Theology quiz 5 church history

Patristic Era

The historical epoch succeeding the apostolic age characterized by early church leaders establishing canon, hierarchy, and orthodox doctrine.

Church Fathers

Early bishops, theologians, and leaders who defended apostolic teaching, evaluated canonical texts, and guided the early ecclesiastical hierarchy.

Delayed Parousia

The unexpected postponement of the imminent second coming of Christ, prompting the early church to formalize institutions and scriptures.

Nero's scapegoat for the Great Fire of Rome

Early Christians, whom the emperor falsely blamed to divert public suspicion away from himself.

Martyr

A person who endures death rather than renounce religious principles and faith in Christ.

Ichthys (Jesus fish)

The Greek fish symbol utilized as a covert identifier and communication device among persecuted early Christians.

Catechumenate

An intensive preparation period lasting from one to three years required for prospective converts prior to baptism.

Timing of early Christian initiations

Conducted exclusively after nightfall during the annual Easter Vigil celebration.

Baptismal setting in the early Roman Church

Secluded underground locations, particularly Roman catacombs situated on city outskirts, to protect believers from persecution.

Stripping of garments during early baptism

An initiation rite symbolizing the complete shedding of former worldly sinful life to emerge renewed in Christ.

Baptismal triple submersion

The practice of immersing a candidate three times under water, corresponding to each distinct person of the Holy Trinity.

Trinitarian formula

The invocation declaring 'I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.'

White baptismal robe

A ceremonial garment presented to newly baptized believers to represent moral purity and freedom from sin.

Post-baptismal chrismation

Anointing the candidate's head with perfumed oil, conferring royal and priestly dignity previously restricted to ancient monarchs.

Lit baptismal candle

A symbolic taper given to newly initiated converts signifying reception of the radiant light and truth of Christ.

Sacraments of Christian initiation

The foundational trio of baptism, confirmation (anoint head with oil), and first reception of the Eucharist administered together at the Easter Vigil.

Mithraism

A Persian mystery cult restricted to male Roman soldiers centered on worship of a bull-slaying deity named Mithra.

Roman imperial civic religion

The mandatory civic obligation requiring subjects to honor and sacrifice to the deified emperor above all personal worship.

Status of women in early Christianity

Accorded unprecedented spiritual equality and ministerial dignity compared to contemporary pagan society, serving as deaconesses and consecrated leaders.

Relics

Physical bodily remains or personal possessions of deceased saints and martyrs reverently preserved and venerated by the faithful.

Apology (in Christian theology)

A reasoned literary and intellectual defense written to clarify Christian theology and refute external accusations.

Clement of Alexandria

An early apologist and scholar who synthesized Christian scripture with Greek philosophy to defend the rationality of faith.

Origen of Alexandria

A pioneering Egyptian biblical scholar and theologian famous for allegorical scriptural interpretation and extensive doctrinal treatises.

Logos (theological definition)

A Greek philosophical term signifying both the spoken/written expression and the underlying divine rational order embodied in Christ.

Creed

An authoritative summary statement articulating core dogmatic beliefs confessed by Christian believers.

Heretic

A baptized member who deliberately obstinately teaches or maintains doctrines contrary to established orthodox dogma.

Gnosticism

A religious movement claiming that salvation is attained through esoteric spiritual knowledge rather than public faith.

Sophia (in Gnostic cosmology)

The divine female emanation whose fallen error accidentally generated the flawed material universe.

Aeons (Gnosticism)

Intermediate spiritual beings and emanations bridging the vast chasm between the unknowable supreme God and creation.

Gnostic perspective on material creation

The assertion that the physical world is inherently corrupt, flawed, and evil, functioning as a prison for divine sparks. Thus, we need to die to escape it

Gnostic Christology

The theory that the celestial Christ occupied the human person of Jesus temporarily and withdrew before his suffering and death.

Transfiguration in Gnostic belief

Regarded as a secret revelatory event where esoteric mysteries were granted exclusively to Peter, James, and John.

Docetism

The Christological heresy asserting that Jesus appeared to be human but he wasn’t really human.

Apollinarianism

The belief that Jesus had a human physical body but his rational soul and mind were replaced by the divine Logos (jesus = partially human, fully divine vs fully human and fully divine).

