An Alternative Theory of |
The Council of Nicaea
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Contents of this article |
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The Council of Nicaea |
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The precedence for the burning or written opinions and other writings was established in 325 CE at the Council of Nicaea, by the the supreme imperial mafia thug Constantine, who had called the meeting, not just on account of the words of Arius, but in order to celebrate a number of things:
Now that Constantine was the supreme emperor of the eastern empire, it was just the time to haul Arius out to a special meeting, and see whether or not he changed his tune when the heat was turned up, and he was face to face with the supreme inperial mafia thug. A number of the sources mentioned, cite that Constantine called the Council of Nicaea, on account of the words of Arius.
In his text Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, written at the death of that emperor in 337 CE, Eusebius Pamphilus of Ceasarea provides some further information about the council proceedings at Nicaea, and also about his lack of integrity as an historian.
It is appropriate to mention at this time that entire historiography of "tribe of christians", for the entire prenicene epoch had been prepared by one man, Eusebius. Noone presumed to go back over this ground which was held by right of conquest by the father of the history of "tribe of christians".
Eusebian chronology, as outlined in his Historia Ecclesiastica covered the period from antiquity, up until the time of the Arian controversy, circa 317 CE. The chronologist was on stand-by until the Council of Nicaea. On the other hand, no less that nine other christian ecclesiastical historians attempt to follow his lead, and continue christian historiography with effect from either the Arian controversy, or the Council of Nicaea.
Constantine had planned for this day for the last decade. He had prepared in this time, The Fabrication of the Galilaeans, and it was ready to be implemented in realtime. The council of Nicaea was the focal point of Constantine's supreme imperial ambitions, and the events that transpired at that council changed the way the planet was to think about religion.
When J. M. Roberts wrote "I do not believe that there were, at the Council of Nice, three persons present who believed in the truth of what was set down.", it is likely that he was excluding the only two people who needed to know that this Fabrication of the Galilaeans was a fiction: Constantine and Eusebius. The secret could have died with them, but it is unlikely.
Constantine's Summons to the attendees of Nicaea |
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Here is the Letter of Constantine. Firstly it should be noted that it mentions no bishops of the east. All the bishops mentioned in the letter, are those who have been cooped up in the western empire with Constantine for the last 10 years, working very hard and probably involved with putting together the fabrication of the galilaeans.
How would you react to receiving this letter from the supreme imperial mafia thug, and war-lord, who had just recently taken over the running of the empire, and thus your local business?
"That there is nothing more honourable in my sight than the fear of God, I believe is manifest to every man. Now, because the Synod of Bishops at Ancyra, of Galatia, consented at first that it should be, it now seems on many accounts that it would be well for a Synod to assemble at Nicea, a city of Bithynia, both because the Bishops of Italy and the rest of the countries of Europe are coming, and also because of the excellent temperature of the air, and also because I shall be present as a spectator and participator of what is done. Wherefore I signify to you, my beloved brethren, that I earnestly wish all of you to assemble at this city which is named, that is at Nicea. Let every one of you therefore, considering that which is best, as I before said, be diligent without any delay speedily to come, that he may be present in his own person as a spectator of what is done. God keep you, my beloved brethren."-- B. H. Cowper’s, Syriac Miscellanies, The Council Of Nicea.
The WORDS of ARIUS |
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The "Arian Controversy" is today little understood, except by way of vague reference to issues of theology, because the words of Arius are by tradition to be interpretted in a theological context.
When considering the Eusebian fiction postulate, we may entertain the notion that the words of Arius may be interpretted in a simple an straightforward historical context. That in fact, Arius was objecting to the implementation of a fictitious history that was to be associated with Constantine's new (Roman) god, Jesus.
What were the words of Arius?
Notably, all but Arius and these few signed on Constantine's dotted line, and probably became bishops of Constantine's new and strange Roman religion overnight. They felt it better to side with the new warlord and military supremacist, seeing as though he had gone to all this trouble of assembling an army of literature and documentation in support of the new god.
Perhaps Arius could not afford to speak his mind in the same fashion that the Emperor Julian, 38 years later could do. At that time, in 362CE, it was the very first available opportunity for a voice in opposition to the new christian regime (of Constantine's) to physically speak out. Julian owned that voice. What did he say? He said it was a FICTION. Perhaps Arius decided to try and keep his head. Perhaps Arius was somewhat like Secundus the Philosopher.
