1.
Council of Trent
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The Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento and Bologna, northern Italy, was one of the Roman Catholic Churchs most important ecumenical councils. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation. Four hundred years later, when Pope John XXIII initiated preparations for the Second Vatican Council, he affirmed the decrees it had issued, What was, still is. These addressed a range of subjects, including scripture, the Biblical canon, sacred tradition, original sin, justification, salvation, the sacraments, the Mass. The Council met for twenty-five sessions between 13 December 1545 and 4 December 1563, all in Trento, apart from the ninth to eleventh sessions held in Bologna during 1547, the consequences of the Council were also significant as regards the Churchs liturgy and practices. During its deliberations, the Council made the Vulgate the official example of the Biblical canon and commissioned the creation of a standard version, although this was not achieved until the 1590s. These, in turn, led to the codification of the Tridentine Mass, more than three hundred years passed until the next ecumenical council, the First Vatican Council, was convened in 1869. A few months later, on 31 October 1517, Martin Luther issued his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, after the Pope condemned in Exsurge Domine fifty-two of Luthers theses as heresy, German opinion considered a council the best method to reconcile existing differences. German Catholics, diminished in number, hoped for a council to clarify matters. Under Pope Clement VII, troops of the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sacked Papal Rome in 1527, raping, killing, burning, stealing, saint Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel were used for horses. This, together with the Pontiffs ambivalence between France and Germany, led to his hesitation, Charles V strongly favoured a council, but needed the support of King Francis I of France, who attacked him militarily. This proposal met the opposition of the Pope for it gave recognition to Protestants, faced with a Turkish attack, Charles held the support of the Protestant German rulers, all of whom delayed the opening of the Council of Trent. In reply to the Papal bull Exsurge Domine of Pope Leo X, Martin Luther burned the document, in 1522 German diets joined in the appeal, with Charles V seconding and pressing for a council as a means of reunifying the Church and settling the Reformation controversies. Pope Clement VII was vehemently against the idea of a council, after Pope Pius II, in his bull Execrabilis and his reply to the University of Cologne, set aside the theory of the supremacy of general councils laid down by the Council of Constance. Pope Paul III, seeing that the Protestant Reformation was no longer confined to a few preachers, yet when he proposed the idea to his cardinals, it was almost unanimously opposed. Nonetheless, he sent nuncios throughout Europe to propose the idea, Paul III issued a decree for a general council to be held in Mantua, Italy, to begin on 23 May 1537. Martin Luther wrote the Smalcald Articles in preparation for the general council, the Smalcald Articles were designed to sharply define where the Lutherans could and could not compromise. The council was ordered by the Emperor and Pope Paul III to convene in Mantua on 23 May 1537 and it failed to convene after another war broke out between France and Charles V, resulting in a non-attendance of French prelates
2.
Second Vatican Council
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The Second Vatican Council, fully the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and informally known as Vatican II, addressed relations between the Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, many of these changes remain divisive among the Catholic faithful. At the same time, the worlds bishops faced challenges driven by political, social, economic, some of these bishops sought new ways of addressing those challenges. The First Vatican Council had been nearly a century before but had been cut short when the Italian Army entered the city of Rome at the end of Italian unification. Pope John XXIII, however, gave notice of his intention to convene the Council on 25 January 1959 and this sudden announcement, which caught the Curia by surprise, caused little initial official comment from Church insiders. In various discussions before the Council actually convened, John XXIII often said that it was time to open the windows and he invited other Christians outside the Catholic Church to send observers to the Council. Acceptances came from both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Protestant denominations as internal observers, but these observers did not cast votes in the approbation of the conciliar documents. Pope John XXIIIs announcement on 25 January 1959 of his intention to call a general council came as an even to the cardinals present. The Pontiff pre-announced the council under a full moon when the faithful with their candlelights gathered in St. Peters square, after which, he instructed the people to go back home and give their children a kiss of goodnight, from the Pope himself. He had tested the idea only ten days before one of them, his Cardinal Secretary of State Domenico Tardini. Although the Pope later said the idea came to him in a flash in his conversation with Tardini, two cardinals had earlier attempted to interest him in the idea. They were two of the most conservative, Ernesto Ruffini and Alfredo Ottaviani, who had already in 1948 proposed the idea to Pope Pius XII and who put it before John XXIII on 27 October 1958. These groups, composed mostly of members of the Roman Curia, produced 987 proposed constituting sessions, attendance varied in later sessions from 2,100 to over 2,300. In addition, a number of periti were available for theological consultation—a group that turned out to have a major influence as the council went forward. Seventeen Orthodox Churches and Protestant denominations sent observers, more than three dozen representatives of other Christian communities were present at the opening session, and the number grew to nearly 100 by the end of the 4th Council Sessions. Pope John XXIII opened the Council on 11 October 1962 in a public session, what is needed is that this certain and immutable doctrine, to which the faithful owe obedience, be studied afresh and reformulated in contemporary terms. For this deposit of faith, or truths which are contained in our time-honored teaching is one thing, roncalli, Angelo Giuseppe, Opening address, Council, Rome, IT.13 October 1962 marked the initial working session of the Council. That days agenda included the election for members of the ten conciliar commissions, each would have sixteen elected and eight appointed members, and were expected to do most of the work of the Council
3.
Pope Pius IX
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Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, reigned as Pope from 16 June 1846 to his death in 1878. He was the elected pope in the history of the Catholic Church. During his pontificate Pius IX convened the First Vatican Council, which decreed papal infallibility and he was also the last pope to rule as the Sovereign of the Papal States, which fell completely to the Italian Army in 1870 and were incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. After this, he was referred to—chiefly by himself—as the Prisoner of the Vatican, after his death in 1878, his canonization process was opened on 11 February 1907 by Pope Pius X and it drew considerable controversy over the years. It was closed on several occasions during the pontificates of Pope Benedict XV, Pope Pius XII re-opened the cause on 7 December 1954, and Pope John Paul II proclaimed him Venerable on 6 July 1985. Together with Pope John XXIII, he was beatified on 3 September 2000 after the recognition of a miracle, Pius IX was assigned the liturgical feast day of February 7, the date of his death. Europe, including the Italian peninsula, was in the midst of political ferment when the bishop of Spoleto. He took the name Pius, after his generous patron and the prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte. Through the 1850s and 1860s, Italian nationalists made military gains against the Papal States, however, concordats were concluded with numerous states such as Austria-Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Tuscany, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti. Many contemporary Church historians and journalists question his approaches, in his Syllabus of Errors, still highly controversial, Pius IX condemned the heresies of secular society, especially modernism. He was a Marian pope, who in his encyclical Ubi primum described Mary as a Mediatrix of salvation, in 1854, he promulgated the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, articulating a long-held Catholic belief that Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without original sin. In 1862, he convened 300 bishops to the Vatican for the canonization of Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan and his most important legacy is the First Vatican Council, which convened in 1869. The council is considered to have contributed to a centralization of the Church in the Vatican, Pius IX was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000. His Feast Day is 7 February, Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti was born on May 13,1792. He was educated at the Piarist College in Volterra and in Rome, as a theology student in his hometown Sinigaglia, in 1814 he met Pope Pius VII, who had returned from French captivity. In 1815, he entered the Papal Noble Guard but was dismissed after an epileptic seizure. He threw himself at the feet of Pius VII, who elevated him, the pope originally insisted that another priest should assist Mastai during Holy Mass, a stipulation that was later rescinded, after the seizure attacks became less frequent. Mastai was ordained priest on April 10,1819 and he initially worked as the rector of the Tata Giovanni Institute in Rome
4.
Liberalism
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Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality. Liberalism first became a political movement during the Age of Enlightenment. Liberalism rejected the social and political norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy. The 17th-century philosopher John Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a philosophical tradition. Locke argued that man has a natural right to life, liberty and property. Liberals opposed traditional conservatism and sought to replace absolutism in government with representative democracy, prominent revolutionaries in the Glorious Revolution, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution used liberal philosophy to justify the armed overthrow of what they saw as tyrannical rule. Liberalism started to spread rapidly especially after the French Revolution, the 19th century saw liberal governments established in nations across Europe, South America, and North America. During the 20th century, liberal ideas spread even further as liberal democracies found themselves on the side in both world wars. In Europe and North America, the establishment of social liberalism became a key component in the expansion of the welfare state, today, liberal parties continue to wield power and influence throughout the world. Words such as liberal, liberty, libertarian, and libertine all trace their history to the Latin liber, which means free. One of the first recorded instances of the word occurs in 1375. The words early connection with the education of a medieval university soon gave way to a proliferation of different denotations and connotations. In 16th century England, liberal could have positive or negative attributes in referring to someones generosity or indiscretion, in Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare wrote of a liberal villaine who hath. confest his vile encounters. With the rise of the Enlightenment, the word acquired decisively more positive undertones, being defined as free from narrow prejudice in 1781, in 1815, the first use of the word liberalism appeared in English. In Spain, the Liberales, the first group to use the label in a political context. From 1820 to 1823, during the Trienio Liberal, King Ferdinand VII was compelled by the liberales to swear to uphold the Constitution, by the middle of the 19th century, liberal was used as a politicised term for parties and movements worldwide. Over time, the meaning of the word began to diverge in different parts of the world. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, In the United States, liberalism is associated with the policies of the New Deal programme of the Democratic administration of Pres
5.
