The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. This ecumenical council was the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. Hosius of Corduba, one of the papal legates, may have presided over its deliberations, its main accomplishments were settlement of the Christological issue of the divine nature of God the Son and his relationship to God the Father, the construction of the first part of the Nicene Creed, establishing uniform observance of the date of Easter, promulgation of early canon law. The First Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the church. Most it resulted in the first uniform Christian doctrine, called the Nicene Creed. With the creation of the creed, a precedent was established for subsequent local and regional councils of bishops to create statements of belief and canons of doctrinal orthodoxy—the intent being to define unity of beliefs for the whole of Christendom.
Derived from Greek, "ecumenical" means "worldwide" but is assumed to be limited to the known inhabited Earth, at this time in history is synonymous with the Roman Empire. One purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements arising from within the Church of Alexandria over the nature of the Son in his relationship to the Father: in particular, whether the Son had been'begotten' by the Father from his own being, therefore having no beginning, or else created out of nothing, therefore having a beginning. St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position; the council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly. Another result of the council was an agreement on when to celebrate Easter, the most important feast of the ecclesiastical calendar, decreed in an epistle to the Church of Alexandria in, stated:We send you the good news of the settlement concerning the holy pasch, namely that in answer to your prayers this question has been resolved. All the brethren in the East who have hitherto followed the Jewish practice will henceforth observe the custom of the Romans and of yourselves and of all of us who from ancient times have kept Easter together with you.
Significant as the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, the Council was the first occasion where the technical aspects of Christology were discussed. Through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt canons; this council is considered the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils in the History of Christianity. The First Council of Nicaea was convened by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great upon the recommendations of a synod led by the bishop Hosius of Corduba in the Eastertide of 325; this synod had been charged with investigation of the trouble brought about by the Arian controversy in the Greek-speaking east. To most bishops, the teachings of Arius were dangerous to the salvation of souls. In the summer of 325, the bishops of all provinces were summoned to Nicaea, a place reasonably accessible to many delegates those of Asia Minor, Armenia, Egypt and Thrace; this was summoned by Constantine.
According to Warren H. Carroll, in the Council of Nicaea, "The Church had taken her first great step to define revealed doctrine more in response to a challenge from a heretical theology." Constantine had invited all 1,800 bishops of the Christian church within the Roman Empire, but a smaller and unknown number attended. Eusebius of Caesarea counted more than 250, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, Eustathius of Antioch estimated "about 270". Socrates Scholasticus recorded more than 300, Evagrius, Hilary of Poitiers, Dionysius Exiguus, Rufinus recorded 318; this number 318 is preserved in the liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Delegates came from every region of the Roman Empire, including Britain, from the Christian churches extant within the Sassanid Empire; the participating bishops were given free travel to and from their episcopal sees to the council, as well as lodging. These bishops did not travel alone. Eusebius speaks of an innumerable host of accompanying priests and acolytes.
A Syriac manuscript lists the names of the eastern bishops which included twenty two from Coele-Syria, nineteen from Palestine, ten from Phoenicia, six from Arabia, others from Assyria, Persia, etc. but the distinction of bishops from presbyters had not yet formed. The Eastern bishops formed the great majority. Of these, the first rank was held by the patriarchs: Alexander of Alexandria and Eustathius of Antioch. Many of t
Gerard Starkie is an English musician and former lead singer of Witness. After Witness split up in 2004, Gerard went on to record his debut album Drawbridge with former Witness band members, releasing it as a free download on his official MySpace site. Gerard released his second album Potions in July 2011 on UK indie label Lupine Records. Gerard has had several of his songs picked up for use on film around the world. "Here's One For You" featured on the soundtrack to American Pie 2, whilst Closing Up featured on Cougar Town in 2009. Witness were a British alternative rock band formed in Wigan, Greater Manchester in 1997; the band released two albums via Island Records between 1999 and 2001, before splitting up in 2004. Despite their brief time together, Witness received widespread critical acclaim, their debut album Before The Calm gained a 9/10 review in the NME. Their second album, Under A Sun was a departure to the stripped back sound of their debut, but again received critical acclaim across the media.
The well-respected Americana UK website went on to crown the LP their'Album of the Year' for 2001: Uncut magazine meanwhile gave it a 5 star review. Official Gerard Starkie website Official Witness website Gerard Starkie on IMDb
Pacific Time was a weekly radio program that covered a wide range of Asian American, East Asian and Southeast Asian issues, including economics, politics, public policy, the arts and sports. With news bureaus in Bangkok and Tokyo, it was the only public radio program devoted to Asian-American issues. Produced by KQED in San Francisco, the show was syndicated by as many as 37 other public radio stations in markets around the United States; the show premiered in 2000 and was hosted by Nguyen Qui Duc until September, 2006, when Nguyen returned to Vietnam. After Nguyen's departure it was hosted by K. Oanh Ha. Citing financial difficulties, KQED cancelled the show and its last broadcast was October 11, 2007. At the time it was cancelled the program cost $500,000 per year to produce and had a weekly audience of 190,000. Stations carrying Pacific Time: Pacific Time Official website