tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post567197050971200979..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: The Orthodox UroborusRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-37491315682962415342009-12-03T15:35:55.365-05:002009-12-03T15:35:55.365-05:00The 2nd Nicene Council in 787 AD was originally it...The 2nd Nicene Council in 787 AD was originally itself anything but a truly "ecumenical" council: most Western Christians rejected its image-worshipping position strongly and consciously - just see the Council of Frankfurt held in 794 under Charlemagne himself:<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Frankfurt<br /><br />Protestants should definitely learn more about this issue - they would discover that how many Christians originally rejected the cult of icons with indignation, until their resistance was overwhelmed by dark ages ignorance and papal machinations.<br /><br /><br />J.N. Darby writes about this subject (btw, I am not otherwise recommending Darby's theology):<br /><br />"In the Western empire, under Charlemagne, the Council of Nice was rejected. First of all this great founder of the new Western empire assembled his bishops, and put forth a book in his own name, in which he condemned the Council of Constantinople, which suppressed all pictures and images, and equally the Council of Nice, which allowed them to be reverenced and worshipped. He went through scripture and the Fathers, and proved that this worship and reverence was all wrong. But the Emperor's and bishops' book goes farther. Pope Adrian had sent them the decisions of the Council of Nicaea (or Nice), to which they had never been called, and they say, "We receive the Six General Councils, but we reject with contempt novelties, as also the Council held in Bithynia (that is, the so-called Seventh General Council of Nice), to authorize the worship of images, the Acts of which, destitute of style and sense, have come to us"; and then they refute seriously all that the pope had said to the Eastern Emperor. They declare that the Council of Nice is not a general one, because it was not gathered from all parts of the church, and appeal to Gregory the Great's letter to Serenus. But this work of the bishops of France and Germany, then one empire, issued in Charlemagne's name, was not all. In 794 he had a council at Frankfort-on-the-Main, at which were the pope's legates and 300 prelates of Germany, France, and Spain. This council refers to the Council of Nice as the council of the Greeks, and rejects entirely, unanimously, and with contempt its doctrine and decision. All this was sent to the pope. He replies in a long letter on the doctrines, and adds, "We have received the Council of Nice because conformed to the doctrine of St. Gregory [Gregory the Great, which it was not], fearing the Greeks might return to their error. However, we have yet given no answer to the Emperor as to the council."<br /><br />So here we have an alleged general council received by the pope, disowned publicly by all the West, except Italy, and its doctrine condemned. All the assembled bishops of the West, with the pope's legates, declare that the Council of Nice is not a general council, and reject with contempt unanimously (these are their words) its doctrines and authority; and accordingly it was not for a great length of time received in the Western empire as a general council, and this the Council of Frankfort was. The pope's legates were at both. The pope received and defended Nice, but said he had not written to the Emperor, so he only half agreed to Nice either, but urged Charlemagne to come and help him to get back his territory, which the Eastern Emperor had seized on. Gradually superstition advanced, and Nice was in credit, and Frankfort went down."<br /><br />http://www.stempublishing.com/authors/darby/DOCTRINE/22002E_B.htmlViisaushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02682159289133730565noreply@blogger.com