The Nicene Christology: “Homoousion to Patri”

Abstract

Pagan Rome persecuted the Church for nearly 300 years. The apogee of that persecution occurred during the times of Diocletian and Galerius in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. Hence, it is hard to imagine that the next emperor, Constantine the Great (+337), embraced the Christian faith and proclaimed the freedom to practice this religion. At the same time, Arius (+336) sparked a great theological dispute with his understanding of the singularity and transcendence of God, which concerned the central question: is Jesus Christ a creature, subordinate to God, or is he God? Emperor Constantine became personally involved in this dispute, convened a council, and proposed the decisive word of the Nicene Creed: homoousios. Where did the emperor get this word? He probably borrowed it from Bishop Hosius of the Córdoba (+359). To more fully understand the meaning of this central concept, it is necessary to delve, on the one hand, into the earlier – Gnostic – understanding of the word, and, on the other, into the erroneous teaching of Arius, which the Council of Nicaea condemned. In its Creed, it stated that the Son of God is begotten, not made, and is of one substance with the Father, that is homoousion to Patri.