding mentality that drove most of the thought and actions during this time.

Emperor Justinian I & Pope Gregory I

Justinian (482-565)

As a Christian emperor, Justinian was determined to enforce the orthodoxy and uniformity of the churches throughout his empire.

He launched a massive church building program that built the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, the Basilica of Saint John in Ephesus, and many other magnificent places of worship.

He reduced the influence of paganism by closing the Platonic Academy in Athens in 529.

Gregory (540-604)

A. The Papal reign of Gregory I, or Gregory the Great, marks the time when the papacy began to emerge as an independent and influential authority in Western Europe.

i. As the imperial government and structures faded in the West, many people turned to the Bishop of Rome for leadership and stability.

ii. The papacy represented an important point of continuity between the Roman past and the uncertain future.

iii. During this time of transition, Gregory significantly increased the authority and influence of the papal office.

B. Gregory is remembered as one of the four great doctors of the Western church.

i. The other three were Jerome, Augustine, and Ambrose.

ii. While Gregory did not possess the same theological prowess of the other three, he stood out as an administrator, organizer, and spokesman of the emerging mind of the medieval church.

Gregory was an early harbinger of the medieval church’s departure from Augustine’s understanding of grace.

i. While the medieval church had greatly profited from the theology of Augustine, the medieval clergy did not always follow his teachings on the finer points of theology.

ii. Although Augustine had emphasized salvation by grace alone, many of the later medieval Augustinians embraced a view of salvation by grace alone mostly.

1. This viewpoint affirms with Augustine that it is only by grace that a person can be saved.

2. This view differs from Augustine on how a person receives and retains grace.

3. This view places a responsibility on the individual to make appropriate use of the grace that God gives.

4. A person receives grace in baptism and, through constant use of confession and the sacraments, progresses through the Christian life.

iii. The theology of Gregory and his successors envisioned all of the Christian life as a fearful struggle to hold on to grace and seek God’s forgiveness for the sins one continues to commit.

1. Uncertainty over one’s own salvation motivated a person to keep struggling and laboring in search of more grace.

2. Because God’s grace was believed to be attained through a measure of cooperation, it was never a grace that was stable or secure

I. Gregory I and Intellectual Precursors to Purgatory

A. Repentance was central to Gregory’s understanding of the Christian life.

i. Christians ought always to recognize their own sinfulness and seek God’s grace.

ii. Human sin is so pervasive that it may not be completely defeated in this life.

B. Gregory’s doctrine of ongoing repentance suggested the possibility of finally conquering sin through suffering beyond this present life.

i. Gregory admitted the possibility of purification by fire after death and before the final judgment.

ii. However, he did not actually formulate a doctrine of purgatory or envision a formal intermediate state of fiery cleansing where believers would go after death.

iii. Gregory’s writings contain certain strands of thought which would be included in the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory centuries later.

II. Gregory I and the Centrality of Preaching

A. In his work entitled The Book of Pastoral Rule, he identified preaching as a primary responsibility of the clergy.

B. Gregory held this focus on preaching in common with John Chrysostom and other leading pastors in the early church.

C. After the time of Gregory, the medieval church would progressively reduce its emphasis upon preaching.

i. Because of the declining level of education among the clergy as a whole, the Middle Ages became a period of decline in preaching also.

ii. Because uneducated parish clergy could still memorize liturgy and administer the mass, the sacraments came to occupy the central position in medieval worship.

D. The medieval decline in preaching occurred in spite of, not because of, Gregory’s influence.

Gregory I and Christian Missions

Of all the church leaders of the post-apostolic and medieval eras, Gregory was one of the most active sponsors of missionary activity.

Gregory was aware that significant portions of Northwestern Europe had not yet been successfully evangelized.

As pope, Gregory launched missionary efforts in England under the leadership of Augustine of Kent.

Because Canterbury was the center of Augustine’s missionary work, the archbishop of England became known as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

As a result of Gregory’s initiative, England gained a lasting Christian heritage and became a base for sending out missionaries to other parts of northern Europe.

Throughout the Middle Ages, there was a sense of urgency for the church to respond to the challenges posed by other religious groups.

Many areas in Europe remained under pagan influence during the early Middle Ages.

Although Arianism had been officially condemned by the church, the heretical Arian movement was still popular among many people groups.

The birth of Islam in the 7th century ushered in new challenges for Christian leadership

Outro:

As the Middle Ages progressed, the Roman Catholic Church became one of the most powerful institutions in Western Europe. People responded to the church’s growing influence in a number of ways.

Many supported the church, considering it to be God’s ordained means of governing medieval society.

Certain political figures voiced opposition to the church’s influence, contending that the Pope’s authority was over spiritual matters and that he had no right to interfere in politics and other societal affairs.

Others, especially the common people, expressed their concern over corrupt practices and mistaken beliefs that were becoming increasingly common within certain sectors of the church.

While the twelfth century represented the height of the church’s power, it also foreshadowed dramatic changes that would take place centuries later.