The Definition of Faith of the Council of Chalcedon, Extracts from the Acts — Session VI.,. Excursus on the Genuineness of the Acts of the Fifth Council, Extracts from the Acts — Session I.,.
The First Canonical Epistle of Our Holy Father Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, to Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, The
Gregory, Archbishop of Neocaesarea, whois called Thaumaturgus, Concerning them that During the Incursion of is called Thaumaturgus, Concerning them that During the Incursion of the Barbarians Ate of Things offered to Idols, and Committed Certain Other Sins,. The First Canonical Epistle of Our Holy Father Basil, Archbishop ofCaesarea in Cappadocia, to Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, The.
The Prosphonesus of Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, when the Holy Epiphanies Happened to Fall on a Sunday, The Commonitory of
The Encyclical Letter of Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and of the Holy Synod met with Him to all the Holy Metropolitans, and
PREFACE
And with regard to the translation my responsibility goes no further than the certifying the reader that, to all intents and purposes, the meaning of the original is presented to him in the English language and without. I have therefore carefully restricted my own historical introductions to a bare statement of such facts as seemed needed to render the meaning of the matter.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
- METHOD OF TREATMENT
- CONCERNING ECUMENICAL COUNCILS IN GENERAL A N Ecumenical Synod may be defined as a synod the decrees of which
- The First Council of Nice passed a canon in which placed some at least of the Roman rights are evidently looked upon as being exactly on the
- The Second Ecumenical Council was called together by the Emperor without the knowledge of the Roman Pontiff. Nor was he invited to be
- Before the third of the Ecumenical Synods was called to meet, Pope Celestine had already convicted Nestorius of heresy and deposed and
- The Council of Chalcedon refused to consider the Eutychian matter as settled by Rome’s decision or to accept Leo’s Tome without examination
- The fifth of the Ecumenical Synods refused to receive any written doctrinal communication from the then pope (Vigilius), took his name
- The Third Council of Constantinople, the sixth of the Ecumenical Synods, excommunicated Pope Honorius, who had been dead for years,
- It is certain that the Pope had nothing to do with the calling of the Seventh Synod, and quite possible that it was presided over by Tarasius
- THE NUMBER OF THE ECUMENICAL SYNODS
- PART 1
- Hermant, Histoire des Conciles, Rouen 1730, four volumes, 8vo
- Alletz, Concilien-Lexikon, translated from French into German by Father Maurus Disch, a Benedictine and professor at Augsburg, 1843
- Christian Lupus, Synodorum generalium ac provincialium decreta et canones, scholiis, notis ac historia actorum dissertatione illustrata, Louv.,
- Van Espen, Tractatus Historicus exhibens scholia in omnes canones conciliorum, etc., in his complete works
- Barth. Caranza has written a very complete and useful abstract of the acts of the councils in his Summa Conciliorum, which has often been
- Francis Salmon, Doctor and Librarian of the Sorbonne, has published an Introduction to the Study of the Councils, in his Traite de l’Etude des
- Denziger, Enchiridion Symbolorum et Definitionum quae de rebus fidei et morum a Coniliis Ecumenicis et Summis Pontificibus emanarunt. A
The Canons of the Council of Constantinople called the First-and-Second [in the time of Photius]. The Canons of the Council held in the Temple of Wisdom [which confirmed the Seventh Ecumenical Synod].
APPENDED NOTE ON THE EASTERN EDITIONS
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF THE PRINTED EDITIONS
OF THE CANONS OF THE APOSTLES AND OF THE COUNCILS IN THE SLAVONIC
AND RUSSIAN LANGUAGES
- The earliest printed edition of the afore-mentioned canons appeared in the Slavonic (=phda>lion), the printing of which was commenced at
- In the printed “Kormchaja” the canons are set forth, not in their full text, but in a shortened from which sometimes gives but a very insufficient
- The “Book of Canons” by no means represent an authorized textus receptus, and after its publication, the Holy Synod itself not unfrequently
- The only Russian translation of the canons which exists is contained in the publications of the Ecclesiastical Academy of Kazan: (a) “The Acts of
Enlightenment,” the “programme” of the edition itself was printed (pages 79-90 in the section devoted to bibliography). Greek text of the canons follows the edition Su>ntagma tw~n qei>wn kai<.
EXCURSUS ON THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN LAW AND ITS RELATION TO THE CANON LAW
EXCURSUS ON THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN LAW AND ITS RELATION TO THE CANON LAW. I pass now to the history of the growth of the canon law in the West.
