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Church History > CH. 3 > Flashcards

CH. 3 Flashcards

1
Q

What was “The Way”?

A

The name many Christians used to refer to Christianity or the faith in the time of persecution

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2
Q

What were used to torture and kill Christians?

A

Circuses and Roman Colisseums

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3
Q

When did the greatest persecutions begin and reach a peak?

A

Began in Rome with Emperor Nero (in 64 AD) and reached a climax with Emperor Diocletian (in 303 AD)

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4
Q

What was being a Christian considered as?

A

For the first 300 years of the church:
- Christians were the minority
- Christians were considered criminals
- Becoming a Christians was putting one’s own life at risk

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5
Q

How did Roman History portray Nero as?

A

an immense tyrant full of cruelty but with psychological sickness and paranoia

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6
Q

What violent acts did Nero commit against those close to him?

A
  • murdered his mom
  • renounced and beheaded his wife
  • forced his advisor, Seneca, to commit suicide
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7
Q

What significant event occurred on July 19 64 AD? What was the reason behind this significant event?

A
  • a fire broke out and engulfed Rome for 9 days
  • rumors began to spread that Nero started the fire because he needed private property to build his new palace
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8
Q

How did Nero clear himself from suspicion?

A
  • provided emergency shelters to the victims
  • falsely accused Christians of the fire:
    • tortured them into giving false confessions
    • ordered their arrest
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9
Q

What did Roman Historian Tacitus write about Nero’s accusations

A

wildly implausible

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10
Q

Who was the first emperor to declare Christianity unlawful?

A

Nero

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11
Q

What principle did Nero use to punish all believers of Christianity with death

A

Christiani non sint (Let the Christians be exterminated)

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12
Q

Why did Nero alienate himself from the elites and aristocrats

A
  • because of his public actions and his atrocities against his family and advisors
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13
Q

What occurred due to Nero’s actions

A
  • Revolt in Judea (66 AD)
  • Revolt in Gaul, Africa, Spain
  • The Roman Army turned against him
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14
Q

Where did the greatest threat to Christianity come from? What were their different reasons for hatred?

A
  • from the local populations not the emperors themselves

reasons for hatred:
1. many people assumed Christians were atheists for not believing and sacrificing to Roman gods and agitators for avoiding the laws to do so
2. the rumors that spread about Christian practices

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15
Q

What were the rumors regarding Christian practices?

A

Christians:
- sacrificed babies
- drank blood
- casted evil spells
- caused natural disasters

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16
Q

What did Christians serve as for Nero and the local populations

A

scapegoats for their paranoia and anger

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17
Q

Who were the 5 “good” emperors?

A
  1. Nerva
  2. Trajan
  3. Hadrian
  4. Antoninus Pius
  5. Marcus Aurelius
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18
Q

What was Trajan known for? How did his reign benefit the empire?

A
  • military conquests
  • his humane treatment of abandoned children
  • after his reign, the Roman empire and its borders remained stable for 150 years
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19
Q

How did Trajan handle Christianity?

A
  • reaffirmed it as a crime but changed the conditions of persecution
  • decreed that if Christians renounced their faith and sacrificed to Roman gods, they would be spared in spite of their past
  • the choice/ultimatum: death or apostasy
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20
Q

Who was St. Ignatius of Antioch? How was St. Ignatius an Apostolic Father?

A
  • the 3rd bishop of Antioch after St. Peter and St. Evodius
  • an Apostolic Father due to his close association with St. Peter and St. John
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21
Q

Why are Ignatius’ letters one of the most important documents?

A

Because it linked the 12 Apostles to the early church

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22
Q

What did St. Ignatius teach and elaborated on?
What heresy did St. Ignatius go against?

A
  • taught that without bishops, neither matrimony nor the eucharist can be celebrated
  • incarnation and paschal mystery of Christ
  • the heresy that claimed that the Eucharist was not the flesh of Christ
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23
Q

Who was the first person to use the term “Catholic Church”

A

St. Ignatius

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24
Q

How was St. Ignatius martyred? When was St. Ignatius’s feast day?

