"I venerate the first four Ecumenical Councils equally with the Four Gospels"- St. Gregory the Great.A truly comprehensive resource.The reader will find in English, so far as they have come down to us, all the doctrinal definitions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils (councils which have always, and still do, receive the unqualified acceptance of both East and West), and all the canons, disciplinary and doctrinal, which were enacted by them. To these has been added a translation in full of all the canons of the local synods which received the approval and sanction of these Ecumenical Councils. To throw additional light upon the subject, large extracts from the Acta have been given. In fact, all that seemed useful to illustrate the decrees has been placed in the Appendices. Finally, the Ancient Epitome, essentially a very ancient commentary, is attached to each synodal canon. All in all, this is a comprehensive resource in the field of Early Church History and Theology. Philip Schaff (1819-1893) was a Swiss-born, German-educated theologian and ecclesiastical historian. He lectured in Germany, Italy and England but spent most of his adult life teaching in the United States where he was regarded as the leading protestant scholar of his day. He oversaw numerous scholarly projects, including the preparation of the American Standard Version of the Bible. Series: The Seven Ecumenical Councils Of The Undivided Church: Their Canons And Dogmatic Decrees Together With The Canons Of All The Local synods Which Have Received Ecumenical Acceptance. Edited With Notes Gathered From The Writings Of The Greatest Scholars is Volume XIV of the series Nicene And Post-Nicene Fathers Of The Christian Church edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. This edition is complete and unabridged.