Materialism
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Materialism is closely related to physicalism, the view that all that exists is ultimately physical. Thus the term physicalism is preferred over materialism by some, while others use the terms as if they are synonymous, philosophies contradictory to materialism or physicalism include idealism, pluralism, dualism, and other forms of monism. Materialism belongs to the class of monist ontology, as such, it is different from ontological theories based on dualism or pluralism. For singular explanations of the reality, materialism would be in contrast to idealism, neutral monism. To idealists, spirit or mind or the objects of mind are primary, to materialists, matter is primary, and mind or spirit or ideas are secondary, the product of matter acting upon matter. The materialist view is perhaps best understood in its opposition to the doctrines of immaterial substance applied to the mind historically, famously by René Descartes, however, by itself materialism says nothing about how material substance should be characterized. In practice, it is assimilated to one variety of physicalism or another. Jerry Fodor influentially argues this view, according to which empirical laws, a lot of vigorous literature has grown up around the relation between these views. Modern philosophical materialists extend the definition of other scientifically observable entities such as energy, forces, however philosophers such as Mary Midgley suggest that the concept of matter is elusive and poorly defined. Materialism typically contrasts with dualism, phenomenalism, idealism, vitalism and its materiality can, in some ways, be linked to the concept of determinism, as espoused by Enlightenment thinkers. Later Marxists, such as Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky developed the notion of dialectical materialism which characterized later Marxist philosophy, Materialism developed, possibly independently, in several geographically separated regions of Eurasia during what Karl Jaspers termed the Axial Age. In Ancient Indian philosophy, materialism developed around 600 BC with the works of Ajita Kesakambali, Payasi, Kanada, Kanada became one of the early proponents of atomism. The Nyaya–Vaisesika school developed one of the earliest forms of atomism, though their proofs of God, buddhist atomism and the Jaina school continued the atomic tradition. Xunzi developed a Confucian doctrine centered on realism and materialism in Ancient China, Ancient Greek philosophers like Thales, Anaxagoras, Epicurus and Democritus prefigure later materialists. The Latin poem De Rerum Natura by Lucretius reflects the philosophy of Democritus and Epicurus. According to this view, all that exists is matter and void, De Rerum Natura provides mechanistic explanations for phenomena such as erosion, evaporation, wind, and sound. Famous principles like nothing can touch body but body first appeared in the works of Lucretius, chinese thinkers of the early common era said to be materialists include Yang Xiong and Wang Chong. Later Indian materialist Jayaraashi Bhatta in his work Tattvopaplavasimha refuted the Nyaya Sutra epistemology, the materialistic Cārvāka philosophy appears to have died out some time after 1400
6.
Biblical inspiration
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Omnis Scriptura divinitus inspirata utilis est ad docendum, ad arguendum, ad corripiendum, et erudiendum in justitia, ut perfectus sit homo Dei, ad omne opus bonum instructus. πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος πρὸς διδασκαλίαν, πρὸς ἐλεγμόν, πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν, πρὸς παιδείαν τὴν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, ἵνα ἄρτιος ᾖ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ ἄνθρωπος, πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἐξηρτισμένος. When Jerome translated the Greek text of the Bible into the language of the people of Latium. The word inspiration comes from the Latin noun inspiratio and from the verb inspirare, inspirare is a compound term resulting from the Latin prefix in and the verb spirare. Inspirare meant originally to blow into, as for example in the sentence of the Roman poet Ovid, in classic Roman times, inspirare had already come to mean to breathe deeply and assumed also the figurative sense of to instill in the heart or in the mind of someone. In Christian theology, the Latin word inspirare was already used by some Church Fathers in the first centuries to translate the Greek term pnéo, the Church Fathers often referred to writings other than the documents that formed or would form the biblical canon as inspired. The Bible contains many passages in which the authors claim divine inspiration for their message or report the effects of such inspiration on others. The Second Epistle of Peter claims that no prophecy of Scripture. was ever produced by the will of man, many Christians cite a verse in Pauls letter to Timothy,2 Timothy 3, 16-17 as evidence that all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable. Here St. Paul is referring to the Old Testament, since the scriptures have been known from infancy by Timothy from infancy. Others offer an alternative reading for the passage, for example, theologian C. H. Dodd suggests that it is probably to be rendered as, a similar translation appears in the New English Bible, in the Revised English Bible, and in the New Revised Standard Version. The Latin Vulgate can be so read, yet others defend the traditional interpretation, Daniel B. Wallace calls the alternative probably not the best translation. The deeper author of the Scriptures. ikewise, this people, knows that it is led, and spoken to, by God himself, who — through men and their humanity — is at the deepest level the one speaking. This teaching authority is able, in turn, to establish the canon of the Scriptures, namely, according to Frederic Farrar, Martin Luther did not understand inspiration to mean that scripture was dictated in a purely mechanical manner. The actual writing was a not a supernatural act. John Calvin also rejected the verbal dictation theory and this divine involvement, they say, allowed the biblical writers to communicate without corrupting Gods own message both to the immediate recipients of the writings and to those who would come after. Evangelicals acknowledge that there are variations between Biblical accounts of apparently identical events and speeches. These are seen as complementary, not contradictory, and are explained as the viewpoints of different authors. For instance, the Gospel of Matthew was intended to communicate the Gospel to Jews, the Gospel of Luke to Greeks, and the Gospel of Mark to Romans
7.
Papal infallibility
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According to Catholic theology, there are several concepts important to the understanding of infallible, divine revelation, Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Sacred Magisterium. The infallible teachings of the Pope are part of the Sacred Magisterium, which consists of ecumenical councils. In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is one of the channels of the infallibility of the Church, the infallible teachings of the Pope must be based on, or at least not contradict, Sacred Tradition or Sacred Scripture. The use of power is referred to as speaking ex cathedra. The solemn declaration of papal infallibility by Vatican I took place on 18 July 1870, since that time, the clearest example of an ex cathedra decree took place in 1950, when Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary as an article of faith. The church teaches that infallibility is a charism entrusted by Christ to the church, whereby the Pope, as head of the college of bishops. The church further teaches that divine assistance is given to the Pope when he exercises his ordinary Magisterium. As with all charisms, the church teaches that the charism of papal infallibility must be properly discerned, the way to know if something a pope says is infallible or not is to discern if they are ex cathedra teachings. Also considered infallible are the teachings of the body of bishops of the Church, especially. In July 2005 Pope Benedict XVI stated during an address to priests in Aosta that, The Pope is not an oracle, he is infallible in very rare situations. Pope John XXIII once remarked, I am only infallible if I speak infallibly but I shall never do that, the limitation on the popes infallibility on other matters is frequently illustrated by Cardinal James Gibbonss recounting how the pope mistakenly called him Jibbons. Catholic theologians in general hold that the canonization of a saint by a pope is infallible teaching that the person canonized is definitely in heaven with God, a decree of canonization commands that the person be venerated by the whole Church as a saint, while beatification merely permits it. The response demanded from believers has been characterized as assent in the case of ex cathedra declarations of the popes and due respect with regard to their other declarations. On the basis of Mark 3,16,9,2, Luke 24,34 and 1 Corinthians 15,5, the Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Peter as holding first place among the apostles. It speaks of Peter as the rock on which, because of Peters faith, Christ said in Matthew 16,18 he would build his Church, which he declared would be victorious over the powers of death. In Luke 22,32, Jesus gave Peter the mission to keep his faith after every lapse, doctrine-based religions evolve their theologies over time, and Catholicism is no exception, its theology did not spring instantly and fully formed within the bosom of the earliest Church. The doctrine of the Primacy of the Roman Bishops, like other Church teachings, thus the establishment of the Primacy recorded in the Gospels has gradually been more clearly recognised and its implications developed. Clear indications of the consciousness of the Primacy of the Roman bishops, L. Ott Pope St. Clement of Rome, c
8.
Pastor aeternus
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Pastor aeternus is the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, issued by the First Vatican Council, July 18,1870. Papal primacy, the primacy of the Bishop of Rome over the whole Catholic Church, is derived from the status as successor to Peter as Prince of the Apostles. The First Vatican Council defined papal primacy as an institution of the Church that can never be relinquished. In the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, there is a distinction between ex cathedra and ex sede based on the munus petrinum veri in terris Vicarii Christi. The Successor of Peter has in the Universal Church a doctrinal gift, the Successor of Peter, for his singular and communional gift of primacy has an apostolic power and an episcopal power. Only the Bishop of Rome is in the Universal Church Primas, the Church of Rome, in fact, is theological place of doctrine and teaching of the Universal Church. The gift of the Roman Pontiff is expressed in his title of Magister, only the Church of Rome is the Mother and Teacher of all churches. This is the reason because the First and Apostolic See of the Church of Rome is Nutrix ac Doctrix, the See of Rome is Genitrix spiritualis. Magisterium is an authority of the Catholic Church. The word is derived from Latin magisterium, which meant the office of a president, chief, director, superintendent, etc. or teaching, instruction. In the Catholic Church the word Magisterium refers to the authority of the church. According to Catholic doctrine, the Magisterium is able to teach or interpret the truths of the Faith, and it does so either non-infallibly or infallibly. The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, the infallibility of the pope was thus formally defined in 1870, although the tradition behind this view goes back much further. Ineffabilis Deus is an example of this, the Catholic priest August Bernhard Hasler wrote a detailed criticism of the First Vatican Council, presenting the passage of the infallibility definition as orchestrated. Hasler, though, is engaged in heated polemic and obviously exaggerates his picture of Pius IX, accounts like Haslers, which paint Pius IX and Vatican I in the most negative terms, are adequately refuted by the testimony of participants at Vatican I
9.
Ecumenical council
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The word ecumenical derives from a Greek term which literally means the inhabited world, but which was also applied more narrowly in antiquity to refer to the Roman Empire. Starting with the ecumenical council, noteworthy schisms led to non-participation by some members of what had previously been considered a single Christian Church. Thus, some parts of Christianity did not attend later councils, or attended, Bishops belonging to what became known as the Church of the East only participated in the first two councils. Bishops belonging to what became known as Oriental Orthodoxy participated in the first four councils, acceptance of councils as ecumenical and authoritative varies between different Christian denominations. Disputes over christological and other questions have led certain branches to reject some councils that others accept, the Church of the East accepts as ecumenical only the first two councils. Oriental Orthodox Churches accept the first three, both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church recognise as ecumenical the first seven councils, held from the 4th to the 9th century. In all, the Roman Catholic Church recognises twenty-one councils as ecumenical, anglicans and confessional Protestants accept either the first seven or the first four as ecumenical councils. Such decrees are often labeled as Canons and they often have an attached anathema, the doctrine does not claim that every aspect of every ecumenical council is infallible. Both the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches uphold versions of this doctrine, protestant churches would generally view ecumenical councils as fallible human institutions that have no more than a derived authority to the extent that they correctly expound Scripture. Church councils were, from the beginning, bureaucratic exercises, written documents were circulated, speeches made and responded to, votes taken, and final documents published and distributed. A large part of what is known about the beliefs of heresies comes from the documents quoted in councils in order to be refuted, most councils dealt not only with doctrinal but also with disciplinary matters, which were decided in canons. Study of the canons of councils is the foundation of the development of canon law. Canons consist of doctrinal statements and disciplinary measures – most Church councils, of the seven councils recognised in whole or in part by both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church as ecumenical, all were called by a Roman Emperor. The emperor gave them legal status within the entire Roman Empire, all were held in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. The bishop of Rome did not attend, although he sent legates to some of them, Church councils were traditional and the ecumenical councils were a continuation of earlier councils held in the Empire before Christianity was made legal. The first seven councils recognised in both East and West as ecumenical and several others to such recognition is refused were called by the Byzantine emperors. This too ceased to be considered an ecumenical council, of the twenty-one ecumenical councils recognised by the Roman Catholic Church, some gained recognition as ecumenical only later. Thus the Eastern First Council of Constantinople became ecumenical only when its decrees were accepted in the West also
10.
