The First Seven

Ecumenical Councils

Reference:  This material was garnered from articles on the Councils at www.goarch.org.

X  The First Ecumenical Council

       This Council was held in Nicea, Asia Minor in 325 A.D. at the instigation of the Emperor, Constantine the Great.  315 Bishops were in attendance.  The Emperor called the council due to the raging Arian Controversy at that time.  Arius denied the divinity of Christ, based upon his supposition that if Jesus was born, then there was a time when He did not exist.  "If He became God, then there was time when He was not (God)."  The Council declared the teaching of Arius to he heresy, decreeing that Christ is God and declaring Him to be of the same essence homoousios with God the Father.

       The first part of the seven articles of the Creed, known to us as the Nicene Creed, were ratified at this First Ecumenical Council.

X  The Second Ecumenical Council

       This Council took place in Constantinople in 381 A.D., under the reign of Theodosius the Great.? One hundred and fifty Bishops attended.? Its purpose was to determine a solution to what was called the Macedonian Controversy.

       Macedonius misrepresented the Church's teaching on the Holy Spirit.? He asserted that the Holy Spirit was not a person hypostasis, but only a power dynamic of God.  Consequently in his interpretation, the Holy Spirit was inferior to the Father and the Son.  The Council condemned his teaching and defined the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, decreeing that there was One God in three persons hypostases: these persons being the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

       The holy fathers at the Council added five articles to the Creed: beginning, And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life...

X  The Third Ecumenical Council

       The 200 Bishops met in Ephesus in Asia Minor in 431 A.D., under the imperial auspices of Theodosius II, grandson of Theodosius the Great.  Ite main issue facing the Council was the Nestorian Controversy.  The core of the dispute concerned the nature of Christ.  "Nestorius taught that the Virgin Mary gave birth to a man, Jesus Christ, not God the Logos ("The Word", Son of God).  Following this reasoning, he asserted that the Virgin should not be called Theotokos (Mother of God), but rather Christotokos (Mother of Christ).

       Nestorianism over emphasized the human nature of Christ at the expense of the divine.  The Council denounced Nestorius, emphasizing the our Lord Jesus Christ is one person, not two separate people:  (1) the man, Jesus Christ and (2) the Son of God, Logos.  He is complete God and complete man, with a rational soul and body.  The Virgin Mary is Theotokos because she gave birth not to man but to God who became man.

       This Council declared the test of the Creed decreed at the First and Second Ecumenical Councils to be complete and forbade any change to it.

X  The Fourth Ecumenical Council

       Six Hundred and Thirty Bishops met in Chalcedon, near Constantinople, under the Emperor Marcian in 451 A.D.  The Council was concerned with the Monophysite Controversies, again dealing with the nature of Christ.  Monophysite teaching believed that Christ's human nature (less perfect) dissolved itself in His divine nature (more perfect).  Thus, as they reasoned, Christ had only one nature, the divine.  This led to the term Monophysite (mono),meaning 'one', and physis, meaning 'nature'.

       The Council condemned this theological theory, proclaiming that Christ has two natures:  the divine and the human, as defined by previous Councils.  They are not confused, or divided, or separate and were in no way ever changed.

X  The Fifth Ecumenical Council

       The Council of 165 Bishops?met in Constantinople in 553 A.D., during the reign of?the Emperor Justinian.? The key issues were the Nestorian and Eutychian (Monophysite) Controversies.  The Council was called in hope that it would put an end to this wrangling within the Church.  It confirmed the Church's teaching regarding the two natures of Christ and condemned a number of Nestorian influenced writings.? At this Council, the Emperor himself confessed his Orthodox Faith in the form of a famous Church hymn, "Only begotten Son and Word of God".

X  The Sixth Ecumenical Council

       Convened in Constantinople, under Emperor Constantine IV, in 680 A.D., 170 Bishops met to deal with the Monothelite Controversy.  It was a final attempt to compromise with the Monophysites.  They claimed that although Christ had two natures (human and divine), He nevertheless acted as God only, i.e. His divine nature made all the decisions and His human nature only carried and acted them out.  Thus, monothelitism ( mono, meaning 'one' and thelesis, meaning 'will').

       The Council pronounced that Christ had two natures with two activities:  as God - performing miracles, rising from the dead and ascending into heaven; as Man - performing the ordinary acts of daily life.  These were mystically united in one Divine Person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

X  The Seventh Ecumenical Council

       This Seventh Council of 367 Bishops returned, in the year 787 A.D., to Nicea in Asia Minor, at the royal pleasure of the Empress Irene.? It centered on the Iconoclast controversy, the use of Icons in the Church.  The Iconoclasts were suspicious of religious art.  They demanded that all such art be removed from the churches and destroyed.? They were opposed by the Iconophilles who believed that Icons served to preserve the doctrinal teachings of the Church.? They saw this art as an expression of the divine.

       The Council ruled that Icons should be exhibited in churches.? They further defined that "whenever these representations are contemplated, they will cause those who look at them to commemorate and love their prototypes.? They are to be an object of veneration and honor, but real worship is reserved for Him who is the subject of our faith, our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.