the Geography of Christianity ~180AD/CE to ~310AD/CE

[MrMacSon]

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I started the Geography of Christianity thread, but then decided to try to narrow it to ~50AD/CE to ~180AD/CE, as summarized in the attempted list/tabulation at the bottom of page 5.

so, How about the period ~180AD/CE to ~310AD/CE ...

I'll start a list here, and update it. Suggestions & comments welcome (Rome in the 2nd post of this thread)

• Egypt/Alexandria
  
  • the Catechetical School of Alexandria
  • • Clement of Alexandria (c.150 – c.215)
      • arr. Alexandria ~180CE; left ~ 202/3 (during Severian persecutions); maybe went to Antioch, Cappadocia*, or Jersualem.
      • Three of Clement's major works have survived in full, collectively referred to as the trilogy:
        • the Protrepticus (Exhortation) – written c. 195.
          the Paedagogus (Tutor) – written c. 198.
          the Stromata (Miscellanies) – written c. 198 – c. 203.
    • • Eusebius is the first writer to provide an account of Clement's life and works, in the Church History. There are two separate sections of the work dedicated to Clement (5.11 and 6.11), the latter of which seems decidedly out of place, and Valesius argued that this was evidence that Eusebius never revised his work
      • *Clement probably died in Caesarea, Cappadocia.
    • Origen (b.184/185, Alexandria. d.~253/254; unknown) fl. Alex. 203 - ~231.
  • • Pope Dionysius of Alexandria Papacy 248-64.
  Nth Africa
  
  • Carthage
  • • Martyrs - Scillitan Martyrs; Perpetua and Felicity; ~ 200AD/CE
  • • Epenetus of Carthage (or Cartagena, Spain)- a convert to Christianity in Ephesus
  • • Agrippinus - called a synod of bishops of Numidia & Africa ~ 215CE
  • • Tertullian (c.155–c.240AD/CE),
  • • Donatus
  • • Cyprian (c. 200 – c. 258)
  • Libya
  Antioch
  
  • Paul of Samosata* (200-275) - http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_ ... f_Samosata
  • Serapion of Antioch (fl. 191–211) Serapion_of_Antioch
  • Lucian of Antioch (c. 240 – 312; b. Samosata*)
  • School of Antioch ~200CE onwards School of Antioch
  • * Samosata was previously known as Antiochia in Commagene (Ancient Greek: Αντιόχεια τῆς Κομμαγηνῆς) when it served as the capital for the Hellenistic kingdom of Commagene from c. 160 BC until it was surrendered to Rome in 72.
  Palestine/Judea
  
  • Jerusalem
  • • Maximus of Jerusalem http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/i ... -wace.html
  • Caesarea Maritima in Palestine
  • • Theophilus of Caesarea (†195) was a bishop, and a teacher of Clement of Alexandria.
  • • Origen (fl. 231/2-5AD/CE; and after ~238,indefinitely; d. ~253)
  • • Pamphilus d. 309
    • • from "Martyrs of Palestine" we learn that Pamphilus belonged to a noble family of Beirut (in Phœnicia), where he received a good education, and that he quitted his native land after selling all his property and giving the proceeds to the poor. From Photius (cod. 118), who took his information from Pamphilus's "Apology for Origen", we learn that he went to Alexandria where his teacher was Pierius, then the head of the famous Catechetical School. He eventually settled in Cæsarea where he was ordained priest, collected his famous library, and established a school for theological study (Eusebius, Church History VII.32.25). He devoted himself chiefly to producing ... copies of the Holy Scripture. ... St. Jerome (De Vir. Ill., lxxv) says that Pamphilus "transcribed the greater part of the works of Origen with his own hand", and that "these are still preserved in the library of Cæsarea." http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11436b.htm
  • • Eusebius (c. 260/265 – 339/340 AD/CE)
  Asia/Anatolia
  
  • Caesarea in Cappadocia (aka Caesarea Mazaca); Central Anatolia, Turkey
  • • Firmilian
  • • Origen (fl. 235-8)
  • Pontus
  • • GregoryThaumaturgus (213 – 270); via Alexandria & Caesarea
  • Nicomedia - the eastern capital city of the Roman Empire in 286-324

[/list]

[MrMacSon]

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• Rome
  
  • Sabellius fl. ~ 215 -- Sabellianism
  • Hippolyticus fl. 180-230 CE - http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/hippolytus.html
  Gaul/Lyon
  
  • Iraeneus, Smyrna/Lyon/Rome/Lyon (d. c. 202)
    • Against Heresies (c. 180) v Valentinus
      influenced Victor re Quartodeciman dispute
    • Irenaeus's writings, with those of Clement of Rome and Ignatius, are among the earliest signs of the developing doctrine of the primacy of the Roman see.[2] Irenaeus is the earliest witness to recognition of the canonical character of all four gospels.[4]
      
      2 "Caesar and Christ" (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972)
      4 Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament, p. 14. Anchor Bible; 1st edn (1997) ISBN 978-0-385-24767-2.

