NICEA

Saturday 5 October 2013

NICEA

As with Chalcedon, there really isn't a church or landmark to commemorate the Council of Nicea, where the early Church bishops debated the question  of Christ's divinity and humanity in the year 325. The council's deliberations resulted in the Nicene Creed that Catholics pray every Sunday during Mass.

From Sister Mary's commentary that she distributed earlier in the week:

[The Nicene Creed] did not receive final formulation until the First Council of Constantinople in 381. Athanasius of Alexandria refuted Arias who was teaching that Christ was a lesser God, raised to divinity because of nobility of life (adoptionism). Athanasius said Christ has to be homoousios (of the same substance) as the Father because only one fully God could save. . . "Consubstantial with the Father" was recently restored to the English version of the Creed. 

Nicea today is known as Iznik, a Muslim city. Our tour organizers couldn't even find a Catholic church here where we could celebrate Mass. Nevertheless, we set out for Nicea (Iznik) to get a sense for the distance from Constantinople (Istanbul), and to feel the holy vibes of that landmark location for Christianity.

It is indeed a very long distance from Istanbul to Iznik: 124 miles by road. Our driver cut down the drive time by putting us on a ferry across the Sea of Marmara but it still came close to a 3-hour drive. The ferry was fun, and it gave us a chance to mingle with the locals.

But before we reached the ferry dock, we drove through the Asian side of Istanbul that featured amazing futuristic skyscrapers in bizarre shapes and colors that look like something out of Star Trek. Incredible!

Three hours later, we arrived at the town of Iznik. Really, there is nothing in this town even remotely related to the Council of Nicea, but we stopped to visit a humble house of worship known as Iznik Ayasofya (Orphan) Mosque, which started out as a Roman temple during the days of the empire. In the 4th century, a Christian church was built over the temple. Upon the conquest of Iznik by Orphan Ghazi in 1331, the church was converted into a mosque.

In 1920, the mosque was destroyed in a skirmish with the Greeks. Restoration work began in 2007, and Orphan Mosque was opened again for public worship in 2011.

Orphan Mosque is a small house of worship built of red brick. I could definitely see traces of Christian design in its layout and windows. The central carpeted prayer space, with no pews, keeps the mosque spacious.

Our group arrived in time for Noon Prayer. Fr. Paul met the Imam, the prayer leader of the mosque. They embraced each other in a deep understanding of their roles as men of God.

At 12:00 the Imam, on his knees, started singing into a microphone in the prayer area as he faced toward Mecca. His sonorous voice was broadcast via loudspeakers outside the mosque for all the town to hear. Within minutes, shopkeepers and businessmen filed into the mosque, removed their shoes, and joined their Imam. The chanting was mesmerizing and beautiful. I had never before experienced a Muslim prayer service. Nicea is no longer a Christian city, but we Christians had the rare privilege of praying with our Muslim brothers as their guests.

Here is a brief recording of the beautiful chant from Noon Prayer: