Who is the “us”?

The doctrine of the orthodox church may have been formulated at this point in time, but it was not yet estab­lished or accepted without controversy.  The post-apostolic church was experiencing major con­flicts over the question of the Deity of Jesus Christ and the nature of God.  In an effort to unite the Church, several ecumenical councils were held.  They are briefly described in sources below.

The number of the councils thus raised by the public opin­ion of the Greek and Latin churches to the ecu­menical dignity, is seven.  The succession be­gins with the first council of Nicaea, in the year 325, which settled the doc­trine of the divinity of Christ, and condemned the Arian heresy.  It closed with the second council of Nice, in 787, which sanctioned the use of images in the church.  The first four of these councils command high theo­logical regard in the or­thodox Evangelical churches, while the last three are less im­portant and far more rarely mentioned. [1]  

Another source describes the purposes of the individ­ual councils: 

The first Council of Nice, held 325 A.D., to as­sert the Catholic doctrine re­specting the Son of God in opposition to the opinions of Arius.  The first Coun­cil of Con­stantinople, convoked under the em­peror Theodosius the Great (381 A.D.), to determine the Catholic doctrine regard­ing the Holy Ghost.  The first Council of Ephesus, convened under Theodosius the Younger (431 A.D.), to condemn the Nestorian heresy.  The Council of Chalcedon, under the Em­peror Marcian (451 A.D.), which asserted the doc­trine of the union of the divine with the human nature in Christ, and con­demned the heresies of Eutyches and the Monophysites. [2]

All of the councils were convened on the initia­tive and order of em­perors, not by the leaders of the Church.  The Council of Nicaea was con­vened by order of Em­peror Constantine to decide once and for all the ques­tion the Di­vinity of Jesus.  Was he divine, or was he merely a cre­ated being?  Arius and Athana­sius debated on opposite sides.  Constan­tine was not concerned as to what the deci­sion would be; he had no reli­gious convictions at  the time.  His only desire was to see an end to reli­gious conflict that was hindering his reign of a united em­pire. 

Various theories have been propounded to ex­plain Con­stantine’s aim in call­ing this council.  By some it is repre­sented as having served a political purpose (based on Euse­bius, Vita Constant. iii, 4); by others it is regarded as in­tended to restore quiet to the Church, and unite all its par­ties in the great Trinitar­ian question on which the Church was at that time greatly di­vided- – According to Pusey, “He (i.e. Con­stantine) did not understand the doc­trine, and at­tached as much or more im­portance to uniformity in keep­ing Easter as to unity of faith.  Indeed, he himself at this time be­lieved in no doc­trine but that of Providence, and spared no terms of contempt as to the pettiness of the dis­pute between Alexander and Arius” (Councils of the Church, p. 102); yet it would seem that Con­stantine only called a council when he believed it im­possible to restore peace between the contend­ing par­ties, led respectively by Arius and Alexan­der, and now turned over the case for set­tlement to the bish­ops. [3]

A brief description of the primary participants  at the Coun­cil of Nicaea:

At the time when the fierce controversy was fast coming to a climax, Athanasius was still a young man, but Arius was already far advanced in years.  Ar­ius was a pious man of blameless life and an able preacher.  The heathen believe in many gods.  Arius thought that to believe that the Son is God as well as that the Father is God would mean that there are two Gods, and that therefore the Chris­tians would be falling back into heathenism.  So he taught that Christ, although He is somewhat  like God, is after all not fully God.  According to Arius, Christ is the first and highest of created be­ings.  He does not exist from eternity, and is not of the same substance or essence as the Fa­ther.  On the other hand, Athanasius taught that Christ is very God.  What was at stake was noth­ing less than man’s salvation.  Christ’s work and His per­son are inseparably connected.  His word was de­fined by the angel when he announced:  “Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).  The value of Christ’s saving work depends entirely upon what kind of person He is.  Man’s condition is so ut­terly hopeless that he cannot save himself.  Only God can save him.  If Christ is not God, He cannot be our Savior.  It was Athanasius who felt this very deeply.  He said, “Jesus, whom I know as my redeemer, cannot be less than God. [4]

Please take special note of this last quotation.  Only who can save us?  Jesus cannot be less than whom?  The an­swer to both questions is GOD!  How many Gods are there?  Did Athanasius say that Jesus must be God, second person in the Trinity?  It would have been impossible for Athanasius to proclaim Jesus the second person in the Trinity be­cause the doctrine of the Trinity evolved as time progressed and had not yet progressed beyond the ques­tion of the Divinity of Jesus Christ.  The question of the Divin­ity of a third person was not asked for fifty years after the Council at Nicaea.  Athanasius was correct in his convic­tions that Jesus was God; it was the application of his con­viction that led him astray.

The Seeds of persecution are planted.

The Nicene Creed of 325 A.D. contained the following  anathemati­zation clause (formal ecclesias­tical curse in­volving excommunica­tion):

And those who say: there was a time when he was not; and:  he was not be­fore he was made; and: he was made out of nothing, or out of another sub­stance or thing, or the Son of God is created, or changeable, or alterable;-they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic church. [5]

Bloodshed at the hands of the Church.

