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While the Councils are part of the "historic formularies" of ] tradition,<ref>For additional references to this section and for more on the Anglican position, see Dr CB Moss </ref> it is difficult to locate an explicit reference in Anglicanism to the unconditional acceptance of all Seven Ecumenical Councils. There is little evidence of dogmatic or canonical acceptance beyond the statements of individual Anglican theologians and bishops. While the Councils are part of the "historic formularies" of ] tradition,<ref>For additional references to this section and for more on the Anglican position, see Dr CB Moss </ref> it is difficult to locate an explicit reference in Anglicanism to the unconditional acceptance of all Seven Ecumenical Councils. There is little evidence of dogmatic or canonical acceptance beyond the statements of individual Anglican theologians and bishops.


The Reverend Canon Chandler Holder Jones, ], explains: Bishop Chandler Holder Jones, ], explains:
{{quote|We indeed and absolutely believe all Seven Councils are truly ecumenical and catholic - on the basis of the received Tradition of the ancient Undivided Church of East and West. The Anglican formularies address only particular critical theological and disciplinary concerns of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that certainly by design. Behind them, however, stands the universal authority of the Holy and Apostolic Tradition, which did not have to be rehashed or re-debated by Anglican Catholics.{{citation needed|date=January 2011}}}} {{quote|We indeed and absolutely believe all Seven Councils are truly ecumenical and catholic - on the basis of the received Tradition of the ancient Undivided Church of East and West. The Anglican formularies address only particular critical theological and disciplinary concerns of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that certainly by design. Behind them, however, stands the universal authority of the Holy and Apostolic Tradition, which did not have to be rehashed or redebated by Anglican Catholics.<ref name=CHJ></ref>


He quotes Dr William Tighe, Associate Professor of History at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania (another member of the Anglo-Catholic wing of Anglicanism):
Dr Bill Tighe supports this position:
{{quote|...despite the fact that advocates of all sides to the 16th-century religious conflict, Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed alike, were given to claiming that their particular doctrinal stances and, in some cases, distinctive practices, were in accord with those of the Early Church Fathers, or at least with those of high standing (such as St. Augustine), none were willing to require, or even permit, their confessional stances to be judged by, or subordinated to, a hypothetical ‘patristic consensus’ of the first four or five centuries of Christianity.' But Anglicanism most certainly did, and does so to this day.{{citation needed|date=January 2011}}|}} {{quote|...despite the fact that advocates of all sides to the 16th-century religious conflict, Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed alike, were given to claiming that their particular doctrinal stances and, in some cases, distinctive practices, were in accord with those of the Early Church Fathers, or at least with those of high standing (such as St. Augustine), none were willing to require, or even permit, their confessional stances to be judged by, or subordinated to, a hypothetical ‘patristic consensus’ of the first four or five centuries of Christianity.' But Anglicanism most certainly did, and does so to this day.<ref name=CHJ/>


] teaches: "General Councils ... when they be gathered together, forasmuch as they be an assembly of men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and word of God, they may err and sometime have erred, even in things pertaining to God. Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture."<ref>''An Exposition Of The Thirty-Nine Articles V2: Historical And Doctrinal'' by Edward Harold Browne.</ref> ] teaches: "General Councils ... when they be gathered together, forasmuch as they be an assembly of men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and word of God, they may err and sometime have erred, even in things pertaining to God. Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture."<ref>''An Exposition Of The Thirty-Nine Articles V2: Historical And Doctrinal'' by Edward Harold Browne.</ref>

Revision as of 19:30, 17 September 2011

This article is about ecumenical councils in general. For the Roman Catholic councils, see Catholic Ecumenical Councils. For the Salvador Dalí painting, see The Ecumenical Council (painting).
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An ecumenical council (or oecumenical council; also general council) is a conference of the bishops of the whole Christian Church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. The word derives from the Greek language "Template:Polytonic", which literally means "the inhabited world", which first referred to the Roman Empire and later was extended to apply to the world in general. Due to schisms, the acceptance of these councils varies widely between different branches of Christianity.

