Marking the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.
Fr Alex
Today we’re celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea. We could just take a moment to reflect on the huge size of that number, that vast stretch of time: the decisions made at this council so long ago are still fundamental to our belief and practice in the Church today.
The council defined the essential shape of the liturgy of the Church, and the theology underpinning it – something we can feel and see and hear in the way we worship now.
The council met in part to combat the Arian heresy, that claimed that Jesus was not divine, but rather created by God; and combat it certainly was. Eyewitnesses talk of the meeting in terms of a battle. St Basil of Caesarea wrote: “See the rival fleets rushing in dread array to the attack. With a burst of uncontrollable fury they engage and fight it out.” Perhaps not all that much has changed in the Church over seventeen hundred years…
One legend says that St Nicholas of Myra, the basis of the figure of Father Christmas, actually punched Arius in the face during the council.
But this was so serious because it was a battle not just for esoteric points of theology, but the absolute foundation of our Christian faith. It defended the truth that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of the Father, “not created,” and “of the same substance with the Father.”
You can see how absolutely vital this issue is for how we worship and live out our faith as Christians. Without this foundational belief in the divinity of Christ, our Christian liturgy – and this very Eucharist – would be essentially meaningless.
One of the so-called ‘secret prayers’ that the priest says during Mass is at the preparation of the altar. As I prepare the chalice I say “By the mystery of this water and this wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share our humanity.”
By humbling himself to take on our humanity in the incarnation, Jesus shows us the destiny of that humanity, in his resurrection and ascension: to bring us into God: to make us divine.
The Roman Missal talks about it as a kind of ‘holy exchange.’ It says: “Through him the holy exchange that restores our life shines forth in splendour: when our frailty is assumed by [Jesus the] Word, not only does human mortality receive unending honour, but by this wondrous union we, too, are made eternal.”
Christ is our great high priest, who makes the one true sacrifice for sin, offered once for all. And when we participate in Christ’s sacrifice by joining our own offering to his, we’re not just remembering, not just giving thanks: but participating in the very act of salvation itself.
The truths affirmed at the Council of Nicaea mean that our act of worship is serious stuff, a matter of life and death; and it is going to change us. Going to church is a dangerous business: even if we no longer have bishops throwing punches.
You might like to have a look at the Creed itself now, on pages 9 and 10 of your order of service. The Creed was formulated in large part at the council at the Council of Nicaea, but amended at a further council a few decades later, and this is the Creed we say today.
You can see that the Creed is split into three main chunks: the first bit dealing with God the Father, the second and longest bit dealing with God the Son, and the third with God the Holy Spirit.
So in the Creed we affirm our Trinitarian faith: a faith in God founded in relationship. And this should inform our praying of the Creed, every time we say it. Through our declaration of faith, we enter into this creative and dynamic relationship with God, but also with many millions of other Christians around the world. With all that divides humanity, saying the Creed together is an extremely powerful statement not just of faith, but of togetherness; something that transcends the boundaries and divisions of human existence.
You can see the longest part of the Creed deals with the person of Jesus. And you can see here the seriousness of that fight against the Arian heresy. There are nine statements that reaffirm the nature of Jesus’ divinity, one after another: he is “one Lord,” “the only Son of God,” “eternally begotten of the Father,” “God from God,” “Light from Light,” “true God from true God,” “begotten, not made,” “of one Being with the Father;” “through him all things were made.” Be in no doubt about who Jesus is!
It then goes on to talk about the events of Jesus’ life, and you can see how it actually describes our Church calendar: we begin with the Annunciation, and Christmas: “he came down from heaven, was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man:” These words are in italics because it is traditional to bow our heads at the words of the incarnation, again affirming the foundational importance of the divine Jesus taking on our humanity.
Then from Christmas we turn to Holy Week: “he was crucified … suffered death and was buried.” Then we’re taken into the great feasts of Easter and the Ascension: “he rose again … he ascended into heaven.” And “he will come again.”
And in this we see that our belief is not just something intellectual – something we think about, or say. Our belief is something that governs every part of our life; the way we mark the seasons and the feasts and fasts, proclaims that the whole of life is sanctified by our participation in the mystery of God and his love for us.
And this is the key to the last part of the Creed, which takes us onto Pentecost, and the action of the Holy Spirit: and our own place in all this as the Church. We affirm that the Spirit has been active throughout the ages, “has spoken through the prophets,” and was poured out onto the Church as Jesus promised, to comfort us, to guide us, to activate and enliven our faith, and empower us to continue Jesus’ divine mission in the world.
We believe that this Church is universal – that’s what the word “catholic” means in this context – and apostolic, in that this faith we proclaim has been passed down through the apostles and their successors the bishops, from Jesus to us, in one great succession of faith.
We acknowledge that it is through our baptism that we enter into this divine relationship, and may know the forgiveness of our sins, the resurrection of our bodies, and life everlasting.
I hope that when you say the Creed, especially on this anniversary today, you can experience it not just as another part of the service that we do each week, but as a beautiful and powerful statement of what makes us who we are; not just as individuals, not just as a group of friends in one part of Ilkley: but as part of a vast, uncountable family of brothers and sisters in the faith, spanning the world today, ages past, and ages to come.
If you struggle with some aspects of the faith from time to time, that’s ok: use the Creed as a prayer for the gift of faith: saying “I want to believe” may be just as powerful and transformational, if it comes from the heart.
May our faith in God be strengthened today, as we proclaim once again our belief in him. Amen.