FATHERS OF THE FIRST SIX COUNCILS

The liturgical celebration in honor of the Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils is a distinctive and exclusive feature of Orthodoxy. Why, despite the formal evangelical prohibition of Jesus, do we call priests and bishops “fathers»? Because, following the father of all believers Abraham, the Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils formulated and transmitted to the Church the content of faith in dogmas. This means that a pastor who does not teach his believers the truths of faith cannot be called a father.

In midsummer the orthodox Church celebrates the memory of the Fathers of the Six Ecumenical Councils. The kontakion of this feast says: The preaching of the Apostles and the dogmas of the Fathers have confirmed one faith of the Church. And she, clad in the garment of truth woven from heavenly theology, teaches aright and glorifies the great mystery of piety.

1. The memory of the Fathers of the six Ecumenical Councils is celebrated on the Sunday closest to July 29, that is, between July 26 and August 1. This has nothing to do with the annually changing date of Easter, but rather with the fact that this commemoration of the Fathers must be celebrated on a Sunday.

2. We are often asked how Orthodoxy differs from Catholicism or Protestantism. The answer lies in today’s feast. Orthodoxy is distinguished by the enormous role of the Ecumenical Councils.

3. What is an Ecumenical Council? An Ecumenical Council is a meeting of the bishops of the local Churches within the territory of the Roman Empire.

4. Why is it the Roman Empire and not the Persian Empire or India, China, or Japan of the first millennium? It was only under the Roman Empire and then under Byzantium that Orthodox Christianity became the official faith. This is not a state religion in the modern sense, but a question of meaning and legitimacy, of providing for the common good. God reigns in heaven, Christ rules in the Church, the Christian emperor rules in the world. This was the vision of things in the first millennium. The ecumenical councils had to define exactly what was to be believed, so that all this could be carried out without hindrance.

5 The Ecumenical Councils formulated dogmas. They did not “invent” dogmas but expressed them in words. In the eyes of the Church Fathers, Jesus Christ is a living and life-giving dogma. In grace, especially in the Eucharist and the sacraments, the Christian receives Christ in his entirety, and words can express him in part. Such a doctrinal expression must be authorized by the Church.

6 In the Orthodox understanding, there were seven Ecumenical Councils. The first took place in Nicaea in 325. The year 2025 will mark the 1700th anniversary of its holding. The Seventh Ecumenical Council also took place in Nicaea in 787. The Sixth Ecumenical Council is the only one of the seven that lasted two years, namely from November 7, 680 to September 16, 681. It took place in the byzantine capital and is also called the Third Council of Constantinople.

7 Why are the first six Ecumenical Councils celebrated separately from the Seventh Ecumenical Council? Because they were dedicated to the dogmas of the Trinity and Christ. The Seventh Ecumenical Council dealt with the veneration of icons and answered the question of the possibility of having icons in the Church and of venerating them. This, too, is a dogmatic question, albeit a practical one rather than a theoretical one. This is why the Seventh Ecumenical Council stands out from the others.

8 A total of 1,628 Council Fathers participated in the six Ecumenical Councils. These were bishops, their representatives, and sometimes later, the abbots of the most important monasteries.

9 The Roman Catholic Church recognizes 21 Ecumenical Councils and considers the Second Vatican Council to be the twenty-first. In Catholicism, however, the highest dogmatic authority lies with the Roman bishop, not the Council. Protestantism holds its councils regularly, but these have no “supernatural” significance. For Protestantism, the old Ecumenical Councils are important only from a scientific and archaeological point of view. The dogmatic relevance of the councils for even the classical Protestantism of Martin Luther and John Calvin is limited.

10 The seven Ecumenical Councils are of primary importance in Orthodoxy. The memory of the Council Fathers is celebrated throughout the year. This refers to each council individually, to all seven councils together, or, as in the second half of July, to the feast of the fathers of the six Ecumenical Councils. Such a liturgical celebration is a special and exclusive feature of Orthodoxy. Moreover, and this is very important, it is not the commemoration of the participants of the councils canonized by the Church, but a common celebration in honor of this event—the Ecumenical Council—organized and guided by the Holy Spirit Himself. The commemoration of the Ecumenical Councils is the proclamation of the Orthodox Church: God has not abandoned the world, Christ is among us, the Holy Spirit is always present in the Church. The commemoration of the six Ecumenical Councils is a form of gratitude to God for granting the Church the gift of language, through which she could express the correct teaching about the Trinity and Christ. The great twentieth century theologian, Bishop Callistos Ware (1934–2022), proclaimed: “Orthodoxy is the Church of the Seven Councils.”

11 But like every earthly celebration, the commemoration of the six Ecumenical Councils also has its sad side. The First Ecumenical Council began at a time when it seemed clear that the entire world would soon become Christian. Only three centuries passed. And by the middle of the seventh century, it became clear that the universe would never become Christian. By the time of the Sixth Council, Islam had already spread throughout the world. Christians lost Egypt, the Maghreb, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, and even the Greek islands, which came under the rule of the Caliphate, whose borders stretched from India to southern France.

12 Orthodox Byzantium had to cede two-thirds of its territories. But the most tragic aspect was that from the first half of the 6th century, Eastern Christianity was split into two parts: two parallel churches and two hierarchies. Each considered itself Orthodox only within itself. Egypt, the long-standing bastion of Orthodox Christianity, Ethiopia, Armenia and half of Syrian Christianity, Persia, completely broke off communion with the other Orthodox Churches. It is well known that in the 16th century, after the Reformation, Western Christianity was split into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. A similar split had occurred in Orthodoxy a thousand years earlier, in the 6th century. No one wanted it. Yet, as the great 20th-century philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) said, history is not meant to establish the kingdom of the Messiah on earth. The celebration of the Fathers of the Six Councils is therefore a prayer to God not to repeat the great errors of the past, either in individual lives or in the collective life of the Church.