The Church’s first attempt to answer Arianism was at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. Though much of the trappings of such a conciliar gathering were anticipated in Acts 15, Nicaea is generally thought to be the first ecumenical council. Ecumenical means universal, and the phrase ecumenical council is commonly used to refer to general councils of the Church. Such councils have been convoked for all sorts of reasons, but the usual reason is the resolution of a doctrinal dispute dealing with an essential aspect of the Christian faith.

By the time the Council of Nicaea was summoned, much had already been discussed about the Person of Jesus Christ and his relation to God and/or to the Father. The results of the Council of Nicaea were rather cut and dried. St. Athanasius sought and obtained a condemnation of Arius as well as the release of a creed underscoring the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Even Arius submitted to the original Nicene Creed after adding his own private glosses. Here is the text of the original Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible;
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through Whom all things came into being, things in heaven and things on earth,
Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down, and became incarnate and became man, and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the heavens, and will come to judge the living and dead,
And in the Holy Spirit.
But as for those who say, There was when He was not, and, Before being born He was not, and that He came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance, or created, or is subject to alteration or change- these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

Students should note the differences between the early Nicene creed and the Nicene-Contantinopolitan creed recited at liturgies today. The Holy Spirit’s relation to the Father and the Son is not spelled out. And the final paragraph reveals a great deal of the Arian views that the Nicene Creed was trying to address.

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