Council Day One Evaluation

I consider Council Day 1 to have been successful regarding the goal of unity. It was clear in listening to the statements of the bishops and presbyters that they, too, want unity in the church and value the opinions of their peers, and the creedal statement was able to pass unanimously. I am also pleased by everyone’s efforts to follow the rules. Their was no need to interrupt any speeches or cut them short, and so it seems that most are abiding by the established regulations, and I will not have to impose any further restrictions at this point in time.

The creedal statement concerning God the Father was not what I’d hoped for. The members of the council did well negotiating and using vague language to attempt to accommodate both Alexandrian and Arian views, but the Alexandrian faction failed to remove the words “alone” and “indivisible” from the creed submitted by Arius and his followers. This is suggesting that only God the Father is all powerful, etc, and that Jesus is not equal, that the Father is greater than the Son, which of course does not follow my Alexandrian beliefs. There is hope, I think, because petitions may be made to remove the critical words later on. Also, we did not use the word “Father” in the creed. We have written that “God” is alone all-powerful, etc. Because to the Alexandrians Jesus is also a person of God, I think that this statement, with slight modification, could be broad enough to be applicable to both factional beliefs, despite the differing opinions concerning the Son.

I only hope that this compromising attitude can continue throughout the rest of the Council. I trust that the Arians will be willing to modify their creed and will not take the agreement over Paragraph One as any acceptance of other aspects of the creed. I am very interested to hear further arguments from both factions.