尼西亚宗教会议与阿里乌斯主义

历史上被称为阿里乌斯主义的耶稣神性之争，是促使君士坦丁召开尼西亚宗教会议的论争之一。

那么，阿里乌斯主义究竟是什么？这一主张又是如何改变了基督教的历史？

基督的神性——耶稣是人还是上帝？

成为东罗马和西罗马最高统治者的君士坦丁惊奇地发现，自己所统治的这片领土正被一个神学观念上的不和一分为二。造成冲突的是一个困扰了之后数世纪的终极问题：耶稣是谁？诚然，教会把耶稣当做神来敬拜，而新约圣经也把耶稣称为上帝。然而，圣经中明确指出上帝只有一位是毋庸置疑的，而敬拜这唯一真神之外的别神则是亵渎上帝的偶像崇拜行为。那么这看似矛盾的两种说法要如何共存？

圣三位一体论的教导要如何维持这一平衡变成了一个棘手的问题。位于埃及亚历山大的伯卡里斯（Baucalis）教会长老阿里乌斯试图终止一切混乱而掀起了一场旷日持久的神学战争。公元319年，阿里乌斯就圣三位一体的定义——即上帝、耶稣与圣灵的关系——提出了一个与正统信仰相悖的新主张。

阿里乌斯的主张——基督不等同于上帝

God is always, the Son in always, The Father and the Son are co-existent. The Son, unbegotten, co-exists with God, and is always begotten: without being begotten, he is begotten: nor does God precede the Son in thought, nor by a single moment.

图 1.  优西比乌《教会史》一书中，阿里乌斯给优西比乌的书信记载了前者对于圣父与圣子关系的观点。1)

阿里乌斯引用使徒保罗在歌罗西书1章15节的话语，主张耶稣是“首生的，在一切被造的以先”，故此比一切被造物更大更有荣光，且更接近上帝；但终究仍是天父所造的被造物，虽先于太初，终在上帝之后。并且，耶稣并不与生俱来任何诸如永生、权柄、无上智慧、良善与纯洁等神性，而是从父那里领受了足够的智慧与光而得以向世人彰显出圣父。尽管阿里乌斯仍称耶稣为神，但听起来那更像是一种单纯的尊称。

作为一个经验丰富的宣传家，阿里乌斯熟练地利用了自己的说服力，以浅显易懂的歌曲和精炼的言语为媒介，大力传播自己的教理，以致街头巷尾无人不知，其歌曲甚至被渔夫一类的平民广为传唱。

Arius has also been invited to atten and, in the middle of his explanation of his beliefs, he broke into a chant of his teachings that was sung by his followers. It included thr phrase, “The Son is not equal to the Father”, causing consternation and fury among the bishops present.

图 2. 从《The Story of Christianity—2000 Years of Faith》一书中可见阿里乌斯教派的迅速传播招致了其他主教的强烈反对。2)

反对阿里乌斯主义的主张

亚历山大的亚历山大主教

亚历山大教区的主教亚历山大在一场会议上谴责并开除了阿里乌斯。从亚历山大教区被开除的阿里乌斯辗转到了巴勒斯坦地区，四处游说、拉拢其他东方教会的各主教。当时，有不少基督徒领袖被能言善辩的阿里乌斯说服。

亚历山大的亚他那修执事

亚历山大有一位名叫亚他那修的年轻执事，是阿里乌斯的劲敌。亚他那修坚持基督与上帝是同等的。除了全能的神，谁能将我们的形象改变成与神相似呢？上帝成为肉身，取了我们的形象，借此将我们变化成他的形象。

Athanasius discerned the true greatness of the issue, in regard to Christianity – and to Christ. He knew that while Arianism promised much to various minds … yet in fact it was radically incoherent, offered no permanent standing-ground, conceded either too much or too little as to the position of the Saviour, showed an apparent tendency to Ditheism, and therefore an affinity to Paganism, sought to measure the Infinite by human formulas, … He saw therefore, that what was really involved was the belief in a really Divine Redeemer; and that Arianism was working in the interests of non-Christian thought, and of heresy such as of old had been stigmatized as ‘God denying.’

