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| General Council of Nicæa.
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Chapter VI.—General Council of Nicæa.
The emperor, who possessed the most profound wisdom, having heard of
these things, endeavoured, as a first step, to stop up their
fountain-head. He therefore despatched a messenger renowned for his
ready wit to Alexandria with letters, in the endeavour to extinguish
the dispute, and expecting to reconcile the disputants. But his hopes
having been frustrated, he proceeded to summon the celebrated council
of Nicæa333
| 333 Originally named Antigonea, after its founder; then Nicæa
after the Queen of Lysimachus; now Isnik. | ; and pledged his word that the
bishops and their officials should be furnished with asses, mules, and
horses for their journey at the public expense. When all those who were
capable of enduring the fatigue of the journey had arrived at
Nicæa, he went thither himself, with both the wish of seeing the
multitude of bishops, and the yearning desire of maintaining unanimity
amongst them. He at once arranged that all their wants should be
liberally supplied. Three hundred and eighteen bishops were assembled.
The bishop of Rome334
, on account of
his very advanced age, was absent, but he sent two presbyters335
| 335 Vitus and Vincentius. | to the council, with authority to agree
to what was done.
At this period many individuals
were richly endowed with apostolical gifts; and many, like the holy
apostle, bore in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ336
| 336 Cf. Gal. vi. 17. The “stigmata” here meant are the marks of
persecution. | . James, bishop of Antioch, a city of
Mygdonia, which is called Nisibis by the Syrians and Assyrians, raised
the dead and restored them to life, and performed many other wonders
which it would be superfluous to mention again in detail in this
history, as I have already given an account of them in my work,
entitled “Philotheus337
| 337 i.e. The Φιλόθεος
ἱστορία,
“Religious History,” a work containing the lives of
celebrated ascetics, composed before the Ecclesiastical History.
For Dr. Newman’s explanation of its apparent credulity, Vide
Hist. Sketches, iii. 314, and compare his Apologia pro Vita
sua, on his own acceptance of the marvellous, Appendix, p.
57. | .” Paul,
bishop of Neo-Cæsarea, a fortress situated on the banks of the
Euphrates, had suffered from the frantic rage of Licinius. He had been
deprived of the use of both hands by the application of a red-hot iron,
by which the nerves which give motion to the muscles had been
contracted and rendered dead. Some had had the right eye dug out,
others had lost the right arm. Among these was Paphnutius of Egypt. In
short, the Council looked like an assembled army of martyrs. Yet this
holy and celebrated gathering was not entirely free from the element of
opposition; for there were some, though so few as easily to be
reckoned, of fair surface, like dangerous shallows, who really, though
not openly, supported the blasphemy of Arius.
When they were all assembled338
| 338 On the circumstances and scene of the opening of the Council
consult Stanley’s Eastern Church, Lecture IV. | , the emperor ordered a great hall to
be prepared for their accommodation in the palace, in which a
sufficient number of benches and seats were placed; and having thus
arranged that they should be treated with becoming dignity, he desired
the bishops to enter in, and discuss the subjects proposed. The
emperor, with a few attendants, was the last to enter the room;
remarkable for his lofty stature, and worthy of admiration for personal
beauty, and for the still more marvellous modesty which dwelt on his
countenance. A low stool was placed for him in the middle of the
assembly, upon which, however, he did not seat himself until he had
asked the permission of the bishops. Then all the sacred assembly sat
down around him. Then forthwith rose first the great Eustathius, bishop
of Antioch, who, upon the translation of Philogonius, already referred
to, to a better life, had been compelled reluctantly to become his
successor by the unanimous suffrages of the bishops, priests, and of
the Christ-loving laity. He crowned the emperor’s head with the
flowers of panegyric, and commended the diligent attention he had
manifested in the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs.
The excellent emperor next
exhorted the Bishops to unanimity and concord; he recalled to their
remembrance the cruelty of the late tyrants, and reminded them of the
honourable peace which God had, in his reign and by his means, accorded
them. He pointed out how dreadful it was, aye, very dreadful, that at
the very time when their enemies were destroyed, and when no one dared
to oppose them, they should fall upon one another, and make their
amused adversaries laugh, especially as they were debating about
holy things, concerning which they had the written teaching of the Holy
Spirit. “For the gospels” (continued he), “the
apostolical writings, and the oracles of the ancient prophets, clearly
teach us what we ought to believe concerning the divine nature. Let,
then, all contentious disputation be discarded; and let us seek in the
divinely-inspired word the solution of the questions at issue.”
These and similar exhortations he, like an affectionate son, addressed
to the bishops as to fathers, labouring to bring about their unanimity
in the apostolical doctrines. Most members of the synod, won over by
his arguments, established concord among themselves, and embraced sound
doctrine. There were, however, a few, of whom mention has been already
made, who opposed these doctrines, and sided with Arius; and amongst
them were Menophantus, bishop of Ephesus, Patrophilus, bishop of
Scythopolis, Theognis, bishop of Nicæa, and Narcissus, bishop of
Neronias, which is a town of the second Cilicia, and is now called
Irenopolis; also Theonas, bishop of Marmarica, and Secundus, bishop of
Ptolemais in Egypt339
| 339 Menophantus was one of the disciples of Lucianus (Philos.
H.E. ii. 14). He accepted the Nicene decision, but was excommunicated
by the Sardican Fathers. Cf. Book II. Chap. 6.
Patrophilus, bishop of
Scythopolis, the Bethshan of Scripture, was an ardent and persistent
Arian. Theodoret mentions his share in the deposition of Eustathius (I.
20). Theognis was sentenced to banishment on account of the Arian
sympathies he displayed at Nicæa, but escaped by a feigned
acceptance.
Narcissus of Irenopolis, a town
of Cilicia Secunda, took an active part in the Arian movement:
Athanasius says that he was thrice degraded by different synods, and is
the worst of the Eusebians (Ath. Ap. de fuga, sec.
28).
Marmarica is not a town, but a
district. It lay west of Egypt, about the modern Barca.
There were two cities in Egypt
named Ptolemais, one in Upper Egypt below Abydos; one a port of the Red
Sea.
After the time of
Constantine, Cilicia was divided into three districts; Cilicia Prima,
with Tarsus for chief town; Secunda, with Anazarbus; Tertia, with
Seleuceia. | . They drew up a
formulary of their faith, and presented it to the council. As soon as
it was read it was torn to pieces, and was declared to be spurious and
false. So great was the uproar raised against them, and so many were
the reproaches cast on them for having betrayed religion, that they
all, with the exception of Secundus and Theonas, stood up and took the
lead in publicly renouncing Arius. This impious man, having thus been
expelled from the Church, a confession of faith which is received to
this day was drawn up by unanimous consent; and, as soon as it was
signed, the council was dissolved.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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