International symposium on Nicaea takes place in Bucharest

The event "is not just an occasion to recall a crucial historical event in the history of Christianity,” Patriarch Daniel of Romania said in his opening address.

According to His Beatitude, the event is also "an occasion to delve deeply into an act of ecclesial conscience and dogmatic responsibility in the face of the Arian heresy, through which the Church, in communion, has solemnly formulated and confessed the apostolic faith of the church.

"In an age in which the unity of faith is often put to the test by the many ideologies of the contemporary world, by aggressive secularism and by the increasingly dominant moral relativism, a profound knowledge of the sources of patristic thought and of the great events in the history of Christianity which have affirmed with strength and synodal authority the saving truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a permanent theological necessity and a pastoral and missionary duty for all the Church's ministers, in order to guide the faithful on the path to salvation," said Patriarch Daniel.

"Bringing together the Gospel and philosophy, the rule of love and the principles of Roman law, community organization and integration into the sophisticated Roman culture, are major achievements of the First Ecumenical Council that decisively shaped the face of the Christian faith," Ciprian Vasile Olinici, state secretary for Religious Affairs, said.

A message of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, conveyed through the secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said: “This anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council is, for all Christians, an opportunity to reaffirm their common faith in the saving divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, consubstantial with the Father. It is also an occasion to rediscover the synodality inaugurated at a universal level by the Council of Nicaea—synodality which has always been the path indicated by the Holy Spirit for the Church to express and deepen unity. As the title of the conference suggests, the Christological faith defined by the Council of Nicaea is the foundation of the Church’s unity, and for all Christians, it is a call to recover full visible communion, in accordance with the Lord’s prayer, ‘that all may be one.’ Pope Leo XIV hopes that this conference will be an opportunity to reflect on the ways to respond with renewed zeal to this prayer of the Lord, so that Christians may together proclaim to the people of today their faith in Jesus Christ, ‘Light from Light, true God from true God.’ ”

Prof. Dr Marin Preda, rector of the University of Bucharest, emphasized that the event "provides a framework for reflection and interdisciplinary dialogue, bringing together personalities from the academic, ecclesiastical and cultural spheres in a common effort to rediscover the profound significance of this founding moment not only of the Christian religion, but also of the common European and global culture.

"The University of Bucharest preserves and promotes the essential elements of the Synod of Nicaea, such as the common search for truth, the culture of debate, and ecumenism.”

Cosmin Pricop, dean of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Bucharest, said that “before moments of such significance, we have the duty to have a retrospective understanding, that is, in the history already written and happened, but also a prospective understanding, forward, in the history that will be written and will happen.”