Orthodox refutation of Apollinarianism

The affirmation that Christ possesses a complete human nature, including a human rational soul, alongside his full divinity.

Arianism

The doctrine arguing that the Son was created by the Father in time and is consequently subordinate and distinct in substance.

Arius

The Alexandrian presbyter whose assertion that 'there was a time when the Son was not' triggered the Council of Nicaea.

Geographic dispersion of Arianism

The migration of expelled Arian believers into northern tribal territories and parts of the Arabian peninsula.

Pelagianism

The doctrine claiming humans possess innate moral ability to fulfill divine commands and attain salvation without supernatural grace (didn’t believe in original sin or grace).

Grace

An unearned, gratuitous gift of divine favor, life, and assistance bestowed by God to redeem and sanctify humanity.

Donatism

A North African schismatic movement holding that the validity of sacraments depends on the moral purity of the administering minister.

Orthodox refutation of Donatism

The theological doctrine that sacraments operate through Christ's authority rather than the personal worthiness of the clerical minister.

Manichaeism

A dualistic religion positing a cosmic struggle between equal principles of Light and Darkness, seeking to release light trapped within physical flesh that viewed god as being 2 different things..

St. Irenaeus of Lyons

The second-century bishop who defended apostolic succession, canonical unity, and church catholicity in his polemical treatises.

Against Heresies

A five-volume work composed by Irenaeus of Lyons systematically dismantling Gnostic speculations and affirming orthodox tradition.

Four marks of Catholic orthodoxy per Irenaeus

Adherence to the scriptural canon, confession of the shared apostolic creed, union with the episcopate, and common liturgical worship (had to follow official bible, what was in creed, be part of the church, and participate in public worship).

Catholic (etymology)

Originating from the Greek 'katholikos', signifying universal, widespread, or complete throughout the world.

Liturgy

The official, public, communal religious worship and prayer celebrated by the assembled Church body.

Theology (classical definition)

Systematic, rational discourse and intellectual inquiry regarding the nature, attributes, and works of God.

The Didache

An apostolic-era manual entitled the 'Teaching of the Twelve Apostles' functioning as the earliest surviving Christian catechism.

Catechism

A structured summary book compiling doctrinal, sacramental, and moral instructions used for educating believers (book about what the church teaches).

Diocletian

The Roman emperor who established the imperial Tetrarchy and launched the final Empire-wide persecution of Christians. AKA Constantine’s father’s co-ruler

Chi-Rho

An early Christogram formed by superimposing the Greek letters chi and rho, placed on Roman shields by Constantine after he saw them on their shields in their dream (they won after).

Licinius

The co-emperor of the Roman East who joined Constantine in enacting imperial tolerance before their subsequent civil war.

Edict of Toleration

The imperial decree allowing Christians legal permission to practice their faith privately inside domestic dwellings (Constantine and Licinius responsible).

Edict of Milan (313 C.E.)

The landmark proclamation jointly issued by Constantine granting full religious freedom and public worship rights to Christians.

Constantine's baptism

The formal reception of the sacrament delayed until the emperor lay on his deathbed in 337 C.E.

Constantinople

The new Christian capital founded on the ancient site of Byzantium, currently known as modern Istanbul.

Emperor Theodosius I

The Roman ruler who issued decrees establishing Nicene Christianity as the exclusive official religion of the Roman Empire.

Council of Nicaea (325 C.E.)

The first ecumenical council, summoned by Emperor Constantine to address the theological crisis provoked by Arian teachings.

• conclusion: God and Jesus = “same in substance”

Alexander of Alexandria

The orthodox bishop who argued with Arius at Nicaea by demonstrating that the Son shares eternal, uncreated coexistence with the Father.

Homoousios

The foundational Greek theological term affirmed at Nicaea meaning 'of the same substance' to describe the Son's relation to the Father.

Excommunication

The formal ecclesiastical penalty that excludes an unrepentant individual from participating in the sacraments and community.

Cappadocian Fathers

Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, who clarified Trinitarian vocabulary of one essence in three persons (after council of Nicaea)

Council of Constantinople (381 C.E.)

The second ecumenical council, convoked by Theodosius I, which expanded the creed and reaffirmed the full divinity of the Holy Spirit + TRINITY.

