Theology course: Week 10 reflection

Following on from last week’s class about the heresies surrounding the doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation of Jesus, this week’s class was about the orthodoxy of the creeds (like the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed). This one was sort of a history lesson and explained how the early church settled on the fundamental doctrines that are deemed correct, which believers all around the world agree on today.

It was interesting to me to find out that Christians only experienced sporadic persecution in the first 300 years AD. During this time, Diocletian was the emperor of Rome. He decided that Rome was too vast to be ruled by a sole ruler, and separated it into four sections, two in the east and two in the west. The east would have one emperor, and the west another. He appointed Maximian as emperor of the West with the title of “Augustus”; Constantius was appointed “Caesar” (a.k.a. deputy emperor). Maximian was to watch over Italy, Sicily, and Africa, while Constantius was to watch over Gaul, Spain, and Britain. Diocletian himself also took the title of “Augustus” as emperor of the East, aided by Constantius who was appointed “Caesar”. Diocletian watched over Thrace, Asia, and Egypt, while Constantius watched over Gaul, Spain, and Britain. (All this info from Encyclopaedia Britannica; the lecturer didn’t really explain this. I didn’t understand how the titles “Augustus” and “Caesar” were connected until I read the Britannica entry. Also, until this lesson, I never knew “Caesar” was a title and not part of Julius Caesar’s actual name ::facepalm::)

Although Diocletian ordered Christians to be persecuted in four edicts from 303-304, this was mainly carried out in the eastern parts of the empire where he was emperor. It is said that Constantius chose not to enforce Diocletian’s edicts against the Christians and “demolished some churches but did not execute believers”; and some members of Constantius’ family might even have been Christians. Constantius became Augustus of the West in 305 when Maximian abdicated.

Constantine the Great was Constantius’ son and took over from his father when his father died in battle in 306. But there was civil war as Diocletian’s successor had named someone else emperor of the West and a third person, Maxentius the son of Maximian, wanted the throne, too.

This is how Constantine purportedly became a Christian: on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge against Maxentius in 312, he reportedly saw a cross of light in the sky with the words “In this sign, conquer,” and that same night, he dreamt that Christ instructed him to mark his soldiers’ shields with a symbol representing the first two Greek letters of the word “Christos”. He did so, and won the battle decisively to become the emperor of the West.

Thereafter, he attributed his victory to the Christian God and became a convert; in 313 he drew up the Edict of Milan to legalise Christianity, thus ending the persecution of the Christians and returning any property which had been confiscated from Christians during the earlier persecutions. Eventually Constantine took over the East from the reigning emperor too and then reunited the whole empire in 324, establishing Constatinopole as its capital.

According to the lecturer, Constantine was interested in ensuring that the church was united and orderly, not divided. He felt that discord among Christians regarding doctrine and theological teachings did not just threaten the community of believers, but the peace of the kingdom. So he took action by calling bishops together to discuss the main issue of Arianism (which was one of the heresies mentioned in last week’s lesson: that the Son of God, Jesus, was the first created being, created with a semi-divinity to become the instrument through which the rest of creation was called forth).

Bishops came from Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, but also some from North Africa and even from outside the Empire. It is said there were around 200-300 bishops altogether. They were welcomed as the emperor’s guests, their travel, lodging, and other expenses covered by Constantine. This gathering of the bishops became the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea in 325 and it set a precedent for all the other Councils that came later. In total there were four Councils:

1. Council of Nicaea (AD 325), convoked by Emperor Constantine
2. Council of Constantinopole (AD 381), convoked by Emperor Theodosius I
3. Council of Ephesus (AD 431), convoked by Emperor Theodosius II
4. Council of Calcedon (AD 451), convoked by Emperor Marcian & Empress Pulcheria

Each of these councils discussed specific doctrinal issues and came up with authoritative decisions on what was right. This is how we got the Nicene Creed – it was formulated by the Council of Nicaea as a statement of belief to encompass all the fundamental points of doctrine. The Council of Constantinopole expanded the Nicene Creed, adding a section about the Holy Spirit, making it the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.

The lesson did go into each of the four councils and the heresies or controversies discussed in each one, but I don’t feel like getting into that here. I was surprised that the councils came about due to the intervention of imperial power; and once the controversies had been decided, the person who had been the main proponent of that particular heresy was often exiled. I suppose, as far as the former is concerned, there had to be someone to put things in motion and you needed someone with authority who could gather people together – I daresay not many bishops would want to say no to the emperor when invited to participate in a council like this; it was probably an honour to be invited.

I was also surprised that even though the councils were decisive, this didn’t always solve the problem. Like, after the Council of Nicaea rejected Arianism as a heresy, this teaching persisted and had to be discussed again at the Council of Constantinopole. I was also a bit shocked that the decision made at the Council of Calcedon caused a schism between the Oriental Orthodox church (Coptic, Syriac, Armenian) and the Roman Catholic church. The issue discussed at that council was of the dual nature of Jesus (fully man and fully God), and it didn’t seem to me that any proper church could dispute this.

So I looked it up. The lecturer had mentioned the split but didn’t say why it had occurred. Apparently it was because of the way the document was worded. The bishops had composed a Definition of Faith, which became known as the Definition of Chalcedon. Part of it stated that Jesus is

…to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisively, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one person and on Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son…

Apparently, the Oriental Orthodox bishops did not like the “in two natures” wording because they felt it was too close to the Nestorian heresy – which says that the divine Son of God lived in the man Jesus of Nazareth, inhabiting Jesus’ body like a temple (remember, I said in last week’s reflection that it sounded like demon possession lol). This heresy claimed that Jesus the man and Logos the Son of God were two separate persons joined in a union. So, as far as I can tell, the Oriental Orthodox bishops accused the Chalcedonian council of heresy themselves and the whole thing caused a huge misunderstanding and falling out. Ah, humans. When you’re actually both on the same side but cannot even see it because you’re too busy arguing over minutiae.