Adnan Rashid – Where the Council of Nicaea Transpired
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AI: Transcript ©
Okay. Vishnalai, everyone. We are still in Iznik.
It's a beautiful morning.
Okay? And,
this is the last place we're gonna see
in Iznik. What is behind me,
are the remains.
These are the remains of
Constantine's
summer palace.
Constantine the great would come here and he
would stay at this summer palace from, Constantinople
and now Istanbul. Okay. So what you
can see, are some blocks
that are left. Unfortunately,
much of the palace
has been,
destroyed over time or vandalized,
unfortunately.
You can see it is literally on top
of the lake.
And I'm assuming the water was,
quite far from here initially. And later on,
you know, water reached the palace, and this
is why the basilica is underwater as well.
We will look at the basilica. So if
you keep walking with me,
okay?
So
I don't know what,
represents.
So this wall, if you can see, it
goes through the towards the city. Right?
This wall
was connected to the city.
You can see
yeah. You can see all these blocks.
They are the remains of or the remnants
of the palace
of Constantine,
who was a very important emperor,
one of the most important figures in Roman
history and, of course, in Christian history
because he's the one who
convened
the Council of Nicaea.
Now we're gonna see a very important site.
I don't think we'll be able to see
it. It's underwater.
But we can see
some of some of the the foundations,
on the surface.
Inshallah. It's a tourist site now.
It's a very beautiful city, Iznik,
ancient Nicaea,
and it's a beautiful lake.
People come to the lake
to relax
with
families, and we are walking towards
the remains of the basilica. And I will
explain in a bit more detail
why this basilica
or why these foundations are so important
in the history of humanity.
There is a lot happening here.
There's a lot happening here.
Okay?
So once we get close, we
will explain more.
If you zoom in
there,
you can see those rocks where the birds
are sitting.
And just behind
the birds, you see
some
foundations.
If you keep following Jala
Right.
So you could see how long it took
us from the palace to this place,
about
2 minutes maybe walking.
And
I want to explain now what this place
is.
It's corned off. You can see they have
put boundaries there. And we're gonna we're not
gonna go very far. We're not gonna go
in the sun. We're gonna stay in this
shadow.
Okay, everyone.
So these are the foundations of
a very important basilica. We know it's important
because of the size and because of the
vicinity. The vicinity is right next to literally,
like, 2 minutes walk from
Constantine's Palace. Okay?
And Constantine's Palace is maybe
about a 100 meters or maximum 200 meters
from here. And this is the basilica. Okay.
We know this was a basilica because of
the shape, and it's underwater now.
Now
there is this very,
The basilica is a church. Right? This is
the church. Yeah. Basilica means the church. Okay.
Now there there is this opinion
that this is the very site of,
this is the very site of,
the council of Nicaea.
The council of Nicaea
where the nature of Christ was discussed by
Christian bishops.
These were
the most learned minds in
Christendom at the time in the early 4th
century. This council took place in the year
325
CE.
Constantine,
when he made
Constantin Constantinople
his capital,
he wanted
to make peace between Christian factions because Christians
are fighting each other over creed, over belief,
over Akida, for example. Right? So this is
why they were brought together from all over
the Christian empire or the Roman empire, and
they
debated
for days,
days upon days,
what is Christ?
But that is before 20. Trinity. 325.
No. Before trinity.
This is the trinity is not formalized yet.
The trinity, the doctrine of the trinity is
not formalized
yet.
There are people who already believe in it
in some shape or form, but it's not
fully
documented, not fully formalized, not established yet. So
they are still debating who is Jesus Christ,
what is his place
in,
in their religion, for example. Is he god
with capital g? Is he god with lowercase
g?
Is he, god like god the father, the
creator?
Is he another person in godhead?
Or is he just a human being who
was created by God and he's a prophet
of God? He's a supreme agent of God
on earth giving the message of God to
humanity.
All of these points were discussed here, and
there were
huge differences between bishops. Some Christian bishops, they
believed that
Jesus is God like God the father, and
he is one person
in the same being of God godhead.
So there is one being, and this being
is actually shared
by at least 2 persons, if not 3.
Because the 3rd person is not the point
of discussion at this stage in 325 CE.
The 3rd person will be discussed 50 years
later in Constantinople,
in the council of Constantinople
in 381 CE. Okay. And that council was,
convened
by,
Theodosius.
Okay? Emperor Theodosius later on. And this is
when the doctrine of the trinity
finally
is defined.
Okay? What we we we call it,
the,
Niceno Constantinopolitan
Creed.
In the Christian
theology,
in Christian history, this creed that was formalized
in 381,
50 years after this,
is called Niceno
Constantinopolitan
Creed. Basically,
the creed of Nicaea and the creed of
Constantinople
put together became
the
Nicene creed,
which which my CER is 50 years after
Jesus.
No. 3
almost 400 years after Jesus.
Almost 400
years after Jesus,
a belief is formalized by bishops,
and then it's forced upon the population. And
most people actually did not believe in this.
