Council of Nicea & Leo I
In the disorganized west bishops
created a centralized church
organization that endured when the
western empire collapsed.
The Council of Nicea (325)
demonstrated the importance of
unified doctrine to Christianity.
It ruled in favor of the Nicene creed,
an interpretation holding that the one
Christian god had three persons.
Leo I clearly established the papacy as
the supreme religious authority in
western Europe.