Folia Theologica et Canonica 1. 23/15 (2012)
RECENSIONS
290 RECENSIONS with canons of the Council of Nicaea I (325) and Council of Constantinople (381). Then - because this Collection had been used during the Council of Chalcedon (451)- the text was enlarged with the Chalcedon’s canons too. The canonical letters of St. Basil the Great (1379) also had an important place among the supplements. Mardirossian distributed into two basic parts of the entire material of his work, moreover there is an ending section of his book which contains annexes. Nevertheless, this last - supplementary - part lists the most important impacts of this marvelous publication. The First Part dedicated to the contemporary theological conflicts and the doctrinal development of the time when the Collection of Antioch was held. Obviously, the author analyzes several heretic movements, including the No- vatianist Monarchianism and rigorism regarding penance (Contre les novatia- nistes: Les conciles préantiochiens, 73-88). When he describes the Arianism and the conciliar contra effects he is focusing on the Trinitarian and Christolo- gical teaching (i.e. meaning of homoousios) of Eustathius of Antioch (f336) [Face à Eustathe d’Antioche, 89-95] and the Council of Antioch (341?) [Contre les nicéens: Le concile d’Antioche, 89-98]. However, Mardirossian compares the Antiochene doctrinal concept with the arguments of Eustathius of Sebaste (1*377) [Face à Eustathe de Sébaste, 99-113] and the Council of Gangra too (Contre les homéousiens: Le concile de Gangres, 99-116). Concerning the Anomoeism (a radical Arianism wing, promoted basically by Aëtius [1366] and Eunomius [f394]; e.g., Kelly, J.N.D., Early Christian Doctrines, London 1989.5 249) the author gives attention to the text of the Council of Laodicea (•Contre les anoméens: Le concile de Laodicée, 117-134). The Second Part examining precisely the composition, structure, contents, development, and the disciplinary and doctrinal teaching of the Collection of Antioch («Notre volonté doit être le canon»: la Collection d Antioche, une législaton dans le siècle. 135-251). There is a clear and detailed presentation of the institutional system of the ecclesiastical legislation in the late 4th century («À Rome, fais comme les Romains!» Des structures ecclésiastques imperials, 135-142), supplemented with the proper episcopal and metropolitan authority (168-189). Here Mardirossian deals one more time with the Antiochene Chris- tological tradition and with the teaching of Eustathius of Antioch (Les excentricités eustathiennes, 211-251) could be the crucial reason of composing the Syntagma Canonum. This exposition of the reconstructed text is primarily laid on the Apostolic Canons which was already marked in the First Part as fundamental guideline (La caution: Les Constitutions et les Canons apostoliques, 65-72). For his analysis the author also used fruitfully the Registri ecclesiae Carthaginensis excerpta and the Statuta ecclesiae antiqua.
