Acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Nicaea II (787)
The Third Session
Opening of the Third Session
In the Name of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, our True God. In the reign of our most pious and Christ loving Sovereigns, Constantine and Irene, his mother, in the eighth year of their consulship, on the fourth of the calends of October (28th of September), of the eleventh indiction, the holy Ecumenical Council, assembled by the grace of God and decree of the same divinely-protected Sovereigns, in the splendid city of Nice, metropolis of the Eparchy of Bithynia — that is, Peter the Archpresbyter, and Peter Monk and Abbot, Legates of Adrian, most holy Pope of Old Rome; Tarasius Patriarch of. Constantinople — that is, New Rome; John and Thomas Vicars of the Apostolic Sees of the Eastern Dioceses, together with the Bishops, the Archimandrites, Abbots, and a full assemblage of the Monastic Order sitting before the most sacred pulpit of the most holy Church of Saint Sophia, in the presence of Petronas and John officers of the imperial household: after that, the Holy and Immaculate Gospels were set in the midst.
Demetrius, Deacon and Keeper of the Records, said: “Since, on a former day, it seemed good to this holy, great, and Ecumenical Council, in strict accordance with the rules of the Fathers and of the Church, to receive those who have returned from heresy — and moreover to admit those who had been ordained by heretics on conforming to Orthodoxy — We announce to you that those Bishops who on that occasion have agreeably to the rules of Orthodoxy read their recantation, are now present before the doors, and they entreat to be admitted, and that ye determine concerning them as may seem good to you.”
The Holy Council said: “Let them come in.”
Tarasius, after they had entered, said: “Let the most reverend the Bishop of Neocaesarea, who came last, read his libel of recantation.”
Gregory, Bishop of Neocaesarea, then said: “God confirm the kingdom of our Sovereigns! May He give them joy in their holy throne: may God pour abundant blessing on the priesthood (συναρχιερατεύσοι) of our most holy master (the Patriarch): may God confirm this holy Council. Pray ye for my deficiencies.”
After which, he brought forth and read his libel of recantation, which was the same with those read by the other Bishops in the first Session. And when he had finished, Tarasius said to him: “Do you make this confession in the sincerity of heart?”
Gregory, Bishop of Neocaesarea, answered: “In the name of God, and by your holy prayer and that of these holy Fathers, in purity of conscience and in all simplicity of heart, I confess — and I entreat your blessedness and all this holy Council to pray for me a sinner.”
Tarasius: “Need anything more be added on this point to that we have already said?”
The Bishops of Sicily said: “As it hath been done in other cases, so let it be done in this.”
The Holy Council said: “Let it be so.”
Tarasius said: “A report has been spread abroad that in the time of persecution certain Bishops did most shamefully persecute the pious; which report we shall be in no haste to believe without sufficient proof. Now it is well known by all this our holy Council that the canon of the holy Apostles requires that, “If any Bishop Priest or Deacon beats the faithful when in error, or the unbelieving when they do amiss, endeavouring by this means to terrify them, he should be deposed.’”
The Holy Council: “Such, indeed, is their declaration.”
Tarasius: “That being the case, what think ye?”
Theodore, Bishop of Catana: “According to the canons of the Catholic Church, so does this holy Council determine.”
Tarasius: Surely, then, if any Bishop hath inflicted stripes or any other kind of torture on men who feared God, who were at that time under persecution, he is unworthy of the Episcopate.”
The Holy Council: “He is unworthy.”
Tarasius: “Yes, because, like a persecutor, he hath made use of torture.”
Theodore, Bishop of Catana, and the other Bishops of Sicily with him: “The fourth Council had hardly assembled when forthwith they cried out, ‘Expel Dioscorus — expel the murderer, because in that Synod of robbers he had laid his hand upon the innocent.”
John, Legate of the Eastern Diocese: “Inspired by the Holy Spirit, that holy Council came to this determination.”
Tarasius: “Yet, as we said before, we cannot give heed to mere reports.”
The Holy Council said: “Let each one in his turn, who hath any kind of complaint to make, lay his case before this holy Council or before your Holiness; and then, when the truth is proved, let such punishment follow as this holy Council may determine.”
Gregory, Bishop of Neocaesarea: “No man can accuse me that I have smitten any or caused any to be beaten with stripes.”
The Holy Council said: “We greatly rejoice at this.”
Gregory, Bishop of Neocaesarea: “Neither in the Royal city nor in the country has any man suffered any injury at my hands.”
The Holy Council: “If it be so, let him be received in his place.”
Sabbas, Abbot of Studium: “The chief of the priesthood have denounced this man as the head promoter of this heresy. Your will be done; but our Father Athanasius, in his letter to Rufinian, says, “That the principals in heresy must be satisfied to be admitted to penance only.’”
Tarasius: “But he has declared that he has not beaten or persecuted any one.”
Constantine, Bishop of Constantia, in Cyprus: “Juvenal and his party were principals in the conventicle of robbers; but nevertheless they were admitted in the fourth Council.”
John, the Chancellor, said: “It may be a satisfaction to your divinely-assembled Council that this Gregory of Neocaesarea, head and chief of a former impious Synod, should have been preserved to this day, in order that he may condemn his own heresy and doctrine.”
John, Legate of the Eastern Diocese: “We ought, indeed, to thank God that some of that Synod of malignants remain to confute and subvert their mischievous proceedings and to publish abroad their own shame.”
Tarasius: “We all know that Juvenal was Patriarch of Jerusalem, and from his rank must have been President of that Council; and yet after his transgression he was received on repentance.”
Epiphanius, Deacon of the Church of Catana: “But Juvenal had never persecuted any one.”
Tarasius: “And this man also hath declared that he has persecuted no man. Eustathius also Bishop of Sebaste was a principal in the Macedonian heresy, but, on his recantation, our Father Basil received him.”
The Monks: “True; but because Juvenal remained silent, therefore have we spoken.”
Tarasius: “We give you all praise for your zeal for the canonical and evangelical usages.”
Sabbas: “God preserve our gracious Lords who have vouchsafed to call this Council together for the unity and concord of the Church.”
The Holy Council: “Thanks and praise be given to God.”
