THE LIBRARY 
 
 Y OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 tOS
 
 i 
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS
 
 SOURCES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 WITH A TREATISE ON 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP AND OTHER 
 LOWER ORDERS 
 
 BY PROFESSOR ADOLF HARNACK 
 
 (TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN) 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON 
 
 THE ORGANISATION OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE READER 
 
 BY THF REV. JOHN OWEN 
 
 AUTHOR OF ' EVENINGS WITH THE SKEPTICS ' 
 
 ' THE SKEPTICS OF THE ITALIAN AND FRENCH RENAISSANCE ' 
 
 'VERSE MUSINGS ON NATURE, FAITH, AND FREEDOM,' ETC., ETC. 
 
 LONDON: F. NORGATE AND CO. 
 
 44 SHAFTESBURY AVENUE 
 
 EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW : JOHN MENZIES AND CO. 
 
 1895
 
 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 THERE is no need of apology in bringing before our 
 readers a work of Professor Harnack's. His fame is 
 now in ' all the Churches/ and by his writings a great 
 light has been thrown on early Church History. In the 
 German title the expression ' so-called ' occurs ; this I 
 have omitted, as I can hardly imagine that any one will 
 think that by using the phrase ' Apostolic Canons ' I 
 believe them to be of Apostolic origin. Dr. Harnack in 
 the present work gives little attention to them, referring 
 his readers to his edition of the Didache. This work 
 was out of print at the time our translation was 
 made, so it was considered necessary to have some 
 introduction, and the Rev. John Owen kindly consented 
 to write one. I regret that his continued ill-health, 
 which all must deplore, prevented his accomplishment of 
 the task until now. 
 
 I take this opportunity to sincerely thank Mr. Frederic 
 Norgate and Mr. Archibald Constable for much assist- 
 ance and advice. 
 
 L. A. W. 
 
 2093978
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY . . ix 
 
 CHAP. I. WORK OF THE EDITOR . . .2 
 
 CHAP. II. THE SOURCES FORMING THE BASES OF CHAPTERS 16 TO 18 
 
 OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS REVIEWED AND EXPLAINED 7 
 
 CHAP. III. THE CHURCH GOVERNMENT ACCORDING TO SOURCE A OF 
 THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 1. The Order of Rank of the Offices . . 28 
 
 2. The Government of the Congregation : the 
 
 Bishop and College of Presbyters . . 28 
 
 3. The Reader ..... 38 
 
 4. The Deacons . . 39 
 
 5. The Widows . . . . 41 
 
 CHAP. IV. HISTORICAL CONTENTS OF SOURCE B . .43 
 
 CHAP. V. THE SOURCES SERVING AS A BASIS TO DOCUMENTS A 
 AND B WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF THE 
 PASTORAL EPISTLES . . . . .46 
 
 CHAP. VI. THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF DOCUMENTS A AND B 52 
 
 SUPPLEMENT ON THE ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP AND OF THE 
 
 OTHER LOWER ORDERS 54
 
 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON 
 
 THE ORGANISATION OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
 
 AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE READER
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 IF it were required to describe in one word, cumulative and 
 comprehensive, the prevailing and characteristic energy of the 
 nineteenth century, it would be difficult to find a better or 
 more descriptive term than Disintegration. Every human in- 
 stitution, political or religious ; every scheme of thought, 
 philosophical, theological, or scientific ; every fabric of long- 
 accredited belief, or tradition ; whatever product of human 
 reason or practical exigency, in short, that can claim appar- 
 ently or really characteristics of growth and fixity, has either 
 undergone or is in process of undergoing the most searching 
 investigation and vivisection. These solvent energies are, of 
 course, of the most diversified kind. Heterogeneous in origin 
 and object, they differ no less in modes of application. Where 
 they chiefly resemble each other is in sharing a kind of mutual 
 affinity a contagiousness of opportunity by means of which 
 activities of varying kinds seem dominated by a concurrence, 
 more or less accidental and unaccountable, of times and 
 seasons. 
 
 Now it is obvious that disintegration must have been pre- 
 ceded by a prior process that of integration : the accretion 
 and gradual consolidation of the varying elements and 
 materials which resulted in the ultimate formation. It is not 
 less obvious that this integration may nay in some cases 
 must have been a long and protracted process ; that, like cer- 
 tain geological processes e.g., the accumulation of globigerina 
 
 b
 
 X SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 ooze in the bed of the Atlantic human growths and beliefs of 
 a certain type have taken centuries for their evolution and 
 formation. This fact has, it is needless to observe, an 
 important bearing on subsequent processes of disintegra- 
 tion and analysis. Not unfrequently integration implies 
 stagnation. It may even mean the plethora which betokens 
 and announces disease. The fabric which it has taken centuries 
 to build may be constructed, at least in part, of the hay, 
 stubble, and other facile but unworthy materials which go to 
 the formation of so many human erections. Besides, disinte- 
 gration does not necessarily imply destruction. It may mean 
 only reconstruction. Probably there have been few movements 
 in human history few examples, i.e., of disintegration and rein- 
 tegration in which what seemed the best and most durable 
 materials of the old dismantled and demolished structure have 
 not been utilised for the new building. 
 
 Confining our attention to special forms and directions of 
 this disintegrating energy we note its activity and extreme 
 importance in two departments of human inquiry. 
 
 1. It is impossible not to be struck by the disintegration 
 the relaxing of cohesive elements and ties of all kinds which 
 has manifested itself in Christian theology, I mean the 
 accredited and traditional body of Christian doctrine and belief 
 which has obtained in most Christian churches since the time 
 of the Eeformation. 
 
 2. Allied with this, yet only partially dependent upon it, has 
 been the corresponding upheaval in traditional and commonly 
 accepted beliefs as to the organisation of the early church. 
 This has been so great as to create almost a reversal of the 
 ecclesiastical theory once current among all the great churches 
 of Christendom.
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 Two characteristics are common to these two movements. 
 
 1. Both are in the direction of freedom, liberty of doctrinal 
 thought and of ecclesiastical action, freedom in the expres- 
 sion of Christian truth, freedom in the choice and arrange- 
 ment of those external forms best adapted for its diffusion. 
 
 2. Both have been, though not originated, yet largely 
 quickened and sustained, by a continuous current of documen- 
 tary and similar discoveries. In no age since the formation of 
 the New Testament Canon have so many original writings, new 
 versions and recensions of older documents, etc., come to light. 
 The importance of this fact is further enhanced by their indis- 
 putable genuineness. They form a series of unimpeachable wit- 
 nesses unexpectedly called to give evidence in a difficult and 
 long tried case, and, though differing in age, origin, and 
 character, uniting in a testimony more or less corroborative and 
 consentient. 
 
 Now whether we regard it as a mere historical coincidence, 
 or as a kind of providential " pre-established harmony," it is 
 undeniably true that similar epochs of intellectual excitation 
 the vehement energising of opposed but mutually interact- 
 ing forces have been marked by a succession of events foreign 
 and extraneous in origin, and stimulating in character and 
 tendency. Thus in the great revival of Hellenic thought that 
 marked and glorified the " age of Pericles," the intellectual ex- 
 citation that pulsated and throbbed in Athenian life was due 
 in no small measure to the succession of foreign teachers and 
 thinkers that came from Elea or other Greek colonies, and 
 roused the best Athenian intellects to a fermentation destined 
 to mature in noble effort, and with results on the speculation 
 of civilised humanity conterminous only with its existence. 
 Or again, in the religious upheaval which marked, and
 
 Xii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 humanly speaking caused, the founding of Christianity, no small 
 place must be assigned to the continuous appeal to Messianic 
 hopes and aspirations fostered by a succession of " false 
 Christs and false prophets," many of whom were extraneous in 
 origin, while nearly all were sudden and unexpected in time 
 and circumstance. Again, the great regenerating upheaval 
 which is worthily named the Eenaissance especially as it 
 came into being and power in Italy was first largely vitalised, 
 and afterwards sustained, by a succession of foreign stimuli. 
 When, e.g., Greek teachers and grammarians in their flowing 
 Oriental robes, or caskets of precious woods, whose perfumed 
 interiors were the worthy receptacles of priceless Greek or 
 Latin manuscripts, were among the ordinary imports which 
 the Florentine or Pisan merchant himself probably imbued 
 with the prevailing taste for classicalism landed from his 
 Levantine traders on the quays of either of those great sea- 
 port towns, we may imagine the excitement produced among 
 scholars, students, and dilettanti, whose blood already ran high 
 with the fever of Pagan revivalism. Once more, it was a 
 succession of political events and coincidences, most of which 
 were wholly strange and unexpected, that made the German 
 (Lutheran) Eeformation both possible and successful. What- 
 ever therefore might be said of the astronomical theory 
 which makes the sun's heat the effect of the never-ceasing im- 
 pact of such foreign bodies as meteorites, we may certainly 
 say that the most marked periods of human inquiry and intel- 
 lectual excitation have been created or promoted by a succession 
 of foreign agencies and contributory forces of a stimulating 
 kind. Our present revivalism in the matter of early Christian 
 history, though not originated, may be said to have been 
 quickened and accelerated, by the discovery of the Didache
 
 INTRODUCTION Xlll 
 
 the most significant document in its bearing on primitive 
 doctrine and practice which eighteen centuries of Church his- 
 tory has yet revealed to us. This discovery was followed, as 
 my readers are probably aware, by a succession, which is 
 nothing less than marvellous and phenomenal, of similar 
 discoveries. Among them, but including for the sake of com- 
 pleteness other Apocrypha previously known, may be enumer- 
 ated: The Apology of Aristides, Tatian's Diatessaron, The 
 Apocalypse of Peter, The Gospel according to the Hebrews, The 
 Gospel according to the Egyptians, The Gospel according to Peter, 
 The Protevangelium, The Gospel of the Infancy of Mary, The 
 Gospel of Nicodemus or Acts of Pilate, The Acts of Paul and 
 Thecla, The Apocalypse of Moses, etc., ending, inter alia, with 
 the fragments or recensions of the Apostolic Canons which 
 have furnished material for the following instructive mono- 
 graph of Dr. Harnack's, a translation of which is herewith pre- 
 sented to the English reader and student of ecclesiastical 
 history > 
 
 So far as we may judge from the literary intelligence which 
 at this very moment is creating excitement among Biblical 
 scholars, viz., the discovery of a new Syriac recension (com- 
 pleter than that of Cureton) of the four Gospels, these fresh 
 " finds," or, reverting to the simile I have already employed, 
 these new and unexpected stimuli, motor influences, or 
 accelerative impacts on our progressing and fruitful fermenta- 
 tions, are not as yet exhausted. 1 Those of my readers who 
 would know, if only approximately, the nature, amount, and 
 significance of these new and startling additions to our early 
 Christian literature, must, I fear, be referred, at least as yet, to 
 
 i See by all means vol. ii. No. 3 of the Cambridge Texts and Studies 
 (edited by J. Armitage Robinson), APOCRYPHA ANECDOTA, by M. R. James, 
 especially the Preface and enumeration of contents.
 
 xiv SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 that illustrious succession of Biblical scholars and inquirers 
 I would fain include also publishers and booksellers which 
 has long raised Germany to the foremost rank in point of 
 learning and enlightenment among the nations of Europe. 
 For example, Dr. Harnack, in the last and splendid edition 
 of his Dogmengeschichte, 1892, has partly commented on, 
 partly with keen prophetic glance has anticipated and fore- 
 shadowed, the reflected light, which such discoveries as, e.g., the 
 Didache have shed both on the doctrine and discipline of the 
 early church, while a work of still more significance, treating 
 each of these discoveries as it occurs with the amplest possible 
 research, and thus covering so far as it is hitherto completed 
 the whole area of additional knowledge and elucidation 
 furnished by all of them collectively, is that noble series of 
 volumes now issuing from the Hinrichs press, under the 
 editorship of Doctors von Gebhardt and Harnack, and bearing 
 the general title of Texte und Untersuchungen zur G-eschichte 
 der altcliristlichen Litteratur. It is the fifth part of the second 
 volume of this most important series that my friend, the 
 translator of the following pages, has resolved most judiciously 
 and fittingly in my opinion to submit to the judgment of 
 English scholars. The ancient fragments to be described 
 later on on which the accompanying monograph is based, 
 may be said to have been doubly edited by Dr. Harnack, inas- 
 much as that scholar first devoted pp. 193-241 of his celebrated 
 edition of the Didache 1 to their description and elucidation, 
 while in the following treatise, under the title of Die Quellen 
 der sogenannten apostolischen Kirchenordnung, nebst einer Un- 
 tersuchung uber den Ursprung des Lectorats und der andercn 
 niederen Weihen, he again deals with these fragments of 
 
 1 This work forms parts 1 and 2 of vol. ii. of the Texte und Untersuchungen.
 
 INTRODUCTION XV 
 
 Christian antiquity. The present monograph, however, mani- 
 fests a somewhat ampler knowledge of the general subject 
 of ecclesiastical organisation or rather the want of it as it 
 existed in the early church, and besides has the more special 
 object of bringing its teachings to bear on the hitherto little 
 known subject of the inferior or lesser orders in the early 
 Christian communities. Particular light is thus thrown on 
 the office and duties of the Eeader, and incidentally on the 
 importance at least among some churches of the purely 
 didactic, as distinct from the sacerdotal, mission of the Church. 
 More than one reason may be assigned for the ampler treatment 
 of this subject, and consequently more than one justification 
 might be alleged for introducing it to the notice of the English 
 reader. Omitting minor causes and considerations, I will here 
 insist only on the following prime reasons for regarding Dr. 
 Harnack's monograph as both opportune and useful. 
 
 The general question of the organisation of the early 
 Church, the chief orders in its ministry and their functions, 
 are, of course, subjects which, for a variety of reasons, have 
 always been esteemed of the very highest importance. To say 
 that their importance has been exaggerated at different periods 
 and for particular purposes is to enounce a statement so trite 
 and commonplace that it might well be classed as trivial. 
 Repeatedly in the history of the Christian Church have the 
 discussions and arguments as to its official organisation assumed 
 the character and claimed the recognition of cardinal questions, 
 articuli stantis aut cadentis ecclesiae the criteria of a standing 
 or falling church. It is, indeed, one of the many anomalies in 
 the history of Christianity, that a scheme not so much of belief 
 as of ethical energy and action that a prescribed relation of 
 man to God which acknowledges his individual freedom and
 
 XVI SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 independence as a primary fact that a mission which dis- 
 tinctly subordinated the messenger or minister, in point of 
 authority and importance, to the message he was commissioned 
 to deliver, should have evolved tendencies and taken directions 
 so perversely opposed to those that might naturally have been 
 anticipated. Certainly as we shall shortly see there was 
 nothing in the teaching of Christ, nor in the attitude He 
 Himself voluntarily assumed before men, that rendered the 
 questions of the consolidation of an ecclesiastical society, the 
 official order or ministerial regime that might best subserve 
 its hierarchical purpose of supreme importance. But, how- 
 ever these anomalies may be solved, the fact remains 
 indisputable. The ecclesiastical and traditional theory of a 
 threefold order in the Christian ministry the assumption that 
 such an order was of Divine institution, that it obtained among 
 and was recognised by all Christian churches alike from the 
 very dawn of Christianity have now been long rejected by 
 all ingenuous scholars. In England no small share in the 
 final consummation of this rejection must be assigned to the 
 historical labours and ingenuous, truth-loving disquisitions of 
 two eminent divines Bishop Lightfoot and Dr. Hatch, the 
 former of whom, by his well-known excursus on " The Chris- 
 tian Ministry," in his Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Philippians, the latter by his Bampton Lectures, and articles 
 furnished to the last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica 
 and Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, may 
 claim to have set the question at rest. At the same time 
 there remained undiscussed and unsettled subsidiary questions 
 or phases pertaining to the main issue. We find, e.g., not only 
 in St. Paul's Epistles, but in the Apostolic Fathers, and gene- 
 rally in the early Christian literature, genuine and spurious, of
 
 INTRODUCTION XVli 
 
 the first two centuries, different enumerations of subordinate 
 officials as they existed in different churches or Christian 
 communities. Now, whether we consider these enumerations 
 as they occur in their first informal and incidental, but 
 evidently most genuine, shape in the Acts of the Apostles or 
 the Epistles of St. Paul, or, again, in such purposive and ten- 
 dential writings as the Ignatian Epistles, or, once more, as they 
 are duly elaborated and arranged by ecclesiastical antiquaries 
 and historians, every impartial student must be struck by the 
 fact of their heterogeneousness both in nomenclature and 
 function, while a conclusion of almost equally far-reaching 
 importance is suggested by the correlated fact of their being 
 for obvious reasons, as we shall soon see, distinctive and indi- 
 vidualistic nay, even largely disparate each from the rest. 
 Taking, e.g., the Corinthian church in that fermentative stage 
 which every large and well-founded Christian community 
 necessarily underwent, and which is so graphically described 
 in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the question at 
 once suggests itself, What was the precise difference between 
 the Prophet and the Interpreter? Which of the twain 
 came nearest in function to the office of the Eeader? 
 That the two yaplc^a^a might conceivably exist in the same 
 person, or at all events might be claimed by him as co-equally 
 his endowments, is evident, while not less evident is the fact 
 that both " gifts " were regarded as sharing an instructive or 
 didactic purpose. St. Paul, with his well-known preferential 
 appeal to the reason and understanding of his converts, and his 
 distrust of emotions which might be unregulated or eccentric, 
 made no secret of his own comparative estimate of their value 
 for ministerial purposes. He preferred, for his own part, the 
 office of Reader or Interpreter to the voluble but vague utter-
 
 xviii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 ances of his enthusiastic converts ; or, putting the alternative 
 in another form, he would rather speak five words dictated by 
 reason (8ta TOV z/oo? /JLOV) and aimed directly at the edification 
 of the hearers, than a thousand words prompted by the gift of 
 tongues, but not necessarily adapted to convey instruction to 
 their hearers (1 Cor. xiv. 19). The difficulty of St. Paul's 
 position, and the need of his determined stand against the 
 doctrinal and devotional extravagances of his more enthusiastic 
 converts, are capable of large historical illustration. All the 
 sober-minded leaders of every great religious movement have 
 found the need of restraining the mischievous excesses, and 
 regulating even the more innocent divagations, of an impulsive 
 and unreasoning inspiration. Luther, Calvin, St. Cyran and 
 the Jansenist leaders, the Quaker Barclay, John Wesley, etc., 
 all preferred, like St. Paul, the " gift " of interpretation as 
 distinct from and superior to that of prophecy ; and all applied 
 that gift to restrain the exuberant prophetical zeal of their 
 followers. The scenes that were inevitably enacted in some of 
 those early Christian assemblies before the ferment of conver- 
 sion and fresh religious enthusiasm had sobered down into the 
 gravity of a calm reason-guided persuasion are not difficult to 
 imagine. We may, e.g., picture a church of St. Paul's found- 
 ingat all events imbued with his principles on the sub- 
 ject of Christian worship wherein the Eeader or Interpreter 
 possibly the Apostle himself (1 Cor.xii.) exercised his vocation. 
 We can readily imagine the tact, the sound common sense, the 
 calm, judicial discrimination combined, however, with caution 
 in not too severely repressing enthusiasms and energies which 
 might be turned into other and more useful directions which 
 the Apostle would have employed on such an occasion. We 
 can realise how fittingly such an Interpreter would have
 
 INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 endeavoured to reduce to a solid residuum of edification and 
 practical common sense the frothy declamation or devotional 
 rapture of some young and fanatical convert. Like the severe 
 impartiality of some eminent judge following on the reckless 
 and ex parte rhetoric of an unscrupulous advocate, his reading 
 and interpretation would be directed to extorting what amount 
 of logical coherence and sound sense might haply exist in the 
 impassioned utterances on which it was his duty to comment 
 
 We shall have to return to this subject later on, as a 
 characteristic of churches either founded by St. Paul or 
 accepting his free teaching as to the organisation of Christian 
 communities and his entire indifference both as to officials and 
 to ritual, provided only that his first precept on these subjects 
 was duly observed : Tldvra Se eva-^^ovoj^ real Kara rdgiv 
 
 Turning now to those causes and precedent considerations 
 which gave the Reader, with other officials discharging allied 
 functions, the importance which they clearly enjoyed in most 
 of the early Christian communities, we note first : 
 
 THAT THE TRUE STARTING-POINT OF THE CHRISTIAN MINIS- 
 TERIAL OFFICE MUST BE LOOKED FOR IN THE MISSION AND 
 CHARACTER OF CHRIST HIMSELF. 
 
 One advantage in the restoration of the historical Christ, in 
 the gradual disentanglement of His person and offices from the 
 hierarchical prepossessions with which ecclesiasticism has 
 invested them, in the stress on the essential attributes of His 
 teaching which mark the age in which we live, is that it 
 renders a direct appeal to Himself, to His work and mission, 
 inevitable. With the lessened stress on ecclesiastical and
 
 XX SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 dogmatic development now extending itself among thoughtful 
 and reasonable men, we are able to ask, not what names, offices, 
 and functions the church ordained, when towards the end of 
 the second century a kind of dogmatic homogeneousness began 
 to assimilate the creeds and organisations of the various 
 Christian communities, but what offices were a priori likely to 
 be fitting and acceptable for the primary purpose of Christ's 
 mission. The issue thus raised can be solved in more than one 
 way. Thus it might be asked whether Christ in His original 
 beneficent activity was most a Bishop, or Priest, or Deacon ; in 
 other words, whether his r6le of self-enjoined duties resembled 
 in any especial manner that discharged by any one of these 
 functionaries. Curiously enough, one of the first representa- 
 tions of Him in any public capacity is as a Eeader in the 
 ordinary service of the synagogue, while references to the 
 Mosaic law, to the Prophetical and other writings of the Old 
 Testament, and to the necessity of their study occur more than 
 once in His parables. Perhaps the true answer might be that 
 Christ united in His own functions the more humane semi- 
 secular and kindly aspects of the three offices. At any rate 
 and this is a point beyond question or controversy Christ put 
 Himself in a position of entire equality with His Apostles, and 
 taught them to cherish similar democratic and fraternal 
 relations with those whom they instructed. This was one 
 distinction between the Apostles and the seventy disciples as 
 commissioned by Him and the teachers of and rulers over the 
 Gentiles, that the latter arrogated an authority which the former 
 were forbidden to claim. Their office and functions were 
 ministerial, beneficent, self-sacrificing and subordinate. Their 
 official designation, whose signification survives as well in the 
 Servus Servorum Dei of Popes as in the plain Minister of Pres-
 
 INTRODUCTION XXI 
 
 byterian and Congregational churches, started with a connota- 
 tion of equality, and this, moreover, not of a mere levelling kind, 
 but one that implied subordination and subservience, self-sacri- 
 fice and self-effacement. The method and warrant of the 
 Teacher's office as laid down by Christ in precept and example 
 was the experiential persuasion or conviction by which every 
 sane or wise man conceives himself qualified to guide those 
 less sane or wise than himself. It postulated a training into 
 doctrines of a certain import and vitality, and an insight 
 by continued personal communication into a particular spirit 
 and life. Similarly the power and authority of the Healer 
 presupposed a recognition of the Evil which presented itself 
 now as a spiritual ailment, now as a physical infirmity, as well 
 as some power to counteract its maleficent agency in either 
 case. In short, during the earlier and by far the greater half 
 of Christ's mission- work the portion to which the sending 
 out of the twelve and the subsequent mission of the seventy 
 clearly belong, the conception of ministerial authority was 
 allied with ministerial fitness, and the sole position claimed by 
 Christ with His fellow missionaries was fraternal. This indeed 
 was the tie which bound together not only Christ and His min- 
 isters, but all the early Christian missionaries and their 
 hearers ; for it was no mere rhetoric or figure of speech that was 
 conveyed by the words, ' Whosoever shall do the will of God, 
 the same is my brother and sister and mother.' If tradition 
 records a subsequent period, when Christ was addressed by 
 His disciples and followers by titles of reverence implying an 
 authority extrinsic and independent of considerations of fitness, 
 etc., the fact may be explained in connection with the correlated 
 and increasing conviction of the Apostles that their master was 
 the Messias, and was thus entitled to those distinctive titles
 
 xxii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 and appellations by which that great and mystical potentate 
 was commonly described by the Jews in the time of Christ. 
 
 We are now in a position to summarise what may be most 
 fittingly described as partly the missionary rdle, partly the 
 Royal Messianic claims, of Jesus of Nazareth ; and, basing our 
 inferences on what we described as two successive stages of 
 the same spiritual energy, we seem compelled to conclude that 
 Christ's mission was rather to establish a kingdom than to 
 found a church, to construct or set moving, on the lines and 
 with the spontaneous self- determining impulses of reasoning 
 men, an Ethico-Religious society. The object of his labour 
 was in other words not to gather men first of all, His 
 nation, and secondly, the portions of outlying humanity that 
 might be reached by the Jews into an ecclesiastical society 
 having special laws or distinctive marks or badges of a 
 doctrinal kind, but into a self-constituted community, owning 
 no other ties or duties than those proceeding from righteous- 
 ness and mutual benevolence. The watchword of His 
 mission the informal condition of entry into His kingdom 
 was EEFOEM YOURSELVES (fjueravoeire), which implies much 
 more than the sentiment of penitence or repentance, besides 
 connoting the exercise of volitional energy, which ren- 
 dered equally superfluous reliance on extraneous powers 
 or ministrations as well as on any sanctions or considerations 
 of religious or ritualistic acts. Doubtless it had, with other 
 significations, especial reference to the requirements of 
 Messianic times, for it seems to have been employed largely 
 to indicate the permanent change and amelioration of Thought, 
 which according to the best Eabbinical teaching was to mark 
 the advent of the Messias. The sway of a Potentate whose 
 claims to sovereignty were based on justice and righteousness
 
 INTRODUCTION XXlii 
 
 presupposed similar moral conditions on the part of those whom 
 he claimed to rule. Indeed the gradual substitution of ethical 
 for racial and national virtues such as we find indicated in 
 the later prophets is one of the most significant marks of 
 progress in the later evolution of Messianic aspiration. But 
 there was nothing in these qualities which imparted a dis- 
 tinctive, ecclesiastical or sectarian condition of membership or 
 citizenship, so to speak, to those who possessed them. The 
 requirements were not Jewish or national in any exclusive 
 sense of the term. They were conditions pertaining to 
 humanity rendered obligatory by the elementary needs of 
 social and political life. The requirement, e.g., that men 
 should do to others as they would have others do to them, 
 though obviously transcending the enforcement or compulsion 
 of secular political systems, had nothing of a religiously sec- 
 tarian character. The brotherhood the just reciprocity of 
 human interests and duties of which it formed the principle 
 was the largest and most profoundly grounded of all the 
 motives to human conduct. It was that of man to man, not 
 of Jew to Jew, still less of religionist to religionist, or sectarian 
 to sectarian. 
 
 Nor again were these requirements of such a kind as to render 
 necessary an hierarchical guarantee or sacerdotal consecration. 
 Many have regarded with a wonderment falling but a little 
 short of consternation the little stress which in the ministry 
 of Christ is placed upon common worship, or ritual, or any 
 other tie of a religious or doctrinal kind. The prayer He 
 inculcated was the private devotion which harmonised so well 
 with the immediate personal relation which He similarly 
 advocated as that existing between man and God, between the 
 child and his father. It seems doubtful even, whether the
 
 XXIV SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 knowledge or use of it was common among the twelve, or 
 that it was ever employed by them as either a private 
 or public ritual. The only religious service, so far as we 
 have any record, in which Christ and His Apostles joined 
 together, was the Hymn with which they concluded their 
 celebration of the Passover, though this was probably no 
 more than the chanted Psalms with which the Paschal feast 
 was concluded in every Jewish household. But it is evident 
 that such an ignoring of congregational union, of doctrinal and 
 devotional bonds, rendered the intervention of ministers or 
 superintendent officers less needful. Christ Himself taught 
 assembled crowds in the open air by the sea shore, or on the 
 mountain side, just as opportunities presented themselves, and 
 we are justified in supposing that the same informal means of 
 instruction were adopted by the Apostles. Indeed it would 
 seem that just as Christ's own method was largely individual- 
 istic, so the beginnings of Christian teaching on the part of the 
 Apostles were neither ecclesiastical nor congregational. It was 
 the teaching of separate households, or rather of that person or 
 those members of the family whom the missionary Apostle 
 might judge to be most worthy of his efforts. 
 
 But if Christ's own role and ministry, and that committed 
 by Him to his Apostles, had nothing of the constituent elements 
 of sacerdotalism was wholly, i.e., free from the ideas and 
 tendencies which are involved in and are likely to develop 
 into systematic ecclesiasticism the same conclusions are forced 
 upon us by a consideration of the main teachings and methods 
 which are commonly summarised as Christ's ministerial work. 
 At some risk of intruding a subject which a few may deem 
 desultory, while most will regard it as trite, it may be well to 
 glance briefly and comprehensively at the nature of Christ's
 
 INTRODUCTION XXV 
 
 mission. Nothing less than this seems needed, in order to 
 determine the place and functions which the Eeader and 
 similar officials might claim to possess in a community 
 supposed to be founded and organised by Christ. 
 
 Taking, then, the constituent elements of that work in what 
 we may reasonably regard the order of their importance, we 
 may say that the primary object of His teaching was the 
 inculcation of those qualities and virtues especially needed by 
 the ethical monarchianism which He proclaimed. With the 
 insight of the genuine Eeformer into the thought-tendencies, 
 the aspirations, political, religious, or social, of those who 
 needed reforming the raw material, so to speak, of the pas- 
 sionate enthusiasm which craved not so much suppression as 
 guidance He took possession of the more vehement impulses 
 of His nation and time, and remoulded and directed them into 
 the motive energies of His own cause. The method He 
 employed, the conditions of its employment, were like those 
 adopted by other great religious teachers e.g., St. Francis and 
 the great Friar movement, Luther, and Wesley. Here also we 
 find a stir and commotion, based upon a widely diffused and 
 profoundly implanted feeling, which it only needed a prophet 
 or inspired teacher to rouse into action. What the general 
 terror of Christendom at the apprehended nearness of the 
 end of the world effected for the coming of the Friars 
 what the anti-Papal enthusiasm of Germany did for Luther's 
 mission, and the Pietistic reaction of England against the 
 cold secularism of the eighteenth century accomplished for 
 the work of Wesley and his evangelical allies that the 
 popular Messianic hope and excitation did for the mission- 
 ary work of Christ. How strong that hope was, how 
 fervently that aspiration glowed, is indirectly demonstrated
 
 XXVI SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 in the pages of Josephus. The passionate intensity that 
 culminated in the blind and ruthless fanaticism therein 
 recorded is but the religious hopes and national aspira- 
 tions to which Christ appealed in the synagogues and popular 
 assemblies of Galilee perversely evolved and too narrowly 
 circumscribed. It is to this large mass of theocratic and 
 patriotic sympathy that we must look for whatever amount 
 of popularity that attended Christ's own preaching and teach- 
 ing the spontaneous parable or discourse, and the comment 
 on accepted traditional texts from Psalms and Prophets, which 
 He compares to the wise steward's " bringing forth from his 
 treasury things new and old." Doubtless, the first aim of His 
 mission work was the spiritual awakening which, based upon 
 ethical and humane duties, imparted to the founding of the 
 new Messianic kingdom a fresh semi-secular stimulus, alto- 
 gether new in its concentrated emphasis, to Jewish religious 
 culture. His was no appeal to those principles and motives 
 of religious and moral duty which came into force and rapid 
 maturity after the close of the Maccabaean epoch the intense 
 and fanatical patriotism, e.g., fostered by the ambitious and 
 rival dynasties of high-priests; the appeal to a Mosaism 
 which had either become a narrow and intolerant ecclesias- 
 ticism, or, taking the Law at earlier stages of its development, 
 laid stress only on its ritual and sacrificial aspects. The 
 reliance on a prophetical call and authority which left little 
 room for individual independence in the sphere of religion or 
 ethics in a word, all those principles of popular Judaism 
 which aimed mainly at the fixing of some extraneous arbitrary 
 authority, some intervention between the human conscience 
 and its Author, were deliberately and emphatically laid on one 
 side. For the first time as an article of popular Jewish
 
 INTRODUCTION XXV11 
 
 religionism, the subject and the worshipper were placed in im- 
 mediate juxtaposition with the supreme object of their allegiance 
 and adoration. That such a position had been achieved by 
 many a psalmist and prophet may be granted ; but this was 
 probably an unusual exotic product of rare individual predis- 
 positions cultivated and matured into a culmination of the 
 highest spiritual excellencies. The new standpoint laid down 
 by Christ is evidenced by His new teachings of God and Moses, 
 and by the antagonism of those teachings to the doctrines then 
 current. Probably not the least ineffective method of inferring 
 the main drift of Christ's teachings in cases where direct 
 information might seem inadequate would be to collect and 
 arrange all the propositions, principles; motives, rules of con- 
 duct, etc., antithetical to the Pharisaism the creed of the 
 high-priests, Mosaic legists, and scribes then current. Thus 
 a summary of all the main points of Christ's teaching might be 
 readily compiled by a juxtaposition of the Sermon on the 
 Mount and the chief of the parables with the animadversions, 
 e.g., of the twenty-third chapter of St. Matthew. No one who 
 has made such an experiment can fail to be struck by the 
 vigorous, persistent denunciation of all principles, ideas, and 
 dogmas which are the natural and inevitable outgrowths of 
 absolutism in politics and sacerdotalism in religion. Never in 
 the sacred interests of human freedom and equality was there 
 a more explicit and emphatic definition of man's rightful 
 position before God and his fellow-man. Children of a com- 
 mon Father the very idea proclaimed an equality of relation 
 which rendered hierarchical rule on the one hand, or spiritual 
 subordination on the other, sheer impossibilities. Similarly 
 the spiritual enlightenment gradually accruing to the disciples 
 of the New Faith, and through them to the world at large, by
 
 XXVlil SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 personal contact with the thought and life of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 was a force which, experience has demonstrated, was not only 
 capable of indefinite advance, but contained in itself the germs 
 of a diversiform and prolific fruitage. 
 
 THE FUTURE OF CHRIST'S CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Little is said in the best authenticated teachings of Christ of 
 His own anticipations of the future of His religion. Apart 
 from the mystical, strangely and profoundly suggestive sig- 
 nificance of some of His rarer utterances especially the need 
 of His baptism of fire, or His final lifting up before the gaze of 
 all men utterances which stood in the same relation to His 
 discourses as the Transfiguration scene did to the ordinary 
 incidents of life apart also from the spiritualised Messianic 
 form and spirit of His kingdom, we have little to indicate the 
 ultimate shaping and brilliant crystallisation of His Gospel. 
 He seems to have been almost indifferent to every merely 
 external outcome of His teaching regarded as a product of 
 pre-arranged plan and organisation. He never considers the 
 effect of His doctrines on the various creeds and nationalities 
 among which they were destined to circulate. He is wholly 
 unanxious as to connecting links and ties of an external 
 and formal kind by which the Divine and spiritual brother- 
 hood of Christians sons of a common Father might be 
 formed and sustained. The tree being in its very nature 
 good, its bearing of leafage and fruitage, as well in the pre- 
 sent as the future, was unalterably fixed and imperishably 
 perfect. A common collocation of all that was simply noble 
 and ethically great from the first consecration of humanity to 
 God, which was the truth intended to be taught by the call of 
 Abraham and the homely anthropomorphic devotion of the
 
 INTRODUCTION XXIX 
 
 patriarchs, constituted what He especially recognised as the 
 main history of the past ; while a common sederunt of all 
 ethically and religiously disposed men of every race and creed 
 with the same Jewish patriarchs was His simple forecast of 
 and aspiration for the future of Christianity. The traditional 
 consecration of the Jewish nation in Abraham and Moses 
 indicated His view of the religious commencement of TIME ; the 
 final reunion of humanity in a broader spiritualised and Mes- 
 sianised religious and moral culture furnished His conception 
 
 Of ETERNITY. 1 
 
 It is partly the result of this commingled simplicity and 
 severity the spiritual depth and purity of Christ's Gospel 
 combined with its instinctive insight into the essential needs of 
 mankind that, though it has already come into contact with 
 forms of civilisation, of ethical, philosophical, and religious 
 systems of every conceivable type, its natural effect has been 
 not so much to destroy, to contravene, to antagonise and falsify 
 what had originally been born of human ideas and instincts, as 
 to reconstruct and re-establish that moiety of them which 
 might justly claim to be heaven-born and Divine, to transform 
 and hallow what was corrupt, to strengthen and corroborate 
 what was weak, to terrestrialise what was ethereal, to humanise 
 what was transcendental; in a word, to affiliate human wishes 
 ideas, and interests to what had hitherto been conceived as 
 exclusively and altogether Divine and celestial a kind of 
 tcevaMTis of the universal Divine into the universal Human. 
 
 It is instructive to note that this conception of the universal 
 regeneration of the world through Christianity closely assimi- 
 lates its object to the divine task of philosophy as that was 
 
 1 Something of this kind seems also to have been the opinion of St. Paul 
 with reference to the final renovation of Judaism as the ultimate consumma- 
 tion of all things. See below.
 
 XXX SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 conceived and defined by the great teacher of ancient Greece 
 I mean Socrates who described the true object of human 
 knowledge and research as the bringing down philosophy from 
 heaven to earth. So far as this object has been energised for, 
 whether by pagan philosophers or Christian teachers, so far 
 has the great aim of philosophical and religious culture 
 the object of truth inquiry rightly asserted itself as its noblest, 
 divinest consecration; and it is because men of either type, 
 philosophers or religionists, scientists or Christians, have for- 
 gotten or neglected this true end of their mission, that they 
 have deviated from their true course, and misinterpreted the 
 reasons and conclusions of which they claimed to be the masters 
 and teachers. 
 
 On the other hand, this accepted and unquestionable fact 
 supplies us with grounds for hope that the God-given task of 
 Christianity in the past gives us an earnest of its best work in 
 the future. We must remember that the correlation of causes 
 and effects is unaffected, other things being equal, by differences 
 in time or variations in space. As a condition of mental evolu- 
 tion, of progressive change, the latitude and longitude of 
 Palestine have no advantages over those of Italy or Greece. 
 Kegarded as a primary law of matter, of light e.g., the phe- 
 nomena presented by its varied manifestations must needs be 
 ever and always the same. Let us suppose, for example, that 
 in the gradual processes of creation, of the different manifesta- 
 tions of light sun, moon, and starlight each was at first only 
 occasional and temporary, observers would have to determine 
 its qualities and results by inferring ulterior and probable 
 effects from those already experienced, to conclude, in other 
 words, future results from those actually and finally ascertained 
 of the past. Such an inductive observation would soon deter-
 
 INTRODUCTION XXxi 
 
 mine that the nature of light, in relation, let us say, to the 
 visual organs of sentient creatures, was necessarily always and 
 ever the same. Similarly the nature and energy of Truth, or 
 the religious and spiritual enlightenment of humanity, as to 
 which Christ's Gospel might be comprehensively defined as its 
 supreme culminating point, manifested itself ever as possessing 
 the same form and growth, the same nature and essential 
 characteristics. 
 
