I. Эфес

 

В конце I века Эфес, расположившийся недалеко от Эгейского моря (юго-запад сегодняшней Турции), был третьим городом Римской империи: город большой, международный, весомый экономически и значимый в религиозном отношении. В Эфесе царил культ Дианы (Артемиды). Апостол Павел со слезами прощался с пресвитерами церкви именно этого города, чтобы «совершить поприще и служение» в Риме и дальше. И именно в этот город переехал впоследствии Апостол Иоанн, «возлюбленный ученик» Четвертого Евангелия, и нес там служение, почив около 100 года н. э., последний из Апостолов – свидетелей Иисуса Христа. Можно сказать, что именно в Эфесе началось послеапостольское время, собственно «история церкви».

Какова была первая церковь?

Апостолы оставили после себя диаспору из сотен христианских общин по всему Средиземноморью и дальше. В некоторой степени эти ранние церкви для нас – тайна и загадка. Кто-то представляет себе церковь конца I века в виде свободных собраний, где исполнялись песнопения под музыкальный инструмент наподобие гитары, читались воспоминания о Господе по каким-то свиткам… Кто-то, напротив, сразу проецирует на младенческую церковь все дальнейшее историческое развитие… Третьи предполагают движение, основополагающими принципами которого были отцовство Бога и братство человека, но без догматической составляющей…

Мы имеем дело, однако, не с абстракцией, а с конкретным историческим явлением. Попробуем ограничиваться фактами. Что можно сказать о послеапостольской церкви? Если бы нам довелось побыть в одной из этих общин, что мы могли бы увидеть?

Во-первых, можно было наблюдать общину, которая во многом переняла практику иудейской синагоги. Богослужения проходили не на седьмой день недели (суббота), а в первый (воскресенье), но, тем не менее, воспроизводились многие элементы синагогальной службы: пение псалмов, установленные молитвы, чтение Писания и проповедь («слово наставления»). Кроме утреннего воскресного собрания, которое проводил предстоятель, было еще еженедельное свободное вечернее общение (вечеря любви).

Также, как и синагога, церковь представляла собой организованную общину с единым руководством; её члены тесно общались между собой и участвовали в жизни друг друга. Жизнь церкви управлялась коллегией пресвитеров (они же епископы): «Рукополагайте себе епископов и диаконов» (цитата из раннехристианского текста, Дидахэ). Когда среди членов коллегии стал выделяться главный, и именно он один стал называться епископом, каждая церковь с таким епископом получила статус самоуправляемой и полноценной. Эти церкви были связаны между собой сначала Апостолами самого Иисуса Христа, а потом такими апостолами церквей, как Тимофей и Тит. Спорные вопросы решались конференциями-соборами с участием представителей разных церквей, наподобие Иерусалимского собора, известного нам по Деяниям Апостолов (Деяния 15).

Христианская церковь, также, как и синагоги, вписывалась в «ландшафт» эллинского общества того времени наряду с другими объединениями (societates) как религиозного, так и нерелигиозного характера. Вплоть до IV века богослужения проходили повсеместно, даже в Риме, на греческом языке (исключением были говорящие на арамейском наречии иудеи). Только с IV века на собраниях стали использовать сирийский, коптский и латинский языки.

Церковь отличалась от синагоги именно верой в Триединого Бога: Бога-Отца, Бога-Сына и Духа Святого. Утверждая иудейское Писание («Ветхий Завет»), христиане исповедовали новое, окончательное откровение в Иисусе, Которому христиане с самого начала «поклонялись, как богу» (Император Траян, 112 г.) Вторая половина христианского собрания – вечеря Господня, где верующие принимали хлеб и вино, внимая словам Господа: «Сие есть тело Мое, за вас ломимое». Древнейшие тексты молитв на причастии вдохновлены иудейскими молитвами перед принятием пищи. Церковь торжественно совершала преломление хлебов во имя Иисуса, возможно, в пределах вечерней трапезы – «вечери любви».

Людской состав церкви

Кого же можно было увидеть в церкви? Каков был ее людской состав?

Христианская церковь началась на Святой земле среди иудеев. Не только наш Господь, Матерь Его и родные братья, остальные Апостолы, но и все члены церкви были иудеями. Иудеи делились на евреев (говорящих по-арамейски), эллинов (говорящих по-гречески), и прозелитов, т. е. есть неиудеев, обращенных в иудейскую веру и ставших во всех отношениях иудеями. Примерами последних были присутствовавшие в День Пятидесятницы, или же евнух-эфиоп. Были также самаряне-полуевреи, которым благовествовал Филипп. О самяранах-христианах упоминает Иустин во II веке, но к концу II века, возможно, они сошли на нет. Обострение отношений, а также иудейские войны (66–70 гг. и 135 г.) усугубили разделение между синагогой и церковью, и к середине II века иудейская составляющая церкви была очень мала. В синагогах стали читать проклятие «миним» (раскольникам).

