The First Ecumenical Council
The Council of Nicaea (325 AD)
The gathering of bishops that gave the Church the Nicene Creed, settled the date of Pascha, and confessed that Jesus Christ is 'true God of true God' — the foundation of Orthodox doctrine.
What was the Council of Nicaea?
The Council of Nicaea was the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church, held in 325 AD in the city of Nicaea (modern İznik, in northwestern Turkey). Around 318 bishops gathered from across the Roman world — many of them confessors who bore the scars of the recent persecutions — to settle a controversy that was dividing the Church: the teaching of Arius about the Son of God.
Nicaea is called "ecumenical" because it spoke for the whole inhabited Church, not one city or region. Its decisions were received by all the churches and remain binding for Orthodox Christians to this day.
Why was the council called?
Arius, a priest of Alexandria, taught that the Son of God was a created being — the first and greatest of creatures, but a creature nonetheless. "There was a time when He was not," he said. His bishop, Alexander, and Alexander's deacon Athanasius answered that if the Son were a creature, He could not save us: only God can unite creation to God.
The dispute spread far beyond Alexandria. The Emperor Constantine, newly master of the whole empire and wanting unity, summoned the bishops to Nicaea — not to invent a doctrine, but to bear witness to the faith the Church had always confessed.
What did the Council of Nicaea decide?
The council condemned Arius and confessed in its Creed that the Son is homoousios — "of one essence" — with the Father: "begotten, not created, true God of true God." This single Greek word became the banner of the Orthodox faith, defended afterward by St. Athanasius the Great through decades of exile.
The council also settled two practical matters still in force today. It fixed a common method for calculating the date of Pascha (Easter), so that the whole Church would celebrate the Resurrection together. And it issued twenty canons on church order — on the ordination and discipline of clergy, the authority of bishops, and the reception of those returning to the Church.
Why Nicaea still matters
Every time Orthodox Christians recite the Creed at the Divine Liturgy, they repeat the confession of Nicaea. The council is commemorated liturgically each year on the Sunday before the feast of the Ascension, when the Church sings of "the godly-minded fathers" who gathered there.
For Orthodoxy, Nicaea is also the pattern of how the Church answers error: not by a single teacher's opinion, but by the gathered bishops confessing together what the Church has always believed, guided by the Holy Spirit.
The legacy of Nicaea at OrthodoxIQ
Nicaea's confession is still sung every week, and its method for dating Pascha still shapes the Orthodox calendar. Explore both:
Frequently asked questions
When was the Council of Nicaea?
The Council of Nicaea met in 325 AD, from May through the summer, in the city of Nicaea in Bithynia (modern İznik, Turkey). It is counted as the First Ecumenical Council. A second council, at Constantinople in 381 AD, completed its Creed.
What was the Council of Nicaea about?
The council was called to answer the teaching of Arius, who claimed the Son of God was a created being. The bishops confessed instead that the Son is "of one essence with the Father" — fully God, begotten eternally, not made. The council also set the method for dating Pascha and issued twenty canons of church order.
Did the Council of Nicaea decide the books of the Bible?
No. This is a common modern myth. Nicaea did not rule on the canon of Scripture; the biblical canon was settled gradually through the Church's liturgical use and later councils. Nicaea's work was the Creed, the date of Pascha, and church order.
Is the Nicene Creed the same as the Apostles' Creed?
No. The Apostles' Creed is a shorter Western baptismal creed. The Nicene Creed — properly the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed — was composed by the Ecumenical Councils of 325 and 381 AD and is the Creed recited at every Orthodox Divine Liturgy.
Do Orthodox Christians accept the Council of Nicaea?
Yes, fully. Nicaea is the First of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, which the Orthodox Church receives as the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit guiding the Church. Its Creed is recited at every Liturgy, and its fathers are celebrated as saints.
Learn the faith Nicaea confessed
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