THE HOLY BYZANTINE CATHOLIC ORTHODOX CHURCH (SEVEN ECUMENICAL COUNCILS).

The First Ecumenical Council

This Council was held in Nicea, Asia Minor in 325 A.D. at the
instigation of the Emperor, Constantine the Great. 315
Bishops were in attendance.

The Emperor called the council due to the raging Arian
Controversy at that time. Arius denied the divinity of Christ,
based upon his supposition that if Jesus was born, then
there was a time when He did not exist. "If He became God,
then there was time when He was not (God)." The Council
declared the teaching of Arius to be heresy, decreeing that
Christ is God and declaring Him to be of the same essence
homoousios with God the Father.

The first part of the seven articles of the Creed, known to us
as the Nicene Creed, were ratified at this First Ecumenical
Council

The Second Ecumenical Council

This Council took place in Constantinople in 381 A.D., under
the reign of Theodosius the Great. 150 Bishops attended.

Its purpose was to determine a solution to what was called
the Macedonian Controversy. Macedonius misrepresented
the Church's teaching on the Holy Spirit. He asserted that
the Holy Spirit was not a person hypostasis, but only a power
dynamic of God. Consequently in his interpretation, the
Holy Spirit was inferior to the Father and the Son. The
Council condemned his teaching and defined the doctrine
of the Holy Trinity, decreeing that there was One God in
three persons hypostases: these persons being the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The holy fathers at the Council added five articles to the
Creed: beginning, And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver
of Life...

The Third Ecumenical Council

Held in Ephesus, Asia Minor in 431 under Emperor Theodosius
II (grandson of Theodosius the Great). 200 Bishops were
present.

It concerned the nature of Jesus Christ, the Second Person
of the Holy Trinity. Nestorius taught that the Virgin Mary birth
to a man, Jesus Christ, not God the Logos ("The Word", Son
of God). Following this reasoning, he asserted that the Virgin
should not be called Theotokos (Mother of God), but rather,
but rather Christotokos (Mother of Christ).

Nestorianism over emphasized the human nature of Christ
at the expense of the divine. The Council denounced
Nestorius, emphasizing the our Lord Jesus Christ is one
person, not two separate people:
(1) the man, Jesus Christ and
(2) the Son of God, Logos. He is complete God and
complete man, with a rational soul and body. The Virgin
Mary is Theotokos because she gave birth not to man but
to God who became man.

This Council declared the test of the Creed decreed at the
First and Second Ecumenical Councils to be complete and
forbade any change to it.

The Fourth Ecumenical Council

The Council of 630 Bishops met in Chalcedon, near
Constantinople, under the Emperor Marcian in 451 A.D.

The Council was concerned with the Monophysite
Controversies, again dealing with the nature of Christ.
Monophysite teaching believed that Christ's human nature
(less perfect) dissolved itself in His divine nature (more
perfect). Thus, as they reasoned, Christ had only one nature,
the divine. This led to the term Monophysite (mono),
meaning 'one', and physis, meaning 'nature'. The Council
condemned this theological theory, proclaiming that Christ
has two natures: the divine and the human, as defined by
previous Councils. They are not confused, or divided, or
separate and were in no way ever changed.

The Fifth Ecumenical Council

The Council of 165 Bishops met in Constantinople in 553 A.D.,
during the reign of the Emperor Justinian.

The key issues were the Nestorian and Eutychian
(Monophysite) Controversies. The Council was called in
hope that it would put an end to this wrangling within the
Church. It confirmed the Church's teaching regarding the
two natures of Christ and condemned a number of
Nestorian influenced writings. At this Council, the Emperor
himself confessed his Orthodox Faith in the form of a famous
Church hymn, "Only begotten Son and Word of God".

The Sixth Ecumenical Council

Convened in Constantinople, under Emperor Constantine
IV, in 680 A.D., 170 Bishops met to deal with the Monothelite
Controversy.

It was a final attempt to compromise with the
Monophysites. They claimed that although Christ had two
natures (human and divine), He nevertheless acted as God
only, i.e. His divine nature made all the decisions and His
human nature only carried and acted them out. Thus,
monothelitism ( mono, meaning 'one' and thelesis,
meaning 'will').

The Council pronounced that Christ had two natures with
two activities:
as God - performing miracles, rising from the dead and
ascending into heaven; as Man - performing the ordinary
acts of daily life.

These were mystically united in one Divine Person of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Seventh Ecumenical Council

This Seventh Council of 367 Bishops returned, in the year 787
A.D., to Nicea in Asia Minor, at the royal pleasure of the
Empress Irene.

It centered on the Iconoclast Controversy, the use of Icons
in the Church. The Iconoclasts were suspicious of religious
art. They demanded that all such art be removed from the
churches and destroyed. They were opposed by the
Iconophilles who believed that Icons served to preserve the
doctrinal teachings of the Church. They saw this art as an
expression of the divine.

commemorate and love their prototypes. They are to be an
object of commemorate and love their prototypes. They are
to be an object of veneration and honor, but real worship is
reserved for Him who is the subject of our faith, our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.subject of our faith, our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.