Кроме иудеев, начиная с сотника Корнилия, в доме которого благовествовал Петр, в церковь вошли представители других народов, не принимавших иудейскую религиозную культуру. Корнилий был близок к иудейской синагоге; «чтущий Бога», он, однако, не стал полноценным прозелитом. Такие «приближенные неиудеи» были очень благоприятной почвой для проповеди Евангелия: они уверовали в Иисуса Христа и приняли крещение, но не принимали обрезания, т. е. не приняли религиозную культуру иудаизма. Другим ключевым моментом в развитии церкви был «антиохийский прорыв», когда в Антиохии впервые уверовали эллины, не имевшие никакого отношения к синагоге (Деяния 12). С этого момента и возникло наименование «христиане». У христианина-неиудея Иустина (II век) прослеживается мысль, что христиане – избранный Богом народ, в то время как иудеи-нехристиане уже не есть Израиль.

Кроме высоко-цивилизованных эллинов, среди принадлежащих церкви народов можно было встретить и варваров. Судя по посланию к Колоссянам, уже с апостольских времен и такие представители не говорящих по-гречески народов-дикарей – например, скифы (Скифия располагалась на северо-западном побережье Черного моря) – услышали Евангелие и уверовали.

Кроме этнического, в церкви было еще и социальное разнообразие. Судя по подробным наставлениям апостольских посланий, среди первых христиан было много рабов. (Позже в Риме кто-то из бывших рабов даже поднялся до должности епископа.) Было и какое-то количество рабовладельцев, поскольку и к ним было обращено слово наставления.

Третья плоскость разнообразия в первой церкви – присутствие как женского, так и мужского пола. И для иудейского общества, и для греко-римского мира было непривычно, что Христос беседовал с женщинами и учил женщин. Когда Он воскрес из мертвых, Господь первым явился именно женщине, Марии Магдалине, которая и сообщила об этом Апостолам («апостол апостолам»). Множество женщин уверовало и было среди верующих. В церкви были признанные женские служебные должности («чины»): девы, вдовы и диакониссы.

География церкви I века

А где же были расположены эти христианские общины конца I века – в географическом смысле?

Первым очагом христианства был, разумеется, Иерусалим и окружающие города Иудеи (в том числе Самария). В Иерусалиме была многотысячная церковь и местные общины (например, Иоппия, Кесария). Апостол Иаков Брат Господень, который был ведущим в Иерусалимской церкви, был убит в 62 г. После этого верующие стали выезжать из Иерусалима. Часть христиан-иудеев переместилась в Эфес (см. выше). Перед разгромом Иерусалима в 70 г. другие христиане-иудеи убежали в город Пеллу, располагавшийся за Иорданом в Сирии; он стал новым центром иудействующего христианства.

Кстати, среди соблюдающих закон христиан-иудеев были правоверные «Назореи» и еретические «евиониты». Вплоть до второй иудейской войны 135 г., называемой также восстанием Бар-Кохбы, была община иудеев-христиан в Иерусалиме; все её пресвитеры были иудеями. После этого Иерусалим был закрыт для иудеев и был переименован в город Элия Капитолина. Иерусалимская церковь уже состояла из неиудеев, а иудействующие христиане дожили до V века в Сирии.

Второй очаг христианства – сирийская Антиохия (было несколько городов с таким названием), где впервые услышали Евангелие и уверовали эллины – люди, не имеющие никакого отношения к синагоге (см. выше).

Из Антиохии Павел с Варнавой отправились в миссионерские поездки по территориям сегодняшней Турции (Малая Азия). В результате церковь зародилась по всей Малой Азии, в частности – в провинции «Асия», где самым крупным городом и центром христианства был Эфес. Сюда к 70 г. переехал из Иерусалима Апостол Иоанн и служил в этих краях до своей смерти примерно до 100 г. (Позже Эфес передаст эстафету местной церковной «столицы» новой имперской столице, Константинополю.)

По другую сторону Эгейского моря, напротив Малой Азии находились Македония и Ахайя (сегодняшеняя Греция): первые верующие в Иисуса Христа в этих краях появились в городе Филиппы, где проповедовал Павел. Церкви возникли также в городе Фессалоники, в Коринфе и в других городах. Павел написал в послании к Римлянам такие слова: «…благовествование Христово распространено мною от Иерусалима и окрестности до Иллирика». Иллирик – латиноязычная римская провинция, расположившаяся от сегодняшней северной Албании до прибрежной Хорватии – всего лишь 40 км. к северу от портового города Диррахия в конце Эгнатиевой дороги.

