What do Christology and Ecumenical council have in common?

Saint George's Cathedral, Istanbul, Turkey

Eastern Orthodox Church

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Second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members.

Christ Pantocrator, sixth century, Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai; the oldest known icon of Christ, in one of the oldest monasteries in the world

Emperor Constantine presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and baby Jesus in this church mosaic (Hagia Sophia, c. 1000)

An icon of Saint John the Baptist, 14th century, North Macedonia

Icon depicting the Emperor Constantine and the bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325) holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381.

Hagia Sophia, the largest church in the world and patriarchal basilica of Constantinople for nearly a thousand years, later converted into a mosque, then a museum, then back to a mosque.

The baptism of Princess Olga in Constantinople, a miniature from the Radzivill Chronicle

Latin Crusaders sacking the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Orthodox controlled Byzantine Empire, in 1204.

Timeline showing the main autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches, from an Eastern Orthodox point of view, up to 2021

Canonical territories of the main autocephalous and autonomous Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions as of 2020

Percentage distribution of Eastern Orthodox Christians by country

Our Lady of Tinos is the major Marian shrine in Greece.

The Theotokos of Vladimir, one of the most venerated of Orthodox Christian icons of the Virgin Mary

Last Judgment: 12th-century Byzantine mosaic from Torcello Cathedral

David glorified by the women of Israel from the Paris Psalter, example of the Macedonian art (Byzantine) (sometimes called the Macedonian Renaissance)

Chanters singing on the kliros at the Church of St. George, Patriarchate of Constantinople

An illustration of the traditional interior of an Orthodox church.

Shards of pottery vases on the street, after being thrown from the windows of nearby houses. A Holy Saturday tradition in Corfu.

Eucharistic elements prepared for the Divine Liturgy

The wedding of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Eastern Orthodox subdeacon being ordained to the diaconate. The bishop has placed his omophorion and right hand on the head of the candidate and is reading the Prayer of Cheirotonia.

The consecration of the Rt Rev. Reginald Heber Weller as an Anglican bishop at the Cathedral of St. Paul the Apostle in the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac, with the Rt. Rev. Anthony Kozlowski of the Polish National Catholic Church and Saint Tikhon, then Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska (along with his chaplains Fr. John Kochurov and Fr. Sebastian Dabovich) of the Russian Orthodox Church present

Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew I in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, 2014

The Constantinople Massacre of April 1821: a religious persecution of the Greek population of Constantinople under the Ottomans. Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople was executed.

The Pan-Orthodox Council, Kolymvari, Crete, Greece, June 2016

Patriarchate of Peć in Kosovo, the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century when its status was upgraded into a patriarchate

Traditional Paschal procession by Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church

Greek Orthodox massacred during the Greek Genocide in Smyrna in 1922.

Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did the various Oriental Orthodox Churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, all separating primarily over differences in Christology.

Several doctrinal disputes from the fourth century onwards led to the calling of ecumenical councils.

Council of Chalcedon

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Spectrum of Christological views in late antiquity

Council of Chalcedon in the Nuremberg Chronicle

The Council of Chalcedon (Concilium Chalcedonense;, Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church.

Whilst this judgment marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates, it also generated heated disagreements between the Council and the Oriental Orthodox Church, who did not agree with such conduct or proceedings.

Oriental Orthodox Churches

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Distribution of Oriental Orthodox Christians in the world by country:
Main religion (more than 75%)
Main religion (50–75%)
Important minority religion (20–50%)
Important minority religion (5–20%)
Minority religion (1–5%)
Tiny minority religion (below 1%), but has local autocephaly

The Oriental Orthodox Churches are a group of Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with a total of approximately 60 million members worldwide.

An Eastern Christian body of autocephalous churches, its bishops are equal by virtue of episcopal ordination, and its doctrines can be summarized in that the churches recognize the validity of only the first three ecumenical councils.

Catholic Church

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Largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptised Catholics worldwide.

The first use of the term "Catholic Church" (literally meaning "universal church") was by the church father Saint Ignatius of Antioch in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans (c. 110 AD). Ignatius of Antioch is also attributed the earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" (Χριστιανισμός) c. 100 AD. He died in Rome, with his relics located in the Basilica of San Clemente al Laterano.

This fresco (1481–82) by Pietro Perugino in the Sistine Chapel shows Jesus giving the keys of heaven to Saint Peter.

The Last Supper, a late 1490s mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci, depicting the last supper of Jesus and his twelve apostles on the eve of his crucifixion. Most apostles are buried in Rome, including Saint Peter.

