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Intro to Orthodoxy - Lecture 4 by Fr. John Brown — Transcript

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0:01hello this is Father John again Father
0:03John Brown from Holy Transfiguration
0:05Greek Orthodox Church in marota Georgia
0:08and we are continuing in this our fourth
0:10class in the series called introduction
0:12to Orthodoxy we're at this phase of the
0:15uh series of classes we are looking at
0:17the history of the early church and how
0:19it relates directly to Orthodoxy and
0:21forms our faith and practice so let's
0:24get
0:27started in the previous class where we
0:29ended we talked about the persecution of
0:32the Christian Church which began almost
0:35immediately at its Inception and
0:38continued for over 250 years so now we
0:41begin looking at the events leading up
0:43to and the results of the momentous
0:46reign of the emperor Constantine and
0:48beginning with his role in the age of
0:50Deliverance the Deliverance of the
0:51church from Roman
0:53persecution the next major event of the
0:55early church was the conversion of
0:58Constantine to Christianity and his rise
1:00to the Imperial Throne flavius Valerius
1:04constantinus which is rendered into
1:06English Constantine was born in 272 ad
1:10his father shared the office of Emperor
1:12with three other rulers he became a
1:14general in the Roman army while he was
1:16serving in Roman Britain his father died
1:19in Rome and Constantine marched toward
1:21Rome to claim his father's title outside
1:25Rome Constantine prepared for a battle
1:27against his rival for that office named
1:30maxentius the early church historian hus
1:35recorded about the time of the midday
1:38sun when the day was just turning he
1:41referring to
1:42Constantine said he saw with his own
1:44eyes up in the sky and resting over the
1:47Sun a cross-shaped trophy formed from
1:50light and a text attached to it which
1:53said by this sign
1:55conquer amazement at the spectacle
1:58seized both him and the whole company of
2:00soldiers which was then accompanying him
2:02on a campaign he was conducting
2:04somewhere and witnessed the
2:07miracle he was he said wondering to
2:10himself what the manifestation might
2:12mean then while he meditated and thought
2:15long and hard Knight overtook him
2:18thereupon as he slept the Christ of God
2:21appeared to him with the sign which had
2:24appeared in the sky and urged him to
2:26make himself a copy of the sign which
2:28had appeared in the sky and to use this
2:31as a protection against the attacks of
2:33the enemy this is again from historical
2:37writings of the early church historian
2:41uus Constantine obeyed the vision he
2:44ordered his army to paint crosses and
2:46letters Hiro or English they we
2:49pronounce it Cairo the first two Greek
2:52letters in the word Christ on their
2:54Shields he won the battle at the Milan
2:57bridge and entered Rome and and became
3:00the sole emperor of the Roman Empire he
3:02also began his transformation into a
3:05Christian the 31-year rule of
3:08Constantine was to have a profound
3:10effect on
3:11Christianity early in his Reign he
3:14issued the edict of mean which legalized
3:17Christianity throughout the Roman Empire
3:20for the first time in its history
3:22Christianity was freed from persecution
3:25at the same time at the meaning this
3:27Edict of Milan uh emperor Constantine
3:30declared himself a
3:33Christian one of the effects of
3:36Constantine's Reign is out of
3:39monasticism monasticism is the practice
3:41of people both men and women who
3:44voluntarily withdraw from normal society
3:46renounced the pursuit of wealth and
3:48family in order to both devote their
3:51lives to rigorous prayer fasting and
3:53simple labor their goal is to acquire
3:56closeness to God without the
3:57distractions of normal life male
4:00monastics are called monks and female
4:02monastics are called nuns monastics
4:06usually form groups called monasteries
4:08other mon monastics are solitary their
4:11life their lifestyle of all monastics
4:13their lifestyle of self-denial is also
4:16called
4:17aestheticism which comes from the Greek
4:19word acacus which means training this is
4:22the same word used to describe the
4:24discipline of athletes who train for
4:25competition in hopes of reward or
4:28winning the prize or winning a trophy or
4:30winning
4:32recognition monasticism is recorded in
4:34the Old Testament The Book of Numbers
4:37prescribes in an order called the
4:39nazarites speak to the children of
4:41Israel and say to them when either a man
4:44or a woman consecrates an offering to
4:46take the vow of a azerite to separate
4:49himself to the Lord he shall separate
4:51himself from wine and similar drink he
4:54shall drink neither vinegar made from
4:55wine nor vinegar made from made from
4:58similar drink neither shall he drink any
5:01grape juice nor any nor eat fresh grapes
5:05or raisins all the days of his
5:07separation he shall eat nothing that is
5:09produced by the grape vine from seed to
5:12skin all the days of the vow of his
5:15separation no razor shall come upon his
5:18head until the days are fulfilled for
5:21which he separated himself to the Lord
5:23he shall be called holy then he shall
5:26let the locks of the hair of his head
5:28grow all the days that he separates
5:31himself to the Lord he shall not go near
5:33a dead body he shall not make himself
5:36unclean even for his father or his
5:38mother for his brother or his sister
5:41when they die be because his separation
5:44to God is on his head all the days of
