The Assyrian Church of the East receives two ecumenical councils. The Oriental Orthodox accept three. The Eastern Orthodox accept seven dogmatically. The Roman Catholics have received twenty-one. Anglicans have accepted four dogmatically, with some privately holding between six and seven.
When you look at this list, I think it becomes quite clear that—dogmatically speaking—the councils cannot have the final say regarding what is and isn't orthodox on the basic fact that large groups of Christians disagree on which ones to accept.
The solution of many communions is simply to reject the others as outside of the Church. However, many of the "schisms" are over misunderstandings regarding terminology. Can we say one is outside the Church and thus cut out of salvation for speaking of Christ as one person, fully God and fully man as opposed to two natures, fully God and fully man? I think this idea that salvation boils down to semantics is questionable at least.
Thus, it seems that the Protestants are right to emphasize the Scripture as being the final and sole infallible source of authority for the Church. It is the one thing that all of the above bodies—including Protestant bodies not mentioned—agree on as infallible and God-breathed.
Thus, the disagreements regarding the councils are not disagreements regarding the confession of faith. All confess the Nicene Creed. All confess the Holy Scripture. It is a matter of interpretation of Scripture. Obviously, we must draw lines of orthodoxy in the sand—which I think God did through the Church by giving universal agreement on the Nicene Creed. However, I think we should recognize that there are fundamental differences between schisms within the Church and schisms from the Church. Both are tragic and deserve mourning and repentance, but only the latter places someone outside of hope for salvation.
Thoughts?
This is the first video reflection for the Great Fast.
Welcome to the Mere Catholicity Locals Community! Here, you will find like-minded Christians with a desire to live ecumenically and pursue Christ in all things.
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Friends - as I consider the various platforms that I operate, I find Substack to the most conducive to the model of online ministry that I am aiming for. Though I still plan to post here, as many of you still support me through this platform, Substack is where I will be focusing the majority of my time. If some of you wish to move your subscription from here to Substack, you are welcome to do that. Those who continue to support here, I will continue to post here — mostly the stuff that is behind the paywall on Substack so that you are getting the exclusive content regardless of where you are subscribed.
Hope you all are doing well. Lord bless you.
- Rev. Jonah
I've been gone again for a time preparing for my ordination. I was ordained a Deacon in the Holy Catholic Church on March 8th, 2025.
It was a joy beyond words. I am now back in full swing with ministry, media, and work.
I hope you all have been doing well. More to come soon.
Good morning everyone. I wanted to quickly update you on the Mere Catholicity Podcast. I’ve been posting videos on my channel, but it has been quite sometime since my channel has had a podcast episode release.
With my new job as a classical teacher, scheduling interviews has been a challenge. However, my plan is to use my summer breaks as time to double down on planning and recording new podcasts. The idea will be to record a ton of interviews that will then slowly release throughout the school year, expiring around the time the following summer arrives. This will ultimately result in a consistent once a month interview.
All that to say, the podcast will resume here in May or June of 2025 with some excellent interviews lined up!
Blessings on your Sunday!
