|
|
| Beginnings
Beginnings : Bishop +Rogers' latest series of essays exploring the origin of early Christianity from the time of the Apostles, throught the Post Apostolic period and beyond. If you have any comments on this essay, pro or anti I would love to hear from you . Ring me on 01225702436 or email tyfurog@aol.com
 It is often not realised that Jesus and his immediate followers did not deliver to the Church the Faith as we now know it. In the first few centuries CE there were many teachings in the many Churches which were accepted as being correct – and, of course, many disputes as to who was teaching the ‘real truth’ These arguments were eventually brought to councils composed of bishops and advisors, who hammered out a consensus which was then accepted by all, or supposed to be. Dissidents were termed heretics and no longer considered as ‘in communion’ with the true Church. (Of course the heretics considered themselves as the true church, but tended to be very much in the minority).
When the Church was legalised, around the early 4th century the Emperor of the day often sat in on the Councils, and his expressed or known wishes carried heavy weight, even in matters of faith and morals, because antipathy expressed to those wishes often carried the stigma of heresy and the punishment of banishment, even for church leaders. Many of the Church Fathers suffered in this way, but were sometimes reinstated following a change in government.  The Councils were called Ecumenical, because the Church had not split into East and West at this time, but by no means were all the bishops of the Church present at each council – in fact in that which discussed the ideas of Nestorius (381-451) it was arranged by Bishop Cyril of Alexandria (375-444) that the council held and concluded its debate before the Nestorian supporters could arrive. Such behaviour is only an instance of the skulduggery by which the doctrines of our Faith were formulated, though always said to be under the aegis of the Holy Spirit and so bound, the faithful believe, to be God’s will however crooked the earthly means.
Also it was extremely rare for a bishop who was not a member of the Great Church to attend, partly because of distance but mainly because their views were considered heretical and therefore not part of the Christian heritage, even if they thought otherwise. | |
| So here is a list of the main great Councils; Jerusalem; reported in Acts and by tradition called a council was called because of the differences between the Jerusalem (Jewish Christian) Church and St Paul, to clarify the position of the non Jewish converts to Christianity Nicea; 325 CE. Called by Emperor Constantine the Great to discuss Arian’s theory that Christ, as son, must be created by and inferior to the Father.  This Idea was causing ferment and dissention in the Church and so damaging Constantine’s desire to rule a peaceful Christian people. The orthodox party, led by Athanasius won the debate, insisting that Christ is of the same substance(homoousios) as the Father and not of similar substance (homoiousios), the argument turning, said the critics, on a single iota (i, the smallest Greek letter and so of little significance). Constantinople; 381 CE. This was mainly to correct the ideas of Apollinaris, Bishop of Laodicea (300-390) who claimed that Jesus did not have a human soul, since that would be changeable, and only the unchanging divine Logos could possibly be the Saviour. The Fathers, on the other hand felt that only what Christ had said could be saved i.e. a body and a soul, both human. They also corrected the error of the Macedonians, (who claimed that the Holy Spirit was a creature), reiterating the Nicene doctrine of identical essence or Being within the Trinity. Ephesus; 431 CE. Nestorius (381-451) Bishop of Constantinople felt that to call Mary ‘Mother of God’ could not be true since she was human and therefore could not be the mother of a god He would accept ‘Mother of Christ’. However the wily and vicious Cyril (375-444), Bishop of Alexandria (who among his many misdeeds had his minions cut Hypatia – perhaps one of the most brilliant female thinkers the world has seen – to death with sharp clamshells), manipulated the Council to condemn Nestorius (who went on to lead a Church which was at one time larger that the Great Church itself and still exists as the now tiny Church of the East).Cyril was made a saint!  This council went on to condemn Pelagius (a brilliant British theologian 350-418) who said that man must make the first move towards God’s grace in redemption. Although Pelagius’ ideas were accepted by the pope he was condemned as a heretic and disappeared from history. | | Chalcedon; 451 CE. Called to consider the idea that Christ had only one – divine – nature. (monophytism – believed by a large part of the Eastern Church and still held by some Eastern Churches). Although the whole concept is rather more complicated that as expressed above the Council finally decided that Christ had two natures – divine and human – separate and unmixed in one person, where he is both true God and true man. (It is worth noticing that in all these arguments Jesus is most often referred to as Christ, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiach – anointed one and virtually never just as Jesus. The Church at this time was becoming monarchical in all its attitudes),  Constantinople; 553 CE. There were still many in favour of the Nestorian and Monophysite ideas, so, with Emperor Justinian (482-565) present the Council again condemned these ideas as totally incorrect, mainly because Justinian wanted them to do so
Constantinople II; 680 CE. Once more the Monophysite ideas were anathematised, but Emperor Constantine IV 652-685) tried to improve things and the Council finally agreed that although Christ had two natures he only had one will, so that although his divine nature made the decisions his human one carried them out, so functioning seamlessly. This was called monothelitism (Greek for one will). Nicea II; 787 CE. This, the last if the great councils before the Great Church split into Orthodox and Catholic (though the separation process had been going on for some time) was called to settle the question of whether images were permitted in Christian worship and daily life. There had been wars between those who used icons and those who did not permit them in which emperors and church leaders had often been bloodily involved. The well named Empress Irene [peace in Greek] (752-803) called this council which finally agreed to the use of images (icons) in the churches. 
| |
| After this the Churches, West and East really went their own separate ways. But consider how long it took – nearly 800 years - to sort out how the people of God should understand their Faith, and what the meaning of that Faith was. Changes in interpretation are still occurring, especially in the Western Churches, with more Councils making more decisive ruling on what must be believed, and the effects of the Reformation on the beliefs of the Roman Church. However the Great Church split finally in 1054. There had been arguments and minor splits before but this was a rent in the Great Church which persists to this day, and the two great factions differ in practice, belief to some extent and emphasis on attitude. 
Orthodoxy tending to the mystical and the desire for theosis as its main theme, while the Roman and even more the Protestant Churches emphasise salvation, essentially by correct belief, even sometimes to the exclusion of right behaviour. So we have come to the end of ‘Beginnings’, I hope to have shown that although many of our beliefs do indeed come from the teachings of Our Lord during his life on Earth as Jesus, many more have come through the ideas of other men, most from St Paul and Emperor Constantine 1, but all the time being modified and corrected. I do not think that this detracts from them, but I do think that they need to be considered with an open and genuinely questioning mind If you have any comments, disagreements, criticisms or any other reason please do contact me on tyfurog@aol.com or on 01225 702436 | |
|