Message of His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, to the archpastors, pastors, deacons, monastics and all faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council:

Beloved in the Lord, Most Reverend Archpastors, all-honorable priests and deacons, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters!

Today, on the 7th Sunday after Easter, the Orthodox Church prayerfully remembers and glorifies the feat of the holy fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, which took place in 325 in Nicaea, a small town near Constantinople. This year marks the 1700th anniversary of this epochal event in church history.

About three hundred bishops and their representatives came from almost all corners of the Christian world to take part in the discussion of one of the most pressing issues that had been causing heated debates for several decades and literally tearing the Church apart. The minds of many people were taken over by the error of the Alexandrian presbyter Arius that the Son of God is not the true God, but only His highest creation. In asserting this, Arius tried to rationalize the faith and turn the great piety mystery of the incarnation of God (1 Tim. 3:16) into an abstract philosophical doctrine.

The Arian heresy touched the very depths of the Christian faith, distorted the gospel testimony about the salvation of the world, for which the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). The Church rejected this false teaching, condemning it with conciliar reason and formulating the most important dogma of the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, which we confess in the Creed proclaimed at the Divine Liturgy. As the outstanding Church historian Professor Vasily Vasilyevich Bolotov writes, “The Nicene Creed was so precise that it could not be reinterpreted – it could only be accepted or rejected” (Lectures on the History of the Ancient Church. Volume 4).

The history of the Church is not only academic research into the events of the past and stories about the affairs of days long past, the traditions of ancient times, which are like the darkened pages of a dusty book. The Holy Spirit lives and acts in the history of the Church, guiding us into all truth (John 16:13). This is why the study of church history – to which I urge you all – helps us to better understand many phenomena in modern religious life, teaches us to separate the important from the unimportant and to distinguish between spirits (1 Cor. 12:10), comprehending the all-wise Providence of God for the Church.

From the very beginning of its historical existence, the Church has been and remains a community of believers in Christ, who experientially comprehend and experience unity in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, when with one mouth and one heart we confess faith in the Holy Trinity and partake of the one Cup of Christ. The Holy Spirit teaches the Church to respond to the challenges of the times with conciliar reason and in fraternal dialogue. This was the case at the first council of the apostles in Jerusalem, which became a turning point in the spread of the good news and determined the universal scale of the Church’s mission. This was also the case at the Council of Nicaea in 325, which achieved a dogmatic victory over the heresy of Arius and rejected this teaching as contradicting the very foundations of the Christian faith. This was also the case at subsequent holy councils. This is how – we believe and hope – it will be until the end of time.

Today, when world Orthodoxy is going through a very difficult time, when a deep theological understanding of ecclesiological problems is required, we testify again and again with conviction: the most important decisions affecting the foundations of the Church’s existence and its fidelity to the apostolic teaching and canonical foundations, concerning the implementation of the saving calling to be the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15), must be made together, in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3).

We constantly testify to this and pray that through the intercession of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, the Greatly Gifted God will mercifully look upon His Church and grant her faithful children the strength and wisdom, courage and steadfastness to remain the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13-14), to be His bold witnesses even to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), until Christ comes.

Calling upon you all, my dears, the peace and blessing of God, I wish you growth in love and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom befits all glory, honor and worship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

+ KIRILL,
PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL Rus’

June 1, 2025