The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

then the passage-number is in the second canon-table; if
3,thenitisinthethirdcanon-table, and so on in order up
to 10. 6. Therefore,ifyouhaveoneoftheGospelsopen
and want to know which of the evangelists say similar
things, start with the passage-number lying alongside
the text, and then look for that same passage-number
in the canon table indicated by the table-number. There
youwill find how many evangelists said this passage, and
which ones. So, precisely because they are indicated by
their own numbers, you will find in the body of the text
of each of the Gospels those places that you have looked
for that have said the same things.
xvi. The canons of Councils (De canonibus Conciliorum)
1. Canon (canon) isaGreekword;inLatin,
‘measuring rod’ (regula). A measuring rod is so called
because it draws ‘in a straight line’ (recte), and never goes
astray. Some say a measuring rod is so called because it
rules (regere), or because it offers a norm of living correctly
(recte), or because it corrects (corrigere) anything
distorted or wicked.2. Thecanonsofgeneral councils
began in the time of Constantine, for in earlier years,
with persecution raging, there was little opportunity for
teaching the common people. 3. For this reason Christianity
was rent with diverse heresies, because there was
no freedom [for bishops] to assemble as a unity until
the time of the aforementioned emperor – for he gave
Christians the power to congregate freely. 4.UnderConstantine
the holy Fathers, gathering from all the world
in the Nicene Council, promulgated in accordance with
evangelic and apostolic faith the second (Nicene) Creed,
following after the Apostles’ Creed.
5. Ofthecouncils of the church the venerable synods
which were foremost in encompassing the whole
faith are four, like the four Gospels, or the four rivers
of Paradise. 6. The first of these, the Nicene synod of
318 bishops, took place while Constantine Augustus was
emperor. In it was condemned the blasphemy of the
Arian treachery about the inequality of the holy Trinity,
championed by that same Arius. This holy synod established
through its creed that God the Son is consubstantial
with God the Father. 7. Thesecond synod, of 150
Fathers, was gathered at Constantinople under the elder
Theodosius. Condemning Macedonius, who denied that
the Holy Spirit was God, it showed that the Holy Spirit
is consubstantial with the Father and the Son, rendering
the form of the creed that the whole [confession] of
The Etymologies VI.xv.6–xvii.2 143
Latin and Greek speakers proclaim in churches. 8. The
third, the first Ephesian synod, of 200 bishops, was held
under Theodosius Augustus the younger. It condemned
with a just charge of anathema Nestorius, who claimed
that there were two persons in Christ; it showed that in
two natures abides the one person of [our] Lord Jesus
Christ.
9.The fourth, the synod of Chalcedon, of 630 priests,
was held under the emperor Marcian. In this synod a
single judgment of the Fathers condemned Eutyches,
an abbot of Constantinople, who preached that there
was one nature both of the Word of God and of his
flesh, and his defender Dioscorus, formerly bishop of
Alexandria, and again Nestorius with the other heretics.
This same synod preached that Christ the Lord was born
of the Virgin, and consequently we acknowledge that
in Christ is the substance of both divine and human
nature. 10. These are the four principal synods, most
abundantly preaching the doctrine of our faith; and any
other councils that the holy Fathers, filled with the spirit
of God, sanctified endure in all their vigor supported by
the authority of these four, whose accomplishments are
recorded in this work.
11. ‘Synod’ (synodus), from the Greek, is translated
“company” or “assembly.” 12.Theterm‘council’ is drawn
from Roman custom, for when issues were under discussion
everyone would gather together and deliberate
with common vigilance. Whence ‘council’ (concilium)
takes its name from common (communis) vigilance, as
if it were comcilium, for the Latin cilia (i.e. “eyelids”)
pertain to eyes. Whence a ‘court of justice’ (considium)
is a council, with the letter d changing to l. 13.Anassembly
(coetus) isagathering (conventus) orcongregation,
from the verb gather (coire, ppl. coitus) thatis,‘coming
together’ (convenire) inone.From this a convent (conventum,
i.e.amonasticconvent, usually conventus) is
named, just as a conventus is a gathering, an assembly,
from the association of many in one.
xvii. The Easter cycle (De cyclo Paschali) 1. Hippolytus,
bishop in the times of the emperor Alexander,
first wrote out the Easter cycle. After him those most
esteemed authorities Eusebius of Caesarea, Theophilus
of Alexandria, together with Prosper of Aquitaine and
Victorius, with their extended reckonings of that same
feast, promulgated many cycles. 2. The most blessed
Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, calculating the reckoning