The Council of Chalcedon (451) Other decisions
Prof. Douglas Kuiper examines the non-doctrinal decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (451), particularly its canons concerning church polity and ecclesiastical hierarchy. The article demonstrates how early ecumenical councils addressed both doctrinal and organizational matters, with specific focus on how the council's decisions about the status of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, and Jerusalem reflected the development of hierarchical church government that would eventually lead to Roman Catholicism.
Previous article in this series: March 1, 2022, p. 249. As we noted in the last article, the most significant work of the Fourth Ecumenical Council was to formulate the Creed of Chalcedon. But the Council finished this work at its sixth session and would meet for nine more sessions. What else did the delegates accomplish? Just as the Councils of Nicea (325) and Constantinople (381) had done, the Council of Chalcedon faced church political issues as well as doctrinal issues. Some of its church...
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