4th Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon):

- attended by over 500 bishops

- canon 4: placed monks under authority of bishops

- Rome was granted primacy because it was the imperial capitol, not because it was founded by Peter. Thus, New Rome (Constantinople) is entitled to the same status.

- canon 28: “We decree that the metopolitans… of the dioceses of Pontus, Asia and Thrace as well as the bishops of the aforementioned dioceses who are in barbarian lands be ordained by the most holy throne of the most holy church of Constantinople.”

- ratified by 454 bishops declaring they were freely accepting Constantinople’s new authority

- closed by singing, “Holy God, Holy Mighty…”, the first recorded use of that hymn

4th Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon): Reaction

- Eutyches persists, saying Christ has one nature, divine, not human, and that His humanity was absorbed by His divinity.

- Jerusalem: Returning Archbishop Juvenal prevented from assuming his throne; escapes to Constantinople. Monophysite bishop replaces him. Chalcedonian position enforced by troops from Leo I.

- Egypt: Chalcedonian bishop murdered during Divine Liturgy. Replaced by monophysite Timothy. Leo I sends troops & exiles Timothy.

- Patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem & Alexandria reject growing authority of Rome & Constantinople

- Conflict continues & monophysitism grows in Egypt & East.

421: wars with Persia, who had persecuted Christians since 340.431: monastics growing Christianity in British Isles; Celestine sends Patrick to Ireland432: Vandals leave Spain for North Africa where they brutally persecute Christians until 439451: Atila tries to take Paris; defeated by general Aetius455: Aetius & Valentian III die; Roman rule collapses & emperors move to Ravenna480: Benedict establishing monastic discipline in the West493: Odovakar deposes Romulus Augustus; Ostrogoths take over under King Theodoric493: King Clovis of Franks declares himself Christian; first Germanic nation to adopt Christianity498: Two popes in Rome - one Arian Ostrogoth, one supported by Constantinople

By the end of the 5th century:

Spain = Visigoths Italy = Ostrogoths

Gaul = Franks Britain = Anglo-Saxons

“The conquerors were culturally overpowered by the superior civilization they conquered.”

- John Meyendorff

However...

However...

4th Century Developments within the Church

- orderly monasticism

- monasticism = martyrdom

- martyrs & saints = patrons, thus relics important

- veneration develops locally

- priests replace rural bishops

- authority centralized in cities

- hymnology, Byzantine tones

- rule of prayer common

- liturgical cycle, Marianic feasts standardized

- Epiclesis emphasized in Eastern churches

- Eucharistic prayer standardized

- 2 Divine Liturgies common

- infant baptism emphasized

- clergy: East monogamous, West celibate