not to be confused with the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon

Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon

The Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, also called the Council of Mar Isaac, met in AD 410 in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sassanid Empire of Persia. The council, extended official recognition to the Empire's Christian community, known as the Church of the East, and established the Bishop of...

 of 410.

The Council of Seleucia was an early Christian

Early Christianity

Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....

 church synod

Synod

A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

 at Seleucia Isauria (now Silifke

Silifke

-Antiquity:Located a few miles from the mouth of the Calycadnus River, Seleucia was founded by Seleucus I Nicator in the early 3rd century BCE, one of several cities he named after himself. It is probable that there were already towns called Olbia and Hyria and that Seleucus I merely united them...

, Turkey).

In 358

358

Year 358 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Datianus and Cerealis...

, the Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Constantius II

Constantius II

Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....

 requested two councils, one of the western bishops at Ariminum and one of the eastern bishops at Nicomedia

Nicomedia

Nicomedia was an ancient city in what is now Turkey, founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and was originally known as Astacus . After being destroyed by Lysimachus, it was rebuilt by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia, and has ever since been one of the most...

 to resolve the Arian controversy

Arian controversy

The Arian controversy describes several controversies between the Christian Church fathers Arius and Athanasius related to Christology which divided the Christian church from before the Council of Nicaea in 325 to after the Council of Constantinople in 381...

 over the nature of the divinity of Jesus Christ, which divided the 4th-century church.

An earthquake struck Nicomedia, killing the bishop Cecropius of Nicomedia, among others, and on September 27, 359

359

Year 359 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius...

 the eastern council (of about 160 bishops) met at Seleucia

Seleucia

Seleucia was the first capital of the Seleucid Empire, and one of the great cities of antiquity standing in Mesopotamia, on the Tigris River.Seleucia may refer to:...

 instead. The council was bitterly divided, and procedurally irregular, and the two parties met separately and reached opposing decisions.

Basil of Ancyra

Basil of Ancyra

Basil of Ancyra, was a Christian priest in Ancyra, Galatia during the fourth century. Very meager information about his life is preserved in a metaphrastic work: “Life and Deeds of the Martyred Priest Basil.” He fought against the pagans and the Arians...

, Macedonius I of Constantinople

Macedonius I of Constantinople

Macedonius was a Greek bishop of Constantinople from 342 up to 346, and from 351 until 360. He inspired the establishment of the Macedonians, a sect later declared heretical.-Biography:...

, and Patrophilus, afraid the council would depose them, had delayed their arrival; Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church . He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. In 1883, Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII...

 and Eustathius of Sebaste

Eustathius of Sebaste

Eustathius, was bishop of Sebastia in Armenia. Together with Basil of Ancyra, he was the author of the sect of the Macedonians....

 also faced unresolved charges.

On the first day, Acacius of Caesarea

Acacius of Caesarea

Acacius of Caesarea in Greek Ἀκάκιος Mονόφθαλμος was a Christian bishop, the pupil and successor in the Palestinian see of Caesarea of Eusebius AD 340, whose life he wrote. He is remembered chiefly for his bitter opposition to St. Cyril of Jerusalem and for the part he was afterwards enabled to...

, George of Alexandria, Uranius of Tyre, and Eudoxius of Antioch

Eudoxius of Antioch

Eudoxius was the eighth bishop of Constantinople from January 27, 360 to 370, previously bishop of Germanicia and of Antioch, and was one of the most influential Arians.-Biography:...

, among others, wished to resolve the charges against these bishops, and the challenges to their credentials, before voting on theological matters. George of Laodicea

George of Laodicea

George of Laodicea was a philosopher from Alexandria, involved in the debate over the doctrine of the Trinity.-References:...

, Sophronius of Pompeiopolis, and Eleusius of Cyzicus, among others, wished to vote on theological matters first, and won the first procedural votes.

On the second day, George of Laodicea opened the council to Basil and the other disputed bishops from their party, ignoring the charges, and closed the council to Acacius and the opposing bishops. They reaffirmed an Creed of Antioch from 341

341

Year 341 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcellinus and Probinus...

 which declared that the Son was of similar substance to the Father.

On the following days, however, to reach broader agreement, Basil and the disputed bishops did not attend, while Acacius and the others did. Acacius proposed a new creed, with notes stating that the Son was like the Father, compromising between the controversial language of Nicaea

Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...

 and Antioch, and condemning Anomoeanism.

