story and
hastened to take his advice.

It was a scandalous thing, he wrote, that the peace of the Church
should be disturbed for such a trivial matter. Let Alexander and Arius
forgive one another; let them each keep their own opinion if they
chose, but in concord and in quiet. He ended by begging both to give
him peace by making peace among themselves and by putting an end to
all such quarrels.

The letter was entrusted to Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, a confessor of
the Faith, venerated throughout the Church for his wisdom and
holiness. He was to deliver it personally to the Patriarch of
Alexandria.

Now, Hosius was a Bishop of the Western Church and had heard but vague
rumors of the doings of Arius and his followers in the East. His first
interview with the Patriarch of Alexandria opened his eyes to the
importance of the matter. It was no question of a war of words or a
difference of opinion--Christianity itself was at stake; the Emperor
must be warned, and warned at once. A letter was therefore written by
the two Bishops, assisted probably by Athanasius, in which the Emperor
was earnestly begged to take steps to summon a universal Council of
the Church to decide the question. It was dispatched to him by a
trusty messenger and in due time reached his hands.

Constantine, who was really anxious to do what was right, appealed to
the Pope, St. Sylvester, to unite with him in summoning a Council. To
the Bishops who were too poor to undertake a long journey with the
usual attendance of clergy, the Emperor offered the necessary means.
He undertook also to house and provide for the members of the Council
as long as it lasted. The town of Nicea in Bithynia, about twenty
miles from Nicomedia, was chosen as the meeting place. It was hoped by
all devout Christians that peace and unity in the Church would be the
result.

Chapter 3
THE GREAT COUNCIL

IN the early summer of the year 325 the Council of Nicea met. Three
hundred eighteen Bishops were present, besides a multitude of priests,
deacons and acolytes. It was like the Day of Pentecost, said the
people: "men of all nations and of all tongues."

Many bore the glorious marks of the sufferings they had endured for
Christ; others were wasted with long years of prison. There were the
hermit Bishops of Egypt, Paphnutius and Potamon, who had each lost an
eye for the Faith; Paul of Neo-Caesarea, whose muscles had been burned
with red-hot irons and whose paralyzed hand