12.08.2025
Nazareth to Nicaea: The Bible and the Nicene Creed – Ecumenical Bible Week 2025
This year marks 1,700 years since the first ecumenical council of the Christian church took place: The Council of Nicaea, held in 325 CE. The meeting of this council was a significant moment in history as it gave rise to the Nicene Creed. This year’s Ecumenical Bible Week, sees a number of events which will explore the connection between Scripture and the Nicene Creed, under the title “Nazareth to Nicaea”.
Ecumenical Bible Week runs from September 7 to 14. The week will begin with the Holden Evening Prayer by Marty Haugen in St Finian’s Church, Adelaide Road, Dublin, on Sunday September 7 at 7pm.
Thinking Allowed takes place on Wednesday September 10 in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook at 7.30pm. Six speakers representing different Christian denominations will offer personal reflections on what the Nicene Creed means to them.
Each speaker will offer a five–minute personal reflection and there will be an opportunity for those in attendance to pose questions and take part in the discussion. The speakers are: Fr Calin Florea of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Dublin, Gillian Kingston of the Methodist Church and President of the National Bible Society of Ireland, Dr Andrew Pierce of the Church of Ireland and lecturer in the Irish School of Ecumenics, the Revd Alan Boal of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Archbishop Dermot Farrell, Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and the Revd Nick Park, Chair of the Evangelical Alliance, Ireland.
The Saturday Seminar will take place on September 13 in St Brigid’s Church, Stillorgan, from 10.30am to 2pm. Three speakers will present on the biblical background to the Council of Nicaea touching on the theological questions which were central to the discussions of the council and their roots in Scripture. It will also explore how the council used Scripture in counteracting the Arian controversy, which called the divine nature of Jesus into question.
The speakers will be Sean Goan, biblical scholar and retreat leader; Fr Kieran O’Mahony OSA, a member of the Order of St Augustine and a biblical scholar; and Julie McKinley, CEO of the National Bible Society of Ireland.
Ecumenical Bible Week 2025 will conclude with Choral Evensong in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Sunday September 14 at 3.30pm.
All of the events are free to attend. However, for the
Thinking Allowed and Saturday Seminar, the organisers would kindly ask that you register via their website at https://sites.google.com/view/bibleweek/home
Ecumenical Bible Week is supported by the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the Archdiocese of Dublin.