ABSTRACT
The fourth and fifth centuries were a period of change as well as continuity for the Christian churches. The Church went from being a periodically persecuted dissident religious group in the Roman Empire to being the preferred and official religion of the Empire. This shift brought many more converts into the Church, swelling the size of congregations, which required new buildings large enough to house them. The Church now had a much more public persona than in pre-Nicene times. But the postNicene period also saw successive battles between Arians, semi-Arians, Homoiousians and Eunomians, and then Apollinarians, over against the Nicene party. These theological tensions resulted in the final triumph of Nicene Christology at the Council of Constantinople in 381, and a clearer doctrine of the Trinity. But Christological disagreements would lead to the fragmentation of the Church, first at Ephesus in 431, and then at Chalcedon in 451. These later Christological disputes resulted in the division of the Syriac-speaking churches into the Church of the East or East Syrian, and Syrian Orthodox or West Syrian, both of which rejected Chalcedon but which espoused different Christologies; and the Maronite Church, which accepted Chalcedon. Joining with the Syrian Orthodox on this issue were the Armenian and the Coptic (and Ethiopic) Orthodox Churches. Regional differences in ritual patterns now also became the particular characteristics of particular denominational churches. For this period, we have relatively few surviving liturgical texts. However, we do have mystagogical or catechetical homilies from some significant churchmen which attest not only to ritual patterns, but also give an insight into how those responsible for teaching the catechumens and neophytes understood the rituals of their respective baptismal traditions.
