II. Concerning
Ecumenical Councils in General.
Ecumenical Synod may be
defined as a synod the decrees of which have found acceptance by the
Church in the whole world. It is not
necessary to make a council ecumenical that the number of bishops
present should be large, there were but 325 at Nice, and 150 at I. Constantinople; it is not necessary that it should be assembled with the intention of its being ecumenical, such was not the case with I. Constantinople; it is not necessary that all parts of the world should have been represented or even that the bishops of such parts should have been invited. All that is necessary is that its decrees find ecumenical acceptance afterwards, and its ecumenical character be universally recognized.
The reader will notice that in the foregoing I have not
proceeded from the theological foundation of what an Ecumenical Synod
should be (with this question the present volume has nothing to do), but from a consideration of the historical question as to what the Seven Councils have in common, which distinguishes them from the other councils of the Christian Church.
And here it is well to note that there have been many
“General Councils” which have not been
“Ecumenical.” It is true that in ordinary parlance we
often use the expressions as interchangeable, but such really is not
the case. There are but seven universally recognized and
undisputed “Ecumenical Councils”; on the other hand, the
number of “General Councils” is very considerable, and as a
matter of fact of these last several very large ones fell into
heresy. It is only necessary to mention as examples the
Latrocinium and the spurious “Seventh Council,” held by the
iconoclastic heretics. It is therefore the mere statement of an
historical fact to say that General Councils have erred.
The Ecumenical Councils claimed for themselves an
immunity from error in their doctrinal and moral teaching, resting such
claim upon the promise of the presence and guidance of the Holy
Ghost. The Council looked upon itself, not as revealing any new
truth, but as setting forth the faith once for all delivered to the
Saints, its decisions therefore were in themselves ecumenical, as being
an expression of the mind of the whole body of the faithful both
clerical and lay, the sensus communis of the Church. And
by the then teaching of the Church that ecumenical consensus was
considered free from the suspicion of error, guarded, (as was
believed,) by the Lord’s promise that the gates of hell should
not prevail against his Church. This then is what Catholics mean
when they affirm the infallibility of Ecumenical Councils. Whether this opinion is true or false is a question outside the scope of the present discussion. It was necessary, however, to state that these Councils looked upon themselves as divinely protected in their decisions from error in faith and morals, lest the reader should otherwise be at a loss to understand the anathematisms which follow the decrees, and which indeed would be singularly out of place, if the decrees which they thus emphatically affirm were supposed to rest only upon human wisdom and speculation, instead of upon divine authority.
Theologians consider that the decisions of Ecumenical
Councils, like all juridical decrees, must be construed strictly, and
that only the point at issue must be looked upon as decided. The
obiter dicta of so august a body are no doubt of the greatest
weight, but yet they have no claim to be possessed of that supreme
authority which belongs to the definition of the particular point under
consideration.
The Seven Ecumenical Councils were all called together
at the commandment and will of Princes; without any knowledge of the
matter on the part of the Pope in one case at least (1st
Constantinople); without any
consultation with him in the case of I. Nice, so far as we
know; and contrary to his expressed desire in at
least the case of Chalcedon, when he only gave a reluctant consent
after the Emperor Marcian had already convoked the synod. From
this it is historically evident that Ecumenical Councils can be
summoned without either the knowledge or consent of the See of
Rome.