There
have been seven Ecumenical Councils in the true Orthodox Christian Church: 1.
Nicea; 2. Constantinople; 3. Ephesus; 4. Chalcedon; 5. the second at
Constantinople; 6. the third at Constantinople; 7. the second at Nicea.
The first Ecumenical Council
318
bishops participated in this Council, among whom were St. Nicholas the
Wonderworker, St. James, bishop of Nisibis, St. Spiridon of Tremithus, and St.
Athanasius, who was at that time a deacon.
The
Council condemned and repudiated the heresy of Arius and affirmed the immutable
truth, the dogma that the Son of God is true God, born of God the Father before
all ages, and is eternal, as is God the Father; He was begotten, and not made,
and is of one essence with God the Father. In order that all Orthodox
Christians may know exactly the true teaching of the faith, it was clearly and
concisely summarized in the first of seven sections of the Creed, or Symbol of
Faith.
At this
Council, it was resolved to celebrate Pascha on the first Sunday after the
first full moon following the spring equinox, after the Jewish Passover. It
also determined that priests should be married, and it established many other
rules or canons.
The Second Ecumenical Council
The
Second Ecumenical Council was convened in the year 381, in the city of
Constantinople, under the Emperor Theodosius I. This Council was convoked
against the false teaching of the Arian bishop of Constantinople, Macedonius,
who rejected the deity of the third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy
Spirit. He taught that the Holy Spirit is not God, and called Him a creature,
or a created power, and therefore subservient to God the Father and God the
Son, like an angel.
There
were 150 bishops present at the Council, among whom were Gregory the
Theologian, who presided over the Council, Gregory of Nyssa, Meletius of
Antioch, Amphilochius of Iconium and Cyril of Jerusalem.
At the
Council, the Macedonian heresy was condemned and repudiated. The Council
affirmed as a dogma the equality and the single essence of God the Holy Spirit
with God the Father and God the Son.
The
Council also supplemented the Nicene Creed, or "Symbol of Faith,"
with five Articles in which is set forth its teaching about the Holy Spirit,
about the Church, about the Mysteries, about the resurrection of the dead, and
the life in the world to come. Thus they composed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan
Creed, which serves as a guide to the Church for all time.
The Third Ecumenical Council
The 200
bishops present at the Council condemned and repudiated the heresy of Nestorius
and decreed that one should recognize that united in Jesus Christ at the time
of the incarnation were two natures, divine and human, and that one should
confess Jesus Christ as true God and true Man, and the Holy Virgin Mary as the
God-bearer (Theotokos).
The
Council also affirmed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and strictly
prohibited making any changes or additions to it.
The Fourth Ecumenical Council
The
Fourth Ecumenical Council was convened in 451 A.D., in the city of Chalcedon,
under Emperor Marcian. The Council met to challenge the false doctrine of an
archimandrite of a Constantinople monastery, Eu-tychius, who rejected the human
nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Refuting one heresy and defending the divinity
of Jesus Christ, he himself fell into an extreme, and taught that in the Lord
Jesus Christ human nature was completely absorbed in the Divine, and therefore
it followed that one need only recognize the Divine nature. This false doctrine
is called Monophysitism, and followers of it are called Monophysites.
The
Council of 650 bishops condemned and repudiated the false doctrine of Eutychius
and defined the true teaching of the Church, namely that our Lord Jesus Christ
is perfect God, and as God He is eternally born from God. As man, He was born
of the Holy Virgin and in every way is like us, except in sin. Through the
incarnation, birth from the Holy Virgin, divinity and humanity are united in
Him as a single Person, infused and immutable, thus reputing Eutychius; indivisible
and inseparable, reputing Nestorius.
The Fifth Ecumenical Council
Nestorians,
in argument with Eutychians (Monophysites), referred to these works, and
Eutychians found in them an excuse to reject the Fourth Ecumenical Council and
to slander the universal Orthodox Church, charging that it was deviating toward
Nestorianism.
The
Council was attended by 165 bishops, who condemned all three works and Theodore
of Mopsuestia himself, as not having repented. Concerning the other two,
censure was limited only to their Nestorian works. They themselves were
pardoned. They renounced their false opinions and died in peace with the
Church. The Council reiterated its censure of the heresies of Nestorius and
Eutychius.
