Dear St. Nicholas Cathedral Family,
Last week we spoke about the Pre-Ecumenical Council Period, starting at the council of Jerusalem found in Acts. Now we will be moving forward into the First Ecumenical Council which was held in Nicea in A.D. 325 and set a pattern for all later Ecumenical Councils. The council was organized by the Emperor St. Constantine the Great, who desired unity in the Roman Empire and thus called the Church's bishops together of which 318 were in attendance.
They came together primarily to settle the Arian Heresy, a doctrine being spread by Arius that Christ was a created being and therefore NOT truly God, also not only in his incarnate form as Jesus, but also in his nature before the creation of the world. It was a big controversy within the Church at the time and was resolved by the establishment of the part of the Creed. The first part of the Creed was established. In my Orthodoxy 101 class, people would get confused as to how the Creed wasn’t just written all at once so what was included in this first part? Here:
“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all ages. Light of Light; true God of true God; begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried. And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead; whose Kingdom shall have no end.”
Other various topics were discussed which resulted in the creation of canons of our Church. Topics such as Organization structure of the Church, establishing the Clerical Orders, Ordinations and the candidates behavior/background, Readmission of Church heretics and Schismatics, most important of the topics was how to calculate the date of Pascha. Up to this point there had been a number of different methods for determining Pascha's date, but at this council it was decided that the date of Pascha will be the Sunday which follows the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. Many people will try to tell you the calculation will factor in Passover however contrary to this popular belief, Passover is not part of the equation.
Moving forward you will see that canons were created as a result of these councils. Popular questions are “what they are?” and “why they are important?” A “canon” literally means the stem of a reed, metaphorically means the model and prototype, ecclesiastically means the list of books of Holy Scripture, and ecclesiastical law created by Ecumenical Councils. The way Canon Law is different than secular law is in its cause, purpose, place time, origin, and extent. The Canons are for the Church and for its people’s spirituality as it strives for the spiritual perfection of its members, and concerns itself with the inner disposition behind every action. It is meant to be used on a case by case basis for the person’s spiritual perfection, and at times can be bent for the sake of that individual’s spirituality but not too bent that the “Stem of the reed” breaks, this bending is called oikonomia.
I know it is a lot of information but there is so much that happened in our Church’s history that I am glad we get the opportunity to explore together as a Cathedral Family.
With Love in the Lord,
Rev. Fr. Sampson N. Kasapakis