Those churches that parted ways with the others over christological matters accept the councils prior to their separation; the Church of the East (Nestorian) accepts as ecumenical only the first two, the Oriental Orthodoxy Churches the first three. From the 4th to the 9th century, seven councils recognized as ecumenical by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church were held, before the East-West Schism divided them. The Eastern Orthodox Church has not generally accepted any later council or synod as ecumenical, but the Roman Catholic Church continues to hold general councils of the bishops in full communion with the Pope, reckoning them as ecumenical, twenty-one to date. Anglicans and confessional Protestants, accept either the first seven or the first four as Ecumenical councils.

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.

Most councils dealt not only with doctrinal but also with disciplinary matters, which were decided in canons ("laws"). In some cases other 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 apply to a particular time and place and may or may not be applicable in other situations.

List of ecumenical councils

Council of Jerusalem

Main article: Council of Jerusalem

The Acts of the Apostles records the Council of Jerusalem, which addressed the question of observation of biblical law in the early Christian community which included Gentile converts. Although its decisions are accepted by all Christians, and still observed in full by the Greek Orthodox, and later definitions of an ecumenical council appear to conform to this sole biblical Council, no Christian church calls it a mere ecumenical council, instead it is called the "Apostolic Council" or "Council of Jerusalem".

Fourth-century inscription, representing Christ as the Good Shepherd.

The first seven ecumenical councils

Main article: First seven Ecumenical Councils

Councils recognised as ecumenical in the Roman Catholic Church

As late as the 11th century, only seven councils were recognized as ecumenical in the Roman Catholic Church. Then, in the time of Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085), canonists who in the Investiture Controversy quoted the prohibition in canon 22 of the Council of Constantinople of 869-870 against laymen influencing the appointment of prelates elevated this council to the rank of ecumenical council. Only in the 16th century was recognition as ecumenical granted by Catholic scholars to the Councils of the Lateran, of Lyon and those that followed.

Councils recognised as ecumenical by some Eastern Orthodox

Many Eastern Orthodox consider the Council of Constantinople of 879–880, that of Constantinople in 1341–1351 and that of Jerusalem in 1672 to be ecumenical:

It is unlikely that formal recognition as ecumenical will be granted to these three councils, despite the acknowledged orthodoxy of their decisions, so that only seven are universally recognized among the Eastern Orthodox as ecumenical.

The Pan-Orthodox Council now being prepared has sometimes been referred to as an "Eighth Ecumenical Council".

Acceptance of the councils by various churches

By the Assyrian Church

The Assyrian Church of the East only accepts the First Council of Nicaea and the First Council of Constantinople. It was the formulation of Mary as the Theotokos which caused a schism with the Assyrian church. The Unia in the 16th century of the Catholic Church led to the Chaldeans being reconciled into full communion with Rome. Meetings between Pope John Paul II and the Assyrian Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV led to common Christological declarations in the 1990s stating that the differences between the Western and Eastern were primarily linguistic and historical rather than theological (owing to the difficulty of translating precise theological terms from Greek and/or Latin to Aramaic.) Aramaic is believed to have been the native language of Jesus.

By the Oriental Orthodox Church

Oriental Orthodoxy only accepts Nicaea I, Constantinople I and Ephesus I. The formulation of the Chalcedonian Creed caused a schism in the Alexandrian and Syriac churches. Reconciliatory efforts between Oriental Orthodox with the Eastern Orthodox and the Catholic Church in the mid- and late-20th century have led to common Christological declarations. The Oriental and Eastern Churches have also been working toward reconciliation as a consequence of the ecumenical movement.

By the Eastern Orthodox churches

The Eastern Orthodox churches accept the first seven councils. It is their position that since the Seventh Ecumenical Council, there has been no synod or council of the same scope. Local meetings of hierarchs have been called "pan-Orthodox", but these have invariably been simply meetings of local hierarchs of whatever Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions are party to a specific local matter. From this point of view, there has been no fully "pan-Orthodox" (Ecumenical) council since 787. Unfortunately, the use of the term "pan-Orthodox" is confusing to those not within Eastern Orthodoxy, and it leads to mistaken impressions that these are ersatz ecumenical councils rather than purely local councils to which nearby Orthodox hierarchs, regardless of jurisdiction, are invited.

