nicaea – Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome

MEOR Director Speaks at International Conference on Church Law and the 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea

June 25, 2025July 28, 2025meorome

CHICHESTER, UK – The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, was in Chichester, United Kingdom, from 20-22 June 2025 for a conference on ecclesiastical law, entitled “Nicaea Received: 1700 years of Canons, Councils and Ecumenism.” The conference, organized by the Ecclesiastical Law Society, brought together church lawyers, experts in ecclesiastical law, and senior church leaders to discuss the importance of the Council of Nicaea, particularly the 20 canons (or laws) created by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, to the churches today and to the pursuit of Christian unity. The conference assembled a wide range of participants from Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Orthodox, and Reformed churches.

Director Laferty spoke an ecumenical panel about the relevance of the Nicene Creed for Methodist churches today, particularly as a doctrinal standard in Methodist church law. In addition to Rev. Laferty, the panel also included the Most Rev. Bernhard Longley, Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, H.E. Archbishop Nikitas Lulias, Archbishop of Thyateira and Great Britain of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Prof. Anna Tronet, a canonist from the Church of Sweden, and the Ven. Moira Astin, bishop-designate of Crediton in the Church of England.

Plenary speakers for the conference were His All-Holiness Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome, Prof. Dr. Myriam Wijlens, Catholic canonist-theologian, and the Rt. Rev. Dr. Christopher Cocksworth, dean of Windsor.

Videos from WMC Webinars on 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea

April 2, 2025April 2, 2025meorome

The 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is being marked in 2025 as an important commemoration of the common Christian faith shared among the various Christian confessions. In March 2025, the World Methodist Council through an ad-hoc committee chaired by former WMC vice president Ms. Gillian Kingston organized three webinars to reflect on the Council of Nicaea and its importance for the worldwide Methodist/Wesleyan family. The series “A Wesleyan Response to Nicaea: Reflections on Faith, Unity, and Mission” had three regional foci – the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, and Africa and Europe.

Asia and the Pacific

The webinar was held on 3 March 2025.

Speakers:

Prof. Te Aroha Rountree, Methodist Church in New Zealand Te Hāhi Weteriana o Aotearoa, Trinity Methodist Theological College, Auckland, New Zealand
Rev. James Bhagwan, Methodist Church in Fiji, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches
Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, Methodist Church Malaysia, former vice moderator of the WCC Faith and Order Commission
Rev. Dr. Lisette Tapia Raquel, The United Methodist Church, Union Theological Seminary, Manila, Philippines

Moderator: Revd Dr Seferosa Carroll, Uniting Church in Australia, United Theological College, North Parramatta, Australia

The Americas

The webinar was held on 4 March 2025.

Speakers:

Rev. Dr. Blanches de Paula, Methodist Church Brazil, Methodist University, Sao Paulo,Brazil
Rev. Dr. Pablo Rubén Andiñach, Methodist Church Argentina, Universidad del Centro Educativo Latinoamericano, Rosario, Argentina
Prof. Sarah Lancaster, The United Methodist Church, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Columbus, OH, USA
Prof. Gladson Jothanna, Church of South India, Drew University, Madison, NJ, USA

Moderator: Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colon-Emeric, The United Methodist Church, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC, USA

Africa and Europe

The webinar was held on 18 March 2025.

Speakers:

Rev. Jackline Makena, Methodist Church Kenya, St. Paul University, Limuru, Kenya
Prof. Simangaliso R. Kumalo, Methodist Church Southern Africa, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, SA
Rev. Dr. Jane Leach, Methodist Church Britain, Wesley House, Cambridge
Rev. Dr. Sergei Nikolaev, The United Methodist Church, Moscow Theological Seminary, Moscow, Russia

Moderator: Revd Dr Martin Mujinga, Methodist Church Zimbabwe, Africa Methodist Council, Accra, Ghana

The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome provided technical support for the webinar series.

Photo by A. Hilbert/WCC

A Wesleyan Response to Nicaea: Reflections on Faith, Unity, and Mission on the 1700th Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea

February 4, 2025February 26, 2025meorome

The World Methodist Council invites you to three special webinars to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as scholars reflect on the anniversary and the role of the creed in the 21st century.

This year marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, a council of church leaders and others called by the Emperor Constantine to reflect on the being of Jesus Christ. Controversy about the exact nature of Christ – human or divine or both? – was threatening to divide the Empire, and Constantine and his imperial colleagues were concerned. Thus, there were mixed motives for this event – concern for the faith, for the unity of the church, undoubtedly, but also issues of power, ambition, control… However, out of this gathering, and a subsequent gathering at Constantinople in 381 AD, emerged one of the great Creeds of the church – the Nicaean-Constantinopolitan Creed, the creed in the words of which we, together, as the people of God, affirm the Christian faith: “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty…in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God…in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.”

Under the title “A Wesleyan Response to Nicaea: Reflections on Faith, Unity and Mission”, the speakers will be invited to consider the historical complexity of the 325 AD gathering at Nicaea; the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as an agreed statement of faith by Christians of many traditions and denominations; what may be the role, if any, of creeds in the twenty-first century, all of this from a Wesleyan perspective.

March 3 (with focus on Asia and Pacific) 07:00 to 08:30 GMT (15:00 Manila, 16:00 Seoul, 20:00 Auckland)

Speakers:

Prof. Te Aroha Rountree, Trinity Methodist Theological College, Auckland, New Zealand
Rev. James Bhagwan, Methodist Church in Fiji, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches
Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, Methodist Church Malaysia, former vice moderator of the WCC Faith and Order Commission
Rev. Dr. Lisette Tapia Raquel, United Methodist Church, Union Theological Seminary, Manila, Philippines

Moderator: Revd Dr Seferosa Carroll, United Theological College, North Parramatta, Australia

March 4 (with focus on the Americas) 20:00 to 21:30 GMT (15:00 Eastern, 09:00 March 5 Auckland) – Translation to Spanish will be available

Speakers:

Rev. Dr. Blanches de Paula, Methodist Church Brazil, Methodist University Sao Paulo,Brazil
Rev. Dr. Pablo Rubén Andiñach, Methodist Church Argentina, Universidad del Centro Educativo Latinoamericano, Rosario, Argentina
Prof. Sarah Lancaster, United Methodist Church, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, Columbus, USA
Prof. Gladson Jothanna, Church of South India, Drew University, Madison, NJ, USA

Moderator: Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colon-Emeric, United Methodist Church, Duke Divinity School, Durham, NC, USA

March 18 (with focus on Europe and Africa) 14:00 to 15:30 pm GMT (09:00 Peru, 10:00 Eastern, 15:00 Rome, 17:00 in Moscow and Nairobi)

Speakers:

Rev. Jackline Makena, Methodist Church Kenya, St. Paul University, Limuru, Kenya, Vice Moderator of the WCC Faith and Order Commission
Prof. Simangaliso R. Kumalo, Methodist Church Southern Africa, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, SA
Rev. Dr. Jane Leach, Methodist Church Britain, Wesley House, Cambridge
Rev. Dr. Sergei Nikolaev, The United Methodist Church, Moscow Theological Seminary

Moderator: Revd Dr Martin Mujinga, Methodist Church Zimbabwe, General Secretary of the Africa Methodist Council, based in Accra, Ghana