05/24/2026
On May 24 in the Holy Orthodox Church, we commemorate the Venerable Stylites Simeon the Younger of the Mountain of Wonders and Nikitas of Pereyaslavl-Zalesski; Martyr Meletios the General of Galatia; and Venerable Vincent of Lerins.
On this day, the seventh Sunday of Pascha, we celebrate the first Ecumenical Council of the 318 God-bearing Fathers, which took place in Nicaea in Bithynia.
Arius, the notorious heretic, began to blaspheme against God and His Son the Word, saying that the latter was not God consubstantial with the Father, but that He was created as a stranger to the Substance of the Father and His glory. Alexander, the Archbishop of Alexandria, tried to constrain Arius from disturbing the faithful with this teaching; even though Alexander excommunicated him, Arius did not cease his blasphemy, which spread throughout the Church in all nations. Thus, Emperor Constantine the Great called the First Ecumenical Council, which gathered bishops and teachers in the Church from all lands. They all proclaimed, as by one mouth, the equality of the Son of God with the Father in Substance, thus laying down the Noble Confession of Faith, The Creed, which we Orthodox Christians recite to this day. The Church regards these divine Fathers as preachers of the Faith next to the holy Apostles.
By the intercessions of the 318 God-bearing Fathers, O Christ God, have mercy on us. Amen
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