Catholic ecumenical councils
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Catholic Ecumenical Councils include 21 councils over a period of 1700 years. The purpose of a council is to define doctrine, reaffirm truths of the Faith. Council decisions, to be valid, are approved by the popes, participation is limited to these persons, who cannot delegate their voting rights. Ecumenical councils are different from provincial councils, where bishops of a Church province or region meet, Episcopal conferences and plenary councils are other bodies, meetings of bishops of one country, nation, or region, such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This article does not include councils of an order or regional councils. Ecumenical in the Catholic view does not mean that all bishops attended the councils, nor does ecumenical imply the participation of or acceptance by all Christian communities and Churches. Ecumenical refers to a solemn congregations of the Catholic bishops of the world at the invitation of the Pope to decide on matters of the Church with him, the ecumenical character of the councils of the first millennium was not determined by the intention of those who issued the invitations. The papal approval of the early councils did not have a formal character, the Catholic Church did not officially declare these Councils to be ecumenical. Different evaluations existed between and within Christian communities, not all of the twenty-one councils were always accepted as ecumenical within the Catholic Church. For example, the inclusion of the First Lateran Council and the Council of Basel were disputed, a 1539 book on ecumenical councils by Cardinal Dominicus Jacobazzi excluded them as did other scholars. The first few centuries did not know large-scale ecumenical meetings, they were only feasible after the Church had gained freedom from persecution through Emperor Constantine. These comprised the hierarchs of the undivided Church, and, excepting the Fourth Council of Constantinople are recognised as Ecumenical Councils also by the modern Eastern Orthodox Church, the First Council of Nicaea formulated the original Nicene Creed. Most importantly, the council defined the equality of God the Father and Christ and it taught that Jesus was of the same substance as God the Father and not just merely similar. By defining the nature of the divinity of Jesus, the council did not solely rely on the Bible, the First Council of Nicaea issued 20 canons and repudiated Arianism. The First Council of Constantinople defined in four canons the Nicene Creed, most importantly, it defined the divinity of the Holy Spirit, which is derived but not defined in the Bible. Thus the Council built on the Apostolic Tradition, the council met from May until July 381 during the pontificate of Pope Damasus I and issued four canons. The Council of Ephesus proclaimed the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos, the Council met in seven sessions during the pontificate of Pope Celestine I from June 22 until July 17,431. The Council of Chalcedon defined the two natures of Jesus Christ, “We teach unanimously that the one son, our lord Jesus Christ to be fully God and fully human
11.
Council of Jerusalem
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The Council of Jerusalem or Apostolic Council was held in Jerusalem around 50 AD. The council decided that Gentile converts to Christianity were not obligated to keep most of the Law of Moses, accounts of the council are found in Acts of the Apostles chapter 15 and also possibly in Pauls letter to the Galatians chapter 2. Some scholars dispute that Galatians 2 is about the Council of Jerusalem while other scholars dispute the reliability of the Acts of the Apostles. The Council of Jerusalem is generally dated to 48 AD, roughly twenty five years after the crucifixion of Jesus, at the time, most followers of Jesus were Jewish by birth and even converts would have considered the early Christians as a part of Judaism. According to Alister McGrath, the Jewish Christians affirmed every aspect of then contemporary Second Temple Judaism with the addition of the belief that Jesus was the Messiah, unless males were circumcised, they could not be Gods People. Circumcision as a mandate was associated with Abraham, but it is cited as the custom of Moses because Moses is considered the giver of the Law as a whole. The circumcision mandate was made official and binding in the Mosaic Law Covenant. In John 7,22 the words of Jesus are reported to be that Moses gave the people circumcision, Some of the Pharisees who had become believers insisted that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command to keep the law of Moses. The primary issue which was addressed related to the requirement of circumcision, as the author of Acts relates, the rules of traditional Judaism, and Paul the Apostle, who believed there was no such necessity. At the Council, following advice offered by Simon Peter, Barnabas and Paul gave an account of their ministry among the gentiles, and the apostle James quoted from the words of the prophet Amos. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath, Acts 15, 23–29 sets out the content of the letter written in accordance with James proposal. The Western version of Acts adds the form of the Golden Rule. This determined questions wider than that of circumcision, particularly dietary questions, but also fornication and idolatry and blood, if you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. And this Apostolic Decree was considered binding on all the other local Christian congregations in other regions, see also Biblical law directed at non-Jews, Seven Laws of Noah, Biblical law in Christianity, and the Ten Commandments in Christianity. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, the description of the Apostolic Council in Acts 15, generally considered the same event described in Galatians 2, is considered by some scholars to be contradictory to the Galatians account. The historicity of Lukes account has been challenged, and was rejected completely by some scholars in the mid to late 20th century, however, more recent scholarship inclines towards treating the Jerusalem Council and its rulings as a historical event, though this is sometimes expressed with caution. An extensive literature exists on the text and exegesis of the Apostolic Decree, however, the Council did retain the prohibitions against Gentile converts eating meat containing blood, or meat of animals not properly slain
12.
First Council of Nicaea
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The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD325. Constantine I organized the Council along the lines of the Roman Senate and presided over it and this ecumenical council was the first effort to attain consensus in the Church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. Hosius of Cordoba, who was one of the Papal legates. The First Council of Nicaea was the first ecumenical council of the Church, St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position, the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianism comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly, through it a precedent was set for subsequent general councils to adopt creeds and canons. This council is considered the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils in the History of Christianity. The First Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine the Great upon the recommendations of a synod led by Hosius of Córdoba in the Eastertide of 325 and this synod had been charged with investigation of the trouble brought about by the Arian controversy in the Greek-speaking east. To most bishops, the teachings of Arius were heretical and dangerous to the salvation of souls and this was the first general council in the history of the Church summoned by emperor Constantine I. In the Council of Nicaea, The Church had taken her first great step to define revealed doctrine more precisely in response to a challenge from a heretical theology. Constantine had invited all 1,800 bishops of the Christian church within the Roman Empire, Eusebius of Caesarea counted more than 250, Athanasius of Alexandria counted 318, and Eustathius of Antioch estimated about 270. Later, Socrates Scholasticus recorded more than 300, and Evagrius, Hilary of Poitiers, Jerome, Dionysius Exiguus and this number 318 is preserved in the liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Delegates came from every region of the Roman Empire, including Britain, the participating bishops were given free travel to and from their episcopal sees to the council, as well as lodging. These bishops did not travel alone, each one had permission to bring him two priests and three deacons, so the total number of attendees could have been above 1,800. Eusebius speaks of an almost innumerable host of accompanying priests, deacons, the Eastern bishops formed the great majority. Of these, the first rank was held by the three patriarchs, Alexander of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, and Macarius of Jerusalem and this position is supported by patristic scholar Timothy Barnes in his book Constantine and Eusebius. Historically, the influence of these marred confessors has been seen as substantial, Athanasius of Alexandria, a young deacon and companion of Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, was among the assistants. Athanasius eventually spent most of his life battling against Arianism, Alexander of Constantinople, then a presbyter, was also present as representative of his aged bishop. The supporters of Arius included Secundus of Ptolemais, Theonus of Marmarica, Zphyrius, other supporters included Eusebius of Nicomedia, Paulinus of Tyrus, Actius of Lydda, Menophantus of Ephesus, and Theognus of Nicaea
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First Council of Constantinople
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The First Council of Constantinople was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople in AD381 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. 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, when Theodosius ascended to the imperial throne in 380, he began on a campaign to bring the Eastern Church back to Nicene Christianity. Theodosius wanted to unify the entire empire behind the orthodox position and decided to convene a church council to resolve matters of faith. Gregory Nazianzus was of similar mind, wishing to unify Christianity, in the spring of 381 they convened the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople. The Council of Nicaea in 325 had not ended the Arian controversy which it had called to clarify. Arius and his sympathizers, e. g. Eusebius of Nicomedia were admitted back into the church after ostensibly accepting the Nicene creed, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, the most vocal opponent of Arianism, was ultimately exiled through the machinations of Eusebius of Nicomedia. After the death of Constantine I in 337 and the accession of his Arian-leaning son Constantius II, up until about 360, theological debates mainly dealt with the divinity of the Son, the second person of the Trinity. However, because the Council of Nicaea had not clarified the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the Macedonians denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This was also known as Pneumatomachianism, Nicene Christianity also had its defenders, apart from Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers Trinitarian discourse was influential in the council at Constantinople. Apollinaris of Laodicea, another theologian, proved controversial. Possibly in an over-reaction to Arianism and its teaching that Christ was not God, he taught that Christ consisted of a human body and he was charged with confounding the persons of the Godhead, and with giving into the heretical ways of Sabellius. Basil of Caesarea accused him of abandoning the literal sense of the scripture, Theodosius strong commitment to Nicene Christianity involved a calculated risk because Constantinople, the imperial capital of the Eastern Empire, was solidly Arian. To complicate matters, the two leading factions of Nicene Christianity in the East, the Alexandrians and the supporters of Meletius in Antioch, were bitterly divided, almost to the point of complete animosity. The bishops of Alexandria and Rome had worked over a number of years to keep the see of Constantinople from stabilizing, thus, when Gregory was selected as a candidate for the bishopric of Constantinople, both Alexandria and Rome opposed him because of his Antiochene background. The incumbent bishop of Constantinople was Demophilus, a Homoian Arian, there ensued a contest to control the newly recovered see. A group led by Maximus the Cynic gained the support of Patriarch Peter of Alexandria by playing on his jealousy of the newly created see of Constantinople. They conceived a plan to install a cleric subservient to Peter as bishop of Constantinople so that Alexandria would retain the leadership of the Eastern Churches, many commentators characterize Maximus as having been proud, arrogant and ambitious. However, it is not clear the extent to which Maximus sought this position due to his own ambition or if he was merely a pawn in the power struggle
