In this series about the evolution of
Christianity we noted previously
that first on a list of church councils
would be the Jerusalem Council which
is referenced in Acts and Galatians.
Briefly, the main issue then was whether
non Jewish converts had to observe the
requirements of circumcision, diet and clean living of
Judaism. The outcome was that though it was suggested
that gentiles follow Jewish law, it was not obligatory.

Next on the list would be these four councils with their
outcomes: The Nicean Council, the Council of Constantinople,
the Council of Ephesus, and the Council of Chalcedon.

The Nicean Council was called by Constantine in 325 CE
with the hope of settling the unrest within the empire because
of the disagreements among Christian theologians concerning
various doctrines. Mostly these arguments had to do with
whether Jesus was very God, a man, or a combination of God
and man. The outcome was the creation of what is called the
Nicean Creed which was to be used by all Christians. However,
this established creed didn’t end the differences and
another council was called in a few years.

The Council of Constantinople was called by the
emperor Theodosius I in 381 CE with the purpose of
reaffirming the outcome of the Nicean Council. It
seems that even though the Nicean Creed contained the
statement, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” it didn’t actually
defi ne the Holy Spirit so this council was about spelling out
this developed doctrine of the Trinity. (The word Trinity is
not in the Bible.) In addition, the previous council had stated
the full humanity of Jesus but it did not explain the relationship
between the physical and the spiritual. There was yet
another situation to be dealt with at this council and that had
to do with the two heads of the church at that point, one was
headquartered in Constantinople and the other in Rome. The
outcome was that the church in Constantinople (currently

Istanbul) was given “seniority of honour” after Rome which

meant that the bishop of Constantinople would be
precedent over all other bishops except the bishop of
Rome (or the Pope) because they said “Constantinople
is the New Rome.” (That would change with the Great
Schism in 1054 CE.)

The Council of Ephesus in 431 CE was summoned
by Theodosius II, emperor of the East and Valentinian
III, emperor of the West. Although 200 bishops
were to attend, the actual proceedings began before the
bishops from the west arrived. Obviously this wasn’t
conducive for good communications and so there was
even more confrontation and recrimination because of
it. In theory the disagreement was centered on Nestorius,
the Patriarch of Constantinople, who refused to
acknowledge “mother of God” as the appropriate title
for Mary, the mother of Jesus. According to the council,
Nestorius taught that Jesus was part divine, part human
and that both parts were acting in harmony in his life.
The Nestorians considered Mary to be the mother of
the man Jesus but not the mother of the aspect of the
divine Jesus therefore they saw her appropriate title to
be Christotokos (mother of Christ) and not Theotokos
(birth giver of God). The result of the council, which
was led by St. Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria (said
to be a feisty orthodox bishop) was that Nestorius was
deposed with 12 anathemas against him, and his doctrine
was condemned. In addition, Mary was offi cially recognized
as Theotokos or Mother of God and the council
declared that the Nicene Creed was forever complete
and forbade any change (addition or deletion) to it.

Clearly the proceedings were heated not as
much because of the Nestorian teachings but more
because of the existing tension between the Eastern
and Western Churches and the rivalry of the two
patriarchates, Alexandria and Constantinople, for the
primacy of the East. It should come as no surprise that
there would be another council in 20 years!
To be continued in the next issue of the Expanding
Horizons newsletter.