Archaeologists Uncover Church That May Have Hosted Christianity’s Defining Council

Archaeologists in Turkey believe they’ve uncovered the remains of the church that hosted the First Council of Nicaea, one of the most pivotal events in Christian history. An international team continued excavations in July at a church complex in the ancient city of Nicaea, now within the modern town of İznik.

Excavation director Mustafa Şahin identified the structure as the Church of St. Neophytos, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 368 A.D. and later replaced by the Church of the Holy Fathers around 380 A.D. The latest findings align with accounts from ancient written sources.

Researchers discovered that floor pavement outside the later church continued into the prothesis chamber, an area beside the sanctuary, and ran beneath its eastern wall, suggesting it belonged to an earlier phase of the church complex. “This first phase may correspond to the small church recounted in the written sources about the Council of Nicaea,” Şahin told Fox News Digital.

The First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. was the first ecumenical council in Christian history. It famously produced the Nicene Creed, affirming that Jesus was “begotten, not made” and fully divine rather than a created being. The council represented one of the earliest efforts to unify Christian doctrine across the Roman Empire and rejected the beliefs of Arius, who argued that Christ was a created being rather than co-eternal with God the Father.

Archaeologists first identified a large submerged basilica at the site in 2014, later determining it was the Church of the Holy Fathers. While that basilica has long been associated with the First Council of Nicaea, Şahin says the newly uncovered, smaller church beneath it is a more likely candidate.

Coins recovered from graves beneath the later basilica helped date its construction to around 380 A.D., reinforcing the conclusion that an earlier church occupied the site at the time of the council. Eusebius of Caesarea, who attended the First Council of Nicaea, described the meeting as taking place in a small church. “The church was so small that one wonders how so many bishops fit inside,” Şahin said. “This itself was a great miracle of God.”

After uncovering evidence that the basilica had been built over an earlier church, Şahin said he is confident the Church of St. Neophytos stood beneath the Church of the Holy Fathers and hosted the First Council of Nicaea. “The Church of the Holy Fathers was built after 380 over the site of the First Council and in memory of the bishops who attended it,” he told Turkish media. “As of this year, we are in a position to say definitively that the Church of the Holy Fathers is located here. Our hypothesis has been confirmed.”

The First Council of Nicaea defended the divinity of Christ. The Nicene Creed is still recited in churches worldwide. This discovery provides physical evidence of where the early Church fought for truth, a reminder that Christian faith is rooted in history, not myth.

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