Mary at the 1st Council of the Church in 325

Mary at the 1st Council of the Church: context of Nicaea 325

To understand Mary at the 1st Council of the Church requires situating the event of Nicaea (325) within the Christological debate of the fourth century. The 1st Council of the Church did not deal directly with Mariology, but the defense of the full divinity of the Son prepared the way for the future definition of Mary as Theotokos at Ephesus (431).

In 318 Arius (260-336), who since 313 had been a priest in the church of Baukalis in Alexandria, came into conflict with his bishop Alexander of Alexandria for having supported in his sermons, but also by means of letters, hymns, and in his writings, as is the case of the Thàleia (= banquet), a rigidly subordinationist type of theology.

What is subordinationism?

This heresy consists in attributing to the Son a situation inferior to that of the Father and in considering the Holy Spirit inferior both to the Father and to the Son. When Trinitarian doctrine had not yet been clarified and theologians were striving to safeguard the monarchy (Gr. sole principle) of the Father, the tendency was to interpret the Son and the Spirit as subordinate agents of an absolutely transcendent Father.

A rigorous ascetic and an eloquent preacher, rich in a good dose of presumption and moved by a pinch of fanaticism, Arius enjoyed great esteem among the people, and his doctrine, clear and rationalist, polemical and consciously directed against the Alexandrian school, caused a great stir. He reproached the theologians of Alexandria for modalism and, in his turn, separated the Logos completely from God.

What is modalism?

This heresy so accentuated the divine unity that it denied the personal distinction of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. They would be nothing more than three manifestations or forms by which the one God reveals Himself and acts in creation and in redemption.

The Logos, for Arius, was not true God: in fact, in his nature he was completely different from Him, neither eternal nor omnipotent, but created in time, imperfect and passible. Nevertheless, the Logos was still the first of all creatures, far superior to men and, therefore, could be defined as a demigod (demiurge). But the divinity was not his. In denying the divinity of Christ, Arius obviously placed himself outside Christianity.

As this heresy was spreading throughout the whole Christian world, the Emperor Constantine decided to convoke a council. At Nicaea, from May 20 to July 25, 325, the first council of the empire took place. Constantine put his postal service at the disposal of the bishops of the empire free of charge. The data on the number of participants are uncertain: one list records 220 names, but perhaps there were 318, with a precise reference to the 318 servants of Abraham (Gen 14:14). Eusebius speaks of about 250 bishops. For the most part they came from the eastern part of the empire. From the West only five bishops went to Nicaea. Pope Sylvester, because of his advanced age, was not present and was represented by two presbyters. Many bishops still carried on their bodies the scars of the last persecution: “like a messenger of God, luminous in the splendor of purple and gold”, as Eusebius will affirm in his Ecclesiastical History, the emperor advanced among them with gravity, lingering lovingly with all and in particular with the martyr bishops. He also gave a speech in Latin.
Arius defended his theory: seventeen bishops sided with him, and among them was Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. Also present at Nicaea was the young deacon Athanasius, who accompanied his bishop. After long and agitated debates, the current that represented orthodoxy prevailed.
In the so-called profession of faith of Nicaea, the correct doctrine was defined in the following terms: Christ is “begotten of the substance of the Father as the only-begotten, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial (homoúsios) with the Father”. The emperor communicated to all Christendom in a circular letter that Arius and his followers had been excommunicated and banished from the Christian church as the worst enemies of the true faith, and ordered that their writings be burned.
Besides the symbol, the council issued 20 canons, of a disciplinary nature, concerning the clergy and the liturgy. The Creed of Nicaea does not mention Mary, but in defining the divinity of the Word, who became incarnate and was made man, it implicitly affirmed the divine motherhood, which is the fundamental basis of Mary’s importance in the history of salvation that the Church celebrates.

Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten, only-begotten, of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of the same substance as the Father, through Him all things were made, both those that are in the heavens and those that are on the earth.
For us men and for our salvation He came down (from heaven), became incarnate, was made man, suffered and rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, and will come to judge the living and the dead. (We believe) in the Holy Spirit also.
But those who say: there was a time when He did not exist. And: before being born He was not. And that He did not arise from what existed, or from any other hypostasis or substance than the Father. Or who affirm that the Son of God can change or be altered, these the Catholic and Apostolic Church condemns.

To deepen the reflection on Mary in the context of the Councils of the Church, consult the encyclical Redemptoris Mater of John Paul II, which illuminates the role of Mary in the light of the ecclesial Magisterium.

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian apparitions, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.

In summary, Mary at the 1st Council of the Church appears in an implicit but decisive way: in confessing the consubstantiality of the Son, the 1st Council of the Church guaranteed that the motherhood of the Virgin would be recognized as true divine motherhood. Read more about the Symbolum Nicenum through the text of the Council of Nicaea.