The Church as a Political Body

Official recognition by Rome of Christianity had far-reaching implications for it, as it took on a political dimension which it originally lacked. The church (ekklesia in Greek: “assembly”) as the meeting of all the faithful, went from being a mere abstraction to a strong and thoroughly structured political and administrative organization, extending territorially throughout the Empire, featuring parishes and patriarchates, overseen by dioceses presided over by bishops, in what amounted to a veritable state within a state, with its own governing bodies, bishops gathered in councils, and its own law determined by council-issued ecclesiastical accords (canons).

4.4.1 The Origin of the Ecclesiastical Profession: Bishops, Deacons and Presbyters

In the times of the 12 apostles, there existed no other credential qualifying one to spread the teachings of Christ than knowing them. When there were relatively few Christians pastoral activity was a joint effort led by those who best knew Christ’s teachings: the “bishops” or “episcopal” authorities—from the Greek episkeptomai (to inspect).^[147]

Bishops were the undisputed leaders of every Christian community. Their mission was to ensure the preservation of the faith, discipline, and the proper execution of liturgical functions, to serve as guarantors of ecclesiastical unity, and to represent their churches in their relationships with fellow congregations.^[148] Along with bishops appeared “deacons” (from the Greek diakonos, meaning “ser­vant”), the former’s trusted associates, initially responsible for the administration of the Church’s temporal assets. As consultants and advisors to the deacons came the “presbyters”—from presbyteros (the oldest).^[149]

The growth of the Christian communities, a consequence of the religion’s astonishing spread over the course of the second and third centuries, soon made it necessary for the bishops and their assistants to devote all their time to pastoral work.

4.4.2 The Development of Church Organization: Parishes

and Dioceses

The first organized groups of Christian churches appeared just a few years after Christ’s death. The assembly of Christians was originally a community of pilgrims and strangers^[150]; hence the word “parish” (from paroikois: foreigner) to designate the private homes in which the first pastoral meetings were held. In Rome, the meeting places of the faithful were originally presided over by bishops, deacons or presbyters. They were, thus, the first pastors in the Church’s history.

Over time, the parishes were grouped together, for administrative purposes, into “ecclesiastical provinces”, usually coinciding with the imperial divisions of the same name. In this way, a hierarchically organized territorial structure gradually developed. The first gatherings of Christians presided over by bishops, were initially held in secret (in the catacombs). After Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the bishops exercised their functions with authority over larger territories which would, eventually, be referred to as “dioceses”—from the Greek words dioikeo (administrate) and oikos (home). Traditionally, the diocese was a Roman administrative district, which serves to show how bishops could combine their ecclesiastical role with a secular magistracy. Once a bishop was ordained, he could, nevertheless, aspire to a civic office (Rapp 2005, 205). In fact, it seemed a regular practice in these paleo-Christian times for active ministers of the Church to sometimes attempt to join the secular administration. Dioceses were consolidated before in the Near East (Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Antioch), where the increased penetration of Eastern religions favored Christianity’s rapid spread. In fact, Asia Minor provided the most fertile soil for Christian evangelism, as this region was dotted with Jewish communities, which had already accommo­dated themselves to Hellenistic thought and life (Hinson 1996, 60).

4.4.3 Metropolitans and Patriarchs

The development of the aforementioned territorial structure soon called for a power structure as well. All the bishops of a province recognized a “metropolitan”—from the Greek meter (mother) and the polis (city). Above the metropolitans, in turn, were the patriarchs, the bishops of especially important cities. The most important decisions, however, were made collectively in assemblies, composed of bishops from different provinces.^[151]

4.4.4 The Councils as Collective Decision-Making Bodies

The bishops of a province which recognized the authority of a metropolitan began meeting in synods—from the Greek synodos (meeting)—to solve the problems of their respective communities. At a higher level were the assemblies of all the bishops of several provinces or councils—from the Latin concilium (meeting, council). Collective decision-making in the Church on matters of teaching and practice surely commenced in apostolic times, but there is no evidence of consul­tation and common action among the Christian communities themselves until late in the second century (Hess 2002, 5). And it would not be until the beginning of the fourth century that we have the first written evidence of decisions made by a council: the first of these was held in Hispania, in Iliberis, near modern-day Granada, attended by 19 bishops from all over Spain, who approved 81 rules (Dale 2012). These collegial agreements amongst the bishops became binding on the Christian communities of the different ecclesiastical provinces. Conciliar rules were called ecclesiastical canons, which is why Church law came to be known as “canon law”.

