Synod of Milan

Last updated November 14, 2021

The Synod of Milan or Council of Milan may refer to any of several synods which occurred in late Roman Mediolanum or medieval Milan in northern Italy's Po valley:

Synod of 345

In 353 or 354, Pope Liberius wrote thus: "Eight years ago the Eusebian deputies, Eudoxius and Martyrius (who came to the West with the formula Greek : μακρόστικος), refused to anathematize the Arian doctrine at Milan". But the Synod of Milan here alluded to is placed about the year 345, soon after the Synod of Sardica.^[1]

St. Maximinus was at this synod.^[2]

Synod of 355

Lucifer of Cagliari was deputed by Pope Liberius, with the priest Pancratius and the deacon Hilary, to request the Emperor Constantius to convene a council, to deal with the accusations directed against St. Athanasius and his previous condemnation. This council was convened at Milan in the newly erected Basilica Nova (or Basilica Maior or St. Tecla).^[3] The council however did not follow the hopes of the Pope due to the overwhelming number of Arians bishops and the initial forced absence of the champion of the Nicaean faith, Eusebius of Vercelli. Lucifer there defended the Bishop of Alexandria (Athanasius) with much passion and in very violent language, thus furnishing the adversaries of the great Alexandrian with a pretext for resentment and further violence, and causing a new condemnation of Athanasius.^[4] The bishop of Milan Dionysius initially seemed ready to follow the Arians in condemning Athanasius, accused not of heresy but of lese-majesty against the Emperor.^[5]

With the arrival of Eusebius the situation changed: Eusebius requested an immediate subscription of the Nicaean faith by the bishops. Eusebius, Lucifer and Dionysius signed, but the Arian bishop Valens of Mursia violently shredded the act of faith. Constantius, unaccustomed to independence on the part of the bishops, moved the synod to his palace and grievously maltreated the papal embassy. Hilary was flogged and the exiled along with Pancratius and the two Nicaean bishops. The synod, now governed by the Arian bishops of the court of Constantius, ended supporting Arian statements.

Synod of 389

Augustine's "On the Good of Marriage" was written against somewhat that still remained of the heresy of Jovinian. He mentions this error in b. ii. c. 23, de Nuptiis et Conc. Jovinianus, he says, who a few years since tried to found a new heresy, said that the Catholics favored the Manichæans, because in opposition to him they preferred holy Virginity to Marriage. "That heresy took its rise from one Jovinianus, a monk, in our own time, when we were yet young". And he adds that it was soon overborne and extinguished, say about A.D. 390, having been condemned first at Rome, then at Milan. There are letters of Pope Siricius on the subject to the Church of Milan, and the answer sent him by the Synod of Milan, at which St. Ambrose presided. Jerome had refuted Jovinian, but was said to have attempted the defense of the excellency of the virgin state, at the expense of condemning marriage.^[6]

St. Maximus of Turin was at a "synod of Milan" in 389 at which Jovinianus was condemned, according to his ninth homily.^[7]

Synod of 451

In 451, St. Maximus of Turin was again at a synod in Milan where the bishops of Northern Italy accepted the celebrated letter (epistola dogmatica) of Pope Leo I, setting forth the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation against the Nestorians and Eutychians. Among nineteen subscribers Maximus is the eighth, and since the order was determined by age, Maximus must then have been about seventy years old.^[7]

Synod of 860

A synod that took place in Milan in 860 summoned Ingiltrud, wife of Boso, to appear before it because she had left her husband for a paramour. Pope Nicholas I commanded the bishops in the dominions of Charles the Bald to excommunicate her unless she returned to her husband. As she paid no attention to the summons, she was put under the ban.^[8]

Other

Holy Synod of Milan

Related Research Articles

Arianism Christological doctrine, attributed to Arius

Arianism is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius, a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten within time by God the Father, therefore Jesus was not co-eternal with God the Father. Arianism holds that the Son is distinct from the Father and therefore subordinate to Him. The term Arian is derived from the name Arius; it was not what the followers of Arius's teachings called themselves, but rather a term used by outsiders. The nature of Arius's teachings and his supporters were opposed to the theological doctrines held by Homoousian Christians, regarding the nature of the Trinity and the nature of Christ.

