Symbol of Constantinople (381)

1
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Athanasius died in 373 but his cause triumphed
  at Constantinople, long an Arian city
• First by the preaching of St. Gregory Nazianzen
• Then in the Second General Council (381),
• at the opening of which Meletius of Antioch
  presided.
• Once a staunch Semi-Arian this saintly man had
  been estranged from the Nicene champions during a
  long schism
• But he made peace with Athanasius
• Now, in company of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, he
  represented a moderate influence which won the
  day.
• No deputies appeared from the West.
• Meletius died almost immediately.

2
Council of Constantinople I

• St. Gregory of Nazianzen,
• who took his place, very soon resigned.
• A creed embodying the Nicene was drawn up by
• St. Gregory of Nyssa,
• But it is not the one that is chanted at Mass,
• The latter being due, it is said, to
• St. Epiphanius and the Church of Jerusalem
• It is a revised version contained in his work
  Ancoratus (374).
• The Council became ecumenical by acceptance of
  the Pope and the ever-orthodox Westerns.
• From this moment Arianism in all its forms lost
  its place within the Empire.

3
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• Date of birth unknown died after 385 or 386.
• He belongs to the group known as the "Cappadocian
  Fathers", a title which reveals at once his
  birthplace in Asia Minor and his intellectual
  characteristics.
• His mother Emmelia was a martyr's daughter two
  of his brothers, Basil of Cæsarea and Peter of
  Sebaste, became bishops like himself
• His eldest sister, Macrina, became a model of
  piety and is honoured as a saint.
• Another brother, Naucratius, a lawyer, inclined
  to a life of asceticism, but died too young to
  realize his desires.
• Gregory was born of a deeply religious family,
  not very rich in worldly goods, to which
  circumstances he probably owed the pious training
  of his youth.

4
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• A letter of Gregory to his younger brother,
  Peter, exhibits the feelings of lively gratitude
  which both cherished for their elder brother
  Basil, whom Gregory calls "our father and our
  master".
• Probably, therefore, the difference in years
  between them was such as to have enabled Basil to
  supervise the education of his younger brothers.
• Basil's training was an antidote to the lessons
  of the pagan schools, wherein, as we know from a
  letter of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of
  Nyssa spent some time, very probably in his early
  youth, for it is certain that while still a youth
  Gregory exercised the ecclesiastical office of
  rector.

5
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• His family, it would seem, had endeavored to turn
  his thoughts towards the Church, for when the
  young man chose a secular career and began the
  study of rhetoric, Basil remonstrated with him
  long and earnestly
• when he had failed he called on Gregory's friends
  to influence him against that objectionable
  secular calling.
• It was all in vain moreover, it would seem that
  the young man married.
• There exists a letter addressed to him by Gregory
  of Nazianzus condoling with him on the loss of
  one Theosebeia, who must have been his wife, and
  with whom he continued to live, as with a sister,
  even after he became bishop.
• This is also evident from his treatise "De
  virginitate".

6
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• He was selected Bishop of Nyssa in 372 A.D.
  through Basil's influence in an effort to develop
  allies in the struggle against the Arian heresy,
  which denied that Christ was God.
• According to Gregory of Nazianzus it was Basil
  who performed the episcopal consecration of his
  brother, before he himself had taken possession
  of the See of Sozima
• Was this brusque change in Gregory's career the
  result of a sudden vocation?
• St. Basil tells us that it was necessary to
  overcome his brother's repugnance, before he
  accepted the office of bishop.
• But this does not help us to an answer, as the
  episcopal charge in that day was beset with many
  dangers.

7
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• Moreover in the fourth century, and even later,
  it was not uncommon to express dislike of the
  episcopal honour, and to fly from the prospect of
  election.
• The fugitives, however, were usually discovered
  and brought back, and the consecration took place
  when a show of resistance had saved the
  candidate's humility.
• Whether it was so in Gregory's case, or whether
  he really did feel his own unfitness, we do not
  know.
• In any case, St. Basil seems to have regretted at
  times the constraint thus put on his brother, now
  removed from his influence in his letters he
  complains of Gregory's naive and clumsy
  interference with his (Basil's) business.

