de Oros. vita ejusquc Ili^t. libris. Ber. 1S44.
g) LiUin. 0pp. vol. II. p. 1T7. Axi^. Serm. 62. in Ev. Jo. tr. 25, 10. K) Socrat. Til, \fi.^Wema-
dor/, de Hyp. philosopha Dss. IV. Yit 1748. 4. Munch, Ilypatia. (Yerin. Schriften. Ludwigsb.
1823. vol. I.)
i) Procopii, Hist, arcana c. 11. Theophan. Chronogr. ad ann. 522. Comp. Agathiae Hist. II, 80i
CHAT. I. VIC'TOEY OF CHRISTIANITY. § 05. MAIXOTTES. § 9fi. MASSALIAN3. 107
of freedom, to a constrained bapti-sm in belialf of Cliri.stianity ; and the
Jfainoftes, in their mountain homes, defended at tlie same time their own
liberties and tlie ancient gods of Sparta. So many religious phrases and fes-
tivals connected witlx idolatry were preserved at Rome, that it may more
properly be said to have been incorporated into the life of the Church than
abolished. The last adherents of the ancient faith were found in the seventh
century, inliabiting some remote valleys of tiie Italian islands.
§ 96. Jlitssdiiiijis and IlyjixiftariaitK.
I. Epiiih. liacr. SO. Cyrill. Alex. <le adorntione in spirltu et verit. 1. III. (Par. Th. I. p. 92.)
Gregor. Xa:. Orat. XVIII. § 5. (Opp p. .33:}.) Gregor. Jfyss. adv. p:nnoin. 1. II. (Th. II. p. 440.)
II. Ullmonn, de IIyp~istariiti. Iloidelb. IS'23. 4. On the other side: Boehmer, dc Hyps. I'raofa-
tus est Neandcr. IJeroi. 1&24. togetlier witli various replies.
Many persons had no confidence in the ancient gods, who nevertheless
had no faith in Christ. These were indifferent about what might be the re-
sult of the great struggle for religion, or without professing adherence to any
particular Deity, they contented themselves with the most general forms of
piety. The more sincere portion of this class longed for some religious fel-
lowship, and therefore associated themselves together. Accordingly, the
Masmlinns of Syria and Palestine (Euchites, Euphemites, 3eo(rf/3eIy. and in
Africa Coclicolac), conceded, indeed, that there might be many gods, but
actually worshipped, in their splendidly illuminated oratories, at morning
and evening twilight, only One universal Ruler. The JI)/j)sisiaria)is (v\}AiaTa>
Seoj npncrKvvovvT(i) of Cappadocia can be reckoned in the same class with
them, only on the ground that both were worshippers of but one God, for
their peculiar sentiments respecting the eating of meats and the Sabbath in-
dicate that they must have been a kind of proselytes of the gate. That they
ever had any connection with Parsism, is very doubtful. The indifference
of the former class and these latter sects of the fourth century must have
disappeared, after a few generations, before the internal and external power
of Christianity.
§ 97. Christianity vntler the Peisians.
Christianity made no very great progress in Persia, on account of the
newly awakened national spirit, the volatile character of the people, and the
superficial knowledge then possessed by Christians of the Persian system of
religion. In the fourth century, however, Christian congregations existed
in every part of that country under the Metropolitan of Seleucia. But in
consequence of the hatred felt against them by the priestly ca.ste, who were
bound together by the closest bonds, and some suspicions of a political na-
ture awakened against them, they became victims of a persecution, after 343,
which raged almost without interruption for a whole century, and nearly an-
nihilated the Church, (a) No parties bearing the name of Christian could
find an asylum there, except those which had been expelled from the Roman
empire. Ghosroes II. conquered Jerusalem (C14) and put to death all Chris-
tians whom he found in Palestine. Ileruclius restored the holy city to free-
a) Eufeh. Vita Const. IV, 9-13. Sozom. II, 9-14. Soci: VII, lS-21. Tlieodoret. V, 88. Acto
Martyr. Orient, et Occid. ed S. E. Assemanus. Eom. 174S. f. P. I.
103 AKCIEXT ClIUECII HISTOKT. PER. II. IMPERIAL CnURCII. A. D. 312-SOO.
dom, and triumphantly reinstated the cross in its former glory (621-628).
