Church Councils

Definition of a Church Council

Definition

• Councils are legally convened assemblies of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological expert for the purpose of discussing and regulating matters of church doctrine and discipline

Classifications of a Church Council

Classification

• Councils are, then, from their nature, a common effort of the Church, or part of the Church, for self-preservation and self-defense. They appear at her very origin, in the time of the Apostles at Jerusalem, and throughout her whole history whenever faith or morals or discipline are seriously threatened.

Classification

• Although their object is always the same, the circumstances under which they meet impart to them a great variety, which renders a classification necessary

• Taking territorial extension for a basis, seven kinds of synods(councils) are distinguished.

Classification

• Taking territorial extension for a basis, seven kinds of synods(councils) are distinguished.

The seven kinds of Councils

• Ecumenical Councils • The general synods of the East or of the West• Patriarchal, national, and primatial councils • Provincial councils• Diocesan synods• Visitors' synods• Mixed synods

Ecumenical Councils

• These are councils to which the bishops, and others entitled to vote, are convoked from the whole world under the presidency of the pope or his legates, and the decrees of which, having received papal confirmation, bind all Christians.

The general synods of the East or of the West

• It ranks as Ecumenical because its decrees were ultimately received in the West

Patriarchal, National and Primatial councils

• Represents a whole patriarchate, a whole nation, or the several provinces subject to a primate.

Provincial councils

• Bring together the suffragan bishops of the metropolitan of an ecclesiastical province and other dignitaries entitled to participate.

Diocesan synods

• Consist of the clergy of the diocese and are presided over by the bishop or the vicar-general.

Visitors' synods

• A peculiar kind of council used to be held at Constantinople, it consisted of bishops from any part of the world who happened to be at the time in that imperial city.

• synodoi enoemousai

Mixed Synods

• This is where both civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries met to settle secular as well as ecclesiastical matters.

Common reason for convening of Church Councils

Common reason for convening

• Ecumenical councils are convened to refocus the Church on the true teaching of Christ

The Church Councils

Church Councils

• Council of Jerusalem• Council of Nicaea I (325)• Council of Constantinople I (381)• Council of Ephesus• Council of Chalcedon• Council of Trent• Vatican I• Vatican II

Council of Jerusalem

• Principal Actor: Paul• A conference of the Christian Apostles

in Jerusalem in about 50 CE that decreed that Gentile Christians did not have to observe the Mosaic Law of the Jews. It was occasioned by the insistence of certain Judaic Christians from Jerusalem that Gentile Christians from Antioch in Syria obey the Mosaic custom of circumcision.

Council of Nicaea

• Site: Nicaea (in N.W. Asia Minor)• This council condemned the heresy of Arius (priest of

Alexandria, d. 336) by defining the CONSUBSTANTIALITY of God the Son with God the Father. The Son is of the “same substance,” homo-ousion, as the Father; not merely a “like substance,” homoi-ousion (as with the semi-Arians); nor is He (as Arius taught) some sort of super-creature.

Council of Constantinople• Site: Constantinople (near Bosporus, a strait in today’s Turkey).• It appears that Pope St. Damasus I was not contacted in regard to

this council attended by about 186 bishops. Called by the emperor, it was not attended by the pope or his legates or any bishops from the West. Nevertheless, it is listed as a General Council of the 4th century by papal decrees of the 6th century, by which time its doctrinal definitions were accepted throughout the Church

• This council condemned the heresy of Macedonius by clearly defining the divinity of the Holy Ghost: He is not created like the angels no matter how high an order is attributed to such a “creature.” The council also reaffirmed the faith of Nicaea.

Council of Ephesus

• Site: Ephesus (S. of Smyrna in SW Asia Minor).• Action: Called by the Eastern Emperor, Theodosius II,

influenced by his pious sister, St. Pulcheria and ratified by Pope Celestine I.

• This council condemned the heresy of Nestorius by clearly defining the Divine maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are two natures in Christ (Divine and Human), but only one Person (Divine). Mary is the Mother of this one Divine Person, the eternal Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

Council of Chalcedon• Site: Chalcedon, (north of Constantinople)• Called by Emperor Marcian, spouse of the chaste and noble St. Pulcheria, and

ratified by Pope St. Leo the Great• The council condemned the heresy of the Abbot Eutyches, MONOPHYSITISM,

which claimed that there existed only “one nature” (the divine) in Christ from the Incarnation onward.

• Pope St. Leo I also declared invalid all that had been done at the “Robber Synod of Ephesus” (a false Ephesus II): ” ….we see no Council, but a den of thieves (Latrocinium).” In the greatest testimony of the Eastern Council to the primacy of the Pope, the bishops cried out: “Behold the faith of the fathers, the faith of the Apostles; thus through Leo has Peter spoken!” Eutyches was excommunicated.

Council of Trent• Site: Trent, Italy.• Action: Called by Pope Paul III, this council was continued by Pope

Julius III, and, after 18 years and 25 sessions in all, Pope Pius IV concluded it and solemnly confirmed its decrees.

• Trent condemned the heresies of Luther, Calvin, and others. It issued decrees on the Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments (notably Baptism and Holy Orders) and teachings on marriage, purgatory, indulgences and the use of images.

• The remaining tasks begun by Pope Pius IV were continued by his successor, Pope Pius V.

Vatican I

• Site: The Vatican (St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City-State, Rome).

• Action: 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.

Vatican II• Site: The Vatican (St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City-State, Rome).

Principal Actor: Pope John XXIII• Action: Called by Pope John XXIII and ratified by Pope Paul VI.• The Second Vatican Council was a Pastoral Council (not dogmatic) with 16

documents emphasizing ecumenism understood as religious fellowship, rather than emphasizing Catholic missionary enterprise for the conversion to the Faith.

• In 1960, Pope John XXIII declined to reveal the third secret of Fatima, which message was due that year, declaring it did not bear on his pontificate. Then in 1962, Pope John XXIII entered into a Vatican-Moscow agreement. In this agreement it was stated that for the Russian Orthodox to be present at his Council, no condemnation of Communism was to be allowed there. 1968 — Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical, Humanae Vitae, against artificial contraception. 1969 — Pope Paul VI promulgated the Novus Ordo Missae.