Saint Holy Fathers
of the Second Ecumenical Council.

The holy fathers who gathered at Constantinople in 381 were bishops from across the Eastern Empire, called together by the pious Emperor Theodosius the Great. Among them were some of the greatest ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. Saint Gregory the Theologian, Saint Gregory of Nyssa—the other of the three great Cappadocian Fathers, along with his older brother, Saint Basil the Great—and Saint Meletios, Bishop of Antioch, were leaders at the Second Ecumenical Council. Each brought deep learning and Orthodox conviction forged in the struggles against Arianism and other heresies that had plagued the Church during the preceding decades.

The Second Ecumenical Council was convened in the year 381 and consolidated the victory of Orthodoxy attained in the year 325 at the First Ecumenical Council. During the difficult years which passed after the acceptance of the Nicene Symbol of Faith (Creed), the Arian heresy developed new offshoots. Under the guise of struggle against the Sabellian heresy, which taught about a blending of the Hypostatic Persons of the Father and the Son [as mere aspects or modalities within the Trinity], Macedonius began to employ the word "homoiousios" "of similar essence" [in contrast to the Orthodox teaching of "homoousios", "of the same essence"] regarding the essence of the Son and that of the Father.

The council was called by the Emperor Theodosius the Great, primarily to clarify the Church's teaching on the Holy Spirit. Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, had falsely taught that the Spirit is a creature rather than a Divine Person "Who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified." Partly to correct this error, the council revised and expanded the text of the Nicene Creed into the form that we know today.

In the Ninth Article of the Nicea-Constantinople Symbol of Faith proclaimed by the holy Fathers of the First and Second Ecumenical Councils, we confess our faith in "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church." "Clad in the garment of truth," the doctrine of the Fathers, based upon the preaching of the Apostles, has established one faith for the Church.

After the document was read aloud, the Holy Fathers rejected the false teaching of Macedonius, and unanimously affirmed the Apostolic teaching that the Holy Spirit is not a creature, but is rather the Life-Creating Lord, Who proceeds from the Father, and is worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. In order to combat other heresies, of the Eunomians, Arians and Semi-Arians, the Holy Fathers reaffirmed the Nicene Symbol of Faith.

The 381 revision of the creed at Constantinople (i.e., the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed), which is often simply referred to as the "Nicene Creed", speaks of the Holy Spirit as worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. In the end it achieved its special status when the council of Chalcedon, at its second session and in its definition of the faith, linked the form of the creed read out at Constantinople with the Nicene form, as being a completely reliable witness of the authentic faith.

The Holy Fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council are commemorated on May 22 and also on the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, with the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Six Councils. The 150 Holy Fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council left their mark on the theology of the Church concerning the Holy Spirit, "repudiating the teaching of Macedonius, as one who wished to divide the inseparable Unity, so that there might be no perfect mystery of our hope."

They definitively formulated and affirmed the Nicean-Constantinople Symbol of Faith, confessed in the Creed even now by all the Orthodox Church. Such Councils, guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and accepted by the Church, are infallible. The Orthodox Church's conciliar definitions of dogma have the highest authority, and such definitions always begin with the Apostolic formula: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us..." (Acts 15: 28).

The Second Ecumenical Council was convened in the year 381 and consolidated the victory of Orthodoxy attained in the year 325 at the First Ecumenical Council. Emperor Theodosius the Great came to the imperial throne of the eastern part of the Roman Empire in 379. A strong supporter of the Nicene Faith, he wanted to help the Church finally put an end to the various forms of Arianism which had cropped up since the Council of Nicea.

The Council sat in session from May to July 381 A.D. and was attended by 150 Bishops of the Eastern Churches. 150 Fathers attended the Council, including many of the great saints of the period: St. Meletius of Antioch (who opened the Council), St. Gregory the Theologian (who was elected Patriarch of Constantople and then presided over it), St; Gregory of Nyssa, St Cyril of Jerusalem, and others. It met from May to July 381 in the Church of Hagia Irene and the council ended on 9 July 381, and on 30 July of the same year, at the request of the council fathers, the emperor Theodosius ratified its decrees by edict.

After the document was read aloud, the Holy Fathers rejected the false teaching of Macedonius, and unanimously affirmed the Apostolic teaching that the Holy Spirit is not a creature, but is rather the Life-Creating Lord, Who proceeds from the Father, and is worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. Therefore, the holy Fathers of the Second Ecumenical Council added to the Nicean Symbol its eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth sections. They definitively formulated and affirmed the Nicene-Constantinople Symbol of Faith, which is used even now by all the Orthodox Churches.

The holy Fathers affirmed the Holy Spirit to be God "even as the Father and Son are God: who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and together glorified." The Second Ecumenical Council besides this established also the norms of ecclesiastical courts [Canon VI], and it decided the acceptance into communion through the Sacrament of Chrismation those repentant heretics who were properly baptised in the Name of the Holy Trinity, but those baptised with a single immersion are to be received as pagans.