1. THE SIX AGES OF THE CHURCH
1. The First Age: The Beginnings of the Jesus Movement (30-325)
1. Growth: the first age is unique – created something absolutely new. The Apostolic Age is the initial phase with main figures Peter & Paul (Acts of the Apostles). They took the revolutionary step from Jewish to Gentile environment. They also created communities to incorporate the converts into a new religious family which gradually developed structures to the identity of real society.
2. Achievements: In the 2nd & 3rd cen, Christianity succeeded in penetrating the dominant
Roman-Hellenistic culture. Although, the Church is subjected to persecutions, she nevertheless became the greatest creative force in the culture of the Roman world.
Important figures & events:
1. The blood of the Martyrs – Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna & Justin
Martyr.
2. The great teachers – Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and
Cyprian (research on this…) who defended the faith against heresies, e.g.,
Gnosticism.
3. Development of an alternative form of discipleship thru life of renunciation & contemplation (monks of the desert in Egypt).
4. Retreat: the phase of cultural retreat & disintegration hardly exists in the first age.
However, Emperor Diocletian (d 305) started a general persecution but it ended up in the Church’s triumph.
1. The Second Age: The Christian Empire (325-640)
1. Growth: The “conversion” of Emperor Constantine (312) and the foundation of the new capital of the Christian Empire, Constantinople (now, the Turkish city of Istanbul).
Constantine gathered the bishops in a first general council (Nicea 325). The bishop of
Rome assumed more and more control over the West, which explains the development of the papacy. Towards the end of the century, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the
“official” religion of the empire (380). This marked the beginning of Christendom in the sense of the political society…The Constantinian coalition of the Church and the Empire brought mixed blessings to the Church but also unleashed bitter discords:
1. Popes & Emperors struggled for their freedom & autonomy.
2. Church became a powerful and rich institution. The clergy started to dress up like imperial officials…
3. The Church’s self-image changed drastically… abuses… decay…
1. Achievements: The 2nd age is known as the:

1. “Age of the Church Fathers” (title of the theologians & teachers) – Athanasius, Basil,
Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, who clarified the doctrine of the Trinity until
Council of Constantinople (381). John Chrysostom (golden mouthed) one of the most famous preachers of all times. Augustine of Hippo is the Father of the West – doctor of grace & predestination.
2. Monasticism – a lay movement started in Egypt with the hermits who lived by themselves. We can never forget Benedict of Nursia (550) – the Benedictine monastery…
This age has also problems: the controversy known as Arianism (by the priest Arius – God’s son had not always existed, thus he is not divine in nature. This is condemned in the council of Nicea
(325).
1. Retreat: Power & riches weakened the Church’s spiritual vitality. It also caused by outside forces, the Barbarians over-ran the West and the Roman Empire came to an end in 476. In the East, a new era started with the birth of Islam (622). They conquered the
Byzantine Empire.
1. The Third Age: The Conversion of the Barbarians in the West (640-960)
1. Growth: The coalition of apostolic forces, monasticism and the papacy – created a new
Christian culture in the Western world after the fall of the Roman Empire. The
Bendectines extended their missionary work to European continent. St. Boniface, “the apostle of Germany” initiated contacts with the tribe of the Franks, who conquered
Western Europe and took pride in protecting the papacy.
2. Achievements: Benedict received the title “Father of the West.” The new center of
Christian culture became the monasteries. There was an awakening of studies, strengthening of monastic life, renewal of liturgical & theological activity.
3. Decline: the renaissance of the Church was short lived partly because of the advance of
Islam, trade decline – money disappeared. The only source and expression of wealth was now land. This gave rise to feudalism (economic, political and social system in medieval
Europe). The empire fell apart into pieces of land which were divided among “lords”…
Bishops became feudal lords. Roman families contested the papacy, with the emperor as the final arbitrator. One pope after another was murdered by a contending family. The
Emperor intervened but added more violence. It ended up with a 12 year old boy occupying the papal throne.
1. The Fourth Age: A United Christian Europe (960-1517)
1. Growth: The monastic reform saved the Church from the darkest age. The foundation of the monastery of Cluny in France (903) began. A large number of monasteries joined ranks with Cluny. This created a powerful force against LAY INVESTITURE (the right of the king or nobility to appoint and to install bishops and other prelates).

2nd movement – with Bernard Clairvaux (1090-1153). Bernard was one of the most powerful spiritual leaders of Christianity. He became the counselor of popes and kings.
The monk Hildebrand, who became Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085), is famous for the conflict about the lay investiture with the German Emperor Henry IV. The emperor was forced to submit to the pope’s authority, however the pope lost battle with Henry’s troops. A settlement was reached in the Concordat of Worms (1122) making the popes and bishops independent of imperial control.
1. Achievement: 13th century is the golden age of the Church – climax of reforms. The papacy reached the height of its prestige and power in the person of Innocent III (11981216). Monasticism continued to develop with the coming of Mendicant orders:
Franciscans and Dominicans. They also penetrated the universities and produced great scholars, Aquinas & Bonaventure. Development of gothic cathedrals, culture and learning, and economic growth. However, the Middle Age had some dark pages: thwe
Crusades motivated by religious reasons – recovery of Holy Land from muslims; ransacked the Christian city of Constantinople (1204); the Inquisition – tortured & burned heretics, etc.
1. Retreat: Growing nationalism – end of feudalism. The decline of the papacy under Pope
Boniface VIII, who declared that to be saved one must be submissive to the pope. He was imprisoned by the French King. This was followed by the “Great Western Schism” in which there were at the same time two popes (Avignon and Rome) and even a third one at Pisa. Conciliarism put an end to this, it is a highest authority in the Church (Council of
Constance 1414-18). The problem also with “Renaissance” – Popes became preoccupied with building of beautiful structures, etc., the church became a portal of corruption…
Anthony Gilles describes the Middle ages as follows:
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A time of great sanctity and a time of much nonsense.