 There are, however, some remarks deserving notice in our 
 present consideration of Christ's actual Revelation in relation 
 
 I. to the Christianity of the past that commonly identified 
 with and historically described as the Christianity of the 
 Church ; and 
 
 II. to whatever modifications, ecclesiastical or mainly secu- 
 lar, it may appear likely to undergo in the future. 
 
 I. Summarising the evolution of the Gospel in relation to 
 its organisation, official character, and Divine intention, by 
 estimating the result of its activities and operations from the 
 standpoint of Christ Himself, we must allow that it was not 
 successful ; that it failed to fulfil, in a straight, undeviating 
 course, the anticipations of Christ Himself. Doubtless, an 
 organisation founded on a community of belief and aspiration 
 belief in the speedy evanishment of the present age Judaism ; 
 aspiration for the new world and dynasty of the Messias 
 gradually evolved itself. A church, if we can only divest the 
 term of most of its ecclesiastical connotations, came into being. 
 A centre point, with centrifugal and centripetal forces, like 
 one of our solar planets, assumed a position of fixity, around 
 which circulated fitfully and irregularly new life and thought 
 and energy ; and it would be worse than foolish to suppose 
 that these slowly engendered activities operated irrespectively
 
 xxxii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 of the natural laws that govern the world. They were con- 
 ditioned and stimulated by causes which, in all such periods of 
 religious excitation, come to the forefront of speculation. 
 There is, in short, an undeniable commixture of what is ordi- 
 nary, natural, and commonplace, and what is marvellous and 
 mysterious, in the origin of the Christian Church. Nominally 
 a kingdom has become founded, with the opportune advantages, 
 at such a critical period, of ideas and institutions which har- 
 monised with all that was dearest to Jewish thought and feel- 
 ing. The kingdom, e.g., must have a king. Its qualifications 
 are permanently religious and spiritual on the one hand, 
 broadly and humanely ethical on the other. As long as these 
 primary conditions are observed, nothing more is required. 
 The form of the universal monarchy is purposely left free. 
 Its detailed organisation is a matter of small importance ; the 
 act of worship, the religious rite, the verbal form of prayer, are 
 matters of no importance. The spread of its doctrine, its 
 influence and power all are left to its own self-determination, 
 and to the forces in natural operation at the time, moving 
 along the line of least resistance. Its best teachers are charged 
 to bring forth from their treasury things new and old. The 
 world-history will, in other words, furnish examples and illus- 
 trations in ample number of the wholesome effect of freedom 
 and tolerance in the domain of thought and belief. By the 
 selfsame principles the world of humanity will become regene- 
 rated. A new heaven and a new earth will gradually disclose 
 and mould themselves on the ruins of the old. The apoca- 
 lypse towards which Christianity has been advancing for 
 twenty centuries will by degrees unfold its varied glories, its 
 perennial beauty and majesty, and, more than aught else, the 
 calm and serenity which comes from the conviction that man-
 
 INTRODUCTION XXXlll 
 
 kind has attained finally and for ever the supreme altitude of 
 devout piety, the conviction of the noblest human duty of 
 which it is, by reason of its highest instincts and energies, 
 rendered capable of reaching. 
 
 II. We may hence conclude that whatever progress thought 
 or speculation is destined to make in the future, whatever 
 extent of amplitude, expansion, and profundity may await 
 physical science or metaphysical philosophy, this will remain 
 unaffected by the relation which the primary principles and 
 precepts of Christianity have always borne to extraneous 
 departments of human speculative theory and practical conduct. 
 
 The constitution of the universe on the one hand, and of 
 man's faculties, broadly interpreted,on the other, can never be 
 nullified, nor indeed can they be even modified so as to alter 
 their mutual relations. The duties men owe to the eternal 
 beneficent Power which they entitle God, as well as to those 
 immovably suggested by their spiritual instincts and the voice 
 of conscience, must ever remain in essentials permanent and 
 indestructible, and the fundamental basis of Christianity 
 must for the self-same reason be regarded as Eternal. 
 
 The fuller recognition, the ampler expansion, of this Truth 
 will form the coming of Christ's Kingdom. Such a recogni- 
 tion in the future development as in the earliest youth of the 
 Gospel will be independent of any particular organisation or 
 official arrangement of the Christian churches. The Christian 
 world is becoming, let us say, too old and grey-headed to be 
 moved by questions which concern only the expediency of 
 adopting one kind of organisation or one set of officials instead 
 of another. Controversies on the subject of bishops, priests, 
 and deacons are becoming almost as antiquated as those on 
 the solar systems of Ptolemy and Copernicus. But the position
 
 XXXIV SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 of the Reader in the early Christian church will ever retain 
 some portion of interest for those " on whom the ends of the 
 world are come." Since Christianity as long as it is a creed, 
 as long as it is connected by ties of the most tenacious kind 
 with the history of the past, must always need an instruction, 
 there may, for that reason, be in the office of Eeader and 
 Preacher in the instruction which it is their primary object 
 to convey a resuscitation of an earlier state of things, and the 
 primary duty of the Christian teacher may become more in the 
 future than what it has been in the past a vast and varied 
 instruction, truthfully and impartially selected from every field 
 of human knowledge, science, and intelligence, so that the 
 Christian teacher will be exercising his highest functions when 
 he draws from a treasury, growing with appalling speed and 
 opulence into something like an Immensity, things new 
 and old. 
 
 THE COMMISSION OF THE TWELVE AND ITS RELATION TO THE 
 
 SUBSEQUENT OFFICIAL ORGANISATION OF THE CHURCH, 
 ESPECIALLY TO THE OFFICE OF READER. 
 
 Returning now to our historical survey, and assuming for 
 the time being that a part of Christ's mission work was an 
 arrangement of officials or ministerial functionaries adapted for 
 its continuance and extension, it is important to ascertain 
 the direction of qualification the disposition and temperament, 
 intellectual, moral, and social, which commended itself to 
 Christ as especially suitable for His purpose. Here, it is 
 obvious, our starting-point must be the call of the Twelve, and 
 the charge of grace and duty committed to their keeping. 
 Such a charge must, we may feel well assured, have been 
 preceded by some measure of preliminary training. The
 
 INTRODUCTION XXXV 
 
 method and substance of Christ's own teaching had to be 
 reproduced by the Apostles. What they had seen Him do 
 when He took part in the religious services of the synagogue 
 in Galilee and elsewhere they must imitate. Especially the 
 office of the Eeader had to be discharged. Favourite texts and 
 passages from the Psalms, the Deutero-Isaiah,the later prophets, 
 most of them with a traditionally Messianic significance, were 
 adduced after the manner of their Master. Emphasis had to 
 be laid on the new acceptation of God's relation to man. The 
 Universal Father instead of the Theocratic Euler of the Jews ; 
 the equality and fraternity of men of every race ; the near 
 approach of the new kingdom based on the fundamental truth 
 of this new brotherhood, together with the initial mark of 
 individual fitness " Be self-reformed, for the kingdom of 
 heaven is at hand " constituted a starting-point and stimulus 
 common to the Twelve as to their divine Teacher. The 
 humane and semi-secular character of Christ's own work was 
 reflected in the mission of the apostolate as well as signified 
 in the charge by which that mission was authoritatively 
 assigned. In point of fact, Christ's own description of His 
 mission as given to the Baptist is, almost word for word, a 
 recapitulation of His charges to the twelve apostles and the 
 "seventy others": "The blind receive their sight, the lame 
 walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are 
 raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them," 
 the principal difference being the especial power Christ 
 bestowed on the Twelve of casting out unclean spirits the 
 exorcism which formed so large a part of Jewish therapeutics. 
 In all these charges and descriptions we discern . 
 
 1. The true character of the ministry of human beneficence 
 of the highest type.
 
 xxxvi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 2. The revelation incidentally made of the dual source of 
 man's health and general well-being, and the capacity of pro- 
 moting by the self-same sanitary measures the health of body 
 as of mind and spirit. 
 
 No words could better describe the mission of the Twelve 
 than the homely, pithy account of Christ's own work and its 
 inspiring source : " He went about doing good, for God was 
 with Him." The activity thus implied was the imparting, by 
 means of persuasive power and spiritual vigour and earnest- 
 ness, a conviction founded on the double grounds of reason 
 and feeling, and inducing a calm and yet stern spirit of 
 self-determination and equanimity. Without such stable 
 foundations the advice to self-reformation, the preparation for 
 the citizenship of the Messianic kingdom, would have been 
 nugatory and idle. We may assent to this without forgetting 
 that the fervid yearning for the expected kingdom as a 
 terrestrial dominion in which patriotism and the warm glow 
 of national feeling varied occasionally with the lurid flames 
 of religious exclusiveness and intolerance, was in most cases 
 the doubtful motive to which the twelve apostles were forced 
 to appeal. In the passionate intensity of Messianic hopes, 
 stimulated by the perpetually increasing dread of foreign 
 subjugation, every principle or motive impulse that stirred 
 the mind from its lethargy was found to be efficacious, no 
 matter how extravagant or ideal were the objects held out 
 before it as of possible attainment. 
 
 Regarded as a question of official organisation, the mission of 
 the Twelve is important for more than one reason : (1) it proves 
 beyond question or cavil the semi-secular character of the 
 first missionaries of Christianity. All their appeals to their 
 authority founded on the name of Christ, as well as their
 
 INTRODUCTION xxxvii 
 
 methods of instruction, were removed as far as might be from 
 those of sacerdotalism as it was presented either by the well- 
 matured development of the Jewish synagogue or by the still 
 more formidable ritual of the Christian Church of the second 
 century. We have no record of any system of doctrinal teach- 
 ing employed by the twelve, nor of any forms of liturgical or 
 Christian worship adopted in their popular ministrations. We 
 are not even certain, as already remarked, whether the Lord's 
 Prayer was ever used on public occasions ; indeed, it would 
 almost seem, both by the terms in which its use was enjoined, 
 together with the stress generally laid on private prayer, that 
 this especial form was limited to the disciples just as a similar 
 model of devotion was taught by the Baptist to his own 
 private circle of followers. But in the absence of any pre- 
 scribed authoritative or exclusive usages, whether in the 
 way of teaching or acts of worship, the function of the Twelve 
 becomes essentially non-ecclesiastical, and the office in the 
 Jewish synagogue and among the earlier communities of 
 Christianity to which it chiefly approximates is that of the 
 Eeader, i.e., not the original teacher, but the commentator on 
 already prepared and received texts and teachings. The apostles 
 were also applied to in all cases of infirmity in the fullest 
 sense of the term. Powerlessness, torpidity, whether moral or 
 physical, incapacity, in short, of whatever kind, or from what- 
 soever cause arising, was the weakness or inability for good 
 which these physicians essayed to convert into virile vigour and 
 ethical manliness, the new spiritual health and sanity of those 
 who hitherto had been diseased. No distinction was recognised, 
 such at least as would have required an entire difference of 
 treatment between the mental and spiritual ailment on the 
 one hand and the physical disease on the other. A spirit of
 
 xxxviil SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 infirmity was a feebleness which might possess and weaken 
 either mind or body. Indeed, if the possession of an unclean 
 or decrepit spirit was diagnosed, it mattered little whether its 
 presence and the resultant need of exorcism was expressed in 
 terms of matter or in terms of spirit. The spirit of infirmity, 
 e.g., which had for many years bound down a victim to debility, 
 was but the physical synonym of Satan, who had manifested 
 his customary malevolence against a daughter of Abraham for 
 the same period. Exorcism as practised by Jewish medici, 
 who in this respect were imitated by the Christian apostles, 
 was resolvable into one single indivisible operation. The 
 casting out of the evil spirit, if it entailed a moral regeneration, 
 a strange and mysterious new birth, was also attended by 
 the repair of the physical defect, the renewal of the bodily 
 senses which had been lost by disease. " When the devil was 
 gone out the dumb man spake " is the authenticated report of 
 a case which is described as the casting forth of a deaf and 
 dumb spirit. Conversely, leprosy, blindness, palsy, lunacy, 
 etc., were names of diseases manifested by physical symptoms 
 but reputed to be spiritually curable by exorcism. All nervous 
 diseases or ailments characterised by debility, torpor, defective 
 vitality, etc., were the supposed malign energies of evil spirits, 
 and undoubtedly formed the sphere of therapeutics in which 
 the Christ-trained activities of the Twelve were most actively 
 employed. " Eaise the dead " was the most remarkable injunc- 
 tion in the apostolic charge, and if there were only one well 
 attested instance of the success of such a thaumaturgic 
 commission the Evidences of Christianity would have occupied 
 a very different position to-day from that in which they are 
 placed by reasonable and thoughtful men. But this notorious 
 absence of any one such instance, combined with the meta-
 
 INTRODUCTION XXXIX 
 
 phorical usage of the word " death " for all kinds of spiritual 
 torpidity (exemplified especially in the words " Let the dead 
 bury their dead ") reflects a flood of light not only on this par- 
 ticular passage but on the generally metaphorical method 
 of describing the beneficent wonder-working of the twelve 
 apostles. 
 
 This, however, does not exhaust the whole of the semi- 
 secular activity of the twelve apostles. Besides their labours 
 of healing, especially their task of imparting new mental and 
 spiritual strength to those who had need, they exercised 
 their office of direct instruction. We may assume, without 
 fear of contradiction, that this function consisted largely 
 in reproducing the teachings of their Master. The parables, 
 the \6yta they had heard him deliver in the synagogues, the 
 reproductions of Messianic texts, together with His own 
 comments on them, and especially the spiritualising of their 
 sensuous content and meaning, in short, the function of the 
 Twelve, both in their first mission and in any subsequent 
 mission of which we have no record, was closely akin to that 
 of the Eeader in the Jewish synagogue, and the same office as 
 it became gradually differentiated in the Christian communi- 
 ties during the latter half of the second century. We shall 
 see a little further on how much the diaconate contributed to 
 this differentiation by its own semi-secular character by that 
 aspect of Christian beneficence which gave particular attention 
 to the sick and needy, as well as by that feature of Christian 
 instruction which was content to interpret already received 
 texts and traditions rather than require spontaneous and 
 perpetual novelties in Christian doctrine. 
 
 Briefly, so far as the mission of the Twelve may be regarded, 
 exceptis excipiendis, as affording a precedent for the official
 
 xl SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 organisation of the church in after times, the standpoint of 
 office, the analogies of interests and duties, point to the official 
 status and occupations of the Reader much more closely than 
 to those of the Overseer, the Sacrificing Presbyter, the Prophet 
 or Inspired Teacher, or any other among the various offices 
 which different Christian churches and communities evolved 
 for the satisfaction of their different needs. 
 
 THE MISSION OF THE "SEVENTY OTHEKS." 
 
 Few incidents in the traditional life and teaching of Christ 
 especially in reference to its missionary character are more 
 puzzling than the sending forth of the seventy disciples, the 
 " seventy others" as they are called perhaps more in subordina- 
 tion of rank than of any other kind of distinction from the twelve. 
 Independently of the fact that the passage occurs nowhere 
 else in the Synoptics, and that there is no overt allusion to it 
 in the Acts of the Apostles, the alleged event is surrounded 
 by difficulties of the most formidable kind. These are, 
 generally speaking, indirect and circumstantial. Given the 
 whole of the data in the amplest possible manner, and with as 
 great an approach to exactitude as would be attainable in the 
 most bewildering complexity of various and inconsistent pro- 
 babilities and semi-likelihoods and we are no nearer historical 
 truth, attained by the customary laws of historical evidence, 
 at the end of a long investigation than we were at starting. 
 Given, e.g., Christ's own ministerial activity from His baptism, 
 the environment in the way of popular culture and Messianic 
 enthusiasm which formed the seed-plot of His Gospel, the 
 opposition which the spiritualisation of Mosaism would work 
 among the more educated classes ; the appeal which Christ 
 had for that very reason been compelled to make to the un-
 
 INTRODUCTION xl 
 
 educated and half-superstitious, etc. etc., to discover, train, 
 discipline and establish some eighty-two teachers (twelve 
 apostles plus seventy others) competent to instruct the rude 
 denizens of Galilean villages and country towns in the rudi- 
 ments of a system of ethics and religion capable of becoming 
 by natural evolution and expansion the sublimest scheme of 
 culture divine and human which had ever been presented 
 for the consideration and acceptance of mankind. We may 
 imagine in some supposed given instance the coming of a pair 
 of these itinerant preachers, like a brace of Franciscan monks 
 some centuries afterwards ; or like a couple of Quaker minis- 
 ters or Methodist ' locals ' in still more modern times placidly 
 confronting the excitable natives of an English village in the 
 Midlands somewhere about the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury. If the fame of Jesus of Nazareth had preceded them, 
 they would have found their task easier. That there was an 
 active circulation of rumours when these pertained to religious 
 and political topics is abundantly shown by Josephus, and on 
 no subject was the hearing of the Jewish or Eoman patriot 
 more acute than the reported rising of a new claimant to 
 Messianic honour and power. Any fresh arrivals from among 
 the seventy might therefore make sure of a good audience who 
 announced their intention of introducing to their notice the 
 new and superior claims of this same Jesus of Nazareth, 
 whose wonderful cures and exorcisms had long been the 
 objects of country-side gossip. Granted the possibility of this 
 large body of more or less trained teachers, the difficulty of 
 finding audiences multitudes that pressed upon them to hear 
 the ' Word of God ' would not have been very great. The 
 indebtedness of Christ to fame and rumour, notwithstanding 
 His own injunctions to preserve His marvellous works in the 
 
 d
 
 xlii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 strictest secrecy, forms a remarkable feature of His mission 
 work. But this concession of eighty-two itinerant advocates 
 of the Messianic claims of Jesus Christ and the genuinely 
 miraculous character of His works involves us in difficulties so 
 great as to be wellnigh insuperable. It seems therefore not 
 unreasonable to look about us for some theory that would at 
 least help to lessen the strain on probability that it must be 
 said to entail. In harmony with similar exegetical adjust- 
 ments which have been successfully applied to meet corre- 
 sponding difficulties in the Old Testament, we might even 
 venture to suggest that we have here a retrospective reference 
 to the Acts of the Apostles and to the account there given of 
 the institution of the Seven Deacons. That the two books 
 came from the same pen has always been an undenied accept- 
 ance of Ecclesiastical History. That the books manifest traces 
 of a mutual relation, and occasionally of a mutual adjustment 
 and dove-tailing of incidents, statements, etc., partially corre- 
 spondent each with the other, has also been admitted by later 
 critics. Hence there is the less difficulty in conceding that 
 the mission of the seventy in the Gospel is not the primary 
 but the secondary form of the crude bare assertion that the 
 Diaconate with its seven members was an institution founded 
 in the lifetime of Christ himself with as the customary 
 numerical enhancement so common to the Jews the multiplica- 
 tion of the original number Tyy ten. The latter increase was 
 further suggested and facilitated by the fact that the sum thus 
 obtained brought up the total number of the seventy disciples 
 of Christ to the seventy or seventy-two which had long since 
 become a kind of sacred sum total in the case of any aggregate 
 of remarkable personages or assemblies. 
 
 We must, however, bear in mind that the suggestion thus
 
 INTRODUCTION xliii 
 
 indicated need not be taken for more than it stands for. It 
 merely sets forth as a possible hypothesis that the narrative 
 of the mission of the seventy as we find it in St. Luke may be 
 a retrospective evolution of or allusion to the early story of 
 the institution of the Diaconate. After some kind of organ- 
 isation had been established in the early church with some- 
 thing like a subordination of functionaries, it was only 
 natural to search for a lower office which should constitute 
 the first step in the ministerial order as supposedly arranged 
 by Christ. This could only have been an inferior grade of 
 disciples, such as the disciples, and especially the seventy, 
 ostensibly was. A crude distinction of this kind seems hinted 
 at in the difference continually suggested between the apostles 
 and the unqualified disciples, as well as in the overt assertion 
 that the apostles were chosen from the general mass of the 
 disciples, and that they had in especial cases certain names 
 conferred upon them typifying qualities or functions. The 
 subsequent stress upon these names, as, e.g., in the case of 
 Peter, must be accepted with caution, both as being incon- 
 sistent with contemporaneous circumstances, and as indicating 
 tendential attributes and designs too markedly ecclesiastical to 
 be received without circumspection. 
 
 What is however to be noted in reference to this mission 
 of the seventy, and which will again reappear when we come 
 to the formal institution of the Diaconate and similar subordi- 
 nate grades in the ministerial organisation of the church, is 
 that the functions of the seventy were of a semi-lay character ; 
 that these disciples did not exercise sacerdotal or priestly 
 functions of any kind ; that their duties were rather of a 
 didactic instructive kind; that, in other words, their duties 
 were largely those of Readers, whether in the synagogue or in
 
 xliv SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 the early Christian churches. They would not have presumed 
 to start new doctrines or formulate new liturgical usages. 
 They were merely commentators on traditional texts, or books 
 or forms. The Master's injunction, especially the cardinal 
 precept : " Reform yourselves, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
 hand," constituted itself the prime condition of admission. 
 "When this was accompanied by every needed kind of general 
 beneficence or charity, forming a general tie of goodness, grati- 
 tude, and reciprocity among men, and a profound and devout 
 acknowledgment towards God as the Universal Father of all 
 men, every condition of thought and activity seemed satisfied 
 on which a man's Christianity could be made to depend. No 
 more elaborate organisation of ministers, no greater or fuller 
 systematisation of dogmas, no mere aesthetic artistic symbolism 
 of liturgical forms, no other moulding or shapement of word 
 or thing, earthly or heavenly, human or divine, could be set 
 forward as the highest possible conception of the supremest 
 religion. What the future of Christianity might have been, 
 with only the starting points of the missions of the twelve 
 and the seventy to give it vitality and sustaining power, it is 
 not worth while guessing, but with these germs naturally 
 developed, as we might in imagination conceive them, we 
 should have escaped some of the dire evils to which an elabo- 
 rate sacerdotalism consigned Christendom for some centuries 
 of its greatest perversion and darkness. 
 
 THE POST - RESURRECTION COMMISSION OF HIERARCHICAL 
 SUPREMACY ON THE ONE HAND AND SUBMISSION ON THE 
 OTHER. 
 
 No consideration of the institution of the Christian minis- 
 try would be complete that did not take into account the well-
 
 INTRODUCTION xlv 
 
 known injunction, " Go ye into all the world," etc. etc. Its 
 importance consists in the liturgical and dogmatic additions to 
 the general precept of preaching the Gospel, a command- 
 ment which we dare not say includes more than the injunction 
 to reformation in preparation for the kingdom of Christianity. 
 But in regarding the passage as a whole, and bearing in mind 
 (1) the stress that sacerdotalists have in every age of Chris- 
 tianity placed upon it as containing the central principle of 
 their faith ; and (2) the strange, ominous, and even fatal con- 
 trast between its spirit and the general spirit of the thought 
 and teaching of Christ, we seem suddenly confronted by a 
 dilemma of the most startling kind : viz., either the injunction 
 is genuine and its mode of presentation authentic, or the 
 teaching of Christ as contained in the other portions of the 
 Synoptics is false and inconsistent in the highest possible degree. 
 The change, e.g., from some notable passages in the Synoptics 
 is like that which we experience when we pass from the 
 cool breezy hillside of a Scotch mountain to the heated sickly 
 clammy atmosphere of a house built for the forcing of exotics. 
 No doubt the spirit of the post-resurrection commission is one 
 that we are destined to meet in subsequent years of Church 
 History ; but it is one which we discover when Ecclesiasti- 
 cism has grown rampant, when the neglect, however in- 
 advertent, of some ritual usage is marked with punishment of 
 the most cruel kind the death accorded to the unbaptized in 
 the decisions of all patristic Ehadamanthuses being always 
 eternal. It is difficult to express in language of adequate 
 strength the absolute unqualified contradiction between the 
 spirit of extreme intolerance, the reliance upon a superficial 
 rite as a condition of salvation, and on a state of non-belief in 
 Christian doctrines as involving a penalty of eternal damna-
 
 xlvi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 tion, in short, the essential principles of sacerdotalism, and 
 the generous tolerance and forbearance which accepted moral 
 conduct, and virtual belief in all forms of goodness (i.e. 
 Christianity) in brief, the genuine articles of the best creed 
 of cultured non-sacerdotal humanity. So great, indeed, is the 
 contradiction, so overpowering the difficulty, of allowing these 
 utterances of one human voice or exponents of one ostensibly 
 single human life-conduct to remain in such flagrant dis- 
 sonance, that the suggestion has been made more than once to 
 get rid of the incompatibility by destroying its most aggressive 
 member. Here again we have only to read the after history 
 of the Christian Church into its alleged contemporaneous 
 record. We have only to bear in mind the sacerdotalism of 
 the second or third centuries and earlier than this we cannot 
 trace our Gospels as connected documents to enable us to 
 recognise in the supposed post-resurrection commission a law of 
 a church dominated by ecclesiasticism, where the due confession 
 of faith preceded in every case the initiatory rite, where the 
 non-acceptance of the Christian creed involved eternal damna- 
 tion, where the ritual act was held to override the conduct or 
 the life of the Christian, and where the authority of the priest 
 was absolute over the life and death of the people. 
 
 At all events, and this we must deem to be a matter of con- 
 gratulation, less and less stress is now being laid on this post- 
 resurrection commission and the unqualified authority it is 
 supposed to commit to the Christian ministry either in the 
 way of formulating creeds or in promulgating authoritative 
 ecclesiastical punishment for the non-acceptance, or only 
 partial acceptance, of the creeds in the way that Church 
 authorities or Councils have thought fit to impose them. 
 Gradually the contradiction between the thought and ten-
 
 INTRODUCTION xlvii 
 
 dencies which animated the work of Christ, and those which 
 permeate this alleged commission, is disclosing itself, and at 
 last men feel that there is an irrconcileable discrepancy be- 
 tween the unconsciously revealed spirit of the life and a tradi- 
 tion biassed by hierarchical evolution between the Christism 
 of the Founder and the ecclesiasticism of the Church. 
 
 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES AND THE PAULINE EPISTLES ON 
 THE MINISTERIAL ORGANISATION OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 
 
 The critical value of a book or document is often obscured 
 by its excessive familiarity. Although it is known to have a 
 function of enlightenment, its illustrative power is the less 
 because too great for the organs or uses employing it. On the 
 question, e.g., of ministerial organisation in the earliest 
 Christian communities, the New Testament books which 
 transcend in importance all the rest are the Acts of the 
 Apostles and the chiefest and best accredited of the Pauline 
 epistles, and yet it is but rarely that these are referred to at 
 least with a full recognition of their authority as decisive of 
 the question. Hence, supposing that all Christendom knew of 
 ecclesiastical history, especially in reference to the official 
 organisation of the Christian Church, had been the period 
 covered by the church councils, what a curious revulsion of 
 feeling would be caused by the discovery of some document em- 
 bodying the church history of the Acts of the Apostles and the 
 mission work of St. Paul ! Instead of finding a pre-ordained 
 threefold order of ministers which had from the beginning been 
 established by Christ and held rule in the Church, we should 
 discover only one order which could in any legitimate manner 
 claim to be instituted by Christ, i.e. the apostolate of the
 
 xlviii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 twelve. This had no other or diviner control than might be 
 implied in the providential rule over such terrestrial chances 
 as casting lots. Doubtless we might believe in a divine con- 
 summation of terrestrial events when the data for their accom- 
 plishment are more or less of a gambling kind, and the choice 
 of the earliest successor to Judas by casting lots might have as 
 strong an element of chance as any of the other gambling 
 methods by which his later successors have been chosen as, 
 e.g., the political party that happened to be in power when 
 some bishop of the English Church had to be appointed. 
 Besides the Twelve, the other order was that of the Diaconate. 
 Seven were chosen for lay or mixed duties in connection with 
 the Church not improbably, as we have already suggested 
 with an eye to the seventy disciples of St. Luke. Probably 
 the duties of the Eeader, as they afterwards came to be 
 defined, belonged more to the functions of the Twelve than to 
 those of the Seven, i.e., the ministry of the word and prayer, 
 though there is an obvious danger of dogmatising on the 
 point. The offices of the Header's attendance on and instruc- 
 tion of the sick made the reading of and commenting on 
 certain passages duties of primary importance. But the chief 
 point of general diagnosis in this general conspectus is the 
 entire absence of anything like an universally accepted order 
 or arrangement of Christian ministers. The traveller bent on 
 investigating the chief centre points of Christian growth or 
 progress such as they existed in the churches of Palestine, 
 Syria, Asia Minor, and Upper Egypt, might journey from one 
 rising Christian community to another without scarcely a 
 single reminder that there was anything like a systematising 
 either of Christian doctrines, or modes of worship, or minis- 
 terial order. Damascus, Antioch, Jerusalem, Joppa, Tyre,
 
 INTRODUCTION xlix 
 
 Sidon, Corinth, Ephesus, Athens, Rome, Alexandria, etc., were 
 in each case independent centres of Christian thought and 
 Christian life. The only points of contact were: (1) a 
 community, often vague and vacillating, of Christian tradition ; 
 
 (2) some recognised association with one of the twelve ; 
 
 (3) a persuasion more or less lively of the approach of the 
 Messianic kingdom and of the expectation that Jesus himself 
 would shortly come to judgment ; (4) a feeling largely 
 derived from the oral and traditional teachings of Christ of 
 primary Christian truths, such as, e.g., the universal fatherhood 
 of God, his equal acceptance of all goodness as constituting 
 a claim on His fatherly regard, the need for all men of 
 repentance and self-reformation such teachings as, in a word, 
 we know to have been retailed from one church to another, 
 just, as in point of fact, St. Paul's epistles were similarly trans- 
 mitted until in due process of sifting and collection each main 
 church had its own especial anthology, its own choice selection 
 of logia, oral sayings, parables, discourses, and sentences, which 
 became its own ethical and doctrinal basis, and constituted 
 its contribution to one or other of the Synoptic Gospels when 
 these came to be arranged in a documentary form. There was 
 thus, as we may readily see, a free interchange of opinion on 
 all points connected with Christianity, whether regarded as a 
 doctrinal scheme or a tradition of history. Further, room was 
 left for the expansion of Christian opinion on most points of 
 doctrine in harmony with peculiarities and idiosyncrasies of 
 individual churches. Thus, to take the most prominent 
 example of all : the Palestinian churches remained until after 
 the fall of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews under the 
 influence if not actual domination of the twelve. Some of the 
 Syrian churches were similarly allied with those of Palestine
 
 1 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 for reasons of community of race, language, or commerce. On 
 the other hand, the Christian churches which were surrounded 
 and influenced by Gentile opinion as, e.g., Eome, Athens, and 
 Corinth, assimilated those elements in Christian tradition which 
 were less removed from ideas which they had already dis- 
 covered in their Gentile training. As an example of this 
 freedom of Christian teaching as well as an illustration of the 
 autonomy and self-dependence of early Christianity in the 
 arrrangement of its officials, we have the striking instance of St. 
 Paul. Unconnected with the twelve ; knowing nothing of the 
 seven deacons but as objects and partial victims of his fanatical 
 and murderous hatred; unversed in Christian teaching whether 
 at the lips of Christ or of His apostles ; instructed only in just 
 those elements of Pharisaic Judaism which were most opposed 
 to the characteristic teachings of the gospel, Paul had all the 
 qualities of spontaneity and self-centred freedom that any man 
 could have. So far, indeed, as human external authority was 
 concerned, or conformity to a pre-arranged system of ministerial 
 order or gradation, nothing could be further from him than 
 a submissive recognition of either. It is impossible to over- 
 estimate the value of a precedent like St. Paul on the side of 
 freedom, of religious activities in vigorous automatic operation, 
 and strong individual idiosyncrasies acting proprio motu with- 
 out any human coercive influence from without, especially 
 when dogmatic forces were exercising an unduly hardening 
 power over the religious thought and life. St. Paul, as has 
 often been pointed out, is the compeer of those self-impelled 
 eccentric spirits whose spontaneous energies have from time 
 to time given new life to Christianity however perverted that 
 life may have occasionally been such men, e.g., as Ignatius 
 Loyola, St. Benedict and St. Francis, Luther, George Fox, and
 
 INTRODUCTION li 
 
 Wesley. Especially great is St. Paul's influence on the ques- 
 tion of the Christian ministry. We have already glanced at 
 this point, without however doing more than touching the 
 fringe of the subject. 
 
 Self-impelled as St. Paul was, at least in respect of human 
 and objectively cognoscible agencies,it is easy to see that there 
 was in reality no limit to the freedom he was prepared to 
 grant in respect of the ministerial order of the Church. From 
 his own standpoint of Christian liberty, and with his final 
 standard of expediency and utilitarianism, there was no 
 unbending rule in the names and functions of officials, in the 
 order they were required to maintain, in their mutual agree- 
 ment as respects modes of worship, etc. The only mode of 
 government which he recognised was congregational each 
 church consisting of a community of Christians, most of them 
 baptized, but including a number of catechumens and candi- 
 dates who shared only a general agreement with the worship 
 and government of the church. With these ideas of essentials 
 in respect of church government and discipline, we cannot be 
 surprised to find, as already remarked, different catalogues of 
 ecclesiastical officers and functions, each list being mainly 
 determined, so far as we can see, by circumstances and condi- 
 tions of a special and local kind. The cosmopolitan suscepti- 
 bilities which rendered the apostle on the intellectual and 
 spiritual side of his character so ready to become " all things to 
 all men if by any means he might gain some " found a point 
 of support and alliance in the physical temperament which so 
 largely prompted his missionary enterprise. It is rare that the 
 genuine geographer, in whom universalist instincts and foreign 
 humanitarian sympathies have been fully aroused, permits the 
 induration or limitation of one side or aspect of his "travelled
 
 Hi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 heart." The enlightenment of half-secular sensibilities and a 
 generally informing culture refuse to exclude the religious 
 attributes and spiritual affinities from the sum total of 
 geographical information. Conversant as St. Paul was with the 
 race, history, development of Athens, Rome, Ephesus, it was 
 inevitable that he should compare points of general interest, 
 for purposes of harmony or the reverse, with the salient features 
 of the nascent Christianity. What doctrines or characteristics 
 in the new creed, e.g., would be especially acceptable to men 
 who had been nurtured on such different phases of Gentile 
 culture as would have been presented, to take a few selected 
 instances, from such well-known types as Rome, Corinth, and 
 Antioch ? Not only would there be preferences or repulsions 
 with respect to intellectual aptitudes and idiosyncrasies, but 
 varieties of aesthetic, artistic, and sentimental tastes would have 
 to be consulted and provided for. In other words, not only would 
 the essentials of Christ's teaching or doctrines that were so 
 understood by St. Paul have to be considered, allocated, and 
 adjusted with reference to already existing differences and 
 intellectual specialisations, but even the petty externalities, 
 the lightly woven fringe of delicate outward adornment, as pre- 
 sented in the modes and graces of liturgical forms and usages, 
 the gradations, dress, and vessels of duly appointed officials, 
 were arranged in accordance with recognised proclivities partly 
 inherent partly acquired. It is needless to add that whether 
 considered in reference to doctrine, to official organisation and 
 arrangements, to liturgical usages and forms of worship, there 
 was no definite limit, no rigid rule in theoretical fittingness 
 or customary practice, which gave to one ministerial order or 
 function any essential superiority over the rest. In all the 
 Pauline churches those that were founded by St. Paul or
 
 INTRODUCTION liii 
 
 some one of his confidential ministers, or lastly, those which 
 could claim to be ruled by the principles laid down in a 
 recognised epistle of the great apostle of the Gentiles, there 
 existed therefore an absolutely unrestricted liberty in respect 
 of grades of ministers and forms and rules of worship, while 
 the sole restriction left that in doctrinal teaching was 
 conceived in such a form, with a wholesome stress on ethical 
 rather than on purely speculative requirements, that the general 
 result was to impart to his interpretation of Christianity a 
 harmony sometimes strange and unexpected with certain 
 aspects of Gentile teaching. Indeed the analogies and 
 affinities between certain of the ideas and aspirations of the 
 apostle, and the more penetrative and profounder conceptions 
 intellectual and spiritual of the best Greek thinkers from 
 Plato to Plotinus, are among St. Paul's most remarkable 
 characteristics, and even now await a much ampler investiga- 
 tion than has hitherto been bestowed upon them. Con- 
 lining ourselves to our special subject St. Paul's relation to 
 ministerial or official organisation as it existed in the Christian 
 communities of his time we may bear in mind : 
 
 I. The apostle's own idiosyncrasy. The basis of his mental 
 character was intellectual and spiritual idealisation ; the 
 motive-force of his mental energy was a direct vis viva of 
 mystical religious insight. Inwardness and introspection were 
 the criteria of every system or scheme of thought that pre- 
 sented itself for his criticism or acceptance. Christianity 
 thus came before him less as a narrative of historical facts 
 observing historical sequence than as a golden thread on which 
 were suspended gems and precious stones of spiritual senti- 
 ment, thought and aspirations. Conceived largely as a scheme 
 Judaic and national in its starting-point, and world-embracing
 
 liv SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 in its objects, he regarded it less as a systematisation of 
 dogmas in the sense of beliefs, than as a perennial source 
 of inspiring reformative energy. Christ was less Jesus of 
 Nazareth than the Divine centre at once the point of starting 
 and concentration of all religious and moral energy. The 
 Church was not a corporation held together by ties formal 
 and external in their origin and operation, but a spiritual 
 body based upon the freedom which pertains inherently to all 
 spiritual activities and aspirations. Nothing could be further 
 from such a scheme than a system, dead, mechanical and 
 formal, of hierarchical domination. When each individual 
 member was a centre, possibly, of spiritual enlightenment and 
 inspiration, nothing could be more deadening than a pre- 
 arranged order of teachers and ministers, sometimes exercising 
 the function of instructors in thought and knowledge, at others 
 -of ministers taking the lead in sacrificial or ritual worship. 
 We have already seen that the threefold order of bishops, 
 priests, and deacons, even granting its existence under certain 
 circumstances and in certain fitting localities, was never re- 
 garded by him as anything else than an accidental arrange- 
 ment, determined wholly by convenience. The arrangement 
 was no more a fixity than any prescribed form or routine of 
 liturgical rite. To have laid stress upon such an order as exist- 
 ing by means of a divine and prescribed guarantee, such as 
 would, e.g., have been presented by a distinct institution by 
 Ohrist Himself, would have been little else than a forfeiture of 
 that grace of selection by which he claimed to have been 
 appointed an apostle. The supreme authority of Christ, the 
 omnipotency of that divine influx of grace or the Holy Spirit 
 which was the one source of goodness or divine power, would 
 have been directly invalidated by an external ordinance or a
 
 INTRODUCTION lv 
 
 mechanical conveyance of a supposed spiritual power. The 
 argument operated the more irresistibly on account of the dis- 
 sensions among the apostles themselves. From the Apostolic 
 conclave at Jerusalem, and especially from its confessed leaders, 
 St. Peter and St. James, St. Paul stood for the greater part of his 
 life in a serene and determined aloofness. The principles and 
 guarantees on which they relied as conveying the mark of their 
 apostleship he not only ignored, but partially even despised. 
 Probably the privilege on which most stress was laid by the 
 earliest apostolic society was the claim of having seen and 
 conversed with Jesus both before and after His resurrection. 
 In the election, e.g., of Matthias it was made a sine qua non on 
 the part of the candidates that they were men who had gone 
 in and out among the apostles during the lifetime of Jesus, 
 beginning at John's baptism ; but even this personal converse 
 was claimed by St. Paul on more than one occasion, and this 
 with the greater confidence, because the apostle claimed a con- 
 verse as with a visible being with the first resurrection form of 
 Jesus. In a word, all his own experiences, all the guarantees 
 of his mission, all the spiritual influences and sentiments by 
 which he was so readily and profoundly moved united in in- 
 ducing a disregard for a systematic organisation of a Christian 
 society such as subsequent evolution and gradual consolidation 
 under other and different influences imparted to the Church. 
 