Armenia fell at last beneath the power of the Persians (429), but its Chris-
tianity was more heroically defended than its freedom. (//)
§ 98. Alysdnia and the Diaspora.
The preservation of two young men belonging to the murdered crew of a
Grecian vessel, was the occasion of the conversion of the Abysslnians. One
of these, named Fnnncntius, obtained influence at court, received episcopal
ordination from the hands of Athanasius (327), and lived to see the whole
nation professing the Christian faith, (a) Cosmas, the Indian traveller, found
(before 535) Christian congregations at three ditferent points along the coast
of the £asi Indies. Thomas was honored by them as their apostle, but they
must have been originally composed of mercantile colonies from Persia, (h)
The existence of a church at Chumdan, in China (after 636), with all that is
related of it, is proved only by a record discovered by the Jesuits, (c) Ara-
bia was furnished with an apostle with many rich gifts by the Emperor Con-
stantius. But wherever Christianity became prevalent in that country, it
was violently assailed by the Jews. "Whole nomadic tribes received baptism
at once from the hermits of the desert, but probably Avithout much inquiry
into the nature of Christianity, or further practice of its precepts.
§ 99. Mohammed.
I. The Koran : arab. et lat ed. Maraccius. Patav. 1698. f. Petersb. 1787. 4 Fluget, Lps. (1834.)
1841. 4 Ahulfeda, (14th cent) Hist, anteislaniica, arab. et lat ed. Fleueher, Lps. 1831. Devlta
Muhainedis, arab. et lat. cd. Gagnier, Oxon. 1723. f. (The 1st Part of Abnlfeda's Ann. Moslemici,
arab. et lat ed. Reiske, Ila^-n. 17S9ss. 5 Th. 4.) Comp. J. v. Ilaminer in the Wiener Jahrb. 1835.
■vol. 69. January, &c. [The Koran; transl. from the Arab, into Engl, by G. Sale. Lond. 1S29. 1844.
2 vols. 8. Selections from the K. with an interwoven comm. transl. from the Arab, with notes, etc.
by E. W. Lane. Lond. 1844. 8]
II. J. Gagnier, la vie de Mah. Amst 1732. 2 Th. G. Bush, Life of Mob. New York. 1S32. 12.
[TF; Irving, Mob. and his Successors. New York. 1852. 2 vola 8. S. Ockley, Ilist of the Saracens,
comprising the lives of M. and his successors, &c. 4 ed. Lond. 1847. 8. A. Sprenger, Life of Mob.
Allahabad. 12.]— Garcin de Tossy, Doctrine et devoirs de la rel. musulmane. Par. 1826. Ch. For-
Bter, Mahometanisme unveiled. Lond. 1629. 2 vols. 8. Dettinger, z. Theol. des Korans. (Tub. Zeit-
Bchr. 1831. P. 2.) J. v. Uammer-Purgstall, Mob. d. Prophet. Lps. 1S37. Comp. I'mbreit, in d.
Stud. n. Krit 1841. P. 1. G. Weil, Mob. de Proph. Stuttg. 1843. [W. IT. Keole, The Moham. Sys-
tem of Theology. Lond. 1828. 8.] — Tychsen, quatenus M. aliarum rell. sectatores toleraverit?
(Cmmtt. Soc. Goett. Class. Hist. Th. XV. p. 152ss.) ^Holder, Terh. in welchem nach d. Koran J. C.
zu M. steht. (Tub. Quartalschr. 1830. P. 1.) A. Geiger, was hat M. aus dem Jndenth. aufgenommen ?
Bonn. 1833. C. F. Gerock, Christologie d. Koran. Hamb. 1839. [IT. Prideaua; Nature of Imposture
in the Life of M. Lond. 8vo. II. ilartt/n, Controv. Tracts on Chr. and Mahommedanism. ed. &
Zee. Lond. 1S24. 8. J. B. White, Comparison of Moham. and Chr. Bampton Lectt Lond. 8. W. 71
Thompson, Pract Phil, of the Mohamme<lans, transl. from the Per. of Jany Muh. Asdad. Lond.
1S39. S. Art in Kitto's Journal of BibL Lit. vol. I.]
