Councils
Church Councils Database
Each council with its date, location, leaders, reason, issues, decisions, historical impact and original documents.
c. AD 49
Council of Jerusalem
Whether Gentile converts had to be circumcised and keep the Mosaic law.
c. AD 300–306
Synod of Elvira
To regulate Christian life in Spain in the years around the last great persecution.
AD 314
Council of Arles
The Donatist schism in North Africa and the validity of sacraments administered by clergy who had lapsed.
AD 325
First Council of Nicaea
The teaching of the Alexandrian presbyter Arius that the Son was created and not eternal.
AD 381
First Council of Constantinople
Continuing Arian disputes and denial of the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
AD 393, 397 and 419
Synods of Hippo and Carthage
African bishops sought a settled list of books to be read as Scripture in the liturgy.
AD 431
Council of Ephesus
Nestorius's objection to calling Mary Theotokos and the questions about Christ's unity that it raised.
AD 451
Council of Chalcedon
The teaching that Christ had only one nature after the incarnation, and the disputed council of 449.
AD 529
Second Council of Orange
The long dispute over grace and free will that followed Augustine and the so-called Semi-Pelagians.
AD 553
Second Council of Constantinople
The dispute over the 'Three Chapters' and continued resistance to Chalcedon in the East.
AD 680–681
Third Council of Constantinople
Monothelitism, the teaching that Christ has only one will.
AD 787
Second Council of Nicaea
The iconoclast controversy over the veneration of images.
AD 869–870
Fourth Council of Constantinople
The contested depositions of the patriarchs Ignatios and Photios.
AD 1215
Fourth Lateran Council
Reform of clergy and laity, the Albigensian and Waldensian movements, and preparations for a crusade.
AD 1274
Second Council of Lyons
Reunion with the Greek Church, reform, and aid for the Holy Land.
AD 1414–1418
Council of Constance
Three rival claimants to the papacy during the Western Schism, and the teachings of Wyclif and Hus.
AD 1431–1445
Council of Basel–Ferrara–Florence
Conciliarism, and a final attempt at union with the East as Constantinople faced Ottoman conquest.
AD 1545–1563
Council of Trent
The Protestant Reformation and long-standing calls for reform of Church discipline.
AD 1869–1870
First Vatican Council
Rationalism, the loss of the Papal States and questions about the pope's teaching authority.
AD 1962–1965
Second Vatican Council
A pastoral council intended to present the faith to the modern world.