Lecture 6: Christianity II Flashcards
what were some of the reasons of the Eastern and Western Church split?
- differing views regarding their religious standpoints and theological views regarding how the Trinity was understood
the split of the Eastern and Western Churches was in what year?
1054 of the common era
what was the leading factor of the split of the Eastern and Western churches in 1054?
the Eastern Church of Constantinople thought the Western Church was claiming too much authority for itself
what are the three major branches of Christianity?
- Roman Catholicism (largest branch)
- Eastern Orthodoxy (more mystical)
- Protestantism (multiple dimensions)
what three theologians contributed to the early theological positions of Eastern Orthodoxy?
- Basil
- Gregory of Nyssa
- Gregory of Nanzianzus
what did Gregory of Nanzianzuz do?
formulated his own understanding of the nature of the Trintiy
what was the main language spoken in the Eastern Roman Empire vs the Western Roman empire in the time of Constantine?
- Eastern Orthodox Christianity the main language was Greek
- Western Church Christianity the main language was Latin
which Christianity became dominant in Russia, Turkey until the coming of Islam?
Eastern Orthodoxy
The Byzantine (Greek) Church (Eastern) became a self-governing religious community under?
the Ottoman Turks, tolerated under Islam with the patriarch as its civil ruler
which tradition is the most mystical denomination of the three major denominations of Christian Traditions?
Greek (Eastern) Orthodoxy
who distinguished between God’s essence and his energies?
Gregory Palamas
what did the Hesychasts develop?
they developed mantra-like prayers, the most famous being the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”
what is Byzantium?
the former Eastern Roman Empire that was seated in Turkey and eventually fell to Muslim invaders and gave rise to the series of crusades
why is Eastern Orthodoxy sometimes called Greek Orthodoxy?
Greek was the original language that was spoken in this branch of Christianity
what is Russian Orthodoxy?
the early center was Kiev, in Ukraine, whose non-Christian ruler Vladimir converted in order to marry the sister of the Byzantine emperor and demanded that his subjects converted
when did the centre for Russian Orthodoxy shift from Kiev in Ukraine to Moscow?
after 1237
how long was Moscow the centre for Russian Orthodoxy?
1237-1917
what happened from 1917-1989 in regards to Eastern Orthodoxy?
the Soviet regime was hostile to all religions. After 1989, the church became the favored state religion
the chanting harmonies in Greek Church services where influenced by?
Hebrew chants
the vigil of Easter in Greek Church is an example of?
how light is used to symbolize the Gospel going forth into the world
what is an iconoclast?
some kind of breaker with tradition
- “icon breakers”
what did iconodules want?
to maintain the use of icons and they argued that they were not worshiping images but they were simply a visual reminder of the stories surrounding Jesus and the other religious figures
- “icon worshippers”
the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 decided what in regards to the Orthodox Christianity Church?
that icons were permissible and could be venerated, as long as the faithful did not actually worship them
the decline of Medieval Christianity began when and continued until?
began about 600 and began until the mid-tenth century