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diff --git a/24979.txt b/24979.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e4917c --- /dev/null +++ b/24979.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28486 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Source Book for Ancient Church History by +Joseph Cullen Ayer, Jr., Ph.D. + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: A Source Book for Ancient Church History + +Author: Joseph Cullen Ayer, Jr., Ph.D. + +Release Date: April 2, 2008 [Ebook #24979] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SOURCE BOOK FOR ANCIENT CHURCH HISTORY*** + + + + + + *A Source Book for Ancient Church History* + + *From the Apostolic Age to the Close of the Conciliar Period* + + *by Joseph Cullen Ayer, Jr., Ph.D.* + + Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Divinity School of the + Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia + + New York + + Charles Scribner's Sons + + 1913 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Errata. +Preface. +General Bibliographical Note +The First Division Of Ancient Christianity: The Church Under The Heathen +Empire: To A. D. 324 + Period I. The Apostolic Age: To Circa A. D. 100 + § 1. The Neronian Persecution + § 2. The Death of Peter and Paul + § 3. The Death of the Apostle John + § 4. The Persecution under Domitian + Period II. The Post-Apostolic Age: A. D. 100-A. D. 140 + § 5. Christianity and Judaism + § 6. The Extension of Christianity + § 7. Relation of the Roman State to Christianity + § 8. Martyrdom and the Desire for Martyrdom + § 9. The Position of the Roman Community of Christians in the Church + § 10. Chiliastic Expectations + § 11. The Church and the World + § 12. Theological Ideas + § 13. Worship in the Post-Apostolic Period + § 14. Church Organization + § 15. Church Discipline + § 16. Moral Ideas in the Post-Apostolic Period + Period III. The Critical Period: A. D. 140 to A. D. 200 + Chapter I. The Church In Relation To The Empire And Heathen Culture + § 17. The Extension of Christianity + § 18. Heathen Religious Feeling and Culture in Relation to + Christianity + § 19. The Attitude of the Roman Government toward Christians, A. + D. 138 to A. D. 192 + § 20. The Literary Defence of Christianity + Chapter II. The Internal Crisis: The Gnostic And Other Heretical + Sects + § 21. The Earlier Gnostics: Gnosticism in General + § 22. The Greater Gnostic Systems: Basilides and Valentinus + § 23. Marcion + § 24. Encratites + § 25. Montanism + Chapter III. The Defence Against Heresy + § 26. The Beginnings of Councils as a Defence against Heresy + § 27. The Apostolic Tradition and the Episcopate + § 28. The Canon or the Authoritative New Testament Writings + § 29. The Apostles' Creed + § 30. Later Gnosticism + § 31. The Results of the Crisis + Chapter IV. The Beginnings Of Catholic Theology + § 32. The Apologetic Conception of Christianity + (A) The Logos Doctrine + (B) The Doctrine of the Trinity + (C) Moralistic Christianity + (D) Argument from Hebrew Prophecy + § 33. The Asia Minor Conception of Christianity + Period IV. The Age Of The Consolidation Of The Church: 200 to 324 A. D. + Chapter I. The Political And Religious Conditions Of The Empire + § 34. State and Church under Septimius Severus and Caracalla + § 35. Religious Syncretism in the Third Century + § 36. The Religious Policy of the Emperors from Heliogabalus to + Philip the Arabian, 217-249 + § 37. The Extension of the Church at the Middle of the Third + Century + Chapter II. The Internal Development Of The Church In Doctrine, + Custom, And Constitution + § 38. The Easter Controversy and the Separation of the Churches + of Asia Minor from the Western Churches + § 39. The Religion of the West: Its Moral and Juristic Character + § 40. The Monarchian Controversies + (A) Dynamistic Monarchianism + (B) Modalistic Monarchianism + § 41. Later Montanism and the Consequences of its Exclusion from + the Church + § 42. The Penitential Discipline + § 43. The Catechetical School of Alexandria: Clement and Origen + § 44. Neo-Platonism + Chapter III. The First General Persecution And Its Consequences + § 45. The Decian-Valerian Persecution + § 46. Effects of the Persecution upon the Inner Life of the + Church + Chapter IV. The Period Of Peace For The Church: A. D. 260 To A. D. + 303 + § 47. The Chiliastic Controversy + § 48. Theology of the Second Half of the Third Century under the + Influence of Origen + § 49. The Development of the Cultus + § 50. The Episcopate in the Church + § 51. The Unity of the Church and the See of Rome + § 52. Controversy over Baptism by Heretics + § 53. The Beginnings of Monasticism + § 54. Manichaeanism + Chapter V. The Last Great Persecution + § 55. The Reorganization of the Empire by Diocletian + § 56. The Diocletian Persecution + § 57. Rise of Schisms in Consequence of the Diocletian + Persecution +The Second Division Of Ancient Christianity: The Church Under The +Christian Empire: From 312 To Circa 750 + Period I: The Imperial State Church Of The Undivided Empire, Or Until + The Death Of Theodosius The Great, 395 + Chapter I. The Church And Empire Under Constantine + § 58. The Empire under Constantine and His Sons + § 59. Favor Shown the Church by Constantine + § 60. The Repression of Heathenism under Constantine + § 61. The Donatist Schism under Constantine + § 62. Constantine's Endeavors to Bring about the Unity of the + Church by Means of General Synods: The Councils of Arles and + Nicaea + Chapter II. The Arian Controversy Until The Extinction Of The + Dynasty Of Constantine + § 63. The Outbreak of the Arian Controversy and the Council of + Nicaea, A. D. 325 + § 64. The Beginnings of the Eusebian Reaction under Constantine + § 65. The Victory of the Anti-Nicene Party in the East + § 66. Collapse of the Anti-Nicene Middle Party; the Renewal of + Arianism; the Rise of the Homoousian Party + § 67. The Policy of the Sons of Constantine Toward Heathenism and + Donatism + § 68. Julian the Apostate + Chapter III. The Triumph Of The New Nicene Orthodoxy Over Heterodoxy + And Heathenism + § 69. The Emperors from Jovian to Theodosius and Their Policy + toward Heathenism and Arianism + § 70. The Dogmatic Parties and Their Mutual Relations + § 71. The Emperor Theodosius and the Triumph of the New Nicene + Orthodoxy at the Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381 + Chapter IV. The Empire And The Imperial State Church + § 72. The Constitution of the State Church + (A) The Ecumenical Council + (B) The Hierarchical Organization + § 73. Sole Authority of the State Church + § 74. The Position of the State Church in the Social Order of the + Empire + § 75. Social Significance of the State Church + § 76. Popular Piety and the Reception of Heathenism in the Church + § 77. The Extension of Monasticism Throughout the Empire + § 78. Celibacy of the Clergy and the Regulation of Clerical + Marriage + Period II. The Church From The Permanent Division Of The Empire Until + The Collapse Of The Western Empire And The First Schism Between The + East And The West, Or Until About A. D. 500 + Chapter I. The Church At The Beginning Of The Permanent Separation + Of The Two Parts Of The Roman Empire + § 79. The Empire of the Dynasty of Theodosius. + § 80. The Extension of the Church about the Beginning of the + Fifth Century + Chapter II. The Church Of The Western Empire In The Fifth Century + § 81. The Western Church Toward the End of the Fourth Century + § 82. Augustine's Life and Place in the Western Church + § 83. Augustine and the Donatist Schism + § 84. The Pelagian Controversy + § 85. Semi-Pelagian Controversy + § 86. The Roman Church as the Centre of the Catholic Roman + Element of the West + Chapter III. The Church In The Eastern Empire. + § 87. The First Origenistic Controversy and the Triumph of + Traditionalism + § 88. The Christological Problem and the Theological Tendencies + § 89. The Nestorian Controversy; the Council of Ephesus A. D. + 431. + § 90. The Eutychian Controversy and the Council of Chalcedon A. + D. 451 + § 91. Results of the Decision of Chalcedon: the Rise of Schisms + from the Monophysite Controversy + § 92. The Church of Italy under the Ostrogoths and during the + first Schism between Rome and the Eastern Church + Period III. The Dissolution Of The Imperial State Church And The + Transition To The Middle Ages: From The Beginning Of The Sixth Century + To The Latter Part Of The Eighth + Chapter I. The Church In The Eastern Empire + § 93. The Age of Justinian + § 94. The Byzantine State Church under Justinian + § 95. The Definitive Type of Religion in the East: Dionysius the + Areopagite + Chapter II. The Transition To The Middle Ages. The Foundation Of The + Germanic National Churches + § 96. The Celtic Church in the British Isles + § 97. The Conversion of the Franks. The Establishment of + Catholicism in the Germanic Kingdoms + § 98. The State Church in the Germanic Kingdoms + § 99. Gregory the Great and the Roman Church in the Second Half + of the Sixth Century + § 100. The Foundation of the Anglo-Saxon Church + Chapter III. The Foundation Of The Ecclesiastical Institutions Of + The Middle Ages + § 101. Foundation of the Mediaeval Diocesan and Parochial + Constitution + § 102. Western Piety and Thought in the Period of the Conversion + of the Barbarians + § 103. The Foundation of the Mediaeval Penitential System + § 104. The New Monasticism and the Rule of Benedict of Nursia + § 105. Foundation of Mediaeval Culture and Schools + Chapter IV. The Revolution In The Ecclesiastical And Political + Situation Due To The Rise Of Islam And The Doctrinal Disputes In The + Eastern Church + § 106. The Rise and Extension of Islam + § 107. The Monothelete Controversy and the Sixth General Council, + Constantinople A. D. 681 + § 108. Rome, Constantinople, and the Lombard State Church in the + Seventh Century + § 109. Rome, Constantinople, and the Lombards in the Period of + the First Iconoclastic Controversy; the Seventh General Council, + Nicaea, A. D. 787 +Index +Footnotes + + + + + + +ERRATA. + + +[Transcriber's Note: These corrections have already been applied to the +text in this e-book.] + +Page 55, line 26. Lucian, of Samosata, does, etc.: omit commas. + +Page 65, lines 20, 21, 25, 27, 31, 34, 35, 36. For, Ptolomaeus: read, +Ptolemaeus. + +Page 77, line 27. For, Ptolomaeus: read, Ptolemaeus. + +Page 77, line 28. Panarion, Italics. [_Panarion_ is the title of the +book.] + +Page 93, line 34. For, Ptolomaeus: read, Ptolemaeus. + +Page 95, lines 9, 11. For, Ptolomaeus: read, Ptolemaeus. + +Page 110, line 11. Insert after V, 24: (given below, § 38). + +Page 128, line 12. For, and to use it: read, and use it. + +Page 245, line 16. Transpose so as to read: Were the sacraments they +administered to be regarded, then, + +Page 267, line 20. For, are: read, art. + +Page 273, line 1. For, is: read, are. + +Page 282, line 29. For, exemptions from the clergy: read, exemptions of +the clergy. + +Page 283, line 24. For, V. _supra_, 58 _f._: read, V. _supra_ § 58, _f._ + +Page 299, line 18. For, Constantinople: read, Alexandria. + +Page 306, line 14. Add: And in the Holy Ghost. [This should stand as a +sentence by itself, although there is no complete sentence.] + +Page 316, line 6. For, _desensus_: read, _descensus_. + +Page 337, line 6. For, 368: read, 378. + +Page 361, note. Omit all after: Council of Chalcedon in 451; changing +comma to period. + +Page 402, line 19. For, Milcoe: read, Mileve. + +Page 579, line 24. Insert comma after: common faith. + +Page 594, line 22. For, will: read, wilt. + +Page 603, line 31. For, rivalries: read, rivalry. + +Page 627, line 28. For, days: read, days'. + +Page 697, line 1. For, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}: read {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. + +Page 705, col. 2, lines 29, 30. For, Ptolomaeus: read, Ptolemaeus. + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The value of the source-book has long been recognized in the teaching of +general history. In ecclesiastical history quite as much use can be made +of the same aid in instruction. It is hoped that the present book may +supply a want increasingly felt by teachers employing modern methods in +teaching ecclesiastical history. It has grown out of classroom work, and +is addressed primarily to those who are teaching and studying the history +of the Christian Church in universities and seminaries. But it is hoped +that it may serve the constantly increasing number interested in the early +history of Christianity. + +In the arrangement of the selected illustrative material, a chronological +analysis and grouping of topics has been followed, according to the lines +of treatment employed by K. Mueller, F. Loofs, Von Schubert in his edition +of Moeller's text-book, and by Hergenroether to some extent. The whole +history of ancient Christianity has accordingly been divided into +comparatively brief periods and subdivided into chapters and sections. +These divisions are connected and introduced by brief analyses and +characterizations, with some indications of additional source material +available in English. + +A bibliography originally prepared for each chapter and section has been +omitted. When the practical question arose of either reducing the amount +of source material to admit a bibliography, or of making the book too +expensive for general use by students, the main purpose of the book +determined the only way of avoiding two unsatisfactory solutions of the +problem, and the bibliography has been omitted. In this there may be less +loss than at first appears. The student of ecclesiastical history is +fortunately provided with ample bibliographical material for the ancient +Church in the universally available theological and other encyclopaedias +which have very recently appeared or are in course of publication, and in +the recent works on patristics. Possibly the time has come when, in place +of duplicating bibliographies, reliance in such matters upon the work of +others may not be regarded as mortal sin against the ethics of +scholarship. A list of works has been given in the General Bibliographical +Note, which the student is expected to consult and to which the instructor +should encourage him to go for further information and bibliographical +material. + +The book presupposes the use of a text-book of Church history, such as +those by Cheetham, Kurtz, Moeller, Funk, or Duchesne, and a history of +doctrine, such as those of Seeberg, Bethune-Baker, Fisher, or Tixeront. +Readings in more elaborate treatises, special monographs, and secular +history may well be left to the direction of the instructor. + +The translations, with a few exceptions which are noted, are referred for +the sake of convenience to the _Patrology_ of Migne or Mansi's _Concilia_. +Although use has been freely made of the aid offered by existing +translations, especially those of the _Ante-Nicene_ and _Post-Nicene +Fathers_, yet all translations have been revised in accordance with the +best critical texts available. The aim in the revision has been accuracy +and closeness to the original without too gross violation of the English +idiom, and with exactness in the rendering of ecclesiastical and +theological technical terms. Originality is hardly to be expected in such +a work as this. + +An author may not be conscious of any attempt to make his selection of +texts illustrate or support any particular phase of Christian belief or +ecclesiastical polity, and his one aim may be to treat the matter +objectively and to render his book useful to all, yet he ought not to +flatter himself that in either respect he has been entirely successful. In +ecclesiastical history, no more than in any other branch of history, is it +possible for an author who is really absorbed in his work to eliminate +completely the personal equation. He should be glad to be informed of any +instance in which he may have unwittingly failed in impartiality, that +when occasion presented he might correct it. The day has gone by in which +ecclesiastical history can not be treated save as a branch of polemical +theology or as an apologetic for any particular phase of Christian belief +or practice. It has at last become possible to teach the history of the +Christian Church, for many centuries the greatest institution of Western +Europe, in colleges and universities in conjunction with other historical +courses. + +This volume has been prepared at the suggestion of the American Society of +Church History, and valuable suggestions have been gained from the +discussions of that society. To Professor W. W. Rockwell, of Union +Theological Seminary, New York, Professor F. A. Christie, of Meadville +Theological School, the late Professor Samuel Macauley Jackson, of New +York, and Professor Ephraim Emerton, of Harvard University, I have also +been indebted for advice. The first two named were members with me of a +committee on a _Source-Book for Church History_ appointed several years +ago by the American Society of Church History. + +That the book now presented to the public may be of service to the teacher +and student of ecclesiastical history is my sincere wish. It may easily +happen that no one else would make just the same selection of sources here +made. But it is probable that the principal documents, those on which the +majority would agree and which are most needed by the teacher in his work, +are included among those presented. There are, no doubt, slips and defects +in a book written at intervals in a teacher's work. With the kind +co-operation of those who detect them, they may be corrected when an +opportunity occurs. + +JOSEPH CULLEN AYER, JR. + + + + + +GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + +Under each period special collections of available sources are to be +found. The student is not given any bibliography of works bearing on the +topics, but is referred to the following accessible works of reference of +recent date for additional information and bibliographies: + +_The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge_, edited by S. +M. Jackson, New York, 1908-12. + +_The Catholic Encyclopaedia_, New York, 1907-12. + +_The Encyclopaedia Britannica_, eleventh edition, Cambridge, 1910. + +_The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, edited by J. Hastings, +Edinburgh and New York, 1908 ff. (In course of publication.) + +For the patristic writers, their lives, works, editions, and other +bibliographical matter, see: + +G. Krueger, _History of Early Christian Literature in the First Three +Centuries_, English translation by C. R. Gillett, New York, 1897. Cited as +Krueger. + +B. Bardenhewer, _Patrologie_, Freiburg-i.-B., 1911, English translation of +second edition (1901) by T. J. Shahan, St. Louis, 1908. Cited as +Bardenhewer. + +In addition to the encyclopaedias the following are indispensable, and +should be consulted: + +Smith and Wace, _Dictionary of Christian Biography_, Literature, Sects and +Doctrines, London, 1877-87. (The Condensed Edition of 1911 by no means +takes the place of this standard work.) Cited DCB. + +Smith and Cheetham, _Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, London, +1875-80. Cited DCA. + +Advanced students and those capable of using French and German are +referred to the following, which have admirable and authoritative articles +and ample bibliographies: + +_Realencyclopaedie fuer protestantische Theologie_, edited by A. Hauck, +Leipsic, 1896 _ff._ Two supplementary volumes appeared in 1913. Cited PRE. + +_Kirchenlexicon oder Encyclopaedie der katholischen Theologie und ihrer +Hilfswissenschaften_, second edition, by J. Hergenroether und F. Kaulen, +Freiburg-i.-B., 1882-1901. Cited KL. + +_Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique_, edited by A. Vacant and E. +Mangenot, Paris, 1903 _ff._ + +_Dictionnaire d'Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie_, edited by F. +Cabrol, 1903 _ff._ + +_Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Geographie Ecclesiastiques_; edited by A. +Baudrillart, A. Vogt, and U. Rozies, Paris, 1909 _ff._ + +Collections of sources in the original languages, easily procured and to +be consulted for texts and to some extent for bibliographies: + +C. Mirbt, _Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttums und des roemischen +Katholizismus_, third edition, Tuebingen, 1911. Cited as Mirbt. + +C. Kirch, S. J., _Enchiridion fontium historiae ecclesiasticae antiquae_. +Freiburg-i.-B., 1910. Cited as Kirch. + +H. Denziger, _Enchiridion symbolorum, definitionum et declarationum de +rebus fidei et morum_, eleventh edition, edited by Clemens Bannwart, S. +J., Freiburg-i.-B., 1911. Cited as Denziger. + +A. Hahn. _Bibliothek der Symbole und Glaubensregeln der alten Kirche_, +third edition, Breslau, 1897. Cited as Hahn. + +G. Krueger. _Sammlung ausgewaehlter kirchen und dogmengeschichtlicher +Quellenschriften_, Freiburg-i.-B. + +Of this useful collection especially important are the following of more +general application: + +E. Preuschen, _Analecta: Kuerzere Texte zur Geschichte der alten Kirche und +des Kanons_, second edition, 1909-10. + +F. Lauchert, _Die Kanones der wichtigsten altkirchlichen Concilien nebst +den apostolischen Kanones_. + +R. Knopf, _Ausgewaehlte Maertyreracten_. Cited as Knopf. + +Other volumes are cited in connection with topics. + +H. T. Bruns, _Canones apostolorum et conciliorum saeculorum IV, V, VI, +VII_, Berlin, 1839. Cited as Bruns. + +Although not source-books, yet of very great value for the sources they +contain should be mentioned: + +J. C. L. Gieseler, _A Text-Book of Church History_, English translation, +New York, 1857. + +K. R. Hagenbach, _A History of Christian Doctrines_, English translation, +Edinburgh, 1883-85. + +C. J. Hefele, _Conciliengeschichte_, Freiburg-i.-B., 1855-70. Second +edition, 1873 _et seq._ A new French translation with admirable +supplementary notes has just appeared. The English translation (_History +of the Councils_), Edinburgh, 1876-95, extends only through the eighth +century. Cited as Hefele. + + + + + +THE FIRST DIVISION OF ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY: THE CHURCH UNDER THE HEATHEN +EMPIRE: TO A. D. 324 + + +By the accession of Constantine to the sole sovereignty of the Roman +Empire, A. D. 324, ancient Christianity may be conveniently divided into +two great periods. In the first, it was a religion liable to persecution, +suffering severely at times and always struggling to maintain itself; in +the second, it became the religion of the State, and in its turn set about +to repress and persecute the heathen religions. It was no longer without +legal rights; it had the support of the secular rulers and was lavishly +endowed with wealth. The conditions of the Church in these two periods are +so markedly different, and the conditions had such a distinct effect upon +the life and growth of the Christian religion, that the reign of +Constantine is universally recognized as marking a transition from one +historical period to another, although no date which shall mark that +transition is universally accepted. The year 311, the year in which the +Diocletian persecution ceased, has been accepted by many as the dividing +point. The exact date adopted is immaterial. + +The principal sources in English for the history of the Christian Church +before A. D. 324 are: + +_The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down +to A. D. 325._ American edition, Buffalo and New York, 1885-1896; new +edition, New York, 1896 (a reprint). The collection, cited as ANF, +contains the bulk of the Christian literature of the period, with the +exception of the less important commentaries of Origen. + +Eusebius, _Church History_. Translated with Prolegomena and Notes by +Arthur Cushman McGiffert. In _A Select Library of the Nicene and +Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church_. Second series, New York, +1890. The _Church History_ of Eusebius is the foundation of the study of +the history of the Church before A. D. 324, as it contains a vast number +of citations from works now lost. The edition by Professor McGiffert is +the best in English, and is provided with scholarly notes, which serve as +an elaborate commentary on the text. It should be in every library. This +work is cited as Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._ The text used in the extracts given +in this source book is that of Ed. Schwartz, in _Die Griechischen +Christlicher: Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte_. Kleine +Ausgabe, Leipsic, 1908. This text is identical with the larger and less +convenient edition by the same editor. + + + + +Period I. The Apostolic Age: To Circa A. D. 100 + + +The period in the Church before the clash with Gnosticism and the rise of +an apologetic literature comprises the apostolic and the post-apostolic +ages. These names have become traditional. The so-called apostolic age, or +to circa 100, is that in which the Apostles lived, though the best +tradition makes John the only surviving Apostle for the last quarter of a +century. + +The principal sources for the history of the Church in this period are the +books of the New Testament, and only to a slight degree the works of +contemporaneous Jewish and heathen writers. It is hardly necessary to +reproduce New Testament passages here. The Jewish references of importance +will be found in the works on the life of Christ and of St. Paul. As the +treatment of this period commonly falls under a different branch of study, +New Testament exegesis, it is not necessary in Church history to enter +into any detail. There are, however, a few references to events in this +period which are to be found only outside the New Testament, and are of +importance to the student of Church history. These are the Neronian +persecution (§ 1), the death of the Apostles (§§ 2, 3), and the +persecution under Domitian (§ 4). The paucity of references to +Christianity in the first century is due chiefly to the fact that +Christianity appeared to the men of the times as merely a very small +Oriental religion, struggling for recognition, and contending with many +others coming from the same region. It had not yet made any great advance +either in numbers or social importance. + + + +§ 1. The Neronian Persecution + + +The Neronian persecution took place A. D. 64. The occasion was the great +fire which destroyed a large part of the city of Rome. To turn public +suspicion from himself as responsible for the fire, Nero attempted to make +the Christians appear as the incendiaries. Many were put to death in +horrible and fantastic ways. It was not, however, a persecution directed +against Christianity as an unlawful religion. It was probably confined to +Rome and at most the immediate vicinity, and there is no evidence that it +was a general persecution. + +Additional source material: Lactantius, _De Mortibus Persecutorum_, ch. 2 +(ANF, VII); Sulpicius Severus, Chronicon, II. 28 (PNF, ser. II, vol. XI). + + +(_a_) Tacitus, _Annales_, XV, 44. Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § 3:1. Mirbt, +n. 3. + + + Tacitus (c. 52-c. 117), although not an eye-witness of the + persecution, had exceptionally good opportunities for obtaining + accurate information, and his account is entirely trustworthy. He + is the principal source for the persecution. + + +Neither by works of benevolence nor the gifts of the prince nor means of +appeasing the gods did the shameful suspicion cease, so that it was not +believed that the fire had been caused by his command. Therefore, to +overcome this rumor, Nero put in his own place as culprits, and punished +with most ingenious cruelty, men whom the common people hated for their +shameful crimes and called Christians. Christ, from whom the name was +derived, had been put to death in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator +Pontius Pilate. The deadly superstition, having been checked for a while, +began to break out again, not only throughout Judea, where this mischief +first arose, but also at Rome, where from all sides all things scandalous +and shameful meet and become fashionable. Therefore, at the beginning, +some were seized who made confessions; then, on their information, a vast +multitude was convicted, not so much of arson as of hatred of the human +race. And they were not only put to death, but subjected to insults, in +that they were either dressed up in the skins of wild beasts and perished +by the cruel mangling of dogs, or else put on crosses to be set on fire, +and, as day declined, to be burned, being used as lights by night. Nero +had thrown open his gardens for that spectacle, and gave a circus play, +mingling with the people dressed in a charioteer's costume or driving in a +chariot. From this arose, however, toward men who were, indeed, criminals +and deserving extreme penalties, sympathy, on the ground that they were +destroyed not for the public good, but to satisfy the cruelty of an +individual. + + +(_b_) Clement of Rome, _Ep. ad Corinthios_, I, 5, 6. Funk, _Patres +Apostolici_, 1901. (MSG, 1:218.) Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § 3:5. + + + The work known as the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians + was written in the name of the Roman Church about 100. The + occasion was the rise of contentions in the Corinthian Church. The + name of Clement does not appear in the body of the epistle, but + there is no good ground for questioning the traditional ascription + to Clement, since before the end of the second century it was + quoted under his name by several writers. This Clement was + probably the third or fourth bishop of Rome. The epistle was + written soon after the Domitian persecution (A. D. 95), and refers + not only to that but also to an earlier persecution, which was + very probably that under Nero. As the reference is only by way of + illustration, the author gives little detail. The passage + translated is of interest as containing the earliest reference to + the death of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and the language used + regarding Paul has been thought to imply that he labored in parts + beyond Rome. + + +Ch. 5. But to leave the ancient examples, let us come to the champions who +lived nearest our times; let us take the noble examples of our generation. +On account of jealousy and envy the greatest and most righteous pillars of +the Church were persecuted, and contended even unto death. Let us set +before our eyes the good Apostles: Peter, who on account of unrighteous +jealousy endured not one nor two, but many sufferings, and so, having +borne his testimony, went to his deserved place of glory. On account of +jealousy and strife Paul pointed out the prize of endurance. After he had +been seven times in bonds, had been driven into exile, had been stoned, +had been a preacher in the East and in the West, he received the noble +reward of his faith; having taught righteousness unto the whole world, and +having come to the farthest bounds of the West, and having borne witness +before rulers, he thus departed from the world and went unto the holy +place, having become a notable pattern of patient endurance. + +Ch. 6. Unto these men who lived lives of holiness was gathered a vast +multitude of the elect, who by many indignities and tortures, being the +victims of jealousy, set the finest examples among us. On account of +jealousy women, when they had been persecuted as Danaids and Dircae, and +had suffered cruel and unholy insults, safely reached the goal in the race +of faith and received a noble reward, feeble though they were in body. + + + +§ 2. The Death of Peter and Paul + + + Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, II, 25. (MSG, 20:207.) _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 33. + + + For an examination of the merits of Eusebius as a historian, see + McGiffert's edition, PNF, ser. II, vol. I, pp. 45-52; also J. B. + Lightfoot, art. "Eusebius (23) of Caesarea," in DCB. + + + The works of Caius have been preserved only in fragments; see + Krueger, § 90. If he was a contemporary of Zephyrinus, he probably + lived during the pontificate of that bishop of Rome, 199-217 A. D. + The Phrygian heresy which Caius combated was Montanism; see below, + § 25. + + + Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, was a contemporary of Soter, Bishop + of Rome, 166-174 A. D., whom he mentions in an epistle to the + Roman Church. Of his epistles only fragments have been preserved; + see Krueger, § 55. The following extract from his epistle to the + Roman Church is the earliest explicit statement that Peter and + Paul suffered martyrdom at the same time or that Peter was ever in + Italy. In connection with this extract, that from Clement of Rome + (see § 1, _a_) should be consulted; also Lactantius, _De Mortibus + Persecutorum_, ch. 2 (ANF). + + +It is therefore recorded that Paul was beheaded at Rome itself, and that +Peter was crucified likewise at the same time. This account of Peter and +Paul is confirmed by the fact that their names are preserved in the +cemeteries of that place even to the present time. It is confirmed no less +by a member of the Church, Caius by name, a contemporary of Zephyrinus, +Bishop of Rome. In carrying on a discussion in writing with Proclus, the +leader of the Phrygian heresy, he says as follows concerning the places +where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid Apostles are laid: "But I am +able to show the trophies of the Apostles. For if you will go to the +Vatican or to the Ostian Way, you will find the trophies of those who laid +the foundations of this church." And that they two suffered martyrdom at +the same time is stated by Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, corresponding +with the Romans in writing, in the following words: "You have thus by such +admonition bound together the planting of Peter and Paul at Rome and at +Corinth. For both planted in our Corinth and likewise taught us, and in +like manner in Italy they both taught and suffered martyrdom at the same +time." + + + +§ 3. The Death of the Apostle John + + +(_a_) Irenaeus, _Adversus Haereses_, II, 22, 5; III, 3, 4. (MSG, 7:785, +854.) + + + Irenaeus was bishop of Lyons soon after 177. He was born in Asia + Minor about 120, and was a disciple of Polycarp (ob. circa 155) + and of other elders who had seen John, the disciple of the Lord. + + +II, 22, 5. Those in Asia associated with John, the disciple of the Lord, +testify that John delivered it [a tradition regarding the length of +Christ's ministry] to them. For he remained among them until the time of +Trajan [98-117 A. D.]. + +III, 3, 4. But the church in Ephesus also, which was founded by Paul, and +where John remained until the time of Trajan, is a faithful witness of the +apostolic tradition. + + +(_b_) Jerome, _Comm. ad Galat._ (MSL, 26:462.) + + + The following extract from Jerome's commentary on Galatians is of + such late date as to be of doubtful value as an authority. There + is, however, nothing improbable in it, and it is in harmony with + other traditions. It is to be taken as a tradition which at any + rate represents the opinion of the fourth century regarding the + Apostle John. _Cf._ Jerome, _De Viris Inlustribus_, ch. 9 (PNF, + ser. II, vol. III, 364). + + +When the holy Evangelist John had lived to extreme old age in Ephesus, he +could be carried only with difficulty by the hands of the disciples, and +as he was not able to pronounce more words, he was accustomed to say at +every assembly, "Little children, love one another." At length the +disciples and brethren who were present became tired of hearing always the +same thing and said: "Master, why do you always say this?" Thereupon John +gave an answer worthy of himself: "Because this is the commandment of the +Lord, and if it is observed then is it enough." + + +(_c_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, III, 31. (MSG, 20:279.) + + + Polycrates was bishop of Ephesus and a contemporary of Victor of + Rome (189-199 A. D.). His date cannot be fixed more precisely. The + reference to the "high priest's mitre" is obscure; see J. B. + Lightfoot, _Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians_, p. 345. A + longer extract from this epistle of Polycrates will be found under + the Easter Controversy (§ 38). + + +The time of John's death has been given in a general way,(1) but his +burial-place is indicated by an epistle of Polycrates (who was bishop of +the parish of Ephesus) addressed to Victor of Rome, mentioning him, +together with the Apostle Philip and his daughters, in the following +words: "For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise +again at the last day, at the coming of the Lord, when he shall come with +glory from heaven and seek out all the saints. Among these are Philip, one +of the twelve Apostles, who sleeps at Hierapolis, and his two aged virgin +daughters, and another daughter who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests +at Ephesus; and moreover John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who +reclined upon the bosom of the Lord, and being a priest wore the high +priest's mitre, also sleeps at Ephesus." + + + +§ 4. The Persecution under Domitian + + +What is commonly called the persecution under Domitian (81-96) does not +seem to have been a persecution of Christianity as such. The charges of +atheism and superstition may have been due to heathen misunderstanding of +the Christian faith and worship. There is no sufficient ground for +identifying Flavius Clemens with the Clemens who was bishop of Rome. For +bibliography of the persecution under Domitian, see Preuschen, _Analecta_, +second ed., I, 11. + + +(_a_) Cassius Dio (excerpt. per Xiphilinum), _Hist. Rom._, LXVII, 14 _f._ +Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § 4:11. + + + For Cassius Dio, see _Encyc. Brit._, art. "Dio Cassius." + + +At that time (95) the road which leads from Sinuessa to Puteoli was paved. +And in the same year Domitian caused Flavius Clemens along with many +others to be put to death, although he was his cousin and had for his wife +Flavia Domitilla, who was also related to him. The charge of atheism was +made against both of them, in consequence of which many others also who +had adopted the customs of the Jews were condemned. Some were put to +death, others lost their property. Domitilla, however, was only banished +to Pandataria. + + +(_b_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, III, 18. (MSG, 20:252.) + + +To such a degree did the teaching of our faith flourish at that time(2) +that even those writers who were far from our religion did not hesitate to +mention in their histories the persecutions and martyrdoms which took +place during that time. And they, indeed, accurately indicate the time. +For they record that, in the fifteenth year of Domitian, Flavia Domitilla, +daughter of a sister of Flavius Clemens, who was at that time one of the +consuls of Rome, was exiled with many others to the island of Pontia(3) in +consequence of testimony borne to Christ. + + + + +Period II. The Post-Apostolic Age: A. D. 100-A. D. 140 + + +The post-apostolic age, extending from circa 100 to circa 140, is the age +of the beginnings of Gentile Christianity on an extended scale. It is +marked by the rapid spread of Christianity, so that immediately after its +close the Church is found throughout the Roman world, and the Roman +Government is forced to take notice of it and deal with it as a religion +(§§ 6, 7); the decline of the Jewish element in the Church and extreme +hostility of Judaism to the Church (§ 5); the continuance of chiliastic +expectations (§ 10); the beginnings of the passion for martyrdom (§ 8); as +well as the appearance of the forms of organization and worship which +subsequently became greatly elaborated and remained permanently in the +Church (§§ 12-15); as also the appearance of religious and moral ideas +which became dominant in the ancient Church (§§ 11, 12, 16). The +literature of the period upon which the study of the conditions and +thought of the Church of this age must be based is represented principally +by the so-called Apostolic Fathers, a name which is convenient, but +misleading and to be regretted. These are Clement of Rome, Barnabas, +Ignatius, Polycarp, Papias, Hermas; with the writings of these are +commonly included two anonymous books known as the _Didache_, or _Teaching +of the Twelve Apostles_, and the _Epistle to Diognetus_. From all of these +selections are given.(4) + + + +§ 5. Christianity and Judaism + + +The Christian Church grew up not on Jewish but on Gentile soil. In a very +short time the Gentiles formed the overwhelming majority within the +Church. As they did not become Jews and did not observe the Jewish +ceremonial law, a problem arose as to the place of the Jewish law, which +was accepted without question as of divine authority. One solution is +given by the author of the so-called Epistle of Barnabas, which should be +compared with the solution given by St. Paul in his epistles to the +Galatians and to the Romans. The number of conversions from Judaism +rapidly declined, and very early an extreme hostility toward Christianity +became common among the Jews. + + +(_a_) Barnabas, _Epistula_, 4, 9. + + + The epistle attributed to Barnabas is certainly not by the Apostle + of that name. Its date is much disputed, but may be safely placed + within the first century. The author attempts to show the contrast + between Judaism and Christianity by proving that the Jews wholly + misunderstood the Mosaic law and had long since lost any claims + supposed to be derived from the Mosaic covenant. The epistle is + everywhere marked by hostility to Judaism, of which the writer has + but imperfect knowledge. The book was regarded as Holy Scripture + by Clement of Alexandria and by Origen, though with some + hesitation. The position taken by the author was undoubtedly + extreme, and not followed generally by the Church. It was, + however, merely pushing to excess a conviction already prevalent + in the Church, that Christianity and Judaism were distinct + religions. For a saner and more commonly accepted position, see + Justin Martyr, _Apol._, I, 47-53 (ANF, I, 178 _ff._). A + translation of the entire epistle may be found in ANF, I, 137-149. + + +Ch. 4. It is necessary, therefore, for us who inquire much concerning +present events to seek out those things which are able to save us. Let us +wholly flee, then, from all the works of iniquity, lest the works of +iniquity take hold of us; and let us hate the error of the present times, +that we may set our love on the future. Let us not give indulgence to our +soul, that it should have power to run with sinners and the wicked, that +we become not like them. The final occasion of stumbling approaches, +concerning which it is written as Enoch speaks: For this end the Lord has +cut short the times and the days, that His beloved may hasten and will +come to his inheritance.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} (5) Ye ought therefore to understand. And this +also I beg of you, as being one of you and with special love loving you +all more than my own soul, to take heed to yourselves, and not be like +some, adding largely to your sins, and saying: "The covenant is both +theirs and ours." For it is ours; but they thus finally lost it, after +Moses had already received it.(6) + +Ch. 9. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But also circumcision, in which they trusted, has been abrogated. +He declared that circumcision was not of the flesh; but they transgressed +because an evil angel deluded them.(7){~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Learn, then, my beloved children, +concerning all things richly, that Abraham, the first who enjoined +circumcision, looking forward in spirit to Jesus, circumcised, the +teaching of the three letters having been received. For the Scripture +saith: "Abraham circumcised eighteen and three hundred men of his +household." What, then, was the knowledge [_gnosis_] given to him in this? +Learn that he says the eighteen first and then, making a space, the three +hundred. The eighteen are the Iota, ten, and the Eta, eight; and you have +here the name of Jesus. And because the cross was to express the grace in +the letter Tau, he says also, three hundred. He discloses therefore Jesus +in the two letters, and the cross in one. He knows this who has put within +us the engrafted gift of his teaching. No one has learned from me a more +excellent piece of knowledge, but I know that ye are worthy.(8) + + +(_b_) Justin Martyr, _Dialogus cum Tryphone_, 17. J. C. T. Otto, Corpus +_Apologetarum Christianorum Saeculi Secundi_, third ed.; 1876-81. (MSG, +6:511.) + + + Justin Martyr was born about 100 in Samaria. He was one of the + first of the Gentiles who had been trained in philosophy to become + a Christian. His influence upon the doctrinal development of the + Church was profound. He died as a martyr between 163 and 168. His + principal works are the two Apologies written in close connection + under Antoninus Pius (138-161), probably about 150, and his + dialogue with Trypho the Jew, which was written after the first + Apology. All translations of Justin Martyr are based upon Otto's + text, _v. supra_. + + +For the other nations have not been so guilty of wrong inflicted on us and +on Christ as you have been, who are in fact the authors of the wicked +prejudices against the Just One and against us who hold by Him.(9) For +after you had crucified Him, the only blameless and righteous Man, through +whose stripes there is healing to those who through Him approach the +Father, when you knew that He had risen from the dead and ascended into +heaven, as the prophecies foretold would take place, not only did you not +repent of those things wherein you had done wickedly, but you then +selected and sent out from Jerusalem chosen men through all the world to +say that the atheistical heresy of the Christians had appeared and to +spread abroad those things which all they who know us not speak against +us; so that you are the cause of unrighteousness not only in your own +case, but, in fact, in the case of all other men generally.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Accordingly, +you show great zeal in publishing throughout all the world bitter, dark, +and unjust slanders against the only blameless and righteous Light sent +from God to men. + + +(_c_) _Martyrdom of Polycarp_, 12, 13. + + + Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, died at Smyrna February 2, 155, at the + age of at least eighty-six, but he was probably nearer one hundred + years old. He was the disciple of John, probably same as the + Apostle John. His epistle was written circa 115, soon after the + death of Ignatius of Antioch. At present it is generally regarded + as genuine, though grave doubts have been entertained in the past. + The martyrdom was written by some member of the church at Smyrna + for that body to send to the church at Philomelium in Phrygia, and + must have been composed soon after the death of the aged bishop. + It is probably the finest of all the ancient martyrdoms and should + be read in its entirety. Translation in the ANF, I, 37-45. + + +Ch. 12. The whole multitude both of the heathen and the Jews who dwelt at +Smyrna cried out with uncontrollable fury and in loud voice: "This is the +teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians and the overthrower of our +gods, who teaches many neither to sacrifice nor to worship." Saying these +things, they cried out and demanded of Philip, the Asiarch, to let a lion +loose upon Polycarp. But he said he could not do this, since the sports +with beasts had ended. Then it pleased them to cry out with one consent +that he should burn Polycarp alive.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 13. These things were carried into effect more rapidly than they were +spoken, and the multitude immediately gathered together wood and fagots +out of the shops and baths, and the Jews especially, as was their custom, +assisted them eagerly in it. + + + +§ 6. The Extension of Christianity + + +It is impossible to determine with accuracy even the principal places to +which Christianity had spread in the first half of the second century. +Ancient writers were not infrequently led astray by their own rhetoric in +dealing with this topic. + + +Justin Martyr, _Dialogus cum Tryphone_, 117. (MSG, 6:676.) + + + The following passage is of significance as bearing not only upon + the extent to which Christianity had spread, after making due + allowance for rhetoric, but also upon the conception of the + eucharist and its relation to the ancient sacrifices held, by some + Christians at least, in the first half of the second century. + _Cf._ ch. 41 of the same work, _v. infra_, §§ 12 _f._ + + +Therefore, as to all sacrifices offered in His name, which Jesus Christ +commanded to be offered, _i.e._, in the eucharist of the bread and cup, +and which are offered by Christians in all places throughout the world, +God, anticipating them, testified that they are well-pleasing to Him; but +He rejects those presented by you and by those priests of yours, saying: +And your sacrifices I will not accept at your hands; for from the rising +of the sun unto the going down of the same my name is great among the +Gentiles (He says), but ye have profaned it.(10) But since you deceive +yourselves, both you and your teachers, when you interpret what was said +as if the Word spoke of those of your nation who were in the dispersion, +and that it said that their prayers and sacrifices offered in every place +are pure and well-pleasing, you should know that you are speaking falsely +and are trying to cheat yourselves in every way; for, in the first place, +not even yet does your nation extend from the rising to the setting sun, +for there are nations among which none of your race ever dwelt. For there +is not a single race of men, whether among barbarians or Greeks, or by +whatever name they may be called, of those who live in wagons or are +called nomads or of herdsmen living in tents, among whom prayers and +thanksgivings are not offered through the name of the crucified Jesus to +the Father and Maker of all things. For, furthermore, at that time, when +the prophet Malachi said this, your dispersion over the whole earth, as +you are now, had not taken place, as is evident from the Scriptures. + + + +§ 7. Relation of the Roman State to Christianity + + +The procedure of the Roman Government against the Christians first took a +definite form with the rescript of Trajan addressed to Pliny circa A. D. +111-113, but there is no formal imperial edict extant before Decius on the +question of the Christian religion. In an addition to the rescript of +Trajan addressed to Pliny there is a letter of Hadrian on the Christians +(_Ep. ad Servianum_) which is of interest as giving the opinion of that +Emperor, but the rescript addressed to Minucius Fundanus is probably +spurious, as is also the Epistle of Antoninus Pius to the Common Assembly +of Asia. + +Additional source material: The text of the rescripts may be found in +Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, §§ 6, 7; translations, ANF, I, 186 _f._, and +Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._ (ed. McGiffert), IV, 9, and IV, 13. + + +Plinius Junior, _Epistulae_, X, 96, 97. Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, 12 _ff._ +_Cf._ Mirbt, nn. 14. 15. + + + Caius Caecilius Secundus is commonly known as Pliny the Younger, to + distinguish him from his uncle, Pliny the Naturalist, whose wealth + he inherited and whose name he seems to have borne. He was + propraetor of Bithynia under Trajan (98-117), with whom he stood on + terms of friendship and even intimacy. His letter to the Emperor + requesting advice as to the right mode of dealing with Christians + was written between 111 and 113. + + + This correspondence is of the first importance, as it is + unimpeachable evidence as to the spread of Christianity in the + province in which Pliny was placed, to the customs of the + Christians in their worship, and to the method of dealing with the + new religion, which was followed for a long time with little + change. It established the policy that Christianity, as such, was + not to be punished as a crime, that the State did not feel called + upon to seek out Christians, that it would not act upon anonymous + accusations, but that when proper accusations were brought, the + general laws, which Christians had violated on account of their + faith, should be executed. Christianity was not to be treated as a + crime. The mere renunciation of Christianity, coupled with the + proof of renunciation involved in offering sacrifice, enabled the + accused to escape punishment. + + +Ep. 96. It is my custom, my lord, to refer to you all questions about +which I have doubts. Who, indeed, can better direct me in hesitation, or +enlighten me in ignorance? In the examination of Christians I have never +taken part; therefore I do not know what crime is usually punished or +investigated or to what extent. So I have no little uncertainty whether +there is any distinction of age, or whether the weaker offenders fare in +no respect otherwise than the stronger; whether pardon is granted on +repentance, or whether when one has been a Christian there is no gain to +him in that he has ceased to be such; whether the mere name, if it is +without crimes, or crimes connected with the name are punished. Meanwhile +I have taken this course with those who were accused before me as +Christians: I have asked them whether they were Christians. Those who +confessed I asked a second and a third time, threatening punishment. Those +who persisted I ordered led away to execution. For I did not doubt that, +whatever it was they admitted, obstinacy and unbending perversity +certainly deserve to be punished. There were others of the like insanity, +but because they were Roman citizens I noted them down to be sent to Rome. +Soon after this, as it often happens, because the matter was taken notice +of, the crime became wide-spread and many cases arose. An unsigned paper +was presented containing the names of many. But these denied that they +were or had been Christians, and I thought it right to let them go, since +at my dictation they prayed to the gods and made supplication with incense +and wine to your statue, which I had ordered to be brought into the court +for the purpose, together with the images of the gods, and in addition to +this they cursed Christ, none of which things, it is said, those who are +really Christians can be made to do. Others who were named by an informer +said that they were Christians, and soon afterward denied it, saying, +indeed, that they had been, but had ceased to be Christians, some three +years ago, some many years, and one even twenty years ago. All these also +not only worshipped your statue and the images of the gods, but also +cursed Christ. They asserted, however, that the amount of their fault or +error was this: that they had been accustomed to assemble on a fixed day +before daylight and sing by turns [_i.e._, antiphonally] a hymn to Christ +as a god; and that they bound themselves with an oath, not for any crime, +but to commit neither theft, nor robbery, nor adultery, not to break their +word and not to deny a deposit when demanded; after these things were +done, it was their custom to depart and meet together again to take food, +but ordinary and harmless food; and they said that even this had ceased +after my edict was issued, by which, according to your commands, I had +forbidden the existence of clubs. On this account I believed it the more +necessary to find out from two maid-servants, who were called deaconesses +[_ministrae_], and that by torture, what was the truth. I found nothing +else than a perverse and excessive superstition. I therefore adjourned the +examination and hastened to consult you. The matter seemed to me to be +worth deliberation, especially on account of the number of those in +danger. For many of every age, every rank, and even of both sexes, are +brought into danger; and will be in the future. The contagion of that +superstition has penetrated not only the cities but also the villages and +country places; and yet it seems possible to stop it and set it right. At +any rate, it is certain enough that the temples, deserted until quite +recently, begin to be frequented, that the ceremonies of religion, long +disused, are restored, and that fodder for the victims comes to market, +whereas buyers of it were until now very few. From this it may easily be +supposed what a multitude of men can be reclaimed if there be a place of +repentance. + +Ep. 97 (_Trajan to Pliny_). You have followed, my dear Secundus, the +proper course of procedure in examining the cases of those who were +accused to you as Christians. For, indeed, nothing can be laid down as a +general law which contains anything like a definite rule of action. They +are not to be sought out. If they are accused and convicted, they are to +be punished, yet on this condition, that he who denies that he is a +Christian and makes the fact evident by an act, that is, by worshipping +our gods, shall obtain pardon on his repentance, however much suspected as +to the past. Papers, however, which are presented anonymously ought not to +be admitted in any accusation. For they are a very bad example and +unworthy of our times. + + + +§ 8. Martyrdom and the Desire for Martyrdom + + +Ignatius of Antioch, _Ep. ad Romanos_, 4. + + + Ignatius was bishop of Antioch in the opening years of the second + century. According to tradition, he suffered martyrdom in Rome + under Trajan, circa 117. Having been sent from Antioch to Rome by + command of the Emperor, on his way he addressed letters to various + churches in Asia, exhorting them to seek unity and avoid heresy by + close union with the local bishop. His aim seems to have been + practical, to promote the welfare of the Christian communities + rather than the exaltation of the episcopal office itself. Doubts + have arisen as to the authenticity of these epistles on account of + the frequent references to the episcopate and to heresy. Further + difficulty has been caused by the fact that the epistles of + Ignatius appear in three forms or recensions, a longer Greek + recension forming a group of thirteen epistles, a short Greek of + seven epistles, and a still shorter Syriac version of only three. + After much fluctuation of opinion, due to the general + reconstruction of the history of the whole period, which has gone + through various marked changes, the opinion of scholars has been + steadily settling upon the short Greek recension of seven epistles + as authentic, especially since the critical re-examination of the + whole question by Zahn and Lightfoot. + + +I write to all the churches and impress on all, that I shall willingly die +for God unless ye hinder me. I beseech you not to show unseasonable +good-will toward me.(11) Permit me to be the food of wild beasts, through +whom it will be granted me to attain unto God. I am the wheat of God and I +am ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread +of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb and +leave nothing of my body, so that when I have fallen asleep I may be +burdensome to no one. Then I shall be truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, +when the world sees not my body. Entreat Christ for me, that by these +instruments I may be found a sacrifice to God. Not as Peter and Paul(12) +do I issue commandments unto you. They were Apostles, I a condemned man; +they were free, I even until now a slave.(13) But if I suffer, I shall be +the freedman of Jesus Christ, and shall rise again free in Him. And now, +being in bonds, I learn not to desire anything. + + + +§ 9. The Position of the Roman Community of Christians in the Church + + +The Roman Church took very early a leading place in the Christian Church, +even before the rise of the Petrine tradition, and its importance was +generally recognized. Its charity was very widely known and extolled. It +was a part of its care for Christians everywhere, a care which found +expression later in the obligation of maintaining the faith in the great +theological controversies. On the position of the Roman Church in this +period, see the address of the Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans (ANF, I, +73), as also the relation of Polycarp to the Roman Church in connection +with the question of the date of Easter (see § 38, below). + + +Dionysius of Corinth, "Epistle to the Roman Church," in Eusebius, _Hist. +Ec._, IV, 23. (MSG, 20:388.) For text, see Kirch, n. 49 _f._ + + +Moreover, there is still current an Epistle of Dionysius to the Romans, +addressed to Soter, bishop at that time. But there is nothing like quoting +its words in which, in approval of the custom of the Romans maintained +until the persecution in our own time, he writes as follows: "For you have +from the beginning this custom of doing good in different ways to all the +brethren, and of sending supplies to many churches in all the cities, in +this way refreshing the poverty of those in need, and helping brethren in +the mines with the supplies which you have sent from the beginning, +maintaining as Romans the customs of the Romans handed down from the +fathers, which your blessed bishop Soter has not only kept up, but also +increased, helping the saints with the abundant supply he sends from time +to time, and with blessed words exhorting, as a loving father his +children, the brethren who come up to the city." In this same epistle he +also mentions the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, showing that from +the first it was read by ancient custom before the Church. He says, +therefore: "To-day, then, being the Lord's day we kept holy; in which we +read your letter; for reading it we shall always have admonition, as also +from the former one written to us through Clement." Moreover, the same +writer speaks of his own epistles as having been falsified, as follows: +"For when the brethren asked me to write letters, I wrote them. And these +the apostles of the devil have filled with tares, taking away some things +and adding others. For them there is woe in store. So it is not marvellous +that some have tried to falsify even the dominical scriptures [_i.e._, the +Holy Scriptures], when they have conspired against writings of another +sort." + + + +§ 10. Chiliastic Expectations + + +Primitive Christianity was marked by great chiliastic enthusiasm, traces +of which may be found in the New Testament. By chiliasm, strictly +speaking, is meant the belief that Christ was to return to earth and reign +visibly for one thousand years. That return was commonly placed in the +immediate future. With that reign was connected the bodily resurrection of +the saints. This belief, in somewhat varying form, was one of the great +ethical motives in apostolic and post-apostolic times. It was a part of +the fundamental principles of Montanism. It disappeared with the rise of a +"scientific theology" such as that of Alexandria, the exclusion of +Montanism, and the changed conception of the relation of the Church and +the world, due to the lapse of time and the establishment of Christianity +as the religion of the State. From the fourth century it ceased to be a +living doctrine. + + +(_a_) Papias, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, III, 39. (MSG, 20: 300.) + + + Papias, from whom two selections have been taken, was bishop of + Hierapolis in Phrygia during the first part of the second century. + He was, therefore, an elder contemporary of Justin Martyr. His + work, _The Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord_, has perished, + with the exception of a few fragments. The comments of Eusebius in + introducing the quotations of Papias are characteristic of the + change that had come over the Church since the post-apostolic + period. That Papias was not to be regarded as a man of small power + simply because he held chiliastic ideas is sufficiently refuted by + the fact that Justin Martyr falls but little behind Papias in + extravagance of expression. + + +"I shall not hesitate, also, to set in order for you with my +interpretations whatsoever things I have ever learned carefully from the +elders and carefully remembered, guaranteeing the truth of them.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} For I +did not think that what was to be gotten from the books would profit me as +much as what came from the living and abiding voice.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}" The same writer +gives also other accounts which he says came to him through unwritten +traditions, certain strange parables and teachings of the Saviour and some +other more mythical things. Among these he says that there will be a +period of some thousand years after the resurrection of the dead, when the +kingdom of Christ will be set up in a material form on this very earth. I +suppose he got these ideas through a misunderstanding of the apostolic +accounts, not perceiving that the things said by them were spoken +mystically in figures. For he appears to have been of very limited +understanding, as one can see from his discourses, though so many of the +Church Fathers after him adopted a like opinion, urging in their support +the antiquity of the man; as, for instance, Irenaeus and any one else that +may have proclaimed similar views. + + +(_b_) Irenaeus. _Adv. Haereses_, V, 33. (MSG, 7:1213.) + + +The elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, relate that they heard +from him how the Lord used to teach in regard to those times, and say: +"The days will come in which vines shall grow, each having ten thousand +branches, and in each branch ten thousand twigs, and in each twig ten +thousand shoots, and in each one of the shoots ten thousand clusters, and +on every cluster ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will +yield five-and-twenty metretes of wine. And when any one of the saints +shall lay hold of a cluster, another shall cry out, 'I am better cluster, +take me; bless the Lord through me.' In like manner [the Lord declared] +that a grain of wheat would produce ten thousand ears, and that every ear +would produce ten thousand grains, and every grain would yield ten pounds +of clear, pure, fine flour; and that all other fruit-bearing trees, and +seeds and grass would produce similar proportions, and that all animals +feeding [only] on the productions of the earth would [in those days] +become peaceful and harmonious with each other and be in perfect +subjection to men." And these things are borne witness to in writing by +Papias, the hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp, in his fourth +book; for there were five books compiled by him. And he says in addition: +"Now these things are credible to believers." + + +(_c_) Justin Martyr, _Dialogus cum Tryphone_, 80 _f._ (MSG, 6:665.) + + +Ch. 80. Although you have fallen in with some who are called Christians, +but who do not admit this truth [the resurrection] and venture to +blaspheme the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of +Jacob,(14) and who say that there is no resurrection of the dead and that +their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven, be careful not to regard +them as Christians.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But I and whoever are on all points right-minded +Christians know that there will be a resurrection of the dead and a +thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and +enlarged as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and the others declare. + +Ch. 81. And, further, a certain man with us, named John, one of the +Apostles of Christ, predicted by a revelation that was made to him that +those who believed in our Christ would spend a thousand years in +Jerusalem, and thereafter the general, or to speak briefly, the eternal +resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place. + + + +§ 11. The Church and the World + + +So long as chiliastic expectations were the basis of the Christian's hope +and his judgment of the order of this present world, the Christian felt +that he was but a stranger and sojourner in the world, and that his real +home was the kingdom of Christ, soon to be established here on earth. With +such a view the Christian would naturally define his relation to the world +as being in it, yet not of it. As time passed, the opinion became more +common that the kingdom of Christ was not a future world-order to be set +up on His return, but the Church here on earth. This thought, which is the +key to the _City of God_ by St. Augustine, was not to be found in the +first century and a half of the Church. + + +_Ep. ad Diognetum_, 5, 6. + + + The Epistle to Diognetus is one of the choicest pieces of + ante-Nicene literature. Although it is commonly included among the + Apostolic Fathers, the date is uncertain, it is anonymous, and the + reason for its inclusion is not clear. The weight of opinion is in + favor of an early date. It was preserved in but one manuscript, + which was unfortunately destroyed in 1870. The main themes of the + epistle are the faith and manners of the Christians, and an + attempt to explain the late appearance of Christianity in the + world. The work, therefore, is of the nature of an apology, and + should be compared with _The Apology of Aristides_. A translation + of the epistle may be found in ANF, I, 23. + + +Ch. 5. The Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, +nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit +cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life +which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they +follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of +inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates +of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian +cities, according as the lot of each of them has been determined, and +following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the +rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and +confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, +but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with +others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign country +is to them as their native land, and every land of their birth as a land +of strangers. They marry as do all; they beget children; but they do not +commit abortion. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are +in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days +on earth, but they are the citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed +laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all +men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are +put to death and restored to life. They are poor, yet they make many rich; +they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all. They are +dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are +evil-spoken of, and yet are justified. They are reviled and bless; they +are insulted and repay insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished +as evil-doers. When punished they rejoice as if quickened into life; they +are assailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks; +yet those who hate them are unable to assign a reason for their hatred. + +Ch. 6. What the soul is in the body, that the Christians are in the world. +The soul is spread through all the members of the body, and Christians +through the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, but is not +of the body; so Christians dwell in the world, but they are not of the +world. The invisible soul is guarded in the visible body; so Christians +are known as existing in the world, but their religion remains invisible. +The flesh hates the soul and wages war on it, though it has received no +wrong, because it is forbidden to indulge in pleasures; so the world hates +Christians, though it receives no wrong from them, because they are +opposed to its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh which hates it, and it +loves the members; so Christians love those who hate them. The soul is +enclosed in the body, yet itself holds the body together; so the +Christians are kept in the world as in a prison-house, yet they themselves +hold the world together. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; +so Christians sojourn amid corruptible things, looking for the +incorruptibility in the heavens. The soul when hardly treated in the +matter of meats and drinks is improved; so Christians when punished +increase more and more daily. In so great an office has God appointed +them, which it is not lawful for them to decline. + + + +§ 12. Theological Ideas + + +In the post-apostolic period are to be traced the beginnings of +distinctive forms of religious and ethical ideas as distinguished from +mere repetition of New Testament phrases. The most influential writer was +Ignatius of Antioch, the founder, or earliest representative, of what may +be called the Asia Minor theology, which is to be traced through Irenaeus, +Methodius, and Athanasius to the other great theologians of the Nicene +period, becoming the distinctive Eastern type of piety. It probably +persisted in Asia Minor after Ignatius. Among its characteristic features +was the thought of redemption as the imparting to man of incorruptibility +through the incarnation and the sacraments. + + +(_a_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Ephesios_, 18 _ff._ + + + The Epistle to the Ephesians is doctrinally the most important of + the writings of Ignatius. In the passage that follows there is a + remarkable anticipation of a part of the Apostles' Creed (_cf._ + Hahn. § 1). The whole passage contains in brief the fundamental + point of the writer's teachings. + + +Ch. 18. My spirit is an offering(15) of the cross, which is a +stumbling-block to unbelievers, but to us salvation and life eternal. +"Where is the wise man? where the disputer?" [I Cor. 1:20.] Where is the +boasting of those called prudent? For our God, Jesus Christ, was, +according to the dispensation of God, conceived in the womb of Mary of the +seed of David, but of the Holy Ghost. He was born and baptized, that by +His passion He might purify the water. + +Ch. 19. And the virginity of Mary was hidden from the Prince of this +World, and her bringing forth, and likewise the death of the Lord; three +mysteries of shouting, which were wrought in silence of God. How, then, +was He manifested to the world? A star shone forth from heaven above all +other stars, and its light was inexpressible, while its novelty struck men +with astonishment, but all the rest of the stars, with the sun and moon, +formed a chorus to this star, and its light was exceedingly great above +them all. And there was agitation whence this novelty, so unlike to +everything else. Hence every kind of magic was destroyed and every bond of +wickedness disappeared; ignorance was removed and the old kingdom +abolished, for God had been manifested in human form for the renewal of +eternal life. And now that took a beginning which had been prepared by +God. Henceforth all things were in a state of tumult because He meditated +the abolition of death. + +Ch. 20. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Especially [will I write again] if the Lord make known to me +that ye all, man by man, through grace given to each, agree in one faith +and in Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David according to the +flesh, the Son of Man and the Son of God, so that ye obey the bishop and +the presbytery with an undivided mind, breaking one bread, which is the +medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent dying, but which is +life forever in Jesus Christ. + + +(_b_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Smyrnaeos_, 7. + + + The following passage may be regarded as a parallel to part of the + preceding extract from the same writer's Epistle to the Ephesians. + + +They abstain from the eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not +that the eucharist is the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which +suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up +again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, die while +disputing. But it were better for them to love it, that they also may rise +again. It is fitting, therefore, that ye should keep aloof from such +persons, and not speak of them either in private or public, but to give +heed to the prophets and, above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion +has been revealed to us and the resurrection fully proved. But avoid all +divisions as the beginning of evils. + + +(_c_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Trallianos_, 9, 10. + + + The heresy which the writer fears is that known as Docetism, which + denied the reality of the body of Jesus. Reference is made to it + in the New Testament, I John 4:2. It was based upon the same + philosophical idea as much of the later Gnostic speculation, that + matter is essentially evil, and therefore a pure spirit could not + be united to a real body composed of matter. See J. B. Lightfoot, + _Apostolic Fathers_, pt. II, vol. II, p. 173 _ff._ + + +Ch. 9. Be ye therefore deaf when any one speaks to you apart from Jesus +Christ, who was of the race of David, who was born of Mary, who was truly +born and ate and drank, who was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, who +was truly crucified and died while those in heaven and those on earth and +those under the earth looked on; who, also, was truly raised from the +dead, His Father having raised Him, who in like fashion will raise us who +believe in Him; His Father, I say, will raise us in Christ Jesus, apart +from whom we have not true life. + +Ch. 10. But if it were as certain persons who are godless, that is, +unbelievers, say, that He only appeared to suffer, they themselves being +only in appearance, why am I bound? And why, also, do I desire to fight +with wild beasts? I therefore die in vain. Truly, then, I lie against the +Lord. + + + +§ 13. Worship in the Post-Apostolic Period + + +The worship of the Christian Church in the earliest period centred in the +eucharist. There are references to this in the New Testament (_cf._ Acts +2:42; 20:7; I Cor. 10:16). How far the agape was connected with the +eucharist is uncertain. + + + Additional source material: See Pliny's letter to Trajan (_v. + supra_, § 7); the selections from Ignatius already given (_v. + supra_, § 12) and the _Didache_ (_v. infra_, § 14, _a_). + + +Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, I, 61:65-67. (MSG, 6:428 _ff._) _Cf._ Mirbt, n. +18. + + + The _First Apology_ of Justin Martyr was written probably about + 150. As Justin's work is dated, and is of indisputable + authenticity, his account of the early worship of the Christians + is of the very first importance. It should be noted, however, + that, inasmuch as he is writing for non-Christians, he uses no + technical terms in his description, and therefore nothing can be + determined as to the exact significance of the titles he applies + to the presiding officer at the eucharist. The following passage + is of importance, also, as a witness to the custom of reading, in + the course of Christian public worship, books that appear to be + the Gospels. Irenaeus, thirty years later, limits the number of the + Gospels to four, _v. infra_, § 28. On the eucharist, _v. infra_, § + 33. + + +Ch. 61. But I will explain the manner in which we who have been made new +through Christ have also dedicated ourselves to God, lest by passing it +over I should seem in any way to be unfair in my explanation. As many as +are persuaded and believe that the things are true which are taught and +said by us, and promise that they are able to live accordingly, they are +taught to pray and with fasting to ask God forgiveness of their former +sins, while we pray and fast with them. Thereupon they are brought by us +to where there is water, and are born again in the same manner of a new +birth as we, also, ourselves were born again. For in the name of God the +Father and Lord of all, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy +Spirit, they then receive the washing in the water. For Christ said: +"Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." +But that it is impossible for those once born to enter into the wombs of +their mothers is manifest to all.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And this washing is called +enlightenment, because those who learn these things have their +understandings enlightened. But, also, in the name of Jesus Christ who was +crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit who by +the prophets foretold all things pertaining to Jesus, he who is +illuminated is washed. + +Ch. 65. But after we have thus washed him who is persuaded and has +assented, we bring him to those who are called the brethren, to where they +are gathered together, making earnest prayer in common for ourselves and +for him who is enlightened, and for all others everywhere, that we may be +accounted worthy, after we have learned the truth, by our works also to be +found right livers and keepers of the commandments, that we may be saved +with the eternal salvation. We salute each other with a kiss when we +conclude our prayers. Thereupon to the president of the brethren bread and +a cup of water and wine are brought, and he takes it and offers up praise +and glory to the Father of the universe through the name of the Son and +the Holy Spirit, and gives thanks at length that we have been accounted +worthy of these things from Him; and when he has ended the prayers and +thanksgiving the whole people present assent, saying "Amen." Now the word +Amen in the Hebrew language signifies, So be it. Then after the president +has given thanks and all the people have assented, those who are called by +us deacons give to each one of those present to partake of the bread and +of the wine and water for which thanks have been given, and for those not +present they take away a portion. + +Ch. 66. And this food is called by us eucharist, and it is not lawful for +any man to partake of it but him who believes the things taught by us to +be true, and has been washed with the washing which is for the remission +of sins and unto a new birth, and is so living as Christ commanded. For +not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but just as +Jesus Christ our Saviour, being made flesh through the word of God, had +for our salvation both flesh and blood, so, also, we are taught that the +food for which thanks are given by the word of prayer which is from Him, +and from which by conversion our flesh and blood are nourished, is the +flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the Apostles in the +memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, thus delivered what +was commanded them: that Jesus took bread and gave thanks and said, This +do in remembrance of Me, this is My body; and that He likewise took the +cup, and when He had given thanks, said, This is My blood, and gave only +to them. And this the evil demons imitating, commanded it to be done also +in the mysteries of Mithras; for that bread and a cup of water are set +forth with certain explanations in the ceremonial of initiation, you +either know or can learn. + +Ch. 67. But we afterward always remind one another of these things, and +those among us who are wealthy help all who are in want, and we always +remain together. And for all things we eat we bless the Maker of all +things through His Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. And on +the day called the Day of the Sun there is a gathering in one place of us +all who live in cities or in the country, and the memoirs of the Apostles +or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time allows. Then, +when the reader has ceased, the president gives by word of mouth his +admonition and exhortation to imitate these excellent things. Afterward we +all rise at once and offer prayers; and as I said, when we have ceased to +pray, bread is brought and wine and water, and the president likewise +offers up prayers and thanksgivings as he has the ability, and the people +assent, saying "Amen." The distribution to each and the partaking of that +for which thanks were given then take place; and to those not present a +portion is sent by the hands of the deacons. Those who are well-to-do and +willing give, every one giving what he will, according to his own +judgment, and the collection is deposited with the president, and he +assists orphans and widows, and those who through sickness or any other +cause are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers that are +sojourning, and, in short, he has the care of all that are in need. Now we +all hold our common meeting on the Day of the Sun, because it is the first +day on which God, having changed the darkness and matter, created the +world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. +For on the day before Saturn's they crucified Him; and on the day after +Saturn's, which is the Day of the Sun, having appeared to his Apostles and +disciples, He taught them these things which we have offered you for +consideration. + + + +§ 14. Church Organization + + +No subject in Church history has been more hotly discussed than the +organization of the primitive Christian Church. Each of several Christian +confessions have attempted to justify a polity which it regarded as _de +fide_ by appeal to the organization of the Church of the primitive ages. +Since it has been seen that the admission of the principle of development +does not invalidate claims for divine warrant for a polity, the +acrimonious debate has been somewhat stilled. There seems to have been in +the Church several forms of organization, and to some extent the various +contentions of conflicting creeds and polities have been therein +justified. The ultimately universal form, episcopacy, may in some parts of +the Church be traced to the end of the apostolic age, but it seems not to +have been universally diffused at that time. Since Christian communities +sprang up without official propaganda, at least in many instances, and +were due to the work of independent Christian believers moving about in +the Empire, this variety of organization was what might have been +expected, especially as the significance of the organization was first +felt chiefly in connection with the danger from heresy. That various +external influences affected the development is also highly probable. + + +(_a_) Clement of Rome, _Ep. ad Corinthios_, I, 42, 44. + + +Ch. 42. The Apostles have preached the Gospel to us from the Lord Jesus +Christ; Jesus Christ was sent forth from God. Christ, therefore, was from +God, and the Apostles from Christ. Both these appointments, then, came +about in an orderly way, by the will of God. Having, therefore, received +their orders, and being fully assured by the resurrection of our Lord +Jesus Christ, and established in the word of God, with full assurance of +the Holy Ghost, they went forth proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at +hand. And thus preaching through countries and cities, they appointed +their first-fruits, having proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and +deacons of those who should afterward believe. Nor was this a new thing; +for, indeed, many ages before it was written concerning bishops and +deacons. For thus saith the Scripture in a certain place: "I will appoint +their bishops in righteousness, and their deacons in faith."(16) + +Ch. 44. Our Apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there +would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate.(17) For this +cause, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect foreknowledge of +this, they appointed those already mentioned, and afterward gave +instructions that when these should fall asleep other approved men should +succeed them in their ministry. We are of the opinion, therefore, that +those appointed by them, or afterward by other eminent men, with the +consent of the whole Church, and who have blamelessly served the flock of +Christ in lowliness of mind, peaceably, and with all modesty, and for a +long time have borne a good report with all--these men we consider to be +unjustly thrust out of their ministrations.(18) For it will be no light +sin for us, if we thrust out those who have offered the gifts of the +bishop's office blamelessly and holily. Blessed are those presbyters who +have gone before seeing their departure was fruitful and ripe; for they +have no fear lest any one should remove them from their appointed place. +For we see that ye have displaced certain persons, though they were living +honorably, from the ministration which had been honored by them +blamelessly. + + +(_b_) _Didache_, 7-15. + + + The _Didache_ is a very early manual of the instruction for + Christian converts. It consists of two quite distinct parts, viz., + a brief account of the moral law (chapters 1-6). which appears to + be based upon a Jewish original to which the name of _The Two + Ways_ has been given, and a somewhat longer account of the various + rites of the Church and the regulations governing its + organization. Its date is in the first half of the second century + and belongs more probably to the first quarter than to the second. + It is a document of first-class importance, especially in the part + bearing on the organization of the Church, which is here given. + The extensive literature on the subject may be found in Krueger. + _op. cit._, A§ 21. + + +Ch. 7. But concerning baptism, thus shall ye baptize. Having first recited +all these things, baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of +the Holy Spirit in living [_i.e._, running] water. But if thou hast not +living water, then baptize in any other water; and if thou art not able in +cold, in warm. But if thou hast neither, pour water upon the head thrice +in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But +before baptism let him that baptizeth and him that is baptized fast, and +any others also who are able; and thou shalt order him that is baptized to +fast a day or two before. + +Ch. 8. And let not your fastings be with the hypocrites. For they fast on +the second and the fifth days of the week; but do ye keep your fast on the +fourth and on the preparation [_i.e._, the sixth day]. Neither pray ye as +the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, thus pray ye: Our +Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will +be done, as in heaven, so also on earth; give us this day our daily(19) +bread; and forgive us our debt, as we also forgive our debtors; and lead +us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One; for Thine is the +power and the glory forever.(20) Three times in the day pray ye so. + +Ch. 9. But as regards the eucharist [thanksgiving], give ye thanks thus. +First, as regards the cup: We give Thee thanks, O our Father, for the holy +vine of David, Thy Son, which Thou madest known unto us through Jesus, Thy +Son; Thine is the glory forever. Then as regards the breaking [_i.e._, of +the bread]: We give thanks to Thee, O our Father, for the life and +knowledge which thou madest known unto us through Jesus, Thy Son; Thine is +the glory forever. As this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains +and being gathered together became one, so may Thy Church be gathered +together from the ends of the earth into Thy kingdom; for Thine is the +glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever and ever. But let no one +eat or drink of this eucharist [thanksgiving] but they that have been +baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord hath +said: Give not that which is holy unto the dogs. + +Ch. 10. After ye are satisfied give thanks thus: We give Thee thanks, Holy +Father, for Thy holy name, which Thou hast made to tabernacle in our +hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality, which Thou hast +made known unto us through Thy Son Jesus; Thine is the glory forever. +Thou, Almighty Master, created all things for Thy name's sake, and gave +food and drink unto men for enjoyment, that they might render thanks to +Thee; but bestowed upon us spiritual food and drink and eternal life +through Thy Son. Before all things we give Thee thanks that Thou art +powerful; Thine is the glory forever. Remember, Lord, Thy Church to +deliver it from all evil and to perfect it in Thy love; and gather it +together from the four winds--even the Church which has been +sanctified--into Thy kingdom which Thou hast prepared for it; for Thine is +the power and the glory forever. May grace come and may this world pass +away. Hosanna to the God of David. If any one is holy let him come; if any +one is not, let him repent. Maran Atha. Amen. But permit the prophets to +offer thanksgiving as much as they will. + +Ch. 11. Whosoever, therefore, shall come and teach you all these things +that have been said receive him; but if the teacher himself be perverted +and teach a different doctrine to the destruction thereof, hear him not; +but if to the increase of righteousness and knowledge of the Lord, receive +him as the Lord. + +But concerning the apostles and prophets, so do ye according to the +ordinance of the Gospel: Let every apostle coming to you be received as +the Lord; but he shall not abide more than a single day, or if there be +need, a second likewise; but if he abide three days, he is a false +prophet. And when he departs, let not the apostle receive anything save +bread until he find shelter; but if he ask money, he is a false prophet. +And any prophet speaking in the Spirit ye shall not try, neither discern; +for every sin shall be forgiven, but this sin shall not be forgiven. Yet +not every one that speaketh in the Spirit is a prophet, but only if he +have the ways of the Lord. From his ways, therefore, the false prophet and +the [true] prophet shall be recognized. And no prophet when he ordereth a +table in the Spirit shall eat of it; otherwise he is a false prophet.(21) +And every prophet teaching the truth, if he doeth not what he teacheth, is +a false prophet. And every prophet approved and found true, working unto a +worldly mystery of the Church,(22) and yet teacheth not to do what he +himself doeth, shall not be judged before you; he hath his judgment in the +presence of God; for in like manner also did the ancient prophets. And +whosoever shall say in the Spirit, Give me silver or anything else, do not +listen to him; but if he say to give on behalf of others who are in want, +let no one judge him. + +Ch. 12. But let every one coming in the name of the Lord be received; and +when ye have tested him ye shall know him, for ye shall have understanding +on the right hand and on the left. If the comer is a traveller, assist him +as ye are able; but let him not stay with you but for two or three days, +if it be necessary. But if he wishes to settle with you, being a +craftsman, let him work and eat. But if he has no craft, according to your +wisdom provide how without idleness he shall live as a Christian among +you. If he will not do this, he is trafficking upon Christ. Beware of such +men. + +Ch. 13. But every true prophet desiring to settle among you is worthy of +his food. In like manner, a true teacher is also worthy, like the workman, +of his food. Every first-fruit, then, of the produce of the wine-vat and +of the threshing-floor, of thy oxen and of thy sheep, thou shalt take and +give as the first-fruit to the prophets; for they are your chief priests. +But if ye have not a prophet, give them to the poor. If thou makest bread, +take the first-fruit and give according to the commandment. In like +manner, when thou openest a jar of wine or oil, take the first-fruit and +give to the prophets; yea, and of money and raiment and every possession +take the first-fruit, as shall seem good to thee, and give according to +the commandment. + +Ch. 14. And on the Lord's day gather yourselves together and break bread +and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice +may be pure. And let no man having a dispute with his fellow join your +assembly until they have been reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be +defiled; for this is the sacrifice spoken of by the Lord: In every place +and at every time offer me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great king, saith +the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations. [Mal. 1:11, 14.] + +Ch. 15. Appoint [_i.e._, lay hands on], therefore, for yourselves bishops +and deacons worthy of the Lord, men meek, not lovers of money, truthful, +and approved; for they also render you the service of prophets and +teachers. Despise them not, therefore, for they are your honored ones +together with the prophets and teachers. + + +(_c_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Trallianos_, 2, 3. + + + For Ignatius, see § 8. + + +Ch. 2. For since ye are subject to the bishop as Jesus Christ, ye appear +to me to live not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus Christ, +who died for us, in order that by believing in His death ye may escape +death. It is therefore necessary that just as ye indeed do, so without the +bishop ye should do nothing, but should also be subject to the presbytery, +as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ, our Hope, living in whom we shall be +found [_i.e._, at the last]. It is right, also, that the deacons, being +[ministers] of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, should in every respect be +well-pleasing to all. For they are not the ministers of meats and drinks, +but servants of the Church of God. It is necessary, therefore, that they +guard themselves from all grounds of accusation as they would from fire. + +Ch. 3. In like manner, let all reverence the deacons as Jesus Christ, as +also the bishop, who is a type of the Father, and the presbyters as the +sanhedrim of God and the assembly of the Apostles. Apart from these there +is no Church. + + +(_d_) Ignatius, _Ep. ad Smyrnaeos_, 8. + + +See that ye follow the bishop as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the +presbyters as ye would the Apostles; and reverence the deacons as a +commandment of God. Without the bishop let no one do any of those things +connected with the Church. Let that be deemed a proper eucharist which is +administered either by the bishop or by him to whom he has intrusted it. +Wherever the bishop shall appear there let also the multitude be, even as +wherever Jesus Christ is there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful +without the bishop either to baptize or to make an agape. But whatsoever +he shall approve that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is +done may be secure and valid. + + + +§ 15. Church Discipline + + +The Church was the company of the saints. How far, then, could the Church +tolerate in its midst those who had committed serious offences against the +moral law? A case had occurred in the Corinthian church about which St. +Paul had given some instructions to the Christians of that city (_cf._ I +Cor. 5:3-5; II Cor. 13:10). There was the idea current that sins after +baptism admitted of no pardon and involved permanent exclusion from the +Church (_cf._ Heb. 10:26). A distinction was also made as to sins whereby +some were regarded as "sins unto death" and not admitting of pardon (_cf._ +I John 5:16). In principle, the exclusion from the Church of those who had +committed gross sins was recognized, but as the Church grew it soon became +a serious question as to the extent to which this strict discipline could +be enforced. We find, therefore, a well-defined movement toward relaxing +this rigor of the law. The beginning appears in Hermas, who admits the +possibility of one repentance after baptism. A special problem was +presented from the first by the difference between the conceptions of +marriage held by the Christians and by the heathen. The Church very early +took the position that marriage in some sense was indissoluble, that so +long as both parties to a marriage lived, neither could marry again, but +after the death of one party the surviving spouse could remarry, although +this second marriage was looked upon with some disfavor. Both the idea of +a second repentance and the idea of the indissolubility of marriage are +expressed in the following extract from Hermas: + + +Hermas, _Pastor_, Man. IV, I, 3. + + + Hermas wrote in the second century. Opinions have varied as to his + date, some putting him near the beginning, some near the middle of + the century. The weight of opinion seems to be that he lived + shortly before 150. His work entitled _The Pastor_ is in the form + of revelations, and was therefore thought to partake of an + inspiration similar to that of Holy Scripture. This naturally gave + it a place among Scriptures for a while and accounts for the great + popularity of the work in the early Church. It is the best example + of an extensive apocalyptic literature which flourished in the + Church in the first two centuries. + + +Ch. 1. If the husband should not take her back [_i.e._, the penitent wife +who has committed adultery] he sins, and brings a great sin upon himself; +for he ought to take back her who has sinned and repented; but not +frequently; for there is but one repentance to the servants of God +[_i.e._, after becoming the servants of God]. On account of her repentance +[_i.e._, because she may repent, and therefore should be taken back] the +husband ought not to marry. This treatment applies to the woman and to the +man. + +Ch. 3. And I said to him: "I should like to continue my questions." "Speak +on," said he. And I said: "I have heard, sir, from some teachers that +there is no other repentance than that when we descend into the water and +receive remission of our former sins." He said to me: "Thou hast well +heard, for so it is. For he who has received remission of his sins ought +to sin no more, but to live in purity. Since, however, you inquire +diligently into all things, I will point out this also to you, not as +giving occasion for error to those who are to believe, or have lately +believed, in the Lord. For those who have now believed and those who are +to believe have not repentance of their sins, but they have remission of +their former sins. For to those who have been called before these days the +Lord has set repentance. For the Lord, who knows the heart and foreknows +all things, knew the weakness of men and the manifold wiles of the devil, +that he would inflict some evil on the servants of God and would act +wickedly against them. The Lord, therefore, being merciful, has had mercy +on the works of His hands and has set repentance for them; and has +intrusted to me the power over this repentance. And therefore I say unto +you," he said, "that if after that great and holy calling any one is +tempted by the devil and sins, he has one repentance. But if thereupon he +should sin and then repent, to such a man his repentance is of no benefit; +for with difficulty will he live."(23) + + + +§ 16. Moral Ideas in the Post-Apostolic Period + + +Christians were convinced that their religion made the highest possible +moral demands upon them. They were to live in the world, but remain +uncontaminated by it (_cf._ _supra_, § 11). This belief even candid +heathen were sometimes forced to admit (_cf._ Pliny's correspondence with +Trajan, _supra_, § 7). The morality of the Christians and the loftiness of +their ethical code were common features in the apologies which began to +appear in the post-apostolic period (_cf. The Apology of Aristides, +infra_, § 20, _a_). Christianity was a revealed code of morals, by the +observance of which men might escape the fires of hell and obtain the +bliss of immortality (_a_) (_cf. infra_, § 30). At the same time there was +developed a tendency toward asceticism, by which a higher excellence might +be obtained than the law required of ordinary Christians (_b__, __c_). +This higher morality was not without its compensations; superior merit was +recognized by God, and was accordingly rewarded; it might even be applied +to offset sins committed (_d__, __e_). This last idea is to be traced to +the book of Tobit (cf. also James 5:20; I Peter 4:8). The fuller +development is to be found in the theology of Tertullian and Cyprian (v. +_infra_, § 39). + + +(_a_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, I, 10, 12. (MSG, 6:339, 342.) + + +Ch. 10. We have received by tradition that God does not need man's +material offerings, since we see that He himself provides all things. And +we have been taught, have been convinced, and do believe that He accepts +only those who imitate the virtues which reside in Him, temperance and +justice and philanthropy, and as many virtues as are peculiar to a God who +is called by no given name. And we have been taught that He in the +beginning, since He is good, did for man's sake create all things out of +unformed matter; and if men by their works show themselves worthy of His +design, they are deemed worthy, for so we have received, of reigning in +company with Him, having become incorruptible and incapable of suffering. +For as in the beginning He created us when we were not, so we consider +that, in like manner, those who choose what is pleasing to Him are, on +account of their choice, deemed worthy of incorruption and of fellowship +with Him. For the coming into being at first was not in our power; and in +order that we may follow those things which please Him, choosing them by +means of the rational faculties with which He has himself endowed us, He +both persuades us and leads us to faith.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 12. And more than all other men are we your helpers and allies in +promoting peace; for we are of the opinion that it is impossible for the +wicked, or the covetous, or the conspirator, or the virtuous to escape the +notice of God, and that each man goes to eternal punishment or salvation +according to the deserts of his actions. For if all men knew this, no one +would choose wickedness, even for a little time, knowing that he goes to +the eternal punishment of fire; but he would in every respect restrain +himself and adorn himself with virtue, that he might obtain the good gifts +of God and escape punishment. For those who, on account of the laws and +punishments you impose, endeavor when they offend to escape detection, +offend thinking that it is possible to escape your detection, since you +are but men; but if they learned and were convinced that it is not +possible that anything, whether actually done or only intended, should +escape the notice of God, they would live decently in every respect, on +account of the penalties threatened, as even you yourselves will admit. + + +(_b_) _Didache_, 6. _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 13. + + +See that no one cause thee to err from this way of the teaching, since +apart from God it teacheth thee. For if thou art able to bear all the yoke +of the Lord, thou wilt be perfect; but if thou art not able, do what thou +art able. And concerning foods, bear what thou art able; but against that +which is sacrificed to idols be exceedingly on thy guard; for it is the +service of dead gods. + + +(_c_) Hermas, _Pastor_, Man. IV, 4. + + +And again I asked him, saying: "Sir, since you have been so patient with +me, will you show me this also?" "Speak," said he. And I said: "If a wife +or husband die, and the widow or widower marry, does he or she commit +sin?" "There is no sin in marrying again," said he; "but if they remain +unmarried, they gain greater honor and glory with the Lord; but if they +marry, they do not sin. Guard, therefore, your chastity and purity and you +will live to God. What commandments I now give you, and what I am to give +you, keep from henceforth, yea, from the very day when you were intrusted +to me, and I will dwell in your house. And your former sins will be +forgiven, if you keep my commandments. And to all there is forgiveness if +they keep these my commandments and walk in this chastity." + + +(_d_) Clement of Rome, _Ep. ad Corinthios_, II, 4, 16. + + +Ch. 4. Let us, then, not call Him Lord, for that will not save us. For He +saith: "Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall be saved, but he +that worketh righteousness." Wherefore, brethren, let us confess Him by +our works, by loving one another, by not committing adultery, or speaking +evil of one another, or cherishing envy; but by being continent, +compassionate, and good. We ought also to sympathize with one another, and +not be avaricious. By such works let us confess Him, and not by those that +are of an opposite kind. And it is not fitting that we should fear men, +but rather God. For this reason, if we should do such things, the Lord +hath said: "Even though ye were gathered together to me in my very bosom, +yet if ye were not to keep my commandments, I would cast you off, and say +unto you. Depart from me; I know you not, whence ye are, ye workers of +iniquity."(24) + +Ch. 16. So then, brethren, having received no small occasion to repent, +while we have opportunity, let us turn to God, who called us while we yet +have One to receive us. For if we renounce these indulgences and conquer +the soul by not fulfilling its wicked desires, we shall be partakers of +the mercy of Jesus. Know ye not that the day of judgment draweth nigh like +a burning oven, and certain of the heavens and all the earth will melt, +like lead melting in fire; and then will appear the hidden and manifest +deeds of men? Good, then, are alms as repentance from sin; better is +fasting than prayer, and alms than both; "charity covereth a multitude of +sins," and prayer out of a good conscience delivereth from death. Blessed +is every one that shall be found complete in these; for alms lighten the +burden of sin. + + +(_e_) Hermas, _Pastor_, Sim. V, 3. + + +"If you do anything good beyond the commandment of God, you will gain for +yourself more abundant glory, and will be more honored before God than you +would otherwise be. If, therefore, you keep the commandments of God and do +these services, you will have joy if you observe them according to my +commandment." I said unto him: "Sir, whatsoever you command me I will +observe; for I know that you are with me." "I will be with you," he said, +"because you have such a desire for doing good; I will be with all those," +he said, "who have such a desire. This fasting," he continued, "is very +good, provided the commandments of the Lord be observed. Thus, then, shall +you observe the fast which you intend to keep. First of all, be on your +guard against every evil word and every evil desire, and purify your heart +from all the vanities of this world. If you guard against these things, +your fasting will be perfect. But do thus: having fulfilled what is +written, during the day on which you fast you will taste nothing but bread +and water; and having reckoned up the price of the dishes of that day +which you intended to have eaten, you will give it to a widow, an orphan, +or to some one in want, and thus you will be humble-minded, so that he who +has received benefit from your humility may fill his own soul and pray to +the Lord for you. If you observe fasting as I have commanded you, your +sacrifice will be acceptable to God, and this fasting will be written +down; and the service thus performed is noble and sacred and acceptable to +the Lord." + + + + +Period III. The Critical Period: A. D. 140 to A. D. 200 + + +The interval between the close of the post-apostolic age and the end of +the second century, or from about 140 to 200, may be called the Critical +Period of Ancient Christianity. In this period there grew up conceptions +of Christianity which were felt by the Church, as a whole, to be +fundamentally opposed to its essential spirit and to constitute a serious +menace to the Christian faith as it had been commonly received. These +conceptions, which grew up both alongside of, and within the Church, have +been grouped under the term Gnosticism, a generic term including many +widely divergent types of teaching and various interpretations of +Christian doctrine in the light of Oriental speculation. There were also +reactionary and reformatory movements which were generally felt to be out +of harmony with the development upon which Christian thought and life had +already entered; such were Montanism and Marcionism. To overcome these +tendencies and movements the Christian churches in the various parts of +the Roman Empire were forced, on the one hand, to develop more completely +such ecclesiastical institutions as would defend what was commonly +regarded as the received faith, and, on the other hand, to pass from a +condition in which the various Christian communities existed in isolated +autonomy to some form of organization whereby the spiritual unity of the +Church might become visible and better able to strengthen the several +members of that Church in dealing with theological and administrative +problems. The Church, accordingly, acquired in the Critical Period the +fundamental form of its creed, as an authoritative expression of belief; +the episcopate, as a universally recognized essential of Church +organization and a defence of tradition; and its canon of Holy Scripture, +at least in fundamentals, as the authoritative primitive witness to the +essential teachings of the Church. It also laid the foundations of the +conciliar system, and the bonds of corporate unity between the scattered +communities of the Church were defined and recognized. At the same time, +the Church developed in its conflict with heathenism an apologetic +literature, and in its conflict with heresy a polemical literature, in +which are to be found the beginnings of its theology or scientific +statement of Christian truth. Of this theology two lines of development +are to be traced: one a utilization of Greek philosophy which arose from +the Logos doctrine of the Apologists, and the other a realistic doctrine +of redemption which grew out of the Asia Minor type of Christian teaching, +traces of which are to be found in Ignatius of Antioch. + + + +Chapter I. The Church In Relation To The Empire And Heathen Culture + + +In the course of the second century the Church spread rapidly into all +parts of the Empire, and even beyond. It became so prominent that the +relation of the Church to heathen thought and institutions underwent a +marked change. Persecutions of Christians became more frequent, and +thereby the popular conviction was deepened that Christians were +malefactors. To some extent men of letters began to notice the new faith +and attack it. In opposition to persecution and criticism, the Church +developed an active apologetic or defence of Christianity and Christians +against heathen aspersions. + + +§ 17. The Extension of Christianity + + +Under the head of Extension of Christianity are to be placed only such +texts as may be regarded as evidence for the presence of the Church in a +well-defined locality. It is apparent that the evidence must be +incomplete, for many places must have received the Christian faith which +were unknown to the writers whose works we have or which they had no +occasion to mention. Rhetorical overstatement of the extension of the +Church was a natural temptation in view of the rapid spread of +Christianity. Each text needs to be scrutinized and its merits assessed. +It should, however, be borne in mind that the existence of a +well-established church in any locality is in most cases sufficient reason +for believing that Christianity had already been there for some time. In +this way valid historical reasoning carries the date of the extension of +the Church to a locality somewhat further back than does the date of the +appearance of a document which testifies to the existence of Christianity +in a definite place at a definite time. + + +(_a_) Tertullian, _Adv. Judaeos_, 7. (MSL, 2:649.) + + + Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (circa 160-circa 220 A. D.) + is the most important ante-Nicene Latin ecclesiastical writer. He + has been justly regarded as the founder of Latin theology and the + Christian Latin style. His work is divided into two periods by his + adherence (between 202 and 207 A. D.) to the Montanistic sect. + + + The treatise _Adversus Judaeos_ probably belongs to Tertullian's + pre-Montanist period, though formerly placed among his Montanist + writings (see Krueger, § 85, 6). For Geographical references, see + W. Smith, _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography_. + + +Upon whom else have all nations believed but upon the Christ who has +already come? For whom have the other nations believed--Parthians, Medes, +Elamites, and they who inhabit Mesopotamia, Armenia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, +and those dwelling in Pontus and Asia, and Pamphylia, sojourners in Egypt, +and inhabitants of the region of Africa which is beyond Cyrene, Romans and +sojourners, yes, and in Jerusalem, Jews and other nations;(25) as now the +varied races of the Gaetulians, and manifold confines of the Moors, all the +limits of Spain, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the places of +the Britons inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ, and of +the Sarmatians and Dacians, and Germans and Scythians, and of many remote +nations and provinces and many islands unknown to us and which we can +hardly enumerate? In all of these places the name of Christ, who has +already come, now reigns. + + +(_b_) Tertullian, _Apologeticus adversus Gentes pro Christianis_, 37. +(MSL, 1:525.) + + + The date of this work is 197 A. D. + + +We are but of yesterday, and we have filled every place among you--cities, +islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camps, tribes, +companies, palace, Senate, and Forum. We have left you only the temples. + + +(_c_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haereses_, I, 10, 3. (MSG, 7:551 _f._) For text, see +Kirch, § 91. + + +Since the Church has received this preaching and this faith, as we have +said, the Church, although it is scattered throughout the whole world, +diligently guards it as if it dwelt in one house; and likewise it believes +these things as if it had one soul and one heart, and harmoniously it +preaches, teaches, and believes these things as if possessing one mouth. +For although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of +the tradition is one and the same. For the churches which have been +founded in Germany have not believed nor handed down anything different, +nor have those among the Iberians, nor those among the Gauls, nor those in +the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have +been established in the central regions(26) of the world. + + +(_d_) Bardesanes, _De Fato_. F. Nau, _Bardesane l'astrologue; le livre des +lois des pays_, Paris. 1899. + + + Bardesanes (154-222 A. D.) was the great Christian teacher of + Edessa. He lived at the court of Abgar IX (179-214), whom, + according to a doubtful tradition, he is said to have converted. + The entire book may be found well translated by B. P. Pratten, + ANF, VIII. 723-734. + + +In Syria and Edessa men used to part with their manhood in honor of +Tharatha,(27) but when King Abgar became a believer he commanded that +every one that did so should have his hand cut off, and from that day +until now no one does so in the country of Edessa. + +And what shall we say of the new race of us Christians, whom Christ at His +advent planted in every country and in every region? For, lo, wherever we +are, we are called after the one name of Christ--namely, Christians. On one +day, the first day of the week, we assemble ourselves together, and on the +days of the readings(28) we abstain from sustenance. The brethren who are +in Gaul do not take males for wives, nor those in Parthia two wives; nor +do those in Judea circumcise themselves; nor do those of our sisters who +are among the Geli consort with strangers; nor do those of our brethren +who are in Persia take their daughters for wives; nor do those who are in +Media abandon their dead or bury them alive or give them as food to the +dogs; nor do those who are in Edessa kill their wives who commit adultery, +nor their sisters, but they withdraw from them, and give them over to the +judgment of God; nor do those who are in Hatra stone thieves to death; but +wherever they are, and in whatever place they are found, the laws of the +several countries do not hinder them from obeying the law of their Christ; +nor does the Fate of the celestial governors(29) compel them to make use +of the things which they regard as impure. + + +(_e_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 10. (MSG, 20:455.) + + + Missions in the extreme East. + + +They say that Pantaenus displayed such zeal for the divine word that he was +appointed a herald of the Gospel of Christ to the nations of the East and +was sent as far as India.(30) For indeed there were still many evangelists +of the word who sought earnestly to use their inspired zeal, after the +example of the Apostles, for the increase and building up of the divine +word. Pantaenus was one of these, and he is said to have gone to India. The +report is that among persons in that country who knew of Christ he found +the Gospel according to Matthew, which had anticipated his own arrival. +For Bartholomew, one of the Apostles, had preached to them and left them +the writing of Matthew in the Hebrew language, and they had preserved it +till that time. + + +§ 18. Heathen Religious Feeling and Culture in Relation to Christianity + + +The Christian religion in the course of the latter part of the second +century began to attract the attention of heathen writers; it became an +object of literary attack. The principal literary opponent of Christianity +was Celsus, who subjected the Christian traditions and customs to a +searching criticism to prove that they were absurd, unscientific, and +false. Lucian of Samosata, does not seem to have attacked Christianity +from any philosophical or religious interest, but treated it as an object +of derision, making sport of it. There were also in circulation +innumerable heathen calumnies, many of the most abominable character. +These have been preserved only by Christian writers. It was chiefly in +reference to these calumnies that the Christian apologists wrote. The +answer to Celsus made by Origen belongs to a later period, though Celsus +represents the best philosophical criticism of Christianity of the latter +part of the second century. + + +(_a_) Celsus, _The True Word_, in Origen, _Contra Celsum_. (MSG, 11:651 +_ff._) + + + The work of Celsus against Christianity, or _The True Word_, + written about 178, is lost, but it has been so incorporated in the + elaborate reply of Origen that it can be reconstructed without + much difficulty. This Theodor Keim has done. The following + extracts from Origen's _Contra Celsum_ are quotations from Celsus + or references to his criticism of Christianity. For Origen, _v. + infra_, § 43, _b_. + + +I, 1. (MSG, 11:651.) Wishing to throw discredit upon Christianity, the +first point Celsus brings forward is that the Christians have entered +secretly into associations with each other which are forbidden by the +laws; saying that "of associations some are public, others again secret; +and the former are permitted by the laws; the latter are prohibited by the +laws." + +I, 4. (MSG, 11:661.) Let us notice, also, how he thinks to cast discredit +upon our system of morals as neither venerable nor a new branch of +instruction, inasmuch as it is common to other philosophers. + +I, 9. (MSG, 11:672.) He says that "Certain of them do not wish either to +give or to receive reasons for those things to which they hold; saying, +'Do not examine, only believe and your faith will save you!' "; and he +alleges that such also say: "The wisdom of this life is bad, but +foolishness is a good thing." + +I, 38. (MSG, 11:733.) He admits somehow the miracles which Jesus wrought +and by means of which He induced the multitude to follow Him as the +Christ. He wishes to throw discredit on them, as having been done not by +divine power, but by help of magic, for he says: "That he [Jesus], having +been brought up secretly and having served for hire in Egypt, and then +coming to the knowledge of certain miraculous powers, returned from +thence, and by means of those powers proclaimed himself a god." + +II, 55. (MSG, 11:884.) "Come, now, let us grant to you that these things +[the prediction made by Christ of His resurrection] were said. Yet how +many others are there who have used such wonders to deceive their simple +hearers, and who made gain of their deception? Such was the case, they +say, with Zalmoxis in Scythia, the slave of Pythagoras; and with +Pythagoras himself in Italy.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But the point to be considered is, whether +any one who was really dead ever rose with a veritable body. Or do you +imagine the statements of others not only are myths, but appear as such, +but you have discovered a becoming and credible termination of your drama, +the voice from the cross when he breathed his last, the earthquake and the +darkness? that while living he was of no help to himself, but when dead he +rose again, and showed the marks of his punishment and his hands as they +had been. Who saw this? A frantic woman, as you state, and, if any other, +perhaps one of those who were engaged in the same delusion, who, owing to +a peculiar state of mind, had either dreamed so, or with a wandering fancy +had imagined things in accordance with his own wishes, which has happened +in the case of very many; or, which is most probable, there was some one +who desired to impress the others with this portent, and by such a +falsehood to furnish an occasion to other jugglers." + +II, 63. (MSG, 11:896.) "If Jesus desired to show that his power was really +divine, he ought to have appeared to those who had ill-treated him, and to +him who had condemned him, and to all men universally." + +III, 59. (MSG, 11:997.) "That I bring no heavier charge than what truth +requires, let any one judge from the following. Those who invite to +participation in other mysteries make proclamation as follows: 'Every one +who has clean hands and a prudent tongue'; others again thus: 'He who is +pure from every pollution, and whose soul is conscious of no evil, and who +has lived well and justly.' Such is the proclamation made by those who +promise purification from sins. But let us hear whom the Christians +invite. 'Whoever,' they say, 'is a sinner, whoever is devoid of +understanding, whoever is a child,' and, to speak generally, 'whoever is +unfortunate, him will the kingdom of God receive.' Do you not call him a +sinner, then, who is unjust and a thief and a house-breaker and a +poisoner, a committer of sacrilege and a robber of the dead? Whom else +would a man invite if he were issuing a proclamation for an assembly of +robbers?" + +VII, 18. (MSG, 11:1445.) "Will they not again make this reflection: If the +prophets of the God of the Jews foretold that he who should come was the +son of this same God, how could he command them through Moses to gather +wealth, to rule, to fill the earth, to put to the sword their enemies from +youth up, and to destroy them utterly, which, indeed, he himself did in +the eyes of the Jews, as Moses says, threatening them, moreover, that if +they did not obey his commands he would treat them as his open enemies; +whilst, on the other hand, his son, the man of Nazareth, promulgating laws +in opposition to these, declares that no one comes to the Father who is +rich or who loves power or seeks after wisdom or glory; that men ought to +be no more careful in providing food than the ravens: that they were to be +in less concern about their raiment than the lilies; that to him who has +smitten them once they should offer opportunity to smite again? Is it +Moses or Jesus who lies? Did the Father when he sent Jesus forget the +things he commanded Moses? Or did he change his mind and, condemning his +own laws, send forth a messenger with the opposite instructions?" + +V, 14. (MSG, 11:1201.) "It is folly for them to suppose that when God, as +if he were a cook, introduces the fire, all the rest of the human race +will be burnt up, while they alone will remain, not only those who are +alive, but also those who have been dead long since, which latter will +arise from the earth clothed with the self-same flesh as during life; the +hope, to speak plainly, of worms. For what sort of human soul is it that +would still long for a body gone to corruption? For this reason, also, +this opinion of yours is not shared by some of the Christians,(31) and +they pronounce it exceedingly vile and loathsome and impossible; for what +kind of body is that which, after being completely corrupted, can return +to its original nature, and to that self-same first condition which it +left? Having nothing to reply, they betake themselves to a most absurd +refuge--that all things are possible to God. But God cannot do things which +are disgraceful, nor does he wish things contrary to his nature; nor, if +in accordance with your wickedness you desire something shameful, would +God be able to do it; nor must you believe at once that it will be done. +For God is the author, not of inordinate desires nor of a nature +disordered and confused, but of what is upright and just. For the soul, +indeed, he might be able to provide everlasting life; but dead bodies, on +the other hand, are, as Heraclitus observes, more worthless than dung. So, +then, God neither will nor can declare contrary to reason that the flesh +is eternal, which is full of those things which it is not honorable to +mention. For he is the reason of all things that exist, and therefore can +do nothing either contrary to reason or contrary to himself." + + +(_b_) Lucian of Samosata, _De morte Peregrini Protei_, § 11 _ff._ +Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, 20 _ff._ + + +Ch. 11. About this time he made himself proficient in the marvellous +wisdom of the Christians by associating around Palestine with their +priests and scribes. And would you believe it? In a short time he +convinced them that they were mere children and himself alone a prophet, +master of ceremonies, head of the synagogue, and everything. He explained +and interpreted some of their books, and he himself also wrote many, so +they came to look upon him almost as a God, made him their law-giver and +chose him as their patron.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} At all events, they still worship that +enchanter [mage] who was crucified in Palestine for introducing among men +this new religious sect. + +Ch. 12. Then Proteus was, on this account, seized and thrown into prison, +and this very circumstance procured for him during his subsequent career +no small renown and the reputation for wonderful powers and the glory +which he loved. When, then, he had been put in bonds, the Christians +looked upon these things as a misfortune and in their efforts to secure +his release did everything in their power. When this proved impracticable, +other assistance of every sort was rendered him, not occasionally, but +with zeal. From earliest dawn old women, widows, and orphan children were +to be seen waiting beside the prison, and men of rank among them slept +with him in the prison, having bribed the prison guards. Then they were +accustomed to bring in all kinds of viands, and they read their sacred +Scriptures together, and the most excellent Peregrinus (for such was still +his name) was styled by them a New Socrates. + +Ch. 13. Certain came even from the cities of Asia, sent by the Christians +at the common charge, to assist and plead for him and comfort him. They +exhibit extraordinary activity whenever any such thing occurs affecting +their common interest. In short, they are lavish of everything. And what +is more, on the pretext of his imprisonment, many contributions of money +came from them to Peregrinus at that time, and he made no little income +out of it. These poor men have persuaded themselves that they are going to +be immortal and live forever; they both despise death and voluntarily +devote themselves to it; at least most of them do so. Moreover, their +law-giver persuaded them that they were all brethren, and that when once +they come out and reject the Greek gods, they should then worship that +crucified sophist and live according to his laws. Therefore they despise +all things and hold everything in common, having received such ideas from +others, without any sufficient basis for their faith. If, then, any +impostor or trickster who knows how to manage things came among them, he +soon grew rich, imposing on these foolish folk. + +Ch. 14. Peregrinus was, however, set at liberty by the governor of Syria +at that time, a lover of philosophy, who understood his folly and knew +that he would willingly have suffered death that by it he might have +acquired glory. Thinking him, however, not worthy of so honorable an end, +he let him go.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 16. A second time he left his country to wander about, having the +Christians as a sufficient source of supplies, and he was cared for by +them most ungrudgingly. Thus he was supported for some time; at length, +having offended them in some way--he was seen, I believe, eating food +forbidden among them--he was reduced to want, and he thought that he would +have to demand his property back from the city;(32) and having obtained a +process in the name of the Emperor, he expected to recover it. But the +city sent messengers to him, and nothing was done; but he was to remain +where he was, and to this he agreed for once. + + +(_c_) Minucius Felix, _Octavius_, VIII, 3-10. (MSL. 3:267 _ff._) + + + The following passage is taken from an apologetic dialogue + entitled _Octavius_. Although it was composed by a Christian, it + probably represents the current heathen conceptions of + Christianity and its morals, especially its assemblies, where the + worst excesses were supposed to take place. In the dialogue the + passage is put into the mouth of the disputant who represents the + heathen objection to the new faith. The date is difficult to + determine probably it was the last third of the second century. + + +Ch. 8. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Is it not lamentable that men of a reprobate, unlawful, and +dangerous faction should rage against the gods? From the lowest dregs, the +more ignorant and women, credulous and yielding on account of the +heedlessness of their sex, gathered and established a vast and wicked +conspiracy, bound together by nightly meetings and solemn feasts and +inhuman meats--not by any sacred rites, but by such as require expiation. +It is a people skulking and shunning the light; in public silent, but in +corners loquacious. They despise the temples as charnel-houses; they +reject the gods; they deride sacred things. While they are wretched +themselves, if allowed they pity the priests; while they are half naked +themselves, they despise honors and purple robes. O wonderful folly and +incredible effrontery! They despise present torments, but fear those that +are uncertain and in the future. While they fear to die after death, for +the present life they do not fear to die. In such manner does a deceitful +hope soothe their fear with the solace of resuscitation. + +Ch. 9. And now, as wickeder things are advancing more successfully and +abandoned manners are creeping on day by day, those foul shrines of an +impious assembly are increasing throughout the whole world. Assuredly this +confederacy should be rooted out and execrated. They know one another by +secret marks and signs. They love one another almost before they know one +another. Everywhere, also, there is mingled among them a certain religion +of lust; and promiscuously they call one another brother and sister, so +that even a not unusual debauchery might, by the employment of those +sacred names, become incestuous. It is thus that their vain and insane +superstition glories in crimes. Nor, concerning these matters, would +intelligent report speak of things unless there was the highest degree of +truth, and varied crimes of the worst character called, from a sense of +decency, for an apology. I hear that they adore the head of an ass, that +basest of creatures, consecrated by I know not what silly persuasion--a +worthy and appropriate religion for such morals. Some say that they +worship the genitalia of their pontiff and priest, and adore the nature, +as it were, of their parent. I know not whether these things be false; +certainly suspicion has place in the case of secret and nocturnal rites; +and he who explains their ceremonies by reference to a man punished by +extreme suffering for wickedness, and to the deadly wood of the cross, +bestows fitting altars upon reprobate and wicked men, that they may +worship what they deserve. Now the story of their initiation of young +novices is as detestable as it is well known. An infant covered with meal, +so as to deceive the unwary, is placed before him who is to be defiled +with their rites; this infant is slain with dark and secret wounds by the +young novice, who has been induced to strike harmless blows, as it were, +on the surface of the meal. Thirstily--O horror!--they lick up its blood; +eagerly they divide its limbs. By this victim they are confederated, with +the consciousness of this wickedness they are pledged to a mutual silence. +These sacred rites are more foul than any sort of sacrilege. And of their +banqueting it is well known what is said everywhere; even the speech of +our Cirtensian(33) testifies to it. On a solemn day they assemble at a +banquet with all their children, their sisters and mothers, people of +every sex and age. There, after much feasting, when the sense of +fellowship has waxed warm and the fervor of incestuous lust has grown hot +with drunkenness, a dog that has been tied to a chandelier is provoked to +rush and spring about by throwing a piece of offal beyond the length of +the line by which he is bound; and thus the light, as if conscious, is +overturned and extinguished in shameless darkness, while unions of +abominable lust involve them by the uncertainty of chance. Although if all +are not in fact, yet all are in their conscience, equally incestuous; +since whatever might happen by the act of the individuals is sought for by +the will of all. + +Ch. 10. I purposely pass over many things, for there are too many, all of +which, or the greater part of them, the obscurity of their vile religion +declares to be true. For why do they endeavor with such pains to conceal +and cloak whatever they worship, since honorable things always rejoice in +publicity, but crimes are kept secret? Why have they no altars, no +temples, no acknowledged images? Why do they never speak openly, never +congregate freely, unless it be for the reason that what they adore and +conceal is either worthy of punishment or is something to be ashamed of? +Moreover, whence or who is he, or where is the one God, solitary and +desolate, whom no free people, no kingdoms, and not even Roman +superstition have known? The sole, miserable nationality of the Jews +worshipped one God, and one peculiar to itself; but they worshipped him +openly, with temples, with altars, with victims, and with ceremonies; and +he has so little force or power that he is enslaved together with his own +special nation to the Roman deities. But the Christians, moreover, what +wonders, what monstrosities, do they feign, that he who is their God, whom +they can neither show nor see, inquires diligently into the conduct of +all, the acts of all, and even into their words and secret thoughts. They +would have him running about everywhere, and everywhere present, +troublesome, even shamelessly inquisitive, since he is present at +everything that is done, and wanders about in all places. When he is +occupied with the whole, he cannot give attention to particulars; or when +occupied with particulars, he is not enough for the whole. Is it because +they threaten the whole earth, the world itself and all its stars, with a +conflagration, that they are meditating its destruction? As if either the +natural and eternal order constituted by the divine laws would be +disturbed, or, when the league of the elements has been broken up and the +heavenly structure dissolved, that fabric in which it is contained and +bound together would be overthrown! + + +§ 19. The Attitude of the Roman Government toward Christians, A. D. 138 to +A. D. 192 + + +No general persecution of the Christians was undertaken by the Roman +Government during the second century, though Christians were not +infrequently put to death under the existing laws. These laws, however, +were by no means uniformly carried out. The most sanguinary persecutions +were generally occasioned by mob violence and may be compared to modern +lynchings. At Lyons and Vienne, in Gaul, there was much suffering in 177. +The letter from the churches of these cities to the Christians in Asia and +Phrygia, Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 1 (PNF, ser. I, vol. I, 211), and the +_Martyrdom of Polycarp_ (ANF, I, 37) are among the finest pieces of +literature in this period and should be read by every student. Under +Commodus (180-193), Marcia seems to have aided the Christians suffering +persecution. The _Martyrdom of Justin_ may be found ANF, I, 303, appended +to his works. The doubtful rescript of Hadrian and the certainly spurious +rescript of Antoninus Pius may be found in the Appendix to Justin Martyr's +works (ANF, I, 186), and in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 9 and 13. For a +discussion of their genuineness, see McGiffert's notes to Eusebius, _Hist. +Ec._ The original texts may be found in Preuschen's _Analecta_, I, § 6 +_f_. + + +(_a_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_. II. 2. (MSG, 6:445.) + + + The martyrdom of Ptolemaeus. + + + A certain woman had been converted to Christianity by Ptolemaeus. + Her dissolute husband, who had deserted her some time before, was + divorced by her on account of his profligacy. In revenge he + attempted to injure her, but she sought and obtained the + protection of the imperial courts. The husband thereupon turned + his attack upon Ptolemaeus. According to Ruinart, the martyrdom + took place in 166. See DCB, arts. "Ptolemaeus" and "Justin Martyr." + This and the following martyrdoms illustrate the procedure of the + courts in dealing with Christians. + + +Since he was no longer able to prosecute her, he directed his assaults +against a certain Ptolemaeus whom Urbicus punished, and who had been the +teacher of the woman in the Christian doctrines. And he did this in the +following way: He persuaded a centurion, his friend, who had cast +Ptolemaeus into prison, to take Ptolemaeus and interrogate him only as to +whether he were a Christian. And Ptolemaeus, being a lover of the truth, +and not of deceitful or false disposition, when he confessed himself to be +a Christian, was thrown in chains by the centurion and for a long time was +punished in prison. At last, when he was brought to Urbicus, he was asked +this one question only: whether he was a Christian. And again, conscious +of the noble things that were his through the teaching of Christ, he +confessed his discipleship in the divine virtue. For he who denies +anything either denies it because he condemns the thing itself or he +avoids confession because he knows his own unworthiness or alienation from +it; neither of which cases is that of a true Christian. And when Urbicus +ordered him to be led away to punishment, a certain Lucius, who was also +himself a Christian, seeing the unreasonable judgment, said to Urbicus: +"What is the ground of this judgment? Why have you punished this man: not +as an adulterer, nor fornicator, nor as one guilty of murder, theft, or +robbery, nor convicted of any crime at all, but who has only confessed +that he is called by the name of Christian? You do not judge, O Urbicus, +as becomes the Emperor Pius, nor the philosopher, the son of Caesar, nor +the sacred Senate." And he, replying nothing else to Lucius, said: "You +also seem to me to be such an one." And when Lucius answered, "Most +certainly I am," he then ordered him also to be led away. And he professed +his thanks, since he knew that he was going to be delivered from such +wicked rulers and was going to the Father and King of the heavens. And +still a third came forward and was condemned to be punished. + + +(_b_) _Passion of the Scilitan Martyrs._ + + + Text: J. A. Robinson, _Text and Studies_, I, 2, 112-116, + Cambridge, 1891; reprinted in R. Knopf, _Ausgewaehlte + Maertyreracten_, 34 _ff._, Tuebingen, 1901. + + + The date of this martyrdom is July 17, 180 A.D. Scili, the place + of residence of these martyrs, was a small city in northwestern + Proconsular Africa. For an account of ancient martyrologies, see + Krueger, §§ 104 _ff._ + + +When Praesens, for the second time, and Claudianus were consuls, on the +seventeenth day of July, and when Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata, +Secunda, and Vestia were brought into the judgment-hall at Carthage, the +proconsul Saturninus said: Ye can win the indulgence of our lord the +Emperor if ye return to a sound mind. + +Speratus said: We have never done ill; we have not lent ourselves to +wrong; we have never spoken ill; but when we have received ill we have +given thanks, because we pay heed to our Emperor. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, said: We, too, are religious, and our religion +is simple; and we swear by the genius of our lord the Emperor, and pray +for his welfare, which also ye, too, ought to do. + +Speratus said: If thou wilt peaceably lend me thine ears, I will tell thee +the mystery of simplicity. + +Saturninus said: I will not lend my ears to thee, when thou beginnest to +speak evil things of our sacred rites; but rather do thou swear by the +genius of our lord the Emperor. + +Speratus said: The empire of this world I know not; but rather I serve +that God whom no man hath seen nor with these eyes can see. [I Tim. 6:16.] +I have committed no theft; but if I have bought anything I pay the tax; +because I know my Lord, the King of kings and Emperor of all nations. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, said to the rest: Cease to be of this +persuasion. + +Speratus said: It is an ill persuasion to do murder, to bear false +witness. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, said: Be not partakers of this folly. + +Cittinus said: We have none other to fear except only our Lord God, who is +in heaven. + +Donata said: Honor to Caesar as Caesar, but fear to God. [_Cf._ Rom. 13:7.] + +Vestia said: I am a Christian. + +Secunda said: What I am that I wish to be. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, said to Speratus: Dost thou persist in being a +Christian? + +Speratus said: I am a Christian. And with him they all agreed. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, said: Will ye have a space to consider? + +Speratus said: In a matter so just there is no considering. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, said: What are the things in your chest? + +Speratus said: Books and epistles of Paul, a just man. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, said: Have a delay of thirty days and bethink +yourselves. + +Speratus said a second time: I am a Christian. And with him all agreed. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, read out the decree from the tablet: Speratus, +Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata, Vestia, Secunda, and the rest who have +confessed that they live according to the Christian rite because an +opportunity has been offered them of returning to the custom of the Romans +and they have obstinately persisted, it is determined shall be put to the +sword. + +Speratus said: We give thanks to God. + +Nartzalus said: To-day we are martyrs in heaven; thanks be to God. + +Saturninus, the proconsul, ordered it to be proclaimed by the herald: +Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetatius, +Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata, and Secunda I have ordered to be +executed. + +They all said: Thanks be to God. + +And so they all at one time were crowned with martyrdom; and they reign +with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, forever and ever. Amen. + + +(_c_) Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium Haeresium_, X, 7. (MSG, 16:3382.) + + + Hippolytus, a Greek writer of the West, lived at Rome in the time + of Zephyrinus (198-217) and until shortly after A. D. 235. He + appears to have been consecrated bishop of a schismatical party in + Rome. Of his numerous works many have been lost in whole or in + part. The _Philosophumena, or the Refutation of All Heresies_, was + lost, with the exception of the first book, until 1842, and was + then published among the works of Origen. It is of importance as + giving much material for the study of Gnosticism. It may be found + as a whole translated in ANF, V. + + +But after a time, when other martyrs were there [_i.e._, in the mines in +Sardinia], Marcia, the pious concubine of Commodus, wishing to perform +some good deed, called before her the blessed Victor [193?-202], at that +time bishop of the Church, and inquired of him what martyrs were in +Sardinia. And he delivered to her the names of all, but did not give the +name of Callistus, knowing what things had been attempted by him. Marcia, +having obtained her request from Commodus, hands the letter of +emancipation to Hyacinthus, a certain eunuch rather advanced in life [or a +presbyter], who, receiving it, sailed away to Sardinia. He delivered the +letter to the person who at that time was governor of the territory, and +he released the martyrs, with the exception of Callistus. + + +§ 20. The Literary Defence of Christianity + + +In reply to the attacks made upon Christianity, the apologists defended +their religion along three lines: It was philosophically justified; it was +true; it did not favor immorality, but, on the contrary, inculcated +virtue. The philosophical defence, or justification, of Christianity was +most brilliantly undertaken by Justin Martyr, who employed the current +philosophical conception of the Logos. The general proof of Christianity +was chiefly based upon the argument from the fulfilment of prophecy. All +apologists undertook to show that the heathen calumnies against the +Christians were false, that the heathen religions were replete with +obscene tales of the gods, and that the worship of idols was absurd. + + +(_a_) Aristides, _Apology_, 2, 13, 15, 16. Ed. J. R. Harris and J. A. +Robinson, _Texts and Studies_, I, 1, Cambridge, 1891. + + + The _Apology_ of Aristides was long lost, but was found in a + Syriac version in 1889. It was then found that much of the Greek + original had been incorporated in the _Life of Barlaam and + Josaphat_, a popular religious romance of the Middle Ages; see the + introduction to the parallel translations by D. H. McKay in ANF, + vol. IX, 259-279. This work of Aristides may be as early as 125; + if so, it disputes with the similar work of Quadratus the honor of + being the first Christian apology. A large part of it is taken up + with a statement of the contradictions and absurdities of the + mythology of the Greeks and Barbarians. Of this statement, ch. 13, + quoted below, is the conclusion. Then, after a short passage + regarding the Jews, the author passes to an exposition of the + faith of Christians and a statement regarding their high morality. + + +Ch. 2. [Found only in Syriac.] The Christians trace the beginning of their +religion to Jesus the Messiah; and He is named the Son of the most high +God. And it is said that God came down from heaven and from a Hebrew +virgin assumed and clothed Himself with flesh, and that the Son of God +lived in a daughter of man. This is taught in that Gospel which, as is +related among them, was preached among them a short time ago. And you, +also, if you will read therein, may perceive the power that belongs to it. +This Jesus, therefore, was born of the race of the Hebrews. He had twelve +disciples, that His wonderful plan of salvation might be carried out. But +He himself was pierced by the Jews, and He died and He was buried. And +they say that after three days He rose and was raised to heaven. Thereupon +those twelve disciples went forth into the known parts of the world, and +with all modesty and uprightness taught concerning His greatness. And +therefore also those at the present time who now believe that preaching +are called Christians and they are known. + +Ch. 13. When the Greeks made laws they did not perceive that by their laws +they condemned their gods. For if their laws are righteous, their gods are +unrighteous, because they committed transgressions of the law in that they +killed one another, practised sorcery, and committed adultery, robbed, +stole, and lay with males, not to mention their other practices. For if +their gods have done right in doing all this, as they write, then the laws +of the Greeks are unrighteous in not being made according to the will of +their gods. And consequently the whole world has gone astray. + +Ch. 15. The Christians, O King, in that they go about and seek the truth, +have found it and, as we have understood from their writings, they have +come much nearer to the truth and correct knowledge than have the other +peoples. They know and trust God, the creator of heaven and earth, in whom +are all things and from whom are all things, in Him who has no other God +beside Him, in Him from whom they have received commandments which they +have engraved upon their minds, commandments which they observe in the +faith and expectation of the world to come. Wherefore they do not commit +adultery or fornication, nor bear false witness, nor covet what is held in +pledge, nor covet what is not theirs. They honor father and mother and +show kindness to their neighbors. If they are judges, they judge +uprightly. They do not worship idols made in human form. And whatsoever +they would not that others should do unto them, they do not to others. +They do not eat of food offered to idols, because they are pure. And their +oppressors they appease and they make friends of them; they do good to +their enemies.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} If they see a stranger, they take him to their dwellings +and rejoice over him as over a real brother. For they do not call +themselves brethren after the flesh, but after the Spirit and in God. But +if one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them who sees him +cares for his burial according to his ability. And if they hear that one +of them is imprisoned or oppressed on account of the name of their +Messiah, all of them care for his necessity, and if it is possible to +redeem him, they set him free. And if any one among them is poor and +needy, and they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order +to supply him with the needed food.(34) The precepts of their Messiah they +observe with great care. They live justly and soberly, as the Lord their +God commanded them. Every morning and every hour they acknowledge and +praise God for His lovingkindnesses toward them, and for their food and +drink they give thanks to Him. And if any righteous man among them passes +from this world, they rejoice and thank God and they escort his body as if +he were setting out on a journey from one place to another.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 16. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Their words and precepts, O King, and the glory of their worship +and their hope of receiving reward, which they look for in another world, +according to the work of each one, you can learn about from their +writings. It is enough for us to have informed your Majesty in a few words +concerning the conduct and truth of the Christians. For great, indeed, and +wonderful is their doctrine for him who will study it and reflect upon it. +And verily this is a new people, and there is something divine in it. + + +(_b_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, I, 46. (MSG, 6:398.) + + + In the following, Justin Martyr states his argument from the + doctrine of the Logos, which was widely accepted in Greek + philosophy and found its counterpart in Christianity in the + Johannine theology (see below, § 32 _A_). With Justin should be + compared Clement of Alexandria (see below, § 43 _a_), who develops + the same idea in showing the relation of Greek philosophy to the + Mosaic dispensation and to the Christian revelation. + + +We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have +declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men partake; and +those who lived reasonably were Christians, even though they have been +thought atheists; as among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus and those +like them; and among the Barbarians, Abraham and Ananias, and Azarias, and +Misael, and Elias, and many others whose actions and names we now decline +to recount, because we know it would be tedious. + + +(_c_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, II, 10, 13. (MSG, 6:459, 466.) + + +Ch. 10. Our doctrines, then, appear to be greater than all human teaching; +because Christ who appeared for our sakes, became the whole rational +being,(35) body and reason and soul. For whatever either law-givers or +philosophers uttered well they elaborated by finding and contemplating +some part of the Logos. But since they did not know the whole of the +Logos, which is Christ, they often contradicted themselves. And those who +by human birth were more ancient than Christ, when they attempted to +consider and prove things by reason, were brought before the tribunals as +impious persons and busybodies. And Socrates, who was more zealous in this +direction than all of them, was accused of the very same crimes as +ourselves. For they said that he was introducing new divinities, and did +not consider those to be gods whom the State recognized. But he cast out +from the State both Homer and the rest of the poets, and taught men to +reject the wicked demons and those who did the things which the poets +related; and he exhorted them to become acquainted with the God who was +unknown to them, by means of the investigation of reason, saying, "That it +is not easy to find the Father and Maker of all, nor, having found Him, is +it safe to declare Him to all."(36) But these things our Christ did +through His own power. For no one trusted in Socrates so as to die for +this doctrine, but in Christ, who was partially known even by Socrates +(for He was and is the Logos who is in every man, and who foretold the +things that were to come to pass both through the prophets and in His own +person when He was made of like passions and taught these things), not +only philosophers and scholars believed, but also artisans and people +entirely uneducated, despising both glory and fear and death; since He is +the power of the ineffable Father, and not the mere instrument of human +reason.(37) + +Ch. 13. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I confess that I both boast and with all my strength strive to +be found a Christian; not because the teachings of Plato are different +from those of Christ, but because they are not in all respects similar, as +neither are those of others, Stoics, poets, and historians. For each man +spoke well in proportion to the share he had of the spermatic divine +Logos, seeing what was related to it. But they who contradict themselves +on the more important points appear not to have possessed the heavenly +wisdom and the knowledge which cannot be spoken against. Whatever things +were rightly said among all men are the property of us Christians. For +next to God we worship and love the Logos, who is from the unbegotten and +ineffable God, since also He became man for our sakes, that, becoming a +partaker of our sufferings, He might also bring us healing. For all the +writers were able to see realities darkly through the sowing of the +implanted Logos that was in them. For the seed of anything and a copy +imparted according to capacity [_i.e._, to receive] is one thing, and +quite another is the thing itself, of which there is the participation and +imitation according to the grace which is from Him. + + +(_d_) Justin Martyr, _Apologia_, I, 31, 53. (MSG, 6:375, 406.) + + + The argument from prophecy. + + +Ch. 31. There were then among the Jews certain men who were prophets of +God, through whom the prophetic Spirit [context shows that the Logos is +here meant] published beforehand things that were to come to pass before +they happened. And their prophecies, as they were spoken and when they +were uttered, the kings who were among the Jews at the several times +carefully preserved in their possession, when they had been arranged by +the prophets themselves in their own Hebrew language.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} They are also in +possession of all Jews throughout the world.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} In these books of the +prophets we found Jesus our Christ foretold as coming, born of a virgin, +growing up to manhood, and healing every disease and every sickness, and +raising the dead, and being hated and unrecognized, and crucified, and +dying, and rising again, and ascending into heaven, and both being and +also called the Son of God, and that certain persons should be sent by Him +into every race of men to publish these things, and that rather among the +Gentiles [than among the Jews] men should believe on Him. And He was +predicted before He appeared first 5,000 years before, and again 3,000, +then 2,000 then 1,000, and yet again 800; for according to the succession +of generations prophets after prophets arose. + +Ch. 53. Though we have many other prophecies, we forbear to speak, judging +these sufficient for the persuasion of those who have ears capable of +hearing and understanding; and considering also that these persons are +able to see that we do not make assertions, and are unable to produce +proof, like those fables that are told of the reputed sons of Jupiter. For +with what reason should we believe of a crucified man that He is the +first-born of the unbegotten God, and Himself will pass judgment on the +whole human race, unless we found testimonies concerning Him published +before He came and was born as a man, and unless we saw that things had +happened accordingly? + + + +Chapter II. The Internal Crisis: The Gnostic And Other Heretical Sects + + +In the second century the Church passed through an internal crisis even +more trying than the great persecutions of the following centuries and +with results far more momentous. Of the conditions making possible such a +crisis the most important was absence in the Church of norms of faith +universally acknowledged as binding. Then, again, many had embraced +Christianity without grasping the spirit of the new religion. Nearly all +interpreted the Christian faith more or less according to their earlier +philosophical or religious conceptions; _e.g._, the apologists within the +Church used the philosophical Logos doctrine. In this way arose numerous +interpretations of Christian teaching and perversions of that teaching, +some not at all in harmony with the generally received tradition. These +discordant interpretations or perversions are the heretical movements of +the second century. They varied in every degree of departure from the +generally accepted Christian tradition. Some, like the earlier Gnostics (§ +21), and even the greater Gnostic systems (§ 22), at least in their +esoteric teaching, show that their principal inspiration was other than +Christian; others, as the Gnosticism of Marcion (§ 23) and the +enthusiastic sect of the Montanists (§ 25), seem to have built largely +upon exaggerated Christian tenets, contained, indeed, in the New +Testament, but not fully appreciated by the majority of Christians; or +still others, as the Encratites (§ 24), laid undue stress upon what was +generally recognized as an element of Christian morality. + +The principal source materials for the history of Gnosticism and other +heresies of this chapter may be found collected and provided with +commentary in Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte des Urchristenthums_, Leipsic, +1884. + + +§ 21. The Earlier Gnostics: Gnosticism in General + + +Gnosticism is a generic name for a vast number of syncretistic religious +systems prevalent, especially in the East, both before and after the +Christian era. For the most part the movement was outside of Christianity, +and was already dying out when Christianity appeared. It derived its +essential features from Persian and Babylonian sources and was markedly +dualistic. As it spread toward the West, it adopted many Western elements, +making use of Christian ideas and terms and Greek philosophical concepts. +Modified by such new matter, it obtained a renewed lease of life. In +proportion as the various schools of Gnosticism became more influenced by +Christian elements, they were more easily confused with Christianity, and +accordingly more dangerous to it. Among such were the greater schools of +Basilides and Valentinus (see next section). The doctrines of Gnosticism +were held by many who were nominally within the Church. The tendency of +the Gnostics and their adherents was to form little coteries and to keep +much of their teaching secret from those who were attracted by their more +popular tenets. The esoteric element seems to have been the so-called +"systems" in which the fanciful and mythological element in Gnosticism +appears. This, as being the most vulnerable part of the Gnostic teaching, +was attacked most bitterly by the opponents of heresy. There are no extant +writings of the earlier Gnostics, Simon, Menander, or Cerinthus. They are +known only from Christian opponents. + +Sources for the history of Gnosticism: The leading sources are the Church +Fathers Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria (all +translated in ANF), Origen (in part only translated in ANF), and +Epiphanius. The accounts of these bitter enemies must necessarily be used +with caution. They contain, however, numerous fragments from Gnostic +writings. The fragments in the ante-Nicene Fathers may be found in A. +Hilgenfeld, _op. cit._, in Greek, with commentary. For the literary +remains of Gnosticism, see Krueger, §§ 22-31. The more accessible are: +_Acts of Thomas_ (best Greek text by Bonnet, Leipsic, 1903, German +translation with excellent commentary in E. Hennecke, _Neutestamentliche +Apokryphen_, Tuebingen and Leipsic, 1904); Ptolemaeus, _Epistle to Flora_ +(in Epiphanius, _Panarion_, Haer. XXXIII); _Hymn of the Soul_, from the +_Acts of Thomas_ (text and English translation by Bevan in _Text and +Studies_, V, 3, Cambridge, 1897, also translated in F. C. Burkitt, _Early +Eastern Christianity_, N. Y., 1904). + + +(_a_) Tertullian, _De Praescriptione Haereticorum_, 7. (MSL, 2:21.) + + + A wide-spread opinion that Gnosticism was fundamentally a + perversion of Christianity finds its most striking expression in + the phrase of Harnack that it was "the acute secularizing or + Hellenizing of Christianity" (_History of Dogma_, English + translation, I, 226). The foundation for this representation is + the later Gnosticism, which took over many Christian and Greek + elements, and the opinion of Tertullian that Gnosticism and Greek + philosophy discussed the same questions and held the same + opinions. (_Cf._ the thesis of Hippolytus in his _Philosophumena, + or the Refutation of All Heresies_; see the Proemium, ANF, V, 9 + _f._, and especially bk. VII.) Tertullian, although retaining + unconsciously the impress of his former Stoicism, was violently + opposed to philosophy, and in his denunciation of heresy felt that + it was a powerful argument against the Gnostics to show + similarities between their teaching and the Greek philosophy he so + heartily detested. It is a brilliant work and may be taken as a + fair specimen of Tertullian's style. + + +These are the doctrines of men and of demons born of the spirit of this +world's wisdom, for itching ears; and the Lord, calling this foolishness, +chose the foolish things of this world to the confusion of philosophy +itself. For philosophy is the material of the world's wisdom, the rash +interpreter of the nature and dispensation of God. Indeed, heresies +themselves are instigated by philosophy. From this source came the eons, +and I know not what infinite forms, and the trinity of man in the system +of Valentinus; he was of Plato's school. From this source came Marcion's +better god with all his tranquillity; he came of the Stoics. Then again +the opinion that the soul dies is held by the Epicureans. The denial of +the resurrection of the body is taken from the united schools of all +philosophers. When matter is made equal to God, you have the teaching of +Zeno; and when anything is alleged touching a fiery god, then Heraclitus +comes in. The same subject-matter is discussed over and over again by the +heretics and the philosophers; the same arguments are involved. Whence and +wherefore is evil? Whence and how has come man? Besides these there is the +question which Valentinus has very recently proposed, Whence comes God? + + +(_b_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, I, 23. (MSG, 7:670.) + + + Simon Magus. For additional source material, see Justin Martyr, + _Apol._ I, 26, 56, _Dial. c. Tryph._, 120; Hippolytus, _Ref._ VI, + 72 _f._ The appearance of Simon in the pseudo-Clementine + literature (translated in ANF, VIII), presents an interesting + historical problem. The present condition of investigation is + given in the article "Clementine Literature" by J. V. Bartlett, in + _Encyc. Brit._, eleventh ed. + + +Simon the Samaritan, that magician of whom Luke, the disciple and follower +of the Apostles, says: "But there was a certain man, Simon by name," etc. +[Acts 8:9-11, 20, 21, 23.] Since he did not put his faith in God a whit +more, he set himself eagerly to contend against the Apostles, in order +that he himself might seem to be a wonderful being, and studied with still +greater zeal the whole range of magic art, that he might the better +bewilder the multitude of men. Such was his procedure in the reign of +Claudius Caesar, by whom also he is said to have been honored with a statue +on account of his magic. This man, then, was glorified by many as a god, +and he taught that it was he himself who appeared among the Jews as the +Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father, while he came to other +nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. He represented himself as the +loftiest of all powers, that it is he who is over all as the Father, and +he allowed himself to be called whatsoever men might name him. + +Now this Simon of Samaria, from whom all heresies derive their origin, has +as the material for his sect the following: Having redeemed from slavery +at Tyre, a city of Phoenicia, a certain woman named Helena,(38) a +prostitute, he was in the habit of carrying her about with him, declaring +that she was the first conception [_Ennoea_] of his mind, the mother of +all, by whom he conceived in his mind to make the angels and archangels. +For this Ennoea, leaping forth from him and comprehending the will of her +father, descended to the lower regions and generated angels and powers, by +whom, also, he declared this world was made. But after she had generated +them she was detained by them through jealousy, because they were +unwilling that they should be regarded as the progeny of any other being. +As to himself, he was wholly unknown to them, but his Ennoea was detained +by those powers and angels who had been produced by her. She suffered all +kinds of contumely from them, so that she could not return upward to her +father, but was even shut up in a human body and for ages passed in +succession from one female body to another, as from one vessel to another +vessel. She was in that Helen on whose account the Trojan War was +undertaken; wherefore also Stesichorus was struck blind, because he cursed +her in his poems; but afterward, when he had repented and written those +verses which are called palinodes, in which he sung her praises, he saw +once more. Thus passing from body to body and suffering insults in every +one of them, she at last became a common prostitute; and she it is who was +the lost sheep. + +For this purpose he himself had come, that he might win her first and free +her from chains, and confer salvation upon men by making himself known to +them. For since the angels ruled the world poorly, because each one of +them coveted the principal power, he had come to mend matters and had +descended, been transfigured and assimilated to powers and angels, so that +he might appear among men as man, although he was not a man; and that he +was supposed to have suffered in Judea, although he had not suffered. +Moreover, the prophets inspired by the angels, who were the makers of the +world, pronounced their prophecies; for which reason those who place their +trust in him and Helena no longer regard them, but are free to do what +they will; for men are saved according to his grace, and not according to +their righteous works. For deeds are not righteous in the nature of +things, but by mere accident and just as those angels who made the world +have determined, seeking by such precepts to bring men into bondage. On +this account he promised that the world should be dissolved and that those +who are his should be freed from the rule of them who made the world. + +Thus, then, the mystic priests belonging to this sect both live +profligately and practise magical arts, each one to the extent of his +ability. They use exorcisms and incantations, love-potions, also, and +charms, as well as those beings who are called "familiars" [_paredri_] and +"dream senders" [_oniropompi_], and whatever other curious arts can be had +are eagerly pressed into their service. + + +(_c_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, I, 23. (MSG, 7:673.) + + + The system of Menander. _Cf._ also Eusebius. _Hist. Ec._, III, 26. + + +The successor of Simon Magus was Menander, a Samaritan by birth, who also +became a perfect adept in magic. He affirms that the first power is +unknown to all, but that he himself is the person who has been sent forth +by the invisible beings as a saviour for the salvation of men. The world +was made by angels, who, as he also, like Simon, says, were produced by +the Ennoea, He gives also, as he affirms, by means of the magic which he +teaches knowledge, so that one may overcome those angels that made the +world. For his disciples obtain the resurrection by the fact that they are +baptized into him, and they can die no more, but remain immortal without +ever growing old. + + +(_d_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, I, 26. (MSG, 7:686.) + + + The system of Cerinthus. For additional source material, see + Irenaeus, III, 3, 4; Hippolytus, _Ref._ VII, 33; X, 21; Eusebius, + _Hist. Ec._, III, 28. + + +Cerinthus, again, taught in Asia that the world was not made by the +supreme God, but by a power separated and distant from that Ruler +[_principalitate_] who is over the universe, and ignorant of the God who +is above all. He represented Jesus as not having been born of a virgin, +for this seemed impossible to him, but as having been the son of Joseph +and Mary in the same way that all other men are sons, only he was more +righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. After his baptism Christ +descended upon him in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler; and that +then he proclaimed the unknown Father and performed miracles. But at last +Christ departed from Jesus, and then Jesus suffered and rose again, but +Christ remained impassable, since He was a spiritual being. + + +§ 22. The Greater Gnostic Systems: Basilides and Valentinus + + +The Gnostic systems having most influence within the Church and effect +upon its development were those of Basilides and Valentinus. Of these +teachers and their followers we have not only the accounts of those +opponents who attacked principally their esoteric and most +characteristically Gnostic tenets, but also fragments and other remains +which give a more favorable impression of the religious and moral value of +the great schools of Gnosticism. In their "systems" of vast theogonies and +cosmologies, in their wild mythological treatment of the most abstract +conceptions and their dualism, the Church writers naturally saw at once +their most vulnerable and most dangerous element. + + +A. The School of Basilides + + +The school of Basilides marks the beginning of the distinctively +Hellenistic stadium of Gnosticism. Basilides, its founder, apparently +worked first in the East; circa 120-130 he was at Alexandria. He was the +first important Gnostic writer. Of his Gospel, Commentary on that Gospel +in twenty-four books (_Exegetica_), and his odes only fragments remain of +the second, preserved by Clement of Alexandria and in the _Acta Archelai_ +(collected by Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte_, 207-213). + +Additional source material: Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, II, 3, 8, 20; +IV, 24, 26 (ANF. II); Hippolytus, _Ref._, VII, 20-27; X, 14 (=VII, 1-15, +X, 10, ANF, V); Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, IV. 7. The account of Hippolytus +differs markedly from that of Irenaeus, and his quotations and references +have been the subject of long dispute among scholars. + + +(_a_) _Acta Archelai_, 55. (MSG, 10:1526.) + + + The _Acta Archelai_ purport to be an account of a disputation held + in the reign of the Emperor Probus (276-282) by Archelaus, Bishop + of Kaskar in Mesopotamia, with Mani, the founder of Manichaeanism. + The work is of uncertain authorship; it belongs to the first part + of the fourth century. It is the most important source for the + Manichaean doctrine (_v. infra_, § 54). It exists only in a Latin + translation probably from a Greek original. + + +Among the Persians there was also a certain preacher, one Basilides, of +more ancient date, not long after the time of our Apostles. Since he was +of a shrewd disposition himself, and observed that at that time all other +subjects were preoccupied, he determined to affirm that dualism which was +maintained also by Scythianus. And so, since he had nothing to advance +which he might call his own, he brought the sayings of others before his +adversaries. And all his books contain some matters difficult and +extremely harsh. The thirteenth book of his Tractates,(39) however, is +still extant, which begins thus: "In writing the thirteenth book of our +Tractates, the word of salvation furnished us with the necessary and +fruitful word. It illustrates(40) under the figure of a rich [principle] +and a poor [principle], a nature without root and without place and only +supervenes upon things.(41) This is the only topic which the book +contains." Does it not, then, contain a strange word, as also certain +persons think? Will ye not all be offended with the book itself, of which +this is the beginning? But Basilides, returning to the subject, some five +hundred lines intervening, more or less, says: "Give up this vain and +curious variation, and let us rather find out what inquiries the +Barbarians [_i.e._, the Persians] have instituted concerning good and +evil, and to what opinions they have come on all these subjects. For +certain among them have said that there are for all things two beginnings +[or principles], to which they have referred good and evil, holding these +principles are without beginning and ingenerate; that is to say, that in +the origins of things there were light and darkness, which existed of +themselves, and which were not declared to exist.(42) When these subsisted +by themselves, they each led its own proper mode of life as it willed to +lead, and such as was competent to it. For in the case of all things, what +is proper to it is in amity with it, and nothing seems evil to itself. But +after they came to the knowledge of each other, and after the darkness +contemplated the light, then, as if fired with a passion for something +superior, the darkness rushed to have intercourse with the light." + + +(_b_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, IV, 12. (MSG, 8:1289.) + + + Basilides taught the transmigration of souls as an explanation of + human suffering. _Cf._ Origen in _Ep. ad Rom._, V: "I [Paul], he + says, died [Rom. 7:9], for now sin began to be reckoned unto me. + But Basilides, not noticing that these things ought to be + understood of the natural law, according to impious and foolish + fables turns this apostolic saying into the Pythagorean dogma, + that is, attempts to prove from this word of the Apostle that + souls are transferred from one body to another. For he says that + the Apostle has said, 'I lived without any law'--_i.e._, before I + came into the body I lived in that sort of body which is not under + the law, _i.e._, of beasts and birds." + + +Basilides, in the twenty-third book of the Exegetics, respecting those +that are punished by martyrdom, expresses himself in the following +language: "For I say this, Whosoever fall under the afflictions mentioned, +in consequence of unconsciously transgressing in other matters, are +brought to this good end by the kindness of Him who brings about all +things, though they are accused on other grounds; so that they may not +suffer as condemned for what are acknowledged to be iniquities, nor +reproached as the adulterer or the murderer, but because they are +Christians; which will console them, so that they do not appear to suffer. +And if one who has not sinned at all incur suffering (a rare case), yet +even he will not suffer aught through the machinations of power, but will +suffer as the child which seems not to have sinned would suffer." Then +further on he adds: "As, then, the child which has not sinned before, nor +actually committed sin, but has in itself that which committed sin, when +subjected to suffering is benefited, reaping the advantage of many +difficulties; so, also, although a perfect man may not have sinned in act, +and yet endures afflictions, he suffers similarly with the child. Having +within him the sinful principle, but not embracing the opportunity of +committing sin, he does not sin; so that it is to be reckoned to him as +not having sinned. For as he who wishes to commit adultery is an +adulterer, although he fails to commit adultery, and he who wishes to +commit murder is a murderer, although he is unable to kill; so, also, if I +see the man without sin, whom I refer to, suffering, though he have done +nothing bad, I should call him bad on account of the wish to sin. For I +will affirm anything rather than call Providence evil." Then, in +continuation, he says expressly concerning the Lord, as concerning man: +"If, then, passing from all these observations, you were to proceed to put +me to shame by saying, perchance impersonating certain parties, This man +has then sinned, for this man has suffered; if you permit, I will say, He +has not sinned, but was like a child suffering. If you insist more +urgently, I would say, That the man you name is man, but God is righteous, +'for no one is pure,' as one said, 'from pollution.' " But the hypothesis +of Basilides says that the soul, having sinned before in another life, +endures punishment in this--the elect soul with honor by martyrdom, the +other purged by appropriate punishment. + + +(_c_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, I, 24:3 _ff._ (MSG, 7:675.) + + + The system of Basilides, as presented by Irenaeus, is dualistic and + emanationist; with it is to be compared the presentation of the + system by Hippolytus in his _Philosophumena_, where it appears as + evolutionary and pantheistic. The trend of present opinion appears + to be that the account given by Irenaeus is more correct, or, at + least, is earlier. The following account has all the appearance of + having been taken from an original source (_cf._ Hilgenfeld, + _Ketzergeschichte_, 195, 198). It represents the esoteric and more + distinctively Gnostic teaching of the school. + + +Ch. 3. Basilides, to appear to have discovered something more sublime and +plausible, gives an immense development to his doctrine. He declares that +in the beginning the Nous was born of the unborn Father, that from him in +turn was born the Logos, then from the Logos the Phronesis, from the +Phronesis Sophia and Dynamis, and from Dynamis and Sophia the powers and +principalities and angels, whom he calls the first; and that by these the +first heaven was made. Then by emanation from these others were formed, +and these created another heaven similar to the first. And in like manner, +when still others had been formed by emanations from these, corresponding +to those who were over them, they framed another third heaven; and from +this third heaven downward there was a fourth succession of descendants; +and so on, in the same manner, they say that other and still other princes +and angels were formed, and three hundred and sixty-five heavens. +Wherefore the year contained the same number of days in conformity with +the number of the heavens. + +Ch. 4. The angels occupying the lowest heaven, that, namely, which is +visible to us, created all those things which are in the world, and made +allotments among themselves of the earth, and of those nations which are +upon it. The chief of them is he who is thought to be the God of the Jews. +Inasmuch as he wished to make the other nations subject to his own people, +the Jews, all the other princes resisted and opposed him. Wherefore all +other nations were hostile to his nation. But the unbegotten and nameless +Father, seeing their ruin, sent his own first-begotten Nous, for he it is +who is called Christ, to set free from the power of those who made the +world them that believe in him. He therefore appeared on earth as a man to +the nations of those powers and wrought miracles. Wherefore he did not +himself suffer death, but Simon, a certain Cyrenian, was compelled and +bore the cross in his stead; and this latter was transfigured by him that +he might be thought to be Jesus and was crucified through ignorance and +error; but Jesus himself took the form of Simon and stood by and derided +him. For as he is an incorporeal power and the Nous of the unborn Father, +he transfigured himself at pleasure, and so ascended to him who had sent +him, deriding them, inasmuch as he could not be held, and was invisible to +all. Those, then, who know these things have been freed from the princes +who made the world; so that it is not necessary to confess him who was +crucified, but him who came in the form of a man, and was thought to have +been crucified, and was called Jesus, and was sent by the Father, that by +this dispensation he might destroy the works of the makers of the world. +Therefore, Basilides says that if any one confesses the crucified, he is +still a slave, under the power of those who made our bodies; but whoever +denies him has been freed from these beings and is acquainted with the +dispensation of the unknown Father. + +Ch. 5. Salvation is only of the soul, for the body is by nature +corruptible. He says, also, that even the prophecies were derived from +those princes who made the world, but the law was especially given by +their chief, who led the people out of the land of Egypt. He attaches no +importance to meats offered to idols, thinks them of no consequence, but +makes use of them without hesitation. He holds, also, the use of other +things as indifferent, and also every kind of lust. These men, +furthermore, use magic, images, incantations, invocations, and every other +kind of curious arts. Coining also certain names as if they were those of +the angels, they assert that some of these belong to the first, others to +the second, heaven; and then they strive to set forth the names, +principles, angels, powers, of the three hundred and sixty-five imagined +heavens. They also affirm that the name in which the Saviour ascended and +descended is Caulacau.