The Greek Orthodox Church has never made an official pronouncement on the biblical canon in a council that they consider ecumenical. Actually, they regard as ecumenical only seven councils, the last one being Nicaea II in 787. So, anyway, the biblical canon is a little more open in the Greek Orthodox world than it is in the Western world generally, that is, among Roman Catholics and Protestants. Specifically, with regard to the status of what are sometimes called the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament, the Greek Orthodox allow for some disagreement. They pretty much all regard these books as important, but some theologians regard these books as sharing the same status as the other books of the Old Testament, while other theologians grant the deuterocanonical books a slightly lower status, suitable for reading and edification, suitable for the liturgy, but not suitable for establishing doctrine. The recent book by Pentiuc explains this aspect of Orthodox thinking.
Whereas in the West the big century for debates about the deuterocanonical books was the sixteenth century, in the East it was the seventeenth century, and the debates mostly centered around Cyril Loukaris, the Patriarch of Constantinople from 1621 until his assassination in 1638. Cyril appreciated certain emphases of the Protestant Reformers, particularly the Calvinists. In 1629, a Calvinist confession of faith appeared in Latin under the name of Cyril, followed two years later by a Greek translation. Cyril never admitted authoring this confession, but he never denied it either. At any rate, it created much controversy in the Orthodox world, even eliciting several councils for the purpose of condemning the confession (Constantinople 1638; Constantinople 1642; Jerusalem 1672).
The confession consists of 18 articles and 4 questions, and the 3rd question concerns the biblical canon. For the Old Testament, the confession admits only 22 canonical books, thus denying canonical status to the deuterocanonical books. Whereas this issue did not come up in the condemnations of this confession at the Councils of Constantinople in 1638 and 1642, it did come up at the Council of Jerusalem in 1672 in the confession of faith, adopted at the council, written by Dositheos, the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the convener of the council. Dositheos ascribed full canonicity to the deuterocanonical books.
These resources can be hard to track down, and the secondary literature does not always provide exact citations, sometimes even omitting the names of books discussed while merely summarizing the opinions of the figures mentioned. So, here I want to collect some resources in hopes that this post might prove helpful to those interested in this subject.
The Latin confession of 1629, attributed to Cryil Loukaris, is available here, but it does not contain the four questions at the end. They are available in Greek and Latin in the text published in the mid-nineteenth century by Kimmel, here. The question about the biblical canon (question 3) appears on pp. 42–43.
As for the reception of this confession, this article by Michaelides (1943) is extremely helpful. About three months after his assassination (27 June 1638), Cyril was anathematized at the Synod of Constantinople convened in 1638 (24 September). The acts of this council have been published in vol. 4.1 of Conciliorum oecumenicorum generaliumque decreta (Brepols, 2016), pp. 231–51. According to the introduction (prepared by Niki Papaïliaki): "The Synod deals with eight subjects, which are the points of disagreement between the Reformed Church and the Catholic Church: the infallibility of the Church, predestination, the mediation of saints, free will, the number of sacraments, transubstantiation, almsgiving, prayers for the dead, and icons" (p. 232).
Four years later another council was held in Constantinople, and it again took up the matter of the confession of Cryil. The acts of this council are published in the same volume, immediately after the acts of the 1638 council. The introduction (prepared by Symeon Paschalidis) says that the 1642 council "produced the present document, which condemned eighteen propositions by Cyril Loukaris and which was sent to the Synod of Iaşi" (p. 255). Of the eighteen propositions condemned, none has to do with the biblical canon.
The next council in the same volume is the more famous Synod of Jerusalem 1672. This council once again took up the matter of Cyril Loukaris' confession, rejecting the confession but denying the authenticity of the attribution to Cyril. Again, the biblical canon was not, at this point, a matter under discussion, but, as mentioned earlier, the council also gave approval to a confession of faith by Dositheos. This confession of faith does take up the issue of the biblical canon. Unfortunately, the collection published by Brepols does not include this confession of faith. The very last line of the introduction (Vassa Kontouma and S. Garnier) says: "Dositheos' profession of faith has also been left out" (p. 278). The very beginning of the confession is printed at p. 319, to inform readers where it came in the acts, after the sixth chapter. The confession of Dositheos can be found in several other editions, referenced in the biblioigraphy (pp. 278–79) of the Brepols edition. One option would be to go to the previous edition of the Jerusalem Council, the edition prepared in the mid-twentieth century by Ioannis Karmiris, which formed the basis for the Brepols edition. Fortunately, this edition is available online here. For the confession of Dosietheos, go to vol. 2, pp. 734–73. The question on the biblical canon appears at pp. 769–70. There is also an English translation in Roberton's work, pp. 155–56.
These Synods of Constantinople/Iaçi 1642 and Jerusalem 1672 approved of a confession of faith by Peter Mogila, which also did not directly address the biblical canon, though it did quote from deuterocanonical literature. The text is also available from Karmiris, vol. 2, pp. 593–686.
Sometimes reviews of this period also mention a confession of faith by Metrophanes Kritopoulos, a friend of Cyril Loukaris, who sent Kritopoulos to Oxford for study. Kritopoulos published his confession in 1625, so before the one attributed to Cyril, and in ch. 7 he restricted the Old Testament canon to the 22 books. This confession of faith can also be accessed in Karmiris, with the comments on the biblical canon coming at pp. 529–30. Interestingly, when Kritopoulos had become Patriarch of Alexandria, he signed the condemnation of Cyril Loukaris issued from the Council of Constantinople 1638.
Finally, I'll mention Meletios Syrigos, who wrote a work in 1640 against the confession of Cyril. This work was published later in 1690 by Dositheos, in an edition that also includes the confession of faith by Dositheos. This 1690 edition is available online in a very annoying PDF. The bit about the biblical canon appears on pp. 155v–156r.
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