# Council of Chalcedon (451 AD)

# Before Chalcedon

##### Relevant Context from the Council of Ephesus

##### Home Synod of Constantinople (448 AD)

##### Second Council at Ephesus (449 AD)

##### Death of Emperor Theodosius

# Council of Chalcedon Re-Examined - Fr. V.C. Samuel

This sentence summarizes the bulk of the book.

"The fact about the council of Chalcedon, which the present writer has shown elsewhere, may be noted here: It abrogated the decisions of the second council of Ephesus without ever examining them against the background of their theological assumptions; it proceeded from the beginning by consider Eutyches a confirmed heretic, showing at the same time no concern at all to establish that fact against him in the light of evidence or at least stating in clear terms what his teaching was; it exonerated Flavian of Constantinople and Eusebius of Dorylaeum, the president of the synod of 448 and the accuser of Eutyches respectively, without looking into the ground of their condemnation by the council of 449; it ratified a sentence of deposition passed against patriarch Dioscorus of Alexandria by a section of the delegates, specifying no definite charge against him; it adopted a definition of the faith with the phrase 'in two natures' in the face of a determined opposition from a large majority of the council's delegates, including patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople; and it acquitted Theodoret of Cyrus and Ibas of Edessa, both of them highly controversial figures, without examining whether there was any ground at all for the charges that had been levelled against them in an impartial way, so that the council of 553 had to pass a resolution justifying the decision, not of Chalcedon, but of Ephesus in 449."

# Dioscorus' Anathemas of Chalcedon

##### Sources

- Dioscorus pronounced six anathemas against the Council of Chalcedon.
- Biography of Dioscorus by Theopiste 
    - Written in Greek, preserved in a Syriac copy
    - Translated to French by Francois Nau in the 20th Century: *Histoire de Dioscore, patriarche d’Alexandrie, écrite par son disciple Théopiste*
    - Written by Theopiste an eyewitness to the life of St Dioscorus, maybe even a disciple
    - This document describes how Dioscorus had written a number of anathemas concerning the causes for which the Orthodox had separated from the Chalcedonians
- The Confession of Faith of Jacob Baradeus 
    - Preserved in Arabic & Ethiopian
    - Translated to Dutch by Hendrik Gerrit Kleyn
    - This document contains the content of six anathemas of St Dioscorus
- Philoxenus of Mabbug 
    - An almost identical list of anathemas appear in the writings of St Philoxenus of Mabbug

##### Anathemas

1. Chalcedon is anathematised because the members of the council contradicted the faith of Nicaea, introducing a different nature into the Trinity by proposing a fourth hypostasis.
2. Chalcedon is anathematised because it has trampled under foot the canons and prescriptions of the Fathers.
3. Chalcedon is anathematised because the teachings which were established there have overturned the teachings of the council of Ephesus, and in making a new definition of the faith the council has fallen under the anathemas issued at Ephesus.
4. Chalcedon is anathematised because it has corrupted the patristic doctrine and has received the Tome of Leo.
5. Chalcedon is anathematised because it has accepted the communion of the partisans of Nestorius, such as Ibas.
6. Chalcedon is anathematised because in conformity with the doctrine of Nestorius the members of the council have distinguished two natures in Christ, separated into their proprieties; and they have offered Christ two adorations, calling one God and the other man.