Commemoration of the First Council of Nicaea (June 12th)

St. Constantine the Great and the 318 Bishops of the Council of Nicaea Declaring the Creed

Edited by Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

On June 12th, AD 325, Emperor Constantine convened the First Council of Nicaea to settle a controversial issue, the relation between Jesus Christ and God the Father. The Emperor and the Bishops of the larger cities wanted to establish universal agreement on the proper understanding of the nature and person of Christ. Representatives came from across the Empire, subsidized by the Emperor. Previous to this council, the bishops would hold local councils, such as the Council of Jerusalem in Acts, but there had been no universal, or ecumenical, council for the “Ecumene” of the Roman Empire. 

The council drew up a creed, the original Nicene Creed, which received nearly unanimous support. The council's description of "God's only-begotten Son", Jesus Christ, as of the same substance with God the Father became a touchstone of Christian Trinitarianism. The council also addressed the issue of dating Easter, recognized the right of the See of Alexandria to jurisdiction outside of its own province (by analogy with the jurisdiction exercised by Rome) and the prerogatives of the churches in Antioch and the other provinces and approved the custom by which Jerusalem was honored, but without the metropolitan dignity. 

A Frankish Latin Manuscript Depicting the Holy Council of Nicaea Against the Arians, from the 8th Century

The Council declared the Nicene Creed (without the clause defining the Holy Spirit) -  

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible. 

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-be-gotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all Ages. Light of Light, True God of True God, begotten, not created, of one essence with the Father, through Whom all things were made. 

Who for us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became Man. 

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and He suffered and was buried. 

And He rose on the third day according to the Scriptures. 

He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father; 

And He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; His kingdom shall have no end. Amen. 

The Council was opposed by the Arians, and St. Nicholas of Myra (who would later become "Santa Claus" in Western Tradition) was noted for slapping Arius for saying "There was a time when the Son was not." Emperor Constantine tried to reconcile Arius, after whom Arianism is named, with the Church. Even when Arius died in AD 336, one year before the death of Constantine, the controversy continued, with various separate groups espousing heretical Arian sympathies in one way or another. In AD 359, a double council of Eastern and Western bishops affirmed a formula stating that the Father and the Son were similar in accord with the scriptures, but not the same, and this victory effectively sent the Orthodox Church underground for several years. The opponents of Arianism rallied, and the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381 marked the final victory of Nicene Orthodoxy within the Empire, though Arianism had by then spread to the Germanic tribes, among whom it gradually disappeared after the conversion of the Franks to Christianity in AD 496. After this time, before the interpolation of the Filioque by the West, the East and West stood united in Nicene-Constantinopolitan Orthodoxy for almost 700 years! 

A Modern Depiction of the Council of Nicaea and St. Nichola's Debate with Arius, Pre-Slap!

Hymn of the First Council 

You are most glorious, O Christ our God! 

You have established the Holy Fathers as lights on the earth! 

Through them you have guided us to the true faith! 

O greatly Compassionate One, glory to You! 

The Apostles' preaching and the Fathers' doctrines have established one faith for the Church. 

Adorned with the robe of truth, woven from heavenly theology, 

It defines and glorifies the great mystery of Orthodoxy! 

(Text edited from Wikipedia, the Orthodox Horologion, and liturgical texts published by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese)