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 mediæval 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 Mediæval 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) Cæsarius of Arles, Sermon 104. (MSL, 39:1947, 1949.)

Cæsarius 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 Cæsarius 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 Mediæval 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 Æthelberht, 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 Æthelberht 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 Æthelberht 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 abendländischen 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 … 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 Wölfflin, Leipsic, 1895; in Migne’s edition there is an elaborate commentary with many illustrative extracts and formulæ, 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 Mediæval 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.… 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].…

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.…

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.…

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.…

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.… 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) Formulæ.

The following formulæ 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 formulæ 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 ( … ) monastery, the abbot of ( … ) 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) … are related to have done. Moved by the example of these and many others, I ( … ) 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 ( … ) this my son ( … ) 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 Mediæval 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 mediæval 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.…

(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 Sabæans, 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.”…

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!…

[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. … and justly with these, as like them and in equal error … 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 … 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 Nicæa 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 [θεωθεῖσα], 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 célèbre, 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 formulæ 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.…

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 Nicæa, and those at Ancyra; further, those at Neo-Cæsarea 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-Cæsarea; of Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria; of Basil, archbishop of Cæsarea 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 Nicæa, 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.… 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 formulæ 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 Rozière, 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.…

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, Nicæa, 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 Nicæa, 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 Æmilia, 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 προσκυνέω.

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, Nicæa, 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 Nicæa, 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 Nicæa, 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 Nicæa, as also that which was afterward gathered together in the God-preserved royal city.

We believe in one God … 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 [προσωπικὴν] 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 [ἀσπασμὸν καὶ τιμητικὴν προσκύνησιν], not indeed that true worship [τὴν ἀληθινὴν λατρείαν] 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 [προσκυνεῖ] 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.”

Ælia Capitolina, 361.

Æons. 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 Laodicæa, 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 Cæsarea, 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.

Cælestinus, the Pelagian, 455 f., 460.

Cæsarius of Arles, 621 f.

Cæsaropapism, 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.

Cœnobites, 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 Cæesarea, 305; of Nicæa (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 Cæsarea, 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 Ptolemæus 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,” “Ptolemæus.”

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.

Irenæus, 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 Mammæa, 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.

Laodicæa, 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 pœnitentiales, 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 Manichæanism, 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.

Nicæa, 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.

Pantænus, 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 Judæus, 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.

Ptolemæus, martyr, 65 f.

Ptolemæus, 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, mediæval, 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.

Subintroductæ, 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 Irenæus. 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 Pontiæ Insulæ. 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, Tübingen, 1881. There is a very inexpensive reprint of the text in Krüger’s Sammlung ausgewählter 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 ΙΗ or Ιη = Ἰησους. 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. Judæos, 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 ἐπισκοπή (episcopē), 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 ἐπιοὑσιον, 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. “Pantænus.”

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, Timæus, p. 28c.

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 Irenæus, Adv. Hær., I, 215.

45 Generally spoken of as hylics.

46 Cf. introductory note to following selection.

47 The term used for a sending forth is προβολή 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 οὐσία, but ὑποκειμένω.

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 παντοκράτωρ.

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. Müller, 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 ὑποκείμενον.

100 ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων, 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 ὑπάρχειν.

104 Homoousios.

105 ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων.

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 Nicæa 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 “Manichæans 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 prætorian 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-Cæsarea. 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 κατὰ λόγον it meant reasonable, and according to the other, κατὰ ὅλον 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 Perseverantiæ, ch. 23 , 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 … is, without doubt, divine.… 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 Πρόσωπον and ὑπόστασις 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 Maçon.

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 θεομήτως, not θεοτόκος.

332 Cf. Basil, De Spiritu, ch. 27; v. supra, § 87, for Basil on the force of tradition.

333 The creed of Nicæa is not here recited, only the so-called creed of Constantinople, but without the filioque in the Greek.

334 Pneumatomachians.

335 I.e., monks.