Tarasius: “As this holy Council has already manifested its opinion that in accordance with our holy Fathers we ought to receive those who return from heresy, unless any other cause be alleged to deprive them of the sacerdotal order, we do now again declare the same.”
The Holy Council: “We all unite in the same declaration.”
John, the Legate of the Eastern Diocese: “The words which have been spoken in this discussion are holy and profitable.”
Peter and Peter the Legates of Adrian, and JohN and THOMAS Legates of the Eastern Dioceses, said: “Let them take their seats.”
The Holy Council said: “We all say the same: we all give our consent.” On which the Bishops of Nice, Neocaesarea, Rhodes, Iconium, Hierapolis, of Pessinus and of Carpathus took their respective seats.
The Holy Council said: “God has brought in the Orthodox gloriously.”
Constantine, Bishop of Constantia: “In a former Session of this holy Ecumenical Council we were graciously favoured with the most religious (ΣΑΚΡΑ) letter of communication of our God-crowned Sovereigns, by the hands of the Royal Secretary, in which mention was made of letters which were sent from the President of Old Rome to their most serene Imperial Highnesses; and also of the two octavos sent from the Chief Priests of the East to our most holy Patriarch. The letters from the Pope of Rome we have heard, and with their contents we have been made acquainted. We therefore entreat your dignity, O most noble Patricians, that the letters which have been sent from the East may now be read before this holy and Ecumenical Council that we may be certified whether the Pope of Old Rome and Tarasius, the most holy and Ecumenical Patriarch, who presides in this Royal city, hold the same sentiments and doctrine with the Bishops of the East.”
The Illustrious Princes answered: “Let it be according to your request.”
John and Thomas, Legates of the Eastern Diocese: “If it seem good to this holy and Ecumenical Council we request that the epistle of the most holy Patriarch Tarasius which was sent to the most holy Chief Priests of the East be first read, and then the answers made in return.”
The Holy Council said: “Let it be read.”
Letter of Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, to the Chief Priests of the East
Stephen, Deacon and Notary of the Patriarchate, read as follows:
“A Copy of the Letter sent to the Chief Priests and other Priests of Alexandria, Antioch, and the Holy City, from Tarasius, most Holy, Blessed, and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople: “The Lord our God, who, in His great and diversified Providence, orders and directs the lives of men, and, according to His own purpose, overrules the course of each — for without Him nothing is done, and by Him the very hairs of our head are numbered — hath caused even me, who to the present time had been ranked among the laity and enrolled in the number of the Imperial household (by whose judgment I know not, He alone knows), to ascend the Archiepiscopal Throne. For having been most powerfully urged by the entreaties of those champions of the truth our most holy and Orthodox Sovereigns, and the most holy Bishops and Clergy, I at length gave way to compulsion and granted them to reap the fruit of my obedience.
“Wherefore I entreat you O most holy men, that as Fathers you would confirm our weakness with the staff of power, your paternal instructions; and that as brethren, ye would aid us with your hearty prayers, that I may be armed with the whole armour of God against the stratagems of the enemy, and that, though tossed about with the violence of the waves, I yet may so hold on my course as safely to arrive at the haven of the will (ἐπί λιμένα θελήματου) of our Lord Jesus Christ. For verily there is among us a war, not of iron, but of words fiercely urged from side to side; but we have with us the victorious trophy — unconquerable truth. Wherefore though these storms should still rage around, with you as our allies, we shall, after having borne its fury awhile longer, find that Christ will rebuke them and cause our lives to hold hereafter a peaceful course. But now having said enough, by way of preface, about those things which will be more fully declared hereafter, we must direct your minds to another point of importance.
“Since it is an ancient (I may say an Apostolic) tradition in all the Churches that they who are entering on any Hierarchical dignity should lay before those who previously have attained the same Hierarchical dignity an exposition of their faith, it seemed proper that I also, in pursuance of this laudable custom, should submit myself to you and fully lay before you my confession, even as from my earliest infancy I have been learned, being taught by those trumpets of the Holy Spirit “whose sound went out into all the world and their words unto the ends of the earth” and by their offspring and upholders our divine Fathers.
“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and our God, who before all time and from eternity was begotten by the Father, and in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father by the Son, and that the same is God and is acknowledged so to be.
“A Trinity — consubstantial, of the same honour, of the same dignity, eternal, uncreate, the Creator of all creatures — one First Cause, one Godhead and dominion, one kingdom, power, and authority in three hypostases — indivisibly divided, and divisibly united: not of three imperfections one perfection, but of three perfections one superfection and transcendent perfection, as the great Dionysius saith; so that while in respect of individuality of person, three are to be worshipped, in respect to community of nature, there is but one God, the Maker of all things visible and invisible, whose providence is over all. Moreover, I confess the birth according to the flesh of One of this Holy Trinity, the Son of God, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, who, for our salvation, was in these last days born of Mary ever a Virgin, the holy true Mother of God — who was made of the same substance with us in all respects, sin only excepted — who never ceased to be what He was before, the two natures remaining in Him without confusion, and with them the two wills and the two operations — who was crucified for us in the flesh, was dead and buried — who rose again and ascended into heaven, and who will come again to judge the living and the dead. Moreover, I look for the resurrection of the dead, and for the eternal retribution of all things which have been done, whether they be good or evil. And I entreat the intercession of the altogether holy, undefiled Mary, ever a Virgin, and of the holy Angels, and of the holy and most glorious Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs, Confessors, and Doctors; and I embrace their venerable images; and all heretical ribaldry I abominate together with its originators and promoters, I mean such as Simon, Marcion, Manes, Paul of Samosata, Sabellius of Libya, and their accursed dogmas. I admit also the six holy Ecumenical Councils and their sacred decrees and doctrines as having been delivered to us by divine inspiration.
“With the first, I believe the Son to be consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father; and I anathematise the impious Arius, Aetius, Eunomius, Eudoxius, and Demophilus; and with them those who were rightly styled ‘Anomaei’ and ‘Semirarians,’ and all their polluted crew.
“With the second, I acknowledge the Holy Spirit to be God, and the Lord and Giver of life; and I abominate Macedonius and his partizans, and with these the God-hated Apollinarius and his insane speculations.