8
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• To Basil the synod called in 372 by Gregory at
  Ancyra seemed the ruin of his own labors.
• In 375 Gregory seemed to him decidedly incapable
  of ruling a Church. At the same time he had but
  faint praise for Gregory's zeal for souls.
• On arriving in his see Gregory had to face great
  difficulties.
• His sudden elevation may have turned against him
  some who had hoped for the office themselves.
• It would appear that one of the courtiers of
  Emperor Valens had solicited the see either for
  himself or one of his friends.
• When Demosthenes, Governor of Pontus, convened an
  assembly of Eastern bishops, a certain
  Philocares, at one of its sessions, accused
  Gregory of wasting church property, and of
  irregularity in his election to the episcopate,
  whereupon Demosthenes ordered the Bishop of Nyssa
  to be seized and brought before him.

9
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• Gregory at first allowed himself to be led away
  by his captors, then losing heart and discouraged
  by the cold and brutal treatment he met with, he
  took an opportunity of escape and reached a place
  of safety.
• A Synod of Nyssa (376) deposed him, and he was
  reduced to wander from town to town, until the
  death of Valens in 378.
• The new emperor, Gratian, published an edict of
  tolerance, and Gregory returned to his see, where
  he was received with joy.
• A few months after this (January, 379) his
  brother Basil died whereupon an era of activity
  began for Gregory.
• After St. Basil's death in 379 A.D., Gregory
  became the leading theologian in the East.

10
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• In 379 he assisted at the Council of Antioch
  which had been summoned because of the Meletian
  schism.
• Soon after this, it is supposed, he visited
  Palestine.
• There is reason for believing that he was sent
  officially to remedy the disorders of the Church
  of Arabia.
• But possibly his journey did not take place till
  after the Council of Constantinople in 381,
  convened by Emperor Theodosius for the welfare of
  religion in that city.
• It asserted the faith of Nicæa, and tried to put
  an end to Arianism and Pneumatism in the East.

11
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• This council was not looked on as an important
  one at the time even those present at it seldom
  refer to it in their writings.
• Gregory himself, though he assisted at the
  council, mentions it only casually in his funeral
  oration over Meletius of Antioch, who died during
  the course of this assembly.
• An edict of Theodosius (30 July, 381 Cod.
  Theod., LXVI, tit. I., L. 3) having appointed
  certain episcopal sees as centers of Catholic
  communion in the East, Helladius of Cæsarea,
  Gregory of Nyssa and Otreius of Melitene were
  chosen to fill them.
• At Constantinople Gregory gave evidence on two
  occasions of his talent as an orator he
  delivered the discourse at the enthronization of
  St. Gregory of Nazianzus, also the aforesaid
  oration over Meletius of Antioch.

12
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• It is very probable that Gregory was present at
  another Council of Constantinople in 383 his
  "Oratio de deitate Filii et Spiritus Sancti"
  seems to confirm this.
• In 385 or 386 he preached the funeral sermon over
  the imperial Princess Pulcheria, and shortly
  afterwards over Empress Flaccilla.
• A little later we meet him again at
  Constantinople, on which occasion his counsel was
  sought for the repression of ecclesiastical
  disorders in Arabia
• He then disappears from history, and probably did
  not long survive this journey.

13
Cappodocians

• St. Gregory of Nyssa
• The most important of his theological writings is
  his large "Catechesis", or "Oratio Catechetica",
  an argumentative defence in forty chapters of
  Catholic teaching as against Jews, heathens, and
  heretics.
• The most extensive of his extant works is his
  refutation of Eunomius in twelve books, a defence
  of St. Basil against that heretic, and also of
  the Nicene Creed against Arianism this work is
  of capital importance in the history of the Arian
  controversy.
• He also wrote two works against Apollinaris of
  Laodicea, in refutation of the false doctrines of
  that writer, viz. that the body of Christ
  descended from heaven, and that in Christ, the
  Divine Word acted as the rational soul.
• He wrote also against Arius and Sabellius, and
  against the Macedonians, who denied the divinity
  of the Holy Spirit the latter work he never
  finished.

