Synod of Jerusalem
Encyclopedia
The Synod of Jerusalem was convened by Greek Orthodox Patriarch
Dositheos Notaras in March, 1672. Because the occasion was the consecration of the Church of the Nativity
in Bethlehem
, it is also called the Synod of Bethlehem.
The Synod
was attended by most of the prominent representatives of the Eastern Church, including six Metropolitan
s besides Dositheus and his retired predecessor, and its decrees received universal acceptance as an expression of the faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church
.
, 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 appearing in the same year. A Greek
version called Eastern Confession of the Christian Faith appeared in Constantinople in 1631. In view of this book, Lucaris has been accused of adopting in his book Calvinistic views
and asserting that Calvinism was in fact the faith of the Eastern Church. His Orthodox defenders claim that the book was a forgery. Cyril himself verbally denied authorship, but did not disavow it in writing.
The opposition to Calvinism
arose during Lucaris's lifetime and continued after his murder in 1638 while in Ottoman custody. It found classic expression in the highly venerated confession of Petro Mohyla
, Metropolitan of Kiev (1643). Though this was intended as a barrier against Calvinistic influences, certain Protestant
writers persisted in claiming the support of the Greek Church for their positions.
and of justification by faith alone
, and to reassert traditional Orthodox doctrines about the Real Presence
of Christ in the Eucharist
and the fate of the soul after death, which some commentators have regarded as substantially the same as the Roman Catholic views of transubstantiation
and personal eschatology.
Against both the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestants, the Synod affirmed that the Holy Ghost proceeds from God the Father
alone and not from both Father and Son. This rejection of the Filioque clause
was not unwelcome to the Turks, though it does not mean that the decisions were made under political pressure from the Ottoman Empire. Protestant writers say that the eastern hostility to Calvinism had been fanned by the Jesuits.
In the Synod's decrees, called the Confession of Dositheus, it reaffirmed existing Orthodox beliefs incompatible with Calvinist doctrines, restating that apostolic succession
of bishops is necessary, that good works done with faith are required for salvation, that there are seven sacraments, that the Eucharist is both sacrament and sacrifice, offered for the dead as well as for the living.
The Synod refused to believe that the heretical
confession it refuted was actually by a former patriarch of Constantinople, contending that the Confession of Cyril was a forgery.
In their correspondence with the 18th-century Non-Juror Anglican bishops
, the Eastern Patriarchs insisted on acceptance of the Synod's teaching on transubstantiation.
wrote "This Synod is the most important in the modern history of the Eastern Church, and may be compared to the Council of Trent
." However, modern Eastern or Greek Orthodoxy is much more reserved about the abiding dogmatic authority of this synod. The fact that the Greek bishops often received their training at Latin schools (notably in Venice) accounts for what the late Georges Florovsky
termed the "pseudomorphosis" of Orthodox theology.
Subsequent regional synods have certainly felt free to revisit the issues addressed in Jerusalem. Hence, on the issue of the Old Testament canon
, a different position was adopted in the Longer Catechism of Philaret of Moscow.
Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem
The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is the head bishop of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine Patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since 2005, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem has been Theophilos III...
Dositheos Notaras in March, 1672. Because the occasion was the consecration of the Church of the Nativity
Church of the Nativity
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the world. The structure is built over the cave that tradition marks as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth, and thus it is considered sacred by Christians...
in Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
, it is also called the Synod of Bethlehem.
The Synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
was attended by most of the prominent representatives of the Eastern Church, including six Metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
s besides Dositheus and his retired predecessor, and its decrees received universal acceptance as an expression of the faith of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
.
Calvinist controversy
In 1629, a small book, attributed to Cyril LucarisCyril Lucaris
Cyril Lucaris born Constantine Lukaris or Loucaris 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...
, the Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarch is the Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome – ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
, and commonly referred to as the Confession of Cyril Lucaris, was published in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
at Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. It contained an eighteen-point summary of beliefs that conformed with Calvinist teaching. French, English and German translations appearing in the same year. A Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
version called Eastern Confession of the Christian Faith appeared in Constantinople in 1631. In view of this book, Lucaris has been accused of adopting in his book Calvinistic views
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
and asserting that Calvinism was in fact the faith of the Eastern Church. His Orthodox defenders claim that the book was a forgery. Cyril himself verbally denied authorship, but did not disavow it in writing.
The opposition to Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
arose during Lucaris's lifetime and continued after his murder in 1638 while in Ottoman custody. It found classic expression in the highly venerated confession of Petro Mohyla
Petro Mohyla
Metropolitan Peter was a Metropolitan of Kiev, Halych and All-Rus' from 1633 until his death. He was born into a Moldavian boyar family — the Movileşti — one that gave Moldavia and Wallachia several rulers, including his father, Ieremia Movilă. His mother, Margareta, was a Hungarian noble lady...
, Metropolitan of Kiev (1643). Though this was intended as a barrier against Calvinistic influences, certain Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
writers persisted in claiming the support of the Greek Church for their positions.
