Councils are long-standing traditions of the church, going back to the time of the apostles. The New Testament mentions this, giving information about the convening of one of them in Jerusalem.
Having survived the era of persecution of Christians, the church in the 4th century created an institution of a higher order on a conciliar basis. These are Ecumenical Councils. They can be compared to “milestones” - they count down the time periods of the church’s evolution and reinforce its dogmas.
First Ecumenical Council
First Ecumenical Council. Emperor Constantine, Alexander Patr. Alexandria, Sylvester Pope, Mitrofan Patr. Constantinople, Eustathius Patr.
Took place in Nicaea in 325. It was convened against the heresy of Arius, who considered Christ the highest creation of God.
The most important decisions of the council:
- Arianism condemned;
- the dogma of the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and His pre-eternal birth was confirmed;
- the Nicene Creed was compiled;
- The time for celebrating Easter has been set.
Second Ecumenical Council
Second Ecumenical Council. Emperor Theodosius the Great, Nectarius Patr. Constantinople, Cyril Patr. Jerusalem, Pope Damasius, Patr. Meletius.
Took place in Constantinople in 381. Macedonius was convened against the heresy, which considered the Holy Spirit to be a creation of God.
The most important decisions of the council:
- Macedonian heresy condemned;
- the dogma of the equality and consubstantiality of God the Holy Spirit with God the Father and God the Son was approved;
- The creed was supplemented with 5 points. From that moment on, he remained unchanged.
C. Members as an Organism, the Body of Christ
We must see that the church as the Body of Christ is an organism. I am concerned to emphasize this because many Christians, when speaking about the church, understand it as an organization. We must reject this idea. We are not part of any organization. We are members of an organism, the Body of Christ.
If we travel to visit another local church, do we see ourselves as one with the saints in that area? We may subconsciously feel that we belong to an organization in our area and that we are now guests in the church we attend. From a human point of view, the saints we visit are the hosts, and we are their guests. But from a spiritual point of view, as Christians, as believers in Christ, we are members of one Body of Christ. If we go to visit the saints in London, who are we: a group of Americans in London? From a human point of view, we are Americans in London. But in the Body of Christ there are no human members, we are only divine members. In the Body of Christ as a divine organism we are all members in life. When we go to visit a local church, we should not think that we are foreigners.
Today we practice governing local churches according to the Bible. The local church is composed of saints with elders, deacons, and deaconesses (Phil. 1:1; Rom. 16:1). Do you view yourself as a saint, elder, deacon, or deaconess in the local church you are in? What I want to say is that we should not perceive ourselves in the local church in some way from an organizational point of view, seeing ourselves as part of the organization. We must look at ourselves only organically. Wherever we are and whatever we do, we must see ourselves as living members of the organic Body of Christ. When we gather in the Lord, we must all function as living members. Wherever we go, we are living members of the Body of Christ. When I go to Anaheim, I go there as a member of the Body of Christ. When I go to Taipei, I go there as a member of the Body of Christ. I never look at myself as someone who belongs to an organization. As members of the organic Body of Christ, we are to live organically.
In the first chapter of Ephesians we see that the church is the result of the dispensation of the divine Trinity. I emphasize this because few Christians over many generations have realized this. We may think that the church is just a collection of all believers as a kind of unity that can be considered as an organization. This is absolutely false. This idea of the church as an organization has led Christians throughout their centuries-long history to confusion, misunderstanding, and deception. Our concern today is to emphasize that, according to the pure divine revelation in the New Testament and especially in the Epistle to the Ephesians, the result of the dispensation of the divine Trinity is the church as an organism, the Body of Christ.
The main thing that is shown in Eph. 1, is precisely the result of the distribution of the Divine Trinity. Although the word “result” in Eph. 1 is missing, the fact and reality of the result is obvious. The Divine Trinity flows through Its dispensation. In everything that the Father, Son and Spirit do, there is the dispensation of the Father, the dispensation of the Son and the dispensation of the Spirit. The result of these distributions is one thing - an organism, the church, which is the Body of Christ.
The wooden stand is made of wooden planks, but a living person with a body is already something organic. A robot is an organization of lifeless material, but a living person is an organism. The church should be an organism, not an organization. The teachings of Ignatius in the second century provided the basis for the emergence of an organization in the church. Ignatius taught that the overseer, the bishop, is superior to the presbyter (elder). But in Acts. 20 Luke explained that overseers and elders are the same people. Paul sent for the elders, and then he said that the Holy Spirit had appointed them to be overseers (vv. 17, 28). Elders, presbyters, are overseers. Due to the erroneous teaching of Ignatius, hierarchy was introduced into the church. The system of episcopate in church government comes from the erroneous teaching of Ignatius, just like the entire hierarchical system of the Roman Catholic Church with bishops, archbishops, cardinals and the pope. The principle of hierarchy and organization also exists among Protestant denominations and free groups. Christianity today is influenced by this idea of hierarchy and has been greatly corrupted by it. The doctrine, practice, and concept of hierarchy have led many Christians away from the church as an organism and towards the church as an organization. There was a warning to us as we studied the history of the church from this point of view, and Brother Nee helped us to realize it, that we needed to be very careful in the matter of organization. The Lord has enlightened us to see that such an organizational system will nullify the organic Body of Christ. There is no organization in the Body of Christ. But fallen and deformed Christianity is full of organization. This is a religious, organizational system.
