The Emperors, Fathers and Heresies of the Fourth Century Church



The Emperors, Fathers and Heresies of the Fourth Century Church

During our course on church fathers we learned a wealth of information on the importance of doctrinally knowing why we believe what we believe in as Christians in relations to the variegated historical and heretical debates of the past. This paper will focus on the fourth century of the Christian era with its emphasis upon the Emperors, the church father Constantine, the doctrine of the trinity, and the heresies of Donatism and Arianism.

Throughout the course of Church History, various degrees of persecution and heresies have been discussed. The paper will begin by taking into account the aftermath of the horrendous periods of the Roman Empire torn by a half century of civil war and the persecutions of the Christian era which had come after the fierce extermination persecutions of Decius (249-251), the plagues after Decius death, the temple neglect of Gallus (251-253) the treachery of Valerianus to north Africa and Rome (251-260), and the Great persecution of Diocletian between (235-284). However, Aurellian of the fourth century Ante-Nicene Period will be the focal emperor for acknowledgement in the beginning era of Arianism.

Lucius Dominius Aurelianus who had exemplified exceptional military ability and strength in battles was proclaimed by the army at Sirmium. He became the sole master of the Roman Dominion, 270-275. When he assumed his position, the kingdom had been divided into three sections, The Gallo-Roman Empire, The kingdom of Palmyra and the Roman Empire. In the beginning of his reign he found his dominion in a deplorable condition, wars and revolts were widespread, the internal affairs were detestable, the imperial authority had been shattered, the treasury was broke and the monetary system was in ruins. With no apparent infrastructure in place other than the support of his Danube military, he undertook and restored the material and moral vitality of the empire in less than five years. During this same era, Paul of Somasata considered as a vain and impious pagan, who had a low view of Jesus, received the title of Bishop of Antioch by suspicious means after Demetrians death. Paul of Somasata, a monarchianist, proclaimed an abominable heresy emphasizing the oneness of God. He taught a form of Monarchianism that Jesus was born a human, but his baptism he was infused him with divinity. Jesus was seen as man becoming God rather than God becoming man. This was a anti-trinitarian heresy taught by Sabellius called Sabellianism (modalism), which emphasized that one God showed himself successively first as father or creator, then as Son, the Redeemer, and lastly as Spirit-the Sustainer. He proclaimed that there is only one divine person, instead of three as represented by trinity, and Jesus was one mode of which God revealed himself. This was an attempt to safe guard monotheism and the unity of the Godhead.

It is noteworthy that Paul a Patriarch of Antioch had two pupils named Lucian of Antioch, founder of the school ...