О Соборе, называемом Двукратным

This Council is called Zonara, Balsamon, Vlastar, etc. The holy great Double Council, which met in Constantinople in the all-honorable Church of the Holy Apostles [1], was convened under Emperor Michael, son of Theophilus, and Caesar Bardas, Michael’s maternal uncle, in 861 [2]. It was attended by 318 fathers [3], of whom an important role was played by: the most holy Photius of Constantinople, at that time, after the exile of the divine Ignatius to Mytilene, most recently elevated to the See of Constantinople by the power and authority of Caesar Bardas, and the locum tenens of Pope Nicholas, Rodoald of Porto and Zechariah of Anagnia, who were then in Constantinople, since were sent there to confront the iconoclasts [4]. The reason why this Council is called Double, according to Zonara, Balsamon, Blastar and Milias (Synodikon. T. 2. P. 920), is revealed further. The first meeting of this Council took place [5]. The Orthodox entered into a dispute with the heterodox (probably these were the remaining iconoclasts that we mentioned), and the Orthodox won, and the heterodox were defeated. After this, they decided to write down everything that was said at the Council so that the decisions made would remain firm and unshakable. And the heretics, considering it intolerable for themselves to sign this and not wanting their defeat to become known, and therefore not wanting to be expelled from the Church and the community of the faithful, created such confusion and strife that they even drew their swords and committed murders. Thus, the first meeting was dispersed, and those present did not have time to draw up any written ruling or document. As time passed, the second meeting of this Council took place, and again a dispute arose between the Orthodox and the heretics about the same thing, and then they together wrote down the proclaimed dogmas of faith. Therefore, the present Council, being in its proper and true sense one, is called Double because, due to the circumstances, there were two meetings. At the second meeting of this Council, the present 17 rules were also drawn up - necessary for the beautification of the Church and order in it, approved and approved by the “Nomocanon” of Photius, the interpreters of the rules and the entire Church. Please note that in some handwritten codes 30 rules are attributed to this Council, but we interpreted only those known to the Church and explained by interpreters, and left others, as unknown to the Church, without attention [6]. All interpreters place the present Council in first place among other earlier Local Councils - either because it was great and more numerous than those, or, rather, because in time it followed directly after the VII Ecumenical Council and was assembled against the same iconoclasts against whom the VII Council was meeting, and in some way the Double Council became a complement to the VII Ecumenical Council [7]. Dositheus (Twelfth Book, p. 702) - I don’t know why - says that this Council took place in Hagia Sophia, but this is probably a mistake, or perhaps the first meeting of the Council was held in Hagia Sophia, and the second in the Church of the Holy Apostles, or it is a typographical error, as the expression on the same page is obvious and indisputable as a typographical error: “Fifth-Second” instead of “First-Second” Cathedral, as it is called. For the corresponding correction, see p. 728 of the same “Twelve Books”. Dositheus says (ibid.) that this Council was convened in 861, and Vlastar - that in 863. The glorious Theotokis also affirms in agreement with Dositheus (see: Chain of interpreters on the Octateuch. Vol. 2. P. 11). This is how many Dositheus counts (ibid.). Dositheus says (Twelve Books, p. 702) that there were two equally possible reasons why the present Council took place. The first reason, as some believe, was as follows. After Caesar Bardas expelled the divine Ignatius because he did not want to give communion to Bardas on the day of Epiphany (since he rejected his wife and was under suspicion of an illegal relationship with his daughter-in-law), this Caesar, taking advantage of his power and resorting to violence, elevated the most learned Photius, who was a proto-asyncrit, to the throne of Constantinople. The adherents of Varda won over to their side the locum tenens of Pope Nicholas, sent to fight the iconoclasts, assembled a real Council and, bringing Ignatius from Mytilene, publicly deposed him. Therefore, both Balsamon and Nikita David Paphlagonian, the compiler of the biography of Ignatius, say that this Council was convened against Ignatius. The second reason for the present Council, as others believe, is the