(43) + +Ch. 6. He, then, who has learned these things, and known all the angels +and their causes, is rendered invisible and incomprehensible to the angels +and powers, even as Caulacau also was. And as the Son was unknown to all, +so must they also be known by no one; but while they know all and pass +through all, they themselves remain invisible and unknown to all; for "Do +thou," they say, "know all, but let nobody know thee." For this reason, +persons of such a persuasion are also ready to recant, yea, rather, it is +impossible that they should suffer on account of a mere name, since they +are alike to all. The multitude, however, cannot understand these matters, +but only one out of a thousand, or two out of ten thousand. They declare +that they are no longer Jews, and that they are not yet Christians; and +that it is not at all fitting to speak openly of their mysteries, but +right to keep them secret by preserving silence. + +Ch. 7. They make out the local position of the three hundred and +sixty-five heavens in the same way as do the mathematicians. For, +accepting the theorems of the latter, they have transferred them to their +own style of doctrine. They hold that their chief is Abraxas [or Abrasax]; +and on this account that the word contains in itself the numbers amounting +to three hundred and sixty-five. + + +B. The School of Valentinus + + +The Valentinians were the most important of all the Gnostics closely +connected with the Church. The school had many adherents scattered +throughout the Roman Empire, its leading teachers were men of culture and +literary ability, and the sect maintained itself a long time. Valentinus +himself was a native of Egypt, and probably educated at Alexandria, where +he may have come under the influence of Basilides. He taught his own +system chiefly at Rome c. 140-c. 160. The great work of Irenaeus against +the Gnostics, although having all Gnostics in view, especially deals with +the Valentinians in their various forms, because Irenaeus was of the +opinion that he who refutes their system refutes all (_cf. Adv. Haer._, IV, +_praef._, 2). It is difficult to reconstruct with certainty the esoteric +system of Valentinus as distinguished from possibly later developments of +the school, as Irenaeus, the principal authority, follows not only +Valentinus, but Ptolomaeus and others, in describing the system. The +following selection of sources gives fragments of the letters and other +writings of Valentinus himself as preserved by Clement of Alexandria, +passages from Irenaeus bringing out distinctive features of the system, and +the important letter of Ptolemaeus to Flora, one of the very few extant +writings of the Gnostics of an early date. It gives a good idea of the +character of the exoteric teaching of the school. + + + Additional source material: The principal authority for the system + of the Valentinians is Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, Lib. I (ANF), see + also Hippolytus, _Refut._, VI, 24-32 (ANF); "The Hymn of the + Soul," from the _Acts of Thomas_, trans. by A. A. Bevan, _Texts + and Studies_, III, Cambridge, 1897; _The Fragments of Heracleon_, + trans. by A. E. Burke, _Text and Studies_, I, Cambridge, 1891; see + also ANF, IX, index, p. 526, _s. v., Heracleon_. The _Excerpta + Theodoti_ contained in ANF, VIII, are really the _Excerpta + Prophetica_, another collection, identified with the _Excerpta + Theodoti_ by mistake of the editor of the American edition, A. C. + Coxe (on the _Excerpta_, see Zahn, _History of the Canon of the + New Testament_). + + +(_a_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, IV, 13. (MSG, 8:1296.) + + + The following passages appear to be taken from the same homily of + Valentinus. The pneumatics are naturally immortal, but have + assumed mortality to overcome it. Death is the work of the + imperfect Demiurge. The concluding portion, which is very obscure, + does not fit well into the Valentinian system. _Cf._ Hilgenfeld, + _op. cit._, p. 300. + + +Valentinian in a homily writes in these words: "Ye are originally +immortal, and ye are children of eternal life, and ye desired to have +death distributed to you, that ye may spend and lavish it, and that death +may die in you and by you; for when ye dissolve the world, and are not +yourselves dissolved, ye have dominion over creation and all +corruption."(44) For he also, similarly with Basilides, supposes a class +saved by nature [_i.e._, the pneumatics, _v. infra_], and that this +different race has come hither to us from above for the abolition of +death, and that the origin of death is the work of the Creator of the +world. Wherefore, also, he thus expounds that Scripture, "No one shall see +the face of God and live" [Ex. 33:20], as if He were the cause of death. +Respecting this God, he makes those allusions, when writing, in these +expressions: "As much as the image is inferior to the living face, so much +is the world inferior to the living Eon. What is, then, the cause of the +image? It is the majesty of the face, which exhibits the figure to the +painter, to be honored by his name; for the form is not found exactly to +the life, but the name supplies what is wanting in that which is formed. +The invisibility of God co-operates also for the sake of the faith of that +which has been fashioned." For the Demiurge, called God and Father, he +designated the image and prophet of the true God, as the Painter, and +Wisdom, whose image, which is formed, is to the glory of the invisible +One; since the things which proceed from a pair [syzygy] are complements +[_pleromata_], and those which proceed from one are images. But since what +is seen is no part of Him, the soul [_psyche_] comes from what is +intermediate, and is different; and this is the inspiration of the +different spirit. And generally what is breathed into the soul, which is +the image of the spirit [_pneuma_], and in general, what is said of the +Demiurge, who was made according to the image, they say was foretold by a +sensible image in the book of Genesis respecting the origin of man; and +the likeness they transfer to themselves, teaching that the addition of +the different spirit was made, unknown to the Demiurge. + + +(_b_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, II, 20. (MSG, 8:1057.) + + + According to Basilides, the various passions of the soul were no + original parts of the soul, but appendages to the soul. "They were + in essence certain spirits attached to the rational soul, through + some original perturbation and confusion; and that again, other + bastard and heterogeneous natures of spirits grow onto them, like + that of the wolf, the ape, the lion, and the goat, whose + properties, showing themselves around the soul, they say, + assimilate the lusts of the soul to the likeness of these + animals." See the whole passage immediately preceding the + following fragment. The fragment can best be understood by + reference to the presentation of the system by W. Bousset in + _Encyc. Brit._, eleventh ed., art. "Basilides." + + +Valentinus, too, in a letter to certain people, writes in these very words +respecting the appendages: "There is One good, by whose presence is the +manifestation, which is by the Son, and by Him alone can the heart become +pure, by the expulsion of every evil spirit from the heart; for the +multitude of spirits dwelling in it do not suffer it to be pure; but each +of them performs his own deeds, insulting it oft with unseemly lusts. And +the heart seems to be treated somewhat like a caravansary. For the latter +has holes and ruts made in it, and is often filled with filthy dung; men +living filthily in it, and taking no care for the place as belonging to +others. So fares it with the heart as long as there is no thought taken +for it, being unclean and the abode of demons many. But when the only good +Father visits it, it is sanctified and gleams with light. And he who +possesses such a heart is so blessed that he shall see God." + + +(_c_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, II. 8. (MSG, 8:972.) + + + The teaching in the following passage attaches itself to the text, + "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom" (_cf._ Prov. 1:7). + Compare with it Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, I, 30:6. + + +Here the followers of Basilides, interpreting this expression [Prov. 1:7] +say that "the Archon, having heard the speech of the Spirit, who was being +ministered to, was struck with amazement both with the voice and the +vision, having had glad tidings beyond his hopes announced to him; and +that his amazement was called fear, which became the origin of wisdom, +which distinguishes classes, and discriminates, and perfects, and +restores. For not the world alone, but also the election, He that is over +all has set apart and sent forth." + +And Valentinus appears also in an epistle to have adopted such views. For +he writes in these very words: "And as terror fell on the angels at this +creature, because he uttered things greater than proceeds from his +formation, by reason of the being in him who had invisibly communicated a +germ of the supernal essence, and who spoke with free utterance; so, also, +among the tribes of men in the world the works of men became terrors to +those who made them--as, for example, images and statues. And the hands of +all fashion things to bear the image of God; for Adam, formed into the +name of man, inspired the dread attaching to the pre-existing man, as +having his being in him; and they were terror-stricken and speedily marred +the work." + + +(_d_) Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, III, 7. (MSG, 8:1151.) + + + The Docetism of Valentinus comes out in the following. It is to be + noted that Clement not only does not controvert the position taken + by the Gnostic as to the reality of the bodily functions of Jesus, + but in his own person makes almost the same assertions (_cf. + Strom._, VI, 9). He might indeed call himself, as he does in this + latter passage, a Gnostic in the sense of the true or Christian + Gnostic, but he comes very close to the position of the + non-Christian Gnostic. + + +Valentinus in an epistle to Agathopous says: "Since He endured all things, +and was continent [_i.e._, self-controlled], Jesus, accordingly, obtained +for Himself divinity. He ate and drank in a peculiar manner, not giving +forth His food. Such was the power of His continence [self-control] that +the food was not corrupted in Him, because He himself was without +corruption." + + +(_e_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, I, 7, 15; I, 8, 23. (MSG, 7:517, 528.) + + + The division of mankind into three classes, according to their + nature and consequent capacity for salvation, is characteristic of + the Valentinian Gnosticism. The other Gnostics divided mankind + into two classes: those capable of salvation, or the pneumatics, + or Gnostics, and those who perish in the final destruction of + material existence, or the hylics. Valentinus avails himself of + the notion of the trichotomy of human nature, and gives a place + for the bulk of Christians, those who did not embrace Gnosticism; + _cf._ Irenaeus, _ibid._, I, 6. Valentinus remained long within the + Church, accommodating his teaching as far as possible, and in its + exoteric side very fully, to the current teaching of the Church. + The doctrine as to the psychics, capable of a limited salvation, + appears to be a part of this accommodation. + + +I, 7, 5. The Valentinians conceive of three kinds of men: the pneumatic +[or spiritual], the choic [or material],(45) and the psychic [or animal]; +such were Cain, Abel, and Seth. These three natures are no longer in one +person, but in the race. The material goes to destruction. The animal, if +it chooses the better part, finds repose in an intermediate place; but if +it chooses the worse, it, too, goes to the same [destruction]. But they +assert that the spiritual principles, whatever Acamoth has sown, being +disciplined and nourished here from that time until now in righteous +souls, because they were sent forth weak, at last attain perfection and +shall be given as brides(46) to the angels of the Saviour, but their +animal souls necessarily rest forever with the Demiurge in the +intermediate place. And again subdividing the animal souls themselves, +they say that some are by nature good and others are by nature evil. The +good are those who become capable of receiving the seed; the evil by +nature, those who are never able to receive that seed. + +I, 8, 23. The parable of the leaven which the woman is said to have hid in +three measures of meal they declare manifests the three kinds of men: +pneumatic, psychic, and the choic, but the leaven denoted the Saviour +himself. Paul also very plainly set forth the choic, the psychic, and the +pneumatic, saying in one place: "As is the earthy [choic] such are they +also that are earthy" [I Cor. 15:48]; and in another place, "He that is +spiritual [pneumatic] judgeth all things" [I Cor. 2:14]. And the passage, +"The animal man receiveth not the things of the spirit" [I Cor. 2:15], +they affirm was spoken concerning the Demiurge, who, being psychic, knew +neither his mother, who was spiritual, nor her seed, nor the Eons in the +pleroma. + + +(_f_) Irenaeus. _Adv. Haer._, I, 1. (MSG, 7:445 _f._) + + + The following passage appears, from the context, to have been + written with the teaching of Ptolemaeus especially in mind. It + should be compared with the account further on in the same book, + I, 11: 1-3. The syzygies are characteristic of the Valentinian + teaching, and the symbolism of marriage plays an important part in + the "system" of all the Valentinians. In the words of Duchesne + (_Hist. ancienne de l'eglise_, sixth ed., p. 171): "Valentinian + Gnosticism is from one end to the other a 'marriage Gnosticism.' + From the most abstract origins of being to their end, there are + only syzygies, marriages, and generations." For the connection + between these conceptions and antinomianism, see Irenaeus, _Adv. + Haer._, I, 6:3 _f._ For their sacramental application, _ibid._, I, + 21:3. _Cf._ I, 13:3, a passage which seems to belong to the + sacrament of the bridal chamber. + + +They [the Valentinians] say that in the invisible and ineffable heights +above there exists a certain perfect, pre-existent Eon, and him they call +Proarche, Propator, and Bythos; and that he is invisible and that nothing +is able to comprehend him. Since he is comprehended by no one, and is +invisible, eternal, and unbegotten, he was in silence and profound +quiescence in the boundless ages. There existed along with him Ennoea, whom +they call Charis and Sige. And at a certain time this Bythos determined to +send forth from himself the beginnings of all things, and just as seed he +wished to send forth this emanation, and he deposited it in the womb of +her who was with him, even of Sige. She then received this seed, and +becoming pregnant, generated Nous, who was both similar and equal to him +who had sent him forth(47) and alone comprehended his father's greatness. +This Nous they also call Monogenes and Father and the Beginning of all +Things. Along with him was also sent forth Aletheia; and these four +constituted the first and first-begotten Pythagorean Tetrad, which also +they denominate the root of all things. For there are first Bythos and +Sige, and then Nous and Aletheia. And Monogenes, when he perceived for +what purpose he had been sent forth, also himself sent forth Logos and +Zoe, being the father of all those who are to come after him, and the +beginning and fashioning of the entire pleroma. From Logos and Zoe were +sent forth, by a conjunction, Anthropos and Ecclesia, and thus were formed +the first-begotten Ogdoad, the root and substance of all things, called +among them by four names; namely, Bythos, Nous, Logos, and Anthropos. For +each of these is at once masculine and feminine, as follows: Propator was +united by a conjunction with his Ennoea, then Monogenes (_i.e._, Nous) with +Aletheia, Logos with Zoe, Anthropos with Ecclesia. + + +(_g_) Ptolemaeus, _Epistula ad Floram_, ap. Epiphanius, _Panarion, Haer._ +XXXIII, 3. Ed. Oehler, 1859. (MSG, 41:557.) + + + Ptolemaeus was possibly the most important disciple of Valentinus. + and the one to whom Irenaeus is most indebted for his first-hand + knowledge of the teaching of the sect of the Valentinians. Of his + writings have been preserved, in addition to numerous brief + fragments, a connected passage of some length, apparently from a + commentary on the Prologue or the Gospel of St. John (see Irenaeus, + _Adv. Haer._, I, 8:5), and the Epistle to Flora. The commentary is + distinctly a part of the esoteric teaching, the epistle is as + clearly exoteric. + + +That many have not(48) received the Law given by Moses, my dear sister +Flora, without recognizing either its fundamental ideas or its precepts, +will be perfectly clear to you, I believe, if you become acquainted with +the different views regarding the same. For some [_i.e._, the Church] say +that it was commanded by God and the Father; but others [_i.e._, the +Marcionites], taking the opposite direction, affirm that it was commanded +by an opposing and injurious devil, and they attribute to him the creation +of the world, and say that he is the Father and Creator. But such as teach +such doctrine are altogether deceived, and each of them strays from the +truth of what lies before him. For it appears not to have been given by +the perfect God and Father, because it is itself imperfect, and it needs +to be completed [_cf._ Matt. 5:17], and it has precepts not consonant with +the nature and mind of God; neither is the Law to be attributed to the +wickedness of the adversary, whose characteristic is to do wrong. Such do +not know what was spoken by the Saviour, that a city or a house divided +against itself cannot stand, as our Saviour has shown us. And besides, the +Apostle says that the creation of the world was His work (all things were +made by Him and without Him nothing was made), refuting the unsubstantial +wisdom of lying men, the work not of a god working ruin, but a just one +who hates wickedness. This is the opinion of rash men who do not +understand the cause of the providence of the Creator [Demiurge] and have +lost the eyes not only of their soul, but of their body. How far, +therefore, such wander from the way of truth is evident to you from what +has been said. But each of these is induced by something peculiar to +himself to think thus, some by ignorance of the God of righteousness: +others by ignorance of the Father of all, whom the Only One who knew Him +alone revealed when He came. To us it has been reserved to be deemed +worthy of making manifest to you the ideas of both of these, and to +investigate carefully this Law, whence anything is, and the law-giver by +whom it was commanded, bringing proofs of what shall be said from the +words of our Saviour, by which alone one can be led without error to the +knowledge of things. + +First of all, it is to be known that the entire Law contained in the +Pentateuch of Moses was not given by one--I mean not by God alone; but some +of its precepts were given by men, and the words of the Saviour teach us +to divide it into three parts. For He attributes some of it to God himself +and His law-giving, and some to Moses, not in the sense that God gave laws +through him, but in the sense that Moses, impelled by his own spirit, set +down some things as laws; and He attributes some things to the elders of +the people, who first discovered certain commandments of their own and +then inserted them. How this was so you clearly learn from the words of +the Saviour. Somewhere the Saviour was conversing with the people, who +disputed with Him about divorce, that it was allowed in the Law, and He +said to them: Moses, on account of the hardness of your hearts, permitted +a man to divorce his wife; but from the beginning it was not so. For God, +said He, joined this bond, and what the Lord joined together let not man, +He said, put asunder. He therefore pointed out one law that forbids a +woman to be separated from her husband, which was of God, and another, +which was of Moses, that allows, on account of the hardness of men's +hearts, the bond to be dissolved. And accordingly, Moses gives a law +opposed to God, for it is opposed to the law forbidding divorce. But if we +consider carefully the mind of Moses, according to which he thus +legislated, we shall find that he did not do this of his own mere choice, +but by constraint because of the weakness of those to whom he was giving +the law. For since they were not able to observe that precept of God by +which it was not permitted them to cast forth their wives, with whom some +of them lived unhappily, and because of this they were in danger of +falling still more into unrighteousness, and from that into utter ruin, +Moses, intending to avoid this unhappy result, because they were in danger +of ruin, gave a certain second law, according to circumstances less evil, +in place of the better; and by his own authority gave the law of divorce +to them, that if they could not keep that they might keep this, and should +not fall into unrighteousness and wickedness by which complete ruin should +overtake them. This was his purpose in as far as he is found giving laws +contrary to God. That thus the law of Moses is shown to be other than the +Law of God is indisputable, if we have shown it in one instance. + +And as to there being certain traditions of the elders which have been +incorporated in the Law, the Saviour shows this also. For God, said He, +commanded: Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee. +But ye, He said, addressing the elders, have said: It is a gift to God, +that by which ye might be profited by me, and ye annul the law of God by +the traditions of your elders. And this very thing Isaiah declared when he +said: This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from +me, vainly do they worship me, teaching the doctrines and commandment of +men [_cf._ Matt. 15:4-9.] Clearly, then, from these things it is shown +that this whole Law is to be divided into three parts. And in it we find +laws given by Moses, by the elders, and by God; and this division of the +whole Law as we have made it, has shown the real truth as to the Law. + +But one portion of the Law, that which is from God, is again to be divided +into three parts: first, into the genuine precepts, quite untainted with +evil, which is properly called the law, and which the Saviour came not to +destroy but to complete (for what he completed was not alien to Him, but +yet it was not perfect); secondly, the part comprising evil and +unrighteous things, which the Saviour did away with as something unfitting +His nature; and thirdly, the part which is for types and symbols, which is +given as a law, as images of things spiritual and excellent which, from +being evident and manifest to the senses, the Saviour changed into the +spiritual and unseen. Now the law of God, pure and untainted with anything +base, is the Decalogue itself, or those ten precepts distributed in two +tables, for the prohibition of things to be avoided and the performance of +things to be done. Although they constitute a pure body of laws, yet they +are not perfect, but need to be completed by the Saviour. But there is +that body of commands which are tainted with unrighteousness; such is the +law requiring vengeance and requital of injuries upon those who have first +injured us, commanding the smiting out of an eye for an eye and a tooth +for a tooth and revenging bloodshed with bloodshed. For one who is second +in doing unrighteousness acts no less unrighteously, when the difference +is only one of order, doing the self-same work. But such a precept was, +and is, in other respects just, because of the infirmity of those to whom +the law was given, and it was given in violation of the pure law, and was +not consonant with the nature and goodness of the Father of all; it was to +a degree appropriate, but yet given under a certain compulsion. For he who +forbids the commission of a single murder in that he says, Thou shalt not +kill, but commands that he who kills shall in requital be killed, gives a +second law and commands a second slaying, when he has forbidden one, and +has been compelled to do this by necessity. And therefore the Son, sent by +Him, abolishes this portion of the Law, He himself confessing that it is +from God, and this, among other things, is to be attributed to an ancient +heresy, among which, also, is that God, speaking, says: He that curseth +father or mother, let him die the death. But there is that part of the Law +which is typical, laying down that which is an image of things spiritual +and excellent, which gives laws concerning such matters as offerings, I +mean, and circumcision, the Sabbath and fasting, the passover and the +unleavened bread, and such like. For all these things, being images and +symbols of the truth which had been manifested, have been changed. They +were abrogated so far as they were external, visible acts of bodily +performance, but they were retained so far as they were spiritual, the +names remaining, but the things being changed. For the Saviour commands us +to present offerings, though not of irrational animals or of incense, but +spiritual offerings--praise, glory, and thanksgiving, and also liberality +and good deeds toward the neighbor. He would have us circumcised with a +circumcision not of the flesh, but spiritual and of the heart; and have us +observe the Sabbath, for he wishes us to rest from wicked actions; and +fast, but he does not wish us to observe a bodily fast, but a spiritual, +in that we abstain from all that is unworthy. External fasting, however, +is observed among our people, since it is capable of benefiting the soul +to some degree, if it is practised with reason, when it is neither +performed from imitation of any one, nor by custom, nor on account of a +day, as if a day were set apart for that purpose; and at the same time it +is also for a reminder of true fasting, that they who are not able to fast +thus may have a reminder of it from the fast which is external. And that +the passover, in the same way, and the unleavened bread are images, the +Apostle Paul also makes clear, saying: Christ our Passover is sacrificed +for us, and That ye may be unleavened, not having any leaven (for he calls +leaven wickedness), but that ye may be a new dough. + +This entire Law, therefore, acknowledged to be from God, is divided into +three parts: into that part which is fulfilled by the Saviour, such as +Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not +forswear thyself, for they are included in this, thou shalt not be angry, +thou shalt not lust, thou shalt not swear; into that which is completely +abolished, such as an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, being +tainted with unrighteousness, and having the same work of unrighteousness, +and these are taken away by the Saviour because contradictory (for those +things which are contradictory are mutually destructive), "For I say unto +you that ye in no wise resist evil, but if any one smite thee turn to him +the other cheek also;" and into that part which is changed and converted +from that which is bodily into that which is spiritual, as he expounds +allegorically a symbol which is commanded as an image of things that are +excellent. For these images and symbols, fitted to represent other things, +were good so long as the truth was not yet present; but when the truth is +present, it is necessary to do the things of truth, not the image of +truth. The same thing his disciples and the Apostle Paul teach, inasmuch +as in regard to things which are images, as we have already said, they +show by the passover and the unleavened bread that they are for our sake, +but in regard to the law which is tainted with unrighteousness, they call +it the law of commandments and ordinances, that is done away; but as to +the law which is untainted with evil, he says that the law is holy and the +commandment holy and just and good. + +Accordingly, I think that it has been sufficiently shown you, so far as it +is possible to discuss the matter briefly, that there are laws of men +which have slipped in, and there is the very Law of God which is divided +into three parts. There remains, therefore, for us to show, who, then, is +that God who gave the Law. But I think that this has been shown you in +what has already been said, if you have listened attentively. For if the +Law was not given by the perfect God, as we have shown, nor by the devil, +which idea merely to mention is unlawful, there is another beside these, +one who gave the Law. This one is, therefore, the Demiurge and maker of +this whole world and of all things in it, different from the nature of the +other two, and placed between them, and who therefore rightly bears the +name of the Midst. And if the perfect God is good according to His own +nature, as also He is (for that there is only One who is good, namely, God +and His Father, the Saviour asserted, the God whom He manifested), there +is also one who is of the nature of the adversary, bad and wicked and +characterized by unrighteousness. Standing, therefore, between these, and +being neither good nor bad nor unjust, he can be called righteous in a +sense proper to him, as the judge of the righteousness that corresponds to +him, and that god will be lower than the perfect God, and his +righteousness lower than His, because he is begotten and not unbegotten. +For there is one unbegotten One, the Father, from whom are all things, for +all things have been prepared by Him. But He is greater and superior to +the adversary, and is of a different essence or nature from the essence of +the other. For the essence of the adversary is corruption and darkness, +for he is hylic and composite,(49) but the essence of the unbegotten +Father of all is incorruptibility, and He is light itself, simple and +uniform. But the essence of these(50) brings forth a certain twofold +power, and he is the image of the better. Do not let these things disturb +you, who wish to learn how from one principle of all things, whom we +acknowledge and in whom be believe, namely, the unbegotten and the +incorruptible and the good, there exist two other natures, namely, that of +corruption and that of the Midst, which are not of the same essence +[{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}], though the good by nature begets and brings forth what is +like itself, and of the same essence [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}]. For you will learn by +God's permission, in due order, both the beginning of this and its +generation, since you are deemed worthy of the apostolic tradition, which +by a succession we have received, and in due season to test all things by +the teaching of the Saviour. The things which in a few words I have said +to you, my sister Flora, I have not exhausted, and I have written briefly. +At the same time I have sufficiently explained to you the subject +proposed, and what I have said will be constantly of use to you, if as a +beautiful and good field you have received the seed and will by it produce +fruit. + + +§ 23. Marcion + + +Recently Marcion has been commonly treated apart from the Gnostics on +account of the large use he made of the Pauline writings. By some he has +even been regarded as a champion of Pauline ideas which had failed to hold +a place in Christian thought. This opinion of Marcion is being modified +under the influence of a larger knowledge of Gnosticism. At the bottom +Marcion's doctrine was thoroughly Gnostic, though he differed from the +vast majority of Gnostics in that his interest seems to have been +primarily ethical rather than speculative. His school maintained itself +for some centuries after undergoing some minor modifications. Marcion was +teaching at Rome, A. D. 140. The aspersions upon his moral character must +be taken with caution, as it had already become a common practice to +blacken the character of theological opponents, regardless of the truth, a +custom which has not yet wholly disappeared. + + + Additional source material: Justin Martyr, _Apol._, I. 26, 58; + Irenaeus, III. 12:12 _ff._ The most important source is + Tertullian's elaborate _Adversus Marcionem_, especially I, 1 _f._, + 29; III, 8. 11. + + +(_a_) Irenaeus, Adv. _Haer._, I, 27: 1-3. (MSG, 7:687.) + + + The system of Cerdo and Marcion. + + +Ch. 1. A certain Cerdo, who had taken his fundamental ideas from those who +were with Simon [_i.e._, Simon Magus], and who was in Rome in the time of +Hyginus, who held the ninth place from the Apostles in the episcopal +succession, taught that the God who was preached by the law and the +prophets is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the former is +known, but the latter is unknown; and the former is righteous, but the +other is good. + +Ch. 2. And Marcion of Pontus succeeded him and developed a school, +blaspheming shamelessly Him who is proclaimed as God by the law and the +prophets; saying that He is maker of evils and a lover of wars, inconstant +in purpose and inconsistent with Himself. He said, however, that Jesus +came from the Father, who is above the God who made the world, into Judea +in the time of Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Tiberius Caesar, and was +manifested in the form of a man to those who were in Judea, destroying the +prophets and the law, and all the works of that God who made the world and +whom he also called Cosmocrator. In addition to this, he mutilated the +Gospel which is according to Luke, and removed all that refers to the +generation of the Lord, removing also many things from the teaching in the +Lord's discourses, in which the Lord is recorded as very plainly +confessing that the founder of this universe is His Father; and thus +Marcion persuaded his disciples that he himself is truer than the Apostles +who delivered the Gospel; delivering to them not the Gospel but a part of +the Gospel. But in the same manner he also mutilated the epistles of the +Apostle Paul, removing all that is plainly said by the Apostle concerning +that God who made the world, to the effect that He is the Father of our +Lord Jesus Christ, and all that the Apostle taught by quotation from the +prophetical writings which foretold the coming of the Lord. + +Ch. 3. He taught that salvation would be only of the souls of those who +should receive his doctrine, and that it is impossible for the body to +partake of salvation, because it was taken from the earth. + + +(_b_) Tertullian, _Adv. Marcion._, I, 19; IV, 2, 3. (MSL, 2: 293. 393.) + + + Tertullian's great work against Marcion is his most important and + most carefully written polemical treatise. He revised it three + times. The first book of the present revision dates from A. D. + 207; the other books cannot be dated except conjecturally. In + spite of the openly displayed hostile animus of the writer, it can + be used with confidence when controlled by reference to other + sources. + + +I, 19. Marcion's special and principal work is the separation of the law +and the Gospel; and his disciples will not be able to deny that in this +they have their best means by which they are initiated into, and confirmed +in, this heresy. For these are Marcion's antitheses--that is, contradictory +propositions; and they aim at putting the Gospel at variance with the law, +that from the diversity of the statements of the two documents they may +argue for a diversity of gods, also. + +IV, 2. With Marcion the mystery of the Christian religion dates from the +discipleship of Luke. Since, however, it was under way previously, it must +have had its authentic materials by means of which it found its way down +to Luke; and by aid of the testimony which it bore Luke himself becomes +admissible. + +IV, 3. Well, but because Marcion finds the Epistle to the Galatians by +Paul, who rebukes even Apostles for "not walking uprightly according to +the truth of the Gospel" [Gal. 2:14], as well as accuses certain false +apostles of being perverters of the Gospel of Christ, he attempts to +destroy the standing of those gospels which are published as genuine and +under the names of Apostles, or of apostolic men, to secure, forsooth, for +his own gospel the credit he takes away from them. + + +(_c_) Rhodon, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 13. (MSG, 20:459.) + + +At this time Rhodon, a native of Asia, who, as he himself states, had been +instructed at Rome by Tatian, with whom we have already become acquainted, +wrote excellent books, and published among the rest one against the heresy +of Marcion which, he says, was in his time divided into various sects; and +he describes those who occasioned the division and refutes carefully the +falsehood devised by each. But hear what he writes: "Therefore also they +have fallen into disagreement among themselves, and maintain inconsistent +opinions. For Apelles, one of their herd, priding himself on his manner of +life and his age, acknowledged one principle [_i.e._, source of +existence], but says that the prophecies were from an opposing spirit. And +he was persuaded of the truth of this by the responses of a demoniac +maiden named Philumene. But others hold to two principles, as does the +mariner Marcion himself, among these are Potitus and Basiliscus. These, +following the wolf of Pontus and, like him, unable to discover the +divisions of things, became reckless, and without any proof baldly +asserted two principles. Again, others of them drifted into worse error +and assumed not only two, but three, natures. Of these Syneros is the +leader and chief, as those say who defend his teaching." + + +§ 24. Encratites + + +Asceticism is a wide-spread phenomenon in nearly all religions. It is to +be found in apostolic Christianity. In the early Church it was regarded as +a matter in the option of the Christian who was aiming at the religious +life [see above, § 16]. The characteristic of the Encratites was their +insistence upon asceticism as essential to Christian living. They were +therefore associated, and with abundant historical justification, with +Gnosticism. + + + Additional source material: Clement of Alexandria, _Strom._, III, + _passim_; Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 29, _cf._ the many references + in the notes to McGiffert's edition, PNF. + + +(_a_) Hippolytus, VIII, 13. (MSG, 16:3368.) + + + See above, § 19, _c_. + + +Others, however, styling themselves Encratites, acknowledge some things +concerning God and Christ in like manner with the Church, but in respect +to their mode of life they pass their time inflated with pride; thinking +that by meats they glorify themselves, they abstain from animal food, are +water drinkers, and, forbidding to marry, they devote the rest of their +life to habits of asceticism. + + +(_b_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._ I, 28. (MSG, 7:690.) + + +Many offshoots of numerous heresies have already been formed from those +heresies which we have described.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} By way of example, let us say there are +those springing from Saturninus and Marcion, who are called Encratites +[_i.e._, self-controlled], who preached the unmarried state, thus setting +aside the original creation of God, and indirectly condemning Him who made +male and female for the propagation of the human race. Some of those +reckoned as belonging to them have also introduced abstinence from animal +food, being ungrateful to God who created all things. They deny, also, the +salvation of him who was first created. It is but recently that this +opinion has been discovered among them, since a certain man named Tatian +first introduced the blasphemy. He had been a hearer of Justin's, and as +long as he continued with him he expressed no such views; but after his +martyrdom [circa A. D. 165] he separated from the Church, and having +become excited and puffed up by the thought of being a teacher, as if he +were superior to others, he composed his own peculiar type of doctrine. He +invented a system of certain invisible Eons, like the followers of +Valentinus; and like Marcion and Saturninus, he declared that marriage was +nothing else than corruption and fornication. But this denial of Adam's +salvation was an opinion due entirely to himself. + + +§ 25. Montanism + + +Montanism was, in part at least, an attempt to revive the enthusiastic +prophetic element in the early Christian life. In its first +manifestations, in Asia Minor, Montanism was wild and fanatical. It soon +spread to the West, and in doing so it became, as did other Oriental +religious movements (_e.g._, Gnosticism and Manichaeanism, see § 54), far +more sober. It even seemed to many serious persons to be nothing more than +a praiseworthy attempt to revive or retain certain primitive Christian +conditions, both in respect to personal morals and ecclesiastical +organization and life. In this way it came to be patronized by not a few +(_e.g._, Tertullian) who, in other respects, deviated in few or no points +from the prevailing thought and practice of Christians. See also § 26. + + + Additional source material: Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 16-19, cf. + literature cited in McGiffert's notes. The sayings of Montanus, + Maximilla, and Priscilla are collected in Hilgenfeld, + _Ketzergeschichte_, 591 _ff._ See also Hippolytus, _Refut._, X, + 25_f._ [= X, 21, ANF.] + + +(_a_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 16:7. (MSG, 20:463.) + + + For Eusebius, see § 3. + + +There is said to be a certain village named Ardabau, in Mysia, on the +borders of Phrygia. There, they say, when Gratus was proconsul of Asia, a +recent convert, Montanus by name--who, in his boundless desire for +leadership, gave the adversary opportunity against him--first became +inspired; and falling into a sort of frenzy and ecstasy raved and began to +babble and utter strange sounds, prophesying in a manner contrary to the +traditional and constant custom of the Church from the beginning.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And he +stirred up, besides, two women [Maximilla and Priscilla], and filled them +with the false spirit, so that they talked frantically, at unseasonable +times, and in a strange manner, like the person already mentioned.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And +the arrogant spirit taught them to revile the universal and entire Church +under heaven, because the spirit of false prophecy received from it +neither honor nor entrance into it; for the faithful in Asia met often and +in many places throughout Asia to consider this matter and to examine the +recent utterances, and they pronounced them profane and rejected the +heresy, and thus these persons were expelled from the Church and shut out +from the communion. + + +(_b_) Apollonius, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 18. (MSG, 20:475.) + + + Apollonius was possibly bishop of Ephesus. His work against the + Montanists, which appears to have been written about 197, was one + of the principal sources for Eusebius in his account of the + Montanists. Only fragments of his work have been preserved. + + +This is he who taught the dissolution of marriages; who laid down laws for +fasting; who named Pepuza and Tymion (which were small cities in Phrygia) +Jerusalem, desiring to gather people to them from everywhere; who +appointed collectors of money; who devised the receiving of gifts under +the name of offerings; who provided salaries for those who preached his +doctrine, so that by gluttony the teaching of his doctrine might prevail. + + +(_c_) Hippolytus, _Refut._, VIII, 19. (MSG, 16:3356.) + + + For Hippolytus, see § 19, _c_. + + +But there are others who are themselves in nature more heretical than the +Quartodecimans. These are Phrygians by birth and they have been deceived, +having been overcome by certain women called Priscilla and Maximilla; and +they hold these for prophetesses, saying that in them the Paraclete Spirit +dwelt; and they likewise glorify one Montanus before these women as a +prophet. So, having endless books of these people, they go astray, and +they neither judge their statements by reason nor pay attention to those +who are able to judge. But they behave without judgment in the faith they +place in them, saying they have learned something more through them than +from the law and the prophets and the Gospels. But they glorify these +women above the Apostles and every gift, so that some of them presume to +say that there was something more in them than in Christ. These confess +God the Father of the universe and creator of all things, like the Church, +and all that the Gospel witnesses concerning Christ, but invent new fasts +and feasts and meals of dry food and meals of radishes, saying that thus +they were taught by their women. And some of them agree with the heresy of +the Noetians and say that the Father is very Son, and that this One became +subject to birth and suffering and death. + + + +Chapter III. The Defence Against Heresy + + +The Church first met the various dangerous heresies which distracted it in +the second century by councils or gatherings of bishops (§ 26). Although +it was not difficult to bring about a condemnation of novel and manifestly +erroneous doctrine, there was need of fixed norms and definite authorities +to which to appeal. This was found in the apostolic tradition, which could +be more clearly determined by reference to the continuity of the apostolic +office, or the episcopate, and especially to the succession of bishops in +the churches founded by Apostles (§ 27), the apostolic witness to the +truth, or the more precise determination of what writings should be +regarded as apostolic, or the canon of the New Testament (§ 28); and the +apostolic faith, which was regarded as summed up in the Apostles' Creed (§ +29). These norms of orthodoxy seem to have been generally established as +authoritative somewhat earlier in the West than in the East. The result +was that Gnosticism was rapidly expelled from the Church, though in some +forms it lingered for centuries (§ 30), and that the Church, becoming +organized around the episcopate, assumed by degrees a rigid hierarchical +constitution (§ 31). + + +§ 26. The Beginnings of Councils as a Defence against Heresy + + +Ecclesiastical councils were the first defence against heresy. As the +Church had not as yet attained its hierarchical constitution and the +autonomy of the local church still persisted, these councils had little +more than the combined authority of the several members composing them. +They had, as yet, only moral force, and did not speak for the Church +officially. With the development of the episcopal constitution, the +councils gained rapidly in authority. + + + Additional source material: See Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 16 + (given above, § 25, _a_), V, 24; Tertullian, _De Jejun._, 13 + (given below, § 38). + + +(_a_) _Libellus Synodicus_, Man. I, 723. + + + For a discussion of the credibility of the _Libellus Synodicus_, a + compilation of the ninth century, see Hefele, _History of the + Councils_, § 1. + + +A holy and provincial synod was held at Hierapolis in Asia by +Apollinarius, the most holy bishop of that city, and twenty-six other +bishops. In this synod Montanus and Maximilla, the false prophets, and at +the same time, Theodotus the tanner, were condemned and expelled. A holy +and local synod was gathered under the most holy Bishop Sotas of +Anchialus(51) and twelve other bishops, who condemned and rejected +Theodotus the tanner and Montanus together with Maximilla. + + +(_b_) Eusebius. _Hist. Ec._, V, 18. (MSG, 20:475.) _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 21. + + + The following should be connected with the first attempts of the + Church to meet the heresy of the Montanists by gatherings of + bishops. It also throws some light on the methods of dealing with + the new prophets. + + +Serapion, who, according to report, became bishop of Antioch at that time, +after Maximinus, mentions the works of Apollinarius against the +above-mentioned heresy. And he refers to him in a private letter to +Caricus and Pontius, in which he himself exposes the same heresy, adding +as follows: "That you may see that the doings of this lying band of new +prophecy, as it is called, are an abomination to all the brethren +throughout the world, I have sent you writings of the most blessed +Claudius Apollinarius, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia." In the same letter +of Serapion are found the signatures of several bishops, of whom one has +subscribed himself as follows: "I, Aurelius Cyrenius, a witness, pray for +your health." And another after this manner: "AElius Publius Julius, bishop +of Debeltum, a colony of Thrace. As God liveth in the heavens, the blessed +Sotas in Anchialus desired to cast the demon out of Priscilla, but the +hypocrites would not permit him." And the autograph signatures of many +other bishops who agreed with them are contained in the same letter. + + +§ 27. The Apostolic Tradition and the Episcopate + + +The Gnostics claimed apostolic authority for their teaching and appealed +to successions of teachers who had handed down their teachings. This +procedure forced the Church to lay stress upon the obvious fact that its +doctrine was derived from the Apostles, a matter on which it never had had +any doubt, but was vouched for, not by obscure teachers, but by the +churches which had been founded by the Apostles themselves in large cities +and by the bishops whom the Apostles had instituted in those churches. +Those churches, furthermore, agreed among themselves, but the Gnostic +teachers differed widely. By this appeal the bishop came to represent the +apostolic order (for an earlier conception _v. supra_, § 14, _b_, _c_), +and to take an increasingly important place in the church (_v. infra_, § +31). + + + Additional source material: For Gnostic references to successions + of teachers, see Tertullian, _De Praescr._, 25; Clement of + Alexandria, _Strom._, VII, 17; Hippolytus, _Refut._, VII, 20. (= + VII, 8. ANF.) + + +(_a_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, III, 3: 1-4. (MSG, 7:848.) _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 30. + + + The first appearance of the appeal to apostolic tradition as + preserved in apostolic sees is the following passage from Irenaeus, + written about 175. The reference to the church of Rome, beginning, + "For with this Church, on account of its more powerful + leadership," has been a famous point of discussion. While it is + obscure in detail, the application of its general purport to the + argument of Irenaeus is clear. Since for this passage we have not + the original Greek of Irenaeus, but only the Latin translation, + there seems to be no way of clearing up the obscurities and + apparently contradictory statements. The text may be found in + Gwatkin, _op. cit._, and in part in Kirch, _op. cit._, §§ 110-113. + + +Ch. 1. The tradition, therefore, of the Apostles, manifested throughout +the world, is a thing which all who wish to see the facts can clearly +perceive in every church; and we are able to count up those who were +appointed bishops by the Apostles, and to show their successors to our own +time, who neither taught nor knew anything resembling these men's ravings. +For if the Apostles had known hidden mysteries which they used to teach +the perfect, apart from and without the knowledge of the rest, they would +have delivered them especially to those to whom they were also committing +the churches themselves. For they desired them to be very perfect and +blameless in all things, and were also leaving them as their successors, +delivering over to them their own proper place of teaching; for if these +should act rightly great advantage would result, but if they fell away the +most disastrous calamity would occur. + +Ch. 2. But since it would be very long in such a volume as this to count +up the successions [_i.e._, series of bishops] in all the churches, we +confound all those who in any way, whether through self-pleasing or +vainglory, or through blindness and evil opinion, gather together +otherwise than they ought, by pointing out the tradition derived from the +Apostles of the greatest, most ancient, and universally known Church, +founded and established by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, +and also the faith declared to men which through the succession of bishops +comes down to our times. For with this Church, on account of its more +powerful leadership [_potiorem principalitatem_], every church, that is, +the faithful, who are from everywhere, must needs agree; since in it that +tradition which is from the Apostles has always been preserved by those +who are from everywhere. + +Ch. 3. The blessed Apostles having founded and established the Church, +intrusted the office of the episcopate to Linus.(52) Paul speaks of this +Linus in his Epistles to Timothy. Anacletus succeeded him, and after +Anacletus, in the third place from the Apostles, Clement received the +episcopate. He had seen and conversed with the blessed Apostles, and their +preaching was still sounding in his ears and their tradition was still +before his eyes. Nor was he alone in this, for many who had been taught by +the Apostles yet survived. In the times of Clement, a serious dissension +having arisen among the brethren in Corinth, the Church of Rome sent a +suitable letter to the Corinthians, reconciling them in peace, renewing +their faith, and proclaiming the doctrine lately received from the +Apostles.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Evaristus succeeded Clement, and Alexander Evaristus. Then Sixtus, the +sixth from the Apostles, was appointed. After him Telesephorus, who +suffered martyrdom gloriously, and then Hyginus; after him Pius, and after +Pius Anicetus; Soter succeeded Anicetus, and now, in the twelfth place +from the Apostles, Eleutherus [174-189] holds the office of bishop. In the +same order and succession the tradition and the preaching of the truth +which is from the Apostles have continued unto us. + +Ch. 4. But Polycarp, too, was not only instructed by the Apostles, and +acquainted with many that had seen Christ, but was also appointed by +Apostles in Asia bishop of the church in Smyrna, whom we, too, saw in our +early youth (for he lived a long time, and died, when a very old man, a +glorious and most illustrious martyr's death); he always taught the things +which he had learned from the Apostles, which the Church also hands down, +and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic churches +testify, as do also those who, down to the present time, have succeeded +Polycarp, who was a much more trustworthy and certain witness of the truth +than Valentinus and Marcion and the rest of the evil-minded. It was he who +was also in Rome in the time of Anicetus and caused many to turn away from +the above-mentioned heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he had +received from the Apostles this one and only truth which has been +transmitted by the Church. And there are those who heard from him that +John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe in Ephesus, when he saw +Cerinthus within, ran out of the bath-house without bathing, crying: "Let +us flee, lest even the bath-house fall, because Cerinthus, the enemy of +the truth, is within." And Polycarp himself, when Marcion once met him and +said, "Knowest thou us?" replied, "I know the first-born of Satan." Such +caution did the Apostles and their disciples exercise that they might not +even converse with any of those who perverted the truth; as Paul, also, +said: "A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition, +reject; knowing that he that is such subverteth and sinneth, being +condemned by himself." There is also a very powerful Epistle of Polycarp +written to the Philippians, from which those who wish to, and who are +concerned for their own salvation, may learn the character of his faith +and the preaching of the truth. + + +(_b_) Tertullian, _De Proescriptione_, 20, 21. (MSL, 2:38.) + + + Tertullian worked out in legal fashion the argument of Irenaeus + from the testimony of the bishops in apostolic churches. He may + have obtained the argument from Irenaeus, as he was evidently + acquainted with his works. From Tertullian's use of the argument + it became a permanent element in the thought of the West. + + +Ch. 20. The Apostles founded in the several cities churches from which the +other churches have henceforth borrowed the shoot of faith and seeds of +teaching and do daily borrow that they may become churches; and it is from +this fact that they also will be counted as apostolic, being the offspring +of apostolic churches. Every kind of thing must be judged by reference to +its origin. Therefore so many and so great churches are all one, being +from that first Church which is from the Apostles. Thus they are all +primitive and all apostolic, since they altogether are approved by their +unity, and they have the communion of peace, the title of brotherhood, and +the interchange of hospitality, and they are governed by no other rule +than the single tradition of the same mystery. + +Ch. 21. Here, then, we enter our demurrer, that if the Lord Jesus Christ +sent Apostles to preach, others than those whom Christ appointed ought not +to be received as preachers. For no man knoweth the Father save the Son +and he to whom the Son has revealed Him [_cf._ Luke 10:22]; nor does it +appear that the Son has revealed Him unto any others than the Apostles, +whom He sent forth to preach what, of course, He had revealed to them. +Now, what they should preach, that is, what Christ revealed to them, can, +as I must likewise here enter as a demurrer, properly be proved in no +other way than by those very churches which the Apostles themselves +founded by preaching to them, both _viva voce_, as the phrase is, and +subsequently by epistles. If this is so, it is evident that all doctrine +which agrees with those apostolic churches, the wombs and origins of the +faith, must be reckoned for truth, as undoubtedly containing what the +churches received from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, Christ from +God. There remains, therefore, for us to show whether our doctrine, the +rule of which we have given above [_v. infra_, § 29, _c_], agrees with the +tradition of the Apostles, and likewise whether the others come from +deceit. We hold fast to the apostolic churches, because in none is there a +different doctrine; this is the witness of the truth. + + +(_c_) Tertullian, _De Praescriptione_, 36. (MSL, 2:58.) + + + It should be noted that the appeal to apostolic churches is to any + and all such, and is accordingly just so much the stronger in the + controversy in which it was brought forward. The argument, + whenever it occurs, does not turn upon the infallibility of any + one see or church as such. That point is not touched. Such a turn + to the argument would have weakened the force of the appeal in the + dispute with the Gnostics, however powerfully it might be used in + other controversies. + + +Come, now, you who would indulge a better curiosity, if you would apply it +to the business of your salvation, run over the apostolic churches, in +which the very thrones of the Apostles are still pre-eminent in their +places, in which their own authentic writings are read, uttering the voice +and representing the face of each of them severally. Achaia is very near +you, in which you find Corinth. Since you are not far from Macedonia, you +have Philippi; there, too, you have the Thessalonians. Since you are able +to cross to Asia, you get Ephesus. Since, moreover, you are close upon +Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even into our own hands the +very authority of Apostles themselves. How happy is that church, on which +Apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood! Where +Peter endures a passion like his Lord's; where Paul wins a crown in a +death like John's; where the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into +boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island exile! See what she has +learned, what taught; what fellowship she has had with even our churches +in Africa! One Lord God does she acknowledge, the Creator of the universe, +and Christ Jesus born of the Virgin Mary, the Son of God the Creator; and +the resurrection of the flesh; the law and the prophets she unites in one +volume with the writings of Evangelists and Apostles, from which she +drinks in her faith. This she seals with the water of baptism, arrays with +the Holy Ghost, feeds with the eucharist, cheers with martyrdom, and +against such a discipline thus maintained she admits no gainsayer. + + +§ 28. The Canon or the Authoritative New Testament Writings + + +The Gnostics used in support of their doctrines writings which they +attributed to the Apostles, thus having a direct apostolic witness to +these doctrines. This they did in imitation of the Church's practice of +using apostolic writings for edification and instruction. Marcion drew up +a list of books which were alone to be regarded as authoritative among his +followers [_v. supra_, § 23, _a_]. The point to be made by the champions +of the faith of the great body of Christians was that only those books +could be legitimately used in support of Christian doctrine which could +claim actual apostolic origin and had been used continuously in the +Church. As a fact, the books to which they appealed had been in use +generation after generation, but the Gnostic works were unknown until a +comparatively recent time and were too closely connected with only the +founders of a sect to deserve credence. It was a simple literary argument +and appeal to tangible evidence. The list of books regarded as +authoritative constituted the Canon of Scripture. The state of the Canon +in the second half of the second century, especially in the West, is shown +in the following extracts. + + + Additional source material: See Preuschen, _Analecta_, II, + Tuebingen, 1910; Tatian, Diatessaron, ANF, IX; The Gospel of Peter, + _ibid._ + + +(_a_) _The Muratorian Fragment._ Text, B. F. Westcott, _A General Survey +of the History of the Canon of the New Testament_, seventh ed., Cambridge, +1896. Appendix C; Kirch, n. 134; Preuschen, _Analecta_, II, 27. _Cf._ +Mirbt, n. 20. + + + The earliest list of canonical books of the New Testament was + found by L. A. Muratori in 1740 in a MS. of the eighth century. It + lacks beginning and end. It belongs to the middle or the second + half of the second century. It cannot with certainty be attributed + to any known person. The obscure Latin text is probably a + translation from the Greek. The fragment begins with what appears + to be an account of St. Mark's Gospel. + + +{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} but at some he was present, and so he set them down. + +The third book of the gospels, that according to Luke. Luke, the +physician, compiled it in his own name in order, when, after the ascension +of Christ, Paul had taken him to be with him like a student of law. Yet +neither did he see the Lord in the flesh; and he, too, as he was able to +ascertain events, so set them down. So he began his story from the birth +of John. + +The fourth of the gospels is John's, one of the disciples. When exhorted +by his fellow-disciples and bishops, he said, "Fast with me this day for +three days; and what may be revealed to any of us, let us relate to one +another." The same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the Apostles, +that John was to write all things in his own name, and they were all to +certify. + +And therefore, though various elements are taught in the several books of +the gospels, yet it makes no difference to the faith of the believers, +since by one guiding Spirit all things are declared in all of them +concerning the nativity, the passion, the resurrection, the conversation +with His disciples, and His two comings, the first in lowliness and +contempt, which has come to pass, the second glorious with royal power, +which is to come. + +What marvel, therefore, if John so firmly sets forth each statement in his +epistles, too, saying of himself: "What we have seen with our eyes and +heard with our ears and our hands have handled, these things we have +written to you"? For so he declares himself to be not an eye-witness and a +hearer only, but also a writer of all the marvels of the Lord in order. + +The acts, however, of all the Apostles are written in one book. Luke puts +it shortly, "to the most excellent Theophilus," that the several things +were done in his own presence, as he also plainly shows by leaving out the +passion of Peter, and also the departure of Paul from the city [_i.e._, +Rome] on his journey to Spain. + +The epistles, however, of Paul make themselves plain to those who wish to +understand what epistles were sent by him, and from what place and for +what cause. He wrote at some length, first of all, to the Corinthians, +forbidding schisms and heresies; next to the Galatians, forbidding +circumcision; then to the Romans, impressing on them the plan of the +Scriptures, and also that Christ is the first principle of them, +concerning which severally it is necessary for us to discuss, since the +blessed Apostle Paul himself, following the order of his predecessor John, +writes only by name to seven churches in the following order: to the +Corinthians a first, to the Ephesians a second, to the Philippians a +third, to the Colossians a fourth, to the Galatians a fifth, to the +Thessalonians a sixth, to the Romans a seventh; and yet, although for the +sake of admonition there is a second to the Corinthians and to the +Thessalonians, but one Church is recognized as being spread over the +entire world. For John, too, in the Apocalypse, though he writes to seven +churches, yet speaks to all. Howbeit to Philemon one, to Titus one, and to +Timothy two were put in writing from personal inclination and attachment, +to be in honor, however, with the Catholic Church for the ordering of the +ecclesiastical mode of life. There is current, also, one to the +Laodiceans, another to the Alexandrians, [both] forged in Paul's name to +suit a heresy of Marcion, and several others, which cannot be received +into the Catholic Church; for it is not fitting that gall be mixed with +honey. + +The Epistle of Jude, no doubt, and the couple bearing the name of John are +accepted in the Catholic [Church], and the Wisdom written by the friends +of Solomon in his honor. The Apocalypse, also, of John and of Peter only +we receive; which some of us will not have read in the Church. But the +Shepherd was written quite lately in our times by Hermas, while his +brother Pius, the bishop, was sitting in the chair of the church of the +city of Rome; and therefore it ought to be read, indeed, but it cannot to +the end of time be publicly read in the Church to the people, either among +the prophets, who are complete in number, or among the Apostles. + +But of Valentinus, the Arsinoite, and his friends, we receive nothing at +all, who have also composed a long new book of Psalms, together with +Basilides and the Asiatic founder of the Montanists. + + +(_b_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, III, II:8. (MSG, 7:885.) + + + The following extract illustrates the allegorical method of + exegesis in use throughout the Church, and also the opinion of the + author that there were but four gospels, and could be no more than + four. It should be noted that the symbolism of the beasts is not + that which has become current in ecclesiastical art. + + +It is not possible that the gospels be either more or fewer than they are. +For since there are four regions of the world in which we live, and four +principal winds, and the Church is scattered over the whole earth, and the +pillar and ground of the Church is the Gospel and the Spirit of Life, it +is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing forth immortality +on every side, and giving life to men. From this it is evident that the +Word, the Artificer of all, who sitteth upon the cherubim and who contains +all things and was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four +forms, but bound together by one Spirit. As also David says when he prayed +for His coming: "Thou that sittest between the cherubim, shine forth" +[_cf._ Psalm 80:1]. For the cherubim, also, were four-faced, and their +faces were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. For he says, "The +first living creature was like a lion" [_cf._ Ezek. 1:5 _ff._], +symbolizing His effectual working, leadership, and royal power; the second +was like a calf, symbolizing His sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but +"the third had, as it were, the face of a man," evidently describing His +coming as a human being; "the fourth was like a flying eagle," pointing +out the gift of the Spirit hovering over the Church. And therefore the +gospels are in accord with these things, among which Christ is seated. For +that according to John relates His original, effectual, and glorious +generation from the Father, thus declaring, "In the beginning was the Word +and the Word was with God and the Word was God" [_cf._ John 1:1 _ff._], +and further, "All things were made by Him and without Him was nothing +made." For this reason, also, is that Gospel full of confidence, for such +is His person. But that according to Luke, which takes up His priestly +character, commenced with Zacharias, the priest, who offers sacrifice to +God. For now was made ready the fatted calf, about to be immolated for the +recovery of the younger son [Luke 15:23]. Matthew, again, relates His +generation as a man, saying, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, +the son of David, the son of Abraham" [Matt. 1:1]; and "The birth of Jesus +Christ was on this wise" [Matt. 1:18]. This, then, is the gospel of His +humanity; for which reason the character of a humble and meek man is kept +up through the whole gospel. Mark, on the other hand, commences with +reference to the prophetical Spirit who comes down from on high to men, +saying, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in +Isaiah the prophet," pointing to the winged aspect of the Gospel, and on +this account he makes a compendious and brief narrative, for such is the +prophetical character. And the Word of God himself had intercourse with +the patriarchs, before Moses, in accordance with His divinity and glory; +but for those under the Law He instituted a sacerdotal and liturgical +service. Afterward, having been made man for us, He sent the gift of the +heavenly Spirit over all the earth, to protect it with His wings. Such, +then, was the course followed by the Son of God, and such, also, were the +forms of the living creatures; and such as was the form of the living +creatures, such, also, was the character of the Gospel. For the living +creatures are quadriform, and the Gospel is quadriform, as is also the +course followed by our Lord. For this reason four principal covenants were +given mankind: one prior to the Deluge, under Adam; the second after the +Deluge, under Noah; the third was the giving of the law under Moses; the +fourth is that which renovates man and sums up all things in itself by +means of the Gospel, raising and bearing men upon its wings into the +heavenly kingdom. + + +(_c_) Tertullian, _Adv. Marcion._, IV, 5. (MSL, 2:395.) + + + Tertullian's work against Marcion belongs to the first decade of + the third century; see above, § 23, _b_. In the following passage + he combines the argument from the apostolic churches with the + authority of the apostolic witness. This is the special importance + of the reference to the connection of St. Mark's Gospel with St. + Peter, and is an application of the principle that the authority + of a book in the Church rested upon its apostolic origin. + + +If it is evidently true that what is earlier is more true, that what is +earlier is what is from the beginning, that what is from the beginning is +from the Apostles, it will be equally evidently true that what is handed +down from the Apostles is what has been a sacred deposit in the churches +of the Apostles. Let us see what milk the Corinthians drank from Paul; to +what rule the Galatians were brought for correction; what the Philippians, +the Thessalonians, the Ephesians, read; what the Romans near by also say, +to whom Peter and Paul bequeathed the Gospel even sealed with their own +blood. We have also John's nursling churches. For, although Marcion +rejects his Apocalypse, the order of bishops, when traced to their origin, +will rest on John as their author. Likewise the noble lineage of the other +churches is recognized. I say, therefore, that in them, and not only in +the apostolic churches, but in all those which are united with them in the +fellowship of the mystery [_sacramenti_], that Gospel of Luke, which we +are defending with all our might [_cf._ § 23], has stood its ground from +its very first publication; whereas Marcion's gospel is not known to most +people, and to none whatever is it known without being condemned. Of +course it has its churches, but they are its own; they are as late as they +are spurious. Should you want to know their origins, you will more easily +discover apostasy in it than apostolicity, with Marcion, forsooth, as +their founder or some one of Marcion's swarm. Even wasps make combs; so, +also, these Marcionites make churches. The same authority of the apostolic +churches will afford evidence to other gospels, also, which we possess +equally through their means and according to their usage--I mean the Gospel +of John and the Gospel of Matthew, but that which Mark published may be +affirmed to be Peter's, whose interpreter Mark was. For even the Digest of +Luke men usually ascribe to Paul. And it may well seem that the works +which disciples publish belong to their masters. + + +§ 29. The Apostles' Creed + + +By the middle of the second century there were current in the Church brief +confessions of faith which had already been in use from a time in the +remoter past as summaries of the apostolic faith. They were naturally +attributed to the Apostles themselves, although they seem to have varied +in many details. They were used principally in baptism, and were long kept +secret from the catechumen until just before that rite was administered. +They are preserved only in paraphrase, and can be reconstructed only by a +careful comparison of many texts. + + + Additional source material: See Hahn, _Bibliothek der Symbole und + Glaubensregeln der allen Kirche_, third ed., Breslau, 1897; _cf._ + Mirbt, n. 16, 16 _a_. + + +(_a_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, 1, 10. (MSG, 7:549 _f._) + + + For Irenaeus, _v. supra_, § 3, _a_. + + +The Church, though dispersed through the whole world to the ends of the +earth, has received from the Apostles and their disciples the faith: In +one God, the Father Almighty, who made the heaven and the earth and the +seas, and all that in them is; And in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, +who was incarnate for our salvation; And in the Holy Ghost, who through +the prophets preached the dispensations and the advents, and the birth +from the Virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and +the bodily assumption into the heavens of the beloved Christ Jesus our +Lord, and His appearing from the heavens in the glory of the Father, in +order to sum up all things under one head [_cf._ Ephes. 1:10], and to +raise up all flesh of all mankind, that to Christ Jesus, our Lord and God +and Saviour and King, every knee of those that are in heaven and on earth +and under the earth should bow [_cf._ Phil. 2:11], according to the good +pleasure of the Father invisible, and that every tongue should confess +Him, and that He may execute righteous judgment on all; sending into +eternal fire the spiritual powers of wickedness and the angels who +transgressed and apostatized, and the godless and unrighteous and lawless +and blasphemous among men, but granting life and immortality and eternal +glory to the righteous and holy, who have both kept the commandments and +continued in His love, some from the beginning, some from their +conversion. + + +(_b_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, III, 4. (MSG, 7:855.) + + + The following form of the creed more closely resembles the + traditional Apostles' Creed. With it compare the paraphrase in + Irenaeus. _op. cit._, IV, 33:7. + + +If the Apostles had not left us the Scriptures, would it not be necessary +to follow the order of tradition which they handed down to those to whom +they committed the churches? To this order many nations of the barbarians +gave assent, of those who believe in Christ, having salvation written in +their hearts by the Spirit without paper and ink, and guarding diligently +the ancient tradition: Believing in one God, Maker of heaven and earth, +and all that is in them; through Jesus Christ, the Son of God; who, +because of His astounding love toward His creatures, sustained the birth +of the Virgin, Himself uniting man to God, and suffered under Pontius +Pilate, and rising again was received in brightness, and shall come again +in glory as the Saviour of those who are saved and the judge of those who +are judged, and sending into eternal fire the perverters of the truth and +despisers of His Father and His coming. + + +(_c_) Tertullian, _De Virginibus Velandis_, 1. (MSL, 2:937). + + + Tertullian gives various paraphrases of the creed. The three most + important are the following and _d_, _e_. The date of the work _De + Virginibus Velandis_ is about 211, and belongs to his Montanist + period. + + +The Rule of Faith is altogether one, sole, immovable, and +irreformable--namely, of believing in one God the Almighty, the Maker of +the world; and His Son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, crucified +under Pontius Pilate, on the third day raised again from the dead, +received in the heavens, sitting now at the right hand of the Father, +coming to judge the quick and the dead, also through the resurrection of +the flesh.(53) + + +(_d_) Tertullian, _Adv. Praxean_, 2. (MSL, 2:156.) + + + The work of Tertullian against Praxeas is one of his latest works, + and is especially important as developing the doctrine of the + Trinity as opposed to the Patripassianism of Praxeas. To this + theory of Praxeas, Tertullian refers in the opening sentence of + the following extract, quoting the position of Praxeas. See below, + § 40, _b_. + + +"Therefore after a time the Father was born, and the Father suffered, He +himself God, the omnipotent Lord, Jesus Christ was preached." But as for +us always, and now more, as better instructed by the Paraclete, the Leader +into all truth: We believe one God; but under this dispensation which we +call the economy there is the Son of the only God, his Word [_Sermo_] who +proceeded from Him, through whom all things were made, and without whom +nothing was made. This One was sent by the Father into the Virgin, and was +born of her, Man and God, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and called +Jesus Christ; He suffered, He died and was buried, according to the +Scriptures; and raised again by the Father, and taken up into the heavens, +and He sits at the right hand of the Father; He shall come again to judge +the quick and the dead: and He thence did send, according to His promise, +from the Father, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the Sanctifier of the +faith of those who believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. +That this rule has come down from the beginning, even before any of the +earlier heresies, much more before Praxeas, who is of yesterday, the +lateness of date of all heresies proves, as also the novelties of Praxeas, +a pretender of yesterday. + + +(_e_) Tertullian, _De Praescriptione_, 13. (MSL, 2:30.) + + +The Rule of Faith is {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} namely, that by which it is believed: That there is +only one God, and no other besides the Maker of the world, who produced +the universe out of nothing, through His Word [Verbum], sent forth first +of all; that this Word, called His Son, was seen in the name of God in +various ways by the patriarchs, and always heard in the prophets, at last +was sent down from the Spirit and power of God the Father, into the Virgin +Mary, was made flesh in her womb, and born of her, lived as Jesus Christ; +that thereupon He preached the new law and the new promise of the kingdom +of the heavens; wrought miracles; was fastened to the cross; rose again +the third day; was caught up into the heavens; and sat down at the right +hand of the Father; He sent in His place the power of the Holy Ghost, to +lead the believers; He will come again with glory to take the saints into +the enjoyment of eternal life and the celestial promises, and to judge the +wicked with perpetual fire, with the restoration of the flesh. + + +§ 30. Later Gnosticism + + +Though Gnosticism was expelled from the Church as it perfected its +organization and institutions on the basis of the episcopate, the Canon of +Scripture, and the creeds, outside the Catholic Church, or the Church as +thus organized, Gnosticism existed for centuries, though rapidly declining +in the third century. The strength of the movement was still further +diminished by loss of many adherents to Manichaeanism (_v._ § 54), which +had much in common with Gnosticism. The persistence of these sects, +together with various later heresies, in spite of the very stringent laws +of the Empire against them (_v._ § 73) should prevent any hasty +conclusions as to the unity of the faith and the absence of sects in the +patristic age. Unity can be found only by overlooking those outside the +unity of the largest body of Christians, and agreement by ignoring those +who differed from it. + + +Theodoret of Cyrus, _Epistulae 81_, 145. (MSG, 83:1259, 1383.) + + + Ep. 81 was written to the Consul Nonus, A. D. 445. Ep. 145 was + written to the monks of Constantinople, A. D. 450. + + +Ep. 81. To every one else every city lies open, and that not only to the +followers of Arius and Eunomius, but to Manichaeans and Marcionites, and to +those suffering from the disease of Valentinus and Montanus, yes, and even +to pagans and Jews; but I, the foremost champion of the teaching of the +Gospel, am excluded from every city.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I led eight villages of Marcionites +with their surrounding country into the way of truth, another full of +Eunomians and another of Arians I brought to the light of divine +knowledge, and, by God's grace, not a tare of heresy was left among us. + +Ep. 145. I do indeed sorrow and lament that I am compelled by the attacks +of fever to adduce against men, supposed to be of one and the same faith +with myself, the arguments which I have already urged against the victims +of the plague of Marcion, of whom, by God's grace, I have converted more +than ten thousand and brought them to holy baptism. + + +§ 31. The Results of the Crisis + + +The internal crisis, or the conflict with heresy, led the Church to +perfect its organization, and, as a result, the foundation was laid for +such a development of the episcopate that the Church was recognized as +based upon an order of bishops receiving their powers in succession from +the Apostles. Just what those powers were and how they were transmitted +were matters left to a later age to determine. (_V. infra_, §§ 50, 51.) + + +(_a_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, IV, 26:2, 5. (MSG, 7:1053.) + + + That Irenaeus, writing about 175, could appeal to the episcopal + succession as commonly recognized and admitted, and use it as a + basis of unity for the Church, is generally regarded as evidence + of the existence of a wide-spread episcopal organization at an + early date in the second century. Possibly the connection of + Irenaeus with Asia Minor, where the episcopal organization + admittedly was earliest, diminishes the force of the argument. The + reference to the "charisma of truth," which the bishops were said + to possess, was to furnish later a theoretical basis for the + authority of bishops assembled in council. + + +Ch. 2. Wherefore it is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the +Church, those who, as I have shown, possess the succession from the +Apostles; those who together with the succession of the episcopate have +received the certain gift [charisma] of the truth according to the good +pleasure of the Father; but also to hold in suspicion others who depart +from the primitive succession and assemble themselves together in any +place whatsoever.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 5. Such presbyters does the Church nourish, of whom also the prophet +says: "I will give thy rulers in peace, and thy bishops in righteousness" +[_cf._ Is. 60:17]. Of whom also the Lord did declare: "Who, then, shall be +a faithful steward, good and wise, whom the Lord sets over His household, +to give them their meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his +Lord when he cometh shall find so doing" [Matt. 24:45 _f._]. Paul, then, +teaching us where one may find such, says: "God hath placed in the Church, +first, Apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers" [I Cor. 12:28]. +Where, then, the gifts of the Lord have been placed there we are to learn +the truth; namely, from those who possess the succession of the Church +from the Apostles, and among whom exists that which is sound and blameless +in conduct, as well as that which is unadulterated and incorrupt in +speech. + + +(_b_) Tertullian, _De Praescriptione_, 32. (MSL, 2:52.) + + + In Tertullian's statement as to the necessity of apostolic + succession, the language is more precise than in Irenaeus's. Bishop + and presbyter are not used as interchangeable terms, as would + appear in the passage in Irenaeus. The whole is given a more legal + turn, as was in harmony with the writer's legal mind. + + +But if there be any heresies bold enough to plant themselves in the midst +of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down +from the Apostles, because they were in the time of the Apostles, we can +say: Let them produce the originals of their churches; let them unfold the +roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning +in such manner that that first bishop of theirs shall be able to show for +his ordainer or predecessor some one of the Apostles or of apostolic men--a +man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the Apostles. For in this +manner the apostolic churches transmit their registers; as the church of +Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also +the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like +manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other churches likewise +exhibit their several worthies, whom, as having been appointed to their +episcopal places by the Apostles, they regard as transmitters of the +apostolic seed. + + + +Chapter IV. The Beginnings Of Catholic Theology + + +The theology of the Church, as distinguished from the current traditional +theology, was the statement of the beliefs commonly held by Christians but +expressed in the more precise and scientific language of current +philosophy, the co-ordination of those beliefs as so stated together with +their necessary consequences, and their proof by reference to Holy +Scripture and reason. In this attempt to build up a body of reasoned +religious ideas there were two lines of thought or interpretation of the +common Christianity already distinguished by the middle of the second +century, and destined to hold a permanent place in the Church. These were +the apologetic conception of Christianity as primarily a revealed +philosophy (§ 32), and the so-called Asia Minor school of theology, with +its conception of Christianity as primarily salvation from sin and +corruptibility (§ 33). In both lines of interpretation the Incarnation +played an essential part: in the apologetic as insuring the truth of the +revealed philosophy, in the Asia Minor theology as imparting to +corruptible man the divine incorruptibility. + + +§ 32. The Apologetic Conception of Christianity + + +Christianity was regarded as a revealed philosophy by the apologists. This +they considered under three principal aspects: knowledge, or a revelation +of the divine nature; a new law, or a code of morals given by Christ; and +life, or future rewards for the observance of the new law that had been +given. The foundation of all was laid in the doctrine of the Logos (_A_), +which involved, as a consequence, some theory of the relation of the +resulting distinctions in the divine nature to the primary conviction of +the unity of God, or some doctrine of the Trinity (_B_). As a result of +the new law given, moralism was inevitable, whereby a man by his efforts +earned everlasting life (_C_). The proof that Jesus was the incarnate +Logos was drawn from the fulfilment of Hebrew prophecy (_D_). It should be +remembered that the apologists influenced later theology by their actual +writings, and not by unexpressed and undeveloped opinions which they held +as a part of the common tradition and the Christianity of the Gentile +Church. Whatever they might have held in addition to their primary +contentions had little or no effect, however valuable it may be for modern +students, and the conviction that Christianity was essentially a revealed +philosophy became current, especially in the East, finding its most +powerful expression in the Alexandrian school. (_V. infra_, § 43.) + + +(A) The Logos Doctrine + + +As stated by the apologists, the Logos doctrine not only furnished a +valuable line of defence for Christianity (_v. supra_, § 20), but also +gave theologians a useful formula for stating the relation of the divine +element in Christ to God. That divine element was the Divine Word or +Reason (Logos). It is characteristic of the doctrine of the Logos as held +by the early apologists that, although they make the Word, or Logos, +personal and distinguish Him from God the Father, yet that Word does not +become personally distinguished from the source of His being until, and in +connection with, the creation of the world. Hence there arose the +distinction between the _Logos endiathetos_, or as yet within the being of +the Father, and the _Logos prophorikos_, or as proceeding forth and +becoming a distinct person. Here is, at any rate, a marked advance upon +the speculation of Philo, by whom the Logos is not regarded as distinctly +personal. + + +(_a_) Justin Martyr, _Apol._, I, 46. (MSG, 6:398.) + + + In addition to the following passage from Justin Martyr, see + above, § 20, for a longer statement to much the same effect. + + +We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have +declared above that He is the Word of whom every race of men were +partakers; and those who lived reasonably are Christians even though they +have been thought atheists; as among the Greeks, Socrates and Heraclitus, +and men like them; and among the barbarians, Abraham and Ananias, Azarias, +and Missael [the "three holy children," companions of Daniel, see LXX, +Dan. 3:23 _ff._], and Elias [_i.e._, Elijah], and many others whose +actions and names we now decline to recount because we know that it would +be tedious. + + +(_b_) Theophilus, _Ad Autolycum_, II, 10, 22. (MSG, 6:398.) + + + Theophilus was the sixth bishop of Antioch, from 169 until after + 180. His apology, consisting of three books addressed to an + otherwise unknown Autolycus, has alone been preserved of his + works. Fragments attributed to him are of very doubtful + authenticity. The date of the third book must be subsequent to the + death of Marcus Aurelius, March 17, 180, which is mentioned. The + first and second books may be somewhat earlier. The distinction + made in the following between the _Logos endiathetos_ and the + _Logos prophorikos_ was subsequently dropped by theologians. + + +Ch. 10. God, then, having His own Logos internal [_endiatheton_] within +His own bowels, begat Him, emitting Him along with His own wisdom before +all things. + +Ch. 22. What else is this voice but the Word of God, who is also His Son? +Not as the poets and writers of myths talk of the sons of the gods +begotten from intercourse with women, but as the Truth expounds, the Word +that always exists, residing within [_endiatheton_] the heart of God. For +before anything came into existence He had Him for His counsellor, being +His own mind and thought. But when God wished to make all that He had +determined on, He begat this Word proceeding forth [_prophorikon_], the +first-born of all creation, not being Himself emptied of the Word [_i.e._, +being without reason], but having begotten Reason and always conversing +with His reason. + + +(B) The Doctrine of the Trinity + + +The doctrine of the Trinity followed naturally from the doctrine of the +Logos. The fuller discussion belongs to the Monarchian controversies. It +is considered here as a position resulting from the general position taken +by the apologists. (_V. infra_, § 40.) + + +(_a_) Theophilus, _Ad Autolycum_, II, 15. (MSG, 6:1078.) + + + The following passage is probably the earliest in which the word + Trinity, or Trias, is applied to the relation of Father, Son, and + Holy Ghost. It is usual in Greek theology to use the word Trias as + equivalent to the Latin term Trinity. _Cf._ Tertullian, _Adv. + Praxean_, 2, for first use of the term Trinity in Latin theology. + + +In like manner, also, the three days, which were before the luminaries(54) +are types of the Trinity (Trias) of God, and His Word, and His Wisdom. + + +(_b_) Athenagoras, _Supplicatio_, 10, 12. (MSG, 6:910, 914.) + + + Athenagoras, one of the ablest of the apologists, was, like Justin + Martyr and several others, a philosopher before he became a + Christian. His apology, known as _Supplicatio_, or _Legatio pro + Christianis_, is his most important work. Its date is probably + 177, as it is addressed to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and + Commodus. + + +Ch. 10. If it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son, I will +briefly state that He is the first product of the Father, not as having +been brought into existence (for from the beginning God, who is the +eternal mind [_Nous_], had the Logos in Himself, being eternally +reasonable [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}]), but inasmuch as He came forth to be idea and +energizing power of all material things, which lay like a nature without +attributes, and an inactive earth, the grosser particles being mixed up +with the lighter. The prophetic Spirit also agrees with our statements: +"The Lord, it says, created me the beginning of His ways to His works." +The Holy Spirit himself, also, which operates in the prophets we say is an +effluence of God, flowing from Him and returning back again as a beam of +the sun. + +Ch. 12. Are, then, those who consider life to be this, "Let us eat and +drink, for to-morrow we die" [_cf._ I Cor. 15:32], and who regard death as +a deep sleep and forgetfulness [_cf._ Hom., _Iliad_, XVI. 672], to be +regarded as living piously? But men who reckon the present life as of very +small worth indeed, and are led by this one thing along--that they know God +and with Him His Logos, what is the oneness of the Son with the Father, +what the communion of the Father with the Son, what is the Spirit, and +what is the unity of these and their distinction, the Spirit, the Son, and +the Father--and who know that the life for which we look is far better than +can be described in word, provided we arrive at it pure from all +wrong-doing, and who, moreover, carry our benevolence to such an extent +that we not only love our friends {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} shall we, I say, when such we are and +when we thus live that we may escape condemnation, not be regarded as +living piously? + + +(C) Moralistic Christianity + + +The moralistic conception of Christianity, _i.e._, the view of +Christianity as primarily a moral code by the observance of which eternal +life was won, remained fixed in Christian thought along with the +philosophical conception of the faith as formulated by the apologists. +This moralism was the opposite pole to the conceptions of the Asia Minor +school, the Augustinian theology, and the whole mystical conception of +Christianity. + + + For additional source material, see above, § 16. + + +Theophilus, _Ad Autolycum_, II, 27. (MSG, 6:27.) + + +God made man free and with power over himself. That [death], man brought +upon himself through carelessness and disobedience, this [life], God +vouchsafes to him as a gift through His own love for man and pity when men +obey Him. For as man, disobeying, drew death upon himself, so, obeying the +will of God, he who desires is able to procure for himself everlasting +life. For God has given us a law and holy commandments; and every one who +keeps these can be saved, and obtaining the resurrection, can inherit +incorruption. + + +(D) Argument from Hebrew Prophecy + + +The appeal to the fulfilment of Hebrew prophecy was the main argument of +the apologists for the divine character of the mission of Christ. The +exegesis of the prophetic writings was in the spirit of the times. Hebrew +prophecy was also regarded as the source of all knowledge of God outside +of Israel. The theory that the Greeks and other nations borrowed was +employed to show the connection; in this the apologists followed Philo +Judaeus. No attempt was made either by them or by Clement of Alexandria to +remove the inconsistency of this theory of borrowing with the doctrine of +the Logos; see above, under "Logos Doctrine;" also § 20. + + +Justin Martyr, _Apol._, I, 30, 44. (MSG, 6:374, 394.) + + + Additional source material: Justin Martyr, _Dial. c. Tryph._, + _passim_. + + +Ch. 30. But lest any one should say in opposition to us: What should +prevent that He whom we call Christ, being a man born of men, performed +what we call His mighty works by magical art, and by this appeared to be +the Son of God? We will offer proof, not trusting to mere assertions, but +being of necessity persuaded by those who prophesied of Him before these +things came to pass. + +Ch. 44. Whatever both philosophers and poets have said concerning the +immortality of the soul, or punishments after death, or contemplation of +things heavenly, or doctrines of the like kind, they have received such +suggestions from the prophets as have enabled them to understand and +interpret these things. And hence there seem to be seeds of truth among +all men. + + +§ 33. The Asia Minor Conception of Christianity + + +The Asia Minor school regarded Christianity primarily as redemption, +salvation, the imparting of new power, life, and incorruptibility by union +with divinity in the Incarnation. Its leading representative was Irenaeus, +a native of Asia Minor, but many of his leading ideas had been anticipated +by Ignatius of Antioch, and they were shared by many others. + +The theology of Irenaeus influenced Tertullian to some extent, but its +essential points were reproduced by Athanasius, who was directly indebted +to Irenaeus, and through him it superseded in the Neo-Alexandrian school +the tradition derived through Origen and Clement from the apologists. +Characteristic features of the Asia Minor theology are the place assigned +to the Incarnation as itself effecting redemption or salvation, the idea +of recapitulation whereby Christ becomes the head of a new race of +redeemed men, a second Adam, and of the eucharist as imparting the +incorruptibility of Christ's immortal flesh which is received by the +faithful. + + +(_a_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, V, 1. (MSG, 7:1119.) + + + The position of the Incarnation in the system and its relation to + redemption. + + +In no other way could we have learned the things of God, if our Master, +existing previously as the Word, had not been made man. For no one else +could have declared to us the truths of the Father than the Father's own +Word. For who else knew the mind of the Lord or who else has been his +counsellor? [Rom. 11:34]. Nor again in any other way could we have learned +except by seeing our Master with our eyes and hearing His voice with our +ears; that so as imitators of His acts and doers of His words we might +have fellowship with Him and receive of the fulness of Him who is perfect +and who was before all creation. All this we have been made in these +latter days by Him who only is supremely good and who has the gift of +incorruptibility; inasmuch as we are conformed to His likeness and +predestinated to become what we never were before, according to the +foreknowledge of the Father, made a first-fruit of His workmanship, we +have, therefore, received all this at the foreordained season, according +to the dispensation of the Word, who is perfect in all things. For He, who +is the mighty Word and very man, redeeming us by His blood in a reasonable +manner, gave Himself as a ransom for those who had been led into +captivity. And since apostasy tyrannized over us unjustly, for though by +nature we were God's possession, it yet alienated us contrary to nature, +making us its own disciples, the Word of God, powerful in all things and +constant in His justice, dealt justly even with apostasy itself, redeeming +from it what was His own property. Not by force, the way in which the +apostasy had originally gained its mastery over us, greedily grasping at +that which was not its own; but by moral force [_secundum suadelam_] as +became God, by persuasion and not by force, regaining what He wished; so +that justice might not be violated and God's ancient handiwork might not +perish. Therefore, since by His own blood the Lord redeemed us and gave +His soul for our soul, and His flesh for our flesh, and shed on us His +Father's spirit to unite and join us in communion God and man, bringing +God down to men by the descent of the Spirit, and raising up man to God by +His incarnation, and by a firm and true promise giving us at His advent +incorruptibility by communion with Him, and thus all the errors of the +heretics are destroyed. + + +(_b_) Irenaeus. _Adv. Haer._, III. 18:1, 7. (MSG, 6:932, 937.) + + + The following is a statement by Irenaeus of his doctrine of + recapitulation, which combines the idea of the second Adam of Paul + and the Johannine theology. + + +Ch. 1. Since it has been clearly demonstrated that the Word, who existed +in the beginning with God, and by whom all things were made, who also was +present with the human race, was in these last days, according to the time +appointed by the Father, united to His own workmanship, having been made a +man liable to suffering, every objection is set aside of those who say: +"If Christ was born at that time, He did not exist before that time." For +I have shown that the Son of God did not then begin to be, since He +existed with His Father always; but when He was incarnate, and was made +man, He commenced afresh [_in seipso recapitulavit_] the long line of +human beings, and furnished us in a brief and comprehensive manner with +salvation; so that what we had lost in Adam--namely, to be according to the +image and likeness of God--that we might recover in Christ Jesus. + +Ch. 7. He caused human nature to cleave to and to become one with God, as +we have said. For if man had not overcome the adversary of man, the enemy +would not have been legitimately overcome. And again, if God had not given +salvation, we could not have had it securely. And if man had not been +united to God, he could never have become a partaker of incorruptibility. +For it was incumbent upon the Mediator between God and man, by His +relationship to both, to bring about a friendship and concord, and to +present man to God and to reveal God to man. For in what way could we be +partakers of the adoption of sons, if we had not received from Him, +through the Son, that fellowship which refers to Himself, if the Word, +having been made flesh, had not entered into communion with us? Wherefore +He passed also through every stage of life restoring to all communion with +God. + + +(_c_) Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, IV, 18:5. (MSG, 6:1027 _f._) + + + The conception of redemption as the imparting of incorruptibility + connected itself easily with the doctrine of the eucharist, which + had been called by Ignatius of Antioch "the medicine of + immortality" (_v. supra_, § 12). With this passage compare + Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, IV, 17:5. + + +How can they say that the flesh which is nourished with the body of the +Lord and with His blood goes to corruption and does not partake of life? +Let them, therefore, either alter their opinion or cease from offering the +things mentioned. But our opinion is in accordance with the eucharist, and +the eucharist, in turn, establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His +own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and the +Spirit. For as the bread which is produced from the earth when it receives +the invocation of God is no longer common bread, but the eucharist, +consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly, so, also, our bodies, +when they receive the eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the +hope of the resurrection unto eternity. + + + + +Period IV. The Age Of The Consolidation Of The Church: 200 to 324 A. D. + + +In the fourth period of the Church under the heathen Empire, or the period +of the consolidation of the Church, the number of Christians increased so +rapidly that the relation of the Roman State to the Church became a matter +of the gravest importance (ch. 1). During a period of comparative peace +and prosperity the Church developed its doctrinal system and its +constitution (ch. 2). Although the school of Asia Minor became isolated +and temporarily ceased to affect the bulk of the Church elsewhere, the +school of the apologists was brilliantly continued at Alexandria under +Clement and Origen, and later under Origen at Caesarea in Palestine. +Meanwhile the foundations were laid in North Africa for a distinctive type +of Western theology, inaugurated by Tertullian and developed by Cyprian. +After years of alternating favor and local persecutions, the first general +persecution (ch. 3) broke upon the Church, rudely testing its organization +and ultimately strengthening and furthering its tendencies toward a +strictly hierarchical constitution. In the long period of peace that +followed (ch. 4), the discussions that had arisen within the Church as to +the relation of the divine unity to the divinity of Christ reached a +temporary conclusion, the cultus was elaborated and assumed the essentials +of its permanent form, and the episcopate was made supreme over rival +authorities within the Church, becoming at once the expression and organ +of ecclesiastical unity. At the same time new problems arose; within the +Church there was the appearance of an organized asceticism which appeared +for a time to be a rival to the Church's system, and outside the Church +the appearance of a hostile rival in the rapidly spreading Manichaean +system, in which was revived, in a better organized and therefore more +dangerous form, the expelled Gnosticism. The period ends with the last +general persecution (ch. 5). + + + +Chapter I. The Political And Religious Conditions Of The Empire + + +The accession of Septimius Severus, A. D. 193, marks a change in the +condition of the Empire. It was becoming more harassed by frontier wars, +not always waged successfully. Barbarians were gradually settling within +the Empire. The emperors themselves were no longer Romans or Italians. +Provincials, some not even of the Latin race, assumed the imperial +dignity. But it was a period in which the Roman law was in its most +flourishing and brilliant stage, under such men as Papinian, Ulpian, and +others second only to these masters. Stoic cosmopolitanism made for wider +conceptions of law and a deeper sense of human solidarity. The Christian +Church, however, profited little by this (§ 34) until, in the religious +syncretism which became fashionable in the highest circles, it was favored +by even the imperial family along with other Oriental religions (§ 35). +The varying fortunes of the emperors necessarily affected the Church (§ +36), though, on the whole, there was little suffering, and the Church +spread rapidly, and in many parts of the Empire became a powerful +organization (§ 37), with which the State would soon have to reckon. + + +§ 34. State and Church under Septimius Severus and Caracalla + + +Although Christians were at first favored by Septimius Severus, they were +still liable to the severe laws against secret societies, and the policy +of Septimius was later to enforce these laws. The Christians tried to +escape the penalties prescribed against such societies by taking the form +of friendly societies which were expressly tolerated by the law. +Nevertheless, numerous cases are to be found in various parts of the +Empire in which Christians were put to death under the law. Yet the number +of martyrs before the general persecution of Decius in the middle of the +century was relatively small. The position of Christians was not +materially affected by the constitution of Caracalla conferring Roman +citizenship on all free inhabitants of the Empire, and the constitution +seems to have been merely a fiscal measure which laid additional burdens +upon the provincials. + + + Additional source material: Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 1-12. + + +(_a_) Tertullian, _Ad Scapulam_, 4. (MSL, 1:781.) + + + The account of Tertullian is generally accepted as substantially + correct. Scapula was chief magistrate of Carthage and, under the + circumstances, the author would not have indulged his tendency to + rhetorical embellishment. Furthermore, the book is written with + what was for Tertullian great moderation. + + +How many rulers, men more resolute and more cruel than you, have contrived +to get quit of such causes--as Cincius Severus, who himself suggested the +remedy at Thysdris, pointing out how Christians should answer that they +might be acquitted; as Vespronius Candidus, who acquitted a Christian on +the ground that to satisfy his fellow-citizens would create a riot; as +Asper, who, in the case of a man who under slight torture had fallen, did +not compel him to offer sacrifice, having owned among the advocates and +assessors of the court that he was annoyed at having to meddle with such a +case! Prudens, too, at once dismissed a Christian brought before him, +perceiving from the indictment that it was a case of vexatious accusation; +tearing the document in pieces, he refused, according to the imperial +command, to hear him without the presence of his accuser. All this might +be officially brought under your notice, and by the very advocates, who +themselves are under obligations to Christians, although they cry out +against us as it suits them. The clerk of one who was liable to be thrown +down by an evil spirit was set free; as was also a relative of another, +and the little boy of a third. How many men of rank (not to mention common +people) have been cured of devils and of diseases! Even Severus himself, +the father of Antonine, was mindful of the Christians; for he sought out +the Christian Proclus, surnamed Torpacion, the steward of Euhodias, who +once had cured him by means of oil, and whom he kept in his palace till +his death. Antonine [Caracalla], too, was brought up on Christian +milk,(55) was intimately acquainted with this man. But Severus, knowing +both men and women of the highest rank to be of this sect, not only did +not injure them, but distinguished them with his testimony and restored +them to us openly from the raging populace.(56) + + +(_b_) Laws Relating to Forbidden Societies. + + +1. Justinian, _Digest_, XLVII. 23:1. + + + The following is a passage taken from the Institutes of Marcian, + Bk. III. + + +By princely commands it was prescribed to the governors of provinces that +they should not permit social clubs and that soldiers should not have +societies in the camp. But it is permitted to the poor to collect a +monthly contribution, so long as they gather together only once in a +month, lest under a pretext of this sort an unlawful society meet. And +that this should be allowed not only in the city, but also in Italy and +the provinces, the divine Severus ordered. But for the sake of religion +they are not forbidden to come together so long as they do nothing +contrary to the Senatus-consultum, by which unlawful societies are +restrained. It is furthermore not lawful to belong to more than one lawful +society, as this was determined by the divine brothers [Caracalla and +Geta]; and if any one is in two, it is ordered that it be necessary for +him to choose in which he prefers to be, and he shall receive from the +society from which he resigns that which belongs to him proportionately of +what there is of a common fund. + + +2. Justinian, _Digest_, I, 12:14. + + + From Ulpian's treatise, _De officio Praefecti Urbi_. + + +The divine Severus ordered that those who were accused of meeting in +forbidden societies should be accused before the prefect of the city. + + +(_c_) Persecutions under Severus. + + +1. Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 1. (MSG, 20:522.) + + + The following extract is important not only as a witness to the + fact of the execution of the laws against Christians in + Alexandria, but also to the extension of Christianity in the more + southern provinces of Egypt. + + +When Severus began to persecute the churches, glorious testimonies were +given everywhere by the athletes of religion. Especially numerous were +they in Alexandria, for thither, as to a more prominent theatre, athletes +of God were sent from Egypt and all Thebais, according to their merit, and +they won crowns from God through their great patience under many tortures +and every mode of death. Among these was Leonidas, said to be the father +of Origen, who was beheaded while his son was still young. + + +2. Spartianus, _Vita Severi_, XVII. 1. (_Scriptores Historiae Augustae_. Ed. +Peter, 1884; Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, 32.) + + + The date of the following is A. D. 202. + + +He forbade, under heavy penalties, any to become Jews. He made the same +regulation in regard to Christians. + + +(_d_) Tertullian. _Apol._, 39. (MSL, 1:534.) + + + In the following, Christian assemblies, or churches, are + represented as being a sort of friendly society, similar but + superior to those existing all over the Empire, common and + tolerated among the poorer members of society. The date of the + _Apology_ is 197. + + +Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of purchase money, as +if our religion had its price. On the regular day in the month, or when +one prefers, each one makes a small donation; but only if it be his +pleasure, and only if he be able; for no one is compelled, but gives +voluntarily. These gifts are, as it were, piety's deposit fund. For they +are taken thence and spent, not on feasts and drinking-bouts, and +thankless eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply +the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old +persons confined to the house, likewise the shipwrecked, and if there +happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in +the prisons for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God's Church, +they become the nurslings of their confession. But it is mainly for such +work of love that many place a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love +one another! + + +(_e_) _The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas._ (MSL, 3:51.) (_Cf._ Knopf, +pp. 44-57.) + + + The date of this martyrdom is A. D. 203. The _Passio SS. Perpetuae + et Felicitatis_ has been attributed to Tertullian. It betrays + clear evidence of Montanist sympathies. It has even been thought + by some that the martyrs themselves were Montanists. At that date + probably not a few who sympathized with Montanism were still in + good standing in certain parts of the Church. At any rate, the day + of their commemoration has been from the middle of the fourth + century at Rome March 7. See Kirch, p. 323. + + +The day of their victory dawned, and they proceeded from the prison into +the amphitheatre, as if to happiness, joyous and of brilliant +countenances; if, perchance, shrinking, it was with joy and not with fear. +Perpetua followed with placid look, and with step and gait as a matron of +Christ, beloved of God, casting down the lustre of her eyes from the gaze +of all. Likewise Felicitas came, rejoicing that she had safely brought +forth, so that she might fight with the beasts.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And when they were +brought to the gate, and were constrained to put on the clothing--the men +that of the priests of Saturn, and the women that of those who were +consecrated to Ceres--that noble-minded woman resisted even to the end with +constancy. For she said: "We have come thus far of our own accord, that +our liberty might not be restrained. For this reason we have yielded our +minds, that we might not do any such thing as this; we have agreed on this +with you." Injustice acknowledged the justice; the tribune permitted that +they be brought in simply as they were. Perpetua sang psalms, already +treading under foot the head of the Egyptian [seen in a vision; see +preceding chapters]; Revocatus and Saturninus and Saturus uttered +threatenings against the gazing people about this martyrdom. When they +came within sight of Hilarianus, by gesture and nod they began to say to +Hilarianus: "Thou judgest us, but God will judge thee." At this the +exasperated people demanded that they should be tormented with scourges as +they passed along the rank of the _venatores_. And they, indeed, rejoiced +that they should have incurred any one of their Lord's passions. + +But He who had said, "Ask and ye shall receive," gave to them, when they +asked, that death which each one had desired. For when they had been +discoursing among themselves about their wish as to their martyrdom, +Saturninus, indeed, had professed that he wished that he might be thrown +to all the beasts; doubtless that he might wear a more glorious crown. +Therefore, in the beginning of the exhibition he and Revocatus made trial +of the leopard, and, moreover, upon the scaffold they were harassed by the +bear. Saturus, however, held nothing in greater horror than a bear; but he +thought he would be finished by one bite of a leopard. Therefore, when a +wild boar was supplied, it was the huntsman who had supplied that boar, +and not Saturus, who was gored by that same beast and who died the day +after the shows. Saturus only was drawn out; and when he had been bound on +the floor near to a bear, the bear would not come forth from his den. And +so Saturus for the second time was recalled, unhurt. + +Moreover, for the young women the devil, rivalling their sex also in that +of the beasts, prepared a very fierce cow, provided especially for that +purpose contrary to custom. And so, stripped and clothed with nets, they +were led forth. The populace shuddered as they saw one young woman of +delicate frame, and another with breasts still dropping from her recent +childbirth. So, being recalled, they were unbound. Perpetua was first led +in. She was tossed and fell on her loins; and when she saw her tunic torn +from her side, she drew it over her as a veil for her thighs, mindful of +her modesty rather than of her suffering. Then she was called for again, +and bound up her dishevelled hair; for it was not becoming for a martyr to +suffer with dishevelled hair, lest she should appear to be mourning in her +glory. She rose up, and when she saw Felicitas crushed she approached and +gave her her hand and lifted her up. And both of them stood together; and +the brutality of the populace being appeased, they were recalled to the +Sanavivarian gate. Then Perpetua was received by a certain one who was +still a catechumen, Rusticus by name, who kept close to her; and she, as +if roused from sleep, so deeply had she been in the Spirit and in an +ecstasy, began to look around her and to say to the amazement of all: "I +do not know when we are to be led out to that cow." Thus she said, and +when she had heard what had already happened, she did not believe it until +she had perceived certain signs of injury in her own body and in her +dress, and had recognized the catechumen. Afterward, causing that +catechumen and the brother to approach, she addressed them, saying: "Stand +fast in the faith, and love one another, all of you, and be not offended +at our sufferings." + +The same Saturus at the other entrance exhorted the soldier Prudens, +saying: "Assuredly here I am, as I have promised and foretold, for up to +this moment I have felt no beast. And now believe with your whole heart. +Lo, I am going forth to the leopard, and I shall be destroyed with one +bite." And immediately on the conclusion of the exhibition he was thrown +to the leopard; and with one bite by it he was bathed with such a quantity +of blood that the people shouted out to him, as he was returning, the +testimony of his second baptism: "Saved and washed, saved and washed." +Manifestly he was assuredly saved who had been glorified in such a +spectacle. Then to the soldier Prudens he said: "Farewell, and be mindful +of my faith; and let not these things disturb, but confirm you." And at +the same time he asked for a little ring from his finger, and returned it +to him bathed in his wound, leaving to him an inherited token and memory +of his blood. And then lifeless he was cast down with the rest, to be +slaughtered in the usual place. And when the populace called for them into +the midst, that as the sword penetrated into their body they might make +their eyes partners in the murder, they rose up of their own accord, and +transferred themselves whither the people wished; but they first kissed +one another, that they might consummate their martyrdom with the rites of +peace. The rest, indeed, immovable and in silence, received the sword; and +so did Saturus, who had also first ascended the ladder, and first gave up +his spirit, for he was waiting for Perpetua. But Perpetua, that she might +taste some pain, being pierced between the ribs, cried out loudly and she +herself placed the wavering right hand of the youthful gladiator to her +throat. Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself +had willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit. + +O most brave and blessed martyrs! O truly called and chosen unto the glory +of our Lord Jesus Christ! Whoever magnifies, and honors, and adores Him, +assuredly ought to read these examples for the edification of the Church, +not less than the ancient ones, so that new virtues also may testify that +one and the same Holy Spirit is always operating even until now, and God +the Father Omnipotent, and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, whose is glory +and infinite power forever and ever. Amen. + + +(_f_) Origen, _Contra Celsum_, III, 8. (MSG, 11:930.) + + + Origen is writing just before the first general persecution under + Decius about the middle of the century. He points out the + relatively small number of those suffering persecution. + + +With regard to Christians, because they were taught not to avenge +themselves upon their enemies, and have thus observed laws of a mild and +philanthropic character; and because, although they were able, yet they +would not have made war even if they had received authority to do so; for +this cause they have obtained this from God: that He has always warred on +their behalf, and at times has restrained those who rose up against them +and who wished to destroy them. For in order to remind others, that seeing +a few engaged in a struggle in behalf of religion, they might also be +better fitted to despise death, a few, at various times, and these easily +numbered, have endured death for the sake of the Christian religion; God +not permitting the whole nation [_i.e._, the Christians] to be +exterminated, but desiring that it should continue, and that the whole +world should be filled with this salvation and the doctrines of religion. + + +(_g_) Justinian, _Digest_, I, 5:17. + + + The edict of Caracalla (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) conferring + Roman citizenship upon all free inhabitants of the Empire has not + been preserved. It is known only from a brief extract from the + twenty-second book of Ulpian's work on the Praetorian Edict, + contained in the _Digest_ of Justinian. + + +Those who were in the Roman world were made Roman citizens by the +constitution of the Emperor Antoninus. + + +§ 35. Religious Syncretism in the Third Century + + +In the third century religious syncretism took two leading forms--the +Mithraic worship, which spread rapidly throughout the Empire, and the +fashionable interest in novel religions fostered by the imperial court. +Mithraism was especially prevalent in the army, and at army posts have +been found numerous remains of sanctuaries, inscriptions, etc. It was by +far the purest of the religions that invaded the Roman Empire, and drew +its leading ideas from Persian sources. The fashionable court interest in +novel religions seems not to have amounted to much as a positive religious +force, which Mithraism certainly was, though on account of it Christianity +was protected and even patronized by the ladies of the imperial household. +Among the works produced by this interest was the _Life of Apollonius of +Tyana_, written by Philostratus at the command of the Empress Julia Domna. +Apollonius was a preacher or teacher of ethics and the Neo-Pythagorean +philosophy in the first century, _ob._ A. D. 97. + + + Additional source material: Philostratus, _Life of Apollonius_ + (the latest English translation, by F. C. Conybeare, with Greek + text in the _Loeb Classical Library_, 1912). + + +Mithraic Prayer, Albrecht Dietrich, _Eine Mithrasliturgie_, Leipsic, 1903. + + + The following prayer is the opening invocation of what appears to + be a Mithraic liturgy, and may date from a period earlier than the + fourth century. It gives, as is natural, no elaborated statement + of Mithraic doctrine, but, as in all prayer, much is implied in + the forms used and the spirit of the religion breathed through it. + The combination has already begun as is shown by the doctrine of + the four elements. It should be added that Professor Cumont does + not regard it as a Mithraic liturgy at all, but accounts for the + distinct mention of the name Mithras, which is to be found in some + parts, to a common tendency of semi-magical incantations to employ + as many deities as possible. + + +First Origin of my origin, first Beginning of my beginning, Spirit of +Spirit, first of the spirit in me. Fire which to compose me has been given +of God, first of the fire in me. Water of water, first of the water in me. +Earthy Substance of earthy substance, first of the earthy substance, the +entire body of me, N. N. son of N. N., completely formed by an honorable +arm and an immortal right hand in the lightless and illuminated world, in +the inanimated and the animated. If it seem good to you to restore me to +an immortal generation, who am held by my underlying nature, that after +this present need which presses sorely upon me I may behold the immortal +Beginning with the immortal Spirit, the immortal Water, the Solid and the +Air, that I may be born again, by the thought, that I may be consecrated +and the holy Spirit may breathe in me, that I may gaze with astonishment +at the holy Fire, that I may look upon abysmal and frightful Water of the +sun-rising, and the generative Ether poured around may listen to me. For I +will to-day look with immortal eyes, I who was begotten a mortal from a +mortal womb, exalted by a mighty working power and incorruptible right +hand, I may look with an immortal spirit upon the immortal Eon and the +Lord of the fiery crowns, purified by holy consecrations, since a little +under me stands the human power of mind, which I shall regain after the +present bitter, oppressive, and debt-laden need, I, N. N. the son of N. +N., according to God's unchangeable decree, for it is not within my power, +born mortal, to mount up with the golden light flashes of the immortal +illuminator. Stand still, corruptible human nature, and leave me free +after the pitiless and crushing necessity. + + +§ 36. The Religious Policy of the Emperors from Heliogabalus to Philip the +Arabian, 217-249 + + +With the brief exception of the reign of Maximinus Thrax (235-238), +Christians enjoyed peace from the death of Caracalla to the death of +Philip the Arabian. This was not due to disregard of the laws against +Christians nor to indifference to suspected dangers to the Empire arising +from the new religion, but to the policy of religious syncretism which had +come in with the family of Severus. The wife of Septimius Severus was the +daughter of Julius Bassianus, priest of the Sun-god of Emesa, and of the +rulers of the dynasty of Severus one, Heliogabalus, was himself a priest +of the same syncretistic cult, and another, Alexander, was under the +influence of the women of the same priestly family. + + +(_a_) Lampridius, _Vita Heliogabali_, 3, 6, 7. Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § +12. + + + Lampridius is one of the _Scriptores Historiae Augustae_, by whom is + a series of lives of the Roman emperors. The series dates from the + fourth century, and is of importance as containing much + information which is not otherwise accessible. The dates of the + various lives are difficult to determine. Avitus Bassianus, known + as Heliogabalus, a name he assumed, reigned 218-222. + + +Ch. 3. But when he had once entered the city, he enrolled Heliogabalus +among the gods and built a temple to him on the Palatine Hill next the +imperial palace, desiring to transfer to that temple the image of Cybele, +the fire of Vesta, the Palladium, the sacred shields, and all things +venerated by the Romans; and he did this so that no other god than +Heliogabalus should be worshipped at Rome. He said, besides, that the +religions of the Jews and the Samaritans and the Christian worship should +be brought thither, that the priesthood of Heliogabalus should possess the +secrets of all religions. + +Ch. 6. Not only did he wish to extinguish the Roman religions, but he was +eager for one thing throughout the entire world--that Heliogabalus should +everywhere be worshipped as god. + +Ch. 7. He asserted, in fact, that all the gods were servants of his god, +since some he called his chamber-servants, others slaves, and others +servants in various capacities. + + +(_b_) Lampridius, _Vita Alexandri Severi_, 29, 43, 49. Preuschen, +_Analecta_, I, § 13. + + + Alexander Severus (222-235) succeeded his cousin Heliogabalus. The + mother of Alexander, Julia Mammaea, sister of Julia Soaemias, mother + of Heliogabalus, was a granddaughter of Julius Bassianus, whose + daughter, Julia Domna, had married Septimius Severus. It was + through marriages with the female descendants of Julius, who was + priest of the Sun-god at Emesa, that the members of the dynasty of + Severus were connected and their attitude toward religion + determined. It was in the reign of Alexander that syncretism + favorable to Christianity was at its height. + + +Ch. 29. This was his manner of life: as soon as there was opportunity--that +is, if he had not spent the night with his wife--he performed his devotions +in the early morning hours in his lararium, in which he had statues of the +divine princes and also a select number of the best men and the more holy +spirits, among whom he had Apollonius of Tyana, and as a writer of his +times says, Christ, Abraham, and Orpheus, and others similar, as well as +statues of his ancestors. + +Ch. 43. He wished to erect a temple to Christ and to number Him among the +gods. Hadrian, also, is said to have thought of doing this, and commanded +temples without any images to be erected in all cities, and therefore +these temples, because they have no image of the Divinity, are to-day +called _Hadriani_, which he is said to have prepared for this end. But +Alexander was prevented from doing this by those who, consulting the +auspices, learned that if ever this were done all would be Christians, and +the other temples would have to be deserted. + +Ch. 49. When the Christians took possession of a piece of land which +belonged to the public domain and in opposition to them the guild of cooks +claimed that it belonged to them, he decreed that it was better that in +that place God should be worshipped in some fashion rather than that it be +given to the cooks. + + +(_c_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 21. (MSG, 20:574.) + + +The mother of the Emperor, whose name was Julia Mammaea, was a most pious +woman, if ever one was. When the fame of Origen had extended everywhere +and had come even to her ears, she desired greatly to see the man, and to +make trial of his understanding of divine things, which was admired by +all. When she was staying for a time in Antioch, she sent for him with a +military escort. Having remained with her for a while and shown her many +things which were for the glory of the Lord and of the excellency of +divine teaching, he hastened back to his accustomed labors. + + +(_d_) Firmilianus, _Ep. ad Cyprianum_, in Cyprian, _Ep. 75_. (MSL, +3:1211.) Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § 14:2. + + + The following epistle is found among the Epistles of Cyprian, to + whom it is addressed. It is of importance in connection with the + persecution of Maximinus, throwing light on the occasion and + extent of the persecution and relating instances of strange + fanaticism and exorcism. + + +But I wish to tell you about an affair connected with this very matter +[baptism by heretics, the main subject of the epistle, _v. infra_, § 52] +which occurred among us. About twenty years ago, in the time after Emperor +Alexander, there happened in these parts many struggles and difficulties, +either in common to all men or privately to Christians. There were, +furthermore, many and frequent earthquakes, so that many cities throughout +Cappadocia and Pontus were thrown down; and some even were dragged down +into the abyss and swallowed by the gaping earth. From this, also, there +arose a severe persecution against the Christian name. This arose suddenly +after the long peace of the previous age. Because of the unexpected and +unaccustomed evil, it was rendered more terrible for the disturbance of +our people. + +Serenianus was at that time governor of our province, a bitter and cruel +persecutor. But when the faithful had been thus disturbed and were fleeing +hither and thither from fear of persecution and were leaving their native +country and crossing over to other regions--for there was opportunity of +crossing over, because this persecution was not over the whole world, but +was local--there suddenly arose among us a certain woman who in a state of +ecstasy announced herself as a prophetess and acted as if filled with the +Holy Ghost. And she was so moved by the power of the chief demons that for +a long time she disturbed the brethren and deceived them; for she +accomplished certain wonderful and portentous things: thus, she promised +that she would cause the earth to be shaken, not that the power of the +demon was so great that he could shake the earth and disturb the elements, +but that sometimes a wicked spirit, foreseeing and understanding that +there will be an earthquake, pretends that he will do what he foresees +will take place. By these lies and boastings he had so subdued the minds +of several that they obeyed him and followed whithersoever he commanded +and led. He would also make that woman walk in the bitter cold of winter +with bare feet over the frozen snow, and not to be troubled or hurt in any +respect by walking in this fashion. Moreover, she said she was hurrying to +Judea and Jerusalem, pretending that she had come thence. Here, also, she +deceived Rusticus, one of the presbyters, and another one who was a +deacon, so that they had intercourse with the same woman. This was shortly +after detected. For there suddenly appeared before her one of the +exorcists, a man approved and always well versed in matters of religious +discipline; he, moved by the exhortation of many of the brethren, also, +who were themselves strong in the faith, and praiseworthy, raised himself +up against that wicked spirit to overcome it; for the spirit a little +while before, by its subtle deceitfulness, had predicted, furthermore, +that a certain adverse and unbelieving tempter would come. Yet that +exorcist, inspired by God's grace, bravely resisted and showed that he who +before was regarded as holy was a most wicked spirit. But that woman, who +previously, by the wiles and deceits of the demon, was attempting many +things for the deception of the faithful, had among other things by which +she deceived many also frequently dared this--to pretend that with an +invocation, not to be contemned, she sanctified bread and consecrated the +eucharist and offered sacrifice to the Lord without the sacrament as +customarily uttered; and to have baptized many, making use of the usual +and lawful words of interrogation, that nothing might seem to be different +from the ecclesiastical and lawful mode. + + +(_e_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 34. (MSG, 20:595.) Preuschen, _Analecta_, +I, § 15, and Kirch, n. 397. + + + The following tradition that Philip the Arabian was a Christian is + commonly regarded as doubtful. That he favored the Christians, and + even protected them, may be the basis for such a report. + + +When Gordianus (238-244) had been Roman Emperor for six years, Philip +(244-249) succeeded him. It is reported that he, being a Christian, +desired on the day of the last paschal vigil to share with the multitude +in the prayers of the Church, but was not permitted by him who then +presided to enter until he had made confession and numbered himself among +those who were reckoned as transgressors and who occupied the place of +penitence. For if he had not done this, he would never have been received +by him, on account of the many crimes he had committed, and it is said +that he obeyed readily, manifesting in his conduct a genuine and pious +fear of God. + + +§ 37. The Extension of the Church at the Middle of the Third Century + + +Some approximately correct idea of the extension of the Church by the +middle of the third century may be gathered from a precise statement of +the organization of the largest church, that at Rome, about the year 250 +(_a_), from the size of provincial synods, of which we have detailed +statements for North Africa (_b_), from references to organized and +apparently numerous churches in various places not mentioned in earlier +documents (_c_). That the Church, at least in Egypt and parts adjacent, +had ceased to be confined chiefly to the cities and that it was composed +of persons of all social ranks is attested by Origen (_d_). + + +(_a_) Cornelius, _Ep. ad Fabium_, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 43. (MSG, +20:622.) _Cf._ Kirch, n. 222 _ff._ + + + Cornelius was bishop of Rome 251-253. + + +This avenger of the Gospel [Novatus] did not then know that there should +be one bishop in a Catholic church; yet he was not ignorant (for how could +he be) that in it [_i.e._, the Roman church] there were forty-six +presbyters, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes, fifty-two +exorcists, readers, and janitors, and over fifteen hundred widows and +persons in distress, all of whom the grace and kindness of the Master +nourished. But not even this great multitude, so necessary in the Church, +nor those who through God's providence were rich and full, together with +very many, even innumerable, people, could turn him from such desperation +and recall him to the Church. + + +(_b_) Cyprian, _Epistulae 71_ [=70] (MSL, 4:424) and 59:10 [=54] (MSL, +3:877) + + + The church in North Africa had grown very rapidly before Cyprian + was elevated to the see of Carthage. An evidence of this is the + number of councils held in North Africa. That held under + Agrippinus, between 218 and 222, was the first known in that part + of the Church. Under Cyprian a council was held at Carthage in 258 + at which no less than seventy bishops, whose names and opinions + have been preserved, are given. See ANF, V, 565 _ff._ + + +_Ep. 71_ [=70]. _Ad Quintum._ + +Which thing, indeed, Agrippinus [A. D. 218-222], also a man of worthy +memory, with his fellow-bishops, who at that time governed the Lord's +Church in the province of Africa and Numidia, decreed, and by the +well-weighed examination of the common council established. + +_Ep. 59_ [=54]:10. _Ad Cornelium._ + +I have also intimated to you, my brother, by Felicianus, that there had +come to Carthage Privatus, an old heretic in the colony of Lambesa, many +years ago condemned for many and grave crimes by the judgment of ninety +bishops, and severely remarked upon in the letters of Fabian and Donatus, +also our predecessors, as is not hidden from your knowledge. + + +(_c_) Cyprian, _Epistula 67_ [=68]. (MSL, 3:1057, 1065.) + + + The following extracts from Cyprian's Epistle "To the Clergy and + People abiding in Spain, concerning Basilides and Martial," is of + importance as bearing upon the development of the appellate + jurisdiction of the Roman see, for which see the epistle in its + entirety as given in Cyprian's works, ANF, vol. V, for the + treatment of the vexed question of discipline in the case of those + receiving certificates that they had sacrificed, (see below, §§ 45 + _f._), and as the first definite statements as to localities in + Spain where there were Christians and bishops placed over the + Church. The mass of martyrdoms that have been preserved refer to + still others. + + +Cyprian {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} to Felix, the presbyter, and to the peoples abiding in Legio +[Leon] and Asturica [Astorga], also to Laelius, the deacon, and the people +abiding in Emerita [Merida], brethren in the Lord, greeting. When we had +come together, dearly beloved brethren, we read your letters, which, +according to the integrity of your faith and your fear of God, you wrote +to us by Felix and Sabinus, our fellow-bishops, signifying that Basilides +and Martial, who had been stained with the certificates of idolatry and +bound with the consciousness of wicked crimes, ought not to exercise the +episcopal office and administer the priesthood of God. Wherefore, since we +have written, dearly beloved brethren, and as Felix and Sabinus, our +colleagues, affirm, and as another Felix, of Caesar-Augusta [Saragossa], a +maintainer of the faith and a defender of the truth, signifies in his +letter, Basilides and Martial have been contaminated by the abominable +certificate of idolatry. + + +(_d_) Origen, _Contra Celsum_, III, 9. (MSG, 11:951.) + + + With the following should be compared the statements of Pliny, + more than a hundred years earlier, relative to Bithynia. See + above, § 7. + + +Celsus says that "if all men wished to become Christians, the latter would +not desire it." That this is false, is evident from this, that Christians +do not neglect, as far as they are able, to take care to spread their +doctrines throughout the whole world. Some, accordingly, have made it +their business to go round about not only through cities, but even +villages and country houses, that they may persuade others to become pious +worshippers of God.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} At present, indeed, when because of the multitude of +those who have embraced the teaching, not only rich men, but also some +persons of rank and delicate and high-born ladies, receive the teachers of +the Word, there will be some who dare to say that it is for the sake of a +little glory that certain assume the office of Christian teachers. In the +beginning, when there was much danger, especially to its teachers, this +suspicion could have had no place. + + + +Chapter II. The Internal Development Of The Church In Doctrine, Custom, +And Constitution + + +The characteristic Eastern and Western conceptions of Christianity began +to be clearly differentiated in the early years of the third century. A +juristic conception of the Church as a body at the head of which, and +clothed with authority, appeared the bishop of Rome, had, indeed, become +current at Rome in the last decade of the second century on the occasion +of the Easter controversy, which had ended in an estrangement between the +previously closely affiliated churches of Asia Minor and the West, +especially Rome (§ 38). Western theology soon became centred in North +Africa under the legally trained Tertullian, by whom its leading +principles were laid down in harmony with the bent of the Latin genius (§ +39). In this period numerous attempts were made to solve the problem +arising from the unity of God and the divinity of Christ, without recourse +to a Logos christology. Some of the more unsuccessful of these attempts +have since been grouped under the heads of Dynamistic and of Modalistic +Monarchianism (§ 40). At the same time Montanism was excluded from the +Church (§ 41), as subversive of the distinction between the clergy and +laity and the established organs of the Church's government, which in the +recent rise of a theory of the necessity of the episcopate (see above, § +27) had become important. In the administration of the penitential +discipline (§ 42) the position of the clergy and the realization of a +hierarchically organized Church was still further advanced, preparatory +for the position of Cyprian. At the same time as these constitutional +developments were taking place in the West, and especially in North +Africa, there occurred in Egypt and Palestine a remarkable advance in +doctrinal discussion, whereby the theology of the apologists was developed +in the Catechetical School of Alexandria, especially under the leadership +of Clement of Alexandria and Origen (§ 43). In this new speculation a vast +mass of most fruitful theological ideas was built up, from which +subsequent ages drew for the defence of the traditional faith, but some of +which served as the basis of new and startling heresies. Corresponding to +the intellectual development within the Church was the last phase of +Hellenic philosophy, known as Neo-Platonism (§ 44), which subsequently +came into bitter conflict with the Church. + + +§ 38. The Easter Controversy and the Separation of the Churches of Asia +Minor from the Western Churches + + +The Church grew up with only a loose form of organization. Each local +congregation was for a while autonomous, and it was the local constitution +that first took a definite and fixed form. In the first centuries local +customs naturally varied, and conflicts were sure to arise when various +hitherto isolated churches came into closer contact and the sense of +solidarity deepened. The first clash of opposing customs occurred over the +date of Easter, as to which marked differences existed between the +churches of Asia Minor, at that time the most flourishing part of the +Church, and the churches of the West, especially with the church of Rome, +the strongest local church of all. The course of the controversy is +sufficiently stated in the following selection from Eusebius. The outcome +was the practical isolation of the churches of Asia Minor for many years. +The controversy was not settled, and the churches of Asia Minor did not +again play a prominent part in the Church until the time of Constantine +and the Council of Nicaea, 325 (see § 62, _b_), although a provisional +adjustment of the difficulty, so far as the West was concerned, took place +shortly before, at the Council of Arles (see § 62, _a_, 2). + + +Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 23, 24. (MSG, 20:489.) Mirbt, n. 22, and in +Kirch, n. 78 _ff._ + + + A brief extract from the following may be found above in § 3 in a + somewhat different connection. + + +Ch. 23. At this time a question of no small importance arose. For the +parishes [_i.e._, dioceses in the later sense of that word] of all Asia, +as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, +being the day on which the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, +should be observed as the feast of the Saviour's passover, and that it was +necessary, therefore, to end their fast on that day, on whatever day of +the week it might happen to fall. It was not, however, the custom of the +churches elsewhere to end it at this time, but they observed the practice, +which from apostolic tradition has prevailed to the present time, of +ending the fast on no other day than that of the resurrection of the +Saviour. Synods and assemblies of bishops were held on this account, and +all with one consent, by means of letters addressed to all, drew up an +ecclesiastical decree that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord +from the dead should be celebrated on no other day than on the Lord's Day, +and that we should observe the close of the paschal fast on that day only. +There is still extant a writing of those who were then assembled in +Palestine, over whom Theophilus, bishop of the parish of Caesarea, and +Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, presided; also another of those who were +likewise assembled at Rome, on account of the same question, which bears +the name of Victor; also of the bishops in Pontus, over whom Palmas, as +the oldest, presided; and of the parishes in Gaul, of which Irenaeus was +bishop; and of those in Osrhoene and the cities there; and a personal +letter of Bacchylus, bishop of the church in Corinth, and of a great many +others who uttered one and the same opinion and judgment and cast the same +vote. Of these, there was one determination of the question which has been +stated. + +Ch. 24. But the bishops of Asia, led by Polycrates, decided to hold fast +to the customs handed down to them. He himself, in a letter addressed to +Victor and the church of Rome, set forth the tradition which had come down +to him as follows: "We observe the exact day, neither adding nor taking +anything away. For in Asia, also, great lights have fallen asleep, which +shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when He shall come with +glory from heaven and shall seek out all the saints. Of these were Philip, +one of the twelve Apostles, who fell asleep at Hierapolis, and his two +aged virgin daughters and his other daughter, who, having lived in the +Holy Spirit, rest at Ephesus; and, moreover, John, who reclined on the +Lord's bosom, and being a priest wore the sacerdotal mitre, who was both a +witness and a teacher; he fell asleep at Ephesus; and, further, Polycarp +in Smyrna, both a bishop and a martyr.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} All these observed the fourteenth +day of the passover, according to the Gospel, deviating in no respect, but +following the rule of faith. And I, Polycrates, do the same, the least of +you all, according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have +closely followed. For seven of my relatives were bishops, and I am the +eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away +the leaven; I, therefore, am not affrighted by terrifying words. For those +greater than I have said, We ought to obey God rather than men."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +Thereupon(57) Victor, who was over the church of Rome, immediately +attempted to cut off from the common unity the parishes of all Asia, with +the churches that agreed with them, as being heterodox. And he published +letters declaring that all the brethren there were wholly excommunicated. +But this did not please all the bishops, and they besought him to consider +the things of peace, of neighborly unity and love. Words of theirs are +still extant, rather sharply rebuking Victor. Among these were Irenaeus, +who sent letters in the name of the brethren in Gaul, over whom he +presided, and maintained that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord +should be observed only on the Lord's Day, yet he fittingly admonishes +Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the +tradition of an ancient custom, and after many other words he proceeds as +follows: "For the controversy is not merely concerning the day, but also +concerning the very manner of the fast. For some think that they should +fast one day, others two, yet others more; some, moreover, count their +days as consisting of forty hours day and night. And this variety of +observance has not originated in our times, but long before, in the days +of our ancestors. It is likely that they did not hold to strict accuracy, +and thus was formed a custom for their posterity, according to their own +simplicity and their peculiar method. Yet all these lived more or less in +peace, and we also live in peace with one another; and the disagreement in +regard to the fast confirms the agreement in the faith.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Among these were +the elders [_i.e._, bishops of earlier date] before Soter, who presided +over the church which thou [Victor] now rulest. We mean Anicetus, and +Pius, and Hyginus, and Telesphorus, and Sixtus. They neither observed it +themselves nor did they permit others after them to do so. And yet, though +they did not observe it, they were none the less at peace with those who +came to them from the parishes in which it was observed, although this +observance was more opposed to those who did not observe it. But none were +ever cast out on account of this form, but the elders before thee, who did +not observe it, sent the eucharist to those of the other parishes +observing it. And when the blessed Polycarp was at Rome in the time of +Anicetus, and they disagreed a little about certain other things, they +immediately made peace with one another, not caring to quarrel over this +point. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he +had always observed with John, the disciple of the Lord, and the other +Apostles with whom he had associated; neither could Polycarp persuade +Anicetus to observe it, as he said that he ought to follow the customs of +the elders who had preceded him. But though matters were thus, they +nevertheless communed together and Anicetus granted the eucharist in the +church to Polycarp, manifestly as a mark of respect.(58) And they parted +from each other in peace, maintaining the peace of the whole Church, both +of those who observed and those who did not." Thus Irenaeus, who was truly +well named, became a peace-maker in this matter, exhorting and negotiating +in this way for the peace of the churches. And he conferred by letter +about this disputed question, not only with Victor, but also with most of +the other rulers of the churches. + + +§ 39. The Religion of the West: Its Moral and Juristic Character + + +In the writings of Tertullian a conception of Christianity is quite fully +developed according to which the Gospel was a new law of life, with its +prescribed holy seasons and hours for prayer; its sacrifices, though as +yet only sacrifices of prayer; its fasts and almsgiving, which had +propitiatory effect, atoning for sins committed and winning merit with +God; its sacred rites, solemnly administered by an established hierarchy; +and all observed for the sake of a reward which God in justice owed those +who kept His commandments. It is noticeable that already there is the same +divided opinion as to marriage, whereby, on the one hand, it was regarded +as a concession to weakness, a necessary evil, and, on the other, a high +and holy relation, strictly monogamous, and of abiding worth. The +propitiatory and meritorious character of fasts and almsgiving as laid +down by Tertullian was developed even further by Cyprian and became a +permanent element in the penitential system of the Church, ultimately +affecting its conception of redemption. + + +(_a_) Tertullian, _De Oratione_, 23, 25, 28. (MSL, 1:1298.) + + +Ch. 23. As to kneeling, also, prayer is subject to diversity of observance +on account of a few who abstain from kneeling on the Sabbath. Since this +dissension is particularly on its trial before the churches, the Lord will +give His grace that the dissentients may either yield or else follow their +own opinion without offence to the others. We, however, as we have +received, only on the Sunday of the resurrection ought to guard not only +against this kneeling, but every posture and office of anxiety; deferring +even our businesses, lest we give any place to the devil. Similarly, too, +the period of Pentecost, is a time which we distinguish by the same +solemnity of exultation. But who would hesitate every day to prostrate +himself before God, at least in the first prayer with which we enter on +the daylight? At fasts, moreover, and stations, no prayer should be made +without kneeling and the remaining customary marks of humility. For then +we are not only praying, but making supplication, and making satisfaction +to our Lord God. + +Ch. 25. Touching the time, however, the extrinsic observance of certain +hours will not be unprofitable; those common hours, I mean, which mark the +intervals of the day--the third, the sixth, the ninth--which we may find in +Scripture to have been more solemn than the rest. + +Ch. 28. This is the spiritual victim which has abolished the pristine +sacrifices.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} We are the true adorers and true priests, who, praying in the +spirit, in the spirit sacrifice prayer, proper and acceptable to God, +which, assuredly, He has required, which He has looked forward to for +Himself. This victim, devoted from the whole heart, fed on faith, tended +by truth, entire in innocence, pure in chastity, garlanded with love +[agape], we ought to escort with the pomp of good works, amid psalms and +hymns, unto God's altar, to obtain all things from God for us. + + +(_b_) Tertullian, _De Jejun._, 3. (MSL, 2:100.) + + + The following is a characteristic statement of the meritorious and + propitiatory character of fasting. See below, _h_, Cyprian. + + +Since He himself both commands fasting and calls a soul wholly +shattered--properly, of course, by straits of diet--a sacrifice (Psalm +51:18), who will any longer doubt that of all macerations as to food the +rationale has been this: that by a renewed interdiction of food and +observance of the precept the primordial sin might now be expiated, so +that man may make God satisfaction through the same causative material by +which he offended, that is, by interdiction of food; and so, by way of +emulation, hunger might rekindle, just as satiety had extinguished, +salvation, contemning for the sake of one thing unlawful many things that +are lawful? + + +(_c_) Tertullian, _De Baptismo_, 17. (MSL, 1:1326.) + + +It remains to put you in mind, also, of the due observance of giving and +receiving baptism. The chief priest (_summus sacerdos_), who is the +bishop, has the right of giving it; in the second place, the presbyters +and deacons, yet not without the bishop's authority, on account of the +honor of the Church. When this has been preserved, peace is preserved. +Besides these, even laymen have the right; for what is equally received +can be equally given. If there are no bishops, priests, or deacons, other +disciples are called. The word of the Lord ought not to be hidden away by +any. In like manner, also, baptism, which is equally God's property, can +be administered by all; but how much more is the rule of reverence and +modesty incumbent on laymen, since these things belong to their superiors, +lest they assume to themselves the specific functions of the episcopate! +Emulation of the episcopal office is the mother of schism. + + +(_d_) Tertullian, _De Poenitentia_, 2. (MSL, 1:1340.) + + +How small is the gain if you do good to a grateful man, or the loss if to +an ungrateful man! A good deed has God as its debtor, just as an evil deed +has Him also; for the judge is a rewarder of every cause. Now, since God +as judge presides over the exacting and maintaining of justice, which is +most dear to Him, and since it is for the sake of justice that He appoints +the whole sum of His discipline, ought one to doubt that, as in all our +acts universally, so, also, in the case of repentance, justice must be +rendered to God? + + +(_e_) Tertullian, _Scorpiace_, 6. (MSL, 2:157.) + + +If he had put forth faith to suffer martyrdoms, not for the contest's +sake, but for its own benefit, ought it not to have had some store of +hope, for which it might restrain its own desire and suspend its wish, +that it might strive to mount up, seeing that they, also, who strive to +discharge earthly functions are eager for promotion? Or how will there be +many mansions in the Father's house, if not for a diversity of deserts? +How, also, will one star differ from another star in glory, unless in +virtue of a disparity of their rays? + + +(_f_) Tertullian, _Ad Uxorem_, I, 3; II, 8-10. (MSL, 1:1390, 1415.) _Cf._ +Kirch, n. 181. + + +I, 3. There is no place at all where we read that marriages are +prohibited; of course as a "good thing." What, however, is better than +this "good," we learn from the Apostle in that he permits marriage, +indeed, but prefers abstinence; the former on account of the insidiousness +of temptations, the latter on account of the straits of the times (I Cor. +7:26). Now by examining the reason for each statement it is easily seen +that the permission to marry is conceded us as a necessity; but whatever +necessity grants, she herself deprecates. In fact, inasmuch as it is +written, "It is better to marry than to burn" (I Cor. 7:9), what sort of +"good" is this which is only commended by comparison with "evil," so that +the reason why "marrying" is better is merely that "burning" is worse? +Nay; but how much better is it neither to marry nor to burn? + +II, 8. Whence are we to find adequate words to tell fully of the happiness +of that marriage which the Church cements and the oblation(59) confirms, +and the benediction seals; which the angels announce, and the Father holds +for ratified? For even on earth children do not rightly and lawfully wed +without their father's consent. What kind of yoke is that of two believers +of one hope, one discipline, and the same service? The two are brethren, +the two are fellow-servants; no difference of spirit or flesh; nay, truly, +two in one flesh; where there is one flesh the spirit is one. + + +(_g_) Tertullian, _De Monogamia_, 9, 10. (MSL, 2:991 _f._) + + + This work was written after Tertullian became a Montanist, and + with other Montanists repudiated second marriage, to which + reference is made in both passages. But the teaching of the Church + regarding remarriage after divorce was as Tertullian here speaks. + The reference to offering at the end of ch. 10 does not refer to + the eucharist, but to prayers. See above, _Ad Uxorem_, ch. II, 8. + + +Ch. 9. So far is it true that divorce "was not from the beginning" [_cf._ +Matt. 19:8] that among the Romans it is not till after the six hundredth +year after the foundation of the city that this kind of hardness of heart +is recorded to have been committed. But they not only repudiate, but +commit promiscuous adultery; to us, even if we do divorce, it will not be +lawful to marry. + +Ch. 10. I ask the woman herself, "Tell me, sister, have you sent your +husband before in peace?" What will she answer? In discord? In that case +she is bound the more to him with whom she has a cause to plead at the bar +of God. She is bound to another, she who has not departed from him. But if +she say, "In peace," then she must necessarily persevere in that peace +with him whom she will be no longer able to divorce; not that she would +marry, even if she had been able to divorce him. Indeed, she prays for his +soul, and requests refreshment for him meanwhile, and fellowship in the +first resurrection; and she offers on the anniversary of his falling +asleep. + + +(_h_) Cyprian, _De Opere et Eleemosynis_, 1, 2, 5. (MSL, 4:625.) + + + Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (249-258), was the most important + theologian and ecclesiastic between Tertullian and Augustine. He + developed the theology of the former especially in its + ecclesiastical lines, and his idea of the Church was accepted by + the latter as a matter beyond dispute. His most important + contributions to the development of the Church were his + hierarchical conceptions, which became generally accepted as the + basis of the episcopal organization of the Church (see below, §§ + 46, 50, 51). His writings, which are of great importance in the + history of the Church, consist only of epistles and brief tracts. + His influence did much to determine the lines of development of + the Western Church, and especially the church of North Africa. + With the following _cf. supra_, § 16. + + +Ch. 1. Many and great, beloved brethren, are the divine benefits wherewith +the large and abundant mercy of God the Father and of Christ both has +labored and is always laboring for our salvation: because the Father sent +the Son to preserve us and give us life, that He might restore us; and the +Son was willing to be sent and to become the son of man, that He might +make us the sons of God. He humbled Himself that He might raise up the +people who before were prostrate; He was wounded that He might heal our +wounds; He served that He might draw to liberty those who were in bondage; +He underwent death, that He might set forth immortality to mortals. These +are many and great boons of compassion. But, moreover, what a providence, +and how great the clemency, that by a plan of salvation it is provided for +us that more abundant care should be taken for preserving man who has been +redeemed! For when the Lord, coming to us, had cured those wounds which +Adam had borne, and had healed the old poisons of the serpent, He gave a +law to the sound man, and bade him sin no more lest a worse thing should +befall the sinner. We had been limited and shut up in a narrow space by +the commandment of innocence. Nor should the infirmity and weakness of +human frailty have anything it might do, unless the divine mercy, coming +again in aid, should open some way of securing salvation by pointing out +works of justice and mercy, so that by almsgiving we may wash away +whatever foulness we subsequently contract. + +Ch. 2. The Holy Spirit speaks in the sacred Scriptures saying, "By +almsgiving and faith sins are purged" [Prov. 16:6]. Not, of course, those +sins which had been previously contracted, for these are purged by the +blood and sanctification of Christ. Moreover, He says again, "As water +extinguishes fire, so almsgiving quencheth sin" [Eccles. 3:30]. Here, +also, is shown and proved that as by the laver of the saving water the +fire of Gehenna is extinguished, so, also, by almsgiving and works of +righteousness the flame of sin is subdued. And because in baptism +remission of sins is granted once and for all, constant and ceaseless +labor, following the likeness of baptism, once again bestows the mercy of +God.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The Lord also teaches this in the Gospel.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The Merciful One teaches +and warns that works of mercy be performed; because He seeks to save those +who at great cost He has redeemed, it is proper that those who after the +grace of baptism have become foul can once more be cleansed. + +Ch. 5. The remedies for propitiating God are given in the words of God +himself. The divine instructions have taught sinners what they ought to +do; that by works of righteousness God is satisfied, and with the merits +of mercy sins are cleansed.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He [the angel Raphael, _cf._ Tobit. 12:8, 9] +shows that our prayers and fastings are of little avail unless they are +aided by almsgiving; that entreaties alone are of little force to obtain +what they seek, unless they be made sufficient by the addition of deeds +and good works. The angel reveals and manifests and certifies that our +petitions become efficacious by almsgiving, that life is redeemed from +dangers by almsgiving, that souls are delivered from death by almsgiving. + + +§ 40. The Monarchian Controversies + + +Monarchianism is a general term used to include all the unsuccessful +attempts of teachers within the Church to explain the divine element in +Christ without doing violence to the doctrine of the unity of God, and yet +without employing the Logos christology. These attempts were made chiefly +between the latter part of the second century and the end of the third. +They fall into classes accordingly as they regard the divine element in +Christ as personal or impersonal. One class makes the divine element to be +an impersonal power (Greek, dynamis) sent from God into the man Jesus; +hence the term "Dynamistic Monarchians." The other class makes the divine +element a person, without, however, making any personal distinction +between Father and Son, only a difference in the mode in which the one +divine person manifests Himself; hence the term "Modalistic Monarchians." +By some the Dynamistic Monarchians have been called Adoptionists, because +they generally taught that the man Jesus ultimately became the Son of God, +not being such by nature but by "adoption." The name Adoptionist has been +so long applied to a heresy of the eighth century, chiefly in Spain, that +it leads to confusion to use the term in connection with Monarchianism. +Furthermore, to speak of them as Dynamistic Monarchians groups them with +other Monarchians, which is desirable. The most important school of +Modalistic Monarchians was that of Sabellius, in which the Modalistic +principle was developed so as to include the three persons of the Trinity. + + + The sources may be found collected and annotated in Hilgenfeld, + _Ketsergeschichte_. + + +(A) Dynamistic Monarchianism + + +(_a_) Hippolytus, _Refut._, VII, 35, 36. (MSG, 16:3342.) + + +Ch. 35. A certain Theodotus, a native of Byzantium, introduced a novel +heresy, saying some things concerning the origin of the universe partly in +keeping with the doctrines of the true Church, in so far as he admits that +all things were created by God. Forcibly appropriating, however, his idea +of Christ from the Gnostics and from Cerinthus and Ebion, he alleges that +He appeared somewhat as follows: that Jesus was a man, born of a virgin, +according to the counsel of the Father, and that after He had lived in a +way common to all men, and had become pre-eminently religious, He +afterward at His baptism in Jordan received Christ, who came from above +and descended upon Him. Therefore miraculous powers did not operate within +Him prior to the manifestation of that Spirit which descended and +proclaimed Him as the Christ. But some [_i.e._, among the followers of +Theodotus] are disposed to think that this man never was God, even at the +descent of the Spirit; whereas others maintain that He was made God after +the resurrection from the dead. + +Ch. 36. While, however, different questions have arisen among them, a +certain one named Theodotus, by trade a money-changer [to be distinguished +from the other Theodotus, who is commonly spoken of as Theodotus, the +leather-worker], attempted to establish the doctrine that a certain +Melchizedek is the greatest power, and that this one is greater than +Christ. And they allege that Christ happens to be according to the +likeness of this one. And they themselves, similarly with those who have +been previously spoken of as adherents of Theodotus, assert that Jesus is +a mere man, and that in conformity with the same account, Christ descended +upon Him. + + +(_b_) _The Little Labyrinth_, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 28. (MSG, +20:511.) + + + The author of _The Little Labyrinth_, a work from which Eusebius + quotes at considerable length, is uncertain. It has been + attributed to Hippolytus. + + +The Artemonites say that all early teachers and the Apostles themselves +received and taught what they now declare, and that the truth of the +preaching [_i.e._, the Gospel] was preserved until the time of Victor, who +was the thirteenth bishop in Rome after Peter, and that since his +successor, Zephyrinus, the truth has been corrupted. What they say might +be credible if first of all the divine Scriptures did not contradict them. +And there are writings of certain brethren which are older than the times +of Victor, and which they wrote in behalf of the truth against the heathen +and against heresies of their time. I refer to Justin, Miltiades, Tatian, +Clement, and others. In all of their works Christ is spoken of as God. For +who does not know the works of Irenaeus and of Melito and of others, which +teach that Christ is God and man? And how many psalms and hymns, written +by the faithful brethren from the beginning, celebrate Christ as the Word +of God, speaking of Him as divine? How, then, since the Church's present +opinion has been preached for so many years, can its preaching have been +delayed, as they affirm, until the times of Victor? And how is it that +they are not ashamed to speak thus falsely of Victor, knowing well that he +cut off from communion Theodotus, the leather-worker, the leader and +father of this God-denying apostasy, and the first to declare that Christ +is mere man. + +There was a certain confessor, Natalius, not long ago, but in our day. +This man was deceived at one time by Asclepiodotus and another Theodotus, +a certain money-changer. Both of them were disciples of Theodotus, the +leather-worker, who, as I said, was the first person excommunicated by +Victor, bishop at that time, on account of this senseless sentiment or, +rather, senselessness. Natalius was persuaded by them to allow himself to +be chosen bishop of this heresy with a salary, so that he was to receive +from them one hundred and fifty _denarii_ a month. + +They have treated the divine Scriptures recklessly and without fear; they +have set aside the rule of ancient faith; and Christ they have not known, +not endeavoring to learn what the divine Scriptures declare, but striving +laboriously after any form of syllogism which may be found to suit their +impiety. And if any one brings before them a passage of divine Scripture, +they see whether a conjunctive or a disjunctive form of syllogism can be +made from it. And as being of the earth and speaking of the earth and as +ignorant of Him that cometh from above, they devote themselves to geometry +and forsake the holy writings of God. Euclid is at least laboriously +measured by some of them; Aristotle and Theophrastus admired; and Galen, +perhaps, by some is even worshipped. But that those who use the arts of +unbelievers for their heretical opinion and adulterate the simple faith of +the divine Scriptures by the craft of the godless are not near the faith, +what need is there to say? Therefore, they have laid their hands boldly +upon the divine Scriptures, alleging that they have corrected them. That I +am not speaking falsely of them in this matter, whoever wishes can learn. +For if any one will collect their respective copies and compare them with +one another, he will find that they differ greatly. + + +(B) Modalistic Monarchianism + + + Additional source material: Hippolytus, _Adversus Noetum, + Refutatio_, IX, 7 _ff._, X, 27; Tertullian, _Adversus Praxean_; + Basil, _Ep._ 207, 210. (PNF, ser. II, vol. VIII.) + + +(_a_) Hippolytus, _Refut._, X, 27. (MSG, 16:3440.) + + + The following passages from the great work of Hippolytus give the + earlier form of Modalistic Monarchianism. They are also of + importance as being a part of the foundation for the statement of + Harnack and others, that this heresy was the official Roman + doctrine for some years. See also IX, 12, of which the text may be + found in Kirch, nn. 201-206. The whole question as to the position + of Callistus, or Calixtus, as bishop of Rome and his relations to + the Church as a whole is difficult and full of obscurity, due to a + large extent to the fact that the principal source for his history + is the work of Hippolytus, who, as may easily be seen, was + bitterly opposed to him. + + +Noetus, a Smyrnaean by birth, a reckless babbler and trickster, introduced +this heresy, which originated with Epigonus, and was adopted by Cleomenes, +and has thus continued to this day among his successors. Noetus asserts +that there is one Father and God of the universe, and that He who had made +all things was, when He wished, invisible to those who existed, and when +He wished He became visible; that He is invisible when He is not seen and +visible when He is seen; that the Father is unbegotten when He is not +generated, but begotten when He is born of a virgin; that He is not +subject to suffering and is immortal when He does not suffer and die, but +when His passion came upon Him Noetus admits that the Father suffers and +dies. The Noetians think that the Father is called the Son according to +events at different times. + +Callistus supported the heresy of these Noetians, but we have carefully +described his life [see above, § 19, _c_]. And Callistus himself likewise +produced a heresy, taking his starting-point from these Noetians. And he +acknowledges that there is one Father and God, and that He is the Creator +of the universe, and that He is called and regarded as Son by name, yet +that in substance He is one.(60) For the Spirit as Deity is not, he says, +any being different from the Logos, or the Logos from Deity; therefore, +this one person is divided by name, but not according to substance. He +supposes this one Logos to be God and he says that He became flesh. He is +disposed to maintain that He who was seen in the flesh and crucified is +Son, but it is the Father who dwells in Him. + + +(_b_) Hippolytus, _Refut._, IX, 7, 11 _f._ (MSG, 16:3369.) + + +Ch. 7. There has appeared a certain one, Noetus by name, by birth a +Smyrnaean. This person introduced from the tenets of Heraclitus a heresy. +Now a certain Epigonus became his minister and pupil, and this person +during his sojourn in Rome spread his godless opinion.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But Zephyrinus +himself was in course of time enticed away and hurried headlong into the +same opinion; and he had Callistus as his adviser and fellow-champion of +these wicked tenets.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The school of these heretics continued in a +succession of teachers to acquire strength and to grow because Zephyrinus +and Callistus helped them to prevail. + +Ch. 11. Now that Noetus affirms that the Son and the Father are the same, +no one is ignorant. But he makes a statement as follows: "When, indeed, at +the time the Father was not yet born, He was justly styled the Father; and +when it pleased Him to undergo generation and to be begotten, He himself +became His own Son, not another's." For in this manner he thinks he +establishes the Monarchy, alleging that the Father and the Son, so called, +are not from one another, but are one and the same, Himself from Himself, +and that He is styled by the names Father and Son, according to the +changes of times. + +Ch. 12. Now Callistus brought forward Zephyrinus himself and induced him +to avow publicly the following opinions: "I know that there is one God, +Jesus Christ; and that excepting Him I do not know another begotten and +capable of suffering." When he said, "The Father did not die but the Son," +he would in this way continue to keep up ceaseless disturbance among the +people. And we [_i.e._, Hippolytus], becoming aware of his opinions, did +not give place to him, but reproved him and withstood him for the truth's +sake. He rushed into folly because all consented to his hypocrisy; we, +however, did not do so, and he called us worshippers of two gods, +disgorging freely the venom lurking within him. + + +(_c_) Hippolytus, _Adversus Noetum_. (MSG, 10:804.) + + + The following is from a fragment which seems to be the conclusion + of an extended work against various heresies. + + +Some others are secretly introducing another doctrine who have become the +disciples of a certain Noetus, who was a native of Smyrna, and lived not +very long ago. This man was greatly puffed up with pride, being inspired +by the conceit of a strange spirit. He alleged that Christ was the Father +himself, and that the Father himself was born and suffered and died.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} When +the blessed presbyters heard these things they summoned him before the +Church and examined him. But he denied at first that he held such +opinions. Afterward, taking shelter among some and gathering round him +some others who had been deceived in the same way, he wished to maintain +his doctrine openly. And the blessed presbyters summoned him and examined +him. But he resisted, saying, "What evil, then, do I commit when I glorify +Christ?" And the presbyters replied to him, "We, too, know in truth one +God; we know Christ; we know that the Son suffered even as He suffered, +and died even as He died, and rose again on the third day, and is at the +right hand of the Father, and cometh to judge the living and the dead. And +these things which we have learned we assert." Then, after refuting him, +they expelled him from the Church. And he was carried to such a pitch of +pride that he established a school. + +Now they seek to exhibit the foundation of their dogma, alleging that it +is said in the Law, "I am the God of your fathers; ye shall have no other +gods beside me" [_i.e._, of Moses, _cf._ Ex. 3:6, 13; 20:3]; and again in +another passage, "I am the first and the last and besides me there is none +other" [_cf._ Is. 44:6]. Thus they assert that God is one. And then they +answer in this manner: "If therefore I acknowledge Christ to be God, He is +the Father himself, if He is indeed God; and Christ suffered, being +Himself God, and consequently the Father suffered, for He was the Father +himself." + + +(_d_) Tertullian, _Adv. Praxean_, 1, 2, 27, 29. (MSL, 2:177 _f._, 214.) + + + Tertullian is especially bitter against Praxeas, because he + prevented the recognition of the Montanists at Rome when it seemed + likely that they would be treated favorably. The work _Adversus + Praxean_ is the most important work of Western theology on the + Trinity before the time of Augustine. It was corrected in some + important points by Novatian, but its clear formulae remained in + Western theology permanently. The work belongs to the late + Montanistic period of Tertullian. + + +Ch. 1. In various ways has the devil rivalled the truth. Sometimes his aim +has been to destroy it by defending it. He maintains that there is one +only Lord, the Almighty Creator of the world, that of this doctrine of the +unity he may fabricate a heresy. He says that the Father himself came down +into the Virgin, was Himself born of her, Himself suffered, indeed, was +Himself Jesus Christ.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He [Praxeas] was the first to import into Rome this +sort of perversity, a man of restless disposition in other respects, and +above all inflated with the pride of martyrdom [confessorship] simply and +solely because of a short annoyance in prison; when, even if he had given +his body to be burned, it would have profited him nothing, not having the +love of God, whose very gifts he resisted and destroyed. For after the +Bishop of Rome had acknowledged the prophetic gifts of Montanus, +Priscilla, and Maximilla, and in consequence of the acknowledgment had +bestowed his peace on the churches of Asia and Phrygia, Praxeas, by +importunately urging false accusations against the prophets themselves and +their churches, and insisting on the authority of the bishop's +predecessors in the see, compelled him to recall the letter of peace which +he had issued, as well as to desist from his purpose of acknowledging the +said gifts. Thus Praxeas did two pieces of the devil's work in Rome: he +drove out prophecy and he brought in heresy; he put to flight the +Paraclete and he crucified the Father. + +Ch. 2. After a time, then, the Father was born, and the Father +suffered--God himself, the Almighty, is preached as Jesus Christ. + +Ch. 27. For, confuted on all sides by the distinction between the Father +and the Son, which we make while their inseparable union remains as [by +the examples] of the sun and the ray, and the fountain and the river--yet +by help of their conceit of an indivisible number [with issues] of two and +three, they endeavor to interpret this distinction in a way which shall +nevertheless agree with their own opinions; so that, all in one person, +they distinguish two--Father and Son--understanding the Son to be the flesh, +that is the man, that is Jesus; and the Father to be the Spirit, that is +God, that is Christ. + +Ch. 29. Since we(61) teach in precisely the same terms that the Father +died as you say the Son died, we are not guilty of blasphemy against the +Lord God, for we do not say that He died after the divine nature, but only +after the human.