Philip Schaff · 34 of 60
Symbolum Constantinopolitanum Tertium, Adversus Monotheletas, A.D. 680.
V. SYMBOLUM CONSTANTINOPOLITANUM TERTIUM, ADVERSUS MONOTHELETAS, A.D. 680.
The Creed of the Sixth Œcumenical Council, against the Monothelites.
Review of the Dogmatic Legislation of the Seven Œcumenical Councils.
The Nicæno-Constantinopolitan Creed, and the Creed of Chalcedon, both of which we have given in full, embrace the sum and substance of the dogmatic legislation of the œcumenical Councils of the undivided ancient or Græco-Latin Church. All the rest is merely explanatory and supplementary, or disputed.
The Sixth Œcumenical (or Third Constantinopolitan) Council (also called Conc. Trullanum I.), held A.D. 680, in consequence of the Monothelite or One-Will Controversy (683–680), enlarged the Creed of Chalcedon, notwithstanding the solemn prohibition of the Council of Chalcedon (see p. 16), by adding a ὅρος , or dogmatic definition to the effect that Jesus Christ had two distinct and inseparable wills ( θελήματα ), as well as two natures, a human will and a divine will, working in harmony, the human in subordination to the divine; the will being regarded as an attribute of nature rather than person. See Actio XVIII. in Mansi, Conc., Tom.XI. pp.637 sqq. After quoting the Symbol of Chalcedon down to the words παραδέδωκε σύμβολον (see p. 15), the Synod goes on, without interruption, as follows:
Then follow quotations from John vi. 38, Gregory Nazianzen, Pope Leo (Ep. ad Flavianum, c. 4), Cyril of Alexandria, and a repetition of the Ephesian and Chalcedonian prohibition to set forth any new symbol of faith on pain of excommunication. Pope Agatho, by a dogmatic epistle, exercised a controlling influence over this Council similar to the one of Pope Leo I. over the Council of Chalcedon. On the other hand, the Council emphatically condemned Pope Honorius as a Monothelite heretic. Monothelitism continued among the Maronites on Mount Lebanon.
The Third Œcumenical Council, held at Ephesus, A.D. 431, and the Fifth Œcumenical Council, held at Constantinople, A.D. 553 (hence also called the Second Constantinopolitan C.), issued no new Creed, but simply reaffirmed the previous Creeds and condemned certain heresies.
The Council of Ephesus condemned 'the impious and profane doctrines' of Nestorius in two of its six canons (can. 1 and 4), and indorsed the twelve anathemas of Cyril of Alexandria hurled against Nestorius, which are purely negative, and need not be inserted here. The same Synod sanctioned also the letters of Cyril and of Cœlestinus of Rome to Nestorius, and incidentally (in can. 1 and 4) condemned in the person of Cœlestius, the chief pupil of Pelagius, on the supposition that he sympathized with Nestorius; but the Pelagian doctrines are not stated.
The Fifth Œcumenical Council, of 164 Bishops, occasioned by the protracted and tedious Monophysite controversies (which grew out of the Council of Chalcedon), confessed the Nicene Creed as explained and enlarged by the Councils of Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, indorsed the dogmatic edicts of Emperor Justinian, and condemned the three Chapters ( τρία κεφάλεια ), that is, some writings of three departed divines of the Antiochian school, Theodore of Mopsuestia (the teacher of Nestorius), Theodoret of Cyros, and Ibas of Edessa (friends of Nestorius). The last two, however, had been declared orthodox by the Council of Chalcedon. The Fifth Œcumenical Council had a leaning towards Monophysitism, but the Sixth Œcumenical Council reacted again in favor of the dyophysitism of the Council of Chalcedon, and supplemented it by teaching the dyotheletism of Christ.
The Seventh (and last strictly) Œcumenical Council, held, under the Empress Irene, at Nicæa, A.D. 787, and hence also called the Second Nicene Council, condemned the Iconoclasts, and sanctioned the ecclesiastical use and limited worship of sacred images. But this decision is recognized only by Greeks and Romans, while Protestants regard it as a relapse into a refined form of idolatry, condemned by the Second Commandment and the primitive Christian Church. It became a fruitful source of superstition, but stimulated also the development of Christian art.
