thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve," speaks freely of worship, and not in respect to him alone, as being a word of various acceptations, and ambiguous: but it directs thou shalt serve (λατρεύ σεις Him alone; for to God alone do we offer Latria. These things being manifest, it is agreed unanimously and without gainsaying, that it is pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God to worship and salute the representative images of the dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the undefiled Mother of God, and ever Virgin Mary, and of the honourable angels, and of all the saints. And if any one doth not so, but contends against, or behaves indifferently in respect to the worship of the venerable images, our holy and oecumenical synod anathematizes him. μόνῳ λατρεύσεις· τὴν μὲν προσκύνησιν ἀπολύτως καὶ οὐ μόνῳ εἴρηκεν, ὡς διάφορα σημαινόμενα ἔχουσαν καὶ ὁμώνυμον οὖσαν τὴν φωνήν. τὸ δὲ λατρεύσεις αὐτῷ μόνῳ εἴρηκε· καὶ γὰρ μόνῳ Θεῷ τὴν λατρείαν ἡμεῖς ἀναφέρομεν τούτων οὕτως ἀποδειχθέντων, ὁμολογουμένως καὶ ἀναμφισβητήτως ἀποδεκτὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον εἶναι ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰκονικὰς ἀνατυπώσεις τῆς τε οικονομίας τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἀχράντου θεοτόκου καὶ ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας, τῶν τε τιμίων ἀγγέλων, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων, προσκυνεῖν καὶ ἀσπάζεσθαι. Καὶ εἴ τις μὴ οὕτως ἔχοι, αλλ' ἀμφισβητοίη καὶ νοσοῖ περὶ τὴν τῶν σεπτῶν εἰκόνων προσκύνησιν, τοῦτον ἀναθεματίζει ἡ ἁγία καὶ οἰκουμενικὴ ἡμῶν σύνοδος, κ. τ. λ. Conc. vii. 582, 584. CANON VII.-(On Relics.) We decree that whatever venerable churches have been consecrated without holy relics of martyrs, shall have a deposit of relics made in them with the accustomed prayer. And if after the present time any Bishop shall be found consecrating a church without holy relics, let him be deposed, as one that transgresseth ecclesiastical tradition. Κανὼν ζ'. . . . ὅσοι οὖν σεπτοὶ ναοὶ καθιερώσθησαν ἐκτὸς ἁγίων λειψάνων μαρτύρων, ὁρίζομεν ἐν αὐτοῖς κατάθεσιν γενέσθαι λειψάνων μετὰ καὶ τῆς συνήθους εὐχῆς. καὶ εἰ ἀπὸ τοῦ παρόντος τις εὑρεθῇ ἐπίσκοπος χωρὶς ἁγίων λειψάνων καθιερῶν ναὸν, καθαιρείσθω, ὡς παραβεβηκὼς τὰς ἐκκλησιαστικὰς παραδόσεις.—Conc. vii. 604. 121 VIII. CONSTANTINOPLE, IV. A.D. 869. CANON I.-(On Tradition.) We who desire to walk without offence in the right and royal path of divine justice, are bound to retain the definitions and opinions of the holy Fathers, to be as it were lamps always shining, and enlightening our steps which are after God. On which account also, after the example of the great and most wise Dionysius, counting and esteeming these as secondary oracles, we may very readily, even concerning them, sing, with the divine David, "The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the Canon I. Per æquam et regiam divinæ justitiæ viam inoffense incedere volentes, veluti quasdam lampades semper lucentes et illuminantes gressus nostros, qui secundum Deum sunt, sanctorum Patrum definitiones et sensus retinere debemus. Quapropter et has ut secunda eloquia secundum magnum et sapientissimum Dionysium arbitrantes et existimantes, etiam de eis cum divino David promptissime canamus: "Mandatum Domini lucidum, illuminans oculos;" et "Lucerna pedibus meis lex tua, et lumen eyes," and "Thy law is a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my paths;" and with the writer of Proverbs we say, "Thy commandment is bright, and Thy law a light;" and with Isaiah, we cry aloud unto the Lord God, that "Thy commandments are a light upon the earth. For the exhortations and warnings of the divine canons are truly likened unto light, as that by which the better is distinguished from the worse, and that which is expedient and profitable from that which is discerned not to further, but hinder. Therefore, we profess to preserve and keep the rules which have been delivered to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as well by the holy and most illustrious apostles, as by the universal as well as local councils of the orthodox, or even by any divinely speaking father and master of the Church: governing by these both our own life and manners, and canonically decreeing that both the whole list of the priesthood, and also semitis meis;" et cum Proverbiatore dicimus, "Mandatum tuum lucidum, et lex tua lux :" et cum magna voce cum Isaia clamamus ad Dominum Deum, quia "Lux præcepta tua sunt super terram." Luci enim veraciter assimilatæ sunt divinorum canonum hortationes et dehortationes, secundum quod discernitur melius a pejori, et expediens atque proficuum ab eo quod non expedire, sed et obesse dignoscitur. Igitur regulas, quæ Sanctæ Catholicæ ac Apostolicæ Ecclesiæ, tam a sanctis famosissimis Apostolis, quam ab orthodoxorum universalibus, necnon et localibus conciliis, vel etiam a quolibet Deiloquo patre ac magistro Ecclesiæ traditæ sunt, servare ac custodire profitemur; his et propriam vitam, et mores regentes, et omnem sacerdotii catalo all who are counted under the name of Christian, are subjected to the pains and condemnations, and, on the other hand, to the approbations and justifications which have been set forth and defined by them. To hold the traditions which we have received, whether by word or by the epistle of the saints who have shone heretofore, is the plain admonition of the great Apostle Paul. gum, sed et omnes qui Christiano censentur vocabulo, pœnis et damnationibus, et è diverso receptionibus, ac justificationibus quæ per illas prolatæ sunt et definitæ, subjici canonice decernentes; tenere quippe traditiones, quas accepimus, sive per sermonem sive per epistolam sanctorum qui antea fulserunt, Paulus admonet aperte magnus Apostolus.-Conc. viii. 1126—7. CANON III.-(On Image Worship.) We decree that the holy image of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Deliverer and Saviour of all men, be adored with the same honour as the book of the Holy Gospel. For, like as we shall all obtain salvation by the instruction of words which are contained in the book, so, by the representative effect of colours, all men, both wise Canon III. Sacram imaginem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et omnium Liberatoris et Salvatoris, æquo honore cum libro Sanctorum Evangeliorum adorari decernimus. Sicut enim per syllabarum eloquia, quæ in libro feruntur, salutem consequemur omnes, ita per colorum imaginariam operationem et sapientes et idiotæ |