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} They [the heretics], indeed, fearing to incur blasphemy +against the Father, hope to diminish it in this way, admitting that the +Father and the Son are two; but if the Son, indeed, suffers, the Father is +His fellow-sufferer. + + +(_e_) _Formula Macrostichos_, in Socrates. _Hist. Ec._, II, 19. (MSG, +67:229.) + + + In the Arian controversy several councils were held at Antioch in + the endeavor to bring about a reconciliation of the parties. At + the third council of Antioch, A. D. 345, the elaborate _Formula + Macrostichos_ was put forth, in which the council attempted to + steer a middle course between the Sabellians, who identified the + Father and the Son, and the extreme Arians, who made the Son a + creature. Text may also be found in Hahn, _op. cit._, § 159. + + +Those who say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the same person, +impiously understanding the three names to refer to one and the same +person, we expel with good reason from the Church, because by the +incarnation they subject the Father, who is infinite and incapable of +suffering, to finitude and suffering in the incarnation. Such are those +called Patripassianists by the Romans and Sabellians by us. + + +(_f_) Athanasius, _Orationes contra Arianos_, IV, 9, 25. (MSG, 26:480, +505.) + + + For Athanasius, _v. infra_, § 65, _c_. Of the four _Orations + against the Arians_, attributed to Athanasius and placed between + the years 356 and 362, doubts have been raised against the + genuineness of the fourth. The following quotations are, in any + case, valuable as setting forth the Sabellian position. But the + case against the fourth oration has not been conclusively proved. + In the passage from ch. 25 the statement is that of the + Sabellians, not of Athanasius. + + +Ch. 9. If, again, the One have two names, this is the expedient of +Sabellius, who said that Son and Father were the same and did away with +both, the Father when there is a Son, and the Son when there is a Father.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 25. "As there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit, so also +the Father is the same, but is dilated into Son and Spirit." + + +(_g_) Athanasius, _Expositio fidei_. (MSG, 25:204.) + + + For the critical questions regarding this little work of uncertain + date see PNF, ser. II, vol. VI, p. 83. + + +For neither do we hold a Son-father, as do the Sabellians, calling Him of +one but not of the same essence, and thus destroying the existence of the +Son. + + +(_h_) Basil the Great, _Epistula_, 210:3. (MSG, 32:772, 776.) + + + Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, was one of the + more important ecclesiastics of the fourth century, and the leader + of the New-Nicene party in the Arian controversy. _V. infra_, § + 66, _c_. + + +Sabellianism is Judaism imported into the preaching of the Gospel under +the guise of Christianity. For if a man calls Father, Son, and Holy Spirit +one, but manifold as to person [prosopon], and makes one hypostasis of the +three, what else does he do than deny the everlasting pre-existence of the +Only begotten?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Now Sabellius did not even deprecate the formation of the persons without +the hypostasis, saying, as he did, that the same God, being one in +substance,(62) was metamorphosed as the need of the moment required and +spoken of now as Father, now as the Son, and now as Holy Spirit. + + +§ 41. Later Montanism and the Consequences of its Exclusion from the +Church + + +In the West Montanism rapidly discarded the extravagant chiliasm of +Montanus and his immediate followers; it laid nearly all the stress upon +the continued work of the Holy Spirit in the Church and the need of a +stricter moral discipline among Christians. This rigoristic discipline or +morality was not acceptable to the bulk of Christians, and along with the +Montanists was driven out of the Church, except in the case of the clergy, +to whom a stricter morality was regarded as applicable. In this way a +distinctive morality and mode of life came to be assigned to the clergy, +and the separation between clergy and laity, or _ordo_ and _plebs_, which +was becoming established about the time of Tertullian, at least in the +West, was permanently fixed. (See § 42, _d_.) + + +Tertullian, _De Exhortatione Castitatis_, 7. (MSL, 2:971.) + + + As a Montanist, Tertullian rejected second marriage, and in this + treatise, addressed to a friend who had recently lost his wife, he + treated it as the foulest adultery. This work belongs to the later + years of Tertullian's life and incidentally reveals that a sharp + distinction between clergy and laity was becoming fixed in the + main body of the Church. + + +We should be foolish if we thought that what is unlawful for priests(63) +is lawful for laics. Are not even we laics priests? It is written: "He has +made us kings also, and priests to God and his Father." The authority of +the Church has made the difference between order [_ordinem_] and the laity +[_plebem_], and the honor has been sanctified by the bestowal of the +order. Therefore, where there has been no bestowal of ecclesiastical +order, you both offer and baptize and are a priest to yourself alone. But +where there are three, there is the Church, though they are laics.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +Therefore, if, when there is necessity, you have the right of a priest in +yourself, you ought also to have the discipline of a priest where there is +necessity that you have the right of a priest. As a digamist,(64) do you +baptize? As a digamist, do you offer? How much more capital a crime it is +for a digamist laic to act as a priest, when the priest, if he turn +digamist, is deprived of the power of acting as a priest?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} God wills that +at all times we be so conditioned as to be fitted at all times and in all +places to undertake His sacraments. There is one God, one faith, one +discipline as well. So truly is this the case that unless the laics well +observe the rules which are to guide the choice of presbyters, how will +there be presbyters at all who are chosen from among the laics? + + +§ 42. The Penitential Discipline + + +In baptism the convert received remission of all former sins, and, what +was equivalent, admission to the Church. If he sinned gravely after +baptism, could he again obtain remission? In the first age of the Church +the practice as to this question inclined toward rigorism, and the man who +sinned after baptism was in many places permanently excluded from the +Church (_cf._ Heb. 10:26, 27), or the community of those whose sins had +been forgiven and were certain of heaven. By the middle of the second +century the practice at Rome tended toward permitting one readmission +after suitable penance (_a_). After this the penitential discipline +developed rapidly and became an important part of the business of the +local congregation (_b_). The sinner, by a long course of +self-mortification and prayer, obtained the desired readmission (_c_). The +Montanists, however, in accord with their general rigorism, would make it +extremely hard, if not impossible, to obtain readmission or forgiveness. +The body of the Church, and certainly the Roman church under the lead of +its bishop, who relied upon Matt. 16:18, adopted a more liberal policy and +granted forgiveness on relatively easy terms to even the worst offenders +(_d_). The discipline grew less severe, because martyrs or confessors, +according to Matt. 10:20, were regarded as having the Spirit, and +therefore competent to speak for God and announce the divine forgiveness. +These were accustomed to give "letters of peace," which were commonly +regarded as sufficient to procure the immediate readmission of the +offender (_e_), a practice which led to great abuse. One of the effects of +the development of the penitential discipline was the establishment of a +distinction between mortal and venial sins (_f_), the former of which +were, in general, acts involving unchastity, shedding of blood, and +apostasy, according to the current interpretation of Acts 15:29. + + +(_a_) Hermas, _Pastor_, Man. IV, 3:1. + + + For Hermas and the _Pastor_, _v. supra_, § 15. + + +I heard some teachers maintain, sir, that there is no other repentance +than that which takes place when we descend into the waters and receive +remission of our former sins. He said to me, That was sound doctrine which +you heard; for that is really the case. For he who has received remission +of his sins ought not to sin any more, but to live in purity.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The Lord, +therefore, being merciful, has had mercy on the work of His hands, and has +set repentance for them; and He has intrusted to me the power over this +repentance. And therefore I say unto you that if any one is tempted by the +devil, and sins after that great and holy calling in which the Lord has +called His people to everlasting life, he has opportunity to repent but +once. But if he should sin frequently after this, and then repent, to such +a man his repentance will be of no avail, for with difficulty will he +live. + + +(_b_) Tertullian. _Apology_, 39. (MSL, 1:532.) + + +We meet together as an assembly and congregation that, offering up prayer +to God, with united force we may wrestle with Him in our prayers.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} In the +same place, also, exhortations are made, rebukes and sacred censures are +administered. For with a great gravity is the work of judging carried on +among us, as befits those who feel assured that they are in the sight of +God; and you have the most notable example of judgment to come when any +one has so sinned as to be severed from common union with us in prayer, in +the congregation, and in all sacred intercourse. + + +(_c_) Tertullian, _De Poenitentia_, 4, 9. (MSL, 2:1343, 1354.) + + + According to Bardenhewer, § 50:5, this work belongs to the + Catholic period of Tertullian's literary activity. Text in part in + Kirch, nn. 175 _ff._ + + +Ch. 4. As I live, saith the Lord, I prefer penance rather than death +[_cf._ Ezek. 33:11]. Repentance, then, is life, since it is preferred to +death. That repentance, O sinner like myself (nay, rather, less a sinner +than myself, for I acknowledge my pre-eminence in sins), do you hasten to +embrace as a shipwrecked man embraces the protection of some plank. This +will draw you forth when sunk in the waves of sin, and it will bear you +forward into the port of divine clemency. + +Ch. 9. The narrower the sphere of action of this, the second and only +remaining repentance, the more laborious is its probation; that it may not +be exhibited in the conscience alone, but may likewise be performed in +some act. This act, which is more usually expressed and commonly spoken of +under the Greek name, exomologesis, whereby we confess our sins to the +Lord, not indeed to Him as ignorant of them, but inasmuch as by confession +a satisfaction is made; of confession repentance is born; by repentance +God is appeased. And thus exomologesis is a discipline for man's +prostration and humiliation, enjoining a demeanor calculated to move +mercy. With regard, also, to the very dress and food, it commands one to +lie in sackcloth and ashes, to cover the body as in mourning, to lay the +spirit low in sorrow, to exchange for severe treatment the sins which he +has committed; furthermore, to permit as food and drink only what is +plain--not for the stomach's sake, but for the soul's; for the most part, +however, to feed prayers on fastings, to groan, to weep, and make outcries +unto the Lord our God; to fall prostrate before the presbyters and to +kneel to God's dear ones; to enjoin on all the brethren to be ambassadors +to bear his deprecatory supplication before God. All this exomologesis +does, that it may enhance repentance, that it may honor the Lord by fear +of danger, may, by itself, in pronouncing against the sinner stand in +place of God's indignation, and by temporal mortification (I will not say +frustrate, but rather) expunge eternal punishments. + + +(_d_) Tertullian, _De Pudicitia_, 1, 21, 22. (MSL, 2:1032, 1078.) + + + Callistus, to whom reference is made in the first chapter, was + bishop of Rome 217 to 222. The work, therefore, belongs to the + latest period of Tertullian's life. + + +Ch. 1. I hear that there has been an edict set forth, and, indeed, a +peremptory one; namely, that the Pontifex Maximus, the bishop of bishops, +issues an edict: "I remit to such as have performed penance, the sins both +of adultery and fornication." + +Ch. 21. "But," you say, "the Church has the power of forgiving sins." This +I acknowledge and adjudge more, I, who have the Paraclete himself in the +person of the new prophets, saying: "The Church has the power to forgive +sins, but I will not do it, lest they commit still others."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I now inquire +into your opinion, to discover from what source you usurp this power to +the Church. + +If, because the Lord said to Peter, "Upon this rock I will build My Church +[Matt. 16:18].{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} To Thee I have given the keys of the kingdom of heaven," +or "Whatsoever thou shalt bind or loose on earth, shall be bound or loosed +in heaven," you therefore presume that the power of binding and loosing +has descended to you, that is, to every church akin to Peter; what sort of +man, then, are you, subverting and wholly changing the manifest intention +of the Lord, who conferred the gift personally upon Peter? "On Thee," He +says, "I will build my Church," and "I will give thee the keys," not to +the Church; and "whatsoever thou shalt have loosed or bound," not what +they shall have loosed or bound. For so the result actually teaches. In +him (Peter) the Church was reared, that is, through him (Peter) himself; +he himself tried the key; you see what key: "Men of Israel, let what I say +sink into your ears; Jesus, the Nazarene, a man appointed of God for +you,"(65) and so forth. Peter himself, therefore, was the first to unbar, +in Christ's baptism, the entrance to the kingdom of heaven, in which are +loosed the sins that aforetime were bound.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +What, now, has this to do with the Church and your Church, indeed, O +Psychic? For in accordance with the person of Peter, it is to spiritual +men that this power will correspondingly belong, either to an Apostle or +else to a prophet.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And accordingly the "Church," it is true, will forgive +sins; but it will be the Church of the Spirit, by a spiritual man; not the +Church which consists of a number of bishops. + +Ch. 22. But you go so far as to lavish this power upon martyrs indeed; so +that no sooner has any one, acting on a preconceived arrangement, put on +soft bonds in the nominal custody now in vogue, than adulterers beset him, +fornicators gain access to him; instantly prayers resound about him; +instantly pools of tears of the polluted surround him; nor are there any +who are more diligent in purchasing entrance to the prison than they who +have lost the fellowship of the Church.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Whatever authority, whatever +reason, restores ecclesiastical peace to the adulterer and the fornicator, +the same will be bound to come to the aid of the murderer and the idolater +in their repentance. + + +(_e_) Tertullian, _Ad Martyres_, 1. (MSL, 1:693.) + + + The following extract from Tertullian's little work addressed to + martyrs in prison, written about 197, shows that in his earlier + life as a Catholic Christian he did not disapprove of the practice + of giving _libelli pacis_ by the confessors, a custom which in his + more rigoristic period under the influence of Montanism he + denounced most vehemently; see preceding extract from _De + Pudicitia_, ch. 22. The reference to some discord among the + martyrs is not elsewhere explained. For _libelli pacis_, see + Cyprian, _Ep. 10_ (=_Ep. 15_), 22 (=21). + + +O blessed ones, grieve not the Holy Spirit, who has entered with you into +the prison; for if He had not gone with you there, you would not be there +to-day. Therefore endeavor to cause Him to remain with you there; so that +He may lead you thence to the Lord. The prison, truly, is the devil's +house as well, wherein he keeps his family.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Let him not be successful in +his own kingdom by setting you at variance with one another, but let him +find you armed and fortified with concord; for your peace is war with him. +Some, not able to find peace in the Church, have been accustomed to seek +it from the imprisoned martyrs. Therefore you ought to have it dwelling +with you, and to cherish it and guard it, that you may be able, perchance, +to bestow it upon others. + + +(_f_) Tertullian, _De Pudicitia_, 19. (MSL, 2:1073.) + + + The distinction between mortal and venial sins became of great + importance in the administration of penance and remained as a + feature of ecclesiastical discipline from the time of Tertullian. + The origin of the distinction was still earlier. See above, an + extract from the same work. + + +We ourselves do not forget the distinction between sins, which was the +starting-point of our discussion. And this, too, for John has sanctioned +it [_cf._ I John 5:16], because there are some sins of daily committal to +which we are all liable; for who is free from the accident of being angry +unjustly and after sunset; or even of using bodily violence; or easily +speaking evil; or rashly swearing; or forfeiting his plighted word; or +lying from bashfulness or necessity? In business, in official duties, in +trade, in food, in sight, in hearing, by how great temptations are we +assailed! So that if there were no pardon for such simple sins as these, +salvation would be unattainable by any. Of these, then, there will be +pardon through the successful Intercessor with the Father, Christ. But +there are other sins wholly different from these, graver and more +destructive, such as are incapable of pardon--murder, idolatry, fraud, +apostasy, blasphemy, and, of course, adultery and fornication and whatever +other violation of the temple of God there may be. For these Christ will +no more be the successful Intercessor; these will not at all be committed +by any one who has been born of God, for he will cease to be the son of +God if he commit them. + + +§ 43. The Catechetical School of Alexandria: Clement and Origen + + +Three types of theology developed in the ante-Nicene Church: the Asia +Minor school, best represented by Irenaeus (_v._ § 33); the North African, +represented by Tertullian and Cyprian (_v._ § 39); and the Alexandrian, in +the Catechetical School of which Clement and Origen were the most +distinguished members. In the Alexandrian theology the tradition of the +apologists (_v._ § 32) that Christianity was a revealed philosophy was +continued, especially by Clement. Origen, following the bent of his +genius, developed other sides of Christian thought as well, bringing it +all into a more systematic form than had ever before been attempted. The +Catechetical School of Alexandria was the most celebrated of all the +educational institutions of Christian antiquity. It aimed to give a +general secular and religious training. It appears to have been in +existence well before the end of the second century, having been founded, +it is thought, by Pantaenus. Clement assisted in the instruction from 190, +and from about 200 was head of the school for a few years. In 202 or 203 +he was forced by persecution under Septimius Severus to flee from the +city. He died before 215. Of his works, the most important is his +three-part treatise composed of his _Protrepticus_, an apologetic work +addressed to the Greeks; his _Paedegogus_, a treatise on Christian +morality; and his _Stromata_, or miscellanies. Origen became head of the +Catechetical School in 203, when but eighteen years old, and remained in +that position until 232, when, having been irregularly ordained priest +outside his own diocese and being suspected of heresy, he was deposed. But +he removed to Caesarea in Palestine, where he continued his work with the +greatest success and was held in the highest honor by the Church in +Palestine and parts other than Egypt. He died 254 or 255 at Tyre, having +previously suffered severely in the Decian persecution. His works are of +the highest importance in various fields of theology. _De Principiis_ is +the first attempt to present in connected form the whole range of +Christian theology. His commentaries cover nearly the entire Bible. His +_Contra Celsum_ is the greatest of all early apologies. The _Hexapla_ was +the most elaborate piece of text-criticism of antiquity. + + + Additional source material: Eusebius. _Hist. Ec._, VI, deals at + length with Origen; Gregory Thaumaturgus, _Panegyric on Origen_, + in ANF. VI. + + +(_a_) Clement of Alexandria, _Stromata_, I, 5. (MSG, 8:717.) + + + Clement's view of the relation of Greek philosophy to Christian + revelation is almost identical with that of the apologists, as are + also many of his fundamental concepts. + + +Before the advent of the Lord philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for +righteousness. And now it becomes useful to piety, being a kind of +preparatory training to those who attain to faith through demonstration. +"For thy foot," it is said, "will not stumble" if thou refer what is good, +whether belonging to the Greeks or to us, to Providence. For God is the +cause of all good things; but of some primarily, as of the Old and the New +Testament, and of others by consequence, as philosophy. Perchance, too, +philosophy was given to the Greeks directly till the Lord should call the +Greeks also. For this was a schoolmaster to bring the Hellenic mind to +Christ, as was the law to bring the Hebrews. Philosophy, therefore, was a +preparation, paving the way for him who is perfected in Christ. + +"Now," says Solomon, "defend wisdom, and it will exalt thee, and it will +shield thee with a crown of pleasure."(66) For when thou hast strengthened +wisdom with a breastwork by philosophy, and with expenditure, thou wilt +preserve her unassailable by sophists. The way of truth is therefore one. +But into it, as into a perennial river, streams flow from every side. + + +(_b_) Clement of Alexandria, _Stromata_, VII, 10. (MSG, 9:47.) + + + See Clement of Alexandria, _VIIth Book of the Stromateis_, ed. by + Hort and Mayor, London, 1902. In making faith suffice for + salvation, Clement clearly distinguishes his position from that of + the Gnostics, though he uses the term "gnostic" as applicable to + Christians. See next passage. + + +Knowledge [gnosis], so to speak, is a perfecting of man as man, which is +brought about by acquaintance with divine things; in character, life, and +word harmonious and consistent with itself and the divine Word. For by it +faith is made perfect, inasmuch as it is solely by it that the man of +faith becomes perfect. Faith is an internal good, and without searching +for God confesses His existence and glorifies Him as existent. Hence by +starting with this faith, and being developed by it, through the grace of +God, the knowledge respecting Him is to be acquired as far as possible.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +But it is not doubting, in reference to God, but believing, that is the +foundation of knowledge. But Christ is both the foundation and the +superstructure, by whom are both the beginning and the end. And the +extreme points, the beginning and the end, I mean faith and love, are not +taught. But knowledge, which is conveyed from communication through the +grace of God as a deposit, is intrusted to those who show themselves +worthy of it; and from it the worth of love beams forth from light to +light. For it is said, "To him that hath shall be given" [_cf._ Matt. +13:12]--to faith, knowledge; and to knowledge, love; and to love, the +inheritance.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Faith then is, so to speak, a compendious knowledge of the essentials; but +knowledge is the sure and firm demonstration of what is received by faith, +built upon faith by the Lord's teaching, conveying us on to unshaken +conviction and certainty. And, as it seems to me, the first saving change +is that from heathenism to faith, as I said before; and the second, that +from faith to knowledge. And this latter passing on to love, thereafter +gives a mutual friendship between that which knows and that which is +known. And perhaps he who has already arrived at this stage has attained +equality with the angels. At any rate, after he has reached the final +ascent in the flesh, he still continues to advance, as is fit, and presses +on through the holy Hebdomad into the Father's house, to that which is +indeed the Lord's abode. + + +(_c_) Clement of Alexandria, _Stromata_, V, 11. (MSG, 9:102, 106.) + + + The piety of the Christian Gnostic. + + +The sacrifice acceptable with God is unchanging alienation from the body +and its passions. This is the really true piety. And is not philosophy, +therefore, rightly called by Socrates the meditation on death? For he who +neither employs his eyes in the exercise of thought nor draws from his +other senses, but with pure mind applies himself to objects, practises the +true philosophy.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +It is not without reason, therefore, that in the mysteries which are to be +found among the Greeks lustrations hold the first place; as also the laver +among the barbarians. After these are the minor mysteries, which have some +foundation for instruction and preparation for what is to follow. In the +great mysteries concerning the universe nothing remains to be learned, but +only to contemplate and comprehend with the mind nature and things. We +shall understand the more of purification by confession, and of +contemplation by analysis, advancing by analysis to the first notion, +beginning with the properties underlying it; abstracting from the body its +physical properties, taking away the dimension of depth, then of breadth, +and then of length. For the point which remains is a unit, so to speak, +having position; from which, if we abstract position, there is the +conception of unity. + +If, then, we abstract all that belongs to bodies and things called +incorporeal, we cast ourselves into the greatness of Christ, and thence +advancing into immensity by holiness, we may reach somehow to the +conception of the Almighty, knowing not what He is, but knowing what He is +not. And form and motion, or standing, or a throne or place, or right hand +or left, are not at all to be conceived as belonging to the Father of the +universe, although it is so written. For what each of these signifies will +be shown in the proper place. The First Cause is not then in space, but +above time and space and name and conception. + + +(_d_) Origen, _De Principiis_, I, 2:2. (MSG, 11:130.) + + + Origen's doctrine of the "eternal generation of the Son" was of + primary importance in all subsequent discussions on the Trinity. + + +Let no one imagine that we mean anything unsubstantial when we call Him +the Wisdom of God; or suppose, for example, that we understand Him to be, +not a living being endowed with wisdom, but something which makes men +wise, giving itself to, and implanting itself in, the minds of those who +are made capable of receiving its virtues and intelligence. If, then, it +is once rightly understood that the only begotten Son of God is His Wisdom +hypostatically [substantialiter] existing, I know not whether our mind +ought to advance beyond this or entertain any suspicion that the +hypostasis or substantia contains anything of a bodily nature, since +everything corporeal is distinguished either by form, or color, or +magnitude. And who in his sound senses ever sought for form, or color, or +size, in wisdom, in respect of its being wisdom? And who that is capable +of entertaining reverential thoughts or feelings regarding God can suppose +or believe that God the Father ever existed, even for a moment of time, +without having generated this Wisdom? For in that case he must say either +that God was unable to generate Wisdom before He produced her, so that He +afterward called into being that which formerly did not exist, or that He +could, but--what is impious to say of God--was unwilling to generate; both +of which suppositions, it is patent to all, are alike absurd and impious: +for they amount to this, either that God advanced from a condition of +inability to one of ability, or that, although possessed of the power, He +concealed it, and delayed the generation of Wisdom. Therefore we have +always held that God is the Father of His only begotten Son, who was born +indeed of Him, and derives from Him, what He is, but without any +beginning, not only such as may be measured by any divisions of time, but +even that which the mind alone contemplates within itself, or beholds, so +to speak, with the naked soul and understanding. And therefore we must +believe that Wisdom was generated before any beginning that can be either +comprehended or expressed. + + +(_e_) Origen, _De Principiis_, I, 2:10. (MSG, 11:138.) + + + Origen's doctrine of "eternal creation" was based upon reasoning + similar to that employed to show the eternal generation of the + Son, but it was rejected by the Church, and figures among the + heresies known as Origenism. See below, §§ 87, 93. + + +As no one can be a father without having a son, nor a master without +possessing a servant, so even God cannot be called omnipotent(67) unless +there exists those over whom He may exercise His power; and therefore, +that God may be shown to be almighty it is necessary that all things +should exist. For if any one assumes that some ages or portions of time, +or whatever else he likes to call them, have passed away, while those +things which have been made did not yet exist, he would undoubtedly show +that during those ages or periods God was not omnipotent but became +omnipotent afterward: viz., from the time that He began to have those over +whom He exercised power; and in this way He will appear to have received a +certain increase, and to have risen from a lower to a higher condition; +since there can be no doubt that it is better for Him to be omnipotent +than not to be so. And, now, how can it appear otherwise than absurd, that +when God possessed none of those things which it was befitting for Him to +possess, He should afterward, by a kind of progress, come to have them? +But if there never was a time when He was not omnipotent,(68) of necessity +those things by which He receives that title must also exist; and He must +always have had those over whom He exercised power, and which were +governed by Him either as king or prince, of which we shall speak more +fully when we come to discuss the subject of creatures. + + +(_f_) Origen, _De Principiis_, II, 9:6. (MSG, 11:230.) + + + The theory of pre-existence and the pretemporal fall of each soul + was the basis of Origen's theodicy. It caused great offence in + after years when theology became more stereotyped, and it has + retained no place in the Church's thought, for the idea ran too + clearly counter to the biblical account of the Fall of Adam. + + +We have frequently shown by those statements which we are able to adduce +from the divine Scriptures that God, the Creator of all things, is good, +and just, and all-powerful. When in the beginning He created all those +beings whom He desired to create, _i.e._, rational natures, He had no +other reason for creating them than on account of Himself, _i.e._, His +goodness. As He himself, then, was the cause of the existence of those +things which were to be created, in whom there was neither any variation +nor change nor want of power, He created all whom He made equal and alike, +because there was no reason for Him to produce variety and diversity. But +since those rational creatures themselves, as we have frequently shown and +will yet show in the proper place, were endowed with the power of free +choice, this freedom of his will incited each one either to progress by +imitation of God or induced him to failure through negligence. And this, +as we have already stated, is the cause of the diversity among rational +creatures, deriving its origin not from the will or judgment of the +Creator, but from the freedom of the individual will. God, however, who +deemed it just to arrange His creatures according to merit, brought down +these differences of understanding into the harmony of one world, that He +might adorn, as it were, one dwelling, in which there ought to be not only +vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay and some, indeed, to +honor and others to dishonor, with those different vessels, or souls, or +understandings. And these are the causes, in my opinion, why that world +presents the aspect of diversity, while Divine Providence continues to +regulate each individual according to the variety of his movements or of +his feelings and purpose. On which account the Creator will neither appear +to be unjust in distributing (for the causes already mentioned) to every +one according to his merits; nor will the happiness or unhappiness of each +one's birth, or whatever be the condition that falls to his lot, be deemed +accidental; nor will different creators, or souls of different natures, be +believed to exist. + + +(_g_) Origen, _Homil. in Exod._, VI, 9. (MSG, 12:338.) + + + In the following passage from Origen's _Commentary on Exodus_ and + the four following passages are stated the essential points of + Origen's theory of redemption. In this theory there are two + elements which have been famous in the history of Christian + thought: the relation of the death of Christ to the devil, and the + ultimate salvation of every soul. The theory that Christ's death + was a ransom paid to the devil was developed by Gregory of Nyssa + and Gregory the Great, and reappeared constantly in theology down + to the scholastic period, when it was overthrown by Anselm and the + greater scholastics. Universal redemption or salvation, especially + when it included Satan himself, was never taken up by Church + theologians to any extent, and was one of the positions condemned + as Origenism. See § 93. + + +It is certain, they say, that one does not buy that which is his own. But +the Apostle says: "Ye are bought with a price." But hear what the prophet +says: "You have been sold as slaves to your sins, and for your iniquities +I have put away your mother." Thou seest, therefore, that we are the +creatures of God, but each one has been sold to his sins, and has fallen +from his Creator. Therefore we belong to God, inasmuch as we have been +created by Him, but we have become the servants of the devil, inasmuch as +we have been sold to our sins. But Christ came to redeem us when we were +servants to that master to whom we had sold ourselves by sinning. + + +(_h_) Origen, _Contra Celsum_, VII, 17. (MSG, 11:1445.) + + +If we consider Jesus in relation to the divinity that was in Him, the +things which He did in this capacity are holy and do not offend our idea +of God; and if we consider Him as a man, distinguished beyond all others +by an intimate communion with the very Word, with Absolute Wisdom, He +suffered as one who was wise and perfect whatever it behooved Him to +suffer, who did all for the good of the human race, yea, even for the good +of all intelligent beings. And there is nothing absurd in the fact that a +man died, and that his death was not only an example of death endured for +the sake of piety, but also the first blow in the conflict which is to +overthrow the power of the evil spirit of the devil, who had obtained +dominion over the whole world. For there are signs of the destruction of +his empire; namely, those who through the coming of Christ are everywhere +escaping from the power of demons, and who after their deliverance from +this bondage in which they were held consecrate themselves to God, and +according to their ability devote themselves day by day to advancement in +a life of piety. + + +(_i_) Origen, _Homil. in Matt._, XVI, 8. (MSG, 13:1398.) + + +He did this in service of our salvation so far that He gave His soul a +ransom for many who believed on Him. If all had believed on Him, He would +have given His soul as a ransom for all. To whom did He give His soul as a +ransom for many? Certainly not to God. Then was it not to the Evil One? +For that one reigned over us until the soul of Jesus was given as a ransom +for us. This he had especially demanded, deceived by the imagination that +he could rule over it, and he was not mindful of the fact that he could +not endure the torment connected with holding it fast. Therefore death, +which appeared to reign over Him, did not reign over Him, since He was +"free among the dead" and stronger than the power of death. He is, indeed, +so far superior to it that all who from among those overcome by death will +follow Him can follow Him, as death is unable to do anything against +them.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} We are therefore redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus. As a +ransom for us the soul of the Son of God has been given (not His spirit, +for this, according to Luke [_cf._ Luke 23:46] He had previously given to +His Father, saying: "Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit"); also, +not His body, for concerning this we find nothing mentioned. And when He +had given His soul as a ransom for many, He did not remain in the power of +him to whom the ransom was given for many, because it says in the +sixteenth psalm [Psalm 16:10]: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." + + +(_j_) Origen, _De Principiis_, I, 6:3. (MSG, 11:168.) + + + The following states in brief the theory of universal salvation. + + +It is to be borne in mind, however, that certain beings who fell away from +that one beginning of which we have spoken, have given themselves to such +wickedness and malice as to be deemed altogether undeserving of that +training and instruction by which the human race while in the flesh are +trained and instructed with the assistance of the heavenly powers: they +continue, on the contrary, in a state of enmity and opposition to those +who are receiving this instruction and teaching. And hence it is that the +whole life of mortals is full of certain struggles and trials, caused by +the opposition and enmity against us of those who fell from a better +condition without at all looking back, and who are called the devil and +his angels, and other orders of evil, which the Apostle classed among the +opposing powers. But whether any of these orders, who act under the +government of the devil and obey his wicked commands, will be able in a +future world to be converted to righteousness because of their possessing +the faculty of freedom of will, or whether persistent and inveterate +wickedness may be changed by habit into a kind of nature, you, reader, may +decide; yet so that neither in those things which are seen and temporal +nor in those which are unseen and eternal one portion is to differ wholly +from the final unity and fitness of things. But in the meantime, both in +those temporal worlds which are seen, and in those eternal worlds which +are invisible, all those beings are arranged according to a regular plan, +in the order and degree of merit; so that some of them in the first, +others in the second, some even in the last times, after having undergone +heavier and severer punishments, endured for a lengthened period and for +many ages, so to speak, improved by this stern method of training, and +restored at first by the instruction of angels and subsequently advanced +by powers of a higher grade, and thus advancing through each stage to a +better condition, reach even to that which is invisible and eternal, +having travelled by a kind of training through every single office of the +heavenly powers. From which, I think, this will follow as an +inference--that every rational nature can, in passing from one order to +another, go through each to all, and advance from all to each, while made +the subject of various degrees of proficiency and failure, according to +its own actions and endeavors, put forth in the enjoyment of its power of +freedom of will. + + +(_k_) Origen, _De Principiis_, IV, 9-15. (MSG, 11:360, 363, 373.) + + + Allegorism. + + + The method of exegesis known as allegorism, whereby the + speculations of the Christian theologians were provided with an + apparently scriptural basis, was taken over from the Jewish and + Greek philosophers and theologians who employed it in the study of + their sacred books. Origen, it should be added, contributed not a + little to a sound grammatical interpretation as well. For + Porphyry's criticism of Origen's methods of exegesis see Eusebius, + _Hist. Ec._, VI, 19. + + +Ch. 9. Now the cause, in all the points previously enumerated, of the +false opinions and of the impious statements or ignorant assertions about +God appears to be nothing else than that the Scriptures are not understood +according to their spiritual meaning, but are interpreted according to the +mere letter. And therefore to those who believe that the sacred books are +not the compositions of men, but were composed by the inspirations of the +Holy Spirit, according to the will of the Father of all things through +Jesus Christ, and that they have come down to us, we must point out the +modes of interpretation which appear correct to us, who cling to the +standard of the heavenly Church according to the succession of the +Apostles of Jesus Christ. Now that there are certain mystical economies +made known in the Holy Scriptures, all, even the most simple of those who +adhere to the word, have believed; but what these are, the candid and +modest confess they know not. If, then, one were to be perplexed about the +incest of Lot with his daughters, and about the two wives of Abraham, and +the two sisters married to Jacob, and the two handmaids who bore him +children, they can return no other answer than this--that these are +mysteries not understood by us.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 11. The way, then, as it seems to me, in which we ought to deal with +the Scriptures and extract from them their meaning is the following, which +has been ascertained from the sayings [of the Scriptures] themselves. By +Solomon in the Proverbs we find some rule as this enjoined respecting the +teaching of the divine writings, "And do thou portray them in a threefold +manner, in counsel and knowledge, to answer words of truth to them who +propose them to thee" [_cf._ Prov. 22:20 _f._, LXX]. One ought, then, to +portray the ideas of Holy Scripture in a threefold manner upon his soul, +in order that the simple man may be edified by the "flesh," as it were, of +Scripture, for so we name the obvious sense; while he who has ascended a +certain way may be edified by the "soul," as it were. The perfect man, and +he who resembles those spoken of by the Apostle, when he says, "We speak +wisdom among them that are perfect, but not the wisdom of the world, nor +of the rulers of this world, who come to nought; but we speak the wisdom +of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God hath ordained before the +ages unto our glory" [I Cor. 2:6, 7], may receive edification from the +spiritual law, which was a shadow of things to come. For as man consists +of body and soul and spirit, so in the same way does the Scripture +consist, which has been arranged by God for the salvation of men. + +Ch. 12. But as there are certain passages which do not contain at all the +"corporeal" sense, as we shall show in the following, there are also +places where we must seek only for the "soul," as it were, and "spirit" of +Scripture. + +Ch. 15. But since, if the usefulness of the legislation and the sequence +and beauty of the history were universally evident, we should not believe +that any other thing could be understood in the Scriptures save what was +obvious, the Word of God has arranged that certain stumbling-blocks, and +offences, and impossibilities, should be introduced into the midst of the +law and the history, in order that we may not, through being drawn away in +all directions by the merely attractive nature of the language, either +altogether fall away from the true doctrines, as learning nothing worthy +of God, or, by not departing from the letter, come to the knowledge of +nothing more divine. And this, also, we must know: that, since the +principal aim is to announce the "spiritual" connection in those things +that are done and that ought to be done where the Word found that things +done according to the history could be adapted to these mystic senses, He +made use of them, concealing from the multitude the deeper meaning; but +where in the narrative of the development of super-sensual things there +did not follow the performance of those certain events which was already +indicated by the mystical meaning the Scripture interwove in the history +the account of some event that did not take place, sometimes what could +not have happened; sometimes what could, but did not happen.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And at other +times impossibilities are recorded for the sake of the more skilful and +inquisitive, in order that they may give themselves to the toil of +investigation of what is written, and thus attain to a becoming conviction +of the manner in which a meaning worthy of God must be sought out in such +subjects. + + +§ 44. Neo-Platonism + + +The last phase of Hellenic philosophy was religious. It aimed to combine +the principles of many schools of the earlier period and to present a +metaphysical system that would at once give a theory of being and also +furnish a philosophical basis for the new religious life. This final +philosophy of the antique world was Neo-Platonism. It was thoroughly +eclectic in its treatment of earlier systems, but under Plotinus attained +no small degree of consistency. The emphasis was laid especially upon the +religious problems, and in the system it may be fairly said that the +religious aspirations of heathenism found their highest and purest +expression. Because it was in close touch with current culture and in its +metaphysical principles was closely akin to the philosophy of the Church +teachers, we find Neo-Platonism sometimes a bitter rival of Christianity, +at other times a preparation for the Christian faith, as in the case of +Augustine and Victorinus. + + + Additional source material: _Select Works of Plotinus_, translated + by Thomas Taylor, ed. G. R. S. Mead, London, 1909 (contains + bibliography of other translations of Plotinus, including those in + French and German together with a select list of works bearing on + Neo-Platonism); _Select Works of Porphyry_, trans. by Thomas + Taylor, London, 1823; Taylor translated much from all the + Neo-Platonists, but his other books are very scarce. Porphyry's + _Epistula ad Marcellam_, trans. by Alice Zimmern, London, 1896. + + +Porphyry, _Ep. ad Marcellam_, 16-19. _Porphyrii philosophi Platonici +opuscula tria_, rec. A. Nauck, Leipsic, 1860. + + + The letter is addressed to Marcella by her husband, the + philosopher Porphyry. It gives a good idea of the religious and + ethical character of Neo-Platonism. For the metaphysical aspects + see Plotinus, translated by T. Taylor. Porphyry was, after + Plotinus, the greatest of the Neo-Platonists, and brought out most + clearly those religious elements which were rivals to + Christianity. His attack upon Christianity was keen and bitter, + and he was consequently especially hated by the Christians. He + died at Rome 304. + + +Ch. 16. You will honor God best when you form your soul to resemble him. +This likeness is only by virtue; for only virtue draws the soul upward +toward its own kind. There is nothing greater with God than virtue; but +God is greater than virtue. But God strengthens him who does what is good; +but of evil deeds a wicked demon is the instigator. Therefore the wicked +soul flees from God and wishes that the foreknowledge of God did not +exist; and from the divine law which punishes all wickedness it shrinks +away completely. But a wise man's soul is in harmony with God, ever sees +Him, ever is with Him. But if that which rules takes pleasure in that +which is ruled, then God cares for the wise and provides for him; and +therefore is the wise man blessed, because he is under the protection of +God. It is not the discourses of the wise man which are honorable before +God, but his works; for the wise man, even when he keeps silence, honors +God, but the ignorant man, even in praying and sacrificing, dishonors the +Divinity. So the wise man alone is a priest, alone is dear to God, alone +knows how to pray. + +Ch. 17. He who practises wisdom practises the knowledge of God; though not +always in prayer and sacrifice, practising piety toward God by his works. +For a man is not rendered agreeable to God by ruling himself according to +the prejudices of men and the vain declamations of the sophists. It is the +man himself who, by his own works, renders himself agreeable to God, and +is deified by the conforming of his own soul to the incorruptible blessed +One. And it is he himself who makes himself impious and displeasing to +God, not suffering evil from God, for the Divinity does only what is good. +It is the man himself who causes his evils by his false beliefs in regard +to God. The impious is not so much he who does not honor the statues of +the gods as he who mixes up with the idea of God the superstitions of the +vulgar. As for thyself, do not hold any unworthy idea of God, of his +blessedness or of his incorruptibility. + +Ch. 18. The greatest fruit of piety is this--to honor the Deity according +to our fatherland; not that He has need of anything, but His holy and +happy Majesty invites us to offer Him our homage. Altars consecrated to +God do no harm, and when neglected they render no help. But he who honors +God as needing anything declares, without knowing it, that he is superior +to God. Therefore it is not angering God that harms us, but not knowing +God, for wrath is alien to God, because it is the product of the +involuntary, and there is nothing involuntary in God. Do not then dishonor +the Divinity by human false opinions, for thou wilt not thereby injure the +Being enjoying eternal blessedness, from whose incorruptible nature every +injury is repelled. + +Ch. 19. But thou shouldest not think that I say these things when I exhort +to the worship of God; for he who exhorts to this would be ridiculous; as +if it were possible to doubt concerning this; and we do not worship Him +aright doing this thing or thinking that about God.(69) Neither tears nor +supplications turn God from His purpose; nor do sacrifices honor God, nor +the multitude of offerings glorify God, but the godlike mind well governed +enters into union with God. For like is of necessity joined to like. But +the victims of the senseless crowd are food for the flames, and their +offerings are the supplies for a licentious life to the plunderers of +temples. But, as I have said to thee, let the mind within thee be the +temple of God. This must be tended and adorned to become a fit dwelling +for God. + + + +Chapter III. The First General Persecution And Its Consequences + + +On account of various principles of the Roman law, Christians were always +liable to severe penalties, and parts of the Church occasionally suffered +fearfully. But it was only in exceptional cases and sporadically that the +laws were enforced. There was, accordingly, no prolonged and systematic +effort made to put down Christianity everywhere until the reign of Decius +(249-251). The renewed interest in heathen religions and the revived +patriotism in some circles occasioned in 248 by the celebration of the +thousandth anniversary of the founding of Rome may have contributed to a +renewal of hostilities against the Church. Decius undertook the military +defence of the frontier. His colleague, Valerian, had charge of the +internal affairs of the Empire and was the author of the measures against +the Christians. Because the Church included many who had embraced the +faith in the long period when the Church rarely felt the severity of the +laws, many were unable to endure the persecution, and so apostatized or +"fell." The persecution continued only for a short time in full intensity, +but it was not abandoned for a number of years. It became violent once +more when Valerian became Emperor (253-260). One result of the +persecutions was the rise of serious disputes, and even schisms, from +differences regarding the administration of discipline by the bishops. In +the case of the Novatians at Rome, a dissenting Church which spread +rapidly over the Empire came into existence and lasted for more than two +centuries. + + +§ 45. The Decian-Valerian Persecution + + +The first persecution which may fairly be said to have been general in +purpose and effect was that falling in the reigns of Decius (249-251) and +Valerian (253-260). Of the course of the persecution we have information +bearing directly upon Carthage, Alexandria, and Asia Minor. But it +probably was felt very generally throughout the Church. + + + Additional source material: Cyprian, _De Lapsis_, Epp. 14, 22, 43; + Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 39-45, VII, 11, 15, 30: for original + texts see Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, §§ 16, 17; also R. Knopf, + _Ausgewaehlte Maertyreracten_ (of these the most reliable are the + martyrdom of Pionius and of Cyprian). + + +(_a_) Origen, _Contra Celsum_, III, 15. (MSG, 11:937.) + + + Origen, writing about 248, observes the probable approach of a + period of persecution for the Church. + + +That it is not the fear of external enemies which strengthens our union is +plain from the fact that this cause, by God's will, has already ceased for +a considerable time. And it is probable that the secure existence, so far +as this life is concerned, which is enjoyed by believers at present will +come to an end, since those who in every way calumniate the Word [_i.e._, +Christianity] are again attributing the frequency of rebellion to the +multitude of believers and to their not being persecuted by the +authorities, as in former times. + + +(_b_) Lactantius, _De Mortibus Persecutorum_, 3, 4. (MSL, 7:200.) + + + Lucius Caelius Firminianus Lactantius was of African birth. Having + obtained some local fame as a teacher of rhetoric, he was + appointed by Diocletian professor of that subject in his new + capital of Nicomedia. This position Lactantius lost during the + Diocletian persecution. He was afterward tutor of Crispus, the son + of Constantine. His work _On the Death of the Persecutors_ is + written in a bitter spirit, but excellent style. Although in some + circles it has been customary to impeach the veracity of + Lactantius, no intentional departure from historical truthfulness, + apart from rhetorical coloring, which was inevitable, has been + proved against him. Of late there has been some doubt as to the + authorship of _De Mortibus Persecutorum_. + + +Ch. 3. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} This long peace, however, was afterward interrupted. + +Ch. 4. For after many years there appeared in the world an accursed wild +beast, Decius by name, who should afflict the Church. And who but a bad +man would persecute righteousness? As if for this end he had been raised +up to sovereign eminence, he began at once to rage against God, and at +once to fall. For having undertaken an expedition against the Carpi, who +had then occupied Dacia and Moesia, he was suddenly surrounded by the +barbarians, and slain, together with a great part of his army; nor could +he be honored with the rights of sepulture, but, stripped and naked, he +lay as food for wild beasts and birds, as became the enemy of God. + + +(_c_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 39. (MSG, 20:660.) + + + The Decian persecution and the sufferings of Origen. + + +Decius succeeded Philip, who had reigned seven years. On account of his +hatred of Philip, Decius commenced a persecution of the churches, in which +Fabianus suffered martyrdom at Rome, and Cornelius succeeded him in the +episcopate. In Palestine, Alexander, bishop of the church of Jerusalem, +was brought again on Christ's account before the governor's judgment seat +in Caesarea, and having acquitted himself nobly in a second confession, was +cast into prison, crowned with the hoary locks of venerable age. And after +his honorable and illustrious confession at the tribunal of the governor, +he fell asleep in prison, and Mazabanes became his successor in the +bishopric of Jerusalem. Babylas in Antioch having, like Alexander, passed +away in prison after his confession, Fabius presided over that church. + +But how many and how great things came upon Origen in the persecution, and +what was their final result--as the evil demon marshalled all his forces +and fought against the man with his utmost craft and power, assaulting him +beyond all others against whom he contended at that time; and what and how +many things the man endured for the word of Christ--bonds and bodily +tortures and torments under the iron collar and in the dungeon; and how +for many days with his feet stretched four spaces of the stocks he bore +patiently the threats of fire and whatever other things were inflicted by +his enemies; and how his sufferings terminated, as his judge strove +eagerly with all his might not to end his life; and what words he left +after these things full of comfort to those needing aid, a great many of +his epistles show with truth and accuracy. + + +(_d_) Cyprian, _De Lapsis_, 8-10. (MSL, 4:486.) + + + The many cases of apostasy in the Decian persecution shocked the + Church inexpressibly. In peace discipline had been relaxed and + Christian zeal had grown weak. The same phenomena appeared in the + next great persecution, under Diocletian, after a long period of + peace. _De Lapsis_ was written in the spring of 251, just after + the end of the severity of the Decian persecution and Cyprian's + return to Carthage. Text in part in Kirch, nn. 227 _ff._ + + +Ch. 8. From some, alas, all these things have fallen away, and have passed +from memory. They indeed did not even wait, that, having been apprehended, +they should go up, or, having been interrogated, they might deny. Many +were conquered before the battle, prostrated without an attack. Nor did +they even leave it to be said for them that they seemed to sacrifice to +idols unwillingly. They ran to the forum of their own accord; freely they +hastened to death, as if they had formerly wished it, as if they would +embrace an opportunity now given which they had always desired. How many +were put off by the magistrates at that time, when evening was coming on! +How many even asked that their destruction might not be delayed! What +violence can such a one plead, how can he purge his crime, when it was he +himself who rather used force that he might perish? When they came +voluntarily to the capitol--when they freely approached to the obedience of +the terrible wickedness--did not their tread falter, did not their sight +darken, their hearts tremble, their arms fall helplessly down, their +senses become dull, their tongues cleave to their mouths, their speech +fail? Could the servant of God stand there, he who had already renounced +the devil and the world, and speak and renounce Christ? Was not that +altar, whither he drew near to die, to him a funeral pile? Ought he not to +shudder at, and flee from, the altar of the devil, which he had seen to +smoke and to be redolent of a foul stench, as it were, a funeral and +sepulchre of his life? Why bring with you, O wretched man, a sacrifice? +Why immolate a victim? You yourself have come to the altar an offering, +yourself a victim; there you have immolated your salvation, your hope; +there you have burned up your faith in those deadly fires. + +Ch. 9. But to many their own destruction was not sufficient. With mutual +exhortations the people were urged to their ruin; death was pledged by +turns in the deadly cup. And that nothing might be wanting to aggravate +the crime, infants, also, in the arms of their parents, being either +carried or conducted, lost, while yet little ones, what in the very +beginning of their nativity they had gained. Will not they, when the day +of judgment comes, say: "We have done nothing; nor have we forsaken the +Lord's bread and cup to hasten freely to a profane contract.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}" + +Ch. 10. Nor is there, alas, any just and weighty reason which excuses such +a crime. One's country was to be left, and loss of one's estate was to be +suffered. Yet to whom that is born and dies is there not a necessity at +some time to leave his country and to suffer loss of his estate? But let +not Christ be forsaken, so that the loss of salvation and of an eternal +home should be feared. + + +(_e_) Cyprian, _De Lapsis_, 28. (MSL, 4:501.) + + + Those who did not actually sacrifice in the tests that were + applied to Christians, but by bribery had procured certificates + that they had sacrificed, were known as _libellatici_. It was to + the credit of the Christian moral feeling that this subterfuge was + not admitted. + + +Nor let those persons flatter themselves that they need repent the less +who, although they have not polluted their hands with abominable +sacrifices, yet have defiled their consciences with certificates. That +profession of one who denies is the testimony of a Christian disowning +what he has been. He says he has done what another has actually committed, +and although it is written, "Ye cannot serve two masters" [Matt. 6:24], he +has served an earthly master in that he has obeyed his edict; he has been +more obedient to human authority than to God. + + +(_f_) _A Libellus._ From a papyrus found at Fayum. + + + The text may be found in Kirch, n. 207. This is the actual + certificate which a man suspected of being a Christian obtained + from the commission appointed to carry out the edict of + persecution. It has been preserved these many centuries in the dry + Egyptian climate, and is with some others, which are less perfect, + among the most interesting relics of the ancient Church. + + +Presented to the Commission for the Sacrifices in the village of Alexander +Island, by Aurelius Diogenes, the son of Satabus, of the village of +Alexander Island, about seventy-two years of age, with a scar on the right +eyebrow. + +I have at other times always offered to the gods as well as also now in +your presence, and according to the regulations have offered, sacrificed, +and partaken of the sacrificial meal; and I pray you to attest this. +Farewell. I, Aurelius Diogenes, have presented this. + +[In a second hand.] + +I, Aurelius Syrus, testify as being present that Diogenes sacrificed with +us. + +[First hand.] + +First year of the Emperor Caesar Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, +pious, happy, Augustus, 2d day of Epiphus. [June 25, 250.] + + +(_g_) Cyprian, _Epistula 80_ (=82). (MSL, 4:442.) + + + The date of this epistle is 257-258, at the outbreak of the + Valerian persecution, a revival of the Decian. It was therefore + shortly before Cyprian's death. + + +Cyprian to his brother Successus, greeting. The reason why I write to you +at once, dearest brother, is that all the clergy are placed in the heat of +the contest and are unable in any way to depart hence, for all of them are +prepared, in accordance with the devotion of their mind, for divine and +heavenly glory. But you should know that those have come back whom I sent +to Rome to find out and bring us the truth concerning what had in any +manner been decreed respecting us. For many, various, and uncertain things +are currently reported. But the truth concerning them is as follows: +Valerian has sent a rescript to the Senate, to the effect that bishops, +presbyters, and deacons should be immediately punished; but that senators, +men of rank, and Roman knights should lose their dignity and be deprived +of their property; and if, when their property has been taken away, they +should persist in being Christians, that they should then also lose their +heads; but that matrons should be deprived of their property and banished. +Moreover, people of Caesar's household, who had either confessed before or +should now confess, should have their property confiscated, and be sent in +chains and assigned to Caesar's estates. The Emperor Valerian also added to +his address a copy of the letters he prepared for the presidents of the +provinces coercing us. These letters we are daily hoping will come, and we +are waiting, according to the strength of our faith, for the endurance of +suffering and expecting from the help and mercy of the Lord the crown of +eternal life. But know that Sixtus was punished [_i.e._, martyred] in the +cemetery on the eighth day of the ides of August, and with him four +deacons. The prefects of the city, furthermore, are daily urging on this +persecution; so that if any are presented to them they are punished and +their property confiscated. + +I beg that these things be made known by you to the rest of our +colleagues, that everywhere by their exhortations the brotherhood may be +strengthened and prepared for the spiritual conflict, that every one may +think less of death than of immortality, and dedicated to the Lord with +full faith and courage, they may rejoice rather than fear in this +confession, wherein they know that the soldiers of God and Christ are not +slain, but crowned. I bid you, dearest brother, ever farewell in the Lord. + + +§ 46. Effects of the Persecution upon the Inner Life of the Church + + +The persecution developed the popular opinion of the superior sanctity of +martyrdom. This was itself no new idea, having grown up in the Church from +the time of Ignatius of Antioch, but it now received new applications and +developments (_a_, _b_). See also § 42, _d_, and below for problems +arising from the place the martyrs attempted to take in the organization +of the Church and the administration of discipline. This claim of the +martyrs was successfully overcome by the bishops, especially under +Cyprian's leadership and example. But in the administration of discipline +there were sure to arise difficulties and questions, _e.g._, Was there a +distinction to be made in favor of those who had escaped without actually +sacrificing? (_c_). No matter what policy was followed by the bishop, +there was the liability of the rise of a party in opposition to him. If he +was strict, a party advocating laxity appeared, as in the case of +Felicissimus at Carthage; if he was milder in policy, a party would call +for greater rigor, as in the case of Novatian at Rome (_e_). + + + Additional source material: Cyprian, _Ep._ 39-45, 51 (ANF, V); + Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 43, 45. + + +(_a_) Origen, _Exhortatio ad Martyrium_, 30, 50. (MSG, 11:601, 636.) + + + An estimate of the importance and value of martyrdom. + + + The _Exhortation to Martyrdom_ was addressed by Origen to his + friend and patron Ambrosius, and to Protoctetus, a presbyter of + Caesarea, who were in great danger during the persecution + undertaken by Maximinus Thrax (235-238). It was probably written + in the reign of that Emperor. + + +Ch. 30. We must remember that we have sinned and that it is impossible to +obtain forgiveness of sins without baptism, and that according to the +evangelical laws it is impossible to be baptized a second time with water +and the Spirit for the forgiveness of sins, and therefore the baptism of +martyrdom is given us. For thus it has been called, as may be clearly +gathered from the passage: "Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of, and +be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" [Mark 10:38]. And +in another place it is said: "But I have a baptism to be baptized with; +and how am I straightened until it be accomplished!" [Luke 12:50]. For be +sure that just as the expiation of the cross was for the whole world, it +(the baptism of martyrdom) is for the cure of many who are thereby +cleansed. For as according to the law of Moses those placed near the altar +are seen to minister forgiveness of sins to others through the blood of +bulls and goats, so the souls of those who have suffered on account of the +testimony of Jesus are not in vain near that altar in heaven [_cf._ Rev. +6:9 _ff._], but minister forgiveness of sins to those who pray. And at the +same time we know that just as the high priest, Jesus Christ, offered +himself as a sacrifice, so the priests, of whom He is the high priest, +offer themselves as sacrifices, and on account of this sacrifice they are +at the altar as in their proper place. + +Ch. 50. Just as we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, +who received the name that is above every name, so by the precious blood +of the martyrs will others be redeemed. + + +(_b_) Origen, _Homil. ad Num._, X, 2. (MSG, 12:658.) + + + Of Origen's homilies on the Pentateuch only a few fragments of the + Greek text remain. We have them, however, in a Latin translation + or paraphrase made by Rufinus. The twenty-eight homilies on + Numbers were written after A. D. 244. + + +Concerning the martyrs, the Apostle John writes in the Apocalypse that the +souls of those who have been slain for the name of the Lord Jesus are +present at the altar; but he who is present at the altar is shown to +perform the duties of priest. But the duty of a priest is to make +intercession for the sins of the people. Wherefore I fear, lest, +perchance, inasmuch as there are made no martyrs, and sacrifices of saints +are not offered for our sins, we will not receive remission of our sins. +And therefore I fear, lest our sins remaining in us, it may happen to us +what the Jews said of themselves, that not having an altar, nor a temple, +nor priesthood, and therefore not offering sacrifices, our sins remain in +us, and so no forgiveness is obtained.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And therefore the devil, knowing +that remission of sins is obtained by the passion of martyrdom, is not +willing to raise public persecutions against us by the heathen. + + +(_c_) Cyprian, _Epistula 55_, 14 (=51). (MSL, 3:805.) + + + The opinion of the Church as to the _libellatici_. The date is 251 + or 252. + + +Since there is much difference between those who have sacrificed, what a +want of mercy it is, and how bitter is the hardship, to associate those +who have received certificates with those who have sacrificed, when he who +has received the certificate may say, "I had previously read and had been +informed by the discourse of the bishop that we ought not to sacrifice to +idols, that the servant of God ought not to worship images; and therefore +that I might not do this which is not lawful, when the opportunity of +receiving a certificate was offered (and I would not have received it, if +the opportunity had not been offered) I either went or charged some one +other person going to the magistrate to say that I am a Christian, that I +am not allowed to sacrifice, that I cannot come to the devil's altars, and +that I will pay a price for this purpose, that I may not do what is not +lawful for me to do"! Now, however, even he who is stained by a +certificate, after he has learned from our admonitions that he ought not +to have done even this, and though his hand is pure, and no contact of +deadly food has polluted his lips, yet his conscience is nevertheless +polluted, weeps when he hears us, and laments, and is now admonished for +the things wherein he has sinned, and having been deceived, not so much by +guilt as by error, bears witness that for another time he is instructed +and prepared. + + +(_d_) _Epistula pacis_, Cyprian, _Epistula 16_. (MSL, 4:268.) _Cf._ Kirch, +n. 241. + + + This brief Letter of Peace is a specimen of the forms that were + being issued by the confessors, and which a party in the Church + regarded as mandatory upon the bishops. These Cyprian strenuously + and successfully resisted. See also Cyprian, _Ep. 21_, in ANF, V, + 299. + + +All the confessors to Cyprian, pope,(70) greeting. Know that we all have +given peace to those concerning whom an account has been rendered you as +to what they have done since they committed their sin; and we wish to make +this rescript known through you to the other bishops. We desire you to +have peace with the holy martyrs. Lucianus has written this, there being +present of the clergy an exorcist and a lector. + + +(_e_) Cyprian, _Epistula 43_, 2, 3. (MSL, 4:342.) + + + The schism of Felicissimus was occasioned by the position taken by + Cyprian in regard to the admission of the _lapsi_ in the Decian + persecution. But it was at the same time the outcome of an + opposition to Cyprian of longer standing, on account of jealousy, + as he had only recently become a Christian when he was made bishop + of Carthage. + + +Ch. 2. It has appeared whence came the faction of Felicissimus, on what +root and by what strength it stood. These men supplied in a former time +encouragements and exhortations to confessors, not to agree with their +bishop, not to maintain the ecclesiastical discipline faithfully and +quietly, according to the Lord's precepts, not to keep the glory of their +confession with an uncorrupt and unspotted mode of life. And lest it +should have been too little to have corrupted the minds of certain +confessors and to have wished to arm a portion of our broken fraternity +against God's priesthood, they have now applied themselves with their +envenomed deceitfulness to the ruin of the lapsed, to turn away from the +healing of their wound the sick and the wounded, and those who, by the +misfortune of their fall, are less fit and less able to take stronger +counsels; and having left off prayers and supplications, whereby with long +and continued satisfaction the Lord is to be appeased, they invite them by +the deceit of a fallacious peace to a fatal rashness. + +Ch. 3. But I pray you, brethren, watch against the snares of the devil, +and being careful for your own salvation, guard diligently against this +deadly deceit. This is another persecution and another temptation. Those +five presbyters are none other than the five leaders who were lately +associated with the magistrates in an edict that they might overthrow our +faith, that they might turn away the feeble hearts of the brethren to +their deadly nets by the perversion of the truth. Now the same scheme, the +same overturning, is again brought about by the five presbyters, linked +with Felicissimus, to the destruction of salvation, that God should not be +besought, and that he who has denied Christ should not appeal for mercy to +the same Christ whom he has denied; that after the fault of the crime +repentance also should be taken away; and that satisfaction should not be +made through bishops and priests, but, the Lord's priests being forsaken, +a new tradition of sacrilegious appointment should arise contrary to the +evangelical discipline. And although it was once arranged as well by us as +by the confessors and the clergy of the city,(71) likewise by all the +bishops located either in our province or beyond the sea [_i.e._, Italy], +that there should be no innovations regarding the case of the lapsed +unless we all assembled in one place, and when our counsels had been +compared we should then decide upon some moderate sentence, tempered alike +with discipline and with mercy; against this, our counsel, they have +rebelled and all priestly authority has been destroyed by factious +conspiracies. + + +(_f_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec_., VI, 43. (MSG, 20:616.) + + + The schism of Novatian at Rome was occasioned by the question of + discipline of the lapsed. While the schism of Felicissimus was in + favor of more lenient treatment of those who had fallen, the + schism of Novatian was in favor of greater strictness. The sect of + Novatians, named after the founder, Novatus or Novatianus, lasted + for more than two centuries. + + +Novatus [Novatianus], a presbyter at Rome, being lifted up with arrogance +against these persons, as if there was no longer for them a hope of +salvation, not even if they should do all things pertaining to a pure and +genuine conversion, became the leader of the heresy of those who in the +pride of their imagination style themselves Cathari.(72) Thereupon a very +large synod assembled at Rome, of bishops in number sixty, and a great +many more presbyters and deacons; and likewise the pastors of the +remaining provinces deliberated in their places by themselves concerning +what ought to be done. A decree, accordingly, was confirmed by all that +Novatus and those who joined with him, and those who adopted his +brother-hating and inhuman opinion, should be considered by the Church as +strangers; but that they should heal such of the brethren as had fallen +into misfortune, and should minister to them with the medicines of +repentance. There have come down to us epistles of Cornelius, bishop of +Rome, to Fabius, of the church at Antioch, which show what was done at the +synod at Rome, and what seemed best to all those in Italy and Africa and +the regions thereabout. Also other epistles, written in the Latin +language, of Cyprian and those with him in Africa, by which it is shown +that they agreed as to the necessity of succoring those who had been +tempted, and of cutting off from the Catholic Church the leader of the +heresy and all that joined him. + + + +Chapter IV. The Period Of Peace For The Church: A. D. 260 To A. D. 303 + + +After the Decian-Valerian persecution (250-260) the Church enjoyed a long +peace, rarely interrupted anywhere by hostile measures, until the outbreak +of the second great general persecution, under Diocletian (303-313), a +space of over forty years. In this period the Church cast off the chiliasm +which had lingered as a part of a primitive Jewish conception of +Christianity (§ 47), and adapted itself to the actual condition of this +present world. Under the influence of scientific theology, especially that +of the Alexandrian school, the earlier forms of Monarchianism disappeared +from the Church, and the discussion began to narrow down to the position +which it eventually assumed in the Arian controversy (§ 48). Corresponding +to the development of the theology went that of the cultus of the Church, +and already in the West abiding characteristics appeared (§ 49). The +cultus and the disciplinary work of the bishops advanced in turn the +hierarchical organization of the Church and the place of the bishops (§ +50), but the theory of local episcopal autonomy and the universalistic +tendencies of the see of Rome soon came into sharp conflict (§ 51), +especially over the validity of baptism administered by heretics (§ 52). +In this discussion the North African Church assumed a position which +subsequently became the occasion of the most serious schism of the ancient +Church, or Donatism. In this period, also, is to be set the rise of +Christian Monasticism as distinguished from ordinary Christian asceticism +(§ 53). At the same time, a dangerous rival of Christianity appeared in +the East, in the form of Manichaeanism, in which were absorbed nearly all +the remnants of earlier Gnosticism (§ 54). + + +§ 47. The Chiliastic Controversy + + +During the third century the belief in chiliasm as a part of the Church's +faith died out in nearly all parts of the Church. It did not seem called +for by the condition of the Church, which was rapidly adjusting itself to +the world in which it found itself. The scientific theology, especially +that of Alexandria, found no place in its system for such an article as +chiliasm. The belief lingered, however, in country places, and with it +went no little opposition to the "scientific" exegesis which by means of +allegory explained away the promises of a millennial kingdom. The only +account we have of this so-called "Chiliastic Controversy" is found in +connection with the history of the schism of Nepos in Egypt given by +Eusebius, But it may be safely assumed that the condition of things here +described was not peculiar to any one part of the Church, though an open +schism resulting from the conflict of the old and new ideas is not found +elsewhere. + + + Additional source material: Origen, _De Principiis_, II, 11 (ANF, + IV); Lactantius, _Divini Institutiones_, VII, 14-26 (ANF, VII); + Methodius, _Symposium_, IX, 5 (ANF, VI); _v. infra_, § 48. + + +Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VII, 24. (MSG, 20:693.) + + + Dionysius was bishop of Alexandria 248-265, after serving as the + head of the Catechetical School, a position which he does not seem + to have resigned on being advanced to the episcopate. His work _On + the Promises_ has, with the exception of fragments preserved by + Eusebius, perished, as has also the work of Nepos, _Against the + Allegorists_. The date of the work of Nepos is not known. That of + the work of Dionysius is placed conjecturally at 255. The + "Allegorists," against whom Nepos wrote, were probably Origen and + his school, who developed more consistently and scientifically the + allegorical method of exegesis; see above, § 43, _k_. + + +Besides all these, the two books _On the Promises_ were prepared by him +[Dionysius]. The occasion of these was Nepos, a bishop in Egypt, who +taught that the promises made to the holy men in the divine Scriptures +should be understood in a more Jewish manner, and that there would be a +certain millennium of bodily luxury upon this earth. As he thought that he +could establish his private opinion by the Revelation of John, he wrote a +book on this subject, entitled _Refutation of Allegorists_. Dionysius +opposes this in his books _On the Promises_. In the first he gives his own +opinion of the dogma; and in the second he treats of the Revelation of +John,(73) and, mentioning Nepos at the beginning, writes of him as +follows: + +"But since they bring forward a certain work of Nepos, on which they rely +confidently, as if it proved beyond dispute that there will be a reign of +Christ upon earth, I confess that in many other respects I approve and +love Nepos for his faith and industry and his diligence in the Scriptures, +and for his extensive psalmody with which many of the brethren are still +delighted; and I hold the man in the more reverence because he has gone +before us to rest.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But as some think his work very plausible, and as +certain teachers regard the law and the prophets as of no consequence, and +do not follow the Gospels, and treat lightly the apostolic epistles, while +they make promises as to the teaching of this work as if it were some +great hidden mystery, and do not permit our simpler brethren to have any +sublime and lofty thoughts concerning the glorious and truly divine +appearing of our Lord and our resurrection from the dead, and our being +gathered together unto Him, and made like Him, but, on the contrary, lead +them to a hope for small things and mortal things in the kingdom of God, +and for things such as exist now--since this is the case, it is necessary +that we should dispute with our brother Nepos as if he were present." +Farther on he says: + +"When I was in the district of Arsinoe, where, as you know, this doctrine +has prevailed for a long time, so that schisms and apostasies of entire +churches have resulted, I called together the presbyters and teachers of +the brethren in the villages--such brethren as wished being present--and I +exhorted them to make a public examination of this question. Accordingly +when they brought me this book, as if it were a weapon and fortress +impregnable, sitting with them from morning till evening for three +successive days, I endeavored to correct what was written in it.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And +finally the author and mover of this teaching, who was called Coracion, in +the hearing of all the brethren present acknowledged and testified to us +that he would no longer hold this opinion, nor discuss it, nor mention it, +nor teach it, as he was fully convinced by the arguments against it." + + +§ 48. Theology of the Second Half of the Third Century under the Influence +of Origen + + +By the second half of the third century theology had become a speculative +and highly technical science (_a_), and under the influence of Origen, the +Logos theology, as opposed to various forms of Monarchianism (_b_), had +become universal. Under this influence, Paul of Samosata, reviving +Dynamistic Monarchianism, modified it by combining with it elements of the +Logos theology (_c-e_). At the same time there was in various parts of the +Church a continuation of the Asia Minor theological tradition, such as had +found expression in Irenaeus. A representative of this theology was +Methodius of Olympus (_f_). + + + Additional source material: Athanasius, _De Sent. Dionysii_ (PNF, + ser. II, vol. IV). + + +(_a_) Gregory Thaumaturgus, _Confession of Faith_. (MSG, 46:912) + + + Gregory Thaumaturgus, or the Wonder-worker, was born about 213 in + Neo-Caesarea in Pontus. He studied under Origen at Caesarea in + Palestine from 233 to 235, and became one of the leading + representatives of the Origenistic theology, representing the + orthodox development of that school, as distinguished from Paul of + Samosata and Lucian. + + + The following Confession of Faith is found only in the _Life of + Gregory Thaumaturgus_, by Gregory of Nyssa. (MSG, 46: 909 _f._) + Its genuineness is now generally admitted; see Hahn, _op. cit._, § + 185. According to a legend, it was communicated to Gregory in a + vision by St. John on the request of the Blessed Virgin. It + represents the speculative tendency of Origenism and current + theology after the rise of the Alexandrian school. It should be + noted that it differs markedly from other confessions of faith in + not employing biblical language. + + +There is one God, the Father of the living Word, His substantive Wisdom, +Power, and Eternal Image, the perfect Begetter of the perfect One, the +Father of the Only begotten Son. + +There is one Lord, only One from only One, God from God, the image and +likeness of the Godhead, the active Word, The Wisdom which comprehends the +constitution of all things, and the Power which produced all creation; the +true Son of the true Father, Invisible of Invisible, and Incorruptible of +Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal, and Everlasting of Everlasting. + +And there is one Holy Spirit having His existence from God, and manifested +by the Son [namely, to men],(74) the perfect likeness of the perfect Son, +Life and Cause of the living [the sacred Fount], Sanctity, Leader of +sanctification, in whom is revealed God the Father, who is over all and in +all, and God the Son, who is through all; a perfect Trinity(75) not +divided nor differing in glory and eternity and sovereignty. + +There is, therefore, nothing created or subservient in the Trinity, nor +introduced as if not there before, but coming afterward; for there never +was a time when the Son was lacking to the Father, nor the Spirit to the +Son, but the same Trinity is ever unvarying and unchangeable. + + +(_b_) Athanasius, _De Sent. Dionysii_, 4, 5, 6, 13-15. (MSG, 25:484 f., +497 f.) + + + What has been called the "Controversy of the two Dionysii" was in + reality no controversy. Dionysius of Alexandria [_v. supra_, § 48] + wrote a letter to the Sabellians near Cyrene, pointing out the + distinction of the Father and the Son. In it he used language + which was, to say the least, indiscreet. Complaint was made to + Dionysius, bishop of Rome, that the bishop of Alexandria did not + hold the right view of the relation of the Son to the Father and + of the divinity of the Son. Thereupon, Dionysius of Rome wrote to + Dionysius of Alexandria. In reply, Dionysius of Alexandria pointed + out at length, in a _Refutation and Defence_, his actual opinion + on the matter as a whole, rather than as merely opposed to + Modalistic Monarchianism or Sabellianism. The course of the + discussion is sufficiently clear from the extracts. Athanasius is + writing in answer to the Arians, who had appealed to the letter of + Dionysius in support of their opinion that the Son was a creature, + and that there was when He was not [_v. infra_, § 63]. His work, + from which the following extracts are taken, was written between + 350 and 354. + + +Ch. 4. They (the Arians) say, then, that in a letter the blessed Dionysius +has said: "The Son of God is a creature and made, and not His own by +nature, but in essence alien from the Father, just as the husbandman is +from the vine, or the shipbuilder is from the boat; for that, being a +creature, He was not before He came to be." Yes. He wrote it, and we, too, +admit that such was his letter. But as he wrote this, so also he wrote +very many other epistles, which ought to be read by them, so that from all +and not from one merely the faith of the man might be discovered. + +Ch. 5. At that time [_i.e._, when Dionysius wrote against the Sabellians] +certain of the bishops of Pentapolis in Upper Libya were of the opinion of +Sabellius. And they were so successful with their opinion that the Son of +God was scarcely preached any longer in the churches. Dionysius heard of +this, as he had charge of those churches (_cf._ Canon 6, Nicaea, 325; see +below, § 72), and sent men to counsel the guilty ones to cease from their +false doctrine. As they did not cease but waxed more shameless in their +impiety, he was compelled to meet their shameless conduct by writing the +said letter and to define from the Gospels the human nature of the +Saviour, in order that, since those men waxed bolder in denying the Son +and in ascribing His human actions to the Father, he accordingly, by +demonstrating that it was not the Father but the Son that was made man for +us, might persuade the ignorant persons that the Father is not the Son, +and so by degrees lead them to the true godhead of the Son and the +knowledge of the Father. + +Ch. 6. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} If in his writings he is inconsistent, let them [_i.e._, the +Arians] not draw him to their side, for on this assumption he is not +worthy of credit. But if, when he had written his letter to Ammonius, and +fallen under suspicion, he made his defence, bettering what he had said +previously, defending himself, but not changing, it must be evident that +he wrote what fell under suspicion by way of "accommodation." + +Ch. 13. The following is the occasion of his writing the other letters. +When Bishop Dionysius had heard of the affairs in Pentapolis and had +written in zeal for religion, as I have said, his letter to Euphranor and +Ammonius against the heresy of Sabellius, some of the brethren belonging +to the Church, who held a right opinion, but did not ask him so as to +learn from himself what he had written, went up to Rome and spake against +him in the presence of his namesake, Dionysius, bishop of Rome. And the +latter, upon hearing it, wrote simultaneously against the adherents of +Sabellius and against those who held the same opinions for uttering which +Arius was cast out of the Church; and he called it an equal and opposite +impiety to hold with Sabellius or with those who say that the Word of God +is a creature, framed and originated. And he wrote also to Dionysius +[_i.e._, of Alexandria] to inform him of what they had said about him. And +the latter straightway wrote back and inscribed a book entitled _A +Refutation and a Defence_. + +Ch. 14. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} In answer to these charges he writes, after certain prefatory +matter in the first book of the work entitled _A Refutation and a +Defence_, in the following terms: + +Ch. 15. "For never was there a time when God was not a Father." And this +he acknowledges in what follows, "that Christ is forever, being Word and +Wisdom and Power. For it is not to be supposed that God, having at first +no issue, afterward begat a Son. But the Son has his being not of Himself, +but of the Father." + + +(_c_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VII, 27, 29, 30. (MSG, 25:705.) + + + The deposition of Paul of Samosata. + + + The controversy concerning Paul's doctrinal views is sufficiently + set forth in the extract from Eusebius given below. Paul was + bishop of Antioch from about 260 to 268. His works have perished, + with the exception of a few fragments. The importance of Paul is + that in his teaching is to be found an attempt to combine the + Logos theology of Origen with Dynamistic Monarchianism, with + results that appeared later in Arianism, on the one hand, and + Nestorianism, it is thought, on the other. + + +Ch. 27. After Sixtus had presided over the church of Rome eleven years, +Dionysius, namesake of him of Alexandria, succeeded him. About that time +Demetrianus died in Antioch, and Paul of Samosata received that +episcopate. As he held low and degraded views of Christ, contrary to the +teaching of the Church, namely, that in his nature He was a common man, +Dionysius of Alexandria was entreated to come to the synod. But being +unable to come on account of age and physical weakness, he gave his +opinion on the subject under consideration by a letter. But the other +pastors of the churches assembled from all directions, as against a +despoiler of the flock of Christ, all making haste to reach Antioch. + +Ch. 29. During his [Aurelian's, 270-275] reign a final synod composed of a +great many bishops was held, and the leader of heresy in Antioch was +detected and his false doctrine clearly shown before all, and he was +excommunicated from the Catholic Church under heaven. Malchion especially +drew him out from his hiding-place and refuted him. He was a man learned +also in other matters, and principal of the sophist school of Grecian +learning in Antioch; yet on account of the superior nobility of his faith +in Christ he had been made a presbyter of that parish [_i.e._, diocese]. +This man, having conducted a discussion with him, which was taken down by +stenographers, and which we know is still extant, was alone able to detect +the man who dissembled and deceived others. + +Ch. 30. The pastors who had assembled about this matter prepared by common +consent an epistle addressed to Dionysius, bishop of Rome, and Maximus of +Alexandria, and sent it to all the provinces.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +After other things they describe as follows the manner of life which he +led: "Whereas he has departed from the rule [_i.e._, of faith], and has +turned aside after base and spurious teachings, it is not necessary--since +he is without--that we should pass judgment upon his practices: as for +instance {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} in that he is haughty and is puffed up, and assumes worldly +dignities, preferring to be called ducenarius rather than bishop; and +struts in the market-places, reading letters and reciting them as he walks +in public, attended by a bodyguard, with a multitude preceding and +following him, so that the faith is envied and hated on account of his +pride and haughtiness of heart, {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} or that he violently and coarsely +assails in public the expounders of the Word that have departed this life, +and magnifies himself, not as bishop, but as a sophist and juggler, and +stops the psalms to our Lord Jesus Christ as being novelties and the +productions of modern men, and trains women to sing psalms to himself in +the midst of the church on the great day of the passover.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He is unwilling +to acknowledge that the Son of God came down from heaven. (And this is no +mere assertion, but is abundantly proved from the records which we have +sent you; and not least where he says, 'Jesus Christ is from below.'){~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And +there are the women, the '_subintroductae_,' as the people of Antioch call +them, belonging to him and to the presbyters and deacons with him. +Although he knows and has convicted these men, yet he connives at this and +their incurable sins, in order that they may be bound to him, and through +fear for themselves may not dare to accuse him for his wicked words and +deeds.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}" + +As Paul had fallen from the episcopate, as well as from the orthodox +faith, Domnus, as has been said, succeeded to the service of the church at +Antioch [_i.e._, became bishop]. But as Paul refused to surrender the +church building, the Emperor Aurelian was petitioned; and he decided the +matter most equitably, ordering the building to be given to those to whom +the bishops of Italy and of the city of Rome should adjudge it. Thus this +man was driven out of the Church, with extreme disgrace, by the worldly +power. + +Such was Aurelian's attitude toward us at that time; but in the course of +time he changed his mind in regard to us, and was moved by certain +advisers to institute a persecution against us. And there was great talk +about it everywhere. But as he was about to do it, and was, so to speak, +in the very act of signing the decrees against us, the divine judgment +came upon him and restrained him at the very verge of his undertaking. + + +(_d_) Malchion of Antioch, _Disputation with Paul_. (MSG, 10:247-260.) + + + The doctrine of Paul of Samosata. + + + The following fragments are from the disputation of Malchion with + Paul at the Council of Antioch, 268 [see extract from Eusebius, + _Hist. Ec._, VII, 27, 29, 30; see above (_c_)], which Malchion is + said to have revised and published. The passages may be found also + in Routh, _Reliquiae Sacrae_, second ed., III, 300 _ff._ Fragments + I-III are from the work of the Emperor Justinian, _Contra + Monophysitas_; fragment IV is from the work of Leontius of + Byzantium, _Adversus Nestorianos et Eutychianos_. + + +I. The Logos became united with Him who was born of David, who is Jesus, +who was begotten of the Holy Ghost. And Him the Virgin bore by the Holy +Spirit; but God generated that Logos without the Virgin or any one else +than God, and thus the Logos exists. + +II. The Logos was greater than Christ. Christ became greater through +Wisdom, that we might not overthrow the dignity of Wisdom. + +III. In order that the Anointed, who was from David, might not be a +stranger to Wisdom, and that Wisdom might not dwell so largely in another. +For it was in the prophets, and more in Moses, and in many the Lord was, +but more also in Christ as in a temple. For Jesus Christ was one and the +Logos was another. + +IV. He who appeared was not Wisdom, for He could not be found in an +outward form, neither in the appearance of a man; for He is greater than +all things visible. + + +(_e_) Paul of Samosata, _Orationes ad Sabinum_, Routh, _op. cit._, III, +329. + + + The doctrine of Paul. + + + Paul's work addressed to Sabinus has perished with the exception + of a few fragments. See Routh, _op. cit._ + + +I. Thou shouldest not wonder that the Saviour had one will with God; for +just as nature shows us a substance becoming one and the same out of many +things, so the nature of love makes one and the same will out of many +through a manifest preference. + +II. He who was born holy and righteous, having by His struggle and +sufferings overcome the sin of our progenitors, and having succeeded in +all things, was united in character to God, since He had preserved one and +the same effort and aim as He for the promotion of things that are good; +and since He has preserved this inviolate, His name is called that above +every name, the prize of love having been freely bestowed upon Him. + + +(_f_) Epiphanius, _Panarion_, _Haer._ LXV. (MSG, 42:12.) + + + The doctrine of Paul of Samosata. + + + Epiphanius was bishop of Salamis, 367-403. His works are chiefly + polemical and devoted to the refutation of all heresies, of which + he gives accounts at some length. He is a valuable, though not + always reliable, source for many otherwise unknown heresies. In + the present case we have passages from Paul's own writings that + confirm and supplement the statements of the hereseologist. + + +He [Paul of Samosata] says that God the Father and the Son and the Holy +Spirit are one God, that in God is always His Word and His Spirit, as in a +man's heart is his own reason; that the Son of God does not exist in a +hypostasis, but in God himself.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} That the Logos came and dwelt in Jesus, +who was a man. And thus he says God is one, neither is the Father the +Father, nor the Son the Son, nor the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit, but +rather the one God is Father and in Him is his Son, as the reason is in a +man.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But he did not say with Noetus that the Father suffered, but only, +said he, the Logos came and energized and went back to the Father. + + +(_g_) Methodius of Olympus, _Symposium_, III, 4, 8. (MSG, 18:65, 73.) + + + The theology of Origen was not suffered to go without being + challenged by those who could not accept some of his extreme + statements. Among those opposed to him were Peter, bishop of + Alexandria, and Methodius, bishop of Olympus. Both were strongly + influenced by Origen, but the denial of a bodily resurrection and + the eternity of the creation were too offensive. The more + important of the two is Methodius, who combined a strong + anti-Origenistic position on these two points with that + "recapitulation" theory of redemption which has been called the + Asia Minor type of theology and is represented also by Irenaeus; + see above, § 27. He has been called the author of the "theology of + the future," with reference to his relation to Athanasius, in that + he laid the foundation for a doctrine of redemption which + superseded that of the old Alexandrian school, and became + established in the East under the lead of Athanasius and the + Nicene divines generally. + + + Methodius was bishop of Olympus, in Lycia. The statements that he + also held other sees are unreliable. He died in 311 as a martyr. + Nothing else is known with certainty as to his life. Of his + numerous and well-written works, only one, _The Banquet_, or + _Symposium_, has been preserved entire. His work _On the + Resurrection_ is most strongly opposed to Origen and his denial of + the bodily resurrection. + + +Ch. 4. For let us consider how rightly he [Paul] compared Adam to Christ, +not only considering him to be the type and image, but also that Christ +Himself became the very same thing, because the Eternal Word fell upon +Him. For it was fitting that the first-born of God, the first shoot, the +Only begotten, even the Wisdom [of God], should be joined to the +first-formed man, and first and first-born of men, and should become +incarnate. And this was Christ, a man filled with the pure and perfect +Godhead, and God received into man. For it was most suitable that the +oldest of the AEons and the first of the archangels, when about to hold +communion with men, should dwell in the oldest and first of men, even +Adam. And thus, renovating those things which were from the beginning, and +forming them again of the Virgin by the Spirit, He frames the same just as +at the beginning. + +Ch. 8. The Church could not conceive believers and give them new birth by +the laver of regeneration unless Christ, emptying Himself for their sakes, +that He might be contained by them, as I said, through the recapitulation +of His passion, should die again, coming down from heaven, and, being +"joined to His wife," the Church, should provide that a certain power be +taken from His side, so that all who are built up in Him should grow up, +even those who are born again by the laver, receiving of His bones and of +His flesh; that is, of His holiness and of His glory. For he who says that +the bones and flesh of Wisdom are understanding and virtue, says most +rightly; and that the side [rib] is the Spirit of truth, the Paraclete, of +whom the illuminated [_i.e._, baptized], receiving, are fitly born again +to incorruption. + + +(_h_) Methodius of Olympus, _De Resurrect._, I, 13. (MSG, 18:284.) + + +_De Resur._, I, 13.(76) If any one were to think that the earthly image is +the flesh itself, but the heavenly image is some other spiritual body +besides the flesh, let him first consider that Christ, the heavenly man, +when He appeared, bore the same form of limbs and the same image of flesh +as ours, through which, also, He, who was not man, became man, that, "as +in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." For if it was +not that he might set the flesh free and raise it up that He bore flesh, +why did He bear flesh superfluously, as He purposed neither to save it nor +to raise it up? But the Son of God does nothing superfluous. He did not +take, then, the form of a servant uselessly, but to raise it up and save +it. For He was truly made man, and died, and not in appearance, but that +He might truly be shown to be the first begotten from the dead, changing +the earthly into the heavenly, and the mortal into the immortal. + + +§ 49. The Development of the Cultus + + +The Church's cultus and sacramental system developed rapidly in the third +century. The beginnings of the administration of the sacraments according +to prescribed forms are to be traced to the Didache and Justin Martyr (see +above, §§ 13, 14). At the beginning of the third century baptism was +already accompanied by a series of subsidiary rites, and the eucharist was +regarded as a sacrifice, the benefit of which might be directed toward +specific ends. The further development was chiefly in connection with the +eucharist, which effected in turn the conception of the hierarchy (see +below, § 50). Baptism was regarded as conferring complete remission of +previous sins; subsequent sins were atoned for in the penitential +discipline (see above, § 42). As for the eucharist, the conception of the +sacrifice which appears in the Didache, an offering of praise and +thanksgiving, gradually gives place to a sacrifice which in some way +partakes of the nature of Christ's sacrificial death upon the cross. At +the same time, the elements are more and more completely identified with +the body and blood of Christ, and the nature of the presence of Christ is +conceived under quasi-physical categories. As representatives of the lines +of development, Tertullian, at the beginning of the century, and Cyprian, +at the middle, may be taken. That a similar development took place in the +East is evident, not only from the references to the same in the writings +of Origen and others, but also from the appearance in the next century of +elaborate services, or liturgies, as well as the doctrinal statements of +writers generally. + + +(_a_) Tertullian, _De Corona_, 3. (MSL, 2:98.) + + + The ceremonies connected with baptism. + + +And how long shall we draw the saw to and fro through this line when we +have an ancient practice which by anticipation has settled the state of +the question? If no passage of Scripture has prescribed it, assuredly +custom, which without doubt flowed from tradition, has confirmed it. For +how can anything come into use if it has not first been handed down? Even +in pleading tradition written authority, you say, must be demanded. Let us +inquire, therefore, whether tradition, unless it be written, should not be +admitted. Certainly we shall say that it ought not to be admitted if no +cases of other practices which, without any written instrument, we +maintain on the ground of tradition alone, and the countenance thereafter +of custom, affords us any precedent. To deal with this matter briefly, I +shall begin with baptism. When we are going to enter the water, but a +little before, in the church and under the hand of the president, we +solemnly profess that we renounce the devil, and his pomp, and his angels. +Hereupon we are thrice immersed, making a somewhat ampler pledge than the +Lord has appointed in the Gospel. Then, when we are taken up (as new-born +children), we taste first of all a mixture of milk and honey; and from +that day we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week. We take also in +congregations, before daybreak, and from the hands of none but the +presidents, the sacrament of the eucharist, which the Lord both commanded +to be eaten at meal-times, and by all. On the anniversary day we make +offerings for the dead as birthday honors. We consider fasting on the +Lord's Day to be unlawful, as also to worship kneeling. We rejoice in the +same privilege from Easter to Pentecost. We feel pained should any wine or +bread, even though our own, be cast upon the ground. At every forward step +and movement, at every going in and going out, when we put on our shoes, +at the bath, at table, on lighting the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all +the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign +[_i.e._, of the cross]. + + +(_b_) Tertullian, _De Baptismo_, 5-8. (MSL, 1:1314.) + + + The whole passage should be read as showing clearly that + Tertullian recognized the similarity between Christian baptism and + heathen purifying washings, but referred the effects of the + heathen rites to evil powers, quite in harmony with the Christian + admission of the reality of heathen divinities as evil powers and + heathen exorcisms as wrought by the aid of evil spirits. + + +Ch. 5. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Thus man will be restored by God to His likeness, for he formerly +had been after the image of God; the image is counted being in His form +[_in effigie_], the likeness in His eternity [_in aeternitate_]. For he +receives that Spirit of God which he had then received from His afflatus, +but afterward lost through sin. + +Ch. 6. Not that in the waters we obtain the Holy Spirit, but in the water, +under (the witness of angels) we are cleansed and prepared for the Holy +Spirit.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 7. After this, when we have issued from the font, we are thoroughly +anointed with a blessed unction according to the ancient discipline, +wherein on entering the priesthood men were accustomed to be anointed with +oil from a horn, wherefore Aaron was anointed by Moses.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Thus, too, in our +case the unction runs carnally, but profits spiritually; in the same way +as the act of baptism itself is carnal, in that we are plunged in the +water, but the effect spiritual, in that we are freed from sins. + +Ch. 8. In the next place, the hand is laid upon us, invoking and inviting +the Holy Spirit through benediction.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But this, as well as the former, is +derived from the old sacramental rite in which Jacob blessed his grandsons +born of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasses; with his hands laid on them and +interchanged, and indeed so transversely slanted the one over the other +that, by delineating Christ, they even portended the future benediction in +Christ. [_Cf._ Gen. 48:13 _f._] + + +(_c_) Cyprian, _Ep. ad Caecilium, Ep. 63_, 13-17. (MSL, 4:395.) + + + The eucharist. + + + Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus, bishop of Carthage, was born about + 200, and became bishop in 248 or 249. His doctrinal position is a + development of that of Tertullian, beside whom he may be placed as + one of the founders of the characteristic theology of North + Africa. His discussion of the place and authority of the bishop in + the ecclesiastical system was of fundamental importance in the + development of the theory of the hierarchy, though it may be + questioned whether his particular theory of the relation of the + bishops to each other ever was realized in the Church. For his + course during the Decian persecution see §§ 45, 46. He died about + 258, in the persecution under Valerian. + + + In the epistle from which the following extract is taken Cyprian + writes to Caecilius to point out that it is wrong to use merely + water in the eucharist, and that wine mixed with water should be + used, for in all respects we do exactly what Christ did at the + Last Supper when he instituted the eucharist. In the course of the + letter, which is of some length, Cyprian takes occasion to set + forth his conception of the eucharistic sacrifice, which is a + distinct advance upon Tertullian. The date of the letter is about + 253. + + +Ch. 13. Because Christ bore us all, in that He also bore our sins, we see +that in the water is understood the people, but in the wine is showed the +blood of Christ. But when in the cup the water is mingled with the wine +the people is made one with Christ, and the assembly of believers is +associated and conjoined with Him on whom it believes; which association +and conjunction of water and wine is so mingled in the Lord's cup that +that mixture cannot be separated any more. Whence, moreover, nothing can +separate the Church--that is, the people established in the Church, +faithfully and firmly continuing in that in which they have believed--from +Christ in such a way as to prevent their undivided love from always +abiding and adhering. Thus, therefore, in consecrating the cup water alone +should not be offered to the Lord, even as wine alone should not be +offered. For if wine only is offered, the blood of Christ begins to be +without us.(77) But if the water alone be offered, the people begin to be +without Christ, but when both are mingled and are joined to each other by +an intermixed union, then the spiritual and heavenly sacrament is +completed. Thus the cup of the Lord is not, indeed, water alone, nor wine +alone, nor unless each be mingled with the other; just as, on the other +hand, the body of the Lord cannot be flour alone or water alone, nor +unless both should be united and joined together and compacted into the +mass of one bread: in which sacrament our people are shown to be one; so +that in like manner as many grains are collected and ground and mixed +together into one mass and made one bread, so in Christ, who is the +heavenly bread, we may know that there is one body with which our number +is joined and united. + +Ch. 14. There is, then, no reason, dearest brother, for any one to think +that the custom of certain persons is to be followed, who in times past +have thought that water alone should be offered in the cup of the Lord. +For we must inquire whom they themselves have followed. For if in the +sacrifice which Christ offered none is to be followed but Christ, we ought +certainly to obey and do what Christ did, and what He commanded to be +done, since He himself says in the Gospel: "If ye do whatsoever I command +you, henceforth I call you not servants, but friends" [John 15:14 _f._].{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +If Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, is Himself the chief priest of God the +Father, and has first offered Himself a sacrifice to the Father, and has +commanded this to be done in commemoration of Himself, certainly that +priest truly acts in the place of Christ who imitates what Christ did; and +he then offers a true and full sacrifice in the Church of God to God the +Father when he proceeds to offer it according to what he sees Christ +himself to have offered. + +Ch. 15. But the discipline of all religion and truth is overturned unless +what is spiritually prescribed be faithfully observed; unless, indeed, any +one should fear in the morning sacrifices lest the taste of wine should be +redolent of the blood of Christ.(78) Therefore, thus the brotherhood is +beginning to be kept back from the passion of Christ in persecutions by +learning in the offerings to be disturbed concerning His blood and His +blood-shedding.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But how can we shed our blood for Christ who blush to +drink the blood of Christ? + +Ch. 16. Does any one perchance flatter himself with this reflection--that, +although in the morning water alone is seen to be offered, yet when we +come to supper we offer the mingled cup? But when we sup, we cannot call +the people together for our banquet that we may celebrate the truth of the +sacrament in the presence of the entire brotherhood. But still it was not +in the morning, but after supper that the Lord offered the mingled cup. +Ought we, then, to celebrate the Lord's cup after supper, that so by +continual repetition of the Lord's Supper we may offer the mingled cup? It +was necessary that Christ should offer about the evening of the day, that +the very hour of sacrifice might show the setting and the evening of the +world as it is written in Exodus: "And all the people of the synagogue of +the children of Israel shall kill it in the evening."(79) And again in the +Psalms: "Let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice."(80) But +we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord in the morning. + +Ch. 17. And because we make mention of His passion in all sacrifices (for +the Lord's passion is the sacrifice which we offer), we ought to do +nothing else than what He did. For the Scripture says: "For as often as ye +eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lord's death till +He come."(81) As often, therefore, as we offer the cup in commemoration of +the Lord and His passion, let us do what it is known the Lord did. + + +§ 50. The Episcopate in the Church + + +The greatest name connected with the development of the hierarchical +conception of the Church in the third century is without question Cyprian +(see § 49). He developed the conception of the episcopate beyond the point +it had reached in the hands of Tertullian, to whom the institution was +important primarily as a guardian of the deposit of faith and a pledge of +the continuity of the Church. In the hands of Cyprian the episcopate +became the essential foundation of the Church. According to his theory of +the office, every bishop was the peer of every other bishop and had the +same duties to his diocese and to the Church as a whole as every other +bishop. No bishop had any more than a moral authority over any other. Only +the whole body of bishops, or the council, could bring anything more than +moral authority to bear upon an offending prelate. The constitution of the +council was not as yet defined. In several points the ecclesiastical +theories of Cyprian were not followed by the Church as a whole, notably +his opinion regarding heretical baptism (see § 47), but his main +contention as to the importance of the episcopate for the very existence +(_esse_), and not the mere welfare (_bene esse_), of the Church was +universally accepted. His theory of the equality of all bishops was a +survival of an earlier period, and represented little more than his +personal ideal. The following sections should also be consulted in this +connection. + + + Additional source material: Cyprian deals with the hierarchical + constitution in almost every epistle; see, however, especially the + following: 26:1 [33:1], 51:24 [55:24], 54:5 [59:5], 64:3 [3:3], + 72:21 [73:21], 74:16 [75:16] (important for the testimony of + Firmilian as to the hierarchical ideas in the East). _Serapion's + Prayer Book_, trans. by J. Wordsworth, 1899. + + +(_a_) Cyprian, _Epistula 68_, 8 [=66]. (MSL, 4:418.) + + +Although a rebellious and arrogant multitude of those who will not obey +depart, yet the Church does not depart from Christ; and they are the +Church who are a people united to the priest, and the flock which adheres +to its pastor. Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church +and the Church in the bishop; and that if any one be not with the bishop, +he is not in the Church, and that those flatter themselves in vain who +creep in, not having peace with God's priests, and think that they +communicate secretly with some; while the Church, which is Catholic and +one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed connected and bound together by +the cement of the priests who cohere with one another. + + +(_b_) Council of Carthage, A. D. 256. (MSL, 3:1092.) + + + The council of Carthage, in 256, was held, under the presidency of + Cyprian, to act on the question of baptism by heretics. See § 52. + Eighty-seven bishops were present. The full report of proceedings + is to be found in the works of Cyprian. See ANF, V, 565, and + Hefele, § 6. The theory of Cyprian which is here expressed is that + all bishops are equal and independent, as opposed to the Roman + position taken by Stephen, and that the individual bishop is + responsible only to God. + + +Cyprian said: {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} It remains that upon this matter each of us should bring +forward what he thinks, judging no man, nor rejecting from the right of +communion, if he should think differently. For neither does any one of us +set himself up as a bishop of bishops, nor by tyrannical terrors does any +one compel his colleagues to the necessity of obedience; since every +bishop, according to the allowance of his liberty and power, has his own +proper right of judgment, and can no more be judged by another than he +himself can judge another. But let us all wait for the judgment of our +Lord Jesus Christ, who alone has the power of advancing us in the +government of His Church, and of judging us in our conduct here. + + +(_c_) Cyprian, _Epistula_ 67:5. (MSL, 3:1064.) + + + The following epistle was written to clergy and people in Spain, + _i.e._, at Leon, Astorga, and Merida, in regard to the ordination + of two bishops, Sabinus and Felix, in place of Basilides and + Martial, who had lapsed in the persecution and had been deprived + of their sees. The passage illustrates the methods of election and + ordination of bishops, and the failure of Cyprian, with his theory + of the episcopate, to recognize in the see of Rome any + jurisdiction over other bishops. Its date appears to be about 257. + + +You must diligently observe and keep the practice delivered from divine +tradition and apostolic observance, which is also maintained among us, and +throughout almost all the provinces: that for the proper celebration of +ordinations all the neighboring bishops of the same province should +assemble with that people for which a prelate is ordained. And the bishops +should be chosen in the presence of the people, who have most fully known +the life of each one, and have looked into the doings of each one as +respects his manner of life. And this also, we see, was done by you in the +ordination of our colleague Sabinus; so that, by the suffrage of the whole +brotherhood, and by the sentence of the bishops who had assembled in their +presence, and who had written letters to you concerning him, the +episcopate was conferred upon him, and hands were imposed on him in the +place of Basilides. Neither can an ordination properly completed be +annulled, so that Basilides, after his crimes had been discovered and his +conscience made bare, even by his own confession, might go to Rome and +deceive Stephen, our colleague, who was placed at a distance and was +ignorant of what had been done, so as to bring it about that he might be +replaced unjustly in the episcopate from which he had been justly deposed. + + +§ 51. The Unity of the Church and the See of Rome + + +In the middle of the third century there were in sharp conflict two +distinct and opposed theories of Church unity: the theory that the unity +was based upon adherence to and conformity with the see of Peter; and the +theory that the episcopate was itself one, and that each bishop shared +equally in it. The unity was either in one see or in the less tangible +unity of an order of the hierarchy. The former was the theory of the Roman +bishops; the latter, the theory of Cyprian of Carthage, and possibly of a +number of other ecclesiastics in North Africa and Asia Minor. Formerly +polemical theology made the study of this point difficult, at least with +anything like impartiality. In the passage given below from Cyprian's +treatise _On the Unity of the Catholic Church_ the text of the Jesuit +Father Kirch is followed in the most difficult and interpolated chapter 4. +As Father Kirch gives the text it is perfectly consistent with the theory +of Cyprian as he has elsewhere stated it, and that the interpolated text +is not. See, however, P. Battifol, _Primitive Catholicism_, Lond., 1911, +Excursus E. + + + Additional source material: _V. supra_, § 27; also Mirbt, §§ + 56-69. The little treatise _De Aleatoribus_ (MSL, 4: 827), from + which Mirbt gives an extract (n. 71), might be cited in this + connection, but its force depends upon its origin. It is wholly + uncertain that it was written either by a bishop of Rome or in + Italy. _Cf._ Bardenhewer. Kirch also gives the text in part, n. + 276; for other references, see Kirch. + + +(_a_) Cyprian, _De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate_, 4, 5. (MSL, 4:513.) + + + The tract entitled _On the Unity of the Catholic Church_ is the + most famous of Cyprian's works. As the theory there developed is + opposed to that which became dominant, and as Cyprian was regarded + as the great upholder of the Church's constitution, interpolations + were early made in the text which seriously distort the sense. + These interpolations are to-day abandoned by all scholars. The + best critical edition of the works of Cyprian is by W. von Hartel + in the CSEL, but critical texts of the following passage with + references to literature and indication of interpolations may be + found in Mirbt (Prot.), n. 52, and in Kirch (R. C.), n. 234 + (chapter 4 only). + + +Ch. 4. The Lord speaks to Peter, saying: "I say unto thee, that thou art +Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell +shall not prevail against it. I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of +Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in +heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed also in +heaven" (Matt. 16:18, 19). [To the same He says after His resurrection: +"Feed my sheep" (John 21:15). Upon him He builds His Church, and to him He +commits His sheep to be fed, and although. _Interpolation._] Upon one he +builds the Church, although also to all the Apostles after His +resurrection He gives an equal power and says, "As the Father has sent me, +I also send you: receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye retain, +they shall be retained" (John 20:21); yet, that He might show the unity, +[He founded one see. _Interpolation._] He arranged by His authority the +origin of that unity as beginning from one. Assuredly the rest of the +Apostles were also what Peter was, with a like partnership both of honor +and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity [and the primacy is given +to Peter. _Interpolation._], that there might be shown to be one Church of +Christ [and one see. And they are all shepherds, but the flock is shown to +be one which is fed by the Apostles with unanimous consent. +_Interpolation._]. Which one Church the Holy Spirit also in the Song of +Songs designates in the person of the Lord and says: "My dove, my spotless +one, is but one. She is the only one of her mother, chosen of her that +bare her" (Cant. 6:9). Does he who does not hold this unity of the Church +[unity of Peter. _Corrupt reading._] think that he holds the faith? Does +he who strives against and resists the Church [who deserts the chair of +Peter. _Interpolation._] trust that he is in the Church, when, moreover, +the blessed Apostle Paul teaches the same things and sets forth the +sacrament of unity, saying, "There is one body and one spirit, one hope of +your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God"? (Eph. 4:4.) + +Ch. 5. And this unity we ought to hold firmly and assert, especially we +bishops who preside in the Church, that we may prove the episcopate itself +to be one and undivided. Let no one deceive the brotherhood by a +falsehood; let no one corrupt the truth by a perfidious prevarication. The +episcopate is one, each part of which is held by each one in its entirety. +The Church, also, is one which is spread abroad far and wide into a +multitude by an increase of fruitfulness. As there are many rays of the +sun, but one light, and many branches of a tree, but one strength based +upon its tenacious root, and since from one spring flow many streams, +although the multiplicity seems diffused in the liberality of an +overflowing abundance, yet the unity is still preserved in its source. + + +(_b_) Firmilian of Caeesarea, _Ep. ad Cyprianum_, in Cyprian, _Ep. 74_ +[=75]. (MSL, 3:1024.) + + + The matter in dispute was the rebaptism of those heretics who had + received baptism before they conformed to the Church. See § 52. It + was the burning question after the rise of the Novatian sect. + Stephen, bishop of Rome (254-257), had excommunicated a number of + churches and bishops, among them probably Cyprian himself. See the + epistle of Dionysius to Sixtus of Rome, the successor of Stephen, + in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VII, 5. "He" (Stephen) therefore had + written previously concerning Helenus and Firmilianus and all + those in Cilicia, Cappadocia, Galatia, and the neighboring + countries, saying that he would not communicate with them for this + same cause: namely, that they rebaptized heretics. This attitude + of Stephen roused no little resentment in the East, as is shown by + the indignant tone of Firmilian, who recognizes no authority in + Rome. The text may be found in Mirbt, n. 74, and in part in Kirch, + n. 274. The epistle of Firmilian is to be found among the epistles + of Cyprian, to whom it was written. + + +Ch. 2. We may in this matter give thanks to Stephen that it has now +happened through his unkindness [inhumanity] that we receive proof of your +faith and wisdom. + +Ch. 3. But let these things which were done by Stephen be passed by for +the present, lest, while we remember his audacity and pride, we bring a +more lasting sadness on ourselves from the things he has wickedly done. + +Ch. 6. That they who are at Rome do not observe those things in all cases +which have been handed down from the beginning, and vainly pretend the +authority of the Apostles, any one may know; also, from the fact that +concerning the celebration of the day of Easter, and concerning many other +sacraments of divine matters, one may see that there are some diversities +among them, and that all things are not observed there alike which are +observed at Jerusalem; just as in very many other provinces also many +things are varied because of the difference of places and names, yet on +this account there is no departure at all from the peace and unity of the +Catholic Church. And this departure Stephen has now dared to make; +breaking the peace against you, which his predecessors have always kept +with you in mutual love and honor, even herein defaming Peter and Paul, +the blessed Apostles, as if the very men delivered this who in their +epistles execrated heretics and warned us to avoid them. Whence it appears +that this tradition is human which maintains heretics, and asserts that +they have baptism, which belongs to the Church alone. + +Ch. 17. And in this respect I am justly indignant at this so open and +manifest folly of Stephen, that he who so boasts of the place of his +episcopate and contends that he holds the succession of Peter, on whom the +foundation of the Church was laid, should introduce many other rocks and +establish new buildings of many churches, maintaining that there is a +baptism in them by his authority; for those who are baptized, without +doubt, make up the number of the Church.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Stephen, who announces that he +holds by succession the throne of Peter, is stirred with no zeal against +heretics, when he concedes to them, not a moderate, but the very greatest +power of grace. + +Ch. 19. This, indeed, you Africans are able to say against Stephen, that +when you knew the truth you forsook the error of custom. But we join +custom to truth, and to the Romans' custom we oppose custom, but the +custom of truth, holding from the beginning that which was delivered by +Christ and the Apostles. Nor do we remember that this at any time began +among us, since it has always been observed here, that we have known none +but one Church of God, and have accounted no baptism holy except that of +the holy Church. + +Ch. 24. Consider with what want of judgment you dare to blame those who +strive for the truth against falsehood.(82) {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} For how many strifes and +dissensions have you stirred up throughout the churches of the whole +world! Moreover, how great sin have you heaped up for yourself, when you +cut yourself off from so many flocks! For it is yourself that you have cut +off. Do not deceive yourself, since he is really the schismatic who has +made himself an apostate from the communion of ecclesiastical unity. For +while you think that all may be excommunicated by you, you have alone +excommunicated yourself from all; and not even the precepts of an Apostle +have been able to mould you to the rule of truth and peace.(83) + +Ch. 25. How carefully has Stephen fulfilled these salutary commands and +warnings of the Apostle, keeping in the first place lowliness of mind and +meekness! For what is more lowly or meek than to have disagreed with so +many bishops throughout the whole world, breaking peace with each one of +them in various kinds of discord: at one time with the Easterns, as we are +sure is not unknown to you; at another time with you who are in the south, +from whom he received bishops as messengers sufficiently patiently and +meekly as not to receive them even to the speech of common conference; +and, even more, so unmindful of love and charity as to command the whole +brotherhood that no one should receive them into his house, so that not +only peace and communion, but also a shelter and entertainment were denied +to them when they came. This is to have kept the unity of the Spirit in +the bond of peace, to cut himself off from the unity of love, and to make +himself a stranger in all things to his brethren, and to rebel against the +sacrament and the faith with the madness of contumacious discord.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Stephen +is not ashamed to afford patronage to such a position in the Church, and +for the sake of maintaining heretics to divide the brotherhood; and, in +addition, to call Cyprian a false Christ, and a false Apostle, and a +deceitful worker, and he, conscious that all these characters are for +himself, has been in advance of you by falsely objecting to another those +things which he himself ought to bear. + + +§ 52. Controversy over Baptism by Heretics + + +In the great persecutions schisms arose in connection with the +administration of discipline (_cf._ § 46). The schismatics held in general +the same faith as the main body of Christians. Were the sacraments they +administered to be regarded, then, as valid in such a sense that when they +conformed to the Catholic Church, which they frequently did, they need not +be baptized, having once been validly baptized; or should their schismatic +baptism be regarded as invalid and they be required to receive baptism on +conforming if they had not previously been baptized within the Church? Was +baptism outside the unity of the Church valid? Rome answered in the +affirmative, admitting conforming schismatics without distinguishing as to +where they had been baptized; North Africa answered in the negative and +required not, indeed, a second baptism, but claimed that the Church's +baptism was alone valid, and that if the person conforming had been +baptized in schism he had not been baptized at all. This view was shared +by at least some churches in Asia Minor (_cf._ § 51, _b_), and possibly +elsewhere. It became the basis of the Donatist position (_cf._ § 62), +which schism shared with the Novatian schism the opinion, generally +rejected by the Church, that the validity of a sacrament depended upon the +spiritual condition of the minister of the sacrament, _e.g._, whether he +was in schism or not. + + + Additional source material: Seventh Council of Carthage (ANF, vol. + V); Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VII, 7:4-6; Augustine, _De Baptismo + contra Donatistas_, Bk. III (PNF, ser. I, vol. IV). + + +(_a_) Cyprian, _Ep. ad Jubianum_, _Ep._ 73, 7 [=72]. (MSL, 3:1159, 168.) + + + A portion of this epistle may be found in Mirbt, n. 70. + + +Ch. 7. It is manifest where and by whom the remission of sins can be +given, _i.e._, that remission which is given by baptism. For first of all +the Lord gave the power to Peter, upon whom He built the Church, and +whence he appointed and showed the source of unity, the power, namely, +that that should be loosed in heaven which he loosed on earth [John 20:21 +quoted]. When we perceive that only they who are set over the Church and +established in the Gospel law and in the ordinance of the Lord are allowed +to baptize and to give remission of sins, we see that outside of the +Church nothing can be bound or loosed, for there there is no one who can +either bind or loose anything. + +Ch. 21. Can the power of baptism be greater or of more avail than +confession, than suffering when one confesses Christ before men, and is +baptized in his own blood? And yet, even this baptism does not benefit a +heretic, although he has confessed Christ and been put to death outside +the Church, unless the patrons and advocates of heretics [_i.e._, those +whom Cyprian is opposing] declare that the heretics who are slain in a +false confession of Christ are martyrs, and assign to them the glory and +the crown of martyrdom contrary to the testimony of the Apostle, who says +that it will profit them nothing although they are burned and slain. But +if not even the baptism of a public confession and blood can profit a +heretic to salvation, because there is no salvation outside of the Church, +how much less shall it benefit him if, in a hiding-place and a cave of +robbers stained with the contagion of adulterous waters, he has not only +not put off his old sins, but rather heaped up still newer and greater +ones! Wherefore baptism cannot be common to us and to heretics, to whom +neither God the Father nor Christ the Son, nor the Holy Ghost, nor the +faith, nor the Church itself is common. And wherefore they ought to be +baptized who come from heresy to the Church, so that they who are prepared +and receive the lawful and true and only baptism of the holy Church, by +divine regeneration for the kingdom of God may be born of both sacraments, +because it is written: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, +he cannot enter the kingdom of God" [John 3:5]. + +Ch. 26. These things, dearest brother, we have briefly written to you +according to our modest abilities, prescribing to none and prejudging +none, so as to prevent any one of the bishops doing what he thinks well, +and having the free exercise of his judgment. + + +(_b_) Cyprian, _Ep. ad Magnum_, _Ep._ 75 [=69]. (MSL, 3:1183.) _Cf._ +Mirbt, n. 67. + + +With your usual diligence you have consulted my poor intelligence, dearest +son, as to whether, among other heretics, they also who come from Novatian +ought, after his profane washing, to be baptized and sanctified in the +Catholic Church, with the lawful, true, and only baptism of the Church. In +answer to this question, as much as the capacity of my faith and the +sanctity and truth of the divine Scriptures suggest, I say that no +heretics and schismatics at all have any right to power. For which reason +Novatian, since he is without the Church and is acting in opposition to +the peace and love of Christ, neither ought to be, nor can be, omitted +from being counted among the adversaries and antichrists. For our Lord +Jesus Christ, when He declared in His Gospel that those who were not with +Him were His adversaries, did not point out any species of heresy, but +showed that all who were not with Him, and who were not gathering with +Him, were scattering His flock, and were His adversaries, saying: "He that +is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me +scattereth" [Luke 11:23]. Moreover, the blessed Apostle John distinguished +no heresy or schism, neither did he set down any specially separated, but +he called all who had gone out from the Church, and who acted in +opposition to the Church, antichrists, saying, "Ye have heard that +Antichrist cometh, and even now are come many antichrists; wherefore we +know that this is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not +of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us" [I +John 2:18 _f._]. Whence it appears that all are adversaries of the Lord +and are antichrists who are known to have departed from the charity and +from the unity of the Catholic Church. + + +§ 53. The Beginnings of Monasticism + + +Asceticism in some form is common to almost all religions. It was +practised extensively in early Christianity and ascetics of both sexes +were numerous. This asceticism, in addition to a life largely devoted to +prayer and fasting, was marked by refraining from marriage. But these +ascetics lived in close relations with those who were non-ascetics. +Monasticism is an advance upon this earlier asceticism in that it attempts +to create, apart from non-ascetics, a social order composed only of +ascetics in which the ascetic ideals may be more successfully realized. +The transition was made by the hermit life in which the ascetic lived +alone in deserts and other solitudes. This became monasticism by the union +of ascetics for mutual spiritual aid. This advance is associated with St. +Anthony. See also Pachomius, in § 77. + + + Additional source material: Pseudo-Clement. _De Virginitate_ (ANF, + VIII, 53); Methodius, _Symposium_ (ANF, VI, 309); the _Lausiac + History of Palladius_, E. C. Butler, _Texts and Studies_, + Cambridge, 1898; _Paradise, or Garden of the Holy Fathers_, trans. + by E. A. W. Budge, London, 1907. + + +Athanasius, _Vita S. Antonii_, 2-4, 44. (MSG, 26:844, 908.) + + + Anthony, although not the first hermit, gave such an impetus to + the ascetic life and did so much to bring about some union of + ascetics that he has been popularly regarded as the founder of + monasticism. He died 356, at the age of one hundred and five. His + _Life_, by St. Athanasius, although formerly attacked, is a + genuine, and, on the whole, trustworthy account of this remarkable + man. It was written either 357 or 365, and was translated into + Latin by Evagrius of Antioch (died 393). Everywhere it roused the + greatest enthusiasm for monasticism. The _Life of St. Paul of + Thebes_, by St. Jerome, is of very different character, and of no + historical value. + + +Ch. 2. After the death of his parents, Anthony was left alone with one +little sister. He was about eighteen or twenty years old, and on him +rested the care of both the home and his sister. Now it happened not six +months after the death of his parents, and when he was going, according to +custom, into the Lord's house, and was communing with himself, that he +reflected as he walked how the Apostles left all and followed the Saviour, +and how, in the Acts, men sold their possessions and brought and laid them +at the Apostles' feet for distribution to the needy, and what and how +great a hope was laid up for them in heaven. While he was reflecting on +these things he entered the church, and it happened that at that time the +Gospel was being read, and he heard the Lord say to the rich man: "If thou +wouldest be perfect, go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor; and +come and follow me and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Anthony, as +though God had put him in mind of the saints and the passage had been read +on his account, went out straightway from the Lord's house, and gave the +possessions which he had from his forefathers to the villagers--they were +three hundred acres, productive and very fair--that they should be no more +a clog upon himself and his sister. And all the rest that was movable he +sold, and, having got together much money, he gave it to the poor, +reserving a little, however, for his sister's sake. + +Ch. 3. And again as he went into the Lord's house, and hearing the Lord +say in the Gospel, "Be not anxious for the morrow," he could stay no +longer, but went and gave also those things to the poor. He then committed +his sister to known and faithful virgins, putting her in a convent +[_parthenon_], to be brought up, and henceforth he devoted himself outside +his house to ascetic discipline, taking heed to himself and training +himself patiently. For there were not yet many monasteries in Egypt, and +no monk at all knew of the distant desert; but every one of those who +wished to give heed to themselves practised the ascetic discipline in +solitude near his own village. Now there was in the next village an old +man who had lived from his youth the life of a hermit. Anthony, after he +had seen this man, imitated him in piety. And at first he began to abide +in places outside the village. Then, if he heard of any good man anywhere, +like the prudent bee, he went forth and sought him, nor did he turn back +to his own place until he had seen him; and he returned, having got from +the good man supplies, as it were, for his journey in the way of virtue. +So dwelling there at first, he steadfastly held to his purpose not to +return to the abode of his parents or to the remembrance of his kinsfolk; +but to keep all his desire and energy for the perfecting of his +discipline. He worked, however, with his hands, having heard that "he who +is idle, let him not eat," and part he spent on bread and part he gave to +the needy. And he prayed constantly, because he had learned that a man +ought to pray in secret unceasingly. For he had given such heed to what +was read that none of those things that were written fell from him to the +ground; for he remembered all, and afterward his memory served him for +books. + +Ch. 4. Thus conducting himself, Anthony was beloved by all. He subjected +himself in sincerity to the good men he visited, and learned thoroughly +wherein each surpassed him in zeal and discipline. He observed the +graciousness of one, the unceasing prayer of another; he took knowledge of +one's freedom from anger, and another's kindliness; he gave heed to one as +he watched, to another as he studied; one he admired for his endurance, +another for his fasting and sleeping on the ground; he watched the +meekness of one, and the long-suffering of another; and at the same time +he noted the piety toward Christ and the mutual love which animated all. + + + Athanasius describes Anthony's removal to the desert and the + coming of disciples to him, and weaves into his narrative, in the + form of a speech, a long account of the discipline laid down, + probably by Anthony himself, chs. 16-43. It is to this long speech + that the opening words of the following section refers. + + +Ch. 44. While Anthony was thus speaking all rejoiced; in some the love of +virtue increased, in others carelessness was thrown aside, the +self-conceit of others was stopped; and all were persuaded to despise the +assaults of the Evil One, and marvelled at the grace given Anthony from +the Lord for the discerning of spirits. So their cells were in the +mountains, like tabernacles filled with holy bands of men who sang psalms, +loved reading, fasted, prayed, rejoiced in the hope of things to come, +labored in almsgiving, and maintained love and harmony with one another. +And truly it was possible to behold a land, as it were, set by itself, +filled with piety and justice. For then there was neither the evil-doer +nor the injured, nor the reproaches of the tax-gatherer; but instead a +multitude of ascetics, and the one purpose of all was to aim at virtue. So +that one beholding the cells again and seeing such good order among the +monks would lift up his voice and say: "How goodly are thy dwellings, O +Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel; as shady glens and as a garden by a river; +as tents which the Lord has pitched, and like cedars near the waters" +[Num. 24:5, 6]. + +Ch. 45. Anthony, however, returned, according to his custom, alone to his +cell, increased his discipline, and sighed daily as he thought of the +mansions of heaven, having his desire fixed on them and pondering over the +shortness of man's life. + + +§ 54. Manichaeanism + + +The last great rival religion to Christianity was Manichaeanism, the last +of the important syncretistic religions which drew from Persian and allied +sources. Its connection with Christianity was at first slight and its +affinities were with Eastern Gnosticism. After 280 it began to spread +within the Empire, and was soon opposed by the Roman authorities. Yet it +flourished, and, like other Gnostic religions, with which it is to be +classed, it assimilated more and more of Christianity, until in the time +of Augustine it seemed to many as merely a form of Christianity. On +account of its general character, it absorbed for the most part what +remained of the earlier Gnostic systems and schools. + + + Additional source material: The most important accessible works + are the so-called _Acta Archelai_ (ANF, V, 175-235), the + anti-Manichaean writings of Augustine (PNF, ser. I, vol. IV), and + Alexander of Lycopolis, _On the Manichaeans_ (ANF, VI, 239). On + Alexander of Lycopolis, see DCB. In the opinion of Bardenhewer, + Alexander was probably neither a bishop nor a Christian at all, + but a heathen and a Platonist. Roman edict against Manichaeanism in + Kirch, n. 294. + + +An Nadim, _Fihrist_. (Translation after Kessler, _Mani_, 1889.) + + + The _Fihrist_, _i.e._, Catalogue, is a sort of history of + literature made in the eleventh century by the Moslem historian An + Nadim. In spite of its late date, it is the most important + authority for the original doctrines of Mani and the facts of his + life, as it is largely made up from citations from ancient authors + and writings of Mani and his original disciples. + + +(_a_) The Life of Mani. + + +Mohammed ibn Isak says: Mani was the son of Fatak,(84) of the family of +the Chaskanier. Ecbatana is said to have been the original home of his +father, from which he emigrated to the province of Babylon. He took up his +residence in Al Madain, in a portion of the city known as Ctesiphon. In +that place was an idol's temple, and Fatak was accustomed to go into it, +as did also the other people of the place. It happened one day that a +voice sounded forth from the sacred interior of the temple, saying to him: +"Fatak, eat no flesh, drink no wine and refrain from carnal intercourse." +This was repeated to him several times on three days. When Fatak perceived +this, he joined a society of people in the neighborhood of Dastumaisan +which were known under the name of Al-Mogtasilah, _i.e._, those who wash +themselves, baptists, and of whom remnants are to be found in these parts +and in the marshy districts at the present time. These belonged to that +mode of life which Fatak had been commanded to follow. His wife was at +that time pregnant with Mani, and when she had given him birth she had, as +they say, glorious visions regarding him, and even when she was awake she +saw him taken by some one unseen, who bore him aloft into the air, and +then brought him down again; sometimes he remained even a day or two +before he came down again. Thereupon his father sent for him and had him +brought to the place where he was, and so he was brought up with him in +his religion. Mani, in spite of his youthful age, spake words of wisdom. +After he had completed his twelfth year there came to him, according to +his statement, a revelation from the King of the Paradise of Light, who is +God the Exalted, as he said. The angel which brought him the revelation +was called Eltawan; this name means "the Companion." He spoke to Mani, and +said: "Separate thyself from this sort of faith, for thou belongest not +among its adherents, and it is obligatory upon you to practise continence +and to forsake the fleshly desires, yet on account of thy youth the time +has not come for thee to take up thy public work." But when he was +twenty-four years old, Eltawan appeared to him and said: "Hail, Mani, from +me and from the Lord who has sent me to thee and has chosen thee to be his +prophet. He commands thee now to proclaim thy truth and on my announcement +to proclaim the truth which is from him and to throw thyself into this +calling with all thy zeal." + +The Manichaeans say: He first openly entered upon his work on the day when +Sapor, the son of Ardaschir, entered upon his reign, and placed the crown +upon his head; and this was Sunday, the first day of Nisan (March 20, +241), when the sun stood in the sign Aries. He was accompanied by two men, +who had already attached themselves to his religion; one was called +Simeon, the other Zakwa; besides these, his father accompanied him, to see +how his affairs would turn out. + +Mani said he was the Paraclete, whom Jesus, of blessed memory,(85) had +previously announced. Mani took the elements of his doctrine from the +religion of the Magi and Christianity.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Before he met Sapor Mani had spent +about forty years in foreign lands.(86) Afterward he converted Peroz, the +brother of Sapor, and Peroz procured him an audience with his brother +Sapor. The Manichaeans relate: He thereupon entered where he was and on his +shoulders were shining, as it were, two candles. When Sapor perceived him, +he was filled with reverence for him, and he appeared great in his eyes; +although he previously had determined to seize him and put him to death. +After he had met him, therefore, the fear of him filled him, he rejoiced +over him and asked him why he had come and promised to become his +disciple. Mani requested of him a number of things, among them that his +followers might be unmolested in the capital and in the other territories +of the Persian Empire, and that they might extend themselves whither they +wished in the provinces. Sapor granted him all he asked. + +Mani had already preached in India, China, and among the inhabitants of +Turkestan, and in every land he left behind him disciples.(87) + + +(_b_) The Teaching of Mani. + + + The following extract from the same work gives but the beginning + of an extended statement of Mani's teaching. But it is hoped that + enough is given to show the mythological character of his + speculation. The bulk of his doctrine was Persian and late + Babylonian, and the Christian element was very slight. It is clear + from the writings of St. Augustine that the doctrine changed much + in later years in the West. + + +The doctrine of Mani, especially his dogmas of the Eternal, to whom be +praise and glory, of the creation of the world and the contest between +Light and Darkness: Mani put at the beginning of the world two eternal +principles. Of these one is Light, the other Darkness. They are separated +from each other. As to the Light, this is the First, the Mighty One, and +the Infinite. He is the Deity, the King of the Paradise of Light. He has +five members or attributes, namely, gentleness, wisdom, understanding, +discretion, and insight; and further five members or attributes, namely, +love, faith, truth, bravery, and wisdom. He asserts that God was from all +eternity with these attributes. Together with the Light-God there are two +other things from eternity, the air and the earth. + +Mani teaches further: The members of the air, or the Light-Ether, are +five: gentleness, wisdom, understanding, discretion, and insight. The +members of the Light-Earth are the soft gentle breath, the wind, the +light, the water, and the fire. As to the other Original Being, the +Darkness, its members are also five: the vapor, the burning heat, the +fiery wind, the poison, and the darkness. + +This bright shining Primal Being was in immediate proximity with the dark +Primal Being, so that no wall of partition was between them and the Light +touched the Darkness on its broad side. The Light is unlimited in its +height, and also to the right hand and to the left; the Darkness, however, +is unlimited in its depth, and also to the right hand and to the left. + +From this Dark-Earth rose Satan, not so that he himself was without +beginning, although his parts were in their elements without beginning. +These parts joined themselves together from the elements and formed +themselves into Satan. His head was like that of a lion, his trunk like +that of a dragon, his wings as those of a bird, his tail like that of a +great fish, and his four feet like the feet of creeping things. When this +Satan had been formed from the Darkness--his name is the First Devil--then +he began to devour and to swallow up and to ruin, to move about to the +right and to the left, and to get down into the deep, so that he +continually brought ruin and destruction to every one who attempted to +overmaster him. Next he hastened up on high and perceived the rays of +light, but felt an aversion to them. Then when he saw how these rays by +reciprocal influence and contact were increased in brilliancy, he became +afraid and crept together into himself, member by member, and withdrew for +union and strengthening back to his original constituent parts. Now once +more he hastened back into the height, and the Light-Earth noticed the +action of Satan and his purpose to seize and to attack and to destroy. But +when she perceived this thereupon the world aeon of Insight perceived it, +then the aeon of Wisdom, the aeon of Discretion, the aeon of the +Understanding, and then the aeon of Gentleness. Thereupon the King of the +Paradise of Light perceived it and reflected on means to gain the mastery +over him. His armies were indeed mighty enough to overcome him; he had the +wish, however, to accomplish this himself. Therefore he begat with the +spirit of his right hand, with the five aeons, and with his twelve elements +a creature, and that was the Primal Man, and him he sent to the conquest +of Darkness.(88) + + + +Chapter V. The Last Great Persecution + + +The last of the persecutions was closely connected with the increased +efficiency of the imperial administration after a period of anarchy, and +was more effective because of the greater centralization of the government +which Diocletian had introduced (§ 55). It was preceded by a number of +minor persecuting regulations, but broke forth in its full fury in 303, +raging for nearly ten years (§ 56). It was by far the most severe of all +persecutions, in extent and duration and severity surpassing that of +Decius and Valerian. As in that persecution, very many suffered severely, +still more lapsed, unprepared for suffering, as many were in the previous +persecution, and the Church was again rent with dissensions and schisms +arising over the question of the administration of discipline. + + +§ 55. The Reorganization of the Empire by Diocletian + + +After a period of anarchy Diocletian (284-305) undertook a reorganization +of the Empire for the sake of greater efficiency. Following a precedent of +earlier successful emperors, he shared (285) the imperial authority with a +colleague, Maximianus, who in 286 became Augustus of the West. As the +greatest danger seemed to lie in the East, Diocletian retained the Eastern +part of the Empire, and having already abandoned Rome as the imperial +residence (284), he settled in Nicomedia in Bithynia. To provide for a +succession to the throne more efficient than the chance succession of +natural heirs, two Caesars were appointed in 293, Constantius Chlorus for +the West, and Galerius, the son-in-law of Diocletian, for the East. +Constantius at once became the son-in-law of Maximianus. These Caesars were +to ascend the throne when the _Augusti_ resigned after twenty years' +reign. The scheme worked temporarily for greater efficiency, but ended in +civil war as the claims of natural heirs were set aside in favor of an +artificial dynasty. At the same time the system bore heavily upon the +people and the prosperity of the Empire rapidly declined. + + + Bibliography in _Cambridge Medieval History_, London and New York, + 1911, vol. I. + + +Lactantius, _De Mortibus Persecutorum_, 7. (MSL, 7:204.) + + +When Diocletian, the author of crimes and deviser of evils, was ruining +all things, not even from against God could he withhold his hand. This +man, partly by avarice and partly by timidity, overturned the world. For +he made three persons sharers with him in the government. The Empire was +divided into four parts, and armies were multiplied, since each of the +four princes strove to have a much larger military force than any emperor +had had when one emperor alone carried on the government. There began to +be a greater number of those who received taxes than of those who paid +them; so that the means of the husbandmen were exhausted by enormous +impositions, the fields were abandoned, and cultivated grounds became +woodlands, and universal dismay prevailed. Besides, the provinces were +divided into minute portions and many presidents and prefects lay heavy on +each territory, and almost on every city. There were many stewards and +masters and deputy presidents, before whom very few civil causes came, but +only condemnations and frequent forfeitures, and exactions of numberless +commodities, and I will not say often repeated, but perpetual and +intolerable, wrongs in the exacting of them. + + +§ 56. The Diocletian Persecution + + +The last great persecution was preceded by a number of laws aimed to annoy +the Christians. On March 12, 295, all soldiers in the army were ordered to +offer sacrifice. In 296 sacred books of the Christians were sought for and +burnt at Alexandria. In 297 or 298 Christian persecutions began in the +army, but the great persecution itself broke out in 303, as described +below. Among other reasons for energetic measures in which Galerius took +the lead, appears to have been that prince's desire to establish the unity +of the Empire upon a religious basis, which is borne out by his attempts +to reorganize the heathen worship immediately after the cessation of the +persecution. In April, 311, the edict of Galerius, known as the Edict of +the Three Emperors, put an official end to the persecution. In parts of +the Empire, however, small persecutions took place and the authorities +attempted to attack Christianity without actually carrying on +persecutions, as in the wide-spread dissemination of the infamous "Acts of +Pilate," which were posted on walls and spread through the schools. In the +territories of Constantius Chlorus the persecution had been very light, +and there was none under Constantine who favored Christians from the +first. + + + Additional source material: Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VIII, and IX, + 9; his little work _On the Martyrs of Palestine_ will be found + after the eighth book. Lactantius, _De Mortibus Persecutorum_. The + principal texts will be found in Preuschen's _Analecta_, I, §§ 20, + 21; see also R. Knopf, _Ausgewaehlte Maertyreracten_. + + +(_a_) Lactantius. _De Mortibus Persecutorum_, 12 _ff_. (MSL. 7:213.) + + + The outbreak of the persecution. + + +A fit and auspicious day was sought for the accomplishment of this +undertaking [_i.e._, the persecution of the Christians]; and the festival +of the great god Terminus, celebrated on the seventh calends of March +[Feb. 23], was chosen, to put an end, as it were, to this religion, + +"That day the first of death, was first of evil's cause" (Vergil), + +and cause of evils which befell not only the Christians but the whole +world. When that day dawned, in the eighth consulship of Diocletian and +seventh of Maximianus, suddenly, while it was hardly light, the prefect, +together with the chief commanders, tribunes, and officers of the +treasury, came to the church [in Nicomedia], and when the gates had been +forced open they sought for an image of God. The books of the Holy +Scriptures were found and burnt; the spoil was given to all. Rapine, +confusion, and tumult reigned. Since the church was situated on rising +ground, and was visible from the palace, Diocletian and Galerius stood +there as if on a watch-tower and disputed long together whether it ought +to be set on fire. The opinion of Diocletian prevailed, for he feared +lest, when so great a fire should once be started, the city might be +burnt; for many and large buildings surrounded the church on all sides. +Then the praetorian guard, in battle array, came with axes and other iron +instruments, and having been let loose everywhere, in a few hours they +levelled that very lofty building to the ground. + +Ch. 13. Next day the edict was published ordaining that men of the +Christian religion should be deprived of all honors and dignities; and +also that they should be subjected to torture, of whatsoever rank or +position they might be; and that every suit of law should be entertained +against them; but they, on the other hand, could not bring any suit for +any wrong, adultery, or theft; and finally, that they should have neither +freedom nor the right of suffrage. A certain person, although not +properly, yet with a brave soul, tore down this edict and cut it up, +saying in derision: "These are the triumphs of Goths and Samaritans." +Having been brought to judgment, he was not only tortured, but was burnt +in the legal manner, and with admirable patience he was consumed to ashes. + +Ch. 14. But Galerius was not satisfied with the terms of the edict, and +sought another way to gain over the Emperor. That he might urge him to +excess of cruelty in persecution, he employed private agents to set the +palace on fire; and when some part of it had been burnt the Christians +were accused as public enemies, and the very appellation of Christian grew +odious on account of its connection with the fire in the palace. It was +said that the Christians, in concert with the eunuchs, had plotted to +destroy the princes, and that both the emperors had well-nigh been burnt +alive in their own palace. Diocletian, who always wanted to appear shrewd +and intelligent, suspecting nothing of the deception, but inflamed with +anger, began immediately to torture all his domestics. + + +(_b_) Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VIII, 2; 6: 8. (MSG, 20:753.) + + + The edicts of Diocletian. + + + The first passage occurs, with slight variations, in the + introduction to the work _On the Martyrs of Palestine._ + + +Ch. 2. It was in the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, in the +month Dystus, called March by the Romans, when the feast of the Saviour's +passion was near at hand, that royal edicts were published everywhere +commanding that the churches be levelled to the ground, the Scriptures be +destroyed by fire, and all holding places of honor be branded with infamy, +and that the household servants, if they persisted in the profession of +Christianity, be deprived of their freedom. + +Such was the original edict against us. But not long after other decrees +were issued, commanding that all the rulers of the churches everywhere +should be first thrown into prison, and afterward compelled by every means +to sacrifice. + +Ch. 6:8. Such things occurred in Nicomedia at the beginning of the +persecution. But not long after, as persons in the country called Melitina +and others throughout Syria attempted to usurp the government, a royal +edict commanded that the rulers of the churches everywhere be thrown into +prison and bonds. What was to be seen after this exceeds all description. +A vast multitude were imprisoned in every place; and the prisons +everywhere, which had long before been prepared for murderers and +grave-robbers, were filled with bishops, presbyters and deacons, readers +and exorcists, so that room was no longer left in them for those condemned +for crimes. And as other decrees followed the first, directing that those +in prison, if they sacrificed, should be permitted to depart from the +prison in freedom, but that those who refused should be harassed with many +tortures, how could any one again number the multitude of martyrs in every +province, and especially those in Africa and Mauretania, and Thebais and +Egypt? + + +(_c_) Edict of Galerius, A.D. 311. Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, VIII. 17. (MSG, +20:792.) _Cf._ Preuschen, _Analecta_, I, § 21:5. + + + This may also be found in Lactantius. _De Mortibus Persecutorum_, + ch. 34. It is known as the "Edict of Three Emperors," as it was + issued from Nicomedia in the name of Galerius, Constantine, and + Licinius. The date is April 30, 311. By it the persecution was not + wholly ended. Galerius died in the next month, but Maximinus Daza + resumed the persecution. There was for six months, however, some + mitigation of the persecutions in the East, granted at the request + of Constantine. + + +Amongst our other measures, which we are always making for the use and +profit of the commonwealth, we have hitherto endeavored to bring all +things into conformity with the ancient laws and public order of the +Romans, and to bring it about also that the Christians, who have abandoned +the religion of their ancestors, should return to sound reason. For in +some way such wilfulness has seized the Christians and such folly +possessed them that they do not follow those constitutions of the +ancients, which peradventure their own ancestors first established, but +entirely according to their own judgment and as it pleased them they were +making such laws for themselves as they would observe, and in different +places were assembling various sorts of people. In short, when our command +was issued that they were to betake themselves to the institutions of the +ancients, many of them were subdued by danger, many also were ruined. Yet +when great numbers of them held to their determination, and we saw that +they neither gave worship and due reverence to the gods nor yet regarded +the God of the Christians, we therefore, mindful of our most mild clemency +and of the unbroken custom whereby we are accustomed to grant pardon to +all men, have thought that in this case also speediest indulgence ought to +be granted to them, that the Christians might exist again and might +establish their gatherings, yet so that they do nothing contrary to good +order. By another letter we shall signify to magistrates how they are to +proceed. Wherefore, in accordance with this our indulgence, they ought to +pray their God for our good estate, for that of the commonwealth, and for +their own, that the commonwealth may endure on every side unharmed and +that they may be able to live securely in their own homes. + + +(_d_) Constantine, _Edict of Milan_, A. D. 313, in Lactantius, _De +Mortibus Persecutorum_, 48. (MSL, 7:267.) See also Eusebius. _Hist. Ec._, +X, 5:2. (MSG, 20:880.) + + + The so-called Edict of Milan, granting toleration to the + Christians, is not the actual edict, but a letter addressed to a + prefect and referring to the edict, which probably was much + briefer. The following passage is translated from the emended text + of Lactantius, as given in Preuschen, _op. cit._, I, § 22:4. + + +When I, Constantine Augustus, and I, Licinius Augustus, had happily met +together at Milan, and were having under consideration all things which +concern the advantage and security of the State, we thought that, among +other things which seemed likely to profit men generally, we ought, in the +very first place, to set in order the conditions of the reverence paid to +the Divinity by giving to the Christians and all others full permission to +follow whatever worship any man had chosen; whereby whatever divinity +there is in heaven may be benevolent and propitious to us, and to all +placed under our authority. Therefore we thought we ought, with sound +counsel and very right reason, to lay down this law, that we should in no +way refuse to any man any legal right who has given up his mind either to +the observance of Christianity or to that worship which he personally +feels best suited to himself; to the end that the Supreme Divinity, whose +worship we freely follow, may continue in all things to grant us his +accustomed favor and good-will. Wherefore your devotion should know that +it is our pleasure that all provisions whatsoever which have appeared in +documents hitherto directed to your office regarding Christians and which +appeared utterly improper and opposed to our clemency should be abolished, +and that every one of those men who have the same wish to observe +Christian worship may now freely and unconditionally endeavor to observe +the same without any annoyance or molestation. These things we thought it +well to signify in the fullest manner to your carefulness, that you might +know that we have given free and absolute permission to the said +Christians to practise their worship. And when you perceive that we have +granted this to the said Christians, your devotion understands that to +others also a similarly full and free permission for their own worship and +observance is granted, for the quiet of our times, so that every man may +have freedom in the practice of whatever worship he has chosen. And these +things were done by us that nothing be taken away from any honor or form +of worship. Moreover, in regard to the Christians, we have thought fit to +ordain this also, that if any appear to have bought, either from our +exchequer or from others, the places in which they were accustomed +formerly to assemble, and concerning which definite orders have been given +before now, and that by letters sent to your office, the same be restored +to the Christians, setting aside all delay and dispute, without payment or +demand of price. Those also who have obtained them by gift shall restore +them in like manner without delay to the said Christians; and those, +moreover, who have bought them, as well as those who have obtained them by +gift, if they request anything of our benevolence, they shall apply to the +deputy that order may be taken for them too by our clemency. All these +must be delivered over at once and without delay by your intervention to +the corporation of the Christians. And since the same Christians are known +to have possessed not only the places where they are accustomed to +assemble, but also others belonging to their corporation, namely, to the +churches and not to individuals, all these by the law which we have +described above you will order to be restored without any doubtfulness or +dispute to the said Christians--that is, to their said corporations and +assemblies; provided always, as aforesaid, that those who restore them +without price, as we said, shall expect a compensation from our +benevolence. In all these things you must give the aforesaid Christians +your most effective intervention, that our command may be fulfilled as +soon as may be, and that in this matter also order may be taken by our +clemency for the public quiet. And may it be, as already said, that the +divine favor which we have already experienced in so many affairs, shall +continue for all time to give us prosperity and successes, together with +happiness for the State. But that it may be possible for the nature of +this decree and of our benevolence to come to the knowledge of all men, it +will be your duty by a proclamation of your own to publish everywhere and +bring to the notice of all men this present document when it reaches you, +that the decree of this our benevolence may not be hidden. + + +§ 57. Rise of Schisms in Consequence of the Diocletian Persecution + + +The Diocletian persecution and its various continuations, on account of +the severity of the persecution and its great extent, seriously strained +the organization of the Church for a time, and in at least three important +Church centres gave rise to schisms, of which two were of some duration. +The causes for these schisms, as in the case of the schisms connected with +the Decian persecution, are to be found in the confusion caused by the +enforced absence of bishops from their sees and in the administration of +discipline. In the latter point the activity of the confessors no longer +plays any part, as the authority of the bishops in the various communities +is now undisputed by rival. It was a question of greater or less rigor in +readmitting the lapsed to the communion of the Church. For the canons of +discipline in force in Alexandria, see the _Canonical Epistle of Peter of +Alexandria_, ANF, VI, 269 _ff._ (MSG, 18:467.) They were regarded by the +rigorist party in Alexandria as too lax. Of the three schisms known to +have arisen from the Diocletian persecution, that in Alexandria is known +as the Meletian schism, and three selections are given bearing on it. For +the proposals of the Council of Nicaea to bring about a settlement and +union, see the _Epistle of the Synod of Nicaea_, Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, I, +9 (given below, § 61, _II_, _b_). The schism continued until the fifth +century. The schism at Rome, known as the schism of Heraclius, was much +less important. It was caused by the party advocating greater laxity in +discipline, and was for a time difficult to deal with on account of long +vacancies in the Roman episcopate. The duration of the schism could not +have been long, but the solution of the questions raised by it is unknown. +In fact, the history of the Roman church is exceedingly obscure in the +half-century preceding the Council of Nicaea. The third schism, that of the +Donatists in North Africa, which broke out in Carthage, was the most +considerable in the Church before the schisms arising from the +christological controversies. For the Donatist schism, see §§ 61, 67, 72. + + +(_a_) _Epistle of Hesychius, Pachomius, Theodorus, and Phileas to +Meletius_. (MSG, 10:1565.) + + + The Meletian schism. + + + The following epistle was written in the name of these four + bishops, probably by Phileas, bishop of Thmuis, one of the number, + to Meletius, bishop of Lycopolis. The four were in prison when it + was written. It is the most important document bearing on the + schism, and is important as setting forth the generally accepted + legal opinion of the time regarding ordination and the authority + of bishops. The document exists only in a Latin translation from a + Greek original, and appears to form, with the two following + fragments, a continuous narrative, possibly a history of the + Church, but nothing further is known of it. For an account of the + Meletian schism see Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, 1, 6 _ff._ The text of + these selections bearing on the Meletian schism is to be found in + Routh, _op. cit._, IV, 91 _ff._ + + +Hesychius, Pachomius, Theodorus, and Phileas to Meletius, our friend and +fellow-minister in the Lord, greeting. In simple faith, regarding as +uncertain the things which have been heard concerning thee, since some +have come to us and certain things are reported foreign to divine order +and ecclesiastical rule which are being attempted, yea, rather, which are +being done by thee, we were not willing to credit them when we thought of +the audacity implied by their magnitude, and we thought that they were +uncertain attempts. But since so many coming to us at the present time +have lent some credibility to these reports, and have not hesitated to +attest them as facts, we, greatly astonished, have been compelled to write +this letter to thee. And what agitation and sadness have been caused to us +all in common and to each of us individually by the ordination performed +by thee in parishes not pertaining to thee, we are unable sufficiently to +express. We have not delayed, however, by a short statement, to prove thy +practice wrong. + +In the law of our fathers and forefathers, of which thou also art not +thyself ignorant, it is established, according to the divine and +ecclesiastical order (for it is all for the good pleasure of God and the +zealous regard for better things), that it has been determined and settled +by them that it is not lawful for any bishop to perform ordinations in +other parishes than his own. This law is exceedingly important and wisely +devised. For, in the first place, it is but right that the conversation +and life of those who are ordained should be examined with great care; +and, in the second place, that all confusion and turbulence should be done +away with. For every one shall have enough to do in managing his own +parish, and in finding, with great care and many anxieties, suitable +subordinates among those with whom he has passed his whole life, and who +have been trained under his hands. But thou, considering none of these +things, nor regarding the future, nor considering the law of our holy +Fathers and those who have put on Christ in long succession, nor the honor +of our great bishop and father, Peter,(89) on whom we all depend in the +hope which we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, nor softened by our +imprisonments and trials, and daily and multiplied reproaches, nor the +oppressions and distress of all, hast ventured on subverting all things at +once. And what means will be left for thee for justifying thyself with +respect to these things? + +But perhaps thou wilt say, I did this to prevent many from being drawn +away with the unbelief of many, because the flocks were in need and +forsaken, there being no pastor with them. Well, but it is most certain +that they were in no such destitution; in the first place, because there +were many going among them and able to visit them; and, in the second +place, even it there were some things neglected by them, representation +should have come from the people, and we should have duly considered the +matter. But they knew that they were in no want of ministers, and +therefore they did not come to seek thee. They knew that either we were +wont to warn them from such complaint or there was done, with all +carefulness, what seemed profitable; for it was done under correction and +all was considered with well-approved honesty. Thou, however, giving such +careful attention to the deceits of certain men and their vain words,(90) +hast, as it were, stealthily leaped forward to the performance of +ordinations. For if, indeed, those accompanying thee constrained thee to +this and compelled thee and were ignorant of the ecclesiastical order, +thou oughtest to have followed the rule and have informed us by letter; +and in that way what seemed expedient would have been done. And if +perchance some persuaded thee to credit their story, who said to thee that +it was all over with us--a matter which could not have been unknown to +thee, because there were many passing and repassing by us who might visit +thee--even if this had been so, yet oughtest thou to have waited for the +judgment of the superior father and his allowance of this thing. But +thinking nothing of these matters, and hoping something different, or +rather having no care for us, thou hast provided certain rulers for the +people. For now we learn that there are also divisions, because thy +unwarrantable ordination displeased many. + +And thou wert not readily persuaded to delay such procedure or restrain +thy purpose, no, not even by the word of the Apostle Paul, the most +blessed seer and the man who put on Christ, the Apostle of us all; for he, +in writing to his dearly loved Timothy, says: "Lay hands suddenly on no +man, neither be partaker of other men's sins." [I Tim. 5:22.] And thus he +at once shows his own consideration of him, and gives his example and +exhibits the law according to which, with all carefulness and caution, +candidates are chosen for the honor of ordination. We make this +declaration to thee, that in the future thou mayest study to keep within +the safe and salutary limits of the law. + + +(_b_) _Fragment on the Meletian Schism_. (MSG, 10:1567.) + + + For the connection of the Meletians with Arianism, see Socrates, + _Hist. Ec._, I, 6. Text in Routh, _op. cit._, IV, 94. + + +Meletius received and read this epistle, and he neither wrote a reply, nor +repaired to them in prison, nor went to the blessed Peter [bishop of +Alexandria]. But when all these bishops, presbyters, and deacons had +suffered in the prison,(91) he at once entered Alexandria. Now in that +city there was a certain person, Isidorus by name, turbulent in character, +and possessed with the ambition of being a teacher. And there was also a +certain Arius, who wore the habit of piety and was in like manner +possessed with the ambition of being a teacher. And when they discovered +the object of Meletius's passion and what it was he sought, hastening to +him and regarding with malice the episcopal authority of the blessed +Peter, that the aim and desire of Meletius might be made manifest, they +discovered to Meletius certain presbyters, then in hiding, to whom the +blessed Peter had given authority to act as diocesan visitors for +Alexandria. And Meletius, recommending them to improve the opportunity +given them for rectifying their error, suspended them for a time, and by +his authority ordained two persons in their places, one of whom was in +prison and the other in the mines. On learning these things, the blessed +Peter, with much endurance, wrote to the people of Alexandria in the +following terms. [See next selection.] + + +(_c_) Peter of Alexandria. _Epistle to the Church in Alexandria._ (MSG, +18:510.) + + + For Peter of Alexandria, see DCB. Peter was in hiding when he + wrote the following to the Alexandrian church in 306. He died 312 + as a martyr. + + +Peter to the brethren in the Lord, beloved and established in the faith of +God, peace. Since I have discovered that Meletius acts in no way for the +common good, for he does not approve the letter of the most holy bishops +and martyrs, and invading my parish, has assumed so much to himself as to +endeavor to separate from my authority the priests and those who had been +intrusted with visiting the needy, and, giving proof of his desire for +pre-eminence, has ordained in the prison several unto himself; now take ye +heed to this and hold no communion with him, until I meet him in company +with some wise men, and see what designs they are which he has thought +upon. Fare ye well. + + +(_d_) _Epitaph of Eusebius, Bishop of Rome._ _Cf._ Kirch, n. 534. + + + Schism of Heraclius. + + +The following epitaph was placed on the tomb of Eusebius, bishop of Rome +(April 18 to August 17, 310 A. D.), by Damasus, bishop of Rome (366-384.) + +I, Damasus, have made this: +Heraclius forbade the fallen to lament their sin, +Eusebius taught the wretched ones to weep for their crimes. +The people was divided into parties by the increasing madness. +Sedition, bloodshed, war, discord, strife arose. +At once they were equally smitten by the ferocity of the tyrant.