From Nicaea to Constantinople: the Trinitarian debate

Church History · 325–381

Nicaea confessed the Son as consubstantial with the Father in 325. Dispute over the Son and the Holy Spirit continued for decades; Constantinople in 381 reaffirmed Nicaea and confessed the Spirit as Lord and giver of life.

Historical context

The interval includes changing imperial policies, episcopal exiles, and work by Athanasius and the Cappadocians. A council's date is only one point in a longer reception history.

Key points

The question was whether the Son and Spirit belong to the uncreated divine life.
Read the creed and the fourth-century writers together; do not treat one person as the sole author of the conciliar formula.

Scripture

John 1:1-3 — The Word and creation in the Son's divinity debate.
Matthew 28:19 — The triune baptismal naming used in discussion of the Spirit.

Primary sources

Nicaea's creed confesses the Son:

The Nicene creed calls the Son one in substance with the Father.

being of one substance (ὁμοούσιον, consubstantialem) with the Father
— First Council of Nicaea, Nicene Creed (Creed), trans. Henry Percival, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 14

Passage context and translation

The council uses the term homoousios to confess the Son's full divinity against Arian claims that the Son is a creature.

Before the excerpt

very God of very God, begotten (γεννηθέντα), not made,

After the excerpt

By whom all things were made, both which be in heaven and in earth.

Percival translation in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 14; the excerpt retains the Greek and Latin gloss printed in the linked edition.

The creed continues:

The received Constantinopolitan creed confesses the Holy Spirit as Lord and giver of life, proceeding from the Father and worshiped with Father and Son.

the Lord and Giver-of-Life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified
— First Council of Constantinople, Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (Creed), trans. Henry Percival, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 14

Passage context and translation

The council confesses the Spirit's divine lordship and the Father's monarchy in the Creed received by the Church.

Before the excerpt

And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost,

After the excerpt

who spoke by the prophets.

Percival translation in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 14; wording is a clause of the 381 Creed as presented in the linked edition.

Sources and further reading

OCA: The First Ecumenical Council (Orthodox historical overview)
OCA: The Second Ecumenical Council (Orthodox historical overview)

Related records

The Holy Trinity (Catechumen Module)
Ambrose of Milan (Church Father)
Synods of Antioch and Paul of Samosata (Timeline Event)
Council of Sardica (Timeline Event)
Nicaea I — First Ecumenical Council (Timeline Event)
Athanasius defends Nicene faith (Timeline Event)
Basil the Great and the Spirit (Timeline Event)
Gregory Nazianzen and Gregory of Nyssa (Timeline Event)
Constantinople I — Second Ecumenical Council (Timeline Event)
Athanasius of Alexandria (Church Father)
Basil the Great (Church Father)
Gregory the Theologian (Church Father)

All records