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→Opening of the Council
The council was summoned in the year 325 by the Emperor St. [[Constantine the Great]], who desired unity in the Roman Empire and thus called the Church's [[bishop]]s together to settle the raging of the [[heresy]] of [[Arianism]], the doctrine that [[Jesus Christ]] was a created being and therefore not truly the one God.
The [[synod]] had originally been intended to be held at Ancyra, but its location was moved by Constantine to Nicea (much closer to the imperial headquarters in NidomediaNicomedia) so that he might be able to participate more easily. The First Council of Nicea assembled according to tradition on [[May 20]] of 325. Earlier in the year, there had already been a council at Antioch, presided over by St. [[Hosius of Cordoba]], which condemned Arianism and its followers, even explicitly naming [[Eusebius of Caesarea]] (who is believed to have waffled somewhat on the question). When Constantine convened the council at Nicea, he did so primarily out of a desire to have a unified Empire rather than in an attempt to affect Church doctrine.
After the initial speeches by the emperor, Hosius is generally believed to have presided at the council, summoned on the scene by the emperor himself, who had retained him as theological advisor. Fr. [[Alexander Schmemann]] writes in his ''Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy'' that Constantine intended the synod to be "the symbol and crown" of his victory over Licinius and the reunification of the Empire (p. 76). In his opening address, St. Constantine describes disputes within the Church as "more dangerous than war and other conflicts; they bring me more grief than anything else" (ibid., p. 77).
