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CARTHAGE, SYNODS OF

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 432 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARTHAGE, SYNODS OF . During the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries the See also:town of Carthage (q.v.) in See also:Africa served as the See also:meeting-See also:place of a large number of See also:church synods, of which, however, only the most important can be treated here. 1. In May 251 a See also:synod, assembled under the See also:presidency of See also:Cyprian to consider the treatment of the lapsi (those who had fallen away from the faith during persecution), excommunicated Felicissimus and five other Novatian bishops (Rigorists), and declared that the lapsi should be dealt with, not with indiscriminate severity, but according to the degree of individual See also:guilt. These decisions were confirmed by a synod of See also:Rome in the autumn of the same See also:year. Other Carthaginian synods concern- See also:ing the tapsi were held in 252 and 254. See See also:Hefele, 2nd ed., i. pp. III sqq. (See also:English See also:translation, i. pp. 93 sqq.) ; Mansi, i. pp. 863 sqq., 905 sqq. ; See also:Hardouin, i. pp.

133 sqq., 147 sqq.; Cyprian, Epp. 52, 54, 55, 68. 2. Two synods, in 255 and 256, held under Cyprian, pronounced against the validity of heretical See also:

baptism, thus taking See also:direct issue with See also:Stephen, See also:bishop of Rome, who promptly repudiated them, and separated himself from the See also:African Church. A third synod, See also:September 256, unanimously reaffirmed the position of the other two. Stephen's pretensions to authority as " bishop of bishops " were sharply resented, and for some See also:time the relations of the See also:Roman and African Churches were severely strained. See Hefele, 2nd ed., i. pp. 117-119 (English translation, i. pp. 99 sqq.); Mansi, i. pp. 921 sqq., 951 sqq.; Hardouin, i. pp. 153 sqq.; Cyprian, Epp. 69-75.

3. The Donatist See also:

schism (see See also:DONATISTS) occasioned a number of important synods. About 348 a synod of See also:Catholic bishops, who had met to See also:record their gratitude for the effective See also:official repression of the " Circumcelliones " (Donatist terrorists), declared against the rebaptism of any one who had been baptized in the name of the Trinity, and' adopted twelve canons of clerical discipline. See Hefele, 2nd. ed., i. pp. 632-633 (English translation, ii. pp. 184-186) ; Mansi, iii. pp. 143 sqq.; Hardouin, i. pp. 683 sqq. 4. The " See also:Conference of Carthage " (see DONATISTS), held by imperial command in 411 with a view to terminating the Donatist schism, while not strictly a synod, was nevertheless one of the most important assemblies in the See also:history of the African church, and, indeed of the whole See also:Christian church. See Hefele, 2nd ed., ii. pp. 103-104 (English translation, ii. pp.

445-446) ; Mansi, iv. pp. 7-283 ; Hardouin, i. pp. 1043-1190. 5. On the 1st of May 418 a See also:

great synod (" A See also:Council of Africa," St See also:Augustine calls it), which assembled under the presidency of Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, to take See also:action concerning the errors of Caelestius, a See also:disciple of See also:Pelagius (q.v.), denounced the Pelagian doctrines of human nature, See also:original See also:sin; See also:grace and perfectibility, and fully approved the contraryviews of Augustine. Prompted by the reinstatement by the bishop of Rome of a deposed African See also:priest, the synod enacted that " whoever appeals to a See also:court on the other See also:side of the See also:sea (meaning Rome) may not again be received into communion by any one in Africa " (See also:canon 17). See Hefele, 2nd ed., ii. pp. 116 sqq. (English translation, ii. pp. 458 sqq•); Mansi, iii. pp. 810 sqq., iv. pp. 377 sqq., 451 sqq.; Hardouin, i. pp.

926 sqq. 6. The question of appeals to Rome occasioned two synods, one in 419, the other in 424. The latter addressed a See also:

letter to the, bishop of Rome, See also:Celestine, protesting against his claim to appellate See also:jurisdiction, and urgently requesting the immediate recall of his See also:legate, and advising him to send no more See also:judges to Africa. See Hefele, 2nd ed., ii. pp. 120 sqq., 137 sqq. (English translation, ii. PP. 462 sqq., 48o sqq.) ; Mansi,iii. pp. 835 sqq., iv. pp. 4o1 sqq., 477 sqq. ; Hardouin, i. pp.

943 sqq., 1241 sqq. (T. F.

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