14
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• The council was convened by Emperor Theodosius I
  to confirm the faith of Nicaea and to reaffirm
  it against the Arian current which had not
  entirely died out
• More particularly the intention was to determine
  the doctrine of the Holy Spirit against various
  heretical tendencies, notably that of Eunomius
  and the Macedonians, also called Pneumatomachs,
  who denied his divinity
• The council was held from May to July of 381. It
  was composed of 150 Fathers, all from the East.
  Pope Damasus was not represented.
• It will not be recognized as an ecumenical
  Council in the West until the 6th century
• In the end what raises this Byzantine Synod to
  the rank of General council is its promulgation
  of this Symbol, and notably its doctrine of the
  Holy Spirit

15
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker
  of heaven and earth, and of al things visible and
  invisible.
• And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten
  Son of God, generated from the Father before all
  ages, Light from Light, true God from true God,
  begotten, not made, one in being with the Father,
  through whom all things were made. For us and
  our salvation he came down from the heavens and
  became flesh from the Holy Spirit and the the
  Virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake too
  he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered
  and was buried. On the third day he rose again
  according to the Scriptures, he ascended to the
  heavens and is seated at the right hand of the
  Father. He shall come again in glory to judge the
  living and the dead to his Kingdom their will be
  no end.
• And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of
  life, who proceeds from the Father, who together
  with the Father and the Son is worshipped and
  glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
• And in one Holy Catholic and apostolic Church.
  We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of
  sins. We expect the resurrection of the dead and
  the life of the world to come. Amen.
• The faith of the 318 Fathers who gathered at
  Nicaea of Bithnia may not be adulterated. It
  remains authoritative and all heresy must be
  condemned, especially that of the Eunomians or
  Anomaeans, of the Arians or Eudoxians, of the
  Semi-Arians or Pneumatomachs, of the Sebellians,
  the Marcellians, the Photinians and the
  Apollinarists.

16
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• At the heart of the problem at the time was the
  disagreement between supporters of two different
  terms used to describe the Son (and the Holy
  Spirit) in relation to God the Father
• homoiousion (),
• of like substance
• homoousion (),
• of the same substance or of one substance.
• It was the latter that won we say in the Nicene
  Creed ... of one substance with the Father.

17
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• What on earth does substance in this context
  mean?
• What we want to concentrate on is
• the actual terms chosen to discuss and express
  the ideas involved,
• together with their later translation from one
  language into another
• and later into many.
• As suggested, it is of course important
• to know what the word substance means now and
  meant at the time
• to know why it was chosen as a suitable term
• to know at least part of the history of its
  subsequent development in the following sixteen
  hundred years.

18
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• It is vitally important to realize that the term
  as we know it is radically different in
  connotation
• whatever continuity there may be in the lines
  of its historical development
• to the term used at Nicaea
• There are two major factors involved here, both
  matters of language or of language games
• east and west languages,
• Greek and Latin on the one hand
• and
• up and down languages,
• academic and popular on the other.

19
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• The language of the Council of Nicaea (and also
  Constantinople) was Greek
• Yet a large proportion of the Church was in the
  West and its language was Latin.
• So the teaching of the Council, the terminology
  used by it, had to be translated from Greek to
  Latin.
• This presented a series of problems.
• Though we are only dealing with two terms
• ousia and hypostasis
• For technical and historical reasons, the
  problems were intense
• (whether or not they were fully realized at the
  time.)

20
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• Ousia (Substantia Lt Substance Eng.)
• Lying behind all this is the Greek word (ousia)
  which sort of means substance
• (but one has to be careful.)
• It was both a philosophical technical term and an
  ordinary every day lay word at the same time
• Just as substance (its later contorted
  translation) is today
• (Though the ancients never developed anything
  like our use of it in the term substance
  abuse.)

21
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• Ousia refers to the reality,
• the actuality,
• the beingfulness of something
• in this case God, the Deity
• Though to say that hardly leaves us without
  further questions.
• Monotheism proclaimed one actuality,
• one reality
• (not making any more subtle distinction here at
  this point),
• one substance
• (monos) means one, and only one no plurality.