5:47his separation he shall be holy to the
5:50Lord this concept of separating oneself
5:55and not partaking of Earthly pleasures
5:59and being totally devoted to Pursuit Of
6:01God by prayer fasting and being in the
6:04wilderness and separation from society
6:06this pattern of monasticism is continued
6:10in the New Testament monasticism can be
6:13seen in the New Testament especially in
6:15John the Baptist we see in the
6:18descriptions in the gospels of this
6:21beginning at a very early age Luke
6:23writes in chapter 1 ver
6:2680 of his gospel so the child grew and
6:30became strong in spirit and was in the
6:32deserts till the day of his
6:34manifestation to
6:35Israel Matthew writes in his gospel
6:38chapter
6:393:4 now John himself with clo was
6:42clothed in Camel's hair with a leather
6:44belt around his waste and his food was
6:47locusts and wild honey so you see this
6:50radical transformation or voluntary
6:54embracing of extreme Simplicity and and
6:57uh reducing their diet to barely a
7:01subsistence level but yet devoting
7:04themselves completely to the pursuit of
7:05relationship with
7:08God now and archaeologists have
7:11discovered a Jewish monastic group that
7:13lived near the Dead Sea in the first
7:16century ad called the essenes John the
7:18Baptist may have been one of them like
7:21most monastics they lived in seclusion
7:24tight community and aestheticism they
7:27made and preserved many many copies of
7:29of the Hebrew Bible and other sacred
7:31texts it is from this from the scenes
7:34that the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in
7:36the 20th century have come if we have
7:39the Dead Sea Scrolls it's because the
7:41ases made the copies and and preserved
7:44them and they were discovered uh fairly
7:47recently Christian Mana monasticism was
7:50practiced even before Constantine during
7:53the centuries of
7:55persecution during the Roman
7:56persecutions when word spread of
7:58approaching Danger many Christians who
8:00lived ordinary lives in cities and
8:02Villages fled to the Wilderness to
8:05escape arrest they expected their
8:07isolation to be temporary and they
8:09planned to return When the danger
8:11subsided but in their new situation of
8:14isolation Prayer undistracted by Urban
8:17entertainments and simple work to meet
8:19their physical needs they discovered a
8:21closeness to God that had they had never
8:24known before and when the danger of
8:26arrest had passed and it was safe to
8:28return to their former lives they chose
8:30to stay in the wilderness and continue
8:33in their Newfound
8:35lifestyle St Anthony the great you see
8:38his dates there which are before most of
8:40much of his life was before Constantine
8:42so that he lived most of his life not
8:44all of it but most of his life during
8:46this period of persecution St Anthony
8:48the great is considered the father of
8:50Christian monasticism who spread the
8:53practice throughout his native
8:56Egypt after Constantine became emperor
8:59and the threat of persecution was gone
9:01completely monasticism continued to
9:03thrive in Christian areas as people
9:06sought the Peace of the desert as the
9:09Roman Empire became christianized many
9:12at the time felt that something valuable
9:14had been lost the threat of persecution
9:17meant that most Christians were
9:18extremely dedicated to their faith but
9:21with the pers persecution gone some
9:23Christians questioned the sincerity of
9:26those who were entering to the church at
9:28no risk
9:30worse some Christians felt that some
9:32people were embracing the emperor's
9:34religion in order to advance their
9:36careers particularly those engaged in
9:38politics and so even though I'm sure if
9:42we were to take a poll in that era of
9:45Christians they would were extremely
9:47grateful and thankful to the fact that
9:49they no longer had to had to live and
9:52worship in fear and they would not have
9:55to see their friends tortured and put to
9:57death as a public spectacle and anymore
10:00but yet this the some people really felt
10:01something had been missing this the
10:05the to put in the modern terms that the
10:09new post legal legalized Church there
10:13too many people have been were becoming
10:15soft from the position of some
10:19people finally with the legalization of
10:22Christianity martyrdom quickly went from
10:24being common to extremely rare and some
10:28Christians who aspired to to become
10:29Martyrs no longer had that option but in
10:33monasticism they could find a new form
10:35of martyrdom they could live out the
10:37words of the Apostle Paul I be beseech
10:40you therefore Brethren by the mercies of
10:43God that you present your bodies a
10:45Living Sacrifice wholly acceptable to
10:48God which is your reasonable service
10:52instead of being put to death for their
10:54faith in a Roman prison or Arena zealous
10:57Christians could offer that still offer
10:59their lives to God as a sacrifice to
11:02Christ through the rigors of asceticism
11:05in a monastery and so this was sort of a
11:07paradigm shift for the what monasticism
11:11was all about and monasticism has ever
11:14been ever since been a major influential
11:17Force within the Orthodox church and it
11:21has an enormous amount of prestige and
11:23respect to those who pursue this this
11:26voluntary lifestyle
11:30now another major event that took place
11:33as the result of Constantine and that
11:36was the founding of New Rome
11:39Constantinople as it was called and it's
11:41uh still called in some
11:43circles another ma major decision by
11:46Constantine was to build a new capital
