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Introduction
Christian church developed a government system by the fourth century, based on a territorial plan borrowed from the Roman administration. A bishop was the head of the Christian community in each city, and the area of jurisdiction was known as diocese or bishopric. The diocese of every Roman province was then grouped under the leadership of an archbishop. The bishops of four major cities: Jerusalem, Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, held superior power in church activities because the churches in these cities proclaimed that they had been founded originally by apostles sent out by Jesus (Spielvogel, 2018). During the fourth and fifth eras, the Christian church proliferated due to leadership organizational structure changes and its close relation to the government.
How Christian Church Organization and Its Relation With State Changed
The relation between the Christian church and the state during the reign of Emperor Constantine played a crucial role in changing the church organization. Constantine’s support for Christianity began in the year 312 when his forces were about to battle against the forces of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge, which crossed the River Tiber that was north of Rome. Before the battle, there was a story that Constantine had a vision of a Christian cross written: “In this sign, you will conquer” (Spielvogel, 2018). After winning the battle, Constantine got convinced of the power of the Christian God and converted to Christianity. He then issued the eminent Edict of Milan, which formally tolerated the existence of Christianity.
Constantine died on May 22nd, 337, but he had been officially baptized into the Christian faith, and all the rulers who came after him were Christians except Julian, who later died in battle, so his reign was short of making a difference (Spielvogel, 2018). Later on, under the rule of Theodosius I, Christianity was made the official religion of the Roman Empire. Therefore, the Christian church formed an organizational structure and used its power and influence to outlaw pagan religious practices.
Why the Christian Church Organization and Its Relation with State Changed
One of the motives why the Christian church needed a more formal organization was the problem of heresy. As the development of Christianity spread, contradictory interpretations of significant doctrines emerged. Heresy was viewed as teaching different from the church’s official universal beliefs, hence referring to Catholic Christians (Spielvogel, 2018). For those individuals concerned deeply with salvation, the question of whether Jesus was human or divine took on extraordinary significance. The doctrinal differences extended to political issues whereby they created political factions that warred with one another. One of the heresies of the fourth century was Arianism (AR-ee-uh-niz-um) which was a product of the followers of Arius (Spielvogel, 2018). Arius was an Alexandria priest in Egypt who claimed that Jesus was human and not God. Alexandria priest Athanasius opposed him, who based his argument that Jesus was human and also truly God. Later on, the Roman Empire played a significant role in church affairs by calling church councils like the Council of Nicaea to solve the differences.
Conclusion
In Roma, the Christian church was close to the state, leading to Christianity’s rapid growth in the region. During that time, the power of church administration and papacy grew stronger. The emperor helped solve issues caused by heresy by appointing councils from the church organizations, which acted as the decisive courts of ecclesiastical justice. Heresy resulted from the growth of scholarly pursuits and the acknowledgment that educated, orthodox individuals could keep the church on the right doctrinal track.
Reference
Spielvogel, J. J. (2018). Western civilization (10th). Cengage Learning.
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