A reader asks about the Council of Nicea. Who were they? What was their purpose? What did they decide to leave out of the Bible and why?
In 325 A.D. the church leaders were invited by Constantine, the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire, to attend a meeting and settle the issue as to whether Jesus Christ was human or divine. The council was not about what to include or exclude from the Bible but rather what the official stand of the church would be concerning the divinity of Christ. They decided that Jesus was indeed divine and out of the Council of Nicea developed what we now call the Nicene Creed. Thus, I have given a very short answer to a question that is still debated by a few people, even today. For further study I suggest: History of the Christian Church, Philip Schaff, Volume III, "The Council of Nicea"; or 20 Centuries of Christianity: A Concise History, Paul Hutchinson and Winfred E. Garrison, by Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., New York, or just look up the subject in any good encyclopedia.
The Travel Scandal
A fascinating side issue about the Council of Nicea grew out of a generous offer made by the emperor. He summoned the bishops of the empire to the meeting and allowed them to bring along two priests and three servants and to pay all traveling and lodging expenses. Officially 318 bishops attended which means that nearly 2000 people traveled to the meeting and back using what was called "The Public Post." The public post was a series of official waystations spread all across the empire where traveling government employees could get fresh horses, free boat passage and lodging while they were on the business of the state.
Constantine's generosity to the bishops, allowing them free use of government transportation, opened the door to a major travel scandal. To make matters worse, the emperors that followed Constantine even threw in free food and lodging for men-of-the-cloth. Human nature being what it is, it wasn't long before the privilege was being seriously abused. In his excellent book Travel in the Ancient World, Lionel Casson writes, "Inn-keepers were called upon to supply the travellers with bread, eggs, vegetables, various meats (beef, suckling pig and pork, lamb and mutton) and fowl (goose, pheasant, chicken), cooking ingredients (olive oil, fish sauce, and a battery of spices---cummin, pepper, cloves, spikenard, cinnamon, gum bastic), desserts (dates, pistachio nuts, almonds), the inevitable table salt, vinegar, and honey (for sweetening, in lieu of sugar, which was virtually unknown), and wine or beer to drink. Obviously no cleric on the move was expected to mortify the flesh---if the supplies were available and the personnel of the public post were not out to make trouble."
Out of this abuse came: "An ecumenical council held at Sophia in 343 A.D. decreed than no bishop was to appear at the emperor's court unless in answer to a summons, and added that ‘those of us who live near a public road and see a bishop in route will ask him the purpose of and reason for his voyage. . . . If he is impelled for frivolous reasons. . . one must refuse to sign his letters [i.e., those authorizing travel facilities] or communicate with him.'" Travel in the Ancient World, page 301.
Isn't it interesting how that the more things change, the more they stay the same? Recently, a friend told me of an "inquiry" that was being conducted within a denomination to discourage the taking of long trips to exotic locations that yielded little fruit. Amazingly, the words of the council held at Sophia in 343 A.D. might still be appropriate for some today, "[if you] see a bishop[church leader] in route[aboard the Concorde dining on fillet mignon]. . . ask him the purpose and reason for his voyage." Just kidding! :-)

Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

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Blessings!
Marvin Hunt

Http://www.biblehistory.com

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