 II. In harmony with these idiosyncrasies, intellectual and 
 spiritual, were the influences arising from Paul's own education, 
 and his long acquaintance as an earnest Jewish Pharisee with 
 the religious services of the synagogues. If the former rendered 
 him regardless of a formal hierarchical organisation among 
 Christian churches, the latter could not but have had the 
 tendency of laying stress on the office and function of the
 
 Ivi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 Reader. In the synagogue service this was certainly an office 
 of prime importance. The very fact that the religious instruc- 
 tion of the Jews consisted of the Law, the Hagiographa, the 
 Prophets, etc., together with the comments of Eabbis and other 
 duly attested expositors of these sacred writings, imparted 
 to the Eeader an authority which no other minister of the 
 synagogue durst claim. Not only was a common Lectionary 
 employed, so that, among the Palestinian and Babylonian 
 synagogues at least, a certain community of scriptural lessons, 
 etc., was in use, but even the stated sermons appointed for 
 certain seasons and days were directed to be read. Now, 
 bearing in mind the use which the Christian apostles made of 
 the Jewish synagogues, and how closely they copied the order 
 of their teaching and worship, it is evident that, whether 
 assigned or not to a minister duly set apart for the office, the 
 function of the Eeader must have found a place very early in 
 the history of the Christian Church. It is true, and the 
 argument must be allowed its fair weight, without permitting 
 it to minimise, still less to ignore altogether, the influence of 
 the synagogue worship on the usages of the Christian churches, 
 that the Christian teacher was not possessed of that affluence 
 of scriptural records which the Jewish Eeader possessed. We 
 shall, perhaps, not be wrong in supposing that the traditional 
 sayings and parables of Christ (such collections of Aoyta as 
 were, e.g., ascribed to St. Matthew), were employed as Haggadah 
 to comment upon the reading of a selected portion, e.g., of the 
 LXX. Still, with due allowance made for the sources of the Law 
 and the Gospel, there w.as a sufficiency of Hagiographical and 
 Prophetical writing extant, and claiming a quasi-divine author- 
 ity, among Christians, to allow for and justify the functions of 
 Eeaders in most Christian communities. Moreover, in addition
 
 INTRODUCTION Ivii 
 
 to these distinctively Jewish records there were among the 
 literary treasures of various Palestinian churches, especially 
 those wherein the leading Judaeo- Christians happened to be 
 wealthy, a greater store than usual of genuine and well 
 authenticated Christian records. Such were, e.g., translations 
 of parts of the LXX. to the Syro-Hebraic of North Palestine, 
 collections of \oyia, or sayings of Jesus, which certain itinerant 
 members of the Church had brought together from some of 
 the Christian centres of South Palestine. These were mostly 
 identified by the names of the Christian communities to which 
 they belonged, as, e.g., the \6yia of the church at Joppa, 
 Capernaum, Antioch, Tyre. Besides, there were certain letters 
 of apostles or men of apostolic rank, as, e.g., of Peter, Apollos, 
 Barnabas, and Paul, addressed either as private letters to 
 prominent members of the Church or encyclical letters 
 addressed to the Church. Then, again, there were visions of 
 an apocalyptic kind communicated to the separate churches 
 for purposes, as it would seem, of attestation. In short, the 
 materials at the disposal of the Eeader in Pauline churches, in 
 which translations of portions of Hagiographa, expositions of 
 Hebrew prophet, or Eabbi law doctor, spontaneous and impul- 
 sive deliverances of prophecy, deliberate narrations of sacred 
 visions especially in relation to the coming day of the Lord, 
 were set forth without any prescribed order, the sole obliga- 
 tions being deference to the Presbyter, Eeader, Apostle, or 
 Prophet who had been chosen to rule the proceedings, and 
 observance of the universally recognised Pauline rule : Tldvra 
 Se eucr^T/z/oj/a)? KOI Kara rd^iv <yevecr0o). 
 
 III. But there remains one more consideration in the evolu- 
 tion of Pauline culture which would make the apostle's deference 
 to Jewish usages and his sympathy with Jewish aspirations all
 
 Iviii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 the more natural. The consummation of all things to which he 
 looked and for which he laboured was, in a large sense of the 
 term, Jewish. This alone would induce him to regard Jewish 
 worship and the usages thereunto pertaining with a peculiar 
 tenderness and consideration. The function of Reader to take 
 a single but important example imported a continuity of 
 office, didactic purpose, unhierarchical significance, which esta- 
 blished the usages of Jewish worship, their methods of im- 
 parting and receiving religious instruction, which so far was a 
 propaedeutic of the same usages and methods, to be restored at 
 the ultimate consummation of all things. For St. Paul, we must 
 remember, never left for any length of time out of the purview 
 of his religious foresight and the earnest craving of his Judaeo- 
 Christian aspiration the ultimate destiny of the great universal 
 ISRAEL OF GOD. Lord Beaconsfield once said, in reference to 
 the great heroes of his race, that an arrest of decay was more 
 realisable as an object of patriotic energy than a further- 
 ance of development. It is certain that this formed the 
 especial object of the most discriminating patriotism of 
 the noblest Jewish patriots. "If thou hadst known, even 
 thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong 
 to thy peace" is an utterance which might be paired off as 
 possessing an identity of outlook and aspiration with such 
 objects as "THE HOPE OF ISRAEL," until the fulness of the 
 Gentiles ~be come in, and so all Israel shall ~be saved, etc. It 
 would not be difficult to realise this magnificent apocalyptic 
 vision as it practically disclosed itself to the vivid imagination 
 and impassioned feeling of the great universalist Judaeo-Gentile 
 apostle. The central standpoint of the apostle was the sub- 
 lime reunion in the person and work of Christ of all the great 
 teachings, all the subliniest exemplars of the continuous reve-
 
 INTRODUCTION lix 
 
 lation with which God had blessed humanity. How high the 
 Reader, the inspired instructor, the most highly qualified teacher, 
 or the imparter of religious and moral truth, must needs have 
 stood in every such scheme need not here be insisted on. St. 
 Paul could not have laid emphasis on such a scheme without 
 a wise disregard of the organisation of the Church and its 
 entire uniformity in every example, nor without acknowledging 
 the importance for teaching purposes, and with the object of a 
 free liberal expansion in every direction of Christian liberty, of 
 any such office as the Eeader. 
 
 A TYPICAL LORD'S DAY SERVICE AT A PAULINE CHURCH IN 
 THE NORTH OF PALESTINE, ABOUT THE END OF THE 
 FIRST CENTURY. 
 
 Ti ovv <TTIV, d8e\<j)oi ; orav (rvvep^ade, l/cacrro? V 
 
 Tldvra 
 
 It was the early morning of a fair spring day in one of the 
 later years of the last decade of the first century. As yet 
 the sun had not surmounted the hill-tops on the other side 
 of the Sea of Galilee, which accordingly projected their 
 shadows more than half-way across the Sea. The town of 
 Bethsaida had not yet recovered itself from the devastations of 
 the Jewish War, but it was one of the first of the cities 
 bordering the Sea of Galilee to do so. Especially it became the 
 home of a colony of Judaeo-Christians, whose place of worship 
 was a disused synagogue on the western side of the town. 
 This morning the congregation had already assembled, as 
 indeed it usually did as soon as it was light, and when the 
 Christian worshippers on their way to prayer met only a few 
 straggling fishermen returning home after the toil of the pre-
 
 IX SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 ceding night, or shepherds driving forth their flocks to 
 pasture, or vine-dressers starting to work in the vineyards, 
 which were as yet only the growth of the few years that had 
 elapsed since the cessation of the Jewish War. 
 
 The Christian church at Bethsaida was typical of such 
 communities. It was supposedly founded by Apollos under 
 the auspices of St. Paul. Its organisation, which had 
 frequently undergone modification, was marked by simplicity. 
 At this time there was a Presbyter Sylvanus, who had been 
 formally installed into his office by the laying-on of hands of 
 Apollos. There were, besides, some two or three elders whose 
 functions seemed to have been to fill up any temporary 
 vacancies among the office-bearers of the church. Next was 
 the Eeader Theophilus, who also had the duties of translating 
 parts of the LXX. for the edification of the community, and who 
 interpreted when certain other of the brethren were seized 
 with the ecstatic inspiration which was termed the Gift of 
 Tongues. There were besides two prophets, Matthias and 
 John, whose duties consisted in preaching, in a wild, spontan- 
 eous, rhapsodical manner, sermons which all pointed to the 
 immediate coming of Christ, and the signs they supposed 
 themselves to have seen and felt of the second coming of the 
 Messias to judgment. 
 
 Like all the other communities in Palestine, and so far con- 
 trolled by the order of worship and doctrinal teaching custom- 
 ary in Jewish synagogues, there was no regular or universally 
 prescribed arrangement in the different portions of the service. 
 At the same time, a certain superintendence of the proceed- 
 ings was exercised by one of the elders who was appointed for 
 the occasion ad hanc rem; but this again depended altogether 
 on the attendance of the congregation, and how far those who
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixi 
 
 chanced to be present had exercised official duties on any former 
 occasion. It would seem therefore, that, so far as the order of 
 the meeting was concerned, it bore no small resemblance to 
 the meetings of the early Methodists or Quakers in England, 
 in which the chief performers had to wait upon inspiration. 
 
 On the occasion we are endeavouring to recall, the service 
 began by prayers on the parts of the presbyter and one of the 
 elders. When these were concluded, another elder announced 
 that he had provided himself with two translations of two 
 Psalms, one from the LXX., another from the Hebrew text of 
 the Old Testament, both being rendered into the Syro-Hebraic, 
 which was the common language in the district surrounding 
 the Sea of Galilee. The reading of these Psalms gave occasion 
 to various comments, most of them turning on the point how 
 far they could be regarded as Messianic. At this point the 
 service became largely conversational. Different opinions 
 being set forth on the authorship, meaning, etc., of the Psalms, 
 the point in which most agreed was the resolve to find 
 prophecies of future events. 
 
 The Bethsaidian church at the time we are speaking of did 
 not possess a Reader of its own ; but a minister, the Eeader 
 Theophilus, who came originally" from Antioch, but had long 
 been quartered at Bethsaida, discharged the functions com- 
 monly assigned to the Eeader. He, as soon as the Psalms were 
 ended, opened a roll and read therefrom certain portions of the 
 prophets, adding to most passages some short comments, after 
 the manner of the Eabbis in the neighbouring school, e.g., of 
 Tiberias. That the officiating minister was a disciple of 
 St. Paul's was evident from the persistency with which he 
 made the universal Gentile world participants with and heirs 
 of the promises made by Jehovah to the fathers. Then fol-
 
 Ixii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 lowed the interlude of a hymn, and then Theophilus again took 
 his place at the Header's desk, and commenced that portion of 
 his functions which assimilated, in the words of Tertullian, the 
 duties of Eeader to those of an Evangelist. The director of the 
 meeting handed him a roll of MS., in which was inscribed D'nyT 
 IPPin* \oyia 'Irjvovs THE WORDS or ORACLES OF JESus. 1 This 
 was the usual title of separate collections of the sayings, dis- 
 courses, parables, etc., of Jesus, into which the oral teachings 
 traditionally attributed to Him had by degrees become 
 crystallised, preserved, i.e., in a permanent form, and published 
 as the sacred literature or depositum of different churches or 
 Christian communities. In most cases each of these collections 
 was assigned to an itinerant Apostle or Evangelist, though the 
 grounds of the assignment might not always be conclusively 
 established. Sometimes the titles of the collection varied. 
 Among, e.g., the Palestinian churches in which Jewish sym- 
 pathies were especially prominent, it was probably not unusual 
 to add to the Oracles of Jesus the more distinctive titles n_ H B>n 
 or TiTD The Messias or the Son of David. Analogous marks 
 denoted Ebionite or Gnostic tendencies, while the ordinary 
 difference between Jew and Gentile was indicated by 'EXki)- 
 via-rot and 'Eftpaloi. It was only reasonable that each church 
 or congregation took especial pride in its own collection of 
 \6yia, partly from its traditional authorship, or authenticity, 
 or the corroboration its own collection received when compared 
 with the collections of other churches, though there might 
 conceivably have been cases in which a?raf \ey6fieva, single or 
 
 1 Dr. Lightfoot admits that the earliest documents in the Christian Church 
 were characterised by some such indefinite title as this, but he does not seem 
 to perceive the clue which this gives to (1) the formation of different \6yia. 
 or Evangelistic Oracles in different churches ; (2) the effect of this on the 
 ultimate compilation of the four gospels as they were received by the church.
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixiii 
 
 unique narratives, formed the ground of boasting as, e.g., the 
 last eleven verses of the Gospel according to St. Mark, or the 
 narrative of the woman taken in adultery in St. John viii. 3-11. 
 We may readily conceive the facility with which the collection 
 of " Jesus \6yia " of one church was borrowed by another, or 
 in some cases where exchanges of different collections might 
 easily be made. 
 
 This explanation seems needful to explain the functions 
 which the Reader Theophilus exercised on this occasion in the 
 church of Bethsaida. Incidentally also it may help to show how 
 readily collections of the various churches might be made 
 under the direction of some leading mind, which should 
 ultimately assume the forms of certain Gospels indicating 
 tendencies as distinct as those exemplified, e.g., by the Gospels 
 of St. Matthew or St. John. 
 
 That there was a similar interchange of the Epistles of St. 
 Paul or St. Peter or St. James, is shown by Colossians iv. 16. 
 Indeed, at this very service we may readily imagine that, 
 following closely on the reading of different \6yia or Evan- 
 gelistic Oracles, followed supposedly the reading of two letters, 
 one inscribed, Trj AaoSifce'wv 'EKK\^<na, and the other, ry fv 
 Sa\a/jiLvt 'EKK\r)<ria. These were letters which the church at 
 Bethsaida had borrowed from the churches of Salamis and 
 Laodicea lending in return letters of Apostles treasured in 
 their own depository. 
 
 While the Eeader or "reading minister" was still perusing 
 the passages of the Old and New Testament with which he 
 had come especially provided, the director of the meeting, or 
 Ruler of the Christian Synagogue, gave the service another 
 direction. He had already noticed symptoms of disquiet in a 
 prophet named Matthias, his excitement assuming an aggra-
 
 Ixiv SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 vated form at every mention of the Messias, and His expected 
 return to judgment. 
 
 At last he seemed unable to control himself. With a 
 trembling hand, but as noiselessly as he could, he unrolled and 
 rolled again sundry manuscripts which he held in his hand. 
 The director saw what he reverently regarded as the overmaster- 
 ing influx of inspiration, and made silent signs for the Reader 
 to cease. Whereupon Matthias burst forth in language which at 
 times seemed too passionate for distinct utterance, but struggled 
 between incoherence of expression and the combined beauty 
 and profundity of the language employed for its utterance. 
 Thus he commenced in something like the following strain : 
 " In truth, my brothers and sisters, the spirit of the Lord 
 is upon me and the power of the Highest is overshadowing 
 me. So great is that mystic force that I know not how to 
 give it utterance. Methinks I am like to one of the blessed 
 twelve on the first day of Pentecost, as I remember hear- 
 ing when a child from one who was himself present at that 
 festival of voiceful yet inarticulate rapture. I feel moved to 
 say what I know not yet know I that what I know not the 
 Divine Spirit, source of all Divine knowledge, He knoweth 
 what I cannot know ; so falleth it out that my utterance is the 
 audible expression of a knowledge transcending mine own. 
 Haply it may please the Divine goodness, through the grace 
 of His Son Jesus Christ, to impart to you the interpretation of 
 these marvels lately vouchsafed unto me. For not always are 
 there given to one and the same minister both the gift of 
 tongues and the interpretation of tongues, as Paul witnesseth 
 in his letter to the Corinthians. Behold, therefore, my brothers 
 may God open the eyes of your understanding so that ye 
 may see what I am bidden to disclose to you ! see, I say, the
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 wondrous vision unrolled before my eyes. For no later than 
 last night when I laid me down in peace on mine own house- 
 top, wearied by a long day's work at vine-dressing and a long 
 evening of net-fishing on our sea, that scarce so did it seem 
 to me that mine eyelids had composed themselves to slumber 
 than I heard the repeated cry of the parable contained in 
 these 'words of Christ* which the Church of Nazareth lent 
 us, and which we have now carefully stored in our own 
 treasury of the sayings of Jesus. Ye well know the words I 
 mean." [Here the prophet lifted up his voice into a kind 
 of thrilling falsetto of excitement.] " ' Lo ! the Bridegroom 
 cometh, go ye forth to meet him.' Again and again the same 
 cry resounded, filling earth, sea, and sky with its penetrating 
 power. At first, I confess, I was filled with fear. Fain would 
 I, if I could, hide myself in my inner room ; methought I was 
 in my house when the cry saluted my ears, for what if it 
 should be so! my lamp, which I had already prepared for so I 
 deemed should have consumed all its oil. To rush franti- 
 cally forth and inspect it was the work of a moment ; I did 
 so ; and, to my horror, my lamp was not only untrimmed but 
 oilless. I went to the oil-jar to get a fresh supply ; but that 
 too was empty, and still the cry resounded louder and louder: 
 ' The Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.' Whither, 
 to what purpose could I go ? I dared not venture beyond the 
 threshold of mine house. The new strange lights that flashed 
 through door and windows as if the firmament were alight 
 with some new fire, it was not sunlight nor moonlight nor 
 any other type of light such as we who live on earth are able 
 to kindle from wood and oil and the like combustible things ; 
 and while I was thus stricken speechless and motionless with 
 unutterable horror, methought I was no longer within the
 
 Ixvi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 enclosure of four walls. Suddenly I stood upon the shore of 
 the sea, and high above it I saw the Son of Man seated on a 
 throne which was the centre of a light more blinding than 
 that of the sun. Yea, brothers and sisters ! the day was truly 
 come at last. The Judge was seated on his throne, round 
 about him on every side were thousands upon thousands of 
 saints. The books were opened. Good and evil angels 
 awaited in every case the judgment and the reward or 
 punishment which it awarded. The sky was filled with the 
 joyous shouts of the blessed, or as the case might be with 
 the lamentations of the rejected. At last, methought I heard 
 mine own name, at the which hastening forward, trembling and 
 not able to reconcile the oilless condition of my lamp with the 
 full persuasion that I had in truth both trimmed and re- 
 plenished it with fresh oil. But the Son of Man, to my great 
 wonderment, did not look at me with a frown ; it was rather 
 an indescribable glance of sympathy the while He said : 
 ' Blessed be thou, good servant ; thy lamp was left in truth ready 
 for use, but an enemy poured out the oil and rendered it in 
 other ways useless for burning. All therefore that thou art 
 charged with is a negligence which, forsooth, thou couldest not 
 well avoid.' . . . He spake other words to me, but what they 
 were I do not correctly remember. . . . But what impressed 
 itself most shrewdly and deeply on my mind was the reply 
 which the Son of Man Himself made to the excuse, more than 
 once alleged, that if they the sinners placed at the tribunal 
 had but known the laws by which the final judgment was to be 
 conducted, they would have taken the more heed. To which 
 the Judge at once said : ' Have ye not read and received my 
 judgments ? Yea, times without number. What church is 
 there, wherever My gospel is preached, which doth not possess
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixvii 
 
 in its repository some collections of my sayings ? Know ye 
 not that there be verdicts, decisions, and judgments ? When 
 I commended the poor in spirit, the meek, the peace-maker, 
 full well might ye know how that these words are so many 
 judgments given, as it were, from My judgment seat when I 
 was upon earth. Trow ye that I might now give you a 
 different judgment from that which I gave you so long ago ? " 
 
 " But tell us, O prophet, what might the wondrous story of 
 thy dream tell of its' 1 . " such was the question that beset the 
 enthusiastic speaker from his auditors on every side. To this 
 he replied : " Methought that of you who are now here present 
 I could not recognise one in the great crowd that thronged 
 confusedly before the judgment seat ; but truly that was not 
 wonderful, so close was the press. Indeed, methought I stood 
 so far as concerned friends or acquaintances entirely alone. 
 Only two filled the dread scene before mine eyes. It was the 
 Son of Man and myself. Together we filled, so it seemed, the 
 Universe. Two minds, two souls, two eternal beings ; there 
 was no room for aught besides. The Judge and the Sinner, 
 the Saviour and the Saved what a feeling it was that then 
 overpowered me ! It seemed as if His being, His soul, His life 
 absorbed mine, and that by that absorption I was judged. 
 There was no more scope for anything like self. What I had 
 regarded as an existence separate, alone, apart from all other 
 existences, was gone. Nothing was left but Christ. I was in 
 Him, He was in me, and both of us were in God." . . . 
 
 At this point the speaker made a short space ; less however 
 for want of matter than from want of breath. Of this, how- 
 ever, the director of the meeting took advantage by saying : 
 " The day is waxing old, my brothers, and there are yet those 
 who seem to signify their wish to speak ; so as our brother
 
 Ixviii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 Matthias seems inclined to pause, I will, soliciting his forbear- 
 ance, ask Sylvanus to address us." Whereupon the person 
 addressed began to speak : 
 
 "Most fitting was it, my brothers, that I should follow 
 Matthias in his speech to you ; for surely if Christians are to 
 note the portents that crowd around us in our day dreams 
 and our night visions, then nothing can be more certain than 
 that the Day of the Lord is corne, nay, that it is nigh, even at 
 the doors. For to myself it also happened, even as unto our 
 beloved brother Matthias, to be visited in the night season 
 with a dream of the Day of the Lord. Methought it was on 
 the last Lord's day night when, as you remember, our thoughts 
 and exercises at our meeting in this place were so greatly pre- 
 occupied with the same great day that as I was winding my 
 way across the hills from Nazareth to this place, suddenly 
 there brake on mine ears the sound of a trumpet. It had a 
 curious crashing effect, as if it broke up the bounds of the 
 earth, the sea, the sky, all of which at once became commingled 
 in a wild chaotic confusion. Suddenly amid the din of the 
 tempest, caused by this clashing of the conflicting elements, 
 methought I heard voices crying out everywhere the well- 
 known cry in thrilling tones of our own hymn : 
 
 ' " The day of the Lord is nigh ;" 
 List to the heralding cry 
 From human accents below, 
 Piercing the heavens on high.' 
 
 And as I listened and looked with a dread sense of pain that 
 sometimes overwhelmed me, methought at the very highest 
 point of the sky I could discern the vision of the Son of Man. 
 A form of incomparable grandeur was seated on a throne, 
 which itself was placed on a cloud of blackness adorned and
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixix 
 
 relieved by a moving border of bright coruscating lightness. 
 This, I soon found out, was the Judgment Seat, where He sat 
 surrounded by hosts of thousands of angels. Then was there 
 a great commotion. The kings of the earth the principalities 
 and powers commonly honoured among men all these came 
 forward, and were briefly judged and summarily sentenced 
 some to blessedness, and others to woe everlasting. Ah, then 
 did I witness, and rejoiced in witnessing, the vengeance of 
 God on our enemies and persecutors. Then was there the 
 penalty of blood for blood, torture for torture, life for life. 
 The bloodthirsty Emperors, Proconsuls, and other officials 
 who sentenced unoffending Christians to tortures worse than 
 death, were now adjudged to endure torments worse than those 
 which they had decreed to the followers of Christ." . . . 
 
 " Yea ! but tell us of thyself," here interrupted the director 
 of the meeting ; " what hap befell thee when arraigned before 
 the dread judgment seat ?" 
 
 " That would I gladly do," was the reply, " if I but knew it ; 
 but, sooth to say, when I heard my name proclaimed and 
 called for in a voice louder than thunder, a terrible dread 
 overwhelmed me, and I trembled so vehemently that I awoke." 
 
 " I would we could place more reliance on dreams than we 
 seem warranted in doing," said the director. " For my part, 
 I have beheld the Day of the Lord in visions of the night 
 about once a week or oftener for nigh upon the last ten years, 
 indeed since the memorable time when I read the Apocalypsis 
 of the Apostle John." 
 
 "It might be well, however," replied Matthias, "that we 
 should not allow our hopes to grow cold, so that we become 
 like unto those who seem even to deny that the Day of the 
 Lord is at hand ; so I propose that we now sing as usual our
 
 Ixx SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 Judgment-day hymn." Thereupon, to a tune, the liveliness of 
 which was suggested by the rapid dactylic rhythm of the 
 words, the congregation broke forth spontaneously into the 
 following 
 
 EARLY CHRISTIAN HYMN. 
 
 Refrain The Day of the Lord is nigh ; 
 List to the heralding cry, 
 The blend of men's voices below 
 With the trumpet that rends the sky. 
 
 1 . The Day of your Lord is nigh ; 
 Lift, Christians, your gaze on high ; 
 Greet aloud His Return to earth 
 With your loudest triumphal cry. 
 
 2. Fulfilled is now what of old 
 The Oracles, Seers foretold 
 
 Our great Shepherd is here, and we stand 
 Sole ingathering of His Fold. 
 
 3. Begun is Messias's reign, 
 Passed now is Expectancy's pain, 
 Our nation's long frustrated hope 
 Turned to joy, thrilling heart and brain. 
 
 4. Above the high mountain's crest, 
 Whereupon earth's mirk clouds rest, 
 Now gleams a celestial glow, 
 
 As though earth in heaven's glories were drest. 
 
 5. So, smiting our long, dark night 
 
 We mark the sword-flash of Thy light ; 
 We hail the long- watch'd -for dawn, 
 Thy DAYSPRING so cloudless and bright. 
 
 6. With a tense uplifting strain, 
 Each Christian now joys to gain 
 The heaven-born bliss of his Lord, 
 With all freedom from ill and pain. 
 
 7. Heaven's canopy, see, is aglow, 
 
 Earth's suns and heaven's stars alike throw 
 On the WHITE THRONE and Sceptre of Christ 
 All the glory each knows to bestow.
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxi 
 
 8. Be ye ope, golden gates of heaven, 
 Iron barriers of hell, be ye riven ; 
 The two pathways opposed and trod 
 By the pardoned or unforgiven. 
 
 9. The Day of the Lord is come : 
 Whether mured ye be in the tomb, 
 
 Or chained in Life's prison, come forth 
 Come forth to your Rest and your Home. 
 
 This hymn was sung in a wild eager kind of way, as by 
 men intoxicated by some overpowering idea. It was followed 
 by another hymn, which resembled the one already quoted, so 
 far as it contained a reference to THE TWO WAYS of the Didache. 
 This second hymn had as a refrain an Invocation to the Day 
 of Judgment as the commencement of the Millennial Reign of 
 Christ. 
 
 The singing of these hymns was followed by the celebration 
 of the Eucharist which, however, consisted of a fairly 
 abundant meal of bread, milk, and wine, and other simple 
 comestibles. This concluded the sacred part of the meeting. 
 What was left referred to what might seem to deserve the 
 name of business matters. Thus the elders and ministerial 
 officials discussed informally the question of the variation 
 between two \6yia or sayings of Jesus, one of which belonged 
 to the church at Jerusalem, while the other they had borrowed 
 from the church at Nazareth. There was also the question of 
 St. Paul's Epistle to the church at Laodicea, and in what 
 manner it might be best returned. Other questions related 
 to the conduct of different members of the church, especially 
 some Jews of Alexandria and the East, who had imported 
 strange and immoral practices altogether opposed to the 
 teaching of the gospel. The common recitation of the Lord's 
 Prayer concluded the meeting.
 
 Ixxii SOUECES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 CAUSES or VARIETY OF ORGANISATION, OFFICIAL AND OTHER, 
 
 IN THE EARLY CHURCH. 
 
 In the preceding paragraphs we have noticed incidentally 
 various causes operating, in some cases obviously, in others 
 with a certain amount of secrecy, but in both cases with a 
 directness and imperative power which give them the character 
 of being inevitable, in the direction of diversifying the organisa- 
 tion of the various Christian communities. In point of fact, 
 each Christian congregation possessed an individual charac- 
 ter, extending not only to ministerial organisation but to 
 peculiarities of teaching, ritual observances, especially in the 
 celebration of the Agapae, or the ministration of the sacraments, 
 and in the collections of sacred literature the materials 
 which supplied the Eeader, or the elder, presbyter, prophet, or 
 other official who might for the time being exercise the 
 function of Eeader. The conditions which gave to these causes 
 their peculiarity of character differed of course widely at 
 different times, and under the stress of different circumstances. 
 Thus, to take obvious examples, the methods and conditions of 
 church-founding and establishing Christian communities must 
 have differed widely according as they were instituted before 
 the Fall of Jerusalem and the events consequent upon the 
 Diaspora the dispersal of the Jews throughout the greater 
 part of the Eoman Empire. Some unifying causes, tending to 
 assimilate the organisation and teaching of the various Christian 
 churches, were in operation by means of their having been 
 founded by one or other of the apostles who were especially 
 deputed for this purpose by the apostles at Jerusalem, at least 
 by some of them, for we have no example of a consentient 
 voice of the whole number upon any question relating to the
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxiii 
 
 organisation of a church. A priori, one might suppose that 
 Christian missionaries starting from a common centre would 
 leave behind them Christian settlements or colonies possessed 
 of similar ministers charged with similar duties; but in practice 
 we know how largely this supposition was modified by 
 accidental and spontaneous causes. St. Paul, e.g., is a well- 
 known example of an unofficial minister. His sudden out- 
 burst of new conviction is followed not by submission to 
 any of the twelve apostles (his deprecation of this is as boastful 
 as it is practical and emphatic) but by the acceptance of the 
 advice and sympathy of a certain disciple of whose name as 
 connected with the apostles we have no mention. The name 
 and title of Hellenists supply us with a standpoint of church 
 organisation, of ministerial officers, of doctrinal teaching and 
 ritual, which broadly demarcate those who own it from 
 Judaizing Christians. The accidental intercourse, e.g. between 
 Caesarea and Joppa, as illustrated in the story of the Centurion, 
 may be regarded as typical of a certain spontaneity between 
 Gentiles of, e.g., Jewish proclivities and Judaizing Christians. 
 The sermon of St. Paul at Athens, taken in connection with 
 portions of his epistles to Gentile converts, gives us very 
 remarkable illustrations of what may without offence be de- 
 signated as Christian opportunism. The only requisite needed 
 to show the flexibility with which the teachings of Christianity, 
 or in reality of a moderate Theism bordering on Christianity 
 a propaedeutic of it, so to speak, might be transferred to 
 the organisation of a new Christian church is afforded us by 
 St. Paul's sermon on the Areopagus. The connection of other 
 Christian disciples, as, e.g., Aquila and Priscilla, who came from 
 or might be connected with places so widely apart as Alex- 
 andria, Caesarea, Antioch, Joppa, Tyre, Corinth, and Damascus
 
 Ixxiv SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 suggests, as we shall presently see more fully, diversities 
 in the environment and indigenous circumstances of the 
 Christian communities pertaining to each locality, which 
 demarcated each (1) from its supposed founder, (2) from its 
 traditional parent church, (3) from those similarities of 
 discipline, doctrine, and worship in which the surrounding 
 churches most resembled each other. Probably the main 
 initial causes of demarcation, of authenticity, of absolute in- 
 clusive and exclusive independence, were summed up in the 
 names, teachings, and alleged writings of traditional founders. 
 St. Paul's enumeration of some main leaders of ecclesiastical 
 parties, confessedly imperfect though we know it to be, 
 may be taken as indicating at least one source of the demarca- 
 tion or delimitation of Christian sects and communities 
 which probably included doctrinal differences as well as some 
 varieties of organisation. Roughly speaking, these principles 
 of division might be distinguished under the following heads : 
 
 1. The Personal Influence of the Pounder. 
 
 2. Racial and Linguistic Causes. 
 
 3. Ecclesiastical and Religious Influences. 
 
 4. Political and Commercial Influences. 
 
 5. Family Ties. 
 
 1. Personal Influence of the Founder. Every one of the great 
 Name-Teachers among the apostles may be regarded more or less 
 as church founders, and therefore as types, more or less different, 
 of ecclesiastical organisations. Paul, Apollos, Cephas, James, 
 Jude stand for personal sources of probably various ministerial 
 arrangements in communities and independent churches. The 
 two first named are the apostles neither of them, be it remem- 
 bered, belonging to the Jewish apostolic assembly at Jerusalem
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxv 
 
 who exercised most authority db extra in the details of church- 
 founding, though the sphere even of St. Paul himself does not 
 seem to have been very great in co-ordinating the official 
 orders of the churches he established. The weight and 
 direction of the great apostle's jurisdiction were certainly more 
 moral than official, and it is to him that we are indebted, not 
 for any form of government or specific and unalterable order 
 of worship, so much as for an inculcation of spiritual freedom 
 both as respects doctrine and ritual, which was really equiva- 
 lent to a regeneration of Christian thought and life. The 
 influence of Apollos was to a still greater extent of a 
 Gentilising kind. The eloquent Jew of Alexandria helped 
 to introduce into the nascent Judaism of the Christian church 
 such modifications as would be afforded by the half-Greek, 
 half-Oriental culture of Alexandria. We can hardly be wrong 
 in attributing to his influence what St. Paul might have regarded 
 as an excessive stress on cro<f>ia, such as is marked by the two 
 epistles to the Corinthians, while the stress of those epistles 
 on a semi-mystic definition of Christian love, or the Neo- 
 Platonic speculation of the second epistle as to the unclothing 
 of the Christian's present body and his being clothed upon by 
 a new ideal body, manifest clear affinities with the teaching 
 which had already found its home in Alexandria. 
 
 2. (A.) Racial and Linguistic Causes. Less important, how- 
 ever, than the personal influence of the foremost leaders of 
 thought in the Christian world, as a determinant of variety of 
 organisation in separate communities, was the agency more 
 than once alluded to, which might have been termed Eacial 
 prepotence. Almost in every instance the founding of a 
 church was the planting in the midst of a more or less
 
 Ixxvi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 alien environment of a new religion. Whether the seed- 
 plot was Jew or Gentile, Greek or Bornan, Eastern or 
 Western, European, African, or Asiatic, or, with stronger 
 racial demarcation, whether the aboriginal distinctions and 
 proclivities were Celt or Teuton, Syro-Palestinian, Boman, 
 or Hellenic, the circumstances of the planting, or rather, as we 
 may say in most cases, the intrusion of the new seed into soil 
 only partially prepared for its reception, must have been of a 
 more or less similar or analogous character. The main fact in 
 every instance where the new depositum of Christianity had 
 been placed in a fresh, partly cultivated seed-plot, was to 
 induce in the produce some modification of the seed sown. 
 The harvested grain represented and perpetuated not only the 
 qualities of the seed but the nature of the soil. Few 
 phenomena are more remarkable, albeit they have until recent 
 times been comparatively seldom heeded, than this dual 
 fructification of the planting of Christianity. Actuated 
 perhaps by a pious but uncritical persuasion of the over- 
 whelming supremacy of the seed of the Gospel, Christian 
 historians have credited it with a prepotency which history, 
 minutely investigated, proves it never actually possessed. To 
 take a single instance, Bishop Lightfoot * insists with commend- 
 able particularity on the racial qualities of the Galatians, 
 which he shows to have been Celtic. 
 
 " The main qualities of the Gaulish character are traced with 
 great distinctness by Roman writers. Quickness of apprehension, 
 promptitude in action, great impressibility, an eager craving after 
 knowledge this is the brighter aspect of the Celtic character. . . . 
 A late Greek rhetorician commends the Galatians as more keen 
 and quicker of apprehension than the genuine Greeks, adding that 
 
 1 Epistle to Galatians, p. 251.
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxvii 
 
 the moment they catch sight of a philosopher they cling to the 
 skirts of his cloak as the steel does to the magnet. It is chiefly, 
 however, on the more forbidding features of their character that 
 contemporary writers dwell. Fickleness is the term used to ex- 
 press their temperament. This instability of character was the 
 great difficulty against which Caesar had to contend in his dealings 
 with the Gaul. Nor did they show more constancy in the dis- 
 charge of their religious than of their social obligations. The 
 hearty zeal with which they embraced the apostle's teaching, fol- 
 lowed by their rapid apostasy, is only one instance out of many of 
 the reckless facility with which they adopted and discarded one 
 religious system after another." x 
 
 This diagnosis of tendencies, religious and intellectual, is 
 but one example out of many of similar proclivities dependent 
 on indigenous and racial qualities which might be applied to 
 other districts and towns in every instance of a special 
 localisation of special tendencies. What was true of the 
 Oalatians might, e.g., have been true of the inhabitants of 
 Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, etc. In other words, the 
 tenor of the written advice of St. Paul or of any one of the 
 twelve might have been determined by the qualities inborn 
 and autochthonous of the dominating influences in a compli- 
 cated commingling of various ancestral populations, taking, 
 e.g., the churches of Asia Minor or Northern Syria, in which an 
 aboriginal element of a Syro-Phenician, or oriental kind might 
 have been modified by successive migrations from Persia, 
 Parthia, or Arabic sources, the commingling of races to be still 
 further complicated by the changes of populations incident to 
 to the continuous victories of the Roman arms, and the settle- 
 ment of the Roman legionaries in different towns and districts 
 
 1 Lightfoot, Galaiians, p. 15.
 
 Ixxviii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 which they had subjugated; or the overflow of conquered 
 peoples into neighbouring countries, as, for instance, the 
 Diaspora of the Jews with reference to Palestine ; the dispersal 
 of the Hellenes from Greece ; in short, the scattering of all 
 newly conquered peoples over the provinces previously sub- 
 dued. How the racial distinctions that emerged from this 
 partially accidental commixture of various populations affected 
 their reception of Christianity, and the modes in which they 
 solved such problems as the question of the official organisation 
 of the Christian communities that became established in their 
 midst, is a large theme into which it is not needful for us to 
 enter. What seems certain as an outcome of the general 
 question is, that the doctrines and ritual usages of the nascent 
 creed were profoundly modified by the beliefs and modes of 
 worship that were already in existence. Whether it was 
 borrowed from the Eoman policy of admitting the Deities of 
 newly conquered nations and peoples into their Pantheon, 
 as well as tolerating all alien usages that were tolerable from 
 the standpoint of Eoman Law, or not, it is certain that 
 the leaders of Christianity, whether belonging to the 
 Jerusalem apostolate or possessing affinities with foreign 
 schools of thought, as in the case of Paul, Apollos, Barnabas, 
 Aquila, and Priscilla, introduced as few modifications into 
 resemblances and analogies of Christianity with older modes 
 of faith as they could possibly help. The precedent of St. Paul 
 finding the rudiments of Christian Theism in Aratus and 
 Menander, or his decision as to the expediency of permitting 
 Christians to eat meat once offered to idols, may be taken as 
 well-known cases of the modification of the belief and practice 
 of the new Christianity by predilections and religious customs 
 which were traceable to race and old indigenous beliefs and
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxix 
 
 usages. Most of the tendencies to new so-called heretical 
 beliefs which manifested themselves in the propagation of the 
 nascent faith, as, e.g., Gnosticism, Ebionism, Millenarianism, are 
 explicable by racial attributes or religious predilections. The 
 tendencies of the Galatians, just alluded to, to an ornate 
 sensuous mode of worship ; the natural affinities of the Greeks 
 for intellectual culture and speculation; the tendencies of native 
 Eomans to lay stress on elaborate organisation ; the metaphysi- 
 cal inclinations of certain centres of population in Asia Minor, 
 in Alexandria, in the Jews of Lower, or among the Copts of 
 Upper, Egypt ; the capacity for subtle ratiocination or refined 
 abstraction, which also found a source of regeneration and 
 permanent home in the most eastern portions of Asia Minor, 
 so as to manifest a not improbable alliance with Buddhism and 
 other oriental faiths all may be regarded as impresses, tenden- 
 cies, re-shapings, and modifications with which the older races 
 and religions stamped afresh the new gospel of Christianity, to 
 the extent not only of altering its physiognomy but even of 
 changing for good or ill its most essential spirit. Few subjects 
 in the later development of historical Christianity are fuller 
 of interest than the tenacity with which the older creeds or 
 modes of thought have maintained a kind of existence wholly 
 irrespective of Christianity, or the strange perversity with 
 which the newly commingled and adulterated articles of faith 
 have chosen to attest their continued existence. Any student 
 of mediseval history, especially that of the Italian Eenaissance 
 in the thirteenth and two following centuries, is aware how 
 much the revival of classicalism was facilitated by the survival, 
 especially in provincial districts, of names and beliefs derived 
 from the religious culture of Greece and Eome, as, e.g., the 
 names and attributes of the Deities of Olympus, which the
 
 Ixxx SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 spread of Christianity for so many centuries had not succeeded 
 in annihilating. One of the most interesting features of Dr. 
 Dollinger's latest work, 1 and that not his least useful or elaborate, 
 is his striking investigation of examples of the retention for so 
 many centuries of racial affinities, traditions, and usages in the 
 sphere of religion and worship. Some of the sects in which 
 this uncouth amalgamation of the newer faith and older pre- 
 dilections was most marked are the Paulicians, the Armenian 
 Paulicians, 2 the Monarchists, the Katharists, the Oophites, etc. 
 The degree of modification of nascent Christianity by older faiths, 
 or aboriginal tendencies, of course depended on a great variety 
 of causes and circumstances ; but, these being allowed for, the 
 phenomena were, in most cases, alike. Some of the indigenous 
 tendencies were of Eastern origin, as, e.g., Parseeism, Buddhism; 
 and their prevalence may be traced from the beginning of the 
 second to the end of the eleventh centuries. They are also 
 distinctively marked by the fact that they favour various aspects 
 or presentations of Christianity. To some, e.g., the Messianic 
 or Millenarian phases of Christianity recommended themselves 
 in finding points of assimilation with earlier beliefs or super- 
 stitions derived from other sources. The Gnostic (so-called) 
 heresies again were the more readily received by peoples of 
 greater imaginative or speculative power. The prevalence, 
 moreover, of Circumcision or of Ebionite tendencies implied 
 among certain peoples a predilection in favour of those beliefs 
 of Christianity that were more distinctively Jewish. It has 
 even been held that certain indigenous ideas among the Druids 
 of Old Britain and Gaul facilitated the adoption and diffusion 
 of certain notions of Christianity. In short, throughout the 
 
 1 Beitrdge zur SiUengeschichte des Hittelalters, 2 vols. 1890. 
 
 2 For the distinction see Dollinger, op. cit. chap. i.
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxxi 
 
 whole of Christendom, or, as it might be better put, the sphere 
 of overt Christianity, racial differences constituted an impor- 
 tant agency of a variety, not only of belief and of ritual usage, 
 but of organisation and ministerial arrangement. Headers were 
 most generally included among the functionaries of a given 
 community, in all cases in which : 
 
 (i.) The worship or Divine service took an especially didactic 
 turn. 
 
