Reflection: Council Day 1

To my most honored Emperor Constantine, Ossius, and fellow council members,

I, Alexander, find it upon myself to formally reflect on the opening council discussion regarding the nature of God. As Emperor Constantine mentioned several times throughout the first council day, the reason for the council is to unify the church and minimize any future potential for disagreement.

As we began discussing the nature of God, there were numerous objections to a large portion of the initial creedal statement. The Arians sought to insert many more descriptive words than necessary. They sought to include words such as “unchangeable” and “unalterable” which can be misinterpreted and therefore can cause more disruption in the Church than necessary. As Emperor Constantine pointed out, the purpose of the council is to settle insignificant and petty disputes, not to create opportunities for later disagreements and more council meetings in the future. The Arians also argued heavily to keep the description of God as “the Father” in the creedal statement. Regardless of the fact that during a straw vote on the Creed without the word “the Father” we had a unanimous vote in support of the Creed, Arius and his followers once again found it necessary to cause disagreement and voted against the creed. While I refer to God as the Father, I do not necessarily think that having that description is crucial to the Creed. Inserting a gendered description of God would imply that we have some type of divine knowledge, which is not possible to humans. We, as mere human beings, cannot know or claim to know the gender of God—it is beyond our comprehension.

As for the Creed that was agreed upon on March 17th regarding the nature of God, I am rather pleased with the outcome. I think that the Creed is a fair representation of the nature of God and the Divine Spirit. Overall, I am looking forward to resolving the rest of the issues at the council. I look forward to a unified church.

Peace be upon you all.