Catechesis · Inquirer
The Ecumenical Councils
Catechesis · Inquirer
The Ecumenical Councils
An Ecumenical Council is a gathering of bishops representing the whole Church, whose definitions on matters of faith and order are binding on all Christians. The Orthodox Church r…
Question
What is an Ecumenical Council and how does the Church know which ones are truly ecumenical?
An Ecumenical Council is a gathering of bishops representing the whole Church, whose definitions on matters of faith and order are binding on all Christians. The Orthodox Church recognises seven: Nicaea I (325), Constantinople I (381), Ephesus (431), Chalcedon (451), Constantinople II (553), Constantinople III (681), and Nicaea II (787). These seven are not ecumenical because a pope or a commission declared them so -- they are ecumenical because the whole Church has received their definitions as the expression of the apostolic faith.
The answer to "how does the Church know?" is not a clean juridical answer. There is no external authority higher than a council that could certify a council. The Church recognises the ecumenical councils in the same way it recognises the canon of Scripture: by reception, by the Spirit's guidance, by the test of whether the definition preserves or distorts the apostolic faith. Several councils that claimed ecumenical authority were later rejected -- the "Robber Council" of Ephesus (449), the iconoclast council of Hieria (754). These were repudiated because the whole Church, through time, would not receive them.
The teaching
The seven councils -- what each defined and why it mattered
Nicaea I (325): defined that the Son is *homoousios* -- of the same essence as the Father, not a superior creature. Against Arius, who taught that the Son was the first and greatest of God's creations. The stakes: if the Son is a creature, he cannot save -- only God can deify humanity, and a creature cannot bridge the gulf between Creator and creature. The Nicene definition was the defence of theosis: salvation requires a Saviour who is genuinely God.
Chalcedon (451): defined that Christ is one Person in two natures -- divine and human -- without confusion, change, division, or separation. Against Nestorius (who seemed to divide Christ into two persons) and Eutyches (who merged the natures so that Christ's humanity was absorbed into His divinity). The four adverbs -- without confusion, without change, without division, without separation -- are the most precise theological statement in Christian history. They define the boundary of the mystery rather than resolving it.
The Councils did not create the faith. They recognised it -- solemnly, irreversibly, under the Spirit's guidance -- against those who would have distorted it. Their definitions are the fences that mark the boundary of the mystery, not the ladders that climb above it.
The conciliar definitions are negative in their primary function: they say what cannot be said about God, not what must be said. Nicaea says the Son is not a creature. Chalcedon says the natures are not confused and not divided. The definitions protect the mystery from distortion without claiming to resolve it. This is why the Orthodox use the conciliar definitions as boundaries rather than as complete explanations -- they are the guardrails on the road, not the destination.
After the conciliar tradition
On the purpose of the councils
Holy Scripture
"It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements."
Acts 15:28
"When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth."
John 16:13
The Arian Crisis
How the Church almost lost the definition of who God is
The Arian controversy (c. 318-381) is the closest the Church has come to defining its faith incorrectly. Arius taught that the Son was the greatest of all God's creations -- pre-existent, divine in a subordinate sense, but ultimately a creature. His position was reasonable-sounding, scripturally argued, and politically backed by several emperors. At one point, the majority of bishops in the East held positions closer to Arius than to Nicaea. Athanasius stood "contra mundum" -- against the world -- and was exiled five times for refusing to compromise.