SYNODS OF

ANTIOCH  . Beginning with three synods convened between 264 and 269 in the matter of Paul of Samosata, more than thirty councils were held in Antioch in ancient times . Most of these dealt with phases of the Arian and of the Christological controversies . The most celebrated took place in the summer of 341 at the dedication of the golden Basilica, and is therefore called in encaeniis (iv iyrcatviois), in dedicatione . Nearly a hundred bishops were present, all from the Orient, but the bishop of Rome was not represented . The emperor Constantius attended in person . The council approved three creeds (Hahn, §§ 153-155) . Whether or no the so-called "fourth formula" (Hahn, § 156) is to be ascribed to a continuation of this synod or to a subsequent but distinct assembly of the same year, its aim is like that of the first three; while repudiating certain Arian formulas it avoids the Athanasian shibboleth " homoousios." The somewhat colourless compromise doubtless proceeded from the party of Eusebius of Nicomedia, and proved not inacceptable to the more nearly orthodox members of the synod . The twenty-five canons adopted regulate the so-called metropolitan constitution of the church . Ecclesiastical power is vested chiefly in the metropolitan (later called archbishop), and the semi-annual provincial synod (cf . Nicaea, canon 5), which he summons and over which he presides . Consequently the powers of country bishops (chorepiscopi) are curtailed, and direct recourse to the emperor is forbidden .

The

sentence of one judicatory is to be respected by other judicatories of equal rank; re-trial may take place only before that authority to whom appeal regularly lies (see canons 3, 4, 6) . Without due invitation, a bishop may not ordain, or in any other way interfere with affairs lying outside his groper territory; nor may he appoint his own successor . Penalties are set on the refusal to celebrate Easter in accordance with the Nicene decree, as well as on leaving a church before the service of the Eucharist is completed . The numerous objections made by eminent scholars in past centuries to the ascription of these twenty-five canons to the synod in encaeniis have been elaborately stated and probably refuted by Hefele . The canons formed part of the Codex canonum used at Chalcedon in 451 and passed over into the later collections of East and West . The canons are printed in Greek by Mansi ii . 1307 if., Bruns i . 8o if., Lauchert 43 if., and translated by Hefele, Councils, ii . 67 if. and by H . R . Percival in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, xiv . 1o8 if .

The four dogmatic formulas are given by G .

Ludwig Hahn, Bibliothek der Symbole, 3rd edition (Breslau, 1897), 183 ff . ; for translations compare the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, iv . 461 if., ii . 39 if., ix . 12, H . 44, and Hefele, ii . 76 if . For full titles see CouxciLS . (W . W .