(92) +Although the guide of the Church(93) maintained intact the bonds of peace. +He endured exile joyful under the Lord as judge, +And gave up this earthly life on the Trinacrian shore.(94) + + + + + +THE SECOND DIVISION OF ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY: THE CHURCH UNDER THE +CHRISTIAN EMPIRE: FROM 312 TO CIRCA 750 + + +The second division of the history of ancient Christianity, or +Christianity under the influence of the Graeco-Roman type of culture, +begins with the sole rule of Constantine, A. D. 324, or his sole reign in +the West, A. D. 312, and extends to the beginning of the Middle Ages, or +that period in which the Germanic nations assumed the leading role in the +political life of western Europe. The end of this division of Church +history may be placed, at the latest, about the middle of the eighth +century, as the time when the authority of the Eastern Empire ceased to +affect materially the fortunes of the West. But it is impossible to name +any year or reign or political event as of such outstanding importance as +to make it a _terminus ad quem_ for the division which will command the +suffrages of all as the boundary between the ancient and the mediaeval +epochs of history. + +The second division of ancient Christianity may be subdivided into three +periods: + +I. The Imperial State Church of the Undivided Empire, or until the Death +of Theodosius the Great, or to 395. + +II. The Church in the Divided Empire until the Collapse of the Western +Empire and the Schism between the East and the West arising out of the +Monophysite Controversies, or to circa 500. + +III. The Dissolution of the Imperial Church of the West and the Transition +to the Middle Ages. + +In the third period are to be placed the beginnings of the Middle Ages, as +the German invaders had long before 500 established their kingdoms and had +begun to dominate the affairs of the West. But the connection of the +Church of the West, or rather of Italy, with the East was long so close +that the condition of the Church is more that of a dissolution of the +ancient imperial State Church than of a building up of the mediaeval +Church. At the same time, the transition to the Middle Ages, so far as the +Church is concerned at least, takes place under the influence of the +ancient tradition, and institutions are established in which the leading +elements, taken from ancient life, are not yet transformed by Germanic +ideas. The East knew no Middle Age. For a history of the Eastern Church +other divisions would have to be made, but in a history in which, for +practical reasons, the development is traced in Western Christianity, the +affairs of the Eastern Church must be treated as subordinate to those of +Western Christianity. + +For the second division of the history of ancient Christianity, the +principal sources available in English are the translations in _A Select +Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church_. +Edited by Ph. Schaff and H. Wace. The _First Series_ of this collection +(PNF, ser. I) contains the principal works of Augustine and Chrysostom. +The _Second Series_ (PNF, ser. II) is for historical study even more +valuable, and gives, generally with very able introductions and excellent +bibliographies, the most important works of many of the leading patristic +writers, including the principal ecclesiastical historians, as well as +Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil the Great, Cyril +of Jerusalem, Hilary of Poitiers, Jerome, Rufinus, Cassian, Vincent of +Lerins, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, and others. These translations +are in part fresh versions, and in part older versions but slightly, if at +all, revised, taken from the _Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic +Church anterior to the Division of the East and West_, Oxford, 1838, _et +seq._ + +For the period before the outbreak of the great christological +controversies, the ecclesiastical historians are of great value. There are +no less than four continuations of the _Ecclesiastical History_ of +Eusebius accessible: the ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, 324-439 +(ed. R. Hussey, Oxford, 1853); of Sozomen, 324-425 (ed. R. Hussey, Oxford, +1860); of Rufinus, 324-395, which is appended to a Latin version or rather +revised and "edited" Latin version of Eusebius; of Theodoret, 323-428 (ed. +Gaisford, Oxford, 1854). Fragments of the _Ecclesiastical History_ of the +Arian Philostorgius, from the appearance of Arius as a teacher until 423, +have been translated and are to be found in Bohn's _Ecclesiastical +Library_. For the period after the Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431, there is +no such abundance, but Evagrius, of whose history (ed. Parmentier and +Bidez, London, 1898) there is a translation in Bohn's _Ecclesiastical +Library_, though not in PNF, is of great value as he gives many original +documents; and a portion of the _Ecclesiastical History_ of John of +Ephesus (trans. by R. P. Smith, Oxford, 1860) carries the history to about +600. There are also works devoted to the history of the West by Gregory of +Tours, the Venerable Bede, and Paulus Diaconus, and others of the greatest +value for the third period of this division. They will be mentioned in +their place. + +As the series of the great church councils begins with the Christian +Empire, the _History of the Councils_, by Hefele, becomes indispensable to +the student of ecclesiastical history, not only for its narrative but for +the sources epitomized or given in full. It has been translated into +English as far as the close of the eighth century, or well into the +beginnings of the history of the mediaeval Church. The new French +translation should be used if possible as it contains valuable additional +notes. In connection with Hefele may be used: + +Percival, _The Seven Ecumenical Councils_, in PNF, ser. II, vol. XIV. + +Wm. Bright, _Notes on the Canons of the First Four General __ Councils_, +1882, should be consulted for this period. Bruns, _op. cit._, and +Lauchert, _op. cit._, give texts only. + +The two great collections of secular laws are: + +_Codex Theodosianus_, ed. Mommsen and Meyer, Berlin, 1905. + +_Corpus Juris Civilis_, ed. Krueger, Mommsen, Schoell, and Knoll, Berlin, +1899-1902. + +_The Cambridge Medieval History_, vol. I, 1912, covers the period +beginning with Constantine and extending to the beginning of the fifth +century. It contains valuable bibliographies of a more discriminating +character than those in the _Cambridge Modern History_, and render +bibliographical references unnecessary. To this the student is accordingly +referred for such matters. The second volume of this work will cover the +period 500-850. + + + + +Period I: The Imperial State Church Of The Undivided Empire, Or Until The +Death Of Theodosius The Great, 395 + + +The history of the Church in the first period of the second division of +the history of ancient Christianity has to deal primarily with three lines +of development, viz.: first, the relation of the Church to the imperial +authority and the religious forces of the times, whereby the Church became +established as the sole authorized religion of the Empire, and heathenism +and heresy were prohibited by law; secondly, the development of the +doctrinal system of the Church until the end of the Arian controversy, +whereby the full and eternal deity of the Son was established as the +Catholic faith; thirdly, the development of the constitution, the fixation +of the leading ecclesiastical conceptions, and the adaptation of the +system of the Church to the practical needs of the times. The entire +period may be divided into two main parts by the reign of Julian the +Apostate (361-363); and the reign of Constantine as Emperor of the West +(312-324) may be regarded as a prelude to the main part of the history. On +the death of Theodosius the Great in 395, the Empire became permanently +divided, and though in the second period the courses of the Church in the +East and in the West may be treated to some extent together, yet the +fortunes, interests, and problems of the two divisions of the Church begin +to diverge. + + + +Chapter I. The Church And Empire Under Constantine + + +Constantine was the heir to the political system of Diocletian. The same +line of development was followed by him and his sons, and with increasing +severity the burden pressed upon the people. But the Church, which had +been fiercely persecuted by Diocletian and Galerius, became the object of +imperial favor under Constantine. At the same time in many parts of the +Empire, especially in the West, the heathen religion was rooted in the +affections of the people and everywhere it was bound up with the forms of +state. The new problems that confronted Constantine on his accession to +sole authority in the West, and still more when he became sole Emperor, +were of an ecclesiastical rather than a civil character. In the +administration of the Empire he followed the lines laid down by Diocletian +(§ 58). But in favoring the Church he had to avoid alienating the heathen +majority. This he did by gradually and cautiously extending to the Church +privileges which the heathen religion had enjoyed (§ 59), and with the +utmost caution repressing those elements in heathenism which might be +plausibly construed as inimical to the new order in the state (§ 60). At +the same time, Constantine found in the application of his policy to +actual conditions that he could not favor every religious sect that +assumed the name of Christian. He must distinguish between claimants of +his bounty. He must also bring about a unity in the Church where it had +been threatened (§ 61), and repress what might lead to schism. Accordingly +he found himself, immediately after his accession to sole authority, +engaged in ecclesiastical discussions and adjudicating by councils +ecclesiastical cases (§ 62). + + +§ 58. The Empire under Constantine and His Sons + + +Constantine became sole Emperor of the West, 312, and by the defeat of +Licinius, July 23, 324, sole ruler of the entire Roman Empire. On his +death, May 22, 337, his three sons divided between them the imperial +dignity: Constantine II (337-340), taking Gaul, Spain, and Britain; +Constans (337-350), Italy, Africa, and Illyria, and in 340 receiving the +share of Constantine II; Constantius (337-361), taking the East, including +Egypt. Of these three the ablest was Constantius who, after the renewed +Persian war (337-350), became, on the death of Constans, sole Emperor. +Although the imperial authority was divided and the ecclesiastical policy +of each Emperor followed the religious condition and theological +complexion of his respective portion of the Empire, the social conditions +were everywhere much the same. There were under Constantine and also under +his sons the continuation of that centralization which had already been +carried far by Diocletian, the same court ceremonial and all that went +with it, and the development of the bureaucratic system of administration. +The economic conditions steadily declined as the imperial system became +constantly more burdensome (_v. supra_, § 55), and the changes in the +distribution of wealth and the administration of landed property affected +disastrously large sections of the populace. A characteristic feature of +Roman society, which affected the position of the Church not a little, was +the tendency to regard callings and trades as hereditary, and by the +fourth century this was enforced by law. The aim of this legislation was +to provide workmen to care for the great public undertakings for the +support of the populace of the cities and for the maintenance of the +public business. This policy affected both the humble artisan and the +citizen of curial rank. The former, although given various privileges, was +crushed down by being obliged to continue in what was often an +unprofitable occupation; the latter was made responsible for the taxes and +various public burdens which custom, gradually becoming law, laid upon +him. Constant attempt was made by great numbers to escape these burdens +and disabilities by recourse to other occupations, and especially to the +Christian ministry with its immunities (see § 59, _c_). Constant +legislation endeavored to prevent this and restore men to their hereditary +places. The following extracts from the Theodosian Code are enactments of +Constantine, and are intended to illustrate the condition, under that +Emperor, of the law as to hereditary occupations and guilds, and the +position of the curiales, so as to explain the law as to admission to the +priesthood. + + +(_a_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XIII, 5, 1; A. D. 314. + + + The Theodosian Code was a collection of law made at the command of + Theodosius II, A. D. 438. See § 80. It was intended to comprise + all the laws of general application made since the accession of + Constantine and arranged under appropriate titles. + + +If a shipman shall have been originally a lighterman, none the less he +shall remain permanently among those among whom it shall appear that his +parents had been. + + +(_b_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XIII, 5, 3; A. D. 319. + + +If any shipman shall have obtained surreptitiously or in any other way +immunity, it is our will that he be not at all admitted to plead any +exemption. But also if any one possess a patrimony liable to the duties of +a shipman, although he may be of higher dignity, the privileges of honor +shall be of no avail to him in this matter, but let him be held to this +duty either by the whole or in proportion. For it is not just that when a +patrimony liable to this public duty has been excused all should not bear +the common burden in proportion to ability. + + +(_c_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XIV, 4, 1; A. D. 334. + + +Because the guild of swineherds has fallen off to but few, we command that +they plead in the presence of the Roman people, for the defence should be +made to them for whom the burden was established.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Therefore let them know +that the personal property of the swineherds is liable to public burdens +and let them choose one of two courses: either let them retain the +property which is liable to the functions of swineherd, and let themselves +be held to the duty of swineherd, or let them name some suitable person +whom they will, who shall satisfy the same requirement. For we suffer no +one to be exempt from the obligation of this thing, but whether they have +advanced in honors, or by some fraud have escaped, we command that they be +brought back and the same thing performed, the Roman people being present +and witnessing, and we are to be consulted, that we may take note of those +who make use of these shifts; as for further avoidance of public duties, +it is by no means to be granted any, but he who shall have been able to +escape shall run danger of his safety, the privilege having been taken +away from him. + + +(_d_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XII, 1, 11; A. D. 325. + + + The following laws illustrate the attempts of the curiales to + escape their burdens. + + +Because some have forsaken the curiae and have fled to the camps of the +soldiery, we prescribe that all who shall be found not yet indebted to the +chief centurion, are to be dismissed from the soldiery and returned to the +same curiae; those only are to remain among the soldiery who are retained +on account of the necessities of the place or the troop. + + +(_e_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XII, 1, 12; A. D. 325. + + +If any one belongs in a larger or smaller town and desiring to avoid the +same, betakes himself to another for the sake of dwelling there, and shall +have attempted to make petitions concerning this or shall have relied upon +any sort of fraud that he may escape the birth from his own city, let him +bear the burden of the decurionate of both cities, of one because it was +his choice, of the other because of his birth. + + +(_f_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 2, 3, cf. XVI, 2, 6; A. D. 326. + + +Since a constitution that has been issued prescribes that thereafter no +decurion nor child of a decurion or person with suitable wealth and able +to support the public burdens shall have recourse to the name and duties +of the clergy, but only those shall be called to the place of the deceased +who are of small fortune and are not held liable to civil burdens, we have +learned that some have been molested, who before the promulgation of the +said law had joined themselves to the company of the priests. Therefore we +decree that these shall be free from all annoyance, but those who after +the promulgation of the law, to avoid their public duties took recourse to +the number of the clergy, shall be separated from that body and restored +to their curial rank and made liable for their civil duties. + + +§ 59. Favor Shown the Church by Constantine + + +Neither on his conversion nor on his attainment of the sole rule of the +Empire did Constantine establish the Church as the one official religion +of the State. The ruler himself professed the Christian religion and +neither abolished the former religion of the State nor disestablished it. +But he granted to his own religion favors similar to those enjoyed by the +heathen religious systems (_a-d_), though these privileges were only for +the Catholic Church, and not for heretics (_e_); and he passed such laws +as would make it possible for Christians to carry out their religious +practices, _e.g._, that Christians should not be compelled to sacrifice +when the laws prescribed sacrifices (_f_), that Sunday be observed (_g_), +and that celibacy might be practised (_h_). + + + Additional source material: Eusebius, _Vita Constantini_ (PNF, + ser. II, vol. I), II, 24-42. 46; IV, 18-28. Sozomen, _Hist. Ec._ + (PNF, ser. II, vol. II), I, 9. + + +(_a_) Constantine, _Ep. ad Caecilianum_, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, X, 6. +(MSG, 20:892.) + + + The probable date of this epistle is A. D. 313, though there is + uncertainty. Text in Kirch, nn. 323 _f_. + + +Constantine Augustus to Caecilianus, Bishop of Carthage. Since it is our +pleasure that something should be granted in all the provinces, namely, +Africa and Numidia and Mauritania, to certain ministers of the legitimate +and most holy Catholic religion, to defray their expenses, I have given +written instructions to Ursus, the illustrious finance minister of Africa, +and have directed him to make provision to pay to thy firmness three +thousand folles.(95) Do thou, therefore, when thou hast received the above +sum of money, command that it be distributed among all those mentioned +above, according to the brief sent unto thee by Hosius. But if thou +shouldest find that anything is wanting for the fulfilment of this my +purpose in regard to all of them, thou shalt demand without hesitation +from Heracleides, our treasurer, whatever thou findest to be necessary. +For I commanded him, when he was present, that if thy firmness should ask +him for any money, he should see to it that it be paid without any delay. +And since I have learned that some men of unsettled mind wish to turn the +people from the most holy and Catholic Church by a certain method of +shameful corruption, do thou know that I gave command to Anulinus, the +proconsul, and also to Patricius, vicar of the prefects, when they were +present, that they should give proper attention not only to other matters, +but also, above all, to this, and that they should not overlook such a +thing when it happened. Wherefore if thou shouldest see any such men +continuing in this madness, do thou without delay go to the +above-mentioned judges and report the matter to them; that they may +correct them as I commanded them when they were present. The divinity of +the great God preserve thee many years. + + +(_b_) Constantine, _Ep. ad Anulinum_, in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, X, 7. +(MSG, 20:893.) + + + The following epistle, of the same year as the preceding to + Caecilianus, is the basis of exemptions of the clergy from public + duties. The extension of these exemptions was made by the decree + of 319, given below. Text in Kirch, n. 325. + + +Greeting to thee, our most esteemed Anulinus. Since it appears from many +circumstances that when that religion is despised in which is preserved +the chief reverence for the most celestial Power, great dangers are +brought upon public affairs; but that when legally adopted and observed it +affords most signal prosperity to the Roman name and remarkable felicity +to all the affairs of men, through the divine beneficence, it seemed good +to me, most esteemed Anulinus, that those men who give their services with +due sanctity and with constant observance of this law to the worship of +the divine religion should receive recompense for their labors. Wherefore +it is my will that those within the province intrusted to thee, in the +Catholic Church over which Caecilianus presides, who give their services to +this holy religion, and who are commonly called clergymen, be entirely +exempted from all public duties, that by any error or sacrilegious +negligence they may not be drawn away from the service due to the Deity, +but may devote themselves without any hindrance to their own law. For it +seems that when they show greatest reverence to the Deity the greatest +benefits accrue to the State. Farewell, our most esteemed and beloved +Anulinus. + + +(_c_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 2, 2; A. D. 319. + + + By the following law the exemption of the clergy from public + burdens was made universal. As many availed themselves of the + clerical immunities to escape their burdens as curiales, a law was + soon afterward passed limiting access to the ministry to those in + humbler social position. _V. supra_, § 58 _f._ + + +Those who in divine worship perform the services of religion--that is, +those who are called clergy--are altogether exempt from public obligations, +so that they may not be called away from their sacred duties by the +sacrilegious malice of certain persons. + + +(_d_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 2, 4; A. D. 321. + + + The Church is hereby permitted to receive legacies. This was a + recognition of its corporate character in the law, and indirectly + its act of incorporation. + + +Every one has permission to leave when he is dying whatsoever goods he +wishes to the most holy Catholic Church.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + + +(_e_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 5, 1; A. D. 326. + + + Privileges were granted only to the clergy of the Catholic or + great Church as distinguished from heretics and schismatics. The + State was, accordingly, forced by its exemptions and privileges + granted the Church to take up a position as to heresy and schism. + See for Constantine's policy toward heresy, Eusebius, _Vita + Constantini_, III. 64 _ff._ (PNF, ser. II, vol. I.) + + +Privileges which have been bestowed in consideration of religion ought to +be of advantage only to those who observe the Catholic law. It is our will +that heathen and schismatics be not only without the privileges but bound +by, and subject to, various political burdens. + + +(_f_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 2, 5; A. D. 323. + + + This and the following laws were passed to enable the Christians + to escape from disadvantages in the carrying out of their + religion. This law, that Christians should not be compelled to + sacrifice, was enacted just before the final encounter with + Licinius. + + +Because we have heard that ecclesiastics and others belonging to the +Catholic religion are compelled by men of different religions to celebrate +the sacrifices of the lustrum, we, by this decree, do ordain that if any +one believes that those who observe the most sacred law ought to be +compelled to take part in the rites of a strange superstition, let him, if +his condition permits, be beaten with staves, but if his rank exempts him +from such rigor, let him endure the condemnation of a very heavy fine, +which shall fall to the State. + + +(_g_) _Codex Justinianus_; III, 12, 3; A. D. 321. _Cf._ Kirch, n. 748. + + + Sunday is to be observed. + + + For the Justinian Code see below, § 94, Introduction. + + +All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable +Day of the Sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the +cultivation of the fields, because it frequently happens that no other +days are better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows or the vines +in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not +for the occasion of a short time perish. + + +(_h_) _Codex Theodosianus_. VIII, 16, 1. _Cf._ Kirch, n. 750. + + + Celibacy was favored by the Church. By the _Lex Julia et Papia + Poppea_ it had been forbidden under a fine and loss of rights + under wills. Childless marriages also rendered the parties liable + to disabilities. + + +Those who are held as celibates by the ancient law are freed from the +threatened terrors of the laws, and let them so live as if by the compact +of marriage they were among the number of married men, and let all have an +equal standing as to taking what each one deserves. Neither let any one be +held childless; and let them not suffer the penalties set for this. The +same thing we hold regarding women, and freely to all we loose from their +necks the commands which the law placed upon them as a certain yoke. But +there is no application of this benefit to husbands and wives as regards +each other, whose deceitful wiles are often scarcely restrained by the +appointed rigor of the law, but let the pristine authority of the law +continue between such persons. + + +§ 60. The Repression of Heathenism under Constantine + + +Constantine's religious policy in respect to heathenism may have been from +the first to establish Christianity as the sole religion of the Empire and +to put down heathenism. If so, in the execution of that policy he +proceeded with great caution, especially in the period before his victory +over Licinius. It looks at times as if for a while he aimed at a parity of +religions. Certain is the fact that only as conditions became more +favorable to active measures of repression he increased the severity of +his laws against what was of doubtful legality in heathenism, though he +was statesman enough to recognize the difference in the religious +conditions between the East and the West, especially as to the hold which +Christianity had upon the mass of the people. While his measures in the +East became constantly harsher, in the West he tolerated heathenism. The +commonly received theory is that Constantine changed his policy. All the +facts can be as easily understood on the hypothesis that as a statesman he +had constant regard to the advisability of drastic execution of a policy +which he in theory accepted and would have carried out in its entirety +everywhere if he had been able. + + + Additional source material: Eusebius, _Vita Constantini_ (PNF), + II. 44 _f._, 47 _f._, 54 _ff._ + + +(_a_) _Codex Theodosianus_, IX, 16, 2; A. D. 319. + + + Private sacrifices forbidden. + + +Haruspices and priests and those accustomed to serve this rite we forbid +to enter any private house, or under the pretence of friendship to cross +the threshold of another, under the penalty established against them if +they contemn the law.(96) But those of you who regard this rite, approach +the public altars and shrines and celebrate the solemnities of your +custom; for we do not indeed prohibit the duties of the old usage to be +performed in broad daylight. + + +(_b_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 10, 1; A. D. 320-321. + + + Haruspicia in certain circumstances to be observed. + + +If any part of our palace or other public buildings should be struck by +lightning let the custom be retained of the ancient observance as to what +it signifies, and let it be examined by the haruspices and very carefully +written down, collected, and brought to our attention; to others also the +permission of practising this custom is conceded, provided they refrain +from domestic sacrifices, which are expressly forbidden. + + +(_c_) _Codex Theodosianus_. XV, 1, 3; A. D. 326. + + + Unfinished heathen temples need not be completed. + + +We direct that the judges of the provinces be warned not to give orders +for any new work before they complete the buildings left incomplete by +their predecessors, the erection of temples only being excepted. + + +§ 61. The Donatist Schism under Constantine + + +The Donatist schism arose in connection with the Diocletian persecution, +in part over the policy of Mensurius of Carthage regarding the fanatical +desire for martyrdom and the delivery of the sacred books according to the +edict of persecution. Combined with this were the personal ambitions of +the Archdeacon Caecilianus, the offended dignity of the Primas of Numidia, +Bishop Secundus of Tigisi, and the pique of a wealthy female devotee, +Lucilla. It was mixed up with the customs of the North African church, +whereby the Primas of Numidia exercised a leading authority in the conduct +of the election of the bishop of Carthage, and also with the notion +prevalent in the same church, for which also Cyprian contended in the +controversy on the baptism of heretics [see § 52], that the validity of a +sacrament depended in some way upon the personal character of the minister +of that sacrament. It was asserted by the partisans of Secundus, who +elected Majorinus bishop of Carthage, that Felix of Aptunga, the +consecrator of Caecilianus, who had been elected by the other party, had +delivered the sacred books to the heathen officials, and was therefore +guilty as a traditor. A schism, accordingly, arose in Carthage which +spread rapidly throughout North Africa. The party of Majorinus soon came +under the lead of Donatus the Great, his successor in the schismatical see +of Carthage. The Donatist schism became of importance almost at once, and +as it was inconsistent with Constantine's religious policy, which called +for Church unity,(97) it presented an immediate difficulty in the +execution of laws granting favors to the Catholic Church.(98) On account +of the interests involved, the schism was of long duration, lasting after +the conquest of North Africa by the Vandals, and even to the Saracen +conquest, though long since of no importance. + + +Anulinus. _Ep. ad Constantinum_, in Augustine, _Ep._ 88. (MSG, 33:303.) + + +To Constantine Augustus from Anulinus, a man of proconsular rank, +proconsul of Africa. + +The welcome and adored celestial writings sent by your Majesty to +Caecilianus, and those who act under him and are called clergy, I have +devoutly taken care to record in the archives of my humility, and have +exhorted those parties that when unity has been made by the consent of +all, since they are seen to be exempt from all other burdens by your +Majesty's clemency, and having preserved the Catholic unity, they should +devote themselves to their duties with the reverence due the sanctity of +the law and to divine things. After a few days, however, there arose some, +to whom a crowd of people joined themselves, who thought that proceedings +should be taken against Caecilianus and presented me a sealed packet +wrapped in leather and a small document without seal, and earnestly +requested that I should transmit them to the sacred and venerable court of +your divinity, which your Majesty's most humble servant has taken care to +do, Caecilianus continuing meanwhile as he was. The acts pertaining to the +case have been subjoined, in order that your Majesty may be able to make a +decision concerning the whole matter. I have sent two documents, one in a +leathern envelope entitled "A Document of the Catholic Church, the Charges +against Caecilianus, Furnished by the Party of Majorinus"; the other +attached without a seal to the same leathern envelope. Given on the 17th +day before the calends of May, in the third consulship of our Lord +Constantine Augustus [April 15, 313]. + + +§ 62. Constantine's Endeavors to Bring about the Unity of the Church by +Means of General Synods: The Councils of Arles and Nicaea + + +One of the intentions of Constantine in his support of Christianity seems +to have been the employment of the Christian religion as a basis for +imperial unity. The policy of several earlier emperors in reviving +heathenism, and Galerius in his persecution of the Christians, seems +likewise to have been to use religion as a basis of unity. One of the +first tasks Constantine encountered after he became sole ruler of the West +was to restore the unity of the Church in Africa, which had been +endangered by the disputes culminating in the Donatist schism; and when he +became sole ruler of the Empire a new task of a similar character was to +restore unity to the Church of the East, endangered by the Meletian schism +in Egypt [_v. supra_, § 57, _a_], the Arian controversy in its first stage +[_v. infra_, § 63], and the estrangement of the Asia Minor churches, due +to the Easter controversy [_v. supra_, § 38]. It was a master-stroke of +policy on the part of Constantine to use the Church's conciliar system on +an enlarged scale to bring about this unity. The Church was made to feel +that the decision was its own and to be obeyed for religious reasons; at +the same time the Emperor was able to direct the thought and action of the +assembly in matters of consequence and to give to conciliar action legal +and coercive effect. The two great assemblies summoned to meet the +problems of the West and of the East were respectively the Councils of +Arles, A. D. 314, and of Nicaea, A. D. 325. + + +I. The Council of Arles A. D. 314 + + +(_a_) Constantine, _Convocatio concilii Arelatensis_, in Eusebius, _Hist. +Ec._, X, 5. (MSG, 20 :888.) _Cf._ Kirch, nn. 321 _f._; Mirbt, nn. 89, +93-97. + + + For the Council of Arles, see Hefele, §§ 14, 15. + + +Constantine Augustus to Chrestus, Bishop of Syracuse. When some began +wickedly and perversely to disagree among themselves in regard to the holy +worship and the celestial power and Catholic doctrine, I, wishing to put +an end to such disputes among them, formerly gave command that certain +bishops should be sent from Gaul, and that the opposing parties, who were +contending persistently and incessantly with each other, should be +summoned from Africa; that in their presence and in the presence of the +bishop of Rome the matter which appeared to be causing the disturbance +might be examined and decided with all care. But since, as it happens, +some, forgetful both of their own salvation and of the reverence due to +the most holy religion, do not even yet bring hostilities to an end, and +are unwilling to conform to the judgment already passed, and assert that +those who expressed their opinions and decisions were few, or that they +had been too hasty and precipitate in giving judgment, before all the +things which ought to have been accurately investigated had been +examined--on account of all this it has happened that those very ones who +ought to hold brotherly and harmonious relations toward each other are +shamefully, or rather abominably, divided among themselves, and give +occasion for ridicule to those men whose souls are alien as to this most +holy religion. Wherefore it has seemed necessary to me to provide that +this dissension, which ought to have ceased after the judgment had been +already given, by their own voluntary agreement, should now, if possible, +be brought to an end by the presence of many. Since, therefore, we have +commanded a number of bishops from a great many different places to +assemble in the city of Arles, before the calends of August, we have +thought proper to write to thee also that thou shouldest secure from the +most illustrious Latronianus, Corrector of Sicily, a public vehicle, and +that thou shouldest take with thee two others of the second rank whom thou +thyself shalt choose, together with three servants, who may serve you on +the way, and betake thyself to the above-mentioned place before the +appointed day; that by thy firmness and by the wise unanimity and harmony +of the others present, this dispute, which has disgracefully continued +until the present time, in consequence of certain shameful strifes, after +all has been heard, which those have to say who are now at variance with +one another, and whom we have likewise commanded to be present, may be +settled in accordance with the proper faith, and that brotherly harmony, +though it be but gradual, may be restored. May Almighty God preserve thee +in health many years. + + +(_b_) _Synodal Epistle addressed to Sylvester, Bishop of Rome_, Bruns, II, +107. _Cf._ Kirch, nn. 330-337. + + + The following extracts give the canons of most importance in the + history of the times. The exact wording of the canons has not been + retained in the letter, which is the only record extant of the + action of the council. The text from which the following is + translated is that given by the monks of St. Maur in their + _Collectio Conciliorum Galliae_, reprinted by Hefele, § 15, and + Bruns, _Canones Apostolorum et Conciliorum_, II, 107 _ff._ It is + to be preferred to the text of Mansi and the older collections. + + + The first canon settled for the West the long-standing question as + to the date of Easter. The Roman custom as to the day of the week + and computation of the time of year should be followed everywhere; + the same decision was reached at Nicaea for the East (_v. __§ 62, + II, a_). As a matter of fact, however, the computation customary + at Alexandria eventually prevailed as the more accurate. + + + The eighth and thirteenth canons touch upon North African + disputes. The former overrules the contention of Cyprian and his + colleagues, that heretical or schismatical baptisms were invalid. + It also laid down a principle by which Novatianism stood + condemned. The thirteenth applied a similar principle to + ordination; the crimes of the bishop who gave the ordination + should not invalidate the ordination of a suitable person, as was + claimed in the case of the ordination of Caecilianus by Felix of + Aptunga, accused as a _traditor_; further it ruled out the + complaints against Felix until more substantial proof be brought, + the official documents that he had made the tradition required by + the edict of persecution. + + +Marinus and the assembly of bishops, who have come together in the town of +Arles, to the most holy lord and brother Sylvester. What we have decreed +with general consent we signify to your charity that all may know what +ought to be observed in the future. + +1. In the first place, concerning the observation of the Lord's Easter, we +have determined that it be observed on one day and at one time throughout +the world by us, and that you send letters according to custom to all. + +8. Concerning the Africans, because they make use of their own law, to the +effect that they rebaptize, we have determined that if any one should come +from heresy to the Church they should ask him the creed; and if they +should perceive that he had been baptized in the name of the Father and of +the Son and of the Holy Ghost, hands only should be laid upon him that he +might receive the Holy Ghost. That if when asked he should not reply this +Trinity, let him be baptized. + +9. Concerning those who bring letters of the confessors, it pleased us +that these letters having been taken away, they should receive other +letters of communion. + +13. Concerning those who are said to have given up the Holy Scriptures or +the vessels of the Lord or the name of their brethren, it has pleased us +whoever of them shall have been convicted by public documents and not by +mere words, should be removed from the clerical order; though if the same +have been found to have ordained any, and those whom they have ordained +are worthy, it shall not render their ordination invalid. And because +there are many who are seen to oppose the law of the Church and think that +they ought to be admitted to bring accusation by hired witnesses, they are +by no means to be admitted, except, as we have said above, they can prove +their accusations by public documents. + + +II. The Council of Nicaea + + + For the Council of Nicaea, see Hefele, §§ 18-44. All church + histories give large space to the Council of Nicaea. _V. infra, §§ + __63__ ff., __72, a_. + + +(_a_) Council of Nicaea, 325. _Synodical Letter_, Socrates, _Hist. Ec._ I, +9. (MSG, 67 :77.) Text in Kirch, nn. 369 _ff._; Mirbt, n. 107. + + +To the holy and, by the grace of God, great Church of the Alexandrians, +and to our beloved brethren throughout Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, the +bishops assembled at Nicaea constituting the great and holy synod, send +greetings in the Lord. + +Since by the grace of God, a great and holy synod has been convened at +Nicaea, our most pious sovereign Constantine having summoned us out of +various cities and provinces for that purpose, it appeared to us +indispensably necessary that a letter should be written also to you on the +part of the sacred synod; in order that you may know what subjects were +brought under consideration, what rigidly investigated, and also what was +eventually determined on and decreed. In the first place, the impiety and +guilt of Arius and his adherents were examined into, in the presence of +our most pious Emperor Constantine: and it was unanimously decided that +his impious opinion be anathematized, with all the blasphemous expressions +and terms he has blasphemously uttered, affirming that the Son of God +sprang from nothing, and that there was a time when He was not; saying, +moreover, that the Son of God was possessed of a free will, so as to be +capable either of vice or virtue; and calling Him a creature and a work. +All these the holy synod has anathematized, having scarcely patience to +endure the hearing of such an impious or, rather, bewildered opinion, and +such abominable blasphemies. But the conclusion of our proceedings against +him you must either have heard or will hear; for we would not seem to +trample on a man who has received the chastisement which his crime +deserved. Yet so strong is his impiety as to involve Theonas, Bishop of +Marmarica, and Secundus of Ptolemais; for they have suffered the same +condemnation as himself. But the grace of God freed us from this false +doctrine, impiety, and blasphemy, and from those persons who have dared to +cause discord and division among the people previously at peace; and there +still remained the contumacy of Meletius to be dealt with, and those who +had been ordained by him; and we shall now state to you, beloved brethren, +what resolution the synod came to on this point. Acting with more clemency +toward Meletius, although, strictly speaking, he was wholly undeserving of +favor, the council permitted him to remain in his own city, but decreed +that he should exercise no authority either to ordain or nominate for +ordination; and that he should appear in no other district or city on this +pretence, but simply retain a nominal dignity; that those who had received +appointments from him, after having been confirmed by a more legitimate +ordination, should be admitted to communion on these conditions: that they +should continue to hold their rank and ministry, but regard themselves as +inferior in every respect to all those who had been previously ordained +and established in each place and church by our most honored +fellow-minister Alexander. In addition to these things, they shall have no +authority to propose or nominate whom they please, or to do anything at +all without the concurrence of a bishop of the Catholic Church, who is one +of Alexander's suffragans. Let such as by the grace of God and your +prayers have been found in no schism, but have continued in the Catholic +Church blameless, have authority to nominate and ordain those who are +worthy of the sacred office, and to act in all things according to +ecclesiastical law and usage. Whenever it may happen that any of those +placed in the Church die, then let such as have been recently admitted +into orders be advanced to the dignity of the deceased, provided that they +appear worthy, and that the people should elect them, and the bishop of +Alexandria confirm their choice. This is conceded to all the others, +indeed, but as for Meletius personally we by no means grant the same, on +account of his formerly disorderly conduct; and because of the rashness +and levity of his character he is deprived of all authority and +jurisdiction, as a man liable again to create similar disturbances. These +are things which specially affect Egypt and the most holy Church of the +Alexandrians; and if any other canon or ordinance should be established, +our lord and most honored fellow-minister and brother Alexander being +present with us, will on his return to you enter into more minute details, +inasmuch as he is not only a participator in whatever is transacted, but +has the principal direction of it. We have also to announce the good news +to you concerning the unanimity as to the holy feast of Easter: that this +by your prayers has been settled so that all the brethren in the East, who +have hitherto kept this festival with the Jews, will henceforth conform to +the Romans and to us, and to all who from the earliest times have observed +our period of celebrating Easter. Rejoicing, therefore, on account of a +favorable termination of matters and in the extirpation of all heresy, +receive with the greater honor and more abundant love our fellow-minister +and your bishop, Alexander, who has greatly delighted us by his presence, +and even at his advanced age has undergone extraordinary exertions in +order that peace might be re-established among you. Pray on behalf of us +all, that the decisions to which we have so justly come may be inviolably +maintained through Almighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ, together with +the Holy Spirit to whom be glory forever. Amen. + + +(_b_) Council of Nicaea, Canon 8, _On the Novatians_, Bruns. I, 8. + + + The Church recognized the substantial orthodoxy of the Novatians, + and according to the principles laid down at Arles (cc. 8, 13, § + 62 _I, b_) the ordination of the Novatians was regarded as valid. + The following canon, although a generous concession on the part of + the Church, did not bring about a healing of the schism which + lasted several centuries. The last mention of the Novatians is + contained in the 95th canon of the second Trullan Council, known + as the Quinisext, A. D. 692. + + +Canon 8. Concerning those who call themselves Cathari, who come over to +the Catholic and Apostolic Church, the great and holy synod decrees that +they who are ordained shall continue as they are among the clergy. But +before all things it is necessary that they should profess in writing that +they will observe and follow the teachings of the Catholic and Apostolic +Church; that is, that they will communicate with those who have been twice +married and with those who have lapsed during the persecution, and upon +whom a period of penance has been laid and a time for restoration fixed; +so that in all things they will follow the teachings of the Catholic +Church. Wheresoever, then, whether in villages or in cities, only these +are found who have been ordained, let them remain as found among the +clergy and in the same rank. But if any come over where there is a bishop +or presbyter of the Catholic Church, it is manifest that the bishop of the +Church must have the dignity of a bishop, and he who was named bishop by +those who are called Cathari shall have the honor of a presbyter, unless +it seem fit to the bishop to share with him the honor of the title. But if +this should not seem good to him, then shall the bishop provide for him a +place as chorepiscopus, or as presbyter, in order that he may be evidently +seen to be of the clergy, and that in one city there may not be two +bishops. + + +(_c_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 5, 2; A. D. 326. + + + With the generous treatment of the Novatians by the Council of + Nicaea should be compared the mild and generous treatment of + Constantine, who distinguished them from other heretics. + + +We have not learned that the Novatians have been so condemned that we +believe that to them should not be granted what they claim. Therefore we +prescribe as to the buildings of their churches and places suitable for +burial that they are to possess, without any molestation, those buildings +and lands, namely, which on ground of long possession or from purchase or +claim for any sound reason they may have. It will be well looked out for +that they attempt to claim nothing for themselves of those things which +before their secession belonged evidently to the churches of perpetual +sanctity. + + + +Chapter II. The Arian Controversy Until The Extinction Of The Dynasty Of +Constantine + + +The Arian controversy may be divided into four periods or stadia: + +1. From the outbreak of the Arian controversy to the Council of Nicaea +(318-325). In this stadium the positions of the parties are defined, and +the position of the West, in substantial agreement with that of Alexander +and Athanasius, forced through by Constantine and Hosius at Nicaea (§ 63). + +2. From the Council of Nicaea to the death of Constantine (325-337). In +this stadium, without the setting aside of the formula of Nicaea, an +attempt is made to reconcile those who in fact dissented. In this period +Constantine, now living in the East, inclines toward a position more in +harmony with Arianism and more acceptable in the East than was the +doctrine of Athanasius. This is the period of the Eusebian reaction (§ +64). + +3. From the death of Constantine to the death of Constantius (337-361). In +this stadium the anti-Nicaean party is victorious in the East (§ 65), but +as it included all those who for any reason were opposed to the definition +of Nicaea, it fell apart on attaining the annulment of the decision of +Nicaea. There arose, on the one hand, an extreme Arian party and, on the +other, a homoiousian party which approximated closely to the Athanasian +position but feared the Nicene terminology. + +4. From the accession of Julian to the council of Constantinople +(361-381). Under the pressure brought against Christianity by Julian (§ +68), parties but little removed from each other came closer together (§ +70). A new generation of theologians took the lead, with an interpretation +of the Nicene formula which made it acceptable to those who had previously +regarded it as Sabellian. And under the lead of these men, backed by the +Emperor Theodosius, the reaffirmation of the Nicene formula at +Constantinople, 381, was accepted by the East (§ 71). + +In the period in which the Arian controversy is by far the most important +series of events in Church history, the attitude of the sons of +Constantine toward heathenism and Donatism was of secondary importance, +but it should be noticed as throwing light on the ecclesiastical policy +which made the Arian controversy so momentous. In their policy toward +heathenism and dissent, the policy of Constantine was carried to its +logical completion in the establishment of Christianity as the only lawful +religion of the Empire (§ 67). + +Arianism may be regarded as the last attempt of Dynamistic Monarchianism +(_v. supra_, § 40) to explain the divinity of Jesus Christ without +admitting His eternity. It was derived in part from the teaching of Paul +of Samosata through Lucian of Antioch. Paul of Samosata had admitted the +existence of an eternal but impersonal Logos in God which dwelt in the man +Jesus. Arianism distinguished between a Logos uncreated, an eternal +impersonal reason in God, and a personal Logos created in time, making the +latter, the personal Logos, only in a secondary sense God. This latter +Logos, neither eternal nor uncreated, became incarnate in Jesus, taking +the place in the human personality of the rational soul or logos. To guard +against the worship of a being created and temporal, and to avoid the +assertion of two eternal existences, the anti-Arian or Athanasian +position, already formulated by Alexander, made the personal Logos of one +essence or substance with the Father, eternal as the Father, and thereby +distinguishing between begetting, or the imparting of subsistence, and +creating, or the calling into being from nothing, a distinction which +Arianism failed to make; and thus allowing for the eternity and deity of +the Son without detracting from the monotheism which was universally +regarded as the fundamental doctrine of Christianity as a body of +theology. In this controversy the party of Alexander and Athanasius was +animated, at least in the earlier stages of the controversy, not so much +by speculative interests as by religious motives, the relation of Jesus to +redemption, and they were strongly influenced by Irenaeus. The party of +Arius, on the other hand, was influenced by metaphysical interests as to +the relation of being to creation and the contrast between the finite and +the infinite. It may be said, in general, that until the council of +Chalcedon, and possibly even after that, the main interest that kept alive +theological discussion was intimately connected with vital problems of +religious life of the times. After that the scholastic period began to set +in and metaphysical discussions were based upon the formulae of the +councils. + + +§ 63. The Outbreak of the Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicaea, A. +D. 325 + + +The Arian controversy began in Alexandria about 318, as related by +Socrates (_a_). The positions of the two parties were defined from the +beginning both by Alexander, bishop of Alexandria (_b_), and Arius himself +(_c_), who by appealing to Eusebius of Nicomedia, his fellow-student in +the school of Lucian of Antioch, enlisted the support of that able +ecclesiastical politician and courtier and at once extended the area of +the controversy throughout the East. By means of poems of a somewhat +popular character entitled the _Thalia_, about 322 (_d_), Arius spread his +doctrines still further, involving others than the trained professional +theologian. In the meanwhile Arius and some other clergy sympathizing with +him in Egypt were deposed about 320 (_e_). Constantine endeavored to end +the dispute by a letter, and, failing in this, sent Hosius of Cordova, his +adviser in ecclesiastical matters, to Alexandria in 324. On the advice of +Hosius, a synod was called to meet at Nicaea in the next year, after the +pattern of the earlier synod for the West at Arles in 314. Here the basis +for a definition of faith was a non-committal creed presented by Eusebius +of Caesarea, the Church historian (_f_). This was modified, probably under +the influence of Hosius, so as to be in harmony at once with the tenets of +the party of Alexander and Athanasius, and with the characteristic +theology of the West (_g_). + + + Additional source material: J. Chrystal, _Authoritative + Christianity_, Jersey City, 1891, vol. I; _The Council of Nicaea: + The Genuine Remains_; H. R. Percival, _The Seven Ecumenical + Councils_ (PNF, ser. II, vol. XIV); Athanasius, _On the + Incarnation_ (PNF, ser. II, vol. IV). + + +(_a_) Socrates. _Hist. Ec._, I, 5. (MSG, 67:41.) + + + The outbreak of the controversy at Alexandria circa 318. + + +After Peter, who was bishop of Alexandria, had suffered martyrdom under +Diocletian, Achillas succeeded to the episcopal office, and after +Achillas, Alexander succeeded in the period of peace above referred to. +Conducting himself fearlessly, he united the Church. By chance, one day, +in the presence of the presbyters and the rest of his clergy, he was +discussing too ambitiously the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, teaching that +there was a unity in the Trinity. But Arius, one of the presbyters under +his jurisdiction, a man of no inconsiderable logical acumen, imagining +that the bishop was subtly introducing the doctrine of Sabellius the +Libyan, from the love of controversy took the opposite opinion to that of +the Libyan, and, as he thought, vigorously responded to the things said by +the bishop. "If," said he, "the Father begat the Son, He that was begotten +had a beginning of existence; and from this it is evident that there was a +time when the Son was not. It follows necessarily that He had His +subsistence [hypostasis] from nothing." + + +(_b_) Alexander of Alexandria. _Ep. ad Alexandrum_, in Theodoret, _Hist. +Ec._, I, 3. (MSG, 88:904.) + + + A statement of the position of Alexander made to Alexander, bishop + of Constantinople. + + + This extract is to be found at the end of the letter; it is + evidently based upon the creed which is reproduced with somewhat + free glosses. The omissions in the extract are of the less + important glosses and proof-texts. For the position of Alexander + the letter of Arius to Eusebius of Nicomedia given below (_c_) + should also be examined. + + +We believe as the Apostolic Church teaches, In one unbegotten Father, who +of His being has no cause, immutable and invariable, and who subsists +always in one state of being, admitting neither of progression nor +diminution; who gave the law and the prophets and the Gospel; of +patriarchs and Apostles and all saints, Lord; and in one Lord Jesus +Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten not out of that which is +not, but of the Father, who is; yet not after the manner of material +bodies, by severance or emanation, as Sabellius and Valentinus taught, but +in an inexpressible and inexplicable manner.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} We have learned that the Son +is immutable and unchangeable, all-sufficient and perfect, like the +Father, lacking only His "unbegottenness." He is the exact and precisely +similar image of His Father.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And in accordance with this we believe that +the Son always existed of the Father.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Therefore His own individual +dignity must be reserved to the Father as the Unbegotten One, no one being +called the cause of His existence: to the Son, likewise, must be given the +honor which befits Him, there being to Him a generation from the Father +which has no beginning.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And in addition to this pious belief respecting +the Father and the Son, we confess as the sacred Scriptures teach us, one +Holy Spirit, who moved the saints of the Old Testament, and the divine +teachers of that which is called the New. We believe in one and only +Catholic and Apostolic Church, which can never be destroyed even though +all the world were to take counsel to fight against it, and which gains +the victory over all the impious attacks of the heterodox.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} After this we +receive the resurrection from the dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord +became the first-fruits; who bore a body, in truth, not in semblance, +derived from Mary, the mother of God [theotokos] in the fulness of time +sojourning among the race, for the remission of sins: who was crucified +and died, yet for all this suffered no diminution of His Godhead. He rose +from the dead, was taken into heaven, and sat down on the right hand of +the Majesty on high. + + +(_c_) Arius, _Ep. ad Eusebium_, in Theodoret, _Hist. Ec._, I, 4. (MSG, +88:909.) + + + A statement in the words of Arius of his own position and that of + Alexander addressed to Eusebius of Nicomedia. + + +To his very dear lord, the man of God, the faithful and orthodox Eusebius, +Arius unjustly persecuted by Alexander the Pope, on account of that +all-conquering truth of which you are also the champion, sendeth greeting +in the Lord. + +{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Alexander has driven us out of the city as atheists, because we do not +concur in what he publicly preaches; namely, "God is always, the Son is +always; as the Father so the Son; the Son coexists unbegotten with God; He +is everlastingly begotten; He is the unbegotten begotten; neither by +thought nor by any interval does God precede the Son; always God, always +the Son; the Son is of God himself."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} To these impieties we cannot listen +even though heretics threaten us with a thousand deaths. But we say and +believe and have taught and do teach, that the Son is not unbegotten, nor +in any way part of the Unbegotten; nor from any substance +[hypokeimenon],(99) but that of His own will and counsel He has subsisted +before time and before ages, as perfect God only begotten and +unchangeable, and that before He was begotten or created or purposed or +established He was not. For He was not unbegotten. We are persecuted +because we say that the Son has a beginning, but that God is without +beginning. This is the cause of our persecution, and likewise because we +say that He is of that which is not.(100) And this we say because He is +neither part of God, nor of any substance [hypokeimenon]. For this we are +persecuted; the rest you know. I bid thee farewell in the Lord, +remembering our afflictions, my fellow-Lucianist and true Eusebius +[_i.e._, pious]. + + +(_d_) Arius, _Thalia_, in Athanasius, _Orat. contra Arianos_, I, 2. (MSG, +26:21.) + + + The following extracts from the _Thalia_, although given by + Athanasius, the opponent of Arius, are so in harmony with what + Arius and his followers asserted repeatedly that they may be + regarded as correctly representing the work from which they + profess to be taken. + + +God was not always Father; but there was when God was alone and was not +yet Father; afterward He became a Father. The Son was not always; for +since all things have come into existence from nothing, and all things are +creatures and have been made, so also the Logos of God himself came into +existence from nothing and there was a time when He was not; and that +before He came into existence He was not; but He also had a beginning of +His being created. For God, he says, was alone and not yet was there the +Logos and Wisdom. Afterward He willed to create us, then He made a certain +one and named Him Logos and Wisdom and Son, in order that by Him He might +create us. He says, therefore, that there are two wisdoms, one proper to, +and existing together with, God; but the Son came into existence by that +wisdom, and was made a partaker of it and was only named Wisdom and Logos. +For Wisdom existed by wisdom and the will of God's wisdom. So, he says, +that there is another Logos besides the Son in God, and the Son partaking +of that Logos is again named Logos and Son by grace.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} There are many +powers; and there is one which is by nature proper to God and eternal; but +Christ, again, is not the true power of God, but is one of those which are +called powers, of whom also the locust and the caterpillar are called not +only a power but a great power [Joel 2:2], and there are many other things +like to the Son, concerning whom David says in the Psalms: "The Lord of +Powers";(101) likewise the Logos is mutable, as are all things, and by His +own free choice, so far as He wills, remains good; because when He wills +He is able to change, as also we are, since His nature is subject to +change. Then, says he, God foreseeing that He would be good, gave by +anticipation to Him that glory, which as a man He afterward had from His +virtue; so that on account of His works, which God foresaw, God made Him +to become such as He is now. + + +(_e_) Council of Alexandria, A. D. 320, _Epistula encyclica_, in Socrates, +_Hist. Ec._, I, 6. (MSG, 67:45.) _Cf._ Kirch, nn. 353 _ff._ + + + The encyclical of the Council of Alexandria under Alexander, in + which Arius and his sympathizers were deposed, was possibly + composed by Athanasius. It is commonly found in his works, + entitled _Depositio Arii_. It is also found in the _Ecclesiastical + History_ of Socrates. For council, see Hefele, § 20. + + +Those who became apostates were Arius, Achillas, AEithales, Carpones, +another Arius, and Sarmates, who were then presbyters; Euzoius, Lucius, +Julianus, Menas, Helladius, and Gaius, who were then deacons; and with +them Secundus and Theonas, then called bishops. And the novelties which +they have invented and put forth contrary to the Scriptures are the +following: God was not always a Father, but there was a time when He was +not a Father. The Logos of God was not always, but came into existence +from things that were not; wherefore there was a time when He was not; for +the Son is a creature and a work. Neither is He like in essence to the +Father. Neither is He truly by nature the Logos of the Father; neither is +He His true Wisdom; but He is one of the things made and created, and is +called the Logos and Wisdom by an abuse of terms, since He himself +originated by God's own logos and by the wisdom that is in God, by which +God has made not only all things but Him also. Wherefore He is in His +nature subject to change and variation as are all rational creatures. And +the Logos is foreign, is alien and separated from the being [_ousia_] of +God. And the Father cannot be(102) described by the Son, for the Logos +does not know the Father perfectly and accurately, neither can He see Him +perfectly. Moreover, the Son knows not His own essence as it really is; +for He was made on account of us, that God might create us by Him as by an +instrument; and He would not have existed had not God willed to create us. +Accordingly some one asked them whether the Logos of God is able to change +as the devil changed, and they were not afraid to say that He can change; +for being something made and created, His nature is subject to change. + + +(_f_) Eusebius of Caesarea, _Creed_, in Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, I, 8. (MSG, +67:69.) _Cf._ Hahn, § 188. + + + This creed was presented at the Council of Nicaea by the historian + Eusebius, who took the lead of the middle party at the council. He + stated that it had long been in use in his church. + + +We believe in one God, Father Almighty, the maker of all things visible +and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos of God, God of God, +Light of Light, Life of Life, only begotten Son, the first-born of all +creation, begotten of His Father before all ages, by whom, also, all +things were made, who for our salvation became flesh, who lived among men, +and suffered and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the Father, +and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We believe +also in one Holy Spirit. We believe that each of these [_i.e._, three] is +and subsists;(103) the Father truly Father, the Son truly Son; the Holy +Spirit truly Holy Spirit; as our Lord also said, when He sent His +disciples to preach: "Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of +the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" [Matt. 28:19]. + + +(_g_) Council of Nicaea A. D. 325, _Creed_, in Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, I, 8. +(MSG, 67:68.) _Cf._ Hahn, § 142. + + + The creed of Nicaea is to be carefully distinguished from what is + commonly called the Nicene creed. The actual creed put forth at + the council is as follows. The discussion by Loofs, + _Dogmengeschichte_, § 32, is brief but especially important, as he + shows that the creed was drawn up under the influence of the + Western formulae. + + +We believe in one God, Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and +invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of His +Father, only begotten, that is of the _ousia_ of the Father, God of God, +Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not made, of one +substance(104) with the Father, by whom all things were made, both things +in heaven and things in earth, who for us men and for our salvation, came +down from heaven and was made [became] flesh and was made [became] man, +suffered and rose again on the third day, ascended into the heavens and +comes to judge living and dead. And in the Holy Ghost. + +But those who say there was when He was not, and before being begotten He +was not, and He was made out of things that were not(105) or those who say +that the Son of God was from a different substance [hypostasis] or being +[_ousia_] or a creature, or capable of change or alteration, these the +Catholic Church anathematizes. + + +§ 64. The Beginnings of the Eusebian Reaction under Constantine + + +Shortly after the Council of Nicaea, Constantine seems to have become aware +of the fact that the decision at that council was not acceptable in the +East as a whole, representing, as it did, what was generally felt to be an +extreme position. In coming to this opinion he was much influenced by +Eusebius of Nicomedia who, by powerful court interest, was soon recalled +from exile and even became the leading ecclesiastical adviser of +Constantine. The policy of this bishop was to prepare the way for the +revocation of the decree of Nicaea by a preliminary rehabilitation of Arius +(_a_), and by attacking the leaders of the opposite party (_b_). +Constantine, however, never consented to the abrogation of the creed of +Nicaea. + + + Additional source material: Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, I, 8 (letter of + Eusebius to his diocese), 14, 28 ff. _Eusebius, Vita Constantini_, + III, 23; Athanasius, _Historia Arianorum_, §§ 4-7. + + +(_a_) Arius, _Confession of Faith_, in Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, I, 26. (MSG, +67:149.) + + + As a part of the process whereby Arius should be rehabilitated by + being received back into the Church he was invited by Constantine + to appear at the court. He was there presented to the Emperor and + produced a confession of faith purposely vague and general in + statement, but intended to give the impression that he held the + essentials of the received orthodoxy. The text is that given by + Hahn, § 187. + + +Arius and Euzoius to our most religious and pious Lord, the Emperor +Constantine. + +In accordance with the command of your devout piety, sovereign lord, we +declare our faith, and before God we profess in writing that we and our +adherents believe as follows: + +We believe in one God, the Father Almighty; and in the Lord Jesus Christ +His Son, who was made by Him before all ages, God the Word, through whom +all things were made, both those which are in heaven and those upon earth; +who descended, and became incarnate, and suffered, and rose again, +ascended into the heavens, and will again come to judge the living and the +dead. Also in the Holy Spirit, and in the resurrection of the flesh, and +in the life of the coming age, and in the kingdom of the heavens, and in +one Catholic Church of God, extending from one end of the earth to the +other. + +This faith we have received from the holy gospels, the Lord therein saying +to His disciples: "Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." If we do not so believe +and truly receive the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the whole Catholic +Church and the Holy Scriptures teach (in which we believe in every +respect) God is our judge both now and in the coming judgment. Wherefore +we beseech your piety, most devout Emperor, that we who are persons +consecrated to the ministry, and holding the faith and sentiments of the +Church and of the Holy Scriptures, may by your pacific and devoted piety +be reunited to our mother, the Church, all superfluous questions and +disputings being avoided; that so both we and the whole Church may be at +peace and in common offer our accustomed prayers for your tranquil reign +and on behalf of your whole family. + + +(_b_) Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, I, 23. (MSG, 67:140.) + + + The attack of the Arians upon Athanasius and his party. + + +The partisans of Eusebius and Theognis having returned from their exile, +they received again their churches, having expelled, as we observed, those +who had been ordained in their stead. Moreover they came into great +consideration with the Emperor, who honored them exceedingly, as those who +had returned from error to the orthodox faith. They, however, abused the +license granted them by exciting commotions in the world greater than +before; being instigated to this by two causes--on the one hand, the Arian +heresy with which they had been previously infected, and on the other +hand, by animosity against Athanasius because in the synod he had so +vigorously withstood them in the discussion of the articles of the faith. +And in the first place they objected to the ordination of Athanasius, not +only as of one unworthy of the episcopate, but also as of one not elected +by qualified persons. But when he had shown himself superior to this +calumny (for having assumed direction of the Church of the Alexandrians, +he ardently contended for the Nicene creed), then the adherents of +Eusebius exerted themselves to cause the removal of Athanasius and to +bring Arius back to Alexandria; for thus only did they think they should +be able to cast out the doctrine of consubstantiality and introduce +Arianism. Eusebius therefore wrote to Athanasius to receive Arius and his +adherents; and when he wrote he not only entreated him, but he openly +threatened him. When Athanasius would by no means accede to this he +endeavored to persuade the Emperor to receive Arius in audience and then +permit him to return to Alexandria; and how he accomplished these things I +shall tell in its proper place. + +Meanwhile, before this, another commotion was raised in the Church. In +fact those of the household of the Church again disturbed her peace. +Eusebius Pamphilius says that immediately after the synod Egypt became +agitated by intestine divisions; but he does not give the reason for this. +From this he has gained the reputation of being disingenuous and of +avoiding the specification of the causes of these dissensions from a +determination on his part not to give his sanction to the proceedings at +Nicaea. Yet as we ourselves have discovered from various letters which the +bishops wrote to one another after the synod, the term homoousios troubled +some of them. So that while they occupied themselves about it, +investigating it very minutely, they roused the strife against each other. +It seemed not unlike a contest in the dark; for neither party appeared to +understand distinctly the grounds on which they calumniated one another. +Those who objected to the word homoousios conceived that those who +approved it favored the opinion of Sabellius and Montanus; they therefore +called them blasphemers, as subverting the existence of the Son of God. +And again those who defended the term, charging their opponents with +polytheism, inveighed against them as introducers of heathen +superstitions. Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, accuses Eusebius Pamphilius +of perverting the Nicene creed; Eusebius again denies that he violates +that exposition of the faith, and accuses Eustathius of introducing the +opinion of Sabellius. Therefore each of them wrote as if contending +against adversaries; but both sides admitted that the Son of God has a +distinct person and existence, confessing that there is one God in three +persons (hypostases) yet they were unable to agree, for what cause I do +not know, and could in no way be at peace. + + +§ 65. The Victory of the Anti-Nicene Party in the East + + +When Constantine died in 337 the party of Eusebius of Nicomedia was +completely in the ascendant in the East. A council at Antioch, 339, +deposed Athanasius, and he was expelled from Alexandria, and Gregory of +Cappadocia was consecrated in his place. Athanasius, with Marcellus of +Ancyra and other supporters of the Nicene faith, repaired to Rome where +they were supported by Julius, bishop of Rome, at a well-attended local +council in 340 (_a__, __b_). In the East numerous attempts were made to +formulate a confession of faith which might take the place of the Nicene +creed and prove acceptable to all parties. The most important of these +were produced at the Council of Antioch, 341, at which no less than four +creeds were formulated (_c__, __d_). + + + Additional source material: Percival, _The Seven Ecumenical + Councils_ (PNF, ser. II, vol. XIV); Socrates, _Hist. Ec._ (PNF, + ser. II, vol. II), II, 19 (Formula Macrostichos); Athanasius, _De + Synodis_ (PNF, ser. II, vol. IV). + + +(_a_) Athanasius, _Apologia contra Arianos_, 20. (MSG, 25:280.) + + + Athanasius and his allies in exile in the West are exonerated at + Rome. + + +The Eusebians wrote also to Julius, thinking to frighten me, requesting +him to call a council, and Julius himself to be the judge if he pleased. +When, therefore, I went up to Rome, Julius wrote to the Eusebians, as was +suitable, and sent moreover two of his presbyters, Elpidius and +Philoxenus. But when they heard of me they became confused, because they +did not expect that we would come up; and they declined, alleging absurd +reasons for so doing, but in truth fearing lest the things should be +proved against them which Valens and Ursacius afterward confessed. +However, more than fifty bishops assembled in the place where the +presbyter Vito held his congregation, and they acknowledged my defence and +gave me the confirmation both of their communion and their love. On the +other hand, they expressed great indignation against the Eusebians and +requested that Julius write to the following effect to them who had +written to him. And he wrote and sent it by Count Gabienus. + + +(_b_) Julius of Rome, _Epistula_, in Athanasius. _Apologia contra +Arianos_, §§ 26 _ff._ (MSG, 25:292.) + + +Julius to his dearly beloved brethren, Danius, Flacillus, Narcissus, +Eusebius, and Matis, Macedonius, Theodorus, and their friends, who have +written him from Antioch, sends health in the Lord. + +§ 26. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} It is necessary for me to inform you that although I alone wrote, +yet it was not my opinion only, but of all the bishops throughout Italy +and in these parts. I, indeed, was unwilling to cause them all to write, +lest they might have weight by mere numbers. The bishops, however, +assembled on the appointed day, and agreed in these opinions, which I +again write to signify to you; so that, dearly beloved, although I alone +address you, yet you may know it is the opinion of all.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +§ 27. That we have not admitted to our communion our fellow-bishops +Athanasius and Marcellus either hastily or unjustly, although sufficiently +shown above, it is but fair to set briefly before you. The Eusebians first +wrote against Athanasius and his fellows, and you have also written now; +but many bishops out of Egypt and other provinces wrote in his favor. Now +in the first place, your letters against him contradict each other, and +the second have no sort of agreement with the first, but in many instances +the former are refuted by the latter, and the latter are impeached by the +former.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +§ 29. Now when these things were thus represented, and so many witnesses +appeared in his behalf, and so much advanced by him in his own +justification, what did it become us to do? Or what did the rule of the +Church require except that we should not condemn the man, but rather +receive him and hold him as a bishop as we have done.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +§ 32. With respect to Marcellus, forasmuch as you have written concerning +him also as impious in respect to Christ, I am anxious to inform you that, +when he was here, he positively declared that what you had written +concerning him was not true; but, being nevertheless requested by us to +give an account of his faith, he answered in his own person with the +utmost boldness, so that we recognize that he maintains nothing outside of +the truth. He confessed that he piously held the same doctrine concerning +our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the Catholic Church holds; and he +affirmed that he had held these opinions not merely now but for a very +long time since; as indeed our presbyters, who were at a former time at +the Council of Nicaea, testified to his orthodoxy, for he maintained both +then and now his opposition to the heresy of Arius; on which point it is +right to admonish you, that none of you admit such heresy, but instead +abominate it as alien from the wholesome doctrine. Since he professed +orthodox opinions and offered testimony to his orthodoxy, what again ought +we in his case to have done except to treat him as a bishop, as we did, +and not reject him from our communion?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +§ 33. For not only the bishops Athanasius and Marcellus and their fellows +came here and complained of the injustice that had been done them, but +many other bishops, also, from Thrace, from Coele-Syria, from Phoenicia, and +Palestine; and presbyters, not a few, and others from Alexandria and from +other parts were present at the council here and, in addition to their own +statements, lamented bitterly before all the assembled bishops the +violence and injustice which the churches had suffered; and they affirmed +that outrages similar to those which had been committed in Alexandria had +occurred not in word only but in deed in their own churches and in others +also. + + +(_c_) _Second Creed of Antioch_, A. D. 341, in Athanasius, _De Synodis +Arimini et Seleuciae_, ch. 23. (MSG, 26:721.) Also in Socrates, _Hist. +Ec._, II, 10. (MSG, 67:201.) _Cf._ Hahn, § 154. + + + The Council of Antioch in 341 was gathered ostensibly to dedicate + the great church of that city, in reality to act against the + Nicene party. It was attended by ninety or more bishops of whom + thirty-six were Arians. The others seem to have been chiefly + members of the middle party. The dogmatic definitions of this + council have never been accepted by the Church; on the other hand, + the canons on discipline have always enjoyed a very high place in + the esteem of later generations. The following creed, the second + of the Antiochian creeds, is traditionally regarded as having been + composed originally by Lucian of Antioch, the master of Arius. + Hence it is known as the creed of Lucian. + + +We believe in accordance with evangelic and apostolic tradition in one God +the Father Almighty, the creator, the maker and provider of all things. +And in one Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, God, through whom are +all things, who was begotten of His Father before all ages, God of God, +whole of whole, only one of only one, perfect of perfect, king of king, +lord of lord, the living word, living wisdom, true light, way, truth, +resurrection, shepherd, door, unchangeable, unalterable, and immutable, +the unchangeable likeness of the Godhead, both of the substance, and will +and power and glory of the Father, the first-born of all creation, who was +in the beginning with God, God Logos, according to what is said in the +Gospel: "and the word was God," through whom all things were made, and "in +whom all things consist," who in the last days came down from above, and +was born of a virgin, according to the Scriptures, and became man, the +mediator between God and man, and the apostle of our faith, and the prince +of life; as He says, "I have come down from heaven, not to do mine own +will, but the will of Him that sent me"; who suffered for us, and rose the +third day and ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of the +Father, and comes again with glory and power to judge the living and the +dead. And in the Holy Spirit given for consolation and sanctification and +perfection to those who believe; as also our Lord Jesus Christ commanded +his disciples, saying, "Go ye, teach all nations, baptizing them in the +name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," clearly of the +Father who is really a Father, and of the Son who is really a Son, and of +the Holy Spirit who is really a Holy Spirit; these names being assigned +not vaguely nor idly, but indicating accurately the special subsistence +[hypostasis], order, glory of those named, so that in subsistence they are +three, but in harmony one. + +Having then this faith from the beginning and holding it to the end, +before God and Christ we anathematize all heretical false doctrines. And +if any one contrary to the right faith of the Holy Scriptures, teaches and +says that there has been a time, a season, or age, or being or becoming, +before the Son of God was begotten, let him be accursed. And if any one +says that the Son is a creature as one of the creatures, or generated as +one of the things generated, or made as one of the things made, and not as +the divine Scriptures have handed down each of the forenamed statements; +or if a man teaches or preaches anything else contrary to what we have +received, let him be accursed. For we truly and clearly both believe and +follow all things from the Holy Scriptures that have been transmitted to +us by the prophets and Apostles. + + +(_d_) _Fourth Creed of Antioch_, Socrates, _Hist._ Ec., II, 18. (MSG, +67:221.) _Cf._ Hahn, § 156. + + + This creed is an approximation to the Nicene creed but without the + use of the word of especial importance, homoousios. Valuable + critical notes on the text of this and the preceding creed are to + be found in Hahn; as these creeds are to be found both in the work + of Athanasius on the councils of synods of Ariminum and Seleucia, + in the ecclesiastical history of Socrates and elsewhere, there is + a variety of readings, but of minor significance so far as the + essential features are concerned. + + +We believe in one God, Father Almighty, the creator and maker of all +things, of whom the whole family in heaven and upon earth is named; and in +his only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was begotten of the +Father before all ages; God of God, light of light, through whom all +things in the heavens and upon earth, both visible and invisible were +made: who is the word, and wisdom, and power, and life, and true light: +who in the last days for our sake was made [became] man, and was born of +the holy Virgin; was crucified, and died; was buried, arose again from the +dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven, is seated at the right +hand of the Father, and is coming at the consummation of the age to judge +the living and the dead, and to render to each according to his works: +whose kingdom, being perpetual, shall continue to infinite ages (for He +shall sit at the right hand of the Father, not only in this age, but also +in that which is to come). And in the Holy Spirit; that is, in the +comforter, whom the Lord, according to His promise, sent to His Apostles +after His ascension into the heavens, to teach and bring all things to +their remembrance: by whom, also, the souls of those who have sincerely +believed in Him shall be sanctified; and those who assert that the Son was +made of things which are not, or of another subsistence [hypostasis], and +not of God, or that there was a time or age when He did not exist the holy +Catholic Church accounts as aliens. + + +§ 66. Collapse of the Anti-Nicene Middle Party; the Renewal of Arianism; +the Rise of the Homoousian Party + + +When Constantius became sole Emperor, on the death of his brother Constans +in 350, there was no further need of considering the interests of the +Nicene party. Only the necessity of establishing his authority in the West +against usurpers engaged his attention until 356, when a series of +councils began, designed to put an end to the Nicene faith. Of the +numerous confessions of faith put forth, the second creed of Sirmium of +357 is important as attempting to abolish in connection with the +discussion the use of the term _ousia_ and likewise _homoousios_ and +_homoiousios_ (_a_). At Nice in Thrace a still greater departure from +Nicaea was attempted in 359, and a creed was put forth (_b_), which is of +special significance as containing the first reference in a creed to the +_descensus ad inferos_ and to the fact that it was subscribed by the +deputies of the West including Bishop Liberius of Rome. For the discussion +of this act of Liberius, see J. Barmby, art. "Liberius" in DCB; see also +_Catholic Encyclopaedia_, art. "Liberius." It was also received in the +synod of Seleucia in the East. On these councils see Athanasius, _De +Synodis_ (PNF). It was in reference to this acceptance of the creed of +Nice that Jerome wrote "The whole world groaned and was astonished that it +was Arian." See Jerome, _Contra Luciferianos_, §§ 18 _ff._ (PNF. ser. II, +vol. VI). + +Inasmuch as the anti-Nicene opposition party was a coalition of all +parties opposed to the wording of the Nicene creed, as soon as that creed +was abolished the bond that held them together was broken. At once there +arose an extreme Arianism which had remained in the background. On the +other hand, those who were opposed to Arianism sought to draw nearer the +Nicene party. These were the Homoiousians, who objected to the term +homoousios as savoring of Sabellianism, and yet admitted the essential +point implied by it. That this was so was pointed out by Hilary of +Poitiers (_c_) who contended that what the West meant by homoousios the +East meant by homoiousios. The Homoiousian party of the East split on the +question of the deity of the Holy Spirit. Those of them who denied the +deity of the Spirit remained Semi-Arians. + + +(_a_) _Second Creed of Sirmium_, in Hilary of Poitiers, _De Synodis_, ch. +11. (MSL, 10:487.) _Cf._ Hahn, § 161. + + + The Council of Sirmium in 357 was the second in that city. It was + attended entirely by bishops from the West. But among them were + Ursacius, Valens, and Germinius, leaders of the opposition to the + Nicene creed. Hosius under compulsion signed the following; see + Hilary, _loc cit._ The Latin original is given by Hilary. + + +It is evident that there is one God, the Father Almighty, according as it +is believed throughout the whole world; and His only Son Jesus Christ our +Saviour, begotten of Him before the ages. But we cannot and ought not to +say there are two Gods.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +But since some or many persons were disturbed by questions as to +substance, called in Greek _ousia_, that is, to make it understood more +exactly, as to _homoousios_ or what is called _homoiousios_, there ought +to be no mention of these at all, nor ought any one to state them; for the +reason and consideration that they are not contained in the divine +Scriptures, and that they are above man's understanding, nor can any man +declare the birth of the Son, of whom it is written: "Who shall declare +His generation?" For it is plain that only the Father knows how He begat +the Son, and the Son how He was begotten of the Father. There is no +question that the Father is greater. No one can doubt that the Father is +greater than the Son, in honor, dignity, splendor, majesty and in the very +name Father, the Son himself testifying, He that sent Me is greater than +I. And no one is ignorant that it is Catholic doctrine that there are two +persons of Father and Son; and that the Father is greater, and that the +Son is subordinated to the Father, together with all things which the +Father hath subordinated to Him; and that the Father has no beginning and +is invisible, immortal, and impassible, but that the Son has been begotten +of the Father, God of God, light of light, and of this Son the generation, +as is aforesaid, no one knows but His Father. And that the Son of God +himself, our Lord and God, as we read, took flesh or a body, that is, man +of the womb of the Virgin Mary, as the angel announced. And as all the +Scriptures teach, and especially the doctor of the Gentiles himself. He +took of Mary the Virgin, man, through whom He suffered. And the whole +faith is summed up and secured in this, that the Trinity must always be +preserved, as we read in the Gospel: "Go ye and baptize all nations in the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Complete and +perfect is the number of the Trinity. Now the Paraclete, or the Spirit, is +through the Son: who was sent and came according to His promise in order +to instruct, teach, and sanctify the Apostles and all believers. + + +(_b_) _Creed of Nice_ A. D. 359, Theodoret, _Hist. Ec._, II, 16. (MSG, +82:1049.) _Cf._ Hahn, § 164. + + + The deputies from the Council of Ariminum were sent to Nice, a + small town in Thrace, where they met the heads of the Arian party. + A creed, strongly Arian in tendency, was given them and they were + sent back to Ariminum to have it accepted. See Theodoret, _loc. + cit._, and Athanasius, _De Synodis_. + + +We believe in one and only true God, Father Almighty, of whom are all +things. And in the only begotten Son of God, who before all ages and +before every beginning was begotten of God, through whom all things were +made, both visible and invisible; begotten, only begotten, alone of the +Father alone, God of God, like the Father that begat Him, according to the +Scriptures, whose generation no one knoweth except only the Father that +begat Him. This only begotten Son of God, sent by His Father, we know to +have come down from heaven, as it is written, for the destruction of sin +and death; begotten of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary, as it is +written, according to the flesh. Who companied with His disciples, and +when the whole dispensation was fulfilled, according to the Father's will, +was crucified, dead and buried, and descended to the world below, at whom +hell itself trembled; on the third day He rose from the dead and companied +with His disciples, and when forty days were completed He was taken up +into the heavens, and sitteth on the right hand of His Father, and is +coming at the last day of the resurrection, in His Father's glory, to +render to every one according to his works. And in the Holy Ghost, which +the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, both God and Lord, promised to +send to the race of men, the comforter, as it is written, the spirit of +truth, and this Spirit He himself sent after He had ascended into the +heavens and sat at the right hand of the Father, from thence He is coming +to judge both the quick and the dead. + +But the word "substance," which was simply inserted by the Fathers and not +being understood was a cause of scandal to the people because it was not +found in the Scriptures, it hath seemed good to us to remove, and that for +the future no mention whatever be permitted of "substance," because the +sacred Scriptures nowhere make any mention of the "substance" of the +Father and the Son. Nor must one "subsistence" [hypostasis] be named in +relation to the person [prosopon] of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And we +call the Son like the Father, as the Holy Scriptures call Him and teach. +But all heresies, both those already condemned, and any, if such there be, +which have arisen against the document thus put forth, let them be +anathema. + + +(_c_) Hilary of Poitiers. _De Synodis_, §§ 88, 89, 91. (MSL, 10:540.) + + + That the Homoiousian party meant substantially the same by their + term homoiousios as did the Homoousians or the Nicene party, by + their term homoousios. + + + Hilary was of great importance in the Arian controversy in + bringing the Homoiousian party of the East and the Nicene party of + the West to an agreement. The Eastern theologians, who hesitated + to accept the Nicene term, were eventually induced to accept, + understanding by the term homoousios the same as homoiousios. See + below, § 70. + + +§ 88. Holy brethren, I understand by homoousios God of God, not of an +unlike essence, not divided, but born; and that the Son has a birth that +is unique, of the substance of the unknown God, that He is begotten yet +co-eternal and wholly like the Father. The word homoousios greatly helped +me already believing this. Why do you condemn my faith in the homoousios, +which you cannot disapprove by the confession of the homoiousios? For you +condemn my faith, or rather your own, when you condemn its verbal +equivalent. Does somebody else misunderstand it? Let us together condemn +the misunderstanding, but not take away the security of your faith. Do you +think that one must subscribe to the Samosetene Council, so that no one +may make use of homoousios in the sense of Paul of Samosata? Then let us +subscribe to the Council of Nicaea, so that the Arians may not impugn the +word homoousios. Have we to fear that homoiousios does not imply the same +belief as homoousios? Let us decree that there is no difference between +being of one and being of a similar substance. But may not the word +homoousios be understood in a wrong sense? Let it be proved that it can be +understood in a good sense. We hold one and the same sacred truth. I +beseech you that the one and the same truth which we hold, we should +regard as sacred among us. Forgive me, brethren, as I have so often asked +you to do. You are not Arians; why, then, by denying the homoousios, +should you be thought to be Arians? + +§ 89. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} True likeness belongs to a true natural connection. But when the +true natural connection exists, the homoousios is implied. It is likeness +according to essence when one piece of metal is like another and not +plated.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Nothing can be like gold but gold, or like milk that does not +belong to that species. + +§ 91. I do not know the word homoousios or understand it unless it +confesses a similarity of essence. I call God of heaven and earth to +witness, that when I heard neither word, my belief was always such that I +should have interpreted homoiousios by homoousios. That is I believed that +nothing could be similar according to nature unless it was of the same +nature. + + +§ 67. The Policy of the Sons of Constantine Toward Heathenism and Donatism + + +Under the sons of Constantine a harsher policy toward heathenism was +adopted. Laws were passed forbidding heathen sacrifices (_a__, __b_), and +although these were not carried out vigorously in the West, where there +were many heathen members of the leading families, they were more +generally enforced in the East, and heathenism was thereby much reduced, +at least in outward manifestations. As to heresy, the action of the +emperors and especially Constantius in his constant endeavor to set aside +the Nicene faith involved harsh measures against all who differed from the +approved theology of the court. Donatism called for special treatment. A +policy of conciliation was attempted, but on account of the failure to win +over the Donatists and their alliance with fierce revolutionary fanatics, +the Circumcellions, violent measures were taken against them which nearly +extirpated the sect. + + +(_a_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 10, 2; A. D. 341. + + + This edict of Constantius is of importance here as it seems to + imply that Constantine did more toward repressing heathen + sacrifices than to forbid those celebrated in private. It is, + however, the only evidence of his prohibiting sacrifice, and it + might have been due to misunderstanding that his example is here + cited. + + +Let superstition cease; let the madness of sacrifices be abolished. For +whoever, against the law of the divine prince, our parent [Constantine] +and this command of our clemency, shall celebrate sacrifices, let a +punishment appropriate to him and this present decision be issued. + + +(_b_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 10, 3; A. D. 342. + + + In the West Constans did not enforce the law against sacrifices + with great severity, but tolerated the existence and even use of + certain temples without the walls. + + +Although all superstition is to be entirely destroyed, yet we will that +the temple buildings, which are situated without the walls, remain intact +and uninjured. For since from some have arisen various sports, races, and +contests, it is not proper that they should be destroyed, from which the +solemnity of ancient enjoyments are furnished to the Roman people. + + +(_c_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 10, 4; A. D. 346. + + +It is our pleasure that in all places and in all cities the temples be +henceforth closed, and access having been forbidden to all, freedom to sin +be denied the wicked. We will that all abstain from sacrifices; that if +any one should commit any such act, let him fall before the vengeance of +the sword. Their goods, we decree, shall be taken away entirely and +recovered to the fisc, and likewise rectors of provinces are to be +punished if they neglect to punish for these crimes. + + +(_d_) Optatus, _De schismate Donatistarum_, III, §§ 3, 4. (MSL, 11:999.) + + + The principal historical writer treating the schism of the + Donatists is Optatus, Bishop of Mileve. His work on this sect was + written about 370 and revised and enlarged in 385. It is of + primary importance not merely for the history but for the dogmatic + discussions on the doctrine of the Church, Bk. II, the doctrine of + the sacraments, the idea of _opus operatum_ as applied to them, + Bk. V; in all of which he laid the foundation upon which Augustine + built. In addition to the passage from Optatus given here, + Epistles 88 and 185 by Augustine are accessible in translations + and will be found of assistance in filling in the account of the + Circumcellions. The latter is known as _De correctione + Donatistarum_ and is published in the anti-Donatist writings of + Augustine in PNF, ser. I, vol. IV; the most important passages are + §§ 15 and 25. It is probable that the party of the Circumcellions + was originally due to a revolt against intolerable agrarian + conditions and that their association with the Donatists was at + first slight. + + +§ 3. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The Emperor Constans did not send Paulus and Macarius primarily to +bring about unity, but with alms, that, assisted by them, the poor of the +various churches might be relieved, clothed, and fed. When they came to +Donatus, your father, and showed him why they had come, he was seized with +his accustomed furious anger and broke forth with these words: "What has +the Emperor to do with the Church."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +§ 4. If anything, therefore, has been done harshly in bringing about +unity,(106) you see, brother Parmenianus, to whom it ought to be +attributed. Do you say that the military was sought by us Catholics; if +so, then why did no one see the military in arms in the proconsular +province? Paulus and Macarius came, everywhere to consider the poor and to +exhort individuals to unity; and when they approached Bagaja, then another +Donatus, bishop of that city, desiring to place an obstacle in the way of +unity and hinder the work of those coming, whom we have mentioned, sent +messengers throughout the neighboring places and all markets, and summoned +the Circumcellions, calling them Agonistici, to come to the said place. +And at that time the gathering of these was desired, whose madness a +little before had been seen by the bishops themselves to have been +impiously inspired. For when men of this sort before the unity(107) +wandered through various places, when Axido and Fasir were called by the +same mad ones the leaders of the saints, no one could be secure in his +possessions; written evidences of indebtedness lost their force; no +creditor was at liberty at that time to demand anything. All were +terrified by the letters of those who boasted that they were the leaders +of the saints, and if there was any delay in fulfilling their commands, +suddenly a furious multitude hurried up and, terror going on before, +creditors were surrounded with a wall of dangers, so that those who ought +to have been asked for their protection were by fear of death compelled to +use humble prayers. Each one hastened to abandon his most important +duties; and profit was thought to have come from these outrages. Even the +roads were no longer at all safe, because masters, turned out of their +carriages, ran humbly before their slaves sitting in the places of their +masters. By the judgment and rule of these the order of rank between +masters and servants was changed. Therefore when there arose complaint +against the bishops of your party, they are said to have written to Count +Taurinus, that such men could not be corrected in the Church, and they +demanded that they should receive discipline from the said count. Then +Taurinus, in response to their letters, commanded an armed body of +soldiers to go through the markets where the Circumcellions were +accustomed to wander. In Octavum very many were killed, many were beheaded +and their bodies, even to the present day, can be counted by the white +altars or tables.(108) When first some of their number were buried in the +basilicas, Clarus, a presbyter in Subbulum, was compelled by his bishop to +disinter those buried. Whence it is reported that what was done had been +commanded to be done, when it is admitted that sepulture in the house of +God is not granted. Afterward the multitude of these people increased. In +this way Donatus of Bagaja found whence he might lead against Macarius a +raging mob. Of that sort were those who were to their own ruin murderers +of themselves in their desire for a false martyrdom. Of these, also, were +those who rushed headlong and threw themselves down from the summits of +lofty mountains. Behold from what numbers the second Bishop Donatus formed +his cohorts! Those who were bearing treasure which they had obtained for +the poor were held back by fear. They decided in so great a predicament to +demand from Count Sylvester armed soldiery, not that by these they should +do violence to any one, but that they might stop the force drawn up by the +aforesaid Bishop Donatus. Thus it happened that an armed soldiery was +seen. Now, as to what followed, see to whom it ought or can be ascribed. +They had there an infinite number of those summoned, and it is certain +that a supply of provisions for a year had been provided. Of the basilicas +they made a sort of public granary, and awaited the coming of those +against whom they might expend their fury, if the presence of armed +soldiery had not prevented them. For when, before the soldiers came, the +metatores,(109) as was the custom, were sent, they were not properly +received, contrary to the apostolic precept, "honor to whom honor, custom +to whom custom, tribute to whom tribute, owe no man anything." For those +who had been sent with their horses were smitten by those whose names you +have made public with malicious intent. They were the authors of their own +wrong; and what they could suffer they themselves taught by these +outrages. The soldiers who had been maltreated returned to their fellows, +and for what two or three suffered, all grieved. All were roused, and +their officers could not restrain the angered soldiers. + + +§ 68. Julian the Apostate + + +The reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363) is important in the history of +the Christian Church, in the first place, as indicating the slight hold +which heathenism had retained as a system upon the bulk of the people and +the impossibility of reviving it in any form in which it might compete +with the Church. Julian attempted to inject into a purified heathenism +those elements in the Christian Church which he was forced to admire. The +result was a fantastic mixture of rites and measures with which the +heathen would have nothing to do. In the second place, in the development +of the Church's doctrinal system, and especially in the Arian controversy, +the reign of Julian gave the contestants, who were obliged to stand +together against a common enemy, reason for examining in a new way the +points they had in common, and enabled them to see that some at least +differed more over the expression than over the content of their faith. +The character of Julian has long been a favorite subject of study and +especially the motives that induced him to abandon Christianity for the +Neo-Platonic revival of heathenism. + + + Additional source material: Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, III: Ammianus + Marcellinus, _Roman History_, XVI-XXV, translated by C. D. Yonge + (Bohn's Classical Library); _Select Works of Julian_, translated + by C. W. King (Bohn). + + +(_a_) Socrates. _Hist Ec._ III. 1. (MSG, 67:368.) + + + The Emperor Julian. + + + The account of the Emperor Julian as given by Socrates is probably + the best we have. It is, on the whole, a model of a fair + statement, such as is characteristic of the history of Socrates in + nearly all its parts. In spite of its length it is worthy of a + place in its entirety, as it explains the antecedents of a + character which the world has had difficulty in understanding. + + +Constantine, who gave Byzantium his own name, had two brothers born of the +same father but by a different mother, of these one was named Dalmatius, +the other Constantius. Dalmatius had a son of the same name as his own; +Constantius had two sons, Gallus and Julian. Now, as on the death of +Constantine, the founder of Constantinople, the soldiery had put the +younger brother Constantius to death, the lives of his two orphaned +children were also endangered; but a disease, apparently fatal, preserved +Gallus from the violence of his father's murderers; and as to Julian, his +age--for he was only eight years old at the time--protected him. The +Emperor's jealousy toward them having been subdued, Gallus attended +schools at Ephesus in Ionia, in which country considerable possessions had +been left them by their parents. Julian, however, when he was grown up +pursued his studies at Constantinople, going constantly to the palace, +where the schools then were, in simple attire and under the care of the +eunuch Mardonius. In grammar, Nicocles, the Lacedaemonian, was his +instructor; and Ecbolius, the sophist, who was at that time a Christian, +taught him rhetoric; for the Emperor Constantius had made provision that +he should have no pagan masters, lest he should be seduced to pagan +superstitions; for Julian was a Christian at the beginning. Since he made +great progress in literature, the report began to spread that he was +capable of ruling the Roman Empire; and this popular rumor becoming +generally spread abroad, greatly disquieted the Emperor. Therefore he +removed him from the great city to Nicomedia, forbidding him at the same +time to frequent the school of Libanius the Syrian sophist. For Libanius, +having been driven away by the teachers of Constantinople, had opened a +school at Nicomedia. Here he gave vent to his indignation against the +teachers in his treatise composed against them. Julian, however, was +interdicted from being his auditor, because Libanius was a pagan in +religion; nevertheless because he admired his orations, he procured them +and read them secretly and diligently. As he was becoming very expert in +the rhetorical art, Maximus the philosopher arrived in Nicomedia, not the +Byzantine, Euclid's father, but the Ephesian whom the Emperor Valentinian +afterward caused to be executed as a practicer of magic. This took place +later; at that time the only thing that attracted him to Nicomedia was the +fame of Julian. Having obtained from him a taste for the principles of +philosophy, Julian began to imitate the religion of his teacher, who had +instilled into his mind a desire for the Empire. When these things reached +the ears of the Emperor, wavering between hope and fear, Julian became +very anxious to lull the suspicion that had been awakened, and he who was +at first truly a Christian then became one in pretence. Shaved to the very +skin, he pretended to live the monastic life; and while in private he +pursued philosophical studies, in public he read the sacred writings of +the Christian Church. Moreover, he was appointed reader of the church in +Nicomedia. Thus by these pretexts he escaped the Emperor's displeasure. +Now he did all this from fear, but he by no means abandoned his hope; +telling many of his friends that times would be happier when he should +possess all. While his affairs were in this condition his brother Gallus, +who had been created Caesar, when he was on his way to the East came to +Nicomedia to see him. But when Gallus was slain shortly after, Julian was +immediately suspected by the Emperor; therefore the latter directed that +he should be kept under guard; he soon found means, however, of escaping +from his guards, and fleeing from place to place he managed to be in +safety. At last Eusebia, the wife of the Emperor, having discovered him in +his retreat, persuaded the Emperor to do him no harm, and to permit him to +go to Athens to study philosophy. From thence--to be brief--the Emperor +recalled him and afterward created him Caesar, and having given him his own +sister Helen in marriage, he sent him to Gaul against the barbarians. For +the barbarians whom the Emperor Constantius had hired as auxiliary forces +against Magnentius, being of no use against that usurper, were pillaging +the Roman cities. Inasmuch as he was young he ordered him to undertake +nothing without consulting the other military chiefs.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Julian's complaint +to the Emperor of the inertness of his military officers procured for him +a coadjutor in the command more in sympathy with his ardor; and by their +combined efforts an assault was made upon the barbarians. But they sent +him an embassy, assuring him that they had been ordered by letters of the +Emperor to march into Roman territories, and they showed him the letters. +But he cast the ambassadors into prison, vigorously attacked the forces of +the enemy and totally defeated them; and having taken their king prisoner, +he sent him to Constantius. After these successes he was proclaimed +Emperor by the soldiers; and inasmuch as there was no imperial crown at +hand, one of the guards took the chain which he wore around his own neck +and placed it upon Julian's head. Thus Julian became Emperor; but whether +he subsequently conducted himself as a philosopher, let my readers +determine. For he neither sent an embassy to Constantius, nor paid him the +least homage in acknowledgment of past favors; but conducted everything +just as it pleased him. He changed the rulers of the provinces, and he +sought to bring Constantius into contempt by reciting publicly in every +city the letters which Constantius had written to the barbarians. For this +reason the cities revolted from Constantius and attached themselves to +him. Then he openly put off the pretence of being a Christian; going about +to the various cities, he opened the pagan temples, offering sacrifices to +the idols, and designating himself "Pontifex Maximus"; and the heathen +celebrated their pagan festivals with pagan rites. By doing these things +he excited a civil war against Constantius; and thus as far as he was +concerned all the evils involved in war happened. For this philosopher's +desire could not have been fulfilled without much bloodshed. But God, who +is the judge of His own counsels, checked the fury of these antagonists +without detriment to the State by the removal of one of them. For when +Julian arrived among the Thracians, it was announced that Constantius was +dead. And thus did the Roman Empire at that time escape the intestine +strife. Julian entered Constantinople and at once considered how he might +conciliate the masses and secure popular favor. Accordingly, he had +recourse to the following measures: he knew that Constantius was hated by +all the people who held the homoousian faith and had driven them from the +churches and had proscribed and exiled their bishops. He was aware, also, +that the pagans were extremely discontented because they had been +forbidden to sacrifice to their gods, and were anxious to get their +temples opened and to be at liberty to offer sacrifices to their idols. +Thus he knew that both classes secretly entertained hostile feelings +toward his predecessor, and at the same time the people in general were +exceedingly exasperated by the violence of the eunuchs, and especially by +the rapacity of Eusebius, the chief officer of the imperial bed-chamber. +Therefore he treated all with craftiness. With some he dissembled; others +he attached to himself by conferring obligations upon them, led by a +desire for vainglory; but to all he manifested how he stood toward the +heathen religion. And first, in order to slander Constantius and condemn +him as cruel toward his subjects among the people generally, he recalled +the exiled bishops and restored to them their confiscated estates. He next +commanded suitable agents to open the pagan temples without delay. Then he +directed that those who had been treated unjustly by the eunuchs should +receive back the property of which they had been plundered. Eusebius, the +chief officer of the imperial bed-chamber, he punished with death, not +only on account of the injuries he had inflicted on others, but because he +was assured that it was through his machinations his brother Gallus had +been killed. The body of Constantius he honored with an imperial funeral, +but he expelled the eunuchs, the barbers, and cooks from the palace.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} At +night, remaining awake, he wrote orations which he afterward delivered in +the Senate, going thither from the palace, though in fact he was the first +and only Emperor since the time of Julius Caesar who made speeches in that +assembly. He honored those who were eminent for literary attainments, and +especially those who taught philosophy; in consequence of which an +abundance of pretenders to learning of this sort resorted to the palace +from all quarters, men who wore their palliums and were more conspicuous +for their costume than for their erudition. These impostors, who +invariably adopted the religious sentiments of their prince, were inimical +to the welfare of the Christians; but since Julian himself was overcome by +excessive vanity he derided all his predecessors in a book which he wrote, +entitled "The Caesars." Led by the same haughty disposition, he composed +treatises against the Christians as well. + + +(_b_) Sozomenus, _Hist. Ec._, V, 3. (MSG, 67:1217.) + + + Julian's restoration of heathenism. + + +When Julian was placed in sole possession of the Empire he commanded all +the temples throughout the East to be reopened; and he also commanded that +those which had been neglected to be repaired, those which had fallen into +ruins to be rebuilt, and the altars to be restored. He assigned +considerable money for this purpose. He restored the customs of antiquity +and the ancestral ceremonies in the cities and the sacrifices. He himself +offered libations openly and sacrificed publicly; and held in honor those +who were zealous in these things. He restored to their ancient privileges +the initiators and the priests, the hierophants and the servants of the +temples, and confirmed the legislation of former emperors in their favor. +He granted them exemption from duties and other burdens as they had +previously had had such exemption. He restored to the temple guardians the +provisions which had been abolished. He commanded them to be pure from +meats, and to abstain from whatever, according to pagan opinion, was not +befitting him who had announced his purpose of leading a pure life. + + +(_c_) Sozomenus, _Hist. Ec._, V, 5. (MSG, 67:1225.) + + + Julian's measures against the Christians. + + + Among those who benefited by the recall of those who had been + banished for their religious beliefs were not only the orthodox + Christians who suffered under Constantius, but also the Donatists + and others who had been expelled from their homes by the previous + emperors. + + +Julian recalled all who, during the reign of Constantius, had been +banished on account of their religious beliefs, and restored to them their +property which had been confiscated by law. He charged the people not to +commit any act of injustice against any of the Christians, not to insult +them and not to constrain them to sacrifice unwillingly.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He deprived the +clergy, however, of their immunities, honors, and provisions which +Constantine had conferred, repealed the laws which had been enacted in +their favor, and reinforced their statutory liabilities. He even compelled +the virgins and widows, who on account of their poverty were reckoned +among the clergy, to refund the provision which had been assigned them +from the public treasury.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} In the intensity of his hatred of the faith, he +seized every opportunity to ruin the Church. He deprived it of its +property, votive offerings, and sacred vessels, and condemned those who +had demolished temples during the reign of Constantine and Constantius to +rebuild them or to defray the expense of re-erection. On this ground, +since they were unable to repay the sum and also on account of the search +after sacred money, many of the priests, clergy, and other Christians were +cruelly tortured and cast into prison.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He recalled the priests who had +been banished by the Emperor Constantius; but it is said that he issued +this order in their behalf, not out of mercy, but that through contention +among themselves the churches might be involved in fraternal strife and +might fall away from their law, or because he wished to asperse the memory +of Constantius. + + +(_d_) Julian, _Ep._ 49, _ad Arsacium_; Julian, Imp., _Epistulae_, ed. +Hertlein. Leipsic, 1875 _f._; also in Sozomenus, _Hist. Ec._, V, 16. (MSG, +67:1260.) + + +To Arsacius, High Priest of Galatia. Hellenism(110) does not flourish as +we would have it, because of its votaries. The worship of the gods, +however, is grand and magnificent beyond all our prayers and hopes. Let +our Adrastea be propitious to these words. No one a little while ago could +have dared to look for such and so great a change in a short time. But do +we think that these things are enough, and not rather consider that +humanity shown strangers, the reverent diligence shown in burying the +dead, and the false holiness as to their lives have principally advanced +atheism?(111) Each of these things is needful, I think, to be faithfully +practised among us. It is not sufficient that you alone should be such, +but in general all the priests, as many as there are throughout Galatia, +whom you must either shame or persuade to be zealous, or else deprive them +of their priestly office, if they do not come with their wives, children, +and servants to the temples of the gods, or if they support servants, +sons, or wives who are impious toward the gods and prefer atheism to +piety. Then exhort the priests not to frequent the theatres, not to drink +in taverns, nor to practise any art or business which is shameful or +menial. Honor those who comply, expel those who disobey. Establish +hostelries in every city, so that strangers, or whoever has need of money, +may enjoy our philanthropy, not merely those of our own, but also those of +other religions. I have meanwhile made plans by which you will be able to +meet the expense. I have commanded that throughout the whole of Galatia +annually thirty thousand bushels of corn and sixty thousand measures of +wine be given, of which the fifth part I order to be devoted to the +support of the poor who attend upon the priests; and the rest is to be +distributed by us among strangers and beggars. For if there is not one +among the Jews who begs, and even the impious Galileans, in addition to +their own, support also ours, it is shameful that our poor should be +wanting our aid. + + +(_e_) Sozomenus, _Hist. Ec._, V, 16. (MSG, 67:1260.) + + + Measures taken by Julian for the restoration of heathenism. + + +The Emperor, who had long since been eager that Hellenism should prevail +through the Empire, was bitterly grieved seeing it excelled by +Christianity. The temples, however, were kept open; the sacrifices and the +ancient festivals appeared to him in all the cities to come from his will. +He grieved that when he considered that if they should be deprived of his +care they would experience a speedy change. He was particularly chagrined +on discovering that the wives, children, and servants of many pagan +priests professed Christianity. On reflecting that the Christian religion +had a support in the life and behavior of those professing it, he +determined to introduce into the pagan temples everywhere the order and +discipline of the Christian religion: by orders and degrees of the +ministry, by teachers and readers to give instruction in pagan doctrines +and exhortations, by appointed prayers on certain days and at stated +hours, by monasteries both for men and for women who desired to live in +philosophical retirement, likewise hospitals for the relief of strangers +and of the poor, and by other philanthropy toward the poor to glorify the +Hellenic doctrine. He commanded that a suitable correction be appointed by +way of penance after the Christian tradition for voluntary and involuntary +transgressions. He is said to have admired especially the letters of +recommendation of the bishops by which they commended travellers to other +bishops, so that coming from anywhere they might go to any one and be +hospitably received as known and as friends, and be cared for kindly on +the evidence of these testimonials. Considering also these things, he +endeavored to accustom the pagans to Christian practices. + + +(_f_) Sozomenus. _Hist. Ec._, V, 18. (MSG, 67:1269.) + + + _Cf._ Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, III, 16. + + +Julian forbade the children of Christians to be instructed in the writings +of the Greek poets and authors, and to frequent the public schools.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He +did not permit Christians to be educated in the learning of the Greeks, +since he considered that only from them the power of persuasion was +gained. Apollinaris,(112) therefore, at that time employed his great +learning and ingenuity in the production of a heroic epic on the +antiquities of the Hebrews to the reign of Saul as a substitute for the +poem of Homer.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He also wrote comedies in imitation of Menander, and +imitated the tragedies of Euripides and the odes of Pindar.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Were it not +that men were accustomed to venerate antiquity and to love that to which +they are accustomed, the works of Apollinaris would be equally praised and +taught. + + +(_g_) Julian, _Epistula_ 42. + + + Edict against Christian teachers of the classics. + + + This is the famous decree prohibiting Christians from teaching the + Greek classics, and was quite generally understood by Christians + as preventing them from studying the same. + + +I think true culture consists not in proficiency in words and speech, but +in a condition of mind which has sound intentions and right opinions +concerning good and evil, the honorable and the base. Whoever, therefore, +thinks one thing and teaches those about him another appears to be as +wanting in culture as in honor. If in trifles there is a difference +between thought and speech, it is nevertheless an evil in some way to be +endured; but if in important matters any one thinks one thing and teaches +in opposition to what he thinks, this is the trick of charlatans, the act +not of good men, but of those who are thoroughly depraved, especially in +the case of those who teach what they regard as most worthless, deceiving +and enticing by flattery into evil those whom they wish to use for their +own purposes. All those who undertake to teach anything should be upright +in life and not cherish in their minds ideas which are in opposition to +those commonly received; most of all I think that such they ought to be +who converse with the young on learning, or who explain the writings of +the ancients, whether they are teachers of eloquence or of rhetoric, and +still more if they are sophists. For they aim to be not merely teachers of +words but of morals as well, and claim instruction in political science as +belonging to their field. Whether this be true, I will leave undetermined. +But praising them as those who thus strive for fine professions, I would +praise them still more if they neither lied nor contradicted themselves, +thinking one thing and teaching their pupils another. Homer, Hesiod, +Demosthenes, Herodotus, Thucydides, Isocrates, and Lysias were indebted to +the gods for all their science. Did they not think that they were under +the protection of Hermes and of the Muses? It seems to me, therefore, +absurd that those who explain their writings should despise the gods they +honored. But when I think it is absurd, I do not say that, on account of +their pupils, they should alter their opinions; but I give them the +choice, either not to teach what they do not hold as good, or, if they +prefer to teach, first to convince their pupils that Homer, Hesiod, or any +of those whom they explain and condemn, is not so godless and foolish in +respect to the gods as they represent him to be. For since they draw their +support and make gain from what these have written, they confess +themselves most sordidly greedy of gain, willing to do anything for a few +drachmas. Hitherto there were many causes for the lack of attendance upon +the temples, and overhanging fear gave an excuse for keeping secret the +right teaching concerning the gods. Now, however, since the gods have +granted us freedom, it seems to me absurd that men should teach what they +do not regard as good. If they believe that all those men are wise whose +writings they expound and as whose prophets they sit, let them first +imitate their piety toward the gods; but if they think that these writers +erred concerning the most honored gods, let them go into the churches of +the Galileans and expound Matthew and Luke, believing whom you forbid +attendance upon the sacrifices. I would that your ears and tongues were +born again, as you would say, of those things in which I always take part, +and whoever loves me thinks and does. This law is to apply to teachers and +instructors generally. Whoever among the youth wishes to make use of their +instruction is not forbidden. For it would not be fair in the case of +those who are yet youths and do not know which way to turn, to forbid the +best way, and through fear to compel them to remain unwillingly by their +ancestral institutions. Although it would be right to cure such people +against their wills as being insane, yet it is permitted all to suffer +under this disease. For it is my opinion that the ignorant should be +instructed, not punished. + + + +Chapter III. The Triumph Of The New Nicene Orthodoxy Over Heterodoxy And +Heathenism + + +The Arian controversy was the most important series of events in the +internal history of the Christian Church in the fourth century, without +reference to the truth or error of the positions taken or the rightful +place of dogma within the Church. It roused more difficulties, problems, +and disputes, led to more persecutions, ended in greater party triumphs +than any other ecclesiastical or religious movement. It entered upon its +last important phase about the time of the accession of the Emperor +Julian. From that time the parties began to recognize their real +affiliations and sought a basis of union in a common principle. The effect +was that on the accession of Christian emperors the Church was able to +advance rapidly toward a definitive statement. Of the emperors that +followed Julian, Valentinian I (364-375), who ruled in the West, took a +moderate and tolerant position in the question regarding the existence of +heathenism alongside of the Church and heretical parties within the +Church, though afterward harsher measures were taken by his son and +successor (§ 69). In the East his colleague Valens (364-378) supported the +extreme Arian party and persecuted the other parties, at the same time +tolerating heathenism. This only brought the anti-Arians more closely +together as a new party on the basis of a new interpretation of the Nicene +formula (§ 70, _cf._ § 66, _c_). On the death of Valens at Adrianople, +378, an opportunity was given this new party, which it has become +customary to call the New Nicene party, to support Theodosius (379-395) in +his work of putting through the orthodox formula at the Council of +Constantinople, 381 (§ 71). + + +§ 69. The Emperors from Jovian to Theodosius and Their Policy toward +Heathenism and Arianism + + +The reign of Jovian lasted so short a time, June, 363, to February, 364, +that he had no time to develop a policy, and the assertion of Theodoret +that he extinguished the heathen sacrificial fires is doubtful. On the +death of Jovian, Valentinian was elected Emperor, who soon associated with +himself his brother Valens as his colleague for the East. The two were +tolerant toward heathenism, but Valens took an active part in favor of +Arianism, while Valentinian held aloof from doctrinal controversy. On the +death of Valentinian I, his sons Gratian (murdered at Lyons, 383) and +Valentinian II (murdered at Vienne by Arbogast, 392), succeeded to the +Empire. Under them the policy of toleration ceased, heathenism was +proscribed. In the East under Theodosius, appointed colleague of Gratian +in 379, the same policy was enforced. Arianism was now put down with a +strong hand in both parts of the Empire. + + +(_a_) Ammianus Marcellinus, _Roman History_, XXX, 9, § 5. + + + The religious policy of Valentinian I. + + + Ammianus Marcellinus is probably the best of the later Roman + historians, and is the chief authority for much of the secular + history from 353 to 378, in which period he is a source of the + first rank, writing from personal observation and first-hand + information. Ammianus was himself a heathen, but he seems not to + have been embittered by the persecution to which his faith had + been subjected. He was a man of a calm and judicial mind, and his + judgment is rarely biassed, even when he touches upon + ecclesiastical matters which, however, he rarely does. + + +Valentinian was especially remarkable during his reign for his moderation +in this particular--that he kept a middle course between the different +sects of religion, and never troubled any one, nor issued any orders in +favor of one kind of worship rather than another; nor did he promulgate +any threatening edicts to bow down the necks of his subjects to the form +of worship to which he himself was inclined; but he left these parties +just as he found them, without making any alterations. + + +(_b_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XII, 1, 75; A. D. 371. + + + In this edict Valentinian I confirms the immunities of the heathen + priesthood which had been restored by Julian. The heathen + priesthood is here shown to continue as still open to aspirants + after political honors and conferring immunities upon those who + attained it. The curial had to pass through the various offices in + fixed order before he attained release from burdens which had been + laid upon him by the State's system of taxation. + + +Let those be held as enjoying immunity who, advancing by the various +grades and in due order, have performed their various obligations and have +attained by their labor and approved actions to the priesthood of a +province or to the honor of a chief magistracy, gaining this position not +by favor and votes obtained by begging for them, but with the favorable +report of the citizens and commendation of the public as a whole, and let +them enjoy the repose which they shall have deserved by their long labor, +and let them not be subject to those acts of bodily severity in punishment +which it is not seemly that _honorati_ should undergo. + + +(_c_) Theodoret. _Hist. Ec._, IV, 21; V, 20. (MSG, 82:1181.) + + + The following statement of Theodoret might seem to have been + inspired by the general hatred which was felt for the violent + persecutor and pronounced Arian, Valens. Nevertheless the + statement is supported by references to the conditions under + Valens made by Libanius in his _Oratio pro Templis_, addressed to + the Emperor Theodosius. + + +IV, 21. At Antioch Valens spent considerable time, and gave complete +license to all who under cover of the Christian name, pagans, Jews, and +the rest preached doctrines contrary to those of the Gospel. The slaves of +this error even went so far as to perform pagan rites, and thus the +deceitful fire which after Julian had been quenched by Jovian, was now +rekindled by permission of Valens. The rites of the Jews, of Dionysus and +Demeter were no longer performed in a corner as they would have been in a +pious reign, but by revellers running wild in the forum. Valens was a foe +to none but to them that held the apostolic doctrine. + +V, 20. Against the champions of the apostolic decrees alone he persisted +in waging war. Accordingly, during the whole period of his reign the altar +fire was lit, libations and sacrifices were offered to idols, public +feasts were celebrated in the forum, and votaries initiated in the orgies +of Dionysus ran about in goatskins, mangling dogs in Bacchic frenzy. + + +(_d_) Symmachus, _Memorial to Valentinian II_; Ambrose, _Epistula_ 17. +(MSL, 16:1007.) + + + A petition for the restoration of the altar of Victory in the + Senate House at Rome. + + + Symmachus, prefect of the city, had previously appealed to Gratian + to restore the altar which had been removed. The following + petition, of which the more impressive parts are given, was made + in 384, two years after the first petition. The opening paragraph + refers to the former petition. The memorial is found among the + Epistles of Ambrose, who replies to it. + + +1. As soon as the most honorable Senate, always devoted to you, knew what +crimes were made amenable to law, and saw that the reputation of late +times was being purified by pious princes, following the example of a +favorable time, it gave utterance to its long-suppressed grief and bade me +be once again the delegate to utter its complaints. But through wicked men +audience was refused me by the divine Emperor, otherwise justice would not +have been wanting, my lords and emperors of great renown, Valentinian, +Theodosius, and Arcadius, victorious, triumphant, and ever august. + +3. It is our task to watch on behalf of your clemency. For by what is it +more suitable that we defend the institutions of our ancestors, and the +rights and destiny of our country, than by the glory of these times, which +is all the greater when you understand that you may not do anything +contrary to the custom of your ancestors? We request, then, the +restoration of that condition of religious affairs which was so long of +advantage to the State. Let the rulers of each sect and of each opinion be +counted up; a late one [Julian] practised the ceremonies of his ancestors, +a later [Valentinian I], did not abolish them. If the religion of old +times does not make a precedent, let the connivance of the last +[Valentinian and Valens] do so. + +4. Who is so friendly with the barbarians as not to require an altar of +Victory?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +5. But even if the avoidance of such an omen(113) were not sufficient, it +would at least have been seemly to abstain from injuring the ornaments of +the Senate House. Allow us, we beseech you, as old men to leave to +posterity what we received as boys. The love of custom is great. Justly +did the act of the divine Constantius last for a short time. All +precedents ought to be avoided by you, which you know were soon +abolished.(114) + +6. Where shall we swear to obey your laws and commands? By what religious +sanctions shall the false mind be terrified, so as not to lie in bearing +witness? All things are, indeed, filled with God, and no place is safe for +the perjured, but to be bound in the very presence of religious forms has +great power in producing a fear of sinning. That altar preserves the +concord of all; that altar appeals to the good faith of each; and nothing +gives more authority to our decrees than that our order issues every +decree as if we were under the sanction of an oath. So that a place will +be opened to perjury, and my illustrious princes, who are defended by a +public oath, will deem this to be such. + +7. But the divine Constantius is said to have done the same. Let us rather +imitate the other actions of that prince [Valentinian I], who would have +undertaken nothing of the kind, if any one else had committed such an +error before him. For the fall of the earlier sets his successor right, +and amendment results from the censure of a previous example. It was +pardonable for your clemency's ancestor in so novel a matter not to guard +against blame. Can the same excuse avail us, if we imitate what we know to +have been disapproved? + +8. Will your majesties listen to other actions of this same prince, which +you may more worthily imitate? He diminished none of the privileges of the +sacred virgins, he filled the priestly offices with nobles. He did not +refuse the cost of the Roman ceremonies, and following the rejoicing +Senate through all the streets of the Eternal City, he beheld the shrines +with unmoved countenance, he read the names of the gods inscribed on the +pediments, he inquired about the origin of the temples, and expressed +admiration for their founders. Although he himself followed another +religion, he maintained these for the Empire, for every one has his own +customs, every one his own rites. The divine Mind has distributed +different guardians and different cults to different cities. As souls are +separately given to infants as they are born, so to a people is given the +genius of its destiny. Here comes in the proof from advantage, which most +of all vouches to man for the gods. For, since our reason is wholly +clouded, whence does the knowledge of the gods more rightly come to us, +than from the memory and records of successful affairs? Now if a long +period gives authority to religious customs, faith ought to be kept with +so many centuries, and our ancestors ought to be followed by us as they +happily followed theirs. + +9. Let us now suppose that we are present at Rome and that she addresses +you in these words: "Excellent princes, fathers of your country, respect +my years to which pious rites have brought me. Let me use the ancestral +ceremonies, for I do not repent of them. Let me live after my own fashion, +for I am free. This worship subdued the world to my laws, these sacred +rites repelled Hannibal from the walls, and the Senones from the capitol. +Have I been reserved for this, that when aged I should be blamed? I will +consider what it is thought should be set in order, but tardy and +discreditable is the reformation of old age." + +10. We ask, therefore, peace for the gods of our fathers and of our +country. It is just that what all worship be considered one. We look on +the same stars, the sky is common, the same world surrounds us. What +difference does it make by what paths each seeks the truth? We cannot +attain to so great a secret by one road; but this discussion is rather for +persons at ease; we offer now prayers, not conflict.(115) + + +(_e_) Ambrose, _Epistula_ 18. (MSL, 16:1013.) + + + Reply of Ambrose to the Memorial of Symmachus. + + + Immediately after the receipt of the Memorial of Symmachus by + Valentinian II, a copy was sent to Ambrose, who wrote a reply or + letter of advice to Valentinian, which might be regarded as a + counter-petition. In it he enters upon the arguments of Symmachus. + Although he could not present the same pathetic figure of an old + man pleading for the religion of his ancestors, his arguments are + not unjust, and dispose satisfactorily of the leading points made + by Symmachus. The line of reasoning represents the best Christian + opinion of the times on the matter of the relation of the State to + heathenism. + + +3. The illustrious prefect of the city has in a memorial set forth three +propositions which he considers of force--that Rome, he says, asks for her +rites again, that pay be given to her priests and vestal virgins, and that +a general famine followed upon the refusal of the priests' stipends.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +7. Let the invidious complaints of the Roman people come to an end. Rome +has given no such charge. She speaks other words. "Why do you daily stain +me with the useless blood of the harmless herd? Trophies of victory depend +not upon the entrails of the flock, but on the strength of those who +fight. I subdued the world by a different discipline. Camillus was my +soldier who slew those who had taken the Tarpeian rock, and brought back +to the capitol the standards taken away; valor laid low those whom +religion had not driven off.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Why do you bring forward the rites of our +ancestors? I hate the rites of Neros. Why should I speak of emperors of +two months,(116) and the ends of rulers closely joined to their +commencements. Or is it, perchance, a new thing for barbarians to cross +their boundaries? Were they, too, Christians whose wretched and +unprecedented cases, the one a captive emperor(117) and under the +other(118) the captive world,(119) made manifest that their rites which +promised victory were false? Was there then no altar of Victory?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}" + +8. By one road, says he, one cannot attain to so great a secret. What you +know not, that we know by the voice of God. And what you seek by fancies +we have found out from the very wisdom and truth of God. Your ways, +therefore, do not agree with ours. You implore peace for your gods from +the Emperor, we ask peace for our emperors themselves from Christ.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +10. But, says he, let the ancient altars be restored to their images, and +their ornaments to the shrines. Let this demand be made of one who shares +in their superstitions; a Christian emperor has learned to honor the altar +of Christ alone.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Has any heathen emperor raised an altar to Christ? While +they demand the restoration of things which have been, by their own +example they show us how great reverence Christian emperors ought to pay +to the religion which they follow, since heathen ones offered all to their +superstitions. + +We began long since, and now they follow those whom they excluded. We +glory in yielding our blood, an expense moves them.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} We have increased +through loss, through want, through punishment; they do not believe that +their rites can continue without contribution. + +11. Let the vestal virgins, he says, retain their privileges. Let those +speak thus who are unable to believe that virginity can exist without +reward, let those who do not trust virtue, encourage it by gain. But how +many virgins have their promised rewards gained for them? Hardly are seven +vestal virgins received. See the whole number whom the fillet and chaplets +for the head, the robes of purple dye, the pomp of the litter surrounded +by a company of attendants, the greatest privileges, immense profits, and +a prescribed time for virginity have gathered together. + +12. Let them lift up the eyes of soul and body, let them look upon a +people of modesty, a people of purity, an assembly of virginity. Not +fillets are the ornament of their heads, but a veil common in use but +ennobled by chastity; the enticement of beauty not sought out, but laid +aside; none of those purple insignia, no delicious luxuries, but the +practice of fasts; no privileges, no gains; all other things, in fine, of +such a kind that one would think them restrained from desire whilst +practising their duties. But whilst the duty is being practised the desire +for it is aroused. Chastity is increased by its own sacrifice. That is not +virginity which is bought with a price, and not kept through a desire for +virtue; that is not purity which is bought by auction for money or which +is bid for a time. + +16. No one has denied gifts to shrines and legacies to soothsayers; their +land only has been taken away, because they did not use religiously that +which they claimed in right of religion. Why did not they who allege our +example practise what we did? The Church has no possessions of her own +except the faith. Hence are her returns, her increase. The possessions of +the Church are the maintenance of the poor. Let them count up how many +captives the temples have ransomed, what food they have contributed for +the poor, to what exiles they have supplied the means of living. Their +lands, then, have been taken away, but not their rights. + +23. He says the rites of our ancestors ought to be retained. But why, +seeing that all things have made a progress toward what is better?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The +day shines not at the beginning, but as time proceeds it is bright with +increase of light and grows warm with increase of heat. + +27. We, too, inexperienced in age, have an infancy of our senses, but, +changing as years go by, lay aside the rudimentary conditions of our +faculties. + +28. Let them say, then, that all things ought to have remained in their +first dark beginnings; that the world covered with darkness is now +displeasing because it has brightened with the rising of the sun. And how +much more pleasant is it to have dispelled the darkness of the mind than +that of the body, and that the rays of faith should have shone than that +of the sun. So, then, the primeval state of the world, as of all things, +has passed away that the venerable old age of hoary faith might follow.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +30. If the old rites pleased, why did Rome also take up foreign ones? I +pass over the ground hidden with costly buildings, and shepherds' cottages +glittering with degenerate gold. Why, that I may reply to the very matter +which they complain of, have they eagerly received the images of captured +cities, and conquered gods, and the foreign rites of alien superstition? +Whence, then, is the pattern of Cybele washing her chariots in a stream +counterfeiting the Almo? Whence were the Phrygian prophets and the deities +of unjust Carthage, always hateful to the Romans? And he whom the Africans +worship as Celestis, the Persians as Mithra, and the greater number as +Venus, according to a difference of name, not a variety of deities? + +31. They ask to have her altar erected in the Senate House of the city of +Rome, that is where the majority who meet together are Christians! There +are altars in all the temples, and an altar also in the Temple of Victory. +Since they delight in numbers, they celebrate their sacrifices everywhere. +To claim a sacrifice on this one altar, what is it but to insult the +faith? Is it to be borne that a heathen should sacrifice and a Christian +be present?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Shall there not be a common lot in that common assembly? The +faithful portion of the Senate will be bound by the voices of those who +call upon the gods, by the oaths of those who swear by them. If they +oppose they will seem to exhibit their falsehood, if they acquiesce, to +acknowledge what is a sacrilege. + + +(_f_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 10, 12; A. D. 392. + + + Decree of Theodosius prohibiting heathen worship as a crime of the + same character as treason. + + + The following decree may be said to have permanently forbidden + heathenism, at least in the East, though as a matter of fact many + heathen not only continued to practise their rites in defiance of + the law or with the connivance of the authorities, but also + received appointments at the court and elsewhere. The law was + never repealed. In course of time heathenism disappeared as a + religious system. + + +XVI, 10, 12. Hereafter no one of whatever race or dignity, whether placed +in office or discharged therefrom with honor, powerful by birth or humble +in condition and fortune, shall in any place or in any city sacrifice an +innocent victim to a senseless image, venerate with fire the household +deity by a more private offering, as it were the genius of the house, or +the Penates, and burn lights, place incense, or hang up garlands. If any +one undertakes by way of sacrifice to slay a victim or to consult the +smoking entrails, let him, as guilty of lese-majesty, receive the +appropriate sentence, having been accused by a lawful indictment, even +though he shall not have sought anything against the safety of the princes +or concerning their welfare. It constitutes a crime of this nature to wish +to repeal the laws, to spy into unlawful things, to reveal secrets, or to +attempt things forbidden, to seek the end of another's welfare, or to +promise the hope of another's ruin. If any one by placing incense +venerates either images made by mortal labor, or those which are enduring, +or if any one in ridiculous fashion forthwith venerates what he has +represented, either by a tree encircled with garlands or an altar of cut +turfs, though the advantage of such service is small, the injury to +religion is complete, let him as guilty of sacrilege be punished by the +loss of that house or possession in which he worshipped according to the +heathen superstition. For all places which shall smoke with incense, if +they shall be proved to belong to those who burn the incense, shall be +confiscated. But if in temples or public sanctuaries or buildings and +fields belonging to another, any one should venture this sort of +sacrifice, if it shall appear that the acts were performed without the +knowledge of the owner, let him be compelled to pay a fine of twenty-five +pounds of gold, and let the same penalty apply to those who connive at +this crime as well as those who sacrifice. We will, also, that this +command be observed by judges, defensors, and curials of each and every +city, to the effect that those things noted by them be reported to the +court, and by them the acts charged may be punished. But if they believe +anything is to be overlooked by favor or allowed to pass through +negligence, they will lie under a judicial warning. And when they have +been warned, if by any negligence they fail to punish they will be fined +thirty pounds of gold, and the members of their court are to be subjected +to a like punishment. + + +§ 70. The Dogmatic Parties and Their Mutual Relations + + +The parties in the Arian controversy became greatly divided in the course +of the conflict. Speaking broadly, there were still two groups, of which +one was composed of all those who regarded the Son as a creature and so +not eternal and not truly God; and the other, of those who regarded Him as +uncreated and in some real sense eternal and truly God, yet without +denying the unity of God. The former were the various Arian parties +tending to constant division. The latter can hardly yet be comprised under +one common name, and might be called the anti-Arian parties, were it not +that there was a positive content to their faith which was in far better +harmony with the prevailing religious sentiment of the East and was +constantly receiving accessions. In the second generation after Nicaea, a +new group of theologians came to the front, of whom the most important +were Eustathius of Sebaste, Cyril of Jerusalem, and the three +Cappadocians, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, most of +whom had at least sympathized with the Homoiousian party. Already at the +synod of Ancyra, in 358, an approach was made toward a reconciliation of +the anti-Arian factions, in that, by a more careful definition, homoousios +was rejected only in the sense of identity of being, and homoiousios was +asserted only in the sense of equality of attributes in the not identical +subjects which, however, shared in the same essence. Homoiousios did not +mean mere similarity of being. (Anathemas in Hahn, § 162; Hefele, § 80.) +The line of development ultimately taken was by a precise distinction +between _hypostasis_ and _ousia_, whereby _hypostasis_, which never meant +person in the modern sense, which later is represented by the Greek +_prosopon_, was that which subsists and shares with other _hypostases_ in +a common essence or _ousia_. + + + Additional source material: Athanasius, _De Synodis_ (PNF); Basil, + _Epp._ 38, 52, 69, 125 (PNF, ser. II, vol. VIII); Hilary of + Poitiers, _De Synodis_, cc. 87-91 (PNF, ser. II, vol. IX); + Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, III, 25. + + +Council of Alexandria A. D. 362. _Tomus ad Antiochenos_. (MSG, 26:797.) + + + The Council of Alexandria, A. D. 362, was held by Athanasius in + the short time he was allowed to be in his see city at the + beginning of the reign of Julian. In the synodal letter or tome + addressed to the Nicene Christians at Antioch we have the + foundation of the ultimate formula of the Church as opposing + Arianism, one substance and three persons, one _ousia_ and three + _hypostases_. The occasion of the letter was an attempt to win + over the Meletian party in the schism among the anti-Arians of + Antioch. Meletius and his followers appear to have been + Homoiousians who were strongly inclined to accept the Nicene + confession. Their church was in the Old Town, a portion of + Antioch. Opposed to them was Paulinus with his party, which held + firmly to the Nicene confession. The difficulty in the way of a + full recognition of the Nicene statement by Meletius and his + followers was that it savored of Sabellianism. The difficulty of + the party of Paulinus in recognizing the orthodoxy of the + Meletians was their practice of speaking of the three hypostases + or subsistences, which was condemned by the words of the Nicene + definition.(120) The outcome of the Alexandrian Council in the + matter was that a distinction could be made between _ousia_ and + _hypostasis_, that the difference between the parties was largely + a matter of terminology, that those who could use the Nicene + symbol with the understanding that the Holy Ghost was not a + creature and was not separate from the essence of Christ should be + regarded as orthodox. Out of this understanding came the "New + Nicene" party, of which the first might be said to have been + Meletius, who accepted _homoousios_ in the sense of _homoiousios_, + and of which the "three great Cappadocians" became the recognized + leaders. + + + The Council of Alexandria, in addition to condemning the + Macedonian heresy, in advance of Constantinople, also anticipated + that assembly by condemning Apollinarianism without mentioning the + teacher by whom the heresy was taught. It is condemned in the + seventh section of the tome. + + +§ 3. As many, then, as desire peace with us, and especially those who +assemble in the Old Town, and those again who are seceding from the +Arians, do ye call to yourselves, and receive them as parents their sons, +and as tutors and guardians welcome them; and unite them to our beloved +Paulinus and his people, without requiring more from them than to +anathematize the Arian heresy and confess the faith confessed by the holy +Fathers at Nicaea and to anathematize also those who say that the Holy +Ghost is a creature and separate from the essence of Christ. For this is +in truth a complete renunciation of the abominable heresy of the Arians, +to refuse to divide the Holy Trinity, or to say that any part of it is a +creature. + +§ 5. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} As to those whom some were blaming for speaking of three +subsistences (hypostases), on the ground that the phrase is unscriptural +and therefore suspicious, we thought it right, indeed, to require nothing +beyond the confession of Nicaea, but on account of the contention we made +inquiry of them, whether they meant, like the Arian madmen, subsistences +foreign and strange and alien in essence from one another, and that each +subsistence was divided apart by itself, as is the case with other +creatures in general and those begotten of men, or like substances, such +as gold, silver, or brass; or whether, like other heretics, they meant +three beginnings and three Gods, by speaking of three subsistences. + +They assured us in reply that they neither meant this nor had ever held +it. But upon our asking them "what, then, do you mean by it, or why do you +use such expressions?" they replied: Because they believe in a Holy +Trinity, not a trinity in name only, but existing and subsisting in truth, +both Father truly existing and subsisting, and a Son, truly substantial +and subsisting, and a Holy Ghost subsisting and really existing do we +acknowledge, said they, and that neither had they said there were three +Gods or three beginnings, nor would they at all tolerate such as said or +held so, but that they acknowledged a Holy Trinity, but one Godhead and +one beginning, and that the Son is co-essential with the Father, as the +Fathers said; and the Holy Ghost not a creature, nor external, but proper +to, and inseparable from, the essence of the Father and the Son. + +§ 6. Having accepted, then, these men's interpretation of their language +and their defence, we made inquiry of those blamed by them for speaking of +one subsistence, whether they use the expression in the sense of +Sabellius, to the negation of the Son and Holy Ghost, or as though the Son +was non-substantial, or the Holy Ghost without subsistence. But they in +their turn assured us that they neither said this nor had ever held it, +but, "we use the word subsistence thinking it the same thing to say +subsistence or essence."(121) But we hold there is One, because the Son is +of the essence of the Father and because of the identity of nature. For we +believe that there is one Godhead, and that the nature of it is one, and +not that there is one nature of the Father, from which that of the Son and +of the Holy Ghost are distinct. Well, thereupon, they who had been blamed +for saying that there were three subsistences agreed with the others, +while those who had spoken of one essence, also confessed the doctrine of +the former as interpreted by them. And by both sides Arius was +anathematized as an adversary of Christ, and Sabellius, and Paul of +Samosata as impious men, and Valentinus and Basilides as aliens from the +truth, and Manichaeus as an inventor of mischief. And all, by God's grace, +and after the above explanations, agreed together that the faith confessed +by the Fathers at Nicaea is better and more accurate than the said phrases, +and that for the future they would prefer to be content to use its +language. + +§ 7. But since, also, certain seemed to be contending together concerning +the fleshly economy of the Saviour, we inquired of both parties. And what +the one confessed the others also agreed to: that not as when the word of +the Lord came to the prophets, did it dwell in a holy man at the +consummation of the ages, but that the Word himself was made flesh; and +being in the form of God, He took the form of a servant, and from Mary +after the flesh became man for us, and that thus in Him the human race is +perfectly and wholly delivered from sin and made alive from the dead, and +led into the kingdom of heaven. For they also confess that the Saviour had +not a body without a soul, nor without sense or intelligence;(122) for it +was not possible, when the Lord had become man for us, that His body +should be without intelligence; nor was the salvation, effected in the +Word himself, a salvation of the body only, but of the soul also. And +being Son of God in truth, He became also Son of Man; and being God's only +begotten Son, He became also at the same time "first-born among many +brethren." Wherefore neither was there one Son of God before Abraham, +another after Abraham: nor was there one that raised up Lazarus, another +that asked concerning him; but the same it was that said as man, "Where +does Lazarus lie?" and as God raised him up; the same that as man and in +the body spat, but divinely as Son of God opened the eyes of the man blind +from his birth; and while, as Peter says, in the flesh He suffered, as God +He opened the tomb and raised the dead. For which reasons, thus +understanding all that is said in the Gospel, they assured us that they +held the same truth about the Word's incarnation and becoming man. + + +§ 71. The Emperor Theodosius and the Triumph of the New Nicene Orthodoxy +at the Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381 + + +The Emperor Theodosius was appointed colleague of Gratian and Valentinian +II, 378. He issued in conjunction with these emperors an edict (_Cod. +Theod._, XVI, 1, 2; _cf._ _Cod. Just._, I, 1, 1, _v. infra_, § 72, _b_, +_e_), requiring all subjects of the Empire to hold the orthodox faith in +the Trinity. He then called a council of Eastern bishops to meet at +Constantinople in 381 to settle the question as to the succession to the +see of that city and to confirm the creed of Nicaea as the faith of the +Eastern half of the Church. Gregory of Nazianzus was appointed bishop of +Constantinople, but was forced to resign, having formerly been bishop of +Sasima, from which he had been translated in violation of the Nicene +canons. As soon as it was apparent that the bishops would have to accept +the Nicene faith the thirty-six Macedonians withdrew. Their opinion as to +the Holy Spirit, that He was not divine in the same sense that the Son was +divine, was condemned, without express statement of the point condemned, +as was also the teaching of Apollinaris as to the nature of Christ. The +council was not intended to be an ecumenical or general council, and it +was not regarded as such even in the East until after the Council of +Chalcedon, A. D. 451, and then probably on account of the creed which was +then falsely attributed to the Fathers of Constantinople. In the West the +council was not recognized as an ecumenical council until well into the +sixth century. (See Hefele, § 100.) The council issued no creed and made +no additions to the Nicene creed. It published a tome, since lost, setting +forth the faith in the Trinity. It enacted four canons, of which only the +first three are of general application. + + + Additional source material: Percival, _Seven Ecumenical Councils_ + (PNF); Theodoret, _Hist. Ec._, V, 6-9; Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, V, + 8; Basil, _De Spiritu Sancto_ (PNF), Hefele, §§ 95-100. + + +(_a_) Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381, _Canons_, Bruns, I, 20. _Cf._ +Kirch, nn. 583 _ff._ + + + The text of the canons of the council may be found in Hefele, § + 98, and also in Bruns. The _Translations and Reprints_ of the + University of Pennsylvania give translations. For the address of + the council to Theodosius, see § 72, _b_. The fourth canon is of a + merely temporary importance. + + +Canon 1. The faith of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers who were +assembled at Nicaea in Bithynia shall not be set aside but shall remain +dominant. And every heresy shall be anathematized, especially that of the +Eunomians or Anomoeans, the Arians or Eudoxians, the semi-Arians or +Pneumatomachians, the Sabellians, Marcellians, Photinians, and +Apollinarians. + +Canon 2. The bishops are not to go beyond their dioceses to churches lying +outside of their bounds, nor bring confusion on churches; but let the +bishop of Alexandria, according to the canons, alone administer the +affairs of Egypt; and let the bishops of the East manage the East alone, +the privileges of the church in Antioch, which are mentioned in the canons +of Nicaea, being preserved; and let the bishops of the Asian diocese +administer the Asian affairs only; and the Pontic bishops only Pontic +matters; and the Thracian bishops only Thracian matters. And let not the +bishops go beyond their dioceses for ordination or any other +ecclesiastical ministrations, unless they be invited. And the aforesaid +canon concerning dioceses being observed, it is evident that the synod of +each province will administer the affairs of that particular province as +was decreed at Nicaea. But the churches of God in heathen nations must be +governed according to the custom which has prevailed from the time of the +Fathers. + +Canon 3. The bishop of Constantinople, however, shall have the prerogative +of honor after(123) the bishop of Rome; because Constantinople is New +Rome. + + +(_b_) Cyril of Jerusalem, _Creed_. (_Cf._ MSG, 35:533.) _Cf._ Hahn, § 124. + + + The clauses which are here given are the headings of the sixth to + the eighteenth _Catechetical Lectures_ of Cyril of Jerusalem in + which the writer expounded the baptismal creed of Jerusalem. This + creed is approximately reconstructed by bringing together the + headings. Its date is circa 345. It should be compared with the + creed of the church of Salamis, in the next selection. They are + the precursors of what is now known as the Nicene creed, + incorrectly attributed to the Council of Constantinople A. D. 381. + + +We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and +of all things visible and invisible. + +And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, begotten +of the Father, true God, before all the ages, through whom all things were +made; + +Incarnate and made man; crucified and buried; + +And rose again the third day; + +And ascended into heaven; + +And sat on the right hand of the Father; + +And shall come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead, of whose +kingdom there shall be no end. + +And in one Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, who spake by the prophets; + +And in one baptism of repentance for remission of sins; + +And in one holy Catholic Church; + +And in the resurrection of the flesh; + +And in the life eternal. + + +(_c_) Epiphanius, _Ancoratus_, chs. 119 _f._ (MSG, 43:252.) _Cf._ Hahn, § +125. + + + Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, was the most important of the + hereseologists of the Fathers, gathering to form his work on + heresies some scores of heterodox systems of teachings. His + passion for orthodoxy was taken advantage of by Theophilus of + Antioch to cause trouble for Chrysostom and others; see + Origenistic controversy, § 87. The _Ancoratus_, from which the + following creed is taken, is a statement of the Catholic faith + which, amidst the storms of the Arian controversy, should serve as + an anchor of salvation for the Christians. The date of the + following creed, which has come to be known as the Salaminium, is + 374. It is evidently based upon that of Jerusalem given by Cyril. + + +We believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and +of all things visible and invisible. + +And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of +the Father before all worlds, that is, of the substance of the Father, +light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one +substance [homoousios] with the Father; by whom all things were made, both +those in heaven and those on earth; who for us men and for our salvation +came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin +Mary, and was made man; He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and +suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the +Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the +Father; and He shall come again in glory to judge the quick and the dead; +of whose kingdom there shall be no end. + +And in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the +Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and +glorified, who spake by the prophets; and in one holy Catholic and +Apostolic Church; we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; +and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to +come. + +But those who say there was a time when He was not, and He was not before +He was begotten, or He was made of nothing, or of another substance or +essence [hypostasis or ousia], saying that the Son of God is effluent or +variable--these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes. + + + +Chapter IV. The Empire And The Imperial State Church + + +In the period extending from the accession of Constantine (311 or 324) to +the death of Theodosius the Great (395), the characteristic features of +the Church's organization took definite form, and its relations to the +secular authorities and the social order of the Empire were defined. Its +constitution with its hierarchical organization of clergy, of courts, and +synods, together with its intimate union, at least in the East, with the +imperial authority, became fixed (§ 72). As the Church of the Empire, it +was under the control and patronage of the State; all other forms of +religion, whether pagan or Christian, schismatical or heretical, were +severely repressed (§ 73). The Christian clergy, as officials in this +State Church, became a class by themselves in the society of the Empire, +not only as the recipients of privileges, but as having special functions +in the administration of justice, and eventually in the superintendence of +secular officials and secular business (§ 74). By degrees the Christian +spirit influenced the spirit of the laws and the popular customs, though +less than at first sight might have been expected; the rigors of slavery +were mitigated and cruel gladiatorial sports abandoned (§ 75). Meanwhile +popular piety was by no means raised by the influx of vast numbers of +heathen into the Church; bringing with them no little of their previous +modes of thought and feeling, and lacking the testing of faith and +character furnished by the persecutions, they lowered the general moral +tone of the Church, so that Christians everywhere were affected by these +alien ideas and feelings (§ 76). The Church, however, endeavored to raise +the moral tone and ideals and to work effectively in society by care for +the poor and other works of benevolence, and in its regulation of +marriage, which began in this period to be a favorite subject of +legislation for the Church's councils (§ 76). In monasticism this striving +against the lowering forces in Christian society and for a higher type of +life most clearly manifested itself, and, beginning in Egypt, organized +forms of asceticism spread throughout the East and toward the end of the +period to the West as well (§ 78). But monasticism was not confined to the +private ascetic. The priesthood, as necessarily presenting an example of +higher moral life, began to be touched by the ascetic spirit, and in the +West this took the form of enforced clerical celibacy, though the custom +of the East remained far less rigorous (§ 79). In presenting these lines +of development, it is at times convenient to pass beyond the exact bounds +of the period, so that the whole subject may be brought together at this +point of the history. + + +§ 72. The Constitution of the State Church + + +The Church's constitution received its permanent form in this period. The +conciliar system was carried to its logical completion in the ecumenical +council representing the entire Church and standing at the head of a +system which included the provincial and patriarchal councils, at least in +theory. The clergy were organized into a hierarchy which rested upon the +basis of the single bishop in his diocese, who had under him his clergy, +and culminated in the patriarchs placed over the great divisions of the +State Church, corresponding to the primary divisions of the Empire. The +Emperor assumed the supreme authority in the Church, and the foundation +was laid for what became under Justinian Caesaropapism. By the institution +of the hierarchical gradation of authority and jurisdiction, for the most +part corresponding to the political and administrative divisions of the +Empire, the Church both assumed a rigidly organized form and came more +easily under the control of the secular authority. + + +(A) The Ecumenical Council + + +The Council of Nicaea was held before there was any definition of the place +of an ecumenical council. Many councils were held during the Arian +controversy that were quite as representative. It was taken for granted +that the councils were arranged in a scale of authority corresponding to +the extent of the Church represented. The first clear statement of this +principle is at the Council of Constantinople A. D. 382. + + +Council of Constantinople, A. D. 382, _Canon_ 2. Text, Hefele, § 98. + + + The so-called second general council was held in 381, but in the + next year nearly the same bishops were called together by + Theodosius (_cf._ Theodoret, _Hist. Ec._, V. 9). In a letter + addressed to the Western bishops at a council at Rome this council + speaks of their previous meeting at Constantinople in 381 as being + an ecumenical council. The query suggests itself whether, + considering the fact that it actually only represented the East + and did represent more than one patriarchate, "ecumenical" might + not be understood as being used in a sense similar to that in + which the African bishops spoke of their councils as + _universalis_. See Hefele, § 100, note. + + + The following canon is printed as the sixth canon of + Constantinople, A. D. 381, in Hefele and the other collections, + _e.g._, Bruns and Percival. + + +{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} If persons who are neither heretics, nor excommunicated, nor condemned, +nor charged with crime claim to have a complaint in matters ecclesiastical +against the bishop,(124) the holy synod commands such to bring their +charges first before all the bishops of the province, and to prove before +them the charges against the accused bishop. But should it happen that the +comprovincials be unable to settle the charges alleged against the bishop, +the complainants shall have recourse then to the larger synod of the +bishops of that diocese,(125) who shall be called together on account of +the complaint; and the complainants may not bring their complaint until +they have agreed in writing to take upon themselves the same punishment +which would have fallen upon the accused, in case the complainants in the +course of the matter should be proved to have brought a false charge +against the bishop. But if any one, holding in contempt these directions, +venture to burden the ear of the Emperor, or the tribunals of the secular +judges, or disturb an ecumenical synod,(126) dishonoring the bishops of +their patriarchal province, such shall not be admitted to make complaint, +because he despises the canons and violates the Church's order. + + +(B) The Hierarchical Organization + + +(_a_) Council of Nicaea, A. D. 325, _Canons_. Text, Hefele, § 42. _Cf._ +Kirch, nn. 364-368. + + + Canons of organization. + + + Canon 4 regulates the ordinations of bishops; Canon 5 orders that + excommunications in one diocese shall hold good everywhere; Canon + 6 defines the larger provincial organization which eventually + resulted in the patriarchates; Canon 7 defines the position of the + bishopric of Jerusalem; Canons 15 and 16 place the bishops + permanently in their sees and the clergy under their own proper + bishop. + + +Canon 4. It is by all means proper that a bishop should be appointed by +all the bishops in the province; but should this be difficult, either on +account of urgent necessity or because of distance, three at least should +assemble, and the suffrages of the absent should also be given and +communicated in writing, and then the ordination should take place. But in +every province the ratification of what is done should be left to the +metropolitan. + +Canon 5. Concerning those, whether of the clergy or of the laity, who have +been excommunicated in the several provinces, let the provisions of the +canon be observed by the bishops which provides that persons cast out by +some be not readmitted by others.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Nevertheless, inquiry should be made +whether they have been excommunicated through captiousness, or +contentiousness, or any such like ungracious disposition in the bishops. +And that this matter may have due investigation, it is decreed that in +every province synods shall be held twice a year, in order that when all +the bishops of the province are assembled together, such questions may be +thoroughly examined by them, that so those who have confessedly offended +against their bishop may be seen by all to be for just causes +excommunicated, until it shall appear fit to a general meeting of the +bishops to pronounce a milder sentence upon them. And let these synods be +held, the one before Lent (that the pure gift may be offered to God after +all bitterness has been put away) and let the second be held about autumn. + +Canon 6. Let the ancient customs in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis prevail, +that the bishop of Alexandria shall have jurisdiction in all these, since +the like is customary for the bishop of Rome also.(127) Likewise in +Antioch and the other provinces, let the churches retain their privileges. +And this is to be universally understood, that if any one be made bishop +without the consent of his metropolitan, the great synod has declared that +such a man ought not to be bishop. If, however, two or three bishops +shall, from natural love of contradiction, oppose the common suffrage of +the rest, it being reasonable and in accordance with the ecclesiastical +law, then let the choice of the majority prevail. + +Canon 7. Since custom and ancient tradition have prevailed that the bishop +of AElia [_i.e._, Jerusalem] should be honored, let him, saving its due +dignity to the metropolis, have the next place of honor. + +Canon 15. On account of the great disturbance and discords that occur, it +is decreed that the custom prevailing in certain places contrary to the +canon must wholly be done away; so that neither bishop, presbyter, nor +deacon shall pass from city to city. And if any one, after this decree of +the holy and great synod, shall attempt any such thing or continue in such +course, his proceedings shall be utterly void, and he shall be restored to +the church for which he was ordained bishop or presbyter. + +Canon 16. Neither presbyters, nor deacons, nor any others enrolled among +the clergy, who, not having the fear of God before their eyes, nor +regarding the ecclesiastical canon, shall recklessly remove from their own +church, ought by any means to be received by another church; but every +constraint should be applied to restore them to their own parishes;(128) +and, if they will not go, they must be excommunicated. And if one shall +dare surreptitiously to carry off and in his own church ordain a man +belonging to another, without the consent of his own proper bishop from +whom, although he was enrolled in the clergy list, he has seceded, let the +ordination be void. + + +(_b_) Synod of Antioch, A. D. 341. _Canons_, Bruns, I, 80 _f._, _Cf._ +Kirch, nn. 439 _ff._ + + + For the Council of Antioch, see § 65, _c_. These canons on + discipline were held in highest authority in the Church, although + enacted by Arians whose creed was rejected. They obtained this + position in the law of the Church because they carried further the + natural line of development long since taken in the ecclesiastical + system. _Cf._ Hefele, § 56. + + +Canon 2. All who enter the Church of God and hear the Holy Scriptures, but +do not communicate with the people in prayers, or who turn away, by reason +of some disorder, from the holy partaking of the eucharist, are to be cast +out of the Church until, after they shall have made confession, have +brought forth fruits of penance, and have made earnest entreaty, they +shall have obtained forgiveness; and it is unlawful to communicate with +excommunicated persons, or to assemble in private houses and pray with +those who do not pray in the Church; or to receive in one church those who +do not assemble with another church. And if any one of the bishops, +presbyters, or deacons, or any one in the canon shall be found +communicating with excommunicated persons, let him also be excommunicated, +as one who brings confusion on the order of the Church. + +Canon 3. If any presbyter or deacon or any one whatever belonging to the +priesthood shall forsake his own parish and shall depart, and, having +wholly changed his residence, shall set himself to remain for a long time +in another parish, let him no longer officiate; especially if his own +bishop shall summon and urge him to return to his own parish, and he shall +disobey. And if he persist in his disorder, let him be wholly deposed from +his ministry, so that no further room be left for his restoration. And if +another bishop shall receive a man deposed for this cause, let him be +punished by the common synod as one who nullifies the ecclesiastical laws. + +Canon 4. If any bishop be deposed by a synod, or any presbyter or deacon, +who has been deposed by his bishop, shall presume to execute any part of +the ministry, whether it be a bishop according to his former function, or +a presbyter, or a deacon, he shall no longer have any prospect of +restoration in another synod, nor any opportunity of making his defence; +but they who communicate with him shall be cast out of the Church, and +particularly if they have presumed to communicate with the persons +aforementioned, knowing the sentence pronounced against them. + +Canon 6. If any one has been excommunicated by his own bishop, let him not +be received by others until he has either been restored by his own bishop, +or until, when a synod is held, he shall have appeared and made his +defence, and, having convinced the synod, shall have received a different +sentence. And let this decree apply to the laity, and to the presbyters +and deacons, and all who are enrolled in the clergy list. + +Canon 9. It behooves the bishops in each province to acknowledge the +bishop who presides in the metropolis, and who has to take thought of the +whole province; because all men of business come together from every +quarter to the metropolis. Wherefore it is decreed that he have precedence +in rank, and that the other bishops do nothing extraordinary without him, +according to the ancient canon which prevailed from the time of our +fathers, or such things only as pertain to their own particular parishes +and the districts subject to them. For each bishop has authority over his +own parish, both to manage it with piety, which is incumbent on every one, +and to make provision for the whole district which is dependent upon his +city; to ordain presbyters and deacons; and to settle everything with +judgment. But let him not undertake anything further without the bishop of +the metropolis; neither the latter without the consent of the others. + +Canon 10. The holy synod decrees that those [bishops] living in village +and country districts, or those who are called chorepiscopi, even though +they have received ordination to the episcopate, shall regard their own +limits and manage the churches subject to them, and be content with the +care and administration of these; but they may ordain readers, subdeacons, +and exorcists, and shall be content with promoting these; but they shall +not presume to ordain either a presbyter or a deacon, without the consent +of the bishop of the city to which he and his district are subject. And if +he shall dare to transgress these decrees, he shall be deposed from the +rank which he enjoys. And a chorepiscopus is to be appointed by the bishop +of the city to which he is subject. + + +(_c_) Council of Sardica, A. D. 343 or 344, _Canons_, Bruns, I, 88. _Cf._ +Mirbt, n. 113, and Kirch, nn. 448 _ff._ + + + The Council of Sardica was intended to be composed of + representatives from the entire Empire who might be able to settle + once and for all the Arian question. It met at Sardica on the + boundary between the two divisions of the Empire as they were then + defined. The Eastern ecclesiastics, strongly Arian, found + themselves outnumbered by the Western bishops who supported + Athanasius and the Nicene definition of faith. The Eastern + representatives withdrew to Philippopolis near by, and held their + own council. The following canons were intended to provide a + system of appeal for cases like that of Athanasius, and although + they do not seem to have been acted upon enough to have become a + part of the Church's system, yet they were of great importance + inasmuch as subsequently they were used as late as the ninth + century for a support to a wholly different system of appeals. + These canons were very early attributed to the Council of Nicaea A. + D. 325. + + +Canon 3. Bishop Hosius said: This, also, it is necessary to add--that +bishops shall not pass from their own province to another province in +which there are bishops, unless perchance they are invited by their +brethren, that we seem not to close the door to charity. But if in any +province a bishop have an action against his brother bishop, neither shall +call in as judge a bishop from another province. But if judgment shall +have gone against any bishop in a case, and he think that he has a good +case, in order that the question may be heard, let us, if it be your +pleasure, honor the memory of St. Peter the Apostle, and let those who +have tried the case write to Julius, the bishop of Rome, and if he shall +decide that the case should be retried, let it be retried, and let him +appoint judges; but if he shall be satisfied that the case is such that +what has been done should not be disturbed, what has been decreed shall be +confirmed. + +Is this the pleasure of all? The synod answered: It is our pleasure. + +Canon 4. Bishop Gaudentius said: If it please you, it is necessary to add +to this sentence, which full of sincere charity thou hast pronounced, that +if any bishop has been deposed by the judgment of those bishops who +happened to be in the vicinity, and he asserts that he has fresh matter in +defence, a new bishop is not to be settled in his see, unless the bishop +of Rome judge and render a decision as to this. + +_Latin Version of Canon 4._ Bishop Gaudentius said: If it please you, +there ought to be added to this sentence, which full of holiness thou hast +pronounced, that if any bishop has been deposed by the judgment of those +bishops who dwell in the vicinity, and he asserts that the business ought +to be conducted by him in the city of Rome, another bishop should in +nowise be ordained in his see after the appellation of him who appears to +have been deposed, unless the cause shall have been determined by the +judgment of the bishop of Rome. + +Canon 5.