The Jerusalem (Bethlehem) Cathedral is the local cathedral of the Jerusalem Church , convened under the Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarch Dositheus II in 1672 with the goal of refuting Cyril Lukaris as a Calvinist Confession of Faith [1] .
Content
Convocation and participants
In 1670, Patriarch Dositheus II drafted the Guidelines for the Refutation of Calvinist Insanity, Slandering the Eastern Catholic and Apostolic Church, which formed the basis for the Confession of Faith developed by the Council.
The cathedral was convened on the occasion of the consecration of the Church of the Nativity of Christ, restored in March 1672, in Bethlehem .
71 clergymen from Arabs, Greeks and Russians took part in the Cathedral.
Solutions
The Cathedral condemned the Calvinite Confession of Faith, published on behalf of the Patriarch of Constantinople Cyril Lukaris , as a religion of the Eastern Church. The charges of Calvinism were dropped from Cyril Lukaris, since the patriarch did not provide direct evidence of public support for this teaching. In the first chapter of the conciliar acts against each article of “Confession”, quotes from the earlier writings of Lukaris (written during the period when the patriarch was influenced by Catholic theology and before his ideological rapprochement with Protestantism) were presented, proving his Orthodoxy. The 5th chapter of the acts also states that Lukaris vowed to deny the authorship of the Confession of Faith, and claimed to be an opponent of Protestantism [2] .
At the same time, the Council condemned the position of Cyril, who did not give a written refutation even after the publication of the Calvinist confession led to serious church unrest. The decision of the Council of Constantinople in 1638, which anathematized Lukaris for his retreat from Orthodoxy, was also not questioned [3] [K 1] .
In the 5th chapter of the Acts of the Council regarding the glorification of the patriarch as a martyr, the following is said:
And let it not be allowed to the enemies to boast of Cyril as saints, for he was not killed unjustly, as they joyfully claim, or for the name of Christ, to also be considered as such [that is, saint]. But without any measure, having fallen into the sin of love of power <...> and six times illegally, except, it seems, the first time, having captured the throne of Constantinople with many eruptions and oppressions of the clergy (due to the insatiable desire of external things and with the help of the Dutch ambassador, because of which brought upon himself even greater suspicion in the Church), received a shameful death. The one who did such things in relation to the Church of Christ, even if he happened to be pious, we consider him a sinner - and such a sinner who will receive punishment from God for those atrocities that he did not hesitate to do to the Church. And now, since he has become the father of dishonor, we hold opinions about him, not as a saint that our enemies claim, but as a miserable person who does not have a common part with Christ at all.
- Cit. by: Bernatsky M.M.Canonization of Patriarch Cyril I Lukaris and the Jerusalem Council of 1672 // Theological works . Vol. 45, p. 328
The Orthodox Confession of Faith approved at the Council (the 6th chapter of the Acts of the Council), compiled by Dosipheus, later became widely used by both Orthodox and heterodox theologians in dogmatic and comparative theologies. [4] It was confirmed by the Council of Constantinople in 1691 , and by the decision of the eastern patriarchs in June 1721 declared the true statement of the Orthodox teaching [5] .
Comments
- ↑ Researchers have no reason to doubt Lukaris’s authorship, which is confirmed, in addition to comparing the Confession’s autograph with the letters of the patriarch, as well as the correspondence of Cyril, in which he acknowledges the aforementioned authorship. Patriarch Dosifei also did not doubt the secret heresy of Lukaris (Bernatsky, p. 329)
Notes
- ↑ Synod of Jerusalem . British Encyclopedia
- ↑ Bernatsky, 2013 , p. 327.
- ↑ Bernatsky, 2013 , p. 327-328.
- ↑ Local councils of the Church of Jerusalem
- ↑ Bernatsky, 2007 , p. 136-137.
Literature
- Barsov N.I. Jerusalem Cathedrals // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Bernatsky M.M.Canonization of Patriarch Cyril I Lukaris and the Jerusalem Council of 1672 // Theological works . Vol. 45. - M .: Publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2013. - ISBN 978-5-88017-420-1 .
- Bernatsky M. M. The Council of Constantinople in 1691 and its reception in the Russian Orthodox Church ] // Theological works . Vol. 41. - M .: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2007. - ISBN 5-94625-075-2 .