Orthodox Forge

The Councils

The First Council of Constantinople

381 · Constantinople

Received by the Coptic Orthodox ChurchSecond Ecumenical Council
Convened by
Emperor Theodosius the Great
Who came
about 150 bishops

What it answered

The denial of the divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the teaching of Apollinarius

What it settled

The divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the clauses of the Creed that confess Him.

Who was there

  • Meletius of Antiochpresidedwriter

    360-381

    presided at the Council of Constantinople of 381, during which he died

  • Gelasius of Caesareaattendedwriter

    b. ca. 335/6 bp. ca. 367 d. 394/5

    He attended the Council of Constantinople in 381

  • Acacius of Beroeaattendedwriter

    (Aleppo) b. ca. 340- d. 433

    Acacius took part in the Council of Constantinople in 381

  • Marcellus of Ancyracondemnedwriter

    d. ca. 374

    Canon I of the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 381 condemned him as a heretic

The document

The canon on a bishop and his own see

The canon forbidding a bishop to leave the see for which he was ordained. The Diocese's own teaching material foregrounds this canon at Constantinople.

it is not permitted that a bishop leave his diocese for another even if he be constrained to do so, unless there be a very good reason for that, such as his greater usefulness to the other See. In such a case the decision must not be made by him alone but through the judgment and exhortations of numerous bishops

The Diocese's own teaching material foregrounds this canon at Constantinople. A bishop belongs to the see for which he was ordained, and may not simply move to another, and even a good reason is judged by many bishops rather than by himself.

HIS 102, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States, 2004