This guy found the document for me....
The
First Council of Nicaea (
/naɪˈsiːə/;
Greek: Νίκαια
[ˈnikεa]) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the
Bithynian city of
Nicaea (now
İznik,
Turkey) by the
Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325.
This
ecumenical council was the first effort to attain
consensus in the church through an
assembly representing all of
Christendom.
Hosius of Corduba may have presided over its deliberations.
[4][5]
Its main accomplishments were settlement of the
Christological issue of the divine nature of
God the Son and his relationship to
God the Father,
[2] the construction of the first part of the
Nicene Creed, establishing uniform observance of the date of
Easter,
[6] and
promulgation of early
canon law.
[3][7]
Eastern Orthodox icon depicting the First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was the first
ecumenical council of the church. Most significantly, it resulted in the first uniform Christian
doctrine, called the
Nicene Creed. With the creation of the creed, a precedent was established for subsequent local and regional councils of bishops (
synods) to create statements of belief and
canons of doctrinal
orthodoxy—the intent being to define unity of beliefs for the whole of
Christendom.
[8]
Derived from
Greek (
Ancient Greek: οἰκουμένη,
romanized:
oikouménē,
lit. 'the inhabited one'), "ecumenical" means "worldwide" but generally is assumed to be limited to the known inhabited Earth, (
Danker 2000, pp. 699–670) and at this time in history is synonymous with the Roman Empire; the earliest extant uses of the term for a council are Eusebius'
Life of Constantine 3.6
[9] around 338, which states "he convoked an ecumenical council" (
Ancient Greek: σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν συνεκρότει,
romanized:
sýnodon oikoumenikḕn synekrótei)
[10] and the Letter in 382 to
Pope Damasus I and the Latin bishops from the
First Council of Constantinople.
[11]
One purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements arising from within the
Church of Alexandria over the nature of
the Son in his relationship to the Father: in particular, whether the Son had been 'begotten' by the Father from his own being, and therefore having no beginning, or else created out of nothing, and therefore having a beginning.
[12] St. Alexander of Alexandria and
Athanasius took the first position; the popular
presbyter Arius, from whom the term
Arianism comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly (of the estimated 250–318 attendees, all but two agreed to sign the creed and these two, along with Arius, were banished to Illyria).
[8][13]...
We also send you the good news of the settlement concerning the holy pasch, namely that in answer to your prayers this question also has been resolved. All the brethren in the East who have hitherto followed the Jewish practice will henceforth observe the custom of the Romans and of yourselves and of all of us who from ancient times have kept Easter together with you.
[14]
Historically significant as the first effort to attain
consensus in the church through an
assembly representing all of Christendom,
[15] the Council was the first occasion where the technical aspects of
Christology were discussed.
[15] Through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt
creeds and
canons. This council is generally considered the beginning of the period of the
First seven Ecumenical Councils in the
History of Christianity
....which is the founding of your Roman Catholic Church.
