First seven ecumenical councils

First seven Ecumenical Councils

In the history of Christianity, the first seven Ecumenical Councils, from the First Council of Nicaea (325) to the Second Council of Nicaea (787), represent an attempt to reach an orthodox consensus and to unify Christendom. All of the original Seven Ecumenical Councils as recognised in whole or in part were called by an emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire and all were held in the Eastern Roman Empire,[10] [11] a recognition denied to other councils similarly called by an Eastern Roman emperor and held in his territory, in particular the Second Council of Ephesus (449) and the Council of Hieria (754), which saw themselves as ecumenical.

1.First Council of Nicaea (325) repudiated Arianism, declared that Christ is

"homoousios with the Father" (of the same substance as the Father), and adopted the original Nicene Creed, fixed Easter date; recognised primacy of the sees of Rome, Alexandria and Antioch and granted the See of Jerusalem a position of honor. 2.First Council of Constantinople (381) repudiated Arianism and Macedonianism, declared that Christ is "born of the Father before all time", revised theNicene Creed in regard to the Holy Spirit. 3.Council of Ephesus (431) repudiated Nestorianism, proclaimed the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos ("Birth-giver to God", "God-bearer", "Mother of God"), repudiated Pelagianism, and reaffirmed the Nicene Creed. This and all the following councils in this list are not recognised by the Assyrian Church of the East. Second Council of Ephesus (449) declared Eutyches orthodox and attacked his opponents. Though originally convened as an ecumenical council, this council is not recognised as ecumenical and denounced as a Robber Council by theChalcedonians (Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants). 4.Council of Chalcedon (451) repudiated the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism, adopted the Chalcedonian Creed, which described the hypostatic union of the two natures of Christ, human and divine. Reinstated those deposed in 449 and deposed Dioscorus of Alexandria. Elevation of the bishoprics of Constantinople and Jerusalem to the status of patriarchates. This is also the last council explicitly recognised by the Anglican Communion. This and all the following councils in this list are rejected by Oriental Orthodox churches. 5.Second Council of Constantinople (553) repudiated the Three Chapters as Nestorian, condemned Origen of Alexandria, decreed the Theopaschite Formula. 6.Third Council of Constantinople (680681) repudiated Monothelitism and Monoenergism. Quinisext Council, also called Council in Trullo[19] (692) addressed matters of discipline (in amendment to the 5th and 6th councils). The Ecumenical status of this council was repudiated by the western churches. 7.Second Council of Nicaea (787) restored the veneration of icons (condemned at the Council of Hieria, 754) and repudiated iconoclasm.

1. Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius (ca. AD 250336), a

Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of God to the Son of God (Jesus of Nazareth). Arius asserted that the Son of God was a subordinate entity to God the Father. Deemed a heretic by the Ecumenical First Council of Nicaea of 325, Arius was later exonerated in 335 at the regional First Synod of Tyre,[1] and then, after his death, pronounced a heretic again at the Ecumenical First Council of Constantinople of 381.[2] The Roman EmperorsConstantius II (337361) and Valens (364378) were Arians or Semi-Arians. The Arian concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist, but was created by and is therefore distinct fromGod the Father. This belief is grounded in the Gospel of

John passage You heard me say, I am going away and I am coming back to you. If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I." (John 14:28)[3]

First Council of Nicea (325) We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [theonly-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God], Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;

First Council of Constantinople (381) We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, andof all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the onlybegotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds (ons), Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;

By whom all things were made [both in heaven by whom all things were made; and on earth]; Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; from thence he shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Ghost. And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets. In one holy catholic and apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
[But those who say: 'There was a time when he was not;' and 'He was not before he was made;' and 'He was made out of nothing,' or 'He is of another substance' or 'essence,' or 'The Son of God is created,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable'they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church.]

He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

2. The Pneumatomachi, also known as Macedonians or Semi-Arians in Constantinople and

the Tropici in Alexandria, were an anti-Nicene Creed sect which flourished in the countries adjacent to the Hellespont during the latter half of the fourth, and the beginning of the fifth

century. They denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost, hence the Greek name Pneumatomachi or 'Combators against the Spirit'.

3. Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of

Constantinople from 428431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. Nestorius' teachings brought him into conflict with some other prominent church leaders, most notably Cyril of Alexandria, who criticized especially his rejection of the title Theotokos ("Bringer forth of God") for the Virgin Mary. Nestorius and his teachings were eventually condemned as heretical at the First Council of Ephesus in 431 and the Council of Chalcedon in 451, leading to the Nestorian Schism in which churches supporting Nestorius broke with the rest of the Christian Church. Afterward many of Nestorius' supporters relocated to Sassanid Persia, where they affiliated with the local Christian community, known as the Church of the East. Over the next decades the Church of the East became increasingly Nestorian in doctrine, leading it to be known alternately as the Nestorian Church. Nestorianism is a form of dyophysitism, and can be seen as the antithesis to monophysitism, which emerged in reaction to Nestorianism. Where Nestorianism holds that Christ had two loosely-united natures, divine and human, monophysitism holds that he had but a single nature, his human nature being absorbed into his divinity. A brief definition of Nestorian Christology can be given as: "Jesus Christ, who is not identical with the Son but personally united with the Son, who lives in him, is one hypostasis and one nature: human."[1] Both Nestorianism and monophysitism were condemned as heretical at the Council of Chalcedon. Monophysitism survived and developed into the Miaphysitism of the modern Oriental Orthodox churches.

4. Monophysitism (/mnfsatzm/ or /mnfstzm/; Greek: monos meaning "only,

single" and physismeaning "nature"), is the Christological position that, after the union of the divine and the human in the historical Incarnation, Jesus Christ, as the incarnation of the eternal Son or Word (Logos) of God, had only a single "nature" which was either divine or a synthesis of divine and human. Monophysitism is contrasted todyophysitism (or dia-, dio-, or duophysitism) which maintains that Christ maintained two natures, one divine and one human, after the Incarnation. Hypostatic union (from the Greek: hypstasis, sediment, foundation, substance, or subsistence) is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one hypostasis.[3] The First Council of Ephesus recognised this doctrine and affirmed its importance, stating that the humanity and divinity of Christ are made one according to nature and hypostasis in the Logos.

5. The Three-Chapter Controversy, a phase in the Chalcedonian controversy, was an

attempt to reconcile the Non-Chalcedonian Christians of Syria (Syriac Orthodox Church) and Egypt (Coptic Orthodox Church) with Chalcedonian Eastern Orthodoxy, following the failure of the Henotikon. The Three Chapters ( , tra kephlaia) consisted of propositions anathematizing: 1.The person and writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia 2.Certain writings of Theodoret of Cyrus 3.The letter of Ibas of Edessa to Maris Origen (/rdn/; Greek: rigns), or Origen Adamantius (184/185 253/254), [1] was a scholar,early Christian theologian and Church Father,[2] who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He was a prolific writer in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis andhermeneutics, philosophical theology, preaching, and spirituality. Some of his reputed teachings, such as the pre-existence of souls, the final reconciliation of all creatures, including perhaps even the devil (theapokatastasis),[3] and the subordination of the Son of God to God the Father, later became controversial among Christian theologians. A later group of Egyptian monks who came

to be known as Origenists, and who believed in the preexistence of souls and the apokatastasis, were declared anathema in 553 AD. This condemnation is attributed to the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople, though it does not appear in the council's official minutes.[4] For this reason Origen was and is not called a "saint" in either the Catholic or Orthodox churches.

