II.

SESSION Apostles, St. Peter, and vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth, the head of the whole Church on earth, and doctor and master of the same, and the father, prelate, and pastor of all Christians; and do confess, that all who deny obedience to the said Roman Bishop, the vicar of Christ, are transgressors of the Divine commands, and cannot attain to eternal life.

Heresies I do without any scruple receive, approve, and confess all condemned. other matters, defined and declared in the sacred canons, and general councils, and chiefly in the Holy Council of Trent; and do in the same manner condemn, reject, and anathematize every thing that is contrary to the same; together with all heresies condemned, rejected and anathematized by the said Church; namely, the diabolical and perverse heresy of Nestorius, together with its perverse author Nestorius, and its false teachers, Theodorus and Diodorus, 3 and all that have and do follow it, who being persuaded and seduced by the devil, do impiously maintain, that our Lord and Saviour Christ consists of two persons, affirming the Divine Word not to have taken the flesh into a unity of person with itself, but only to have dwelt therein as in a temple, and so will not say, that God was incarnate, or that our lady, the most blessed Virgin Mary, was the mother of God, but only the mother of Christ; all which I reject, condemn and anathematize as diabolical heresies; and do believe, and embrace, and approve of all that was determined about this matter, in the Council of Ephesus, consisting of two hundred Fathers, in which by order of Celestine First, Bishop of Rome, the blessed St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, was president, whom I acknowledge to be a saint now enjoying God, and that all that blaspheme him are in a state of damnation.

But one Law of Christianity.

Moreover, I do condemn all that say, that the passion of our Saviour ought not to be mentioned, and that it is an injury to him to do it; on the contrary, I do believe and confess, that the consideration and discourses thereof are holy, and of benefit to souls.

I do likewise confess and believe, that in pure Christianity there is only one law of our Lord Jesus Christ, true God, and true man; in like manner as there is no more than one only true God, one only faith, and one only baptism; which one only law was preached by all the holy Apostles, and their disciples and successors after the same manner. I do therefore condemn and reject all those who ignorantly teach, that there was one law of St. Thomas, and another law of St. Peter, and that they are so different as not to have any thing to do with one another; as also all other heresies and errors condemned 3 This misrepresentation of the character and doctrines of Diodorus and Theodorus has already been exposed. Vide Book III. chap. 5th.

II.

by holy mother church. This true and catholic faith, out of SESSION which there is no salvation, and which at present I do of my own free will, profess and truly hold and believe, I shall with the help of God endeavour to keep entire, and undefiled to my last breath; and constantly to hold and profess, and to procure its being held, professed, preached, and taught by all that are subject to me, or that shall be anyways under my care. I, N. do promise and vow to God, and swear to this holy cross of our Lord Christ: so help me God, and the contents of this Gospel.

I do also promise, vow and swear to God, this cross, and these holy Gospels, never to receive into this church and bishopric of the Serra, any bishop, archbishop, prelate, pastor or governor whatsoever, but what shall be immediately appointed by the holy apostolical See, and the Bishop of Rome, and that whomsoever he shall appoint, I will receive and obey as my true pastor, without expecting any message, or having any further dependence upon the Patriarch of Babylon, whom I condemn, reject and anathematize, as being a Nestorian heretic and schismatic, and out of the obedience of the holy Roman Church, and for that reason out of a state of salvation: and I do swear and promise, never to obey him any more, nor to communicate with him in any matter: all this that I have professed and declared, I do promise, vow and swear to Almighty God, and this holy cross of Christ: so help me God, and the contents of these Gospels. Amen.

The most reverend Metropolitan, after having made this protestation and confession of faith, rose up, and seating himself in his chair, with his mitre on his head, and the holy Gospels, with a cross upon them in his hands; the Reverend George, Archdeacon of the said bishopric of the Serra, kneeling down before him, made the same profession of faith, with a loud and intelligible voice, in the Malabar tongue, taking an oath in the hands of the Lord Metropolitan, and after him all the priests, deacons, subdeacons, and other ecclesiastics that were present, being upon their knees, Jacob, curate of Pallarty, and interpreter to the Synod, read the said profession in Malabar, all of them saying it along with him; which being ended, they all took the oath in the hands of the Lord Metropolitan, who asked them one by one in particular, Whether they did firmly believe all that was contained in the profession; as also whether they did believe and confess all that is believed and professed by the holy mother Church of Rome, and did reject all that she rejects, and if they did anathematize the cursed heresy of the Nestorians, with all its falsities, and all the authors and cherishers of the same; namely, the perverse Nestorius, Theodorus, and Diodorus, together with all their

Oath of

obedience to the Pope and Bishops

of his appointment.

Renuncia-
Patriarch of
Babylon.

tion of the

The same profession Archdeacon made by the and others.

II.

