The deep-rooted traditional culture is a culture that has been passed down through the processes of impulse, exclusion, fusion, assimilation, transformation with other cultures in its history process and is recognized by contemporary people. The t ...
The deep-rooted traditional culture is a culture that has been passed down through the processes of impulse, exclusion, fusion, assimilation, transformation with other cultures in its history process and is recognized by contemporary people. The time when Ambrosius of Milan in the 4th century was in office shows the attitude and process of Christian culture in the traditional cultural environment of Rome. One of the contact points of pagan Roman traditional culture and Christian culture in the 4th century is the festival culture.
The traditional culture of Rome has a close relationship with religion, and these rituals have already been practiced in festivals and agricultural cultural festivals in the private realm. And these were expanded nationally, and the festival of military culture was added here. From the above cultural elements, it can be concluded that the traditional Roman cultures have developed in a way that integrates other religions and civilian customs, for the political existence and well-being of the Roman state.
These festivals are also evident in the Roman calendar, and the Roman calendar has steadily spread throughout the Roman Empire. The factors contributing to the Roman calendar spread were divinization of Roman Emperor and cult for the Roman Emperor. This is evidenced by the fact that the feast of the Roman Emperor did not fall in common in different calendars. Another factor of successful proliferation is that the Roman calendar system is complex and integrated. It is a strategy of Rome that tried to provide a common framework within the Empire.
In the Christian culture of the later Roman Empire, the specific contents and characteristics of the Christian culture at that time can be seen by examining the historical development of the Christian festival. From the perspective of the development of church festivals, we have found that the birth of Christ and the appearance of Christ, the day of commemoration of death and resurrection, the day when the ashes of saints are laid in the church, consecration of churches. And the core of Christian culture in the fourth century is the worship and sacrament that reveals the value of Christian faith. The following are remarkable in Ambrosius's worship and sacramental areas: pre-baptismal catechesis, post-baptismal catechesis, preparation before baptism in Quadragesima, 'consecratio' on baptism and 'consecratio' in the Eucharist. It can be compared with the 'consecratio' of Roman Emperor cult and 'consecratio' of Christianity. As a result, in the days of Ambrosius, in the presence of paganism and Christian worship, Ambrosius wanted to equip the components of Christian ceremonies comparable to paganism and to enrich the Christian festivals compared to the festivals of Rome.
In the encounter between the festival culture and the Christian culture in the later Roman Empire, the mutual relationship between the festival of the Roman Empire and the church festival first appeared to coexist, despite the opposite values. In the process of the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the prohibition of blood sacrifice was not a Christian influence but a social phenomenon that had not been practiced such a sacrifice since the third century. This shows that the culture of the ceremony was transformed by participants participating in the ceremony rather than by the person who performed it. On the other hand, for Christians, it was not an unconditional rejection of Roman tradition. Roman festivals and Christian festivals were mutually controversial, but as they passed through this era of coexistence, new Christian festivals were developed that could replace existing festivals, and there were cultural transformations. According to Augustine, Christians also poured wine from the grave of the dead.
Ambrosius strongly opposed the reconstruction of the Roman tradition by the Senate and showed dramatic confrontation between the two cultures. As a result, the Senate's attempt failed, but this was not a failure of Roman traditional culture. The traditional culture of Rome was not completely disappeared by the failure of building the victory altar, but it was the change of the contents of the national ceremony to the Christian ceremony. In other words, it is not a downfall of culture but a change of meaning in culture. The cultural phenomena that are manifested through concrete coexistence, conflict, fusion, and transformation of the two cultures is not based on the logic of power dealing with religion and politics. It ist the 'Christianization of Roman culture' or 'the Romanization of Christian culture'.