Refutation of Calvinism
The Synod refuted the Confession of Lucaris article by article, seeking to put an end to the Calvinists' theses of unconditional predestinationPredestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...
and of justification by faith alone
Sola fide
Sola fide , also historically known as the doctrine of justification by faith alone, is a Christian theological doctrine that distinguishes most Protestant denominations from Catholicism, Eastern Christianity, and some in the Restoration Movement.The doctrine of sola fide or "by faith alone"...
, and to reassert traditional Orthodox doctrines about the Real Presence
Real Presence
Real Presence is a term used in various Christian traditions to express belief that in the Eucharist, Jesus Christ is really present in what was previously just bread and wine, and not merely present in symbol, a figure of speech , or by his power .Not all Christian traditions accept this dogma...
of Christ in the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
and the fate of the soul after death, which some commentators have regarded as substantially the same as the Roman Catholic views of transubstantiation
Transubstantiation
In Roman Catholic theology, transubstantiation means the change, in the Eucharist, of the substance of wheat bread and grape wine into the substance of the Body and Blood, respectively, of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.The Eastern Orthodox...
and personal eschatology.
Against both the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestants, the Synod affirmed that the Holy Ghost proceeds from God the Father
God the Father
God the Father is a gendered title given to God in many monotheistic religions, particularly patriarchal, Abrahamic ones. In Judaism, God is called Father because he is the creator, life-giver, law-giver, and protector...
alone and not from both Father and Son. This rejection of the Filioque clause
Filioque clause
Filioque , Latin for "and the Son", is a phrase found in the form of Nicene Creed in use in the Latin Church. It is not present in the Greek text of the Nicene Creed as originally formulated at the First Council of Constantinople, which says only that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father":The...
was not unwelcome to the Turks, though it does not mean that the decisions were made under political pressure from the Ottoman Empire. Protestant writers say that the eastern hostility to Calvinism had been fanned by the Jesuits.
In the Synod's decrees, called the Confession of Dositheus, it reaffirmed existing Orthodox beliefs incompatible with Calvinist doctrines, restating that apostolic succession
Apostolic Succession
Apostolic succession is a doctrine, held by some Christian denominations, which asserts that the chosen successors of the Twelve Apostles, from the first century to the present day, have inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority, power, and responsibility that were...
of bishops is necessary, that good works done with faith are required for salvation, that there are seven sacraments, that the Eucharist is both sacrament and sacrifice, offered for the dead as well as for the living.
The Synod refused to believe that the heretical
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
confession it refuted was actually by a former patriarch of Constantinople, contending that the Confession of Cyril was a forgery.
In their correspondence with the 18th-century Non-Juror Anglican bishops
Nonjuring schism
The nonjuring schism was a split in the Church of England in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, over whether William of Orange and his wife Mary could legally be recognised as King and Queen of England....
, the Eastern Patriarchs insisted on acceptance of the Synod's teaching on transubstantiation.
Importance and criticism
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica called the Synod of Jerusalem "the most vital statement of faith made in the Greek Church during the past thousand years." Protestant scholar Philip SchaffPhilip Schaff
Philip Schaff , was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and a historian of the Christian church, who, after his education, lived and taught in the United States.-Biography:...
wrote "This Synod is the most important in the modern history of the Eastern Church, and may be compared to the Council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
." However, modern Eastern or Greek Orthodoxy is much more reserved about the abiding dogmatic authority of this synod. The fact that the Greek bishops often received their training at Latin schools (notably in Venice) accounts for what the late Georges Florovsky
Georges Florovsky
Georges Vasilievich Florovsky was an Eastern Orthodox priest, theologian, historian and ecumenist. He was born in the Russian Empire, but spent his working life in Paris and New York...
termed the "pseudomorphosis" of Orthodox theology.
Subsequent regional synods have certainly felt free to revisit the issues addressed in Jerusalem. Hence, on the issue of the Old Testament canon
Development of the Old Testament canon
The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon, which includes the books of the Hebrew Bible or protocanon and in some Christian denominations also includes several Deuterocanonical books or Biblical apocrypha...
, a different position was adopted in the Longer Catechism of Philaret of Moscow.
English translation of the decrees
The Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Jerusalem was translated directly from the Greek, and edited with notes, by J.N.W.B. Robertson (London, 1899). The text of Chapter VI, which sets forth the Orthodox faith in eighteen decrees and four questions, commonly known as The Confession of Dositheus, can be consulted at the Web site The Confession of Dositheus (Eastern Orthodox 1672) or Confession of Dositheus.Further reading
- Wetzer-Welte KirchenlexikonWetzer-Welte KirchenlexikonWetzer and Welte's Kirchenlexikon is an encyclopedic work of Catholic biography, history, and theology, first compiled by Heinrich Joseph Wetzer and Benedict Welte...
, 2nd ed., vi . 1357 sqq