Council of Antioch (AD 325)
| Date | early 325 |
| Location | Antioch |
| Number of Participants | 59 |
| Chaired by | Ossius of Cordova |
| Key Participants | Ossius of Cordova, Eustathius of Antioch, Eusebius of Caesarea |
| Key Issue | Arianism |
| Key Events | excommunication of Theodotus of Laodicea, Narcissus of Neronias and Eusebius of Caesarea (Palestine); condemnation of the Arians reaffirmed; publication of anti-Arian creed |
| Primary Source Descriptions | Letter of the Council of Antioch (Urk. 18, Doc. 20, CPG 8509) |
Surviving Documents:
Excerpt from Statement of Belief (Opitz, Urk. III no. 18.8-13 (38, 39)
Letter of the Council of Antioch (Urk. 18, Doc. 20, CPG 8509)
Bibliography
L. Abramowski, “Die Synode von Antiochien 324/25 und ihr Symbol,” Zeitschrlft für
Kirchengeschíchte 86 (1975), 356-366.
R.P.C. Hanson’s The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God (New York: T&T Clark, 1988) pp. 146-151.
M. Simonetti, “Antioch” in The Encyclopedia of the Early Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992).
Created by JCB and PSAM
Last updated: 2-10-2025 by JSW
2 Comments so far
Glen Thompson on 03 Sep 2008 at 5:56 pm #
Dear Seed Sower: The English word “priest” is the normal translation (really a corrupted transliteration) for the Greek word “presbyteros” which was taken over into Latin as “presbyter.” The word already appears in the Greek New Testament of church leaders, usually translated “elders” (e.g. Acts 14.22, Titus 1.5, James 5.14, etc.), and was used as well in the Latin Vulgate. So quite clearly the word presbyteros/priest goes back to the first century church. What scholars do debate is when the term started defining a specific “office” in the church, and when that office began acquiring certain characteristics — a rank between deacon and episcopos/bishop; fixed duties; a requirement/preference for celibacy, etc. These developments took place at different times in different geographical areas over the 2nd to 5th centuries
A Seed Sower on 27 Aug 2008 at 12:17 pm #
can you please tell me if the following is true..”church elders first began to be called priests in the roman catholic church by Lucian in the 2nd century.” thank you
A Seed Sower