Why Non-Orthodox Reject the 7th Church Council

Was the 7th Church Council truly a "Church Council", in the same sense as the first Six Church Councils ?

The issue of the legitimacy of the so-called 7th Church council has never been based on how many Bishops attended, but rather whether or not this 7^th Council was merely a regional council or whether it was "church-wide" council. The issue is not how many attended, but rather where they were from (which would be an indication of the scope of the council).

If this 7^th Council were encompassing all of Christianity, - as the other first six Church Councils were - at the very least, we would expect that the 7th Church Council fulfill 2 major criteria:

1 a) it would have to include representatives of the Churches of Africa, as well as representatives of the Churches in the Western half of the Roman Empire

1 b) the Representatives of the Churches of Africa and the Churches of the Western Roman Empire would have to be included not merely as observers, but as participants.

2 a) the Results of the 7^th Church Council would have to authoritatively accepted not only by the Eastern Half of the Church, but by the African and the Western Churches of that time.

This Council - the 7th church council - does not meet that criteria, because the Western Churches refused to send delegates that had any authority, probably because of the coercive circumstances of the Empress and the manner in which this council was convened (not to mention the doctrinal issues involved).

Even if this 7^th Council had decided and pronounced doctrinal statements which were 100% perfect and accurate, it still would not have been a Church council recognized by the other Churches beyond the Eastern Half of the Roman Empire.

However, on the more substantive point, this council and its decisions contradict the decisions and doctrinal statements of earlier church councils, thereby forcing a person - either by intent or by default - to make a choice concerning which Church Council is

1) more consistent with the teachings and doctrines established at the earlier Church Councils

2) more consistent with the manner in which the earlier church councils assembled the entire Church to make decisions

3) more consistent with the Principles of the Bible, as determined by the 66 books of the Bible previously canonized within those first 6 church councils.

The other Church Councils in history are simply not considered major, or were in contradiction with the established first 6 Church Councils, or were local events. Consider for example the Councils of Toledo (Spain). The Second Council of Toledo met in 527 - more than 250 years before the so-called 7^th Church Council.

The Second Council of Toledo (527) even had a strong impact on western civilization and liberties, since its documents formed the basis for the English Charter of Liberties - known as the Magna Charta (1215). However, despite the good influence of the 2^nd Council of Toledo, it was not a council which was Church-wide. It was simply a local council, which is what 7^th Church Council of the Eastern Church was.

Again, the question is whether the Bible authenticates the Church Councils, or whether the Church Councils authenticate the Bible. The Answer is that the Bible authenticates all else, and it is the standard by which men will be evaluated for eternity. It is not any Patriarch not Pope who will evaluate our spiritual lives. God is perfectly capable of preserving his own Biblical text, which means that while humans may recognize the truth of what God has already decided,

but those decisions merely affirm what God has already decreed.

By the time that The Church Councils affirmed the Canon of the Bible, it was sufficiently established long prior to that. The Bible authenticates itself, and while the decisions of humans may provide us with emotional solace or comfort, they are hardly the arbiters of divine truth.

While it may be fashionable to criticize denominations, what most of them agree on is that salvation comes "by faith alone through Christ Jesus plus nothing else". The farther back in time one follows church history, the more it is clear that This teaching is what the Early Christians affirmed, believed and lived.

Those who decide to depend on formulas established by Church Councils ultimately place the Church Councils above the Bible, and implicitly affirm that God is incapable of being clear in his message in the Bible itself. Salvation by Baptism is a doctrine of salvation by works, which is a "Johnny come lately" concept, pushed both by the Eastern and Western half of the Roman Catholic Church, which is a Corporation established by Imperial Roman Edict rather than by any legitimacy of the work of the Holy Spirit. It was the intent of the Political leaders of both halves of the Roman Empire to attempt to induce subservience on the part of those who attended - in order to make their spiritual lives of sincere seeking to be instead lives of "salvation by Good works", where power and riches would accrue to the Roman Imperial Corporation.

There are many who depart from the True Christian Faith in the name of Returning to it. It is the condition of the heart and what one believes about who Jesus Christ is and how salvation is achieved - that determines the eternal state of a person. What the teachings of the first 6 Church Councils affirm is totally contrary both to what the Eastern and the Western Half of the Roman Catholic Church teach today.

Source for the Council of Toledo:

Author Allix, Pierre, 1641-1717

Title Reflections upon the opinions of some modern divines concerning the nature of government in general, and that of England in particular : with an appendix relating to this matter, containing I. the seventy fifth canon of the Council of Toledo II (527). the original articles in Latin, out of which the Magna charta of King John was framed III. the true Magna charta of King John in French ... / all three Englished Published in London : Printed for R. Chiswell, 1689

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