Emperor Constantine – Mr G's Ponderings

**Basilica of Saint Neophytos** is the name of the underwater basilica in Lake İznik, modern-day Turkey.
This was where those who gathered for the Council of Nicaea .

The Telling of our Faith.

Over the past weekend, the Christian Church has been celebrating one of the most important anniversaries of our faith, the 1,700 Anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council which was held in Nicaea, (now Iznik) in what is now Turkey. Until 325AD, the Christian Church was established in various centres of mission but, as it grew, it was also dealing with persecution on a large scale from those who did not want the Christian faith, rooted in the life, witness and teaching of Jesus Christ to succeed.
Whilst we have never been free from persecution nor strangers to martyrdom, the period until the 4^th century was particularly one where many Christians were put to death or tortured for their faith.
In the 4^th Century, under the reign of Emperor Constantine, things changed. His mother, Helen(a) had become a Christian during a time in the Holy Land and her faith influenced her son. Though he did not immediately become a Christian himself, (though he died one), he declared that Christianity would become the official religion of the Roman Empire. Peace and stability came to the Church.

Except, not quite!
When people are up against terrible suffering, persecution and death, there is a unity which concentrates everyone on survival and on being loyal to what they believe. It brings with it its own high level of support for each other. There is no time or freedom to concentrate on anything but holding each other together, caring, loving and sustaining each other in mutual hope and encouragement.
When danger passes, the personal relief can sometimes give people the opportunity to face issues of disagreement which trouble them and can produce division.
That is what happened and the church faced differences in practice and custom caused by not being able to worship and prayer together.
Things like the date when the Church observed Easter and other practices needed to be dealt with but the Church was facing its biggest ever challenge at Nicaea. At this moment in the story of the Church the biggest and most important question of our faith had to be faced: Who is Jesus?
Under its new found peace, Christianity had to face the question about the nature of Jesus. Followers of a theologian called Arius maintained that Jesus was a created being, who whilst a good man and infused with the vision of God, was not God.
More than anything else before or since this view threatened to destroy the church. The fierce debate it created division amongst Christians and everything we stand for was in danger of falling apart.
So concerned was Constantine that the Christian faith he had chosen to bring stability and harmony to his Empire was itself in grave crisis, that he called together Christians leaders at Nicaea.
This was the first Synod or gathering and here the question about who Jesus truly is, was debated.
The Council rejected the teaching of Arius and affirmed the total belief that Jesus is one in substance with his Father; that both are God together with the Trinitarian belief that the Holy Spirit is part of a three-fold God.
At Nicaea, the Church set out our belief in a ‘Statement’ or ‘Creed which became, at one level the ‘Constitution of the Christian Faith.
Though it was refined and deepened at the Council of Constantinople in 381AD and again at Chalcedon in 451, it has become the ‘foundational statement of the Christian faith’ and it forms an essential part of our expression of personal and corporate belief to be recited by the whole Church, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglian, Methodist, every Sunday.
Essentially it is summarized by the acclamation often made in worship.

This is our faith.
We believe in One God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Pope Leo gathered last weekend gathered with 27 other Christian leaders to celebrate the 1700^th anniversary in Nicaea, modern-day Iznik, Türkiye. Pope Leo thanked Patriarch Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, for his “great wisdom and foresight” in calling for Church leaders to celebrate this important anniversary together.
He spoke of the power of the Nicaean Creed to “invite Christians, even today ,to ask ourselves who is Jesus Christ for us personally,“ especially when there is a risk of reducing Jesus Christ, “to a kind of charismatic leader or superman, a misrepresentation that ultimately leads to sadness and confusion.”
The Pope went on to point out that reducing Jesus to an intermediary between God and humanity, and therefore not Divine, ignores the reality of the Incarnation.”“But if God did not become man, how can mortal creatures participate in His immortal life?” asked Pope Leo. “What was at stake at Nicaea, and is at stake today, is our faith in the God who, in Jesus Christ, became like us to make us ‘partakers of the divine nature’.”

He went on to say that, because the Creed was professed by all Christian Churches and Communities, “it is of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making towards full communion. Faith in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of the Father before all ages…consubstantial with the Father (Nicene Creed) is a profound bond uniting all Christians.”

For me, reciting the Creed grounds my faith in Jesus who, in his birth, life, teaching, death and resurrection, speaks to me of the immensity of God’s Love, for me personally; for each other;and of my love for God; and of the power of that love to embrace all. Telling the story of what God, the Holy Trinity has done for us and goes on doing, and speaking it prayerfully at the heart of worship is a tremendous experience of belonging and believing which holds us in a deeply inclusive and profound relationship and so becomes the prayer which speaks from the heart of our living faith in God.

I believe!

