The First Council of Nicaea

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First Ecumenical Council of theCatholicChurch, held in 325 on the occasion of the heresy of Arius (Arianism). As early as 320 or 321St. Alexander,Bishop of Alexandria, convoked a council at Alexandria at which more than one hundredbishops fromEgypt and Libyaanathematized Arius. The latter continued to officiate in his church and to recruit followers. Being finally driven out, he went to Palestine and from there to Nicomedia. During this time St. Alexander published his"Epistola encyclica", to which Arius replied; but henceforth it was evident that the quarrel had gone beyond the possibility ofhuman control.Sozomen even speaks of a Council of Bithynia which addressed anencyclical to all thebishops asking them to receive theArians into the communion of theChurch. This discord, and thewar which soon broke out between Constantine and Licinius, added to the disorder and partly explains the progress of the religious conflict during the years 322-3. Finally Constantine, having conquered Licinius and become sole emperor, concerned himself with the re-establishment of religious peace as well as of civil order. He addressed letters to St. Alexander and to Arius deprecating these heated controversies regarding questions of no practical importance, and advising the adversaries to agree without delay. It was evident that the emperor did not then grasp the significance of theArian controversy.Hosius of Cordova, his counsellor in religious matters, bore the imperial letter to Alexandria, but failed in his conciliatory mission. Seeing this, the emperor, perhaps advised byHosius, judged no remedy more apt to restore peace in theChurch than the convocation of anecumenical council.

The emperor himself, in very respectful letters, begged thebishops of every country to come promptly to Nicaea. Severalbishops from outside the Roman Empire (e.g., fromPersia) came to the Council. It is not historically known whether the emperor in convoking the Council acted solely in his own name or in concert with thepope; however, it is probable that Constantine and Sylvester came to an agreement (see POPE ST. SYLVESTER I). In order to expedite the assembling of the Council, the emperor placed at the disposal of thebishops the public conveyances and posts of the empire; moreover, while the Council lasted he provided abundantly for the maintenance of the members. The choice of Nicaea was favourable to the assembling of a large number ofbishops. It was easily accessible to thebishops of nearly all the provinces, but especially to those ofAsia,Syria, Palestine,Egypt,Greece, and Thrace. The sessions were held in the principal church, and in the central hall of the imperial palace. A large place was indeednecessary to receive such an assembly, though the exact number is not known withcertainty.Eusebius speaks of more than 250bishops, and later Arabicmanuscripts raise the figure to 2000 - an evident exaggeration in which, however, it is impossible to discover the approximate total number ofbishops, as well as of thepriests,deacons, andacolytes, of whom it is said that a great number were also present.St. Athanasius, a member of the council speaks of 300, and in his letter "Ad Afros" he says explicitly 318. This figure is almost universally adopted, and there seems to be no good reason for rejecting it. Most of thebishops present were Greeks; among the Latins weknow onlyHosius of Cordova, Cecilian of Carthage, Mark of Calabria, Nicasius ofDijon, Donnus of Stridon in Pannonia, and the two Romanpriests, Victor and Vincentius, representing thepope. The assembly numbered among its most famous members St. Alexander of Alexandria,Eustathius of Antioch,Macarius of Jerusalem,Eusebius of Nicomedia,Eusebius of Caesarea, andNicholas of Myra. Some had suffered during the lastpersecution; others were poorly enough acquainted withChristiantheology. Among the members was a youngdeacon,Athanasius of Alexandria, for whom this Council was to be the prelude to a life of conflict and ofglory (seeST. ATHANASIUS).

The year 325 is accepted without hesitation as that of the First Council of Nicaea. There is less agreement among our early authorities as to the month and day of the opening. In order to reconcile the indications furnished bySocrates and by the Acts of theCouncil of Chalcedon, thisdate may, perhaps, be taken as 20 May, and that of the drawing up of the symbol as 19 June. It may be assumed without too great hardihood that thesynod, having been convoked for 20 May, in the absence of the emperor held meetings of a lesssolemn character until 14 June, when after the emperor's arrival, the sessions properly so called began, the symbol being formulated on 19 June, after which various matters - the paschal controversy, etc. - were dealt with, and the sessions came to an end 25 August. The Council was opened by Constantine with the greatest solemnity. The emperor waited until all thebishops had taken their seats before making his entry. He was clad in gold and covered with precious stones in the fashion of an Oriental sovereign. A chair of gold had been made ready for him, and when he had taken his place thebishops seated themselves. After he had been addressed in a hurriedallocution, the emperor made an address in Latin, expressing his will that religious peace should be re-established. He had opened the session as honorary president, and he had assisted at the subsequent sessions, but the direction of thetheological discussions was abandoned, as was fitting, to theecclesiastical leaders of the council. The actual president seems to have beenHosius of Cordova, assisted by thepope'slegates, Victor and Vincentius.

