1st Council in Jerusalem

Loosening: The gentiles are free from the jewish law

Quartodeciman (14th) Controversy
Discussion of Date of Easter

Rome celebrated the Resurrection on a Sunday, because Jesus rose on a Sunday. A tradition traced to Peter and Paul.

Around 155 A.D., Polycarp of Smyrna met Bishop Anicetus of Rome. They debated the Easter date. Neither convinced the other, yet they shared communion together as fellow Christians and remained in fellowship.

Around 190 A.D., Victor I, bishop of Rome, tried to force the Eastern churches to adopt the Roman Sunday observance and threatened excommunication. Polycrates of Ephesus responded by defending the Eastern practice and appealing to the authority of the apostles who had taught it. Many bishops, including Irenaeus, criticized Victor for being too harsh.

☦✝ ✠   First Council of Nicaea (325)     ✠ ✝ ☦

Orig Docs
• Arius believed:
  • God the Father alone is eternal.
  • Jesus (the Son) was created by the Father before the world began.
  • Therefore, Jesus is greater than all creation but is not fully God in the same sense as the Father.

  "There was when He was not."

• Produced the original Nicene Creed

  The word homoousios ("of one substance" or "consubstantial") was the key term to affirm that Christ is fully God and not a created being, which was the main issue being debated at Nicaea

  Nicean Creed 325
  × Nicean Creed 325

  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, begotten of the Father, the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance (homoousios) with the Father; by whom all things were made, both in heaven and on earth;

  Who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate and was made man; He suffered, and the third day He rose again, ascended into heaven; from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

  And in the Holy Spirit.

  Bindings
  × Bindings

  "But those who say:

  'There was when He was not,'

  and,

  'Before being begotten He was not,'

  and that He came into existence out of nothing,
  or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance,
  or created,
  or subject to alteration or change,
  

  these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes."

• Easter Date:We also send you the good news of the settlement concerning the holy pasch, namely that in answer to your prayers this question also has been resolved. All the brethren in the East who have hitherto followed the Jewish practice will henceforth observe the custom of the Romans...

☦✝ ✠  First Council of Constantinople (381)

Arianism did not end. Different groups continued debating:

• Is Jesus fully God?
• How should the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be explained?

Emperor Theodosius I called the council to settle these disputes.

• Reaffirmed Nicaea Creed - Expanded
  Nicean Creed 381
  × Nicean Creed 381

  We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.

  And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

  Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the Right Hand of the Father.

  And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead. Whose kingdom shall have no end.

  We believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver-of-Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.

  We believe in one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

  We acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

  Amen.

• Condemned Other Heresies
  • Arianism
  • Macedonianism (which denied the full divinity of the Holy Spirit)
  • Apollinarianism (which denied the full humanity of Christ)

☦✝ ✠  Council of Ephesus (431)

☦✝ ✠  Council of Chalcedon (451)

☦✝ ✠  Second Council of Constantinople (553)

☦✝ ✠  Third Council of Constantinople (680-681)

☦✝ ✠  Second Council of Nicaea (787)

☧   Council of Trent (1545-1563 )   ☧

Decrees:

1. Scripture and Tradition are authoritative.
   "..following the examples of the orthodox Fathers, receives and venerates with an equal affection of piety, and reverence, all the books both of the Old [including ] and of the New Testament–seeing that one God is the author of both –as also the said traditions, as well those appertaining to faith as to morals, as having been dictated, either by Christ’s own word of mouth, or by the Holy Ghost, and preserved in the Catholic Church by a continuous succession....He is also to be anathema who does not receive these entire books...."
   Tradition: Chemnitz vs Trent
   × Tradition: Chemnitz vs Trent

