Council · 680 · 7 November

Third Council of Constantinople

A new compromise tried to end old arguments about Jesus: perhaps he had both a divine and a human nature, but only one will. Maximus the Confessor objected. If Jesus did not take on a real human will, he argued, then human willing had not been healed. The council agreed after Maximus' death: Jesus has both a divine will and a human will, united without conflict in one person.

Miniature from the Manasses Chronicle depicting an imperial council. — The sixth council vindicated the claim that Christ has both a divine and human will. via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

At a glance

Type: Council
Date remembered: 7 November, AD 680
What kind of event is this?: A council or settlement that changed the church's public teaching, discipline, or historical direction.
Key line: Christ has two wills because he is fully God and fully human.

Highlights

The one-will compromise was condemned.
Maximus was vindicated.
Jesus was said to have both a human and divine will.
The council built on Chalcedon's teaching.

How it happened

What happened

The council condemned Monothelitism after decades of imperial attempts to use it as a compromise formula.

The argument

Does Christ have one will or two? Maximus argued that a complete human nature includes a human will.

What changed

The council confessed two wills in Christ, divine and human, united without opposition.

Why it matters

It completed Chalcedonian logic: what Christ does not assume, he does not heal.

Aftermath

Maximus, who had been mutilated and exiled for the doctrine, was vindicated after death.

People in the story

Maximus the Confessorc. 580 – 662Greek monk and the principal theological opponent of Monothelitism. Defended two wills (divine and human) in Christ. Tried, mutilated (tongue and right hand cut off), and exiled by Constans II. Major systematizer of Greek patristic theology; deep influence on John of Damascus and later Byzantine theology.