---
title: "The Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, 680–681)"
description: "The Council confessed two natural wills and two energies in Christ, condemning Monothelitism."
url: "https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-council6"
language: "en"
---

Church history · 680–681

# The Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, 680–681)

The Council confessed two natural wills and two energies in Christ, condemning Monothelitism.

## Contents

1. [Causes](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-council6#s1)
2. [The confessors](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-council6#s2)
3. [Decisions](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-council6#s3)
4. [The Council in Trullo](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-council6#s4)

## Causes

In the 7th century, to reconcile the non-Chalcedonians, a doctrine of one energy (Monoenergism) and then of one will in Christ (Monothelitism) was proposed. It was backed by imperial decrees — the Ekthesis of Heraclius (638) and the Typos of Constans II (648).

## The confessors

St Maximus the Confessor (†662) and Pope Martin I of Rome (†655) opposed Monothelitism; both suffered for the faith and are venerated by the Church as confessors. The theology of St Maximus underlies the Council's decisions.

## Decisions

The Emperor Constantine IV convened the Council in Constantinople (680–681). It confessed in Christ two natural wills and two energies, divine and human; the human will does not oppose the divine but follows it. Supporters of Monothelitism were condemned, among them Patriarch Sergius and Pope Honorius.

## The Council in Trullo

In 691–692 a council in Constantinople adopted 102 canons of church discipline. The Orthodox Church regards it as completing the Fifth and Sixth Ecumenical Councils (the “Quinisext”); the Roman Church did not fully accept its canons.

## Related

- [The Ecumenical Councils](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-councils)
- [The Fifth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, 553)](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-council5)