“With the third, I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, who was begotten of the Father, and He who in these last days was for our salvation incarnate of the holy Mother of God, Mary ever a Virgin, to be one person. And I utterly exclude from my confession the man-worshipping Nestorius and his inseparable pair of friends, Diodorus and Theodorus, and all who patronised their absurd doctrines, as having imagined a duality of persons in Christ.
“With the fourth, I acknowledge that Christ our God, one of the holy Trinity who dwelt in the flesh, to be of two natures and in two natures; and I anathematize Eutyches, Dioscorus, and all the rabble of the Acephali, together with the frenzied Severus; and the lawless Julian of Halicarnassus, who fabled that our Lord had assumed an in corruptible body.
“With the fifth, I also agree, which, as a sword of the Spirit, cut off the lawless heresies which prevailed from ancient times, and openly exposed those who originated them, as Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius — which heresies I also reject as strange and deceitful babblings (τερατευμάτων μυθέυματα.)
“With the sixth I believe that as Christ is of two natures, so hath He two wills and two operations — the divine and the human — as adapted to each nature; and I anathematize Cyrus, Sergius, Honorius, Pyrrhus, Paul, and all who were of the same opinion with them and their dogmata I hate as the vine of Sodom and the branch of Gomorrah, which bear the grapes of gall. Moreover, I receive this same sixth holy Council with all the doctrines legitimately and divinely declared therein, and also the canons which have been issued thereby among which is found the following — ‘In certain sacred pictures, the Lamb, as pointed out by the finger of the Forerunner (John the Baptist), is represented, which was a type of grace, and under the law prefigured the true Lamb, Christ our God. But, while we duly value the ancient types and shadows as types and prefigurations of the truth, we value more highly the grace and truth itself, receiving the same as the completion of the law. In order therefore that the perfect image may be presented to the contemplation of all, we decree that in all pictures from henceforth, the figure of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, should be pourtrayed in His human form, instead of the Lamb, as heretofore; that we, being stirred up by the sight thereof, may be led to meditate upon the depth of the humiliation of God the Word, and to the remembrance of His conversation in the flesh, and of His passion, and of His saving death, and the redemption thereby accomplished in behalf of the world.’ But, as to all those superfluous pratings and vain babblings which, after these Councils, were inconsiderately set forth by certain, as they were not admitted by you, and were not spoken by Divine Grace, so in like manner I account them destitute of authority. Bidding these farewell. and putting them entirely out of consideration, ‘we gird up the loins of our mind’ (1 Pet. i. 13) in truth, and, together with those pious champions of the truth our faithful Sovereigns, rise up for the union of the holy Catholic Church of God: Whom we besought, in the presence of all their Christ-loving people, that an Ecumenical Council might be held, and to which our petition they religiously gave consent. Wherefore, we regarding you, who ‘have been built upon the foundation of Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone’ (Eph . ii. 20), as allies, fellow-warriors, fellow-combatants (as we said before) have this confidence towards God (not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,’ 2 Cor. ii . 5), that He will cause the members now broken off and split asunder ‘to make increase in one body fitly joined together and compactly united’ (Eph. iv . 16) and never again to be separated any more. In conclusion, I beseech your Holiness to send at least two Legates, with your divinely-inspired reply, and if anything be revealed to you by God touching this question, to communicate the same to us; for, under Synodical obligations, your legates and letter are due to us, the one to read, the other to be read, that so the scattered members may be united. We have also made the same request to the Pope of Old Rome; and I beseech you as brethren, and in the language of the Apostle, ‘as though God did beseech you by us,’ I entreat you that, making every research according to the powers given you by God, ye would make known the same to us; for it is written, ‘The Priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at their mouth:’ and we feel assured that ye preserve among you the seeds of the truth. Our religious and most Orthodox Sovereigns are most anxious for the confirmation of the truth , and constantly beseech the Lord our God that according to Gregory, who bears the name of the Divine, ‘we who are of one God may be one; that we, who are united in the acknowledgment of the Trinity, may be one in esteem of each other — one in soul; that we, who are of the same Holy Spirit, may not be at variance with each other, but in accordance with each other; that we, who are of the Truth, may think and speak the same thing, and that there be no contention or division amongst us: and, as we have but one baptism and one faith, so we may have but one harmonious agreement in every ecclesiastical matter.’ ‘And may the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,’ conduct us to unanimity, unite the divided, heal our long-continued wounds, confirm all in the strength of faith, and of sincere and true confession, and in agreement with each other; and ever safely preserve His holy Church, and cause all scandals about her to cease for ever; which may it come to pass by the intercessions of our immaculate Mistress, the Mother of God, and of all the Saints. Amen.”
Peter and Peter, Legates of Pope Adrian, said: “Our most holy Pope, having received an epistle of the same kind, sent us hither with his reply, which has been read in your presence.”
John, the Legate of the Eastern Dioceses, said: “This sacred letter and the piety of our Sovereigns it was which enabled us both to come hither and to escape the enmity of those lawless ones, the bitter enemies of our Church.”
The Holy Council said: “God hath triumphantly brought you hither.”
Constantine, Deacon and Notary: “I have in my hands the octavos above mentioned, which have been sent from the East; and, if it be your good pleasure, I will read them to you.”
The Council having signified their assent, he read as follows:
Letter of the Chief Priests of the East to the Patriarch Tarasius
“To the most holy and most blessed Lord and Master Tarasius Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, the Chief Priests and Priests of the East: health in the Lord.
