03 — Constantinople I (381)

The Second Ecumenical Council, convened by Theodosius I in 381, completed Nicaea’s work: it confessed the full divinity of the Holy Spirit against the Pneumatomachi, ratified the Cappadocian settlement of Trinitarian language, and gave the Church the Creed she recites at every Liturgy.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

If Nicaea confessed the Son to be homoousios, Constantinople I completed the Trinitarian confession by defending the Godhead of the Spirit and by fixing the grammar — one ousia, three hypostaseis — that made Nicaea’s faith coherent. Its architects were the Cappadocian Fathers: Basil the Great (who died in 379, before the council), Gregory the Theologian (who presided over part of it), and Gregory of Nyssa. This section treats the pneumatological controversy and the Cappadocian settlement, and then the Creed of 381 itself and the council’s canons.

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File Description
the-holy-spirit-and-the-cappadocians.md The Pneumatomachi (“Spirit-fighters”); Basil’s On the Holy Spirit and Gregory’s Fifth Theological Oration; the ousia/hypostasis settlement.
the-niceno-constantinopolitan-creed.md The Creed as the Church now confesses it; the article on the Spirit; canon 3 on the rank of Constantinople; the later Filioque dispute.

See Also