Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs

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The Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs was a letter issued in May, 1848 by the four eastern patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Church, who met at Council in Constantinople. It was addressed to all Eastern Orthodox Christians, as a response against pope Pius IX's Epistle to the Easterners, issued in January (1848).^[1]

The encyclical was solemnly addressed to "All the Bishops Everywhere, Beloved in the Holy Ghost, Our Venerable, Most Dear Brethren; and to their Most Pious Clergy; and to All the Genuine Orthodox Sons of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church." The encyclical explicitly denounces the Filioque clause added by Rome to the Nicene Creed as a heresy, censures the papacy for missionizing among Eastern Orthodox Christians, and repudiates Ultramontanism (papal supremacy). It also describes the Roman Catholic Church as being in apostasy, heresy, and schism.

In the course of all this, it notably makes reference to the Eighth Ecumenical Council (879-880), in contrast with the opinion of many modern Eastern Orthodox Christians that there are only seven Ecumenical Councils accepted by the Orthodox Church.

Signatories

• Patriarch Anthimus VI of Constantinople
• Pope and Patriarch Hierotheus II of Alexandria
• Patriarch Methodius of Antioch
• Patriarch Cyril II of Jerusalem
• The Holy Synod in Constantinople
• The Holy Synod in Antioch
• The Holy Synod in Jerusalem

See also

• Eastern Orthodoxy
• Encyclical
• Roman Catholicism

References

Sources

• * Meyendorff, John (1996). The Orthodox Church: Its Past and Its Role in the World Today (Revised 4th ed.). Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.

External links

• Full text of the Encyclical