A short, simplified version:
In 325 AD, Emperor Constantine called
a council of Christian bishops from around the Roman Empire to meet in Nicaea
(modern-day Turkey). Several issues were
addressed in order to come to a consensus and maintain unity within
Christendom. One issue of particular
urgency was the teaching of a bishop from northern Africa named Arius. Arius was teaching that Jesus Christ was not
truly God. He reasoned that, if the Son
of God was begotten of the Father, there was a time when he did not exist. This teaching affects the salvation of
mankind and the heart of the Christian faith.
So, bishops convened in Nicaea from roughly June 12 – July 25. They drafted a creed to confess what the true
Christian faith is. All but two of the
attending bishops signed on to this creed. They did not invent a doctrine, but formally composed
a statement that confessed correct doctrine.
The Christian Church still confesses that statement today; it is the
Nicene Creed.
A longer, more extensive version:
The Council of Nicaea: How the Early
Church Sought Unity — With the Help of an Emperor
By Joel Elowsky
1,700 years ago, there was a newly united Roman Empire
headed by a young emperor from Serbia named Constantine. The horrific
persecution of Christians under Diocletian (A.D. 303–313) had just ended, and
decrees pronouncing toleration of Christians had been issued by Galerius in 311
and by Constantine I and Licinius with the Edict of Milan in 313. In 312,
Constantine had made his famous defeat of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge:
During the battle, “he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in
the heavens, above the sun, and an inscription, CONQUER BY THIS, attached to
it.” Later that night, Constantine had a dream where Christ told him to
mark this cross on the shields of his soldiers. Was this a sign of a new
age, with a new emperor favorable to Christianity?
The debate over Constantine’s actual conversion
continues among scholars. I see no problem with the account as written and
believe it is authentic. Yet whether the emperor’s conversion was sincere or
not, something had changed in the empire — and Roman emperors knew the power of
faith in the public sphere. By the early fourth century, even before
Constantine ascended the throne, Christianity had already grown into a force to
be reckoned with. But with the growth also came tension and division. It was important
to keep the empire united not only politically but also in matters of faith.
Divisions in the Church
The Diocletian persecution had put Christianity to the
test. Divisions had developed in the church over what to do with those who had
denied the faith under threat of torture or death. During the persecutions,
while Bishop Peter of Alexandria languished in prison, Bishop Meletius of
Lycopolis in Egypt began ordaining bishops. Meletius was part of the rigorist
camp who thought the church was too lax in its requirements for readmission. He
thought those he ordained could help right the ship of the church and bring it
back to a purer form.
Another division in the church had deeper roots. It
dated back at least to the second century and concerned when to celebrate
Easter. Churches in Asia Minor and Syria followed the Jewish calendar,
celebrating Easter on the 14th day of Nisan, the day when the Jews celebrated
Passover. It could occur any day of the week. These Christians celebrated
Easter on this date because the events of the Passion and resurrection recorded
in the Gospels took place around the time of the Jewish Passover. Churches in Rome,
Alexandria and Palestine, on the other hand, celebrated Easter on whatever
Sunday followed the Jewish celebration of the Passover. They insisted that
Easter always be celebrated on a Sunday, the day of the week when Christ rose
from the dead. It was an important question for the church because pagans, like
Porphyry and the second-century philosopher Celsus, had ridiculed the church
for not being able to agree on the celebration of one of its most important
commemorations.
While these issues were important, trouble was also
brewing on another front that would occasion the calling of the Council of
Nicaea. An upstart presbyter in the Alexandrian suburb of Baucalis named Arius
had charged his bishop, Alexander, with false doctrine. The historian Socrates
reports that Alexander had embarked on too ambitious a theological discussion
of the unity of the Trinity in front of his presbyters and the rest of the
clergy. Arius publicly challenged him, asserting that Alexander was espousing
the heresy of modalism, ignoring the distinctions of the persons in the
godhead.
Arius was concerned that the distinction between the
Father and the Son was not being maintained. There could be only one creator
and originator of all things: God the Father, who had no beginning. Arius
challenged Alexander with a logical syllogism: “If
the Father had begotten the Son, the one begotten had a beginning to his
existence; from this clearly one must conclude that there was a time when the
Son did not exist. It then follows necessarily that his substance arose out of
nothing.” Arius believed that the Son was a creature — different from the rest
of creation, but a creature nonetheless — whom God created to bring the rest of
creation, including us, into being.
Over the next five years, the controversy escalated.
