Constantine, Athanasius, and Eusebius of Nicomedia: Central Figures of the First Council of Nicea
The fourth century was a pivotal era for Christianity, marked by theological debates, imperial politics, and foundational formulations of doctrine. At the heart of this period stood three towering figures—Emperor Constantine the Great, Athanasius, and Eusebius of Nicomedia. Each played a distinct role in the turbulent events surrounding the First Council of Nicaea and the Nicene Creed.
As discussed in the June e-newsletter article, the controversy that prompted the Council of Nicaea centered on Arianism, a theological position named after Arius, a presbyter from Alexandria. Arius taught that the Son of God was not co-eternal with the Father, asserting, “There was a time when he was not.” This view implied that Christ was a created being, subordinate to the Father. Opposing this was the teaching, associated with Athanasius, which affirmed that Christ was fully and essentially God in the same way that the Father is God.
Constantine: The First Christian Emperor
Constantine, the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity, was born in Illyria, a region in the Balkans. around A.D. 280. We know little about his early years. But by the time Constantine was 31, he was in line to become co-emperor of the Western Empire.
Sources record that Constantine experienced a dramatic series of events surrounding the Battle of Milvian Bridge, which took place on October 28, 312. Prior to the battle, Constantine reportedly saw a vision of “a cross-shaped trophy formed from light” above the sun at midday, along with clouds which formed the words, “By this conquer.” Afterwards, Constantine was advised in a dream to mark his army’s shields with the now famous Chi-Rho insignia– the Greek abbreviation for ‘Christ’. Marching into battle beneath this sign, Constantine’s army vanquished his foe Maxentius in the battle, leaving him the sole emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
While Constantine did not formally convert to Christianity at this time (he did not receive baptism until he was on his deathbed), these events left a deep impression. The following year he and Licinius, his Eastern counterpart, issued the Edict of Milan, which established religious tolerance throughout the empire, restored properties confiscated from Christians during the Diocletian persecution, and lifted the threat of further persecution of Christians. Though Constantine still had not formally declared himself a Christian, his action marked a sea change in the history of Christianity. No longer was the Christian church an underground movement, conducting its affairs out of sight in catacombs and private homes. As the church emerged from the shadows under the protection of a newly supportive Emperor, a new era of rapid Christian ascendency began.
In subsequent years Constantine began to embrace Christianity further. While some historians argue that he did so to broaden his political support, we know from Constantine’s own words is that he viewed the Arian controversy not just as a theological dispute, but as a threat to the unity of the Empire. Seeking to consolidate both his rule and the unity of the church, he convened the Council of Nicaea in May of 325 A.D. with the goal of achieving consensus and peace among Christian leaders.
In addition to working for doctrinal unity, Constantine over the course of his career supported the church financially, had many churches built, promoted Christians to high-ranking offices, endowed the church with land and other wealth, and in a time before there were actual bibles, commissioned many copies of the Gospels and other Christian writings. Between 324 and 330, Constantine built a new capital city – a “new Rome” – that would be named Constantinople for him. Unlike “old” Rome, Constantinople was built using Christian architecture and contained many churches but no temples for other religions.
Eusebius of Nicomedia: Powerful Force for the Arians
Eusebius was Bishop of Nicomedia and later Bishop of Constantinople. He was a close ally of Arius and the most powerful Arian-leaning bishop at the imperial court. Distantly related to the family of Constantine, he owed his great influence in the church and at court to his family connections.
At the First Council of Nicaea and beyond, Eusebius was a leading proponent of the Arian cause, staunchly opposing Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius. After proposing Arian-friendly language that was rejected by the council, however, he ultimately signed the Nicene Creed with great reluctance. He was said to subscribe to the creed “with hand only, not heart” and likely signed only due to pressure from Emperor Constantine.
Constantine was in fact angered by Eusebius’ defense of Arius. A few months after the council, he sent Eusebius into exile. After just two or three years, however, Eusebius was released from exile and regained imperial favor.
Upon returning from exile, Eusebius became the most prominent political architect of the Arian movement. He headed a powerful and influential party of Eastern prelates called the “Eusebians”, whose goal was to undo the work of Nicaea and to procure victory for Arianism. As part of that effort, they championed attractive-looking “compromise” alternatives to the Nicene formulation. They also directly attacked the proponents of Trinitarianism, particularly Athanasius, and convinced Constantine and his successors to make life very difficult for those supporting the Nicene Creed.
Athanasius: The Unyielding Defender of Trinitarianism
Athanasius was still a young deacon at the time of the Council of Nicaea. Despite his youth, however, Athanasius emerged as the most trusted and influential theological adviser to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, who argued the case against the Arians during the council proceedings. Three years after the council, Athanasius succeeded Alexander as Bishop of Alexandria.
After the council, Athanasius opposed the efforts of influential bishops who were pressing to unite the church around a more moderate, compromise position towards Arians. Athanasius, recognizing that the compromise formulations undermined the essential Nicene affirmation of Christ’s full divinity, condemned the compromise formulations and steadfastly refused to reinstate Arius to church office or tolerate his supporters. This provoked fierce resistance from pro-Arian factions, particularly Eusebius of Nicomedia and the Eusebians.
Eusebius of Nicomedia orchestrated a campaign of opposition against Athanasius, accusing him of various crimes—including violence, heresy, and even interfering with the grain supply of Constantinople. Though many of these accusations were fabricated or exaggerated, they served as pretexts for Athanasius’s exile. Under pressure from Eusebius of Nicomedia and others, Constantine convened a synod of Arian bishops at Tyre, which deposed Athanasius from his position as Archbishop of Alexandria. Shortly thereafter Constantine exiled him to the distant German city of Trier.
Following the death of Constantine in 337, Athanasius was allowed to return to from exile, but the tensions and disputes in the church remained. As a result, Athanasius was exiled four additional times by different emperors under the influence of Eusebius and other Arian sympathizers. While in exile, Athanasius spent most of his time writing, largely to defend Trinitarianism. He fervently and repeatedly disputed every argument raised by the Arians to promote their views, taking on pagan and Jewish opposition as well.
During his third exile, Athanasius lived among the monks of upper Egypt where, around the year 360 A.D., he authored a highly influential biography of St. Antony, the desert father who was regarded as the founder of the Egyptian monastic movement. Athanasius’s “Life of Antony” helped to shape the Christian ideal of monasticism from the fourth century down to the present day.
Athanasius’s final return from exile was in 366. By then he was about 70 years old. During his first year back, Athanasius sent an annual “festal” letter to the churches in Alexandria. In this letter, Athanasius listed writings he believed should be included in the (as yet nonexistent) New Testament. “In these [27 writings] alone the teaching of godliness is proclaimed,” he wrote. “No one may add to them, and nothing may be taken away from them.” Though other lists had been and would be proposed, Athanasius’s list was the list eventually adopted by the Church as the official canon of the New Testament.
Conclusion
Constantine died in 337, Eusebius of Nicomedia died in 341, and Athanasius died in 373. None of them would live to see the decisive triumph of Nicene Trinitarianism over Arianism. This triumph took place in 381 through the authoritative teaching of the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople. With the active involvement of Emperor Theodosius I, this Council affirmed and expanded the teaching of the Council of Nicaea, producing the text which has come down to us today as the Nicene Creed. This triumph was a pivotal event in Christian history, with profound theological consequences. Constantinople’s vindication of Nicene teaching definitively affirmed that Jesus Christ is fully God, that God Himself had entered human history as a human being, and that the distinctively Christian understanding of God would ever after be constituted by worship and praise of the eternal, triune communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.