Comprehensive Notes on Church History, Councils, and Vatican II Renewal

Unity and Division within the Church

• Objectives:
  • Identify hindrances to unity.
  • Share personal experiences of unity and division within the family.
  • Make personal resolutions to promote unity.

Biblical Reading: Acts 15:7-12

• First General Council of the Church (49 A.D.)
  • Antiochean Dissension
  • 12 apostles
  • Deacon
  • St. Stephen
  • Issues:
    • Circumcision
    • St. Paul
    • St. Peter

St. James' Restrictions for Gentile Christians

• Not to enter temples dedicated to gods.
• Not to eat meat from strangled animals.
• Not to eat blood.
• No illicit sexual union.

Church Teaching: Lumen Gentium, 8

• The Church subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of St. Peter and bishops in union with him.
• Elements of sanctification and truth exist outside the visible structure of the Catholic Church.
• These elements possess an inner dynamism toward Catholic unity.

Saving Truths (By Catholic Christians)

• Proclamation of Scripture
• Church Teaching = magisterial authority (Pope, bishops, priests)
• Seven Sacraments
• NB:
  • Conscience
  • Holy Spirit
  • Dialogue

Ecumenical Councils

• 21 Ecumenical Councils
• Issues addressed by the first 4 councils:
  • Is Jesus Human?
  • Is Jesus God?

Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.)

• Emperor Constantine and Pope Sylvester (318 bishops)
• Issue: Arianism (Arius denied the divinity of Jesus)
• Nicene Creed: "I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,”
• NB: Bursa Province, Turkey

Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.)

• The divinity of the Holy Spirit is questioned (Macedonius)
• Pope Damasus and Emperor Theodosius I (150 Bishops)
• NB: Istanbul/Turkey

Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.)

• Denies the motherhood of Mary; indirect attack on the humanity of Jesus (Nestorius)
• Pope Celestine I (200+ Bishops)
• “Theotokos” (God-bearer)
• NB: Selcuk, Izmir Province, Turkey

Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.)

• The church declared that Jesus has two natures: Human and Divine
• Pope Leo the Great (150 Bishops)
• NB: Kadikey, District of Istanbul, Turkey

Second Council of Constantinople (553 A.D.)

• Pope Vigilius and Emperor Justinian I (165 Bishops)
• Condemned the errors of Origen
• Confirmed the first 4 ecumenical councils which were challenged by heretics

Third Council of Constantinople (680-681)

• Pope Agatho (174 Bishops)
• To put an end to Monothelism (Jesus has only one will)
• The Council defined Jesus as having two wills (Human and Divine)

Second Council of Nicaea (787 A.D.)

• Pope Adrian I and Emperor Constantine VI and his mother Irene (300-367 Bishops)
• Regulated the veneration of Holy Images (Saints).
• Muslims started to conquest the East and their campaigned of no Idolatry

Fourth Council of Constantinople (869 A.D.)

• Pope Adrian II and Emperor Basil (102 Bishops)
• It condemned Photius (Photian Schism) who crowned himself as Patriarch against Pope Nicholas
• NB: Last council happened to the East

First Lateran Council (1123 A.D.)

• Pope Callistus II (900 Bishops)
• It abolished the right claimed by lay princess of investiture
• Settles the disputes of the power of the pope and emperor: election of bishops
• Talked about recovering the Holy Land
• NB: Rome

Second Lateran Council (1139 A.D.)

• Pope Innocent II and Emperor Conrad (1000 prelates)
• It condemned Arnold of Brescia who upheld that there are only two sacraments: Baptism and Eucharist. He denies infant baptism
• It condemned Simony (buying or selling the sacrament)

Third Lateran Council (1179 A.D.)

