First-and-Second Council
The First-and-Second or Protodeutera was a Holy Council held at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople in 861 AD. It is considered a successor to the 7th Ecumenical Council.
- This article or section is a stub. If you wish to help True Orthodox Wiki you may expand it. Request an account if you do not already have one.
Canon XV
The Fifteenth Canon of the Holy Council has been much quoted in the struggle against Ecumenism.[1]
This canon did not, in fact, establish a new practice but clarified that which had historically been the practice of the saints. Other canons of the Ecumenical and other synods, along with many writings of the Holy Fathers, explicitly prohibit being in communion with heretics. There has sometimes been confusion among the ill-informed (or wilfully ignorant) about what they are to do since the Canons and the Fathers also prohibit breaking away from the bishop. The Fifteenth Canon explains that those who depart from heretical bishops are not breaking the prohibition against schism with valid bishops, but are in fact worthy of honor, while those who find excuses in the moral lives of their (undeposed) bishops are schismatic.
This fact is best understood by reading the Canon in conjunction with other, related Canons and Patristic works. Examples include St. Hilary of Poitiers Against Auxentius[2], the 9th Question or Canon of St. Timothy of Alexandria, Canon XVII of St. Nicephorus the Confessor of Constantinople, or Canon XLV of the Apostles.
External links
- Canons of the First-and-Second Council (archived).
References
- ↑ Just one example is linked here.
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/against-the-arians-print/mode/2up
