The overwhelming majority of the participants
came from the Greek-speaking east. Silvester of Rome was represented by two
presbyters, Vitus and Vincentius, and there was just a single bishop from Italy,
Spain, Gaul, and Northern Africa. The Spaniard was Constantine’s advisor Ossius
of Cordova, whose name heads the signature list, and Caecilian came from
Carthage, presumably seeking recognition against his Donatist rivals. One
bishop came from Persia, another from Scythia. (Documents of the Early ‘Arian’
Controversy and the Council of Nicaea, ed. David M. Gwynn, Richard Price,
Michael Whitby, and Philip Michael Forness [Translated Texts for Historians 91;
Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2025], 11)
Purported signature lists for the
Council of Nicaea have survived in a number of manuscripts written in a variety
of languages (including Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and Arabic).
The individual lists differ significantly, and several were adapted to reach
what became the canonical figure of 318 bishops in attendance. . . . The organization
of the signature list underlines the importance of provincial metropolitans
within the Church hierarchy at the time of Nicaea, but also reveals certain
unusual features. At the head of the list stands Ossius of Cordova, who
presided over the council proceedings, followed by the two presbyters who
represented the absent Silvester of Rome and then the Egyptian bishops led by Alexander.
(Ibid., 177)
The
Nicene Signature List
1. Hosius/Ossius of Cordova
2. Vitus and
3. Vincentius, presbyters
representing the bishop of Rome. (“The Nicene Signature List,” in Documents
of the Early ‘Arian’ Controversy and the Council of Nicaea [trans. David M.
Gwynn, Richard Price, Michael Whitby, and Philip Michael Forness; Translated
Texts for Historians 91; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2025], 178)
