Ecumenical councils – Historical Sketch
Historical sketch of Ecumenical Councils
Here is a very brief sketch of the 21 Ecumenical Councils recognised by the [Roman] Catholic Church. It has been well said that they are of extremely diverse character. They are not a collection of chips from the same block, but each one is of its own distinct nature. Philip Hughes in ‘The Church in Crisis’ writes, “They are not a unity in the sense in which successive sessions of a Parliament are a unity. Each of the twenty Councils [© 1961] is an individual reality, each has its own special personality…”
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§ First Ecumenical Council: Nicaea I (325)
The Council of Nicaea lasted two months and twelve days. 318 bishops were present. Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, assisted as legate of Pope Sylvester. The Emperor Constantine was anxious to end the dispute with the Arians, who denied that Christ was God. He called the Council and promised safe passage to the bishops and legates, and was also present, but he did not participate in the debates or the final decisions. The so-called Nicene Creed was drafted, defining that the Son of God was truly God, of the same divine ’substance’ as the Father (homoousios). The date for keeping Easter was also fixed, settling a dispute with the Quartodecimans.
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§ Second Ecumenical Council: Constantinople I (381)
The First General Council of Constantinople was attended by 150 bishops. It was directed against the followers of Macedonius, who impugned the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. It added to the Nicene Creed the clauses referring to the Holy Ghost (qui simul adorátur {etc} – “who is likewise adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets”). Local issues concerning disputes among various bishops, forbidding one bishop to interfere in another diocese, and especially the rival claimants of the See of Antioch, were adjudicated. The Papal legates were not invited, most of the Eastern bishops being opposed to the candidate for Antioch favoured by the Pope. There was also bitter wrangling over the See of Alexandria. The President, Bp Gregory, was so upset at the conduct of many bishops at the Council that he resigned as President. But the Council was ratified as an Ecumenical Council at the fourth session of the Council of Chalcedon (451).
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§ Third Ecumenical Council: Ephesus (431)
The Council of Ephesus, of more than 200 bishops, presided over by St. Cyril of Alexandria representing Pope Celestine I, defined the true personal unity of Christ, declared Mary the Mother of God (Theotokos) against Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and renewed the condemnation of Pelagius. The second half of the prayer ‘Hail Mary’ was added: ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death’.
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§ Fourth Ecumenical Council: Chalcedon (451)
The Council of Chalcedon — 150 bishops, at the time of Pope Leo the Great and the Emperor Marcian, presided over by Bp Pascianus, the Pope’s senior legate, defined the two natures (Divine and human) in Christ against Eutyches, who was excommunicated, and formally condemning the Monopysite heresy. In response to the innumerable Monopysite splinter groups, Pope Leo had written ‘the Tome of Leo’ and directed it be read out at the Council, as an authoritative declaration. It stated that in Christ there is one Person and two Natures – divine and human – each whole and entire, the natures not being diminished or mixed: Christ is true God and true man. The bishops exclaimed, ‘Peter has spoken through Leo!’
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§ Fifth Ecumenical Council: Constantinople II (553)
The Second General Council of Constantinople, of 165 bishops during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, condemned the errors of Origen and certain writings (The Three Chapters) of Theodoret, of Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia and of Ibas, Bishop of Edessa; it further confirmed the first four general councils, especially that of Chalcedon whose authority was contested by some heretics. Pope Vigilius, who was being persecuted by the Emperor, did not attend, but after the Council had closed he ratified it.
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§ Sixth Ecumenical Council: Constantinople III (680-681)
The Third General Council of Constantinople, at the time of Pope Agatho and the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus, was attended by the Patriarchs of Constantinople and of Antioch, 174 bishops, and the emperor. It put an end to Monothelitism by defining two wills in Christ, the Divine and the human, as two distinct principles of operation. It anathematized Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, Macarius, and all their followers.
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§ Seventh Ecumenical Council: Nicaea II (787)
The Second Council of Nicaea was convoked by Emperor Constantine VI and his mother Irene, under Pope Adrian I, and was presided over by the legates of Pope Adrian; it regulated the veneration of holy images. Between 300 and 367 bishops assisted.
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§ Eighth Ecumenical Council: Constantinople IV (869)
The Fourth General Council of Constantinople, at the time of Pope Adrian II and Emperor Basil, numbering 102 bishops, 3 papal legates, and 4 patriarchs, consigned to the flames the Acts of an irregular council (conciliabulum) brought together by Photius against Pope Nicholas and Ignatius the legitimate Patriarch of Constantinople; it condemned Photius who had unlawfully seized the patriarchal dignity. The Photian Schism, however, triumphed in the Greek Church, and no other general council took place in the East.
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§ Ninth Ecumenical Council: Lateran I (1123)
The First Lateran Council, the first held at Rome, met under Pope Callistus II. About 900 bishops and abbots assisted. It abolished the right claimed by lay princes, of investiture with ring and crosier to ecclesiastical benefices, and dealt with church discipline and the recovery of the Holy Land from the infidels.
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§ Tenth Ecumenical Council: Lateran II (1139)
The Second Lateran Council was held at Rome under Pope Innocent II, with an attendance of about 1000 prelates and the Emperor Conrad. Its object was to put an end to the errors of Arnold of Brescia.
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§ Eleventh Ecumenical Council: Lateran III (1179)
The Third Lateran Council took place under Pope Alexander III, Frederick I being emperor. There were 302 bishops present. It condemned the Albigenses and Waldenses and issued numerous decrees for the reformation of morals.
