Council of Chalcedon: Difference between revisions

The '''Council of Chalcedon''' ({{IPAc-en|k|æ|l|ˈ|s|iː|d|ən|,_|ˈ|k|æ|l|s|ɪ|d|ɒ|n}}; {{langx|la|Concilium Chalcedonense}}){{Efn|{{langx|grc|Σύνοδος τῆς Χαλκηδόνος}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos}}}} was the fourth [[ecumenical council]] of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the [[List of Byzantine emperors|Roman emperor]] [[Marcian]]. The council convened in the city of [[Chalcedon]], [[Bithynia]] (modern-day [[Kadıköy]], [[Istanbul]], [[Turkey]]) from 8 October to 1 November 451.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Council of Chalcedon {{!}} Description, History, & Significance |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Council-of-Chalcedon |access-date=2021-03-29 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> The council was attended by over 520 bishops or their representatives, making it the largest and best-documented of the [[first seven ecumenical councils]].<ref name=":2" /> The principal purpose of the council was to re-assert the teachings of the ecumenical [[Council of Ephesus]] against the teachings of [[Eutyches]] and [[Nestorius]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Council of Chalcedon |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03555a.htm |access-date=2021-03-29 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref> Such doctrines viewed [[Christology|Christ's divine and human natures]] as separate and distinct ([[Nestorianism]]), or viewed Christ as solely divine ([[monophysitism]]).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Worthen |first=Molly |date=2008-05-12 |title=The Chalcedon Problem: Rousas John Rushdoony and the Origins of Christian Reconstructionism |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0009640708000590 |journal=Church History |volume=77 |issue=2 |pages=399–437 |doi=10.1017/s0009640708000590 |s2cid=153625926 |issn=0009-6407|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Council of Chalcedon issued the [[Chalcedonian Definition]], stating that Jesus is "perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.creeds.net/ancient/chalcedon.htm |title=Definition of Chalcedon |website=Creeds.net |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> The Council's judgments and definitions regarding the divine marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates.<ref>{{cite book|title=The acts of the Council of Chalcedon'' by Council of Chalcedon''|author1=Richard Price|author2=Michael Gaddis|date=2006|isbn=0-85323-039-0 |pages=1–5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6IUaOOT1G3UC&pg=PA94}}</ref>

The ruling of the council stated:{{blockquote|We all teach harmoniously [that he is] the same perfect in godhead, the same perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man, the same of a reasonable soul and body; [[Homoousion|homoousios]] with the Father in godhead, and the same homoousios with us in manhood… acknowledged in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Pelikan |first1=Jaroslav Jan |title=The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine |volume=1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100–600) |date=1971 |publisher= University of Chicago Press |location= Chicago |pages=262–263 |isbn= 978-0-226-65370-9 |url= https://archive.org/details/christiantraditi00peli_0/page/262/mode/2up |access-date=8 May 2024}}</ref>}}

Whilst this judgment marked a significant turning point in the [[Christological]] debates,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Richard Price |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6IUaOOT1G3UC&pg=PA94|title=The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon|author2=Michael Gaddis|date=2006|isbn=0-85323-039-0|pages=1–5| publisher=Liverpool University Press |access-date= 2016-11-01}}</ref> it also generated heated disagreements between the council and the [[Oriental Orthodox]] Church, which did not agree with such conduct or proceedings.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Christianity's Great Schism of 1054 AD|url= https://www.ecumenicalexaminer.com/great_schism.html|access-date=2021-03-29|website= Ecumenical examiner |archive-date=22 June 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210622173858/https://www.ecumenicalexaminer.com/great_schism.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> This disagreement would later cause the [[Oriental Orthodox Churches]] and the [[Chalcedonian Christianity|Chalcedonian churches]] to schism, and led to the council being regarded as ''Chalcedon, the Ominous'' by the [[Miaphysitism|Miaphysites]]''.''<ref name=":3" />

The council's other responsibilities included addressing controversy, dealing with issues such as ecclesiastical discipline and jurisdiction,<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Chalcedon, Council of|url= http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2211-2685_eco_c358|access-date=2021-03-29|website=Encyclopedia of Christianity Online|doi= 10.1163/2211-2685_eco_c358 |url-access= subscription}}</ref> and approving [[Creed|statements of belief]] such as the [[Creed of Nicaea]] (325), the [[Creed of Constantinople]] (381, subsequently known as the [[Nicene Creed]]), two letters of [[St. Cyril of Alexandria]] against [[Nestorius]], and the [[Leo's Tome|Tome of Pope Leo I]].<ref name=":2" /> The [[Christology]] of the [[Church of the East]] may be called "[[Council of Ephesus|non-Ephesine]]" for not accepting the Council of Ephesus, but it did finally gather to ratify the Council of Chalcedon at the Synod of Mar [[Aba I]] in 544.<ref name= "auto"/>{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|pp=287–289}} Through the 1994 [[Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East|Common Christological Declaration]] between the Chalcedonian Catholic Church and the Nestorian [[Assyrian Church of the East]], the [[Assyrian Church of the East]] and the Catholic Church each accepted and confessed the same doctrine of [[Christology]].<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1994/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19941111_dichiarazione-cristologica.html Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East], Preamble, accessed 8 February 2022</ref>

[[File:Четвертый Вселенский Собор.jpg|thumb|Council of Chalcedon, fresco at [[Ferapontov Monastery]], {{Circa|1502}}.]]

The situation continued to deteriorate, with Leo demanding the convocation of a new council and Emperor Theodosius II refusing to budge, all the while appointing bishops in agreement with Dioscorus. All this changed dramatically with the Emperor's death and the elevation of [[Marcian]] to the imperial throne. To resolve the simmering tensions, Marcian announced his intention to hold a new council to set aside the 449 Second Council of Ephesus which was named the "Latrocinium"<ref>Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "''Latrocinium''". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press</ref> or "Robber Council" by Pope Leo. [[Pulcheria]], the sister of Theodosius, may have influenced this decision, or even made the convention of a council a requirement during her negotiations with [[Aspar]], the [[magister militum]], to marry Marcian.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Kirsch |first=Johann Peter |title=St. Pulcheria |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |year=1911 |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12561c.htm |access-date=May 21, 2026}}</ref>

Leo had pressed for it to take place in [[Italy]], but Emperor Marcian instead called for it to convene at Chalcedon because it was closer to Constantinople. This would allow him to respond quickly to any events along the Danube, which was being raided by the Huns under [[Attila]].{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

Although it could be reconciled with Cyril's Formula of Reunion, it was not compatible in its wording with Cyril's Twelve Anathemas. In particular, the third anathema reads: "If anyone divides in the one Christ the [[Hypostasis (philosophy)|hypostases]] after the union, joining them only by a conjunction of dignity or authority or power, and not rather by a coming together in a union by nature, let him be anathema."{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}} This appeared to some to be incompatible with Leo's definition of two natures [[Hypostatic union|hypostatically joined]]. However, the council would determine (with the exception of 13 Egyptian bishops) that this was an issue of wording and not of doctrine; a committee of bishops appointed to study the orthodoxy of the Tome using Cyril's letters (which included the twelve anathemas) as their criteria unanimously determined it to be orthodox, and the council, with few exceptions, supported this.{{clarify|reason=this is garbled, and what council is being talked about?|date=July 2012}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.06.en.orthodox_and_oriental_orthodox_consultation.htm#m7 |title=Orthodox And Oriental Orthodox Consultation |website=Romanity.org |access-date=2016-11-01}}</ref>

[[File:Nuremberg_chronicles_f_138r_1.jpg|thumb|Council of Chalcedon in the [[Nuremberg Chronicle]]. ]]

{{main|Chalcedonian Schism}}

The near-immediate result of the council was [[Chalcedonian Schism|a major schism]].{{clarify|reason=it was not 'near-immediate': there was certainly opposition to the council, but schism, in the sense of a rival episcopal hierarchy, distinct from that of the imperial church, only began to develop in the mid-sixth century, and only became complete after the Arab conquest of Syria and Egypt|date=January 2012}} The bishops who were uneasy with the language of Pope Leo's Tome repudiated the council, saying that the acceptance of two ''physes'' was tantamount to Nestorianism. Dioscorus of Alexandria advocated [[miaphysitism]] and had dominated the Council of Ephesus.<ref>"Latrocinium." Cross, F. L., ed. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005</ref> A schism occurred, whereby the [[Oriental Orthodox Church|churches that rejected Chalcedon in favor of Ephesus]] and [[Chalcedonian Christianity|the rest of the Church]] broke off from each other, the most significant among the former being the Sees of [[Alexandria]] and [[Antioch]].<ref name="georgetown2">{{cite web |url=http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries/egypt |title=Egypt |publisher=[[Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs]] |access-date=2011-12-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220145046/http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries/egypt |archive-date=2011-12-20 |url-status=dead }} See drop-down essay on "Islamic Conquest and the Ottoman Empire"</ref> The rise of the "so-called" monophysitism in the East (as branded by the West) was incorrectly believed to be led by the Copts of Egypt. This must be regarded{{dubious|date=January 2022}} as the outward expression of the growing nationalist trends{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} in that province against the gradual intensification of Byzantine imperialism, soon to reach its consummation during the reign of Emperor Justinian.  

