20
May 325 A.D. Council
of Nicea Convenes.
The story is told by Mr.
Graves.
Graves, Dan. “God or Man? Asks Nicea
Council.” Christianity
Today. Apr 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/god-or-man-asks-nicea-council-11629650.html.
Access Apr 23, 2014.
Three hundred
and twelve bishops gathered. In the center of the room, on a throne, lay the
four gospels. The emperor himself, dressed in a purple gown and wearing a
silver diadem, opened the council. It was he who had called them together.
"I rejoice to see you here, yet I should be more pleased to see unity and
affection among you." The place was Nicea. It was on
this day, May 20, 325.
The next few
days would be devoted primarily to one purpose: finding a way to describe
exactly who Jesus was. Arius had preached that Christ was a creation of God,
the first of all his creatures, to be sure, but a creation nonetheless. He was
not of the substance or nature of God. "There was a time when the Son was
not," he and his followers insisted. They even made up songs with catchy
tunes to propagandize their ideas among the masses.
Bishop
Alexander of Alexandria was horrified. Jesus, the Word, had co-existed
eternally with God the Father he argued. If Christ were not God, then man could
not be saved, for only the infinite and holy God could forgive sin. He deposed
Arius. Arius did not go quietly. He gathered followers and continued to teach
his controversial doctrine. The factions rioted. The unity of the empire was
shaken. Constantine was alarmed. He called the council.
As the
council progressed, the bishop of Nicomedia defended Arius' views, attempting
to prove logically that Jesus, the Son of God, was a created being. Opposition
bishops snatched his speech from his hand and flung it in shreds to the floor.
They had suffered for Christ, some of them greatly, in the persecutions of
Diocletian. They weren't about to stand by and hear their Lord blasphemed.
Otherwise, to what purpose had they borne their gouged eyes, scourged backs,
hamstrung legs and scorched hands?
The issues of
Nicea boil down to this. If Christ is not God, how can he overcome the infinite
gap between God and man? If a created being could do it, there were angels
aplenty with the power. Indeed, why could not any good man himself bridge the
gap? On the other hand, Jesus had to be truly man, otherwise how could he
represent mankind?
At some point
the council decided their best course was to write a creed that testified to
what they believed. The creed of Nicea became a document of fundamental
importance to the church. That so many of the bishops who approved it had
suffered greatly for Christ only added to its significance. The council itself
was a forerunner to many more, some international, some regional. Those
councils which came after also grappled with issues of Christ's humanity and
deity. Was he one person or two? Was he God while in his mother's womb? Did he
have just one will? Which books belong in the Bible? The seventh ecumenical
church council was also held at Nicea.
Bibliography:
1. Aland, Kurt. Saints and Sinners; men and ideas in the early church.
Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970.
2. Bellitto, Christopher M. The General Councils; a history of the twenty-one
general councils from Nicaea to Vatican II. New York: Paulist
Press, 2002.
3. Bray, Gerald. Creeds, Councils and Christ. Downer's
Grove, Illinois: Inter-varsity Press, 1984.
4. Davis, Leo Donald. The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787):
their history and theology. Wilmington, Deleware: M. Glazier, 1987.
5. Hughes, Philip. The Church in Crisis: a history of the general
councils 325--1870. Garden City, New York: Hanover House, 1961.
No comments:
Post a Comment