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CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES(1), BOOKS I-V
[Edited by James Donaldson, D.D.]

BOOK I.

CONCERNING THE LAITY.

SEC. I.--GENERAL COMMANDMENTS.

   THE apostles and elders to all those who from among the Gentiles have
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; grace and peace from Almighty God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied unto you in the acknowledgment
of Him.

   The Catholic Church is the plantation of God and His beloved
vineyard;(2) containing those who have believed in His unerring divine
religion; who are the heirs by faith of His everlasting kingdom; who are
partakers of His divine influence, and of the communication of the Holy
Spirit; who are armed through Jesus, and have received His fear into their
hearts; who enjoy the benefit of the sprinkling of the precious and
innocent blood of Christ; who have free liberty to call Almighty God,
Father; being fellow-heirs and joint-partakers of His beloved Son: hearken
to this holy doctrine, you who enjoy His promises, as being delivered by
the command of your Saviour, and agreeable to His glorious words. Take
care, ye children of God, to do all things in obedience to God; and in all
things please Christ our Lord.(3) For if any man follows unrighteousness,
and does those things that are contrary to the will of God, such a one will
be esteemed by God as the disobedient heathen.

CONCERNING COVETOUSNESS.

   I. Abstain, therefore, from all unlawful desires and injustice. For it
is written in the law, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his
field, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass,
nor anything that is thy neighbour's;"(4) for all coveting of these things
is from the evil one. For he that covets his neighbour's wife, or his man-
servant, or his maid-servant, is already in his mind an adulterer and a
thief; and if he does not repent, is condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ:
through whom s glory be to God for ever, Amen. For He says in the Gospel,
recapitulating, and confirming, and fulfilling the ten commandments of the
law: "It is written in the law, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say
unto you, that is, I said in the law, by Moses. But now I say unto you
myself, Whosoever shall look on his neighbour's wife to lust after her,
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."(6) Such a one is
condemned of adultery, who covets his neighbour's wife in his mind. But
does not he that covets an ox or an ass design to steal them to apply them
to his own use, and to lead them away? Or, again, does not he that covets a
field, and continues in such a disposition, wickedly contrive how to remove
the landmarks, and to compel the possessor to part with somewhat for
nothing? For as the prophet somewhere speaks: "Woe to those who join house
to house, and lay field to field, that they may deprive their neighbour of
somewhat which was his."(7) Wherefore he says: "Must you alone inhabit the
earth? For these things have been heard in the ears of the Lord of hosts."
And elsewhere: "Cursed be he who removeth his neighbour's landmarks: and
all the people shall say, Amen."(8) Wherefore Moses says: "Thou shalt not
remove thy neighbour's landmarks(9) which thy fathers have set."(10) Upon
this account, therefore, terrors, death, tribunals, and condemnations
follow such as these from God. But as to those who are obedient to God,
there is one law of God, simple,(10) true, living, which is this: "Do not
that to another which thou hatest another should do to thee."(11) Thou
wouldst not that any one should look upon thy wife with an evil design to
corrupt her; do not  thou, therefore, look upon thy neighbour's wife  with
a wicked intention. Thou wouldst not that  thy garment should be taken
away; do not thou therefore, take away another's. Thou wouldst not be
beaten, reproached, affronted; do not thou, therefore, serve any other in
the like manner.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO RETURN INJURIES, NOR REVENGE OURSELVES ON HIM THAT
DOES US WRONG.

   II. But if any one curse thee, do thou bless him. For it is written in
the book of Numbers: "He that blesseth thee is blessed, and he that curseth
thee is cursed."(1) In the same manner it is written inn the Gospel: "Bless
them that curse you."(2) Being injured, do not avenge yourselves, but bear
it with patience; for the Scripture speaks thus: "Say not thou, I will
avenge myself on my enemy for what injuries he has offered me; but
acquiesce under them, that the Lord may right thee, and bring vengeance
upon him who injures thee."(3) For so says He again in the Gospel: "Love
your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you and persecute you; and ye shall be the children of
your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to shine on the evil
and on the good, and raineth on the just and unjust."(4) Let us therefore,
beloved, attend to these commandments, that we may be found to be the
children of light by doing them. Bear, therefore, with one another, ye
servants and sons of God.

SEC. II.--COMMANDMENTS TO MEN.

CONCERNING THE ADORNMENT OF OURSELVES, AND THE SIN WHICH ARISES FROM
THENCE.

   Let the husband not be insolent nor arrogant towards his wife; but
compassionate, bountiful, willing to please his own wife alone,(5) and
treat her honourably and obligingly, endeavouring to be agreeable to her;
(III.) not adorning thyself in such a manner as may entice another woman to
thee. For if thou art overcome by her, and sinnest with her, eternal death
will overtake thee from God; and thou wilt be punished with sensible and
bitter torments. Or if thou dost not perpetrate such a wicked act, but
shakest her off, and refusest her, in this case thou art not wholly
innocent, even though thou art not guilty of the crime itself, but only in
so far as through thy adorning thou didst entice the woman to desire thee.
For thou art the cause that the woman was so affected, and by her lusting
after thee was guilty of adultery with thee: yet art thou not so guilty,
because thou didst not send to her, who was ensnared by thee; nor didst
thou desire her. Since, therefore, thou didst not deliver up thyself to
her, thou shalt find mercy with the Lord thy God, who hath said, "Thou
shalt not commit adultery," and, "Thou shalt not covet."(6) For if such a
woman, upon sight of thee, or unseasonable meeting with thee, was smitten
in her mind, and sent to thee, but thou as a religious person didst refuse
her,(7) if she was wounded in her heart by thy beauty, and youth, and
adorning, and fell in love with thee, thou wilt be found guilty of her
transgressions, as having been the occasion of scandal to her,(8) and shalt
inherit a woe.(9) Wherefore pray thou to the Lord God that no mischief may
befall thee upon this account: for thou art not to please men, so as to
commit sin; but God, so as to attain holiness of life, and be partaker of
everlasting rest. That beauty which God and nature has bestowed on thee, do
not further beautify; but modestly diminish it before men. Thus, do not
thou permit the hair of thy head to grow too long, but rather cut it short;
lest by a nice combing thy hair, and wearing it long, and anointing
thyself, thou draw upon thyself such ensnared or ensnaring women. Neither
do thou wear over-fine garments to seduce any; neither do thou, with an
evil subtilty, affect over-fine stockings or shoes for thy feet, but only
such as suit the measures of decency and usefulness. Neither do thou put a
gold ring upon thy fingers; for all these ornaments are the signs of
lasciviousness, which if thou be solicitous about in an indecent manner,
thou wilt not act as becomes a good man: for it is not lawful for thee, a
believer and a man of God, to permit the hair of thy head to grow long, and
to brush it up together, nor to suffer it to spread abroad, nor to puff it
up, nor by nice combing and platting to make it curl and shine; since that
is contrary to the law, which says thus, in its additional precepts: "You
shall not make to yourselves curls and round rasures."(10) Nor may men
destroy the hair of their beards, and unnaturally change the form of a man.
For the law says: "Ye shall not mar your beards."(10) For God the Creator
has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable
for men. But if thou do these things to please men, in contradiction to the
law, thou wilt be abominable with God, who created thee after His own
image. If, therefore, thou wilt be acceptable to God, abstain from all
those things which He hates, and do none of those things that are
unpleasing to Him.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO BE OVER-CURIOUS ABOUT THOSE WHO LIVE WICKEDLY, BUT TO
BE INTENT UPON OUR OWN PROPER EMPLOYMENT.

   IV. Thou shalt not be as a wanderer and gadder abroad, rambling about
the streets, without just cause, to spy out such as live wickedly. But by
minding thy own trade and employment, endeavour to do what is acceptable to
God. And keeping in mind the oracles of Christ, meditate in the same
continually. For so the Scripture says to thee: "Thou shalt meditate in His
law day and night; when thou walkest in the field, and when thou sittest in
thine house, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, that  thou
mayest have understanding in all things."(1) Nay, although thou beest rich,
and so dost not want a trade for thy maintenance, be not one that gads
about, and walks abroad at random; but either go to some that are
believers, and of the same religion, and confer and discourse with them
about the lively oracles of God:--

WHAT BOOKS OF SCRIPTURE WE OUGHT TO READ.

   V. Or if thou stayest at home, read the books of the Law, of the Kings,
with the Prophets; sing the hymns of David; and peruse diligently the
Gospel, which is the completion of the other.

THAT WE OUGHT TO ABSTAIN FROM ALL THE BOOKS OF THOSE THAT ARE OUT OF THE
CHURCH.

   VI. Abstain from all the heathen books. For what hast thou to do with
such foreign discourses, or laws, or false prophets, which subvert the
faith of the unstable? For what defect dost thou find in the law of God,
that thou shouldest have recourse to those heathenish fables? For if thou
hast a mind to read history, thou hast the books of the Kings; if books of
wisdom or poetry, thou hast those of the Prophets, of Job, and the
Proverbs, in which thou wilt find greater depth of sagacity than in all the
heathen poets and sophisters, because these are the words of the Lord, the
only wise God. If thou desirest something to sing, thou hast the Psalms; if
the origin of things, thou hast Genesis; if laws and statutes, thou hast
the glorious law of the Lord God. Do thou therefore utterly abstain from
all strange and diabolical books. Nay, when thou readest the law, think not
thyself bound to observe the additional precepts; though not all of them,
yet some of them. Read those barely for the sake of history, in order to
the knowledge of them, and to glorify God that He has delivered thee from
such great and so many bonds. Propose to thyself to distinguish what rules
were from the law of nature, and what were added afterwards, or were such
additional rules as were introduced and given in the wilderness to the
Israelites after the making of the calf; for the law contains those
precepts which were spoken by the Lord God before the people fell into
idolatry, and made a calf like the Egyptian Apis--that is, the ten
commandments. But as to those bonds which were further laid upon them after
they had sinned, do not thou draw them upon thyself: for our Saviour came
for no other reason but that He might deliver those that were obnoxious
thereto from the wrath which was reserved far them, that(2) He might fulfil
the Law and the Prophets, and that He might abrogate or change those
secondary bonds which were superadded to the rest of the law. For therefore
did He call to us and say, "Come unto me,(2) all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will dive you rest."(3) When, therefore, thou hast read
the  Law, which is agreeable to the Gospel and to the Prophets, read also
the books of the Kings, that thou mayest thereby learn which of the kings
were righteous, and how they were prospered by God, and how the promise of
eternal  life continued with them from Him; but those kings which went a--
whoring from God did soon perish in their apostasy by the righteous
judgment of God, and were deprived of His life, inheriting, instead of
rest, eternal punishment. Wherefore by reading these books thou wilt be
mightily strengthened in the faith, and edified in Christ, whose body and
member thou art. Moreover, when thou walkest abroad in public, and hast a
mind to bathe, make use of that bath which is appropriated to men, lest, by
discovering thy body in an unseemly manner to women, or by seeing a sight
not seemly for men, either thou beest ensnared, or thou ensnarest and
enticest to thyself those women who easily yield to such temptations.(2)
Take care, therefore, and avoid such things, lest thou admit a snare upon
thy own soul.

CONCERNING A BAD WOMAN.

   VII. For let us learn what the sacred word says in the book of Wisdom:
"My son, keep my words, and hide my commandments with thee. Say unto
Wisdom, Thou art my sister; and make understanding familiar with thee: that
she may keep thee from the strange and wicked woman, in case such a one
accost thee with sweet words. For from the window of her house she looks
into the street, to see if she can espy some young man among the foolish
children, without Understanding, walking in the market-place, in the
meeting of the street near her house, and talking in the dusk of the
evening, or in the silence and darkness of the night. A woman meets him in
the appearance of an harlot, who steals away the hearts of young persons.
She rambles about and is dissolute; her feet abide not in her house
sometimes she is without, sometimes in the streets, and lieth in wait at
every corner. Then she catches him, and kisses him, and with an impudent
face says unto him, I have peace-offerings with me; this day do I pay my
vows:  therefore came I forth to meet thee; earnestly I have desired thy
face, and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with coverings; with
tapestry from Egypt have I adorned it. I have perfumed my bed with saffron,
and my house with cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the
morning; come, let us solace ourselves with love," etc. To which he adds:
"With much discourse she seduced him, with snares from her lips she forced
him. He goes after her like a silly bird."(1) And again: "Do not hearken to
a wicked woman; for though the lips of an harlot are like drops from an
honey-comb, which for a while is smooth in thy throat, yet afterwards thou
wilt find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than any two-edged
sword."(2) And again: "But get away quickly, and tarry not fix not thine
eyes upon her: for she hath thrown down many wounded; yea, innumerable
multitudes have been slain by her."(3) "If not," says he, "yet thou wilt
repent at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and wilt say,
How have I hated instruction, and my heart has avoided the reproofs of the
righteous! I have not hearkened to the voice of my instructor, nor inclined
mine ear to my teacher. I have almost been in all evil."(4) But we will
make no more quotations; and if we have omitted any, be so prudent as to
select the most valuable out of the Holy Scriptures, and confirm yourselves
with them, rejecting all things that are evil, that so you may be found
holy with God in eternal life.

SEC. III.--COMMANDMENTS TO WOMEN.

CONCERNING THE SUBJECTION OF A WIFE TO HER HUSBAND, AND THAT SHE MUST BE
LOVING AND MODEST.

   VIII. Let the wife be obedient to her own proper husband, because "the
husband is the head of the wife."(5) But Christ is the head of  that
husband who walks in the way of righteousness; and "the head of Christ is
God," even  His Father. Therefore, O wife, next after the Almighty, our God
and Father, the Lord of the present world and of the world to come, the
Maker of everything that breathes, and of every power; and after His
beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom(6) glory be to God, do
thou fear thy husband, and reverence him, pleasing him alone, rendering
thyself acceptable to him in the several affairs of life, that so on thy
account thy husband may be called blessed, according to the Wisdom of
Solomon, which thus speaks: "Who can find a virtuous woman? for such a one
is more precious than costly stones. The heart of her husband doth safely
trust in her, so that she shall have no need of spoil: for she does good to
her husband all the days of her life. She buyeth wool and flax, and worketh
profitable things-with her hands. She is like the merchants ships, she
bringeth her food from far. She riseth also while it is yet night, and
giveth" meat to her household, and food to her maidens. She considereth a
field, and buyeth it; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She
tasteth that it is good to labour; her lamp goeth not out all the whole
night. She stretcheth out her arms  for useful work, and layeth her hands
to the spindle. She openeth her hands to the needy; yea, she reacheth forth
her hands to the poor. Her husband takes no care of the affairs of his
house; for all that are with her are clothed with double garments. She
maketh coats for her husband, clothings of silk and purple. Her husband is
eminent in the gates, when he sitteth with the elders of the land. She
maketh fine linen, and selleth it to the Phoenicians, and girdles to the
Canaanites. She is clothed with glory and beauty, and she rejoices in the
last days. She openeth her mouth with wisdom and discretion, and puts her
words in order. The ways of her household are strict; she eateth not the
bread of idleness. She will open her mouth with wisdom and caution, and
upon her tongue are the laws of mercy. Her children arise up and praise her
for her riches, and her husband joins in her praises. Many daughters have
obtained wealth and done worthily, but thou surpassest and excellest them
all. May lying flatteries and the vain beauty of a wife be far from thee.
For a religious wife is blessed. Let her praise the fear of the Lord:(7)
give her of the fruits of her lips, and let her husband be praised in the
gates."(8) And again: "A virtuous wife is a crown to her husband."(9) And
again: "Many wives have built an house."(1) You have learned what great
commendations a prudent and loving wife receives from the Lord God. If thou
desirest to be one of the faithful, and to please the Lord, O wife, do not
superadd ornaments to thy beauty, in order to please other men; neither
affect to wear fine broidering, garments, or shoes, to entice those who are
allured by such things. For although thou dost not these wicked things with
design of sinning thyself, but only for the sake of ornament and beauty,
yet wilt thou not so escape future punishment, as having compelled another
to look so hard at thee as to lust after thee, and as not having taken care
both to avoid sin thyself, and the affording scandal to others. But if thou
yield thyself up, and commit the crime, thou art both guilty of thy own
sin, and the cause of the ruin of the other's soul also. Besides, when thou
hast committed lewdness with one man, and beginnest to despair, thou wilt
again turn away from thy duty, and follow others, and grow past feeling; as
says the divine word: "When a wicked man comes into the depth of evil, he
becomes a scorner, and then disgrace and reproach come upon him."(2) For
such a woman afterward being wounded, ensnares without restraint the souls
of the foolish. Let us learn, therefore, how the divine word, triumphs over
such women, saying: "I hated a woman who is a snare and net to the heart of
men worse than death; her hands are fetters."(3) And in another passage:
"As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is beauty in a wicked woman."(4)
And again: "As a worm in wood, so does a wicked woman destroy her
husband."(5) And again: "It is better to dwell in the corner of the house-
top, than with a contentious and an angry woman."(6) You, therefore, who
are Christian women, do not imitate such as these. But thou who designest
to be faithful to thine own husband, take care to please him alone. And
when thou art in the streets, cover thy head; for by such a covering thou
wilt avoid being viewed of idle persons. Do not paint thy face, which is
God's workmanship; for there is no part of thee which wants ornament,
inasmuch as all things which God has made are very good. But the lascivious
additional adorning of what is already good is an affront to the bounty of
the Creator. Look downward when thou walkest abroad, veiling thyself as
becomes women.

THAT A WOMAN MUST NOT BATHE WITH MEN.

   IX. Avoid also that disorderly practice of bathing in the same place
with men; for many are the nets of the evil one. And let not a Christian
woman bathe with an hermaphrodite; for if she is to veil her face, and
conceal it with modesty from strange men, how can she bear to enter naked
into the bath together with men? But if the bath be appropriated to women,
let her bathe orderly, modestly, and moderately. But let her not bathe
without occasion, nor much, nor often, nor in the middle of the day, nor,
if possible, every day; and let the tenth hour of the day be the set time
for such seasonable bathing. For it is convenient that thou, who art a
Christian woman, shouldst ever constantly avoid a curiosity which has many
eyes.

CONCERNING A CONTENTIOUS AND BRAWLING WOMAN.

   X. But as to a spirit of contention, be sure to curb it as to all men,
but principally as to thine husband; lest, if he be an unbeliever or an
heathen, he may have an occasion of scandal or of blaspheming God, and thou
be partaker of a woe from God. For, says He, "Woe to him by whom My name is
blasphemed among the Gentiles;"(7) and lest, if thy husband be a Christian,
he be forced, from his knowledge of the Scriptures, to say that which is
written in the book of Wisdom: "It is better to dwell in the wilderness,
than with a contentious and an angry woman."(8) You wives, therefore,
demonstrate your piety by your modesty and meekness to all without the
Church, whether they be women or men, in order to their conversion and
improvement in the faith. And since we have warned you, and instructed you
briefly, whom we do esteem our sisters, daughters, and members, as being
wise yourselves, persevere all your lives in an unblameable course of life.
Seek to know such kind of learning whereby you may arrive at the kingdom of
our Lord, and please Him, and so rest for ever and ever. Amen.

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK II.

OF BISHOPS, PRESBYTERS, AND DEACONS.

SEC. I.--ON EXAMINING CANDIDATES FOR THE  EPISCOPAL OFFICE.

THAT A BISHOP MUST BE WELL INSTRUCTED AND EXPERIENCED IN THE WORD.

   I. BUT concerning bishops, we have heard from our Lord, that a pastor
who is to be ordained a bishop for the churches in every parish, must be
unblameable, unreprovable, free from all kinds o wickedness common among
men, not under fifty years of age; for such a one is in good part past
youthful disorders, and the slanders of the heathen, as well as the
reproaches which are sometimes cast upon many persons by some false
brethren, who do not consider the word of God in the Gospel: "Whosoever
speaketh an idle word shall give an account thereof to the Lord in the day
of judgment."(1) And again: "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by
thy words thou shalt be condemned."(2) Let him therefore, if it is
possible, be well educated; but if he be unlettered, let him at any rate
be(3) skilful in the word, and of competent age. But if in a small parish
one advanced in years is not to be found,(4) let some younger person, who
has a good report among his neighbours, and is esteemed by them worthy of
the office of a bishop,--who has carried himself from his youth with
meekness and regularity, like a much elder person,--after examination, and
a general good  report, be ordained in peace. For Solomon at twelve years
of age was king of Israel,(5) and Josiah at eight years of age reigned
righteously,(6) and in like manner Joash governed the people at seven years
of age.(7) Wherefore, although the person be young, let him be meek,
gentle, and quiet. For the Lord God says by Esaias: "Upon whom will I look,
but upon him who is humble and quiet, and always trembles at my words?"(8)
In like manner it is in the Gospel  also: "Blessed are the meek: for they
shall inherit the earth."(9) Let him also be merciful; for again it is
said: "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy."(10) Let him
also be a peacemaker; for again it is said: " Blessed sons of God."(11) Let
him also be one of a good conscience, purified from all evil, and
wickedness, and unrighteousness; for it is said again: "Blessed are the
pure in heart: for they shall see God."(12)

WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE CHARACTERS OF A BISHOP AND OF THE REST? OF THE CLERGY.

   II. Let him therefore be sober, prudent, decent, firm, stable, not
given to wine; no striker, but gentle; not a brawler, not covetous; "not a
novice, test, being puffed up with pride, be fall into condemnation, and
the snare of the devil: for every one that exalteth himself shall be
abused."(13) Such a one a bishop ought to be, who has been the "husband of
one wife,"(14) who also has herself had no other husband, "ruling well his
own house."(15) In this manner let examination be made when he is to
receive ordination, and to be placed in his bishopric, whether he be grave,
faithful, decent;  whether he hath a grave and faithful-wife, or has
formerly had such a one; whether he hath educated his children piously, and
has "brought them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;"(16)
whether his domestics do fear and reverence him, and are all obedient to
him: for if those who are immediately about him for worldly concerns are
seditious and disobedient, how will others not of his family, when they are
under his management, become obedient to him?

IN WHAT THINGS A BISHOP IS TO BE EXAMINED BEFORE HE IS ORDAINED.

   III. Let examination also be made whether he be unblameable as to the
concerns of this life; for it is written: "Search diligently for all the
faults of him who is to be ordained for the priesthood."(1)

SEC. II.--ON THE CHARACTER AND TEACHING OF THE BISHOP.

   On which account let him also be void of anger; for Wisdom says: "Anger
destroys even the prudent."(2) Let him also be merciful, of a generous and
loving temper; for our Lord says: "By this shall all men know that ye are
my disciples, if ye love one another."(3) Let him be also ready to give, a
lover of the widow and the stranger; ready to serve, and minister, and
attend; resolute in his duty; and let him know who is the most worthy of
his assistance.

THAT CHARITABLE DISTRIBUTIONS ARE NOT TO BE MADE TO EVERY WIDOW, BUT THAT
SOMETIMES A WOMAN WHO HAS A HUSBAND IS TO BE PREFERRED: AND THAT NO
DISTRIBUTIONS ARE TO BE MADE TO ANY ONE WHO IS GIVEN TO GLUTTONY,
DRUNKENNESS, AND IDLENESS.

   IV. For if there be a widow who is able to support herself, and another
woman who is not a widow, but is needy by reason of sickness, or the
bringing up many children, or infirmity of her hands, let him stretch out
his hand in charity rather to this latter. But if any one be in want by
gluttony, drunkenness, or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance, or
to be esteemed a member of the Church of God. For the Scripture, speaking
of such persons, says: "The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, and is
not able to bring it to his mouth again."(4) And again: "The sluggard folds
up his hands, and eats his own flesh."(5) "For every drunkard and
whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every drowsy person shall be clothed
with tatters and rags."(6) And in another passage: "If thou give thine eyes
to drinking and cups, thou shalt afterwards walk more naked than a
pestle."(7) For certainly idleness is the mother of famine.

THAT A BISHOP MUST BE NO ACCEPTER OF PERSONS IN JUDGMENT; THAT HE MUST
POSSESS A GENTLE DISPOSITION, AND BE TEMPERATE IN HIS MODE OF LIFE.

   V. A bishop must be no accepter of persons; neither revering nor
flattering a rich man contrary to what is right, nor overlooking nor
domineering over a poor man. For, says God to Moses, "Thou shalt not accept
the person of the rich, nor shalt thou pity a poor man in his cause: for
the judgment is the Lord's."(8) And again: "Thou shalt with exact justice
follow that which is right"(9) Let a bishop be frugal, and contented with a
little in his meat and drink, that he may be ever in a sober frame, and
disposed to instruct and admonish the ignorant; and let him not be costly
in his diet, a pamperer of himself, given to pleasure, or fond of
delicacies. Let him he patient and gentle in his admonitions, well
instructed himself, meditating in and diligently studying the Lord's books,
and reading them frequently, that so he may be able carefully to interpret
the Scriptures, expounding the Gospel in correspondence with the prophets
and with the law; and let the expositions from the law and the prophets
correspond to the Gospel. For the Lord Jesus says: "Search the Scriptures;
for they are those which testify of me."(10) And again: "For Moses wrote of
'me."(11) But, above all, let him carefully distinguish between the
original law and the additional precepts, and show which are the laws for
believers, and which the bonds for the unbelievers, lest any should fall
under those bonds. Be careful, therefore, O bishop, to study the word, that
thou mayest be able to explain everything exactly, and that thou mayest
copiously nourish thy people with much doctrine, and enlighten them with
the light of the law; for God says: "Enlighten yourselves with the light of
knowledge, while we have yet opportunity."(12)

THAT A BISHOP MUST NOT BE GIVEN TO FILTHY LUCRE, NOR BE A SURETY NOR AN
ADVOCATE.

   VI. Let not a bishop be given to filthy lucre, especially before the
Gentiles, rather suffering than offering injuries; not covetous, nor
rapacious; no purloiner; no admirer of the rich, nor hater of the poor; no
evil-speaker, nor false witness; not given to anger; no brawler; not
entangled with the affairs of this life; not a surety for any one, nor an
accuser in suits about money; not ambitious; not double-minded, nor double-
tongued; not ready to hearken to calumny or evil-speaking; not a
dissembler; not addicted to the heathen festivals; not given to vain
deceits; not eager after worldly things, nor a lover of money. For all
these things are oppoSite to God, and pleasing to demons. Let the bishop
earnestly give all these precepts in charge to the laity also, persuading
them to imitate his conduct. For, says He, "Do ye make the children of
Israel pious."(1) Let him be prudent, humble, apt to admonish with the
instructions of the Lord, well-disposed, one who has renounced all the
wicked projects of this world, and all heathenish lusts; let hint be
orderly, sharp in observing the wicked, and taking heed of them, but yet a
friend to all; just, discerning; and whatsoever qualities are commendable
among men, let the bishop possess them in himself. For if the pastor be
unblameable as to any wickedness, he will compel his own disciples, and by
his very mode of life press them to become worthy imitators of his own
actions. As the prophet somewhere says, "And it will be, as is the priest,
so is the people;"(2) for our Lord and Teacher Jesus Christ, the San(3) of
God, began first to do, and then to teach, as Luke somewhere. "which Jesus
began to do and to teach."(3) says:(4) Wherefore he says: "Whosoever shall
do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of God."(5) For you
bishops are to be guides and watchmen to the people, as you yourselves have
Christ for your guide and watchman. Do you therefore become good guides and
watchmen to the people of God. For the Lord says by Ezekiel, speaking to
every one of you: "Son of man, I have given thee for a watchman to the
house of Israel; and thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt
observe, and shalt declare it from me. When t say unto the wicked, Thou
shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his
wickedness, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, and his blood will I
require at thine hand. But if thou warn the wicked from his way, that he
may turn from it, and he does not turn from it, he shall die in his
iniquity, and thou hast delivered thy soul."(6) "In the same manner, if the
sword of war be approaching, and the people set a watchman to watch, and he
see the same approach, and does not forewarn them, and the sword come and
take one of them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood shall be
required at the watchman's hand, because he did not blow the trumpet. But
if he blew the trumpet, and he who heard it would not take warning, and the
sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon him, because he heard
the trumpet and took not warning. But he who took warning has delivered his
soul; and the watchman, because he gave warning, shall surely live."(7) The
sword here is the judgment; the trumpet is the holy Gospel; the watchman is
the bishop, who is set in the Church, who is obliged by his preaching to
testify and vehemently to forewarn(3) concerning that judgment. If ye do
not declare and testify this to the people, the sins of those who are
ignorant of it will be found upon you. Wherefore do you warn and reprove
the uninstructed with boldness, teach the ignorant, confirm those that
understand, bring back those that go astray. If we repeat the very same
things on the same occasions, brethren, we shall not do amiss. For by
frequent hearing it is to be hoped that some will be made ashamed, and at
least do some good action, and avoid some wicked one. For says God by the
prophet: "Testify those things to them; perhaps they will hear thy
voice."(8) And again: "If perhaps they will hear, if perhaps they will
submit."(9) Moses also says to the people: "If hearing thou wilt hear the
Lord God, and do that which is good and fight in His eyes."(10) And
again:(3) "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord."(11) And our Lord
is often recorded in the Gospel to have said: "He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear."(12) And wise Solomon says: "My son, hear the instruction of
thy father, and reject not the laws of thy mother."(13) And, indeed, to
this day men have not heard; for while they seem to have heard, they have
not heard aright, as appears by their having left the one and only true
God, and their being drawn into destructive and dangerous heresies,
concerning which we shall speak again afterwards.

