SESSION DECREE XVI. ALL PERSONS ARE COMMANDED TO DELIVER UP THEIR SYRIAC For the preservation of the purity of the faith, the Synod does command all priests, curates, and all other persons, of whatsoever condition or quality, within this bishopric, in virtue of obedience, and upon pain of excommunication within two months after the publication thereof shall come to their knowledge, to deliver all the books they have written in the Syrian tongue, either with their own hands, or by some other person, to the most illustrious Metropolitan, which they may do at the visitation that he intends to hold speedily, or to Father Francisco Roz, of the Society of Jesus, professor of the Syrian tongue in the college of Vaipicotta, or to the said college, in order to their being perused and corrected, or destroyed, as shall be thought most convenient, the books of common prayer being excepted, which are to be amended in the form abovesaid; and under the same precept of obedience, and pain of excommunication, the Synod does command, That no person, of what condition or quality soever within this bishopric, shall presume to translate any book into the Syrian tongue, without express license from the prelate, with a declaration of the book to which it is granted, the books of Holy Scripture and Psalms only excepted; and until such time as this church shall be provided with a bishop, the most illustrious Metropolitan doth commit the power of granting all such licenses to the reverend Father Francisco Roz, of the Society of Jesus, by reason of his great skill in those books, and in the Chaldee and Syrian languages. DECREE XVII. NONE ARE TO PREACH TO THE PEOPLE WITHOUT LICENSE FROM Seeing the purity of faith and good manners doth very much depend on the doctrine that is preached to the people; wherefore the Synod, being informed that there are several ignorant curates who do take upon them to preach, and make discourses in public, wherein they teach several errors and heresies that they meet with in books that they do not under stand, and several fabulous and apocryphal things, those especially which they take out of the book of the Infancy of our Saviour,' and other apocryphal and heretical writings, doth command that none presume to preach, or make any set discourse to the people, but who are licensed by the prelate in writing, who shall first examine them diligently, as to their sufficiency and doctrine, according to the holy council of Trent; and when there shall happen to be no prelate during the vacancy of the see, the most illustrious Metropolitan doth commit the care thereof to the rector of the Jesuits' college of Vaipicotta in this diocese, that so he, and such of the Fathers as he shall name, may make the said examinations, of which they shall give a certificate sealed by the rector; and at the next visitation the lord Metropolitan shall name such as shall appear to him to be most for the benefit of the people of this bishopric, in order to their being rightly instructed; and whosoever shall, without having undergone such an examination, and without having obtained a license thereupon, in writing, under the hand of the bishop or prelate, presume to preach, or make any discourses to the people, shall be suspended from their office and benefice for a year; nevertheless, all vicars may in their own churches make such discourses to their people, as they shall judge necessary, out of the Holy Scriptures, and other approved books; to which end the Synod doth earnestly desire, that there may be a catechism made in the Malabar tongue, out of which there may be every Sunday something read to the people: and whereas the Synod is informed that the most illustrious Metropolitan is already about such a work, and has reason to hope that it may be done by the end of the visitation, it doth command, so soon as it is finished and published, that all vicars do every Sunday at the time of offering, or before, or after mass, read a chapter of the same to the people in conformity to the orders they shall receive. SESSION III. DECREE XVIII. PRIESTS ARE PUBLICLY TO RECANT ANY ERRORS OR FABULOUS Whereas, through the ignorance and bad doctrines of the priests of this diocese, occasioned by their having been accustomed to read heretical and apocryphal books, they do many times deliver errors, and fabulous stories, in their sermons and admonitions to the people, without knowing what they say themselves therefore, to prevent the peoples' being mis : III. SESSION taught, the Synod doth command, that whensoever it should be proved to the prelate, that any such thing has been delivered in public, or in any congregation, that the prelate having drawn up a form of recantation in writing, shall send to the said curates, or the persons that have delivered such things, commanding them to retract and unsay the same in public, either by reading the said recantation, or by declaring the contents of it to the people, and teaching them the truth; which if any shall refuse to do, which God forbid, they shall be declared excommunicate, and shall be punished according to the holy canons, and the quality of the matter they delivered; which shall be executed with great rigour, if it shall appear to have been spoke with knowledge and malice; but where it shall be found to have flowed from ignorance, and an innocent mind, it shall suffice that a ready obedience be paid to the said satisfaction and recantation. DECREE XIX. RENDERS NULL AND VOID ALL OATHS TAKEN NOT TO SUBMIT TO The Synod having been informed of several meetings that were in this diocese, upon the death of bishop Mar Abraham, in which both public and private oaths were taken against yielding obedience to the holy Roman Church, several curates and others obliging themselves never to consent to any change either in the government of the bishopric, or in matters of faith, nor to receive any bishop that should be sent to them by