nople. The Pope was not represented; no Western bishop was present (p. 32). We have also seen that at first the council was not accepted, but that the Pope eventually accepted its Creed, while rejecting its Canons (pp. 33–34). It is that acceptance alone that to Catholics gives this synod a right to be counted among the general councils. Indeed it is difficult to see what other claim it can have. Practically it owes its importance entirely to the Creed it drew up as an enlargement of the Creed of Nicæa, and that we still call the Nicene Creed.[1]
The Second Council of Constantinople (553) is a parallel case. Justinian wanted a council to condemn the "Three Chapters." These Three Chapters were: 1. The person and the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia († 428). 2. The writings of Theodoret of Cyrus († 458). 3. The letter of Ibas of Edessa († 457) to a certain Persian named Maris. They were all suspected of Nestorianism, and the Emperor hoped that their condemnation would conciliate the Monophysites in Egypt and Syria, who stood for the extreme opposite side. Others, especially the Western bishops, saw in the condemnation a dangerous concession to the Copts and Jacobites. The weakness of the Pope, Vigilius (540–555), may be partly excused because of the persecution he had to bear. At first he agreed to the summoning of a general council. The Emperor then invited him to Constantinople, and, after much hesitation and delay, he arrived there in 547. But he was torn between the two sides. Mennas of Constantinople (536–552), the Emperor, and the Eastern bishops wanted the Three Chapters to be condemned, on the other hand his own Latin bishops saw in the proposed condemnation a veiled attack against the Council of Chalcedon. In 548 he declared the condemnation in his ludicatum, while strongly upholding Chalcedon. The Western bishops were very angry. Then Justinian, in defiance of his promise, before the council met, published a much sharper decree against the Three Chapters. Vigilius protested, and was taken prisoner and ill-treated by the Emperor's order. He gave, and then retracted, his consent to a council. In any case the
- ↑ t is doubtful whether the Creed really was drawn up by this council (p. 383, n. 3).
