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Chapter 1  
     
  9th (and last) "False Ecumenical" Council 869 CE  
Fourth Council of Constantinople  
 Summary
Date
869-870
Called by
Emperor Basil I and Pope Adrian II
Presided by
Papal legates
Attendance
20-25
Key topics
Photius' patriarchate
Documents & Statements
Deposition of Photius, twenty-seven canons, including directives for behavior of bishops and the rights of patriarchs; restoration of Photius, protection of Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed

 

  
Background  
     
  Only 12 bishops attended at first, and attendance never exceeded 103. The legates of Pope Adrian II presided. Saint Photius had already been condemned, without a hearing, at a Roman synod and Pope Adrian, taking advantage of political changes in Constantinople, pressed for a council. Saint Photius' defense was cut short, and when he refused to sign his own condemnation, he was excommunicated. The result of these councils was to intensify the bitterness between East and West. Not regarded as 'Ecumenical' by Roman Catholicism until 11th or 12th century, it has never been accepted by Orthodoxy.  

Constantinople IV made no new dogmatic decisions; instead, it greatly contributed to the growing split between the Eastern and Western churches. The principal action was to depose Photius, the patriarch of Constantinople, for usurping his ecclesiastical position. This Council was only first called Ecumenical about two hundred years afterwards. Later, Photius was restored to his see, and he held another council in 879-80.
  
   

 
 
 

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