Council of Nicea

1. Council of Nicea 1st Ecumenical Council 325 AD

2. Goal • Understand the heresy and the arguments for and against it. • Understand the role of this council in the history of the universal church. • Understand the role of the Coptic Church Fathers in this council.

3. Outline • Background • Actors • Theology • Significance for today

4. Background – Historical Context • 284 AD – Reign of Diocletian – (beginning of Coptic Calendar) • 313 AD – Edict of Milan • A church universal – 5 major centers • Alexandria • Rome • Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey) • Antioch (Syria) • Jerusalem

5. Actors • Arius • Athanasius • Pope Alexander of Alexandria • Bishop Hosius the Confessor of Cordoba

6. Arius • Lybian and Berber ancestry • 250 - 336 AD • 306 Ordained a Deacon in Alexandria by Pope Peter the 18th Patriarch and in 313 a Priest by Pope Archelaus the 19th Patriarch (who was Pope for only 6 months). • Before and during the reign of Pope Alexander, he started to preach Arianism

7. Arianism • Christ did not always exist • Christ was divine but CREATED being - He was created by God the Father and therefore did not always exist and is therefore less than God the Father.

8. Pope Alexander I • 250 – 328 AD (5 months after Council of Nicea) • Priest in Alexandria during the time of persecutions of Roman emperors Galerius and Maximinus • 313 Ordained 19th Patriarch of Alexandria • He had expelled Arius from the Church and from Egypt prior to the Council of Nicea and he lead the fight against Arius’ heresy along with St. Athanasius.

9. St. Athanasius • 298 to 373 AD • Before age 20, he wrote On the Incarnation, explaining that Jesus Christ was both God and Man • He was a deacon during the Council of Nicea and the primary person who refuted Arius’ arguments. • He was ordained the 20th Patriarch after Pope Alexander died in 328 AD

10. Bishop Hosius of Cordoba • Lived ca.256-358 AD • Bishop of Cordoba, Spain for 60 years • Ecclesiastical advisor to Emperor Constantine • From 312 to 326 AD • He presided over the Council of Nicea

11. Events leading up to the Council • Arius was a priest of a Large Church in Alexandria when he started to Preach Arianism: Christ is not equal with God the Father. He was CREATED by God the Father and is therefore less than God the Father. • Pope Alexander convened to councils of Egyptian Bishops to discuss Arianism and try to convince Arius of his errors. He refused and after the second council was stripped of his priesthood and excommunicated. • Arius had a lot of political allies and appealed to Emperor Constantine. • Constantine tried to reconcile Pope Alexander and Arius through Bishop Hosius, this did not work. • Final decision was made to convoke the first ecumenical council of all Christian Churches in existence in the port city of Nicea, June 14, 325 AD to settle the issue.

12. Arius vs Athanasius • Arius said the Son said, “My Father is greater than I,” (John 14:28), so, the Son is not the same like the Father but less than He is. • Athanasius responded by saying that the Son in flesh is less than the Father as He said, "If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I." (John 14:28 continued) • That means that He, in His flesh, will go to the Father who is greater than the flesh of the Son, as He, in His Divinity, is in the bosom of the Father all the time

13. Arius vs Athanasius • Arius said that our Lord Jesus Christ said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." (Mathew 28:18). • Athanasius responded by stating that the Son, as He is born from the Father before all ages, has gained all authority and He considered Himself equal to the Father when He said, “Go and baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)

14. Arius vs Athanasius • Arius said that our Lord Jesus Christ said He can't do His will but the will of His Father (John 5:30), thus He is less than the Father. • Athanasius responded by saying that our Lord Jesus Christ spoke in many situations as being God incarnate who became man. But speaking as the divine God He said, "He who has seen Me has seen My Father," and "I am in My Father and My Father in Me”. (John 14:9, John 14:11)

15. The Influence of Arianism Today • Jehovah’s Witnesses • Mormons • Holy Arian Catholic and Apostolic Church

16. Jehovah’s Witnesses • Jesus is Jehovah’s most precious Son—and for good reason. He is called “the firstborn of all creation,” for he was God’s first creation.#Colossians1:15) There is something else that makes this Son special. He is the “only-begotten Son.” (John 3:16) This means that Jesus is the only one directly created by God. Jesus is also the only one whom God used when He created all other things. (Colossians 1:16) Then, too, Jesus is called “the Word.” (John 1:14) This tells us that he spoke for God, no doubt delivering messages and instructions to the Father’s other sons, both spirit and human. • (note: they believe that Jesus was the Archangel Michael before he became a man). http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_04.htm

17. Response: Firstborn vs First Created • “First-created” is protoktistos • “firstborn” is prototokos. • Colossians 1:15 does not use the protoktistos, “first-created.” Instead it uses prototokos, which means an heir, a begotten one, the first in rank. The teaching of Colossians 1:15 is that Christ is first in rank above all creation; He is the Heir of all things. He is prior to all creation and superior over it.
The JW’s New World Translation adds the word “other” four times in Colossians 1:15-17, so that the passage states that Christ created “all other things,” everything except Himself. However, there is no basis for adding “other.” It certainly does not occur in the Greek manuscripts. The translators of the New World Translation admit this by putting “other” in brackets. This “translation” attempts to comply with the assumption that firstborn means first-created. • There is no verse in the entire Bible that states that Christ was created by Jehovah!