Every aspect of the church must be organic because the church is the result of the living Trinity. The Bible says that the incarnation of God, Christ, is life. Christ told us in the Gospel of John that He is life (John 14:6). Christ has nothing to do with organization. As the embodiment of the Triune God, He is the sum of divine, eternal life. The sum of life, the living Triune God, has as His result one thing, the Body of Christ. Since the Triune God is the sum of life, the Body of Christ is entirely a matter of life. We must put everything that is not of life under our feet. We don't like hierarchies because it is entirely a matter of organization and has nothing to do with the organic Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ is the result of the divine Trinity, just as Eve was the result of Adam. God created Adam from the dust of the ground, but He built the woman from a rib taken from Adam's side (Gen. 2:22). Adam gave himself away in the sense that a rib, a part of his being, came out of him. This part of his being became a woman, Eve. What is Eve? Eve is the result of Adam. Eve was identical with Adam in life, nature and appearance. This is why Adam and Eve could become one flesh, one couple. In the same way, the church is the result of the dispensation of the divine Trinity. We must see the church as such. When we have such a vision, that vision will guide us, protect us, guide us, and keep us from being distracted by any teaching about organization. No ideas about organization should be brought into church life. Any teaching about the church in the sense of organization is absolutely wrong, and we must abandon it. It leads to deception, delusion, it is from the evil one. Not one thought about organization in connection with the church is found in the entire book of Ephesians, the book about the church. The book of Ephesians reveals that the church is an organism, the Body of Christ.
We studied the history of the Brethren who practiced the church life under John Nelson Darby in the early nineteenth century. Soon after the Lord raised them up, they fell into the network of organization and became divided. Some of them, the so-called “Open Brethren,” taught that each of the churches was autonomous. The so-called “Closed Brethren” were accused of trying to create a kind of federation out of all the churches. Both autonomy and federation, according to the teaching of the apostles, are outside the bounds of biblical revelation.
Since the United States is an example of organized government, we see something of autonomy and federation. The fifty states are autonomous to a certain extent, but the federal government makes them a federation. Thus, to a certain extent, in the example of states, we see autonomy, and in the example of the country as a whole, we see federation. The individual states, however, are not completely independent of each other or the federal government. Each state does not have its own currency. There is only one type of currency in the United States. We, citizens of the United States, pay more tax to the federal government than to the state government. If a case in court cannot be decided by a state court, it goes to the Supreme Court, a federal court. Defending the United States is primarily a federal matter. From state to state, the entire continental United States is covered by a single network of roads. What would happen if the state of Oregon suddenly decided that only Oregonians could drive on its roads? These examples show that even the US states are not completely independent from each other and from the federal government.
In God's economy and in the Body of Christ, the word "independence" is the devil's word. We Christians should never be independent. We are not to be independent of God or each other. We cannot move forward in our Christian life if we are separated from one another. Moreover, no local church can be completely independent of other local churches. Local churches must be dependent on each other. The church in Seattle must depend on the church in Spokane, the churches in the USA must depend on the churches in England. We must be careful not to allow any doctrine of autonomy and federation.
Can any member of the physical body be autonomous in relation to other members? If one member is sick, the whole body suffers. In the same way, each member of the Body of Christ is dependent on the other members. Regarding the Body of Christ, Paul says: “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is glorified, all members rejoice with it. And you are the Body of Christ, and individually members” (1 Cor. 12:26-27). The Church is the Body of Christ, and just like in the Body of Christ, no part of the church can be autonomous. My concern that we see and realize the reality of the church as the Body of Christ is a very difficult concern, because ideas and teachings about organization, such as the doctrine of autonomy, have corrupted, misled and deceived Christians, and have led to divisions. We are not in any organization. We are the result of the Triune God, who is one, universal organism, the Body of Christ. We must proclaim: “We are in the body, not in the organization!” In Eph. 1 we are shown that the church is a result of the Triune God.
Third Ecumenical Council
Third Ecumenical Council. Fathers of the Orthodox Church and heretics (fragment)
Took place in Ephesus in 431. It was convened against the heresy of Nestorius, who taught that Christ was originally a man, and only then God moved into Him.
The most important decisions of the council:
- the heresy of the Nestorians was condemned;
- the dogma of the union of the Divine and human natures in Christ was established.
general characteristics
The history of the birth of the Christian Church is clouded by conflicts. In its most acute periods, the highest rank clergy were called to a council-discussion.
