In 325, Constantine the Great convened the council of Nicea to settle the Arian dispute concerning the nature of Jesus Christ. It was there that the doctrine of the Trinity was declared to be the orthodox Christian belief. Literature on what happened at this council is scant. 

The Arian controversy lead to much discussion in the early part of the fourth century. Gregory of Nyssa writes:

"Every corner of Constantinople was full of their discussions: the streets, the market place, the shops of the money changers, the victuallers. Ask a tradesman how many obols he wants for some article in his shop, and he replies with the disquisition on generated and ungenerated being. Ask the price of bread today and the baker tells you: "The son is subordinate to the father." Ask your servant if the bath is ready and he makes an answer: "The son arose out of nothing." "Great is the only Begotten," declared the Catholics, and the Arians rejoined: "But greater is He that begot."1

How many Gospels had to be scrutinized at the Council of Nicea? Some sources say 270 and others say there were as many as 4,000.

1. It was at the Council of Nicea, in 325 AD that the Roman Sun-day or day of the Sun was declared to be the Christian Sabbath along with the worship of the sun being the official state religion. 
2. It was at the Council of Nicea, in 325 AD that the emblem of the Sun god, the cross of light, was adopted as the emblem of Christianity. 
3. It was at the Council of Nicea, in 325 AD that the date of Easter was established. 
4. It was at the Council of Nicea, in 325 AD that rules were framed that defined the authority of bishops, thereby paving the way for a concentration of power in ecclesiastical hands. 
5. It was at the Council of Nicea, in 325 AD that, by vote, Jesus was declared a god, not a mortal prophet. 
6. "...a year after the Council of Nicea, he (Constantine) sanctioned the confiscation and destruction of all works that challenged orthodox teachings — works by pagan authors that referred to Jesus, as well as works by "heretical" Christians. He also arranged for a fixed income to be allocated to the Church and installed the bishop of Rome in the Lateran Palace (It was not until 384 that the bishop of Rome called himself Pope for the first time). Then, in A.D. 331, he commissioned and financed new copies of the Bible. This constituted one of the single most decisive factors in the entire history of Christianity and provided Christian orthodoxy with an unparalleled opportunity. In A.D. 303, a quarter of a century earlier, the pagan emperor Diocletian had undertaken to destroy all Christian writings that could be found. As a result Christian documents — especially in Rome — all but vanished. When Constantine commissioned new versions of these documents, it enabled the custodians of orthodoxy to revise, edit, and rewrite their material as they saw fit, in accordance with their tenets. It was at this point that most of the crucial alterations in the New Testament were probably made. The importance of Constantine's commission must not be underestimated. Of the five thousand extant early manuscript versions of the New Testament, not one predates the fourth century. The New Testament as it exists today is essentially a product of fourth-century editors and writers."2 

Constantine

What was the intention of Constantine? Was it to convert the Roman Empire to Christianity, or was the acceptance of Christianity as a co-religion a matter of expediency?

1. Under Constantine, the official state religion was pagan sun worship.* 
2. During Constantine’s reign “Sol Invictus,” the invincible sun, was prominently displayed on imperial banners and the coinage of the realm.* 
3. During Constantine's reign, he acted as the chief priest and was called "The Sun Emperorship" of the sun worship cult.* 
4. Until Constantine's decree of 321 Jesus' birthday was always celebrated on January 6, but Constantine changed it to December 25 which was the festival of Natalis Invictus, the birth (or rebirth) of the sun, when the days began to get longer.* 
5. By a decree in 321, Constantine announced that the courts to be closed on “the venerable day of the sun (Sunday).* 
6. Constantine was not baptized until when he was lying on his deathbed in 337.* 

The above notes 1 to 7 from the section on Constantine, can be found in Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, pp. 360-369. 

Copyright © 2010 Tim Stouse
Last modified: December 10, 2010

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