A
  • martyred in the coliseum and fed to the lions
  • FD: October 17
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25
Q

Who was Hadrian?

A
  • A Hellenist who was interested in science, art, philosophy, debate
  • He supported the Roman gods and designed temples for Venus and Roma
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26
Q

How was Christianity treated under Hadrian? What was Hadrian’s rescript?

A

Under Hadrian’s rule, Christianity was still illegal, yet a request by a proconsul in Asia minor asked how to deal with mobs wanting to kill Christians

  • Hadrian ordered that Christians could only be prosecuted if they committed actual violations of the common law not just for merely professing their faith
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27
Q

Who was St. Polycarp?
Who was St. Polycarp persecuted under?

A
  • An Apostolic Father
  • Persecuted under Emperor Antoninus Pius
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28
Q

What led to St. Polycarp’s martyrdom?

When was St. Polycarp’s feast day?

A
  • He was tried and arrested. Then, the governor of Smyrna tried to spare him by having him renounce Christ, yet he refused. He was sentenced to be burned alive, but he remained unharmed until the executioner killed him with a sword
  • FD: Feb 23
29
Q

Who was the philosopher king?

What philosophy did Marcus Aurelius develop and believe in?

A
  • Marcus Aurelius
  • Stoicism
30
Q

What is Stoicism?

A
  • living free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, submitting without complaint to unavoidable fate
  • not being controlled by your emotions
31
Q

Whose rescript did Aurelius use in handling Christians?

Where did most persecution occur under?

A
  • Trajan’s “death-or-apostasy” rescript
  • many persecutions occurred under mobs not the emperors directly
32
Q

Why did Emperor Marcus Aurelius allow for Christian persecution?

A

For political reasons:
Having mobs kill Christians was an effective way of diffusing their anger; otherwise, this anger would be directed to the empire

33
Q

Who was St. Justin the Martyr persecuted under?

A
  • Emperor Marcus Aurelius
34
Q

How many apologies did Justin write and who were they addressed to?

What did the apologies contain?

A

St. Justin wrote 2 apologies addressed to:
1. Emperors Antoninus and Marcus
2. Roman Senate

The Apology provided an important description of the rituals of the church such as Baptism and Eucharist

35
Q

What happened to St. Justin after his apology? When was his feast day?

A

He was denounced as a Christian and when refusing to sacrifice to idols, he was beheaded
- June 1

36
Q

What dates did Emperor Septimius Severus rule?

A

193-211 AD

37
Q

What was Emperor Severus’ decree in 202 AD?

A

He issued a decree that forbade both baptism and circumcision, threatening both Christianity and Judaism

38
Q

What is “ad metalla” and what does it mean?

A

“To the metal mines”

refers to the areas that Christians were sent to work in, facing unsanitary and dangerous conditions before eventually dying due to exhaustion, prison labor, and poor conditions

39
Q

Who were the two most famous female saints persecuted under Emepror Septimus Severus’ reign?

A

St. Perpetua and St. Felicity

40
Q

Who was St. Perpetua? Who was St. Felicity?

A
  • St. Perpetua was a noblewoman, specifically the daughter of the governor of Carthage
  • St. Felicity was her slave
  • Both were discovered as Christians and put in jail
41
Q

Where were St. Perpetua and St. Felicity martyred in? What happened to St. Perpetua’s household? How did she die?

A
  • the main arena in Carthage
  • scourged and attacked by various wild animals
  • her and other Christians were stabbed
42
Q

When were St. Perpetua and St. Felicity’s feast days?

A

March 7

43
Q

Who was St. Irenaeus the disciple of? What was his position? Whose reign did he martyr under?

A
  • a disciple of St. Polycarp of Smyrna
  • bishop of Lyons for nearly 25 years; a preeminent figure in the Gaul region of the Roman Empire
  • martyred under the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus
44
Q

What did St. Irenaeus emphasize? What heresies did he fight against?

