Fifth Council of Constantinople

2025-08-17T00:20:02Z

130.108.222.224:

{{Short description|1341–1368 ecclesiastical council}}
{{Infobox ecumenical council
| council_name =
Fifth Council of Constantinople
| image =
John VI Kantakouzenos.jpg
| imagewidth = 200px
| imagealttext =
| caption = Icon of the Hesychast Councils
| council_date =
1341-1368
| accepted_by =
[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
| previous = [[Fourth Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox)]]
| next =
| convoked_by =
Emperor [[Andronikos III Palaiologos|Andronikos III]]
| president =
Patriarch [[John XIV Kalekas]] later [[Isidore Buchiras]]
| attendance =
50-200 Metropolitans, priests, and monks
| topics = [[Hesychasm]]
| documents =
Condemnation of [[Barlaam of Seminara]], Gregory Akyndinus, Prochoros Kydones, and affirmation of Hesychasm
| location =
[[Hagia Sophia]] cathedral In Constantinople later moved to the [[Palace of Blachernae]]
}}
{{Eastern Orthodox sidebar|expanded=councils}}

'''Fifth Council of Constantinople''' is a name given to a series of seven councils held in the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] capital [[Constantinople]] between 1341 and 1368, to deal with a [[Hesychast controversy|dispute]] concerning the mystical doctrine of [[Hesychasm]]. These are referred to also as the '''Hesychast councils''' or the '''Palamite councils''', since they discussed the [[Palamism|theology]] of [[Gregory Palamas]], whom [[Barlaam of Seminara]] opposed in the first of the series, and others in the succeeding six councils.

The result of these councils is accepted as having the authority of an [[ecumenical council]] by [[Eastern Orthodox Christian]]s.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bebis|first=George S.|date=2002|title=Tradition in the Orthodox Church|url=http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7116.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020810214835/http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/articles/article7116.asp|archive-date=10 August 2002|access-date=10 March 2019|publisher=[[Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]]|location=[[New York, NY]]|quote=These councils are accepted as having ecumenical status.}}</ref>

The [[Pan-Orthodox Council|Council of Crete]] in 2016 reaffirmed the authority of the Fifth Council of Constantinople, stating: "The Conciliar work continues uninterrupted in history through the later councils of universal authority, such as, for example, the Great Council (879-880) convened at the time of St. Photios the Great, Patriarch of Constantinople, and also the Great Councils convened at the time of St. Gregory Palamas (1341, 1351, 1368), through which the same truth of faith was confirmed."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Encyclical of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church |url=https://www.holycouncil.org/encyclical-holy-council |access-date=2024-12-19 |website=The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church |language=en}}</ref>

==History==
As it became clear that the dispute between Barlaam and Palamas was irreconcilable and would require the judgment of an episcopal council, a series of seven patriarchal councils was held in Constantinople on 10 June 1341, August 1341, 4 November 1344, 1 February 1347, 8 February 1347, 28 May 1351, and April 6, 1368, to consider the issues.<ref>[http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/63-gregory-palamas-historical-timeline Gregory Palamas: Historical Timeline] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607235426/http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/63-gregory-palamas-historical-timeline |date=2012-06-07 }}</ref>

The First Synod was convened on 10 June. It was assembled by [[Eastern Roman Emperor]] [[Andronikos III Palaiologos|Andronicos Palaiologos III]] in the Church of [[Hagia Sophia]]. Patriarch [[John XIV Kalekas]] was allowed to preside at the council despite initially being an anti-hesychast. The sessions were public and they enjoyed a heavy attendance of about 150 (or more) metropolitans, bishops, priests, laymen and monks from [[Mount Athos]]. The synod condemned [[Barlaam of Seminara|Barlaam]], who recanted.<ref name="OrthodoxTraditionalist">
{{cite web |title=The Eight and Ninth Ecumenical Councils
|url=https://www.orthodoxtraditionalist.com/post/the-8th-9th-ecumenical-councils}}</ref> A [[Tomos (Eastern Orthodox Church)|Synodal Tomos]] was later issued in July as a brief recapitulation of the council.

