Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1869-12-03
The First Gcumenical Council.

At the splendid city of Nicaa, in Bithy-
MIA, in the year 325, assembled the first of
those great Gcumenical Councils whose
DEGREES have SO often controlled the desti
nv of Christianity and of mankind, 1t was
an occasion OF triumph and fond cOngratu-
lation, for the Christian church had just
risen up from period Of unexampled hu-
initiation and suffering to rule over the Ro-
man world. For nearly three centuries
since the death of their Divine Head his
pious disciples had toiled in purity and love,
prosecuted or scorned by the dominant pa
gans, for the conversion of the human
race and the humble but persistent mis-
sionares had sealed with innumerable mar
tyrdoms and ceaseless woes the final tri-
umph of their faith. Yet never in all its
early history had the Christian church
seemed so near its perfect extinction as in
the universal persecution of Diocletian and
his Caesars, 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 worshppers no longer ventured to
meet in their sacred assemblies the holy
books had been burned, the church proper
ty confscated by the pagan magistrates,
the church members had perished in fear
full tortures, or fled for safety to the savage
wilderness and throughout the Roman
world no man dared openly call himself a
Christian.
! Gradually, with the slow prevalence of
Constantine the Great, as his victorious le-
gions passed steadily onward from Gaul to
Italy, and from Italy to Syria, the MANNED
and bleeding victims of persecution came
out of their hiding places, and bishops and
people, purified by suffering, celebrated
once more their holy rites with renewed
simplicity and faith. Yet it was not until
the year preceding the first Ecumenical
Council that the Eastern Christians had
ceased to be roasted over slow fires, lacera-
ted with iron hooks, or mutilated with fatal
tortures; and Lactantius, cotemporary,
could pointto the ruins Of city in Phrygia
whose whole population had been burned
to ashes because they had refused to sacrl
fee to Jupiter and Juno. And now by q
strange and sudden revolution the martyr
bishops and presbyters had been summon.
ed from their distant retreats in the monas
teries of the Thebaid or the sands Of Ara
bia, from Africa or Gaul, to cross the dan.
gerous seas, the inclement mountains, and
to meet in general synod at Mecca, to
legislatc for the Christian world.
The bishops, in number three hundred
and eighteen, together with many priests
and other officials, assembled promptly at
the call of the Emperor, and in June, 325,
met in a baslica Or public hall in the CEN
ter of the city. Few particulars are pre-
served of the proceedings of the great
council, and we are forced to gather from
the illusions of the historians general
conception of its character. Yet we know
that it was the purest, the wisest, as well as
the first, of all the sacred synods; that its
members, tested in aifliction and humbed
by persecution, preserved much of the
grace and gentleness of the Apostolic age !;
that no fierce anathemas, like those that
fell from the lips of the papal bishops Of
Trent or Constance, defled those Of Hosus
or Eusebius; that the pagan doctrine of
persecution had not yet been introduced,
together with the pagan ritual, into the
Christian church that no vain superstitions
we're inculcated, and no cruel deeds enjoin-
ed that no Huss or Jerome Of Prague
died at the stake to crafty the hate of n
dominant sect, and that no Luther CT Cal
vim was shut out by the dread of similar
fate from sharing in the earliest council of
the Christian world. The proceedings
went OH with dignity and moderation, and
men of various shades of opinion, but of
equal purity of life, were heard with atten-
ton and respect; the rules of the Roman
Senate were probably initiated in the
Christian Assembly; the Emperor opened
the council in speech inculcating modera-
ton. and an era of benevolence and love
seemed about to open upon the triumphant
church.
A striking simplicity marked the pro
ceedings Of the first council. Hosius,
bishop Of Cordova, presided, the only rep
resentaive Of Spain, Gaul, and Britain. A
prelate opened the meeting with short
address, hymn was sung, then Constan-
tine delivered his well-timed speech on har-
mony, and the general debate began. 1t
was conducted always with vigor, some
times with rude asperity; but when the
war of recrimination rose too high, the
Emperor, who seems to have attended the
sittinys regularly, wonld interpose and
calm the strife with soothing words. The
question of clerical marriages was discuss
ed, and it was determined, by the argu-
ments of Paphnutius, the Egyptian ascetic,
that the lower orders should be allowed to
marry. The jurisdiction of the bishops
was defined; all we're allowed to be equal
bu. Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, the
chief cities of the empire before CONSTANT
nope was built, held eacha certain suprem-
acy. The primacy Of St. Peter was never
mentioned the worship Of Mary, Queen Of
Heaven, was yet unknown; but the earlier
form Of the Nicene Greed was determined,
aud Arius was condemned. Twenty can
ons we're passed upon by the council, many
Of which were soon neglected pnd forgot
ten; and when, after sitting for two months,
the assembly separated, every one felt that
the genius and eloquence of Athanasius
had controlled both Emperor and Church.
From "QIcumenical Councils" by EUGENE
LAWRENCE, in Ho'pers Magazine for De.
Fcember- >