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Breaking Communion with Heretics and the 15Th Canon (I-II Constantinople)

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Breaking Communion with Heretics and the 15Th Canon (I-II Constantinople) St. Ignaty Brianchaninov Orthodox Brotherhood lumea-ortodoxa.ro Breaking communion with heretics and the 15th canon (I-II Constantinople) Kishinau 2017 2 Table of Contents The historical context in which the 15th canon was settled ................................................................................................... 4 What we should not look for in the text of the 15th canon .................................................................................................... 5 What is the purpose of breaking communion with heretics? Is it optional or compulsory? .................................. 8 Whom should the Orthodox commemorate instead of the local bishop who fell into heresy? What’s the relationship between the walled off christians and bishops from other dioceses? ................................................. 11 Should communion be broken only with heretics or also with those who maintain communion with them? ........ 13 Do the mysteries of the heretics continue to be valid if they have not been nominally condemned yet? .............. 14 3 „Heresy, this frightening sin which comprises blasphemy against the Holy Spirit within it, makes the man totally estranged from God and, estranging him from God, surrenders him to the power of satan”1 St. Ignaty Brianchaninov Given that in the last two years the subject of breaking communion with the ecumenists has become very actual and that this topic is almost exclusively discussed in the context of the 15th canon of the Synod I-II of Constantinople (861), there have arisen a lot of opinions and very diverse interpretations regarding the subject, some of them being even contradictory. We would like to clarify some questions regarding the cessation of commemoration and the aforementioned 15th canon, desiring to reduce as much as possible such divergences and to avoid harmful interpretations. The historical context in which the 15th canon was settled The wrong interpretations of the 15th canon are primarly caused by the lack of a complete view on the Synod I-II Constantinople, for the historical context in which this Synod assembled and reached its decisions is fundamental for the interpretation of the 15th canon. 3 years before this Synod, namely in 858, as a result of a conflict between the holy patriarch Ignatius and Bardas, brother of the holy empress Theodora (†866), whom he removed from power, St. Ignatius was unjustly deposed from the patriarchal throne. In the same year the great scholar and prominent theologian St. Photius the Great, who was still a layman, but had already acquired an imposing theological authority, in the course of just a few days was tonsured into 1 St. Ignaty Brianchaninov – On heresy and schism, c. 3 4 monasticism and went through all ecclesiastical degrees, being enthroned „forcibly and unwillingly”2 as patriarch on the day of the Nativity of our Lord in 858. Then followed a period of trouble in the Church, because many Christians did not want to recognise the new patriarch due to the way he had been enthroned. In order to pacify both parties, it was decided on the one hand that no clerics can break communion with their bishop for „certain guilt” (personal sins, administrative infringements etc.) until he has been condemned by a synod (canons 13, 14 and 15), and on the other hand it was decreed that „from now on no layman or monk can rise straightaway to the heights of the episcopate, but after being first tested in the ecclesiastical degrees, he can receive the ordination of the episcopate” (17th canon)3, so that there should be no recurrence of similar situations. What we should not look for in the text of the 15th canon Thus the Synod had the purpose to heal a situation of schism. But in order to avoid the interpretation that breaking communion for the reason of heresy could be also treated as a schism, especially because the iconoclast heresy was completely defeated just a few years before (in 843), in the 15th canon, in its second half, it was underlined that „...For those who separate from communion with their president because of some heresy condemned by the holy councils or fathers [...] 2 Prolegomena on the First-and-Second Council, The Rudder, p. 453 3 The 17 canons of the so-called First-and-Second Council held in the Temple of the Holy Apostles interpreted, canon 17, The Rudder, p. 473: ”henceforth none of the laymen or monks shall be allowed to ascend to the height of the episcopacy precipitately and multitudinously as in a stampede, but, on the contrary; by being duly examined with the refernece to the various ecclesiastical degrees or grades, let them thus attain to ordination to the episcopacy.” 