Constantine's Decree 325 CE following Nicaea |
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(1) Porphyry "found the reward which befitted him"
(2) The writings of Porphyry were "righteously destroyed"
(3) "The writings of Arius .. shall be delivered to be burned with fire"
(4) "The penalty for secreting Arius' writings shall be death"
(5) "The capital punishment [is to be] by beheading without delay"
It was the ultimatum of a supreme imperial mafia thug dictator,
known to historians circa 325 CE as "a brigand";
and to become known in future years as "a ward irresponsible for his own actions".
Here is the Letter of King Con.
Inasmuch as Arius imitates the evil and the wicked, it is right that, like them, he should be rebuked and rejected. As therefore Porphyry, who was an enemy of the fear of God, and wrote wicked and unlawful writings against the religion of Christians, found the reward which befitted him, that he might be a reproach to all generations after, because he fully and insatiably used base fame; so that on this account his writings were righteously destroyed; thus also now it seems good that Arius and the holders of his opinion should all be called Porphyrians, that he may be named by the name of those whose evil ways he imitates: And not only this, but also that all the writings of Arius, wherever they be found, shall be delivered to be burned with fire, in order that not only his wicked and evil doctrine may be destroyed, but also that the memory of himself and of his doctrine may be blotted out, that there may not by any means remain to him remembrance in the world. Now this also I ordain, that if any one shall be found secreting any writing composed by Arius, and shall not forthwith deliver up and burn it with fire, his punishment shall be death; for as soon as he is caught in this he shall suffer capital punishment by beheading without delay. (Preserved in Socrates Scholasticus’ Ecclesiastical History 1:9. A translation of a Syriac translation of this, written in 501, is in B. H. Cowper’s, Syriac Miscellanies, Extracts From The Syriac Ms. No. 14528 In The British Museum, Lond. 1861, p. 6–7)
The "Long Lost" SONGS of ARIUS |
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The Early Church, from Ignatius to Augustine by George Hodges They found the doctrines of Arius novel and objectionable. It is said that when some of the songs of Arius were recited to the council, the bishops clapped their hands over their ears, and shut their eyes. Eusebius of Nicomedia presented a creed setting forth the Arian ideas, and it was torn in pieces. Arius appeared to have few friends. The Church of the First Three Centuries: Or, Notices of the Lives and ... By Alvan Lamson THALIA - work of Arius mentioned by Athasius "he calls it a poem - a light and effeminate poem after the manner of the Egyptian Sotades". Appears to be described as a sort of pleasant, jesting performance - a piece of profane buffoonery. "Difficult to say what Athanasius means by all this" He gives several extracts: EPITOME OF BOOK II. CHAP. II.—PHILOSTORGIUS He says that Arius, after his secession from the church, composed several songs to be sung by sailors, and by millers,** and by travellers along the high road, and others of the same kind, which he adapted to certain tunes, as he thought suitable in each separate case, and thus by degrees seduced the minds of the unlearned by the attractiveness of his songs to the adoption of his own impiety. ** asmata e0pimu&lia. Philostorgius here makes no mention of the song known in the "Thalia," from which Athanasius distinguishes these popular songs in his books concerning the Decrees of the Council of Nicaea. Athanasius, Arius' opponent, gives the following purported quotations and/or paraphrases of Arius' songs in Contra Arianos and De Synodis God was not eternally a father . There was when God was all alone and was not yet a father. only later did he become a father. The Son did not always exist. Everything created is out of nothing all existing creatures all things that are made so the Word of God himself came into existence out of nothing. There was when he did not exist before he was brought into being he did not exist. He too had a beginning to his created existence. A History of the Christian Church: From the Earliest Times to A.d. 461 By F. J. Foakes-Jackson Arius offered a popular solution of a doctrine which had remained impenetrable even to the minds of Clement and Origen. THE SYSTEM OF ARIUS: 1) Starting fron the essentially pagan conception of God as a Being absolutely apart from His creation, Arius could not conceive of a mediator other than a created being, and found that between the Father and the Son there was the impassable gulf which according to his theory must separate the unbegotten, or uncreated, from that which is begotten or created. The Father was therefore essentially isolated from the Son. 2) The creation of the Son as a second God Arius proceeds to explain by the logic ... and urged that He must be a finite Being. 3) Therefore the Son had no existence before He was begotten. Although He was created before the universe and before all time, there was 'once' - Arius avoided the use of the word 'time' - when He was not. 4) Assuming that the Son was a creature, and could not therefore be of the same substance of the uncreated God, Arius proceeds to declare that He was made out of nothing. 