Happy Sunday

Last time, we talked about a few of the reasons behind the idea of a Sabbath in general, and more specifically, what it was meant to be as a celebration of God. Today, we’re going to see how we went from celebrating the Sabbath to Sunday.

Keeping the Sabbath

It’s time to take a little break from history and go in a different direction. So today, we’ll begin to discuss a certain trend in the history of the Church that we in modern times, and especially in America, have forgotten: Sunday.

Macedonianism

After the Council of Nicaea in 325, during the reign of Emperor Constantius, a man named Macedonius came to power as the Bishop of Constantinople (unlawfully). Macedonius was a Semi-Arian, but a very specific type of Semi-Arian. He took the ideas of Arius to their fullest logical extent. These new ideas became known by the name of their founder, the followers called “Macedonians.” And no, we are not talking about people from that country here.

The Beginning of the End

It’s time to pick up the series. Sorry about the gap, there’s a little project I’m working on that you all will get to see hopefully around May. Anyways, back to history.

So when we left, Athanasius was in exile, two bishops claimed authority in Constantinople, and the Emperor was against Orthodoxy, which had already ben formally established.

Archaic Authority

A very common objection to the Catholic Church is the hierarchy. Many Protestants claim that the Pope is not only not scriptural, but just plain wrong. To this, I pose the following riddle.

A Southern Baptist, Oneness Pentecostal, and a Jehovah's Witness are in a police deposition room. On the table in the middle of the room, there is a King James Version of the Bible. The three people have each studied that Bible thoroughly, and have come to mutually exclusive understandings of who Jesus is. The Southern Baptist holds the traditional understanding that Jesus is both God and Man (the Trinity), the Oneness Pentecostal believes that there is only one Person in God, and that he manifests himself in different ways (an ancient heresy called modalism), while the Jehovah's Witness believes that Jesus was really only an angel (a form of Arianism). They begin debating who is right, throwing scripture quotes at each other until they're blue in the face. You are watching this, and with you, there is a person who has never before been exposed to Christianity. He turns to you and asks, "How can I know who's right?"

Historical Spotlight: Revenge of the Semi-Arians

This week, we’ll be picking up where we left off last weekend. To settle the dispute over the bishop of Constantinople, as well as the dozens of other problems facing the Church, it was decided that a local council was to be called.

Hosius of Cordova

The Council of Sardica happened in 343 AD and involved 170 bishops. The split between Semi-Arians and orthodox bishops was 76 heretics to 94 orthodox. The bishop presiding over the council, Hosius, was also present at the Council of Nicaea, and was getting very, very old. The Semi-Arians tried to prevent Athanasius from appearing at the council, doing what they could to stop him from arriving, but when Athanasius walked into the council, the Semi-Arians fled. Because of this, any bishop who fled the council was deposed and considered a heretic. The results of the council led to appeals to Rome to decide whether or not a bishop has been validly deposed. If a bishop has been deposed and he appeals it to Rome, it can’t be filled until the investigation is complete.

Historical Spotlight: Rise of Semi-Arians

Today, we’re going to take a look at the after effects of the Council of Nicaea, which we discussed earlier. I mentioned the little story about how some of the bishops from the council added an iota to the “homoousios” to change the word from “consubstantial” to “of a similar substance,” which let them continue being Arians, while also being okay with the Church. This was a very long and very messy affair.