the holy apostolical see, or by any other way, than by the order of the schismatical, heretical, Nestorian patriarch of Babylon, with several other particulars, contrary to the sacred canons, and the obedience that is due to the most holy Roman pontificate; doth declare all such oaths, or any other taken, or that shall be taken in the same manner, to be void and of no force; and that they do not only not oblige the consciences of those that have taken them, but that as they were rashly and maliciously taken, so it is an impiety and schism to keep them; denouncing the sentence of the greater excommunication upon all those that made them or took them; this synod having above all other things promised and sworn to yield obedience to the commands of the Pope, and the holy apostolical see, according to the holy canons, and never to receive any bishop or prelate, but what shall be sent by the holy Roman church, to which it of right belongs to provide prelates and bishops to all the churches in the world, and to receive those that he shall send, without any doubt or scruple, III. acknowledging them for the true prelates and pastors of their SESSION souls, without waiting for any other order besides that of the bishop of Rome, notwithstanding any impious oaths that may have been made at any time to the contrary. DECREE XX. THE SYNOD REJECTS THE ERRORS OF NESTORIUS AND SUBSCRIBES This present synod, together with all the priests and faithful people of this diocese, doth embrace all the holy general councils received by holy mother church, believing and confessing all that was determined in them, anathematizing, rejecting, and condemning all that they have rejected and condemned; but especially it doth with great veneration receive and embrace the first holy council of Ephesus, consisting of 200 fathers, firmly believing all that was therein determined, and rejecting and condemning whatsoever it condemned; but above all, the diabolical heresy of the Nestorians, which has been for many years preached and believed in this diocese ; which together with its author Nestorius and all his followers, the said council did reject and anathematize; who being taught by the devil, held that there were two persons in our Lord Christ; affirming also, that the Divine Word did not take flesh into the unity of its person, but only for an habitation, or holy dwelling, as a temple; and that it ought not to be said, that God was incarnate, or that he died, nor that our lady, the glorious Virgin, was the mother of God, but only the mother of Christ, with other diabolical heresies, all which this Synod does condemn, reject, and anathematize, embracing the holy catholic faith, in that purity and integrity, that it is believed and professed in by the holy mother Roman church, the mistress of all churches, to which in all things it submits itself according to the profession it has made. Furthermore, this Synod does acknowledge the glorious Cyril, Archbishop and patriarch of Alexandria, who by order of the bishop of Rome, presided in the holy Ephesian council, to be a blessed saint, at this time enjoying God in heaven; and that his doctrine in the said council against the Nestorians, is holy, and universally received in the catholic church, professing all that reject it to be excommunicated heretics. DECREE XXI. RESOLVES TO BE GOVERNED IN ALL THINGS BY THE LAST COUNCIL Furthermore, this present Synod, with all the priests and SESSION faithful people of this diocese, doth embrace the last holy and sacred council of Trent, and does not only believe and confess all that was determined and approved of therein, and reject and anathematize all that that council rejected and condemned; but doth moreover receive and embrace the said council as to all matters therein determined, relating to the reformation of the church, and all Christian people, promising and swearing to govern itself according to the rules thereof, and to observe the same forms that are observed in the catholic church, and as are observed in this province of the Indies, and in all the other provinces and suffragans to the metropolis of Goa; in order to the removing of all abuses and customs that are contrary to the decrees of the said council of Trent; by which only it is resolved to govern itself as to all matters relating to the government of the church, and the reformation of the manners of this faithful and catholic people, any customs, though immemorial, in this bishopric, to the contrary notwithstanding. DECREE XXII. SUBJECTS THE SYRIANS TO THE INQUISITION AT GOA. This present Synod, together with all the priests and faithful people of this diocese, doth with great submission and reverence, submit itself to the holy, upright, just, and necessary court of the holy office of the inquisition, in these parts established; and being sensible how much the integrity of the faith depends upon that tribunal, it does promise and swear to be obedient to all its commands in all things thereunto pertaining; being, after the example of all other bishoprics in this province, willing that all matters of faith should be judged of by the same court, or by such persons as it shall depute : and notwithstanding the said holy office has not hitherto, by reason of this church's having been separated, and had little or no correspondence with the apostolical see, or with any of the churches that are subject to it, meddled with any person belonging to this bishopric, yet now for the benefit of their souls, as to absolutions in cases of faith, which are known to be reserved to that court; this present synod doth beseech the lords inquisitors to authorize some learned men within this bishopric, or the Jesuits of the college of Vaipicotta, and of other residences of the same religion in the said diocese, to absolve all such as shall stand in need thereof, and that with such limitations as they shall think fit; considering how diffi |