What Really Happened at the Council of Nicaea?
Brown makes several misleading statements about the Council of Nicaea, including the assertion (made by the historian Teabing, who apparently never studied ancient or Church history) that it was where Jesus was first declared divine. A full history and background to the Council of Nicaea, which convened in 325, is impossible here; there are a number of popular and scholarly works that provide that information (Philip Hughes, The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils, 325-1870 [Image, 1964]; A.H.M. Jones, Constantine and the Conversion of Europe [University of Toronto Press, 1978]). But a brief overview of the basic facts will show how egregious are the claims made in The Da Vinci Code. The Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical of the Church, made possible by the patronage of Constantine and his desire to end the disunity and controversy being caused by the Arian heresy. Arius (b. c. 260-80; d. 336) was a priest from Alexandria who was noted for his preaching and asce
