In AD 325 a meeting took place in the small town of Nicaea, in the Eastern Roman Empire, the Asian side of modern-day Turkey. This was no ordinary meeting. It was the first council of the whole Christian church, bringing together bishops from across the Roman empire – even as far as India. But it was not called by the Church, it was convened by the emperor Constantine. It took place over several months, eventually producing the Nicene Creed, perhaps the most significant written document in Christian history apart from the Bible.
This year, 2025, marks the 1,700th year since the council of Nicaea, the first of a series of Councils which would define the course of Christian faith, doctrine, and unity for centuries to come. Most churches today still regularly recite the Nicene Creed, and it remains one of the only statements of faith recognised jointly by the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant branches of Christianity today – indeed even ‘defining’ whether a church is truly Christian.
The Council of Nicaea marks a watershed moment in Christian history – the moment when the church became linked with the power of empire – rising from obscurity and persecution to authority and influence, a Church-State synthesis which would dominate Western civilization for over 1,000 years – known as ‘Christendom’.
It’s unlikely that any of the Nicene bishops knew this was happening – it took generations to unfold. Rather, they welcomed this opportunity to meet at the behest of the first emperor friendly to Christianity. Constantine did embrace this new faith, but his motives were also political. He needed to unify a fractious empire, and the best way to achieve this was to unify an equally fractious religion; to stop fighting the wildfire spread of Christianity and bring it into the orbit of governance. To achieve this, he needed to bring consensus to a church in upheaval over a key doctrinal question – the nature of Christ, and Christ’s relationship to the Father.
Nicaea brought to a head the emerging power-struggle between two competing views of Christ – one as equal to the Father in all ways, the other as subservient, a created being from whom all else was created (a view advanced by Arius, a popular and influential leader in Alexandria). Ultimately Arianism was condemned, but from this debate emerged our understanding of the Trinity: ‘We believe in one God… Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’
