In 2025, the Church marks the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, a crucial point in history recognizing Jesus Christ as “true God” and “true man.” This anniversary invites reflection on the unresolved issues between Jews and Christians left by the council. At the Sixteenth International Congress of the International Research Network in Ecclesiology (Thessaloniki, 17-19 September 2025), two speakers examined this topic: Kevin Brown from Gonzaga Catholic University (USA) challenged “supersessionism” or “replacement theology,” and I advocated for a commemoration of Nicaea enriched by Jewish-Christian dialogue, mindful of the ongoing tragedy in Gaza impacting this dialogue.
A Church without substitution: towards a new ecclesiology
Kevin Brown observes that, sixty years after Nostra aetate, Catholicism officially rejected “supersessionism”—the notion that the Church replaced Israel as God’s chosen people. Yet, even “post-supersessionist” theologies often retain a Christocentric view of Jewish salvation, risking the reduction of Jewish identity to assimilation. Brown argues for a theology allowing Christians and Jews to engage in genuine solidarity, honoring each identity.
Brown highlights the blurred line between Judaism and Christianity for centuries, where individuals ranged from Jews dismissing Jesus’ role to God-fearing pagans recognizing him. With imperial support, the 4th-century Council of Nicaea (325) imposed clear boundaries. Nicaea, in aiming for doctrinal unity, defined Christianity against Judaism, marginalizing Jews who believed in Jesus Christ. Supersessionism became a foundational ecclesiological element, contributing to disdain for Judaism and enabling colonial and Christian racism excesses.
Vatican II sought to break from this model. The document Nostra aetate affirmed the Covenant’s permanence, and Lumen gentium introduced the “people of God” category. Yet, ambiguity persists: labeling the Church as the people of God implicitly excludes the Jewish people. Brown proposes a radical reinterpretation: the Church should see itself not as the people of God but as a sacrament of the people of God, not replacing Israel but grafted onto it as a sign of God’s universal plan.
This approach rests on three pillars: recent work positioning Paul within Judaism, emphasizing his Torah fidelity; a Johannine and Nicene Christology uniting Jesus’ Jewishness and divinity; and a sacramental ecclesiology viewing the Church not as the sole salvation custodian but as a witness to God’s faithfulness. This vision urges the Church to view itself as a “God-fearers” community in communion with Israel and pursue Jewish-Christian solidarity for justice, peace, and brotherhood.
Reading Nicaea in the light of Jewish-Christian dialogue
In my lecture, I noted that Nicaea decisively affirmed Jesus Christ as “true God” and “true man,” a confession upheld by the Reformation and vital to Christian faith. Yet, it also marked a painful juncture in Jewish-Christian relations, straying from Paul’s vision of a Church uniting Jews and pagans. Nicaea deepened divisions: rejecting Jewish-Christian conviviality, dismissing the Sabbath and Jewish festivals, breaking with the “Church born of the circumcision,” and crafting an ecclesial identity opposing Judaism.
The Christology affirmed at Nicaea, while scripturally faithful, paradoxically obscured Jesus’ Jewishness and Israelite roots. The creed’s omission of the Jewish people exemplifies what Mark Kinzer calls a “substitution by omission.”
In a church built by 11th-century Crusaders at the Benedictine monastery of Abu Gosh, near Jerusalem, numerous frescoes can be seen. One stands out: an angel repels a woman with a broken spear, her face marked by fear and distress, labeled “Synagoga,” symbolizing Judaism’s exclusion as at Nicaea.
“As I contemplate the Synagogue, my thoughts span through time. Photos of 20th-century Jews bearing the same fearful and distressed expressions, alongside those who hatefully banish them without hesitation,” writes Jewish painter Peter Maltz about this fresco.
Yet, influenced by the monks and nuns of Abu Gosh, Maltz sketched a new image: the angel now embraces the synagogue.
“My Christian religious experience has been about healing and compassion, not rejection,” said the painter after his interactions with Abu Gosh’s monks and nuns [Peter Jacob Maltz, ‘Synagoga,’ – In: Jean-Baptiste Delzant, L’église d’Abu Gosh. 850 ans de regards sur les fresques d’une église franque en Terre Sainte (The Church of Abu Gosh: 850 Years of Views on the Frescoes of a Frankish Church in the Holy Land), Tohu-bohu – Archimbaud, Paris, 2018, p. 218].
Commemorating Nicaea today demands
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