Orthodoxy.Church
Sign inJoin

The Mind of the Church

The Seven Ecumenical Councils

When the faith itself was at stake, the whole Church spoke — bishops gathered from the whole world, testing every teaching against what had been received from the Apostles. These seven councils answered the great heresies and gave the Church her Creed, decrees, anathemas, and canons. Orthodoxy confesses them still, unchanged.

  1. The assembled bishops of the First Council of Nicaea in solemn session with the Emperor.

    1st Council · AD 325

    First Council of Nicaea

    Arianism answered: The Son is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial (homoou…

  2. Bishops of the First Council of Constantinople gathered beneath a descending dove.

    2nd Council · AD 381

    First Council of Constantinople

    The Pneumatomachi (“Spirit-fighters”), who denied the full divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the remnants of Arianism; Apollinarianism, which denied Christ a human mind. answered: The Holy Spirit is “the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son…

  3. The Council of Ephesus acclaiming Mary as Theotokos, an image of the Virgin and Child raised.

    3rd Council · AD 431

    Council of Ephesus

    Nestorianism answered: The One born of Mary is God the Word Himself made flesh; therefore she is truly Theotokos. The union of Godhea…

  4. The great assembly of bishops at the Council of Chalcedon.

    4th Council · AD 451

    Council of Chalcedon

    Eutychianism answered: “One and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, made known in two natures without confusion, without chang…

  5. The bishops of the Second Council of Constantinople in session.

    5th Council · AD 553

    Second Council of Constantinople

    The lingering Nestorianism of the “Three Chapters” answered: The one hypostasis of Christ is the divine Word Himself: “our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified in the fles…

  6. The Sixth Council of Constantinople affirming the two wills of Christ.

    6th Council · AD 680–681

    Third Council of Constantinople

    Monothelitism answered: Christ has “two natural wills and two natural operations, without division, without change, without separation…

  7. The Seventh Council of Nicaea restoring the veneration of the holy icons.

    7th Council · AD 787

    Second Council of Nicaea

    Iconoclasm answered: The holy icons are to be set up and venerated, “for the honor paid to the image passes to the prototype” (Sain…

See the councils in their historical setting on the timeline, or how they answer modern objections in The Case.