[Sidenote:  Close of the council.]

Other subjects decided by the council will not detain us long, though some of its members may have thought one or two of them quite as important as Arianism.  The old Easter question was settled in favour of the Roman custom of observing, not the day of the Jewish passover in memory of the crucifixion, but a later Sunday in memory of the resurrection.  For how, explains Constantine—­how could we who are Christians possibly keep the same day as those wicked Jews?  The council, however, was right on the main point, that the feasts of Christian worship are not to be tied to those of Judaism.  The third great subject for discussion was the Meletian schism in Egypt, and this was settled by a liberal compromise.  The Meletian presbyter might act alone if there was no orthodox presbyter in the place, otherwise he was to be a coadjutor with a claim to succeed if found worthy.  Athanasius (at least in later times) would have preferred severer measures, and more than once refers to these with unconcealed disgust.  The rest of the business disposed of, Constantine dismissed the bishops with a splendid feast, which Eusebius enthusiastically likens to the kingdom of heaven.

[Sidenote:  Results of the council.]

Let us now sum up the results of the council, so far as they concern Arianism.  In one sense they were decisive.  Arianism was so sharply condemned by the all but unanimous voice of Christendom, that nearly thirty years had to pass before it was openly avowed again.  Conservative feeling in the West was engaged in steady defence of the great council; and even in the East its doctrine could be made to wear a conservative aspect as the actual faith of Christendom.  On the other hand, were serious drawbacks.  The triumph was rather a surprise than a solid victory.  As it was a revolution which a minority had forced through by sheer strength of clearer thought, a reaction was inevitable when the half-convinced majority returned home.  In other words, Athanasius had pushed the Easterns farther than they wished to go, and his victory recoiled on himself.  But he could not retreat when once he had put the disputed words into the creed.  Come what might, those words were irreversible.  And if it was a dangerous policy which won the victory, the use made of it was deplorable.  Though the exile of Arius and his friends was Constantine’s work, much of the discredit must fall on the Athanasian leaders, for we cannot find that they objected to it either at the time or afterwards.  It seriously embittered the controversy.  If the Nicenes set the example of persecution, the other side improved on it till the whole contest threatened to degenerate into a series of personal quarrels and retaliations.  The process was only checked by the common hatred of all parties to Julian, and by the growth of a better spirit among the Nicenes, as shown in the later writings of Athanasius.

CHAPTER III.