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To: daniel1212; Cronos
Here is a better version of this..

Pre-Trent Ecumenical Councils

It is often said by Protestant apologists that the Council of Trent was the first council to affirm the Scriptural status of the Deuterocanonical books. Well, besides the fact that Rome in the 5th Century affirmed these books in a binding manner, we can see that in Ecumenical Councils from the 8th century forward, the Deuterocanonical books were quoted to affirm dogmatic teachings and disciplines. I give references from Dr. Sippo’s piece here: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3517/sippo/webster1.html.

Deuterocanonical Quotations from the Ecumenical Councils:

Nicea II: Canon 16 (787) - Sirach 1:25 (scripture)
Constantinople IV: Canon 10 (869) - Sirach 11:7 (scripture)
Lateran IV: Section 70 (1215) - Sirach 2:12, 3:28** (it is written)
Vienne: Section 14 (1311) - Sirach 24:17
Section 24 (1311) - Wisdom 5:6**
Section 38 (1312) - Sirach 24:31, 1:5; Susannah/Daniel 13:42**
Basle/Florence: Session 21(1435) - Sirach 18:23 (scripture)
Session 3 (1438) - Wisdom 10:20 (it is written)
Session 6 (1439) - Tobit 12:20**
Session 7 (1439) - Susannah/Daniel 13:9
Session 9 (1440) - Wisdom 5:21**

(**These citation I could not find in research, but all the other ones I could find. The numbering of the ones I could not find is based on the Dhouay Rheims translation. The ones I could find in the Dhouay Rheims but I could not find in my search of the Council citations. Dr. Art Sippo, in his previous research, did verify those citations. A Father Tanner, who did this study, is the one who originally found these citations. In email, Dr. Sippo wrote that he verified that he could find those citations, but since I could not, I leave the citation there, with the qualifier that I could not find these ones in the Councils. I give the citations that I could find (9 citations in the period of 7 centuries of Councils, down below.)**

I will here give some of the above citations. These Ecumenical Councils are called to affirm various dogmatic decrees and disciplines. I went into the actual canons and sessions and here is a sampling of how the Deuterocanonical books were actually used: Nicea II: Canon 16 (787):

All indulgence and adornment bestowed on the body is alien to the priestly order. Therefore all those bishops and clerics who deck themselves out in brilliant and showy clothes should be called to order, and if they persist let them be punished. The same holds for those who use perfumes. However, since the root of bitterness has sprouted, there has appeared in the catholic church the plague of a heresy which delights in the defamation of Christians. Those who adopt this heresy not only heap insults on representational art, but also reject all forms of reverence and make a mockery of those who live pious and holy lives, thus fulfilling in their own regard that saying of scripture, for the sinner piety is an abomination.(Sir. 1:25) So if persons are found who make fun of those who wear simple and respectful clothing, they should be corrected with punishment. Indeed, from the earliest times all those ordained to the priesthood have been accustomed to present themselves in public dressed in modest and respectful clothing, and anyone who adds to his apparel for the sake of decoration and not out of necessity deserves, as the great Basil remarked, to be accused of "vainglory". Neither did anyone dress in variegated clothes made of silk, nor did they add various coloured ornaments to the fringes of their garments. They had heard the tongue that spoke God's words declare, Those who dress in soft clothes are in the houses of kings.
So in this canon of a solemn Ecumenical Council, the book of Sirach is quoted matter of factly as Scripture. Any idea that Trent is the first Ecumenical Council to refer to these books as Scripture is thus off by about 8 centuries. And the citation given is done in passing. It is such that it is taken for granted that all assume that it is Scripture. The Council does not have to make a declaration that Sirach is Scripture. It is just assumed so.

Here is canon 10 of Constantinople IV, 869.

As divine scripture clearly proclaims “Do not find fault before you investigate, and understand first and then find fault, (Sir. 11:7) and does our law judge a person without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?. Consequently this holy and universal synod justly and fittingly declares and lays down that no lay person or monk or cleric should separate himself from communion with his own patriarch before a careful enquiry and judgment in synod, even if he alleges that he knows of some crime perpetrated by his patriarch, and he must not refuse to include his patriarch's name during the divine mysteries or offices
Sirach is quoted in this Ecumenical Council as “Divine Scripture”. It has binding force on Christians.

Next, Lateran IV, in 1215 continues the tradition of Ecumenical Councils quoting Deuterocanonicals as Scripture in section 70:

Jewish converts may not retain their old rite

Certain people who have come voluntarily to the waters of sacred baptism, as we learnt, do not wholly cast off the old person in order to put on the new more perfectly. For, in keeping remnants of their former rite, they upset the decorum of the Christian religion by such a mixing. Since it is written, cursed is he who enters the land by two paths, (Sirach 2:12) and a garment that is woven from linen and wool together should not be put on, we therefore decree that such people shall be wholly prevented by the prelates of churches from observing their old rite, so that those who freely offered themselves to the Christian religion may be kept to its observance by a salutary and necessary coercion. For it is a lesser evil not to know the Lord's way than to go back on it after having known it.