“When the most holy and divinely-inspired Epistle of your Paternal and Apostolic Holiness had been read by us, O most Blessed, we humble, and of all who delight to live in the desert most remote, were filled with mingled emotions of fear and joy — with fear, from the dread of those to whom for our sins we have been made to serve, who are verily the impious, and who, as it is written, ‘walk on every side’ (Psalm xii. 8); and who daily, so to speak, seek occasion against us to put us to death and to destroy us: with joy, on account of that integrity of Orthodox faith — that most lucid exposition of doctrines taught by Apostles and Fathers — which shone upon us from your letter like the rays of the sun. Wherefore, most seasonably remembering it, we all most loudly joined in singing the hymn of Zecharias, Father of the voice of the Word. The all-brilliant ‘day spring from on high’ (Luke i. 78, 79) of a contemplative and divinely-illuminated mind, ‘hath visited us, who sat in darkness and the shadow of death’ — namely, of that wicked error, the Arabian blasphemy, ‘to direct the feet’ of our understanding into the way and paths of peace. ‘Who shall rehearse the mighty acts of the Lord’ (Psalm cvi. 2)? Let David, ‘the father of God’ (ὁ θεοπάτωρ) sing with us: ‘He will make His praise to be known.’ For the Lord hath pitied His afflicted people, and hath joined together that which was divided into one unity of faith; ‘for He hath raised up for us a horn of salvation,’ (Luke i. 69) in the house and God-receiving temple of His only begotten Son our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, ‘which house, O most blessed, are ye’ (Heb. iii. 6); and they also who, according to the rule and order of the Church, occupy the second place, your victorious Sovereigns — chosen and crowned by God — the Lords of the world. For the priesthood is the sanctification and main support of the kingdom, and the kingdom is the strength and bulwark of the priesthood; concerning which a certain wise King, and amongst religious Sovereigns most blessed, has observed, ‘The greatest gift which God has bestowed upon men are the priesthood and the imperial power — the one attending to and dispensing heavenly things, the other regulating the affairs of the world by just laws.’ Now, indeed, ‘the middle wall of partition hath been broken down’ (Ephes. i . 14): concord triumphs over discord — division yields to unity — dissension hath disappeared; ‘and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,’ comes forth with cheerful countenance and with all confidence, and takes up its abode amongst us. Now is it that we who were once a reproach to our neighbours, and a hissing and a bye-word to those round about us and on this account were bowed down to the earth, do now again joyfully raise up our heads to the heavens and join with one accord in triumphantly singing with the Psalmist, ‘By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me’ (Psalm xli . 11); and when through my simplicity and inexperience I fell into error, thou hast recovered me, and having saved me, thou didst raise me up and didst fix my crippled feet upon the rock of the Apostolic Faith. To write these things and other things in accordance with them, your divinely-composed epistle has excited us, which, in compliance with canonical law, and under the direction of good order received by tradition from our Fathers, ye have sent to us to whom is committed the rule of the Apostolic Thrones, by the hands of your religious, pious, and heaven-directed messengers. Who, when they arrived hither, and by special will and providence of God, had met with certain holy men, our most religious brethren — men who would give up their lives for the good order of the Church — who were recognised by their ancient and primitive habits — did exceedingly rejoice, and more especially as they found them both living in the same place, and there pursuing their godly course together. To these brethren, your messengers, having made themselves known, exhibited the godly and truly admirable epistle of your Orthodoxy, and in accurate detail laid before them the God-pleasing sentiments of your Holiness and also the pious designs of our heaven-defended Sovereigns, their forethought for the common salvation of all, and their undaunted confidence in God. But our brethren, as though they had one soul in two bodies, so did they fulfil the Apostolic maxim, ‘to think the same thing;’ and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, prudently and warily concealed the brethren sent by you on account of the dread of the enemies of the cross which prevailed on all sides; and did not venture, although they were wise, either to confide in their own wisdom, or to forward the accomplishment of their purpose, the case requiring counsel and consideration the most profound and oft repeated. ‘For good counsel (it is said) shall preserve thee and upright consideration shall keep thee’ (Prov. ii. 11, Sept.). After which, without informing those whom they had put in a place of safety, they made their way immediately to us; and having as quietly as possible called us together, they first bound our humility under pains of the most fearful condemnation to keep to ourselves that which they were about to declare to us, in this way making every provision for their own security, and then they revealed to us all that had happened to them. Amazed, and pricked to the heart and suffused with warm tears at this most wonderful narration — this change so contrary to all expectation — we rose up to pray as sinners with fear and trembling; and, having offered all due praise to Him who doeth all things and who doeth all for the best, we earnestly besought His goodness to be in the midst of us, His least ones, and, by His Holy Spirit, to cause the light of knowledge to shine into our hearts, and to grant us the faculty of consulting well for the common benefit of all, and of deciding in that which may best promote your most admirable design; and He who is good and gracious to man granted our request. Wherefore, O most holy men, considering the hatred which the accursed nation bears to us, we determined with ourselves to keep back your messengers and entirely to forbid their going onward to those to whom they had been sent. Having therefore sent for them to come before us, we admonished them not to bring trouble or rather destruction on Churches now at peace and by God’s grace enjoying some measure of quiet, and on a people already bowed down with the yoke of servitude and oppressed with a weight of most insupportable burdens. But they being much displeased said to us, ‘For this purpose were we sent, to lay down our lives for the Church, so that we might effect the accomplishment of the designs of our most holy Patriarch and our most pious Sovereigns.’ To whom we said in reply, ‘If, indeed, the danger would exhaust itself on your lives only, your words would have weight; but, as it is likely to involve the whole body of the Church, what benefit can result, or rather what evil will not result, from your thus raising up a tottering building and destitute of proper foundation?’ ‘But (they rejoined) with what face can we return to those who sent us hither, having entirely failed in accomplishing that which they desired and expected from us?’ At this we were not a little perplexed; but, remembering that there were with us our pious brethren John and Thomas — men who were renowned by sacred zeal for the Orthodox faith, Syncelli of the two great Patriarchs, though not on that account less ardent as lovers of sanctifying solitude and silence (ἁγιοιποῖου ἡσυχίαν) — we said to them, ‘Behold, now a time profitable for salvation — a time for things of more importance than silent retirement. Go ye with these men and make an apology for them, and declare by word of mouth to our Lords that which we hardly dare venture to make known to them by writing. For ye are well aware that on a very slight accusation, he who occupied the throne of James the brother of God has been banished to a distance of two thousand miles. And when ye have fulfilled the work of God, and have made known to our Lords the tradition which is held in all the Churches of God throughout Syria and Egypt, ye may then again embrace that which is so much desired by you.’ And how shall we (they answered), obscure. and unknown, and for such a purpose having neither strength nor ability, dare to venture on an undertaking which is utterly beyond our powers?’ ‘He (we replied) who wrought by means of obscure and ignorant men — namely, the Holy Apostles — and by them did reduce the whole world to the obedience of the word of His dispensation — even Christ our God, He is able to put a word into your mouth which shall fully come up to the meaning and intention of those who neither are in a condition to receive letters nor dare to write any in answer, or give the slightest intimation about any matters whatever.’ And they, as beloved of God and as children of obedience, were persuaded by our arguments and yielded to our request, whom after long and earnest prayer we dismissed, to the no small joy of those who had been sent to us, and we parted one from the other amidst floods of tears.