 (ii.) The authoritative records of a given church consisted of 
 written documents. 
 
 (iii.) In especial cases wherein the oral teaching of the 
 planters of Christianity had already assumed a written form, 
 and repositories of \6jia, epistles, written narratives of various 
 kinds, were regarded as the chief if not sole instruments of 
 religious culture. 
 
 2. (B.) Languages and their variety, considered in reference 
 to the inclusion of Readers and Interpreters among the 
 ordinary staff of the officials of a Church. As part of 
 the effects of race, nationality, blood, etc., in producing 
 variety in the ministerial organisation of Christian con- 
 gregations it is impossible to omit the agency of Languages. 
 In a Palestinian or North Syrian Church, e.g., part of the 
 functions of a Eeader would be to translate either from the 
 Hebrew or Chaldee into the Hebrew- Syriac or Greek. This, 
 e.g., would be his ordinary official duty as often as he was 
 required to translate portions of the Old Testament into 
 Greek, or, on the other hand, parts of the LXX. into Chaldee 
 or Syriac. No acquirements were more useful in the early 
 church when the rhetorical volubility befitting the ferment 
 and enthusiasm of its earliest foundations had subsided, and
 
 Ixxxii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 the more staid and permanent bases of written records had 
 taken their place. Whatever may be the reasonable interpre- 
 tation of the Pentecostal story of the second chapter of the 
 Acts of the Apostles, the narrative has an incidental value of 
 the highest importance, inasmuch as its list of tongues indicates 
 the languages already needed as vehicles of inter-cornmuni- 
 cation between Christian converts during the first century of 
 the Christian era. In point of fact, these names mark not 
 only nationalities but ecclesiastical communities, between 
 every pair of which the services of a Eeader or interpreter 
 might conceivably have been required. How important 
 languages had already become as conditions and instruments 
 of official organisation and ministration is shown by the 
 enumeration, already referred to, of the Spirit-directed 
 officers whose functions are described in St. Paul's Epistle to 
 the Ephesians. No less than two of the functions thus 
 described pertain to languages, and are so far functions of 
 the Eeader. These separable offices are : 
 
 (i.) Divers kinds of tongues. 
 
 (ii.) Interpretation of tongues. 
 
 Doubtless the necessity in almost every congregation for 
 linguistic functionaries does not prove the existence of sepa- 
 rately named and ordained ministers such as the Eeaders 
 subsequently became. For we may accept it as a rule per- 
 taining not only to ecclesiastical but to every species of 
 organisation, that the more imperative the duties, the less 
 need was there of any special segregation of a particular office. 
 Thus, wherever reading or interpretation formed the most 
 ordinary function of a religious service, the more reasonable 
 was it to require that every minister should show some pro- 
 ficiency, whether in reading, interpretation, or any other office
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxxiii 
 
 allied to them. Thus when the ecclesiastical offices com- 
 menced to segregate themselves, the duties of Reader might 
 conceivably have been performed by the bishop or overseer, 
 the presbyter, the elder, the apostle, the prophet, the exorcist, 
 or by any other official, permanent or temporary, accustomed 
 to take part in the official duties of the Church. Keverting 
 again to the passages above adduced of 1 Cor. xiv. 26, it is 
 evident that whatever contribution was brought to the per- 
 formance of a religious service was either given in the same 
 language or was so rendered by the aid of the interpreter. At 
 any rate, and this is the main portion of this purpose of the 
 argument, the linguistic conditions of the early Church, the 
 language or languages of its birth-place and cradle, the growth 
 of the Roman empire and its policy with reference to alien 
 creeds, were all data which claimed to be included in the full 
 consideration of the problem. All, or most of them, pointed 
 to the expediency of including Readers among the officials of 
 the Christian Church. All depend upon or are governed by 
 the rules of similarity, the inevitable adhesion to precedents, 
 which govern the establishment of any new religion among 
 older creeds a new religion promulgated and diffused by 
 records and documents of various kinds, as well as by public 
 and ritual acts of worship, and solemn confessions and pro- 
 clamations of faith. The new Christianity entered upon the 
 manifold religious cultus of the Roman empire with some- 
 thing of the appropriating tendencies that annexed the gods 
 of Hellas and re-created them new statues and images on 
 newly-graved pedestals, identified by new inscriptions and 
 glorified by new rites of worship in her own Pantheon. As 
 a recent writer has remarked : 
 
 "The fall of Corinth in the year 146 B.C., the year in which
 
 Ixxxiv SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 Carthage was destroyed, was a most important epoch in the reli- 
 gious as well as the civil history of the world. The tendency 
 strongly felt by the Roman at this period " (and which, it might 
 be added, went on steadily increasing) ..." to find his own Gods 
 again in those of the nations he subdued, and, when he had none 
 of his own that in any way corresponded, to adopt the new, 
 brought him, as respects religion also, into subjection to the 
 superior mind of captive Greece. The stories, many of them 
 grossly human, that were told of the gods of Olympus, were trans- 
 ferred to Jupiter, Juno, Mars, and other Latin divinities." l 
 
 Doubtless Greece and its subjugation, remembering that it 
 was then and long subsequently the centre of religious and 
 philosophic thought for the whole civilised world, affords us 
 a peculiarly striking illustration of the effect of racial 
 qualities in determining the form Christianity was certain 
 to take up in its peaceful propagandist invasion of her 
 intellectual sovereignty. Yet there were other examples 
 hardly less noteworthy of the same truths. The influx of 
 Oriental culture, whether it penetrated the new-founded 
 Christendom by way of Greece, or by the more direct 
 trading route of Alexandria and the Levant, was a powerful 
 instance of the modifying effects which Christianity at once 
 exercised on tendencies which were undoubtedly racial and 
 indigenous, both in their origin and enduring power. It would 
 be hardly too much to say that there was no case in the first 
 missionary energies of the Church in which some phases of 
 the beliefs and usages of the new faith were not changed, for 
 better or for worse, by the preponderating character and ten- 
 dencies of the new soil or depository in which it was placed. 
 
 3. Ecclesiastical and Religious Causes of Variety of 
 
 i Duff : Early Church, p. 7.
 
 INTRODUCTION 1XXXV 
 
 Organisation in the Early Church. But the local environ- 
 ment of early Christianity, regarded as a congeries of in- 
 fluences tending to create and sustain a variety of 
 organisation in its official arrangements, depended not only 
 on distinctions of race and idiosyncrasies of blood and 
 nationality. Other causes, themselves also dependent on 
 varieties of race, contributed to the same end. The growth of 
 the Eoman power was not only a development of rule and 
 political aggrandisement, but was a vehicle and impetus to 
 interchange of thought in religion, philosophy, and, in short, 
 on all questions of human concernment. This was largely 
 owing to the Eoman policy of tolerating all the alien religions 
 and modes of worship whose principles and usages were not 
 opposed to the ideas of Eoman universalist dominion. Thus 
 when Christianity began to stir itself in large centres of mixed 
 nationalities such as Alexandria, Corinth, Ephesus it found 
 itself confronted not by godless and religionless populations r 
 but by a number, less or more, of philosophic sects, religious 
 confraternities, esoteric communities, and semi-ecclesiastical or 
 hierarchical persuasions. Philosophic schools were still not only 
 in existence, but manifesting no small amount of intellectual 
 and spiritual activity. The Stoics, Epicureans, Neo-Platonists 
 were only a small number from the sum total of the philoso- 
 phical sects which Eoman culture derived from its intellectual 
 parent, the later Greek philosophy ; and we must remember 
 that wherever a school or community of philosophers existed 
 there was a religious or theological side of the philosophical 
 teaching. Taking, e.g., the Stoic philosophy, and this as 
 exemplified, e.g., in Cicero or Lucretius, the thoughtful 
 Christian could not help finding himself face to face with 
 questions of a theological purport which Christianity, if it did
 
 Ixxxvi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 not attempt to answer, at least was not backward to suggest. 
 When we come to the more philosophical among the Christian 
 Fathers of the third, fourth, and subsequent centuries, such 
 thinkers, e.g., as Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, 
 Lactantius, and Augustine ; and when the earlier relations of 
 Christianity to the religio-philosophical phases of the highest 
 culture of the Eoman empire had become matured, yet not 
 to such an extent that its gradual evolutionary aspects might 
 not easily be traced, we find, and are perhaps astonished at 
 finding, how many and how various were the points of view 
 which the religious thought of the Eoman Empire offered to 
 the nascent and half-persuasive, half-polemical incursions of 
 the Christian Church. To some points of this general ques- 
 tion, especially as relating to the mutual connection of Greece 
 and Kome, we have already called attention. There are, how 
 ever, other aspects pertaining to it which deserve notice, but 
 which would take up too much space to treat with the fulness 
 they merit. Thus Professor Moeller, following the steps of 
 Mommsen and Foucard, points out the precedents which the 
 so-called collegia or sodalitia among the Romans afforded to 
 certain rites of the Christian Church : 
 
 " In these cultus associations, the common religious bond 
 brought a collection of persons, who were otherwise separated 
 from one another by differences of rank, into close and brotherly 
 combination, with equal rights as regards the founding of laws, 
 the admission of new members, and the exercise of discipline in 
 the society. Hence they afforded a pattern after which those 
 who believed in Christ might organise themselves. Among them 
 there existed solemn acts of initiation for those who were to be 
 admitted, with which the baptism of Christians may be compared ; 
 and there were feasts for which the common table of the love 
 feasts afforded a parallel. But the Christian assemblies for Divine
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxxvii 
 
 worship which stood open to the uninitiated also, and served to 
 attract them likewise, corresponded to the procedure of these 
 associations in their exoteric assemblies." l 
 
 The parallelism here adduced forms, however, only one of 
 a certain number, all of them of greater or less significance. 
 Here, be it remembered, we are for the time being shutting 
 out of sight the precedents, analogies, and similarities to 
 Christian acts of worship found in Jewish public worship, as 
 well as in certain devotional forms and usages restricted to 
 domestic and private use. Confining ourselves to Gentile 
 parallels, we merely indicate for a posteriori purposes the 
 possible origin, or it may be modification and remoulding, of 
 Christian rites and forms, whether public or private. Not 
 that the precedents to ostensibly Gentile sources altogether 
 excluded their connection with Jewish usages wherever 
 synagogues existed ; and it would be difficult, after the complete 
 scattering of the Diaspora, to name any part of Christendom 
 where synagogues, or their substitutes Proseuchae, did not exist. 
 " To the Jew," as Dr. Edersheim expressed it, " the synagogue 
 formed the bond of union throughout the world." These were 
 not so much places of worship as of religious teaching. The 
 ministers employed therein were Eeaders or Translators, and 
 the Christian communities most in touch with these meeting- 
 places were certain to employ the ministerial functions of 
 Eeaders, whether they were officially set apart for those duties 
 or not. Probably too, the lectionary employed in the syna- 
 gogues supplied a scheme of something like uniformity of 
 Scripture, i.e. Old Testament, readings. Still, as we have 
 
 1 Moeller : translation, published by Sonnenschein and Co., vol. i. 
 pp. 56-61. This work may be recommended with the utmost confidence to 
 the English reader as among the best of recent compilations on Ecclesiastical 
 History.
 
 Ixxxviii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 already intimated, the more immediate and preponderating pre- 
 cedents were derived from Gentile sources. It was more natural 
 that a poor, recently-founded and struggling sect should defer 
 to a superior and conquering, than to a subject race, even though 
 there were acknowledged points of union between the new- 
 gendered community and the subject race. It would be 
 difficult to name any custom, whether of public or private life, 
 which could not plead some analogous usage in the Roman or 
 Gentile environment that surrounded it. Thus the Christian 
 usage of holding religious meetings in private houses resembled 
 those domestic rites in which the Lares and Penates were the 
 divinities most commonly propitiated (sacra privata), although 
 they were sometimes employed as well for the worship of the 
 superior divinities. The Public Feriae, again, were not only 
 analogous to the Christian Sunday, but were actually abolished 
 when Christianity became the established religion of the 
 Roman Empire. The works permitted to be done in the 
 Feriae by Christian bishops and consuls bore a curious and 
 even literal similarity to those allowed in the Gospels (comp. 
 e.g. Matt. xii. 11). The oracles of Fortune, again, derived as 
 they were from the Greek oracles, supplied the precedent for 
 the choice of an apostle instead of Judas Iscariot. The 
 esoteric rites of the Greek mysteries, transplanted as they 
 were, and superadded, to the Temple worship of every great 
 town in the Roman Empire, as, e.g., the rites of Aphrodite at 
 Corinth, those of Diana at Ephesus, bore evident resemblances 
 of derivation and analogy to Christian sacraments and Agapae. 
 The baptisms of the Christian churches were as closely affiliated 
 to the lustrations of Gentile rites as to the circumcision of the 
 Jewish Church. The resemblance between the mysteries of 
 Greek and Roman religions, and the more esoteric rites of the
 
 INTRODUCTION Ixxxix 
 
 Christian church extended as far even as the names, because 
 the /iy<TT77<?, or Mystagogue, was applied to Christian bishops. 
 There were especial cases in which the new leaven of a foreign 
 cult Indian, i.e., Hindoo or Parsee, Persian or Arabic, induced 
 a fermentation, and produced a subsequent religious and ritual 
 diet, a daily bread, as it might be termed, of a peculiar kind, in 
 the varied forms of Gnosticism, which found a cradle in 
 Alexandria, and on the eastern bounds of the Eoman Empire. 
 The manifold derivation of functions or functionaries employed 
 in the Christian church from Greek politics has recently been 
 made the theme of an instructive paper in the CLASSICAL REVIEW. 
 The subject is treated at too great a length to permit more than 
 a passing reference. Here we learn what Greek affinities are 
 possessed by such New Testament terms as TroXis, Trdpoiieos, 
 /o<?, TToXtreu/ia, K.T.\., and a number of other words of semi- 
 political meaning. The line and object of the paper may be 
 indicated by the following quotation. Speaking of St. Paul's 
 employment of the term irpoa-rdr^ as applied to Phoebe, 
 Rom. xvi. 2, and its interpretation by modern commentators 
 as the Patronus of a Roman Collegium, the author proceeds : 
 
 " I prefer to think that St. Paul's use of the words was derived 
 immediately from its common political sense. The Christians at 
 the port of Corinth were in the position of resident aliens in the 
 presence of Grseco-Roman society, and even in respect of the Jews 
 established there ; and Phoebe may well have been a woman of 
 some social position, and of wealth, who employed her influence 
 (after her baptism) to protect and befriend the church of which 
 she was a 
 
 4 and 5. Commercial Causes. Family ties and minor causes 
 of variation in Ecclesiastical Organization. Little need 
 be added in these brief paragraphs on what may be termed 
 
 9
 
 XC SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 the lesser causes of variation of organisation among the 
 different ecclesiastical communities scattered throughout the 
 recently formed but rapidly expanding Christendom. Even 
 a superficial reading of the Acts of the Apostles, the Pauline 
 Epistles, and the Apostolical Fathers, will suffice to show how 
 powerful were the influences underlying and, so to speak, 
 hidden beneath the political circumstances of the time. Only 
 to mention one, to which attention has rarely been called by 
 Christian historians, yet possessed of an energy whose potency 
 can hardly be exaggerated : the final subjugation of the Jews 
 and their expatriation from Palestine, forming the final scenes 
 of the general movement styled the Diaspora, were events of 
 the highest importance to the rapid spread of Christianity. 
 The Diaspora was in fact an irregular kind of colonisation on a 
 large scale. In every town or large centre of population 
 throughout Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa, colonies 
 of Jews became settled, bearing with them a greater or less 
 amount of the Christian leaven which had become diffused 
 throughout Palestine and adjacent countries. The native 
 energies of these Jewish colonies, quickened into fresh activity 
 by their new position under novel circumstances, took inevit- 
 ably that form which more than any other was natural to the 
 Jew at this period, i.e., that of commercial energy. Not only 
 was there an increased traffic among the new colonies originated 
 by the Diaspora, but there was for some time, partly in the 
 rear of the Roman subjugation, partly as an independent move- 
 ment, a continuous outflow of Jewish settlers from Palestine, 
 carrying with them exports not only of material products, but 
 also of thought and belief. Doubtless the chiefest of these 
 new exports of a religious and spiritual kind was a newly 
 modelled and quickened belief in the speedy advent of the
 
 INTRODUCTION XC1 
 
 Messias ; but besides that, partly by necessary inclusion, was 
 the motley diversified Christianity which, from its origin and 
 limits, might bear the name of Palestinian. It thus happened 
 to early Christianity as to the earlier development of Greek 
 philosophy it was largely propagated and diffused by the 
 colonies. The new religion like the speculations of the 
 Eleatics followed the course of traffic. The teachings of 
 Christ to a certain extent became an article of export, so to 
 speak, first from Palestine to the Jewish settlements without, 
 and then from one colony to another. If it were needed to 
 give some idea of the extent of this half-commercial, half- 
 religious activity, we might, perhaps, draw a line round the 
 area included within the Missionary Journeys of St. Paul. 
 It is certain that there was no town which formed a part 
 or stage of the Pauline Itinerary in which a colony of more 
 or less christianised Jews might not be found. The inter- 
 change of religious commodities within the limits of this 
 circumscription was of course not only or even chiefly oral. 
 Messianic beliefs and hopes forming the varied material of 
 different Apocalypses, letters to and from leading Apostles 
 on different questions relating to Christianity, such as, e.g. were 
 the Pauline Letters, or those addressed to the seven Churches 
 of Asia Minor letters addressed to private persons who 
 were so far persons of eminence as to make communications 
 addressed to them authoritative. Different collections of 
 the written records belonging to Christian Churches, as, e.g., 
 parts of the LXX. version of the 0. T. Scriptures, all formed 
 part of an active interchange of spiritual exports and imports, 
 as it might be called. The existence of such a traffic im- 
 plied necessarily the duties of such ministers as Eeaders, 
 Interpreters, Teachers of languages, and generally officials
 
 XCll SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLTC CANONS 
 
 concerned with linguistic studies and didactic instruction. 
 The circumstances of each particular Church, especially its 
 environment in respect of linguistic custom and proficiency, 
 would be a primary factor in determining the character of 
 its ministerial organisation. Obviously, the greater the need 
 of the Eeader or Interpreter, the more important became his 
 office. These were functions, be it remembered, wholly unlike 
 the performance of any ritual act, which could not be 
 discharged in virtue of any special consecration. The Bishop 
 or Presbyter as the same general overseer was wont to be 
 called might be an acknowledged Eeader in virtue of 
 linguistic talent or study, but the Eeader needed not any 
 other aid or intervention besides that of the function which 
 gave him his name. So far as the instruction of the young 
 newly founded Churches was concerned, and we need hardly 
 be reminded that this was their especial requirement, the 
 Eeader was of more importance than any other official. 
 Indeed, the fact that the office of the Eeader soon became 
 merged in, or was considered as equivalent to, that of 
 Preacher or Evangelist, is itself a proof of its importance 
 and dignity. It was the office which, become conjoined with 
 or merged in other ministerial functions, imparted to them 
 whatever superiority they were entitled to claim. 
 
 THE APOSTOLIC FATHEKS AND THE DIDACHE. 
 
 The group of writings known as the Apostolic Fathers is 
 charged with unusual importance for the history of the 
 Church. Not that they have much value as a literature, 
 or even as a trustworthy record of historical events. Their 
 chief, but still undeniable interest arises from other causes.
 
 INTRODUCTION XClll 
 
 They stand as the vestibule or entrance porch to an enormous 
 but still irregular building or temple in which we can trace 
 vaguely and dimly the style of the architect. They are 
 not accredited and demonstrable history, but mtmoires pour 
 servir. Like the preliminary studies to an enormous picture 
 they enable the close observer or accurate student to trace 
 the rudimentary lines, forms, shades and colourings which 
 subsequently, by various laws and spontaneous processes of 
 self-evolution, coalesce and blend into a grand historical 
 picture of world import in its duration, its human interests, 
 and general significance. It is partly the recognition of their 
 varied importance that has since the beginning of Church 
 history made them the centre, 1st, of a foolish and super- 
 stitious reverence ; 2nd, of an uncritical estimate in the 
 interests of ecclesiasticism ; 3rd, of a fair, sane, and en- 
 lightened judgment, which, determining their actual value 
 and resisting all temptation to exaggeration of a tendential 
 kind, has finally succeeded in equalising their position with 
 that of all other ecclesiastical writings from the commence- 
 ment of Christianity until our own time. 
 
 One inevitable effect of the place occupied by these writings 
 at the commencement of Church history is their importance 
 for the light they throw on the schematology of the Christian 
 Church. Taking, e.g., the question of our present concern- 
 ment, it would be impossible to ignore or deny the importance 
 of the Apostolic Fathers in the consideration of the official 
 organisation of the Early Church. Under any circumstances 
 this would be a duty of the most imperative kind ; it is, 
 however, rendered of far more importance by the truth now 
 undenied and undeniable that the testimony of these writings, 
 in times as unscrupulous as they were uncritical, was warped
 
 XCiv SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 and perverted in the cause of hierarchical aggrandisement. 
 Turning to their now purer and impartial judgment, we 
 have to note and to discriminate two main facts. 
 
 (1) We have to take cognisance of the general tone of 
 the writings on all questions bearing on Church government. 
 
 (2) We have to note, to discriminate, and to consider in a 
 separate paragraph, the sudden and unexpected incursion of a 
 new thought so inconsistent with the general tenor of all prior 
 thought on the subject, so clearly animated by ecclesiastical 
 motives, that we have no choice but to regard it not as per- 
 taining to Apostolic times but as being an audacious forgery 
 of probably several centuries afterwards. 
 
 Now the first consideration that emerges from the former of 
 these critical points is that the Apostolic Fathers, in some 
 respects like the canonical books of the New Testament, are 
 dispersed abroad in time as in place. Eoughly they may be 
 said to occupy, so far as the best critical guesswork can 
 grapple with the question, the period from A.D. 57 to A.D. 160. 
 We may take the former as the best approximate date of the 
 Pauline Epistles, while the latter we may accept as at least 
 nearing the date of the Didacht a recently discovered writing 
 to which we must presently call attention. Here then we 
 have these landmarks, each of them dealing with the official 
 organisation of the Early Church. 
 
 The tone of the Pauline Epistles we have already had 
 occasion to notice. We have seen that nothing can be more 
 informal, indeterminate, freer from solidarity, organisation or 
 systematisation. Nothing can be more opposed, not only to an 
 identity, but even to a similarity between the official arrange- 
 ments of different religious communities. It will be quite 
 easy to prove that this tone pervades to an equally marked
 
 INTRODUCTION XCV 
 
 extent the Didacht at the middle of the second century and 
 the Apostolic Fathers irregularly filling up the period between 
 that date and that of the Pauline Epistles. In order, however, 
 to appreciate the strength of the argument, it might be well 
 to juxta-posit the utterances : 
 
 (i.) Of the Pauline Epistles, about 57 A.D. 
 (ii.) The Didacht, about 160 A.D. 
 
 (iii.) The Apostolic Fathers, filling up vaguely the inter- 
 mediate space. 
 
 Thus we have in the history contemporaneous with the 
 earlier Pauline Letters the following : 
 
 Acts xiii. 1, 2. "Now there were in the church that was at 
 Antioch certain Prophets and Teachers ; as Barnabas, and Simeon 
 that was called Niger, and Lucius of Gyrene, and Manaen, which 
 had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul," etc., etc. 
 
 Romans xii. 6, 7, 8. "Having then gifts differing according to 
 the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy 
 according to the proportion of faith ; or ministry, let us wait on our 
 ministering ; or he that teacheth, on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, 
 on exhortation." 
 
 1 Cor. xii. 7-12. "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given 
 to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit 
 the word of wisdom ; to another the word of knowledge by the 
 same Spirit ; to another faith by the same Spirit ; to another the 
 gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of 
 miracles ; to another prophecy ; to another discerning of spirits ; 
 to another divers kinds of tongues ; to another the interpretation 
 of tongues." 
 
 1 Cor. xii. 28. "And God hath set some in the church, first 
 apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, 
 then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." 
 
 1 Cor. xiv. 26. "How is it then, brethren? when ye come 
 together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a
 
 XCVl SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things 
 be done unto edifying." 
 
 Eph. iv. 11. " And he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; 
 and some, evangelists ; arid some, pastors and teachers ; for the per- 
 fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying 
 of the body of Christ." 
 
 The aggregate exegesis of these well-known texts cannot 
 possibly be mistaken by any impartial critic. Indeed, the only 
 marvel is that the traditionally ecclesiastical opinions as to 
 the threefold order of the Christian ministry or the figment of 
 an Apostolical succession could ever have been maintained in 
 the teeth of such antagonistic testimony. The outcome of the 
 New Testament evidence on the subject is so well put by 
 Bishop Lightfoot in his famous dissertation On The Christian 
 Ministry, that I must be pardoned for making a few quotations 
 from the last edition of it, which he published just before his 
 death ; l especially as he has been thought, nor indeed without 
 reason, to have drawn back somewhat from the freer and more 
 unecclesiastical position he had adopted in earlier editions. 
 
 " So it was also with the Christian priesthood. For communi- 
 cating instruction and for preserving public order, for conduct- 
 ing religious worship and for dispensing social charities, it became 
 necessary to appoint special officers. But the priestly functions 
 and privileges of the Christian people are never regarded as trans- 
 ferred or even delegated to these officers. They are called stewards 
 or messengers of God, servants or ministers of the church and the 
 like, but the sacerdotal title is never once conferred upon them. 
 
 " As individuals, all Christians are priests alike. As members of 
 a corporation, they have their several and distinct offices. The 
 similitude of the human body, where each limb or organ performs 
 its own functions, and the health and vigour of the whole frame 
 
 1 Commentary on the Epistle to the Philippians (edition 1891), p. 185.
 
 INTRODUCTION XCVll 
 
 are promoted by the harmonious but separate working of every 
 part, was chosen by St. Paul to represent the progress and opera- 
 tion of the Church. In two passages written at two different 
 stages in his Apostolic career, he briefly sums up the offices in the 
 Church with reference to this image. In the earlier he enumerates 
 ' first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then powers, 
 then gifts of healing, helps, governments, kinds of tongues.' In 
 the second passage the list is briefer : ' Some, apostles ; and some, 
 prophets ; and some, pastors and teachers.' The earlier enumera- 
 tion differs chiefly from the latter in specifying distinctly certain 
 miraculous powers, this being required by the Apostle's argument, 
 which is directed against an exaggerated estimate and abuse of 
 such gifts. Neither list can have been intended to be exhaustive. 
 In both alike the work of converting unbelievers and founding 
 congregations holds the foremost place, while the permanent govern- 
 ment and instruction of the several churches is kept in the back- 
 ground. . . . But the permanent ministry, though lightly touched 
 upon, is not forgotten, for under the designation of teachers, helps, 
 governments, in the one passage, of pastors and teachers in the 
 other, these officers must le intended" \ ! ! l 
 
 Passing on to the Bidaclie, and recognising the patent truth 
 that we are still in the same region of Church government 
 the temperate zone, as we may term it, of Ecclesiastical History 
 as that whereinto the Pauline Letters introduced us, we need 
 not stop to investigate the historical antecedents or value of 
 this famous document. Certainly of no writing that has come 
 to light since the commencement of the Christian era has the 
 exploration been more remarkable, more exhaustive, or more 
 
 1 The tendential tone of the must be intended, uncorroborated as it is by 
 any decisive passage or argument in its support, is obvious. Though a 
 prelate of enormous learning, especially in the lore of Church History and 
 Antiquities, Bishop Lightfoot is not free from the predilections which render 
 our English Church History so untrustworthy.
 
 xcviii SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 satisfactory. With the implication of TEACHING contained in 
 the name we find that the Instruction, both in content and 
 value, which it imparts to our nineteenth century is immeasur- 
 able so great and diversiform is its recognised importance 
 that it has become already a nucleus for a complete literature 
 of its own. Not the least among the varied streams of light it 
 has shed forth, in so many directions, is its illuminating vis 
 viva with regard to early church government. As I have 
 already remarked, the position it lays down in church govern- 
 ment, as in discipline and doctrine, is that of the Pauline 
 Letters. This may readily be confirmed by a few extracts from 
 its Part in. Chap. 11. 
 
 Apostles and Prophets. 
 
 1. Whosoever shall come and teach you all these things we 
 have above mentioned, receive him. 
 
 2. But if the teacher turn and teach another doctrine to 
 destroy what we have said, hear him not. But if he teach 
 with a view to add righteousness and knowledge of the Lord, 
 receive him as the Lord. 
 
 3. As to the Apostles and Prophets according to the oracle 
 of the Gospel, do this : 
 
 4. Let every Apostle who comes to you be received as 
 though he were the Lord. 
 
 5. He shall remain one day, and if there be need, 
 another day also ; but if he stay three days, he is a false 
 prophet. 
 
 And when the Apostle cometh forth, let him not receive 
 anything except bread until he go to rest ; if he beg for money 
 he is a false prophet.
 
 INTRODUCTION XC1X 
 
 Not every one that speaketh in the spirit 1 is a prophet, but 
 only if he have the character of the Lord. 
 
 Every true prophet who is willing to settle among you is 
 worthy of his maintenance. 
 
 So also a true teacher is worthy, even as the labourer, of his 
 maintenance. 
 
 Therefore all the first fruits of the winepress and the thresh- 
 ing floor, etc., etc., thou shalt take and give to the Prophets. . . 
 
 Chapter xv. Appoint to yourselves Bishops and Deacons 
 worthy of the Lord, meek men and without covetousness, true 
 and approved, for they also minister to you the holy service of 
 the Prophets and Teachers. 
 
 Do not therefore despise them, for they are those who are 
 honoured among you with the Prophets and Teachers? 
 
 There are few features in the history of the Church for the 
 first two centuries, or up to A.D. 250, for which eager appeal has 
 not been made to the Didache, as the latest and most unbiassed 
 witness on the subject. It has been invoked to bear its testi- 
 mony to the mode of worship in general use so far as such a 
 
 1 This clearly includes every office, e.g., Prophesying, the Gift of Tongues, 
 Interpretation of Tongues, of which the immediate impulse was held to be 
 spontaneous, intuitional, and direct, and to be independent of all teaching 
 and suggestion of a merely human kind. The passage is interesting as con- 
 firmatory of more than one similar passage in St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Corinthians, and proving the need of caution and watchfulness on the parts 
 of the rulers of the church in repressing the wilder utterances of the more 
 enthusiastic among their Christian converts, notwithstanding, or may we 
 say on account of their claim to INSPIRATION. 
 
 - Dr. Harnack points out that the series of church officials here mentioned 
 corresponds with marvellous exactitude to that contained in 1 Cor. xii. 28 
 d.ir6ffro\oi, 7rpo<f>TJTat, 5i8dffKa\oi, tTriffKoiroi, SidKovoi. Lehre der Zicolf Apostel , 
 i. p. 38.
 
 C SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 mode of worship could be said to exist, on the manner of 
 administering the Eucharist, on the usages of early Christians 
 in respect of Agapae and other occasions for " the assembling 
 of themselves together " ; and almost more than on any other 
 feature or fact of early Church History, appeal was made to 
 the DidacM as to (1) the general organisation of the Primitive 
 Church ; (2) whether there was any established official order 
 or whether as a special question the threefold stages of ministers 
 existed in any one church, or in any one selection on local 
 grounds or circumstances as, e.g., Palestinian or Asia Minor 
 of assorted churches or communities. 1 
 
 i A careful reading of the DidacM allows certain inferences to 
 be made bearing closely on the organisation, or we should say the 
 want of organisation, in the early church. Thus we find evidence 
 that the churches, especially those which might be locally de- 
 signated as Palestinian, or those of the Diaspora those, in other 
 words, in which the traditional usages, etc., reverted to the 
 Temple Service, or the customary routine of the Synagogues 
 such, for instance, was the distinction in point of age between 
 the elders and the younger members of the community, though 
 here, as in all other distinctions, there is no trace of a hard 
 and fast line being laid down, the question of fitness, or men 
 endowed with "gifts," papier parr a, being allowed the final 
 privilege of choice in all Christian offices. 
 
 1 Mr. Cruttwell in bis valuable Literary History of Early Christianity 
 writes thus, i. p. 88 : The improbability of a developed Episcopal Govern- 
 ment at so early a date thus becomes greatly lessened if we adopt Lightfoot's 
 view that this development was local, not universal ; originating at or near 
 Ephesus, where the last of the Apostles had probably filled the office himself, 
 and spreading rapidly from its striking adaptability to the needs of the time ; 
 but not for some time transcending the limits of Western Asia, the European 
 churches being either governed like Philippi by a Council of Presbyters or 
 by a Bishop acting jointly with such a council, but without separate preroga- 
 tive." Mr. Cruttwell adds very sensibly: " Where all is souncertain we can at 
 best estimate probabilities."
 
 INTRODUCTION ci 
 
 ii. The practical independence (avrdptceia) of the churches 
 commencing with the Palestinian or the communities of the 
 Diaspora is another inference from the Didacht. That these 
 communities might in some cases have been a superimposing 
 of a superficial Christianity, e.g. an informal acknowledgment 
 of Christ not as the expected Messias, so much as a later prophet 
 or forerunner of the Messias, is a suggestion that seems war- 
 ranted by certain passages of the Didcuche. We must remember 
 that a common policy of organisation was precluded by the 
 wide-spread belief in an immediate Parousia. Like all other 
 features and requirements of the new faith, all aims at a per- 
 manency in respect of form of worship or of doctrine could 
 have had no place in a religious society where the continual 
 cries and aspirations were " The night is far spent, the day is 
 at hand." " The end of all things is at hand." All the rules 
 of Christian worship or whatever else might have taken the 
 form of a routine were based on a rule of living, so to speak, 
 from hand to mouth. The exigencies of the moment were 
 the only requirements listened to, if we except the difference 
 in point of number between the communities which probably 
 brought the smaller churches into a kind of submission to 
 those of greater numerical strength. Indeed the requirement, 
 or let us say the prevailing usage, that the smaller churches 
 should borrow from the larger a number of qualified persons 
 who could help them in the selection of a bishop, supplies 
 both a proof and an illustration of this practical independence 
 which pertained inherently to each church without distinction 
 or difference. 
 
 iii. The feature of spontaneousness, or of enthusiasm, of the 
 early churches is also an inference from the Didache. The 
 effect of this spontaneousness, or a deduction from it, was the
 
 Cll SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 exaltation of the prophet among the officials of the church. 
 These being men especially GIFTED, that is endowed with the 
 supernatural graces, ^apia-^ara, might officiate in any way 
 they chose without any special appointment or ordination. 
 St. Paul, we have seen, is an interesting example of this 
 special divine call, although he is so convinced of the mis- 
 chief that might arise from the subjective claim to such a 
 call apart from any rules or laws imposed on them by the com- 
 munity, that he is inclined to deprecate both the office and 
 the function pertaining to it. These men, as Mr. Bartlet 
 remarks in a paper contributed to the (Oxford) SOCIETY OF 
 HISTORICAL THEOLOGY, Proceedings 1892-3, 
 
 " received their call with their gift direct from God. Churches 
 could but recognise or reject. They could not appoint. A prophet 
 was sometimes though not always itinerant. But in any case the 
 highest functions in worship fell to him when present, i.e., to an 
 unordained man (Didach6 xi., comp. 1 Cor. xii. etc.). When such 
 were absent these functions devolved on the administrative officers 
 of the community, who were elected simply on the bases of fitness 
 for discipline and faithful use of the public funds (Didach6 xv.). 
 The spontaneous rise of a local ministry is seen in the early 
 Pauline Epistles (et9 Siaicovtav rot9 aylois era^av eavrovs, 1 Cor. 
 xv. 15. So 1 Thess. v. 12 ; cf. Eom. xii. 6), and the brethren are 
 called on to recognise (eiSevai) them in virtue of their good work, 
 the outcome of divine ^apio-/j,ara." 
 
 The inferences thus derivable from the Didache as to the 
 organisation of the early church, clearly show that there 
 was at the end of the second century nothing like horno- 
 geneousness or similarity in respect of the different churches, 
 but that in their accidental government from time to time 
 they were dominated by such factors as the size of the 
 community or their ancestral environment, as, e.g., whether it
 
 INTRODUCTION ciii 
 
 was Jewish or Pagan, are further confirmed by other docu- 
 ments more or less resembling the DidachA. Thus in Dr. 
 Harnack's notes in the following translation references are 
 frequently made to the Epistle of Clement ; but Mr. Bartlet 
 in the paper above referred to gives a more summary compari- 
 son between the two which seems to merit quotation. He 
 says : 
 
 " Here {i.e. in the Apostolische Kirchenordnung 16-21 and 22-28, 
 pp. 7-27 of the Translation) we get a parallel to the e\\6ji/jLot, 
 avSpes, who in Clement (xliv. 3) institute bishops in their office 
 with the consent of the whole Church in the three e/cXe/erot 
 avSpes, summoned from the adjacent churches by a very small 
 church (e.g. 1 2), to conduct their SoKt/j,aa-ia for a bishop (c. 1 6). 
 Is this the germ of the later three ordaining bishops ? Deacons as 
 well as the bishop have the care of morals (c. 19), and as such are 
 on the fair way to the TTOL^VLKOV rvirov (c. 21). Conversely the 
 presbyters appear not only as those to whom the ministering 
 widow should report cases of need (c. 20), but also as av/xfjivcrTat 
 TOV eVtovcoTTov (c. 17) . . . In the Didachd (c. 15) the bishops had 
 as a college been the church's ap%iepei<;, i.e. received and in prayer 
 offered the people's gifts or thank-offerings. Thus Polycarp calls 
 widows Ovcriacmjpiov 6eov for such gifts. Eolation seems then to 
 have been the rule," etc., etc. 
 
 That is, the functions of almsgiving, as of all the offices of the 
 church, were determined by the accidents of the occasion. The 
 picture is in short that which is furnished by the Pauline 
 Epistles as well as by the most authentic of the Apostolic 
 Fathers. Moreover, it is the representation which we must 
 regard as the more probable outcome of the half-directions, 
 half-suggestions on the point, which we find attributed 
 to Christ in the Gospels. As yet, i.e. up to the second 
 century, church government was in a crude inchoate condition.
 
