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From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS
XII. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE EAST AND IN THE WEST TO 1054 A.D.
» Contents of this Chapter
Development of the Christian Church * Eastern Christianity * Western Christianity: Rise of the Papacy * Growth of the Papacy * Monasticism * Life and Work of the Monks * Spread of Christianity over Europe * Separation of Eastern and Western Christianity * The Greek Church * The Roman Church
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
A preceding chapter has traced the early history of Christianity. We there saw how the new religion appeared in the Orient, how it spread rapidly over the Roman Empire, how it engaged with the imperial government in the long conflict called the Persecutions, how the emperor Constantine, after his conversion, placed it on an equality with paganism, and how at the end of the fourth century the emperor Theodosius made it the state religion. By this time the Church had become a great and powerful organization, with fixed laws, with a graded system of officers, and with councils attended by clergy from all parts of the Roman world. To this organization the word Catholic, that is, "universal," came to be applied. Membership in the Catholic Church, secured only by baptism, was believed to be essential to salvation. As St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, had said, "He can no longer have God for his Father who has not the Church for his Mother."
THE EPISCOPATE
The first three centuries of Christianity witnessed the development of the episcopal system in the Church. Each provincial city had its bishop, assisted by priests and deacons. An archbishop (sometimes called a metropolitan) presided over the bishops of each province, and a patriarch had jurisdiction, in turn, over metropolitans. This graded arrangement of ecclesiastical officers, from the lowest to the highest, helped to make the Church centralized and strong. It appears to have been modeled, almost unconsciously, on the government of the Roman Empire. [2]
[2] The correspondence may be indicated as follows:
The Roman Empire The Christian Church City—Municipal officials. Bishop. Province—Governor. Archbishop, or Metropolitan. Diocese—Vicar. Patriarch. Prefecture—Prefect. (No corresponding division.)
THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents
url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp
Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy
