Schism Councils

The Schism Councils or Councils of Reconciliation were a series of Grand Convocations of ex-Covenant ecclesiastic and military leadership during the Great Schism, convened in the wake of the Fall of High Charity with the goal of resolving the ongoing political and religious crisis. They formed the basis for the Concord of Reconciliation and the various reforms it introduced to Covenant doctrine and institutions. The Councils were largely facilitated by the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam in coordination with the Strewn Shore and other scattered elements of surviving Covenant institutions sympathetic to the Schismatics, and cemented the Concord's role as the principal binding force within the Covenant Sphere in the post-Human-Covenant War decades.

The Councils had a major effect on the cultural and political climate of the Holy Ecumene in the wake of High Charity's fall. Among the most prominent rulings to come from these convocations were the declaration of the High Prophet of Truth and the last Hierarch triumvirate, along with all their decrees and doctrines, as illegitimate and void. This meant, among other things, the reversal of the reforms instilled by the Prophet of Truth, including the elevation of the Jiralhanae to replace the Sangheili, and the cessation of the holy war on Humanity, which was announced to have been declared under false pretenses and in violation of various laws, including the Proscription Against Particular Revelation. The Councils' influence, particularly that of the first two, extended beyond the boundaries of the Concord itself, resonating in discourse and practice throughout the entire Covenant collective.

Not all within the Covenant Sphere accepted the Schism Councils as legitimate. The Councils were a Schismatic project from the start, and enjoyed no widespread acceptance among the Jiralhanae, whereas the remaining San'Shyuum were split on them largely depending on their prior leanings and current predicament. The ongoing Great Schism was enough to keep most of the Sangheili unified against the Loyalist threat for the first two decades, but further reforms pushed through in the Councils would come to cause disagreements and splintering in the later years. The most notable of these "sub-schisms" occurred in the so-called Council of Disharmony in 2567, the True Communion declared itself independent of the Concord of Reconciliation over irreconcilable doctrinal differences.