final

Question 1

Acts of Paul & Thecla

Answer 1

The Acts of Thecla (summary):
It is an Apocryphal(text after Bible, the word means that this stays away from the mainstream belief and specifically this act is subversive because women are able to bapitize themselves)
Thecla listens to Paul with her own opinion/wants
Paul’s message to Thecla:
Tells Thecla to wait for her Baptism, to not give in the temptation
Thecla refuse marriage and wants to stay with Paul, she baptisizes herself, kept her chastity and virginity
Could be considered as a Marthyn b/c
Potential from God
Willingness to die
Goes against family similar to Perpetula
Fights beast
Calls a marathon as a witness

Question 2

Aphrahat

Answer 2

A covenanter who lived in the first half of the century
336-345: Demonstrations published in 3 stages
Believes anyone is a virgin/ascetic cannot reach Paradise
Resurrection does not begin at death/sleep but rather at baptism
At baptism (2nd birth), one received & is clothed in spirit of Christ (heavenly spirit)
At death, natural spirit stays w/ body & heavenly spirit does up according to its nature → goes up immediately bc it wants to be reunited with the divine
Natural spirit swallowed by heavenly spirit
Body becomes spiritual → individual is able to meet with Christ & receives praise for retaining their virginity

Question 3

Monasticism

Answer 3

Comes from Monochos
alone , or solitary, one who withdrawals from society
Two forms:
Hermetic(largely alone, emphasis on the individual)
cenboitic(largely communal)

Question 4

Antony

Answer 4

Written in 360 by Bishop Athanasius (egypt)
About Antony a man who was not educated, a monk that sells everything it has, goes out the desert and battles demons
Lives letting go of vices, sex, and food (Antonk is a perfect example of a monk– Monochos) (eat very little food and water, very little social contact, denies worldly persuits/education, becomes a citizen of heaven)
Becomes a perfect Christian:
Can performs miracles
Destroy demons
End of life becomes an angel on earth
Suggest that he goes out this path and others follow (teaches others and sees that Antony is a perfect Christian)
Antony starts a movement
Desert becomes a city
Emphasis on obedience (obey Antony as if you are obeying Christ)
Focuses on:
Things that belong to the monk (pray, fight demons, keep the soul pure, build the soul less of the mind)
Temptations (a training similar to an athlete, sharpen to become the perfect Chrisitian) from the demons
Improve and master the body of the soul
Doing things with the right attitude and not just doing the action
Inner peace
Mastering all this will allow them to tremendous wisdom, antony becoemes less antony and more like God in anthony
Miracles happen in the reading

Question 5

Augustine

Answer 5

Author of confessions and the city of god

Question 6

Shenoute

Answer 6

In Egypt
Example of Cenboitic leader (5,000-6,000 people of women and men different monastery b/c separate by gender)
Emphasis on group identity and rule following (if you trust that he is holy then you just have to listen to what they say to gain salvation)
Disobedience is the greatest sin, obeying the rule of the community (not individual prayer)
Dont eat or pray different from others
Everyone is the same, gain salvation by obeying the community = perfect life
Makes monks to sign an agreement (shall not steal, act in secret, shall not lie)
If disobey the agreement, body and soul will be destroyed
God job is correct and teach, so Shenoute would punish his monks in effort to change them, gets angry on their sinfulness
Aggresiviely make his monk follow his rule for them to be angels (heavy reliance of obedience(dictator/tyrant))
No one gets to be special, be humble but not too humble? Individuality is dead

Question 7

Barsauma

Answer 7

Ascetic figure within Syriac Christianity
Brand of asceticism/hagiography: characterized by excessive mourning and extreme violence
EX: not lying down to sleep
Considered himself & his practice the best way to be Christian
Total rejection of all religious neighbors to the point of violence
Took an anti-Chacedonian approach (did not accept their definition)

Question 8

Simeon Stylites

Answer 8

Ascetic figure within Syriac Christianity
3 distinct hagiographies written about him
Brand of asceticism: extreme pain, stood on top of a pillar for decades
Committed to deprivation of human needs, especially in regards to food → throws himself into prayer instead
Complete alienation from the world
Powerful healer
Theodoret → wrote his hagiography while Simeon was still alive

Question 9

Askesis

Answer 9

Exercise, training(for some goal)
Think of two ways:
Positive – adding something
Ex: 100 pushups as an athlete
Negative – take away something
Ex: food, wate, sleep
Askesis/Asceticism is not necessarily Chirsitan (what reason/what goal is done)
For Christians what it meant and what goals of Asceticism
No true beginning of Asceticism (earliest evidence is in Egypt)