A
  • emphasized the key elements of the church: sacraments, sacred tradition, and episcopacy
  • fought against heresies like gnosticism
45
Q

How long did Emperor Decius reign? What did he inaugurate and why did he inaugurate these things?

A
  • 3 years
  • inaugurated the first empire-wide persecution of Christians because he believed that the survival of the empire depended on the restoration of the pagan cults, and Christianity at the time made up 1/3 of the empire, which Decius believed to be the cause of the divide
46
Q

What do the terms Sacrificati, Thurificati, and Libellatici mean?

A
  • Sacrificati: Christians who offered sacrifice to the pagan gods
  • Thurificati: Christians who burned incense to the pagan gods
  • Libellatici: Christians who bought certificates
47
Q

How did Decius include bureaucracy in his form of Christian persecution?

A
  • ordered all Christians to appear before the magistrates or the judges with certificates proving that they sacrificed to the pagan gods
  • if they failed to appear or produce the certificate, Christians would be exiled or put to death with their property confiscated
48
Q

How was the Church’s loss two-fold in the reign of Decius?

A
  • The Church lost faithful Christians to martyrdom and also lost unfaithful, young Christians to apostasy
49
Q

What is the difference between heresy and apostasy? What do they have in common?

A
  • Heresy denies one or more doctrines of the faith
  • Apostasy denies the faith altogether
    Both result in excommunication or deny the faith in some form
50
Q

Who were the Lapsi? What was the schism led against them? When were they allowed to return back into the faith?

A
  • Lapsi: people who renounced the faith and sacrificed to the pagan gods but later wished to be accepted back into the faith
  • Novianist schism - Novian, a presbyter, led a faction against the lapsi claiming that they could never be accepted back into the church
  • after long periods of penance
51
Q

What was Origen the head of?

A

first catechetical school in Alexandria, which combined both Catholicism and science, making it the first Catholic university

52
Q

Who was Origen invited by and to what do what?

A

Origen was invited by other bishops from Caesarea to preach (breaking the ecclesiastical practices of allowing only priests and bishops to give homilies).
- He was eventually ordained a priest by the bishop in Palestine but was not accepted by his own bishop in Alexandria

53
Q

What was Origen’s prosecution and How did he die?

A
  • arrested and tortured for 2 years
  • eventually released and died shortly afterwards due to his broken body
54
Q

How many tracts did Origen write? What work of his survived? Who is considered to have initiated the concept of the homily?

A
  • 2-5 thousand different tracts yet almost were lost
  • De principiis survived
  • Origen was considered to have initiated the concept of the homily
55
Q

Why isn’t Origen a saint?

A
  • The Church condemned some of Origen’s writings; such as his writings on the Trinity which tended to subordinate the Son to the Father.
  • His ideas on the final salvation of the damned also prompted Church officials to reject them.
56
Q

What was the rescript of 257 AD? What was the rescript of 258 AD? Who issued them and why?

A
  • Rescript of 257 AD - Forbade Christians from meeting in public places, and from celebrating the Eucharist in catacombs,
  • Rescript of 258 AD - Bishops, priests, and deacons were to be immediately executed and Christian ranks were removed from their offices and made slaves.

Emperor Valerian 253 AD - issued decrees due to political pressure. The persecutions subsided when imperial attention was more directed toward the Gothic invasions and the rise of Persia.

57
Q

How was Emperor Valerian handled by the Persians?

A
  • He was captured, tortured, and humiliated for 5 years by the Persians
  • When he eventually died, they stuffed his body and hung it up the temple
58
Q

When were Sixtus and 7 deacons arrested? Who was beheaded and who was spared? Why was he spared?

A
  • celebrating mass
  • Pope St. Sixtus and 6 of the 7 deacons were beheaded
  • St. Lawrence was spared as he was ordered to bring the church’s treasures to the authorities.
59
Q

How did Lawrence respond to the authorities’ order and what happened to him after that?

