Historia ya Kanisa — Sehemu ya 3: Uzushi, Mitaguso, na Ukristo wa KidolaChurch History — Unit 3: Heresies, Councils, and Imperial Christianity

Kwa karne tatu kanisa lilikuwa limeuliza swali moja kuliko mengine yote: tutaishije chini ya Roma? Kisha karibu ghafla, kati ya mwaka 312 na 313, swali hilo likatoweka, na mahali pake likaja swali ambalo karibu hakuna mtu aliyefikiri kujiandaa kwa ajili yake: tutaishije katika urafiki wa Roma?For three centuries the church had asked one question above all others: how do we survive Rome? Then almost overnight, between 312 and 313, that question vanished and was replaced by one almost no one had thought to prepare for: how do we survive Rome's friendship?

Ushindi wa Konstantino kwenye Daraja la Milvio mnamo Oktoba 312 ulibadilisha kila kitu. Amri ya Milano ya mwaka 313 iliwapa Wakristo uhuru wa kuabudu, ikawarudishia mali zilizokuwa zimetaifishwa, na ikamaliza enzi ambayo Wakristo wangeweza kukumbwa na mateso ya kifalme ya mara kwa mara, na wakati mwingine yaliyoenea katika dola yote. Katika kipindi cha kizazi kimoja, Ukristo ungekuwa dini iliyopendelewa na dola. Maaskofu waliokuwa wamejificha mapangoni sasa waliketi katika mikutano pamoja na mfalme. Majengo yaliyokuwa haramu sasa yalisimama kama basilika (makanisa makubwa) yaliyojengwa kwa gharama ya dola. Damu ya mashahidi ilikuwa imekuwa mbegu ya kanisa lililoimarishwa rasmi.Constantine's victory at the Milvian Bridge in October 312 changed everything. The Edict of Milan in 313 granted Christians freedom of worship, restored confiscated property, and ended the era in which Christians could be subjected to periodic and sometimes empire-wide imperial persecution. Within a generation Christianity would be the favored religion of the empire. Bishops who had hidden in caves now sat in conference with the emperor. Buildings that had been illegal now rose as basilicas at imperial expense. The blood of the martyrs had become the seed of an established church.

Hili lilikuwa jibu sahihi kwa maombi ya miaka mia tatu, na pia tatizo ambalo kanisa halijawahi kulazimika kulitatua. Sehemu ya 3 ni hadithi ya jinsi kanisa lilivyopambana na maswali hayo mapya katika karne ya nne na mwanzo wa karne ya tano, likafafanua fundisho lake kuhusu Mungu na kuhusu Kristo katika mitaguso minne mikuu ya kiekumene, na — wakati huohuo — likazaa karne kuu ya pili ya mahubiri katika historia yake.This was the right answer to a three-hundred-year prayer, and a problem the church had never had to solve. Unit 3 is the story of how the church wrestled the new questions through the fourth and early fifth centuries, defined her doctrine of God and Christ in the four great ecumenical councils, and produced — while she was at it — the second great century of preaching in her history.

Konstantino alikuwa askari na mwanasiasa, si mwanatheolojia. Usiku uliotangulia vita vya Daraja la Milvio, kwa mujibu wa mwandishi wa wasifu wake, Eusebio, aliona ishara angani — msalaba wa nuru pamoja na maneno "Kwa ishara hii utashinda." Aliziwekea ngao za askari wake alama ya Kikristo ya Chi-Rho, akashinda vita, na akauhusisha ushindi huo na Mungu wa Wakristo. Tangu siku hiyo Konstantino alijiona kuwa mlezi wa kanisa, ingawa kwa kweli hakubatizwa mpaka muda mfupi kabla ya kifo chake mwaka 337.Constantine was a soldier and politician, not a theologian. The night before the Milvian Bridge, according to his biographer Eusebius, he saw a sign in the sky — a cross of light with the words "In this sign conquer." He marked his soldiers' shields with the Christian Chi-Rho, won the battle, and attributed the victory to the Christian God. From that day forward Constantine considered himself a patron of the church, though he was not actually baptized until just before his death in 337.

