Fourth Century Christianity

On this page you will find all the ancient descriptions of the Council of Nicaea in two formats. In the first format, the account of the council by each ancient writer is accessible via the links under the heading Accounts of the Nicene Council by Individual Writers; these documents include an English translation as well as the original Greek or Latin.  The excerpts selected for each writer are those which pertain to the Council of Nicaea and may or may not be continuous sections.  For example, we have selected excerpts from three letters of Athanasius in which he speaks about the council but have not provided the complete letters. 

Below the individual writers you will find links to seven multi-source tables in which the accounts by all the writers have been arranged alongside each other, so that the reader can see how their accounts compare.  More information, along with links to access these tables in PDF format, is given below the heading Multi-Source Accounts of the Nicene Council. These documents are available in both English and Greek/Latin. 

Finally, we have created a page with the names of all the known subscribers to the creed at the Council of Nicaea (provided primarily by Socrates). That page can be accessed here.

Individual Accounts of the Nicene Council

Multi-Source Accounts of the Nicene Council

The following charts display English translations of the Greek and Latin texts by various ancient writers concerning the Council of Nicaea. We also offer the charts with the original Greek and Latin texts.  Because we desired to place the various accounts side-by-side when they address the same topics or events, the texts of individual writers had to be divided, sometimes in the middle of sentences. We have maintained the numbering for each document from the sources of the Greek texts (see the bibliographical information below). When two or more of the writers present the exact same Greek text, we have used the same English translation to denote this and have applied the translation for a single writer to the other writers. We have not applied this principle in places where Rufinus’ Latin and another writer’s Greek appear to be presenting an identical text. Athanasius is the only writer from whom we have included selections from several works, so the Athanasius text being referenced is introduced in the headings. 

Organization

We have divided the historical material into seven charts. Below is a table displaying the major subdivisions of the ancient texts in each one. The organization of the English tables is identical to that of the Greek and Latin tables. The abbreviation ACH is used to refer to the Anonymous Church History. A column has not been included for Jerome, since he is cited in only one location (Table 2, Bishops debate with Arius).

Everything that follows that heading comes from the same text until a new heading appears. The shaded headings introducing sections of the table are our own. The documents can be accessed in PDF format via the links below:

Table 1 (English) (Greek/Latin)	Eus.	Ath.	Gel.	Ruf.	Phil.	Soc.	Soz.	Theod.	ACH
Constantine summons a council in Nicaea	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Notable bishops and confessors attend the council	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
The most noteworthy bishops in attendance			x	x		x			x
A philosopher debates with the bishops before the council begins			x	x		x	x		x
Debate with Arius before the council begins							x
Table 2 (English) (Greek/Latin)	Eus.	Ath.	Gel.	Ruf.	Phil.	Soc.	Soz.	Theod.	ACH
Council officially begins when Constantine arrives	x		x			x		x	x
Constantine’s opening address								x	x
Constantine addresses the bishops’ grievances against each other			x	x		x	x	x	x
The bishops debate Arius		x	x	x				x	x
The praiseworthy conduct of Constantine during the debate	x					x	x	x	x
Table 3 (English) (Greek/Latin)	Eus.	Ath.	Gel.	Ruf.	Phil.	Soc.	Soz.	Theod.	ACH
The council makes its decision		x	x	x		x	x	x	x
The Arians resist the Council’s decision			x						x
Some of Arius’ former supporters abandon his position		x			x			x	x
The Creed of Nicaea		x		x		x	x		x
Reception of the Creed and exile of dissenters			x	x	x	x	x	x	x
Eusebius of Caesarea explains his subscription to the Creed			x			x		x	x
Table 4 (English) (Greek/Latin)	Eus.	Ath.	Gel.	Ruf.	Phil.	Soc.	Soz.	Theod.	ACH
The Council condemns Arius’ Thalia						x	x
The Council’s decision regarding the celebration of Easter	x					x	x
Constantine rebukes Acesius over his refusal to readmit the lapsed to communion						x	x		x
The Canons of the Council of Nicaea				x			x		x
Table 5 (English) (Greek/Latin)	Eus.	Ath.	Gel.	Ruf.	Phil.	Soc.	Soz.	Theod.	ACH
The issue of Melitius						x	x	x	x
The council’s letter to the church of Egypt			x			x		x	x
Paphnutius convinces the council not to impose celibacy on married clergy						x	x		x
Various ecclesiastical rulings									x
The conclusion of the council	x			x		x	x	x	x
Table 6 (English) (Greek/Latin)	Eus.	Ath.	Gel.	Ruf.	Phil.	Soc.	Soz.	Theod.	ACH
Constantine writes letters concerning the council						x	x	x
Constantine’s letter to the church of Alexandria						x			x
Constantine’s letter concerning Arius and Porphyry						x			x
Constantine’s letter concerning the date of Easter	x					x		x	x
Constantine institutes imperial allowances for the church								x	x
Table 7 (English) (Greek/Latin)	Eus.	Ath.	Gel.	Ruf.	Phil.	Soc.	Soz.	Theod.	ACH
The duration of the council						x			x
Athanasius’ letter to the African bishops		x	x					x	x
The decisions of the council are transmitted throughout the world
Eustathius’ account of the Nicene Council								x
The reliability of Eusebius						x

* The Anonymous Church History preserves an expanded version of the debate with the pagan philosopher. Since it is unique to the ACH, the full version is not included in the table but can be accessed in English as a PDF here.

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Sources Used

A bibliography of English translations and Greek and Latin sources is included on the first page of each document.

Created by AGC

Last updated 2/20/2025 by JSW

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