After centuries of division, the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches are nearing reconciliation. Pope Francis wants to emphasize Catholic-Orthodox unity by celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea with Orthodox leaders. This celebration would highlight 60 years of interreligious dialogue.

In a letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople published on November 30, Pope Francis wrote:

The now imminent 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea will be another opportunity to bear witness to the growing communion that already exists among all who are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I have already expressed several times my desire to be able to celebrate this event together with you, and I sincerely thank all those who have already begun working to make that possible.

Pope Francis plans to visit Turkey in May to mark the important anniversary with Bartholomew. The two men disagree on many doctrines, but both consider the decrees made at the First Council of Nicaea binding.

Emperor Constantine the Great called this council in a.d. 325 to promote religious unity throughout the Roman Empire. After months of debate, an assembly of 318 bishops set a date for Easter, formalized the trinity as Catholic dogma, and recognized three archbishops as having extra-provincial authority (the bishop of Rome, the bishop of Antioch and the bishop of Alexandria). All Christians who refused to adhere to the Nicaean Creed were exiled.

In the centuries after Nicaea, however, the bishops of Rome began claiming more authority over the church, eventually leading to the East-West Schism in a.d. 1054. Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew want to mend this schism, but this will involve settling the divisive issue of papal primacy, as well as numerous other theological disputes.

The Vatican published a document on October 26 suggesting that the Catholic Church establish a Council of Patriarchs chaired by the bishop of Rome. Such a council would give Eastern Rite churches more say in church government while still emphasizing the pope’s role as head of the Catholic Church. Many Catholic traditionalists do not like this suggestion, but it may make Eastern Orthodox Christians more likely to seek communion with Rome.

For over 40 years, the late Plain Truth editor in chief Herbert W. Armstrong forecast that the Catholic Church would pull its Orthodox sisters under its dominion. “The mighty problem of achieving [Catholic] unity is twofold,” the Plain Truth stated in November 1963. “First, it involves reconciliation of the Orthodox Schism that officially commenced in 1054 and divided the churches in the East—Greece, Russia, the Balkans and the Near East—from Rome. Second, it involves the restoration to the Roman communion all Protestantism, which developed from 1517 onward.”

This prediction was based on Isaiah 47, which describes a church called “the lady of kingdoms” (verse 5) that has power over nations. Yet this church has protesting churches that have split from it. Isaiah states that these churches will be brought under Babylonian control. Will the world soon witness another Nicaean council?

The original Council of Nicaea was designed to create a state-sponsored version of Christianity with the power to stamp out all forms of dissent. Regarding this council, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes in his book The True History of God’s True Church: “Imagine a political ruler establishing law and doctrine in the Church. There is no way such a satanic work could be done in God’s true Church! It was from this discussion that the doctrine of the trinity as many churches understand it today was finally formalized—three centuries after Jesus Christ’s ministry!”

The Catholic Church has signed agreements with Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican and other religious groups in its push to unify the world—and especially Europe—under its control. But all of these agreements would pale in significance compared to an agreement healing the East-West Schism of a.d. 1054. Such an agreement would unify Sunday-keeping churches against “Judaizers” in a way that has not happened in well over a millennium.