Sera yake ilikuwa rahisi: saidia, linda, unganisha. Aliwarudishia watu mali zilizotaifishwa, akawapa makasisi msamaha wa kodi, akaagiza majengo mapya ya makanisa yajengwe, akawaita maaskofu kwenye mikutano ya kifalme. Alitarajia kanisa liwe kanisa moja, si makundi yanayogombana. Jaribio kubwa la kwanza lilikuja karibu mara moja, huko Afrika Kaskazini, katika mzozo wa Wadonati.His policy was simple: support, protect, unify. He returned confiscated property, gave clergy tax exemptions, commissioned new church buildings, summoned bishops to imperial conferences. He expected the church to be one church, not feuding factions. The first major test came almost immediately, in North Africa, in the Donatist controversy.

Wakati wa mateso ya Diokletiano, baadhi ya maaskofu wa Afrika Kaskazini walikuwa wamekabidhi Maandiko yachomwe moto badala ya kukabili kifo. Waliitwa traditores — "wale waliokabidhi." Baada ya mateso kwisha, mtu mmoja aitwaye Kaekiliano aliwekwa wakfu kuwa askofu wa Karthago na askofu mwingine aliyeshtakiwa kuwa alikuwa traditor. Kundi moja lenye msimamo mkali lilikataa kuukubali uwekaji wakfu huo. Walidai kwamba sakramenti yoyote iliyohudumiwa na askofu aliyeanguka — ubatizo, kuwekwa wakfu kwa huduma, Meza ya Bwana — ilikuwa batili. Walimchagua askofu wao wenyewe, Donato, na hivyo kanisa la Wadonati likaanza.During Diocletian's persecution some North African bishops had handed over the Scriptures to be burned rather than face death. They were called traditores — "those who have handed over." After persecution ended, a man named Caecilian was consecrated bishop of Carthage by another bishop accused of having been a traditor. A rigorist faction refused to accept the consecration. They argued that any sacrament administered by a fallen bishop — baptism, ordination, communion — was invalid. They elected their own bishop, Donatus, and the Donatist church began.

Kanisa kuu, ambalo karne moja baadaye lilitetewa kwa nguvu kuliko wote na Augustino, lilichukua msimamo tofauti: uhalali wa sakramenti unategemea Kristo, si ustahili wa mhudumu. Ubatizo ni ubatizo hata ukifanywa na askofu asiyestahili, kwa sababu ni Kristo anayebatiza, si mikono ya askofu. Kanuni hii — kwamba sakramenti ni ex opere operato, "kutokana na kazi iliyofanyika," badala ya kutegemea utakatifu wa mhudumu — ingeunda teolojia ya Magharibi kwa miaka elfu moja iliyofuata. Mzozo wa Wadonati ni onyo la kudumu dhidi ya kuchanganya usafi wa kanisa na ustahili wa wahudumu wake.The mainstream church, defended most powerfully by Augustine a century later, took a different position: the validity of the sacrament depends on Christ, not on the worthiness of the minister. A baptism is a baptism even when performed by an unworthy bishop, because it is Christ who does the baptizing, not the bishop's hands. This principle — the sacrament is ex opere operato, "from the work performed," rather than dependent on the minister's holiness — would shape Western theology for the next thousand years. The Donatist controversy is a permanent warning against confusing the church's purity with the worthiness of her ministers.

Mzozo wa Wadonati ulihusu kanisa. Mzozo wa Ario ulimhusu Kristo Mwenyewe, nao ulikuwa mgogoro mzito zaidi wa kitheolojia ambao kanisa lilikuwa limewahi kukabili. Mgogoro wa Ario karibu uigawanye dola, ulishughulisha mitaguso minne ya kiekumene, na ukalilazimisha kanisa kueleza kwa lugha sahihi kile lililokuwa limekiri siku zote: kwamba Yesu Kristo ni Mungu kikamilifu na kwa kweli.The Donatist controversy was about the church. The Arian controversy was about Christ Himself, and it was the most serious theological crisis the church had ever faced. The Arian crisis nearly split the empire, occupied four ecumenical councils, and forced the church to put into precise language what it had always confessed: that Jesus Christ is fully and truly God.

