Commemoration of the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553)

The Fifth Ecumenical Council was held in Constantinople in 553, in the reign of the pious King Justinian I (527–565). Its aim was to examine the case of three bishops already dead, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrus and Ibas of Edessa, who back at the time of the Third Ecumenical Council (431; commemorated 9 September) had expressed Nestorian views in their writings. The Council of Chalcedon (451; commemorated 16 July), which anathematised the Monophysites, had not judged these hierarchs, and so the followers of Eutyches accused the members of that council of Nestorianism. To remove the heretics’ pretext for reviling the Orthodox, Saint Justinian issued an edict in three chapters of which each of the three fathers mentioned above was condemned separately; but since this edict did not win universal recognition among the representatives of the Church (especially in the West, and in particular in Africa), a dispute arose over the “Three Chapters”. It was this that made it necessary to convene the Fifth Ecumenical Council.

The council was attended by one hundred and sixty-five bishops. Pope Vigilius (537–555), who was in Constantinople, refused to take part in it, although he was invited three times by an official deputation sent in the name of the assembled hierarchs and of the emperor himself.

The council was presided over by the holy Patriarch of Constantinople Eutychius (552–565; 577–582). In accordance with the emperor’s edict, the question of the “Three Chapters” was carefully examined at eight sessions held from 4 May to 2 June 553. In the end Theodore of Mopsuestia and his teaching were anathematised; several writings of Theodoret of Cyrus and Ibas of Edessa were also condemned, while these fathers themselves, as having been cleansed by repentance, were pardoned. Pope Vigilius, as an abettor of the heretics, was cut off from the Church, but after the council he joined the common mind of the fathers and signed the council’s decree.

The fathers of the council examined and anathematised the heretical teaching of Origen, the well-known third-century church writer and presbyter. The heretics who denied the general resurrection of the dead were also condemned.