[MrMacSon]

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It should be noted the Cappadocian Fathers don't seem to have been an active entity until after 340 AD (most/all born ~ 330AD)

• - Caesarea in Cappadocia (aka Caesarea Mazaca); Central Anatolia, Turkey

[Kunigunde Kreuzerin]

Interesting. Thanks for that McMacSon

[MrMacSon]

yw. It's interesting there seems to be an *Asia Minor/Anatolia - Rome* axis in the 2nd century, and an 'Alexandria - Caesarea Maritima' & Nth Africa axis in the 3rd century.

Most of the people that originated in other places in the 2nd century, such as Ignatius (of Antioch) or Justin Martyr (from Judea), are reported to have ended up in Rome. The only excepts seem to be Theophilus of Antioch; and Irenaeus, who reportedly went from Smyrna to Lyon to Rome then back to Lyon.

It's also interesting that Nicomedia (northern Asia/Anatolia) supposedly became the eastern capital of the Roman Empire in 286 (or 293(?)) AD/CE, with the formation of the Tetrachy administration to the Roman Empire; and the geographic focus shifted back to that region in the 4th century; Constantine assumed the emperorship in 306. The first of the Seven Ecumenical councils held in the region - the 1st Council of Nicea - was held in 325 AD/CE.

The list 180-310 AD/CE needs more work, however, at this stage.

[MrMacSon]

It's worth noting

A period of increasing trouble and decline [in the Roman Empire] began with the reign of Commodus [in 180*]. Commodus' assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared Emperor by the Roman Senate over a fifty-year period. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the Empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four Emperors rule the Empire at once. This arrangement was ultimately unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I, who defeated his rivals and became the sole ruler of the Empire.

Roman Empire

* coincidence to me arbitrarily choosing 180 as a change in the periods I am outlining.

[Peter Kirby]

180 CE (ca. 170-190 anyway) marks the first extremely extensive texts, even more so than Justin Martyr's, with Irenaeus and Clement. It marks the clear acceptance of a 'New Testament' very much like our own in the person of Irenaeus. And it marks the clear evidence of ecclesiastical control and coordination between bishops, as for example in the quartodeciman controversy. It also marks the first time we really know of a bishop in some regions, such as Egypt, Gaul, Africa, and Edessa, thus indicating the spread of Christianity (perhaps) or the spread of ecclesiastical control (most likely, for Egypt) in communion with other 'catholic' ('universal') bishops.

It's been frequently chosen by introductory surveys and advanced monographs as a somewhat-logical era-marker (pre-Irenaeus, post-Irenaeus).

It should be admitted that some of its importance may be a product of chance; that we have more evidence for the following years may be due to the loss of several early authors (such as Papias, Hegesippus, and most of the known 'Gnostics') who were, in fact, known to have written extensively.

[MrMacSon]

Christianity_in_the_3rd_century
"As the Roman Empire experienced the Crisis of the Third Century1, the emperor Decius enacted measures intended to restore stability and unity, including a requirement that Roman citizens affirm their loyalty through religious ceremonies pertaining to Imperial cult. In 212, universal citizenship had been granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire, and with the edict of Decius enforcing religious conformity in 250, Christian citizens faced an intractable conflict: any citizen who refused to participate in the empire-wide supplicatio was subject to the death penalty.[1] Although lasting only a year,[2] the Decian persecution was a severe departure from previous imperial policy that Christians were not to be sought out and prosecuted as inherently disloyal.[3] Even under Decius, orthodox Christians were subject to arrest only for their refusal to participate in Roman civic religion, and were not prohibited from assembling for worship. Gnostics seem not to have been persecuted.[4]

"Christianity flourished during the four decades known as the Little Peace of the Church, beginning with the reign of Gallienus (253–268), who issued the first official edict of tolerance regarding Christianity.[5] The era of coexistence ended when Diocletian launched the final and "Great" Persecution in 303."