In the meantime, Constantine became sole emperor in 324, defeating Licinius,
his rival in the east who had been persecuting Christians. With this new and
hard-fought political unity, Constantine was concerned about the theological
dispute taking place in Alexandria. Thinking all of this was simply an argument
over words that could be solved through negotiation, he sent his representative
Bishop Hosius of Cordoba to Alexandria to try and resolve the matter. Hosius
was not successful. Constantine decided to try something that had never been
done on the scale he was envisioning. He wanted to call a church council that
would include all the bishops of the empire.
The Great Council and the Nicene Creed
The historian Eusebius notes there was some urgency to
hold the council: “All hurried eagerly to Nicaea as if competing in a race,”
hoping for peace to be restored quickly to the church and the empire, and also
eager for a chance to see this emperor who was so favorable toward the
church. Somewhere between 250 and 318 bishops attended. These bishops were
accompanied by acolytes, deacons, presbyters and others too many to count —
perhaps as many as 2,000 — from “Europe, Africa and Asia.” There
were also many laymen who were skilled in the art of philosophy and debate,
each “eager to advocate the cause of his own party.” Priests and people
were invested in this theological debate. It garnered as much attention as the
Super Bowl or March Madness does today.
The council was convened sometime around May 20, 325,
for preliminary discussions. It most likely officially opened around June 19 or
20. Bishops were seated according to rank and lined the palace hall on both
sides, having the decisive vote (votum decisivum) in all matters of
church discipline and theology. Constantine entered last, preceded by friends
and members of his family, but no military entourage. He addressed the
assembly, expressing his deep concern over the division in the church, and
implored the bishops to find peace, just as he had brought peace to the land.
Just like in the Roman senate, he had no vote. But according to Eusebius, he
most likely participated in debate. And there was plenty of debate before the
council and during the proceedings.
The key issue of the debates concerned Arius and his
insistence that the Son was a creature of the Father, albeit highly exalted.
The chief point of contention was the term homoousios (the Son
being “of the same essence” with the Father). The Arians rejected this term,
believing that it parceled out God’s essence into different entities so that
God was no longer one. Further, they argued, since the Son had become incarnate
and suffered, this meant He was subject to change; therefore, He could not be
God. The orthodox countered that homoousios was the only term
that could speak to the unity and equality of the Son with the Father. The Son
is “not only like, but also inseparable from the essence of the Father. He and
the Father are one [John 10:30].” God took on flesh and suffered in order
to change our nature, not His.
After many days of debate, they settled on the wording
of the Nicene Creed, utilizing many of the same phrases that had appeared in a
creed earlier that year at a council held in Antioch. They sent it to
Constantine, noting that there were 18 or so detractors among the Arians. Most
of these promptly signed after Constantine threatened them with exile. Arius
was exiled, along with a couple of other bishops, and his writings were ordered
to be burned (which is why we have to rely on his opponents for most of what we
know about his teaching).
We assume the council lasted until July 25, with most
bishops staying around to observe the celebration of Constantine’s 20th
anniversary as emperor. At the conclusion of the council, the creed was
adopted, with threats of banishment for those who disagreed. The council also
decided that Easter would be observed on the first Sunday after the vernal
equinox. In order to resolve the Meletian schism, the bishops resolved to
recognize the ordinations Meletius had performed, although the clergy would be
of secondary rank in the churches of their diocese. They also insisted that
Meletius not ordain any new clergy. There were 20 disciplinary canons issued as
well, concerning clergy misconduct, church discipline for those who had lapsed
during the Diocletian persecution, church structure and oversight, the
readmission of heretics and schismatics, and liturgical matters. A letter
detailing the decisions of the council was sent to Egypt and presumably the
rest of the churches. Constantine held a
Constantine and the bishops had achieved their desired
unity through a combination of persuasion and force. The peace was short lived,
however, as often happens when there is a forced consensus. Within a decade or
so, Arius had been welcomed back, Constantine was baptized on his deathbed by
his Arian bishop, and a new era of disunity ensued with Arian emperors and
their bishops enforcing a pro-Arian interpretation of Nicaea over the next 50
years. Athanasius faced five exiles for his staunch defense of Nicaea. A second
ecumenical council was called by emperor Theodosius I at Constantinople in 381
to resolve the divisions and expand the third article of the creed to take up
the subject of the Holy Spirit, where a similar fight occurred over His
divinity.
Copied from: https://witness.lcms.org/2025/the-council-of-nicaea/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Due to recurring spam, all comments will now be moderated. Please be patient.