Dictionary

Words on this page

Eucharist

‘Eucharist’ comes from the Greek word for ‘thanksgiving’. At the Eucharist the Church remembers Jesus’ last supper where he gave bread and wine to be his body and blood, a sign of his saving love. See also Holy Communion.

Holy Communion

At Holy Communion blessed bread and wine is shared, by which we receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The congregation gives thanks for Jesus’ life, his death and resurrection and his continuing presence. See also Eucharist.

Liturgy

Liturgy is a set form of words and action used for worship. In the Church in Wales (and many other churches) these forms follow the same pattern from one congregation to another. Most Anglican liturgies look back in some way to the Book of Common Prayer.

Priest

‘Priest’ comes from the Greek word for ‘elder’. Priests in the Church in Wales are those authorised specifically to proclaim forgiveness of sins, preside at the Eucharist and bless God’s people, as well as other responsibilities.

Theological

‘Theology’ means literally ‘words about God’. Christian theology involves our trying to understand and explain what God has revealed about himself through Scripture. This work is aided by the writings of past and present theologians and human reason.

Home Pobl Dewi - September 2025 A definition of divinity

A definition of divinity

Ainsley Griffiths describes the origins of the Nicene Creed, first introduced 1700 years ago

In the stifling heat of the summer of 325 AD, bishops from every corner of the Christian Church came together in the city of Nicaea (the modern-day city of Iznik in north-western Türkiye).

They came at the request of the Emperor Constantine I who, a few years earlier, had radically transformed the status of Christianity within the Roman Empire. Under such dramatically changed circumstances, proclaiming faith in Jesus became acceptable and the terrible age of persecution had abated. Thus Christians could take their place as respectable citizens of society and the Church receive honour, not derision.

But why did the bishops need to travel to distant Nicaea for more than two months of discussion and discernment? The main reason was to respond to disagreements that had arisen in relation to the Church’s theological understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Arius, a presbyter (priest) in the city of Alexandria, had been teaching that only God the Father was eternal, claiming that Jesus – “the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15b) – belonged to the realm of creation, not to the eternal life of God: “there was a time when the Son was not” he asserted. For Alexander, however, Arius’ view was repugnant: he had been preaching that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are of the same divine substance and co-eternal. The Son was no creature but “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15a), the one in whom “all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” (Colossians 1:19).

During the Council of Nicaea, the bishops discussed the divergent views of Alexander and Arius and a clear majority supported Alexander; Arius was condemned as a heretic and exiled. A form of words was agreed in order to declare the true understanding of the Christian faith, in keeping with the majority view of Alexander and his supporters.

This is the basis of the Creed we recite at the Eucharist, proclaiming faith in “one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.” To us, these are the familiar words of the liturgy, but in 325 – and well beyond – they were extraordinarily significant as the Church learned how to express its orthodox faith in Jesus Christ: “we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son” (John 1:14b).

Picture credit: Jjensen, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>