Question 10

Cenobitic

Answer 10

Largely communal (ex: desert living all together)
A figure/leader is name Pachomius and Shenoute

Question 11

Eremitic

Answer 11

(largely alone, emphasis on the individual)

Question 12

Monachos

Answer 12

Monochos
alone, or solitary, one who withdrawals from society
Example is Antony

Question 13

Athenagoras

Answer 13

Material link between resurrection & the body
Bodies are changing all the time
Argued that all body parts are necessary for God’s judgment
All parts of our body are involved in how we live, so they should also be involved in God’s ability to judge (resurrection of the flesh)

Question 14

Confessions (Confiteri)

Answer 14

397-401 CE
Confession of sin & faith: praise for God
Audience: servi dei → fellow monks
Depicts himself as a great sinner (stealing pears bc it was enticing due to being forbidden) in desperate need of God’s grace

Question 15

Grace

Answer 15

Emphasis on Grace being sovereign & free & an important part of Augustine’s realization & belief in God
Confessions:
It looks at all the sine he did in life, and how god guides and forgives him to convert to Christianity, everyone needs grace since everyone is mediocre in life
The City of God:
heavenly world needs of grace??

Question 16

City (Civitas)

Answer 16

Rather than physical boundaries → referring to association of people bound together by similarities

Question 17

City of God

Answer 17

Crucially the multitude of people bound in association by the love of God → same origin, worship same God, obeys the same laws, etc.
- Predestine to live w/ God
- Standard of Spirit
- Self-contempt for love of God
- Devotion to God
- Living out God’s will

Question 18

Earthly City

Answer 18

-Devil
-Standard of flesh
-Self-love reaching point of contempt
-Pursue goods of their own mind/body
-Human standards
-Lifts its own head in glory

Question 19

Constantine

Answer 19

The First Council of Nicaea was created under his rule, made Christianity the main religion in Rome, created Constantinople (conncils talk about the relationship of God and Jesus)

Question 20

Council of Chalcedon

Answer 20

451 CE
Essentially continues the debate between Nestorius and Cyril
Latin West accepted definition, East still divided

Question 21

Council of Ephesus

Answer 21

431 CE
How can we explain the union of the divine & the human in the incarnation?
If Jesus is God, how can we explain his suffering?
Who is Mary the mother of? What was the being to which Mary gave birth to?

Question 22

Cyril

Answer 22

Bishop of Alexandria 412-444 CE
Ideas win over Nestorius
Strongly influenced by Athasius’ ideas & Origen
Argues if it is not God that’s incarnate, salvation is ineffectual (incarnation was a restorative act designed to save humanity, reconstruct human nature bc it had fallen into existential decay)
Double man schema - troubling the Eucharist bc it’s supposed to be the flesh of Christ and not just man
Only 1 creative subject → cannot split Christ into 2
Process of Christ taking on human form was so that Jesus/God could suffer for salvation

Question 23

Nestorius

Answer 23

Bishop of Constantinople from 428-431 CE
Thought the term Theotokos improperly suggested that Mary was the mother of God. He also thought that Anthropotokos suggested that Christ is a man.
Proposed Christokos instead
If Jesus is incarnate, then the Holy Spirit & God are also incarnate (bc they’re all of the same substance) (this is a no-no to Nestorius)
Argued that Christ is the single Prosopon (observable character of the divine)
Christ has two natures: the divine & human (not of the same essence but united by love & the same Prosopon → by grace)
Does not take well to the idea of a suffering God

Question 24

Impassibility (Apatheia)

Answer 24

Inability to suffer
Did God suffer? Can God suffer?

Question 25

Christokos

Answer 25

Mother of Christ

Question 26

Theotokos

Answer 26

God-bearer, mother of God

Question 27

Anthropotokos

Answer 27

Mother of man

Question 28

Council of Nicaea

Answer 28

325 CE How is Jesus divine while also maintaining the immutability of God? What is the relationship between the uncreated logos & Jesus? How do we reconcile biblical traditions that demand both distinction & unity of a monotheistic God? Is Arius orthodox? What is orthodox (right belief)? Homousios terminology

Question 29

Arius

Answer 29

250-336 CE Argued that God is timelessly uncreated w/o a beginning, always existed God is entirely free Son doesn’t & cannot know God fully & is not co-eternal w/ God Son is lesser in glory that God, not timelessly uncreated, is a creature

Question 30

Athanasius

Answer 30

298-373 CE Opposes Arius Succeeds Alexander of Bishop Argues that the Son is an unchanging image of the Father Son was also uncreated, just like God Christ is homogenes → only begotten, co-eternal, & eternally generated Christ is holy, on the side of the creator Christ is logos & word (not just the son) Strong emphasis on the distinction between the creator & the created