Others, including 20th century theologians Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Naupactus, Fr. John S. Romanides, and Fr. George Metallinos (all of whom refer repeatedly to the "Eighth and Ninth Ecumenical Councils"), Fr. George Dragas, and the 1848 Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs (which refers explicitly to the "Eighth Ecumenical Council" and was signed by the patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria as well as the Holy Synods of the first three), regard other synods beyond the Seventh Ecumenical Council as being ecumenical.

By the Roman Catholic Church

Both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches recognize seven councils in the early centuries of the church, but Roman Catholics also recognize fourteen councils in later times called or confirmed by the Pope.

The first seven councils were called by the Byzantine Emperors. Most historians agree that the emperors called the councils to force the Christian bishops to resolve divisive issues and reach consensus. One motivation for convening councils was the hope that maintaining unity in the Church would help maintain unity in the Empire.

The relationship of the Papacy to the validity of ecumenical councils is a ground of controversy between Roman Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Roman Catholic Church holds that recognition by the Pope is an essential element in qualifying a council as ecumenical; Eastern Orthodox view approval by the Pope of Rome as similar to that of other patriarchs.

By the Anglican communion

While the Councils are part of the "historic formularies" of Anglican tradition, it is difficult to locate an explicit reference in Anglicanism to the unconditional acceptance of all Seven Ecumenical Councils. There is little evidence of dogmatic or canonical acceptance beyond the statements of individual Anglican theologians and bishops.

Bishop Chandler Holder Jones, SSC, explains: {{quote|We indeed and absolutely believe all Seven Councils are truly ecumenical and catholic - on the basis of the received Tradition of the ancient Undivided Church of East and West. The Anglican formularies address only particular critical theological and disciplinary concerns of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and that certainly by design. Behind them, however, stands the universal authority of the Holy and Apostolic Tradition, which did not have to be rehashed or redebated by Anglican Catholics.

He quotes Dr William Tighe, Associate Professor of History at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania (another member of the Anglo-Catholic wing of Anglicanism): {{quote|...despite the fact that advocates of all sides to the 16th-century religious conflict, Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed alike, were given to claiming that their particular doctrinal stances and, in some cases, distinctive practices, were in accord with those of the Early Church Fathers, or at least with those of high standing (such as St. Augustine), none were willing to require, or even permit, their confessional stances to be judged by, or subordinated to, a hypothetical ‘patristic consensus’ of the first four or five centuries of Christianity.' But Anglicanism most certainly did, and does so to this day.

Article XXI teaches: "General Councils ... when they be gathered together, forasmuch as they be an assembly of men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and word of God, they may err and sometime have erred, even in things pertaining to God. Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture."

The 19th Canon of 1571 asserted the authority of the Councils in this manner: "let preachers take care that they never teach anything...except what is agreeable to the doctrine of the Old and New Testament, and what the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops have collected from the same doctrine." This remains the Church of England's teaching on the subject. A modern version of this appeal to catholic consensus is found in the Canon Law of the Church of England and also in the liturgy published in Common Worship:

The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation. Led by the Holy Spirit, it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. I, AB, do so affirm, and accordingly declare my belief in the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness; and in public prayer and administration of the sacraments, I will use only the forms of service which are authorized or allowed by Canon.

By Lutheran and Methodist churches

Many Protestants (especially those belonging to the magisterial traditions, such as Lutherans, or those such as Methodists, that broke away from the Anglican Communion) accept the teachings of the first seven councils but do not ascribe to the councils themselves the same authority as Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox do. The Lutheran World Federation, in ecumenical dialogues with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has affirmed all of the first seven councils as ecumenical and authoritative.

By other Protestant denominations

Some, including some fundamentalist Christians, condemn the ecumenical councils for other reasons. Independency or congregationalist polity among Protestants may involve the rejection of any governmental structure or binding authority above local congregations; conformity to the decisions of these councils is therefore considered purely voluntary and the councils are to be considered binding only insofar as those doctrines are derived from the Scriptures. Many of these churches reject the idea that anyone other than the authors of Scripture can directly lead other Christians by original divine authority; after the New Testament, they assert, the doors of revelation were closed and councils can only give advice or guidance, but have no authority. They consider new doctrines not derived from the sealed canon of Scripture to be both impossible and unnecessary whether proposed by church councils or by more recent prophets (even though the canon itself was fixed by these councils).