   Tradition: Chemnitz vs Trent
   AI assist generated

   Chemnitz’s Category (8 types)	Meaning / Description	How Trent Classifies It (2 types)	Chemnitz’s Objection	Examples / Practices
   1. Apostolic Tradition (Scripture)	Teaching of apostles preserved in Scripture	Divine Tradition (equal to Scripture)	Trent is correct to honor thisTrent is correct to honor this, but wrong to add other traditions to the same level.	Baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28) The Lord’s Supper with Christ’s words of institution (1 Corinthians 11) The apostolic preaching of justification by faith (Romans, Galatians) The office of elders/bishops and deacons (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1) The apostolic rule against idolatry and pagan worship (Acts 15)
   2. Apostolic Tradition (Originally oral, later written by Fathers)	Early patristic witness to apostolic teaching	Divine Tradition	Chemnitz accepts these only when they agree with Scripture; Trent treats them as independent authority.	The baptismal creed (proto‑Apostles’ Creed) used in 2nd–3rd century Rome The Didache’s instructions on baptism and Eucharist Justin Martyr’s description of Sunday worship (mid‑2nd century) Hippolytus’s Apostolic Tradition (early liturgical forms) Early catechumenate practices (teaching before baptism)
   3. Apostolic Customs (non doctrinal)	Practices used by apostles but not commanded	Ecclesiastical Tradition	Trent wrongly elevates some customs to dogma (e.g., celibacy)..	The “holy kiss” in worship Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays (early Christian custom) Standing for prayer on Sundays (Nicene canon 20) Use of simple Eucharistic bread (non‑leavened vs. leavened not mandated) Traveling missionaries supported by local churches (Acts 13 pattern)
   4. Ecclesiastical Traditions (human ordinances)	Church made rules for order discipline liturgy	Ecclesiastical Tradition	Chemnitz says these are changeable; Trent makes some of them obligatory for salvation.	The liturgical calendar (Advent, Lent, etc.) Vestments for clergy (chasuble, alb, stole) The development of cathedral chapters and canons Rules for monastic orders (Benedictine, Augustinian, etc.) Church architectural norms (apse, nave, altar placement)
   5. Interpretive Traditions (patristic exegesis)	Fathers’ interpretations of Scripture	Divine Tradition (when Trent likes them)	Chemnitz says Fathers disagree; Trent selectively uses them to support innovations.	Augustine’s interpretation of Romans 5 Chrysostom’s homilies on Matthew Origen’s allegorical reading of Genesis Jerome’s interpretation of the Petrine “keys” Ambrose’s typological reading of Old Testament sacrifices Chemnitz notes: the Fathers often disagree, so these cannot be treated as infallible.
   6. Dogmatic Traditions (later doctrinal additions)	Doctrines developed centuries after apostles	Divine Tradition (Trent claims apostolic origin)	Chemnitz says these are corruptions, not apostolic.	Transubstantiation (defined 1215, Lateran IV) Purgatory as a place of temporal punishment Papal supremacy and universal jurisdiction The treasury of merits Mandatory clerical celibacy (universalized in the West)
   7. Unwritten Traditions (Trent’s category)	Alleged secret apostolic teachings not in Scripture	Divine Tradition	Chemnitz rejects this category entirely as unverifiable and used to defend errors.	The claim that the apostles taught transubstantiation orally The claim of unwritten apostolic instructions for the Mass as sacrifice The idea that the apostles taught invocation of saints orally The claim that Marian doctrines were orally transmitted The idea that the apostles taught the number of sacraments (seven) Chemnitz: these are unprovable and used to defend innovations.
   8. Abused / False Traditions	Customs/doctrines falsely claimed to be ancient	Divine Tradition (Trent treats them as apostolic)	Chemnitz says Trent uses “tradition” to legitimize medieval innovations.	Selling indulgences as an “apostolic practice” Elevating the medieval rosary as apostolic Claiming private Masses were apostolic Treating scholastic sacramental definitions as ancient Using forged documents (e.g., Donation of Constantine) to justify papal power Chemnitz argues Trent used these to legitimize medieval developments.

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2. Baptism removes original sin; With original sin defined as (Augustine):
   • A fallen nature.
   • A deprivation of original holiness inherited from Adam.
   Orig. Sin Alt.
   × Orig. Sin Alt.

   Alternative view on Orignal sin:

   The loss of relationship to God.
   Sin cannot stand in God presence and is burned up, so Adam and Eve could no longer stand in God's presence ( Julian Norwich - this was the greatest sin ever )

   At Trent:
   "...any one denies, that, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted; or even asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away; but says that it is only rased, or not imputed; let him be anathema...."

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3. The seven sacraments reaffirmed.
   

   SESSION 7: CANON I.-If any one saith, that the sacraments of the New Law were not all instituted by Jesus Christ, our Lord; or, that they are more, or less, than seven, to wit,

   1. Baptism,
   2. Confirmation,
   3. the Eucharist,
   4. Penance,
   5. Extreme Unction,
   6. Order,
   7. Matrimony;
   or even that any one of these seven is not truly and properly a sacrament; let him be anathema.

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4. Salvation/Justification is not only by faith alone...(Session 6)
   

   CHAPTER VII Justification itself, which is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man,

   CHAPTER X. Having, therefore, been thus justified, and made the friends and domestics of God, advancing from virtue to virtue, they are renewed, as the Apostle says, day by day; that is, by mortifying the members of their own flesh, and by presenting them as instruments of justice unto sanctification, they, through the observance of the commandments of God and of the Church, faith co-operating with good works, increase in that justice which they have received through the grace of Christ, and are still further justified, as it is written; He that is just, let him be justified still; and again, Be not afraid to be justified even to death; and also, Do you see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. And this increase of justification holy Church begs, when she prays, “Give unto us, O Lord, increase of faith, hope, and charity.”

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5. Transubstantiation reaffirmed.

   Session 13 CHAPTER IV.
   And because that Christ, our Redeemer, declared that which He offered under the species of bread to be truly His own body, therefore has it ever been a firm belief in the Church of God, and this holy Synod doth now declare it anew, that, by the consecration of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood; which conversion is, by the holy Catholic Church, suitably and properly called Transubstantiation.

   see Eucharist

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6. The Mass/Priesthood
   .... because that His priesthood was not to be extinguished by His death, in the last supper, on the night in which He was betrayed,–that He might leave, to His own beloved Spouse the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature of man requires, whereby that bloody sacrifice, once to be accomplished on the cross, might be represented, and the memory thereof remain even unto the end of the world, and its salutary virtue be applied to the remission of those sins which we daily commit, ...... He delivered (His own body and blood) to be received by His apostles, whom He then constituted priests of the New Testament; and by those words, Do this in commemoration of me, He commanded them and their successors in the priesthood....