Council of Chalcedon

Background

In the fifth-century church, a central question was how the divine nature (his nature as God) and the human nature (his nature as man) are united in Jesus Christ. The Council of Ephesus in 431 condemned Nestorius, who was criticized for dividing the two natures too sharply (Nestorianism). Later, Eutyches, an archimandrite near Constantinople, taught that after the Incarnation the two natures merged so that only a single divine nature remained. Leo I, bishop of Rome, opposed this teaching in a letter known as the Tome of Leo, which held that Christ possesses both complete divinity and complete humanity. In 449, however, the Second Council of Ephesus rehabilitated Eutyches. That council was presided over by Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, and Leo I denounced it as the "Robber Council."

Proceedings

In 450 Marcian became Eastern Roman emperor. He convened a new council in order to overturn the decisions of the Robber Council.

• October 8, 451: The council opened at Chalcedon, across the Bosporus from Constantinople. Chalcedon is today a district of Istanbul. Many sources put the number of bishops in attendance at about 520, though some report more than 600. Leo I did not attend in person but sent representatives (legates).
• October 13: Dioscorus was deposed. The council also received the Tome of Leo.
• A new confession of faith was then adopted, commonly called the Chalcedonian Definition (or Chalcedonian Creed).
• November 1: The council enacted regulations on church discipline (canons) and concluded.

The Chalcedonian Definition first reaffirms the Nicene Creed. In his divinity, Christ is of one essence with the Father; in his humanity, he is like us in all respects except for sin. That is, Christ is "truly God and truly man." The Definition further confesses that in one hypostasis (person) the two natures are united without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation, and that the distinctive properties of each nature are preserved. By this confession the teachings of both Eutyches and Nestorius were rejected.

Outcomes and Influence

• The Canon 28 controversy: The council passed a canon granting the see of Constantinople privileges second only to those of Rome. In 453 Leo I approved the council's doctrinal decisions, but he refused to accept this canon, arguing that it contravened the canons of the Council of Nicaea.
• The separation of the non-Chalcedonian churches: Many churches in Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere did not accept the decisions of Chalcedon. Today the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syriac Orthodox churches and the Armenian Apostolic Church, among others, stand in this tradition and are known as the Oriental Orthodox churches. These churches recognize only the first three councils. They maintain that their Christology differs from Eutychian monophysitism: Eutyches denied Christ's humanity, whereas they do not, and they too condemn Eutyches.

Assessment

The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church recognize the Council of Chalcedon as the fourth ecumenical council. Churches of the Reformation tradition, including Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed churches, also accept Chalcedonian Christology. Theological dictionaries and church history courses in Korean Protestantism likewise present the Chalcedonian Definition as the standard of orthodox Christology.

Those who accept the Chalcedonian Definition regard it as having avoided two extremes, moving beyond both the view that Christ is only divine and the view that he is only human. Some interpret the confession not as an attempt to explain the mystery fully but as the drawing of boundaries that must not be crossed. The non-Chalcedonian churches, by contrast, have criticized the confession as showing tendencies similar to Nestorianism. Since the twentieth century, dialogue between the two traditions has produced a new view: that the two sides may have been confessing the same faith in different terminology.