CHRISTIANIZATION AND ITS CHALLENGESConflicts between ChristiansReligious affairs could frequently be turbulent. In 391 Theophilus, patriarch
of Alexandria, took the opportunity offered by anti-pagan legislation by The-
odosius I to encourage Christians to fi ght with pagans at the hill where the
great temple of Serapis was located, and they were further encouraged by a
letter from the emperor which, in resolving the situation, named as martyrs
the Christians who had been killed; this led to an attack on the temple itself,
as well as destruction of busts of Serapis throughout the city, and assaults
on other temples at Canopus (Chapter 1).^35 The situation at Alexandria was
particularly explosive. It was the home of a strong pagan intellectual tradition
and also of very forceful Christian leaders and their followers; the lynching
of Hypatia was an exception which arose from local conditions. Christians
often claimed in building inscriptions to have abolished pagan cult and con-
verted temples into churches, and while it is necessary to read their claims
with a degree of scepticism, such conversions can indeed be seen during the
next two centuries all over the empire as part of the changing urban topog-
raphy in late antiquity.^36 There were also many incidents involving violence
between rival groups of Christians; for instance, the clashes between Arians
and orthodox in Constantinople in the early fi fth century.^37 Monks could be
a disruptive infl uence, like the so-called ‘Sleepless Ones’ from Antioch who
caused such trouble in Constantinople that they were attacked in 426 by rival
mobs and had to be expelled in order to preserve the peace. Both the Council
of Ephesus in 431 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451 were preceded by vio-
lent scenes between partisans. So great was the furore surrounding the rivalry
between Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius of Constantinople in 431 that the
bishops themselves nearly came to blows, and the Second Council of Ephesus
in 449 also concluded amid scenes of violence.
As we have seen, two important church councils, later to be remembered
as ‘ecumenical’, took place during the fi fth century – Ephesus (431) and Chal-
cedon (451) – and they were followed under Justinian by a second council
of Constantinople (also known as the Fifth Ecumenical Council, 553–4).
The sense of a universal faith defi ned by general councils had grown gradu-
ally from the time of the fi rst Council of Nicaea (325), and many different
issues remained matters of contention – from the central questions about
christology (the defi nition of the status of Christ) to that of the authority of
the major churches and the rank of the see of Constantinople in relation to
Rome. Besides the records of their proceedings (‘acts’), councils also issued
rulings (‘canons’) on matters of doctrine, ecclesiastical authority and countless
details of Christian behaviour, especially in matters to do with the clergy, such
as clerical continence and celibacy, on which the west insisted more strictly
than the east. The disputes were passionately argued and often resulted in
bitter struggles between individual bishops and their supporters. It was the
emperor’s role to call ecumenical councils, and he could exert strong infl u-
ence on their outcome, as Constantine had done in 325 and as Justinian did