The Arabians were a free, warlike, and imaginative people, subsisting
6) EUsaetut, History of Vartan, transl. by Neumann, Lend. 1830. 4. p. 12ss. Saint Martin,
(§ 63. note d.) Th. I. p. 806ss. Th. II. p. 472ss.
a) Bufin. I, 9.—Jobi Ludolji Hist Aethioplca. Frcf 16S1. f. Ill, 2. and Cmtr. ad H. Aeth. lb.
1691. f. p. 5S3ss.
h) Cosmas, Toiroypa4>ia xp^o'T'o-viK-fi. {Montfaueon, CoUectlo nova PP. graec. Par. 1706. f. Tb.
II.) L. III. p. 17S. 1. XL p. 836. comp. Philoatorg. Ill, 14.
c) Kircheri Chma illustrats. Pvom. 1667, f. p. 488s,
CHAP. I. VICTOKY OF CHRISTIANITY. § 09. MOHAMMED. 109
upon their flocks, and with only a few coinniercial towns. Witli no literary-
cultivation, they took great delight in a poetic language. From the most
ancient times, the Caaba at Mecca, originally consecrated to the worship of
the one God, had been the national sanctuary, but more recently each tribe had
possessed a deity for itself. Judaism, Christianity, and Parsism, had severally
found entrance into Arabia, and it was not uncommon for them to be com-
bined or exchanged the one for the other. Jfohanuucd (b. 571) belonged to
the race of Ishmael, the tribe of the Koreish, and the family of Ilashem,
whose business it was by inheritance to take charge of the Caaba. He was
originally a merchant and a herdsman, of a quiet temperament, with very
little indication of his future character, though frequently lost in religious
reveries. All at once he began (Gil) to proclaim: "There is no God but
God, and Mohammed is his prophet.'' On this fundamental principle was
constructed a system of faith and morals, which combined together the four
forms of religion prevalent among his people. Mohammed was acquainted
with these only as be had found them in his intercourse with men — Judaism
in its Talmudic, and the life of Jesus in its apocryphal form. His professed
object was to re-establish the religion of Abraham, the great ancestor of his
nation ; and as he regarded Judaism and Christianity as divine revelations,
he in the Koran honored their founders with legends of their miracles. His
opinion respecting what ho called the later corruptions of these systems, be-
came gradually more intolerant, and was aggravated with respect to the
Jews by motives of personal hatred. It became still more developed, as he
advanced beyond the idea of a national toward that of a universal religion —
an Julam, without which there was no salvation. Ilis system of religious
ethics demanded stated seasons and forms of prayer, fastings and ablutions,
almsgiving, a pilgrimage to Mecca, an earnest contention for the faith, and a
willingness to die in its behalf. A confidence in the doctrine of an absolute
predestination, raised the courage of a brave people by inducing them joy-
fully to surrender themselves to the will of the Almighty. He prohibited
his followers the use of wine, but indemnified them by an unrestrained
allowance of sexual pleasures. The prospect of sensual enjoyments in an-
other world gave the finishing stroke to this system, and adapted it solely to
man's sensuous and intellectual nature. He then presented it to his fellow-
men with all the peremptoriness of a direct revelation from heaven, and in
all the fanciful richness of the popular poetry. Few in his native city were
disposed to put confidence in his messages, and he was even obliged to escape
the swords of his fellow-citizens by flying (July 15th, 622, Iledschra) to Me-
dina. By bold predatory exijcditions from this place, he conquered a part
of Arabia, and the remaining portion was convinced by his success that he
was indeed an apostle of God. Ilis personal appearance was remarkably pre-
possessing ; he was eloquent, enthusiastic in piety, as well as artful in policy,
so bold in his measures that he even resorted to assassination to effect them,
yet ordinarily just and magnanimous enough to be esteemed by an adoring
people as a messenger from God. In his private life he was faithful, sincere,
and temperate, though addicted to women. When first called of God to his
work, he could neither read nor write ; his travels could have given no great
1 10 AXCIEXT CIirECn IIISTOKT. PEK. II. IMPERIAL CHURCH. A. D. 812-800.
information, and most of Avliat lie know he had acquired at Mecca, to which
pilgrims resorted from the whole oriental world. He professed to receive his
revelations, as occasion called for them, from the lips of the angel Gabriel,
in inspired language, though in the day of his prosperity they were not with-
out a remarkable adaptation to his desires. They were preserved sometimes
in popular tradition, and sometimes in detached manuscript fragments, until
two 3'ears after his death, when they were collected as holy scriptures (Al-
koran) by Ahubelcr. This prophet, poet, priest and king of Arabia, died (682)
in the midst of his plans of conquest, from the effects of a slow poison given
him to test his prophetic powers.
