PROLEGOMENA TO JEROME.

John Chrysostom became Bishop of Constantinople in 398 and exerted significant influence through his sermons and his commitment to ascetic discipline. However, Theophilus of Alexandria stirred up intrigues against him because Chrysostom had welcomed the "Tall Brothers"—monks whom Theophilus had banished in his zeal against Origenism. Furthermore, Empress Eudoxia, whom Chrysostom had offended with his blunt speech, sought his ruin. Though he was once restored to the capital due to the desperate pleas of the people, he was banished in 404 and died in 407. Even from his exile at Comana in Pontus, he continued to exert influence over the Church at large. His remains were brought to Constantinople thirty years later, where Theodosius II and his consort Eudocia welcomed them with tears of repentance for the errors of their predecessors. Arcadius died in 408, leaving the young Theodosius, then only seven years old, as his heir. His daughter Pulcheria and the Prefect Anthemius successfully governed the Empire; they persuaded the Huns, who had entered Roman territory and encamped in Thrace, to withdraw. As a result, the Eastern Empire enjoyed peace for the remainder of the reign of Theodosius II.

Turning to ecclesiastical affairs, we find a certain calm settling upon the Church after the Council of Constantinople, along with an unwillingness to reopen old subjects of strife. People used the label "heretic" more as a way to frighten their opponents, attempting to associate any disliked opinion with the Arianism of the past, which everyone had condemned. There were far fewer councils of bishops and no General Council for fifty years (until Ephesus, 431). However, other disputes arose, as the Christian community was saturated with the Greek tendency toward contention. The first of these related to Origenism. The works of the great and original third-century teacher of Alexandria (d. 254) had been little studied for over a hundred years until a new interest in them emerged in both the East and the West. The earnest study of Scripture, which led to the formation of the Vulgate—the translation of the original text into the common language of the Latin world—naturally led to a desire to consult the greatest textual scholar and interpreter of Scripture who had appeared up to that time. Those who learned to admire him through his biblical work were led to study his doctrinal views as well. It happened to Origen, as it does to many modern teachers, that his name became identified with one or two prominent doctrines; and, just as men speak of Calvinism, Erastianism, or Hegelianism, they spoke of Origenism. The doctrines they associated with Origen were taken from his most important work, the Περὶ Ἀρχῶν original: "On First Principles". These were mainly: (1) his expressions regarding the subordination Meaning the belief that the Son is subordinate to the Father. of the Son to the Father, and (2) his eschatology. Regarding the first, critics took isolated phrases, such as "the Son does not see the Father" or "the Son is darkness in comparison with the Father," and labeled him the father of Arius. Regarding the second, they seized upon his speculative ideas: that the descent of human souls into this world was a fall from a previous state of existence; that humans might rise into an angelic state; that the material body is destined to pass away; and that in the end of all things, every spiritual being, including the fallen angels, will be schooled into obedience, so that the universe may be restored to harmony.

People were generally incapable of understanding Origen’s entire system, let alone his historical context. Pope Anastasius, who condemned him in 404, admitted plainly that he did not know who Origen was or when he lived (see Vol. III, 433). Consequently, they took his tenets in an absolute sense, assuming he denied the divinity of Christ, the condemnation of the wicked, or the resurrection of the body. His views were most widespread in Egypt, where the opposing tendency of Anthropomorphism—the conception of God as having human properties and passions—was also prevalent. Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, was initially favorable to Origen, as was Jerome; but due to various causes, not unmixed with personal feelings, he turned against Origenism in a fanatical, persecuting temper. He procured the condemnation of Origenism by the bishops of Egypt, Syria, and Cyprus, as well as those of Rome and Italy. He pursued those who had fled his persecution to Constantinople and branded Chrysostom, who had received them, as a heretic. In all this, he was aided by Jerome, who translated his letters into Latin (see Letters 86–100, 113, and 114). The entire matter was handled without the calling of a council; the bishops were presumed to speak for the general sentiment, and their decisions were reinforced by an imperial decree (400).

The second controversy (which was also settled without a General Council) was that of Pelagianism. Pelagius and Caelestius, monks from Britain, arrived in Rome in 409. They advocated for the doctrine of Free Will and the possibility of a human living without sin, opposing the Augustinian doctrine of Grace, which asserted human helplessness and led to absolute predestinarianism. They moved to Africa alongside the crowds fleeing Alaric’s invasion, where they confronted the influence of Augustine. Condemned by a Council at Carthage in 413, they moved on to Palestine...