June 22, 2025- Pastor Message
June 27, 2025JUBILEE 2025 THE NICENE CREED
JUBILEE 2025
THE NICENE CREED
“First of all, the impiety and perversity of Arius and his followers were examined…and it was unanimously decided to condemn his impious doctrine and the blasphemous utterances by which he expressed himself regarding the Son of God: maintaining in fact that he came from nothing and that prior to his birth he did not exist; he also said that the Son of God, through his free will, had the capacity for both good and evil and called him a creature and something made. The holy council anathematized all of this, not wishing even to listen to this impious and insane doctrine or such blasphemous language” (Athanasius of Alexandria on the Council of Nicaea, 325 AD).
As we celebrate this jubilee year, we remember that we also celebrate some significant anniversaries in the history of our Church, including the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the decrees of which were published June 19, 325 AD. The first ecumenical council, in which the bishops of the Church from around the world gather to decide major issues of Church teaching and life, the Council of Nicaea met to confront the first major heresy of the Church, Arianism, and issued the first major doctrinal creed, which, with a few edits over the centuries, we still pray together today at every Sunday Mass. I’ve reflected on the Nicene Creed earlier this year in a series of homilies at Mass, but what was the heresy that it was developed to counter, and what does it mean for our faith and lives today, 1700 years later?
Arius did not invent his heretical ideas but expertly promoted them. Born in Northern Africa, he migrated to Antioch, in modern day Syria, a major center for the early Church, where he adopted the views of the schismatic, Meletius. He was ordained a deacon and later priest, which gave him a pulpit to explore and expound his unorthodox ideas. Though this is an oversimplification, Arius basically denied the divinity of Jesus. He saw Jesus as a creature, like every human being, albeit a very special creature. According to Arius, he was the greatest among all creatures, blessed by God with special graces to serve the purposes of salvation, but he was just a creature, nonetheless, and not the divine Son of God.
Arius expertly marketed these heretical ideas, expounding on them in songs, poems, and other popular forms of communication, so much so that they threatened the unity of the Church. His ideas led to conflict, sometimes violent, which prompted the Roman Emperor, Constantine, to convene the first universal gathering of the Church’s bishops, or ecumenical council, to resolve the conflict and restore unity to the Church, which is the whole point of the Nicene Creed - the unity of faith.
This month we celebrate that unity of faith as we celebrate the anniversary of the Nicene Creed. May our praying of the Creed build up the unity of the Church today, just as it did 1700 years ago, and may the example of our ancestors in the faith help us to continue their legacy of synodality, gathering together, dialoguing together, praying together, and growing as one together in the one Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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