Ecumenical Councils Flashcards
(Ancient) Nicaea (325)
- Arian Controversy
- Arius believed that Christ was the first creation
- Semi-Arians held Christ is similar in substance to the Father
- Athanasius: Christ is eternal, begotten not made
(Ancient) Constantinople I (381)
- Declared the equality of the HS with the Father and Son
* Condemned Apolloinarianism (X divine mind, human body)
(Ancient) Ephesus (431)
Addressed:
- Nestorianism (two persons, two natures, one body)
- Pelagianism (if I ought, I can)
(Ancient) Chalcedon (451)
Addressed:
- Nestorianism (two persons, two natures, one body)
- Eutychanianism (two natures, two functions-human nature absorbed)
Answered:
*Christ is one person, two natures - Hypostatic union
(Ancient) Constantinople II (553)
Addressed:
- The breach between the Monophysites)
- Monophysitism (X had one nature)
(Ancient) Constantinople III (680)
Addressed:
The breach between the Monophysites failed
Answered:
Christ had two will, divine and human
(Ancient) Nicaea II (787)
Addressed:
*Iconoclastic controversy (OK to portray X after the incarnation)
Answered:
*It was OK to venerate icons (Rejected by Protestant Reformers)
(Medieval) Lateran Councils
- Held at the Lateran Palace, the pope’s house in Rome
* They mark the rise of papal power
(Medieval) Lateran IV (1215)
- The high point of papal power in the Middle Ages
- Asserted unique primacy of Rome over all Christendom
- Officially defined the dogma of transubstantiation
(Medieval) Lyons II (1274)
- Attempted to heal the breach with the Eastern Church
- Eastern Church needed help against the Turks and the Normans
- Breach after the Byzantine Emperor’s death
(Medieval) Vienne (France) (1311-12
Dissolved the Knights Templar, on the ground that they were indulging in magic
(Medieval) Constance (1414-18)
- Called to heal a papal schism between three popes
* Condemned Jan Hus to be burned for heresy
(Medieval) Lateran V (1512-17)
Attempted modest reforms, but was overtaken by events in Germany, which led to the reformation..bitches
(Modern) Trent (1545-63)
- Rome greatly hardens to protestants
- Defined Roman doctrines / practices attacked by reformers
- Polarized the church – drove a counter-reformation until the 20th century
(Modern) Vatican I (1869-70)
- Completed the work of Trent
* Defined the infallibility of the pope (ex cathedra: “from the chair” - the moral / spiritual / whole church stuff)
(Modern) Vatican II (1962-1965)
- A reaction to the Counter-Reformation spirit of Trent and Vatican I
- Didn’t repudiate anything though
- More open to outside influences
- Ecumenical bullshit
What was The Great Schism?
The division between the Eastern and Western church in 1054
What were the reasons for The Great Schism?
- East spoke Greek, West spoke Latin
- The East rejected papal authority
- The Filioque (“and the Son”) Controversy - the West added to the Nicene Creed that the HS “proceeds from the Father and the Son,” which was rejected by the East