5) and he argues that the Son, being of a different essence to the Father, can only be called God in a lower and improprer sense. 6) As a creature, this pre-existent Christ was liable to change, and even capable of sin; nothing, as a matter of fact, keeping Him sinless but His own virtue. [1] [1] Harnack Hist Dogma, iV The CHRISTIAN-SEEKING COMMENTATOR then goes on to say ... What appears to us most repulsive in the scheme of Arius was in the fourth century a great attraction. To our minds there is something almost revolting in the way in which rius thus coldly applies a shallow system of reasoning to the explanation of so profound a mystery as the relation of the Supreme Being to the Redeemer. We see no attractiveness in the theory which keeps God and man for ever apart, and we are unable to realise the idea of Christ who is neither God nor true man. WESLEY Thalia Thalia literally means "abundance," "good cheer," or "banquet". This work was written in verse, in order to aid memorization and popular distribution of Arius's ideas. Fragments of this work survive in two writings of his opponent Athanasius. The first is in a report of Arius' teaching in Orations Against the Arians., 1.5-6. This paraphrase has negative comments interspersed, so it is difficult to decide what are Arius's words and what are comments of Athanasius (Williams 99). The second is a more direct quotation in On the Councils of Arminum and Seleucia, 15. Someone other than Athanasius, perhaps even someone sympathetic to Arius, may have compiled the quotations (Hanson 10-15, esp. 12). We used this quotation as the basis of our translation. The following is a translation from On the Councils of Arminum and Seleucia 15 …And so God Himself, as he really is, is inexpressible to all. He alone has no equal, no one similar (homoios), and no one of the same glory. We call him unbegotten, in contrast to him who by nature is begotten. We praise him as without beginning in contrast to him who has a beginning. We worship him as timeless, in contrast to him who in time has come to exist. He who is without beginning made the Son a beginning of created things. He produced him as a son for himself by begetting him. He [the son] has none of the distinct characteristics of God’s own being (kat’ hypostasis) For he is not equal to, nor is he of the same being (homoousios) as him. God is wise, for he himself is the teacher of Wisdom - Sufficient proof that God is invisible to all: He is is invisible both to things which were made through the Son, and also to the Son himself. I will say specifically how the invisible is seen by the Son: by that power by which God is able to see, each according to his own measure, the Son can bear to see the Father, as is determined So there is a Triad, not in equal glories. Their beings (hypostaseis) are not mixed together among themselves. As far as their glories, one infinitely more glorious than the other. The Father in his essence (ousia) is a foreigner to the Son, because he exists without beginning. Understand that the Monad [eternally] was; but the Dyad was not before it came into existence. It immediately follows that, although the Son did not exist, the Father was still God. Hence the Son, not being [eternal] came into existence by the Father’s will, He is the Only-begotten God, and this one is alien from [all] others [Williams suggests a section on the Holy Spirit may have been omitted here (p. 310).] Wisdom came to be Wisdom by the will of the Wise God. Hence he is conceived in innumerable aspects. He is Spirit, Power, Wisdom, God’s glory, Truth, Image, and Word. Understand that he is also conceived of as Radiance and Light. The one who is superior is able to beget one equal to the Son, But not someone more important, or superior, or greater. At God’s will the Son has the greatness and qualities that he has. His existence from when and from whom and from then -- are all from God. He, though strong God, praises in part (ek merous) his superior . In brief, God is inexpressible to the Son. For he is in himself what he is, that is, indescribable, So that the son does not comprehend any of these things or have the understanding to explain them. For it is impossible for him to fathom the Father, who is by himself. For the Son himself does not even know his own essence (ousia), For being Son, his existence is most certainly at the will of the Father. What reasoning allows, that he who is from the Father should comprehend and know his own parent? For clearly that which has a beginning is not able to conceive of or grasp the existence of that which has no beginning. A recent and thorough discussion of the text, meaning, and significance of Thalia is found in Rowan Williams, Arius: Heresy and Tradition, Revised Edition, 98-116. Both the translation found there, as well as that found in Hanson. ALSO ****** Facts from Parvis, p. 39: Rufinus and Sozomen say there were 17 bishops who originally supported Arius at Nicaea. Theodoret only says a "few" supported him at Nicaea, and lists 6 men explicitly, but also states there were others. Philostorgius lists 22 "Arian-minded" individuals according to Nicetas