In the end, the council divided again. Basil, George of Laodicea, and their party deposed or excommunicated their opponents, including Acacius, George of Alexandria, Uranius, Theodulus of Chaeretapa, Theodosius of Philadelphia, Evagrius of Mytilene, Leontius of Tripolis, Eudoxius of Antioch

Eudoxius of Antioch

Eudoxius was the eighth bishop of Constantinople from January 27, 360 to 370, previously bishop of Germanicia and of Antioch, and was one of the most influential Arians.-Biography:...

, Asterius

Asterius

The name "Asterius" may refer to:* Asterion, name of two sacred kings of Crete* Asterius of Ostia , Christian martyr and saint* Asterius of Caesarea , Christian martyr and saint* Asterius, Claudius and Neon , Christian martyr and saint...

, Eusebius, Abgarus, Basilicus, Phoebus, Fidelis

Fidelis

Fidelis can be:* "Fidelis" is a Latin term meaning "faithful".* It is the name of several historical monks, and some saints, including Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen and Saint Fidelis of Como.* A Catholic-based political advocacy organization....

, Eutychius

Eutychius

Eutychius was the last Exarch of Ravenna .The exarchate had risen in revolt in 727 at the imposition of iconoclasm; the Exarch Paul lost his life attempting to quash the revolt. In response, Emperor Leo III sent the patrician Eutychius to take control of the situation. Eutychius landed in Naples,...

, Magnus

Magnus

Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was sometimes used as a first name among Romans but was not particularly common among them. The best-known Roman bearing the name was the third-century usurper. The name gained wider popularity in the Middle Ages, various European peoples, and their royal houses,...

, and Eustathius

Eustathius

Eustathius or Eustathios may refer to:* Eustathius of Antioch, Patriarch of Antioch * Eustathius of Sebaste * Eustathius of Cappadocia Neoplatonist, orator, and diplomat...

, as well as one of those who had already faced charges, Patrophilus. Acacius and his party challenged the decisions, as did the Anomoeans.

Later that year, Constantius called for a council in Constantinople to consider the decision at Ariminum and resolve the split at Seleucia.

Acacius' proposed creed

Acacius' proposed creed read, including its preface:

We having yesterday assembled by the emperor's command at Seleucia, a city of Isauria, on the 27th day of September, exerted ourselves to the utmost, with all moderation, to preserve the peace of the church, and to determine doctrinal questions on prophetic and evangelical authority, so as to sanction nothing in the ecclesiastic confession of faith at variance with the sacred Scriptures, as our Emperor Constantius most beloved of God has ordered. But inasmuch as certain individuals in the Synod have acted injuriously toward several of us, preventing some from expressing their sentiments, and excluding others from the council against their wills; and at the same time have introduced such as have been deposed, and persons who were ordained contrary to the ecclesiastical canon, so that the Synod has presented a scene of tumult and disorder, of which the most illustrious Leonas, the Comes, and the most eminent Lauricius, governor of the province, have been eye-witnesses, we are therefore under the necessity of making this declaration. That we do not repudiate the faith which was ratified at the consecration of the church at Antioch; [423] for we give it our decided preference, because it received the concurrence of our fathers who were assembled there to consider some controverted points. Since, however, the terms homoousion and homoiousion have in time past troubled the minds of many, and still continue to disquiet them; and moreover that a new term has recently been coined by some who assert the anomoion of the Son to the Father: we reject the first two, as expressions which are not found in the Scriptures; but we utterly anathematize the last, and regard such as countenance its use, as alienated from the church. We distinctly acknowledge the homoion of the Son to the Father, in accordance with what the apostle has declared concerning him, [424] "Who is the image of the invisible God."

We confess then, and believe in one God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and of things visible and invisible. We believe also in his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who was begotten of him without passion before all ages, God the Word, the only-begotten of God, the Light, the Life, the Truth, the Wisdom: through whom all things were made which are in the heavens and upon the earth, whether visible or invisible. We believe that he took flesh of the holy Virgin Mary, at the end of the ages, in order to abolish sin; that he was made man, suffered for our sin, and rose again, and was taken up into the heavens, to sit at the right hand of the Father, whence he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We believe also in the Holy Spirit, whom our Lord and Saviour has denominated the Comforter, and whom he sent to his disciples after his departure, according to his promise: by whom also he sanctifies all believers in the church, who are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Those who preach anything contrary to this creed, we regard as aliens from the catholic church.