5 reasons to celebrate the 1700 years of the council of Nicea

The Catholic Church commemorates this year the 1700th anniversary of the first council of Nicea, the first ecumenical synod in the history of the Church, convened by Emperor Constantine, where today is the city of Iznik, in Türkiye.

The Council, which began on May 20, 325, was convened only twelve years after Constantine legalized Christianity. During the 250 years of persecution against Christians, when professing faith in Jesus Christ often led to martyrdom, theological disputes were minimal. Christian existence was a matter of life or death, and only adults willing to profess their faith with blood were baptized.

However, once Christianity was legalized, the cost of believing and proclaiming the gospel was considerably reduced. Then, theological conceptions that had often remained hidden could expand.

In Alexandria, Egypt, one of the intellectual capitals of the ancient world, a priest named Ario began to question the divine nature of Jesus, his origin and his relationship with God the Father. He argued that Jesus Christ was not really divine – increasing, eternal and of the same nature as God the Father – but created by the Father before time, which undermined not only the Christian understanding of the Son of God, but also that of the Trinity.

Ariana confusion began to spread rapidly. Patriarch Alejandro de Alejandría tried, without success, suppress Arrius errors and the damage they caused to the faith of crowds. Constantine, trying to remedy political instability and division derived from the dispute, wrote letters and sent an emissary to try to solve the dispute, but Ario persevere. Thus, Constantine convened the first universal council, gathering 318 bishops to resolve the controversy and restore order.

The main result of the council was the condemnation of Ario’s ideas and the formulation of the Creed of Nicea.

In his section on Christ, the “symbol” (Creed) became a direct response to Arians, confessing Jesus as “Lord”, “Light of Light, true God of true God” and “consubstantial (Homousios) with the father ”.

The Creed of Nicea would be expanded in the second ecumenical council, held in Constantinople in 381, to include a section on the Holy Spirit, the “Una, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church” and other Christian teachings that had been occasionally questioned in the interim, such as the resurrection of the flesh, the nature of eternal life and the importance of baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

Celebrating the 1700 anniversary of the Council of Nicea is, above all, to celebrate Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who by the work of the Holy Spirit assumed our human nature and was born of Mary Virgin.

There are still many false ideas about Jesus today. Pope Leo XIV spoke of them in his first homily in the Sistine Chapel the day after his choice.

“Today there are also many contexts in which the Christian faith retains an absurdity, something for weak and unintelling people” and “this not only among non -believers, but even among many baptized, which thus end up living, in this area, an atheism in fact,” said Pope Leon.

In everyday life, said the Holy Father, Christians often do not live as if they believed in the divinity of Jesus and in which he, God with us, is still very present. As he said in a famous Cs Lewis joke, Jesus is or the Lord – who says he is really – or a lunatic who believed himself madly God, or a liar who, in a beggar and deliberate way, said he was God.

Pope Leo XIV pointed out in his first homily that it is essential, not only for him, as the successor of Peter, but for the entire Catholic Church, proclaim with Peter that Jesus is the “Messiah and Son of God Live.”

We do it objectively every time we proclaim the creed. But we must do it “subjectively”, and that is why the Church asks us to proclaim it not in the first person of the plural, but of the singular. Each of us is called to bet on what he professes, as did the first Christians.

I would like to give some suggestions about how we could properly celebrate this milestone.

1. The way we profess faith on Sundays

In many parishes, proclaiming our beliefs has become routine and monotonous. Many pronounce or mutter the words automatically, not only without praying them, but without even thinking about what they say.

How wonderful it would be for us to take a respite and profess, with joy, gratitude and enthusiasm, each of the twelve articles of the creed as those who would be willing to give their lives for them and by the Trinitarian God in whom we believe. Perhaps it is also the year to start singing the creed, as centuries of Christians have done so, adorning their words with great beauty.

2. Study the creed

This to understand more precisely what we proclaim and why it is important. Nicea’s creed was formulated in response to ancient challenges. Not everything we believe as Catholics is there – as, for example, six of the sacraments, the importance of prayer and all the moral treasure of the Church – but what it contains matters and constitutes the crucial foundation of the entire faith of the Church.

A good starting point would be the first section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, dedicated to deepening what we profess in the creed. Those who want more information can consult the April 3 document of the International Theological Commission, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior: the 1700th Anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicea (325-2025)”.

3. Talk clearly about the created and try to help you understand it better

We can give a new focus on the religious education of our parishes, with children, adolescents and adults, young and old, and talk about it with children, grandchildren and godchildren. We can talk about the anniversary and its importance with colleagues and friends at work, school and other places, with the hope that this arouses the interest of others.

Pope Francis He said in 2024 that the announcement of this faith is “the fundamental task of the Church”; And this important anniversary, with the help of the Holy Spirit, can generate a new phase of mission and evangelization.

4. Live the creed

This means living in the communion of the Holy Trinity, aware of the love of God the Father, of the permanence of the Son of God with us in the Sacred Eucharist, and of the guide of the Holy Spirit, leading us to life and trying to make us prophets through those who speak. It means fighting for unity in the Church and for holiness, and understanding that – for being the Catholic and Apostolic Church – we have been sent, like the apostles, to try to help everyone reach the knowledge of the triune God and to be one with us, growing in the image and likeness of God, which is holy, holy, holy.

It is to fully live the meaning of our baptism. It is to consider our bodies as temples of God intended to be resurrected forever. It is living with hope, waiting for an eternal life of loving communion with God in the communion of the Saints.

5. Celebrate this anniversary with meetings and celebrations

That way we tell ourselves and all that the 1700 anniversary is not only a historical note, but something that we take seriously and consider with joy and gratitude.

Why not celebrate parties on “Nicea 1700” in our parishes, houses and courtyards?

We can invite not only our Catholic brothers, but also our Orthodox and Protestant brothers, most of whom profess the Niceno-Constantinopolitan creed on Sunday. We can even invite non -Christians to this celebration to know something about what Christians say “amen” and about what we are committed to building our lives, as the Hebrew verb suggests.

Happy 1700 anniversary!

Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in the National Catholic Register