RELG 330 - History of Christianity
Course Notes
Chapter 17
Page 209 - The Seven Ecumenical Councils (see also pages 102 & 111) - "Ecumenical" means that they were accepted by the whole Church all over the civilized world (the Oecumene)
The first seven Ecumenical Councils were :
- AD 325 - the First Council of Nicaea - to deal with Arianism, formulated the original Nicene Creed
- AD 381 - the First Council of Constantinople - to deal with Arianism and Macedonianism, and revise the Nicene Creed
- AD 431 - the Council of Ephesus - to deal with Nestorianism and Pelagianism
- AD 451 - the Council of Chalcedon - to deal with Monophysitism, formulated the Chalcedonian Creed
- AD 553 - the Second Council of Constantinople - to deal with Nestorianism
- AD 680-681 - the Third Council of Constantinople - to deal with Monothelitism and Monoenergism
- AD 787 - the Second Council of Nicaea - to deal with iconoclasm and to restore the use of icons as spiritual aids
Page 209 - heretics and schismatics - a heretic is someone who believes or teaches false doctrine, eg. Arius, who taught that Christ was a being created by God. A schismatic is someone who causes a schism or split in the Church on some practice or point of procedure, eg. Donatus, who disagreed with the choice of bishop.
Page 211 - the titles pontifex and pontifex maximus. "pontifex maximus" is Latin for "greatest bridge-builder", originally one of the titles of the Roman priest of Zeus, implying that he could make a bridge between human beings and the gods.
Page 212 - John Chrysostum was accused and deposed unjustly by a church council controlled by the Empress Eudoxia. Her husband, the Emperor, was such a worm that the text book doesn't bother to name him (Arcadius); he went along with whatever Eudoxia wanted. The deposition and exile of Chrysostum caused riots in Constantinople. Pope Innocent III and the Western Church interceded and tried to save him, but failed. He was sent into harsh exile, but did not die soon enough for Eudoxia, so in AD 407 he was forced to walk on foot in severe winter weather until he died
Page 214 - the Monophysite churches - see pages 130 & 133-134. See also the Page on Miaphysites Monophysites prefer the description Miaphysite
Page 216 - Leo the Iconclast - his title means "Icon breaker"
Page 217 - Constantine the leader of the Paulicians. To distinguish him from the many other men named Constantine, he is known as Constantine of Mananali
Page 218-9 - Constantine V was so thoroughly hated by his subjects that he was given the title "Copronymus" (sh*t eater)
Page 218 - The Council of Hieriea. There is a typo in the book - the date of the Council of Heiria is AD 753
page 218-219 - The filioque clause - is a phrase meaning "and the Son", used to describe the "double procession" of the Holy Spirit - that the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son". The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed formulated by the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in AD 381 did not contain "and the Son". The phrase was added by the third council of Toledo - which was not an ecumenical council, as it was only called for and attended by clergy of the Western Church. The Eastern Church took the position that the council at Toledo was not an ecumenical one - none of the Eastern churches were invited or represented - and only an Ecumenical Council could alter the decisions of a previous Ecumenical Council. A local council could not dictate to the whole Church what it should say.
The argument is not so much a doctrinal one (what one should or should not believe) as a procedural one, and a question of who has the authority to do what. The use of the filioque clause is still an obstacle in relations between the Eastern and Western Churches today.
Copyright © 2005 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