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Council of Ephesus
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The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus in AD431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. It met in June and July 431 at the Church of Mary in Ephesus in Anatolia, Nestorius himself had requested the Emperor to convene the council, hoping that it would prove his orthodoxy, the council in fact condemned his teachings as heresy. The council declared Mary as Theotokos, Nestorius dispute with Cyril had led the latter to seek validation from Pope Celestine I, who authorized Cyril to request that Nestorius recant his position or face excommunication. Nestorius pleaded with the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II to call a council in which all grievances could be aired, hoping that he would be vindicated, the proceedings were conducted in a heated atmosphere of confrontation and recriminations and created severe tensions between Cyril and Theodosius II. Nestorius was decisively outplayed by Cyril and removed from his see, Nestorius himself retired to a monastery, always asserting his orthodoxy. McGuckin cites the innate rivalry between Alexandria and Constantinople as an important factor in the controversy between Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius, according to McGuckin, Cyril viewed the elevated intellectual argument about christology as ultimately one and the same as the validity and security of the simple Christian life. Even within Constantinople, some supported the Roman-Alexandrian and others supported the Nestorian factions, for example, Pulcheria supported the Roman-Alexandrian popes while the emperor and his wife supported Nestorius. Contention over Nestorius teachings, which he developed during his studies at the School of Antioch, shortly after his arrival in Constantinople, Nestorius became involved in the disputes of two theological factions, which differed in their Christology. Nestorius was greatly surprised that what he had taught in Antioch without any controversy whatsoever should prove to be so objectionable to the Christians of Constantinople. Nestorius suggested the title Christotokos, but this proposal did not gain acceptance on either side. Nestorius tried to answer a question considered unsolved, How can Jesus Christ, being part man, not be partially a sinner as well, since man is by definition a sinner since the Fall. To solve that he taught that Mary, the mother of Jesus gave birth to the incarnate Christ, not the divine Logos who existed before Mary, the Logos occupied the part of the human soul. But wouldnt the absence of a human soul make Jesus less human, consequently, Nestorius argued that the Virgin Mary should be called Christotokos, Greek for Birth Giver of Christ, and not Theotokos, Greek for Birth Giver of God. Nestorius believed that no union between the human and divine was possible, nestoriuss opponents charged him with detaching Christs divinity and humanity into two persons existing in one body, thereby denying the reality of the Incarnation. Eusebius, a layman who later became the bishop of the neighbouring Dorylaeum was the first to accuse Nestorius of heresy, Cyril argued that Nestorianism split Jesus in half and denied that he was both human and divine. Cyril appealed to Pope Celestine I, charging Nestorius with heresy, the Pope agreed and gave Cyril his authority to serve a notice to Nestorius to recant his views within ten days or else be excommunicated. Before acting on the Popes commission, Cyril convened a synod of Egyptian bishops which condemned Nestorius as well, Cyril then sent four suffragan bishops to deliver both the Popes commission as well as the synodal letter of the Egyptian bishops. Cyril sent a letter to Nestorius known as The Third Epistle of Saint Cyril to Nestorius and this epistle drew heavily on the established Patristic Constitutions and contained the most famous article of Alexandrian Orthodoxy, The Twelve Anathemas of Saint Cyril
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Council of Chalcedon
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The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from October 8 to November 1, AD451, at Chalcedon. The Council is numbered as the ecumenical council by the Great Church. A minority of Christians do not agree with the councils teachings and its most important achievement was to issue the Chalcedonian Definition. The Councils judgments and definitions regarding the divine marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates, Chalcedon was a city in Bithynia, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, today the city it is part of the Republic of Turkey and is known as Kadıköy. The Council of Chalcedon issued the Chalcedonian Definition, which repudiated the notion of a nature in Christ. It also insisted on the completeness of his two natures, Godhead and manhood, the council also issued 27 disciplinary canons governing church administration and authority. In a further decree, later known as canon 28, the bishops declared that the See of Constantinople was, in honour, the teachings of the Council are accepted by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, Old Catholics and various other Western Christian groups. As such, it is recognized as infallible in its dogmatic definitions by the Catholic, most Protestants also agree that the teachings regarding the Trinity and the Incarnation, as defined at Nicaea and Chalcedon, are orthodox doctrine to which they adhere. However, the Council is not accepted by the ancient Oriental Orthodox branch of the Church and this includes the Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Syriac, Malankara Syrian and Armenian Apostolic churches. They instead teach that The Lord Jesus Christ is God the Incarnate Word and he possesses the perfect Godhead and the perfect manhood. Nevertheless, the Oriental Orthodox churches refuse to accept the decrees of the Council regarding monophysitism, many Anglicans and most Protestants consider it to be the last authoritative ecumenical council. In 325, the first ecumenical council determined that Jesus Christ was God, consubstantial with the Father and this was reaffirmed at the First Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus. After the Council of Ephesus had condemned Nestorianism, there remained a conflict between Patriarchs John of Antioch and Cyril of Alexandria, Cyril claimed that John remained Nestorian in outlook, while John claimed that Cyril held to the Apollinarian heresy. The two settled their differences under the mediation of the Bishop of Beroea, Acacius, on April 12,433, in the following year, Theodoret of Cyrrhus assented to this formula as well. He agreed to anathematize Nestorius as a heretic in 451, during the Council of Chalcedon and he claimed to be a faithful follower of Cyrils teaching, which was declared orthodox in the Union of 433. Cyril had taught that There is only one physis, since it is the Incarnation, Cyril had apparently understood the Greek word physis to mean approximately what the Latin word persona means, while most Greek theologians would have interpreted that word to mean natura. Thus, many understood Eutyches to be advocating Docetism, a sort of reversal of Arianism—where Arius had denied the divinity of Jesus. Cyrils orthodoxy was not called into question, since the Union of 433 had explicitly spoken of two physeis in this context, Leo I wrote that Eutyches error seemed to be more from a lack of skill on the matters than from malice
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Second Council of Constantinople
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The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized as such by both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Old Catholics unanimously recognise it, protestant opinions and recognition of it are varied. Some Protestants, such as Calvinists and Lutherans, recognise the first four councils, Constantinople II was convoked by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I under the presidency of Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople. It was held from 5 May to 2 June 553, participants were overwhelmingly Eastern bishops – only sixteen Western bishops were present, including nine from Illyricum and seven from Africa, but none from Italy – out of the 152 total. The main work of the council was to confirm the condemnation issued by edict in 551 by the Emperor Justinian against the Three Chapters. The council also condemned the teaching that the Virgin Mary could not be called the Mother of God. Justinian hoped that this would contribute to a reunion between the Chalcedonians and monophysites in the provinces of the Empire. Various attempts at reconciliation between these parties within the Byzantine Empire were made by many emperors over the four following the Council of Ephesus. The Council was presided over by Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, Pope Vigilius was also invited, but even though he was at this period resident in Constantinople, he declined to attend, and even issued a document forbidding the council from preceding without him. For more details see Pope Vigilius, the council, however, proceeded without the pope to condemn the Three Chapters. Vigilius was then imprisoned in Constantinople by the emperor and his advisors were exiled, after six months, in December 553, he agreed, however, to condemn the Three Chapters, claiming that his hesitation was due to being misled by his advisors. His approval of the council was expressed in two documents, condemning the Three Chapters, on his own authority and without mention of the council, in Northern Italy the ecclesiastical provinces of Milan and Aquileia broke communion with Rome. Though ranked as one of the councils, it never attained in the West the status of either Nicaea or Chalcedon. It used to be argued that the extant acts are incomplete, however, the solution generally accepted today is that the bishops signed the canons condemning Origenism before the council formally opened. This condemnation was confirmed by Pope Vigilius and the subsequent ecumenical council gave its assent in its Definition of Faith to the five previous synods, the last, that is the Fifth holy Synod assembled in this place, against Theodore of Mopsuestia, Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius. Its full conciliar authority has only been questioned in modern times and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Thomas J. Shahan. The Formation of Christendom, revised, illustrated paperback edition, london, Princeton University Press and Fontana. Imperial unity and Christian divisions, The Church 450-680 A. D, crestwood, NY, St. Vladimirs Seminary Press
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Third Council of Constantinople
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The Council settled a set of theological controversies that go back to the sixth century but had intensified under the Emperors Heraclius and Constans II. The result was first monoenergism, i. e. that Christ, Pope Martin I and the monk Maximus, the foremost opponents of monothelitism, held a synod in Rome in 649 that condemned monoenergism and monothelitism. Then he sent a delegation to meet the Easterners at Constantinople, in the meantime, Constantine summoned Patriarch George I of Constantinople and all bishops of his jurisdiction of Constantinople to a council. He also summoned Patriarch Macarius of Antioch, a Byzantine appointee permanently resident in Constantinople because of the Muslim occupation of his see, on 7 November 680, a mere 37 bishops and a number of presbyters convened in the imperial palace, in the domed hall called the Trullus. The Patriarchs of Constantinople and of Antioch participated in person, whereas the patriarchates of Alexandria, the Pope and a council he had held in Rome were represented by a few priests and bishops. In its opening session, the council assumed the authority of an Ecumenical Council, the Emperor attended and presided over the first eleven sessions, took part in the discussions and returned for the closing session on 16 September 681, attended by 151 bishops. During the council, a letter by Pope Agatho was read which asserted as the belief of the Church that Christ was of two wills, divine and human. Most of the bishops present accepted the letter, proclaiming that Peter spoke through Agatho, Macarius of Antioch defended monothelitism but was condemned and deposed, along with his partisans. The council, in keeping with Agathos letter, defined that Jesus Christ possessed two energies and two wills but that the human will was in subjection to his divine and all-powerful will, the council carefully avoided any mention of Maximus the Confessor, who was still regarded with suspicion. It condemned both monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical and included those who had supported this heresy, including Pope Honorius I and he had a corpse brought forth, but after whispering prayers into its ears, could not revive the body. Boniface Consiliarius List of translators Meyendorff, John, imperial unity and Christian divisions, The Church 450-680 A. D. Crestwood, NY, St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, concilium Universale Constantinopolitanum Tertium, in Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum, ser. ISBN 0-8135-0599-2 Ekonomou, Andrew J.2007, Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes, Eastern influences on Rome and the papacy from Gregory the Great to Zacharias, A. D. 590–752. The Filioque, History of a Doctrinal Controversy
