In 325, Emperor Constantine the Great convened the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea to bring order into the Empire’s ecclesiastical affairs. The council condemned the teachings of Arius, compiled the so-called Nicene Creed and ordered the day for the celebration of Easter. With this council the Church became part of the state, and the institution of the ecclesiastical councils the cornerstone of Orthodoxy. This event had far-reaching theological and political consequences in the East...

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The Seventh Ecumenical Council was convened by the empress Eirene in the fall of 787 in Nicaea of Bithynia, while the final session took place in Constantinople. According to the decisions of the Council, icons should be kept in churches and be given the same respect as to the other material symbols of Christianity, such as the Cross and the Gospels. The Seventh Ecumenical Council signalled the end of the first phase of Iconoclasm and was the last Ecumenical Council of the Eastern Church.

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The third Ecumenical council took place in Ephesus in 431 and aimed at the combat of Nestorianism. The main opponent of the bishop of Constantinople, Nestorius, was Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria. However, many issues were regulated in Ephesus which were more crucial that the antagonism of the two great ecclesiastical seats, Alexandria and Antioch. Dogmatical issues that had been – to a certain degree – regulated in the 2nd Ecumenical synod, were brought again to the surface, attaching...