Council of Nicaea

The Conference was the first world conference of bishops in Catholic history. This conference established some teachings that are practiced by most of the Catholic Church today, which shows that the conference's influence was extremely far-reaching.

The First Council of Nicaea was convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine I and organized the meeting in the form of the Roman Senate. Constantine I entered the arena wearing a dazzling golden purple robe and sat respectfully behind the bishops as an observer of the meeting. Church historian Eusebius read out a meeting message at the beginning of the meeting. Alexander I, the Patriarch of Alexandria, and Ossies of Spain presided over the discussions at the meeting. The Pope also appointed two priests to attend the meeting.

The meeting was mainly to resolve differences in understanding the relationship between Jesus and the Father in the Church of Alexandria: whether Jesus was homogeneous or similar to the Father. The bishops on one side of the Church of Alexandria believed that Jesus was homogeneous to the Father, while the other believed that Jesus was similar to the Father. Constantine I attended many meetings during his deliberations. Finally, Hosius suggested based on the Nicene Creed proposed by Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea and the church historian, and adopted the key word-"The Son and the Father are homogeneous." The resolution of the Council of Nicaea rejected the view that Jesus was inferior to the Father (out of an estimated 250-318 participants, only two ultimately supported the Arians). The Creed was adopted under pressure from Emperor Constantine I and established the standard of orthodox doctrine, and those who denied doctrine were classified as heresy. The conference also formulated 20 canon statutes that expanded the powers of Orthodox bishops and made them mandatory binding on churches throughout the Roman Empire.

During the meeting, participants reached an agreement on the date of Catholic Passover (today's Easter) and decided to celebrate the festival on the first Sunday after the vernal equinox, after the first full moon, independent of the Hebrew calendar in the Bible. The council also authorized the bishop of Alexandria (presumably according to the Alexandrian calendar) to announce the exact date to other bishops every year.