Emperors, prompted by Church leaders, began to is­sue penal laws against heretics as the Church gained the power of  religious legislation .  This first step of persecu­tion progressed to the form of execu­tion in 385 A.D. when Priscillian, a Spanish bishop, and six followers were be­headed in Treves, Spain.  This was the first time in the history of the Church that blood was shed by order of the lead­ers of the Church. 

The Athanasian Creed which has been credited to Athanasius was written long after his death.

The old tradition which, since the eighth century, has at­tributed it to Athan­sius as the great champion of the ortho­dox doctrine of the Trinity, has been long ago abandoned on all hands….It probably originated about the middle of the fifth century… [6]

The Athanasian Creed is accepted by every major or­thodox de­nomination in the world today.  In it was ex­pressed the completed for­mulation of the doctrine of the Trinity, which previously had excluded the clear expres­sion of the Deity of the Holy Ghost as the third person.  It also contained its own anathema clauses expressed with more inten­sity.  The entire creed is reproduced below with the anathema clause in bold print.  It is as difficult to un­derstand as the doctrine which it at­tempts to define.

Whosoever will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.  2. Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall per­ish ev­erlastingly [emphasis mine]. 

And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity;  4. Neither con­founding the Persons: nor dividing the Sub­stance.For there is one person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost. 6. But the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one: The Glory equal, the Majesty coeter­nal. 7. Such as the Fa­ther is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost. 8. The Father is uncreated : the Son is uncreated: the Holy Ghost is uncre­ated. 9. The Fa­ther is immeasurable: the Son is immeasurable:: the Holy Ghost is immeasurable. The Father is eternal: the Son eternal [emphasis mine]:  the Holy Ghost eternal: And yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal. 12. As also there are not three uncreated: nor three immeasurable, but one uncreated: and one immeasur­able. 13. So likewise the Father is Almighty: the Son Almighty: and the Holy Ghost Almighty. 14. And yet they are not three Almight­ies: but one Almighty.  So the Father is God: the Son is God: and the Holy Ghost is God.And yet they are not three Gods: but one God. 17. So the Father is Lord: the Son Lord: and the Holy Ghost Lord. 18. And yet not three Lords: but one Lord. 19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowl­edge every Person by himself to be God and Lord: 20. So are we for­bidden by the catholic re­ligion: to say, there are three Gods, or three Lords.  21. The Father is made of none; neither cre­ated nor begotten. 22. The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor cre­ated: but begotten. 23. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son: not made, neither cre­ated, nor begotten; but proceeding. 24. Thus there is one Father, not three Fathers: one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. 25. And in this Trinity none is be­fore or after another: none is greater or less than another. 26. But the whole three Persons are co­eternal and coequal. 27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trin­ity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be wor­shipped. 28. He there­fore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salva­tion, that we believe also rightly the in­carnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 30. Now the right faith is that we believe and confess: that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man; 31. God, of the Substance of the Fa­ther, begotten be­fore the worlds: and Man, of the Substance of his mother, born in the world [emphasis mine].

Perfect God: perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.  33. Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead: and inferior to the Father as touching his Man­hood. 34. And although he be God and Man; yet he be not two but one Christ. 35. One,  not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh: but by assumption of the Manhood into God. 36. One alto­gether, not by confusion of substance; but by unity of person. 37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man; so God and Man is one Christ. 38. Who suffered for our salvation: descended into Hades: rose again the third day from the dead.  39. He ascended into heaven: He sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father almighty:  40. From whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 41. At whose coming all men must rise again with their bodies: 42. And shall give account for their own works. 43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; but they that have done evil, into ever­lasting fire. 

44. This is the catholic faith; which ex­cept a man believe truly and firmly, he cannot be saved [emphasis mine]. [7]

The first step leading to persecution was the adoption of doctrine in­fluenced by philosophy and alien to the Bible.  The second step is found in the establishment of the creeds with their anathema clauses.  The nat­ural progression to be expected was violence and bloodshed.  It is recorded for us to read what the historical orthodox Chrisitian church did in the name of Jesus Christ.  The atrocities of the church for the cause of the gospel are over-shadowed only by the atrocities of Hitler, and that determination is made by the dif­ference in numbers, not in the mea­sure of cruelty to fellow men.

Persecution expanded–Bloodshed in­creased.

The following facts are extracted directly from Philip Schaff’s History of the Christian Church,Volume V, pp.493-533.I have in­cluded only the most important portions of the information, not in the form of a direct quotation; but every state­ment can be substantiated in the passages noted above.

