NICE, COUNCILS OF, the first of Which. held 325 A.D., is properly called ecumeni cal. It was convened by the emperor Constantine who, with the invitation sent to each bishop, provided public conveyance for himself; two presbyters, and three servants. The empire had at the time about 1800 bishops, 1000 of whom were in the Greek prov inces, and 800 in the Latin. Of these, according to the statement of Athanasius, 318 attended the council, of which only 1 was from the Latin church. The total number of delegates, including presbyters and others, was probably more than 1500. The eastern provinces were largely represented. Many of the members were venerable and illus trious men, whom were Eusebius, eminent for learning; Athanasius, then only a young deacon, attendant on thd bishop Of Alexandria, Sri:tall:an& insignificant in person, but conspicuous for intellect, eloquence, and zeal; Arius, a parish-priest of Alexandria, 60 years old, tall and emaciated in person, wild, sometimes almost to madness, in manner ascetic, and negligent in dress, yet having a sweet voice, and fascinating speech; Pota mon of Herakles; and Paphnutius, of the upper Thebaid, whose right eye had been dug out with a sword, and the empty socket seared with a hot iron; Paul of Neo-Cmsarea, also scarred by the brand of hot iron which had crippled both his hands; Jacob of Nisi bis, who had spent years as a hermit in forests and caves, subsisting on plants and roots; Spiridion of Cyrus, continuing, even after his ordination, a literal shepherd; Hosius of Cordova, the ablest and best of the western delegates; two Homan presbyters, influential as representing, Sylvester, the bishop of Rome, who was kept at home by the infirmities of age; a Persian bishop from the eastern frontier, and a Gothic bishop from the north. Constantine's object in convening the council, as announced in his opening address, was to heal the divisions in the church, the system'of which, he said, had surprised and dis tressed him. There were two principal controversies then raging—one of them doc trinal, relating to the nature of Christ, and the other ritualistic, having reference to the time for the observance of Easter. At the opening of the discussions on the former there seemed little prospect that the emperor's prayer for harmony among the delegates would be answered. Accusations and recriminations were banded to and fro without regard to his presence. He was unmoved amkl the angry voices, turning from one side of the hall to the other, giving attention to the questions proposed, and bringing together the angry partisans. Laying aside his stately Latin he addressed them in broken Greek, praising some, persuading others, shaming a third class, and directing all his energies to the one point of securing unanimity of decision. The first sessions were devoted chiefly to a discussion of the Arian views, accompanied with an examination of Arius himself. He maintained that the Son of God was a creature, though indeed the most exalted of all; that he had been made out of nothing; that there was a time when he (lid not exist; and that, in his own free will, lie was capable of right and wrong. The songs which he had written to popularize his opinions were sung in the council; and, apparently by him self, dancing like an eastern dervish while he uttered their wild, abstract statements in long straggling lines. The first attempt to reach a decision was made by producing an ancient creed of Palestine, the basis of that which was ultimately adopted, but opposed at first by the orthodox—the more violently, because the Arians were willing to adopt it. A letter having been read from Eusebius of Nicomedia, in which he &clued that to assert the Son to be uncreated would be to say that he was of one substance with the Father; the expression was laid hold of as furnishing the very test for which they were seeking. The creed, as finally adopted, was as follows: "We believe in one God, the Father, Almighty, Maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Sou of God, begotten of the Father; only begotten—that is to say—of the substance the Father; God of God, Light of light, very God of very God; begotten—not made—being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made, both things in heaven, and things in earth; who for us men, and for our sal vation, came down and was made flesh, and was made man; suffered, and rose again on the third day; went up into the heavens; and is to come again to judge. the quick, and
the dead; and in the Holy Ghost." But those that say "there was when He was not," and "before He was begotten He was not;" and that "He came into existence from what was not;" or who profess that the Son of God is a different person or substance; or that he is created, or changeable, or variable, are anathematized by the Catholic church. The second controversy determined at the first council of Nice had reference to the time for observing Easter, and was the most ancient in the church. Its name—the " quarto deeiman "—or, fourteenth-day controversy, was derived from the Jewish rather than the Christian calendar. The question in dispute was. Ought the Christian passover to be celebrated on the same day as the Jewish—the 14th day of the month Nisan—or on the following Sunday? This fundamental question became entangled with others relating to the fast of 40 days, and to the changes in the vernal equinox. On the one side were the apostolic traditions, and on the other the new Catholic spirit seeking separation from Jewish ideas. At the date of the. council the Judaic time was observed by the principal eastern churches; and the Christian time by the western churches, with a part of the eastern. The decision was in favor of the Christian time; not as a matter of doctrine to be received under penalty of anathema, but as determined by common consent on the principle that the will of the majority should prevail. Some smaller matters also were decided by the council, and 20 canons passed on various subjects pprtaining to morality and religion. IT. The second council of Nice, incorrectly called the seventh ecumenical, convened first in ,786 by the empress Irene and her son Constantine, was dissolved, because of the tumults raised by the image-breaking party, and reassembled the follow ing year. Three hundred and seventy-five bishops attended from Greece, Thrace, the isles of the Archipelago, Sicily, and Italy. The council was occasioned by the emperor's ill-judged severity in forbidding the use of images for any purpose, and causing them everywhere to be removed and destroyed; and by the violent opposition to his course. At a council assembled 754, in Constantinople, consisting of 338 bishops, a decree was published against the use of images. To revoke this decree was the object for which Irene summoned the second council of Nice. At the fifth session this object was accom plished by the paSSage of an- order that images be restored to places, and car tied in procession as before. At the next session it was affirmed that the eucharist is nowhere spoken of as the image of our Lord's body, but as the very body itself. At the seventh session it was decided that images ought to be exposed to view in order to excite love toward the objects represent.id by and that salutation and adoration of honor ought to be paid to them, but net the worship which belongs to God alone. For a long time this council was not recognized by the French. Their chief objections to it, as con tained in the Caroline books, written by order of Charlemagne, were: 1. That no west ern bishops, except the pope, by his legatees, were present. 2. That the decision was contrary to their custom, which was to use images, but not in any way to worship them. 3. That the council was not assembled from all parts of the church; nor was its decision in accordance with that of the Catholic church. These objections were answered by pope Adrian. but with little effect on the Galilean church.