По другую сторону от порта Диррахия через Адриатическое море располагался итальянский полуостров и имперская столица, Рим. В Риме церковь зародилась еще до того момента, как Апостол Павел написал Послание к Римлянам (ок. 58 г.), в котором он поделился с ними своим желанием быть среди них. Там нес служение и Апостол Петр, возможно, до выселения иудеев из города в 49 г. Римская церковь, в том числе благодаря расположению в столичном городе, имела некоторое первенство среди церквей («…которая первенствует в любви», по слову Игнатия Антиохийского). Павел оказался в Риме около 60 г. в качестве узника и провел года два под домашним арестом.

Но Рим – не последняя точка миссионерского движения. Уже к 100 г. церковь распространилась и далее. Сам Павел упомянул о желании благовествовать в Испании, т. е. «за Римом», на западном крае Средиземного моря. Со слов историка церкви Евсевия, другие Апостолы служили дальше на востоке: например, Матфей в Персии, а Фома в Индии. Возможно, Апостол Андрей нес служение рядом с Черным морем. О распространении церкви в южном направлении, в городе Александрии, мы будем говорить в следующей главе.

Мужи Апостольские

Первое поколение христианских мыслителей после Апостолов – Мужи Апостольские. Это те, кто были наставлены самими апостолами и несли служение, – в том числе в городах, известных нам по Новому Завету. Главные среди них – Климент, Игнатий и Поликарп.

Климент Римский служил пресвитером в римской церкви с 88 г. вплоть до своей смерти в 99 г. Если Петр на самом деле основал римскую церковь, то Климент стал его первым, вторым или третьим преемником. На этом этапе своего развития Римская церковь управлялась еще коллегией пресвитеров. Его перу принадлежат два послания к Коринфянам. В коринфской церкви был раскол, и в ответ Климент призывал к единству, миру, должному почитанию пресвитеров, и к подчинению им. Поучительно, что в этой ситуации Климент не говорит об отдельном сане «епископа».

Игнатий родился, вероятно, в 50 г., и стал епископом в Антиохии в конце первого века н. э. По пути на суд и казнь в Риме при императоре Траяне (время его правления – 98–117 гг.) он написал семь посланий церквам, похожих на послания Павла. Хоть в этих посланиях чувствуется и меньшая, чем у Апостолов, глубина осмысления, Игнатий, тем не менее, выступал за истинное воплощение Христа против ереси докетизма, адепты которой утверждали, что Его воплощение лишь «показалось». Его писания не противоречат более поздним решениям церкви, но у Мужей Апостольских бóльший упор делался на нравственное христианское поведение и на вопросы о единстве церкви.

Поликарп родился немного позже, примерно в 69 г. В Эфесе он, вместе с Папием и другими, был наставлен Апостолом Иоанном, беседы с которым он вспоминал. Поликарп стал епископом города Смирна в начале II века и написал свое послание к Филиппийцам в 110 г.; оно показывает, что он был человеком прямым и смиренным, без престижного образования. Однако Поликарп более известен своей героической мученической смертью; он отказался отречься от Христа ценой собственной жизни. В людном амфитеатре его склоняли к вероотступничеству, но он говорил: «86 лет служу Ему, и Он ничем не обидел меня; как же могу поносить Царя моего, спасшего меня?» Мученичество считалось наивысшей формой смерти для христианина. Игнатий, например, отговаривал братьев в Риме предотвратить его смертную казнь (см. выше).

Ранняя книга о церковном порядке того времени, Дидахэ («Учение 12 Апостолов»), содержит чин богослужения для причастия и различные инструкции по христианской и церковной жизни. К трудам Мужей Апостольских относятся также и Послание Варнавы, и Пастырь Ермы. Среди трудов этого периода есть и замечательное послание к Диогнету, которое имеет апологетический характер (защита веры). В нем есть слова, вполне выражающие понимание Евангелия самых ранних времен:

«О сладостное изменение! О непостижимое строительство! о неожиданное благодеяние! Беззаконие многих покрывается одним Праведником, и праведность одного оправдывает многих беззаконников...»

X. East: Ohrid (843-1204)

The end of the second iconoclasm in 842/3 heralded a new epoch of resurgence for Constantinople and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Emperor Michael III come to the throne, followed by Basil I and the Macedonian dynasty which lasted into the eleventh century. Photius the Great, a former high-ranking civil servant, served as Patriarch (860s), later followed by Nicolas Mysticus (tenth century). During this period Constantinople held her enemies at bay and expanded her influence. 