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Second Council of Nicaea
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The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by both West and East. Orthodox, Catholics, and Old Catholics unanimously recognize it, Protestant opinions on it are varied and it met in AD787 in Nicaea to restore the use and veneration of icons, which had been suppressed by imperial edict inside the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Leo III. His son, Constantine V, had held the Council of Hieria to make the suppression official, the veneration of icons had been banned by Byzantine Emperor Constantine V and supported by his Council of Hieria, which had described itself as the seventh ecumenical council. The emperors vigorous enforcement of the ban included persecution of those who venerated icons, Constantines iconoclastic tendencies were shared by Constantines son, Leo IV. After the latters death, his widow, Irene of Athens, as regent for her son, began its restoration, moved thereto by personal inclination. However, a council, claiming to be ecumenical, had abolished the veneration of icons, Pope Adrian I was invited to participate, and gladly accepted. However, the intended for the oriental patriarchs could not even be delivered to them. The Roman legates were an archbishop and an abbot, both named Peter, in 786, the council met in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. However, soldiers in collusion with the opposition entered the church, as a result, the government resorted to a stratagem. Under the pretext of a campaign, the bodyguard was sent away from the capital — disarmed and disbanded. The council was summoned to meet, this time in Nicaea. The council assembled on September 24,787 at the church of Hagia Sophia and it numbered about 350 members,308 bishops or their representatives signed. Tarasius presided, and seven sessions were held in Nicaea, first Session — Three bishops, Basilius of Ancyra, Theodore of Myra and Theodosius of Amorium begged for pardon for the heresy of iconoclasm. Second Session — Papal legates read the letters of Pope Hadrian I asking for agreement with veneration of images, third Session — Other bishops having made their abjuration, were received into the council. Fourth Session — Proof of the lawfulness of the veneration of icons was drawn from Exodus 25,19 sqq, ezekiel 41,18, and Genesis 31,34, but especially from a series of passages of the Church Fathers, the authority of the latter was decisive. Fifth Session — It was claimed that the iconoclast heresy came originally from Jews, Saracens, sixth Session — The definition of the pseudo-Seventh council was read and condemned. Seventh Session — The council issued a declaration of faith concerning the veneration of holy images, and exhibited on the walls of churches, in the homes, and in all conspicuous places, by the roadside and everywhere, to be revered by all who might see them. For the more they are contemplated, the more they move to fervent memory of their prototypes, eighth Session — The last session was held in Constantinople at the Magnaura Palace
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First Council of the Lateran
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The Council of 1123 is reckoned in the series of Ecumenical councils by the Catholic Church. It was convoked by Pope Calixtus II in December,1122, the council convoked by Callistus II was significant in size, three hundred bishops and more than six hundred abbots assembled at Rome in March,1123, Callistus presided in person. During the Council the decisions of the Concordat of Worms were read, the First Lateran Council was called by Pope Callistus II whose reign began February 1,1119. It demarcated the end of the Investiture controversy which had begun before the time of Pope Gregory VII, the issues had been contentious and had continued with unabated bitterness for almost a century. Guido, as he was called before his elevation to the papacy, was the son of William I and he was closely connected with nearly all the royal houses of Europe on both sides of his family. He had been named the legate to France by Pope Paschal II. During Guidos tenure in office, Paschal II yielded to the military threats of Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor. By this document the Church gave up much of what had been claimed and subsequently attained by Pope Gregory VII and these concessions did not bring the expected peace but were received with violent reactionary opposition everywhere. Europe had come to expect an end to the Investiture controversy, the greatest resistance was seen in France and was led by Guido, who still held the office of the papal legate. He had been present in the Lateran Synod of 1112 which had proclaimed the Privilegium of 1111, on his return to France, Guido convoked an assembly of the French and Burgundian bishops at Vienne. There the lay investiture of the clergy was denounced as heretical, a sentence of excommunication was pronounced against Henry V, who had extorted through violence from the pope the concessions documented in the Privilegium. The agreement was deemed to be opposed to the interests of the Church, the decrees from the assembly of Vienne which denounced the Privilegium were sent to Paschal II with a request for confirmation. Pope Paschal II confirmed these which were received in general terms, Guido was later created cardinal by Pope Paschal II. The latter did not seem to have been pleased with Guido’s bold and forward attacks upon Henry V, on the death of Paschal II, January 21,1118, Gelasius II was elected pope. He was immediately seized by the Italian allies of Henry V, and on his liberation by the populace fled to Gaeta, Henry V demanded the confirmation of the Privilegium and received no satisfactory reply. He then set about naming Burdinus, the archbishop of Braga and this pope assumed the name Gregory VIII, but came to be known as antipope Gregory VIII. Burdinus had already been deposed and excommunicated because he had crowned Henry V, the excommunication of Bardinus was reiterated in Canon 6 of the document produced by Lateran I. On the fourth day after the death of Gelasius II, February I,1119, owing mainly to the exertions of Cardinal Cuno, Guido was elected pope and he was crowned Pope at Vienne on February 9,1119
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Second Council of Lyon
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The First Council of Lyon, the Thirteenth Ecumenical Council, took place in 1245. The Second Council of Lyon was the ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, France. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the Eastern church with the West. The council was attended by about 300 bishops,60 abbots and more than a thousand prelates or their procurators, among whom were the representatives of the universities. Due to the number of attendees, those who had come to Lyon without being specifically summoned were given leave to depart with the blessing of God. Thomas Aquinas had been summoned to the council, but died en route at Fossanova Abbey, bonaventure was present at the first four sessions, but died at Lyon on 15 July 1274. This innovation marks a stepping-stone towards the acknowledgment of coherent ideas of nationhood, the main topics discussed at the council were the conquest of the Holy Land and the union of the Eastern and Western Churches. The first session took place on 7 May 1274 and was followed by five additional sessions on 18 May 1274,4 or 7 June 1274,6 July 1274,16 July 1274, by the end of the council,31 constitutions were promulgated. The Greeks conceded on the issue of the Filioque, and union was proclaimed, the council also recognized Rudolf I as Holy Roman Emperor, ending the Interregnum. Eastern dignitaries arrived at Lyon on 24 June 1274 presenting a letter from the Emperor, on 29 June 1274, Gregory celebrated Mass in St Johns Church where both sides took part. The Greeks read the Nicene Creed, with the Western addition of the Filioque clause sung three times. The council was seemingly a success, but did not provide a solution to the schism, the Emperor was anxious to heal the schism. Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople abdicated, and was replaced by John Bekkos, michaels death in December 1282 put an end to the union of Lyons. His son and successor Andronicus II repudiated the union in the Council of Blachernae and he is to this day reviled by many in the Eastern Church as a traitor to Orthodoxy. The council drew up plans for a crusade to recover the Holy Land, the plans were approved but nothing concrete was done. James I of Aragon wished to organize the expedition at once, ambassadors of the Khan of the Tatars negotiated with the Pope, who asked them to leave Christians in peace during their war against Islam. The Mongol leader Abaqa Khan sent a delegation of 13-16 Mongols to the Council, among the embassy were David of Ashby, and the clerk Rychaldus. According to one chronicler, The Mongols came, not because of the Faith, according to Richardus, Hulagu had also prohibited the molestation of Frank establishments, and had committed to return Jerusalem to the Franks
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Council of Vienne
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The Council of Vienne was the fifteenth Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church that met between 1311 and 1312 in Vienne. Its principal act was to withdraw support for the Knights Templar on the instigation of Philip IV of France. The Knights Templar were founded after the First Crusade of 1096 to ensure the safety of European pilgrims to Jerusalem, in the following centuries the order grew in power and wealth. In the early 14th century, Philip IV of France needed money urgently to continue his war with England and so he accused the Grand Master of the Templars, Jacques De Molay, of corruption and heresy. In 1307 Philip had many French Templars arrested, charged with heresies and this action released Philip from his obligation to repay loans from the Templars and allowed him to confiscate the Templars assets in France. Pope Clement V was under the control of Philip, one of the Popes predecessors, Boniface VIII, had claimed supremacy over Philip and had attempted to excommunicate him when Philip disagreed. However Boniface was seized at Anagni by a party of horsemen under the command of Philips men, though he was later released, the elderly Boniface died shortly after. Bonifaces successor, Pope Benedict XI, lasted less than a year before he too died, the Frenchman Pope Clement thereafter was strongly pressured to follow Philips directions. Pope Clement V caused the Council to meet by issuing the bulls Faciens misericordiam, the city chosen was Vienne, which is on the Rhône River in the south of modern France and at the time was outside the direct control of Philip IV. The neutral setting was intended to give the impression of independent action, the main item on the agenda of the Council not only cited the Order of Knights Templar itself, but also its lands, which indicated that further seizures of property were proposed. However the agenda also invited archbishops and prelates to bring proposals for improvements in the life of the Church, special notice were sent to the Templars directing them to send suitable defensores to the Council. The Grand Master Jacques de Molay and others had also commanded to appear in person. However, Molay was already imprisoned in Paris and trials of other Templars were already in progress and this delayed the opening of the Council, which finally convened on 16 October 1311. The attendees consisted of twenty cardinals, four patriarchs, about one hundred archbishops and bishops, plus several abbots and priors. The acts of the Council have disappeared, with the exceptions of a fragment in a manuscript in the National Library in Paris, the pope and the cardinals negotiated with the members of this commission respecting the matter. A commission of cardinals was also appointed in order to investigate grievances, the discussion of Knights Templar was then put in abeyance. The topic changed to the need for an expedition to the Holy Land, the delegates of the King of Aragon wanted the city of Granada to be attacked, to attack the Muslims on the flank, others wanted a crusade to the east only. In February 1312 envoys from the Philip IV negotiated with the Pope without consulting the Council, and Philip held an assembly in Lyon to put pressure on the Pope