The emperor began by making thebishops understand that they had a greater and better business in hand than personal quarrels and interminable recriminations. Nevertheless, he had to submit to the infliction of hearing the last words of debates which had been going on previous to his arrival.Eusebius of Caesarea and his twoabbreviators,Socrates andSozomen, as well asRufinus andGelasius of Cyzicus, report no details of thetheological discussions. Rufinus tells us only that daily sessions were held and that Arius was often summoned before the assembly; his opinions were seriously discussed and the opposing arguments attentively considered. The majority, especially those who wereconfessors of theFaith, energetically declared themselves against the impious doctrines of Arius. (For the part played by the Eusebian third party, seeEUSEBIUS OF NICOMEDIA. For theCreed of Eusebius, seeEUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA.) St. Athanasius assures us that the activities of the Council were nowise hampered by Constantine's presence. The emperor had by this time escaped from the influence ofEusebius of Nicomedia, and was under that ofHosius, to whom, as well as to St. Athanasius, may be attributed a preponderant influence in the formulation of the symbol of the First Ecumenical Council, of which the following is a literal translation:

Webelieve in oneGod the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible; and in oneLord Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, that is, of thesubstance [ek tes ousias] of the Father,God ofGod, light of light,true God oftrue God, begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father [homoousion to patri], through whom all things were made both inheaven and on earth; who for us men and oursalvation descended, was incarnate, and was made man, suffered and rose again the third day,ascended into heaven and cometh to judge the living and the dead. And in theHoly Ghost. Those who say: There was a time when He was not, and He was not before He was begotten; and that He was made out of nothing (ex ouk onton); or who maintain that He is of anotherhypostasis or another substance [than the Father], or that theSon of God iscreated, or mutable, or subject to change, [them] theCatholicChurchanathematizes.

The adhesion was general and enthusiastic. All thebishops save five declared themselves ready to subscribe to this formula, convinced that it contained the ancientfaith of theApostolic Church. The opponents were soon reduced to two, Theonas of Marmarica and Secundus of Ptolemais, who were exiled andanathematized. Arius and his writings were also branded withanathema, his books were cast into the fire, and he was exiled toIllyria. The lists of the signers have reached us in a mutilated condition, disfigured by faults of the copyists. Nevertheless, these lists may be regarded asauthentic. Their study is a problem which has been repeatedly dealt with in modern times, inGermany andEngland, in the critical editions of H. Gelzer, H. Hilgenfeld, and O. Contz on the one hand, and C.H. Turner on the other. The lists thus constructed give respectively 220 and 218 names. With information derived from one source or another, a list of 232 or 237 fathers known to have been present may be constructed.

Other matters dealt with by this council were thecontroversy as to the time of celebrating Easter and the Meletianschism. The former of these two will be found treated underEASTER CONTROVERSY; the latter underMELETIUS OF LYCOPOLIS.

Of all the Acts of this Council, which, it has been maintained, were numerous, only three fragments have reached us: thecreed, or symbol, given above (see alsoNICENE CREED); thecanons; thesynodal decree. In reality there never were any official acts besides these. But the accounts ofEusebius,Socrates,Sozomen,Theodoret, and Rufinus may be considered as very important sources of historical information, as well as some data preserved by St. Athanasius, and a history of the Council of Nicaea written in Greek in the fifth century byGelasius of Cyzicus. There has long existed a dispute as to the number of the canons of First Nicaea. All the collections of canons, whether in Latin or Greek, composed in the fourth and fifth centuries agree in attributing to this Council only the twenty canons, which we possess today. Of these the following is a brief résumé:

The business of the Council having been finished Constantine celebrated the twentieth anniversary of hisaccession to the empire, and invited thebishops to a splendid repast, at the end of which each of them received rich presents. Several days later the emperor commanded that a final session should be held, at which he assisted in order to exhort thebishops to work for the maintenance of peace; he commended himself to theirprayers, and authorized the fathers to return to theirdioceses. The greater number hastened to take advantage of this and to bring the resolutions of the council to theknowledge of their provinces.

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