The Council of Nicaea and the Christological Exegesis of the Theophanies
The Council of Nicaea and the Christological Exegesis of the Theophanies

Summary/Abstract: This text focuses on examining how the Christological understanding of the Theophanies in the Old Testament is fundamental for understanding the theological debates associated with the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. Th e answer to this question is based on the insights of several authors: John Romanides, John Breck, Alexander Golitzin, Bogdan Bucur, and Dragos Giulea. The more specific questions that are addressed are: What were the Church Fathers really arguing about at the Council of Niceia? Why was there such a drama about the choice of specific terms such as hypostasis, ousia, homoousios, etc? How did the focus on terminology relate to the non-negotiable core beliefs and experience of the Early Christians? The final point of this text resounds with Bogdan Bucur’s key message that Christophanic exegesis transforms the Scriptures of Israel into the Christian Old Testament, offering the theological presuppositions and the interpretive key for the new, conceptually refined vocabulary of the Ecumenical Councils.

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