O Christ our God, You are above all praise,
for You established our Fathers as lights to all the earth.
You led us to the true faith through them.
O Most Bountiful Lord, Glory be to You.
Fathers of the first Six Ecumenical Councils
On this fifth weekend after Pentecost, the Church calls to mind the Fathers of the first Six Ecumenical Councils. These first six councils, laid the foundation for our Christian faith and religion. There is only one additional Ecumenical Council that is important to the Eastern Church, the Seventh, since it put an end to Iconoclasm and declared that it is fitting and right to venerate icons.
The first six councils, as you may be aware, defined the fundamental dogmas of our faith and religion. It is from the deliberations of these Councils that we have our core beliefs and certain heresies were condemned. The heresies mainly dealt with a true understanding of Jesus Christ.
The first two Councils established and refined, among other things, the Creed of our faith. This Creed states our belief that:
- God is Triune in Nature
- God is Creator of visible and invisible things
- God Became Incarnate as the human Jesus
- Jesus lived, suffered, died, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven
- There is a final judgment
- The Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic
- Humans are immortal and will be raised from the dead.
In addition to the truths expressed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the first six councils established definitively that:
- Christ is equally God and Man with two distinct natures and wills and one personality uniting the two natures
- Mary is truly the Mother of God
- The Holy Spirit is also God
These six councils defined for all time the fundamental beliefs of Christendom. The Reformation, which occurred in the 16th century in the western world, denied some of these basic beliefs. Eastern Christianity has never undergone a change in the basic beliefs that were set-forth by these councils.
The Western Church has held a number of councils since the Great Schism (1054) and has asserted additional dogmas. For example, 1215 the Western Church set-forth a doctrine on how the bread and wine used in the Liturgy becomes transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. They defined transubstantiation. Like the first councils, they used philosophical terms to express their belief in the Real Presence. The Eastern Church as always believed in the Real Presence but has always maintained that, because it is a mystery, humans cannot really understand how this is possible and can only believe it is true.