First Council of Constantinople
council · 381 · Constantinople
Theodosius I gathered about 150 eastern bishops at Constantinople in 381. They completed the Nicene confession with the clauses on the Holy Spirit — the creed most churches still recite — condemned Apollinarianism and the Pneumatomachi, and in canon 3 gave New Rome the primacy of honour after Old Rome, the seed of a long rivalry.
The First Council of Constantinople was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople in AD 381 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. This second ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, except for the Western Church, confirmed the Nicene Creed, expanding the doctrine thereof to produce the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, and dealt with sundry other matters. It met from May to July 381 in the Church of Hagia Irene and was affirmed as ecumenical in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon for Chalcedonian Christianity and the Second Council of Ephesus for the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
The Arian aftermath and the deity of the Holy Spirit; Apollinaris' truncated Christ.
The creed completed with the Spirit's clauses — worshipped and glorified with Father and Son; Apollinarianism condemned; canon 3 gives New Rome the primacy of honour after Rome.
People
- Gregory of Nazianzus presided
- Gregory of Nyssa attended
- Meletius of Antioch presided
- Theodosius I convened
- Amphilochius of Iconium attended
- Apollinaris of Laodicea condemned
- Diodore of Tarsus attended
- Eunomius of Cyzicus condemned
- Macedonius I of Constantinople condemned
- Peter of Sebaste attended
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 Son is like the Father The Son is like the Father according to the scriptures, and the word substance is not to be used of either.
- Homoiousios The Son is of like substance with the Father.
Show all 9
- Homoousios The Son is of one substance with the Father.
- The Son is created The Son is a creature, made out of nothing before all ages, and there was when he was not.
- The Spirit proceeds from the Father The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father.
- The Spirit is a creature The Holy Spirit is a creature and a minister, not of the same rank as the Father and the Son.
- The Spirit is Lord and giver of life The Holy Spirit is Lord and giver of life, and is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son.
- The Word takes the place of the human mind In Christ the divine Word occupies the place of the rational human soul.
In the disputes
- The Apollinarian dispute Apollinaris tried to explain how the divine and the human could be one by leaving out the human mind.
- The Arian crisis Sixty years of argument about whether the Son is God in the same sense the Father is.
- The dispute over the Holy Spirit The Arian question asked again about the Spirit, by men who had granted the Son.
Wikipedia · Catholic Encyclopedia — First Council of Constantinople · OrthodoxWiki — Second Ecumenical Council · The Seven Ecumenical Councils — Constantinople I, a.d. 381 (NPNF II/14)