section_path: Ecumenical Council
section_name: Ecumenical Council
paragraph_text: Ecumenical Council
  
  The First Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the church. Nicaea "was the first time that any attempt had been made to summon a general council of the whole church at which, at least in theory, the church in every part of the Roman Empire should be represented".
  
  Derived from Greek (Ancient Greek: οἰκουμένη, romanized: oikouménē, lit. ' the inhabited one '), "ecumenical" means "worldwide" but generally is assumed to be limited to the known inhabited Earth, and at this time in history is nearly synonymous with the Roman Empire. The earliest extant uses of the term for a council are Eusebius ' Life of Constantine around 338, which states "he convoked an ecumenical council" (σύνοδον οἰκουμενικὴν συνεκρότει, sýnodon oikoumenikḕn synekrótei) and a letter in 382 to Pope Damasus I and the Latin bishops from the First Council of Constantinople.
  
  Historically significant as the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, the council was the first occasion where the technical aspects of Christology were discussed. Through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt creeds and canons. This council is generally considered the beginning of the period of the first seven ecumenical councils in the history of Christianity.