In the Council of Nicea in 325 AD which was convened by the Roman Emperor and sun worshipper Constantine in order to strengthen and unify the Roman empire. Christians experienced the worst persecution ever under Emperor Diocletian who retired and divided the Roman Empire into 4 parts with a general to rule in each part. The generals fought each other for control of the whole empire. The last two generals to survive got together and signed the Edict of Milan in 315 AD which made Christianity an accepted and legal religion in the Roman Empire. The decision was probably influenced by the fact that Constantine's mother, Helena, had converted to Christianity. By 325 AD Christianity grew exponentially. Anyways, 1800 bishops from all over the empire were invited by the emperor to attend the Council, but only around 300 attended due to long distance, age of the bishops, modes of transportation, etc. Many were not even bishops, but representatives. Originally, christian churches were scattered all over the Roman empire and held to their basic belief that Christ was the Son of God and died to erase our sins and make us acceptable to God the Father. With the acceptance of Christianity, churches were then able to delve into deeper concepts, such as the divinity of Jesus Christ. That was the main topic discussed in the council. Other topics were when to hold the Easter celebration which was too close to a Jewish holiday and whether or not to accept back into the fold bishops and christians who denied their faith during the Diocletian persecution. Arius who was a deacon from Alexandria who believed and preached that Christ, before he became Jesus, was a created being for which the council exiled him and insisted that Jesus was God. They came out with the Trinity, which states that Jesus is God, the Father is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Since the Jews believed in only one God, they simply stated that even though the three had different minds, they made up the one God. In other words, 3=1 or the one God is a three-headed being. This is the only way to align the belief of the Jews in one God with their belief that Christ was God. They came up with the Nicean Creed which contained the Trinity and denounced the belief that Christ was a created being (Arianism). All that they had on the Holy Spirit was the statement, " and we believe in the Holy Spirit. Constantine then ordered all bishops to only preach what the council came up with. This was the first time that the Christian Church was backed by government and spawned the beginning of orthodox religion in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The apostles, the early Church, the church during the time of Constantine, and even christians in the present time are not sure who or what the Holy Spirit is. I would love to know your thoughts and then after a few posts, I will reveal mine. I'll just say that in order to understand the relationship between the Father and Son, you have to understand the Holy Spirit.
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