 CIV SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 Those who had been with Jesus ; those who could claim to 
 remember His teachings ; those who were spiritually gifted 
 or inspired ; those who claimed to have been instructed by 
 St. Paul such were the men who naturally came to the front 
 as leaders, founders, or teachers of the different Christian com- 
 munities in the earlier days of the Church, dating, one might 
 say, from the fall of Jerusalem to the end of the second century. 
 The general atmosphere in which these primitive Christians 
 lived was on the whole one of spiritual freedom. Their beliefs 
 were for the most part undogmatic and practical. The one pre- 
 ponderating article of faith their conviction of the immediate 
 return of Christ for His millennial reign on earth was itself 
 of such an engrossing kind that it rendered all speculative 
 beliefs almost wholly superfluous ; all the while it intensified 
 and enhanced both the worth and importance of practical 
 Christianity. The oral traditions which found their home or 
 centre of circulation in the different and scattered churches of 
 Palestine and Asia Minor to take in their order the two first 
 centres of Christian activity consisted largely of short narra- 
 tives or parables, i.e. didactic lessons, or, in the case of semi- 
 Judaic communities, of Old Testament prophecies. The nature 
 of some of these is well suggested by the Two Ways of the 
 DidacM. Gradually, too, the function of the Eeader came to 
 the front in the same proportion that the extempore improvis- 
 ing gift of the Prophet began to cease ; but as yet the officials of 
 the Church were more of an instructing than a sacerdotal kind, 
 nor was there any order of men as such that in the case of all and 
 every ministration claimed to exercise a despotic irresponsible 
 power over the Church. I am far from assuming that such a 
 state of general disorganisation was likely to last. It is 
 obvious that among the teachers of the Church there were some
 
 INTRODUCTION CV 
 
 who claimed authority over the rest, or to whom such power 
 was willingly conceded by their brethren, because they had been 
 better taught, e.g., by some of the twelve ; or they possessed 
 larger knowledge of the Old Testament, or for some other 
 reason of decided fitness for the office to which they were 
 appointed. But the main point to be noted in these early 
 days, vaguely covered by or embodied in the Didacht, is the 
 general sense of freedom in all departments of ecclesiastical 
 activity. There was a plasticity in the choice and arrange- 
 ment of officials, in the modes of worship adopted by indi- 
 vidual churches, and to a certain extent, i.e., within the limits 
 of Christian instruction as laid down by Christ and His 
 apostles within the scope of simple ethical duties, which, 
 while not unknown in the heathen world, had received a 
 profounder, a diviner, and an infinite sanction by means of 
 their spiritualisation through Christ. The new life of 
 Christianity was, in a word, a life of freedom. On every 
 side it was an emancipation, a deliverance based on the 
 highest human privileges and duties, a life of which the 
 motto and principle might well have been : " Stand fast there- 
 fore in the liberty wherein Christ hath made you free, and be 
 not again entangled in the yoke of bondage." 
 
 THE IGNATIAN LETTERS. 
 
 Assuming the date of the Didache to be towards the end 
 of the second century, the document next in chronological 
 sequence, bearing directly on the question of ecclesiastical 
 organisation, is one of striking abruptness in its claim of 
 sacerdotal authority. I mean the Ignatian Letters. "With 
 the consideration of these we arrive at the chief corner-stone 
 of the traditional hypothesis (1) of the threefold order of the 
 
 h
 
 CV1 
 
 Christian ministry ; (2) of the supreme autocratic power of the 
 bishop. If the authenticity of these letters could be demon- 
 strated, the question so far as Patristic authority is concerned 
 is set at rest ; on the other hand, if the authority is disputable, 
 still more if the foundation on which it is attempted to base it 
 can be shown to be absolutely worthless, the question is settled 
 in an equally definitive manner, though in a opposite direction. 
 We have no space to recapitulate in however brief a form, 
 and confine ourselves wholly to its more prominent features, 
 the Ignatian controversy. It is not that we are treading on 
 the embers of an extinct fire ; taking as our guide the general 
 consensus of Patristic scholars, the flames are still in a more or 
 less fitful blaze. It is true, as we shall presently see, the ques- 
 tion is finally and absolutely closed for a few scholars of more 
 penetrative insight than their brethren, among whom there 
 was at one time reason to hope that our scholarly Bishop 
 Lightfoot would allow himself to be enrolled ; but the tide of 
 discussion which seemed until recently to have reached its 
 ebb has again began to flow, and with the notable exception 
 of Lipsius, most scholars, both English and continental, have 
 found a residuum of ground for holding to a minimum of 
 belief in the authenticity of at least a small portion of the 
 Ignatian documents. Most readers who are acquainted with 
 the outline of ecclesiastical history are aware of the different 
 recensions of the Iguatian letters, e.g. the longer recension of 
 the seven Latin letters ; the shorter recension of the seven 
 Greek letters ; the Syriac recension, edited by Cureton, which 
 has held its ground longer than the rest. These are the 
 documents between which the issue lies. The present posi- 
 tion of the controversy is well summarised by Professor Moeller 
 in his admirable History of the Christian Church (vol. i. p. 113):
 
 INTRODUCTION evil 
 
 ' The attempt to fall back on the three Syriac epistles as the 
 genuine kernel is now universally given up as impossible. Even 
 Lipsius has given the matter up (ueber den Ur sprung und dltesten 
 Gebrauch des Christenthums ; Jena, 1873) ; and so, on the one hand, 
 a return has been made to Baur's hypothesis of the spuriousness 
 of the Ignatian letters in general (Merx, Meletemata Ignatiana, Halle, 
 1861 ; cf. Ewald, Gott., G. A., 1862 ; Hilgenfeld); on the other, to 
 a decided defence of the genuineness of the seven epistles already 
 mentioned by Eusebius, which is also maintained by Uhlhorn, etc. 
 etc. . . . The most important contribution to this opinion is that 
 offered by Th. Zahn in his most valuable monograph (Gotha, 
 1873), and in his edition of the Apostolic Fathers; of Harnack, 
 Gebhardt, and Zahn, vol. ii. Comp. also Funk, Die Echtheit der 
 Ignat. Brief e, Tiibingen, 1883, and in his edition of the Apostolic 
 Fathers ; and more recently, especially Lightfoot, The Apostolic 
 Fathers, ii. 1 and 2, 1880.' 
 
 English scholars, with a few notable exceptions, seem in- 
 clined just now to follow the lead of Bishop Lightfoot, who 
 has, however, varied somewhat in his critical estimate of the 
 controversy ; and Mr. Cruttwell in his important contribution 
 to ecclesiastical history has summarised very accurately the 
 grounds on which Lightfoot's latest opinion has been founded. 
 These grounds are open, as I venture to think, to the fatal 
 objection that they include what may be called the circum- 
 stantial evidence of the issue ; and they wholly ignore the 
 overwhelming change in the tone and spirit of the Ignatian 
 Letters compared with the other incontrovertible witnesses 
 approximating to their date. The ordinary student of eccle- 
 siastical history, who is only partially conversant with the 
 growth of that history, parting company with the DidachJ 
 and its undeniable tone of equality among the officials of the 
 Church, and freedom among her members, is overpowered with
 
 CVlll SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 astonishment in finding in the Ignatian Letters a sacerdotalism 
 and a claim of Episcopal supremacy which is scarcely rivalled 
 by the claims and policy of a Hildebrand in the darkest 
 period of the Middle Ages. His wonderment is as profound 
 and justifiable as if he were asked to believe in a physical 
 science, evolution without any intervenient stages from the 
 lower grades of invertebrate to the highest of vertebrate 
 animals. Even if the local circumstances of a few Christian 
 communities were of such an anomalous kind as to justify on 
 the part of their rulers such an extravagant claim of lordship 
 and autocratic power, it is evident, on the most rudimentary 
 reasoning, that bishops claiming to possess such unlimited 
 power would be very few, and the churches governed by them 
 would have a fair claim to have resigned once and for all the 
 simplest obligations of a Christian's life and duty. Here, e.g., 
 are a few of the extraordinary claims made for bishops by the 
 Ignatian Letters. I quote a few sentences from Mr. Crutt well's 
 rendering, after comparing them with the original : 
 
 ' Ye are attached to your bishop as closely as the church is to 
 Christ, and as Christ is to God the Father. . . . 
 
 I advise you, be zealous to do all things in godly concord, the 
 bishop presiding after the likeness of God ; and the presbyters 
 after the likeness of the council of the apostles with the deacons 
 also, who are most dear to me. . . . 
 
 Be subject to your bishop and to one another as Jesus Christ 
 to the Father, and the apostles to Christ and the Father. 
 
 It is needful that ye should do nothing without the bishop; 
 but be ye obedient also to the presbytery as to the apostles of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is not lawful without the bishop to baptize or hold a love- 
 feast. 
 
 It is well to know God and the bishop. He that honoureth
 
 INTRODUCTION Cix 
 
 the bishop is honoured of God. He that doeth ought without the 
 knowledge of the bishop serveth the devil. 
 
 As many as are God's and Jesus Christ's, these are on the side 
 of the bishop. Be not deceived. If any follow a maker of schism, 
 he doth not inherit the kingdom of God.' 
 
 It would be easy to add to these striking passages others of 
 a not less extravagant animus. But these are sufficient to 
 indicate the extreme claims of sacerdotalism and episcopal 
 rule even at so early a date as the end of the second century. 
 As we have already suggested, the difficulty of conceding the 
 genuineness of letters making such a claim is lessened if we 
 assume, as Bishop Lightfoot did finally, that this abrupt 
 development was wholly local. As a bare possibility, and under 
 conditions of a peculiar kind, we may thus allow that a claim 
 to sacerdotal rule may have obtained in one or two churches 
 of Asia Minor ; but, regarding the Ignatian epistles, as most 
 ecclesiastical historians have done, as indicating a general 
 stage of thought and feeling common to the church as a 
 whole, we can only arrive at one opinion concerning them, 
 and that is, that they are wholly spurious and untrustworthy. 
 They represent a stage of thought and feeling equally per- 
 verted and extravagant ; and they are wholly at variance with 
 all the Christian writings of any value which have treated the 
 question of the official organisation of the early Church. This 
 is the ground taken up by an English scholar who has ap- 
 proached the question without bias, and considered it 
 thoughtfully, and from every point of view. Hence, for im- 
 partial English scholars, the Ignatian controversy may, in my 
 opinion, be considered as finally settled for the future by the 
 two letters (published as pamphlets) which Canon Jenkins 
 addressed three years ago to the Dean of Peterborough. They
 
 CX SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 are called Ignatian Difficulties and Historic Doubts, and in 
 addition to their entering fully into the merits of the contro- 
 versy, they have the greater authority, because the position 
 they take up is also that of Professor Lipsius, the greatest 
 continental authority on the question, exceeding even that of 
 our own Bishop Lightfoot. The general conclusion thus 
 arrived at may be stated in a quotation from a letter which 
 the Professor addressed to Canon Jenkins, and which the last- 
 named writer has put deservedly in the forefront of his 
 pamphlets (pp. 3 and 4). I give the quotation in full, because 
 I fear that the very able summaries of Canon Jenkins are 
 almost wholly unknown to English students : 
 
 ' I am still fully convinced that the form of these letters (which 
 embraces the seven) cannot possibly be derived from Ignatius. The 
 learned and acute [scharfsinnige] performance of the much- 
 lamented Bishop Lightfoot has not altered my judgment in this 
 respect. I agree with you fully in the view that the representa- 
 tion of the power of the bishops is incompatible with a writing of 
 the second century.' 
 
 ' We have here/ continues Canon Jenkins, ' the matured 
 judgment of a divine as far removed from the teaching of the 
 Tubingen School as the Bishop himself, and whose study of 
 the writings of the Apostolic Fathers began still earlier than 
 his, and has probably been more continuous.' The remainder 
 of the Canon's argument may be thus summarised to myself, 
 I confess, it is as conclusive as we can reasonably expect. 
 
 I. The two earliest notices of the Ignatian Letters are, in 
 the Eastern Church, that of Origen ; and in the Western, that 
 of Irenssus. But the incidental manner of these notices shows 
 ' that his sayings had been traditionally handed down to his 
 followers, and first assumed a written form at their hands.'
 
 INTRODUCTION CXI 
 
 Equally doubtful, for other reasons, are the allusions in 
 Athanasius, Theodoret, and Chrysostom. The last-named, 
 for example, records the sayings and doings of Ignatius on his 
 journey, but says not a word of the letter. 
 
 ' After these fifth-century writers/ says Canon Jenkins, ' a 
 long and profound silence appears to have fallen on the 
 Church in regard to the Ignatian Letters. Had they been 
 produced at Nice, the Arians would have been confounded 
 by the constant and emphatic assertions they make of the 
 Homoousios. Had they been produced at Ephesus, the high 
 Episcopal doctrine they contain would have proved the inde- 
 pendence of the church of Cyprus, and obviated the necessity 
 of its appeal to the Council,' etc. etc. . . . ' Not a single con- 
 troversy which arose during the Middle Ages could have failed 
 to receive illustration or solution from the body of doctrine 
 they contain. . . . Like the " Seven Sleepers," the seven 
 Ignatian Letters had fallen into a state of inanition until the 
 critical energies of Usher and Pearson called them back to 
 life.' 
 
 II. Not less forcible is the next argument adduced by the 
 author, viz., the silence of the defenders of episcopacy when it 
 first became a subject of controversy. Epiphanius, e.g., must have 
 employed it when he was opposing the Arian doctrine. Jerome 
 again must have been ignorant of the Ignatian claim of hyper- 
 episcopal authority when he penned that wise advice to 
 bishops and presbyters : ' Sicut presbyteri sciunt se ex ecclesice 
 consuetudine ei qui sibi prsepositus fuerit esse subjectos ita 
 episcopi noverint se magis consuetudine quam dispositions 
 Dominica; veritate presbyteris esse majores.' 
 
 III. Another argument arises from the comparison between 
 the first epistle of Clement and those of Ignatius. There are
 
 CX11 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 only twenty years between the probable dates of those writ- 
 ings, yet the former proves that there were then only the two 
 orders in the church of the bishop (or presbyter) and the 
 deacon. 
 
 Such are the three first links in a strong chain of argument 
 which proves clearly that the Ignatian Letters must be given 
 up by every ingenuous and learned man who without prejudice 
 has thoroughly sifted the question of their genuineness. 
 Canon Jenkins concludes his treatise by two arguments which, 
 as containing the general grounds on which Lipsius bases his 
 rejection of the Letters, seem to me worthy of particular notice. 
 These are vii. and viii. 
 
 vii. The greatest difficulty in accepting the Letters arises out 
 of the conflict of doctrine which runs through every page. 
 Two conflicting elements meet us everywhere, which may be 
 thus described. 
 
 (a) The Episcopal, or rather Pontificial, elements, which, 
 merging the individual in the community, the Christian 
 disciple in the Church, delivers him into the hands of the 
 bishop to be raised and moulded by him (in the language of 
 another Ignatius) as though he were a lifeless object a corpse, 
 tanquam si cadaver esset. The autocracy of the bishop is to 
 extend even to the thoughts and opinions of those [under him. 
 Nothing is to be done without him. They are to know him 
 as they know God. In this teaching the doctrines of Grace can 
 have no place. The right of private judgment is extinguished. 
 We recognise, as though born out of due season, the theory of 
 the papacy and the voluntas Ponlificis pro lege, of which the 
 great and good Cardinal Contarini exclaimed : Facessat, deum 
 immortalem precor, a Christianis liminibus hcec impia 
 doctrina.
 
 INTRODUCTION CXlll 
 
 (J) In opposition to 'this element in the letters is the doctrine, 
 which we may term the evangelical one, which asserts the 
 presence of Christ in every believer. Consistently with this 
 view, but very inconsistently with the episcopal theory, he 
 bids us to hear Christ, to obey Christ, not to listen to any one 
 save Jesus Christ. 
 
 viii. Finally, we affirm that the pictures given us by the 
 early Fathers, as Justin Martyr, Irenseus, Tertullian, Clement 
 of Alexandria, and Origen (to which we must now add the 
 Didache\ are incapable of being brought into the most distant 
 reconciliation with that which the supposed Ignatian Letters 
 place before us. There is not a single figure in them which 
 recalls the image of Christianity as its early apologists have 
 represented it. This contrast must appear most conspicuously 
 to all who remember their beautiful and simple description of 
 the earliest Christian assemblies and the primitive Christian 
 teachers. All these we should have to surrender if we could 
 accept the strange theory that a hierarchy closely resembling 
 that of the Jewish Church had suddenly sprung up to super- 
 sede it, and that the Christian worship instead of ' growing up 
 out of the synagogue had sprung from the Temple.' 
 
 The collapse of the evidence derived from the Ignatian 
 Letters, occurring so nearly contemporaneously with, and in 
 part occasioned by, the discovery of the Didacht, may be said 
 to conclude the general question of the organisation of the 
 early Church. Hereafter it can hardly be alleged : 
 
 (a) That three orders of ministers existed in the early 
 Church. 
 
 (5) That, taking the Church as a whole, there was any 
 difference up till the end of the second century between the 
 bishop and the presbyter.
 
 CXlV SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 (c) That there was in any part of the Christendom of that 
 time, in districts, e.g., centralised over by great towns, such 
 as Home, Antioch, Jerusalem, any ecclesiastical official to 
 which the churches of less important towns professed to yield 
 obedience or deference of any kind ; that uniformity in 
 organisation, in ritual usage, or, except vaguely, in doctrinal 
 teaching, had in reality no existence. 
 
 (d) That there could have been a succession of bishops from 
 the time of the apostles, created and sustained by them, and 
 claiming their sanction and appointment as the basis of their 
 own authority ; in other words, that the dogma known as the 
 ' apostolical succession ' had any existence in the Church of the 
 first two centuries ; that the principle on which the different 
 Christian communities was based was the congregational, or in 
 districts wherein the Jewish Diaspora formed the nucleus of 
 the Christian Congregation, as e.g. in the Palestinian Churches, 
 the Synagogical, so to speak. 
 
 It is this conception as a rule of freedom and independence 
 which is common to all the Ante-Nicene Fathers, with the sole 
 exception of Ignatius ; so that, as Canon Jenkins sums up his 
 plea : 
 
 ' We affirm that the pictures of the Primitive Church given us 
 by Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Irenseus, Clement of Alexandria, 
 Origin, and (though last, not least) the recently discovered Didacht, 
 are incapable of being brought into the most distant reconciliation 
 with that which the Ignatian Epistles place before us. There is 
 not a single figure in them which recals the image of Christianity 
 as its early apologists have represented it.' Pp. 21, 22. 
 
 This is the maturely formed opinion of a capable and 
 impartial student of the whole question. It is one which, as 
 I venture to think, is bound to grow with whatever recon-
 
 INTRODUCTION CXV 
 
 sideration of the question the future is likely to give. Such 
 a judgment will harmonise with the development of Church 
 History on that specific point during the last half-century. 
 More and more has the current of well-informed opinion taken 
 the direction of the comparatively slow progress of the early 
 Church as well in ecclesiastical organisation as in ecclesiastical 
 thought and systematized doctrine. However natural and 
 seemly an Ignatian bishop, with his ideas of autocratic rule, 
 would have seemed to our uninquiring forefathers of two 
 centuries ago, to enlightened and impartial inquirers of our 
 time a bishop of that type would be an anachronism. Not 
 the least singular feature of the whole controversy, when 
 regarded from its ecclesiastical standpoint, is that this amazing 
 growth of absolute power on the part of the traditional rulers 
 of the Church should be removed by scarcely more than a 
 century from the time of St. Paul, when the officials of the 
 Church maintained a status of more or less equality, and when 
 the members were exhorted to ' stand firm in the liberty in 
 which Christ had made them free.' 
 
 THE OKACLES OF PAPIAS: THE \6jia, 
 
 evayye\cov Kara, ETC., WHICH CONSTITUTED THE DIDACTIC 
 
 MATTER EMPLOYED BY THE EEADEES. 
 
 We have already noticed, drawing our inferences (1) from 
 the antecedent probabilities of the case, (2) from the 
 phenomena presented by the Synoptic Gospels, that the early 
 Christian communities soon after the fall of Jerusalem and 
 the consequent diaspora, especially as the latter event induced 
 the dispersal of the apostles and the other living witnesses of 
 the life and words of Christ, began gradually to make a hoard 
 of authoritative documents of various kinds. By degrees each
 
 CXV1 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 Church began to distinguish itself by the quality or quantity 
 of such documentary treasures. It became the custom of one 
 community to lend or borrow the documents or books of the 
 other. Oftentimes they were copied or translated from one 
 language to another, as indeed we find traces in several passages 
 and allusions in the Synoptic Gospels. Employment was thus 
 given to scribes and interpreters of tongues, as they are 
 called in St. Paul's enumerations, and in all cases they 
 postulated in the earliest days a function which demanded in 
 time an official who was specifically designated as a Header. 
 It is plain that the collection of documents pertaining to any 
 one especial community was determined by the race, religion, 
 etc., of the environment wherein it was founded, or the apostle 
 by whom the first converts were made. Probably the names, 
 e.g. of Paul, of Peter, of James and John suggest derivative 
 affinities which extended not only to modes of worship, 
 sacramental usages, formulas and creeds, but comprehended 
 especially the authoritative documents which the Pteaders were 
 used to read aloud on Sabbath days as on other occasions. 
 Probably all the earliest leaders of the Christian Church, 
 disciples as well as apostles, took part in the authorship of 
 these documents, nay, those who had however casually and 
 occasionally been with Jesus, who could recall words and acts 
 which they had seen and heard, were requisitioned, if not for 
 complete narratives and discourses, at least for portions of 
 them. The verbal resemblances and dissimilarities in the same 
 narratives which we find in the Synoptics furnish us with 
 useful suggestions not only for the origin of these documents 
 but also for their authors. The variety in the names, positions, 
 and opportunities of the authors, suffices to give us the reason 
 of their different names, such as \oyta, \6yoi, evayyeXiov.
 
 INTRODUCTION CXVli 
 
 While the enumeration of the ministers of the Church given 
 by St. Paul and by the earliest Scriptural writings indicates 
 more than one function related directly or indirectly with 
 them, there is, however, among early Christian writers one 
 name especially identified with this class of literature, one 
 who has come down to our times as a writer, or, as it may be, a 
 compiler or collector of oracles or sacred extracts viz. Papias. 
 He is not a writer of great importance ; indeed, Papias is a 
 name to which in the historical memory of any scholar a 
 stigma attaches. He is indeed a striking illustration of the 
 effect of a depreciatory epithet, especially when it is short and 
 pithy, so that probably few students of Eusebius ever hear 
 mentioned the name of Papias without mentally adding the 
 Eusebian characteristic, a<p68pa oyu/cpo<? rov vovv. But how- 
 ever intellectually puny Papias may have been, his name has 
 so far a suggestive use that it brings before us one of the most 
 important pictures of early Church history ; in other words, it 
 introduces us to the most important of the features of early 
 Christian literature, viz., the constituent elements of the 
 Synoptic Gospels in the term \6yta. 
 
 The signification of this word has given rise to much con- 
 troversy. All agree that it is connected derivatively with 
 7^0709. Eegarded from the standpoint of oracle, word, utter- 
 ance, etc., we may, I think, take it to mean any collocation of 
 words which is marked by point, or brevity. Any narrative, 
 story, parable, discourse, etc., that is marked by point or 
 allusiveness might be termed a \oytov ; or, again, any quota- 
 tion, chapter, extract that is determined by inclusiveness, 
 finality, explanatory appropriateness, etc., might, in like manner, 
 be entitled a \oyiov. Hence a concatenation or string of 
 \6yta united together would naturally present a piecemeal
 
 CXVlll SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 appearance, such as, e.g., is presented by an average chapter in 
 the Synoptics, where parable, discourse, quotation, etc., etc., are 
 joined together by a minimum of connecting narrative. 
 
 Now, on casting our eyes over those materials in the early 
 church which would naturallj' take the form of \6yia, we are 
 struck by their variety in respect of origin and matter. Thus, 
 in the churches within or adjacent to Palestine, in which the 
 religious element of Judaism was largely predominant, the 
 chief \6yia or authoritative scriptures would be : 
 
 I. I. Messianic prophecies and quotations. 
 II. Millennial prophecies. 
 
 in. Allusions to the Mosaic Law as still possessing 
 authority. 
 
 iv. Descriptions of Synagogue or Temple worship. 
 
 v. Quotations from liturgical forms and prayers em- 
 ployed in the synagogues. 
 
 II. In Christian communities where the influence of Mosaism 
 and millennial Judaism was less, the \6yia would partake more 
 of the character of quotations, etc., from the reported words of 
 Christ. Thus we have a work, which is no longer extant, but 
 fragments of which have been preserved by Irenseus, Eusebius 
 and others. This work had the suggestive name of AoytW 
 fcvpiatcwv '777770-649 quotations of, or comments on, our 
 Lord's sayings. This work was doubtless one of a class, and 
 that not a small one, the materials of which were incorporated 
 partly into our canonical Gospels, partly into the non-canonical 
 Gospels, as e.g., the Gospel of the Nativity, the Gospels of St. 
 Thomas, Nicodemus, etc., etc. It would not be impossible to 
 divide these apocryphal Gospels according to the classification of 
 their chief \oyia or quoted extracts. Thus we have a class in 
 which the incarnation or the miraculous birth of Christ is
 
 INTRODUCTION CX1X 
 
 made the preponderating feature, while another class may be 
 distinguished by its millennial prophecies and expectations, 
 while a third class may be regarded from the standpoint of 
 Jewish prophecy, regarded from their retrospective signification. 
 Indeed, a complete survey of the \6yia materials in the first 
 two centuries of Christian history would comprehend almost 
 all of those books classified as apocryphal. Such a survey 
 would include also those sayings ascribed to Christ in the 
 first century after His death, but not recorded in the Synoptics. 
 
 III. Another class of \6yia, which may bear the title of 
 Neo-Platonic or Alexandrian, or possibly Apollonian (from 
 Apollos), would comprehend all the writings known as 
 Johannine. The metaphysical discourses of St. John's 
 Gospel, and of St. John's and the other general epistles, have, 
 indeed, quite a character of their own. They represent a phase 
 of Christianity altogether foreign to Jewish thought, and have 
 the greater value as an illustration equally of the plasticity 
 and comprehensiveness of the New Faith. 
 
 IV. A fourth class of \6yia of a somewhat diversified 
 character, which might possibly be entitled Judseo-Grseco, 
 may be found in the extracts, arguments, etc., contained in the 
 Pauline epistles. Sometimes their origin is clearly Judaic, or 
 Judaeo-Rabbinic, while at other times they have clearly a 
 Hellenic origin. Indeed, we might find \6yia of every class 
 in some one or other of Paul's epistles, and this might 
 incidentally be taken as a proof of the breadth of culture of 
 him who is fittingly designated the apostle of the Gentiles. 
 
 Turning now to the \6yia which have been connected with 
 Papias, a recent writer has attempted, in a lengthy and care- 
 fully written monograph, 1 to ascertain the general meaning of 
 
 1 The Oracles ascribed to Matthew by Papias of Hierapolis. Lond., 1894.
 
 CXX SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 the word as employed, e.g., by Philo, Josephus, Clement, and 
 Justin Martyr. He finds that it is employed generally for 
 quotations, extracts, referable passages of all kinds, mostly, 
 however, for extracts and prophecies from the Old Testament. 
 Thus it is used for 
 
 I. Books of the Old Testament. 
 
 ir. Chapters from the Old Testament. 
 
 in. Brief passages, maxims, rules, laws, etc., as, e.g., the ten 
 commandments. 
 
 But Papias's use of the term \6yia seems to have been of 
 the broadest description ; at least he applies it to all kinds of 
 traditional stories, etc., recorded of Christ. Thus Eusebius 
 says that ' he reported as having come from unwritten tradi- 
 tions certain strange parables of the Saviour and teaching of 
 His, and other things rather fabulous/ Eusebius continues 1 : 
 
 ' To these belong his statement that there will be a period of 
 some 1000 years after the resurrection of the dead, and that the 
 kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this very 
 earth. . . . Papias gives also in his own work (the above- 
 named e777?7cret9 K.T.\.) other accounts of the words of the Lord 
 on the authority of Aristion, who was mentioned above, and tradi- 
 tions as handed down by the Presbyter John, to which we refer 
 those who are fond of learning.' 
 
 This passage is noteworthy for the reason that Papias refers 
 to two authorities who give accounts of the words of the Lord 
 different from those contained in the canonical Gospels. The 
 authorities here mentioned, Aristion and Presbyter John, occur 
 together in the well-known preceding passage, in which Papias 
 avows his preference for oral to written tradition, viz. : 
 
 1 See by all means the valuable edition of Eusebius, vol. i. of the SELECT 
 LIBRARY OF NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS, p. 172, notes 1-24.
 
 INTRODUCTION CXXl 
 
 " If then any one came who had been a follower of the elders, I 
 questioned him in regard to the words of the elders what Andrew 
 or what Peter said, or what was said by Philip, or by Thomas, or 
 by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the 
 disciples of the Lord, and what things Aristion said and the 
 Presbyter John, the disciples of the Lord, saying that I did not 
 think that what was to be gotten from the books would profit 
 me as much as what came from the living and abiding voice.' 
 
 This passage is suggestive as enlarging the horizon of those 
 sources from whence the canonical Gospels were compiled, 
 and assuming that these sources, collected from all quarters, 
 and incorporated, without much heed to order and arrange- 
 ment, in the Synoptic Gospels, were known generally, or at 
 least frequently, as \6yta, formed the material of the reader, 
 partly in his function of arranger of reading matter, partly in 
 his office of instructor of the congregation. The former was 
 the office which Mark discharged in reference to Peter when 
 he compiled the Gospel called after his own name by that 
 apostle's instructions, probably oral and written, and is for that 
 reason styled by Eusebius 6 epprjvevr^ Tlerpov. 1 Indeed, we 
 may even infer from the fact of the Eeader and Interpreter 
 being related and interchangeable offices, that the authors, or 
 rather compilers, of the Gospels, whether canonical or un- 
 canonical, were Eeaders ; that is, to take an instance, the 
 official named the reader was in the time of Tertullian, as 
 we shall see presently, also styled evangelist, so that Mark the 
 evangelist was also known in the church as Mark the reader. 
 
 1 See Eusebius, ut supra, p. 171.
 
 CXXli SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 CHURCH ORGANISATION AFTER THE TIME OF IGNATIUS TO THE 
 DATE OF THE Sources of the Apostolic Canons (edited by 
 Harnack); THE EVOLUTION OF THE OFFICE OF THE READER. 
 
 Since the discovery of evolution as a law embracing every 
 department of human and scientific progress, few illustrations 
 of the parallelisms and aptitudes of which it is found 
 capable have aroused greater interest than the parallelism 
 between the organic growth of society and that which obtains 
 in some branches of physical science. Thus we find a similar 
 differentiation between the commencement of a political 
 society and that of some animal organisation. In early stages 
 of the growth of a society or of some body politic, the ruler is 
 often the high priest, or he combines with one or both of those 
 functions the duties of the legislator or the commander of an 
 army just as a Roman general was qualified to act as an 
 haruspex if it were needed. Similarly, in some stages of animal 
 development, the functions of digestion and alimentation were 
 discharged by the nervous organs which sustained life. So also 
 in the early life of a church, wherein the various functions 
 of ruling, instruction, etc., were afterwards performed each by 
 its own ministers, these special offices were first of all dis- 
 charged by one minister. The function of ruler or overseer 
 was joined in the same person to the teacher, or, as in the 
 Christian Church, the same official was or might be bishop or 
 presbyter^interpreter (or one gifted with tongues), translator, 
 exorcist, reader, etc., etc. This, in point of fact, was the 
 condition of the church when Paul wrote the Epistles to the 
 Corinthians. As Dean Stanley remarks in his Commentary 
 on ^that Epistle : ' The Christian assemblies of the first
 
 INTRODUCTION CXX111 
 
 period of the apostolic age, unlike those of later times, appear 
 not to have been necessarily controlled by any fixed order of 
 presiding ministers.' 1 Nothing indeed could better portray 
 the absence of anything like definitive organisation than (1) 
 the juxtaposition of officials whose duties and faculties are 
 interblended so confusedly, and (2) the commixture of 
 ecclesiastical persons and powers, without any classification 
 or distinction. So we have (I use Stanley's translation) : ' God 
 set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, 
 thirdly teachers, after that miracles, after that gifts of healings, 
 helps, insights [a better rendering of fcvfiepwrja-eis would per- 
 haps be ruling principles], divers kinds of tongues. In this 
 unclassed classification it is evident that Eeaders would come 
 under the term Prophets or Teachers in the first case, as 
 interpreters, e.g., of Hebrew into Aramaic, or of either into 
 Greek, or vice versa. If we want to see these persons and 
 faculties in actual use in public worship, we have only to turn 
 to the passage we have above referred to (1 Cor. xiv. 26) : 
 ' What is it then, my brethren, when ye be come together, each of 
 you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue,' i.e., a chapter 
 or lesson in the charisma of tongues ; De Wette renders einen 
 Vortrag in Zungen (this would form part of the Header's 
 functions), hath a revelation, hath an interpretation (this 
 again would form a part of the Header's duties). The service 
 thus arranged, and described, is one conducted by charismatic 
 men, most of the acts of worship and instruction being spon- 
 taneous and extempore ; yet even here the functions of most 
 importance are evidently those of the Reader and Interpreter. 
 Moreover, it does not seem that the order in which the materials 
 of worship are here placed indicates the order in which they 
 1 Stanley's Commentary, etc., p. 290.
 
 CXX1V SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 must invariably occur, nor that each contribution to the 
 religious service requires a separate minister or official to 
 make it. Of the five gifts enumerated, all of them pertain, or 
 may pertain, to every separate member of the congregation. 
 Nothing can give us a more distinct notion of the absolute 
 freedom of the order of public worship in relation to the 
 persons conducting it than the fact that both gifts and persons, 
 functions and officials, are indefinitely interchangeable. The 
 minister prepared with a psalm is also prepared with a 
 doctrine, a tongue or a revelation and apparently might be 
 invited to confer or minister one or more, perhaps all the 
 enumerated gifts, to their fellow- worshippers in turn. The 
 only stipulation was that all was to be done for edification. 
 
 The parallel passage of Eph. iv. 11, with its enumeration so 
 closely akin to that we have just considered, viz., apostles, 
 prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, need detain us no 
 longer than to observe that two out of the five contain a 
 distinct implication of the function of reader, viz., the evan- 
 gelists and teachers. In all probability \6yia of some kind 
 were used in any religious community requiring the ministration 
 of the Interpreter or the Eeader for purposes of translation 
 or instruction. Thus the Messianic or millennial \6yia or 
 extracts from Old Testament prophets had to be translated 
 from Hebrew to Aramaic or from both into Greek, or in 
 Northern Palestine and Syria the needed translation might be 
 Greek into Aramaic. We must remember that in proportion 
 with the decline of officials especially endowed with ^apia-fjuara 
 was the rise of others whose chief mode of worship and teach- 
 ing resolved itself into reading \6yia and other readable 
 material. Long before the end of the first century the 
 charismatically conducted services in the different Christian
 
 INTRODUCTION CXXV 
 
 communities were coming to an end, though, of course, as long 
 as millenarianism held its own there was always room for 
 religious improvisation. A few passages in Irenseus about the 
 qualities of the millennium too well known to bear quotation 
 suggest to us the wild rhapsodical manner and matter which 
 was common to the millennial prophets. 
 
 There was hence from the commencement of the second 
 century a decided growth in all these ministerial functions 
 which belonged directly or indirectly to the Eeader, and the 
 manner of public worship gradually assumed for that reason 
 a decided change. The nature of this depended largely 
 
 (1) On the self-evolution of the Church, and the growth of 
 its distinctively Christian literature. 
 
 (2) On the environment which formed the local conditions, 
 etc., of separate churches. 
 
 (1) It is evident that this largely favoured the differentiation 
 of the Eeader from other officials, with whose functions it was 
 at one time closely connected. The completion, e.g., of the Old 
 Testament Canon, the translation of the LXX., the extension 
 of the Church to centres in which its literature would naturally 
 excite an abiding interest, as, e.g., Alexandria in the East, and 
 Eome and Athens in the West, the different and many 
 tentative efforts to form Gospels of different kinds by the 
 concatenation of \6yia themselves also of manifold origin 
 were all causes which contributed to the increase of Eeaders 
 as well as to the multiplication of materials on which their 
 vocation was founded. Thereupon gradually sprang into being 
 a number of Gospels, most of which have been lost, but at the 
 same time not a few have been preserved. Thence came first 
 the Apocryphal Gospels, or the non-canonical writings of which 
 the Apostolic Fathers and the Didache may be taken as
 
 CXXV1 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 examples, until, in the fulness or maturity of time, when the 
 sense of literary finish and of spiritual and moral beauty 
 became sufficiently developed, the matchless synoptics, though 
 critically anonymous productions, came into being to be 
 followed by the literary development of the Alexandrian or 
 Neo-Platonic phase of Christian thought called after, per- 
 haps written by, the aged Ephesian Bishop, St. John. 
 
 This stage in the evolution of Christianity the formation 
 of the New Testament Canon forms the culminating point 
 in the history of Christianity. But the process by means of 
 which it was attained was the function of Interpreter or 
 Eeader. He it was who collected and arranged the \6jia of 
 the different churches, adopting, as a general principle, the 
 preponderating thought and doctrine of different parts of the 
 Diaspora. Hence it is not surprising to find that the Eeader, 
 in the earliest distinct mention of chat official, is put on the 
 same plane as the Evangelist, since it is he who is responsible 
 for those separate collections of Xo7ta and etfrjyrjo-et.*; as the 
 work of Papias was termed, which are known as the Synoptic 
 Gospels. Eoughly speaking, and the subject does not admit 
 of dogmatic statement, we might classify the four canonical 
 Gospels, in reference to the Eeaders, Interpreters, who brought 
 them into being, in the manner following : 
 
 The churches 
 of Palestine 
 Messianic and 
 Millennial. 
 
 I. Matthew, the Interpreter of the Hebrew^ 
 Matthew, .... 
 Matthew, the Interpreter of the Greek 
 Matthew, __ 
 
 j Representing a 
 II. Mark, the Interpreter of the Gospel of I modified Judteo- 
 
 Peter, .... .1 Christian stand- 
 point.
 
 INTRODUCTION CXXVli 
 
 III. Luke, the Interpreter of the Gospel of (The Gospel of 
 
 nhe Gentiles 
 - Paul> ' [Asia Minor, etc. 
 
 fNeo-Platonic 
 IV. John, the Interpreter of the Alexandrian I Metaphysics 
 
 Gospel of Apollos, . . .1 Asia Minor and 
 
 [the East. 
 
 It is thus seen that the scope of the canonical Gospels 
 practically includes all the main lines of thought that dis- 
 tinguished the chief portions of the Diaspora, and that the 
 specific functions in the organisation of the Early Church, to 
 which we are indebted for them, are those pertaining to the 
 office of Eeader, Interpreter, or Expounder. 
 
 At this point, however, we are met by the interesting ques- 
 tion : When and where have we the earliest mention of the 
 Eeader, as a completely differentiated function among the 
 other offices of the Christian Church? That we have no 
 specific mention of the official until the middle of the second 
 century need not excite our surprise, for the two following 
 reasons : 
 
 1st. The preponderance in the public worship of the dif- 
 ferent churches of gifts and activities which were charismatic ; 
 i.e., the prayer, the psalm, the doctrine, the teaching, were the 
 outcomes of extempore and impassioned feeling ; the men who 
 gave utterance to them were prompted or moved by strong 
 spiritual impulse, which only finds partial record in the writ- 
 ings of Early Christian authors. 
 