SEC. III.--HOW THE BISHOP IS TO TREAT THE INNOCENT, THE GUILTY, AND THE
PENITENT.

WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE CHARACTER OF THE INITIATED.

   VII. Beloved, be it known to you that those who are baptized into the
death of our Lord Jesus are obliged to go on no longer in sin; for as those
who are dead cannot work wickedness any longer, so those who are dead with
Christ cannot practise wickedness. We do not therefore believe, brethren,
that any one who has received the washing of life continues in the practice
of the licentious acts of transgressors. Now he who sins after his baptism,
unless he repent and forsake his sins, shall be condemned to hell-fire.

CONCERNING A PERSON FALSELY ACCUSED, OR A PERSON CONVICTED.

   VIII. But if any one be maliciously prosecuted by the heathen, because
he will not still go along with them to the same excess of riot, let him
know that such a one is blessed of God, according as our Lord says in the
Gospel: "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, or persecute you, or
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be
exceeding glad, for your reward is great in heaven."(1) If, therefore, any
one be slandered and falsely accused, such a one is blessed; for the
Scripture says, "A man that is a reprobate is not tried by God."(2) But if
any one be convicted as having done a wicked action, such a one not only
hurts himself, but occasions the whole body of the Church and its doctrine
to be blasphemed; as if we Christians did not practise those things that we
declare to be good and honest, and we ourselves shall be reproached by the
Lord, that "they say and do not."(3) Wherefore the bishop must boldly
reject such as these upon full conviction, unless they change their course
of life.

THAT A BISHOP OUGHT NOT TO RECEIVE BRIBES.

   IX. For the bishop must not only himself give no offence, but must be
no respecter of persons; in meekness instructing those that offend. But if
he himself has not a good conscience, and is a respecter of persons for the
sake of filthy lucre, and receiving of bribes, and spares the open
offender, and permits him to continue in the Church, he disregards the
voice of God and of our Lord, which says, "Thou shalt exactly execute right
judgment."(4) "Thou shalt not accept persons in judgment: thou shalt not
justify the ungodly."(5) "Thou shalt not receive gifts against any one's
life; for gifts do blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the
righteous."(6) And elsewhere He says: "Take away from among yourselves that
wicked person."(7) And Solomon says in his Proverbs: "Cast out a pestilent
fellow from the congregation, and strife will go out along with him."(8)

THAT A BISHOP WHO BY WRONG JUDGMENT SPARES AN OFFENDER IS HIMSELF GUILTY.

   X. But he who does not consider these things, will, contrary to
justice, spare him who deserves punishment; as Saul spared Agag,(9) and
Eli(10) his sons, "who knew not the Lord." Such a one profanes his own
dignity, and that Church of God which is in his parish. Such a one is
esteemed unjust before God and holy men, as affording occasion of scandal
to many of the newly baptized, and to the catechumens; as also to the youth
of both sexes, to whom a woe  belongs, add "a mill-stone about his
neck,"(11) and drowning, on account of his guilt. For, observing what a
person their governor is, through his wickedness and neglect of justice
they will grow sceptical, and, indulging the same disease, will be
compelled to perish with him; as was the case of the people joining with
Jeroboam,(12) and those which were in the conspiracy with Corah.(13) But if
the offender sees that the bishop and deacons are innocent and unblameable,
and the flock pure, he will either not venture to despise their authority,
and to enter into the Church of God at all, as one smitten by his own
conscience: or if he values nothing, and ventures to enter in, either he
will be convicted immediately, as Uzza(14) at the ark, when he touched it
to support it; and as Achan,(15) when he stole the accursed thing; and as
Gehazi,(16) when he coveted the money of Naaman, and so will be immediately
punished: or else he will be admonished by the pastor, and drawn to
repentance. For when he looks round the whole Church one by one, and can
spy no blemish, neither in the bishop nor in the people who are under his
care, he will be put to confusion, and pricked at the heart, and in a
peaceable manner will go his way with shame and many tears, and the flock
will remain pure. He will apply himself to God with tears, and will repent
of his sins, and have hope. Nay, the whole flock, at the sight of his
tears, will be instructed, because a sinner avoids destruction by
repentance.

HOW A BISHOP OUGHT TO JUDGE OFFENDERS.

   XI. Upon this account, therefore, O bishop, endeavour to be pure in thy
actions, and to adorn thy place and dignity, which is that of one
sustaining the character of God among men, as being set over all men, over
priests, kings, rulers, fathers, children, teachers, and in general over
all those who are subject to thee: and so sit in the Church when thou
speakest, as having authority to judge offenders. For to you, O bishops, it
is said: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."(17)

INSTRUCTION AS TO HOW A BISHOP OUGHT TO BEHAVE HIMSELF TO THE PENITENT.

   XII. Do thou therefore, O bishop, judge with authority like God, yet
receive the penitent; for God is a God of mercy. Rebuke those that sin,
admonish those that are not converted, exhort those that stand to persevere
in their goodness, receive the penitent; for the Lord God has promised with
an oath to afford remission to the penitent for what things they have done
amiss. For He says by Ezekiel: "Speak unto them, As I live, saith the Lord,
I would not the death of a sinner, but that the wicked turn from his evil
way, and live. Turn ye therefore front your evil ways; for why will ye die,
O house of Israel?"(1) Here the word(2) affords hope to sinners, that if
they will repent they shall have hope of salvation, lest otherwise out of
despair they yield themselves up to their transgressions; but that, having
hope of salvation, they may he converted, and may address to God with
tears, on account of their sins, and may repent from their hearts, and so
appease His displeasure towards them; so shall they receive a pardon from
Him, as from a merciful Father.

THAT WE OUGHT TO BEWARE HOW WE MAKE TRIAL OF ANY SINFUL COURSE.

   XIII. Yet it is very necessary that those who are yet innocent should
continue so, and not make an experiment what sin is, that they may not have
occasion for trouble, sorrow, and those lamentations which are in order to
forgiveness. For how dost thou know, O man, when thou sinnest, whether thou
shalt live any number of days in this present state, that thou mayest have
time to repent? For the time of thy departure out of this world is
uncertain; and if thou diest in sin, there will remain no repentance for
thee; as God says by David, "In the grave who will confess to Thee?"(3) It
behoves us, therefore. to be ready in the doing of our duty, that so we may
await our passage into another world without sorrow. Wherefore also the
Divine Word exhorts, speaking to thee by the wise Solomon,(2) "Prepare thy
works against thy exit, and provide all beforehand in the field,"(4) lest
some of the things necessary to thy journey be wanting; as the oil of piety
was deficient in the five foolish virgins(5) mentioned in the Gospel, when
they, on account of their having extinguished their lamps of divine
knowledge, were shut out of the bride-chamber. Wherefore he who values the
security of his soul will take care to be out of danger, by keeping free
from sin, that so he may  preserve the advantage of his former good works
to himself. Do thou, therefore, so judge as executing judgment for God.
For, as the Scripture says, "the judgment is the Lord's."(6) In the first
place, therefore, condemn the guilty person with authority; afterwards try
to bring him home with mercy and compassion, and readiness to receive him,
promising him salvation if he will change his course of life, and become a
penitent; and when he does repent, and has submitted  to his chastisement,
receive him: remembering  that our Lord has said, "There is joy in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth."(7)

CONCERNING THOSE WHO AFFIRM THAT PENITENTS ARE NOT TO BE RECEIVED INTO THE
CHURCH. THAT A RIGHTEOUS PERSON, ALTHOUGH HE CONVERSE WITH A SINNER, WILL
NOT PERISH WITH HIM. THAT NO PERSON IS PUNISHED FOR ANOTHER, BUT EVERY ONE
MUST GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. THAT WE MUST ASSIST THOSE WHO ARE WEAK IN
THE FAITH; AND THAT A BISHOP MUST NOT BE GOVERNED BY ANY TURBULENT PERSON
AMONG THE LAITY.

   XIV. But if thou refusest to receive him that repents, thou exposest
him to those who lie in wait to destroy, forgetting what David says:
"Deliver not my soul, which confesses to Thee, unto destroying beasts."(8)
Wherefore Jeremiah, when he is exhorting men to repentance, says thus:
"Shall not he that falleth arise? or he that turneth away, cannot he
return? Wherefore have my people gone back by a shameless backsliding? and
they are hardened in their purpose.(9) Turn, ye backsliding children, and I
will heal your backslidings."(10) Receive, therefore, without any doubting,
him that repents. Be not hindered by such unmerciful men, who say that we
must not be defiled with such as those, nor so much as speak to them: for
such advice is from men that are unacquainted with God and His providence,
and are unreasonable judges, and unmerciful brutes. These men are ignorant
that we ought to avoid society with offenders, not in discourse, but in
actions: for "the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."(11) And again: "If a land
sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out my hand
upon it, and break the staff of bread upon it, and send famine upon it, and
destroy man and beast therein: though these three men, Noah, Job, and
Daniel, were in the midst of it, they shall only save their own souls by
their righteousness, saith the Lord God."(1) The Scripture most clearly
shows that a righteous man that converses with a wicked man does not perish
with him. For in the present world the righteous and the wicked are mingled
together in the common affairs of life, but not in holy communion: and in
this the friends and favourites of God are guilty of no sin. For they do
but imitate "their Farther which is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise
on the righteous and unrighteous, and sendeth His rain on the evil and on
the good;"(2) and the righteous man undergoes no peril on this account. For
those who conquer and those who are conquered are in the same place of
running, but only those who have bravely undergone the race are where the
garland is bestowed; and "no one is crowned, unless he strive lawfully."(3)
For every one shall give account of himself, and God will not destroy the
righteous with the wicked; for with Him it is a constant rule, that
innocence is never punished. For neither did He drown Noah, nor burn up
Lot, nor destroy Rahab for company. And if you desire to know how this
matter was among us, Judas was one of us, and took the like part of the
ministry which we had; and Simon the magician received the seal of the
Lord. Yet both the one and the other proving wicked, the former hanged
himself, and the latter, as he flew in the air in a manner unnatural, was
dashed against the earth. Moreover, Noah and his sons with him were in the
ark; but Ham, who alone was found wicked, received punishment in his
son.(4) But if fathers are not punished for their children, nor children
for their fathers, it is thence clear that neither will wives be punished
for their husbands, nor servants for their masters, nor one relation for
another, nor one friend for another, nor the righteous for the wicked. But
every one will be required an account of his own doing. For neither was
punishment inflicted on Noah for the world, nor was Lot destroyed by fire
for the Sodomites, nor was Rahab slain for the inhabitants of Jericho, nor
lsrael for the Egyptians. For not the dwelling together, but the agreement
in their sentiments, alone could condemn the righteous with the wicked. We
ought not therefore to hearken to such persons who call for death, and hate
mankind, and love accusations, and under fair pretences bring men to death.
For one man shall not die for another, but "every one is held with the
chains of his own sins."(5) And, "behold, the man and his work is before
his face."(6) Now we ought to assist those who are with us,(7) and are in
danger, and fall, and, as far as lies in our power, to reduce them to
sobriety by our exhortations, and so save them from death. For "the whole
have no need of the physician, but the sick;"(8) since "it is not pleasing
in the sight of your Father that one of these little ones should
perish."(9) For we ought not to establish the will of hard-hearted men, but
the will of the God and Father of the universe, which is revealed to us by
Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

   For it is not equitable that thou, O bishop, who art the head, shouldst
submit to the tail, that is, to some seditious person among the laity, to
the destruction of another, but to God alone. For it is thy privilege to
govern those under thee, but not to be governed by them. For neither does a
son, who is subject by the course of generation, govern his father; nor a
slave, who is subject by law, govern his master; nor does a scholar govern
his teacher, nor a soldier his king, nor any of the laity his bishop. For
that there is no reason to suppose that such as converse with the wicked,
in order to their instruction in the word, are defiled by or partake of
their sins, Ezekiel, as it were on purpose preventing the suspicions of
ill-disposed persons, says thus: "Why do you speak this proverb concerning
the land of lsrael? The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
teeth are set on edge. As I live, saith the Lord Coot, ye shall not
henceforth have occasion to use this proverb in Israel. For all souls are
mine, in like manner as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son
is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But the man who is righteous,
and does judgment and justice" (and so the prophet reckons up the rest of
the virtues, and then adds for a conclusion, "Such a one is just"), "he
shall surely live, saith the Lord God. And if he beget a son who is a
robber, a shedder of blood, and walks not in the way of his righteous
father" (and when the prophet had added what follows, he adds in the
conclusion), "he shall certainly not live: he has done all this wickedness;
he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. Yet they will ask thee,
Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father; or his
righteousness, having exercised righteousness and mercy himself? And thou
shalt say unto them, The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity
of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."(1) And a little after he says:
"When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth
iniquity, all his righteousness, by reason of all his wickedness which he
has committed, shall not be mentioned to him: in his iniquity which he hath
committed, and in his sin which he hath sinned, in them shall he die." And
a little after he adds: "When the wicked turneth away from his wickedness
which he hath committed, and doth judgment and justice, he hath preserved
his soul, he hath turned away from all his ungodliness which he hath done;
he shall surely live, he shall not die." And afterwards: "I will judge
every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel, saith the Lord
God."

THAT A PRIEST MUST NEITHER OVERLOOK OFFENCES, NOR BE RASH IN PUNISHING
THEM.

   XV. Observe, you who are our beloved sons, how merciful yet righteous
the Lord our God is; how gracious and kind to men; and yet most certainly
"He will not acquit the guilty:"(2) though He welcomes the returning
sinner, and revives him, leaving no room for suspicion to such as wish to
judge sternly and to reject offenders entirely, and to refuse to vouchsafe
to them exhortations which might bring them to repentance. In contradiction
to such, God by Isaiah says to the bishops: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, ye priests: speak comfortably to Jerusalem." It therefore behoves
you, upon hearing those words of His, to encourage those who have offended,
and lead them to repentance, and afford them hope, and not vainly to
suppose that you shall be partakers of their offences on account of such
your love to them. Receive the penitent with alacrity, and rejoice over
them, and with mercy and bowels of compassion judge the sinners. For if a
person was walking by the side of a river, and ready to stumble, and thou
shouldest push him and thrust him into the river, instead of offering him
thy hand for his assistance, thou wouldst be guilty of the murder of thy
brother; whereas thou oughtest rather to lend thy helping hand as he was
ready to fall, lest he perish without remedy, that both the people may take
warning, and the offender may not utterly perish. It is thy duty, O bishop,
neither to overlook the sins of the people, nor to reject those who are
penitent, that thou mayst not unskilfully destroy the Lord's flock, or
dishonour His new name, which is imposed on His people, and thou thyself
beest  reproached as those ancient pastors were, of whom God speaks thus to
Jeremiah: "Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have polluted my
heritage."(3) And in another passage: "My anger is waxed hot against the
shepherds, and against the lambs shall I have indignation."(4) And
elsewhere: "Ye are the priests that dishonour my name."(5)

OF REPENTANCE, THE MANNER OF IT, AND RULES ABOUT IT.

   XVI. When thou seest the offender, with severity command him to be cast
out; and as he is going out, let the deacons also treat him with severity,
and then let them go and seek for him, and detain him out of the Church;
and when they come in, let them entreat thee for him. For our Saviour
Himself entreated His Father for those who had sinned, as it is written in
the Gospel: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."(6) Then
order the offender to come in; and if upon examination thou findest that he
is penitent, and fit to be received at all into the Church when thou hast
afflicted him his days of fasting, according to the degree of his offence--
as two, three, five, or seven weeks--so set him at liberty, and speak such
things to him as are fit to be said in way of reproof, instruction, and
exhortation to a sinner for his reformation, that so he may continue
privately in his humility, and pray to God to be merciful to him, saying:
"If Thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who should stand? For
with Thee there is propitiation."(7) Of this sort of declaration is that
which is said in the book of Genesis to Cain: "Thou hast sinned; be
quiet;"(8) that is, do not go on in sin. For that a sinner ought to be
ashamed for his own sin, that oracle of God delivered to Moses concerning
Miriam is a sufficient proof, when he prayed that she might be forgiven.
For says God to him: "If her father had spit in her face, should she not be
ashamed? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterwards let her
come in again."(9) We therefore ought to do so with offenders, when they
profess their repentance,--namely, to separate them some determinate time,
according to the proportion of their offence, and afterwards, like fathers
to children, receive them again upon their repentance.

THAT A BISHOP MUST BE UNBLAMEABLE, AND A PATTERN FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNDER
HIS CHARGE.

   XVII.  But if the bishop himself be an offender, how will he be able
any longer to prosecute the offence of another? Or how will he be able to
reprove another, either he or his deacons, if by accepting of persons, or
receiving of bribes, they have not all a clear conscience? For when the
ruler asks, and the judge receives, judgment is not brought to perfection;
but when both are "companions of thieves, and regardless of doing justice
to the widows,"(1) those who are under the bishop will not be able to
support and vindicate him: for they will say to him what is written in the
Gospel, "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"(2) Let the bishop,
therefore, with his deacons, dread to bear any such thing; that is, let him
give no occasion for it. For an offender, when he sees any other doing as
bad as himself, will be encouraged to do the very same things; and then the
wicked one, taking occasion from a single instance, works in others, which
God forbid: and by that means the flock will be destroyed. For the greater
number of offenders there are, the greater is the mischief that is done by
them: for sin which passes without correction grows worse and worse, and
spreads to others; since "a little leaven infects the whole lump,"(3) and
one thief spreads the abomination over a whole nation and "dead flies spoil
the whole pot of sweet ointment;"(4) and "when a king hearkens to
unrighteous counsel, all the servants under him are wicked."(5) So one
scabbed sheep, if not separated from those that are whole, infects the rest
with the same distemper; and a man infected with the plague is to be
avoided by all men; and a mad dog is dangerous to every one that he
touches. If, therefore, we neglect to separate the transgressor from the
Church of God, we shall make the "Lord's house a den of thieves."(6) For it
is the bishop's duty not to be silent in the case of offenders, but to
rebuke them, to exhort them, to beat them down, to afflict them with
fastings, that so he may strike a pious dread into the rest: for, as He
says, "make ye the children of Israel pious."(7) For the bishop must be one
who discourages sin by his exhortations, and sets a pattern of
righteousness, and proclaims those good things which are prepared by God,
and declares that wrath which will come at the day of judgment, lest he
contemn and neglect the plantation of God; and, on account of his
carelessness, hear that which is said in Hosea: "Why have ye held your
peace at impiety, and have reaped the fruit thereof?"(8)

THAT A BISHOP MUST TAKE CARE THAT HIS PEOPLE DO NOT SIN, CONSIDERING THAT
HE IS SET FOR A WATCHMAN AMONG THEM.

   XVIII. Let the bishop, therefore, extend his concern to all sorts of
people: to those who have not offended, that they may continue innocent; to
those who offend, that they may repent. For to you does the Lord speak
thus: "Take heed that ye offend not one of these little ones."(9) It is
your duty also to give remission to the penitent. For as soon as ever one
who has offended says, in the sincerity of his soul, "I have sinned against
the Lord," the Holy Spirit answers, "The Lord also hath forgiven thy sin;
be of good cheer, thou shalt not die."(10) Be sensible, therefore, O
bishop, of the dignity of thy place, that as thou hast received the power
of binding, so hast thou also that of loosing. Having therefore the power
of loosing, know thyself, and behave thyself in this world as becomes thy
place, being aware that thou hast a great account to give. "For to whom,"
as the Scripture says, "men have entrusted much. of him they will require
the more."(11) For no one man is free from sin, excepting Him that was made
man for us; since it is written: "No man is pure from filthiness; no, not
though he be but one day old."(12) Upon which account the lives and conduct
of the ancient holy men and patriarchs are described; not that we may
reproach them from our reading, but that we ourselves may repent, and have
hope that we also shall obtain forgiveness. For their blemishes are to us
both security and admonition, because we hence learn, when we have
offended, that if we repent we shall have pardon. For it  is written: "Who
can boast that he has a clean heart? and who dare affirm that he is pure
from sin?"(13) No man, therefore, is without sin. Do thou therefore labour
to the utmost of thy power to be unblameable; and be solicitous of l all
the parts of thy flock, lest any one be scandalized on thy account, and
thereby perish. For the layman is solicitous only for himself, but thou for
all, as having a greater burden, and  carrying a heavier load. For it is
written: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Thou and Aaron shall bear the sins
of the priesthood."(14)  Since, therefore, thou art to give an account of
all, take care of all. Preserve those that are sound, admonish those that
sin; and when thou hast afflicted them with fasting, give them ease by
remission; and when with tears the offender begs readmission, receive him,
and let the whole  Church pray for him; and when by imposition of thy hand
thou hast admitted him, give him leave to abide afterwards in the flock.
But for the drowsy and the careless, do thou endeavour to convert and
confirm, and warn and cure them, as sensible how great a reward thou shalt
have for doing so, and how great danger thou wilt incur if thou beest
negligent therein. For Ezekiel speaks thus to those overseers who take no
care of the people: "Woe unto the shepherds of lsrael, for they have fed
themselves; the shepherds feed not the sheep, but themselves. Ye eat the
milk, and are clothed with the wool; ye slay the strong, ye do not feed the
sheep. The weak have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which
was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye
brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which
was lost; but, violently ye chastised them with insult: and they, were
scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became meat to all the
beasts of the forest." And again: "The shepherds did not search for my
sheep; and the shepherds fed themselves, but they fed not my sheep." And a
little after: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my
sheep at their hands, and cause them to cease from feeding my sheep,
neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my
sheep out of their hands, and they shall not be  meat for them." And he
also adds, speaking to the people: "Behold, I will judge between sheep and
sheep, and between rams and rams. Seemed it a small thing unto you to have
eaten up the good pasture, and to have trodden down with your feet the
residue of your pasture, and that the sheep have eaten what was trodden
down with your feet?" And a little after He adds: "And ye shall know that I
am the Lord, and you the sheep of my pasture; ye are my men, and I am your
God, saith the Lord God."(1)

THAT A SHEPHERD WHO IS CARELESS OF HIS  SHEEP WILL BE CONDEMNED, AND THAT A
SHEEP WHICH WILL NOT BE LED BY THE SHEPHERD IS TO BE PUNISHED.

   XIX. Hear, O ye bishops; and hear, O ye of; the laity, how God speaks:
"I will judge between ram and ram, and between sheep and sheep." And He
says to the shepherds: "Ye shall be judged for your unskilfulness, and for
destroying the sheep." That is, I will judge between one bishop and
another, and between one lay person and another, and between one  ruler and
another (for these sheep and these rams are not irrational, but rational
creatures): lest at any time a lay person should say, I am a sheep and not
a shepherd, and I am not concerned for myself; let the shepherd look to
that, for he alone will be required to give an account for me. For as that
sheep that will not follow its good shepherd is exposed to the wolves, to
its destruction; so that which follows a bad shepherd is also exposed to
unavoidable death, since his shepherd will devour him. Wherefore care must
be had to avoid destructive shepherds.

HOW THE GOVERNED ARE TO OBEY THE BISHOPS WHO ARE SET OVER THEM.

   XX. As to a good shepherd, let the lay person honour him, love him,
reverence him as his lord, as his master, as the high priest of God, as a
teacher of piety. For he that heareth him, heareth Christ; and he that
rejecteth him, rejecteth Christ; and he who does not receive Christ, does
not receive His God and Father: for, says He, "He that heareth you, heareth
me; and he that rejecteth you, rejecteth me; and he that rejecteth me,
rejecteth Him that sent me."(2) In like manner, let the bishop love the
laity as his children, fostering and cherishing them with affectionate
diligence; as eggs, in order to the hatching of young ones; or as young
ones, taking them in his arms, to the rearing them into birds: admonishing
all men; reproving all who stand in need of reproof; reproving, that is,
but not striking; beating them down to make them ashamed, but not
overthrowing them; warning them in order to their conversion: chiding them
in order to their reformation and better course of life; watching the
strong, that is, keeping him firm in the faith who is already strong;
feeding the people peaceably; strengthening the weak, that is, confirming
with exhortation that which is tempted; healing that which is sick, that
is, curing by instruction that which is weak in the faith through
doubtfulness of mind; binding up that which is broken, that is, binding up
by comfortable admonitions that which is gone astray, or wounded, bruised,
or broken by their sins, and put out of the way; leasing it of its
offences, and giving hope: by this means restore it in strength to the
Church, bringing it back into the flock. Bring again that which is driven
away, that is, do not permit that which is in its sins, and is cast out by
way of punishment, to continue excluded; but receiving it, and bringing it
back, restore it to the flock, that is, to the people of the undefiled
Church. Seek for that which is lost, that is, do not suffer that which
desponds of its salvation, by reason of the multitude of its offences,
utterly to perish. Do thou search for that which is grown sleepy, drowsy,
and sluggish, and that which is unmindful of its own life, through the
depth of its sleep, and which is at a great distance from its own flock, so
as to be in danger  of falling among the wolves, and being devoured by
them. Bring it back by admonition, exhort it to be watchful; and insinuate
hope, not permitting it to say that which was said by some: "Our impieties
are upon us, and we pine away in them; how shall we then live?"(1) As far
as possible, therefore, let the bishop make the offence his own, and say to
the sinner, Do thou but return, and I will undertake to suffer death for
thee, as our Lord suffered death for me, and for all men. For "the good
shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; but he that is an hireling, and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, that
is, the devil, and he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf seizes
upon them."(1) We must know, therefore, that God is very merciful to those
who have offended, and hath promised repentance with an oath. But he who
has offended, and is unacquainted with this promise of God concerning
repentance, and does not understand His long-suffering and forbearance, and
besides is ignorant of the Holy Scriptures, which proclaim repentance,
inasmuch as he has never learned them from you, perishes through his folly.
But do thou, like a compassionate shepherd, and a diligent feeder of the
flock, search out, and keep an account of thy flock. Seek that which is
wanting;(3) as the Lord God our gracious Father has sent His own Son, the
good Shepherd and Saviour, our Master Jesus, and has commanded Him to
"leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and to go in search after that
which was lost, and when He had found it, to take it upon His shoulders,
and to carry it into the flock, rejoicing that He had found that which was
lost."(4) In like manner, be obedient, O bishop, and do thou seek that
which was lost, guide that which has wandered out of the right way, bring
back that which is gone astray: for thou hast authority to bring them back,
and to deliver those that are broken-hearted by remission. For by thee does
our Saviour say to him who is discouraged under the sense of his sins, "Thy
sins are forgiven thee: thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."(5) But
this peace and haven of tranquillity is the Church of Christ, into which do
thou, when thou hast loosed them from their sins, restore them, as being
now sound and unblameable, of good hope, diligent, laborious in good works.
As a skilful and compassionate physician, heal all such as have wandered in
the ways of sin; for "they that are whole have no need of a physician, but
they that are sick. For the Son of man came to save and to seek that which
was lost."(6) Since thou art therefore a physician of the Lord's Church,
provide remedies suitable to every patient's case. Cure them, heal them by
all means possible; restore them sound to the Church. Feed the flock, "not
with insolence and contempt, as lording it over them,"(7) but as a gentle
shepherd, "gathering the lambs into thy bosom, and gently leading those
which are with young."(8)

THAT IT IS A DANGEROUS THING TO JUDGE WITHOUT HEARING BOTH SIDES, OR TO
DETERMINE OF PUNISHMENT AGAINST A PERSON BEFORE HE IS CONVICTED.

