A REFLECTION ON THE 1700TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA

A Beautiful 18th Century Icon of the First Council of Nicaea

From the Archiepiscopal Monastic Cell of the Presiding Metropolitan, ++Rogelio of Manila and Luzon

Beloved brethren in Christ,

Fathers, hierarchs, clergy, monastics, and faithful of all the Holy Nicene Churches,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever; the eternal Logos, consubstantial with the Father, glorified together with the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.

On this solemn and joyful 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the Ancient Church of the West bows its head in reverence and thanksgiving. For in that blessed assembly, the Fathers, under the overshadowing guidance of the Holy Ghost, proclaimed an ontologically unchanging truth: that the Son is truly God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten and not made, of one essence with the Father. This confession remains the bedrock of all Christian unity, the luminous center of our hope, and the unshakeable promise of our salvation.

Today, we greet all the Churches around the world who confess the Nicene Creed with unfeigned joy:

Our brothers and sisters of the Eastern Orthodox Churches; the venerable Roman Communion; the ancient Oriental Orthodox families; the Assyrian Church of the East and her daughters; the Polish National Catholic Church and the Union of Scranton; the Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Communions, though struggling they might be; and all those who, though divided by history, still hold fast to this apostolic confession.

We rejoice, for Nicaea belongs to all of us, not to any one patriarchate, empire, or ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It is the radiant inheritance of the whole Body of Christ.

And yet, our joy is laced with the gentle ache of realism.

We confess with gratitude that the Council of Nicaea offers a pathway to true union, mutual recognition, and shared life in Christ. It calls all Christians back to that ancient simplicity where truth was not shaped by empire, politics, or institutional rivalry, but by the unmediated brilliance of the Word made Flesh.

But we lament, in a gentle, loving way, without rancor, that much done today in the name of “Orthodoxy,” “Catholicity,” or “canonical order” serves not the Kingdom of Christ, but the perpetuation of institutional power. Too often, clericalism masquerades as sanctity, centralization is mistaken for unity, power dynamics are confused with apostolic authority, and the structures of the long-fallen Roman Empire are treated as if they were the Kingdom of Heaven. These wounds are not unique to East or West, nor ancient or modern: they touch us all. And in this we speak as fellow sinners, not as accusers. For the ACW, this anniversary is not an occasion for condemnation, but for repentant clarity.

The message of Nicaea is not that the Church must continually invent new necessities, multiply barriers, or impose novel categories upon the faithful. Rather, the Council teaches us that:

Truth is ontological, not political;

eternal, not historically negotiable;

received, not invented;

handed down, not engineered.

Nothing can “become necessary for salvation,” for Christ alone is necessary for salvation. Truth does not evolve by decree, synodal coercion, or ecclesiastical ambition. The deposit entrusted to the saints (Jude 3) shines with a stillness, a purity, and a simplicity that even angels cannot add to.

Thus we, the Ancient Church of the West, though small in number and humble in stature, bear witness to this immutable truth: that the Nicene faith is already sufficient, already complete, already life-giving. To this faith we call all Christians, ourselves first of all, in repentance and hope: to renounce spiritual imperialism, canonical chauvinism, and ecclesiastical triumphalism; to rediscover conciliarity as mutual submission in the unchanging Faith of the Apostles, not in political domination; to see in every Nicene Christian not a rival, but a brother or sister longing for the same Christ.

On this 1700th anniversary, may we all, both East and West, bend our hearts once more toward the humble glory of Nicaea, and in doing so, remember that Christ, not empire, is the center of the Church; that the Creed is not an artifact of Roman or Byzantine authority, but the universal proclamation of Christian salvation; that holiness is not centralized but diffused, like light through stained glass; and that the unity of the Church begins not in canon law, but in repentance, charity, and truthfulness.

Let us, then, approach one another with the gentleness becoming of those who worship the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Let us reject bitterness, suspicion, and the ceaseless polemics that disfigure our witness. Let us rediscover the beauty of the Faith once delivered, unadorned by politics, uncorrupted by rivalry.

The world does not need bigger patriarchates or stronger institutions. The world needs saints. The world needs Nicaea again. The world needs Christ, more than ever. 

And Christ, the eternal, radiant, unchanging, is already given to His Church in the fullness of faith, affirmed, received and promulgated through the Great and Holy First Ecumenical Council. 

Let us pray…

O Lord Jesus Christ, true Light from true Light, whose eternal glory was proclaimed by the holy Fathers at Nicaea: Grant that all Thy Churches may return to the simplicity, purity, and charity of that ancient confession; heal the wounds of our divisions; drive away from us the spirit of pride, rivalry, and political ambition; and make us one, even as Thou, O Son, art one with the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.

In the Love of Christ Our Consubstantial Lord, 

Metropolitan ++Rogelio of Manila and Luzon

The Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church in the Philippines 

The Orthodox Archdiocese of America

& The Ancient Church of the West