The official recognition of Christianity led to the practice of holding regular councils of this type. It is highly significant that a year after Constantine became the sole ruler of the Empire, in 325, the first of the “ecumenical”—from the Greek oikumene (world)—councils was held in Nicaea to condemn Arianism.

4.4.5 The Origins of the Papacy as a Moral Authority

In the West, the bishops of the first churches to emerge in the various provinces of the Empire, while maintaining a manifest autonomy, granted almost from the outset a certain degree of moral supremacy to the bishop of Rome,^[153] who they began to call the “Pope”—from the Greek pappas (father). It is worthwhile to note that the title was formerly given, especially from the third to the fifth century, to any bishop and sometimes to simple priests as an ecclesiastical title expressing affectionate respect. It is still used in the East in reference to the Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria, and to Orthodox priests. Only during the ninth century, was its use restricted to the bishop of Rome, a constraint officially imposed in 1073, by Pope Gregory VII.^[154]

The popes exercised their moral authority through letters called “decretals”, in which they settled questions raised by other bishops. These documents will end up soon having legal value, giving the popes the same legislative power that Roman emperors enjoyed during the Dominate.

TIMELINE

A. Judaism

The Origins of Judaism

First Temple: The Writing of the Bible Begins (Old Testament) (13th-10th— Thirteenth Centuries bc)

973-935 Rule of Solomon. Construction of the Temple.

931 Scission of Jewish territory into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Age of the Prophets (Eighth to Sixth Centuries bc) 722 The Kingdom of Israel is conquered by the Assyrians.

586 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem. Start of captivity in Babylon. End of the Kingdom of Judah.

Second Temple: Beginning of the Talmudic Era—Mishnaic Stage—(Sixth Century bc—First Century ad)

539 Cyrus the Great destroys Babylon. The Israelites return to Jerusalem.

320 The diadochus Ptolemy, governor of Egypt, conquers Jerusalem.

167 Beginning of Hellenistic domination. Persecutions (Antiochus IV).

165 Revolt of Judah Maccabee.

160 Start of the reign of the Maccabees.

142 Judea, an autonomous territory.

63 BC Pompey conquers Jerusalem. Judea, a Roman province.

74 AD Conquest of Masada by the Romans. End of the Jewish resistance (Third Temple [74-135]).

The Diaspora (135-1948)

135 After another rebellion by the Jews, the Emperor Hadrian orders the definitive destruction of the Temple of Solomon. Thus begins the Diaspora, to last 1,813 years, until the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948.

End of the Talmudic Period:

Fourth century Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud

Sixth century Babylonian Talmud (“Babli”)

B. Christianity

The Origins (First Century)

7 BC Birth in Bethlehem (Palestine) of Jesus during the Principate of

Augustus (27 bc-14 ad).

26 AD Crucifixion of Jesus during the Principate of Tiberius (14-37). Circa 33 ad St. Peter is elected bishop of Rome (according to tradition).

Writing of the New Testament (Second Half of the First Century):

54-68 Emperor Nero. First persecutions of the Christians.

Circa 64 Martyrdom of St. Peter.

Circa 66 Death of St. Mark the Evangelist.

Circa 67 Decapitation of St. Paul.

74 End of the Jewish era of the Second Temple.

Circa 100 Death of St. John the Evangelist.

135 Destruction of the Third Temple. Initiation of the Jewish Diaspora.

The Spread of Christianity (Second to Third Centuries)

The Apologists 165 Death of St. Justin (born 100).

208 Death of St. Irenaeus (born 130).

240 Death of Tertullian (born 160).

258 Death of St.

270 Death of St. Gregory the Wonderworker (born 215).

The Last Persecutions 270-275 Emperor Aurelian attempts to impose a new official religion.

284-305 Emperor Diocletian. Last persecution of the Christians.

The Official Establishment of Christianity (Fourth Century)

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Further Reading

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Bettenson, H., & Maunder, C. (1999). Documents of the Christian church (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bowes, K., & Kulikowski, M. (Eds.). (2005). Hispania in late antiquity: Current perspectives. Boston, MA: Brill.

Boyd, W. K. (2006). The ecclesiastical edicts of the Theodosian Code (2nd print). Clark, NJ: The Lawbook Exchange Ltd.

Brent, A. (2009). A political history of early Christianity. London: T & T Clark.

Brown, P. (1992). Power and persuasion in late antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

Brown, P. (2012). Through the eye of a needle: Wealth, the fall of Rome, and the making of Christianity in the west, 350-550 AD. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Crossan, J. D. (1993). The historical Jesus: The life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. New York: HarperOne.

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