Update on the Council

The Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia to my Blessed brothers and sisters in Christ at the church in Nicomedia; greetings in the Lord.

I write to tell you of the events that took place at the Council of Nicaea. Deciding on a creed was a bit of a stressful process during the first few meetings. Unfortunately, Arius, Eusebius of Casarea, and I could not convince the Alexandrians that Jesus is not pre-existent with God. However, we were able to convince them to compromise with us and there is no mention of Jesus being co-eternal and pre-existent with God in the creed that I signed. I was very happy about this because there were a lot more people in favor of the Alexandrian beliefs than ours, therefore I felt a bit defeated before the first Council meeting even commenced. I did not agree with the word “uncreated” that was included in the creed to describe Jesus, but there was nothing I could do to change it because I was outnumbered. I presented several scriptures during the Council that talks about how Jesus was begotten, but these references did not convince the bishops present. I still signed the creed although I did not agree with the word “uncreated” because I thought the consequences of being excommunicated would be more damaging to my faith.

We also decided on a few canons during the Council. The only canon I disagreed with was the one stating that women should not have any place or authority in the clergy and they should not be ordained. I voted against the creed being passed because I believe that women could be valuable assets to the clergy and we should not discriminate against women simply because of their gender. I did agree on the canons that stated how there should be some form of punishment for the lapsed Christians, there will be no more councils held to make decisions for the church, and the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus would be synchronized with the Passover celebration. I also voted for the Metropolitan bishops to have more authority over the local bishops because I think this would allow more fair decisions to be made concerning the church.

I am looking forward to seeing you all when I return home. I pray that you fare well in the Lord, blessed church in Nicomedia.