Ecumenical Councils

Background

A "council" is an assembly at which church leaders gather to discuss and decide questions of faith and church order. The term "ecumenical" renders the Greek oikoumenikos ("of the whole inhabited world") and signifies a council that represents not a single regional church but the entire Church. In Catholic usage such a council is also called a "general council," and the word "ecumenical" in the ecumenical movement derives from the same root. The Council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15 is often cited as the prototype of such councils.

After the Roman Empire legalized Christianity in the fourth century, controversies over the nature of God and of Christ threatened the unity of the Church. The ecumenical councils began when the emperor summoned bishops from throughout the empire to address these disputes.

Development

The seven councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are as follows:

• First Council of Nicaea (325): Rejected Arianism and confessed that the Son is of the same essence as the Father (consubstantial).
• First Council of Constantinople (381): Affirmed the divinity of the Holy Spirit and supplemented the creed of Nicaea. The creed known today as the Nicene Creed is associated with this council.
• Council of Ephesus (431): Rejected the teachings of Nestorius and approved calling Mary the "God-bearer" (Theotokos).
• Council of Chalcedon (451): Defined Jesus Christ as possessing two natures, divine and human, in one person.
• Second Council of Constantinople (553): Amid controversies surrounding the Chalcedonian definition, condemned the writings known as the "Three Chapters."
• Third Council of Constantinople (680–681): Rejected monothelitism, the view that Christ has only one will, and determined that both a divine will and a human will are present in him.
• Second Council of Nicaea (787): At the conclusion of the iconoclast controversy, approved the veneration of icons.

Results and Influence

The foundational formulations of the doctrine of the Trinity and of Christology were refined at these councils. At the same time, churches that did not accept their decisions separated. The Oriental Orthodox churches, such as the Coptic Church, recognize only the first three councils and do not accept the Council of Chalcedon.

Since the East–West Schism, the Orthodox Church has recognized only the seven councils as ecumenical. The Catholic Church, which also includes councils held in the West, counts a total of twenty-one ecumenical councils, among them the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).

Assessment

Protestantism places the authority of councils beneath Scripture.

• Martin Luther argued that councils, too, can err.
• John Calvin respected the decisions of the first four councils while holding that those decisions must be judged in the light of Scripture.
• The Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith holds that all synods and councils since the apostles' times may err. It therefore confesses that their decisions are to be used not as a rule of faith but as a help.
• The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England likewise state that councils may err.
• Protestants generally do not accept the Second Council of Nicaea, which approved the veneration of icons.

Nevertheless, many Korean denominations accept the trinitarian doctrine and Christology formulated by the early councils as standards of orthodox faith. Denominational general assemblies sometimes cite them as grounds when ruling on whether a teaching is heretical.

Historians also point out that the emperors' role in convening the councils, along with political interests, influenced their decisions.