The Council uses the term “It is written”, identifying the passage from the book of Sirach as Scripture.

In the next century, the Council of Vienne, Section 14 refers to Sirach (1311) as well:

[That nothing unbecoming or corrupt find its way into that field of the Lord, namely the sacred order of the black monks, or anything grow into a ruinous crop, but rather that the flowers of honour and integrity may there produce much fruit, (Sir. 24:17) we decree as follows.
Sirach is cited as proof of the need for integrity to lay the Biblical foundation for the decree that will follow. Its biblical veracity is assumed by the Council Fathers.

Here is part of section 38 of the Council of Vienne, 1312:

I came out of paradise, I said: I will water my garden of plants. (Sir. 24:31) Thus speaks the heavenly cultivator, “who is truly the source of wisdom, God's Word, begotten by the Father from eternity, (Sirach 1:5) yet remaining in the Father.
The Council of Vienne continues the tradition of quoting a Deuterocanonical book.

Next, we have the Council of Florence in 1435:

[How the canonical hours should be recited outside choir]

This holy synod admonishes all holders of benefices, or those in holy orders, since they are bound to the canonical hours, if they wish their prayers to be acceptable to God, to recite the day and night offices, not in a mumble or between their teeth, nor swallowing or abbreviating their words, nor intermingling conversation and laughter, but, whether they are alone or with others, reverently and distinctly and in such a place as will not diminish devotion, for which they ought to dispose and prepare themselves, as the scripture says: Before prayer prepare your soul, and do not be like someone who tempts God. Sirach 18:23

Sirach is again quoted as Scripture.

Next, we have the Book of Wisdom, as quoted in the Council of Florence, Section 3, 1438, Section 3:

Merchants of all kinds, who have gone to Basel on account of the former council, shall depart under the same pain of excommunication. If there are some who ignore these orders of ours, daring perhaps to convey goods after the time-limit to those at Basel persisting in contumacy, since it is written that the righteous plundered the ungodly, (Wisdom 10:20) such persons may be despoiled without penalty by any of the faithful and their goods shall be ceded to the first takers.
The book of Wisdom is clearly cited as Scripture. The Council goes on to punish those who misuse the Scripture. However, the quotation from Wisdom is clearly recognized as Scripture. Florence, in 1439, Session 7 (1439) gives us another citation of another Deuterocanonical book: Susannah/Daniel 13:9
In this, those utterly pernicious men, masking their malice with the rosy colour of a truth of the faith, gave to the council of Constance an evil and mischievous meaning completely opposed to its true teaching, imitating in this the teaching of other schismatics and heretics who always amass for their support fabricated errors and impious dogmas drawn from their perverse interpretation of the divine scriptures and the holy fathers.

Finally, completely perverting their mind and turning away their eyes from looking to heaven or remembering righteous judgments, (Susannah/Daniel 13:9) after the manner of Dioscorus and the infamous synod of Ephesus, they proceeded to a declaratory sentence of deprivation, as they claimed, from the dignity and office of the supreme apostolate, a poisonous and execrable pronouncement involving an unforgivable crime.

After all the citations of the Fathers who unanimously referred to these books as Scripture, we have a continuous record of Ecumenical Councils quoting from the Deuterocanonicals up to the point of the ‘reformation’. Thus, the Pope’s confirmation in the 5th century of the Council of Carthage’s list of the Deuterocanonical books alongside the Protocanonical books as inspired, is played out in the ensuing Ecumenical Councils who quoted the Deuterocanonicals as Scripture. Any attempt to say that the Council of Trent was the first Ecumenical Council to affirm these books are Scripture, is belied by the fact that numerous Councils previous to Trent over numerous centuries referred to these books as Scripture, and all assumed they were Scripture. There is no record of any Father at any of these Councils objecting to the use of these Deuterocanonicals in these solemn Councils.


404 posted on 12/05/2012 7:46:51 AM PST by stfassisi ((The greatest gift God gives us is that of overcoming self"-St Francis Assisi)))
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To: stfassisi

Dammit!

We have gotten SO far off the title of this thread, that I’ve lost track of how many angels I had counted on the pinhead!


407 posted on 12/05/2012 7:59:46 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: daniel1212; Cronos
Here is Dr Sippo's debate with William Webster to go along with this - Webster's comments are in red and Dr Sippo in Black

First of all, the Councils of Carthage and Hippo did not establish the canon for the Church as a whole.

 

Wrong. The Seventh Ecumenical Council re-affrimed the Canons of these Councils as binding on the Universal Church as did the Council of Lyon.

 

The New Catholic Encyclopedia actually affirms the fact that the Canon was not officially and authoritatively established for the Western Church until the Council of Trent ...

 

Wrong. The Canon was reaffirmed specifically at the General Councils of Lyon and Florence. There is also the witness of the Fathers of the Church (e.g., St. Augustine), and the medieval fathers (e.g., St. Thomas Aquinas), and the general usage of the Church throughout the period from the late 4th Century up to the 16th. The Canon of the Bible was in flux prior to 397 AD for both OT and NT. It was stabilized afterwards until the rise of the humanists with their new methods of textual criticism.