following. Emperor Michael, in order to completely wipe out the iconoclasts from the face of the earth and stop the schism that arose in the Church due to two patriarchs: Ignatius and Photius, sent nobles to Rome with gifts and brought locums of the pope. At the end of the Council, the autocrat Michael sent two tomos to Pope Nicholas: one contained regulations on holy icons, and the other - an order for the eruption of Ignatius. He also sent two letters through Leo Asinkritus, as can be seen from the 10th epistle of Nicholas, which is found in the “Acts” published by Binius (vol. 6, p. 486). Cave incorrectly says that at the time of this Council Hadrian was Pope - at that time Nicholas was Pope, as is clear from the 2nd and 7th Epistles of Nicholas to Michael (pp. 489, 495 of the named volume). At the first meeting of the Council, Ignatius was publicly deposed, and the See of Constantinople was confirmed to Photius, as Kedrinus says in the 6th volume of the aforementioned “Acts,” Zonara (Chronicle. Vol. 2, p. 162) and Pope Nicholas (Epistle 10 to the Eastern Patriarchs; see also the 6th volume of the above-mentioned “Acts,” p. 486). Please note that in the days of Saint Photius three Councils took place. The first is the one we are talking about now; the second - which gathered against Photius himself in 869 and the third - the Council in Hagia Sophia, which was convened in defense of Photius in 879 and which we will discuss separately later. So, those who, without really understanding it, call the Double Council against Photius or say that the Double Council took place in 868 or 869 (and these are the years of the Council against Photius), are wrong, because those who think so accept these two completely different Councils as one and the same. After all, the Double Council, as we said, was convened under Emperor Michael, and the Council against Photius - in the 2nd year of the reign of Basil the Great. On the Two-fold there were 318 fathers, and on that one there were 102, according to the testimony of the librarian Anastasius (Dosifei. Twelve Books. P. 713). The acts of the Double Council have not been found, but 10 acts from that Council have been preserved. The double council took place under Pope Nicholas, and that one under Pope Adrian II. The Double Council set out 17 rules, and the Council against Photius - 14, different from the rules of the Double Council. It is called only the great Double Council, and the Council against Photius was called, although this is absurd, the VIII Ecumenical Council. The two-time council was recognized by the Council that met in Hagia Sophia, but the Council against Photius and everything accomplished at it did not receive recognition, and even a decision was made to reject it, publicly condemn it and not call it a Council at all and not rank it among the Councils. And simply put, the Double Council did not say anything against Photius, therefore Photius himself confirms and cites his rules in the “Nomocanon” (which the divine Photius would never have done if this Council had been convened against him), and that Council acted against Photius lawlessly, falsely and biasedly, expressed many blasphemies against his holiness, but still did one good deed: it proclaimed and approved the Creed without innovations and additions. Namely, it is said (Obviously, St. Nicodemus continues to quote the “Twelve Books” of Dositheus Notara, who in turn refers to Anastasius the librarian.): “The definition of this VIII Ecumenical Council was read, containing the Creed and the confession that the Council recognizes the seven previous Ecumenical Councils and anathematizes those whom they anathematized.” And a little later after they read this, the Council declared: “We all think so, we all believe so.” Please note that with these words the ancient faith was confirmed, and no addition was mentioned. Therefore, Andrew of Rhodes lied when he said at the 7th meeting of the Florence Council that the Council against Photius knew the Symbol with the addition. The fact that our Greeks did not carry out the acts of the false council against Photius was admitted by St. Mark of Ephesus at the 6th meeting of the Council of Florence; and Dositheus testifies that the Latins forged his deeds and instead of the original ones they composed false and lawless ones (Twelve Books, p. 709). Note that, although we said above that the acts of this Double Council have not been found, some say that they were printed in Mutina in 1708 by Benedict Bacchinius. See also note. in the 1st volume of Cave’s book “On Church Writers,” on p. 77. This Double Council is mentioned by Nikita in the life of Ignatius and George Kedrin (on p. 551 of the Paris edition).