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ApoteichisisOrthodox sources & church history
Sixth Ecumenical CouncilDocumented

Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople III)

Στ΄ Οἰκουμενικὴ Σύνοδος

Date
680 to 681
Location
Constantinople

Condemned Monothelitism and confessed two natural wills and two natural energies in Christ.

Historical background

  • The doctrine of a single will in Christ, promoted by imperial documents (the Ekthesis and Typos), was resisted by St Maximus the Confessor and Pope Martin I, and finally judged by this council.

Principal dispute

  • Whether Christ has one will or two natural wills, divine and human.

Dogmatic result

  • Two natural wills and two natural energies were confessed, without division or confusion.

Heresies and persons condemned

  • Monothelitism, a single will or energy in the incarnate Christ.
  • Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter of Constantinople; Cyrus of Alexandria; Macarius of Antioch; and Honorius of Rome.

Later reception

  • Received as the Sixth Ecumenical Council; its disciplinary canons were later supplied by the Quinisext (692).

Bibliography

  • ACO, series secunda, tom. 2 (Concilium Universale Constantinopolitanum Tertium).