11:49of the Roman Empire for mome Rome to a
11:51new location in the eastern part of the
11:54Empire this location was a small town
11:58called banum from which later the term
12:00Eastern the term uh Eastern Christianity
12:04in the capital became called by some the
12:08Byzantine uh church or the Byzantine
12:10East and that name comes from the very
12:12small town over which the new major city
12:15was built begun by Constantine
12:18Constantine called his new capital city
12:21of the East New Rome subsequently it was
12:25referred to by people as the city of
12:27Constantine and it was named con
12:29Constantinople and you can see there if
12:30you know Greek you can see how
12:32Constantino pois in in in Greek so as
12:36you can see on the map there to the
12:37right basically where the East and the
12:40Western halves of the post of
12:44Constantine's after the Constantine's
12:46division of the Empire between East and
12:49West the West continued to be ruled in
12:51Rome the East would now be ruled from
12:53the new capital called Constantinople
12:56and if you if you like maps and you can
12:58learn from them that's what those are
13:01the areas we're talking about so what
13:02I'm talking about the Christian East
13:04versus the Latin West those are the
13:06areas we're talking
13:09about another important aspect of
13:12Constantine and his rule was the age of
13:14The ecumenical
13:16councils not only did Constantine
13:18legalize Christianity but he also used
13:21the resources of the Roman government to
13:23assist it he paid for the construction
13:26of countless churches contributed to the
13:29the charitable works of the church and
13:31paid stiens to the clergy another
13:34pivotal Act of Constantine was his
13:36sponsorship of the first ecumenical
13:38council of the church the ni the Council
13:40of NAA in the year
13:42325 now the word ecumenical comes from
13:45the Greek word eumi which means the
13:48inhabited Earth as the first Christian
13:51Empire emperor of Rome he felt that his
13:53duty to provide for the Gathering of all
13:55the bishops from over all over the world
13:58d stren strengthen the household of the
14:01church senates and councils had been
14:04held there had been held before but
14:06these were all local and sometimes
14:08Regional and were held usually in secret
14:11because Christianity was
14:13illegal but now under under Constantine
14:17bishops from as far away as Roman
14:19Britain and Germany and Spain and Africa
14:23and Asia Minor which is today would be
14:25the area of modern turkey and even as
14:28far away as the assed Kingdom which was
14:30would be in Modern Day Iran could now
14:32travel at the emperor's expense and all
14:35gather Under One Roof the first of these
14:38ecumenical councils was held in NAA near
14:42Constantinople in 325 ad and there a map
14:45can kind of show you where NAA was if
14:48you find Constantinople you can see in
14:50that general area the where NAA was the
14:54city that's there today that replaces it
14:57is isik in in Turkey so that's where
15:00this took
15:02place now The ecumenical councils the
15:06were not created in a vacuum basically
15:09the pattern of all the ecumenical
15:12councils is set for all time in the what
15:16could be described I guess unofficially
15:18as the Council of Jerusalem which is
15:20described in Acts chapter 15 and the
15:23pattern the same Paradigm the same uh
15:26series of events that constitute an
15:29mencal Council began actually with that
15:31and you can read about it in in the
15:33Bible in Acts chapter
15:3515 The acumenical councils were called
15:38not just because it was time to like
15:39every four years or every three years or
15:42or whatever they were always called in
15:44response to a theological controversy a
15:47major theological controversy and uh so
15:50this is was the case the Council of
15:53Jerusalem in Acts chapter
15:5615 what was the theological
15:59controversy and certain men came down
16:01from from Judea and taught the Brethren
16:05unless you are circumcised according to
16:07the custom of Moses you cannot be saved
16:10this caused a great uproar within the
16:13church and it called for an ex careful
16:18examination as to whether or not this
16:20was true so following the theological
16:24controversy next we have the GA
16:26gathering of the Apostles and the
16:28presbyter which in those days were
16:30called Elders which is what the word
16:32presbyter means in Greek now the
16:34apostles and Elders came together to
16:37consider this
16:38matter then they got together and then
16:42they debated they discussed and this is
16:45called conciliarity which is basically
16:48the function of a council the word
16:49conciliar is related to the word council
16:52where they would argue and debate and
16:54then they would come to a decision by
16:57consensus so that happened in the
17:00Council of Jerusalem therefore I judge
17:03that we should not trouble those from
17:06among the Gentiles who are turning to
17:08God but that we write to them to abstain
17:11from things polluted by Idols from
17:13sexual immorality from things strangled
17:16and from blood for Moses has had
17:19throughout many generations those who
17:21preach him in every city being read in
17:24the synagogues every Sabbath then it
17:26pleased the apostles and elders and the
17:28holy church so this is the church
17:30basically in Council the Bishops in
17:33Council deciding this is what the
17:37rapidly uh developing Church becoming
17:40more and more Gentile every day with
17:43with the conversion of so many Gentiles
