Chapter I: Christian Landmarks
There are two ways a man might view the Church of Christ. He might look at it from the "outside," and see it only as an organization. He may think of it as a political body of some sort, or a social group, or even identify it with the priests and bishops and consider it the means of dominating other people. But in every instance his interest in the Church is limited to the human element alone. He sees nothing but a group of "men," not unlike any other organization around him.
The man of faith, on the other hand, will look at the Church from "within." He will see it as the Church of God, the Body of Christ. It is for him a God-directed organization, sustained by the activity of its divine Soul, the Holy Spirit Himself.
This second view gives the only adequate explanation of what the Church is. Beneath the outer appearances of humanity, beneath even the sinfulness and failure of its members, there is the sustaining power of God. God's strength, not man's, has preserved this Church for nearly two thousand years, linking it to the apostolic faith of the primitive community.
The history of the Catholic Church, then, is really a spiritual history: the account of how the Holy Spirit has sustained it through the centuries; of how, in His own manner, He has enabled it to withstand persecutions from without and the errors which threatened it from within. The problems the Church has faced in the past two thousand years would have ruined any purely human organization, yet the Church remains. There has been growth, development - nonessential change. But the faith, the sacraments have remained untouched. The power of the Holy Spirit has triumphed over the trials of time.
Central in this long history of the Church's life stand the twenty General (or Ecumenical) Councils. A study of the Councils is, in fact, a study of the Church's history - of the doctrinal and disciplinary problems that have beset her. The Councils stand out as high points in her history, as true Christian landmarks, serving as guides for the future. In every instance, they endeavored to sum up the teaching of the past and to blot out doctrinal errors. By doing this they also pointed out the path to be trod in the days that lay ahead.
The influence of these General Councils has possibly been felt more with the passing of time than it was at the moment of solemn closing. When the color and ceremonial and even the open disputes had vanished, and the bishops and prelates had returned to their own countries, then it was that the Councils really began to exert their influence. Despite all problems, the true doctrine had been set forth, the reforms had been outlined and were now to be incorporated into the lives of the faithful. The influence of such a Council, then, is never felt fully in a day or a month or even years; but it is recognized as a special force in the life of the Church.
The secret behind this special force of a General Council is the Holy Spirit. There have been many local meetings or councils during the long history of the Church. Only twenty similar gatherings, however, stand apart from the others as General or Ecumenical Councils. The underlying reason is the relationship of a General Council to the Holy Spirit. It is, over and above any other ecclesiastical meeting, a particularly profound and solemn expression of the guidance of that Spirit of Truth which Christ promised to send upon His Church:
"If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever, the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you shall know him, because he will dwell with you, and be in you" (Jn. 14:15).
This is the mystery of the Church, the mystery of the General Council. The man of faith can view the Church "from within," because he can perceive the working of the Holy Spirit in the men and women who form the Church. But to the outsider, to the man who does not recognize this divine Soul - who "neither sees Him nor knows Him" - there remains only the outer shell.
Looked at from within, the General Council is not just another meeting. It is different from all other gatherings within the Church. It is the most solemn expression of the doctrinal and disciplinary life of the infallible Church of Christ on earth, "the pillar and mainstay of truth."
As a result, we may say that in these Ecumenical Councils God has visited His people in a special manner. In them the Holy Spirit has shown forth His power in an extraordinary fashion. Christ, the divine Head of the Church, has willed to gather together His bishops, in union with His vicar on earth and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, in order to guide the universal Church. In every General Council, the Mystical Body of Christ repeats this intimate collaboration with the Spirit of Truth which animates it. At the close, the bishops can repeat with the Apostles at Jerusalem: "For the Holy Spirit and we have decided. . . ."
The difference between a General Council, then, and a local council, is not to be sought primarily in the legal requirements upon which they are based. The current laws of the Church only formulate, in their own way, the deeper theological truth. The true meaning of a General Council arises from the intimate nature of the Church established by Christ.
In other words, it is not fundamentally a question of how many bishops must attend, or from what parts of the world they must actually come, or by what papal decree they are approved. These are important questions, of course. But it is the supernatural life of the Church which gives meaning to them all. A General Council is a part of the "mystery" of the Church. Like all the varied elements within the Church, it also shares in the supernatural quality of that life. It is far more than a gathering together of bishops in a certain place; it is far more than solemnity and color. It is, above all this, a special manifestation of the Holy Spirit, ever dwelling within this Church of Christ.
