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The Synod of Jerusalem is an Eastern Orthodox synod held in 1672. It is also called the Synod of Bethlehem. [1]
The synod was convoked [2] and presided over by Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem. The synod produced a confession referred to as the Confession of Dositheus. [3]
In 1629, a small book in Latin, attributed to Cyril Lucaris, the Patriarch of Constantinople, and commonly referred to as the Confession of Cyril Lucaris, was published in Latin at Geneva. It contained an eighteen-point summary of beliefs that conformed with Calvinist teaching. French, English and German translations appeared in the same year. A Greek version called Eastern Confession of the Christian Faith appeared in Constantinople in 1631 or 1633. [4] [5] Lucaris was accused of adopting in this book Calvinistic views and asserting that Calvinism was in fact the faith of the Eastern Church. His E. Orthodox defenders claim that the book was a forgery. Cyril did not disavow it in writing. [6]
Cyril Lucaris died in 1638. [2]
Lucaris' Confession was condemned by the 1638 Synod of Constantinople and the 1642 Synod of Jassy. [5]
The Synod of Jerusalem is also called Synod of Bethlehem, because the synod took place at the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. [1] It is also possible that the synod is referred to as Synod of Bethlehem because Patriarch Dositheus of Jerusalem summoned it on the occasion of consecrating said Church of the Nativity in 1672. [2] [7]
The synod was summoned in March 1672 [7] and then took place the same year. [1]
The synod rejected the doctrine of the Protestant Reformers, and also attempted to "articulate the dogmatic heritage of [Eastern] Orthodoxy in face of the dispute between Catholics and Protestants". The synod "defined [Eastern] Orthodox dogma in areas at issue in the Western Reformation". [1]
The Synod refuted the Confession of Lucaris article by article. [4]
The synod affirmed "the teaching role of the church and therefore of tradition against Protestant sola scriptura ". The synod also affirmed "the role of love and grace, and therefore of deeds, in justification". The synod affirmed the seven mysteries (sacraments) and that those are not "merely symbolic or expressive"; moreover, the synod affirmed that the Christ was truly present in the eucharist and taught this by using the Greek equivalent to the Latin transubstantiatio , [1] metousiosis (μετουσίωσις). [2] [7] The synod also "confirmed the canonicity of the deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament, rejecting the Protestant shorter, Hebrew canon". [1] The synod also rejected the theses of unconditional predestination and of justification by faith alone. [7]
The Synod affirmed that the Holy Ghost proceeds from God the Father alone and not from both Father and Son. [8]
The acts of the synod are signed by Dositheus, his predecessor the ex-patriarch Nectarius, six metropolitans and bishops, the Archimandrite of the Holy Sepulchre, Josaphat, and a great number of other archimandrites, priests, monks, and theologians. There are sixty-eight signatures in total. The Church of Russia was represented by a monk, Timothy. [2]
The acts of the synod are dated 20 March 1672; they bear the title: Christ guides. A shield of the Orthodox Faith, or the Apology composed by the Synod of Jerusalem under the Patriarch of Jerusalem Dositheus against the Calvinist heretics, who falsely say that the Eastern Church thinks heretically about God and Divine things as they do. [2]
The first part begins by quoting the text: "There is a time to speak and a time to be silent", which text is explained and enlarged upon at length. It tells the story of the summoning of the synod, and vehemently denies that the Eastern Orthodox Church ever held the opinions attributed to Lucaris. To show this, the relations between the Lutherans and Jeremias II of Constantinople are quoted as well as the acts of former synods (Constantinople and Yassy). An elaborate attempt is then made to prove that Lucaris did not really write the famous Confession. To do this the Confession is compared clause by clause with other statements made by him in sermons and in other works. [2]
In chapter ii, the synod declares that in any case Lucaris showed the Confession to no one, and tries to find further reasons for doubting his authorship. [2]
Chapter iii maintains that, even if Lucaris had written the confession attributed to him, it would not thereby become a confession of the faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church, but would remain merely the private opinion of a heretic. [2]
Chapter iv defends the Eastern Orthodox Church by quoting her formularies, and contains a list of anathemas against the perceived heresies of the Confession of Lucaris. [2]
Chapter v again tries to defend Lucaris by quoting various deeds and sayings of his and transcribes the whole decree of the synod of Constantinople of 1639, and then that of Yassy (Giasion) of 1641. [2]
Chapter vi gives the decrees of this synod in the form of a "Confession of Dositheus". It has eighteen decrees (horoi), followed by four "questions" (eroteseis) with long answers. In these, all the points denied by Lucaris' Confession (relationship between the Church and the Bible, Eastern Orthodox understanding of predestination, cult of saints, sacraments, the Real Presence, the liturgy, liturgy being a real sacrifice, etc.) are maintained at great length and in the most uncompromising way. A short epilogue closes the acts. Then follow the date, signatures, and seals. [2]
Protestant writers say that the strong hostility toward Protestantism of the synod was the product of the Jesuits, of the French ambassador at that time, Olivier de Nointel, and of other Catholics who were undermining the Eastern Orthodox Church. [2]
In their correspondence with the 18th-century Non-Juror Anglican bishops, the Eastern Patriarchs insisted on acceptance of the Synod's teaching on transubstantiation. [9]
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica called the confession of the Synod of Jerusalem "the most vital statement of faith made in the Greek Church during the past thousand years." [3]
The 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia states the decrees of the synod "have been accepted unreservedly by the whole [Eastern] Orthodox Church. They were at once approved by the other patriarchs, the Church of Russia, etc.; they are always printed in full among the symbolic books of the [Eastern] Orthodox Church, and form an official creed or declaration in the strictest sense, which every [Eastern] Orthodox Christian is bound to accept." [2] Nevertheless, Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware describes the synod as one among many held in the period of the ecumenical councils whose "statements of faith have in part been received [...] but in part set aside or corrected". [10]
Protestant scholar Philip Schaff wrote: "This Synod is the most important in the modern history of the Eastern Church, and may be compared to the Council of Trent. Both fixed the doctrinal status of the Churches they represent, and both condemned the evangelical doctrines of Protestantism. Both were equally hierarchical and intolerant, and present a strange contrast to the first Synod held in Jerusalem, when 'the apostles and elders ,' in the presence of 'the brethren,' freely discussed and adjusted, in a spirit of love, without anathemas, the great controversy between the Gentile and the Jewish Christians." [7]
The Council of Chalcedon was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia from 8 October to 1 November 451. The council was attended by over 520 bishops or their representatives, making it the largest and best-documented of the first seven ecumenical councils. The principal purpose of the council was to re-assert the teachings of the ecumenical Council of Ephesus against the teachings of Eutyches and Nestorius. Such doctrines viewed Christ's divine and human natures as separate (Nestorianism) or viewed Christ as solely divine (Monophysitism).
