Pleasant area surrounding a church council's meeting place (6)

I believe the answer is:

nicaea

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'church council's meeting place' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'pleasant area surrounding a' is the wordplay.
'pleasant' becomes 'nice' (associated in meaning).
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'surrounding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'nice'+'a'='nicea'
'nicea' placed around 'a' is 'NICAEA'.

Can you help me to learn more?

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.