04:05
Doina
18K
When Jesus Became God. The pagan emperor Constantine calls the Council of Nicea in order to determine, among other things, if Jesus is God, Man or some combination thereof.More
When Jesus Became God.

The pagan emperor Constantine calls the Council of Nicea in order to determine, among other things, if Jesus is
God, Man or some combination thereof.
StarlightSeraphim
Jesus did not become God, He always was God, even before all ages. The council was summoned by the Emperor, who desired unity in the Roman Empire and thus called the Church's bishops together to settle the raging of the heresy of Arianism, the doctrine that Jesus Christ was a created being and therefore not truly the one God. This was a new idea, this council was not to establish a new faith but to …More
Jesus did not become God, He always was God, even before all ages. The council was summoned by the Emperor, who desired unity in the Roman Empire and thus called the Church's bishops together to settle the raging of the heresy of Arianism, the doctrine that Jesus Christ was a created being and therefore not truly the one God. This was a new idea, this council was not to establish a new faith but to affirm what was held to be true by the Apostles and to root out the false ideas that had spread with the second century movement of Gnosticism and the teachings of Arius. There was a church before there was a set cannon of scripture, it is the holy tradition and the truth revealed by the Holy Spirit that showed what was in line with the teaching of the Apostles that knew Christ and what appeared later by false teachers and abusers. Even John, the writer of the fourth gospel, spoke out against false teachers who called themselves Christians in the late first century. It is reported that one day John went into a public bath house and found there a well known Gnostic heretic named Cerenthus. John ran out crying, "Let us get out of here, for fear the place falls in, now that Cerinthus, the enemy of truth, is inside." From the very beginning, once the truth is revealed subtle deception that grows into destructive heresy follows. Just like the parable of the Wheat and Tares (Matthew 13:24-30) the enemy is subtle in planting lies among truth. When the New Testament cannon was set it was not a power play by Constantine but a long process of determining which books gave authentic witness to the truth, if it was not consistent with the apostolic teaching it was not included. The final cannon was not even settled to the current 27 books until long after Constantine. The Gnostic gospels of Phillip, Mary Magdelene, and Thomas were not written by people who knew Christ and they often were mere vehicles to insert the social and political battles of the day into a first century contexts as allegory, they are never what they seem at face value. These were not historical documents, there was no reason to include them. The whole point of the council was to find truth, and it succeeded at that. After the initial speeches by the emperor, Hosius is generally believed to have presided at the council, summoned on the scene by the emperor himself, who had retained him as theological advisor. Fr. Alexander Schmemann writes that Constantine intended the synod to be "the symbol and crown" of his victory over Licinius and the reunification of the Empire (p. 76). In his opening address, St. Constantine describes disputes within the Church as "more dangerous than war and other conflicts; they bring me more grief than anything else" (ibid., p. 77). That has been true throughout the ages, all the more need for unity of the faith in truth. We must be one body in Christ. The Apostles' preaching and the Fathers' doctrines have established one faith for the Church. Adorned with the robe of truth, woven from heavenly theology, it defines and glorifies the great mystery of Orthodoxy!