Second Council of Nicaea

The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, and others. Protestant opinions on it are varied.

Second Council of Nicaea

787

Third Council of Constantinople (Catholic numbering)
Quinisext Council (Orthodox numbering)

Constantine VI and Empress Irene (as regent)

Patriarch Tarasios of Constantinople, and legates of Pope Adrian I

308 bishops, 350 members total (including two papal legates)

Iconoclasm

veneration of icons approved

It met in 787 CE in Nicaea (site of the First Council of Nicaea; present-day İznik, Bursa, in Turkey), to restore the use and veneration of icons (or holy images),^[1] which had been suppressed by imperial edict inside the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Leo III (717–741). His son, Constantine V (741–775), had held the Council of Hieria to make the suppression official.

Acceptance by various Christian bodies[edit]

The papal legates voiced their approval of the restoration of the veneration of icons in no uncertain terms, and the patriarch sent a full account of the proceedings of the council to Pope Hadrian I, who had it translated (Pope Anastasius III later replaced the translation with a better one). The papacy did not, however, formally confirm the decrees of the council until 880. In the West, the Frankish clergy initially rejected the Council at a synod in 794, and Charlemagne, then King of the Franks, supported the composition of the Libri Carolini in response, which repudiated the teachings of both the Council and the iconoclasts. A copy of the Libri was sent to Pope Hadrian, who responded with a refutation of the Frankish arguments.^[7] The Libri would thereafter remain unpublished until the Reformation, and the Council is accepted as the Seventh Ecumenical Council by the Catholic Church.

The council, or rather the final defeat of iconoclasm in 843, is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine Rite as "The Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy" each year on the first Sunday of Great Lent, the fast that leads up to Pascha (Easter), and again on the Sunday closest to 11 October (the Sunday on or after 8 October). The former celebration commemorates the defeat of iconoclasm, while the latter commemorates the council itself.

Many Protestants who follow the French reformer John Calvin generally agree in rejecting the canons of the council, which they believe promoted idolatry. He rejected the distinction between veneration (douleia, proskynesis) and adoration (latreia) as unbiblical "sophistry" and condemned even the decorative use of images.^[8] In subsequent editions of the Institutes, he cited an influential Carolingian source, now ascribed to Theodulf of Orleans, which reacts negatively the council's acts. Calvin did not specifically engage the apologetic arguments of John of Damascus or Theodore the Studite, apparently because he was unaware of them.

“Ioannes episcopus sanctae ecclesiae Salonentianae” (John of -Split)

Salona

“Laurentius episcopus sanctae Absartianensis ecclesiae” (Lawrence of )

Osor

“Ursus episcopus Avaritianensium ecclesiae” (Ursus of )

Rab

“Ioannes episcopus Decateron” (John of )^[10]^[9]

Kotor

Particularly interesting that four Dalmatian bishops are among the signatories of the synod, whose cities were no longer under Byzantine rule.^[9]^[10] These Dalmatian bishoprics had been dissolved earlier. So the question arises when were these bishoprics re- established in these medieval Dalmatia cities?^[10]^[9]

The four Dalmatian bishops who signed the synod, in order:

This suggests that new bishoprics was founded or old (Early Christian) episcopal seats were re-established in this area.^[10]^[9] The founding of these bishoprics is attested by the 8th century Chronicon Gradense. The chronicle reports the foundation of several Dalmatian bishoprics, such as the bishopric of Rab as "Avoriciensis/Avonciensis ecclesia", the foundation of the bishopric of Krk as "episcopatus in Vegla", the foundation of the bishopric of Osor as "episcopatus in Asparo", and the bishopric of Pićan as "episcopus Pathensis". As the chronicle reports a Dalmatian provincial synod held in the city of Grado.^[9]

Concilium universale Nicaenum Secundum, in Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum, ser. 2, vol. 3, in 3 parts, ed. Erich Lamberz, Berlin 2008-2016. Also includes the Latin translation by Anastasius Bibliothecarius.

English translation made in 1850 by an Anglican priest, John Mendham; with notes taken largely from the attack on the council in the . The aim of the translation was to show how the Catholic veneration of images is based on superstition and forgery.

Libri Carolini

The Canons and excerpts of the Acts in , translated by Henry R. Percival and edited by Philip Schaff (1901).

The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church

Translation made by (published from 1873 to 1909) – a seriously corrupted translation of the Acts of the Councils into Russian.^[11]

Kazan Theological Academy

A relatively new Vatican's translation (2004) into Italian language. Publishers in Vatican mistakenly thought that they made the first translation of the Acts into European languages.^[13]

[12]

The new (2016) Russian version of the Acts of the Council is a revised version of the translation made by Kazan Theological Academy, specifying the cases of corruption by the Orthodox translators. There are several dozens of such cases, some of them are critical.

[14]

Price, Richard, ed. (2018a). . Vol. 1. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9781802071023.

The acts of the Second Council of Nicaea (787)

Price, Richard, ed. (2018b). . Vol. 2. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9781786941275.

Second Council of Nicaea