Meetings at which the highest clergy, convened according to a hierarchical principle, formulate canonical norms of doctrine and proclaim the fight against heresies are called Ecumenical.
To be recognized as such, they must have certain external and internal features.
External signs
The church structure is subject to a hierarchical principle.
The main department of the central metropolis is based on a college of presbyters who govern the lower dioceses and parishes. There is a hierarchy within parishes.
To convene the highest meeting of the clergy, it is necessary to observe external signs:
- Participation of the highest representatives of parishes - elders and commissioners.
- Compliance with the principle of hierarchy among delegates.
- The existence of regulations for resolving problems affecting religious doctrine.
- Recognition of this congress by all local churches.
The answer to the question of how many councils were recognized by the Ecumenical Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Ancient Eastern churches is ambiguous.
Recognition of meetings of the highest rank by the Ecumenical various Christian churches is distributed as follows.
Internal signs
The state religion is under the patronage and control of secular authorities. Such a connection confronts it with the task of inviolability of theological thought and dogma.
It is quite obvious that the head of state (especially the empire) is aimed at strengthening it with the help of the church. Therefore, it is important to exclude disputes that lead to resonance among the most authoritative clergy.
But history shows that the conditions of the environment and the current moment often violated church harmony. Therefore, there was a need for meetings of all parishes.
The internal requirements for convening the highest ecclesiastical ranks are:
- Compliance of the topic of discussion with the traditions of the apostles and the Holy Scriptures and the generally accepted dogmas of the Universal Church.
- Unanimous acceptance of the rules of the meeting by local churches.
Fourth Ecumenical Council
Fourth Ecumenical Council. Fathers of the Orthodox Church and heretics; Balkans. Serbia. Decani; XIV century; location: Serbia. Kosovo. Vysoki Decani Monastery. Narthex (narthex)
Took place in Chalcedon in 451. It was convened against the heresy of the Monophysites, who rejected human nature in Christ.
The most important decisions of the council:
- the heresy of the Monophysites was condemned;
- The dogma is established that at the Incarnation, Divinity and humanity were united in Christ as one Person, unmerged and unchangeable, inseparable and inseparable.
Results and consequences of events
Many predicted that the decisions of the last Pan-Orthodox Council would become the impetus for a schism. The Ukrainian Church was named as the first contender.
These fears have begun to come true these days:
- The Ukrainian Church is torn away from its mother church and brought under the control of the Church of Constantinople.
- There is a split in the Orthodox world through the falsification of interfaith relations by Western media.
History knows examples of manipulation at the beginning of the 20th century. The Russian Orthodox Church was obliged to switch to the Gregorian calendar. She withstood this pressure and survived, preserving her traditions.
The second danger posed by the activities of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (organizer of the Pan-Orthodox Council) is ecumenism. It promotes the acceptance of Protestants into the church, which will undoubtedly give rise to the growth of heresy.
The only sure way out of the current crisis is to stick to your Church.
Fifth Ecumenical Council
Fifth Ecumenical Council. Fathers of the Orthodox Church and heretics; Balkans. Serbia. Decani; XIV century; location: Serbia. Kosovo. Vysoki Decani Monastery. Narthex (narthex)
Took place in Constantinople in 553. It was convened due to disputes between the Nestorians and Monophysites.
The most important decisions of the council:
- the decisions of the III and IV Ecumenical Councils were confirmed.
Holy Fathers
In addition to the Ecumenical (international) meetings of clergy, local meetings of bishops were also organized - from a specific area.
The decisions and decrees that were approved at such councils (of local significance) were also subsequently accepted by the entire Orthodox Church. Including the opinions of the holy fathers, who were also called the “Pillars of the Church.”
Such holy men include: Martyr Peter, Gregory the Wonderworker, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Athanasius the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandria.
And their provisions regarding the Orthodox faith and the entire teaching of Christ were summarized in the “Rules of the Holy Fathers” of the Ecumenical Councils.
According to the predictions of these spiritual men, the official eighth international meeting will not be of a genuine nature, it will rather be a “gathering of the Antichrist.”
Sixth Ecumenical Council
Sixth Ecumenical Council. Emperor Constantine Pogonat, Peter Patr. Alexandria, Epiphanius of Ephesus; Balkans. Serbia. Decani; XIV century
Took place in Constantinople in 680. It was convened against the teaching of the Monothelites about one - Divine - will in Christ.
The most important decisions of the council:
- The doctrine of two wills in Christ according to two natures - Divine and submissive to it - human was established.
Seventh Ecumenical Council
Seventh Ecumenical Council; Greece; XVI century; master: Theophanes of Crete; location: Greece. Athos, Stavronik Monastery
Took place in Nicaea in 787. It was convened against the iconoclastic heresy.
The most important decisions of the council:
- the heresy of iconoclasm was condemned;
- the dogma of icon veneration was approved.
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