   XXI. Be gentle, gracious, mild, without guile, without falsehood; not
rigid, not insolent, not severe, not arrogant, not unmerciful, not puffed
up, not a man-pleaser, not timorous, not double-minded, not one that
insults over the people that are under thee, not one that conceals the
divine laws and the promises to repentance, not hasty in thrusting out and
expelling, but steady, not one that delights in severity, not heady. Do not
admit less evidence to convict any one than that of three witnesses, and
those of known and established reputation; inquire whether they do not
accuse out of ill-will or envy: for there are many that delight in
mischief, forward in discourse, slanderous, haters of the brethren, making
it their business to scatter the sheep of Christ; whose affirmation if thou
admittest without nice scanning the same, thou wilt disperse thy flock, and
betray it to be devoured by wolves, that is, by demons and wicked men, or
rather not men, but wild beasts in the shape of men--by the heathen, by the
Jews, and by the atheistic heretics. For those destroying wolves soon
address themselves to any one that is cast out of the Church, and esteem
him as a lamb delivered for them to devour, reckoning his destruction their
own gain. For he that is "their father, the devil, is a murderer."(9) He
also who is separated unjustly by thy want of care in judging will be
overwhelmed with sorrow, and be disconsolate, and so will either wander
over to the heathen, or be entangled in heresies, and so will be altogether
estranged from the Church and from hope in God, and will be entangled in
impiety, whereby thou wilt be guilty of his perdition: for it is not fair
to be too hasty in casting out an offender, but slow in receiving him when
he returns; to be forward in cutting off, but unmerciful when he is
sorrowful, and ought to be healed. For of such as these speaks the divine
Scripture: "Their  feet run to mischief; they are hasty to shed blood.
Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they
not known. The fear of God is not before their eyes."(1) Now the way of
peace is our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has taught us, saying: "Forgive, and
ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given to you;"(2) that is, give
remission of sins, and your offences shall be forgiven you. As also He
instructed us by His prayer to say unto God: "Forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors."(3) If, therefore, you do not forgive offenders, how
can you expect the remission of your own sins? Do not  you rather bind
yourselves faster, by pretending in your prayers to forgive, when you
really do not forgive? Will you not be confronted with your own words, when
you say you forgive and do not forgive? For know ye, that he who casts out
one who has not behaved himself wickedly, or who will not receive him that
returns, is a murderer of his brother, and sheds his blood, as Cain did
that of his brother Abel, and his "blood cries to God,"(4) and will be
required. For a righteous man unjustly slain by any one will be in rest
with God for ever. The same is the case of him who without cause is
separated by his bishop. He who has cast him out as a pestilent fellow when
he was innocent, is more furious than a murderer. Such a one has no regard
to the mercy of God, nor is mindful of His goodness to those that are
penitent, nor keeping in his eye the examples of those who, having been
once great offenders, received forgiveness upon their repentance. Upon
which account, he who casts off an innocent person is more cruel than he
that murders the body. In like manner, he who does not receive the
penitent, scatters the flock of Christ, being really against Him. For as
God is just in judging of sinners, so is He merciful in receiving them when
they return. For David, the man after God's own heart, in his hymns
ascribes both mercy and judgment to Him.

THAT DAVID, THE NINEVITES, HEZEKIAH, AND HIS SON MANASSEH, ARE EMINENT
EXAMPLES OF REPENTANCE,THE PRAYER OF MANASSEH KING OF JUDAH.

   XXII. It is also thy duty, O bishop, to have before thine eyes the
examples of those that have gone before, and to apply them skilfully to the
cases of those who want words of severity or of consolation. Besides, it is
reasonable that in thy administration of justice thou shouldest follow the
will of God; and as God deals with sinners, and with those who return, that
thou shouldest act accordingly in thy judging. Now, did not God by Nathan
reproach David for his offence? And yet as soon as he said he repented, He
delivered him from death, saying, "Be of good cheer; thou shalt not
die."(5) So also, when God had caused Jonah(6) to be swallowed up by the
sea and the whale, upon his refusal to preach to the Ninerites, when yet he
prayed to Him out of the belly of the whale, He retrieved his life from
corruption. And when Hezekiah had been puffed up for a while, yet, as soon
as he prayed with lamentation, He remitted his offence. But, O ye bishops,
hearken to an instance useful upon this occasion. For it is written thus in
the fourth book of Kings and the second book of Chronicles: "And Hezekiah
died; and Manasseh his son reigned. He was twelve years old when he began
to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem; and his
mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord: he
did not abstain from the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord
destroyed from the face of the children of Israel. And Manasseh returned
and built the high places which Hezekiah his father had overthrown; and he
reared pillars for Baal, and set up an altar for Baal, and made groves, as
did Ahab king of Israel. And he made altars in the house of the Lord, of
which the Lord spake to David and to Solomon his son, saying, Therein will
I put my name. And Manas-seh set up altars, and by them served Baal, and
said, My name shall continue for ever.(7) And he built altars to the host
of heaven m the two courts of the house of the Lord; and he made his
children pass through the fire in a place named Ge Benennom;(8) and he
consulted enchanters, and dealt with wizards and familiar spirits, and with
conjurers and observers of times, and with teraphim. And he sinned
exceedingly in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. And he set a
molten and a graven image, the image of his grove, which he made in the
house of the Lord, wherein the Lord had chosen to put His name in
Jerusalem, the holy city, for ever, and had said, I will no more remove my
foot from the land of Israel, which I gave to their fathers; only if they
will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and
according to all the precepts that my servant Moses commanded them. And
they hearkened not. And Manasseh seduced them to do more evil before the
Lord than did the nations whom the Lord cast out from the face of the
children of Israel. And the Lord spake concerning Manasseh and concerning
His people by the hand of His servants the prophets, saying, Because
Manasseh king of Judah has done all these wicked abominations in a higher
degree than the Amorite did which was before him, and hath made Judah to
sin with his idols, thus saith the Lord God of lsrael, Behold, I bring
evils upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of them, both his
ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria,
and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will blot out Jerusalem as a
table-book is blotted out by wiping it. And I will turn it upside down; and
I will give up the remnant of my inheritance, and will deliver them into
the hands of their enemies, and  they shall become a prey and a spoil to
all their enemies, because of all the evils which they have done in mine
eyes, and have provoked me to anger from the day that I brought their
fathers out of the land of Egypt even until this day. Moreover, Manasseh
shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to
another, beside his sins wherewith he made Judah to sin in doing evil in
the sight of the Lord. And the Lord brought upon him the captains of the
host of the king of Assyria, and they caught Manasseh in bonds, and they
bound him in fetters of brass, and brought him to Babylon; and he was bound
and shackled with iron all over in the house of the prison. And bread made
of bran was given unto him scantily, and by weight, and water mixed with
vinegar but a little and by measure, so much as would keep him alive; and
he was in straits and sore affliction. And when he was violently afflicted,
he besought the face of the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly
before the face of the Lord God of his fathers. And he prayed unto the
Lord, saying, O Lord, almighty God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and of their righteous seed, who hast made heaven and earth, with
all the ornament thereof, who hast bound the sea by the word of Thy
commandment, who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by Thy terrible and
glorious name, whom all men fear and tremble before Thy power; for the
majesty of Thy glory cannot be borne, and Thine angry threatening towards
sinners is insupportable. But Thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and
unsearchable; for Thou art the most high Lord,(1) of great compassion,
long-suffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O
Lord, according to Thy great goodness, hast promised repentance and
forgiveness to them that have sinned against Thee, and of Thine infinite
mercy hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou
therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, has not appointed
repentance to the just as to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, which have not
sinned against Thee; but Thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a
sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My
transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied; my transgressions are multiplied,
and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven  for the
multitude of mine iniquity. I am bowed down with many iron bands; for I
have provoked Thy wrath, and done evil before Thee, setting up
abominations, and multiplying offences. Now, therefore, I bow the knee of
mine heart, beseeching Thee of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned,
and I acknowledge mine iniquities; wherefore I humbly beseech Thee, forgive
me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with mine iniquities. Be not
angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me into
the lower part of the earth. For Thou art the God, even the God of them
that repent, and in me Thou wilt show Thy goodness; for Thou wilt save me
that am unworthy, according to Thy great mercy. Therefore I will praise
Thee for ever all the days of my life; for all the powers of the heavens do
praise Thee, and Thine is the glory for ever and ever. Amen. And the Lord
heard his voice, and had compassion upon him. And there appeared a flame of
fire about him, and all the iron shackles and chains which were about him
fell off; and the Lord healed Manasseh from his affliction, and brought him
back to Jerusalem unto his kingdom: and Manasseh knew that the  Lord He is
God alone. And he worshipped the Lord God alone with all his heart, and
with all his soul, all the days of his life; and he was esteemed righteous.
And he took away the strange gods and the graven image out of the house of
the Lord, and all the altars which he had built in the house of the Lord,
and all the altars in Jerusalem, and he cast them out of the city. And he
repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace-offerings and
thank-offerings. And Manasseh spake to Judah to serve the Lord God of
Israel. And he slept in peace with his fathers; and Amon his son reigned in
his stead. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all things
that Manasseh his father had done in the former part of his reign. And he
provoked the Lord his God to anger."(2)

   Ye have heard, our beloved children, how the Lord God for a while
punished him that was addicted to idols, and had slain many innocent
persons; and yet that He received him when he repented, and forgave him his
offences, and restored him to his kingdom. For He not only forgives the
penitent, but reinstates them in their former dignity.

AMON MAYBE AN EXAMPLE TO SUCH AS SIN WITH AN HIGH HAND.

   XXIII. There is no sin more grievous than idolatry, for it is an
impiety against God: and yet even this sin has been forgiven, upon sincere
repentance. But if any one sin in direct opposition, and on purpose to try
whether God will punish the wicked or not, such a one shall have no
remission, although he say with himself, "All is well, and I will walk
according to the conversation of my evil heart." Such a one was Amon the
son of Manasseh. For the Scripture says: "And Amon reasoned an evil
reasoning of transgression, and said, My father from his childhood was a
great transgressor, and repented in his old age; and now I will walk as my
soul lusteth, and afterwards I will return unto the Lord. And he did evil
in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And the Lord God
soon destroyed him utterly from His good land. And his servants conspired
against him, and slew him in his own house, and he reigned two years only."

THAT CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD CAME TO SAVE SINNERS BY REPENTANCE.

   XXIV. Take heed, therefore, ye of the laity, lest any one of you fix
the reasoning of Amon in his heart, and be suddenly cut off, and perish. In
the same manner, let the bishop take all the care he can that those which
are vet innocent may not fall into sin; and let him heal and receive those
which turn from their sins. But if he is pitiless, and will not receive the
repenting sinner, he will sin against the Lord his God, pretending to be
more just than God's justice, and not receiving him whom He has received,
through Christ; for whose sake He sent His Son upon earth to men, as a man;
for whose sake God was pleased that He, who was the Maker of man and woman,
should be born of a woman; for whose sake He did not spare Him from the
cross, from death, and burial, but permitted Him to die, who by nature
could not suffer, His beloved Son, God the Word, the Angel of His great
council, that he might deliver those from death who were obnoxious to
death. Him do those provoke to anger who do not receive the penitent. For
He was not ashamed of me, Matthew, who had been formerly a publican; and
admitted of Peter, when he had through fear denied Him three times, but had
appeased Him by repentance, and had wept bitterly; nay, He made him a
shepherd to His own lambs. Moreover, He ordained Paul, our fellow-apostle,
to be of a persecutor an apostle, and declared him a chosen vessel, even
when he had heaped many mischiefs upon us before, and had blasphemed His
sacred name. He says also to another, a woman that was a sinner: "Thy sins,
which are many, are forgiven, for thou lovest much."(1) And when the elders
had set another woman which had sinned before Him, and had left the
sentence to Him, and were gone out, our Lord, the Searcher of the hearts,
inquiring of her whether the elders had condemned her, and being answered
No, He said unto her: "Go thy way therefore, for neither do I condemn
thee."(2) This Jesus, O ye bishops, our Saviour, our King, and our God,
ought to be set before you as your pattern; and Him you ought to imitate,
in being meek, quiet, compassionate, merciful, peaceable, without passion,
apt to teach, and diligent to convert, willing to receive and to comfort;
no strikers, not soon angry, not injurious, not arrogant, not supercilious,
not wine-bibbers, not drunkards, not vainly expensive, not lovers of
delicacies, not extravagant, using the gifts of God not as another's, but
as their own, as good stewards appointed over them, as those who will be
required by God to give an account of the same.

SEC. IV.--ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE RESOURCES COLLECTED FOR THE SUPPORT OF
THE CLERGY, AND THE RELIEF OF THE POOR.

   Let the bishop esteem such food and raiment sufficient as suits
necessity and decency. Let him not make use of the Lord's goods as
another's, but moderately; "for the labourer is worthy of his reward."(3)
Let him not be luxurious in diet, or fond of idle furniture, but contented
with so much alone as is necessary for his sustenance.

OF FIRST-FRUITS AND TITHES, AND AFTER WHAT MANNER THE BISHOP IS HIMSELF TO
PARTAKE OF THEM, OR TO DISTRIBUTE THEM TO OTHERS.

   XXV. Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given
according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him dispense
in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in on account
of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and strangers in
distress, as having that God for the examiner of his accounts who has
committed the disposition to him. Distribute to all those in want with
righteousness, and yourselves use the things which belong to the Lord, but
do not abuse them; eating of them, but not eating them all  up by
yourselves: communicate with those that are in want, and thereby show
yourselves unblameable before God. For if you shall consume them by
yourselves, you will be reproached by God, who says to such unsatiable
people, who alone devour all, "Ye eat up the milk, and clothe yourselves
with the wool;"(1) and in another passage, "Must you alone live upon the
earth?"(2) Upon which account you are commanded in the law, "Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself." Now we say these things, not as if you
might not partake of the fruits of your labours; for it is written, "Thou
shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox which treadeth out the corn;"(4) but
that you should do it with moderation and righteousness. As, therefore, the
ox that labours in the threshing-floor without a muzzle eats indeed, but
does not eat all up; so do you who labour in the threshing-floor, that is,
in the Church eat of the Church: which was also the case of the Levites,
who served in the tabernacle of the testimony, which was in all things a
type of the Church. Nay, further, its very name implied that that
tabernacle was fore-appointed for a testimony of the Church. Here,
therefore, the Levites also, who attended upon the tabernacle partook of
those things that were offered to God by all the people,--namely, gifts,
offerings, and first-fruits, and tithes, and sacrifices, and oblations,
without disturbance, they and their wives, and their sons and their
daughters. Since their employment was the ministration to the tabernacle,
therefore they had not any lot or inheritance in the land among the
children of lsrael, because the oblations of the people were the lot of
Levi, and the inheritance of their tribe. You, therefore, O bishops, are to
your people priests and Levites, ministering to the holy tabernacle, the
holy Catholic Church; who stand at the altar of the Lord your God, and
offer to Him reasonable and unbloody sacrifices through Jesus the great
High Priest. You are to the laity prophets, rulers, governors, and kings;
the mediators between God and His faithful people, who receive and declare
His word, well acquainted with the Scriptures. Ye are the voice of and
witnesses of His will, who bear the sins of all, and intercede for all;
whom, as you have heard, the word severely threatens if you hide the key of
knowledge from men, who are liable to perdition if you do not declare His
will to the people that are under you; who shall have a certain reward from
God, and unspeakable honour and glory, if you duly minister to the holy
tabernacle. For as yours is the burden, so you receive as your fruit the
supply of food and other. necessaries. For you imitate Christ the Lord; and
as He "bare the sins of us all upon the tree" at His crucifixion, the
innocent for those who deserved punishment, so also you ought to make the
sins of the people your own. For concerning our Saviour it is said in
Isaiah, "He bears our sins, and is afflicted for us."(5) And again: "He
bare the sins of many, and was delivered for our offences."(6) As,
therefore, you are patterns for others, so have you Christ for your
pattern. As, therefore, He is concerned for all, so be you for the laity
under you. For do not thou imagine that the office of a bishop is an easy
or light burden. As, therefore, you bear the weight, so have you a right to
partake of the fruits before others, and to impart to those that are in
want, as being to give an account to Him, who without bias will examine
your accounts. For those who attend upon the Church ought to be maintained
by the Church, as being priests, Levites, presidents, and ministers of God;
as it is written in the book of Numbers concerning the priests: "And the
Lord said unto Aaron, Thou, and thy sons, and the house of thy family,
shall bear the iniquities of the holy things of priesthood."(7) "Behold, I
have given unto you the charge of the first-fruits, from all that are
sanctified to me by the children of lsrael; I have given them for a reward
to thee, and to thy sons after thee, by an ordinance for ever. This shall
be yours out of the holy things, out of the oblations, and out of the
gifts, and out of all the sacrifices, and out of every trespass-offering,
and sin-offerings; and all that they render unto me out of all their holy
things, they shall belong to thee, and to thy sons: in the sanctuary shall
they eat them."(8) And a little after: "All the first-fruits of the oil,
and of the wine, and of the wheat, all which they shall give unto the Lord,
to thee have I given them; and all that is first ripe, to thee have I given
it, and every devoted thing. Every first-born of man and of beast, clean
and unclean, and of sacrifice, with the breast, and the right shoulder, all
these appertain to the priests, and to the rest of those belonging to them,
even to the Levites."(9)

   Hear this, you of the laity also, the elect Church of God. For the
people were formerly called "the people of God,"(10) and "an holy
nation."(11) You, therefore, are the holy and sacred "Church of God,
enrolled in heaven, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people,"(12) a bride adorned for the Lord God, a great Church, a faithful
Church. Hear attentively now what was said formerly: oblations and tithes
belong to Christ our High Priest, and to those who minister to Him. Tenths
of salvation are the first letter of the name of Jesus. Hear, O thou Holy
Catholic Church, who hast escaped the ten plagues, and hast received the
ten commandments, and hast learned the law, and hast kept the faith, and
hast believed in Jesus, and hast known the decad, and hast believed  in the
iota which is the first letter of the name of Jesus,(1) and art named after
His name, and art established, and shinest in the consummation of His
glory. Those which were then the sacrifices now are prayers, and
intercessions, and thanksgivings. Those which were then first-fruits, and
tithes, and offerings, and gifts, now are oblations, which are presented by
holy bishops to the Lord God, through Jesus Christ, who has died for them.
For these are your high priests, as the presbyters are your priests, and
your present deacons instead of your Levites; as are also your readers,
your singers, your porters, your deaconesses, your widows, your virgins,
and your orphans: but He who is above all these is the High Priest.

ACCORDING TO WHAT PATTERNS AND DIGNITY EVERY ORDER OF THE CLERGY IS
APPOINTED  BY GOD.

   XXVI. The bishop, he is the minister of the word, the keeper of
knowledge, the medieator between God trod you in the several parts of your
divine worship. He is the teacher of piety; and, next after God, he is your
father, who has  begotten you again to the adoption of sons by water and
the Spirit. He is your ruler and governor; he is your king and potentate;
he is, next after God, your earthly god, who has a right to be honoured by
you. For concerning him, arid such as he, it is that God pronounces, "I
have said, Ye are gods; and ye are all children of the Most High."(2) And,
"Ye shall not speak evil of the gods."(3) For let the bishop preside over
you as one honoured with the authority of God, which he is to exercise over
the clergy, and by which he is to govern all the people. But let the deacon
minister to him, as Christ does to His Father;(4) and let him serve him
unblameably in all things, as Christ does nothing of Himself, but does
always those things that please His Father. Let also the deaconess be
honoured by you in the place of the Holy Ghost,  and not do or say anything
without the deacon;  as neither does the Comforter say or do anything  of
Himself, but gives glory to Christ by waiting for His pleasure. And as we
cannot believe on Christ without the teaching of the Spirit, so let not any
woman address herself to the deacon or  bishop without the deaconess. Let
the presbyters  be esteemed by you to represent us the apostles, and let
them be the teachers of divine knowledge; since our Lord, when He sent us,
said,  "Go ye, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."(5) Let the widows and
orphans be esteemed as representing the altar of burnt-offering; and let
the virgins be honoured as representing the altar of incense, and the
incense itself.

THAT IT IS A HORRIBLE THING FOR A MAN TO THRUST HIMSELF INTO ANY SACERDOTAL
OFFICE, AS DID CORAH AND HIS COMPANY, SAUL AND UZZIAH.

   XXVII. As, therefore, it was not lawful for one of another tribe, that
was not a Levite, to offer anything, or to approach the altar without the
priest, so also do you do nothing without the bishop;(6) for if any one
does anything without the bishop, he does it to no purpose. For it will not
be esteemed as of any avail to him. For as Saul, when he had offered
without Samuel, was told, "It will not avail for thee;"(7) so every person
among the laity, doing anything without the priest, labours in vain. And as
Uzziah the king,(8) who was not a priest, and yet would exercise the
functions of the priests, was smitten with leprosy for his transgression;
so every lay person shall not be unpunished who despises God, and is so mad
as to affront His priests, and unjustly to snatch that honour to himself:
not imitating Christ, "who glorified not Himself to be made an high
priest;"(9) but waited till He heard from His Father, "The Lord sware, and
will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of
Melchizedek."(10) If, therefore, Christ did not glorify Himself without the
Father, how dare any man thrust himself into the priesthood who has not
received that dignity from his superior, and do such things which it is
lawful only for the priests to do? Were not the followers of Corah, even
though they were of the tribe of Levi, consumed with fire, because they
rose up against Moses and Aaron, and meddled with such things as did not
belong to them? And Dathan and Abiram went down quick into hell; and the
rod that budded put a stop to the readiness of the multitude, and
demonstrated who was the high priest ordained by God.(11) You ought
therefore, brethren, to bring your sacrifices and your oblations to the
bishop, as to your high priest, either by yourselves or by the deacons; and
do you bring not those only, but also your first-fruits, and your tithes,
and your free-will offerings to him. For he knows who they are that are in
affliction, and gives to every one as is convenient,  that so one may not
receive alms twice or oftener the same day, or the same week, while another
has nothing at all. For it is reasonable rather to supply the wants of
those who really are in distress, than of those who only appear to be so.

OF AN ENTERTAINMENT, AND AFTER WHAT MANNER EACH DISTINCT ORDER OF THE
CLERGY IS TO BE TREATED BY THOSE WHO INVITE THEM TO IT.

   XXVIII. If any determine to invite eider women to an entertainment of
love, or a feast, as our Saviour calls it,(1) let them most frequently send
to such a one whom the deacons know to be in distress. But let what is the
pastor's due, I mean the first-fruits,(2) be set apart in the feast for
him, even though he be not at the entertainment, as being your priest, and
in honour of that God who has entrusted him with the priesthood. But as
much as is given to every one of the eider women, let double so much be
given to the deacons, in honour of Christ. Let also a double portion be set
apart for the presbyters, as for such who labour continually about the word
and doctrine, upon the account of the apostles of our Lord, whose place
they sustain, as the counsellors of the bishop and the crown of the Church.
For they are the Sanhedrim and senate of the Church. If there be a reader
there, let him receive a single portion, in honour of the prophets, and let
the singer and the porter have as much. Let the laity, therefore, pay
proper honours in their presents, and utmost marks of respect to each
distinct order. But let them not on all occasions trouble their governor,
but let them signify their desires by those who minister to him, that is,
by the deacons, with whom they may be more free. For neither may we address
ourselves to Almighty God, but only by Christ. In the same manner,
therefore, let the laity make known all their desires to the bishop by the
deacon, and accordingly let them act as he shall direct them. For there was
no holy thing offered or done in the temple formerly without the priest.
"For the priest's lips shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at
his mouth," as the prophet somewhere says, "for he is the messenger of the
Lord Almighty."(3) For if the worshippers of demons, in their hateful,
abominable, and impure performances, imitate the sacred rules till this
very day(it is a wide comparison indeed. and there is a vast distance
between their abominations and God's sacred worship), in their mockeries of
worship they neither offer nor do anything without their pretended priest,
but esteem him as the very mouth of their idols of stone, waiting to see
what commands he will lay upon them. And whatsoever he commands them, that
they do, and without him they do nothing; and they honour him, their
pretended priest, and esteem his name as venerable in honour of lifeless
statues, and in order to the worship of wicked spirits. If these heathens,
therefore, who give glory to lying vanities, and place their hope upon
nothing that is firm, endeavour to imitate the sacred rules, how much more
reasonable is it that you, who have a most certain faith and undoubted
hope, and who expect glorious, and eternal, and never-failing promises,
should honour the Lord God in those set over you, and esteem your bishop to
be the mouth of God !

WHAT IS THE DIGNITY OF A BISHOP AND OF A DEACON.

   XXIX. For if Aaron, because he declared to Pharaoh the words of God
from Moses, is called a prophet; and Moses himself is called a god to
Pharaoh, on account of his being at once a king and a high priest, as God
says to him, "I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother
shall be thy prophet;"(4) why do not ye also esteem the mediators of the
word to be prophets, and reverence them as gods?

AFTER WHAT MANNER THE LAITY ARE TO BE OBEDIENT TO THE DEACON.

   XXX. For now the deacon is to you Aaron, and the bishop Moses. If,
therefore, Moses was called a god by the Lord, let the bishop be honoured
among you as a god, and the deacon as his prophet. For as Christ does
nothing without His Father, so neither does the deacon do anything without
his bishop; and as the Son without His Father is nothing, so is the deacon
nothing without his bishop; and as the Son is subject to His Father, so is
every deacon subject to his bishop; and as the Son is the messenger and
prophet of the Father, so is the deacon the messenger and prophet of his
bishop. Wherefore let all things that he is to do with any one be made
known to the bishop, and be finally ordered by him.

THAT THE DEACON MUST NOT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT THE BISHOP.

   XXXI. Let him not do anything at all without his bishop, nor give
anything without his consent. For if he gives to any one as to a person in
distress without the bishop's knowledge, he gives it so that it must tend
to the reproach of the bishop, and he accuses him as careless of the
distressed. But he that casts reproach on his bishop, either by word or
deed, opposes God,  not hearkening to what He says: "Thou shalt not speak
evil of the gods."(5) For He did not make that law concerning deities of
wood and of stone, which are abominable, because they are falsely called
gods, but concerning the priests and the judges, to whom He also said, "Ye
are gods, and children of the Most High."(1)

THAT THE DEACON MUST NOT MAKE ANY DISTRIBUTIONS WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE
BISHOP, BECAUSE THAT WILL TURN TO THE REPROACH OF THE BISHOP.

   XXXII. If therefore, O deacon, thou knowest any one to be in distress,
put the bishop in mind of him, and so give to him; but do nothing in a
clandestine way, so as  may tend to his reproach, lest thou raise a murmur
against him; for the murmur will not be against him, but against the Lord
God: and the deacon, with the rest, will hear what Aaron and Miriam heard,
when they spake against Moses: "How is it that ye were not afraid to speak
against my servant Moses?"(2) And again, Moses says to those who rose up
against him: "Your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord our
God."(3) For if he that calls one of the laity Raka,(4) or fool, shall not
be unpunished, as doing injury to the name(5) of Christ, how dare any man
speak against his bishop, by whom the Lord gave the Holy Spirit among you
upon the laying on of his hands, by whom ye have learned the sacred
doctrines, and have known God, and have believed in Christ, by whom ye were
known of God, by whom ye were sealed with the oil of gladness and the
ointment of understanding, by whom ye were declared to be the children of
light, by whom the Lord in your illumination testified by the imposition of
the bishop's hands, and sent out His sacred voice upon every one of you,
saying, "Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee?"(6) By thy bishop,
O man, God adopts thee for His child. Acknowledge, O son, that right hand
which was a mother to thee. Love him who, after God, is become a father to
thee, and honour him.

AFTER WHAT MANNER THE BISHOPS ARE TO BE HONOURED, AND TO BE REVERENCED AS
OUR SPIRITUAL PARENTS.

   XXXIII. For if the divine oracle says, concerning our parents according
to the flesh, "Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with
thee;"(7) and, "He that curseth his father or his mother, let him die the
death;"(8) how much more should the word exhort you to honour your
spiritual parents, and to love them as your benefactors and ambassadors
with God, who have regenerated you by water, and endued you with the
fulness of the Holy Spirit, who have fed you with the word as with milk,
who have nourished yon with doctrine, who have confirmed you by their
admonitions, who have imparted to you the saving body and precious blood of
Christ, who have loosed you from your sins, who have made you partakers of
the holy and sacred eucharist, who have admitted you to be partakers and
fellow-heirs of the promise of God! Reverence these, and honour them with
all kinds of honour; for they have obtained from God the power of life and
death, in their judging of sinners, and condemning them to the death of
eternal fire, as also of loosing returning sinners  from their sins, and of
restoring them to a new life.

