Nicaea, The Council of, was the earliest as well as the most important of the ecumenical councils held in the Christian church. It was convened at Nicaea, 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 Sabellianism, 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 Nicaea 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 ὁμοούσιος (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. 883.

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 Nicaea, by John Kaye, D.D., London, 1853; Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History,

¹ New and interesting information respecting the Council of Nice has recently been fallen upon in a Syrian fragment in the British Museum (Add. MSS., No. 14,528), written in A.D. 501, and obtained from the Nitrian Desert in Egypt a few years since. The Syrian text of this fragment, with a translation and notes, and some account of the MS. volume from which it has been obtained, was published, under the title Analefia Niconia, by B. Harris Cowper, London and Edinburgh, 1857; but the impression was limited to 250 copies. Among other curious pieces printed in this tract are,—(L) The Epistle of Constantine the King summoning the Bishops to Nice, referred to by Eusebius in his Life of that monarch, but hitherto regarded as lost; (2.) The Decree of Constantine against the Arians, given by Socrates in his Church History, and found in other Syrian MSS.; (3.) The Nicene Creed; (4.) The Creed of Constantinople; (5.) The Subscribers to the Nicene Council, the most ancient, curious, and complete list yet brought to light; (6.) The Acts of the Council of Nice; (7.) The Acts of Colophon; (8 and 9.) Fragments from another MS. in the same handwriting. In writing the president of the Nicean Council appeared to be addressed to Alexander of Alexandria; (10 and 11.) Canons VI. and VII. of the Nicean Council, from which it will be seen, that no allusion whatever is made to any jurisdiction of the Roman See different from that of the others mentioned; (12.) Colophon. The following is a copy of the long-lost letter of Constantine, as translated by Mr Cowper:—"An Epistle of Constantine the King, summoning the Bishops from Anycra to Nice.—That there is nothing more honourable in my sight than religion, is, I believe, manifest to every man. Now, because the Synod of Bishops at Anycra, of Galatia, consented formerly that it should be so, it hath seemed to us now on many accounts, that it would be well for it to be assembled at Nice, a city of Bithynia, because the Bishops of Italy, and of the rest of the countries of Europe, are coming, and because of the excellent temperature of the air, and because I shall be at hand as a spectator and participator of what is done. Wherefore I signify to you my beloved brethren, that ye, all of you, promptly assemble at the city I spoke of; that is, at Nice. Let every one of you, therefore, diligently inquire into that which is profitable, in order that, as I before said, without any delay we may speedily come to be a present spectator of those things which are done by the same. God keep you, my beloved brethren." (P. 21.)