Synods of Antioch

Last updated

Beginning with three synods convened between 264 and 269 in the matter of Paul of Samosata, more than thirty councils were held in Antioch in ancient times. Most of these dealt with phases of the Arian and of the Christological controversies. [1] For example, the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Paul of Samosata states:

Contents

It must be regarded as certain that the council which condemned Paul rejected the term homoousios ; but naturally only in a false sense used by Paul; not, it seems because he meant by it a unity of Hypostasis in the Trinity (so St. Hilary), but because he intended by it a common substance out of which both Father and Son proceeded, or which it divided between them, — so St. Basil and St. Athanasius; but the question is not clear. The objectors to the Nicene doctrine in the fourth century made copious use of this disapproval of the Nicene word by a famous council. [2]

The most celebrated convened in the summer of 341 at the dedication of the Domus Aurea, and is therefore called in encaeniis or dedication council. Nearly a hundred Eastern bishops were present, but the bishop of Rome was not represented. The emperor Constantius II attended in person. [1]

The Synods of Antioch in 264-269

The first Synod of Antioch, which took place between 264 and 269, was one of the early significant ecclesiastical councils in the Christian Church. This synod was primarily convened to address the teachings of Paul of Samosata, who was the Bishop of Antioch.

Paul of Samosata had introduced a doctrine that was considered heretical by the mainstream Church, particularly concerning the nature of Christ and the Holy Trinity. His teachings were seen as a form of Monarchianism, which emphasized the indivisibility of God at the expense of the distinct persons of the Trinity.

The synod ultimately condemned Paul’s teachings and deposed him from his position as Bishop. It is also noted that the council rejected the term homoousios—meaning “of the same substance”—but this was in the specific context of Paul’s usage, which implied a division of substance between the Father and the Son, rather than the orthodox interpretation of the Trinity as three distinct persons of one substance.

This synod was significant as it set a precedent for the Church’s handling of heresy and laid the groundwork for future ecumenical councils, which would further define Christian doctrine, such as the First Council of Nicaea in 3251.

The Synod of Antioch in 341

The council approved three creeds. [3] The “Second Creed of Antioch, often known both in the ancient and the modern world as the 'Dedication' Creed, was the Council's most important result.” [4] (RH, 285-6) Its “chief bête noire [the thing that it particularly dislikes] is Sabellianism, the denial of a distinction between the three within the Godhead.” [5] (RH, 287)

Furthermore, the Creed “deliberately excludes the kind of Arianism professed by Arius and among his followers by Eusebius of Nicomedia/Constantinople.” [6] (RH, 290) It “does anathematize doctrines associated … with Arius.” [7] (LA, 120) For example, the Creed anathematizes all who say: “that either time or occasion or age exists or did exist before the Son was begotten” [8] (RH, 286)

The so-called "fourth formula" [9] could be ascribed to a continuation of this synod or to a subsequent but distinct assembly of the same year. “It is widely accepted that this creed was intended to function as a reconciling formula obnoxious to nobody and capable of being accepted by all.” [10] (RH, 291)

All four these formulae avoid the term homoousios which was accepted by the First Council of Nicaea (Nicaea I). At the time of the Dedication Council, nobody mentioned the Nicene Creed or the term homoousios. “During the years 326–50 the term homoousios is rarely if ever mentioned.” [11] (LA, 431) “Even Athanasius for about twenty years after Nicaea is strangely silent about this adjective (homoousios) which had been formally adopted into the creed of the Church in 325.” [12] (RH, 58-59) Athanasius brought the term back into the Controversy only in the mid 350s.

“Many scholars have noticed the affinities between this creed and the kind of doctrine which Eusebius of Caesarea taught … before the Arian Controversy came into the open. The ancestors of this creed are Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea and Asterius.” [13] (RH, 290) For a further discussion, see the Dedication Creed under Arian Creeds.

