Laodicean Cathedral

The rules of Laodicean Cathedral. Greek manuscript, November 1600. British library .

Laodicean Cathedral ( Greek Σύνοδος ἐν Λαοδικείᾳ τῆς Φρυγίας ) is a local cathedral of the Christian church, held around 360 in the city of Laodicea ( Asia Minor ) ^[1] .

According to another version, the cathedral was held no later than 343 years , since in the second rule of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, the Laodicean Cathedral is mentioned earlier than the Sardinian , held in 343 ^[2] . In particular, other sources indicate that he met several years before the First Ecumenical Council ^[3] .

The council made 60 rules regarding issues of church government and Christian piety. The 59th rule prohibits reading biblical books in churches that are not indicated in the cathedral decree, and the following 60th rule defines the biblical canon of the Old and New Testaments in the following composition:

Citati is fitting for this book, the old covenant: 1 Being of the world. 2 Exodus from Egypt. 3 Leviticus. 4 Numbers. 5 Deuteronomy. 6 Joshua. 7 Judges, Ruth. 8 Esther. 9 Kings first and second. 10 Kings the third and fourth. 11 Chronicles one and two. 12 Ezra the first and second. 13 The book of psalms of one hundred and fifty. 14 Proverbs of Solomon. 15 Ecclesiastes. 16 Song of songs. 17 Job. 18 Twelve Prophets. 19 Isaiah. 20 Jeremiah, Baruch, weeping and message. 21 Ezekiel. 22 Daniel. But the New Testament, the gospel four: from Matthew, from Mark, from Luke, from John; Acts of the Apostle; the epistles of the councils these seventh: Jacob is one, Peter two, John three, Judah one; There are fourteen Pavlovian letters: one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Colossians, one to the Colossians, two to the Hebrews, one to the Hebrews, two to Timothy, and one to Philemon.

This list in relation to the Old Testament books is repeated by the Jewish Jamni canon , with the exception of the added books of the prophet Baruch , the epistle of Jeremiah and the 2nd book of Ezra ^[4] . The biblical canon of the Laodicean Cathedral was not widespread, and the Church began to be guided by the 85th Apostolic Rule and the Epistle of Athanasius the Great when determining the list of books of Scripture, including 50 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament.

The Cathedral also established the practice of anointing immediately after the baptism (rule 48th).

In addition, the council condemned as heretics those who do not pray to Jesus Christ , but pray only to the angels , venerating them for the creators and rulers of the world (rule 35th). The appearance of this rule is explained by the presence of heresy, whose supporters claimed that a person is not worthy to turn directly to Christ, but should call angels in prayer, but she does not prohibit prayer to angels ^[5] .