Ecumenical Councils

Question 1

(Ancient) Nicaea (325)

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

(Ancient) Constantinople I (381)

Answer 2

• Declared the equality of the HS with the Father and Son

* Condemned Apolloinarianism (X divine mind, human body)

Question 3

(Ancient) Ephesus (431)

Answer 3

Addressed:

• Nestorianism (two persons, two natures, one body)
• Pelagianism (if I ought, I can)

Question 4

(Ancient) Chalcedon (451)

Answer 4

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

Question 5

(Ancient) Constantinople II (553)

Answer 5

Addressed:

• The breach between the Monophysites)
• Monophysitism (X had one nature)

Question 6

(Ancient) Constantinople III (680)

Answer 6

Addressed:
The breach between the Monophysites failed

Answered:
Christ had two will, divine and human

Question 7

(Ancient) Nicaea II (787)

Answer 7

Addressed:
*Iconoclastic controversy (OK to portray X after the incarnation)

Answered:
*It was OK to venerate icons (Rejected by Protestant Reformers)

Question 8

(Medieval) Lateran Councils

Answer 8

• Held at the Lateran Palace, the pope’s house in Rome

* They mark the rise of papal power

Question 9

(Medieval) Lateran IV (1215)

Answer 9

• The high point of papal power in the Middle Ages
• Asserted unique primacy of Rome over all Christendom
• Officially defined the dogma of transubstantiation

Question 10

(Medieval) Lyons II (1274)

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

(Medieval) Vienne (France) (1311-12

Answer 11

Dissolved the Knights Templar, on the ground that they were indulging in magic

Question 12

(Medieval) Constance (1414-18)

Answer 12

• Called to heal a papal schism between three popes

* Condemned Jan Hus to be burned for heresy

Question 13

(Medieval) Lateran V (1512-17)

Answer 13

Attempted modest reforms, but was overtaken by events in Germany, which led to the reformation..bitches

Question 14

(Modern) Trent (1545-63)

Answer 14

• Rome greatly hardens to protestants
• Defined Roman doctrines / practices attacked by reformers
• Polarized the church – drove a counter-reformation until the 20th century

Question 15

(Modern) Vatican I (1869-70)

Answer 15

• Completed the work of Trent

* Defined the infallibility of the pope (ex cathedra: “from the chair” - the moral / spiritual / whole church stuff)

Question 16

(Modern) Vatican II (1962-1965)

Answer 16

• A reaction to the Counter-Reformation spirit of Trent and Vatican I
• Didn’t repudiate anything though
• More open to outside influences
• Ecumenical bullshit

Question 17

What was The Great Schism?

Answer 17

The division between the Eastern and Western church in 1054

Question 18

What were the reasons for The Great Schism?

Answer 18

• 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