In the history of Christianity, the first seven ecumenical councils are as follows: the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, the Third Council of Constantinople from 680 to 681 and finally, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.
These seven events represented an attempt by Church leaders to reach an orthodox consensus, restore peace Original: and develop a unified Christendom. Among Eastern Christians the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Church of the East (Assyrian) churches and among Western Christians the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Utrecht and Polish National Old Catholic, and some Scandinavian Lutheran churches all trace the legitimacy of their clergy by apostolic succession back to this period and beyond, to the earlier period referred to as the Early Church.
This era begins with the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325, convened by the emperor Constantine I following his victory over Licinius and consolidation of his reign over the Roman Empire. Nicaea I enunciated the Nicene Creed that in its original form and as modified by the First Council of Constantinople of 381 was seen by all later councils as the touchstone of orthodoxy on the doctrine of the Trinity.
The Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches accept all seven of these councils as legitimate ecumenical councils. The Non-Chalcedonian Oriental Orthodox Churches accept only the first three, while the Non-Ephesian Church of the East accepts only the first two. There is also one additional council, the so-called Quinisext Council of Trullo held in AD 692 between the sixth and seventh ecumenical councils, which issued organizational, liturgical and canonical rules but did not discuss theology. Only within Eastern Orthodoxy is its authority commonly considered ecumenical; however, the Orthodox do not number it among the seven general councils, but rather count it as a continuation of the fifth and sixth. The Roman Catholic Church does not accept the Quinisext Council,Schaff's Seven Ecumenical Councils: Introductory Note to Council of Trullo : "From the fact that the canons of the Council in Trullo are included in this volume of the Decrees and Canons of the Seven Ecumenical Councils it must not for an instant be supposed that it is intended thereby to affirm that these canons have any ecumenical authority, or that the council by which they were adopted can lay any claim to being ecumenical either in view of its constitution or of the subsequent treatment by the Church of its enactments.""Quinisext Council" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 14, 2010. "The Western Church and the Pope were not represented at the council. Justinian, however, wanted the Pope as well as the Eastern bishops to sign the canons. Pope Sergius I (687–701) refused to sign, and the canons were never fully accepted by the Western Church". but both the Roman magisterium as well as a minority of Eastern Orthodox hierarchs and theological writers consider there to have been further ecumenical councils after the first seven (see the Fourth Council of Constantinople, Fifth Council of Constantinople, and twelve additional post-schism ecumenical councils canonical for Catholics).
The councils These seven ecumenical councils are:
CouncilDateConvoked byLocationPresidentAttendance (approx.) Main topicsFirst Council of Nicaea20 May – 19 June 325Emperor Constantine IImperial Palace of NicaeaHosius of Corduba (and Emperor Constantine)318 Arianism, the nature of Christ, celebration of Passover (Easter), ordination of eunuchs, prohibition of kneeling on Sundays and from Easter to Pentecost, validity of baptism by heretics, lapsed Christians, sundry other matters.First Council of ConstantinopleMay–July 381Emperor Theodosius IHagia IreneTimothy of Alexandria, Meletius of Antioch, Gregory Nazianzus, and Nectarius of Constantinople150Arianism, Apollinarism, Sabellianism, Holy Spirit, successor to MeletiusCouncil of Ephesus22 June – 31 July 431Emperor Theodosius IIChurch of MaryCyril of Alexandria, Acacius of Melitene, Theodotus of Ancyra200–250 Nestorianism, Theotokos, PelagianismCouncil of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451Emperor MarcianChurch of Saint EuphemiaPapal Legates of Pope Leo I: Paschasinus of Lilybaeum, Lucentius of Asculanum, Julian of Cos, and the presbyter Boniface. (Formal presidency)520The judgments issued at the Second Council of Ephesus in 449, the alleged offences of Bishop Dioscorus of Alexandria, the relationship between the divinity and humanity of Christ, many disputes involving particular bishops and sees.Second Council of Constantinople5 May – 2 June 553Emperor Justinian IHagia SophiaEutychius of Constantinople152Nestorianism, Monophysitism, OrigenismThird Council of Constantinople7 November 680 – 16 September 681Emperor Constantine IVGreat Palace of ConstantinoplePatriarch George I of Constantinople300Monothelitism, the human and divine wills of JesusSecond Council of Nicaea24 September – 23 October 787Constantine VI and Empress Irene (as regent)Hagia SophiaPatriarch Tarasios of Constantinople, legates of Pope Adrian I350Iconoclasm
First Council of Nicaea (325)
Emperor Constantine convened this council to settle a controversial issue, the relation between Jesus Christ and God the Father. The Emperor wanted to establish universal agreement on it. Representatives came from across the Empire, subsidized by the Emperor. Previous to this council, the bishops would hold local councils, such as the Council of Jerusalem, but there had been no universal, or ecumenical, council.
