Ecumenical Councils

This is the Faith of the Fathers!

This is the Faith of the Orthodox!

This is the Faith that has established the universe!

-Declaration at the 7th Ecumenical Council (787 AD)

The Ecumenical Councils of the

One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

First Council of Nicea, (325); repudiated Arianism, adopted the Nicene Creed.
First Council of Constantinople, (381); revised the Nicene Creed into the present form used in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches.
Council of Ephesus, (431); repudiated Nestorianism, proclaimed the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos (Greek, Θεοτόκος).
Council of Chalcedon, (451); repudiated the Eutychian doctrine of Monophysitism, described and delineated the two natures of Christ, human and divine; adopted the Chalcedonian Creed. This and all following councils are not recognized by Oriental Orthodox Communion.
Second Council of Constantinople, (553); reaffirmed decisions and doctrines explicated by previous Councils, condemned new Arian, Nestorian, and Monophysite writings.
Third Council of Constantinople, (680-681); repudiated Monothelitism, affirmed that Christ had both human and Divine wills. Quinisext/Penthekte Council (= Fifth and Sixth) or Council in Trullo, (692); mostly an administrative council that raised some local canons to ecumenical status and established principles of clerical discipline. It is not considered to be a full-fledged council in its own right because it did not determine matters of doctrine. This council is accepted by the Orthodox Church as a part of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, but that is rejected by Roman Catholics.
Second Council of Nicea, (787); restoration of the veneration of icons and end of the first iconoclasm.
Fourth Council of Constantinople, (879-880); restored St. Photius the Great to his see in Constantinople and anathematized any who altered the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, abrogating the decrees of the Robber Council of 869-870. This council was at first accepted as ecumenical by the West but later repudiated in favor of the robber council in 869-870 which had deposed Photius.
Fifth Council of Constantinople, (1341-1351); affirmed hesychastic theology according to St. Gregory Palamas and condemned the Westernized philosopher Barlaam of Calabria.