“But O most Holy and most Blessed, as becomes your paternal rank, give a kind welcome to our brethren; and, without hesitation or worldly fear, present them to the Lords of the world. For ye will have in them men intimately acquainted with the unanimous and concordant Orthodoxy of the three Apostolic Sees, which indeed with one voice agree in acknowledging the six holy Ecumenical Councils; but that other, which some idly talk of as a Seventh in addition to these, they by no means admit: on the contrary, they utterly reject it as got together for the destruction of the tradition of the Apostles and Doctors of the Church, and for the utter extinction and abolition of holy and venerable images.
“Wherefore, O most Holy and Blessed — illuminated as ye are with sacred zeal — favoured as ye are with the good will of your heaven defended Lords by just ordinance of God chosen to rule over you, and with the countenance of your heaven-protected and God-defended Senate — be strong, and quit ye like men: let your heart be strong apostolically, punishing all disobedience and reducing it to the obedience which is in Christ.
“This one thing we think absolutely necessary to suggest to the consideration of your sacerdotal Highness, that if by the good will of Christ our God — the universal King — and those who have been accounted worthy to reign with Him, our most pious and triumphant Sovereigns, ye be minded to assemble and hold a Council, that no umbrage should be taken from the absence of the Patriarchs of the three Apostolic Sees of the East and the most holy Bishops subject to them. For this arises not from any indisposition on their parts, but from dread of the horrible threats and deadly penalties inflicted by those who rule or rather tyrannize over them; and on this head we may do well to take into consideration the like case in respect of the sixth holy Ecumenical Council, at which no Bishop of those regions was present on account of the tyranny of the accursed; and yet no prejudice on this account was ever raised against, nor did there from hence arise any prohibition to, its determining and publishing abroad to all the right dogmas of piety; and more especially as the most holy and Apostolic Pope of Rome consented to it, and was as it were present himself in the persons of his Legates. In like manner may the same thing now be done by the permission of God; and as at that time the faith of that Assembly sounded forth to the ends of the world, so now may the faith of the Council, by the grace of Christ assembled together, by means of yourself and of him who sways the Apostolic throne of the chief of the Apostles, be preached wherever the sun displays his beams, as having raised up that which the hand of tyranny had destroyed, and restoring it to its ancient splendour, according to Apostolical tradition. But for the confirmation of our poor Epistle, and the satisfaction of your Lordship’s blessedness and of our victorious and triumphant Sovereigns, we have thought right to append to that which ourselves had written, a copy of the Synodals of our Father Theodore, now among the Saints, and once Patriarch of Jerusalem: which Synodical Epistle, in compliance with the established regulations of the Church, this same Theodore of holy memory wrote to the blessed and most holy Patriarchs of holy memory, Cosmas of Alexandria and Theodore of Antioch called Theopolis, and while yet living, received from them Synodical Epistles in reply. May the Lord keep you in safety, and ever pray ye for us, O most holy and God-honoured Father.”
The Synodals of Theodore, Patriarch of Jerusalem
“A Copy of the Synodals of Theodore, most holy Patriarch of Jerusalem.
“We believe, therefore, O ye most Blessed, as before time and from the beginning we have believed, in one God the Father Almighty, wholly without beginning or end of days, the Maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God even the Father, and who knew no other original than the Father, and who from Him alone derived His substance: Light of Light, very God of very God. And in one Holy Spirit, who proceedeth eternally from the Father, and who by Himself is acknowledged as The Light and as God, and who is truly co-eternal, consubstantial, and of the same tribe (ὁμόφυλον) with the Father and the Son, and as of the same Nature and Essence so also of the same Godhead: a Trinity, consubstantial, equal in honour and dignity, united in one Deity, and conjoined in one common dominion, without any personal or hypostatical confusion or division. We believe a Trinity in Unity, and we glory in a Unity in Trinity — a Trinity in the Three Persons — a Unity in the singularity of Deity; for neither is the proper Unity confounded, nor the Trinity altogether divided, but rather the one is preserved in and by the other: for though divided into numerical hypostases, and numbered by the distinction of Person, it is united by the sameness of essence and nature and does not admit a complete separation. For there is one God — wherefore oneness of Deity is distinctly declared and acknowledged in a Trinity of Persons. And as God is one God and one Godhead, so neither can He be divided into Three Gods, which is the Arian blasphemy; and again, forasmuch as the one God is and is acknowledged as Three, and three hypostases are declared to exist in Him, and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are spoken of, so neither can He be so united or identified as to confound these Three in one Person, which is the impiety of the Sabellians. Wherefore, it has been well defined by Theologians, that we must believe a Unity in one and singular Deity, and a Trinity in three unconfused Persons: for we acknowledge this One God to be no other than these Three Persons; and these the Three consubstantial Persons of the Trinity — namely, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — we know to be no other than this One God. Wherefore, we affirm the One to be Three, in which the Deity exists; and we declare the Three to be One, of which the Deity consists; or, to speak more truly, which Three are, and are acknowledged to be, the Deity.
“We believe also in One of this holy consubstantial Trinity, our Lord Jesus Christ, ‘who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,’ as saith the Apostle; ‘but made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the form of a servant:’ for, though He was of the same substance and dignity with the Father, yet in these last times He did not disdain to be born of our holy and undefiled Lady the Mother of God — taking a body from her endued with a rational and intelligent soul, the first fruits of our Mass, conceived not by human generation, but by special operation of the Spirit. Thus, from two contrary natures, one proceeded; ‘for God, the Word, being perfect God by nature, the same became perfect Man in nature; and thus neither confusing the nature, nor taking a mere appearance of incarnation, He was without division, and without confusion, united in person to the flesh endued with a rational and immortal soul which He received from the holy Virgin, and which had been appointed an existence in Him — neither changing the nature of Deity into the essence of flesh, nor the essence of His flesh into the nature of His Godhead. Therefore, the two natures, united without change to each other, in the one person of God the Word, have manifested to us one Son and Lord, the same both visible and invisible, mortal and immortal, circumscribed and uncircumscribed, perfect God and perfect Man, to be acknowledged in two natures, and to be worshipped in two self-operating energies and wills. For unless He were God by nature, He could not act as God, nor again could He act as Man, unless He had become Man by nature. This person, therefore, who was truly God and Man, we confess to have been crucified for our salvation; to have tasted death in the flesh; to have remained in the sepulchre three days; to have risen from the dead after that, by the power of His own Godhead He had despoiled hell, and had set at liberty those who had for ages past been imprisoned there; to have been taken up into heaven and to have sat down on the right hand of the Father; and that He shall come again, agreeably to the words of the Incorporeal to the Apostles in His second advent, to judge the quick and the dead. And we confess also the resurrection of the dead in the last day, in consequence of the sound of the archangelic trumpet; and the retribution according to the just judgment of Christ our God awarded to those who have lived well or who have lived otherwise; and the life of the world to come which has no end.
