101 Lecture 3 Jan 31 Flashcards by Jolanta Komornicka

Traditional Roman Religion
Ceremonial
Local variations
Polytheistic
Eclectic
Civic
Local patriotism
Emperor worship

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Reminder

Prompt 1 for onCourse due Friday

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Slide

Christianity
Apocalyptic
Intolerant
Rejected the material world
Rejected civic celebrations
Rejected the emperor
Rejected the army

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To Romans: kill-joy and weird

No interest in the fortunes of this world

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Persecution

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Gives rise to martyrdom

Even weirder in Roman eyes

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Growth of Christianity quite slow

What’s going on around 300?

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Constantine the Great

306 raises an army in Britain, marches on Gaul
Made Caesar

Maxentius rebels

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Galerius, emperor in the east, dies in 311
Succeeded by Licinius
Licinius lets Constantine deal with Maxentius

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Battle of the Milvian Bridge 312

Slide

Dream. Chi (x) Ro (p).
Vision. In this sign you shall conquer

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Chi Ro a new symbol for christianity

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No reason for Constantine to convert other than faith

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313 Edict of Toleration
Christians can come out of hiding

Church favored

Conversions increase

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Church now above ground, as are all the various forms of christianity

Disputes

Constantine arbiter

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Donatist Contraversy
North Africa
Nature of the priesthood and so the church in general

Traditores

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Manicheanism

Good vs Evil
God not all-powerful
Removes individual responsibility

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Arianism
Followers of Arius
Plato
Trinity
"There was a time when Christ was not"

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Council of Nicaea 325

Bishop of Rome does not attend

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Nicaean Creed

Reiussed by Pope – no one notices

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Nicaea doesn’t solve everything. Slow change

Constantine baptised on his deathbed by an Arian priest

Barbarians. Europe will have to be re-christianized.

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Church in a Christian Empire
No leader. Bishops.
Being part of the world.
Relationship with the state

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Monasticism
Paradox: while the monks are trying to escape the world, the world is following them. World interested in their prayers as there are thought to have a very powerful real- world effect. As monks become more distant form society, God hears their prayers w/ more sympathy. Prayers have more power.

Building up spiritual energy- more than they can use. Excess distributed by people outside making donations out of concern for their souls. Intercession. See this with the saints as well

After collapse of empire a lot of instability and warfare. The church is part of what holds things together. Monasticism an instance of this.
Monks extremely important to how society functions.

Monks are professional members of the church (clergy) but not priests. Priests interact with the laity through mass, sacraments. Priests are intermediaries between the divine and the material. Priests involved in the world.
Monks are to live a life apart of contemplation and self- denial. Still have a duty to others.

Why rid oneself of the world?
Christian apocalypticism.

How do you know you’re a christian because you believe and not because it’s easy?

Time of the martyrs appears to be over.

Slide First monk we know of is St. Anthony of Egypt. 251-356. Supposedly. 270 he heard the saying of Jesus in a church: 'go sell all you have, give to the poor, and follow me.' Become a solitary hermit in Egypt.

Slide Desert Fathers First monks Egypt often live alone as hermits but sometimes as communities

Reaction against the compromises and comfort of official Christianity Men and women Not terribly literate. Somewhat anti-intellectual movement

Slide Ascetic individualism means 1 person engaging in practices that dramatize the renunciation of the world. Classic example: saints in Syria who sit on pillars 30 to 50 ft high for decades at a time. Known as Stylites.

Slide St. Simon of the Dessert / Stylites sat on his pillar for 35 years or so. People came and visited him. Climbed a ladder to ask for his prayers. Pictures of this. Belief that God well listen to Simon because he has renounced the world, which has imbued him with power. Like a letter of recommendation. Spiritual super hero who helps the weak. Son of Constantine, the emperor Constantius was going to punish the city of Antioch for attacking tax collectors. Simon intervened. Constantius listened because he was a little intimidated by Simon.

Slides of hermitages Slide Communal or collective monasticism Proves more durable. Benedictine form especially so in the west until late 12th century

Beginning in the late 6th and particularly the 7thc a lot of monasteries established in parts of rural Europe. Slides

Monasteries owned property and become very rich. One way to affiliate yourself with a monastery was to give to them. Land, money, serfs. Those who had stuff to denote had gotten it by violence. In this society, rich are anxious over hell. Symbiosis between the monks and the leaders of society, one amasses Spiritual energy the other sins. Natural trade agreement. (cynical explanation)

The wealthier monasteries become, the more important they are and the less inclined are lords to leave them in the hands of world -renouncing hermits. Should be administered by people who themselves are from high families. To become a monk you have to come from a good family and with an endowment. Later this leads to a diminishment in people's belief about a monastery's spiritual energy.

Slide Custodians of Learning Thanks to Cassiodorus Copying comes from late Roman culture and a desire to understand the Bible. Transformation of world where the people of cultivated leisure are the guardians of learning to one where the monastic clergy take on that role.

Slide Cassiodorus the founder/transmitter of the Liberal Arts Liberal arts: things that are not immediately practical or useful, but that help illuminate the person seeking after knowledge - particularly Of God and the divine. Why not just read the Bible? Bible not an immediately evident document. Full Of mysteries. Contradictions. Application. To celebrate rituals, need to know the day, phases of the moon. When is Easter?

Slide St. Benedict of Nursia

The experiment failed; the monks tried to poison him. The legend goes that they first tried to poison his drink. He prayed a blessing over the cup and the cup shattered. Then they tried to poison him with poisoned bread. When he prayed a blessing over the bread, a raven swept in and took the loaf away. Benedict returned to his cave at Subiaco.

Rule of St. Benedict Moderate asceticism Easily scales up

Require a certain kind of asceticism; renunciation of self in favor of the community. Celibacy. Prayer. Isolation from world. Subordinate your will to communal rituals and life. Obedience to abbot. Manual labor a penitential tool. Part of the success of this form of monasticism.

Manual labor Despised by the ancient world. Ancient world aspired to leisure with dignity. Actual work is degrading. Sacred reading Silence Prayer Slide

Sacrificing the self and comfort

Closest thing to a monastery is a college

In class writing Most important thing you learned?