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was done. But the acts of the council were not received at Rome, and the legates asserted that fraud and violence had been employed to procure their consent. Conc. viii. 735 and 964.

VIII. Constantinople, A.D. 869.

The Romans have attributed the authority of a General Council to the synod of 102 bishops who assembled in Constantinople under the Emperor Basilius, in the year 869. They met for the purpose of replacing Ignatius in the See of Constantinople, and of passing censure upon Photius: they also re-enacted the decrees of the deutero-Nicene Synod, respecting image worship. The Bishop of Rome (Adrian) sent representatives to it. Conc. viii. 967-1495.

Constantinople, A.D. 879.

The Greeks ascribe the name and authority of a General Council to the assembly of 383 bishops convened at Constantinople in the year 879. They met after the death of Ignatius, to re-instate Photius in the See of Constantinople, who then entered into an agreement with John, bishop of Rome, whose representatives were present at the council, by virtue of which, as appears in the first canon (R) of this council, their respective sentences of ecclesiastical censure were to be mutually observed. They condemned the preceding council. During all this

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period, when the rivalries between the Sees of Old and New Rome were at their greatest height, the mutual charges and recriminations, of forgeries and impostures, in documents, make it very difficult to place much reliance upon the genuineness of the acts ascribed to any of the opposing councils. The conduct of Binius in respect to the Florentine council, to which long afterwards the style of the eighth General Council was given in the acts, altering the eighth into the sixteenth, that it might not clash with the Roman assumption, is an indisputable proof that even if it be true that the Greeks have sometimes interpolated their documents, the Roman advocates are not a whit behind them in the disgraceful practice. For the account of the council, see Conc. ix. 324-329. The canons are given Conc. viii. 1525. The fraud of Binius is pointed out in Beveridge's Pandect. ii. 170.

In this council the creed as it originally stood was confirmed, and all additions forbidden; thus excluding the interpolation, filioque, concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit, which had been made in the West. In excluding the words they did but the same that had been recommended by the Bishop of Rome, Leo III. in 809, who to put an end to the interpolation, which is supposed to have had its origin in Spain, caused the creed, without these words, to be engraven in Greek and Latin on silver tablets in his chapel (s); and forbade the interpolation to the deputation from the council of Aix-la

Chapelle (T) who waited upon him concerning this

matter.

IX. Lateran, 1. A.D. 1123.

The ninth General Council, according to the Romans, is that of upwards of 300 bishops, convened in the Lateran Church at Rome, by Pope Callixtus II. in 1123. It does not appear that there were any Eastern bishops present. The object of their meeting was to oppose the Emperor Henry's interference in the appointment of bishops. An agreement was made between the Pope and the Emperor, the latter engaging that the elections of bishops should be free (u), and the former that the bishops should receive the temporalties from the Emperor. At this council twenty-two canons were made, two of which, namely 3rd and 21st, related to the celibacy of the clergy. Conc. x. 891-900.

X. Lateran, 2. A.D. 1139.

The tenth Council, accounted General, is that of about a thousand bishops convened in the Lateran Church by Pope Innocent the Second in the year 1139. They met to condemn the opinions of Arnold of Brixia, and Peter de Bruis, who are stated to have contended against infant baptism, and against endowments of churches, as well as against the adoration of the cross, and other points. They passed

thirty canons, in one of which, seventh, they revived the old Eustathian heresy, forbidding people to attend the ministrations of the married clergy. x. 999-1012.

Conc.

XI. Lateran, 3. A.D. 1179.

The Romans give the style and authority of a General Council, the eleventh in their list, to the Synod of 300 Bishops convened in the Lateran Church at Rome, by Pope Alexander III. in the year 1179. They met, partly to make decrees concerning the election to the Papacy, determining that an election by not less than two-thirds of the College of Cardinals (x) should hold good; and partly to oppose the exertions of the Cathari, Patarcues, and Albigenses, whose religious opinions were beginning to spread extensively. The Roman writers speak of Eastern Bishops being present at this council (y); but it should be understood that these were not members of the Eastern patriarchates, but of the Roman Schism (z) in those dioceses; where, as at present, in England and Ireland, they had schismatically intruded in opposition to the canonical Bishops who were in possession of the Sees. The Council passed twenty-seven canons. Conc. x. 1503-1534.

XII. Lateran, 4. A.D. 1215.

The 12th Council to which the Romans ascribe

the authority of a General one, was composed of 412 bishops, among whom, according to the Roman accounts, there were present, the patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, and representatives of those of Antioch and Alexandria. It was assembled in the Lateran Church in the year 1215. It would appear that the chief objects for which it was assembled, were to endeavour to promote a reconciliation between the Greek and Roman Churches; or, in other words, to bring the Greeks under the Roman yoke; and also to put a further check upon the Waldenses and Albigenses. Notwithstanding all the noise which it has made in the world, there is every reason to believe that nothing was really transacted at it. Matthew Paris (AA), Platina (BB), and Nauclerus, as cited by Bishop Taylor (cc), and Du Pin (DD), as cited by Collier, all agree that the seventy canons which pass by the name of the canons of the 4th Lateran Council, were not passed at it: that they were all drawn up by the Pope, who read them to the council, which determined nothing concerning them. Bishop Taylor says that the first who published them under the name of the Lateran Council, was Johannes Cochlæus, A.D. 1538. It does not appear that, if anything was transacted at the council, it was ever received by the Greek Church. For the history of the council see Conc. xi. 117-119.

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