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§ Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Lateran IV (1215)
The Fourth Lateran Council was held under Innocent III. There were present the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, 71 archbishops, 412 bishops, and 800 abbots, the Primate of the Maronites, and St. Dominic. It issued an enlarged creed (symbol) against the Albigenses (Firmiter credimus), condemned the Trinitarian errors of Abbot Joachim, and published 70 important reformatory decrees. This is the most important council of the Middle Ages, and it marks the culminating point of ecclesiastical life and papal power.
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§ Thirteenth Ecumenical Council: Lyons I (1245)
The First General Council of Lyons was presided over by Innocent IV; the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, and Aquileia (Venice), 140 bishops, Baldwin II, Emperor of the East, and St. Louis, King of France, assisted. It excommunicated and deposed Emperor Frederick II and directed a new crusade, under the command of St. Louis, against the Saracens and Mongols.
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§ Fourteenth Ecumenical Council: Lyons II (1274)
The Second General Council of Lyons was held by Pope Gregory X, the Patriarchs of Antioch and Constantinople, 15 cardinals, 500 bishops, and more than 1000 other dignitaries. It effected a temporary reunion of the Greek Church with Rome. The word filioque was added to the ‘symbol’ of Constantinople (the Nicene Creed as supplemented at Constantiniple I) and means were sought for recovering Palestine from the Turks. It also laid down the rules for papal elections.
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§ Fifteenth Ecumenical Council: Vienne (1311-1313)
The Council of Vienne was held in that town in France by order of Clement V, the first of the legitimate Avignon popes. The Patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria, 300 bishops (114 according to some authorities), and 3 kings — Philip IV of France, Edward II of England, and James II of Aragon — were present. The synod dealt with the crimes and errors imputed to the Knights Templars, the Fraticelli, the Beghards, and the Beguines, with projects of a new crusade, the reformation of the clergy, and the teaching of Oriental languages in the universities.
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§ Sixteenth Ecumenical Council: Constance (1414-1418)
The Council of Constance was held during the great Schism of the West, with the object of ending the divisions in the Church. It became legitimate only when Gregory XI had formally convoked it. Owing to this circumstance it succeeded in putting an end to the schism by the election of Pope Martin V, which the Council of Pisa (1403) had failed to accomplish on account of its illegality. The rightful pope confirmed the former decrees of the synod against Wyclif and Hus. This council is thus ecumenical only in its last sessions (XLII-XLV inclusive) and with respect to the decrees of earlier sessions approved by Martin V.
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§ Seventeenth Ecumenical Council: Basle/Ferrara/Florence (1431-1439)
The Council of Basle met first in that town, Eugene IV being pope, and Sigismund Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Its object was the religious pacification of Bohemia. Quarrels with the pope having arisen, the council was transferred first to Ferrara (1438), then to Florence (1439), where a short-lived union with the Greek Church was effected, attended by the Emperor of Constantinople, Greek and other Eastern prelates. The Council, including the Greeks, accepted both the status of the Council as Ecumenical and the Council's definition of controverted points. The Emperor had been very desirous to enlist military aid against the Moslem incursion, which was by now at the very gates of Constantinople, but none was forthcoming. The Council of Basle is only ecumenical till the end of the twenty-fifth session, and of its decrees Eugene IV approved only such as dealt with the extirpation of heresy, the peace of Christendom, and the reform of the Church, and which at the same time did not derogate from the rights of the Holy See. A rump Council at Basle, disobeying the move to Ferrara and Florence, sat for some years but was effectively ignored.
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§ Eighteenth Ecumenical Council: Lateran V (1512-1517)
The Fifth Lateran Council sat from 1512 to 1517 under Popes Julius II and Leo X, the emperor being Maximilian I. Fifteen cardinals and about eighty archbishops and bishops took part in it. Its decrees are chiefly disciplinary. A new crusade against the Turks was also planned, but came to naught, owing to the religious upheaval in Germany caused by Luther. Owing to the political turmoil of the time, and to vested interests, few of its reforms were implemented.
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§ Nineteenth Ecumenical Council: Trent (1545-1563)
The Council of Trent lasted eighteen years (1545-1563) under five popes: Paul III, Julius III, Marcellus II, Paul IV and Pius IV, and under the Emperors Charles V and Ferdinand. There were present 5 cardinal legates of the Holy See, 3 patriarchs, 33 archbishops, 235 bishops, 7 abbots, 7 generals of monastic orders, and 160 doctors of divinity. It was convoked to examine and condemn the errors promulgated by Luther and other Reformers, and to reform the discipline of the Church. In view of the Protestant Revolt, it is said ‘the bishops met in a chastened mood.’ Of all councils it lasted longest, issued the largest number of dogmatic and reformatory decrees, and produced the most beneficial results.
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§ Twentieth Ecumenical Council: Vatican I (1869-1870)
The Vatican Council was summoned by Pius IX. It met 8 December, 1869, and lasted till 18 July, 1870, when it was adjourned; it had not ben formally concluded until the opening of the Second Vatican Council. There were present 6 archbishop-princes, 49 cardinals, 11 patriarchs, 680 archbishops and bishops, 28 abbots, 29 generals of orders, in all 803. Besides important canons relating to the Faith and the constitution of the Church, the council decreed the infallibility of the pope when speaking ex cathedra, i.e. when as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Church.
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Notes expanded from
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04423f.htm
and other sources.
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§ Twenty-first Ecumenical Council: Vatican II (1962-1965)
The Second Vatican Council was summoned by Pope S. John XXIII. Its stated aim was to be ‘predominantly pastoral’ and to re-present the Catholic message in a way adapted to the modern world. In exchange for the presence of two Russian Orthodox prelates, it was agreed that no criticism of Marxist Communism would be made at the Council.
Micheál Ó Fearghail
numealinesimpetar@gmail.com