17:45to Christianity this is what they were
17:47directed to do the new newly converted
17:49Gentiles and nothing in here was called
17:51to to respond to a challenge that
17:55basically some uh people were saying
17:58that if you were a gentile you had to
18:01become you had become circumcised before
18:03you could be saved and there's nothing
18:06of this belief from the council so
18:09basically this was a quiet way to say
18:11that that's not necessary if you do
18:13these things continue in the faith that
18:15which you have already been baptized and
18:19and you you were on the correct path and
18:22so that was the the consiliari the
18:24decision by
18:26consensus and then in this Council of
18:31NAA the it was not kept in the room but
18:35this this decision was not just an
18:37agreement but it was actually imposed
18:39upon the entire
18:41church we
18:43read to send chosen men of their own
18:46company to Antioch with Paul and
18:47Barnabas namely Judas who is also named
18:50barabus and Silas Leading Men among the
18:54Brethren they wrote this letter by them
18:57and then that letter went on to detail
19:00what the decision of the Council of
19:02Jerusalem was and here's some a little
19:06detail that should not go uh should not
19:10be missed it says in this it says the
19:15council said of itself for it seemed
19:17good to the Holy Spirit and to us and
19:20then as they began their their letter to
19:23all the Christians in the world what
19:25their guidance was what their what their
19:28decision was on this particular matter
19:31and so you can see that they definitely
19:33believed that the Holy Spirit had guided
19:35their decision if you were to ask them
19:38and they would say no this was not our
19:40decision we were simp simply obeying the
19:42Holy Spirit what who was present with us
19:45and guided the decisions that we made so
19:48this is one of the reasons that the
19:50Orthodox Church to this day when there
19:53is a true ecumenical council and there
19:55have only been seven but wherever there
19:57is orever Will be an ecumenical council
20:00from that we understand that that is the
20:03arena in which the the will of the of
20:05God the will of the holy spirit is
20:07revealed to the
20:10church and this conciliar decision of
20:12the First Council of
20:15Jerusalem uh is binding upon all it goes
20:18on to say that the council wished uh not
20:22to lay upon you no greater burden than
20:24these necessary things that you abstain
20:27from things offered to idols from blood
20:29from things strangled and from sexual
20:31immorality if you keep yourselves from
20:34these you will do well and so that was
20:38basically a gentle commandment from the
20:40council to to everyone this was not
20:43negotiable there was this was not put to
20:45a vote of any individual church or any
20:48individual Bishop but it was the church
20:50acting in Council under the leadership
20:52of the Holy Spirit the Gathering of of
20:56all the available Bishops to make this
20:58decision
20:59so you see in this passage of Acts this
21:04Paradigm this procedure for ecumenical
21:07councils all the e ecumenical councils
21:10follow this biblical pattern established
21:13by the apostles Orthodoxy believes the
21:16seven ecumenical councils are the
21:18highest authority of the church on Earth
21:22they outrank all Bishops and all
21:27Patriarchs so
21:29the first ecumenical council official
21:32ecumenical council took place in NAA in
21:36the area not far from Constantinople in
21:39325 so what was the theological
21:43controversy a priest in Alexandria named
21:46Aras was teaching that Christ was not
21:48fully Divine but rather a superhuman
21:50being Aras also taught that Christ was
21:54created in fact there was a there was a
21:56jingle or or a motto that the
21:59Aryans uh said there was a time when he
22:02was not that was something they said
22:03amongst themselves all the time it was
22:05kind of kind of a a lingo uh but uh and
22:09that pointed to the fact that they
22:11belied that Christ was created they
22:13believed if we could get into a time
22:15capsule and go all the way back in time
22:17we would eventually come to the point
22:19where there was no Christ and there was
22:21no Divine Christ uh because he was born
22:25begotten and born at some point in the
22:27past now this Doctrine is called
22:29aryanism and you just to be very careful
22:32to and hasten to add that it is called
22:35aryanism only because it was named after
22:37the movement of the priest in Alexandria
22:41who was the founder of this belief has
22:43nothing to do with white supremacy or
22:45anything like that this Doctrine was
22:48gaining many adherence and was cing
22:50causing an uproar throughout the church
22:53so following the example of the Council
22:57of Jerusalem recorded in the book of
22:59Acts the Bishops gathered 300 Bishops
23:02gathered in NAA and 325 ad to decide the
23:06truth or falsehood hood of aryanism they
23:09came to a decision what was the decision
23:11of the consensus of the
23:13council the Bishops heard testimony from
23:16both Aras and his opponents and
23:18determined that aryanism is a heresy
23:21they declared that Christ is fully God
23:23as much so as the father he is of one
23:26Essence and the Greek word for that is H
23:28Usos and with the father and he is
23:31eternally begotten of the father and he
23:33is not not created as long as there has
23:37been God there has been the father and
23:39the Son and the Holy Spirit Christ was
23:41not created he is he retains every
23:45aspect of God that we understand God to
23:48be at all and then they made their
