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| − | {{For|the church council of Constantinople in 359|Council of Constantinople}}
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| − | [[Image:Council of Constantinople 381 BnF MS Gr510 fol355.jpg|thumb|250px|Early manuscript illustration of I Constantinople<br/><small>''Homilies of Gregory Nazianzus'', Biblothèque nationale de France (879-882)</small>]]
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| − | {{Ecumenical council|council_name=First Council of Constantinople|council_date=381|accepted_by=[[Roman Catholicism]]<br/>[[Eastern Orthodoxy]]<br/>[[Oriental Orthodoxy]]<br/>[[Assyrian Church of the East]]<br/>[[Anglicanism]]<br/>[[Lutheranism]]||previous=[[First Council of Nicaea]]|next=[[Council of Ephesus]]|convoked_by=Emperor [[Theodosius I]]|presided_by=[[Timothy of Alexandria]], [[Meletius of Antioch]], [[Gregory Nazianzus]], and [[Nectarius of Constantinople]]|attendance=150 (no representation of Western Church)|topics=[[Arianism]], [[Apollinarism]], Sabellianism, [[Holy Spirit]], successor to Meletius|documents=[[Nicene Creed#The Nicene Creed of 381|Nicene Creed of 381]], seven [[canon law|canon]]s (three disputed)}}
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| − | The First Council of Constantinople is believed to be the Second Ecumenical Council by the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], the [[Oriental Orthodox]], the [[Eastern Orthodox]], the [[Roman Catholics]], the [[Old Catholics]], and a number of other [[Western Christian]] groups. This being the first Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople, it was called by [[Theodosius I]] in 381<ref>[[Socrates Scholasticus]], ''Church History'', book 5, chapters 8 & 11, puts the council in the same year as the revolt of Magnus Maximus and death of Gratian.</ref><ref>Heather and Matthews, ''Goths in the Fourth Century'', p. 136.</ref> which confirmed the [[Nicene Creed]] and dealt with other matters such as [[Arian controversy]]. The council took place in the [[Hagia Irene|church of Hagia Irene]] from May to July 381.
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| − | ==Background==
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| − | [[Image:Gregor-Chora.jpg|150px|thumb|left| Gregory of Nazianzus presided over part of the Council]]
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| − | The [[First Council of Nicaea|Council of Nicaea]] did not end the [[Arianism|Arian]] controversy which it had been called to clarify. By 327, Emperor [[Constantine I]] had begun to regret the decisions that had been made at the Nicene Council. He granted amnesty to the Arian leaders and exiled [[Athanasius]] because of [[Eusebius of Nicomedia]]. Even during numerous exiles, Athanasius continued to be a vigorous defender of [[Nicene Christianity]] against Arianism. The [[Cappadocian Fathers]] also took up the torch, their Trinitarian discourse was influential in the council at [[Constantinople]].
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| − | Up until about 360, theological debates mainly dealt with the [[Christology|Divinity of Jesus]], the 2nd person of the [[Trinity]]. However, because the Council of Nicaea had not clarified the divinity of the [[Holy Spirit]], the 3rd person of the Trinity, it became a topic of debate. The [[Macedonians (religious group)|Macedonians]] denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This was also known as Pneumatomachianism.
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| − | ==The proceedings==
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| − | [[Timothy of Alexandria]], [[Meletius of Antioch]], [[Gregory Nazianzus]], and [[Archbishop Nectarius of Constantinople]] successively presided. Gregory Nazianzus was appointed [[List of Patriarchs of Constantinople|Archbishop of Constantinople]], but soon resigned from the position a few months later, and Nectarius was then put in his place.
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| − | The council affirmed the [[Nicene creed#The original Nicene Creed of 325|original Nicene creed]] of faith as true and an accurate explanation of Scripture. This council also developed a statement of faith which included the language of Nicaea, but expanded the discussion on the Holy Spirit to combat the heresy of the [[Pneumatomachi]]. It is called the [[Nicene creed#The Nicene Creed of 381|Nicene Creed of 381]] and was a commentary on the original Nicene formula. It expanded the third article of the creed dealing with the [[Holy Spirit]], as well as some other changes. About the Holy Spirit the article of faith said he is "the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified." The statement of proceeding from the Father is seen as significant because it established that the Holy Spirit must be of the same being ([[ousia]]) as [[God the Father]].
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| − | This Council's decision regarding the Holy Spirit also gave official endorsement to the concept of the [[Trinity]]. By the end of the 4th century, the [[Theodosius I#Nicene Christianity becomes the state religion|Byzantine Emperor Theodosius]] "issued a decree that the doctrine of the Trinity was to be the official state religion and that all subjects shall adhere to it" (See [http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch24.htm "Constantine, the first Christian emperor," Antiquity Online])
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| − | Seven [[canon law|canon]]s, four of these doctrinal canons and three disciplinary canons, are attributed to the Council and accepted by both the [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox Church]] and the [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox Churches]]; the [[Roman Catholic|Roman Catholic Church]] accepts only the first four<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-59.htm#P3825_663549 NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref>.
