COUNCIL, CHURCH:
throughout CHRISTIAN HISTORY Councils of the CHURCH have been held to
determine correct or ORTHODOX doctrine. The first recorded Council of Church leaders was
held in JERUSALEM around 48 A.D. to discuss the admission of GENTILE converts into the
Christian community. All Christians recognize four ECUMENICAL Councils: NICENE (325 A.D.);
CONSTANTINOPLE (381 A.D.); EPHESUS (431 A.D.); and CHALCEDON (451 A.D.). The ROMAN
CATHOLIC CHURCH claims a total of twenty-one Councils while other Churches count them
differently. REFORMATION meetings which produced such documents as the AUGSBURG
CONFESSION; BELGIC CONFESSION; WESTMINSTER CONFESSION; and the CANON OF DORT were, in
effect, PROTESTANT Councils. Similarly the ORTHODOX Churches recognize a number of
Councils of their own such as the COUNCIL of TRULLAN (692 A.D.).