Question 31

Homousios

Answer 31

Equal in essence, used to express the full equality of the Son & the Father as based on eternal generations, same essence of the Father

Question 32

Ephrem

Answer 32

Born in 373 CE Believed that there's an existential gap between creations (humans & angelic beings) & creator (God) Ability to reason cannot cross this gap Only way to understand (in this world) is through divine glimpses allow us to go back to the paradisiacal state Cannot cross gap until Resurrection Jesus’ incarnation was necessary in order to bring us back to the beginning (paradisiacal) In order to go back to paradisiacal state, Ephrem believes we need to have the right attitude about God & Jesus → wonder and understanding about the gap between the creator & creation Baptism allows us to start this process

Question 33

First Council of Constantinople

Answer 33

Hypostases - Father, Son, & Spirit are three distinct persons but one God/duty Son is consubstantial with the Father → begotten by him Spirit if also consubstantial with the Father → proceeds from the Father through the Son

Question 34

Cappadocians

Answer 34

Came from the same area all these figures Basil, Gregory of Nazinazen and Gregory of Nyssa

Question 35

Basil

Answer 35

Gave us the language of the Holy Spirit

Question 36

Gregory Nazianzen

Answer 36

Leader of the council, gave us the language of 3 persons converging towards one source (doesn’t use Hypostases)

Question 37

Gregory of Nyssa

Answer 37

3 hypostases & one substance

Question 38

Ousia

Answer 38

True being, essence (loses the essensces of “from the ousia of the Fatay”), being, ommitted

Question 39

Hypostasis/ Hypostases

Answer 39

Persons → the Father, son, Holy Spirit

Question 40

Heresy

Answer 40

Spread of false beliefs Heretics have views that are absurd, self-contradictory, complicated, & defy common sense Views vary widely → no possible way they can be true Absurd & faulty views are a result of misinterpreting scripture Viewed as alternate views that over time became more unintelligible Irenaeus first one to discuss the distinction between orthodoxy & heresy

Question 41

Economy of God

Answer 41

In all embracing, coherent, of everything that is spoken by scripture (includes everything of Adams to christ), use to understand each other (has to make sense with everything together)

Question 42

Orthodoxy vs. Heresy

Answer 42

Irenaeus accuses heretics of: Fragmentation vs. unity (separating themselves) Lack of canon, set of books that are authoritative for them Intentionally misleading people Saw heretics as looking down on people

Question 43

Recapitulation

Answer 43

Through his suffering and resurrection, Christ undoes the wrongdoing committed by Adam and Eve → allowing us to achieve eternal life (Irenaeus)

Question 44

Apokatastasis

Answer 44

Restoration of all things According to Origen, even demons can make their way back to before the fall and thus achieve salvation

Question 45

Intellect/Mind

Answer 45

Refers to the 1st principles of intelligible & existent things The meaning by which we can reason, the capacity to rationalize Mind: wisdom & living words

Question 46

Rehabilitation

Answer 46

Necessary for individuals to partake in universal salvation at the end Body allows for an individual to be rehabilitated Best kind of rehab is gradual All experience rehab at the same time, but it is specific to each individual Each individual has fallen to different degrees Through rehab, we’re able to make our way back to the mind we had before the fall

Question 47

The Trinity

Answer 47

Father, Son, & Holy Spirit

Question 48

Threefold Way of Reading Scripture

Answer 48

By the bare letter → wrong way according to Origen Spiritual meaning

Question 49

Universal Salvation

Answer 49

the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ultimately be reconciled to God.

Question 50

Resurrection Body Parts

Answer 50

See Athenagoras certain figures talks about the certain body parts of resurrection (what these thinkers think about the body parts – does the body resurrect? Athenagoras(body changes when you eat something and when you starve) or Tertullian (when people dont give in to sexually acts (women)))

Question 51

Resurrection of the Flesh

Answer 51

See Ephrem Both the soul & body resurrects

Question 52

Spiritual Resurrection

Answer 52

Only the soul resurrects

Question 53

Sleep of the Soul (Syriac Christianity)

Answer 53

Ephrem Soul exists separate from the body, but w/o a body, it lacks true existence When individual dies, their soul leaves first & ascends to the right level while body is still asleep In the end, the body will arrive to the soul & together they will reach Paradise To do so, body must be perfected (repent for sins)

