| How the early church worked to
preserve unity During the early centuries, Christians from both areas (European and Middle Eastern) took part in councils at which they agreed on the clearest ways to describe the nature of God as three-in-one and the way in which Christ was both God and Man. In the 300’s they met to counter-act a teacher named Arius who denied the biblical teaching that Christ is God. In response the churches produced the “Nicene Creed” (named after a city in Turkey called Nicea) which used clear terminology to affirm that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equally God. The barbarian tribes were followers of Arius, but during the following centuries these tribes one by one accepted the Nicene Creed. The next issue, continuing into the 400’s, was about Christ being fully God and fully human. For example, a man named Nestorius agreed that Christ was human, but not fully God. His followers, the Nestorians, brought the teachings of Jesus to China starting in 635. A man named Eutyches taught that Christ had only a God-nature, not a human nature. In response, the churches produced a statement in 481 that upheld the biblical position that Christ is true God and true man. Those who opposed this statement moved to the east, beyond the control of the Roman empire. Here are some examples. The Nestorian church moved to Persia and later brought Christianity to China. The followers of Eutyches are called "monophysites" (one-nature), and still continue in the Christians of Egypt, who are now called the "Copts." Some of these churches are also called “Oriental Orthodox Churches ” because they are located to the east of the Roman Empire) or “non-Chalcedonian” churches (because the agreement they rejected was made at a city called Chalcedon). For details on these non-Chalcedonian churches, see the book Lost Christianities by Philip Jenkins. For a chapter-long summary, see chapter 6 of the book A Global History of Christians, by Paul Spickard and Kevin Cragg (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994). More about the Councils Altogether there were seven gatherings of eastern and western church leaders. They are called the “ecumenical councils.” (The word "ecumenical" means they were gatherings of the entire community). Here is a summary: The Seven Ecumenical Councils:
In addition to the ecumenical
councils, both the eastern and western churches continued to have their
own meetings.
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