Old Arguments In New Packaging

 For 462 years from 325 AD until 787 AD the early church convened seven important ecumenical councils to resolve major issues about Jesus Christ.

The seven ecumenical councils were:

1. First Council of Nicaea in 325  (the nature of Christ)
2. First Council of Constantinople in 381   (nature of Christ)
3. Council of Ephesus in 431, ('theotokos' or divinity of Mary). 
4. Council of Chalcedon in 451 (divinity of Christ)
5. Second Council of Constantinople in 553, (divinity of Christ)
6. Third Council of Constantinople 680 (divinity of Christ)
7. Second Council of Nicaea 787 (iconoclasm)

These seven events represented an attempt by Church leaders to reach an orthodox consensus, restore peace and develop a unified Christendom.

All of the seven councils were convened in Turkey.   At that time there was no Vatican in Rome. Turkey, Syria, the Levant and Egypt were the main centers of early Christianity.  The largest church in Christianity, the "Hagia Sophia" would later be built in 532 AD in Constantinople in Turkey. This was 80 years before the birth of Islam.

The First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, was convened by the Roman emperor Constantine I. Nicaea I enunciated the Nicene Creed on the doctrine of the Trinity.

The Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches accepted all seven of these councils as legitimate ecumenical councils. 
The Non-Chalcedonian Oriental Orthodox Churches accepted only the first three.
The Non-Ephesian Church of the East accepted only the first two.

This means that for the first 800 years of its existence Christianity was still debating issues relating to the divinity of Christ, the nature of god, nature of Jesus, the status of Mary as "theotokos" or 'mother' of god etc.

Please note the Council of Ephesus in 431, ('theotokos' or divinity of Mary). The Archbishop Nestorius of Constantinople (Istanbul) refused to accept all the arguments for the divinity of Jesus Christ.  This was a continuation of the debates about the status of Jesus as the "son of god". For example Archbishop Nestorius did not use the term 'theotokos' (mother of god) when describing Mary. Nestorius used the phrase christotokos or Mary 'mother of Christ'.

The western church elders did not agree with Nestorius and used the Council of Ephesus that was held in 431 AD to declare Archbishop Nestorius a heretic. The Roman Emperor Theodosius II was the patron of the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.

During the rule of the same Theodosius II,  Ephesus (located in Turkey) was also the place where the Christians had discovered the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. This means the Archbishop Nestorius was contemporary with the story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.

This story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus  is referred to in Surah 18 or chapter 18 of the Quran as the 'Companions of the Cave' or Ashabul Kahfi.  Since it is mentioned in the Quran, this event had significant relationship with the development of Islam.    

The Nestorian creed found a huge following among the early christians who were largely of Greek, Turkish, Egyptian, Arab and Ethiopian races. For example the powerful, pre-Islamic, Arab Lakhmid kingdom which was located in northern Arabia (between today's Saudi Arabia and Iraq) were Nestorian christians. Therefore the debates about whether Jesus was the son of god or not was well known among the Arab peoples - a very long time before the advent of Islam.

The third Council of Constantinople was held in 680AD where again they discussed issues pertaining to the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Five years later in 685AD the Islamic caliph Abdul Malik ibn Marwan would build the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The Arabs had conquered Jerusalem in 638 AD. 

The Dome of the Rock has many Arabic inscriptions on its walls, which include 'Allah has not taken upon Himself a son'. 

Contrary to what many Muslims may have understood, the rebuttal of Jesus as the son of god was not exclusive to Islam. Christendom had been arguing the divinity of Christ  and the divinity of Mary (theotokos) through seven ecumenical councils stretching over almost 800 years.

The Jews also reject the idea of Jesus as the son of god. Coincidentally or not the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is built atop the walls of the Jewish Second Temple. And the Dome of the Rock faces the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is about 400 meters away. 

 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.