As a glance at the list of General Councils will indicate, they have been celebrated in many different places, under many and diverse circumstances. There has been great variety in the external ceremony and color. The number of bishops who attended has varied greatly, ranging from as few as one hundred to as many as one thousand bishops and prelates. Some Councils have continued for years; others have been completed in a matter of days. Some were great spectacles before the world, causing comment on all sides; others were celebrated in such fashion that large parts of the Catholic world scarcely knew that they were going on. The single thread that joins them together, however, is this special working of the Holy Spirit which comes into play at an Ecumenical Council.
There must, of course, be certain laws concerning such a Council. It is not up to every individual to decide whether a particular Council is or is not an Ecumenical Council. When the Holy Father, for example, gives to the Church a solemn definition (like the definition of the Assumption in 1950), we can also see beneath this the special working of the Holy Spirit. The Pope, however, must still make clear to the Church that he intends to speak infallibly; he must let the members know that this is to be a solemn definition.
So also with a General Council: there must be some way of knowing that it is a General Council. The Church must make clear to its members that this is to be an Ecumenical, and not a local, Council, so that they may perceive in it this special manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Thus we have the legal requirements established for setting up a General Council. To be truthful, some of these technical requirements seem to have varied through the centuries. The Church can establish the laws which seem most fitting for the circumstances in which she finds herself. The history of some of these twenty Councils is shrouded in a good amount of obscurity. Special questions may be raised concerning precisely who first called the Council together, who attended it, and what its precise relationship to the Bishop of Rome might have been. But in the life of the Church, the matter shines forth with much more clarity. The Church of Christ is a living thing, and as such it grasps in a living fashion the activity of the Holy Spirit within it.
Thus the Church has de facto recognized certain Councils as ecumenical. The decrees of these gatherings have played a special role in the life of Christ's members. If we look over the general history of them all, we are able to draw certain conclusions about what makes a General Council. It is from a consideration of all these various elements that we come to our present-day understanding of such a Council.
If we were to define it, our definition would run something like this: "A General Council is a legitimate gathering of the bishops of the entire world, called for the purpose of discussing and settling the doctrinal and disciplinary questions of the universal Church." A closer look at this definition will explain more fully the nature of a General Council.
It is first of all a "legitimate" gathering. As Christ established His Church, there are to be always and everywhere bishops who rule their dioceses in the same way in which the Pope rules the universal Church. These bishops are not simply the Pope's "representatives" in the diocese. They rule in the place of Christ, by divine right. They are, therefore, Christ's "local vicars," as it were. While their power to rule comes from God, however, it is also true that they receive it through the Pope. And this is important.
The bishops of the world and the Roman Pontiff form together the "college of bishops." Cardinal Billot compared them to a human person: the head and members being the Pope and the other bishops. They act in a Council as one unit, setting forth one teaching, one solemn judgment.
A universal gathering of bishops, however, can never be "legitimate" without the head - the Roman Pontiff. This springs from the very nature of the Church as Christ established it. The Pope, therefore, must in some way preside over every General Council; this is his office by the will of God and it cannot be set aside.
There still can be a question of exactly what this involves for the Pope. In giving their answers, writers will phrase them in different ways, using various distinctions. But the over-all response is much the same.
It does not seem that the Roman Pontiff must "call together" the General Council in the sense that he starts the entire procedure. (Some writers will speak of this as the "material convocation" - that is, the actual sending out of invitations, and the like.) Today, of course, this is always true, but history seems to indicate that such was not the case in the early centuries, where the emperor seems to have taken the first official step.
The teaching both of the Church and of history tells us, however, that no General Council has been called against the wishes of the Supreme Pontiff, and without his solemn approval. It is this approval of the "head" that gives to the entire proceedings the nature of a legitimate Council. Without it, there would not be the authority required, nor this special manifestation of the Holy Spirit we talked about. This the authors will call the "formal convocation," that is, the official, authoritative "calling together" of this group precisely as a General Council. Unless this takes place at some time, there is no such Council, even though the actual meetings might take place.
In practice, this approval (or "formal convocation") has generally been given before the Council actually meets; but it may occur simultaneously with the meetings themselves, or it can even follow the actual gathering. Moreover, the Roman Pontiff may show his approval in any number of ways: by solemnly calling the Council, or by addressing an official letter to the group; or by sending his delegates to attend; or by signifying his approval at the completion of the discussions.
