The Christological Centuries

From Chalcedon (451) to the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787): the centuries in which the Fathers and the councils worked as one organism — Leo’s Tome, Sophronius of Jerusalem’s lonely stand against monoenergism, Maximus the Confessor’s tongue and hand, John of Damascus the “seal” who sealed a synthesis and not an age. The second file turns the lens around: how the councils themselves appealed to the Fathers, proving doctrine by patristic florilegia and checked codices.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Overview

After Ephesus and Chalcedon, the question “who is a Father?” acquired institutional machinery: councils opened by reading the Fathers, condemned by comparing texts, and defined “following the holy Fathers.” This section surveys the great Christological Fathers from Leo to the Damascene — deferring those with collections and treating Sophronius, who has none, most fully — and then examines the machinery itself: the florilegium, the citation-checking of Nicaea II, and what conciliar use of the Fathers implies for patristic authority. Gregory the Dialogist and Bede, Latin Fathers of these same centuries within the one Church, are placed on the map with links to their collections.

Files in This Section

File Description
leo-maximus-and-the-seal-of-the-fathers.md Leo’s Tome and Chalcedon; the monoenergist crisis — Sophronius of Jerusalem’s Synodical Letter; Maximus the Confessor, the will, and the cost of confession; John of Damascus — the Exact Exposition, the icons, and the meaning of “seal of the Fathers”
the-fathers-in-the-councils.md “Following the holy Fathers” as conciliar method: florilegia at Ephesus, Chalcedon, Lateran 649, Constantinople III, Nicaea II; forgery detection and whole-codex checking; what conciliar reception adds to patristic authority — and the Fathers who were conciliar Fathers

See Also