† BARTHOLOMEW
BY THE MERCY OF GOD ARCHBISHOP
OF CONSTANTINOPLE-NEW ROME
AND ECCLENIC PATRIARCH
TO THE WHOLE FULFILLMENT OF THE CHURCH MAY THE GRACE AND PEACE OF GOD BE FROM GOD
* * *
With hymns of thanksgiving let us praise the almighty, all-seeing and all-beneficent God in the Trinity, who has deigned His people to reach the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, who, moved by the Holy Spirit, testifies to the pure faith in the Word, born without beginning and truly consubstantial with Him, God the Word, “Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was became incarnate, and became man, suffered and was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.”
The Council of Nicaea is an expression of the conciliar nature of the Church, the culmination of her “primordial conciliarity,” which is inseparably linked not only to the Eucharistic realization of church life, but also to the practice of such gatherings for making decisions “with one mind”[1] on current issues. Thus, the Council of Nicaea marks the emergence of a new conciliar structure—that of the Ecumenical Council, which will prove decisive for the course of church affairs. It is worth noting that the Ecumenical Council is not a “permanent institution” in the life of the Church, but an “extraordinary event,” a response to a specific threat to the faith, aimed at restoring the broken unity and Eucharistic communion.
The fact that the Council of Nicaea was convened by the emperor, that St. Constantine the Great followed its work and gave its themes the authority of a state law, does not make it an “imperial council”[2]. It was a purely “ecclesiastical event” in which the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, decided the affairs of its house, while the emperor applied the principle: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”[3] In the face of the Arian error, the Church conciliarly formulated the essence of faith as it had been experienced in it for centuries. The “consubstantial with the Father,” the pre-eternal Son and Word of God, “true God from true God,” saves man from alien slavery through His incarnation and opens the way for him to deification by grace. “For He became man, that we might be deified.”[4] The Nicene Creed expresses the firm conviction that the heretical deviation that is being spread is a denial of the possibility of human salvation. In this sense, it is not just some theoretical proclamation, but a confession of faith, like all dogmatic texts of the Church; it is an authentic exposition of the living truth in it and through it. Of particular theological significance is the fact that at the basis of the Holy Creed “I believe…” is a local baptismal symbol or a group of such Symbols. As a true bearer of the eternal church self-consciousness, the Council retells and affirms what was bequeathed by the Holy Apostles, preserved by the Local Churches. St. Athanasius the Great mentions that the Fathers of the Council “wrote about the faith – without fantasizing – what the Catholic Church believes; and they directly confessed how they believe, in order to show that they did not reason in a new way, but in an apostolic way, and that they thus wrote – without inventing anything of their own – the same thing that the Apostles taught”[5]. The conviction of the enlightened Fathers is that nothing was added to the faith of the Holy Apostles and that the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea is truly a proclamation of the common Tradition of the Catholic Church. The Holy Fathers of the Council, whom the Orthodox Church rightly honors and praises as “accurate guardians of the Apostolic Traditions,” used the philosophical term “essence” (and “consubstantiality”) to express the Orthodox faith in the divinity of the Word, which Arius denied, engaging in Hellenistic thought patterns and rejecting the “God of the Fathers” in the name of the “God of the philosophers”; and at the same time [to express] the entire mystery of the all-salvific incarnate Divine Economy.
Another key question that the Council of Nicaea was called upon to resolve in order to strengthen church unity in liturgical practice is “when and how to celebrate the day of Easter.” On the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the convening of the Council, the question of the common celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord has once again become relevant. The Holy Great Church of Christ prays that Christians throughout the world will return, in accordance with the prescriptions of the Council of Nicaea, to the celebration of Easter on one common day, as fortunately happened this year. Such a decision will serve as an indicator and symbol of real progress in the struggle for ecumenical agreement and unanimity through theological dialogue and the “dialogue of life,” as tangible testimony to the active respect for the achievements of the undivided Church. The achievement of this goal, in the context of this year’s jubilee, was a common aspiration of the ever-memorable Roman Pontiff Francis and our Mernost. His death, on the eve of the feast of Easter, celebrated throughout the Christian world, makes our common responsibility greater without hesitation to continue in this direction.
The juridical and canonical activity of the Council of Nicaea was also significant, through which the eternal consciousness of the Church was formulated and affirmed conciliarly and in which the beginnings of the metropolitan system and the declaration of the validity, the exclusive place and the separate responsibility of certain Sees are rooted, from which the system of the Pentarchy gradually formed. Since the canonical heritage of Nicaea is a common heritage of the entire Christian world, this year’s jubilee is called to serve as an invitation to return to the sources, to the original canonical institutions of the undivided Church.
