02 — Nicaea I (325)

The First Ecumenical Council, convened by Constantine at Nicaea in 325, confessed the Son to be homoousios — of one essence with the Father — against Arius, and gave the Church her first universal creed, twenty canons, and a settlement of the Paschal date.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Nicaea I is the archetype of an ecumenical council: summoned to meet a crisis that threatened the very confession of Christ as God, it coined a non-scriptural word to guard a scriptural truth, and its faith — after a sixty-year struggle — became the touchstone of orthodoxy. This section treats the pre-conciliar Arian crisis and then the council’s own work: the Creed, the homoousios, the twenty canons, and the Paschal question. The great defender of its faith, St. Athanasius, was present as a young deacon and spent his life in its cause.

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File Description
the-arian-crisis.md Arius the presbyter, his bishop Alexander, the slogan “there was when he was not,” and the pre-conciliar crisis that forced Constantine to summon a general council.
the-creed-and-the-canons.md The Creed of Nicaea and homoousios; the twenty canons (including canon 6 on the great sees); and the Paschal settlement.

See Also