Second Council of Nicaea
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2nd Council of Nicaea September 24 - October 23, 787 Nicaea |
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| Accepted by | |
| Convened by | Empress Irene |
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| Attendees | 350 clerics (2 papal legates ) |
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The Second Council of Nicaea was convened by Empress Irene in 787 in the city of Nicaea (now İznik / Turkey ) southeast of Constantinople . It was an ecumenical council , as besides Orthodox bishops also delegates from the Roman Catholic Church took part.
Teaching
The Second Council of Nicaea allowed or required the worship , but not the worship of icons in the iconoclastic controversy , but only under certain conditions.
Referring to the tradition of the Church, the Council defined:
"... both the shape of the precious and life-giving cross as well as venerable holy images are to be presented, both painted with colors and as mosaics as from any other suitable material, in the holy churches of God on sacred vessels and robes on walls and on panels, as the image of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ as well as our Immaculate Mistress, the holy Theotokos, and the venerable angels and all holy and blessing men.
Because the more often you see them pictorially, the more those who look at them are stimulated to remember their archetypes and to long for them, and to offer them kisses and honorable prayers. Not, however, to give them real worship, in the sense of believing in them, which is only due to the divine being!
The veneration shown to the picture goes over to its archetype, and whoever prays to a picture actually prays to what is depicted on it. "
In this, the council essentially followed the argument of John of Damascus . The iconoclastic council of Hiereia of 754 was declared invalid and a “pseudo synod”.
The dogmatic part of the resolutions also includes provisions on the election of bishops :
“… Candidates for the office of bishop must have a knowledge of the Psalter and be able to interpret biblical texts .
Any election of a bishop, priest or deacon by secular princes should remain invalid. […] Bishops must be elected by all bishops of a church province, in the case of external obstacles, at least three bishops present. The ordination should take place when the others have given their written consent. The supervision over this lies with the respective metropolitan . "
Furthermore, numerous disciplinary regulations were issued or enforced:
- against
- simony
- The luxury of clothes and the greed for money of higher clerics
- the consecration of churches without relics
- the tolerance of baptized Jews who persisted in their old customs
- Multiple incardination of clerics
- the establishment of churches without financial foundation
- Scandalous community of women and men religious
- especially double monasteries
- and in favor
- annual bishops' conferences at the level of the ecclesiastical provinces
- the appointment of church financial administrators
- the ordination of editors by the laying on of hands by a bishop or auxiliary bishop
Reception and extensions
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The council is considered the seventh ecumenical council in the Catholic Church , in the Orthodox Churches and in the Old Catholic Church . The Eastern Churches celebrate Sunday between October 11th and 17th as “Sunday of the Fathers of the Seventh Council of Nicaea” and commemorate them in the Troparion with the words: “You made our fathers like stars on earth and through them to us all true faith. ”In Protestantism , its decisions are judged very differently, from basic recognition to open rejection.
Charlemagne , who had not been asked, criticized Pope Leo III. the participation of the Roman Church in this council, because he was of the opinion that Empress Irene as a woman should hold back on religious questions, and he always wanted the last word, especially in these matters. This led to the Carolingian “ Filioque ” in the creed (the Holy Spirit does not arise from the Father alone, but from the Father and the Son). This addition was made by Leo III. classified as heretical , but classified as "unimportant" for the mutual relationship, since ultimately only the service to God is decisive, and there is agreement on this. However, a dispute about the appointment of bishops already announced itself here, which in the later Middle Ages was supposed to strain the relationship between Pope and Emperor as an investiture dispute .
Individual evidence
- ^ Stefan Weinfurter : Charlemagne - The holy barbarian. Piper-Verlag, Munich and Zurich 2013, p. 214 ff.
literature
- Erich Lamberz (Ed.): Concilium universale Nicaenum secundum. Concilii Actiones I – III (Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum 2,3,1), Berlin, New York 2008.
- Johannes Bernhard Uphus: The Horos of the Second Council of Nicea 787. Interpretation and commentary on the basis of the Council acts with special consideration of the question of images. (History of the Council, Series B: Investigations), Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2004.
- The iconoclastic synod of Hiereia 754. Introduction, text, translation and commentary on their horos provided by T. Krannich, Chr. Schubert and C. Sode together with a contribution to the Epistula ad Constantiam of Eusebius of Caesarea by A. von Stockhausen. STAC 15, Tübingen 2002.
- Panayotis A. Yannopoulos: From the Second Council of Constantinople (553) to the Second Council of Nicaea (786-787). In: Giuseppe Alberigo (ed.): History of the Councils. Wiesbaden 1998, pp. 161-168.
- Erich Lamberz: The lists of bishops of the VII Ecumenical Council (Nicaenum II). Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Phil.-hist. Class, treatises NF 124, Munich 2004
- Antonio Calisi, I Difensori Dell'icona: La Partecipazione Dei Vescovi Dell'italia Meridionale Al Concilio Di Nicea II 787, Createspace Independent Pub 2017, ISBN 978-1-978401-09-9