THAT PRIESTS ARE TO BE PREFERRED BEFORE RULERS AND KINGS.

   XXXIV. Account these worthy to be esteemed your rulers and your kings,
and bring them tribute as to kings; for by you they and their families
ought to be maintained. As Samuel made constitutions for the people
concerning a king,(9) in the first book of Kings, and Moses did so
concerning priests in Leviticus, so do we also make constitutions for you
concerning bishops. For if there the multitude distributed the inferior
services in proportion to so great a king, ought not therefore the bishop
much more now to receive of you those things which are determined by God
for the sustenance of himself and of the rest of the clergy belonging to
him? But if we may add somewhat further, let the bishop receive more than
the other received of old: for he only managed the affairs of the soldiery,
being entrusted with war and peace for the preservation of men's bodies;
but the other is entrusted with the exercise of the priestly office in
relation to God, in order to preserve both body and soul from dangers. By
how much, therefore, the soul is more valuable than the body, so much the
priestly office is beyond the kingly. For it  binds and looses those that
are worthy of punishment or of remission. Wherefore you ought to love the
bishop as your father, and fear him as your king, and honour him as your
lord, bringing to him your fruits and the works of your hands, for a
blessing upon you, giving to him your first-fruits, and your tithes, and
your oblations, and your gifts, as to the priest of God; the first-fruits
of your wheat, and wine, and oil, and autumnal fruits, and wool,(10) and
all things which the Lord God gives thee. And thy offering shall be
accepted as a savour of a sweet smell to the Lord thy God; and the Lord
will bless the works of thy hands, and will multiply the good things of the
land. "For a blessing is upon the head of him that giveth."(1)

THAT BOTH THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL PRESCRIBE OFFERINGS.

   XXXV. Now you ought to know, that although the Lord has delivered you
from the additional bonds, and has brought you out of them to your
refreshment, and does not permit you to sacrifice irrational creatures for
sin-offerings, and purifications, and scapegoats, and continual washings
and sprinklings, yet has He nowhere freed you from those oblations which
you owe to the priests, nor from doing good to the poor. For the Lord says
to you in the Gospel: "Unless your righteousness abound more than that of
the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall by no means enter into the kingdom of
heaven."(2) Now herein will your righteousness exceed theirs, if you take
greater care of the priests, the orphans, and the widows; as it is written:
"He hath scattered abroad; he hath given to the poor; his righteousness
remaineth for ever."(3) And again: "By acts of righteousness and faith
iniquities are purged."(4) And again: "Every bountiful soul is blessed."(5)
So therefore shalt thou do as the Lord has appointed, and shalt, give to
the priest what things are due to him,  the first-fruits of thy floor, and
of thy wine-press,  and sin-offerings, as to the mediator between God and
such as stand in need of purgation and forgiveness. For it is thy duty to
give, and his to administer, as being the administrator and disposer of
ecclesiastical affairs. Yet shalt thou  not call thy bishop to account, nor
watch his administration, how he does it, when, or to  whom, or where, or
whether he do it well or ill, or indifferently; for he has One who will
call him to an account, the Lord God, who put this  administration into his
hands, and thought him worthy of the priesthood of so great dignity.

THE RECITAL OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, AND AFTER WHAT MANNER THEY DO HERE
PRESCRIBE TO US.

   XXXVI. Have before thine eyes the fear of God, and always remember the
ten commandments of God,--to love the one and only Lord God with all thy
strength; to give no heed to idols, or any other beings, as being lifeless
gods, or irrational beings or daemons. Consider the manifold workmanship of
God, which received its beginning through Christ. Thou shalt observe the
Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of creation, but ceased
not from His work of providence: it is a rest for meditation of the law,
not for idleness of the hands. Reject every unlawful lust, everything
destructive to men, and all anger. Honour thy parents, as the authors of
thy being. Love thy neighbour as thyself. Communicate the necessaries of-
life to the needy. Avoid swearing falsely, and swearing often, and in vain;
for thou shalt not be held guiltless. Do not appear before the priests
empty, and offer thy free-will offerings continually. Moreover, do not
leave the church of Christ; but go thither in the morning before all thy
work, and again meet there in the evening, to return thanks to God that He
has preserved thy life. Be diligent, and constant, and laborious in thy
calling. Offer to the Lord thy free-will offerings; for says He, "Honour
the Lord with the fruit of thy honest labours."(6) If thou art not able to
cast anything considerable into the Corban,(7) yet at least bestow upon the
strangers one, or two, or five mites. "Lay up to thyself heavenly treasure,
which neither the moth nor thieves can destroy."(8) And in doing this, do
not judge thy bishop, or any of thy neighbours among the laity; for if thou
judge thy brother, thou becomest a judge, without being constituted such by
anybody, for the priests are only entrusted with the power of judging. For
to them it is said, "Judge righteous judgment;"(9) and again "Approve
yourselves to be exact money-changers."(10) For to yon this is not
entrusted; for, on the contrary, it is said to those who are not of the
dignity of magistrates or ministers: "Judge not, and ye shall not be
judged."(11)

SEC. V.--ON ACCUSATIONS, AND THE TREATMENT OF ACCUSERS.

CONCERNING ACCUSERS AND FALSE ACCUSERS, AND HOW A JUDGE IS NOT RASHLY
EITHER TO BELIEVE THEM OR DISBELIEVE THEM, BUT AFTER AN ACCURATE
EXAMINATION.

   XXXVII. But it is the duty of the bishop to judge rightly, as it is
written, "Judge righteous judgment;"(12) and elsewhere, "Why do ye not even
of yourselves judge what is right?"(13) Be ye therefore as skilful dealers
in money: for as these reject bad money, but take to themselves what is
current, in the same manner it is the bishops's duty to retain the
unblameable, but either to heal, or, if they be past cure, to cast off
those that are blameworthy, so as not to be hasty in cutting off, nor to
believe alI accusations; for it sometimes happens that some, either through
passion or envy, do insist on a false accusation against a brother, as did
the two elders in the case of Susanna in Babylon,(1) and the Egyptian woman
in the case of Joseph.(2) Do thou therefore, as a man of God, not rashly
receive such accusations, lest thou take away the innocent and slay the
righteous; for he that will receive such accusations is the author of anger
rather than of peace. But where there is anger, there the Lord is not; for
that anger, which is the friend of Satan--I mean that which is excited
unjustly by the means of false brethren--never suffers unanimity to be in
the Church. Wherefore, when you know such persons to be foolish,
quarrelsome, passionate, and such as delight in mischief, do not give
credit to them; but observe such as they are, when you hear anything from
them against their brother: for murder is nothing in their eyes, and they
cast a man down in such a way as one would not suspect. Do thou therefore
consider diligently the accuser,(3) wisely observing his mode of life,
what, and of what sort it is; and in case thou findest him a man of
veracity, do according to the doctrine of our Lord,(4) and taking him who
is accused, rebuke him, that he may repent, when nobody is by. But if he be
not pervaded, take with thee out or two more, and so show him his fault,
and admonish him with mildness and instruction; for "wisdom will rest upon
an heart that is good, but is not understood in the heart of the
foolish."(5)

THAT SINNERS ARE PRIVATELY TO BE REPROVED, AND THE PENITENT TO BE RECEIVED,
ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION OF OUR LORD.

   XXXVIII. If, therefore, he be persuaded by the mouth of you three, it
is well. But if any one hardens himself, "tell it to the Church: but if he
neglects to hear the Church, let him be to thee as an heathen man and a
publican;"(6) and receive him no longer into the Church as a Christian, but
reject him as an heathen. But if he be willing to repent, receive him. For
the Church does not receive an heathen or a publican to communion, before
they every one repent of their former impieties; for our Lord Jesus, the
Christ of God, has appointed place for the acceptance of men upon their
repentance.

EXAMPLES OF REPENTANCE.

   XXXIX. For I Matthew, one of those twelve which  speak to you in this
doctrine, am an apostle, having myself been formerly a publican, but now
have obtained mercy through believing, and have repented of my former
practices, and have been vouchsafed the honour to be an apostle and
preacher of the word. And Zacchaeus, whom the Lord received upon his
repentance and prayers to Him, was also himself in the same manner a
publican at first. And, besides, even the soldiers and multitude of
publicans, who came to hear the word of the Lord about repentance, heard
this from the prophet John, after he had baptized them: "Do nothing more
than that which is appointed you."(7) In like manner, life is not refused
to the heathen, if they repent and cast away their unbelief. Esteem,
therefore, every one that is convicted of any wicked action, and has not
repented, as a publican or an heathen. But if he afterward repents, and
turns from his error, then, as we receive the heathen, when they wish to
repent, into the Church indeed to hear the word, but do not receive them to
communion until they have received the seal of baptism, and are made
complete Christians; so do we also permit such as these to enter only to
hear, until they show the fruit of repentance, that by hearing the word
they may not utterly and irrecoverably perish. But let them not be admitted
to communion in prayer; and let them depart after the reading of the law,
and the prophets, and the Gospel, that by such departure they may be made
better in their course of life, by endeavouring to meet every day about the
public assemblies, and to be frequent in prayer, that they also may be at
length admitted, and that those who behold them may be affected, and be
more secured by fearing to fall into the same condition.

THAT WE ARE NOT TO BE IMPLACABLE TO HIM WHO HAS ONCE OR TWICE OFFENDED.

   XL. But yet do not thou, O bishop, presently abhor any person who has
fallen into one or two offences, nor shalt thou exclude him from the word
of the Lord, nor reject him from common intercourse, since neither did the
Lord refuse to eat with publicans and sinners; and when He was accused by
the Pharisees on this account, He said: "They that are well have no need of
the physician, but they that are sick."(8) Do you, therefore, live and
dwell with those who are separated from you for their sins; and take care
of them, comforting them, and confirming them, and saying to them: "Be
strengthened, ye weak hands and feeble knees."(9) For we ought to comfort
those that mourn, and afford encouragement to the fainthearted, lest by
immoderate sorrow they degenerate into distraction, since "he that is
fainthearted is exceedingly distracted."(10)

AFTER WHAT MANNER WE OUGHT TO RECEIVE A PENITENT; HOW WE OUGHT TO DEAL WITH
OFFENDERS, AND WHEN THEY ARE TO BE CUT OFF FROM THE CHURCH.

   XLI. But if any one returns, and shows forth the fruit of repentance,
then do ye receive him to prayer, as the lost son, the prodigal, who had
consumed his father's substance with harlots, who fed swine, and desired to
be fed with husks, and could not obtain it. This son, when he repented, and
returned to his father, and said, "I have sinned against Heaven, and before
thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son;"(1) the father, full of
affection to his child, received him with music, and restored him his old
robe, and ring, and shoes, and slew the fatted calf, and made merry with
his friends. Do thou therefore, O bishop, act in the same manner. And as
thou receivest an heathen after thou hast instructed and baptized him, so
do thou let all join in prayers for this man, and restore him by imposition
of hands to his ancient place among the flock, as one purified by
repentance; and that imposition of hands shall be to him instead of
baptism: for by the laying on of our hands the Holy Ghost was given to
believers. And in case some one of those brethren who had stood immoveable
accuse thee, because thou art reconciled to him, say to him: "Thou art
always with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet to make merry and
be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; he was lost,
and is found." For that God does not only receive the penitent, but
restores them to their former dignity, holy David is a sufficient witness,
who, after his sin in the matter of Uriah, prayed to God, and said:
"Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free
Spirit."(2) And again: "Turn Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine
offences. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my
inward parts. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy
Spirit from me." Do thou therefore, as a compassionate physician, heal all
that have sinned, making use of saving methods of cure; not only cutting
and searing, or using corrosives, but binding up, and putting in tents, and
using gentle healing medicines, and sprinkling comfortable words. If it be
an hollow wound, or great gash, nourish it with a suitable plaister, that
it may be filled up, and become even with the rest of the whole flesh. If
it be foul, cleanse it with corrosive powder, that is, with the words of
reproof. If it have proud flesh, eat it down with a sharp plaister--the
threats of judgment. If it spreads further, sear it, and cut off the putrid
flesh, mortifying him with fastings. But if, after all that thou hast done,
thou perceivest that from the feet to the head there is no room for a
fomentation, or oil, or bandage, but that the malady spreads and prevents
all cure, as a gangrene which corrupts the entire member; then, with a
great deal of consideration, and the advice of other skilful physicians,
cut off the putrefied member, that the whole body of the Church be not
corrupted. Be not therefore ready and hasty to cut off, nor do thou easily
have recourse to the saw, with its many teeth; but first use a lancet to
lay open the wound, that the inward cause whence the pain is derived being
drawn out, may keep the body free from pain. But if thou seest any one past
repentance, and he is become insensible, then cut off the incurable from
the Church with sorrow and lamentation. For: "Take out from among
yourselves that wicked person."(3) And: "Ye shall make the children of
Israel to fear."(4) And again: "'Thou shalt not accept the persons of the
rich in judgment."(5) And: "Thou shalt not pity a poor man in his cause:
for the judgment is the Lord's."(6)

THAT A JUDGE MUST NOT BE A RESPECTER OF PERSONS.

   XLII. But if the slanderous accusation be false, and youthat are the
pastors, with the deacons, admit of that falsehood for truth, either by
acceptance of persons or receiving of bribes, as willing to do that which
will he pleasing to  the devil, and so you thrust out from the Church him
that is accused, but is clear of the crime, you shall give an account in
the day of the Lord. For it is written: "The innocent and the righteous
thou shalt not slay."(7) "Thou shalt not take girls to smite the soul: for
gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and destroy the words of the
righteous."(8) And again: "They that justify the wicked for gifts, and take
away the righteousness of the righteous from him."(9) Be careful,
therefore, not to condemn any persons unjustly,  and so to assist the
wicked. For "woe to him that calls evil good, and good evil; bitter sweet,
and sweet bitter; that puts light for darkness, and darkness for
light."(10) Take care, therefore, lest by any means ye become acceptors of
persons,  and thereby fall under this voice of the Lord.(11) For if you
condemn others unjustly, you pass sentence against yourselves. For the Lord
says: "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and as you condemn,
you shall be condemned."(1) If, therefore, ye judge without respect of
persons, ye will discover that accuser who bears false witness against his
neighbour, and will prove him to be a sycophant, a spiteful person, and a
murderer, causing perplexity by accusing the man as if he were wicked,
inconstant in his words, contradicting himself in what he affirms, and
entangled with the words of his own mouth; for his own lips are a
dangerous, snare to him: whom, when thou hast convicted him of speaking
falsely, thou shalt judge severely, and shalt deliver him to the fiery
sword, and thou  shalt do to him as he wickedly proposed to do  to his
brother; for as much as in him lay he  slew his brother, by forestalling
the ears of the judge.(2) Now it is written, that "he that sheddeth man's
blood, for that his own blood shall be shed."(3) And: "Thou shalt take away
that innocent blood, which was shed without cause, from thee."(4)

AFTER WHAT MANNER FALSE ACCUSERS ARE TO BE PUNISHED.

   XLIII. Thou shalt therefore cast him out of the congregation as a
murderer of his brother.  Some time afterwards, if he says that he repents,
mortify him with fastings, and afterwards ye shall lay your hands upon him
and receive him, but still securing him, that he does not disturb anybody a
second time. But if, when he is admitted again, he be alike troublesome,
and will not cease to disturb and to quarrel with his brother, spying
faults out of a contentious spirit, cast him out as a pernicious person,
that he may not lay waste the Church of God. For such a one is the raiser
of disturbances in cities; for he, though he be within, does not become the
Church, but is a superfluous and vain member, casting a blot, as far as in
him lies, on the body of Christ. For if such men as are born with
superfluous members of their body, which hang to them as fingers, or
excrescences of flesh, cut them away from themselves on account of their
indecency, whereby the unseemliness vanishes, and the man recovers his
natural good shape by the means of the surgeon; how much more ought you,
the pastors of the Church (for the Church is a perfect body, and sound
members; of such as believe in God, in the fear of the Lord, and in love),
to do the like when there is found in it a superfluous member with wicked
designs, and rendering the rest of the body unseemly, and disturbing it
with sedition, and war, and evil-speaking; causing fears, disturbances,
blots, evil-speaking, accusations, disorders, and doing the like works of
the devil, as if he were ordained by the devil to cast a reproach on the
Church by calumnies, and mighty disorders, and strife, and division! Such a
one, therefore, when he is a second time cast out of the Church, is justly
cut off entirely from the congregation of the Lord. And now the Church of
the Lord will be more beautiful than it was before, when it had a
superfluous, and to itself a disagreeable member. Wherefore henceforward it
will be free from blame and reproach, and become clear of such wicked,
deceitful, abusive, unmerciful, traitorous persons; of such as are "haters
of those that are good, lovers of pleasure,"(5) affecters of vainglory,
deceivers, and pretenders to wisdom; of such as make it their business to
scatter, or rather utterly to disperse, the lambs of the Lord.

SEC. VI.--THE DISPUTES OF THE FAITHFUL TO BE SETTLED BY THE DECISIONS OF
THE BISHOP, AND THE FAITHFUL TO BE RECONCILED.

   Do thou therefore, O bishop, together with thy subordinate clergy,
endeavour rightly to divide the word of truth. For the Lord says: "If you
walk cross-grained to me, I will walk cross-grained to you."(6) And
elsewhere: "With the holy Thou wilt be holy, and with the perfect man Thou
wilt be perfect, and with the froward Thou wilt be froward."(7) Walk
therefore holily, that  you may rather appear worthy of praise from the
Lord than of complaint from the adversary.

THAT THE DEACON IS TO EASE THE BURTHEN OF THE BISHOPS, AND TO ORDER THE
SMALLER MATTERS HIMSELF.

   XLIV. Be ye of one mind, O ye bishops, one with another, and be at
peace with one another; sympathize with one another, love the brethren, and
feed the people with care; with one consent teach those that are under you
to be of the same sentiments and to be of the same opinions about the same
matters, "that there may be no schisms among you; that ye may be one body
and one spirit, perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment,"(8) according to the appointment of the Lord. And let the deacon
refer all things to the bishop, as Christ does to His Farther. But let him
order such things as he is able by himself, receiving power from the
bishop, as the Lord did from His Father the power of creation and of
providence. But the weighty matters let the bishop judge; but let the
deacon be the bishop's ear, and eye, and mouth, and heart, and soul, that
the bishop may not be distracted with many cares, but with such only as are
more considerable, as Jethro did appoint for Moses, and his counsel was
received.(9)

THAT CONTENTIONS AND QUARRELS ARE UNBECOMING CHRISTIANS.

   XLV. It is therefore a noble encomium for a Christian to have no
contest with any one;(1) but if by any management or temptation a contest
arises with any one, let him endeavour that it may be composed, though
thereby he be obliged to lose somewhat; and let it not come before an
heathen tribunal. Nay, indeed, you are not to permit that the rulers of
this world should pass sentence against your people; for by them the devil
contrives mischief to the servants of God, and occasions a reproach to be
cast upon us, as though we had not "one wise man that is able to judge
between his brethren," or to decide their controversies.

THAT BELIEVERS OUGHT NOT TO GO TO LAW BEFORE UNBELIEVERS; NOR OUGHT ANY
UNBELIEVER TO BE CALLED FOR A WITNESS AGAINST BELIEVERS.

   XLVI. Let not the heathen therefore know of your differences among One
another, nor do you receive unbelievers as witnesses against yourselves,
nor be judged by them, nor owe them anything on account of tribute or fear;
but "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things
that are God's,"(2) as tribute, taxes, or poll-money, as our Lord by giving
a piece of money was freed from disturbance.(3) Choose therefore rather to
suffer harm, and to endeavour after those things that make for peace, not
only among the brethren, but also among the unbelievers. For by suffering
loss in the affairs of this life, thou wilt be sure not to suffer in the
concerns of piety, and wilt live religiously, and according to the command
of Christ.(4) But if brethren have lawsuits one with another, which God
forbid, you who are the rulers ought thence to learn that such as these do
not do the work of brethren in the Lord, but rather of public enemies; and
one of the parties will be found to be mild, gentle, and the child of
light; but the other unmerciful, insolent, and covetous. Let him,
therefore, who is condemned be rebuked, let him be separated, let him
undergo the punishment of his hatred to his brother. Afterwards, when he
repents, let him be received; and so, when they have learned prudence, they
will ease your judicatures. It is also a duty to forgive each other's
trespasses--not the duty of those that judge, but of those that have
quarrels; as the Lord determined when I Peter asked Him, "How oft shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?" He replied,
"I say not unto thee, Until seven times, but until seventy times seven."(5)
For so would our Lord have us to be truly His disciples, and never to have
anything against anybody; as, for instance, anger without measure, passion
without mercy, covetousness without justice, hatred without reconciliation.
Draw by your instruction those who are angry to friendship, and those who
are at variance to agreement. For the Lord says: "Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."(6)

THAT THE JUDICATURES OF CHRISTIANS OUGHT TO BE HELD ON THE SECOND DAY OF
THE WEEK.

   XLVII.  Let your judicatures be held on the second day of the week,
that if any controversy arise about your sentence, having an interval till
the Sabbath,(7) you may be able to set the controversy right, and to reduce
those to peace who have the contests one with another against the Lord's
day. Let also the deacons and presbyters be present at your judicatures, to
judge without acceptance of persons, as men of God, with righteousness.
When, therefore, both the parties are come, according as the law says,(8)
those that have the controversy shall stand severally in the middle of the
court; and when you have heard them, give your votes holily, endeavouring
to make them both friends before the sentence of the bishop, that judgment
against the offender may not go abroad into the world; knowing that he has
in the court the Christ of God as conscious of and confirming his judgment.
But if any persons are accused by any one, and their fame suffers as if
they did not walk uprightly in the Lord. in like manner you shall hear both
parties--the accuser and accused; but not with prejudice, nor with
hearkening to one part only, but with righteousness, as passing a sentence
concerning eternal life or death. For says God: "He shall prosecute that
which is right justly."(9) For he that is justly punished and separated by
you is rejected from eternal life and glory; he becomes dishonourable among
holy men, and one condemned of God.

THAT THE SAME PUNISHMENT IS NOT TO BE INFLICTED FOR EVERY OFFENCE, BUT
DIFFERENT PUNISHMENTS FOR DIFFERENT OFFENDERS.

   XLVIII. Do not pass the same sentence for every sin, but one suitable
to each crime, distinguishing all the several sorts of offences with much
prudence, the great from the little. Treat a wicked action after one
manner, and a wicked word after another; a bare intention still otherwise.
So also in the case of a contumely or suspicion. And some thou shalt curb
by threatenings alone; some thou shalt punish with fines to the poor; some
thou shalt mortify with fastings; and others thou shalt separate according
to the greatness of their several crimes. For the law did not allot the
same punishment to every offence, but had a different regard to a sin
against God, against the priest, against the temple, or against the
sacrifice; from a sin against the king, or ruler, or a soldier, or a
fellow-subject; and so were the offences different which were against a
servant, a possession, or a brute creature. And again, sins were
differently rated according as they were against parents and kinsmen, and
those differently which were done on purpose from those that happened
involuntarily. Accordingly the punishments were different: as death either
by crucifixion or by stoning, fines, scourgings, or the suffering the same
mischiefs they had done to others. Wherefore do you also allot different
penalties to different offences, lest any injustice should happen, and
provoke God to indignation. For of what unjust judgment soever you are the
instruments, of the same you shall receive the reward from God. "For with
what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged."(1)

WHAT ARE TO BE THE CHARACTERS OF ACCUSERS AND WITNESSES.

   XLIX. When, therefore, you are set down at your tribunal, and the
parties are both of them present (for we will not call them brethren until
they receive each other in peace), examine diligently concerning those who
appear before you; and first concerning the accuser, whether this be the
first person he has accused, or whether he has advanced accusations against
some others before, and whether this contest and accusation of theirs does
not arise from some quarrel, and what sort of life the accuser leads. Yet,
though he be of a good conscience, do not give credit to him alone, for
that is contrary to the law; but let him have others to join in his
testimony, and those of the same course of life. As the law says: "At the
mouth of two or three witnesses everything shall be established."(2) But
why did we say that the character of the witnesses was to be inquired
after, of what sort it is? Because it frequently happens that two and more
testify for mischief, and with joint consent prefer a lie; as did the two
elders against Susanna in Babylon,(3) and the sons of transgressors against
Naborb in Samaria,(4) and the multitude of the Jews against our Lord at
Jerusalem,(5) and against Stephen His first martyr.(6) Let the witnesses
therefore be meek, free from anger, full of equity, kind, prudent,
continent, free from wickedness, faithful, religious; for the testimony of
such persons is firm on account of their character, and true on account of
their mode  of life. But as to those of a different character, do not ye
receive their testimony, although they seem to agree together in their
evidence against the accused; for it is ordained in the law: "Thou shalt
not be with a multitude for wickedness; thou shalt not receive a vain
report; thou shalt not consent with a multitude to pervert judgment."(7)
You ought also particularly to know him that is accused; what he is in his
course and mode of life; whether he have a good report as to his life;
whether he has been unblameable; whether he has been zealous in holiness;
whether he be a lover of the widows, a lover of the strangers, a lover of
the poor, and a lover of the brethren; whether he be not given to filthy
lucre; whether he be not an extravagant person, or a spendthrift; whether
he be sober, and free from luxury, or a drunkard, or a glutton; whether he
be compassionate and charitable.

THAT FORMER OFFENCES DO SOMETIMES RENDER AFTER ACCUSATIONS CREDIBLE.

   L. For if he has been before addicted to wicked works, the accusations
which are now brought against him will thence in some measure appear to be
true, unless justice do plainly plead for hint. For it may be, that though
he had  formerly been an offender, yet that he may not be guilty of this
crime of which he is accused. Wherefore be exactly cautious about such
circumstances, and so render your sentences, when pronounced against the
offender convicted, safe and firm. And if, after his separation, he begs
pardon, and falls down before the bishop, and acknowledges his fault,
receive him. But neither do you suffer a false accuser to go unpunished,
that he may not calumniate another who lives well, or encourage some other
person to do like him. Nor, to be sure, do ye suffer a person convicted to
go off clear, lest another be ensnared in the same crimes. For neither
shall a witness of mischiefs be unpunished, nor shall he  that offends be
without censure.

AGAINST JUDGING WITHOUT HEARING BOTH SIDES.

   LI. We said before that judgment ought not to be given upon hearing
only one of the parties; for if you hear one of them when the other is  not
there, and so cannot make his defence to the accusation brought against
him, and rashly give your votes for condemnation, you will be found guilty
of that man's destruction, and partaker with the false accuser before God,
the just Judge. For "as he that holdeth the tail of a dog, so is he that
presides at unjust judgment." But if ye become imitators of the elders in
Babylon, who, when they had borne witness against Susanna, unjustly
condemned her to death, you will become obnoxious to their judgment and
condemnation. For the Lord by Daniel delivered Susanna from the hand of the
ungodly, but condemned to the fire those elders who were guilty of her
blood, and reproaches you by him, saying: "Are ye so foolish, ye children
of Israel? Without examination, and without knowing the truth, have ye
condemned a daughter of Israel? Return again to the place of judgment, for
these men have borne false witness against her."(2)

THE CAUTION OBSERVED AT HEATHEN TRIBUNALS BEFORE THE CONDEMNATION OF
CRIMINALS AFFORDS CHRISTIANS A GOOD EXAMPLE.

   LII. Consider even the judicatures of this world, by whose power we see
murderers, adulterers, wizards, robbers of sepulchres, and thieves brought
to trial; and those that preside, when they have received their accusations
from those that brought them, ask the malefactor whether those things be
so. And though he does not deny the crimes, they do not presently send him
out to punishment; but for several days they make inquiry about him with a
full council, and with the veil interposed. And he that is to pass the
final decree and suffrage of death against him, lifts up his hands to the
sun, and solemnly affirms that he is innocent of the blood of the man.
Though they be heathens, and know not the Deity, nor the vengeance which
will fall upon men from God on account of those that are justly condemned,
they avoid such unjust judgments.

THAT CHRISTIANS OUGHT NOT TO BE CONTENTIOUS ONE WITH ANOTHER.

