Encyclopedia > Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs
The Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs was a letter sent in May, 1848 by the patriarchs of the Orthodox Church in reply to Pope Pius IX's Epistle to the Easterns (1848). Rather than being a private letter to Pius IX, it is addressed to "All the Bishops Everywhere, Beloved in the Holy Ghost, Our Venerable, Most Dear Brethren; and to their Most Pious Clergy; and to All the Genuine Orthodox Sons of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church."
In the course of all this, it notably makes reference to the Eighth Ecumenical Council (879-880), in contrast with the opinion of many modern Eastern Orthodox Christians that there are only seven Ecumenical Councils accepted by the Orthodox Church.
Eastern Orthodoxy typically views the purely doctrinal canons as dogmatic and applicable to the entire church at all times, while the disciplinary canons are the application of those dogmas in a particular time and place; these canons may or may not be applicable in other situations.
Fourth Council of Constantinople, (869–870); deposed Patriarch Photios of Constantinople (who was later made a saint by the Orthodox Church) because of certain irregularities involved in his assumption of the patriarchal throne, such as the fact that his predecessor St. Ignatius had not been validly deposed.
George Dragas, and the 1848Encyclical of the EasternPatriarchs (which refers explicitly to the "Eighth Ecumenical Council" and was signed by the patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria as well as the Holy Synods of the first three), regard other synods beyond the Seventh Ecumenical Council as being ecumenical.
Among the numerous encyclicals of Pius XII are Mystici corporis Christi, 1943, on the nature of the church, and Sacra virgintas, 1954, on evangelical chastity.
An encyclical was a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Christian church.
For the modern Roman Catholic Church a Papal encyclical, in the strictest sense, is a letter sent by the Pope which is explicitly addressed to Roman Catholic bishops of a particular area or to the world, usually treating some aspect of Catholic doctrine.
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