SESSION followers; and whether they did acknowledge the holy Roman Church to be the mother, and mistress, and head of all the churches in the world, and confess that all that were not obedient to her, were out of a state of salvation; and if they did promise and swear true obedience and subjection to the most holy father the Pope and Bishop of Rome, as universal pastor of the church, and successor of St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles, and vicar of Christ upon earth, without any manner of dependence upon the schismatical Patriarch of Babylon, to whom though contrary to justice, they had hitherto been subject; and if they did promise never to receive any other bishop into this diocese, but what shall be sent by the holy Roman Church, by the appointment of our lord the Pope, and that whomsoever he shall ordain, they will acknowledge and obey for their prelate, as becomes true catholics, and sons of the Church, anathematizing the Patriarch of Babylon, as a Nestorian heretic, out of the obedience of the holy Roman Church, and promising and swearing never to obey him more in any matter, nor to have any further commerce or communion with him in things appertaining to the Church.

To all which, and every particular, they did all, and every one of them for themselves with their hands upon the cross and the Gospel, swear and protest to God by the holy Gospel, and the cross of Christ. After the ecclesiastics had made this profession on oath, the procurators and representatives of the people, by virtue of the powers they had, made the same in their own name, and in the name of the people of the bishopric, as did also all the other Christians that were present.

DECREE II.

COMMANDS THAT ALL SYRIAN ECCLESIASTICS NOT PRESENT BE
REQUIRED TO TAKE THE OATH.

The Synod doth command all priests, deacons, and subdeacons, of this bishopric, that were not present at this solemnity, to make the aforesaid oath and profession of faith in the hands of the most illustrious Metropolitan, at the visitation of their churches, which he intends to make speedily, or in the hands of such as he shall depute for those that shall be absent at the time of the visitation; that so there may be none in holy orders in this bishopric but what has made this profesNone to be sion in the manner aforesaid. The Synod doth likewise declare, That hereafter none shall be capable of undertaking any vicarage, or cure of a church, until they have made the said profession, in the hands of their prelate, or of some commis

admitted to

a cure or to

take orders

without

subscribing.

sioned by him for that purpose; as also, that all that take holy orders, do first make the said profession in the same manner; and if any of the forementioned, which God forbid, shall refuse to do it, that they shall thereupon be declared excommunicate, until they comply, and withal be vehemently suspected of heresy, and be punished according to the sacred

canons.

SESSION

III.

SESSION III.

Because without faith it is impossible to please God; and the holy catholic faith, without which none can be saved, is the beginning of true life, and the foundation of all our good; the purity thereof being that, which distinguishes Christians and Catholics from all other people; wherefore the Synod being sensible, that by means of some heretical persons, and books scattered all over this bishopric, many errors and falsities have been sown therein, with which many are poisoned, and more may be, doth judge it necessary, besides the profession of faith that has been made, further to declare to the people in some chapters, the chief articles of our holy catholic faith, and to point at, and observe the errors contained in their books, and to have them preached against in this bishopric, that so knowing the mischief and falsehood of them, they may avoid them.

DECREE I.

DOCTRINES OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH IN FOURTEEN CHAPTERS.

CHAP. I.-The Trinity in unity and unity in Trinity.

Our holy faith, that is believed with one unanimous consent by the catholic church spread all over the world, is, That we believe in one only true, Almighty, Immutable, Incomprehensible, and Ineffable God, the eternal Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one in essence, and three in persons; the Father not begotten, the Son begotten of the Father, and of the same substance with him, and equal to him, and the Holy Ghost proceeding eternally from the Father and the Son; not as from two principals, or two inspirations, but from both as from one only principal, and one only inspiration; the Father is not the Son, nor the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not the

SESSION Father, nor the Son; but the Father is only the Father, the III. Son is only the Son, and the Holy Spirit is only the Holy Spirit, none of them being before another in eternity, nor superior to another in majesty, nor inferior to another in power, but were all without beginning or end; the Father is he who begot, the Son is he who was born, and the Holy Ghost he who proceedeth, consubstantial, equal, alike Almighty, and alike Eternal. These three persons are one only God, and not three Gods, one only essence and substance, one nature, one immensity, one principal, one Creator of all things visible and invisible, corporal and spiritual, who when he pleased, created all things with his goodness, and would that they should be all very good.

Furthermore; That the only-begotten Son of God, who is always with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, consubstantial to the Father, at the time appointed by the profound wisdom of Divine Mercy, for the redeeming of men from the sin of Adam, and from all other sins, was truly incarnate by the operation of the Holy Spirit, in the pure womb of our lady the most blessed Virgin Mary, and in her took our true and entire nature of man, that is, a body and rational soul, into the unity of the Divine Person; which unity was such, that our Lord Jesus Christ is God and man, and the Son of God, and the Son of man, inasmuch as he was the Son of the Blessed Virgin; so that the one nature is not confounded with the other, neither did the one pass into, nor mix itself with the other; neither did either of them vanish, or cease to be; but in one only person, or in one divine suppositum, there are two perfect natures, a divine and human, but so that the properties of both natures are still preserved, their being two wills, the divine and human, and two operations, Christ still continuing one; for as the form of God does not destroy the form of a servant, so the form of a servant does not diminish the form of God; because he who is true God, is also true man: God, because" in the beginning he was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: " man, because "the Word was made flesh," and died among us: God, because by his own power he satisfied five thousand men with five loaves, and promised the water of eternal life to the Samaritan woman, and raised Lazarus from the grave, when he had been dead four days, and gave sight to the blind, cured the sick, and commanded the winds and the seas: man, because he suffered hunger and thirst, was weary in the way, was fastened with