Cantat Domino

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Cantate Domino ( Latin "Sings to the Lord") is a bull that was promulgated by Pope Eugene IV at the Council of Florence on February 4, 1442 . It was supposed to establish a unity of the Coptic and Ethiopian churches with the Roman Catholic , but initially had no success. It was not until 1741 that part of the Coptic Church joined Rome to form the Coptic Catholic Church .

Theological content

Cantate Domino explains in detail the Trinitarian and Christological teaching content defined by the ecumenical councils and names the heresies which deviate from them with key words . Ecclesiologically , she advocates a harsh exclusivism , according to which no one outside the Catholic Church can be saved ( cf.Extra ecclesiam nulla salus ):

"Firmiter credit, profitetur et predicat nullos extra ecclesiam catholicam existentes, non solum paganos, sed nec iudeos aut hereticos atque scismaticos eterne vite fieri posse participes, sed in ignem eternum ituros, qui paratus est dyabolo et angelis eius ( Mt 25.41  EU ) , nisi ante finem vite eidem fuerint aggregati, tantum que valere ecclesiastici corporis unitatem, ut solis in ea manentibus ad salutem ecclesiastica sacramenta proficiant et ieiunia, elemosine ac cetera pietatis officia et exercitia militie christiane quanterna et el parturinas et femqueemit, nemqueer pro Christi nomine sanguinem effuderit, posse salvari, nisi in catholice ecclesie gremio et unitate permanserit. "

"[The Holy Roman Church, founded by the word of our Lord and Savior,] firmly believes, confesses and proclaims that no one outside the Catholic Church - neither pagan, nor Jew, nor unbeliever, or one separated from unity - will partake of eternal life, rather, it falls under the eternal fire that is prepared for the devil and his angels if he does not join her (the church) before death. The unity of the body of the church means that the ecclesiastical sacraments bring salvation only to those who remain in it, and that fasting, alms, other pious works and the military service of the Christian life earn their eternal reward. No matter how many alms one may give, even shed their blood for the name of Christ, they cannot be saved unless they remain in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church '"

- Eugene IV .: Cantate Domino

Contemporary historical backgrounds

Politically, the background to the disputes is the threat and successive conquest of the (remainder) Byzantine Empire by the Ottomans . The Union Council of Florence wanted to move the Eastern Churches to a rapprochement with the Latin West - a few years before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453) . Religious at this time was the confrontation with Islam as well as Christian currents, which were viewed as heretical, characterized by exclusivist (heretic) polemics and mutual condemnation.

Primary source

  • Eugenius IV. CANTATE DOMINO. Bulla unionis Coptorum Aethiopumque. February 4th 1442 (1441 stilo Florent.) Concilium (Oecum. XVII) Florentinum. Session XI.
  • In: Enchiridion Symbolorum / Denzinger-Hünermann No. 1351.
  • Original Latin text on vatican.va