NPNF2, Vol
15, p357, contains the following quotes from Hefele (A Roman Catholic scholar):
"Nearly a century later Pope Hadrian I. distinctly recognized
all of the Trullan decrees in his letter to Terasius of Constantinople and
attributes them to the Sixth Synod: "All the Holy Six Synods I receive
with all their canons, which rightly and divinely were promulgated by them,
among which is contained that in which reference is made to a lamb being
pointed to by the precursor as being found in certain of the venerable
images." Here the reference is
unmistakably to the Trullan canon LXXXII."
"That the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nice ascribed the
Trullan canons to the Sixth Ecumenical Council and spoke of them entirely in
the Greek spirit cannot astonish us, as it was attended almost entirely by
Greeks. They specifically pronounced the recognition of the canons in question
in their own first canon; but their own canons have never received the
ratification of the Holy See."
Act 4 of
the 7th Ecumenical Council, just to give one example of the use of the
Quinisext canons at that council records the
following:
"Some men who are painfully ignorant in regard to these
canons are scandalized and blatantly say, "We wonder whether there really
are canons of the Sixth Council."
Let such men become conscious of the fact that the holy and great Sixth
Council was convoked in the reign of Constantine against those who were
asserting the energy and the will of Christ to be a signle energy and a single
will, and that the bishops who attended it anathematized the heretics and
stated clearly and emphatically the Orthodox faith, after which they left for home in the year fourteen of
Constantine's reign. Thereafter,
however, let it not be forgotten that... the same fathers gathered themselves
together in the reign of Constantine's son Justinian and promulgated the
aforementioned Canons, and let no one have any doubt about them. For those who signed their names in the
reign of Constantine are the same ones who signed their names to the present
paper in the reign of Justinian, as becomes plainly evident from the exact
likeness of their respective signatures as written by their own hands. For it was incumbent on them after declaring
an Ecumenical Council to proceed to promulgate also ecclesiastical
Canons" (From The Rudder, p 289).
For
reference, here is canon LXXXII of the Quinisext (Trullan) Council):
"In some of the paintings of the venerable icons, a lamb is
inscribed as being shown or pointed at by the Precursor's finger, which was
taken to be a type of grace, suggesting beforehand through the law the true
lamb to us Christ our God. Therefore,
eagerly embracing the old types and shadows as symbols of the truth and
preindications handed down to the Church, we prefer the grace, and accept it as
the truth in fulfillment of the law.
Since, therefore, that which is perfect even though it be but painted is
imprinted in the faces of all, the Lamb who taketh away the sin of the world
Christ our God, with respect to His human character, we decree that henceforth
he shall be inscribed even in the icons instead of the ancient lam: through Him
being enabled to comprehend the reason for the humiliation of the God Logos,
and in memory of His life in the flesh and of His passion and of His soterial
death being led by the hand, as it were, and of the redemption of the world
which thence accrues."
It should
be noted that this canon of the Quinisext council played a key role in the 7th
Ecumenical Council, and that this was an Ecumenical canon was the basis of one
the most important arguments it made against the Iconoclasts, and there can be
no doubt the understanding that the Quinisext Canons were the canons of the 6th
Ecumenical Council were behind the wording of the first canon of the 7th
Ecumenical Council:
"...we welcome and embrace the divine Canons, and we
corroborate the entire and rigid fiat of them that have been set forth by the
renowned Apostles, who were and are trumpets of the Spirit, and those both of
the six holy Ecumenical Councils and of
the ones assembled regionally for the purpose of setting forth such edicts, and
of those of our holy Fathers. For all
those men, having been guided by the light dawning out of the same Spirit,
prescribed rules that are to our best interest."
Roman
apologists often claim that the canons of the 7th Ecumenical Council
were never accepted by the Pope, and so are not binding, however, when they are
arguing with Protestants, they often turn around and argue that the canons of
certain councils were in fact accepted by the 7th Ecumenical Council
on the basis of it’s first canon and the quote from the acts of the council
given above:
William Webster” “First of all, the Councils of Carthage and Hippo did not establish the canon for the Church as a whole.“
Art Sippo: “Wrong. The Seventh
Ecumenical Council reaffirmed the Canons of these Councils as binding on the
Universal Church as did the Council of Lyon”
-Art Sippo, a Roman
Apologist in an online debate with Williams Webster.
Now,
the only basis for Art’s claim here could be that the 1st Canon of
the 7th Ecumenical Council affirmed the canons of the Quinisext
council, which specifically listed the Council of Carthage as a local Council
which was accepted on an Ecumenical level. But when I have made arguments with Art Sippo based on the canons of
the Quinisext Council, I have been told that these were not accepted by the Pope,
and when I have pointed out that they were accepted by the 7th Ecumenical
Council, I have been told that those don’t count either, because the Pope never
accepted them. Go figure.