By Jessica Ryder-Khalil

This year, festivities for the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea are happening all over the world. This month, the World Council of Churches is gathering at St. Bishoy’s Monastery in Wadi el Natroun, Egypt for the Global Ecumenical Theological Institute and then the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt. Today’s guest post by Jessica Ryder-Khalil responds to another such conference earlier this year, in Titusville, Florida. Get updated about new posts at Being in Community by subscribing to my email newsletter.

Watching the sunrise over the beautiful riverside campus of the St. Stephen Coptic Orthodox Retreat Center in Titusville, FL during the recent Nicaea Today Conference celebrating the 1700th Anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, I wondered if St. Athanasius also took an opportunity for quiet time on the banks of the lake that forms the eastern border of the town of Îznik, Turkey, the site of the ancient city of Nicaea. The recesses between meetings must have been punctuated by the opportunity to look up at the vast expanse of sky and recall His Lord’s instructions in the Sermon on the Mount:

Sunrise over Titusville, FL. Photo (c) Jessica Ryder-Khalil, 2025.

“Do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,  that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good.” (Mt 5:44-45 NKJV)

All these centuries later, it may seem that the Council of Nicaea was the resolution of the Arian conflict and the confirmation of the universal faith. However, what the presenters at the Nicaea Today conference demonstrated was that for St. Athanasius in particular, the Council was the beginning of troubles. It was through the artful combination of his steadfastness in doctrine with his openness to dialogue that we are heirs of St. Athanasius’ legacy. In the words of His Eminence Metropolitan Bishop Youssef, we take “the Creed as our shield and Nicaea as our light.”

 At the behest of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, the 13 North American Coptic Orthodox bishops gathered in May, along with clergy, scholars and laypeople, to consider the modern impact of Nicaea on the Church, and especially the Council’s role in our understanding of pastoral care issues ranging from education to ecumenical unity. Later this year, the World Council of Churches will host the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order at St. Bishoy Monastery in Wadi El Natrun, Egypt from October 24 to 28th. As reported on the WCC website, this anniversary “offers an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the affirmation of faith in the Nicene Creed, the mission of God’s triune love and the implications this has for the common witness and service of the churches.”

Nicaea’s Byzantine fortifications. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Undoubtedly, St. Athanasius is rejoicing in heaven at the prospect of welcoming Christians from around the world to his beloved homeland of Egypt in honor of the anniversary.The WCC conference will be centered around the key idea of visible unity and it is of the utmost importance that the Nicene confession remains the glue fastening the Christian faithful worldwide to Christ. Again, rather than viewing the Council as a static historical event, Christian unity today depends on seeing the Council as a living expression of faith that codified what the Church was already practicing, evidenced by credal statements found in Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, and that still shapes our biblical exegesis, liturgical practice and pastoral work into a beacon of Christ’s sanctifying light to the world.

At the Nicaea Today conference, His Grace Bishop Kyrillos, Dean of the St. Athanasius and St. Cyril Theological School (ACTS), explained in his Plenary Paper that two of St. Athanasius’ strengths were his coherence of thought and his resilience. It is due to St. Athanasius’ precise methodology of biblical interpretation that Orthodox Christians can succinctly confess that the “Incarnation is consistent with God’s character,” as we cry out to Him as the Good One and Lover of Mankind. Certainty about God’s loving posture towards humanity is the firm ground upon which we stand in front of the challenges of others, just as St. Athanasius did. As HG Bishop Kyrollos shared, St. Athanasius’ ability to direct the Alexandrian church in times of crisis is due to the patriarch finding peace and rest in God, his Father.

Thus, going out into the world as Orthodox Christians, we have the 1700 years of tradition on which to stand, along with the good counsel of our father St. Athanasius the Apostolic. In his presentation on “The Nicaean Legacy in St. Cyril’s Thought,” Fr. Bishoy Wasfi shared that the Alexandrian theology of deification rests on the shoulders of the Nicene Creed as the redemption and salvation of humanity are dependent on the Incarnation of the Only-Begotten Son of God, consubstantial and of one essence with the Father. We cooperate and participate with the Holy Trinity in a sacramental integration of doctrine and ethics, making the Church into “the arena for transformation”. With confidence in our Heavenly Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are called to search out and care for the Image of His Son in all those we encounter within the Church and without.

Jessica at the Nicaea Today conference. Photo (c) Jessica Ryder-Khalil, 2025.

With sober and realistic expectations, we first recognize the One Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, followed by His disciples St. Stephen and St. Athanasius as our models. The Liturgy Gospel reading for Pashons 7, the Feast of the Departure of St. Athanasius, is from John 8:54-59. The Lord Jesus proclaims His unity and co-eternality with the Father in the statement, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The crowd then proceeds to pick up stones to stone Him. Likewise, St. Stephen stirred the crowds to jealousy when, “they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” (Acts 6:10 NKJV). Yet, even those complicit in the unjust murder of St. Stephen perceived the light in his face. So too, our father, St. Athanasius the Apostolic, boldly faced his multiple exiles, willing to be stoned with words, evil schemes, hardships, and deprivations for the sake of proclaiming the Light of True Light to the whole world. He withstood this all with the hope that he might reconcile some to the life of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. 

Celebrations surrounding the life of St. Athanasius and the Council of Nicaea will continue throughout the year. Along with the Nicaea Today conference in North America, the concelebrated liturgy on May 17th in St. Mark’s Cathedral, Cairo with the presence of the Coptic patriarch HH Pope Tawadros II, along with his brothers in the apostolic liturgy Syriac patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II and the Armenian patriarch His Holiness Catholicos Aram I is another joyful example of ecclesial unity. HH Pope Tawadros II commented, “What happened 1,700 years ago is alive in our Church today. We gather here in complete love and pray together, lifting our hearts before God in strong faith and unity, which we pray will endure until the end.” The recent processions of our saintly fathers the patriarchs, metropolitans and bishops help us envision what the processions into the imperial chambers temporarily established by Emperor Constantine at Nicaea would have been like, full of hymns of joy and beautiful vestments honoring the shared anticipation of the heavenly banquet in this age and in the age to come.  

In the daily readings of the Coptic Church, the commemoration of the Council is placed on Hator 9 and will be remembered in November. The Psalm reading for that day informs us all about the hopeful posture of the Church, unified in waiting for the King of Glory, “Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Your saints shout for joy.” With the prayers of St.  Athanasius the Apostolic, may all these gatherings be filled with the fragrant aroma of brotherly love in the bonds of peace  (Psalm 132:9 NKJV).

Jessica Ryder-Khalil  is a frequent contributor to Being in Community. She is a wife and mom of four children between the ages of 17 and 8 years of age.  She is a servant at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Gainesville, FL and is working towards an MTS degree from St. Athanasius & St. Cyril Theological School.  Jessica was baptized into the Coptic Orthodox Church 19 years ago and is a continual learner along the path to Orthodoxy. Before family life took the lead role, Jessica taught English as a Second Language both abroad and in the USA. Her previous posts include What a Feast!, Shortbread Theology, Death, Roses, and Resurrection, An Hour in a Few Minutes, Spiritual Warfare Everywhere, and What My Mom Taught Me About Authenticity. Text © Jessica Ryder-Khalil, 2025.

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