19th-century drawing by Henry William Brewer of Old Saint Peter's Basilica, originally built in 318 by Emperor Constantine

The Renaissance period was a golden age for Catholic art. Pictured: the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted by Michelangelo

Ruins of the Jesuit Reduction at São Miguel das Missões in Brazil

While, since the 1960s, Pope Pius XII has been accused of not having done enough to shelter Jews from the Holocaust, his defenders claim he secretly encouraged individual Catholic resistance groups, such as that led by priest Heinrich Maier. Maier helped the allies fight against the V-2, which was produced by concentration camp prisoners.

Members of the Canadian Royal 22e Regiment in audience with Pope Pius XII, following the Liberation of Rome in 1944 during World War II

Bishops listen during the Second Vatican Council

Pope John Paul II was credited as a major influence to the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism. Here with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, in 1982.

Francis is the 266th and current pope of the Catholic Church, a title he holds ex officio as bishop of Rome, and sovereign of Vatican City. He was elected in the 2013 papal conclave.

C. 1210 manuscript version of the traditional Shield of the Trinity theological diagram

The Blessed Virgin Mary is highly regarded in the Catholic Church, proclaiming her as Mother of God, free from original sin and an intercessor.

Mass at the Grotto at Lourdes, France. The chalice is displayed to the people immediately after the consecration of the wine.

Baptism of Augustine of Hippo as represented in a sculptural group in Troyes Cathedral (1549), France

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Eucharist at the canonisation of Frei Galvão in São Paulo, Brazil on 11 May 2007

A Catholic believer prays in a church in Mexico

The Seven Sacraments Altarpiece triptych painting of Extreme Unction (Anointing of the Sick) with oil being administered by a priest during last rites. Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1445.

Priests lay their hands on the ordinands during the rite of ordination.

Catholic religious objects – Holy Bible, crucifix and rosary

East Syrian Rite wedding crowning celebrated by a bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India, one of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope and the Catholic Church.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta advocated for the sick, the poor and the needy by practicing the acts of corporal works of mercy.

Pope Paul VI issued Humanae vitae on 25 July 1968.

Before the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church of the East also shared in this communion, as did the Oriental Orthodox Churches before the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451; all separated primarily over differences in Christology.

Catholic doctrine has developed over the centuries, reflecting direct teachings of early Christians, formal definitions of heretical and orthodox beliefs by ecumenical councils and in papal bulls, and theological debate by scholars.

Funerary stele of Licinia Amias on marble, in the National Roman Museum. One of the earliest Christian inscriptions found, it comes from the early 3rd century Vatican necropolis area in Rome. It contains the text ΙΧΘΥϹ ΖΩΝΤΩΝ ("fish of the living"), a predecessor of the Ichthys symbol.

History of Christianity

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The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present.

The eastern Mediterranean region in the time of Paul the Apostle

Christ Jesus, the Good Shepherd, 3rd century

St. Lawrence (martyred 258) before Emperor Valerianus by Fra Angelico

A folio from Papyrus 46, an early-3rd-century collection of Pauline epistles

Virgin and Child. Wall painting from the early Roman catacombs, 4th century.

Icon depicting the Emperor Constantine (centre) and the bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325) holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381.

Imagined portrait of Arius; detail of a Cretan School icon, c. 1591, depicting the First Council of Nicaea.

The ceiling mosaic of the Arian Baptistery, built in Ravenna by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great.

An Eastern Roman mosaic showing a basilica with towers, mounted with Christian crosses, 5th century, Louvre

The Church of the East during the Middle Ages

Coptic icon of St. Anthony the Great, father of Christian monasticism and early anchorite. The Coptic inscription reads ‘Ⲡⲓⲛⲓϣϯ Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ’ ("the Great Father Anthony").

A mosaic of Justinian I in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy

Roderick is venerated as one of the Martyrs of Córdoba

Raid on the Monastery of Zobe and the death of hegumenos Michael and his 36 brothers, depicted in the Menologion of Basil II.

"Hospitality of Abraham", icon by Andrei Rublev; the three angels represent the Godhead according to Trinitarian Christians.

Western Europe, the Holy Roman Empire, Kievan Rus', and the Byzantine Empire in the Middle Ages (year 1000)

The spread of Cistercians from their original sites in Western-Central Europe during the Middle Ages

Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor at the gate of Canossa Castle in 1077, during the Investiture controversy.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Crusader states with their strongholds in the Holy Land at their height, between the First and the Second Crusade (1135)

St. Cyril and St. Methodius monument on Mt. Radhošť

Christianization of Kievan Rus', the first unified federation of Slavic tribes

Christianization of Moravia under the rule of Rastislav

Jan Hus defending his theses at the Council of Constance (1415), painting by the Czech artist Václav Brožík

Michelangelo's Pietà (1498–99) in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

American Discovery Viewed by Native Americans (Thomas Hart Benton, 1922). European discovery and colonization had disastrous effects on the Indigenous peoples of the Americas and their societies.

