First Council of Nicaea

In 325 St. Constantine gathered about three hundred bishops at Nicaea to settle the teaching of Arius, a priest of Alexandria who said the Son of God was a created being. The council confessed that the Son is “of one essence with the Father,” true God from true God, and wrote the first part of the Creed we say at every Liturgy. It also set the way the date of Pascha is calculated. St. Nicholas and St. Spyridon were there by tradition, and young deacon Athanasius came with his bishop. Today Nicaea is İznik in Turkey, and its old church of Hagia Sophia is where the Seventh Council later met.

• Date: 325