Tatizo lilianza karibu mwaka 318 huko Iskanderia. Mzee wa kanisa (presbita) aitwaye Ario alikuwa akifundisha hadharani kwamba Mwana hakuwa wa milele. Ario alihoji hivi: Baba hakuzaliwa, ni wa milele, hana mwanzo. Mwana amezaliwa na Baba, maana yake Mwana alikuwa na mwanzo. "Kulikuwa na wakati ambapo Yeye hakuwako." Mwana ndiye wa juu kabisa kati ya viumbe vya Mungu, wa kwanza na aliyetukuka kuliko viumbe vyote vilivyoumbwa, lakini bado ni kiumbe. Yeye si Mungu kwa maana halisi. Hayuko wa milele pamoja na Baba.The trouble began around 318 in Alexandria. A presbyter named Arius was teaching publicly that the Son was not eternal. Arius reasoned: the Father is unbegotten, eternal, without beginning. The Son is begotten of the Father, which means the Son had a beginning. "There was when He was not." The Son is the highest of God's creatures, the first and most exalted of all created beings, but He is still a creature. He is not, properly speaking, God. He is not co-eternal with the Father.

Hoja ya Ario ilikuwa na wepesi fulani wa kueleweka. Alikuwa mhubiri maarufu, mzungumzaji hodari, naye aliandika teolojia yake katika nyimbo za kuvutia zilizoenea katika bandari za Iskanderia. Kufikia mwanzo wa miaka ya 320 mzozo huo ulikuwa ukivuruga kanisa lote la Mashariki. Konstantino alishtuka. Alikuwa ameunga mkono Ukristo, kwa sehemu, ili kuleta umoja katika dola yake, na sasa Wakristo walikuwa wakigawanyika juu ya swali ambalo yeye hakuweza kulielewa kikamilifu. Aliamua kuitisha mtaguso. Kila askofu katika dola angealikwa, angelishwa kwa gharama ya dola, nao wangelimaliza swali hilo mara moja na kwa wote katika mji wa kifalme wa Nikea, wakati wa kiangazi cha mwaka 325.Arius's argument had a certain crispness. He was a popular preacher, a clever rhetorician, and he wrote his theology in catchy songs that spread through the docks of Alexandria. By the early 320s the controversy was disrupting the entire eastern church. Constantine was alarmed. He had supported Christianity in part to provide unity for his empire, and now Christians were dividing over a question he could not entirely follow. He decided to call a council. Every bishop in the empire would be invited, fed at imperial expense, and they would settle the question once and for all in the imperial city of Nicaea, in the summer of 325.

Takriban maaskofu 318 walihudhuria Nikea — idadi hiyo ni ya mapokeo. Wengi wao walibeba makovu ya mateso ya Diokletiano: macho yaliyong'olewa, viungo vilivyokatwa, mikono iliyoharibiwa. Hawakuwa watu wa nadharia tupu za kitheolojia. Walikuwa watu waliomwaga damu kwa ajili ya jina la Yesu Kristo. Sasa waliombwa kueleza kwa neno moja la Kigiriki maana ya jina hilo. Neno walilolichagua lilikuwa homoousios — wa dutu moja. Mwana si kama Baba tu (homoiousios, lenye herufi moja ya ziada). Mwana ni wa dutu moja na Baba — Mungu kikamilifu, Mungu wa milele, sawa na Baba katika uungu.About 318 bishops attended Nicaea — the number is traditional. Many bore the scars of Diocletian's persecution: missing eyes, severed limbs, ruined hands. They were not theological abstractions. They were men who had bled for the name of Jesus Christ. Now they were being asked to put into a single Greek word what that name meant. The word they chose was homoousios — of the same substance. The Son is not like the Father (homoiousios, with one extra letter). The Son is of the same substance as the Father — fully God, eternally God, equal to the Father in deity.

Kanuni ya Imani ya Nikea ya asili: "Tunamwamini Mungu mmoja, Baba Mwenyezi… Na Bwana mmoja Yesu Kristo, Mwana pekee wa Mungu, aliyezaliwa na Baba… Mungu kutoka kwa Mungu, Nuru kutoka kwa Nuru, Mungu kweli kutoka kwa Mungu kweli, aliyezaliwa wala si kuumbwa, wa dutu moja na Baba…" Karibu kila kifungu kilielekezwa dhidi ya Ario. Aliyezaliwa wala si kuumbwa — dhidi ya dai la Waario kwamba Mwana aliumbwa. Wa dutu moja — yaani homoousios. Mungu kweli kutoka kwa Mungu kweli — kupindua dai la Ario kwamba Mwana alikuwa Mungu kwa maana ya kupewa tu. Kanuni hiyo ilihitimishwa kwa laana (anathema): "Wale wasemao kwamba kulikuwa na wakati ambapo Yeye hakuwako… Kanisa Katoliki (la ulimwengu wote) linawalaani." Maaskofu mia tatu na kumi na sita walitia sahihi. Wawili walikataa na wakapelekwa uhamishoni pamoja na Ario. Konstantino aliona kwamba jambo hilo limekwisha. Halikuwa limekwisha.The original Nicene Creed: "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty… And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father… God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of the same substance as the Father…" Almost every clause was aimed at Arius. Begotten not made — against the Arian claim that the Son was created. Of the same substance — the homoousios. True God of true God — reversing Arius's claim that the Son was God only in a derivative sense. The creed concluded with anathemas: "Those who say there was when He was not… the Catholic Church anathematizes." Three hundred and sixteen bishops signed. Two refused and were exiled with Arius. Constantine considered the matter settled. It was not.