The Council in Santa Maria Maggiore church; Museo Diocesiano Tridentino, Trento

Galileo before the Holy Office, a 19th-century painting by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury

Churches of the Moscow Kremlin, as seen from the Balchug

Demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow on the orders of Joseph Stalin, 5 December 1931, consistent with the doctrine of state atheism in the USSR

Laying on of hands during a service in a neo-charismatic church in Ghana

Various Christological debates about the human and divine nature of Jesus consumed the Christian Church for three centuries, and seven ecumenical councils were called to resolve these debates.

More significantly, in 325 he summoned the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council.

Arianism

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Constantine burning Arian books, illustration from a compendium of canon law, c. 825.

Once the orthodox Trinitarians succeeded in defeating Arianism, they censored any signs that the perceived heresy left behind. This mosaic in Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna has had images of the Arian king, Theoderic, and his court removed. On some columns their hands remain.

Page from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century illuminated manuscript of the Gothic Bible

Arianism (, Areianismós) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (c.

Homoousianism was formally affirmed by the first two ecumenical councils; since then, Arianism has always been condemned as "the heresy or sect of Arius".

Ruins of the monastery of Mar Eliya (Iraq) in 2005. In 2014 it was destroyed by ISIS

Church of the East

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Eastern Christian church of the East Syriac Rite, based in Mesopotamia.

Christological spectrum during the 5th–7th centuries showing the views of The Church of the East (light blue)

Saint Mary Church: an ancient Assyrian church located in the city of Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran.

Assyrian Mar Toma church in Urmia, Iran.

A 6th century Nestorian church, St. John the Arab, in the Assyrian village of Geramon.

Ecclesiastical provinces of the Church of the East in 10th century

A 9th-century mural of a cleric of the Church of the East from the palace of al-Mukhtar in Samarra, Iraq.

Church of the East at its largest extent during the Middle Ages.

The Nestorian Stele, created in 781, describes the introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China

Mongol tribes that adopted Syriac Christianity ca. 600 – 1400

A Nestorian church (1350) in Famagusta, Cyprus.

The Monastery of Mar 'Avd-Isho in Hakkari.

The Monastery of Mar Shallita in Hakkari.

The ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery, former residence of the Patriarchs of the Church of the East.

The Patriarchal Church of Mar Shalital (Assyrian Church of the East) in Qudshanis village in Hakkâri Province (1692–1918).

Palm Sunday procession of Nestorian clergy in a 7th- or 8th-century wall painting from a church in Tang China

Fragment of a Christian figure, a late-9th-century silk painting preserved in the British Museum.

Feast of the Discovery of the Cross, from a 13th-century Nestorian Peshitta Gospel book written in Estrangela, preserved in the SBB.

An angel announces the resurrection of Christ to Mary and Mary Magdalene, from the Nestorian Peshitta Gospel.

The twelve apostles are gathered around Peter at Pentecost, from the Nestorian Peshitta Gospel.

Illustration from the Nestorian Evangelion, a Syriac gospel manuscript preserved in the BnF.

Portraits of the Four Evangelists, from a gospel lectionary according to the Nestorian use. Mosul, Iraq, 1499.

Drawing of a rider (Entry into Jerusalem), a lost wall painting from the Nestorian church at Khocho, 9th century.

Nestorian Christian relic (statuette) from Imperial China

Anikova Plate, showing the Siege of Jericho. It was probably made in and for a Sogdian Nestorian Christian community located in Semirechye

Detail of the rubbing of the Nestorian pillar of Luoyang, discovered in Luoyang. 9th century.

Two of the generally accepted ecumenical councils were held earlier: the First Council of Nicaea, in which a Persian bishop took part, in 325, and the First Council of Constantinople in 381.

Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine that emphasises the distinction between the human and divine natures of Jesus.

An Eastern Christian icon depicting Emperor Constantine and the Fathers of the First Council of Nicaea (325) as holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381.

Christianity

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Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Crucifixion, representing the death of Jesus on the Cross, painting by Diego Velázquez, c. 1632.

The Law and the Gospel by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1529); Moses and Elijah point the sinner to Jesus for salvation.

