Jim Parker
Member
(FYI)
The Seven Great Councils; 325 A.D. to 757 A.D.
1. Nicaea, 325
Attendance: 318 bishops
Deciaions include: Nicaean Creed, the Canon of Scripture, the Celebration of Pascha (Easter)
Issue: The teachings of Arius that “there was a time when the Son was not” thus making the Son other than eternal God with the Father as described in John 1:1.
The council accepted the baptismal creed of Jerusalem with the addition of the very important term “homoousios”, meaning “of the same substance” with the Father. Thus the full deity of Jesus was affirmed, as was His unity with the Father.
2. Constantinople, 381
Attendance: 150 bishops
Decisions include: The unity of the Trinity and the complete manhood in Christ
Issue: Eradication of Arianism and condemnation of Macedadonios and Apollinarianism by establishing o the unity of the Trinity and the complete manhood of Christ.
Macedonius taught that the Holy Spirit was not a person but simply a power of God and, therefore, inferior to the Father and the Son.
The council condemned Macedonius’ teaching and defined the doctrine of the Holy Trinity which decrees that there is one God in three hypostases. Thus the Holy spirit is fully God, equal to the Father and the Son and of one essence with them. This became the basis of the Christian faith.
3. Ephesus, 431
Attendance: 200 Bishops
Decisions include: The incarnate Christ is one person with two natures, one human and one divine
Issue: The heretical teachings of Nestorios, the Archbishop of Constantinople
Nestorios taught that there were two separate persons in the Incarnate Christ, one divine and one human. He overemphasized the human nature of Christ and taught that Mary gave birth to a man (Jesus Christ) and not God (the Logos and Son of God.) He taught that the Logos only dwelt in Christ as in a temple. Christ was, therefore, the “Theophoros”, the “bearer of God”.
He rejected the name “Theotokos” (Bearer of God) for the Virgin Mary and called he the “Christotokos”. (Bearer of Christ.)
The council reiterated the Church’s teaching that Jesus is one person, not two separate people. The council declared the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Logos) is perfect God and perfect man with a rational soul and body.
The council affirmed the Nicaean-Constantionopolitan Creed and forbade any addition or deletion to it.
4. Chalcedon, 451
Attendance: 650 Bishops
Decisions include: There are two perfect natures in the one person of Christ unified, “unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, and inseparably.”
Issue: The person of Christ. (Again) Eutyches, an Archimandrite in Constantinople, held that the human (less perfect) nature of Christ had been completely absorbed by His divine nature thus confounding the two natures into one after which there was only one nature in Christ. (Thus the heresy was named “Monophysitism” meaning, “of one nature.”)
5. Constantinople, 553
Attendance: 165 Bishops
Decisions include: Confirmation of the Church’s teaching of the dual nature of Christ.
Issue: The continuing Monophysite controversy.
6. Constantinople, 680
Attendance: 170 Bishops
Decisions include: Monothelitism condemned – The council proclaimed that “Christ has two natures with two activities: as God working miracles, raising from the dead and ascending into heaven; as man, performing the ordinary acts of daily life. Each nature exercises its own free will.” And “The two distinct natures and related to them activities were mystically united in the one Divine Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Issue: Monothelitism which denied the existence of a human as well as Divine will in Jesus. Monothelitism, the teaching that there was only one will in the God-man, Christ, was proposed as a “middle ground” between Orthodoxy and Monophysitism in order to bring Nestorian Armenians back into the church at a time when the Byzantine empire was threatened by the Persians and Mohammedans.
7. Nicaea, 787
Attendance: 367 Bishops
Decisions include: Confirmed the use of Icons as a part of Orthodox worship. Icons were to be venerated but not worshipped.
“We define that the holy icons, whether in color, mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angles and those of all saintly people. Whenever these representations are contemplated, they will cause those who look at them to commemorate and love their prototype. We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of veneration and honor, but not of real worship, which is reserved for Him Who is the subject of our faith and is proper for the divine nature. The veneration to an icon is in effect transmitted to the prototype, he who venerates the icon, venerated in it the reality for which it stands.”
Issue: Iconoclasm in response to excessive religious respect and the ascribed miracles to icons by some members of society approached the point of worship (due only to God) and idolatry. This instigated excesses at the other extreme by which icons were completely taken out of the liturgical life of the church by iconoclasts.
