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#296626 - 08/05/08 04:35 PM
Re: Go West [Not So] Young Man
[Re: francis]
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Member
Registered: 03/18/04
Posts: 432
Loc: Maryland
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The Orthodox criteria for designating a council as ecumenical is actually not very well defined. (Metropolitan Kallistos Ware says as much in his very informative and insightful, The Orthodox Church.) Evidently some canonists believe that the faithful must give their consent (although the manner and numerical composition of this consent is entirely unclear - a simple majority, for instance? An absolute majority? Do we put up councils for a vote of all the laity? What does that say about the nature of apostolic teaching authority?) in order for a council to be received as authoritative. This may have been a late addition to what defines a council as ecumenical in order to justify the rejection of what was ratified authoritatively at Florence, but later rejected through popular uprising and the instigation of Bishop Mark of Ephesus.
I've always thought the "common consent" idea to be quite shaky grounds. It basically allows the rewriting of history, and I do think it mostly is based on the events of Florence (which did have all the marks of an ecumenical council - all Patriarchs included, the Emperor's consent, debates by all involved, etc.). But at the same time, the history of councils is not a pretty one. There were councils which had all the hallmarks of being ecumenical but are not, and councils that are ecumenical but didn't really appear to be initially (for example, the 1st Council of Constantinople).
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#296627 - 08/05/08 04:41 PM
Re: Go West [Not So] Young Man
[Re: francis]
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Member
Registered: 03/18/04
Posts: 432
Loc: Maryland
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In the case of EC #3, the "Nestorian" churches didn't actually break away for quite a number of years after the council, and even then the reasons were largely political.
And in the case of the "monophysites", we recognize now that their schism was largely based on language/cultural reasons more than true theological issues. But even with that being said, it is still true that the schisms were initiated by the decision of an ecumenical council. As such, it was truly a conscious "divorce", not a centuries-long estrangement that led to an eventual mutual recognition that communion had been broken.
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#296930 - 08/08/08 07:00 PM
Re: Go West [Not So] Young Man
[Re: francis]
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Moderator
Member
Registered: 11/27/02
Posts: 3225
Loc: Hollidaysburg, PA
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The Orthodox criteria for designating a council as ecumenical is actually not very well defined. And isn't that a good thing? It's a bit like saying "let's not be too hasty and rush to judgment." BOB
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#296942 - 08/08/08 08:32 PM
Re: Go West [Not So] Young Man
[Re: theophan]
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Member
Registered: 06/09/02
Posts: 4739
Loc: somewhere betwixt the Alpha an...
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The Orthodox criteria for designating a council as ecumenical is actually not very well defined. And isn't that a good thing? It's a bit like saying "let's not be too hasty and rush to judgment." BOB That depends. If you are looking for authoritative teaching on a question pertaining to matters of faith with a bearing on one's salvation, I would argue...no. God bless, Fr. Deacon Daniel
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#296962 - 08/09/08 05:53 AM
Re: Go West [Not So] Young Man
[Re: Slavipodvizhnik]
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Member
Registered: 06/09/02
Posts: 4739
Loc: somewhere betwixt the Alpha an...
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There are no questions extant pertaining to matters of the faith that are not addressed by the 7 Ecumenical Councils. If one should arise, then there would be reason for an 8th Ecumenical Council.
Alexandr Alexandr, Interesting perspective. I would agree with you on dogmatic matters which are Trinitarian and Christological. It is difficult to imagine the need for another Council to address these dogmas. What about the many specific errors of the so-called Protestant Reform in the West, especially as it pertains to matters soteriological (pertaining to the subject of salvation), ecclesiological and magisterial? God bless, Fr. Deacon Daniel
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