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Council of Constance
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The Council of Constance is the 15th century ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418. The council ended the Western Schism, by deposing or accepting the resignation of the remaining papal claimants, the Council also condemned Jan Hus as a heretic and facilitated his execution by the civil authority. It also ruled on issues of sovereignty, the rights of pagans. The Council is important for its relationship to ecclesial Conciliarism and Papal supremacy, the councils main purpose was to end the Papal schism which had resulted from the confusion following the Avignon Papacy. After thirty years of schism, the Council of Pisa had sought to resolve the situation by deposing the two claimant popes and elected a new pope, Alexander V. The council claimed that in such a situation, a council of bishops had greater authority than just one bishop, therefore, many voices, including Sigismund, King of the Romans and of Hungary, pressed for another council to resolve the issue. That council was called by John XXIII and was held from 16 November 1414 to 22 April 1418 in Constance, according to Joseph McCabe, the council was attended by roughly 29 cardinals,100 learned doctors of law and divinity,134 abbots, and 183 bishops and archbishops. Sigismund arrived on Christmas Eve 1414 and exercised a profound and continuous influence on the course of the council in his capacity of imperial protector of the Church, an innovation at the Council was that instead of voting as individuals, the bishops voted in national blocs. The vote by nations was in great measure the work of the English, German, the four nations consisted of England, France, Italy, and Germany, with Poles, Hungarians, Danes, and Scandinavians counted with the Germans. While the Italian representatives made up half of those in attendance, they were equal in influence to the English, many members of the new assembly strongly favored the voluntary abdication of all three popes, as did King Sigismund. Although the Italian bishops who had accompanied John XXIII in large numbers supported his legitimacy, partly in response to a fierce anonymous attack on his character from an Italian source, on 2 March 1415 he promised to resign. However, on 20 March he secretly fled the city and took refuge at Schaffhausen in territory of his friend Frederick, haec Sancta Synodus marks the high-water mark of the Conciliar movement of reform. The Church declared the first sessions of the Council of Constance an invalid and illicit assembly of bishops, the acts of the Council were not made public until 1442, at the behest of the Council of Basel, they were printed in 1500. The creation of a book on how to die was ordered by the council, in part because of the constant presence of the King, other rulers demanded that they have a say in who would be pope. This would pave the way for the end of the Western Schism, on 4 July 1415 the Bull of Gregory XII which appointed Malatesta and Cardinal Dominici of Ragusa as his proxies at the council was formally read before the assembled Bishops. The cardinal then read a decree of Gregory XII which convoked the council, thereupon, the Bishops voted to accept the summons. Prince Malatesta immediately informed the Council that he was empowered by a commission from Pope Gregory XII to resign the Papal Throne on the Pontiffs behalf and he asked the Council whether they would prefer to receive the abdication at that point or at a later date. The Bishops voted to receive the Papal abdication immediately, former Pope Gregory XII was then created titular Cardinal Bishop of Porto and Santa Ruffina by the Council, with rank immediately below the Pope
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Council of Florence
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At stake was the greater conflict between the Conciliar movement and the principle of papal supremacy. The Council entered a second phase after Emperor Sigismunds death in 1437, Pope Eugene IV convoked a rival Council of Ferrara on 8 January 1438 and succeeded in drawing the Byzantine ambassadors to Italy. The Council of Basel first suspended him, declared him a heretic, the rival Council of Florence concluded in 1445 after negotiating unions with the various eastern churches. This bridging of the Great Schism proved fleeting, but was a coup for the papacy. In 1447, Sigismunds successor Frederick III commanded the city of Basel to expel the Council of Basel, ambrogio Traversari attended the Council of Basel as legate of Pope Eugene IV. Under pressure for reform, Pope Martin V sanctioned a decree of the Council of Constance obliging the papacy to summon general councils periodically. At the expiration of the first term fixed by this decree, due to an epidemic the location transferred almost at once to Siena and disbande, in circumstances still imperfectly known, just as it had begun to discuss the subject of reform. Martin himself, however, died before the opening of the synod, the Council was seated on December 14,1431, at a period when the conciliar movement was strong and the authority of the papacy weak. The Council at Basel opened with only a few bishops and abbots attending and it adopted an anti-papal attitude, proclaimed the superiority of the Council over the Pope and prescribed an oath to be taken by every Pope on his election. On December 18 Martins successor, Pope Eugene IV, tried to dissolve it and open a new council on Italian soil at Bologna, but he was overruled. Sigismund, King of Hungary and titular King of Bohemia, had defeated at the Battle of Domažlice in the fifth crusade against the Hussites in August 1431. Under his sponsorship, the Council negotiated a peace with Calixtine faction of the Hussites in January 1433, Pope Eugene acknowledged the council in May and crowned Sigismund Holy Roman Emperor on May 31,1433. The divided Hussites were defeated in May 1434, in June 1434, the pope had to flee a revolt in Rome and began a ten-year exile in Florence. When the Council was moved from Basel to Ferrara in 1438, some remained at Basel and they elected Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy, as Antipope. Driven out of Basel in 1448, they moved to Lausanne, where Felix V, the pope they had elected, the next year, they decreed the closure of what for them was still the Council of Basel. The new council was transferred to Florence in 1439 because of the danger of plague at Ferrara and because Florence had agreed, against future payment, some, perhaps feeling political pressure from the Byzantine Emperor, accepted the decrees of the Council. Others did so by sincere conviction, such as Isidore of Kiev, only Bishop Mark of Ephesus, however, refused to accept the union and became the leader of opposition back home. The Russians, upon learning of the union, angrily rejected it, despite the religious union, Western military assistance to Byzantium was meager, and the fall of Constantinople occurred in May 1453
24.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
25.
Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
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It is the oldest of and has precedence among the four papal major basilicas, all of which are in Rome, because it is the oldest church in the West and houses the cathedra of the Roman Pontiff. It has the title of ecumenical mother church of the Roman Catholic faithful, the current archpriest is Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome. The archbasilica stands over the remains of the Castra Nova equitum singularium, the fort was established by Septimius Severus in AD193. Following the victory of Emperor Constantine I over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the guard was abolished, substantial remains of the fort lie directly beneath the nave. The remainder of the site was occupied during the early Roman Empire by the palace of the gens Laterani, sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul, and the Laterani served as administrators for several emperors. One of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the Emperor, the accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties. The Lateran Palace fell into the hands of the Emperor when Constantine I married his second wife Fausta, known by that time as the Domus Faustae or House of Fausta, the Lateran Palace was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine I. The palace basilica was converted and extended, becoming the residence of Pope St. Silvester I, eventually becoming the Cathedral of Rome, Pope Sylvester I presided over the official dedication of the archbasilica and the adjacent Lateran Palace in 324, declaring both to be a Domus Dei. The papal cathedra was placed in its interior, rendering it the cathedral of the Pope qua Bishop of Rome, the archbasilica and Lateran Palace were re-dedicated twice. Pope Sergius III dedicated them to St. John the Baptist in the 10th century in honor of the newly consecrated baptistry of the archbasilica, Pope Lucius II dedicated them to St. John the Evangelist in the 12th century. Consequently, the archbasilica remains dedicated to the Savior, and its titular feast is the Feast of the Transfiguration, the archbasilica became the most important shrine of the two St. Johns, albeit infrequently jointly venerated. In later years, a Benedictine monastery was established in the Lateran Palace, and was devoted to serving the archbasilica, the Lateran Palace has also been the site of five ecumenical councils. During the time the papacy was seated in Avignon, France, the Lateran Palace, two fires ravaged them in 1307 and 1361. After both fires the pope sent money from Avignon to pay for their reconstruction and maintenance, nonetheless, the archbasilica and Lateran Palace lost their former splendor. When the papacy returned from Avignon and the pope again resided in Rome, the archbasilica, the popes resided at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and later at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Eventually, the Palace of the Vatican was built adjacent to the Basilica of St. Peter, which existed since the time of Emperor Constantine I, and it has remained the official residence of the pope. The original Lateran Palace was demolished and replaced with a new edifice, on the square in front of the Lateran Palace is the largest standing obelisk in the world, known as the Lateran Obelisk. It weighs an estimated 455 tons and it was commissioned by the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III and erected by Thutmose IV before the great Karnak temple of Thebes, Egypt
26.
St. Peter's Basilica
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The Papal Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, or simply St. Peters Basilica, is an Italian Renaissance church in Vatican City, the papal enclave within the city of Rome. While it is neither the church of the Catholic Church nor the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It has been described as holding a position in the Christian world. Catholic tradition holds that the Basilica is the site of Saint Peter, one of Christs Apostles. Saint Peters tomb is supposedly directly below the altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peters since the Early Christian period, construction of the present basilica, which would replace Old St. Peters Basilica from the 4th century AD, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626. St. Peters is famous as a place of pilgrimage and for its liturgical functions. The Pope presides at a number of liturgies throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Basilica or the adjoining St. Peters Square. St. Peters has many associations, with the Early Christian Church, the Papacy. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age, St. Peters is one of the four churches in the world that hold the rank of Major Basilica, all four of which are in Rome. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral because it is not the seat of a bishop, St. Peters is a church built in the Renaissance style located in the Vatican City west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrians Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome, the basilica is approached via St. Peters Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid, the basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world, the entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door. The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches and this in its turn overwhelms us. The nave which leads to the dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them, there are also chapels surrounding the dome
27.