Barlaam's primary supporter Emperor Andronicus III died just five days after the synod ended. Although Barlaam initially hoped for a second chance to present his case against Palamas, he soon realised the futility of pursuing his cause, and left for Calabria where he converted to the Roman Church and was appointed Bishop of [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Locri-Gerace|Gerace]].<ref name="HistoricalOverview">{{cite web |title=Gregory Palamas: An Historical Overview |url=http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/61-gregory-palamas-an-historical-overview?title=Gregory_Palamas:_An_Historical_Overview |access-date=2010-12-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927014640/http://www.monachos.net/content/patristics/studies-fathers/61-gregory-palamas-an-historical-overview?title=Gregory_Palamas%3A_An_Historical_Overview |archive-date=2011-09-27 }}</ref>

After Barlaam's departure, [[Gregory Akindynos]] became the chief critic of Palamas. A second council was convened in Constantinople by the regent [[John Kantakouzenos]]. The sessions once again took part in the [[Hagia Sophia]] cathedral. The council gathered on August 1341, condemned Akindynos and affirmed the findings of the earlier council. This council affirmed the Hagioritic tome of [[Gregory Palamas]]. The tome was signed by all the [[Metropolitan bishop|Metropolitans]] present.<ref name="OrthodoxTraditionalist"/>

Akindynos and his supporters gained a brief victory at the third synod held in 1344 which excommunicated Palamas and one of his disciples, [[Patriarch Isidore I of Constantinople|Isidore Buchiras]].<ref name="Fortescue">{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Hesychasm |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07301a.htm |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

Another Synod was called on February 2, 1347. It condemned Akindynos and deposed [[John XIV Kalekas]] from the [[Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople|Patriarchal throne]]. [[Isidore Buchiras]] was chosen as Patriarch. Isidore was allowed to preside in the later sessions. The last few sessions produced a Tomos which was signed by about thirty bishops.

In July 1347 a council led by Matthew, [[Metropolis of Ephesus|Metropolitan of Ephesus]], with some ten bishops, claiming the support of a further twenty bishops outside the capital, issued their own Anti-Palamite Synodal Tomos. Isidore retaliated in August 1347 with a ''Tomos against Matthew''. Matthew was reconciled briefly in 1350.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Norman |title=Gregory Palamas: The Hesychast Controversy and the Debate with Islam |date=March 26, 2020 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1789621532 |pages=292–293}}</ref>

In May 1351, Kantakouzenos convened a patriarchal council at the [[Palace of Blachernae]] with the intention of winning over the Anti-Palamites, led by philosopher [[Nicephorus Gregoras|Nikephoros Gregoras]], through debate and systematic examination of patristic texts. Matthew of Ephesus was deposed and the remaining Anti-Palamites were excommunicated. A session was held later in July to offer repentance, with further examination of texts, and finally the emperors, the patriarch, and a large body of metropolitans and officials had willingly signed the Tomos.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Norman |title=Gregory Palamas: The Hesychast Controversy and the Debate with Islam |date=September 1, 2022 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1802077476 |pages=413–415}}</ref> When the Council ended it had conclusively exonerated Palamas and condemned his opponents.<ref name="HistoricalOverview" />

After the death of Gregory Palamas in 1359, hieromonk [[Prochoros Kydones]] began to come into conflict with the monastic brethren of the [[Great Lavra]] over Palamas' teachings. Eventually leading him to protest formally against the commemoration of Palamas at the Lavra as a Saint, with his case coming before the Patriarchal synod in 1368. This Council under Patriarch [[Philotheus I of Constantinople|Philotheos Kokkinos]], concluded with the condemnation of Prochoros and the synodal proclamation of Gregory Palamas as a Saint. Ending any further potential challenges to the theology of Palamas. Of possible interest is the heavy [[Thomism|Thomistic]] influence on Prochoros which was also attacked at the council.<ref name=":0" />

Since the Orthodox Church considered that only a council that has been called by the Byzantine Emperor can recognised as an ecumenical council, it was the last such council to be recognised as ecumenical within Eastern Orthodoxy (although some consider the [[Synod of Jassy|Synods of Jassy]], [[Synod of Jerusalem (1672)|Jerusalem]] & [[Council of Constantinople (1872)|Constantinople]] as ecumenical councils). The results of the council affected the [[Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347|Byzantine Civil War]], with the supporters of Palamas siding on behalf of Kantakouzenos and the anti-Palamite Patriarch John XIV Kalekas supporting Empress [[Anna of Savoy]]. This in turn significantly weakened Byzantine authority to the advantage of the [[Second Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]] and the [[Kingdom of Serbia (1217–1346)|Kingdom of Serbia]], ultimately allowing for the [[Ottoman Turks|Ottomans]] to take over the Balkans & Anatolia, with [[Fall of Constantinople|Constantinople falling to the Turks]] a century after the council.

==See also==
*[[Hesychasm]]
*[[Palamism]]
*[[Fourth Council of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==

*T. R. Valentine, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20040710221551/http://www.geocities.com/trvalentine/orthodox/8-9synods.html The Eighth and Ninth Ecumenical Councils]"
{{Ecumenical councils}}


[[Category:Eastern Orthodox Church councils|Constantinople 5]]
[[Category:Church councils in Constantinople|1340s]]
[[Category:14th-century church councils|Constantinople]]
[[Category:1340s in the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:1350s in the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:Palamism]]
[[Category:Hesychasm]]

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Fifth Council of Constantinople