(129) Bishop Hosius said: Let it be decreed that if a bishop shall +have been accused and the assembled bishops of the same region shall have +deposed him from his office, and he, so to speak, appeals and takes refuge +with the bishop of the Roman Church and wishes to be heard by him, if +he(130) think it right to renew the examination of his case, let him be +pleased to write to those of fellow-bishops who are nearest the province +that they may examine the particulars with care and accuracy and give +their votes on the matter in accordance with the word of truth. And if any +one demand that his case be heard yet again, and at his request it seems +good to the bishop of Rome to send presbyters from his own side, let it be +in the power of that bishop, according as he judges it to be good and +decides it to be right, that some be sent to be judges with the bishops +and invested with his authority by whom they were sent. And be this also +ordained. But if he thinks that they [the bishops] are sufficient for the +hearing and determining of the matter of the bishop, let him do what shall +seem good in his most prudent judgment. + +The bishops answered: What has been said is approved. + + +(_d_) Gratian and Valentinian, _Rescript_; A. D. 378. (MSG, 13:586.) +Mirbt, nn. 118, _f._ + + + This rescript was sent in answer to a petition addressed to the + emperors by a Roman council under Damasus. It is, therefore, found + connected with an epistle in the works of Damasus. It does not + seem to have been the foundation of any claim or to have played + any considerable part in the development of the Roman primacy. It + is of importance in the present connection as illustrating the + part emperors took in the internal affairs of the Church. For + Damasus and the disturbances in connection with his election, _v. + infra_, § 74, _a_. The rescript may be found in Mansi, III, 624; + Hardouin, I, 842; and in Gieseler, I, 380. + + +6. If any one shall have been condemned by the judgment of Damasus, which +he shall have delivered with the council of five or seven bishops, or by +the judgment or council of those who are Catholics, and if he shall +unlawfully attempt to retain his church,(131) in order that such a one, +who has been called to the priestly judgment, shall not escape by his +contumacy, it is our will that such a one be remitted by the illustrious +prefects of Gaul and Italy, either by the proconsul or the vicars, use +having been made of due authority, to the episcopal judgment, and shall +come to the city of Rome under an escort; or if such insolence of any one +shall appear in parts very far distant, the entire pleading of his case +shall be brought to the examination of the metropolitan of the province in +which the bishop is, or if he himself is the metropolitan, then of +necessity he shall hasten without delay to Rome, or to those whom the +Roman bishop shall assign as judges, so that whoever shall have been +deposed shall be removed from the confines of the city in which they were +priests. For we punish those who deserve punishment less severely than +they deserve, and we take vengeance upon their sacrilegious stubbornness +more gently than it merits. And if the unfairness or partiality of any +metropolitan, bishop, or priest is suspected, it is allowed to appeal to +the Roman bishop or to a council gathered of fifteen neighboring bishops, +but so that after the examination of the case shall have been concluded +what was settled shall not be begun over again. + + +(_e_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 1, 2; Feb. 27, A. D. 380. _Cf._ Kirch, n. +755. + + + The following edict was issued by Gratian, Valentinian and + Theodosius, requiring the acceptance of the orthodox faith by all + subjects. In other words, the emperors, following the example of + Constantius and Valens in enforcing Arianism, are now enforcing + the Nicene theology. Sozomenus, _Hist. Ec._, VII, 4, gives the + circumstances under which this edict was issued. + + +It is our will that all the peoples whom the government of our clemency +rules shall follow that religion which a pious belief from Peter to the +present declares the holy Peter delivered to the Romans, and which it is +evident the pontiff Damasus and Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a man of +apostolic sanctity, follow; that is, that according to the apostolic +discipline and evangelical doctrine we believe in the deity of the Father +and the Son and the Holy Ghost of equal majesty, in a holy trinity. Those +who follow this law we command shall be comprised under the name of +Catholic Christians; but others, indeed, we require, as insane and raving, +to bear the infamy of heretical teaching; their gatherings shall not +receive the name of churches; they are to be smitten first with the divine +punishment and after that by the vengeance of our indignation, which has +the divine approval. + + +(_f_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 1, 3. + + + Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius to Auxonius, proconsul of + Asia. + + + To enforce still further the principles of Nicene orthodoxy + certain bishops were named as teachers of the true faith, + communion with whom was a test of orthodoxy. + + +We command that all churches be forthwith delivered up to the bishops who +confess the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to be of one majesty and +power; of the same glory and of one splendor, making no distinction by any +profane division, but rather harmony by the assertion of the trinity of +the persons and the unity of the Godhead, to the bishops who are +associated in communion with Nectarius, bishop of the Church of +Constantinople, and with Timotheus in Egypt, bishop of the city of +Alexandria; in the parts of the Orient, who are in communion with +Pelagius, bishop of Laodicaea and Diodorus, bishop of Tarsus; in +proconsular Asia and in the diocese of Asia, who are in communion with +Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, and Optimus, bishop of Antioch; in the +diocese of Pontus, who are in communion with Helladius, bishop of Caesarea, +and Otreius, bishop of Melitina, and Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, Terennius, +bishop of Scythia, Marmarius, bishop of Marcianopolis. Those who are of +the communion and fellowship of approved priests(132) ought to be admitted +to possess the Catholic churches; but all who dissent from the communion +of the faith of those whom the special list has named ought to be expelled +from the churches as manifest heretics; and no opportunity whatsoever +ought to be allowed them henceforth of obtaining episcopal churches(133) +that the priestly orders of the true and Nicene faith may remain pure and +no place be given to evil cunning, according to the evident form of our +precept. + + +(_g_) Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381. _Address to Theodosius._ See +Mansi, III, 557. + + + The following letter illustrates the relation of the councils in + the East to the imperial authority. The emperors called the + various general councils, directed their discussions and confirmed + the results. In this way their findings were given the force of + laws and authority throughout the Church. _V. infra_, §§ 90, 91. + + +To the most religious Emperor Theodosius, the holy synod of bishops +assembled in Constantinople out of different provinces. + +We begin our letter to your Piety with thanks to God, who has established +the Empire of your Piety for the common peace of the churches and for the +support of the true faith. And, after rendering due thanks unto God, as in +duty bound, we lay before your Piety the things which have been done in +the holy synod. When, then, we had assembled in Constantinople, according +to the letter of your Piety, we first of all renewed our unity of heart +each with the other, and then we pronounced some concise definitions, +ratifying the faith of the Nicene Fathers, and anathematizing the heresies +which have sprung up contrary thereto. Besides these things, we also +framed certain canons for the better ordering of the churches, all which +we have subjoined to this our letter. We therefore beseech your Piety that +the decree of the synod may be ratified, to the end that as you have +honored the Church by your letter of citation, so you should set your seal +to the conclusion of what has been decreed. May the Lord establish your +Empire in peace and righteousness, and prolong it from generation to +generation; and may He add unto your earthly powers the fruition of the +heavenly kingdom also. May God, by the prayers of the saints, show favor +to the world, that you may be strong and eminent in all good things as an +Emperor most truly pious and beloved of God. + + +(_h_) Synod of Antioch, A. D. 341, _Canons_, Bruns, I, 80. + + + The following canons passed at Antioch are the first touching a + habit which they did little to correct. The so-called sixth canon + of Constantinople, 381, in reality a canon of the council of the + next year, took up the matter again. All through the great + controversies appeals were constantly made to the emperors + because, after all, they alone had the authority. _Cf._ Hefele, § + 56. + + +Canon 11. If any bishop, or presbyter, or any one whatever of the canon +shall presume to betake himself to the Emperor without the consent and +letters of his bishop of the province and particularly of the bishop of +the metropolis, such a one shall be publicly deposed and cast out, not +only from the communion, but also from the rank which he happens to have +had; inasmuch as he dares to trouble the ears of our Emperor, beloved of +God, contrary to the law of the Church. But, if necessary business shall +require any one to go to the Emperor, let him do it with the advice and +consent of the metropolitan and other bishops in the province, and let him +undertake his journey with the letters from them. + +Canon 12. If any presbyter or deacon deposed by his own bishop, or any +bishop deposed by a synod, shall dare trouble the ears of the Emperor, +when it is his duty to submit his case to a greater synod of bishops, and +to refer to more bishops the things which he thinks right, and to abide by +the examination and decision made by them; if, despising these, he shall +trouble the Emperor, he shall be entitled to no pardon, neither shall he +have opportunity of defence, nor any hope of future restoration. + + +§ 73. Sole Authority of the State Church + + +When Theodosius had successfully forced upon the East the theology of +Nicaea, his policy as to religious matters was manifest. No longer was +heresy to be allowed. Laws were to control opinion in the same way that +they did conduct. The old plea of the persecuted Christians under the +heathen Roman Empire, _religio non cogi potest_, was completely forgotten. +As Christianity was the one sole religion of divine character, based upon +the unique divine act of the incarnation, it was folly to allow men to +continue in heathenism--it might even be dangerous to the State to allow +them, as it might bring down the just vengeance of God. With this policy +the populace was completely in accord, especially when it led to the +plunder and destruction of heathen sanctuaries, and many of the more +zealous of the clergy were willing to lead in the assault. In these ways +the State Church obtained a two-fold exclusive authority: as regards +heathenism, and as regards heresy. + + +(_a_) _Codex Theodosianus._ + + + Laws regarding heathenism. + + +XVI, 10, 14; A. D. 399. + +Whatever privileges were conceded by the ancient laws to the priests, +ministers, prefects, hierophants of sacred things, or by whatsoever name +they may be designated, are to be abolished henceforth, and let them not +think that they are protected by a granted privilege when their religious +confession is known to have been condemned by the law. + +XVI, 10, 16; A. D. 399. + +If there are temples in the fields, let them be destroyed without crowd or +tumult. For when these have been thrown down and carried away, the support +of superstition will be consumed. + +XVI, 10, 15; A. D. 399. + + + This law appears again in the _Cod. Just._, I, 13, 3, for it + appears to have been necessary even as late as the sixth century + to prevent unauthorized destructions of temples which were in the + cities and might be fairly regarded as ornaments to the city. + + +We prohibit sacrifices yet so that we wish that the ornaments of public +works to be preserved. And that those who attempt to overthrow them may +not flatter themselves that it is with some authority, if any rescript or, +perchance, law is alleged, let these documents be taken from their hands +and referred to our knowledge. + +XVI, 10, 21; A. D. 416. + +Those who are polluted by the error or crime of pagan rites are not to be +admitted to the army nor to receive the distinction and honor of +administrator or judge. + +XVI, 10, 23; A. D. 423. + +Although the pagans that remain ought to be subjected to capital +punishment if at any time they are detected in the abominable sacrifices +of demons, let exile and confiscation of goods be their punishment. + +XVI, 10, 24; A. D. 423. (Retained in _Cod. Just._, I, 11, 16.) + +The Manichaeans and those who are called Pepyzitae [Montanists] and also +those who by this one opinion are worse than all heretics, in that they +dissent from all as to the venerable day of the Easter festival, we +subject to the same punishment, viz.: confiscation of goods and exile, if +they persist in the same unreason. But this we especially demand of +Christians, both those who are really such and those who are called such, +that they presume not, by an abuse of religion, to lay hands upon the Jews +and pagans who live peaceably and who attempt nothing riotous or contrary +to the laws. For if they should do violence to them living securely and +take away their goods, let them be compelled to restore not merely what +they have taken away but threefold and fourfold. Let the rectors of +provinces, officials, and provincials know that if they permit these +things to be done, they themselves will be punished, as well as those who +do them. + + +(_b_) Theodoret, _Hist. Ec._, V, 29. (MSG, 82:1256.) + + + The destruction of temples. + + + The following passage is illustrative of the temper of those who + took part in the destruction of heathen sanctuaries. The imperial + edicts for these acts were obtained in 399. Chrysostom, the leader + in the movement, fairly represents the best thought and temper of + the Church. + + +On receiving information that Phoenicia was still suffering from the +madness of the demons' rites, he [John Chrysostom] got together some monks +fired with divine zeal and despatched them, armed with imperial edicts, +against the idols' shrines. He did not draw from the imperial treasury the +money to pay the craftsmen and their assistants who were engaged in the +work of destruction, but he persuaded certain faithful and wealthy women +to make liberal contributions, pointing out to them how great would be the +blessing their generosity would win. Thus the remaining shrines of the +demons were utterly destroyed. + + +(_c_) Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, VII, 15. (MSG, 67:768.) + + + The murder of Hypatia. + + + The fearful murder of Hypatia represents another aspect of the + opposition to heathenism, in which the populace seconded the + efforts of the authorities in a policy of extirpating paganism. + + +There was a woman in Alexandria named Hypatia. She was the daughter of the +philosopher Theon, and she had attained such a proficiency in literature +and science as to surpass by far all the philosophers of her own time. +Having succeeded to the Platonic school, which had come down from +Plotinus, she explained all the principles of philosophy to her auditors. +Therefore many from all sides, wishing to study philosophy, came to her. +On account of the self-possession and ease of manner which she had +acquired by her study, she not infrequently appeared with modesty in the +presence of magistrates. Neither did she feel abashed in entering an +assembly of men. For all men, on account of her extraordinary dignity and +virtue, admired her the more. Against her envious hostility arose at that +time. For as she had frequent interviews with Orestes [governor of +Alexandria] it was calumniously reported among the Christian populace that +it was she who prevented Orestes from being reconciled to the bishop +[Cyril]. Some men of this opinion and of a hot-headed disposition, whose +leader was a reader named Peter, waylaid her returning home. Dragging her +from her carriage they took her to the church called Caesareum. There they +completely stripped her and murdered her with tiles. When they had torn +her in pieces, they took her mangled limbs to a place called Cinaron, and +there they burnt them. This affair brought no little opprobrium, not only +upon Cyril but also upon the whole Alexandrian Church. And surely murders, +fights, and actions of that sort are altogether alien to those who hold +the things of Christ. These things happened in the fourth year of the +episcopate of Cyril [415]. + + +(_d_) Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, VII, 11. (MSG, 67:757.) + + + Novatians and the Church at the beginning of the fifth century. + + + Socrates is the principal authority for the later history of the + Novatians. It is probable that his interest in them and evident + sympathy for them were due to some connection with the sect, + perhaps in his early years, and he gives many incidents in their + history, otherwise unknown. + + +After Innocent [401-417], Zosimus [417-418] governed the Roman Church for +two years, and after him Boniface [418-422] presided over it for three +years. Celestinus [422-432] succeeded him, and this Celestinus took away +the churches from the Novatians at Rome and obliged Rusticula, their +bishop, to hold his meetings secretly in private houses. Until this time +the Novatians had flourished exceedingly in Rome, having many churches +there and gathering large congregations. But envy attacked them there, +also, as soon as the Roman episcopate, like that of Alexandria, extended +itself beyond the limits of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and degenerated +into its present state of secular domination. And for this cause the +bishops would not suffer even those who agreed with them in matters of +faith to enjoy the privileges of assembling in peace, but stripping them +of all they possessed, praised them merely for these agreements in faith. +The bishops of Constantinople kept themselves free from this sort of +conduct; in so much as in addition to tolerating them and permitting them +to hold their assemblies within the city, as I have already stated,(134) +they treated them with every mark of Christian regard. + + +(_e_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 5, 40; A. D. 407. + + + Edict of Arcadius and Honorius against the Manichaeans and other + heretics. (Retained in _Cod. Just._, I, 5, 4.) _Cf._ Mirbt, n. + 155. + + +What we have thought concerning the Donatists we have recently set forth. +Especially do we pursue, with well-merited severity, the Manichaeans, the +Phrygians, and the Priscillianists,(135) since men of this sort have +nothing in common with others, neither in custom nor laws. And first we +declare that their crime is against the State, because what is committed +against the divine religion is held an injury of all. And we will take +vengeance upon them by the confiscation of their goods, which, however, we +command shall fall to whomsoever is nearest of their kindred, in ascending +or descending lines or cognates of collateral branches to the second +degree, as the order is in succession to goods. Yet it shall be so that we +suffer the right to receive the goods to belong to them, only if they +themselves are not in the same way polluted in their conscience. And it is +our will that they be deprived of every grant or succession from whatever +title derived. In addition, we do not leave to any one convicted of this +crime the right of giving, buying, selling, or finally of making a +contract. The prosecution shall continue till death. For if in the case of +the crime of treason it is lawful to attack the memory of the deceased, +not without desert ought he to endure condemnation. Therefore let his last +will and testament be invalid, whether he leave property by testament, +codicil, epistle, or by any sort of will, if ever he has been convicted of +being a Manichaean, Phrygian, or Priscillianist, and in this case the same +order is to be followed as in the grades above stated; and we do not +permit sons to succeed as heirs unless they forsake the paternal +depravity; for we grant forgiveness of the offence to those repenting. We +will that slaves be without harm if, rejecting their sacrilegious master, +they pass over to the Catholic Church by a more faithful service. Property +on which a congregation of men of this sort assemble, in case the owner, +although not a participator in the crime, is aware of the meeting and does +not forbid it, is to be annexed to our patrimony; if the owner is +ignorant, let the agent or steward of the property, having been punished +with scourging, be sent to labor in the mines, and the one who hires the +property, if he be a person liable to such sort of punishment, be +deported. Let the rectors of provinces, if by fraud or force they delay +the punishment of these crimes when they have been reported, or if +conviction have been obtained neglect punishment, know that they will be +subject to the fine of twenty pounds of gold. As for defensors and heads +of the various cities and the provincial officials, a penalty of ten +pounds is to compel them to do their duty, unless performing those things +which have been laid down by the judges in this matter, they give the most +intelligent care and the most ready help. + + +(_f_) Leo the Great, _Epistula_ 7. (MSL, 54:620.) + + + Manichaeanism in Rome. + + + This epistle, addressed to the bishops throughout Italy, shows the + way in which zealous bishops could, and were expected to, + co-operate with the secular authorities in putting down heresy. + + + Leo the Great [440-461], the greatest of the popes before Gregory + the Great, was equally great as an ecclesiastical statesman, as + theologian, and universally acknowledged leader of the Roman + people in the times of the invasions of Attila and Genseric. + Without being the creator of the papal idea, he was able so to + gather up the elements that had been developed by Siricius, + Innocent, and others, as to give it a classical expression that + almost warrants one in describing him as the first of the popes in + the later sense of that term. His literary remains consist of + sermons, of which ninety-six are genuine, in which, among other + matters, he sets forth his conception of the Petrine prerogative + (see below, § 87, _b_), and letters in which he deals with the + largest questions of ecclesiastical politics, especially in the + matter of the condemnation of Monophysitism at the Council of + Chalcedon. See below, § 91. + + +Our search has discovered in the city a great many followers and teachers +of the Manichaean impiety, our watchfulness has proclaimed them, and our +authority and censure have checked them: those whom we could reform we +have corrected and driven to condemn Manichaeus with his preachings and +teachings, by public confession in the Church, and by the subscription of +their own hands; and thus we have lifted those who have acknowledged their +fault from the pit of their impiety, by granting them opportunity for +repentance. But some who had so deeply involved themselves that no remedy +could assist them have been subjected to the laws, in accordance with the +constitutions of our Christian princes, and lest they should pollute the +holy flock by their contagion, have been banished into perpetual exile by +the public judges. And all the profane and disgraceful things which are +found, as well in their writings as in their secret traditions, we have +disclosed and clearly proved to the eyes of Christian laity, that the +people might know what to shrink from or avoid; so that he that was called +their bishop was himself tried by us and betrayed the criminal views which +he held in his mystic religion, as the record of our proceedings can show +you. For this, too, we have sent you for instruction; and after reading +them you will be able to understand all the discoveries we have made. + +And because we know that some of those who are involved here in too close +an accusation for them to clear themselves have fled, we have sent this +letter to you, beloved, by our acolyte; that your holiness, dear brothers, +may be informed of this, and see fit to act more diligently and +cautiously, lest the men of Manichaean error be able to find opportunity of +hurting your people and of teaching these impious doctrines. For we cannot +otherwise rule those intrusted to us unless we pursue, with the zeal of +faith in the Lord, those who are destroyers and destroyed; and with what +severity we can bring to bear, cut them off from intercourse with sound +minds, lest this pestilence spread much wider. Wherefore I exhort you, +beloved, I beseech and warn you to use such watchful diligence as you +ought and can employ in tracking them out lest they find opportunity of +concealment anywhere. + + +(_g_) Leo the Great, _Epistula_ 15. (MSL, 54:680.) + + + An account of the tenets of the Priscillianists. Leo is answering + a letter sent him by Bishop Turribius of Asturia, in which that + bishop had given him statements about the faith of these + sectaries. It appears that these statements which Leo quotes and + refutes in brief are not wholly correct and that the + Priscillianists were far from being as heretical as they have been + commonly represented. See articles in the recent encyclopaedias, + _e.g._, New Schaff-Herzog, and Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed. + The change in opinion is due to the discovery of writings of + Priscillian himself. Nevertheless, these statements, defective as + they may be, represent the opinion of the times as to these + heretics and the general attitude toward what was regarded as + heretical and savoring of Manichaeanism.(136) + + +1. And so under the first head is shown what impious views they hold about +the divine Trinity; they affirm that the person of the Father, the Son, +and the Holy Ghost is one and the same, as if the same God were named now +Father, now Son, now Holy Ghost; and as if He who begat were not one, He +who was begotten another, and He who proceedeth from both yet another; but +an undivided unity must be understood, spoken of under three names, but +not consisting of three persons.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +2. Under the second head is displayed their foolish and empty fancy about +the issue of certain virtues from God which He began to possess, and which +were posterior to God in His own essence.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +3. Again the language of the third head shows that these same impious +persons assert that the Son of God is called "only begotten" for this +reason that He alone was born of a virgin.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +4. The fourth head deals with the fact that the birthday of Christ, which +the Catholic Church venerates as His taking on Him the true man, because +"the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," is not truly honored by these +men, but they pretend that they honor it, for they fast on that day, as +they do also on the Lord's Day, which is the day of Christ's resurrection. +No doubt they do this because they do not believe that Christ the Lord was +truly born in man's nature, but maintain that by a sort of illusion there +was an appearance of what was not a reality. + +5. Their fifth head refers to their assertion that man's soul is a part of +the divine substance, and that the nature of our human state does not +differ from its Creator's nature.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +6. The sixth points out that they say that the devil never was good and +that his nature is not God's handiwork, but that he came forth of chaos +and darkness.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +7. In the seventh place follows that they condemn marriage and are +horrified at begetting children, in which, as in nearly all things, they +agree with the profanity of the Manichaeans. + +8. Their eighth point is that the formation of men's bodies is the device +of the devil and that the seed of conception is shaped by the aid of +demons in the womb.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +9. The ninth notice declares that they say that the sons of promise are +born, indeed, of women, conceived by the Holy Spirit; lest the offspring +that is born of carnal seed should seem to share in God's estate.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +10. Under the tenth head they are reported as asserting that the souls +which are placed in men's bodies have previously been without a body and +have sinned in their heavenly habitation and for this reason have fallen +from their high estate to a lower one alighting upon ruling spirits of +divers qualities, and after passing through a succession of powers of the +air and stars, some fiercer, some milder, are enclosed in bodies of +different sorts and conditions, so that whatever variety and inequality is +meted out to us in this life, seems the result of previous causes.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +11. Their eleventh blasphemy is that in which they suppose that both the +souls and bodies of men are under the influence of fatal stars.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +12. The twelfth of these points is this: that they map out the parts of +the soul under certain powers and the limbs under others; and they suggest +the characters of the inner powers that rule the soul by giving them the +names of the patriarchs; and on the other hand, they attribute the signs +of the stars to those under which they put the body. + + +§ 74. The Position of the State Church in the Social Order of the Empire + + +The elevation of the Church exposed the Church to worldliness whereby +selfish men, or men carried away with partisan zeal, took advantages of +its privileges or contended fiercely for important appointments. The +clergy all too frequently ingratiated themselves with wealthy members of +their flocks that they might receive from them valuable legacies, an abuse +which had to be corrected by civil law; factional spirit occasionally led +to bloodshed in episcopal elections. But on the other hand the Church was +employed by the State in an important work which properly belonged to the +secular administration, viz., the administration of justice in the +episcopal courts of arbitration, for which see _Cod. Just._, I, tit. 3, +_de Episcopali Audientia_; _cf._ E. Loening, _Geschichte des deutschen +Kirchenrechts_, vol. I; and in the supervision of civil officials in the +expenditures of funds for public improvements. These are but instances of +their large public activity according to law. + + +(_a_) Ammianus Marcellinus, _Hist. Rom._, XXVII, 3, §§ 12 _ff._ _Cf._ +Kirch, nn. 607 _ff._ + + + Damasus and Ursinus. + + + The strife which attained shocking proportions in connection with + the election of Damasus seems to have been connected with the + schism at Rome occasioned by the attitude of Liberius in the Arian + controversy. Damasus proved one of the ablest bishops that Rome + ever had in the ancient Church. For aid in overcoming the + partisans of Ursinus a Roman council appealed to the Emperor + Gratian, whose answer is given in part above, § 72, _e_. + + +12. Damasus and Ursinus, being both immoderately eager to obtain the +bishopric, formed parties and carried on the conflict with great asperity, +the partisans of each carrying their violence to actual battle, in which +men were wounded and killed. And as Juventius, prefect of the city, was +unable to put an end to it, or even to soften these disorders, he was at +last by their violence compelled to withdraw to the suburbs. + +13. Ultimately Damasus got the best of the strife by the strenuous efforts +of his partisans. It is certain that on one day one hundred and +thirty-seven dead bodies were found in the Basilica of Sicinus, which is a +Christian church. And the populace who had thus been roused to a state of +ferocity were with great difficulty restored to order. + +14. I do not deny, when I consider the ostentation that reigns at Rome, +that those who desire such rank and power may be justified in laboring +with all possible exertion and vehemence to obtain their wishes; since +after they have succeeded, they will be secure for the future, being +enriched by offerings of matrons, riding in carriages, dressing +splendidly, and feasting luxuriously, so that their entertainments surpass +even royal banquets. + +15. And they might be really happy if, despising the vastness of the city +which they excite against themselves by their vices, they were to live in +imitation of some of the priests in the provinces, whom the most rigid +abstinence in eating and drinking, and plainness of apparel, and eyes +always cast on the ground, recommend to the everlasting Deity and His true +worshippers as pure and sober-minded men. + + +(_b_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XVI, 2, 20; A. D. 370. _Cf._ Kirch, n. 759. + + + The following law is only one of several designed to correct what + threatened to become an intolerable abuse. + + +Ecclesiastics and those who wish to be known by the name of the +continent(137) are not to come into possession of the houses of widows and +orphan girls, but are to be put aside by public courts if afterward the +affines and near relatives of such think that they ought to be put away. +Also we decree that the aforesaid may acquire nothing whatsoever from the +liberality of that woman to whom privately, under the cloak of religion, +they have attached themselves, or from her last will; and all shall be of +no effect which has been left by one of these to them, they shall not be +able to receive anything by way of donation or testament from a person in +subjection. But if, by chance, after the warning of our law, these women +shall think something is to be left to them by way of donation or in their +last will, let it be seized by the fisc. But if they should receive +anything by the will of those women in succession to whom or to whose +goods they have the support of the _jus civile_ or the benefit of the +edict, let them take it as relatives. + + +(_c_) _Codex Theodosianus_, I, 27, 2; A. D. 408. + + + Edict of Arcadius, Honorius, and Theodosius II concerning the + _Audientia Episcopalis_. + + + According to Roman law many cases were frequently decided by an + arbitrator, according to an agreement between the litigants. The + bishops had long acted as such in many cases among Christians. As + they did not always decide suits on authorization by the courts, + their decisions did not have binding authority in all cases. But + after Constantine's recognition of the Church they were given + authority to decide cases, and according to an edict of 333 their + decisions were binding even if only one litigant appealed to his + judgment. But this was reduced to cases in which there was an + agreement between the parties. The following law, the earliest + extant, though probably not the earliest, may be found, curtailed + by the omission of the second sentence, in _Cod. Just._, I, 4, 8. + + +An episcopal judgment shall be binding upon all who chose to be heard by +the priests.(138) For since private persons may hear cases between those +who consent, even without the knowledge of the judges, we suffer it to be +permitted them. That respect is to be shown their decisions which is +required to be shown your authority,(139) from which there is no appeal. +By the court and the officials execution is to be given the sentence, so +that the episcopal judicial examination may not be rendered void. + + +(_d_) _Codex Theodosianus_, II, 1, 10; A. D. 398. + + + Law of Arcadius and Honorius. + + + The following law is cited to show that in the legalization of the + _Audientia Episcopalis_ the legislation followed a principle that + was not peculiar to the position of the Church as the State + Church. The Jews had a similar privilege. The conditions under + which their religious authorities could act as arbitrators were + similar to that in which the bishops acted. This edict can also be + found in _Cod. Just._, I, 9, 8. + + +Jews living at Rome, according to common right, are in those cases which +do not pertain to their superstition, their court, laws, and rights, to +attend the courts of justice, and are to bring and defend legal actions +according to the Roman laws; hereafter let them be under our laws. If, +indeed, any by agreement similar to that for the appointment of +arbitrators, decide that the litigation be before the Jews or the +patriarchs by the consent of both parties and in business of a purely +civil character, they are not forbidden by public law to choose their +courts of justice; and let the provincial judges execute their decisions +as if the arbitrators had been assigned them by the sentence of a judge. + + +(_e_) _Codex Justinianus_, I, 4, 26. + + + The following law of the Emperor Justinian, A. D. 530, is one of + many showing the way in which the bishops were employed in many + duties of the State which hardly fell to their part as + ecclesiastics. + + +With respect to the yearly affairs of cities, whether they concern the +ordinary revenues of the city, either from funds derived from the property +of the city, or from legacies and private gifts, or given or received from +other sources, whether for public works, or for provisions, or public +aqueducts, or the maintenance of baths or ports, or the construction of +walls and towers, or the repairing of bridges and roads, or for trials in +which the city may be engaged in reference to public or private interests, +we decree as follows: The very pious bishop and three men of good +reputation, in every respect the first men of the city, shall meet and +each year not only examine the work done, but take care that those who +conduct them or have been conducting them, shall manage them with +exactness, shall render their accounts, and show by the production of the +public records that they have duly performed their engagements in the +administration of the sums appropriated for provisions, or baths, or for +the expenses involved in the maintenance of roads, aqueducts, or any other +work. + + +§ 75. Social Significance of the State Church + + +The Church at no time degenerated into a mere department of the State. In +spite of the worldly passions that invaded it and the dissensions that +distracted it, the Church remained mindful of its duty as not merely a +guardian of the deposit of faith but as a school of Christian morality. +This was the principle of the penitential discipline of the ante-Nicene +period. It was saved from becoming a mere form, or lost altogether by the +custom which became general after 400, of having the confession of sin +made in private. In matters of great moral concern, such as the treatment +of slaves, marriage, and divorce, and the cruel sports of the arena, the +Church was able to exert its influence and eventually bring about a change +in the law. And in standing for righteousness, instances were not lacking +when the highest were rebuked by the Church, as in the great case of +Ambrose and Theodosius. + + +(_a_) Leo the Great, _Epistula_ 168, ch. 2. (MSL, 54:1210.) _Cf._ +Denziger, n. 145. + + + Confession should no longer be public, but only private. From the + tone of the letter it would appear that private confession had + been customary for some time and that public confession had so far + gone out of use as to appear as a novelty. _V. supra_, § 42. + + +I direct that that presumptuous violation of the apostolic rule be +entirely done away, which we have recently learned has been without +warrant committed by some; namely, concerning penance, which is demanded +of the faithful, that a written confession in a schedule concerning the +nature of each particular sin be not recited publicly, since it suffices +that the guilt of conscience be made known by a secret confession to the +priests alone. Although that fulness of faith appears to be laudable which +on account of the fear of God is not afraid to blush before men, yet +because the sins of all are not such that those who demand penance would +not be afraid to publish them, let a custom so objectionable be done away; +that many may not be deterred from the remedies of penitence, since they +are ashamed or are afraid to disclose their deed to their enemies, by +which they might be ruined by the requirements of the laws. For that +confession suffices which is first offered to God, then further to the +priest, who intervenes as with intercessions for the sins of the penitent. +In this way many can be brought to penitence if the bad conscience of the +one making the confession is not published in the ears of the people. + + +(_b_) _Codex Theodosianus_, IV, 7, 1; A. D. 321. _Cf._ Kirch, n. 749. + + + Edict of Constantine granting the privilege of manumission to take + place in churches. + + + The Church does not seem to have been opposed to slavery as an + institution. It recognized it as a part of the social order, + following the advice of St. Paul. But, at the same time, also + following his advice, it endeavored to inculcate Christian love in + the treatment of slaves, and legislated frequently on the matter. + The edict of Constantine was in favor of this humane teaching of + the Church to the extent that it enabled it to forward the + tendency toward manumission of slaves, which the Church taught as + a pious act. This edict is to be found in _Cod. Just._, I, 13, 2. + + +Those who from the motives of religion shall give deserved liberty to +their slaves in the midst of the Church shall be regarded as having given +the same with the same legal force as that by which Roman citizenship has +been customarily given with the traditional solemn rites. But this is +permitted only to those who give this liberty in the presence of the +priest. But to the clergy we concede more, so that, when they give liberty +to their slaves, they may be said to have granted a full enjoyment of +liberty, not merely in the face of the Church and the religious people, +but also, when in their last disposition of their effects they shall have +given liberty or shall direct by any words whatsoever that it be given, on +the day of the publication of their will liberty, without any witness or +intervention of the law, shall belong to them immediately. + + +(_c_) Canons bearing on Slavery: + + +Synod of Elvira, A. D. 309, _Canon_ 5, Bruns, II, 1. + + +If a mistress seized with furious passion beat her female slave with whips +so that within three days she gives up her soul in suffering, inasmuch as +it is uncertain whether she killed her wilfully or by chance, let her, if +it was done wilfully, be readmitted after seven years, when the lawful +penance has been accomplished; or after the space of five years if it was +by chance; but if she should become ill during the appointed time, let her +receive the communion. + + +Synod of Gangra, A. D. 343, _Canon_ 3, Bruns, I, 107. + + +If any one, under the pretence of piety, advises a slave to despise his +master and run away from his service and not with good will and full +respect serve his master, let him be anathema. + + +Synod of Agde, A. D. 509. _Canon_ 7, Bruns, II, 147. + + + As slaves were a valuable possession, bishops could no more + alienate them than any other property, or only under the same + conditions. This canon lays down principles generally followed in + the relation of the Church toward the unfree of every sort on + lands belonging to the endowments of the Church. + + +The bishops should possess the houses and slaves of the Church in a +faithful manner and without diminishing the right of the Church, as the +primitive authorities direct, and also the vessels of their ministry as +intrusted to them. That is, they should not presume to sell nor alienate +by any contracts those things from which the poor live. If necessity +requires that something should be disposed of either as a usufruct(140) or +in direct sale, let the case be first shown before two or three bishops of +the same province or neighborhood, as to why it is necessary to sell; and +after the priestly discussion has taken place, let the sale which was made +be confirmed by their subscription; otherwise the sale or transaction made +shall not have validity. If the bishop bestows upon any deserving slaves +of the Church their liberty, let the liberty that has been conferred be +respected by his successors, together with that which the manumitter gave +them when they were freed; and we command them to hold twenty solidi in +value in fields, vineyards, and dwellings; what shall have been given more +the Church shall reclaim after the death of the one who manumitted.(141) +But little things and things of less utility to the Church we permit to be +given to strangers and clergy for their usufruct, the right of the Church +being maintained. + + +(_d_) _Apostolic Constitutions_, IV, 6. (MSG, 1:812.) + + + Cruelty to slaves was placed upon the same moral level as cruelty + and oppression of other weak and defenceless people. + + + The Apostolic Constitutions form an elaborate treatise upon the + Church and its organization in eight books, which appear, + according to the consensus of modern scholars, to belong to the + early part of the fifth century. The Apostolic Canons are + eighty-five canons appended to the eighth book. + + +Now the bishop ought to know whose oblations he ought to receive, and +whose he ought not. For he is to avoid corrupt dealers and not receive +their gifts.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He is also to avoid those that oppress the widow and +overbear the orphan, and fill the prisons with the innocent, and abuse +their own slaves wickedly, I mean with stripes and hunger and hard +service. + + +(_e_) _Apostolic Canons_, _Canon_ 81, Bruns, I, 12. + + + This deals with the question of the ordination of a slave. Later, + if a slave was ordained without his master's consent, the + ordination held, but the bishop was obliged to pay the price of + the slave to his master. _Cf._ Council of Orleans, A. D. 511, + _Can._ 8. + + +We do not permit slaves to be ordained to the clergy without their +masters' consent; for this would wrong those that owned them. For such a +practice would occasion the subversion of families. But if at any time a +servant appears worthy to be ordained to a high office, such as Onesimus +appears to have been, and if his master allows it, and gives him his +freedom, and dismisses him free from his house, let him be ordained. + + +(_f_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Montanam et Thomam_. (MSL, 77:803.) + + + Gregory and others approved of manumission of slaves as an act of + self-denial, for therein a man surrendered what belonged to him, + as in almsgiving; but he and others also justified the practice of + manumission upon lines that recall Stoic ideas of man's natural + freedom. Yet, at the same time, Gregory could insist upon the + strict discipline of slaves in the administration of the Church + property. + + + The following is a letter of manumission addressed apparently to a + man and his wife. + + +Since our Redeemer, the Maker of every creature, vouchsafed to assume +human flesh for this end, that when by the grace of His divinity the chain +of slavery wherewith we were held had been broken He might restore us to +our pristine liberty, it is a salutary deed if men, whom nature originally +produced free, and whom the law of nations has subjected to the yoke of +slavery, be restored by the benefit of manumission to the liberty in which +they were born. And so moved by loving-kindness and consideration of the +case, we make you Montana and Thomas, slaves of the holy Roman Church, +which with the help of God we serve, free from this day and Roman +citizens, and we release to you all your private property.(142) + + +(_g_) _Codex Theodosianus_, XV, 12, 1; A. D. 325. _Cf._ Kirch, n. 754. + + + Constitution of Constantine regarding gladiatorial shows. + + + This edict was by no means enforced everywhere. In a shorter form + it passed into the _Cod. Just._ (XI, 44, 1), but only after the + edict of Honorius had stopped these shows. + + +Bloody spectacles are not pleasing in civil rest and domestic +tranquillity. Wherefore we altogether prohibit them to be gladiators(143) +who, it may be, for their crimes have been accustomed to receive this +penalty and sentence, and you shall cause them rather to serve in the +mines, that without blood they may pay the penalty of their crimes. + + +(_h_) Theodoret, _Hist. Ec._, V, 26. (MSG, 82:1256.) + + +Honorius, who had inherited the Empire of Europe, put a stop to +gladiatorial combats, which had long been held in Rome, and he did this +under the following circumstances. There was a certain man named +Telemachus who had embraced the ascetic life. He had set out for the East +and for this reason had repaired to Rome. There, when the abominable +spectacle was being exhibited, he went himself into the stadium, and +stepping down into the arena endeavored to stop the men who were wielding +their weapons against one another. The spectators of the slaughter were +indignant and, inspired by the mad fury of the demon who delights in these +bloody deeds, stoned the peacemaker to death. When the admirable Emperor +was informed of this he numbered Telemachus in the army of the victorious +martyrs, and put an end to that impious practice. + + +(_i_) Ambrose, _Ep. 51_. (MSL, 16:1210.) _Cf._ Kirch, nn. 754 _ff._ + + + Letter to the Emperor Theodosius after the massacre at + Thessalonica in 390. + + + The Emperor had ordered a general massacre of the inhabitants of + Thessalonica because of a sedition there. Ambrose wrote to him the + following letter after having pleaded in vain with him before the + massacre to deal mercifully with the people. (The well-known story + of the penitence of Theodosius may be found in Theodoret, _Hist. + Ec._, V, 17.) His residence at the seat of the imperial government + at that time, Milan, made him the chief adviser to the court in + spite of the fact that the Arian influence was strong at court, as + the empress mother Justina was an Arian, _cf._ Ambrose, _Ep._ 20, + 21. (PNF, ser. II, vol. X.) + + +4. Listen, august Emperor, I cannot deny that you have a zeal for the +faith; I confess that you have the fear of God. But you have a natural +vehemence, which, if any one endeavors to soothe it, you quickly turn to +mercy; and if any one stirs it up, you allow it to be roused so much that +you can scarcely restrain it. Would that it might be that, if no one +soothed it, at least no one inflamed it. To yourself I willingly intrust +it, restrain yourself and overcome your natural vehemence by the love of +piety.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +6. There took place in the city of the Thessalonians that of which no +memory recalls the like, which I was not able to prevent taking place; +which, indeed, I had before said, would be most atrocious when I so often +petitioned concerning it(144) and which as you yourself show, by revoking +it too late, you consider to be grave, and this I could not extenuate when +committed.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + + + After citing from the Bible several cases of kings exhibiting + penance for sins, Ambrose continues: + + +11. I have written this, not to confound you, but that the examples of +kings may stir you up to put away this sin from your kingdom, for you will +put it away by humbling your soul before God. You are a man, temptation +has come to you; conquer it. Sin is not done away but by tears and +penitence. Neither angel can do it, nor archangel. The Lord himself, who +alone can say "I am with you," if we have sinned, does not forgive any but +those who do penance. + +12. I urge, I beg, I exhort, I warn; for it is grief to me that you who +were an example of unheard-of piety, who were conspicuous for clemency, +who would not suffer single offenders to be put in peril, should not mourn +that so many innocent persons have perished. Though you have waged war +most successfully, though in other matters too you are worthy of praise, +yet piety was ever the crown of your actions. The devil envied that which +you had as a most excellent possession. Conquer him whilst you still +possess that wherewith you can conquer. Do not add another sin to your sin +by a course of action which has injured many. + +13. I, indeed, though a debtor to your kindness, for which I cannot be +ungrateful, that kindness which I regard as surpassing that of many +emperors, and has been equalled by one only, I have no cause, I say, for a +charge of contumacy against you, but have cause for fear. I dare not offer +the sacrifice if you intend to be present. Is that which is not allowed +after the shedding of the blood of one innocent person allowed after the +shedding of the blood of many? I think not. + + +(_j_) _Codex Theodosianus_, III, 16, 2; A. D. 421. + + + The later Roman law of divorce. + + + The Roman law under the Empire was extremely favorable to divorce, + making it easy for either party to become rid of the other for any + cause that seemed sufficient. The Christian Church from the first, + following the teaching of Christ, opposed divorce. Marriage was an + indissoluble relation; see § 39 _f_, _g_. It was only by degrees + that much change could be introduced into the civil law. The + following law of Theodosius II gives the condition of the law in + the fifth century. It shows that to some extent the Christian + principles regarding marriage had affected legislation. + + +If a woman leave her husband by a repudiation made by her and prove no +cause for her divorcing him, the gifts which she received as bride shall +be taken away and she shall likewise be deprived of her dowry, and be +subjected to the punishment of deportation; and to her we deny not only +the right of marriage with another man, but also the right of +post-liminium.(145) But if the woman opposed to the marriage prove faults +of morals and vices, though of no great gravity, let her lose her dowry +and pay back to her husband her marriage gift, and let her never join +herself in marriage with another; that she may not stain her widowhood +with the impudence of unchastity we give the repudiated husband the right +of bringing an accusation by law. Hereafter if she who abandons her +husband prove grave causes and a guilt involving great crimes, let her +obtain a control of her dowry and marriage gifts, and five years after the +day of repudiation she shall receive the right of remarrying; for it would +then appear that she had acted rather out of detestation of her husband +than from desire after another. Likewise, if the husband bring a divorce +and charge grave crimes against the woman, let him bring action against +the accused under the laws and let him both have the dowry (sentence +having been obtained) and let him receive his gifts to her and let the +free choice of marrying another be granted him immediately. But if it is +an offence of manners and not of a criminal nature, let him receive the +donations, relinquish the dowry, and marry after two years. But if he +merely wishes to dissolve the marriage by dissent, and she who is put away +is charged with no fault or sin, let the man lose the donation and the +dowry, and in perpetual celibacy let him bear as a penalty for his +wrongful divorce the pain of solitude; to the woman, however, is conceded +after a year the right to remarry. Regarding the retention of the dowry on +account of the children we command that the directions of the old law +shall be observed. + + +(_k_) Jerome, _Epistula_ 78, _ad Oceanum_. (MSL, 22:691.) + + + Divorce and remarriage. + + + The principle here laid down by Jerome was that which ultimately + prevailed in the Church of the West, that after divorce there + could be no remarriage, inasmuch as the marriage bond was + indissoluble, though the parties might be separated by the law. + But another principle was also made a part of the code of + Christian morality, that what was forbidden a woman was also + forbidden a man, _i.e._, the moral code as to chastity was the + same for both sexes. + + +§ 3. The Lord hath commanded that a wife should not be put away except for +fornication; and that when she has been put away, she ought to remain +unmarried [Matt. 19:9; I Cor. 7:11]. Whatever is given as a commandment to +men logically applies to women also. For it cannot be that while an +adulterous wife is to be put away, an incontinent husband must be +retained.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The laws of Caesar are different, it is true, from the laws of +Christ. Papinian commands one thing; our Paul another.(146) Among them the +bridles are loosened for immodesty in the case of men. But with us what is +unlawful for women is equally unlawful for men; and both are bound by the +same conditions of service. She(147) then put away, as they report, a +husband that was a sinner; she put away one who was guilty of this and +that crime.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} She was a young woman; she could not preserve her widowhood.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +She persuaded herself and thought that her husband had been lawfully put +away from her. She did not know that the strictness of the Gospel takes +away from women all pretexts for remarriage, so long as their former +husbands are alive. + + +(_l_) Jerome, _Adversus Jovinianum_, I, 7. (MSL, 23:229.) + + + The inferiority of marriage to virginity. + + + While the Church teachers insisted on the indissolubility of + marriage and its sanctity, in not a few cases they depreciated + marriage. Of those who did this Jerome may be regarded as the most + characteristic and representative of a tendency which had set in, + largely in connection with the increase of monasticism, regarded + as the only form of Christian perfection. + + +"It is good for a man not to touch a woman."(148) If it is good not to +touch a woman, it is bad to touch one; for nothing is opposed to goodness +but the bad. But if it be bad and the evil is pardoned, it is conceded +that a worse evil may not happen. But what sort of good is that which is +allowed only because there may be something worse? He would have never +added, "Let each man have his own wife," unless he had previously said, +"But because of fornication."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} "Defraud ye not one another, except it be +by consent for a season, that ye may give yourselves unto prayer." What, I +pray, is the quality of that good thing which hinders prayer, which does +not allow the body of Christ to be received? So long as I do a husband's +part, I fail in continency. The same Apostle in another place commands us +to pray always.(149) + +9. "It is better to marry than to burn." If marriage itself be good, do +not compare it with fire, but simply say, "It is good to marry." I suspect +the goodness of that thing which must be only the lesser of two evils. +What I want is not the smaller evil, but a thing that is absolutely good. + + +(_m_) Chrysostom, _Hom._ 66 _in Matth._ (XX, 30). (MSG, 58:630.) + + + The Church took the lead in philanthropy and not only organized + relief of poor but constantly exhorted people to contribute to the + cause. See above, § 68, _d_. + + +If both the wealthy and those next to them in wealth were to distribute +among themselves those in need of bread and raiment, scarcely would one +poor person fall to the share of fifty men, or even a hundred. Yet, +nevertheless, though in such great abundance of persons able to assist +them, they are wailing every day. And that thou mayest learn their +inhumanity, recall that the Church(150) has a revenue of one of the lowest +among the wealthy, and not of the very rich; and consider how many widows +it succors every day, how many virgins; for indeed the list of them +amounts to the number of three thousand. Together with these she succors +them that dwell in prison, the sick in the caravansaries, the healthy, +those that are absent from their homes, those that are maimed in their +bodies, those that wait upon the altar; and with respect to food and +raiment, those that casually come every day; and her substance is in no +respect diminished. So that if ten men only were thus willing to spend, +there would be no poor. + + +(_n_) Gregory of Nazianzus, _Panegyric on Basil_, ch. 63. (MSG, 36:577.) + + + Gregory of Nazianzus was the friend and schoolmate of Basil. The + action of Basil in forcing upon him the bishopric of Sasima led to + an estrangement and brought about the tragedy of Gregory's + ecclesiastical career, his forced resignation of the + archiepiscopal see of Constantinople. See Gregory's oration, "The + Last Farewell" (PNF, ser. II, vol. VII, 385). Nevertheless, the + death of Basil was an occasion for him to deliver his greatest + oration. It was probably composed and delivered several years + after Basil's decease and after Gregory had retired from + Constantinople to his home at Nazianzus. + + +Go forth a little way from the city, behold the New City,(151) the +storehouse of piety {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} where disease is regarded in a philosophic light, +and disaster is thought to be a blessing in disguise, and sympathy is +tested. Why should I compare with this work Thebes having the seven gates, +and the Egyptian Thebes and the walls of Babylon {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} and all other objects +of men's wonder and of historic record, from all of which, except for some +slight glory, there was no advantage to their founders? My subject is the +most wonderful of all, the short road to salvation, the easiest ascent to +heaven.(152) There is no longer before our eyes that terrible and piteous +spectacle of men dead before their death, in many members of their body +already dead, driven away from their cities and homes and public places +and fountains, ay and from their dearest ones, recognizable by their names +rather than by their features.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} He, however, it was who most of all +persuaded us men, as being men, not to despise men nor to dishonor Christ, +the head of all, by inhuman treatment of them; but in the misfortune of +others to establish well our own lot and to lend to God that mercy, since +we ourselves need mercy. He did not therefore disdain to honor disease +with his lips; he was noble and of noble ancestry and of brilliant +reputation, but he saluted them as brethren, not out of vainglory, as some +might suppose (for who was so far removed from this feeling?), but taking +the lead in approaching to tend them in consequence of his philosophy, and +so giving not only a speaking but also a silent instruction. Not only the +city, but the country and parts beyond behave in like manner; and even the +leaders of society have vied with one another in their philanthropy and +magnanimity toward them. + + +§ 76. Popular Piety and the Reception of Heathenism in the Church + + +When vast numbers poured into the Church in the fourth century and the +profession of Christianity no longer involved danger, morals became less +austere, and the type of piety became adapted to the religious condition +of those with whom the Church had now to deal. This is shown in the new +place that the intercession of saints and the veneration of their relics +take in the religious life of the times. Yet these and similar forms of +devotion in popular piety were not new and cannot be attributed in +principle to any wholesale importation of heathenism into the Church, as +was charged at the time and often since. In principle, and to some extent +in practice, they can be traced to times of persecution and danger. But, +on the other hand, no little heathenism was brought into the Church by +those who came into it without any adequate preparation or real change of +religious feeling. With this heathenism the Church had to struggle, either +casting it out in whole or in part, or rendering it as innocuous as +possible. In spite of all, many heathen superstitions remained everywhere +in Christendom, though playing for the most part such an inferior role as +to be negligible in the total effect. + + + Additional source material: Eusebius, _Vita Constantini_ (PNF), + III, 21, 28; IV, 38, 39, 54. + + +(_a_) Ambrose, _De Viduis_, ch. 9. (MSL, 16:264.) + + + The importance and value of calling upon the saints for their + intercessions. + + +When Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with violent fever, Peter and +Andrew besought the Lord for her: "And He stood over her and commanded the +fever and it left her, and immediately she arose and ministered unto +them."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +So Peter and Andrew prayed for the widow. Would that there were some one +who could so quickly pray for us, or better still, they who prayed for the +mother-in-law--Peter and Andrew his brother. Then they could pray for one +related to them, now they are able to pray for us and for all. For you see +that one bound by great sin is less fit to pray for herself, certainly +less likely to obtain for herself. Let her then make use of others to pray +for her to the Physician. For the sick, unless the Physician be called to +them by the prayers of others, cannot pray for themselves. The flesh is +weak, the soul is sick and hindered by the chains of sins, and cannot +direct its feeble steps to the throne of that great Physician. The angels +must be entreated for us, who have been to us as guardians; the martyrs +must be entreated whose patronage we seem to claim by a sort of pledge, +the possession of their body. They can entreat for our sins, who, if they +had any sins, washed them in their own blood; for they are the martyrs of +God, our leaders, the beholders of our life and of our actions. Let us not +be ashamed to take them as intercessors for our weakness, for they +themselves knew the weakness of the body, even when they overcame. + + +(_b_) Jerome, _Contra Vigilantium_, chs. 4 _ff._ (MSL, 23:357.) + + + A defence of the worship and practice of the Church, especially in + regard to veneration of relics against the criticism of + Vigilantius. + + + Jerome's attack on Vigilantius is in many respects a masterpiece + of scurrility, and unworthy of the ability of the man. But it is + invaluable as a statement of the opinions of the times regarding + such matters as the veneration of relics, the attitude toward the + departed saints and martyrs, and many other elements of the + popular religion which have been commonly attributed to a much + later period. + + +Ch. 4. Among other words of blasphemy he [Vigilantius] may be heard to +say: "What need is there for you not only to reverence with so great honor +but even to adore I know not what, which you carry about in a little +vessel and worship?" And again in the same book, "Why do you adore by +kissing a bit of powder wrapped up in a cloth?" and further on, "Under the +cloak of religion we see really a heathen ceremony introduced into the +churches; while the sun is shining heaps of tapers are lighted, and +everywhere I know not what paltry bit of powder wrapped in a costly cloth +is kissed and worshipped. Great honor do men of this sort pay to the +blessed martyrs, who, as they think, are to be glorified by trumpery +tapers, but to whom the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne, with all +the brightness of His majesty gives light." + +Ch. 5. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Is the Emperor Arcadius guilty of sacrilege, who, after so long a +time, conveyed the bones of the blessed Samuel from Judaea to Thrace? Are +all the bishops to be considered not only sacrilegious but silly as well, +who carried that most worthless thing, dust and ashes, wrapped in silk and +in a golden vessel? Are the people of all the churches fools, who went to +meet the sacred relics, and received them with as much joy as if they +beheld the living prophet in the midst of them, so that there was one +great swarm of people from Palestine to Chalcedon and with one voice the +praises of Christ resounded?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 6. For you say that the souls of the Apostles and martyrs have their +abode either in the bosom of Abraham, or in some place of refreshment, or +under the altar of God, and that they cannot leave their own tombs and be +present where they will. They are, it seems, of senatorial rank and are +not in the worst sort of prison and among murderers, but are kept apart in +liberal and honorable custody in the isles of the blessed and the Elysian +fields. Do you lay down laws for God? Will you throw the Apostles in +chains? So that to the day of judgment they are to be kept in confinement +and are not with the Lord, although it is written concerning them, "They +follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." If the Lamb is present +everywhere, then they who are with the Lamb, it must be believed, are +everywhere. And while the devil and the demons wander through the whole +world, and with only too great speed are present everywhere, the martyrs +after shedding their blood are to be kept out of sight shut up in a +coffin(153) from whence they cannot go forth? You say in your pamphlet +that so long as we are alive we can pray for one another; but after we are +dead the prayer of no person for another can be heard, and especially +because the martyrs, though they cry for the avenging of their blood, have +never been able to obtain their request. If Apostles and martyrs, while +still in the body, can pray for others, when they ought still to be +anxious for themselves, how much more must they do so after they have +their crowns and victories and triumphs? A single man, Moses, won pardon +from God for six hundred thousand armed men; and Stephen, the follower of +his Lord and the first martyr for Christ, entreats pardon for his +persecutors; and after they have entered on their life with Christ, shall +they have less power? The Apostle Paul says that two hundred and +seventy-six souls were given him in the ship; and after his dissolution, +when he began to be with Christ, must he then shut up his mouth and be +unable to say a word for those who throughout the whole world have +believed in his Gospel? Shall Vigilantius the live dog be better than Paul +the dead lion? + + +(_c_) Council of Laodicaea, A. D. 343-381, _Canons_ 35. _f._, Bruns, I, 77. + + + The Council of Laodicaea is of uncertain date, but its earliest + possible date is 343 and the latest 381, _i.e._, between the + Councils of Sardica and Constantinople. See Hefele, § 93. It owes + its importance not to any immediate effect it had upon the course + of the Church's development, but to the fact that its canons were + incorporated in collections and received approval, possibly at + Chalcedon, A. D. 451, though not mentioned by name in Canon 1, and + certainly at the Quinisext, A. D. 692, Canon 2. In the West the + canons were of importance as having been used by Dionysius Exiguus + in his collection. That the Canon of Holy Scripture was settled at + this council is a traditional commonplace in theology, but hardly + borne out by the facts. The council only drew up one of the + several imperfect lists of sacred books which appeared in + antiquity. The following canons show the influx of heathenism into + the Church, resulting from the changed status of the Church. + + +Canon 35. Christians must not forsake the Church of God and go away and +invoke angels and gather assemblies, which things are forbidden. If, +therefore, any one shall be found engaged in secret idolatry, let him be +anathema; for he has forsaken our Lord Jesus Christ and gone over to +idolatry. + +Canon 36. They who are of the priesthood and of the lower clergy shall not +be magicians, enchanters, mathematicians(154) nor astrologers; nor shall +they make amulets, which are chains for their own souls. And those who +wear such we command to be cast out of the Church. + + +(_d_) Augustine, _Epistula_ 29. (MSL, 33:117.) + + + Heathenism in the Church. + + + An Epistle of Augustine, written when Augustine was still a + presbyter of Hippo, concerning the birthday of Leontius, formerly + bishop of Hippo. In it he tells Alypius that he had at length put + an end to the custom among the Catholics of Hippo of taking part + in splendid banquets on the birthday of saints, as was then the + custom in the African churches. + + +Ch. 8. When the day dawned on which they were accustomed to prepare +themselves for excess in eating and drinking, I received notice that some, +even of those who were present at my sermon, had not yet ceased +complaining, and that so great was the power of detestable custom among +them that, using no other argument, they asked: "Wherefore is this now +prohibited? Were they not Christians who in former times did not interfere +with this practice?"{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 9. Lest, however, any slight should seem to be put by us upon those +who before our time either tolerated or dared not put down such manifest +wrong-doings of an undisciplined multitude, I explained to them the +necessity by which this custom seems to have arisen in the Church; namely, +that when, in the peace which came after such numerous and violent +persecutions, crowds of heathen who wished to assume the Christian +religion were kept back because, having been accustomed to celebrate the +feasts connected with idols in revelling and drunkenness, they could not +easily refrain from these pleasures so hurtful and so habitual; and it +seemed good to our ancestors that for a time a concession should be made +to this infirmity, that after they had renounced the former festivals they +might celebrate other feasts, in honor of the holy martyrs, which were +observed, not with the same profane design, although with similar +indulgence. Now upon them as persons bound together in the name of Christ, +and submissive to the yoke of His august authority, the wholesome +restraints of sobriety were laid; and these restraints, on account of the +honor and fear of Him who appointed them they might not resist; and that +therefore it was now time that those who did not dare to deny that they +were Christians should begin to live according to Christ's will; being now +Christians they should reject those things conceded that they might become +Christians. + + +§ 77. The Extension of Monasticism Throughout the Empire + + +Asceticism arose within the Christian Church partly as the practical +expression of the conviction of the worthlessness of things transitory and +partly as a reaction against the moral laxity of the times. As this laxity +could not be kept entirely out of the Church, and Christians everywhere +were exposed to it, those who sought the higher life felt the necessity of +retirement. From the life of the isolated hermit, asceticism advanced +naturally to the community type of the ascetic life. There were +forerunners in non-Christian religions of the solitary ascetic and the +cenobite in Egypt, Palestine, India, and elsewhere, but all the essentials +of Christian monasticism can be adequately explained without employing the +theory of borrowing or imitation. For the principal points of development, +_v._ §§ 53, 78, 104. When monasticism had once made itself a strong factor +in the Christian religious life of Egypt, it was quickly taken up by other +parts of the Church as it satisfied a widely felt want. In Asia Minor +Basil of Caesarea was the great promoter and organizer of the ascetic life; +and his rule still obtains throughout the East. In the West Athanasius +appears to have introduced monastic ideas during his early exiles. Ambrose +was a patron of the movement. Martin of Tours, Severinus, and John Cassian +did much to extend it in Gaul. Augustine organized his clergy according to +a monastic rule which ultimately played a large part in later monasticism. + + +(_a_) Palladius, _Historia Lausiaca_, ch. 38. (MSG, 34:1099.) + + + The Rule of Pachomius. + + + Palladius, the author of the history of monasticism, known as the + _Historia Lausiaca_, was an Origenist, pupil of Evagrius Ponticus, + and later bishop in Asia Minor. He is not to be confused with + Palladius of Helenopolis, who lived about the same time, in the + first part of the fifth century. The work of Palladius receives + its name from the fact that it is dedicated to a high official, + Lausus by name. Palladius made a careful study of monasticism, + travelling extensively in making researches for his work. He also + used what written material was available. It is probable that the + text is largely interpolated, but on the whole it is a trustworthy + account of the early monasticism. It was written about A. D. 420, + and the following account of Pachomius should be compared with + that of Sozomenus, _Hist. Ec._, III, 14, written some years later. + Text in Kirch, nn. 712 _ff._ + + +There is a place in the Thebaid called Tabenna, in which lived a certain +monk Pachomius, one of those men who have attained the highest form of +life, so that he was granted predictions of the future and angelic +visions. He was a great lover of the poor, and had great love to men. +When, therefore, he was sitting in a cave an angel of the Lord came in and +appeared to him and said: Pachomius you have done well those things which +pertain to your own affairs; therefore sit no longer idle in this cave. +Up, therefore, go forth and gather all the younger monks and dwell with +them and give them laws according to the form which I give thee. And he +gave him a brass tablet on which the following things were written: + +1. Give to each to eat and drink according to his strength; and give +labors according to the powers of those eating, and forbid neither fasting +nor eating. Thus appoint difficult labors to the stronger and those who +eat, but the lighter and easy tasks to those who discipline themselves +more and are weaker. + +2. Make separate cells in the same place; and let three remain in a cell. +But let the food of all be prepared in one house. + +3. They may not sleep lying down, but having made seats built inclining +backward let them place their bedding on them and sleep seated. + +4. But by night let them wear linen tunics, being girded about. Let each +of them have a shaggy goatskin, made white. Without this let them neither +eat nor sleep. When they go in unto the communion of the mysteries of +Christ every Sabbath and Lord's Day, let them loose their girdles and put +off the goatskin, and enter with only their cuculla [_cf._ DCA]. But he +made the cuculla for them without any fleece, as for boys; and he +commanded to place upon them certain branding marks of a purple cross. + +5. He commanded that there be twenty-four groups of the brethren, +according to the number of the twenty-four letters. And he prescribed that +to each group should be given as a name a letter of the Greek alphabet, +from Alpha and Beta, one after another, to Omega, in order that when the +archimandrite asked for any one in so great a company, that one may be +asked who is the second in each, how group Alpha is, or how the group +Beta; again let him salute the group Rho; the name of the letters +following its own proper sign. And upon the simpler and more guileless +place the name Iota; and upon those who are more ill-tempered and less +righteous the letter Xi. And thus in harmony with the principles and the +life and manners of them arrange the names of the letters, only the +spiritual understanding the meaning. + +6. There was written on the tablet that if there come a stranger of +another monastery, having a different form of life, he shall not eat nor +drink with them, nor go in with them into the monastery, unless he shall +be found in the way outside of the monastery. + +7. But do not receive for three years into the contest of proficients him +who has entered once for all to remain with them; but when he has +performed the more difficult tasks, then let him after a period of three +years enter the stadium. + +8. When they eat let them veil their faces, that one brother may not see +another brother eating. They are not to speak while they eat; nor outside +of their dish or off the table shall they turn their eyes toward anything +else. + +9. And he made it a rule that during the whole day they should offer +twelve prayers; and at the time of lighting the lamps, twelve; and in the +course of the night, twelve; and at the ninth hour, three; but when it +seemed good for the whole company to eat, he directed that each group +should first sing a psalm at each prayer. + +But when the great Pachomius replied to the angel that the prayers were +few, the angel said to him: I have appointed these that the little ones +may advance and fulfil the law and not be distressed; but the perfect do +not need to have laws given to them. For being by themselves in their +cells, they have dedicated their entire life to contemplation on God. But +to these, as many as do not have an intelligent mind, I will give a law +that as saucy servants out of fear for the Master they may fulfil the +whole order of life and direct it properly. When the angel had given these +directions and fulfilled his ministry he departed from the great +Pachomius. There are monasteries observing this rule, composed of seven +thousand men, but the first and great monastery, wherein the blessed +Pachomius dwelt, and which gave birth to the other places of asceticism, +has one thousand three hundred men. + + +(_b_) Basil the Great, _Regula fusius tractata_, Questio 7. (MSG, 31:927.) + + + The Rule of St. Basil is composed in the form of question and + answer, and in place of setting down a simple, clearly stated law, + with perhaps some little exhortation, goes into much detailed + argument, even in the briefer Rule. In the following passage Basil + points out the advantages of the cenobitic life over the solitary + or hermit life. It is condensed as indicated. + + +Questio VII. Since your words have given us full assurance that the life +[_i.e._, the cenobitic life] is dangerous with those who despise the +commandments of the Lord, we wish accordingly to learn whether it is +necessary that he who withdraws should remain alone or live with brothers +of like mind who have placed before themselves the same goal of piety. + +_Responsio_ 1. I think that the life of several in the same place is much +more profitable. First, because for bodily wants no one of us is +sufficient for himself, but we need each other in providing what is +necessary. For just as the foot has one ability, but is wanting another, +and without the help of the other members it would find neither its own +power strong nor sufficient of itself to continue, nor any supply for what +it lacks, so it is in the case of the solitary life: what is of use to us +and what is wanting we cannot provide for ourselves, for God who created +the world has so ordered all things that we are dependent upon each other, +as it is written that we may join ourselves to one another [_cf._ Wis. +13:20]. But in addition to this, reverence to the love of Christ does not +permit each one to have regard only to his own affairs, for love, he says, +seeks not her own [I Cor. 13:5]. The solitary life has only one goal, the +service of its own interests. That clearly is opposed to the law of love, +which the Apostle fulfilled, when he did not in his eyes seek his own +advantage but the advantage of many, that they might be saved [_cf._ I +Cor. 10:33]. Further, no one in solitude recognizes his own defects, since +he has no one to correct him and in gentleness and mercy direct him on his +way. For even if correction is from an enemy, it may often in the case of +those who are well disposed rouse the desire for healing; but the healing +of sin by him who sincerely loves is wisely accomplished.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Also the +commands may be better fulfilled by a larger community, but not by one +alone; for while this thing is being done another will be neglected; for +example, by attendance upon the sick the reception of strangers is +neglected; and in the bestowal and distribution of the necessities of life +(especially when in these services much time is consumed) the care of the +work is neglected, so that by this the greatest commandment and the one +most helpful to salvation is neglected; neither the hungry are fed nor the +naked clothed. Who would therefore value higher the idle, useless life +than the fruitful which fulfils the commandments of God? + +3. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Also in the preservation of the gifts bestowed by God the cenobitic +life is preferable.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} For him who falls into sin, the recovery of the right +path is so much easier, for he is ashamed at the blame expressed by so +many in common, so that it happens to him as it is written: It is enough +that the same therefore be punished by many [II Cor. 2:6].{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} There are +still other dangers which we say accompany the solitary life, the first +and greatest is that of self-satisfaction. For he who has no one to test +his work easily believes that he has completely fulfilled the +commandments.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +4. For how shall he manifest his humility, when he has no one to whom he +can show himself the inferior? How shall he manifest compassion, cut off +from the society of many? How will he exercise himself in patience, if no +one opposes his wishes? + + +(_c_) Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, _Canon_ 4. Bruns, I, 26. + + + The subjection of the monastery and the monks to the bishop. + + + Asceticism of the solitary life was apart from the organization of + the Church; when this form of life had developed in cenobitism it + still remained for a time, at least, outside the ecclesiastical + organization. Athanasius, who was a patron of the monastic life + and often found support and refuge among the monks, did much to + bring Egyptian monasticism back to the Church, and in the fifth + century monks became a great power in ecclesiastical affairs, + _cf._ the Origenistic controversy, _v. infra_, § 88. Basil, at + once archbishop of Caesarea and leading exponent of monastic ideas, + brought the two to some extent together. But always the episcopal + control was only with difficulty brought to bear on the monastic + life, and in the West this opposition of the two religious forces + ultimately became embodied in the principle of monastic exemption. + The Council of Chalcedon, in 451, aimed to correct the early abuse + by placing the monasteries under the control of the bishop. + + +They who lead a true and worthy monastic life shall enjoy the honor that +belongs to them. But since there are some who assume the monastic +condition only as a pretence, and will upset the ecclesiastical and civil +regulations and affairs, and run about without distinction in the cities +and want to found cloisters for themselves, the synod therefore has +decreed that no one shall build a cloister or house of prayer or erect +anywhere without the consent of the bishop of the city; and further, that +also the monks of every district and city shall be subject to the bishop, +that they shall love peace and quiet and observe the fasts and prayers in +the places where they are assigned continually; that they shall not cumber +themselves with ecclesiastical and secular business and shall not take +part in such; they shall not leave their cloisters except when in cases of +necessity they may be commissioned by the bishop of the city with such; +that no slave shall be admitted into the cloister in order to become a +monk without the permission of his master. Whoever violates this our order +shall be excommunicated, that the name of God be not blasphemed. The +bishop of the city must keep a careful oversight of the cloisters. + + +(_d_) Jerome, _Epistula_ 127, _ad Principiam_. (MSL, 22:1087.) + + + The introduction of monasticism into the West during the Arian + controversy. + + +5. At that time no high-born lady at Rome knew of the profession of the +monastic life, neither would she have dared, on account of the novelty, +publicly to assume a name that was regarded as ignominious and vile. It +was from some priests of Alexandria and from Pope Athanasius(155) and +subsequently from Peter,(156) who, to escape the persecution of the Arian +heretics, had fled for refuge to Rome as the safest haven of their +communion--it was from these that she [Marcella] learned of the life of the +blessed Anthony, then still living, and of the monasteries in the Thebaid, +founded by Pachomius, and of the discipline of virgins and widows. Nor was +she ashamed to profess what she knew was pleasing to Christ. Many years +after her example was followed first by Sophronia and then by others.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The +revered Paula enjoyed Marcella's friendship, and it was in her cell that +Eustochium, that ornament of virginity, was trained. + + +(_e_) Augustine, _Confessiones_, VIII, ch. 6. (MSL, 32:755.) + + + The extension of monasticism in the West. + + +Upon a certain day {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} there came to the house to see Alypius and me, +Pontitianus, a countryman of ours, in so far as he was an African, who +held high office in the Emperor's court. What he wanted with us I know +not. We sat down to talk together, and upon the table before us, used for +games, he noticed by chance a book; he took it up, opened it, and, +contrary to his expectations, found it to be the Apostle Paul, for he +imagined it to be one of those books the teaching of which was wearing me +out. At this he looked up at me smilingly, and expressed his delight and +wonder that he so unexpectedly found this book, and this only, before my +eyes. For he was both a Christian and baptized, and in constant and daily +prayers he often prostrated himself before Thee our God in the Church. +When, then, I had told him that I bestowed much pains upon these writings, +a conversation ensued on his speaking of Anthony, the Egyptian monk, whose +name was in high repute among Thy servants, though up to that time +unfamiliar to us. When he came to know this he lingered on that topic, +imparting to us who were ignorant a knowledge of this man so eminent, and +marvelling at our ignorance. But we were amazed, hearing Thy wonderful +works most fully manifested in times so recent, and almost in our own, +wrought in the true faith and the Catholic Church. We all wondered--we that +they were so great, and he that we had never heard of them. + +From this his conversation turned to the companies in the monasteries, and +their manners so fragrant unto Thee, and of the fruitful deserts of the +wilderness, of which we knew nothing. And there was a monastery at Milan +full of good brethren, without the walls of the city, under the care of +Ambrose, and we were ignorant of it. He went on with his relation, and we +listened intently and in silence. He then related to us how on a certain +afternoon, at Treves, when the Emperor was taken up with seeing the +Circensian games, he and three others, his comrades, went out for a walk +in the gardens close to the city walls, and there, as they chanced to walk +two and two, one strolled away with him, while the other two went by +themselves; and these in their ramblings came upon a certain cottage where +dwelt some of Thy servants, "poor in spirit," of whom "is the kingdom of +heaven," and they found there a book in which was written the life of +Anthony. This one of them began to read, marvel at, and be inflamed by it; +and in the reading to meditate on embracing such a life, and giving up his +worldly employments to serve Thee.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Then Pontitianus, and he that had +walked with him through other parts of the garden, came in search of them +to the same place, and, having found them, advised them to return as the +day had declined.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But the other two, setting their affections upon +heavenly things, remained in the cottage. And both of them had affianced +brides who also, when they heard of this, dedicated their virginity to +God. + + +(_f_) Sulpicius Severus, _Life of St. Martin of Tours_, ch. 10. (MSL, +20:166.) + + + Monasticism in Gaul. + + + St. Martin, bishop of Tours, was born 316, became bishop of Tours + in 371, and died 396. He was the most considerable figure in the + Church life of Gaul at that time. Sulpicius Severus was his + disciple and enthusiastic biographer. For John Cassian and his + works on monasticism, see PNF, ser. II, vol. XI. + + +And now having entered upon the episcopal office, it is beyond my power to +set forth how well and how much he [Martin] performed. For he remained +with the utmost constancy the same as he had been before. In his heart +there was the same humility and in his garments the same simplicity; and +so full of dignity and courtesy, he maintained the dignity of a bishop, +yet so as not to lay aside the objects and virtues of a monk. Accordingly +he made use for some time of the cell connected with the church; but +afterward, when he felt it impossible to tolerate the disturbance of the +numbers of those visiting it, he established a monastery for himself about +two miles outside the city. This spot was so secret and retired that he +did not desire the solitude of a hermit. For, on one side, it was +surrounded by a precipitous rock of a lofty mountain; while the river +Loire has shut in the rest of the plain by a bend extending back for a +distance. The place could be approached by only one passage, and that very +narrow. Here, then, he possessed a cell constructed of wood; many also of +the brethren had, in the same manner, fashioned retreats for themselves, +but most of them had formed these out of the rock of the overhanging +mountain, hollowed out into caves. There were altogether eighty disciples, +who were being disciplined after the example of the saintly master. No one +there had anything which was called his own; all things were possessed in +common. It was not allowed either to buy or sell anything, as is the +custom amongst most monks. No art was practised there except that of +transcribers, and even to this the more youthful were assigned, while the +elders spent their time in prayer. Rarely did any of them go beyond the +cell unless when they assembled at the place of prayer. They all took +their food together after the hour of fasting was past. No one used wine +except when illness compelled him. Most of them were dressed in garments +of camel's hair. Any dress approaching softness was there deemed criminal, +and this must be thought the more remarkable because many among them were +such as are deemed of noble rank, who though very differently brought up +had forced themselves down to this degree of humility and patience, and we +have seen many of these afterward as bishops. For what city or church +could there be that would not desire to have its priest from the monastery +of Martin? + + +§ 78. Celibacy of the Clergy and the Regulation of Clerical Marriage + + +The insistence upon clerical celibacy and even the mere regulation of the +marriage of the clergy contributed not a little to making a clear +distinction between the clergy and the laity which became a marked feature +in the constitution of the Church. The East and the West have always +differed as to clerical marriage. In the East the parish clergy have +always been married; the bishops formerly married have long since been +exclusively of the unmarried clergy. The clergy who do not marry become +monks. This seems to have been the solution of practical difficulties +which were found to arise in that part of the Church in connection with +general clerical celibacy. In the West the celibacy of the clergy as a +body was an ideal from the beginning of the fourth century, and became an +established principle by the middle of the fifth century under Leo the +Great, though as a matter of fact it was not enforced as a universal +obligation of the clerical order until the reforms of Gregory VII. In the +following canons and documents the division is made between the East and +the West, and the selected documents are arranged chronologically so as to +show the progress in legislation toward the condition that afterward +became dominant in the respective divisions of the Empire and the Church. + + +(A) _Clerical Marriage in the East_ + + +(_a_) Council of Ancyra, A. D. 314, _Canon_ 10. Bruns, I, 68. _Cf._ Mirbt, +n. 90. + + + The following canon is important as being the first Eastern + regulation of a council bearing on the subject and having been + generally followed long before the canons of this council were + adopted as binding by the Council of Constantinople known as the + Quinisext in 692, Canon 2; _cf._ Hefele, § 327. For the Council of + Ancyra, see Hefele, § 16. + + +Canon 10. Those who have been made deacons, declaring when they were +ordained that they must marry, because they were not able to abide as they +were, and who afterward married, shall continue in the ministry because it +was conceded to them by the bishop. But if they were silent on the matter, +undertaking at their ordination to abide as they were, and afterward +proceeded to marry, they shall cease from the diaconate. + + +(_b_) Council of Nicaea, A. D. 325, _Canon_ 3. Bruns, I, 15. _Cf._ Mirbt, +n. 101, Kirch, n. 363. + + + The meaning of the following canon is open to question because of + the term _subintroducta_ and the concluding clause. Hefele + contends that every woman is excluded except certain specified + persons. But the custom of the East was not to treat the rule as + meaning such. See E. Venables, art. "Subintroductae," in DCB; and + Achelis, art. "Subintroductae," in PRE. Hefele's discussion may be + found in his _History of the Councils_, §§ 42 and 43; in the + latter he discusses the question as to the position of the council + as to the matter of clerical celibacy. + + +Canon 3. The great synod has stringently forbidden any bishop, presbyter, +deacon, or any one of the clergy whatever, to have a _subintroducta_ +({~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}) dwelling with him, except only a mother, sister, or aunt, or +such persons only as are beyond all suspicion. + + +(_c_) Council of Gangra, A. D. 355-381, _Canon_ 4. Bruns, I, 107. + + + The canons of this council were approved at the Quinisext together + with those of Ancyra and Laodicaea and others. This canon is + directed against the fanaticism of the Eustathians. + + +Canon 4. If any one shall maintain, concerning a married presbyter, that +it is not lawful to partake of the oblation that he offers, let him be +anathema. + + +(_d_) Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, V, 22. (MSG, 67:640.) + + + That the custom of clerical celibacy grew up without much regard + to conciliar action, and that canons only later regulated what had + been established and modified by custom, is illustrated by the + variation in the matter of clerical marriage noted by Socrates. + + +I myself learned of another custom in Thessaly. If a clergyman in that +country should, after taking orders, cohabit with his wife, whom he had +legally married before ordination, he would be degraded.(157) In the East, +indeed, all clergymen and even bishops abstain from their wives; but this +they do of their own accord and not by the necessity of law; for many of +them have had children by their lawful wives during their episcopate. The +author of the usage which obtains in Thessaly was Heliodorus, bishop of +Tricca in that country, under whose name it is said that erotic books are +extant, entitled _Ethiopica_, which he composed in his youth. The same +custom prevails in Thessalonica and in Macedonia and Achaia. + + +(_e_) Quinisext Council, A. D. 692, _Canons_ 6, 12, 13, 48. Bruns, I, 39 +_ff._ + + + Canons on celibacy. + + + The Trullan Council fixed the practice of the Eastern churches + regarding the celibacy of the clergy. In general it may be said + that the clergyman was not allowed to marry after ordination. But + if he married before ordination he did not, except in the case of + the bishops separate from his wife, but lived with her in lawful + marital relations. + + +Canon 6. Since it is declared in the Apostolic Canons that of those who +are advanced to the clergy unmarried, only lectors and cantors are able to +marry, we also, maintaining this, determine that henceforth it is in +nowise lawful for any subdeacon, deacon, or presbyter after his ordination +to contract matrimony; but if he shall have dared to do so, let him be +deposed. And if any of those who enter the clergy wishes to be joined to a +wife in lawful marriage before he is ordained subdeacon, deacon, or +presbyter, let it be done. + +Canon 12. Moreover, it has also come to our knowledge that in Africa and +Libya and in other places the most God-beloved bishops in those parts do +not refuse to live with their wives, even after consecration, thereby +giving scandal and offence to the people. Since, therefore, it is our +particular care that all things tend to the good of the flock placed in +our hands and committed to us, it has seemed good that henceforth nothing +of the kind shall in any way occur.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But if any shall have been observed +to do such a thing, let him be deposed. + +Canon 13. [Text in Kirch, nn. 985 _ff._] Since we know it to be handed +down as a rule of the Roman Church that those who are deemed worthy to be +advanced to the diaconate and presbyterate should promise no longer to +cohabit with their wives, we, preserving the ancient rule and apostolic +perfection and order, will that lawful marriage of men who are in holy +orders be from this time forward firm, by no means dissolving their union +with their wives nor depriving them of their mutual intercourse at a +convenient season.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} For it is meet that they who assist at the divine +altar should be absolutely continent when they are handling holy things, +in order that they may be able to obtain from God what they ask in +sincerity. + +Canon 48. The wife of him who is advanced to the episcopal dignity shall +be separated from her husband by mutual consent, and after his ordination +and consecration to the episcopate she shall enter a monastery situated at +a distance from the abode of the bishop, and there let her enjoy the +bishop's provision. And if she is deemed worthy she may be advanced to the +dignity of a deaconess. + + +(B) _Clerical Celibacy in the West_ + + +(_a_) Council of Elvira, A. D. 306, _Canon_ 33. Bruns, II, 6. _Cf._ Mirbt, +n. 90, and Kirch, n. 305. + + + This is the earliest canon of any council requiring clerical + celibacy. For the Council of Elvira, see Hefele, § 13; A. W. W. + Dale, _The Synod of Elvira_, London. 1882. For discussion of + reasons for assigning a later date, see E. Hennecke, art. "Elvira, + Synode um 313," in PRE, and the literature there cited. The + council was a provincial synod of southern Spain. + + +Canon 33. It was voted that it be entirely forbidden(158) bishops, +presbyters, and deacons, and all clergy placed in the ministry to abstain +from their wives and not to beget sons: whoever does this, let him be +deprived of the honor of the clergy. + + +(_b_) Siricius, _Decretal_ A. D. 385. (MSL, 13:1138.) Mirbt, nn. 122 _f._; +_cf._ Denziger, nn. 87 _ff._ + + + Clerical celibacy: the force of decretals. + + + In the following passages from the first authentic decretal, the + celibacy of the clergy is laid down as of divine authority in the + Church, and the rule remains characteristic of the Western Church. + See Canon 13 of the Quinisext Council, above, § 78, _c_. The + binding authority of the decretals of the bishop of Rome is also + asserted, and this, too, becomes characteristic of the + jurisprudence of the Western Church. + + +Ch. 7 (§ 8). Why did He admonish them to whom the holy of holies was +committed, Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy? [Lev. 20:7.] +Why were they commanded to dwell in the temple in the year of their turn +to officiate, afar from their own homes? Evidently it was for the reason +that they might not be able to maintain their marital relations with their +wives, so that, adorned with a pure conscience, they might offer to God an +acceptable sacrifice. After the time of their service was accomplished +they were permitted to resume their marital relations for the sake of +continuing the succession, because only from the tribe of Levi was it +ordained that any one should be admitted to the priesthood.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Wherefore +also our Lord Jesus, when by His coming He brought us light, solemnly +affirmed in the Gospel that He came not to destroy but to fulfil the law. +And therefore He who is the bridegroom of the Church wished that its form +should be resplendent with chastity, so that in the day of Judgment, when +He should come again, He might find it without spot or blemish, as He +taught by His Apostle. And by the rule of its ordinances which may not be +gainsaid, we who are priests and Levites are bound from the day of our +ordination to keep our bodies in soberness and modesty, so that in those +sacrifices which we offer daily to our God we may please Him in all +things. + +Ch. 15 (§ 20). To each of the cases, which by our son Bassanius you have +referred to the Roman Church as the head of your body, we have returned, +as I think, a sufficient answer. Now we exhort your brotherly mind more +and more to obey the canons and to observe the decretals that have been +drawn up, that those things which we have written to your inquiries you +may cause to be brought to the attention of all our fellow-bishops, and +not only of those who are placed in your diocese, but also of the +Carthaginians, the Baetici, the Lusitani, and the Gauls, and those who in +neighboring provinces border upon you, those things which by us have been +helpfully decreed may be sent accompanied by your letters. And although no +priest of the Lord is free to ignore the statutes of the Apostolic See and +the venerable definitions of the canons, yet it would be more useful and, +on account of the long time you have been in holy orders, exceedingly +glorious for you, beloved, if those things which have been written you +especially by name, might through your agreement with us be brought to the +notice of all our brethren, and that, seeing that they have not been drawn +up inconsiderately but prudently and with very great care, they should +remain inviolate, and that, for the future, opportunity for any excuse +might be cut off, which is now open to no one among us. + + +(_c_) Council of Carthage, A. D. 390, _Canon 2_. Bruns, I, 117. + + + See also Canon 1 of the same council. + + +Canon 2. Bishop Aurelius said: "When in a previous council the matter of +the maintenance of continence and chastity was discussed, these three +orders were joined by a certain agreement of chastity through their +ordination, bishops, I say, presbyters, and deacons; as it was agreed that +it was seemly that they, as most holy pontiffs and priests of God, and as +Levites who serve divine things, should be continent in all things whereby +they may be able to obtain from God what they ask sincerely, so that what +the Apostles taught and antiquity observed, we also keep." By all the +bishops it was said: "It is the pleasure of all that bishops, presbyters, +and deacons, or those who handle the sacraments, should be guardians of +modesty, and refrain themselves from their wives." By all it was said: "It +is our pleasure that in all things, and by all, modesty should be +preserved, who serve the altar." + + +(_d_) Leo the Great, _Ep. 14_, _ad Anastasium_; _Ep. 167_, _ad Rusticum_. +(MSL, 54:672, 1204.) + + + The final form of the Western rule, that the clergy, from + subdeacon to bishop, both inclusive, should be bound to celibacy, + was expressed in its permanent form by Leo the Great in his + letters to Anastasius and Rusticus. From each of these letters the + passage bearing on the subject is quoted. By thus following up the + ideas of the Council of Elvira and the Council of Carthage as well + as the decretal of Siricius, the subdeacon was included among + those who were vowed to celibacy, for he, too, served at the + altar, and came to be counted as one of the major orders of the + ministry. + + +Ep. 14, Ch. 5. Although they who are not within the ranks of the clergy +are free to take pleasure in the companionship of wedlock and the +procreation of children, yet, for the sake of exhibiting the purity of +complete continence, even subdeacons are not allowed carnal marriage; that +"both they that have wives be as though they had none" [I Cor. 7:29], and +they that have not may remain single. But if in this order, which is the +fourth from the head, this is worthy to be observed, how much more is it +to be kept in the first, the second, and the third, lest any one be +reckoned fit for either the deacon's duties or the presbyter's honorable +position, or the bishop's pre-eminence, who is discovered as not yet +having bridled his uxorious desires. + +Ep. 167, Quest. 3. Concerning those who minister at the altar and have +wives, whether they may cohabit with them. + +Reply. The same law of continence is for the ministers of the altar as for +the bishops and priests who, when they were laymen, could lawfully marry +and procreate children. But when they attained to the said ranks, what was +before lawful became unlawful for them. And therefore in order that their +wedlock may become spiritual instead of carnal, it is necessary that they +do not put away their wives(159) but to have them "as though they had them +not," whereby both the affection of their married life may be retained and +the marriage functions cease. + + + + +Period II. The Church From The Permanent Division Of The Empire Until The +Collapse Of The Western Empire And The First Schism Between The East And +The West, Or Until About A. D. 500 + + +In the second period of the history of the Church under the Christian +Empire, the Church, although existing in two divisions of the Empire and +experiencing very different political fortunes, may still be regarded as +forming a whole. The theological controversies distracting the Church, +although different in the two halves of the Graeco-Roman world, were felt +to some extent in both divisions of the Empire and not merely in the one +in which they were principally fought out; and in the condemnation of +heresy, each half of the Church assisted the other. Though already marked +lines of cleavage are clearly perceptible, and in the West the dominating +personality of Augustine forwarded the development of the characteristic +theology of the West, setting aside the Greek influences exerted through +Hilary, Ambrose, Rufinus, and Jerome, and adding much that was never +appreciated in the East--yet the opponent of Augustine was condemned at the +general council of Ephesus, 431, held by Eastern bishops in the East; and +at the same time in the East the controversies regarding the union of the +divine and human natures in Christ, although of interest almost entirely +in the East and fought out by men of the East, found their preliminary +solution at Chalcedon in 451 upon a basis proposed by the West. On the +other hand, the attitudes of the two halves of the Church toward many +profound problems were radically different, and the emergence of the Roman +See as the great centre of the West amid the overturn of the Roman world +by the barbarians, and the steadily increasing ascendency of the State +over the Church in the East tended inevitably to separate ecclesiastically +as well as politically the two divisions of the Empire. As the emperors of +the East attempted to use dogmatic parties in the support of a political +policy, the differences between the Church of the East, under the Roman +Emperor, and the Church of the West, where the imperial authority had +ceased to be a reality, became manifest in a schism resulting from the +Monophysite controversy and the attempt to reconcile the Monophysites. + + + +Chapter I. The Church At The Beginning Of The Permanent Separation Of The +Two Parts Of The Roman Empire + + +Although Theodosius the Great had been the dominating power in the +government of the Empire almost from his accession in 379, he was sole +ruler of the united Roman Empire for only a few months before his death in +395. The East and the West became henceforth permanently divided after +having been united, since the reorganization of the Empire under +Diocletian in 285, for only three periods aggregating twenty-eight years +in all. The imperial authority was divided between the sons of Theodosius, +Arcadius taking the sovereignty of the East and Honorius that of the West. +Stilicho, a Vandal, directed the fortunes of the West until his death in +408, but the Empire of the East soon began to take a leading part, +especially after the barbarians commenced to invade the West about 405, +and to establish independent kingdoms within the boundaries of the Empire. +The German tribes that settled within the Empire were either Arians when +they entered or became such almost immediately after; this Arianism had +been introduced among the West Goths from Constantinople during the +dominance of that creed. The Franks alone of all the Germanic tribes were +heathen when they settled within the Empire. + + +§ 79. The Empire of the Dynasty of Theodosius. + + +_Emperors of the West_: + + + Honorius; born 384, Emperor 395-423. + + + Valentinian III; born 419, Emperor 425-455; son of Galla Placidia, + the daughter of Theodosius the Great, and the Empress of the West + 419-450. + + +_Emperors of the East_: + + + Arcadius: born 377, Emperor 395-408. + + + Theodosius II: born 401, Emperor 408-450. + + + Marcianus: Emperor 450-457; husband of Pulcheria (born 399, died + 453), daughter of Arcadius. + + +The greatest event in the first half of the fifth century, the period in +which the degenerate descendants of Theodosius still retained the imperial +title, was the Barbarian Invasion, a truly epoch-making event. In 405 the +Vandals, Alans, and Suevi crossed the Rhine, followed later by the +Burgundians. August 24, 410, Alarich, the king of the West Goths, captured +Rome. In 419 the West Gothic kingdom was established with Toulouse as a +capital. In 429 the Vandals began to establish themselves in North Africa, +and about 450 the Saxons began to invade Britain, abandoned by the Romans +about 409. Although the West was thus falling to pieces, the theory of the +unity of the Empire was maintained and is expressed in the provision of +the new Theodosian Code of 439 for the uniformity of law throughout the +two parts of the Empire. This theory of unity was not lost for centuries +and was influential even into the eighth century. + + +(_a_) Jerome, _Ep._ 123, _ad Ageruchiam_. (MSL, 22:1057.) + + + The Barbarian Invasions in the opening years of the fifth century. + + + Jerome's letters are not to be considered a primary source for the + barbarian invasion, but they are an admirable source for the way + the invasion appeared to a man of culture and some patriotic + feeling. With this passage should be compared his _Ep._ 60, _ad + Heliodorum_, § 16, written in 396, in which he expresses his + belief that Rome was falling and describes the barbarian invaders. + The following letter was written 409. + + +§ 16. Innumerable savage tribes have overrun all parts of Gaul. The whole +country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the +ocean, have been laid waste by Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepidi, +Herules,(160) Saxons, Bergundians, Allemans and, alas for the common +weal--even the hordes of the Pannonians. For Asshur is joined with them +(Psalm 83:8). The once noble city of Mainz has been captured and +destroyed. In its church many thousands have been massacred. The people of +Worms have been extirpated after a long siege. The powerful city of +Rheims, the Ambiani [a tribe near Amiens], the Altrabtae [a tribe near +Arras], the Belgians on the outskirts of the world, Tournay, Speyer, and +Strassburg have fallen to Germany. The provinces of Aquitaine and of the +Nine Nations, of Lyons and Narbonne, with the exception of a few cities, +all have been laid waste. Those whom the sword spares without, famine +ravages within. I cannot speak of Toulouse without tears; it has been kept +hitherto from falling by the merits of its revered bishop, Exuperius. Even +the Spains are about to perish and tremble daily as they recall the +invasion of the Cymri; and what others have suffered once they suffer +continually in fear. + +§ 17. I am silent about other places, that I may not seem to despair of +God's mercy. From the Pontic Sea to the Julian Alps, what was once ours is +ours no longer. When for thirty years the barrier of the Danube had been +broken there was war in the central provinces of the Roman Empire. Long +use dried our tears. For all, except a few old people, had been born +either in captivity or during a blockade, and they did not long for a +liberty which they had never known. Who will believe it? What histories +will seriously discuss it, that Rome has to fight within her borders, not +for glory but for bare life; and that she does not fight even, but buys +the right to exist by giving gold and sacrificing all her substance? This +humiliation has been brought upon her, not by the fault of her emperors, +both of them most religious men [Arcadius and Honorius], but by the crime +of a half-barbarian traitor,(161) + + +(_b_) Jerome, _Prefaces to Commentary on Ezekiel_. (MSL, 25, 15:75.) + + + The fall of Rome. + + + Jerome's account of the capture of Rome by Alarich is greatly + exaggerated (see his _Ep._ 127, _ad Principiam_). By his very + exaggeration, however, one gains some impression of the shock the + event must have occasioned in the Roman world. + + +Preface to Book I. Intelligence has suddenly been brought to me of the +death of Pammachus and Marcella, the siege of Rome [A. D. 408], and the +falling asleep of many of my brethren and sisters. I was so stupefied and +dismayed that day and night I could think of nothing but the welfare of +all.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But when the bright light of all the world was put out,(162) or, +rather, when the Roman Empire was decapitated, and, to speak more +correctly, the whole world perished in one city, "I became dumb and +humbled myself, and kept silence from good words, but my grief broke out +afresh, my heart was hot within me, and while I was musing the fire was +kindled" [Psalm 39:3, 4]. + +Preface to Book III. Who would believe that Rome, built up by the conquest +of the whole world, had collapsed; that she had become both the mother of +nations and their tomb; that all the shores of the East, of Egypt, of +Africa, which had once belonged to the imperial city should be filled with +the hosts of her men-servants and maid-servants; that every day holy +Bethlehem should be receiving as mendicants men and women who were once +noble and abounding in every kind of wealth? + + +(_c_) Theodosius II, _Novella I, de Theodosiani Codicis Auctoritate_; Feb. +15, 439. + + +The Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian, Augusti, to Florentius, Praetorian +Prefect of the East. + +Our clemency has often been at a loss to understand the cause of the fact +that, although so many rewards are held out for the maintenance of arts +and studies, so few and rare are they who are fully endowed with a +knowledge of the civil law, and that although so many have grown pale from +late studies, scarcely one or two have gained a sound and complete +learning. When we consider the enormous multitude of books, the diversity +in the forms of process, and the difficulty of legal cases, and, further, +the huge mass of imperial constitutions which, hidden as it were under a +veil of gross mist and darkness, precludes man's intellect from gaining a +knowledge of them, we have performed a task needful for our age, and, the +darkness having been dispelled, we have given light to the laws by a brief +compendium. Noble men of approved faithfulness were selected, men of +well-known learning, to whom the matter was intrusted. We have published +the constitutions of former princes, cleared by interpretation of +difficulties so that men may no longer have to wait formidable responses +from expert lawyers as from a shrine, since it is quite plain what is the +value of a donation, by what action an inheritance is to be sued for, with +what words a contract is to be made.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Thus having wiped out the cloud of +volumes, on which many wasted their lives and explained nothing in the +end, we establish a compendious knowledge of the imperial constitutions +since the time of the divine Constantine, and permit no one after the +first day of next January to use in courts and daily practice of law the +imperial law, or to draw up pleadings except from these books which bear +our name and are kept in the sacred archives.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +To this we add that henceforward no constitution can be passed in the West +or in any other place by the unconquerable Emperor, the son of our +clemency, the everlasting Augustus Valentinian, or possess any legal +validity, except the same by a divine pragmatica be communicated to us. +The same rule is to be observed in the acts which are promulgated by us in +the East; and those are to be condemned as spurious which are not recorded +in the Theodosian Code [certain documents excepted which were kept in the +registers of bureaux]. + + +§ 80. The Extension of the Church about the Beginning of the Fifth Century + + +The most important missionary work in the early part of the fifth century +was the extension of the work of Ulfilas among the German tribes and the +work of the missionaries of the West in Gaul and western Germany. Of the +latter the most important was Martin of Tours. + + +(_a_) Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, II, 41. (MSG, 67:349.) + + + Ulfilas. + + + Additional material for the life of Ulfilas may be found in the + _Ecclesiastical History_ of Philostorgius, fragments of which, as + preserved, may be found appended to the Bohn translation of + Sozomen's _Ecclesiastical History_. + + + After giving a list of creeds put forth by various councils, from + Nicaea down to the Arian creed of Constantinople, 360 (text may be + found in Hahn, § 167), Socrates continues: + + +The last creed was that put forth at Constantinople [A. D. 360], with the +appendix. For to this was added the prohibition respecting the mention of +substance [ousia], or subsistence [hypostasis], in relation to God. To +this creed Ulfilas, bishop of the Goths, then first gave his assent. For +before that time he had adhered to the faith of Nicaea; for he was a +disciple of Theophilus, bishop of the Goths, who was present at the Nicene +Council, and subscribed what was there determined. + + +(_b_) Ulfilas, _Confession of Faith_. Hahn, § 198. + + + This confession of faith, which Ulfilas describes as his + testament, is found at the conclusion of a letter of Auxentius, + his pupil, an Arian bishop of Silistria, in Moesia Inferior; see + note of Hahn. It should be compared with that of Constantinople of + 360. + + +I, Ulfilas, bishop and confessor, have always thus believed, and in this +sole and true faith I make my testament before my Lord: I believe that +there is one God the Father, alone unbegotten and invisible; and in His +only begotten Son, our Lord and God, the fashioner and maker of all +creation, not having any one like him--therefore there is one God of all, +who, in our opinion, is God--and there is one Holy Spirit, the illuminating +and sanctifying power--as Christ said to his apostles for correction, +"Behold I send the promise of my Father to you, but remain ye in the city +of Jerusalem until ye be indued with power from on high"; and again, "And +ye shall receive power coming upon you from the Holy Spirit"--neither God +nor Lord, but a minister of Christ in all things; not ruler, but a +subject, and obedient in all things to the Son, and the Son himself +subject and obedient in all things to his Father {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} through Christ {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} with +the Holy Spirit.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}(163) + + +(_c_) Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 23. (MSG, 67:551.) + + +The barbarians dwelling beyond the Danube, who are called Goths, having +been engaged in a civil war among themselves, were divided into two +parties; of one of these Fritigernus was the leader, of the other +Athanaric. When Athanaric had obtained an evident advantage over his +rival, Fritigernus had recourse to the Romans and implored their +assistance against his adversary. When these things were reported to the +Emperor Valens [364-378], he ordered the troops garrisoned in Thrace to +assist those barbarians against the barbarians fighting against them. They +won a complete victory over Athanaric beyond the Danube, totally routing +the enemy. This was the reason why many of the barbarians became +Christians: for Fritigernus, to show his gratitude to the Emperor for the +kindness shown him, embraced the religion of the Emperor, and urged those +under him to do the same. Therefore it is that even to this present time +so many of the Goths are infected with the religion of Arianism, because +the emperors at that time gave themselves to that faith. Ulfilas, the +bishop of the Goths at that time, invented the Gothic letters and, +translating the Holy Scriptures into their own language, undertook to +instruct these barbarians in the divine oracles. But when Ulfilas taught +the Christian religion not only to the subjects of Fritigernus but to the +subjects of Athanaric also, Athanaric, regarding this as a violation of +the privileges of the religion of his ancestors, subjected many of the +Christians to severe punishments, so that many of the Arian Goths of that +time became martyrs. Arius, indeed, failing to refute the opinion of +Sabellius the Libyan, fell from the true faith and asserted that the Son +of God was a new God; but the barbarians, embracing Christianity with +greater simplicity, despised this present life for the faith of Christ. + + +(_d_) Sulpicius Severus, _Vita S. Martini_, 13. (MSL, 20:167.) + + + Sulpicius Severus was a pupil of Martin of Tours, and wrote the + life of his master during the latter's lifetime (died 397), but + published it after his death. He wrote also other works on Martin. + The astounding miracles they contain present curious problems for + the student of ethics as well as of history. As St. Martin was one + of the most popular saints of Gaul, and in this case the merits of + the man and his reputation as a saint were in accord, the works of + Sulpicius became the basis of many popular lives of the saint. The + following passage illustrates the embellishment which soon became + attached to all the lives of religious heroes. It is, however, one + of the least astounding of the many miracles the author relates in + apparent good faith. Whatever may be the judgment regarding the + miracle, the story contains several characteristic touches met + with in the history of missions in the following centuries: + _e.g._, the destruction of heathen temples and objects of worship. + This sacred tree also finds its duplicate in other attacks upon + heathen sanctuaries. + + +Ch. 13. When in a certain village he had demolished a very ancient temple, +and had set about cutting down a pine-tree, which stood close to the +temple, the chief priest of that place and a crowd of other heathen began +to oppose him. And though these people, under the influence of the Lord, +had been quiet while the temple was being overthrown, they could not +patiently allow the tree to be cut down. Martin carefully instructed them +that there was nothing sacred in the trunk of a tree; let them rather +follow God, whom he himself served. He added that it was necessary that +that tree be cut down, because it had been dedicated to a demon [_i.e._, +to a heathen deity]. Then one of them, who was bolder than the others, +said: "If you have any trust in the God whom you say you worship, we +ourselves will cut down this tree, you shall receive it when it falls; for +if, as you declare, your Lord is with you, you will escape all injury." +Then Martin, courageously trusting in the Lord, promised that he would do +this. Thereupon all that crowd of heathen agreed to the condition; for +they held the loss of their tree a small matter, if only they got the +enemy of their religion buried beneath its fall. Accordingly when that +pine-tree was hanging over in one direction, so that there was no doubt as +to what side it would fall on being cut, Martin, having been bound, was, +in accordance with the decision of these pagans, placed in that spot +where, as no one doubted, the tree was about to fall. They began, +therefore, to cut down their own tree with great joy and mirth. At some +distance there was a great multitude of wondering spectators. And now the +pine-tree began to totter and to threaten its own ruin by falling. The +monks at a distance grew pale and, terrified by the danger ever coming +nearer, had lost all hope and confidence, expecting only the death of +Martin. But he, trusting in the Lord, and waiting courageously, when now +the falling pine had uttered its expiring crash, while it was now falling, +while it was just rushing upon him, with raised hand put in its way the +sign of salvation [_i.e._, the sign of the cross]. Then, indeed, after the +manner of a spinning top (one might have thought it driven back) it fell +on the opposite side, so that it almost crushed the rustics, who had been +standing in a safe spot. Then truly a shout was raised to heaven; the +heathen were amazed by the miracle; the monks wept for joy; and the name +of Christ was extolled by all in common. The well-known result was that on +that day salvation came to that region. For there was hardly one of that +immense multitude of heathen who did not desire the imposition of hands, +and, abandoning his impious errors, believe in the Lord Jesus. Certainly, +before the times of Martin, very few, nay, almost none, in those regions +had received the name of Christ; but through his virtues and example it +has prevailed to such an extent that now there is no place there which is +not filled with either very crowded churches or monasteries. For wherever +he destroyed heathen temples, there he was accustomed to build, +immediately, either churches or monasteries. + + + +Chapter II. The Church Of The Western Empire In The Fifth Century + + +The period between the closing years of the fourth century, in which the +struggle was still going on between heathenism and Christianity (§ 81), +and the end of the Roman Empire of the West is of fundamental importance +in the study of the history of the Christian Church of the West. In this +period were laid the foundations for its characteristic theology and its +ecclesiastical organization. The former was the work of St. Augustine, the +most powerful religious personality of the Western Church. In this he +built partly upon the traditions of the West, but also, largely, upon his +own religious experience (§ 82). These elements were developed and +modified by the two great controversies in which, by discussion, he +formulated more completely than ever had been done before the idea of the +Church and its sacraments in opposition to the Donatists (§ 83), and the +doctrines of sin and grace in opposition to a moralistic Christianity, +represented by Pelagius (§ 84). The leading ideas of Augustine, however, +could be appropriated only as they were modified and brought into +conformity with the dominant ecclesiastical and sacramental system of the +Church, in the semi-Pelagian controversy, which found a tardy termination +in the sixth century (§ 85). In the meanwhile the inroads of the +barbarians with all the horrors of the invasions, the confusion in the +political, social, and ecclesiastical organization, threatened the +overthrow of all established institutions. In the midst of this anarchy, +the Roman See, in the work of Innocent I, and still more clearly in the +work of Leo the Great, enunciated its ideals and became the centre, not +merely of ecclesiastical unity, in which it had often to contest its +claims with the divided Church organizations of the West, but still more +as the ideal centre of unity for all those that held to the old order of +the Empire with its culture and social life (§ 86). + + +§ 81. The Western Church Toward the End of the Fourth Century + + +Heathenism lingered as a force in society longer in the West than in the +East, not merely among the peasantry, but among the higher classes. This +was partly due to the conservatism of the aristocratic classes and the +superior form in which the religious philosophy of Neo-Platonism had been +presented to the West. This presentation was due, in no small part, to the +work of such philosophers as Victorinus, who translated the earlier works +of the Neo-Platonists so that it escaped the tendencies, represented by +Jamblichus, toward theurgy and magic, and an alliance with polytheism and +popular superstition. Victorinus himself became a Christian, passing by an +easy transition from Neo-Platonism to Christianity; a course in which he +was followed by Augustine, and, no doubt, by others as well. + + +Augustine, _Confessiones_, VIII, 2. (MSL, 32:79.) + + + The conversion of Victorinus. + + +To Simplicianus then I went--the father of Ambrose,(164) in receiving Thy +grace,(165) and whom he truly loved as a father. To him I narrated the +windings of my error. But when I mentioned to him that I had read certain +books of the Platonists, which Victorinus, formerly professor of rhetoric +at Rome (who died a Christian, as I had heard), had translated into Latin, +he congratulated me that I had not fallen upon the writings of other +philosophers, which were full of fallacies and deceit, "after the +rudiments of this world" [Col. 2:8], whereas they, in many respects, led +to the belief in God and His word. Then to exhort me to the humility of +Christ, hidden from the wise and revealed to babes, he spoke of Victorinus +himself, whom, while he was in Rome, he had known intimately; and of him +he related that about which I will not be silent. For it contained great +praise of Thy grace, which ought to be confessed unto Thee, how that most +learned old man, highly skilled in all the liberal sciences, who had read, +criticised, and explained so many works of the philosophers; the teacher +of so many noble senators, who, also, as a mark of his excellent discharge +of his duties, had both merited and obtained a statue in the Roman Forum +(something men of this world esteem a great honor), he, who had been, even +to that age, a worshipper of idols and a participator in the sacrilegious +rites to which almost all the nobility of Rome were addicted, and had +inspired the people with the love of "monster gods of every sort, and the +barking Anubis, who hold their weapons against Neptune and Venus and +Minerva" [Vergil, _AEneid_, VIII, 736 _ff._], and those whom Rome once +conquered, she now worshipped, all of which Victorinus, now old, had +defended so many years with vain language,(166) he now blushed not to be a +child of Thy Christ, and an infant at Thy fountain, submitting his neck to +the yoke of humility, and subduing his forehead to the reproach of the +cross. + +O Lord, Lord, who hast bowed the heavens and come down, touched the +mountains and they smoked [Psalm 144:5], by what means didst Thou convey +Thyself into that bosom? He used to read, Simplicianus said, the Holy +Scriptures and most studiously sought after and searched out all the +Christian writings, and he said to Simplicianus, not openly, but secretly +and as a friend: "Knowest thou that I am now a Christian?" To which he +replied: "I will not believe it, nor will I rank you among the Christians +unless I see you in the Church of Christ." Whereupon he replied +derisively: "Do walls then make Christians?" And this he often said, that +already he was a Christian; and Simplicianus used as often to make the +same answer, and as often the conceit of the walls was repeated. For he +was fearful of offending his friends, proud demon worshippers, from the +height of whose Babylonian pride, as from the cedars of Lebanon, which the +Lord had not yet broken [Psalm 29:5], he seriously thought a storm of +enmity would descend upon him. But after that he had derived strength from +reading and inquiry, and feared lest he should be denied by Christ before +the holy angels if he was now afraid to confess Him before men [Matt. +10:33], and appeared to himself to be guilty of a great fault in being +ashamed of the sacraments of the humility of Thy word, and not being +ashamed of the sacrilegious rites of those proud demons, which as a proud +imitator he had accepted, he became bold-faced against vanity and +shamefaced toward the truth, and suddenly and unexpectedly said to +Simplicianus, as he himself informed me: "Let us go to the Church; I wish +to be made a Christian." And he, unable to contain himself for joy, went +with him. When he had been admitted to the first sacrament of instruction +[_i.e._, the Catechumenate], he, not long after, gave in his name that he +might be regenerated by baptism. Meanwhile Rome marvelled and the Church +rejoiced; the proud saw and were enraged; they gnashed with their teeth +and melted away [Psalm 92:9]. But the Lord God was the hope of Thy +servant, and He regarded not vanities and lying madness [Psalm 40:4]. + +Finally the hour arrived when he should make profession of his faith, +which, at Rome, they, who are about to approach Thy grace, are accustomed +to deliver from an elevated place, in view of the faithful people, in a +set form of words learnt by heart. But the presbyters, he said, offered +Victorinus the privilege of making his profession more privately, as was +the custom to do to those who were likely, on account of bashfulness, to +be afraid; but he chose, rather, to profess his salvation in the presence +of the holy assembly. For it was not salvation that he had taught in +rhetoric and yet he had publicly professed that. How much less, therefore, +ought he, when pronouncing Thy word, to dread Thy meek flock, who, in the +delivery of his own words, had not feared the mad multitudes! So then, +when he ascended to make his profession, and all recognized him, they +whispered his name one to the other, with a tone of congratulation. And +who was there among them that did not know him? And there ran through the +mouths of all the rejoicing multitude a low murmur: "Victorinus! +Victorinus!" Sudden was the burst of exultation at the sight of him, and +as sudden the hush of attention that they might hear him. He pronounced +the true faith with an excellent confidence, and all desired to take him +to their hearts, and by their love and joy they did take him to them; such +were the hands with which they took him. + + +§ 82. Augustine's Life and Place in the Western Church + + +Aurelius Augustinus, the greatest of the Latin fathers, was born 354, at +Tagaste, in Numidia. He was educated to be a teacher of rhetoric, and +practised his profession at Carthage, Rome, and Milan. From 374 to 383, he +was a Manichaean catechumen, for although his mother, Monnica, was a +Christian, his religious education had been very meagre, and he was +repelled by the literary character of the Scriptures as commonly +interpreted. In 387, after a long struggle, and passing through various +schools of thought, he, with his son Adeodatus, were baptized at Milan by +Ambrose. In 391 he became a presbyter, and in 394 bishop of Hippo Regius, +a small town in North Africa. He died 430, during the Vandal invasion. Of +his works, the _Confessions_ are the most widely known, as they have +become a Christian classic of edification of the first rank. They give an +account of his early life and conversion, but are more useful as showing +his type of piety than as a biography. From them is learned the secret of +his influence upon the Western world. The literary activity of Augustine +was especially developed in connection with the prolonged controversies, +in which he was engaged throughout his episcopate (see §§ 83, 84), but he +wrote much in addition to controversial treatises. The group of +characteristic doctrines known as "Augustinianism," viz.: Original Sin, +Predestination, and Grace and the doctrines connected with them, were, to +a large extent, the outcome of his own religious experience. He had known +the power and depth of sin. He had discovered the hand of God leading him +in spite of himself. He knew that his conversion was due, not to his own +effort or merit, but to God's grace. + +The works of Augustine have been translated in part in PNF, ser. I, vols. +I-VIII. There are many translations of the _Confessions_; among others, +one by E. B. Pusey, in "Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic +Church," reprinted in "Everyman's Library." + + +(_a_) Augustine, _Confessiones_, VIII, 12. (MSL, 32:761.) + + + The conversion of Augustine. + + + This is, perhaps, the most famous passage in the _Confessions_. It + came at the end of a long series of attempts to find peace in + various forms of philosophy and religion. Augustine regarded it as + miraculous, the crown and proof of the work of grace in him. The + scene was in Milan, 387, in the garden of the villa he occupied + with his friend Alypius. The principal obstacle to his embracing + Christianity was his reluctance to abandon his licentious life. To + this the reference is made in the passage from Scripture which he + read, _i.e._, Rom. 13:13, 14. + + +When a profound reflection had, from the depths of my soul, drawn together +and heaped up all my misery before the sight of my heart, there arose a +mighty storm, accompanied by as mighty a shower of tears. That I might +pour it all forth in its own words I arose from beside Alypius; for +solitude suggested itself to me as fitter for the business of weeping. So +I retired to such a distance that even his presence could not be +oppressive to me. Thus it was with me at that time, and he perceived it; +for something, I believe, I had spoken, wherein the sound of my voice +appeared choked with weeping, and thus I had risen up. He then remained +where we had been sitting, very greatly astonished. I flung myself down, I +know not how, under a certain fig-tree, giving free course to my tears, +and the streams of my eyes gushed out, an acceptable sacrifice unto Thee. +And not indeed in these words, yet to this effect, spake I much unto +Thee--"But Thou, O Lord, how long?" [Psalm 13:1]. "How long, Lord? Wilt +Thou be angry forever? Oh, remember not against us former iniquities" +[Psalm 79:5, 8]; for I felt that I was held fast by them. I sent up these +sorrowful cries: "How long, how long? To-morrow, and to-morrow? Why not +now? Why is there not this hour an end to my uncleanness?" + +I was saying these things and was weeping in the most bitter contrition of +my heart, when, lo, I hear the voice as of a boy or girl, I know not +which, coming from a neighboring house, chanting and oft repeating: "Take +up and read; take up and read." Immediately my countenance was changed, +and I began most earnestly to consider whether it was usual for children +in any kind of game to sing such words; nor could I remember ever to have +heard the like anywhere. So, restraining the torrent of my tears, I rose +up, interpreting it in no other way than as a command to me from Heaven to +open the book and read the first chapter I should light upon. For I had +heard of Anthony [see also § 77, _e_], that accidentally coming in whilst +the Gospel was being read, he received the admonition as if what was read +was addressed to him: "Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, +and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me" [Matt. +19:21]. And by such oracle was he forthwith converted unto Thee. So +quickly I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I +put down the volume of the Apostles, when I rose thence. I seized, I +opened, and in silence I read that paragraph on which my eye first fell: +"Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in +strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not +provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof" [Rom. 13:13, 14]. No +further would I read; there was no need; for instantly, as the sentence +ended, by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart, all the +gloom of doubt vanished away. + +Closing the book, then, and putting either my finger between, or some +other mark, I now with a tranquil countenance made it known to Alypius. +And he thus disclosed to me what was wrong in him, which I knew not. He +asked to look at what I had read. I showed him; and he looked even further +than I had read, and I knew not what followed. This, in fact, followed: +"Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye" [Rom. 14:1]; which he applied +to himself, and discovered to me. By this admonition was he strengthened; +and by a good resolution and purpose, very much in accord with his +character (wherein, for the better, he was always far different from me), +without any restless delay he joined me. Thence we go to my mother. We +tell her--she rejoices. We relate how it came to pass--she exults and +triumphs, and she blesses Thee, who art "able to do exceeding abundantly +above all that we ask or think" [Eph. 3:20]; for she perceived Thee to +have given her more for me than she used to ask by her pitiful and most +doleful groanings. For Thou didst so convert me unto Thyself, that I +sought neither a wife, nor any other hope of this world--standing in that +rule of faith in which Thou, so many years before, had showed me unto her. +And thou didst turn her grief unto gladness [Psalm 30:11], much more +plentiful than she had desired, and much dearer and chaster than she used +to crave, by having grandchildren of my flesh. + + +(_b_) Augustine, _Confessiones_, X, 27, 29, 43. (MSL, 32:795, 796, 808.) + + + The following passages from the _Confessions_ are intended to + illustrate Augustine's type of piety. + + +Ch. 29. My whole hope is only in Thy exceeding great mercy. Give what Thou +commandest and command what Thou wilt.(167) Thou imposest continency upon +us. "And when I perceived," saith one, "that no one could be continent +except God gave it; and this was a point of wisdom also to know whose this +gift was" [Wis. 8:21]. For by continency are we bound up and brought into +one, whence we were scattered abroad into many. For he loves Thee too +little, who besides Thee loves aught which he loves not for Thee. O love, +who ever burnest and art never quenched! O charity, my God, kindle me! +Thou commandest continency; give what Thou commandest, and command what +Thou wilt. + +Ch. 27. Too late have I loved Thee, O fairness, so ancient, yet so new! +Too late have I loved Thee. For behold Thou wast within and I was without, +and I was seeking Thee there; I, without love, rushed heedlessly among the +things of beauty Thou madest. Thou wast with me, but I was not with Thee. +Those things kept me far from Thee, which, unless they were in Thee, were +not. Thou didst call and cry aloud, and Thou broke through my deafness. +Thou didst gleam and shine and chase away my blindness. Thou didst exhale +fragrance and I drew in my breath and I panted for Thee. I tasted, and did +hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and I burned for Thy peace. + +Ch. 43. O how Thou hast loved us, O good Father, who sparedst not thine +only Son, but didst deliver Him up for us wicked ones! [Rom. 8:32.] O how +Thou hast loved us, for whom He, who thought it not robbery to be equal +with Thee, "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" +[Phil. 2:8]. He alone, "free among the dead" [Psalm 88:5], that had power +to lay down His life, and power to take it again [John 10:18]; for us was +He unto Thee both victor and the victim, and the victor became the victim; +for He was unto Thee both priest and sacrifice, and priest because +sacrifice; making us from being slaves to become Thy sons, by being born +of Thee, and by serving us. Rightly, then, is my strong hope in Him, +because Thou didst cure all my diseases by Him who sitteth at Thy right +hand and maketh intercession for us [Rom. 8:34]; else should I utterly +despair. For numerous and great are my infirmities, yea numerous and great +are they; but Thy medicine is greater. We might think that Thy word was +removed from union with man and despair of ourselves had not He been "made +flesh and dwelt among us" [John 1:14]. + + +(_c_) Augustine, _De Civitate Dei_, XIII, 3, 14. (MSL, 41:378; 86.) + + + The Fall of Man and Original Sin. + + + The _City of God_ is Augustine's great theodicy, apology, and + philosophy of universal history. It was begun shortly after the + capture of Rome, and the author was engaged upon it from 413 to + 426. It was the source whence the mediaeval ecclesiastics drew + their theoretical justification for the curialistic principles of + the relation of State and Church, and at the same time the one + work of St. Augustine that Gibbon the historian regarded highly. + For an analysis see Presensee, art. "Augustine" in DCB. + + + Compare the position of Augustine with the following passage from + St. Ambrose, _On the Death of Satyrus_, II, 6, "Death is alike to + all, without difference for the poor, without exception for the + rich. And so although through the sin of one alone, yet it passed + upon all; {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} In Adam I fell, in Adam I was cast out of paradise. In + Adam I died; how shall the Lord call me back, except He find me in + Adam; guilty as I was in him, so now justified in Christ." [MSL, + 16:1374.] + + +The first men would not have suffered death if they had not sinned.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But +having become sinners they were so punished with death, that whatsoever +sprang from their stock should also be punished with the same death. For +nothing else could be born of them than what they themselves had been. The +condemnation changed their nature for the worse in proportion to the +greatness of their sin, so that what was before as punishment in the man +who had first sinned, followed as of nature in others who were born.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} In +the first man, therefore, the whole human nature was to be transmitted by +the woman to posterity when that conjugal union received the divine +sentence of its own condemnation; and what man was made, not when he was +created but when he sinned, and was punished, this he propagated, so far +as the origin of sin and death are concerned. + +Ch. 14. For God, the author of natures, not of vices, created man upright; +but man, being by his own will corrupt and justly condemned, begot +corrupted and condemned children. For we were all in that one man when we +were all that one man, who fell into sin by the woman who had been made +from him before the sin. For not yet was the particular form created and +distributed to us, in which we as individuals were to live; but already +the seminal nature was there from which we were to be propagated; and this +being vitiated by sin, and bound by the chain of death, and justly +condemned, man could not be born of man in any other state. And thus from +the bad use of free will, there originated a whole series of evils, which +with its train of miseries conducts the human race from its depraved +origin, as from a corrupt root, on to the destruction of the second death, +which has no end, those only being excepted who are freed by the grace of +God. + + +(_d_) Augustine, _De Correptione et Gratia_, 2. (MSL, 44:917.) + + + Grace and Free Will. + + +Now the Lord not only shows us what evil we should shun, and what good we +should do, which is all the letter of the law can do; but moreover He +helps us that we may shun evil and do good [Psalm 37:27], which none can +do without the spirit of grace; and if this be wanting, the law is present +merely to make us guilty and to slay us. It is on this account that the +Apostle says: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life" [II Cor. +3:6]. He, then, who lawfully uses the law, learns therein evil and good, +and not trusting in his own strength, flees to grace, by the help of which +he may shun evil and do good. But who flees to grace except when "the +steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and He wills his ways"? [Psalm +37:23.] And thus also to desire the help of grace is the beginning of +grace.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} It is to be confessed, therefore, that we have free choice to do +both evil and good; but in doing evil every one is free from righteousness +and is a servant of sin, while in doing good no one can be free, unless he +have been made free by Him who said: "If the Son shall make you free, then +you shall be free indeed" [John 8:36]. Neither is it thus, that when any +one shall have been made free from the dominion of sin, he no longer needs +the help of his Deliverer; but rather thus, that hearing from Him, +"Without me ye can do nothing" [John 15:5], he himself also says to Him: +"Be Thou my helper! Forsake me not!" + + +(_e_) Augustine, _De Civitate Dei_, XV, 1. (MSL, 41:437.) + + + Predestination. + + + Inasmuch as all men are born condemned, and of themselves have not + the power to turn to grace, which alone can save them, it follows + that the bestowal of grace whereby they may turn is not dependent + upon the man but upon God's sovereign good pleasure. This is + expressed in the doctrine of Predestination. For a discussion of + the position of Augustine respecting Predestination and his other + doctrines as connected with it, see J. B. Mozley, _A Treatise on + the Augustinian Doctrine of Predestination_, 1873, a book of great + ability. _Cf._ also Tixeront, _History of Dogmas_, vol. II. + + +I trust that we have already done justice to these great and difficult +questions regarding the beginning of the world, of the soul, and of the +human race itself. This race we have distributed into two parts: the one +consisting of those who live according to man, the other of those who live +according to God. And these we have also mystically called the two cities, +or the two communities of men, of which one is predestined to reign +eternally with God, and the other to suffer eternal punishment with the +devil.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Each man, because born of condemned stock, is first of all born from Adam, +evil and carnal, and when he has been grafted into Christ by regeneration +he afterward becomes good and spiritual. So in the human race, as a whole, +when these two cities began to run their course by a series of births and +deaths, the citizen of this world was born first, and after him the +stranger of this world, and belonging to the City of God,(168) predestined +by grace, elected by grace, by grace a stranger here below, and by grace a +citizen above. For so far as regards himself he is sprung from the same +mass, all of which is condemned in its origin; but God like a potter (for +this comparison is introduced by the Apostle judiciously and not without +thought) of the same lump made one vessel to honor and another to dishonor +[Rom. 9:21]. + + +(_f_) Augustine, _De Correptione et Gratia_, chs. 23 (9), 39 (13). (MSL, +44:930, 940.) + + +Ch. 23 (9). Whosoever, therefore, in God's most providential ordering are +foreknown [_praesciti_] and predestinated, called justified, glorified--I +say not, even though not yet born again, but even though not yet born at +all--are already children of God, and absolutely cannot perish.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} From Him, +therefore, is given also perseverance in good even to the end; for it is +not given except to those who will not perish, since they who do not +persevere will perish.(169) + +Ch. 39 (13). I speak of those who are predestinated to the kingdom of God, +whose number is so certain that no one can either be added to them or +taken from them; not of those who when He had announced and spoken, were +multiplied beyond number [Psalm 40:6]. For these may be said to be called +[_vocati_] but not chosen [_electi_], because they are not called +according to purpose.(170) + + +(_g_) Augustine, _Enchiridion_, 100. (MSL, 40:279.) + + + Twofold Predestination. + + + Augustine does not commonly speak of predestination of the wicked, + _i.e._, those who are not among the elect and consequently + predestinated to grace and salvation. As a rule he speaks of + predestination in connection with the saints, those who are saved. + But that he, with perfect consistency, regarded the wicked as also + predestinated is shown by the following, as also other passages in + his works, _e.g._, _City of God_, XV, 1 (_v. supra_), XXII, ch. + 24:5. This point has a bearing in connection with the controversy + on predestination in the ninth century, in which Gottschalk + reasserted the theory of a double predestination. + + +These are the great works of the Lord, sought out according to all His +good pleasure [Psalm 111:2], and wisely sought out, that when the angelic +and the human creature sinned, that is, did not do what He willed but what +the creature itself willed, so by the will of the creature, by which was +done what the Creator did not will, He carried out what He himself willed; +the supremely Good thus turning to account even what is evil; to the +condemnation of those whom He has justly predestinated to punishment and +to the salvation of those whom He has mercifully predestinated to grace. + + +(_h_) Augustine, _De Civitate Dei_, XVI, 2. (MSL, 41:479.) + + + Augustine's theory of allegorical interpretation. + + + Augustine had been repelled by the literal interpretation of the + Scriptures and turned to the Manichaeans who rejected the Old + Testament. _Confessions_, III, 5. From Ambrose he learned the + "mystical" or allegorical method of interpreting the Old + Testament, _cf._ _Confessions_, VI, 4. With Augustine's theory, + treated at length, especially in his _De Doctrina Christiana_, Bk. + 3, should be compared Origen's in _De Principiis_, IV, 9-15. See + above, § 43, _b_. + + +These secrets of the divine Scriptures we investigate as we can;(171) some +in more, some in less agreement, but all faithfully holding it as certain +that these things were neither done nor recorded without some +foreshadowing of future events, and that they are to be referred only to +Christ and His Church, which is the City of God, the proclamation of which +has not ceased since the beginning of the human race; and we now see it +everywhere accomplished. From the blessing of the two sons of Noah and +from the cursing of the middle son, down to Abraham, for more than a +thousand years, there is no mention of any righteous person who worshipped +God. I would not, therefore, believe that there were none, but to mention +every one would have been very long, and there would have been historical +accuracy rather than prophetic foresight. The writer of these sacred +books, or rather the Spirit of God through him, sought for those things by +which not only the past might be narrated, but the future foretold, which +pertained to the City of God; for whatever is said of these men who are +not its citizens is given either that it may profit or be made glorious by +a comparison with what is different. Yet it is not to be supposed that all +that is recorded has some signification; but those things which have no +signification of their own are interwoven for the sake of the things which +are significant. Only by the ploughshare is the earth cut in furrows; but +that this may be, other parts of the plough are necessary. Only the +strings of the harp and other musical instruments are fitted to give forth +a melody; but that they may do so, there are other parts of the instrument +which are not, indeed, struck by those who sing, but with them are +connected the strings which are struck and produce musical notes. So in +prophetic history some things are narrated which have no significance, but +are, as it were, the framework to which the significant things are +attached. + + +(_i_) Augustine, _Enchiridion_, 109, 110. (MSL, 40:283.) + + + Augustine in his teaching combined a number of different + theological tendencies, without working them into a consistent + system. His doctrines of Original Sin, Predestination, Grace are + by no means harmonized with his position regarding the Church and + the sacraments in which he builds upon the foundation laid in the + West, especially by Optatus. See below, § 83. There is also a no + small remnant of what might be called pre-Augustinian Western + piety, which comes down from Tertullian and of which the following + is an illustration, a passage which is of significance in the + development of the doctrine of purgatory. Cf. Tertullian, _De + Monogamia_, ch. 10. See above, § 39. + + +§ 109. The time, moreover, which intervenes between a man's death and the +final resurrection, keeps the soul in a hidden retreat, as each is +deserving of rest or affliction, according to what its lot was when it +lived in the flesh. + +§ 110. Nor can it be denied that the souls of the dead are benefited by +the piety of their living friends, when the sacrifice of the Mediator is +offered, or alms given in the Church in their behalf. But these services +are of advantage only to those who during their lives merited that +services of this kind could help them. For there is a manner of life which +is neither so good as not to require these services after death, nor so +bad that these services are of no avail after death. There is, on the +other hand, a kind of life so good as not to require them; and again one +so bad that when they depart this life they render no help. Therefore it +is here that all the merit and demerit is acquired, by which one can +either be relieved or oppressed after death. No one, then, need hope that +after he is dead he shall obtain the merit with God which he had neglected +here. And, accordingly, those services which the Church celebrates for the +commendation of the dead are not opposed to the Apostle's words: "For we +must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may +receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, +whether it be good or bad" [Rom. 14:10; II Cor. 5:10]. For that merit that +renders services profitable to a man, each one has acquired while he lives +in the body. For it is not to every one that these services are +profitable. And why are they not profitable to all, except it be because +of the different kinds of lives that men lead in the body? When, +therefore, sacrifices either of the altar or of alms of any sort are +offered on behalf of the dead who have been baptized, they are +thanksgivings for the very good; they are propitiations [_propitiationes_] +for the not very bad; and for the case of the very bad, even though they +do not assist the dead, they are a species of consolation to the living. +And to those to whom they are profitable, their benefit consists either in +full remission of sins, or at least in making the condemnation more +tolerable. + + +§ 83. Augustine and the Donatist Schism + + +After the recall of the Donatists by the Emperor Julian, the sect rapidly +increased, though soon numerous divisions appeared in the body. The more +liberal opinions of the Donatist grammarian Tychonius about 370 were +adopted by many of the less fanatical. The connection of the party with +the Circumcellions alienated others. The contest for rigorism led by +Maximianus about 394 occasioned a schism within the Donatist body. + +Augustine's activity in the Donatist troubles began as soon as he was made +bishop of Hippo, as his town was made up largely of Donatists, who +probably constituted more than a half of the population. The books written +by him after 400 have alone survived. + +The turning-point in the history of Donatism was the Collatio, or +conference, held at Carthage in 411. Two hundred and seventy-nine +Donatist, and two hundred and eighty-six Catholic, bishops were present. +Augustine was one of those who represented the Catholic position. The +victory was adjudged by the imperial commissioners to the Catholic party. +After this the laws against the sect were enforced relentlessly, and +Donatism rapidly lost its importance. The Vandal invasion in 429 changed +the condition of things for a time. The last traces of Donatism disappear +only with the Moslem invasion in the seventh century. + +The importance of the Donatist controversy is that in it were defined the +doctrines of the Church and of the sacraments, definitions which, with +some modifications, controlled the theology of the Church for centuries. + + +(_a_) Optatus, _De Schismate Donatistarum_, II, 1-3. (MSL, 11:941.) + + + The unity of the Catholic Church. + + +Ch. 1. The next thing to do {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} is to show that there is one Church which +Christ called a dove and a bride. Therefore the Church is one, the +sanctity of which is derived from the sacraments; and it is not valued +according to the pride of persons. Therefore this one dove Christ also +calls his beloved bride. This cannot be among heretics and schismatics.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +You have said, brother Parmenianus, that it is with you alone {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} among you +in a small part of Africa, in the corner of a small region, but among us +in another part of Africa will it not be? In Spain, in Gaul, in Italy, +where you are not, will it not be?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And through so many innumerable +islands and other provinces, which can scarcely be numbered, will it not +be? Wherein then will be the propriety of the Catholic name, since it is +called Catholic, because it is reasonable(172) and everywhere diffused? + +Ch. 2. I have proved that that is the Catholic Church, which spread +throughout the whole world, and now are its ornaments to be recalled; and +it is to be seen where the first five gifts [_i.e._, notes of the Church] +are, which you say are six. Among these the first is the cathedra, and +unless a bishop, who is the angel [the second gift or note according to +the Donatists], sit in it, no other gift can be joined. It is to be seen +who first placed a see and where.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} You cannot deny that in the city of +Rome the episcopal cathedra was first placed by Peter, and in it sat +Peter, the head of all the Apostles, wherefore he is called Cephas, so +that in that one cathedra unity is preserved by all, that the other +Apostles might not claim each one for himself a cathedra; so that he is a +schismatic and a sinner who against that one cathedra sets up another. + +Ch. 3. Therefore Peter first sat in that single cathedra, which is the +first gift of the Church, to him succeeded Linus {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} to Damasus, Siricius, +who is our contemporary, with whom the world together with us agree in one +fellowship of communion by the interchange of letters. Recite the origin +of your cathedra, you who would claim for yourself the Holy Church [_cf._ +Tertullian, _De Praescriptione_, c. 32]. + + +(_b_) Optatus, _De Schismate Donatistarum_, V, 4. (MSL, 11:1051.) + + + The validity of sacraments is not dependent on the character of + those who minister them. With this should be compared Augustine, + _Contra litteras Petiliani Donatistae_, II, 38-91, and the treatise + _De Baptismo contra Donatistas libri septem_, which is little more + than a working out in a thousand variations of this theme. + + +In celebrating this sacrament of baptism there are three things which you +can neither increase, diminish, nor omit. The first is the Trinity, the +second the believer, and the third the minister.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The first two remain +ever immutable and unmoved. The Trinity is always the same, the faith in +each is one. But the person of him who ministers is clearly not equal to +the first two points, in that it alone is mutable.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} For it is not one man +who always and everywhere baptizes. In this work there were formerly +others, and now others still, and again there will be others; those who +minister may be changed, the sacraments cannot be changed. Since therefore +you see that they who baptize are ministers and are not lords, and the +sacraments are holy in themselves, not on account of men, why is it that +you claim so much for yourselves? Why is it that you endeavor to exclude +God from His gifts? Permit God to be over the things which are His. For +that gift cannot be performed by a man because it is divine. If you think +it can be so bestowed, you render void the words of the prophets and the +promises of God, by which it is proved that God washes, not man. + + +(_c_) Augustine, _De Baptismo contra Donatistas_, IV, 17 (§ 24). (MSL, +43:169.) + + + Baptism without the Church valid but unprofitable. + + + Augustine, as opposing the Donatists and agreeing with the + Catholic Church, asserted the validity of baptism when conferred + by one outside the communion of the Church. It was notorious that + Cyprian and the Council of Carthage, A. D. 258 [see ANF, vol. V., + pp. 565 _ff._; _cf._ Hefele, § 6], had held an opposite opinion. + As Cyprian was the great teacher of North Africa, and in the + highest place in the esteem of all, Augustine was forced to make + "distinctions." This he did in his theory as to the validity of + baptism as in the following passage. The Sixth Book of the same + treatise is composed of a statement of the bishops at the Council + of Carthage, and Augustine's answer to each statement. + + +"Can the power of baptism," says Cyprian, "be greater than confession, +than martyrdom, that a man should confess Christ before men, and be +baptized in his own blood, and yet," he says, "neither does this baptism +profit the heretic, even though for confessing Christ he be put to death +outside the Church." This is most true; for by being put to death outside +the Church, he is proved not to have had that charity of which the Apostle +says: "Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it +profiteth me nothing" [I Cor. 13:3]. But if martyrdom is of no avail for +the reason that charity is lacking, neither does it profit those who, as +Paul says, and Cyprian further sets forth, are living within the Church +without charity, in envy and malice; and yet they can both receive and +transmit true baptism. "Salvation," he says, "is not without the Church." +Who denies this? And therefore whatever men have that belongs to the +Church, outside the Church it profits them nothing toward salvation. But +it is one thing not to have, another to have it but to no use. He who has +it not must be baptized that he may have it; he who has to no use must be +corrected, that what he has he may have to some use. Nor is the water in +baptism "adulterous," because neither is the creature itself, which God +made, evil, nor is the fault to be found in the words of the Gospel in the +mouths of any who are astray; but the fault is theirs in whom there is an +adulterous spirit, even though it may receive the adornment of the +sacrament from a lawful spouse. It therefore can be true that baptism is +"common to us and to the heretics," since the Gospel can be common to us, +although their error differs from our faith; whether they think otherwise +than the truth about the Father or Son or the Holy Spirit; or, being cut +away from unity, do not gather with Christ, but scatter abroad, because it +is possible that the sacrament of baptism can be common to us if we are +the wheat of the Lord with the covetous within the Church and with robbers +and drunkards and other pestilent persons, of whom it is said, "They shall +not inherit the kingdom of God," and yet the vices by which they are +separated from the kingdom of God are not shared by us. + + +(_d_) Augustine, _Ep. 98, ad Bonifatium_. (MSL, 33:363.) + + + Relation of the sacrament to that of which it is the sign. + Sacraments are effective if no hinderance is placed to their + working. + + +On Easter Sunday we say, "This day the Lord rose from the dead," although +so many years have passed since His resurrection.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The event itself being +said to take place on that day, because, although it really took place +long before, it is on that day sacramentally celebrated. Was not Christ +once for all offered up in His own person as a sacrifice? And yet, is He +not likewise offered up in the sacrament as a sacrifice, not only in the +special solemnities of Easter, but also daily among our congregations; so +that when a man is questioned and answers that He is offered as a +sacrifice in that ordinance, does he not declare what is strictly true? +For if sacraments had not some points of real resemblance to the things of +which they are the sacraments, they would not be sacraments at all. +[Augustine's general definition of a sacrament is that it is a sign of a +sacred thing.] In most cases, moreover, they do, in virtue of this +likeness, bear the names of the realities which they resemble. As +therefore in a certain manner the sacrament of the body of Christ is the +body of Christ, the sacrament of the blood of Christ is the blood of +Christ, so the sacrament of faith is faith.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Now, believing is nothing +else than having faith; and accordingly, when on behalf of an infant as +yet incapable of exercising faith, the answer is given that he believes, +this answer means that he has faith because of the sacrament of faith, and +in like manner the answer is made that he turns himself toward God because +of the sacrament of conversion, since the answer itself belongs to the +celebration of the sacrament. Thus the Apostle says, in regard to this +sacrament of baptism: "We are buried with Christ by baptism into death." +He does not say, "We have signified our being buried with Him," but: "We +have been buried with Him." He has therefore given to the sacrament +pertaining to so great a transaction no other name than the word +describing the transaction itself. + +10. Therefore an infant, although he is not yet a believer in the sense of +having that faith which includes the consenting will of those who exercise +it, nevertheless becomes a believer through the sacrament of that faith.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +The infant, though not yet possessing a faith helped by the understanding, +is not obstructing(173) faith by an antagonism of the understanding, and +therefore receives with profit the sacrament of faith. + + +(_e_) Augustine, _De Correctione Donatistarum_, §§ 22 _ff._ (MSL, 33:802.) + + + The argument in favor of using force to compel the Donatists to + return to the Church. + + + Augustine in the early part of the Donatist controversy was not in + favor of using force. Like the others, _e.g._, Optatus, he denied + that force had been employed by the Church. About 404 the + situation changed, and his opinion did likewise. This work, known + also as Epistle CLXXXV, was written circa 417. Compare Augustine's + position with the statement of Jerome, "Piety for God is not + cruelty," _cf._ Hagenbach, _History of Christian Doctrines_, § + 135:7. The Donatists had much injured their position by their + treatment of a party which had produced a schism in their own + body, the Maximianists. + + +§ 22. Who can love us more than Christ who laid down His life for the +sheep? And yet, after calling Peter and the other Apostles by His word +alone, in the case of Paul, formerly Saul, the great builder of His +Church, but previously its cruel persecutor, He not only constrained him +with His voice, but even dashed him to the earth with His power.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Where is +what they [the Donatists] are accustomed to cry: "To believe or not to +believe is a matter that is free"? Toward whom did Christ use violence? +Whom did He compel? Here they have the Apostle Paul. Let them recognize in +his case Christ's first compelling and afterward teaching; first striking +and afterward consoling. For it is wonderful how he who had been compelled +by bodily punishment entered into the Gospel and afterward labored more in +the Gospel than all they who were called by word only; and the greater +fear compelled him toward love, that perfect love which casts out fear. + +§ 23. Why, therefore, should not the Church compel her lost sons to return +if the lost sons compelled others to perish? Although even men whom they +have not compelled but only led astray, their loving mother embraces with +more affection if they are recalled to her bosom through the enforcement +of terrible but salutary laws, and are the objects of far more deep +congratulation than those whom she has never lost. Is it not a part of the +care of the shepherd, when any sheep have left the flock, even though not +violently forced away, but led astray by soft words and by coaxings, and +they have begun to be possessed by strangers, to bring them back to the +fold of his master when he has found them, by the terrors or even the +pains of the whip, if they wish to resist; especially since, if they +multiply abundantly among the fugitive slaves and robbers, he has the more +right in that the mark of the master is recognized on them, which is not +outraged in those whom we receive but do not baptize?