CHURCH HISTORY 



237 



dating thenuelvea into a confederacy, which called 

 itself the 'Great' or 'Catholic' (i.e. universal) 

 Church. By the middle of the 3d century the 

 confederation wits accomplished. The Churcn was 

 now organised with a hierarchical constitution 

 and an elaborately regulated worship, while the 

 New Tr-iament .-anon was regarded as equally 

 authoritative, with the Old. Prom 250 the emperon 

 whose political aims were most akin to the tradi- 

 tional policy of Rome struggled for life and death 

 with the growing power. Of the times before 

 Decius Origin testifies (Cnntnt Celxum, iii. 8) 'few 

 ami very easy to count are those who have died on 

 account of the Christian religion ; ' and Lactantius 

 says (De Morte Perteevtontm, iii. 4), 'after the 

 acts of the tyrant ( Domitian ) had been rescinded, 

 the Church was not only restored to her pristine 

 state, but shone forth much more brightly ; 

 and, times following when many good emperors 

 held the helm of government, she suffered no 

 attacks from enemies. . . . But thereafter the 

 long peace was broken. For after many years 

 the accursed beast ( execrabile animal ) Decius arose 

 to vex the Church.' Under Decius began the first 

 universal and systematic persecution of Christi- 

 anity as a part or the military and religious policy 

 of the state. The sufferings of the Christians con- 

 tinued under Gallus and Valerian till 260, when 

 Gallienus declared Christianity a religio licita. For 

 forty years the Church had peace, and grew mightily 

 on every side. Diocletian by four edicts of pro- 

 gressive severity, from February 303 to March 304, 

 when he decreed torture for all Christians, put forth 

 a desperate effort to annihilate Christianity in the 

 whole empire. At his abdication (May 305) the 

 horrors or the persecution ended, except in the 

 East, where they were continued without mercy by 

 Maximin Daza. The victory of Constantino in 313 

 delivered Christendom from this its last and most 

 relentless persecutor. 



Constantine saw in the unity of the Church a new 

 foundation for the unity of the empire, and placed 

 Christianity on an equality with Paganism : under 

 his sons it became predominant. The reaction 

 under Julian ended with his death. It was the 

 struggle with Gnosticism that had first led the 

 Church to the remarkable development of its dog- 

 matic system, which gives its characteristic stamp 

 to the history of the second period of the ancient 

 church. The simple baptismal confession hat! be- 

 come transformed into a rule of faith giving fixity 

 to the ecclesiastical tradition. Justin, Iremeus, 

 Tertullian, and Hippolytus had been among its first 

 exponents. While in the scriptures of the New 

 Testament canon the Church possessed an abiding 

 witness to the 'simplicity that is in Christ,' the rule 

 of faith in the course or the 3d century had been 

 built up in the forms of the Greek philosophy of 

 Clement and Origen. The first church synods nad 

 been held in Asia Minor in connection with the 

 Montanist controversy about 170 ; and by the 3d 

 century such assemblies were common in various 

 provinces of the empire. The institution of oecu- 

 menical councils, in which only bishops were en- 

 titled to vote, originated with Constantine. The 

 controversy with respect to the Easter festival had 

 disturbed the Church for a century and a half. 

 The universal practice in Asia was to observe the 

 exact day of the month (the 14th Nisan), while 

 the usage of Alexandria and Palestine and the 

 West was to celebrate the Passion always on a 

 Friday, and the Resurrection on a Sunday. This 

 controversy was finally laid at rest by the (Ecu- 

 menical Council of Nicsea in 325. Tnnitarianism 

 gained its first victory over A nanism at Nicjva by 

 the combined influence of Athanasius and Con- 

 stantine, and completed its triumph at the second 

 (Ecumenical Council (at Constantinople) in 381. 



After thin the Hunch was distracted with con- 

 troversies about the views of Origen (394-438), 

 the Anollinarian controversy (362-381), the dis- 

 putes between the schools of Antioch and Alex- 

 am I ria (381-428), the Nestorian controversy (428- 

 444), the Monophysite controversy (444-553), the 

 Monothelete controversy ff>33--680), and the Icono- 

 clastic controversy (726-842). These discussions 

 originated in the Eastern Church, while in the 

 West the theological interest centred on the great 

 eiin Ilict between Augustinianism and Pelagianism 

 (412-529). The tyrannical interference of the 

 Eastern emperors in the controversies of the Church, 

 their supremacy in the ecclesiastical councils, and 

 their penal enforcement of doctrinal decrees, led 

 to infinite confusion in the relations between church 

 and state, and prepared the way for the ambitious 

 policy of the popes, and for the final breach between 

 the churches of the East and West. 



While these age-long controversies kept the rela- 

 tions of church and state continually strained, 

 Paganism was steadily suppressed. Orthodox Chris- 

 tianity in union with the state soothed the declining 

 years of the ancient empire ; but could not prevent 

 the conquest of Rome by Alaric the Goth. Its ad- 

 vance in Persia was checked by political persecution 

 before the advent of Islam, which subsequently over- 

 whelmed the Christianity of the East. In the West, 

 however, Christianity rose with renewed vigour from 

 the ruins of the old empire, by the conversion of 

 the Teutonic and Slavonic nations. The Teutonic 

 conquerors of Gaul and Italy were Christians before 

 their invasion of those countries. The Anglo-Saxon 

 conquerors of England were heathens. A century 

 and a half after their settlement Christian mission- 

 aries gained a footing in the south and north, and 

 within a century from the landing of Augustine the 

 English kingdoms had embraced Christianity. In 

 the general declension of political faith under the 

 decaying Roman empire, the social power once 

 held by the officials of Rome had gradually passed 

 into the hands of the Christian bishops. In the 

 lawlessness and disorder of the barbarian invasions, 

 these representatives of the claims of moral order 

 and human brotherhood were the trusted mediators 

 between the conquerors and the conquered, and 

 exercised a constant influence during peace and 

 war. But this great authority over the new nations 

 brought alonw with it much injury to religion. 

 Discipline declined as the power and wealth of the 

 clergy increased. 



The third period of the Church's history extends 

 from Charles the Great to Innocent III. ' At the 

 commencement of the 8th century,' says Ranke, 'on 

 the one side Mohammedanism threatened to over- 

 spread Italy and Gaul, and on the other the ancient 

 idolatry of Saxony and Friesland once more forced 

 its way across the Rhine. In this peril of Christian 

 institutions, a youthful prince of Teutonic race, 

 Charles M artel, arose as their champion.' By his 

 great victory of Tours (732) a final check was given 

 to the advance of the Saracens in the West, and 

 Christendom and civilisation were rescued from the 

 grasp of Islam. The subjugation of the Saxons by 

 Charles the Great was the toilsome work of thirty- 

 two years (772-804), and their Christianisation was 

 secured by the castles, towns, mission-stations, and 

 monasteries which the conqueror planted in their 

 country. Under the Carlovingian kings of the 

 Franks from the middle of the 8th century, the 

 temporal dominion of the Papacy was founded. 

 The legend of the ' Donation of Constantine, ' bestow- 

 ing imperial power and dignities upon the pope, 

 together with the sovereignty over Rome and all 

 Italy, and the countries or the West, was invented 

 at Rome about 730, and embodied in the Pseudo- 

 Isidorian decretals (about 850). It was con- 

 tested by few in the middle ages, till Laurentius 