   LIII. But you who know who our God is, and what are His judgments, how
can you bear to pass an unjust judgment, since your sentence will be
immediately known to God? And if you have judged righteously, you will be
deemed worthy of the recompenses of righteousness, both now and hereafter;
but if unrighteously, you will partake of the like. We therefore advise
you, brethren, rather to deserve commendation from God than rebukes; for
the commendation of God is eternal life to men, as is His rebuke
everlasting death. Be ye therefore righteous judges, peacemakers, and
without anger. For "he that is angry with his brother without a cause is
obnoxious to the judgment."(3) But if it happens that by any one's
contrivance you are angry at anybody, "let not the sun go down upon your
wrath;"(4) for says David, "Be angry and sin not;"(5) that is, be soon
reconciled, lest your wrath continue so long that it turn to a settled
hatred, and work sin. "For the souls of those that bear a settled hatred
are to death,"(6) says Solomon. But our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ says
in the Gospels: "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest
that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the
altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come
and offer thy gift to God."(7) Now the gift to God is every one's prayer
and thanksgiving. If, therefore, thou hast anything against thy brother, or
he has anything against thee, neither will thy prayers be heard, nor will
thy thanksgivings be accepted, by reason of that hidden anger. But it is
your duty, brethren, to pray continually. Yet, because God hears not those
which are at enmity with their brethren by unjust quarrels, even though
they should pray three times an hour, it is our duty to compose all our
enmity and littleness of soul, that we may be able to pray with a pure and
unpolluted heart. For the Lord commanded us to love even our enemies, and
by no means to hate our friends. And the lawgiver says: "Thou shalt not
hate any man; thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy mind. Thou shalt
certainly reprove thy brother, and not incur sin on his account."(8) "Thou
shalt not hate an Egyptian, for thou wast a sojourner with him. Thou shalt
not hate an Idumaean, for he is thy brother."(9) And David says: "If I have
repaid those that requited me evil."(10) Wherefore, if thou wilt be a
Christian, follow the law of the Lord: "Loose every band of wickedness; for
the Lord has given thee authority to remit those sins to thy brother which
he has committed against thee as far as "seventy times seven,"(12) that is,
four hundred and ninety times. How oft, therefore, hast thou remitted to
thy brother, that thou art unwilling to do it now, when thou also hast
heard Jeremiah saying, "Do not any of you impute the wickedness of his
neighbour in your hearts?"(13) But thou rememberest in juries, and keepest
enmity, and comest into judgment, and art suspicious of His anger and thy
prayer is hindered. Nay, if thou hast remitted to thy brother four hundred
and ninety times, do thou still multiply thy acts of gentleness more, to do
good for thy own sake. Although he does not do so, yet, however, do thou
endeavour to forgive thy brother for God's sake, "that thou mayest be the
son of thy Father which is in heaven,"(1) and when thou prayest, mayest be
heard as a friend of God.

THAT THE BISHOPS MUST BY THEIR DEACON PUT THE PEOPLE IN MIND OF THE
OBLIGATION THEY ARE UNDER TO LIVE PEACEABLY TOGETHER.

   LIV. Wherefore, O bishop, when you are to go to prayer after the
lessons, and the psalmody, and the instruction out of the Scriptures, let
the deacon stand nigh you, and with a loud voice say: Let none have any
quarrel with another; let none come in hypocrisy; that if there be any
controversy found among any of you, they may be affected in conscience, and
may pray to God, and be reconciled to their brethren. For if, upon coming
into any one's house, we are to say, "Peace be to this house,"(2) like sons
of peace bestowing peace on those who are worthy, as it is written, "He
came and preached peace to you that are nigh, and them that are far off,
whom the Lord knows to be His,"(3) much more is it incumbent on those that
enter into the Church of God before all things to pray for the peace of
God. But if he prays for it upon others, much more let himself be within
the same, as a child of light; for he that has it not within himself is not
fit to bestow it upon others. Wherefore, before all things, it is our duty
to be at peace in our own minds; for he that does not find any disorder in
himself will not quarrel with another, but will be peaceable, friendly,
gathering the Lord's people, and a fellow-worker with him, in order to the
increasing the number of those that shall be saved in unanimity. For those
who contrive enmities, and strifes, and contests, and lawsuits, are wicked,
and aliens from God.

AN ENUMERATION OF THE SEVERAL INSTANCES  OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, AND HOW IN
EVERY AGE FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD GOD  HAS INVITED ALL MEN TO
REPENTANCE.

   LV. For God, being a God of mercy from the beginning, called every
generation to repentance by righteous men and prophets. He instructed those
before the flood by Abel and Sem, and Seth, also by Enos, and by Enoch that
was translated; those at the flood by Noah; the inhabitants of Sodom by
hospitable Lot; those after the flood by Melchizedek, and the patriarchs,
and Job the beloved of God; the Egyptians by Moses; the Israelites by him,
and Joshua, and Caleb, and Phineas, and the rest; those after the law by
angels and prophets, and the same by His own incarnation(4) of the Virgin;
those a little before His bodily appear- ance by John His forerunner, and
the same by  the same person after Christ's birth, saying, "Repent ye, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand;"(5) those after His passion by us, the
twelve apostles, and Paul the chosen vessel. We therefore, who have been
vouchsafed the favour of being the witnesses of His appearance, together
with James the brother of our Lord, and the other seventy-two disciples,
and his seven deacons, have heard from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by exact knowledge declare "what is the will of God, that good, and
acceptable, and perfect will"(6) which is made known to us by Jesus; that
none should perish, but that all men with one accord should believe in Him,
and send unanimously praise to Him, and thereby live for ever.

THAT IT IS THE WILL OF GOD THAT MEN SHOULD BE OF ONE MIND IN MATTERS OF
RELIGION, IN ACCORD WITH THE HEAVENLY POWERS.

   LVI. For this is that which our Lord taught us when we pray to say to
His Father, "Thy will be done, as in heaven, so upon earth;"(7) that as the
heavenly natures of the incorporeal powers do all glorify God with one
consent, so also upon earth all men with one mouth and one purpose may
glorify the only, the one, and the true God, by Christ His only-begotten.
It is therefore His will that men should praise Him with unanimity, and
adore Him with one consent.(8) For this is His will in Christ, that those
who are saved by Him may be many; but that you do not occasion any loss or
diminution to Him, nor to the Church, or lessen the number by one soul of
man, as destroyed by you, which might have been saved by repentance; and
which therefore perishes not only by its own sin, but also by your
treachery besides, whereby you fulfil that which is written, "He that
gathereth not with me, scattereth."(9) Such a one is a disperser of the
sheep, an adversary, an enemy of God, a destroyer of those lambs whose
Shepherd was the Lord, and we were the collectors out of various nations
and tongues, by much pains and danger, and perpetual labour, by watchings,
by fastings, by lyings on the ground, by persecutions, by stripes, by
imprisonments, that we might do the will of God, and fill the feast-chamber
with guests to sit down at His table, that is, the holy and Catholic
Church, with joyful and chosen people, singing hymns and praises to God
that has called them by us to life. And you, as much as in you lies, have
dispersed them. Do you also of the laity be at peace with one another,
endeavouring like wise men to increase the Church, and to turn back, and
tame, and restore those which seem wild. For this is the greatest reward by
His promise from God, "If thou fetch out the worthy and precious from the
unworthy, thou shalt be as my mouth."(1)

SEC. VII.--ON ASSEMBLING IN THE CHURCH.

AN EXACT DESCRIPTION OF A CHURCH AND THE CLERGY, AND WHAT THINGS IN
PARTICULAR EVERY ONE IS TO DO IN THE SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES OF THE CLERGY AND
LAITY FOR, RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.

   LVII. But be thou, O bishop, holy, unblameable, no striker, not soon
angry, not cruel; but  a builder up, a converter, apt to teach, forbear-ing
of evil, of a gentle mind, meek, long-suffering,  ready to exhort, ready to
comfort, as a man of God. When thou callest an assembly of the Church as
one that is the commander of a great ship, appoint the assemblies to be
made with all possible skill, charging the deacons as mariners to prepare
places for the brethren as for passengers, with all due care and decency.
And first, let the building be long, with its head to the east,  with its
vestries on both sides at the east end,  and so it will be like a ship. In
the middle let the bishop's throne be placed, and on each side  of him let
the presbytery sit down; and let the deacons stand near at hand, in close
and small girt garments, for they are like the mariners and  managers of
the ship: with regard to these, let  the laity sit on the other side, with
all quietness  and good order. And let the women sit by themselves, they
also keeping silence. In the middle, let the reader stand upon some high
place: let him read the books of Moses, of Joshua the son of Nun, of the
Judges, and of the Kings and of the Chronicles, and those written after the
return from the captivity; and besides these, the books of Job and of
Solomon, and of the sixteen prophets. But when there have been two lessons
severally read, let some other person sing the hymns of David, and let the
people join at the conclusions of the verses. Afterwards let our Acts be
read, and the Epistles of Paul our fellow-worker, which he sent to the
churches under the conduct of the Holy Spirit; and afterwards let a deacon
or a presbyter read the Gospels, both those which I Matthew and John have
delivered to you, and those which the fellow-workers of Paul received and
left to you, Luke and Mark. And while the Gospel is read, let all the
presbyters and deacons, and all the people, stand up in great silence; for
it is written: "Be silent, and hear, O lsrael."(2) And again: "But do thou
stand there, and hear."(3) In the next place, let the presbyters one by
one, not all together, exhort the people, and the bishop in the last place,
as being the commander. Let the porters stand at the entries of the men,
and observe them. Let the deaconesses also stand at those of the women,
like shipmen. For the same description and pattern was both in the
tabernacle of the testimony and in the temple of God.(4) But if any one be
found sitting out of his place, let him be rebuked by the deacon, as a
manager of the foreship, and be removed into the place proper for him; for
the Church is not only like a ship, but also like a sheepfold. For as the
shepherds place all the brute creatures distinctly, I mean goats and sheep,
according to their kind and age, and still every one runs together, like to
his like; so is it to be in the Church. Let the young persons sit by
themselves, if there be a place for them; if not, let them stand upright.
But let those that are already stricken in years sit in order. For the
children which stand, let their fathers and mothers take them to them. Let
the younger women also sit by themselves, if there be a place for them; but
if there be not, let them stand behind the women. Let those women which are
married, and have children, be placed by themselves; but let the virgins,
and the widows, and the elder women, stand or sit before all the rest; and
let the deacon be the disposer of the places, that every one of those that
comes in may go to his proper place, and may not sit at the entrance. In
like manner, let the deacon oversee the people, that nobody may whisper,
nor slumber, nor laugh, nor nod; for all ought in the church to stand
wisely, and soberly, and attentively, having their attention fixed upon the
word of the Lord. After this, let all rise up with one consent, and looking
towards the east, after the catechumens and penitents are gone out, pray to
God eastward, who ascended up to the heaven of heavens to the east;
remembering also the ancient situation of paradise in the east, from whence
the first man, when he had yielded to the persuasion of the serpent, and
disobeyed the command of God, was expelled. As to the deacons, after the
prayer is over, let some of them attend upon the oblation of the Eucharist,
ministering to the Lord's body with fear. Let others of them watch the
multitude, and keep them silent. But let that deacon who is at the high
priest's hand say to the people, Let no one have any quarrel against
another; let no one come in hypocrisy. Then let the men give the men, and
the women give the women, the Lord's kiss. But let no one do it with
deceit, as Judas betrayed the Lord with a kiss. After this let the deacon
pray for the whole Church, for the whole world, and the several parts of
it, and the fruits of it; for the priests and the rulers, for the high
priest and the king, and the peace of the universe. After this let the high
priest pray for peace upon the people, and bless them, as Moses commanded
the priests to bless the people, in these words: "The Lord bless thee, and
keep thee: the Lord make His face to shine upon thee,(1) and give thee
peace."(2) Let the bishop pray for the people, and say: "Save Thy people, O
Lord, and bless Thine inheritance, which Thou hast obtained with the
precious blood of Thy Christ, and hast called a royal priesthood, and an
holy nation."(3) After this let the sacrifice follow, the people standing,
and praying silently; and when the oblation has been made, let every rank
by itself partake of the Lord's body and precious blood in order, and
approach with reverence and holy fear, as to the body of their king. Let
the women approach with their heads covered, as is becoming the order of
women; but let the door be watched, lest any unbeliever, or one not yet
initiated, come in.(4)

OF COMMENDATORY LETTERS IN FAVOUR OF STRANGERS, LAY PERSONS, CLERGYMEN, AND
BISHOPS; AND THAT THOSE WHO COME INTO THE CHURCH ASSEMBLIES ARE TO BE
RECEIVED WITHOUT REGARD TO THEIR QUALITY.

   LVIII. If any brother, man or woman, come in from another parish,
bringing recommendatory letters, let the deacon be the judge of that
affair, inquiring whether they be of the faithful, and of the Church?
whether they be not defiled by heresy? and besides, whether the party be a
married woman or a widow? And when he is satisfied in these questions, that
they are really of the faithful, and of the same sentiments in the things
of the Lord, let him conduct every one to the place proper for him. And if
a presbyter comes from another parish, let him be received to communion by
the presbyters; if a deacon, by the deacons; if a bishop, let him sit with
the bishop, and be allowed the same honour with himself; and thou, O
bishop, shalt desire him to speak to the people words of instruction: for
the exhortation and admonition of strangers is very acceptable, and
exceeding profitable. For, as the Scripture says, "no prophet is accepted
in his own country."(5) Thou shalt also permit him to offer the Eucharist;
but if, out of reverence to thee, and as a wise man, to preserve the honour
belonging to thee, he will not offer, at least thou shalt compel him to
give the blessing to the people. But if, after the congregation is sat
down, any other person comes upon you of good fashion and character in the
world, whether he be a stranger, or one of your own country, neither do
thou, O bishop, if thou art speaking the word of God, or hearing him that
sings or reads, accept persons so far as to leave the ministry of the word,
that thou mayest appoint an upper place for him; but continue quiet, not
interrupting thy discourse, nor thy attention. But let the brethren receive
him by the deacons; and if there be not a place, let the deacon by
speaking, but not in anger, raise the junior, and place the stranger there.
And it is but reasonable that one that loves the brethren should do so of
his own accord; but if he refuse, let him raise him up by force, and set
him behind all, that the rest may be taught to give place to those that are
more honourable. Nay, if a poor man, or one of a mean family, or a
stranger, comes upon you, whether he be old or young, and there be no
place, the deacon shall find a place for even these, and that with all his
heart; that, instead of accepting persons before men, his ministration
towards God may be well-pleasing. The very same thing let the deaconess do
to those women, whether poor or rich, that come unto them.

THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO FREQUENT THE CHURCH DILIGENTLY BOTH MORNING
AND EVENING.

   LIX. When thou instructest the people, O bishop, command and exhort
them to come constantly to church morning and evening every day, and by no
means to forsake it on any account, but to assemble together continually;
neither to diminish the Church by withdrawing themselves, and causing the
body of Christ to be without its member. For it is not only spoken
concerning the priests, but let every one of the laity hearken to it as
concerning himself, considering that it is said by the Lord: "He that is
not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth
abroad."(6) Do not you therefore scatter yourselves abroad, who are the
members of Christ, by not assembling together, since you have Christ your
head, according to His promise, present, and communicating to you.(7) Be
not careless of yourselves, neither deprive your Saviour of His own
members, neither divide His body nor disperse His members, neither prefer
the occasions of this life to the word of God; but assemble yourselves
together every day, morning and evening, singing psalms and praying in the
Lord's house: in the morning saying the sixty-second Psalm, and in the
evening the hundred and fortieth, but principally on the Sabbath-day. And
on the day of our Lord's resurrection, which is the Lord's day, meet more
diligently, sending praise to God that made the universe by Jesus, and sent
Him to us, and condescended to let Him suffer, and raised Him from the
dead. Otherwise what apology will he make to God who  does not assemble on
that day to hear the saving word concerning the resurrection, on which we
pray thrice standing in memory of Him who  arose in three days, in which is
performed the  reading of the prophets, the preaching of the Gospel, the
oblation of the sacrifice, the gift of the holy food?

THE VAIN ZEAL WHICH THE HEATHENS AND JEWS SHOW IN FREQUENTING THEIR TEMPLES
AND SYNAGOGUES IS A PROPER EXAMPLE AND MOTIVE TO EXCITE CHRISTIANS TO
FREQUENT THE CHURCH.

   LX. And how can he be other than an adversary to God, who takes pains
about temporary things night and day, but takes no care of things eternal?
who takes care of washings and temporary food every day, but does not take
care of those that endure for ever? How can such a one even now avoid
hearing that word of the  Lord, "The Gentiles are justified more than
you?"(1) as He says, by way of reproach, to Jerusalem, "Sodom is justified
rather than thou." For if the Gentiles every day, when they arise from
sleep, run to their idols to worship them, and before all their work and
all their labours do first of all pray to them, and in their feasts and in
their solemnities do not keep away, but attend upon them; and not only
those upon the place, but those living far distant do the same; and in
their public shows all come together, as into a synagogue: in the same
manner those which are vainly called Jews, when they have worked six days.
on the seventh day rest, and come together into their synagogue, never
leaving nor neglecting either rest from labour or assembling together,
while yet they are deprived of the efficacy of the word in their unbelief,
nay, and of the force of that name Judah, by which they call themselves,--
for Judah is interpreted Confession,--but these do not confess to God
(having unjustly occasioned the suffering on the cross), so as to be saved
on their repentance;--if, therefore, those who are not saved frequently
assemble together for such purposes as do not profit them, what apology
wilt thou make to the Lord God who forsakest His Church, not imitating so
much as the heathen, but by such thy absence growest slothful, or turnest
apostate, or actest wickedness? To whom the Lord says by Jeremiah: "Ye have
not kept my ordinances; nay, ye have not walked according to the ordinances
of the heathen, and you have in a manner exceeded them."(2) And again:
"lsrael has justified his soul more than treacherous Judah."(3) And
afterwards: "Will the Gentiles change their gods which are not gods?(4)
Wherefore pass over to the isles of Chittim, and behold, and send to Kedar,
and observe diligently whether such things have been done. For those
nations have not changed their ordinances; but," says He, "my people has
changed its glory for that which will not profit."(5) How, therefore, will
any one make his apology who has despised or absented himself from the
church of God?

THAT WE MUST NOT PREFER THE AFFAIRS OF THIS LIFE TO THOSE WHICH CONCERN THE
WORSHIP OF GOD.

   LXI. But if any one allege the pretence of his own work, and so is a
despiser, "offering pretences for his sins," let such a one know that the
trades of the faithful are works by the by, but the worship of God is their
great work. Follow therefore your trades as by the by, for your
maintenance, but make the worship of God your main business; as also our
Lord said: "Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for that which
endureth unto everlasting life."(6) And again: "This is the work of God,
that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent."(7) Endeavour therefore never to
leave the Church of God; but if any one overlooks it, and goes either into
a polluted temple of the heathens, or into a synagogue of the Jews or
heretics, what apology will such a one make to God in the day of judgment,
who has forsaken the oracles of the living God, and the living and
quickening oracles, such as are able to deliver from eternal punishment,
and has gone into an house of demons, or into a synagogue of the murderers
of Christ, or the congregation of the wicked?--not hearkening unto him that
says: "I have hated the congregation of the wicked, and I will not enter
with the ungodly. I have not sat with the assembly of vanity, neither will
I sit with the ungodly."(8) And again: "Blessed is the man that hath not
walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, and
hath not sat in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of
the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day and night."(1) But thou,
forsaking the gathering together of the faithful, the Church of God, and
His laws, hast respect to those "dens of thieves," calling those things
holy which He has called profane, and making such things unclean which He
has sanctified. And not only so, but thou already runnest after the pomps
of the Gentiles, and hastenest to their theatres, being desirous to be
reckoned one of those that enter into them, and to partake of unseemly, not
to say abominable words; not hearkening to Jeremiah, who says, "O Lord, I
have not sat in their assemblies, for they are scorners; but I was afraid
because of Thy hand;"(2) nor to Job, who speaks in like manner, "If I have
gone at any time with the scornful; for I shall be weighed in a just
balance."(3) But why wilt thou be a partaker of the heathen oracles, which
are nothing but dead men declaring by the inspiration of the devil deadly
things, and such as tend to subvert the faith, and to draw those that
attend to them to polytheism? Do you therefore, who attend to the laws. of
God, esteem those laws more honourable than the necessities of this life,
and pay a greater respect to them, and run together to the Church of the
Lord, "which He has purchased with the blood of Christ, the beloved, the
first-born of every creature."(4) For this Church is the daughter of the
Highest, which has been in travail of you by the word of grace, and has
"formed Christ in you," of whom you are made partakers, and thereby become
His holy and chosen members, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such
thing; but as being holy and unspotted in the faith, ye are complete in
Him, after the image of God that created you."(5)

THAT CHRISTIANS MUST ABSTAIN FROM ALL THE IMPIOUS PRACTICES OF THE
HEATHENS.

   LXII. Take heed, therefore, not to join yourselves in your worship with
those that perish, which is the assembly of the Gentiles, to your deceit
and destruction. For there is no fellowship between God and the devil; for
he that assembles himself with those that favour the things of the devil,
will be esteemed one of them, and will inherit a woe. Avoid also indecent
spectacles: I mean the theatres and the pomps of the heathens; their
enchantments, observations of omens, soothsayings, purgations, divinations,
observations of birds; their necromancies and invocations. For it is
written: "There is no divination in Jacob, nor soothsaying in Israel."(6)
And again: "Divination is iniquity."(7) And elsewhere: "Ye shall not be
soothsayers, and follow observers of omens, nor diviners, nor dealers with
familiar spirits. Ye shall not preserve alive wizards."(8) Wherefore
Jeremiah exhorts, saying: "Walk ye not according to the ways of the
heathen, and be not afraid of the signs of heaven."(9) So that it is the
duty of a believer to avoid the assemblies of the ungodly, of the heathen,
and of the Jews, and of the rest of the heretics, lest by uniting ourselves
to them we bring snares upon our own souls; that we may not by joining in
their feasts, which are celebrated in honour of demons, be partakers with
them in their impiety. You are also to avoid their public meetings, and
those sports which are celebrated in them. For a believer ought not to go
to any of those public meetings, unless to purchase a slave, and save a
soul? and at the same time to buy such other things as suit their
necessities. Abstain, therefore, from all idolatrous pomp and state, all
their public meetings, banquets, duels, and all shows belonging to demons.

SEC. VIII.--ON THE DUTY OF WORKING FOR A LIVELIHOOD.

THAT A CHRISTIAN WHO WILL NOT WORK MUST NOT EAT, AS PETER AND THE REST OF
THE APOSTLES WERE FISHERMEN, BUT PAUL AND AQUILA TENTMAKERS, JUDE THE SON
OF JAMES AN HUSBANDMAN.

   LXIII. Let the young persons of the Church endeavour to minister
diligently in all necessaries: mind your business with all becoming
seriousness, that so you may always have sufficient to support yourselves
and those that are needy, and not burden the Church of God. For we
ourselves, besides our attention to the word of the Gospel, do not neglect
our inferior employments. For some of us are fishermen, some tentmakers,
some husbandmen, that so we may never be idle. So says Solomon somewhere:
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways diligently, and become
wiser than she. For she, having neither field, overseer, nor ruler,
prepareth her food in the summer, and layeth up a great store in the
harvest. Or else go to the bee, and learn how laborious she is, and her
work how valuable it is, whose labours both kings and mean men make use of
for their health. She is desirable and glorious, though she be weak in
strength, yet by honouring wisdom she is improved, etc. How long wilt thou
lie on thy bed, O sluggard? When wilt thou awake out of thy sleep? Thou
sleepest awhile thou liest down awhile, thou slumberest awhile,  thou
foldest thy hands on thy breast to sleep awhile. Then poverty comes on thee
like an  evil traveller, and want as a swift racer. But if thou beest
diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall fly from
thee as an evil runagate."(1) And again: "He that manageth his own land
shall be filled with bread."(2) And elsewhere he says: "The slothful has
folded his own hands together, and has eaten his own flesh."(3) And
afterwards: "The sluggard hides his hand; he will not be able to bring it
to his mouth."(4) And again: "By slothfulness of the hands a floor will be
brought low."(5) Labour therefore continually; for the blot of the slothful
is not to be healed. But "if any one does not work, let not such a one
eat"(6) among you. For the Lord our God hates the slothful. For no one of
those who are dedicated to God ought to be idle.

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK III.

SEC. I.--CONCERNING WIDOWS.

THE AGE AT WHICH WIDOWS SHOULD BE CHOSEN.

   I. CHOOSE your "widows not under sixty years of age,"(1) that in some
measure the suspicion of a second marriage may be prevented by their age.
But if you admit one younger into the order of widows, and she cannot bear
her widowhood in her youth, and marries, she will procure indecent
reflections on the glory of the order of the widows, and shall give an
account to God; not because she married a second time, but because she has
"waxed wanton against Christ,"(2) and not kept her promise, because she did
not came and keep her promise with faith and the fear of God.(3) Wherefore
such a promise ought not to be rashly made, but with great caution: "for it
is better for her not to vow, than to vow and not to pay."(4) But if any
younger woman, who has lived but a while with her husband, and has lost him
by death or some other occasion, and remains by herself, having the gift of
widowhood, she will be found to be blessed, and to be like the widow of
Sarepta, belonging to Sidon, with whom the holy prophet of God, Elijah,(5)
lodged. Such a one may also be compared to "Anna, the daughter of Phanuel,
of the tribe of Aser, which departed not from the temple, but continued in
supplications and prayers night and day, who was fourscore years old, and
had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity, who glorified the
coming of Christ, and gave  thanks to the Lord, and spake concerning Him to
all those who looked for redemption in Israel."(6) Such a widow will have a
good report, and will be honoured, having both glory with men upon earth,
and eternal praise with God in heaven.

THAT WE MUST AVOID THE CHOICE OF YOUNGER WIDOWS, BECAUSE OF SUSPICION.

   II. But let not the younger widows be placed in the order of widows,
lest, under pretence of inability to contain in the flower of their age,
they come to a second marriage, and become subject to imputation. But let
them be assisted and supported, that so they may not, under pretence of
being deserted, come to a second marriage, and so be ensnared in an
unseemly imputation. For you ought to know this, that once marrying
according to the law is righteous, as being according to the will of God;
but second marriages, after the promise, are wicked, not on account of the
marriage itself, but because of the falsehood. Third marriages are
indications of incontinency. But such marriages as are beyond the third are
manifest fornication, and unquestionable uncleanness. For God in the
creation gave one woman to one man; for "they two shall be one flesh."(7)
But to the younger women let a second marriage be allowed after the death
of their first husband, lest they fall into the condemnation of the devil,
and many snares, and foolish lusts, which are hurtful to souls, and which
bring upon them punishment rather than rest.

WHAT CHARACTER THE WIDOWS OUGHT TO BE OF, AND HOW THEY OUGHT TO BE
SUPPORTED BY THE BISHOP.

   III. But the true widows are those which have had only one husband,
having a good report among the generality for good works; widows indeed,
sober, chaste, faithful, pious, who have brought up their children well,
and have entertained strangers unblameably, which are to be supported as
devoted to God. Besides, do thou, O bishop, be mindful of the needy, both
reaching Gilt thy helping hand and making provision for them as the steward
of God, distributing seasonably the oblations to every one of them, to  the
widows, the orphans, the friendless, and those tried with affliction.

THAT WE OUGHT TO BE CHARITABLE TO ALL SORTS OF PERSONS IN WANT.