图 3. 《The orations of St. Athanasius against the Arians: according to the Benedictine text; with an account of his life》的记录中，可以看出亚他那修对于阿里乌斯教义的强烈反对。4)

阿里乌斯主义成为世界难题

随着阿里乌斯的支持者人数迅速增长，从使徒时代起传下来的关于基督神性的传统信仰受到了挑战。阿里乌斯的支持者与正统信仰的拥护者因此成为了针锋相对的仇敌。根据当时的记载，信仰上的冲突造成的流血事件不在少数。阿里乌斯主义成为四处遍布蔓延的难题，暴力与分裂的种子在基督教内部萌芽。

While Athanasius denounced the Arians for lowering Christ to the point that his majesty and saving power would be lost, the Arians accused Athanasiud and Marcellus of raising him to the point that his love (and God’s majesty) would be lost. These fears may, indeed, have been one key to the violent mobilizations of the era, since each side perceived the other as a threat to fulfillment of its most deep-rooted and imperative needs.

图 4. 根据《When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome》一书记录，阿里乌斯信徒和传统基督徒不同的信仰导致了频繁的暴力冲突。5)

尼西亚宗教会议的必要

公元325年，为了平息阿里乌斯主义造成的混乱，罗马皇帝君士坦丁在现今为土耳其的尼西亚地区召开了一次宗教会议。超过300名主教从世界各地聚集来参与了这场史无前例的世界性宗教会议。

It was a spectacular occasion. Over 300 bishops gathered from across the world from Gual to Persia (though only a handful came from the west), along with countless lesser clergy and laypeople. Many proudly bore disfigurements and injuries from the great persecution, coming to fight for the faith they had suffered for.

图 5.《A Short History of Christianity》一书中对尼西亚会议的描述。6)

为了处置阿里乌斯，君士坦丁命令出席会议的300名主教制定出反阿里乌斯的信条让所有基督徒服从，以此彻底铲除异端。宣称上帝与耶稣基督同本同质的“尼西亚信经”由此应运而生。

‘Consubstantial’ (homoousios) had been introduced to Christian theology by Gnostics who believed that the heavenly powers shares in the divine fullness. Similarly Origen probably applied it to the Son as a true offspring of the Father, but later bishops had been unhappy about its implications. For many at Nicaea it probably implied that the Son was no less divine that the Father; that the two were equally divine, as an earthly father and son are equally human.

图 6. 《A Lion Handbook—The History of Christianity》中对于尼西亚会议争论内容的记述.7)

甚至君士坦丁本人也参与到其中，贡献了如下语句：圣子与圣父同质。与会的多数人最终认可了这个模棱两可的说法。

But some bishops hesitated at the Council, and many more reached in alarm afterwards, from fear that the Greek word homoousios split the Godhead into two as if it were a material substance.

图 7.《A Lion Handbook—The History of Christianity”》中对于尼西亚会议争论内容的记述。8)

君士坦丁命令所有主教签署信经，并威胁不愿签署的人将作为异端遭到驱逐。最终，尼西亚宗教会议谴责了阿里乌斯主义，并将阿里乌斯驱逐到以利哩古。一同遭到驱逐的还有两名不愿签署信经的利比亚主教提奥拿和塞坎达斯。

尼西亚信经的影响

最终，尼西亚宗教会议把尼西亚信经定为正统。由此产生的尼西亚“三位一体论”被广泛采纳，成为众多基督教派的信仰基础，其中不乏宗教改革之后出现的改新教派。然而，仍有一些基督教派否认基督的神性，认为圣父与圣子本质上不同。这样的教派可以说是现代版的阿里乌斯。

尼西亚信经的局限

尼西亚信经是在君士坦丁的强制胁迫下签署制定的，因此若说信经的内容是受圣灵感动后达成的共识似乎颇为勉强。此外，信经并没有涉及圣灵在圣三位一体中的角色，只是单纯阐释了圣父和圣子的关系。

由于缺乏正确理解圣父、圣子和圣灵身份的前提，关于耶稣的神性一直众说纷纭。以此为起点，人们开始无视基督的神性，各自以自己的想法解释圣经。

[Reference]

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