Arianism

Thus, the rise in Arianism led to such a rise in internal conflict within the Church that it drew his attention. As a result, under the pretence of uniting his kingdom once again, he became another strong adversary to the spread of Arianism. Constantine first attempted to negotiate the matter through the court Bishop Hosius of Cordova, the most influential Bishop of Christendom at that period in history. This had no lasting effect on Arius as his heresy still spread across Alexandria and the Christian Kingdom. Constantine then resorted to requesting Alexander and Arius to internally solve the issue. When this too had failed, Constantine declared the first ecumenical council-- The First Council of Nicea on the 20th May of the year 325. This council was attended by over 300 bishops, clergy and laymen from the Christian kingdom, including Arius and a large following led…

the 3rd and 4th centuries controversy arose among the leaders and population due to the rising questioning of the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ. At the beginning of the fourth century, the First Council of Nicaea was convened to come against the heretical teachings of Arius. Arius, a presbyter from Alexandria, along with his followers, believed that “before [the Son] was begotten or created or defined or established, he was not for he was not unbegotten and that the Son had a beginning…

Constantine I in Ad 325. This was the first effort to attain a consensus in the church through an assembly representing through all of the Christian kingdom. Its main accomplishments was the settlement of the Christian issue and their nature of the Son of God and his connection to the God the Father and the construction of the Creed of Nicaea. The Construction of the first council resulted in the first Christian doctrine which was soon called the Creed of Nicaea and with the creation of this…

Christian Thought” by Hugh Kerr, “Pocket History of the Church” by D. Jeffrey Bingham and “A Concise History of Christian Thought” by Tony Lane, all cover the history of Christian studies. Out of the first seven Ecumenical Councils there are three councils mentioned in this essay which include, the First Council of Nicaea (325), First Council of Constantinople (381), and the Council of Chalcedon (451). Overall these early ecumenical councils have changed the outlook of Christian beliefs, actions…

Necessitated by the three way schism within Arianism, Basil the Great and the Cappadocian Fathers further developed the Nicene Creed to attract the more moderate Arians, as well as answer the heresies of Macedonianism. The Fathers distinguished the persons of Father, Son, and Spirit, separate from the substance of the Godhead. “It sanctioned the theology of the Neo-Nicenes, confessed that the Spirit, too, was homoousios, and thus apparently enlarged the Nicene symbol…” (Margull, p.…

After the first ecumenical council, during the life of Emperor Constantine, the findings of the first ecumenical council were maintained and the Creed of Nicaea Prevailed. However, almost immediately after Constantine’s death in 337 controversies arose and lasted for more than forty years. The two sides of the controversy were made up of those who supported the findings in Nicaea and those who still supported the Arian views. This controversy ended up lasting until the Second ecumenical council…

The Trinitarian Controversy The Trinitarian controversy lasted from 318 to 382. There was tension between how we understand God which exists today. This controversy existed at an early stage; a period which is known Arianism. Arius was a Christian in Alexandria, Egypt. Arius wrote a letter to his Eusebius addressing this tension and his stance. He was opposed to the views of Eusebius regarding the trinity and the nature of Christ. Arius believed that God is with out a beginning and that the son…

In the span of fifteen hundred years, Eastern and Western Christianity had comparatively been influenced by Jesus’ teachings. The ideology of Jesus Christ included his virginal birth, his death, and resurrection. With this in mind, some of the important reoccurring issues in understanding both concerns for the East and West are founded in the sacramental and liturgical practices. Christ’s death and “resurrection became koinonia: or communion, fellowship, or the church [p. 33, Vol. 1].” The…

In the fourth century, Saint Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, wrote the apologetic treatise On the Incarnation to explain and defend Christ’s incarnation. This paper will look at three specific questions that can be drawn from this document which are relevant to modern Christians. First, what was Athanasius’ purpose in writing this text? Second, what is the central thesis and the main points of Athanasius’ argument? And third, what insights does Athanasius’ text provide that are pertinent…

The Council of Chalcedon established an agreement on providing a better depiction of the relationship between the divine and human nature with Christ, which pleased the Christians, but not the Nestorians or Monophysites. The dispute first began between Arius and Athanasius. Arius did not believe Christ was begotten from the father. He believed they were two separate beings and did not believe that Christ was divine. Athanasius disagreed with Arius; he believed that Christ was fully divine. This…