council · 449 · Ephesus
The second council of Ephesus (449) — the Latrocinium, Leo's 'robber council' — rehabilitated Eutyches under Dioscorus of Alexandria, deposed Flavian of Constantinople amid soldiery and violence, and refused to hear the Tome of Leo. Its reversal at Chalcedon two years later fixed the fault line that runs through the East to this day.
The Second Council of Ephesus was a Christological church synod in 449 convened by Emperor Theodosius II under the presidency of Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria. It was intended to be an ecumenical council, and it is accepted by the miaphysite churches, who view it as a valid continuation of the First Council of Ephesus if not an ecumenical council in its own right. The Second Council of Ephesus was explicitly repudiated by the next council, the Council of Chalcedon of 451. The Council of Chalcedon is recognized as the fourth ecumenical council by Chalcedonian Christians, and the Second Council of Ephesus was named the Latrocinium by Pope Leo I; the Chalcedonian churches, particularly the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communions, continue to accept this designation, while the Oriental Orthodox repudiate it.
Dioscorus' bid to vindicate Eutyches and crush the two-natures teaching.
Flavian deposed by force and soon dead; Leo's Tome refused a hearing — Rome called it a robbery, and Chalcedon undid it within two years.