The Seven Great Councils; 325 A.D. to 757 A.D.
1. Nicaea, 325
Attendance: 318 bishops
Deciaions include: Nicaean Creed, the Canon of Scripture, the Celebration of Pascha (Easter)
Issue: The teachings of Arius that “there was a time when the Son was not” thus making the Son other than eternal God with the Father as described in John 1:1.
The council accepted the baptismal creed of Jerusalem with the addition of the very important term “homoousios”, meaning “of the same substance” with the Father. Thus the full deity of Jesus was affirmed, as was His unity with the Father.
2. Constantinople, 381
Attendance: 150 bishops
Decisions include: The unity of the Trinity and the complete manhood in Christ
Issue: Eradication of Arianism and condemnation of Macedadonios and Apollinarianism by establishing o the unity of the Trinity and the complete manhood of Christ.
Macedonius taught that the Holy Spirit was not a person but simply a power of God and, therefore, inferior to the Father and the Son.
The council condemned Macedonius’ teaching and defined the doctrine of the Holy Trinity which decrees that there is one God in three hypostases. Thus the Holy spirit is fully God, equal to the Father and the Son and of one essence with them. This became the basis of the Christian faith.
3. Ephesus, 431
Attendance: 200 Bishops
Decisions include: The incarnate Christ is one person with two natures, one human and one divine
Issue: The heretical teachings of Nestorios, the Archbishop of Constantinople
Nestorios taught that there were two separate persons in the Incarnate Christ, one divine and one human. He overemphasized the human nature of Christ and taught that Mary gave birth to a man (Jesus Christ) and not God (the Logos and Son of God.) He taught that the Logos only dwelt in Christ as in a temple. Christ was, therefore, the “Theophoros”, the “bearer of God”.
He rejected the name “Theotokos” (Bearer of God) for the Virgin Mary and called he the “Christotokos”. (Bearer of Christ.)
The council reiterated the Church’s teaching that Jesus is one person, not two separate people. The council declared the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Logos) is perfect God and perfect man with a rational soul and body.
The council affirmed the Nicaean-Constantionopolitan Creed and forbade any addition or deletion to it.
4. Chalcedon, 451
Attendance: 650 Bishops
Decisions include: There are two perfect natures in the one person of Christ unified, “unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, and inseparably.”
Issue: The person of Christ. (Again) Eutyches, an Archimandrite in Constantinople, held that the human (less perfect) nature of Christ had been completely absorbed by His divine nature thus confounding the two natures into one after which there was only one nature in Christ. (Thus the heresy was named “Monophysitism” meaning, “of one nature.”)
5. Constantinople, 553
Attendance: 165 Bishops
Decisions include: Confirmation of the Church’s teaching of the dual nature of Christ.
Issue: The continuing Monophysite controversy.
6. Constantinople, 680
Attendance: 170 Bishops
Decisions include: Monothelitism condemned – The council proclaimed that “Christ has two natures with two activities: as God working miracles, raising from the dead and ascending into heaven; as man, performing the ordinary acts of daily life. Each nature exercises its own free will.” And “The two distinct natures and related to them activities were mystically united in the one Divine Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Issue: Monothelitism which denied the existence of a human as well as Divine will in Jesus. Monothelitism, the teaching that there was only one will in the God-man, Christ, was proposed as a “middle ground” between Orthodoxy and Monophysitism in order to bring Nestorian Armenians back into the church at a time when the Byzantine empire was threatened by the Persians and Mohammedans.
7. Nicaea, 787
Attendance: 367 Bishops
Decisions include: Confirmed the use of Icons as a part of Orthodox worship. Icons were to be venerated but not worshipped.
“We define that the holy icons, whether in color, mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings, and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angles and those of all saintly people. Whenever these representations are contemplated, they will cause those who look at them to commemorate and love their prototype. We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of veneration and honor, but not of real worship, which is reserved for Him Who is the subject of our faith and is proper for the divine nature. The veneration to an icon is in effect transmitted to the prototype, he who venerates the icon, venerated in it the reality for which it stands.”
Issue: Iconoclasm in response to excessive religious respect and the ascribed miracles to icons by some members of society approached the point of worship (due only to God) and idolatry. This instigated excesses at the other extreme by which icons were completely taken out of the liturgical life of the church by iconoclasts.
