Early Christianity

one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all,
who is above all and through all and in all’ (Ephesians4. 4–6).
In this chapter I want to explore this theme of unity in
early Christianity, looking in particular at issues of doctrine and
organization. This will involve discussion of the institution of the
church, the debate between rival views of orthodoxy (and heresy),
and the role played by bishops in emerging Christianity. I will
begin with a specific example that might suggest a metaphor for
the question more broadly. We will see that the development
of a hierarchy of bishops in the church was closely related to
efforts to preserve those beliefs that came to be regarded as true
and therefore defined as orthodox, in opposition to other beliefs
that were seen as false and therefore labelled heresy. The chapter
will conclude with a case study that will investigate how a collec-
tion of texts discovered in Egypt in 1945 has compelled scholars
to reassess questions of orthodoxy, heresy, and authority in early
Christianity.

How many bishops attended the council of Nicaea?

In the early summer (perhaps June) of 325, by order of the
emperor Constantine, an assembly of bishops met at the city of
Nicaea in north-western Asia Minor. This assembly, or council as
such a gathering is usually called, has assumed immense impor-
tance in the history not just of early Christianity, but of Chris-
tianity and the church more generally. The council of Nicaea is
regarded as the very first ecumenical council, when bishops from
throughout the inhabited world (oikumene ̄in Greek, hence ‘ecu-
menical’) assembled to debate matters of faith. Its deliberations
chiefly focused on a dispute about the nature of Jesus Christ’s
divinity, and his relationship to God the Father and the Holy Spirit

• in other words, about the nature of the Trinity. A priest from
  Alexandria in Egypt called Arius had argued recently that Christ
  was not of the same divine substance as God the Father. The coun-
  cil condemned these opinions and affirmed the unity of the Trinity.
  A statement of faith known as a creed (from the Latin verb credo,

ORTHODOXY AND ORGANIZATION IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY

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