How Many Bishops Were at the Council of Nicaea?

Yesterday was the 1700th anniversary of the first Session of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea. "Ecumenical" means "worldwide". How many Bishops attended?

From Aleteia

By Valdemar le Vaux

Yesterday, May 20, Christians celebrated the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which proclaimed the Son's divinity. How many council fathers were there?

In 325, what is considered by Christian churches to be the first ecumenical council was held in Nicaea. It is called "ecumenical" precisely because it brought together the oikoumene (in Greek) -- the whole inhabited earth.

All of it? Rather, the churches that existed at the time, represented by their bishops, even if not all of them made it to this imperial resort city. The pope himself, Sylvester, was absent from the theological discussions. However, he was represented by two priests, Victor and Vincent, and approved the canons of the council.

Other pastors came from all corners of the evangelized lands, but more from the East than from the West. In his Vita Constantini, the chronicler and court bishop Eusebius of Caesarea explains that the fathers were “both Syrians and Cilicians, Phoenicians, Arabs and Palestinians, and also Egyptians, Thebans, Libyans.”

He mentions “those who came from the middle of the rivers [Mesopotamia]” and is surprised by this representation.

"There was even a Persian bishop at the council; the Scythians were not absent from the choir; Pontus and Galatia, Cappadocia and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia sent chosen members from among themselves. And also the Thracians and Macedonians, the Achaeans and Epirotes, and even those who live far beyond them; all came, even the Spaniards." (III, 7)

How many were there?

We know, at least partially and according to this source, where those who came to solemnly proclaim the divinity of the Son came from. Nevertheless, a debate over their exact number has not been settled by historical scholarship. Eustathius of Antioch, who participated in the council, speaks of 200 or 270 bishops. Athanasius of Alexandria asserts that there were more than 300, and Eusebius, more than 250.

The difficulty also stems from the fact that some may have signed the decrees to give their approval without being present at all or part of the council. Others might even have given their consent after the fact, as did the Successor of Peter himself.

However, the early 20th-century German Byzantinist Ernest Honigmann succeeded in establishing a precise list of 194 names, adding that there were certainly more.

Constantine, the new Abraham

Following a number given by Hilary of Poitiers, tradition has held that there were 318 council fathers at Nicaea. This number refers to an episode in Genesis. In chapter 14, the author of the first book of the Bible recounts the internal wars between the kings of the Dead Sea valley. Sodom, where Lot lives, is taken during one of these conflicts. The nephew of Abram — whose name will become Abraham in chapter 17, when God promises him that he will be the “father of nations” — is taken captive along with his possessions.

“Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew” about these events, the story continues. “When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen of them, and went in pursuit.” So here we have the famous 318 men at arms, who will bring back Lot and all his possessions.

The number is appealing because the reference to Abraham allows for an interesting and flattering symbolic connection to Constantine. As the new Abraham, he enabled the Church to recover its possessions, or at least the possibility of proclaiming Christ and living according to his teachings.

Constantine was, in fact, the first emperor to be baptized, on his deathbed in 337, and to authorize the Christian religion throughout the Empire. By convening the council, he also enabled the Bride of Christ to strengthen the faith of Christians in the face of the Arian heresy. She repays him with a hagiographic gaze.

Pictured: The Council of Nicaea, with Arius depicted as defeated by the council, lying under the feet of Emperor Constantine. The Hagia Sophia is in the background of the icon.