Council of Laodicea
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The Council of Laodicea was a regional Christian synod of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor which assembled about 363–364 in Laodicea , Phrygia Pacatiana .
Historical context
The council took place soon after the conclusion of the war between the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire , waged by Emperor Julian . Julian, the last Constantinian emperor , attempted a revival of paganism . After his death in battle on 26 June 363, officers of the army elected the Christian Jovian as his successor. Jovian, in a precarious position, far from supplies, ended the war with Persia unfavorably for Rome. He was soon succeeded by Valentinian I , who named his brother Valens as Emperor of the East .
Major concerns
The major concerns of the council involved regulating the conduct of church members. The council expressed its decrees in the form of written rules or canons . Among the sixty canons decreed, several aimed at:
- Maintaining order among bishops , clerics and laypeople (canons 3–5, 11–13, 21–27, 40–44, 56–57)
- Enforcing modest behavior of clerics and laypeople (4, 27, 30, 36, 53–55)
- Regulating approach to heretics (canons 6–10, 31–34, 37), Jews (canons 16, 37–38) and pagans (canon 39)
- Outlawing the keeping of the Sabbath (Saturday), and encouraging rest on Sunday (canon 29)
- Outlining liturgical practices (canons 14–20, 21–23, 25, 28, 58–59)
- Restrictions during lent (canons 45, 49–52)
- Admission and instruction of catechumens and neophytes (canons 45–48)
- Specifying a biblical canon (canons 59–60)
Biblical canon
The 59th canon forbade the readings in churches of uncanonical books . The 60th canon listed canonical books, with the New Testament containing 26 books, omitting the Book of Revelation , and the Old Testament including 22 books from the Tanakh and several deuterocanonical books including I and II Esdras, the Book of Baruch , and the Epistle of Jeremiah . It is also believed that they may have demonized the " Second Book of Enoch ", which led to its degeneration. [1]
The authenticity of the 60th canon is doubtful, [2] as it is missing from various Greek manuscripts and may have been added later [1] to specify the extent of the preceding 59th canon. The Latin version of the canons of Laodicea consistently omit the canon list. Around 350, Cyril of Jerusalem produced a list of biblical books matching that from the Council of Laodicea. [3]
Astrology
The council marks the first occasion in Christianity of the explicit condemnation of astrology , a matter on which theologians and legislators had not yet reached consensus. [4] [5]
References
- 1 2 Council of Laodicea at bible-researcher.com . Retrieved 2011-10-05.
- ↑ "Synod of Laodicea" Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series , Vol. 14. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., (1900). "[ N. B.— This Canon is of most questionable genuineness .]", retrieved 2011-10-06.
- ↑ Cyril of Jerusalem on the Canon at bible-researcher.com , retrieved 2011-10-05.
- ↑ Tester, Jim (1987). A history of western astrology . Woodbridge: Boydell. p. 55. ISBN 0-85115-255-4 .
- ↑ Halfond, Gregory (2011). "Tenebrae Refulgeant: Celestial Signa in Gregory of Tours". The Heroic Age . 15 .
External links
- "Synod of Laodicea (4th Century)", The Canons with annotations, from Schaff
- Philip Schaff (ed.), The Seven Ecumenical Councils ( A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church , vol. XIV), "The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods". Synod of Laodicea .
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