By nontrinitarian churches

The first and subsequent councils are not recognized by nontrinitarian churches: Unitarians, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. The leadership of some groups — such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormon denominations — lay claim to a divine authority to lead the church today and sees the ecumenical councils as misguided human attempts to establish doctrine, as though true beliefs were to be decided by debate rather than by revelation.

Essential conditions

For the Eastern Orthodox Church, the first seven councils are regarded as being ecumenical because they satisfy the following conditions:

  1. All were called by the Emperor,
  2. All were held in the east,
  3. All were presided over by an emperor, or his representative where his sacra (an official writ) was read out.

An illustration of this point revolves around the Third Ecumenical Council. The Emperor had called for bishops to assemble in the city of Ephesus. Groups of bishops arrived. Some supported Nestirous. Some supported Cyril. Groups met together depending upon whom they supported. Candidian sent by the Emperor to preside (in fact Cyril of Alexandria presided, since neither pope nor emperor had named another to preside) himself supported Nestorius. He went to the group supporting Cyril and tried to get them to reconvene with Nestorius' group. He demanded that they do so. He said he had come with the Sacra and had no time to stand around and wait. Cyril asked him what did the Sacra say. Candidian read it out before Cyril's group. He then realised that he had now formally given the go-ahead for Cyril's group to begin as the Council; because they were duly assembled as according to the wishes of the Emperor and the Sacra had been read before them. They thus convened the Council, and effectively Nestorius' group were left out in the cold.

"When Candidian finished reading the Sacra he surely realised the full extent of his mistake. The Bishops acclaimed long life to the Emperor in demonstrative professions of loyalty, but now with the text officially declaimed in the symbolic presence of the whole Episcopal gathering the Synod of Ephesus was in formal session, legally as well as canonically sanctioned."

The group that had been duly assembled, with the sacra of the Emperor read before it made it a legal council in the eyes of the civil authorities, a status that McGuckin distinguishes from the council's canonical status. For Orthodox Christians this civil legality is a factor in determining if the council is ecumenical. However, a theory popular among them since the 19th century is that it is essential that the council is then accepted at large by the church, the church being the clergy, monks and assembly of believers.

"An ecclesiological theory which has been popular since the time of the Slavophile philosopher Alexis Khomiakov first defined it is that ecumenicity—the idea that a particular council is of universal, infallible significance for the Church—is determined by the reception of the whole body of the Church."

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that an ecumenical council is a gathering of the College of Bishops (of which the Bishop of Rome is an essential part) to exercise in a solemn manner its supreme and full power over the whole Church. It holds that "there never is an ecumenical council which is not confirmed or at least recognized as such by Peter's successor". Its present canon law requires that an ecumenical council be convoked and presided over, either personally or through a delegate, by the Pope, who is also to decide the agenda; but makes no claim that all past ecumenical councils observed these present rules, declaring only that the Pope's confirmation or at least recognition has always been required, and saying that the version of the Nicene Creed adopted at the First Council of Constantinople (381) was accepted by the Church of Rome only seventy years later, in 451. It is even claimed that this council was summoned without the knowledge of the pope.

Some have held that a council is ecumenical only when all five patriarchs of the Pentarchy are represented at it. Others reject this theory for reasons that include the inexistence of Patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem at the time of the first ecumenical council.