[Mr G. 2nd December 2025]

Bradwell Chapel Cross from *a church near you* site

THE SAVING SIGN. Thoughts on Holy Cross Day September 14^th 2025

One of the most sacred sites in Essex is the simple Chapel of St. Peter on the North Sea shore at Bradwell. It is all that remains of a more extensive monastery which was originally built there by St. Cedd. He was one of twelve Anglo-Saxon boys who had entered the monastery at Lindisfarne, founded by St. Aidan. It was the Irish custom to build monasteries in remote places and there to train up young people to be apostles for Christ. St Aidan, trained on Iona adopted this practice with the Anglo-Saxons of Northumbria
Once trained, they were sent out to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. So, St Cedd left Lindisfarne and sailed down the North Sea coast before landing, in 654 AD, at Bradwell. Here he founded a monastery and from where the Gospel was proclaimed to much of Essex.

The Chapel of St. Peter at Bradwell has enjoyed mixed fortunes, even for a time being used as a barn but today it is a simple reminder of the Gospel coming to Essex.
Its interior is of breathtaking simplicity, the only adornment being a beautiful Cross, designed by the Church artist, Francis William Stephens.
On it are painted figures of The Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John and above the figure of Christ is a depiction of the Hand of God in an act of blessing. St. Cedd kneels at the foot of the Saviour. On either side of Christ are the faces of St Peter and St. Paul. Christ is shown with a halo marked by the cross and his arms are outstretched in blessing. This is a figure not of grotesque suffering but of triumphant victory.

It is an artistic representation of the Crucified as shown to us by St. John for whom the Cross is a sign of Triumph – of a completion of the saving work of Father and Son. Michael Ramsey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, commenting on St. John’s portrayal of the Passion of Christ says that on Calvary Christ ‘Reigns’ as he accomplishes his Father’s will and fulfils the Scriptures. This was his moment of supreme glory.’
Michael Ramsey makes the comment:
“Calvary is no disaster which needs the Resurrection to reverse it, but a victory so signal that the Resurrection follows quickly to seal it.”
Celtic/ Anglo-Saxon Christianity which fed the soul of St. Cedd was inspired by St. John’s understanding of the Cross. The Cross was seen as the ‘Saving Sign’ and its victory dominated spirituality and mission. They had a firm belief in the power of the Cross to transform hearts and lives.

Visitors to ‘Celtic’ countries like Ireland, Scotland and Wales will be familiar with the High Crosses, elaborately carved with biblical scenes from both Old and New Testaments all contained within the form of the Cross. These were (and still are) sermons in stone offering the onlooker a way into Scriptural truths of Salvation brought to our world by Christ. They are the Waymarks for the soul’s spiritual journey marking out the earth for God and leading the people towards eternal life.
They were often preaching posts – wayside pulpits at which the missionaries stood and proclaimed the Gospel and claimed souls for Christ.
I think of the magnificent Ruthwell Cross in Dumfrieshire which is carved with Old & New Testament scenes. It stands today in a small church, rescued from oblivion by a Church of Scotland minister at the end of the 19^th century, but it once stood on the shoreline, a gathering point for those who would hear of Christ’s triumph and Victory of the Cross preached to them by monks from as far away as Lindisfarne and Durham.
It is unique also because carved around the edges are Anglo-Saxon Runes which depict part of the oldest English poem, The Dream of the Rood.

When Cedd came to Essex, he came in the power of the triumph of the Cross. He sailed from Lindisfarne and by tradition he would adopt the Irish custom of placing the Cross of Christ in the prow of his boat so that he was constantly reminded in whose name and service he sailed.
No doubt, like so many Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Christians he practiced the Cross prayer – which involved hours of standing with arms outstretched in the Cross position.
Celtic praying included a gathering at the Cross for daily prayer. An eighth century monastic rule says:
“The monks should follow the head monk (abbot) to the cross with melodious chants, and with abundance of tears flowing from emaciated cheeks”, in imitation of a daily prayer office sung in Jerusalem at the Church of the Resurrection – the church built by the Emperor Constantine which gave rise to today’s special observance of the Holy Cross.
Hymns would be sung and the people would move slowly around the Cross – not unlike what happens today in modern Taizé which has done much to restore the Cross to the heart of Christian devotion.

Hardly surprising that the Cross has such a central place in the worship at Taizé which was born out of the ravages and destruction of a war- destroyed Europe and which preached Reconciliation as its central message.
As the stone crosses reclaimed Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Britain, so Europe was reclaimed for God and the hearts of the people led back to Christ. As the problems in the Ukraine, Gaza and other troubled areas of the world are showing us that reclaiming for God is on-going and always vital. We must go on proclaiming that the Victory of the Cross overcomes all evil. It is this Victory which is the about love transforming a disfigured and at times enslaved humanity.
As a prayer from Taize puts it:

Through the repentance of our hearts,
And the spirit of simplicity of the beatitudes,
You clothe us with forgiveness, as with a garment.
Enable us to welcome the realities of the Gospel
With a childlike heart,
And to discover your will,
Which is love and nothing else.

Here we are brought to the heart of the Cross’s message – the Victory of love. Not only sin and death are defeated by love but also those other things which afflict our lives and drag us down. In the face of evil, pain, hurt and uncertainty, the Cross becomes a protection – the Saving Sign.

There is a Passiontide Prayer which includes the lines:
Yea, by this Sweet and Saving Sign,
Lord, draw us to our peace and thine.

[Mr G]