I have been blogging about Roman Catholic Church’s Pope Leo XIV celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Council and its Nicene Creed in the place where it all happened—in Iznik, Turkey (formerly Nicaea) near current today’s Istanbul (formerly Constantinople). (See “Today Is the 1,700th Anniversary of the Nicene Creed,” and “The Irony of Celebrating the Nicene Creed in Islamic Turkey.”)
In my 570-page book, The Restitution: Biblical Proof Jesus Is Not God, wherein I cite the writings of over 400 scholars, here is the section entitled “The Nicene Council” without its footnote references:
The Council of Nicaea (325 CE)
General Constantine (272-337 CE) became emperor of the Roman Empire in 312 CE. In that year, he was propelled toward that office when he achieved an inter-Roman military victory which caused him to embrace Christianity. As he and his troops marched toward Rome, they professedly saw ahead of them in the sky a flaming cross which was inscribed with the Greek words, En touto nika, meaning, “By this, conquer.” Constantine also claimed that that night he had a dream in which Jesus Christ appeared to him, showing him a cross, and commanding him to inscribe the sign of the cross on all of his soldiers’ standards. The next day Constantine replaced his army’s old standards, which had pagan symbols, with new standards having a symbol of a cross. Then they marched forth courageously and won the battle against the army of General Maxentius. In contrast, Maxentius had previously consulted an oracle for guidance in the battle.
Up to that time, the Roman world had never experienced freedom of religion. For any group of Roman citizens to legally practice a religion, Rome’s administrative authorities had to approve it. Christianity had thus far never been approved. But in 313 CE, Constantine issued an edict acknowledging Christianity as a legitimate religion.
So, Constantine became the first professing Christian emperor. He sought to unify both his empire and the Church by intervening to settle the Arian Controversy. To do so, he sent a letter to the two original disputants. In it, he said he had made “careful inquiry into the origin and foundation of these differences” and that he had judged their “cause to be of a truly insignificant character and quite unworthy of such fierce contention.” He concluded that such discussions should be “intended merely as an intellectual exercise.”
Traditionalists ever since have generally faulted this assessment by the emperor. They have deemed him a theological novice who failed to grasp the gravity of the issues being disputed. While their criticism has some merit, the emperor’s assessment of this dispute does too. Constantine’s advisor on church affairs was his friend and spiritual mentor, seventy year-old Hosius (Ossius), Bishop of Cordova, Spain. He seems to have had an impeccable reputation. (Athanasius so respected Hosius that he often called him “the Great.”) Hosius aided in drafting the emperor’s letter and personally delivered it to the two disputants. Church historian K.S. Latourette surmises, “Constantine’s words probably reflected the attitude of the average Christian layman” at that time.
In early 325 CE, under the emperor’s direction a regional synod of bishops met at Antioch to solve this matter. But they issued a polemical, anti-Arian, credal statement that only worsened the conflict. So, it seemed that stronger measures had to be taken.
So, that summer of 325 CE, Emperor Constantine convened and presided over what came to be called the Nicene Council. It was so-named due to its location in the city of Nicaea in Bithynia, Asia Minor (present Iznik, Turkey), forty-five miles southeast of Constantinople (present Istanbul, Turkey). Bishops were summoned from throughout the empire, and 318 reportedly attended. R.P.C. Hanson says this figure was exaggerated and that it “probably fell between 250 and 300.” But each bishop was accompanied by two presbyters and three servants, so that perhaps 2,000 men attended. All were guests of the emperor at his expense, and the affair lasted just over two months during mid-year.
The Council of Nicaea remains to this day the most important event in the history of post-apostolic Christianity. The Catholic Church has always described it as “the first ecumenical council” and “the great and holy council” because it was to become the first and most illustrious of all subsequent ecumenical church councils. Yet, it was not really ecumenical because almost all of the attending bishops were from the eastern realm of the empire. This circumstance reflected the decline of the West by this time, the reemergence of the East, the West’s disregard for a controversy that would not be conducted in its native tongue of Latin and that it would be a semantical argument in Greek.
The atmosphere of this Nicene gathering was euphoric. Christianity had suffered persecution by the Roman state throughout much of its history of three centuries. Now, the emperor was a professing brother in Christ who was honoring his fellow Christians. Several of the attendees bore physical scars as wounds incurred from prior judicial torture for their refusal to recant their Christian testimony, especially in “the Great Persecution” of Christians in 303 to 311 CE.
No minutes of council meetings were ever recorded, which appears to have been purposeful. Although Arius attended these meetings, he was not allowed to speak because he was not a bishop. So, his bishop friends presented arguments on his behalf. Despite legend to the contrary, Athanasius could not have spoken since he was only a deacon.
One interesting story that happened during the Nicene council meetings deflates a most cherished childhood fantasy of the Western World: Santa Claus slapped Arius in the face! That’s right. Richard Rubenstein reports that “a young Gallic bishop by the name of Nicholas, who afterwards became the legendary saint of Christmas celebrations, became so incensed by Arius’ heretical declarations that he slapped the old man’s face!” He is the St. Nicholas who became renowned for giving gifts to needy children.
(St. Nicholas was bishop of what is now Demre, a coastal Turkish city. In 2002, the Turkey-based Santa Claus Foundation demanded of Italy that St. Nicholas’ bones, which it alleges were stolen by pirates in the 11th century, be returned to Turkey.)
Despite such skirmishes, Emperor Constantine gladly assembled the council with pomp, majesty, and eloquence. The large meetings were held in one of his magnificent and sumptuous palaces, called the Judgment Hall. Since the emperor had just returned victorious in war, he stated in his opening address to the council, “Discord in the church I consider more fearful and painful than any war…. Delay not therefore my friends,… put away all causes of strife.” Note the subtle nudge of political pressure!
Like many politicians, Emperor Constantine had a hidden agenda. He was determined to form a Christian theocracy with an enforceable religious doctrine under the slogan: “one God, one emperor, one kingdom, one church, one faith.” But it never quite happened. Initial unity proved illusory and soon eluded the emperor; but dogma did not.
[Tomorrow, I will post my book’s next section entitled “The Nicene Creed.”]
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