The eternal guarantor of the institutes established by Nicaea is the Ecumenical See in Constantinople. This spirit of the Great Church is also expressed in the Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the occasion of the 1600th anniversary of the Council[6] – “the first of the Ecumenical and the greatest as a true Council of the Church”. The decision that was taken, that this anniversary should be celebrated “solemnly and jointly, if possible, by all the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches as a universal manifestation of faith, and today – by the grace of God – with the constancy of our Holy Orthodox Church in the teaching and spirit of this Council, which, on the one hand, confirmed and sealed the single faith of the Church by its decision in the Holy Spirit, and on the other hand, brilliantly ensured the unity of the church assembly by the presence of representatives from all corners of the earth”, unfortunately could not be implemented due to extraordinary circumstances and widowhood at the Ecumenical See. On July 19, 1925 – the first Sunday after the enthronement of Patriarch Basil III, “a belated duty” was fulfilled by the celebration of a “special Patriarchal and Council Liturgy” in the blessed Patriarchal Church. Of particular ecclesiological significance is the fact that the Encyclical emphasizes the value of fulfilling the duty of celebrating this “great anniversary for the entire Christian world” by the Church of Constantinople, because it “has a direct connection and duty to this feast”.
The Council of Nicaea is a cornerstone in the formation of the dogmatic identity and canonical structure of the Church, it remains a model for dealing with problems of faith and canonical order at the ecumenical level. The 1700th anniversary of its holding reminds Christianity of the legacy of the ancient Church, of the value of the common struggle against erroneous understandings of the Christian faith and of the mission of the faithful to contribute to the multiplication of “good fruits” in Christ, through Christ and for the life of Christ in the world.
Today we are called to emphasize the timeless message of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the soteriological dimensions and anthropological consequences of “consubstantiality”, the inseparable connection between Christology and anthropology, in a time of anthropological confusion and persistent attempts to highlight the “metaman” as an open horizon and an obvious perspective of human evolution, the contribution of science and technology. The principle of “god-humanity” is the answer to the hopeless mirage of the contemporary “god-man”. The reference to the “spirit of Nicaea” is an invitation to turn to the essence of our faith, the core of which is the salvation of man in Christ.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the full and perfect revelation of the truth about God and man. “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”[7] The Incarnate Word of God showed “the first and only,” as Saint Nicholas Cabasilas writes, “the true and perfect man, both in manner of life and in all things.”[8] This Truth represents in the world the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; it is nourished by Her and serves Her. Clothed in the robe of Truth, “woven from above by theology,” it always stands erect and glorifies “the great mystery of piety,” proclaiming the word of faith, love and hope, awaiting “the unsettling, unchangeable and endless day”[9] – the coming eternal Kingdom of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The task of theology is to reveal the soteriological dimension of dogmas and their interpretation in an existential sense, which requires, along with participation in the ecclesial event, sensitivity and genuine interest in man and the dangers of his freedom. In this sense, the proclamation of faith in the incarnate Word of God should be accompanied by an active response to His saving commandment: “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you”[10].
In memory of the ineffable gifts that He has given and continues to give to all creation, we unceasingly glorify the most holy and most luminous name of the Lord of all and the God of love, through whom we have known the Father and the Holy Spirit has been revealed in the world. Amen!
In the year of salvation 2025, the month of June (1st)
Indictment 3
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1. Acts 2:1.
2. Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamum, Creations, vol. 1. Ecclesiastical Studies, ἐκδ. Δόμος, Ἀθήνα 2016, σ. 675-6.
3. Matt. 22:21.
4. St. Athanasius the Great, Λόγος περι τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Λόγου, PG 25, 192.
5. St. Athanasius the Great, Ἐπιστολή περι τῶν γενομένων ἐν τῇ Ἀριμίνῳ τῆς Ἰταλίας, καί ἐν Σελευκείᾳ τῆς Ἰσαυρίας συνόδων, PG 26, 688.
6. Κ.Π.Α. κῶδιξ Α’ 94, 10 Αὐγούστου 1925, σ. 102-3.
7. John 14:9.
8. St. Nicholas Kavasila, Περί τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ ζωῆς, PG 150, 680.
9. St. Basil the Great, Εἰς τήν Ἐξαήμερον, PG 29, 52.
10. John 15:12.
