Council Day 5-Meletius

At the last council meeting I did decide to vote yay for the creed. I know I don’t stand very strongly on having one at all, but it needed to be passed in order for things to move forward. I understand the Alexandrian’s disappointment because it lacks any sort of mentioning regarding how god the father and god the son are the same substance. If we weren’t running out of time and I wasn’t so avid about getting certain cannons passed, I potentially would have sided with the Alexandrian’s and voted Nay since I too, believe they are of the same substance. Although it may have seemed like we all came together and signed the creed, that could not have been further from the truth. Once we leave the council, there will still be two extremely distinct sides and everyone will go on to worship what they did previously. I know the creed is important for the new members joining the church, however, their opinion can easily be swayed of either side even if it is stated in the creed or not.

The first cannon discussion was whether or not the clergy would be allowed back into the church. It was really important for me to make sure that they would be allowed back in because many of my followers were who we were discussing. I knew from listening to everyone’s opinion that it was going to be difficult to allow them back in without any sort of waiting period, since previously we agreed on a waiting period for the lapsed Christian. I compromised with my fellow council members because it was more important for my members to be allowed in. If that meant that they also had to be re-baptized, that was fine by me. It was much better than them being turned away. They are followers and believers in the church. It would benefit everyone to allow them in because they have past experience and are actually true worshippers, opposed to members coming in just for the benefits. It is important that we have devout members to uphold the traditions and teachings.

The cannon regarding the power of metropolitan bishops was not as successful for me, unfortunately. I am a firm believer that all bishops should be held to the same standards and power. We are all in the church for the same reasons, to worship. Once we mix in social statuses, we diminish the faith and start focusing on power struggles. We, the council, have the power in our hands to avoid what could potentially happen if the bishops think they are superior to everyone else.

Lastly, the cannon regarding women was fortunately successful for me. In order to maintain tradition and structure, we must not allow them in. It completely goes against the Roman and Greek social structure. If we let women in the clergy, we could potentially be losing so many new members. These new members will hopefully only make our faith stronger.