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| − | The first canon<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-60.htm#P3837_667000 NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref> is an important dogmatic condemnation of all shades of Arianism, also of Macedonianism and [[Apollinarianism]].
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| − | The second canon<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-61.htm#P3886_685104 NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref> renews the Nicene legislation imposing upon the bishops the observance of diocesan and patriarchal limits.
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| − | {{Ecumenical councils of the Catholic Church}}
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| − | The famous third canon reads:
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| − | :The Bishop of Constantinople, however, shall have the prerogative of honour after the Bishop of Rome because [[Constantinople]] is [[New Rome]].<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.ix.viii.iv.html NPNF2-14. Canon III, First Council of Constantinople, The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref>
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| − | This canon was a first step in the rising importance of the new imperial capital, just fifty years old, and was notable in that it demoted the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. Jerusalem, as the site of the first Church, retained its place of honor. By 451, in the [[Council of Chalcedon]] (Canon IX), Constantinople would be recognized as the ecumenical jurisdiction of highest ecclesiastical appeal.<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xi.xviii.ix.html The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library]</ref>
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| − | Baronius maintained the non-authenticity of the third canon, while some medieval Greeks maintained that it did not declare supremacy of the [[Bishop of Rome]], but the primacy; "the first among equals," similar to how they today view the [[Bishop of Constantinople]]. Throughout the next several centuries, the [[Western Christianity|Western Church]] asserted that the Bishop of Rome had supreme authority, and by the time of the [[Great Schism]] the [[Roman Catholic Church]] based its claim to supremacy on the [[Apostolic Succession|succession]] of [[St. Peter]]. When the First Council of Constantinople was approved, Rome protested the diminished honor to be afforded the bishops of Antioch and Alexandria. The status of these Eastern patriarchs would be brought up again by the [[Papal Legate]]s at the Council of Chalcedon. [[Pope Leo the Great]]<ref>Ep. cvi in P.L., LIV, 1003, 1005.</ref>, declared that this canon had never been submitted to Rome and that their lessened honor was a violation of the Nicene order. At the repudiated [[Fourth Council of Constantinople]] (869), the Roman legates<ref>[[J. D. Mansi]], XVI, 174.</ref> asserted the place of the bishop of Rome's honor over the bishop of Constantinople's; nine years later, this [[latrocinium]] council was replaced.
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| − | After the [[Great Schism]] (1054), in 1215 at the [[Fourth Lateran Council]]<ref>op. cit., XXII, 991.</ref>, Roman supremacy over the whole world was formally claimed by the new Latin patriarch. The Roman correctores of Gratian<ref>(1582), at dist. xxii, c. 3.</ref>, insert the words: "canon hic ex iis est quos apostolica Romana sedes a principio et longo post tempore non recipit."
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| − | The fourth canon<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-61.htm#P3937_698189 NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref> declares invalid the consecration of [[Maximus of Constantinople]], the [[Cynic]] philosopher and rival of [[Gregory of Nazianzus]], as [[Bishop of Constantinople]].
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| − | The fifth canon<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-61.htm#P3958_706331 NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref> might have been passed the next year, 382, and is in regard to a ''Tome'' of the Western bishops, perhaps that of [[Pope Damasus I]].
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| − | The sixth canon<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-61.htm#P3984_712263 NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref> might belong to the year 382 as well and was passed at the [[Quinisext Council]] as #95 and limits the ability to accuse bishops of wrongdoing.
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| − | The seventh canon<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-14/Npnf2-14-61.htm#P4014_722138 NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils | Christian Classics Ethereal Library<!-- Bot generated title —>]</ref> regards procedures for receiving certain heretics into the church.
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| − | [[Pope Damasus I]] was not invited (or declined to attend), thus sometimes this council is called the unecumenical council. However, it was affirmed as ecumenical at the [[Council of Chalcedon]] in 451.
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| − | ==Aftermath==
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| − | This council condemned [[Arianism]] and it began to die out with more condemnations at a council by [[Ambrose of Milan]] in 381. With the discussion of [[Trinitarian]] doctrine now developed and well under agreement to orthodox and Biblical understanding, it led to [[Christology]]. Christology would be the topic of the [[Council of Ephesus]] of 431 and the [[Council of Chalcedon]] of 451.
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| − | The 150 individuals at the council are commemorated in the [[Calendar of Saints (Armenian Apostolic Church)|Calendar of saints]] of the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] on February 17.
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| − | ==Notes==
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| − | {{reflist|2}}
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| − | ==References==
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| − | ==External links==
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| − | *[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04308a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: First Council of Constantinople]
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| − | *[http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_hise.htm Council of Constantinople]
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| − | *[http://www.legionofmarytidewater.com/faith/ECUM02.HTM Council of Constantinople]
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| − | *[http://faculty.wlc.edu/thompson/fourth-century/Councils/Constantinople381/nicene-constantinopalitan_both.htm The Creed from the Council in Greek and English side by side.] (Precedence of the bishop of Rome is not mentioned.)
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| − | {{Ecumenical councils|uncollapsed}}
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| − | {{History of the Catholic Church|collapsed}}
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| − | [[Category:philosophy and religion]]
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