The Controversy Of The Council Of Nicaea

The theological differences were some of the biggest reason why the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches split. The Eastern churches had theological roots in Greek philosophy and the Western churches had theologies that constructed on their Roman law (“Schism of 1054”, 2014, para. 3). A strong issue that the two churches had was the theological proposition of the placement and addition of “the Son” to the Roman creed. The Roman churches included the “Father and the Son” in the Nicene creed without consulting the Eastern church while the Eastern church only used the Father. The Orthodox Church believe it should have been written with “the Father” proceeded by the Holy Spirit.

The Christian faith was effected differently dependent upon the king at the time, and the changes they decided to make. Sometimes for the positive and sometimes for the negative. Originally the Church and the Roman Empire in the East worked closely together. By the mid-400 's the commander in chief, who was named, Odovacar, was king of the Goths, (he deposed the Western emperor in 476.) Then Theidoric became king of the eastern Goths, he managed to keep the peace, however he had one major different religious belief. Thai difference was that the Romans were allied to the Church of Rome; the Goths, Theodoric included, were Arians. Theodoric granted religious freedom to all. Clovis, king of the Franks was baptized and had thousands of his soldiers be baptized with him. (The Franks were the only Catholics.) Clovis used the Church to unite the people, and had a set order of religious rituals. As the Franks spread Arianism died out. However then disagreements arose amongst the bishop of Rome and patriarch of Constantinople of theological matter. So Denis the Short created the canon law, he also changed lists of the saints, and he started a new calendar—one dating from the year of Christ 's birth (what we use today.)

The Christological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries were debates regarding the nature of Christ, and in particular the issue of his humanity versus his divinity. Docetism is a position which undermines the integrity of the humanity of Jesus because it claims that Jesus is fully divine but not truly human, because he is God merely adopting the appearance of being human. Arianism is the belief that Jesus is superior to the rest of creation but not equal to God because Jesus was created by God and thus is not eternal unlike God. The Council of Nicaea in 325 was called to fight against Arianism. The Council

Constantine the ruler of the Roman Empire had been surrounded by many controversies during his reign (Cameron, 14). He was the son of a great warrior and he defeated Manutius a great ruler at Milia Bridge. He had gained much respect and admiration among the Romans as a fair ruler. He emerged as a ruler who supported Christianity and then became popular as a Christian ruler himself. His reign and victory over the Roman Empire is a significant event in the history of Christian religion. With the Edict of Milan in 313 Christianity was recognized as a religion, and the followers were free to practice Christianity without fear. It has been argued that Constantine failed to treat different religions equally as paganism (Cameron, 57). Constantine also sponsored churches, promoted Christians to high government ranks, exempted taxes for the clergy. In the latter days of his rule Constantine had a stricter approach towards Christianity and professed that there is one God, the Christian God. He rewarded building temples into churches. He played a key role in framing important church policies namely The Council of Arles, A.D. 314 and The Council of Nicaea, A.D. 325.

The Council of Nicaea, however, rejected Arianism and affirmed that Jesus was not created like all other things were. They said that Jesus and God share the same divine substance, which means that Jesus is one with God the Father. Essentially, Jesus is God. Saint Athanasius, who was a bishop of Alexandria at the time of the Nicene council, shared a similar theology to that set out in the council. Athanasius

In 325, the Council of Nicea set out to formally characterize the relationship of the Son to the Father, in light of the dubious lessons of Arius. Driven by Bishop Athanasius, the gathering confirmed the precept of the Trinity as conventionality and censured Arius ' showing that Christ was the first making of God. The ideology received by the committee depicted Christ as "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (homoousios) with the Father."

The most dangerous was the Arian Heresy which reached its peak in the fourth century and led to many Ecumenical Councils being held. The first Ecumenical Council in history was held in 325 AD, attended by 318 bishops from all the churches of the world. Arius and his heresy were refuted, and the Christian Creed was formulated. Nevertheless, the residues of Arianism have continued to spread even till this day.