The Trinity is the belief that God is one God in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.

Midnight Mass at a Catholic parish church in Woodside, New York City, U.S.

Show on the life of Jesus at Igreja da Cidade in São José dos Campos, affiliated to the Brazilian Baptist Convention.

An early circular ichthys symbol, created by combining the Greek letters ΙΧΘΥΣ into a wheel, Ephesus, Asia Minor.

The Bible is the sacred book in Christianity.

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, the largest church in the world and a symbol of the Catholic Church.

The 7th-century Khor Virap monastery in the shadow of Mount Ararat; Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as the state religion, in AD 301.

The Monastery of St. Matthew, located atop Mount Alfaf in northern Iraq, is recognized as one of the oldest Christian monasteries in existence.

Kadisha Valley, Lebanon, home to some of the earliest Christian monasteries in the world.

Christendom by A.D. 600 after its spread to Africa and Europe from the Middle East.

An example of Byzantine pictorial art, the Deësis mosaic at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont, where he preached the First Crusade. Illustration by Jean Colombe from a copy of the Passages d'outremer, c. 1490.

Martin Luther initiated the Reformation with his Ninety-five Theses in 1517.

Michelangelo's 1498–99 Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica; the Catholic Church was among the patronages of the Renaissance.

A depiction of Madonna and Child in a 19th-century Kakure Kirishitan Japanese woodcut.

A Christian procession in Brazil, the country with the largest Catholic population in the world.

Trinity Sunday in Russia; the Russian Orthodox Church has experienced a great revival since the fall of communism.

The global distribution of Christians: Countries colored a darker shade have a higher proportion of Christians.

Pope Francis, the current leader of the Catholic Church.

St. George's Cathedral in Istanbul: It has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople whose leader is regarded as the primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa, the seat of the Ethiopian Orthodox.

A 6th-century Nestorian church, St. John the Arab, in the Assyrian village of Geramon in Hakkari, southeastern Turkey.

Saint Mary Church; an ancient Assyrian church located in the city of Urmia, Iran.

A 19th-century drawing of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receiving the Aaronic priesthood from John the Baptist. Latter Day Saints believe that the Priesthood ceased to exist after the death of the apostles and therefore needed to be restored.

Unitarian Church of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca.

A copy of the Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, a famous Christian apologetic work.

Christians fleeing their homes in the Ottoman Empire, circa 1922. Many Christians were persecuted and/or killed during the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide.

Countries with 50% or more Christians are colored purple; countries with 10% to 50% Christians are colored pink

Nations with Christianity as their state religion are in blue

Links between interdenominational movements and other developments within Protestantism

Historical chart of the main Protestant branches

The Cenacle on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, claimed to be the location of the Last Supper and Pentecost.

The Church of the East split after the Council of Ephesus (431) and Oriental Orthodoxy split after the Council of Chalcedon (451) over differences in Christology, while the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church separated in the East–West Schism (1054), especially over the authority of the bishop of Rome.

These variations are a reflection of the range of traditions, and of the councils that have convened on the subject.

Constantine the Great summoned the bishops of the Christian Church to Nicaea to address divisions in the Church (mosaic in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (Istanbul), ca. 1000).

First Council of Nicaea

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Council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325.

The synod of Nicaea, Constantine and the condemnation and burning of Arian books, illustration from a northern Italian compendium of canon law, c. 825

The Council of Nicaea, with Arius depicted as defeated by the council, lying under the feet of Emperor Constantine

A fresco depicting the First Council of Nicaea at the Vatican's Sixtine Salon

This ecumenical council was the first effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all Christendom.

Its main accomplishments were settlement of the Christological issue of the divine nature of God the Son and his relationship to God the Father, the construction of the first part of the Nicene Creed, mandating uniform observance of the date of Easter, and promulgation of early canon law.

Icon depicting the Emperor Constantine (centre), accompanied by the bishops of the First Council of Nicaea (325), holding the Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381

First seven ecumenical councils

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In the history of Christianity, the first seven ecumenical councils include the following: the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, the Third Council of Constantinople from 680–681 and finally, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

Hagia Irene is a former church, now a museum, in Istanbul. Commissioned in the 4th century, it ranks as the first church built in Constantinople, and has its original atrium. In 381 the First Council of Constantinople took place in the church. Damaged by an earthquake in the 8th century, its present form largely dates from repairs made at that time.

The Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches accept all seven of these councils as legitimate ecumenical councils.

Theodosius II called the council to settle the christological controversy surrounding Nestorianism.

A report on Christology and Ecumenical council

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