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| is an Ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. |
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| is a brief early Christian treatise, dated by most scholars to the late first or early 2nd century.[2] The first line of this treatise is "Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles (or Nations) by the Twelve Apostles" |
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| The first documented case of imperially supervised persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire (64-68 AD) |
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| Pliny’s letter to Trajan and Trajan’s answer |
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| This letter enquires to the Emperor Trajan what should be done about Christianity in Bythinia. He replies not to actively persecute them, but if one is accused of being Christian, they must commit apostasy or face death. |
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| was among the Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop of Antioch, and was a student of John the Apostle.[2][3] En route to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which have been preserved as an example of very early Christian theology. Important topics addressed in these letters include ecclesiology, the sacraments, and the role of bishops. |
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| Characters in the Martyrdom of Perpetua. Perpetua is a wealthy Roman woman who is martyred for being a Christian and Felicitas is her Christian slave. |
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| one in which the imperial Roman government issued tickets (libellus) indicating that, as per requirement, citizens had sacrificed (sacrificati) or burned incense (thurificati); and libellatici (certificates) certifying that apostates had renounced Christianity. |
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| A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis (esoteric or intuitive knowledge), is the way to salvation of the soul from the material world. They saw the material world as created through an intermediary being (demiurge) rather than directly by God. In most of the systems, this demiurge was seen as imperfect, in others even as evil. |
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| His theology, which rejected the deity described in the Jewish Scriptures as inferior or subjugated to the God proclaimed in the Christian gospel, was denounced by the Church Fathers and he was excommunicated. His rejection of many books contemporarily considered Scripture in the catholic part of the church prompted this church to develop a Catholic canon of Scriptures. |
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| Although it came to be labelled a heresy, the movement held similar views about the basic tenets of Christian doctrine to those of the wider Christian Church. It was a prophetic movement that called for a reliance on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit and a more conservative personal ethic. |
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| is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. |
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| is a list of books considered to be authoritative as divinely inspired scripture by a particular religious community. The word "canon" comes from the Greek "κανών", meaning "rule" or "measuring stick". |
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| has been defined as "the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is held to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession". |
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| was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.[2] He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy. |
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| was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls. Today he is regarded as one of the Church Fathers. |
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| was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman empire. A series of edicts that made it compulsory for citizens to follow the religion of the Gods and sacrifice. Another series was passed that targeted the clergy. These edicts were strongest in the eastern provinces and weakest in Gaul and Brittania. |
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| issued in 311 by the Roman Tetrarchy of Galerius, Constantine and Licinius, officially ending the Diocletian persecution of Christianity. |
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| Christianity made legal in 313 AD by Constantine. |
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| First Christian Emperor of the Romans. He did, however, still practice pagan rites and was baptized officially into Christianity on his deathbed. |
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| was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Took notes at the council of nicaea and was a suspected arianist sympathizer. |
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| His teachings about the nature of the Godhead, which emphasized the Father's divinity over the Son,[1] and his opposition to the Athanasian or Trinitarian Christology, made him a controversial figure in the First Council of Nicea, convened by Roman Emperor Constantine in AD 325. After Emperor Constantine legalized and formalized the Christianity of the time in the Roman Empire, the newly recognized Catholic Church sought to unify and clarify its theology. Trinitarian Christians, including Athanasius, used Arius and Arianism as epithets to describe those who disagreed with their doctrine of co-equal Trinitarianism, a Christology representing God the Father and Son (Jesus of Nazareth) as "of one essence" (consubstantial) and coeternal. |
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| the nineteenth Patriarch of Alexandria from 313 to his death. During his patriarchate, he dealt with a number of issues relevant to a church's positions on issues facing the church. These included the dating of Easter, the actions of Meletius of Lycopolis, and the issue of Arianism among them. |
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| Convened to settle the nature of Jesus, mainly--whether or not he was divine or human. The Nicene creed comes from this council. The result: The son was begotten by the father and the two are of the same substance. In addition, Jesus is considered human as well as deity. But, as they are of one substance, one can still be a monotheist if both God and Jesus are worshipped. |
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| Council of Constantinople 381 |
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| Added to the Nicene creed about the nature of the Holy Spirit. It is of the same essence of the Father and Son and can be worshipped. Also, it still exists. |
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| bishop, missionary, and Bible translator, was a Goth or half-Goth and half-Greek from Cappadocia who had spent time inside the Roman Empire at the peak of the Arian controversy. Ulfilas was ordained a bishop by Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his people to work as a missionary. |
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| Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers. |
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| reclusive form of monastic living wherein monks or nuns lived largely sperately from each other and met occasionally for worship. |
