Nicene Council

noun

1. either of two church councils that met at Nicaea, the first in a.d. 325 to deal with the Arian heresy, the second in a.d. 787 to consider the question of the veneration of images.

Nicene Council

noun

1. the first council of Nicaea, the first general council of the Church, held in 325 ad to settle the Arian controversy
2. the second council of Nicaea, the seventh general council of the Church, held in 787 ad to settle the question of images

Word History and Origins

Origin of Nicene Council¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Example Sentences

Nothing could be more unlike the actual system of government as disclosed by the bearing of the Church of Rome to that of Corinth in the letter of St. Clement, or to that orderly division into provinces which is seen in its full development at the Nicene Council.

From Project Gutenberg

This is the meaning of the Nicene Council in the great arbitrament between the Spiritual and the Civil Powers, or, in Catholic language, between the Priesthood and the Empire.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus the convocation of the Nicene Council is the definitive declaration by the Roman Empire through the mouth of its chief that it recognised a kingdom of Christ upon earth.

From Project Gutenberg

Though these Sees were not called at the time of the Nicene Council patriarchal, a name which arose in the fifth century; yet the thing itself, and the institution which it denoted, existed from the beginning.

From Project Gutenberg

The fourth point which I will endeavour to sum up is the practice of the Church in the period preceding the Nicene Council as to the election of bishops and the other ministers of inferior rank to the bishop from the priest downwards, together with the principle on which this practice was founded.

From Project Gutenberg