First Council of Ephesus

The Effects of the Third Ecumenical Council on the Representation of Marian Doctrine in the Fifth-Century Church According to Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (2014), an ecumenical council was “assembly convened to deliberate and decide on ecclesiastical doctrine and on other matters affecting the interests of the Christian church.” In the Early church, ecumenical councils were called to discuss and expound upon the doctrine being formed within the church. They centered around heresy and sought to promote sound doctrine. Doctrine, then, led to practice. The third ecumenical council affected the practices of the fifth-century church, especially relating to its architecture and hymnography. Historical Intro In order to understand the…

The move into the Christian-Roman period, or the early Medieval/Dark Ages marked an important point in Catholic Christianity’s history, and allowed controversies over the teaching and practice of religious doctrines throughout Christianity to present themselves. Leaders within the churches convened in order to form unanimous and unwavering principles as answers to the essential questions of teaching orthodox faith. These debates would be called Ecumenical Councils, settling disputes regarding…

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…

holds fast to his teaching of Athanasius and of the fathers of Nicaea and sends John a correct copy of Athanasius’ Letter to Epictetus since corrupt versions were circulating (Hardy pg358). In 433, an agreement between Antioch and Alexandria was reached. The division increased between the two parties increased. Cyril represented the majority of the Eastern Church. He emphasized the divine in the person of Christ. Although he rejected Apollinarianism, his tendency was that of Apollinaris. Cyril…

distinguishing whether Jesus was truly God and whether he had both a human or divine nature. The recurring issue would, later be identified as the Trinity. The controversy concerning the Trinity was first referenced in 325A.D., at the first ecumenical council of Nicaea. The council of Nicaea set out to assemble a universal Christian doctrine, which resulted in the Nicene Creed [cite]. Both the Greek (Eastern) and the Latin (Western) church expressed the Nicene Creed, agreeing on commonalities…

The Council of Nicea was a group of bishops convened to Bithynia by the Roman emperor 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…

The Council of Nicaea i The Council of Nicaea Mark McAbee Christianity and World Religion Professor Van Schooten October 26, 2014 The Council of Nicaea 1. The Council of Nicaea In the summer of 325 A.D. Emperor Constantine called upon 1800 bishops from all across the Mediterranean to address the growing problems facing the young religion known as Christianity. Heretical scripture, inconsistencies in doctrinal teachings, and infighting threatened, not only…

The first great heresy for the Christian religion is considered to be the Arian heresy-- with the name deriving from its most influential preacher, a parish priest named Arius from Antioch. The Arian heresy arose, in the year 318, from the fact that it was difficult to explain the difference between “the One and the Many, between the ultimate unity that lay behind the visible universe and the incapable variety that exists in the world as we know it”. Arius resolved this problem by preaching…

misinterpretation; the Churches intention was to provide a commentary on the Bible as well as other books, helping to develop an ‘acceptable’ reading method (Simpson, 2005, P25). With particular reference given towards the three main Biblical themes which are, creation, incarnation and Trinity (Simpson, 2005, P25). Although it seems that Simpson’s argument is rudimentary, this is not necessarily a criticism, because others such as Collins have been able to build on this basic concept. Collins…

During 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…