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Athanasius I of Alexandria, also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th pope of Alexandria. His intermittent episcopacy spanned 45 years, of which over 17 encompassed five exiles, when he was replaced on the order of four different Roman emperors. Athanasius was a Church Father, the chief proponent of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian Christian leader of the fourth century.
Eusebius of Caesarea, also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a Greek Syro-Palestinian historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima in the Roman province of Syria Palaestina.
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Jovinian was an opponent of Christian asceticism in the 4th century and was condemned as a heretic at synods convened in Rome under Pope Siricius and in Milan by Ambrose in 393 because of his views. Our information about him is derived principally from the work of Jerome in two books, Adversus Jovinianum. Jerome referred to him as the "Epicurus of Christianity". He was a native of Corduene, in present day Turkey. John Henry Newman called Aerius of Sebaste, Jovinian and Vigilantius the forerunners of Protestantism, likening them to the "Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli of the fourth century". Other Protestants also praise Jovinian as an early reformer or even credit him as the "first Protestant". Jovinian's teachings received much popular support in Rome and Milan and his followers Sarmatio and Barbatianus kept preaching his ideas after Jovinian was expelled.
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Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.
In the 5th century in Christianity, there were many developments which led to further fracturing of the State church of the Roman Empire. Emperor Theodosius II called two synods in Ephesus, one in 431 and one in 449, that addressed the teachings of Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius and similar teachings. Nestorius had taught that Christ's divine and human nature were distinct persons, and hence Mary was the mother of Christ but not the mother of God. The Council rejected Nestorius' view causing many churches, centered on the School of Edessa, to a Nestorian break with the imperial church. Persecuted within the Roman Empire, many Nestorians fled to Persia and joined the Sassanid Church thereby making it a center of Nestorianism. By the end of the 5th century, the global Christian population was estimated at 10-11 million. In 451 the Council of Chalcedon was held to clarify the issue further. The council ultimately stated that Christ's divine and human nature were separate but both part of a single entity, a viewpoint rejected by many churches who called themselves miaphysites. The resulting schism created a communion of churches, including the Armenian, Syrian, and Egyptian churches, that is today known as Oriental Orthodoxy. In spite of these schisms, however, the imperial church still came to represent the majority of Christians within the Roman Empire.
Christianity in late antiquity traces Christianity during the Christian Roman Empire — the period from the rise of Christianity under Emperor Constantine, until the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The end-date of this period varies because the transition to the sub-Roman period occurred gradually and at different times in different areas. One may generally date late ancient Christianity as lasting to the late 6th century and the re-conquests under Justinian of the Byzantine Empire, though a more traditional end-date is 476, the year in which Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustus, traditionally considered the last western emperor.
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical period in which they worked became known as the Patristic Era and spans approximately from the late 1st to mid-8th centuries, flourishing in particular during the 4th and 5th centuries, when Christianity was in the process of establishing itself as the state church of the Roman Empire.
Sarmatio was a 4th-century monk in Milan and a disciple of Jovinian, who disputed the merits of the monastic and unmarried life. Sarmatio first met Jovinian when he travelled to Milan, where Jovinian found two monks of a similar mind, Sarmatio and Barbatianus. After Jovinian was expelled from Milan, Sarmatio kept doing work in Vercellae where he gathered a considerable following and public support; in response, Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, started defending ascetism. The views Sarmatio was preaching were condemned in the Synod of Milan.
References
- ↑ Neander, August (1848). General History of the Christian Religion and Church: From the German of Dr. Augustus Neander. Crocker & Brewster.
- ↑ Kurtz, J. H. (2020-12-17). The History of Church: All 3 Volumes. e-artnow.
- ↑ Jerome; Jerome, St St (2010). Commentary on Galatians. CUA Press. ISBN 978-0-8132-0121-4.
- ↑ "Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume III: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 311-600 - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ↑ Peter, Allix. The Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the Albigenses. Delmarva Publications, Inc.
- ↑ Hunter, David G. (2007-01-26). Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity: The Jovinianist Controversy. OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-153553-6.
- ↑ "CHURCH FATHERS: Letter 63 (Ambrose)". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2022-06-18.
- ↑ S.J, Brian E. Daley; Kolbet, Paul R. (2015-01-30). The Harp of Prophecy: Early Christian Interpretation of the Psalms. University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 978-0-268-15831-6.