Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-12-08
The First Gcumcnical Council.

The First HcumenicaI Council.
At the splendid city Of Nicma, Bithynia
ia the year 325, assembled the first Of ihose'
great Gcumenical Councils whose dccrees
have So often controlled the destiny Of Chris.
tianity and Of mankind II was an occasion
Of triumph and fond congratuation, for the
Christian church had Just risen up from a
period of unexamplcd humiliation and suffer
ing to rule over the Roman world For
nearly three centuries since the death of their
Divine Head his pious disciples had toilod ia
purity and love, persecutod or scorned by the
dominant pagans, for the conversion Of the
human race and the humble but persistent
missionaries had sealed with iunumerablo
martyrdoms and ceaseoss woes the final tri-
umph Of their faith. Yet never in all It's
early history had the Christian church seemed
so near its perfect extinction as in the univer-
sal persecution Of Diocletian and his Cusars
when the pagan rulers could boast with an
appearance Of truth that they had extirpated
the hated sect with fire and sword In the
year 304, except in Gaul, every Christian
temple lay in ruins and the terrified Worship
ers no longer ventured to meet in their sacred
assemblies the holy books mad been burbed
the church property conhscated by the pagan
magistrates, the church members had perished
in fearful tortures, or fed for safety TO the
savage wilderness and throughout all the
Roman world no man dared openly to call
himself Christian.
Gradually, with the slow prevalence Of
Constantine the Great, as his victorious e-
gions passed steadily onward from Gaul to
Italy, and from Italy to Syria, the manned
and bleeding victims of persecution came out
from their hidiug-pIaccs, and bishops and peo-
pie, purified by suffering, celebrated once
more their holy rites in renewed simplicity
and faith. Yet it was not until the year pre-
ceding the first Hcumeneal Council that the
Eastern Christians had ceased to be roasted
over slow fires, laceratei with iron hooks, or
mutilatcd with fatal torturcs and Lactan-
thus, cotemporary, could point to the ruins
of a city in Phrygia whose whole population
had been burned to ashes because they refused
TO sacrifice to Jupiter and Juno. And now
by a strange and sudden revolution the mar
tyr bishops and presbyters had been summon.
ed from their distant retreats in the monaste.
ries of the Thebaid or the sands of Arabia
from Africa or Gaul, to cross the dangerous
seas, the inclement mountains, and to meet il
a general synod at Nicea, to legislate for the
Christian world.
/, The bishops, in number three hundred aud
eighteen together with many priests anC
other officials, assembled promptly at the cal
Of the Emperor and in June, 325, met in 1
basiIica OF public hall in the centre of the city
Few particulars are preserved Of the proceed
ings Of the great council, and we are forced t
gather from the illusions of the historians
general conception Of Its character Yet w
know that it was the purest, the wisest a
well as the first, of all the sacred synods
that its members, tested in atiliotion an,
humbled by persecution, preserved much o
the grace and gentleness Of the Apostoi
age that no fierce anathemas, like those tina
fell from the lips of the papal bishops Of Tren
or Constance, defed those of Hosius or Fuse
bus that the pagan doctrine Of persecution
bad not yet been introduced, together wit
the pagan ritual into the Christian church
, that no vain superstitions were inculcated
and no cruel deeds enjoined that no Huss o
jerome of Prague died at the stake to gratif
the hate of a dominant sect, and that no Lu
ther or Calvin was shut out by the dread Of
: similar fate from sharing in the earliest cOuu
! ell of the Christian world. The proceeding
went on with dignity and moderation, an
r men of various shades of opinion, but of equa
purity of life, were heard with attention an
respect the rules Of the Roman Senate wer
probably initiated in the Christian assembly
s the Emperor opened the council in speec
. intoxicating moderation, and an era of beneN
D olence and love seemed about to open upon tn
: triumphant church.
A striking simplicity marked the proceed
e ings of the first council Hosius bishop
Cordoya, presided, the only representative {
e Spain, Gau, and Britain. A prelate opene
the meeting with a short address, hymn wa
Il sung, then Constantine delivered his wei
y timed speech on harmony, and the general d.
Is bate began. 1t was conducted always wit
c yigor sometimes with rude asperity; bI
when the war of recrimination rose too higl
o the Emperor, who seems to have attended Il
e sittings regularly, would interpose and cal
&c the strife by soothing words. The questio
n Of clerical marriages was discussed, and II W;
It determined, by the arguments Of Paphnutiu
u the Egyptian aseetic that the lower orde
d should be allowed to marry. The jursdictio
of the bishops was defined all were allowC
n to be equal but Rome, Antioch and Alel
5, andria, the chief cities of the empire beiol
It Constantinople was built, held each a certa
= supremacy. The primacy of St. Peter wi
never mentioned the worship of Mary, Quec
e of Heaven was yet unknown; but the earl,
r, form Of the Nicene Greed was determined al
s. Arius was condemned. Twenty canons WEI
If passed upon by the council, many Of whiC
were soon neglected and forgotten and whe
y after sitting for two months, the assembly SCI
" arated, every one felt that the genius and ell
Is quencc of Athanasius had controlled bot
h Emperor aud Church. 90 From "0cumenic
g Councils" by EUGENE LAwRfScE, in Ha
(, pers Magazine for December.