What some of us would not give to have verbatim transcripts of the deliberations at early Christian councils. In some cases, we are fortunate to possess what are known as acta, the authorized record resulting from synodal gatherings, but it should come as no surprise that these were never a word-for-word account of what was said and done. Rather, they were carefully constructed artefacts that communicated to a wider audience an official account of what transpired and was decided at a particular council, which in turn functioned to legitimize the authority and the decisions of the deliberators. This idea is at the center of this most learned study by Thomas Graumann, who offers a sweeping study of the professional practice of acta production and their producers, through focused examinations of specific sets of records, ultimately demonstrating the rhetorical, strategic, and political forces that influenced how these documents were made. This study is less about the what—the theological and ecclesiological matters debated and decided at church councils—and more the who, from the powerful bishops and imperial officials to the notaries, secretaries, and scribes, and the how, the textual processes and the practices that went into the construction of the final acta, or what Graumann broadly describes as conciliar “protocols.”
The book is divided into five parts, with a total of eighteen chapters of sometimes uneven length. Part I lays the groundwork for understanding why ecclesiastical gatherings took place and how they came to produce what we understand to be conciliar documents. The evidence for the earliest synods, of the second and third centuries, is scant, but sporadic surviving individual and circular letters composed by presiding bishops hint at a desire for some record of proceedings, especially over doctrinal matters. The fourth-century, post-Constantinian world saw a greater intermingling of church and civic institutions, but even still the record keeping practices of the latter did not initiate the establishment of concomitant activities in the former. But the sheer number of ecclesiastical gatherings, large and small, regularly scheduled and ad hoc, witnessed an increase in the paper trail of these events, even if most survive only as extracts. In them, Graumann shows how we can discern hints of how deliberations took place, what was recorded, and the gradual development of a more formalized process of conciliar textual production. A case study of the “Conference of Carthage” in 411 offers a detailed, exceptional glimpse into the gathering's procedures that provides insights into what the participants and presider expected of the resulting record of transactions.
The heart of this monograph, parts II–V, arranged thematically and topically, focuses primarily on what survives from the fifth century. A string of conciliar gatherings—the First Council of Ephesus (431), the “Home” Synod of Constantinople (November 448), two additional inquiries on the trial of Eutyches (April 449), the Second Council of Ephesus (August 449), and the Council of Chalcedon (451)—provides a rich trove of documents through which Graumann examines several significant developments in the procedures and practices of synodal record production. The physicality of the written records was a consistent concern, as participants examined the various documents from prior gatherings and investigated who wrote them and in what format, where copies were made and stored, how they were certified and sealed. Equally important was the reading aloud and review of past minutes and texts, to affirm or challenge what had been deliberated and decided at earlier meetings. Recitation into the record was also a means to check any copies or dossiers of documents possessed by the present parties, to ensure their accuracy, proper ordering, and authenticity.
Graumann frequently draws on juridical and civil textual practices (sometimes from later periods) to illustrate parallels in (earlier) synodal contexts, and he explains with precise detail the technical terminologies used in the preparation, classification, and publication of conciliar acta. This cross-disciplinary and/or retroactive application of later practices is one of the methods Graumann frequently employs in this study, with sound reasoning. One particularly important insight that arises from this approach is the shift in priority in later councils, from validating the authenticity of documents of past councils and reading them into the record, to using those very records to demonstrate continuity with and fidelity to a doctrinal tradition (in other words, “orthodoxy”). At the same time, the acts of prior councils, and other included documents, were still subject to close scrutiny, especially for insertions and falsifications, and at times certain parts could be excised if they did not align with the priorities of the participants of the council who were trying to establish their alignment with past orthodox synods.
There is no doubt that councils were often chaotic, with shouts and slogans, accusations and acclamations flying from one side to another, and the din of the arguments surely made it difficult for notaries to capture the proceedings in written minutes. So how could one capture what Graumann calls the collective “voice” of the synod, when so often these gatherings were such sharply divided affairs, especially since “a proper council was always unanimous and univocal” (165)? The notarial staff had an important role to play in this, discerning what to include or not in the immediate stenographic record, itself subject to further editing at a later stage. The surviving records of the ecumenical councils present a unified front, although hints of dissent appear, which demonstrates just how much the production of the acta was political and rhetorical. The presentation, insertion, and deliberate and strategic placement of supporting documents, both during and after a council, were additional components in the construction of the official record, as were the gathered signatures that punctuated the acta and demonstrated consensus. Graumann also discusses the dissemination and distribution of conciliar protocols, which was often practically impossible in full, but the desire for records by metropolitans and bishops did provide opportunities for selective copying and excerpting, again in service to larger ecclesiastical and imperial goals and priorities.
For all of the recording, production, and distribution activities described above, Graumann masterfully takes us behind the scenes with impressive detail and insight. The book's structure, organized by themes and topics, does lend itself to some overlaps and repetitions, and there is a wide variance in chapter length that makes the flow uneven at times. Nevertheless, this monograph is the result of incredibly careful reading, often between the lines, of vast and complex sets of documents, and Graumann successfully builds a compelling picture of how the final acta produced by councils were the result of manifold influences, procedural moves, decisions and omissions, and priorities and personalities. This book will be of great interest to scholars of ancient record production, ecclesiastical politics, and conciliar history.
