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Bible Dictionaries
Council
The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia
or An assemblage of the Church met together for the purpose of considering matters of faith and discipline and legislating upon them. The Council may be ecumenical, i.e., general, or else of local interest and as such may be National, provincial or Diocesan. The General Councils are those held by the UNDIVIDED CHURCH (which see) and which have been universally received. They are generally regarded as being six in number, as follows:
I. Council of Nicea, held A.D. 325, met to consider the heresy of
Arius and which gave us the Nicene Creed.
II. Council of Constantinople, held A.D. 381, to consider the heresy of Macedonius and which reaffirmed the Nicene Creed and completed it as it now stands except the "Filioque."
III. Council of Ephesus, held A.D. 431, to consider the Nestorian
Heresy.
IV. Council of Chalcedon, held A.D. 451, to consider the Heresy of the Eutychians.
V. Second Council of Constantinople, held A.D. 553, to confirm the decisions of the first four General Councils.
VI. Third Council of Constantinople, held A.D. 680, against a development of Eutychianism. (See ECUMENICAL.)
These files are public domain.
Miller, William James. Entry for 'Council'. The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/acd/c/council.html. 1901.
