History of Christianity

==== Heresy and the Ecumenical councils (325–681) ====
{{Main|First seven ecumenical councils}}{{See also|Arianism|Arian controversy|Nestorian schism|Monophysitism}}
{{Further|Diversity in early Christian theology|Germanic Christianity|Gothic Christianity}}
[[File:Ariusz.JPG|thumb|Imagined portrait of [[Arius]]; detail of a [[Cretan School]] [[icon]], {{circa|1591}}, depicting the [[First Council of Nicaea]]|alt=this is a photo of a detail from an icon by the Cretan school, painted around 1591, depicting Arius at the First Council of Nicaea holding his head as if in pain]] 
From the fourth century on, [[seven ecumenical councils]] were convened to resolve theological controversies.{{sfn|Lyman|2007|p=298}} The first major disagreement was between [[Arianism]], which said the divine nature of Jesus was not equal to the Father's, and [[Trinity|orthodox trinitarianism]] which says it is equal. Arianism spread throughout most of the Roman Empire from the fourth century onwards.{{sfn|Berndt|Steinacher|2014}} The [[First Council of Nicaea]] was called by Constantine in (325) to address it and other disagreements. Representatives of some 150 episcopal sees in Asia Minor attended along with many others.{{sfn|Trombley|2007|p=abstract}} Nicaea and the [[First Council of Constantinople]] (381) resulted in a condemnation of Arian teachings and produced the [[Nicene Creed]].{{sfn|Berndt|Steinacher|2014}}{{sfn|Kohler|Krauss|1906}}

The [[Council of Ephesus|Third]] (431), [[Council of Chalcedon|Fourth]] (451), [[Second Council of Constantinople|Fifth]] (583) and [[Third Council of Constantinople|Sixth ecumenical councils]] (680{{Endash}}681) are characterized by attempts to explain Jesus' human and divine natures.{{sfn|Sabo||2018|p=vii}} The category of ‘[[schism]]’ developed as a middle ground, so as not to exclude all who disagreed as ‘heretic’.{{sfn|Lyman|2007|pp=297–298}} Schisms within the churches of the Nicene tradition broke out after the [[Council of Chalcedon]] in 451.{{sfn|Löhr|2007|p=abstract}}