Ecumenical Councils

Ecumenical Councils (as the final voice of the Church)

The Eastern Orthodox Church recognizes seven Ecumenical Councils as authoritative and infallible, guided by the Holy Spirit to define and seal the core doctrines of Christianity (particularly Trinitarian and Christological truths) while combating major heresies. These councils, held between 325 and 787 AD, represent the canonical completion of the foundational dogmatic framework of the faith. Their decisions are universally binding and unchanging in Orthodoxy.

However, the term “ecumenical” can sometimes be understood more broadly to mean “universal” or “pan-Orthodox,” referring to councils whose decisions have been received by the whole Church. In this sense, there have been additional authoritative synods beyond the original seven, accepted through the consensus of the patriarchs, as was the pattern in the first millennium.

After the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Church continued to meet conciliar challenges: Constantinople 879–880 (restoring St. Photius and rejecting additions to the Creed), the Palamite synods (affirming the essence–energies distinction), the Synod of Blachernae, Jerusalem 1672, and the Pan-Orthodox Council of 1998 addressing the Bulgarian schism. These demonstrate the continued conciliar life of Orthodoxy.

First Council of Nicaea (325 AD)

Convened by Emperor Constantine I, this council condemned Arianism and affirmed the Son as consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father. It produced the original Nicene Creed and established essential canons, including the method for determining Pascha.

First Council of Constantinople (381 AD)

Presided over by Emperor Theodosius I, this council expanded the Nicene Creed to affirm the divinity of the Holy Spirit, condemned Arianism and Apollinarianism, and elevated Constantinople as 'New Rome.'

Council of Ephesus (431 AD)

This council condemned Nestorianism and affirmed Mary as Theotokos, safeguarding the doctrine that Christ is one Person in two natures, without division.

Council of Chalcedon (451 AD)

Rejecting Monophysitism, the council taught that Christ exists in two complete natures, divine and human, in one hypostasis. The definition emphasized 'without confusion, change, division, or separation.'

Second Council of Constantinople (553 AD)

Convened under Emperor Justinian I, this council condemned the 'Three Chapters' in an effort to reconcile divisions and reaffirmed the teachings of Ephesus and Chalcedon.

Third Council of Constantinople (680–681 AD)

It rejected Monothelitism, affirming that Christ possesses two wills and two energies, divine and human, in perfect harmony, in accordance with His two natures.

Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD)

Ending the first Iconoclasm, this council restored the veneration of icons, distinguishing it from adoration (due to God alone). It grounded icon veneration in the truth of the Incarnation: matter can bear grace because the Word became flesh.

These seven councils safeguarded the Church from heresy, articulated the essential dogmas of Christian faith, and provided canons for ecclesiastical life. In Orthodoxy, they seal the foundational truths of Christianity, with later universally received synods continuing the same Spirit-guided conciliar process described in Acts 15.