Thursday, August 03, 2023

Church History: Eastern Christianity in the Early Middle Ages





Lecture Notes Outline


Eastern Orthodoxy takes shape

- Fall of the western Roman Empire; the remaining eastern Roman Empire is known as “Byzantine,” with its capital at Constantinople

     - Though its territory would wax and wane, this eastern Roman Empire persisted for another 1000 years after the fall of Rome

     - Its stability provided the center for Eastern Orthodoxy to develop

- Emperor Justinian (6th century)

- Emperor Heraclius and the rise of Islam (7th century)

- Maximus the Confessor (7th century) and the final Christological debates

- John of Damascus (8th century) and the iconoclast controversy

- Eastern Orthodox prayer and devotion


Early Christian Missions to the East and South

- The Church of the East and the evangelization of Asia

- Ethiopia becomes Christian (4th century onward)