What did the Council of Nicaea discuss?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

The Council of Nicaea, held in 325 AD, was the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church. It was called primarily to address the heretical teachings of Arius, a priest from Alexandria, and to unify the Church under a single profession of faith.

According to our historical records, Abba Alexandros, the Pope of Alexandria, attended with twenty of his bishops, including St. Potamon of Heracla and St. Paphnutius from the Thebaid. He was accompanied by his young deacon, Athanasius, who was only twenty-five years old but displayed such deep learning and power of argument that his opponents were aghast.

The Council discussed several critical issues:

1. The Arian Heresy (The Primacy of Christ’s Divinity)

The central conflict was the nature of the Son of God. Arius falsely taught that the Son was a created being and that "there was a time when He was not." He argued that the Son was not equal to the Father.

St. Athanasius and the Orthodox fathers defended the truth, asserting that the Son is Homoousios—of one substance or essence—with the Father. They affirmed that Christ is "True God of True God, begotten, not made." This led to the drafting of the Nicene Creed, which St. Athanasius wrote in its integrity.

2. The Date of Pascha (Easter)

Before Nicaea, different churches celebrated the Resurrection on different days—some following the Jewish Passover and others following various local calculations. The Council decided that all Christians should celebrate Pascha on the same Sunday. The task of calculating this date was entrusted to the Church of Alexandria (the See of St. Mark) because of the Egyptians' advanced knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Every year, the Pope of Alexandria would send a "Festal Letter" to the other bishops of the world to announce the correct date.

3. The Meletian Schism

The Council dealt with Meletius of Lycopolis, an Egyptian bishop who had caused a schism by ordaining clergy without the authority of the Pope of Alexandria during the time of persecution. Nicaea sought to bring these schismatics back into the fold of the Church under the authority of Abba Alexandros.

4. Liturgical and Canonical Regulations

The Council issued twenty canons (laws) concerning Church discipline, including:

• The Order of the Sees: Nicaea confirmed the ancient customs giving Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch jurisdiction over their respective regions.
• Clerical Conduct: Rules regarding the behavior of the clergy and the prohibition of "subintroductae" (women living in the houses of celibate clergy).
• Lapsi: How to receive back those who had denied the faith (sacrificed to idols) during the Roman persecutions.

5. Celibacy of the Clergy

There was a proposal to mandate that all bishops, priests, and deacons remain celibate after ordination. However, St. Paphnutius—a confessor who had lost an eye and was hamstrung during the persecutions—stood up and argued against this, stating that the "marriage of a man with his lawful wife is itself a form of chastity." The Council followed his advice, allowing married men to be ordained while maintaining the tradition that they cannot marry after ordination.

The Council of Nicaea was a triumph for the Coptic Orthodox Church, as our Fathers, led by St. Athanasius, were the chief architects of the Orthodoxy we hold today. As St. Athanasius later wrote, "This is the Faith... for it comes from God and from His Apostles."