Council of Laodicea (363-364) – canon 35 against the excessive cult of the angels (Mansi vol. 2)

The Council of Laodicea (363-364), held in Phrygia (Asia Minor), is one of the most important particular councils of Christian antiquity for the delimitation of the correct cult of the angels. Canon 35 explicitly condemns the excessive or idolatrous invocation of the angels, separating the legitimate angelic cult from the angelolatrous heresy. Text in Mansi Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova Amplissima Collectio, vol. 2, col. 569ff.

Latin text, canon 35

“Non oportet christianos ecclesiam Dei derelinquere et abire, atque angelos nominare, et congregationes facere, quae prohibita noscuntur. Si quis igitur inventus fuerit huic occultae idolatriae vacans, sit anathema, quia derelinquit Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum, Filium Dei, et idolatriae accessit.”

English translation, canon 35

“It is not fitting that Christians should abandon the Church of God and go away to invoke the angels by name and to hold assemblies that are known to be forbidden. If anyone, then, is found practicing this hidden idolatry, let him be anathema, because he has abandoned our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and has gone over to idolatry.”

Historical context

In fourth-century Phrygia, a tendency prevailed among certain marginal Christian groups (especially the Montanists and the followers of pseudo-mystics):

• To invoke by name “seven angels” (sometimes more) with non-biblical names
• To hold secret assemblies in honor of the angels
• To consider the angels as “autonomous mediators” between God and men
• To replace prayer to Christ with direct invocation of the angels
• To attribute to the angels specific “powers” (healing illnesses, foretelling the future)

These practices, derived in part from Gnosticism and from Syro-Babylonian magic, threatened the Christological centrality of the faith. The Council of Laodicea responds firmly: the legitimate cult of the angels (which already existed) is not forbidden, but their idolatrous invocation, which turns away from Christ, is forbidden.

The three doctrinal principles established

1. The centrality of Christ: any angelic cult must be subordinated to Christ, not set parallel to Him
2. Pastoral care: the faithful may not abandon the Church for secret assemblies, with an angelolatrous purpose
3. The limit of names: one must avoid invoking by name angels whose names have not been revealed by Sacred Scripture or by the official Tradition of the Church

Continuity in the Magisterium

The principles of canon 35 of Laodicea were taken up again:

• Council of Saint Patrick (Ireland, 5th century): condemns the invocation of other angels besides the canonical ones
• Roman Council of 745 (under Zachary): condemns Aldebert of France for invoking angels with non-canonical names such as Uriel, Raguel, Tubuel, Michael, Inias, Tubuas, Sabaoc and Simiel
• Council of Aachen (798/799): forbids paintings of angels with non-biblical names
• Saint Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 92): takes up the anti-angelolatrous principles in Scholastic terms
• Roman Catechism (1566): maintains the principle: the legitimate cult of the angels excludes invocation by unrevealed names
• CDF, Decision on Opera Angelorum (1983): a contemporary application of the same principles

The other angelological canons of Laodicea

Beyond canon 35, the Council of Laodicea addresses angelology indirectly:

• Canon 36: forbids clerics to practice magic, incantations or astrology (related to the alleged invocation of spirits)
• Canon 37: forbids celebrating feast days with heretics or Jews (it preserves the liturgical unity of Christian worship)

Significance for Catholic angelic devotion

Canon 35 of Laodicea establishes what will be the permanent Catholic balance between legitimate angelic devotion and angelolatry:

Liturgical legacy

The Catholic liturgy recognizes the balance of Laodicea:

• Feast of the Three Archangels (September 29): celebrates only Michael, Gabriel, Raphael
• Feast of the Guardian Angels (October 2): does not individualize names
• Liturgy of the Hours: invokes “all the holy angels” collectively
• Votive Masses of the angels: limited to biblical texts on the three archangels

Further reading

Saint Michael | Saint Gabriel | Saint Raphael | Guardian Angels | CDF Opera Angelorum | Saint Thomas, Treatise on the Angels

See also: What Is Angelology? The Angels in the Bible and in the Magisterium

See our complete guide to Catholic Angelology.