Nice

Council of, a general council of the Christian church held during the summer of 325 in Nicaea or Nice, an important city of Asia Minor. The council was summoned by the Emperor Constantine to secure the establishment throughout his dominions "of some one definite and complete form of religious worship." As a matter of fact the church and the empire, much the same thing at that day, were torn up over the conflicting theologies of Arius and Athanasius. Now Arius was a suburban priest of Alexandria. He was zealous, learned, popular, an able talker and writer, a determined Unitarian. He came into conflict with the bishop of Alexandria who held to Trinitarianism. Athanasius was a gifted priest in the family of the bishop. He and Arius were pitted against each other, and their controversy threw the churches of the empire into an uproar.

The eastern churches favored Arius; the western favored Athanasius. The emperor may not have cared whether the views of Arius or the views of Athanasius prevailed, but he wanted one thing or the other, and, above all, he wanted harmony. A division into parties was bad enough, and here was a theological division that threatened to split the empire into an eastern and a western fragment. The emperor took the ground that the difference between the contending parties was not an essential one.

In an open letter to the clergy of Alexandria he wrote: "My advice is neither to ask nor answer question, which, instead of being Scriptural, are the merest spirit of idleness or an exercise of ability: at best keep them to yourself and do not publish them. You agree in fundamentals." None the less the bishop banished Arius and the exiled priest went up and down stirring up a din that led Constantine to call the council. This was the first general council of Christianity. It contained about 300 bishops. The roll has not been preserved, but there were divines from the east and from the west. The bishop of Cordova is thought to have presided.

Antioch, Ancyra, Jerusalem, Carthage, Rome, and Constantinople were represented. The bishop of Alexandria and Athanasius were present. Arius and his friends were on hand for the fray. The actual proceedings of the council are not known. As no record has come down, we do not know whether the conclave sat for days or for weeks. Athanasius and Arius were but priests. They were not entitled to seats in the august assembly, but they were heard repeatedly. Discussions were carried on in the Greek tongue. Arius and his followers made a good showing at first. If they had not been uncompromising they might have carried the day in favor of a middle course; but, as time went by, they drove the middle ground bishops to the Trinitarian party. The west outvoted the east. The views of Arius were anathematized, declared heretical, and Trinitarianism became the official creed of the "orthodox" church. The original Nicene creed as adopted on this occasion, and for disbelief in which heretics were henceforth to burn and hang throughout Christendom, was:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is to say of the substance of the Father, God of God and Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, both things in heaven and things on earth; who, for us men and for our salvation, came down and was made flesh, made man, suffered and rose again on the third day, went up into the heavens, and is to come again to judge the quick and the dead; and in the Holy Ghost.

Subsequently this Nicene creed was amended and enlarged, just by what authority is not clear. Certain expressions were omitted, and the following was added:

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeded from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son are worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets. And I believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.