Demetrios Constantelos

Greek Orthodoxy - From Apostolic Times to the Present Day

THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH

Every student of history knows quite well the tremendous contributions of the Greeks to Christianity during the millennium of the Byzantine Empire. This was the period of the Great Greek Fathers, of immense missionary enterprises, of Christian thought, poetry, and literature. It was the period of local and ecumenical synods, which formed and defined the Christian faith basic to all Christian churches and denominations today. It was also an era of great social concern and cultural activity in the Church.

The Greek Orthodox today consider the following events as the chief landmarks of their medieval heritage. From the year 325 to 787, seven ecumenical synods were convened to discuss the common concerns of the universal Church: to define the Christian faith, to issue uniform canons, to plan their common destiny. The first and second ecumenical synods (Nicaea, 325, and Constantinople, 381) dealt with the Holy Trinity, while the third (Ephesus, 431) and fourth (Chalcedon, 451) dealt with the person of Jesus Christ.

It is true that most major heresies originated in the Greek East. But all of them were defeated on the same ground by the intellect, the logic, the mystical intuition, and the biblical scholarship of the Greek Fathers, or their Hellenized allies of the Near East. The Christian West at that time was going through a period of crisis and readjustment and there was little room for intellectual curiosity, discussion, inquiry, or theological or philosophical speculation. Thus, indeed, few heresies arose there. The Christian West was to produce its own great Fathers, such as Jerome, Ambrose, and especially Augustine. But early Christian theology was the work of the Greek rather than the Latin mind.

Cf.  Books for getting closer to Orthodox Christianity ||| Orthodox Images of the Christ ||| Byzantium : The Alternative History of Europe ||| The pulse of Ancient Rome was driven by a Greek heart ||| Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire ||| Schmemann, A History of the Orthodox Church ||| Videos about Byzantium and Orthodoxy ||| Aspects of Byzantium in Modern Popular Music ||| 3 Posts on the Fall of Byzantium  ||| Greek Literature / The New Testament

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Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-orthodox-history.asp?pg=7