6. Monothelitism or Monotheletism (from Greek "doctrine of one will") is a

particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus, known as a Christological doctrine, that formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629.[1] Specifically, monothelitism is the view that Jesus Christ has two natures but only one will. This is contrary to the Christology that Jesus Christ has two wills (human and divine) corresponding to his two natures (dyothelitism). Monothelitism is a development of the miaphysite ormonophysite position in the Christological debates. Formulated in 638, it enjoyed considerable popularity, even garnering patriarchal support, before being rejected and denounced as heretical in 681. Monoenergism is a Christian heresy related to and often paired with Monophysitism. In the 7th century, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius attempted to solve the schism between Chalcedonians and Monophysites, and suggested the compromise of Monoenergism. This compromise adopted the Chalcedonian belief that Christ had two natures, but tried to address Monophysite misgivings by the view that Christ had one "energy". The definition of the term "energy" was left deliberately vague. Monoenergism was accepted by the Patriarchs ofConstantinople, Antioch, and Alexandria, as well as by the Armenians, though not by the Patriarch of Jerusalem or Pope Honorius I.[contradictory] The lack of support from the Pope led Heraclius to abandon the belief in 638. Instead he declared the doctrine of Monothelitism, though this did not solve the schism either. Both Monoenergism as well as Monotheletism were condemned as heresies by the Sixth Ecumenical Council, held in Constantinople in 680.

7. An iconodule (Greek eikono-doulos "One who serves images";

also iconodulist or iconophile) is someone who espouses iconodulism, i.e., who supports or is in favor of religious images or icons and their veneration, and is in opposition to an iconoclast, someone against the use of religious images. The term is usually used in relation to the iconoclastic controversy in the Byzantine Empire; the most famous iconodules of that time being the Saints Theodore the Studite and John of Damascus. The controversy was instigated by Byzantine Emperor Leo III in 726, when he ordered the removal of the image of Christ above the Chalke Gate of the imperial palace in Constantinople. [1] A wider prohibition of icons followed in 730. St. John of Damascus argued successfully that to prohibit the use of icons was tantamount to denying the incarnation, the presence of the Word of God in the material world. Icons reminded the church of the physicality of God as manifested in Jesus Christ. Veneration of icons was restored by the Second Council of Nicaea (Seventh Ecumenical Council) in 787. However this was met with opposition, in particular of Charlemagne. The last outburst of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire was overcome in 843, in an event celebrated as the Feast of Orthodoxy. The Byzantine Iconoclasm (Greek: , Eikonomacha) refers to two periods in the history of theByzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial authorities within the Eastern Church and the temporal imperial hierarchy. The "First Iconoclasm", as it is sometimes called, lasted between about 726 and 787. The "Second Iconoclasm" was between 814 and 842. According to the traditional view, recorded in the church history essentially written by the victors, Byzantine Iconoclasm constituted a ban on religious images by Emperor Leo III and continued under his successors. It was accompanied by widespread destruction of images and persecution of supporters of the

veneration of images. The Western church remained firmly in support of the use of images throughout the period, and the whole episode widened the growing divergence between the East and Western traditions in what was still a unified church, as well as facilitating the reduction or removal of Byzantine political control over parts of Italy. Iconoclasm, Greek for "image-breaking", is the deliberate destruction within a culture of the culture's ownreligious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives. People who engage in or support iconoclasm are called iconoclasts, a term that has come to be applied figuratively to any person who breaks or disdains established dogmata or conventions. Conversely, people who revere or venerate religious images are derisively called "iconolaters" (). They are normally known as "iconodules" (), or "iconophiles" (). These terms were, however, not a part of the Byzantine debate over images. They have been brought into common usage by modern historians (from the seventeenth century) and their application to Byzantium increased considerably in the late twentieth century. The Byzantine term for the debate over religious imagery, "iconomachy" means "struggle over images" or "image struggle". Iconoclasm has generally been motivated theologically by an Old Covenant interpretation of the Ten Commandments, which forbade the making and worshipping of "graven images", see also Biblical law in Christianity. The two periods of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire during the 8th and 9th centuries made use of this theological theme in discussions over the propriety of images of holy figures, including Christ, the Virgin (or Theotokos) and saints. It was a debate triggered by changes in Orthodox worship, which were generated by the major social and political upheavals of the 7th century for the Byzantine Empire.