   IV. For what if some are neither widows nor widowers, but stand in need
of assistance, either through poverty or some disease, or the maintenance
of a great number of children? It is thy duty to oversee all people, and to
take care of them all. For they that give gifts do not of their own head
give them to the widows, but barely bring them in, calling them free-will
offerings, that so thou that knowest those that are in affliction mayest as
a good steward give them their portion of the gift. For God knows the
giver, though thou distributest it to those in want when he is absent. And
he has the reward of well-doing, but thou the blessedness of having
dispensed it with a good conscience. But do thou tell them who was the
giver, that they may pray for him by name. For it is our duty to do good to
all men, not fondly preferring one or another, whoever they be. For the
Lord says: "Give to every one that asketh of thee."(1) It is evident that
it is meant of every one that is really in want, whether he be friend or
foe, whether he be a kinsman or a stranger, whether he be single or
married. For in all the Scripture the Lord gives us exhortations about the
needy, saying first by Isaiah: "Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the
poor which have no covering into thine house. If thou seest the naked, do
thou cover him; and thou shalt not overlook those which are of thine own
family and seed."(2) And then by Daniel He says to the potentate:
"Wherefore, O king, let my counsel please thee, and purge thy sins by acts
of mercy, and thine iniquities by bowels of compassion to the needy."(3)
And He says by Solomon: "By acts of mercy and of faith iniquities are
purged."(4) And He says again by David: "Blessed is he that has regard to
the poor and needy; the Lord shall deliver him in the evil day."(5) And
again: "He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the needy, his
righteousness remaineth for ever."(6) And Solomon says: "He that hath mercy
on the poor lendeth to the Lord;(7) according to his gift it shall be
repaid him again."(8) And afterwards: "He that stoppeth his ear, that he
may not hear him that is in want, he also shall call himself, and there
shall be none to hear him."(9)

THAT THE WIDOWS ARE TO BE VERY CAREFUL OF THEIR BEHAVIOR.

   V. Let every widow be meek, quiet, gentle, sincere, free from anger,
not talkative, not clamorous, not hasty of speech, not given to evil-
speaking, not captious, not double-tongued, not a busybody. If she see or
hear anything that is not right, let her be as one that does not see, and
as one that does not hear. And let the widow mind nothing but to pray for
those that give, and for the whole Church; and when she is asked anything
by any one, let her not easily answer, excepting questions concerning the
faith, and righteousness, and hope in God, remitting those that desire to
be instructed in the doctrines of godliness to the governors. Let her only
answer so as may tend to the subversion of the error of polytheism, and let
her demonstrate the assertion concerning the monarchy of God. But of the
remaining doctrines let her not answer anything rashly, lest by saying
anything unlearnedly she should make the word to be blasphemed. For the
Lord has taught us that the word is like "a grain of mustard seed,"(10)
which is of a fiery nature, which if any one uses unskilfully, he will find
it bitter. For in the mystical points we ought not to be rash, but
cautious; for the Lord exhorts us, saying: "Cast not your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn again and rend
you."(11) For unbelievers, when they hear the doctrine concerning Christ
not explained as it ought to be, but defectively, and especially that
concerning His incarnation or His passion, will rather reject it with
scorn, and laugh at it as false, than praise God for it. And so the aged
women will be guilty of rashness, and of causing blasphemy, and will
inherit a woe. For says He, "Woe to him by whom my name is blasphemed among
the Gentiles."(12)

THAT WOMEN OUGHT NOT TO TEACH, BECAUSE IT IS UNSEEMLY; AND WHAT WOMEN
FOLLOWED OUR LORD.

   VI. We do not permit our "women to teach in the Church,"(13) but only
to pray and hear those that teach; for our Master and Lord, Jesus Himself,
when He sent us the twelve to make disciples of the people and of the
nations, did nowhere send out women to preach, although He did not want
such. For there were with us the mother of our Lord and His sisters; also
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Martha and Mary the
sisters of Lazarus; Salome, and certain others. For, had it been necessary
for women to teach, He Himself had first commanded these also to instruct
the people with us. For "if the head of the wife be the man,"(1) it is not
reasonable that the rest of the body should govern the head. Let the widow
therefore own herself to be the "altar of God," and let her sit in her
house, and not enter into the houses of the faithful, under any pretence,
to receive anything; for the altar of God never runs about, but is fixed in
one place. Let, therefore, the virgin and the widow be such as do not run
about, or gad to the houses of those who are alien from the faith. For such
as these are gadders and impudent: they do not make their feet to rest in
one place, because they are not widows, but purses ready to receive,
triflers, evil-speakers, counsellors of strife, without shame, impudent,
who being such, are not worthy of Him that called them. For they do not
come to the common station of the congregation on the Lord's day,(2) as
those that are watchful; but either they slumber, or trifle, or allure men,
or beg, or ensnare others, bringing them to the evil one; not suffering
them to be watchful in the Lord, but taking care that they go out as vain
as they came in, because they do not hear the word of the Lord either
taught or read. For of such as these the prophet Isaiah says: "Hearing ye
shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not
perceive: for the heart of this people is waxen gross,(3) and they hear
heavily with their ears."(4)

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS OF WIDOWS FALSELY SO CALLED.

   VII. In the same manner, therefore, the ears of the hearts of such
widows as these are stopped, that they will not sit within in their
cottages to speak to the Lord, but will run about with the design of
getting, and by their foolish prattling fulfil the desires of the
adversary. Such widows, therefore, are not affixed to the altar of Christ:
for there are some widows which esteem gain their business; and since they
ask without shame, and receive without being satisfied, render the
generality more backward in giving. For when they ought to be content with
their subsistence from the Church, as having moderate desires, on the
contrary, they run from one of their neighbours' houses(5) to another, and
disturb them, heaping up to themselves plenty of money, and lend at bitter
usury, and are only solicitous about mammon, whose bag is their god; who
prefer eating and drinking before all virtue, saying, "Let us eat and
drink, for to-morrow we die;"(6) who esteem these things as if they were
durable and not perishing things. For she that uses herself to nothing but
talking of money, worships mammon instead of God,--that is, is a servant to
gain, but cannot be pleasing to God, nor resigned to His worship; not being
able to intercede with Him continuously on account that her mind and
disposition run after money: for "where the treasure is, there will the
heart be also."(7) For she is thinking in her mind whither she may go to
receive, or that a certain woman her friend has forgot her, and she has
somewhat to say to her. She that thinks of such things as these will no
longer attend to her prayers, but to that thought which offers itself; so
that though sometimes she would pray for anybody, she will not be beard,
because she does not offer her petition to the Lord with her whole heart,
but with a divided mind. But she that will attend to God will sit within,
and mind the things of the Lord day and night, offering her sincere
petition with a mouth ready to utter the same without ceasing. As therefore
Judith, most famous for her wisdom, and of a good report for her modesty,
"prayed to God night and day for Israel;"(8) so also the widow who is like
to her will offer her intercession without ceasing for the Church to God.
And He will hear her, because her mind is fixed on this thing alone, and is
not disposed to be either insatiable, or covetous, or expensive; when her
eye is pure, and her hearing clean, and her hands undefiled, and her feet
quiet, and her mouth prepared for neither gluttony nor trifling, but
speaking the things that are fit, and partaking of only such things as are
necessary for her maintenance. So, being grave, and giving no disturbance,
she will be pleasing to God; and as soon as she asks anything, the gift
will come to her: as He says, "While thou art speaking, I will say, Behold,
I am here."(9) Let such a one also be free from the love of money, free
from arrogance, not given to filthy lucre, not insatiable, not gluttonous,
but continent, meek, giving nobody disturbance, pious, modest, sitting at
home, singing, and praying, and reading, and watching, and fasting;
speaking to God continually in songs and hymns. And let her take wool, and
rather assist others than herself want from them; being mindful of that
widow who is honoured in the Gospel with the Lord's testimony, who, coming
into the temple, "cast into the treasury two mites, which make a farthing.
And Christ our Lord and Master, and Searcher of hearts, saw her, and said,
Verily I say unto you, that this widow hath cast into the treasury more
than they all: for all they have cast in of their abundance, but this woman
of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had."(1)

   The widows therefore ought to be grave, obedient to their bishops, and
their presbyters, and their deacons, and besides these to the deaconesses,
with piety, reverence, and fear; not usurping authority, nor desiring to do
anything beyond the constitution without the consent of the deacon: as,
suppose, the going to any one to eat or drink with him, or to receive
anything from anybody. But if without direction she does any one of these
things, let her be punished with fasting, or else let her be separated on
account of her rashness.

THAT THE WIDOWS OUGHT NOT TO ACCEPT OF ALMS FROM THE UNWORTHY NO MORE THAN
THE BISHOP, OR ANY OTHER OF THE FAITHFUL.

   VIII. For how does such a one know of what character the person is from
whom she receives? or from what sort of ministration he supplies her with
food, whether it does not arise from rapine or some other ill course of
life? while the widow does not remember that if she receives in a way
unworthy of God, she must give an account for every one of these things.
For neither will the priests at any time receive a free-will offering from
such a one, as, suppose, from a rapacious person or from a harlot. For it
is written, "Thou shalt not covet the goods that are thy neighbour's;"(2)
and, "Thou shalt not offer the hire of an harlot to the Lord God."(3) From
such as these no offerings ought to be accepted, nor indeed from those that
are separated from the Church. Let the widows also be ready to obey the
commands given them by their superiors, and let them do according to the
appointment of the bishop, being obedient to him as to God; for he that
receives from such a one who is worthy of blame, or from one
excommunicated, and prays for him, while he purposes to go on in a wicked
course, and while he is not willing at any time to repent, holds communion
with him in prayer, and grieves Christ, who rejects the unrighteous, and
confirms them by means of the unworthy gift, and is defiled with them, not
suffering them to come to repentance, so as to fall down before God with
lamentation, and pray to Him.

THAT WOMEN OUGHT NOT TO BAPTIZE, BECAUSE IT IS IMPIOUS, AND CONTRARY TO THE
DOCTRINE OF CHRIST.

   IX. Now, as to women's baptizing, we let you know that there is no
small peril to those that undertake it. Therefore we do not advise you to
it; for it is dangerous, or rather wicked and impious. For if the "man be
the head of the woman,"(4) and he be originally ordained for the
priesthood, it is not just to abrogate the order of the creation, and leave
the principal to come to the extreme part of the body. For the woman is the
body of the man, taken from his side, and subject to him, from whom she was
separated for the procreation of children. For says He, "He shall rule over
thee."(5) For the principal part of the woman is the man, as being her
head. But if in the foregoing constitutions we have not permitted them to
teach, how will any one allow them, contrary to nature, to perform the
office of a priest? For this is one of the ignorant practices of the
Gentile atheism, to ordain women priests to the female deities, not one of
the constitutions of Christ. For if baptism were to be administered by
women, certainly our Lord would have been baptized by His own mother, and
not by John; or when He sent us to baptize, He would have sent along with
us women also for this purpose. But now He has nowhere, either by
constitution or by writing, delivered to us any such thing; as knowing the
order of nature, and the decency of the action;(6) as being the Creator of
nature, and the Legislator of the constitution.

THAT A LAYMAN OUGHT NOT TO DO ANY OFFICE OF THE PRIESTHOOD: HE OUGHT
NEITHER TO BAPTIZE, NOR OFFER, NOR LAY ON HANDS, NOR GIVE THE BLESSING.

   X. Neither do we permit the laity to perform any of the offices
belonging to the priesthood; as, for instance, neither the sacrifice, nor
baptism, nor the laying on of hands, nor the blessing, whether the smaller
or the greater: for "no one taketh this honour to himself, but he that is
called of God."(7) For such sacred offices are conferred by the laying on
of the hands of the bishop. But a person to whom such an office is not
committed, but he seizes upon it for himself, he shall undergo the
punishment of Uzziah.(8)

THAT NONE BUT A BISHOP AND PRESBYTER, NONE EVEN OF THE INFERIOR RANKS OF
THE CLERGY, ARE PERMITTED TO DO THE OFFICES OF THE PRIESTS; THAT ORDINATION
BELONGS WHOLLY TO THE BISHOP, AND TO NOBODY ELSE.

   XI. Nay, further, we do not permit to the rest of the clergy to
baptize,--as, for instance, neither to readers, nor singers, nor porters,
nor ministers,--but to the bishops and presbyters alone, yet so that the
deacons are to minister to them therein. But those who venture upon it
shall undergo the punishment of the companions of Corah.(1) We do not
permit presbyters to ordain deacons, or deaconesses, or readers, or
ministers, or singers, or porters, but only bishops; for this is the
ecclesiastical order and harmony.

THE REJECTION OF ALL UNCHARITABLE ACTIONS.

   XII. Now, as concerning envy, or jealousy, or evil-speaking, or strife,
or the love of contention, we have said already to you, that these are
alien from a Christian, and chiefly in the case of widows. But because the
devil, who works in men, is in his conduct cunning, and full of various
devices, he goes to those that are not truly widows, as formerly to Cain
(for some say they are widows, but do not perform the injunctions agreeable
to the widowhood; as neither did Cain discharge the duties due to a
brother: for they do not consider how it is not the name of widowhood that
will bring them to the kingdom of God, but true faith and holy(2) works).
But if any one possesses the name of widowhood, but does the works of the
adversary, her widowhood will not be imputed, but she will be thrust out of
the kingdom, and delivered to eternal punishment. For we hear that some
widows are jealous, envious calumniators, and envious at the quiet of
others. Such widows as these are not the disciples of Christ, nor of His
doctrine; for it becomes them, when one of their fellow-widows is clothed
by any one, or receives money, or meat, or drink, or shoes, at the sight of
the refreshment of their sister to say:--

HOW THE WIDOWS ARE TO PRAY FOR THOSE THAT SUPPLY THEIR NECESSITIES.

   XIII. Thou art blessed, O God, who hast refreshed my fellow-widow.
Bless, O Lord, and glorify him that has bestowed these things upon her, and
let his good work ascend in truth to Thee, and remember him for good in the
day of his visitation. And as for my bishop, who has so well performed his
duty to Thee, and(3) has ordered such a seasonable alms to be bestowed on
my fellow-widow, who was naked, do Thou increase his glory, and give him
a(3) crown of rejoicing in the day of the revelation of Thy visitation. In
the same manner, let the widow who has received the alms join with the
other in praying for him who ministered to her.

THAT SHE WHO HAS BEEN KIND TO THE POOR OUGHT NOT TO MAKE A STIR AND TELL
ABROAD HER NAME, ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE LORD.

   XIV. But if any woman has been good, let her, as a prudent person,
conceal her own name, not sounding a trumpet before her, that her alms may
be with God in secret, as the Lord says: "Thou, when thou doest thine alms,
let not thy left hand know what thy right hand cloth, that thine alms may
be in secret."(4) And let the widow pray for him that gave her the alms,
whosoever he be, as being the holy altar of Christ;(5) and "the Father, who
seeth in secret, will render to him that did good openly." But those widows
which will not live according to the command of God, are solicitous and
inquisitive what deaconess it is that gives the charity, and what widows
receive it. And when she has learned those things, she murmurs at the
deaconess who distributed the charity, saying, Dost not thou see that I am
in more distress, and want of thy charity? Why, therefore, hast thou
preferred her before me? She says these things foolishly, not understanding
that this does not depend on the will of man, but the appointment of God.
For if she is herself a witness that she was nearer, and, upon inquiry, was
in greater want, and more naked than the other, she ought to understand who
it is that made this constitution, and to hold her peace, and not to murmur
at the deaconess who distributed the charity, but to enter into her own
house, and to cast herself prostrate on her face to make supplication to
God that her sin may be forgiven her. For God commanded the deaconess who
brought the charity not to proclaim the same, and this widow murmured
because she did not publish her name, that so she might know it, and run to
receive; nay, did not only murmur, but also cursed her, forgetting Him that
said: "He that blesseth thee is blessed, and he that curseth thee is
cursed."(6) But the Lord says: "When ye enter into an house, say, Peace be
to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon
it; but if it be not worthy, your peace shall return to you."(7)

THAT IT DOES NOT BECOME US TO REVILE OUR NEIGHBOURS, BECAUSE CURSING IS
CONTRARY TO CHRISTIANITY.

   XV. If, therefore, peace returns upon those that sent it, nay, upon
those that before had actually given it, because it did not find persons
fit to receive it, much rather will a curse return upon the head of him
that unjustly sent it, because he to whom it was sent was not worthy to
receive it: for all those who abuse others without a cause curse
themselves, as Solomon says: "As birds and sparrows fly away, so the curse
causeless shall not come upon any one."(8) And again he says: "Those that
bring reproaches are exceeding foolish."(1) But as the bee, a creature as
to its strength feeble, if she stings any one, loses her sting, and becomes
a drone; in the same manner you also, whatsoever injustice you do to
others, will bring it upon yourselves. "He hath graven and digged a pit,
and he shall fall into the same ditch that he has made."(2) And again: "He
that diggeth a pit for his neighbour, shall fall into it."(3) Wherefore he
that avoids a curse, let him not curse another; for "what thou hatest
should be done to thee, do not thou to another."(4) Wherefore admonish the
widows that are feeble-minded, strengthen those of them that are weak, and
praise such of them as walk in holiness. Let them rather bless, and not
calumniate. Let them make peace, and not stir up contention.

SEC. II.--ON DEACONS AND DEACONESSES, THE REST OF THE CLERGY, AND ON
BAPTISM.

   Let not therefore either a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or any
one else of the sacerdotal catalogue, defile his tongue with calumny, lest
he inherit a curse instead of a blessing; and let it also be the bishop's
business and care that no lay person utter any curse: for he ought to take
care of all,--of the clergy, of the virgins, of the widows, of the laity.
For which reason, O bishop, do thou ordain thy fellow-workers, the
labourers for life and for righteousness, such deacons as are pleasing to
God, such whom thou provest to be worthy among all the people, and such as
shall be ready for the necessities of their ministration. Ordain also a
deaconess who is faithful and holy, for the ministrations towards women.
For sometimes he cannot send a deacon, who is a man, to the women, on
account of unbelievers. Thou shalt therefore send a woman, a deaconess, on
account of the imaginations of the bad. For we stand in need of a woman, a
deaconess, for many necessities; and  first in the baptism of women, the
deacon shall anoint only their forehead with the holy oil, and after him
the deaconess shall anoint them:(5) for there is no necessity that the
women should be seen by the men; but only in the laying on of hands the
bishop shall anoint her head, as the priests and kings were formerly
anointed, not because those which are now baptized are ordained priests,
but as being Christians, or anointed, from Christ the Anointed, "a royal
priesthood, and an holy nation, the Church of God, the pillar and ground of
the marriage-chamber,"(6) who formerly were not a people, but now are
beloved and chosen, upon whom is called His new name? as Isaiah the prophet
witnesses, saying: "And they shall Call the people by His new name, which
the Lord shall name for them."(8)

CONCERNING THE SACRED INITIATION OF HOLY BAPTISM.

   XVI. Thou therefore, O bishop, according to that type, shalt anoint the
head of those that are to be baptized, whether they be men or women, with
the holy oil, for a type of the spiritual baptism. After that, either thou,
O bishop, or a presbyter that is under thee, shall in the solemn form name
over them the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, and shall dip them in the
water; and let a deacon receive the man, and a deaconess the woman, that so
the conferring of this inviolable seal may take place with a becoming
decency. And after that, let the bishop anoint those that are baptized with
ointment.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF BAPTISM INTO CHRIST, AND ON WHAT ACCOUNT EVERYTHING
IS THERE SAID OR DONE.

   XVII. This baptism, therefore, is given into the death of Jesus:(9) the
water is instead of the burial, and the oil instead of the Holy Ghost; the
seal instead of the cross; the ointment is the confirmation of the
confession; the mention of the Father as of the Author and Sender; the
joint mention of the Holy Ghost as of the witness; the descent into the
water the dying together with Christ; the ascent out of the water the
rising again with Him. The Father is the God over all; Christ is the only-
begotten God, the beloved Son, the Lord of glory; the Holy Ghost is the
Comforter, who is sent by Christ, land taught by Him, and proclaims Him.

OF WHAT CHARACTER HE OUGHT TO BE WHO IS INITIATED.

   XVIII. But let him that is to be baptized be free from all iniquity;
one that has left off to work sin, the friend of God, the enemy of the
devil, the heir of God the Father, the fellow-heir of His Son; one that has
renounced Satan, and the demons, and Satan's deceits; chaste, pure, holy,
beloved of God, the son of God, praying as a son to his father, and saying,
as from the common congregation of the faithful, thus: "Our Father, which
art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on
earth, as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us
our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from the evil one: for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory, for ever. Amen."(1)

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS OF A DEACON.

   XIX. Let the deacons be in all things unspotted, as the bishop himself
is to be, only more active; in number according to the largeness of the
Church, that they may minister to the infirm as workmen that are not
ashamed. And let the deaconess be diligent in taking care of the women; but
both of them ready to carry messages, to travel about, to minister, and to
serve, as spake Isaiah concerning the Lord, saying: "To justify the
righteous, who serves many faithfully."(2) Let every one therefore know his
proper place, and discharge it diligently with one consent, with one mind,
as knowing the reward of their ministration; but let them not be ashamed to
minister to those that are in want, as even our" Lord Jesus Christ came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for
many."(3) So therefore ought they also to do, and not to scruple it, if
they should be obliged to lay down their life for a brother. For the Lord
and our Saviour Jesus Christ did not scruple to "lay down His life," as
Himself says, "for His friends."(4) If, therefore, the Lord of heaven and
earth underwent all His sufferings for us, how then do you make a
difficulty to minister to such as are in want, who ought to imitate Him who
underwent servitude, and want, and stripes, and the cross for us? We ought
therefore also to serve the brethren, in imitation of Christ. For says He:
"He that will be great among you, let him be your minister; and he that
will be first among you, let him be your servant."(5) For so did He really,
and not in word only, fulfil the prediction of, "serving many
faithfully."(6) For "when He had taken a towel, He girded Himself.
Afterward He puts water into a bason; and as we were sitting at meat, He
came and washed the feet of us all, and wiped them with the towel."(7) By
doing this He demonstrated to us His kindness and brotherly affection, that
so we also might do the same to one another. If, therefore, our Lord and
Master so humbled Himself, how can you, the labourers of the truth, and
administrators of piety, be ashamed to do the same to such of the brethren
as are weak and infirm? Minister therefore with a kind mind, not murmuring
nor mutinying; for ye do not do it on the account of man, but on the
account of God, and shall receive from Him the reward of your ministry in
the day of your visitation. It is your duty who are deacons to visit all
those who stand in need of visitation. And tell your bishop of all those
that are in affliction; for you ought to be like his soul and senses--
active and attentive in all things to hint(8) as to your bishop, and father
s and master.

THAT A BISHOP OUGHT TO BE ORDAINED BY THREE OR BY TWO BISHOPS, BUT NOT BY
ONE; FOR THAT WOULD BE INVALID.

   XX. We command that a bishop be ordained by three bishops, or at least
by two; but it is not lawful that he be set over you by one; for the
testimony of two or three witnesses is more firm and secure. But a
presbyter and a deacon are to be ordained by one bishop and the rest of the
clergy. Nor must either a presbyter or a deacon ordain from the laity into
the clergy; but the presbyter is only to teach, to offer, to baptize, to
bless the people, and the deacon is to minister to the bishop, and to the
presbyters, that is, to do the office of a ministering deacon, but not to
meddle with the other offices.

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK IV.

SEC. I.--ON HELPING THE POOR.

THOSE WHO HAVE NO CHILDREN SHOULD ADOPT ORPHANS, AND TREAT THEM AS THEIR
OWN CHILDREN.

   I. WHEN any Christian becomes an orphan, whether it be a young man or a
maid, it is good that some one of the brethren who is without a child
should take the young man, and esteem him in the place of a son; and he
that has a son about the same age, and that is marriageable, should marry
the maid to him: for they which do so perform a great work, and become,
fathers to the orphans, and shall receive the reward of this charity from
the Lord God. But if any one that walks in the way of man-pleasing is rich,
and therefore is ashamed of orphans, the Father of orphans and Judge of
widows will make provision for the orphans, but himself shall have such an
heir as will spend what he has spared; and it shall happen to him according
as it is said: "What things the holy people have not eaten, those shall the
Assyrians eat." As also Isaiah says: "Your land, strangers devour it in
your presence,"(1)

HOW THE BISHOP OUGHT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ORPHANS.

   II. Do you therefore, O bishops, be solicitous about their maintenance,
being in nothing wanting to them; exhibiting to the orphans the care  of
parents; to the widows the care of husbands;  to those of suitable age,
marriage; to the artificer, work; to the unable, commiseration; to the
strangers, an house; to the hungry, food; to the thirsty, drink; to the
naked, clothing; to the sick, visitation; to the prisoners, assistance.
Besides these, have a greater care of the orphans, that nothing may be
wanting to them; and that as to the maiden, till she arrives at the age of
marriage, and ye give her in marriage to a brother: to the young man
assistance, that he may learn a trade, and may be maintained by the
advantage arising from it; that so, when he is dextrous in the management
of it, he may thereby be enabled to buy himself the tools of his trade,
that so he may no longer burden any of the brethren, or their sincere love
to him, but may support himself: for certainly he is a happy man who is
able to support himself, and does not take up the place of the orphan, the
stranger, and the widow.

WHO OUGHT TO BE SUPPORTED ACCORDING TO THE LORD'S CONSTITUTION.

   III. Since even the Lord said: "The giver was happier than the
receiver."(2) For it is again said by Him: "Woe to those that have, and
receive in hypocrisy; or who are able to support themselves, yet will
receive of others: for both of them shall give an account to the Lord God
in the day of judgment." But an orphan who, by reason of his youth, or he
that by the feebleness of old age, or the incidence of a disease, or the
bringing up of many children, receives alms, such a one shall not only not
be blamed, but shall be commended: for he shall be esteemed an altar to
God, and be honoured by God, because of his zealous and constant prayers
for those that give to him; not receiving idly, but to the uttermost of his
power recompensing what is given him by his prayer. Such a one therefore
shall be blessed by God in eternal life. But he that hath, and receives in
hypocrisy or through idleness, instead of working and assisting others,
shall be obnoxious to punishment before God, because he has snatched away
the morsel of the needy.(3)

OF THE LOVE OF MONEY.

   IV. For he that has money and does not bestow it upon others, nor use
it himself, is like the serpent, which they say sleeps over the treasures;
and of him is that scripture true which says, "He has gathered riches of
which he shall not taste;"(1) and they will be of no use to him when he
perishes justly. For it says, "Riches will not profit in the day of wrath."
For such a one has not believed in God, but in his own gold; esteeming that
his God, and trusting therein. Such a one is a dissembler of the truth, an
accepter of persons, unfaithful, cheating, fearful, unmanly, light, of no
value, a complainer, ever in pain, his own enemy, and nobody's friend. Such
a one's money shall perish, and a man that is a stranger shall consume it,
either by theft while he is alive, or by inheritance when he is dead. "For
riches unjustly gotten shall be vomited up."(2)

WITH WHAT FEAR MEN OUGHT TO PARTAKE OF THE LORD'S OBLATIONS.

   V. We exhort, therefore, the widows and orphans to partake of those
things that are bestowed upon them with all fear, and all pious reverence,
and to return thanks to God who gives food to the needy, and to lift up
their eyes to Him. For, says He, "Which of you shall eat, or who shall
drink without Him? For He openeth His hand, and filleth every living thing
with His kindness: giving wheat to the young men, and wine to the maidens,
and oil for the joy of the living, grass for the cattle, and green herb for
the service of men, flesh for the wild beasts, seeds for the birds, and
suitable food for all creatures."(3) Wherefore the Lord says:(4) "Consider
the fowls of heaven,(5) that they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather
into barns, and your Father feedeth them. Are not ye much better than they?
Be not therefore solicitous, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we
drink? For your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."(6)
Since ye therefore enjoy such a providential care from Him, and are
partakers of the good things that are derived from Him, you ought to return
praise to Him that receives the orphan and the widow, to Almighty God,
through His beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord; through whom(7) glory be to
God in spirit and truth for ever. Amen.

WHOSE OBLATIONS ARE TO BE RECEIVED, AND WHOSE NOT TO BE RECEIVED.