Question 54

Tertullian

Answer 54

Body signifies sexual differences/hierarchy Resurrection of the flesh Argues that it takes less for men to be redeemed vs. women Considers flesh as inherently female: weaker & passive Considers soul as masculine: more dominant & stronger Resurrected flesh is the same as our current flesh but w/ a different glory Bodily organs may have particular functions now but can change once they have been resurrected Virgins are precursors of resurrection to come → rewarded with luminous flesh

Question 55

Tetrarchy

Answer 55

“system of imperial succession, developed by the Roman emperor Diocletian.” this system resulted in the end where Constantine becomes the ruler out of the four rulers (orginally the word means 4 rulers)

Question 56

Qyama

Answer 56

Daughters/sons of the covenant Referred to people at a certain station in life Took a vow of virginity at baptism

Question 57

Ihidaya

Answer 57

Two interpretations Refers to Jesus’ status as a unique individual/exemplar Also refers to individuals who were celibate, living alone, following a consecrated lifestyle, and trying to emulate Jesus & his uniqueness Not married, left their families Single-mindedness: focus on God & practicing their vow

Question 58

Qadisha

Answer 58

Holy (possibility of marry but withhold having sex) Those who took a permanent vow to abstain from sexual relations in marriage

Question 59

Bthutta/Bthulata

Answer 59

Virgin/Virginity (the general term)

Question 60

Models of Ascetic Ideal

Answer 60

1) New Testament - bride/groom & bridal chamber Church = bride, bridegroom = Jesus Via baptism, individuals enter into this relationship 2) Wakefulness - book of Daniel refers to angelic beings as wakers Requires constant vigilance, had to be aware of constant threats of virginity (hold onto it) Way of detaching from material world 3) Baptism = return to paradise Belief that Adam & Eve had sex after expulsion from Garden of Eden God meant for marriage & abstinence to be intertwined Believed that when Christ was baptized, he changed the waters forever → other individuals after put on Ihidaya (way of aligning themselves with Jesus)

Question 61

The Martyrdom of Tarbo, Her Sister, and Her Servant

Answer 61

Trying to save her chastity and virginity There was a plead for Tarbo to marry the officer because of her beauty A time where virginity was really important

Question 62

The Life of Barsauma

Answer 62

Seriac Illusion of the Old Testament and highlights the holyman Was violent towards non-Christians and “fake Christians” Anti-Cappedocians

Question 63

The Lives of Simeon Stylites

Answer 63

Emphasize of holiness Stood on top of pillar for a long time Lived in the same time as Barsuama This time period is where a large portion of Apatheia was shown

Question 64

Resurrection Excerpts: Athenagoras

Answer 64

Athenagoras Material link → b/c our body change our body is necessary In order for god to fully judge → no reason to be virtuous w/o knowing someone watching → resurrection of the flesh is crucial b/c final divine judgement/justice Believes the flesh is contingent and essential

Question 65

Resurrection Excerpts: Tertullian

Answer 65

Tertullian Body is necessary, mark continuity in both realms, issues on females (females need to be modest– no make up, no extraveggate, leave hair alone, no revealing, looking at them will cause men to sin, being modest will protect them), soul + body does not determine if they are female or male, christians are elite and non-christians will be punished

Question 66

325

Answer 66

Nicaea Council How is Jesus divine while also maintaining the immutability of God? What is the relationship between the uncreated logos & Jesus? How do we reconcile biblical traditions that demand both distinction & unity of a monotheistic God? Is Arius orthodox? What is orthodox (right belief)? Homousios terminology

Question 67

381

Answer 67

First Council of Constantinople Hypostases - Father, Son, & Spirit are three distinct persons but one God/duty Son is consubstantial with the Father → begotten by him Spirit if also consubstantial with the Father → proceeds from the Father through the Son

Question 68

431

Answer 68

Council of Ephesus How can we explain the union of the divine & the human in the incarnation? If Jesus is God, how can we explain his suffering? Who is Mary the mother of? What was the being to which Mary gave birth to?

Question 69

451

Answer 69

Council of Chalcedon Essentially continues the debate between Nestorius and Cyril Latin West accepted definition, East still divided

Question 70

Origen, On First Principles

Answer 70

Heretic born from Christian parents. A heretic is a person who denies beliefs of given unity and spreads false belief of Christianity. Believes in spiritual interpretations and meanings. Wisdom is the highest form which is connected to the mind. Believed that reading the scriptures will bring you closer to wisdom. Not all scriptures have bodily meanings but all scriptures have spiritual meanings. Has 4 books: trinity (relation to one another), created beings (angels, demon/spriits, human beings), material world, right and wrong reading (spiritual meanings and literal).