Symbolum Nicaeno-Constantinopolitanum. Icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea with 10 men and a text of the Nicaean Creed in Greek. Wikimedia Commons
May 20 was designated as the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. The event was celebrated in many places around the world, though it seems to have made barely a ripple in Vancouver.
(The significance of the council was recognized during a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity event attended by a good range of church leaders at the John Paul II Centre in January.)
For those interested in catching up on the importance of Nicaea, I would suggest going to Mere Orthodoxy, a publication which always impresses and deserves a wider audience.
They have featured a couple of articles over the past few days and have even posted a 13-part (!) podcast series on the history and significance of Nicaea.
Council of Nicaea
Mere Orthodoxy posted ‘1700 Years Later: An Annotated Guide’ by Justin Hawkins May 20. It began:
This month marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. From May to August 325 AD, Christian bishops were convened by the yet-unbaptized emperor Constantine to settle the controversy between Arius and Alexander of Alexandria.
They attempted to do so in the creed and anathemas that they propounded:
“We believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of all things, seen and unseen;
“and in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, begotten as only begotten of the Father, that is, of the being of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things came into existence, both things in heaven and things in earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate and became man, suffered and rose again the third day, ascended into the heavens, and is coming to judge the living and the dead.
“And in the Holy Spirit.
“But those who say ‘there was a time when he did not exist,’ and ‘before being begotten he did not exist,’ and that he came into being from non-existence, or who allege that the Son of God is from another hypostasis or ousia, or is alterable or changeable, these the Catholic and Apostolic church anathematizes.”
The 1700th anniversary of the council and its creed is an opportune moment for current and future church and ministry leaders to re-visit the council again, both to teach through a creed that is (or ought to be) confessed weekly in their churches, and to familiarize oneself anew with the philosophical and theological concepts upon which the debate was decided (and, if it fits your budget and schedule, participating in an organized trip to the places where the Council took place).
Go here for the full article, which is available in audio and includes several valuable links to books – and, to this impressive resource, also from Mere Orthodoxy:
Passages: Nicaea podcast, by Mere Orthodoxy
In 2021, Mere Orthodoxy contributors Joshua Heavin and Caleb Wait wrote and produced this 13-part podcast series on the Nicene Creed, its origins, and its significance. It is an invaluable starting point for new students of the council and its creed. At 13 chapters, its length makes it ideal length for a quarter-long teaching sequence through the creed in a Sunday School class, especially in conjunction with the next source.
Nicene Church disappeared
A May 10 article by Daniel Silliman in Christianity Today notes the remarkable fact that ‘The Nicene Church disappeared from Nicaea’: “The creed set the standard for orthodoxy for 1,700 years. But no one professes the faith today in the ancient Turkish town where it was written.”
He wrote:
İznik, as the place is known today, is a town of about 44,000 people. None of them hold to the creed. None profess belief in “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages.” None gather on Sundays to worship him who “was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried; And … rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures.”
There is no church in İznik. . . .
The country is legally secular, with constitutional protections for freedom of religion and worship. There’s a caveat, though. Turkey allows religious liberty only as long as it doesn’t “violate the indivisible integrity of the State.” Officials have interpreted that to mean no new Christian worship spaces, no Christian schools, no seminaries or ministry training programs, and no right for Christians to share their faith and lead people to Christ. . . .
The area was controlled by various groups over the centuries, mainly by Muslims, but the church survived:
Then came the 20th century and disaster.
The Ottoman government collapsed with the conclusion of World War I, and the Greeks sent an army to reclaim the territory of the Byzantine Empire. Turkish nationalists rose up to stop them. And as they fought back, the Young Turks also started driving out Christians. The nationalists said it was time to cleanse the land.
In İznik, in August 1920, they killed the Christians.
Go here for the full article.
In the Middle East
His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and His Holiness Catholicos Aram I with participants of the celebration. Photo: Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia.
Not surprisingly, the Council of Nicaea was remembered particularly in the Middle East. A May 21 article on the World Council of Churches site reported:
Oriental Orthodox Churches in the Middle East held an official celebration marking the 17th Centennial Jubilee (1700 years) of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea.
The celebration took place at St Anba Rewis Theater in the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbassiya, under the theme: “Being of one accord and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). The program featured a series of hymns and documentary segments reflecting the significance of the Council of Nicaea.
Prior to the event, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II received His Holiness Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Orthodox Church of the Great House of Cilicia (Lebanon), at the Papal Residence in Cairo.
Also welcomed were other church leaders, including His Beatitude Patriarch Theodoros II of Alexandria and All Africa of the Greek Orthodox Church; His Grace Bishop Samy Fawzy of the Anglican Church in Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa; and Rev. Dr Andrea Zaki, president of the Evangelical Church in Egypt.
Representatives of various churches in Egypt and the Middle East, along with officials from the Middle East Council of Churches and the Egypt Council of Churches and the ambassador of Venezuela to Egypt, were also in attendance.
Go here for the full article.