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*''During the 50 years prior to the meeting of the sixth Council, [[Byzantium ]] saw a sudden development in the rise of [[Islam]]. Islam's speed was striking, starting with only Hejaz at the Prophet's death (632) and ending with Syria, Palestine and Egypt within the 50 years. Islam was at the walls of Constantinople after this time, and almost captured the city. Within a hundred years, Islam had taken North Africa, went through Spain and "forced western Europe to fight for its life at the Battle of Poitiers." The old Empires were in no position to resist the conquests of Islam. Byzantium lost her eastern possessions and the [[Patriarchate]]s of Jerusalem, Antioch and Alexandria. Constantinople was now without rival, but was never free from Muslim attacks. It held out only eight centuries more, and then succumbed to invasion. Christendom did survive, but only with difficulty.''
==Commemoration ==
The '''Holy Fathers of the Sixth Ecumenical Council''' are commemorated on [[January 23]] and also on the 9th Sunday after [[Pentecost]] the [[Sunday of the Fathers of the First Six Councils]].
