Letters to the Living

There is a myth that certain nefarious things occurred at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. One of these is that the the four gospels were chosen and other gospels were tossed out. The original source of this myth is a fictitious pseudo-historical account of early Church councils known as the Synodicon Vetus written in 887 AD. The French philosopher Voltaire popularized this false account in the 18th century, and Christian radical Robert Taylor revived it in the 19th. Though fully debunked, this trope goes on being popular among people who consider themselves hip.