Theologians of 4th-5th Centuries: Eusebius, Arian Slogans, Nicene Creed, Athanasius, Grego, Study notes of Christianity

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Eusebius of Caesarea (260-339) “The Christian Nation” For when the advent of our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ, recently shone forth on all men, it was confessedly a new race which has thus appeared in such numbers, in accordance with the ineffable prophecies of the date, and is honored by all by the name of Christ, but it is not little nor weak, nor founded in some obscure corner of the earth, but the most populous of all nations, and most pious before God, alike innocent and invincible in that it ever finds help from God...”Did the earth travail in one day, and was a nation born at once (Isa 66:3)?”

Nicene Creed Council of Nicaea (325) We believe in one God the Father All-sovereign, maker of all things visible and invisible; And in One Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of God, begotten not made, of one substance (Homoousion) with the Father, through whom were all things made, things in heaven and things on earth: who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, is coming to judge the living and the dead; And in the Holy Spirit.

Nicene Creed Anathemas (Curses) And those who say “There was when he was not,” And, “Before he was begotten he was not.” And that, “He came into being from what is not,” Or those who allege that the Son of God is “of another substance or essence,” or “created,” or “changeable,” or “alterable,” these the catholic and apostolic church anathematizes.

Athanasius (300-373)

For he was made man that we might be

made God; and he manifested himself by

a body that we might receive the idea of

the unseen Father; and he endured the

insolence of men that we might inherit

immortality. (Can’t describe the wonders

of Christ) Better it is then, not to aim at

speaking of the whole, where one cannot

do justice even to a part…( On the

Incarnation).

Gregory of Nyssa (335-395)

Now it is certainly required that what is subject to change be in a sense always coming to birth. In mutable nature nothing can be observed which is always the same. Being born in the sense of constantly experiencing change, does not come about as the result of external initiative…We are in some manner our own parents, giving birth to ourselves by our own free choice in accordance with whatever we wish to be, whether male or female, molding ourselves to the teaching of vice or virtue. (Life of Moses)

John Chrysostom (350-407) Patriarch of Constantinople In a word, it is absolutely necessary for one who hopes to please God and to be acceptable and pure, not to pursue a relaxed and slippery and dissolute life, but a laborious life, groaning with much toil and sweat…From Paul’s words we learn that even if trials are not brought to us from somewhere outside, we must exercise ourselves every day with fasting, austerity, cheap nourishment and a frugal table, always avoiding sumptuousness; otherwise we cannot please God. ( 3 rd^ Sermon on Lazarus and the Rich Man)

John Chrysostom (350-407) Patriarch of Constantinople

Let us learn from this man not to call the rich

lucky nor the poor unfortunate. Rather, if

we are to tell the truth, the rich man is not

the one who has collected many

possessions but the one who needs few

possessions and the poor man is not the

one who has no possessions but the one

who has many desires. (2nd Sermon on

Lazarus and the Rich Man)

John Chrysostom (350-407) Patriarch of Constantinople What is this disease? The festivals of the pitiful and miserable Jews are soon to march upon us (Rosh Ha-Shanah, Days of Penance, Yom Kippur, Succoth). There are many in our ranks who say they (the Jews) think as we do. Yet some of these are going to watch the festivals and others will join the Jews in keeping their feasts and observing their fasts…And what charges do the Jews make? That he called God his Own Father and so made himself equal to God. (Discourse 1 Adversus Iudaeos )

John Chrysostom (350-407) Patriarch of Constantinople But if a man in the grip of passion or anger is drunk, this is all the more true of the impious man who blasphemes God, who goes against his laws and never is willing to renounce his untimely obstinacy. This man is drunk, mad, and much worse off than insane revelers, even if he does not seem aware of his condition. And this is the characteristic which most marks a drunkard: he has no awareness of his unseemly behavior. This in fact is the special danger of madness: those who suffer from it do not know they are sick. So, too, the Jews are drunk but do not know they are drunk. Indeed, the fasting of the Jews which is more disgraceful than any drunkenness, is over and gone. (Discourse 8, Adversus Iudaeos )

Augustine (354-430)

No one does good against his will, even if

what he does is good. Nor did those who

drove me on do well: the good was done

to me by you, my God. ( Confessions )

Augustine (354-430)

God created man aright, for God is the author of natures, through he is certainly not responsible for their defects. But man was willingly perverted and justly condemned, and so beget perverted and condemned offspring. For we were all in that one man, seeing that we were all that one man who fell into sin…For the evil of the soul, its own will takes initiative; but for its good, the will of its Creator makes the first move, whether to make the soul which did not yet exist, or to recreate it when it had perished through its fall. ( City of God).

Augustine (354-430)

She (the Church) must bear in mind that among those very enemies are hidden her future citizens; …she must not think it a fruitless task to bear with their hostility until she finds them confessing the faith. In the same way, while the City of God is on pilgrimage in this world, she has in her midst some who are united with her in participation in the sacraments, but who will not join with her in the eternal destiny of the saints. Some of these are hidden; some are well known, for they do not hesitate to murmur against God, whose sacramental sign they share…

Augustine (354-430)

This is because the first death consists of

two, the death of the soul and the death of

the body; so that the first death is the

death of the whole person when the soul is

without God and without a body, and

undergoes punishment for a time. The

second death, on the other hand, is when

the soul is without God, but undergoes

punishment with the (resurrection) body.