Councils: Formal assemblies for religious purposes.

Buddhism

According to tradition three important councils were held in the early centuries after the passing away of the Buddha. There is considerable uncertainty surrounding the date, location, deliberations, and conclusions of these councils, and while the traditional account may be accepted as reliable in some respects it should not be regarded as historically accurate in all.

The First Council is reported to have been held at Rājagriha in the year of the Buddha's death (486 BCE) with the objective of establishing the canon or at least two or its three divisions or ‘baskets’ (tripiṭaka).

The Second Council took place 100 or 110 years after the first and was held at Vaiśālī. It arose out of a dispute concerning monastic practices, and in particular the handling of money by monks.

The Third Council at Pāṭaliputra in 250 BCE is the most important of the three and resulted in the ‘Great Schism’ between the ‘Elders’ (Sthaviras) and the ‘Great Assembly’ (Mahāsāṃghikas), which was to have a profound effect upon the later tradition.

Christianity

A council is a formal assembly of bishops and representatives of churches for determining doctrine or discipline. Local councils, as of provinces or patriarchates, are more usually called synods. The meeting described in Acts 15 is traditionally the first council. General, or ecumenical, councils are those made up of bishops and other representatives from the whole world; but the term refers specifically to those seven whose decisions have been taken to represent a true consensus and to be authoritative. These are, with dates: 1. Nicaea I (325) 2. Constantinople I (381) 3. Ephesus (431) 4. Chalcedon (451) 5. Constantinople II (553) 6. Constantinople III (680–1) 7. Nicaea II (787): see ICONOCLASM.

councils Porcius Festus became procurator of Judaea in 59 CE and confronted Paul, a prisoner at Caesarea; after consulting his advisory council he confirmed Paul's appeal to Caesar. Paul's trials follow what was predicted in the apocalyptic chapter of the synoptic gospels (e.g. Luke 21: 12, following Mark 13: 9)—the warning that disciples will be handed over to councils.

The meeting between leaders of the Church of Jerusalem and delegates from Antioch led by Paul and Barnabas described in Acts 15 is often referred to as the Council of Jerusalem. At it a compromise was reached between Jewish Christians and those spearheading the successful mission to the Gentiles. The former feared for moral standards if Gentiles flooded into the Church without any obligations to keep the Jewish Law; the latter insisted that the Holy Spirit was being given to Gentiles without their first becoming Jews (by circumcision). James the Lord's brother, presiding, suggested a compromise: no compulsory circumcisions before admission to the Church, but Jewish food laws should be respected in order to ensure a common table-fellowship at meals.

There is doubt whether this harmonious Council took place. Clearly Luke, author of the Acts, was anxious to portray the Church as an institution of reconciliation and peace and he may have given an imaginative account of a meeting also mentioned by Paul (Gal. 2: 2 ff.) which took place privately at Jerusalem and where the discussion was evidently heated. Moreover, it is odd that Paul never has a word about the decree (Acts 15: 20) which, if it had existed, he had only to quote to settle some of his disputes.