Where Was the First Council of Nicea?

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This past summer marked the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicea, which adopted the Nicene Creed, a foundational church document that is still recognized by nearly all Christian denominations today. After almost two millennia, however, the memory of where exactly in Nicea this council took place has vanished. In this article, we explore new archaeological evidence from an ancient basilica discovered beneath the waters of Lake İznik in northwestern Turkey that may finally resolve this longstanding mystery.

The First Council of Nicea, which met for two months in the summer of 325 CE, is celebrated as the key point in the emergence of Christianity as it transitioned from a persecuted clandestine movement to a faith operating freely with Roman imperial sanction. The council is also recognized as the first truly ecumenical council of the emerging church, where an effort was made to gather bishops from across the early Christian world to reach agreement on important theological and administrative matters.

Given the council’s significance, scholars have long sought to identify the exact location (or locations) in ancient Nicea (modern İznik in northwestern Turkey) where the meeting may have taken place. The most helpful clues as to the meeting’s location are found in the writings of the fourth-century church historian Eusebius, who attended the council as bishop of Caesarea Maritima. In particular, Eusebius mentions two places where the council met: “From all the churches which filled Europe, Libya and Asia, the choicest of the servants of God were brought together; and one place of worship, as if extended by God, took them in all together” (Life of Constantine 3.7.1). Here, Eusebius described the initial meeting place as a church (“one place of worship” or literally “house of prayer”). In his description of the conclusion of the council, however, Eusebius gives a second venue: “the innermost hall of [Constantine’s] palace, which appeared to exceed the rest in size” (Life of Constantine 3.10.1). The place of worship is described “as if extended by God,” suggesting the initial venue was not large enough to accommodate the attendees, while the palace was exceedingly large, with plenty of room for aisles and chairs.

PHOTO BY MARK FAIRCHILD

But where were the church and palace that Eusebius mentions? Although the location of Constantine’s palace remains a mystery (see “Where Was Constantine’s Palace?”), the only known fourth-century church in Nicea is the submerged basilica found in 2014 beneath the waters of Lake İznik (known in antiquity as Lake Ascania) that excavator Mustafa Şahin and I believe may preserve the remains of the church where the council first met.^a Here, I present new archaeological, historical, and artistic evidence that this basilica began as a shrine to an early Christian martyr before it was transformed into a martyrion church that served as the initial venue for the first council.¹

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During the first three centuries of its existence, Christianity was bitterly persecuted by Roman authorities. The persecutions, though often sporadic and occurring in different places at different times, resulted in the deaths of thousands of martyrs. Yet the faith kept growing, so much so that in 313 Constantine and his then co-emperor Licinius jointly issued the Edict of Milan that made Christianity a licit religion throughout the empire. Those martyrs lost to the persecutions were not forgotten. Their places of execution or burial were memorialized as shrines and places of worship by the communities they left behind, frequently preserving relics and other objects associated with the life or death of the martyr. Following the Edict of Milan, many of these shrines were converted into martyria (commemorative churches), including at Nicea where, according to a late Byzantine tradition that mixes history with miraculous and legendary tales, a young Christian named Neophytos was martyred a decade before the edict.

DRAWING BY MUSTAFA ŞAHİN & BAS

Born to Christian parents, Neophytos reportedly displayed unusual piety at a young age and performed miracles for his friends, even raising his mother from the dead. At the age of ten, he moved to the nearby hills and lived in a cave for five years. At the time of the Great Persecution under Emperor Diocletian in 303, Neophytos returned and reproached Nicea’s governor in public. He was thrown to the lions. However, the lions bowed down to him and did him no harm. Enraged, the governor ordered a soldier to slay the saint with his sword. The earliest document supporting the tradition—a tenth-century imperial menologium illustrating the lives of the saints and now housed in the Vatican Library—shows Neophytos being executed outside of Nicea’s city walls, on the shore of Lake Ascania.

I believe the basilica found submerged beneath the waters of Lake İznik is the last and best-preserved phase of the martyrion church that commemorated the place of Neophytos’s execution. Typically, churches would have been built inside the city walls and would not have been so close to the lake. However, the location of Neophytos’s death dictated that the martyrion be constructed outside of the city on the shore of the lake, which is exactly where the basilica was located in the fourth century, before it was swallowed by the waters of Lake İznik centuries later.

