Academic literature on the topic 'Council of Nicaea'

Abstract The ancient church historians affirmed that it was Constantine himself who convened the Council of Nicaea. However, a chronological examination of the contemporary documents shows that the convocation of Nicaea was quite different. This essay aims to examine the origin of the idea of holding the Nicene council. According to the available data, Ossius of Cordoba convened the great episcopal council that was to be held at Ancyra but ultimately occurred in Nicaea. Although Constantine’s participation was decisive for the success of Nicaea, the study of the historical sources indicates that the original idea of holding the council that ultimately occurred at Nicaea must be credited to Ossius.

Although Constantine was interested in the Council from a political point of view, and although he evidently got what he wanted from it, he did not simply walk away from Nicaea with the creed and consider the matter at an end. His letters written after the Council are important evidence for his attitude during it.

Most of original manuscripts wrongly claim authority of the treatise Adversus Constantinum Caballinum to John of Damascus. We applied the method of detailed linguistic analysis in order to check the hypothesis that Jerusalem monk John, the representative of three eastern patriarchs on the Second Council of Nicaea, wrote this iconophile work. Stylistic resemblance between the speech that John of Jerusalem held on the Second Council of Nicaea and sermon Adversus Constantinum Caballinum could indicate the same person as author.

Introduction. The subject of research in this paper refers to the imperial edict, conferring the title of metropolis on the city of Nicaea in 364 AD, and the imperial rescript of the same year, confirming the rights of Nicomedia to the same title and the status of the first city of the province. The documents were presented by bishops of Nicaea and Nicomedia in the course of litigation between them at the 4th Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon (451 AD). The objectives of this work are to present the translation of these documents and substantiate its correctness in comparison with other available translations into foreign languages. Further task is to identify and highlight through commenting those realities of the Roman world, which are reflected in the analyzed documents. Methods. The work is based on the application of the historical-critical method of analysing source data of the original texts, compiled in Greek. Analysis. The article deals with the dating of the documents, the peculiarities of the terms and expressions used in them, which regard to intercity relations in Roman times, the issue of city statuses and traditional elements of the provincial ceremonies associated with the imperial cult. In this context, special attention is given to the edict for Nicaea, which is dedicated to the metropolis status of Nicaea, and deals with peculiar ceremonial issues of “coronation”, “procession”, and the office of Bithyniarch. Results. The litigation between Nicaea and Nicomedia is a clear evidence of the preservation of ancient Hellenistic and Roman traditions in the era of the Christian empire. The fact that the bishop of Nicaea at the Ecumenical Council, in justifying the ecclesiastical and administrative rights of his city, resorted to arguments drawn from the sphere of intercity relations within the framework of the traditional provincial assemblies, speaks for the connection between the institutions of provincial assemblies and church councils. The author concludes that the traditional forms of urban life, intercity relations within the province and determination of the status of cities by traditional criteria were of key importance for the position of the city in the system of the provincial church hierarchy.

The article presents the circumstances of the Council of Nicaea. There was a tradition to compose symbols of the faith (symbola fidei), and to organize syn­ods. The Council of Nicaea was convoked by Emperor Constantine in cooperation with Pope Silvestre. After the victory on Licinius, Constantine wanted to arrange public and religious matters of the Empire. He was not a Christian but he was friendly to Christianity as a religion which he considered to be profitable for the Empire. He possessed the title of Pontifex maximus which authorized him to in­tervene not only in pagan cults, but also in ecclesiastical affaires. In spite of that, there were three main conflicts in that time: the date of the Passover, Donatism and Arianism. Donatism was a schism born in Latin Africa having a national background; it was a movement of the local population against the Roman admin­istration. Arianism, born in Greek Africa, was inspired by philosophy, especially by Neo-Platonism. Constantine was welcomed by the Pope and other bishops be­cause his actions were useful for the Church. People were waiting for the Council of Nicaea with hope.