An Ontological History of Ecclesial Union
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AN ONTOLOGICAL HISTORY OF ECCLESIAL UNION by SEAN PAUL FREDSTI Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY in the subject of CHURCH HISTORY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR MOKHELE JOHANNES SINGLETON MADISE August 2019 To my wonderful wife, Robin A woman with a beautiful and precious spirit. She has shown me the meaning of courage in her devotion and has been my dear colleague in the adventure of life. ii Contents 1 Chapter 1 - A Critical Historical Survey, revealing what it is to be Church ............................. 1 1.1 Early Admonitions ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Early Schisms ....................................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Councils of Unity ............................................................................................................... 21 1.3.1 The Council of Jerusalem ......................................................................................... 22 1.3.2 The First Council of Nicaea ...................................................................................... 23 1.3.3 The First Council of Constantinople ......................................................................... 25 1.3.4 The Council of Ephesus ............................................................................................ 26 1.3.5 The Council of Chalcedon ........................................................................................ 27 1.3.6 The Second Council of Constantinople..................................................................... 28 1.3.7 The Third Council of Constantinople ....................................................................... 29 1.3.8 The Second Council of Lyons ................................................................................... 30 1.3.9 The Council of Florence ........................................................................................... 31 1.4 Effects of Heresies ............................................................................................................. 33 1.5 Trent to Today ................................................................................................................... 44 2 Chapter 2 - Cause and Effect, a history of being one Church ............................................... 53 2.1 Deeper causes ................................................................................................................... 53 2.2 Social and political influences ........................................................................................... 60 iii 2.3 Ecclesial accommodations ................................................................................................ 75 2.3.1 The Arian Heresy threatens unity ............................................................................. 78 2.3.2 The final Council of unity ......................................................................................... 80 2.3.3 Unity Broken ............................................................................................................. 85 2.4 Dynamics of time .............................................................................................................. 90 2.4.1 Christianity spreads throughout Russia ..................................................................... 93 2.4.2 Early Eastern missions .............................................................................................. 97 3 Chapter 3 - The Missions, uniting the Church ..................................................................... 104 3.1 Eastern Mission Efforts, prelude to autocephaly ............................................................ 104 3.1.1 Western mission efforts .......................................................................................... 106 3.1.2 Mission efforts into Russia ..................................................................................... 106 3.1.3 Autocephaly, the end result of missions in the East ................................................ 111 3.2 Many People, One Faith, the Five Churches ................................................................... 113 3.2.1 The Five Apostolic Patriarchies .............................................................................. 113 3.2.2 Leadership of the five Churches ............................................................................. 115 3.2.3 Selected Councils of the Church ............................................................................. 118 3.2.4 Heterodoxy recognized as a differentiation ............................................................ 120 3.2.5 Segregation of unity ................................................................................................ 121 3.2.6 Implications of the Americas .................................................................................. 124 3.3 Many Heresies, one faith remains .................................................................................. 125 3.3.1 Rome brings end to an Eastern Schism ................................................................... 129 iv 4 Chapter 4 - Context of Ecclesial Ontology........................................................................... 132 4.1 Many Churches Among Many Nations ........................................................................... 132 4.1.1 The West develops Christendom ............................................................................ 132 4.1.2 The challenge of phyletism ..................................................................................... 136 4.2 Western Christendom ..................................................................................................... 139 4.2.1 Schisms as repudiations of the secular .................................................................... 143 4.3 Moscow as the Third Rome ............................................................................................ 148 4.4 Independent Reunions, new relations ............................................................................ 155 4.4.1 Independent reunions .............................................................................................. 158 5 Chapter 5 – Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 161 6 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 165 7 ADDENDUM ........................................................................................................................ 179 NOTE: The ADDENDUM contains extended commentary and quotes that are thought to be too long or too tangential to be included in the body of the thesis. These entries are referenced throughout the text using Roman Numerals. v Acknowledgements Totus Tuus Thanks be to God through whom all I do is possible. I am grateful to my instructors through the years who guided me; I still strive to follow their great examples. Beginning with Fr. Eleutherius Winance, OSB and now Professor Mokhele Madise, these people have guided me to understanding and have given me the insights to achieve this work. vi Summary A critical survey of early Church history, the works of the Church Fathers and several councils of the Church reveals a consistent call for unity. Heresies, politic intrigue and struggles for governance have aggravated attempts to remain in union. The insistence on unity and the persistence of the Church to unify reveals an ontological reality. While our knowledge of the Church can be given in epistemological terms, looking at the Church to discover its essence, what it means to be church, opens a different way of encountering the Church and, eventually, understanding the nature of the Church to be one. The transformations in the early Church as it spread to new cultures, the impact on the Church at the founding of “New Rome” by the Emperor Constantine, the changes brought about when Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453 and the resulting birth of the Renaissance in the West with the beginning of the autocephaly Church in Russia and subsequent reunions, are especially rich in manifestations of unification among dissidence. This paper will focus on these particular moments. The concept of looking at the essence of the Church exposes us to an understanding of what the Church is as a universal presence. Stating that the Church has no physical dimension, that it is a unique congregation abiding solely by an actual historic document or defined only by written doctrines does not show us its full essence. Likewise, seeing the Church as defined by how it differs from another, exists in objection to another church or how it avoids affiliation with others, reveals a body that does not have a unifying essence vii and is lifeless. Looking closer at its essence as it is revealed over time, shows us a living Church that has repeatedly manifested unification as its particularly unique identity. This paper is a reflective look of the Church through the ages which presents to us a look into the essence of the Church. Primary and secondary sources are critically examined with an emphasis on ontological manifestations. The moments in history that are presented in this paper are especially revealing of the unifying nature of the Church in