Third Council of Constantinople (680–681)

On September 16, 681, the Third Council of Constantinople adjourned, concluding the Sixth Ecumenical Council in the imperial city of Constantinople. Convened under Emperor Constantine IV, the bishops met with sober determination to confess the truth about Jesus Christ in language clear enough to guard worship, preaching, and salvation itself. Their final definition declared that the one Lord Jesus Christ is one Person in two natures, possessing two natural wills and two operations—human and divine—perfectly united without division or confusion, and without inner rivalry.

Condemning Monothelitism

The council rejected Monothelitism, the claim that Christ had only one will. This was not a mere technical dispute. If the Son did not assume a true human will, then He did not redeem human obedience from the inside. The gospel announces more than God’s power; it proclaims the Son’s real submission as man, offered for us. In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Such words are not a drama acted out by a merely divine will, but the holy obedience of the incarnate Son.

Figures, Courage, and Cost

In an act of moral clarity, the council corrected error even when it had been promoted by prominent leaders. Patriarch Macarius of Antioch was condemned for persisting in the one-will teaching. Earlier advocates of the doctrine were also named, including Sergius of Constantinople, Cyrus of Alexandria, and even Honorius I of Rome, condemned for aiding confusion through negligence. The council’s firmness echoed the costly witness of saints like Maximus the Confessor, who had suffered exile, mutilation, and death for defending the confession now vindicated.

Lasting Significance

By affirming two wills in the one Christ, the council protected the comfort of believers: our Savior truly entered our condition and truly obeyed in our place. “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). The call that followed was simple and enduring: hold fast to the whole Christ—and, in Him, learn faithful submission, courageous truth-telling, and steadfast hope.