§ 100. Victories of Islam.
Oelsner, des effets de la rel. de Moh. pendant les trois prem. sii'cles. Par. 1810. Mit Zus. des
Verf. V. E. D. M. Frkf. 1810. J. J. DiHlingei; Muh. Eel. nach ihrer Entwiekl. u. ihrem Einfliisse.
Muncli. 1838.
To his successors the Caliphs^ Mohammed left the assurance that God had
given them the world to be conquered for Islam. Tins system had even then,
in its various sects, been developed in some splendid forms of life. The Eo-
man empire had become debased by effeminacy, and the oriental Church was
split up into factions. But a religious enthusiasm which has seized the
sword, cannot be overcome, at least by ordinary armies, and Christianity had
hitherto been far from cultivating the military virtues. The Arabians suc-
cessively conquered Egypt and Syria before 640, Persia before 651, and the
African provinces before 707. With extreme difficulty Constantinople with-
stood the storm. The conditions on which the patriarch Sophronius had sur-
rendered Jerusalem (637), were generally complied with by the Saracens, so
far as they referred to the Christian population. Christians were tolerated
in the exercise of their religion on the payment of a poll-tax, but many of
them renounced their faith, and followed the fortune of their conquerors.
Mohammed defended Jesus from the attempts of Christians to deify him, and,
according to a prevalent tradition, Christ is at his second advent to become
the last Caliph. The efforts of the Christian apologists were confined princi-
pally to a defence of the divinity of Christ, and of the doctrine that God
could not be the author of evil. The only reply of the Mussulmen was with
their swords.
CHAP. II.— THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE.
§ 101. Conflicts and Sources of Ecclesiastical Life.
As the various parties became developed within the Church, the latter
was necessarily urged to a more precise determination of the essential arti-
cles of its faith. Tlie unity of the Church, which had been externally estab-
lished, operated unfavorably to an unrestrained diversity of opinions. No
sooner had the common external enemies of the Church been overcome, than
its consciousness of essential unity became so obscured by the rancor of indi-
vidual parties, that not only elements foreign to Christianity, but some of
CHAP. II. DOCTRINE. § 101. CONFLICTS, SOURCES. Ill
the mere modes in which real Christianity was received, Avere rejected b}' the
Church. Indeed it was for a long time uncertain wliich of the parties in
this contest would prove to be the Catholic Church. The passions of the
people and of the government were enlisted in the conflict. The natural de-
velopment of the ecclesiastical spirit was determined by mechanical majori-
ties and imperial decisions. The Oriental Church endeavored to fathom the
mystery of the divine, while tlie Western attempted rather to exi)lore the
abyss of the human nature. The Avliole literature of the Cliureli was in-
volved in these theological disputes, which became, especially in the East,
central objects in the history not merely of the Church, but of the empire.
Tradition and the Scriptures were as usual regarded as the standard of au-
thority, but while individuals sought salvation onlj- in the word of God, the
living voice and opinion of the Church became in practice more and more in-
fluential. Vincentius of Lirinum (d. about 450) proposed that the tradition
which could plead in its behalf the established usage of the primitive Church
and universal consent as the conditions of its proper organic progress, in op-
position to all heretical innovations and ecclesiastical rigidity, should be
regarded as the warrant and the standard of the true faith. («) Those por-
tions of the sacred writings which had been subjects of suspicion at an early
period, were still opposed by many in the time of Eusebius. (?>) But the
unity of the Church rendered it indispensable that all portions should
be agreed respecting its sacred writings, and accordingly near the close of the
fourth century the disputed books were almost universally received. "We
have, however, no well authenticated law on the subject of the canon, with
the exception of a decree passed by an African synod, which seems to have
been adopted in other countries as a part of the common law of the Church.
Various translations were in use among the Latin portions of the Church;
one of these, the Itala, used at Rome, was, at the request of the Bishop Da-
masus, amended by Jerome^ and in connection with a version of the received
text of the Old Testament, maintained its position and found acceptance in
spite of much opposition.
