The Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicea

[Theodosius the Great]

My major point in all of this was that Constantine wanted to remove the so called barrier between Christianity and good lawful Roman society by legalizing the former.

I doubt Christians caused much social strife before Constantine. By the II century the state recognized them as being among the most law abidding citizens : "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's...." Galen attested to their high ethical standards. Unlike the Jews, they were not prone to riot with pagan Greeks or initiate revolts against the state.

BTW, I checked the name of those troublesome pagans that Diocletian confronted - they were "Manicheans." They were based in Syria and Egypt.

I think this concept is something I haven't really come across too much but in my opinion is the real meat and potatoes of the council of Nicaea.

Interesting. I always saw the Nicean Council as addressing internal church division rather than social cohesion with the still pagan Empire.

Always a pleasure Theodosius.

Thank you, I enjoyed discussing this topic, Camin.


Theo