Robber Synod of Ephesus

449. It is often called “Latrocinium,” a name derived from an expression in Pope Leo's letter to Empress Pulcheria where he described the synod as being non iudicium sed latrocinium. (Latrocinium = robber or band of robbers.) The purpose of this council, called by Theodosius II, was to consider the implications of the condemnation of Eutyches* at the Synod of Constantinople in 448. In fact, under the influence of the Monophysite Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexandria, the synod reinstated Eutyches and deposed his opponents. The papal legates who carried the famous Tome of Pope Leo were insulted. The decisions were reversed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.