Matt Fradd
Spirituality/Belief • Books • Writing
Ecumenical Councils: Overview 1
November 20, 2022
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Hey all,

I thought we could all benefit from a summary of all 21 Ecumenical Councils.

You down?

What is an Ecumenical Council anyway?

I'll keep this brief so as not to overwhelm.

The word ecumenical comes from a latin word meaning general or universal (Ecumenical councils are sometimes called General Councils).

Ecumenical or General Councils are gatherings of the college of bishops to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

"The college of bishops exercises power over the universal Church in a solemn manner in an ecumenical council." But "there never is an ecumenical council which is not confirmed or at least recognized as such by Peter's successor" (884)

Are they infallible?

The solemn definitions of ecumenical councils meet the conditions of infallibility only when approved by the Pope.

Again from the Catechism:

"The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council" (891).

How many have there been?

There have been 21 ecumenical councils. The Church of the East accepts the first two, the Oriental Orthodox Churches accept the firs three. The Eastern Orthodox Churches (distinct from the two groups already mentioned) accept the first seven (though some Eastern Orthodox Churches accept the eighth, the Fourth Council of Constantinople.

Okay ... we good?

Since there have been 21, I'll post summaries of each council in several different posts.

Today I'll just sum up the first three. I'm drawing much of this from The Catholic Encyclopedia, BTW. I'll post links to each council after each summary.

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In their eagerness to proclaim the unity of God and man in Christ, some heretics went to the opposite extreme and taught that not only was there one person, but also a single nature, in God and man. This error took its rise from Arius. To defend his position that those scriptural passages where Christ is represented as being inferior to the Father, must refer to the Son of God Himself, regarded in His assuming nature, Arius taught that in Christ there is no other soul than the Word of God who, he maintained, took the place of the soul in Christ’s body. Thus when Christ says, in John 14:28, “The Father is greater than I,” or when He is introduced as praying or as being sad, such matters are to be referred to the very nature of the Son of God. If this were so, the union of God’s Son with man would be effected not only in the person, but also in the nature. For, as we know, the unity of human nature arises from the union of soul and body.

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We indicated above that the reparation of human nature could not be effected either by Adam or by any other purely human being. For no individual man ever occupied a position of pre-eminence over the whole of nature; nor can any mere man be the cause of grace. The same reasoning shows that not even an angel could be the author of man’s restoration. An angel cannot be the cause of grace, just as he cannot be man’s recompense with regard to the ultimate perfection of beatitude, to which man was to be recalled. In this matter of beatitude angels and men are on a footing of equality. Nothing remains, therefore, but that such restoration could be effected by God alone.

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Matt

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I’ve been pouring my heart into what I truly believe is an important book—Jesus Our Refuge (get here). It’s the most personal thing I’ve ever written, and my hope is that it helps you find peace and refuge in the heart of Jesus. 

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P.S. I don’t earn anything from this book. When I wrote it, I knew it had to reach far and wide, so I partnered with a publisher who believes in that mission. Every bit of the royalties I’d have received goes into a fund to give away one million copies for free.

 

 

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You can read Thomas' own words here, btw. 

For Aquinas, “curiosity” is not simply the healthy desire to know the truth. He distinguishes between the virtue of studiositas—the ordered pursuit of knowledge—and the vice of curiositas, which is the disordered pursuit of knowledge.

Curiosity becomes a vice when we seek knowledge in the wrong way or for the wrong reasons: for pride, idle speculation, gossip, or knowledge that leads us away from God rather than toward Him. For example, indulging in occult practices, probing into sinful matters for fascination, or prying into things that are none of our business (all of social media, or just most?) are all ways that curiosity corrupts the good of knowledge. In other words, knowledge itself is good, but the way we desire, seek, and use it can be distorted.

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