St. Theodore of Studios on the Sacred Canons and Schism
These excerpts are
taken from the single best work available in English on St. Theodore: Theodore
of Studios: Byzantine Churchman, by Patrick Henry III (unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Yale, 1968; bound photocopies are available
from UMI). This is a very important
work for understanding the nature of Church unity and authority, especially
during a time of controvsery. It is an excellent companion to Patrick Barker's
A Study of the Ecclesiology of Resistance The
Center for Traditional Orthodox Studies).
On the Canons
Epistle I.36:
Why do I speak of the canons and imply a distinction? For it
is one and the same thing to speak of them and of the Gospel of
Christ. He himself said when he gave the keys of the kingdom of
heaven to the great Peter, "Whomever you loose and whomever
you bind, it will be as you have said." [Cf. Matt. 16:19]
And again he said to all the Apostles: "Receive the Holy
Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whose sins you
retain, they are retained." [John 20:22-23] And consequently
he transmitted the authority to those who came after them, if
they should act in the same way.
For this reason the canons of Basil and of saints equal in
rank to him have been received along with the Apostolic Canons,
in as much as they followed them without making any innovation,
only amplifying where necessary.
On the other hand, these new pseudo-apostles demonstrate
clearly that they do not act according to the limits set down by
the saints. Rather, according to their own authority and
discretion they act against what has been declared by the saints,
when some bishop or other absolves in a situation where the
saints did not absolve, or binds in a situation where the saints
did not bind. And you see these things happening every day. (PG
1037AB; Henry p. 158-159)
On Valid Councils
Letter to Magister Theoctistus (Ep. I.24):
[The Church of God] has not permitted anything to be done or
said against the established decrees and laws, although many
shepherds have in many ways railed against them [cf. Jer. 10:25]
when they have called great and very numerous councils, and given
themselves to put on a show of concern for the canons, while in
truth acting against them.
What then is remarkable in the gathering of about fifteen
bishops to declare innocent and to absolve for the priesthood one
who is deposed on two counts?
Sir, a council does not consist simply in the gathering of
bishops and priests, no matter how many there are. For Scripture
says that one doing the will of the Lord is better than thousands
who transgress [Ecclus. 16:3]. A council occurs when, in the
Lord's name, the canons are thoroughly searched out and
maintained. And a council is not to bind and loose in some random
way, but as seems proper to the truth and to the canon and to the
rule of strictness.
Let those who gathered demonstrate that they have acted in
this way and we will join them; but if they do not demonstrate
it, let them cast out the unworthy one, lest it become a reproach
to them and to future generations.
"The Word of God is not such as to allow itself to be
bound." [II Tim. 2:9] And no authority whatever has been
given to bishops for any transgression of a canon. They are
simply to follow what has been decreed, and to adhere to those
who have gone before. (PG 985ABC; Henry p. 120)
On Schism
Epistle to the Patriarch of Constantinople Nicephorus
(Ep. I.25), during the Moechian Controversy (808 A.D.):
We are not schismatics, O Holy Head, from the Church of God
[for refusing to commune with him, as well as Abbot Joseph and
his supporters]: God forbid that should ever happen. I am a
sinner in countless ways, but I am Orthodox and a child of the
Church catholic. I repudiate every heresy and accept every
approved catholic and local synod, and the canonical
constitutions promulgated by them as well. For he is not
completely, but only halfway Orthodox, who seems to have right
faith while not being guided by the divine canons. (PG
989A; Henry p. 280)
Epistle to Monk Basil (Ep. I.28):
We are not schismatics from the Church of God; God forbid that
we should ever come to that! But although our sins are many,
nevertheless we are of one body with the Church; we are its
children and the children of its divine dogmas; and we strive to
keep its canons and constitutions...This is not a schism of the
Church. It is defense of the truth, and vindication of the sacred
laws (kai ton theon nomon echorechesin). What Your Honor
suggests would be a breaking of the truth and would paralyze the
canons (kai ton kanonon e paralesis). (PG 997CD,
1001D; Henry p. 123, 109)
To the Iconoclastic Synod on Behalf of All the Abbots
(Ep. II.1, 815 A.D.):
If anyone at all from among our contemporaries or from earlier
times, if even Peter and Paul (for the sake of argument I suggest
as possible something which is impossible), should come from
heaven itself teaching and preaching something other than this
faith, we could not receive him into communion, as not adhering
to the pure teaching of the faith. And no matter what your
authority thinks, Our Humility is ready to resist to death rather
than deny such a pure confession as ours is. (PG 1120A;
Henry p. 301)
Expanding upon Galatians 1:8 St. Theodore says in Ep.
I.24:
Shall we say: Since it is lawful for an archbishop together
with his associates to do as he pleases, let him be for the
duration of his archbishophric a new Evangelist, another Apostle,
a different Lawgiver? Certainly not. For we have an injunction
from the Apostle himself: If anyone preaches a doctrine, or urges
your to do something, against what you have received [from the
Fathers], against what is prescribed by the canons of the
catholic and local synods held at various times, he is not to be
received, or to be reckoned among the number of the faithful. And
I forbear even to mention the terrible judgment with which the
Apostle concludes. (PG 988A, Henry. pp. 118-119)
Patrick Henry summarizes on p. 263: "What mattered [to
St. Theodore] was the maintenance of the patristic and canonical
tradition; where that was maintained, there was the Church."
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