An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are convoked from the whole world (oikoumene) and which secures the approbation of the whole Church.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 230 million baptised members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the head of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by them as primus inter pares, a title formerly given to the patriarch of Rome. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played an especially prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
Filioque, a Latin term meaning "and from the Son," was added to the original Nicene Creed, and has been the subject of great controversy between Eastern and Western Christianity. The term refers to the Son, Jesus Christ, with the Father, as the one shared origin of the Holy Spirit. It is not in the original text of the Creed, attributed to the First Council of Constantinople (381), which says that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father" without the addition "and the Son".
The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as well as by certain other Western Churches, met in 680–681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical and defined Jesus Christ as having two energies and two wills.
Cyril Lucaris or Kyrillos Loukaris was a Greek prelate and theologian, and a native of Candia, Crete. He later became the Greek Patriarch of Alexandria as Cyril III and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as Cyril I. He has been said to have attempted a reform of the Eastern Orthodox Church along Calvinist Protestant lines. Attempts to bring Calvinism into the Orthodox Church were rejected, and Cyril's actions, motivations, and specific viewpoints remain a matter of debate among scholars. Cyril is locally venerated as a hieromartyr in the Alexandrian Orthodox Church; the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria glorified Loukaris on 6 October 2009, and his memory is commemorated on 27 June.
The East–West Schism, also known as the Great Schism or Schism of 1054, is the break of communion between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches since 1054. A series of ecclesiastical differences and theological disputes between the Greek East and Latin West preceded the formal split that occurred in 1054. Prominent among these were the procession of the Holy Spirit (Filioque), whether leavened or unleavened bread should be used in the Eucharist, iconoclasm, the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor of the Romans in 800, the Pope's claim to universal jurisdiction, and the place of the See of Constantinople in relation to the pentarchy.
Nectarius of Jerusalem, born Nikolaos Pelopidis, was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1661 to 1669.
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Parthenius III was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1656–1657. In 1657 he was charged with treason by the Ottoman Sultan and hanged, after refusing to abjure his own Christian faith. He is hence revered as New Hieromartyr Parthenius III and his feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is March 24.
Dositheus II Notaras of Jerusalem was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem between 1669 and 1707 and a theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was known for standing against influences of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. He convened the Synod of Jerusalem to counter the Calvinist confessions of Cyril Lucaris.
Orazio Giustiniani was an Italian Catholic Cardinal.
Patriarch Ignatius III Atiyah was Melkite Patriarch of Antioch from 1619 to 1634. The first years of his patriarchate were marked by the split of the Melkite Church in two factions, a situation that lasted till the Synod of Ras-Baalbek held in 1628 which confirmed Ignatius Atiyah as the only Patriarch and ruled about the independence of the Melkite Orthodox Church.
The history of Eastern Orthodox Christian theology begins with the life of Jesus and the forming of the Christian Church. Major events include the Chalcedonian schism of 451 with the Oriental Orthodox miaphysites, the Iconoclast controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries, the Photian schism (863-867), the Great Schism between East and West, and the Hesychast controversy. The period after the end of the Second World War in 1945 saw a re-engagement with the Greek, and more recently Syriac Fathers that included a rediscovery of the theological works of St. Gregory Palamas, which has resulted in a renewal of Orthodox theology in the 20th and 21st centuries.
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The Synod of Jassy or Synod of Iași, was convened in Iași in Moldavia between 15 September and 27 October 1642 by the Ecumenical Patriarch Parthenius I of Constantinople, with the support of the Moldavian Prince Vasile Lupu.
Cyril II Kontares was three-time Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. He was from Veroia, coming to Constantinople in 1618.
Athanasius III Patellarios was the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1634, 1635 and 1652. Before his patriarchate Athanasius was metropolitan of Thessaloniki. He participated at Patriarch Nikon's book editing reforms in 1653.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .We believe in one God, true, almighty, and infinite, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the Father unbegotten; the Son begotten of the Father before the ages, and consubstantial with Him; and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father, and consubstantial with the Father and the Son. These three Persons in one essence we call the All-holy Trinity, — by all creation to be ever blessed, glorified, and adored.
They are furious about the Non-Jurors' denial of transubstantiation (after the Bethlehem synod) and they call the Non-Jurors' denial, criticism, even hesitation, blasphemous
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