Fr Liam Power: On Pilgrimage in Istanbul

As I write, I’m on pilgrimage in Istanbul to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The Council produced the Nicene Creed, which is used at Mass every Sunday. (The city of Nicaea is renamed Iznik today and is located to the northwest of Istanbul). 

The pilgrimage is being led by Scripture scholars Kieran O’Mahony and Sean Goan and church historian Sr. Sabine.

The Council of Nicaea was convoked by the emperor Constantine in 325 to counteract the threat to the Christian faith posed by the teaching of a priest and scholar named Arius. 

Constantine, the roman emperor, had recently converted to Christianity and had begun the process of making the Roman Empire Christian.

Arius was based in Alexandria in Egypt. He proclaimed that Jesus Christ was not divine, that he was created: “There was a time when he (Christ) was not.” 

And like all other creatures he came into existence out of nothing. 

Arius was, at one level, perfectly logical in his reasoning. There was one supreme being, the Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth. There could not be a second God. In other words, everything else is apart from the Father and because of the separation, everything else has a beginning, including the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In many ways, Arius made Christianity easier to understand by leading people to think of Christ as created. 

He attracted a huge following throughout the empire. However, the great theologians of the time, such as Athanasius, understood the profound threat posed to Christianity by Arianism. If Arianism were to be accepted as orthodox belief, it would have subverted the Christian faith altogether.

Arianism is still influential in belief systems today. Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, the Bahai Movement, Muslims and New Age portrayals of Jesus are all influenced by Arianism. Also, as The Society of Friends or Quakers do not formally profess the divinity of Jesus, the Arian influence is noticeable in their faith.

Many people who espouse agnosticism or even atheism recognise Jesus of Nazareth as a great moral leader who through his teachings on love and forgiveness has had a profound influence on Western civilisation. Of course they reject the Christian belief in the divinity of Jesus. For example, the popular musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell are effectively Arian in their portrayal of Jesus.

The Christian faith in the divinity of Christ is based on the experience of the risen Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. The Gospels proclaim the divinity of Christ, identifying Jesus as the Son of God. 

St Paul proclaims Jesus as Lord which is the Jewish name for God. 

St John in his gospel identifies the Word as God: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God.” (The concept of the Word was derived from Greek philosophy referring to the principal of rationality underlying the universe. It accounted for the origin of the order and meaningfulness of our world. It also embodied the Jewish belief in the Word as a form of God’s presence active in history. Jesus was identified as the Word incarnate.) The bishops, assembled from all over the Empire for the Council of Nicaea, sought to protect this fundamental Christian faith from the threat of the Arian heresy.

The Council Fathers condemned Arius and his teaching. They added four clauses to the Apostles Creed, which was formulated in the very early Christian era. The doctrinal additions to the creed proclaim the divinity of Jesus: “He is God from God, Light from Light.” 

In direct contradiction of Arius, they added the clause: “(Jesus) is eternally begotten of the Father.” 

Begotten is a highly technical, philosophical term, which emphasises the Jesus Christ is not created. One Church Father called Basil explained it by using the analogy of the sun and its rays: “There never was a time when the sun existed without its rays.” 

The Nicene Creed goes on to proclaim that Jesus is of one being with the Father. We use the word ‘consubstantial’ in today’s creed.

The doctrinal development of the person of Christ formulated by the Council Fathers in Nicaea safeguards the fundamental claim of Christianity that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is fully divine. 

If Jesus was not divine, we are not saved as only God can save us. 

The Creed goes on to affirm that in Jesus God has totally identified with us: “for us and for our salvation he became man.” 

The bishops at the Council believed that if Jesus was not fully human, he has not identified totally with us and consequently we cannot claim that suffering and death are overcome.

As I stated earlier many people reject this fundamental tenet of the Christian faith. In a secular age, for those who do not totally reject the concept of God, Arianism is a far more attractive doctrine, easier to accept. But it falls short. Christians believe that Jesus is the ‘Way’ to the fullness of life. If he is not ‘of one being’ with the Father, Christians claim that he cannot be the ‘Way.’