First Council of Nicaea

== Nicene Creed ==
{{Main|Nicene Creed}}[[File:Nicaea icon.jpg|thumb|upright|Icon depicting [[Constantine I|the Emperor Constantine]] and the bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325) holding the [[Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed|Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381]]]]

The Council formulated a creed, a declaration and summary of the Christian faith. Several creeds were already in existence; many creeds were acceptable to the members of the Council, including Arius. From earliest times, various creeds served as a means of identification for Christians, as a means of inclusion and recognition, especially at baptism. In Rome, for example, the [[Apostles' Creed]] was popular, especially for use in [[Lent]] and the Easter season. In the Council of Nicaea, one specific creed was used to define the Church's faith clearly, to include those who professed it, and to exclude those who did not.

The original Nicene Creed read as follows:

{{poemquote|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.<ref name="creed">{{Cite web|url=https://earlychurchtexts.com/public/creed_of_nicaea_325.htm|title=Creed of Nicaea 325 – Greek and Latin Text with English translation|website=earlychurchtexts.com}}</ref>}}The creed was amended by the [[First Council of Constantinople]] in 381.

=== Distinctive elements ===
Some distinctive elements in the Nicene Creed, perhaps from the hand of Hosius of Cordova, were added, some specifically to counter the Arian point of view.<ref name="kelly1978" /><ref>{{harvnb|Loyn|1991|p=240}}</ref>

# Jesus Christ is described as "Light from Light, true God from true God", proclaiming his divinity.
# Jesus Christ is said to be "begotten, not made", asserting that he was not a mere creature, brought into being out of nothing, but the true Son of God, brought into being "from the substance of the Father".
# He is said to be "of one substance with the Father", proclaiming that although Jesus Christ is "true God" and God the Father is also "true God", they are "of one substance". The Greek term ''homoousios'', [[Consubstantiality|consubstantial]] (i.e. of the ''same'' substance) is ascribed by Eusebius of Caesarea to Constantine who, on this particular point, may have chosen to exercise his authority. The significance of this clause, however, is ambiguous as to the extent in which Jesus Christ and God the Father are "of one substance", and the issues it raised would be seriously controverted in the future.

=== Anathemas ===
At the end of the creed came a list of [[Anathema#Early Church|anathemas]], designed to repudiate explicitly the Arians' stated claims.

# The view that "there was once when he was not" was rejected to maintain the coeternity of the Son with the Father.
# The view that he was "mutable or subject to change" was rejected to maintain that the Son just like the Father was beyond any form of weakness or corruptibility, and most importantly that he could not fall away from absolute moral perfection.

Thus, instead of a baptismal creed acceptable to both the Arians and their opponents, the Council promulgated one which was clearly opposed to Arianism and incompatible with the distinctive core of their beliefs. The text of this profession of faith is preserved in a letter of Eusebius to his congregation, in Athanasius' works, and elsewhere. The [[Homoousian]]s (from the [[Koine Greek]] word translated as "of same substance" which was condemned at the Council of Antioch in 264–268) were the most vocal of anti-Arians and were able to advance the use of the term, thus the creed was accepted by the Council.

=== Pro-Nicene leaders ===
Bishop Hosius of Cordova, one of the firm Homoousians, may well have helped bring the Council to consensus. At the time of the Council, he was the confidant of the emperor in all Church matters. Hosius stands at the head of the lists of bishops, and Athanasius ascribes to him the actual formulation of the creed. Leaders such as Eustathius of Antioch, Alexander of Alexandria, Athanasius, and [[Marcellus of Ancyra]] all adhered to the Homoousian position.

=== Arius' supporters ===
In spite of his sympathy for Arius, Eusebius of Caesarea adhered to the decisions of the Council, accepting the entire creed. The initial number of bishops supporting Arius was small perhaps only around 18. After a month of discussion, on 19 June, there were only two left: Theonas of Marmarica in Libya and Secundus of Ptolemais. Maris of Chalcedon, who initially supported Arianism, agreed to the whole creed but not the anathemas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Leo |title=The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787) Their History and Theology |pages=63}}</ref> Similarly, Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nice also agreed, except for certain statements.

=== Exiled ===
The emperor carried out his earlier statement: everybody who refused to endorse the creed would be [[exile]]d. Arius, Theonas, and Secundus refused to adhere to the creed and were thus exiled to [[Illyria]], in addition to being [[excommunication|excommunicated]]. The works of Arius were ordered to be confiscated and [[book burning|consigned to the flames]],<ref name=EB1911/> while his supporters were considered as "enemies of Christianity".{{sfn|Schaff|Schaff|1910|loc=Section 120}} Nevertheless, the controversy continued in various parts of the empire.<ref>{{harvnb|Lutz von Padberg|1998|p=26}}</ref>