środa, 11 stycznia 2017

[7] The Abrahamic religions - a brief introduction. Part Three: Christianity and the early heresies

Christianity and the early heresies

Christianity came into existence as a sect within Ancient Judaism and its split with Judaism took place in the time of the Rejection of Jesus by Jews (circa 33 AD) or in the time of the Council of Jerusalem (circa 50 AD), when the Apostles rejected the most of Jewish religious laws such as male circumcision. The first divisions within Christianity arose probably in these times. The first controversions included: rejecting or maintaining the Jewish law, accepting the divinity of Jesus or treating him as a prophet and accepting or rejecting the conception of the Holy Trinity. Numerous sects seceded from that? some scholars call „Pauline Christianity,based on recognizing Paul the Apostle as the greatest missionary in the history, or „Proto-Orthodox Christianity”. Some of these sects are quite important for understanding the history of the Abrahamic religions, which is why I have mentioned them before, but the majority of them was short-lived. What is more, we do not know much/ a lot about them since Christianity was illegal and persecuted by the Roman Empire up to 313 AD, when it was eventually legalised.

Demographically, the biggest sect was Arianism, and it was probably the only one that survived in the Roman Empire up to the legalisation. It is also of considerable importance for some doctrines that emerged later during the Reformation. Beside Gnosticism, Arianism was the most important Non-Trinitarian doctrine. Its father, bishop Arius of Alexandria denied the true divinity of Jesus and stated that he was only the son of God and was created by Him. Do you know who was his mortal enemy? Lucifer. Saint Lucifer, bishop of Cagliary, known for his passionate opposition to Arianism. How was it possible that he bore such a name? In these times the word „Lucifer” meant simply „light-bringing” and it would be connected with the chief of the fallen angels much later. Returning to the subject at hand, Arianism had a great impact on the mentioned Proto-Orthodox Christianity. In order to regain the unity of all Christedom, the First Council of Nicea was convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, who (had) converted shortly before. The Council codified the most important doctrines of the Christian faith in the Nicene Creed, which is believed to be the simplest definition of Christianity. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodoxes, Oriental Orthodoxes, Lutherans, Anglicans, Calvinists, Methodists and many others fight the Arianism every time when they recite „We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.” 

I have emphasised the most important fragments of the text that are meant directly against Arianism. The followers of Arianism and other Non-Trinitarian doctrines were among the most hated during the whole history of Christianity. Their denying of the divinity of Jesus was considered as a blasphemy against God. This was also one of the reasons of the exile of the Polish Brethen, the only banned denomination in the history of independent Poland. Even today, the acceptance of the dogma of the Holy Trinity is the first condition to join the World Council of Churches, which simply means that Non-Trinitarians are basically regarded as non-Christians by the mainstream Christianity.


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