Today the Church remembers and celebrates the Fathers of the first six Ecumenical Councils. By their labors, they have given us a better understanding of the teachings of the Orthodox Church and faith, and of what we believe, and why we believe as we do.
The first Ecumenical Council rejected the teachings of Arius, who incorrectly believed that our Lord Jesus Christ was not divine in nature, but was a created being. In reply, the Church tells us that the Son of God is of one essence with the Father, equal in divinity, equal in power, and equal in honor and worship and praise. The second Council declared the fullness of divinity of the Holy Spirit. These teachings about the Holy Trinity are summarized for us in the Symbol of Faith, which we recite at every Divine Liturgy – and were written by these first two Councils. The second Council also declared an anathema against anyone who would change the Creed from the form in which it was approved by that Council.
The third Ecumenical Council refuted the false teachings of Nestorius, proclaiming that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Incarnate Word of God; and that His mother, the Ever-virgin Mary, is rightly called the “Theotokos”; which means, “the God-bearer.” Nestorius had taught that she was the “Christotokos,” or, “the birth-giver of Christ”: but this was recognized by the Church as an attack on the divinity of the child borne by Mary, and affirmed her child as being divine.
The fourth Council refuted the false teachings of Eutychus, proclaiming that our Lord Jesus Christ is fully and perfectly God, and also fully and perfectly human, both contained without confusion in Him, One Person. The fifth Council reaffirmed the teachings about the Trinity and about our Lord, in opposition to the continued claims made by those who had not accepted the decisions of the first four councils, but rather had become heretics. The sixth Ecumenical Council reaffirmed the Church’s teaching about the true humanity of our Lord Jesus by insisting upon the reality of His human will and action, as well as His divine will and action. As the fourth council had rejected as heretical the teaching that our Lord, after becoming Incarnate, had only one nature, and not both His human and divine natures in one Person, without confusion, so the sixth Council rejected as heretical the teaching that our Lord, after His Incarnation, had only one will. The Church fathers considered it crucial that our Lord did possess, not only two natures in one Person, but both wills – or else our own ability to be saved would be called into question.
Many of us are not aware of the actions and teachings of the Ecumenical Councils, and this is unfortunate, for, after each council met and deliberated, there were those who did not accept the decision of that council, and so left the Church. But these groups, or their heretical teachings, did not disappear: these heresies persist to the present day and time. These heresies are right outside our door – and, to the extent that we are ignorant, we might be influenced by such teachings. Therefore, we would do well to study the teachings of the holy fathers we celebrate today.
But there is another aspect of this celebration that we must recognize, and which we should emulate. How did the fathers know to distinguish truth from error? In part, they were knowledgeable about the teachings of the Church in their own day – but that, by itself, would not be enough. They were also pious and faithful men, doing all in their power to live according to the Orthodox way of life, struggling against their passion and their sins, pursuing holiness and righteousness, repenting, and confessing, loving God with the fullness of their being, and loving all those made in the image of God as they loved themselves. This personal holiness allowed the Holy Spirit of God, in accordance with the promise given by our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples, to lead the holy fathers into all truth – and through them, to us – if we will listen and learn, and if we will also pursue holiness.
Brothers and sisters, let us hear the call given to us by the holy fathers we celebrate today. Let us learn from them, that we may be knowledgeable; and let us pursue holiness through prayer, and fasting, through giving, and struggle, and, above all, by love fro God, and for each other – to the glory of God, and the salvation of souls.
Holy fathers of the first Six Councils, pray to God for us!
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