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The Medieval Church · 794

The Acts of the Council of Frankfurt

The Council of Frankfurt

What it is

Charlemagne summons the bishops of his empire, condemns Spanish Adoptionism, and rejects the council of 787 as well — having read Nicaea II in a translation so bad that it appeared to say images should be adored as the Trinity is.

Why it lasted

A Frankish king convening a council that overrules an ecumenical one, on the strength of a mistranslation. It is the moment the Carolingian court begins acting as an independent doctrinal authority, and the first crack of the Latin West pulling away from Byzantium.

Scripture it works from

Where to read it

This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below.

These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.

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