LATERAN COUNCILS III, IV

LATERAN COUNCILS III, IV
LATERAN COUNCILS III, IV. The third Lateran (11th Ecumenical) Council was summoned in 1179 by Pope Alexander III. Canon 26 adopted by the Council was concerned with relations between Jews and Christians. It prohibits Jews and Saracens from having Christian servants, while any Christian who serves them is to be excommunicated. In all lawsuits the testimony of Christians is to be accepted against Jews, just as Jews make use of Jewish witnesses against Christians; anyone who prefers Jewish to Christian witnesses is to be anathematized, "since Jews ought to be subject to Christians, and treated kindly by them only out of humane considerations." A Jew who converts to Christianity is not to be deprived of any of his possessions, "for converts ought to be financially better off than they were before they accepted the Faith." The secular powers are commanded, under pain of excommunication, to ensure that this provision is put into effect. The ban on usury issued by the same Council does not specifically mention Jewish moneylenders. Alexander III, moreover, issued the Bull Sicut Judaeis, protecting Jews from forcible baptism and other molestation. The fourth Lateran (12th Ecumenical) Council was summoned in 1215 by Pope Innocent III to call for a crusade and to combat various heresies. A delegation of Jews from southern France attempted to ensure that no anti-Jewish decisions were taken, but the Council issued four important regulations concerning the Jews. Canon 67 states that Jews must be prevented from exacting immoderate usury from Christians, and also that Jews must pay tithes on property formerly owned by Christians. Canon 68 complains that in many places Christians, Jews, and Saracens are outwardly indistinguishable, so that occasionally, "by mistake, Christians mix with Jewish or Saracen women" and vice versa. Non-Christians must therefore   be compelled to dress differently from Christians (see also jewish badge ). It is alleged there that this is also laid down in the Mosaic law. Jews are not to appear in public at Easter, or on days of Christian lamentation, because they are in the habit of dressing up and railing at Christians on such occasions, nor may they blaspheme against the name of Jesus in any other way. The next canon prohibits Jews from holding public office, and the last insists that converts to Christianity must desist from Jewish observances. An appendix is concerned with the proposed crusade. It lays down in passing that Jews must be compelled to remit interest on debts owed to them by those who take the cross. That all the topics mentioned here reappear in subsequent legislation is a measure of the comparative inefficacy of the Council's decisions. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mansi, 22 (1778), 209–468, 953–1086; S. Grayzel, Church and the Jews… (19662), index; idem, in: Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Jewish Quarterly Review (1967), 293–9. (Nicholas de Lange)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Lateran Council — Rom. Cath. Ch. any of the five ecumenical councils (1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, 1512 17) held in the Lateran Palace. * * * Any of five ecumenical councils of the Roman Catholic church held in the Lateran Palace in Rome. The First Lateran Council… …   Universalium

  • Lateran Palace — The Lateran Palace, sometimes more formally known as the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran (Italian: Palazzo Laterano ), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later a Papal residence. Adjacent to the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, the …   Wikipedia

  • General Councils —     General Councils     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► General Councils     This subject will be treated under the following heads:     ♦ Definition     ♦ Classification     ♦ Historical Sketch     ♦ The Pope and General Councils     ♦ Composition of …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Basilica of St. John Lateran — Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris et Sanctorum Iohannes Baptistae et Evangelistae in Laterano Omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput Facade of the Basilica of St. John Lateran Basic information… …   Wikipedia

  • Catholic Ecumenical Councils — This article is about the history of Catholic Ecumenical Councils, including Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic views; for general views, see Ecumenical Council. Catholic Ecumenical Councils include twenty one councils over a period of 1700… …   Wikipedia

  • CHURCH COUNCILS — CHURCH COUNCILS, ecclesiastical assemblies ranging from synods of the lower clergy of a single diocese to ecumenical gatherings of the upper clergy representing the Church as a whole and presided over by the pope or his representative. All but… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Pope Alexander III — Alexander III Papacy began September 7, 1159 Papacy ended August 30, 1181 Predecessor Adrian IV …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Nicholas III — Nicholas III redirects here. See also Patriarch Nicholas III of Constantinople. Nicholas III Papacy began November 25, 1277 Papacy ended August 22, 1280 Predecessor …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Clement III — Clement III Papacy began December 19, 1187 Papacy ended March 20, 1191 Predecessor Gregory VIII …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Victor III — Victor III Papacy began May 24, 1086 Papacy ended September 16, 1087 Predecessor …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”