In any event, no final decree of a Council is binding unless the Roman Pontiff approves of that final form. This, again, springs from the very nature of the Church. A Council is a gathering of the head and members; but if the head refuses to approve of what the members have done, those particular statements are not decrees of an Ecumenical Council. We shall have occasion to note instances of this as we look at the Councils of the past.
A General Council will also include the "bishops of the entire world." This, again, must not be understood to indicate that the actual "celebration" of the Council demands that every bishop really be present. Morally speaking, bishops should be present from all parts of the world, but the emphasis is to be placed on another fact. In a General Council, all the bishops have a right to take a seat in the deliberations; they belong there. This will appear above all in the official approval of the Council by the Roman Pontiff which will signify the intention or purpose of the Council to legislate for the universal Church. This would not be true, let us say, of a particular or local council, where only the bishops attached to the dioceses concerned would have the right to be present. In other words, it is not simply a question of counting bishops until they are all present, or until a majority of some sort has arrived. Such a Council is not any more "universal" if 2000 bishops attend than if only 200 are present. It is not a question of numbers.
Externally, of course, a General Council ought to express this "universality" by the actual attendance of bishops from all over the world; most frequently this has been the case. But this is not the precise point that makes such a Council "ecumenical" or "universal." (Ecumenical comes from the Greek word oikoumene, meaning "the inhabited world"; thus the entire world: "universal.")
This notion is also expressed in the definition by the words: "called for the purpose of discussing and settling the doctrinal and disciplinary questions of the universal Church." The concern of a General Council is not simply a particular locality; it is the faith and practice of the entire Church throughout the whole world. For this reason, its decrees will have a greater meaning than any local Council. Ultimately, however, it is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in a special fashion that makes this so. Only in a General Council is the Spirit of Truth active in this extraordinary manner. For this reason only a General Council can decree for the universal Church; and the decrees only of a General Council are infallible. A local or particular council of bishops is not infallible; it does not carry with it the promise of freedom from error. A General Council, on the other hand, called together as a moral person - head and members (the Roman Pontiff and the bishops of the world) - enjoys the same infallibility as a solemn definition of the Roman Pontiff himself.
It is, thus, the infallible Church which is the primary concern. In setting forth the revealed truth, this Church cannot fall into error. Since the Church possesses official teachers, however, this infallible statement can come about in various ways: (1) It may be evidenced in the day-to-day teaching of the bishops throughout the world, teaching the same doctrine, in union with the Supreme Pontiff. (2) It may also be evidenced in a solemn statement of the successor of Peter himself- in what we now call an ex cathedra statement, that is, issued "from the throne." (3) However, the Church may also speak infallibly in a legitimate General Council. In every instance, the Church has the assurance that these statements will not be erroneous. They will be true guides for the Christian, bringing him a clearer understanding of the message of Christ, and helping him to serve his Master more faithfully and more perfectly.
In all of this, we see the action of the Holy Spirit, ever dwelling within the Church. If we turn now to a closer look at the individual Councils of the Universal Church, we will be able to see how, under the guidance of this Spirit of Truth, the Church has been able to meet the problems of the ages.
The first conciliar landmark dates from the fourth century: the Council of Nicea (325). It was especially concerned with the Trinity, and for the next three hundred years or so, other General Councils would arise, dealing with this same question. In this fashion, the Church arrived at a more precise statement of the truths concerning Christ and the Trinity.
In the Middle Ages, new problems would demand attention. There was the question of reform within the Church, and that of reunion with those who had drifted away from it. At one point in history, the Councils had to deal especially with the papacy itself when the entire Church was thrown into confusion by the claims of pseudo-popes. The Protestant Revolt of the sixteenth century would bring forth the great Council of Trent; and the problems of our modern world had to be answered in the Vatican Council of the past century.
All of these, one by one, took their place in the list of great Councils, through which Christ spoke again and again to His people. Even if they seemed, at times, to fail in the achievement of their immediate goal, the directives were there - the voice of Christ was heard. Because of the special influence of the Holy Spirit in these most solemn gatherings, they were destined to overshadow the many local councils and synods held during these same centuries. And this is the mystery of the Councils, the role of these Christian landmarks. By the will of God, they were destined, each in its own way, to shine forth as beacons, directing the life of the Church and outlining through the darkness the path to be followed by the faithful members of Christ upon earth.