As part an effort to restore order in the Empire, Constantine adopted Christianity as the State Religion, introducing changes by importing customs and cultures into his new religion as a unifying factor for the Roman Empire. The Council of Nicaea formulated the Nicene Creed in 325 and made Christianity the powerhouse of the new Roman Empire as the Roman Catholic Church or World Church. By 476, the political Roman Empire had fallen to repeated outside pressure, transferring the relics of the Roman Empire to the Roman Catholic Church. Political unrest continued as rising powers in Europe invaded the Roman Empire and plundered Rome.

In the 4th century there are different schools of thought that were developed in Antioch, were they try to literarily interpret the Scriptures with a great deal of emphasis on the historical context of Trinity. Arius who is also known as Nicene, came up with the Nicene Creed by arguing the fact that Jesus was not God, and the Father by itself is true God. Base on the fact that God created Jesus, Arius was able to support his argument with the books of (Proverbs 8:22 and John 14:28) “the Father is greater than I” as a proof.

The Antiochene bishops were late, thus Cyril (representing the Alexandrians) persuaded the members present to endorse his view and Nestorius was condemned. When the Eastern bishops arrived on June 26, 431, they held their own council, deposing Cyril and the local bishop, Memnon, and rejected Cyril’s position. When the papal delegation arrived on July 10, they supported Cyril. It is this meeting that has gone down in history as the Third Ecumenical Council. This did not settle the issue, because Cyril’s position was just as questionable. Cyril spoke of one nature in Christ which smacked of Apollinarius’ Monophysitism (Karkkainen 2003:

Even during numerous exiles, Athanasius continued to be a vigorous defender of Nicene Christianity against Arianism. Athanasius then famously said "Athanasius against the world". The Cappadocian Fathers also took up the torch; their Trinitarian discourse was influential in the council at Constantinople.Up until about 360, theological debates mainly dealt with the Divinity of Jesus, the 2nd person of the Trinity. However, because the Council of Nicaea had not clarified the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Trinity, it became a topic of debate.

On the other hand, Athanasius, the leader of the bishops in the west, claimed that the Father and Son were equal and of the same substance. In 325, as a mediator, Constantine called together a council of bishops at Nicaea in Asia Minor. While condemning Arius and his teachings, the council declared the complete equality of God the Father and the Son. The teaching that Father and Son were made up "of one substance" became part of the Nicene Creed, the statement that helped to unite Christianity. The council addressed other issues as well, including the method for consecrating bishops.

Athanasius acknowledges that his conception of the generation of the Son carried implications inappropriate to deity. In frustration he complains that the Arians were only interested in “how God begets and what is the manner of His begetting.” In order to clarify his arguments Athanasius focuses on the nature of the beings involved and the manner in which generation takes place. His solution is that God is beyond human conception and therefore there must be a distinction between words and realities. The Arian party already held that “to create” or “to beget” could be equally used since both successfully distinguish him from all other beings. This was exacerbated by the chronology implicit in the language of ingenerate-ness (αγεννετος or αγενετος) attributed to the Father and the begotten-ness (γεννετος and γενετος) of the Son. In the Letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia Arius declares:

The Patristic Era saw various controversies arising over the nature of Jesus Christ, which consequently lead to the establishment of the creed as an attempt to reject the heretical views held by proponents. An example of a heretical advocate is Arius, who suggested Christ was inferior to God, but still above other creatures (McGrath, 2001, p.358). However, early orthodox theologians disputed this idea due to the soteriological complications that accompanied it (Young, 2010, p.55). The central advocator of this dispute was Athanasius, who questioned how Arius’ belief allowed for salvation through Jesus Christ, which is a key orthodox belief identified

One of the most important events in church history includes the Council of Nicea. The First Council of Nicea happened in 325 and involved the first gathering of Christian bishops and the Roman Empire not as enemies but as allies. The bishops wanted to solve the dispute over Arianism. Arianism is the belief that Christ was more than human but something less than God. Arianism taught the people that Jesus