The Nicene Council - What is it?

Historically, the Nicene council - otherwise known as the council of Nicea (ad 325) - was the first worlwide ecumenical meeting of the christian church. It was organized by the Roman Emporer Constantine after the event of his conversion (or mocked conversion) to Christianity. It was also the advent of the Roman Catholic Church. The 318 men sitting on the council are said to have been bishops and church fathers from all over the world. Some scholars write that leaders of pagan religions were also there to have a voice.The main discussion was said to have been about disagreements regarding the trinity. It also addressed the date of Easter, and the place of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, and was where the Nicene Creed was written to establish trinitarianism and counter Arianism.

A word on Easter

The Council decreed Easter to be the first Sunday after the Full Moon following the Spring Equinox, March 21, unless that Full Moon fell on a Sunday (in which case Easter would be the following Sunday).

In addition to the perfectly reasonable desire to keep the memorial on the same day of the week as Christ's Resurrection, there were other, ignoble motives for separating the Christian celebration from the Jewish holy day. There is some talk that the dates for Easter were adjusted to accomodate the pagans who were required by law to switch to Christianity (the state religion). Fierce penalty was applied to those who did not comply.

Though Constantine closely associated himself to the work of the church... he refused baptism. On his deathbed he was baptized against his will by Eusebius.