Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're feeling really, really good.

My name is Miss Afzal, and I'll be your teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling pleased about that because we've got a very interesting topic ahead.

We are looking at Christianity in Western Europe.

I wonder if this is a topic you've explored before, or maybe it's new to you.

Either way, we are gonna be getting right into it today.

Our lesson comes from the unit of work, "The Romans: What Is the Story of Christianity's Rise?" So if you're ready to explore this topic, Christianity in Western Europe, if you have some focus, energy, and enthusiasm, we'll begin our lesson now.

The outcome for today's lesson is: "I can describe some features of the Western Christian Church." I hope that sounds interesting to you.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

I'd like us to go through them one at a time, saying them out loud.

My turn.

Your turn.

Council.

Constantinople.

Supremacy.

Monk.

Nun.

Good to hear those keywords out loud.

Now I'd like you to turn to someone nearby and tell them, have you heard of any of these words before? Do you have any idea what they might mean? Pause here while you do this.

Thanks for sharing.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

A council is a group of people that meet to give advice or make decisions.

Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

To have supremacy is to have ultimate power and authority.

A monk is a man who devotes his life to a religion and gives up regular worldly life.

A nun is a woman who devotes her life to a religion and gives up regular worldly life.

So these are our keywords: council, Constantinople, supremacy, monk, and nun.

Let's look out for them.

Let's listen out for them.

Let's think carefully about these keywords that will be coming up in our lesson today.

Today's lesson is called "Christianity in Western Europe," and it has three learning cycles: early Church organization, councils and core beliefs, and the Roman Catholic Church.

Let's begin by exploring early Church organization.

In the early Christian Church, people gathered to worship and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

And here we can see a photo of the ruins of an early Christian Church in Syria from the 5th century CE.

The early Church that Constantine allowed was organized with bishops, presbyters, and deacons in charge.

You can see an illustration of a deacon, bishop, and presbyter in the Byzantine Empire.

The bishop, in the center, was the leader of the Christians, the presbyters, and deacons.

He organized the work of the Church and was responsible for all the priests in his area.

The presbyters, on the right, were priests who were in charge of their own churches and congregations.

They led the church services and taught believers and others who wanted to join the Church all about the Christian faith.

And on the left is the deacon.

The deacon's main job was to help the presbyter run the Church smoothly.

Deacons also helped the people in the congregation by doing charitable work.

So here we have the deacon, the bishop, and the presbyter, who all had important roles in the Church of the Byzantine Empire.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Rank the early Christian Church leaders according to importance, with one being the most important.

So we have presbyter, deacon, and bishop, and rank them according to importance: one, two, and three, with one being the most important.

Pause here while you do this.

Did you rank them in this way? One is the bishop, the most important.

Two is the presbyter, and three is the deacon.

This is how we can rank the early Christian Church leaders according to importance.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to match the church leader to their job description by ticking the appropriate column.

So the Church leaders are bishop, presbyter, and deacon, and their job descriptions are as follows: assist the presbyter and do charitable work; lead the Christians, the presbyters, and the deacons; lead the church services and sermons.

So pause here while you match the Church leader to their job description by ticking the correct column.

Enjoy your task, and I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with matching the Church leader to their job description? The deacon assists the presbyter and does charitable work.

The bishop leads the Christians, the presbyters, and the deacon, and the presbyter leads the church services and sermons.

Well done if you match the Church leaders to their job descriptions in this way.

Well done for having a go at this task.

And now onto our next learning cycle, councils and core beliefs.

In the early years of Christianity, the Church leaders gathered in councils to discuss the rules and beliefs of Christianity.

And here we can see an illustration of the Council of Nicaea.

Pause here and share with someone what are some of the details that you notice in this illustration? Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a check for understanding.

"A group of people that meet to give advice or make decisions is called a _____." Choose a word from the following to complete the sentence.

A, congregation.

B, party.

C, council.

Pause here while you choose the word to complete this sentence.

Well done if you chose answer C, council.

Let's read the sentence in full.

"A group of people that meet to give advice or make decisions is called a council." Well done if you chose this answer.

The goal of the council meetings was to agree on a set of core beliefs about Christianity.

These included the belief that God is a trinity, three in one, of the Father, the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

And here we have an illustration showing the Holy Trinity.

Let's have a check for understanding: true or false? The goal of the early Christian councils was to decide which books to keep in the Bible.

Pause here while you decide, is this statement true or false? Well done if you're selected false.

And now I'd like you to justify your answer by choosing from one of these two statements.

A: They met to agree on a set of core Christian beliefs.

B: They met to choose bishops, presbyters, and deacons.

Pause here while you decide which of these statements justifies your earlier answer.

Well done if you selected statement A.

Indeed, they met to agree on a set of core Christian beliefs.

This statement justifies your earlier answer, and now it's time for your next task.

There are three boxes below.

In each box, write some things you know about the box's title.

One example has been done for you: What the councils talked about.

The Church leaders met in councils to discuss Christianity.

