Christian sects

Their sects

Christianity, as we have already mentioned, passed through many phases, and its sects multiplied in step with the development of its beliefs, the substitution and alteration that befell them, and the disagreement over the nature of Christ (peace be upon him). Some of them died out and some perished, until Christianity reached its present form.

Since the church councils are in reality the true authors of the Christian religion in its present form, which differs entirely from what was brought by the founder of the religion, Jesus (peace be upon him); and since the first council to lay the foundations of the Christian creed was the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, we shall take this date as the dividing line between two eras in the history of the sects.

There were sects that existed before it or rebelled against it, but they were fought and their adherents hunted down to the death, because they said of Christ something close to the truth, such as:

1. The followers of Paul of Samosata, who was a patriarch in Antioch before the appearance of [official] Christianity and then embraced Christianity. He held something close to what Arius later held: that Jesus was the servant of God and His messenger, a prophet like one of the prophets, whom God created in his mother's womb without a male, so that he is a human being like all other human beings.

2. The followers of Arius, who was a priest in Alexandria in the reign of Constantine I, around the beginning of the fourth century CE. He upheld the unity of God and held that Jesus was a created servant of God.

3. The followers of Macedonius, who was a patriarch in Constantinople after the appearance of Christianity, in the reign of Constantius II.

He held that Jesus was a created servant, a human prophet like the other prophets, whom God sent to guide the Children of Israel; and that he is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, the Spirit and the Word being both created by God (48).

(48) See Al-Fasl fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal, 1/48.

In any case, all these sects and others like them have died out, and whoever believes as they did is no longer counted among the Christians today, because the Christian creed has settled on belief in the Trinity, or the divinity of Jesus. That creed has been professed by all Christians from the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE until today. The differences and multiplicity of sects now revolve around disputed points concerning the nature of Christ. The best known of these sects are:

First: the Melkites

Of them al-Shahrastani says: "They are the followers of Malka, who appeared in the land of the Byzantines and took control of it"⁽⁴⁹⁾; and that was in the fifth century CE.

Their teachings

They hold that God is a nature composed of three things: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are thus the people of the Trinity, and perhaps they are the ones meant by the words of God Most High [Al-Ma'ida 5:73]:

They have indeed disbelieved who say, "God is the third of three." (49)

They said that Jesus is perfect God and perfect man, and that Mary gave birth to this God-man whom they call Christ.

This belief was adopted by the Western Church (the Catholics).

Second: the Nestorians

So called after Nestorius, who was Patriarch of Constantinople in 431 CE.

They hold the same view as the Melkites, except that they say Mary did not give birth to God but gave birth to the man, since the created does not give birth to the Creator. Mary thus gave birth to a man whom the divine nature took on after his birth.

Third: the Jacobites

So called after a well-known preacher named Jacob Baradaeus.

(49) Al-Milal wa al-Nihal, 1/203.

They said that Christ is God Most High Himself, incarnate in the form of a man; that it was he who was crucified and killed; that the world remained for three days without anyone to govern it; and that he then rose and returned exactly as he had been.

Of them the Noble Qur'an informed us in the words of God Most High [Al-Ma'ida 5:17]:

They have indeed disbelieved who say, "God is the Messiah, son of Mary."

In their view Christ is perfect God, whom Mary bore; for this reason they call her the Mother of God. This doctrine was adopted by the Eastern Church (the Orthodox) (50).

(50) Al-Fasl fi al-Milal, 1/48; Al-Milal wa al-Nihal, 1/203-207; and Muqaranat al-Adyan: al-Masihiyya, pp. 165-166.