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According to the Eastern Orthodox ,Catholic and Anglican churches the period of Christianity from the First Council of Nicaea (325) to the Second Council of Nicaea (787) is called the period of the Seven Ecumenical Councils.
The Oriental Orthodox churches only recognise the first three of which as ecumenical and consider the second Council of Ephesus (449) as a credible to be the Fourth Ecumenical Council. The second Council of Ephesus rejected Nestorianism. Pope Dioscorus found Eutyches to be Orthodox. Dioscorus, however, declared anathema to Eutyches shortly after the Council of Chalcedon. This council is not recognized by the Chalcedonians (Western Catholics & Byzantine Orthodox, and Protestants).
[edit] The councils
- 1. First Council of Nicaea, (325); repudiated Arianism and Quartodecimanism, adopted the original Nicene Creed and granted Jerusalem a position of honor. This and all subsequent councils are not recognized by nontrinitarian churches— e.g. Arians, Unitarians, Latter-day Saints and members of other Mormon denominations, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
- 2. First Council of Constantinople, (381); revised the Nicene Creed into present form used in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches and prohibited any further alteration of the Creed without the assent of an Ecumenical Council.
- 3. First Council of Ephesus, (431); repudiated Nestorianism, proclaimed the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos (Greek Η Θεοτόκος, "God-bearer" or more commonly "Mother of God"). This and all following councils are not recognized by the Assyrian Church of the East.
- 4. Council of Chalcedon, (451); repudiated the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism, described and delineated the "Hypostatic Union" and two natures of Christ, human and divine; adopted the Chalcedonian Creed. For those who accept it, it is the Fourth Ecumenical Council (calling the previous council, which was rejected by this council, the "Robber Synod" or "Robber Council"). This and all following councils are not recognized by the Oriental Orthodox.
- 5. Second Council of Constantinople, (553); reaffirmed decisions and doctrines explicated by previous Councils, condemned new Arian, Nestorian, and Monophysite writings, decreed Theopaschite Formula.
- 6. Third Council of Constantinople, (680–681); repudiated Monothelitism, affirmed that Christ had both human and divine wills.
- Quinisext Council (= Fifth and Sixth) or Council in Trullo, (692); mostly an administrative council that raised some local canons to ecumenical status, established principles of clerical discipline, and addressed the Biblical canon and established the Pentarchy. It is not considered to be a full-fledged council in its own right because it did not determine matters of doctrine.
- 7. Second Council of Nicaea, (787); restoration of the veneration of icons and end of the first iconoclasm. This doctrine is rejected by some Protestant denominations, who instead would prefer the Council of Hieria (754), which condemned the veneration of icons.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links