“We receive, consent to, and heartily embrace the six holy Ecumenical Councils, which were assembled at various times and in divers places by the Holy Spirit against all heresies; to which the Churches of the Orthodox throughout the world, loudly declaring their adherence, are confirmed in right and divinely-inspired doctrine: and we admit those whom they admitted and reject those whom they rejected.
“The First of which Councils was that assembled at Nice, consisting of three hundred and eighteen Fathers, for the subversion of the insanity which took the name of Arius, and of his soul-destroying blasphemies. Whom, as endeavouring to divide and sever the one unconfused Deity, and as babbling that the Son of the Father, by whom all things were created, was Himself a creature, and was brought into existence from things which were not, together with His associates, it anathematized and drove far away from the sacred courts. Which, furthermore, did determine that our Lord Jesus Christ was born before all ages, without time, with emanation, of the substance and essence of the Father: and that He was consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit; and, by its creed and confession of the true faith, did clearly teach the whole mystery relative to the dispensation of Christ.
“The Second was that of the one hundred and fifty Fathers which was convened at Constantinople” against Macedonius the adversary of the Holy Ghost, and his crew of impious Semi-Arians: which holy Council, having as its guide and direction this same Holy Spirit, did determine that the Holy Spirit had its procession, without time and eternally from the Father, and was consubstantial with the Father and the Son, and is together with them to be worshipped and glorified. And, further, it subjected to its most awful anathemas those who had uttered unpardonable blasphemies against this same Comforter, together with the foolish Apollinarius, who, being himself without sense (ἄνους), did foolishly assert that the Saviour as Man was in like manner without sense (ἄνουν).
“The Third Council, the first of Ephesus, consisting of two hundred holy Fathers, shone glorious in the subversion and rejection of the man-worshipping Nestorius and his partizans, who, deluded by his own private accursed speculations, did vainly prate that the Word, which was before all ages, was One person, and that He, who, for our salvation took flesh of the holy Virgin, was another; and thus did this impious wretch, without intending to do so, add a fourth person to the holy and consubstantial Trinity. Nor was he content with dividing the two united natures in Christ into two persons, but this accursed man did further abjure the name Θεοτόκος (Mother of God); and did wickedly ordain that she should be called (Χριστοτόκον) Mother of Christ, who was really the Mother of God, who, before and after His birth, was a Virgin, and was created in glory and splendour superior to every intelligent and sensible nature. Him, therefore, together with his soul-destroying follies, did this holy Council of two hundred Fathers anathematize, and did also teach that the Son, who, before all ages, did gloriously exist in the bosom of the Father, was one and the same with Him who, in these last days, took our nature upon Him, and was born of Mary the immaculate Virgin and Mother of God: and proclaimed this same Son of God to be perfect God and perfect Man — that is, the one Son to be both Christ and Lord, and the incarnate nature of God the Word to be absolutely one, which signifies the union according to hypostasis of the two natures; and decreed that holy Mary was rightly and truly to be called the Mother of God.
“And not less seasonably did the divinely-chosen Council of six hundred and thirty Fathers meet at Chalcedon, for the subversion of that heretical delusion which confounded the natures in Christ, which the stolid Eutyches from his stolidity originated, who denied that the two natures were united in Christ without change, and most prodigiously asserted that one nature was compounded from the two, who, together with his patron and vindicator the infamous Dioscorus, were convicted as having misrepresented the doctrines of Orthodoxy and as being the opponents of the truth. Both these, therefore, did this holy Council utterly demolish, and laid their absurd frivolities together with themselves under the weight of rigid anathemas; and, furthermore, did declare that the two natures in Christ were united in one person without confusion, conversion, or change; and that this same person was perfect both in the Godhead and in the Manhood, and is to be acknowledged to be of two natures and in two natures; and, in addition, did denounce the ‘division’ of the accursed Nestorius and himself also together with his partisans.
“After which followed the Fifth Ecumenical Council of one hundred and sixty Fathers, which was assembled in the Royal City, and guided by the Holy Spirit confirmed the four Councils which preceded it; and, in pursuance of their Orthodox decisions, anathematised Nestorius, Eutyches, and Theodore of Mopsuestia with his blasphemies; and moreover, it anathematised Origen, Evagrius, and Didymus, and their fabulous and heathen mystifications, together with the epistle said to be sent from Ibas to Maris of Persia, and the writings of Theodoret against the twelve Orthodox chapters of St. Cyril.