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

Pope Julius I was the bishop of Rome from 6 February 337 to his death on 12 April 352. He is notable for asserting the authority of the pope over the Arian Eastern bishops, as well as a dubious claim that he set 25 December as the official birthdate of Jesus.

Pope Liberius was the bishop of Rome from 17 May 352 until his death. According to the Catalogus Liberianus, he was consecrated on 22 May as the successor to Pope Julius I. He is not mentioned as a saint in the Roman Martyrology. That makes him the earliest pontiff not to be venerated as a saint in the Roman Rite and one of only two popes to be omitted from Roman Catholic sainthood in the first 500 years of church history.

The Schism of the Three Chapters was a schism that affected Chalcedonian Christianity in Northern Italy lasting from 553 to 698 AD, although the area out of communion with Rome contracted throughout that time. It was part of a larger Three-Chapter Controversy that affected the whole of Roman-Byzantine Christianity.

Eusebius of Vercelli was a bishop from Sardinia and is counted a saint. Along with Athanasius, he affirmed the divinity of Jesus against Arianism.

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

Acacius of Caesarea was a Christian bishop probably originating from Syria; Acacius was the pupil and biographer of Eusebius and his successor on the see of Caesarea Palestina. Acacius is remembered chiefly for his bitter opposition to Cyril of Jerusalem and for the part he was afterwards enabled to play in the more acute stages of the Arian controversy. The Acacian theological movement is named after him. In the twenty-first oration of St. Gregory Nazianzen, the author speaks of Acacius as being "the tongue of the Arians".

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

Lucifer of Cagliari 4th-century bishop of Cagliari, Sardinia

Lucifer of Cagliari was a bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia known for his passionate opposition to Arianism. He is venerated as a Saint in Sardinia, though his status remains controversial.

Auxentius of Milan or of Cappadocia, was an Arian theologian and bishop of Milan. Because of his Arian faith, Auxentius is considered by the Catholic Church as an intruder and he is not included in the Catholic lists of the bishops of Milan such as that engraved in the Cathedral of Milan.

Against Jovinianus is a two-volume treatise by the Church Father Saint Jerome.

Arles in the south of Roman Gaul hosted several councils or synods referred to as Concilium Arelatense in the history of the early Christian church.

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

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

The Councils of Alexandria started in 231 AD as a council of bishops and priests met at Alexandria, Egypt, called by Bishop Demetrius for the purpose of declaring Origen of Alexandria unworthy of the office of teacher, and of excommunicating him.

Eusebius of Rome, the founder of the church on the Esquiline Hill in Rome that bears his name, is listed in the Roman Martyrology as one of the saints venerated on 14 August.

Constantine the Great's (272–337) relationship with the four Bishops of Rome during his reign is an important component of the history of the Papacy, and more generally the history of the Catholic Church.

Dionysius was bishop of Milan from 349 to 355. He is honoured as a Saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches and his feast day is 25 May.

Hilary the Deacon was a Sardinian deacon of the Roman church. In 355, along with Lucifer of Cagliari, Eusebius of Vercelli, and Pancratius, he was directed by Pope Liberius to plead for Athanasian orthodoxy before Constantius II at the Council of Milan. He pleaded his case so boldly and offensively that the emperor had him beaten and, along with his companions, condemned to exile. Little is known of him afterwards, except that he adopted Lucifer's position that Arians, other heretics, and those who dealt with them required a second baptism before they could return to communion.

References

↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Council of Sardica" . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Maximinus" . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
↑ Tolfo, Maria Grazia. "San Dionigi". Storia di Milano. Retrieved 10 October 2011.(in Italian)
↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Lucifer of Cagliari" . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
↑ Pasini, Cesare (1988). "Dionigi, santo (sec. IV)". Dizionario della Chiesa Ambrosiana. 2. Milano: NED. p. 1054–1055. ISBN 88-7023-102-X.(in Italian)
↑ Augustine. Of the Good of Marriage: Preface.
1 2 Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Maximus of Turin" . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
↑ Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pope St. Nicholas I" . Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.