(174) So indeed is +the error of the sheep to be corrected that the sign of the Redeemer shall +not be marred. For if any one is marked with the royal stamp by a +deserter, who has himself been marked with it, and they receive +forgiveness, and the one returns to his service, and the other begins to +be in the service in which he had not yet been, that mark is not effaced +in either of them, but rather it is recognized in both, and approved with +due honor because it is the king's. Since they cannot show that that is +bad to which they are compelled,(175) they maintained that they ought not +to be compelled to the good. But we have shown that Paul was compelled by +Christ; therefore the Church in compelling the Donatists is following the +example of her Lord, though in the first instance she waited in hopes of +not having to compel any, that the prediction might be fulfilled +concerning the faith of kings and peoples. + +§ 24. For in this sense also we may interpret without absurdity the +apostolic declaration when the blessed Apostle Paul says: "Being ready to +revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled" [II Cor. +10:6]. Whence also the Lord himself bids the guests to be brought first to +His great supper, and afterward compelled; for when His servants answered +Him, "Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room," He +said to them: "Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come +in" [Luke 14:22, 23]. In those, therefore, who were first brought in with +gentleness the former obedience is fulfilled, but in those who were +compelled the disobedience is avenged. For what else is the meaning of +"Compel them to come in," after it had previously been said, "Bring in," +and the answer was: "Lord, it is done as Thou commandest, and yet there is +room"? Wherefore if by the power which the Church has received by divine +appointment in its due season, through the religious character and faith +of kings, those who are found in the highways and hedges--that is, in +heresies and schisms--are compelled to come in, then let them not find +fault because they are compelled, but consider to what they are so +compelled. The supper of the Lord, the unity, is of the body of Christ, +not only in the sacrament of the altar but also in the bond of peace. + + +(_f_) Augustine, _Contra epistulam Parmeniani_, II, 13 (29). (MSL, 43:71.) + + + Indelibility of baptism. + + + Parmenianus was the Donatist bishop who succeeded Donatus in the + see of Carthage. The letter here answered was written to + Tychonius, a leading Donatist. In it Parmenianus calls the Church + defiled because it contained unworthy members. The answer of + Augustine was written in 400, many years later. + + +If any one, either a deserter or one who has never served as a soldier, +signs any private person with the military mark, would not he who has +signed be punished as a deserter, when he has been arrested, and so much +the more severely as it could be proved that he had never at all served as +a soldier, and at the same time along with him would not the most impudent +giver of the sign, be punished if he have surrendered him? Or perchance he +takes no military service, but is afraid of the military mark +[_character_] in his body, and he betakes himself to the clemency of the +Emperor, and when he has poured forth prayers and obtained forgiveness, he +then begins to undertake military service, when the man has been liberated +and corrected is that mark [_character_] ever repeated, and not rather is +he not recognized and approved? Would the Christian sacraments by chance +be less enduring than this bodily mark, since we see that apostates do not +lack baptism, and to them it is never given again when they return by +means of penitence, and therefore it is judged not possible to lose it. + + +(_g_) Augustine, _Contra epistulam Manichaei_, ch. 4 (5). (MSL, 42:175.) +_Cf._ Mirbt, n. 132. + + + Authority of the Catholic Church. + + + This work, written in 396 or 397, is important in this connection + as showing the place the Catholic Church took in the mind of + Augustine as an authority and the nature of that authority. + + +Not to speak of that wisdom which you [the Manichaeans] do not believe to +be in the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly +keep me in her bosom. The consent of people and nations keeps me in the +Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, +enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, +beginning from the very seat of Peter the Apostle, to whom the Lord after +His resurrection gave it in charge to feed His sheep down to the present +episcopate. And so lastly does the name itself of Catholic, which not +without reason, amid so many heresies, that Church alone has so retained +that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger +asks where the Catholic Church meets no heretic will venture to point to +his own basilica or house. Since then so many and so great are the very +precious ties belonging to the Christian name which rightly keep a man who +is a believer in the Catholic Church {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} no one shall move me from the faith +which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian +religion. + +Let us see what Manichaeus teaches us; and in particular let us examine +that treatise which you call the Fundamental Epistle in which almost all +that you believe is contained. For in that unhappy time when we read it, +we were called by you enlightened. The epistle begins: "Manichaeus, an +apostle of Jesus Christ, by the providence of God the Father. These are +wholesome words from the perennial and living fountain." Now, if you +please, patiently give heed to my inquiry. I do not believe that he is an +apostle of Christ. Do not, I beg of you, be enraged and begin to curse. +You know that it is my rule not to believe without consideration anything +offered by you. "Wherefore I ask, who is this Manichaeus?" You reply, "An +apostle of Christ." I do not believe it. Now you are at a loss what to say +or do; for you promised to give me knowledge of the truth, and you force +me to believe something I do not know. Perhaps you will read the Gospel to +me, and from it you will attempt to defend the person of Manichaeus. But +should you meet with a person not yet believing the Gospel, what could you +reply to him if he said to you: "I do not believe"? For my part I should +not believe the Gospel except the authority of the Catholic Church moved +me. So then I have assented to them when they say to me, "Believe the +Gospel"; why should I not assent to them saying to me: "Do not believe the +Manichaeans"? + + +§ 84. The Pelagian Controversy + + +The Pelagian controversy, in which the characteristic teaching of +Augustine found its best expression, may be divided into three periods. In +the first period, beginning about 411, Pelagius and Caelestius, who had +been teaching at Rome unmolested since 400 and had come to Carthage, +probably on account of the barbarian attack upon Rome, are opposed at +Carthage, and six propositions attributed to Caelestius are condemned at a +council there, where he attempted to be ordained. Caelestius leaves for the +East and is ordained at Ephesus, 412, and Pelagius soon after follows him. +In the second period, 415-417, the controversy is in the East as well as +in the West, as Augustine by letters to Jerome gave warning about +Pelagius, and councils are held at Jerusalem and Diospolis, where Pelagius +is acquitted of heresy. This was probably due as much to the general +sympathy of the Eastern theologians with his doctrine as to any alleged +misrepresentation by Pelagius. But in North Africa synods are also held +condemning Pelagius, and their findings are approved by Innocent of Rome. +But Pelagius and Caelestius send confessions of faith to Zosimus (417-418), +Innocent's successor, who reproves the Africans and acquits Pelagius and +Caelestius as entirely sound. In the third period, 417-431, the attack on +Pelagius is taken up at Rome itself by some of the clergy, and an imperial +edict is obtained against the Pelagians. Zosimus changes his opinion and +approves the findings of a general council called at Carthage in 418, in +which the doctrines of original sin and the need of grace are asserted. +The last act of the controversy in its earlier form, after the deposition +of the leading Pelagians, among them Julian, of Eclanum, their theologian, +is the condemnation of Pelagius at the Council of Ephesus, in 431. _V. +infra_, § 89. + + + Additional source material: See A. Bruckner, _Quellen zur + Geschichte des pelagianischen Streites_ (in Latin), in Krueger's + _Quellenschriften_, Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1906. The principal + works of Augustine bearing on the Pelagian controversy may be + found in PNF, ser. I, vol. V. + + +(_a_) Augustine, _Ep. 146, ad Pelagium_. (MSL, 33:596.) + + + This was probably written before the controversy. As to its use + later, see Augustine, _De gestis Pelagii_, chs. 51 (26) _f._ (PNF) + + +I thank you very much that you have been so kind as to make me glad by +your letter informing me of your welfare. May the Lord recompense you with +those blessings that you forever be good and may live eternally with Him +who is eternal, my lord greatly beloved and brother greatly longed for. +Although I do not acknowledge that anything in me deserves the eulogies +which the letter of your benevolence contains about me, I cannot, however, +be ungrateful for the good-will therein manifested toward one so +insignificant, while suggesting at the same time that you should rather +pray for me that I may be made by the Lord such as you suppose me already +to be. + + +(_b_) Augustine. _De Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione et de Baptismo +Parvulorum_. (MSL, 44:185, 188.) + + + Augustine's testimony as to the character of Pelagius. + + + This work was written in 412, after the condemnation of Caelestius + at Carthage. It was the first in the series of polemical writings + against the teaching of Pelagius. The first book is especially + important as a statement of Augustine's position as to the nature + of justifying grace. + + + It should be recalled that Pelagius was a monk of exemplary life, + and a zealous preacher of morality. It may be said that in him the + older moralistic tendency in theology was embodied in opposition + to the new religious spirit of Augustine. _Cf._ Bruckner, _op. + cit._, n. 4. + + +III. 1. However, within the last few days I have read some writings of +Pelagius, a holy man, as I hear, who has made no small progress in the +Christian life, and these writings contain very brief expositions of the +Epistles of Paul the Apostle.(176) + +III. 3. But we must not omit that this good and praiseworthy man (as they +who know him describe him as being) has not advanced this argument against +the natural transmission of sin in his own person. + + +(_c_) Pelagius, _Fragments_, in Augustine's _De Gratia Christi et de +Peccato Originali_. (MSL, 44:364, 379.) + + + The teaching of Pelagius can be studied not only in his opponent's + statements but in his own words. These are to be found in his + commentary (see note to previous selection), and also in fragments + found in Augustine's writings and several minor pieces (see + below). + + +I. 7. Very ignorant persons think that we do wrong in this matter to +divine grace, because we say that it by no means perfects sanctity in us +without our will: as if God could impose any commands upon His grace and +would not supply also the help of His grace to those to whom He has given +commands, so that men might more easily accomplish through grace what they +are required to do by their free will. And this grace we do not for our +part, as you suppose, allow to consist merely in the law, but also in the +help of God. God helps us by His teaching and revelation when He opens the +eyes of our heart; when He points out to us the future, that we may not be +absorbed in the present; when He discovers to us the snares of the devil; +when He enlightens us with manifold and ineffable gifts of heavenly grace. +Does the man who says this appear to you to be a denier of grace? Does he +not acknowledge both man's free will and God's grace? + +I. 39. Speaking of the text Rom. 7:23: "But I see another law in my +members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into +captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." + +Now what you [_i.e._, Augustine, whom he is addressing] wish us to +understand of the Apostle himself, all Church writers assert that he spoke +in the person of the sinner, and of one still under the law, who by reason +of very long custom of vice was held bound, as it were, by a certain +necessity of sinning, and who, although he desired good with his will in +practice, indeed, was driven into evil. In the person, however, of one man +the Apostle designates the people who sinned still under the ancient law, +and this people, he declares, are to be delivered from this evil of custom +through Christ, who first of all remits all sins in baptism, to those who +believe on Him, and then by an imitation of Himself incites them to +perfect holiness, and by the example of virtues overcomes the evil custom +of sins. + + +(_d_) Pelagius, _Epistula ad Demetriadem_. (MSL, 33:1100 _ff._) + + + This epistle, from which selections are given, was written + probably about 412 or 413. As it gives a statement of the teaching + of Pelagius in his own words, it is of especial historical + interest. Demetrias was a virgin, and probably under the spiritual + direction of Pelagius, though little is known of her. Text in + Bruckner, _op. cit._, n. 56. + + +Ch. 2. As often as I have to speak of the principles of virtue and a holy +life, I am accustomed first of all to call attention to the capacity and +character of human nature, and to show what it is able to accomplish; then +from this to arouse the feelings of the hearer, that he may strive after +different kinds of virtue, that he may permit himself to be roused to acts +which perhaps he had regarded as impossible. For we are quite unable to +travel the way of virtue if hope does not accompany us. For all attempts +to accomplish anything cease if one is in doubt whether he will attain the +goal. This order of exhortation I follow in other minor writings and in +this case also. I believe it must be kept especially in mind where the +good of nature needs to be set forth the more in detail as the life is to +be more perfectly formed, that the spirit may not be more neglectful and +slow in its striving after virtue, as it believes itself to have the less +ability, and when it is ignorant of what is within it, think that it does +not possess it. + +Ch. 3. One must be careful to see to it that {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} one does not think that a +man is not made good because he can do evil and is not compelled to an +immutable necessity of doing good through the might of nature. For if you +diligently consider it and turn your mind to the subtler understanding of +the matter, the better and superior position of man will appear in that +from which his inferior condition was inferred. But just in this freedom +in either direction, in this liberty toward either side, is placed the +glory of our rational nature. Therein, I say, consists the entire honor of +our nature, therein its dignity; from this the very good merit praise, +from this their reward. For there would be for those who always remain +good no virtue if they had not been able to have chosen the evil. For +since God wished to present to the rational creature the gift of voluntary +goodness and the power of the free will, by planting in man the +possibility of turning himself toward either side, He made His special +gift the ability to be what he would be in order that he, being capable of +good and evil, could do either and could turn his will to either of them. + +Ch. 8. We defend the advantage of nature not in the sense that we say it +cannot do evil, since we declare that it is capable of good and evil; we +only protect it from reproach. It should not appear as if we were driven +to evil by a disease of nature, we who do neither good nor bad without our +will, and to whom there is always freedom to do one of two things, since +always we are able to do both.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Nothing else makes it difficult for us to +do good than long custom of sinning which has infected us since we were +children, and has gradually corrupted us for many years, so that afterward +it holds us bound to it and delivered over to it, so that it almost seems +as if it had the same force as nature. + +If before the Law, as we are told, and long before the appearance of the +Redeemer, various persons can be named who lived just and holy lives, how +much more after His appearance must we believe that we are able to do the +same, we who have been taught through Christ's grace, and born again to be +better men; and we who by His blood have been reconciled and purified, and +by His example incited to more perfect righteousness, ought to be better +than they who were before the Law, better than they who were under the +law. + + +(_e_) Marius Mercator, _Commonitorium super nomine Caelestii_, ch. 1. (MSL, +48:67.) _Cf._ Kirch, nn. 737 _ff._ + + + The Council of Carthage and the opinions of Caelestius condemned at + that council, 411. + + + Marius Mercator, a friend and supporter of Augustine, was one of + the most determined opponents of Pelagianism, as also of + Nestorianism. His dates are not well determined. In 418 he sent + works to Augustine to be examined by the latter, and he seems to + have lived until after the Council of Chalcedon, 451. The work + from which the selection is taken was written, 429, in Greek, and + translated and republished in Latin, 431 or 432. With the + following should be compared Augustine's _De Gratia Christi et + Peccato Originali_, II, 2_f._, and _Ep._ 175:6; 157:3, 22. + + +A certain Caelestius, a eunuch from his mother's womb, a disciple and +auditor of Pelagius, left Rome about twenty years ago and came to +Carthage, the metropolis of all Africa, and there he was accused of the +following heads before Aurelius, bishop of that city, by a complaint from +a certain Paulinus, a deacon of Bishop Ambrose of Milan, of sacred memory, +as the record of the acts stands in which the same complaint is inserted +(a copy of the acts of the council we have in our hands) that he not only +taught this himself, but also sent in different directions throughout the +provinces those who agreed with him to disseminate among the people these +things, that is: + +1. Adam was made mortal and would have died whether he had sinned or had +not sinned. + +2. The sin of Adam injured himself alone, and not the human race. + +3. New-born children are in that state in which Adam was before his fall. + +4. Neither by the death and sin of Adam does the whole race die, nor by +the resurrection of Christ does the whole race rise. + +5. The Law leads to the kingdom of heaven as well as the Gospel. + +6. Even before the coming of the Lord there were men without sin. + + +(_f_) Pelagius. _Confessio fidei_. (MSL, 45:1716 _f._) Hahn, § 209. + + + The confession of faith addressed to Innocent of Rome, but + actually laid before Zosimus, in 417, consists of an admirably + orthodox statement of the doctrine of the Trinity and of the + incarnation, an expansion of the Nicene formula with reference to + perversions of the faith by various heretics, and in conclusion a + statement of Pelagius's own opinions regarding free will, grace, + and sin. It is due to the irony of history that it should have + been found among the works of both Jerome and Augustine, long + passed current as a composition of Augustine, _Sermo CCXXXVI_, and + should have been actually quoted by the Sorbonne, in 1521, in its + articles against Luther. It also appears in the _Libri Carolini_, + III, 1, as an orthodox exposition of the faith. The passages which + bear upon the characteristic Pelagian doctrine are here given. + Fragments of the confessions of other Pelagians, _e.g._, + Caelestius, and Julius of Eclanum, are found in Hahn, §§ 210 and + 211. For the proceedings in the East, see Hefele, § 118. + + +We hold that there is one baptism, which we assert is to be administered +to children in the same words of the sacrament as it is administered to +adults.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +We execrate also the blasphemy of those who say that anything impossible +to do is commanded man by God, and the commands of God can be observed, +not by individuals but by all in common, also those who with the +Manichaeans condemn first marriages or with the Cataphrygians condemn +second marriages.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} We so confess the will is free that we say that we +always need the aid of God, and they err who with the Manichaeans assert +that man cannot avoid sins as well as those who with Jovinan say that man +cannot sin; for both take away the liberty of the will. But we say that +man can both sin and not sin, so that we confess that we always have free +will. + + +(_g_) Augustine, _Sermo_ 131. (MSL, 38:734.) _Cf._ Kirch, n. 672. + + + _Causa finita est._ + + + Late in 416 synods were held in Carthage and Mileve condemning + Pelagianism. On January 27, 417, Innocent wrote to the Africans, + approving their councils and condemning Pelagianism, incidentally + stating the supreme authority of the Roman See and requiring that + nothing should ever be definitively settled without consulting the + Apostolic See (text of passage in Denziger. ed. 1911, n. 100). + September 23 of the same year, about the time when Pelagius and + Caelestius were at Rome with Zosimus seeking to rehabilitate + themselves in the West, Augustine delivered a sermon in which he + made the following statement. It is the basis of the famous phrase + _Roma locuta, causa finita est_, a saying which is apocryphal, + however, and not found in the works of Augustine. + + +What, therefore, is said concerning the Jews, that we see in them [_i.e._, +the Pelagians]. They have the zeal for God; I bear witness, that they have +a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Why is it not according to +knowledge? Because, being ignorant of the justice of God and wishing to +establish their own, they are not subject to the righteousness of God +[Rom. 10:2 _f._]. My brethren, have patience with me. + +When you find such, do not conceal them, let there be not false mercy in +you. Most certainly when you find such, do not conceal them. Refute those +contradicting, and those resisting bring to me. For already two councils +about this case have been sent to the Apostolic See, whence also rescripts +have come. The case has been ended; would that the error might some time +end! Therefore let us warn them that they pay attention; let us teach them +that they may be instructed; let us pray that they may be changed. + + +(_h_) Zosimus, III _Ep. ad Episcopos Africae de causa Caelestii_ A. D. 417. +(MSL, 45:1721.) _Cf._ Bruckner, _op. cit._, n. 28. + + + Fragments of his later _Epistula tractoria_ together with other + letters may be found in Bruckner, _op. cit._ + + +Likewise Pelagius sent letters also containing an extended justification +of himself, to which he added a profession of his faith, what he condemned +and what he followed, without any dissimulation, so that all subtilities +of interpretation might be avoided. There was a public recitation of +these. They contained all things like those which Caelestius had previously +presented and expressed in the same sense and drawn up in the same +thoughts. Would that some of you, dearest brethren, could have been +present at the reading of the letters. What was the joy of the holy men +who were present; what was the admiration of each of them! Some of them +could scarcely restrain themselves from tears and weeping, that such men +of absolutely correct faith could have been suspected. Was there a single +place in which the grace of God or his aid was omitted? + + +(_i_) Council of Carthage, A. D. 418, _Canons_. Bruns, I, 188. + + + These canons of the Council of Carthage, A. D. 418, were + incorporated in the _Codex Canon Ecclesiae Africanae_ adopted at the + Council of Carthage A. D. 419. The numbers given in brackets are + the numbers in that Codex. Interprovincial councils were known in + North Africa as "general councils." + + +In the consulate of the most glorious emperors, Honorius for the twelfth +time and Theodosius for the eighth, on the calends of May, at Carthage in +the Secretarium of the Basilica of Faustus, when Bishop Aurelius presided +over the general council, the deacons standing by, it pleased all the +bishops, whose names and subscriptions are indicated, met together in the +holy synod of the church of Carthage: + +1 [109]. That whosoever should say that Adam, the first man, was created +mortal, so that whether he had sinned or not, he would have died in the +body--that is, he would have gone forth of the body, not because of the +desert [or merit] of sin, but by natural necessity, let him be anathema. + +2 [110]. Likewise that whosoever denies that infants newly from their +mother's womb should be baptized, or says that baptism is for remission of +sins, but that they derive from Adam no original sin, which is removed by +the layer of regeneration, whence the conclusion follows that in them the +form of baptism for the remission of sins is to be understood as false and +not true, let him be anathema. + +For not otherwise can be understood what the Apostle says, "By one man sin +has come into the world,(177) and so it passed upon all men in that all +have sinned," than as the Catholic Church everywhere diffused has always +understood it. For on account of this rule of faith, even infants, who +could have committed no sin themselves, therefore are truly baptized for +the remission of sins, in order that what in them is the result of +generation may be cleansed by regeneration. + +3 [111]. Likewise, that whoever should say that the grace of God, by which +a man is justified through Jesus Christ our Lord, avails only for the +remission of past sins, and not for assistance against committing sins in +the future, let him be anathema. + +4 [112]. Also, whoever shall say that the same grace of God through Jesus +Christ our Lord helps us not to sin only in that by it are revealed to us +and opened to our understanding the commandments, so that we may know what +to seek, what we ought to avoid, and also that we should love to do so, +but that through it we are not helped so that we are able to do what we +know we should do, let him be anathema. For when the Apostle says, "Wisdom +puffeth up, but charity edifieth," it were truly infamous were we to +believe that we have the grace of Christ for that which puffeth us up, but +have it not for that which edifieth, since each is the gift of God, both +to know what we ought to do, and to love it so as to do it; so that wisdom +cannot puff us up while charity is edifying us. For as it is written of +God, "Who teacheth man knowledge," so also it is written, "Love is of +God." + +5 [113]. It seemed good that whosoever should say that the grace of +justification is given to us only that we might be able more readily by +grace to perform what we were commanded to do through our free will; as if +when grace was not given, although not easily, yet nevertheless we could +even without grace fulfil the divine commandments, let him be anathema. +For the Lord spake concerning the fruits of the commandments, when he +said, "Without me ye can do nothing," and not "Without me ye can do it but +with difficulty." + +6 [114]. It seemed also good that as St. John the Apostle says, "If ye +shall say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not +in us"; whosoever thinks that this should be so understood as to mean that +out of humility we ought to say that we have sin, and not because it is +really so, let him be anathema. For the Apostle goes on to add, "But if we +confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to +cleanse us from all iniquity," where it is sufficiently clear that this is +said not only in humility but also in truth. For the Apostle might have +said, "If we shall say we have no sins we shall extol ourselves, and +humility is not in us"; but when he says, "we deceive ourselves and the +truth is not in us," he sufficiently intimates that he who affirmed that +he had no sin would speak not that which is true but that which is false. + +7 [115]. It has seemed good that whosoever should say that when in the +Lord's Prayer, the saints say, "Forgive us our trespasses," they say this +not for themselves, because they have no need of this petition, but for +the rest who are sinners of the people; and that therefore none of the +saints can say, "Forgive me my trespasses," but "Forgive us our +trespasses"; so that the just is understood to seek this for others rather +than for himself, let him be anathema. + +8 [116]. Likewise it seemed good, that whosoever asserts that these words +of the Lord's Prayer when they say, "Forgive us our trespasses," are said +by the saints out of humility and not in truth, let them be anathema. + + + The following canon, although it seems to have been enacted for + the case of Apiarius, is nevertheless often cited in the same + connection as the eight against Pelagius, and is therefore given + here for the sake of convenience. + + +18 [125]. Likewise, it seemed good that presbyters, deacons, or other of +the lower clergy who are to be tried, if they question the decision of +their bishops, the neighboring bishops having been invited by them with +the consent of their bishops shall hear them and determine whatever +separates them. But should they think that an appeal should be carried +from them, let them not carry the appeal except to African councils or to +the primates of their provinces. But whoso shall think of carrying an +appeal across the seas, shall be admitted to communion by no one in +Africa.(178) + + +§ 85. Semi-Pelagian Controversy + + +With the condemnation of Pelagianism the doctrine of Augustine in its +logically worked out details was not necessarily approved. The necessity +of baptism for the remission of sins in all cases was approved as well as +the necessity of grace. The doctrine of predestination, an essential +feature in the Augustinian system, was not only not accepted but was +vigorously opposed by many who heartily condemned Pelagianism. The ensuing +discussion, known as the Semi-Pelagian controversy (427-529), was largely +carried on in Gaul, which after the Vandal occupation of North Africa, +became the intellectual centre of the Church in the West. The leading +opponent of Augustine was John Cassian (ob. 435), abbot of a monastery at +Marseilles, hence the term Massilians applied to his party, and his pupil, +Vincent of Lerins, author of _Commonitorium_, written 434. The chief +Augustinians were Hilary and Prosper of Aquitaine. The discussion was not +continuous. About 475 it broke out again when Lucidus was condemned at a +council at Lyons and forced to retract his predestinarian views; and again +about 520. The matter received what is regarded as its solution in the +Council of Orange, 529, confirmed by Boniface II in 531. By the decrees of +this council so much of the Augustinian system as could be combined with +the teaching and practice of the Church as to the sacraments was formally +approved. + + +(_a_) John Cassian. _Collationes_, XIII. 7 _ff._ (MSL, 49:908.) + + + John Cassian, born about 360, was by birth and education a man of + the East, and does not appear in the West until 405, when he went + to Rome on some business connected with the exile of Chrysostom, + his friend and patron. In 415 he established two monasteries at + Marseilles, one for men and the other for women. He had himself + been educated as a monk and made a careful study of monasticism in + Egypt and Palestine. Western monasticism is much indebted to him + for his writings. _De Institutis Coenobiorum_ and the + _Collationes_. In the former, he describes the monastic system of + Palestine and Egypt and the principal vices to which the monastic + life is liable; in the latter, divided into three parts, Cassian + gives reports or what purports to be reports of conversations he + and his friend Germanus had with Egyptian ascetics. These books + were very popular during the Middle Ages and exerted a wide + influence. + + +Ch. 7. When His [God's] kindness sees in us even the very smallest spark +of good-will shining forth or which He himself has, as it were, struck out +from the hard flints of our hearts, He fans it and fosters it and nurses +it with His breath, as He "will have all men to be saved and to come unto +the knowledge of the truth" [I Tim. 2:4].{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} For He is true and lieth not +when He lays down with an oath: "As I live, saith the Lord, I will not the +death of a sinner, but that he should turn from his way and live" [Ezek. +33:11]. For if he willeth not that one of His little ones should perish, +how can we think without grievous blasphemy that He willeth not all men +universally, but only some instead of all be saved. Those then who perish, +perish against His will, as He testifieth against each of them day by day: +"Turn from your evil ways for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" [Ezek. +33:11] {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The grace of Christ is then at hand every day, which, while it +"willeth all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth," +calleth all without exception, saying: "Come all unto me all ye that labor +and are heavy laden and I will give you rest" [Matt. 11:28]. But if he +calls not all generally but only some, it follows that not all are heavy +laden with either original sin or actual sin, and that this saying is not +a true one: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" [Rom. +3:23]; nor can we believe that "death passed on all men" [Rom. 5:12]. And +so far do all who perish, perish against the will of God, that God cannot +be said to have made death, as the Scripture itself testifieth: "For God +made not death, neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living" +[Wisdom 1:13]. + +Ch. 8. When He sees anything of good-will arisen in us He at once +enlightens it and strengthens it and urges it on to salvation, giving +increase to that which He himself implanted or He sees to have arisen by +our own effort. + +Ch. 9. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But that it may be still more evident that through the good of +nature, which is bestowed by the kindness of the Creator, sometimes the +beginnings of a good-will arise, yet cannot come to the completion of +virtue unless they are directed by the Lord, the Apostle is a witness, +saying: "For to will is present with me, but to perform what is good I +find not" [Rom. 7:18]. + +Ch. 11. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} If we say that the beginnings of a good-will are always inspired +in us by the grace of God, what shall we say about the faith of Zacchaeus, +or of the piety of that thief upon the cross, who by their own desire +brought violence to bear upon the Kingdom of Heaven, and so anticipated +the special leadings of their callings?{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 12. We should not hold that God made man such that he neither wills +nor is able to do good. Otherwise He has not granted him a free will, if +He has suffered him only to will or be capable of evil, but of himself +neither to will nor be capable of what is good.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} It cannot, therefore, be +doubted that there are by nature seeds of goodness implanted in every soul +by the kindness of the Creator; but unless these are quickened by the +assistance of God, they will not be able to attain to an increase of +perfection; for, as the blessed Apostle says: "Neither is he that planteth +anything nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase" [I Cor. +3:7]. But that freedom of will is to some degree in a man's power is very +clearly taught in the book called _The Pastor_,(179) where two angels are +said to be attached to each one of us, _i.e._ a good and a bad one, while +it lies in a man's own option to choose which to follow. And, therefore, +the will always remains free in man, and it can either neglect or delight +in the grace of God. For the Apostle would not have commanded, saying, +"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" [Phil. 2:12], had he +not known that it could be advanced or neglected by us.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But that they +should not think that they did not need divine aid he adds: "For it is God +who worketh in you both to will and accomplish His good pleasure" [Phil. +2:13]. The mercy of the Lord, therefore, goes before the will of man, for +it is said, "My God will prevent me with His mercy" [Psalm 59:10], and +again, that He may put our desire to the test, our will goes before God +who waits, and for our good delays. + + +(_b_) Vincent of Lerins, _Commonitorium_, chs. 2, 23, 26, (MSL, 50:659.) + + + The rule of Catholic verity. + + + Vincent of Lerins wrote his _Commonitorium_ in 434, three years + after the death of Augustine, who had been commended in 432 to the + clergy of Gaul by Celestine of Rome [_Ep._ 21; Denziger, nn. + 128-142; Mansi IV, 454 _ff._]. Vincent attacked Augustine in his + _Commonitorium_, not openly, but, so far as the work has been + preserved, covertly, under the pseudonym of Peregrinus. The work + consists of two books, of which the second is lost with the + exception of what appear to be some concluding chapters, or a + summary taking the place of the book. In the first book he lays + down the general principle as to the tests of Catholic truth. In + doing so he is careful to point out several cases of very great + teachers, renowned for learning, ability, and influence, who, + nevertheless, erred against the test of Catholic truth, and + brought forward opinions which, on account of their novelty, were + false. It is a working out in detail of the principles of the idea + of Tertullian in his _De Proescriptione_ [_v. supra_, § 27]. The + Augustinian doctrines of predestination and grace could not stand + the test of the appeal to antiquity. After laying down his test of + truth it appears to have been the author's intention to prove + thereby the doctrine of Augustine false. The so-called "Vincentian + rule" is often quoted without a thought that it was intended, + primarily, as an attack upon Augustine. The _Commonitorium_ may be + found translated in PNF, ser. II, vol. XI. + + +Ch. 2 [4]. I have often inquired earnestly and attentively of very many +men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and, so to +speak, universal rule I might be able to distinguish the truth of the +Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical pravity, and I have always, +and from nearly all, received an answer to this effect: That whether I or +any one else should wish to detect the frauds of heretics as they arise, +or to avoid their snares, and to continue sound and complete in the faith, +we must, the Lord helping, fortify our faith in two ways: first, by the +authority of the divine Law, and then, by the tradition of the Catholic +Church. + +But here some one, perhaps, will ask: Since the canon of Scripture is +complete and sufficient for everything, and more than sufficient, what +need is there to add to it the authority of the Church's interpretation? +For this reason: because, owing to the depth of Holy Scripture, all do not +accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words one +way, another in another way; so that almost as many opinions may be drawn +from it as there are men.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Therefore it is very necessary, on account of +so great intricacies, and of such various errors, that the rule of a right +understanding of the prophets and Apostles should be framed in accordance +with the standard of ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation. + +Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself all possible care should be taken +that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by +all. For that is truly and properly "Catholic" which, as the name implies +and the reason of the thing declares, comprehends all universally. This +will be the case if we follow universality, antiquity, and consent. We +shall follow universality in this way, if we confess that one faith to be +true which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if +we in nowise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were +notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent in like +manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions +and determinations of all, or at least almost all, priests and doctors. + +Ch. 23 [59]. The Church of Christ, the careful and watchful guardian of +the doctrines deposited in her charge, never changes anything in them, +never diminishes, never adds; does not cut off what is necessary, does not +add what is superfluous, does not lose her own, does not appropriate what +is another's, but, while dealing faithfully and judiciously with ancient +doctrine, keeps this one object carefully in view--if there be anything +which antiquity has left shapeless and rudimentary, to fashion and to +polish it; if anything already reduced to shape and developed, to +consolidate and strengthen it; if any already ratified and defined, to +keep and guard it. Finally, what other objects have councils ever aimed at +in their decrees, than to provide that what was before believed in +simplicity, should in the future be believed intelligently; that what was +before preached coldly, should in the future be preached earnestly; that +what before was practised negligently, should henceforth be practised with +double solicitude? + + + Passage referring especially to Augustine. + + +Ch. 26 [69]. But what do they say? "If thou be the Son of God, cast +thyself down"; that is, "If thou wouldest be a son of God, and wouldest +receive the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, cast thyself down; that +is, cast thyself down from the doctrine and tradition of that sublime +Church, which is imagined to be nothing less than the very temple of God." +And if one should ask one of the heretics who gives this advice: How do +you prove it? What ground have you for saying that I ought to cast away +the universal and ancient faith of the Catholic Church? he has only the +answer ready: "For it is written"; and forthwith he produces a thousand +testimonies, a thousand examples, a thousand authorities from the Law, +from the Psalms, from the Apostles, from the prophets, by means of which, +interpreted on a new and wrong principle, the unhappy soul is precipitated +from the height of Catholic truth to the lowest abyss of heresy. Then with +the accompanying promises, the heretics are wont marvellously to beguile +the incautious. For they dare to teach and promise that in their church, +that is, in the conventicle of their communion, there is a certain great +and special and altogether personal grace of God, so that whosoever +pertain to their number, without any labor, without any effort, without +any industry, even though they neither ask, nor seek, nor knock,(180) have +such a dispensation from God, that borne up of angel hands, that is, +preserved by the protection of angels, it is impossible they should ever +dash their feet against a stone, that is, that they should ever be +offended. + + +(_c_) Council of Orange, A. D. 529, _Canons_. Bruns II, 176. _Cf._ +Denziger, n. 174. + + + The end of the Semi-Pelagian controversy. + + + The Council of Orange, A. D. 529, was made up of several bishops + and some lay notables who had gathered for the dedication of a + church at Orange. Caesarius of Arles had received from Felix IV of + Rome eight statements against the Semi-Pelagian teaching. He added + some more of his own to them, and had them passed as canons by the + company gathered for the dedication. It is noteworthy that the lay + notables signed along with the bishops. Boniface II, to whom the + canons were sent, confirmed them in 532: "We approve your above + written confession as agreeable to the Catholic rule of the + Fathers." _Cf._ Hefele, § 242. For the sources of the canons, see + Seeberg, _History of Doctrines_, Eng. trans., I, 380, note 3. For + the sake of brevity the scriptural quotations are not given, + merely indicated by references to the Bible. + + +Canon 1. Whoever says that by the offence of the disobedience of Adam not +the entire man, that is, in body and soul, was changed for the worse, but +that the freedom of his soul remained uninjured, and his body only was +subject to corruption, has been deceived by the error of Pelagius and +opposes Scripture [Ezek. 18:20; Rom. 6:16; II Peter 2:19]. + +Canon 2. Whoever asserts that the transgression of Adam injured himself +only, and not his offspring, or that death only of the body, which is the +penalty of sin, but not also sin, which is the death of the soul, passed +by one man to the entire human race, wrongs God and contradicts the +Apostle [Rom. 5:12]. + +Canon 3. Whoever says that the grace of God can be bestowed in reply to +human petition, but not that the grace brings it about so that it is asked +for by us, contradicts Isaiah the prophet and the Apostle [Is. 65:1; Rom. +10:20]. + +Canon 4. Whoever contends that our will, to be set free from sin, may +anticipate God's action, and shall not confess that it is brought about by +the infusion of the Holy Spirit and his operation in us, that we wish to +be set free, resists that same Holy Spirit speaking through Solomon: "The +will is prepared by the Lord" [Proverbs 8:35, _cf._ LXX; not so in Vulgate +or Heb.], and the Apostle [Phil. 2:13]. + +Canon 5. Whoever says the increase, as also the beginning of faith and the +desire of believing, by which we believe in Him who justifies the impious, +and we come to the birth of holy baptism, is not by the free gift of +grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit turning our will +from unbelief to belief, from impiety to piety, but belongs naturally to +us, is declared an adversary of the apostolic preaching [Phil. 1:6; Ephes. +2:8]. For they say that faith by which we believe in God is natural, and +they declare that all those who are strangers to the Church of Christ in +some way are believing. + +Canon 6. Whoever says that to us who, without the grace of God, believe, +will, desire, attempt, struggle for, watch, strive for, demand, ask, +knock, mercy is divinely bestowed, and does not rather confess that it is +brought about by the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit in us +that believe, will, and do all these other things as we ought, and annexes +the help of grace to human humility and obedience, and does not admit that +it is the gift of that same grace that we are obedient and humble, opposes +the Apostle [I Cor. 4:7]. + +Canon 7. Whoever asserts that by the force of nature we can rightly think +or choose anything good, which pertains to eternal life, or be saved, that +is, assent to the evangelical preaching, without the illumination of the +Holy Spirit, who gives to all grace to assent to and believe the truth, is +deceived by an heretical spirit, not understanding the voice of the Lord +[John 15:5], and of the Apostle [II Cor. 3:5]. + +Canon 8. Whoever asserts that some by mercy, others by free will, which in +all who have been born since the transgression of the first man is +evidently corrupt, are able to come to the grace of baptism, is proved an +alien from the faith. For he asserts that the free will of all has not +been weakened by the sin of the first man, or he evidently thinks that it +has been so injured that some, however, are able without the revelation of +God to attain, by their own power, to the mystery of eternal salvation. +Because the Lord himself shows how false this is, who declares that not +some, but no one was able to come to Him unless the Father drew him [John +6:4], and said so to Peter [Matt. 16:17] and the Apostle [I Cor. 12:3]. + + + The canons that follow are less important. The whole concludes + with a brief statement regarding the points at issue, as follows: + + +And so according to the above sentences of the Holy Scriptures and +definitions of ancient Fathers, by God's aid, we believe that we ought to +believe and preach: + +That by the sin of the first man, free will was so turned aside and +weakened that afterward no one is able to love God as he ought, or believe +in God, or do anything for God, which is good, except the grace of divine +mercy comes first to him [Phil. 1:6, 29; Ephes. 2:8; I Cor. 4:7, 7:25; +James 1:17; John 3:27].{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +We also believe this to be according to the Catholic faith, that grace +having been received in baptism, all who have been baptized, can and +ought, by the aid and support of Christ, to perform those things which +belong to the salvation of the soul, if they labor faithfully. + +But not only do we not believe that some have been predestinated to evil +by the divine power, but also, if there are any who wish to believe so +evil a thing, we say to them, with all detestation, anathema. + +Also this we profitably confess and believe, that in every good we do not +begin and afterward are assisted by the mercy of God, but without any good +desert preceding, He first inspires in us faith and love in Him, so that +we both faithfully seek the sacrament of baptism, and after baptism with +His help are able to perform those things which are pleasing to Him. +Whence it is most certainly to be believed that in the case of that thief, +whom the Lord called to the fatherland of paradise, and Cornelius the +Centurion, to whom an angel of the Lord was sent, and Zacchaeus, who was +worthy of receiving the Lord himself, their so wonderful faith was not of +nature, but was the gift of the divine bounty. + +And because we desire and wish our definition of the ancient Fathers, +written above, to be a medicine not only for the clergy but also for the +laity, it has been decided that the illustrious and noble men, who have +assembled with us at the aforesaid festival, shall subscribe it with their +own hand. + + +§ 86. The Roman Church as the Centre of the Catholic Roman Element of the +West + + +In the confusion of the fifth century, when the provinces of the Roman +Empire were being lopped off one by one, Italy invaded, and the larger +political institutions disappearing, the Church was the one institution +that maintained itself. In not a few places among the barbarians the +bishops became the acknowledged heads of the Roman element of the +communities. In meeting the threatened invasion of Italy by Attila, Leo +was the representative of the Roman people, the head of the embassy sent +to induce the Hun to recross the Danube. Under such circumstances the see +of Rome constantly gained in importance politically and ecclesiastically. +As a centre of unity it was far more powerful than a feeble emperor at +Ravenna or puppets set up by barbarians. It was the one and only great +link between the provinces and the representative of the ancient order. It +represented Rome, an efficient and generally gratefully recognized +authority. In the development of the papal idea the first stadium was +completed with the pontificate of Leo the Great (440-461), who, fully +conscious of the inherited Petrine prerogatives, expressed them the most +clearly, persistently, and, on the whole, most successfully of any pontiff +before Gregory the Great. Leo, therefore, stands at the end of a +development marked by the utterances of Victor, Cornelius, Siricius, +Innocent I, Zosimus, Boniface I, and Celestine. For their statements of +the authority of the Roman see, see Denziger, under their names, also +Kirch and Mirbt. The whole may be found combined in one statement in +Schwanne, _Dogmengeschichte_, I, 413 _f._; II, 661-698. + + + Additional source material: In English there is comparatively + little except the writings of Leo, see especially _Sermones_ 2, + 82, 84; _Epistulae_ 4, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 105, 167; Jerome, + _Ep._ 146, _ad Evangelum_. Kirch, Mirbt, and Denziger give many + references to original texts and citations. + + +(_a_) Leo the Great, _Sermo_ 3. (MSL, 55:145 _f._) + + + On the prerogatives of Peter and his see. + + +Ch. 2. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} From His overruling and eternal providence we have received also +the support of the Apostle's aid, which assuredly does not cease from its +operation; and the strength of the foundation, on which the whole lofty +building of the Church is reared, is not weakened by the weight of the +temple that rests upon it. For the solidity of that faith which was +praised in the chief of the Apostles is perpetual; and, as that remains +which Peter believed in Christ, so that remains which Christ instituted in +Peter. For when, as has been read in the Gospel lesson [_i.e._, for the +day], the Lord has asked the disciples whom they believed Him to be, amid +the various opinions that were held, the blessed Peter replied, saying: +"Thou art the Christ," etc. [Matt. 16:16-19]. + +Ch. 3. The dispensation of the truth therefore abides, and the blessed +Peter, persevering in the strength of the rock which he has received, has +not abandoned the helm of the Church which he undertook. For he was +ordained before the rest in such a way that since he is called the rock, +since he is pronounced the foundation, since he is constituted the +doorkeeper of the kingdom of heaven, since he is set up as the judge to +bind and to loose, whose judgments shall retain their validity in heaven, +from all these mystical titles we might know the nature of his association +with Christ. And still to-day he more fully and effectually performs what +is intrusted to him, and carries out every part of his duty and charge in +Him and with Him, through whom he has been glorified. And so if anything +is rightly done or rightly decreed by us, if anything is obtained from the +mercy of God by daily supplications, it is his work and merits whose power +lives in his see and whose authority excels. For this, dearly beloved, +that confession gained, that confession which, inspired in the Apostle's +heart by God the Father, transcends all the uncertainty of human opinions, +and was endued with the firmness of a rock, which no assaults could shake. +For throughout the Church Peter daily says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son +of the living God," and every tongue which confesses the Lord is inspired +by the instruction [_magisterio_] of that voice. + + +(_b_) Leo the Great, _Ep._ 104, _ad Marcianum Augustum_, A. D. 452. (MSL, +54:993.) + + + Condemnation of the twenty-eighth canon of Chalcedon. + + + This and the two following epistles upon the twenty-eighth canon + of the Council of Chalcedon define the relation of the Roman see + to councils, canons, and patriarchal sees. Apostolic sees may not + be constituted by mere canon; political importance of a place does + not regulate its ecclesiastical position; the see of Rome can + reject the canons of councils even though general; apostolic sees + connected with Peter may not have their authority diminished. For + the twenty-eighth canon of Chalcedon, _v. infra_, § 90, _d_. + + +Ch. 3. Let the city of Constantinople have, as we desire, its glory, and +may it, under the protection of God's right hand, long enjoy the rule of +your clemency. Yet the basis of things secular is one, and the basis of +things divine another; and there can be no sure building save on that rock +which the Lord laid as a foundation. He that covets what is not his due, +loses what is his own. Let it be enough for the aforesaid [Anatolius, +bishop of Constantinople] that by the aid of your piety and by my +favorable assent he has obtained the bishopric of so great a city. Let him +not disdain a royal city, which he cannot make an apostolic see; and let +him on no account hope to be able to rise by injury to others. For the +privileges of the churches, determined by the canons of the holy Fathers, +and fixed by the decrees of the Nicene synod, cannot be overthrown by an +unscrupulous act, nor disturbed by an innovation. And in the faithful +execution of this task by the aid of Christ, it is necessary that I show +an unflinching devotion; for it is a charge intrusted to me, and it tends +to condemnation if the rules sanctioned by the Fathers and laid down under +the guidance of God's spirit at the synod of Nicaea for the government of +the whole Church are violated with my connivance (which God forbid) and if +the wishes of a single brother have more weight with me than the common +word of the Lord's whole house. + + +(_c_) Leo the Great, _Ep._ 105, _ad Pulcheriam Augustam_ A. D. 452. (MSL, +54:997.) + + + Condemnation of all canons contravening those of Nicaea. + + +§ 3. Let him [Anatolius] know to what sort of man he has succeeded, and, +expelling all the spirit of pride, let him imitate the faith of Flavian, +his modesty and his humility, which raised him up even to a confessor's +glory. If he will shine with his virtues, he will be praiseworthy and +everywhere he will win an abundance of love, not by seeking human things, +but divine favor. And by this careful course I promise that my heart will +also be bound to him, and the love of this apostolic see which we have +ever bestowed upon the church of Constantinople shall never be violated by +any change. Because, if rulers, lacking self-restraint, fall into errors, +yet the purity of the churches of Christ continues. As for the assents of +bishops which are in contradiction with the regulations of the holy canons +composed at Nicaea, in conjunction with your faithful race we do not +recognize them, and by the authority of the blessed Apostle Peter we +absolutely disannul in comprehensive terms in all cases ecclesiastical, +following those laws which the Holy Ghost set forth by three hundred and +eighteen bishops for the pacific observance of all priests, so that, even +if a much greater number were to pass a different decree from theirs, +whatever was opposed to their constitution would have to be held in no +respect. + + +(_d_) Leo the Great, _Ep._ 106, _ad Anatolium_ A. D. 452. (MSL, 54:1005.) + + + The relation of the apostolic sees to Peter. + + +Your purpose is in no way whatever supported by the written assent of +certain bishops, given, as you allege, sixty years ago,(181) and never +brought to the knowledge of the Apostolic See by your predecessors; under +this project(182) which from its outset was tottering and has already +collapsed, you now wish to place too late and useless props.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The rights +of provincial primates may not be overthrown, nor metropolitan bishops be +defrauded of privileges based on antiquity. The see of Alexandria may not +lose any of that dignity which it merited through St. Mark, the evangelist +and disciple of the blessed Peter, nor may the splendor of so great a +church be obscured by another's clouds, when Dioscurus fell through his +persistence in impiety. The church of Antioch, too, in which first, at the +preaching of the blessed Apostle Peter, the Christian name arose, must +continue in the position assigned to it by the Fathers, and, being set in +the third place [Can. 6, Nicaea, 325, _v. supra_, § 72], must never be +lowered therefrom. For the see is one thing, and those who preside in it +something different; and an individual's great honor is his own integrity. + + +(_e_) Leo the Great, _Ep._ 6, _ad Anastasium_ A. D. 444. (MSL, 54:616.) +_Cf._ Kirch, nn. 814 _ff._ + + + The policy of centralization. The primates are representatives of + the bishop of Rome. Anastasius was bishop of Thessalonica. + + +Ch. 2. Inasmuch, dear brother, as your request has been made known to us +through our son Nicholas, the priest, that you also, like your +predecessors, might receive from us in your turn authority over Illyricum +for the observance of the rules, we give our consent, and earnestly exhort +that no concealment and no negligence may be allowed in the management of +the churches situated throughout Illyricum, which we commit to you in our +stead, following the precedent of Siricius, of blessed memory, who then, +for the first time acting on a fixed method, intrusted them to your last +predecessor but one, Anysius, of holy memory, who had at the time well +deserved of the Apostolic See, and was approved by after events, that he +might render assistance to the churches situated in that province, whom he +wished to keep up to the discipline.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 5. Those of the brethren who have been summoned to a synod should +attend, and not deny themselves to the holy congregation.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But if any more +important question spring up, such as cannot be settled there under your +presidency, brother, send your report and consult us, so that we may write +back under the revelation of the Lord, of whose mercy it is that we can do +aught, because He has breathed favorably upon us; that by our decision we +may vindicate our right of cognizance in accordance with old-established +tradition, and the respect which is due the Apostolic See; for as we wish +you to exercise your authority in our stead, so we reserve to ourselves +points which cannot be decided on the spot and persons who have appealed +to us.(183) + + + +Chapter III. The Church In The Eastern Empire. + + +At the beginning of the permanent division of the Empire, the church life +of the East was disturbed by a series of closely connected disputes known +as the First Origenistic Controversy (§ 87), in which were comprised a +conflict between a rationalistic tendency, connected with the religious +philosophy of Origen, and a traditionalism that eschewed speculation, a +bitter rivalry between the great sees of Alexandria, the religious and +intellectual capital of the East, and Constantinople, the church of the +new imperial city, and personal disputes. But more serious controversies +were already beginning. While the Church of the West was laying the +foundations of the papal system, the Church of the East was falling more +and more under the dominance of the secular authority; while the West was +developing its anthropology, with its doctrines of Original Sin, Grace, +and Election, the East was entering upon the long discussion of the topic +which had been left by the Arian controversy--granted that the incarnate +Son of God is truly eternal God, in what way are the divine and human +natures related to the one personality of the incarnate God (§ 88)? The +controversies that arose over this topic involved the entire Church of the +East, and found in the general councils of Ephesus, A. D. 431 (§ 89), and +Chalcedon, A. D. 451 (§ 90), partial solutions. In the case of each +council, permanent schisms resulted, and large portions of the Church of +the East broke away from the previous unity (§ 91); and on account of the +intimate connection between the affairs of the Church and the secular +policy of the Empire, a schism was caused between the see of Rome and the +churches in communion with the see of Constantinople. + + +§ 87. The First Origenistic Controversy and the Triumph of Traditionalism + + +In the East the leading theologians of the fourth century were educated +under the influence of Origenism; among these were Basil of Caesarea, +Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus. In the West the feeling +regarding Origen was not so favorable, but the Western theologians, Jerome +and Rufinus, who were then living in Palestine, shared in the general +admiration of Origen. But a series of brief controversies broke out in +which the standing of Origen as an orthodox theologian was seriously +attacked, as well as the whole tendency for which he stood. The result was +a wide-spread condemnation of the spiritualizing teaching of the great +Alexandrian, and the rise of what might be called an anthropomorphic +traditionalism. The first of the three controversies took place in +Palestine, 395-399, and was occasioned by Epiphanius of Salamis, a zealous +opponent of heresy. He denounced Origen and induced Jerome to abandon +Origen; and Rufinus was soon in bitter enmity with Jerome. The second +controversy took place in Egypt about the same time, when a group of monks +in the Scetic desert, who were violently opposed to Origenism, compelled +Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria and an admirer of Origen, to abandon that +theologian and to side with them against the monks of the Nitrian desert, +who were Origenists, and to condemn Origen at a council at Alexandria, +399. The third controversy involved John Chrysostom, bishop of +Constantinople, who had protected four Nitrian monks who had fled to his +protection. Theophilus seized the opportunity and, with the assistance for +a time of Epiphanius, ultimately brought about the downfall of Chrysostom, +who died deposed and in exile, 404. No controversies of the ancient Church +are less attractive than the Origenistic, in which so much personal +rancor, selfish ambition, mean intrigue, and so little profound thought +were involved. The literature, therefore, is scanty. + + + Additional source material: Jerome, _Ep._ 86-99 (PNF); Rufinus and + Jerome, controversial writings bearing on Origenism in PNF, ser. + II. vol. III, pp. 417-541; Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 2-21; + Sozomen, _Hist. Ec._, VIII, 2-28. + + +(_a_) Basil, _De Spiritu Sancto_, 27. (MSG, 32:187.) + + + The force of unwritten tradition. + + + The following is the most important and authoritative statement of + the force of unwritten tradition in the Eastern Church. It is + referred to by John of Damascus in his defence of images (_De Fide + Orthod._, IV, 16), _cf._ § 109. It is placed in the present + section as illustrating the principle of traditionalism which, in + a fanatical form, brought about the Origenistic controversies. + + +Of the beliefs and public teachings preserved in the Church, some we have +from written tradition, others we have received as delivered to us "in a +mystery" by the tradition of the Apostles; and both of these have in +relation to true piety the same binding force. And these no one will +gainsay, at least no one who is versed even moderately in the institutions +of the Church. For were we to reject such customs as are unwritten as +having no great force, we should unintentionally injure the gospels in +their very vitals; or, rather, reduce our public definition to a mere name +and nothing more. For example, to take the first and most general +instance, who is there who has taught us in writing to sign with the cross +those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? What writing +has taught us to turn to the East in our prayers? Which of the saints has +left us in writing the words at the invocation and at the displaying of +the bread in the eucharist and the cup of blessing? For we are not, as is +well known, content with what the Apostle or the Gospel has recorded; but, +both before and after, we say other words as having great importance for +the mystery, and these we derive from unwritten teaching. Moreover, we +bless the water of baptism and the oil of chrism, and, besides this, him +who is baptized. From what writings? Is it not from the silent and +mystical tradition? What written word teaches the anointing of oil itself? +And whence is it that a man is baptized three times? And as to other +customs of baptism, from what Scripture comes the renunciation of Satan +and his angels? Does not this come from the unpublished and secret +teaching which our fathers guarded in silence, averse from curious +meddling and inquisitive investigation, having learned the lesson that the +reverence of the mysteries is best preserved in silence? How was it proper +to parade in public the teaching of those things which it was not +permitted the uninitiated to look at? + + +(_b_) Jerome, _Preface to the Vulgate Translation of the New Testament_. +(MSL, 29:557.) + + + Jerome's free critical attitude in his work in his earlier life. + + + This preface is addressed to Bishop Damasus of Rome and is dated + 383. + + +You urge me to make a new work out of an old and, as it were, to sit in +judgment on the copies of the Scriptures already scattered throughout the +whole world; and, inasmuch as they differ among themselves, I am to decide +which of them agree with the Greek original. A pious labor, but a perilous +presumption; to judge others, myself to be judged of all; to change the +language of the aged, and to carry back the world already grown gray, back +to the beginnings of its infancy! Is there a man, learned or unlearned, +who will not, when he takes the volume into his hands and perceives that +what he reads differs from the flavor which once he tasted, break out +immediately into violent language and call me a forger and a profane +person for having the audacity to add anything to the ancient books or to +change or correct anything? I am consoled in two ways in bearing this +odium: in the first place, that you, the supreme bishop, command it to be +done; and secondly, even on the testimony of those reviling us, what +varies cannot be true. For if we put faith in the Latin texts, let them +tell us which; for there are almost as many texts as copies. But if the +truth is to be sought from many, why should we not go back to the original +Greek and correct the mistakes introduced by inaccurate translators, and +the blundering alterations of confident and ignorant men, and further, all +that has been added or altered by sleepy copyists? I am not discussing the +Old Testament, which was turned into Greek by the Seventy Elders, and has +reached us by a descent of three steps. I do not ask what Aquila and +Symmachus think, or why Theodotion takes a middle course between the +ancients and the moderns. I am willing to let that be a true translation +which had apostolic approval [_i.e._, the LXX]. I am now speaking of the +New Testament. This was undoubtedly composed in Greek, with the exception +of the work of the Apostle Matthew, who first published the gospel of +Christ in Judea and in Hebrew. This [_i.e._, the New Testament], as it is +in our language, is certainly marked by discrepancies, and the stream +flows in different channels; it must be sought in one fountainhead. I pass +over those manuscripts bearing the names of Lucian and Hesychius, which a +few contentious persons perversely support. It was not permitted these +writers to amend anything in the Old Testament after the labor of the +Seventy; and it was useless to make corrections in the New, for +translations of the Scriptures already made in the language of many +nations show that they are additions and false. Therefore this short +preface promises only the four gospels, of which the order is Matthew, +Mark, Luke, and John, revised by a comparison of the Greek manuscripts and +only of the ancient manuscripts. And that they might not depart far from +the Latin customarily read, I have used my pen with some restraint, so +that having corrected only the passages which seemed to change the +meaning, I have allowed the rest to remain as it was. + + +(_c_) Jerome, _Ep._ 7, _ad Pammachium_. (MSL, 23:376.) + + + The principal errors of Origen according to Jerome. + + + This is the most important work of Jerome in the controversy known + as the Origenistic controversy. Jerome attacks in this work John, + bishop of Jerusalem, and writes as a result of the work of + Epiphanius in Palestine three years before. The following were + addressed to John to reject, as a test of that bishop's orthodoxy. + See above, § 43. + + +First, in the book {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} it is said [I, 1:8]: "For as it is unfitting +to say that the Son can see the Father, so it is not meet to think that +the Holy Spirit can see the Son." + +Secondly, that souls are bound in this body as in a prison; and that +before man was made in paradise they dwelt among rational creatures in the +heavens. Wherefore, afterward, to console itself, the soul says in the +Psalms, "Before I was humbled I went wrong," and "Return, my soul, unto +thy rest," and "Lead my soul out of prison," and similarly elsewhere. + +Thirdly, that he says that both the devil and the demons will some time or +other repent and ultimately reign with the saints. + +Fourthly, that he interprets the coats of skins, with which Adam and Eve +were clothed after their fall and ejection from paradise, to be human +bodies, and no doubt they were previously in paradise without flesh, +sinews, or bones. + +Fifthly, he most openly denies the resurrection of the flesh, the bodily +structure, and the distinction of sexes by which we men are distinguished +from women, both in his explanation of the first psalm and in many other +treatises. + +Sixthly, he so allegorizes paradise as to destroy the truth of history, +understanding angels instead of trees, heavenly virtues instead of rivers; +and he overthrows all that is contained in the history of paradise by his +tropological interpretation. + +Seventhly, he thinks that the waters which in the Scriptures are said to +be above the heavens are holy and supernal powers; while those which are +upon the earth and beneath the earth are, on the contrary, demoniacal +powers. + +Eighthly, that the image and likeness of God, in which man was created, +was lost and was no longer in man after he was expelled from paradise. + + +(_d_) Anastasius, _Ep. ad Simplicianum_, in Jerome, _Ep._ 95 (MSL, +22:772.) + + + Condemnation of Origen by Anastasius, bishop of Rome, A. D. 400 + + +To his lord and brother, Simplicianus, Anastasius. + +It is felt right that a shepherd have great care and watchfulness over his +flock. In like manner, also, the careful watchman from his lofty tower +keeps a lookout day and night on behalf of the city. In the hour of +tempest and peril the prudent shipmaster suffers great distress of mind +lest by the tempest and the violent waves his vessel be dashed upon the +rocks. With similar feelings that reverend and honorable man Theophilus, +our brother and fellow-bishop, ceases not to watch over the things which +make for salvation, that God's people in the different churches may not by +reading Origen run into awful blasphemies. + +Having been informed, then, by the letter of the aforesaid, we inform your +holiness that just as we are set in the city of Rome, in which the prince +of the Apostles, the glorious Peter, founded the Church and then by his +faith strengthened it; to the end that no man contrary to the commandment +read these books which we have mentioned and the same we have condemned; +and with earnest prayers we have urged that the precepts of the +Evangelists which God and Christ have inspired the Evangelists to teach +ought not to be forsaken; but that is to be remembered which the venerable +Apostle Paul preached by way of warning: "If any one preach a gospel unto +you other than that which was preached unto you, let him be anathema" +[Gal. 1:8]. Holding fast, therefore, this precept, we have intimated that +everything written in days past by Origen that is contrary to our faith is +even by us rejected and condemned. + +We have written these things to your holiness by the hand of the presbyter +Eusebius, who, being a man filled with a glowing faith and having the love +of the Lord, has shown me some blasphemous chapters at which we shuddered +and which we condemned, but if any other things have been put forth by +Origen, you should know that with their author they are alike condemned by +me. The Lord have you in safe-keeping, my lord and brother deservedly held +in honor. + + +(_e_) Rufinus, _Preface to Translation of Origen's __"__De Principiis__"_. +(MSL, 22:733 and also MSG, 11:111.) + + + In this preface Rufinus refers, without mentioning names, to + Jerome. Inasmuch as it was perfectly clear to whom the allusion + was made, as the translator and admirer of Origen, Jerome felt + himself personally attacked and retorted furiously upon Rufinus. + + +I know that a great many of the brethren, incited by their desire for a +knowledge of the Scriptures, have requested various men versed in Greek +letters to make Origen a Roman and give him to Latin ears. Among these was +our brother and associate [_i.e._, Jerome], who was so requested by Bishop +Damasus, when he translated the two homilies on the Song of Songs from +Greek into Latin, prefixed to the work a preface so full of beauty and so +magnificent that he awoke in every one the desire of reading Origen and of +eagerly examining his works, and he said that to the soul of that man the +words might well be applied, "The King has brought me into his chamber" +[Cant. 2:4], and he declared that Origen in his other books surpassed all +other men, but in this had surpassed himself. What he promised in his +preface is, indeed, that he would give to Roman ears not only these books +on the Song of Songs, but many others of Origen. But, as I perceive, he is +so pleased with his own style that he pursues an object bringing him more +glory, viz., to be the father of a book rather than a translator. I am +therefore following out a task begun by him and commended by him.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} In +translation, I follow as far as possible the method of my predecessors, +and especially of him whom I have already mentioned, who, after he had +translated into Latin above seventy of the books of Origen, which he +called Homilies, and also a certain number of the tomes written on the +Apostle [the Epistles of St. Paul], since a number of offensive passages +are to be found in the Greek, eliminated and purged, in his translation, +all of them, so that the Latin reader will find nothing in these which jar +on our faith. Him, therefore, we follow, not indeed with the power of his +eloquence, but as far as we can in his rules and methods: that is, taking +care not to promulgate those things which in the books of Origen are found +to be discrepant and contradictory one to the other. The cause of these +variations I have set forth fully in the apology which Pamphilus wrote for +the books of Origen, to which is appended a short treatise showing how +proofs which, as I judge, are quite clear in his books have in many cases +been falsified by heretical and evil-disposed persons. + + +(_f_) Augustine, _Ep._ 73, Ch. 8. (MSL, 33:249.) + + + The attempt of Augustine to bring about a reconciliation between + Rufinus and Jerome. Jerome had written some affectionate words to + Augustine to which he alludes in the beginning of the following + passage: + + +When, by these words, now not only yours but also mine, I am gladdened and +refreshed, and when I am comforted not a little by the desire of both of +us for mutual fellowship, which has been suspended and is not satisfied, +suddenly I am pierced through by the darts of keenest sorrow when I +consider that between you [_i.e._, Rufinus and Jerome] (to whom God +granted in fullest measure and for a long time that which both of us have +longed for, that in closest and most intimate fellowship you tasted +together the honey of Holy Scriptures) such a blight of bitterness has +broken out, when, where, and in whom it was not to be feared, since it has +befallen you at the very time when, unencumbered, having cast away secular +burdens, you were following the Lord, were living together in that land in +which the Lord walked with human feet, when He said, "Peace I leave with +you, My peace I give unto you"; being, moreover, men of mature age, whose +life was devoted to the study of the word of God. Truly, "man's life on +earth is a period of trial" [Job 7:1]. Alas, that I cannot meet you both +together, perchance that in agitation, grief, and fear I might cast myself +at your feet, weep till I could weep no more, and appeal as I love you, +first to each of you for his own sake, and then for the sake of those, +especially the weak, "for whom Christ died" [I Cor. 8:11], who to their +great peril look on you as on the stage of time, imploring you not to +scatter abroad, in writing, those things about each other which when +reconciled, you, who are now unwilling to be reconciled, could not then +destroy, and which when reconciled you would not dare to read lest you +should quarrel anew. + + +(_g_) Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, VI, 15. (MSG, 67:708.) + + + The fall of Chrysostom. + + + Epiphanius had gone to Constantinople on the suggestion of + Theophilus, and there, in his zeal, had violated the canons of + ordination as generally received. In this case he had ordained + priests in the diocese of Chrysostom and without his permission. + Other troubles had arisen. On being called to account for his + conduct by Chrysostom, Epiphanius hastily left the city, and died + on the voyage back to his diocese, Salamis, in Cyprus. + + +When Epiphanius had gone John was informed by some person that the Empress +Eudoxia had set Epiphanius against him. Being of a fiery temperament and +of ready utterance, he soon after pronounced to the public an invective +against women in general. The people readily took this as uttered +indirectly against the Empress, and so the speech, laid hold of by +evil-disposed persons, was brought to the knowledge of those in authority. +At length the Empress, having been informed of it, immediately complained +to her husband of the insult offered her, saying that the insult offered +her was an insult to him. He therefore gave orders that Theophilus should +speedily convoke a synod against John; Severianus also co-operated in +promoting this, for he still retained his grudge [_i.e._, against +Chrysostom. See DCB, art. "Severianus, bishop of Gabala."]. No great +length of time, accordingly, intervened before Theophilus arrived, having +stirred up many bishops from different cities; but this, also, the summons +of the Emperor had commanded. Especially did they assemble who had one +cause or another of complaint against John, and there were present besides +those whom John had deposed, for John had deposed many bishops in Asia +when he went to Ephesus for the ordination of Heraclides. Accordingly they +all, by previous agreement, assembled at Chalcedon in Bithynia.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Now none +of the clergy [_i.e._, of Constantinople] would go forth to meet +Theophilus or pay him the customary honors because he was openly known as +John's enemy. But the Alexandrian sailors--for it happened that at that +time the grain-transport ships were there--on meeting him, greeted him with +joyful acclamations. He excused himself from entering the church, and took +up his abode at one of the imperial mansions called "The Placidian." Then, +in consequence of this, many accusations began to be poured forth against +John, and no longer was there any mention of the books of Origen, but all +were intent on pressing a variety of absurd accusations. When these +preliminary matters were settled the bishops were convened in one of the +suburbs of Chalcedon, which is called "The Oak," and immediately cited +John to answer charges which were brought against him.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And since John, +taking exception to those who cited him, on the ground that they were his +enemies, demanded a general council, without delay they repeated their +citation four times; and as he persisted in his refusal to answer, always +giving the same reply, they condemned him, and deposed him without giving +any other cause for his deposition than that he refused to obey when +summoned. This, being announced toward evening, incited the people to a +very great sedition, insomuch that they kept watch all night and would by +no means suffer him to be removed from the church, but cried out that the +charges against him ought to be determined by a larger assembly. A decree +of the Emperor, however, commanded that he should be immediately expelled +and sent into exile. When John knew this he voluntarily surrendered +himself about noon, unknown to the populace, on the third day after his +condemnation; for he dreaded any insurrectionary movement on his account, +and he was accordingly led away. + + +(_h_) Theophilus of Alexandria, _Ep. ad Hieronymum_, in Jerome, _Ep._ 113. +(MSL, 22:932.) + + + Theophilus on the fall of Chrysostom. + + +To the well-beloved and most loving brother Jerome, Theophilus sends +greeting in the Lord. + +At the outset the verdict of truth satisfies but few; but the Lord, +speaking by the prophet, says, "My judgment goeth forth as the light," and +they who are surrounded with a horror of darkness do not with clear mind +perceive the nature of things, and they are covered with eternal shame and +know by their outcome that their efforts have been in vain. Wherefore we +also have always desired that John [Chrysostom], who for a time ruled the +church of Constantinople, might please God, and we have been unwilling to +accept as facts the cause of his ruin in which he behaved himself rashly. +But not to speak of his other misdeed, he has by taking the Origenists +into his confidences,(184) by advancing many of them to the priesthood, +and by this crime saddening with no slight grief that man of God, +Epiphanius, of blessed memory, who has shone throughout all the world a +bright star among bishops, deserved to hear the words, "Babylon is fallen, +is fallen." + + +§ 88. The Christological Problem and the Theological Tendencies + + +The Arian controversy in bringing about the affirmation of the true deity +of the Son, or Logos, left the Church with the problem of the unity of the +divine and human natures in the personality of Jesus. It seemed to not a +few that to combine perfect deity with perfect humanity would result in +two personalities. Holding fast, therefore, to the reality of the human +nature, a solution was attempted by Apollinarius, or Apollinaris, by +making the divine Logos take the place of the human logos or reason. +Mankind consisted of three parts: a body, an animal soul, and a rational +spirit. The Logos was thus united to humanity by substituting the divine +for the human logos. But this did violence to the integrity of the human +nature of Christ. This attempt on the part of Apollinaris was rejected at +Constantinople, but also by the Church generally. The human natures must +be complete if human nature was deified by the assumption of man in the +incarnation. On this basis two tendencies showed themselves quite early: +the human nature might be lost in the divinity, or the human and the +divine natures might be kept distinct and parallel or in such a way that +certain acts might be assigned to the divine and certain to the human +nature. The former line of thought, adopted by the Cappadocians, tended +toward the position assumed by Cyril of Alexandria and in a more extreme +form by the Monophysites. The latter line of thought tended toward what +was regarded as the position of Nestorius. In this position there was such +a sharp cleavage between the divine and the human natures as apparently to +create a double personality in the incarnate Son. This divergence of +theological statement gave rise to the christological controversies which +continued in various forms through several centuries in the East, and have +reappeared in various disguises in the course of the Church's theological +development. + + + Additional source material: There are several exegetical works of + Cyril of Alexandria available in English, see Bardenhewer, § 77, + also a German translation of three treatises bearing on + christology in the Kempten _Bibliothek der Kirchenvaeter_, 1879. + For the general point of view of the Cappadocians and the relation + of the incarnation to redemption, see Gregory of Nyssa, _The Great + Catechism_ (PNF, ser. II, vol. V), _v. infra_, § 89 and references + in Seeberg, § 23. + + +(_a_) Apollinaris, _Fragments_. Ed. H. Lietzmann. + + + His Christology. + + + The following fragments of the teaching of Apollinaris are from H. + Lietzmann, _Apollinaris von Laodicea und seine Schule. Texte und + Untersuchungen_, 1904. Many fragments are to be found in the + _Dialogues_ which Theodoret wrote against Eutychianism, which he + traced to the teaching of Apollinaris. The first condemnation of + Apollinaris was at Rome, 377, see Hefele, § 91; Theodoret, _Hist. + Ec._, V, 10, gives the letter of Damasus issued in the name of the + synod. + + +P. 224 [81]. If God had been joined with a man, one complete being with +another complete being, there would be two sons of God, one Son of God by +nature, another through adoption. + +P. 247 [150]. They who assume a twofold spirit in Christ pull a stone out +with their finger. For if each is independent and impelled by its own +natural will, it is impossible that in one and the same subject the two +can be together, who will what is opposed to each other; for each works +what is willed by it according to its own proper and personal motives. + +P. 248 [152]. They who speak of one Christ, and assert that there are two +independent spiritual natures in Him, do not know Him as the Logos made +flesh, who has remained in His natural unity, for they represent Him as +divided into two unlike natures and modes of operation. + +P. 239 [129]. If a man has soul and body, and both remain distinguished in +unity, how much more has Christ, who joins His divine being with a body, +both as a permanent possession without any commingling one with the other? + +P. 209 [21, 22]. The Logos became flesh, but the flesh was not without a +soul, for it is said that it strives against the spirit and opposes the +law of the understanding. [In this Apollinaris takes up the trichotomy of +human nature, a view which he did not apparently hold at the beginning of +his teaching.] + +P. 240 [137]. John [John 2:19] spoke of the destroyed temple, that is, of +the body of Him who would raise it up again. The body is altogether one +with Him. But if the body of the Lord has become one with the Lord, then +the characteristics of the body are proved to be characteristics of Him on +account of the body. + + +(_b_) Apollinaris, _Letter to the Emperor Jovian_. Lietzmann, 250 _ff._ + + +We confess the Son of God who was begotten eternally before all times, but +in the last times was for our salvation born of Mary according to the +flesh; {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} and we confess that the same is the Son of God and God according +to the spirit, Son of man according to the flesh; we do not speak of two +natures in the one Son, of which one is to be worshipped and one is not to +be worshipped, but of only one nature of the Logos of God, which has +become flesh and with His flesh is worshipped with one worship; and we +confess not two sons, one who is truly God's Son to be worshipped and +another the man--who is of Mary and is not to be worshipped, who by the +power of grace had become the Son of God, as is also the case with men, +but one Son of God who at the same time was born of Mary according to the +flesh in the last days, as the angel answered the Theotokos Mary who +asked, "How shall this be?"--"The Holy Ghost will come upon thee." He, +accordingly, who was born of the Virgin Mary was Son of God by nature and +truly God {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} only according to the flesh from Mary was He man, but at the +same time, according to the spirit, Son of God; and God has in His own +flesh suffered our sorrows. + + +(_c_) Gregory of Nazianzus, _Ep. I ad Cledonium_. (MSG, 37:181.) + + + In this epistle Gregory attacks Apollinaris, basing his argument + on the notion of salvation by incarnation, which formed the + foundation of the most characteristic piety of the East, had been + used as a major premise by Athanasius in opposition to Arianism, + and runs back to Irenaeus and the Asia Minor school; see above, § + 33. + + +If any one trusted in a man without a human mind, he is himself really +bereft of mind and quite unworthy of salvation. For what has not been +assumed has not been healed; but what has been united to God is saved. If +only half of Adam fell, then that which is assumed and saved may be half +also; but if the whole, it must be united to the whole of Him that was +begotten and be saved as a whole. Let them not, then, begrudge us our +complete salvation, or clothe the Saviour only with bones and nerves and +the semblance of humanity. For if His manhood is without soul [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}], +even the Arians admit this, that they may attribute His passion to the +godhead, as that which gives motion to the body is also that which +suffers. But if He had a soul and yet is without a mind, how is He a man, +for man is not a mindless [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}] animal? And this would necessarily +involve that His form was human, and also His tabernacle, but His soul was +that of a horse, or an ox, or some other creature without mind. This, +then, would be what is saved, and I have been deceived in the Truth, and +have been boasting an honor when it was another who was honored. But if +His manhood is intellectual and not without mind, let them cease to be +thus really mindless. + +But, says some one, the godhead was sufficient in place of the human +intellect. What, then, is this to me? For godhead with flesh alone is not +man, nor with soul alone, nor with both apart from mind, which is the most +essential part of man. Keep, then, the whole man, and mingle godhead +therewith, that you may benefit me in my completeness. But, as he asserts +[_i.e._, Apollinaris], He could not contain two perfect natures. Not if +you only regard Him in a bodily fashion. For a bushel measure will not +hold two bushels, nor will the space of one body hold two or more bodies. +But if you will look at what is mental and incorporeal, remember that I +myself can contain soul and reason and mind and the Holy Spirit; and +before me this world, by which I mean the system of things visible and +invisible, contained Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For such is the nature +of intellectual existences that they can mingle with one another and with +bodies, incorporeally and invisibly.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Further, let us see what is their account of the assumption of the +manhood, or the assumption of the flesh, as they call it. If it was in +order that God, otherwise incomprehensible, might be comprehended, and +might converse with men through His flesh as through a veil, their mask is +a pretty one, a hypocritical fable; for it was open to Him to converse +with us in many other ways, as in the burning bush [Ex. 3:2] and in the +appearance of a man [Gen. 18:5]. But if it was that He might destroy the +condemnation of sin by sanctifying like by like, then as He needed flesh +for the sake of the condemned flesh and soul for the sake of the soul, so +also He needed mind for the sake of mind, which not only fell in Adam but +was first to be affected, as physicians say, of the illness. For that +which received the commandment was that which failed to observe the +commandment, and that which failed to observe the commandment was that +also which dared to transgress, and that which transgressed was that which +stood most in need of salvation, and that which needed salvation was that +which also was assumed. Therefore mind was taken upon Him. + + +(_d_) Council of Constantinople, A. D. 382, _Epistula Synodica_. Hefele, § +98. + + + Condemnation of Apollinarianism. + + + At the Council of Constantinople held the year after that which is + known as the Second General Council, and attended by nearly the + same bishops, there was an express condemnation of Apollinaris and + his doctrine, for though Apollinaris had been condemned in 381, + the point of doctrine was not stated. The synodical letter of the + council of 382 is preserved only in part in Theodoret, _Hist. + Ec._, V, 9, who concludes his account with these words: + + +Similarly they openly condemn the innovation of Apollinarius [so Theodoret +writes the name] in the phrase, "And we preserve the doctrine of the +incarnation of the Lord, holding the tradition that the dispensation of +the flesh is neither soulless, nor mindless, nor imperfect." + + +(_e_) Theodore of Mopsuestia, _Creed_. Hahn, § 215. + + + The position of the Nestorians. + + + The following extracts are from the creed which was presented at + the Council of Ephesus, 431, and was written by Theodore of + Mopsuestia, the greatest theologian of the party which stood with + Nestorius. Although it does not state the whole doctrine of + Theodore, yet its historical position is so important that its + characteristic passages belong in the present connection. + Bibliographical and critical notes in Hahn, _loc. cit._ + + +Concerning the dispensation which the Lord God accomplished for our +salvation in the dispensation according to the Lord Christ, it is +necessary for us to know that the Lord God the Logos assumed a complete +man, who was of the seed of Abraham and David, according to the statement +of the divine Scriptures, and was according to nature whatsoever they were +of whose seed He was, a perfect man according to nature, consisting of +reasonable soul and human flesh, and the man who was as to nature as we +are, formed by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin, +born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem us all from the +bondage of the law [Gal. 4:4] who receive the adoption of sonship which +was long before ordained, that man He joined to himself in an ineffable +manner.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +And we do not say that there are two Sons or two Lords, because there is +one God [Son?] according to substance, God the Word, the only begotten Son +of the Father, and He who has been joined with Him is a participator in +His deity and shares in the name and honor of the Son; and the Lord +according to essence is God the Word, with whom that which is joined +shares in honor. And therefore we say neither two Sons nor two Lords, +because one is He who has an inseparable conjunction with Himself of Him +who according to essence is Lord and Son, who, having been assumed for our +salvation, is with Him received as well in the name as in the honor of +both Son and Lord, not as each one of us individually is a son of God +(wherefore also we are called many sons of God, according to the blessed +Paul), but He alone in an unique manner having this, namely, in that He +was joined to God the Word, participating in the Sonship and dignity, +takes away every thought of two Sons or two Lords, and offers indeed to us +in conjunction with the God the Word, to have all faith in Him and all +understanding and contemplation, on account of which things also He +receives from every creature the worship and sacrifice of God. Therefore +we say that there is one Lord, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom all +things were made, understanding principally God the Word, who according to +substance is Son of God and Lord, equally regarding that which was +assumed, Jesus of Nazareth, who God anointed with the Spirit and power, as +in conjunction with God the Lord, and participating in sonship and +dignity, who also is called the second Adam, according to the blessed +Apostle Paul, as being of the same nature as Adam. + + +(_f_) Theodore of Mopsuestia, _Fragments_. Swete, _Theodori epis. Mops. in +epistulas b. Pauli commentarii_, Cambridge, 1880, 1882. + + + In the appendix to the second volume of this work by Theodore + there are many fragments of Theodore's principal dogmatic work, + _On the Incarnation_, directed against Eunomius. The work as a + whole has not been preserved. In the same appendix there are also + other important fragments. The references are to this edition. + + +P. 299. If we distinguish the two natures, we speak of one complete nature +of God the Word and a complete person ({~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}). But we name complete +also the nature of the man and also the person. If we think on the +conjunction ({~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}) then we speak of one person. + +P. 312. In the moment in which He [Jesus] was formed [in the womb of the +Virgin] He received the destination of being a temple of God. For we +should not believe that God was born of the Virgin unless we are willing +to assume that one and the same is that which is born and what is in that +which is born, the temple, and God the Logos in the temple.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} If God had +become flesh, how could He who was born be named God from God [_cf._ +Nicene Creed], and of one being with the Father? for the flesh does not +admit of such a designation. + +P. 314. The Logos was always in Jesus, also by His birth and when He was +in the womb, at the first moment of his beginning; to His development He +gave the rule and measure, and led Him from step to step to perfection. + +P. 310. If it is asked, did Mary bear a man, or is she the bearer of God +[Theotokos], we can say that both statements are true. One is true +according to the nature of the case; the other only relatively. She bore a +man according to nature, for He was a man who was in the womb of Mary.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +She is Theotokos, since God was in the man who was born; not enclosed in +Him according to nature, but was in Him according to the relation of His +will. + + +(_g_) Nestorius, _Fragments_. Loofs, _Nestoriana_. + + + The fragments of Nestorius have been collected by Loofs, + _Nestoriana_, Halle, 1905; to this work the references are made. + It now appears that what was condemned as Nestorianism was a + perversion of his teaching and that Nestorius was himself in + harmony with the definition which was put forth at Chalcedon, a + council which he survived and regarded as a vindication of his + position after the wrong done him at Ephesus by Cyril; _cf._ + Bethune-Baker, _Nestorius and His Teaching_, Cambridge, 1908. + + +P. 252. Is Paul a liar when he speaks of the godhead of Christ and says: +"Without father, without mother, without genealogy"? My good friend, Mary +has not born the godhead, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} A +creature has not born the Creator, but she bore a man, the organ of +divinity; the Holy Ghost did not create God the Word, but with that which +was born of the Virgin He prepared for God the Word, a temple, in which He +should dwell. + +P. 177. Whenever the Holy Scriptures make mention of the works of +salvation prepared by the Lord, they speak of the birth and suffering, not +of the divinity but of the humanity of Christ; therefore, according to a +more exact expression the holy Virgin is named the bearer of Christ +[Christotokos]. + +P. 167. If any one will bring forward the designation, "Theotokos," +because the humanity that was born was conjoined with the Word, not +because of her who bore, so we say that, although the name is not +appropriate to her who bore, for the actual mother must be of the same +substance as her child, yet it can be endured in consideration of the fact +that the temple, which is inseparably united with God the Word, comes of +her. + +P. 196. Each nature must retain its peculiar attributes, and so we must, +in regard to the union, wonderful and exalted far above all understanding, +think of one honor and confess one Son.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} With the one name Christ we +designate at the same time two natures.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The essential characteristics in +the nature of the divinity and in the humanity are from all eternity +distinguished. + +P. 275. God the Word is also named Christ because He has always +conjunction with Christ. And it is impossible for God the Word to do +anything without the humanity, for all is planned upon an intimate +conjunction, not on the deification of the humanity. + + +(_h_) Gregory of Nyssa, _Contra Eunomium_, V, 5. (MSG, 45:705.) + + + The Christology of the Cappadocians. + + + The Cappadocians use language which was afterward condemned when + given its extreme Alexandrian interpretation. Hefele, § 127, may + be consulted with profit. + + +The flesh is not identical with the godhead before this is transformed +into the godhead, so that necessarily some things are appropriate to God +the Word, other things to the form of a servant. If, then, he [Eunomius] +does not reproach himself with a duality of Words, on account of such +confusion, why are we slanderously charged with dividing the faith into +two Christs, we who say that He who was highly exalted after His passion, +was made Lord and Christ by His union with Him who is verily Lord and +Christ, knowing by what we have learned that the divine nature is always +one and the same mode of existence, while the flesh in itself is that +which reason and sense apprehend concerning it, but when mixed with the +divine it no longer remains in its own limitations and properties, but is +taken up to that which is overwhelming and transcendent. Our +contemplation, however, of the respective properties of the flesh and of +the godhead remains free from confusion, so long as each of these is +considered in itself, as, for example, "The Word was before the ages, but +flesh came into being in the last times."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} It is not the human nature that +raises up Lazarus, nor is it the power that cannot suffer that weeps for +him when he lies in the grave; the tear proceeds from the man, the life +from the true Life.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} So much as this is clear {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} that the blows belong to +the servant in whom the Lord was, the honors to the Lord, whom the servant +compassed about, so that by reason of contact and the union of natures the +proper attributes of each belong to both, as the Lord receives the stripes +of the servant, while the servant is glorified with the honor of the Lord. + +The godhead "empties" itself that it may come within the capacity of the +human nature, and the human nature is renewed by becoming divine through +its commixture with the divine.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} As fire that lies in wood, hidden often +below the surface, and is unobserved by the senses of those who see or +even touch it, is manifest, however, when it blazes up, so too, at His +death (which He brought about at His will, who separated His soul from His +body, who said to His own Father "Into Thy hands I commend My spirit" +[Luke 23:46], "who," as He says, "had power to lay it down and had power +to take it again"), He who, because He is the Lord of glory, despised that +which is shame among men, having concealed, as it were, the flame of His +life in His bodily nature, by the dispensation of His death, kindled and +inflamed it once more by the power of His own godhead, warming into life +that which had been made dead, having infused with the infinity of His +divine power those humble first-fruits of our nature; made it also to be +that which He himself was, the servile form to be the Lord, and the man +born of Mary to be Christ, and Him, who was crucified through weakness, to +be life and power, and making all such things as are piously conceived to +be in God the Word to be also in that which the Word assumed; so that +these attributes no longer seem to be in either nature, being, by +commixture with the divine, made anew in conformity with the nature that +overwhelms it; participates in the power of the godhead, as if one were to +say that a mixture makes a drop of vinegar mingled in the deep to be sea, +for the reason that the natural quality of this liquid does not continue +in the infinity of that which overwhelms it. + + +§ 89. The Nestorian Controversy; the Council of Ephesus A. D. 431. + + +The Council of Ephesus was called to settle the dispute which had arisen +between Cyril and the Alexandrians and Nestorius, archbishop of +Constantinople, and the Antiochians. Several councils had been held +previously, and much acrimonious debate. Both parties desired a council to +adjust the dispute. The Emperor Theodosius II, in an edict of November 19, +430, called a council to be held on the following Whitsunday at Ephesus. +The council was opened by Cyril and Memnon, bishop of Ephesus, June 22, a +few days after the date assigned. This opening of the synod was opposed by +the imperial commissioner and the party of Nestorius, because many of the +Antiochians had not yet arrived. Cyril and Memnon, who had undertaken to +bring about the condemnation and deposition of Nestorius, forced through +their programme. On June 26 or 27 the Antiochians arrived, and, under the +presidency of John of Antioch, and with the approval of the imperial +commissioner, they held a council attended by about fifty bishops, while +two hundred attended the rival council under Cyril. This smaller council +deposed Cyril and Memnon. Both synods appealed to the Emperor and were +confirmed by him. But shortly after Cyril and Memnon were restored. The +Antiochians now violently attacked the successful Alexandrians but, having +abandoned Nestorius, patched up a union with the Alexandrians, by which +Cyril subscribed in 433 to a creed drawn up by the Antiochians, probably +by Theodoret of Cyrus. Accordingly, the council of Cyril was now +recognized by the Antiochians, as well as by the imperial authority, and +became known as the Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431. + + + Additional source material: Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, VII, 29-34; + Theodoret, _Epistulae_ in PNF, ser. II, vol. III, and his counter + propositions to the Anathemas of Cyril, _ibid._, pp. 27-31; + Percival, _The Seven Ecumenical Councils_ (PNF). + + +(_a_) Cyril of Alexandria, _Anathematisms_. Hahn, § 219. + + + Condemnation of the position of Nestorius. + + + Cyril held a council at Alexandria in 430, in which he set forth + the teaching of Nestorius, as he understood it, in the form of + anathemas against any who held the opinions which he set forth in + order. Nestorius immediately replied by corresponding + anathematisms. They may be found translated PNF, ser. II, vol. + XIV, p. 206, where they are placed alongside of Cyril's. In the + meantime, Celestine of Rome had called upon Nestorius to retract, + though as a matter of fact the Nestorian or Antiochian position + was more in harmony with the position held in Rome, _e.g._, + compare Anath. IV with the language of Nestorius and Leo, see + _Tome_ of Leo in § 90. A Greek text of these Anathematisms of + Cyril may be found also in Denziger, n. 113, as they were + described in the Fifth General Council as part of the acts of the + Council of Ephesus A. D. 431; the Latin version (the Greek is + lost) of the Anathematisms of Nestorius, as given by Marius + Mercator are in Kirch, nn. 724-736. + + +I. If any one shall not confess that the Emmanuel is in truth God, and +that therefore the holy Virgin is Theotokos, inasmuch as according to the +flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh; let him be anathema. + +II. If any one shall not confess that the Word of God the Father is united +according to hypostasis to flesh, and that with the flesh of His own He is +one Christ, the same manifestly God and man at the same time; let him be +anathema. + +III. If any one after the union divide the hypostases in the one Christ, +joining them by a connection only, which is according to worthiness, or +even authority and power, and not rather by a coming together, which is +made by a union according to nature; let him be anathema. + +IV. If any one divide between the two persons or hypostases the +expressions in the evangelical and apostolic writings, or which have been +said concerning Christ by the saints, or by Himself concerning Himself, +and shall apply some to Him as to a man regarded separately apart from the +Word of God, and shall apply others, as appropriate to God only, to the +Word of God the Father; let him be anathema. + +V. If any one dare to say that the Christ is a god-bearing man, and not +rather that He is in truth God, as an only Son by nature, because "The +Word was made flesh," and hath share in flesh and blood as we have; let +him be anathema. + +VI. If any one shall dare to say that the Word of God the Father is the +God of Christ or the Lord of Christ, and shall not rather confess Him as +at the same time both God and man, since according to the Scriptures the +Word became flesh; let him be anathema. + +VII. If any one say that Jesus is, as a man, energized by the Word of God, +and that the glory of the Only begotten is attributed to Him as being +something else than His own; let him be anathema. + +VIII. If any one say that the man assumed ought to be worshipped together +with God the Word, and glorified together with Him, and recognized +together with Him as God, as one being with another (for this phrase +"together with" is added to convey this meaning) and shall not rather with +one adoration worship the Emmanuel and pay Him one glorification, because +"the Word was made flesh"; let him be anathema. + +IX. If any man shall say that the one Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by +the Spirit, so that He used through Him a power not His own, and from Him +received power against unclean spirits, and power to perform divine signs +before men, and shall not rather confess that it was His own spirit, +through which He worked these divine signs; let him be anathema. + +X. The divine Scriptures say that Christ was made the high priest and +apostle of our confession [Heb. 3:1], and that for our sakes He offered +Himself as a sweet odor to God the Father. If then any one say that it is +not the divine Word himself, when He was made flesh and had become man as +we are, but another than He, a man born of a woman, yet different from Him +who has become our high priest and apostle; or if any one say that He +offered Himself as an offering for Himself, and not rather for us, +whereas, being without sin, He had no need of offering; let him be +anathema. + +XI. If any one shall not confess that the flesh of the Lord is +life-giving, and belongs to the Word of God the Father as His very own, +but shall pretend that it belongs to another who is united to Him +according to worthiness, and who has served as only a dwelling for the +Divinity; and shall not rather confess that that flesh is life-giving, as +we say, because it has been made the possession of the Word who is able to +give life to all; let him be anathema. + +XII. If any one shall not confess that the Word of God suffered in the +flesh, and that He was crucified in the flesh, and that likewise He tasted +death in the flesh, and that He is become the first-born from the dead +[Col. 1:18], for as God He is the life and life-giving; let him be +anathema. + + +(_b_) Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431. _Condemnation of Nestorius_. Mansi, +IV, 1211. + + + The text may also be found in Hefele, § 134, under the First + Session of the Council. + + +The holy synod says: Since in addition to other things the impious +Nestorius has not obeyed our Citation and did not receive the most holy +and God-fearing bishops who were sent to him by us, we were compelled to +proceed to the examination of his impieties. And, discovering from his +letters and treatises and from the discourses recently delivered by him in +this metropolis, which have been testified to, that he has held and +published impious doctrines, and being compelled thereto by the canons and +by the letter of our most holy father and fellow-servant Celestine, the +Roman bishop, we have come, with many tears, to this sorrowful sentence +against him: Our Lord Jesus Christ whom he has blasphemed, decrees through +the present most holy synod that Nestorius be excluded from the episcopal +dignity and from all priestly communion. + + +(_c_) Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431, _Ep. ad Celestinum_. Mansi, IV, +1330-1338. + + + The letter is very long and gives an almost complete history of + the council. It may be found complete in PNF, _loc. cit._, p. 237. + It is of special importance in connection with the Pelagian + controversy, as it states that the Council of Ephesus had + confirmed the Western deposition of the Pelagians. + + +The letters were read which were written to him [Nestorius] by the most +holy and reverend bishop of the church of Alexandria, Cyril, which the +holy synod approved as being orthodox and without fault, and in no point +out of agreement, either with the divinely inspired Scriptures, or with +the faith handed down and set forth in the great synod by the holy Fathers +who were assembled some time ago at Nicaea, as your holiness, also rightly +having examined this, has given witness.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +When there had been read in the holy synod what had been done touching the +deposition of the irreligious Pelagians and Celestinians, of Celestius, +Pelagius, Julianus, Praesidius, Florus, Marcellinus, and Orontius, and +those inclined to like errors, we also deemed it right that the +determinations of your holiness concerning them should stand strong and +firm. And we all were of the same mind, holding them deposed. + + +(_d_) Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431, _Canons_, Bruns, I, 24. + + + The text may be found also in Hefele, § 141. + + +Whereas it is needful that they who were detained from the holy synod and +remained in their own district or city for any reason, ecclesiastical or +personal, should not be ignorant of the matters which were decreed by the +synod; we therefore notify your holiness and charity that---- + +I. If any metropolitan of a province, forsaking the holy and ecumenical +synod, has joined the assembly of apostasy [the council under John of +Antioch], or shall join the same hereafter; or if he has adopted, or shall +adopt, the doctrines of Celestius,(185) he has no power in any way to do +anything in opposition to the bishops of the province because he is +already cast forth by the synod from all ecclesiastical communion, and is +without authority; but he shall be subjected to the same bishops of the +province and to the neighboring bishops who hold the orthodox doctrines, +to be degraded completely from his episcopal rank. + +II. If any provincial bishops were not present at the holy synod, and have +joined or attempted to join the apostasy; or if, after subscribing to the +deposition of Nestorius, they went back to the assembly of apostasy, +these, according to the decree of the holy synod, are to be deposed +completely from the priesthood and degraded from their rank. + + +(_e_) Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431, _Manifesto of John of Antioch and his +council against Cyril and his council_. Mansi, IV, 1271. + + +The holy synod assembled in Ephesus, by the grace of God and at the +command of the pious emperors, declares: We should indeed have wished to +be able to hold a synod in peace, according to the canons of the holy +Fathers and the letters of our most pious and Christ-loving emperors; but +because you held a separate assembly from a heretical, insolent, and +obstinate disposition, although, according to the letters of our most +pious emperors, we were in the neighborhood, and because you have filled +both the city and the holy synod with every sort of confusion, in order to +prevent the examination of points agreeing with the Apollinarian, Arian, +and Eunomian heresies and impieties, and have not waited for the arrival +of the most religious bishops summoned from all regions by our pious +emperors, and when the most magnificent Count Candidianus warned you and +admonished you in writing and verbally that you should not hear such a +matter, but await the common judgment of all the most holy bishops; +therefore know thou, O Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, and thou, O Memnon, +bishop of this city, that ye are dismissed and deposed from all sacerdotal +functions as the originators and leaders of all this disorder and +lawlessness, and those who have violated the canons of the Fathers and the +imperial decrees. And all ye others who seditiously and wickedly, and +contrary to all ecclesiastical sanctions and the royal decrees, gave your +consent are excommunicated until you acknowledge your fault and reform and +accept anew the faith set forth by the holy Fathers at Nicaea, adding to it +nothing foreign or different, and until ye anathematize the heretical +propositions of Cyril, which are plainly repugnant to evangelical and +apostolic doctrine, and in all things comply with the letters of our most +pious and Christ-loving emperors, who require a peaceful and accurate +consideration of the dogma. + + +(_f_) Creed of Antioch A. D. 433. Hahn, § 170. + + + This creed was probably composed by Theodoret of Cyrus, and was + sent by Count Johannes to the Emperor Theodosius in 431 as + expressing the teaching of the Antiochian party. The bitterest + period of the Nestorian controversy was after the council which is + commonly regarded as having settled it. The Antiochians and the + Alexandrians attacked each other vigorously. At last, in 433, + John, bishop of Antioch, sent the creed given below to Cyril of + Alexandria, who signed it. The creed expresses accurately the + position of Nestorius. In this way a union was patched up between + the contending parties. But the irreconcilable Nestorians left the + Church permanently. This creed in the form in which it had been + presented to the Emperor was at the beginning and the end worded + somewhat differently, _cf._ Hahn, _loc. cit._, note. + + +We therefore acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only +begotten, complete God and complete man, of a rational soul and body; +begotten of the Father before the ages according to His godhead, but in +the last days for us and for our salvation, of the Virgin Mary, according +to the manhood; that He is of the same nature as the Father according to +His godhead, and of the same nature with us according to His manhood; for +a union of the two natures has been made; therefore we confess one Christ, +one Son, one Lord. According to this conception of the unconfused union, +we confess that the holy Virgin is Theotokos, because God the Word was +made flesh and became man, and from her conception united with Himself the +temple received from her. We recognize the evangelical and apostolic +utterances concerning the Lord, making common, as in one person, the +divine and the human characteristics, but distinguishing them as in two +natures; and teaching that the godlike traits are according to the godhead +of Christ, and the humble traits according to His manhood. + + +§ 90. The Eutychian Controversy and the Council of Chalcedon A. D. 451 + + +What is known as the Eutychian controversy is less a dogmatic controversy +than a struggle between the patriarchs of the East for supremacy, using +party theological differences as a support. Few passages in the history of +the Church are more painful. The union made in 433 between the Antiochian +and Alexandrian parties lasted fifteen years, or until after the death of +those who entered into it. At Antioch Domnus became bishop in 442, at +Alexandria Dioscurus in 444, and at Constantinople Flavian in 446. Early +in 448 Dioscurus, who aimed at the domination of the East, began to attack +the Antiochians as Nestorians. In this he was supported at Constantinople +by Chrysaphius, the all-powerful minister of the weak Theodosius II, and +the archimandrite Eutyches, the godfather of the minister. Eusebius of +Dorylaeum thereupon accused Eutyches, who held the Alexandrian position in +an extreme form, of being heretical on the doctrine of the Incarnation. +Eutyches was condemned by Flavian at an endemic synod [_cf._ DCA, I. 474]. +November 22, 448. Both Eutyches and Flavian [_cf._ Leo the Great, _Ep._ +21, 22] thereupon turned to Leo, bishop of Rome. Leo, abandoning the +traditional Roman alliance with Alexandria, on which Dioscurus had +counted, supported Flavian, sending him June 13, 449, a dogmatic epistle +(the _Tome, Ep._ 28) defining, in the terms of Western theology, the point +at issue. A synod was now called by Theodosius at Ephesus, August, 449, in +which Dioscurus with the support of the court triumphed. Eutyches was +restored, and the leaders of the Antiochian party, Flavian, Eusebius, +Ibas, Theodoret, and others deposed. Flavian [_cf._ Kirch, nn. 804 _ff._], +Eusebius, and Theodoret appealed to Leo, who vigorously denounced the +synod as a council of robbers (Latrocinium Ephesinum). At the same time +the situation at the court, upon which Dioscurus depended, was completely +changed by the fall of Chrysaphius and the death of Theodosius. Pulcheria, +his sister, and Marcian, her husband, succeeded to the throne, both +adherents of the Antiochian party, and opposed to the ecclesiastical +aspirations of Dioscurus. A new synod was now called by Marcian at +Chalcedon, a suburb of Constantinople. Dioscurus was deposed, as well as +Eutyches, but Ibas and Theodoret were restored after an examination of +their teaching. A definition was drawn up in harmony with the _Tome_ of +Leo. It was a triumph for Leo, which was somewhat lessened by the passage +of canon 28, based upon the third canon of Constantinople, A. D. 381, a +council which was henceforth recognized as the "Second General Council." +Leo refused to approve this canon, which remained in force in the East and +was renewed at the Quinisext Council A. D. 692. + + + Additional source material: W. Bright, _Select Sermons of S. Leo + the Great on the Incarnation; with his twenty-eighth Epistle + called the __"__Tome__"_, Second ed., London, 1886; Percival, _The + Seven Ecumenical Councils_ (PNF); Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, II, 1-5, + 18, Eng. trans., London, 1846 (also in Bohn's _Ecclesiastical + Library_); also much material in Hefele, §§ 170-208. + + +(_a_) Council of Constantinople, A. D. 448, _Acts_. Mansi, VI, 741 _ff._ + + + The position of Eutyches and his condemnation. + + + Inasmuch as Eutyches was no theologian and no man of letters, he + has left no worked-out statement of his position. What he taught + can be gathered only from the acts of the Council of + Constantinople A. D. 448. These were incorporated in the acts of + the Council of Ephesus, A. D. 449, and as his friends were there + they may be regarded as trustworthy. The acts of the Council of + Ephesus, A. D. 449 were read in the Council of Chalcedon, A. D. + 451, and in this way the matter is known. + + + The following passages are taken from the seventh sitting of the + Council of Constantinople, November 22, 448. + + +Archbishop Flavian said: Do you confess that the one and the same Son, our +Lord Jesus Christ, is consubstantial with His Father as to His divinity, +and consubstantial with His mother as to His humanity? + +Eutyches said: When I intrusted myself to your holiness I said that you +should not ask me further what I thought concerning the Father, Son, and +Holy Ghost. + +The archbishop said: Do you confess Christ to be of two natures? + +Eutyches said: I have never yet presumed to speculate concerning the +nature of my God, the Lord of heaven and earth; I confess that I have +never said that He is consubstantial with us. Up to the present day I have +not said that the body of our Lord and God was consubstantial with us; I +confess that the holy Virgin is consubstantial with us, and that of her +our God was incarnate.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Florentius, the patrician, said: Since the mother is consubstantial with +us, doubtless the Son is consubstantial with us. + +Eutyches said: I have not said, you will notice, that the body of a man +became the body of God, but the body was human, and the Lord was incarnate +of the Virgin. If you wish that I should add to this that His body is +consubstantial with us, I will do this; but I do not understand the term +consubstantial in such a way that I do not deny that he is the Son of God. +Formerly I spoke in general not of a consubstantiality according to the +flesh; now I will do so, because your Holiness demands it.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Florentius said: Do you or do you not confess that our Lord, who is of the +Virgin, is consubstantial and of two natures after the incarnation? + +Eutyches said: I confess that our Lord was of two natures before the union +[_i.e._, the union of divinity and humanity in the incarnation], but after +the union one nature.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I follow the teaching of the blessed Cyril and the +holy Fathers and the holy Athanasius, because they speak of two natures +before the union, but after the union and incarnation they speak not of +two natures but of one nature. + + + Condemnation of Eutyches. + + +Eutyches, formerly presbyter and archimandrite, has been shown, by what +has taken place and by his own confession, to be infected with the heresy +of Valentinus and Apollinaris, and to follow stubbornly their blasphemies, +and rejecting our arguments and teaching, is unwilling to consent to true +doctrines. Therefore, weeping and mourning his complete perversity, we +have decreed through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been blasphemed by +him, that he be deprived of every sacerdotal office, that he be put out of +our communion, and deprived of his position over a monastery. All who +hereafter speak with him or associate with him, are to know that they also +are fallen into the same penalty of excommunication. + + +(_b_) Leo the Great, _Epistola Dogmatica_ or the _Tome_. Hahn, § 176. +(MSL, 54:763.) + + + This letter was written to Flavian on the subject which had been + raised by the condemnation of Eutyches in 448. It is of the first + importance, not merely in the history of the Church, but also in + the history of doctrine. Yet it cannot be said that Leo advanced + beyond the traditional formulae of the West, or struck out new + thoughts [_cf._ Augustine, _Ep._ 187, text and translation of most + important part in Norris, _Rudiments of Theology_, 1894, pp. + 262-266]. It was to be read at the Council of Ephesus, 449 A. D., + but was not. It soon became widely known, however, and was + approved at the endemic Council of Constantinople, A. D. 450, and + when read at Chalcedon, the Fathers of the council cried out: + "Peter has spoken by the mouth of Leo." + + + It may be found translated in PNF, ser II, vol. XII, p. 38, and + again vol. XIV, p. 254. The best critical text is given in Hahn, § + 224. A translation with valuable notes may be found in Wm. Bright, + _op. cit._ Hefele, § 176, gives a paraphrase and text with useful + notes. The most significant passages, which are here translated, + may be found in Denziger, nn. 143 _f._ + + +Ch. 3. Without detracting from the properties of either nature and +substance, which came together in one person, majesty took on humility; +strength, weakness; eternity, mortality; and to pay off the debt of our +condition inviolable nature was united to passible nature, so that as +proper remedy for us, one and the same mediator between God and man, the +man Jesus Christ, could both die with the one and not die with the other. +Thus in the whole and perfect nature of true man was true God born, +complete in what was His and complete in what was ours.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 4. There enters, therefore, these lower parts of the world the Son of +God, descending from His heavenly seat, and not quitting the glory of His +Father, begotten in a new order by a new nativity. In a new order: because +He who was invisible in His own nature, was made visible in ours; He who +was incomprehensible [could not be contained], became comprehensible in +ours; remaining before all times, He began to be in time; the Lord of all, +He took upon Him the form of a servant, having obscured His immeasurable +majesty. He who was God, incapable of suffering, did not disdain to be +man, capable of suffering, and the immortal to subject Himself to the laws +of death. Born by a new nativity: because the inviolate virginity knew not +concupiscence, it ministered the material of the flesh. The nature of the +Lord was assumed from the mother, not sin; and in the Lord Jesus Christ, +born of the womb of the Virgin, because His nativity is wonderful, yet is +His nature not dissimilar to ours. For He who is true God, is likewise +true man, and there is no fraud(186) since both the humility of the man +and the loftiness of God meet.(187) For as God is not changed by the +manifestation of pity, so the man is not consumed [absorbed] by the +dignity. For each form [_i.e._, nature] does in communion with the other +what is proper to it [_agit enim utraque forma cum alterius communione +quod proprium est_]; namely, by the action of the Word what is of the +Word, and by the flesh carrying out what is of the flesh. One of these is +brilliant with miracles, the other succumbs to injuries. And as the Word +does not depart from equality with the paternal glory, so the flesh does +not forsake the nature of our race.(188) + + +(_c_) Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, _Definition_. Mansi, VII, 107. + + + The definition of Chalcedon lays down the fundamental principles + upon which rests the doctrine of the incarnation, both in Eastern + and Western theology. It is the necessary complement and result of + the discussion that led to the definition of Nicaea, and is + theologically second only to that in importance. At Nicaea the true + and eternal deity of the Son who became incarnate was defined; at + Chalcedon the true, complete, and abiding humanity of manhood of + the incarnate Son of God. In this way two natures were asserted to + be in the incarnate Logos. According to Chalcedon, which came + after the Nestorian and the Eutychian controversies, these natures + are neither to be confused so that the divine nature suffers or + the human nature is lost in the divine, nor to be separated so as + to constitute two persons. The definition was, however, not + preceded by any clear understanding of what was to be understood + by nature in relation to hypostasis. This was left for later + discussion. There was even then left open the question as to the + relation of the will to the nature, and this gave rise to the + Monothelete controversy (see § 110). But the definition of + Chalcedon is important not merely for the history of doctrine but + also for the general history of the Church. The course of + Christianity in the East depends upon the great controversies, and + in Monophysitism the Church of the East was split into permanent + divisions. The divisions of the Eastern Church prepared the way + for the Moslem conquests. The attempts made to set aside the + definition of Chalcedon as a political move led to a temporary + schism between the East and the West. + + + In this definition, it should be noted, the Council of + Constantinople, A. D. 381, for the first time takes its place + alongside of Nicaea and Ephesus, A. D. 431, and the so-called creed + of Constantinople is placed on the same level as the creed put + forth at Nicaea. The creed of Constantinople eventually took the + place of the creed of Nicaea even in the East. + + + The text of the definition may be found in its most important + dogmatic part in Hefele, § 193; Hahn, § 146; Denziger, n. 148. For + a general description of the council, see Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, + II, 3, 4. Extracts from the acts in PNF, ser. II, vol. XIV, 243 + _ff._ + + +The holy, great, and ecumenical synod, assembled by the grace of God and +the command of our most religious and Christian Emperors Marcian and +Valentinian, Augusti, at Chalcedon, the metropolis of the province of +Bithynia, in the martyry of the holy and victorious martyr Euphemia, has +decreed as follows: + +Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when strengthening the knowledge of the +faith in his disciples, to the end that no one might disagree with his +neighbor concerning the doctrines of religion, and that the proclamation +of the truth might be set forth equally to all men, said: "My peace I +leave with you, my peace I give unto you." But since the Evil One does not +desist from sowing tares among the seeds of godliness, but ever invents +something new against the truth, therefore the Lord, providing, as He ever +does, for the human race, has raised up this pious, faithful, and zealous +sovereign, and He has called together unto Himself from all parts the +chief rulers of the priesthood, so that, with the grace of Christ, our +common Lord, inspiring us, we may cast off every plague of falsehood from +the sheep of Christ and feed them with the tender leaves of truth. And +this we have done, with unanimous consent driving away erroneous doctrine +and renewing the unerring faith of the Fathers, publishing to all the +creed of the three hundred and eighteen [_i.e._, the creed of Nicaea], and +to their number adding as Fathers those who have received the same summary +of religion. Such are the one hundred and fifty who afterward assembled in +great Constantinople and ratified the same faith. Moreover, observing the +order and every form relating to the faith which was observed by the holy +synod formerly held in Ephesus, of which Celestine of Rome and Cyril of +Alexandria, of holy memory, were the leaders [_i.e._, Ephesus A. D. 431], +we do declare that the exposition of the right and blameless faith made by +the three hundred and eighteen holy and blessed Fathers, assembled at +Nicaea in the reign of Constantine, of pious memory, shall be pre-eminent, +and that those things shall be of force also which were decreed by the one +hundred and fifty holy Fathers at Constantinople for the uprooting of the +heresies which had then sprung up and for the confirmation of the same +Catholic and apostolic faith of ours. + +Then follow: + +"The Creed of the Three Hundred and Eighteen Fathers at Nicaea." The +so-called Constantinopolitan creed, without the "filioque." + +This wise and salutary formula of divine grace sufficed for the perfect +knowledge and confirmation of religion; for it teaches the perfect +doctrine concerning Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and sets forth the +incarnation of the Lord to them that faithfully receive it. But forasmuch +as persons undertaking to make void the preaching of the truth have +through their individual heresies given rise to empty babblings, some of +them daring to corrupt the mystery of the Lord's incarnation for us and +refusing to use the name Theotokos in reference to the Virgin, while +others bringing in a confusion and mixture, and idly conceiving that there +is one nature of the flesh and the godhead, maintaining that the divine +nature of the Only begotten is by mixture capable of suffering; therefore +this present, great, and ecumenical synod, desiring to exclude from them +every device against the truth and teaching that which is unchanged from +the beginning, has at the very outset decreed that the faith of the three +hundred and eighteen Fathers shall be preserved inviolate. And on account +of them that contend against the Holy Ghost, it confirms the doctrine +afterward delivered concerning the substance of the Spirit by the one +hundred and fifty holy Fathers assembled in the imperial city, which +doctrine they declare unto all men, not as though they were introducing +anything that had been lacking in their predecessors, but in order to +explain through written documents their faith concerning the Holy Ghost +against those who were seeking to destroy His sovereignty. And on account +of those who are attempting to corrupt the mystery of the dispensation +[_i.e._, the incarnation], and who shamelessly pretend that He who was +born of the holy Virgin Mary was a mere man, it receives the synodical +letters of the blessed Cyril, pastor of the church of Alexandria, +addressed to Nestorius and to the Easterns,(189) judging them suitable for +the refutation of the frenzied folly of Nestorius and for the instruction +of those who long with holy ardor for a knowledge of the saving symbol. +And to these it has rightly added for the confirmation of the orthodox +doctrines the letter of the president of the great and old Rome, the most +blessed and holy Archbishop Leo, which was addressed to Archbishop +Flavian, of blessed memory,(190) for the removal of the false doctrines of +Eutyches, judging them to be agreeable to the confession of the great +Peter and to be a common pillar against misbelievers. For it opposes those +who would rend the mystery of the dispensation into a duad of Sons; it +repels from the sacred assembly those who dared to say that the godhead of +the Only begotten is capable of suffering; it resists those who imagine +there is a mixture or confusion in the two natures of Christ; it drives +away those who fancy His form as a servant is of an heavenly or of some +substance other than that which was taken of us,(191) and it anathematizes +those who foolishly talk of two natures of our Lord before the union,(192) +conceiving that after the union there was only one.(193) + +Following the holy Fathers,(194) we all with one voice teach men to +confess that the Son and our Lord Jesus Christ is one and the same, that +He is perfect in godhead and perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man, +of a reasonable soul and body, consubstantial with His Father as touching +His godhead, and consubstantial with us as to His manhood,(195) in all +things like unto us, without sin; begotten of His Father before all worlds +according to His godhead; but in these last days for us and for our +salvation of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, according to His manhood, one +and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten Son,(196) in(197) two +natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably; the +distinction of natures being preserved and concurring in one person and +hypostasis,(198) not separated or divided into two persons, but one and +the same Son and Only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, as +the prophets from the beginning have spoken concerning Him, and as the +Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and as the creed of the Fathers +has delivered us. + +These things having been expressed by us with great accuracy and +attention, the holy ecumenical synod decrees that no one shall be +permitted to bring forward another faith,(199) nor to write, nor to +compose, nor to excogitate, nor to teach such to others. But such as dare +to compose another faith, or to bring forward, or to teach, or to deliver +another creed to such as wish to be converted to the knowledge of the +truth from among the Gentiles or the Jews, or any heresy whatever; if they +be bishops or clerics, let them be deposed, the bishops from the +episcopate, the clerics from the clerical rank; but if they be monks or +laymen, let them be anathematized. + + +(_d_) Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, _Canon_ 28. Bruns, I, 32. + + + The rank of the see of Constantinople. + + + This canon is closely connected with Canon 3 of Constantinople, A. + D. 381, but goes beyond that in extending the authority of + Constantinople. With this canon should be compared Canons 9 and 17 + of Chalcedon, which, taken with Canon 28, make Constantinople + supreme in the East. For the circumstances in which the Canon was + passed, see Hefele, § 200. The letter of the council submitting + its decrees to Leo for approval and explaining this canon is among + the Epistles of Leo, _Ep._ 98. (PNF, ser. II, vol. XII, p. 72.) + For Leo's criticism, _v. supra_, § 86. See W. Bright, _Notes on + the Canons of the First Four General Councils_, 1882. A valuable + discussion of the canon in its historical setting is in + Hergenroether, _Photius, Patriarch von Constantinopel_, 1867, I, + 74-89. + + + Texts of the canon may be found in Kirch, n. 868, and Hefele, + _loc. cit._ + + +Following in all things the decisions of the holy Fathers, and +acknowledging the canon, which has just been read, of the one hundred and +fifty bishops, beloved of God we also do enact and decree the same things +concerning the privileges of the most holy Church of Constantinople or New +Rome. For the Fathers rightly granted privileges to the throne of Old +Rome, because it was the royal city, and the one hundred and fifty most +religious bishops, moved by the same considerations, gave equal privileges +to the most holy throne of New Rome, judging with good reason that the +city which is honored with the sovereignty and the Senate, and also enjoys +equal privileges with old imperial Rome, should in ecclesiastical matters +also be magnified as she is, and rank next after her; so that in the +dioceses of Pontus, Asia, and Thrace the metropolitans, and such bishops +also of the dioceses aforesaid as are among the barbarians, should be +ordained only by the aforesaid most holy throne of the most holy Church of +Constantinople; every metropolitan of the aforesaid dioceses together with +the bishops of his province ordaining bishops of the province, as has been +declared by the divine canons; but that, as has been said above, the +metropolitans of the aforesaid dioceses shall be ordained by the +archbishop of Constantinople, after the proper elections have been held +according to custom and have been reported to him. + + +(_e_) Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, _Protests of the Legates of Leo +against Canon_ 28. Mansi, VII, 446. + + +Lucentius, the bishop [legate of Leo], said: The Apostolic See gave orders +that all things should be done in our presence [Latin text: The Apostolic +See ought not to be humiliated in our presence], and therefore whatever +was done yesterday during our absence, to the prejudice of the canons, we +pray your highnesses [_i.e._, the royal commissioners who directed the +affairs of the council] to command to be rescinded. But if not, let our +protest be placed in these acts [_i.e._, the minutes of the council then +being approved], so that we may know clearly what we are to report to that +apostolic and chief bishop of the whole Church [Latin text: to that +apostolic man and Pope of the universal Church], so that he may be able to +take action with regard either to the indignity done to his see or to the +setting at naught of the canons. + + +§ 91. Results of the Decision of Chalcedon: the Rise of Schisms from the +Monophysite Controversy + + +The definition of the Council of Chalcedon, in spite of its condemnation +of Nestorius and its approval of the letters of Cyril, was a triumph of +the Antiochian school and a condemnation of Alexandrian theology. At +Chalcedon no more than at Nicaea was a controversy settled. So far from +being settled at the council, Monophysitism began with it its long career +in the Eastern Church only to end in permanent schisms. As soon as the +results of Chalcedon were known the Church was in an uproar. Riots broke +out in Jerusalem against the patriarch. At Alexandria, Timothy AElurus, a +Monophysite, was able to drive out the orthodox patriarch. In Antioch, +Petrus Fullo did the same and added to the liturgical Trisagion [Is. 6:3] +the Theopaschite phrase: "God who was crucified for us." The Emperor +Marcian died 457 and was succeeded by Leo I (457-474). His grandson Leo II +(474) was succeeded by his father Zeno (474-475, 477-491). Zeno was +temporarily deposed by Basiliscus (475-477), who, basing his authority +upon the Monophysite faction, issued an Encyclion condemning Chalcedon and +Leo's Epistle, and making Monophysitism the religion of the Empire. Zeno +was restored by a Dyophysite faction under the lead of Acacius, patriarch +of Constantinople. Zeno, to win back the Monophysites, issued in 482 the +_Henoticon_, setting aside Chalcedon and making only the definition of +Nicaea authoritative. Dissatisfaction arose on both sides, and minor +schisms in the East took place. With Rome a schism arose lasting 484-519. + + + Additional source material: Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, lib. III. + + +(_a_) Basiliscus, _Encyclion_; A. D. 476; in Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, III, +4. (MSG, 86, II:2600.) _Cf._ Kirch, nn. 879 _f._ + + + Although an anti-encyclion was issued in 477 condemning Eutyches + as well as Nestorius, the attempts of Basiliscus were in vain. + + +The Emperor Caesar Basiliscus, pious, victorious, triumphant, supreme, +ever-worshipful Augustus, and Marcus, the most noble Caesar, to Timotheus, +archbishop of the great city of the Alexandrians, most reverend and +beloved of God. + +Whatever laws the pious emperors before us, who worshipped the blessed and +immortal and life-giving Trinity, have decreed in behalf of the true and +apostolic faith, these laws, we say, as always beneficial for the whole +world, we will at no time to be inoperative, but rather we promulgate them +as our own. We, preferring piety and zeal in the cause of our God and +Saviour, Jesus Christ, who created and has made us glorious before all +diligence in human affairs, and also believing that concord among the +flocks of Christ is the preservation of ourselves and our subjects, the +firm foundation and unshaken bulwark of our Empire, and, accordingly, +being rightly moved with godly zeal and offering to God and our Saviour, +Jesus Christ, the unity of the holy Church as the first-fruits of our +reign, do ordain as the basis and confirmation of human felicity, namely, +the symbol of the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers who were in time +past assembled with the Holy Ghost at Nicaea, into which both ourselves and +all our believing subjects were baptized; that this alone should have +reception and authority with the orthodox people in all the most holy +churches of God as the only formulary of the right faith, and sufficient +for the utter destruction of all heresy and for the complete unity of the +holy churches of God; the acts of the one hundred and fifty holy Fathers +assembled in this imperial city, in confirmation of the sacred symbol +itself and in condemnation of those who blasphemed against the Holy Ghost, +retaining their own force; as well as of all done in the metropolitan city +of the Ephesians against the impious Nestorius and those who subsequently +favored his opinions.(200) But the proceedings which have disturbed the +unity and good order of the holy churches of God, and the peace of the +whole world, that is to say, the so-called _Tome_ of Leo, and all things +done at Chalcedon in innovation upon the before-mentioned holy symbol of +the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers, whether by way of definition +of the faith or setting forth of symbols, or interpretation, or +instruction, or discourse; we decree that these shall be anathematized +both here and everywhere by all the most holy bishops in every church and +shall be given to the flames by whomsoever they shall be found, insomuch +as it was so enjoined respecting all heretical doctrines by our +predecessors of pious and blessed memory, Constantine and Theodosius the +younger [_v. supra_, § 73], and that, having thus been rendered null, they +shall be utterly cast out from the one and only Catholic and Apostolic +Orthodox Church, as superseding the everlasting and saving definitions of +the three hundred and eighteen Fathers, and those of the blessed Fathers +who, by the Holy Ghost, decreed at Ephesus [it is possible that there is a +fault in the text here; the expected reading of the passage would be: and +of the one hundred and fifty bishops who decreed concerning the Holy +Spirit; and of those who were assembled at Ephesus] that no one, either of +the priesthood or laity, be allowed to deviate in any respect from that +most sacred constitution of the holy symbol, and we decree that these be +anathematized together with all the innovations upon the sacred symbol +which were made at Chalcedon and the heresy of those who do not confess +that the only begotten Son of God was truly incarnate and made man of the +Holy Ghost and of the holy and ever-virgin Mary, Theotokos, but falsely +allege that either from heaven or in mere phantasy and seeming He took +flesh; and, in short, every heresy and whatever else at any time in any +manner or place in the whole world, in either thought or word, has been +devised as an innovation upon and in derogation of the sacred symbol. And +inasmuch as it belongs especially to imperial providence to furnish to +their subjects, with forecasting deliberation, security not only for the +present but for the future, we decree that everywhere the most holy +bishops shall subscribe to this our sacred circular letter when exhibited +to them, and shall distinctly declare that they submit to the sacred +symbol of the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers alone, which the one +hundred and fifty holy Fathers confirmed, as it was also defined by the +most holy Fathers who subsequently assembled in the metropolitan city of +the Ephesians, that they should submit to the sacred symbol of the three +hundred and eighteen holy Fathers, as the definition of faith, and shall +anathematize everything done at Chalcedon as an offence to the orthodox +people and utterly cast it out of the churches as an impediment to the +general happiness and our own.(201) Those, moreover, who after the issuing +of this our sacred letter, which we trust has been issued according to +God, in an endeavor to bring about that unity which all desire for the +holy churches of God, shall attempt to bring forward or so much as to name +the innovation upon the faith made at Chalcedon, either in discourse, +instruction, or writing, in whatsoever manner or place--those persons, as +the cause of confusion and tumult in the churches of God and among the +whole body of our subjects, and as enemies of God and to our safety, we +command (in accordance with the laws ordained by our predecessor +Theodosius, of blessed and pious memory, against such sorts of evil +designs, which laws are subjoined to this our sacred circular) that, if +they be bishops or clergy, they be deposed; if monks or laymen, that they +be subjected to banishment and every mode of confiscation and the severest +penalties. For so the holy and homoousian Trinity, the Creator and +Life-giver of the universe, which has ever been adored by us in piety, now +also is served by us in the destruction of the before-mentioned tares and +the confirmation of the true and apostolic traditions of the holy symbol, +becoming favorable and gracious both to our souls and to every one of our +subjects, shall ever aid us and preserve in peace human affairs. + + +(_b_) Zeno, _Henoticon_; in Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, III, 14. (MSG, 86, +II:2620.) _Cf._ Kirch, nn. 883 _f._ + + + Zeno published his _Henoticon_ in 482 as an attempt to win back + the Monophysites. Evagrius says, in a note to the document: "When + these things were read, those who were in Alexandria were joined + to the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church." The effect so far as + the West went was just the opposite. Felix III protested and + threatened. But Acacius, bishop of Constantinople, who was chiefly + responsible for the document, refused to listen. Felix (_cf._ + Evagrius, III, 18) and Acacius thereupon issued mutual + excommunications. On the accession of the Emperor Anastasius + [491-518] the _Henoticon_ continued in force, as his sympathies + were with the Monophysites. It will be noted that the _Henoticon_ + not merely sets aside Chalcedon but introduces phrases which make + it appear that the same moral subject is present in every act, + whether of humility or majesty, and that it is God who suffers. + These are characteristic Monophysite positions. + + +The Emperor Caesar Zeno, pious, victorious, triumphant, supreme, +ever-worshipful Augustus, to the most reverend bishops and clergy, and to +the monks and laity throughout Alexandria, Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis. + +Being assured that the origin and constitution, the might and invincible +shield of our sovereignty, is the only right and true faith, which the +three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers assembled at Nicaea set forth by +divine inspiration, and the one hundred and fifty holy Fathers who in like +manner met at Constantinople, confirmed; we night and day employ every +means of prayer, of zealous care, and of laws, that the holy Catholic and +Apostolic Church of God in every place may be multiplied, which is the +incorruptible and immortal mother of our sceptre; and that the pious +laity, continuing in peace and unanimity in respect to God, may, together +with the bishops, highly beloved of God, the most pious clergy, the +archimandrites, and monks, offer up acceptably their supplications in +behalf of our sovereignty. So long as our great God and Saviour, Jesus +Christ, who was made man and brought forth of Mary, the holy Virgin and +Theotokos, approves and readily accepts the praise we render by concord +and our service, the power of enemies will be crushed and swept away, and +all will bend their necks to our power, which is according to God, and +peace and its blessings, kindly temperature, abundant produce, and +whatever else is beneficial will be liberally bestowed upon men. Since, +then, the irreprehensible faith is the preserver of both ourselves and +Roman affairs, petitions have been offered to us from pious archimandrites +and hermits and other venerable persons, imploring with tears that there +be unity for the most holy churches, and the parts should be joined to +parts which the enemy of all good has of old time attempted to keep apart, +knowing that, if he assails the body of the Church sound and complete, he +will be defeated. For, since it happens that of unnumbered generations +which during the lapse of so many years in time have withdrawn from life, +some have departed deprived of the laver of regeneration, and others have +been borne away on the inevitable journey of man without having partaken +of the divine communion; and innumerable murders have also been committed; +and not only the earth, but the very air has been filled by a multitude of +blood-sheddings, who would not pray that this state of things might be +transformed into good? For this reason we were anxious that you should +know that neither we nor the churches everywhere have ever held or shall +hold, nor are we aware of any persons who hold, any other symbol or +teaching or definition of faith or creed than the aforementioned holy +symbol of the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers, which the aforesaid +one hundred and fifty holy Fathers confirmed. If any person should hold +such, we regard him as an alien; for we are confident that this symbol +alone is, as we said, the preserver of our sovereignty. And all the people +desiring the saving illumination were baptized, receiving this faith only, +and this the holy Fathers assembled at Ephesus also followed; who deposed +the impious Nestorius and those who subsequently held his sentiments. And +this Nestorius we also anathematize, together with Eutyches and all who +entertain opinions contrary to the above-mentioned, receiving at the same +time the twelve chapters of Cyril, of holy memory, formerly archbishop of +the holy Catholic Church of the Alexandrians. We confess, moreover, that +the only begotten Son of God, himself God, who truly became man, namely, +our Lord Jesus Christ, is consubstantial with the Father as to his +godhead, and the same consubstantial with ourselves as respects his +manhood; that having descended and become flesh of the Holy Ghost and +Mary, the Virgin and Theotokos, He is one and not two; for we affirm that +both His miracles and the sufferings which He voluntarily endured in the +flesh, are of one; for we do not in any degree admit those who either make +a division or a confusion or introduce a phantom; inasmuch as His truly +sinless incarnation from the Theotokos did not produce an addition of a +son, because the Trinity continued as a Trinity, even when one of the +Trinity, God the Word, did become incarnate. Knowing, then, that neither +the holy orthodox churches of God in all places nor the priests, highly +beloved of God, who are at their head, nor our own sovereignty, have +allowed or do allow any other symbol or definition of faith than the +before-mentioned holy teaching, we have united ourselves thereunto without +hesitation. And these things we write, not as making an innovation upon +the faith, but to satisfy you; and every one who has held or holds any +other opinion, either at the present or at another time, whether at +Chalcedon or in any synod whatever, we anathematize; and specially the +aforementioned Nestorius and Eutyches, and those who maintain their +doctrines. Link yourselves, therefore, to the spiritual mother, the +Church, and in her enjoy divine communion with us, according to the +aforesaid one and only definition of the faith of the three hundred and +eighteen holy Fathers. For your all-holy mother, the Church, waits to +embrace you as true children, and longs to hear your gentle voice so long +withheld. Speed yourselves, therefore, for by so doing you will both draw +toward yourselves the favor of our Master and Saviour and God, Jesus +Christ, and be commended by our sovereignty. + + +§ 92. The Church of Italy under the Ostrogoths and during the first Schism +between Rome and the Eastern Church + + +The schism between New and Old Rome lasted from 484 to 517, but attempts +were made on both sides to end the deplorable situation. The two +successors of Acacius were willing to resume communion with Rome and +restore the name of the bishop of Rome to the diptychs, but refused to +take the names of their predecessors from the same, as required by the +latter. Gelasius (492-496), Anastasius II (496-498), and Symmachus +(498-514) held firmly but unavailingly to the Roman contention that, +before any communion was possible, the name of Acacius must be struck from +the diptychs--in the case of the dead an act as condemnatory as +excommunication in the case of the living. Meanwhile the Roman see boldly +asserted the independence of the Church, and protested against the action +of the Emperor in setting aside the decree of Chalcedon as usurpation and +tyranny. This is most clearly set forth by Gelasius, in his epistle to the +Emperor Anastasius. The schism finally came to an end in 519, in +accordance with the ecclesiastical policy of Justinian, and at that time +the _Formula_ of Hormisdas (514-523) was accepted by the heads of the +Eastern Church by an act constituting a complete surrender of the claims +of the Orientals. + +While the schism was still existing and Rome was treating with the East +upon an independent footing, the situation in Italy was far less +brilliant. The Arian king, the Ostrogoth Theodoric (489, 493-526) ruled +Italy, and the attitude of the Roman see was far less authoritative toward +the local ruler. It was, however, a period of great importance for the +future of the Church; Boethius, Cassiodorus, Dionysius Exiguus, and +Benedict of Nursia (_v. infra_, §§ 104, 105) all belong to this period and +the decree of Gelasius, _De Recipiendis Libris_, was of permanent +influence upon the theological science of the West. + + + Additional source material: Cassiodorus, _Varia_, Eng. trans. + (condensed), by T. Hodgkin (_The Letters of Cassiodorus_), London, + 1886. + + +(_a_) Gelasius, _Ep. ad Imp. Anastasium_. (MSL, 59:42.) + + + A definition of the relation between the secular and religious + authority. + + + The date of this epistle is 494. The period is not dealt with at + any length in English works on ecclesiastical history; see, + however. T. Greenwood, _Cathedra Petri_, II, pp. 41-84, the + chapter entitled "Papal Prerogative under Popes Gelasius and + Symmachus." + + + After Gelasius has alluded to the circumstances in which he is + writing and excused his not writing, he mentions his natural + devotion to the Roman Emperor--being himself by birth a Roman + citizen--his desire as a Christian to share with him the right + faith, and as vicar of the Apostolic See his constant anxiety to + maintain the true faith; he then proceeds: + + +I beseech your piety not to regard as arrogance duty in divine affairs. +Far be it from a Roman prince, I pray, to regard as injury truth that has +been intimated to him. For, indeed, there are, O Emperor Augustus, two by +whom principally this world is ruled: the sacred authority of the pontiffs +and the royal power. Of these the importance of the priests is so much the +greater, as even for kings of men they will have to give an account in the +divine judgment. Know, indeed, most clement son, that although you +worthily rule over the human race, yet as a man of devotion in divine +matters you submit your neck to the prelates, and also from them you await +the matters of your salvation, and in making use of the celestial +sacraments and in administering those things you know that you ought, as +is right, to be subjected to the order of religion rather than preside +over it; know likewise that in regard to these things you are dependent +upon their judgment and you should not bend them to your will. For if, so +far as it pertains to the order of public discipline, the priests of +religion, knowing that the imperial power has been bestowed upon you by +divine providence, obey your laws, lest in affairs of exclusively mundane +determination they might seem to resist, with how much more gladness, I +ask, does it become you to obey them who have been assigned to the duty of +performing the divine mysteries. Just as there is no light risk for the +pontiffs to be silent about those things which belong to the service of +the divinity, so there is no small peril (which God forbid) to those who, +when they ought to obey, refuse to do so. And if it is right that the +hearts of the faithful be submitted to all priests generally who treat +rightly divine things, how much more is obedience to be shown to the +prelate of that see which the highest divinity wished to be pre-eminent +over all priests and which the devotion of the whole Church continually +honors? + + +(_b_) Gelasius, _Epist. de Recipiendis et non Recipiendis Libris_. Mansi, +VIII, 153 _ff._ + + + This decretal is evidently made of matter of different dates, as + has been shown by Hefele, § 217, and probably contains matter + which may be later than Gelasius. In the first section of the + decretal is a list of the canonical books of the Bible, as in the + Vulgate; the decretal then sets forth the claims of the Roman see + (§ 2), the books to be received (§ 3), and the books which the + Roman Church rejects (§ 4). In respect to several there are + various comments added, but these have in several cases been + omitted for the sake of brevity, where they are of less + importance. Portions of the decretal in Denziger, nn. 162-164; the + full text of the decretal may be found in Mansi VIII, 153 _ff._ + Preuschen, _Analecta_, vol. II, pp. 52 _ff._; Mirbt, n. 168. + + +II. Although the one dwelling of the universal Catholic Church spread +through the world is of Christ, the holy Roman Church, however, has been +placed before the other churches by no synodical decrees, but has obtained +the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord and Saviour, saying, "Thou +art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church," etc.(202) To it was +given the fellowship of the most blessed Apostle Paul, that chosen vessel +who not at a different time, as heretics prate, but at one time and on one +and the same day by a glorious death, was crowned together with Peter in +agony in the city of Rome under the Emperor Nero. And they equally +consecrated the said holy Roman Church to Christ and placed it over all +the others in the whole world by their presence and venerable triumph. + +III. Therefore the first see of Peter the Apostle is the Roman Church, not +having any spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The second see was +consecrated at Alexandria in the name of the blessed Peter by Mark, his +disciple and the evangelist. He himself, having been directed by the +Apostle Peter to Egypt, preached the word of truth and consummated a +glorious martyrdom. But as the third see of the same most blessed Apostle +Peter is held the see of Antioch, since he held that before he came to +Rome, and there the name of the new people, the name of Christians, arose. + +IV. 1. And although no other foundation can be laid than that which has +been laid, which is Christ Jesus, yet after the writings of the Old and +New Testaments,(203) which we receive regularly, the same holy Roman +Church does not prohibit these following writings to be received for the +purposes of edification: + +2. The holy synod of Nicaea, according to the three hundred and eighteen +Fathers, under the Emperor Constantine. + +3. The holy synod of Ephesus, in which Nestorius was condemned with the +consent of the most blessed Pope [_papa_] Celestine, held under Cyril, the +prelate of the see of Alexandria, and Acadius, a bishop sent from Italy. + +4. The holy synod of Chalcedon, which was held under the Emperor Marcian +and Anatolius, bishop of Constantinople, and in which Nestorius, Eutyches, +and Dioscurus were condemned. + +V. 1. Likewise the works of the blessed Caecilius Cyprianus, martyr, and +bishop of Carthage; 2. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Gregory the bishop of Nazianzus; 3. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of +Basil, bishop of Cappadocia; 4. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria; 5. +{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of John [Chrysostom], bishop of Constantinople; 6. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Theophilus, +bishop of Alexandria; 7. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Cyril, bishop of Alexandria; 8. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Hilary, +bishop of Poitiers; 9. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Ambrose, bishop of Milan; 10. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Augustine, +bishop of Hippo; 11. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Jerome, the presbyter; 12. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Prosper; 13. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +likewise the Epistle of the blessed Pope Leo to Flavian, bishop of +Constantinople, against Eutyches and other heretics; and if any one +dispute even so much as an iota of the text of the epistle, and will not +reverently receive it in all points, let him be anathema. + +14. Likewise the works and treatises of the orthodox Fathers are to be +read, who in no respect have deviated from the union with the holy Roman +Church, nor have separated from its faith and teaching; but, by the grace +of God, have shared in communion with it even to the last days of their +life. + +15. Likewise the decretal epistles which the most blessed Popes at +different times have given from the city of Rome, in reply to +consultations of various fathers, are to be reverently received. + +16. Likewise the acts of the holy martyrs.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But, according to an ancient +custom and singular caution, they are not to be read in the holy Roman +Church, because the names of those who wrote them are not known.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +17. Likewise the lives of the fathers Paul, Antony, Hilarion, and all +hermits which the most blessed Jerome has described, we receive in honor. + +18. Likewise the acts of the blessed Sylvester, prelate of the Apostolic +See, although the name of the writer is unknown; however, we know that it +is read by many Catholics in the city of Rome, and on account of its +ancient use many churches have copied it. + +19. Likewise the writing concerning the discovery of the cross and another +concerning the discovery of the head of the blessed John the Baptist.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +20. Rufinus, a most religious man, has published many books on +ecclesiastical affairs and has also translated several writings. But +because the venerable Jerome has criticised him in various points for his +freedom in judgment, we are of the same opinion as we know Jerome is, and +not only concerning Rufinus but all others whom, out of zeal toward God +and devotion to the faith, Jerome has condemned. + +21. Likewise several works of Origen which the blessed Jerome does not +reject we receive as to be read; the remaining works along with their +author we declare are to be rejected. + +22. Likewise the chronicles of Eusebius of Caesarea and the books of his +_Ecclesiastical History_, although in the first book of his narrative he +has been a little warm and afterward he wrote one book in praise and +defence of Origen, the schismatic, yet on account of the mention of +several things, which pertain to instruction, we say that they are to that +extent not to be rejected.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +23. Likewise we approve Orosius; 24. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} the works of Sedulius; 25. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} the +works of Juvencus.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +VI. Other works which have been written by heretics or schismatics the +Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church in no respect receives, and these, +although they are not received and are to be avoided by Catholics, we +believe ought to be added below. + + + There follow a list of thirty-five apocryphal gospels, acts, and + similar documents. The epistle continues: + + +36. The book which is called _The Canons of the Apostles_; 37. the book +called _Physiologus_, written by heretics and ascribed to Ambrose; 38. the +history of Eusebius Pamphilius; 39. the works of Tertullian; 40. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of +Lactantius or Firminianus; 41. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Africanus; 42. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Postumianus and +Gallus; 43. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} of Montanus, Priscilla, and Maximilla; 44. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} all the works +of Faustus the Manichaean; 45. the works of Commodus; 46. the works of +another Clement of Alexandria; 47. the works of Thascius Cyprianus; 48. of +Arnobius; 49. of Tichonius; 50. of Cassianus a presbyter of Gaul; 51. +Victorinus of Pettau; 52. of Frumentius the blind; 53. of Faustus of Reiz; +54. the Epistle of Jesus to Abgar; 55. Passion of St. Cyricus and Julitta; +56. Passion of St. Georgius; 57. the writings which are called the "Curse +of Solomon"; 58. all phylacteries which have been written not with the +names of angels, as they pretend, but rather of demons; 59. these works +and all similar to them which Simon Magus [a list of heretics down to] +Peter [Fullo] and another Peter [Mongus], of whom one defiled Alexandria +and the other Antioch, Acacius of Constantinople with his adherents, as +also all heretics or disciples of heretics or schismatics have taught or +written, whose names we do not remember are not only repudiated by the +entire Roman Catholic Church, but we declare are bound forever with an +indissoluble anathema together with their authors and followers of their +authors. + + +(_c_) Hormisdas, _Formula_. Mansi, VIII, 407. _Cf._ Denziger, nn. 171 _f._ + + + The formula which Hormisdas of Rome (514-523) proposed in 515, and + which was accepted Easter 519 by the patriarch John II of + Constantinople and many other Orientals, and which ended the + schism between Rome and Constantinople occasioned by Acacius. As + soon as this formula was accepted the leading Monophysites fled to + Egypt. + + +The beginning of salvation is to preserve the rule of a correct faith and +to deviate in no respect from the constitutions of the fathers. And +because the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be allowed to fail, +who said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church," +etc. [Matt. 16:18], these things which were said are proved by the effects +of things, because in the Apostolic See religion has always been preserved +without spot or blemish. Desiring in no respect to be separated from this +hope and faith, and following the constitutions of the Fathers, we +anathematize all heretics, and especially the heretic Nestorius, who was +once bishop of the city of Constantinople, and condemned in the Council of +Ephesus by Pope Celestine and by the holy Cyril, prelate of the city of +Alexandria. Likewise we anathematize Eutyches and Dioscurus of Alexandria, +condemned in the holy synod of Chalcedon which we follow and embrace; +adding to these Timotheus the parricide, known as AElurus, and also his +disciple and follower Peter [Mongus], also Acacius, who remained in the +society of their communion; because he mixed himself with their communion +he deserves the same sentence of condemnation as they; no less condemning +Peter [Fullo] of Antioch with his followers and the followers of all those +above named. We receive and approve, therefore, all the universal Epistles +of Pope Leo which he wrote concerning the Christian religion. And +therefore, as we have said, following in all things the Apostolic See and +approving all of its constitutions, I trust that I may be deemed worthy to +be in the communion with you, in which as the Apostolic See declares there +is, complete and true, the totality of the Christian religion. + + + + +Period III. The Dissolution Of The Imperial State Church And The +Transition To The Middle Ages: From The Beginning Of The Sixth Century To +The Latter Part Of The Eighth + + +The third period of the ancient Church under the Christian Empire begins +with the accession of Justin I (518-527), and the end of the first schism +between Rome and Constantinople (519). The termination of the period is +not so clearly marked. By the middle and latter part of the eighth +century, however, the imperial Church has ceased to exist in its original +conception. The Church in the East has become, in great part, a group of +national schismatic churches under Moslem rulers, and only the largest +fragment of the Church of the East is the State Church of the greatly +reduced Eastern empire. In the West, the imperial influence has ceased, +and the Roman see has allied its fortunes with the rising Frankish power, +and the rise of a Western empire is already foreshadowed. + +In this period, the imperial ecclesiastical system, which had begun with +Constantine, found its completion in the Caesaropapism which was +definitively established by Justinian as the constitution of the Eastern +Church. But at the same time the Monophysite churches seceded and became +permanent national churches. The long Christological controversy found, at +least as regards Monophysitism, its settlement on a basis derived from the +revived Aristotelian philosophy; and the mystical piety of the East, with +its apparatus of hierarchy and sacraments, found its characteristic +expression in the works of Dionysius the Areopagite. + +While in the East the Church was assuming its permanent form, in the West +the condition of the Church was being profoundly influenced by the +completely changed political organization of what had been the Roman +Empire of the West, but was now parcelled out among new Germanic +nationalities. The Church in the various kingdoms, in spite of its +adherence to the see of Rome as the centre of Catholic unity, came, to no +small extent, under the secular authority, and Christianity in Ireland, in +Spain, among the Franks, Anglo-Saxons, and even among the Lombards in +Italy assumed a national character, coming largely under the control and +subject to the laws and customs of the nation. In this period were laid +the foundations of the leading ecclesiastical institutions of the Middle +Ages, as the Church, although still under the influence of antiquity, +adapted itself and its institutions to the changed condition due to the +political situation and took up its duty of training the rude peoples that +had come within its fold. + +The seventh and eighth centuries saw the completion of the revolution in +the ecclesiastical situation. In the East, in the territories in which the +national churches of the Monophysites were established, the Moslem rule +protected them from the attempts of the orthodox emperors to enforce +uniformity. The attempts made to recover their allegiance before they +succumbed to Islam had only ended in a serious dispute within the Orthodox +Church, the Monothelete controversy, which ended in the Sixth General +Council of 681. In Italy the Arian Lombards were gradually won to the +Catholic faith, but the Roman see soon found itself embarrassed by the too +near secular authority. Accordingly, when the controversy with the East +over Iconoclasm broke out, the Roman Church became practically independent +of the Eastern imperial authority, and in its conflict with the Lombards +came into alliance with the rising Frankish power. With this, the +transition to the Middle Ages may be said to have been completed. It was, +however, only the last of a series of acts whereby the Church was severing +itself from the ancient order and coming into closer alliance with the new +order in the life of the West. Henceforth the Church, which found its +centre in the Roman see, belongs to the West, and its relations to the +East, although no formal schism had occurred, are of continued and +increasing estrangement or alienation. + + + The _Cambridge Medieval History_, vol. II, will cover the entire + period and give ample bibliographical references. + + + +Chapter I. The Church In The Eastern Empire + + +The century extending from the accession of Justin I (518-528) to the end +of the Persian wars of Heraclius (610-641), or from 518 to 628, is the +most brilliant period of the Eastern Empire. The rise of Islam had not yet +taken place, whereby the best provinces in Asia and Africa were cut off +from the Empire. A large part of the West was recovered under Justinian, +and under Heraclius the power of Persia, the ancient enemy of the Roman +Empire, which had been a menace since the latter part of the third +century, was completely overthrown in the most brilliant series of +campaigns since the foundation of the Roman Empire. With the death of +Justin II (565-578), the family of Justin came to an end after occupying +the throne for sixty years. But under Tiberius (578-582) and Maurice +(582-602) the policy of Justinian was continued in all essentials in the +stereotyped form known as Byzantinism. The Church became practically a +department of the State and of the political machinery. The only +limitation upon the will of the Emperor was the determined resistance of +the Monophysites and smaller factions. Maurice was succeeded by the rude +Phocas (602-610), whom a military revolution placed upon the throne, and +who instituted a reign of terror and blood. Upon his downfall, Heraclius +(610-641) ascended the throne. + + +§ 93. The Age of Justinian + + +Justinian I, the greatest of all the rulers of the Eastern Empire, +succeeded his uncle Justin I (518-527); but he had, from the beginning of +the latter's reign, exercised an ever-increasing influence over the +imperial policy, and to him can be attributed the direction of +ecclesiastical affairs from the accession of Justin. No reign among the +Eastern emperors was more filled with important events and successful +undertakings. His first great work was the reduction of the vast mass of +Roman law to what approached a system. This was accomplished in 534, +resulting in the Digest, made up of the various decisions and opinions of +the most celebrated Roman legal authorities, the Codex, comprising all the +statute law then in actual force and applicable to the conditions of the +Empire, and the Institutes, a revision of the excellent introductory +manual of Gaius. No body of law reduced to writing has been more +influential in the history of the world. The second great undertaking, or +series of undertakings, was the reconquest of the West. In 533 Belisarius +recovered North Africa to the Empire by the overthrow of the Vandal +kingdom. In 554 the conquest of Italy by Belisarius and Narses was +completed. Portions of Spain had also been recovered. No Eastern Emperor +ruled over a larger territory than did Justinian at the time of his death. +The third great line of work on the part of Justinian was his regulation +of ecclesiastical and theological matters. In this he took an active +personal part. The end of the schism with the West had been brought about +under the reign of his uncle. Three controversies fill the reign of +Justinian: the Theopaschite (519-533) over the introduction of the phrase +into the Trisagion, stating that God was crucified for us, so that the +Trisagion read as follows, "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, who was +crucified for us, have mercy upon us"; the Second Origenistic controversy +(531-543) in which those elements of Origen's teaching which had never +been accepted by the Church were condemned along with Origen himself; and +the Three Chapters controversy, 544-553, in which, as an attempt to win +back the Monophysites, which began even before the Conference with the +Severians in 533, three of the leading Antiochians were condemned. In +connection with the two last controversies, the Fifth General Council was +held A. D. 553. + + + Additional source material: Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, Lib. IV-VI; + John of Ephesus, _The Third Part of His Ecclesiastical History_, + trans. by R. Payne Smith, Oxford, 1860; Percival, _Seven + Ecumenical Councils_ (PNF). + + +(_a_) Justinian, _Anathematisms against Origen_. Mansi, IX, 533. (MSG, +86:1013; MSL, 65:221.) + + + The Origenistic controversy arose in Palestine, where the learned + monks were nicknamed Origenists by the more ignorant. The abbot + St. Sabas was especially opposed to the group which had received + this name. But several, among whom the more important were + Domitian and Theodore Askidas, won the favor of Justinian and the + latter received promotion, becoming bishop of Caesarea in + Cappadocia. Supported by them, struggles broke out in various + places between the Sabaites and the Origenists. Ephraem, patriarch + of Antioch, in a synodal letter thereupon condemned Origenism. The + Origenists tried in vain to win the support of John, patriarch of + Constantinople. But he turned to Justinian, who thereupon + abandoned the Origenists and issued an edict condemning Origen and + his writings, and appending a summary of the positions condemned + in ten anathematisms. Text in Denziger, nn. 203 _f._ Synods were + ordered for the condemnation of Origen, and among these was the + synod under Menas, patriarch of Constantinople, in which were + issued fifteen anathematisms based upon the ten of Justinian + (Hefele, §§ 257, 258). With this action, the controversy may be + said to be closed, were it not that in spite of the renewed + condemnation at the Fifth General Council (see below) disputes and + disturbances continued in Palestine until 563. + + +1. If any one says or thinks that human souls pre-existed, that is, that +they had previously been spirits and holy powers, but that satiated with +the vision of God, they turned to evil, and in this way the divine love in +them became cold [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}] and they were there named souls [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}] and +were condemned to punishment in bodies, let him be anathema. + +2. If any one says or thinks that the soul of the Lord pre-existed and was +united with God the Word before the incarnation and conception of the +Virgin, let him be anathema. + +3. If any one says or thinks that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was +first formed in the womb of the holy Virgin, and that afterward there was +united with it God the Word and the pre-existing soul, let him be +anathema. + +4. If any one says or thinks that the Word of God has become like to all +heavenly orders, so that for the cherubim He was a cherub and for the +seraphim a seraph, in short, like all the superior powers, let him be +anathema. + +5. If any one says or thinks that, at the resurrection, human bodies will +arise spherical in form and not like our present form, let him be +anathema. + +6. If any one says or thinks that the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars, +and the waters above the firmament have souls and are spiritual and +rational beings, let him be anathema. + +7. If any one says or thinks that Christ the Lord in a future age will be +crucified for demons as He was for men, let him be anathema. + +8. If any one says or thinks that the power of God is limited and that He +created only as much as He was able to comprehend, let him be anathema. + +9. If any one says or thinks that the punishment of demons and impious men +is only temporary and will have an end, and that a restoration +[_apocatastasis_] will take place of demons and impious men, let him be +anathema. + +10. Let Origen be anathema together with that Adamantius who set forth +these opinions together with his nefarious and execrable doctrine, and +whoever there is who thinks thus or defends these opinions, or in any way +hereafter at any time shall presume to protect them. + + +(_b_) Vigilius, _Judicatum_. Mansi, IX, 181. + + + This important document was addressed to Menas of Constantinople + and is dated April 11, 548. Unfortunately it exists only in + detached fragments, which are given below, taken from the text as + given by Hefele, § 259. The first is given in a letter of + Justinian to the Fifth Council, an abridgment of which may be + found in Hefele, § 267. Other fragments are from the _Constitutum_ + (see below), where they are quoted by Vigilius from his previous + letter to Menas, which Hefele has identified with the _Judicatum_. + In this opinion Krueger (art. "Vigilius" in PRE). and Bailey (art. + "Vigilius" in DCB) and other scholars concur. The force of the + first is that the writings condemned by the Three Chapters are + heretical; of the others, that the credit of the Council of + Chalcedon must be maintained. How the two positions were + reconciled is not clear. + + +1. And because certain writings under the name of Theodore of Mopsuestia +have been handed to us which contain many things contrary to the right +faith, we, following the warnings of the Apostle Paul, who said: Prove all +things, hold fast that which is good, therefore anathematize Theodore, who +was bishop of Mopsuestia, with all his impious writings, and also those +who defend him. We anathematize also the impious epistle which is said to +have been written by Ibas to Maris the Persian, as contrary to the right +faith, and also all who defend it and say that it is right. We +anathematize also the writings of Theodoret which were written contrary to +the right faith and against the capitula of Cyril.