Reincarnation

76 2.7 Excerpts from Church l i terature _________________________________________________________________________________ 2.7.1 Council lexicon (P. Maurus Disch, Erster Band, Augsburg, 1863, Schlosser’s Buch- und Kunsthandlung) Therein it says: The General Council of Constantinople in 553 A.D. under pope Vigilius. The reasons for holding this council were 1) the unrest caused by a great number of monks because of the false doctrine ascribed to Origen. 2) The manuscripts of Theodor of Mopsuestia, the letter of Ibas and the work of Theodoreius against the 12 anathemas of the holy Eqrillus, of who’s 3 scripts are known under the name of “the 3 chapters“. 3) The edict of Caesar Justinian against these 3 c h a p t e r s .... ....to sign this, one wanted to intimidate all the bishops, by threatening exile. ...the opposition of pope Vigilius, who was induced under coercion, to condemn the 3 chapters. All 165 bishops signed the final judgement. The fathers added 14 anathemas to this judgement, which in theological fashion outlined and included t h e c o m p l e t e d o c t r i n e o f r e i n c a r n a t i o n with indications to the just rejected false doctrine. (Annotation: Hereby the whole complex “pre-existence - transmigration of the soul”, which includes reincarnation, that is to say, repeated visits to Earth as human beings, was rejected by the decisions made in 543 A.D. and also 553 A.D.) And further: Though one cannot find the condemnation of Origen in all the documents of this council; it is after all certain, that he was condemned there. One can see this from the 5th canon we have in Greek, which condemns the false doctrine of Origen. These documents also contain the names of the fathers of the Council of Constantinople. - ...This, in the name of the holy ghost legally assembled council, which as representative of the quarrelling Church comprised a general council, r e c e i v e d d i r e c t l y f r o m J e s u s C h r i s t t h e f u l l p o w e r (!), which everyone, of whatever standing and dignity, even the pope himself, was obliged to obey... The general council had the power, to decide over the articles, which concern the purity of the faith, the eradication of heresy, the reformation of the Church and the purity of the customs... The general council is a b o v e the pope and has its power directly from Jesus Christ. Every believer and even the pope is obliged to obey it... If therefore the pope doesn’t listen to the Church, he is to be thought of as a heathen and official sinner. Holding councils is the ideal means, to stifle schisms and heresies, or to prevent such like, to punish mischief, to stop misapplication and to place the Church into a well-organised situation. The council decrees an e t e r n a l l y valid edict.