Transcript Christianity in the Byzantine Empire

CHRISTIANITY IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
DO NOW: QUOTE ANALYSIS
“If the Tiber River reaches the walls, if the Nile
fails to rise to the fields, if the sky doesn’t move
or the Earth does, if there is a famine or plague,
the cry is at once: ‘The Christians to the Lions’.”
What does this quote mean?
CHRISTIANITY IN ROME

Christians had been persecuted for refusing to
honor Rome’s gods.

Constantine became a supporter of Christianity
after having a premonition.

Constantine followed through with his premonition
and won the throne.
CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE

Constantine was emperor for 25 years:


He worked to strengthen the Christian church.
Constantine paid for the construction of
important Christian monuments.
Examples: St. Peters Cathedral in Rome…
and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE

Under his rule,
Christians were no
longer tortured and
punished for their
beliefs.

Edict of Milan- Makes
Christianity acceptable,
and Christians could
no longer be legally
persecuted.
CHRISTIANITY UNDER CONSTANTINE

Christians were now free to practice their
religion, build churches, and own land.

Christianity grew so popular it became the
official religion of the Roman Empire.
THE CHURCH DISAGREES

325- Church leaders disagreed on certain
issues of faith and split the church with
their differing beliefs.
 This
created a religious crisis in Rome.
THE CHURCH DISAGREES
 Some
Christians believed that
Jesus was the divine son of God.
 Others
believed that Jesus was a
teacher and prophet who spoke
for God but was not divine.
THE CHURCH DISAGREES

Council of Nicaea- Constantine led
a meeting at Nicaea to reunite the
church.
 The
Council studied church
testaments and voted that Jesus
was the divine son of God.
 This
decision kept Christianity
from splitting…for a little while.

CHRISTIANITY SCHISMS

As the western empire declined a second great
religious conflict occurred.
 Byzantine
Christians were different from Roman
Christians.
CHRISTIANITY SCHISMS
 In
Byzantine churches the
emperor served as the religious
leader, Greek was the Church
language.

While Roman churches
followed the Pope and used
Latin.
CHRISTIANITY SCHISMS

The two branches of Christianity began to grow
apart.
CHRISTIANITY SCHISMS

There was also an issue over the use of icons.
 Icons
are images of religious people which were
worshiped by many Christians.
CHRISTIANITY SCHISMS

Icons were outlawed in Byzantium in the 700s.
 The
Byzantine’s believed icons violate the first
commandment, worship none but God alone.
 The
Roman Pope disagreed and banished the
Byzantine emperor from the church.
CHRISTIANITY SCHISMS

This banishment led to a schism in the Christian
Church and the emergence of two separate forms of
Christianity.


Roman Catholic in Rome.
Eastern Greek Orthodox in the Byzantine Empire.