THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON, 451AD

Miracle during the Council of Chalcedon

The Fourth Ecumenical Council convened in the city of Chalcedon in the year 451. The 630 delegates gathered in the church of Saint Euphemia where her holy relics were housed. The council repudiated the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism, and set forth the Chalcedonian Creed, which describes the "full humanity and full divinity" of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

Both the Monophysite and Orthodox parties were well-represented at the council, so the meetings were quite contentious, and no decisive consensus could be reached. The holy Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople proposed that the Council submit the decision of the Church dispute to the Holy Spirit, through His undoubted bearer St. Euphemia the All-Praised. The Orthodox hierarchs and their opponents wrote down their confessions of faith on separate scrolls and sealed them with their seals. They opened the tomb of the saint and placed both scrolls upon her bosom. Then, in the presence of the emperor Marcian (450-457), the participants of the Council sealed the tomb, putting on it the imperial seal and setting a guard to watch over it for three days. During these days both sides imposed upon themselves strict fasting and prayer. After three days the patriarch and the emperor, in the presence of the Council, opened the tomb and found the scroll with the Orthodox confession was held by St Euphemia in her right hand, while the scroll of the heretics lay at her feet. St. Euphemia, as though alive, raised her hand and gave the scroll to the patriarch. As a result of this miracle, many of the heretics accepted the Orthodox confession, while those remaining obstinant in their heresy were consigned to the Council's condemnation and excommunication.

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