Ecumenical council

In Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, an ecumenical council (Greek, Oikumene, "World-wide" or "General") is a meeting of the bishops of the whole church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. "The whole church" is construed by Eastern Orthodoxy as including the bishops of both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches -- no such meeting has happened since the 8th century -- whereas Catholics take it to mean only those in full communion with the Pope. More local meetings are sometimes called "synods", but the distinction between a synod and a council isn't hard and fast.

Council Documents

Church councils were, from the beginning, bureaucratic exercises. Written documents were circulated, speeches made and responded to, votes taken, and final documents published and distributed. A large part of what we know about the beliefs of heresies comes from the documents quoted in councils in order to be refuted, or indeed only from the deductions based on the refutations. For all councils Canons (Greek kanon, "rule" or "ruling") were published and survive. In some cases other documentation survives as well. Study of the canons of church councils is the foundation of the development of canon law, especially the reconciling of seemingly contradictory canons or the determination of priority between them. Canons consist of doctrinal statements and disciplinary measures -- most Church councils and local synods dealt with immediate disciplinary concerns as well as major difficulties of doctrine. Eastern Orthodoxy typically views the purely doctrinal canons as dogmatic and applicable to the entire church at all times, while the disciplinary canons are the application of those dogmas in a particular time and place; these canons may or may not be applicable in other situations.

Acceptance of the Councils

Both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches recognize seven councils in the early years of the church, but Catholics also recognize fourteen councils called in later years by the Pope, whose authority the Eastern Orthodox regard as extending only over Christians in some Western countries, rather than over all Christians. Since the seventh ecumenical council, the Eastern Orthodox have had what they call Pan-Orthodox councils with representatives of all Eastern Orthodox churches, but they have not claimed that these councils were ecumenical. That would require including the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church doesn't recognize the Pan-Orthodox councils either.

Many Protestants (especially those belonging to the magisterial traditions, such as Lutheranism and Anglicanism) accept the teachings of the first seven councils, but do not ascribe to the councils themselves the same authority as Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox do.

The Oriental Orthodox only accept the teachings of some of the councils: the Nestorians only accept the First Council of Nicaea and the First Council of Constantinople, while the Monophysites only accept Nicaea I, Constantinople I and the Council of Ephesus. Their differences in understanding of the nature and relationship of the Son and the Spirit to the Trinity were worked out and defined at those councils, and so they broke away from union with the larger body.

The first seven councils were called by the emperor (first the Christian Roman Emperors and later the Byzantine Emperors). Most historians agree that the emperors called the councils to force the Christian bishops to resolve divisive issues and reach consensus. They hoped that maintaining unity in the Church would help maintain unity in the Empire. The relationship of the Papacy to the validity of these councils is the ground of much controversy between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Churches and to historians.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rejects the early ecumenical councils for what they see as misguided human attempts without divine assistance to decide matters of doctrine as if doctrine were handed down by democratic debate or politics rather than revelation. That such councils were even considered is evidence enough to them that the original Christian church had fallen into apostasy and was no longer directly led by divine authority. They see the calling of such councils, for example, by an unbaptized (let alone unordained) Roman Emperor as preposterous and that the emperors used the councils to exercise their influence to shape and institute Christianity to their liking.

List of councils:

the Seven Councils called by Emperors and accepted by Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches as Ecumenical

• First Council of Nicaea, (325); adoption of the Nicene Creed.
• First Council of Constantinople, (381); revision of the Nicene Creed into present form used in the Eastern orthodox churches. Sometimes referred to as a Synod, because it was only local, but its decrees were accepted in the west.
• Council of Ephesus, (431); proclamation of Mary as the Mother of God (Greek, Theotokos).
• Council of Chalcedon, (451); described and delineated the two natures of Christ, human and divine; adoption of the Chalcedonian Creed.
• Second Council of Constantinople, (553).
• Third Council of Constantinople, (680-81)
• Second Council of Nicaea, (787); restoration of the veneration of Icons and end of the first Iconoclasm

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Councils called by the Popes, rejected by the Eastern Orthodox Churches as Ecumenical

• Fourth Council of Constantinople, (869-70) -- called to deal with the patriarch Photius, who was deposed. He was afterwards reinstalled.
• First Council of the Lateran, (1123)
• Second Council of the Lateran, (1139)
• Third Council of the Lateran, (1179)
• Fourth Council of the Lateran, (1215)
• First Council of Lyons[?], (1245)
• Second Council of Lyons[?], (1274)
• Council of Vienne[?], (1311-12)
• Council of Constance, (1414-18)
• Council of Basel, (1431-45) - also met at Ferrara and Florence - nomenclature is difficult
• Fifth Council of the Lateran[?], (1512-17)
• Council of Trent, (1545-1563, discontinuously)
• First Vatican Council, 1870; clarification of the doctrine of papal infallibility
• Second Vatican Council, (1962-1965); modernization of church doctrine, end of requirement that Mass be said in Latin, etc.

See also: Synod

Common misspelling and questions (FAQ)

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