Elvira

The Synod of Elvira

The Synod of Elvira predates the The First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea by almost 20 years. One of the prominent bishops that attended and almost the only one we know about was Hosius of Corduba or Osius or Ossius and at 50 was an advocate of Homoousion Christianity.

At seventy he would attend the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea and play a prominent role in the Arian controversy that divided the early Christianity. He is believed to have presided at the First Council of Nicaea and also presided at the Council of Serdica.

After Lactantius, he was the closest Christian advisor to Emperor Constantine the Great and guided the content of public utterances, such as Constantine's Oration to the Saints, addressed to the assembled bishops. He was willing to exile others he was also exiled remaining obstinate in his support of Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, an anti Arian trinitarian Coptic exiled no less than 5 times.