They were quite if not confused, they had
the belief that Jesus is definitely not god
with capital g. God with lowercase g was
not too much of a problem
in the in in the ancient world because
that that could mean an, an agent of
God or demigod or someone of lower status
to god.
To the Roman world, that's not a problem
because they already believe in many
godmen. Right? Apollo, Manoa, Jupiter, Zeus,
Heracles. You see all these people depicted on
Roman coins or Greek coins. Right? But for
the Christians to come up with this belief
was shocking.
And many of these Christians, they came from
this Greek Roman background.
And for them to believe in this,
to believe in another man god wasn't a
big deal. Okay? For the Jewish people, this
was absolute
outright
blasphemy, was Kufr.
So what happened here
what happened here in 325 CE,
okay, where Jesus was declared to be God
with capital g, God as in God the
creator,
or he is part of God the creator.
He is of the same essence.
This was the conclusion here, that Jesus Christ
is as god
as god the father is with capital g.
They are of the same being, but 2
different
persons. This was the conclusion here, which is
absolute shirk. It is it is polytheism.
It is ascribing partners to god.
Okay? And going against all the teachings of
Jesus Christ
in the new testament.
When a Jewish man came to Jesus Christ
and he asked him in the gospel of
Mark chapter 12 verse 29, we are told
a Jewish man came to Risa Alai Salam,
Jesus Christ. And he asks him, master, what
is the first commandment?
What does Jesus tell him?
Behold.
Okay. There is one god
and this one god is basically represented by
2 persons.
I am that person, Jesus Christ,
and God the father is another person. He
didn't do that.
He didn't say that. He tells this Jewish
man, hero Israel, the lord, our god is
one lord.
Worship thy Lord with all thy mind, with
all thy heart, with all thy soul. These
are the words of Isa Alai Salam, Jesus
Christ, to the Jewish man. This was the
right time to tell him, hold on a
second.
Actually, there are 2 persons or 3 persons,
let's say. Because later on, they would become
3 persons. Right?
God the father, God the son, which is
me, and God the holy spirit, an unknown
entity.
Right? There are 3 persons. But he didn't
do that. He simply declares 1 god.
Right? And who do how many how many
persons
does the Jewish man have in his in
his mind? When the word God is mentioned,
who does he have in his mind?
One God, one being one person.
Right? And at times, the Jews called him
the father as well, the creating father, the
creating father with capital f.
But Jesus endorses his belief. He tells him,
you know, there is only one God. The
one the one you have in your mind
is the true God. Right? And there are
many verses in the old, in the new
testament. For example, the gospel of John chapter
17 verse 3, where
Jesus
said that
father is the only true God.
If the father is the only true God,
then Jesus is not a true God.
If he's God, but he's not God. He
never claimed to be God. So what happened
here was basically absolute
it was a travesty. It was an advance
on what Jesus has taught. Jesus never taught
this. This was
purely the making of
Hellenic thinkers, people who were very influenced by
g Greek
philosophy. And then amazingly, the Quran alludes to
it.
Quran actually addresses the creed of Nisiyyah directly.
How? In chapter 5, Surah Surah Al Maidah,
Allah says
This is the Quran.
Those are blasphemers who say that Jesus is
god.
Another verse,
Those are blasphemers who say God, Allah, the
creator, is
one of the 3.
Allahu Akbar directly, the Quran addresses
this very spot, this very,
conclusion that was formalized here in 3/20 5
c, almost 1,700
exactly
1,299
years ago because it's 2 2024.
Next year, 2025,
will be
the 17th
17 100th 1700th
anniversary of counts the creed of Nicaea.
Okay?
So
yeah. This was, This was, 3,
25. 325.
325 CE. Era? Yeah. Common era. Absolutely. When
Constantine was ruling. Okay.
Centuries old before Mohammed and The trinity in
its formalized form is only 200, about 250
years before the prophet.
About 400 years, at least 350
years before,
after Jesus.
Isa alaihi wasallam has nothing to do with
it.
He did not preach it. He did not
teach it. He did not tell it. He
did not say it.
It was the making of
Christians
who had become Christians
in the Roman world, Greco Roman world. Greco
Roman world means,
the world that was influenced by the Greek,
history and culture and the Roman culture.
So these
Greco Roman thinkers who had become Christians
imposed Greco Roman thought and and and philosophy
on
a religion that was for the Israelites.
It was primarily an Israelite religion. Jesus did
not come for the Romans.
He categorically states in the gospel of Matthew
chapter 15 verse 24, I was sent to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
I wasn't sent for anyone else. Later on,
it was claimed on his behalf that no
he was actually sent for the whole of
humanity.
And,
there is another verse in the gospel of
Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 that Jesus is
alleged to have said, go in the world
and baptize
them in the name of the father, the
son, and the holy spirit.
But he never taught that. Because if he
did,
later on in the book of acts, we
are told his disciples were baptizing people in
the name of Jesus only,
not God the father, not the Holy Spirit.
