The Emperor’s Reflection of Day 2

Holy Gentlemen of the Council,

After our last session, I was concerned that my worst fears about the future of this council would come true. I worried that the men of this council, each with a great intellect but each also with his own concerns, would attempt to shape this council exclusively in accordance with their own wishes. And while I have never retreated on my belief that one’s fidelity to his own position must be respected, it is by now clear that the principle of unity ought to override any single individual demand.

During the second session of our great council, the wise Ossius implemented new rules of decorum to encourage wide participation among the members present, and in my opinion, was largely successful in achieving that goal. It should come as no surprise, then, that this increase participation among council members helped to spur on thoughtful, engaging, and largely respectful conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing representatives from both sides speak passionately as they responded to different arguments, and given the positive tone on which we completed our last session, I am optimistic as we head into our last day devoted to sorting out the creed that we will manage to walk away with a broad, if not unanimous, consensus.

While I applaud the most recent work of the council, some traces of the undesirable behavior from our first session remain. First, you should always remain diligent of the rules set down by Ossius and abide by them; the time for adjusting to these rules has now come to an end, and I will begin enforcing them more sternly from now on. Second, some issues with participation persist. As time ticks by, I will once again stress how importance participation among all members is. We saw clearly during our last session how it serves as the bedrock for building a consensus. Finally, although I think that working as factions can help to unite us, you must, in the spirit of unity, understand that it will be impossible for any one individual to achieve all of his stated goals. This council must balance the interests of the various parties among us in order to reach a solution agreeable to all. We sometimes continue to be distracted by overly technical debates about wording and the meaning of phrases; let us use our limited time more carefully in order to pursue more significant issues.

May God continue to push this council in the right direction and watch over its sacred work!

Emperor Constantine