Miaka hamsini baada ya Nikea ilikuwa ya vurugu. Wafalme tofauti walichukua pande tofauti. Sinodi zilikutana katika miji tofauti na kutoa kanuni za imani tofauti. Kanuni za Kiario na za nusu-Kiario ziliongezeka. Baadaye Yeronimo alisema, "Ulimwengu wote uliugua na kushangaa kujikuta umekuwa wa Kiario." Ukiri wa Nikea karibu uzame. Ulinusurika kwa sababu ya mtu mmoja.The fifty years after Nicaea were chaos. Different emperors took different sides. Synods met in different cities and issued different creeds. Arian and semi-Arian formulas multiplied. Jerome later said, "The whole world groaned and marveled to find itself Arian." The Nicene confession nearly went under. It survived because of one man.

Athanasio alikuwa na umri wa takriban miaka thelathini wakati wa Nikea, shemasi kijana aliyehudumu kama katibu wa askofu wake, Aleksanda. Miaka mitatu baadaye yeye mwenyewe akawa askofu wa Iskanderia. Kwa miaka arobaini na mitano iliyofuata aliutetea ukiri wa Nikea dhidi ya wafalme mmoja baada ya mwingine wa Kiario na wa nusu-Kiario, alipelekwa uhamishoni mara tano katika nchi nne tofauti, akarudi mara tano, na akawaishi karibu adui zake wote. Msemo wa Kilatini Athanasius contra mundum — "Athanasio dhidi ya ulimwengu" — unaeleza upweke wake na pia ukaidi wake thabiti. Dola ilipokuwa ya Kiario, Athanasio alishika imani ya Nikea. Maaskofu wenzake walipolegeza msimamo, Athanasio hakukubali.Athanasius was about thirty years old at Nicaea, a young deacon serving as secretary to his bishop Alexander. Three years later he became bishop of Alexandria himself. For the next forty-five years he defended the Nicene confession against successive Arian and semi-Arian emperors, was exiled five times to four different countries, returned five times, and outlived nearly every one of his enemies. The Latin phrase Athanasius contra mundum — "Athanasius against the world" — captures both his isolation and his stubbornness. When the empire was Arian, Athanasius was Nicene. When his fellow bishops compromised, Athanasius would not.

Kazi zake kuu ni pamoja na Juu ya Kufanyika Mwili, aliyoiandika alipokuwa bado na umri wa miaka ishirini na kitu tu — mojawapo ya kazi bora kabisa za teolojia ya Kikristo, inayohoji kwamba ni Kristo aliye Mungu kikamilifu tu anayeweza kuokoa wanadamu kikamilifu, na ni Kristo aliye mwanadamu kikamilifu tu anayeweza kuuponya ubinadamu. Aliandika Hotuba Nne Dhidi ya Waario, kazi kuu ya kupinga Uario. Na alilipa kanisa zawadi ya mwisho katika barua yake ya Pasaka ya mwaka 367: orodha ya kwanza inayojulikana ya vitabu ishirini na saba vya Agano Jipya ambavyo bado tunavipokea kama vitabu vya kanuni (vya Maandiko), kwa mpangilio ambao bado tunautumia. Athanasio hakubuni orodha ya vitabu vya Maandiko — kanisa lilikuwa likivitambua vitabu hivi kwa karne nyingi — lakini barua yake ya Pasaka ilifunga rasmi swali la orodha ya vitabu ambalo Markioni alikuwa ameliibua karne mbili kabla.His major works include On the Incarnation, written when he was barely in his twenties — one of the masterpieces of Christian theology, arguing that only a Christ who was fully God could save fully human beings, and only a Christ who was fully man could heal humanity. He wrote Four Discourses Against the Arians, the great anti-Arian polemic. And he gave the church a final gift in his Easter letter of 367: the first known list of the twenty-seven New Testament books we still receive as canonical, in the order we still use. Athanasius did not invent the canon — the church had been recognizing these books for centuries — but his Easter letter formally closed the canon question Marcion had raised two centuries earlier.

