The Quinisext Council (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''Concilium Quinisextum'';

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

: , ''Penthékti Sýnodos''), i.e. the Fifth-Sixth Council, often called the Council ''in Trullo'', Trullan Council, or the Penthekte Synod, was a church council held in 692 at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

under

Justinian II Justinian II ( la, Iustinianus; gr, Ἰουστινιανός, Ioustinianós; 668/69 – 4 November 711), nicknamed "the Slit-Nosed" ( la, Rhinotmetus; gr, ὁ Ῥινότμητος, ho Rhinótmētos), was the last Eastern Roman emperor of the H ...

. It is known as the "Council in Trullo" because, like the

Sixth Ecumenical Council The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as well by certain other Western Churches, met in 680–681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical ...

, it was held in a domed hall in the Imperial

Palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

(τρούλος 'troulos''meaning a cup or dome). Both the Fifth and the Sixth Ecumenical Councils had omitted to draw up disciplinary canons, and as this council was intended to complete both in this respect, it took the name of Quinisext. It was attended by 215

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

s, mostly from the

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. Basil of Gortyna in

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belonged to the Roman

patriarchate Patriarchate ( grc, πατριαρχεῖον, ''patriarcheîon'') is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, designating the office and jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical patriarch. According to Christian tradition three patriarchates were esta ...

and called himself

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

, though no evidence is extant of his right to use that title.

Decisions

Many of the council's canons were reiterations. It endorsed not only the six

ecumenical council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...

s already held (canon 1), but also the Apostolic Canons, the

Synod of Laodicea The Council of Laodicea was a regional Christian synod of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor which assembled about 363–364 in Laodicea, Phrygia Pacatiana. Historical context The council took place soon after the conclusion of the wa ...

, the Third Synod of Carthage, and the 39th Festal Letter of Athanasius (canon 2).

Ban on pre-Christian practices

The Council banned certain festivals and practices which were thought to have a pagan origin. Therefore, the Council gives some insight to historians about pre-Christian religious practices. As a consequence, neither cleric nor layman was allowed to observe the Pagan festivals of Bota, the

Kalends The calends or kalends ( la, kalendae) is the first day of every month in the Roman calendar. The English word "calendar" is derived from this word. Use The Romans called the first day of every month the ''calends'', signifying the start of a ne ...

or the

Brumalia The Brumalia ( la, Brumalia ) were a winter solstice festival celebrated in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. In Rome there had been the minor holiday of Bruma on November 24, which turned into large scale end of the year festivities in Const ...

Ritual observance

Many of the council's canons were aimed at settling differences in ritual observance and clerical discipline in different parts of the Christian Church. Being held under Byzantine auspices, with an exclusively Eastern clergy, these overwhelmingly took the practice of the Church of Constantinople as orthodox.

Armenian practices

It explicitly condemned some customs of Armenian Christians – among them using wine unmixed with water for the Eucharist (canon 32), choosing children of clergy for appointment as clergy (canon 33), and eating eggs and cheese on Saturdays and Sundays of Lent (canon 56) – and decreed deposition for clergy and excommunication for laypeople who contravened the canons prohibiting these practices.

Roman practices

Likewise, it reprobated, with similar penalties, the Roman custom of not allowing married individuals to be ordained to the diaconate or priesthood unless they vowed for perpetual continence and living separately from their wives (canon 13), and fasting on Saturdays of Lent (canon 55). Nevertheless, it also prescribed continence during those times when serving at the altar (canon 13). Without contrasting with the practice of the Roman Church, it also prescribed that the celebration of the Eucharist in Lent should only happen in Saturdays, Sundays, and the feast of the Annunciation (canon 52).

Eucharist, liturgy, evangelising, baptism

Grapes, milk and honey were not to be offered at the altar. Whoever came to receive the Eucharist should receive in the hand by holding his hands in the form of a cross. The Eucharist was not allowed to be given to dead bodies. During the liturgy the psalms were to be sung in modest and dulcet tones, and the phrase 'who was crucified for us' was not to be added to the

Trisagion The ''Trisagion'' ( el, Τρισάγιον; 'Thrice Holy'), sometimes called by its opening line ''Agios O Theos'', is a standard hymn of the Divine Liturgy in most of the Eastern Orthodox, Western Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholi ...

