21 Ecumenical Councils

The 21 Ecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church are the 21 General Councils at which the Pope, and the College of Bishops together with him, have promulgated doctrinal decrees or issued disciplinary rulings for the whole Church in 2000 years of Christian Church History. The first four of these were the Council of Nicea (325 A.D.), Constantinople I (381 A.D.), Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.), and Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.). The last three of these were the Council of Trent (1545-1563 A.D.), the First Vatican Council (1870 A.D.) and the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965 A.D.).^[1] There have been unconfirmed reports of a potential Nicaea III in 2025, which if confirmed would be the 22nd Ecumenical Council.^[2]

List of Councils[edit]

1. Council of Nicea (325 A.D.): The Council of Nicea was the First Ecumenical Council where 320 of the world's Bishops met to define and discuss the Divinity of Christ. The Nicene Creed was the result. The Emperor Constantine was present. Bishop Hosius, legate of Pope Sylvester I, assisted. The Council condemned Arius and re-affirmed the Divinity of Christ in eloquent terms. It said denying Christ's Divinity, since He was the Word and Wisdom of God according to the Scriptures, would be as insane as saying there was a time when God was without Word and without Wisdom.
2. Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.) The Council of Constantinople I was the Second Ecumenical Council. Under Pope Damasus and Emperor Theodosius I, it was directed against the followers of Macedonius who blasphemed the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. Following in the footsteps of that august Council, and continuing to declare the Divinity of the Holy Spirit after re-affirming the Council of Nicea that defined the Divinity of the Son, the Council of Constaninople completed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed by adding the words "the Lord and Giver of Life" etc. about the Holy Spirit. The Council of Constantinople was yet another triumph for Christian Orthodoxy and a triumph of Catholic Faith in the Holy Trinity. Missionaries like Saint Patrick in the Fifth Century would later evangelize on the basis of what Constantinople and the Athanasian Creed declared.
3. Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.)
4. Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.)
5. Second Council of Constantinople (553 A.D.)
6. Third Council of Constantinople (681 A.D.)
7. Second Council of Nicea (787 A.D.)
8. Fourth Council of Constantinople (869 A.D.)
9. First Lateran Council (1123 A.D.)
10. Second Lateran Council (1139 A.D.)

See also[edit]

• Council of Nicea
• Constantinople I
• Council of Ephesus
• Council of Chalcedon

References[edit]