COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH

GREAT COUNCILS OF THE CHURCH

COUNCIL AND DATE	SIGNIFICANT TEACHING
COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM – 49/50 AD	Decisions made on conversions and circumcision. It was decided that it was not necessary for converts to submit to the Old Covenant laws like circumcision.
1. NICAEA I – 325 AD	Nicene Creed; divinity of Christ, condemned Arianism; Easter observance set.
2. CONSTANTINOPLE I – 381 AD	Expanded the Creed; defeated Arianism; condemned Macedonians who denied divinity of the Holy Spirit
3. EPHESUS – 431 AD	Defended Mary as the mother of God; condemned Nestorianism which held there were 2 distinct persons in the Incarnate Christ
4. CHALCEDON 451 AD	Condemned Monophysitism by defining 2 distinct natures of Christ: Jesus fully human & divine.
5. CONSTANTINOPLE II – 553 AD	Confirmed Chalcedon; condemned heresies like Monothelitism that held Christ had only 1 will
6. CONSTANTINOPLE III – 680-81 AD	Defeat of Monothelitism by defining two wills of Christ as 2 distinct principles of operation in unity of purpose
7. NICAEA II – 787 AD	Regulated veneration of holy images; condemned Inconoclasts and defined that sacred images may be honored without idolatry
8. CONSTANTINOPLE IV – 869-870 AD	Condemned teachings of Phobius Bishop of Constantinople. Last council attended by Eastern Church; beginning of the Great Eastern Schism
9. LATERAN I – 1123 AD	First council after the Great Eastern Schism. Condemned practice of lay princes in investiture of bishops. Called for recovery of the Holy Land.
10. LATERAN II – 1139 AD	Enacted reforms suggested by St. Bernard of Clairvaux; condemned certain heresies; declared null and void decrees by the deceased antipope Anticletus II.
11. LATERAN III – 1179 AD	Established the Sacred Conclave as voting body to elect Pope by 2/3^rds majority; condemned Albigensians and Walkenses heresies
12. LATERAN IV – 1215 AD	Defined ex cathedra: from the chair of Peter and "There is but one Universal church, outside of which there is no salvation." Set in stone the term Transubstantiation for the mystery of the Eucharist. Ordered annual confession and Easter Communion.
13. LYONS I – 1245 AD	Called for a new Crusade. Excommunicated and deposed Emperor Frederick II.
14. LYONS II – 1274 AD	Filioque clause officially added to the Creed. Attempted reconciliation with Eastern Catholics. Decreed that papal elections should begin 10 days after death of the Pope.
15. VIENNE – 1311-1312 AD	Reformation of the clergy and Catholic Universities; called for a new Crusade; dealt with the charges against the Knights Templars; defined the relation of the soul to the human body; condemned false mysticism.
16. CONSTANCE – 1414-1418 AD	Put an end to the Western Schism (Avignon Popes vs Rome); issued reform decrees in "head and members", condemned Wyclif and Hus.
17. BASEL-FLORENCE – 1431(38)-1445 AD	Affirmed papal primacy against Conciliarists who said a general council was superior to the Pope; attempted reunion with Eastern church.
18. LATERAN V – 1512-1517 AD	Disciplinary decrees-defined the realtion of Pope to a general council, condemned philosophers who taught human soul was mortal and only one for all mankind; discussed religious upheaval in Germany caused by Luther.
19. TRENT – 1545-1563 AD	Condemned Lutheranism and other errors in teaching that resulted from Protestant movement; proclaimed Bible and Tradition as rule of faith; defined doctrine on the Mass, the sacraments, justification, purgatory, indulgences, invocation of saints, veneration of sacred images, issued decrees on marriage and clerical reform..
20. VATICAN I – 1869-1870 AD	Defined the nature of revelation and faith, the relation of faith and reason; and infallibility of the Pope when speaking ex cathedra in matters of faith and morals. Condemned pantheism, materialism, deism, naturalism, and fideism.
21. VATICAN II – 1962-1965 AD	Convoked by Pope John XXIII "mainly to more effectively preserve and present the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine." 16 documents reaffirmed the principles of Catholic faith and morality, authorized numerous changes in the Eucharistic liturgy, the ritual of the sacraments, and in the church's administrative structure. These documents and liturgical reforms defined the Church in the modern age.

Decisions made on conversions and circumcision. It was decided that it was not necessary for converts to submit to the Old Covenant laws like circumcision.

Nicene Creed; divinity of Christ, condemned Arianism; Easter observance set.