 2nd. The function of Eeader was one which might have 
 been discharged by any official in the church. Indeed there 
 were obviously occasions when the Bishop, the Presbyter, the 
 Prophet, the Exorcist, or any other member of the official staff of 
 any given church filled the office of Eeader, and both selected
 
 CXXVlll SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 the \oyta, or the Apostolic Epistle, or any other materials 
 selected for reading, and also expounded such chosen passages. 
 It is therefore quite in harmony with the nature of the case 
 that we have no distinct mention of Eeader until we come to 
 the times and works of Tertullian. In the De Prcescrip. (41) 
 we read : ' Eo die diaconus qui eras lector ' ; where the lan- 
 guage shows, says Bishop Lightfoot, ' that this was already a 
 firmly established order in the church.' The statement is 
 made, as is often the case with the learned Bishop, in a too 
 unqualified and dogmatic manner. If his meaning be that the 
 function had long existed in the church, we must needs accept 
 it as harmonising with all the necessities of the case. When 
 the culture of the church consisted not in formal lengthy 
 treatises, but in brief sententious \6<yia, extracts, chapters, 
 parables, discourses, etc., the anecdotical literature of oral 
 tradition run into a verbal mould of greater or less excellence, 
 and beauty of expression, and a greater or less sharpness of 
 definition, it was clear that the duties of Interpreter or Eeader 
 must have existed from the very beginning ; but, if his mean- 
 ing be that in the earliest times and in the smallest communi- 
 ties, notwithstanding the need of translation from one language 
 to another, there was always a Eeader formally separated from 
 other ecclesiastical functionaries, the statement is more liable 
 to question. In point of fact, as we have repeatedly insisted, 
 no absolute statement can be made on early church organisa- 
 tion where the internal conditions and external environ- 
 ment of almost every congregation differed from those of all 
 the rest. Nor must we forget the immeasurable influence of 
 those circumstances and relations which were strictly local, 
 and how the qualifications and position of Eeaders would be 
 affected by the fact that five or six languages were in use in
 
 INTRODUCTION cxxix 
 
 those different portions of the church in which that office came 
 gradually into use. Thus the \6<yia of the Palestinian and 
 Jewish congregations were often in Hebrew, and needed to be 
 translated into the Aramaic of Syria and Northern Palestine, 
 or into the Greek of Asia Minor, of Alexandria and Upper 
 Egypt, or the Latin of Eome and adjacent churches, or into 
 the Arabic and Coptic of Lower Egypt or North Africa. Nor 
 was a less variety of Eeader attainments demanded by the 
 difference in form and matter of the materials required by the 
 churches. Such scholastic attainments, especially when the 
 charismatically endowed officials were beginning to lose their 
 power, came inevitably into the forefront among the regular 
 ministers of the different communities. This fact had an 
 indisputable effect in raising the status of the Eeader to a 
 level of the Diaconate or the Evangelists. We are told, 
 indeed, that the Eeader was appointed by the Deacons, where 
 the meaning of the statement seems to me to be that the 
 Deacons selected the man best qualified from among themselves, 
 though, here again, peculiarities of local custom and usage 
 must be allowed for. Dr. Harnack has treated in the follow- 
 ing fragments the question of the position of the Eeader at 
 due length (see below, pp. 54, etc.). The outcome of such 
 investigations seems to be that with the progress of the church, 
 its increased employment of sacred writings of various kinds 
 not the least important of these being the letters of Apostles 
 and Apostolic men its advance, in other words, in literary 
 culture, the status of the Eeader evinced a tendency to become 
 higher. At the same time it was exposed, as the purely cul- 
 tural officialism of the church has always been exposed, to the 
 rivalry and repressive efforts of its priestly and sacerdotal 
 functionaries. Some idea of the status of Eeader may be
 
 CXXX SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 gathered from the enumeration of officials and other persons 
 connected with the church, contained, e.g. in Eusebius and the 
 Apostolical Constitutions. Thus we find in the former the 
 church officers at Eome given by Cornelius e.g., Presbyters, 
 Deacons, Sub-deacons, Acolytes, Exorcists, Eeaders, Gate- 
 keepers, and Widows. So we have in the Apostolical Consti- 
 tutions the following enumerations, viz. in. 11 : Among the 
 other Clerici . . . Eeaders, Singers, Gate-keepers, Servants, 
 vir^pira^ ; and vm. 1 2 : Patriarchs, Prophets, Deacons, 
 Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, 
 Sub-deacons, Eeaders, Singers, Virgins, Widows, Laics ; where 
 the enumeration of martyrs and confessors among the regular 
 officials of the church conveys a curious notion of the cir- 
 cumstances of the Christianity of the time, and the standpoint 
 from which martyrs and confessors were considered, viz. not as 
 incidental and casual officials of the church, but as those 
 who had regular membership or vocations. If we may assume 
 that the date of the Fragments here given by Dr. Haruack is 
 later than that of the Apostolical Constitutions, the description 
 therein given would seem to indicate that the Eeader had 
 attained a still higher status among the officials of the church. 
 We need not follow the evolution of the Eeader further, nor 
 would it be seemly to anticipate what we learn from the fol- 
 lowing Services of the Apostolic Canons (see below, p. 15, etc.) 
 the chief point in the requirements there given of the Eeader. 
 on evayyeXiarov TOTTOV epya^erai, 6 yap 
 VOOVVTOS eyypa<f>o<> ^oyicrd^aerai Trapa TO> 
 0ea> seems, however, worthy of especial attention ; it empha- 
 sises the fact that the Header's function was one of informa- 
 tion and enlightenment. His duties included not only the 
 reading but the expounding or explanation of the passages
 
 INTRODUCTION CXXX1 
 
 read. "We learn, further, from Du Cange that the Lector, 
 whom he styles Secundus gradus Ordinis Ecdesiaslici, was not 
 merely nominated to the office by his ecclesiastical superiors 
 but was duly ordained. He quotes to this effect Marcellinus, 
 the friend of Chrysostom, who writes of a certain John of 
 Antioch : Lector Ecclesice ordinatus per singulos officii Gradus 
 ascendit ; adding, Lectorum munus erat Lectiones pronuntiare, et 
 ea, qucb Prophetce vaticinarunt, populis prcedicarc. Further 
 evidence as to the functions of the Eeader, when the office 
 had become established ill the church, is found in the 
 Acta Passionis, SS. Marti/rum Cibalitanorum, n. 2, where the 
 colloquy of Probus, the Judge or President, and a Christian, 
 Pullio, is thus related : 
 
 'The President said, What office dost thou bear? Pullio 
 answered, The chief of the Eeaders (Primicerius Lectorum}. 
 
 'Probus, the President, said, Of what Eeaders? Pullio 
 answered, Those who are accustomed to read Divine eloquence 
 to the people.' 
 
 Apparently the Greek equivalent for the above Primicerius 
 was dpxiavayvoHTT'rjs, the function of which officer Du 
 Cange thus defines : Non tamen Evangelium et Epistolam in 
 ipsa Sacrce Missce Liturgia, legelant, quod velle mdentur viri 
 docti, etc. Whence it would seem that the material of the 
 Header was not confined to what we should term the Scripture. 
 Indeed, we know that later on in the middle ages, when the 
 Reader was in some cases a duly appointed officer, and in 
 others a function which the inmates of the monastery took in 
 turns, all kinds of legends, sometimes stories, not wholly free 
 from superstition and other still more unworthy qualities, 
 formed the material of the Eeader's function by which the 
 ears of their brethren were tickled at meal- times and on other
 
 cxxxil SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 occasions ; the Gesta Romanorum being one of the most fre- 
 quently used collections, whose humorous, and sometimes not 
 over cleanly, stories used to keep the mediaeval Refectory in a 
 roar of laughter. 
 
 PAST, PKESENT, AND FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY IN REFERENCE 
 TO THE RIVALRY OF THE SACERDOTAL AND DIDACTIC 
 FUNCTIONS. PRIEST versus READER. 
 
 The Past of Christianity to the Time of the Reformation. 
 
 A comprehensive glance over the history of Christianity up to 
 the sixteenth century serves to show that the general direction 
 and tendency of the Church has been in favour of the Sacer- 
 dotal moiety of her functions, not of the didactic and critical 
 moiety ; that it is the Priest, not the Reader, whose influence 
 has been most marked in her development. Her office as the 
 instructor, the intellectual enlightener, of mankind has been 
 virtually abrogated, and her self-arrogated function of spiritual 
 despotism, placing herself and her claims in the room of God 
 Himself, has been asserted with extreme and mischievous 
 emphasis in its stead. Hence in place of the enlightenment 
 which comes from the didactic and inquiring methods of the 
 Reader, she has fettered the human mind and forbidden the 
 exercise of man's intellectual power by insisting on the blind 
 acceptance of dogmas, doctrines and creeds, most of them in 
 greater or less antagonism to the primary teachings of the 
 Gospel. "We can thus readily understand why the Priest, the 
 Bishop, the Pope, the highest sacerdotal functionaries, have 
 claimed for themselves the amplest room and consideration in 
 the history of the Church up to the time of the Reformation, 
 while the functions pertaining to and allied with the Reader
 
 INTRODUCTION CXXXlll 
 
 have fallen into the background of desuetude and oblivion. 
 In the darkness of the middle ages nothing is more remarkable 
 than the inversion of the due and proper relations of taking 
 the functions for principles of Eeader and Priest. Whatever 
 was calculated to inform the human mind, to impart and 
 diffuse intellectual enlightenment, was regarded not only with 
 coldness but with virulent hatred and cruel persecution. It 
 was a part of this anti-Christian policy that what should have 
 been the lessons of the Eeader, especially the inculcation of 
 those \6yia or Christ-oracles in the utterance of which 
 Christianity had its first foundation, fell into disuse as an 
 integral part of Eeligion, and what was substituted in its place 
 was the ministrations of the Priest the Sacraments and other 
 religious rites being carried into a mischievous excess, and 
 superstition, the invariable ally of sacerdotalism, became 
 diffused through the length and breadth of Christendom. The 
 net or at least chief result of this gradual deterioration of the 
 vital germ of Christianity was a reversion to that precise state 
 of things which the mission and words of Christ were intended 
 to subvert and destroy, viz. : the substitution of the function 
 and lessons of the ethical and general Teacher for the prin- 
 ciples of sacerdotalism then arrogated by the Pharisees, Scribes 
 the sacerdotal aristocracy of the Jews. To what great 
 excess the hatred of the didactic function, of the ethical, 
 i.e., humane, teaching, the scientific illumination, the general 
 enlightenment of mankind, has manifested itself on the part of 
 sacerdotalism, when its power for centuries was absolute, we 
 learn from the capture and sack of Constantinople, the- 
 massacres that disgraced more than one of the Crusades, 
 especially the taking of Jerusalem by the savage soldiery of 
 Godfrey of Bouillon, the diabolical massacre of the Albigenses >
 
 CXXX1V SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the martyrdom of 
 Giordano Bruno and Vanini, and divers other black pages and 
 ruthlessly cruel incidents in the records of history. Indeed, 
 the darkness of the dark ages has been owing to no other 
 cause than the unscrupulous triumph of sacerdotalism, than 
 the tyrannical sway of those very orders in the Church which 
 were ostensibly devised as a readier means of access to God, as 
 a source of spiritual enlightenment transcending anything 
 \vhich earth, or earth-born mortals had in their power to offer. 
 With the Renaissance and the Reformation, intending by 
 the former the name of the general and partly secular enlighten- 
 ing, and by the latter that of the religious and spiritual moiety 
 of the same movement, came in the reign, metaphorically 
 speaking, of the Reader the Rule of Books and writings 
 his tools and materials ; the rapid spread of the Printing 
 Press ; while contemporaneously with the new sovereignty in 
 Christendom was the commencement of the decay of sacer- 
 dotalism two complementary processes which are still in 
 operation. Slowly and deliberately, but with no symptoms of 
 a decided halt or stoppage, the movement of the Reader, 
 the function of Christian organisation which postulates the 
 Teacher, the Enlightener, the ethical starting-point of Christi- 
 anity, the meaning and method of Christian Revelation which 
 makes it consist in \6yia or reading matter, may be said to 
 characterise the Christendom of modern days. During the last 
 three centuries this is the movement within the Church which 
 has most vitality. In every direction we seem able to mark 
 its activity. No longer is Christianity, on the broad ethical 
 foundation laid down by Christ, thought to be incompatible 
 with secular enlightenment, with the training of the human 
 reason, with the advance in knowledge of the human intellect.
 
 INTRODUCTION CXXXV 
 
 The reign of Sacerdotalism, of absolute dogma, of doctrines 
 unoriginated by and unconnected with the \oyia of Christ, 
 the New Testament oracles which formed the starting-point of 
 Christianity, manifests on the other hand, if not symptoms of 
 decay, at least unequivocal signs of a diminished sovereignty 
 and a less universal sway over the hearts and consciences of 
 the Christian world. By this is not meant, as we shall see a 
 little further on, that Sacerdotalism is in its essential and least 
 tyrannical form doomed to destruction. For that matter, 
 the innermost germ of Sacerdotalism the worship of the 
 Eternal by a ministerial and ritual organisation not incom- 
 patible with human reason and with the modestly defined 
 injunctions and example of Christ himself may be said to 
 have a perennial basis in humanity itself ; but it is not the 
 Sacerdotal but the Eeader function to which thoughtful men 
 will allot the supremacy in the dual division of Christian 
 Church organisation, 
 
 THE PRESENT, AND ITS RELATION TO THE RIVALRY JUST SPOKEN 
 OF, OF PRIEST versus READER. 
 
 The tendency just spoken of as commencing with the 
 Reformation of the reassertion by the Reader of his legitimate 
 authority as against the pretensions of Sacerdotalism may 
 claim a result, a wholesome movement and tendency, which 
 seems apparent in the chief conflict of thought of our own 
 time ; and that is, it seems to invite and prepare the way for a 
 return to the primary \dyta, the original oracles, the ethic 
 and didactic teachings of Christ Himself. Christianity, like 
 Antseus, seems bent in the present day to acquire new 
 strength by actual contact with its mother Earth in other
 
 cxxxvi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 words with its first origin ; or, using another illustration : 
 whereas in the first century of the planting of Christianity the 
 maxims and moral teachings of Christ were like the veins of 
 gold becoming embedded in a soluble and plastic matrix of 
 quartz, now in the fulness of time the reverse operation is 
 taking place ; now, the miners with improved methods and 
 mining tools are again extracting the pure gold from the 
 quartz and other alluvial sedimentary deposits in which the 
 precious metal has been embedded, and it is made to show its 
 purity and its consequent lustre and beauty as never before. 
 
 THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY IN RELATION TO PRIEST 
 versus EEADER. 
 
 ' ' Let KNOWLEDGE grow from more to more, 
 But more of REVERENCE in us dwell, 
 That mind and soul according well 
 May make one music as before, 
 
 But VASTER." 
 
 The poet's well-known aspiration may be taken as convey- 
 ing a probable forecast of the rivalry we are here considering 
 between the priest on the one hand and the didactic and 
 ethical teacher on the other in the future of Christianity. 
 The materials for forming an estimate on the subject are 
 neither few nor unimportant. Taking first of all the con- 
 trasted functions : The scope of knowledge must immensely 
 exceed that of reverence or awe. Knowledge or science, 
 though falling far short of omniscience, possesses yet a con- 
 ceivable extension almost boundless. Taking as the basis of 
 our estimate the enormous strides physical science has made 
 since the commencement of the present century are almost 
 incredible. Astronomy, geology, chemistry all the other 
 branches of what is known as physical science have advanced
 
 INTRODUCTION cxxxvn 
 
 not by ordinary strides but by leaps and bounds. Nor has 
 the progress of what may be distinguished as the application 
 of science to the needs and requirements of men been less 
 marked. This practical science must needs increase indefi- 
 nitely in the future, and the more it ministers to the especially 
 imperious among the wants of men, so much the more will it 
 aid the cause of civilisation, and thereby also of religion. Of 
 course, however, it is theoretical science the knowledge that 
 necessarily transcends human experience, and deals with the 
 infinites of space and time and number the speculative 
 parts, e.g., of astronomy, of geology, of anthropology, etc. These 
 more vague and hazy extensions of a science that encircle 
 like a divine halo the demonstrable and experimental nucleus 
 have a necessary effect in theologising a science and bringing 
 it into a category of adoration and worship in which it can be 
 measured and compared with ritual and sacramental acts. 
 This is the standpoint of science science at any rate capable 
 of metaphysical and mystical extensions where the refined 
 and cultivated student meets the priest or devout worshipper. 
 If, as the poet said, 
 
 ' An undevout astronomer is mad,' 
 
 it is an aberration of reason that may be extended indefinitely 
 not only to sciences which are in their germ metaphysical 
 but to others that are in their essence physical, but are 
 capable of being extended in one or other directions be- 
 yond the narrow limits of terrene conditions. These are 
 aspects of knowledge that are, in my judgment, bound to 
 increase in the future. They form compensations of a 
 certain kind by means of which the didactic researches and 
 lessons of the future will make up for, e.g., superstitions and 
 
 k
 
 CXXXV111 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 unreasonably anthropomorphic forms of theology. Such meta- 
 physical extensions of physical sciences may conceivably find 
 almost indefinite extensions in the future. Whenever men of 
 science are gifted with a tender impressionable side to an 
 unusually strong and vigorous intellect, or whenever the force 
 and reach of a strong mind is supplemented and qualified as it 
 was in the case of Tyndall with a tender, graceful, and poetic 
 imagination, the evolution of a theology and a worship from the 
 driest and most materialistic details of a physical science is 
 merely the gratification of the most natural instincts. Already 
 we seem to be on the verge of a period in which the Religion 
 or Christianity of the future has already begun to assume that 
 semi-physical form we are now endeavouring to describe. What 
 functions the Christian priest will then discharge, or in what 
 way existing sacraments or any other forms of prayer and 
 modes of worship will be made reconcilable with larger inter- 
 pretations of creation and with the laws and processes of the 
 universe, it would be as yet premature to guess. It is at any 
 rate one excellence of Christianity as expounded by its Founder, 
 that we can hardly conceive any form of future faith into 
 which its most essential requisitions cannot enter a faith, e.g., 
 in which conclusions of physical science may not find a place in 
 combination with which every possible use and interpretation 
 of the Lord's Prayer, for instance is wholly unimaginable or 
 again, any similar faith of the future into which the two 
 sacraments of the Christian Church may not find some mode of 
 reasonable introduction, albeit in attempting it Christians may 
 well remember the sublime indifference to all external form and 
 rite that their Teacher enjoined. I am far from supposing that 
 these rational and physical science forms of Christian sacer- 
 dotalism are the only ones the future may have in store for us
 
 INTRODUCTION cxxxix 
 
 But they are some to which, estimating from the auguries and 
 forecasts of the present, the future may by its own self-develop- 
 ment be leading us. We may, however, easily conceive forms 
 of sacerdotalism, in which for persons of peculiar temperament 
 and training the power of the priest may be the exercise of a 
 wholesome function. We can at all events conceive that the 
 spiritual and ethical influence of a Christ over, e.g., such a 
 disciple as Simon Peter, or ' the woman who was a sinner,' 
 would be both priestly and wholesome in the highest possible 
 sense. 
 
 Another point of view in which the Christianity of the 
 future will necessarily become assimilated to that of the past 
 will be in its use of the same credentials. As we saw 
 already in noting the phenomena of the present, the \oyia or 
 oracles of Christ will receive greater accentuation as they are 
 more marked in the broader New Testament researches, which, 
 I take leave to guess, will be one distinctive characteristic 
 of the future of Christianity. The part which those \6jia 
 played in the first century of the Christian era will be better 
 understood and appreciated on a fuller investigation : then also, 
 the freedom of communities governed by these \6yia, their 
 ethical purity and profundity, will be more clearly recognised, 
 while their simplicity and human sympathy will, finally, 
 receive the deference that is rightly their due. 
 
 May we not possibly find in this recuscitation of Christ and 
 Christian oracles, of Christ and Christian knowledge, of Christ 
 and Christian love and charity, a higher, truer, and altogether 
 better interpretation of the Son of Man's return to earth than 
 any other to which tradition has lent a great but wholly un- 
 likely significance. This would be an extension of Christianity,
 
 Cxi SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 virtual as well as nominal, infinitely greater as well as more 
 probable than any other we can think of; it would be a 
 fulfilment of every well-worn prediction of the indefinite 
 spread of Christianity such as 'the knowledge of the Lord 
 shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea ' ; it would be 
 a realisation of the last and grandest scene of the world- drama 
 of Christianity. Even so, come, Lord Jesus ! Amen.
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS. 
 
 IN my edition of the AtSa^ I have already treated (pp. 193- 
 241) of the so-called Apostolic Canons, that piece of writing of 
 canonical law at once so important and yet until now so enig- 
 matical, on which a bright light has fallen by the discovery of 
 the AtSa^r/'. After a survey of the history of the starting into 
 life and criticism of the Apostolic Canons, I have there investi- 
 gated the composition of the book 1 , and have shown that the 
 editor had before him five documents of the time of the early 
 church, viz. : 1. The Epistle of Barnabas ; 2. the At8a%?7 ; 3. an 
 old and very peculiar list of the Apostles ; and 4. and 5. two 
 pre-catholic compositions of canonical law, which I have named, 
 in order to distinguish them, /carao-rao-t? rov K\tfpov and 
 KardcrTaats -rr)? eKK\r]aia<$ z . Much has since been written 
 on the relation of the Apostolic Canons to the AtSa^, and 
 the correct conclusion of the latest investigations appears to be 
 that the editor had not in his possession the whole At8a%?7, 
 but only an abridgment of it 3 . I shall not return in the 
 following pages to this point, as the decisions, whatever they 
 may be, are irrelevant to the understanding of the Apostolic 
 Canons ; I intend, however, after a survey of the work of the 
 editor on the book, to examine those two anonymous treatises 
 of Canon Law of which he has made use, and which, in fact, 
 he has incorporated in his work. It will be shown that from 
 more than one point of view they claim the highest interest, 
 and bring before us the most precious information on the legal 
 arrangements of the church from the most ancient time. In this 
 investigation I shall not repeat what I have already examined 
 and proved in my former work. Those labours 4 , with this new 
 study, together with the investigations on ' the two ways,' will 
 contain a complete treatise on this hitherto neglected law-book. 
 
 r), pp. 193-209. 2 Ibid. pp. 209-222. 
 
 3 See especially the article of Holtzmann, ' Die Didache und die Nebenfor- 
 men ' in the Jahrb. f. Protest. Theologie, 1885, pp. 154 and foil., besides the 
 treatises of Bratke, Wai-field, Taylor, and others. 
 
 4 The text of the Apostolic Canons is printed in the edition of the Didache, 
 pp. 225 to 237. 
 
 A
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE WOEK OF THE EDITOR. 
 
 THE work of the editor on this law-book, measured quantita- 
 tively, has been exceedingly small. He has, apart from the 
 introduction, arranged his sources very unskilfully, and con- 
 tented himself with little additions and cancellings. Thus is 
 it explained how it was possible that experts have referred the 
 whole book in its present form to the second century. To the 
 editor belong 1. paragraphs 1-3 complete; 2. the assignment 
 of single groups of sentences to the several apostles ; 3. unim- 
 portant additions in paragraphs 4-15. For this the AtSa%?7 
 and the Epistle of Barnabas form the foundation ; what the 
 author has added, with the exception of the longer portion of 
 paragraph 8 and the thorough working up of paragraph 12, is 
 extremely unimportant. 4. Small but important cancellings 
 and an addition in paragraphs 16-23. The cancellings relate 
 to the figures ; for instance, the original document contains the 
 regulation to appoint two presbyters, one reader, three deacons, 
 and three widows. The editor, to whom these figures seemed 
 too small, has placed three presbyters instead, and struck out 
 the numbers for the reader and deacons, but left the number 
 three for the widows l . The addition is reduced to the paren- 
 thesis in paragraph 20, taken from The Proverbs, opyr) <yap 
 air6\\v(rtv avSpa <f)p6vi/j,ov. This passage does not suit the 
 character of the original ; it however agrees completely with 
 the additions of the editor in paragraphs 4-15. Apart from 
 these alterations, which have had the result of the interpolation 
 of a few short sentences, in that part which refers to the pres- 
 byter, there is in the section consisting of paragraphs 16-23 
 
 i See the proof for the alteration of or striking out of the figures against 
 the presbyters and deacons on p. 212, note 36. It may, however, be con- 
 cluded with great probability that in the original the figure one stood against 
 the reader.
 
 WORK OF THE EDITOR 3 
 
 nothing which with any probability can be attributed to the 
 editor. 5. As surely as a distinction can be perceived up to 
 paragraph 2 3, so is the settlement of the work of the editor in 
 the concluding paragraphs 24-30 uncertain. On one side the 
 words (paragraph 25) irepl rf)<; 7rpo<7<opci<? TOV o-aj/iaro? /cat TOV 
 at/iaro? aKpi/Sw prjvva-ca/mev show plainly that we have to do 
 with a writer at the earliest of the time of Cyprian, or at any 
 rate of the time of Eusebius 1 ; on the other hand, paragraph 26 
 contains what is extremely ancient, and the passage concerning 
 the women agrees excellently with that concerning the laity, 
 thus suiting the original, which has been here followed. But 
 we cannot restore the text literally with certainty, for the 
 style of the editor is to be recognised in the whole section. It 
 will be perceived of what use the paragraphs 29 and 30 are. 
 
 Though, measured outwardly, the work of the editor has been 
 little, he has completely altered the sense and the meaning of 
 the sources he has made use of; for while the editor has written 
 his compilation as an ordinance of the twelve apostles, and has 
 placed in the mouth of the individual apostles the several 
 regulations, while further he has designated this apostolic 
 law-giving as brought about by a direct special command of 
 Christ, he has given to the whole as well as to the single parts 
 quite a new sense. The introduction, after placing in advance 
 the names of the twelve apostles 2 , thus runs : 
 
 Kara KeKevcnv TOV }LvpLov rifjuwv 'Iijaov XptaToz) rov ^(arrjpo^ 
 vTwv rffifav, Ka6u>s Siera^ev irpb TOV 3 . MeXXere 
 ra<? e7ra/r\aa9, KaTaXoylcraaOai TOTTOJV dpt,6fj,ov<>, 
 d%la<?, 7rpecr(3vTepa>v e'Spa<?, SHZKOVCOV irape$peias> 
 vovve^ias, ^(rjpwv dveiy/cT^ijcrlas KOI oo~a Seot 717)09 
 de/j,e\ia>cri,v eKK\r](ria<>, iva TVTTOV rwv eTrovpaviwv etSore? 
 <f)v\d(ra'a>vTai airo Travrbs dcrro^fji.aTO^, etSore? on \6<yov 
 
 1 See my Dogmengeschichte, vol. i. pp. 354 and. 696. 
 
 2 See for the list of the apostles p. 217 of the AiSctxi?, and Lipsius, Apokr. 
 Apostelgesch. i. p. 21 and following. 
 
 3 Instead of irpb rov we should perhaps read irpo\tyuv or irporepov. (The 
 Aethiopic gives us ' praecepit nobis et dixit. ') Lagarde has made the following 
 restoration according to the Coptic text, which is itself a corrupted one (in 
 Bunsen's Analecta Antenic. ii. p. 451): ffvvaQpoiffOtvTuv T^XWC Si^ra^ev TJ/MV X^yw^ 
 irpb TOV K\rjpov<r6ai rjfj.S.y rds x^P ay > OTl ""P^ T0 ^ M^^ 6 "' K\r)povffdai rois x&P as 
 KaraKoyta-acrOe rbirwv apiO/jt,ovs x.T.X. However, in the Reliquiae Jur. eccl. the 
 text stands as printed above.
 
 4 WORK OF THE EDITOR 
 
 v<f>e!;ovo-iv ev ry ^67^X77 rjf^epa rfjs /cpicreo)? irepl wv atcova-avres 
 OVK 6<j>v\a%av Kal eKe\evaev ?7/ia9 eKire^^aadai TOU? Xofyoi"? 
 et? 0X171; Ti)v ol/covfJiev'rjv eSo^ev ovv r]/j,lv Trpo? V7r6fj,vr)criv T?}<? 
 a8eX<oT?7TO5 KCU vov6e<riav e/cacrrw &><? 6 Kvpios a-Tre/eaXtnJre 
 Kara TO 0e\r)fjia rov deov Sia irvev^aro^ dyiov pv^crdela-L \6jov 
 
 The premiss in this badly composed paragraph is given in 
 the GvvadpoicrdevTwv rj/mwv, the conclusion begins with the 
 eSogev ovv r^fuv 1 ; the tcaOox; Siera^ev, and the /cat e/ceXeva-ev 
 following later, are as exegeses to Kara /ce\evaiv. The 
 author has here thus discovered a special command of Christ 
 to the apostles. They were to settle the constitutio ecclesiae even 
 to the smallest detail in a general session, and to make known 
 this settlement to the whole world. The apostles obeyed this 
 command when is not said 2 while each in a solemn session 
 promulgated what had been revealed to him by the Lord, and 
 together they published these revelations to the whole world 3 . 
 As to single passages, the following is worthy of consideration. 
 
 The expression eVap^t'a is not met with in ecclesiastical 
 language in the sense of ' church province ' before the time of 
 Eusebius. However, in the sense of ' province ' it is much 
 older, and thus occurs also in ecclesiastical writers 4 . In this 
 passage there is no necessity that we should think of church 
 provinces, consequently it is of no value for fixing the date of 
 the editor 5 . Khypova-Oat, = ' to divide by lot.' The apostles 
 
 1 See Acts xv. 25 ; Luke i. 3. 
 
 2 See Praedic. Petri in Hilgenfeld's Nov. Test, extra can. recept. Fasc. 
 4 ed. ii. p. 56, 15, where the command to the apostles runs : /nerd StiSeKa try 
 t&XOere els -rbv K&<r/j.ov : compare Apollonius in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. v. 18. 
 14, ws IK Trapad6<reus rbv ffurrjpd. <f>T)(ri Trpocrrerax^cat TOIS avrov aTrooTcSAots eTrt 
 SdiSeKa ereai fur] x(i)piff87)vai rijs 'IfpovffaXtf/j.. 
 
 3 The single sentences are referred back to special revelations of the 
 Lord. See Muratori, Fragment Z, 9 and follg. : [Johannes] cohortantibus 
 condiscipulis et episcopis suis dixit : conieiunate mihi hodie triduo, et quid 
 cuique fuerit revelatum, alterutrum nobis enarremus, etc. Such representa- 
 tions go back thus to the second century. 
 
 4 See Marquardt, Mm. Staatsverwcdtung, vol. i. (1873) p. 340, n. 6. In 
 the Martyrium Carpi et Papyli et Agathonices (see Aube", L'dglise et Vitat dans 
 la seconde moitid du H2 e sidcle, p. 503), we read, ti> ira<n eirapxtq. Kal w6\ei 
 elfflv /tov rticva Ka.ro. 6e6i>. Also when used by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. vii. 30, 1, 
 provinces of the Empire are probably meant : ^inaroK^v d<.a.Trt/j.iroi>Tai eirl 
 irdcras rdj ^Trapxiaj. 
 
 5 In opposition to my remark on p. 218 of the work mentioned.
 
 WORK OF THE EDITOR 5 
 
 were thus to dispose of the provinces among themselves, and 
 they were besides to make a catalogue of the number of the 
 roTTot. TOTTOS may mean here a degree of rank just as well as 
 a place (town) ; and it is indeed to be taken in its first meaning, 
 as the following appears as an exegesis of TOTTOI. The author 1 
 reckons as steps of rank : bishops, presbyters, deacons, readers, 
 and widows. He has, in agreement with the general rule, 
 placed the readers after the deacons 2 , but, except the widows, 
 has closed the list with them. It would, however, be premature 
 to conclude from this that at his time there were no subdeacons. 
 Kather, as to the date of the editor, the following points should 
 be considered : 
 
 1. The division of the individual regulations among the 
 
 several apostles. 
 
 2. The proof that the clerical degrees even down to the widows 
 
 and readers are formed according to the rviro? 
 
 3. The pre-supposition that the bishop alone appoints the 
 
 presbyters after his own examination. (See the sentence 
 interpolated by the editor at paragraph 17 : 'Iwdvvr)? 
 el,irev' 6 KaracrraOel^ eiricrKOTro^, etStu? TO Trpocre^es KCU 
 (f)i\o0eov TWV crvv aurc3, KaTcumjcrei, o$? av 
 Trpea-fivrepow;.) 
 
 4. The expression rj irpocr^opa rov cra>yu,aT09 KOI TOV 
 
 5. The omission of the whole second half of the AtS<z%^ rwv 
 
 airoa-ToXwv as useless that the editor was acquainted 
 
 with it is evident from paragraph 12 as well as the 
 
 use made of At8a%?; iv. 1. 2 in paragraph 12. 
 
 On the ground of these observations it may be considered 
 
 rash to place the time of the editing earlier than the third 
 
 century. We may not, however, put it later than the middle 
 
 of the fourth century, as from this time uniform church ordi- 
 
 nances were fixed. In fact the whole undertaking is more easily 
 
 1 The designations dfas, 5pcts, TrapeSpelas, vovvexlas, and avejKXrjfflas should 
 be observed. The three first are easily to be understood and characteristic. 
 However, the two last are striking 'discretion' and ' irreproachableness. ' 
 The latter is a ti.Tra.% \ey6fj.. (Bickell's &vKK\-r)cria.s = ' separating the widows 
 from ecclesiastical arrangements ' is monstrous. ) The former is dark in its 
 special relation to the ' readers. ' 
 
 2 In the source which he has used the reversed order was observed. See 
 paragraphs 19, 20.
 
 6 WORK OF THE EDITOR 
 
 understood if we date it in the second half of the third century, 
 say about the year 300, rather than later. With regard to the 
 place where the editing was done, the history of the book 
 points to Egypt. At any rate these canons are no monument of 
 the Imperial church ; they could hardly have arisen from one 
 of the chief churches, but rather from a provincial one, as the 
 admission of chapters 16-21, including the corrections, proves. 
 The compilation is by no means clear. What value or what 
 acceptance such church regulations could have had about the 
 year 300 is not at all clear to us. The document is not, how- 
 ever, in its way singular. There are several church ordinances 
 and even dogmatic compilations which, particularly in the 
 time in which they arose, are quite inconceivable to us. The 
 materials were probably forced upon their authors, who by 
 re-editing them tried to make them to a certain extent inno- 
 cuous. Even in the present time we might be able to produce 
 parallel cases.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ORIGINAL SOURCES AT THE BASTS OF CHAPTERS 16-28 
 OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS. 
 
 THAT there were two original documents forming the basis of 
 chapters 16-28 I have already shown in my edition of the 
 AiSa^?;, pp. 212-216. The duplicate (to chapter 20) chapter 
 22 teaches us that the author has for this chapter gone to a 
 new original document. The connection of chapters 22-28 
 is, however, evident by other observations : thus in chapters 
 22 and 26 Christ is called o BiBdo-fca\o<j, while this designa- 
 tion is wanting in chapters 16-21. The first Epistle of Clement 
 is made use of in chapter 22 as well as in chapter 23, while it 
 is considered of no value in chapters 16-21. 
 
 The editor has used, just as out of the AtSa%?7, only frag- 
 ments of the two original documents which were at his disposal. 
 We can have no conception as to what form they had as a whole. 
 But what he has taken from his sources is without difficulty 
 recognised. In what follows the two large fragments are 
 separated and commented on : 
 
 A. (APOSTOLIC CANONS, Chapters 16-21.) 
 
 1. 'Eav oAtyavS/ota vTrdpxy 1. If there are few men and 
 KCU PJTTOV TrArJ^os Tvyxdvy rwv not twelve persons who are com- 
 Trepl tin- petent to vote at the election of 
 
 1. 1. 6\iyai>5pta. A similar definition is found nowhere else, yet we may 
 compare it with Const. App. II. 1. p. 14, 11 (ed. Lagarde): el StKai ev irapoiiclq. 
 HiKpq, virapxofori TTOV TrpOjSe/Sry/cws T< XP^V ^ evplffKijrai, fJ.efMpTvpy/j.tvos KO! crowds 
 et'j fTriffKOTTTjv KaTaffTadijvat, vtos 5 y ^Kei . . . doKifiaffOeis . . . Ka.6iaT&aOu tv 
 dp-rivy. It is to be remarked that in the whole division there is no question 
 of the election, still less of the consecration, but of the preparation for the 
 election and the qualities of the person to be chosen. 
 
 2. 7rX?70o$. The author is not thinking of the clergy, but of the laity : that 
 is, of the members of the congregation ; he has in view small congregations 
 in which there may not be even twelve persons qualified to vote. The con- 
 gregation selects. See AiSax~n 15. 1 : XeipoToi^craTe odv eavrois eir 
 
 7
 
 8 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 O-/COTTOU CJ/TOS SeKaSvo dvS/awv, et's a bishop, the neighbouring 
 
 5 ras irXrja-iov tKi<Xr](ria<s, oVou churches should be written to, 
 
 Tre-mjyvia, ypacfreTOxrav, where any of them is a settled 
 
 Bev e/cAe/cToi r/oets avSpes one, in order that three selected 
 
 oKinfj SoKtpdo-av- men may come thence and ex- 
 
 res TOV agiov ovra, ei TIS ^Tf^v amine carefully if he is worthy, 
 
 10 KaXty ex <"r TWV eflvuv, ei that is, if he has a good report 
 
 dvap,dpTrjTo<s inrdpxfi, 'ei <f>i\6- among the heathen, if he is fault- 
 
 el, o-(a(f>p(av, p.^ p.e6v- less, if a friend of the poor, if 
 
 5. tKK\r)<rtas. What follows shows that this plural is not to be so under- 
 stood as if several neighbouring churches are to be written to, but rather a 
 firmly established congregation is to be invited to assist. 
 
 6. ireirijyvia. 'Fixedness,' 'having a standing,' in this connection, con- 
 sequently, having a larger number of members. Churches which have not 
 even twelve members qualified to vote are in danger of disappearing. 
 
 ypa^Tua-av, that is, the congregation, not the clergy of the congregation. 
 
 7. ^K\KTol rpeZs tivSpes. These need not be clergymen. In general we may 
 compare 1 Clem. 63, 3, as well as the Epistle of Poly carp. (See also Lucian, 
 Peregr. Proteus 13 ; Ignat. ad Smyrn. 11 ; and ad Polyc. 7.) In these cases 
 there is no question of the election of a bishop. See Zahn, Weltverkehr und 
 Kirche, and my treatise, ' Die Sorge f. arme u. gefahrdete Gemeinde u.s.w.' in 
 the Monatschriftf. Diakonie, etc., Dec. 1879 Jan. 1880. 
 
 8. SoKi/j.f doKipdcravTes. See 3, 4 ; 2 Cor. viii. 22 : <rvvfirtp.\f/a,nev 8 avrois 
 TOV d8e\<t>ov TjfjL&v ov tdoKifjuiffa[jt.ev. 1 Tim. iii. 10 : ot Sidxovoi doKifj.a$ff6u<rai> 
 irpurov, flra dtaKoveirucrav. 1 Clem. 42, 4 : KO.6iffTa.vov ras curapxa.* avruv 
 SoKi/j.dffa.vTfs T$ TTV&J/J.O.TI ei's e5ri(rK67rovs Kai SIO.K&VOVS. 44, 2 : 01 dir6ffTO\oi 
 eirivofj.rjv ZSuKav SITUS eav KOifM-r)6Sxnv, SiaS^wvTai eVepoi SedoKi/JMfffjLtvoi tivSpes TI\V 
 \etrovpyiav avruiv. 47, 4. Aidaxti 11, 11 ; 12, 1 ; 15, 1 : x eL P OTOV ^ ffa ' re 
 tirurKbwovs . . . Avdpas de8oKi/j.a,ff/j.{vovs. The three invited men have only to 
 examine the candidate placed before the congregation ; they have not to join 
 in the election. 
 
 9. dt<w. See At5. 15, 1 : d^/ovj TOV Kvplov et T<S /c.r.X. From here to 
 Sfj-oia. the necessary qualifications are enumerated ; then follow those which 
 are desirable. 
 
 <t>~f)IJ.riv K.T.X. See 1 Tim. iii. 7 : Set 8 TOV eiriffKoirov /cat /j.apTVpiav KaXyv 
 ZXCLV dirb T&V ZguOev. Const. App. II. 6 : &TTW 8 6 eirlffKoiros /XTJ alffxpoKepdi)* 
 Kal fjLd\io~Ta tirl T&V tdv&v /3\a7rr6/iei'os ^.aXXoi' r) (BXdiTTav. 
 
