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ApoteichisisOrthodox sources & church history

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Councils & Canons

The councils that shaped the doctrine of communion, heresy and schism, each with its principal dispute, dogmatic result, key canons, and later reception.

  1. 325First Ecumenical Council (Nicaea I)DocumentedFirst Ecumenical CouncilCondemned Arianism and confessed the Son as homoousios, of one essence, with the Father; gave the Church her Creed.
  2. 381Second Ecumenical Council (Constantinople I)DocumentedSecond Ecumenical CouncilCondemned the deniers of the Holy Spirit's divinity and completed the Creed used at every Liturgy to this day.
  3. 431Third Ecumenical Council (Ephesus)DocumentedThird Ecumenical CouncilCondemned the teaching of Nestorius on the person of Christ and affirmed the title Theotokos for the Virgin Mary.
  4. 451Fourth Ecumenical Council (Chalcedon)DocumentedFourth Ecumenical CouncilCondemned the one nature doctrine of Eutyches and confessed the one Christ in two natures, unconfused, unchanged, undivided, unseparated.
  5. 553Fifth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople II)DocumentedFifth Ecumenical CouncilCondemned the Three Chapters and the Origenist errors, confirming Cyril's reading of Chalcedon, and furnishing this library's key precedent on communion and defilement.
  6. 680 to 681Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople III)DocumentedSixth Ecumenical CouncilCondemned Monothelitism and confessed two natural wills and two natural energies in Christ.
  7. 787Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II)DocumentedSeventh Ecumenical CouncilRestored the veneration of the holy icons and condemned Iconoclasm, distinguishing veneration (proskynesis) from worship (latreia) due to God alone.
  8. 861First and Second Council of ConstantinopleDocumentedLocal council under St Photios (widely received; held by some as the Eighth)Held under St Photios; its Canon 15 defines the one case in which ceasing to commemorate a bishop is not schism but is “worthy of honour.”
  9. 879 to 880Council of Constantinople (879 to 880)DisputedHeld by many Orthodox authorities as the Eighth Ecumenical CouncilUnder St Photios and with Roman legates, it restored Photios, affirmed Nicaea II as the Seventh Council, and forbade additions to the Creed.
  10. 1351Council of Constantinople (1351)DisputedCouncil under St Gregory Palamas' vindication (held by many as the Ninth Ecumenical)Vindicated St Gregory Palamas and the distinction between God's unknowable essence and His uncreated energies, against Barlaam and Akindynos.