23:50announcement this conciliar decision of
23:54the Council of NAA and was testified to
23:57the entire Church the N the council
24:01wrote the first part of what we know
24:03today as the nying Creed they drafted
24:05wording which specifically refutes or
24:08refuted
24:09aryanism many of you are very familiar
24:11with this if you been going to Orthodox
24:14Churches or uh maybe also Catholic
24:16churches you will recognize this and you
24:20may not have not have understood until
24:22today why it was worded the way it was I
24:25believe in one God the Father Almighty
24:27creator of Heaven and Earth and of all
24:29things visible and invisible and in one
24:32Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son
24:35of God begotten of the father before all
24:38ages so this is a reputation begotten of
24:41the father before all ages that was put
24:43there to refute arianism because the
24:45Aryan believed that the Son of God was
24:48begotten during one of the past ages but
24:51before the the council said it was
24:52before all ages that he is light of
24:55light and true God of true God
24:59this is something else a aryion could
25:01not say an Aran would say well he's not
25:03really quite God but the church through
25:06the Council of NAA says he is true God
25:08of true God and then the council says he
25:12was begotten not created this is a
25:14reputation of aryanism who said that he
25:17was
25:18created the next Clause of one Essence
25:21with the father through whom all things
25:23were made so that one Essence that what
25:26that that which
25:29the father is is the same essence of
25:31what the son is and there was the father
25:34and the son and by extension also the
25:36Holy Spirit were the trinitarian
25:40creators of the universe that's why it
25:42says through whom all things were made
25:45and so this this whole part of the Creed
25:48was written specifically by the council
25:51to say aryanism is wrong we refute it we
25:53reject
25:54it then it continues who for us men and
25:57for our salvation came down from heaven
26:00and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and
26:02of the Virgin Mary and became man and so
26:05this was the first part of the the nice
26:08seeing Creed also known in our day as
26:10the more completely as the nice nice
26:14Constantinople Creed which we'll get to
26:16in a
26:17second and here's the rest of that the
26:20Creed and he was crucified for us under
26:22Pontius Pilate and suffered and was
26:24buried and he rose on the third day
26:26according to the scriptures he ascended
26:28into heaven and is seated at the right
26:30hand of the father and he shall come
26:32again with glory to judge the living and
26:34the dead his kingdom shall have no end
26:37and so that at first this was the end of
26:39the Creed as it was written by the
26:42Council of
26:43NAA ailar decision is binding upon all
26:47again this was a they they came to their
26:50conclusion they wrote a Creed to reflect
26:53their anti- Arian position uh and the
26:57this was binding to all this was not put
26:59to a vote this was not voted upon by all
27:03by individual churches or individual
27:05Bishops this was the decision and once
27:08the will of the Holy Spirit had been
27:09discerned and the consensus was reached
27:12the council banned Aras and his
27:15followers and this this was the normal
27:18way to go people the Bishops
27:21that that persisted in rejecting the
27:25council and the will of the Holy Spirit
27:27were eled in that Council they were
27:30banned and
27:31banished then came the second ecumenical
27:34council in
27:35Constantinople and then the in
27:39381 and you see Roman numeral one just
27:41like you see NAA Roman numeral one this
27:44is because there would be another
27:46another Council of NAA and there would
27:49be a couple more councils in in the city
27:51of
27:52Constantinople so you will see those the
27:56words nine n and Constantinople again
27:59but this is to the the Roman numerals to
28:02put them in chronological order so what
28:05was the theological controversy that
28:07triggered this ecumenical council in in
28:10the year
28:11381 a new theological dispute broke out
28:14regarding the Holy Spirit just as the
28:17Aryans denied the full Divinity of
28:19Christ this group similarly similarly
28:22denied the full Divinity of the Holy
28:24Spirit they were called Fighters against
28:26the holy spirit so that was the
28:28controversy it was causing a significant
28:31amount of confusion within the church
28:34the church responded the Bishops
28:36gathered 150 Bishops gathered in
28:40Constantinople in 381 to decide whether
28:43the holy spirit is fully God along with
28:45the father and the son they came to
28:48their conclusion the decision by the
28:50consensus of the council the Bishops
28:53declared that the holy spirit is fully
28:55God along with the father and the son
28:57and that he eternally proceeds from the
29:00father so this is uh applying the same
29:04Theology and logic to the holy spirit
29:07that the previous Council had applied to
29:09the person of Jesus Christ the second
29:11person of the Holy Trinity
29:14incarnate so the announcement was made
29:16the an announcement of the consiliary
29:19decision to the holy church so the
29:21council wrote the second and final part
29:24of the nying Creed which is what which
29:27completes it which we still recite today
29:31and in the Holy Spirit the Lord the
29:33creator of Life who proceeds from the
29:35father who together with the father and
29:37the son is worshiped and glorified who