Athanasio hakuishi hadi kuona akithibitishwa kuwa sahihi. Alikufa mwaka 373. Miaka minane baadaye, katika Mtaguso wa Konstantinopoli mwaka 381, ukiri wa Nikea ulithibitishwa upya na kupanuliwa, na hatimaye Uario ukaangamizwa ndani ya dola.Athanasius did not live to see his vindication. He died in 373. Eight years later, at the Council of Constantinople in 381, the Nicene confession was reaffirmed and expanded, and Arianism was finally crushed within the empire.

Marafiki watatu kutoka jimbo la Kirumi la Kapadokia (katikati ya Uturuki ya leo) walikamilisha kile ambacho Athanasio alikuwa amekianza. Wanaitwa Mababa wa Kapadokia. Basili Mkuu (takriban 330–379) alikuwa askofu wa Kaisaria, aliandika kanuni ya maisha ya utawa ambayo bado inaongoza utawa wa Kanisa la Kiorthodoksi la Mashariki, alijenga hospitali na shule huko Kaisaria zilizoanzisha huduma ya upendo ya Kikristo iliyopangwa, na aliandika maandiko Juu ya Roho Mtakatifu yanayotetea uungu kamili wa Roho. Gregori wa Nazianzo (takriban 329–389), rafiki wa Basili wa maisha yake yote, alipata cheo cha Mwanatheolojia — ambacho kanisa la Mashariki limewapa watu watatu tu: yeye, mtume Yohana, na Simeoni Mwanatheolojia Mpya. Hotuba zake Tano za Kitheolojia ni kazi bora kabisa za mahubiri ya mababa wa kanisa. Gregori wa Nisa (takriban 335–395) alikuwa mdogo wake Basili na mwenye akili ya kifalsafa zaidi — wakati mwingine huitwa mwanafalsafa wa Wakapadokia.Three friends from the Roman province of Cappadocia (modern central Turkey) finished what Athanasius had begun. They are called the Cappadocian Fathers. Basil the Great (c. 330–379) was bishop of Caesarea, wrote a monastic rule that still governs Eastern Orthodox monasticism, built hospitals and schools at Caesarea that pioneered organized Christian charity, and wrote a treatise On the Holy Spirit defending the Spirit's full deity. Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329–389), Basil's lifelong friend, earned the title the Theologian — given by the Eastern church only to him, the apostle John, and Symeon the New Theologian. His Five Theological Orations are masterpieces of patristic preaching. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395) was Basil's younger brother and a more philosophical mind — sometimes called the philosopher of the Cappadocians.

Wakapadokia walilipa kanisa kanuni ambayo imelishika imara fundisho la Utatu kwa karne kumi na sita: ousia moja (dutu) katika hypostases tatu (nafsi). Mungu mmoja katika Nafsi tatu. Baba, Mwana, na Roho Mtakatifu, sawa katika asili, tofauti katika nafsi. Mtaguso wa Konstantinopoli mwaka 381 uliichukua kanuni hii, ukaipanua Kanuni ya Imani ya Nikea ili kukiri uungu kamili wa Roho, na ukalipa kanisa kanuni ya imani ambayo bado linaikariri kila Siku ya Bwana.The Cappadocians gave the church the formula that has held the doctrine of the Trinity steady for sixteen centuries: one ousia (substance) in three hypostases (persons). One God in three Persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in essence, distinct in person. The Council of Constantinople in 381 took this formula, expanded the Nicene Creed to confess the full deity of the Spirit, and gave the church the creed she still recites every Lord's Day.

Swali la Utatu lilikuwa limekwisha kutatuliwa kufikia mwaka 381. Fundisho kuhusu nafsi ya Kristo lilikuwa bado. Ikiwa Mwana ni Mungu kikamilifu na mwanadamu kikamilifu, asili hizo mbili zinahusianaje katika Nafsi moja ya Yesu? Mitaguso miwili zaidi ilijibu.The Trinity had been settled by 381. The doctrine of Christ's person had not. If the Son is fully God and fully man, how do those two natures relate in the one Person of Jesus? Two more councils answered.