More importantly, the site’s archaeology shows that the basilica actually began as a simple shrine before it developed into the martyrion church that was used by the first council. Drone photos of the site clearly indicate that a small, square-shaped structure underlies the apse of the basilica. This structure, which consists of crudely laid field stones and mortar, must predate the late-fourth-century basilica and, therefore, is presumably the original shrine built to commemorate Neophytos.

PHOTO COURTESY MUSTAFA ŞAHİN

Shortly after the Edict of Milan, a marytrion church was built around the shrine. Evidence for the remains of this church is scant, however, because it was likely constructed of wood, as indicated by the wood, charcoal, and large number of nails discovered around the site. Moreover, the recent discovery of large wooden girders under the marble floor of the later basilica makes this suggestion highly likely. This wooden church is where the initial gathering of the First Council of Nicea took place. Although we can say little of this church’s plan or features, Eusebius may provide a clue as to its size. He writes that the church where the council met was seemingly “extended by God,” implying it was barely able to accommodate the attending bishops. Estimates of the attendees range from 250 to 318 bishops. If we allow 9 square feet per person, we can imagine a relatively small church that measured approximately 75 by 35 feet.

PHOTO COURTESY MUSTAFA ŞAHİN

In the second half of the fourth century, the wooden church was replaced by a large stone basilica, which is the structure that Şahin and his team have excavated.² At that time, the martyr’s relics were moved from the shrine to a sarcophagus that was placed in a room beside the church’s apse. Although only fragments of the sarcophagus survive at the site today, one of its ornately carved panels was discovered more than a century ago and is now on display at the İznik Museum along with other artifacts from the site.

Finally, at least three dozen tombs and burials discovered in and around the basilica strongly suggest the church began as a shrine to Neophytos. During the Byzantine period, many Christians believed the holiness of martyred saints radiated out from their tombs, and, as such, often chose to be buried alongside or in close proximity to a martyr’s shrine. Of the 36 burials excavated at the site, half were found inside the church and at least six of these were discovered within the small square-shaped structure beneath the apse that was likely the original shrine. Later Byzantine texts even suggest that two bishops who passed away during the first council’s proceedings may have been buried at the site (see “Buried Bishops”).

PHOTO BY MARK FAIRCHILD

So, why did Constantine choose this martyrion church in Nicea as the venue for the first council? First, most of the participants, traveling from great distances, would come by sea. Nicea provided near access to the Propontis coast (Marmara Sea), thus making travel easier and encouraging greater attendance. Second, Constantine himself had a palace at Nicea, which made his presence at the meetings comfortable and effortless. Finally, the choice of the martyrion church was symbolic. Holding the first council in the shrine to Neophytos showed that the period of persecution had finally ended and that the Christian faith had entered a new phase with imperial sanction. Similarly, the shift in venues from the martyrion church, located outside the city walls, to Constantine’s palace, located inside the city, may have symbolized Christianity’s new position at the center of civic life under the protection of the state.

PHOTO COURTESY MUSTAFA ŞAHİN

Written traditions report that the church of the Nicene council was standing and recognized as the place of the meetings at least until the earthquakes of the 11th century. Michael Attaleiates, a Byzantine chronicler and historian living in Constantinople at the time, felt the shocks and reported:

[An earthquake] happened in Nikaia [Nicea] in Bithynia and brought almost total devastation and ruin to the place. Its most important and large churches—[including] the one of the Holy Fathers, where the Council of the most Holy and Orthodox Fathers against Areios confirmed its decisions and where Orthodoxy was proclaimed openly to shine brighter than the sun—[…] were shaken and collapsed, as did the walls of the city.³

After this destruction, memory of the church’s location seems to have faded. Indeed, it was also around this time that the rising waters of Lake Ascania began to encroach on the Neophytos shrine and basilica, with continued seismic activity eventually submerging the entire structure. It is only now, more than a thousand years later, that archaeology is finally revealing the church’s secrets and its possible connections to one of the most formative events in Christian history.