Patristics. Saint Asterius of Amasea (PDF)

Scientific Essay from the year 2020 in the subject Theology - Historic Theology, Ecclesiastical History, , course: patristics, language: English, abstract: Saint Asterius of Amasea is the name of a little known man, but important. He is the fourth or fifth century Christian bishop whose work has been cited from the Second Council of Nicea onwards on the subject of religious icons and ecclesiastical art work. He is a treasure; a source of important information around the religious practices of polytheists in the later years of the Roman Empire. We have barely one fact concerning his early education. His principal teacher was a Scythian, who in his youth had been sold as a slave to a citizen of Antioch. His owner was a schoolmaster, and took great pains in educating him thoroughly. He made marvellous progress in learning and won for himself a great name among both Greeks and Romans. He preached in the latter part of the fourth century, among his sermons, we shall dwell on the sermon against divorce and our work will be scheduled as follows: First we shall see the life of Saint Asterius and his works; secondly, we will talk about the stylistic essence of his sermons, thirdly we shall depict the particularities of his writings, thereafter we shall discover his doctrine against divorce, and finally we will analyse his sermon against divorce.