Schisma antiohiană post-niceană și Sfântul Vasile cel are Mare
The Post-Nicene Antiochian Schism and Saint Basil the Great

Author(s): Vasile Raduca
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, History of Church(es), Theology and Religion
Published by: Ideas Forum International Academic and Scientific Association
Keywords: ecumenical council; christian; antioch; emperor;
Summary/Abstract: The First Ecumenical Council was the most important event in the history of the early Christian centuries. When Emperor Constantine the Great pacified the Roman Empire and granted freedom to the Church, he discovered that the very institution that was supposed to be the guarantor of peace in society—the Church—was divided because of the Arian heresy. The emperor tried to resolve this doctrinal conflict through letters and by means of his envoy, Bishop Hosius of Cordoba. The attempt proved futile. The only solution was to convene an ecumenical council to discuss the entire issue and adopt the most effective measures for the faith. The Council took place in the year 325, at Nicaea, in Bithynia (Asia Minor). Its decisions, which remain valid for Christianity even today, are well known. The bishops, with only two exceptions, signed the synodal conclusions and returned to their dioceses with the gifts received from the emperor—but some of them also carried back the same ideas they had brought with them to the council. Later, taking advantage of either the emperor’s weakness or his good faith toward the high representatives of the Church, these bishops formed a coalition under the leadership of Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia and Metropolitan Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine. Through their influence, Arius was reinstated (only his sudden death saved the Church from what would have followed), while Saints Athanasius (the new bishop of Alexandria) and Eustathius (the new bishop of Antioch)—the leading figures of the orthodox faction at Nicaea—were exiled. Eustathius died in exile. In his place, the Egyptian priest Euzoios, a friend of Arius who had once been excommunicated by Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, was installed. In Antioch, the orthodox faithful separated from the semi-Arians, thus creating the famous schism of Antioch. This schism deepened after, in 361, Lucifer of Cagliari ordained the priest Paulinus as bishop, despite the fact that Antioch already had a valid bishop (since 360), Saint Meletius, who was sent into exile first by Emperor Constantius and later by Valens. Antioch was the most respected episcopal center in the Prefecture of the East. The schism lasted until the year 398. Having become Metropolitan of Caesarea in Cappadocia in 371, Saint Basil the Great made extraordinary efforts to restore the unity of the Church in Antioch—efforts unparalleled in Church history for the sake of peace and reconciliation within the Church. Father Professor Dr. Vasile Răducă, in the study above, presents the endeavors of Saint Basil the Great—marked by his absolute fidelity to the doctrine established at the Council of Nicaea, by his desire for the unity of the Church, by his deeply ecumenical spirit, and by his love for all Christians—during a time when the great Metropolitan of Caesarea in Cappadocia, already gravely ill, faced severe difficulties due to Emperor Valens’ persecution and the opposition stirred by heterodox groups within his own diocese.

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