St. Basil the Great (330 – 379 a.d.) The Cappadocian Fathers St. Gregory of Nazienzen St. Gregory of Nyssa St. Basil the Great The Council of Nicaea really did not propose a formula for the divinity of the Holy Spirit mostly because the Arius issue did not challenge the […]
Victory of Athanasius The Church owes a huge debt to the thinking of St. Athanasius, the arch-deacon who became Archbishop (Patriarch) of Alexandria at the age of thirty-three, whose influence as adviser to his own Archbishop Alexander at the Council of Nicaea was significant in steering the Council to a solution against the teaching of […]
A Classic Heretic Our personal faith is also the communal faith. How to speak accurately about what we as a Church believe to be true has been formulated over centuries, sometimes with much debate, struggle, and effort in order to flush out (and give birth to) accurate expressions describing what we already believe. This is […]
The Council of Nicaea 325 a.d. The Struggle For Right Teaching It is true that for many years the Church had struggled with how to best explain what it believed about the unique identity of Jesus. Surely he was the “Logos” of the Gospel of John, the “Word made flesh” (John 1:14). With Christians multiplying in […]
Arius, Alexander, and Eusebius of Nicomedia Before we move on talking about Arius, Alexander, and Eusebius of Nicomedia, let us recap Arius’ teaching. Thalia 1.) Arius taught that God the Father and the Son (Jesus) are not of the same substance (being); that they are not “one in being”. “Thus, there is the Triad, but […]
Interesting But Twisted Sometimes a person promotes a twist on Christian teaching that at first sounds interesting but then makes one pause and call a “time out”. This is what happened with the teaching of Arius regarding the Son of God. Arius, who had previously been excommunicated by the Bishop of Alexandria, Peter, for his […]
Introduction to Arius By the time Constantine took power the Church, which had always proclaimed belief in the divinity of Christ and the Trinity, had not as yet clearly defined how to officially and exactly explain the nature of its belief. Yes, of course, from the very beginning the Church believed and taught he was […]
The Donatus Controversy Important Yet Forgotten There are some moments in Church history that on a grander scale do not seem to be very significant when we initially look at them. The controversy in Carthage over the legitimacy of an anointed bishop seems to me to be one of them. It is easy to gloss […]
Unifying An Empire Unifying an Empire around religious ideas and practices was something every ruler did during ancient times. There were no exceptions. So, when Constantine became Emperor, after attributing his victory at the Milvian Bridge to the Christian God, he decided to unify his empire with Christianity as his anchor. One thing this meant […]
Hello, my name is Mike and I welcome you to this site. Its intent is to provide commentary and reflection about Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, hoping you will find it interesting and helpful particularly if you are someone who has become unsure of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. I am […]