Mtaguso wa Efeso mwaka 431: Nestorio wa Konstantinopoli alikuwa akihubiri kwamba Mwana wa Mungu na Yesu mwanadamu walikuwa tofauti kiasi kwamba Mariamu hapaswi kuitwa theotokos (Mzazi wa Mungu). Nestorio alisema Mariamu alikuwa mama wa mtu Yesu tu. Sirili wa Iskanderia na mtaguso walipinga vikali. Yule aliyezaliwa na Mariamu alikuwa Nafsi moja, Mungu kikamilifu na mwanadamu kikamilifu. Kumgawanya katika nafsi mbili ni kumpoteza Kristo wa injili. Mtaguso ulihukumu Unestorio na kuthibitisha kwamba Mariamu ni theotokos — si kwa sababu Mariamu ni wa kiungu, bali kwa sababu Yule aliyembeba tumboni kwa kweli alikuwa Mungu aliyefanyika mwili.The Council of Ephesus in 431: Nestorius of Constantinople had been preaching that the divine Son and the human Jesus were so distinct that Mary should not be called theotokos (God-bearer). She was the mother of the man Jesus only, Nestorius said. Cyril of Alexandria and the council fiercely disagreed. The one who was born of Mary was the one Person, fully divine and fully human. To split him into two persons was to lose the Christ of the gospel. The council condemned Nestorianism and affirmed Mary as theotokos — not because Mary is divine, but because the One she carried truly was God incarnate.

Mtaguso wa Kalkedoni mwaka 451, labda tamko muhimu zaidi kuhusu Kristo ambalo kanisa limewahi kutoa, ulikabili kosa lililo kinyume: Umonofizaiti, uliofundisha kwamba Kristo alikuwa na asili moja tu, asili ya kiungu ikiimeza ile ya kibinadamu. Kalkedoni ulikataa hilo na kulipa kanisa kanuni yake kamili kuhusu Kristo: Yesu Kristo ni Nafsi moja katika asili mbili, Mungu kikamilifu na mwanadamu kikamilifu, asili hizo mbili zikiwa zimeungana bila kuchanganyika, bila kubadilika, bila kugawanyika, bila kutengana. Tamko la Kalkedoni limekuwa kipimo cha mafundisho sahihi kuhusu Kristo tangu wakati huo.The Council of Chalcedon in 451, perhaps the most important Christological statement the church has ever produced, faced the opposite error: Monophysitism, which taught that Christ had only one nature, the divine swallowing the human. Chalcedon rejected this and gave the church its definitive Christological formula: Jesus Christ is one Person in two natures, fully God and fully man, the two natures united without confusion, without change, without division, without separation. The Chalcedonian Definition has been the standard of orthodox Christology ever since.

Kufikia mwaka 451 kanisa lilikuwa na fundisho lake kuhusu Mungu (Baba, Mwana, na Roho Mtakatifu, mmoja katika asili, watatu katika nafsi) na fundisho lake kuhusu Kristo (Nafsi moja, Mungu kikamilifu na mwanadamu kikamilifu, asili mbili zisizochanganyika). Mitaguso minne ya kwanza ya kiekumene — Nikea 325, Konstantinopoli 381, Efeso 431, Kalkedoni 451 — kwa pamoja ilizaa ukiri sahihi wa imani ya kanisa la ulimwengu wote (katholiki).By 451 the church had her doctrine of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one in essence, three in person) and her doctrine of Christ (one Person, fully God and fully man, two natures unconfused). The first four ecumenical councils — Nicaea 325, Constantinople 381, Ephesus 431, Chalcedon 451 — together produced the orthodox confession of the catholic faith.

Kwanza, mafundisho si jambo la hiari. Ario hakuwa mtu mbaya mwenye teolojia mbaya tu. Alikuwa mhubiri maarufu mwenye hoja iliyosikika kuwa ya kimantiki. Kanisa lilinusurika mbele yake kwa sababu tu lilikuwa na maaskofu waliojua hasa ni neno gani, katika lugha gani, lingeshikilia mpaka.First, doctrine is not optional. Arius was not a bad man with bad theology. He was a popular preacher with a logical-sounding argument. The church survived him only because she had bishops who knew exactly which word, in which language, would hold the line.