Canons

The twenty-five canons adopted regulate the so-called metropolitan constitution of the church. Ecclesiastical power is vested chiefly in the metropolitan (later called archbishop), and the biannual provincial synod (see Nicaea I, canon 5.), which he summons and over which he presides. Consequently, the powers of country bishops ( chorepiscopi ) are curtailed, and direct recourse to the emperor is forbidden. The sentence of one judicatory is to be respected by other judicatories of equal rank; re-trial may take place only before that authority to whom appeal regularly lies. [14] Without due invitation, a bishop may not ordain, or in any other way interfere with affairs lying outside his proper territory; nor may he appoint his own successor. Penalties are set on the refusal to celebrate Easter in accordance with the Nicaea I decree, as well as on leaving a church before the service of the Eucharist is completed. [1]

The numerous objections made by scholars in past centuries about the canons ascribed to this council have been elaborately stated and probably refuted by Hefele. The canons formed part of the Codex canonum used at Chalcedon in 451 and are found in later Eastern and Western collections of canons. [1]

See also

Notes

Related Research Articles

Arianism is a Christological doctrine considered heretical by all mainstream branches of Christianity. It is first attributed to Arius, a Christian presbyter who preached and studied in Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten/made before time by God the Father; therefore, Jesus was not coeternal with God the Father, but nonetheless Jesus began to exist outside time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athanasius of Alexandria</span> Pope of Alexandria from 328 to 373

Athanasius I of Alexandria, also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th pope of Alexandria. His intermittent episcopacy spanned 45 years, of which over 17 encompassed five exiles, when he was replaced on the order of four different Roman emperors. Athanasius was a Church Father, the chief proponent of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian Christian leader of the fourth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Council of Nicaea</span> Council of Christian bishops in Nicaea, 325

The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. The Council of Nicaea met from May until the end of July 325.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Council of Constantinople</span> 381 AD council of Christian bishops

The First Council of Constantinople was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople in AD 381 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. This second ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom, except for the Western Church, confirmed the Nicene Creed, expanding the doctrine thereof to produce the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, and dealt with sundry other matters. It met from May to July 381 in the Church of Hagia Irene and was affirmed as ecumenical in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul of Samosata</span> Bishop of Antioch from 260 to 268

Paul of Samosata was Bishop of Antioch from 260 to 268 and the originator of the Paulianist heresy named after him. He was a believer in monarchianism, a nontrinitarian doctrine; his teachings reflect adoptionism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arius</span> Cyrenaic presbyter and founder of Arianism (died 336)

Arius was a Cyrenaic presbyter, ascetic, and priest. Traditionally, it was claimed that Arius was the founder of the doctrine of Arianism but, more recently, Rowan Williams stated that "Arius' role in 'Arianism' was not that of the founder of a sect. It was not his individual teaching that dominated the mid-century eastern Church."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hosius of Corduba</span> Spanish bishop (256–359)

Hosius of Corduba, also known as Osius or Ossius, was a bishop of Corduba and an important and prominent advocate for Homoousion Christianity in the Arian controversy that divided the early Christianity.

The Acacians, or perhaps better described as the Homoians or Homoeans, were a non-Nicene branch of Christianity that dominated the church during much of the fourth-century Arian Controversy. They declared that the Son was similar to God the Father, without reference to substance (essence). Homoians played a major role in the Christianization of the Goths in the Danubian provinces of the Roman Empire.

In 294 AD, Sirmium was proclaimed one of four capitals of the Roman Empire. The Councils of Sirmium were the five episcopal councils held in Sirmium in 347, 351, 357, 358 and finally in 375 or 378. In the traditional account of the Arian Controversy, the Western Church always defended the Nicene Creed. However, at the third council in 357—the most important of these councils—the Western bishops of the Christian church produced an 'Arian' Creed, known as the Second Sirmian Creed. At least two of the other councils also dealt primarily with the Arian controversy. All of these councils were held under the rule of Constantius II, who was eager to unite the church within the framework of the Eusebian Homoianism that was so influential in the east.

Semi-Arianism was a position regarding the relationship between God the Father and the Son of God, adopted by some 4th-century Christians. Though the doctrine modified the teachings of Arianism, it still rejected the doctrine that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-eternal, and of the same substance, or consubstantial, and was therefore considered to be heretical by many contemporary Christians.

Marcellus of Ancyra was a Bishop of Ancyra and one of the bishops present at the Council of Ancyra and the First Council of Nicaea. He was a strong opponent of Arianism, but was accused of adopting the opposite extreme of modified Sabellianism. He was condemned by a council of his enemies and expelled from his see, though he was able to return there to live quietly with a small congregation in the last years of his life. He is also said to have destroyed the temple of Zeus Belos at Apamea.

