Declaration of Utrecht
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THE DECLARATION OF UTRECHT
A TRANSLATION OF THE PROFESSION OF FAITH, OR DECLARATION, FORMULATED BY THE OLD
CATHOLIC BISHOPS ASSEMBLED AT UTRECHT,
SEPTEMBER 24th, 1889
1. We adhere faithfully to the Rule of Faith laid down by St. Vincent of Lerins in these terms: "Id
teneamus, quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est; hoc est etenim vere
proprieque catholicum." (Hold fast that faith which has been believed everywhere [universally],
always, and by all.) For this reason we persevere in professing the faith of the primitive Church,
as formulated in the ecumenical synods and specified precisely by the unanimously accepted
decisions of the Ecumenical Councils held in the undivided Church of the first thousand years.
2. We therefore reject the decrees of the so-called Council of the Vatican, which were
promulgated July 18th, 187O, concerning the infallibility and the universal Episcopate of the
Bishop of Rome, decrees which are in contradiction with the faith of the ancient Church, and
which destroy its ancient canonical constitution by attributing to the Pope the plenitude of
ecclesiastical powers over all Dioceses and over all the faithful. By denial of his primatial
jurisdiction we do not wish to deny the historic primacy which several Ecumenical Councils and the
Fathers of the ancient Church have attributed to the Bishop of Rome by recognizing him as the
Primus inter pares (first among equals).
3. We also reject the dogma of the Immaculate Conception promulgated by Pius IX in 1854 in
defiance of the Holy Scriptures and in contradiction to the tradition of the first centuries.
4. As for other Encyclicals published by the Bishops of Rome in recent times - for example, the
Bulls Unigenitus and Auctorem Fidei, and the Syllabus of 1864 - we reject them on all such
points as are in contradiction with the doctrine of the primitive Church, and we do not recognize
them as binding on the consciences of the faithful. We also renew the ancient protests of the
Catholic Church of Holland against the errors of the Roman Curia, and against its attacks upon
the rights of national Churches.
5. We refuse to accept the decrees of the Council of Trent in matters of discipline, and as for the
dogmatic decisions of that Council we accept them only so far as they are in harmony with the
teaching of the primitive Church.
6. Considering that the Holy Eucharist has always been the true central point of Catholic worship,
we consider it our duty to declare that we maintain with perfect fidelity the ancient Catholic
doctrine concerning the Sacrament of the Altar, by believing that we receive the Body and the
Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ under the species of bread and wine.
The Eucharistic celebration in the Church is neither a continual repetition nor a renewal of the
expiatory sacrifice which Jesus offered once for all upon the Cross; but it is a sacrifice because it
is the perpetual commemoration of the sacrifice offered upon the Cross, and it is the act by
which we represent upon earth and appropriate to ourselves the one offering which Jesus Christ
makes in Heaven, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews ix. 11, 12, for the salvation of
redeemed humanity, by appearing for us in the presence of God (Heb. ix. 24). The character of
the Holy Eucharist being thus understood, it is, at the same time, a sacrificial feast, by means of
which the faithful, in receiving the Body and Blood of our Saviour, enter into communion with one
another (1 Cor. X. 17).
7. We hope that Catholic theologians, in maintaining the faith of the undivided Church, will
succeed in establishing an agreement upon questions which have been controverted [i.e. in
controversy - Ed.] ever since the divisions which have arisen between the Churches. We exhort
the priests under our jurisdiction to teach, both by preaching and by the instruction of the young,
especially the essential Christian truths professed by all the Christian confessions, to avoid, in
discussing controverted doctrines, any violation of truth or charity, and in word and deed to set
an example to the members of our churches in accordance with the spirit of Jesus Christ our
Saviour.
8. By maintaining and professing faithfully the doctrine of Jesus Christ, by refusing to admit
those errors which by the fault of men have crept into the Catholic Church, by laying aside the
abuses in ecclesiastical matters, together with the worldly tendencies of the hierarchy, we believe
that we shall be able to combat efficaciously the great evils of our day, which are unbelief and
indifference in matters of religion.