I. The Abian Coxtkoverst.
I. 1) Ecspecting some fragments of the writings of Arhis : Fahricii Blbl. gr. Th. VIII. p. 309s.
esp. Ep. ad Euseb. Nicoin. (in Efiph. haer. 69, 6. TlieodoreC, H. ecc. I, 5.) Ep. ad Alc^andr. &
fragm. from the &6.K(ia (in Athdn. d. Synod. Arim. ct Selene. 0pp. Th. I. p. 88.5s.) Philostorgius
(§ 92.) Fra-menta Ariarvor. about 888. {Ang. Mnji N. Coll. Rom. 1828. Th. III.) 2) Partaking tho
U-a.st of a partisan character: Athananius, Eusebius, and Socrates. A partisan tnatise: Epijyh.
haer. 69. "-3. 75s.
II. Wiilch^ Ilist. d. Ketzeroien. vol. II. III. Travasa, Storia critica della vita di Ario. Ven. 1746.
{Stark) Vers. e. Gcscli. d. Arianistn. BrI. 1783. Mdhler, Athan. d. Grosse u. d. Kirclie seiner Zoit.
Mainz. 1^27. 2 vols. /.. Langi'. in Illgons Zoitschr. lS:Ws. vol. IV. pt. 2. vol. V. pt. 1.— Wetzet\ Resti-
tutio verae dironolog. rornm ex controv. Arianis indc ab a. .325 usque ad a. 850 exortarum. Frcf. 1827.
—F. G. Baur, d. chr. L. v. d. Dreieinigk. u. Menscliw. Gottcs. Tiib. 1841. Th. I. p. 30Cs.s. G. A.
Meier, L. v. d. Trin. vol. I. p. 134ss. J. A. Dorner, Entwicklungsgesch. d. L. v. d. Person Chr. in d.
a) Commonltorium pro oath, fldel antlquitato et universitate adv. profanas omninm haer. novi«
tales. Denuo ed. JTerzog. Vrat. 1889.
&) H. ecc. Ill, 3. VI, 25; bii.o\oyoviJ.iva, avTiAfyofxeya, v6Aa,
1 12 ANCIENT CHURCH HISTORY. PKR. II. IMPERIAL CHURCH. A. D. 312-SOO.
ersten 4 Jahrli. 1S45. Part II. [,/ IT. Nmcman, The Arians of the 4th cent. Lond. 1S33. 8. J. Whit-
aker. Hist, of Arianism disclosed. Lond. 1791. 8. W. Berrimann, Aa hist Account of controversies
on the Trinity, in S sermons. L*nd. 1725.]
§ 102. The Synod of Mcaea. 325. Cont. from § 90.
T. Eiuieh. Vita Const III, 6s». The Creed : Tkeodoret, L 12. Socrat. I, 8. Respecting its com-
position: Ennefj. Caesar. Ep. ad Caesarienses. Athanas. Ep. de decretis syn. Nic. & Ep. ad Afros.
Gelasii Cyziceni (about 476) 'S.vvTaytJia rSiv Kara.T)]v ivtiiKaiaa.yiav avvoiovirpax^fvritiv.
{Manxi Th. II. p. 759ss.) [Landoji, Manual of councils. Nicaea, pp. 4.3Q-.3S.]
II. F. G. ITdtisencamp, Hist Arianae controv. ab initio usque ad syn. Nicaenam. Marb. 1S45. —
Itiig. Hist Cone. Nic. Lps. 1713. 4. — ^[tni><che>\ u. d. Sinn d. nic. Glaubensfonnel. (Henkes N. Mag.
vol. \'I. p. 334ss.) Eisenschmidt, d. Unfehlbark. d. Cone, zu Nicsa. Neust 1S30. [J. K(ty«, Athana-
sius & the Council of Nice. Lond. 1S5.3. S. W. A. Hammond, Definitions of faith & canons of Disc
of the 6 oecumenical councils, & code of the univer. Church, and apost canons. Lond. 1S4-3. New
York. 1844. 12.]