 

...even such an authority as Pope Gregory the Great rejected the Apocrypha as canonical…

 

POPE Gregory the Great made no Magisterial pronouncements concerning the canon. In his commentary on Job, Gregory did reject the Deuterocanon of the OT, but this was a private composition, not an official Church document. There is no evidence that he wrote this book while he was Pope. Gregory was a churchman for his whole life and a Pope for only a short time. Most likely this book was written prior to his becoming Pope. His personal opinions are not infallible in any case, only his official pronouncements as Pope.

 

There are major fathers in the Church prior to the North African Councils who rejected the judgment of these councils.

 

Who cares? The decisions of Ecumenical Councils supercede the opinions of individual Fathers. (N.B.- one of the Fathers he lists in this section is Origen who was a heretic.)

 

Firstly, Hippo and Carthage state that 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras are canonical. They are referring here to the Septuagint version of 1 and 2 Esdras. In this version 1 Esdras is the Apocryphal additions to Ezra while 2 Esdras is the Jewish version of Ezra-Nehemiah from the Jewish canon. The Council of Trent however states that 1 Esdras is actually Ezra from the Jewish canon and 2 Esdras is Nehemiah from the Jewish canon.

 

No. The Septuagint (LXX) uses different names for books than the Hebrew Bible. Hippo and Carthage use the term "2 books of Esdras" which refers to Ezra and Nehemiah just as Trent indicates. This is how all of the Fathers understood it.

 

Secondly, Hippo and Carthage state that Solomon wrote 5 books of the Old Testament when in actuality he wrote only 3.

 

Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon, & Song of Solomon were always attributed to Solomon (as were a few canonical psalms). Job was sometimes attributed to him in the Early Church because it was a Wisdom Book and all OT wisdom books were attributed to Solomon by some scholars. NB: the listing stated "5 books of Solomon" which was a euphemism for "OT wisdom literature." It was NOT a declaration of authorship per se in the modern sense.

 

A second major point that proves the Roman Catholic claims to be spurious is the fact that the universal practice of the Church as a whole up to the time of the Reformation was to follow the judgment of Jerome who rejected the Old Testament Apocrypha on the grounds that these books were never part of the Jewish canon.

 

This is whopper of a lie! The Church used the deuterocanon without qualms up until just before the Reformation as noted earlier. Some Catholic scholars around the time of the Reformation had misgivings about the Deuteros. They were out of touch with the Magisterium (i.e. Lyons and Florence) and Church usage (e.g., St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Jerome's opinions are his own and do not reflect the Magisterium. It seems that Protestantss are always trying to pit the opinion of some single figure swimming against the tide as if that single opinion somehow is superior to that of the Church as a whole.

 

Rufinus...Cajetan...etc.

 

These scholars were wrong. What they taught was contrary to the Magisterium's teaching at Ecumenical Councils. Please note that we have the same few names dragged out while the HUNDREDS of other Catholic Fathers and scholars who used the Long Canon in both the Eastern and Western Church are never mentioned. It should also be noted that many of the Fathers who did not place the deuteros on par with the OT still used them to instruct people in the faith. There was a diversity of opinions on the Canon among SOME Catholic scholars even though the Councils of Lyons and Florence had pronounced upon the issue. This only shows that there has been disobedience and error for a long time.

 

Roman Catholics apologists often assert that the canons of the council of Carthage were authoritatively received by the 6th ecumenical council. What they never add is that this council also authoritatively received the canons of Athanasius and Amphilocius which also have to do with the canon.

 

Webster is pulling a flim-flam here. There were NO canons promulgated at the Fifth and Sixth Ecumenical Councils. What he is referring to were the canons of the "Quinisext" Council also known as the Council of Trullo. This was a synod held after the Sixth Ecumenical Council. It was the SEVENTH Ecumenical Council (Nicea II) which received Hippo and Carthage as authoritative. In the Eastern Church, it was widely accepted as a continuation of the Fifth (Quint) and Sixth (Sext) Councils, hence the name. There were 102 canons which became the basis for Eastern Canon Law. The first of these Canons mentioned the 85 Canons of the Eastern Fathers which Webster quotes in this article. This council has never been recognized by the Popes and the Western Church does not accept it as ecumenical. Some of the 102 Canons (esp. 35 and 51) were directed against the practices of the Latin West and could not be accepted by Rome. Others of the canons were more reasonable and were acknowledged by Rome as representing true Catholic doctrine. Nevertheless, no authority was ever given to the decrees of this council by the Popes either in whole or in part. Webster knows this because he has read Schaff's Church history where this is CLEARLY stated. Consequently, there is no excuse for his misrepresentation at this po

409 posted on 12/05/2012 8:14:11 AM PST by stfassisi ((The greatest gift God gives us is that of overcoming self"-St Francis Assisi)))
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