Hypostasis, from the Greek ὑπόστασις (hypóstasis), is the underlying state or underlying substance and is the fundamental reality that supports all else. But it is not the same as the concept of a substance. In Neoplatonism the hypostasis of the soul, the intellect (nous) and "the one" was addressed by Plotinus. In Christian theology, the Holy Trinity consists of three hypostases: Hypostasis of the Father, Hypostasis of the Son, and Hypostasis of the Holy Spirit.

Homoiousios is a Christian theological term, coined in the 4th century to identify a distinct group of Christian theologians who held the belief that God the Son was of a similar, but not identical, essence with God the Father.

The First Synod of Tyre or the Council of Tyre was a gathering of bishops called together by Emperor Constantine I to evaluate charges brought against Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subordinationism</span> Assertion that the Son and the Holy Spirit are subordinate to God the Father in nature and being

Subordinationism is a Trinitarian doctrine wherein the Son is subordinate to the Father, not only in submission and role, but with actual ontological subordination to varying degrees. It posits a hierarchical ranking of the persons of the Social Trinity, implying ontological subordination of the persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was condemned as heretical in the Second Council of Constantinople.

The Council of Serdica, or Synod of Serdica, was a synod convened in 343 at Serdica in the civil diocese of Dacia, by Emperors Constans I, Augustus in the West, and Constantius II, Augustus in the East. It attempted to resolve "the tension between East and West in the Church." “The council was a disaster: the two sides, one from the west and the other from the east, never met as one.”

The Arian controversy was a series of Christian disputes about the nature of Christ that began with a dispute between Arius and Athanasius of Alexandria, two Christian theologians from Alexandria, Egypt. The most important of these controversies concerned the relationship between the substance of God the Father and the substance of His Son.

The Pneumatomachi, also known as Macedonians or Semi-Arians in Constantinople and the Tropici in Alexandria, were an anti-Nicene Creed sect which flourished in the regions adjacent to the Hellespont during the latter half of the fourth, and the beginning of the fifth centuries. They denied the godhood of the Holy Ghost, hence the Greek name Pneumatomachi or 'Combators against the Spirit'.

Arian creeds are the creeds of Arian Christians, developed mostly in the fourth century when Arianism was one of the main varieties of Christianity.

<i>Tomus ad Antiochenos</i> Mediation proposal by Athanasius, 362

Tomus ad Antiochenos is a letter or mediation proposal written by Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria on behalf of a regional synod he convened in Alexandria in 362, addressed to a group of bishops seeking a solution to the schism between "Eustathians" and "Meletians" in the parishes of Antioch. This letter played a key role in the Trinitarian theological debates between the one-hypostasis model and the three-hypostasis model of the Trinity, anticipating the turning point in this question from the 370s onward.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rockwell 1911.
  2. ↑ Chapman 1911.
  3. ↑ Hahn, §§ 153-155, cited in Rockwell (1911).
  4. ↑ Hanson RPC, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381. 1988, page 285-6
  5. ↑ Hanson RPC, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381. 1988, page 287
  6. ↑ Hanson RPC, p. 290
  7. ↑ Ayres, Lewis, Nicaea and its Legacy, An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology, 2004, page 120
  8. ↑ Hanson RPC, p. 286
  9. ↑ Hahn, § 156, cited in Rockwell (1911).
  10. ↑ Hanson RPC, p. 291
  11. ↑ Ayres, Lewis, page 431
  12. ↑ Hanson RPC, pp. 58-59
  13. ↑ Hanson RPC, p. 290
  14. ↑ See canons 3, 4, 6.
  15. ↑ By Mansi ii. 1307 ff., Bruns i. 80 ff., Friedrich Lauchert  [ de ] 43 ff.
  16. ↑ By Hefele, Councils, ii. 67 ff. and by H. R. Percival in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, xiv. 108 ff.
  17. ↑ Bibliothek der Symbole, 3rd edition (Breslau, 1897), 183 ff.; for translations compare the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, iv. 461 ff., ii. 39 ff., ix. 12, ii. 44, and Hefele, ii. 76 ff.

Sources

  • Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chapman, John (1911). "Paul of Samosata". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia . Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • Wikisource-logo.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rockwell, William Walker (1911). "Antioch s.v. Synods of Antioch". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 132.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.