680-681 · Constantinople (modern Istanbul), Turkey

Third Council of Constantinople

The sixth ecumenical council ended the Monothelite controversy by declaring that Christ has two wills — divine and human — and condemned a pope for heresy in the process.

The question sounds abstract: did Christ have one will or two? But it was actually a straightforward extension of everything the Church had been fighting about for centuries. If Christ has two natures, divine and human, does he also have two wills? Or does the divine will simply absorb the human one? Monothelites said one will. The problem was that a Christ with no real human will does not seem fully human. If his human nature lacked its own will, the Incarnation starts to look incomplete. The issue had political urgency because the emperors wanted a formula that would satisfy both Chalcedonian and anti-Chalcedonian Christians. Monothelitism was a compromise attempt: accept two natures but only one will. Pope Honorius I had seemed to endorse the Monothelite position in letters during the 630s, though scholars still argue about exactly what he meant. In 680-681, Emperor Constantine IV convened the council, which declared firmly that Christ has two wills, divine and human, working in harmony without conflict. Then the council did something unusual: it condemned Pope Honorius by name as a heretic. This became one of the most cited episodes in later debates about papal infallibility. Supporters of infallibility argue that Honorius was speaking as a private theologian, not making an ex cathedra definition. Critics say it shows that even popes can get important things wrong. Either way, the council settled the Christological question decisively.

Why it matters

Defined that Christ has two wills (divine and human) and condemned Monothelitism, while also condemning Pope Honorius — a fact later central to debates about papal infallibility.