“After which the Sixth holy Council of two hundred and eighty nine Fathers shone forth as another sun, having found a resting place in the Royal City; where, having exposed those who denied the two self-operating wills and energies in the incarnate dispensation of our Lord, and absurdly declared that there was but one will and operation in the Godhead and Manhood of our Saviour Jesus Christ: it amathematised them all — namely, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Peter, Cyrus, Honorius, Theodore of Pharan, and that old dotard Polychronius; with all who had defined, did then define, or should here after dare to define, that there was but one will and one operation in the two natures of Christ. For if, as a wise man in a certain place has observed, we leave the human nature of our Lord without a will and an operation, how can the integrity of the human nature be preserved? Therefore, having determined that there were two wills and two operations corresponding to the two natures of Christ as their natural properties, they most plainly unfolded the great mystery of the dispensation of the Saviour, and safely preserved for all who are truly wise the Orthodox faith of all the Churches of God, free from ambiguity or perversion! These six holy Councils are all that we consider Ecumenical; and indeed, besides these, we wish for no other, since there is not now left anything, whether of Apostolic Tradition or of legitimate exposition of the Fathers, which needs any amendment or any addition or improvement of any kind whatever. Therefore, with our whole heart and soul we anathematise collectively and distributively all evil-minded heretics as the seed of tares, followers of Satan, and soul-destroying teachers, from their abandoned head Simon Magus, down to their most execrable tail; and specially those whom the six holy Ecumenical Councils have anathematised. Together with these I denounce Severus head of the Monophysite Acephali, together with his followers; Peter the Fuller, who audaciously dared to make addition to the Trisagion, and presumed to impute suffering to the impassable Deity; and all who follow his blasphemies. Nor do we reject, but altogether receive and approve, all the various holy local Synods which have been convened, and the canonical regulations and soul-profiting ordinances which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, have been set forth in them.
“Moreover, that Apostolic tradition of the Church, by which we are taught to honour, worship, and salute the Saints, we receive; and we embrace them, honouring them and declaring them to be servants, friends, and sons of God; for the honour displayed to the more eminent of our fellow servants is proof of affection towards our common Lord. They are the chambers and pure dwelling-places of God, and most spotless mirrors of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, ‘their souls are in the hand of God’ (Wisdom iii. 1), as it is written; and as God is light and life, the Saints, being in the hand of God, dwell in light and life. And on this account ‘Precious in the sight of God is the death of His Saints’ (Psalm cxvi. 15); and ‘They living, stand with boldness in the presence of God’ (Wisdom v. 1). And Christ our Master has granted to us their relics — those founts of salvation whence flow forth multifold benefits to the diseased, from which ointments redolent with sweet odours are distilled, and by which demons are driven away. For, as the great teacher who bears the surname of Immortal [Athanasius] declares, ‘The bones of the martyrs put to flight diseases, heal the sick, cause the blind to see, cleanse the lepers, put an end to trials and sorrows, and all this from Christ dwelling in them. Wherefore, well doth the Psalmist declare, ‘God is wonderful in His Saints’ (Psalm lvxii. 8); and again, (ἆυθις), ‘In His Saints which are on the earth, the Lord hath magnified all His will towards them’ (Psalm xvi. 2). In addition to these we worship and embrace venerable images — namely, the image of God the Word, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who for our sakes became incarnate and took upon Him the form of a servant. Which image and figure is not intended as the resemblance of the Godhead which was united inseparably to His divine flesh; for the divine nature is invisible, uncircumscribed, and without form: ‘For no one hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, He hath declared Him’ (John i. 18); but it is the image of His manhood which we paint and which we worship. For though He was God and invisible, nevertheless He appeared on earth, and was seen of men, being brought up together with them, and He laboured and hungered and thirsted according to the law of our nature which He had taken upon Him. We worship therefore the image of Christ — that is, of the personal appearance which was seen among men, from which His invisible Deity was never separated — (away with the supposition!); but to which it was united from earliest conception. For though He said to the Jews, ‘Why do you seek to kill me, a Man that hath told you the truth?’ (John viii. 40); he was not, therefore, mere Man, but God also; so again, when He said, ‘I and the Father are one’ (John x. 30), He meant not to deny our nature; for He spake these things with a human mouth and organic tongue. And we worship and honour the image of His immaculate Mother, who begat Him in a manner which cannot be spoken, the holy Mother of God, our all holy Mistress. We worship also the images of the holy Apostles, and the Prophets, and victorious Martyrs, and of holy and righteous men, as being the friends of God. Nor do we offer our worship to the paint or to the wood; but, making use of these, we direct our minds to the prototype: to this we ascribe our praise and reverence, knowing that according to the illustrious Basil ‘the honour of the image passeth on to the prototype.’ But, forasmuch as some who contentiously set themselves against us and say that we ought not to worship the images of the Saints, because that they are made with hands, senselessly or rather impiously calling them “idols,” let such persons know that the cherubim, the mercy-seat, the ark, the table — all which Moses prepared by the divine command — were made with hands and were worshipped. The Scripture condemns those who worshipped graven images, ‘and who did sacrifice to devils’ (1 Cor. x. 9); for the sacrifice of the heathen is an abomination, while that of the just is acceptable. As images are a more express kind of writing, we ought to honour them for the sake of the prototypes.
“Receiving these our Synondals with kindness, if nevertheless, ye find anything in them which needs correction, we entreat you to impart freely to us of your heavenly wisdom in answer to this our Epistle; that so both you and we may evermore be found to agree in the same faith, to the glory of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now, henceforth, and for ever. Amen.”
After the reading of these letters was finished, Peter and Peter the Legates of the Bishop of Rome said: “We are fully satisfied; for, according to the Orthodox confession of faith now made by the most holy and most blessed Patriarch Tarasius, so hath Adrian our Apostolic Pope received; and in this all his sacred Conclave have agreed, and have embraced communion with him in all points which have been here confessed. And, blessed be God, the most holy Chief Priests of the East have been found to agree in Orthodoxy of faith and in the worship of images with the most holy Adrian Pope of Old Rome, and Tarasius the Patriarch of New Rome. Upon those, therefore, who do not agree in this confession, be the anathema of the Three Hundred and Eighteen Fathers who, on a former occasion, were assembled in this place.”
The Holy Council said: So be it, so be it, so be it.”
Agapius Bishop of Caesarea: Receiving as it were a standard of religion in the sacred Epistles sent from the chief Priests of the East to Tarasius our most holy Ecumenical Patriarch, I agree with them in every respect and embrace communion with them; and those who think otherwise I lay under my anathema.”
John Bishop of Ephesus: “To the Orthodox letters sent from the East by the chief Priests of those parts to Tarasius our most holy and thrice blessed Ecumenical Patriarch I entirely assent, and embrace communion with them in all points; and those who do not confess thus, and who do not worship or admit of holy, sacred, and venerable images, I account as aliens from the Catholic Church, and give them over to my anathema.”
