The Council of Nicea, 325

On this date in 325 A.D. the First Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church began meeting at Nicea—a suburb of Byzantium (Constantinople). At this council, three items were dealt with.

1. The doctrines of Arius of Alexandria were examined and answered with the Nicene Creed.

2. Questions about the authentic dating of Easter were dealt with. The Christian Church decided to stop relying on the Jewish community to provide the calculations and, instead, decided that the true date should always fall after the first day of spring.

3. Several universal rules for Church governance were agreed upon. Thus begining a discipline known as Canon Law.

Currently there are a few urban myths that make the Nicene Council into some heavy-handed Imperial power-grab which forever changed the course of “authentic Christianity.” These are exaggerations at best and calumny at worst. In any event, for the scholars who would like to see them answered, click here.