Page:The Greek and Eastern churches.djvu/109

Rh taken by Nectarius, his successor in the patriarchate of Constantinople. The council reaffirmed the Creed of Nicsea and anathematised Eunomians, Semi-Arians or Pneumatomachoi, Sabellians, Marcellians, Photinians, Apollinarians. Our "Nicene Creed," which differs slightly from the creed as it was originally shaped at Nicæa, has been long regarded as the "Creed of Constantinople." But that view is now abandoned by scholars for the following reasons: The creed omits strong anti-Arian expressions, an omission that would be unaccountable at this council, since the council's raison d'être was to stiffen up orthodoxy against Arianism; it was in existence previous to the assembling of the council, since it was mentioned by Epiphanius at an earlier date; it is almost identical with the creed of Cyril of Jerusalem; for two hundred years after the council of Constantinople nobody is found connecting it with that council; we know that the council reaffirmed the Creed of Nicæa. Possibly Cyril—who was present—read his creed to the council and got an endorsement of it as a creed he might use in his own church, and if so this fact may have originated the legend.

Meanwhile the one important conclusion of the council was simply the reassertion of the Nicene position, together with an explicit repudiation of whatever more recent schemes and speculations were deemed inconsistent with it. Some advance of thought may be seen in the three Cappadocians, especially in Gregory of Nyssa; and a very original attempt to break up new ground and carry theological ideas further forward in explanation of the incarnation is to be acknowledged in Apollinaris. But the latter is denounced as a heretic, and even Basil and the Gregories have only been utilised in defence of the established position. Gregory of Nyssa, the most original thinker of the trio, comes to be regarded with some suspicion on account of his sympathy with Origen's universalism. The council thinks it can do nothing better