• One god = three persons

• father and son came into being at same time and equally important

• god = incomprehensible

• christianity became official religion of Roman Empire

Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed

The comprehensive dogmatic formula produced in 381 C.E. at the Council of Constantinople that remains the universal liturgical confession of Christian faith (elaborated on Nicene creed to clarify divinity of the Holy Spirit)

Trinitarian formula of one God in three persons

The core doctrine that God is a single divine being subsisting as three co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Co-eternal

The theological affirmation that the persons of the Trinity exist simultaneously from all eternity without temporal precedence.

Inseparable operations of the Trinity (Council of Constantinople)

The dogmatic rule stating that every external act of the Godhead is executed jointly and indivisibly by all three divine persons.

Divine incomprehensibility

The principle that the transcendent nature of God fundamentally exceeds the exhaustive understanding of finite human reasoning.

Council of Ephesus (431 C.E.)

The third ecumenical council, convoked by Theodosius II, which affirmed the personal unity of Christ (nature of Jesus) and condemned Nestorian divisions.

• God = Jesus, invented Mary’s title “Theotokos” - Godbearer

Theotokos

The Greek title meaning 'Godbearer' dogmatically applied to the Virgin Mary to safeguard the true divinity of Jesus Christ.

Council of Chalcedon (451 C.E.)

The fourth ecumenical council, convoked by Marcian, which established that Christ possesses two unmixed natures in one person.

Emperor Marcian

The Eastern Roman emperor who summoned the Council of Chalcedon in 451 C.E. to restore Christological unity.

Eutyches

The monastic heretic who taught that Christ's human nature was absorbed and swallowed up by his divine nature and was condemned at Chalcedon.

Tome of Leo

The papal letter composed by Pope Leo I clarifying that Christ's divine and human natures remain distinct (fully human and fully divine) and whole in one person and that was accepted at Chalcedon.

Chalcedonian Definition

The dogmatic decree stating that Christ is acknowledged in two natures without confusion, change, division, or separation (Jesus = fully human + fully divine).

Pentarchy

The five premier patriarchal sees recognized in the ancient Church: Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople.

Patriarch vs Pope

The honorary title and jurisdictional office held by bishops leading the major historic ecclesiastical centers of the East vs West

Pope

The administrative and spiritual title given to the Bishop of Rome, originating from the Greek word 'papa' meaning father.

Papal primacy controversy

The contentious ecclesiastical dispute regarding whether the Bishop of Rome possessed universal jurisdictional authority over Eastern patriarchs.

Antony of Egypt

The founding desert hermit who abandoned worldly wealth to pursue a solitary life of asceticism, fasting, and continuous prayer.

Asceticism

The spiritual discipline of rigorous self-denial and bodily austerity practiced to pursue higher spiritual communion with God.

Cenobitic monasticism

The communal form of monastic life where ascetics live together inside a walled enclosure under a shared regular discipline.

St. Pachomius

The Egyptian monastic organizer who pioneered cenobitic monasticism by building enclosed communities for communal prayer and labor.

Abbot

The spiritual leader and governing superior presiding over a cenobitic (communal) monastery.

Rule of St. Benedict

The foundational Western monastic guideline known as the 'Middle Way,' balancing physical work, scriptural reading, prayer, and rest.

Christian adoption of the Roman Basilica

The architectural adaptation of rectangular Roman imperial civic halls, replacing the magistrate's throne with the Eucharistic altar.

Cathedra

The official seat or throne of a bishop placed within the main episcopal church of a diocese.

Lapsi and Traditores

Early Christians who renounced or compromised their faith and handed over sacred scriptures during imperial persecutions to save their lives.

St. Augustine of Hippo

The influential North African bishop and theologian who authored 'Confessions' and successfully refuted Donatism and Pelagianism (Jesus is working through sinful priests, and grace = essential to salvation).

Constantine’s Impact on Christianity (cons)

• he took over the church and merged the church and state — emperors had too much control

• The church became more corrupt

St. Augustine’s journey to Christianity

• Christian mother, pagan father

• Mother nagged him to be Christian but he rebelled instead—partied, slept around, premarital kids, Manicheist

• heard children chanting “take” and “read” while his mother read to them

• Tried Christianity for a year then became Christian