• Pope Alexander III and Emperor Frederick I (302 Bishops)
• It condemned the Albigenses (Only N.T. is inspired) and Waldenses (there are two gods)
• Numerous decrees for the formation of morals
• Election of Pope must be two thirds from the group of cardinals

Fourth Lateran Council (1215)

• Pope Innocent III (71 Archbishops, 412 Bishops, 800 abbots)
• It issued enlarged Creed against Albigenses and condemned abbot Joachim
• Transubstantiation
• Confession at least once a year

First Council of Lyons (1245)

• Pope Innocent IV, Emperor Baldwin and St. Louis, king of France (140 Bishops)
• Excommunicated and deposed Emperor Frederick II
• Directed New Crusade under the command of St. Louis against the Saracens and Mongols
• NB: Lugdunum, Southern France

Second Council of Lyons (1274)

• Pope Gregory X (15 Cardinals, 500 Bishops, 1000 dignitaries)
• The word "filioque" (begotten Son) was chosen to explain the relationship between God the Son and God the Father.
• Crusades against Turks, Rules for Papal Election, Purgatory

Council of Vienne in France (1311-1313)

• Pope Clement V (first Avignon Popes) (300 Bishops)
• It dealt with the crimes and errors of the Knights Templars.
• The latter was abolished by the Church
• Reforms in the life of Clergy
• Franciscan Order to remind them of their vow of poverty
• Teaching Oriental languages in the Universities

Council of Constance (1414-1418)

• Gregory XI
• Condemned John Wycliffe and John Hus; Church is made up of people who are predestined
• Chaotic period in the life of the Church: Pope Martin V, Pope Gregory XI
• NB: Konstanz, Germany

Council of Basle-Ferarra-Florence (1431)

• Pope Eugene IV and Emperor Sigismund
• Pacification of Bohemia (Czech Republic)
• Dealt with the teaching of John Hus on Conciliarism
• Council was transferred to Ferarra-Florence Northern Italy
• NB: Chaotic

Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517)

• Pope Julius II, Leo X and Emperor Maximilian I (15 Cardinals, 80 Bishops)
• It was for Turks
• Disciplinary actions on indulgences and soul
• Religious upheaval in Germany by Martin Luther

Council of Trent (1545-1663)

• Five Popes: Paul III, Julius III, Marcellus II, Paul IV and Pius IV and two Emperors: Charles V and Ferdinand (5 Cardinals, 33 Archbishops, 235 Bishops)
• Counter Reformation
• Issued the largest number of Dogmatic and Reformatory decrees: Bible, Tradition, Original Sin, Justification (Salvation), Seven Sacraments, Sacrifice of the Mass, Cult of Saints and etc.

Vatican I (1869-1870)

• Pope Pius IX (6 Archbishop-princes, 49 Cardinals, 680 Archbishops and Bishops)
• Infallibility of the Pope when speaking ex cathedra in matters of Faith and Moral
• NB: unfinished

Vatican II (1960-65)

• Pope John XXIII (1960 – 1964)
• Church is Pastoral in nature: Dialogue and Participation
• The Church re-examines her life: update and renewal; Vernacular language in liturgy
• Revised the sacramental rites
• Open dialogue with non-Catholic
• Answer to the challenges of modernization, consumerism, and globalization

Remarks

• Personally Work on the following:
  • Protestant Reformers (Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli)

Renewal Movement of Vatican II

• Objectives:
  • To identify changes that happened in the life of the Church
  • To enumerate good reasons for a change
  • To explain the reasons why to adapt changes in one’s life

Introduction Questions

• Did you experience being bored in your life as a student? Why?
• How did you help yourself to make it something good?
• Did you ask your grandparents regarding their church practices before?
• From that information, what are some changes you noticed today in the church comparing it before?
• Why is there a need for change?

Scripture: St. Mark 2:21-22

• Background: Jesus was in the house of Levi, a tax collector.
• NB: The Church is a shepherd of God’s people for all times and circumstances.

Church Teaching: Gaudium et Spes, 4

• The Church scrutinizes the signs of the times and interprets them in the light of the gospel.
• She responds to perennial questions about life and the relationship between present and future life.
• We must recognize and understand the world in which we live, its expectations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics.