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Handout #66 |
Constantine's point of view on quarrels over dogma |
| Having first lived in the West, Constantine,
victor over Licinius in 324 A.D., installed himself at Nicomedia, the
capital of the East. There he learned of a theological quarrel which arose
at Alexandria and set all the East in ferment. Anxious to maintain order,
he sought to appease the two adversaries who seemed to him to be
quarreling over words. The failure of his attempt led him to summon the
Council of Nicaea.
Victor Constantine, Maximus Augustus, to Alexander and Arius: I understand that the origin of the present controversy is this. When you, Alexander, demanded of the presbyters what opinion they severally maintained respecting a certain passage in the divine Law (Prov.8:22), or rather, should say, that you asked them something connected with an unprofitable question, then you, Arius, inconsiderately insisted on what ought never to have been conceived at all, or if conceived, should have been buried in professed silence. Hence it was that a dissension arose between you, fellowship was withdrawn, and the holy people, rent into diverse parties, no longer preserved the unity of the one body. Now therefore you must both show an equal degree of forbearance, and receive the advice which your fellow-servant righteously ignores. What then is this advice? It was wrong in the first instance to propose such questions as these, or to reply to them when propounded. For. those points of discussion which are enjoined by the authority of no law, but rather suggested by the contentious spirit which is fostered by misused leisure, even though they may be intended merely as an intellectual exercise, ought certainly to be confined to the region of our own thoughts, and not hastily produced in the popular assemblies, nor unadvisedly entrusted to the general ear. For how very few are there able either accurately to comprehend, or adequately to explain subjects so sublime and abstruse in their nature? The cause of your difference has not been any of the leading, doctrines or precepts of the divine law, nor has any new heresy respecting the worship of God arisen among you. You are in truth of one and the same judgment: you may therefore will join in communion and fellowship. For as long as you continue to contend about these small and very insignificant questions, it is not fitting that so large a portion of God's people should be under the direction of your judgment, since you are thus divided between yourselves ... You know that philosophers, though they all adhere to one system, are yet frequently at issue on certain points, and differ, perhaps, in their degree of knowledge; yet they are recalled to harmony of sentiment by the uniting power of their common doctrines. If this be true, is it not far more reasonable that you, who are the ministers of the Supreme God, should be of one mind respecting the profession of the same religion ... The dignity of your synod may be preserved, and the communion of your whole body maintained unbroken, however wide a difference may exist among you as to unimportant matters ... as far then as regards the divine providence, let there be one faith, and one understanding among you, one united judgment in reference to God. . . And now let the preciousness of common affection, let faith in the truth, let the honor due to God and to the observance of his law continue immovably among you ...Eusebius, Life of Constantine,II,69-71 |