   VI. Now the bishop ought to know whose oblations he ought to receive,
and whose he ought not. For he is to avoid corrupt dealers, and not receive
their gifts. "For, a corrupt dealer. shall not be justified from
sin."(8)For of them it was that Isaiah reproached lsrael, and said, "Thy
corrupt dealers mingle wine with water."(9) He is also to avoid
fornicators, for "thou shall not offer the hire of an harlot to the
Lord."(10) He is also to avoid extortioners, and such as covet other men's
goods, and adulterers; for the sacrifices of such as these are abominable
with God. Also those that oppress the widow and overbear the orphan, and
fill prisons with the innocent, and abuse their own servants wickedly, I
mean with stripes, and hunger, and hard service, nay, destroy whole cities;
do thou, O bishop, avoid such as these, and their odious oblations. Thou
shalt also refuse rogues, and such pleaders that plead on the side of
injustice, and idol-makers, and thieves, and unjust publicans, and those
that deceive by false balances and deceitful measures, and a soldier who is
a false accuser and not content with his wages, but does violence to the
needy, a murderer, a cut-throat, and an unjust judge, a subverter of
causes, him that lies in wait for men, a worker of abominable wickedness, a
drunkard, a blasphemer, a sodomite, an usurer, and every one that is wicked
and opposes the will of God. For the Scripture says that all such as these
are abominable with God. For those that receive from such persons, and
thereby support the widows and orphans, shall be obnoxious  to the
judgment-seat of God; as Adonias the prophet, in the book of Kings, when he
disobeyed God, and both "eat bread and drank water in the place which the
Lord had forbid him,"(11) because of the impiety of Jeroboam, was slain by
a lion. For the bread which is distributed to the widows from labour is
better, though it be short and little, than that from injustice and false
accusation, though it be much and fine. For the Scripture says: "Better is
a little to the righteous, than much riches of the sinners."(12) Now,
although a widow, who eats and is filled from the impious, pray for them,
she shall not be heard. For God, who knows the heart, with judgment has
declared concerning the impious, saying, "If Moses and Samuel stand before
my face in their behalf, I will not hear them;"(13) and, "Pray thou not for
this people, and do not ask mercy for them, and do not intercede with me
for them, for I will not hear thee."(14)

THAT THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE UNWORTHY, WHILE THEY ARE SUCH, DO NOT ONLY NOT
PROPITIATE GOD, BUT ON THE CONTRARY PROVOKE HIM TO INDIGATION.

   VII. And not these only, but those that are in sin and have not
repented, will only not be heard when they pray, but will provoke God to
anger, as putting Him in mind of their own wickedness. Avoid therefore such
ministrations, as you would the price of a dog and the hire of an harlot;
for both of them are forbidden by the laws. For neither did Elisha receive
the presents which were brought by Hazael,(1) nor Ahijah those from
Jeroboam;(2) but if the prophets of God did not admit of presents from the
impious, it is reasonable, O bishops, that neither should you. Nay, when
Simon the magician offered money to me Peter and John,(3) and tried to
obtain the invaluable grace by purchase, we did not admit it, but bound him
with everlasting maledictions, because he thought to possess the gift of
God, not by a pious mind towards God, but by the price of money. Avoid
therefore such oblations to God's altar as are Hot from a good conscience.
For says He: "Abstain from all injustice, and thou shalt not fear, and
trembling shall not come nigh thee."(4)

THAT IT IS BETTER TO AFFORD, THOUGH IT BE INCONSIDERABLE AND FEW,
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WIDOWS FROM OUR OWN LABOURS, THAN THOSE WHICH ARE MANY
AND LARGE RECEIVED FROM THE UNGODLY; FOR IT IS BETTER TO PERISH BY FAMINE
THAN TO RECEIVE AN OBLATION FROM THE UNGODLY.

   VIII. But if ye say that those who give alms are such as these, and if
we do not receive from them, whence shall we administer to the widows? And
whence shall the poor among the people be maintained? Ye shall hear from
us, that therefore have ye received the gift of the Levites, the oblations
of your people, that ye might have enough for yourselves, and for those
that are in want; and that ye might not be so straitened as to receive from
the wicked. But if the churches be so straitened, it is better to perish
than to receive anything from the enemies of God, to the reproach and abuse
of His friends. For of such as these the prophet speaks: "Let not the oil
of a sinner moisten my head."(5) Do ye therefore examine such persons, and
receive from such as walk holily, and supply the afflicted. But receive not
from those that are excommunicated, until they are thought worthy to become
the members of the Church. But if a gift be wanting, inform the brethren,
and make a collection from them, and thence minister to the orphans and
widows in righteousness.

THAT THE PEOPLE OUGHT TO BE EXHORTED BY THE PRIEST TO DO GOOD TO THE NEEDY,
AS SAYS SOLOMON THE WISE.

   IX. Say unto the people under thee what Solomon the wise says: "Honour
the Lord out of thy just labours, and pay thy first-fruits to Him out of
thy fruits of righteousness, that thy garners may be filled with fulness of
wheat, and thy presses may burst out with wine."(6) Therefore maintain and
clothe those that are in want from the righteous labour of the faithful.
And such sums of money as are collected from them in the manner aforesaid,
appoint to be laid out in the redemption of the saints, the deliverance of
slaves, and of captives, and of prisoners, and of those that have been
abused, and of those that have been condemned by tyrants to single combat
and death on account of the name of Christ. For the Scripture says:
"Deliver those that are led to death, and redeem those that are ready to be
slain, do not spare."(7)

A CONSTITUTION, THAT IF ANY ONE OF THE UNGODLY BY FORCE WILL CAST MONEY TO
THE PRIESTS, THEY SPEND IT IN WOOD AND COALS, BUT NOT IN FOOD.

   X. But if at any time you be forced unwillingly to receive money from
any ungodly person, lay it out in wood and coals, that so neither the widow
nor the orphan may receive any of it, or be forced to buy with it either
meat or drink, which it is unfit to do. For it is reasonable that such
gifts of the ungodly should be fuel for the fire, and not food for the
pious. And this method is plainly appointed by the law,(8) when it calls a
sacrifice kept too long a thing not fit to be eaten, and commands it to be
consumed with fire. For such oblations are not evil in their nature, but on
account of the mind of those that bring them. And this we ordain, that we
may not reject those that come to us, as knowing that the common
conversation of the pious has often been very profitable to the ungodly,
but religious communion with them is alone hurtful. And so much, beloved,
shall suffice to have spoken to you in order to your security.

SEC. II.--ON DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN.

   XI. Ye fathers, educate your children in the Lord, bringing them up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and teach them such trades as are
agreeable and suitable to the word, lest they by such opportunity become
extravagant, and continue without punishment from their parents, and so get
relaxation before their time, and go astray from that which is good.
Wherefore be not afraid to reprove them, and to teach them wisdom with
severity. For your corrections will not kill them, but rather preserve
them. As Solomon says somewhere in the book of Wisdom: "Chasten thy son,
and he will refresh thee; so wilt thou have good hope of him. Thou verily
shalt smite him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from death."(1)
And again, says the same Solomon thus, "He that spareth his rod, hateth his
son;"(2) and afterwards, "Beat his sides whilst he is an infant, lest he be
hardened and disobey thee."(3) He, therefore, that neglects to admonish and
instruct his own son, hates his own child. Do you therefore teach your
children the word of the Lord. Bring them under with cutting stripes, and
make them subject from their infancy, teaching them the Holy Scriptures,
which are Christian and divine, and delivering to them every sacred
writing, "not giving them such liberty that they get the mastery,"(4) and
act against your opinion, not permitting them to club together for a treat
with their equals. For so they will be turned to disorderly courses, and
will fall into fornication; and if this happen by the carelessness of their
parents, those that begat them will be guilty of their souls. For if the
offending children get into the company of debauched persons by the
negligence of those that begat them, they will not be punished alone by
themselves; but their parents also will be condemned on their account. For
this cause endeavour, at the time when they are of an age fit for marriage,
to join them in wedlock, and settle them together, test in the heat and
fervour of their age their course of life become dissolute, and you be
required to give an account by the Lord God in the day of judgment.

OF SERVANTS AND MASTERS.

   XII. But as to servants, what can we say more than that the slave bring
a good will to his master, with the fear of God, although he be impious and
wicked,(5) but yet not to yield any compliance as to his worship? And let
the master love his servant, although he be his superior. Let him consider
wherein they are equal, even as he is a man. And let him that has a
believing master(6) love him both as his master, and as of the same faith,
and as a father, but still with the preservation of his authority as his
master: "not as an eye-servant, but as a lover of his master; as knowing
that God will recompense to him for his subjection."(7) In like manner, let
a master who has a believing servant love him as a son or as a brother, on
account of their communion in the faith, but still preserving the
difference of a servant.

IN WHAT THINGS WE OUGHT TO BE SUBJECT TO THE RULERS OF THIS WORLD.

   XIII. Be ye Subject to all royal power and dominion in things which are
pleasing to God, as to the ministers of God, and the punishers of the
ungodly.(8) Render all the fear that is due to them, all offerings, all
customs, all honour, gifts, and taxes.(9) For this is God's command, that l
you owe nothing to any one but the pledge of love, which God has commanded
by Christ.(10)

OF VIRGINS.

   XIV. Concerning virginity we have received no commandment;(11) but we
leave it to the power of those that are willing, as a vow: exhorting them
so far in this matter that they do not promise anything rashly; since
Solomon says, "It is better not to vow, than to vow and not pay."(12) Let
such a virgin, therefore, be holy in body and soul, as the temple of
God,(13) as the house of Christ, as the habitation of the Holy Spirit. For
she that vows ought to do such works as are suitable to her vow; and to
show that her vow is real, and made on account of leisure for piety, not to
cast a reproach on marriage. Let her not be a gadder abroad, nor one that
rambles about unseasonably; not double-minded, but grave, continent, sober,
pure, avoiding the conversation of many, and especially of those that are
of ill reputation.(14)

CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

BOOK V.

SEC. I.--CONCERNING THE MARTYRS.

THAT IT IS REASONABLE FOR THE FAITHFUL TO SUPPLY THE WANTS OF THOSE WHO ARE
AFFLICTED FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST BY THE UNBELIEVERS, ACCORDING TO THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE LORD.

   I. IF any Christian, on account of the name of Christ, and love and
faith towards God, be condemned by the ungodly to the games, to the beasts,
or to the mines, do not ye overlook him; but send to him from your labour
and your very sweat for his sustenance, and for a reward to the soldiers,
that he may be eased and be taken care of; that, as far as lies in your
power, your blessed brother may not be afflicted: for he that is condemned
for the name of the Lord God is an holy martyr, a brother of the Lord, the
son of the Highest, a receptacle of the Holy Spirit, by whom every one of
the faithful has received the illumination of the glory of the holy Gospel,
by being vouchsafed the incorruptible crown, and the testimony of Christ's
sufferings, and the fellowship of His blood, to be made conformable to the
death of Christ for the adoption of children. For this cause do you, all ye
of the faithful, by your bishop, minister to the saints of your substance
and of your labour. But if any one has not, let him fast a day, and set
apart that, and order it for the saints. But if any one has superfluities,
let him minister more to them according to the proportion of his ability.
But if he can possibly sell all his livelihood, and redeem them out of
prison, he will be blessed, and a friend of Christ. For if he that gives
his goods to the poor be perfect, supposing his knowledge of divine things,
much more is he so that does it on account of the martyrs. For such a one
is worthy of God, and will fulfil His will by supplying those who have
confessed Him before nations and kings, and the children of Israel;
concerning whom our Lord declared, saying: "Whosoever shall confess me
before men, him will I also confess before my Father."(1) And if these be
such as to be attested to by Christ before His Father, you ought not to be
ashamed to go to them in the prisons. For if you do this, it will be
esteemed to you for a testimony, because the real trial was to them a
testimony; and your readiness will be so to you, as being partakers of
their combat: for the Lord speaks somewhere to such as these, saying:
"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world. For I was an hungry, and ye gave me meat; I
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in;
naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison,
and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer, and say, Lord, when
saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink?
When saw we Thee naked, and clothed Thee? or sick, and visited Thee? When
saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or in prison, and came unto Thee?
And He will answer and say unto them, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one
of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And these shall
go away into life everlasting. Then shall He say unto them on His left
hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat; I was
thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in;
naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer and say, Lord when saw we Thee hungry, or
thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not
minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer and say unto them, Verily I say
unto you, Inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these,
neither have ye done it unto me. And these shall go away unto everlasting
punishment."(2)

THAT WE ARE TO AVOID INTERCOURSE WITH FALSE BRETHREN WHEN THEY CONTINUE IN
THEIR WICKEDNESS.

   II. But if any one who calls himself a brother is seduced by the evil
one, and acts wickedness, and is convicted and condemned to death as an
adulterer, or a murderer, depart from him, that ye may be secure, and none
of you may be suspected as a partner in such an abominable practice; and
that no evil report may be spread abroad, as if all Christians took a
pleasure in unlawful actions. Wherefore keep far from them. But do you
assist with all diligence those that for the sake of Christ are abused by
the ungodly and shut up in prison, or who are given over to death, or
bonds, or banishment, in order to deliver your fellow-members from wicked
hands. And if any one who accompanies with them is caught, and falls into
misfortune, he is blessed, because he is partaker with the martyr, and is
one that imitates the sufferings of Christ; for we ourselves also, when we
oftentimes received stripes from Caiaphas, and Alexander, and Annas, for
Christ's sake, "went out rejoicing that we were counted worthy to suffer
such things for our Saviour."(1) Do you also rejoice when ye suffer such
things, for ye shall be blessed in that day.(2)

THAT WE OUGHT TO AFFORD AN HELPING HAND TO SUCH AS ARE SPOILED FOR THE SAKE
OF CHRIST, ALTHOUGH WE SHOULD INCUR DANGER OURSELVES.

   III. Receive also those that are persecuted on account of the faith,
and who "fly from city to city"(3) on account of the Lord's commandment;
and assist them as martyrs, rejoicing that ye are  made partakers of their
persecution, as knowing that they are esteemed blessed by the Lord; for
Himself says: "Blessed are ye when men shall  reproach you, and persecute
you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice,
and be exceeding glad, because your reward is great in heaven: for so
persecuted they the prophets which were before us."(4) And again: "If they
have persecuted me, they will also persecute you."(5) And afterwards: "If
they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another. For in the world ye
have tribulation: for they shall deliver you into the synagogues; and ye
shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, and for a testimony
to them."(6) And, "He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be
saved."(7) For he that is persecuted for the sake of the faith, and bears
witness in regard to Him, Christ, and endures, is truly a man of God.

THAT IT IS AN HORRIBLE AND DESTRUCTIVE THING TO DENY CHRIST.

   IV. But he that denies himself to be a Christian, that he may not be
hated of men, and so loves his own life more than he does the Lord, in
whose hand his breath is, is wretched and miserable, as being detestable
and abominable, who desires to be the friend of men, but is the enemy of
God, having no longer his portion with the saints, but with those that are
accursed; choosing instead of the kingdom of the blessed, that eternal fire
which is prepared for the devil and his angels: not being any longer hated
by men, but rejected by God, and cast out from His presence. For of such a
one our Lord declared, saying: "Whosoever shall deny me before men, and
shall be ashamed of my name, I also will deny and be ashamed of him before
my Father which is in heaven."(8) And again He speaks thus to us ourselves,
His disciples: "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy
of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of
me; and he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy
of me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it; and he that loseth his life
for my sake, shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own souL? or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul?"(9) And afterwards: "Fear not them that kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell."(10)

THAT WE OUGHT TO IMITATE CHRIST IN SUFFERING, AND WITH ZEAL TO FOLLOW HIS
PATIENCE.

   V. Every one therefore who learns any art, when he sees his master by
his diligence and skill perfecting his art, does himself earnestly
endeavour to make what he takes in hand like to it. If he is not able, he
is not perfected in his work. We therefore who have a Master, our Lord
Jesus Christ, why do we not follow His doctrine?--since He renounced
repose, pleasure, glory, riches, pride, the power of revenge, His mother
and brethren, nay, and moreover His own life, on account of His piety
towards His Father, and His love to us the race of mankind; and suffered
not only persecution and stripes, reproach and mockery, but also
crucifixion, that He might save the penitent, both Jews and Gentiles. If
therefore He for our sakes renounced His repose, was not ashamed of the
cross, and did not esteem death inglorious, why do not we imitate His
sufferings, and renounce on His account even our own life, with that
patience which He gives us? For He did all for our sakes, but we do it for
our own sakes: for He does not stand in need of us, but we stand in need of
His mercy. He only requires the sincerity and readiness of our faith, as
the Scripture says: "If thou beest righteous, what doest thou give to Him?
or what will He receive at thy hand? Thy wickedness is to a man like
thyself, and thy righteousness to a son of man."(1)

THAT A BELIEVER OUGHT NEITHER RASHLY TO RUN INTO DANGER THROUGH SECURITY,
NOR TO BE OVER-TIMOROUS THROUGH PUSILLANIMITY, BUT TO FLY AWAY FOR FEAR;
YET THAT IF HE DOES FALL INTO THE ENEMY'S HAND, TO STRIVE EARNESTLY, UPON
ACCOUNT OF THE CROWN THAT IS LAID UP FOR HIM.

   VI. Let us therefore renounce our parents, and kinsmen, and friends,
and wife, and children, and possessions, and all the enjoyments of life,
when any of these things become an impediment to piety. For we ought to
pray that we may not enter into temptation; but if we be called to
martyrdom, with constancy to confess His precious name, and if on this
account we be punished, let us rejoice, as hastening to immortality. When
we are persecuted, let us not think it strange; let us not love the present
world, nor the praises which come from men, nor the glory and honour of
rulers, according as some of the Jews wondered at the mighty works of our
Lord, yet did not believe on Him, for fear of the high priests and the rest
of the rulers: "For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of
God."(2) But now, by confessing a good confession, we not only save
ourselves, but we confirm those who are newly illuminated, and strengthen
the faith of the catechumens. But if we remit any part of our confession,
and deny godliness by the faintness of our persuasion, and the fear of a
very short punishment, we not only deprive ourselves of everlasting glory,
but we shall also become the causes of the perdition of others; and shall
suffer double punishment, as affording suspicion, by our denial that that
truth which we gloried in so much before is an erroneous doctrine.
Wherefore neither let us be rash and hasty to thrust ourselves into
dangers, for the Lord says: "Pray that ye fall not into temptation: the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."(3) Nor let us, when we do
fall into dangers, be fearful or ashamed of our profession. For if a
person, by the denial of his own hope, which is Jesus the Son of God,
should be delivered from a temporary death, and the next day should fall
dangerously sick upon his bed, with a distemper in his bowels, his stomach,
or his head, or any of the incurable diseases, as a consumption, or
gangrene, or looseness, or iliac passion, or dropsy, or colic, and has a
sudden catastrophe, and departs this life; is not he deprived of the things
present, and loses those eternal? Or rather, he is within the verge of
eternal punishment, "and goes into outer darkness, where is weeping and
gnashing of teeth."(4) But let him who is vouchsafed the honour of
martyrdom rejoice with joy in the Lord, as obtaining thereby so great a
crown, and departing out of this life by his confession. Nay, though he be
trot a catechumen, let him depart without trouble; for his suffering for
Christ will be to him a more genuine baptism, because he does really die
with Christ, but the rest only in a figure. Let him therefore rejoice in
the imitation of his Master, since is it thus ordained: "Let every one be
perfect, as his Master is."(5) Now his and our Master, Jesus the Lord, was
smitten for our sake: He underwent reproaches and revilings with long-
suffering. He was spit upon, He was smitten on the face, He was buffeted;
and when He had been scourged, He was nailed to the cross. He had vinegar
and gall to drink; and when He had fulfilled all things that were written,
He said to His God and Father, "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit."(6)
Wherefore let him that desires to be His disciple earnestly follow His
conflicts: let him imitate His patience, knowing that, although he be
burned in the fire by men, he will suffer nothing, like the three
children;(7) or if he does suffer anything, he shall receive a reward from
the Lord, believing in the one and the only true God and Father, through
Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, and Redeemer of our souls, and
rewarder of our sufferings. To whom be glory for ever. Amen.

SEVERAL DEMONSTRATIONS CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION, CONCERNING THE SIBYL,
AND WHAT THE STOICS SAY CONCERNING THE BIRD CALLED THE PHOENIX.

   VII. For the Almighty God Himself will raise us up through our Lord
Jesus Christ, according to His infallible promise, and grant us a
resurrection with all those that have slept from the beginning of the
world; and we shall then be such as we now are in our present form, without
any defect or corruption. For we shall rise incorruptible: whether we die
at sea, or are scattered on the earth, or are torn to pieces by wild beasts
and birds, He will raise us by His own power; for the whole world is held
together by the hand of God. Now He says: "An hair of your head shall not
perish."(1) Wherefore He exhorts us, saying: "In your patience possess ye
your souls."(2) But as concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the
recompense of reward for the martyrs, Gabriel speaks to Daniel: "And many
of them that sleep shall arise out of the dust of the earth, some to
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that
understand shall shine as the sun, and as the firmament, and as the
stars."(3) Therefore the most holy Gabriel foretold that the saints should
shine like the stars: for His sacred name did witness to them, that they
might understand the truth. Nor is a resurrection only declared for the
martyrs, but for all men, righteous and unrighteous, godly and ungodly,
that every one may receive according to his desert. For God, says the
Scripture, "will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether it be good or whether it be evil."(4) This resurrection was not
believed by the Jews, when of old they said, "Our bones are withered, and
we are gone."(5) To whom God answered, and said: "Behold, I open your
graves, and will bring you out of them; and I will put my Spirit into you,
and ye shall live: and ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it, and
will do it." And He says by Isaiah: "The dead shall rise, and those that
are in the graves shall be raised up. And those that rest in the earth
shall rejoice, for the dew which is from Thee shall be healing to them."(6)
There are indeed many and various things said concerning the resurrection,
and concerning the continuance of the righteous in glory, and concerning
the punishment of the ungodly, their fall, rejection, condemnation, shame,
"eternal fire, and endless worm."(7) Now that, if it had pleased Him that
all men should be immortal, it was in His power, He showed in the examples
of Enoch and Elijah, while He did not suffer them to have any experience of
death. Or if it had pleased Him in every generation to raise those that
died, that this also He was able to do He hath made manifest both by
Himself and by others; as when He raised the widow's son(8) by Elijah, and
the Shunammite's son(9) by Elisha. But we are persuaded that death is not a
retribution of punishment, because even the saints have undergone it; nay,
even the Lord of the saints, Jesus Christ, the life of them that believe,
and the resurrection of the dead. Upon this account, therefore, according
to the ancient practice, for those who live in the great city, after the
combats He brings a dissolution for a while, that, when He raises up every
one, He may either reject him or crown him. For He that made the body of
Adam out of the earth  will raise up the bodies of the rest, and that of
the first man, after their dissolution, (to pay what is owing to the
rational nature of man; we mean the continuance in being through all ages.
He, therefore, who brings on the dissolution, will Himself procure the
resurrection. And He that said, "The Lord took dust from the ground, and
formed man, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a
living soul,"(10) added after the disobedience, "Earth thou art, and unto
earth shalt thou return;"(11) the same promised us a resurrection
afterwards.(12)) For says He: "All that are in the graves shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."(13) Besides these
arguments, we believe there is to be a resurrection also from the
resurrection of our Lord. For it is He that raised Lazarus, when he had
been in the grave four days,(14) and Jairus' daughter,(15) and the widow's
son.(16) It is He that raised Himself by the command of the Father in the
space of three days, who is the pledge of our resurrection. For says He: "I
am the resurrection and the life."(17) Now He that brought Jonas(18) in the
space of three days, alive and unhurt, out of the belly of the whale, and
the three children out of the furnace of Babylon, and Daniel out of the
mouth of the lions,(19) does not want power to raise us up also. But if the
Gentiles laugh at us, and disbelieve our Scriptures, let at least their own
prophetess Sibylla(20) oblige them to believe, who says thus to them in
express words:--

   "But when all things shall be reduced to dust and ashes,
   And the immortal God who kindled the fire shall have quenched it,
   God shall form those bones and that ashes into a man again,
   And shall place mortal men again as they were before.
   And then shall be the judgment, wherein God will do justice,
   And judge the world again. But as many mortals as have sinned through
impiety
   Shall again be covered under the earth;
   But so many as have been pious shall live again in the world.
   When God puts His Spirit into them, and gives those at once that are
godly both life and favour, Then shall all see themselves."(1)

If, therefore, this prophetess confesses the resurrection, and does not
deny the restoration of all things, and distinguishes the godly from the
ungodly, it is in vain for them to deny our doctrine. Nay, indeed, they say
they can show a resemblance of the resurrection, while they do not
themselves believe the things they declare: for they say that there is a
bird single in its kind which affords a copious demonstration of the
resurrection, which they say is without a mate, and the only one in the
creation. They call it a phoenix, and relate that every five hundred years
it comes into Egypt, to that which is called the altar of the sun, and
brings with it a great quantity of cinnamon, and cassia, and balsam-wood,
and standing towards the east, as they say, and praying to the sun, of its
own accord is burnt, and becomes dust; but that a worm arises again out of
those ashes, and that when the same is warmed it is formed into a new-born
phoenix; and when it is able to fly, it goes to Arabia, which is beyond the
Egyptian countries. If, therefore, as even themselves say, a resurrection
is exhibited by the means of an irrational bird, wherefore do they vainly
disparage our accounts, when we profess that He who by His power brings
that into being which was not in being before, is able to restore this
body, and raise it up again after its dissolution? For on account of this
full assurance of hope we undergo stripes, and persecutions, and deaths.
Otherwise we should to no purpose undergo such things if we had not a full
assurance of these promises, whereof we profess ourselves to be the
preachers. As, therefore, we believe Moses when he says, "In the beginning
God made the heaven and the earth;"(2) and we know that He did not want
matter, but by His will alone brought those things into being which Christ
was commanded to make; we mean the heaven, the earth, the sea, the light,
the night, the day, the luminaries, the stars, the fowls, the fishes, and
four-footed beasts, the creeping things, the plants, and the herbs; so also
will He raise all men up by His will, as not wanting any assistance. For it
is the work of the same power to create the world and to raise the dead.
And then He made man, who was not a man before, of different parts, giving
to him a soul made out of nothing. But now He will restore the bodies,
which have been dissolved, to the souls that are still in being: for the
rising again belongs to things laid down, not to things which have no
being. He therefore that made the original bodies out of nothing, and
fashioned various forms of them, will also again revive and raise up those
that are dead. For He that formed man in the womb out of a little seed, and
created in him a soul which was not in being before,--as He Himself
somewhere speaks to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the womb I knew
thee;"(3) and elsewhere, "I am the Lord who established the heaven, and
laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man in
him,"(4)--will also raise up all men, as being His workmanship; as also the
divine Scripture testifies that God said to Christ, His only-begoten, "Let
us make man after our image, and after our likeness. And God made man:
after the image of God made He him; male and female made He them."(5) And
the most divine and patient Job, of whom the Scripture says that it is
written, that "he was to rise again with those whom the Lord raises up,"(6)
speaks to God thus: "Hast not Thou milked me like milk, and curdled me like
cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with
bones and sinews. Thou hast granted me life and favour, and Thy visitation
hath preserved my spirit. Having these things within me, I know that Thou
canst do all things, and that nothing is impossible with Thee."(7)
Wherefore also(8) our Saviour and Master Jesus Christ says, that "what is
impossible with men is possible with God."(9) And David, the beloved of
God, says: "Thine hands have made me, and fashioned me."(10) And again:
"Thou knowest my frame."(11) And afterward: "Thou hast fashioned me, and
laid Thine hand upon me. The knowledge of Thee is declared to be too
wonderful for me; it is very great, I cannot attain unto it."(12) "Thine
eyes did see my substance, being yet imperfect; and all men shall be
written in Thy book."(13) Nay, and Isaiah says in his prayer to Him: "We
are the clay, and Thou art the framer of us."(14) If, therefore, man be His
workmanship, made by Christ, by Him most certainly will he after he is dead
be raised again, with intention either of being crowned for his good
actions or punished for his transgressions. But if He, being the
legislator, judges with righteousness; as He punishes the ungodly, so does
He do good to and saves the faithful. And those saints who for His sake
have been slain by men, "some of them He will make light as the stars, and
make others bright as the luminaries,"(15) as Gabriel said to Daniel. All
we of the faithful, therefore, who are the disciples of Christ, believe His
promises. For He that has promised it cannot lie; as says the blessed
prophet David: "The Lord is faithful in all His words, and holy in all His
works."(1) For He that framed for Himself a body out of a virgin, is also
the Former of other men. And He that raised Himself from the dead, will
also raise again all that are laid down. He who raises wheat out of the
ground with many stalks from one grain, He who makes the tree that is cut
down send forth fresh branches, He that made Aaron's dry rod put forth
buds,(2) will raise us up in glory; He that raised Him up that had the
palsy whole,(3) and healed him that had the withered hand,(4) He that
supplied a defective part to him that was born blind from clay and
spittle,(5) will raise us up; He that satisfied five thousand men with five
loaves and two fishes, and caused a remainder of twelve baskets,(6) and out
of water made wine,(7) and sent a piece of money out of a fish's mouth(8)
by me Peter to those that demanded tribute, will raise the dead. For we
testify all these things concerning Him, and the prophets testify the
other. We who have eaten and drunk with Him, and have been spectators of
His wonder fill works, and of His life, and of His conduct, and of His
words, and of His sufferings, and of His death, and of His resurrection
from the dead, and who associated with Him forty days after His
resurrection,(9) and who received a command from Him to preach the Gospel
to all the world, and to make disciples of all nations,(10) and to baptize
them into His death by the authority of the God of the universe, who is His
Father, and by the testimony of the Spirit, who is His Comforter,--we teach
you all these things which He appointed us by His constitutions, before "He
was received up in our sight into heaven,"(11) to Him that sent Him. And if
you will believe, you shall be happy; but if you will not believe, we shall
be found innocent, and clear from your incredulity.