29:39th who spoke through the prophets so
29:42it's that Eternal procession of the Holy
29:44Spirit from the father and the fact that
29:46the the the holy spirit is worshiped and
29:49glorified is the council's choice of
29:53language to describe that the holy
29:55spirit is completely God just as much as
29:57the father is just as much as the son is
30:00and then the the conclusion of the Creed
30:03is this who spoke to the prophets in one
30:07Holy Catholic and Apostolic church I
30:09confess one baptism for the Forgiveness
30:11of sins I look for the resurrection of
30:13the dead and the life of the age to come
30:16amen the conciliar decision was binding
30:19upon all 36 Bishops were rejected the
30:23addition to the Creed and were dismissed
30:25from the
30:26church these first two ecumenical
30:29councils NAIA and and Constantinople the
30:33first of Constantinople defined the
30:35language to describe the Holy Trinity
30:38the next four ecumenical councils define
30:41the language to describe the person of
30:44Christ so what would happened what was
30:47the next one the next one is in Ephesus
30:49and the the Council of Ephesus what was
30:52the theological controversy the
30:55patriarch of Constantinople named
30:58aorus taught that the that two Natures
31:01of Christ the human and the Divine were
31:03not United but only touching creating a
31:07picture of two christs existing in one
31:10body to almost as if uh that you have
31:14two people living in one body almost
31:16like a split personality and that's not
31:18an exaggeration to what mesoras was
31:21teaching noorus also rejected the
31:23popular title of Mary as Theos which is
31:26the Greek Greek for birthgiver of God
31:30and he preferred the word christotokos
31:31the birthgiver of only the human Christ
31:35thus splitting Christ into two persons
31:38so at the Council of Ephesus 250 Bishops
31:43of the church met in Ephesus which is in
31:46modern turkey to render a verdict on
31:48these teachings of
31:51nestorius what was the decision by the
31:53consensus of the council the council
31:55rejected nestorius Doctrine which
31:58presented Christ as consisting of a
32:00human person and a Divine person in the
32:03same body it proclaimed that Christ
32:06rather consisted of two Natures United
32:09in into one person two natures and the
32:13Greek word there is feces and one
32:16hypostasis or person the council also
32:20affirmed that the belief that the Virgin
32:22Mary gave birth to the full Christ both
32:25of Christ's Natures not just the human
32:28nature therefore she is rightly called
32:31theotokos finally The ecumenical council
32:33of Ephesus reaffirmed the nine constant
32:37constantan Creed and forbade any future
32:40modifications to
32:43it the fourth ecumenical council took
32:45place in Caledon also in the same
32:48general region of what is today mod
32:52modern turkey not far from
32:54Constantinople what was this theological
32:57controver Y in spite of the fact that
33:00the Council of Ephesus proclaimed that
33:01Christ had two Natures united into one
33:04person a group began to teach that
33:06Christ had only one nature the divine
33:09nature the human nature was subsumed or
33:12absorbed by his divine nature it's
33:15almost as if to put it what the
33:17monophysites believed is is to to use an
33:21analogy that Christ's human
33:24nature was almost like a cup of water
33:27but his divine nature was the ocean so
33:29what happens when you pour a cup of
33:31water into the ocean the ocean absorbs
33:33the the the cup which is Christ's human
33:38nature that was sort of the way they
33:40looked at it and that's why this group
33:41was called the monophos which comes from
33:43the Greek word that means one
33:47nature so the Bishops again gathered
33:50this time it was about
33:51520 Bishops and they they assembled in
33:55caladon which is in modern day turkey to
33:58assess this
34:01Doctrine the decision by the Council of
34:04the cons by the consensus of the council
34:07the Council of Caledon rejected the
34:10monophysite position and reaffirmed that
34:12Christ retained both a a Divine and a
34:16human nature united into one person the
34:20council specified that his human nature
34:22was real and was never absorbed by his
34:25divine nature in retaining his existence
34:28as the Greek word of theanthropos which
34:31could be described as the God man that's
34:34a pretty good way of describing it and
34:36that's why the the this ter this the
34:39Greek word and the and the translation
34:42of it is what counil used to say he is
34:45he was the god man and the man never
34:47disappeared into the
34:49god the announcement of the conciliar
34:51decision to the whole church the
34:55council's explanation of the
34:56relationship between Christ's two
34:58Natures is a classic on this subject if
35:01you ever want to know the most U
35:05effective understandable and complete
35:08and trustworthy description of what it
35:10is the church believes about the
35:12interaction between between Christ's
35:15humanity and his divinity and why it's
35:18so important that both be preserved in
35:20his person that was put forth by this
35:23this Council of Caledon and I'll read it
35:26to you in detail
35:28one in the same son perfect in Godhead
35:31and perfect in humanity truly God and
35:34truly human acknowledged in two Natures
35:38unconfused unchangeably indivisibly
35:42inseparably the difference between the
35:44natures is in no way removed because of
35:47the Union but rather The Peculiar
35:49property of each nature is preserved and
35:53so that's a very elegant and concise and
