First Council of Nicaea (325 AD)
First Council of Nicaea (325 AD) (First Ecumenical Council, condemned Arius, and confessed Christ as homoousios): The First Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine I with ~318 bishops, condemning the heresy of Arius (who claimed the Son was created: 'there was when he was not') and formulating the original Creed of Nicaea, affirming that the Son is 'true God from true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father' (homoousios to Patri). It is closely linked with Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD) (Seventh Ecumenical Council, restored the veneration of holy icons against Iconoclasm): The Second Council of Nicaea, convoked by Empress Regent Irene with ~350 bishops, ended the first phase of Byzantine Iconoclasm by defining that icons of Christ , the Virgin Mary , angels, and saints may be painted and given honorable veneration (proskynesis timitike), while absolute worship and adoration (latreia) belongs exclusively to the Triune God.
