From the desk of the pastor for July 6, 2025

The Lord be with you!

1700 years ago the first - and arguably - most important ecumenical occurred in Nicaea. Although the Council of Jerusalem was the first Church council, Nicaea would set the standard for all subsequent councils, especially the ones of the next few centuries. Emperor Constantine had called the council because he saw that several controversies were undermining the unity of the Church.

The foremost problem that Nicaea tackled was Arianism, the false belief that Jesus was not God. Named after its instigator, Arius, this heresy had spread throughout the Church and was especially popular with elements of the Roman military. Arius had misunderstood that the internal life of the Trinity was outside of time and claimed erroneously that the Son had come into existence at some point in time. Arius’s heresy was attractive because it made the Trinity easier to understand by making it part of Creation.

The Council of Nicaea condemned Arius and upheld the Catholic teaching that the Father and Son are coequal and coeternal. It was not easy though. At one point St. Nicholas slapped Arius in the face. The other bishops thought that St. Nicholas had gone too far and had him imprisoned. Jesus disagreed and appeared to the saint in jail. When Emperor Constantine heard about the miracle, he freed St. Nicholas.

Although most councils would not have bishops engaged in brawling, fierce debates would occur. In AD 382 the First Council of Constantinople would focus mostly on Church discipline but did touch upon the creed. Since the original creed from Nicaea did not talk about the Holy Spirit, a revised version began to circulate at this time. Since the original council documents of Constantinople I are lost, scholars are split over whether the Nicene-Constaninopitan Creed came from this council or not. Nevertheless, the creed we affirm every Sunday began its liturgical use at this time.

In AD 431 the Council of Ephesus was called to discuss whether the Virgin Mary is better called “Christ Bearer” or “God bearer.” The council fathers reasoned that Mary should be called the Mother of God because we must affirm the singular person of Christ and his dual nature. Jesus being one person, what is true of one nature is true of all of Him. Ergo, we can say that Mary is the Mother of God, because she is the human mother of Jesus.

In her councils the Church has always sought to preserve the Deposit of Faith - the revelation of Jesus given to the Apostles. Sometimes new language had to be devised, and at other times bad reasonings had to be condemned. The teachings of the Church are not mere human improvisations but divine gifts. In our next article we will look at how the Church began sharing this gift outside the Roman Empire.

In His Sacred Heart,

Fr. John