Ma. Preciousa G.

Alejandro
BSN 2
Rel 103
What is the purpose of the 21 ecumenical councils of the church?
- An ecumenical (or general) Council of the Church, in modern times, is an assembly of
bishops representing those churches in union with the Pope, the Bishop of Rome in
order to determine matters of doctrine, to correct disciplinary matters, and to issue
pastoral pronouncements. As already indicated, it was not always quite so, because the
process of ecumenical/general councils began with Constantine. Subsequent
circumstances dictated that the first eight Councils were conducted in Greek and were
held in the East, when the center of gravity of the Church, as it were, tended towards
the eastern end of the Mediterranean.
What are the 21 ecumenical councils of the church?
1. First council of Nicaea
- In here, 1st Ecumenical Council of Nicaea condemns Arius and clarifies the dogma of
Christ’s divinity by expanding Creed’s 2nd stanza.
2. First council of Constantiple
- The Emperor Theodosius called a further council, this time in Constantinople, in order to
confirm the 'Nicene Faith' and to add the important condition that the Holy Spirit is also
equal and divine in the Trinity. This council produced a creed, which is still described
today as the 'Nicene Creed' (although technically it should be the Niceno -
Constantinopolitan creed) and has been used through the centuries at Masses on
Sundays and Solemnities and contains the true teaching on the Trinity.
3. Council of Ephesus
- Having established the teaching on the Trinity, a third Ecumenical Council was organized
at Ephesus in 431 to confront Nestorianism. This heresy was named after Nestorius, the
bishop of Constantinople (428-431), who was accused of over- emphasising the
distinction between the divine and the human in Christ, that He could be considered to
be two persons making it dissenting to describe Mary as Theotokos, God bearer, as she
gave birth to a man, Jesus, in whom God dwells. The council affirmed the unity of Christ
by recognizing that the correct title for the Mary was indeed 'Theotokos' - Mother of
God, and in due course a definitional formula was agreed to present Christ as one
person with two natures.
As at Nicea more than a century before, the teaching of the Ephesus council did not
totally end the controversy. Nestorians went their own way, but new divisions arose
over the way the divine and human natures were united in Christ and these eventually
developed into Monophysitism, which held that although there may have been two
natures before the incarnation of the Son, there was only one nature afterwards.
4. Council of Chalcedon
- This confirms the Christological and trinitarian doctrine against the Nestorians.
5. Second council of Constantiple
- Collectively, the first four Ecumenical Councils made the Trinitarian and Christological
dogma of the church and are of significance in the cause of Christian unity as their
teachings are accepted by Roman Catholics, the Orthodox and most Protestant
Churches. However, and not negating their importance, the politics and rivalry between
different Patriarchs at the time resulted in a continuing debate on the divine and human
natures of Christ and led to two further generally acknowledged ecumenical councils at
Constantinople.
6. Third council of Constantiple
- Such were the theological uncertainties, made more complex by the political
turbulence, that the Monophysite battle had, virtually, to be fought again, but on only
slightly different ground as Monothelitism. The period can be read in Hughes, but the
overarching conclusion is that Constantinople III reconciled the Churches of the East
with the Roman See. Risking distortion through conciseness, it was this Council which
condemned Pope Honorius. Before Nicaea II, which follows, a further, but unrecognized
Council had been held at Contantinople, called the council of Trullo, in 692.
7. Second council of Nicaea
- It vindicates the veneration of images based on the humanity of Christ as the image or
icon of the unseen God.
8. Fourth council of Constantiple
- The eighth and last council of the first millennium marked yet a further return to
Constantinople in 869. It was mainly the product of ecclesiastical and imperial politics
and after many uncertainties was accepted as ecumenical in the West, but rapidly
rejected in the East. The issue was that the Emperor had appointed Photius as Patriarch
of Constantinople, but subsequently, there were many confusing factors worsened by
the distance and slowness of communication between Rome and Constantinople.
9. First lateran council
- 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.
10. Second lateran council
- introduced compulsory abstinence for clerics from sub-deacon upwards and declared
that the marriage of a cleric was not only unlawful but also invalid.
11. Third lateran council
- This Council ended the power struggle between the papacy and the German king,
Barbarossa, laid down the voting procedure for the election of the pope and set agreed
qualitative requirements for the ordination of bishops. These first three Lateran Councils
were judged to be ecumenical; they were mainly disciplinary, but they dealt with
matters relevant to the church as a whole. The subject matter, however, was not as
 critical as the earlier Trinitarian and Christological councils concerned with essential
doctrine. They are also seen as a introduction to the Fourth Lateran Council.
12. Fourth lateran council
- This Council was called by Pope Innocent III in 1215 and included formal invitations to
Eastern bishops. Lateran IV, was forced to confront and condemn the Cathar, or
Albigensian, profanation with its hatred to all things of the flesh, which by implication
would include a rejection of Christ's incarnation, of marriage and of the resurrection of
the flesh. The council also produced decrees for the minimum annual reception of the
sacraments of penance and communion. It required bishops of large dioceses to appoint
teachers to help them fulfil their preaching responsibilities and sought to end abuses
involving relics. Unfortunately, the overall positive record of Lateran IV was tarnished by
the inclusion of several anti-Semitic canons.
13. First council of Lyons
- The thirteenth Ecumenical Council was held in Lyons in 1245 with the chief subject being
the conflict between the pope and German emperor, although some canons were
agreed involving reforms of the clergy.
14. Second council of Lyons
- The principal item on the agenda was to secure the condemnation and suppression of
the Knights Templar which had become a powerful and wealthy religious order whose
assets had been targeted by Philip of France. Vienne marked the beginning of a long
'exile' from Rome.
15. Council of Vienne
- 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.
16. Council of Constance
- That calling of a council to resolve difficulties connecting to the papacy was a high-risk
exercise as it could be taken to imply the sovereignty of a council over a pope. This is
exactly what happened at Constance with the passing two decrees; Sacrosancta which
proclaimed the supremacy of the council over the pope, and Frequens calling for future
councils to be held at regular intervals.
17. Council of Basle/ Ferrara/ Florence
- 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 affected, the Greeks accepting the
council's definition of controverted points. 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.
18. Fifth lateran council
- The eighteenth general Council was called by Pope Julius II in 1512 in response to a
decision two years earlier by the French King to call his own council on the grounds that
the papacy on its own was unable to reform the church. Julius's council was held at the
Lateran in Rome and the predominantly Italian bishops in attendance sought and
received support from most European monarchs in condemning the French king's
council.
19. Council of Trent
- It was convoked to examine and condemn the errors promulgated by Luther and other
Reformers, and to reform the discipline of the Church. Of all councils it lasted longest,
issued the largest number of dogmatic and reformatory decrees, and produced the most
beneficial results.
20. First Vatican council
- Convened and ratified by Pope Pius IX, the First Vatican Council defined the
INFALLIBILITY of the Pope when, as Supreme Pontiff, he speaks from the Seat of Peter
(ex cathedra), on a matter of Faith and Morals, pronouncing a doctrine to be believed by
the whole Church.
21. Second Vatican council
- There was no dogma defined and no heresy condemned at Vatican Council II.