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| the 1st Christian emperor of Rome; he paved the way for the establishment of Christianity as the sole legal religion in the Roman Empire & began the practice of calling ecumenical councils to resolve urgent issues affecting the whole church. |
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| emperor of Rome who established Christianity as the sole legal religion i the Roman Empire & who affirmed the Nicene Creed as the benchmark of orthodox (correctly taught) Christian faith. |
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| ECUMENICAL OR GENERAL COUNCIL |
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| a universal (or worldwide) gathering of Christian bishops called to resolve urgent issues affecting the whole church. |
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| a major city in what is modern-day Turkey; formerly the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, founded by Constantine c. 330 on the site of the ancient city of Byzantium; historically, one of the 5 patriarchal sees (along w/ Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, & Jerusalem) from which Christianity was governed; today the seat of the foremost of the 4 patriarchs (along with the bishops of Alexandria, Antioch, & Jerusalem) who govern the Eastern Orthodox church. |
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| doctrines or teachings that have been proclaimed authoritatively by a given religion or church. |
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| a 4th century priest in Alexandria who taught that only God the Father was God in the true sense; the Son (Jesus Christ), though also divine, was created by the Father & therefore was less than him; his teaching was rejected at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) & the Council of Constantinople (AD 381). |
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| bishop of Alexandria & staunch opponent of Arianism. |
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| an ecumenical council held in AD 325, which maintained the true divinity of the Son (Jesus Christ) against the teaching of Arius. |
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| COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE |
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| an ecumenical council held in AD 381 that affirmed the Nicene Creed & added clauses about the co-equal divinity of the Holy Spirit. |
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| a group of Christian priests, including Basil of Caesarea (AD 330-379), his brother Gregory of Nyssa (AD 331/40 c. 395), and Basil's friend Gregory of Nazianzus (c. AD 329-390), whose theological advances and appropriation of Greek philosophical thought are reflected in the clarifications of the Nicene Creed adopted at the Council of Constantinople (AD 381). |
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| a Christian theologian who solved the problem of the dual nature of Christ (human & divine) by saying that Christ had a human body but not a human soul; his views came to be regarded as heretical. |
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| a 5th-century AD patriarch of Constantinople, who taught that it was inappropriate to call Mary the Mother of God on the grounds that God could not be said to have been born; at best she was only the Mother of Christ, the man; his views were condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, on the grounds that he divided Christ into 2 separate persons. |
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| an ecumenical council held in AD 431 that taught that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, should be venerated as Theotokos ("Mother of God" or "Godbearer"); this safeguards the unity of Jesus Christ as one human-divine person. |
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| an ecumenical council held in AD 451, which considered the question of Christ's human & divine natures & taught that the incarnate Jesus Christ possessed a complete human nature & a complete divine nature united in one person. |
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| from the Greek words for "of one nature;" one who holds that Jesus didn't have 2 natures - one human & one divine - but only 1. |
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| (1) an early father of a ppl or (male) father of a group, like Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob; (2) bishop of 1 of the seats of early Christianity: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, & Jerusalem, though the title has since been extended to bishops of other important churches as well. |
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| the bishop of the church in Rome & the head of the Roman Catholic church. |
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| referring to the reign of a pope or the office of popes in general. |
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| the training or discipline of the passions & the appetites (e.g., abstaining from food & sexual activity, denying the body comfort); in the case of hermits & monks, the practice was designed to foster spiritual development. |
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| from the Greek word monos, meaning "one," "unique," "solitary," or "alone;" a rule and way of life for the Christian men & women dedicated to holiness by separating from existing society, either by withdrawing into unpopulated areas or by living w/in a cloister (walled enclosure). |
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| a name for the many men & women who had begun to withdraw to secluded desert regions to lead lives of prayer & spiritual discipline; later it would come to refer to anyone who abandoned life in the everyday world to devote himself or herself completely to religion. |
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| the father of Christian monasticism; felt that Christ's teachings called him to sell all of his possessions and devote himself completely to following the gospel through a life of prayer in isolation from the world. |
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| a form of monasticism in which monks live together in a community, rather than as hermits. |
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| the spiritual leader who governs an organized community of monks. |
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| a style of Christian church architecture, distinguished from other churches by its adaptation of the standard rectangular layout of royal audience halls & public buildings in Roman cities. |
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| a bishop's church, from the word for bishop's chair, "cathedra," which is the symbol of his teaching authority. |
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| a type of church building built to honor the tomb of a saint or martyr, or a holy site. |
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| a Christian building used for Baptism in the early church, later a place set aside for Baptism. |
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| a candidate for Baptism who is undergoing instruction in the Christian religion. |
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| a person who is denied communion b/c of serious sin such as murder, adultery, or apostasy & who is doing penance. |
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| (1) actions that show repentance for sin: praying, fasting, giving alms, making a pilgrimage; (2) the sacrament of forgiveness of sin. |
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| a period of 40 weekdays in which Christians fast & do penance in anticipation of the feast of Easter, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. |
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| (1) a Jewish harvest festival that came to mark the 50 days separating the Israelites' escape from Egypt & God's gift of the Law on Mt. Sinai; (2) Christian feast celebrated 50 days after Easter, commemorating the day on which the Holy Spirit came to Jesus's disciples when they were hiding after his death & resurrection. |
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