THE FIRST
ECUMENICAL COUNCIL
THE FIRST COUNCIL OF NICE
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
THE NICENE CREED
NOTES
We believe also in the Holy Ghost We believe that each of these three is and subsists;. Go and teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
EXCURSUS ON THE WORD HOMOUSIOS
If then Athanasius who read gennhto<v kai< ajge>nnhtov in Ignatius, there is absolutely no authority for the. In the Casatensian copy of the MS., a marginal note is added, ajnagnwste>on ajge>nhtov tou~t e]sti mh< poihqei>v.
THE CANONS OF THE 318 HOLY FATHERS
ASSEMBLED IN THE CITY OF NICE, IN BITHYNIA
The feeling that one devoted to the sacred ministry should be unmutilated was strong in the Ancient Church. If anyone shall anywhere in the Roman Empire after this decree make eunuchs, he shall be punished with death.
EXCURSUS ON THE USE OF THE WORD
The Nicene fathers in this canon make no new enactment but only confirm by the authority of an Ecumenical synod the Apostolic Canons, and this is evident from the wording of this canon. For there can be no doubt that they had in mind some earlier canon when they said, “such men the canon admits to the clergy.” Not, ou=tov oJ kanw<n but oJ kanw<n as if they had said “the formerly set forth and well-known canon” admits such to the clergy.
CANON.”
It decided (a) that a single bishop of the province was not sufficient for the appointment of another; (b) three at least should meet, and (c) they were not to proceed to election without the written permission of the absent bishops; it was necessary (d) to obtain afterward the approval of the metropolitan. If any be a bishop contrary to the judgment of the Metropolitan, let him be no. The sense of the first words of the canon is as follows: “This ancient right is assigned to the Bishop of Alexandria which places under his jurisdiction.
EXCURSUS ON
THE EXTENT OF THE JURISDICTION OF THE BISHOP OF ROME
OVER THE SUBURBICAN CHURCHES
Hefele thinks that Phillips “has proved” that the Bishop of Rome had patriarchal rights over places outside the limits of the ten provinces of the vicarius urbis; but does not agree with Phillips in thinking Rufinus in error. As a matter of fact the point is a difficult one, and has little to do with the gist of the meaning of the canon. Let the Bishop of Aelia be honored, the rights of the Metropolis being preserved intact.
THE RISE OF THE PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM
The difficulty presented by the Nicene canon does not appear to have presented itself to the council, nor was any one found to urge the undoubted claims of the see of Caesarea. Wheresoever, then, whether in villages or in cities, all of the ordained are found to be of these only, let them remain in the clergy, and in the same rank in which they are found. At the time of the Council of Nice the Novatian bishop at Constantinople, Acesius, was greatly esteemed, and although a.
EXCURSUS ON THE CHOREPISCOPI
They had also the honorary privilege (pimw>menoi) of assisting at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in the mother city church, which country presbyters had not (Conc. These words of the Greek text, “In the case in which any one might be induced, in opposition to the canon, to ordain such persons,” allude to the ninth canon of the Synod of Neocaesarea. IF any who have lapsed have been ordained through the ignorance, or even with the previous knowledge of the ordainers, this shall not prejudice the canon of the Church for when they are discovered they shall be deposed.
EXCURSUS ON THE PUBLIC DISCIPLINE OR EXOMOLOGESIS OF THE EARLY CHURCH
The second division, or main body of the church, was called the Naos or Nave. Before coming to the Ambo, in the lowest part of the Nave, and just after passing the royal gates, was. But while this is so, the more usual sense of the word is the Eucharist.
EXCURSUS ON THE COMMUNION OF THE SICK
A most interesting incidental proof of this is found in the thrilling description given by St. Chrysostom of the great riot in. The reservation of the Holy Sacrament was usually made in the church itself, and the learned W. It was more strictly observed in the Latin Church; and even Gregory’s contemporary, Pope Damasus, declared himself decidedly in favor of the rule of Nice.
EXCURSUS ON THE TRANSLATION OF BISHOPS
The same thing appears also in the synodal response of the patriarch Michael, which only demands for translation the authority of the. Metropolitan and “the greatest authority of the Church.” But, soon after this, translation became the rule, and not the exception both in East and West. This Canon is found in the Corpus Juris Canonici, in the first part of the Decretum, in Dionysius’s version.
EXCURSUS ON USURY
Of course even at that early date there was nothing new in this doctrine of the Eucharist. He says that the wording of the canon shews “that the Nicene fathers entertained no doubt that the faithful in the holy. There is great difficulty about the text of the clause beginning “Likewise in the case, etc.,” and Gelasius, the Prisca, Theilo and Thearistus, (who in 419 translated the canons of Nice for the African bishops), the.
