A Catholic Clergy Perspective: The Fourth Ecumenical Council – The Council of Chalcedon by Father Glenn Baaten

Friday, October 2, 2026

The Fourth Ecumenical Council – The Council of Chalcedon by Father Glenn Baaten

Dear friends in Christ,

We are now halfway through our consideration of the great Councils of the undivided Church during the first millennium. In our very first article, we were introduced to what are commonly referred to as the Seven Ecumenical Councils, and in subsequent articles, we reflected upon the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus. In this article, we will delve into the fourth of these gatherings: the Council of Chalcedon (pronounced kal-SEE-don). The Council was held in 451 AD, which today is located in the district of Kaldikoy, in Istanbul, Turkey.

As with the preceding Councils, the principal theological consideration at Chalcedon was Christological—concerning the Person of Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man. (You may recall that in our consideration of the Council of Constantinople, the full divinity of the Holy Spirit was also affirmed.) The Council of Chalcedon sought to further clarify how Christ's divinity and humanity are united in His one Person.

At the heart of the controversy addressed by Chalcedon was the relationship between Christ's divine and human natures. How can Jesus Christ be truly God and truly man without His divinity and humanity being either confused or separated?

The Council responded by affirming several essential truths:

· Christ is one Person. Against any teaching that divided Christ into separate subjects, the Council affirmed the complete unity of the Person of Jesus Christ. His divine and human natures do not make Him two separate individuals.

· Christ possesses two distinct natures. His divinity and humanity are neither confused nor changed into something else; Christ remains fully God and fully man.

· Christ's two natures are united in one Person and one hypostasis. The divine and human natures are united without being mixed, changed, divided, or separated. This is commonly referred to as the hypostatic union.

The Council produced and promulgated what is known as the Chalcedonian Definition. In describing the mystery of the Incarnation, the Definition teaches that Christ is to be acknowledged “in two natures,” united in one Person and one hypostasis. In this way, the Council sought to safeguard both the full divinity and the full humanity of Christ, preserving the mystery of the Incarnation.

Getting Theological: The Hypostatic Union

To get a bit more technical, the term hypostatic union (the unified subsistence of divine and human attributes) was articulated by the Council to explain the doctrine that Jesus Christ is simultaneously fully God and fully man. He unites two complete and distinct natures—one divine and one human—in a single person.

In short: One Person, Two Natures. Jesus is not two separate individuals, nor is He a hybrid third nature. He is one unified identity who possesses all the attributes of true deity and true humanity completely and simultaneously.

The Impact and Reception of Chalcedon

While the Seven Ecumenical Councils are traditionally understood as expressions of the faith of the undivided Church of the first millennium, the reception of Chalcedon was not universal. A number of ancient Christian communities did not accept the Council's Definition and came to be known as non-Chalcedonian—or, more commonly today, the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Among these are the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in India, along with other Oriental Orthodox communities. These Churches rejected the Chalcedonian Definition because they understood its terminology differently from the Byzantine and Western Churches, preferring formulations that emphasized the absolute unity of Christ's nature after the Incarnation. They historically emphasized the formula of “one incarnate nature of God the Word made flesh.”

Modern theological dialogues have shown that these historical differences are far more nuanced than terminology alone suggests. Recent discussions between ancient traditions have found substantial agreement in their shared confession of Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man, even while differences remain concerning terminology and historical interpretation. And, thanks be to God, the Diocese of Orange is actively engaged in ecumenical dialogue not only with our Eastern Orthodox neighbors (who affirm Chalcedon), but also with our Oriental Orthodox brethren who remain non-Chalcedonian. Along with Fr. Al Baca, I am blessed to be part of that ongoing discussion.

The Council of Chalcedon stands as a pivotal milestone in the Church's ongoing effort to faithfully proclaim the mystery of Jesus Christ: one Person, truly God and truly man.

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Bishop Kevin W. Vann, JCD, DD, D MIN

He was ordained on May 30, 1981, and was assigned to graduate studies in canon law at the Angelicum in Rome, with residence at the graduate house of the North American College, the Casa Santa Maria dell’ Umilta. Pope Leo XIV, when a priest, also attended these classes at the same time. Upon returning to the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, Father Vann participated in the work of the Diocesan Tribunal and the Tribunal of Second Instance in Chicago. He served as pastor of parishes ranging in size from 35 to 1,300 families, two which had large schools. He taught canon law at Kenrick Seminary. Before he was named bishop, he was pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, Vicar for Priests and the Diocesan contact for Hispanic Ministry. Bishop Vann was ordained and installed as the third bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Forth Worth, Texas, on July 13, 2005, at Texas Christian University’s Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. In Texas, he collaborated closely with other bishops through the Texas Catholic Conference and Region X, which includes dioceses of States of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. He is the former Texas Bishops’ Liaison to the Texas Mission Council and Texas Catholic hospitals. And, through the U.S. Conference of Bishops, Bishop Vann was a leader in the Texas Conference of Bishops, providing leadership for various initiatives at the national level, including service on ad hoc committee which assisted the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to guide the incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church of the United States. On September 21, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced Bishop Vann’s appointment as the fourth bishop of Orange, the 11th largest diocese in the country and the second-largest west of the Mississippi with 1.3 million multicultural Catholics. He continues to lead the historic effort to transform the former Crystal Cathedral from a world-renowned center of Protestant worship into the West Coast’s most visible center of Catholicism.

