First Council of Nicaea
The first ecumenical council of the Church, convened by Constantine, condemned Arius, adopted the Nicene Creed declaring the Son “of one substance with the Father” and agreed on a common reckoning of Easter.
- Date
- between May and June 325 – between July and August 325exact date unknown: an interval is given · duration: ≈ 2 months
- Place
- Nicaeatoday: İznik, Bursa Province, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Constantine the Great, Arius, Roman Empire
- Threads
- Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Council of Nicaea; Nicene Council; Никейский собор; I Вселенский собор
The dispute between Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria who taught that the Son was created by the Father, and his bishop Alexander had divided the eastern churches. Constantine summoned the bishops to Nicaea in Bithynia and attended the opening himself. Some 250–300 bishops came, overwhelmingly from the East (tradition speaks of 318); Hosius of Corduba may have presided. The council opened on 20 May or perhaps in June and closed in the summer of 325.
It adopted a creed built around the word homoousios (“of one substance”), which all but two bishops signed; Arius was exiled. The council also issued twenty canons on church discipline and set out a common way of reckoning Easter. The Arian controversy continued for decades, but the Nicene Creed, expanded at Constantinople in 381, became the core statement of faith of most Christian churches.
Connections
Related events
- Edict of Thessalonica27 February 380 · Balkans and Anatoliathe Nicene faith became the religion of the state
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatoliathe fourth ecumenical council reaffirmed the Nicene Creed
- Second Council of Nicaea24 September – 23 October 787 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe seventh ecumenical council met in the same city as the first (325)
Same participants
- Edict of MilanFebruary 313 · Western and Central Europevia Constantine the Great
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Constantine the Great
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Edict of MilanFebruary 313
- Battle of the Milvian Bridge28 October 312
Eastern Europe
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): First Council of Nicaea
- Wikipedia (Russian): Первый Никейский собор
- Chadwick H. The Early Church. — Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967.
- Карташёв А. В. Вселенские соборы. — Париж, 1963.
- Wikidata: Q133331