(Wednesday, April 11, 2012, 6:40 AM)
That the clause "[begotten] before all ages" was craftily added to the original Nicene Creed of 325 AD is evident from the comparison between Creed of 325 and Creed of 381.
Let's now get to the bottom of this "before all ages" thingy.
First, that the "before all ages" clause did NOT exist in the original Nicene Creed of 325, is a fact. It was ONLY added at Constantinople in 381 (if not even later ...) because the Conciliar Fathers needed to add it, so as to sanction, with a collective sleigh of hand, an "official" understanding of the godhead that had completely changed over the 4th century.
Second, it may come as a surprise to many that the "before all ages" clause first appeared where one would never expect to see it, in Arius' own letter to Constantine in 327 (Arius' Letter to the Emperor Constantine, 327 CE, NPNF2-02, The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen, Book II, Chapter XXVII @ ccel.org ], a "creed" compiled by Arius and his crony, deacon and supporter Euzoïus, apparently along the lines of the Nicene Creed of 325, which easily procured for them the return from exile and the return in the favor of Emperor Constantine, which should prove how irrelevant was the Nicene Creed for the purpose for which it was officially defined: the definitive quashing of the Arian heresy.
Third, several "creeds" were written in the period between 325 and 381 (as A Chronology of the Arian Controversy, @ http://legalhistorysources.com, attests). By the time of the Synod of Alexandria (362), when the wind changed for the Arian party, there were as many as eleven (11!!!) Arian "confessions" (see The Eleven Arian Confessions, @ arian-catholic.org: the Eleventh Arian Confession is of 361 AD), most of which included the "before all ages" clause.
Of course by the time of the Council of Constantinople (381 AD), the "before all ages" had sunk in: either by persuasion, or by exhaustion, or by political compromise.
That the clause "[begotten] before all ages" was craftily added to the original Nicene Creed of 325 AD is evident from the comparison between Creed of 325 and Creed of 381.
Let's now get to the bottom of this "before all ages" thingy.
First, that the "before all ages" clause did NOT exist in the original Nicene Creed of 325, is a fact. It was ONLY added at Constantinople in 381 (if not even later ...) because the Conciliar Fathers needed to add it, so as to sanction, with a collective sleigh of hand, an "official" understanding of the godhead that had completely changed over the 4th century.
Second, it may come as a surprise to many that the "before all ages" clause first appeared where one would never expect to see it, in Arius' own letter to Constantine in 327 (Arius' Letter to the Emperor Constantine, 327 CE, NPNF2-02, The Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen, Book II, Chapter XXVII @ ccel.org ], a "creed" compiled by Arius and his crony, deacon and supporter Euzoïus, apparently along the lines of the Nicene Creed of 325, which easily procured for them the return from exile and the return in the favor of Emperor Constantine, which should prove how irrelevant was the Nicene Creed for the purpose for which it was officially defined: the definitive quashing of the Arian heresy.
Third, several "creeds" were written in the period between 325 and 381 (as A Chronology of the Arian Controversy, @ http://legalhistorysources.com, attests). By the time of the Synod of Alexandria (362), when the wind changed for the Arian party, there were as many as eleven (11!!!) Arian "confessions" (see The Eleven Arian Confessions, @ arian-catholic.org: the Eleventh Arian Confession is of 361 AD), most of which included the "before all ages" clause.
Of course by the time of the Council of Constantinople (381 AD), the "before all ages" had sunk in: either by persuasion, or by exhaustion, or by political compromise.
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