By far the greatest achievement of this time was the successful missionising of the Slavic peoples. The invitation from Moravian ruler, Rastislav, came from a nation that had already embraced Christianity, preferring to join the ecclesiastical orbit of Constantinople and specifically requesting a Slavonic liturgy. Cyril and Methodius, Enlighteners of the Slavs, were dispatched in 863. Bulgaria was Christianised about the same time, first via the medium of Greek, and then likewise adopting the Slavonic liturgy. After Cyril's death at Rome in 867, it was Methodius who continued the work. And his followers, the Five, took refuge in Bulgaria. The Cyrillic alphabet, simpler than the Glagolithic script, is probably the work of one of the Five, Clement of Ohrid. It was from Ohrid (photo - GallopAroundTheGlobe), and also Preslav, centres of Orthodox Chrisitanity in Bulgaria, that, men were sent out to teach and convert the Serbs. Bulgaria also exercised influence on Kievan Rus, whose rulers Olga and her grandson Vladimir were converted in the tenth century, followed by the whole nation. Meanwhile the Balkan areas inside the Imperial limes such as southern Greece were reclaimed and re-evangelised by many, including evangelist-monk Nikon Metanoite. 

The missionary work of the church became a bone of contention between the western Catholic church of Rome and the Eastern Orthodox church of Constantinople, each competing with the other for "spheres of influence". Many areas switched allegiance several times - with what had been the Theodosian line, dividing east and west halves of the Roman Empire, moving back and forth over time. In fact, Moravia ended up within the orbit of the western Catholic church, as did Hungary - not to mention Poland and Croatia, which had never been Eastern Orthodox. By contrast, Bulgaria and later Kievan Rus became centres of Eastern Orthodoxy. The metropolitan bishop of Ohrid in the twelfth century, Theophylact (1050-1107), was a leading Bible scholar, and produced a commentary on the whole Bible. 

Initially, Eastern Orthodoxy was a "foreign religion" in these newly converted nations, such as Kievan Rus'. However, over time, Eastern Orthodoxy became indigenised with local saints such as martyrs Boris and Gleb, homegrown bishops such as Hilarion, Christian history in the form of a Chronicle composed by Nestor, preachers such as Cyril of Turov (1130-1182), as well as a gradual accumulation of local Christian experience, particularly the humble acceptance of suffering in imitation of Christ ("Russian kenoticism"). 

The differences between east (Constantinople) and west (Rome) over the concept of the Trinity (encapsulated in the words "and from the Son" or "Filioque" used the western church) and the role of the Roman Pope (first among equals, as understood in the east, or head of the whole church, as understood in the west) led to the temporary Photian schism 863-867 and then to the permanent schism of 1054. 

Meanwhile, in 963 the first monasteries were founded on Mount Athos, and this become the centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism (replacing Studium). In Kievan Rus, the the great Kiev Pechersk Lavra founded in 1051 became the monastic centre. Having clarified the major issues of Christology by 843, the church turned its mind and attention to the mystic knowledge of God and the process of theosis (participation in the divine energies, akin to sanctification-glorification). In the words of Irenaeus, "God was "humanised", so that humans might be made be deified." A leading figure in this was Simeon the New Theologian (949-1022). By the practice of "mental prayer" he sought and attained the "vision of light", a mystical experience of knowing God in a way transcending understanding. He wrote, "... it is through death and the resurrection that God in His foresight has given us the Kingdom, incorruptibility, the totality of life eternal. Given these conditions, we unquestionably become partakers of the good things to come, that is, incorruptible, immortal, sons of God, sons of the light and of the day, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, since we carry the Kingdom within."

A different, indeed ion some ways opposite approach, was taken by Michael and Italus Psellus, who applied reason to theology, taking a philosophical approach along the lines of Platonism. This led them to speak of the eternity of the soul and to deny a material resurrection of the body. Italus' condemnation by the church in 1076/7 and 1082 reflects Eastern Orthodoxy's different, more mystical approach to theology. 

The military defeat at Manzikert in 1071 marked a turning point in the fate of Constantinople with the rise of the Turks as the dominant power in the Middle East, eclipsing the Arabs. By 1176 Constantinople was clearly in decline and in 1204 it was sacked by the western Christian Crusaders, an event which made the schism even more permanent.  

VIII. The East: Studium (681-843)

By the seventh century the geopolitical and religious map of the Middle East had changed. In the space previously occupied by Zoroastrian Persia, and beyond, the new religion of Islam was gaining ground - both metaphorically and literally. Of the four eastern "patriarchal sees" (places where the leading bishops in the church had their official "seat"), three ended up under Islam, leading to Constantinople, already known as the "Ecumenical Patriarch", becoming even more prominent  In many ways, a trail-blazer in terms of Christian engagement and apologetics vis-a-vis Islam was Theodore Abu Qurrah (750-820), an Arab-speaking Melkite Christian in Syria. He articulated the truths of the Christian faith using the terms and concepts of Islam. In the East Syrian "Church of the East" (Nestorians) Catholicos Timothy I (d. 823) played a similar role.   

