SWB's History of the Medieval World: Chapter 16 Response Question

5. What was the "Robber Council"? What was the result of the Robber Council?

The Robber Council was a sudden church council that took place in Ephesus in 449 AD. Dioscorus, the bishop of Alexandria at the time, called this for one major reason: to climb the political and religious ladders of power in the Christian world. His main competor, Leo, bishop of Rome, differed on one theological idea, Dioscorus used this to try to turn other religious figures against him. Both Leo and Dioscorus believe in "Monophysitism", the idea that God and Christ were of one nature, being both divine and human. Dioscorus, however, believes in a more extreme version which also says that Christ was of two natures until the moment of incarnation, strongly implying that Christ was not as much human as he was God. This view is considered common heresy at this time. By calling this council, Dioscorus tries to convince as many religious leaders as he could to condemn Leo's version of Monophysitism, and promoting his own as orthodoxy. He went as far as to pressure these various religious figures to sign blank pages, filling in the theological agreements retrospectively. For these reasons, this "council" was termed the Robber Council, also called Latrocinium, due to its deceptive nature, and his council then, is considered illegitimate. This leads to a trail of liberal excommunications, starting with Dioscorus, enraged by his council being deemed illegitimate. He tries to excommunicate both the bishops of Constantinople and Rome, another final attempt to transfer power to his own seat in Alexandria. As these harsh internal struggles play out, these cities receivied many threats from the Huns externally.