Synod of Qarqafe

Synod of Qarqafe
Date	1806
Location	Monastery of St. Anthony of Qarqafe, Beirut, Lebanon
Convoked by	Germanos Adam
President	Agapius II Matar
Attendance	Nine bishops, two priests, two religious superiors
Topics	Church reform, adaptation of the Synod of Pistoia
Accepted by	Melkite Greek Catholic Church from 1806–1835
Disputed by	Pope Gregory XVI and the Roman Catholic Church Joseph Tyan and the Maronite Catholic Church

The Synod of Qarqafe was a council of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church held in 1806. The synod adapted and ratified propositions of the 1786 Synod of Pistoia. It would be formally condemned in 1835 by Pope Gregory XVI in the bull Melchitarum Catholicorum Synodus.[1]

History

The Synod of Qarqafe was convoked by Germanos Adam, the Melkite Archbishop of Aleppo. Adam was educated at the College of the Propaganda in Rome and a friend of Scipione de' Ricci, by whom he was introduced to Gallican and Jansenist ideas. As archbishop, Adam began issuing pamphlets affirming Gallican propositions on the authority of the Pope and conciliarism.[2] Despite being criticized by Pope Pius VII and Maronite patriarch Joseph Tyan, he was defended by his own patriarch, Agapius II Matar.[3] Adam would ultimately be forced to recant these propositions and accept the bull Auctorem fidei before his death in 1809.[4]

The Synod of Qarqafe began on 23 July 1806 at the Monastery of Saint Anthony in Qarqafe, in the Diocese of Beirut. It was attended by bishops Basil of Tyre, Athanasius Matar of Sidon (the brother of the patriarch), Makarios of Acre, Agapios Kanyar of Diyarbakir (Amid), Basil Jabali of Ferzol (Beqaa Valley), Joseph of Homs, and Benediktos of Baalbek. Two priests, George Nassar of Egypt and Michael Mazloum were present, and the acts were signed by Macarios Tawil and Ignatius Arkache, superior generals of local religious orders. The acts of the synod were formally approved by Joseph Tyan and the Roman apostolic visitor Luigi Gandolfi.[5]

Roman interventions between 1812 and 1835 led to the condemnation of the works of Germanos Adam, the recanting of the propositions of the synod by most of the synod fathers, and the final condemnation of the synod by Pope Gregory XVI.[6]

Decrees

The Acts of the Synod of Qarqafe are divided into three sections and issued over one hundred canons dealing with the topics of ecclesial discipline, sacraments, and the ecclesial hierarchy.[7][8]

Legacy

Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical Quartus Supra in 1873 to the Armenian Catholic Church, accusing the Armenian Catholic bishops who opposed his intervention in their hierarchy of adhering to the Synod of Qarqafe.[9] Melkite patriarch Gregory II Youssef, an opponent of Pius IX at the First Vatican Council, issued a negative response to the encyclical.[10]

Serge Descy argues that despite the influence of the Synod of Pistoia, the Synod of Qarqafe is essentially a retrieval of traditional Eastern Christian ecclesiology.[11]

References

1. Charon, Cyril (1998). History of the Melkite Patriarchates: Volume 1: Pre-Modern Period (869-1833). Fairfax: Eastern Christian Publications. p. 110–120. ISBN 1892278014.
2. Charon 1998, p. 102.
3. Charon 1998, pp. 102–104.
4. Charon 1998, pp. 102–109.
5. Charon 1998, pp. 112–113.
6. Charon 1998, pp. 115–120.
7. Greek-Catholic Diocese of Aleppo (1806). Acts of the Synod of Qarqafe. Aleppo: Greek-Catholic Diocese of Aleppo. p. i–xii.
8. Welter, Hubertus (1911). Tomus Quadragesimus Sextus Synodi Melchitarum, 1712-1902. Paris: Expensis Huberti Welter, Bibliopolae. p. xxi–xxiii.
9. Pope Pius IX (1873). "Quartus Supra (On the Church in Armenia)". Papal Encyclicals Online. Retrieved 21 July 2023. However soon afterwards, in the year 1806, the so-called Antioch Synod met at the monastery of Carcapha in the diocese of Beirut. The Pistoian Synod, which had already been condemned, quietly and deceitfully influenced the synod in many matters. This synod reproduced several statements, in part verbatim and in part ambiguously expressed, even though these had been condemned by the holy Roman See...If only the errors in which it abounded had come to an end when the synod was condemned! But such wicked teachings did not cease to creep secretly throughout the East, waiting for the right moment to emerge into common view. Despite an unsuccessful attempt about twenty years ago, the new Armenian schismatics have now daringly brought this about.
10. Descy, Serge (1986). Introduction à l'histoire et l'ecclésiologie de l'Eglise melkite. Beirut: Éditions Saint Paul. p. 64.
11. Descy, Serge (1986). Introduction à l'histoire et l'ecclésiologie de l'Eglise melkite. Beirut: Éditions Saint Paul. p. 58–59. Bien qu'il ait été inspiré par les idées gallicane et le synode de Pistoie à traverse l'influence d'Adam, il est l'expression officielle, cette fois, de toute la hiérarchie melkite, soucieuse de sauvegarder l'autonomie de l'Orient au sein de l'Église catholique.

External links

• Arabic manuscript of the Acts of the Synod of Qarqafe