A TRANSLATION OF THE PROFESSION OF FAITH, OR DECLARATION, FORMULATED BY THE OLD
CATHOLIC BISHOPS ASSEMBLED AT UTRECHT,
SEPTEMBER 24th, 1889
1. We adhere faithfully to the Rule of Faith laid down by St. Vincent of Lerins in these terms: "Id
teneamus, quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est; hoc est etenim vere
proprieque catholicum." (Hold fast that faith which has been believed everywhere [universally],
always, and by all.) For this reason we persevere in professing the faith of the primitive Church,
as formulated in the ecumenical synods and specified precisely by the unanimously accepted
decisions of the Ecumenical Councils held in the undivided Church of the first thousand years.
2. We therefore reject the decrees of the so-called Council of the Vatican, which were
promulgated July 18th, 187O, concerning the infallibility and the universal Episcopate of the
Bishop of Rome, decrees which are in contradiction with the faith of the ancient Church, and
which destroy its ancient canonical constitution by attributing to the Pope the plenitude of
ecclesiastical powers over all Dioceses and over all the faithful. By denial of his primatial
jurisdiction we do not wish to deny the historic primacy which several Ecumenical Councils and the
Fathers of the ancient Church have attributed to the Bishop of Rome by recognizing him as the
Primus inter pares (first among equals).
3. We also reject the dogma of the Immaculate Conception promulgated by Pius IX in 1854 in
defiance of the Holy Scriptures and in contradiction to the tradition of the first centuries.
4. As for other Encyclicals published by the Bishops of Rome in recent times - for example, the
Bulls Unigenitus and Auctorem Fidei, and the Syllabus of 1864 - we reject them on all such
points as are in contradiction with the doctrine of the primitive Church, and we do not recognize
them as binding on the consciences of the faithful. We also renew the ancient protests of the
Catholic Church of Holland against the errors of the Roman Curia, and against its attacks upon
the rights of national Churches.
5. We refuse to accept the decrees of the Council of Trent in matters of discipline, and as for the
dogmatic decisions of that Council we accept them only so far as they are in harmony with the
teaching of the primitive Church.
6. Considering that the Holy Eucharist has always been the true central point of Catholic worship,
we consider it our duty to declare that we maintain with perfect fidelity the ancient Catholic
doctrine concerning the Sacrament of the Altar, by believing that we receive the Body and the
Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ under the species of bread and wine.
The Eucharistic celebration in the Church is neither a continual repetition nor a renewal of the
expiatory sacrifice which Jesus offered once for all upon the Cross; but it is a sacrifice because it
is the perpetual commemoration of the sacrifice offered upon the Cross, and it is the act by
which we represent upon earth and appropriate to ourselves the one offering which Jesus Christ
makes in Heaven, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews ix. 11, 12, for the salvation of
redeemed humanity, by appearing for us in the presence of God (Heb. ix. 24). The character of
the Holy Eucharist being thus understood, it is, at the same time, a sacrificial feast, by means of
which the faithful, in receiving the Body and Blood of our Saviour, enter into communion with one
another (1 Cor. X. 17).
7. We hope that Catholic theologians, in maintaining the faith of the undivided Church, will
succeed in establishing an agreement upon questions which have been controverted [i.e. in
controversy - Ed.] ever since the divisions which have arisen between the Churches. We exhort
the priests under our jurisdiction to teach, both by preaching and by the instruction of the young,
especially the essential Christian truths professed by all the Christian confessions, to avoid, in
discussing controverted doctrines, any violation of truth or charity, and in word and deed to set
an example to the members of our churches in accordance with the spirit of Jesus Christ our
Saviour.
8. By maintaining and professing faithfully the doctrine of Jesus Christ, by refusing to admit
those errors which by the fault of men have crept into the Catholic Church, by laying aside the
abuses in ecclesiastical matters, together with the worldly tendencies of the hierarchy, we believe
that we shall be able to combat efficaciously the great evils of our day, which are unbelief and
indifference in matters of religion.
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