In this lecture, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains the history of the heresies and schisms that arose in the early centuries of Christianity, showing how the Church wisely confronted them to preserve the true Orthodox faith. He traces the roots of the earliest heresies faced by the Church from the apostolic era, explaining their ideas and how the Apostles and Fathers responded.

🔹 The Judaizing Heresy (Ebionites):
This was the first heresy in the Church. Some Jewish converts tried to impose the Mosaic Law on Gentile believers, insisting on circumcision, Sabbath observance, and other Jewish customs. St. Paul strongly opposed them in his Epistles to the Galatians and Colossians, affirming that salvation comes through faith in Christ, not by works of the Law. These Judaizers, known as “Ebionites,” denied the divinity of Christ and His virgin birth, claiming He was a mere man born of Joseph and Mary. The Church excommunicated them for rejecting Christ’s divine nature.

🔹 The Nicolaitans:
Mentioned in the Book of Revelation as a sect whose teachings the Lord hated. They were linked to Nicolas, one of the seven deacons. Some accounts suggest his followers misunderstood his words, falling into moral corruption, promoting sexual immorality and eating food offered to idols. Pope Shenouda clarified that their main error was in their teachings against chastity and purity, not necessarily in Nicolas himself.

🔹 The Apollinarian Heresy:
Apollinarius, Bishop of Laodicea in the 4th century, defended the faith against Arianism but fell into a new heresy. He denied that Christ had a rational human soul, claiming that the divine Logos replaced it. The Church condemned him in several councils, because denying Christ’s human soul meant He did not take our full human nature, and thus did not redeem humanity completely.

🔹 Doctrinal and Spiritual Message:
Throughout history, the Church has fought every deviation from the true faith in the full divinity and full humanity of Christ. History teaches that defending doctrine requires wisdom and discernment, for one may fall into error while opposing another. Pope Shenouda emphasized that all theological thought must submit to the teaching and Spirit of the universal Orthodox Church.

🔹 Spiritual Conclusion:
True faith is not merely human reasoning but the faithful preservation of the apostolic truth. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church guards this faith unshaken upon the rock of Orthodox doctrine.

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