Council of Nicea 325AD - Part 2
Part 2: From Persecuted Church to Freedom
In this Year of Our Lord 2025, all Christendom celebrates the 1,700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. This was one of the most monumental and seismic events in Christian history. It is hard to overstate the importance of this Council. This will be the second part of a multi-part series on the Council of Nicea and how it shaped all of Christianity.
To fully understand the Council, we need to understand the situation and the events leading up to the Council. In Part 1: Council of Nicea 325AD - Setting the Stage we went through the period of time of the Apostles and the Apostles Creed. Now lets dive into Christian history from the time after the Apostles up to the time of Emperor Constantine.
These two centuries (100AD - 300AD) were periods of varying levels of persecution for the Catholic Church. During some periods of persecution, it was relatively mild and life continued on, while during the bad times Christians were being fed to wild beasts and used as literal human torches.
One of the early martyrs for the Christian faith was St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was bishop of Antioch for nearly 40 years. He was arrested in 107AD and transported to Rome for his martyrdom, but this trip took a decent amount of time, as travel was difficult during those times. So while on his march to Rome and eternal glory, St. Ignatius wrote several letters to the groups of Christians that he was going to pass by. His letters are incalculable in giving us insight into the beliefs of the early Christians.
One of the more striking things in his letters was his emphatic instruction to Christians not to try and bargain for his life. At that time there were Christians who denied Christ while under threat by the Empire. St. Ignatius did not want anyone to think he had committed apostasy if he should survive. He preferred martyrdom than to cause scandal and have believers possibly think that he renounced Christ to save his own life.
During these two centuries of the early Catholic Church, the believers had to be cunning in their ways. They had to be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Sometimes Mass had to be hidden and secret. They had to celebrate the sacraments in the catacombs and in homes. It required cunning to hide themselves and secretly enter and exit so they were not found. This is more difficult than you might imagine, since it is difficult to hide the movements of significant numbers of people.
There also had to be security to keep out any non-believers. One way this was done was that Confession was immediately before Mass and it was public. All would confess their sins and once complete, the priest would administer absolution. The reason this needed to be public is that anyone who confessed to informing on the group of Christians, or confessed to offering incense to the pagan gods, was a security threat. While this person could be given absolution, they were forbidden to attend the Mass and were given severe penance of several months or more for their sins which endangered the entire group.
This was also why the Mass has two parts, the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Those converting to the Catholic faith could only attend the Liturgy of the Word after a very long time of discernment, and only those Baptized, Confirmed and received into the Church could attend the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Secrecy was a key component to the daily life of a Catholic at this time. Most of the Catholic saints from these two centuries ended up becoming martyrs. It was physically dangerous for Catholics at this time, but it led to a spiritual flourishing.
The bravery of the martyrs even impressed the pagans, despite the fact that they were feeding them to lions. Their refusal to renounce Christ even while being tortured showed a passion for Our Lord that was more powerful than even the Emperor. St. Justin Martyr, who was originally a pagan himself, noted how impressed he was with the Christians who were being persecuted and killed. It had a lasting impact on him and eventually even he converted and became a saint and martyr.
Another huge factor in the growing number of converts to the Catholic Church were the acts of good will and charity that Christians performed so selflessly. Christians showed mercy and kindness to the lowly, the widows and the orphans. This was an astonishing thing for the pagans to see. They had nothing like it in their own culture and charity itself was almost unknown to them. These simple and humble acts of doing good works for the glory of the Father led to many converting to the Church.
This was the situation and prelude to the events which would see Constantine become Emperor in the early fourth century. That discussion will be handled in Part III of this series.
The Church of the Early Fathers - Catholic Answers
Councils of Nicaea - Catholic Answers