(204) + +2. Since it is evident to us by sufficient reason, that whosoever attempts +to do anything to the disparagement of the aforesaid council, will rather +sin against himself. + +3. If it had been shown conclusively by us to be contained in the acts +[_i.e._, of the Council of Chalcedon], no one would have dared to be the +author of so great a presumption or would have regarded as doubtful or +undecided anything which was brought before that most holy judgment; since +it is to be believed that those then present could have investigated +things diligently even apart from writing, and have defined them +positively, which appears to us after so much time and on account of +unknown causes still unsettled; since also it is a part of reverence for +the synods that in those things which are less understood one recognizes +their authority. + +4. All things being accepted and remaining perpetually established which +were defined in the venerable councils at Nicaea, and Constantinople, in +the first at Ephesus, and at Chalcedon, and confirmed by the authority of +our predecessors; and all who in the said holy councils were deposed are +without doubt condemned, and those are no less absolved whose absolution +was decreed by the same synods. + +5. Subjecting also him to the sentence of anathema who accepts as of any +force whatsoever may be found against the said synod of Chalcedon, written +in this present letter, or in anything in the present case whatever done +by us or by any one; and let the holy synod of Chalcedon, of which the +authority is great and unshaken, perpetual and reverenced, have the same +force as that which the synods of Nicaea, Constantinople, and the first at +Ephesus have. + +6. We anathematize also whoever does not faithfully follow and equally +venerate the holy synods of Nicaea. of Constantinople, the first of +Ephesus, and the synod of Chalcedon as most holy synods, agreeing in the +one and immaculate faith of the Apostles, and confirmed by the pontiffs of +the Apostolic See, and whoever wishes to correct as badly said, or wishes +to supply as imperfect, those things which were done in the same councils +which we have mentioned. + + +(_c_) Vigilius, _Oath to Justinian_, August 15, A. D. 550. Mansi. IX, 363. +(MSL, 69: 121.) + + + The _Judicatum_ met with great opposition in the West. Vigilius, + to still the clamor against it, withdrew it and proposed other + measures in consultation with Justinian. In connection with this + he bound himself with an oath to support Justinian in putting + through the condemnation of the Three Chapters, and this oath + Justinian produced later, when Vigilius had presented his + _Constitutum_ to him refusing to condemn the chapters. The Emperor + thereupon suppressed the _Constitutum_. + + +The most blessed Pope Vigilius has sworn to the most pious lord Emperor in +our presence, that is of me, Theodorus, bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia +[see DCB, _Theodorus of Askidas_], and of me, Cethegus, the patrician, by +the sacred nails with which our Lord God Jesus Christ was crucified and by +the four holy Gospels, as also by the sacred bridle,(205) so also by the +four Gospels; that, being of one mind and will with your piety, we shall +so will, attempt, and act, as far as we are able, so that the three +chapters, that is, Theodore of Mopsuestia, the epistle attributed to Ibas, +and the writings of Theodoret against the orthodox faith and his sayings +against the twelve capitula of the holy Cyril, may be condemned and +anathematized; and to do nothing, either by myself or by those whom we can +trust, either of the clerical or lay order, in behalf of the chapters, +against the will of your piety, or to speak or to give counsel secretly in +behalf of those chapters. And if any one should say anything to me to the +contrary, either concerning these chapters or concerning the faith, or +against the State, I will make him known to your piety, without peril of +death, and also what has been said to me, so that on account of my place +you do not abandon my person; and you have promised, because I observe +these things toward your piety, to protect my honor in all respects, and +also to guard my person and reputation and to defend them with the help of +God and to protect the privileges of my see. And you have also promised +that this paper shall be shown to no one. I promise further that in the +case of the three chapters, we shall treat in common as to what ought to +be done, and whatsoever shall appear to us useful we will carry out with +the help of God. This oath was given the fifteenth day of August, +indiction XIII, the twenty-third year of the reign of our lord Justinian, +the ninth year after the consulship of the illustrious Basil. I, Theodore, +by the mercy of God bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, have subscribed +hereunto as a witness to this oath; I, Flavius Cethegus, patrician, have +subscribed hereunto as a witness to this oath. + + +(_d_) Vigilius, _Constitutum_, May 14, 553. (MSL, 69:67.) + + + The synod known as the Fifth General Council met May 5, 553, and + proceeded to condemn the Three Chapters, as directed by the + Emperor. Vigilius refused to attend, but consented to pronounce + his judgment on the matter apart from the council. This he did in + his _Constitutum ad Imperatorem_, May 14, 553. In it he condemns + the teaching of Theodore of Mopsuestia, but opposes the + condemnation of Theodore himself, inasmuch as he had died in the + communion of the Church. He also opposes the condemnation of + Theodoret and Ibas, because both were acquitted at Chalcedon. This + _Constitutum_ is to be distinguished from the _Constitutum_ of 554 + (MSL, 69:143, 147), in which, after the council had acceded to the + proposals of the Emperor and condemned the Three Chapters and had + excommunicated Vigilius by removing his name from the diptychs, + the latter confirmed the decisions of the council and joined in + the condemnation of the Three Chapters. For a discussion of the + whole situation, see Hefele, §§ 272-276. The devious course + followed by Vigilius has been the subject of much acrimonious + debate. The facts of the case are now generally recognized. The + conclusion of Cardinal Hergenroether, KG. I, 612, is the best that + can be said for Vigilius: "In the question as to the faith, + Vigilius was never wavering; but he was so, indeed, in the + question as to whether the action was proper or opportune, whether + it was advisable or necessary to condemn subsequently men whom the + Council of Chalcedon had spared, to put forth a judgment which + would be regarded by the Monophysites as a triumph of their cause, + which was most obnoxious for the same reason, and its supposed + dishonoring of the Council of Chalcedon, and was likely to create + new divisions instead of healing the old." + + + The portions of the _Constitutum_ given below are the conclusions + of Vigilius as to each of the Three Chapters. The whole is a + lengthy document. + + +All these things have been diligently examined, and although our Fathers +speak in different phrases yet are guided by one sentiment, that the +persons of priests, who have died in the peace of the Church, should be +preserved untouched; likewise the constitutions of the Apostolic See, +which we have quoted above, uniformly define that it is lawful for no one +to judge anew anything concerning the persons of the dead, but each is +left in that condition in which the last day finds him; and especially +concerning the name of Theodore of Mopsuestia, what our Fathers determined +is clearly shown above. Him, therefore, we dare not condemn by our +sentence, and we do not permit him to be condemned by any one else; the +above-written chapters of dogmas, which are damned by us, or any sayings +of any one without name affixed, not agreeing with, or consonant with, the +evangelical and apostolic doctrine and the doctrines of the four synods, +of Nicaea, of Constantinople, of the first of Ephesus, and of Chalcedon, +we, however, do not suffer to be admitted to our thought or even to our +ears. + +But concerning the writings which are brought forward under the name of +that venerable man, Theodoret, late bishop, we wonder, first, why it +should be necessary or with what desire anything should be done to the +disparagement of the name of that priest, who more than a hundred years +ago, in the judgement of the sacred and venerable Council of Chalcedon, +subscribed without any hesitation and consented with profound devotion to +the Epistle of the most blessed Pope Leo.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The truth of these things +having been considered, we determine and decree that nothing be done or +proposed by any one in judgement upon him to the injury and defamation of +a man most approved in the synod of Chalcedon, that is to say, Theodoret +of Cyrus. But guarding in all respects the reverence of his person, +whatsoever writings are brought forward under his name or under that of +another evidently in accord with the errors of the wicked Nestorius and +Eutyches we anathematize and condemn. + + + Then follow these five anathematisms, the test of which may be + found in Hahn, § 228: + + +1. If any one does not confess that the Word was made flesh, and the +inconvertibility of the divine nature having been preserved, and from the +moment of conception in the womb of the virgin united according to +subsistence [hypostatically] human nature to Himself, but as with a man +already existing; so that, accordingly, the holy Virgin is not to be +believed to be truly the bearer of God, but is called so only in word, let +him be anathema. + +2. If any one shall deny that a unity of natures according to subsistence +[hypostatically] was made in Christ, but that God the Word dwelt in a man +existing apart as one of the just, and does not confess the unity of +natures according to subsistence, that God the Word with the assumed flesh +remained and remains one subsistence or person, let him be anathema. + +3. If any one so divides the evangelical, apostolic words in reference to +the one Christ, that he introduces a division of the natures united in +Him, let him be anathema. + +4. It any one says that the one Jesus Christ, God the Word and the same +true Son of Man, was ignorant of future things or of the day of the last +judgment, and was able to know only so far as Deity revealed to Him, as if +dwelling in another, let him be anathema. + +5. If any one applies to Christ as if stripped of His divinity the saying +of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews,(206) that He knew obedience +by experience and with strong crying and tears offered prayers and +supplications to God who was able to save Him from death, and who was +perfected by the labors of virtue, so that from this he evidently +introduces two Christs or two Sons, and does not believe the one and the +same Christ to be confessed and adored Son of God and Son of Man, of two +and in two natures inseparable and undivided, let him be anathema. + +{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} We have also examined concerning the Epistle of the venerable man Ibas, +once bishop of the city of Edessa, concerning which you also ask if in +early times anything concerning it was undertaken by our Fathers, or +discussed, or examined, or determined. Because it is known to all and +especially to your piety, that we are ignorant of the Greek language, yet +by the aid of some of our company, who have knowledge of that tongue, we +discover clearly and openly that in the same synod the affair of the +venerable man Ibas was examined, from the action taken regarding Photius, +bishop of Tyre, and Eustathius, bishop of Berytus, that this epistle, +concerning which inquiry is made, was brought forward against him by his +accusers; and when, after discussion of the affair was ended, it was asked +of the venerable Fathers what ought to be done concerning the matter of +the same Ibas, the following sentence was passed: + +Paschasius and Lucentius, most reverend bishops, and Boniface, presbyter, +holding the place of the Apostolic See (because the apostolic delegates +are accustomed always to speak and vote first in synods), by Paschasius +said: "Since the documents have been read, we perceive from the opinion of +the most reverend bishops that the most reverend Ibas is approved as +innocent; for now that his epistle has been read we recognize it as +orthodox. And on this account we decree that the honor of the episcopate +be restored to him, and the church, from which unjustly and in his absence +he was driven out, be given back." [The patriarchs of Constantinople and +Antioch agreed, and their opinions are also quoted by Vigilius from the +Acts of the Council of Chalcedon.] + +{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Therefore we, following in all things the discipline and judgment of the +holy Fathers, and the disposition of all things according to the account +which we have given of the judgment of the Council of Chalcedon, since it +is most evidently true, from the words of the Epistle of the venerable man +Ibas, regarded with the right and pious mind, and from the action taken +regarding Photius and Eustathius, and from the opinions of bishop Ibas, +discussed in his presence by those present, that our Fathers present at +Chalcedon most justly pronounced the faith of the same venerable man Ibas +orthodox and his blaming the blessed Cyril, which they perceive to have +been from error of human intelligence, purged by appropriate satisfaction, +by the authority of our present sentence, we determine and decree in all +things so also in the often-mentioned Epistle of the venerable Ibas, the +judgment of the Fathers present at Chalcedon remain inviolate. + + + Conclusion of the _Constitutum_: + + +These things having been disposed of by us in every point with all caution +and diligence, in order to preserve inviolate the reverence of the said +synods and the venerable constitutions of the same; mindful that it has +been written [_cf._ Prov. 22:26], we ought not to cross the bounds of our +Fathers, we determine and decree that it is permitted to no one of any +ecclesiastical rank or dignity to do anything contrary to these things +which, by this present constitution, we assert and determine, concerning +the oft-mentioned three chapters, or to write or to bring forward, or to +compose, or to teach, or to make any further investigation after this +present definition. But concerning the same three chapters, if anything +contrary to these things, which we here determine and assert, is made in +the name of any one, in ecclesiastical order or dignity, or shall be found +by any one or anywheresoever, such a one by the authority of the Apostolic +See, in which by the grace of God we are placed, we refute in every way. + + +(_e_) Council of Constantinople, A. D. 553, _Definition_. Mansi, IX, 367. + + + Condemnation of the Three Chapters. + + + This action is taken from the Definition of the council, a rather + wordy document, but ending with a passage indicating the action of + the council. From this concluding passage this condemnation is + taken. See Hefele, § 274, also PNF, ser. II, vol. XIV, pp. + 306-311. + + +We condemn and anathematize with all other heretics who have been +condemned and anathematized by the before-mentioned four holy synods, and +by the Catholic and Apostolic Church, Theodore, who was bishop of +Mopsuestia, and his impious writings, and also those things which +Theodoret impiously wrote against the right faith and against the twelve +capitula of the holy Cyril, and against the first synod of Ephesus, and +also those which he wrote in defence of Theodore and Nestorius. In +addition to these, we also anathematize the impious epistle which Ibas is +said to have written to Maris the Persian, which denies that God the Word +was incarnate of the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, and accuses +Cyril, of holy memory, who taught the truth, of being a heretic and of the +same sentiments with Apollinaris, and blames the first synod of Ephesus +for deposing Nestorius without examination and inquiry, and calls the +twelve capitula of Cyril impious and contrary to the right faith, and +defends Theodore and Nestorius, and their impious dogmas and writings. We, +therefore, anathematize the three chapters before mentioned, that is the +impious Theodore of Mopsuestia with his execrable writings, and those +things which Theodoret impiously wrote, and the impious letter which is +said to be by Ibas, together with their defenders and those who have +written or do write in defence of them, or who dare to say that they are +correct, and who have defended or do attempt to defend their impiety with +the names of the holy Fathers or of the holy Council of Chalcedon. + + +(_f_) Council of Constantinople A. D. 553. _Anathematism_ 11. Mansi, IX, +201. _Cf._ Denziger. n. 223. + + + Condemnation of Origen. + + + Appended to the Definition of the council are fourteen + anathematisms, forming (1-10) an exposition of the doctrine of the + two natures, and concluding with condemnation of Origen, together + with other heretics, and of the Three Chapters (11-14). These + anathematisms are based upon a confession of faith of the Emperor + Justinian, a lengthy document, but containing thirteen + anathematisms. This confession of faith was composed before the + council, probably in 551. For an analysis of it, see Hefele, § + 263. The text of the council's anathematisms may be found in + Hefele, § 274, also in Hahn, § 148. Attempts have been made by + older scholars to show that the name Origen was a later insertion. + For arguments, see Hefele, _loc. cit._ + + +If any one does not anathematize Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, Apollinaris, +Nestorius, Eutyches, and Origen, with their impious writings, as also all +other heretics already condemned and anathematized by the holy Catholic +and Apostolic Church, and by the aforesaid four holy synods, and all those +who have been or are of the same mind with the heretics mentioned, and who +remain to the end in their impiety, let him be anathema. + + +§ 94. The Byzantine State Church under Justinian + + +According to Justinian's scheme of Church government, the Emperor was the +head of the Church in the sense that he had the right and duty of +regulating by his laws the minutest detail of worship and discipline, and +also of dictating the theological opinions to be held in the Church. This +is shown, not merely in his conduct of the Fifth General Council, but also +in his attempt, at the end of his life, to force Aphthartodocetism upon +the Church. This position of the Emperor in relation to the Church is +known as Caesaropapism. (See Bury, _Later Roman Empire_, chap. XI.) The +ecclesiastical legislation of Justinian should also be considered. At the +same time Justinian strictly repressed the lingering heathenism and, in +the interest of the schools at Constantinople, closed the schools at +Athens, the last stronghold of paganism. + + +(_a_) Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 39. (MSG, 86 II:2781.) + + + Aphthartodocetism of Justinian. + + + Among the many variations of Monophysitism flourishing under + Justinian was Aphthartodocetism, according to which the body of + Christ, before as well as after his resurrection, was "a glorified + body," or incapable of suffering. See selection for description. + + +At that time Justinian, abandoning the right road of doctrine and +following the path untrodden by the Apostles and Fathers, became entangled +in thorns and briars; and he attempted to fill the Church also with these, +but failed in his purpose, and thereby fulfilled the prediction of +prophecy.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Justinian, after he had anathematized Origen, Didymus, and +Evagrius, issued what the Latins call an edict, after the deposition of +Eustochius [A. D. 556], in which he termed the body of the Lord +incorruptible and incapable of the natural and blameless passions; +affirming that the Lord ate before His passion in the same manner as after +His resurrection, His holy body having undergone no conversion or change +from the time of its actual formation in the womb, not even in respect to +the natural and voluntary passions, nor yet after the resurrection. To +this he proceeded to compel bishops in all parts to give their assent. +However, they all professed to look to Anastasius, the Bishop of Antioch, +and thus avoided the first attack. + + +(_b_) Justinian, _Novella VI_ "Preface." + + + Church and State according to Justinian. + + +Among the greatest gifts of God bestowed by the kindness of heaven are the +priesthood and the imperial dignity. Of these the former serves things +divine; the latter rules human affairs and cares for them. Both are +derived from the one and the same source, and order human life. And, +therefore, nothing is so much a care to the emperors as the dignity of the +priesthood; so that they may always pray to God for them. For if one is in +every respect blameless and filled with confidence toward God, and the +other rightly and properly maintains in order the commonwealth intrusted +to it, there is a certain excellent harmony which furnishes whatsoever is +needful for the human race. We, therefore, have the greatest cares for the +true doctrines of God and the dignity of the priesthood which, if they +preserve it, we trust that by it great benefits will be bestowed by God, +and we shall possess undisturbed those things which we have, and in +addition acquire those things which we have not yet acquired. But all +things are well and properly carried on, if only a proper beginning is +laid, and one that is acceptable to God. But this we believe will be so if +the observance of the sacred canons is cared for, which also the Apostles, +who are rightly to be praised, and the venerated eye-witnesses and +ministers of the word of God, delivered, and which the holy Fathers have +also preserved and explained. + + +(_c_) Justinian, _Novella CXXXVII_, 6. + + + The following section from the conclusion of a _novella_ + illustrates the manner in which Justinian legislated in matter of + internal affairs for the Church and instituted a control over the + priesthood which was other than that of the Church's own system of + discipline. + + +We command that all bishops and presbyters shall offer the sacred oblation +and the prayers in holy baptism not silently, but with a voice which may +be heard by the faithful people, that thereby the minds of those listening +may be moved to greater contrition and to the glory of God. For so, +indeed, the holy Apostle teaches (I Cor. 14:16; Rom. 10:10).{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Therefore it +is right that to our Lord Jesus Christ, to our God with the Father and the +Holy Ghost, be offered prayer in the holy oblation and other prayers with +the voice by the most holy bishops and the presbyters; for the holy +priests should know that if they neglect any of those things they shall +render an account at the terrible judgment of the great God and our +Saviour Jesus Christ, and that we shall not quietly permit such things +when we know of them and will not leave them unpunished. We command, +therefore, that the governors of the epachies, if they see anything +neglected of those things which have been decreed by us, first urge the +metropolitans and other bishops to celebrate the aforesaid synods, and do +whatsoever things we have ordered by this present law concerning synods, +and, if they see them delaying, let them report to us, that from us may +come a proper correction of those who put off holding synods. And the +governors and the officials subject to them should know that if they do +not observe these matters they will be liable to the extreme penalty +[_i.e._, death]. But we confirm by this present law all things which have +been decreed by us in various constitutions concerning bishops, +presbyters, and other clerics, and further concerning lodging-places for +strangers, poor-houses, orphan asylums and others as many as are over the +sacred buildings. + + +(_d_) Justinian, _Novella CXXIII_, 1. + + + Laws governing the ordination of bishops. + + +We decree that whenever it is necessary to ordain a bishop, the clergy and +the leading citizens whose is the bishop who is to be ordained shall make, +under peril of their souls, with the holy Gospels placed before them, +certificates concerning three persons, testifying in the same certificates +that they have not chosen them for any gifts or promises or for reasons of +friendship, or any other cause, but because they know that they are of the +true and Catholic faith and of honest life, and learned in science and +that none of them has either wife or children, and know that they have +neither concubine nor natural children, but that if any of them had a wife +the same was one and first, neither a widow nor separated from her +husband, nor prohibited by the laws and sacred canons; and know that they +are not a curial or an official, or, in case they should be such, are not +liable to any curial or official duty; and they know that they have in +such case spent not less than fifteen years in a monastery. This also is +to be contained in the certificate: that they know the person selected by +them to be not less than thirty years of age; so that from the three +persons for whom these certificates were made the best may be ordained by +the choice and at the peril of him who ordains. But a curial or an +official who, as has been said, has lived fifteen years in a monastery and +is advanced to the episcopate is freed from his rank so that as freed from +the curia he may retain a fourth part of his property, since the rest of +his property, according to our law, is to be claimed by the curia and +fisc. Also we give to those who make the certificate the privilege that if +they deem a layman, with the exception of a curial or an official, worthy +of the said election, they may choose such layman with the two other +clergy or monks, but so, however, that the layman who has in this way been +chosen to the episcopate shall not be ordained at once, but shall first be +numbered among the clergy not less than three months, and so having +learned the holy canons and the sacred ministry of the Church, he shall be +ordained bishop; for he who ought to teach others ought not himself to be +taught by others after his consecration. But if by chance there are not +found in any place three persons eligible to such election, it is +permitted those who make the certificates to make them for two or even for +only one person, who shall each have the testimonials mentioned by us. But +if those who ought to elect a bishop do not make this certificate within +six months, then, at the peril of his soul, let him who ought to ordain +ordain a bishop, provided, however, that all things which we have said be +observed. But if any one is made bishop contrary to the aforesaid rules, +we command that he be driven entirely from the episcopate; but as for him +who dared to ordain him against these commands, let him be separated from +the sacred ministry for a year and all his property, which at any time or +in any way shall come into his possession, shall be seized on account of +the crime he has committed against the rule of the Church of which he was +a bishop. + +Ch. 13. We do not permit clergy to be ordained unless they are educated, +have the right faith, and an honorable life, and neither have, nor have +had, a concubine or natural children, but who either live chastely or have +a lawful wife and her one and only, neither a widow not separated from her +husband, nor forbidden by laws and sacred canons. + +Ch. 14. We do not permit presbyters to be made less than thirty years old, +deacons and sub-deacons less than twenty-five, and lectors less than +sixteen; nor a deaconess to be ordained(207) in the holy Church who is +less than forty years old and who has been married a second time. + + +(_e_) Justinian, _Codex_, I, 11. + + + Law against paganism. + + + The following laws of Justinian, though of uncertain date, mark + the termination of the contest between Christianity and paganism. + In the second of these laws there is a reference to the + prohibition of pagan teachers. It is in line with the closing of + the schools of the heathen teachers at Athens. The decree closing + the schools has not been preserved. + + +Ch. 9. We command that our magistrates in this royal city and in the +provinces take care with the greatest zeal that, having been informed by +themselves or the most religious bishops of this matter, they make inquiry +according to law into all impurities of pagan(208) superstitions, that +they be not committed, and if committed that they be punished; but if +their repression exceed provincial power, these things are to be referred +to us, that the responsibility for, and incitement of, these crimes may +not rest upon them. + +(1) It is permitted no one, either in testament or by gift, to leave or +give anything to persons or places for the maintenance of pagan impiety, +even if it is not expressly contained in the words of the will, testament, +or donation, but can be truly perceived in some other way by the judges. +(2) But those things which are so left or given shall be taken from the +persons and places to whom they have been given or left, and shall belong +to the cities in which such persons dwell or in which such places are +situated, so that they may be paid as a form of revenue. (3) All penalties +which have been introduced by previous emperors against the errors of +pagans or in favor of the orthodox faith are to remain in force and effect +forever and guarded by this present pious legislation. + +Ch. 10. Because some are found who are imbued with the error of the +impious and detestable pagans, and do those things which move a merciful +God to just wrath, and that we may not suffer ourselves to leave +uncorrected matters which concern these things, but, knowing that they +have abandoned the worship of the true and only God, and have in insane +error offered sacrifices, and, filled with all impiety, have celebrated +solemnities, we subject those who have committed these things, after they +have been held worthy of holy baptism, to the punishment appropriate to +the crimes of which they have been convicted; but for the future we decree +to all by this present law that they who have been made Christians and at +any time have been deemed worthy of the holy and saving baptism, if it +appear that they have remained still in the error of the pagans, shall +suffer capital punishment. + +(1) Those who have not yet been worthy of the venerable rite of baptism +shall report themselves, if they dwell in this royal city or in the +provinces, and go to the holy churches with their wives and children and +all the household subject to them, and be taught the true faith of +Christians, so that having been taught their former error henceforth to be +rejected, they may receive saving baptism, or know, if they regard these +things of small value, that they are to have no part in all those things +which belong to our commonwealth, neither is it permitted them to become +owners of anything movable or immovable, but, deprived of everything, they +are to be left in poverty, and besides are subject to appropriate +penalties. + +(2) We forbid also that any branch of learning be taught by those who +labor under the insanity of the impious pagans, so that they may not for +this reason pretend that they instruct those who unfortunately resort to +them, but in reality corrupt the minds of their pupils; and let them not +receive any support from the public treasury, since they are not permitted +by the Holy Scriptures or by pragmatic forms [public decrees] to claim +anything of the sort for themselves. + +(3) For if any one here or in the provinces shall have been convicted of +not having hastened to the holy churches with his wife and children, as +said, he shall suffer the aforesaid penalties, and the fisc shall claim +his property, and they shall be sent into exile. + +(4) If any one in our commonwealth, hiding himself, shall be discovered to +have celebrated sacrifices or the worship of idols, let him suffer the +same capital punishment as the Manichaeans and, what is the same, the +Borborani [certain Ophitic Gnostics; _cf._ DCB], for we judge them to be +similar to these. + +(5) Also we decree that their children of tender years shall at once and +without delay receive saving baptism; but they who have passed beyond +their earliest age shall attend the holy churches and be instructed in the +Holy Scriptures, and so give themselves to sincere penitence that, having +rejected their early error, they may receive the venerable rite of +baptism, for in this way let them steadfastly receive the true faith of +the orthodox and not again fall back into their former error. + +(6) But those who, for the sake of retaining their military rank or their +dignity or their goods, shall in pretence accept saving baptism, but have +left their wives and children and others who are in their households in +the error of pagans, we command that they be deprived of their goods and +have no part in our commonwealth, since it is manifest that they have not +received holy baptism in good faith. + +(7) These things, therefore, we decree against the abominable pagans and +the Manichaeans, of which Manichaeans the Borborani are a part. + + +§ 95. The Definitive Type of Religion in the East: Dionysius the +Areopagite + + +The works of Dionysius the Areopagite first appear in the controversies in +the reign of Justinian, when they are quoted in the Conference with the +Severians, 531 or 533. There are citations from the works of the +Areopagite fifteen or twenty years earlier in the works of Severus, the +Monophysite patriarch of Antioch. In this is given the latest date to +which they may be assigned. They cannot be earlier than 476, because the +author is acquainted with the works of Proclus (411-485) and uses them; +also he refers to the practice of singing the Credo in divine service, +which was first introduced by the Monophysites at Antioch in 476. No +closer determination of the date is possible. The author is wholly +unknown. + +That he was Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts 17:34) is maintained by no +scholar to-day. His standpoint is that of the later Eastern religious +feeling and practice, with its strong desire for mysteries and sacramental +system. But he brings to it Neo-Platonic thought to such a degree as to +color completely his presentation of Christian truth. The effect of the +book was only gradual, but eventually very great. In the East it gave +authority, which seemed to be that of the apostolic age, for its highly +developed system of mysteries, which had grown up in the Church. In the +West it served as a philosophical basis for scholastic mysticism. On +account of the connection between Dionysius and the later Greek philosophy +and the mediaeval philosophy, Dionysius the Areopagite occupies a place in +the histories of philosophy quite out of proportion to the intrinsic merit +of the writer. + + + Additional source material: English translations of Dionysius the + Areopagite, Dean Colet, ed. by J. H. Lupton, London, 1869, and J. + Parker, Oxford, 1897 (not complete); a new translation into German + appeared in the new edition of the _Kempten Bibliothek der + Kirchenvaeter_, 1912. + + +(_a_) Dionysius Areopagita, _De Caelesti Hierarchia_, III, 2. (MSG, 3:165.) + + + Dionysius thus defines "Hierarchy": + + +He who speaks of a hierarchy indicates thereby a holy order {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} which in a +holy manner works the mysteries of illumination which is appropriate to +each one. The order of the hierarchy consists in this, that some are +purified and others purify; some are illuminated and others illuminate; +some are completed and others complete. + + +(_b_) _De Caelesti Hierarchia_, VI, 2. (MSG, 3:200.) + + + The heavenly hierarchy. + + +Theology has given to all heavenly existences new explanatory titles. Our +divine initiator divides these into three threefold ranks. The first is +that, as he says, which is ever about God, and which, as it is related +(Ezek. 1), is permanently and before all others immediately united to Him; +for the explanation of the Holy Scripture tells us that the most holy +throne and the many-eyed and many-winged ranks, which in Hebrew are called +cherubim and seraphim, stand before God in the closest proximity. This +threefold order, or rank, our great leader names the one, like, and only +truly first hierarchy, which is more godlike and stands more immediately +near the first effects of the illuminations of divinity than all others. +As the second hierarchy, he names that which is composed of authorities, +dominions, and powers, and as the third and last of the heavenly +hierarchies he names the order of angels, archangels, and principalities. + + +(_c_) _De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia_, I, 1. (MSG, 3:372.) + + + The nature of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. + + +That our hierarchy {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} which is given by God, is God-inspired and divine, a +divinely acting knowledge, activity, and completion, we must show from the +supernal and most Holy Scriptures to those who through hierarchical +secrets and traditions have been initiated into the holy consecration.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +Jesus, the most divine and most transcendent spirit, the principle and the +being and the most divine power of every hierarchy, holiness, and divine +operation, brings to the blessed beings superior to us a more bright and +at the same time more spiritual light and makes them as far as possible +like to His own light. And through our love which tends upward toward Him, +by the love of the beautiful which draws us up to Him, He brings together +into one our many heterogeneities; that He might perfect them so as to +become a uniform and divine life, condition, and activity, He gives us the +power of the divine priesthood. In consequence of this honor we arrive at +the holy activity of the priesthood, and so we ourselves come near to the +beings over us, that we, so far as we are able, approximate to their +abiding and unchangeable holy state and so look up to the blessed and +divine brilliancy of Jesus, gaze religiously on what is attainable by us +to see, and are illuminated by the knowledge of what is seen; and thus we +are initiated into the mystic science, and, initiating, we can become +light-like and divinely working, complete and completing. + + +(_d_) _De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia_, V, 3. (MSG, 3:504.) + + +The most holy consecration of initiation has as the godlike power or +activity the expiatory purification of the imperfect, as the second the +illuminating consecration of the purified, and as the last, which also +includes the other two, the perfecting of the consecrated in the knowledge +of the consecrations that belong to them.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +5. The divine order of the hierarch(209) is the first under the +God-beholding orders; it is the highest and also the last, for in it every +other order of our hierarchy ends and is completed.(210) For we see that +every hierarchy ends in Jesus, and so each one ends in the God-filled +hierarchs. + +6. The hierarchical order, which is filled full of the perfecting power, +performs especially the consecrations of the hierarchy, imparts by +revelation the knowledge of the sacred things, and teaches the conditions +and powers appropriate to them. The order of priests which leads to light +leads to the divine beholding of the sacred mysteries all those who have +been initiated by the divine order of the hierarchs and with that order +performs its proper sacred functions. In what it does it displays the +divine working through the most holy symbols [_i.e._, sacraments] and +makes those who approach beholders and participants in the most holy +mysteries, sending on to the hierarch those who desire the knowledge of +those sacred rites which are seen. The order of the liturges [or deacons] +is that which cleanses and separates the unlike before they come to the +sacred rites of the priests, purifies those who approach that it may +render them pure from all that is opposing and unworthy of beholding and +participating in the sacred mysteries. + + +(_e_) _De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia_, I, 3. (MSG, 3:373.) + + + The sacraments. + + + The mysteries or sacraments, according to Dionysius the + Areopagite, are six in number: baptism, the eucharist, anointing + or confirmation, the consecration of priests, the consecration of + monks,(211) and the consecration of the dead. These he discusses + in chs. 2-7 of the _Ecclesiastical Hierarchy_. + + +Salvation can in no other way come about than that the saved are deified. +The deification is the highest possible resemblance to God and union with +Him. The common aim of all the hierarchy is the love which hangs upon God +and things divine, which fills with a divine spirit and works in godlike +fashion; and before this is the complete and never retreating flight from +that which is opposed to it, the knowledge of being as being, the vision +and knowledge of the holy truth, the divinely inspired participation in +the homogeneous perfection of the One himself, so far as man can come to +that, the enjoyment of the holy contemplation, which spiritually nourishes +and deifies every one who strives for it. + + + +Chapter II. The Transition To The Middle Ages. The Foundation Of The +Germanic National Churches + + +While the doctrinal system of the Church was being wrought out in the +disputes and councils of Rome and the East, the foundations of the +Germanic national churches were being laid in the West. In the British +Isles the faith was extended from Britain to Ireland and thence to +Scotland (§ 96). Among the inmates of the monasteries of these countries +were many monks who were moved to undertake missionary journeys to various +parts of Western Europe, and among them St. Columbanus. But even more +important for the future of Western Christendom was the conversion of the +Franks from paganism to Catholic Christianity. At a time when the other +Germanic rulers were still Arian, Clovis and the Franks became Catholics +and, as a consequence, the champions of the Catholic faith. The Franks +rapidly became the dominant power in the West, and soon other Germanic +races either were conquered or followed the example of the Franks and +became Catholics (§ 97). The State churches that thus arose were more +under the control of the local royal authority than the Catholic Church +had previously been, and the rulers were little disposed to favor outside +control of the ecclesiastical affairs of their kingdoms (§ 98). Toward the +end of the sixth century the greatest pontiff of the ancient Church, +Gregory the Great, more than recovered the prestige and influence which +had been lost under Vigilius. By his able administration he did much to +unite the West, to heal the schism resulting from the Fifth Council, and +to overcome the heresies which divided the Arians and the Catholics. At +the same time he advanced the authority of the see of Rome in the East as +well as in the West (§ 99). Of the many statesman-like undertakings of +Gregory none had more far-reaching consequences than the conversion of the +Anglo-Saxons and the establishment in England of a church which would be +in close and loyal dependence upon the Roman see, and in consequence of +that close connection would be the heir of the best traditions of culture +in the West (§ 100). + + +§ 96. The Celtic Church in the British Isles + + +Christianity was probably planted in the British Isles during the second +century; as to its growth in the ante-Nicene period little is definitely +known. Representatives of the British Church were at Arles in 314. The +Church was in close connection with the Church on the Continent during the +fourth century and in the fifth during the Pelagian controversy. The +Christianity thus established was completely overthrown or driven into +Wales by the invasion of the pagan Angles, Jutes, and Saxons _circa_ +449-500. (For the conversion of the newcomers, _v. infra_, § 100.) Early +in the fifth century the conversion of Ireland took place by missionaries +from Britain. In this conversion St. Patrick traditionally plays an +important part. + + + Additional source material: Bede, _Hist. Ec._, Eng. trans. by + Giles, London, 1894; by A. M. Sellar, London, 1907 (for Latin + text, _v. infra_, _a_); Adamnani, _Vita S. Columbae_, ed. J. T. + Fowler, 1894 (with valuable introduction and translation); St. + Patrick, _Genuine Writings_, ed. G. T. Stokes and C. H. H. Wright, + Dublin, 1887; J. D. Newport White, _The Writings of St. Patrick_, + 1904. For bibliography of sources, see Gross, _The Sources and + Literature of English History_, 1900, pp. 221 _f._ + + +(_a_) Bede, _Hist. Ec. Gentis Anglorum_, I, 13. (MSL, 95:40.) + + + The Venerable Bede (672 or 673-735), monk at Jarrow, the most + learned theologian of the Anglo-Saxon Church, was also the first + historian of England. For the earliest period he used what written + sources were available. His work becomes of independent value with + the account of the coming of Augustine of Canterbury, 597 (I, 23). + The history extends to A. D. 731. The best critical edition is + that of C. Plummer, 1896, which has a valuable introduction, + copious historical and critical notes, and careful discrimination + of the sources. Wm. Bright's _Chapters on Early English Church + History_ is an elaborate commentary on Bede's work as far as 709, + the death of Wilfrid. Translation of Bede's History by J. A. + Giles, may be found in Bohn's _Antiquarian Library_, and better by + A. M. Sellar, 1907. + + + In the following passage we have the only reference made by Bede + to the conversion of Ireland, and his failure to mention Patrick + has given rise to much controversy, see J. B. Bury, _The Life of + St. Patrick __ and his Place in History_, 1905. This passage, + referring to Palladius, is a quotation from the _Chronica_ of + Prosper of Aquitaine (403-463) ann. 431 (MSL, 51, critical edition + in MGH, _Auct. antiquiss_, 9:1); from Gildas, _De excidio + Britanniae liber querulus_ (MSL, 69:327, critical edition in MGH, + _Auct. antiquiss_, 13. A translation by J. A. Giles in _Six Old + English Chronicles_, in Bohn's _Antiquarian Library_), is the + reference to the letter written to the Romans; from the Chronica + of Marcellinus Comes (MSL, 51:913; critical edition in MGH, _Auct. + antiquiss_, 11) is the reference to Blaeda and Attila. + + +In the year of the Lord's incarnation, 423, Theodosius the younger +received the empire after Honorius and, being the forty-fifth from +Augustus, retained it twenty-six years. In the eighth year of his reign, +Palladius was sent by Celestinus, the pontiff of the Roman Church, to the +Scots(212) that believed in Christ to be their first bishop. In the +twenty-third year of his reign (446), Aetius, the illustrious, who was +also patrician, discharged his third consulate with Symmachus as his +colleague. To him the wretched remnants of the Britons sent a letter +beginning: "To Aetius, thrice consul, the groans of the Britons." And in +the course of the letter they thus express their calamities: "The +barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea drives us back to the barbarians; +between them there have arisen two sorts of death; we are either slain or +drowned." Yet neither could all this procure any assistance from him, as +he was then engaged in a most dangerous war with Blaeda and Attila, kings +of the Huns. And though the year next before this, Blaeda had been murdered +by the treachery of his brother Attila, yet Attila himself remained so +intolerable an enemy to the republic that he ravaged almost all Europe, +invading and destroying cities and castles. + + +(_b_) Patrick, _Confessio_, chs. 1, 10. (MSL, 53:801.) + + + The call of St. Patrick to be a missionary. + + + There is much dispute and uncertainty about the life and work of + St. Patrick. Of the works of Patrick, two appear to be genuine, + his _Confessio_ and his _Epistola ad Coroticum_. The other works + attributed to him are very probably spurious. The genuine works + may be found in Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils and Ecclesiastical + Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland_, vol. II, pt. ii, + 296 _ff._ + + +I, Patrick, a sinner, the most ignorant and least of all the faithful, and +the most contemptible among many, had for my father Calpornius the deacon, +son of the presbyter Potitus, the son of Odissus, who was of the village +of Bannavis Tabernia; he had near by a little estate where I was taken +captive. I was then nearly sixteen years old. But I was ignorant of the +true God(213) and I was taken into captivity unto Ireland, with so many +thousand men, according to our deserts, because we had forsaken God and +not kept His commandments and had not been obedient to our priests who +warned us of our salvation. And the Lord brought upon us the fury of His +wrath and scattered us among many nations, even to the end of the earth, +where now my meanness appears to be among strangers. And there the Lord +opened the senses of my unbelief, that I might remember my sin, and that I +might be converted with my whole heart to my Lord God, who looked upon my +humbleness and had mercy upon my youth and ignorance, and guarded me +before I knew Him, and before I knew and distinguished between good and +evil, and protected me and comforted me as a father a son. + +{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And again after a few years(214) I was with my relatives in Britain, who +received me as a son, and earnestly besought me that I should never leave +them after having endured so many great tribulations. And there I saw in a +vision by night a man coming to me as from Ireland, and his name was +Victorinus, and he had innumerable epistles; and he gave me one of them +and I read the beginning of the epistle as follows: "The voice of the +Irish." And while I was reading the epistle, I think that it was at the +very moment, I heard the voice of those who were near the wood of +Fochlad,(215) which is near the Western Sea. And thus they cried out with +one voice: We beseech thee, holy youth, to come here and dwell among us. +And I was greatly smitten in heart, and could read no further and so I +awoke. Thanks be to God, because after many years the Lord granted them +according to their cry. + + +(_c_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, III, 4. (MSL, 95:121.) + + + St. Ninian and St. Columba in Scotland. + + +In the year of our Lord 565, when Justin the younger, the successor of +Justinian, took the government of the Roman Empire, there came into +Britain a priest and abbot, distinguished in habit and monastic life, +Columba by name, to preach the word of God to the provinces of the +northern Picts, that is, to those who are separated from the southern +parts by steep and rugged mountains. For the southern Picts, who had their +homes within those mountains, had long before, as is reported, forsaken +the error of idolatry, and embraced the true faith, by the preaching of +the word to them by Ninian,(216) a most reverend bishop and holy man of +the British nation, who had been regularly instructed at Rome in the faith +and mysteries of the truth, whose episcopal see was named after St. +Martin, the bishop, and was famous for its church, wherein he and many +other saints rest in the body, and which the English nation still +possesses. The place belongs to the province of Bernicia, and is commonly +called Candida Casa,(217) because he there built a church of stone, which +was not usual among the Britons. + +Columba came to Britain in the ninth year of the reign of Bridius, the son +of Meilochon, the very powerful king of the Picts, and he converted by +work and example that nation to the faith of Christ; whereupon he also +received the aforesaid island [Iona] for a monastery. It is not large, but +contains about five families, according to English reckoning. His +successors hold it to this day, and there also he was buried, when he was +seventy-seven, about thirty-two years after he came into Britain to +preach. Before he came into Britain he had built a noble monastery in +Ireland, which from the great number of oaks is called in the Scottish +tongue(218) Dearmach, that is, the Field of Oaks. From both of these +monasteries many others had their origin through his disciples both in +Britain and Ireland; but the island monastery where his body lies holds +the rule. + +That island always has for its ruler an abbot, who is a priest, to whose +direction all the province and even bishops themselves are subject by an +unusual form of organization, according to the example of their first +teacher, who was not a bishop, but a priest and monk; of whose life and +discourses some writings are said to have been preserved by his disciples. +But whatever he was himself, this we regard as certain concerning him, +that he left successors renowned for their great continency, their love of +God, and their monastic rules. However, they followed uncertain +cycles(219) in their observance of the great festival [Easter], for no one +brought them the synodal decrees for the observance of Easter, because +they were placed so far away from the rest of the world; they only +practised such works of piety and chastity as they could learn from the +prophetical, evangelical, and apostolical writings. This manner of keeping +Easter continued among them for a long time, that is, for the space of one +hundred and fifty years, or until the year of our Lord's incarnation 715. + + +§ 97. The Conversion of the Franks. The Establishment of Catholicism in +the Germanic Kingdoms + + +Chlodowech (Clovis, 481-511) was originally a king of the Salian Franks, +near Tournay. By his energy he became king of all the Franks, and, +overthrowing Syagrius in 486, pushed his frontier to the Loire. In 496 he +conquered a portion of the Alemanni. About this time he became a Catholic. +He had for some time favored the Catholic religion, and with his +conversion his rule was associated with that cause in the kingdoms subject +to Arian rulers. In this way his support of Catholicism was in line with +his policy of conquest. By constant warfare Chlodowech was able to push +his frontier, in 507, to the Garonne. His death, in 511, at less than +fifty years of age, cut short only for a time the extension of the +Frankish kingdom. Under his sons, Burgundy, Thuringia, and Bavaria were +conquered. The kingdom, which had been divided on the death of Chlodowech, +was united under the youngest son, Chlotar I (sole ruler 558-561), again +divided on his death, to be united under Chlotar II (sole ruler 613-628). +In Spain the Suevi, in the northwest, became Catholic under Carrarich in +550. They were conquered in 585 by the Visigoths, who in turn became +Catholic in 589. + + +(_a_) Gregory of Tours, _Historia Francorum_, II, 30. 31. (MSL, 71:225.) + + + Gregory of Tours (538-593) became bishop of Tours in 573. Placed + in this way in the most important see of France, he was constantly + thrown in contact with the Merovingian royal family and had + abundant opportunity to become acquainted with the course of + events at first hand. His most important work, the _History of the + Franks_, is especially valuable from the fifth book on, as here he + is on ground with which he was personally familiar. In Book II, + from which the selection is taken, Gregory depends upon others, + and must be used with caution. + + + The baptism of Chlodowech was probably the result of a long + process of deliberation, beginning probably before his marriage + with Chrotechildis, a Burgundian princess, who was a Catholic. + While still a pagan he was favorably disposed toward the Catholic + Church. About 496 he was baptized, probably on Christmas Day, at + Rheims, by St. Remigius. The place and date have been much + disputed of late. The earliest references to the conversion are by + Nicetus of Trier (_ob. circa_ 566), _Epistula ad Chlodosvindam + reginam Longobardorum_ (MSL, 5:375); and Avitus, _Epistula_ 41, + addressed to Chlodowech himself. (MSL, 59:257). A careful + examination of all the evidence may be found in A. Hauck, + _Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands_, fourth ed., I, 595 _ff._ Hauck + concludes that "the date, December 25, 496, may be regarded as + almost certainly the date of the baptism of Chlodowech. The + connection as to time between the first war with the Alemanni and + the baptism may have given occasion to seek for some actual + connection between the two events." The selection is therefore + given as the traditional version and is not to be relied upon as + correct in detail. It represents what was probably the current + belief within a few decades of the event. + + +Ch. 30. The queen (Chrotechildis) ceased not to warn Chlodowech that he +should acknowledge the true God and forsake idols. But in no way could he +be brought to believe these things. Finally war broke out with the +Alemanni. Then by necessity was he compelled to acknowledge what before he +had denied with his will. The two armies met and there was a fearful +slaughter, and the army of Chlodowech was on the point of being +annihilated. When the king perceived that, he raised his eyes to heaven, +his heart was smitten and he was moved to tears, and he said: "Jesus +Christ, whom Chrotechildis declares to be the Son of the living God, who +says that Thou wilt help those in need and give victory to those who hope +in Thee, humbly I flee to Thee for Thy mighty aid, that Thou wilt give me +victory over these my enemies, and I will in this way experience Thy +power, which the people called by Thy name claim that they have proved to +be in Thee. Then will I believe on Thee and be baptized in Thy name. For I +have called upon my gods but, as I have seen, they are far from my help. +Therefore, I believe that they have no power who do not hasten to aid +those obedient to them. I now call upon Thee and I desire to believe on +Thee. Only save me from the hand of my adversaries." As he thus spoke, the +Alemanni turned their backs and began to take flight. But when they saw +that their king was dead, they submitted to Chlodowech and said: "Let not, +we pray thee, a nation perish; now we are thine." Thereupon he put an end +to the war, exhorted the people, and returned home in peace. He told the +queen how by calling upon the name of Christ he had obtained victory. This +happened in the fifteenth year of his reign (496). + +Ch. 31. Thereupon the queen commanded that the holy Remigius, bishop of +Rheims, be brought secretly to teach the king the word of salvation. The +priest was brought to him secretly and began to lay before him that he +should believe in the true God, the creator of heaven and earth, and +forsake idols, who could neither help him nor others. But he replied: +"Gladly do I listen to thee, most holy Father, but one thing remains, for +the people who follow me suffer me not to forsake their gods. But I will +go and speak to them according to thy words." When he met his men, and +before he began to speak, all the people cried out together, for the +divine power had anticipated him: "We reject the mortal gods, pious king, +and we are ready to follow the immortal God whom Remigius preaches." These +things were reported to the bishop, who rejoiced greatly and commanded the +font to be prepared.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} The king first asked to be baptized by the pontiff. +He went, a new Constantine, into the font to be washed clean from the old +leprosy, and to purify himself in fresh water from the stains which he had +long had. But as he stepped into the baptismal water, the saint of God +began in moving tone: "Bend softly thy head, Sicamber, reverence what thou +hast burnt, and burn what thou hast reverenced."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Therefore the king confessed Almighty God in Trinity, and was baptized in +the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and was +anointed with the holy chrism with the sign of the cross. Of his army more +than three thousand were baptized. Also his sister Albofledis was +baptized.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} And another sister of the king, Lanthechildis by name, who had +fallen into the heresy of the Arians, was converted, and when she had +confessed that the Son and the Holy Ghost were of the same substance with +the Father, she was given the chrism. + + +(_b_) Gregory of Tours, _Hist. Francorum_, II, 35-38. (MSL, 71:232.) + + + Clovis at the head of the anti-Arian party in Gaul. + + +Ch. 35. When Alarich, the king of the Goths, saw that King Chlodowech +continually conquered the nations, he sent messengers to him saying: "If +my brother wishes, it is also in my heart that we see each other, if God +will." Chlodowech was not opposed to this and came to him. They met on an +island in the Loire, in the neighborhood of Amboise, in the territory of +Tours, and spake and ate and drank together, promised mutual friendship, +and parted in peace. + +Ch. 36. But already many Gauls wished with all their heart to have the +Franks for their masters. It therefore happened that Quintianus, bishop of +Rhodez, was driven out of his city on account of this. For they said to +him: "You wish that the rule of the Franks possessed this land." And a few +days after, when a dispute had arisen between him and the citizens, the +rumor reached the Goths who dwelt in the city, for the citizens asserted +that he wished to be subject to the rule of the Franks; and they took +counsel and planned how they might kill him with the sword. When this was +reported to the man of God, he rose by night, and with the most faithful +of his servants left Rhodez and came to Arverne.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Ch. 37. Thereupon King Chlodowech said to his men: "It is a great grief to +me that these Arians possess a part of Gaul. Let us go forth with God's +aid, conquer them, and bring this land into our power." And since this +speech pleased all, he marched with his army toward Poitiers, for there +dwelt Alarich at that time.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} King Chlodowech met the king of the Goths, +Alarich, in the Campus Vocladensis [Vouille or Voulon-sur-Clain] ten miles +from Poitiers; and while the latter fought from afar, the former withstood +in hand to hand combat. But since the Goths, in their fashion, took to +flight, King Chlodowech at length with God's aid won the victory. He had +on his side a son of Sigbert the Lame, whose name was Chloderich. The same +Sigbert, ever since he fought with the Alemanni near Zulpich [in 496], had +been wounded in the knee and limped. The king killed King Alarich and put +the Goths to flight.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} From this battle Amalrich, Alarich's son, fled to +Spain, and by his ability obtained his father's kingdom. Chlodowech, +however, sent his son Theuderic to Albi, Rhodez, and Arverne, and +departing he subjugated those cities, from the borders of the Goths to the +borders of the Burgundians, to the rule of his father. But Alarich reigned +twenty-two years. + +Chlodowech spent the winter in Bourdeaux, and carried away the entire +treasure of Alarich from Toulouse, and he went to Angouleme. Such favor +did the Lord show him that, when he looked on the walls, they fell of +themselves. Thereupon when the Goths had been driven from the city he +brought it under his rule. After the accomplishment of these victories he +returned to Tours and dedicated many gifts to the holy Church of St. +Martin. + +Ch. 38. At that time he received from the Emperor Anastasius the title of +consul, and in the Church of St. Martin he assumed the purple cloak and +put on his head a diadem. He then mounted a horse and with his own hand +scattered among the people who were present gold and silver in the +greatest profusion, all the way from the door of the porch of the Church +of St. Martin to the city gate. And from this day forward he was addressed +as consul, or Augustus. From Tours Chlodowech went to Paris and made that +the seat of his authority.(220) + + +(_c_) Third Council of Toledo, A. D. 589, _Acts_. Mansi, IX, 992. + + + This council is the most important event in the history of the + Visigothic Church of Spain, marking the abandonment of Arianism by + the ruling race of Spain and the formal acceptance of the doctrine + of the Trinity or the Catholic faith and unity. The Suevi had + accepted Catholicism more than thirty-five years before; see Synod + of Braga, A. D. 563, in Hefele, § 285 (_cf._ also Hahn, § 176, who + gives the text of the anathematisms in which, after a statement of + the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, the balance of the + anathematisms are concerned with Priscillianism). Reccared, the + Visigothic king (586-601), became a Catholic in 587, and held the + council of 589 to effect the conversion of the nation to his new + faith. For a letter of Gregory the Great on the conversion of + Reccared, see PNF, ser. II, vol. XII, pt. 2. p. 87, and two from + Gregory to Reccared himself (_ibid._, vol. XIII, pp. 16, 35). The + creed, as professed at Toledo, is the first instance of the + authorized use of the term "and the Son" in a creed in connection + with the doctrine of the "procession of the Holy Spirit," the form + in which the so-called Nicene creed came to be used in the West, + and the source of much dispute between the East and the West in + the ninth century and ever since. + + +I. From the Speech of Reccared at the Opening of the Council. + + +I judge that you are not ignorant, most reverend priests [_i.e._, bishops] +that I have called you into our presence for the restoration of +ecclesiastical discipline; and because in time past the existence of +heresy prevented throughout the entire Catholic Church the transaction of +synodical business. God, who has been pleased by our action to remove the +obstacle of the same heresy, warns us to set in order the ecclesiastical +laws concerning church matters. Therefore let it be a matter of joy and +gladness to you that the canonical order is being brought back to the +lines of the times of our fathers, in the sight of God and to our glory. + + +II. From the Statement of Faith. + + +There is present here all the famous nation of the Goths, esteemed for +their real bravery by nearly all nations, who, however, by the error of +their teachers have been separated from the faith and unity of the +Catholic Church; but now, agreeing as a whole with me in my assent to the +faith, participate in the communion of that Church which receives in its +maternal bosom a multitude of different nations and nourishes them with +the breasts of charity. Concerning her the prophet foretelling said: "My +house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations." For not only +does the conversion of the Goths add to the amount of our reward, but also +an infinite multitude of the people of the Suevi, whom under the +protection of Heaven we have subjected to our kingdom, led away into +heresy by the fault of an alien,(221) we have endeavored to recall to the +source of truth. Therefore, most holy Fathers, I offer as by your hands to +the eternal God, as a holy and pleasing offering, these most noble +nations, who have been attached by us to the Lord's possessions. For it +will be to me in the day of the retribution of the just an unfading crown +and joy if these peoples, who now by our planning have returned to the +unity of the Church, remain founded and established in the same. For as by +the divine determination it has been a matter of our care to bring these +peoples to the unity of the Church of Christ, so it is a matter of your +teaching to instruct them in the Catholic dogmas, by which they may be +instructed in the full knowledge of the truth, that they may know how to +reject totally the errors of pernicious heresy, to remain in charity in +the ways of the true faith, and to embrace with fervent desire the +communion of the Catholic Church.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} As it is of benefit to us to profess +with the mouth what we believe in the heart {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} therefore I anathematize +Arius with all his doctrines {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} so I hold in honor, to the praise and honor +and glory of God, the faith of the holy Council of Nicaea.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I embrace and +hold the faith of the one hundred and fifty Fathers assembled at +Constantinople.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I believe the faith of the first Council of Ephesus {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +likewise with all the Catholic Church I reverently receive the faith of +the Council of Chalcedon.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} To this my confession I have added the holy +constitutions [_i.e._, confessions of faith] of the above-mentioned +councils, and I have subscribed with complete singleness of heart to the +divine testimony. + + + Here follows the faith of Nicaea, the so-called creed of + Constantinople, with the words relating to the Holy Ghost, _ex + Patre et Filio procedentem_ (proceeding from the Father and the + Son); the actual form _filioque_ does not here occur. + + +III. From the _Anathemas_, Hahn, § 178. + + +3. Whosoever does not believe in the Holy Ghost and will not believe that +He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and will not say that He is +co-essential with the Father and the Son, let him be anathema. + + +IV. From the _Canons_, Bruns, I, 212. + + +Canon 1. After the damnation of the heresy of Arius and the exposition of +the Catholic faith, this holy council ordered that, because in the midst +of many heretics and heathen throughout the churches of Spain, the +canonical order has been necessarily neglected (for while liberty of +transgressing abounded, and the desirable discipline was denied, and every +one fostered excesses of heresy in the protection and continuation of evil +times, a strict discipline was far off, but now the peace of the Church +has been restored by the mercy of Christ), everything which by the +authority of early canons may be forbidden is forbidden, discipline +arising again, and everything is required which they order done. Let the +constitutions of all the councils remain in their force, likewise all the +synodical letters of the holy Roman prelates. Henceforth let no one aspire +unworthily to ecclesiastical promotions and honors against the canons. Let +nothing be done which the holy Fathers, filled with the Spirit of God, +decreed should not be done. And let those who presume to violate the laws +be restrained by the severity of the earlier canons. + +Canon 2. Out of reverence for the most holy faith and to strengthen the +weak minds of men, acting upon the advice of the most pious and glorious +King Reccared(222) the synod has ordered that throughout the churches of +Spain, Gaul, and Gallicia, the symbol of the faith be recited according to +the form of the Oriental churches, the symbol of the Council of +Constantinople, that is, of the one hundred and fifty bishops; and before +the Lord's prayer is said, let it be pronounced to the people in a clear +voice, by which also the true faith may have a manifest testimony, and the +hearts of the people may approach to the reception of the body and blood +of Christ with hearts purified by faith. + + +§ 98. The State Church in the Germanic Kingdoms + + +So long as the Germanic rulers remained Arian, the Catholic Church in +their kingdoms was left for the most part alone or hindered in its +synodical activity. But as the kingdoms became Catholic on the conversion +of their kings, the rulers were necessarily brought into close official +relations with the Church and its administration; and they exercised a +strict control over the ecclesiastical councils and the episcopal +elections. The Merovingians, on their conversion from paganism, at once +became Catholics, and they consequently assumed this control immediately. +With the extension of the Frankish kingdom, the authority of the king in +ecclesiastical affairs was likewise extended. In Spain the Visigoths were +Arians until 589. On the conversion of the nation at that date, the king +at once assumed an extensive ecclesiastical authority (for Reccared's +confirmation of the Third Synod of Toledo, 589, see Bruns, I, 393), and in +the development of the system the councils of Toledo became at once the +parliaments of the entire nation, now united through its common faith, and +the synods of the Church. This system was cut short by the Moslem invasion +of 711, and the development of the Church and its relation to the State is +to be studied in the Frankish kingdom in which from this time the +ecclesiastical development of Western Europe is to be traced. The best +evidence for the legal state of the Church under the Germanic rulers is +chiefly in the acts of councils. + +But there was also in the Catholic Church in the Germanic kingdoms a +strong monastic spirit which was by no means willing to see the Church +become an "establishment." This fitted in poorly with the condition of the +State Church. It is illustrated by the career of St. Columbanus. + + +(_a_) Council of Orleans, A. D. 511, _Synodical Letter_. Bruns, II, 160. + + + The king summons the council and approves its findings. Extract + from the synodical letter in which the canons are sent to + Chlodowech. + + +To their Lord, the Son of the Catholic Church, Chlodowech, the most +glorious king, all the priests(223) whom you have commanded to come to the +council. + +Because your great care for the glorious faith so moves you to reverence +for the Catholic religion that from love of the priesthood you have +commanded the bishops to be gathered together into one that they might +treat of necessary things, according to the proposals of your will and the +titles [_i.e._, topics] which you have given, we reply by determining +those things which seem good to us; so that if those things which we have +decreed prove to be right in your judgment, the approval of so great a +king and lord might by a greater authority cause the determinations of so +many bishops to be observed more strictly. + + +(_b_) Council of Orleans, A. D. 549, _Canons_. Bruns, II, 211. + + + Canons regarding Episcopal elections. The first instance in + canonical legislation in the West recognizing the necessity of + royal consent to the election of a bishop. For the relation of the + Pope to metropolitans, see in § 99 the Epistle of Gregory the + Great to Vigilius of Arles. + + +Canon 10. That it shall be lawful for no one to obtain the episcopate by +payment or bargaining, but with the permission of the king, according to +the choice of the clergy and the people, as it is written in the ancient +canons, let him be consecrated by the metropolitan or by him whom he sends +in his place, together with the bishops of the province. That if any one +violates by purchase the rule of this holy constitution, we decree that +he, who shall have been ordained for money, shall be deposed. + +Canon 11. Likewise as the ancient canons decree, no one shall be made +bishop of those who are unwilling to receive him, and neither by the force +of powerful persons are the citizens and clergy to be induced to give a +testimonial of election.(224) For this is to be regarded as a crime; that +if this should be done, let him, who rather by violence than by legitimate +decree has been ordained bishop, be deposed forever from the honor of the +episcopate which he has obtained. + + +(_c_) Council of Paris, A. D. 557, _Canon_. Bruns, II, 221. + + +Canon 8. No bishop shall be ordained for people against their will, but +only he whom the people and clergy in full election shall have freely +chosen; neither by the command of the prince nor by any condition whatever +against the will of the metropolitan and the bishops of the province shall +he be forced in. That if any one with so great rashness presumes by royal +appointment(225) to reach the height of this honor, let him not deserve to +be received as a bishop by the bishops of the province in which the place +is located, for they know that he was ordained improperly. If any of the +fellow bishops of the province presume to receive him against this +prohibition, let him be separated from all his brethren and be deprived of +the charity of all. + + +(_d_) Gregory of Tours, _Hist. Francorum_, IV, 15. (MSL, 71:280.) + + + The difficulty of the Church in living under the Merovingian + monarchs with their despotism and violence is illustrated by the + following passage. The date of the event is 556. + + +When the clergy of Tours heard that King Chlothar [511-561; 558-561, as +surviving son of Chlodowech, sole ruler of the Franks] had returned from +the slaughter of the Saxons, they prepared the consensus(226) that they +had chosen the priest Eufronius bishop and went to the king. When they had +presented the matter, the king answered: "I had indeed commanded that the +priest Cato should be ordained there, and why has our command been +disregarded?" They answered him: "We have indeed asked him, but he would +not come." And as they said this suddenly the priest Cato appeared and +besought the king to command that Cautinus be removed and himself be +appointed bishop of Arverne.(227) But when the king laughed at this, he +besought him again, that he might be ordained for Tours, which he had +before rejected. Then the king said to him: "I have already commanded that +you should be consecrated bishop of Tours, but, as I hear, you have +despised that church; therefore you shall be withheld from the government +of it." Thereupon he departed ashamed. But when the king asked concerning +the holy Eufronius, they said that he was a nephew of the holy Gregory, +whom we have mentioned above.(228) The king answered: "That is a +distinguished and very great family. Let the will of God and of the holy +Martin(229) be done; let the election be confirmed." And after he had +given a decree for the ordination, the holy Eufronius was ordained as the +eighth bishop after St. Martin.(230) + + +(_e_) Gregory of Tours, _Hist. Franc._, VIII, 22, (MSL, 71:464.) + + + Royal interference in episcopal elections was not infrequent under + the Merovingians. Confused as the following account is, it is + clear from it that the kings were accustomed to violate the canons + and to exercise a free hand in episcopal appointments. See also + the preceding selection. The date of the event is 585. For the + Synod of Macon, A. D. 585, see Hefele, § 286. + + +Laban, Bishop of Eauze,(231) died that year. Desiderius, a layman, +succeeded him, although the king had promised with an oath that he would +never again ordain a bishop from the laity. But to what will not the +accursed hunger for gold drive human hearts? Bertchramnus(232) had +returned from the synod,(233) and on the way was seized with a fever. The +deacon Waldo was summoned, who in baptism had also been called +Bertchramnus, and he committed to him the whole of his episcopal office, +as he also committed to him the provisions regarding his testament, as +well as those who merited well by him. As he departed the bishop breathed +out his spirit. The deacon returned and with presents and the +consensus(234) of the people, went to the king(235) but he obtained +nothing. Then the king, having issued a mandate, commanded Gundegisilus, +count of Saintes, surnamed Dodo, to be consecrated bishop; and so it was +done. And because many of the clergy of Saintes before the synod had, in +agreement with Bishop Bertchramnus, written various things against their +Bishop Palladius to humiliate him, after his(236) death they were arrested +by the bishop, severely tortured, and stripped of their property. + + +(_f_) Chlotar II, Capitulary, A. D. 614. MGH, Leges, II. _Capitularia +Regum Francorum_, ed. Boretius, I, 20, MGH, Leges, 1883. + + + Not only did the councils admit the right of the king to approve + the candidate for consecration as bishop, but the kings laid down + the principle that their approval was necessary. They also + legislated on the affairs of the Church, _e.g._, on the election + of bishops. The text may also be found in Altmann und Bernheim, + _Ausgewaehlte Urkunden_. Berlin, 1904, p. 1. + + +Ch. 1. It is our decree that the statutes of the canons be observed in all +things, and those of them which have been neglected in the past because of +the circumstances of the times shall hereafter be observed perpetually; so +that when a bishop dies one shall be chosen for his place by the clergy +and people, who is to be ordained by the metropolitan and his provincials; +if the person be worthy let him be ordained by the order of the prince; +but if he be chosen from the palace(237) let him be ordained on account of +the merit of his person and his learning. + +Ch. 2. That no bishop while living shall choose a successor, but another +shall be substituted for him when he become so indisposed that he cannot +rule his church and clergy. Likewise, that while a bishop is living no one +shall presume to take his place, and if one should seek it, it is on no +account to be given him. + + +(_g_) Fredegarius Scholasticus, _Chronicon_, 75_f._ (MSL, 71:653.) + + + The Chronicon of Fredegarius is important, as it continues in its + last book the _History of the Franks_ by Gregory of Tours. The + best edition is in the MGH, _Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum_ II, + ed. Krusch. An account of the work may be found in DCB, art. + "Fredegarius Scholasticus." In the Frankish kingdom the higher + clergy, especially the bishops, assembled with the great men of + the realm in councils under the king to discuss affairs of State. + These councils have been called _concilia mixta_. They are, + however, to be distinguished from the strictly ecclesiastical + assemblies in which the clergy alone acted. A change was + introduced by Charles the Great. The following passage shows the + king consulting with the bishops, along with the other nobles. + + +§ 75. In the eleventh year of his reign Dagobert came to the city of Metz, +because the Wends at the command of Samo still manifested their savage +fury and often made inroads from their territory to lay waste the Frankish +kingdom, Thuringia, and other provinces. Dagobert, coming to Metz, with +the counsel of the bishops and nobles, and the consent of all the great +men of his kingdom, made his son, Sigibert, king of Austrasia, and +assigned him Metz as his seat. To Chunibert, bishop of Cologne, and the +Duke Adalgisel, he committed the conduct of his palace and kingdom.(238) +Also he gave to his son sufficient treasure and fitted him out with all +that was appropriate to his high dignity; and whatsoever he had given him +he confirmed by charters specially made out. Since then the Frankish land +was sufficiently defended by the zeal of the Austrasians against the +Wends. + +§ 76. When in the twelfth year of his reign a son named Chlodoveus was +born by Queen Nantechilde to Dagobert, he made, with the counsel and +advice of the Neustrians, an agreement with his Sigibert. All the great +men and the bishops of Austrasia and the other people of Sigibert, holding +up their hands, confirmed it with an oath, that after the death of +Dagobert, Neustria and Burgundy, by an established ordinance, should fall +to Chlodoveus; but Austrasia, because in population and extent it was +equal to those lands, should belong in its entire extent to Sigibert. + + +(_h_) Jonas, _Vita Columbani_, chs. 9, 12, 17, 32, 33, 59, 60. (MSL, +87:1016.) + + + Columbanus (543-615) was the most active and successful of the + Irish missionary monks laboring on the continent of Europe. In 585 + Columbanus left Ireland to preach in the wilder parts of Gaul, and + in 590 or 591 founded Luxeuil, which became the parent monastery + of a considerable group of monastic houses. He came into conflict + with the Frankish clergy on account of the Celtic mode of fixing + the date of Easter [see Epistle of Columbanus among the Epistles + of Gregory the Great, to whom it is addressed, Bk. IX, Ep. 127, + PNF, ser. II, vol. XIII, p. 38; two other epistles on the subject + in MSL, vol. 80], his monastic rule [MSL, 80:209], and his + condemnatory attitude toward the dissoluteness of life prevalent + in Gaul among the clergy, as well as in the court. Banished from + Burgundy in 610 partly for political reasons, he worked for a time + in the vicinity of Lake Constance. In 612, leaving his disciple + Gallus [see _Vita S. Galli_, by Walafrid Strabo, MSL, 114; English + translation by C. W. Bispham, Philadelphia, 1908], he went to + Italy and, having founded Bobbio, died in 615. Gallus (_ob. circa_ + 640) subsequently founded the great monastery of St. Gall in + Switzerland, near Lake Constance. The Celtic monks on the + continent abandoned their Celtic peculiarities in the ninth + century and adopted the Benedictine rule. + + + Jonas, the author of the life of Columbanus, was a monk at Bobbio. + His life of Columbanus was written about 640; see DCB, "Jonas + (6)." In the following, the divisions and numbering of paragraphs + follow Migne's edition. There is an excellent new edition in the + MGH, _Script. rerum Merovin._, ed. Krusch, 8vo, 1905. + + + Columbanus sets forth. + + +Ch. 9. Columbanus gathered such treasures of divine knowledge that even in +his youth he could expound the Psalter in polished discourse and could +make many other discourses, worthy of being sung and useful to teach. +Thereupon he took pains to be received into the company of monks, and +sought the monastery of Benechor [in Ulster] the head of which, the +blessed Commogellus, was famous for his many virtues. He was an excellent +father of his monks and highly regarded because of his zeal in religion +and the maintenance of discipline according to the rule. And here he began +to give himself entirely to prayer and fasting and to bear the yoke of +Christ, easy to those who bear it, by denying himself and taking up his +cross and following Christ, that he, who was to be the teacher of others, +might himself learn by teaching, and by mortification to endure in his own +body what he should abundantly show forth; and he who should teach what by +others ought to be fulfilled, himself first fulfilled. When many years had +passed for him in the cloister, he began to desire to wander forth, +mindful of the command which the Lord gave Abraham: "Get thee out of thy +country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that +I will show thee" [Gen. 12:1]. He confessed to Commogellus, the venerable +Father, the warm desire of his heart, the desire enkindled by the fire of +the Lord [Luke 12:49]; but he received no such answer as he wished. For it +was a grief to Commogellus to bear the loss of a man so full of comfort. +Finally Commogellus began to take courage and place it before his heart +that he ought to seek more to advance the benefit of others than to pursue +his own needs. It happened not without the will of the Almighty, who had +trained His pupil for future wars, that from his victories he might obtain +glorious triumphs and gain joyful victories over the phalanxes of slain +enemies. The abbot called Columbanus unto him and said that though it was +a grief to him yet he had come to a decision useful to others, that he +would remain in peace with him, would strengthen him with consolation, and +give him companions for his journey men who were known for their +religion.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +So Columbanus in the twentieth(239) year of his life set forth, and with +twelve companions under the leadership of Christ went down to the shore of +the sea. Here they waited the grace of Almighty God that he would prosper +their undertaking, if it took place with His consent; and they perceived +that the will of the merciful Judge was with them. They embarked and began +the dangerous journey through the straits, and crossed a smooth sea with a +favorable wind, and after a quick passage reached the coasts of Brittany.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + + + Columbanus founds monasteries in Gaul. + + +Ch. 12. At that time there was a wide desert called Vosagus [the Vosges] +in which there lay a castle long since in ruins. And ancient tradition +called it Anagrates [Anegray]. When the holy man reached this place, in +spite of its wild isolation, its rudeness, and the rocks, he settled there +with his companions, content with meagre support, mindful of the saying +that man lives not by bread alone, but, satisfied with the Word of Life, +he would have abundance and never hunger again unto eternity. + +Ch. 17. When the number of the monks had increased rapidly, he began to +think of seeking in the same desert for a better place, where he might +found a monastery. And he found a place, which had formerly been strongly +fortified, at a distance from the first place about eight miles, and which +was called in ancient times Luxovium.(240) Here there were warm baths +erected with special art. A multitude of stone idols stood here in the +near-by forest, which in the old heathen times had been honored with +execrable practices and profane rites. Residing here, therefore, the +excellent man began to found a cloister. On hearing of this the people +came to him from all sides in order to dedicate themselves to the practice +of religion, so that the great crowd of monks gathered together could +hardly be contained in the company of one monastery. Here the children of +nobles pressed to come, that, despising the scorned adornments of the +world and the pomp of present wealth, they might receive eternal rewards. +When Columbanus perceived this and that from all sides the people came +together for the medicines of penance, and that the walls of one monastery +could not without difficulty hold so great a body of converts to the +religious life, and although they were of one mind and one heart, yet it +was ill fitted to the intercourse of so great a multitude, he sought out +another place, which was excellent on account of its abundance of water, +and founded a second monastery, which he named Fontanae,(241) and placed +rulers over it, of whose piety none doubted. As he now settled companies +of monks in this place, he dwelt alternately in each and, filled with the +Holy Ghost, he established a rule which they should observe that the +prudent reader or hearer of it might know by what sort of discipline a man +might become holy. + + + The quarrel of Columbanus with the Court. + + +Ch. 32. It happened one day that the holy Columbanus came to Brunichildis, +who was at that time in Brocariaca.(242) When she saw him coming to the +court she led to the man of God the sons of Theuderich, whom he had +begotten in adultery. He asked as he saw them what they wanted of him, and +Brunichildis said: "They are the king's sons; strengthen them with thy +blessing." But he answered: "Know then that these will never hold the +royal sceptre, for they have sprung from unchastity." In furious anger she +commanded the boys to depart. The man of God thereupon left the royal +court, and when he had crossed the threshold there arose a loud roar so +that the whole house shook, and all shuddered for fear; yet the rage of +the miserable woman could not be restrained. Thereupon she began to plot +against the neighboring monasteries, and she caused a decree to be issued +that the monks should not be allowed to move freely outside the land of +the monastery, and that no one should give them any support or otherwise +assist them with offerings. + +Ch. 33. Against Columbanus Brunichildis excited the mind of the king and +endeavored to disturb him; and she encouraged the minds of his princes, +his courtiers, and great men to set the mind of the king against the man +of God, and she began to urge the bishops that by vilifying the religion +of Columbanus they might dishonor the rule he had given his monks to +observe.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + + + Columbanus founds Bobbio. + + +§ 59. When the blessed Columbanus learned that Theudebert had been +conquered by Theuderich, he left Gaul and Germany,(243) which were under +Theuderich, and entered Italy where he was honorably received by Agilulf +the Lombard king, who gave him permission to dwell where he wished in +Italy. It happened by the will of God that, while he was in Milan, +Columbanus wishing to attack and root out by the use of the Scripture the +errors of the heretics, that is, the false doctrine of the Arians, +lingered and composed an excellent work against them.(244) + +§ 60. While things were thus going on, a man named Jocundus came before +the king and reported to him that he knew of a church of the blessed +Peter, prince of the Apostles, in a desert region of the Apennines, in +which he learned that there were many advantages, being uncommonly +fruitful and supplied with water full of fish. It was called in old time +Bobium(245) on account of the brook which flowed by it; another river in +the neighborhood was called Trebia, on which Hannibal, spending a winter, +suffered great losses of men, horses, and elephants. Thither Columbanus +removed and restored with all possible diligence the already half-ruined +church in all its former beauty. The roof and the top of the temple and +the ruins of the walls he repaired and set to work to construct other +things necessary for a monastery. + + +§ 99. Gregory the Great and the Roman Church in the Second Half of the +Sixth Century + + +Gregory the Great was born about 540. In 573 he was appointed prefect of +the city of Rome, but resigned the following year to become a monk. Having +been ordained deacon, he was sent in 579 to Constantinople as papal +apocrisiarius, or resident ambassador at the court of the Emperor. In 586 +he was back in Rome and abbot of St. Andrew's, and in 590 he was elected +Pope. As Pope his career was even more brilliant. He reorganized the papal +finances, carried through important disciplinary measures, and advanced +the cause of monasticism. His work as the organizer of missions in +England, his labors to heal the Istrian schism, his relations with the +Lombards, his dealings with the Church in Gaul, his controversy with +Constantinople in the matter of the title "Ecumenical Patriarch," and +other large relations and tasks indicate the range of his interests and +the extent of his activities. As a theologian Gregory interpreted +Augustine for the Middle Ages and was the most important and influential +theologian of the West after Augustine and before the greater scholastics. +He did much to restore the prestige of his see, which had been lost in the +earlier part of the sixth century. He died 604. + + + Additional source material: Selections from the writings of + Gregory, including many of his letters, may be found in PNF, ser. + II, vols. XII and XIII; see also _A Library of the Fathers of the + Holy Catholic Church_ (Oxford). + + +The selections under this section are arranged under four heads: (1) +Relations with Gaul; (2) Relations with Constantinople; (3) Relations with +the Schism in Northern Italy; (4) Relations with the Lombards; for English +mission, v. infra, § 100. + + +1. Relations with Gaul. + + +(_a_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Vigilium_, Reg. V, 53. (MSL, 77:782.) + + + The following letter was written in 595 in reply to a letter from + Vigilius, bishop of Arles, asking for the pallium (DCA, art. + "Pallium," also _Cath. Encyc._) and the vicariate. For the + relation of the Roman see to the bishop of Arles as primate of + Gaul, see E. Loening, _Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenrechts_. + The relation of the vicariate to the papacy and also to the royal + power is indicated by the fact that the pallium is given in + response to the request of the king. The condition of the church + under Childebert is also shown; see § 98 for canons bearing on + simony and irregularities in connection with ordination. + + +As to thy having asked therein [in a letter of Vigilius to Gregory] +according to ancient custom for the use of the pallium and the vicariate +of the Apostolic See, far be it from me to suspect that thou hast sought +eminence of transitory power, or the adornment of external worship, in our +vicariate and the pallium. But, since it is known to all whence the holy +faith proceeded in the regions of Gaul, when your fraternity asks for a +repetition of the early custom of the Apostolic See, what is it but that a +good offspring reverts to the bosom of its mother? With willing mind +therefore we grant what has been requested, lest we should seem either to +withhold from you anything of the honor due to you, or to despise the +petition of our most excellent son, King Childebert.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +I have learned from certain persons informing me that in the parts of Gaul +and Germany no one attains to holy orders except for a consideration +given. If this is so, I say it with tears, I declare it with groans, that, +when the priestly order has fallen inwardly, neither will it be able to +stand outwardly for long.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Another very detestable thing has also been reported to us, that some +persons being laymen, through the desire of temporal glory, are tonsured +on the death of bishops, and all at once are made priests.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +On this account your fraternity must needs take care to admonish our most +excellent son, King Childebert, that he remove entirely the stain of this +sin from his kingdom, to the end that Almighty God may give him so much +the greater recompense with himself as He sees him both love what He loves +and shun what He hates. + +And so we commit to your fraternity, according to ancient custom, under +God, our vicariate in the churches which are under the dominion of our +most excellent son Childebert, with the understanding that their proper +dignity, according to primitive usage, be preserved to the several +metropolitans. We have also sent a pallium which thy fraternity will use +within the Church for the solemnization of mass only. Further, if any of +the bishops should by any chance wish to travel to any considerable +distance, let it not be lawful for him to remove to other places without +the authority of thy holiness. If any question of faith, or it may be +relating to other matters, should have arisen among the bishops, which +cannot easily be settled, let it be ventilated and decided in an assembly +of twelve bishops. But if it cannot be decided after the truth has been +investigated, let it be referred to our judgment. + + +2. Relations with Constantinople. + + +(_b_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Johannem Jejunatorem_, Reg. V, 44. (MSL, +77:738.) _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 180. + + + On the title "Ecumenical Patriarch." + + + The controversy over the title "Ecumenical Patriarch" was a result + of Gregory's determination to carry through, as far as possible, + the Petrine rights and duties as he conceived them. The title was + probably intended to mark the superiority of Constantinople to the + other patriarchates in the East, according to the Eastern + principle that the political rank of a city determined its + ecclesiastical rank. It seemed to Gregory to imply a position of + superiority to the see of Peter. As it certainly might imply that, + he consistently opposed it. But it had been a title in use for + nearly a century. (_Cf._ Gieseler, KG, Eng. trans., vol. I, p. + 504.) Justinian in 533 so styled the patriarch of Constantinople + (Cod. I, 1, 7). For the difference in point of view between the + East and the West as to rank of great sees, see Leo's letters on + the 28th canon of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, _supra_, in § 86. + + +At the time when your fraternity was advanced in sacerdotal dignity, you +recall what peace and concord of the churches you found. But, with what +daring or with what swelling of pride I know not, you have attempted to +seize upon a new name for yourself, whereby the hearts of all your +brethren would be offended. I wonder exceedingly at this, since I remember +that in order not to attain to the episcopal office thou wouldest have +fled. But now that thou hast attained unto it, thou desirest so to +exercise it as if thou hadst run after it with ambitious desire. And thou +who didst confess thyself unworthy to be called a bishop, hast at length +been brought to such a pitch that, despising thy brethren, thou desirest +to be named the only bishop. And in regard to this matter, weighty letters +were sent to thy holiness by my predecessor Pelagius, of holy memory, and +in them he annulled the acts of the synod,(246) which had been assembled +among you in the case of our former brother and fellow priest, Gregory, +because of that execrable title of pride, and forbade the archdeacon whom +he sent according to custom to the feet of our Lord(247) to celebrate the +solemnities of the mass with thee. But after his death, when I, an +unworthy man, succeeded to the government of the Church, I took care, +formerly through thy representatives, and now through our common son and +deacon, Sabianus, to address thy fraternity, not indeed in writing, but by +word of mouth, desiring thee to refrain thyself from such presumption; and +in case thou wouldest not amend I forbade his celebrating the solemnities +of the mass with thee; that so I might appeal to thy holiness through a +certain sense of shame, and then, if the execrable and profane assumption +could not be corrected through shame, I might resort to canonical and +prescribed measures. And because sores that are to be cut away should +first be stroked with a gentle hand, I beg of thee, I beseech thee, and, +as kindly as I can, I demand of thee that thy fraternity rebuke all who +flatter thee and offer thee this name of error, and not consent to be +called by a foolish and proud title. For truly I say it weeping, and out +of deepest sorrow of heart attribute it to my sins, that this my brother, +who has been placed in the episcopal order, that he might bring back the +souls of others to humility, has, up to the present time, been incapable +of being brought back to humility; that he who teaches truth to others has +not consented to teach himself, even when I implore him. + +Consider, I pray thee, that by this rash presumption the peace of the +whole Church is disturbed, and that it is in contradiction to the grace +poured out on all in common; in which grace thou thyself wilt be able to +grow so far as thou thyself wilt determine to do so. And thou wilt become +by so much the greater as thou restrainest thyself from the usurpation of +proud and foolish titles; and thou wilt advance in proportion as thou art +not bent on arrogation by the humiliation of thy brethren.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Certainly +Peter, the first of the Apostles, was a member of the holy and universal +Church; Paul, Andrew, John--what are they but the heads of particular +communities? And yet all are members under one Head. And to bind all +together in a short phrase, the saints before the Law, the saints under +the Law, the saints under grace, all these making up the Lord's body were +constituted as members of the Church, and not one of them has ever wished +himself to be called "universal."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Is it not the fact, as your fraternity knows, that the prelates of this +Apostolic See, which by the providence of God I serve, had the honor +offered them by the venerable Council of Chalcedon of being called +"universal"?(248) But yet not one of them has ever wished to be called by +such a title, or seized upon this rash name, lest, if in virtue of the +rank of the pontificate, he took to himself the glory of singularity, he +might seem to have denied it to all his brethren. + + +(_c_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Phocam_, Reg. XIII, 31. (MSL, 77:1281.) + + + Epistle to Phocas congratulating him on his accession. + + + Phocas (602-610) was a low-born, ignorant centurion whom chance + had placed at the head of a successful rebellion originating in + the army of the Danube. The rebellion was successful, and the + Emperor Maurice was murdered, together with his sons. Maurice had + been unsuccessful in war, unpopular with the army, and his + financial measures had been oppressive. Phocas was utterly + incompetent as a ruler, licentious and sanguinary as a man. His + reign was a period of horror and blood. + + +Gregory to Phocas. Glory to God in the highest, who, according as it is +written, changes times, and transfers kingdoms, because He has made +apparent to all what He has vouchsafed to speak by His prophet, that the +most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He +will [Dan. 4:17]. For in the incomprehensible dispensation of Almighty God +there is an alternating control of human life, and sometimes, when the +sins of many are to be smitten, one is raised up through whose hardness +the necks of subjects may be bowed down under the yoke of tribulation, as +in our affliction we have long had proof. But sometimes, when the merciful +God has decreed to refresh with His consolation the mourning hearts of +many, He advances one to the summit of government, and through the bowels +of His mercy infuses in the minds of all the grace of exultation in Him. +In which abundance of exultation we believe that we, who rejoice that the +benignity of your piety has arrived at imperial supremacy, shall speedily +be confirmed. "Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad" [Psalm +96:11], and let the whole people of the republic, hitherto afflicted +exceedingly, grow cheerful for your benignant deeds. Let the proud minds +of enemies be subdued to the yoke of your domination. Let the sad and +depressed spirit of subjects be relieved by your mercy. Let the power of +heavenly grace make you terrible to your enemies; let piety make you kind +to your subjects. Let the whole republic have rest in your most happy +times, since the pillage of peace under the color of legal processes has +been exposed. Let plottings about testaments cease, and benevolences +extorted by violence end. Let secure possession of their own goods return +to all, that they may rejoice in possessing without fear what they have +acquired without fraud. Let every single person's liberty be now at length +restored to each one under the yoke of the holy Empire. For there is this +difference between the kings of the nations and the emperors of the +republic: the kings of the nations are lords of slaves, but the emperors +lords of free men. But we shall better speak of these things by praying +than by putting you in mind of them. May Almighty God keep the heart of +your piety in the hand of His grace in every thought and deed. Whatsoever +things should be done justly, whatever things with clemency, may the Holy +Ghost, who dwells in your breast direct, that your clemency may both be +exalted in a temporal kingdom and after the course of many years attain to +heavenly kingdoms. Given in the month June, indiction six. + + +3. Gregory and the Schism in North Italy. + + + Among the results of the Fifth General Council of Constantinople, + 553, was a wide-spread schism in the northern part of Italy and + adjacent lands. The bishops of the western part of Lombardy, under + the lead of the bishop of Milan, together with the bishops of + Venetia, Istria, and a portion of Illyricum, Rhaetia Secunda, and + Noricum, under the bishop of Aquileia, renounced communion with + the see of Rome, and became autocephalic. Even bishops in Tuscany + abandoned communion with the see of Rome because the council and + Vigilius had condemned Theodore, Theodoret, and Ibas (_v. supra_, + § 93). Justin II attempted to heal the schism, and his verbose + edict may be found in Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 4. A serious + problem was presented to the Roman see. In dealing with them, + however, it was possible to treat each group separately. On + account of the Lombard invasion the bishop of Aquileia removed his + see to Grado. Gregory the Great had some success in drawing the + schismatics into more friendly relations. But not till 612 was the + see of Aquileia-Grado in communion with Rome. A rival bishop was + elected, who removed his see to old Aquileia. See extract from + Paulus Diaconus (_f_). And the opposition was maintained until + about 700. The Milanese portion of the schism had long since + ended. Of Gregory's epistles several bearing on the schism are + available in PNF, ser. II, vols. XII and XIII: Reg. I, 16; II, 46, + 51; IV, 2, 38, 39; V, 51; IX, 9, 10; XIII, 33. + + +(_d_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Constantium_, Reg. IV, 2. (MSL, 77:669.) + + +Gregory to Constantius, Bishop of Milan. My beloved son, the deacon +Boniface, has given me information from a private letter of thy +fraternity: namely, that three bishops, having sought out rather than +having found an occasion, have separated themselves from the pious +communion of thy fraternity, saying that thou hast assented to the +condemnation of the three chapters and hast given a solemn pledge. And, +indeed, whether there has been any mention made of the three chapters in +any word or writing whatever, thy fraternity remembers well; although thy +fraternity's predecessor, Laurentius (_circa_ 573), did send a most strict +security to the Apostolic See, and to it a legal number of the most noble +men subscribed; among whom, I also, at that time holding the praetorship of +the city, likewise subscribed; because, when such a schism had taken place +about nothing, it was right that the Apostolic See should be careful to +guard in all respects the unity of the universal Church in the minds of +priests. But as to its being said that our daughter, Queen +Theodelinda,(249) after hearing this news has withdrawn herself from thy +communion, it is perfectly evident that though she has been seduced to +some little extent by the words of wicked men, yet when Hippolytus the +notary and John the abbot arrive, she will seek in all ways the communion +of the fraternity. + + +(_e_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Constantium_, Reg. IV, 39. (MSL, 77:713.) + + + In reply to a letter from Constantius of Milan informing Gregory + that the demand had been made upon him by the clergy of Brescia + that he should take an oath that he, Constantius, had not + condemned the Three Chapters, _i.e._, had not accepted the Fifth + General Council, Gregory advises him to take no such oath. + + +But lest those who have thus written to you should be offended, send them +a letter declaring under an imposition of an anathema that you neither +take away anything from the faith of the synod of Chalcedon nor receive +those who do, and that you condemn whatsoever it condemned and absolve +whatsoever it absolved. And thus I believe that they may soon be +satisfied.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} As to what you have written to the effect that you are +unwilling to transmit my letter to Queen Theodelinda on the ground that +the fifth synod is named in it, for you believed that she might be +offended, you did right not to transmit it. We are therefore doing now as +you recommended, namely, only expressing approval of the four synods. Yet +as to the synod which was afterward called at Constantinople, which is +called by many the fifth, I would have you know that it neither ordained +nor held anything in opposition to the four most holy synods, seeing that +nothing was done in it with respect to the faith, but only with respect to +three persons, about whom nothing is contained in the acts of the Council +of Chalcedon;(250) but after the canons had been promulgated, discussion +arose, and final action was ventilated concerning persons. + + +(_f_) Paulus Diaconus, _Historia Langobardorum_, IV, 32, 33, 36. (MSL, +95:657.) + + + The continuation of the schism in Istria and the rise of the two + patriarchates of Aquileia. The Emperor Phocas and the title "Head + of All the Churches." + + +32. In the following month of November [A. D. 605] King Agilulf concluded +peace with the Patrician Smaragdus for a year, and received from the +Romans twelve thousand solidi. Also the Tuscan cities Balneus Regis +[Bagnarea] and Urbs Vetus [Orvieto] were conquered by the Lombards. Then +appeared in the heavens in the months of April and May a star which is +called a comet. Thereupon King Agilulf again made a peace with the Romans +for three years. + +33. In the same days after the death of the patriarch Severus, the abbot +John was made patriarch of old Aquileia in his place with the approval of +the king and Duke Gisulf. Also in Grados [Grado] the Roman(251) +Candidianus was appointed bishop. In the months of November and December a +comet was again visible. After the death of Candidianus, Epiphanius, who +had formerly been the papal chief notary, was elected patriarch by the +bishops who stood under the Romans; and since this time there were two +patriarchs. + +36. Phocas, as also has been related above, after the murder of Maurice +and his sons, obtained the Roman Empire and ruled for eight years. At the +request of Pope Boniface(252) he decreed that the seat of the Roman and +Apostolic Church should be the head of all churches [_caput omnium +ecclesiarum_], because the Church of Constantinople in a proclamation had +named itself first of all. At the request of another Pope Boniface,(253) +he commanded that the idolatrous rubbish should be removed from the old +temple which bore the name of the Pantheon, and from it a church should be +made to the holy Virgin Mary and all martyrs, so that where formerly the +service not of all gods but of all idols was celebrated, now only the +memory of all saints should be found. + + +4. Gregory the Great and the Lombards. + + + The Lombards entered Italy 568, and gradually spread over nearly + all the peninsula. The territories retained by the Emperor from + the conquests of Justinian were only the Exarchate of Ravenna, the + Ducatus Romanus, and the Ducatus Neapolitanus, the extreme + southern parts of the peninsula and Liguria. The Lombards were the + last Germanic tribe to settle within the Empire, and like so many + others they were Arians. Theodelinda, the queen of the Lombards, + was a Bavarian princess and a Catholic. Her second husband, + Agilulf, seems to have been favorably disposed to Catholicism, far + more so than Authari, her first husband. + + +(_g_) Paulus Diaconus, _Historia Langobardorum_, IV, 5-9. (MSL, 95:540.) + + + Paulus Warnefridi, known as Paulus Diaconus (circa 720-circa 800), + was himself a Lombard, and in writing his _History of the + Lombards_ shows himself the patriot as well as the loyal son of + the Roman Church. To do this was at times difficult. The work is + one of the most attractive histories written in the Middle Ages. + For nearly all of his history, Paulus is dependent upon older + sources, but he restates the older accounts in clear and careful + fashion. The connection between the various extracts is not always + felicitous, yet he has succeeded in producing one of the great + books of history. For an analysis of the sources, see F. H. B. + Daniell, art. "Paulus (70) Diaconus" in DCB. The best edition is + that by Bethmann and Waitz in the MGH, _Scriptores rerum + Langobardorum et Italicarum saec._ VI-IX, also in the 8vo edition. + There is an English translation of the entire work in the + _Translations and Reprints of the Historical Department of the + University of Pennsylvania_. + + +5. At that time the learned and pious Pope Gregory, after he had already +written much for the benefit of the holy Church, wrote also four books +concerning the lives of the saints; these books he called _Dialogus_, that +is, conversation, because in them he has introduced himself speaking with +his deacon Peter. The Pope sent these books to Queen Theodelinda, whom he +knew to be true in the faith in Christ and abounding in good works. + +6. Through this queen the Church of God obtained many and great +advantages. For the Lombards, when they were still held by heathen +unbelief, had taken possession of the entire property of the Church. But, +induced by successful requests of the queen, the king, holding fast to the +Catholic faith,(254) gave the Church of Christ many possessions and +assigned to the bishops, who had theretofore been oppressed and despised, +their ancient place of honor once more. + +7. In these days Tassilo was made king of Bavaria by the Frankish king +Childebert. With an army he immediately marched into the land of the +Slavs, and with great booty returned to his own land. + +9. At the same time the patrician and exarch of Ravenna, Romanus,(255) +went to Rome. On his return to Ravenna he took possession of the cities +which had been taken by the Lombards. The names of them are: Sutrium +[Sutri], Polimarcium [near Bomarzio and west of Orte], Horta [Orte], Tuder +[Todi], Ameria [Amelia], Perusia [Perugia], Luceoli [near Gubbio], and +several others. When King Agilulf received word of this, he at once +marched forth from Ticinus with a strong army and pitched before the city +of Perusia. Here he besieged several days the Lombard duke Marisio, who +had gone over to the side of the Romans, took him prisoner, and without +delay had him executed. On the approach of the king, the holy Pope Gregory +was so filled with fear that, as he himself reports in his homilies, he +broke off the explanation of the temple, to be read about in Ezekiel; King +Agilulf returned to Ticinus after he had settled the matter, and not long +after, chiefly on account of the entreaties of his wife, Queen +Theodelinda, who had often been advised in letters by the holy Father +Gregory to do so, he concluded with Gregory and the Romans a lasting +peace. To thank her for this, the venerable priest sent the following +letter to the queen: + +Gregory to Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards. How your excellency has +labored earnestly and kindly, as is your wont, for the conclusion of +peace, we have learned from the report of our son, the abbot Probus. Nor, +indeed, was it otherwise to be expected of your Christianity than that you +would in all ways show assiduity and goodness in the cause of peace. +Wherefore, we give thanks to Almighty God, who so rules your heart with +His lovingkindness that, as He has given you a right faith, so He also +grants you to work always what is pleasing in His sight. For you may be +assured, most excellent daughter, that for the saving of much bloodshed on +both sides you have acquired no small reward. On this account, returning +thanks for your good-will, we implore the mercy of God to repay you with +good in body and soul here and in the world to come. Moreover, greeting +you with fatherly affection, we exhort you so to deal with your most +excellent consort that he may not reject the alliance of the Christian +republic. For, as I believe you yourself know, it is in many ways +profitable that he should be inclined to betake himself to its friendship. +Do you then, after your manner, always strive for what tends to good-will +and conciliation between the parties, and labor wherever an occasion of +reaping a reward presents itself, that you may commend your good deeds the +more before the eyes of Almighty God. + + +§ 100. The Foundation of the Anglo-Saxon Church + + +The Anglo-Saxon Church owes its foundation to the missionary zeal and wise +direction of Gregory the Great. Augustine, whom Gregory sent, arrived in +the kingdom of Kent 597, and established himself at Canterbury. In 625, +Paulinus began his work at York, and Christianity was accepted by the +Northumbrian king and many nobles. On the death of King Eadwine, Paulinus +was obliged to leave the kingdom. Missionaries were brought into +Northumbria in 635 from the Celtic Church, the centre of which was at +Iona, where the new king Oswald had taken refuge on the death of Eadwine. +Aidan now became the leader of the Northern Church. As the +Christianization of the land advanced and Roman customs were introduced +into the northern kingdom, practical inconveniences as to the different +methods of reckoning the date of Easter, in which the North Irish and the +Celts of Scotland differed from the rest of the Christian Church, came to +a settlement of the difficulty at Streaneshalch, or Whitby, 664. Colman, +Bishop of Lindisfarne, the leader of the Celtic party, withdrew, and +Wilfrid, afterward bishop of York, took the lead under the influence of +the Roman tradition. The Church of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, now in +agreement as to custom, was organized by Theodore of Canterbury (668-690), +and developed a remarkable intellectual life, becoming, in fact, for the +first part at least of the eighth century, the centre of Western +theological and literary culture. + + + Additional source material: Bede, _Ecclesiastical History of the + English People_, for editions, _v. supra_, § 96. This is the best + account extant of the conversion of a nation to Christianity. H. + Gee and W. J. Hardy, _Documents Illustrative of English Church + History_, London, 1896; A. W. Haddan and W. Stubbs, _Councils and + Ecclesiastical Documents_, 1869 _ff._ + + +(_a_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, I, 29. (MSL, 95:69.) + + + The scheme of Gregory the Great for the organization of the + English Church A. D. 601. + + + Gregory, in planning his mission, seems not to have been aware of + the profound changes in the kingdom resulting from the Anglo-Saxon + invasion. He selected York as the seat of an archbishop, because + it was the ancient capital of the Roman province in the North, and + London, because it was the great city of the South. The rivalry of + the two archbishops caused difficulties for centuries, and was a + hinderance to the efficiency of the ecclesiastical system. By this + letter, the British bishops were to be under the authority of + Augustine, a position which was distasteful to the British, who + were extremely hostile to the Anglo-Saxons, and incomprehensible + to them, as they saw no reason or justification in any such + arrangement without their consent. They withdrew from all + intercourse with the new Anglo-Saxon Church and retired into + Wales. + + +To the most reverend and holy brother and fellow bishop, Augustine, +Gregory, servant of the servants of God. + +Although it is certain that the unspeakable rewards of the eternal kingdom +are laid up for those who labor for Almighty God, yet it is necessary for +us to render to them the benefits of honors, that from this recompense +they may be able to labor more abundantly in the zeal for spiritual work. +And because the new Church of the English has been brought by thee to the +grace of Almighty God, by the bounty of the same Lord and by your toil, we +grant you the use of the pallium, in the same to perform only the +solemnities of the mass, in order that in the various places you ordain +twelve bishops who shall be under your authority, so that the bishop of +the city of London ought always thereafter to be consecrated by his own +synod and receive the pallium of honor from the holy Apostolic See, which +by God's authority I serve.(256) Moreover, we will that you send to York a +bishop whom you shall see fit to ordain, yet so that if the same city +shall have received the word of God along with the neighboring places, he +shall ordain twelve other bishops, and enjoy the honor of metropolitan, +because if our life last, we intend, with the Lord's favor, to give him +the pallium also. And we will that he be subject to your authority, my +brother. But after your decease he shall preside over the bishops he has +ordained, so that he shall not be subject in anywise to the bishop of +London. Moreover, let there be a distinction of honor between the bishops +of the city of London and of York, in such a way that he shall take the +precedence who has been ordained first. But let them arrange in concord by +common counsel and harmonious action the things which need to be done for +the zeal for Christ; let them determine rightly and let them accomplish +what they have decided upon without any mutual misunderstandings. + +But you, my brother, shall have subject to you not only the bishops whom +you have ordained and those ordained by the bishop of York, but also, by +the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, the priests [_i.e._, the bishops] +of Britain; so that from the lips of your holiness they may receive the +form both of correct faith and of holy life, and fulfilling the duties of +their office in faith and morals may, when the Lord wills, attain to the +kingdom of heaven. May God keep you safe, most reverend brother. Dated the +22d June in the nineteenth year of the reign of Mauritius Tiberius, the +most pious Augustus, in the eighteenth year of the consulship of the same +Lord, indiction four. + + +(_b_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, III, 25 _f._ (MSL, 95:158.) + + + The Easter dispute and the synod of Whitby. The triumph of the + Roman tradition. + + + The sharpest dispute between the Celtic and the Roman churches was + on the date of Easter as presenting the most inconveniences. The + principal points were as follows: Both parties agreed that it must + be on Sunday, in the third week of the first lunar month, and the + paschal full moon must not fall before the vernal equinox. But the + Celts placed the vernal equinox on March 25, and the Romans on + March 21. The Celts, furthermore, reckoned as the third week the + 14th to the 20th days of the moon inclusive; the Romans the 15th + to the 21st inclusive. The Irish Church in the southern part of + Ireland had already adopted the Roman reckoning at the synod of + Leighlin, 630-633 [Hefele, § 289]. The occasion of the difference + of custom was, in reality, that the Romans had adopted in the + previous century a more correct method of reckoning and one that + had fewer practical inconveniences. For a statement by a Celt, see + Epistle of Columbanus to Gregory the Great, in the latter's + _Epistolae_, Reg. IX, Ep. 127 (PNF, ser. II, vol. XIII, p. 38). In + the following selection space has been saved by omissions which + are, however, indicated. + + +At this time [_circa_ 652] a great and frequent controversy happened about +the observance of Easter; those that came from Kent or France asserting +that the Scots kept Easter Sunday contrary to the custom of the universal +Church. Among them was a most zealous defender of the true Easter, whose +name was Ronan, a Scot by nation, but instructed in ecclesiastical truth, +either in France or Italy, who disputed with Finan,(257) and convinced +many, or at least induced them, to make a stricter inquiry after the +truth; yet he could not prevail upon Finan {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} James, formerly the deacon of +the venerable archbishop Paulinus {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} kept the true and Catholic Easter, +with all those that he could persuade to adopt the right way. Queen +Eanfleda [wife of Oswy, king of Northumbria] and her attendants also +observed the same as she had seen practised in Kent, having with her a +Kentish priest that followed the Catholic mode, whose name was Romanus. +Thus it is said to have happened in those times that Easter was kept twice +in one year;(258) and that when the king, having ended the time of +fasting, kept his Easter, the queen and her attendants were still fasting +and celebrating Palm Sunday.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +After the death of Finan [662] {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} when Colman, who was also sent out of +Scotland, came to be bishop, a great controversy arose about the +observance of Easter, and the rules of ecclesiastical life.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} This reached +the ears of King Oswy and his son Alfrid; for Oswy, having been instructed +and baptized by the Scots, and being very perfectly skilled in their +language, thought nothing better than what they taught. But Alfrid, having +been instructed in Christianity by Wilfrid, a most learned man, who had +first gone to Rome to learn the ecclesiastical doctrine, and spent much +time at Lyons with Dalfinus, archbishop of France, from whom he had +received the ecclesiastical tonsure, rightly thought this man's doctrine +ought to be preferred to all the traditions of the Scots.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +The controversy having been started concerning Easter, the tonsure, and +other ecclesiastical matters, it was agreed that a synod should be held in +the monastery of Streaneshalch, which signifies the bay of the lighthouse, +where the Abbess Hilda, a woman devoted to God, presided; and that there +the controversy should be decided. The kings, both father and son, came +hither. Bishop Colman, with his Scottish clerks, and Agilbert,(259) and +the priests Agatho and Wilfrid. James and Romanus were on their side. But +the Abbess Hilda and her associates were for the Scots, as was also the +venerable bishop Cedd, long before ordained by the Scots.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Then Colman +said: "The Easter which I keep, I received from my elders who sent me +hither as bishop; all our fathers, men beloved of God, are known to have +kept it in the same manner; and that the same may not seem to any to be +contemptible or worthy of being rejected, it is the same which St. John +the Evangelist, the disciple especially beloved of our Lord, with all the +churches over which he presided, is recorded as having observed.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~}" + +Wilfrid, having been ordered by the king to speak, said: "The Easter which +we observe we saw celebrated by all at Rome, where the blessed Apostles, +Peter and Paul, lived, taught, suffered, and were buried; we saw the same +done in Italy and France, when we travelled through those countries for +pilgrimage and prayer. We found the same practised in Africa, Asia, Egypt, +Greece, and in all the world, wherever the Church of Christ is spread +abroad, through several nations and tongues, at one and the same time {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +except only those and their accomplices in obstinacy, I mean the Picts and +the Britons, who foolishly, in these two remote islands of the world, and +only in part of them, oppose all the rest of the universe.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} John, pursuant +to the custom of the law, began the celebration of the feast of Easter on +the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, not regarding whether the +same happened on a Saturday or any other day.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Thus it appears that you, +Colman, neither follow the example of John, as you imagine, nor that of +Peter, whose traditions you knowingly contradict.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} For John, keeping the +paschal time according to the decree of the Mosaic law, had no regard to +the first day after the Sabbath [_i.e._, that it should fall on Sunday], +and you who celebrate Easter only on the first day after the Sabbath do +not practise this. Peter kept Easter Sunday between the fifteenth and the +twenty-first day of the moon, and you do not do this, but keep Easter +Sunday from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moon, so that you +often begin Easter on the thirteenth moon in the evening {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} besides this in +your celebration of Easter, you utterly exclude the twenty-first day of +the moon, which the law ordered to be especially observed." + +To this Colman rejoined: "Did Anatolius, a holy man, and much commended in +ecclesiastical history, act contrary to the Law and the Gospel when he +wrote that Easter was to be celebrated from the fourteenth to the +twentieth? Is it to be believed that our most reverend Father Columba and +his successors, men beloved of God, who kept Easter after the same manner, +thought or acted contrary to the divine writings? Whereas there were many +among them whose sanctity was attested by heavenly signs and the workings +of miracles, whose life, customs, discipline I never cease to follow, not +questioning that they are saints in heaven." + +Wilfrid said: "It is evident that Anatolius was a most holy and learned +and commendable man; but what have you to do with him, since you do not +observe his decrees? For he, following the rule of truth in his Easter, +appointed a cycle of nineteen years, which you are either ignorant of, or +if you know yet despise, though it is kept by the whole Church of Christ.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +Concerning your Father Columba and his followers {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} I do not deny that they +were God's servants, and beloved by Him, who, with rustic simplicity but +pious intentions, have themselves loved Him.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But as for you and your +companions, you certainly sin, if, having heard the decrees of the +Apostolic See, or rather of the universal Church, and the same confirmed +by Holy Scripture, you refuse to follow them. For though your Fathers were +holy, do you think that their small number in a corner of the remotest +island is to be preferred before the universal Church of Christ throughout +the world? And if that Columba of yours (and, I may say, ours also, if he +was Christ's servant) was a holy man and powerful in miracles, yet could +he be preferred before the most blessed prince of the Apostles, to whom +our Lord said: 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, +and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will +give the keys of the kingdom of heaven'?" + +When Wilfrid had thus spoken, the king said: "Is it true, Colman, that +these words were spoken to Peter by our Lord?" He answered: "It is true, O +king." Then he said: "Can you show any such power given to your Columba?" +Colman answered: "None." Then the king added: "Do you both agree that +these words were principally directed to Peter, and that the keys of +heaven were given to him by our Lord?" They both answered: "We do." Then +the king concluded: "And I also say unto you that he is the doorkeeper +whom I will not contradict, but will, as far as I know and am able in all +things, obey his decrees, lest, when I come to the gates of the kingdom of +heaven, there should be one to open them, he being my adversary who is +proved to have the keys." The king having said this, all present, both +small and great, gave their assent, and renounced the more imperfect +institution, and resolved to conform to that which they found to be +better.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} [ch. 26]. Colman, perceiving that his doctrine was rejected and +his sect despised, took with him such as would not comply with the +Catholic Easter and the tonsure (for there was much controversy about that +also) and went back to Scotland to consult with his people what was to be +done in this case. Cedd, forsaking the practices of the Scots, returned to +his bishopric, having submitted to the Catholic observance of Easter. This +disputation happened in the year of our Lord's incarnation, 664. + + +(_c_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 5. (MSL, 95:180.) + + + The Council of Hertford A. D. 673. The organization of the + Anglo-Saxon Church by Theodore. + + + As the important synod of Whitby marks the beginning of conformity + of the Anglo-Saxon Church under the leadership of the kingdom of + Northumbria to the customs of the Roman Church, so the synod of + Hertford brings the internal organization of the Church into + conformity with the diocesan system of the Continent and of the + East, where the principles of the general councils were at this + time most completely enforced. Theodore of Canterbury was a + learned Greek who was sent to England to be archbishop of + Canterbury by Pope Vitalian in 668. The Council of Hertford was + the first council of all the Church among the Anglo-Saxons. For + the council, see also Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils and + Ecclesiastical Documents_, III, 118-122. The text given is that of + Plummer. + + +In the name of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the perpetual +reign of the same Lord Jesus Christ and His government of His Church. It +seemed good that we should come together according to the prescription of +the venerable canons, to treat of the necessary affairs of the Church. We +are met together on this 24th day of September, the first indiction in the +place called Hertford. I, Theodore, although unworthy, appointed by the +Apostolic See bishop of the church of Canterbury, and our fellow priest +the most reverend Bisi, bishop of the East Angles, together with our +brother and fellow bishop Wilfrid, bishop of the nation of the +Northumbrians, present by his proper legates, as also our brethren and +fellow bishops, Putta, bishop of the Castle of the Kentishmen called +Rochester, Leutherius, bishop of the West Saxons, and Winfrid, bishop of +the province of the Mercians, were present. When we were assembled and had +taken our places, each according to his rank, I said: I beseech you, +beloved brethren, for the fear and love of our Redeemer, that we all labor +in common for our faith, that whatsoever has been decreed and determined +by the holy and approved Fathers may be perfectly followed by us all. I +enlarged upon these and many other things tending unto charity and the +preservation of the unity of the Church. And when I had finished my speech +I asked them singly and in order whether they consented to observe all +things which had been canonically decreed by the Fathers? To which all our +fellow priests answered: We are all well agreed readily and most +cheerfully to keep whatever the canons of the holy Fathers have +prescribed. Whereupon I immediately produced the book of canons,(260) and +pointed out ten chapters from the same book, which I had marked, because I +knew that they were especially necessary for us, and proposed that they +should be diligently observed by all, namely: + +Ch. 1. That we shall jointly observe Easter day on the Lord's day after +the fourteenth day of the moon in the first month. + +Ch. 2. That no bishop invade the diocese of another, but be content with +the government of the people committed to him. + +Ch. 3. That no bishop be allowed to trouble in any way any monasteries +consecrated to God, nor to take away by violence anything that belongs to +them. + +Ch. 4. That the monks themselves go not from place to place; that is, from +one monastery to another, without letters dismissory of their own +abbot;(261) but that they shall continue in that obedience which they +promised at the time of their conversion. + +Ch. 5. That no clerk, leaving his own bishop, go up and down at his own +pleasure, nor be received wherever he comes, without commendatory letters +from his bishop; but if he be once received and refuse to return when he +is desired so to do, both the receiver and the received shall be laid +under an excommunication. + +Ch. 6. That stranger bishops and clerks be content with the hospitality +that is freely offered them; and none of them be allowed to exercise any +sacerdotal function without permission of the bishop in whose diocese he +is known to be. + +Ch. 7. That a synod be assembled twice in the year. But, because many +occasions may hinder this, it was jointly agreed by all that once in the +year it be assembled on the first of August in the place called Clovesho. + +Ch. 8. That no bishop ambitiously put himself before another, but that +every one observe the time and order of his consecration. + +Ch. 9. The ninth chapter was discussed together: That the number of +bishops be increased as the number of the faithful grew;(262) but we did +nothing as to this point at present. + +Ch. 10. As to marriages: That none shall be allowed to any but what is a +lawful marriage. Let none commit incest. Let none relinquish his own wife +but for fornication, as the holy Gospel teaches. But if any have dismissed +a wife united to him in lawful marriage, let him not be joined to another +if he wish really to be a Christian, but remain as he is or be reconciled +to his own wife. + +After we had jointly treated on and discussed these chapters, that no +scandalous contention should arise henceforth by any of us, and that there +be no changes in the publication of them, it seemed proper that every one +should confirm by the subscription of his own hand whatever had been +determined. I dictated this our definitive sentence to be written by +Titillus, the notary. Done in the month and indiction above noted. +Whosoever, therefore, shall attempt in any way to oppose or infringe this +sentence, confirmed by our present consent, and the subscription of our +hands as agreeable to the decrees of the canons, let him know that he is +deprived of every sacerdotal function and our society. May the divine +grace preserve us safe living in the unity of the Church. + + +(_d_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 17. (MSL, 95:198.) + + + Council of Hatfield, A. D. 680. + + + At the Council of Hatfield the Anglo-Saxon Church formally + recognized the binding authority of the five general councils + already held, and rejected Monotheletism in accord with the Roman + synod A. D. 649. It seems to have been, as stated in the + introduction to the Acts of the council, a preventive measure. In + Plummer's edition of Bede this chapter is numbered 15. + + +At this time Theodore, hearing that the faith of the Church of +Constantinople had been much disturbed by the heresy of Eutyches,(263) and +being desirous that the churches of the English over which he ruled should +be free from such a stain, having collected an assembly of venerable +priests and very many doctors, diligently inquired what belief they each +held, and found unanimous agreement of all in the Catholic faith; and this +he took care to commit to a synodical letter for the instruction and +remembrance of posterity. This is the beginning of the letter: + +In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the reign of our most +pious lords, Egfrid, king of the Humbrians, in the tenth year of his +reign, on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of October [September 17] +in the eighth indiction, and Ethelred, king of the Mercians, in the sixth +year of his reign; and Adwulf, king of the Kentishmen, in the seventh year +of his reign; Theodore being president, by the grace of God, archbishop of +the island of Britain and of the city of Canterbury, and other venerable +men sitting with him, bishops of the island of Britain, with the holy +Gospels laid before them, and in the place which is called by the Saxon +name of Hatfield, we, handling the subject in concert, have made an +exposition of the right and orthodox faith, as our incarnate Lord Jesus +Christ delivered it to His disciples, who saw Him present and heard His +discourses, and as the creed of the holy Fathers has delivered it, and all +the holy and universal synods and all the chorus of approved doctors of +the Catholic Church teach. We therefore piously and orthodoxly following +them and, making our profession according to their divinely inspired +teaching, believe in unison with it, and confess according to the holy +Fathers that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are properly and +truly a consubstantial Trinity in unity, and unity in Trinity; that is, in +one God in three consubstantial subsistencies or persons of equal glory +and honor. + +And after many things of this kind that pertained to the confession of the +right faith, the holy synod also adds these things to its letter: + +We have received as holy and universal five synods of the blessed Fathers +acceptable to God; that is, of the three hundred and eighteen assembled at +Nicaea against the most impious Arius and his tenets; and of the one +hundred and fifty at Constantinople against the madness of Macedonius and +Eudoxius and their tenets; and of the two hundred in the first Council of +Ephesus against the most wicked Nestorius and his tenets; and of the six +hundred and thirty at Chalcedon against Eutyches and Nestorius and their +tenets; and again of those assembled in a fifth council at Constantinople +[A. D. 553], in the time of the younger Justinian, against Theodore and +the epistles of Theodoret and Ibas and their tenets against Cyril. + +And a little after: Also we have received the synod(264) that was held in +the city of Rome in the time of the blessed Pope Martin in the eighth +indiction, in the ninth year of the reign of the most pious +Constantine.(265) And we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ as they glorified +Him, neither adding nor subtracting anything; and we anathematize with +heart and mouth those whom they anathematized; and those whom they +received we receive, glorifying God the Father without beginning, and his +only begotten Son, begotten of the Father before the world began, and the +Holy Ghost proceeding ineffably from the Father and the Son, as those holy +Apostles, prophets, and doctors have declared whom we have mentioned +above. And we all who with Theodore have made an exposition of the +Catholic faith have subscribed hereto. + + + +Chapter III. The Foundation Of The Ecclesiastical Institutions Of The +Middle Ages + + +In the period between the conversion of the Franks and the rise of the +dynasty of Charles Martel, or the period comprising the sixth and seventh +centuries, the foundation was laid for those ecclesiastical institutions +which are peculiar to the Middle Ages, and found in the mediaeval Church +their full embodiment. In the Church the Latin element was still more or +less dominant, and society was only slowly transformed by the Germanic +elements. In the adjustment of Roman institutions to the new political +conditions in which Germanic factors were dominant, the Germanic and the +Roman elements are accordingly found in constantly varying proportions. In +the case of the diocesan and parochial organization, only very slowly +could the Church in the West attain that complete organization which had +long since been established in the East, and here Roman ideas were +profoundly modified by Germanic legal principles (§ 101). But at the same +time the Church's body of teaching and methods of moral training were made +clearly intelligible and more applicable to the new conditions of +Christian life. The teaching of Augustine was received only in part at the +Council of Orange, A. D. 529 (_v. supra_, § 85), and it was profoundly +modified by the moralistic type of theology traceable to Tertullian and +even further back (_v. supra_, § 39). It was, furthermore, completed by a +clearer and more precise statement of the doctrines of purgatory and the +sacrifice of the mass, and to the death of Christ was applied +unequivocally the doctrine of merit which had been developed in the West +in connection with the early penitential discipline, and which was seen to +throw a new light upon the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. These +conceptions served as a foundation for new discussions, and confirmed +tendencies already present in the Church (§ 102). Connected with this +theology was the penitential discipline, which, growing out of the ancient +discipline as modified by the earlier form of monastic life, especially in +Ireland, came under the influence of the Germanic legal conceptions (§ +103). In the same period monasticism was organized upon a new rule by +Benedict of Nursia (§ 104), and the need of provision for the education of +the young and for the training of the clergy was felt and, to some extent, +provided for by monastery schools and other methods of education (§ 105). + + +§ 101. Foundation of the Mediaeval Diocesan and Parochial Constitution + + +An outline of some of the legislation is here given, whereby the parish as +organized in the West was built up, and the diocese was made to consist of +a number of parishes under the bishop, who, however, did not exercise an +absolute control over the incomes and position of the priests under him. + +The selections are given in chronological order. + + +(_a_) Council of Agde, A. D. 506, _Canons_. Bruns, II, 145. + + + This is one of the most important councils of the period. Its + various canons have all been embodied in the Canon Law; for the + references to the Decretum of Gratian, in which they appear, see + Hefele, § 222. It is to be noted that it was held under Alarich, + the Arian king of the Visigoths. The preface is, therefore, given + as being significant. + + +Since this holy synod has been assembled in the name of the Lord and with +the permission of our most glorious, magnificent, and most pious king in +the city of Agde, there, with knees bent and on the ground, we have prayed +for his kingdom, his long life, for the people, that the lord who has +given us permission to assemble, may happily extend his kingdom, that he +may govern justly and protect valiantly; we have assembled in the basilica +of St. Andrew to treat of the discipline and the ordination of pontiffs +and other things of utility to the Church. + +Canon 21. If any one wishes to have an oratory in the fields outside of +the parishes, in which the gathering of the people is lawful and +appointed, we permit him to have a mass there with the proper license on +the other festivals, on account of the weariness of the family [_i.e._, in +going to the distant parish church], but on Easter, Christmas, Epiphany, +Ascension Day, Pentecost and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, or if +there are any other very high festival days observed, let them hold no +masses except in the cities and parishes. But if the clergy, without the +command or permission of the bishop, hold and perform the masses on the +festivals above mentioned in the oratories, let them be driven from the +communion. + +Canon 30. Because it is appropriate that the service of the Church be +observed in the same way by all, it is to be desired that it be done so +everywhere. After the antiphones the collects shall be said in order by +the bishops and presbyters, and the hymns of Matins and Vespers be sung +daily; and at the conclusion of the mass of Matins and Vespers,(266) after +the hymns a chapter of the Psalms shall be read, and the people who are +gathered shall, after the prayer, be dismissed with a benediction of the +bishop until Vespers. + +Canon 38. Without letters commendatory of their bishops, it is not +permitted to the clergy to travel. The same rule is to be observed in the +case of monks. If reproof of words does not correct them, we decree that +they shall be beaten with rods. It is also to be observed in the case of +monks that it is not permitted them to leave the community for solitary +cells, unless the more severe rule is remitted by their abbot to them who +have been approved in the hermit life, or on account of the necessity of +infirmity; but only then let it be done so that they remain within the +walls of the same monastery, and they are permitted to have separate cells +under the authority of the abbots. It is not permitted abbots to have +different cells or many monasteries, or except on account of the inroads +of enemies to erect dwellings within walls. + + +(_b_) I Council of Orleans, A. D. 511, _Canons_. Bruns, II, 160. + + +Canon 15. Concerning those things which in the form of lands, vineyards, +slaves, and other property the faithful have given to the parishes, the +statutes of the ancient canons are to be observed, so that all things +shall be in the control of the bishop; but of those things which are given +at the altar, a third is to be faithfully given to the bishop. + +Canon 17. All churches which in various places have been built and are +daily being built shall, according to the law of the primitive canons, be +in the control of the bishop in whose territory they are located. + + +(_c_) IV Council of Orleans, A. D. 541, _Canons_. Bruns, II, 208. + + +Canon 7. In oratories on landed estates, the lords of the property shall +not install wandering clergy against the will of the bishop to whom the +rights of that territory belong, unless, perchance, they have been +approved, and the bishop has in his discretion appointed them to serve in +that place. + +Canon 26. If any parishes are established in the houses of the mighty, and +the clergy who serve there have been admonished by the archdeacon of the +city, according to the duty of his office, and they neglect to do what +they ought to do for the Church, because under the protection of the lord +of the house, let them be corrected according to the ecclesiastical +discipline; and if by the agents of these lords, or by these lords +themselves of the place, they are prevented from doing any part of their +duty toward the Church, those who do this iniquity are to be deprived of +the sacred rites until, having made amends, they are received back into +the peace of the Church.(267) + +Canon 33. If any one has, or asks to have, on his land a diocese [_i.e._, +parish], let him first assign to it sufficient lands and clergy who may +there perform their duties, that suitable reverence be done to the sacred +places. + + +(_d_) V Council of Orleans, A. D. 549, _Canons_. Bruns, II, 208. + + + At this council no less than seven archbishops, forty-three + bishops and representatives of twenty-one other bishops were + present. It was, therefore, a general council of the Frankish + Church, although politically the Frankish territory was divided + into three kingdoms held respectively by Childebert, Chlothar, and + Theudebald. Orleans itself was in the dominion of Childebert. + _Cf._ preface to the canons of II Orleans, A. D. 533, which states + that that council was attended by five archbishops and the deputy + of a sixth, as well as by bishops from all parts of Gaul, and was + called at the command of the "Glorious kings," _i.e._, Childebert, + Chlothar, and Theudebert. + + +Canon 13. It is permitted to no one to retain, alienate, or take away +goods or property which has been lawfully given to a church, monastery, or +orphan asylums for any charity; that if any one does do so he shall, +according to the ancient canons [_cf._ Hefele, §§ 220, 222], be regarded +as a slayer of the poor, and shall be shut out from the thresholds of the +Church so long as those things are not restored which have been taken away +or retained. + + +(_e_) Council of Braga, A. D. 572, _Canons_. Bruns, II, 37. + + +Canon 5. As often as bishops are requested by any of the faithful to +consecrate churches, they shall not, as having a claim, ask any payment of +the founders; but if he wishes to give him something from a vow he has +made, let it not be despised; but if poverty or necessity prevent him, let +nothing be demanded of him. This only let each bishop remember, that he +shall not dedicate a church or basilica before he shall have received the +endowment of the basilica and its service confirmed by an instrument of +donation; for it is a not light rashness for a church to be consecrated, +as if it were a private dwelling, without lights and without the support +of those who are to serve there. + +Canon 6. In case of any one who builds a basilica, not from any faithful +devotion, but from the desire of gain, that whatsoever is there gathered +of the offerings of the people he may share half and half with the clergy, +on the ground that he has built the basilica on his own land, which in +various places is said to be done quite constantly, this therefore ought +hereafter to be observed, that no bishop consent to such an abominable +purpose, that he should dare to consecrate a basilica which is founded not +as the heritage of the saints but rather under the condition of tribute. + + +(_f_) II Council of Toledo, A. D. 589, _Canons_. Bruns, I, 217. + + +Canon 19. Many who have built churches demand that these churches, +contrary to the canons, shall be consecrated in such a way that they shall +not allow the endowment, which they have given the church, to belong to +the control of the bishop; when this has been done in the past, let this +be void, and in the future forbidden; but let all things pertain to the +power and control of the bishop according to the ancient law. + + +§ 102. Western Piety and Thought in the Period of the Conversion of the +Barbarians + + +In the century following Augustine, the dogmatic interest of the Church +was chiefly absorbed in the Christological controversies in the East. +There were, however, some discussions in the West arising from the +manifest difficulty of reconciling the doctrine of predestination, as +drawn from Augustine, with the efficacy of baptism. For the adjustment of +the teaching of Augustine to the sacramental system of the Church and to +baptism more particularly, see the Council of Orange, A. D. 529, of which +the principal conclusions are given above (§ 85). In the sixth century and +in the early part of the seventh, doctrines were clearly enunciated which +had been abundantly foreshadowed by earlier writers, but had not been +fitted into an intelligible and practical system. These were especially +the doctrine of purgatory and the sacrifice of the mass. The doctrine of +purgatory completed the penitential system of the early Church by making +it possible to expiate sin by suffering in a future existence, in the case +of those who had died without completely doing penance here. By the +sacrifice of the mass the advantages of Christ's death were constantly +applied, not merely to the sin of the world in general, but to specified +objects; the believer was brought into closest contact with the great act +of redemption, and a centre was placed around which the life of the +individual and the authority of the hierarchy could be brought into +relation. + + + Additional source material: The works of Gregory the Great, PNF. + + +(_a_) Caesarius of Arles, _Sermon_ 104. (MSL, 39:1947, 1949.) + + + Caesarius presided at the Council of Orange A. D. 529. He died in + 543. Not a few of his sermons have been mixed up with those of + Augustine, and this sermon is to be found in Appendix to the works + of Augustine in the standard editions of that Father. It should be + noted that this conception of purgatory is not wholly unlike that + of St. Augustine; see his _Enchiridion_, chs. 69, 109 (_v. supra_, + § 84); also _De Civ. Dei_, 20:25; 21:13. + + +Ch. 4. By continual prayers and frequent fasts and more generous alms, and +especially by forgiveness of those who sin against us, we diligently +redeem our sins, lest by chance when collected together against us at once +they make a great mass and overwhelm us. Whatsoever of these sins shall +not have been redeemed by us is to be purged by that fire concerning which +the Apostle said: "Because it will be revealed by fire, and if any man's +work is burned he will suffer loss" (I Cor. 3:15). If in tribulation we do +not give thanks to God, if by good works we do not redeem our sins, we +will remain so long in that fire of purification(268) until the little, +trifling sins, as hay, wood, and stubble are consumed. + +Ch. 8. All saints who serve God truly strive to give themselves to reading +and prayer, and to perseverance in good works, and building no mortal sins +and no little sins, that is, wood, hay, and stubble, upon the foundation +of Christ; but good works, that is, gold, silver, and precious stones, +will without injury go through that fire of which the Apostle spoke: +"Because it will be revealed by fire." But those who, although they do not +commit capital sins, yet are prone to commit very little sins and are +negligent in redeeming them, will attain to eternal life because they +believed in Christ, but first either in this life they are purified by +bitter tribulation, or certainly in that fire of which the Apostle speaks +they are to be tormented, that they may come to eternal life without spot +or wrinkle. But those who have committed homicide, sacrilege, adultery and +other similar sins, if there does not come to their aid suitable +penitence, will not deserve to go through that fire of purification to +life, but they will be thrown into death by eternal fire. + + +(_b_) Gregory the Great, _Dialogorum libri IV, de Vita et Miraculis Patrum +Italicorum_, IV, 56. (MPL, 77:425.) + + + The sacrifice of the mass. + + + See also the selection below on the doctrine of purgatory. + + +It should be considered that it is safer to do to men, while one is +living, the good which one hopes will be done by others after one's death. +It is more blessed to depart free than to seek liberty after chains. We +ought, with our whole mind, despise the present world, especially since we +see it already passing away. We ought to immolate to God the daily +sacrifice of our tears, the daily offerings of His flesh and blood. For +this offering peculiarly preserves the soul from eternal death, and it +renews to us in a mystery the death of the Only begotten, who, although +being risen from the dead, dieth no more, and death hath no more dominion +over Him (Rom. 6:9); yet, while in Himself He liveth immortal and +incorruptible, for us He is immolated again in this mystery of the sacred +oblation. For it is His body that is there given, His flesh that is +divided for the salvation of the people, His blood that is poured, no +longer into the hands of unbelievers, but into the mouths of the faithful. +For this let us ever estimate what this sacrifice is for us, which for our +absolution ever imitates the passion of the only begotten Son. For what +one of the faithful can have any doubt that at the very hour of the +offering [_immolatio_], at the word of the priest, the heavens are opened, +the choirs of angels are present at the mystery of Jesus Christ, the +lowest things are united to the highest, earthly things with heavenly, and +from the invisible and the visible there is made one? + + +(_c_) Gregory the Great, _Dialog._, IV, 39. (MSL, 77:393.) + + + The doctrine of purgatory. + + + Gregory hardly adds anything to Augustine more than a clearer + definition after the lines laid down by Caesarius of Arles. + + +From these sayings [John 12:35; II Cor. 6:2; Eccles. 9:10] it is evident +that as one left the earth so one will appear before the judgment. Yet +still it is to be believed that for certain slight sins there is to be +before that judgment a fire of purification, because the Truth says that, +if one utters blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, his sin will be forgiven +him neither in this world nor in the future [Matt. 12:31]. From this +saying one is given to understand that some sins can be forgiven in this +life, others in a future life. + + +(_d_) Gregory the Great, _In Evangelia_, II, 37, 8. (MSL, 76:1279.) + + + The application of the sacrifice of the mass to persons in + purgatory. + + +Not long before our time the case is told of a certain man who, having +been taken captive, was carried far away [_cf. Dialog._, IV, 57], and +because he was held a long time in chains his wife, since she had not +received him back from that captivity, believed him to be dead and every +week she had the sacrifice offered for him as already dead. And as often +as the sacrifice was offered by his spouse for the absolution of his soul, +the chains were loosed in his captivity. For having returned a long time +after, greatly astonished he told his wife that on certain days each week +his chains were loosed. His wife considered the days and hours, and then +knew that he was loosed when, as she remembered, the sacrifice was offered +for him. From that perceive, my dearest brothers, to what extent the holy +sacrifice offered by us is able to loose the bonds of the heart, if the +sacrifice offered by one for another can loose the chains of the body. + + +§ 103. The Foundation of the Mediaeval Penitential System + + +The penitential system, as it was organized in the Western Church in the +sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, was but the carrying out of +principles which had appeared elsewhere in Christendom and were involved +in the primitive method of dealing with moral delinquents by the +authorities of the Church. [See the epistles of Basil the Great to +Amphilochius (Ep. 189, 199, 217) in PNF, ser. II, vol. VIII.] Similar +problems had to be handled everywhere whenever the Church came to deal +with moral conduct, and much the same solution was found everywhere. There +is, however, no known connection between the earliest penitentials of the +Western Church, those of Ireland, and the similar books of the East. There +is no need of supposing that there was a connection. But in the case of +the works attributed to Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, +himself a Greek and probably a native of Tarsus, there is a provable +connection which is evident to any one reading his work, as he refers to +Basil and others. The characteristics of the Western penitentials are +their minute division of sins, their exact determination of penances for +each sin, and the great extent to which they were used in the practical +work of the Church. They serve as the first crude beginnings of a moral +theology of a practical character, such as would be needed by the poorly +trained parish clergy of the times in dealing with their flocks. On +account of the nature of these works, it is hardly necessary or expedient +to give more than a few brief extracts in addition to references to +sources. Much of the matter is extremely offensive to modern taste. + + +(_a_) King AEthelberht, _Laws_. Thorpe, _Ancient Laws and Institutes_ +(Rolls Series), 1 _ff._ + + + The Early Germanic Codes are full of regulations whereby for an + injury the aggrieved party, or his family in case of his death, + could be prevented from retaliating in kind upon the aggressor and + his family. This was effected by a money payment as compensation + for damages sustained, and the amount for each sort of injury was + carefully regulated by law, _i.e._, by ancient custom, which was + reduced to writing in the sixth century in some cases. The _Laws + of AEthelberht_ are written in Anglo-Saxon and are probably the + earliest in a Teutonic language. For a translation of + characteristic portions of the _Salic Law_, which should be + compared with the _Laws of AEthelberht_ to show the universality of + the same system, see Henderson, _Select Historical Documents of + the Middle Ages_, p. 176, London, 1892; also Hodgkin, _Italy and + Her Invaders_, VI, 183, for the Lombard law of Rothari, a little + later, but of the same spirit. + + +21. If any man slay another, let him make bot with a half leod-geld of 100 +shillings. + +22. If any man slay another at an open grave, let him pay 20 shillings and +pay the whole leod within 40 days. + +23. If a stranger retire from the land, let his kindred pay a half leod. + +24. If any one bind a freeman, let him make bot with 20 shillings. + +25. If any one slay a ceorl's hlaf-aeta,(269) let him make bot with 5 +shillings. + +38. If a shoulder be lamed,(270) let bot be made with 12 shillings. + +39. If the ear be struck off, let bot be made with 12 shillings. + +40. If the other ear hear not, let bot be made with 25 shillings. + +41. If an eye be struck out, let bot be made with 50 shillings. + +51. For each of the four front teeth, 6 shillings; for the tooth that +stands next to them, 4 shillings; for that which stands next to that, 3 +shillings, and then afterward 1 shilling. + + +(_b_) Vinnian, _Penitential_. Wasserschleben, _Die Bussordnungen der +abendlaendischen Kirche_, 108 _ff._ + + + This is one of the earliest of the penitentials and belongs to the + Irish Church. + + +1. If one has committed in his heart a sin of thought and immediately +repents of it, let him smite his breast and pray God for forgiveness and +perform satisfaction because he has sinned. + +2. If he has often thought of the sins and thinks of committing them, and +is then victor over the thought or is overcome by it, let him pray God and +fast day and night until the wicked thought disappears and he is sound +again. + +3. If he has thought on a sin and determines to commit it, but is +prevented in the execution, so is the sin the same, but not the +penance.(271) + +6. If a cleric has planned in his heart to smite or kill his neighbor, he +shall do penance half a year on bread and water according to the +prescribed amount, and for a whole year abstain from wine and the eating +of meat, and then may he be permitted again to approach the altar. + +7. If it is a layman, he shall do penance for a whole week; for he is a +man of this world and his guilt is lighter in this world and his +punishment in the future is less. + +8. If a cleric has smitten his brother [_i.e._, a clergyman] or his +neighbor and drawn blood {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} he shall do penance a whole year on bread and +water; he may not fill any clerical office, but must with tears pray to +God for himself. + +9. Is he a layman, he shall do penance for 40 days, and according to the +judgment of the priest or some other righteous man pay a determined sum of +money. + + +(_c_) Theodore of Tarsus, _Penitential_, I. Haddan and Stubbs, III, 73 +_ff._ + + + For Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, see W. Stubbs, + art. "Theodorus of Tarsus" in DCB. That he wrote a penitential is + not certain. But that he was regarded as the author of a + penitential is clear enough. In fact, his name is attached to + penitentials in much the same way as David's name is attached to + the whole book of Psalms. For a discussion of the various works + attributed to Theodore, see Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils and + Ecclesiastical Documents_, _loc. cit._ This is a characteristic + penitential and may be regarded as following closely the decisions + and opinions of Theodore. Much of it is unprintable in English. + + +Cap. I. _On drunkenness._ 1. If any bishop or other person ordained is +customarily given to the vice of drunkenness, let him cease from it or be +deposed. + +2. If a monk vomit from drunkenness, let him do 30 days' penance. + +3. If a presbyter or deacon do the same, let him do 40 days' penance. + +4. If any one by infirmity or because he has abstained for a long time, +and it is not his habit to drink or eat much, or for joy at Christmas or +at Easter, or for the commemoration of any of the saints, does this, and +he has not taken more than is decreed by the elders, he has done no wrong. +If the bishop should have commanded, he does no harm to him unless he +himself does likewise. + +5. If a believing layman vomits from drunkenness, let him do 15 days' +penance. + +6. He who becomes drunk against the commandment of the Lord, if he has a +vow of holiness let him do penance 7 days on bread and water, and 70 days +without fat; the laity without beer. + +7. Whoever out of malice makes another drunk, let him do penance 40 days. + +8. Whoever vomits from satiety let him do penance 3 days. + +9. If with the sacrifice of the communion, let him do penance 7 days; but +if out of infirmity, he is without guilt. + +Cap. II. _On fornication._ + +Cap. III. _On theft._ + +Cap. IV. _On the killing of men._ [This should be compared with the +secular laws.] + +1. If any one out of vengeance for a relative kill a man, let him do +penance as for homicide 7 or 10 years. If, however, he is willing to +return to relatives the money of valuation [Weregeld, according to the +secular rating], the penance will be lighter, that is by one-half the +length. + +2. He who kills a man for vengeance for his brother, let him do penance 3 +years; in another place he is said to do penance 10 years. + +3. But homicides 10 or 7 years. + +4. If a layman kills another man with thoughts of hatred, if he does not +wish to relinquish his arms, let him do penance 7 years, without flesh and +wine 3 years. + +5. If any one kills a monk or a clergyman, let him relinquish his arms and +serve God(272) or do 7 years' penance. He is in the judgment of the +bishop. But he who kills a bishop or a presbyter, the judgment concerning +him is in the king. + +6. He who by the command of his lord kills a man, let him keep away from +the church 40 days; and he who kills a man in a public war, let him do +penance 40 days. + +7. If out of wrath, 3 years; if by chance, 1 year; if by drink or any +contrivance, 4 years or more; if by strife, let him do penance 10 +years.(273) + +Cap. V. _Concerning those who are deceived by a heresy._ + +Cap. VI. _Concerning perjury._ + +Cap. VII. _Concerning many and various wrong acts and those necessary +things which are not harmful._ + +Cap. VIII. _Concerning various failings of the servants of God._ + +Cap. IX. _Concerning those who are degraded or cannot be ordained._ + +Cap. X. _Concerning those who are baptized twice, how they shall do +penance._ + +Cap. XI. _Concerning those who violate the Lord's Day and the appointed +fasts of the Church._ + +Cap. XII. _Concerning the communion of the eucharist or the sacrifice._ + +Cap. XIII. _Concerning reconciliation._ + +Cap. XIV. _Especially concerning the penance of those who marry._ + +Cap. XV. _Concerning the worship of idols._ + + +(_d_) Bede, _Penitential_, ch. XI. Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils and +Ecclesiastical Documents_, III, 32. + + + The Penitential of Bede is to be distinguished from the _Liber de + Remediis Peccatorum_ attributed to him, _cf._ Haddan and Stubbs, + _op. cit._, who print the genuine penitential. It belongs to the + period before 725. In not a few points it closely resembles that + of Theodore. The concluding passage here given is to be found in + many penitentials with but little variation. It is probably as + early as the work itself, although apparently not by Bede. It is a + method of commuting penances. In place of fasting inordinate or + impossible lengths of time, other penances could be substituted. + In later ages still other forms of commutation were introduced. + Even money payments were used as commutation of penance. + + +XI. _On Counsel to be Given._ + +We read in the penitential of doing penance on bread and water, for the +great sins one year or two or three years, and for little sins a month or +a week. Likewise in the case of some the conditions are harsh and +difficult. Therefore to him who cannot do these things we give the counsel +that psalms, prayers, and almsgiving ought to be performed some days in +penance for these; that is, that psalms are for one day when he ought to +do penance on bread and water. Therefore he should sing fifty psalms on +his knees, and if not on his knees seventy psalms inside the church or in +one place. For a week on bread and water, let him sing on his knees three +hundred psalms in order and in the church or in one place. And for one +month on bread and water, one thousand five hundred psalms kneeling, or if +not kneeling one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and afterward let him +fast every day until the sixth hour and abstain from flesh and wine; but +whatsoever other food God has given him let him eat, after he has sung the +psalms. And he who does not know psalms ought to do penance and to fast, +and every day let him give to the poor the value of a denarius, and fast +one day until the ninth hour, and the next until vespers, and after that +whatsoever he has let him eat. + + +§ 104. The New Monasticism and the Rule of Benedict of Nursia + + +In the first centuries of monasticism in the West, the greatest variety +was to be found among the constitutions of the various monastic houses and +the rules drawn up by great leaders in the ascetic movement. This variety +extended even to the nature of the vows assumed and their obligation. +Benedict of Nursia (circa 480 to circa 544), gave the rule according to +which for some centuries nearly all the monasteries of the West were +ultimately organized. The first great example of this rule in operation +was Benedict's own monastery at Monte Cassino. For a time the rule of +Benedict came into conflict with that of Columbanus in Gaul.(274) But the +powerful recommendation of Gregory the Great, who had introduced it in +Rome, and the intrinsic superiority of the rule itself made the +Benedictine system triumphant. It should be noted that the Benedictine +cloisters were for centuries independent establishments and only formed +into organized groups of monasteries in the great monastic reforms of the +tenth and following centuries. It is a question how far the Benedictine +rule was introduced into England in the early centuries of the Anglo-Saxon +Church, although it is often taken for granted that it was introduced by +Augustine. Critical edition of the Benedictine rule by Woelfflin, Leipsic, +1895; in Migne's edition there is an elaborate commentary with many +illustrative extracts and formulae, as well as traditional glosses. + + + Additional source material: An abbreviated translation of the + Benedictine rule may be found in Henderson, _Select Historical + Documents_, 1892, and in full in Thatcher and McNeal, _A Source + Book for Mediaeval History_, 1905. + + +(_a_) Benedict of Nursia, _Regula_. (MSL, 66:246.) + + +1. _Concerning the kinds of monks and their modes of living._ It is +manifest that there are four kinds of monks. The first is that of the +cenobites, that is the monastic, serving under a rule and an abbot. The +second kind is that of the anchorites, that is the hermits, those who have +learned to fight against the devil, not by the new fervor of conversion, +but by a long probation in a monastery, having been taught already by +association with many; and having been well prepared in the army of the +brethren for the solitary fight of the hermit, and secure now without the +encouragement of another, they are able, God helping them, to fight with +their own hand or arm against the vices of the flesh or of their thoughts. +But a third and very bad kind of monks are the sarabites, not tried as +gold in the furnace by a rule, experience being their teacher, but +softened after the manner of lead; keeping faith with the world by their +works, they are known by their tonsure to lie to God. Being shut up by +twos and threes alone and without a shepherd, in their own and not in the +Lord's sheepfold, they have their own desires for a law. For whatever they +think good and choose, that they deem holy; and what they do not wish, +that they consider unlawful. But the fourth kind of monk is the kind +called the _gyrovagi_, who during their whole life are guests for three or +four days at a time in the cells of different monasteries throughout the +various provinces; they are always wandering and never stationary, serving +their own pleasures and the allurements of the palate, and in every way +worse than the sarabites. Concerning the most wretched way of all, it is +better to keep silence than to speak. These things, therefore, being +omitted, let us proceed with the aid of God to treat of the best kind, the +cenobites. + +2. _What the abbot should be like._ An abbot who is worthy to preside over +a monastery ought always to remember what he is called and to carry out in +his deeds the name of a superior. For in the monastery he is believed to +be Christ's representative, since he is called by His name, the Apostle +saying: "We have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry +Abba, Father" [Rom. 8:15]. And so the abbot ought not (and oh that he may +not!) teach or decree or order anything apart from the precepts of the +Lord; but his order or teaching should be sprinkled with the leaven of +divine justice in the minds of his disciples.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} No distinctions of persons +shall be made by him in the monastery. One shall not be loved by him more +than another, unless the one whom he finds excelling in good work and +obedience. A free-born man shall not be preferred to one coming from +servitude, unless there be some reasonable cause. But when it is just and +it seems good to the abbot he shall show preference no matter what the +rank shall be. But otherwise they shall keep their own places; for, +whether we be bound or free, we are all one in Christ, and under God we +perform an equal service of subjection; for God is no respecter of persons +[Acts 10:34].{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +3. _Concerning calling the brethren to take counsel._ As often as anything +unusual is to be done in the monastery, let the abbot call together the +whole congregation and himself explain the question before them. And +having heard the advice of the brethren, he shall consider it by himself, +and let him do what he judges most advantageous. And for this reason, +moreover, we have said that all ought to be called to take counsel; +because it is often to a younger person that the Lord reveals what is +best. The brethren, moreover, ought, with all humble subjection, to give +their advice so that they do not too boldly presume to defend what seems +good to them, but it should rather depend upon the judgment of the abbot; +so that, whatever he decides upon as the more salutary, they should all +agree to it.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +4. _Concerning the instruments of good works._ + +5. _Concerning obedience._ The first grade of humility is prompt +obedience. This becomes those who, on account of the holy service which +they professed, or on account of the fear of hell or the glory of eternal +life, consider nothing dearer to them than Christ; so that as soon as +anything is commanded by their superior, they may not know how to suffer +delay in doing it, even as if it were a divine command.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +6. _Concerning silence._ 7. _Concerning humility._ 8. _Concerning the +Divine Offices at night._ 9. _How many Psalms are to be said at night._ +10. _How in summer the Nocturnal Praises shall be carried on._ 11. _How +Vigils shall be conducted on Sunday._ 12. _Concerning the order of Matins +on Sunday._ 13. _Concerning the order of Matins on week days._ 14. +_Concerning the order of Vigils on Saints' days._ 15. _Concerning the +occasions when the Alleluias shall be said._ 16. _Concerning the order of +Divine Worship during the day._ 17. _On the number of Psalms to be said at +these times._ 18. _Concerning the order in which the Psalms are to be +said._ 19. _Concerning the art of singing._ 20. _Concerning the reverence +in prayer._ 21. _Concerning __ the Deans of monasteries._ 22. _How monks +shall sleep._ 23. _Concerning excommunication for faults._ 24. _What ought +to be the measure of excommunication._ 25. _Concerning graver faults._ 26. +_Concerning those who without being ordered by the Abbot, associate with +the excommunicated._ 27. _What care the Abbot should exercise with regard +to the excommunicated._ 28. _Concerning those who, being often rebuked, do +not amend._ 29. _Whether brothers who leave the monastery ought to be +received back._ 30. _Concerning boys under age, how they should be +corrected._ 31. _Concerning the Cellarer of the monastery, what sort of +person he should be._ 32. _Concerning the utensils or property of the +monastery._ + +33. _Whether monks should have anything of their own._ More than anything +else is this special vice to be cut off root and branch from the +monastery, that one should presume to give or receive anything without +order from the abbot, or should have anything of his own; he should have +absolutely nothing, neither a book nor tablets nor a pen, nothing at +all--for indeed it is not allowed to have their own bodies or wills in +their own power. But all things necessary they must receive from the +father of the monastery; nor is it allowable to have anything which the +abbot has not given or permitted.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +34. _Whether all ought to receive necessaries equally._ 35. _Concerning +the weekly officers of the kitchen._ 36. _Concerning infirm brothers._ 37. +_Mitigation of the rule for the very old and the very young._ 38. +_Concerning the weekly reader._ + +39. _Concerning the amount of food._ We believe, moreover, that for the +daily refection of the sixth and for that of the ninth hour as well two +cooked dishes, on account of the infirmities of the different ones, are +enough in all months for all tables; so that whoever, perchance, cannot +eat of one may partake of the other. Therefore let two cooked dishes +suffice for all the brethren; and if it is possible to obtain apples or +fresh vegetables, a third may be added. One full pound of bread shall +suffice for a day, whether there be one refection or breakfast and supper. +But if they are to have supper, the third part of that same pound shall be +reserved by the cellarer to be given back to those when they are about to +sup. But if perchance some greater labor shall have been performed, it +shall be in the will and power of the abbot, if it is expedient, to +increase anything.