The council drew up a creed, the original Nicene Creed, which received nearly unanimous support. The council's description of "God's only-begotten Son", Jesus Christ, as of the same substance with God the Father became a touchstone of Christian Trinitarianism. The council also addressed the issue of dating Easter (see Quartodecimanism and Easter controversy), recognised the right of the See of Alexandria to jurisdiction outside of its own province (by analogy with the jurisdiction exercised by Rome) and the prerogatives of the churches in Antioch and the other provinces and approved the custom by which Jerusalem was honoured, but without the metropolitan dignity.
The Council was opposed by the Arians, and Constantine tried to reconcile Arius, after whom Arianism is named, with the Church. Even when Arius died in 336, one year before the death of Constantine, the controversy continued, with various separate groups espousing Arian sympathies in one way or another."Arianism." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 In 359, a double council of Eastern and Western bishops affirmed a formula stating that the Father and the Son were similar in accord with the scriptures, the crowning victory for Arianism. The opponents of Arianism rallied, and the First Council of Constantinople in 381 marked the final victory of Nicene orthodoxy within the Empire, though Arianism had by then spread to the Germanic tribes, among whom it gradually disappeared after the conversion of the Franks to Christianity in 496.
Constantine commissions Bibles
In 331, Constantine I commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople. Athanasius (Apol. Const. 4) recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for Constans. Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists, and that Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are examples of these Bibles. Together with the Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus, these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles.The Canon Debate, McDonald and Sanders editors, 2002, pages 414–415, for the entire paragraph
First Council of Constantinople (381)
The council approved the current form of the Nicene Creed used in most Oriental Orthodox churches. The Eastern Orthodox Church uses the council's text but with the verbs expressing belief in the singular: Πιστεύω (I believe) instead of Πιστεύομεν (We believe). The Catholic Church's Latin Church and its liturgies also use the singular and, except in Greek,See official Greek translation of the Roman Missal and the document The Greek and Latin Traditions about the Procession of the Holy Spirit by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which states: "The Catholic Church has refused the addition καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ to the formula τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον in the Greek text of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol, even in its liturgical use by Latins" adds two phrases, Deum de Deo (God from God) and Filioque (and the Son). The form used by the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, has many more additions. This fuller creed may have existed before the Council and probably originated from the baptismal creed of Constantinople."Nicene Creed." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
The council also condemned Apollinarism,"Constantinople, First Council of." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 the teaching that there was no human mind or soul in Christ."Apollinarius." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 It also granted Constantinople honorary precedence over all churches save Rome.
The council did not include Western bishops or Roman legates, but it was later accepted as ecumenical in the West.
First Council of Ephesus (431)
Theodosius II called the council to settle the Christological controversy surrounding Nestorianism. Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, declared the use of the term Theotokos (Greek: Ἡ Θεοτόκος, "God-Bearer") to be insufficient, preferring to use Christokos."Nestorius." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 This term had been in use by the early church prior to the outbreak of this controversy. Nestorius affirmed that Christ is in two distinct, separate natures (hypostases) that persist after the union, in contrast to Cyril of Alexandria, who insisted on the unity of the two natures into one.
The council deposed Nestorius, repudiated Nestorianism, and proclaimed the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos.
After quoting the Nicene Creed in its original form, as at the First Council of Nicaea, without the alterations and additions made at the First Council of Constantinople, it declared it "unlawful for any man to bring forward, or to write, or to compose a different (ἑτέραν) Faith as a rival to that established by the holy Fathers assembled with the Holy Ghost in Nicæa."
Aftermath Shortly after Cyril's death, in November 448, a synod at Constantinople condemned Eutyches,"Latrocinium." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 an archimandrite (abbot) of a significant monastery near Constantinople,"Eutyches" and "Archimandrite." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005 who taught that Christ was not consubstantial with humanity as He had one divine nature that "consumed his humanity as the ocean consumes a drop of vinegar.""Monophysitism." Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford dictionary of the Christian church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005
In 449, Theodosius II summoned a council at Ephesus, where Eutyches was exonerated and returned to his monastery. This council was later overturned by the Council of Chalcedon and labeled "Latrocinium" (i.e., "Robber Council").
Council of Chalcedon (451)