Second Council of Constantinople

The Second Council of Constantinople, also known as

the Fifth Ecumenical Council was a meeting of mostly Eastern
church leaders convened by Emperor Justinian I from May 5 to June
2, 553. Presided over by Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople, the
council dealt mainly with the emperor's wish to produce a formal
condemnation of the allegedly heretical Three Chapters.
Justinian hoped that the public rejection of these
supposedly Nestorian writings and their authors would help reconcile
the empire's Monophysites with the Council of Chalcedon, which
had determined that Christ had "two natures," divine and human, a
formula which was seen by many as opening the door
Emperor Justinian I, who initiated the
to Nestorianism. The council was resisted by Pope Vigilius, who had
been brought to Constantinople against his will several years Second Council of Constantinople, with
church, military, and court officials.
previously, after he refused to condemn the Three Chapters. Vigilius
questioned whether the writers in question were truly heretics and feared that their condemnation would weaken
Chalcedon and encourage Monophysitism. Vigilius had long resisted the emperor's policy, but after the council
concluded, he finally acquiesced, endorsing the its findings and formally condemning the Three Chapters.
The Second Council of Constantinople faced serious opposition in the West even after the endorsement of Vigilius, who
died en route back to Rome. Today, it is accepted as a legitimate ecumenical council by the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman
Catholics, Old Catholics, and a number of Western Christian groups.

Background
The Second Council of Constantinople was the last phase of the attempt by
Emperor Justinian I to ease tensions in the East with the remnants of
the Monophysite movement, which was declared heretical at the Council of
Chalcedon in 451 over the question of whether Christ had "one nature" (the
Monophysite position) or two (the "orthodox" position).
Justinian came to be convinced that the Monophysite branches of Christianity could
be reconciled to Chalcedonian orthodoxy if Nestorianism—a more extreme form of
two-nature christology than had been expressed at Chalcedon—were more overtly
condemned. The targets of this strategy were all long dead: Theodore of
Mopsuestia (d. 428), Theodoret of Cyrrus (d. 457), and Ibas of Edessa (d. 457).
However, the writings of Theodore and Theodoret were highly regarded by many in
the Chalcedonian party, even though each of them had written at certain points in
their career in such a way that they could be accused of sympathy with Nestorianism. Theodoret of Cyrrus
was one of the three
The pope, the emperor, and the council writers condemned at
the Second Council of
The Three Chapters controversy Constantinople.

At the end of 543 or the beginning of 544, Justinian issued an edict in which the supposedly Nestorian Three
Chapters were officially condemned. His aim was to encourage the Miaphysites—the more moderate faction of
those Christians who insisted on "one nature" in Christ—to accept the decisions of the Council of
Chalcedon and thus end the strife that had long plagued the empire over this issue.
The major leaders of Eastern Christianity cooperated with the imperial policy. Many in the West, however,
balked, considering the condemnation unnecessary, since Nestorianism had already been expressly condemned
at the First Council of Ephesus. Moreover, remembering the failed Henotikon of Emperor Zeno—which also
tried to reconcile the Monophysites—they feared that this new imperial meddling in church affairs would
detract from the importance of the Council of Chalcedon and weaken the position of Rome. Pope Vigilius thus
refused to endorse the imperial edict denouncing the Three Chapters and was called to Constantinople by
Justinian in order to settle the matter there with a synod.
He did not go willingly, however. Taken by imperial agents to a ship, he left Rome
in November 545, but did not reach Constantinople until late 546 or early 547.
Still refusing to agree to the condemnation of the Three Chapters, Vigilius was
kept in Constantinople against his will for eight years, sometimes under extreme
pressure.
In 553, the new patriarch of Constantinople, Eutychius, presented his profession of
faith to Vigilius and, in union with other Eastern bishops, urged the calling of a
general council. At this point Vigilius was willing to convoke such a meeting, but
insisted that it be held either on the Italian peninsula or Sicily, in order to secure
the attendance of bishops from the West. Justinian would not agree to this and
instead proposed a commission composed up of delegates from each of the major
patriarchates. Not wishing to be outnumbered, Vigilius proposed that an equal
number be chosen from the East and the West. At this point, negotiations broke
down, and the emperor convoked the council without the pope's cooperation.
Under these conditions, Vigilius refused to attend the gathering.
Pope Vigilius In the meantime, Vigilius had sent to the emperor (May 14) a document known as
his first Constitutum, signed by himself and 16 mostly Western bishops. The document condemned numerous
supposedly heretical propositions of Theodore of Mopsuestia. However, the pope refused to condemn Theodore
personally, as the Three Chapters edict had done. Moreover, since Chalcedon had specifically restored
Theodoret and Ibas to their episcopal chairs after Nestorius had been condemned, the pope refused to condemn
either their writings or their persons.

