Councils of Aquileia
|
|
In the history of Christianity and later of the Roman Catholic Church, there have been several Councils of Aquileia. The Roman city of Aquileia at the head of the Adriatic is the seat of an ancient episcopal see, seat of the Patriarch of Aquileia.
| Contents |
Council of 381 AD
A council held in September 381 AD, summoned by Gratian, the Emperor in the West, explicitly to "solve the contradictions of discordant teaching" was in fact organized by Ambrose, though it was presided over by Valerian, Bishop of Aquileia. The council was attended by thirty-two bishops of the West, from Italy, Africa, Gaul and Illyria, among them St Philastrius of Brescia and St Justus of Lyons, deposed from their offices two bishops of the Eastern province of Dacia, Palladius and a certain Secundianus, as partisans of Arius. Palladius had applied to the Emperor of the East for an opportunity to clear himself before a general council of these charges concerning the nature of Christ and was unwilling to submit to a council of the Western bishops only, for Ambrose had previously assured the Emperor of the West that such a matter as the soundness or heresy of just two bishops might be settled by a council simply consisting of the bishops of the Diocese of Italy alone. Politics and Christology were inextricably entangled in the 4th century: "You have contrived, as appears by the sacred document [Gratian's amended convocation] which you have brought forward, that this should not be a full and General Council: in the absence of our Colleagues we cannot answer," was Palladius' stand.
Ambrose proposed that Arius' letter from Nicomedia to Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, should be read in detail, and Palladius be called upon to defend or condemn each heretical proposition. Arius had said that the Father alone is eternal; the Catholics insisted that the son was co-eternal. Palladius quoted Scripture, which Ambrose skirted. Ambrose rested upon the verbal formulas recently agreed upon by authority of the Church, while Palladius refused to admit the legitimacy of the proceedings. The bishops unanimously pronounced anathema on all counts, and the matter was settled. The surviving partial transcript of the proceedings reveal the character of Ambrose and the manner and technique of his argument. Of Palladius it is said by Vigilius, a late 5th century bishop of Thapsus in Africa, that after Ambrose's death (397) he wrote a reply to Ambrose's writings against Arianism, which Vigilius in turn wrote to counter.
This council also requested the Emperors Theodosius and Gratian to convene at Alexandria a general council of all bishops in order to put an end to the Meletian schism at Antioch that had been ongoing since 362.
- Proceedings of the council (http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ambrose_letters_01_letters01_10.htm#Proceedings), among the letters of Ambrose
Council of 553 AD
The council of 553 inaugurated a schism that for a century and more separated many churches of northern Italy from the Holy See; in it the Bishops of Venetia, Istria, and Liguria refused to accept the decrees of the Second Council of Constantinople (the 5th General Council, 553 AD), on the plea that by the condemnation of the Three Chapters it had undone the work of the Council of Chalcedon of 451. In Northern Italy the ecclesiastical provinces of Milan and Aquileia broke off communion with the papacy; the former yielding only towards the end of the 6th century, whereas Aquileia protracted its resistance to about 700.
Council of 1184
The Council of 1184 was held against incendiaries and those guilty of sacrilege.
Council of 1409
In 1409 a council was held by Gregory XII against the pretensions of the rival popes, Benedict XIII (Peter de Luna) and Alexander V (Peter of Candia). He declared them schismatical, but promised to renounce the papacy if they would do the same.
Council of 1596
In 1596 Francesco Barbaro, Patriarch of Aquileia, held a council at which he renewed in nineteen decrees the legislation of the Council of Trent.
External link
- Catholic Encyclopedia: (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01662a.htm) Councils of Aquileia; this entry is based on text from the Catholic Encyclopedia