The Sixth Ecumenical Council
The Sixth
Ecumenical Council was convened in the year 680 A.D., in the city of
Constantinople, under the Emperor Constantine IV, and was composed of 170
bishops.
The
council was convoked against the false doctrine of heretics, Monothelites, who,
although they recognized in Jesus Christ two natures, God and man, ascribed to
Him only a Divine will.
After the
Fifth Ecumenical Council, agitation provoked by the Monothelites continued and
threatened the Greek Emperor with great danger. Emperor Heraclius, wishing
reconciliation, decided to incline Orthodoxy to concession to the Monothelites,
and by the power of his office, ordered recognition that in Jesus Christ is one
will and two energies.
Among the
defenders and advocates of the true teachings of the Church, were St.
Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and a monk from
Constantinople,
St. Maximus the Confessor, who for his firmness in the faith had suffered
having his tongue cut out and his hand chopped off.
The Sixth
Ecumenical Council condemned and repudiated the heresy of Monothelitism, and
formulated the recognition that in Jesus Christ are two natures, Divine and
human, and in these two natures there are two wills, but that the human will in
Christ is not against, but rather is submissive to His Divine will.
It is
worthy of attention that at this Council excommunication was pronounced against
a number of other heretics, and also against the Roman Pope Honorius, as one
who acknowledged the teaching of one will. The formulation of the Council was
signed by a Roman delegation, consisting of Presbyters Theodore and Gregory,
and Deacon John. This clearly shows that the highest power in Christendom
belongs to the Ecumenical Council, and not to the Pope of Rome.
After
eleven years, the Council again opened a meeting in the imperial palace, called
Cupola Hall (in Greek, Trullos), in order to resolve questions of primary
importance pertaining to the Church hierarchy. In this regard, it supplemented
the Fifth and Sixth Ecumenical Councils, and therefore is called the
Fifth-Sixth (Quintsext) Synod.
This
Council established canons by which the Church must be guided, namely, 85
canons of the holy Apostles, canons of the six Ecumenical and seven local
councils, and canons of thirteen Fathers of the Church. These canons afterward
were supplemented by canons of the Seventh Ecumenical Council and another two
local councils, and comprise the so-called "Nomocanon," in English,
"The Rudder," which is the foundation of Orthodox Church government.
Here
several innovations of the Roman Church were condemned as not being in
agreement with the spiritual decisions of the Ecumenical Church, namely, the
requirement that priests and deacons be celibate, a strict fast on Saturdays of
the Great Fast, and the representation of Christ in the form of a lamb, or in
any way other than He appeared on the earth.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council
The
Seventh Ecumenical Council was convened in 787 A.D., in the city of Nicea,
under the Empress Irene, widow of the Emperor Leo IV, and was composed of 367
fathers.
The
Council was convened against the iconoclastic heresy, which had been raging for
sixty years before the Council, under the Greek Emperor Leo III, who, wishing
to convert the Mohammedans to Christianity, considered it necessary to do away
with the veneration of icons. This heresy continued under his son, Constantine
V Copronymus, and his grandson, Leo IV.
The
Council condemned and repudiated the iconoclastic heresy and determined to
provide and to put in the holy churches, together with the likeness of the
honored and Life-giving Cross of the Lord, holy icons, to honor and render
homage to them, elevating the soul and heart to the Lord God, the Mother of God
and the Saints, who are represented in these icons. After the Seventh
Ecumenical Council, persecution of the holy icons arose anew under the Emperors
Leo V, of Armenian origin, Michael II, and Theophilus, and for twenty-five
years disturbed the Church.
Veneration
of the holy icons was finally restored and affirmed by the local synod of
Constantinople in 843 A.D., under the Empress Theodora.
At this
council, in thanksgiving to the Lord God for having given the Church victory
over the iconoclasts and all heretics, the celebration of the Triumph of
Orthodoxy was established on the first Sunday of Great Lent, which is
celebrated by the Orthodox Church throughout the world.
Source: https://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/law_of_god_slobodskoy_3.htm#_Toc36163878
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