First Council of Nicaea

== Ecumenical Council ==
The First Council of Nicaea was the first [[ecumenical council]] of the church. Nicaea "was the first time that any attempt had been made to summon a general council of the whole church at which, at least in theory, the church in every part of the Roman Empire should be represented".<ref>Hanson RPC, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381. 1988, page 152</ref> 

Derived from [[Koine Greek|Greek]] ({{lang-grc|οἰκουμένη|oikouménē|the inhabited one}}), "ecumenical" means "worldwide" but generally is assumed to be limited to the known inhabited Earth,<ref>{{citation |last=Danker |first=Frederick William |title=A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hd7bZxvlbFsC |year=2000 |access-date=2014-02-24 |chapter=οἰκουμένη |edition=Third |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-03933-6 |author-link=Frederick William Danker}}</ref> and at this time in history is nearly synonymous with the [[Roman Empire]]. The earliest extant uses of the term for a council are [[Eusebius]]' ''Life of Constantine''<ref>{{harvnb|Vita Constantini|loc=Book 3, Chapter 6}}</ref> around 338, which states "he convoked an ecumenical council" ({{lang|grc|σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν συνεκρότει}}, {{transl|grc|sýnodon oikoumenikḕn synekrótei}})<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvnb|Ad Afros Epistola Synodica}}</ref> and a letter in 382 to [[Pope Damasus I]] and the Latin bishops from the [[First Council of Constantinople]].<ref>{{harvnb|SEC|pp=292–294}}</ref>

Historically significant as the first effort to attain [[consensus decision-making|consensus]] in the church through an [[legislature|assembly]] representing all of [[Christendom]],<ref name="Kieckhefer 1989">{{harvnb|Kieckhefer|1989}}</ref> the Council was the first occasion where the technical aspects of [[Christology]] were discussed.<ref name="Kieckhefer 1989" /> Through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt [[creed]]s and [[Canon (canon law)|canons]]. This Council is generally considered the beginning of the period of the [[first seven ecumenical councils]] in the [[history of Christianity]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The First Seven Ecumenical Councils – MOLL-Y – The Method of Loci Learning – York |url=http://moll-y.co.uk/first-seven-ecumenical-councils/ |access-date=July 10, 2020}}</ref>