Near East (388–531 CE): Religious and Political Transitions

From 388 to 531 CE, the Near East experiences profound religious schisms, shifts in political control, and enduring cultural developments. These changes profoundly influence subsequent historical trajectories.

Religious Schism and Ecclesiastical Authority

The religious landscape is significantly altered by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 CE, which creates a major theological and political rift within Christianity. The council declares Christ as having two distinct natures, fully human and fully divine, contrasting sharply with the Coptic Monophysite belief dominant in Egypt, which posits Christ as having one divine-human nature. This theological divergence initiates a lasting schism, causing the Egyptian Church to separate from the authority of Constantinople and broader Catholic Christendom. The Coptic Church henceforth exists independently, profoundly shaping Egyptian religious identity.

Cyprus also asserts ecclesiastical independence, confirmed by Emperor Zeno following the discovery of the tomb of Saint Barnabas with an alleged apostolic gospel. The Church of Cyprus is thus granted autocephalous status, equal in ecclesiastical rank to the major patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Constantinople.

Political Shifts and Imperial Fragmentation

Following the division of the Roman Empire in 395 CE, Palestine and Egypt fall under Eastern Roman (Byzantine) jurisdiction, governed from Constantinople. Imperial administration becomes increasingly centralized, contributing to tensions between local populations and distant Byzantine authority.

The political autonomy of Jewish communities in Palestine ends decisively with the abolition of the patriarchate around 425 CE. The Jewish office of Nasi (prince), a remnant of the ancient Sanhedrin, is dissolved, marking a final blow to Jewish political independence in the region.

Socioeconomic and Cultural Developments

Three successor states emerge from the remnants of the Meroitic kingdom by the sixth century CE: Nobatia in the north, Makuria centrally located around Dongolah, and Alodia in the southern region around Sawba. These states, led by warrior aristocracies, continue to adopt Greek titles and administrative models reflecting Roman influence.

The city of Najran, in present-day Saudi Arabia, develops as a significant Christian center with established ecclesiastical structures, even as it is ruled by a Jewish king. Meanwhile, the Arabian Peninsula sees diverse religious practices; in Mecca, pilgrimage traditions focused on sacred sites become integral to local prosperity.

Intellectual and Religious Legacies

The period sees continued intellectual activity, particularly within Jewish scholarly circles. The Talmudic tradition flourishes, with ongoing compilation and commentary reflecting intense religious and intellectual dedication.

Monasticism, initiated earlier in Egypt and Syria, remains influential through figures such as Macarius the Elder. These monastic communities further reinforce Christianity’s cultural and spiritual reach in the Near East.

Legacy of the Age

The era from 388 to 531 CE marks critical transitions characterized by religious schisms, shifting political landscapes, and cultural consolidation. The consequences of the Chalcedonian schism, the final loss of Jewish political autonomy, and the rise of local Christian and monastic identities set enduring patterns that shape the Near East's religious, political, and cultural trajectories for centuries.

Palestine passes under eastern control upon partition of the Roman Empire in 395.

The province of Palaestina has undergone several territorial changes in the fourth century CE although the details and the chronology remain obscure.

The governor of Prima bears the high rank of proconsul from 382 to 385 (and again from 535 onward).

A dux of Palestine commands the garrison of all three provinces.

The bishop of the civil capital, Caesarea, is, according to the usual rule, metropolitan of the province, but …

The Jewish Hagadah texts of Babylonia and Palestine embellish the Talmud’s ethical and theological discourses through lively anecdotes, legends and stories.

John Cassian soon afterwards tacitly permits the Pelagians to sack the monastery at Bethlehem, a center of vehement anti-Pelagianism, and is sharply reproved by Pope Innocent I.

Contention arises again in the Christian church over Pelagius' teaching that man is capable of leading a moral life without divine help.

Bishop John Cassian of Jerusalem receives him sympathetically in Palestine, but in July 415 the Latin biblical scholar Jerome and an emissary from Augustine of Hippo denounce him as heretical at the Jerusalem synod.

When Augustine's disciples invoke the authority of their master against Pelagius, John retorts that in Jerusalem he alone is the Christian authority.

He then devises a compromise formula, distasteful to Jerome, declaring that God can enable the earnest man to avoid sin.

Pelagius is judged free of doctrinal error, which is confirmed in December 415 at the metropolitan Council of Diospolis.

Pelagius, responding in 416 to further attacks from Augustine and Jerome, writes De libero arbitrio (“On Free Will”), which results in the condemnation of his teaching by two African councils.

The anti-Pelagianist views of Augustine, who had begun condemning the doctrine as soon as Pelagius and his followers brought it from Rome to North Africa, begin to prevail over the opposition.

Pelagius settles in Palestine in 415, spending time in Jerusalem.

Pope Innocent in 417 excommunicates him, but Pelagianism continues to draw supporters to his view of divine grace.

A fanatical monk named Barsauma of Nisibis gathers a group of like-minded followers in 419 and for the next three years will try to destroy synagogues throughout Palestine.

The ever-mounting hostility in Palestine between Christians and Jews has resulted in severe curtailment of Jewish disciplinary rights over their coreligionists, interference in the collection of patriarchal taxes, restriction of the right to build synagogues, and, finally, upon the death of the patriarch Gamaliel VI in about 425, the diversion of the Jewish tax to the imperial treasury and the abolition of the patriarchate as well as the Jewish office of Nasi (prince), the last remnant of the ancient Sanhedrin, thus ending the last semblance of Jewish political autonomy in Palestine.