What happened with the heresies refuted in Nicaea?
Though Pope Leo has spoken vaguely of some theological controversies as no longer relevant, he also made a point of warning in Turkey that, among our many postmodern problems, “there is also another challenge, which we might call a ‘new Arianism,’ present in today’s culture and sometimes even among believers. This occurs when Jesus is admired on a merely human level, perhaps even with religious respect, yet not truly regarded as the living and true God among us.”
Arianism was widespread. When the Vandals invaded North Africa, around the time of Saint Augustine’s death, they came not only as “barbarians,” but also as “Arian Christians.”
The Roman Empire itself “fell” when Odoacer, a Gothic “barbarian,” deposed the last Western emperor. Though tolerant of Catholics, Odoacer was an Arian.
Arianism appealed to soldiers, who saw Jesus as not only holy but, in his bravery during torture and death, heroic. For Arianism, Jesus was merely 'a man'.
Leo’s emphasis on Jesus as “the living God among us” also ties in with his warnings about another heresy, “Pelagianism,” which Saint Augustine famously combatted about a century after Nicaea. Pelagius believed that we are capable of following the precepts of the law without the need for divine grace.
Augustine, the Doctor of Grace, went after Pelagianism hammer and tongs, and left a great legacy of understanding how dependent we are on God, not our own will.
Pope Leo has recalled this main current in the tradition as well:
The greatest mistake we can make as Christians is, in the words of Saint Augustine, “to claim that Christ’s grace consists in his example and not in the gift of his person”. How often, even in the not-too-distant past, have we forgotten this truth and presented Christian life mostly as a set of rules to be kept, replacing the marvelous experience of encountering Jesus – God who gives himself to us – with a moralistic, burdensome, and unappealing religion that, in some ways, is impossible to live in concrete daily life.
This classic Augustinian view should not be understood as denying moral rules. Rather, it puts grace and the love of God first, which are the deep realities that make it possible for us to live the Christian life.
One notable thing about Pope Leo’s pilgrimage is his decision not to pray in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque. He took off his shoes, visited “as a tourist,” but maintained a bit of distance from Islam. And rightly so. Alongside the neo-Arianism that denies Christ’s divinity, and the neo-Pelagianism that implies that we can save ourselves, a false universalism and indifferentism – like “God wills a multiplicity of religions” – has arisen in the modern world.
Thus, the radical importance of the Faith on the one hand, and on the other, to talk as if peace and brotherhood result from dialogue rather than the only true source of charity: Jesus Christ.
Excerpts from Robert Royal - Dec 7 Sun