Q. Did the council of Constantinople (754 A.D.) advocate the Roman dogma of transubstantiation?
The Council of Constantinople (754 A.D.):
The only admissible figure of the humanity of Christ, however, is bread and wine in the holy Supper. This and no other form, this and no other type, has he chosen to represent his incarnation. Bread he ordered to be brought, but not a representation of the human form, so that idolatry might not arise. And as the body of Christ is made divine, so also this figure of the body of Christ, the bread, is made divine by the descent of the Holy Spirit; it becomes the divine body of Christ by the mediation of the priest who, separating the oblation from that which is common, sanctifies it.
(Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. 14, Epitome of the Definition of the Iconoclastic Conciliabulum held in Constantinople, (A.D. 754.), The Definition of the Holy, Great, and Ecumenical Seventh Synod). Here
Note: The purpose of this council was to condemn the use of icons (images) in worship. According to the council the only acceptable icon (image) is the bread and wine. With the obvious implication being that they are images and not the carnal flesh and blood of the Lord.
Note: When the pronouncements of this council were later "overturned," no objection was ever made to the bread and wine being counted as icons (images), rather the focus was on the permissibility of other icons (images) in worship.
The divine Kings Constantine and Leo said: Let the holy and ecumenical synod say, if with the consent of all the most holy bishops the definition just read has been set forth.
The holy synod cried out: Thus we all believe, we all are of the same mind. We have all with one voice and voluntarily subscribed. This is the faith of the Apostles. Many years to the Emperors! They are the light of orthodoxy! Many years to the orthodox Emperors! God preserve your Empire! You have now more firmly proclaimed the inseparability of the two natures of Christ! You have banished all idolatry! You have destroyed the heresies of Germanus [of Constantinople], George and Mansur [mansour, John Damascene]. Anathema to Germanus, the double-minded, and worshipper of wood! Anathema to George, his associate, to the falsifier of the doctrine of the Fathers! Anathema to Mansur, who has an evil name and Saracen opinions! To the betrayer of Christ and the enemy of the Empire, to the teacher of impiety, the perverter of Scripture, Mansur, anathema! The Trinity has deposed these three!
(Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. 14, Epitome of the Definition of the Iconoclastic Conciliabulum held in Constantinople, (A.D. 754.), The Definition of the Holy, Great, and Ecumenical Seventh Synod). Here
(19) If anyone does not accept this our Holy and Ecumenical Seventh Synod, let him be anathema from the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, and from the seven holy Ecumenical Synods!
(Philip Schaff, NPNF2, Vol. 14, Epitome of the Definition of the Iconoclastic Conciliabulum held in Constantinople, (A.D. 754.), The Definition of the Holy, Great, and Ecumenical Seventh Synod). Here
~ Soli Deo Gloria
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