The period especially from the mid-seventh to mid-eighth century is referred to as the "Dark Age" of Constantinople due to a lack of contemporary historical sources. This was a time of divisive controversy and it is thought that, until the dust settled, historians feared "condemning saints or canonising heretics". Our only surviving source on the period is the Chronography of Theophanes the Confessor. 

Following the theology controversies over the Trinity (IV century) and Christology (IV-VII centuries), a third stage was the iconoclastic controversy. The issue was, "Is it right to reverence painted representations of the Saviour?" Those who answered Yes were called "iconodules" and those said No were called "iconoclasts". The latter view enjoyed imperial support for two extended periods, leading to division and persecution. Eventually the former won out, although Christians of the Reformation, on the whole, do not follow iconodules on this point. 

The first iconoclastic period began with the removal of the prominent icon of Christ the Saviour from a gate into the city in 726. This first phase of the controversy saw many prominent iconodules exiled and worse. It was John of Damascus, in the paradoxical "safety" of Muslim Syria, who was able to articulate the iconodule position in theological terms, viewing such images and their veneration as a necessary consequence of the incarnation. "I shall not cease to honour matter, for it was through matter that my salvation came to pass . . . Do not despise matter, for it is not despicable; nothing is despicable that God has made." The controversy raged until the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787, which canonised (gave official church approval to) the reverencing of icons, drawing a distinction between the adoration due to God alone (latria) and the lesser reverence (proskynesis) afforded to, say, an icon of Christ, whereby "whoever venerate the image venerate in it the reality of what is there represented".

A second, less aggressive phase of the iconoclastic controversy came 814-843. This time, it was Theodore of Studium (753-826) - Studium representing a key monastery in the city of Constantinople (photo - Vít Luštinec) - who rallied support for the iconodule cause. Theodore wrote, "The fact that the human person is made in the image and likeness of God means that the making of icons is in some way a divine work." The role of monks like Theodore in this controversy is reflected in his words that "monks are the sinews and foundations of the church". The first Sunday in Lent in 843 Empress Irene re-established the veneration of icons; this is celebrated as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy". 

This same period also witnessed the "reconquest" of the southern Balkan area by Constantinople. From the sixth century, Constantinople retained control only of some coastal areas, while areas further inland in what is now Greece, were dominated by the Avars and Slavs, who had remained resistant to Christianity. Starting in the seventh century, these lands were Hellenised, imperial control reasserted, and the Eastern Orthodox faith spread. It was this "internal" mission which lay the groundwork for the later missions beyond the borders of the Empire to Moravia and Bulgaria, subsequently also reaching, for example, the Serbs and the people of Kievan Rus. It is also interesting that, during this period, Emperor Constantine V (r. 741-775), an iconoclast, married Chazar Princess Tzitzak, who converted to Christianity, taking the name Irene. The same Emperor was also the sponsor at the baptism of a Bulgar ruler called Telerig.    

History of Christianity in Serbia (part one)

The Serbs are a Slavic people, who, moving from "White Serbia" (Bohemia/Saxony), settled in their present homeland around 623 at the instigation of Emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641). Becoming allies ("foederati") of the East Roman Empire of Constantinople, the Serbs, along with the Croats, accepted baptism from western catholic missionaries, but their "conversion" was short-lived and they lapsed back into paganism. 

Around 870, at the time of the mission to the Slavs by Cyril and Methodius, and later by their disciples, the Serbs again accepted Christianity, under Prince Mutimir, and a bishopric was created at Stari Ras. The Serbs, like the Moravians and the Bulgarians, adopted the Slavonic liturgy and Glagolithic writing system (and later the simpler Cyrillic one).

In 924 Bulgaria annexed Serbia. Later, in 1019, as Bulgaria was, in turn, subsumed within the Empire, the Bulgarian Patriarchate was suppressed. The episcopal see at Ohrid became an archbishopric under the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Serbian church was part of this archbishopric. Greek gradually replaced Slavonic as the language of the liturgy and church.  

In 1217 Serbia was united with a new status as a kingdom and, in recognition of this, in 1219, it was granted autocephalous status (ecclesiastical autonomy) with an archbishop - with his seat first at Žiča monastery, later moving to Peć. This was during the time when the Patriarch of Constantinople was in exile at Nicaea (1204-1261). The first archbishop was the son of King Stefan Nemanjić, Sava (1174-1236), who is considered a pre-eminent saint for the Serbian church.  

