1The synod of Nicaea tells the church of Alexandria that Arius's teaching was anathematized and that Melitius may keep only the bare title of bishop in his own city.
2Clergy ordained by Melitius are received after a further laying on of hands but rank below Alexander's clergy; the East is to keep Easter with Rome and Alexandria.
About this work
Author
Anonymous
Attribution
authentic · Letter of the bishops assembled at Nicaea to the church of Alexandria and the brethren in Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis, preserved by the church historian Socrates. No single author.
Standing
Received by the Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions. A synod of bishops in communion with the church of its day.
Date
325
Written at
Nicaea (modern İznik), Bithynia
Addressed to
The church of Alexandria and the brethren in Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis
Language
Greek
Genre
canon/council
Reference system
sections of about 300 words, numbered 1–2 by Claude (Socrates's chapter 1.9 is not subdivided). Only the letter is staged: Socrates's own comments after it and Constantine's letter to the Alexandrians, which follow in the same chapter, are not part of it.
SBL abbreviation
Conc. Nic. Ep.Not yet checked
Text from
Robert Hussey and William Bright, eds., Socratis Scholastici Historia ecclesiastica (Oxford: Clarendon, 1893), 1.9, as digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and the First Thousand Years of Greek project (tlg2057.tlg002) (Printed edition in the public domain; digital text CC BY-SA 4.0)
Critical editions
Günther Christian Hansen, ed., Sokrates Kirchengeschichte, GCS, Neue Folge 1 (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1995); Hans-Georg Opitz, ed., Athanasius Werke 3.1: Urkunden zur Geschichte des arianischen Streites (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1934–), Urkunde 23 (cited, not reproduced)