See also

References

  1. YourDictionary - ecumenical definition © 1996-2010 LoveToKnow, Corp. All Rights Reserved.
  2. Karl Josef von Hefele's commentary on canon II of Gangra notes: "We further see that, at the time of the Synod of Gangra, the rule of the Apostolic Synod with regard to blood and things strangled was still in force. With the Greeks, indeed, it continued always in force as their Euchologies still show. Balsamon also, the well-known commentator on the canons of the Middle Ages, in his commentary on the sixty-third Apostolic Canon, expressly blames the Latins because they had ceased to observe this command. What the Latin Church, however, thought on this subject about the year 400, is shown by St. Augustine in his work Contra Faustum, where he states that the Apostles had given this command in order to unite the heathens and Jews in the one ark of Noah; but that then, this command concerning things strangled and blood had lost its meaning, and was only observed by few. But still, as late as the eighth century, Pope Gregory the Third 731 forbade the eating of blood or things strangled under threat of a penance of forty days. No one will pretend that the disciplinary enactments of any council, even though it be one of the undisputed Ecumenical Synods, can be of greater and more unchanging force than the decree of that first council, held by the Apostles at Jerusalem, and the fact that its decree has been obsolete for centuries in the West is proof that even Ecumenical canons may be of only temporary utility and may be repealed by disuser, like other laws."
  3. The appellation "troullos" (Latin trullus, dome) comes from a dome-roofed palace in Constantinople, where the council was hosted.
  4. ^ Francis Dvornik, “Which Councils are Ecumenical?” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 3(2), 1966, pp. 314-328
  5. "In 879, two years after the death of Patriarch Ignatius, another council was summoned (many consider it the Eighth Ecumenical Council), and again St. Photius was acknowledged as the lawful archpastor of the Church of Constantinople" (Orthodox Church in America).
  6. Orthodox Answers: Documents
  7. Towards the "Eighth" Ecumenical Council
  8. The Council of Constance was called by the German King and later Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund.
  9. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 884
  10. For additional references to this section and for more on the Anglican position, see Dr CB Moss The Church of England and the Seventh Council
  11. ^ The Seven Ecumenical Councils in Anglicanism
  12. An Exposition Of The Thirty-Nine Articles V2: Historical And Doctrinal by Edward Harold Browne.
  13. The Sufficiency of Holy Scripture as the Rule of Faith By Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcutta.
  14. See Common Worship ISBN 071512000X
  15. The Ecumenical Councils of the Orthodox Church by Very Rev N Patrinacos
  16. Philip Hughes, The Church in Crisis
  17. [Daniel J. Castellano, "Commentary on the Council of Ephesus" (2007)
  18. Seven Ecumenical Councils
  19. 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica, article "Council of Ephesus"
  20. McGuckin, J, (2004), Saint Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy, (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, NY, p79
  21. Ecumenicity at Orthodox Wiki
  22. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 883-884 states: "The college or body of bishops has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, as its head. As such, this college has supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff. The college of bishops exercises power over the universal Church in a solemn manner in an ecumenical council."
  23. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 884
  24. Code of Canon Law, canon 338
  25. Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 51
  26. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 247
  27. Whelton, M., (1998) Two Paths: Papal Monarchy – Collegial Tradition (Regina Orthodox Press; Salisbury, MA), p51.
  28. Francis Dvornik, The Ecumenical Councils (Hawthorn Books 1961), p. 80
  29. Francis Aloysius Sullivan, Magisterium (Paulist Press 2010 ISBN 9780809125777) p. 86
  30. E. M. Conradie, R. H. Gouws, D. J. Prinsloo (editors), Christian Identity (University of the Western Cape 2005 ISBN 1-919980-88-1), p. 23
  31. Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787) (Michael Glazier 1992 ISBN 9780814656167), p. 325
  32. Karl Rahner, Encyclopedia of Theology (Burns & Oates 1999 ISBN 9780860120063), p. 388
  33. Kenneth D. Whitehead, One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (Ignatius Press 2000 ISBN 9780898708028), p. 104

Further reading

  • Tanner, Norman P. The Councils of the Church, ISBN 0824519043.
  • Tanner, Norman P. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, ISBN 0878404902.
  • Michalopoulos, Dimitris, "The First Council of Nicaea: The end of a conflict or beginning of a struggle?", Uluslarasi Iznik Semposyumu, Iznik (Turkey), 2005, pp. 47–56. ISBN 975-7988-30-8.

External links

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* Ecumenical status disputed within the Eastern Orthodox Church.
  1. Even though the Council was moved to Ferrara in 1438 and later to Florence, some bishops refused to move and remained in a parallel Council at Basel.
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