Week 3 · AD 201–300
The Church Under Pressure
Sacrifice, exile, and disputes about Christ and Baptism
This week
Faith under pressure and dispute
- Decius orders sacrifice to Roman gods, and many Christians give in
- Cyprian asks who is allowed back at Christ’s table after denial
- Valerian bans Christian meetings and kills bishops
- Teachers argue over the Trinity, Christ, and Baptism
- Christians at Dura-Europos paint Bible scenes in their baptistery
Christ Healing the Paralytic
Unknown artist, the 230s to early 250s, Dura-Europos. A baptistery wall painting, now at Yale.
Church life
What Christians faced under Decius and Valerian
Church life
The Decian demand
- In AD 250, Emperor Decius ordered sacrifice to the Roman gods
- Many Christians had to choose between their faith and their safety
- Signed certificates show some sacrificed, such as Aurelia Demos (14 June 250)
- Historians doubt that the lost decree named only Christians
Christ and the sacraments
The lapsed and the Lord’s Supper
- The lapsed (those who denied Christ under pressure) asked to receive Communion again
- Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, taught that real repentance must come first
- He opposed both a quick, easy peace and a permanent ban
- Novatian, a Roman priest, said the church lacked power to forgive them, and split Rome in 251
Church life
Valerian’s persecution
- In 257, Emperor Valerian banned Christian gatherings
- In 258, he ordered bishops, priests, and deacons put to death
- Cyprian was beheaded at Carthage in 258
- Pontius, his deacon, wrote the story of his death
Controversy
Who is Christ, and who is baptized validly?
Controversy
Praxeas and Sabellius
- Praxeas taught in Carthage that Father, Son, and Spirit are one person: modalism
- Tertullian answered: God is one, yet the Father, Son, and Spirit are three persons
- Tertullian also taught that Christ is one person with two natures, divine and human
- Sabellius taught in Rome that the one God shows himself in three roles
Christ and the sacraments
Baptism outside the church
- Cyprian said Baptism given by outside groups was not Baptism, so converts must be baptized
- Stephen, bishop of Rome, said converts did not need a second Baptism
- Dionysius of Alexandria sided with Stephen
Councils and events
Regional meetings of bishops that shaped doctrine
Councils and events
Carthage and Rome, 251
- Bishops in Africa and Italy met about those who had denied Christ
- Both agreed to restore the fallen to Communion after penance
- The Roman synod excommunicated Novatian
- Lutheran classification: Received
Councils and events
Carthage on Baptism, AD 256
- Bishops under Cyprian ruled that converts from heretical groups must be baptized
- The council said Baptism outside the church is no Baptism
- Christ’s word and water make a valid Baptism, not the minister’s standing
- Lutheran classification: Spurious
Councils and events
Antioch against Paul of Samosata
- Bishops met several times about Paul, bishop of Antioch, who taught that Christ was only a man
- The last synod removed him, yet he kept the church house a few years
- Emperor Aurelian settled the matter in 272
- Lutheran classification: Received
Major people
Teachers, bishops, and martyrs of the century
Major people
Teachers and martyrs
- Tertullian, Latin writer and lawyer from Carthage
- Clement of Alexandria, head of the teaching school in Egypt
- Origen, head of the Alexandria school, tortured under Decius
- Hippolytus, Roman priest and writer, died in Sardinia
- Cyprian, bishop of Carthage from about 249 to 258
- Dionysius of Alexandria, bishop from about 247 to 264
- Perpetua and Felicity, killed in the arena at Carthage in 203
- Mani, Persian founder of a new religion
Wider world
Rome, Persia, and the empire around the church
Wider world
Rome and Persia
- AD 212: Caracalla makes nearly all free people in the empire citizens
- About AD 224: Ardashir I founds the Sasanian Empire, Rome’s chief eastern rival
- AD 260: Persia’s King Shapur I captures the Roman emperor Valerian
- AD 259–261: Gallienus ends the persecution and returns meeting places and burial grounds
- AD 284: Diocletian becomes emperor and ends fifty years of civil war and weak rule
Confessional Lutheran connection
What the Lutheran Confessions teach
Confessional Lutheran connection
One Christ, two natures
- Tertullian: Christ is one person with two natures, divine and human
- Augsburg Confession I and III give the later, more exact language about Christ’s person
- Curriculum’s judgment: the Confessions confirm Tertullian’s main point
Christ and the sacraments
Baptism in art
- The Good Shepherd hung over the font, where new Christians were baptized
- Early Christians linked Baptism to Christ’s healing and shepherding
- Read the Small Catechism on Baptism: what does Baptism do?
For discussion
What makes a Baptism valid, the minister or Christ’s word and water?