1 Crisis_of_the_Third_Century
"The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, (AD 235–284) was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression. The Crisis began with the assassination of Emperor Alexander Severus at the hands of his own troops, initiating a fifty-year period in which there were at least 26 claimants to the title of Emperor, mostly prominent Roman army generals, assuming imperial power over all or part of the Empire. Twenty-six men were officially accepted by the Roman Senate as emperor during this period, and thus became legitimate emperors.

"By 268, the Empire had split into three competing states: the Gallic Empire, including the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britannia and (briefly) Hispania; the Palmyrene Empire, including the eastern provinces of Syria Palaestina and Aegyptus; and the Italian-centered and independent Roman Empire, proper, between them. Later, Aurelian (270–75) reunited the empire; the Crisis ended with the ascension and reforms of Diocletian in 284.

"The Crisis resulted in such profound changes in the Empire's institutions, society, economic life and, eventually, religion, that it is increasingly seen by most historians as defining the transition between the historical periods of classical antiquity and late antiquity.[1]"

"... many of former city dwellers, as well as many small farmers, were forced to give up hard-earned basic civil rights in order to receive protection from large land-holders. In doing so, they became a half-free class of Roman citizen known as coloni. They were tied to the land, and in later Imperial law their status was made hereditary. This provided an early model for serfdom, the origins of medieval feudal society and of the medieval peasantry.

"Even the Roman cities themselves began to change in character. The large, open cities of classical antiquity slowly gave way to the smaller, walled cities that were common in the Middle Ages. These changes were not restricted to the third century, but took place slowly over a long period, and were punctuated with many temporary reversals. However, in spite of extensive reforms by later emperors, the Roman trade network was never able to fully recover to what it had been during the Pax Romana [Roman Peace] (27 BC – AD 180) of the first century AD. This economic decline was far more noticeable and important in the western part of the empire, which was also invaded several times during the century. Hence, the balance of power clearly shifted eastward during this period, as evidenced by the choice of Diocletian to rule from Nicomedia in Asia minor, putting his second in command Maximian in Milan. This would have considerable impact on the later development of the empire with a richer, more stable eastern empire surviving the end of Roman rule in the west.

"While Imperial revenues fell, Imperial expenses rose sharply. More soldiers, greater proportions of cavalry, and the ruinous expense of walling in cities all added to the toll. Goods and services previously paid for by the government were now demanded in addition to monetary taxes. The steady exodus of both rich and poor from the cities and now-unremunerative professions forced Diocletian to use compulsion; most trades were made hereditary, and workers could not legally leave their jobs or travel elsewhere to seek better-paying ones."

[MrMacSon]

• Little Peace of the Church

Co-existence

"During this time (~255-295CE), Christian communities became more integrated into Roman society in the provinces. The possibility of integration had been recognized by some Christian intellectuals as early as the 2nd century: Tatian, a Syrian convert to Christianity, maintained that all humanity should share one code of law and one political organization—an attitude that was conducive to coexistence with the Empire.[6] The goal of unity was reflected in the Constitutio Antoniniana, which in 212 AD had extended universal citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire.[7] The intellectual practices associated with the Second Sophistic were adopted by Christian apologists, who drew on the rhetorical techniques of the educated classes to argue that they posed no threat to the social order. The "little peace" helped consolidate the development of Christian discourse in the Hellenistic manner.[8] Conditions were also more favorable for attracting Christian converts.[9]

"Eusebius of Caesarea, who grew up during the peace, contrasted it with the time in which he wrote:

• "It is beyond our ability to describe in a suitable manner the extent and nature of the glory and freedom with which the word of piety toward the God of the universe, proclaimed to the world through Christ, was honored among all men, both Greeks and barbarians, before the persecution in our day"."[10]

End of the Peace

This peaceful coexistence came to an end during the reign of Diocletian (284–311).[11] Diocletian's efforts to promote stability and unity for the Empire following the Crisis of the Third Century included [conforming to Roman religious practices], since citizens expressed their loyalty through participation in the public religion of Rome. Christians were viewed as incapable of acting on their obligations as Roman citizens, and the edict of 303 resulted in the [Diocletianic] "Great" Persecution [of Christians; they were forced to follow Roman religious practices].[12] Galerius halted the persecutions in 311 with an edict that made it a duty for Christians to support the state (res publica) through their own forms of worship.[13]

12 & 13 Elizabeth DePalma Digeser, The Making of a Christian Empire: Lactantius and Rome (Cornell University Press, 2002), pp. 52–53.

[MrMacSon]

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http://www.tertullian.org/fathers2/

http://www.ritchies.net/p1wk6.htm