A
  • In his response, Lawrence brought a group of poor people claiming them as the Church’s treasure.
  • In response, the authorities sentenced Lawrence to be roasted alive on a gridiron. Tradition holds that as he was burned, Lawrence told the judge “I am roasted enough on this side; turn me around”
60
Q

What was Emperor Diocletian’s background?

A
  • Emperor Diocletian initially rose through the ranks of the Roman army to serve with the emperor’s guards.
  • When Emperor Numerian was murdered in 284 AD, the army made Diocletian emperor.
61
Q

How did Diocletian divide the Roman Empire? What were the disadvantages of the tetarchy?

A

Due to the size of the empire, Diocletian divided it into 4 administrative districts known as the Tetrarchy with its own Caesar or Tetrarch.
Initially, the Tetrarchy was helpful at first, but:
1. Tetrarchs lived in Rome which caused the city to lose its status as the capital.
2. The cost of the new administration and increasing the army was heavy on the treasury.
3. After Diocletian abdicated in 305 AD, the Tetrarchy failed as the four positions competed for supremacy.

62
Q

What were Diocletian’s four edits

A
  1. Edict - Destruction of churches and the burning of Scriptures as well as the banning of all Christian gatherings. Those who opposed would face execution or enslavement.
  2. Edict - Imprisonment of the clergy
  3. Edict - Demanded pagan sacrifice from the clergy
  4. Edict - Demanded sacrifice from every Christian, not just clergy
63
Q

Who was St. Agnes and what was her background? What did the oral tradition say about St. Agnes? When was her feast day?

A

St Agnes: A child martyr for Christ
Oral tradition states that:
- St. Agnes was a beautiful young woman that many young men of Rome desired her. She decided at a young age to consecrate herself to God and live as a virgin. Her purity enraged the young men that they denounced her before the magistrate as a Christian. Upon refusing to renounce her faith, she was tortured by fire. The judge eventually sentenced her to forced prostitution at the public brothel.
- Tradition states that the first young man who looked at her with eyes of lust was immediately struck with blindness.
Afterward, she was beheaded.
FD - Jan 21, the church also remembers women who suffered similar violence during the persecution of Diocletian

64
Q

What was the famous story behind Constantine’s victory at the battle of saxa rubra?

A
  • Before their battle, Constantine claimed that he saw above the sun, a symbol of the cross inscribed with the words in hoc signo vinces (in this sign you will conquer).
  • After this vision, Constantine instructed his soldiers to put this sign on their shields.
  • Constantine’s army battled at the Milvian bridge.
  • Though Maxentius’ forces were said to have been four times greater, Constantine won the battle of Saxa Rubra, securing his rule over the West.
65
Q

Who was Constantine? Who was Maxentius?

A
  • Constantine was the son of Constantius and succeeded him in 307 AD.
  • Maxentius, son of Maximian controlled Italy and sought to defeat Constantine and control the Western Empire.
66
Q

What was the significance of the edict of Milan?

A
  • The edict restored all property taken from the church by the empire and it granted Christians the freedom to practice their religion.
  • The Edict of Milan represented a milestone for the early Christians and the Catholic Faith.
67
Q

How did Constantine intend to stay in the Christian God’s favor?

A

He immediately restored the property of the church and began aiding in the construction of churches.
In Rome, the Arch of Constantine commemorated his victory.
A statue was placed in the city. On one hand, the state held the Labarum, the standard cross with the inscription “Through this saving sign have I freed your city from the tyrant’s yoke”

68
Q

What did Constantine use religion as means of?

A
  • It’s important to note that Constantine while believing his intentions pleased God, used this as a means politically of uniting the empire through religion.
  • This isn’t to say he used Christianity simply as a political tool.
  • He is known to have prayed daily and to have received instruction in the Faith and was welcomed into the Church by receiving baptism on his death bed. d

Church History (8 decks)

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