NICE

NICE, or Nicæa, The Council of, was the earliest as well as the most important of the œcuménical councils held in the Christian church. It was convened at Nicæa, a town in Bithynia, A.D. 325, by command of the Emperor Constantine, to settle the controversy which had recently sprung up in the church respecting the doctrines of Arius, presbyter of the Church of Alexandria. In an assembly of the presbyters held some time previously, Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, maintained that the Son was not only equal in dignity with the Father, but was also of the same essence. Arius charged the doctrine with Sabelianism, and boldly assumed the opposite extreme. "If," said he, "the Father begat the Son, the begotten had a beginning of existence; hence it is plain, that there was a time when he was not." (Socrates, Hist. Eccles., lib. i., c. 5.) Not a few openly sided with Arius; and the upshot of it was that the heretic had his doctrines condemned, and

himself and nine of his adherents excommunicated. The quarrel raged fiercely on both sides, and the emperor mildly attempted a reconciliation between the orthodox bishop and the heretical presbyter. His efforts proved unavailing, and in order effectually to silence the disputants, he convened the council in question. Bishops flocked to it from all parts of Christendom, particularly from the East, until their number amounted to 318. The assembly was honoured by the imperial presence; and the venerable Fathers began by accusing each other. Constantine, who seems to have displayed much good sense on the occasion, magnanimously burnt these accusations without reading them; and exhorting the disputants to peace and harmony, bade them open deliberations. Debate waxed keen; words ran high; whole quivers of logic and treasures of learning were exhausted; but unanimity was as distant as ever. The orthodox party, after selecting those passages of Scripture which bear upon the divinity of the Son of God, extracted from them the conclusion that the Son was of the same substance (ὁμοούσιος) or consubstantial with the Father. Eusebius of Nicomedia proposed a creed in behalf of the Arians, but the council pronounced it heretical, and appointed Hosius of Corduba to draw up one in its stead. This document, agreeing substantially with the Nicene Creed of the present day, received the sanction of the council and the approbation of the emperor. Deposition, excommunication, and exile were the penalty of non-acquiescence. Arius stood firm, and suffered the consequences. Twenty of the twenty-two Arian bishops, whose ingenuity was nicer than their conscience, subscribed to the creed, by foisting an iota into the Platonic epithet of their opponents, and thus converting ὁμοούσιος (of the same substance) into ὁμοίως (of similar substance). Secundus of Ptolemais and Theonas of Marmarica declined to stoop to such courtly duplicity, and boldly reproved Eusebius for his dishonesty.¹ (See ARIUS.)

The Nicene Creed, as at present recited in the communion service of the Church of England, agrees precisely with the creed drawn up at this council, with the exception of the part which asserts the divinity of the Holy Ghost. This addition was made, A.D. 381, at the council of Constantinople; and the words "and the Son," coming after "who proceedeth from the Father," were inserted by the Spanish bishops in A.D. 447, and admitted after some hesitation by those of Rome in A.D. 893.

The Second Council of Nice was held by the Empress Irene and her son Constantine in A.D. 787, and declared the worship of images to be lawful.

(See The Greek Ecclesiastical Historians of the first Six Centuries of the Christian Era, 6 vols., London, 1853; Some Account of the Council of Nicæa, by John Kaye, D.D., London, 1853; Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History,

Nicephorus. Edinburgh, 1846; Neander's History of the Church, 8 vols., London, 1850-52; and Landon's Manual of Councils.)

NICEPHORUS I., Emperor of Constantinople, was a native of Seleucia, and rose by the favour of the Empress Irene, and by his own hypocritical intrigues, to the high office of logotheta, or minister of finances. In 802 A.D., assisted by the ungrateful treachery of some eunuchs who were high in favour with the queen, he seized upon the purple. After Nicephorus had consolidated his power by the most cruel measures, he despatched a letter to the caliph Harun-al-Raschid, demanding back the tribute-money paid him by the Empress Irene. The caliph replied by devastating the plains of Phrygia; and, after various fortunes, the death of Harun-al-Raschid in 809, left Nicephorus to direct a system of universal butchery against the Bulgarians. He was surprised and slain in 811. (See CONSTANTINOPOLITAN HISTORY.)

NICEPHORUS II., surnamed Phocas, Emperor of Constantinople, was the descendant of a warlike race, and was born about 912 A.D. He was brought up in the camp, and rose by his own merit through the different grades of promotion until he was appointed magnus domesticus in 954. His military genius was first displayed in several expeditions against the Saracens during 956 and 958; but not until 959 did it appear in its full splendour. He then proposed to the young emperor Romanus II. the bold design of taking Crete, which had been for more than a hundred years the impregnable stronghold of a desperate gang of Arabian pirates. The enterprise received the approval of the emperor; and in 960 Nicephorus was laying vigorous siege to the massive fortifications of Candia, the capital of the Cretans. Complete success was achieved in the following year. He captured the city, and along with it the whole island; the inhabitants yielded to his proselytizing zeal, and received baptism; and the long-extinct honours of a triumph were revived to reward him on his return to Constantinople. But in the full enjoyment of his renown, the conqueror did not forget to follow up his success. Setting out at the head of a mighty army in 962, he forced his way through the narrow passes of Mount Amanus, and entering Syria, compelled the principal cities to throw open their gates. He was advancing in his career of victory towards the River Euphrates, when intelligence reached him, in 963, of the death of the Emperor Romanus. The thought of aspiring to the vacant throne now seized him, and changed the generous and free-hearted warrior into the wily votary of ambition. His designs were executed with a soldier-like promptness and decision. He first procured for himself the appointment to the supreme command of the oriental armies during the minority of the infant princes; then he gained over to his interest the officers and soldiers; and at length he married the deceased emperor's wife—the infamous Theophano—and assumed the title of Augustus. But Nicephorus was not so popular on the throne as in the camp. Though he reappeared at the head of his armies, and yearly made a successful invasion against the Saracens, yet the heavy taxes which were levied to support these expeditions more than counterbalanced, in the public estimation, the glory gained by them. The emperor came to be generally accused of hypocrisy and avarice. His fickle wife in course of time joined the number of his enemies, and began to plot his death. One of her paramours, John Zimisces, a brave and able general of the imperial armies, was induced to undertake the office of assassin. On a December night in 969, he crossed in a small boat from the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, and was admitted by a rope-ladder into the palace. There a band of cut-throats, putting themselves under his direction, burst into the royal apartment, and murdered Nicephorus as he started from sleep. The arch-assassin immediately afterwards married Theophano, and succeeded to the purple.

NICEPHORUS III., surnamed Batoniates, Emperor of Constantinople, claimed to be a descendant of the Roman Fabii. He served in the imperial forces, and in 1078 had risen to be commander of the army in Asia. In that year, aided by the Sultan Soliman, he raised the standard of revolt against the Emperor Michael VII. The discontented populace of Constantinople received him with enthusiasm; the weak emperor resigned his crown to retire into a monastery; and Nicephorus ascended the throne on the 25th March 1078. The new reign was inaugurated with a cruel and narrow-minded policy which soon brought it to a close. The rebel generals Ursel, Bryennius, and Basilacius, who were soon afterwards defeated and captured, had their eyes put out, and were reserved for further cruelties. Even the brave Alexis Comnenus, the conqueror of these, became at length the object of the emperor's ever-wakeful suspicions, and was forced to flee from the ungrateful court. It was this injustice that caused the downfall of Nicephorus. Alexis was proclaimed emperor by the indignant soldiery, and Nicephorus, resigning the crown retired to end his days in a monastery.