The Living Tradition An Orthodox Archive of the Church Fathers and Early Church

The seven ecumenical councils — lesson 5

Council 4: Chalcedon, 451

Two natures in one person, and a division that has lasted fifteen centuries.

  • Dogmatic definitionDefined by an ecumenical council or otherwise confessed by the Church as binding doctrine. Not every sentence a council wrote is a definition: its acts, letters and disciplinary canons are different things.
  • Historical consensusBroadly agreed among historians working from the surviving evidence. Consensus can shift when the evidence or the method changes.

Primary evidence verified Content last reviewed 2026-08-29

What still needs checking (1)
  • Confirm the Orthodox catechetical presentation of this council against the OCA's The Orthodox Faith.

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What this lesson covers

  • State the Chalcedonian definition.
  • Describe the division that followed and the modern dialogue.

About 6 minutes to read.

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Chalcedon confessed one and the same Christ, made known in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation, the property of each nature preserved and concurring into one person and one hypostasis.

It received the Tome of Leo after testing it against Cyril's letters, deposed Dioscorus of Alexandria for his conduct at the council of 449, and issued thirty canons — the largest body of disciplinary law from any of the first four councils.

It was not received in large parts of Egypt, Syria and Armenia. That division is the oldest continuing separation in the Christian East. The churches concerned reject Eutyches and generally describe themselves as miaphysite rather than by the older polemical term.

Modern dialogue between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox has produced agreed statements finding a large measure of common faith. Those statements have not been received by every autocephalous church, and the churches are not in communion. This site does not present the question as settled in either direction.

Key Scripture

  • Hebrews 2:14-17 — He shared in flesh and blood, made like his brethren in every respect.
  • Philippians 2:5-11 — The form of God and the form of a servant.

On Scripture references. References are given so you can read the passage in the translation your parish uses. This site does not reproduce a modern copyrighted Bible text.

Council and canon connections

  • The full guide, with the council's own documents, is at Chalcedon, 451.

Why this matters in lived Orthodoxy

Chalcedon's vocabulary is what Orthodox Christians use whenever they speak carefully about Christ, and its four adverbs are the boundary markers within which Orthodox hymnography works.

Review

What are Chalcedon's four adverbs?
Without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.
What is the current state of the Chalcedonian division?
Modern dialogue has found substantial agreement in faith; the agreed statements are not universally received and the churches are not in communion.

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Going deeper

Sources for this page

  1. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) The Definition of Faith of the Council of Chalcedon; The Tome of St. Leo; Canons I-XXX annotated edition of conciliar texts Source record

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