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Ecumenical Council

From Antioch to Tripoli,
Disorder sapped the polity,

And grew by stages to foment
A great religious parliament.

While soldiers stood with swords unsheathed,
It voted on what men believed.

Was God to be but one or three,
Or one in three — most awkwardly?

What Substance was the Logos in
While saving fallen man from sin?

The outcome wasn't much in doubt,
And wasn't one to chafe about.

Be warned by he whose body hangs:
This fraught theology has fangs.

Nicaea, 325 CE