Father Glenn Baaten

A priest of the ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a community with the Catholic Church made up of former Anglicans and Episcopalians. He Currently serves as Parish Administrator of St. John Henry Newman Catholic Church in Irvine and as Chaplain of Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado. His ministry within the Diocese of Orange, California, is a collaborative appointment by Bishop Steven Lopes and Bishop Kevin Vann. Fr. Glenn was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on June 24, 2016, the Feast of St. John the Baptist. His journey to the Catholic Church followed years of faithful ministry in Protestant communities. He was ordained a Presbyterian pastor in 1998 and served a PCUSA parish in Cincinnati, Ohio. After returning to California in 2010, he discerned a call to Anglican ministry and was ordained in the Church of England tradition in 2013. He relinquished his Anglican holy orders and, after catechesis, was received into the Church on Christmas eve of that year. Fr. Glenn has been married to Cathy for 42 years. They are the blessed parents of two adult children and grandparents of three. His ministry is marked by a strong commitment to evangelization, Christian unity and sacred beauty of the liturgy. As a follower of Christ these many past decades – most especially as a priest – Fr. Glenn is committed to sharing the grace and love of Jesus to all and living the depth of that faith in the fulness of the Catholic Church.

Deacon Jim Merle

Deacon Jim was ordained 20 years ago on April 30, 2005, and lives in Southern California where he has served the Catholic Church on parish, diocesan and national levels. He periodically writes Pastoral Letters for church bulletins, as well as articles for the Diaconate community’s “Bowl & Towel” and the diocesan newspaper in addition to “A Catholic Deacon’s Perspective,” recently renamed “A Catholic Clergy’s Perspective” with the addition of Bishop Kevin W. Vann and Fr. Glenn Baaten as periodic writers. On the parish level he has served at three parishes involved in helping with Sacramental training, Faith Formation and annulments. His diocesan involvements include a six-year term on the Diaconate Personnel Board, a founding committee member of the God’s Servants Committee (an educational component of quarterly meetings for active deacons), as a Master of Ceremonies at Confirmations, ordinations, installations and other ceremonies, an Advanced Master Catechist Certification to teach theological and certification classes and recently was selected to head up a Deanery Council of Deacons and their wives to support their ordination faculties and activities in each of the seven deaneries. On a local and national level, he coordinated the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) diocesan board for 14 years. CCHD is the domestic social justice arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) which distribute parishioner’s donations for non-profit organizations to empower the impoverished, marginalized and disenfranchised who have social justice needs. In his early career he was a writer/reporter for a well-known Chicago newspaper, as well as owning a public relations/advertising firm. He is now semi-retired and works parttime in two professional practices he owns. On a personal note, he is married 57 years, helped rear four children with his wife, a grandfather to 10 grandchildren and a great grandfather to six great grandchildren.

BLOG INTRODUCTION

Scripture is like the eyes into God’s soul. Whether from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) or the New Testament, we can garner, as best we can, who God is (what He feels and how He thinks in human terms). The original and current purpose of this blog, which began in 2019, is to take a three-year cycle of A, B and C Gospels and readings from each Sunday and provide a perspective as it pertains to our current lives as seen through the eyes of a Catholic clergy who serve Catholics in words and deeds per their ordination. Since completing the three-year cycles, it has been expanded to investigate the areas of Commentaries, Scripture and Theology. It is because of that the blog will now have writings from Bishop Kevin Vann, Ordinary of the Diocese of Orange, California, Father Glenn Baaten, a former Anglican priest, ordained into the Roman Catholic Church as a priest, and Deacon Jim Merle, who recently celebrated his 20th year ordination and started this blog. Bishop Vann and Father Glenn will author articles on a periodic basis based upon the time they have to devote to the blog. Deacon Jim will continue to offer weekly articles, still based on the three-year cycle along with various current events that challenge us to balance our humanity with our spiritual lives. The hope is that you, our subscribers, will see this as something of value to help you grow closer to the Lord.