Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/427

 COUNCIL 423 posed of the bishops of a province, a nation, or of all Christendom. When the clergy of a single diocese are convened by the bishop for the regulation of the spiritual concerns of his flock, the assemblage is called a diocesan synod. Provincial councils are called and presided over by the metropolitan, who is usually an arch- bishop. Their principal object is to regulate disciplinary matters in the various dioceses composing the province ; their doctrinal deci- sions have no force unless confirmed by the supreme authority in the church. The gen- eral councils of Basel and Trent enjoin that provincial councils shall be held once in three years ; but various difficulties in recent times have rendered the execution of these decrees impossible. Moreover, the peculiar relations between church and state in various countries of Christendom have had their influence on the mode of calling councils. In France no me- tropolitan is allowed to call a provincial coun- cil unless by the express sanction of the civil power. National councils, in like manner, where a concordat exists, are called by the concurrent authority of the civil and ecclesias- tical powers, and are presided over by the ac- knowledged primate or by a delegate of the Roman see. These councils were frequent in France under the Merovingian and Carlovin- gian kings. In 1811 Napoleon called a national council without sanction from the pope. More than 100 bishops assembled at his bidding, and were directed to consider the right claimed by him, as inherent to his sovereign power, of nominating bishops and cardinals. As they were unanimous in their opposition to such pretensions, the assembly was dissolved by the emperor. Among the latest national councils are those of Presburg in 1822, and of Wurz- burg in 1849. Two plenary or national coun- cils have also been held in Baltimore, the sec- ond and most important of which opened Oct. 7, 1866, under the presidency of Archbishop Spalding, delegate apostolic. General councils, called also oecumenical (Gr. oiKovpivq, the hab- itable earth), are summoned by the pope. They are composed of all the bishops of Christendom, and are designed to determine questions affect- ing the universal church. The first eight gen- eral councils (not including the apostolic coun- cil of Jerusalem) were convoked by the Chris- tian emperors ; but this was because the church did not then extend beyond the limits of the Roman empire, and because the first Christian emperors naturally assumed to protect and pro- mote the interests of the church, which their predecessors had persecuted. After the divi- sion of the empire, the various Christian sove- reigns exercised by custom, conjointly with the ecclesiastical authorities, the right of summon- ing the bishops of their realms to national councils. But properly the right of convoca- tion resides in the governing power of the church itself. It is admitted on all hands that the bishops alone and their representatives sit in the councils as judges of all matters pertain- ing to faith and morals. Abbots and generals of religious orders are not so by inherent right. The lower orders of the clergy, as well as the theologians present, enjoy by favor a delibera- tive or consultative voice. In exceptional cases we find simple priests and even deacons taking an active part in councils, and voting with the fathers; thus St. Athanasius, though only a deacon, had a leading part in the first council of Nice. But such persons were almost always delegated either by the pope or by some bish- op. The pope indeed, in person or by legate, presides over the general council. Whenever the Greek emperors presided in early times, they did so not as judges of the faith, but as the political executive, whose right and duty it was to protect the assembly in its discus- sions. The decision is usually according to the majority of votes cast. In the council of Constance, however, the fathers voted by na- tions, England, Italy, France, and Germany casting each a separate vote. General coun- cils do not create new dogmas. Their office is limited to deciding, defining, and declaring that any controverted truth is either of Scrip- ture or of tradition. As a general council is the church assembled and deliberating upon matters pertaining to faith, morals, and the spiritual government of Christ's flock, such council is held to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit ; and its doctrinal decisions are therefore held not only final, but infallible. This infallibility, however, is not claimed to extend to questions of mere discipline, history, politics as such, or pure science. The disci- plinary decrees are usually termed canons (canones), and the doctrinal decisions dogmas (dogmata) ; in the council of Trent, on the con- trary, the latter were styled canons, and the former distinguished as capita or decreta. The Rorrian Catholic church recognizes 20 general councils : that of Jerusalem, held by the apos- tles about A. D. 50 ; the first of Nice, in 325 (which in histories generally heads the list) ; the first of Constantinople, in 381 ; the first of Ephesus, in 431 ; that of Chalcedon, in 451 ; the second of Constantinople, in 553 ; the third of Constantinople, in 680 ; the second of Nice, in 787 ; the fourth of Constantinople, in 869 ; the four Lateran councils, at Rome, in 1123, 1139, 1179, and 1215; the first and second of Lyons, in 1245 and 1274; that of Vienne, in France, in 1311 ; that of Constance, in 1414; that of Basel, in 1431 (till its dissolution by the pope); that of Trent, in 1545; and that of the Vatican, in Rome, in 1869, which is not yet terminated (1873), though temporarily sus- pended. The council of Pisa, in 1409, that of Florence, in 1439, and the fifth of Lateran, in 1512, are also regarded by some as oecumenical. The conference of 192 prelates held at Rome in 1854, during which the pope proclaimed the dogma of the immaculate conception, was not a council. The Greek church receives as author- itative the decisions of only the first seven gen- eral councils, besides that of Jerusalem. The