Christians of nearly every denomination are observing the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, which cannot be overestimated in importance in the history of Christianity.
While the Council of Nicaea — which met from May to July 325, in Nicaea, present-day İznik, Turkey — is unique in many ways, councils were not a unique phenomenon in early Christianity.
From the very beginning, the followers of Jesus and their leaders met to discuss matters of importance. The first record of such a meeting is found in Acts 15:1-29, estimated to have taken place between the years 48 and 50. The question at hand was the status of the community of non-Jewish believers emerging from the preaching of Paul. Were these Gentile Christians to be required to follow the Law of Moses as were Jewish Christians? Peter spoke in favor of accepting Gentile believers without requiring them to follow Mosaic Law. James spoke after Peter and judged that no extra burden be imposed on Gentile converts.
Even during centuries of persecution, Christians gathered in formal councils and synods to discuss issues of importance.
The councils of Rome (155, 193 and others), Iconium (258), and Arabia (246) are just three examples of assemblies held even when Christianity was not legal in the Roman Empire. By the fourth century, the situation began to change radically. The effective persecutor of Christianity, Emperor Diocletian, who reigned from 284 to 305, restructured the empire, dividing it into four self-governing units, called tetrarchies. A time of competition, struggle and confusion ensued; at one time, seven people claimed to be emperor of Rome. This context is important to understand the emergence of Constantine as the sole emperor by 324.
From at least the time of his father’s death in 306, when Constantine was proclaimed emperor by the troops in Eboracum, present-day York, England, Constantine saw himself in a special relationship with the God of the Christians. This relationship was cemented when Constantine attributed his famous victory over his rival Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge (28 October 312) to the Christian God in “whose name he conquered.”
Several things need to be clear. Constantine was deeply involved in Christian issues before he founded his new capital of New Rome, commonly called Constantinople, on the site of the ancient Greek port of Byzantium. As early as 314, he called the Christian Synod of Arles. Far better known is that it was he, as the unchallenged emperor of Rome, who convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325. He helped set its agenda, and promulgated its decisions. It is generally held that Constantine did these things before he was baptized.
Constantine saw the Christian God as the source of his success. Having experienced the centrifugal chaos that almost tore the empire apart under the tetrarchies, unity — even among Christians — was a top priority for Constantine. Arianism, a belief that denied the divinity of Christ, had emerged during Constantine’s reign as a serious threat to the unity of Christianity, and a divided Christian populace did not bode well for the recently regained unity of the empire.
It would be unfair and unverifiable to attribute solely political aims to Constantine’s involvement in Nicaea. To see no political aims, however, is naïve and probably demands far more theological acumen vis-à-vis the theological issues of the council than he had.
As mentioned above, the Council of Nicaea, convoked and presided by the emperor, was by no means the first Christian council. However, it was the first of what would become known as the “ecumenical councils,” which became a central — though not always centralizing — part of Christianity’s history and self-understanding.
Although every council was named for the place in which it was held, the most important ones were called ecumenical, meaning general or inclusive. The term is from the Greek “oikouménē gē” (οἰκουμένη γῆ), meaning “the inhabited civilized world.” With time, it also took on the meaning of orthodox and in communion.
Most Christian churches accept the first seven councils: First Nicaea (325); First Constantinople (381); Ephesus (431); Chalcedon (451); Second Constantinople (553); Third Constantinople (680-681); and Second Nicaea (787). Each of these councils was convoked by the Roman emperor and took place in the eastern part of the empire, which included much of the Eastern Mediterranean world.
However, despite the immense importance of the ecumenical councils, something ominous can also be noted. Almost each council dealt with teachings considered heterodox, that is, heretical and unacceptable and thought of as threats to the unity of the empire. Violations against the unity of creed (belief), cult (worship), and code (canon law) had a religious and political impact. Heresy and treason became siblings.
The “acta” or decrees of most councils, including Nicaea, include anathemas (or excommunications) directed at one or another Christian group considered heterodox. What was not clearly noticed until modern times was that the “oikouménē,” underpinning ecumenical councils, was shrinking with every council.
The current situation shows the success and limits that attempts at unity have experienced in the past 1,700 years. The Catholic Church recognizes 21 ecumenical councils. The first seven of these councils are accepted in common with the Orthodox churches of the Byzantine tradition, which accept no other council as ecumenical. The Oriental Orthodox churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ge’ez and Syriac) accept three councils: First Nicaea, First Constantinople and Ephesus. The Church of the East accepts First Nicaea and First Constantinople. The churches of the Reformation in the West — Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and others — go separate ways in which councils they accept.
The 1,700th anniversary is a time for both celebration and deep reflection. The goal of unity, so important to both Constantine and the participants of Nicaea, remains a central goal — and a challenge — for Christians. The World Council of Churches lists 356 member churches. The list, by no means exhaustive, does not include the Roman Catholic Church, the world’s largest Christian denomination.
Despite Christianity’s 2,000-year inclination toward the centrifugal, there are nonetheless signs of hope. The notion of “ecumenical,” which became more exclusive over the centuries, has undergone a complete reversal of meaning. What once referred to a group of Christians already in communion to the exclusion of others now refers to a group of Christians working to restore a fractured communion. Perhaps Nicaea’s goal and Christ’s prayer “that all may be one” (Jn 17:21) may have a brighter future.