Catholic theology
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The theology of the Catholic Church is based on natural law, canonical scripture, divine revelation, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic Church. The teachings of the Catholic Church are summarized in various creeds, especially the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed, Catholic teachings have been refined and clarified by major councils of the Church, convened by popes at important points throughout history. The first such council, the Council of Jerusalem, was convened by the Apostles c, the most recent was the Second Vatican Council, which was held from 1962 to 1965. The Catholic Church believes that it is guided by the Holy Spirit, according to the Church, the Holy Spirit reveals Gods truth through sacred scripture and sacred tradition. Sacred tradition consists of those handed down through the church since the time of the Apostles. Sacred scripture and sacred tradition are known as the deposit of faith. This is in turn interpreted by the magisterium, the authority of the Church. The first person to distinguish Catholic theology from secularism was the Italian Protestant Alberico Gentili, formal Catholic worship is ordered by means of the liturgy, which is regulated by church authority. The celebration of the Eucharist, one of seven sacraments, is held at the center of Catholic worship, there are numerous additional forms of personal prayer and devotion including the Rosary, Stations of the Cross, and Eucharistic adoration. The Church community consists of the clergy, the laity. According to the Catechism, Christ instituted seven sacraments and entrusted them to the Church and these are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. They are vehicles through which Gods grace is said to flow into all those who receive them with the proper disposition, the Church encourages individuals to engage in adequate preparation before receiving certain sacraments. The Catholic Church teaches that The desire for God is written in the heart, because man is created by God and for God. While man may turn away from God, God never stops calling man back to him, because man is created in the image and likeness of God, man can know with certainty of Gods existence from his own human reason. In summary, the Church teaches that Man is by nature, coming from God, going toward God, man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God. The Church teaches that God revealed himself gradually, beginning in the Old Testament and this revelation started with Adam and Eve, and was not broken off by their original sin, rather, God promised to send a redeemer. God further revealed himself through covenants between Noah and Abraham, God delivered the law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and spoke through the Old Testament prophets. The fullness of Gods revelation was made manifest through the coming of the Son of God, creeds are concise doctrinal statements or confessions, usually of religious beliefs
28.
Papal primacy
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Papal primacy, also known as the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, is an ecclesiastical doctrine concerning the respect and authority that is due to the pope from other bishops and their sees. English academic and Roman Catholic priest Aidan Nichols wrote that at root, only one issue of substance divides the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches, the power that it attributes to the popes primatial authority has limitations that are official, legal, dogmatic, and practical. In 1983 CIC canon 331, the bishop of Roman Church is both the vicar of Christ and pastor of the universal Church on earth. Knut Walf, in New commentary on the Code of Canon Law, notes that this description, bishop of the Roman Church, is found in this canon. Heinrich Denzinger, Peter Hünermann et al, the bishop of Rome is the supreme authority of the sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches. This primacy over the entire Church includes primacy over Eastern Catholic patriarchs and eparchial bishops, over governance of institutes of consecrated life, Primacy of the bishop of Rome was also codified in the 1917 Code of Canon Law canons 218–221. The Roman Catholic Church bases its doctrine of papal primacy on the primacy among the apostles that Jesus gave to Peter in Matthew 16, 16-19, Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Accordingly, it would be a mistake to expect to find the modern fully developed doctrine of papal primacy in the first centuries, thereby failing to recognize the Churchs historical reality. The figure of the pope as leader of the church developed over time. This distinction of levels does not diminish the sacramental equality of every bishop or the catholicity of each local Church and this being the case then, all congregations had to abide by the regulations set in Rome. Not all Roman Catholic theologians see a special providential providence as responsible for the result, the same witnesses imply that Peter was the virtual founder of the Church of Rome, though not its founder in the sense of initiating a Christian community there. Classic Roman Catholic tradition maintained that the primacy of the bishop of Rome was divinely instituted by Jesus Christ. Today, scriptural scholars of many traditions agree that it is possible to discern in the New Testament an early tradition that attributes a special position to Peter among Christs twelve apostles. The Church built its identity on them as witnesses, and responsibility for leadership was not restricted to Peter. In Matthew 16,19, Peter is explicitly commissioned to bind and loose, later, in Matthew 18,18, Christ directly promises all the disciples that they will do the same. Similarly, the foundation upon which the Church is built is related to Peter in Matthew 16,16, and to the whole apostolic body elsewhere in the New Testament. Irenaeus of Lyon wrote that Peter and Paul had founded the Church in Rome and had appointed Pope Linus to the office of the episcopate and it was from their time, and not before, that an orderly and meetly ordained succession of Bishops originated
29.
Pope
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The pope is the Bishop of Rome and, therefore, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013, the office of the pope is the papacy. The pope is considered one of the worlds most powerful people because of his diplomatic and he is also head of state of Vatican City, a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the Italian capital city of Rome. The papacy is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history, the popes in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages, they played a role of importance in Western Europe. Currently, in addition to the expansion of the Christian faith and doctrine, the popes are involved in ecumenism and interfaith dialogue, charitable work, Popes, who originally had no temporal powers, in some periods of history accrued wide powers similar to those of temporal rulers. In recent centuries, popes were gradually forced to give up temporal power, the word pope derives from Greek πάππας meaning father. The earliest record of the use of title was in regard to the by then deceased Patriarch of Alexandria. Some historians have argued that the notion that Peter was the first bishop of Rome, the writings of the Church Father Irenaeus who wrote around AD180 reflect a belief that Peter founded and organised the Church at Rome. Moreover, Irenaeus was not the first to write of Peters presence in the early Roman Church, Clement of Rome wrote in a letter to the Corinthians, c. 96, about the persecution of Christians in Rome as the struggles in our time and presented to the Corinthians its heroes, first, the greatest and most just columns, the good apostles Peter and Paul. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote shortly after Clement and in his letter from the city of Smyrna to the Romans he said he would not command them as Peter and Paul did. Given this and other evidence, many agree that Peter was martyred in Rome under Nero. Protestants contend that the New Testament offers no proof that Jesus established the papacy nor even that he established Peter as the first bishop of Rome, others, using Peters own words, argue that Christ intended himself as the foundation of the church and not Peter. First-century Christian communities would have had a group of presbyter-bishops functioning as leaders of their local churches, gradually, episcopacies were established in metropolitan areas. Antioch may have developed such a structure before Rome, some writers claim that the emergence of a single bishop in Rome probably did not occur until the middle of the 2nd century. In their view, Linus, Cletus and Clement were possibly prominent presbyter-bishops, documents of the 1st century and early 2nd century indicate that the Holy See had some kind of pre-eminence and prominence in the Church as a whole, though the detail of what this meant is unclear. It seems that at first the terms episcopos and presbyter were used interchangeably, the consensus among scholars has been that, at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, local congregations were led by bishops and presbyters whose offices were overlapping or indistinguishable
30.
Bernard John McQuaid
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Bernard John McQuaid was an American Catholic priest, the first Bishop of Rochester, U. S. A. and the first president of Seton Hall University. McQuaid Jesuit High School is named in his honor and his father, Bernard McQuaid, from Tyrone, Ireland, settled in Powels Hook, New Jersey. It was in the McQuaid home that Mass was first said in Powels Hook, by Father John Conron, on the first Sunday in Advent, November,1829. After his college course at Chambly, Quebec, young McQuaid entered St. Johns Seminary, Fordham, and was ordained in old St. Patricks Cathedral, New York on 16 January 1848. Most of the State of New Jersey was at that time included in the Diocese of New York, so Father McQuaid was sent as assistant to the pastor at Madison, New Jersey. When the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark was created in 1853, Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley made Father McQuaid rector of his cathedral church, and later, in 1866, his vicar-general. With the bishop he founded Seton Hall College, and, without giving up his parochial charge or his office, was its president for ten years. He helped to establish the Madison, New Jersey, foundation of the Seton Sisters of Charity, on the creation of the Diocese of Rochester in 1868, Father McQuaid was appointed its first bishop and was consecrated in St. Patricks Cathedral, New York,12 July 1868. He was installed in Rochester, on July 16, less well known is McQuaids pioneering work as one of the Finger Lakes first commercial wineries, O-Neh-Da Vineyard. Named to honor the culture of the Native people, McQuaid called the Vineyard O-Neh-Da which means Lake of Hemlocks in the Seneca language, O-Neh-Da Vineyard continues McQuaids mission to this day, making 100% pure grape wine for Eucharistic Celebration in the Finger Lakes of New York State. McQuaid was especially devoted to the cause of Catholic education, in Rochester within ten years he organized a parochial school system, taught by nuns, and affiliated it with the State university. Two years after he took charge of the diocese he opened St. Andrews Preparatory Seminary, the crowning event of his career was the opening, in 1893, of St. Bernards Seminary. Bishop McQuaid attended the First Vatican Council in 1870, in 1905 he asked for a coadjutor, and Bishop Thomas Francis Hickey was consecrated,24 May 1905. The Republic, Catholic Sun, Catholic News, Joseph M. Flynn, Catholic Church in New Jersey, Francis X. Reuss, hierarchy of U. S. Catholic Directory. Catholic Encyclopedia article This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles
31.
James Roosevelt Bayley
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James Roosevelt Bayley was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Newark and the eighth Archbishop of Baltimore, Bayley was born in New York City, to Guy Carlton Bayley and Grace Roosevelt. His father was the son of Dr and his mother was the daughter of Jacobus Roosevelt and Maria Eliza Walton, a descendant of Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmoreland. Lady Joan was an ancestor of several Kings of the House of York in England, the eldest of four children, he had two brothers, Carlton and William, and a sister, Maria Eliza. He was also related to President Theodore Roosevelt and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Bayley received his education at the Mount Pleasant Classical Institute in Amherst. He once considered a career on the sea, hoping to become a midshipman in the U. S. Navy and he attended Washington College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1835. Raised as a Protestant, he decided to enter the Episcopal ministry and he was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church on February 14,1840. He then served as rector of St. Andrews Church in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City and he briefly served as rector of St. Johns Church in Hagerstown, Maryland, before traveling to Rome, where he was received into the Catholic Church. He received a baptism on April 19,1842, and received Confirmation. Bayley traveled throughout Europe for over a year following his conversion and he returned to New York and there completed his studies at St. Johns College in Fordham. On March 2,1844, Bayley was ordained a Catholic priest by Bishop John Hughes at St. Patricks Cathedral and his maternal grandfather, who had made Bayley heir of his large fortune, removed him from his will after his ordination. He was appointed vice-president of St. Johns College, where he served as professor of rhetoric. He was acting president in 1846 and later served as a pastor in New Brighton, from 1848 to 1853, he was private secretary to Bishop Hughes. He published A Brief Sketch of the Early History of the Catholic Church on the Island of New York in 1853, on October 30,1853, Bayley was consecrated the first bishop of the Diocese of Newark. Bayleys mission for the fledgling Diocese was to establish Catholic education as he said, In our present position, every Catholic child in the state in a Catholic school. Bayley realized that in order to be effective in his mission he needed the help of a Diocesan community, as he put it, in 1857 a group of Benedictine Sisters arrived from Pennsylvania and in the following year Bayley sent five women to train with the Sisters of Charity. Many other communities of men and women joined the Diocese in the next decades
32.
Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton
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Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton, FRS was an English poet, patron of literature and politician. Milnes was born in London, the son of Robert Pemberton Milnes, of Fryston Hall, Castleford, West Yorkshire, and he was educated privately, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827. After graduating with an M. A. in 1831, Milnes travelled abroad and he went to Italy and Greece, and published in 1834 a volume of Memorials of a Tour in some Parts of Greece, describing his experiences. Milnes returned to London in 1837, and was elected to Parliament as member for Pontefract as a Conservative, in parliament he interested himself particularly in the question of copyright and the conditions of reformatory schools. He left Prime Minister Sir Robert Peels party over the Corn Law controversy and his easy good nature had the effect that his political career was viewed with less seriousness by his contemporaries than it might otherwise have been. In 1848, he went to Paris to see something of the revolution, on his return he wrote, as a ‘Letter to Lord Lansdowne, ’1848. In 1863, Palmerston elevated Milnes to the peerage as Baron Houghton, of Great Houghton in the West Riding of the County of York. George W. E. Russell said of him, As years advanced he became not less Liberal, Milnes literary career was often influenced by church matters. He wrote a tract in 1841, which was praised by John Henry Newman and he took part in the discussion about Essays and Reviews, defending the tractarian position in One Tract More. He published two volumes of verse in 1838, Memorials of Residence upon the Continent and Poems of Many Years, Poetry for the People in 1840 and Palm Leaves in 1844. He also wrote a Life and Letters of Keats in 1848, Milnes ballads were among the most popular of their day. In 1868, Lord Houghton was elected to the Royal Society, in 1870, he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society. Despite his piety, he had apparently an almost unsurpassed collection of literature, which he bequeathed to the British Library. A man whom his biographer Saunders said, had many fine tastes and some coarse ones, Milnes has been considered an author of The Rodiad. However, his chief distinctions were his sense of literary merit in others, and he was surrounded by the most brilliant men of his time, many of whom he had been the first to acclaim. His reputation rests largely on the part he played, as a man of influence in society and in moulding public opinion on literary matters, in connection with his large circle of talented friends. He secured a pension for Tennyson, helped to make Ralph Waldo Emerson known in Britain and he helped David Gray by writing a preface for The Luggie. He helped to obtain a job for Coventry Patmore at the British Museum and he was, in the traditional sense, a patron of literature, who never abused the privileges of his position
33.
Henry Edward Manning
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Henry Edward Manning was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, and the second Archbishop of Westminster from 1865 until his death in 1892. Manning was born on 15 July 1808 at his grandfathers home, Copped Hall, Totteridge, Hertfordshire. Mannings mother, Mary, daughter of Henry Leroy Hunter, of Beech Hill, Manning spent his boyhood mainly at Coombe Bank, Sundridge, Kent, where he had for companions Charles Wordsworth and Christopher Wordsworth, later bishops of St Andrews and Lincoln respectively. He attended Harrow School during the headmastership of George Butler, however, this proved to be no impediment to his academic career. Manning matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford in 1827 and soon made his mark as a debater at the Oxford Union, returning to Oxford in 1832, he gained election as a fellow of Merton College and received ordination as a deacon in the Church of England. In January 1833 he became curate to John Sargent, Rector of Lavington-with-Graffham, in May 1833, following Sargents death, he succeeded him as rector due to the patronage of Sargents mother. Manning married Caroline, John Sargents daughter, on 7 November 1833, in a ceremony performed by the brides brother-in-law, Mannings marriage did not last long, his young and beautiful wife came of a consumptive family and died childless on 24 July 1837. When Manning died many years later, for decades a celibate Roman Catholic cleric, in December of that year he paid his first visit to Rome and called on Nicholas Wiseman in company with Gladstone. Four volumes of Mannings sermons appeared between the years 1842 and 1850 and these had reached the 7th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd editions respectively in 1850, but were not afterwards reprinted. In 1844 his portrait was painted by George Richmond, and the year he published a volume of university sermons. This sermon had annoyed Newman and his more advanced disciples, the denial of the objective effect of the sacraments was to Manning and many others a grave heresy, contradicting the clear tradition of the Christian Church from the Fathers of the Church on. The following year, on 6 April 1851, Manning was received into the Catholic Church and soon afterwards, given his great abilities and prior fame, he quickly rose to a position of influence, and in 1865 he was appointed Archbishop of Westminster. In 1875 Manning was created Cardinal-Priest of Ss Andrea e Gregorio al Monte Celio, becoming His Eminence The Most Rev. Dr Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, Manning participated in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIII in 1878. Manning approved the founding of the Catholic Association Pilgrimage, Manning was very influential in setting the direction of the modern Catholic Church. Manning used this goodwill to promote a modern Roman Catholic view of social justice and these views are reflected in the papal encyclical Rerum novarum issued by Leo XIII which marks the beginning of modern Roman Catholic social justice teaching. Manning was instrumental in settling the London Dock Strike of 1889 at the behest of Margaret Harkness, when Manning died his estate was probated at £3,527. He received a burial at St Marys Roman Catholic Cemetery in Kensal Green. Some years later, in 1907, his remains were transferred to the newly completed Westminster Cathedral, rule of Faith Unity of the Church A charge delivered at the ordinary visitation of the archdeaconry of Chichester in July Sermons 4 vols
34.
The Times
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The Times is a British daily national newspaper based in London, England. It began in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register, the Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News UK, itself wholly owned by News Corp. The Times and The Sunday Times do not share editorial staff, were founded independently and have only had common ownership since 1967 and its news and its editorial comment have in general been carefully coordinated, and have at most times been handled with an earnest sense of responsibility. While the paper has admitted some trivia to its columns, its emphasis has been on important public affairs treated with an eye to the best interests of Britain. To guide this treatment, the editors have for long periods been in touch with 10 Downing Street. In these countries, the newspaper is often referred to as The London Times or The Times of London, although the newspaper is of national scope, in November 2006 The Times began printing headlines in a new font, Times Modern. The Times was printed in broadsheet format for 219 years, the Sunday Times remains a broadsheet. The Times had a daily circulation of 446,164 in December 2016, in the same period. An American edition of The Times has been published since 6 June 2006 and it has been heavily used by scholars and researchers because of its widespread availability in libraries and its detailed index. A complete historical file of the paper, up to 2010, is online from Gale Cengage Learning. The Times was founded by publisher John Walter on 1 January 1785 as The Daily Universal Register, Walter had lost his job by the end of 1784 after the insurance company where he was working went bankrupt because of the complaints of a Jamaican hurricane. Being unemployed, Walter decided to set a new business up and it was in that time when Henry Johnson invented the logography, a new typography that was faster and more precise. Walter bought the patent and to use it, he decided to open a printing house. The first publication of the newspaper The Daily Universal Register in Great Britain was 1 January 1785, unhappy because people always omitted the word Universal, Ellias changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January 1788 to The Times. In 1803, Walter handed ownership and editorship to his son of the same name, the Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its life, the profits of The Times were very large. Beginning in 1814, the paper was printed on the new steam-driven cylinder press developed by Friedrich Koenig, in 1815, The Times had a circulation of 5,000. Thomas Barnes was appointed editor in 1817
35.
Immaculate Conception
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The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was conceived by normal biological means in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, but God acted upon her soul, keeping it immaculate. The Immaculate Conception is commonly confused with the Virgin Birth of Jesus, jesuss birth is covered by the Doctrine of Incarnation, while the Immaculate Conception deals with the conception of Mary, not that of her son. The defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception regards original sin only, therefore, being always free from original sin, the doctrine teaches that from her conception Mary received the sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after birth. The definition makes no declaration about the Churchs belief that the Blessed Virgin was sinless in the sense of freedom from actual or personal sin, however, the Church holds that Mary was also sinless personally, free from all sin, original or personal. The doctrine of the conception is not to be confused with the virginal conception of her son Jesus. This misunderstanding of the immaculate conception is frequently met in the mass media. Catholics believe that Mary was not the product of a virginal conception herself but was the daughter of a father and mother, traditionally known by the names of Saint Joachim. In 1677, the Holy See condemned the belief that Mary was virginally conceived, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December, exactly nine months before celebrating the Nativity of Mary. The feast of the Annunciation is celebrated on 25 March, nine months before Christmas Day, another misunderstanding is that, by her immaculate conception, Mary did not need a saviour. When defining the dogma in Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX explicitly affirmed that Mary was redeemed in a more sublime. He stated that Mary, rather than being cleansed after sin, was prevented from contracting Original Sin in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ. In Luke 1,47, Mary proclaims, My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour and this is referred to as Marys pre-redemption by Christ. A feast of the Conception of the Most Holy and All Pure Mother of God was celebrated in Syria on 8 December perhaps as early as the 5th century, note that the title of achrantos refers to the holiness of Mary, not specifically to the holiness of her conception. Marys complete sinlessness and concomitant exemption from any taint from the first moment of her existence was a familiar to Greek theologians of Byzantium. Beginning with St. St. Gregory Nazianzen designated Mary as prokathartheisa, gregorys doctrines surrounding Marys purification were likely related to the burgeoning commemoration of the Mother of God in and around Constantinople very close to the date of Christmas. Nazianzens title of Mary at the Annunciation as prepurified was subsequently adopted by all interested in his Mariology to justify the Byzantine equivalent of the Immaculate Conception. This is especially apparent in the Fathers St. Sophronios of Jerusalem and St. John Damascene, about the time of Damascene, the public celebration of the Conception of St. Ann was becoming popular. It is admitted that the doctrine as defined by Pius IX was not explicitly mooted before the 12th century and it is also agreed that no direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture
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Mary, mother of Jesus
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Mary, also known by various titles, styles and honorifics, was a 1st-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin, the miraculous birth took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Marys life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to the Catholic and Orthodox teaching, at the end of her life her body was assumed directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion and she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, there is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, many Protestants minimize Marys role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Mary also has a position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Marys name in the manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name ܡܪܝܡ. The English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament, in Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husbands involvement. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelos Pietà, the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, this phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, the scriptural basis for the term Queen can be seen in Luke 1,32 and the Isaiah 9,6. Queen Mother can be found in 1 Kings 2, 19-20 and Jeremiah 13, other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary
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