The Waldenses

The Waldenses derive their origin and name from Peter Waldus (other forms of name  are Waldo and Valdez), who extracted his rule of life directly from the plain precepts of the Bible and died before 1218.  The Waldenses were a strictly Biblical sect that de­sired to revive the simples pre­cepts of the Apostolic age.  In their earliest period the Waldenses were not heretics.  The distinguishing princi­ples of this sect were:  1.  A conviction that “we ought to obey God rather than men.” 2.  The belief in the authority of the Scriptures attested to by their use for teaching and memorization.  3.  Laymen (women included) pos­sessed the right to preach and were encouraged to exercise that privi­lege.  Southern France was their first home but they spread to Austria, Germany and Italy. 

Sometime between 1170 and 1179 the arch­bishop of Lyons ordered Waldo and his followers to cease preach­ing.  They replied that “they ought to obey God, rather than men.”  In 1179 two members of the Waldenses unex­pectedly attended the Third Lateran council where they re­quested that Alexander III sanction their mode of life and allow them to con­tinue preaching.  Their request was de­nied and in Verona, 1184, they were anathematized for preach­ing without consent of the bishops.

It is supposed that Waldenses were among the heretics ferreted out in Strassburg, Austria, in 1212, eighty of whom were burnt, twelve priests and twenty-three women being of the number.

The Waldenses were included in the crusades against heretics in Southern France.  In 1316, one member was sentenced to perpetual im­prisonment, another to death by burning.  In 1319, twenty-six were condemned to perpet­ual imprisonment, and three to death in the flames.  In Italy and Austria they furnished their glorious spectacle of un­yielding mar­tyrdom. (No specifics mentioned) In 1487,  Innocent VIII (pope) furnished an army of eighteen-thou­sand to execute his decree.  The Piedmontese Waldenses were forced to seek safety in the high valleys of the Alps.  (No numbers of dead are given in the ac­count.) In 1545, twenty-two Waldense villages were pillaged and burnt by order of the parliament of the Provence in France.During the sixteenth and seven­teenth centuries “atrocious mas­sacres” were carried out.

Persecution and Bloodshed Intensifies.

The Albanenses were a division of a sect called “Cathari” which is a Greek term meaning “pure.”  Their doctrine was “dualistic” meaning they believed there were two gods:  a good god, and an evil god.  Their doctrine ex­alted Christ without understanding the full reality of his hu­man nature, and they denied the use of capital punish­ment.  This divi­sion of the sect derived their name because they had a center of strength in the city of Albi in Southern France. 

Members of the Cathari suffered persecution as early as 1012, in Mainz, Germany where fifteen members were tried, thirteen in the flames.  Some of their number were seized at the castle of Monteforte near Turin, Italy in 1034.  They all accepted death in the flames rather than adore a cross.  In 1145 eight men and three women were burnt at Cologne, Ger­many.  Instances of burnings were repeated at Rheims, Germany in 1157 and again at Cologne in 1163.  In England, burning of heretics was not al­lowed so they were punished with blinding and cas­tration.Deposi­tions of their trials indicate that the Cathari made much use of the Scriptures.

Dr. Lea, the eminent authority on the inquisition has said,

…that no religion can show a more unbroken roll of vic­tims who un­shrinkingly and joyfully sought death in  its most abhorrent form in prefer­ence to apostasy that the Cathari.  Serious as some of the errors were which they held, nevertheless their effort to cultivate piety by other methods than the Church was offering calls for sympathy.  Their rupture with the estab­lished organization can be to a Protestant no reason for condemnation; and their dependence upon the Scriptures and their moral tendencies must awaken within him a feeling of kinship.

The Crusades Against the Albigenses.

The medieval measures against heretics assumed an organized form in the crusades against the Albi­genses be­fore the institution of the In­quisition re­ceived its full devel­opment.  The responsibility for these merciless wars be­longs wholly to the papacy.  Innocent III believed heretics were worse than the in­fidels and at least four crusades were commenced in response to papal appeals from 1147,  spanning thirty years.  Priests and abbots commanded or justi­fied the savage human cruelties.

Innocent III enlisted the zealous support of any­one willing to kill, including the killing of women and children.  In Beziers, France the walls of St. Magdalen’s church of­fered no protection,  seven thousand died there.  In the rest of the city, nearly twenty thousand were put to the sword.  The war continued and the atrocities increased.  At the stronghold of Minerve, one hundred and forty were put to death in the flames.  The ears, noses and lips of prisoners were cut off.

The machinery of the inquisition was perfected after the council of Toulouse, 1229.  In 1244,  the stronghold of Montsegur was taken, the last refuge of the Albigenses.  Two hundred were burned.

[1] Schaff, Volume III , p. 334. 

[2] McClintock and  Strong, Volume II , p. 538.

[3] McClintock and Strong, Volume VII , pp.  44, 45.

[4] B. K. Kuiper, The Church in History, (© 1951, 1964 by The National Union of Christian Schools, now Christian Schools International, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI., fifteenth printing 1984), pp.  30, 31.   

[5]  Schaff, Volume III, p. 669.

[6] Schaff, Volume III, pp. 696,697. 

[7] Schaff, Volume III,  pages 690-695.