ROME (CNS) — The Council of Nicaea 1,700 years ago recognized that Christian unity had to be based on a common faith and should be demonstrated by a common celebration of Easter, the most sacred feast of the Christian year, said speakers at a Rome conference.

Yet as Christians mark the anniversary of the council, held in 325, they celebrate their common profession of the basics of faith in the Creed adopted at Nicaea while also continuing to experience division, said Paul L. Gavrilyuk, president of the International Orthodox Theological Association.

The association and the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of Rome’s Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas organized the June 4-7 conference with the support of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

Gavrilyuk, who holds th

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