Constantine Bishop of Constantia: “Seeing that the letters which have now been read from the Priests of the East to Tarasius our most holy Archbishop and Ecumenical Patriarch, do in no respect differ from the confession of faith previously made by him, I, unworthy as I am, declare my agreement with them; and, being of the same mind, I receive and pay the worship of honour to holy and venerable images, while (τὴν κατὰ λατρείαν προσκυνήσιν) supreme and absolute worship, I offer to the holy life-giving Trinity only; and those who think or teach otherwise I separate from the holy Catholic Church. I lay them under my anathema, and give them over to the doom of those who deny the incarnate and bodily dispensation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Basil Bishop of Ancyra: “With the letters sent from the East from the most holy Chief Priest there to our most holy Archbishop and Ecumenical Patriarch Tarasius, I agree and to these I stand firm. All points therein confessed I receive with all readiness and gladness, and those who think not thus I give over to anathema.”
Nicholas, Bishop of Cyzicus: “With the letters now read of our most holy and most blessed Archbishop and Ecumenical Patriarch, and with the answers returned from the East in the Epistles of the Orthodox chief Priests, concerning holy and venerable images, I agree, and I embrace communion with them, and those who think not thus I lay under an anathema.”
Euthymius Bishop of Sardis: “As in all things obedient to the truth, and as having been brought up amidst the traditions of the divine Apostles and Fathers, I entirely agree with the letters which have now been read of Tarasius, our most holy and most blessed Archbishop and Ecumenical Patriarch, and with the answers returned from the Patriarchs of the East; and their opinion about sacred doctrines and venerable images and my own I hold to be one and immutable. Those, therefore, who talk vainly in opposition to the one, or who prate against the other and who agree not with the holy Patriarchs, I look on as heretical and perverse, and separate them far from my communion.”
[Peter Bishop of Nicomedia, Elias Bishop of Crete, Hypatius Bishop of Nicaea, Stauracius Bishop of Chalcedon, Nicephorus Bishop of Dyrrachium, made declarations very similar to the above.]
Epiphanius Deacon of the Church of Catana and Vicar of Thomas, Archbishop of Sardinia, said: “How true is it ‘that pleasant words areas honeycombs, and their sweetness is health to the soul’ (Prov. xvi. 24): for, observe how the Synodical Epistle just read of the most holy and most blessed Archbishop of imperial Constantinople, New Rome, which he sent to the most Orthodox High Priests of the East, and the answers which were returned to him, redolent with the sweet and odorous honeycomb of the Orthodox faith of the holy Fathers, have refreshed our intellectual senses with their delicious perfume, while with the invigorating energy of Orthodox doctrine they have healed those who were halt in faith. Wherefore I, united in sentiment with these, do receive and embrace holy images according to the ancient — that is, the Apostolic — tradition; and that Conventicle, which some have, contrary to all law and right, vainly asserted to be the Seventh Council, together with all who adhere to its dogmas, I give over to most fearful anathemas.”
[Leo Bishop and Vicar of the Metropolis of Sida, Nicholas Monk and Abbot of the Monastery of Aper and Vicar of the Metropolis of Tyana, and Gregory Bishop of Neocaesarea, made declarations of a similar nature.]
Theodore Bishop of Catana: “They to whom the form of piety is a subject of care are not unfrequently illustrious for the splendour of their Orthodoxy. Wherefore, my unworthiness, as was proper, having directed the intellectual eye of the mind with most profound attention to the sacred Synodical Epistle of the most holy and most blessed Tarasius Chief President of the Royal city, sent by him to the Chief Priests of the East, and also to the answers sent by them in return which have now been read, hath, from the reading thereof, learned that they are in all respects consonant to the Orthodox faith of the holy Fathers; and, therefore, being of the same opinion with them, I receive and embrace holy and venerable images, and the vain innovations of the false Synod absurdly called the Seventh, together with all who agree in its doctrines, I consign to anathematisms.
Anastasius, Bishop of Nicopolis, in old Epirus: “Seeing that the Synodals of the most holy and Ecumenical Patriarch are in agreement with the answers returned from the Chief Priests of the East, I declare my assent to them, and I confess that such are my-present sentiments, and such shall I preserve them inviolable to the last. I receive and worship holy and venerable images, and those that think otherwise have my anathema.”
John Bishop of Tauromenium: “As we came hither with one mind, so have we been instructed as to have but one voice; for the synodical summary of Tarasius our most holy Ecumenical Patriarch, sent by him to the most holy Chief Priests of the East, which hath now been read, and also the answers sent by them in return, have been found to be quite in accordance with the faith of the six holy General Councils. Thus I also think and I receive and worship holy images; and in this Orthodox faith I pray that I may stand with confidence before the judgment-seat of Christ, and those who think not thus have my anathema.”
[After this follow similar declarations from all the Bishops assembled in the Council.]
When these declarations were finished, the whole Council, Bishops, and Monks, said: “All this our holy Council, assembled here by the grace of Christ our true God, and under the pious sanction of our most gracious and Orthodox Sovereigns, do receive and agree to the communication here made by Adrian Pope of Old Rome to our Orthodox Sovereigns, and also to the document now read containing the definition of the faith of our most holy, most blessed, and Ecumenical Patriarch Tarasius, and the letters returned to his Blessedness from the Chief Priests of the East; and we embrace and give the worship of honour to holy and venerable images; and, tearing up by the roots the false conventicle convened in opposition to them, we consign the same to anathema. God preserve our gracious Sovereigns and our most holy Patriarch.”
Tarasius: “Contention hath now ceased: the middle wall of enmity is done away. East and West, North and South, are again united in one yoke, in one bond of agreement.”
The Holy Council said: “Glory be to Thee, O God, who hast made us one.”
Tarasius: “Thanks be to Christ our true God, who maketh peace, together with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.”
The Council shouted in applause: “Long live our Sovereigns. Long live Constantine and Irene the illustrious Sovereigns and Autocrats. Long live our Orthodox Sovereigns. O Lord, guard the guardians of the truth. Keep, O Lord, the champions of the Church. Eternal be the memory of the New Constantine and the New Helena. Grant them, Lord, a life of peace. Long be the lives of our Patriarchs. Long live our sacred Senate!”
Source: Mendham, John, trans. 1850. The Seventh General Council, the Second of Nicaea, Held A.D. 787, in Which the Worship of Images Was Established. London: William Edward Painter. Pages 85-121.