A Living Legacy: Nicaea’s Unseen Power

Alberto Cozzi - Yesterday's meeting at the Rimini Meeting with Cardinal Koch and Patriarch Bartholomew I was a momentous event for the faith of the Church.

The meeting held at the Rimini Meeting between Cardinal Robert Koch and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, on the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, was a special opportunity to reflect on the significance and scope of an epoch-making event, which could be described as a true "founding event" in the history of the Church.

In the words of the two high prelates, there was a frequent invitation to consider Nicaea not as an isolated historical event—a fact of the past—but rather as a "turning point" of unique significance, a "milestone" of our faith. It's a synodal process that shaped the Church in which we still live and is the "foundation" of the doctrine and worship of Christianity as a whole.

Cardinal Koch, as president of the Dicastery for Christian Unity, emphasized how the celebration of this anniversary could be a "golden moment" for the ecumenical journey, a compass and signpost to guide us toward unity on what truly matters in the faith.

From this perspective, Nicaea should not be considered only for its doctrine, however important and decisive, but as an overall ecclesial event. This includes its disciplinary canons and the search for unity on the date for the celebration of Easter.

The most significant legacy, however, consists, on one hand, in the profession of faith in Jesus Christ, true God, and, on the other, in the synodal style of discernment practiced at Nicaea. First of all, Nicaea invites us to rediscover the centrality of the baptismal profession of faith in Jesus Christ, true Son of God, begotten from eternity of the same substance as the Father.

In a cultural, and sometimes ecclesial, context that seems content to consider Jesus for his exceptional humanity, the faith of Nicaea reminds us that God himself was revealed and communicated in him. The Incarnate Word not only reveals to us the wisdom of creation and the meaning of our finite and limited world but also communicates to us the very eternal divine life, a relationship that has always belonged to the divine mystery. Indeed, the Holy Spirit wants to introduce us into this relationship of generation between Father and Son.

Secondly, we are challenged to recover the synodal quality of Nicaea's work: the profession of faith is defended and reaffirmed against heretical error not through more or less refined theological speculations, but thanks to ecclesial discernment. In this process, representatives of all the Churches come together to develop a universal consensus on what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. The synodal path or style represents a strong challenge for the Church today, as both Pope Francis and Leo XIV have unanimously emphasized.

On the Orthodox side, however, Patriarch Bartholomew offered a very profound spiritual reinterpretation of Nicaea, at the center of which he emphasized its "pneumatic character." The Council of Nicaea was a work of the Holy Spirit who shapes and guides the Church throughout history, ensuring the continuity of the tradition of the one truth that is Jesus Christ and structuring a space of "divinized" existence. This "divinized" space—the Church—expands synodally from the liturgy into the history of individuals and peoples.

These are two powerful reminders that allow us to recover the importance of Nicaea.

It was an opportunity to reaffirm a truth that the Church received from Christ and has always possessed. It's misleading to imagine that at Nicaea, some experts and theologians developed a new doctrine. Nicaea takes up a baptismal symbol and gives it universal value against heretical error. It is a victory of the truth of Christ, unique and eternal, transmitted to neophytes in every age.

The Nicene discernment was not based on philosophy, but on apostolic faith. What emerged was a new face of God, very different from the Unmoved Mover of certain philosophies. This God is personal, passionate, a relationship, and therefore a gift of communion. God is not an impersonal force but a Father who cares for his creatures in his incarnate Word and in the life-giving Spirit.

But this doctrinal faith must immediately be placed in the liturgical space of celebration and, in particular, of the Eucharist, from which synodality derives. Nicaea invites us to rediscover the synodal functioning in its true meaning. It cannot be reduced to an assembly meeting of clergy and laity to discuss current issues. Instead, it must be realized as an extension of the Eucharistic assembly, presided over by the bishop with the various ministers and the faithful, to allow the Spirit who guides and shapes the Church to act.

This spiritual action is realized on the basis of the spiritual condition of the bishop, the ministers, and the people. It does not, therefore, depend on more or less convincing secular arguments. What is communicated in a synodal process is the Spirit.

Nicaea represents the prototype of this synodal experience—a work of the Spirit that has shaped and continues to shape the Church. It must, therefore, be accepted and understood in a logic of continuity, the continuity of the great Tradition that is renewed, building the one Church that is in Rome, Alexandria, Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem.

But Nicaea also achieved a successful symphony between civil power and the Church, showing how, in its historical journey, the Church can live in "symphony" with civil power, without subordination or interference. This was the great contribution of Constantine. It's a matter of collaborating for the common good, respecting each other's areas of competence and avoiding ambiguous collusion, as has happened recently.

A masterful lesson in how Orthodoxy understands the great event of Nicaea. It is a powerful stimulus to reclaim a precious heritage, often taken for granted with a certain superficiality.