Quattuor esse principales synodos.
The Four Principal Synods
The four chief councils—Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon—are presented as venerable synods that together embrace the whole faith, each condemning a key Christological heresy.
Among other councils, there are four venerable synods that principally embrace the whole faith, like the Gospels or the four rivers of paradise.✦ The first of these, the Nicene synod of 318 bishops, was held during the reign of Constantine Augustus, in which the blasphemy of Arian treachery was condemned — the claim Arius made about the inequality of the blessed Trinity. That same holy synod defined through the creed that the Son of God is of one substance with God the Father. The second synod, of 150 fathers, was gathered at Constantinople under Theodosius the Elder, which, condemning Macedonius for denying that the Holy Spirit is God, showed that the Holy Spirit is of one substance with the Father and the Son, giving the form of the creed that the whole confession of Greeks and Latins proclaims in the churches. The third synod, the first at Ephesus, of 200 bishops, was held under Theodosius Augustus the Younger, which condemned Nestorius with a just anathema for claiming there are two persons in Christ, showing that in two natures there is one person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fourth synod, at Chalcedon, of 630 priests, was held under Prince Marcian, in which Eutyches, a Constantinople abbot who claimed that the Word of God and the flesh are one nature, and his defender Dioscorus, a certain bishop of Alexandria, and Nestorius himself again with the other heretics, were all condemned by the one judgment of the fathers, as the same synod preached that Christ God was born of the Virgin in such a way that in him we confess the substance of both the divine and human natures. These are the four principal synods, teaching the doctrine of the faith most fully.
The Authority of Councils and the Meaning of Synod
Beyond the four principal synods, other Spirit-filled councils also hold full authority, and the word synod itself means a gathering or assembly.
But even if there are any councils that the holy fathers, filled with the Spirit of God, enacted, after these four they remain established with full authority, whose acts are contained and set forth in this work. A synod, for its part, is interpreted from Greek as a gathering or assembly.
Etymology of Council, Gathering, and Letter
The words council, synod, gathering, and canonical letter are each traced to their linguistic roots, revealing how shared counsel and universal address shape their meaning.
The word "council" itself comes from Roman custom. For in the time when cases were heard, they all gathered together and deliberated with a shared purpose. And so "council" gets its name from this shared purpose, as if it were "consilium" — for cilia are the eyes' lashes. And so considium is consilium, with the letter d changing to l. A gathering, on the other hand, is an assembly or congregation — from "coming together," that is, meeting in one place. And so it is called a "coming together" — like a gathering, assembly, or council — from the association of many people in one place. Epistula is Greek; in Latin it is rendered "missa" (a sending). The canonical letters — that is, the rule-letters, which are also called catholic, meaning universal — are so named because they were written not to just one people or city, but generally to all nations.
Acts and Apocalypse
The Acts of the Apostles recounts the early church's beginnings, while Apocalypse means revelation, as John himself testifies.
The Acts of the Apostles lays out the beginnings of the Christian faith among the nations and the history of the early church, and recounts the deeds of the apostles — which is why they are also called the Acts of the Apostles. Apocalypse, rendered from Greek into Latin, means 'revelation,' as John himself says: 'The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servant John.'✦1
Read the original Latin
Inter cetera autem concilia quattuor esse venerabiles synodos quae totam principaliter fidem complectantur, quasi evangelia, vel totidem paradisi flumina. harum prior Nicaena synodus trecentorum decem et octo episcoporum Constantino Augusto imperante peracta est, in qua Arianae perfidiae condemnata blasphemia, quam de inaequalitate sanctae Trinitatis idem Arius asserebat. consubstantialem Deo Patri Deum Filium eadem sancta synodus per symbolum definivit. secunda synodus, cl patrum sub Theodosio seniore Constantinopolim congregata est, quae Macedonium Spiritum Sanctum negantem Deum esse condemnans, consubstantialem Patri et Filio Spiritum Sanctum demonstravit, dans symboli formam, quam tota Graecorum et Latinorum confessio in ecclesiis praedicat. tertia synodus, Ephesina prima, cc episcoporum sub iuniore Theodosio Augusto edita est, quae Nestorium duas personas in Christo asserentum, iusto anathemate condemnavit, ostendens in duas naturas unam Domini Iesu Christi personam, quarta synodus Chalcedonensis dcxxx sacerdotum sub Marciano principe habita est, in qua Eutychem Constantinopolitanum abbatem, Verbi Dei et carnis unam naturam pronuntiantem, et eius defensorem Dioscorum quendam Alexandrinum episcopum, et ipsum rursum Nestorium cum reliquis haereticis, una patrum sententia praedamnavit, praedicans eadem synodus Christum Deum sic natum de Virgine, ut in eo substantiam et divinae et humanae confiteamur naturae. hae sunt quattuor synodi principales, fidei doctrinam plenissime praedicantes. sed et si qua sunt concilia quae sancti patres Spiritu Dei pleni sanxerunt, post istarum quattuor auctoritatem omni manent stabilita vigore, quorum gesta in hoc opere continentur condita. synodum autem ex Graeco interpretari comitatum vel coetum.
concilii vero nomen tractum ex more Romano. tempore enim quo causae agebantur, conveniebant omnes in unum, communique intentione tractabant. unde et concilium a communi intentione dictum quasi consilium, nam cilia oculorum sunt. unde et considium consilium, d in l littera transeunte. coetus vero conventus est vel congregatio a coeundo, id est, conveniendo in unum. unde et conventus est nuncupatus, sicut conventus, coetus vel concilium, a societate multorum in unum. epistula Graece, missa interpretatur Latine. epistulae canonicae, id est, regulares, quae etiam dicuntur catholicae, id est, universales, quia non uni tantum populo vel civitati, sed universis gentibus generaliter scriptae sunt.
Actus apostolorum primordia fidei Christianae in gentibus, et nascentis ecclesiae historiam digerunt, et apostolorum gesta narrunt unde etiam Actus apostolorum vocantur. Apocalypsis ex Graeco in Latinum revelatio interpretatur, iuxta quod ipse Ioannes dicit: 'Apocalypsis Iesu Christi, quam dedit illi Deus palam facere servo suo Ioanni.'
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.2.10-Gen.2.14 — A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four rivers. Gen.2.11 — The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. Gen.2.12 — And the gold of that land is good; there is bdellium and the onyx stone. Gen.2.13 — And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. Gen.2.14 — And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
- ↩Rev.1.1 — The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
Notes
- 1 ↩Quoted scriptural span follows the Vulgate text of Revelation 1:1; final source resolution belongs to a later stage.
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