. Prelates were to preach the gospel as propounded by the fathers. Priests received special instructions on how to deal with those who were not baptized and they were also given rubrics to follow on how to admit heretics to the faith.Andrew Ekonomou. Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes. Lexington Books, 2007

Moral guidelines for clerics and laity

In addition to these, the council also condemned clerics that had improper or illicit relations with women. It condemned simony and the charging of fees for administering the Eucharist. It enjoined those in holy orders from entering public houses, engaging in usurious practices, attending horse races in the

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, wearing unsuitable clothes or celebrating the liturgy in private homes (''

eukterion ''Eukterion'' ( el, εὑκτήριον), or ''eukterios oikos'' (εὑκτήριος οἰ̑κος), literally meaning "a house of prayer", was a term used in the Byzantine and some other Eastern Orthodox societies such as Georgia to refer to priv ...

'') without the consent of their bishops. Both clergy and laity were forbidden from gambling with dice, attending theatrical performances, or consulting soothsayers. No one was allowed to own a house of prostitution, engage in abortion, arrange hair in ornate plaits or to promote pornography. It also ordered law students at the

University of Constantinople The Imperial University of Constantinople, sometimes known as the University of the Palace Hall of Magnaura ( el, Πανδιδακτήριον τῆς Μαγναύρας), was an Eastern Roman educational institution that could trace its corporat ...

to cease wearing "clothing contrary to the general custom".Canon 71

Acceptance

The Quinisext Canons found their way into Byzantine canonical collections even in the iconoclast period (despite the approval given to images of Christ in Canon 82). The immediate reaction of the see of Rome was fiercely hostile, partly because two canons (13 and 55) explicitly criticized Roman practices, but more because Rome resented being expected to approve a whole sheaf of new canons only retrospectively. In 711, however, Pope Constantine appears to have accepted a compromise whereby Rome accepted the validity of the canons in the East, while being allowed to continue existent western practices where these differed. Later a letter by Pope Hadrian I (dating to 785) quoting

Tarasios of Constantinople Saint Tarasios (also Saint Tarasius; el, Ἅγιος Ταράσιος; c. 730 – 25 February 806) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 25 December 784 until his death on 25 February 806. Background Tarasios was born and raised i ...

approving the canons was attributed in the West as an explicit statement of approval by Hadrian himself. Tarasios' letter was read out and affirmed during the

Second Council of Nicea The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics, the Anglican Communion, an ...

, which in its first canon explicitly accepts the canons of Trullo. In consequence of the preceding,

Gratian Gratian (; la, Gratianus; 18 April 359 – 25 August 383) was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers and wa ...

(twelfth-century) cited many of the Quinisext Canons in his own great collection of canons, the ''Concord of Discordant Canons''. Where, however, they clashed with western canons or practice, he set them aside as representing Byzantine practice but lacking universal validity. Gratian's work remained authoritative in the West till the first systematic Code of Catholic Canon Law, issued in 1917.Richard Price, ''The Canons of the Quinisext Council'', Liverpool 2020, 34-54.

References

Sources

* Collins, Roger. ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–97''. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1989. . * Nedungatt, George: ''The council of Trullo revisited: Ecumenism and the canon of the councils'', dans ''Theological Studies'', Vol.71, September 2010, pp. 651–676. * * * ''Concilium Constantinopolitanum a. 691/2 in Trullo habitum''. H. Ohme (ed.) Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum, Series Secunda II: Concilium Universale Constantinopolitanum Tertium, Pars 4. . Berlin/Boston Oktober 2013.

External links

Archbishop Peter L’Huillier: Quinisext Ecumenical Council
*[https://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%9A%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%8C%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%82_%CE%A0%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B8%CE%AD%CE%BA%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%9F%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%B5%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE%CF%82_%CE%A3%CF%85%CE%BD%CF%8C%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%85 Canons of the Council in Trullo (in Koine Greek)]
Canons of the Council in Trullo (in English translation)
{{Authority control Ecumenical councils 7th-century church councils Church councils in Constantinople History of Eastern Catholicism Medieval Christian controversies 690s in the Byzantine Empire 692 Byzantine Empire–Holy See relations