The contradiction involved in the idea of a God existing at the same time
■with another, or of a God subordinate to another, was yet to be declared and
overcome. Arlus, a presbyter of Alexandria, maintained that the Son was
at some period created out of nothing by the divine will, that he was the
first of all creatures, and the Creator of the world, that he was endowed with
the highest natural gifts in the highest state of development, and that he was
not truly God, though he might be so called. Arius had been educated at
Antioch, was eloquent in prose and vei"se, a skilful logician, though not biased
by any predominant intellectual tendency, and a rigid ascetic in his habits of
life. Proceeding from the ground of the ordinary doctrine of the Church,
he attempted to find some clear idea which should at once be consistent with
Monotheism, and opposed to Sabellianism. His Bishop Alexander, produced
in opposition to his views (after 318) the other side of Origen's doctrine, ac-
cording to which the Logos was from eternity begotten from the essence of
the Father, and was consequently equal to the Father, At a synod held at
Alexandria (321), Arius was deposed and excommunicated. But the people
and many of the oriental bishops attached themselves to his party ; many
perhaps, like Eusebius of Nicomedia, not so much because they shared in his
sentiments, as because they looked upon them as harmless, and others, like
Eusebius of Caesarea, because they regarded such subjects as lying beyond
the bounds of human knowledge or of divine revelation. The emperor Con-
stantine, having made many fruitless eiforts to induce the parties to give up
what then seemed to him a useless controversy, summoned a general assem-
bly of bishops at Nicaea, principally for the settlement of this question.
More than 250 bishops, almost exclusively from the East, came together.
Both Arius and Alexander were in a minority, since most of the bishops
dreaded in the former an exaggerated system of subordination, and in the
latter a covert Sabellianism, or an open Tritheism. But Alexander's friends,
through the influence of the court bishop, Hosius of Cordova, induced the
emperor to embrace their cause, and dictated the decision on matters of faith.
The only embarrassment which they experienced arose from the readiness
with which the Arians subscribed all their articles, until the expression as-
serting that the Son was of the same essence with the Father (rw naTpi 6/xoo'v-
o-toy) was proposed and rejected, and became henceforth the watchword of the
CHAP. II. DocTraxK. § 102. arianism, nicaea. §103. athanasius. 113
new orthodoxy. Most of the opposing bishops, out of reverence for the
imperial authority, or for tlie sake of peace, on finding that it could be inter-
preted so as to harmonize with their views, gave in their subscription to this
creed. Arius Avas banished to Illyria, and was accompanied by only two
Egyptian bishops. Three months afterwards, Eusehius of Nicomedia^ who
had promptly subscribed not only the creed but the condemnation of Arius,
was compelled to share his fate. The Emperor commanded that all the writ-
ings of Arius should be burned; all who would not surrender his works were
threatened with death, and his followers Avere to be regarded as the enemies
of Christianity. It Avas for this reason that the latter Avere sometimes called
Porphyrians.
§ 103. Athanasius and Arius.
A controversy thus decided by the mere authority of an incompetent and
unstable sovereign Avas sure speedily to be reneAved. AtJianasiiis five months
afterAvards was made Metropolitan of Alexandria, and became the leader of
the Nicaean party, Avhich even when a deacon he had completely governed at
Nicaea. By his enemies he has been described as a tyrant; by the emperors
he Avas sometimes persecuted, sometimes honored, and always feared ; and by
the Egyj)tians he Avas beloved as a friend of the people, and venerated as a
saint. During tAventy of the forty-sis years Avhich he spent in the episcopal
ofiice he was a fugitive for his life, or in banishment. His life was often pre-
served through the fidelity of his friends, who were ready to die for him. The
great object of his life was to contend for the divine dignity of Christ, and
in this for all that Avas essential to Christianity, in opposition to a ncAV hea-
thenism, {a) The Arians regarded themselves as the special advocates of the
divine unity, and an intelligible form of thought. Constantine finally recurred
to his earlier vicAV of the uselessuess of this controversy, and was satisfied
Avith a creed drawn up by Arius in the most general terms (328). At a synod
convened at Tyre (335) Athanasius Avas deposed and banished to Gaul. Arius
died on the very day in Avhieh he Avent in solemn procession from the impe-
rial palace to tlie church of the apostles (33G), according to his enemies the
victim of a divine judgment, but according to his friends poisoned by magical
arts. (J) EuseMus of Nicomedia^ after 338 Bishop of Constantinople, again
became the leader of the party which had been the true majority at Nicaea,