35:56very understandable
35:58description of what the church said why
36:00it was essential that Christ maintained
36:03both
36:04Natures in his person so the
36:07announcement of the conciliar decision
36:09was made to the whole church this
36:12Caledonian definition was widely
36:15accepted but not by all many rejected it
36:19those that had rejected Caledon left the
36:21Orthodox church and formed what are
36:24today called the Assyrian Church of the
36:26East and a confederation called the
36:29Oriental Orthodox Churches now that
36:31would include I think we talked about
36:33this a couple of weeks ago in our in our
36:35class discussions discussions so if
36:39you've ever heard of the Coptic church
36:40or the Armenian Church or the Ethiopian
36:43Church they would be part of this group
36:45this broad Confederation of churches
36:47called the Oriental Orthodox churches
36:49that rejected rejected the definition of
36:52Caledon and rejected the idea that
36:55Christ only had a divine nature that he
36:59had no more human nature and so this was
37:03a tragedy for the church because there
37:05have been other the the arens pretty
37:07much disappeared and some of the other
37:09groups the the fighters against the Holy
37:12Spirit disappeared but this was the
37:14first uh case where conciliar de
37:17decision uh led to a a significant
37:20Breakaway from the Orthodox Church which
37:23was certainly a
37:26tragedy so the theological controversy
37:29of the next ecumenical council a
37:31substantial number of individual
37:33churchmen continued to reject the
37:35councils of Ephesus and Caledon 152
37:39Bishops assembled in constant
37:41Constantinople to examine the continuing
37:44disputes the decision by consensus the
37:47council reaffirmed the previous
37:50councils then Constantinople this is the
37:53third ecumenical council that convened
37:58in the city of
38:00Constantinople and this this group
38:02appeared aou the theological controversy
38:06was a group appeared to believe appeared
38:09that believed that Christ had only one
38:11will and that was a Divine will he did
38:14not have a human will this group was
38:16called the monothelites a Greek word
38:19which means one will 151 Bishops
38:23gathered together to meet to decide the
38:25merits of the mon not the lights and the
38:29decision was made by the consensus of
38:32the council the council determined that
38:34just as Christ had two Natures human and
38:37divine he also had two Wills human and
38:40divine although the human will
38:42surrendered surrendered to the Divine it
38:45nevertheless did not seek to it did not
38:48cease to exist so we would call to mind
38:51for example our Lord in the Garden of
38:53Eden excuse me The Garden of Gethsemane
38:55said father it be if it be your will let
38:58this cup pass from me his Humanity he
39:01recoiled at what was about to happen but
39:04he said nevertheless not my will but
39:06yours be done so this would be a good
39:08example of this the human will sub ex
39:13the will of the the humanity of Christ
39:16being distinguished from but yet obeying
39:20the Divine will of the father so that
39:23was an
39:24important important uh event in the in
39:28the development of the church and and
39:30our
39:32Doctrine now comes the seventh and final
39:35ecumenical council and this took place
39:37in
39:38nyia same place as the first one in 787
39:43ad what was the theological controversy
39:46which triggered the seventh ecumenical
39:48council a controversy appeared in the
39:50church fueled by political Superstition
39:54which began to reject Christian images
39:57of Christ and the Saints called holy
39:59icons the church had Incorporated holy
40:02icons into public and private worship
40:04worship since its earliest days
40:07according to to tradition several icons
40:10in the church's possession were painted
40:13by the Evangelist Luke icons were
40:16painted in the catacombs during the
40:18Roman persecutions and by this time were
40:20found in all the Christian temples of
40:23worship by this time the religion of
40:25Islam had also come into being a very
40:29iconoclastic religion and we'll see it a
40:32second the word iconoclast or iconic
40:35clastic means destroyer of icons and
40:38that was very true of Islam Islam is
40:41very
40:42very uh direct and does not like any
40:45depiction of any holy
40:48thing and his followers were conquering
40:51large amounts of Christian territory
40:54across the Middle East this was causing
40:56great alarm in the Eastern Christian
40:59Roman Empire the emperor in consultation
41:02with some of the Bishops decided that
41:04the reason God was allowing his
41:08Christian Empire to lose to the Muslims
41:11was because the church was falling into
41:13idolatry through the use of holy images
41:17this was the beginning of the
41:18iconoclastic period and was a very
41:20difficult time for the
41:23church the emperor and some of the
41:25Bishops belied that these ions violated
41:28the second commandment it is in the in
41:32in the Ten Commandments the second
41:34commandments of the Ten Commandments
41:36which is in Exodus chapter 20 says this
41:39you shall not make for yourself a carved
41:41image any likeness of anything that is
41:44in heaven above or that is in the earth
41:46beneath or that is in the water under
41:48the Earth You shall not bow down to them
41:50nor serve them for I the Lord your God
41:53am a jealous God visiting the iniquity
41:56of the fathers upon the children to the
41:58third and fourth generations of those
42:00who hate me but showing Mercy to