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} But to younger boys the same quantity shall not be +served, but less than to the older ones, as moderation is to be observed +in all things. But every one shall abstain altogether from eating the +flesh of four-footed beasts except alone in the case of the weak and the +sick. + +40. _Concerning the amount of drink._ Each one has his own gift from God, +one in this way and another in that. Therefore it is with some hesitation +that the amount of daily sustenance for others is fixed by us. +Nevertheless, considering the weakness of the infirm, we believe that a +half pint of wine a day is enough for each one. Those, moreover, to whom +God has given the ability of enduring abstinence should know that they +will have their own reward. But the prior shall judge if either the needs +of the place, or labor, or heat of the summer require more; considering, +in all things, lest satiety or drunkenness creep in. Indeed, we read that +wine is not suitable for monks at all. But, because in our times it is not +possible to persuade monks of this, let us agree at least as to the fact +that we should not drink until we are sated, but sparingly. For wine can +make even the wise to go astray. Where, moreover, the limitations of the +place are such that the amount written above cannot be found, but much +less or nothing at all, those who live there shall bless God and shall not +murmur. And we admonish them as to this, above all, that they be without +murmuring. + +41. _At what hours the brethren ought to take their refection._ 42. _That +after Compline no one shall speak._ 43. _Concerning those who come late to +Divine Service or to table._ 44. _Concerning those who are excommunicated +and how they shall render satisfaction._ 45. _Concerning those who make +mistakes in the oratory._ 46. _Concerning those who err in other matters._ +47. _Concerning the announcement of the hour of Divine Service._ + +48. _Concerning the daily manual labor._ Idleness is the enemy of the +soul. Therefore at fixed times the brethren ought to be occupied in manual +labor; and again at fixed times in sacred reading. Therefore we believe +that according to this disposition both seasons ought to be so arranged +that, from Easter until the first of October, going out early from the +first until about the fourth hour, they shall labor at what might be +necessary. Moreover, from the fourth until about the sixth hour, they +shall give themselves to reading. After the sixth hour, moreover, rising +from table, they shall rest in their beds with all silence; or perchance +he that wishes to read may so read to himself that he shall not disturb +another. And nones shall be said rather early, about the middle of the +eighth hour; and again they shall work at what is necessary until vespers. +But if the exigency or the poverty of the place demands that they shall be +occupied by themselves in picking fruits, they shall not be cast down; for +then they are truly monks if they live by the labor of their hands, as did +also our Fathers and the Apostles. + +From the first of October until the beginning of Lent, they shall give +themselves unto reading until the second full hour. At the second hour +tierce shall be said, and all shall labor at the task which is enjoined +upon them until the ninth. When the first signal of the ninth hour shall +have been given they shall each leave off his work and be ready when the +second signal strikes. Moreover, after the refection they shall give +themselves to their reading or to the Psalms. + +And in the days of Lent, from dawn until the third full hour, they shall +give themselves to their reading; and until the tenth hour they shall do +the labor that is enjoined upon them. In the days of Lent they shall all +receive separate books from the library, which they shall read through +completely in order; these books shall be given out on the first day of +Lent. Above all, there shall certainly be appointed one or two elders to +go around the monastery at the hours in which the brethren are engaged in +reading and see to it that no troublesome brother is to be found who is +given to idleness and chatting and is not intent upon his reading and is +not only of no use to himself but disturbing the others. If such an one +(and may there not be such!) be found, he shall be admonished once and a +second time. If he does not amend, he shall be subject under the rule to +such punishment that others may fear. Nor shall the brethren assemble at +unsuitable hours. + +On Sundays all shall give themselves to reading except those who are +deputed to various duties. But if any one be so negligent and lazy that he +will not or cannot meditate or read, some task shall be imposed upon him +which he can perform, so that he be not idle. On feeble and delicate +brothers such a labor or art is to be imposed that they shall neither be +idle nor so oppressed by the burden of labor as to be driven to take to +flight. Their weakness is to be taken into consideration by the abbot. + +49. _The observance of Lent._ 50. _Concerning brothers who labor far from +the oratory or are on a journey._ 51. _Concerning brothers who do not +journey very far._ 52. _Concerning the oratory of the monastery._ 53. +_Concerning the reception of guests._ 54. _As to whether a monk should be +allowed to receive letters or anything._ 55. _Concerning the Vestiarius +and Calciarius._ 56. _Concerning the table of the Abbot._ 57. _Concerning +the artificers of the monastery._ + +58. _Concerning the manner of receiving brethren._ When any one newly +comes for conversion of life, an easy entrance shall not be granted him, +but as the Apostle says: "Try the spirits whether they be of God" [I John +4:1]. Therefore if one who comes perseveres in knocking, and is seen after +four or five days to endure patiently the insults heaped upon him and the +difficulty of ingress and to persist in his request, let entrance be +granted him, and let him be for a few days in the guest cell. After this +let him be in the cell of the novices, where he shall meditate and eat and +sleep. And an elder shall be appointed for him such as shall be capable of +winning souls, who shall altogether intently watch him, and be zealous to +see if he in truth seek God, if he be zealous for the work of God, for +obedience, for suffering shame. And above all the harshness and roughness +of the means through which one approaches God shall be told him in +advance. If he promise perseverance in his steadfastness after the lapse +of two months, this Rule shall be read over to him in order, and it shall +be said to him: Behold the law under which thou didst wish to serve; if +thou canst observe it, enter; but if thou canst not, depart freely. If he +shall have stood firm thus far, then he shall be led into the aforesaid +cell of the novices, and again he shall be proven with all patience. + +And after the lapse of six months, the Rule shall be reread to him, that +he may know upon what he is entering. And if he persist thus far, after +four months the same Rule shall still again be read to him. If, after +deliberating with himself, he shall promise that he will observe all +things and to obey all the commands laid upon him, then he shall be +received into the congregation, knowing that it is decreed that by the law +of the Rule he shall from that day not be allowed to depart from the +monastery, nor to shake free from his neck the yoke of the Rule, which +after such painful deliberation he was at liberty to refuse or receive. + +He who is to be received shall make in the oratory, in the presence of +all, a promise before God and His saints concerning his stability +[_stabilitas loci_] and the change in the manner of his life [_conversio +morum_] and obedience [_obedientia_],(275) so that if at any time he act +contrary he shall know that he shall be condemned by Him whom he mocks. +And concerning this, his promise, he shall make a petition addressed by +name to the saints whose relics are there, and to the abbot who is +present. And this petition he shall write out with his own hand; or, if he +be really unlearned in letters, let another at his request write it, and +to that the novice shall make his sign. With his own hand he shall place +it upon the altar. And when he has placed it there, the novice shall +immediately begin this verse: "Receive me O Lord according to Thy promise +and I shall live; and cast me not down from my hope" [Psalm 119:116, +Vulgate version]. And this verse the whole congregation shall repeat three +times adding: Glory be to the Father, etc. Then that brother novice shall +prostrate himself at the feet of each one that they may pray for him. And +already from that day he shall be considered as in the congregation. + +If he have any property, he shall first either present it to the poor or, +making a solemn donation, shall confer it on the monastery, receiving +nothing at all for himself; and he shall know for a fact that from that +day he shall have no power even over his own body. Immediately thereafter, +in the monastery, he shall take off his own garments in which he was clad, +and shall put on the garments of the monastery. Those garments, +furthermore, which he has taken off shall be placed in the vestiary to be +preserved; so that if, at any time, on the devil's persuasion, he shall +wish to go forth from the monastery (and may it never happen) then, taking +off the garments of the monastery let him be cast out. But the petition he +made and which the abbot took from upon the altar, he shall not receive +again, but it shall be preserved in the monastery. + +59. _Concerning the sons of nobles and poor men who are presented._ If by +chance any one of the nobles offers his son to God in the monastery, and +the boy himself is a minor in age, his parents shall make the petition of +which we have spoken above. And with an oblation, they shall wrap the +petition and the hand of the boy in the linen cloth of the altar; and thus +shall they offer him. Concerning their property, either they shall promise +in the present petition, under an oath, that they will never, either +indirectly or otherwise, give him anything at any time, or furnish him +with means of possessing it. Or, if they be unwilling to do this, and wish +to offer something as alms to the monastery for their salvation, they +shall make a donation of those things which they wish to give to the +monastery, retaining for themselves the usufruct if they so wish. And let +all things be so observed that no suspicion may remain with the boy; by +which, as we have learned from experience, being deceived, he might perish +(and may it not happen). The poorer ones shall do likewise. Those who have +nothing at all shall simply make their petitions; and with an oblation +they shall offer their sons before witnesses. + +60. _Concerning priests who may wish to dwell in the monastery._ 61. +_Concerning pilgrim monks, how they are to be received._ 62. _Ordination +of monks as priests._ 63. _Concerning rank in the congregation._ 64. +_Concerning the ordination of an Abbot._ 65. _Concerning the Prior of the +monastery._ 66. _Concerning the Doorkeepers of the monastery._ 67. +_Concerning brothers sent on a journey._ 68. _If impossibilities are +imposed on a brother._ 69. _That in the monastery one shall not presume to +defend another._ 70. _That no one shall presume to strike another._ 71. +_That they shall be obedient to one another._ 72. _Concerning the good +zeal which monks ought to have._ + +73. _Concerning the fact that not every just observance is decreed in this +Rule._ We have written down this Rule, that we may show those observing it +in the monasteries how to have some honesty of character or beginning of +conversion. But for those who hasten to the perfection of living, there +are the teachings of the holy Fathers; the observance of which leads a man +to the heights of perfection. For what page or what discourse of divine +authority in the Old or New Testament is not a more perfect rule of human +life? Or what book of the holy and Catholic Fathers does not trumpet forth +how by the right road we shall come to our Creator? + +Also the reading aloud of the Fathers, and their decrees and lives; also +the Rule of our holy Father Basil--what else are they except instruments of +virtue for good living and obedient monks? But to us who are idle and evil +livers and negligent there is the blush of confusion. Thou, therefore, +whoever hastens to the heavenly fatherland, perform with Christ's aid this +Rule written out as the least beginnings; and then at length, under God's +protection, thou wilt come to the greater things that we have mentioned--to +the summits of teaching and virtue. + + +(_b_) _Formulae._ + + +The following _formulae_ are given to illustrate the Rule in its working. +The first group bear upon the vow of _stabilitas loci_. The case not +infrequently arose that a brother wished to go to a monastery in which the +observance of the Rule was stricter. In case a new foundation was begun +anywhere, the first monks were almost always from another monastery. If +therefore the monk is to remove, he must obtain permission of his abbot, +and this was not regarded as a violation of the vow of _stabilitas loci_ +and obedience to his abbot. These _formulae_ were not uniform throughout +the Church, but the following are given as samples of early practice. + +1. _Letters dimissory._ (MSL, 66:859.) + +(_a_) To all bishops and all orders of the holy Church, and to all +faithful people. + +Be it known unto you that I have given license to this our brother, John +or Paul by name, that where he finds it agreeable to dwell in order to +lead the monastic life, he shall have license to dwell for the benefit of +himself and the monastery. + +(_b_) Since such a brother desires to dwell in another monastery, where, +as it seems to him, he can save his soul and serve God, know then that by +these letters dimissory, we have given him license to go to another +monastery. + +(_c_) From the _Consuetudines_ of the Monastery of St. Paul at Rome. + +I, a humble abbot. You should know, beloved, that this brother, John or +Paul by name, has asked us to give him permission to dwell with you. And, +because we know that you observe the Rule of the order, we assent to his +dwelling with you. I now commend him to you, that you may treat him as I +would, and for him you are to render an account to God as I would have had +to render. + +(_d_) Another from the same. + +To the venerable father the abbot of ( {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} ) monastery, the abbot of ( {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} ) +monastery greeting with a holy kiss. Since our monastery has been burdened +with various embarrassments and poverty, we beseech your brotherliness +that you will receive our brother to dwell in your monastery, and we +commend him by these letters of commendation and dismission to your +jurisdiction and obedience. + + + Alternate conclusion: + + +We send him from our obedience to serve the Lord under your obedience. + +2. _Offering of a child to a monastery._ (MSL, 66:842.) + + + The following forms should be compared with chapter 59 of the + Rule. Children so offered were known as _oblati_, _i.e._, offered. + These forms are from a manuscript of the ninth century. + + +(_a_) To offer children to God is sanctioned in the Old and New Testaments +as Abraham(276) {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} are related to have done. Moved by the example of these +and many others, I ( {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} ) do now, for the salvation of my soul and for the +salvation of the souls of my parents, offer in the presence of the abbot ( +{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} ) this my son ( {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} ) to Almighty God and to St. Mary His mother, +according to the Rule of the blessed Benedict in the Monastery of Mons +Major, so that from this day forth it shall not be lawful for him to +withdraw his neck from the yoke of this service; and I promise never, by +myself or by any agent, to give him in any way opportunity of leaving, and +that this writing may be confirmed I sign it with my own hand. + +(_b_) Brief form. + +I give this boy in devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ, before God and His +saints, that he may remain all the days of his life and become a monk +until his death. + +3. _Ceremony of receiving a monk into a Benedictine monastery._ (MSL, +66:829.) + +(_a_) From Peter Boherius, _Commentary on the Regula S. Benedicti_, ch. 58 +of the Rule, _v. supra_. + +When the novice makes his solemn profession, the abbot vests to say mass, +and after the offertory the abbot interrogates him saying: + +Brother (such a one): Is it your will to renounce the world and all its +pomps? + +He answers: It is. + +Abbot: Will you promise obedience according to the Rule of St. Benedict? +Answer: I will. + +Abbot: May God give you his aid. + +Then the novice, or some one at his request, reads the aforesaid +profession, and when it has been read he places it upon his head, and then +upon the altar. After this, when he has prostrated himself on his knees in +four directions in the form of a cross, he says the verse: Receive me, O +Lord, etc. And then the _Gloria Patri_, the _Kyrie Eleison_, the _Pater +Noster_ and the Litany are said, the novice remaining prostrate on the +ground before the altar, until the end of the mass. And the brothers ought +to be in the choir kneeling while the Litany is said. When the Litany has +been said, then shall follow very devoutly the special prayers as +commanded by the Fathers, and immediately after the communion and before +the prayer is said, the garments of the novice, which have been folded and +placed before the altar, shall be blessed with their proper prayers; and +they shall be anointed and sprinkled with holy water by the abbot. After +"_Ite, missa est_"(277) the novice rises from the ground, and having put +off his old garments which were not blessed he puts on those which have +been blessed, while the abbot recites: _Exuat te Dominus_, etc. + +And when the kiss has been given by the abbot, all the brothers in turn +give him the kiss of peace, and he shall keep silence for three days +continuously after this, going about with his head covered and receiving +the communion every day. + +(_b_) From Theodore of Canterbury, _ibid._, 827. + +In the ordination of monks the abbot ought to say mass, and say three +prayers over the head of the novice; and for seven days he veils his head +with his cowl, and on the seventh day the abbot takes the veil off. + +(_c_) The Vow. From another form, _ibid._ + +I promise concerning my stability and conversion of life and obedience +according to the Rule of St. Benedict before God and His saints. + + +§ 105. Foundation of Mediaeval Culture and Schools + + +Schools never wholly disappeared from Western society, either during the +barbarian invasion or in the even more troublous times that followed. +Secular schools continued throughout the fifth century. During the sixth +century they gave way for the most part to schools fostered by the Church, +or were thoroughly transformed by ecclesiastical influences. In the fifth +and sixth centuries, the great compends were made that served as +text-books for centuries. Boethius, Cassiodorus, Isidore of Seville, and +Bede represent great steps in the preparation for the mediaeval schools. +But, apart from the survival of old schools, there was a real demand for +the establishment of new schools. The new monasticism needed them. It +required some reading and study every day by the monks. As children were +constantly being received, ordinarily at the age of seven, these _oblati_ +needed instruction. The monastic schools, which thus arose, early made +provision for the instruction of those not destined for the monastic life +in the external schools of the monasteries. Then again, the need of clergy +with some literary training, however simple, was felt, especially as the +secular schools declined or were found not convenient, and conciliar +action was taken in various countries to provide for such education. In +the conversion of the English, schools seem very early to have been +established, and the encouragement given these schools by the learned +Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, bore splendid fruit, not +merely in the great school of Canterbury but still more in the monastic +schools of the North, at Jarrow and Wearmouth and at York. It was from the +schools in the North that the culture of the Frankish kingdom under +Charles the Great largely came. There was always a marked difference of +opinion as to the value of secular literature in education, as is shown by +the attitude already taken by Gregory the Great in his letter to +Desiderius of Vienne, a letter which did much to discourage the literary +study of the classics. + + +(_a_) Augustine, _De Doctrina Christiana_, II, 40 (§ 60). (MSL, 34:63). + + + The Christian's use of heathen writers. + + + The whole book should be examined carefully to see the working out + of the same idea in detail. St. Augustine was a man of literary + culture, although he was imperfectly acquainted with Greek. He + speaks from his own experience of the help he had derived from + this culture. The work _On Christian Doctrine_ is, in fact, not at + all a treatise on theology but on pedagogy, and was of immense + influence in the Middle Ages. + + +If those who are called philosophers and especially the Platonists have +said anything true and in harmony with the faith, we ought not only not to +shrink from it, but rather to appropriate it for our own use, taking it +from them as from unlawful possessors. For as the Egyptians had not only +the idols and heavy burdens, which the people of Israel hated and fled +from, but also vessels and ornaments of gold and silver and clothing which +the same people on going out of Egypt secretly appropriated to themselves +as for a better use, not on their own authority but on the command of God, +for the Egyptians in their ignorance lent those things which they +themselves were not using well [Ex. 3:22; 12:35]; in the same way all +branches of heathen learning have not only false and superstitious fancies +and heavy burdens of unnecessary toil which each of us, in going out under +the leadership of Christ from the fellowship of the heathen, ought to hate +and avoid; but they contain also liberal instruction which it is well to +adapt to the use of truth and some most useful precepts of morality; and +some truths in regard even to the worship of the one God are found among +them. Now these are, so to speak, their gold and silver, which they +themselves did not create, but dug, as it were, out of certain mines of +God's providence, which are everywhere scattered abroad, and are +perversely and unlawfully misused to the worship of devils. These, +therefore, the Christian, when he separates himself in spirit from the +miserable fellowship of these men, ought to take away from them for their +proper use in preaching the Gospel. Their clothing also, that is, human +institutions, adapted to that intercourse with men which is indispensable +for this life, it is right to take and to have so as to be turned to +Christian use. + + +(_b_) John Cassian. _Institutiones_, V, 33, 34. (MSL, 49:249.) + + + Cassian, born 360, was one of the leaders of the monastic + movement. He founded monasteries near Marseilles, and did much to + spread the monastic movement in Gaul and Spain. His + _Institutiones_ and _Collationes_ were of influence, even after + his monasteries had been entirely supplanted by the Benedictines. + The opinion here given is probably that prevalent in the + monasteries in Egypt. It is utterly different from the spirit of + Basil, and the great theologians of Asia Minor who, in the matter + of secular studies, hold the same opinion as the older Alexandrian + school of Clement and Origen. + + +Ch. 33. We also saw the abbot Theodore, a man endowed with the utmost +holiness and with perfect knowledge not only of things of the practical +life but also of the meaning of the Scriptures, which he had acquired, not +so much by study and reading, or secular scholarship, as by purity of +heart alone; since he was able only with difficulty to understand or speak +even but a few words in the Greek language. This man, when he was seeking +an explanation of some most difficult question, continued indefatigably +seven days and nights in prayer until, by a revelation of the Lord, he +knew the answer to the question propounded. + +Ch. 34. This man, therefore, when some of the brethren were wondering at +the splendid light of his knowledge, and were asking him some meanings of +Scripture, said: "A monk desiring to attain to a knowledge of the +Scriptures ought in no wise to spend his labor on the books of the +commentators, but rather to keep all the efforts of his mind and the +intentions of his heart set on purification from carnal vices. When these +are driven out, at once the eyes of the heart, when the veil of passions +has been removed, will begin, as it were, naturally to gaze on the +mysteries of Scripture, since these were not declared unto us by the grace +of the Holy Ghost to remain unknown and obscure; but they are rendered +obscure by our vices, as the veil of our sins cover the eyes of the heart, +and for these, when restored to their natural health, the mere reading of +Holy Scripture is amply sufficient for the perception of the true +knowledge; nor do they need the instruction of commentators, just as these +eyes of flesh need no man's assistance to see provided they are free from +the dimness or darkness of blindness." + + +(_c_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Desiderium_, Reg. XI, ep. 54. (MSL, +77:1171.) + + + Desiderius was bishop of Vienne. This letter was sent with several + others written in connection with the sending of Mellitus to + England; see Bede, _Hist. Ec._, I, 27, 29. + + +Many good things have been reported to us regarding your pursuits, and +such joy arose in our hearts that we could not bear to refuse what your +fraternity had requested to have granted you. But afterward it came to our +ears, what we cannot mention without shame, that thy fraternity is in the +habit of expounding grammar to certain persons. This thing pained us so +and we so strongly disapproved of it that we changed what had been said +before into groaning and sadness, since the praises of Christ cannot find +room in the one mouth with the praises of Jupiter. And consider thyself +what a grave and heinous offence it is for bishops to sing what is not +becoming even for a religious layman. And, though our most beloved son +Candidus, the presbyter, who was strictly examined on this matter when he +came to us, denied it and endeavored to excuse you, yet still the thought +has not left our mind that, in proportion as it is execrable for such a +thing to be related of a priest, it ought to be ascertained by strict and +veracious evidence whether or not it be so. If, therefore, hereafter what +has been reported to us should prove to be evidently false, and it should +be clear that you do not apply yourself to trifles and secular literature, +we shall give thanks to God, who has not permitted your heart to be +stained with the blasphemous phrases of what is abominable; and we will +treat without misgiving or hesitation concerning granting what you have +requested. + +We commend to you in all respects the monks whom, together with our most +beloved son Laurentius, the presbyter, and Mellitus, the abbot, we have +sent to our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Augustine, that by the +help of your fraternity no delay may hinder their journey. + + +(_d_) Council of Vaison, A. D. 529, _Canon_ 1. Bruns, II, 183. + + + Vaison is a small see in the province of Arles. The synod was + attended by about a dozen bishops. It is, therefore, not + authoritative for a large district, but when taken in connection + with the following selection indicates a wide-spread custom. + + +That presbyters in their parishes shall bring up and instruct young +readers in their houses. It was decided that all presbyters who are placed +in parishes should, according to a custom which we learn is very +beneficially observed throughout Italy, receive young readers, as many as +they have who are unmarried, into their house where they dwell, and as +good fathers shall endeavor to bring them up spiritually to render the +Psalms, and to instruct them in the divine readings, and to educate them +in the law of the Lord, that so they may provide for themselves worthy +successors, and receive from the Lord eternal rewards. But when they come +to full age, if any of them, on account of the weakness of the flesh, wish +to marry, they shall not be denied the right of doing so. + + +(_e_) II Council of Toledo, A. D. 531, _Canon_ 1. Bruns, I, 207. + + +Concerning those whom their parents voluntarily give in the first years of +their childhood to the office of the clergy, we have decreed this to be +observed; namely, that as soon as they have been tonsured or have been +given to the care of appointed persons, they ought to be educated by some +one set over them, in the church building, and in the presence of the +bishop. When they have completed their eighteenth year, they shall be +asked by the bishop, in the presence of all the clergy and people, their +will as to seeking marriage. And if by God's inspiration they have the +grace of chastity, and shall have promised to observe the profession of +their chastity without any necessity of marriage, let these who are more +desirous of the hardest life put on the most gentle yoke of the Lord, and +first let them receive from their twentieth year the ministry of the +subdiaconate, probation having been made of their profession, that, if +blamelessly and without offence they attain the twenty-fifth year of their +age, they may be promoted to the office of the diaconate, if they have +been proved by their bishop to be able to fulfil it.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + + +(_f_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, III, 18. (MSL, 95:144.) + + + Sigebert became king of the East Angles about 631 and died 637. + The facts known of him are briefly recorded in DCB. + + +At this time the kingdom of the East Angles, after the death of Earpwald, +the successor of Redwald, was subject to his brother Sigebert, a good and +religious man, who long before had been baptized in France, whilst he +lived in banishment, flying from the enmity of Redwald; when he returned +home and had ascended the throne he was desirous of imitating the good +institutions which he had seen in France, and he set up a school for the +young to be instructed in letters, and was assisted therein by Bishop +Felix, who had come to him from Kent and who furnished him with masters +and teachers after the manner of that country. + + +(_g_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 2. (MSL, 95:173.) + + +Theodore arrived at his church the second year after his consecration, on +Sunday, May 27, and held the same twenty-one years, three months and +twenty-six days. Soon after he visited all the islands, wherever the +tribes of the Angles dwelt, for he was willingly entertained and heard by +all persons. Everywhere he was attended and assisted by Hadrian, and he +taught the right rule of life and the canonical custom of celebrating +Easter.(278) This was the first archbishop whom all the English Church +obeyed. And forasmuch as both of them were, as has been said, well read in +sacred and secular literature, they gathered a crowd of scholars and there +daily flowed from them rivers of knowledge to water the hearts of their +hearers; and together with the books of the holy Scriptures they also +taught them the arts of ecclesiastical poetry, astronomy, and arithmetic. +A testimony of which is that there are still living at this day [_circa_ +A. D. 727] some of their scholars who are as well versed in the Greek and +Latin tongues as in their own, in which they were born. Never were there +happier times since the English came to Britain; for their kings were +brave men and good Christians and were a terror to all barbarous nations, +and the minds of all men were bent upon the joys of the heavenly kingdom +of which they had just heard. And all who desired instruction in sacred +reading had masters at hand to teach them. From that time also they began +in all the churches of the English to learn sacred music which till then +had been only known in Kent. And excepting James, mentioned above, the +first singing-master(279) in the churches of the Northumbrians was Eddi, +surnamed Stephen, invited from Kent by the most reverend Wilfrid, who was +the first of the bishops of the English nation that taught the churches of +the English the Catholic mode of life. + + +(_h_) Council of Clovesho, A. D. 747, _Canon_ 7. Haddan and Stubbs, III, +360. + + +They decreed in the seventh article of agreement that bishops, abbots, and +abbesses should by all means take care and diligently provide that their +families should incessantly apply their minds to reading, and that +knowledge be spread by the voices of many to the gaining of souls and to +the praise of the eternal King. For it is sad to say how few(280) in these +times do heartily love and labor for sacred knowledge and are willing to +take pains in learning, but they are from their youth up rather employed +in divers vanities and the affectation of vainglory; and they rather +pursue the amusements of this present unstable life than the assiduous +study of holy Scriptures. Therefore let boys be kept and trained up in +such schools, to the love of sacred knowledge, and that, being by this +means well learned, they may become in all respects useful to the Church +of God. + + + +Chapter IV. The Revolution In The Ecclesiastical And Political Situation +Due To The Rise Of Islam And The Doctrinal Disputes In The Eastern Church + + +In the course of the seventh and eighth centuries, the ecclesiastical and +political situation altered completely. This change was due, in the first +place, to the rise of the religion and empire of the Moslems, whereby a +very large part of the Eastern Empire was conquered by the followers of +the Prophet, who had rapidly extended their conquests over Syria and the +best African provinces. Reduced in extent and exposed to ever fresh +attacks from a powerful enemy, the Eastern Empire had to face new +political problems. In the second place, as the provinces overrun +contained the greater number of those dissatisfied with the doctrinal +results of the great councils, the apparently interminable contests over +the question as to the two natures of Christ came to an unexpected end. +This did not take place until a new cause for dispute had arisen among the +adherents of Chalcedon, due to an attempt to win back the Monophysites by +accounting for the unity of the person of Christ by positing one will in +Jesus. Monotheletism at once became among the adherents of Chalcedon a +burning question. It was finally condemned at the Sixth General Council, +Constantinople, A. D. 683, at which Pope Agatho played a part very similar +to that played by Pope Leo at Chalcedon, but at the cost of seeing his +predecessor, Honorius, condemned as a Monothelete. It was the last triumph +of the West in the dogmatic controversies of the East. The Eastern +ecclesiastics, irritated at the diplomatic triumph of Rome, expressed +their resentment at the Concilium Quinisextum, in 692, where, in passing +canons to complete the work of the Fifth and Sixth Councils, an +opportunity was embraced of expressly condemning several Roman practices. +In the confusion resulting in the next century from the attempt of Leo the +Isaurian to put an end to the use of images in the churches, the Roman see +was able to rid itself of the nominal control which the Emperor still had +over the papacy by means of the exarchate of Ravenna. When the Lombards +pressed too heavily upon the papacy it was easy for the Bishop of Rome to +make an alliance with the Franks, who on their side saw that it was +profitable to employ the papacy in the advancement of their own schemes. +In this way arose that alliance between the pontiff and the new Frankish +monarchy upon which the ecclesiastical development of the Middle Ages +rests. But Iconoclasm suffered defeat at the Seventh General Council, 787, +in which the doctrinal system of the East was completed. As this was the +last undisputed general council, it may be taken as marking the +termination of the history of the ancient Church. In following the further +course of the Western Church there is no longer need of a detailed tracing +of the history of the Eastern Church, which ceased to be a determining +factor in the religious life of the West. The two parts of Christendom +come in contact from time to time, but without formal schism they have +ceased to be organically united. + + +§ 106. The Rise and Extension of Islam + + +Mohammed (571-632) began his work as a prophet at Mecca about 613, having +been "called" about three years earlier. He was driven from Mecca in 622 +and fled to Yathrib, afterward known as Medina. Here he was able to unite +warring factions and, placing himself at their head, to build up despotic +authority over the surrounding country. He steadily increased the +territory under his sway, and by conquests and diplomacy was able to gain +Mecca in 629. Before his death in 632 he had conquered all Arabia. His +authority continued in his family after his death, and the course of +conquest went on. Damascus was conquered in 635; in 636 the Emperor +Heraclius was driven to abandon Syria, which now fell into the hands of +the Moslems. In 637 the Persians were forced back. In 640 Egypt was taken, +and by 650 all between Carthage and the eastern border of Persia had been +acquired for Islam. In 693, after a period of civil war, the work of +conquest was resumed. In 709 all the African coast as far as the Straits +of Gibraltar was gained, and in 711 the Moslems entered Spain. They at +once made themselves masters of the peninsula with the exception of a +small strip in the north in the mountains of Asturias, the kingdom of +Gallicia. Crossing the Pyrenees, they attempted to possess Gaul, but were +forced to retreat from central Gaul by Charles Martel at the battle at +Tours and Poitiers in 732. They maintained themselves north of the +Pyrenees until 759 when they were driven out of Narbonne and across the +mountains. + + + Additional source material: _The Koran_, standard translation by + E. H. Palmer, in the _Sacred Books of the East_; Stanley + Lane-Poole, _Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Mohammed_. + + +(_a_) Mohammed, _Koran_ (translation of E. H. Palmer). + + +Surah CXII. + + + The Unity of God. + + + The following surah or chapter of the Koran, entitled "The Chapter + of Unity," Mohammed regarded as of value equal to two-thirds of + the whole book. It is one of the shortest and most famous. + + +In the name of the merciful and compassionate God, say: + +"He is God alone! +God the Eternal. +He begets not and is not begotten! +Nor is there like unto Him any one." + + +Surah V, 73, 76, 109 _ff._ + + + The teaching as to the nature and mission of Jesus. + + +[73.] Verily, those who believe and those who are Jews, and the Sabaeans, +and the Christians, whosoever believes in God and the last day and does +what is right, there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve. + +[76.] They misbelieve who say, "Verily, God is the Messiah, the son of +Mary"; but the Messiah said, "O Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord +and your Lord." Verily he who associates aught with God, God hath +forbidden him paradise, and his resort is the fire, and the unjust shall +have none to help them. + +They misbelieve who say, "Verily, God is the third of three"; for there is +no God but one, and if they do not desist from what they say, there shall +touch those who misbelieve amongst them grievous woe. + +Will they not turn toward God and ask pardon of Him? for God is forgiving +and merciful. + +The Messiah, the son of Mary, is only a prophet; prophets before him have +passed away: and His mother was a confessor. + +[109.] When God said, "O Jesus, son of Mary! remember my favors towards +thee and towards thy mother, when I aided thee with the Holy Ghost, till +thou didst speak to men in the cradle and when grown up. + +"And when I taught thee the Book and wisdom and the law and the gospel; +when thou didst create of clay, as it were, the likeness of a bird, by my +power, and didst blow thereon, it became a bird;(281) and thou didst heal +the blind from birth, and the leprous by my permission; and when thou +didst bring forth the dead by my permission; and when I did ward off the +children of Israel from thee, and when thou didst come to them with +manifest signs, and those who misbelieved among them said: 'This is naught +but obvious magic.' + +"And when I inspired the Apostles that they should believe in Him and in +my Apostle, they said, 'We believe; do thou bear witness that we are +resigned.' " + +[116.] And when God said, "O Jesus, son of Mary! is it thou who dost say +to men, take me and my mother for two gods, beside God?" He said: "I +celebrate thy praise! what ails me that I should say what I have no right +to? If I had said it, Thou wouldest have known it; Thou knowest what is in +my soul, but I know not what is in Thy soul; verily Thou art one who +knoweth the unseen. I never told them save what Thou didst bid me, +'Worship God, my Lord and your Lord,' and I was a witness against them so +long as I was among them, but when Thou didst take me away to Thyself Thou +wert the watcher over them, for Thou art witness over all."{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + + +Surah IV, 152. + + + Relation of Islam to Judaism and Christianity. + + +[152.] The people of the Book will ask thee to bring down for them a book +from heaven; but they asked Moses a greater thing than that, for they +said, "Show us God openly"; but the thunderbolt caught them in their +injustice. Then they took a calf, after what had come to them of manifest +signs; but we pardoned that, and gave Moses obvious authority. And we held +over them the mountain at their compact, and said to them, "Enter ye the +door adoring," and we said to them, "Transgress not on the Sabbath day," +and we took from them a rigid compact. + +But for that they broke their compact, and for their misbelief in God's +signs, and for their killing the prophets undeservedly, and for their +saying, "Our hearts are uncircumcised"--nay, God hath stamped on them their +misbelief, so that they cannot believe, except a few--and for their +misbelief, and for their saying about Mary a mighty calumny, and for their +saying, "Verily we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the +apostle of God," but they did not kill Him, and they did not crucify Him, +but a similitude was made for them. And verily, those who differ about Him +are in doubt concerning Him; they have no knowledge concerning Him, but +only follow an opinion. They did not kill Him, for sure! nay God raised +Him up unto Himself; for God is mighty and wise!{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +[164.] O ye people of the Book! do not exceed in your religion, nor say +against God save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, is but +the apostle of God and His Word, which He cast into Mary and a spirit from +Him; believe then in God and His apostles, and say not "Three." Have done! +it were better for you. God is only one God, celebrated be His praise that +He should beget a Son! + + +Surah LVI. + + + The delights of heaven and the pains of hell. + + + This description of the future life has been taken as + characteristic of the religion of Mohammed, but not quite fairly. + It is simply the Bedouin's idea of complete happiness, and is by + no means characteristic of the religion as the whole. + + +In the name of the merciful and compassionate God. + +When the inevitable [day of judgment] happens; none shall call its +happening a lie!--abasing--exalting! + +When the earth shall quake, quaking! and the mountains shall crumble, +crumbling, and become like motes dispersed! + +And ye shall be three sorts; + +And the fellows of the right hand--what right lucky fellows! + +And the fellows of the left hand--what unlucky fellows! + +And the foremost foremost! + +These are they who are brought nigh, + +In gardens of pleasure! + +A crowd of those of yore, and a few of those of the latter day! + +And gold-weft couches, reclining on them face to face. + +Around them shall go eternal youths, with goblets and ewers and a cup of +flowing wine; no headache shall feed therefrom, nor shall their wits be +dimmed! + +And fruits such as they deem the best; + +And flesh of fowl as they desire; + +And bright and large-eyed maids like hidden pearls; + +A reward for that which they have done! + +They shall hear no folly there and no sin; + +Only the speech, "Peace, Peace!" + +And the fellows of the right--what right lucky fellows! + +Amid thornless lote trees. + +And tal'h(282) trees with piles of fruit; + +And outspread shade, + +And water poured out; + +And fruit in abundance, neither failing nor forbidden; + +And beds upraised! + +Verily we have produced them(283) a production, + +And made them virgins, darlings of equal age (with their spouses) for the +fellows of the right! + +A crowd of those of yore, and a crowd of those of the latter day! + +And the fellows of the left--what unlucky fellows! + +In hot blasts and boiling water; + +And a shade of pitchy smoke, + +Neither cool nor generous! + +Verily they were affluent ere this, and did persist in mighty crime; and +used to say, "What, when we die, have become dust and bones, shall we +indeed be raised? or our fathers of yore?" + +Say, "Verily, those of yore and those of the latter days shall surely be +gathered together unto the tryst of the well-known day." + +"Then ye, O ye who err! who say it is a lie! shall eat of the Zaqqum(284) +tree and fill your bellies with it! a drink of boiling water! and drink as +drinks the thirsty camel!" + + +(_b_) Paulus Diaconus, _Historia Langobardorum_, VI, 46 ff. (MSL, 95:654.) + + + The Advance of the Saracens. + + +Ch. 46. At that time [A. D. 711] the people of the Saracens, crossing over +from Africa at a place which is called Ceuta, invaded all Spain. Then +after ten years, coming with their wives and children, they invaded as if +to settle in Aquitania, a province of Gaul. Charles(285) had at that time +a dispute with Eudo, prince of Aquitania. But they came to an agreement +and fought with perfect harmony against the Saracens. For the Franks fell +upon them(286) and slew three hundred and seventy-five thousand of them; +but on the side of the Franks only fifteen hundred fell. Eudo with his men +broke into their camp and slew many and laid waste all. + +Ch. 47. At the same time [A. D. 717], the same people of the Saracens with +an immense army came and encompassed Constantinople and for three years +besieged it until, when the people had called upon God with great +earnestness, many of the enemy perished from hunger and cold and by war +and pestilence and so wearied out they abandoned the siege. When they had +left they carried on war against the people of the Bulgarians who were +beyond the Danube, but, vanquished by them also, they fled back to their +ships. But when they had put out to the deep sea, a sudden storm fell upon +them and many were drowned and their vessels were destroyed. But in +Constantinople three hundred thousand men died of the pestilence. + +Ch. 48. Now when Liutprand heard that the Saracens, when Sardinia had been +laid waste, had also polluted those places where the bones of the holy +bishop Augustine, on account of the devastation of the barbarians, had +formerly been transported and solemnly buried, he sent thither and when he +had given a large sum obtained them and transported them to the city of +Pavia, where he buried them with the honor due so great a father.(287) In +these days the city of Narnia was conquered by the Lombards. + + +§ 107. The Monothelete Controversy and the Sixth General Council, +Constantinople A. D. 681 + + +The Monothelete controversy was the natural outcome of the earlier +Christological controversies. With the assertion of the two complete and +persisting natures of Christ, the question must sooner or later arise as +to whether there was one will or two in Christ. If there were two wills, +it seemed to lead back to Nestorianism; if there was but one, either the +humanity was incomplete or the position led to virtual monophysitism. But +political causes played even a greater part than the theological +dialectic. The Emperor Heraclius, in attempting to win back the +Monophysite churches, on account of the war with Persia and later on +account of the advancing Moslems, proposed that a union should be effected +on the basis of a formula which asserted that there was but one will in +the God-man. This had been suggested to him in 622 by Sergius, patriarch +of Constantinople [Hefele, §§ 291, 295]. In 633 Cyrus of Phasis, since 630 +patriarch of Alexandria, brought about a union between the Orthodox Church +and the Egyptian Monophysites on the basis of a Monothelete formula, +_i.e._, a statement that there was but one will or energy in Christ. At +once a violent controversy broke out. The formula was supported by +Honorius of Rome, but attacked by Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, and +after the fall of Jerusalem in 638, by the monk Maximus Confessor. In 638 +Heraclius tried to end the controversy by an _Ecthesis_ [_Hefele_, § 299], +and Constans II (641-668) attempted the same in 648, by his _Typos_. But +at the Lateran Council of 649, under Martin I, Monotheletism as well as +the _Ecthesis_ and _Typos_ were condemned. For this Martin was ultimately +banished, dying in misery, 654, in the Chersonesus, and Maximus, after a +long, cruel imprisonment, and horrible torture and mutilation, died in +exile, 662. But Constantius Pogonatus (668-685), the successor of Constans +II, determined to settle the matter by a general council. Pope Agatho +(678-682) thereupon held a great council at Rome, 679, at which it was +decided to insist at the coming general council upon the strictest +maintenance of the decisions of the Roman Council of 649. On this basis +Agatho dictated the formula which was accepted by the Council of +Constantinople, A. D. 681, which sent its proceedings and conclusions to +the Pope to be approved. Along with them was an express condemnation of +Honorius. Leo II (682-683), Agatho's successor, approved the council with +special mention of Honorius as condemned for his heresy. + + +(_a_) Cyrus of Alexandria, _Formula of Union_, A. D. 633, Hahn, § 232. + + + The author of this formula, known also as Cyrus of Phasis, under + which name he was condemned at Constantinople, A. D. 680, + attempted to win over the Monophysites in Alexandria and met with + great success on account of his formula of union. The first five + anathemas, the form in which the formula is composed, are clearly + based upon the first four councils. The sixth is slightly + different; and the seventh, the most important, is clearly tending + toward Monotheletism. The document is to be found in the + proceedings of the Sixth General Council in Mansi, and also in + Hardouin. For a synopsis, see Hefele, § 293, who is most valuable + for the whole controversy. + + +6. If any one does not confess the one Christ, the one Son, to be of two +natures, that is, divinity and humanity, one nature become flesh(288) of +God the Word, according to the holy Cyril, unmixed, unchanged, +unchangeable, that is to say, one synthetic hypostasis, who is the same, +our Lord Jesus Christ, being one of the holy homoousian Triad, let such an +one be anathema. + +7. If any one, saying that our one Lord Jesus Christ is to be regarded in +two natures, does not confess that He is one of the Holy Triad, God the +Word, eternally begotten of the Father, in the last times of the world +made flesh and born of our all-holy and spotless lady, the Theotokos and +ever-virgin Mary; but is this and another and not one and the same, +according to the most wise Cyril, perfect in deity and the same perfect in +humanity, and accordingly only to be thought of as in two natures; the +same suffering and not suffering, according to one or the other nature, as +the same holy Cyril said, suffering as a man in the flesh, inasmuch as he +was a man, remaining as God without suffering in the sufferings of His own +flesh; and the one and the same Christ energizing the divine and the human +things with the one theandric energy,(289) according to the holy +Dionysius; distinguishing only in thought those things from which the +union has taken place, and viewing these in the mind as remaining +unchanged, unalterable, and unmixed after their union according to nature +and hypostasis; and recognizing in these without division or separation +the one and the same Christ and Son, inasmuch as he regards in his mind +two as brought together to each other without commingling, making the +theory of them as a matter of fact, but not by a lying imagination and +vain combinations of the mind; but in nowise separating them, since now +the division into two has been destroyed on account of the indescribable +and incomprehensible union; saying with the holy Athanasius, for there is +now flesh and again the flesh of God the Word, now flesh animated and +intelligent, and again the flesh of the animated and intelligent God the +Word; but should under such expressions understand a distinction into +parts, let such an one be anathema. + + +(_b_) Constans II, _Typos_, A. D. 648, Mansi, X, 1029. _Cf._ Kirch, nn. +972 _f._ + + + The attempt to end the controversy by returning to the condition + of things before the controversy broke out, an entirely futile + undertaking. The question having been raised had to be discussed + and settled by rational processes. See Hefele, § 306. + + +Since it is our custom to do everything and to consider everything which +can serve the welfare of the Christian State, and especially what concerns +our true faith, by which we believe all our happiness is brought about, we +perceive that our orthodox people are greatly disturbed, because some in +respect to the Economy(290) of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ +assert that there is only one will, and that one and the same affects both +the divine and human deeds; but others teach two wills and two operations +in the same dispensation of the incarnate Word. The former defend their +views by asserting that our Lord Jesus Christ was only one person in two +natures, and therefore without confusion or separation, working and +willing as well the divine as the human deeds. The others say that because +in one and the same person two natures are joined without any separation, +so their differences from each other remain, and according to the +character of each nature one and the same Christ works as well the divine +as the human; and from this our Christian State has been brought to much +dissension and confusion, so that differing from one another they do not +agree, and from this the State must in many ways needs suffer. + +We believe that, under God's guidance, we must extinguish the flames +enkindled by discord, and we ought not to permit them further to destroy +human souls. We decree, therefore, that our subjects who hold our +immaculate and orthodox Christian faith, and who are of the Catholic and +Apostolic Church, shall from the present moment on have no longer any +permission to raise any sort of dispute and quarrel or strife with one +another over the one will and energy, or over two wills and two energies. +We order that this is not in any way to take anything from the pious +teaching, which the holy and approved Fathers have taught concerning the +incarnation of God the Word, but with the purpose that all further strife +in regard to the aforesaid questions cease, and in this matter we follow +and hold as sufficient only the Holy Scriptures and the tradition of the +five holy general councils and the simple statements and unquestioned +usage and expressions of the approved Fathers (of which the dogmas, rules, +and laws of God's holy Catholic and Apostolic Church consists), without +adding to or taking from them anything, or without explaining them against +their proper meaning, but everywhere shall be preserved the former +customs, as before the disputes broke out, as if no such dispute had +existed. As to those who have hitherto taught one will and one energy or +two wills and two energies, there shall be no accusation on this account; +excepting only those who have been cast forth as heretics, together with +their impious doctrines and writings, by the five holy universal councils +and other approved orthodox Fathers. But to complete the unity and +fellowship of the churches of God, and that there remain no further +opportunity or occasion to those who are eager for endless dispute, we +order that the document,(291) which for a long time has been posted up in +the narthex of the most holy principal church of this our God-preserved +royal city, and which touches upon the points in dispute, shall be taken +down. Whoever dares to transgress this command is subject before all to +the fearful judgment of Almighty God, and then also will be liable to the +punishment for such as despise the imperial commands. If he be a bishop or +clergyman, he will altogether be deposed from his priesthood or clerical +order; if a monk, excommunicated and driven out of his residence; if a +civil or military officer, he shall lose his rank and office; if a private +citizen, he shall, if noble, be punished pecuniarily, if of lower rank, be +subjected to corporal punishment and perpetual exile. + + +(_c_) Council of Rome, A. D. 649, _Canons_, Mansi, X, 1150. _Cf._ +Denziger, nn. 254 _ff._ + + + Condemnation of Monotheletism, the _Ecthesis_, and the _Typos_, by + Martin I. + + + Text of canons or anathematisms and abstract of proceedings in + Hefele, § 307. + + +Canon 18. If any one does not, according to the holy Fathers, and in +company with us, reject and anathematize with mind and mouth all those +whom as most wicked heretics the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of +God, that is, the five universal synods and likewise all approved Fathers +of the Church, rejects and anathematizes, with all their impious writings +even to each point, that is, Sabellius, etc. {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} and justly with these, as +like them and in equal error {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Cyrus of Alexandria, Sergius of +Constantinople, and his successors Pyrrhus and Paul, persisting in their +pride, and all their impious writings, and those who to the end agreed +with them in their thought, or do so agree, that there is one will and one +operation of the deity and manhood of Christ; and in addition to these the +most impious _Ecthesis_, which, by the persuasion of the same Sergius, was +put forth by the former Emperor Heraclius against the orthodox faith, +defining, by way of adjustment, one will in Christ our God, and one +operation to be venerated; also all those things which were impiously +written or done by them; and those who received it, or any of those things +which were written or done for it; and along with these, furthermore, the +wicked _Typos_, which, on the persuasion of the aforesaid Paul, was +recently issued by our most serene prince Constans against the Catholic +Church, inasmuch as it equally denies and excludes from discussion the two +natural wills and operations, a divine and a human, which are piously +taught by the holy Fathers to be in Christ, our God, and also our Saviour, +and also the one will and operation, which by the heretics is impiously +venerated in Him, and therefore declaring that with the holy Fathers also +the wicked heretics are unjustly freed from all rebuke and condemnation, +to the destruction of the definitions of the Catholic Church and its rule +of faith {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} let him be condemned. + + +(_d_) Sixth General Council, Constantinople, A. D. 681, _Definition of +Faith_. Mansi, XI, 636 _ff._ + + + The concluding, more strictly dogmatic portion of this symbol is + to be found in Greek in Hahn, § 150, and in Latin and Greek in + Denziger, nn. 289, _ff._ See also PNF, ser. II, vol. XIV. + + +The holy, great, and ecumenical synod assembled by the grace of God and +the religious decree of the most religious, faithful, and mighty Emperor +Constantine, in this God-preserved and royal city of Constantinople, New +Rome, in the hall of the imperial palace called Trullus, has decreed as +follows: + +The only begotten Son and Word of God the Father, who was made man, like +unto us in all things, without sin, Christ our true God, has declared +expressly in the words of the Gospel: "I am the light of the world; he +that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of +life" [John 8:12]; and again: "My peace I leave with you, My peace I give +unto you" [John 14:27]. Our most gracious Emperor, the champion of +orthodoxy and opponent of evil doctrine, being reverentially led by this +divinely uttered doctrine of peace, and having assembled this our holy and +ecumenical synod, has united the judgment of the whole Church. Wherefore +this our holy and ecumenical synod, having driven away the impious error +which has prevailed for a certain time until now, and following closely +the straight path of the holy and approved Fathers, has piously given its +assent to the five holy and ecumenical synods--that is to say, to that of +the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers assembled at Nicaea against the +insane Arius; and the next at Constantinople of the one hundred and fifty +God-inspired men against Macedonius, the adversary of the Spirit, and the +impious Apollinaris; and also the first at Ephesus of two hundred +venerable men assembled against Nestorius, the Judaizer; and that in +Chalcedon of six hundred and thirty God-inspired Fathers against Eutyches +and Dioscurus, hated of God; and in addition to these the last, that is +the fifth, holy synod assembled in this place against Theodore of +Mopsuestia, Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius, and the writings of Theodoret +against the twelve chapters of the celebrated Cyril, and the epistle which +was said to have been written by Ibas to Maris the Persian--without +alteration this synod renews in all points the ancient decrees of +religion, chasing away the impious doctrines of irreligion. And this our +holy and ecumenical synod, inspired of God, has set its seal to the creed +of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers, and again religiously confirmed +by the one hundred and fifty, which also the other holy synods gladly +received and ratified for the removal of every soul-destroying heresy. + + + Then follow: + + + The Nicene Creed of the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers. + _We believe_, etc. + + + The Creed of the one hundred and fifty holy Fathers assembled at + Constantinople. _We believe_, etc., but without the _filioque_. + + +The holy and ecumenical synod further says that this pious and orthodox +creed of the divine grace would be sufficient for the full knowledge and +confirmation of the orthodox faith. But as the author of evil, who in the +beginning availed himself of the aid of the serpent, and by it brought the +poison of death upon the human race, has not desisted, but in like manner +now, having found suitable instruments for the accomplishment of his +will--that is to say, Theodorus, who was bishop of Pharan; Sergius, +Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter, who were prelates of this royal city; and also +Honorius, who was pope of Old Rome; Cyrus, bishop of Alexandria, +Marcarius, lately bishop of Antioch, and Stephen, his disciple--has not +ceased with their declaration of orthodoxy by this our God-assembled and +holy synod; for according to the sentence spoken of God: "Where two or +three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" +[Matt. 18:20], the present(292) holy and ecumenical synod, faithfully +receiving and saluting with uplifted hands also the suggestion which by +the most holy and blessed Pope Agatho, Pope of Old Rome, was sent to our +most pious and faithful Emperor Constantine, which rejected by name those +who taught or preached one will and operation in the dispensation of the +incarnation of Christ(293) our very God, has likewise adopted that other +synodal suggestion which was sent by the council held under the same most +holy Pope, composed of one hundred and twenty-five bishops beloved of +God,(294) to his God-instructed tranquillity [_i.e._, the Emperor], as +consonant to the holy Council of Chalcedon and the _Tome_ of the most holy +and blessed Leo, Pope of the same Old Rome, which was directed to the holy +Flavian, which also the council called the pillar of a right faith; and +also agrees with the synodical letters written by the blessed Cyril +against the impious Nestorius and addressed to the Oriental bishops. + +Following(295) the five holy and ecumenical synods and the most holy and +approved Fathers, with one voice defining that our Lord Jesus Christ must +be confessed to be our very God, one of the holy and consubstantial and +life-giving Trinity, perfect in deity and the same perfect in humanity, +truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial +with His Father as to His godhead, and consubstantial with us as to His +manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin [Heb. 4:15]; begotten of +His Father before the ages according to His godhead, but in these last +days for us men and for our salvation begotten of the Holy Ghost and of +the Virgin Mary, strictly and in truth Theotokos, according to the flesh; +one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only begotten, in two natures +unconfusedly, unchangeably, inseparably, indivisibly to be recognized; the +peculiarities of neither nature lost by the union, but rather the +properties of each nature preserved, concurring in one person,(296) and in +one subsistence,(297) not parted or divided into two persons, but one and +the same only begotten Son, the Word of God,(298) the Lord Jesus Christ, +according as the prophets of old have taught, and as Jesus Christ Himself +hath taught, and the creed of the holy Fathers hath delivered to us;(299) +we likewise declare that in Him are two natural wills or willings and two +natural operations indivisibly, unchangeably, inseparably, unconfusedly, +according to the teaching of the holy Fathers. And these two natural wills +are not contrary one to the other (which God forbid), as the impious +heretics say, but His human will follows, not as resisting or reluctant, +but rather therefore as subject to His divine and omnipotent will. For it +was right that the will of the flesh should be moved, but be subject to +the divine will, according to the most wise Athanasius. For as His flesh +is called and is the flesh of God the Word, so also the natural will of +His flesh is called and is the proper will of God the Word, as He Himself +says: "I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of +the Father which sent Me," [John 6:38], wherein he calls His own will the +will of the flesh, inasmuch as His flesh was also His own. For as His most +holy and immaculately animated flesh was not destroyed because it was +deified [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}], but continued in its own state and nature, so also His +human will, although deified, was not taken away, but rather was preserved +according to the saying of Gregory the Theologian:(300) "His will, namely +that of the Saviour, is not contrary to God, but altogether deified." + +We glorify two natural operations, indivisibly, unchangeably, inseparably, +unconfusedly, in the same our Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, that is to +say, a divine operation and a human operation, according to the divine +preacher Leo, who most distinctly says as follows: "For each form does in +communion with the other what pertains to it, namely the Word doing what +pertains to the Word, and the flesh what pertains to the flesh."(301) For +we will not admit one natural operation of God and of the creature, that +we may not exalt into the divine essence what is created, nor will we +bring down the glory of the divine nature to the place suited for those +things which have been made. We recognize the miracles and the sufferings +as of one and the same person, but of one or of the other nature of which +He is, and in which He has His existence, as the admirable Cyril said. +Preserving in all respects, therefore, the unconfusedness and +indivisibility, we express all in brief phrase: Believing that our Lord +Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity also after the incarnation, is our true +God, we say that His two natures shone forth in His one subsistence +[hypostasis], in which were both the miracles and the suffering throughout +the whole incarnate life,(302) not in appearance merely but in reality, +the difference as to nature being recognized in one and the same +subsistence; for, although joined together, each nature wills and operates +the things proper to it.(303) For this reason we glorify two natural(304) +wills and operations concurring most fitly in Him for the salvation of the +human race. + +Since these things have been formulated by us with all diligence and care, +we decree that to no one shall it be permitted to bring forward or write +or to compose or to think or to teach otherwise. Whosoever shall presume +to compose a different faith or to propose, or to teach, or to hand to +those wishing to be converted to the knowledge of the truth from the +heathen or the Jews or from any heresy any different symbol, or to +introduce a new mode of expression to subvert these things which have now +been determined by us, all these, if they be bishops or clergy, shall be +deposed, the bishops from the episcopate, the clergy from the clerical +office; but if they be monks or laymen, they shall be anathematized. + + +(_e_) Council of Constantinople, A. D. 681, _Sessio_ XIII. Mansi, XI, +1050. _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 188. + + + The condemnation of the Monotheletes, including Honorius of Rome. + + + The condemnation of Honorius has become a _cause celebre_, + especially in connection with the doctrine of papal infallibility. + It should be observed, however, that the doctrine of papal + infallibility, as defined at the Vatican Council, A. D. 1870 + (_cf._ Mirbt, n. 509), requires that only when the Pope speaks _ex + cathedra_ is he infallible, and it has not been shown that any + opinion whatever held by Honorius was an _ex cathedra_ definition + of faith and morals according to the Vatican Council. The matter + is therefore a mere question of fact and may be treated apart from + the Vatican dogma. It should be borne in mind, further, that the + Sixth General Council was approved by Pope Leo II, A. D. 682 + (_cf._ Mirbt, n. 189), who included Honorius by name among those + whose condemnation was approved. That he did so approve it is also + stated in the _Liber Pontificalis_ (_cf._ Mirbt, n. 190), and + according to the _Liber Diurnus_, the official book of formulae + used in the papal business, the Pope took an oath recognizing + among others the Sixth General Council, and condemning Honorius + among other heretics (_cf._ Mirbt, n. 191). That Honorius was + actually a heretic is still another matter; for it seems not at + all unlikely that he misunderstood the point at issue and his + language is quite unscientific. The text of the letters of + Honorius may be found in Kirch, nn. 949-965, and in Hefele in a + translation, §§ 296, 298. On the condemnation of Honorius, see + Hefele, § 324. + + +The holy council said: After we had reconsidered, according to our promise +made to your highness,(305) the doctrinal letter written by Sergius, at +one time patriarch of this royal God-preserved city, to Cyrus, who was +then bishop of Phasis, and to Honorius, sometime Pope of Old Rome, as well +as the letter of the latter to the same Sergius, and finding that the +documents are quite foreign to the apostolic dogmas, to the definitions of +the holy councils, and to all the approved Fathers, and that they follow +the false teachings of the heretics, we entirely reject them, and execrate +them as hurtful to the soul. + +But the names of those men whom we execrate must also be thrust forth from +the holy Church of God, namely, that of Sergius, sometime bishop of this +God-preserved royal city, who was the first to write on this impious +doctrine; also that of Cyrus of Alexandria, of Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, +who died bishops of this God-preserved city, and were like-minded with +them; and that of Theodore, sometime bishop of Pharan, all of whom the +most holy and thrice-blessed Agatho, Pope of Old Rome, in his suggestion +to our most pious and God-preserved lord and mighty Emperor, rejected +because they were minded contrary to our orthodox faith, all of whom we +declare are subject to anathema. And with these we decree that there shall +be expelled from the holy Church of God and anathematized Honorius, who +was Pope of Old Rome, because of what we found written by him to Sergius, +that in all respects he followed his view and confirmed his impious +doctrine. + +We have also examined the synodal letter(306) of Sophronius, of holy +memory, sometime patriarch of the holy city of our God, Jerusalem, and +have found it in accordance with the true faith and with apostolic +teachings, and with the teachings of the holy and approved Fathers. +Therefore, we have received it as orthodox and salutary to the holy and +Catholic and Apostolic Church, and have decreed that it is right that his +name be inserted in the diptychs of the holy churches. + + +§ 108. Rome, Constantinople, and the Lombard State Church in the Seventh +Century + + +The Sixth General Council was the last great diplomatic triumph of Rome in +the East in matters of faith, though two centuries after, in the matter of +Photius, Rome played a brilliant part in the internal affairs of the +Eastern Church. Immediately after the council of 681, it was felt that the +West, of which the Greeks had grown very jealous, had triumphed over the +East, especially as several of the leading patriarchs had been condemned. +Monotheletism, furthermore, was too strongly intrenched in the East to be +removed by a single conciliar action. It was felt necessary to take action +to confirm the results of Constantinople in 681. The fifth and sixth +general councils had been occupied entirely with doctrinal matters and had +not issued any disciplinary canons. A new council might be gathered to +complete the work of the Sixth General Council, not only to reaffirm it, +but in connection with some much-needed legislation to retort upon the +West by condemning some Roman practices. In this way the Second Trullan +Council, or Concilium Quinisextum, came about in 692. The Roman see, in +the meanwhile, although it had triumphed at Constantinople in 681, did not +enjoy an independent political position in Italy. It was still under the +Roman Emperor at Constantinople, as had been most painfully perceived in +the treatment of Martin I by Constans. Although the Pope had his +apocrisiarius, or nuncio, at Constantinople, he came into immediate +contact with the exarch of Ravenna, the Emperor's representative in Italy. +In Italy, furthermore, the Arian heresy long persisted among the Lombards, +although greater toleration was shown the Catholic Church. + + + Additional source material: The canons of the Quinisext Council + may be found complete in Percival, _Seven Ecumenical Councils_, + PNF, ser. II, vol. XIV. + + +(_a_) Concilium Quinisextum, A. D. 692, _Canons_. Bruns, I, 34, _ff._ + + + This council was commonly regarded as the continuation of the + Sixth General Council, and has been received in the East, not as a + separate council, but as a part of the sixth. The West has never + accepted this opinion and has only to a limited extent admitted + the authority of its canons, though some have been current in the + West because, like much conciliar action, they were re-enactments + of older canons. Occasionally some of the canons have been cited + by popes as belonging to the Sixth Council. The canons given here + are, for the most part, those which were in some point in + opposition to the Roman practice. + + +Canon 1. _Renewal of the Condemnations of the Sixth Council._ + + +We, by divine grace at the beginning of our decrees, define that the faith +set forth by the God-chosen Apostles, who themselves had both seen the +Word and were ministers of the Word, shall be preserved without any +innovation, unchanged and inviolate. Moreover the faith of the three +hundred and eighteen holy and blessed Fathers, etc. + + + [Here follows a detailed statement of the first five general + councils.] + + +Also we agree to guard untouched the faith of the Sixth Holy Synod, which +first assembled in this royal city in the time of Constantine, our +Emperor, of blessed memory, which faith received still greater +confirmation from the fact that the pious Emperor ratified with his own +signet what was written, for the security of every future age. And again +we confess that we should guard the faith unaltered and openly +acknowledged; that in the Economy of the incarnation of our one Lord Jesus +Christ, the true God, there are two natural wills or volitions and two +natural operations; and have condemned by a just sentence those who +adulterated the true doctrine and taught the people that in the one Lord, +our God, Jesus Christ, there is but one will and operation, that is to +say, Theodore of Pharan, Cyrus of Alexandria, Honorius of Rome, Sergius, +Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, who were bishops of this God-preserved city, +Macarius, who was bishop of Antioch, Stephen who was his disciple, and the +insane Polychronius, depriving them henceforth of the communion of the +body of Christ our God.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + + +Canon 2. _On the Sources of Canon Law._ + + + This canon opposed Rome in two respects: it accepted eighty-five + Apostolic Canons, whereas Rome received but fifty; it drew up a + list of councils and of Fathers whose writings should have + authority as canons, and omitted the important Western councils, + except Carthage, and all the papal decrees. With this canon should + be compared the decretal of Gelasius, _De Libris Recipiendis, v. + supra_, § 92. + + +It has also seemed good to this holy synod that the eighty-five canons +received and ratified by the holy and blessed Fathers before us, and also +handed down to us in the name of the holy and glorious Apostles, should +from this time forth remain firm and unshaken for the cure of souls and +the healing of disorders. And since in these canons we are bidden to +receive the _Constitutions of the Holy Apostles_ by Clement, in which, in +old time, certain spurious matter entirely contrary to piety was +introduced by heterodox persons for the polluting of the Church, which +obscures to us the elegance and beauty of the divine decrees; we, +therefore, for the edification and security of the most Christian flock, +reject properly such constitutions; by no means admitting the offspring of +heretical error, and cleaving to the pure and perfect doctrine of the +Apostles. But we set our seal likewise upon all the other holy canons set +forth by our holy and blessed Fathers, that is, by the three hundred and +eighteen God-fearing Fathers assembled at Nicaea, and those at Ancyra; +further, those at Neo-Caesarea and at Gangra, and besides these those at +Antioch in Syria [A. D. 341], those too at Laodicea in Phrygia, and +likewise those of the one hundred and fifty assembled in this +God-preserved imperial city and of the two hundred, who assembled for the +first time in the metropolis of the Ephesians, and of the six hundred and +thirty holy and blessed Fathers at Chalcedon; in like manner those of +Sardica and those of Carthage; those also who assembled in this +God-preserved imperial city under Nectarius [A. D. 394], and under +Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria; likewise too the canons(307) of +Dionysius, formerly archbishop of the great city of Alexandria, and of +Peter, archbishop of Alexandria, and martyr; of Gregory the Wonder-worker, +archbishop of Neo-Caesarea; of Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria; of +Basil, archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia; of Gregory, bishop of Nyssa; +of Gregory the Theologian;(308) of Amphilochius of Iconium; of Timothy, +archbishop of Alexandria; of the first Theophilus, archbishop of the same +metropolis of Alexandria; of Gennadius, patriarch of the God-preserved +imperial city; moreover the canons set forth by Cyprian, archbishop of the +country of the Africans, and martyr, and by the synod under him,(309) +which have been kept in the country of the aforesaid bishops and only +according to the custom delivered down to them. And that no one be allowed +to transgress the aforesaid canons, or to receive other canons besides +them, supposititiously set forth by some who have attempted to make a +traffic of the truth. But should any one be convicted of innovating upon +them, or attempting to overturn any of the aforementioned canons, he shall +be condemned to receive the penalty which the canon imposes and so to be +cured of his transgressions. + + +Canon 13. _On the Marriage of the Clergy._ + + + The following canon permits subdeacons and priests if married + before ordination to continue to live in marriage relations with + their wives. But they are not allowed to marry a second time or to + marry a widow. Neither are bishops to remain married; but if they + are married when elected, their wives must enter a monastery at a + distance. With this canon should be compared the earlier + legislation of Nicaea, _v. supra_, § 78, and also the law of + Justinian, _v. supra_, § 94. + + +Since we know that it is handed down in the canonical discipline in the +Roman Church that those who are about to be deemed worthy of ordination to +the diaconate or presbyterate should promise no longer to live maritally +with their wives, we, pursuing the ancient rule of apostolic discipline +and order, will that henceforth the lawful marriage of men in holy orders +remain firm, by no means dissolving their union with their wives, nor +depriving them of intercourse with each other at a convenient season.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} +Therefore, if any one shall have dared, contrary to the Apostolic Canons, +to deprive any one in holy orders, that is, any presbyter, deacon, or +subdeacon, of cohabitation and intercourse with his lawful wife, let him +be deposed; likewise also if any presbyter or deacon, on pretence of +piety, puts away his wife, let him be excluded from communion; but if he +persists let him be deposed. + + +Canon 36. _On the Rank of the Patriarchal Sees._ + + + Rome always rejected the claim of Constantinople to rank as + second. _Cf._ Leo's opinion, _v. supra_, § 87. + + +Renewing the enactments of the one hundred and fifty Fathers assembled in +the God-preserved and imperial city, and the six hundred and thirty +assembled at Chalcedon, we decree that the see of Constantinople shall +enjoy equal privilege with the see of Old Rome, and in ecclesiastical +matters shall be as highly regarded as that is, and second after it. And +after this [Constantinople] shall be ranked the see of the great city of +Alexandria, and after that the see of Antioch, and after that the see of +Jerusalem. + + +Canon 37. _On Bishops of Sees among Infidels._ + + + This canon is cited here, though not entering into the controversy + between the East and the West, because it is significant of the + changed position of the Eastern Church at this time, due to the + Moslem and other conquests. The Monophysite bishops in Egypt and + Syria were not molested by the Moslems. This canon marks the + beginning of the practice of ordaining bishops _in partibus + infidelium_. + + +Since at different times there have been invasions of the barbarians, and +consequently very many cities have come into the possession of the +infidels, so that as a consequence the prelate of a city may not be able, +after he has been ordained, to take possession of his see and to be +settled in it in sacerdotal order, and so to perform and manage, according +to custom, the ordinations and all other things which appertain to the +bishop; we, preserving the honor and veneration of the priesthood, and in +nowise wishing to make use of the heathen injury to the ruin of +ecclesiastical rights, have decreed that they who have been thus ordained, +and for the aforesaid causes have not settled in their sees, may be kept +from any prejudice from this thing, so that they may canonically perform +the ordination of the different clerics and use the authority of their +offices according to proper limits, and that whatever administration +proceeds from them may be valid and legitimate. For the exercise of his +office shall not be circumscribed by reason of necessity, when the exact +observance of the law is circumscribed. + + +Canon 55. _On Fasts in Lent._ + + + As stated in the canon, this enactment is aimed at the Roman + usage, and refers to the 64th Apostolic Canon, which Rome + rejected. For the Apostolic Canons, see ANF, VII, 504. + + +Since we have learned that in the city of the Romans, in the holy fast of +Lent, they fast on the Sabbaths(310) contrary to the traditional +ecclesiastical observance, it seemed good to the holy synod that also in +the Church of the Romans the canons shall be in force without wavering +which says: If any cleric shall be found to fast on Sunday or on the +Sabbath except on one occasion only,(311) he shall be deposed; and if a +layman he shall be excommunicated. + + +Canon 67. _On Eating Blood._ + + + This canon is less distinctly aimed at Rome. In the West the + prohibition against eating blood seems to have been little + observed, as it had been given another interpretation. At the time + of the Second Trullan Council the practice was very common. + Augustine, it might be said, did not consider the apostolic + command as binding except in the special circumstance in which it + was issued. _Cf._ Augustine, _Contra Faustum_, 32:13. + + +The divine Scriptures command us to abstain from blood, from things +strangled, and from fornication. Those, therefore, who, on account of a +dainty stomach, prepare by any art for food the blood of animals and so +eat it, we punish suitably. If any one henceforth venture to eat in any +way the blood of an animal, if he be a clergyman let him be deposed; if a +layman, let him be excommunicated. + + +Canon 82. _On Pictures of the Lamb of God._ + + + The custom which is here condemned was prevalent in the West. + + +In some pictures of the holy icons, a lamb is painted to which the +Forerunner(312) points his finger, and this is received to serve as a type +of grace, indicating beforehand through the Law our true lamb, Christ our +God. Embracing therefore the ancient types and shadows as symbols and +patterns of the truth, which have been given to the Church, we prefer +"grace and truth," receiving it as the fulfilment of the Law. In order, +therefore, that what is perfect may be delineated to the eyes of all, at +least in colored expression, we decree that the figure of the lamb who +taketh away the sin of the world, Christ our God, be henceforth exhibited +according to human form in the icons, instead of the ancient lamb, so that +all may understand, by means of it, the depth of the humiliation of the +Word of God, and that we may recall to our memory His life in the flesh, +His passion and salutary death, and the redemption resulting therefrom for +the whole world. + + +(_b_) _Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum_, n. 58. + + + Notification to the Emperor of an Election of a Pontiff. + + + The _Liber Diurnus_ was the book of official formulae used on + occasions such as elections of pontiffs and the conferring of the + pallium. It was composed between 685 and 751, and was employed in + the papal chancellery down to the eleventh century, when it became + antiquated on account of the changes in the position of the popes. + The modern editions of the book are by Roziere, Paris, 1869, and + by Sickel, Vienna, 1889. The text may be found in Mirbt, n. 195, + where may also be found numerous other useful extracts. + + +Although it has not been without the merciful divine ordering that, after +the death of the supreme pontiff, the votes of all should agree in the +election of one, and that there be perfect harmony so that no one at all +is to be found who would oppose it, it is yet necessary that we ought +obediently to pour forth the prayers of our petitions to our most serene +and most pious lord, who is known to rejoice in the concord of his +subjects, and graciously to grant what has been asked by them in +unanimity. And so when our Pope (_name_) of most blessed memory died, the +assent of all was given, by the will of God, to the election of (_name_), +the venerable archdeacon of the Apostolic See, because from the beginning +of his life he had so served the same church, and in all things shown +himself so able that he ought deservedly to be placed, with the divine +approval, over the ecclesiastical government, especially since by his +constant association with the aforesaid most blessed pontiff (_name_), he +has been able to attain to the same distinctions of so great merit, by +which the same prelate of holy memory is known to have been adorned, who +by his words always stirred up his mind, being desirous of heavenly joys, +so that whatsoever good we have lost in his predecessor we are confident +that we have certainly found in him. Therefore, in tears, all we your +servants pray that the piety of the lords may deign to hear the +supplication of their servants, and the desires of their petitioners may +be granted by the command of their piety, for the benefit of the Empire, +that command may be given for his ordination; so that when we have been +placed by your sacred and exalted clemency under him as our pastor, we may +always pray for the life and empire of our most serene lords to the Lord +Almighty and to the blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, to whose church +it has been granted that a worthy ruler be ordained. + +Subscription of the priests. + +I (_name_), by the mercy of God, presbyter of the holy Roman Church, +consenting to this action made by us in regard to (_name_), the venerable +archdeacon of the holy Apostolic See and our elected Pope, have +subscribed. + +Subscription of the laity. + +I (_name_), servant of your piety, consenting to this action drawn up by +us in regard to (_name_), the venerable archdeacon of the holy Apostolic +See and our elected Pope, have subscribed. + + +(_c_) _Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum_, ch. 60. + + + Notification of the Election of a Pontiff to the Exarch of + Ravenna. + + + The text may be found in part in Mirbt, _loc. cit._ + + +To the most excellent and exalted lord, graciously to be preserved to us +for a long life in his princely office (_name_), exarch of Italy, the +priests, deacons, and all the clergy of Rome, the magistrates, the army, +and the people of this city of Rome as suppliants send greeting. + +Providence is able to give aid in human affairs and to change the weeping +and groaning of the sorrowing into rejoicing.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} + +Inasmuch as (_name_), of pontifical memory, has been called from present +cares to eternal rest, as is the lot of mortals, a great load of sorrow +oppressed us, for as guardians we were deprived of our own guardian. But +the accustomed kindness of our God did not permit us to remain long in +this affliction because we hoped in Him. For after we had humbly spent +three days in prayer that the heavenly kindness might, for the merits of +all, make known whom as worthy it commanded to be elected to succeed to +the apostolic office, with the aid of His grace which inspired the minds +of all; and after we had assembled as is customary, that is, the clergy +and the people of Rome with the presence of the nobility and the army, +from the least to the greatest, so to speak; and the election, with the +help of God and the aid of the holy Apostles, fell upon the person of +(_name_), the most holy archdeacon of this holy Apostolic See of the Roman +Church. The good and chaste life of this man, beloved of God, was in the +opinion of all so deserving that none opposed his election, no one was +absent, and none dissented from it. For why should not men agree +unanimously upon him whom the incomparable and unfailing providence of our +God had foreordained to this office? For without doubt this had been +determined upon in the presence of God. So solemnly performing his decrees +and confirming with our signatures the desires of hearts concerning his +election, we have sent you our fellow-servants as the bearers of this +letter (_names_), most holy bishop (_name_), venerable presbyter (_name_), +regionary notary (_name_), regionary subdeacons (_names_), honorable +citizens, and from the most flourishing and successful Roman army +(_name_), most eminent consul, and (_names_) chief men, tribunes of the +army, begging and praying together that your excellency, whom may God +preserve, may with your accustomed goodness agree with our pious choice; +because he, who has been unanimously elected by our humility, is such that +so far as human discernment is able to see, no spot of reproach appears in +him. And therefore we beg and beseech you, by God's inspiration, to grant +our petition quickly, because there are many questions and other matters +arising daily which require for remedy the care of pontifical favor. And +the affairs of the province and the need of causes connected therewith +also seek and await the control of due authority. Besides we need some one +to keep the neighboring enemy in check, which can only be done by the +power of God, and of the Prince of the Apostles through his vicar, the +bishop of Rome; since it is well known that at various times the bishop of +Rome has driven off enemies by his warnings, and at other times he has +turned aside and restrained them by his prayers; so that by his words +alone, on account of their reverence for the Prince of the Apostles, they +have offered voluntary obedience, and thus they, whom the force of arms +had not overcome, have yielded to the warnings and prayers of the Pope. + +Since these things are so, we again and again beseech you, our exalted +lord, preserved by God, that, with the aid and inspiration of God in your +heart, you may quickly give orders to adorn the Apostolic See by the +completed ordination of the same, our father. And we, your humble +servants, on seeing our desires fulfilled, may then give unceasing thanks +to God and to you, and with our spiritual pastor, our bishop, enthroned in +the Apostolic Seat, we may pour out prayers for the life and health and +complete victories of our most exalted and Christian lords (_names_), the +great and victorious emperors, that the merciful God may give manifold +victories to their royal courage, and cause them to triumph over all +peoples, and that God may give them joy of heart, because the ancient rule +of Rome has been restored. For we know that he whom we have elected Pope +can, with his prayers, influence the divine omnipotence; and he has +prepared a joyful increase for the Roman Empire, and he will aid you in +this, in the government of this province of Italy, which is subject to +you, and will aid and protect all of us, your servants, through many +years. + +Subscription of the priests. + +I, (_name_), the humble archpriest of the holy Roman Church, have with +full consent subscribed to this document which we have made concerning +(_name_), most holy archdeacon, our bishop elect. + +And the subscription of the laity. + +I, (_name_), in the name of God, consul, have with full consent subscribed +to this document which we have made concerning (_name_), most holy +archdeacon, our bishop-elect. + + +(_d_) Paulus Diaconus, _Hist. Langobardorum_, IV, 44. (MSL, 95:581.) + + + Agilulf may have been a convert to the Catholic faith, _v. supra_, + § 99. His successors were not. In fact, not until 653, when + Aribert, the nephew of Theodelinda, ascended the throne, were the + Lombards permanently under Catholic rulers. + + +44. After Ariwald (626-636) had reigned twelve years over the Lombards he +departed this life, and Rothari of the family of Arodus took the kingdom +of the Lombards. He was a strong, brave man, and walked in the paths of +justice; in Christian faith, however, he did not hold to the right way, +but was polluted by the unbelief of the Arian heresy. The Arians say, to +their confusion, that the Son is inferior to the Father and, in the same +way, the Holy Ghost is inferior to the Father and the Son; we, Catholic +Christians, on the contrary, confess that the Father and the Son and the +Holy Ghost are one true God in three persons, equal in power and glory. In +the times of Rothari there were in nearly all the cities of his kingdom +two bishops, a Catholic and an Arian. + +To this very day there is shown in the city of Ticinus [Pavia] the place +where the Arian bishop resided, at the church of St. Eusebius, and held +the baptistery while the Catholic bishop was at the head of another +church. The Arian bishop, however, who was in this city, whose name was +Anastasius, accepted the Catholic faith and afterward ruled the Church of +Christ. This king Rothari caused the laws of the Lombards to be reduced to +writing and named the book _The Edict_; the law of the Lombards up to that +time had been retained merely in memory and by their use in the courts. +This took place, as the king in the preface to his law-book says, in the +seventy-seventh year(313) after the Lombards came into Italy. + + +§ 109. Rome, Constantinople, and the Lombards in the Period of the First +Iconoclastic Controversy; the Seventh General Council, Nicaea, A. D. 787 + + +By the eight century the veneration of pictures or icons had become +wide-spread throughout the Eastern Church. Apart from their due place in +the cultus, grave abuses and superstitions had arisen in many parts of the +Church in connection with the icons. To Leo III the Isaurian (717-741), +and to the army, the veneration of the icons, as practised by the +populace, and especially by the monks, seemed but little removed from the +grossest idolatry. Accordingly, in an edict issued in 726, Leo attempted +to put an end to the abuses by preventing all veneration of the icons. +Meeting with opposition, his measures passed from moderate to severe. In +Italy, although the use of icons was not developed to the same extent as +in the East, sympathy was entirely against the Iconoclasts. Gregory II +(715-731) and Gregory III (731-741) bitterly reproached and denounced the +action of the Emperor. Nearly all the exarchate willingly passed under the +power of the Lombards. Other parts of northern Italy also broke with the +Emperor. Leo retaliated by annexing Illyricum to the see of Constantinople +and confiscating the papal revenues in southern Italy. From that time the +connection between the Pope and the Emperor was very slight. The Emperor +Constantine V Copronymus (741-775) was more severe than his father, and in +many respects even fiercely brutal in his treatment of the monks. A synod +was assembled at Constantinople, 754, attended by three hundred and +thirty-eight bishops, who, as was customary in Eastern synods, supported +the Emperor. His son, Leo IV Chazarus (775-780) was less energetic and +disposed to tolerate the use of icons in private. But his widow, Irene, +the guardian of her infant son, Constantine VI, was determined to restore +the images or icons. A synod held at Constantinople in 786 was broken up +by the soldiery of the capital. In 787 at Nicaea, a council was called at a +safe distance and Iconoclasm was condemned. + + + Additional source material: _St. John Damascene on Holy Images_, + Eng. trans. by Mary H. Allies, 1898; St. John of Damascus, + _Exposition of the Orthodox Faith_, PNF, ser. II, vol. IX; + Percival, _Seven Ecumenical Councils_ (PNF). + + +(_a_) _Liber Pontificalis, Vita Gregorii_ II. Ed. Duchesne, I, 403. + + + Disorders in Italy consequent upon Iconoclasm. + + + The following passage from the _Liber Pontificalis_ gives a vivid + and, on the whole, accurate picture of the confusion in Italy + during the last years of the authority of the Eastern Roman Empire + in the peninsula. It is hardly likely that the Emperor ordered the + death of the pontiff as recorded, and more probable that his + over-officious representatives regarded it as a means of + ingratiating themselves with their master. The passage is strictly + contemporaneous, as the _Liber Pontificalis_, at least in this + part, is composed of brief biographies of Popes written + immediately after their decease and in some instances during their + lives. For a fuller statement of the whole period, see Hefele, §§ + 332 _ff._, who gives an abstract of the following and also of two + letters alleged to have been written by Gregory II to the Emperor, + which Hefele accepts as genuine. For a criticism of these letters, + see Hodgkin, _op. cit._, VI, 501-505. Hodgkin gives an excellent + account of King Liutprand in ch. XII of the same volume, pp. + 437-508, and throws much light on the following passage. + + + For the events immediately preceding this, see Paulus Diaconus, + _Hist. Langobardorum_, VI, 46-48, given above in § 106. Paulus + refers to the capture of Narnia in the last sentence of ch. 48. + and his next chapter is apparently a condensation of the following + sections of the official papal biography. + + +At that time [_circa_ A. D. 725] Narnia(314) was taken by the Lombards. +And Liutprand, the king of the Lombards, advanced upon Ravenna with his +entire army, and besieged it for some days. Taking the fortress of +Classis, he bore off many captives and immense booty. After some time the +duke Basilius, the chartularius Jordanes, and the subdeacon John, surnamed +Lurion, conspired to kill the Pope; and Marinus, the imperial spatarius, +who at that time held the government of the duchy of Rome, having been +sent by the command of the Emperor to the royal city, joined their +conspiracy. But they could not find an opportunity. The plot was broken up +by the judgment of God, and he therefore left Rome. Later Paulus, the +patrician, was sent as exarch to Italy, who planned how at length he might +accomplish the crime; but their plans were disclosed to the Romans, These +were so enraged that they killed Jordanes and John Lurion. Basilius, +however, became a monk and ended his life hidden in a certain place. But +the exarch Paulus, on the command of the Emperor, tried to kill the +pontiff because he hindered the levying of a tax upon the province, +intending to strip the churches of their property, as was done in other +places, and to appoint another [Pope] in his place. After this another +spatarius was sent with commands to remove the pontiff from his seat. Then +again the patrician Paulus sent, for the accomplishment of this crime, +such soldiers as he could withdraw from Ravenna, with his guard and some +from the camps. But the Romans were aroused, and from all sides the +Lombards gathered for the defence of the pontiff at the bridge of Solario, +in the district of Spoleto, and the dukes of the Lombards, surrounding the +Roman territories, prevented this crime. + +In a decree afterward sent, the Emperor ordered that there no longer +should be in any church an image(315) of any saint, or martyr, or angel +(for he said that all these were accursed); and if the pontiff assented he +should enjoy his favor, but if he prevented the accomplishment of this +also he should fall from his position. The pious man, despising therefore +the profane command of the prince, armed himself against the Emperor as +against an enemy, rejecting this heresy and writing everywhere to warn +Christians of the impiety which had arisen. + +Aroused by this, the inhabitants of the Pentapolis(316) and the armies of +Venetia resisted the command of the Emperor, saying that they would never +assent to the murder of the pontiff, but on the contrary would strive +manfully for his defence. They anathematized the exarch Paulus, him who +had sent him, and those who sided with him, refusing to obey them; and +throughout Italy all chose leaders(317) for themselves, so eager were all +concerning the pontiff and his safety. When the iniquities of the Emperor +were known, all Italy started to choose for itself an emperor and conduct +him to Constantinople, but the pontiff prevented this plan, hoping for the +conversion of the prince. + +Meanwhile, in those days, the duke Exhiliratus,(318) deceived by the +instigation of the devil, with his son Adrian, occupied parts of Campania, +persuading the people to obey the Emperor and kill the pontiff. Then all +the Romans pursued after him, took him, and killed both him and his son. +After this they chased away the duke Peter [governor of Rome under the +Emperor], saying that he had written against the pontiff to the Emperor. +When, therefore, a dissension arose in and about Ravenna, some consenting +to the wickedness of the Emperor and some holding to the pontiff and those +faithful to him, a great fight took place between them and they killed the +patrician Paulus [exarch at that time]. And the cities of Castra AEmilia, +Ferrorianus, Montebelli, Verabulum, with its towns, Buxo, Persiceta, the +Pentapolis, and Auximanum, surrendered to the Lombards.(319) After this +the Emperor sent to Naples Eutychius Fratricius, the eunuch, who had +formerly been exarch, to accomplish what the exarch Paulus, the spatarii, +and the other evil counsellors had been unable to do. But by God's +ordering his miserable craft was not so hidden but that his most wicked +plot was disclosed to all, that he would attempt to violate the churches +of Christ, to destroy all, and to take away the property of all. When he +had sent one of his own men to Rome with written instructions, among other +things, that the pontiff should be killed, together with the chief men of +Rome, this most bloody outrage was discovered, and the Romans would at +once have killed the messenger of the patrician if the opposition of the +Pope had not prevented them. But they anathematized the same exarch +Eutychius, binding themselves, great and small, by an oath, never to +permit the pontiff, the zealous guardian of the Christian faith and the +defender of the churches, to be killed or removed, but to be ready all to +die for his safety. Thereupon the patrician [Eutychius], promising many +gifts to the dukes and to the king of the Lombards, attempted to persuade +them by his messengers to abandon the support of the pontiff. But they +despised the man's detestable wiles contained in his letters; and the +Romans and the Lombards bound themselves as brothers in the bond of faith, +all desiring to suffer a glorious death for the pontiff, and never to +permit him to receive any harm, contending for the true faith and the +salvation of Christians. While they were doing this that father chose, as +a stronger protection, to distribute with his own hand such alms to the +poor as he found; giving himself to prayers and fastings, he besought the +Lord daily with litanies, and he remained always more supported by this +hope than by men; however, he thanked the people for their offer, and with +gentle words he besought all to serve God with good deeds and to remain +steadfast in the faith; and he admonished them not to renounce their love +and fidelity to the Roman Emperor. + +At that time in the eleventh indiction,(320) the castle of Sutri was taken +by the Lombards by craft, and was held by them for a period of forty +days,(321) but urged by the constant letters of the pontiff and warnings +sent to the king, when very many gifts had been made, as a gift at least +for all the towns, the king of the Lombards restored them and gave them as +a donation to the most blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. At the same time, +in the twelfth indiction [A. D. 729], in the month of January, for ten +days and more, a star, called Gold-bearing,(322) with rays, appeared in +the west. Its rays were toward the north and reached to the midst of the +heavens. At that time, also, the patrician Eutychius and King Liutprand +made a most wicked agreement, that when an army had been gathered the king +should subject Spoleto and Beneventum,(323) and the exarch of Rome, and +they should carry out what was already commanded concerning the pontiff. +When the king came to Spoleto, oaths and hostages were received from both +[_i.e._, the dukes of Spoleto and Beneventum], and he came with all his +troops to the Campus Neronis.(324) The pontiff went forth and presented +himself before him and endeavored to the extent of his ability to soften +the mind of the king by pious warnings, so that the king threw himself at +his feet and promised to harm no one; and he was so moved to compunction +by the pious warnings that he abandoned his undertaking and laid on the +grave of the Apostle his mantle, his military cloak, his sword belt, his +short two-edged sword, and his golden sword, as well as a golden crown and +a silver cross. After prayer he besought the pontiff to consent to make +peace with the exarch, which also was done. So he departed, for the king +forsook the bad designs with which he had entered into the plot with the +exarch. While the exarch remained in Rome, there came into Tuscany to +Castrum Maturianense,(325) a certain deceiver, Tiberius by name, called +also Petasius,(326) who attempted to usurp the rule of the Roman Empire +and deceived some of the less important, so that Maturianum, Luna, and +Blera [Bieda] took oath to him. The exarch, hearing of this, was troubled, +but the most holy Pope supported him, and, sending with him his chief men +and an army, he advanced and came to Castrum Maturianense. Petasius was +killed, his head was cut off and sent to Constantinople, to the prince; +nevertheless the Emperor showed no great favor to the Romans. + +After these things the malice of the Emperor became evident, on account of +which he had persecuted the pontiff. For he compelled all the inhabitants +of Constantinople, by force and persuasion, to displace the images of the +Saviour as well as of His holy mother, and of all saints, wherever they +were, and (what is horrible to tell) to burn them in the fire in the +middle of the city, and to whitewash all the painted churches. Because +very many of the people of the city withstood the commission of such an +enormity, they were subjected to punishment; some were beheaded, others +lost a part of their body. For this reason also, because Germanus, the +prelate of the church of Constantinople, was unwilling to consent to this, +the Emperor deprived him of his pontifical position, and appointed in his +place the presbyter Anastasius, an accomplice. Anastasius sent to the Pope +a synodical letter, but when that holy man saw that he held the same +error, he did not regard him as brother and fellow-priest, but wrote him +warning letters, commanding him to be put out of his sacerdotal office +unless he returned to the Catholic faith. He also charged the Emperor, +urging wholesome advice, that he should desist from such execrable +wickedness, and he warned him by letter.(327) + + +(_b_) John of Damascus, _De Fide Orthodoxa_, IV, 16. (MSG, 94:1168.) + + + John of Damascus (_ob. ante_ 754) was the last of the Church + Fathers of the East. He became the classical representative of the + theology of the Eastern Church, and his system forms the + conclusion and summing up of the results of all the great + controversies that had distracted that part of the Church. His + greatest work, _De Fide Orthodoxa_, may be found translated in + PNF. In the following chapter John sums up briefly the arguments + which he uses in his three orations _In Defence of Images_ (to be + found in MSG, 94:1227 _ff._; for translation see head of section). + By images one should understand pictures rather than statues. The + latter were never common and fell entirely out of use and were + forbidden. They seemed too closely akin to idols. In the + translation, the phrase "to show reverence" is the equivalent of + the Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}. + + +Since some find fault with us for showing reverence and honoring the image +of our Saviour and that of our Lady, and also of the rest of the saints +and servants of Christ, let them hear that from the beginning God made man +after His own image. On what other grounds, then, do we show reverence to +each other than that we are made after God's image? For as Basil, that +most learned expounder of divine things, says: "The honor given to the +image passes over to the prototype."(328) Now a prototype is that which is +imaged, from which the form is derived. Why was it that the Mosaic people +showed reverence round about the tabernacle which bore an image and type +of heavenly things, or rather the whole creation? God, indeed, said to +Moses: "Look that thou make all things after the pattern which was shewed +thee in the mount" [Ex. 33:10]. The Cherubim, also, which overshadowed the +mercy-seat, are they not the work of men's hands? What is the renowned +temple at Jerusalem? Is it not made by hands and fashioned by the skill of +men? The divine Scriptures, however, blame those who show reverence to +graven images, but also those who sacrifice to demons. The Greeks +sacrificed and the Jews also sacrificed; but the Greeks to demons; the +Jews, however, to God. And the sacrifice of the Greeks was rejected and +condemned, but the sacrifice of the just was acceptable to God. For Noah +sacrificed, and God smelled a sweet savor of a good purpose, receiving, +also, the fragrance of a good-will toward Him. And so the graven images of +the Greeks, since they were the images of demon deities, were rejected and +forbidden. + +But besides this, who can make an imitation of the invisible, incorporeal, +uncircumscribed, and formless God? Therefore to give form to the Deity is +the height of folly and impiety. And therefore in the Old Testament the +use of images was repressed. But after God, in the bowels of His mercy, +became for our salvation in truth man, not as He was seen by Abraham in +the semblance of a man, or by the prophets, but He became in truth man, +according to substance, and after He lived upon earth and dwelt among men, +worked miracles, suffered, and was crucified, He rose again, and was +received up into heaven; since all these things actually took place and +were seen by men, they were written for the remembrance and instruction of +us who were not present at that time, in order that, though we saw not, we +may still, hearing and believing, obtain the blessing of the Lord. But +since all have not a knowledge of letters nor time for reading, it +appeared good to the Fathers that those events, as acts of heroism, should +be depicted on images(329) to be a brief memorial of them. Often, +doubtless, when we have not the Lord's passion in mind and see the image +of Christ's crucifixion, we remember the passion and we fall down and show +reverence not to the material but to that which is imaged; just as we do +not show reverence to the material of the Gospel, nor to the material of +the cross, but that which these typify.(330) For wherein does the cross +that typifies the Lord differ from a cross that does not do so? It is the +same also as to the case of the Mother of God.(331) For the honor which is +given her is referred to Him who was incarnate of her. And similarly also +the brave acts of holy men stir us to bravery and to emulation and +imitation of their valor and to the glory of God. For, as we said, the +honor that is given to the best of fellow servants is a proof of good-will +toward our common lady, and the honor rendered the image passes over to +the prototype. But this is an unwritten tradition, just as is also to show +reverence toward the East and to the cross, and very many similar +things.(332) + +A certain tale is told also that when Augarus [_i.e._, Abgarus] was king +over the city of the Edessenes, he sent a portrait-painter to paint a +likeness of the Lord; and when the painter could not paint because of the +brightness that shone from His countenance, the Lord himself put a garment +over His divine and life-giving face and impressed on it an image of +Himself, and sent this to Augarus to satisfy in this way his desire. + +Moreover, that the Apostles handed down much that was unwritten, Paul the +Apostle of the Gentiles writes: Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold +the traditions which ye have been taught of us, whether by word or by +epistles [II Thess. 2:14]. And to the Corinthians he writes: Now I praise +you, brethren, that ye remembered me in all things and keep the traditions +as I have delivered them to you [I Cor. 2:2]. + + +(_c_) Basil the Great, _De Spiritu Sancto_, ch. 18. (MSG, 32:149.) + + + Basil is speaking of the three persons of the Trinity, and says + that although we speak of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we must + not count up "by way of addition gradually increasing from unity + to multitude," but that number must be understood otherwise in + speaking of the three divine persons. + + +How then, if one and one, are there not two Gods? Because we speak of a +king and of the king's image, and not of two kings. The power is not +parted nor the glory divided. The power ruling over us is one, and the +authority one, and so also the doxology ascribed by us is one and not +plural; because the honor paid to the image passes over to the prototype. + +Now what in the one case the image is by reason of imitation, that in the +other case the Son is by nature; and as in works of art the likeness is +dependent upon the form, so in the case of the divine and uncompounded +nature the union consists in the communion of the godhead. + + +(_d_) The Seventh General Council, Nicaea, A. D. 787, _Definition of +Faith_. Mansi, XIII, 398 _ff._ + + + In addition to Hefele, and PNF, ser. II. vol. XIV, see Mendham, + _The Seventh General Council, the Second of Nicaea, in which the + Worship of Images was Established; with copious notes from the + __"__Caroline Books,__"__ compiled by order of Charlemagne for its + Confutation_, London, n. d. + + +The holy, great and ecumenical synod which, by the grace of God and the +command of the pious and Christ-loving Emperors, Constantine, and Irene +his mother, was gathered together for the second time at Nicaea, the +illustrious metropolis of the eparchy of Bithynia, in the holy Church of +God which is named Sophia, having followed the tradition of the Catholic +Church, hath defined as follows: + +Christ our Lord, who hath bestowed upon us the light of the knowledge of +Himself, and hath redeemed us from the darkness of idolatrous madness, +having espoused to Himself His holy Catholic Church without spot or +defect, promised that He would so preserve her; and assured His holy +disciples, saying, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" +[Matt. 28:20], which promise He made, not only to them, but to us also who +through them should believe in His name. But some, not considering this +gift, and having become fickle through the temptation of the wily enemy, +have fallen from the right faith; for, withdrawing from the tradition of +the Catholic Church, they have erred from the knowledge of the truth, and +as the proverb saith: "The husbandmen have gone astray in their own +husbandry, and have gathered in their hands sterility," because certain +priests in deed, but not priests in reality, had dared to slander the +God-approved ornaments of the sacred monuments. Of whom God cries aloud +through the prophet: "Many pastors have corrupted my vineyard, they have +polluted my portion" [Jer. 12:10; _cf._ LXX]. And, forsooth, following +profane men, trusting to their own senses, they have calumniated His holy +Church espoused to Christ our God, and have not distinguished between holy +and profane, styling the images of the Lord and of His saints by the same +name as the statute of diabolical idols. Seeing which things, our Lord God +(not willing to behold His people corrupted by such manner of plague) hath +of His good pleasure called us together, the chief of His priests, from +every quarter, moved with a divine zeal and brought hither by the will of +our Emperors, Constantine and Irene, to the end that the divine tradition +of the Catholic Church may receive stability by our common decree. +Therefore, with all diligence, making a thorough examination and +investigation, and following the trend of the truth, diminishing naught, +adding naught, we preserve unchanged all things which pertain to the +Catholic Church, and following the six ecumenical synods, especially that +which met in this illustrious metropolis of Nicaea, as also that which was +afterward gathered together in the God-preserved royal city. + +We believe in one God {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} life of the world to come. Amen.(333) + +We detest and anathematize Arius and all who agree with him and share his +absurd opinion; also Macedonius and those who, following him, are well +styled foes of the Spirit.(334) We confess that our lady, St. Mary, is +properly and truly the Theotokos, because she bore, after the flesh, one +of the Holy Trinity, to wit, Christ our God, as the Council of Ephesus has +already defined, when it cast out of the Church the impious Nestorius with +his allies, because he introduced a personal [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}] duality [in +Christ]. With the Fathers of this synod we confess the two natures of Him +who was incarnate for us of the immaculate Theotokos and ever-Virgin Mary, +recognizing Him as perfect God and perfect man, as also the Council of +Chalcedon hath promulgated, expelling from the divine Atrium as +blasphemers, Eutyches and Dioscurus; and placing with them Severus, Peter, +and a number of others blaspheming in divers fashions. Moreover, with +these we anathematize the fables of Origen, Evagrius, and Didymus, in +accordance with the decision of the Fifth Council held at Constantinople. +We affirm that in Christ there are two wills and operations according to +the reality of each nature, as also the Sixth Council held at +Constantinople taught, casting out Sergius, Honorius, Cyrus, Pyrrhus, +Macarius, and those who are unwilling to be reverent and who agree with +these. + +To make our confession short, we keep unchanged all the ecclesiastical +traditions handed down to us, written or unwritten, and of these one is +the making of pictorial representations, agreeable to the history of the +preaching of the Gospel, a tradition useful in many respects, but +especially in this, that so the incarnation of the Word of God is shown +forth as real and not merely fantastic, for these have mutual indications, +and without doubt have also mutual significations. + +We, therefore, following the royal pathway and the divinely inspired +authority of our holy Fathers and the traditions of the Catholic Church +for, as we all know, the Holy Spirit dwells in her, define with all +certitude and accuracy, that just as the figure of the precious and +life-giving cross, so also the venerable and holy images, as well in +painting and mosaic, as of other fit materials, should be set forth in the +holy churches of God, and on the sacred vessels and on the vestments and +on hangings and in tablets both in houses and by the wayside, to wit, the +figure of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, of our spotless lady, the +Theotokos, of the venerable angels, of all saints, and of all pious +people. For by so much the more frequently as they are seen in artistic +representation, by so much the more readily are men lifted up to the +memory of their prototypes, and to a longing after them; and to these +should be given due salutation and honorable reverence [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}], not indeed that true worship [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}] which pertains alone to the divine nature; but to these, as to +the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, and to the book of the +Gospels and to other holy objects, incense and lights may be offered +according to ancient pious custom. For the honor which is paid to the +image passes on to that which the image represents, and he who shows +reverence [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PERISPOMENI~}] to the image shows reverence to the subject +represented in it. For thus the teaching of our holy Fathers, which is +called the tradition of the Catholic Church, which from one end of the +earth to the other hath received the Gospel, is strengthened. Thus we +follow Paul, who spake in Christ, and the whole divine Apostolic company +and the holy Fathers, holding fast the traditions which we have received. +So we sing prophetically the triumphal hymns of the Church: Rejoice +greatly, O daughter of Sion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Rejoice and +be glad with all thy heart. The Lord hath taken away from thee the +oppression of thy adversaries; thou art redeemed from the hand of thy +enemies: The Lord is a king in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil +any more, and peace be unto thee forever. + +Those, therefore, who dare to think or teach otherwise, or as wicked +heretics dare to spurn the traditions of the Church and to invent some +novelty, or else to reject some of those things which the Church hath +received, to wit, the book of the Gospels, or the image of the cross, or +the pictorial icons, or the holy relics of a martyr, or evilly and sharply +to devise anything subversive of the lawful traditions of the Catholic +Church, or to turn to common uses the sacred vessels and the venerable +monasteries, if they be bishops or clerics we command that they be +deposed; if religious(335) or laics, that they be cut off from communion. + + + + + +INDEX + + +The Analytical Table of Contents at the opening of this volume should be +used to supplement this Index. + +Acacius of Constantinople, 526, 536. + +Adoptionists, 172. + +Advent, second. See "Chiliasm." + +AElia Capitolina, 361. + +AEons. See "Gnosticism," "Basilides," "Valentinus." + +Africa, North, Church of, 157, 281. + See also "Tertullian," "Cyprian," "Donatism," "Augustine." + +_Agape_, 41. + +Agatho of Rome, 652. + +Agde, council of (A. D. 506), canons, 616. + +Alexander of Alexandria, 300 _f._, 302. + +Alexander of Jerusalem, 207. + +Alexandria, catechetical school of, 189-202. + +Alexandria, councils of (A. D. 320), 304; + (A. D. 362), 349-352; + (A. D. 430), anathematisms, 505 _ff._ + +Allegorism, or Allegorical Exegesis, 15 _f._, 120; + Origen on, 199 _f._; + Nepos on, 219 _f._; + Methodius on, 230; + Augustine on, 442 _f._ + +Alms, as expiation of sin, 48, 169-171. + +Ambrose of Milan, reply to Symmachus, 342-346; + epistle to Theodosius, 390 _f._; + invocation of saints, 397; + patron of monasticism, 409; + on Fall of Man, 438. + +Anastasius, emp., 527, 530, 575. + +Anastasius of Rome, condemnation of Origen, 487 _f._ + +Ancyra, council of (A. D. 358), 348, 412, 675. + +Angels, invocation of, 400. + +Anicetus of Rome, 164. + +Anointing, 484. + +Anthony, hermit, 248-251, 409. + +Antioch, council of (A. D. 269), 225 _ff._; + (A. D. 341), creed, 313 _f._; + canons, 362-364, 675. + +Antioch, school of, 504, 511. + +Apelles, 105. + +Aphthartodocetism, 553. + +Apollinaris the Elder, 334. + +Apollinaris of Laodicaea, 354, 494 _f._, 498. + +Apollinarius of Hierapolis, 111. + +Apollonius, Antimontanist, 108. + +Apologist, 69 _ff._; + theology of, 130 _ff._ + +Apostles, 8 _ff._, 40. + +Apostles' Creed, 123-126. + +Apostolic Age, 5-12. + +Apostolic churches, 111 _ff._ + +Apostolic Fathers, 13. + +Apostolic succession, 112-115, 122. + +Appeals to Emperor, 359, 370; + to Rome, Sardica on, 364-366; + rescript of Gratian and Valentinian on, 366 _f._ + +Archelaus, 82. + +Arian controversy, 297-320, 348-356. + +Arianism among the Germans: among the Goths, 426 _f._; + among the Lombards, 683 _f._ + +Aristides, Apology of, 69-72. + +Aristotelian philosophy, 174. + +Arius, 269, 293, 299 _f._; + epistle to Eusebius of Nicomedia, 302; + _Thalia_, 303; + confession, 307, 308. + +Arles, council of, 289-292. + +Artemon, 173. + +Asceticism, 46 _ff._, 105, 248. + +Asia Minor, theology of, 30-32, 135-139, 229 _ff._ + +Askidas, Theodore of, 546. + +Athanasius, on Sabellianism, 180; + on Dionysius of Alexandria, 223-225; + exile, 308, 310. + +Athenagoras, 133. + +_Audientia Episcopalis_, 380, 382 _f._ + +Augustine of Canterbury, 602-605. + +Augustine of Hippo, life and conversion, 433-436; + his type of piety, 437; + on Fall of Man and original sin, 438; + predestination, 440; + allegory, 442; + merit, 444; + on baptism, 448; + sacraments, 449; + repression of heresy, 450-453. + +Aurelian, emp., 227. + +Baptism, 39, 116, 167, 179 _f._, 184, 186, 213, 231-234, 292, 447 _f._, + 450, 452, 464. + +Baptism, rite of, 33, 38, 232, 484 _f._ + +Baptism of heretics, 243, 245-248, 292. + +Barbarian invasions, 420-423. + +Bardesanes, 54. + +_Barnabas, epistle of_, 14. + +Bartholomew, Apostle, 55. + +Basil of Caesarea, on Sabellianism, 181; + his charities, 395; + monastic rule, 405; + on tradition, 484; + on reverence shown images, 693. + +Basilides the Gnostic, 82 _ff._, 89, 91, 120. + +Basiliscus, emp., _Encyclion_ of, 523-526. + +Bede, the Venerable, 566, 569, 603 _ff._; + his Penitential, 629 _f._ + +Benedict of Nursia, _Rule_ of, 631-641. + +Bishops, apostolic appointment of, 37; + authority of, 31, 41, 42, 237-239, 265-270, 361-364; + election of, 556, 580 _f._; + State service of, 383 _f._; + succession of, 111, 115, 122, 128. + +Boniface II of Rome, 473. + +Braga, council of (A. D. 572), 619. + +Britain, Church in, 53, 566-570, 602-614. + +Caelestinus, the Pelagian, 455 _f._, 460. + +Caesarius of Arles, 621 _f._ + +Caesaropapism, 552 _ff._ + +Caius of Rome, 8. + +Callistus of Rome, 69, 175-177, 186. + +Canon. See "Council." + +Canon law, Quinisext Council on, 674-676. + +Canon of New Testament, 117 _ff._, 120, 122 _f._, 532. + +Caracalla, emp., 142 _f._, 149. + +Carthage, councils of (A. D. 256), 238; + (A. D. 390), 417; + (A. D. 418), 463-466. + +Cassian, on grace, 467-469; + on secular studies, 646 _f._ + +Cassiodorus, 530. + +Cassius, Dio, 11. + +Cataphrygians. See "Montanists." + +Cathari. See "Novatians." + +Celestinus of Rome, 374. + +Celibacy, laws permitting, 285; + of clergy, 411-418, 676. + +Celsus, 55-59, 158. + +Celtic Church in British Isles, 566-570. + +Cerdo, 102 _f._ + +Cerinthus, 81, 114. + +Chalcedon, council of (A. D. 451), 511-522. + +Character, doctrine of, 452. + +Charity, 24, 35, 41, 48, 71 _f._, 145, 157, 333, 394 _ff._ + +Chastity, 47, 344. + +Chiliasm, 25-27, 219-221. + +_Chorepiscopoi_, 364. + +Christology. See "Apollinaris," "Logos," "Monarchians," "Monophysites," + "Monotheletes," "Sabellius." + +Christotokos, Mary as the, 501. + +Chrysostom, John, 372, 491 _f._ + +Church, authority of, Augustine on, 454. + +Church, organization of, Post-Apostolic age, 36-42. + +Church and State, mutual relations, 530, 554. + +_Circumcelliones_, 323. + +Classical Literature, Christian use of, 334 _ff._, 645-648. + +Clemens, Flavius, 11 _f._ + +Clement of Alexandria, on Gnosticism, 84, 89, 92, 189; + on Greek philosophy, 190; + Christian Gnosticism, 191 _ff._ + +Clement of Rome, 7, 24, 36, 47, 129. + +Clergy, distinguished from laity, 167, 181 _f._; + exemption from civil burdens, 283 _f._; + subjection to bishops, 361. + See "Ordination." + +Clovesho, council of (A. D. 747), 611, 621. + +Clovis, king, 570-575. + +Code, of Justinian, 541; + of Theodosius II, 424. + +Coenobites, 405. + +Columba, 569. + +Columbanus, 585-590. + +Commodus, emp., 69. + +Confession, auricular, 384 _f._; + public, see "Penitential Discipline." + +Constans II, _Typos_ of, 662-664. + +Constantine I, Edict of Milan, 263; + fiscal policy, 277-281; + ecclesiastical patronage, 281-285; + repression of heathenism, 285-287; + ecclesiastical policy, 289-296. + +Constantinople, councils of (A. D. 381), 353, 369, 480; + (A. D. 382), 359, 498; + (A. D. 448), 512 _f._; + (A. D. 553), 551 _f._; + (A. D. 681), 665-671; + (A. D. 691), 673-679. + +Constantinople, see of, 354, 477-480, 521 _f._ + +Constantius, emp., 326-329, 331. + +Corinth, church of, 7-9. + +Cornelius of Rome, 157, 217. + +Councils, ecclesiastical, 110 _f._, 157, 177, 289; + general, in North Africa, 463; + provincial, 359 _f._; + relation of, to secular rulers, 369 _f._, 580. + +Creed, forms approximating to the Apostles', 32, 123-126. + +Creeds and confessions of faith, of Gregory Thaumaturgus, 222; + of Eusebius of Caeesarea, 305; + of Nicaea (A. D. 325), 305; + of Arius, 307; + II Antioch (A. D. 341), 313; + IV Antioch (A. D. 341), 314; + Nice (A. D. 359), 318; + Cyril of Jerusalem, 354; + Epiphanius of Salamis, 355; + Ulfilas, 426; + Antioch (A. D. 433), 510. + +Cyprian, on almsgiving, 169-171; + on the lapsed, 208-210, 214-217; + on the eucharist, 234-237; + on the episcopate, 237-242; + on the unity of the Church, 240-245; + on baptism by heretics, 245-248. + +Cyril of Alexandria, 373, 494, 504; + anathematisms against Nestorius, 505-507, 510, 520, note. + +Cyril of Jerusalem, 348, 354. + +Cyrus of Alexandria, 520, 660; + formula of union, 661 _f._ + +Dacia, Church in, 53. + +Damasus of Rome, 270, 366, 380 _f._ + +Deacon, 35, 37, 41. + +Deaconess, 21. + +Dead, prayers for, 169, 444 _f._, 624. + +Decius, emp., persecution under, 206-212. + +Decretals, Siricius on the force of, 417. + +_Decretum Gelasii_, 532-536. + +Demiurge, 90, 96. + +Deposition, 230, 363. + +_Didache_, 37, 46. + +Dio Cassius, on Domitian persecution, 11. + +Diocese, 354, 362, 611, 616-620. + +Diocletian, reorganization of the Empire, 257 _f._ + +Diocletian persecution, 258-262. + +_Diognetus, Epistle to_, 28. + +Dionysius of Alexandria, 219 _f._, 223 _ff._ + +Dionysius the Areopagite, 560-564. + +Dionysius of Corinth, 9, 24. + +Dionysius Exiguus, 530, 611, note. + +Dionysius of Rome, 223 _ff._, 226. + +Dioscurus of Alexandria, 511 _f._ + +Discipline, penitential, 42-49, 166 _f._, 169 _f._, 183-188, 213, 215 + _ff._, 362, 384 _f._, 624-630. + +Divorce, 169, 391, 393, 612. + +Docetism, 32, 92. + +Domitian, emp., 7, 11. + +Donatus and Donatism, 245, 287 _f._, 289 _ff._, 322-325, 445-454. + +Dynamistic Monarchianism, 172-175, 221, 225-229, 298. + +Easter, worship on, 164. + +Easter, controversy as to date, 161-165, 291, 295, 375, 570, 605 _ff._ + +Ecumenical Patriarch, Gregory the Great on the title, 592-595. + +Edessa, Christianity in, 54. + +Elvira, council of (A. D. 309), 386, 415. + +Emanations, Gnostic theory of, 85 _f._, 94 _f._ + +Encratites, 105. + +_Encyclion_. See "Basiliscus." + +Ephesus, church of, 9 _ff._, 116. + +Ephesus, council of (A. D. 431), 507-509; + (A. D. 449), 512. + +Epiphanius of Salamis, 228, 355. + +Episcopal courts of arbitration. See "_Audientia Episcopalis_." + +Episcopate, 237-239. + +_Epistula pacis_, 215. + +Eucharist, 18, 21, 30 _f._, 34, 38, 41, 42, 116, 138 _f._, 231-237, 449, + 622-624. + +Eusebius of Caesarea, 8, 305, 309. + +Eusebius of Nicomedia, 299, 302, 308, 310. + +Eusebius of Rome, 270. + +Eustathius, 309, 348. + +Eutyches and Eutychian controversy, 511-522. + +Evagrius Scholasticus, 274. + +_Exomologesis_, 185. + +Extension of Christianity, 18, 52-55, 156-159, 425-429, 566-570, 570-573, + 602-605. + +Fasting, 33, 38, 48 _f._, 71, 99, 166, 171, 232, 678. + +Felicissimus, 212, 215-217. + +Felicitas. See "Perpetua." + +Felix of Aptunga, 291. + +_Fihrist_ of An Nadim, on Mani, 252-256. + +_Filioque_, addition of, to the Creed, 577. + +Firmilian, epistle of, on Stephen of Rome, 242-245. + +Flavian of Constantinople, 512 _ff._ + +Flora, Epistle of Ptolemaeus to, 95-102. + +_Formula Macrostichos_, 180. + +Franks, conversion of, 570 _ff._ + +Galen, 174. + +Galerius, emp., 260, 262. + +Gangra, council of, canons, 386, 413. + +Gelasius of Rome, 531, 532-536. + +Germans, Christianity among, 53. + +Germanic State Church, 579-589. + +Gladiatorial combats, abolishment of, 389. + +Gnosticism, 50, 75-106, 126 _f._ See also "Simon," "Menander," "Cerdo," + "Basilides," "Valentinus," "Ptolemaeus." + +Gospels, 35, 118, 120, 123. + +Grace, controversy on. See "Augustine," "Pelagian Controversy," + "Semi-Pelagian Controversy." + +Gratian, emp., 366. + +Gregory of Nazianzus, 353, 496 _f._ + +Gregory of Nyssa, 502 _f._ + +Gregory of Tours, 571 _ff._, 581 _ff._ + +Gregory Thaumaturgus, 221 _f._ + +Gregory the Great, 388, 590-602. + +Hadrian, emp., 153. + +Hatfield, council of (A. D. 680), 612. + +Heathen slanders against Christianity, 61-64. + +Heathenism, repression of, 285-287, 320-322, 346 _f._, 370-374, 557. + +Heathenism, revival of, 330-336, 339. + +Heathenism in the Church, 396 _f._, 400 _f._ + +Heliogabalus, emp., religious policy of, 152. + +_Henoticon_ of Zeno, 526-529. + +Heraclius, emp., 540, 660. + +Heraclius, schism of, 270. + +Heresy, laws against, 368, 372, 450-453. + +Heretics, baptism of. See "Baptism." + +Hermas, 43, 47, 48, 184. + +Hertford, council of (A. D. 672), 609 _ff._ + +Hierapolis, council of, 110. + +Hierarchy, 128 _f._, 237 _f._, 360 _ff._, 562 _f._ + +Hieronymus. See "Jerome." + +Hilary of Poitiers, 316, 319. + +Hippolytus, 68, 105, 108, 175-178. + +Homoiousian party, rise of, 315-320. + +_Homoiousios_, 316, 319, 348. + +_Homoousios_, 306, 309, 316, 319, 348. + +Honorius, emp., 420 + +Honorius of Rome, 671 _f._ + +Hormisdas of Rome, 536. + +Hosius, 299. + +Hospitality, 40. + +Hylics, 92 _f._ + +Hymns, Christian, 21, 173. + +Hypatia, 373. + +_Hypostasis_, 193, 300, 306, 309, 315, 319, 349 _ff._ + +Ibas. See "Three Chapters, controversy on." + +Iconoclasm, 684 _ff._ + +Ignatius of Antioch, 22, 30, 41 _f._ + +Images, controversy on, 684 _ff._ + +Incorruptibility, 136 _ff._ + +India, Christianity in, 55. + +Irenaeus, on John, 26; + on Gnosticism, 78-81, 85 _f._, 92 _f._; + on apostolic tradition and churches, 112-114; + on the gospels, 120; + on Apostles' Creed, 123 _ff._; + on redemption, 136-138; + on eucharist, 139 _f._; + on Easter controversy, 163 _f._ + +Irene, empress, 685. + +Istrian schism, 596-600. + +Jerome, on fall of Rome, 421-423; + on text of New Testament, 485; + on Origen, 486 _f._ + +Jews, relation of, to the Christians, 14-18. + +John, Apostle, death of, 9, 10; + chiliastic teaching, 26 _f._; + in Ephesus, 114, 116, 118; + founds order of bishops, 122. + +John of Damascus on images, 691-693. + +Jovian, emp., 337, 339. + +Julia Mammaea, 153 _f._ + +Julian, emp., early life, 325-329; + habits, 329 _f._; + opens temples, 330; + his ecclesiastical and religious policy, 330-334; + forbids Christians to teach classics, 334-336. + +Julius of Rome, 310; + epistle of, 311; + appeals allowed to, 364. + +Justin Martyr, on Jews, 16; + extension of Christianity, 18; + chiliastic views, 27; + on Christian worship, 32-35; + defence of Christianity, 72-75, 135. + +Justin I, emp., 540. + +Justinian I, emp., 541; + anathematisms against Origen, 542 _f._; + Aphthartodocetism, 553 _f._; + ecclesiastical legislation, 383, 554-560. + +Lactantius, 206. + +Lamb as image of Christ, 678 _f._ + +Laodicaea, council of (c. A. D. 343), 399 _f._ + +_Lapsi_, 208-212, 214-217. + +Law, Mosaic, Gnostic conception of, 95 _ff._, 104. + +Laws against Christianity, 19-22, 56, 145, 211. + +Laws in favor of the Church, 281-285. + +Legacy-hunting by clergy forbidden, 381 _f._ + +Legislation, influence of the Church on, 284 _f._, 385 _f._ + +Leo of Rome, on the Priscillianists, 378; + on auricular confession, 384; + on clerical celibacy, 417 _f._; + represents Roman people, 476; + on Petrine prerogatives, 476 _f._; + condemns 28th canon of Chalcedon, 478 _f._; + on apostolic sees, 480; + his course in Eutychian controversy, 511 _f._; + his _Tome_, 514. + +_Libellatici_, 158, 209 _f._, 214 _f._ + +_Libelli pacis_, 187, 215, 292. + +_Libri poenitentiales_, 626-630. + +Licinius, emp., 263-265. + +_Little Labyrinth_, 173-175. + +Liutprand, king, 659, 686-690. + +Logos, 72 _f._, 130-132, 171, 176, 193 _f._, 227 _ff._, 298 _f._, 304, + 313. + +Lombard Church, 597 _ff._, 683 _f._ + +Lombards, 589, 600-602. + +Lord's Day, 41, 232, 284. + +Lord's Prayer with Doxology, 38. + +Lord's Supper. See "Eucharist." + +Lucian of Samosata, 55, 59-61. + +Lucian the martyr, 303; + creed of, 313. + +Luke, Gospel of, mutilated by Marcion, 103. + +Luxeuil, foundation of, 587 _f._ + +Macedonian heresy, 353 _f._, 524, 552, 666. + +Magic among the Gnostics, 80, 87. + +Malchion, 225 _ff._ + +Mani and Manichaeanism, 127, 252-256, 372; + laws against, 375, 559 _f._; + persecution of, 376; + Augustine on, 454 _f._ + +Marcellus of Ancyra, 310 _ff._ + +Marcia, concubine of Commodus, 69. + +Marcian, emp., 510. + +Marcion, Gnostic, 103-106, 114, 119, 122. + +Marcionites, 127. + +Marius Mercator, on Pelagianism, 460. + +Mark, Gospel of, 123. + +Marriage, Christian, 106, 108, 168 _f._; + compared with virginity, 168, 393; + indissolubility of, 43, 169, 392 _f._, 612; + second, 47, 169, 182. + +Martin of Rome, 660. + +Martin of Tours, 410, 427 _ff._ + +Martyrdom, 65 _f._, 66-68. + +Martyrs, anniversaries of, 401; + merits of, 167, 187, 212 _f._; + intercession of, 399. + +Mary, the Virgin, 30, 70, 81; + is Theotokos, 505, 511, 518, 520. + +Massilians, 467. + +Maximilla, Montanist prophetess, 107 _f._, 110. + +Maximinus Thrax, emp., persecution under, 154 _f._ + +Maximus the Confessor, 660. + +Melchizedek, 173. + +Meletius and the Meletian schism, 266-270, 293 _f._ + +Meletius, Bishop of Antioch, 349. + +Memnon of Ephesus, 504. + +Menander, 81. + +Merovingian Church, 581 _ff._ + +Methodius of Olympus, his theory of recapitulation, 229 _f._; + on the resurrection of the body, 230. + +Metropolitans, 361, 363 _f._ + +Milan, church of, 596 _ff._ + +Milan, edict of, 263-265. + +Minucius Felix, 61-64. + +Miracles, Christian, 56, 153. + +Mithras, 34, 150 _f._ + +Monarchian controversies, 171-181, 221-229. + +Monasteries, subject to bishops, 407. + See also "Monasticism." + +Monastic rules. See "Basil," "Benedict of Nursia," "Pachomius," + "Columbanus." + +Monasticism, 248-251, 401-411, 586 _ff._, 617 _f._, 630-644. + +Monophysite churches, 538 _f._ + +Monophysite controversies, 511-514, 516 _f._, 522-529. + +Monothelete controversy, 516, 539, 652 _f._, 660-672. + +Montanism in the West, 145, 179, 181 _f._ + +Montanus and Montanism, 106 _ff._, 109 _ff._, 120, 127, 372. + +Moralism and moralistic Christianity, 45 _ff._, 134, 165 _ff._ + +Morality, Christian, 28, 70 _ff._, 188. + +Morality, double, 46, 48. + +Moslems, 653-659. + +_Muratorian Fragment_, 117-120. + +Natalius, confessor, 174. + +Neo-Platonism, 202-204, 430 _ff._ + +Nepos, schism of, 219-221. + +Nero, emp., persecution by, 5-7, 9. + +Nestorian controversy, 504-511. + +Nestorius, fragments on the doctrine of, 501 _f._ + +New-Nicene Party, 348 _f._ + +Nicaea, council of (A. D. 325), 292-295; + creed of, confirmed at Constantinople, A. D. 381, 353; + canons of, 360-362, 412; + doctrine of, enforced by law, 368; + Goths present at, 425; + (A. D. 787), definition of, 694-697. + +Nice, Creed of, 318. + +Ninian, 569. + +Noetus, 109, 175, 178. + +Novatian and Novatians, 217, 245, 247, 295 _f._, 374. + +Oak, synod of the, 492. + +_Oblati_, 639, 642. + +Oblation, 168. + +Offerings, 41. + +Optatus, on sacraments and the Catholic Church, 446 _f._ + +Orange, council of (A. D. 529), canons of, against Pelagianism, 472-476. + +Ordination, of clergy, 41; + of bishops, 239. + +Origen, 144, 153; + on eternal generation of the Son, 193; + eternal creation, 194; + pre-existence of souls, 195; + redemption, 196 _f._; + universal salvation, 198 _f._; + allegorism, 199; + persecution, 206; + martyrdom, 212 _f._; + errors of, 486, 489; + condemnation of by Anastasius, 487 _f._ + +Origenistic controversies, first, 483, 486-493; + second, 541 _ff._ + +Original Sin, Augustine on, 438-440; + Pelagius on, 458, 460, 464 _f._; + council of Orange, 473-475. + +Orleans, council of (A. D. 511), 580, 618; + (A. D. 541), 618; + (A. D. 549), 580, 619. + +Orthodoxy, enforcement of, 367, 370. + +Ostrogoths, Church under, 529 _f._ + +_Ousia_ distinguished from _hypostasis_, 348 _f._ + +Pachomius, _Rule_ of, 402-405. + +Palladius, bishop in Ireland, 567. + +Pallium, 591, 604. + +Pantaenus, 55, 189. + +Papias, chiliastic ideas of, 25 _f._ + +Paris, council of (A. D. 557), 581. + +Parish, 616-620. + +Patriarchates, 354, 359, 361. + +Patrick, Irish missionary, 567-569. + +Patripassianism, 125, 175 _ff._ + +Paul, Apostle, death of, 8, 9, 23, 112 _f._, 116; + epistles of, 68, 103 _f._, 119, 122. + +Paul of Samosata, 221, 225-229. + +Paulinus of Antioch, 349. + +Paulus Diaconus, 600 _ff._ + +Pelagian controversy, 455-466. + +Pelagius, 455; + Augustine on, 456 _f._; + statement of position, 457 _f._; + epistle to Demetrias, 458-460; + his confession of faith, 461; + condemnation at Carthage, 463-465; + condemnation at Ephesus, 508. + +Penances, 626-630. + +Penitential discipline. See "Discipline, penitential." + +Pentecost, feast of, 165 _f._ + +Peregrinus Proteus, 59-61. + +_Perpetua and Felicitas, Passion of_, 145-149. + +Persecution. See under name of Emperor. + +Persia, Christians in, 54. + +Peter, Apostle, death of, 8; + at Rome, 9, 23, 112 _f._, 116, 123. + +Peter of Alexandria, 270. + +Peter Fullo, 535 _f._ + +Peter Mongus, 535 _f._ + +Petrine authority, 180, 186, 243 _f._, 447, 477-481, 532. + +Philip, Apostle, death of, 11. + +Philip the Arabian, emp., religious policy of, 156. + +Philippopolis, council of (A. D. 343), 364. + +Philo Judaeus, 135. + +Philosophy, 72 _f._, 78, 174, 190, 192. + +Phocas, emp., 595. + +Phrygian heresy, 375. See "Montanism." + +Pictures. See "Icons." + +Plato, 73 _f._ + +Pleroma, Gnostic doctrine of, 90. + +Pliny the Younger, epistle to Trajan, 19. + +Pneumatics, 93. + +Polycarp, 113, 129, 163 _f._ + +Polycrates, 10, 162. + +Poor. See "Charity." + +Pope. See "Rome, Bishop of," also name of individual popes. + +Pope, title of, 215, 408, note. + +Porphyry, epistle to Marcella, 202-204. + +Praxeas, 125 _f._, 178 _f._ + +Prayer, 33 _f._, 38, 72, 165, 184. + +Prayer, times of, 38, 166. + +Prayers to saints, 397-399. + +Predestination, 136, 440-442. + +Presbyter, 31, 37, 41, 82. + +Priscilla, Montanist, 107, 110. + +Priscillianists, 375, 378 _ff._ + +Prophecy, argument from Hebrew, 74, 134. + +Prophets, Christian, 40 _f._ + +Prosecution of Christians, 20, 66-68. + +Pseudo-Dionysius. See "Dionysius the Areopagite." + +Psychics, 92 _f._ + +Ptolemaeus, martyr, 65 _f._ + +Ptolemaeus, 93; + epistle to Flora, 95-102. + +Pulcheria, empress, 512. + +Quartodecimans, 108. + +Quinisext Council (A. D. 692), 413-415, 673-679. + +Ravenna, exarchate of, 653, 680, 684, 686 _ff._ + +Real Presence, 31, 34, 231, 235. + +Reccared, Visigothic king, 575-579. + +Redemption, Asia Minor conception of, 136; + Origen's conception, 196 _f._ + +_Regula fidei_, 125. + +Relics, 398. + +Remission of sin after baptism, 44, 184. + +Resurrection of Christ, 59. + +Resurrection of the body, 116, 230. + +Rhodon, 104 _f._ + +Robber synod of Ephesus (A. D. 449), 512. + +Roman government, attitude of, toward Christians, 20-22, 64-69, 142-145, + 151-154, 205-208, 258 _f._ + +Rome, appeals to, 364-366. + +Rome, bishops of, list of, 113; + election of, 679-683. + +Rome, councils of, under Cornelius, 217; + under Julius, 310; + under Martin, 614, 664 _f._ + +Rome, see of, and the Unity of the Church, 240-245. + +Rome, see of, authority of, _potior principalitas_, 113; + statement of Siricius on, 416; + _causa finita est_, 462 _f._; + statement of Leo the Great, 480, _f._; + of Gelasius, 532. + +Rome, see of, separation from the Churches of Asia Minor, 161-165. + +Rufinus, 489. + +Sabellius and Sabellianism, 180 _f._, 223 _ff._, 300, 309, 352, 354. + +Sacraments, nature of, 447, 449 _f._, 564. + See also "Baptism" and "Eucharist." + +Sacrifice of the mass, 622. + +Saints, prayers to, 397, 399. + +Sardica, council of (A. D. 343), canons, 364. + +Saturninus, Gnostic, 106. + +Schism. See under "Novatian," "Felicissimus," "Meletius," "Heraclius," + "Donatism," "Istrian." + +Schools, mediaeval, 644, 650 _f._ + +Scilitan Martyrs, 66-68. + +Semi-Arians, 316. + +Semi-Pelagians, 466-476. + +Severus, Alexander, emp., religious policy of, 152 _ff._ + +Severus, Septimius. emp., 141-149. + +Simon Magus, 78 _f._, 103. + +Siricius of Rome, decretal of, 415-417. + +Sirmium, council and creed of (A. D. 357), 316. + +Sixtus of Rome, 211. + +Slaves, manumission of, 385, 387; + canons on treatment of, 386-388. + +Socrates, Greek philosopher, 72 _f._, 131 _f._ + +Socrates, ecclesiastical historian, 274. + +Soter of Rome, 24. + +Sozomen, ecclesiastical historian, 274. + +Spain, Church in, 53, 158, 575 _ff._ + +Spirit, Holy, 133, 187, 349, 351, 353, 577 _ff._ See also "Trinity." + +State Church, 356, 358-384, 553-557, 579-585. + +Stephen of Rome, 242-245. + +_Subintroductae_, 226, 412. + +Suevi, 571, 575, _f._ + +Sulpicius Severus, 410 _f._, 427 _ff._ + +Sunday, 35, 284. + +Sylvester of Rome, 291. + +Symbol. See "Creed." + +Symmachus of Rome, 530. + +Symmachus, prefect of Rome, 339-342. + +Synods. See "Council" and under place-name. + +Syria, Christianity in, 54. + +Syzygies, Gnostic doctrine of, 90, 94. + +Tabenna, first cloister, 402. + +Tacitus on Christians, 6. + +Tatian, 106 _f._ + +Telemachus, monk, 389. + +Temples, destruction of, 372 _f._ + +Tertullian, on extension of Christianity, 52-54; + on Gnostics, 77 _f._; + on Marcion, 104; + on apostolic churches, 114-116, 122, 129; + on the creed, 125 _f._; + in defence of Christians, 142 _f._, 145; + on prayer, 165; + on fasting, 166; + on baptism, 167, 232 _f._; + on merit, 167 _f._; + on marriage, 168 _f._; + against Praxeas, 178 _f._; + on discipline, 184-188. + +Theodelinda, Lombard queen, 597 _f._ + +Theodore of Canterbury, organization of English Church, 609-614; + penitential, 627-629; + founds schools, 650. + +Theodore of Mopsuestia, his creed, 498-500; + fragments on Christology, 500 _f._ + See also "Three Chapters." + +Theodoret of Cyrus, 127; + creed, 510. + See also "Three Chapters." + +Theodosius I, ecclesiastical policy, 352 _f._; + requires orthodoxy, 367; + represses heathenism, 368; + massacre at Thessalonica, 300 _f._; + dynasty of, 420 _f._ + +Theodosius II, issues Theodosian code, 424 _f._; + engages in Nestorian controversy, 504, 510; + in Eutychian controversy, 511 _f._ + +Theodotus of Byzantium, 172. + +Theodotus the leather-worker, 110, 173 _f._ + +Theopaschites, 523, 541 _f._ + +Theophilus of Alexandria, attacks Chrysostom, 491-493. + +Theophilus of Antioch, on Logos doctrine, 132; + on Trinity, 134. + +Theotokos, Mary as the, 505, 511, 518, 520. + +Three Chapters, controversy on, 544-552; + condemnation of, 551 _f._; + schisms resulting from condemnation, 596 _ff._ + +Toledo, council of (A. D. 531), on schools, 649; + (A. D. 589), conversion of Visigoths, 575-579. + +Toleration of Christians by Edict of Milan, 263 _ff._ + +Tradition, 109, 111 _ff._; + Basil on, 484. + +_Traditores_, 291 _f._ + +Trajan, emp., epistle to Pliny, 22. + +Trinity, 112 _ff._, 171-181, 222-225, 368. + +_Trisagion_, 541 _f._ + +_True Word_ of Celsus, 56-59. + +_Typos_ of Constans II, 662-664. + +Ulfilas, 425-427; + his creed, 426. + +Unity of the Church, 240-245. + +Universal salvation, 198. + +Valens, emp., 337, 339. + +Valentinian I, emp., 337 _ff._ + +Valentinus, Gnostic, 78, 88-95, 106, 120. + +Valerian, emp., persecution under, 205, 210 _f._ + +Vicariate of Arles, 591 _f._ + +Victor of Rome, 162 _ff._, 174. + +Victorinus, philosopher, 431-433. + +Vigilantius, 397 _ff._ + +Vigilius of Rome, his _Judicatum_, 544; + oath to Justinian, 545; + _Constitutum_, 547-551. + +Vincent of Lerins, rule of Catholic faith, 471; + on grace, 472. + +Virgin-birth of Jesus, 30, 31. + +Virginity compared with marriage, 168, 393 _f._ + +Visigothic Church, 575-579. + +Whitby, council of, 605 _ff._ + +Will, freedom of, Theophilus on, 134; + Pelagius on, 457 _ff._; + John Cassian on, 469. + +Worship, Christian, 21, 32-35, 38 _f._, 156, 165, 231-237, 578. + +Xystus of Rome. See "Sixtus." + +Zeno, emp., _Henoticon_, 526-529. + +Zephyrinus of Rome, 176 _f._ + +Zosimus of Rome, on Pelagius, 463. + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 See Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, III, 23, who gives quotations from + Irenaeus. This passage also gives a lengthy extract from the work of + Clement of Alexandria, _Quis dives salvetur_, bearing on St. John's + life at Ephesus (ANF. II, 591-604). + + 2 Reign of Domitian, 81-96. + + 3 Pontia was an island near Pandataria. The group is known as Pontiae + Insulae. See DCB, art. "Domitilla, Flavia;" Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, + ed. McGiffert (PNF, ser. II, vol. I), III, 18, notes 4-6; also + Lightfoot, _Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians_, p. 22, n. + 1. + + 4 There are three leading critical editions of the Apostolic Fathers: + + _Patrum Apostolicorum Opera_, edited by A. von Gebhardt, A. Harnack, + and Th. Zahn, Leipsic, 1876, 1877, reprinted 1894 and since. + + _Opera Patrum Apostolicorum_, edited by F. X. Funk, Tuebingen, 1881. + There is a very inexpensive reprint of the text in Krueger's + _Sammlung ausgewaehlter kirchen- und dogmengeschichtlicher + Quellenschriften_, 2te Reihe, 1 Heft. Funk's text is used in the + following sections, but as the Apostolic Fathers are everywhere + accessible no references are given to Migne. + + _The Apostolic Fathers_, edited by J. B. Lightfoot, second ed., part + I, 2 vols. (Clement of Rome), London, 1890; part II, 3 vols. + (Ignatius and Polycarp), London, 1889; smaller ed. (containing all + the Apostolic Fathers), London. 1890. + + The most recent edition of the Apostolic Fathers is that of Kirsopp + Lake, in the _Loeb Classical Library_, 1912 (text and translation on + opposite pages). + +_ 5 Cf._ Matt. 24:6, 22; Mark 13:7, 20. These words do not occur in the + book of Enoch. + + 6 The writer quotes Ex. 31:18; 34:28; 32:7; Deut. 9:12. + +_ 7 I.e._, so that they believed that circumcision should be made in + the flesh and not taken spiritually. + + 8 {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA~} or {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} = {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. T was taken as a picture of a cross. For the Tau + or Egyptian cross, see DCA, art. "Cross." The method of allegorical + interpretation here used is that species known as gematria, in which + the numerical equivalence of letters composing a word is employed as + a key to mystic meaning. This differs somewhat from the ordinary + gematria, for which see Farrar, _History of Interpretation_, 1886, + pp. 98 _ff._, 445 _f._ Barnabas is by no means singular among early + Christians in resorting to Jewish allegorical interpretation. + + 9 For the same charge brought against the Jews of stirring up + hostility against the Christians, see Tertullian, _Ad Nationes_, I, + 14; _Adv. Marcionem_, III, 23; _Adv. Judaeos_, 13; Origen, _Contra + Celsum_, VI, 27. + +_ 10 Cf._ Mai. 1:10-12. + + 11 The Christians at Rome seem, according to this statement, to have + been in such a position that they might be able to interfere in the + case of prisoners. + + 12 A possible reference to the presence of Peter and Paul at Rome, but + by no means certain, as epistolatory commands would fulfil the + conditions better. The connection of Peter with Rome, however, is + very significant. + + 13 It can not be concluded from this that Ignatius was of servile + condition. His journey to Rome in chains might be enough here to + explain the language, especially when the style of Ignatius is + considered. + + 14 Such were evidently Gnostics, as shown by their rejection of the God + of the Jews. + + 15 Piaculum. + + 16 Clement alters the passage slightly; see Is. 60:17. + + 17 The Greek is {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~} (_episcope_), meaning primarily "oversight." + + 18 This seems to be the occasion for this letter to the Corinthians. As + they appear to be several, they correspond to presbyters rather than + to bishops, and the use of the term "presbyters" in the passage + sustains this interpretation. + + 19 The word rendered daily is {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, the same as that used in Matt. + 6:11. + + 20 Note the doxology also at the end of the other prayers. + + 21 The sense is: If a prophet speaking in the Spirit commands a meal to + be prepared for the poor and should himself eat of it, it would be + apparent that he ordered it for himself. But if he eats he must be a + false prophet. + + 22 A most difficult and obscure passage. Various interpretations have + been proposed; see the various editions of the Apostolic Fathers, + especially Funk's. The rendering here given is strictly literal. + + 23 This passage is quoted at length by Clement of Alexandria, + _Stromata_, II, 12, 13. + + 24 The first part of this quotation has not been identified; the + conclusion is Matt. 7:23. + +_ 25 Cf._ Acts 2:9 _ff._ + + 26 Probably Palestine is here meant. + + 27 The great Syrian goddess Atargatis. + + 28 Reference is obscure. + + 29 A reference to astrological doctrine. + + 30 There is good reason for believing that by India is meant what is + now understood as India, and not Arabia. There was no little + intercourse between India and the West, and we have the direct + testimony of Dio Chrysostom, circa 100, that there was intercourse + between Alexandria and India, and that Indians came to Alexandria to + study in the schools of that city. See DCB, art. "Pantaenus." + + 31 Probably the Gnostics. + + 32 He had given his property to his native place. + + 33 Fronto. See W. Smith, _Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography_. + +_ 34 Cf._ Hermas, _Pastor_, Sim. V, 3. ANF, II, 34. + +_ 35 I.e._, the Logos; _cf._ previous chapter. + + 36 See Plato, _Timaeus_, p. 28_c_. + + 37 For a remarkable passage on the moral influence of Christ's teaching + as a proof of the truth of His message, see Origen, _Contra Celsum_, + I, 67 _f._ + + 38 For a discussion of this Helena, see Bousset, _Die Hauptprobleme der + Gnosis_, 1907, pp. 77 _ff._ + + 39 Probably to be identified with his _Exegetica_. + + 40 Query: the antagonism between good and evil. + + 41 Very obscure: see ANF, and Routh, _ad loc._, and Neander, _Ch. + Hist._, I, 402. + + 42 Routh, _loc. cit._, proposes as an emendation, "declared to be + made." + + 43 A mystic name; it is the Hebrew for "line upon line," see Is. 28:10. + It means norm or rule. + +_ 44 Cf._ the doctrine of redemption among the Marcosians, a branch of + the Valentinians, stated in Irenaeus, _Adv. Haer._, I, 215. + + 45 Generally spoken of as hylics. + +_ 46 Cf._ introductory note to following selection. + + 47 The term used for a sending forth is {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~} or emanation, and is + constantly used in Gnosticism; hence the objection on the part of + the majority of Christian theologians to the use of the term in + describing the relations of the members of the Trinity. + + 48 This negative seems to spoil the sense of the passage, and is + omitted in some editions. + + 49 Simplicity is always regarded in ancient thought as a characteristic + of Deity. + + 50 According to another reading, of this one. + + 51 A city of Thrace on the Black Sea. + + 52 See this passage as quoted in Eusebius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 6, and + McGiffert's notes. + + 53 By a slight change in the order of the words, as suggested by + Neander, the last two clauses might read more clearly: "To judge the + quick and also the dead through the resurrection of the flesh." + + 54 Reference to the creation of the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth + day of creation. + + 55 Probably his wet-nurse was a Christian. + + 56 On the occasion of his triumphal entry into Rome. + + 57 From here text in Kirch, nn. 84 _ff._ + + 58 Probably the reference is to the privilege of celebrating the + eucharist, and not merely the reception of the sacrament from the + hands of Anicetus. + + 59 Here, as elsewhere in Tertullian, the oblation, or sacrifice, or + offering, is the prayers of the faithful, and not the eucharist. + + 60 The word substance as used here in connection with the nature of the + Trinity has not taken its later meaning and use. + +_ 61 I.e._, the followers of Praxeas, who are here introduced as + speaking. + + 62 Not {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}, but {~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}. + +_ 63 Sacerdotes_, and so throughout. + + 64 A person married a second time, _i.e._, after the death of his first + wife. + +_ 65 Cf._ Acts 2:22. + + 66 Proverbs 4:8, 9. + +_ 67 I.e._, having rule over all, not merely able to do all, and so + throughout. + + 68 The Greek is preserved here and throws light on the reasoning. The + Latin _omnipotens_ stands for {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}. + +_ 69 I.e._, it is not certain rites nor certain beliefs that give merit + to our worship. + + 70 The term _papa_ is applied to Cyprian several times in the extant + epistles addressed to him. + +_ 71 I.e._, Rome. There was a vacancy at that time, A. D. 250. in the + episcopate of Rome and the clergy administered the affairs of that + church _sede vacante_. + +_ 72 I.e._, the pure ones. + + 73 In the next chapter of Eusebius (= VII, 25) there are the critical + reasons against the apostolic authorship of the Revelation of St. + John, based upon a critical comparison with the Fourth Gospel and + the Epistles of St. John, reasons which are still current in radical + critical circles. + + 74 The bracketed phrases are doubtful. + + 75 Gregory uses the term Trias for Trinity here and throughout. + + 76 On the whole passage, _cf._ I Cor. 15:42 _ff._ + +_ 77 Sanguis Christi incipit esse sine nobis._ Paschasius Radbertus + quotes this. _De corpore et sanguine Domini_, ch. II, MSL, 120:1308. + + 78 Reference to the possibility of detecting Christians in times of + persecution by the odor of wine which they had received in the + eucharist early in the morning. + + 79 Ex. 12:6. + + 80 Psalm. 141:2. + + 81 I Cor. 11:26. + + 82 This whole passage is supposed to be addressed to Stephen. _Cf._ the + opening words of § 25. + + 83 Eph. 4:1-6 follows. + + 84 Or. Fonnak. + + 85 The author is a Moslem, and therefore speaks of Jesus with great + respect; Mani regarded Jesus as evil. + + 86 This is undoubtedly a mistake. + + 87 Important material has been recently recovered from Turfan in + Chinese Turkestan, reported by Messrs. Stein, Le Coq, and F. K. W. + Mueller, in _Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Academie_, for 1904, p. + 348; for 1905, p. 1077; for 1908, p. 398; for 1909, p. 1202; for + 1910, pp. 293, 307. + + 88 By primal man is not meant the first of mankind on earth, but a + supernatural being. + + 89 Bishop of Alexandria. + + 90 See next selection. + + 91 Diocletian persecution, A. D. 306. + + 92 Maxentius. + + 93 Eusebius. + + 94 Sicily. + + 95 A folle was a sum of money, possibly 208 denarii. + +_ 96 I.e._, as to offering sacrifices. + +_ 97 V. infra_, § 62, Introduction. + +_ 98 V. supra_, §§ 59 _f._ + + 99 {~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. + + 100 {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, the phrase which was afterward the foundation of the + Arian sect of the Exoukontians. + + 101 Psalm 24:10; Hebrew, The Lord of Hosts; LXX, The Lord of Powers. + + 102 Some texts insert "seen nor." + + 103 {~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. + + 104 Homoousios. + + 105 {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. + +_ 106 I.e._, in forcing the Donatists to return to the Church. + + 107 The temporary defeat of the Donatist party which was celebrated at + the Council of Carthage in 348-349. See Hefele, § 70. + + 108 Tombs built in the shape of altars which were table-shaped. + + 109 The metatores were those who were sent ahead of a troop of soldiers + to provide for quartering them upon the inhabitants. + + 110 The religion of the pagans. + +_ 111 I.e._, Christianity. + + 112 See DCB, art. "Apollinaris the Elder." + + 113 As the destruction of the altar of Victory. + +_ 114 I.e._, by Julian and Valentinian. + + 115 The rest of the petition is taken up chiefly with a protest against + the confiscation of the endowments for the vestal virgins. + + 116 Allusion to the very brief reign of several. + + 117 Valerian taken captive by Sapor. + + 118 Galienus. + + 119 Reference to the "thirty tyrants." + + 120 V. supra, § 63. + + 121 Hypostasis or ousia; _cf._ the Nicene definition, § 63, _g_. + + 122 The Apollinarian heresy. + +_ 123 I.e._, following. + +_ 124 I.e._, of their diocese. + + 125 In the sense of patriarchal province, following the use of the word + "diocese" in the administrative system of the Empire. It should be + noted that the patriarchal council seems not to have become well + defined in the Church's system and never to have come into actual + use. + + 126 For the development of the ecumenical council, see below, § 91, _a_. + This scheme of nicely adjusted appeals never took permanent place in + the Church owing to obvious difficulties. + + 127 This sixth canon of Nicaea very early received the title: "Concerning + the Primacy of the Roman Church." and had this addition placed as + its first clause: "The Roman Church has always had the primacy." In + this form the canon was cited by the Roman legates at the Council of + Chalcedon in 451. + + 128 Here, as generally, parish means diocese. + + 129 This is the seventh canon of the Latin version of the canons. + +_ 130 I.e._, Bishop of Rome. + +_ 131 I.e._, ecclesiastical position. + +_ 132 I.e._, bishops. + +_ 133 I.e._, episcopal sees. + + 134 See Socrates, _Hist. Ec._, V, 10. + + 135 In the code of Justinian this reads "Manichaeans and Donatists." + + 136 For further detail of the history of the Priscillianists, see + Sulpicius Severus, _Sacred History_, II, 46-51. (PNF, ser. II, vol. + XI.) + +_ 137 I.e._, ascetics and monks. + + 138 Priest, _sacerdos_, is here used, as so often, not for presbyter but + for bishop. + + 139 As this was addressed to Theodorus, the praetorian prefect, the + authority of the decision is rendered of the highest character. + + 140 In a usufruct the title remained with the grantor, and the grantee + merely had the use or enjoyment of the land. + + 141 On the principle that one who had a life interest in property (and + only such the bishop had) could alienate for a period not extending + beyond his natural life. + + 142 The peculium of the slave, property which he was allowed to possess + but only by the sufferance of the master. + + 143 The Constitution ends here in Justinian's collection. + + 144 Cf. Paulinus, _Vita Ambros._ MSL, 14:37. + +_ 145 I.e._, of returning to her former home and condition. + +_ 146 I.e._, in distinction from Paulus the eminent Roman lawyer, a + contemporary of Papinian. + + 147 Fabiola (_cf._ DCB) on whose death Jerome is here writing to her + husband Oceanus. + + 148 See I Cor. 7:1 _ff._ + +_ 149 Cf._ Council of Carthage, A. D. 398, _Can._ 13. "When the + bridegroom and bride are to be blessed by the priest they are to be + presented by their parents and paranymphs. And let them when they + have received the benediction remain in virginity the same night out + of reverence for the benediction." + +_ 150 I.e._, of Antioch, where Chrysostom was a presbyter and delivered + these homilies. + + 151 The name given to the extensive charitable institutions founded by + Basil. + + 152 For this conception of the value to the giver to be found in + almsgiving, see above, § 39, _h_. + + 153 "Shut up in the altar" is another reading. + + 154 Cf. Suetonius, _Vita Tiberii_, c. 36, _expulsit et mathematicos_. + Probably they were a sort of fortune-tellers, computers of + nativities, etc. _Cf._ Hefele, _loc. cit._ + + 155 The title of pope which was not yet restricted even by Latins to the + bishop of Rome was in general use as the title of the bishop of + Alexandria. + + 156 Successor of Athanasius in the see of Alexandria. + + 157 Cf. Apostolic Canons, 6, 27; also Council of Neo-Caesarea. Can 1. + + 158 Note the extraordinary form in which the clergy are apparently + forbidden to do what in reality the council commands; namely, that + they should abandon marital relations with their wives. Cf. Hefele, + _loc. cit._ Can. 80 of Elvira uses the same uncouth phraseology. + + 159 This last point was considerably modified by the subsequent canon + law. + + 160 See Putzger, _Historischer Schul-Atlas_, 1905. + + 161 Stilicho, on whose advice the Senate granted a subsidy to Alarich, + in 408 of four thousand pounds of gold. + + 162 Capture of Rome, A. D. 410, by Alarich. + + 163 The termination is fragmentary. + + 164 At the time a bishop. + +_ 165 I.e._, Simplicianus had baptized Ambrose. + + 166 This is hardly fair to Victorinus and his pre-Christian religious + views. + + 167 This is the phrase which so deeply offended Pelagius; _Da quod + jubes, et jube quod vis._ + + 168 This figure of the two cities is the motif of the whole work, in + which the idea is developed in the greatest detail. + + 169 See Augustine's treatise _On the Gift of Perseverance_, PNF, ser. I, + vol. V. + + 170 This distinction is of importance in Augustine's theory of the + Church. + + 171 He has been explaining the significance of the references to the + three sons of Noah. + + 172 Dupin in his edition of Optatus, _ad. loc._, points out that there + were current two etymologies of Catholic; according to one {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} + {~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} it meant reasonable, and according to the other, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} + general or universal. + + 173 The expression _opponere obicem_ became in scholastic theology of + great importance in connection with the _ex opere operato_ nature of + the sacraments of the New Law. On this whole matter of the + sacraments in the Fathers, see Schwanne, _Dogmengeschichte_, § 93, + which is very clear and helpful, especially as showing the basis of + scholastic theory of the sacraments in the patristic period, and + that, too, without doing violence to his authorities. + + 174 The basis of the doctrine of the indelible character of baptism. + _Cf._ Augustine, _Contra epist. Parm._, II, 13. 28. "Each [baptism + and the right of giving baptism] is indeed a sacrament, and by a + certain consecration each is given to a man, this when he is + baptized, that when he is ordained; therefore in the Catholic Church + it is not lawful to repeat either." _Cf._ next passage. + + 175 This was written after the conference with the Donatists in 411, in + which victory was adjudged to the Catholics. + + 176 These commentaries were falsely published under the name of Jerome + and may be found in his works. (MSL, 30:670.) + + 177 Some manuscripts add "and death through sin." + + 178 For the discussion on appeals across the sea, _i.e._, to Rome, see + Hefele. § 119; A. W. Haddan, art. "Appeal" in DCA. + + 179 Hermas, _Pastor_, Man. VI. (ANF, vol. II.) + + 180 The references are to Augustine, _De Dono Perseverantiae_, ch. 23 + [64], and to Prosper of Aquitaine's epistle to Augustine, see + Augustine, _Ep._ 225. Citations from both in PNF, ser. II, vol. XI. + p. 158. + + 181 Reference to the Council of Constantinople, 381, known as the Second + General Council, but not yet acknowledged as such; see above, § 71. + + 182 The elevation of the see at Constantinople to supremacy in the East. + +_ 183 Cf._ _Ep._ 14, _ad Anastasium_, written somewhat later: "From which + model [the difference in the rank and order of the Apostles] has + arisen a distinction between bishops also, and by an important + ordinance it has been provided that every one should not claim + everything for himself; but that there should be in each province + one whose opinion should have priority among the brethren; and + again, that certain whose appointment is in the greater cities + should undertake fuller responsibility, through whom the care of the + universal Church should converge toward Peter's one seat, and + nothing anywhere should be separated from its head." + + 184 This probably refers to "the four long brothers." + + 185 The friendly treatment Nestorius had given the exiled Pelagians, + when they came to Constantinople, had led the men of the West to + connect Nestorianism with Pelagianism and to condemn the two as if + there was some necessary connection between them. + +_ 186 I.e._, not mere appearance without reality, as in Docetism and + Monophysitism. + + 187 Hefele. _loc. cit._, interprets the phrase, _invicem sunt_ as a + mutual interpenetration. + + 188 In explanation of this Leo adds further on: To be hungry and + thirsty, to be weary and to sleep, is clearly human; but to satisfy + five thousand men with five loaves, and to bestow on the woman of + Samaria living water {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} is, without doubt, divine.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} It is not the + part of the same nature to be moved to pity for a dead friend, and + when the stone that closed that four days' grave was removed, to + raise that same friend to life with a voice of command. + + 189 See PNF, ser. II. vol. XIV; To Nestorius, p. 197; To the Easterns, + _i.e._, to John of Antioch (Cyril, _Ep._ 39), p. 251. + + 190 See above, the _Tome_ of Leo. + + 191 It was charged against Eutyches that he taught that the Son brought + His body with Him from heaven. This Eutyches denied. + + 192 This is the position of Eutyches. Cyril of Alexandria also taught + the same; _cf._ Loofs, _Leitfaden zum Studium der Dogmengeschichte_, + 1906, § 37, 2. + + 193 Cyril's phrase was "The one nature of the incarnate Logos"; _cf._ + Ottley, _The Doctrine of the Incarnation_, 1896, II, 93. + + 194 The text of this passage, the most important dogmatically, may be + found in all the references given above. + + 195 Against Eutyches, who denied this point, and also against + Apollinaris, _v. supra_, § 88, _a_. + + 196 The Nestorians were accused of dividing the person of Christ into + two Sons. + + 197 The present Greek text reads "of two natures," but "in two natures" + was the original reading. For the evidence, see Hefele, § 193 (Eng. + trans., III, p. 348, note); see also Hahn, § 146, n. 34. "Of" + appears to be an early forgery. On the other side, see Dorner, + _History of the Doctrine of the Person of Christ_, Eng. trans., div. + II, vol. I, p. 411; Baur, _Dreieinigkeit_, I, 820 _f._ + + 198 {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} and {~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} are here used as probably not + distinguishable; see Hatch, _Hibbert Lectures_, pp. 275 _ff._; Loofs + in PRE, V, 637, I. 12. + +_ 199 I.e._, teaching as to these points in the form of a definition. + + 200 It is to be noted that condemnation of Eutyches is not confirmed. + + 201 This left the theological situation precisely as it was after the + "Latrocinium Ephesinum" of 449. + + 202 Matt. 16:18 _f._ + + 203 The list is given in the early part of the epistle not here given: + see Preuschen, _loc. cit._ + + 204 The Twelve Anathematisms of Cyril against Nestorius. + +_ 205 Sanctum frenum._ Query: Does this refer to the tradition that + Constantine made out of the nails of the cross a bit for his horse? + + 206 Heb. 5:7, 8. + + 207 Same word used as for ordination of clergy. + +_ 208 Hellenic_, and so throughout. + + 209 By hierarch is to be understood in this connection the episcopal + order, or the bishop. + +_ 210 Cf. Epistula_, VIII, 2. (MSG, 3:1092.) "Every order of the + ecclesiastical hierarchy has relation to God and is more godlike + than that which is further removed from God, and lighter and more + illuminating in all that is nearer to the true light. Do not + understand this nearness in a local sense: it has reference rather + to the ability to receive God." + + 211 The highest order of all the consecrated orders is the holy order of + monks. + + 212 The Irish were known as Scots. The name Scotland was given to that + country on account of invaders from North Ireland. + +_ 213 I.e._, not necessarily a pagan, but he did not love God, or was not + yet "converted." + + 214 In the meanwhile he had escaped to France and lived there. + + 215 Where Patrick had lived as a slave. + + 216 This reference to Ninian is the most important there is; in fact, + Bede is here the chief authority for the work of this missionary. + + 217 Whitherne, Galloway. + +_ 218 I.e._, Irish tongue. + + 219 Rules for computing Easter. + + 220 It had been at Soissons after 486, and before that at Tournay. + + 221 In 465, under the influence of the Visigoths, the Suevi, formerly + Catholic, had embraced Arianism. + + 222 "Let all the churches of Spain and Gallicia observe this rule, that + at every time of offering of the sacrifice and before the communion + of the body and blood of Christ, according to the custom of the + Oriental parts, all should repeat together with a clear voice the + most sacred symbol of the faith, that first the people may speak the + faith which they hold, and they may bring hearts purified by faith + to the reception of the body and blood of Christ. For so long as + this constitution be perpetually observed in the Church of God, the + entire belief of the faithful will be confirmed, and the false faith + of the infidels be confuted, in order that one may be very easily + inclined to believe what one hears very often repeated, neither + shall any one excuse himself from all blame by pleading ignorance of + the faith, when he knows from the mouth of all what the Catholic + Church holds and believes." (From the Speech of Reccared, _cf._ + Mansi, _loc. cit._) + + 223 Here, as very often, the bishops attending a council are spoken of + as priests. The term "priest" had not become identified with + "presbyter." The bishop was a _sacerdos_ or priest. The presbyter + was also a _sacerdos_. + + 224 This testimonial, or certificate of election, was to be presented to + the king that he might give his assent; _cf._ § 94. + + 225 The kings appear to have attempted to appoint bishops without + canonical election. This was never recognized by the Church as + lawful on the part of the king and was always opposed. See next + selection from Gregory of Tours. + + 226 Testimonial of election. + +_ 227 I.e._, Clermont-Ferrand. + + 228 See Greg. Tour., III. 19. _Cf._ DCB, art. "Gregorius (29)." He was + bishop of Langres. + + 229 St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of the church of Tours. + + 230 Eufronius was the predecessor of Gregory of Tours, the author of + this passage. + + 231 At one time metropolis of Novempopulania; when it was destroyed in + the ninth century, the dignity passed to Auch, where it remained. + + 232 Bishop of Bourdeaux. + + 233 At Macon. + + 234 The formal certificate of election. + + 235 Guntrum. + + 236 Bishop Bertchramnus's. + +_ 237 I.e._, if he be one of the court chaplains. + + 238 Sigibert appears to have been born 629. + + 239 Rather the thirtieth according to some MSS., which seems to be more + in accord with what has gone before. + + 240 Luxeuil. + + 241 Fontenay or Fontaines. + + 242 Near Autun. + + 243 What is now Switzerland was then regarded as a part of Germany, + Allemania. + + 244 This has not been preserved. But Bobbio, subsequently founded, + became a stronghold of the Catholic faith against Arianism. + + 245 Bobbio, twenty-five miles southwest from Piacenza. + + 246 Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, VI. 7. + +_ 247 I.e._, to be the apocrisiarius at the court of the Emperor. + + 248 See Gieseler, KG, Eng. trans. I, p. 396, n. 72. + + 249 Theodelinda held to the schismatic party in Northern Italy. Gregory + is careful to touch this point very delicately, and not to allow it + to become such a point of contention as might disturb favorable + political relations. + + 250 Gregory is not correct here. In the eighth, ninth, and tenth + sessions of the Council of Chalcedon, the cases of Theodoret and + Ibas were examined, they were heard in their own defence and were + acquitted or excused without censure. See Hefele, §§ 195, 196. The + case of Theodore of Mopsuestia, however, did not come before the + Council of Chalcedon, because he was dead. _v. supra_, § 93, the + _Constitutum_ of Vigilius. + +_ 251 I.e._, in communion with the Roman see. + + 252 Boniface III, 606-607. + + 253 Boniface IV, 607-615. + + 254 He was not a professed Catholic. It probably means either that he + held fast to his political alliance with Rome, or that he was + determined to favor the Catholic faith professed by his spouse. + + 255 There are several letters written by Gregory to Romanus available in + translation, see above. + + 256 Augustine had been consecrated in Gaul. His successors in the see of + London were to be consecrated by the suffragans of that + archiepiscopal see. + + 257 Bishop of Lindisfarne, 652-662. + + 258 In 645, 647, 648, 651. It would occur again in 665. + + 259 Bishop of the West Saxons, temporarily in Northumbria. + + 260 Coming from Rome under the circumstances in which he was sent, this + book of the canons can be no other than the collection of Dionysius + Exiguus. + + 261 See below, § 105. + + 262 Cf. Bede, _Epistula ad Egberium Episcopum_; Plummer, _op. cit._, I. + 412 _f._ + + 263 The Monothelete doctrine, which appeared to be a form of + Eutychianism because of its close connection with Monophysitism. _v. + infra_, § 108. + + 264 A. D. 649, Against the Monotheletes, see Hefele, § 307; _v. infra._ + § 108; see Hahn, § 181, for the Anathematism of the Council; Haddan + and Stubbs, _op. cit._, III. 145-151. + + 265 Constans II, also known as Constantine IV; see DCB. + +_ 266 Matitutinarum vel vespertinarum missarum._ The term "mass" is here + applied, not to the eucharist, but to Matins and Vespers. See + Hefele, § 222, on this canon. + +_ 267 Cf._ canon 4, Council of Clermont, A. D. 535 (Bruns, II, 188): "The + clergy are not in any way to be set against their bishops by the + secular potentates." + + 268 The employment of the technical term purgatorium to designate the + place and fires of purification is very much later, and not defined + until the thirteenth century as the official and technical word, + although used long before that time in theological discussion. + + 269 Member of household, a servant. + + 270 In case of assault and battery. + + 271 The preceding rules are clearly matter of moral direction, and + indicate the transition from general advice to a scale of sins and + punishments, such as follows. + +_ 272 I.e._, in a monastery. + + 273 Another reading, 4. + + 274 For the rule of Columbanus, see MSL, 80:209 _ff._ + + 275 This with the two preceding are the three vows of the Benedictine + monk. + + 276 Lacuna in text. + + 277 The conclusion of the mass. + +_ 278 V. supra_, § 100. + + 279 Further on, Bede mentions Putta, bishop of Rochester, who was + "extraordinarily skilful in the Roman style of church music, which + he had learned from the pupils of the holy pope Gregory." + + 280 Monasticism had already begun to decline as the monasteries + increased in wealth and numbers. The decline continued into the next + century, when the Church was at its worst condition about the + beginning of the reign of Alfred. The revival of monasticism was not + until the tenth century as a result of the Cluny Reform. + + 281 See _Arabic Gospel of the Infancy_, c. 46; ANF, viii, 415. + + 282 Probably banana is meant. + +_ 283 I.e._, the celestial damsels. + + 284 An intensely bitter tree. + + 285 Charles Martel. + + 286 A. D. 732, Battle of Tours and Poitiers. + + 287 The shrine of later construction may still be seen in the Cathedral + of Pavia. It is not improbable that the genuine relics of St. + Augustine are here. + + 288 Note that this is not "the one nature of the Word of God become + flesh," the formula most commonly employed by Cyril, and to be + distinguished from this, though Cyril sometimes appears to use the + two contrary to his own distinction. + + 289 The phrase of Dionysius was not "one theandric energy" but "a new + theandric energy." + +_ 290 I.e._, the incarnation, term so used constantly in Greek theology. + + 291 The _Ecthesis_. + + 292 From here text in Denziger. + + 293 Latin reads: _our Lord Jesus Christ_. + + 294 For this council, see Hefele, § 314. + + 295 From here the text may be found also in Hahn, § 150. + +_ 296 Prosopon_, and so throughout. + +_ 297 Hypostasis_, and so throughout. + + 298 Latin: _God the Word_. + + 299 The preceding is but a recapitulation of Chalcedon; see above, § 90. + +_ 300 I.e._, Gregory Nazianzus. + + 301 Leo, _Ep. ad Flavianum_, ch. 4: Agit enim utraque forma cum alterius + communione quod proprium est, Verbo scilicet operante quod Verbi + est, et carne exsequente quod carnis est; unum horum coruscat + miraculis, aliud succumbit iniuriis; _v. supra_, § 90, _b_. + + 302 Greek: _economic life_. + + 303 Latin adds: _indivisibly and unconfusedly_. + + 304 Here, as elsewhere, "natural will" means such a will as belongs to a + nature, divine or human. + + 305 The Emperor to whom the report is made. + + 306 The most important parts of this are to be found in Hahn, § 235. + + 307 Decretal letters. + +_ 308 I.e._, Gregory Nazianzus. + + 309 Probably that of 256. + +_ 310 I.e._, Saturdays. + + 311 See canon 69 of the Apostolic Canons, which prescribed fasting on + the Saturday before Easter, or the Preparation. + + 312 John the Baptist. + +_ 313 The Edict_ says seventy-sixth year. + + 314 In the duchy of Spoleto. + +_ 315 I.e._, a picture, and not a statue, for these had been forbidden + long since. + + 316 Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia, and Ancona. + +_ 317 Duces_ can hardly mean dukes here. + + 318 Governor of Naples under the Emperor. + + 319 These names are not all to be identified. Auximanum, however, is + Osimo, south of Ancona; Ferronianus is Fregnano, near Modena; + Montebelli or Monte Veglio is west of Bologna; Persiceta is also + near Bologna, which Paulus Diaconus says was taken by the Lombards, + _op. cit._, VI, 49. + + 320 From Sept. 1, A. D. 727, to Sept. 1, A. D. 728. + + 321 One hundred and forty, according to another reading. + + 322 Aurifer, or, according to another reading, Lucifer. + + 323 Both duchies were nominally under the king of the Lombards, but it + is very probable that they were attempting to free themselves from + his rule. + + 324 The Campus Neronis was outside the walls of Rome, as they then + extended and adjoined the Vatican. + + 325 Barberino, fifteen miles east of Civita Vecchia. + + 326 This was his real name. + + 327 See introduction to this extract. + + 328 See next selection. + +_ 329 I.e._, in pictures. + + 330 John had a strong argument here as the Iconoclasts reverenced the + true cross. + + 331 {~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, not {~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. + +_ 332 Cf._ Basil, _De Spiritu_, ch. 27; _v. supra_, § 87, for Basil on + the force of tradition. + + 333 The creed of Nicaea is not here recited, only the so-called creed of + Constantinople, but without the _filioque_ in the Greek. + + 334 Pneumatomachians. + +_ 335 I.e._, monks. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SOURCE BOOK FOR ANCIENT CHURCH HISTORY*** + + + +CREDITS + + +April 2, 2008 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Greg Weeks, La Monte H.P. 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