The Encyclical of 1848
Article summary proposed by the Contacts review with LLM assistance
The article presents the Encyclical of 1848, a document signed by the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, along with twenty-nine bishops, in response to the encyclical of Pope Pius IX addressed to Eastern Christians on January 6 of the same year. The publication of this text is part of the context of the nascent dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The article offers an analytical presentation of it, accompanied by substantial excerpts from the original document. The Encyclical of 1848 condemns the filioque as heresy, rejects Roman jurisdictional primacy and affirms that the guardianship of the faith belongs to the entire people of the Church. Its theological contribution is considerable: it constitutes a major source of Orthodox ecclesiology of communion and has profoundly influenced the thought of Khomiakov and the Slavophile ecclesiological renewal.
This article has not been translated yet — it is available in its French version here.
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