 11. dva/jidpTriTos. This word, which is not a common one, is found also 
 in Test. XII. Patr. Benjam. 3 ; Celsus in Origen c. Gels. III. 65 ; Horn. 
 Clem. II. 6, p. 23, 8, ed. Lagarde, Const. App. II. 13, p. 23, 22 ; p. 24, 
 14; II. 18, p. 33, 2, 13, 24; II. 14, p. 26, 6; VIII. 6, p. 240, 18. It 
 can hardly be taken here in its strict sense, but as in Const. App. II. ] , 
 p. 13, 22 : TOV tirlffKoirov del virdpxeiv dvtyK\i)Tov, dveTrlXyTrTOv, dvtiracpov Traces 
 dSudas dvdpuiruv. See 1 Tim. iii. 2 : Set TOV tiriaKoirov dvtTri\^fjLiTTOv elvai ; 
 Tit. i. 7. 
 
 <fx.\6irT<>)xos. See Const. App. II. 6, p. 17, 17, where it is said of the 
 bishop, n^i 0t\07rXoi;<7toj, HTJ fu<r6irT<t>xos- 
 
 12. <rd)<ppuv. See 1 Tim. iii. 2 : liriaKQirov o-ufipova. Tit. i. 8 : pi) ptdvffos
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 9 
 
 o-os, fj.rj Trdyovos, fir] irXfovex- honourable no drunkard, no 
 
 Tf)<s r) AotSo/aos >} Trpoo-wTToA^Trr^s, adulterer, not covetous or a 
 
 15 KO.I TO. TOVTOIS o/ioto. KaAov /i' slanderer, or partial, or such like. 
 
 e?i/cw dyvvaios, el e p), OTTO It is good if he is unmarried ; if 
 
 Trai&Was /ie-ro^os, not, then a man of one wife ; edu- 
 
 rds ypa(f>as epp,Y)veveiv cated, in a position to expound 
 
 see paragraph 3 ; 1 Tim. iii. 2, ^ vdpoivov ; Tit. i. 7. The following 
 enumeration comes from 1 Cor. v. 11 : irbpvos i) ir\eove'Krr}s . . . ^ \ol6opos 1) 
 utdvffos pi] iropvos. This definition is not expressly used in the Pastoral 
 Epistles. 
 
 13. /J.TJ TrXecW/cTT/s. Const. App. II. 6, p. 17, 16 : /? irXeove'KrTjs. 1 Tim. 
 iii. 3 ; Ai5. 15, 1 : d(/>i\dpyvpov. Tit. i. 8 : ^ alvxpoKepdij. Hippolyt. (Philos. 
 IX. 7) on Zephyrin : dvijp IduSrrris Kal al<rxpoKepS-/is. Polyc. ad Philipp. 6, 1 : 
 naKpav 8vres irdyrjs (j>i\apyvplas (of the presbyters and bishops) ; 5, 2 ; 
 dfaXdpyvpoi (of the deacons). Herm., Sim. IX. 27, 2. 
 
 14. TrpoffuiroX^irrrjs. See 2 (bis). 4. 6 ; Polyc. ad Philipp. 6, 1 : direxb/J.evoi 
 TrpoffUTroXyij/ias. Const. App. II. 5 p. 16, 16 : &TTW 6 ^Tr/cr/coTros cbrp 
 
 II. 9 p. 21, 9 : elvai xp^J T&V fcrfOTHMW* dTrpo<ruir6\i]irTOv. Act. x. 34 : 
 TroXijTTTijy. Tit. i. 8 : SlKaiov (of the bishop). nal TO. roi/rots o'/uota. See Gal. 
 v. 21 : . . . tf>66vot, /ji^dai, KU/WI, Kal TO, diyaota TOIJTOIS. 
 
 15. Ka\oi> fjL^v elvat dyvvaios, K.r.X. As to the form see 1 Cor. vii. 1 : xaXoi/ 
 avOpunrip yvvaiKfc /JLTJ {tTrreffdai. The author goes in his desire a step further 
 than the author of the First Epistle to Timothy (see iii. 2 : /*is 7wai/cds &vSpa), 
 and Const. App. II. 2 p. 15, 9 : /xtas yvvcuKbs AvSpa yeyevrj^vov, ^ovbya^ov. 
 It was not rare to find married bishops in the third century. See Hippolyt. 
 Philos. IX. 12, p. 460 : 'Ewl KaXXtorou ijp^avro ewiffKOiroi Kal irpecrflijTepot, Kal 
 didKOvoi dtya/jioi Kal rpiya/j.ot. Ka6iffTa<r6ai eh K\ripovf el Se Kal TIS fv K\-(ip<$ &v 
 yafj.oii], y.evfiv rbv TOIOVTOV ev T<^ K\rip<{) us (J.T] i)/ji.apTr)K6Ta. The explanation of 
 Pitra to our passage, ' oportere episcopum esse aut caelibem aut omnis uxoris 
 viduum,' is written with an object. 
 
 17. iratdelas /droxos, K.T.\. Even this is only a desirable qualification. See 
 1 Tim. iii. 2 : di5aKTiK6v. Tit. i. 9 : dvTex6f*evoi> rov Kara TTJV Sidaxyv TTICTTOV 
 \6yov, 'iva Svvarbs 77 Kal irapaKaXelv ei> rf/ 5i5a<rKa\la vyiaivotiffri Kalrotis a.vTi\eyov- 
 Tas eXeyxeiv. In this passage the capacity to teach is founded on the rules of 
 faith, while in the above it is on the holy scriptures. See Const. App. II. 1, 
 p. 14, 9 : &TTW ovv 6 eTrt'cr/coTros, el Svvar6v, ireiraidev/j.tvos' el Se Kal dypd/^fj-aros, 
 dXX' ovv efj-ireipos rCiv \6yuv, KaOrjKUv ry ijXiKia. II. 5 p. 16, 25 : TroXuS/Sa/cros, 
 jneXeTcDp Kal airovSd^iav tv rats KVpiaKais plpXois, 7roXi)s ev dvayvuff/j.affiv, 'iva. ras 
 ypa<pas eTriyueXcDs ep/jL-rjveijri (a. Ignat. ad Philad. 6, 1). The consideration that 
 waidela is mentioned before ability to explain the scriptures, while there is no 
 mention of rules of faith, makes it probable that our fragment was not 
 edited in the West nor in the oldest time. In Const. App. I. 6 p. 17, 10, 
 we find eTrineXov o5 rov \6yov, eirlffKOire, iVo, el Svvarbv <rot, Trdvra Kara 
 \eiv epfjnjvevirris. It is left doubtful what 'scriptures' are meant. See 
 Const. App. V. 12 (Text) : etfXo7/as Kal \f/a\fj.ovs Kal KvpiaKas Kal Betas ypa<j>ds ; 
 V. 19 (Text) : eirl TO avrb ev rfj fKK\7]ala avvaOpot^uevoi ypyyopeTre . . . dva- 
 yiv&ffKOvres rbv v6fj.ov, rovs irpo^ras, roiis \fsa\fjLOvs, rb evayyfXiov ; I. 5 : 
 dvayivwffKe rbv vb^ov, ras j3ao~i.\elovs, rovs irpo<f>r/ras, ro evayy\iov ' rb rovruv ffvv- 
 II. 5 : bfj-oyroix^s ro?s irpo(prjrais Kal r$ vbfjLtf rb evayyt\iov
 
 10 SOURCES OP THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 ci 8e dypdpiMLTos, irpavs vTrdpx^v, the Scriptures; but if he is un- 
 20 Kal 777 dydTry ets Travras irepicr- learned, then he must be gentle 
 a-eveTio, pri TTOTC TTcpi Tivos iXfyx~ an d filled with love to all, so that 
 Bel's eirio-KOTTos UTTO TWJ> TroAAwv a bishop should never be as one 
 ycvrjOeii). accused of anything by the 
 
 multitude. 
 
 2. ... (Trpea-fivTepoi 8vo)- 2. ... (Two Presbyters) : for 
 yap Kal recrarapes etcrt there are 24 Presbyters, 12 at the 
 
 19. dypdfjifj,aTos. See the above quoted passage from Const. App. II. 1 
 p. 14, 9. Hippolytus says of the Roman bishop Zephyrinus in Philos. 
 IX. 11 : idiiimjs Kal dypd/j./jiaTos. Cornelii Rom. ep. apud Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 
 vi. 43, 8 : tiri<Ttc6irovs rpeis, avOp&irovs dypolKovs Kal dTrXouoTaroi's. Kopt. 
 Heiligen-Kalender (edited by Wiistenfeld) I. p. 66 : ' Demetrius was an 
 unlearned countryman who did not know the scripture ; he was married to 
 one wife and lived with her until he became patriarch ' (at the time of 
 Clemens Alexandrinus). On uneducated bishops see Hatch, Organization of 
 the Early Christian Churches, 3d ed. , p. 163. 
 
 irpabs. Gentleness and love must make up for the missing knowledge. 
 See Aidax'n 15, 1 : tiriffKbwovs . . . irpaeis. 1 Tim. iii. 3 : tiriffKQirov . . . 
 tirieiKrj, afiaxov. 1 Clem. 44, 3. Polycarp. ad Philipp. 6. 1 : rrj dydwri . . . 
 K.r.X. See 1 Thess. iii. 12 : v/nas 5t 6 tctpios . . . irepiff/revcrai rfj dydirri . . . 
 els irdvTas. 
 
 21. rf TOTS, K.r.X. See Tit. i. 9. 
 
 22. TWV TroXXw that is, dirb TOV 7rXi?0ous, see 1 Cor. x. 33. It is to be 
 observed that there is no rule as to the necessary age of the bishop (otherwise 
 1 Tim. iii. 6, Const. App. II. 1 p. 14, 1 and follg.), and that it is not required 
 that the bishop should be chosen from among the clergy. 
 
 2. The beginning of this section cannot now be reconstructed. Hence we 
 do not know whether it is (as in paragraphs 1, 3, 4) a question of a doKifj.acria 
 and Ka.TdffTa.ffis of the presbyter or not. 
 
 1. 860. This is at any rate the original number. The author has founded it 
 on a reference to the Apocalypse. To him the force lies in the K 5etu>v and 
 } efiuv>j/Ji,wv, which is indeed only a conclusion from the Apocalypse (see 
 Const. App. II. 57 p. 84, 22 : Keiffdu /j.foos 6 roO ^iria-Kdirov 6p6vos, Trap' eKdrepa 
 5t O.VTOV KaOefiaOb) T& TrpeffftvTtpiov). He did not of course wish to exclude a 
 plurality of presbyters (see the remark to note 21, TWV (TriffKoirwv), he only 
 demanded that the number should be always an even one. Apoc. iv. 4 ; v. 8 
 (KVK\60ev TOV Bpbvov Opdvot eticocri. Ttffffapes, Kal tirl TOVS Opbvovs CIKOCTI Tfoaapas 
 Trpefffivrtpovs KaBij/jitvovs . . . etKOffi r4ffffapes irpefffitiTepoi. . . . %ocres e/ca0Tos 
 . . . <f>id\as x/wcras yefj-oticras 6vfMa/j.dTuv, at elffiv at irpoffevxal T&V aylwv) is at 
 the foundation for it ; but the introduction of the archangels is a pure addition, 
 and the whole description has no support in the text of the Apocalypse. 
 The author has transferred the functions of the earthly presbyters as he deter- 
 mined them (see below) to the heavenly presbyters. It is important to observe 
 that in Apoc. iv. 5 the original picture of the Christian worship on earth is 
 recognised, and the account adapted accordingly (see Hatch, Organization of 
 the Early Christian Churches, 3d ed. p. 128). See the saying of Clemens, Strom. 
 IV. 8 : ekibv 8t TIJS ovpaviov tKK\t)fflas rj Myeios. The SecTTrirr/s is of course 
 the bishop, the TrXijtfos TUV dyy\uv the multitude of believing laymen.
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 11 
 
 Trpc<r(3i>Tpot, 8u>8eKa IK Stgiwv right and 1 2 at the left ; for those 
 
 Kai SwfieKa e eva>vvp,tav' ol p,ev at the right receive from the arch- 
 
 5 -yap K Segiwv Sf^ofJ-fvoi diro TUV angels the cups and present them 
 
 dpxo.yyeX(av ras <iaAas TT/DOO-- to the master, but those on the left 
 
 <f>(pov<ri TO? Seo-TroVr/, 01 8c e hand (them) to the multitude of 
 
 i>o-iT(j>7rA?7#e6Taji/ the angels. Hence the presby- 
 
 Set ovv elvai TOVS Trpecr- ters must be already advanced in 
 
 ] o /3vTe/Dovs 176*77 Kexpow-Koras eirl T years (in the world), abstaining 
 
 Kotrp-o), rpoTTip rivl direxopcvovs as is fit from communication 
 
 T-^S irpbs yvvaiWas o-weAewectK, with women, willingly sharing 
 
 efyieraSoTovs et's TTJV dSeA^or^Ta, with the brotherhood, not having 
 
 Trpoa-wTrov dvdpunrov prj Aa/*/3oVov- regard to the person, companions 
 
 15 T<XS, o-v/tyivo-Tas TOV eirio-KOTTov KCU in consecration with the bishop, 
 
 can hardly, with Bickell, be translated by ' to have the super- 
 intendence,' it is simply 'to hand.' This passage ofiers the oldest example 
 of the application of the Apocalypse to church order. 
 
 9. Set oSv elvat TOI)S irpeapvTtpovs. Here begins the enumeration of the 
 qualities of the presbyters. This section is unique in the literature of the 
 canon law before Constantine, for Tit. i. and Polyc. ad Philipp. p. 6 treat of 
 presbyter-bishops. The Apostolic Constitutions even contain nothing which 
 belongs here. 
 
 10. KexpoviKtira.*. Thus a fixed number of years is not demanded, but only 
 an advanced age in general. The App. Const. (II. 1 p. 14, 1) demand that, 
 as a rule, no one shall be consecrated a bishop before his fiftieth year. 
 According to the eleventh canon of Neocaesarea (Routh, Reliquiae S. iv. p. 
 181) a presbyter must be at least thirty years old. M TI$ /c6cr^y is pleonastic. 
 
 11. Tp6Trt(j rivl d.Trexo/j.ti>ovs, K.T.\. This regulation too is unique. Bishops and 
 deacons may be married ; presbyters, however, have to abstain from sexual 
 relations. For rpdny nvl (Bickell has erroneously joined it to Kexpoj't/c6roj) 
 see Const. App. II. 1 p. 14, 2 : Srt 77)671-^ -nvl ras vewTepiKas {Tri6v/ji.ta.s tKirefavyfos 
 tirdpxei. The author does not, we may believe, mean that the presbyter has 
 to abstain from sexual connection ' quodammodo. ' But what then does rpbinp 
 nvl mean ">. The above quoted passage out of the Apostolic Constitutions and 
 a second (III. 1 p. 96, 10 : xVP as Kadiffrare /U.TJ \O.TTOV ru>v e^rjKOvra, tva 
 
 rivl rb TT}? 5iya.fj.las avruv O.VJWOTTTOV /3e/3aioi/ VJMV Sia T^J TjXtKtas avrCiv vi 
 leave no other meaning than /caret -rpbirov ('correspondingly,' 'naturally,' 
 ' becomingly ') for the translation ' in any manner ' which might be in neces- 
 sity defended in this passage is excluded by the passages from the Apostolic 
 Constitutions. Further vouchers indeed that rpbirq rivl is equal to Kara 
 rpoTrov I am not able to give. 
 
 13. ev/jLeTaobTovs. See par. 4 and App. Const. II. 3 p. 15, 26. 'A5eX06rr/ra: this 
 is the usual name for the Christian fellowship. See my note to 1 Clem. 2, 4. 
 
 14. Trp6<7uirov, K.T.\. See par. 1, 4, 6 ; the presbyters have the right to speak. 
 
 15. <riw*i/<rras TOV tri<TK6irov. The word (a companion in consecration) arises 
 from the language of the mysteries (see the old proverb : Oappeire, /uiVrai, TOV 
 6eov (recrua fj.fr 01, &TTCU 7&p ijfjuv etc trbvusv crwnjpi'a). In the first half of the 
 second century many conceptions are already taken up in the church language 
 out of that language (especially amongst the Gnostics ; see Koffmane, Die 
 Gnosis, 1881. Even in Justin mystagogic conceptions are not wanting).
 
 12 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 <rvva.6poiovTa.<s TO and fighting on his side, collecting 
 together the congregation, ready 
 Tcoip.kva. ot K Seiwi/ TT peer (3vTe pot to help the pastors. The pres- 
 
 byters on the right should 
 
 The word o-v^vo-ri^s first occurs in Ignatius. He called the Ephesians (Ep. 
 ad Eph. 12) : 0-vwj.vo-ras ILa6\ov. See further Hippol. in Daniel, p. 174 (ed. 
 Lagarde) : ws ffv/j.fj.vo-rai Kal Oeoo-e^ets &i>8pes. Origen in Jes. Nav. Horn. 7 
 (Opp. II. p. 413, ed. Delarue) : 'Paulus est symmystes Christi. ' Constantine 
 ap. Theodoret., Hist. Ev. I. 19 : 6 TTJS rvpawiKrjs W/^TTJTOS 0-vfj.fj.vffrys. Photius, 
 Biblioth. p. 97, 20. Much more frequently is HVO-TT)* to be found. See e.g. 
 Hippol. Philos. Praef. p. 4, 49. Epiph. h. 55, c. 8 : o5 7/^.e?s ecr/ae? /j.varai.. STTWJ 
 ' O.VTOU TTJS ev\oyias. It is possible that Marcion named his followers 
 in opposition to the designation <rv/j,tJuC><rra.i, for he was an enemy 
 to all mysteries. In this passage we need not apply the expression to the 
 worship alone ; still it is probable (from the following 6v<na.aTT)piov) that the 
 author was thinking especially of worship. 
 
 16. ffvve7ri/j.dxovs. I have only met with this word here ; yet in App. Const. 
 II. 17 p. 31, 15 is ou dvvrjffovrai ol virbrbv eirlaKOirov o~vviri/j.axew TW eTrw/coTr^j. 
 
 ffvvaOpoi^ovras rb TrXvJflos. We do not, unfortunately, learn how the 
 presbyter is to carry out this duty ; <rvvd0poio-/j.a is, since the time of Clemens 
 Alexandrinus, a technical term for the church as well as for the heretical as- 
 sembly. App. Const. II. 57 p. 84, 15 speaks of the bishop : orav (rvvaOpoifrjs 
 rty rov 6eov eKK\r}<rlav. See 1 Clem. 6, 1. It is, however, not improbable 
 that the avv in- crvvaOpolfriv does not here signify a strengthening of the concep- 
 tion, but is to be explained by the preceding ffv/j./j.vcrras and (rvveiri/j.dxovs. 
 
 17. irpoQvfjLovfj.evovs rbv [iroiij,eva. This word ('to be inclined,' 'to be will- 
 ing ') is found but seldom with the ace. of the person. The shepherd is of 
 course the bishop (see par. 6 fin. : 6 Troifj.evt.Kbs rbiros) ; so also Ephes. iv. 11 ; 
 (Act. xx. 28) ; 1 Pet. ii. 25 : 6 TTOI^V Kal MffKoiros T&V $vx&v vpuv. Herm., 
 Sim. IX, 31, by ' pastores ' bishops are to be understood. In the first Ep. of 
 Clement the congregation is four times (16, 1 ; 44, 3 ; 54, 2 ; 57, 2) called TO 
 -iroifj.viov rov deov. Const. App. II, 1 (Text) : rov iroifjieva rbv Ka.OicrraiJ.fvov 
 eirlffKOTrov. For other passages see Hatch, Organization, etc. 
 
 19. Trpovoricrovrai. See 1. 23. ' They shall bear the cares, exert themselves ' 
 (with the genitive of the person, see Xenophon, Cyr. 8. 1. 1 ; 7. 15 : irpovoelo-dai 
 rCiv iralduv. The phrase 6 debs irpovotlrai. r&v o\uv is common). In the New 
 Testament see Rom. xii. 17 : irpovootifievot, ccoXo. tv&iriov irdvrwv avQpuiruv ; 
 2 Cor. viii. 21 ; 1 Tim. v. 8 : et oe ris ruv ISLuv ov irpovoei. Also Polyc. ad 
 Philipp. 6, 1, where he speaks of the presbyters irpovoovvres ael rov /caXoO 
 evdnriov deov Kal avOpdiruv ; Ai5. 12, 4 (of the congregation) : Trpovorjffare, TTWS 
 fj.rj dpybs ped' V/JLWV tffferai x/Htmaj^s ; Const. App. VIII. 15 p. 262, 3. 
 
 rdv fTTiuKOTTdiv. This plural is the plural of the category, for it follows 
 from paragraph 1, as well as plainer from the singulars 'rov eiriffK&Trov,' 'TOP 
 iroifj-fva. ' (see the lines 15 and 18), that the author only knows of one bishop 
 in the congregation. Also in par. 1 1. 6 the plural tKK\Tj<rias is thus to be 
 understood, that in each single case only one church is to be considered. 
 
 irpbs rb Owiaarripiov, ' with reference to the altar ' ; that is, they should 
 look after the bishop officiating at the altar. We have here one of the oldest, 
 if not the very oldest, passage for the presence of an altar in the church, for 
 the New Testament passages are all to be understood metaphorically, and 
 similarly perhaps are the five passages in which the word occurs in Ignatius
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 13 
 
 20 TO 6vo-ia(TT->'ipiov, OTTOJS Tipycrwcrt assist the bishops at the altar, 
 KCU evTifj.r]6wa-iv, cts 5 av Serf in order that they may distri- 
 ct e dpio-Teptov irpeo-p-urepoi bute the gifts of honour, and 
 
 (Eph. 5, Magn. 7, Trail. 7, Rom. 2, Philad. 4 ; see also Polyc. ad Philipp. 4 
 fin., and Lightfoot on this passage). Tertullianin several places presupposes 
 church altars ; but from 1 Clement 44, 4 (irpoff<pepei.v TO. 5&pa) it does not 
 follow that there was an altar in the strict sense of the word, and even in 
 the second century the heathen relate that the Christians had neither temples 
 nor altars. 6v<ria<rTr)pioi> is besides (in contradistinction to /3w/*6s) not only the 
 altar table, but also the altar space, as is plainly seen from Apoc. xi. 1 (/j.eTprjffov 
 rb Ova-iaa-T-fipiov Kal robs irpoffKvvovvTas ev O.VT&), and the passages in Ignatius 
 (Eph. 5 : eai> pr/ TIS 77 evriis TOV 6v<ria.ffT7]ptov, v<rTepf?Tai TOV &prov. Trail. 7 : 6 evrbs 
 0v<ria,ffTT)piov &>v Kadapos e&Tiv, 6 5e IKTOS Bvffiaffrrjpiov &v ov Ka.6a.p6s effrtv). 
 
 20. SITUS rt/^crwcrt KO.L evrifj-yOucriv, els 5 a,t> dey. Subject of riytt-ijcrwcri, /c.r.X., 
 can only be the bishops, as in the following parallel sentence SITUS evcrra- 
 TaO-fiffy, K.r.X., the subject is TO irXijdos ; besides, els S &v Sty can only be related 
 to rifirjcruo-i, K.T.\., and not to irpovo^ovTai. But then it is impossible that 
 rifj-av and evTi/j.a<r6ai can be translated 'honour,' and ' thereby be honoured' 
 (see par. 4, and AtSax^ 15, 2, where it is said of the bishops and deacons : 
 avrol elcriv ol TeTi^^evoi vfj-uv, and my remark at that passage) ; for the sen- 
 tence, ' The presbyters shall bear the cares for the bishops at the altar, in 
 order that the bishops should honour and be honoured in regard to what is 
 always necessary, ' is simply senseless. fifj.av is thus to be taken here in its 
 original meaning = ' to pay,' ' to value,' ' to estimate,' hence also ' to repay.' 
 Only the last, in fact a synonymous, word can be considered here, as the 
 following frTifj-TjOuxrw proves, (Tifj.ci.ff6 at stands in the sense of ' being valued ' ; 
 Matt, xxvii. 9 : rty TL^IV TOV Teri^^fvov &v eTifj.fiva.vTo ; TI^TJ as equivalent to 
 price is frequent in the N. T. see Matt, xxvii. 6 ; Acts iv. 34, v. 2, 3, vii. 
 16, xix. 19 ; 1 Cor. vi. 20, vii. 23 ; 1 Tim. v. 17). This extraordinarily rare 
 word is used (according to the kind communications of my colleague Dr. 
 Philippi) by the Attic writers in the signification, ' under something to be 
 reckoned as payment on account,' or ' to put a thing as part of a sum of 
 money at the place of payment' : Mid. ' to account for oneself ' technically, 
 for example, as part of dowry of a wife paid usually in money and this sense 
 was still understood in the time of the Empire, as one passage in Dio Cassius 
 proves. In the passage above it stands, however, in the passive, and hence 
 nothing remains (as the bishops are the subject), but to consider evri/JMcr6cu 
 as meaning ' to be paid off at the paying ' (value). That it refers to gifts of 
 honour is evident from the context, as shown by the preceding word Bvcnav- 
 TJpiov, the place where the gifts were laid. Thus may it be paraphrased : 
 ' The presbyters are to provide for the bishop at the table of gifts, in order 
 that they may distribute the gifts (to the various persons needing them and 
 entitled to them), and themselves receive the necessary contributions (that is, 
 as far as it is necessary).' It is consequently a question of a kind of control by 
 the presbyters over the management of the gifts by the bishop, in order that 
 everything may be done orderly. Included in this control is also what the 
 bishop is justified in taking for himself. As thus the presbyters are 
 answerable for order in the ir\i)6os, so are they also officials charged with the 
 superintendence of the financial action of the bishop, both within the 
 service of God. This is the only possible exposition of this passage ; the 
 position in which the presbyters here appear is in the highest degree worthy
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 TOV irXrjOovs OTTOJS receive the same as far as is 
 
 y,Trp(aTov necessary. The presbyters on 
 
 25 p.efji.aOijKo'i Iv Trdcry viroTayy. ei the left shall provide for the con- 
 
 Se TIS vovOerovfji.fvo's av6d8<as O.TTO- gregation, in order that it may 
 
 TO ev TTOtTjo-avres ot ITTI T<J> be at rest and without disturb- 
 
 of note. There is in early Christian literature no other document which 
 defines this function of the presbyters (see Par. 5, where what is said of 
 the presbyters is also very worthy of attention). Our passage is partly 
 explained by the following definitions : 1 Tim. v. 17 : ol /caXws irpoeffTures 
 irpevfivTepoi. 8nr\7js TI/J.TJS d^iovcrduffav (rifj.T] here is equivalent to gift of 
 honour, honorarium ; see Holtzmann, Pastor albriefe, pp. 213, 352), Const. 
 Apostol. II. 22 (Text): d<opt6r#w 8e ev TJJ Soxy TO ry Troiutvi edi/j.iov, K&V /urj 
 7rapaoV%97Tcu, els Tifj.r)v 6eov, TOV TTJV leparelav atfry eyxeipiffavTOS. b'ffov Se eKaar-r; 
 TUV TC^pSiv SiSoTat, 8nr\ovv SiSovdu TO?S SiaKbvois els ytpas XptcrroC. el 84 TIS 
 6\oi /cat TOI)J TrpecrfivT^povs rtfjidv, dnr\ovv 5t56rw avrois clis /cat rots Sto/civots. 
 TifjMffOai yap 6if>eL\ovaiv us air6ffTo\oi . . . e/cdcrry otv a^i^arL ol Xai'/cot rrjv 
 irpo<rf]Kovffa.v TtyUTjc ve/j.^TUffa.v iv rois d6/j.aai. III., 1 [Text] : ot yap ra dofaara 
 8i56vres o^/c ai;Toa"%e5tws aura 5t56a<rt TCUS x^pats, dXXd, <rot avveuripepovaiv, oirws 
 fft> 6 fTTiffrd/jLevos , TOVS 6\i^oiJ.evovs d/cpt|3t2s ws cryaMs oiKov6/j.os [the bishop is 
 meant] /tepi'^s avrols K TOV 86/j.a.Tos. What a difficult and critical business this 
 was is shown especially in the Const. Apostol. III. ; very instructive is also 
 II. 25 (Text). : TO. elff(j)ep6/ji.ei>a oiKovo/Aelre opipavols /cat ^pats Kal d\ifio[j.evoLs /cat 
 s&oty, us ifyovTes Oebv XoyiffTevTijv TOVTUV TOV eYXetptcrayra avrols TO.VTTJV T^V 
 oiKOvofj.lav , irafft 8 ro?s deopfrois etrt./j.eptovTes Kal y/xets avrol x.P ( * } ! JLevOL ^ K r V v 
 Kvpiaicuv, dXXa /XTJ KaTeaOiovTes avTa /n,6voi. III. 35 : ere fj,ev yap dt,dovai TrpocrriKei, 
 olKovojj,e1v 5e eKeivov. ov p.evToi Xcxyttrre^cret? crou TOV eTriffKOTrov ov5 TrapaTT/pTjcrets 
 ri)v olKOVOftLav avTov, TTWS eTTtreXet fj TTOTC ?) Tiffiv ^ TTOU rj el /caXcDs rj <f>av\us TJ 
 debvTtas. ifyei yap \oyicrT7jv Kvpiov TOV Oebv. That it is not a question of fixed 
 salaries is shown by the passage els o av Se-g. 
 
 23. irpovorjcrovTai (see above). TrX^^ous is the technical term for the congre- 
 gation in opposition to the clergy ; see, for example, 1 Clem. 54, 2 : TTOIW TCI 
 irpoffTaaff6/j.eva vir6 TOV ir^Qovs ; Hernias, Mand. xi. ; Iren. in Eusebius, Hist. 
 Eccl. v. 20, 6, etc. 
 
 24. evffTadriari, /c.r.X. The congregation should behave quietly and noise- 
 lessly in divine service. According to the App. Const. II. 57, the deacons 
 have to preserve order during divine service, see p. 85, 4: trpovola TU>V 5ia/c6cau' 
 els TO 'eTepov u.epos ot Xat'/col Ka6ee<r6iaffa.v yuera 7rd<r?js evrafclas /cat rjavxlas. p. 86, 
 23 : buolus 6 dtaKovos e7ri<r/co7retrw TOV \aov, SITUS p.-f} TIS ipidvpiari rj vvffTa^Tj f) 
 ye\dcrr) r) vevo-g). On evaraQ-qa^ see 1 Clem. 61, 1 ; 65, 1 : eucrrdfleta. 
 
 irpG>Tov [ji.euad'riKbs, K.T.\. See 1 Tim. ii. 11 : TVVTJ ev r/oryxta ftavdavfru 
 ev wdffri viroTayfj. 
 
 25. el 84 TIS, /c.T.X. A special regulation for the case when one who has 
 been admonished by a single presbyter is contumacious ; that is, that all the 
 presbyters (those on the right with those on the left) shall come together, 
 and as a body decree a disciplinary punishment. 
 
 26. vovdeTOVfjievos. See 1 Thess. v. 12 : 'Epwrw^ej' vfj.ds, dSe\(f>ol, elStvai TOVS 
 KoiriuvTas ev V/MV Kal Trpoi'o'Ta/J.e'vovs vu.uv ev /cup/y /cat vovdeTovvTas vfjLas. v. 14 : 
 vovOeTelTe TOVS drd/crous. Tit. Hi. 10 : alpeTiKbv avOpwwov yiiera fj,iav Kal 
 SevTepav vovdeaiav irapaiTov. avddSus, see Tit. i. 7. 
 
 27. TO f"v ironfiiravTes ol firl TI OvcriacrTTiplu. The ot eirl T< 6vcna.aT'ijpl(f) are 
 of course the presbyters, that is, the presbyters on the right ; these shall
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 15 
 
 0wiao-T?//)iw TOV TOIOVTOV P.CTO. ance, after it has first been 
 10-775 /BovXrjs, o av y agiov, Si/cetera- proved in all submission. But if 
 30 roxrav, iva KOI ol Aownu <o/?ov one who is admonished should 
 c^wo-i, fj-^iroTf Ivos irpovwKov Aa- answer rudely, those at the altar 
 /Sweet, Kal ri TrAeibv veprjOfj u>s should unite (that is, with the 
 ydyypaiva, KOI al^aXoyrifrdwa-iv presbyters on the left) and con- 
 01 Traces. demn such a one by a general 
 
 resolution to the punishment 
 deserved, so that the others may 
 also be in awe, in order that they 
 (the presbyters) look not at the 
 person of any one, and that it 
 may not spread as a cancer and 
 be taken up by every one. 
 
 3. 'Avayvwo-njs /capWrave- 3. For reader, one should be 
 
 (ts), JT/DOJTOV SoKiay Se- appointed, after he has been care- 
 
 fj.r) yAaxro-oKoVos, fully proved; no babbler, nor 
 
 /) /A0wos fj.^re yeAwroAoyos, drunkard, nor jester; of good 
 
 come together with whom, the context says with the presbyters on the 
 left, and with them form a judicial assembly. 
 
 28. fj.era forjs fiov\rjs, ' with a universal unanimous resolution.' See ifnj^at 
 la-ai = equality of votes. 
 
 29. 8 av 77 d^iov, the apportioned punishment. 
 
 diKaffdruffav. The presbyters are thus the judges. SiKdfeiv is here con- 
 strued with the double accusative, for which elsewhere examples are not 
 known to me. According to the Apostolic Constitutions II. 47 (text) the 
 jurisdiction shall consist of the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons. 
 
 30. 'iva. Kal, K.T.\. See 1 Tim. v. 20 : TOI)S anafrravovras ev&Triov iravruv t\eye, 
 Iva Kal ol \oiwol <f>6pov lx ufft - 
 
 31. fj.^irore, K.T.\. This sentence is not subordinated to the preceding 
 (Iva, K.T.\.), but co-ordinated. The juridical procedings commanded are, 1st, 
 to impress fear on the others by its severity ; 2d, to render, by its manner of 
 procedure, partiality impossible to the presbyters (see AiSctxi? 4, 3 : icpiveis 
 Siicaius, ov XT^^TJ irpdffWTrov eAyeu eirl irapaTTT&fjuiffiv). 
 
 32. eirl irXeiov ve/j.rjGrj, /c.r.X. See 2 Tim. ii. 17 : Kal 6 \6yos avruv us 
 ydyypaiva VO/JLTJV Zei. Const. App. II. 41, p. 69, 7 : dXX' ^TreKTetverai 17 vofir] 
 Kat Trpo\afi^dvfi traffav tacriv, ws i] ydfypatva irav ^Xos ff-qirovffa. 
 
 33. alxna\uTi<T0u<Ti.v. See 2 Tim. iii. 6 Ignat. ad Philad. 2, 2. 
 
 3. 1. dvayvuffTys . . . els. The reader is named before the deacons (see on this 
 the excursus). That the editor has struck out an original eh is made 
 probable by par. 1 n. 5. 
 
 2. doKifj.rj SeSoKi/j,. See par. 1, 4. The following list of the qualifications 
 of the reader is unparalleled in old church literature. 
 
 3. yXwffffOK&Tros is an OTT. Xe-y. 
 
 4. /j.e0v<Tos. See par. 1. 
 
 yf\uTo\6yos is an d?r. Xe7. The connection in which these demands stand 
 with the office of reader is to be observed.
 
 16 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 5 euT/aoTTos, ev7Ti07s, cuyvto/xwv, ev morals, submissive, of benevolent 
 
 TCUS KvpiaKais o~woSois TT/OWTOS intentions, first in the assembly 
 
 <rvv8pofjio<s, CTJTJKOOS, Si^y^nKos, at the meetings on the Lord's 
 
 6'rt euayyeAicrrou TOTTOV ep- day, of a plain utterance, and 
 
 6 yap e/ri7rA(3v &TO. yai) capable of clearly expounding, 
 
 5. evirfifffy, ebyv&ij.uv refers probably to his behaviour to the bishop. See 
 par. 2, 1. 19 : Tpofvumifitvovt. 
 
 6. f rots Kvpia.Ka.is 0-w65ots. The synods are the divine services. See App. 
 Const. II. 57 p. 84, 17, where the bishop is thus addressed : per' eTrarrTj/ur/s 
 irdffris /cA.eue TroieiffOai rds crvi>65ovs. The expression at Kvpia.Ka.1 ffvvodcn does not 
 occur in the older literature ; compare Kvpiaicbv Selwvov (1 Cor. xi. 20), KVPIO.KTJ 
 Tjfitpa (Apoc. i. 10, etc.), Kvpiaicr) rov Kvptov (Aid. 14, 1), Kvpia.Ka.1 ypa<f>ai 
 (Dionys. of Corinth in Eusebius IV. 23, Clem. Alex., Tertull., App. Const. 
 I. -VI. etc.), Kvpia.Ka.1 n-aiSe'iai (Const. App. II. 6 (text). All these passages are, 
 however, so far different that in this passage the KvpiaKos is to be translated 
 probably not simply as ' belonging to the Lord, ' but ' belonging to the Lord's 
 day. ' Similarly in the Const. App. II. 25, where ra KvpiaKa signify the gifts 
 offered to the Lord. 
 
 irpuros fftivdpo/J-os. He should be at his place first ; see Canon Hippol. 
 37 (Haneberg, p. 94) : ' Etiam Anagnostae habeant festiva indumenta et stent 
 in ambone . . . donee totus populus congregetur. ' Acts xxi. 30: crvvSpofj.^. 
 Ignat. ad Philad. 2. 2 (ad. Polyc. 7. 2) : 0eo5p6/*os. (In the Mithras wor- 
 ship there were ij\iodp(>fj.oi. ) On his place in the church see App. Const. II. 
 57, p. 85, 7 : /J.<TOS Si 6 dvayvtiffTris t<j> b\f/r)\ov TWOS effrws dvayivuffK^TW, and 
 Canon Hippol. I. c. 
 
 7. eti/iKoos is here to be understood in the passive sense (see Passow s. h. v.) 
 = ' he who is heard well ' ; in the other case it would have been iden- 
 tical with evTreiOfy (see above). 
 
 Sn)yrjTiK6s, 'skilful in relating (explaining).' Of the bishop it was said above 
 Svvd/j.evos T&S ypa<f>as eppyveveiv. That is hardly anything else than 5^717x1^65. 
 The reader should in the first place have a plain, loud delivery (eW/Koos), and 
 in the" second place must be in a position to explain what has been read 
 
 8. elSws Sri evayye~\iffrou TOWOV tpya^erai. epyae(rOai does not here probably 
 mean 'working' or 'superintending,' but 'acquiring;' (see par. 6, rbirov 
 iavrois irepuroiovvraL rbv iroifj-eviKov). The reader gains for himself the rank of 
 an evangelist. Still the eid&s speaks more for the former signification. 
 TZvayyeXiffTris (see my Prolegomena to the Aidaxri, p. 114) does not often occur 
 in the literature of the ancient church. See Eph. iv. 11: Xpttrrta ^Sowe? TOI>S 
 (jv aTroffTbXovs, robs irpo(f>^ras, TOI>J 5 evayyeXicrrd.*, TOI>S 8 iroi^vas Kal 
 5t8a<TKd.\ovs, Acts xxi. 8 : QlXiiriros o evayye\u?T-f)s, 2 Tim. iv. 5 : Zpyov iroi^ov 
 e6ayye\iffTov, Tertull. , de Praescr. 4, Orig. c. Gels. III. 9, Euseb. , H. E. iii. 37 ; 
 V. 10, 2. The reader's office is very highly valued, when it is advanced to 
 the office of an evangelist. 
 
 9. tfJLirnr\uv. See Romans xv. 24 : ^d? vfj.wv trpCirov diro ptpovs e/iTrX^cr^w, 
 Acts xiv. 17. 
 
 /u.)) voovvros. See 1 Tim. i. 7. The whole sentence shows that the reader 
 has in some circumstances also to explain what has been spoken, which follows 
 from the SnjyrjTiK6s : for this cannot mean only good delivery in reading.
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 17 
 
 VOOWTOS lyypa^os Aoywr&jcreTcu mindful that he rules in the place 
 p 0ew. of an evangelist : for whoever 
 
 fills the ear of the ignorant 
 will be accounted as having his 
 name written with God. 
 
