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  • 8 - The church as a public institution

  • from PART II - GOVERNMENT AND INSTITUTIONS
  • Edited by Averil Cameron, University of Oxford, Peter Garnsey, University of Cambridge
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Ancient History
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    11 December 1997, pp 238-276

  • Summary

    The Christian church in the Roman empire had been transformed from an object of official indifference and active hostility into the recipient of favour, privilege and protection. The bishops at Sardica in 343 began to formulate the appellate jurisdiction of the Roman bishop ostensibly as a reaction against the rush to involve the imperial power as a court of last resort for settling church issues. At Constantinople the tally of church buildings increased steadily in the generations after Constantine, while in the time of bishop Macedonius, under Constantius II, the eastern capital also began to witness the emergence of a network of monasteries and charitable establishments. Although the bishop's role of judge and arbitrator for his fellow citizens had a history in earlier church procedure, and was enhanced by the increased public profile of the church in the fourth century, it was also given an institutional footing by the endorsement of imperial decrees.