Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the 1700th Anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea
We offer a hymn of thanks to the almighty, all-seeing, and benevolent God in Trinity, who vouchsafed that His people reach the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, which bore spiritual witness to the authentic faith in divine Word. In the midst of the 2025 Jubilee Year — a Holy Year proclaimed by Pope Francis to rekindle Christian hope — the 1,700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council in Church history, held in Nicaea in 325, will also be celebrated.
Historical Significance and the Synodal Nature of the Church
The Council of Nicaea constitutes an expression of the synodal nature of the Church, the culmination of its “earliest conciliarity,” which is inseparably linked to the eucharistic realization of church life as well as of the practice of assembling together for decisions “with one accord” (Acts 2:1) on current matters. The Council in Nicaea also signifies the emergence of a new conciliar structure, namely of Ecumenical Councils that would prove definitive for the development of church affairs.
It is noteworthy that an Ecumenical Council does not comprise a “permanent institution” in the life of the Church, but an “extraordinary event” in response to a specific threat to the faith, aiming at restoring the ruptured unity and eucharistic communion. In the early fourth century, the Christological question had become a central issue of Christian monotheism, particularly through a violent dispute which broke out in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire.
The Arian Controversy and the Strict Monotheism Model
Arius of Alexandria, a theologian, advocated especially for a strict monotheism in line with the philosophical thought of his era and, to maintain such a strict monotheism, he excluded Jesus Christ from the concept of God. From this perspective, Christ could not be “Son of God” in the real sense of the word, but merely an intermediary whom God uses for the creation of the world and for his relationship with human beings. In the Letter of the Synod to the Egyptians, the Fathers announced that the primary subject of discussion was that Arius and his followers were enemies of the faith and opposed to its law.
The Doctrinal Definition: Homoousios and the Creed
The Council Fathers rejected this model of strict philosophical monotheism that Arius spread, and they set it against the creed according to which Jesus Christ, as Son of God, is “consubstantial with the Father.” Of particular ecumenical relevance are the doctrinal issues addressed by the Council, which are summarised in the “Declaration of the 318 Fathers”:
- One God the Father all powerful, maker of all things both seen and unseen.
- One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten begotten from the Father.
- True God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father.
- For us and for our salvation He descended, was incarnate and became human.
With the word, “homoousios”, the Council Fathers sought to express the deepest mystery of Jesus Christ, which Sacred Scripture testifies to as faithful Son of the Father, to whom he is intimately united in prayer. The Council of Nicaea did not “Hellenize” biblical faith, submitting it to an unrelated philosophy, but rather, embraced the incomparable newness made visible in Jesus’ prayer to the Father. The Council’s Christological creed became the base of the common Christian faith.
Ecumenical Dimensions and the 2025 Jubilee
This anniversary has significant ecumenical dimensions, made evident by the fact that the Holy Father has expressed a desire to travel to Nicaea to commemorate the event together with the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I. The Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches is also preparing for this celebration. In the Nicene Creed, the Council again expressed itself as Peter and with Peter at Caesarea Philippi: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16).