22
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• In its belief that the Father, and the Son and
  the Holy Spirit were actually distinct the
  Council of Nicaea came up against a problem.
• They were three
• (though only one ousia - )
• but if so, three what?
• They had to use some word to answer this.
• It was very important, however, that they did not
  use a word which, within the highly charged
  culture of the time, had a specific and
  particular meaning
• according to this school of philosophy or that.

23
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• This was difficult.
• It was important, in defining
• a belief, a doctrine,
• that they should use something stronger than the
  Greek word almost a throw-away word
• meaning effectively
• something (or anything, or whatever)
• Though without the strength and bite of these
  English words.

24
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• As it were by pure luck
• The word hypostasis was available, having no
  technical status in any current philosophical
  system.
• Perhaps not a very satisfactory word to use
  having no past history and no biblical reference,
  
• But indicating, in some sense hidden, yet there.
• It literally means standing-under, what is not
  immediately seen/apparent

25
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• In using hypostases the Council was almost in
  effect saying
• three whatevers
• (but of course, one reality),
• though also going a little further than that
• three underlyings.
• It is important to read no more significance into
  that answer to the question What? than that.
• The Council was not making a philosophical
  definition of Trinitarian terms, it was in effect
  doing the very opposite.
• The Council was being purposefully ambiguous

26
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• With hypostasis there should have been no
  difficulty in providing a suitable Latin
  translation
• It is a straightforward combination of hypo and
  stasis
• standing beneath, or below.
• The Latin translation is obvious sub and stantia
  substantia.
• But No this simple solution could not be,
• because ousia (the other term in the Conciliar
  declaration) was already traditionally translated
  by substantia.

27
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• A new word in Latin had to be found
• the word chosen was personae,
• This word was free of any philosophical
  connotation,
• But had similar suitability, within its dramatic
  context,
• much like that of hypostasis
• It referred to what is behind, lying underneath,
  not immediately seen, but there and real.

28
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• Here, then, is the terminology that came out of
  the Council, with first the Latin translation and
  then the English
• Greek Latin English
• Ousia Substantia Substance
• Hypostasis Personae Persons
• It is severely complicated by the fact, already
  mentioned, that substantia is by right the
  translation of hypostasis and personae is the
  traditional translation of prosopon, not of
  hypostasis.

29
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• Persons
• A further complication soon begins to set in.
• Quite independently of its use at
  Nicaea/Constantinople, personae began to enrich
  itself as a concept and have a development of its
  own
• Which leads, via the scholastics, the
  enlightenment and eventually the psychoanalysts,
  to the present day.
• During the earlier part of this period, in the
  high scholastic era, the idea of person was
  developed and explored with its definition as
  rational substance.
• This was of course primarily within the context
  of the human person, but extended to the idea of
  angels, and even God himself.

30
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• Persons
• Introducing it or similar developments into the
  Trinitarian context confuses the situation even
  further by bringing together again ideas which
  should be kept totally apart!
• In the Trinitarian context personae are, of
  course, set over against substantiae.
• A later concept of person defined in
  relationship with substance,
• however rich it may be in itself,
• can only distort the idea of God as three
  Persons.

31
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• Persons
• At the end of the line of this development, our
  current word person now has an almost entirely
  different meaning from what it had at Nicaea.
• Nevertheless this seem to have been, and still
  is, consistently ignored.
• These later enrichments of the idea of the human
  person are frequently read back by so-called
  theologians into the doctrine of Nicaea!
• To give us, it is claimed, a richer and more
  profound understanding of the Trinity.
• Such a procedure is totally invalid the riches
  we have come to see and understand in human
  nature through subsequent history are not
  transferable backwards as if they were implicitly
  contained within the language of the Council.

32
Symbol of Constantinople (381)

• Translations
• Persons
• The significance of the Councils definition and
  understanding of the Trinity has no connection
  with these developments, and they throw no light
  whatsoever on our understanding of God as Three
  Persons.
• The whole concept of the individual members of
  the Trinity being persons,
• as now this term is generally understood,
• becomes in effect contradictory to what Nicaea
  stood for, and leads more or less
  straightforwardly to
• polytheism tritheism.