First Council of Nicaea

== Misconceptions ==

=== Biblical canon ===
{{Main|Development of the Christian Biblical canon}}

There is no record of any discussion of the [[biblical canon]] at the council.<ref>John Meade, "[https://ps.edu/council-nicaea-biblical-canon/ The Council of Nicaea and the Biblical Canon]" and {{harvnb|Ehrman|2004|pp=15–16, 23, 93}}</ref> The development of the biblical canon was nearly complete (with exceptions known as the [[Antilegomena]], written texts whose authenticity or value is disputed) by the time the [[Muratorian fragment]] was written.<ref>{{harvnb|McDonald & Sanders|2002|loc=Apendex D2, Note 19}}</ref> The main source of the idea that the canon was created at the Council of Nicaea seems to be [[Voltaire]], who popularised a story that the canon was determined by placing all the competing books on an altar during the Council and then keeping the ones that did not fall off. The original source of this "fictitious anecdote" is the ''[[Synodicon Vetus]]'',<ref>{{cite book |title=Ecce homo!: An Eighteenth Century Life of Jesus |others=Critical Edition and Revision of George Houston's Translation from the French |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrDnBQAAQBAJ |author=Paul T. d' Holbach |author-link=Baron d'Holbach |editor=Andrew Hunwick |year=1995 |location=Berlin, New York |publisher=Walter de Gruyter & Co. |isbn=978-3-11-081141-4 |pages=48–49}}</ref> a pseudo-historical account of early Church councils from 887.<ref>A summary of the case can be found at [http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/nicaea.html The Council of Nicaea and the Bible].</ref>

In 331, [[Fifty Bibles of Constantine|Constantine commissioned fifty Bibles]] for the use of the Bishop of Constantinople, but little else is known (in fact, it is not even certain whether his request was for fifty copies of the entire Old and New Testaments, only the New Testament, or merely the Gospels). Some scholars believe that this request provided motivation for canon lists. In [[Jerome]]'s ''Prologue to Judith'', he claims that the [[Book of Judith]] was "found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures".<ref>{{harvnb|Preface to Tobit and Judith}}</ref> However, modern scholars such as Edmon Gallagher have doubted that this indicates any canon selection in the council.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/14345165 |title="Why Did Jerome Translate Tobit and Judith?" Harvard Theological Review 108 (2015): 356–75.|last=Gallagher |first=Edmon|date=2015 |website=academia.edu |page=369-370|access-date= November 26, 2022}}</ref>

=== Trinity ===
The Council of Nicaea dealt primarily with the issue of the [[deity of Christ]]. The term "Trinity" was already in use, with the earliest existing reference being by [[Theophilus of Antioch]] (AD 115–181), referring to God, the Logos, and Sophia<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: Fathers of the Second Century: 0107=101 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02/anf02/Page_101.html |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=ccel.org}}</ref> (Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit was referred to by several Church fathers), though many scholars believe that the way the term was used indicates that it was known previously to his readers. Also, over a century before, the term "[[Trinity]]" ({{lang|grc|Τριάς}} in Greek; {{lang|la|trinitas}} in Latin) was used in the writings of [[Origen]] and [[Tertullian]], and a general notion of a "divine three", in some sense, was expressed in the 2nd-century writings of [[Polycarp]], [[Ignatius of Antioch|Ignatius]], and [[Justin Martyr]]. In Nicaea, questions regarding the Holy Spirit were left largely unaddressed until after the relationship between the Father and the Son was settled around the year 362.<ref>{{harvnb|Fairbairn|2009|pp=46–47}}</ref> The doctrine in a more full-fledged form was not formulated until the [[Council of Constantinople (381)|Council of Constantinople]] in 381<ref>{{harvnb|Socrates|loc=Book 2, Chapter 41}}</ref> and a final form formulated primarily by [[Gregory of Nyssa]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Schaff|first1=Philip|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIAXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA477|title=A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church: Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic treatises, etc. 1893|last2=Wace|first2=Henry|date=1893|publisher=Christian literature Company|language=en}}</ref>

=== Constantine ===
While Constantine had sought a unified church after the Council, he did not force the [[homoousian]] view of Christ's nature on the council. Constantine did not commission any Bibles at the Council. Despite Constantine's sympathetic interest in the Church, he was not baptized until some 11 or 12 years after the council, putting off baptism as long as he did so as to be absolved from as much sin as possible.<ref>Marilena Amerise, 'Il battesimo di Costantino il Grande."</ref>