Editing Christendom (section)

===Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages===
{{Further|First seven Ecumenical Councils|Germanic Christianity}}
[[File:Nicaea icon.jpg|thumb|upright|Icon depicting [[Constantine I|the Emperor Constantine]] and the [[bishop]]s of the [[First Council of Nicaea]] (AD 325) holding the [[Nicene Creed#Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed|Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381]]]]
[[File:Spread of Christianity to AD 600 (1).png|thumb|Spread of Christianity by AD 600 (shown in dark blue is the spread of [[Early Christianity]] up to AD 325)]]

"Christendom" has referred to the [[medieval]] and [[renaissance]] notion of the ''Christian world'' as a [[polity]]. In essence, the earliest vision of Christendom was a vision of a Christian [[theocracy]], a [[Forms of government|government]] founded upon and upholding [[Christian values]], whose institutions are spread through and over with [[Christian doctrine]]. In this period, members of the Christian [[clergy]] wield [[political authority]]. The specific relationship between the [[political leader]]s and the [[clergy]] varied but, in theory, the national and political divisions were at times subsumed under the leadership of the [[Christian Church|church as an institution]]. This [[Church and state in medieval Europe|model of church-state relations]] was accepted by various Church leaders and political leaders in [[European history]].<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Episcopacy |volume= 9 |last= Phillips |first= Walter Alison |author-link= Walter Alison Phillips | pages = 699&ndash;701; see page 700, para 2, half way down |quote= The whole issue had, in fact, become confused with the confusion of functions of the Church and State. In the view of the Church of England the ultimate governance of the Christian community, in things spiritual and temporal, was vested not in the clergy but in the "Christian prince" as the vicegerent of God.}}</ref>

The Church gradually became a defining institution of the Roman Empire.<ref>The church in the Roman empire before A.D. 170, Part 170 By Sir William Mitchell Ramsay</ref> [[Emperor Constantine]] issued the [[Edict of Milan]] in 313 proclaiming toleration for the Christian religion, and [[convoke]]d the [[First Council of Nicaea]] in 325 whose [[Nicene Creed]] included belief in "one holy catholic and apostolic Church". Emperor [[Theodosius I]] made [[First Council of Nicaea|Nicene]] Christianity the [[state church of the Roman Empire]] with the [[Edict of Thessalonica]] of 380.<ref>Boyd, William Kenneth (1905). The ecclesiastical edicts of the Theodosian code, Columbia University Press.</ref> In terms of prosperity and cultural life, the [[Byzantine Empire]] was one of the peaks in [[Christian history]] and [[Christian civilization]],<ref name="Cameron 2006 42">{{harvnb|Cameron|2006|p=42}}.</ref> and [[Constantinople]] remained the leading city of the [[Christian world]] in size, wealth, and culture.<ref>{{harvnb|Cameron|2006|p=47}}.</ref> [[Greek scholars in the Renaissance|There was a renewed interest in classical Greek philosophy]], as well as an increase in literary output in vernacular Greek.<ref name="Browning-1992-190-218">{{harvnb|Browning|1992|pp=198–208}}.</ref>

As the [[Western Roman Empire]] [[Decline of the Roman Empire|disintegrated]] into [[feudalism|feudal kingdom]]s and [[principalities]], the concept of Christendom changed as the [[Western Christianity#History of Western Christianity|western church became one]] of five patriarchates of the [[Pentarchy]] and the Christians of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] developed.{{Clarify|date=June 2018}} The [[Byzantine Empire]] was the last bastion of Christendom.<ref>{{cite book| last = Challand| first = Gérard| title = The Art of War in World History: From Antiquity to the Nuclear Age| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aXuxw070d-wC&pg=PA25| year = 1994| publisher = University of California Press| isbn = 978-0-520-07964-9| page = 25 }}</ref> Christendom would take a turn with the rise of the [[Franks]], a Germanic tribe who converted to the Christian faith and entered into [[communion with Rome]].

On Christmas Day 800 AD, [[Pope Leo III]] crowned [[Charlemagne]], resulting in the creation of another Christian king beside the Christian emperor in the [[Byzantine]] state.<ref>{{cite book| author = Willis Mason West| title = The ancient world from the earliest times to 800 A.D. ...| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tdEyAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA551| year = 1904| publisher = Allyn and Bacon| page = 551 }}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=June 2011}}<!-- An outdated source by an author whose qualifications are unknown is not a reliable source --> The [[Carolingian Empire]] created a definition of ''Christendom'' in juxtaposition with the Byzantine Empire, that of a distributed versus centralized [[culture]] respectively.<ref>{{cite book| author = Peter Brown|author2=Peter Robert Lamont Brown| title = The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity 200-1000 AD| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-S9N1h_RS-IC&pg=PA443| year = 2003| publisher = Wiley| isbn = 978-0-631-22138-8| page = 443 }}</ref>

The classical heritage flourished throughout the Middle Ages in both the Byzantine Greek East and the Latin West. In the Greek philosopher [[Plato]]'s ideal state there are three major classes, which was representative of the idea of the "tripartite soul", which is expressive of three functions or capacities of the human soul: "reason", "the spirited element", and "appetites" (or "passions"). [[Will Durant]] made a convincing case that certain prominent features of Plato's [[The Republic (Plato)|ideal community]] where discernible in the organization, dogma and effectiveness of "the" Medieval Church in Europe:<ref name="Durant">{{cite book |first=Will |last=Durant |year=2005 |title=Story of Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=suLI7RoaBEEC&pg=PA34 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-69500-2 |access-date=10 December 2013}}</ref>

<blockquote>... For a thousand years Europe was ruled by an order of guardians considerably like that which was visioned by our philosopher. During the Middle Ages it was customary to classify the population of Christendom into ''laboratores'' (workers), ''bellatores'' (soldiers), and ''oratores'' (clergy). The last group, though small in number, monopolized the instruments and opportunities of culture, and ruled with almost unlimited sway half of the most powerful continent on the globe. The clergy, like Plato's guardians, were placed in authority... by their talent as shown in ecclesiastical studies and administration, by their disposition to a life of meditation and simplicity, and ... by the influence of their relatives with the powers of state and church. In the latter half of the period in which they ruled [800 AD onwards], the clergy were as free from family cares as even Plato could desire [for such guardians]... [Clerical] Celibacy was part of the psychological structure of the power of the clergy; for on the one hand they were unimpeded by the narrowing egoism of the family, and on the other their apparent superiority to the call of the flesh added to the awe in which lay sinners held them....''<ref name="Durant"/>''</blockquote>