Introduction
The Nicene Creed was introduced by the development of The Council of Nicea in 325. Constantine who was the senior emperor, brought together bishops from around the Christian world, to sort out the destabilizing Christological disagreements within his empire. This was the first ‘ecumenical council’. The council agreed on the Nicene Creed which was to eradicate the Arian controversy by affirming that Jesus was homoousios (of one substance or one being), with the Father.
The development of the Council of Nicea was a political move by Constantine, not only to gain authority but also to bring peace stability in what was becoming a divided empire. The dispute in the Empire was coming from Arius who was a highly respected priest of Alexandria.
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His believe that the Son cannot be the same as the Father as in the substance or be as one did not sit comfortable with him, and for this others would call what he was describing as heresy. In the summative I can go into more detail of this.
The council of Nicea, as mentioned before brought a huge gathering of bishops and during the gathering they confirmed the condemnation of Arius. This is the point when they put forward the creed of the church but Constantine added homoousios on advice from Hosius. With all in favour of the changes to the Creed they then went on to change the date of Easter which was to be adopted by Rome and Alexandria.
There was of course unsolved problems along the way and one of these was the Fliioque clause. This was a testing time for those who could not come to terms with the explanation of ‘and from the Son’ proceeding the Holy Spirit. The Trinity was and is difficult to understand even now. Was the Holy Spirit to proceed the Father or the Father and the Son? These questions and thoughts brought divide between east and west. The west while fully accepting and teaching the doctrine of the double procession, were for too cautious and diplomatic to flaunt it as an official dogma in the face of Eastern