diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Container.php b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Container.php
index 63b8d79a853f..d8d08cd52e1b 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Container.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/DependencyInjection/Container.php
@@ -93,8 +93,6 @@ public function __construct(ParameterBagInterface $parameterBag = null)
         $this->scopeChildren  = array();
         $this->scopedServices = array();
         $this->scopeStacks    = array();
-
-        $this->set('service_container', $this);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -204,6 +202,12 @@ public function set($id, $service, $scope = self::SCOPE_CONTAINER)
 
         $id = strtolower($id);
 
+        if ('service_container' === $id) {
+            // BC: 'service_container' is no longer a self-reference but always
+            // $this, so ignore this call.
+            // @todo Throw InvalidArgumentException in next major release.
+            return;
+        }
         if (self::SCOPE_CONTAINER !== $scope) {
             if (!isset($this->scopedServices[$scope])) {
                 throw new RuntimeException(sprintf('You cannot set service "%s" of inactive scope.', $id));
@@ -240,6 +244,10 @@ public function has($id)
     {
         $id = strtolower($id);
 
+        if ('service_container' === $id) {
+            return true;
+        }
+
         return isset($this->services[$id])
             || array_key_exists($id, $this->services)
             || isset($this->aliases[$id])
@@ -276,6 +284,9 @@ public function get($id, $invalidBehavior = self::EXCEPTION_ON_INVALID_REFERENCE
             if ($strtolower) {
                 $id = strtolower($id);
             }
+            if ('service_container' === $id) {
+                return $this;
+            }
             if (isset($this->aliases[$id])) {
                 $id = $this->aliases[$id];
             }
@@ -347,6 +358,12 @@ public function initialized($id)
     {
         $id = strtolower($id);
 
+        if ('service_container' === $id) {
+            // BC: 'service_container' was a synthetic service previously.
+            // @todo Change to false in next major release.
+            return true;
+        }
+
         return isset($this->services[$id]) || array_key_exists($id, $this->services);
     }
 
@@ -364,6 +381,7 @@ public function getServiceIds()
                 $ids[] = self::underscore($match[1]);
             }
         }
+        $ids[] = 'service_container';
 
         return array_unique(array_merge($ids, array_keys($this->services)));
     }