Chapter XLIII: Section 6: The Eastern Church

Of the Churches now comprehended in Turkey in Asia, the foundation and early history of PALESTINE, as represented by the CHURCH IN JERUSALEM, and of SYRIA, as represented by the CHURCH IN ANTIOCH, have been already related (Chapters I. and II.).

[Sidenote: Death of St. James.]

St. James the Less, first Bishop of Jerusalem, was martyred A.D. 63, and succeeded by Simeon, the son of Cleopas, in whose episcopate the destruction of Jerusalem took place, A.D. 70. [Sidenote: Flight to Pella.] The Christians, in obedience to the prophetic teaching of their Divine Master, had already fled for safety to Pella, whence they afterwards returned to take up their abode amongst the ruins of the Holy City. In A.D. 132, a rebellious outbreak of the Jews, under the leadership of Barchochebas, drew down on them a severe chastisement from the Emperor Hadrian, and the Jewish Christians suffered much from being confounded with their rebellious countrymen. The ruins of the ancient city were completely destroyed, whilst no Jew was allowed to enter the new city of Aelia Capitolina, which was built on its site. [Sidenote: Extinction of Judaism in Church of Jerusalem.] The Jewish Christians now entirely gave up all profession of Judaism, and the first Judaism in _Gentile_ Bishop of Jerusalem was appointed A.D. 135.

Julian the Apostate (A.D. 361-A.D. 363) presumptuously attempted to rebuild Jerusalem, but his attempt was frustrated by a miraculous interposition, a failure which had already been predicted by St. Cyril, the then Bishop of Jerusalem.

{84}

[Sidenote: Double Episcopate at Antioch.]

The CHURCH IN ANTIOCH having been probably founded by St. Peter, that Apostle is believed to have left behind him two Bishops in the city, the one Evodius, having the episcopal care of the Jewish converts, whilst Ignatius was placed in charge of the Gentile Christians; but, on the death of Evodius, A.D. 70, Ignatius became sole Bishop. [Sidenote: St. Ignatius.] This holy man is said to have been the child whom our Lord took in His arms and set in the midst of His disciples. He was intimate with some or all of the Apostles, especially with St. John, and was martyred by being thrown to wild beasts at Rome, A.D. 107. The synods held at Antioch were very numerous, and far larger than any others, approaching almost in size and importance to General Councils. [Sidenote: St. John Chrysostom.] It was at Antioch that the celebrated and eloquent St. John Chrysostom was born about A.D. 347: he became Bishop of Constantinople, and died A.D. 407, after undergoing persecutions which almost amounted to a martyrdom.

[Sidenote: St. Paul and St. John in Asia Minor.]

We have already seen (pp. 31, 32) that the CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR owe their foundation chiefly to St. Paul, whilst their perfect organization and development was entrusted to St. John the Divine (pp. 49 to 51). The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse seem to have been in a special manner the charge of the latter Apostle, Ephesus, the chief of them, being the home of his later earthly years, and the scene of his decease and burial. [Sidenote: The "Angels" of the Seven Churches.] St. Timothy, the first Bishop of Ephesus, had been succeeded probably by Onesimus; St. Polycarp (martyred A.D. 167) had the episcopal charge of Smyrna; {85} Archippus, it is believed, had followed Epaphras at Laodicea. The names of the other "Angels" spoken of in the Apocalypse have not come down to us, but there is no doubt that at the time when the seven inspired Epistles were addressed to these Churches, there was in each of them a firmly established episcopacy, and that this form of government was followed by all other Churches throughout the world. There is little that needs recording of the history of these Churches of Asia Minor, unless we except the Great Council of Ephesus, held in that city, A.D. 431, to condemn the heresy of Nestorius (p. 71).

[Sidenote: St. Bartholomew in Armenia.]

The CHURCH OF ARMENIA, now included in Asiatic Turkey, is believed to have been first founded by St. Bartholomew. The country is said to have been further evangelized by a mission sent by St. Gregory the Illuminator in the third century. It is known that, in the following century, a flourishing Church existed there.

[Sidenote: Several Apostles in Parthia.]

The CHURCH OF PARTHIA, or PERSIA, embraced the country lying between the Tigris and the Indus, with Mesopotamia and Chaldea; what we now call Persia, Cabul, and Belochistan; as well as part of Arabia and Turkey; and is said to have been planted by St. Peter, St. Bartholomew, St. Jude, St. Matthew, and St. Thomas. The inhabitants of this region were of different races: Greek colonists; many Jews, the residue of the Babylonish Captivity; Arabs, and ancient Persians. Till the fourth century the Parthian Church appears to have flourished in peace. It was beyond the jurisdiction of the persecuting emperors of Rome, and the Parthian monarchs, though not Christians themselves, protected or tolerated their Christian subjects. [Sidenote: Persecution there.] Two Bishops were sent from {86} Parthia to the Council of Nicaea, A.D. 323, but shortly afterwards, A.D. 330, persecution broke out, occasioned apparently by the jealousy felt by the king towards the now Christian emperors of Rome, and the intercourse kept up between the fellow Christians of the two empires. Sixteen thousand martyrs are said to have shed their blood for their Faith, and amongst them was St. Simeon, the Patriarch of the Church, and Bishop of Seleucia. Another persecution took place in the beginning of the fifth century, and shortly afterwards Persian Christianity became strongly infected with the errors of Nestorius, the Shahs apparently favouring the heresy on account of its having been discouraged by the Roman emperors.

[Sidenote: Uncertainty as to the first conversion of Arabia.]

There is no record of the actual founding of the CHURCH IN ARABIA. We know, from Gal. i. 17, that St. Paul "went into Arabia" soon after his conversion, but there is no mention of his having preached the Gospel there at that time, when indeed he was not yet called to be an Apostle; and the Arabia to which he went was probably the northern portion stretching up to the east of Syria, almost to Damascus itself. The Apostle of the Gentiles may probably have revisited this country at a later period; but, at any rate, we know that Christianity was firmly established there early in the third century, and that Origen made two several journeys thither between A.D. 220 and A.D. 248, to combat heresies which troubled the Arabian Church. The Bishop of Bostra, or Bozrah, was present at the Council of Antioch, A.D. 269. [Sidenote: Nestorianism and Eutychianism in Arabia.] In the fifth century the errors of Nestorius, and, a little later, of Eutyches, made great inroads amongst {87} the Christians of Arabia, several even of the Bishops being led away by them.

[Sidenote: St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew in India.]

There is an ancient tradition that St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew laid the foundations of the CHURCH IN INDIA, but very little is known of its early history. Pantaenus is said to have been sent as a missionary from Alexandria to India towards the end of the second century, though it is a matter in dispute whether by India in this case we are to understand the country now known under that name, or Ethiopia, or Arabia Felix.

There are still Christians in India who reverence St. Thomas as their founder, and use a liturgy which goes by his name. Nestorianism spread to India in the fifth century.

The Church is believed to have been planted in CHINA by St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew, and the Chinese are mentioned by Arnobius in the fourth century amongst those nations which had received the Gospel. It does not seem, however, that Christianity existed for any length of time in this country.

[1] See Chap. V.

[2] In speaking of the Greek Church of the present day, we usually understand the whole body of orthodox Eastern Christians, and not merely those dwelling in Greece itself.

{88}