18. Colossians 1:15-17 (NKJV) • 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. • 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. • 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

19. Jehovah’s Witnesses also say: • Is the firstborn Son equal to God, as some believe? That is not what the Bible teaches. As we noted in the preceding paragraph, the Son was created. Obviously, then, he had a beginning, whereas Jehovah God has no beginning or end. Psalm 90:2) The only-begotten Son never even considered trying to be equal to his Father. The Bible clearly teaches that the Father is greater than the Son. (John 14:28; 1 Corinthians 11:3) Jehovah alone is “God Almighty.” (Genesis 17:1) Therefore, he has no equal. http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_04.htm

20. Is Christ Equal to God the Father? • John 10:30-33 (NKJV) • 30 I and My Father are one." • 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. • 32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" • 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."

21. Is Christ Equal to God the Father? • Christ received worship as God: • Jesus is worshipped by the angels (Heb. 1:6) and by man (Matt. 14:33), and yet only God is to be worshipped (Ex. 34:14). Christ Himself said that worship is due to God alone (Matt. 4:10), and yet He accepted worship. If Jesus in His pre-existent state were the archangelMichael, how could He have received worship, since angels are not allowed to receive worship (Rev. 19:10)? • If Christ were not God, then worshipping Him would be idolatrous. http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-r005.html

22. If Christ is not God but a created being what does that mean for us?

23. Outcome of the Council • Council selected 3 members to write a creed: • Pope Alexandros • Athanasius “Defender of the Faith” • Leontius, bishop of Ceasarea in Cappadocia (Syria) • They added a statement of anathema to make clear the importance • 315/318 signed both the Creed and Anathema initially • Under pressure from Constantine, the last 3 signed: • Eusebius of Nicomedia– signed Creed but not Anathema • Theogniusof Nicea– signed Creed but not Anathema • Maris of Chalcedon – signed both

24. The Nicene Creed WE BELIEVE IN ONE GOD: THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH: THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE. WE BELIEVE IN ONE LORD JESUS THE CHRIST, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, BORN OF THE FATHER BEFORE ALL AGES. LIGHT OF LIGHT, VERY GOD OF VERY GOD; BEGOTTEN NOT CREATED. CONSUBSTANTIAL WITH THE FATHER; BY WHOM WERE ALL THINGS MADE. THIS IS HE WHO FOR US HUMANS, AND FOR OUR SALVATION, CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, AND WAS MADE MAN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE VIRGIN MARY. HE WAS INCARNATE; CRUCIFIED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, HE SUFFERED, WAS BURIED AND ROSE FROM THE DEAD ON THE THIRD DAY ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES. HE ASCENDED UP TO HEAVEN AND SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF HIS FATHER, FROM WHENCE HE SHALL COME IN GLORY TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD; FOR WHOSE KINGDOM THERE IS NO END. WE BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT."

25. Anathema* "And as for them that say concerning the Son of God, there was a time when He was not, and He was not before He was produced, and He was produced from things that are not, and He is of another substance or essence, or created, or subject to conversion or mutation, the Universal-Apostolic Church says let them be anathema." *An ecclesiastical statement involving excommunication

26. Other Matters reviewed in the Council • Date of celebration of Easter • Question of re-baptism • Celibacy of the Clergy • A total of 20 issues addressed and church cannons (rules) passed

27. Significance of the Council • It made clear the Church’s understanding of who Jesus Christ is. • Unified the Church in faith • Established a mechanism to address questions and problems that arose in the church

28. After the Council • Arius and later his followers at different times during St. Athanasius’ 45 years as the Pope of Alexandria would convince the various Roman Emperors to take their side. • During his 45 years as Pope he was exiled 5 different times from Alexandria for a total of 16 years. • Athanasius contra mundum or "Athanasius against the world." • He wrote a 4 volume work called “Against the Arians” where he more fully argued against Arianism. • He also wrote the story of of the life of St. Anthony • He identified the same 27 books of the New Testament that are in use today and because of him these 27 books are the ones now universally accepted as the books of the New Testament.

29. St. Athanasius’ Role in History • It was not only his defense in the Council of Nicea but his defense of the faith for the 45 years of his Papacy that preserved the orthodox faith • If it was not for St. Athanasius we might all be Arians.

30. Final Thoughts • Heresies usually start from taking verses out of context from the Bible. • Heresies are often proposed by those who are well intentioned – it is important to attack the heresy not the person. • One common thread among the most significant heresies – they deny the true divinity of the Son or deny that Jesus Christ was fully human and fully God at the same time.

31. Final Thoughts • The first threshold for a group of people to be called Christians is what they believe about Christ: 13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matthew 16:13-16 (NKJV)

32. Homework • Discuss at least 2 arguments for Arianism (Christ is not equal with the father) and refute those arguments with direct references from the Bible.

33. Further reading • HIS 102 ECUMENICAL COUNCILS – Servant’s Prep Program, Southern Diocese