CONCERNING JAMES THE BROTHER OF THE LORD, AND STEPHEN THE FIRST MARTYR.

   VIII. Now concerning the martyrs, we say to you that they are to be had
in all honour with you, as we honour the blessed James the bishop, and the
holy Stephen our fellow-servant. For these are reckoned blessed by God, and
are honoured by holy men, who were pure from all transgressions, immoveable
when tempted to sin, or persuaded from good works, without dispute
deserving encomiums: of whom also David speaks, "Precious in the sight of
the Lord is the death of His holy ones;"(12) and Solomon says, "The memory
of the just is with encomiums:"(13) of whom also the prophet speaks,
"Righteous men are taken away."(14)

CONCERNING FALSE MARTYRS.

   IX. These things we have said concerning those that in truth have been
martyrs for Christ, but not concerning false martyrs, concerning whom the
oracle speaks, "The name of the ungodly is extinguished."(13) For "a
faithful  witness will not lie, but an unjust witness inflames lies."(15)
For he that departs this life in his testimony without lying, for the sake
of the truth, is a faithful martyr, worthy to be believed in such things
wherein he strove for the word of piety by his own blood.

SEC. II.--ALL ASSOCIATION WITH IDOLS IS TO BE AVOIDED.

A MORAL ADMONITION, THAT WE ARE TO ABSTAIN FROM VAIN TALKING, OBSCENE
TALKING, JESTING, DRUNKENNESS, LASCIVIOUSNESS, AND LUXURY.

   X. Now we exhort you, brethren and fellow-servants, to avoid vain talk
and obscene discourses, and jestings, drunkenness, lasciviousness, luxury,
unbounded passions, with foolish discourses, since we do not permit you so
much as on the Lord's days, which are days of joy, to speak or act anything
unseemly; for the Scripture somewhere says: "Serve the Lord with fear, and
rejoice unto Him with trembling."(16) Even your very rejoicings therefore
ought to be done with fear and trembling: for a Christian who is faithful
ought neither to repeat an heathen hymn nor an obscene song, because he
will be obliged by that hymn to make mention of the idolatrous names of
demons; and instead of the Holy Spirit, the wicked one will enter into him.

   AN ADMONITION INSTRUCTING MEN TO AVOID THE ABOMINABLE SIN OF IDOLATRY.

   XI. You are also forbidden to swear by them, or to utter their
abominable names through your mouth, and to worship them, or fear them as
gods; for they are not gods, but either wicked demons or the ridiculous
contrivances of men. For somewhere God says concerning the Israelites:
"They have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods."(17) And
afterwards: "I will take away the names of your idols out of their
mouth."(1) And elsewhere: "They have provoked me to jealousy with them that
are no gods; they have provoked me to anger with their idols."(2) And in
all the Scriptures these things are forbidden by the Lord God.

THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO SING AN HEATHEN OR AN OBSCENE SONG, NOR TO SWEAR BY AN
IDOL BECAUSE IT IS AN IMPIOUS THING, AND CONTRARY TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.

   XII. Nor do the legislators give us only prohibitions concerning idols,
but also warn us concerning the luminaries, not to swear by them, nor to
serve them. For they say: "Lest, when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and
the stars, thou shouldest be seduced to worship them."(3) And elsewhere:
"Do not ye learn to walk after the ways of the heathen, and be not afraid
of the signs of heaven."(4) For the stars and the luminaries were given to
men to shine upon them, but not for worship; although the Israelites, by
the perverseness of their temper, "worshipped the creature instead of the
Creator,"(5) and acted insultingly to their Maker, and admired the creature
more than is fit. And sometimes they made a calf, as in the wilderness;(6)
sometimes they worshipped Baalpeor;(7) another time Baal,(8) and Thamuz,(9)
and Astarte of Sidon;(10) and again Moloch and Chamos;(11) another time the
sun,(12) as it is written in Ezekiel; nay, and besides, brute creatures, as
among the Egyptians Apis, and the Mendesian goat, and gods of silver and
gold, as in Judea. On account of all which things He threatened them, and
said by the prophet: "Is it a small thing to the house of Judah to do these
abominations which they have done? For they have filled the land with their
wickedness, to provoke me to anger: and, behold, they arc as those that
mock. And I will act with anger. Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I
have mercy; and they shall cry in mine ears with a great voice, and I will
not hearken unto them." Consider, beloved, how many things the Lord
declares against idolaters, and the worshippers of the sun and moon.
Wherefore it is the duty of a man of God, as he is a Christian, not to
swear by the sun, or by the moon, or by the stars; nor by the heaven, nor
by the earth, by any of the elements, whether small or great. For if our
Master charged us not to swear by the true God, that our word might be
firmer than an oath, nor by heaven itself, for that is a piece of heathen
wickedness, nor by Jerusalem, nor by the sanctuary of God, nor the altar,
nor the gift, nor the gilding of the altar, nor one's own head,(14) for
this custom is a piece of Judaic corruption, and on that account was
forbidden; and if He exhorts the faithful that their yea be yea, and their
nay, nay, and says that "what is more than these is of the evil one," how
much more blameable are those who appeal to deities falsely so called as
the objects of an oath, and who glorify imaginary beings instead of those
that are real, whom God for their perverseness "delivered over to
foolishness, to do those things that are not convenient!"(15)

SEC. III.--ON FEAST DAYS AND FAST DAYS.

A CATALOGUE OF THE FEASTS OF THE LORD WHICH ARE TO BE KEPT, AND WHEN EACH
OF THEM OUGHT TO BE OBSERVED.

   XIII. Brethren, observe the festival days; and first of all the
birthday which you are to celebrate on the twenty-fifth of the ninth month;
after which let the Epiphany be to you the most honoured, in which the Lord
made to you a display of His own Godhead, and let it take place on the
sixth of the tenth month; after which the fast of Lent is to be observed by
you as containing a memorial of our Lord's mode of life and legislation.
But let this solemnity be observed before the fast of the passover,
beginning from the second day of the week, and ending at the day of the
preparation. After which solemnities, breaking off your fast, begin the
holy week of the passover, fasting in the same all of you with fear and
trembling, praying in them for those that are about to perish.

CONCERNING THE PASSION OF OUR LORD, AND WHAT WAS DONE ON EACH DAY OF HIS
SUFFERINGS; AND CONCERNING JUDAS, AND THAT JUDAS WAS NOT PRESENT WHEN THE
LORD DELIVERED THE MYSTERIES TO HIS DISCIPLES.

   XIV. For they began to hold a council against the Lord on the second
day of the week, in the first month, which is Xanthicus; and the
deliberation continued on the third day of the week; but on the fourth day
they determined to take away His life by crucifixion. And Judas knowing
this, who for a long time had been perverted, but was then smitten by the
devil himself with the love of money, although he had been long entrusted
with the purse.(16) and used to steal what was set apart for the needy, yet
was he not cast off by the Lord, through much long-suffering; nay, and when
we were once feasting with Him, being willing both to reduce him to his
duty and instruct us in His own foreknowledge, He said: "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, that one of you will betray me;" and every one of us saying,
"Is it I?"(1) And the Lord being silent, I, who was one of the twelve, and
more beloved by Him than the rest, arose up from lying in His bosom. and
besought Him to tell who it should be that should betray Him. Yet neither
then did our good Lord declare His name, but gave two signs of the
betrayer: one by saying, "he that dippeth with me in the dish;" a second,
"to whom I shall give the sop when I have dipped it." Nay, although he
himself said, "Master, is it I?" the Lord did not say Yes, but, "Thou hast
said." And being willing to affright him in the matter, He said: "Woe to
that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for him if he had
never been born. Who, when he had heard that, went his way, and said to the
priests, What will ye give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they
bargained with him for thirty pieces of silver."(2) And the scripture was
fulfilled, which said, "And they took(3) the thirty pieces of silver, the
price of Him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did
value, and gave them for the house of the potter."(4) And on the fifth day
of the week, when we had eaten the passover with Him, and when Judas had
dipped his hand into the dish, and received the sop, and was gone out by
night, the Lord said to us: "The hour is come that ye shall be dispersed,
and shall leave me alone;"(5) and every one vehemently affirming that they
would not forsake Him, I Peter adding this promise, that I would even die
with Him, He said, "Verily I say unto thee, Before the cock crows, thou
shall thrice deny that thou knowest me."(6) And when He had delivered to us
the representative mysteries of His precious body and blood, Judas not
being present with us, He went out to the Mount of Olives, near the brook
Cedron, where there was a garden;(7) and we were with Him, and sang an hymn
according to the custom.(8) And being  separated not far(9) from us, He
prayed to His Father, saying: "Father, remove this cup away  from me; yet
not my will, but Thine be done."(10) And when He had done this thrice,
while we out of despondency of mind were fallen asleep, He came and said:
"The hour is come, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of
sinners. And behold Judas, and with him a multitude of ungodly men,"(11) to
whom he shows the signal by which he was to betray Him--a deceitful kiss.
But they, when they had received the signal agreed on, took hold of the
Lord; and having bound Him, they led Him to the house of Caiaphas the high
priest, wherein were assembled many, not the people, but a great rout, not
an holy council, but an assembly of the wicked and council of the ungodly,
who did many things against Him, and left no kind of injury untried,
spitting upon Him, cavilling at Him, beating Him, smiting Him on the face,
reviling Him, tempting Him, seeking vain divination instead of true
prophecies from Him, calling Him a deceiver, a blasphemer, a transgressor
of Moses, a destroyer of the temple, a taker away of sacrifices, an enemy
to the Romans, an adversary to Caesar. And these reproaches did these bulls
and dogs(12) in their madness cast upon Him, till it was very early in the
morning, and then they lead Him away to Annas, who was father-in-law to
Caiaphas; and when they had done the like things to Him there, it being the
day of the preparation, they delivered Him to Pilate the Roman governor,
accusing Him of many and great things, none of which they could prove.
Whereupon the governor, as out of patience with them, said: "I find no
cause against Him."(13) But they bringing two lying witnesses, wished to
accuse the Lord falsely; but they being found to disagree, and so their
testimony not conspiring together, they altered the accusation to that of
treason, saying, "This fellow says that He is a king, and forbids to give
tribute to Caesar."(14) And themselves became accusers, and witnesses, and
judges, and authors of the sentence, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify
Him;"(15) that it might be fulfilled which is written by the prophets
concerning Him, "Unjust witnesses were gathered together against me, and
injustice lied to itself;"(16) and again, "Many dogs compassed me about,
the assembly of the wicked laid siege against me;"(17) and elsewhere, "My
inheritance became to me as a lion in a wood, and has sent forth her voice
against me."(18) Pilate therefore, disgracing his authority by his
pusillanimity, convicts himself of wickedness by regarding the multitude
more than this just person, and bearing witness to Him that He was
innocent, yet as guilty delivering Him up to the punishment of the cross,
although the Romans had made laws that no man unconvicted should be put to
death. But the executioners took the Lord of glory and nailed Him to the
cross, crucifying Him indeed at the sixth hour, but having received the
sentence of His condemnation at the third hour. After this they gave to Him
vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. Then they divided His garments by lot.
Then they crucified two malefactors with Him, on each side one, that it
might be fulfilled which was written: "They gave me gall to eat, and when I
was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink."(1) And again: "They divided my
garment among themselves, and upon my vesture have they cast lots."(2) And
in another place: "And I was reckoned with the transgressors."(3) Then
there was darkness for three hours, from the sixth to the ninth, and again
light in the evening; as it is written: "It shall not be day nor night, and
at the evening there shall be light."(4) All which things,(5) when those
malefactors saw that were crucified with Him the one of them reproached Him
as though He was weak and unable to deliver Himself; but the other rebuked
the ignorance of his fellow and turning to the Lord, as being enlightened
by Him, and acknowledging who He was that suffered, he prayed that He would
remember him in His kingdom hereafter.(6) He then presently granted him the
forgiveness of his former sins, and brought him into paradise to enjoy the
mystical good things; who also cried out about the ninth hour, and said to
His Father: "My God! my God! why hast Thou forsaken me?"(7) And a little
afterward, when He had cried with a loud voice, "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do,"(8) and had added, "Into Thy hands I commit my
spirit," He gave up the ghost,(9) and was buried before sunset in a new
sepulchre. But when the first day of the week dawned He arose from the
dead, and fulfilled those things which before His passion He foretold to
us, saying: "The Son of man must continue in the heart of the earth three
days and three nights."(10) And when He was risen from the dead, He
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, then to
Cleopas in the way, and after that to us His disciples, who had fled away
for fear of the Jews, but privately were very inquisitive about Him.(11)
But these things are also written in the Gospel.

OF THE GREAT WEEK, AND ON WHAT ACCOUNT THEY ENJOIN US TO FAST ON WEDNESDAY
AND FRIDAY.

   XV. He therefore charged us Himself to fast these six days on account
of the impiety and transgression of the Jews, commanding us withal to
bewail over them, and lament for their perdition. For even He Himself "wept
over them, because they knew not the time of their visitation."(12) But He
commanded us to fast on the fourth and sixth days of the week; the former
on account of His being betrayed, and the latter on account of His passion.
But He appointed us to break our fast on the seventh day at the cock-
crowing, but to fast on the Sabbath-day. Not that the Sabbath-day is a day
of fasting, being the rest from the creation, but because we ought to fast
on this one Sabbath only, while on this day the Creator was under the
earth. For on their very feast-day they apprehended the Lord, thai that
oracle might be fulfilled which says: "They placed their signs in the
middle of their feast, and knew them not."(13) Ye ought therefore to bewail
over them, because when the Lord came they did not believe on Him, but
rejected His doctrine, judging themselves unworthy of salvation. You
therefore are happy who once were not a people, but are now an holy nation,
delivered from the deceit of idols, from ignorance, from impiety, who once
had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy through your hearty
obedience: for to you, the converted Gentiles, is opened the gate of life,
who formerly were not beloved, but are now beloved; a people ordained for
the possession of God, to show forth His virtues, concerning whom our
Saviour said, "I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest
to them that asked not after me. I said, Behold me, to a nation which did
not call upon my name."(14) For when ye did not seek after Him, then were
ye sought for by Him; and you who have believed in Him have hearkened to
His call, and have left the madness of polytheism, and have fled to the
true monarchy, to Almighty God, through Christ Jesus, and are become the
completion of the number of the saved--"ten thousand times ten thousand,
and thousands of thousands;"(15) as it is written in David, "A thousand(16)
shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand;"(17) and again,
"The chariots of God are by tens of thousands, and thousands of the
prosperous."(18) But unto unbelieving lsrael He says: "All the day long
have I stretched out mine hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people,
which go in a way that is not good, but after their own sins, a people
provoking me before my face."(1)

AN ENUMERATION OF THE PROPHETICAL PREDICTIONS WHICH DECLARE CHRIST, WHOSE
COMPLETION THOUGH THE JEWS SAW, YET OUT OF THE EVIL TEMPER OF THEIR MIND
THEY DID NOT BELIEVE HE WAS THE CHRIST OF GOD, AND CONDEMNED THE LORD OF
GLORY TO THE CROSS.

   XVI. See how the people provoked the Lord by not believing in Him!
Therefore He says: "They provoked the Holy Spirit, and He was turned to be
their enemy."(2) For blindness is cast upon them, by reason of the
wickedness of their mind, because when they saw Jesus they did not believe
Him to be the Christ of God, who was before all ages(3) begotten of Him,
His only-begotten Son, God the Word, whom they did not own through their
unbelief, neither on account of His mighty works, nor yet on account of the
prophecies which were written concerning Him. For that He was to be born of
a virgin, they read this prophecy: "Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emanuel."(4) "For
to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, whose government is upon His
shoulders; and His name is called the Angel of His Great Council, the
Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Potentate, the Prince of Peace,
the Father of the Future Age."(5) Now, that because of their exceeding
great wickedness they would not believe in Him, the Lord shows in these
words: "Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord
been revealed?"(6) And afterward: "Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for the heart
of this people is waxed gross."(7) Wherefore knowledge was taken from them,
because seeing they overlooked, and hearing they heard not. But to you, the
converted of the Gentiles, is the kingdom given, because you, who knew not
God, have believed by preaching, and "have known Him, or rather are known
of Him,"(8) through Jesus, the Saviour and Redeemer of those that hope in
Him. For ye are translated from your former vain and tedious mode of life
and have contemned the lifeless idols, and despised the demons, which are
in darkness, and  have run to the "true light,"(9) and by it have "known
the one and only true God and Father,"(10) and so are owned to be heirs of
His kingdom. For since ye have "been baptized into the Lord's death,"(11)
and into His resurrection, as "new-born babes,"(12) ye ought to be wholly
free from all sinful actions; "for you are not your own, but His that
bought you"(13) with His own blood. For concerning the former Israel the
Lord speaks thus, on account of their unbelief: "The kingdom of God shall
be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof;"(14) that is to say, that having given the kingdom to you, who
were once far estranged from Him, He expects the fruits of your gratitude
and probity. For ye are those that were once sent into the vineyard, and
did not obey, but these they that did obey;(15) but you have repented of
your denial, and you work therein now. But they, being uneasy on account of
their own covenants, have not only left the vineyard uncultivated, but have
also killed the stewards of the Lord of the vineyard,(16)--one with stones,
another with the sword; one they sawed asunder,(17) another they slew in
the holy place, "between the temple and the altar;"(18) nay, at last they
"cast the Heir Himself out of the vineyard, and slew Him."(19) And by them
He was rejected as an unprofitable stone,(20) but by you was received as
the corner-stone. Wherefore He says concerning you: "A people whom I knew
not have served me, and at the hearing of the ear have they obeyed me."(21)

HOW THE PASSOVER OUGHT TO BE CELEBRATED.

   XVII. It is therefore your duty, brethren, who are redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ, to observe the days of the passover exactly, with
all care, after the vernal equinox, lest ye be obliged to keep the memorial
of the one passion twice in a year. Keep it once only in a year for Him
that died but once.

   Do not you yourselves compute, but keep it when your brethren of the
circumcision do so: keep it together with them; and if they err in their
computation, be not you concerned. Keep your nights of watching in the
middle of the days of unleavened bread. And when the Jews are feasting, do
you fast and wail over them, because an the day of their feast they
crucified Christ;  and while they are lamenting and eating unleavened bread
in bitterness, do you feast.(1) But no longer be careful to keep the feast
with the Jews, for we have now no communion with them; for they have been
led astray in regard to the calculation itself, which they think they
accomplish perfectly, that they may be led astray on every hand, and be
fenced off from the truth. But do you observe carefully the vernal equinox,
which occurs on the twenty-second of the twelfth month, which is
Dystros(March), observing carefully until the twenty-first of the moon,
test the fourteenth of the moon shall fall on another week, and an error
being committed, you should through ignorance celebrate the passover twice
in the year, or celebrate the day of the resurrection of our Lord on any
other day than a Sunday.

A CONSTITUTION CONCERNING THE GREAT PASSOVER WEEK.

   XVIII. Do you therefore fast on the days of the passover, beginning
from the second day of the week until the preparation, and the Sabbath, six
days, making use of only bread, and salt, and herbs, and water for your
drink; but do you abstain on these days from wine and flesh, for they are
days of lamentation and not of feasting. Do ye who are able fast the day of
the preparation and the Sabbath-day entirely, tasting nothing till the
cock-crowing of the night; but if any one is not able to join them both
together, at least let him observe the Sabbath-day; for the Lord says
somewhere, speaking of Himself: "When the bridegroom shall be taken away
from them, in those days shall they fast."(2) In these days, therefore, He
was taken from us by the Jews, falsely so named, and fastened to the cross,
and "was numbered among the transgressors."(3)

CONCERNING THE WATCHING ALL THE NIGHT OF THE GREAT SABBATH, AND CONCERNING
THE DAY OF THE RESURRECTION.

   XIX. Wherefore we exhort you to fast on those days, as we also fasted
till the evening, when He was taken away from us; but on the rest of the
days, before the day of the preparation, let every one eat at the ninth
hour, or at the evening, or as every one is able. But from the even of the
fifth day till cock-crowing break your fast when it is daybreak of the
first day of the week, which is the Lord's day. From the even till cock-
crowing keep awake, and assemble together in the church, watch and pray,
and entreat God; reading, when you sit up all night, the Law, the Prophets,
and the Psalms, until cock-crowing, and baptizing your catechumens, and
reading the Gospel with fear and trembling, and speaking to the people such
things as tend to their salvation: put an end to your sorrow, and beseech
God that Israel may be converted, and that He will allow them place of
repentance, and the remission of their impiety; for the judge, who was a
stranger, "washed his hands, and said, I am innocent of the blood of this
just person: see ye to it. But Israel cried out, His blood be on us, and on
our children."(4) And when Pilate said, "Shall I crucify your king? they
cried out, We have no king but Caesar: crucify Him, crucify Him; for every,
one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." And, "If thou let
this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend."(5) And Pilate the governor and
Herod the king commanded Him to be crucified; and that oracle was fulfilled
which says, "Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord, and against His Christ;"(6) and, "They cast away
the Beloved, as a dead man, who is abominable."(7) And since He was
crucified on the day of the Preparation, and rose again at break of day on
the Lord's day, the scripture was fulfilled which saith, "Arise, O God;
judge the earth: for Thou shalt have an inheritance in all the nations;"(8)
and again, "I will arise, saith the Lord; I will put Him in safety, I will
wax bold through Him;"(9) and," But Thou, Lord, have mercy upon me, and
raise me up again, and I shall requite them."(10) For this reason do you
also, now the Lord is risen, offer your sacrifice, concerning which He made
a constitution by us, saying, "Do this for a remembrance of me;"(11) and
thenceforward leave off your fasting, and rejoice, and keep a festival,
because Jesus Christ, the pledge of our resurrection, is risen from the
dead. And let this be an everlasting ordinance till the consummation of the
world, until the Lord come. For to Jews the Lord is still dead, but to
Christians He is risen: to the former, by their unbelief; to the latter, by
their full assurance of faith. For the hope in Him is immortal and eternal
life. After eight days let there be another feast observed with honour, the
eighth day itself, on which He gave me Thomas, who was hard of belief, full
assurance, by showing me the print of the nails, and the wound made in His
side by the spear.(12) And again, from the first Lord's day count forty
days, from the Lord's day till the fifth day of the week, and celebrate the
feast of the ascension of the Lord, whereon He finished all His
dispensation and constitution, and returned to that God and Father that
sent Him, and sat down at the right hand of power, and remains there until
His enemies are put under His feet; who also will come at the consummation
of the world with power and great glory, to judge the quick and the dead,
and to recompense to every one according to his works. And then shall they
see the beloved Son of God whom they pierced;(1) and when they know Him,
they shall mourn for themselves, tribe by tribe, and their wives apart.(2)

A PROPHETIC PREDICTION CONCERNING CHRIST JESUS.

   XX. For even now, on the tenth day of the month Gorpiaeus, when they
assemble together, they read the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in which it is
said, "The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord was taken in their
destructions;"(3) and Baruch, in whom it is written, "This is our God; no
other shall be esteemed with Him. He found out every way of knowledge, and
showed it to Jacob His son, and lsrael His beloved. Afterwards He was seen
upon earth, and conversed with men."(4) And when they read them, they
lament and bewail, as themselves suppose, that desolation which happened by
Nebuchadnezzar; but, as the truth shows, they unwillingly make a prelude to
that lamentation which will overtake them. But after ten days from the
ascension, which from the first Lord's day is the fiftieth day, do ye keep
a great festival: for on that day, at the third hour, the Lord Jesus sent
on us the gift of the Holy Ghost, and we were filled with His energy, and
we "spake with new tongues, as that Spirit did suggest to us;" (5) and we
preached both to Jews and Gentiles, that He is the Christ of God, who is
"determined by Him to be the Judge, of quick and dead."(6) To Him did Moses
bear witness, and said: "The Lord received fire from the Lord, and rained
it down."(7) Him did Jacob see as a man, and said: "I have seen God face
to face, and my soul is preserved."(8) Him did  Abraham entertain, and
acknowledge to be the Judge, and his Lord.(9) Him did Moses see in the
bush;(10) concerning Him did he speak in Deuteronomy: "A Prophet will the
Lord your God raise up unto you out of your brethren, like unto me; Him
shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever He shall say unto you. And it shall
be, that every soul that will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed
from among his people."(11) Him did Joshua the son of Nun see, as the
captain of the Lord's host, in armour, for their assistance against
Jericho; to whom he fell down, and worshipped, as a servant does to his
master.(12) Him Samuel knew as the "Anointed of God,"(13) and thence named
the priests and the kings the anointed. Him David knew, and sung an hymn
concerning Him, "A song concerning the Beloved;"(14) and adds in his
person, and says, "Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Thou who art mighty in
Thy beauty and renown: go on, and prosper, and reign, for the sake of
truth, and meekness, and righteousness; and Thy right hand shall guide Thee
after a wonderful manner. Thy darts are sharpened, O Thou that art mighty;
the people shall fall under Thee in the heart of the king's enemies.
Wherefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above
Thy fellows." Concerning Him also spake Solomon, as in His person: "The
Lord created me the beginning of His ways, for His works: before the world
He founded me, in the beginning before He made the earth, before the
fountains of waters came, before the mountains were fastened; He begat me
before all the hills."(15) And again: "Wisdom built herself an house."(16)
Concerning Him also Isaiah said: "A Branch shall come out of the root of
Jesse, and a Flower shall spring out of his root." And, "There shall be a
root of Jesse; and He that is to rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him
shall the Gentiles trust."(17) And Zechariah says: "(18) Behold, thy King
cometh unto thee, just, and having salvation; meek, and riding upon an ass,
and upon a colt, the foal of an ass."(19) Him Daniel describes as "the Son
of man coming to the Father,"(20) and receiving all judgment and honour
from Him; and as "the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and
becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth,"(21) dashing to
pieces the many governments of the smaller countries, and the polytheism of
gods, but preaching the one God, and ordaining the monarchy of the Romans.
Concerning Him also did Jeremiah prophesy, saying: "The Spirit before His
face, Christ the Lord, was taken in their snares: of whom we said, Under
His shadow we shall live among the Gentiles."(1) Ezekiel also, and the
following prophets, affirm everywhere that He is the Christ, the Lord, the
King, the Judge, the Lawgiver, the Angel of the Father, the only-begotten
God. Him therefore do we also preach to you, and declare Him to be God the
Word, who ministered to His God and Father for the creation of the
universe. By believing in Him you shall live, but by disbelieving you shall
be punished. For "he that is disobedient to the Son shall not see life, but
the wrath of God abideth on him."(2) Therefore, after you have kept the
festival of Pentecost, keep one week more festival, and after that fast;
for it is reasonable to rejoice for the gift of God, and to fast after that
relaxation: for both Moses and Elijah fasted forty days, and Daniel for
"three weeks of days did not eat desirable bread, and flesh and wine did
not enter into his mouth."(3) And blessed Hannah, when she asked for
Samuel, said: "I have not drunk wine nor strong drink, and I pour out my
soul before the Lord."(4) And the Ninevites, when they fasted three days
and three nights,(5) escaped the execution of wrath. And Esther, and
Mordecai, and Judith,(6) by fasting, escaped the insurrection of the
ungodly Holofernes and Haman. And David says: "My knees are weak through
fasting, and my flesh faileth for want of oil."(7) Do you therefore fast,
and ask your petitions of God. We enjoin you to fast every fourth day of
the week, and every day of the preparation, and the surplusage of your fast
bestow upon the needy; every Sabbath-day excepting one, and every Lord's
day, hold your solemn assemblies, and rejoice: for he will be guilty of sin
who fasts on the Lord's day, being the day of the resurrection, or during
the time of Pentecost, or, in general, who is sad on a festival day to the
Lord. For on them we ought to rejoice, and not to mourn.


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland beginning in
1867. (ANF 7, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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