• At the death of Theodosius II, who had supported the monophysite
position, and at the urging of Pope Leo and the western bishops,
a new ecumenical council was held in Chalcedon (near
Constantinople) in October and November of 451.
o The Council of Chalcedon followed the lead of Leo I in
seeking to affirm both sides of the paradoxical confession,
without reduction or suppression of either dimension. An
account says that when Leo’s letter was read aloud, the cry
spontaneously arose, “Peter has spoken through Leo! This is
what we believe!”o The council declared: “one single Christ, Son, Lord,
Monogenic, without confusion, without change, without
division, without separation, the difference in natures being in
no way suppressed by the union, but rather the properties of
each being safeguarded and reunited in a single person and a
single hypostasis.”• The controversy, however, still did not end, with a strong anti-
Chalcedonian tradition continuing to hold a monophysite position,
especially in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, as well as Ethiopia
and Constantinople.Enduring Consequences
• The enduring effect of these endless theological and political
controversies on Christianity cannot be considered as anything
but negative.
• As the great historian Henri-Irénée Marrou has stated: “Not without
astonishment and regret the historian finds that in these long, bitter
disputes which rent the church, heresy as such counted for less than
men’s passionate attachment to their own will, than party spirit and
obstinacy in schism.”• By placing such emphasis on “right ideas” rather than on “right
practice,” theology became removed from ordinary life and became
a matter of subtle speculation, even when well-intentioned.