Elucidations.
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“twelve
anathemas,” as they are called, do evidently refute the
Nestorians and later heretics. Evidently, therefore, we must
assign this document to another author. And, as frequent
references are made to such tests, I subjoin a list of Œcumenical
or Catholic Councils, properly so called, as follows:—
1. , against Judaism, 50.
2. , against Arianism (1), 325.
3. (I.), against Semi-Arianism (2), 381.
4. , against
Nestorianism (3), 431.
5. , against Eutychianism (4), 451.
6. (II.), against Monophysitism (5), 553.
7. (III.), against Monothelitism (6), 680.
These are all the undisputed
councils. The Seventh Council, so called ( 537), was not a free council, and was rejected by a free council of the West, convened at Frankfort 794. Its acceptance by the Roman pontiffs, subsequently, should have no logical force with the Easterns, who do not recognise their supremacy even over the councils of the West; and no free council has ever been held under pontifical authority. The above list, therefore, is a complete list of all the councils of the undivided Church as defined by Catholic canons. There has been no possibility of a Catholic council since the division of East and West. The Council of Frankfort is the pivot of subsequent history, and its fundamental importance has not been sufficiently insisted upon.