Pili, mitaguso inafafanua kile ambacho kila mimbari inapaswa kutetea. Unapomhubiri Kristo kuwa Mungu kikamilifu na mwanadamu kikamilifu Jumapili hii, unahubiri Nikea na Kalkedoni. Uheshimu mpaka huo. Simama juu yake.Second, councils define what every pulpit must defend. When you preach Christ as fully God and fully man this Sunday, you are preaching Nicaea and Chalcedon. Honor the line. Stand on it.

Tatu, uhalali wa injili hautegemei ustahili wa mhubiri. Mzozo wa Wadonati ulilifundisha kanisa somo gumu: sakramenti inatoka kwa Kristo, si kwa mhudumu. Jambo hili linalinda kila kusanyiko dhidi ya anguko la kimaadili la mchungaji yeyote, na linamlinda kila mhubiri dhidi ya mzigo usiobebeka wa kuwa chanzo cha ujumbe wake mwenyewe.Third, the validity of the gospel does not depend on the worthiness of the preacher. The Donatist controversy taught the church a hard lesson: the sacrament is from Christ, not from the minister. This protects every congregation from the moral collapse of any pastor and every preacher from the unbearable weight of being the source of his own message.

Nne, karne kuu ya pili ya mahubiri ilikuwa karne ya mahubiri ya ufafanuzi kupitia vitabu vizima. Krisostomo hakuruka kutoka hubiri moja la mada hadi jingine. Alihubiri kupitia Mwanzo, kisha kupitia Mathayo, kisha kupitia nyaraka za Paulo. Vitabu vizima. Mstari kwa mstari. Jumapili kwa Jumapili. Mtindo wa kitabu kwa kitabu ambao Krisostomo aliuonyesha umekuwa msingi wa kila huduma kuu ya mahubiri tangu wakati huo.Fourth, the second great century of preaching was the century of expository preaching through whole books. Chrysostom did not bounce from topical sermon to topical sermon. He preached through Genesis, then through Matthew, then through the Pauline corpus. Whole books. Verse by verse. Sunday by Sunday. The book-by-book pattern Chrysostom modeled has been the bedrock of every great preaching ministry since.

Kufikia mwaka 451, maaskofu walipohitimisha mkutano wao huko Kalkedoni, Dola ya Kirumi iliyokuwa hapo awali mtesaji wa Ukristo na sasa mlezi wake ilikuwa ikianza kubomoka. Nusu ya magharibi isingevuka karne ya tano. Mwaka 410, Wavisigothi chini ya Alariki waliuteka na kuupora mji wa Roma wenyewe kwa mara ya kwanza katika miaka mia nane. Mshtuko ulikuwa mkubwa kiasi kwamba Augustino wa Hippo angetumia muongo wa mwisho wa maisha yake akiandika Mji wa Mungu ili kueleza kilichotokea.By 451, when the bishops adjourned at Chalcedon, the Roman Empire that had once been Christianity's persecutor and was now her patron was beginning to crumble. The western half would not survive the fifth century. In 410, Visigoths under Alaric sacked Rome itself for the first time in eight hundred years. The shock was so great that Augustine of Hippo would spend the last decade of his life writing The City of God to explain what had happened.

Na kanisa halingekufa pamoja na dola. Mafundisho yaliyofuliwa huko Nikea, Konstantinopoli, Efeso, na Kalkedoni yangeibeba injili ikiwa salama kamili kupitia karne za giza la mataifa ya kishenzi zilizofuata. Mahubiri ya ufafanuzi yaliyoonyeshwa na Krisostomo na Ambrosi yangekuwa mapigo ya moyo ya jumuiya za watawa zilizoihifadhi imani katika kipindi cha kuanguka huko. Faulu mtihani huu, nasi tutakutana na mtu muhimu zaidi wa miaka elfu moja iliyofuata: Augustino wa Hippo, mtu aliyeitazama Roma ikianguka na kulieleza tukio hilo kwa nuru ya umilele. Sehemu ya 4 inakusubiri.And the church would not die with the empire. The doctrines hammered out at Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon would carry the gospel intact through the centuries of barbarian darkness that came next. The expository preaching modeled by Chrysostom and Ambrose would become the heartbeat of monastic communities preserving the faith through the collapse. Pass this examination, and we will meet the most important figure of the next thousand years: Augustine of Hippo, the man who watched Rome fall and explained it in light of eternity. Unit 4 awaits.