1700th Anniversary of Nicaea I (A.D. 325)
Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea; Acts 20:16–18, 28–36; John 17:1–13
Today we commemorate the 318 Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, who defended the True Faith against the heresy of Arius. And this feast is especially significant in 2025 because this year marks the 1700s anniversary of that First Council. The battle against Arianism was a battle for the truth about our salvation. Arius denied that Jesus was truly God, but Our Lord, speaking to the Father, teaches us in today’s Gospel, “This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3). If Jesus is not God, we cannot know the Father. If Christ is a creature, however exalted, He cannot give us eternal life. Only God can.
The Nicene Fathers knew this. That’s why they boldly confessed that the Son is ὁμοούσιος, meaning “of one essence” with the Father. Christ is not “like God.” He is God. And because He is God, He can draw us into divine union with Himself.
Saint Augustine said: “Let us ascend in Christ so that through Him we may come to God” (Tractates on John, 17.13). Christ alone ascends to the Father because Christ alone came down from heaven. And the only way we ascend with Him is by being united to Him.
How do we unite ourselves to Christ? Not by independent spiritual thoughts or “positive feelings,” but through Baptism, Chrismation, and Holy Eucharist. We are united to Christ through the Sacred Mysteries of Christ’s Holy Church. The Church is not an ethnic heritage club or an NGO. She is the Body of Christ, purchased with the blood of God Himself. Saint Paul says in today’s reading that we are “...the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). And as Chrysostom reminds us: “It was not a servant, but the very Master Himself who did this” (Homily XLIV on Acts).
Our unity with Christ flows from Christ’s divinity. Without His divinity, there is no true Eucharist. Without His divinity, there is no real forgiveness of sins. Without His divinity, the gates of heaven remain shut, and we remain slaves to sin.
Saint Athanasius, the greatest champion of this feast, said it profoundly: “For He became man, that we might become godlike” (De Incarnatione, 54.3). The Church Fathers we honor today fought for this truth. Some bore the trials of Roman persecution. Others were exiled. Many were slandered. But they stood firm. Why? Because truth matters! One of the great heresies of our day says that truth is relative. Relativism is an insidious lie. Jesus is the Way, Truth, & Life.”
Let us then live in the truth of Christ’s divinity as a sacramental reality clearly defined by the Fathers. Let us confess with the Council: “We believe... in one Lord Jesus Christ... true God from true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father.” And let us receive Him in the Eucharist as the source of our unity and our life.
To Christ our true God, who ascended in glory and abides with His Church forever, be honor and worship, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.