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The Council of Nicea Chapter 4: The Council of Nicea In A.D. 324, Constantine I, the emperor of the western Ro- man empire, defeated Licinius, emperor in the east, and put him to death, bringing the vast Roman empire under his sole rule. When he returned from his triumph, he was horrified to find that the religion he had supported and embraced—the religion into which he had led the majority of his subjects—was on the brink of tearing his newly united empire in half. The Arian Controversy Around A.D. 318, Arius, an elder in Alexandria in Egypt, told his bishop, Alexander, that he believed that Jesus was created from nothing and had no existence prior to being created. 5 By the fifth century, his words had become infamous. Theo- doret says: Arius, in direct opposition to the truth, affirmed that the Son of God is merely a creature or created being, adding the famous dictum, "There once was a time when he was not," with other opinions which may be learned from his own writings.7 Alexander immediately took offense, and a controversy raged between Arius and Alexander that continued for several years. Alexander, despite urgings from other elders and surrounding bishops, took no punitive measures toward Arius at first. Finally, in 321, he gathered more than 100 bishops from Egypt and sur- rounding countries and excommunicated him. Icon8 of Arius Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.9 7 Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. I:2. Several of Arius' letters can be found in Appendix D. 8 An icon is a religious image used as a focal point for worship primarily by the Orthodox Churches. The Orthodox are the descendants of the eastern cath- olic churches, which will be explained further in Chapter 8. Personally, I have some strong opinions about the use of icons in worship, but that is not perti- nent to this book. 9 Unknown author. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed 24 Mar. 2011. < http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arius.gif>. 6 Arius, however, was not moved. He went north to Nicomedia, where he found a sympathetic ear in Eusebius, the bishop of Ni- comedia. Nicomedia, in modern Turkey, held the imperial court, mak- ing it one of the more important cities in the empire. As a result, Eusebius was one of the most influential bishops in the east. At this time, Eusebius possessed great influence because the emperor resided at Nicomedia. … On this account, therefore, many of the bishops attended Eusebius' court.10 While Eusebius convinced bishops, Arius taught his doctrine to merchants and to children in the marketplace. Confusion prevailed everywhere. One could see not only the prelates of the churches engaged in debates, but the people divided as well, some siding with one party and some with the other. This affair was carried out to so dis- graceful an extent that Christianity became the subject of popular ridicule, even in the theaters.11 Eusebius and Eusebius It's important not to confuse Eusebius of Nicomedia with Eusebius Pamphilus, bishop of Caesarea, who wrote a church history in 323, just two years before the Council of Nicea. Both Eusebiuses would play crucial roles at the council. The bishop of Nicomedia led the Arian faction and was exiled for a short time for refusing to subscribe to the condemnation of Arius. The bishop of Caesarea recorded the proceedings and provided the "rule of faith" that was adapted to become the Ni- cene Creed. Apparently, Eusebius and Arius were convincing because the controversy spread so widely that the emperor Constantine the Great feared that it would split his empire. 10 Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. I:6. 11 ibid. 7 The partisans of Arius deemed it prudent to seek the fa- vor of bishops of other cities and sent legations to them. They also sent a written statement of their doctrines to them, requesting of them that if they considered such sentiments to be of God, they would indicate to Alexan- der that he should not trouble them. ... This precaution was of no small advantage to them, for their tenets be- came universally disseminated, and the questions they had started became matters of debate among all the bi- shops.12 Constantine the Great Intervenes Constantine had just united his empire by overthrowing and executing Licinius, his co-emperor in the east. He was not about to let the empire be torn apart by a dispute among Christians. Finding, then, that the whole of Africa was pervaded by an intolerable spirit of mad folly, through the influence of those who ... had presumed to rend the religion of the people into diverse sects; I was anxious to check this dis- order ... For while the people of God, whose fellow- servant I am, are thus divided amongst themselves by an unreasonable and pernicious spirit of contention, how is it possible that I shall be able to maintain tranquility of mind?13 First, he wrote a letter and sent it by the hand of the aged and respect bishop of Cordova in Spain, Hosius. The letter, which Eusebius says was delivered by Hosius in person, asked both Al- exander and Arius to stop their feuding over the matter. Constan- tine argues that the issue was not of enough consequence to di- vide the church: 12 Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen. I:15. 13 "Constantine's letter to Alexander the Bishop and Arius the Presbyter." Eu- sebius. Life of Constantine. II:66,72. Appendix E contains the entire letter. 8 Exhibit, both of you, an equal degree of forbearance. ... It was wrong in the first instance to propose such questions as these, or to reply to them in the second instance.14 He even appeals to the unity of the philosophers in order to check the division of the church: You know that philosophers, though they all adhere to one system, are yet frequently at issue on certain points, and differ, perhaps, in their degree of knowledge. Yet they are recalled to harmony of sentiment by the uniting power of their common doctrines. If this be true, is it not far more reasonable that you, who are the ministers of the Supreme God, should be of one mind respecting the profession of the same religion?15 Though he asks them to drop it, he acknowledges that Arius' position is clearly in the wrong: You, Arius, inconsiderately insisted on what ought never to have been conceived at all, or, if conceived, should have been buried in profound silence.16 Neither Alexander nor Arius backed down. Here it would be good to pause and consider whether Con- stantine's assertion—and the bishop Hosius' opinion, for he deli- vered the letter—is accurate. Should this issue just have been dropped? Was it of such importance that the church couldn't just let each church or church leader make their own personal deci- sion on the matter? Was Arius even wrong? Or is it possible he was the one adhering to the apostolic faith? And if he was wrong, how do we know? In order to answer those questions, we need to examine first what exactly he taught. 14 ibid. II:69. 15 ibid. 16 ibid. 9 What Was Arianism? It is commonly said that the Council of Nicea was called to determine whether Jesus was God. If we had only one sentence to describe Nicea, and if we were speaking with people who knew nothing at all about the council, then that description would be close enough. Arius denied that Jesus was God, and this did not agree with the historical position of the church. But if we really want to understand Nicea, then that descrip- tion will not suffice. It would be more accurate to say that the Council of Nicea met to determine what the Son of God was made of. Was the Son of God "Made"? Why would Arius suggest that the Son of God was created? Was he simply a loose cannon dreaming up new doctrines? Worse, was he really able to convince bishops all over the eastern half of the Roman empire—men who outranked him in the ecclesiastical hierarchy—that Jesus was created on the basis of nothing more than his persuasive reasoning? Far from it. Arius got his idea from Scripture. In the early centuries of the church, including the fourth cen- tury when the Council of Nicea was held, it seemed obvious to the churches that Proverbs 8:22-31 was a reference to the Son of God. There, Wisdom speaks as a person, and it makes statements like these: Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth. (v. 25) When [God] prepared the heavens, I was there. (v. 27) When he established the foundations of the earth, then I was next to him ... rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth, and my delight was in the sons of men. (vv. 29-31) Who is this Being that was with God before anything was created? Who established the foundations of the earth with him? The answer to that question is given in the Gospel of John. 10 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. (Jn. 1:1,14, NASB) It seemed readily apparent to the early Christians that Wis- dom of Proverbs 8 was the Word of John 1. Jesus, the Word and Son of God, was with God in the beginning. Isn't Wisdom a She? If you read Proverbs, you will see that when Wisdom is personified, it is personified as a woman.
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