What the Councils Would Say · 18 of 22
The Councils Defined the Church as One, Not Plural
Every Council presupposed that the Church already exists as one visible Body, not as a federation of churches. They never spoke of “churches” in the plural sense used today, but of the Church and those outside her communion.
To say, as modern ecumenical documents do, that the Church is “divided” or that multiple churches together form Christianity would have been condemned outright. The Councils did not heal divisions by redefining the Church; they healed divisions by calling the separated back into her.
Any dialogue that begins by redefining the Church as plural would have been judged by the Councils as ecclesiological heresy.
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- Plain
- The Councils Defined the Church as One, Not Plural. in Church History, Apoteichisis, Heavenly Communion. https://apoteichisis.com/history/the-councils-defined-the-church-as-one-not-plural
- Chicago (note)
- "The Councils Defined the Church as One, Not Plural," in Church History, Apoteichisis, Heavenly Communion, https://apoteichisis.com/history/the-councils-defined-the-church-as-one-not-plural.
- Short footnote
- "The Councils Defined the Church as One, Not Plural," Apoteichisis, Heavenly Communion, https://apoteichisis.com/history/the-councils-defined-the-church-as-one-not-plural.
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- [The Councils Defined the Church as One, Not Plural | Apoteichisis, Heavenly Communion](https://apoteichisis.com/history/the-councils-defined-the-church-as-one-not-plural)