The council
The council thus convened under Eutychius' presidency, but without significant western participation. In
condemning the Three Chapters, the council stated:
Having thus detailed all that has been done by us, we again confess that we receive the four holy Synods, that is,
the Nicene, the Constantinopolitan, the first of Ephesus, and that of Chalcedon, and we have taught, and do
teach all that they defined respecting the one faith. And we account those who do not receive these things alien
from the Catholic Church. Moreover we condemn and anathematize, together with all the other heretics who
have been condemned and anathematized by the before-mentioned four holy Synods, and by the holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church, Theodore who was Bishop of Mopsuestia, and his impious writings, and also those
things which Theodoret impiously wrote against the right faith, and against the Twelve Chapters of the holy
Cyril, and against the first Synod of Ephesus, and also those which he wrote in defense of Theodore
and Nestorius. In addition to these we also anathematize the impious Epistle which Ibas is said to have written
to Maris, the Persian….
The council also set forth its own eleven "chapters:"
1. If anyone shall not confess that the nature or essence of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is
one, as also the force and the power; a consubstantial Trinity, one Godhead to be worshiped in three
subsistences or Persons: Let him be anathema…
2. If anyone shall not confess that the Word of God has two nativities, the one from all eternity of the
Father… the other in these last days, coming down from heaven and being made flesh of the holy and
glorious Mary, Mother of God… let him be anathema.
 3. If anyone shall say that the wonder-working Word of God is one [Person] and the Christ that suffered
another… let him be anathema.
4. If anyone shall say that the union of the Word of God to man was only according to grace or energy…
as says the senseless Theodorus, or… (as says Nestorius) of two persons… let him be anathema…
5. If anyone… attempts thus to introduce into the mystery of Christ two hypostases… (or) if anyone shall
calumniate the holy Council of Chalcedon, pretending that it made use of this expression ["two
natures"] in this impious sense… let him be anathema.
6. If anyone shall not call… Mary the Mother of God… believing that she bare only a simple man and that
God the word was not incarnate of her… let him be anathema.
7. If anyone using the expression, “in two natures” …so as to designate by that expression a difference of
the natures of which an ineffable union is unconfusedly made… let him be anathema.
8. If anyone uses the expression “of two natures” …and shall not so understand… that of the divine and
human nature there was made an hypostatic union… let him be anathema…
9. If anyone shall take the expression, "Christ ought to be worshiped in his two natures," in the sense that
he wishes to introduce thus two adorations… let him be anathema.
10. If anyone does not confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified in the flesh, is true God and the
Lord of Glory and one of the Holy Trinity: Let him be anathema.
11. If anyone does not anathematize Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, Apollinaris, Nestorius, Eutyches,
and Origen, as well as their impious writings… let him be anathema.
In the seventh session of the council Justinian caused the name of Vigilius to be stricken from the diptychs.
While Vigilius remained uncooperative for the present, the decisions of the council were quickly enforced
throughout the East, and those who refused to endorse the council were removed from their posts and banished.
The hoped-for reconciliation of the Monophysites and Chalcedonians, however, did not follow.

Aftermath and legacy

When the Roman clergy and civil leaders requested the emperor to permit Vigilius to return to Rome, Justinian
agreed to do so only on condition that the pope would accept the decisions of the council. Vigilius finally
bowed to the emperor's wishes in a letter of December 8, 553, to the Patriarch Eutychius accepting the decisions
of the council, which he had so long opposed. He followed this with his specific condemnation of the Three
Chapters in a second "constitution" of February 26, 554.
At the end of a sorrowful residence of eight years at Constantinople, the pope was finally allowed to start his
return to Rome in the spring of 555. While on the journey, he died at Syracuse in Sicily.
Despite the additional recognition of Pope Pelagius I (555-60), the Fifth Ecumenical Council only gradually
acquired acceptance in the West. In Northern Italy the ecclesiastical provinces of Milan and Aquileia, believing
that the papacy had become a tool of the eastern emperor, broke off communion with Rome. This schism would
last for several decades around Milan, and for more than a century in Aquileia.
The original Greek acts of the council are lost, but there exists an old Latin version, probably contemporary and
made for the use of Vigilius, which was quoted by his successor Pelagius I. Some of its chapters, however,
seem to have been tampered with by a later editor.
Submitted by:
Submitted to:
Angelica F. Tamayo
(Student) Fr. Bagalihog
(Instructor)