And here are the other box titles: What Christians agreed to believe, and why it was important for Christians to agree.

So pause here while you write some things you know about the boxes' title in each box.

Enjoy your task, and I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

So how did you get on with that task in each box, writing some things you know about the box's title? You might have included something like this.

What the councils talked about: The Church leaders met in councils to discuss Christianity.

They talked about what they would teach.

They discussed what Christians would believe.

Our next title is what Christians agreed to believe.

Perhaps you wrote that there is only one God.

Perhaps you wrote, God's a Trinity: the Father, the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

The next title: Why it was important for Christians to agree.

So all the Christian churches would teach and believe the same things, to bring peace and understanding in the Christian community.

Well done if you included some of this information in these boxes.

Well done for having a go at this part of your task.

For the next part of your task, I would like you to write a few sentences to explain why do you think the Church leaders wanted all Christians to believe the same things? You should use ideas from the boxes you filled in.

Explain why agreement and understanding were important for the Christian community.

So pause here while you have a go at this part of your task, writing about why you think the Church leaders wanted all Christians to believe the same things.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that part of your task, writing why do you think the Church leaders wanted all Christians to believe the same things? You might have written something like this: The church leaders wanted all Christians to believe the same things so that everyone would understand each other.

They hoped that if all the churches taught the same beliefs, people would not argue.

This would help create peace and stop confusion in the Christian community.

Well done if you wrote something like this.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle: the Roman Catholic Church.

After the establishment of Constantinople in the East, Christianity in the Western Roman Empire, with Rome as the capital, developed in its own way.

And here we can see this map showing the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire, and the capital cities.

The Western Empire is in red, and the Eastern Empire is in green.

In the West, the bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope, became a very important person in the Church.

He had supremacy over the entire Christian Church.

And remember, "supremacy" is one of our keywords.

It means to have ultimate power and authority.

So the Pope had ultimate power and authority over the entire Christian Church.

Here we can see a drawing of Pope Vigilius, 500 to 555.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Fill in the missing word: "The Pope had _____ over the entire Christian Church because he had ultimate power and authority." Pause here while you fill in the missing word.

Well done if you completed the sentence with the word "supremacy." "The Pope had supremacy over the entire Christian Church because he had ultimate power and authority.

Well done if you completed the sentence in this way.

In the West, different groups known as monastic orders developed.

These orders were made up of both monks and nuns who chose to spend their entire lives serving and worshiping God.

On the left, we can see a painting of Saint Benedict, a Roman monk.

And on the right, we see a painting of Saint Scholastica, a Roman nun.

They lived in specific communities called monasteries for monks and convents for nuns.

Here is a photo of a monastery in Italy.

Monks and nuns spent much of their time in prayer, and thinking and learning about God.

Other jobs in the monastery included copying religious manuscripts and recording historical events of the time, feeding the poor, looking after the sick, and teaching boys in the nearby community.

Here we can see an illustration of a monk copying a religious manuscript.

Let's have a check for understanding: true or false? The monks of the Western Christian Church left a lasting impact on Western society.

Pause here and decide, is this statement true or false? Well done if you selected true, and now I'd like you to justify your answer by choosing from one of these two statements.

A: Without them, Christianity would not have survived as long as it has.

B: They could read and write, and recorded the historical events of the time.

Pause here while you decide which of these statements justify your earlier answer.

Well done if you selected statement B.

Indeed, they could read and write and recorded the historical events of the time.

This statement justifies your earlier answer, and now it's time for your final task.

I would like you to write one short paragraph to describe some features of the Western Christian Church.

Some useful words to include are: Pope, supremacy, monastic orders, monks and nuns, monasteries and convents.

So pause here while you have a go at this task of writing one short paragraph to describe some features of the Western Christian Church.

And remember to include these words.

Enjoy your task, and I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task of writing one short paragraph to describe some features of the Western Christian Church? Your answer could include: In the Western Christian Church, the Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope, had supremacy over the entire Christian Church.

In addition, different monastic orders developed.

These monastic orders were made up of both monks and nuns who lived in monasteries and convents.

Monks and nuns gave up everything they owned to devote their lives to God.

Well done for having a go at this task.

In our lesson, "Christianity in Western Europe," we've covered the following: The early Christian Church, allowed by Emperor Constantine, was organized into bishops, presbyters, and deacons.

Various councils of Church leaders were held over the years to agree on core beliefs like the belief that God is a Trinity.

After the establishment of Constantinople, Christianity in the Western Roman Empire developed in its own way.

The Bishop of Rome, the Pope, was believed to have supremacy over the Christian Church as a whole.

In the West, various monastic orders developed, made up of monks and nuns who devoted their lives to God.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson.

It was really great to explore Christianity in Western Europe.

Who were the leaders, what were the councils, and who reigned supreme over the whole of the Christian Church.

And so interesting to hear about the monks and nuns in their monasteries and convents, devoting their lives to God.

I hope you found this lesson interesting.

I really enjoyed teaching you, and I look forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Bye for now.