Heresies and Niceaea

• Arianism -a 3rd & 4th century heresy founded by Alexandrian priest Arius
• Arianism taught that Jesus wasn't God or equal to the Father, but rather an exceptional creature raised to the level of Son of God because of his heroic fidelity to the Father's will and His subline holiness.
• Heresies of 4th & 5th centuries

  Causes of these heresies:

  • inaccurate interpretations of the Gospels
  • bad philosophical explanation
• *Heretic* - a baptized person who deliberately and obstinately denies one or more doctrines of the Faith.
• Arius - priest in Alexandria who studied in Antioch

  • charismatic preacher with large following
  • Studied Origen and neo-platonism
  • familiar with Gnosticism
• The Athanasian Creed: "He is equal to the Father in His divinity, but inferior to the Father in His humanity."
• For Arius Jesus was a creature of the Father

  believed Jesus was created first and then used by God to create everything else.

  **Arius was responsible for the greatest doctrinal crisis the Church would experience until the 16th century.
• The council of Nicaea opened up with 250 bishops present and ended with 318 bishops
• Ousia - essence, nature, or substance
• Homousios - same essence, nature, or substance
• Homoiosios - of similar essence, nature, or substance
• Hypostasis - person
• Person - The Who of a being
• Essence, substance, or nature - the what of a being
• Emperor Constantine changed his mind in 328, saying the arians had been right and exiled the ;elders of the nicene party, including athanasius
• when left alone the bishops sided with the Nicene Creed and when pressured some even signed arian statements
• After Constantine's death, one of his sons followed arianism
• After Constantine died in 361, the Church reaffirmed the Nicene Creed

  • at the council of Paris
  • At the Council of Constantinople (381)
• I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,

  The only Begotten Son of God,

  Born of the Father before all ages,

  God from God

  Light from Light,

  True God from true God,

  Begotten, not made,

  Consubstantial with the Father;

  Through him all things were made.
• For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,

  and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man

  For our sake and for our salvation He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

  He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father

  He will come again in glory to judge the living and dead and His kingdom will have no end.
• Apollinarianism - founded by Apollinarius in the 4th century

  .

  stated that Jesus had a human body but denied the existence of a human mind and will in Christ (He didn't live a complete life as a man)
• Nestorianism - founded in the 4th century by Nestorius (with efforts to combat Appolinarianism)
• Nestorius maintained that Christ was both human and divine but was not HIMSELF F U L L Y human or F U L L Y divine.

  *INSTEAD*

  he believed that Christ was a union of two men, one human the other divine.
• Theotokos - literally "bearer of God" often translated "mother of God"; used since the early centuries of Church, this title of Mary was defended by the Council of Ephesus in 431.
• St. Cyril of Alexandria described the relationship of the two natures as the Hypostatic Union
• Monophysitism claims that there is only one nature in Christ, not two.

  monos (alone, single) physis (nature)

  .

  One version taught that Christ's human nature was absorbed into the divine like a a drop of water is absorbed into the ocean
• Pope St. Leo (d. 461) did much to consolidate papal power
• Monothelitism is the doctrine that profess the existence of only one will in Christ, but still maintains that he has two natures.

  name comes from: mono (alone, single) and themes (one who wills)
• Donatism rejected the validity of the Sacraments celebrated by priests and bishops who had betrayed the Faith during the persecution or who had in other ways sinned

  .

  St. Augustine was their chief opponent
• Pelagianism taught that man can be redeemed and sacrificed without grace

  • denied the existence of Original Sin
  • believed Sacraments were unnecessary since salvation could be obtained by 'human effort'
• St. Augustine was perhaps the greatest Father of the Church

  • no other theologian rivaled his importance until St. Thomas Aquinas
  • followed Manichaeism for 9 years
  • born to a pagan father and Christian mother
• St. Augustine of Hippo was born to a pagan father and a Christian mother (St. Monica)

  During this time he cohabited with a woman with whom he had a child and later became deeply involved with the heresy of manichaeism

  • his theology and writings came to be adopted as the official teaching of the Church.
• In the West as well papacy wanted a good working relationship with the state. However, the Church in the west did not allow anyone, even the emperor, to be above the law of Christ.
• Constantine founded the city of Constantinople in the Greek city of Byzantium.
• Because the capital was moved to Constantinople, the economic, cultural, and linguistic power shifted (increased population etc)
• On Constantine's deathbed, he got bapized by an Arian bishop.

  The east declared him a Saint. Although the west didn't agree, he was given the title 'the Great'
• Julian the Apostate was the nephew of Constantine.

  Though he was baptized a Christian, as emperor he tried to de-emphasize Christianity.

  .

  Although he didn't persecute Christians, he promoted paganism.
• Theodosius I the Great

  • AD 391 decree declaring Christianity to be the official religion of the Empire
  • Heresy became a legal offense and pagan sacrifice was outlawed.
• • The Edict of Milan brought about a moment of freedom to the Church.
  • The proclamation of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire by Theodosius I in 391 inaugurated a new era in Christianity.