Council 2 | whatistruth

Condensed Councils Part 2

Let's start by reviewing the 3 individuals we learned about last week and adding to them. Who were:

Athanasius ?

Arius ?

Constantine ?

Let's add 2 more names and 2 definitions to the list:

Eusebius of Nicomedia - Bishop of Nicomedia and friend of Arius who was exiled for his support for Arius

Eusebius - Also known as Eusebius of Caesarea was a Catholic historian living from (A.D. 260/265 – 339/340). He is normally referred to as just 'Eusebius', where as the first Eusebius mentioned is referred to as Eusebius of Nicomedia in order to distinguish them.

Nicenes - Those who believed in the Nicene Creed

Anti-Nicenes - Those who did not believe in or adhere to the Nicene Creed.

Reference:

The Seven Ecumenical Councils

Henry R Percival

Religious viewpoint: Trinitarian

History of the First Council of Nice: A World’s Christian Convention, A.D. 325; (1880), Dean Dudley

Religious viewpoint: Trinitarian

Nicea and the Nicene Council of A.D. 325

Rev Marvin M Arnold, D.D., Th.D.

Religious viewpoint: Oneness Pentecostal

(All Books Available on Amazon)

Timeline Refresher

A.D. 256 Arius born in Libya

A.D. 272 Constantine I (the first) was born

A.D. 296 Athanasius born

A.D. 303 Roman Emperor, Diocletian calls for destruction of all Christian scriptures

A.D. 306 Constantine becomes emperor

A.D. 313 Christianity legalized in Rome but not made the official religion.

A.D. 321 Constantine declared Sunday ‘The Venerable day of the Sun

A.D. 325 First Council of Nice (Nicea)

The battle at the council of Nicea was ultimately about truth. Unfortunately most of the truth was 'burnt to the ground'. Arius wrote many books, but those books do not exist today.

Dean Dudley, who himself believes in the trinity wrote "How it happens that no Arian histories exist, I know not; unless it is because their enemies, the trinitarians, have destroyed them. It was the custom to punish heretics and burn their books in the very first days of Christian rule. Christianity, as an institution of the government, was little better than the old religion. It soon became transformed, so that Christ would have been ashamed of its name." (History of the First Council of Nice, Dean Dudley)

So there we have it. Arius works have been destroyed. All we have left are some letters of his and what his enemies wrote about him. If you were to die today, what would your enemies write about you. What 'damnable heresies' would they claim you preached, and what lies would they make up about you?

Even though we may not fully understand all of Arius' beliefs we can at least understand some of them by reading part of his letter. This letter was sent from Arius to Eusebius of Nicomedia, and explains why Arius was being persecuted in Alexandria. Arius writes:

He (that is Alexander of Alexandria) has driven us out of the city as atheists, because we do not concur in what he publicly preaches; namely, that the Father has always been, and that the Son has always been.

That as the Father, so is the Son; that the Son is unbegotten as the Father; that he is always being begotten, without having been begotten; that neither by thought, nor by any interval, does God precede the Son, God and the Son having always been; and that the Son proceeds from God.

So Arius was being persecuted because he said the son had not always been, even though he believed Yahusha was the first thing brought forth from the Father, and all other things were made through the Son.

Battle for the Truth

The Letters

Take time on your own to read the rest of Arius' and Eusebius' of Nicomedia letters here.

And read about what Alexander of Alexandria was saying about Arius here.

All of this occurred before the council of Nicea.

We are slowly building our knowledge of the events leading up to the council of Nicea. Let's learn a little more about Constantine, and hopefully we can tie everything together in the coming weeks so that we not only understand the information, but have a working knowledge of the events and are able to teach others.

By this sign, conquer!

Although accounts vary on how, when, or if this occured, Constantine is said to have had a vision around A.D. 310 or just before he began to rule. We may not know for certain if Constantine saw a vision, but there is no doubt the following sign would be used to conquer for years to come.

Constantine said that about midday, when the sun was beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription: 'In Hoc Signo Vinces!' 'Under this sign thou shalt conquer.' (History of the First Council of Nice, Dean Dudley)

The sign he saw was what the Romans called the 'Labarum' containing the Greek letters Chi (X) and Rho (P). You should be able to see a picture of this symbol either to the right or below this paragraph and we will talk more about the symbol in the future.

Constantine a Christian?

Whether Constantine came into the truth before his death is a mystery, however at the time of his vision he was a sun worshiper. That is the recurring theme you will notice with Constantine. Sun worship! Sun worship did not begin or end with Constantine. The entire mystery religion of Babylon revolves around sun worship.

Constantine created a day in honor of his god, Sunday, which led to the abolition of the Jewish Sabbath.

Regarding the establishment on the Roman day of sun worship Constantine stated:

On the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost”

Constantine also took and retained the title pontifex maximus, until his death, a title also used in Catholicism, and bore on heads of the pagan priesthood.

Or a schizophreniac?

Constantine's life was confusing to say the least. He starts of being a Sun worshipper, but then while worshipping the sun, un-bans 'Christianity', and then calls for and precides the Council of Nicea.

He then exiles Arius and Eusebius of Nicomedia but then recalls them 3 years later and bans athanasius. Then one year after recalling Eusebius sets up an image of Apollo with the head made in his likeness.

Apollo is......you guessed it. God of the Sun. Or the Sun God. Apollo was the Son of Zeus. Zeus in greek mythology was god. Therefore Apollo was both the son of god and god.

So Constantine was in effect, worshiping the son of god, (Apollo) even before 'converting' to christianity. Because Constantine worshiped the sun it is no surprise that Yahusha's head is often depicted as being emblazened by the sun.

Apollo if you are wondering is short for Appolyon. More on that later.