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A time when Christians made a lot of sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel and a time when others grew rich from careers in the Church.
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A time for great saints and a time for glaring sinners.
1. The Fifth Age: A Ghetto Church (1517-1830)
1. Growth: The hope for a reformed church in the Middle Age remained unfulfilled until the coming of an Augustinian monk Luther (1517) by posting his famous 95 theses. He came to the conviction that salvation is by grace, through faith. He protested against the sale of indulgences and other church abuses. He got cooperation from the greedy nobility of
Germany who wanted to free themselves from Emperor Charles V. When the Peace of
Augsburg (1555) was reached, the protestant princes were guaranteed the right to determine their own religion. Another protestant movement appeared in Switzerland under Zwingli and John Calvin which gave birth to the churches we now call “reformed”

and Presbyterian. In England, Henry VIII started the reformation after the pope disallowed the annulment of his marriage.
Towards the latter part of 15th century, various conflicting groups ended up in a bloody wars.
The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), was the bloodiest war that Europe had ever suffered.
The Catholic Church also arrived at her own reform, the so-called “Counter Reformation.” The
Council of Trent (1545-63) condemned various protestant positions, reaffirmed catholic doctrines and took ways to have a moral and administrative reformation of the Church. The reform made possible because of the birth of new religious orders, among them the Society of
Jesus, which became the right arm of the papacy in its struggle against Protestantism.
In the Philippines, the Spanish colonizers created the ambiguous union of Church and State. Both
Spanish civil and ecclesiastical authorities served God and the Spanish King. The protest of Jose
Rizal is well known. He portrayed in his novel the abuses and immorality of some Spanish friars.
Rizal’s martyrdom was preceded by the execution of Gom-Bur-Za. After the Philippine
Revolution (1896-98), the US took over from the Spaniards in a bloody war. The new colonizers patronized their own Protestant Churches, while Rome sent new missionary groups to the
Philippines to replace the Spanish friars. The Catholic Church had to wait until the proclamation of the independence from America (1946), before the local clergy took the leadership.
1. Achievements: The Tridentine Reform and revival of religious life through the foundation of religious orders, and the outburst of religious missionary activity.
This achievement also had its struggles. King Louis XIV (1643-1715) of France, declared himself the head of State and Church. Rome was helpless. France became the home of Jansenism
(a distorted form of Catholicism), has a strong sense of sinfulness, thought by Augustine, – to be separated from the wicked world.
1. Retreat: The revolutionary movement in France (Philosophy of Enlightenment) turned against the Church and eventually promulgated the “worship of reason.” Similar revolutions in Latin America and United States turned against the Catholic Church.
However, it created new paradigm for the Church-State relationship – the separation of power.
1. The Sixth Age: Our Age (1830 to the Present)
1. Growth: After the French Revolution, which swept the whole of Western Europe, the recovery of the Church was slow. She had to learn a new way of life, to be stripped of her riches and privileges. Churches, monasteries and schools were destroyed and landholdings were taken by the state. Concordats (agreements between Church and Civil authorities to identify the rights of the Catholic Church in an specific areas) were made.
1. Achievements: in the 2nd half of the 19th century, the Church slowly regained some of her former glory. An intense devotional life invaded the churches. Romanticism extolled the
Church as the mother of art and the guardian of patriotism. Catholic revival groups and

new theological schools came into existence. The reconciliation between Catholic faith and modern teaching (initiated by the great Englishman thinker John Newman (d 1890).
Pious IX made a “Syllabus of Errors” of modern times. He declared papl primacy and infallibility (Vat I, 1869-70), but became the prisoner of Vatican when the Italian King, Victor
Emmanuel, unified the whole Italy (1870). His traditionalism was continued especially by Pius X who condemned “Modernism” as the sum of all heresies.
At present: while the fortress Church defended the true faith in Europe, this same Church spread in the continents. Yet the configuration of membership has drastically changed. Europe has become the minority Church, while the Catholic population of the Third World keeps increasing.
The majority of today’s Catholics live in the Third World. (Could you tell me why?)
1. Retreat: Pope John XXIII has been the Catholic surprise of the twentieth century with the realization of the important council that was held on 1962-65 – the 2nd Vatican
Ecumenical Council. However, the enthusiasm after the council was short-lived because of a period of polarization between the so-called liberals and conservatives.
Pope John Paul II made a lot of impact in restoring the integrity of the Church with his reforms.
However, there are more than meets the eye. We are hopeful and remain open to the “signs of the times” or the surprises of the God of history.