In 1346 Serbia was granted Patriarchal status. Indeed, in 1346, the Patriarch of Serbia crowned Stefan Dusan as Emperor. 

However, the Serbs were defeated in battle by the Turks at Kosovo in 1359. Eventually Serbia was conquered by the Turks and the Patriarchate suppressed in 1459.  

Origin of the Slavs and their Christianisation

The Slavic peoples constitute a major element in the ethnic make-up of Eurasia and are represented in diaspora communities across the world. In our time Slavs are divided into East Slavs, which includes the Russian people, West Slavs, including, for example, the Poles and Czechs, and the South Slavs, such as the Serbs and Croats. 

The origins of the Slavic peoples, as distinct from the earlier Balto-Slavs, can be traced back to a Urheimat (homeland) which many would locate in Polesia (southern Belarus, but overlapping with Poland, Russia and Ukraine). In historical sources dating back to the first and second century CE, the Slavs are referred to as "Veneti" and/or "Spori". Particularly during the second phase of the Völkerwanderung (Great Migration) around 500 CE, the Slavs, then known as Antes and/or Sklaveni, spread out in all directions. By 518 they were crossing the northern limes (frontier) of the Empire of Constantinople. By the 7th century the whole Balkan area was known as Skalvinia and was inhabited by tribal communities of Slavs known as Sklaveni, Other Slavs spread west, north and east. 

The Christianisation of Slavs by the Eastern Orthodox Church may, arguably, have begun under Emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641), when in 623 Croats and Serbs were settled from what is now Central Europe into their current homelands, however their Christian faith was short-lived. Somewhat later, as the Empire of Constantinople reclaimed areas such as Macedonia and the main Greek peninsula (the "Byzantine Reconquista"), settled by Slavs (and also Avars), these areas were Hellenised, a process, carried out for example under Emperor Nicephorus I (802-811), which included Christianisation. The experience of this missionary work inspired and informed work beyond the borders of the Empire, begun in the 860s: in Bulgaria, and later by Cyril and Methodius and their disciples in Moravia and Pannonia. The Five disciples of Methodius took refuge in Bulgaria, where Clement of Ohrid probably invented the Cyrillic alphabet. It was from Bulgaria that Serbia was evangelised. The work in Kievan Rus enjoyed initial success in 860, but it was the conversion of Princess Olga and later her grandson, Vladimir in 988 that brought Kievan Rus into the orbit of the Eastern Orthodox Church.  

The Slavs were also Christianised by the western Catholic church. The see of Magdeburg was a base for missionary work. For example, Moravia was originally missionised by Frankish missionaries before the Cyril-Methodian mission, and eventually came under the jurisdiction of western church - as did Pannonia. Later, Adalbert of Prague (d. 997) was a leading missionary across eastern Europe. Towards the end of the tenth century various peoples such as the Poles in 966 formally converted to Christianity. Later, in the twelfth century, a missionary crusade was directed against the Wends (a west Slavic people).  

VI. Chalcedon (the East, 430-681)

By about 430 the Roman Empire had largely been Christianised. While the western half of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Rome, was under attack and soon to fall, the eastern half of the Empire survived and thrived as a Christianised society with Constantinople as its capital. Its most illustrious ruler was Justinian who ruled 527-565 and, during that time, was able to temporarily reclaim lands occupied by Germanic peoples, engage in a building programme (most famously reconstructing the Hagia Sophia after the Nika riot) and codify Roman law. The two-headed eagle of Constantinople represented the "harmony" of the priesthood and the kingdom, the church and state working in tandem. In the East, unlike in the west, this always meant the state had the upper hand (this is sometimes termed "Caesaropapism") with the Emperor possessing divinely ordained power and above the law. After Justinian many of the lands to the west were lost again, although the following century Emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641) was able to hold the Sassinid Empire of Persia bay until the advent of the Islamic caliphate in the seventh century.

During this whole period, the theological "hot topic" in the church was Christology, that is to say, the relationship between the divine and the human in Christ.

The 381 Council of Constantinople had already condemned the teaching of Apollinarius and affirmed that Christ had a human soul, for, as Gregory of Nazianzen had famously said, “the unassumed is the unhealed”.