In [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]], the [[Church of Alexandria]] splintered, as 30,000 [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria|Greeks of Chalcedonian persuasion]] led by [[Proterius of Alexandria|Proterius]] were ranged against some five million [[Copts|Coptic]] [[Coptic Orthodox Church|non-Chalcedonian]] followers of Dioscorus led by [[Timothy II of Alexandria|Timothy II]].{{sfn|Bury|1889|p=249}} Similarly, the [[Church of Antioch]] was divided among the [[Antiochian Greek Christians|local Greeks]] [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch|of Chalcedonian persuasion]] led by [[Paul the Jew|Paul]] and the [[Assyrian people|Syriac]] [[Syriac Orthodox Church|non-Chalcedonian]] followers of [[Severus of Antioch|Severus]] led by [[Sergius of Tella|Sergius]]. A significant effect on the Orthodox Christians in Egypt was a series of persecutions by the Roman (later, Byzantine) empire forcing followers of the Oriental Orthodox Church to claim allegiance to Leo's Tome, or Chalcedon. This led to the martyrdom, persecution and death of thousands{{dubious|date=August 2023}} of Egyptian saints and bishops till the Arab Conquest of Egypt.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/arabconquestofeg00butl|title=The Arab conquest of Egypt and the last thirty years of the Roman dominion|last=Butler|first=Alfred Joshua|author-link=Alfred J. Butler|date=1902|publisher=Oxford, Clarendon Press|others=The Library of Congress}}</ref> As a result, The Council of Chalcedon is referred to as "Chalcedon, the Ominous" among Coptic Egyptians given how it led to Christians persecuting other Christians for the first time{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}} in history. Coptic Orthodox Christians continue to distinguish themselves from followers of Chalcedon to this day. Although the theological differences are seen as limited (if non-existent), it is politics, the subsequent persecutions, and the power struggles in the Roman Empire that may have led to this schism, or at least contributed significantly to amplifying it through the centuries.

[[Justinian I]] attempted to bring those monks who still rejected the decision of the Council of Chalcedon into communion with the Chalcedonian church. The exact time of this event is unknown, but it is believed to have been between 535 and 548. [[Abraham of Farshut]] was summoned to Constantinople and chose to bring with him four monks. Upon arrival, Justinian summoned them and informed them that they could either accept the decision of the council or lose their positions. Abraham refused to entertain the idea. [[Theodora (wife of Justinian I)|Theodora]] tried to persuade Justinian to change his mind, seemingly to no avail. Abraham himself stated in a letter to his monks that he preferred to remain in exile rather than subscribe to a faith contrary to that of [[Athanasius]].{{clarify|reason=This is a seriously incomplete and misleading account of the complex negotiations between Justinian and the non-Chalcedonians|date=January 2012}} They were not alone, and the non-Chalcedon churches compose [[Oriental Orthodoxy]], with the [[Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church|Patriarch of Alexandria]] as their [[primus inter pares]]. Only in recent years has a degree of rapprochement between Chalcedonian Christians and the Oriental Orthodox been seen.

Plenty of Oriental Orthodox theologians,<ref>Fr. Shenouda M. Ishak, Christology and the Council of Chalcedon.</ref> saints and modern clergy<ref>{{Cite book |last=Petrosyan |first=Yeznik |title=The Christology of the Armenian Church |publisher=Holy Etchmiadzin |year=1995 |language=Armenian}}</ref> have affirmed that a real difference in the confessions of faith has taken place. Modern Coptic Orthodox Christians profess to be [[Miaphysites]]. This is reflected in the daily liturgical prayer: "Christ's divinity parted not from His humanity, not for a single moment nor a twinkling of an eye".<ref name="QA">{{Cite web |title=Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States - Q&A |url=https://www.suscopts.org/q&a/index.php?qid=918&catid=279 |access-date=September 2, 2024 |website=suscopts.org}}</ref>