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| generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. |
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| Switches monasticism from solitary to a community form. He was the first to successfully implement this change. Also introduced the use of a prayer rope. |
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| tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West, the community belongs to a religious order and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts. |
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| was the mother of Saint Basil the Elder, and the grandmother of Basil the Great, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Peter of Sebaste, and Saint Macrina the Younger. |
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| She became well known as a holy woman and instructed many young women religiously. For this she is honored as one of the most prominent nuns of the Eastern Church. She had a profound influence upon her brothers with her adherence to an ascetic ideal. Her brother Gregory of Nyssa wrote a work entitled Life of Macrina in which he describes her sancity throughout her life. |
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| He was an influential theologian, who supported the Nicene Creed and eloquently opposed the heresies of the early Christian Church, fighting against both Arianism and the followers of Apollinaris of Laodicea. His ability to balance his theological convictions with his political connections made Basil a powerful advocate for the Nicene position. |
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| was a Christian grammarian of the 4th century, first in Berytus (now Beirut) in Phoenicia, then in Laodicea in Syria. |
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| While the Christian intellectuals of Alexandria emphasized the allegorical interpretation of Scriptures and tended toward a christology that emphasized the union of the human and the divine, those in Antioch held to a more literal and occasionally typological exegesis and a christology that emphasized the distinction between the human and the divine in the person of Jesus Christ. |
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| His teachings included a rejection of the long-used title of Theotokos ("Mother of God") for the Virgin Mary, and were understood by many to imply that he did not believe that Christ was truly God. This brought him into conflict with other prominent churchmen of the time, most notably Cyril of Alexandria, who accused him of heresy. |
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| Declared herself regent over her brother Theo II at age fifteen. Took a vow of abstinence. Nestorius and her didn't get along. |
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| emphasized the allegorical interpretation of Scriptures and tended toward a christology that emphasized the union of the human and the divine, |
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| wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries. He was a central figure in the First Council of Ephesus in 431, which led to the deposition of Nestorius as Patriarch of Constantinople. |
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| the third ecumenical council of the early Christian Church, held in 431. The council was called amid a dispute over the teachings of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople. Nestorius' doctrine, Nestorianism, which emphasized the disunity between Christ's human and divine natures, had brought him into conflict with other church leaders, most notably Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria. Nestorius himself had requested that the Emperor convene council, hoping to prove his orthodoxy, but in the end his teachings were condemned by the council as heresy. |
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| was a presbyter and archimandrite at Constantinople. He first came to notice in 431 at the First Council of Ephesus, for his vehement opposition to the teachings of Nestorius; his condemnation of Nestorianism as heresy precipitated his being denounced as a heretic himself. |
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| repudiated the notion of a single nature in Christ, and defined that he has two natures in one person and hypostasis; it also insisted on the completeness of his two natures, Godhead and manhood. The council also issued 27 disciplinary canons governing church administration and authority. In a further decree, later known as the canon 28, the bishops sought to raise the See of Constantinople (New Rome) in stature, claiming that Constantinople enjoyed an honor and authority second to, but comparable to, that of Rome. |
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| was a Syriac and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and theologian of the 4th century.[1][2][3][4] He is venerated by Christians throughout the world, and especially in the Syriac Orthodox Church, as a saint. |
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| teaches that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will. This is contrary to the more contemporarily accepted Christology that Jesus Christ has two wills (human and divine) corresponding to his two natures |
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| was a catholicos (bishop) of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the 13th century. He is noted for his works addressing philosophy, poetry, language, history, and theology[1]; he has been called "one of the most learned and versatile men from the Syriac Orthodox Church" |
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| A polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, he is said by some sources to have served as a Chief Administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus before his ordination.[2][3] He wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still used liturgically in Eastern Christian practice throughout the world. He is considered "the last of the Fathers" of the Eastern Orthodox church and is best known for his strong defense of icons |
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| encompasses two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when Emperors, backed by imperially-appointed leaders and councils of the Orthodox Church imposed a ban on religious images or icons. |
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| Her most notable act was the restoration of the Orthodox veneration of icons (images of Christ or the saints). Having elected Tarasios, one of her partisans, to the patriarchate in 784, she summoned two church councils. The first of these, held in 786 at Constantinople, was frustrated by the opposition of the soldiers. The second, convened at Nicaea in 787, formally revived the veneration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.[1] (See Seventh Ecumenical Council.) |
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| to restore the honoring of icons (or, holy images),[1] which had been suppressed by imperial edict inside the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Leo III (717 - 741). His son, Constantine V (741 - 775), had held a synod to make the suppression official. |
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| They were Christian missionaries among the Slavic peoples of the First Bulgarian Empire, Great Moravia, and Pannonia. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. |
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