Council of Chalcedon
council · 451 · Chalcedon
The largest council of antiquity — about 520 bishops — met at Chalcedon in 451 under Marcian and Pulcheria. It received the Tome of Leo, defined one and the same Christ in two natures without confusion or separation, deposed Dioscorus of Alexandria, and in canon 28 extended Constantinople's privileges. Egypt and much of Syria refused the Definition: the miaphysite churches walk apart from this day.
The Council of Chalcedon was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia from 8 October to 1 November 451. The council was attended by over 520 bishops or their representatives, making it the largest and best-documented of the first seven ecumenical councils. The principal purpose of the council was to re-assert the teachings of the ecumenical Council of Ephesus against the teachings of Eutyches and Nestorius. Such doctrines viewed Christ's divine and human natures as separate and distinct (Nestorianism), or viewed Christ as solely divine (monophysitism). The Council of Chalcedon issued the Chalcedonian Definition, stating that Jesus is "perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man." The Council's judgments and definitions regarding the divine marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates.
After Eutyches and the Robber Council: how are Godhead and manhood united in Christ?
The Definition: one and the same Christ in two natures, without confusion, change, division or separation; Dioscorus deposed; canon 28 for New Rome; Jerusalem a patriarchate.
People
- Anatolius of Constantinople presided
- Dioscorus I of Alexandria condemned
- Leo I legate
- Marcian convened
- Pulcheria convened
- Theodoret participant
- Eutyches condemned
- Juvenal of Jerusalem attended
- Bassianus condemned
- Maximus II of Antioch attended
- Stephen of Ephesus condemned
Documents
What it decided
- Constantinople is the second see The bishop of Constantinople has the prerogatives of honour after the bishop of Rome, because Constantinople is New Rome.
- The humanity was absorbed After the union there is one nature, the human having been taken up into the divine so that Christ is not of one substance with us.
- One incarnate nature of God the Word There is one incarnate nature of God the Word, the divine and the human being united without confusion, without change and without division.
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- Theotokos Mary is Mother of God, because the one she bore is God the Word made flesh.
- Two natures in one person One and the same Christ is made known in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation, the difference of the natures being in no way taken away by the union.
In the disputes
- The division over Chalcedon The council that settled one question opened another that has not closed.
- The Eutychian dispute Eutyches, pressed at a synod in his own city in 448, would not say that Christ is of one substance with us.
Wikipedia · Catholic Encyclopedia — Council of Chalcedon · OrthodoxWiki — Fourth Ecumenical Council · The Seven Ecumenical Councils — Chalcedon, a.d. 451 (NPNF II/14)