4.12 The Heresies - The “Spirit-fighters” and the Aftermath of Nicaea | Way of the Fathers

After the Council of Nicaea, all the same questions that had been asked of the Son of God, were now asked of the Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit divine, and worthy of worship? Does worship of the Holy Spirit compromise monotheism? Some who reluctantly accepted the divinity of the Son still refused to accept the divinity of the Spirit, and so they continued to reject the doctrine of the Trinity - these were called “Spirit-fighters.” This controversy led to the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in the year 381 AD, and to the completion of the Nicene Creed.
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LINKS
To listen to Mike Aquilina’s episode 29 on Basil of Caesarea: www.catholicculture.org/comme...
To listen to Mike Aquilina’s episode 30 on Gregory of Nazianzus: www.catholicculture.org/comme...
To listen to Mike Aquilina’s episode 31 on Gregory of Nyssa: www.catholicculture.org/comme...
To listen to Mike Aquilina’s episode 2.3 on The Council of Constantinople: www.catholicculture.org/comme...
To read On the Holy Spirit by Basil of Caesarea: www.catholicculture.org/cultu...
To read the Letter to Ablabius “On Not Three Gods” by Gregory of Nyssa: www.catholicculture.org/cultu...
To read On the Holy Trinity by Gregory of Nyssa: www.catholicculture.org/cultu...
To read The Fifth Theological Oration, On the Holy Spirit by Gregory of Nazianzius: www.catholicculture.org/cultu...
For more on the “Spirit-fighters” and the Cappadocians in their historical context, see the book: Reading the Church Fathers: A History of the Early Church and the Development of Doctrine: sophiainstitute.com/product/r...
And if you want a deep scholarly dive into the Arian Controversy with all its factions, and the aftermath of the Council of Nicaea, the best book to read is Nicaea and its Legacy, by Lewis Ayres.
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Theme Music: Gaudeamus (Introit for the Feast of All Saints), sung by Jeff Ostrowski. Courtesy of Corpus Christi Watershed: www.ccwatershed.org/

[@josephjude1290]

Great history and knowledge

[@joselitonaranjo3234]

Thank you very much.

[@stanthemankarmas4386]

💯🙏

[@DanielFernandez-jv7jx]

Thanks for this fascinating history lesson! An additional thought: I was taught that what was implied at these councils was that the creed should not be changed without an ecumenical council. That is what the EO folks say. It was kind of rude, at the very least, even if not heretical. Is this incorrect?

[@uncle_Samssubjects]

That's basically my understanding of the EO position also.

[@TheOriginalChurch]

That is what some Eastern Christians say, but Nicaea and Constantinople never said that there can't be other creeds besides the Nicene Creed or regional creeds - only that every Creed that wants to call itself Christian cannot contradict the Nicene Creed. The response of the west would be that the addition of the Filioque is not a change of the Nicene Creed, but that by adding the Filioque, the west was only doing to the Creed of 381 what the Creed of 381 did to the Creed of 325.

[@DanielFernandez-jv7jx]

@@TheOriginalChurch Thank you for this. I never thought of it that way. But were no safeguards ever placed around either the content of the creed, or how or by whom it could be appended to?

[@TheOriginalChurch]

@@DanielFernandez-jv7jx Not as such - but the assumption, as I understand it, is that one cannot disagree with any part of the Nicene Creed and still call oneself a Christian, since Christianity is defined according to the Creed and the doctrine of the Trinity

[@DanielFernandez-jv7jx]

@@TheOriginalChurch Thank you!

[@davidrobinson7950]

In a word, disaster.