EXCURSUS ON THE DEACONESS OF THE EARLY CHURCH
The one great characteristic of the deaconess was that she was vowed to perpetual chastity. The writer of the article “Deaconess” in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities says: “It is evident that the ordination of deaconesses included a vow of celibacy.”. The principal work of the deaconess was to assist the female candidates for holy baptism.
EXCURSUS ON THE NUMBER OF THE NICENE CANONS
Beveridge, has proved this, reproducing an ancient Arabic paraphrase of the canons of the first four Ecumenical Councils. This is what we (the African bishops) have thought it right to add according to the history of the Church.”. The Latin canonists of the Middle Ages also acknowledge only these twenty canons of Nicaea.
THE CAPTIONS OF THE ARABIC CANONS ATTRIBUTED TO THE COUNCIL OF NICE
Of the honor to be paid to the bishop and to a presbyter by the deacons. Of the honor to be given to the Archbishop of Seleucia in the Synod of Greece. Of the election of a chorepiscopus, and of his duties in towns, and villages, and monasteries.
THE SYNODAL LETTER
But, if it happen that any of the clergy who are now in the Church should die, then those who have been lately received are to succeed to the office of the deceased; always provided that they shall appear to be worthy, and that the people elect them, and that the bishop of Alexandria shall concur in the election and ratify it. We further proclaim to you the good news of the agreement concerning the holy Easter, that this particular also has through your prayers been rightly settled; so that all our brethren in the East who formerly followed the custom of the Jews are henceforth to celebrate the said most sacred feast of Easter at the same time with the Romans and yourselves and all those who have observed Easter from the beginning. Pray ye also for us all, that the things which have been deemed advisable may stand fast; for they have been done, as we believe, to the well-pleasing of Almighty God and of his only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, to whom be glory for ever.
ON THE KEEPING OF EASTER
In rejecting their custom, we may transmit to our descendants the legitimate mode of celebrating Easter, which we have observed from the time of the Savior’s Passion to the present day [according to the day of the week]. We ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews, for the Savior has shown us another way; our worship follows a more legitimate and more convenient course (the order of the days of the week); and consequently, in unanimously adopting this mode, we desire, dearest brethren, to separate ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews, for it is truly shameful for us to hear them boast that without their direction we could not keep this feast. How can they be in the right, they who, after the death of the Savior, have no longer been led by reason but by wild violence, as their delusion may urge them.
EXCURSUS ON THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE EASTER QUESTION
The Emperor Theodosius the Great then asked Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria for an explanation of the difference. The bishop responded to the Emperor’s desire, and drew up a chronological table of the Easter festivals, based upon the principles acknowledged by the Church of Alexandria. In consequence of these communications, Pope Leo often gave the preference to the Alexandrian computation, instead of that of the Church of Rome.
THE CANONS OF THE COUNCILS OF ANCYRA, GANGRA NEOCAESAREA, ANTIOCH AND
Beveridge, in the Prolegomena to his Synodicon a very full treatment of the point, the gist of the matter is admirably given in the following brief note which I take from Hammond. That this collection was made and received by the Church previous to the Council of Chalcedon is evident from the manner in which several of the Canons are quoted in that Council. And Leontius Bishop of Magnesia read the 95th Canon, If any Bishop, etc., and again out of the same book the 96th Canon, If any Bishop,” etc.
THE COUNCIL OF ANCYRA
HISTORICAL NOTE
The first was found by Krebs in a heap of papyrus, that had come to Berlin; the other was found by Wessely in the papyrus collection of Archduke Rainer.
THE CANONS OF THE COUNCIL OF ANCYRA
There is considerable difference of opinion as to the meaning of the first of these expressions. In the case of the latter there could be no doubt as to the duty of restitution. Suicer however (Thesaurus) thinks that the penitents of the lowest degree are intended, who had no right to enter the church, but were exposed in the open porch to the inclemencies (ceimw>n) of the weather.
THE COUNCIL OF NEOCAESAREA
D. 315 (CIRCA)
A presbyter who marries is removed from the exercise of the priesthood but retains his honor and seat. On the whole subject of the marriage of the clergy in the Early Church see the Excursus devoted to that subject. For it is certain that according to the discipline of the Fathers he was thought to be loosed from excommunication. whoever was admitted to penance, and it is of this that the canon speaks;. but he did not obtain perfect reconciliation until his penance was done.
