Alexis Klein
March 23, 2012
The Future After The Council

To Constantinople and Beyond: The Council of Constantinople was held by to promote a revised version of Nicaea’s creed. This creed is the one we use to this day in Christian masses. The controversy was from the non-Nicene Christians and the pro-Nicene. Eventually the creed was revised and the non-Nicene group became isolated ecclesial groups. The Nicene Creed was revised through reading scriptures to understand the meaning of the spirit is within the father and the son.
Process:
* The council was called by the Emperor to end disputes on if God was three persons or one person with three characteristics. * The Nicene Creed is still used today from back in 381 when they revised it from the previous Nicaea’s Creed. * The spirit is the spirit that dwells within us all and the community. Many forget through all the material things that doesn’t matter how pure we are but it is more the spirit from God that makes us holy and pure.
Challenges:
* The idea of how the controversy evolved around God being three different people or God being his own individual and the Son and spirit are their own character. It becomes very confusing. * The complexity of the Council of Nicaea and how many were present and voiced their opinion but many just wanted to believe in their own ways without fully answering the dispute. * Another challenge is that wrapping my mind around the disorganized process that the Council arranged that no one really know the true answer to the controversies that seem to go on for centuries and centuries, we have to just remember the faith and the spirit within us versus finding the reality of the situation.
My Understanding: I now understand the seriousness and difficult this Council must have been. Along those lines how many Bishops were ok with believing what they were taught on the Spirit, the Son, and God were divine or not. That Christianity is full of unanswered questions. And it isn’t wrong to ask why and how to build better knowledge and confidence in your own religion. Knowing the history of these early Christians gave me encouragement and confidence in my own religion.