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Irenaeus was the first to argue that the "proto-orthodox" position was the same faith that [[Jesus]] gave to the [[apostle]]s, and that the identity of the apostles, their successors, and the teachings of the same were all well known public knowledge. This was therefore an earlier argument on the basis of [[Apostolic succession|Apostolic Succession]]. Irenaeus' opponents claimed to have received secret teachings from Jesus via other apostles which were not publicly known. ([[Gnosticism]] is predicated on the existence of hidden knowledge, but brief references to private teachings of Jesus have also survived in the canonic Scripture.) Irenaeus' opponents also claimed that the wellsprings of divine inspiration were not dried up, the doctrines of continuing revelation.
Before 325 AD, the "heretical" nature of some beliefs was a matter of much debate within the churches. In the early church, heresies were sometimes determined by a selected council of bishops, or [[ecumenical council]], such as the [[First Ecumenical Council|First Council of Nicaea]]. After 325 AD, some opinion was formulated as [[dogma ]] through the ''canons'' promulgated by the councils. Each phrase in the [[Nicene Creed]], which was hammered out at the Council of Nicaea, addresses some aspect that had been under passionate discussion and closes the books on the argument, with the weight of the agreement of over 300 carefully selected bishops from around the empire. However, that did not prevent the [[Arianism|Arians]] who were defeated at the council of 325 from dominating most of the church for the greater part of the fourth century, often with the aid of Roman emperors who favored them. In the East, the successful party of [[Cyril of Jerusalem|Cyril]] cast out [[Nestorius]] and his followers as heretics and collected and burned his writings.
The church had little power to actually punish heretics in the early years, other than by [[excommunication]], a spiritual punishment, or, as in the case of [[Arius]], assassination (Though this would me a matter of contention, as he was supported by the Royalty, and his end was rather strange. It is described as thus: As Arius was journeying to cocelebrate the [[Divine Liturgy]] with the Bishop, who had be pressured into doing such as a sign to the people that there wasn't really any difference between Arian and Church belief, tradition tell us Arius stopped to use the facilities. Some short time later his follower went in to check on him, as he had taken a long time. Apparently, his intestines had passed out of him.). To those who accepted it, an excommunication was the worst form of punishment possible, as it separated the individual from the body of Christ, his Church, and prevented [[salvation]]. Excommunication, or even the threat of excommunication, was enough to convince many a heretic to renounce his views. The Hispanic ascetic [[Priscillian of Avila]] was the first person to be executed for heresy, only sixty years after the First Council of Nicaea, in 385. He was executed at the orders of Emperor [[Magnus Maximus]], over the procedural objections of bishops [[Ambrose of Milan]] and [[Martin of Tours]].
