What was the Council of Chalcedon—and why does it matter today? Held in 451 A.D., the Council of Chalcedon was the fourth ecumenical council of the early Church and a turning point in Christian theology. Convened by Emperor Marcian, it aimed to resolve heated debates about the nature of Jesus Christ—Was He fully God? Fully human? Or somehow both? The controversy centered around Monophysitism, a view taught by a monk named Eutyches, which claimed that Christ’s human nature was absorbed into his d