5 not only are not subject to the penalty settled by the canons [...] but are also worthy of the honour befitting the Orthodox”4. In fact the second part of this canon states that the orthodox who separate themselves from the heretical false-bishops, even if the latter have not been condemned by a synod, can not be judged through the anti-schismatic canons 13, 14 and 15, since „they have not sundered the unity of the Church by a schism, but have endeavoured to protect the Church from schisms and divisions”. In other words the 15th canon does not represent a „guide” or an „instruction” for ceasing commemoration of heretics, as it is treated by some, but it only expresses the only situation in which breaking communion is not a schism. It’s interesting that Athonite monks who fought against the unia of Lyon in the 13th century wrote a confession of faith to the emperor in which they justified their separation from the heretical patriarch John Vekkos firstly based on Scripture, then on the 1st canon of the Quinisext Council, then on the „Tomos of unity” and only after that they mentioned also the 15th canon of the Synod I-II. There are a lot of cases in the history of the Church when orthodox christians, monks, priests and bishops have broken communion with heretics long before the 15th canon was issued in 861. Therefore it is important not to treat the subject of the cessation of commemoration exclusively in the context of the 15th canon, because it does not exhaust the topic, having a totally another purpose than that of providing an 4 Canon 15, First-and-Second Council, The Rudder, p. 471: ”...But as for those persons, on the other hand, who, on account of some heresy condemned by holy Councils, or Fathers, withdrawing themselves from communion with their president, who, that is to say, is preaching the heresy publicly, and teaching it barehead in church, such persons not only are not subject to any canonical penalty on account of their having walled themselves off from any and all communion with the one called a Bishop before any conciliar or synodal verdict has been rendered, but, on the contrary, they shall be deemed worthy to enjoy the honor which befits them among Orthodox Christians.” 6 exact definition of the procedure for ceasing commemoration of heretics, and therefore it has many gaps, meaning that it does not give a clear answer to the questions which we naturally could ask ourselves, namely: What is actually the purpose of breaking communion? Is the cessation of the commemoration of heretics optional or compulsory? Whom should the orthodox commemorate instead of the local bishop who fell into heresy? What’s the relationship between the walled off christians and bishops from other dioceses? Should communion be broken only with the heretics or also with those who maintain communion with them? Do the mysteries of the heretics continue to be valid if they have not been condemned yet by name? Obviously the 15th canon does not give a clear answer for these questions, since it has been issued for a completely different purpose, that of stating which separation is a schism and which is not a schism. Consequently, the attempt to answer them exclusively in the context of this canon, isolating it from the rest of the Tradition of the Church, leads inevitably to misinterpretations, a fact which can be witnessed following the recent polemics. The answer to these and other similar questions should be sought in the Holy Scripture, the decisions of the Local and Ecumenical Synods and in the acts and writings of the Holy Fathers, a work which should necessarily be done in order to avoid splits and misinterpretations. But before this, it is important to realize the limits of the 15th canon and not attribute to it ideas that it does not contain. Further we will try to express the answers that we have found for the questions listed above. Actually they don’t pretend to be an expression of the ultimate truth, but represent a synthesis of the studies which we 7 have made seeking a patristic answer for these problems, therefore we kindly ask the readers to come with criticisms and suggestions, so that we could help each other on the way to salvation. What is the purpose of breaking communion with heretics? Is it optional or compulsory? Regarding the act of the cessation of commemoration there have been formulated some interpretations which state that it represents a „note of protest” or that its purpose is „convocation of a synod” which would condemn the heresy, but we don’t find such ideas in the text of the 15th canon. If treated separately, they can seem pretty noble. But to what extent do such ideas coincide with the intents of the Holy Fathers? What thought drove them to break communion with heretics and to teach us to do the same? In one of his epistles, St. Theodore the Studite says: „If one gets into this trap [the abyss of heresy], the communion with heretics separates him from Christ and casts him away from the flock of the Lord”5.
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