Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 11 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

CONSTANTINOPLE, See also:COUNCILS OF . Of the numerous ecclesiastical councils held at Constantinople the most important are the following: 1. The second ecumenical See also:council, 381, which was in reality only a See also:synod of bishops from See also:Thrace, See also:Asia and See also:Syria, convened by See also:Theodosius with a view to uniting the See also:church upon the basis of the Orthodox faith. No Western See also:bishop was See also:present, nor any See also:Roman See also:legate; from See also:Egypt came only a few bishops, and these tardily. The first See also:president was Meletius of See also:Antioch, whom See also:Rome regarded as schismatic. Yet, despite its sectional See also:character, the council came in See also:time to be regarded as ecumenical alike in the See also:West and in the See also:East. The council reaffirmed the Nicene faith and denounced all opposing doctrines. The so-called " Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed," which has almost universally been ascribed to this council, is certainly not the Nicene creed nor even a recension of it, but most likely a See also:Jerusalem baptismal See also:formula revised by the See also:interpolation of a few Nicene test-words. More recently its claim to be called " Constantinopolitan " has been challenged. It is not found in the earliest records of the acts of the council, nor was it referred to by the council of See also:Ephesus (431), nor by the " Robber Synod " (449), although these both confirmed the Nicene faith. It also lacks the definiteness one would expect in a creed composed by an See also:anti-Arian, anti-Pneumatomachian council. See also:Harnack (See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie, 3rd ed., s.v.

" Konstantinopolit. See also:

Symbol.") conjectures that it was ascribed to the council of Constantinople just before the council of See also:Chalcedon in See also:order to prove the orthodoxy of the Fathers of the second ecumenical council. At all events, it 'became the creed of the universal church, and has been retained without See also:change, See also:save for the addition of filioque. Of the seven reputed canons of the council only the first four are unquestionably genuine. The fifth and the See also:sixth ' probably belong to a synod of 382, and the seventh is properly not a See also:canon. The most important enactments of the council were the granting of See also:metropolitan rights to the bishops of See also:Alexandria, Antioch, Thrace, See also:Pontus and Ephesus; and according to Constantinople the See also:place of See also:honour after Rome, against which Rome protested. Not until 150 years later, and then only under compulsion of the See also:emperor Justinian, did Rome acknowledge the ecumenicity of the council, and that merely as regarded its doctrinal decrees. See Mansi iii. pp. 521-599; See also:Hardouin i. pp. 807-826; See also:Hefele, 2nd ed., ii. pp. 1 sqq. (See also:English See also:translation, ii. pp.

340 sqq.); See also:

Hort, Two See also:Dissertations (See also:Cambridge, 1876) ; and the See also:article See also:CREEDS. 2. The council of 553, the fifth ecumenical, See also:grew out of the controversy of the " Three Chapters," an adequate See also:account of which, up to the time of the council, may be found in the articles JUSTINIAN and See also:VIGILIUS. The council convened, in response to the imperial See also:summons, on the 4th of May 553. Of the 165 bishops who subscribed the acts all but the five or six from Egypt were See also:Oriental; the See also:pope, Vigilius, refused to attend (he had made his See also:escape from Constantinople, and from his See also:retreat in Chalcedon sent forth a vain protest against the council). The synod was utterly subservient to the emperor. The " Three Chapters " were condemned, and their authors, See also:long dead, anathematized, without, however, derogating from the authority of the council of Chalcedon, which had given them a clean See also:bill of orthodoxy. Vigilius was excommunicated, and his name erased from the diptychs. The Orthodox faith was set forth in fourteen anathemas. See also:Opinion is divided as to whether See also:Origen was condemned. His name occurs in the See also:eleventh See also:anathema, but some consider it an interpolation; Hefele defends the genuineness of the See also:text, but finds no See also:evidence for a See also:special session against Origen, as some have conjectured. The council was confirmed by the emperor, and was generally received in the East.

Vigilius was soon coerced into submission, but the West repudiated his pusillanimous surrender, and rejected the council. A See also:

schism ensued which lasted See also:half a See also:century and was not fully healed until the synod of See also:Aquileia, about 700. But the ecumenicity of the council was generally acknowledged by 680. See Mansi ix. pp. 24-106, 149-658, 712-730; Hardouin iii. pp. 1-328, 331, 414, 524; Hefele, 2nd ed., ii. pp. 798-924 (English translation, iv. pp. 229-365). 3. The sixth ecumenical council, 68o-681, which was convened by the emperor See also:Constantine Pogonatus to terminate the Monothelitic controversy (see See also:MONOTHELITES). All the patriarchates were represented, Constantinople and Antioch by their bishops in See also:person, the others by legates. The number of bishops present varied from 15o to 300.