42:02thousands to those who love me and keep
42:05my commandments so this first part of it
42:07you shall not make for yourself a a
42:10carved image this was the that was what
42:15the emperor at the time and some of the
42:16Bishops thought that must be why we're
42:18losing to the the Islamic armies based
42:22on this interpretation the emperor
42:24ordered all icons to be removed from all
42:27Christian churches the only religious
42:29symbol permitted to remain was the cross
42:32this Pro produced a massive reaction
42:35most of the faithful removed the icons
42:38from their churches and hid them rather
42:40than allowing them to be confiscated and
42:44destroyed so that that triggered was a
42:47because of the outrage and uproar over
42:50this this edict from the emperor there
42:54was another gathering of the Bishops the
42:56seventh of the final of our ecumenical
42:59councils the emperor and all those who
43:01cited with him were called iconoclasts a
43:04g Greek word which means Breakers of
43:06icons as a result of this provocation
43:09and backlash 308 Bishops converged on
43:12the city of NAA the same city where the
43:15first ecumenical council had been held
43:17over 400 years 450 years before they
43:21were to decide if icons were idols and
43:25if not why not
43:27the decision by consensus of the council
43:30was this the council heard various
43:33arguments very various testimonies from
43:35both the pro and the icon camps the
43:38arguments of St John of Damascus proved
43:41decisive in preserving icons in
43:44Christian
43:45worship John asserted that before God
43:48became human God could not be depicted
43:51but because of the Incarnation God now
43:54had taken upon himself a human body in
43:57Christ as a result of the Incarnation
44:00that body could be depicted in paint and
44:04stone each icon in fact Bears witness to
44:07the vital Christian belief that God has
44:10become man in the person of Christ he
44:14also explained that we do not worship
44:16the paint and the wood only God and we
44:19offer veneration to the images in this
44:22he distinguished the use of two terms
44:25worship L treat
44:28which and veneration which is
44:31prusis which are up until that point
44:33we're being used interchangeably so the
44:36church made have made it significant and
44:38vital
44:39clarification that worship is for God
44:42Alone that we do not worship the the
44:46images we honor them we respect them I
44:49use the analogy of of when the flag is
44:53raised and they sing the national anthem
44:55it's common for Americans to stand and
44:57take their hats off and be quiet and and
45:00respectfully listen to the national
45:02anthem we we we uh render a certain
45:06degree of veneration or penusis to that
45:08event or if we go to a courtroom and the
45:11judge enters and the Bay of says please
45:13rise what we do that in respect to the
45:17position of the of the judge what we are
45:19doing is a a form of pro proin prusis
45:24which is honor or respect or veneration
45:28but those are two entirely different
45:29things than worship so the council
45:33agreed with John's
45:35arguments to
45:37ensure that icons would never be used as
45:40Idols the Council made a clear
45:42distinction between honor or veneration
45:44in Greek and and would and would remain
45:48appropriate to the use of the icons and
45:50worship which is reserved for God Alone
45:54the announcement of this conciliar
45:56decision was made to the whole church
45:58when the when the church the council
46:01proclaimed its support of icons and
46:04ordered that they be restored to the
46:05churches it was received with great joy
46:08among the people this final event
46:10happened on the first Sunday of the Holy
46:13season of Lent so the faithful took
46:16their icons out of hiding and brought
46:18them back into the churches ever since
46:21all Orthodox Christians bring icons from
46:24their homes and process with them around
46:26the church on the first Sunday of Lent
46:30the Sunday of Orthodoxy celebrating the
46:32Resurrect The restoration of the Holy
46:36icons so now we'll take a spend a few
46:39minutes just talking about the rapid
46:41expansion of early Christianity we
46:43basically in the last few classes
46:45covered more or less from Pentecost all
46:48the way up to uh beyond the the 4th
46:52Century but using maps to give you a
46:54picture of where Christianity was and
46:57where it was present but not
46:59particularly strong and where it was
47:00present and and became a significant
47:04portion of the populace around 250 ad
47:07you can see the darker the orange the
47:09more common that was a place for
47:11Christians and if it's yellow some green
47:14none at all but you can see by 406 ad
47:18Christianity had spread widely all
47:20across the North Shore of Africa much of
47:24the the Middle East what is today would
47:27be for example Israel Syria Lebanon all
47:31of the the western part of what is today
47:33turkey kop Constantinople the western
47:37part of Europe all the way far as far
47:39north as Roman
47:41Britain so it was in this context that
47:44the church was growing extremely rapidly
47:47through all the events that we have been
47:49going through today so this concludes
47:51our class today thank you for
47:54participating by watching this video If
47:56if you have a question or comment please
47:58feel free to send it to this email
48:01address I enjoy hearing from you if I
48:03have a question and if if I can respond
48:05to it I will be glad to do so may have a
48:08very blessed day

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