For a brief period Nestorius served as Archbishop of Constantinople. Nestorius, who had been trained in the Antiochene School of Theodore of Mopsuetia, was perceived as teaching that the eternal Son of God and the man Jesus are in fact two persons joined in union. Thus, the baby in Mary's womb was just a human. This teaching was opposed by Cyril of Alexandria, who proclaimed “one incarnate nature [sic] of the Logos”. The 431 Council of Ephesus proclaimed Mary to be the Theotokos, the Bearer of God, thus affirming Christ as a single person. This decision alienated a party within the church associated with the School of Edessa, which relocated outside the borders of the Empire to Nisibis. The "Church of the East", the Christian church in the Persian Empire, had already proclaimed itself autonomous in 424 headed by a Catholicos with his seat at Seleucia-Ctesiphon. By the end of the fifth century it had adopted the theology of Nestorius. This church was very missionary minded and reached into Central Asia, India, the Mongols and China. The height of its influence was under Catholicos Timothy I (780-823).

Having resolved that Christ is a single person, the next debate surrounded the issue of "nature". Did Christ have one composite divine-human nature, as Eutyches taught? The Patriarch of Rome, Leo the Great, formulated the orthodox answer to the question, speaking of two natures united but distinct from one another. This was the ruling of the 451 Council at Chalcedon. However, the terminology of the ruling alienated the followers of Cyril of Alexandria, who had used the terminology of "one nature". Churches in Egypt (Copts) and Syria (later known as Jacobites) did not accept the ruling of the Council. They are known as the Oriental Orthodox Churches (or "Monophysites"). These churches, both Coptic and Jacobite, engaged in missionary work, covering an area comparable to the work of the Nestorians. A particularly successful Monophysite churchman and missionary was Jacob Baradaeus (578); there was a twin monophysite movement centred in Egypt. By 575 parallel structures of Oriental Orthodox Churches had been set up. The Chalcedonian church strucure remained and was known as the Melkite (i.e. Imperial) church.

While the Nestorians were outside the Empire, the ongoing presence of non-Chalcedonian Monophysites within the Empire was a major concern for the Empire and for the Church. On the one hand the Monophysites engaged in missionary work. On the other hand they represented disunity. Several attempts were made by Emperors to win over the schismatics with formulations they could accept, such as the Henotikon (482), the theological qualifications of Leontius (d. 543) in respect of “enhypostasis”, or the condemnation of the Three Chapters at the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553), but to no avail. A controversial monphysite formulation used in worship in 512, and then withdrawn, was "one of the Trinity was crucified for us". The Fifth Ecumenical Council was more careful in its language: "one of the Holy Trinity suffered in the flesh".

In the seventh century an attempt was made to speak of the "single will" in Christ. This was proclaimed in Imperial edicts, the Ekthesis (638) and the Typos (648). However, Maximus the Confessor and others perceived this compromise to undermine the full humanity and free cooperation of Christ's human nature in redemption - with implications for our participation in salvation. After Emperors and even a Pope (Honorius I) had opposed what become the orthodox position, the church finally ruled in 681 that there are two wills in Christ.

In the eastern tradition, theologians are mystics. As Gregory of Nyssa wrote, “the one who is going to associate intimately with God must go beyond all that is visible and… believe that the divine is there where the understanding does not reach.” Pseudo-Dionysius spoke of God in apophatic terms i.e. in terms of what He is not (rather than what He is); we progress in the knowledge of God as we follow the three-stage path of purification, illumination and union (theosis). Leading lights of eastern monasticism of the age, based in Palestine, were Euthymius the Great and Sabbas the Sanctified. At Sinai, a second centre of monasticism in the fifth and sixth centuries, was John Climacus (d. 649), who wrote the Ladder of Divine Ascent as a sort of 30-step road-map to ascetic growth and achievement. It was he who was one of the first to speak of the practice of inner mental prayer (hesychasm).

During this time the form of Christian public worship also continued to develop and diverge between east and west. The typical form of an eastern church was no longer the Roman-inspired rectangular basilica, but rather the square-shaped martyrium. These buildings were conceived not merely as "meeting houses", but as images of the cosmic order, places of encounter between heaven and earth. The divine liturgy, as public worship was called in the east, took the command "do this in remembrance of me" as a principle for reenacting the drama of salvation. Augustine had written, “All that is beautiful comes from the highest Beauty, which is God.” Christian worship was, correspondingly, aesthetic in character. During the course of the service first the Scriptures and then the elements for Communion were ceremonially brought into the nave. The culmination of the service is the anaphora prayer before Communion, in which the Holy Spirit is invoked (epiclesis) down upon the bread and wine before the worshippers partake. Following the basic two-part structure (liturgy of the Word followed by liturgy of the Eucharist) established in the early Christian centuries, this was further embellished with more elaborate set petitionary prayers (litanies), anaphora (see above) and songs proclaiming doctrine, such as the Trisagion (438), the creed (510) and “Only-Begotten Son” (536). Roman the Melodist (d.556), John of Damascus, Cosma the Melodist (d. 760) and Andrew of Crete were among those who contributed to the development of the divine liturgy.

