Originally published at National Catholic Register
The Vatican on Thursday released a historical document to recognize the opening of the Council of Nicaea, convened during the pontificate of Pope Sylvester I in 325.
The International Theological Commission (ITC) published the in-depth document “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior: The 1,700th Anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea” to highlight the significance of the Church’s first ecumenical council, which defended the divinity of Jesus Christ as a profession of faith amid the spread of the Arian heresy.
“This anniversary occurs within the jubilee year, centered on the theme ‘Christ Our Hope,’ and it coincides with a shared celebration of Easter for Christians in both the East and the West,” the ITC press release stated.
The commission said on Thursday that the Nicene Creed “stands at the heart of the Church’s faith.”
“It is a source of living water to draw upon even today to enter into Jesus’ gaze and, in him, into the gaze that God, Abba, has toward all his children and toward the whole of creation.”
Emphasizing that the document is not just a historical record or a “text of academic theology,” the Vatican’s theological commission said the publication responds to Pope Francis’ desire to
