POSTULATING

When Constantine finally died, there were still many factions claiming to be the one true religion calling itself Christianity.  Everyone knew that the only reason one faction had the right (be it self imposed) to call itself orthodox, was its position of sleeping with the monarchy.

Besides them and the Arians, there was still more than a few followers of Marcion (Dualists) who believed in the two Gods (Old Testament and new).  Jesus was a minor character to them.  They were still working on just who God was.  As to who was to fill the traditional position of cult mediator, a role then filled by angels in most Christian factions, and, many centuries later, would be filled by Mary, they were still open to suggestions.

There was a belief called Anomean who maintained that the concept of monotheism was only consistent if the Son was part of the created order, therefore the Son’s essence is unlike (anomoios) Yahweh’s.  This sounds a lot like Arianism, but the Anomeans did not elevate Jesus to anywhere near the status of Yahweh.  This belief had a surprising longevity considering how harshly the orthodox dealt with “heretics” for many centuries.  It continued into the 18^th century with a group called the Socians, after Faustus Socinus, who taught in the 16^th century that it took Christians three centuries to elevate Jesus from a mortal inspired by God, to a man closer to perfection than all others, to an entity given a place above the angels, to eventual deification.  Socinus equated this with the Pagans who were known to deify mortals.

Socinus cited the philosophers of old who maintained that the idea of a god-man is not only ridiculous, but it is monstrous.  He also used Justin’s dialogue with Tryphon and Tertullian’s discourse against Praxeas as further proof as they merely repeated the same thing.  Finally, Socinus pointed out that St. Paul never called Jesus God, and often referred to him as man, or son of man.

Everything Socinus taught was verifiably true, yet his beliefs, which were later to be the foundation of the Unitarian movement, did not go unpersecuted.  He was beaten, smeared with excrement, and nearly lynched.  Somehow he managed to die a natural death in 1604.

Besides these groups, there were the ubiquitous Gnostics who still proliferated in their many forms and guises.  They all had an opinion on how, when, and why God and Jesus were created/born/generated/appeared/displayed themselves/showed up/etc., something they could never hope to learn from scripture, which was their only guide, a guide they were still creating.  It was a most unorthodox situation.

The battle over this unknowable, unfathomable, incomprehensible, unperceivable bit of inconsequential, insignificant, unimportant, unwarranted intrusion for dogma inclusion was fought with venom, deceit, chicanery, and not an insignificant amount of blood.  There were more men with names that tumble the tongue from cities that no longer grace maps who waxed eloquently using logic more obvious and apparent to them while perverse and convoluted to others, to explain whether Jesus was produced from God during recorded time or before time, or whether He is coeternal or just a temporary extension sent for mankind’s instruction.  After they beat that into the ground, they moved on the whether Jesus is of the same substance or whether he is of similar substance.  Some asked whether He was constructed or begotten and can He in turn construct or begat?  Bishops and priests were disposed, exiled, and even burned at the stake for not happening to believe what the current favorite bishop had convinced the current emperor.

With the death of Eusubius, Arianism was all but dead.  At least it ceased to be a power to be reckoned with.  It carried on in a harmless fashion the same way countless factions and splinter groups struggle for acceptance.  One very large problem down, but Donatism would not go so easily.  It carried on quite healthy into another cast of characters.

In 339, Ambrose was born into an old and powerful Christian family.  His father was the praetorian prefect at Trier.  Ambrose entered into a legal career and is accredited with being a most eloquent speaker.  Later, when his position as a leader of the Latin Christian Church was established, the story was spread that bees hovered over his lips when he was a baby, thus foretelling this gift. (I don’t know how that connects either.)

Ambrose became the provincial governor of Milan and was very surprised at being elected bishop upon the death of the Arian, Auxentius.  He was surprised because he was still an unbaptized novice.  The powers that were, quickly passed him through the lesser ranks up to the episcopate.  From his incumbency in 374 until his death in 397, he was the recognized leader of the Latin Church.

What we know about him for sure is shrouded in the perfunctory mythical hagiography that accompanies any and all religious leaders whose deeds survive their lifetime.  According to Augustine, he was a very revered man who was much in love with scholarship.  He kept himself available to his flock, but would often sit and read while the invaders to his privacy sat quietly awaiting acknowledgement before (more often than not) departing, wondering if the great man even knew they were in the room.

He was Christianity’s advocat