IX. Aachen (the Western Catholic Church, 732-1046)

By 750 the “centre of gravity” of the western Christian world had moved from Rome in the south to the Kingdom of the Franks in the north. For centuries, since the fall of the western Roman Empire, Europe had been dominated by Arian (or former Arian) Germanic tribes (such as the Goths). By the eighth century, the Franks, also a Germanic people, but who had been Nicene Christians since the baptism of their ruler, Clovis, in 496, assumed hegemony. This was sealed with military victories, defeating Muslim forces at Poitiers in 732 and defending Rome against the Lombards in the 740s. By the mid-8th century the Pope was transferring his political allegiance from the eastern Christian Empire at Constantinople to the Frankish ruler, Peppin. Later, at Christmas 800, Pope Leo III famously crowned Charles the Great as Emperor of a renewed Roman Empire. Charles saw himself as a ruler with religious and moral responsibility. 

About the same time, following in the footsteps of Irish monks the previous century, several prominent Anglo-Saxon missionaries, such as Wilfrid (later Boniface), Willibrord and Wynfrith, bravely reached out with the gospel to the pagan Germanic peoples such as the Frisians and Thuringians. The former was appointed by Pope Zachary as missionary archbishop of Mainz. Fulda monastery was founded in 744 as a centre for learning and a base for missionary work. Later missionary work among the Saxons would be more political and coercive.

Alongside missionary achievements, the Anglo-Saxons, along with the Franks, furthered a process of “Romanisation” and raised the status of the Papacy. Just as the Pope no longer looked to the Emperor at Constantinople, so the western church also emphasised the Trinitarian theology of Filioque, not shared by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Competing missions to the Slavic peoples became a battle fro competing spheres of influence between Pope Nicolas I (d.867) and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Photius (d. 867). The two branches of the Nicene church were growing apart, divided by differences in ceremony, language, theological authorities (in the West Augustine was the chief authority), models of salvation (the western church spoke of salvation in legal terms) and the understanding of the Trinity. Controversy over the Papacy and the Filioque would lead to the temporary, Photian schism (863-7) and the permanent schism in 1054.

A major focus of the Frankish Kingdom was education; historians speak of the Carolingian Renaissance. At Aachen, the Frankish capital, was the Academy, an institution of Christian scholars, headed by an Anglo-Saxon, Alcuin (d. 804). The “General Admonition” of 791 ordered the creation of schools at monasteries (such as St. Gall) and cathedrals (such as Laon, Mainz, Reims and Orleans) throughout the realm. This is where future monks and priests, but also laymen, were educated. From the XI century some of these schools grew into the first universities in Europe. Preaching in the language of the people, who did not speak the Latin of the church services, was also encouraged, although most preaching involved reading out written sermons by authorities such as Paul the Deacon (d.799). While on the whole this was not an age of great theological thought, in the eighth century in Spain there was controversy over Adoptonist teaching (Elipandus of Toledo & Felix of Urgel), condemned by the church in 799. There was also discussion on the Eucharist (Paschasius versus Ratramnus), the doctrine of Mary (Paschasius was the first to posit Mary's immaculate conception), and also on the doctrine of predestination (Gottschalk, d.869). One of the finest minds of the age was John Scotus Eriugena (810-877). Somewhat later Benedict of Aniane (d.821) spearheaded a process of “Benedictinisation” in the monastic movement, making the monastic rule of Benedict of Nursia (6th century) almost universal and placing a major emphasis on liturgical celebration.

The Carolingian Empire declined and broke up by the mid-9th century, and was eventually replaced by multiple kingdoms throughout Europe. Paradoxically, this situation led to the church being dominated by powerful families (“Lay Domination”); during the period 850-1050 popes were typically in office for just a few years at a time. The practice of Lay Investiture integrated the clergy into the feudal structure; clerics were invested in their posts by non-church laymen. (This controversy was finally resolved in 1122.) 

In response to this, and to combat abuses such as simony (the buying and selling of church positions) and non-observance of clerical celibacy, in the tenth century monastic reform movements sprang up in multiple locations. The most famous was Cluny monastery (from 910), free of lay interference, which grew into a huge centralised network of monastic houses across Europe. By the time of Hugo, the Abbot of Cluny was the second person in the western Catholic church – and arguably more influential than the Pope himself.

By the Xth century the church was recovering strength, as reflected in renewed missionary success, converting the Scandinavians and Hungarians to Christianity, who during the eighth century had presented a military threat, as well as the Poles and other Slavic peoples. An important missionary base was the episcopal see of Magdeburg (founded in 968). An important missionary was Adalbert of Prague (d. 997), who spearheaded missionary work throughout Eastern Europe.