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The Claims of Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy  /  The Myth of the Seven Ecumenical Councils  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 9
Regarding Constantinople (381), Bercot calls it a “paradigm example” of council mythology: only 150 bishops, not called ecumenical until later, and the “Creed of Constantinople” may be absent from surviving council documents; what should this do to your trust in institutional memory, and how do you decide what deserves “irrevocable authority” when historical evidence is messy?
Another way to ask: If the Constantinople council later got treated as more important than the records seem to show, how should that affect your trust in church history and official memory? When the evidence is unclear, how do you decide what deserves permanent authority?

Direct Answer Bercot’s argument should make us cautious about granting “irrevocable authority” to institutional claims simply because they are traditional, since even basic facts about councils can be uncertain or retroactively elevated. When evidence is messy, the transcript pushes the reader back toward Scripture and the “faith once for all delivered” as the stable standard.

Support from Transcript:

  • He says Constantinople had only “150 bishops” and “hardly something you can call ecumenical,” since “every city, every town had a bishop.”
  • It “wasn’t even designated…as an ecumenical council until nearly a century after it had been held.”
  • He notes: “We have no surviving documents…that contains that Creed,” and there’s “no mention…until…Chalcedon in 451.”
  • Therefore the “Creed of Constantinople is quite possibly totally fraudulent,” meaning it “never was passed” there.
  • He calls the selection of “seven” councils “arbitrary,” with other councils between Nicaea and Constantinople being “shove[d]…under the rug” because decisions weren’t liked.
Discussion Follow-ups What kinds of authority claims require strong historical documentation, and which rely on Scriptural warrant? If councils are historically complicated, what safeguards keep you from either cynicism or blind trust?

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