A New Narrative for the Reception of Seven Sacraments into Orthodoxy: Peter Lombard’s Sentences in Nicholas Cabasilas and Symeon of Thessalonica and the Utilization of John Duns Scotus by the Holy Synaxis

Introduction

Specialists in Byzantine theology and liturgiology regularly repeat the narrative that the sevenfold enumeration and content of the “sacraments” or “mysteries” in Orthodoxy is the result of Roman Catholic qua papal imposition of the sacramental system upon the Eastern Church per the Second Ecumenical Council of Lyons (1274).¹ More precisely, standard narratives assume that the numerical list of sacraments entered into Orthodoxy only following the ill-fated profession of faith from Emperor Michael VIII at Lyons II.² The Roman Church officially convened Lyons II as an ecumenical council,³ the acts of which were implicitly reaffirmed as “ecumenical” during the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).⁴ In the events leading to Lyons II, the Byzantine emperor made a profession of faith acceptable to the Latins, which included seven sacraments.⁵ Wherefore, historians of theology tend to assume that the Latin order and doctrine of the sacraments somehow entered into the Greek lexicon under emperor Michael VIII (1267) and his allied clergy (e.g., the unpopular John XI Beccus, Patriarch of Constantinople, 1275–1282). Although emperor Michael coerced ecclesial “reunion,” prompting Orthodox scrutiny of and acquaintance with theologically Latinophile sacramentology, such a narrative fails to explain how Orthodox conservatives and anti-unionists adopted the Latin sacramental economy wholesale without any real pretense of resistance.⁶

Another common assumption in contemporary scholarship is that post-Reformation Orthodox commitments to the sevenfold sacramental economy stem from Orthodox reactions to Protestantism and its rejection of a multifaceted sacramental economy,⁷ as with Peter of Moghila (d. 1646) and Dositheus of Jerusalem (d. 1707). These celebrated theologians (along with coeval Orthodox synods) made ex professo commitments to defend “seven sacraments” during the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. This phenomenon prompted another historical narrative: post-Reformation Orthodox felt further beholden to the septenary system in reaction to extreme sacramental iconoclasm of the Calvinist, Cyril Lukaris, Patriarch of Constantinople (interim 1620–1638).⁸

Some general outlines of these standard narratives will prove true. Nonetheless, I will argue that learned Orthodox and hoi polloi alike complacently absorbed the enumeration and content of seven sacraments from more attractive sources than either Lyons II or reactions to Protestant polemics. The most developed Orthodox sacramentology prior to the fall of Constantinople actually developed out of Orthodox reflection and exposition on the mysteries occasioned by surprising source texts that predated Scholastic Summas and Roman creeds of Roman Catholic ecumenical councils.⁹ I conclude my investigation by challenging the standard historical narrative surrounding the adoption of the seven sacraments in the Orthodox East. As we shall see, Orthodox adoption of the sevenfold sacramental system must be reduced to cataloguing a rather limited number of individual authors who exercised a strong literary and spiritual influence on posterior generations. Although individual Orthodox authors’ motives for adopting the heptad of mysteries prove, for the most part, to be idiosyncratic, they nonetheless permit me to weave a tale wherein Orthodox churchmen assess the number and genera of sacraments as something intrinsically reconcilable to the Orthodox Way. The principal persons of interest in this study betrayed neither knowledge of nor commitment to the sacramental lists or commitments of Lyons II. Instead, the authors took their inspiration from other material that predates this lightning rod for controversy between Orthodox and Catholic teaching on the filioque.

Septenary Latin Sacraments become a Heptad of Greek Mysteries

The aforementioned narratives infelicitously neglect a rather irenic chronicle wherein positive evaluations of the sevenfold nature of the mysteries were held among Palamites and ex professo anti-unionist Orthodox. This facet of historical Orthodoxy may prove to be a rich area for contemporary Orthodox reflection and reevaluation of the compatibility of the seven sacraments with the Orthodox Way.

Researchers have long known about the first quasi-enumeration of mysteries in Byzantine Christianity via the description of Theodore Studite (759–826). While Martin Jugie noted Theodore’s omission of three modern sacraments—anointing, penance, and marriage—he also...