Council of Constantinople
- When
- 381 AD
- Where
- Constantinople
- Kind
- Council
Completed the creed's article on the Holy Spirit; the form still recited today.
Called by Theodosius to end the Arian controversy for good, it reaffirmed Nicaea and extended the creed's third article to say of the Holy Spirit that he is Lord and giver of life, worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. The Cappadocians — Basil, the two Gregorys — had done the theological work that made the formula possible. The version recited in churches today is substantially this one rather than the creed of 325. Its third canon, giving Constantinople honour second only to Rome because it was the new imperial capital, was a jurisdictional claim Rome did not accept, and it echoes down to 1054.
Bodies it bears on
Party to it
Who stands here
- Gregory of Nazianzus
c. 329–390
Presided for a time, then resigned in disgust at its politics
- Basil of Caesarea
c. 330–379
Died two years before it; the creed's article on the Spirit is his work
- Gregory of Nyssa
c. 335–c. 395
Present, and among the theologians whose work made the settlement possible
Either side of it
The whole timeline, from the apostolic communities to the present.