As I have come across the issue in conjunction with other issues, and I am again debating Mardukm on this elsewhere (yeah, suprise), and I hesitate to open another thread:
Question: when did Constantinople I become Ecumenical?
Apologists for the Vatican have claimed not until Chalcedon, intertwining it with other ultramontanist claims. I posit this as a Vatican versus the rest of us, as all the historical Churches, not only the Orthodox (both Eastern and Oriental), but also the Assyrian Church of the East, accept Constantinople I as Ecumenical, when it was held. And unfortunately us Eastern and Oriental Orthodox parted ways at Chalcedon and the ACoE perpetuate the split at Ephesus I, it would seem odd that although we all went our own ways before/at Chalcedon, yet we all have Constantinople I as a common patrimony.
To start, let us compare how the Fathers at Nicea wrote the Creed and how the Fathers at Constantinople sealed it. The following table juxtaposes the earlier (325 AD) and later (381 AD) forms of this Creed in the English translation given in Schaff's work, Creeds of Christendom, which indicates by [square brackets] the portions of the 325 text that were omitted or moved in 381, and uses italics to indicate what phrases, absent in the 325 text, were added in 381, and underlining where words have been transposed. I base myself on "An Introduction to the Creeds and to the Te Deum" by Andrew Ewbank Burn (who analyses the earliest reference, that of Eusebius' letter to Caesarea in Athanasius'
First Council of Nicea (325)
First Council of Constantinople (381)
Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν Πατέρα παντοκράτορα, πάντων ὁρατῶν τε και ἀοράτων
ποιητήν.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν Πατέρα παντοκράτορα,
ποιητὴν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, ὁρατῶν τε πάντων και ἀοράτων.
Και εἰς ἕνα κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ,
γεννηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς μονογενῆ, [τουτέστιν ἐκ τῆς ουσίας τοῦ πατρός,] θεὸν ἐκ θεοῦ, φῶς ἐκ φωτός, θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, γεννηθέντα, οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ πατρί
[We believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
begotten of the Father the only-begotten; [that is, of the essence of the Father,] God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all worlds (
æons), Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;
Και εἰς ἕνα κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ
τὸν μονογενῆ,
τὸν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς γεννηθέντα πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων, φῶς ἐκ φωτός, θεὸν ἀληθινὸν ἐκ θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, γεννηθέντα οὐ ποιηθέντα, ὁμοούσιον τῷ πατρί·
δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, [τά τε ἐν τῷ ούρανῳ καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς]
By whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth];
by whom all things were made;
δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο·
τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα καὶ σαρκωθέντα ενανθρωπήσαντα,
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate made man;
who for us men, and for our salvation, came down
from heaven, and was incarnate
by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man;
τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν κατελθόντα
ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ σαρκωθέντα
ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσαντα,
παθόντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τριτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς,
He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven;
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered,
and was buried, and the third day he rose again,
according to the Scriptures,
and ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
σταυρωθέντα τε ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου, καὶ παθόντα
καὶ ταφέντα, καὶ ἀναστάντα τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρα
κατὰ τὰς γραφάς,
καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς,
καὶ καθεζόμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ πατρόςἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς.
He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
from thence He shall come
again,
with glory, to judge the quick and the dead;
καὶ
πάλιν ἐρχόμενον
μετὰ δόξης κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς·
X
whose kingdom shall have no end.
οὗ τῆς βασιλείας οὐκ ἔσται τέλος.
Καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον.
And in the Holy Ghost.
And in the Holy Ghost,
the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.
Καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον,
τὸ κύριον, (καὶ) τὸ ζωοποιόν, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον, τὸ σὺν πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ συμπροσκυνούμενον καὶ συνδοξαζόμενον, τὸ λαλῆσαν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν.X
In one holy catholic and apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
εἰς μίαν, ἁγίαν, καθολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν· ὁμολογοῦμεν ἓν βάπτισμα εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν· προσδοκοῦμεν ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν, καὶ ζωὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος. Ἀμήν.
[Τοὺς δὲ λέγοντας, ἦν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν, ἢ οὐκ ἦν πρὶν γεννηθῆναι, ἢ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐγένετο, ἢ ἐξ ἑτέρας ὑποστάσεως ἢ οὐσίας φάσκοντας εἶναι, ἢ κτιστόν, ἢ τρεπτὸν ἢ ἀλλοιωτὸν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, τούτους ἀναθεματίζει ἡ καθολικὴ καὶ ἀποστολικὴ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκκλησία.]
[But those who say: 'There was a time when he was not;' or 'He was not before he was made;' or 'He was made out of nothing,' or 'He is of another substance' or 'essence,' or 'The Son of God is created,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable'—they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Church of God.]
X
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.iv.iii.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_creed#cite_ref-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_creed#cite_note-10http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.vii.iii.htmlhttp://books.google.com/books?id=g-wrAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PR11&dq=Bibliothek+der+Symbole+und+Glaubensregeln+der+Apostolisch-katholischen+Kirche,+Breslauhttp://books.google.com/books?id=zlovAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA61&dq=subject:%22Creeds%22+Walchhttp://books.google.com/books?id=HI5AAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA76&dq=An+introduction+to+the+creeds+and+to+the+Te+Deum+Decretishttp://books.google.com/books?id=xKAPAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0http://books.google.com/books?id=7iodOBlgvaYC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=Athanasius+de+decretis&source=bl&ots=RqoGUgpeEz&sig=h_4YSwG5TA6uuZY-Lx8gr3rw6FA&hl=en&ei=EWBASvfBPJK0Ndu7tV8&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4On a side note: does anyone know what happened to the Acts of the first two Ecumenical Councils? How is it that nothing of them remained?