Council Day 2: The Nature of Jesus (Caecilianus)

After the opening council discussion regarding the nature of Jesus, I feel less than satisfied that the first part of our discussion did not proceed with an end goal in mind. I feel as though time was wasted on citing scripture that had little to no relevance in our argument. John 1:1 is interpreted by the Alexandrians much differently than the Arians as to be expected due to the different interpretations of Christianity.

We believe Jesus was co-eternal with the Father. This is essential to add in our creed and was a victory that we were able to revise the nature of God Creed to coin the term God as “the Father”. This realization came from editing our Jesus section and realizing Jesus and the Father are both God. God is fully the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We acknowledged this statement in the council with the idea that God is the umbrella and within that umbrella he is fully made up of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There was a direct distinction from Modalism made which gave further logic behind our beliefs.

Regarding the nature of Jesus my beliefs, as stated in the creed, will not change. I find it difficult to believe that there will be compromise. I understand we are seeking unity within the church, but we are not seeking unity within the council. I hope Constantine will forgive us all for this. What the Alexandrian’s and I want more than anything is for others trying to join our religion and to be accepted with open arms therefore creating unity. This will not be possible if we both give into compromising in our own beliefs.

In attempting to compromise, we added vague language to the Creed regarding the nature of God that indirectly supports Arian beliefs. The use of “alone” and “indivisible” could be interpreted that God is only God alone. He is not made up of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This derives our beliefs and may confuse others. The mix of Alexandrian and Arian beliefs, if unified, will create an entire new religion in itself that may lead to be more disruption within the Empire. We are here to settle disputes between the two religions, so while I do want unity and acceptance, there also needs to be more of a careful approach to our argument. We cannot fill this Creed with unsubstantial language in fear of creating disconnect amongst our religion and Empire.

-Caecilianus