The council approved the first five ecumenical councils and reaffirmed the Nicene and " Niceno Constantinopolitan " creeds. Monothelitism was unequivocally condemned; See also:

Christ was declared to have had " two natural See also:wills and two natural operations, without See also:division, See also:conversion, separation or confusion." Prominent Monothelites, living or dead, were anathematized, in particular See also:Sergius and his successors in the see of Constantinople, the former pope, Honorius„ and Macarius, the See also:patriarch of Antioch. An imperial See also:decree -confirmed the council, and commanded the See also:acceptance of itsdoctrines under See also:pain of severe See also:punishment. The Monothelites took fright and fled to Syria, where they gradually formed the See also:sect of the See also:Maronites (q.v.). The anathematizing of See also:Honorius as heterodox has occasioned no slight embarrassment to the supporters of the See also:doctrine of papal See also:infallibility. It is not within the See also:scope of this article to pass See also:judgment upon the various proposed solutions of the difficulty, e.g. that Honorius was not really a Monothelite; that in acknowledging one will he was not speaking ex cathedra; that, at the time of condemning him, the council was no longer ecumenical; &c. One thing is certain, however, he was anathematized; and the notion of interpolation in the acts of the council (See also:Baronius) may be dismissed as groundless. See Mansi xi. pp. 190-922; Hardouin iii. pp. 1043-1644; Hefele, 2nd ed. iii. pp. 121-313. 4.

The " Quinisext Synod " (692), so-called because it was regarded by the Greeks as supplementing the fifth and sixth ecumenical councils, was held in the See also:

dome of the Imperial See also:Palace (" In Trullo," whence the synod is called also " Trullan "). Its See also:work was purely legislative and its decisions were set forth in 102 canons, The See also:sole authoritative See also:standards of discipline were declared to be the eighty-five apostolic canons," the canons of the first four ecumenical councils and of the synods of See also:Ancyra, Neo-Caesarea, Antioch, See also:Changra, See also:Laodicea, See also:Sardica and See also:Carthage, and the canonical writings of some twelve Fathers, —all canons, synods and Fathers, Eastern with one exception, viz. See also:Cyprian and the synod of Carthage; the bishops of Rome and the occidental synods were utterly igfiored. The canons of the second and See also:fourth ecumenical councils respecting the See also:rank of Constantinople were confirmed; the rank of a see was declared to follow the See also:civil rank of its See also:city; unenthroned bishops were guaranteed against diminution of their rights; metropolitans were forbidden to alienate the See also:property of vacant See also:suffragan See also:sees. The provisions respecting clerical See also:marriage were avowedly more lenient than the Roman practice. Ordination was denied to any one who after See also:baptism had contracted a second marriage, kept a concubine, or married a widow or a woman of See also:ill-repute. Lectors and cantors might marry after ordination; presbyters, deacons and sub-deacons, if already married, should retain their wives; a bishop, however, while not dissolving his marriage, should keep his wife at a distance, making suitable See also:provision for her. An illegally married cleric could not perform sacerdotal functions. Monks and nuns were to be carefully separated, and were not to leave their houses without permission. It was forbidden to celebrate baptism or the See also:eucharist in private oratories; neither might laymen give the elements to themselves, nor approach the See also:altar, nor See also:teach, Offerings for the dead were authorized, and the mixed See also:chalice made obligatory. Contrary to the occidental See also:custom, See also:fasting- on Saturday was forbidden. The See also:mutilation of the Scriptures and the desecration of sacred places were severely condemned; likewise the use of the Iamb as the symbol for Christ (a favourite symbol in the West).

The synod legislated also concerning marriage, See also:

bigamy, See also:adultery, See also:rape, See also:abortion, seductive arts and See also:obscenity. The See also:theatre, the See also:circus and gambling were unsparingly denounced, and soothsayers and jugglers, See also:pagan festivals and customs, and pagan oaths were placed under the See also:ban. The council was confirmed by the emperor and accepted in the East; but the pope protested against various canons, chiefly those respecting the rank of Constantinople, clerical marriage, the Saturday fast, and the use of the symbol of See also:lamb; and refused, despite See also:express imperial command and See also:threat, to accept the " Pseudo-Sexta." So that while the synod adopted a See also:body of legislation that has continued to be authoritative for the Eastern Church, it did so at the cost of aggravating the irritation of the West, and by so much hastening the inevitable rupture of the church. See Mansi xi. pp. 921-1024; Hardouin iii. pp. 1645-1716; Hefele, 2nd ed., iii. pp. 328-348. 5. The iconoclastic synods' of 754 and 815, both of which promulgated harsh decrees against images and neither of which is recognized by the Latin Church, and the synod of 842, which repudiated the synod of 815, approved the second council of See also:Nicaea, and restored the images, are all adequately treated in the article See also:ICONOCLASTS. See Mansi xii. pp. 575 sqq., xiii. pp. 210 sqq., xiv. pp.

III sqq., 787 sqq. ; Hardouin iv. pp. 330 sqq., 1045 sqq., 1457 sqq. ; Hefele, 2nd ed. iv. pp. i sqq., 104 sqq. 6. The synods of 869 and 879, of which the former, regarded by the Latin Church as the eighth ecumenical council, condemned See also:

Photius as an usurper and restored See also:Ignatius to the see of Constantinople; the latter, which the Greeks consider to have been the true eighth ecumenical council, held after the See also:death of Ignatius and the reconciliation of Photius with the emperor, repudiated the synod of 869, restored Photius, and condemned all who would not recognize him. (For further details of these two synods see of See also:April 715.

End of Article: CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF

Additional information and Comments

Mark Stuart Son of Sarich, Son of Scarabeus, SOn of Shau, Son of Ibis, SOn of Horis, SOn of Apis, Son of Bubastis, Son of Neith, SOn of Osiris, Son of Isis, Sonof Ptah, SOn of Athor. Patirarchs of Constantinole, 1977 - present
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CONSTANTINOPLE 		[next]
CONSTANTINUS

Site © 2006 - Net Industries