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Early Church, Evangelism
9
Evangelism and Sacrament
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." Matthew 4:19
Follow me as I follow Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
Introduction
Armenia: Myphysite
Georgia: Chalcedonian
China: Dyophysite
Introduction
The people that established the Armenian, Georgian, and Chinese Churches shared a common assumption that Christianity was a way of life; and they commended Christianity as a way of life.
The Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church
Patriarch: Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II
Diaspora: Turkey, Iran, Artsakh, Lebanon, Israel, USA
Members: 9 million
The Mother Cathedral of Holy Echmiadzin, 480 AD
The Armenian Apostolic Church
St. Jude Thaddeaus
St. Bartholomew
Mashtots
St. Gregory the Illuminator
362-440
257-331
The Armenian Apostolic Church
St. Gregory the Illuminator
257-331
The Armenian Apostolic Church
Gregory’s healing of the king was a demonstration that Christianity had the power to overcome illness and was thus a confirmation, that as a body of teaching, Christianity could powerfully address personal and national concerns.
St. Gregory the Illuminator
257-331
The Armenian Apostolic Church
Gregory's Skull
Gregory's Hand
The Armenian Apostolic Church
Mesrop Mashtots
362-440
The Armenian Apostolic Church
Mashtots "was to separate for ever the Armenians from the other peoples
of the East, to make of them a distinct nation, and to strengthen them in
the Christian Faith by forbidding or rendering profane all the foreign
alphabetic scripts which were employed for transcribing the books of the
heathens and the followers of Zoroaster.”
St. Martin
Mashtots
362-440
The Armenian Apostolic Church
Mashtots commended the Christian faith as a way of life whose
precepts of wisdom could guide those that wanted to find and
to live the good life.
Mashtots
362-440
The Georgian Orthodox Church
Patriarch: Ilia II of Georgia
Members: 3.5 Million
Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tblisi
The Georgian Orthodox Church
The Georgian Orthodox Church
The Georgian Orthodox Church
St. Andrew
St. Simon the Zealot
St. Nino
296-335
The Georgian Orthodox Church
St. Nino
296-335
The Georgian Orthodox Church
Nino lived among the people in such a way that the life she lived drew attention to herself, and it was this way of life which provided for her the opportunity to convert the royal couple to Christianity.
St. Nino
296-335
The Georgian Orthodox Church
First Council of Dvin (506): Armenian Church shifted towards Miaphysitism
Second Counril of Dvin (555-556): The Georgian Bishops reaffirmed their embrace of the Chalcedonian Definition and were seperated from the Armenians
St. Nino
296-335
The Church of the East in China
The Early Church in Syria, Persia, and the East
Chalcedonian: Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Miaphysite: Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch
Dyophysite: The Church of the East
The Church of the East in China
The Church of the East in China
Theodore of Mopsuestia
350-428
The Church of the East in China
Likewise among the Bactrians and Huns and Persians, and the rest of the Indians, Persarmenians, and Medes and Elamites, and throughout the whole land of Persia there is no limit to the number of churches with bishops and very large communities of Christian people, as well as many martyrs, and monks also living as hermits.-- Jenkins 2004, 58.
Cosmas Indicopleustes
fl. 6th century
The Church of the East in China
The Church of the East in China
Alopen
Ishoyahb II
d. 645
Timothy I
Li Shi min, Taizong of Tang
780-823
598-649
The Church of the East in China
Ishoyahb II
d. 645
The Church of the East in China
Alopen
The Church of the East in China
St. Alopen arrived in Chang’an as a foreigner with an ancient teaching,
the religion of light, which had the ability to guide its adherents
towards the good life.
The Church of the East in China
The Church of the East in China
The Church of the East in China
Li Shi min, Taizong of Tang
598-649
The Church of the East in China
The way does not have a common name and the sacred does not have a common form. Aluoben, the man of great virtue from the Da Qin empire, came from a far land . . . his message is mysterious and wonderful beyond our understanding. The message is lucid and clear; the teachings will benefit all; and they shall be practiced throughout the land.
Li Shi min, Taizong of Tang
598-649
The Church of the East in China
Nestorian Stele
c. 635 AD
The Church of the East in China
The Church of the East in China
Asia had 17 to 20 million Christians, with a further 5 million in Africa. The European continent as a whole had some 40 million people, including Russia. Of those Europeans, at least a quarter either were still pagan or else lived in countries that had only very recently undergone formal conversion. That overall total would also include the Muslim inhabitants of Spain and Sicily, perhaps 4 or 5 million, in addition to European Jews. By this point, a reasonable estimate would suggest that Europe had some 25 to 30 million Christians, many whose faith was very notional indeed compared it the ancient churches of Asia and Africa. Many Europeans were still in the first or second generation of the faith, a situation comparable to that of modern-day Africa. Most Asian Christians, in contrast, stemmed from Christian traditions dating back twenty-five or thirty generations. If raw numbers favored Europe, Asia could still properly claim the leadership of the Christian world.
-Jenkins 2008, 70.
Christianity: The Wisdom of God
National Interests Personal Interests
Armenia
Georgia
China
Lifestyle Evangelism
St. Francis of Assisi
1181/82-1226
"Preach the gospel always, and if necessary use words."
Lifestyle Evangelism
The practical irrelevance of actual obedience to Christ accounts for the weakened effect of Christianity in the world today, with its increasing tendency to emphasize political and social action as the primary way to serve God. It also accounts for the practical irrelevance of Christian faith to individual character development and overal personal sanity and well being.
-Dallas Willard
Lifestyle Evangelism
”Follow me as I follow Christ.”
1 Corinthians 11:1
Lifestyle Evangelism
Lifestyle Evangelism
Lifestyle Evangelism
Lifestyle Evangelism
Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Lifestyle Evangelism
Lifestyle evangelism often means trying to present the substance of Christianity, the thing itself, without its accompanying sign. In sacramental terms, it is the res without the signum. And as such it is ineffective since word is integral to sacrament.
Sacramental Evangelism
Sacramental Evangelism
Sacramental Evangelism
Sacramental Evangelism
Sacramental Evangelism
Sacramental Evangelism
Sacramental Evangelism
Sacramental Evangelism
Res Signum
Sacrament
Sacramental Evangelism
Sacramental evangelism brings together signum and res.
It is an evangelism of physical presence which utters integral gospel words into the key moments in peoples’ lives.
Conclusion
The future of evangelism in the west must take into account the history of evangelism in the east. In particular, it must establish a sacramental presence within the communities it seeks to reach.
Conclusion
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."
Matthew 4:19
Follow me as I follow Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."
Matthew 4:19
Follow me as I follow Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people."
Matthew 4:19
Follow me as I follow Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1