Jesus only. So clearly, there's a problem somewhere.
Someone's making things up and adding them into
the text of the Bible. Right?
So cut the long story short, this is
a very huge topic. I want to recommend
a book for those who want to study
what happened here exactly in 325 CE. And
I believe this is very likely to be
the site where those debates took place. The
bishops stayed here for months, for days. Okay?
And they would come here and they would
they would debate every day. And then Constantine
actually forced
all the bishops to sign up to one
creed that was issued here in 3/20 5
CE. Even though majority of the bishops were
against it, they did not want to sign.
They were forced by Constantine
to sign. 2 people did not sign,
Arius
and another bishop. I forgot his name.
Right? They were banished.
They were banished. They were exiled.
And the remaining bishops, about 318
bishops,
they signed
signed up to the creed. And then to
cancel this creed,
another council was held elsewhere.
Okay.
And a larger number of bishops attended, and
they condemned
the Council of Nicaea,
which is not talked about very much in
history because this was the creed which was
later on upheld by later Roman emperors because
they were Trinitarians like Theodosius.
And other other councils were kind of brushed
under the carpet. Oh, they're they're not even
though a larger number of bishops attended those
con those councils, they were brushed under the
carpet.
So to see all all these details, j
j n d Kelly
j n d Kelly.
And the book is a history of early
Christian doctrines. It's a very, very important book
to understand how these Christian doctrines were developed
historically.
Okay. On that note, are there any questions?
So this is just the remains over This
is what remains. If you zoom in,
or to on these rocks
just behind the grill, you will see yeah.
This this looks like a square, but it's
actually a basilica. So if you look at
it from top, if you have an aerial
view, you will see the shape, which is
exactly the shape of a basilica. There is
an altar. Okay?
And it's like a square or rectangular
shape.
It was a church. It was a church,
and it is since gone, unfortunately. It's It's
been vandalized or because water came up and
it was underwater, so maybe it was abandoned
over time, and people took the building materials
from it. Maybe blocks and rocks and bricks
were taken away for building elsewhere.
This is what's this is what happened to
many of many ancient sites
in the world. Other than the Greek influence,
or is there any physical benefit for the
Constantine to push this thing on Yes. There
is physical benefit for Constantine. Constantine
pushed for this creed because he wanted to
unite the Christians.
He he was not interested in the in
the theology. He wasn't very learned in it.
He said to * with your theology, to
* with your differences, I want a united
Christian community in my realm so that I
can I can rule,
in peace, and I can use you guys
for my ends? Right? So Constantine was a
politician. He was an emperor. He didn't want
them to fight each other. Okay? Because there
was a there were a lot of divisions.
And he had allegedly become a Christian by
this time. Right? We we had division,
before the battle of Melvin Bridge. It's a
very famous anecdote,
that he saw a vision,
and he saw the cross
on the horizons, and that's why he accepted
Christianity.
So these are claims made. But it is
said that on his deathbed,
he
basically effectively disowned what happened here because
he was baptized on his death by bed
by a bishop called,
Eusebius of Nicomedia.
Eusebius of Nicomedia was an Arian.
He was against
the conclusions
of what happened there, where Jesus was declared
to be God with capital g. Arians did
not agree with that. Arians were of the
opinion that Jesus was simply a creation of
God.
He was not if if he's created, then
he cannot be God.
This was the logic. If Jesus was created,
if he has a beginning, which he did,
then he cannot be god because god does
not have a beginning.
Right? That was their logic. So
Constantine
died
an Aryan Christian.
This is why Constantine's successor, his very son,
Constantius,
was
an Aryan Christian.
Yes.
And
another powerful emperor after Constantius call was called
Valens. He was also an Aryan Christian
who died on the battlefield,
in Adronopo,
current day Adorne, in, 378.
He was killed by the gods. And then
after him came Theodosius,
who changed everything, who adopted the trinitarian
view, who was, somehow hijacked or convinced by
the trinitarians, and he pushed for that, and
he made it into law. If you do
not believe in the trinity, you will die.
The Roman Empire will fall on you. So
it was now illegal
to believe in
anything but trinity.
Okay?
So I think that's a very good summary
of, what happened at Nicaea. So this is
Nicaea.
That's where the Council of Nicaea is likely
to have taken place.
And, this is where Constantine's Palace was. This
is a very beautiful place, very relaxing. I
know why Constantine would have built a palace
there,
and, avoid the people swimming, please.
I'm speaking to cameraman because,
you know, just,
we don't want that to be in the
video.
And you can see it's all surrounded by
mountains. So this was a summer
chilling place, as I say. You know, this
is where he would come and do his
business,
in more in a more relaxed environment.
Imagine Constantine
had to come here
to relax. So even at his time, Constantinople
was,
was busy.
How how about today? Is is is so
much
or too much? Okay. Thank you so much.
And now we will make our way to
Sogoth
to look at Ghazi Ertugrul's tomb, and then
inshallah on to Bursa.