 4. AKXKOVOI KaOia-ravecrOtoXTav 4. There shall be three deacons 
 , yeypaTrrat,(ydpY ri T/OIWV appointed, for it stands written. 
 QTTad'rjcreTa.i TTO.V prjfjia. ecrTajcrav ' By three shall every matter be 
 Sf8oKifj.aa-fj.evoi irda-r) SiaKoviy, established.' They shall be ap- 
 
 proved in every service, with a 
 
 11. Zyypa<f>os, K.T.\. See 1 Clem. 45, 8 : &yypa<J>ot tyvovro dirb rov 6eov iv 
 vy O.VTOV : Herm., Sim. v. 3; Clem. Alex., de div. serv. 21. The 
 oriental versions (see Lagarde in Bunsen's Analecta Antenic. II. p. 458) give 
 6 y&p e/jLirnrX&v Giro, er^puv, /uaXXop irpocr^Kei O.VT$ elvai epydryv iria-rbv Trapa T$ 6e$. 
 
 4. 2. rpeis. See the Prolegomena. Lagarde (also in other places) has com- 
 pleted the sense of KadiffravtcrOwcra.? by rpiuiv /juzprvpovvTUv ry (My OVT&V. But 
 a number is expected, as in par. 2, 3, 5. In Const. App. III. 19 (Text) it is 
 simply demanded that the number of the deacons shall be in proportion to 
 the size of the congregation. However, in the 14th Canon of the Synod of 
 Neo-Caesarea (Routh 1. c. IV. p. 185) we read : Aickoj/ot eTrra 6<pei\ovffiv elvat 
 Kara rbv Kav6i>a, K&V Trdvv /j.eyd\t) i] ir6\is' ireied-fiari 8^ dirb r-rjs J3tj3\ov TUV 
 rrpdi-ewv. According to Sozom. VII. 19, it is a special peculiarity of the 
 Roman church that in it there are always only seven deacons. 
 
 2. ytypairrcu, K.T.\. The passage Deut. xix. 15 runs : eirl ffT6fj,a.Tos 56o ^apriipuv 
 KOI firi or6/u,aTos rpiCiv /jiaprijpuv cm^rerai irav prujLO.. Matt, xviii. 16 : tirl 
 Svo papTvpuv 1) rpidv ffraOrj irav prjfj.a. 2 Cor. xiii. 1 : lirl ffrbfJUiTos Stio 
 v /cat rpiwv ffraO^fferai irav p^/oia. Thus the Kvpiov which the manuscript 
 has after pfj/Jia., though the oriental versions do not have it, is found nowhere 
 else ; the ora^o-erai only in St. Paul. Still we have no right to assume that 
 the author in using y^ypairrai was thinking of St. Paul's epistle, for he cer- 
 tainly had in his mind Deut, xix. 15. The deacons have to act as inquiry 
 officers ; on that account they should be three, in order to be able to lay before 
 the disciplinary judgment of the presbyters a valid witness. Here, therefore, 
 prjfj.a is to be taken in the sense of 'affair,' 'dealing.' Hence the Kvpiov 
 which the Greek manuscript offers us is indefensible. According to 1 Tim. 
 v. 19 two or three witnesses are necessary to raise an accusation against a 
 presbyter. But of this there is no question here. 
 
 4. SeSoKifjLafffJitvoi, /c.r.X. See par. 1, 3; 1 Tim. iii. 10: 8oKi^a.^a6uffav 
 irpCiTov fir a. lia-Koveirtayav. In this passage, however, it is expressly com- 
 manded that they must be experienced in every service before they are 
 appointed. 
 
 5. /j.f/j,apTvpi>i/j.tvoi, K.T.X. The deacon does not require, like the bishop, a 
 good witness d?r6 TUV w, but only from the congregation. 3 John 12 : 
 Aij/tijTpiffjyue^tapTiJpijTat vwb irdvTtav. 1 Clem. 44, 3 : (^7rtovc67roi's Kal dia.K6vovs) 
 (j.e/j.a.pTvpr)fj.tvovs TroXXots xppois ii7r6 iravruv : 47, 4. Const. App. II. 1 p. 14, 12. 
 Tertull. Apolog. 39 : ' Seniores . . . honorem non pretio, sed testimonio adepti.' 
 
 7rXi7#ouj. See par. 2. 
 
 B
 
 18 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 fjLov6ya.fj.oi, TKvoTp6<f)oi, crw</3ovs, good testimony from the congre- 
 
 eTrteiKets, ^<rv\oi y fjirj yoyyvoxn, gation, husband of one wife, edu- 
 
 fj.r) 6YyAojo-croi, p-rj opyiXoi, p) eating their children, honourable, 
 
 Trpoo-wTTov TrXovariov Xa.fj.(3a.i'ovTcs, gentle, quiet, not murmuring, not 
 
 10 fJ.r)8r] TTfvrjTa. KaTaSwaorevovTes, double-tongued, not quickly an- 
 
 //,T?Se oivut TroXXQ xpwfievoi, ev- gry, not looking on the person of 
 
 TWV Kpv<f)ia>v fpy<av KaXol the rich, also not oppressing the 
 
 TravayKct^oi'Tes TOI>S poor, also not given to much wine, 
 
 SeXifiwv airXovv ras intelligent, encouraging well to 
 
 15 \fipas, Kal avTol ev/ieraSoToi, secret works (viz., alms-giving), 
 
 6. fj.ovoya.noi. See par. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 12 : SidKovoi HffTUffav fuas yvvaiicbs avSpes. 
 Const. App. II. 2 p. 15, 10 : /j,oi>6yafj.os, of the bishop (the word is also in 
 Methodius, Conviv.). According to our author the presbyters must com- 
 pletely abstain from women ; the bishop is permitted once to be married, but 
 it is considered desirable that he should be without a wife ; the deacons 
 should (at most) be married once. 
 
 TfKvoTp6<f>oi. See 1 Tim. iii. 12 : rewuv /caXws irpoiaTa.iJ.evoi.. 
 
 ffd)<f>povs. See par. 1. It is to be observed that on the whole the quali- 
 ties especially required for the deacons are much more nearly related to those 
 which are required for bishops, than they are to presbyters' qualities. 
 
 7. etrieiKels. See 1 Tim. iii. 3, of the bishop. 
 
 /*}; yoyyvffoi. See my note to the AtSax^ 3, 6. 
 
 8. fi.i] 8ly\uff<roi. See Atd. 2, 4 (Barn. 19, 7). 
 
 /xrj 6pyt\oi. See Tit. i. 7 (of the bishop). The following words in the text 
 of the Apostolic Church Order, opyi] yap dir6\\v(riv &vSpa <f>p6vi/j,oi> (see Prov. 
 xv. 1), I have omitted. See Prolegomena. 
 
 pi) irpbawirov, K.T.\. See 1. 6. 2 ; Const. App. II. 5 p. 16, 16 : &TTW 
 6 eirlffKoiros dTrpoffUTrtiXTyrrTos, fJ-^Te irXotiffiov evTpeir6(j,fvos . . . /j/ryre irlvyTO. 
 irapopuv fy KaraSwaffrevuv. James ii. 1 follg. Atd. 5, 2 : a,iro(TTpe<p6fji.fvot. rbv 
 tvde6/j.evov, KaraTrovovvTes rbv 6\ij36/J.evov, irXoviriuv ira.pdK\T)rot, irev/iruv &VO/JLOI 
 Kptral. 
 
 10. Ka/raSwaffTeijovTes. See James ii. 6 : ol irXoticrioi Karadwaare^/ovaiv vftuv 
 Const. App. I. c. 
 
 11. /j5 otvcf), K.T.\. See par. 5 ; 1 Tim. iii. 8 : HT) ofr^TroXXifJ irpoa-^xovraf 
 (of the deacons) ; in connection with our passage the words are strange. 
 
 etiffKvXroi. See Const. App. II. 3 p. 15, 27 : evdtdicovos, etfcrKiAros. Const. 
 App. III. 15, p. 110, 3 : 5iaK6vofs . . . els ras r^s diaKOvias xpefaj evcrKtiXrovs. 
 III. 19 p. Ill, 20: did/covet . . . etiffKV\T6repoL TOV eiriffKoirov ; 113, 15. The 
 word is extremely rare ; it might be translated by ' intelligent,' ' polished.' 
 
 12. TOW Kpv<j>twv, K.r.\. Alms are meant. See Matt. vi. 3, 4. Still here 
 such kinds of assistance may be more particularly intended as in a special 
 manner must remain secret. See Canon. Hippol. arab. 5 : ' In like manner shall 
 they be at the service of those other men, who secretly languish in penury.' 
 
 13. rods exovTas, e^ovras here as in James iv. 2. 
 
 14. oTrXoO^, ' to open ' thus used in the later Greek. 
 
 15. evperddoToi. See par. 2. They should not only encourage gifts but 
 give themselves. 1 Tim. vi. 18 : efifieTaSdrovs elvai, K
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 19 
 
 Tra-r) rt^y Ka evrpowy 
 <f>6f3<t) Tip.wne.voi. aTTo rev 
 
 rots araKTtos Tre/DwraTow-iv, os 
 
 20 ptv vovOerovvres, ovs 8e tra- 
 
 paKaAowTes, ous 8e Irrm/iwvTes, 
 
 TOUS Se Kara^/aovovvras reAews 
 
 irapa.7reiJLTr6p.evoi, ei'Sores on 01 
 
 dvri Aoyot KCU Kara^ovTjTat /<at 
 
 25 XoiSopoi Xpto-rw dvTTaavTo. 
 
 5. 
 
 T pel's, 
 
 Xrjpat 
 at Svo 
 
 Kadio-Taveo-Owrav 
 
 5iy)ooy*evowai rfj 
 
 TTCIVTCDV TOJV ev 
 
 while they compel those amongthe 
 brethren who have much to open 
 their hands, also themselves gen- 
 erous, communicative, honoured 
 with all honour and esteem and 
 fear by the congregation, carefully 
 giving heed to those who walk 
 disorderly, warning the one, ex- 
 horting the other, threatening the 
 third, but leaving the scoffers 
 completely to themselves ; mind- 
 ful of this : that the gainsayers, 
 and scoffers and defamers have 
 resisted Christ. 
 
 5. Three widows shall be 
 appointed, two to persevere in 
 prayer for all those who are 
 
 16. rtytt^ . . . ri.fjuaiJ.evoi. See Acts xxviii. 10 : TroXXcus Tt^cus M/j.rj<rav ^s. 
 
 17. n/jLibf^evoi. See Ai5. 15, 2. The bishops and deacons are shown as 
 the reri/j.-rjfj.fi'oi of the congregation. 
 
 19. drd/crus, K.T.\. See 2 Thess. iii. 6 : aSeX^oO drd/crws TrepiirarovvTOS ; 
 iii. 11. 1 Thess. v. 14: vovOereiTe robs ardKroi/s. oOs/x^, /c.r.X. See 1 Thess. 
 1. c. ; 2 Tim. iv. 2 : t\ey%ov, imrl/J-riffov, TrapaKaXeffov (At5. 2, 7). Const. App. 
 III. 7 p. 104, 17 : Tnnfj.d<rd<>3 ws irpotrerfis. 
 
 22. reX^ws jrapairffj.Tr6fj.evot. See par. 6. There is of course no question here 
 of excommunication on the part of the deacons. They are to leave the 
 scoffers completely to themselves ; what further is to be done with them is not 
 said. Yet the duties of the deacons, as appointed here, are comprehensive to 
 a degree not found in a later period. In App. Const. II. 44 it is said : irdvra 
 fiev 6 SidKocoj T firiffK6irtj} dva<pepe"T(i) ws 6 X/Mcrrds T< irarpt, dXX' Sera Sijvarai 
 ftiOvve'Tti) Si' eavrov, TO. 5 &\\a 6 eirlfficoiros Kpive'TU. 
 
 24. KaTatjipovrjTat. See Acts xiii. 14. 
 
 25. \olSopoi. See par. 1. 
 
 is opposed to the trvvTaweiv, which takes place at baptism. 
 
 5. 1. X?J/>ai. See 1 Tim. v. 3-16, and the commentary of Holtzmann upon 
 it. Ignat. ad Smyrn. 13 : dffirdfo/j.ai ray trapQevovs ras \eyo/j.4va^ xtfp a *> n d the 
 commentaries thereon by Zahn and Lightfoot, as well as Zahn's Ignatius von 
 Antioch, p 334 f., 580 f.; Clem. Strom. VII. 12, p. 875 ; Orig. Horn. 17 in Luc. 
 Opp. III. p. 953 ; Tertullian de Pud. 13 ; de Virg. Vel. 9 ; de Praescript. 3 ; 
 Dieckhoff, Die Diakonissen d. alien Kirche (Monatsch. f. Diakonie), I. 1877, 
 pp. 289 and fol., 348 and fol., 394 and fol. 
 
 2. rpeis. Thus as many widows as deacons. 
 
 aai. See 1 Tim. v. 5 : "Xfnpa, irpoff/j^vei TOLS Sericreffiv /cat rats 
 Polyc. Ep. 4, 3. 
 
 3. irepl wdvruv T&V ev ireipa . They have thus to take to their heart all
 
 20 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 KGU TT/DOS ras a.7roK.aXv\J/fis in temptation, and for the re- 
 
 l ov av Sty, pia Se TrapeSpev- ception of revelations where such 
 
 owa rats ev rat? vocrots TTCI.- are necessary, but one to assist 
 
 pao/j.vais evSiaKovos y, v^ir- the women visited with sick- 
 
 a. Seovra aTrayyeAAowa TOIS nesses, she must be ready for 
 
 /) ato-^poKe/oS^s, service, discreet, communicating 
 
 suffering members of the congregation and bring their necessity in prayer 
 before God. Const. App. III. 5 : /j.Tj8t> Zrepov rrj xtfpt' AteXeYw el /a-rj rb wpoff- 
 etxevOai virtp TWV didbvruv Kal inrtp 6X175 rfjs eKK\i)fflas. The widow as the inter- 
 cessor for the congregation appears also in III. 7. In the Canones Hippolyti 
 ( 9) it says : ' Viduis propter copiosas precationes, infirmorum curam et 
 frequens ieiunium praecipuus honor tribuatur ' (Haneberg's edition, Munich, 
 1870, p. 69). 
 
 4. dTro/cctXi^ecs. These can refer neither to the actual unveiling of women 
 (say at baptism) nor to the ' confidential communications of helpless women ' 
 (Bickell), but purely to ' revelations from God.' It was expected of these 
 widows that they would receive at their constant prayers special com- 
 munications in relation to the necessities of the members of the congregation. 
 Prayer (especially with fasting) and revelation belong closely together ; for 
 example Acts xiii. 2 : XeirovpyotiiiTwv d avrwv r<p Kvpiq Kal vqffTevovruv elirev 
 rb irvevfj-a TO dyiov (see Murat. Fragm. sub ev. Joh., but especially Tertullian 
 de ieiun. 12, Passio Perpet. iv. 7). But a charisma of the widows is of 
 course presupposed. On the power of prayer see James v. 13-18. In the 
 App. Const, there is nothing to be found in relation to widows that is com- 
 parable to this passage ; even the double division is absent. 
 
 5. irepl o5 av dtiy. See par. 2. o5 is perhaps not to be taken as neuter here. 
 pia 8t, K.T.\. Thus only one of the three widows is deaconess of the 
 
 congregation in the strict sense of the word, and even then only for the 
 female members of the congregation. To this one alone do the following 
 requirements relate. 
 
 7. evdidKovos. See Const. App. II. 3, p. 15, 27. 
 vnirriKi). See the description in 1 Tim. v. 3 and follg. 
 
 8. T& Stovra, K.T.\. It is not a question of the bishop, but of the presbyters, 
 notwithstanding that the existence of a bishop in the congregations is pre- 
 sumed. The presbyters appear as the TrpoeoTorres. They are the highest court ; 
 to them therefore are the necessary communications to be made. This is of 
 the utmost importance for the relations of the constituent parts (see par. 3). 
 Polyc. ad Philipp. 6, 1 is, perhaps, to be compared : oi Trpeo-pfaepoi . . . 
 ^inaKeirT6fj.evoi iravTas a.a6fvfls, and James v. 14 : dvdevei TIS v vfuv ; irpoa- 
 Ka.\ffa<rO(i) TOI>S irpecr/Jur^ous TTJS eKK\i]<rias, and the Shepherd s. v. irpefffivrepoi. It 
 is very instructive that in the Syriac text of the Apostolic Constitutions III. 7 
 we have ere/whs Set elvac ras X^P as > TreiOo/j.fi'as TO?J tir iff Kbir 013 Kal 5io/c6^oty, 
 but in the re-editing (/. c. p. 104, 11), Trei^o/u^os TOIS tiriff^Trois, TOW 
 irpf<rj3vTpois Kal rots diaKbvois, ZTI. yurjc Kal rats 5ta/c6i'aiy. III. 19, p. 113, 13: 
 irepl ruv OXifio iJ.fr wv avayytXXere T$ tiriffKbTry vfiuv. Canon Hippol. arab. 5 : 
 'The deacon shall inform the bishop about the sick among the people 
 whom nobody assists.' 
 
 9. alffXpoKcpSfc- See 1 Tim. iii. 8. Thus the widow also, as well as the 
 deacons, stood by reason of her office in danger of falling into avarice.
 
 SOURCES OP THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 21 
 
 lo p.rj oiVo) TToAAw Tr/Doo-e^owa, iVa what is necessary to the presby- 
 Svvrjrai vrjfaiv TT/SOS ras WK- ters, not avaricious, not given to 
 virr]pfcria<s Kot i Tis eT/>a much love of wine, so that she 
 epyayaOelv. KCU yap may be sober and capable of 
 Kvpiov Orja-avpLo-p-aTd performing the night services, 
 15 e'uriv dyaOd. an( j other loving service if she 
 
 will ; for these are the chief good 
 treasures of the Lord. 
 
 B. (APOSTOLIC CHUECH OIIDER, Chapters 22-28.) 
 
 6- ... AtttKovcu fpydrai TWV 6. The deacons, doers of 
 
 e/oywi/, w\6^nepov ITTI- good works, searching about 
 
 T TrevrjTa. everywhere day and night, 
 
 TrAouo-iov neither despising the poor nor re- 
 
 10. M 5 ? otf(ji, K.T.\. See par. 4, 1 Tim. iii. 8.; Tit. ii. 4. 
 
 tVa, /t.T.X. Too much love of wine would hinder the widows while 
 watching by night by the side of the sick, and hinder them from any ener- 
 getic activity. For the form of the sentence, see Const. App. II. 5, p. 16, 
 22, regarding the bishop : 'iva. dwrjdy vrifaiv irp&s rb vovBereiv. 
 
 12. ?Tfpa POIJ\OITO epyayaOfw. See 1 Tim. v. 10 : x 7 ?P a KaraXey^ffBu . . . el 
 iravrl tpyw dyady (irriKo\oii6r)<rev. 1 Tim. vi. 18 : dyadoepyeiv. The word 
 (pyaya6eli> is, I believe, very rare. 
 
 14. ravra, that is, such helpful services. 
 n-pwra, that is, the foremost. 
 
 6rj<ravpi<T/j.a.Ta. The passage in Matthew vi. 19, 20 probably occurred 
 to the author. 
 
 6. 1. Here begins a new piece. Par. 6 is partly identical with par. 4, 
 although from another pen, as the different form also shows. 
 
 tpydrai. See 2 Cor. xi. 13 : tpydrat. db\ioi ; 2 Tim. ii. 15 : ffirotiSaffov (reavrbv 
 SuKiftov irapaffTrjcrai T$ 6e$, tpydrrjv dvewaitrxvi'Tov. Const. Apost. III. 19, p. 
 113, 7 : epydrat d\T)6fias. In the Gospel of the Egyptians (see 2 Clem, ad 
 Cor. 4, 2) : epydrat dvo/j.ias (see Justin. Apol. i. 16). Luke xiii. 27 : Ipydrai 
 
 Tuii' /caXwi/ tpyuv. See 1. 9 : Zpya dyaOd. The expression tpya Ka\d 
 (dyadd) is found fourteen times in the Pastoral Epistles. 
 
 2. vvx^TflfJ-epov. See 2 Cor. xi. 25. 
 
 firi\eijoffovTfs. The manuscript gives eTreXeiWcres ; but this is no word 
 at all ; hence M. Schmidt has also conjectured ^TriXe&roj'Tes ; still better 
 would be the present tTri\fvffcrovTfs =' looking forward'; still the conjecture 
 is by no means certain, for ^wt.\fijtT<reiv is solely found in Homer. Besides, 
 vvxOTHJiepov is a very rare word. The sense of the corrupt passage is not 
 doubtful in general ; the deacons should make themselves personally ac- 
 quainted with the circumstances of the congregation ; see Horn. Clem. iii. 67. 
 
 3. p-fire irtviiTa, K.T.\. See the parallel case in par. 4. 
 
 4. virfpOTTTe^ovTfs. Comp. Acts vi. 1, irapaOewpew.
 
 22 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 5 Trpoo-wTroA^TTTovi'Tcs rtyi>w(rovTcu garding the person of the rich, 
 
 TOV 6Xi(36[j.cvov Kai ex TTJS Aoyicts shall acknowledge the oppressed, 
 
 ov irapairen^ovTat, e;ravayKacrowi and not exclude him from a share 
 
 Se TOVS 8wa/j,evov<s a.Trodi](rav- in the collections of the congrega- 
 
 /oifeiv eis e/oya dya0a, Tr/ooopajvras tion, but compel those having 
 
 10 TOUS Aoyousrou SiSaa-KaXovfjfjLMV possessions to lay up for good 
 
 5. irpo<rwiro\T]TrTOvvTes. See par. 1, 2, 4; James ii. 9 : ei 5e 
 fTTiyvtiffovTai. The word is used as in 1 Cor. xvi. 18. 
 
 6. 6\ibtJ.evov. 1 Tim. v. 10 : ei 6\i@o/j.ei>ois eirrjpKeo-ev. Ignat. ad Smyrn. 6, 2 : 
 06 /d\ei avro'ts, ov irepl xtfp a *> ou Tfpi bp<pavov, ov irepl 6\L^ofj^vov. Const. App. 
 III. 4, p. 98, 18, and elsewhere. 
 
 IK rfjs \oytas. See 1 Cor. xvi. 1 : irepl TTJS \oylas rffi cZj TOVS ayiovs : 
 v. 2 : fjL-f) OTO.V X0w, rare \oyiai ylvuvrai. See Heinrici on this passage : 
 'Phavorinus: Xo"yta' ^ (rv\\oyrj iraparf airo(TTd\(fKa.lrb KTTO\\WV ffvveia<f>p6fj,vov' 
 \tyei 5 TT\V eXetjpoffvvriv. The word is unknown in classical Greek in this 
 meaning, and also in the Septuagint.' The deacons are to exclude no needy 
 sufferer from the distribution (the collection of the congregation). On these 
 \<yy^a, see Tertull. Apolog. 39 : ' Etiam si quod arcae genus est, non de 
 honoraria summa quasi redemptae religionis congregatur. Modicam unus- 
 quisque stipem menstrua die, vel cum velit, et si modo velit, et si modo 
 possit, apponit ; nam nemo compellitur, sed sponte confert. Haec quasi 
 deposita pietatis sunt. Nam inde non epulis nee potaculis nee ingratiis 
 voratrinis dispensatur, sed egenis alendis humandisque. etc.'; de ieiun. 13: 
 'non dico de industria stipium conferendarum.' Miinter, Primordia eccl. 
 Afric. p. 63 sq. Our passage belongs to the very few in which (that is, in 
 documents of the first three centuries) there is a question of a congregational 
 collection. It appears here as if the deacons had, in the division of the 
 relief, been able to act with a certain independence. 
 
 7. tira.vayKa.ffovffi, K.T.\. See par. 4 : eiravayKafovres rovs ^xocras, 
 
 /C.T.X. 
 
 8. Swa/t^ous^ ' those who have possessions,' aTroBrjiravpl^etv. See 1 Tim. vi. 
 17 f. : rols TrXovffiots . . . 7ra/)d77eXXe . . . dyadoepyeiv, Tr\ovrelv fr tpyots 
 /caXotj . . . a.iroBrjffa.vpi^ovTa^ eavrols 6ffjt.^\iov Ka\6v. 
 
 9. irpoopuvras. The author has chosen this word, because he was dealing 
 with a word of our Lord which would have its fulfilment at the last judg- 
 ment. The word of the Lord is thus introduced, as in 1 Clem. 13, 1 : 
 /j.d\icrTa fj[j.vr)[j.froi Tuv\6yuv TOV Kvplov 'Irjffov, ovs \d\r)crfi> 
 
 /ceil /jiaKpodv/j-Lav, OVTUS yap elirfv' 'EXeare iVa eXerjOrjre, K.T.\. 46, 7 : 
 TUV \6yuv 'lytrov TOV Kvplov i]i^uiv, elver ydp' Oval T<$ dvdpunry, K.T.\. ; in 
 Acts xx. 35: /J.vrjfj.oveveiv TUV \6yuv TOV Kvpiov 'Ii]<rov, OTL elirev, K.T.\. ; 
 in Polycarp, ep. 2: fwr)fj.ovevovTes d &v elwev b nvpios diddffKuv' /ti'Jj 
 KplveTe, K.T.X., and in the Aida^f) (9, 5). This is the oldest formula in quoting 
 the words of the Lord. 
 
 10. SidaffKdXov. See par. 8. This designation for Jesus (apart from the 
 Gospels) is wanting in Apostolic literature, and is very rare in that of 
 post-apostolic times. It is commoner with the apologists ; for this see 
 the text of the App. Const. B. III. 6 : avrbs b SiSdovcaXos TJHWV ical nvpios. 
 III. 7: 6 Kvpios Kal 5i5dovcaXos ^dv dtrev. III. 19; II. 20, V. 12, 
 Methodius.
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 23 
 
 (iSfTe pe ireivuvra Kai OVK eOpe^are works, in consideration of the 
 He. 01 yap KctAois SiaKovyjcravTcs words of our teacher: 'Ye saw 
 TOTTOV cavrofc Kepi- iQ.e hungry, and did not feed 
 TOV Trot/xevt/cdv. me ' j for those who have been 
 
 deacons of good report and 
 blameless purchase to themselves 
 the pastorate. 
 
 7. 'O AOUKOS rots Adi/cots . Let the layman confine him- 
 
 7re/H7rei$eo-0w VTTO- self to the work of the laity, yield- 
 TOIS TrapeSpfvova-i T$ ng obedience to those who sit 
 at the altar. Let every one please 
 
 11. etSere pe. See Matt. xxv. 37 (7r6re ere etSafj.ev ireiv&vTa. Kal tdptya.fJ.fv) 
 not quoted quite literally (see xxv. 42). Compare the similar quotation in 
 Const. App. V. 1, p. 124, 24. 
 
 12. ol yap /caXws oia.Kovf)ffavTes. See 1 Tim. iii. 13 : oi yap /caXws SiaKovriffav- 
 rej pa.6fj.bv eavrois KaXdo irfpuroLovvrai. With this passage seems to be blended 
 1 Clem. 44, 3, 5 : Xfirovpyriffavras d/u^/tTTTWj. 
 
 13. r6irov . . . iroifj-eviK&v. Thus is the bishop's office placed in view of 
 the deserving deacons (on irolfj.rjv as equivalent to ^TTIO-KOTTOS, see par. 2). 
 This is an extremely important notice ; for it affords direct evidence of a pro- 
 ceeding at which we otherwise could only guess. See my Analecten to Hatch's 
 Gesellscfutftsverfass. , p. 246, and fol. The deserving deacons had the pro- 
 spect of attaining to the bishopric. Nothing is said about their gaining the 
 rank of presbyters. 
 
 7. 1. '0 XaiVfdy, K.T.\. See 1 Clem. 40, 5 : 6 Xaikos HvOpuiros rots Xatxots irpo<r- 
 rdyfj-affiv 8t Serai. Also Clem. Horn. (ep. Clem, ad Jacob. 5, p. 7, 38, ed. 
 Lagarde) : oCros e/cdary Xat'/cy a/j.apria effriv. Clem. Alex. Strom. III. 12, 
 p. 552 : KO.V 7rpeflr/3(/Te/Doj $ K&V SidKovos K&V XaiV6s. V. 6, p. 665 : KiaXvpa 
 Xai'KTjs aTTto-Has. Euseb. Hist. Ecc. V. 28, 12. Frequent in Tertullian ; for 
 example, de Bapt. 17, de Fuga, 17, de Praescr. 41 ; also very frequent in the 
 App. Const. 
 
 2. irepiireiBeaBu. Thus has Lagarde conjectured (the manuscript has irepi- 
 iroi6e<r6w) ; even this word is unusual : ' let the layman confine himself to the 
 work of the laity. ' 
 
 {iirara.(r<T6/j.evos. Thus obedience to the priests is demanded. The expres- 
 sion oi irapeSp. r. 6wr. arises perhaps from 1 Cor. ix. 13 : oi nj? Bva-iaffTriply 
 jrapedpetiovres. The clergy are thereby designated as the priesthood (see 
 1 Clem. 40 fol., especially c. 41, 2): irapedpftieiv, also par. 5 ; on 
 see par. 2. 
 
 4. ?/CCWTOS, K.r.X. See 1 Clem. 41, 1 : ?/rao"ros rjfj,uv tv rf ISiy 
 
 (thus the Cod. Constant, and the Syriac ; the Alexandrine has 
 ) 6e$, /xr; irapetcfidivuv rbv upi-ff^evov T^J \eiTOVpylas auToO Kavbva. 
 This passage follows in the Epistle of Clement immediately after the above 
 quoted e. 40, 5 (6 Xot/cos, K.T.X.); see also in the same beginning: T<? yap 
 dpxifpei tdiai \eirovpyiai SeSo^vai elcrlv, Kal rots iepevcriv fSios 6 r6wos irpoffre- 
 rajcTai. Thus our author has read the epistle, and consequently decides 
 for us also the disputed passage of the Epistle of Clement, evapeffrelru was
 
 24 
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 0e$, fir) <f>i Aex~ 
 dAA^Aois irepl TUV 
 
 e/cacrros 
 
 (iv TOVTW p.eveT(a [ 
 T Of$. 6 ere/)os r 
 10 Spofjtov firj iraparefjiveTta. ovSe 
 yap ol ayye\oi irapa TO Sia- 
 Terayfj-evov avrots ovSev erepov 
 eeAiWovcriv. 
 
 Trapa 
 erepov rov 
 
 God in the place appointed to him, 
 not striving against one another 
 in respect of what is commanded 
 (in relation to their calling and 
 rank, by God). Every one shall 
 (remain ? or run ?) in the path in 
 which he is called according to 
 God's will, and no one shall ob- 
 struct the course of another, for 
 the angels also do nothing but 
 what is commanded them. 
 
 8. 
 
 rats yvvcugi 8. ... It is profitable to order 
 
 written by Clement. Clement gives s ev r<p iSiy ra.yfj.aTi,' while our author 
 has 'ii> T<> Idly rbirtf' (the tv is my conjecture); but he has immediately 
 after it 'ra reray/j.e'va,' and the 'r6iros' comes also from the Epistle of 
 Clement (see above). 
 
 5. /*}? 0iXexfy>oiWes, K.T.\. See 1 Clem. 41, 3: ol otv irapa rd KaOffKov T^S 
 /Soi/XiJo-ews rov Oeov iroiovvrts ri, c. 44, 1 : ot airbffToXoL ^/xwc Zyvuvav, 8ri ^ptj 
 Hffrai eirl rov 6v6/j.aros rrjs eTrttr/coTr^y. 
 
 6. ruv rerayutvwv. What is commanded in relation to calling and rank 
 (by God) ; see the common use of rdcrtreiv, diard<r<reiv, fTriraffffeiv, virora<r<reiv, 
 rdyna, rciis in the first Epistle of Clement. 
 
 7. &CCWTOS, K.T.\. See 1 Cor. vii. 24 : Macros ev y eK\rjdrj, fv TOIJTQ never a> 
 vapa 0e$. It is to be supposed that in the MS. in our passage ev rotfry peverw 
 has fallen out after e/rX^^r;. To such omission seems to point also the Trapd 
 T<J> Oey, for otherwise we should expect Trapa rov Oeov. It is possible also, ac- 
 cording to the Oriental versions ('currat unusquisque prout datum est ei a 
 domino ') that Oetru has fallen out after 0e<p, for 1st, beside the 6e$ it 
 might easily disappear ; 2nd, in the following sentence a ' course ' is spoken 
 of. See 2 Clem. 7, 3 : tiffre 6ew/j.ev rty 6Sbv rty evOeiav, and see also Light- 
 foot in his Commentary (p. 453) on this passage, on T/^x e '" as well as on fffeiv. 
 But even if we suppose that 6eeru has fallen out, the irapa T e< still offers 
 some difficulties. For the description see also 1 Cor. ix. 24 and follg. 
 
 9. rbv dpbuov /JLT] iraparep-veru. A warning not to press forward ambitiously 
 to influential places, and obstruct the promotion of others ; the antithesis 
 is in Rom. xii. 10 : TT? rifj.fi aXX^Xovs irporjyovuevoi (see the Exhortations of 
 Hermas) ; for dp6fj.os see Acts, xiii. 25, xx. 24, 2 Thess. iv. 7 ; 1 Clem. 6, 2 : 
 tirl rbv TIJS Tricrrews fiefiaiov 5p6fj.ov Karr)vrT)<rav. Ignat. ad Polyc. 1, 2 : irpo<r6eivai 
 
 10. ovde yap &yye\oi, K.r.\. This concluding sentence also points to a 
 dependence on the first Epistle of Clement ; see c. 34, 5 : Karavori(ro/j.fv rb irav 
 TrXTjfloj rui> dyytXuv avrov, TTWS ry ^eXij/taTt avrov \eirovpyovcru' Trapecrrwres ; 
 C. 20, 3 : ^Xi6s re Kal ffe\-rjvr) dcrrepuv re ~X.opoi Kara ryv oiarayty avrov ev opovoia 
 Slxa irdffrjs irapeKfidffeus ee\lffffovffiv (see Lightfoot on this passage) TOI)S 
 trvrtTVfftifWt afoots opia-fiovs. For diareray/j.tvov see 1 Clem. 37, 2. 
 
 8. 1. ev%pr)<rrov. See 2 Tim. iv. 11 : &m ydp p.oi evxpyoros eh oiattoviav (see 
 c. ii. 21, Philemon 11).
 
 SOURCES OP THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 25 
 
 SiaKoviav Karaa-nja-ai. . . . ore a service from the women. . . . 
 
 yrrj(rev 6 StSao-KaAos TOV aprov When the master asked for the 
 
 KOI TO TroTijpLov /ecu T)v\6yr)o-ev bread and the cup and blessed 
 
 aura Aeywv TOUTO rri TO o-w/xa them with the words ' This is my 
 
 P.OV Kal TO af/za, OVK eirfTpf^e Body and Blood,' he did not grant 
 
 o-vo-rfjvat rjfj,Lv MdpOa. to them (the women) to stand 
 
 3. 6're yrrjaev, K. r.\. Here begins the apocryphal evangelical fragment. 
 There is no parallel in the canonical gospels to the yr-rjcrei'. 
 
 diSdo-Ka\os. Of Jesus, see par. 6 and below : Sre tSidavKtv. 
 
 4. TTor-fipiov. Thus it is called in Matt. xxvi. 27, also with its parallel in 
 1 Cor. x. 11. 
 
 i}v\6yrjffev. See Matt. xxvi. 26 with parallel passages. 
 
 5. Tovr6 tffTiv, K.T.\. See Matt. xxvi. 27, 28, but the words are brought 
 close together in the text. 
 
 6. firtrpe\{/e. See 1 Tim. ii. 12 : yvvaiKl St Siddviceiv OVK eirirptirw. I Cor. 
 xiv. 34 : ov yap eiriTeTpairTOi avrais XaXeu'. Apoc. ii. 20 : 'Iefd|3eX, i] \tyovffa 
 tavrty irpotpfJTiv Kal SiSdffKet, K.T.\. 
 
 7. ffvo-TTjvai. Here in the literal sense ; see Luke ix. 32 : elSav TOI)S ovo 
 civSpas roi)y crwecrTwras avrf\ What is meant is the standing at the altar for 
 the purpose of blessing and distributing the sacred food. On this point see 
 Const. App. III. 9, p. 105 (especially the sentence on p. 105, 22 : el d ev rois 
 irpocrXaflovffi 8i5dffKeiv ai/rais OVK iTrirp^wofj.fv, irwj lepareOoxu raiyratj irapa 
 4>6<nv ny ffvyxupTriffei). In this chapter the women are refused baptism (see 
 Tertullian de Baptismo, c. 17). In Const. App. VIII. 27, p. 266, 15 it says : 
 8ia.K6viffffa OVK evXoyfl, dXX' ov5 TI &v iroiovffiv ol irpefffivrepoi Kal ol Sidicovoi 
 eirireXei. From the second to the fourth century regulations were necessary 
 to secure passive worship in regard to the women ; see Canon 44 of Laodicea : 
 ' That the women may not go up to the altar ' (see the enigmatical Canon 11 
 on female presbyters, see Epiphanius 79, 4), and his commentaries on it, 
 Haer. 79 (Kara Ko\\vpi5iavwv), c. 2 : 0e<p fjv air' aiuvos ov8a/j.us ywrj 
 ifpartvaev, especially ch. 3-7 : irapaTrjprjTtov d STL axpi SiaKoviffffwv fj,6vov TO 
 ^KK\i](na.aTLKbv tire8ff)6ri rdyfia. 
 
 ytuv. This reading is the compiler's, but in this section we cannot 
 dispense with it. 
 
 Mdp^o, /c.r.X. These words as far as yt\a<ra are in the sense of the 
 compiler of the 'Apostolic Canons' probably a side remark made by the 
 apostle, and thus do not belong to the regular discourses of the apostles, 
 although they are likewise introduced by elirtv. This is decided, 1st, because 
 according to the introduction of the whole work only the apostles were 
 assembled to a conference ; 2nd, because the sentence irpot\eye yap ijfuv, K.T.\., 
 can only be referred to the OVK (irtTpe\J/e, K.T.\. Martha complains of Mary, 
 as in Luke x. 40. Compare, in this matter, the Apost. Const. III. 6 : 
 OVK tirt.Tptiron.fv oSv yvvaiKas diSdffKeiv tv tKK\t]ffla, dXXA /JL&VOV irpoo~evxeff6ai, Kal 
 yap avrbs o 5i5d<r/caXos i]/j.Civ Kal Kvpios 'IijiroOs fyuas TOI>J 5w5e*ca ir{/j.\f/as /j.a6r)rev<rai 
 Tbf \aov Kal TO. ZOvr) ffwrjv d i)fjuv 'M.apia i] 'MaySaXijvi) Kal Mapla 17 'Ia/cw^oi/ Kal 
 'M.apLa irtpa. OVK l!~air<rTfi\fv els TO KaTrixelv o~vv TJ/MV TOV \a6v. The Re- 
 cension has : ffvvfjv yap i)iuv TJ re /w?T?7/> TOV Kvplov Kal al d8e\<pal avrov, ?rt 
 5^ ~M.apla i] ^laySaXrjvr] Kal Mapio r) 'Ia/ct6/3ou Kal Mdp^a Kal 'M.apia, al dSe\if>al 
 Aafd/3oi', 2aXa>/tT7 Kal frepa Inves. Epiph. , h. 79, 7 : . . . ' Women were never
 
 26 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 Sia M.apidfji, on eiSev avrrjv with us Martha said : ' For 
 
 Mapta eiTrev ovKfrt Mary's sake, because he (she 1 ?) had 
 
 10 1-yeAao-a TrpoeAeye yap rip.lv, seen her smile'; Mary said: 'I 
 
 ore fSiSaa-Kev, OTI TO acr^eves Sia did not laugh again,' for he 
 
 deemed worthy of the priesthood, OVK evSoKijcrev 6 Oebs TOVTO iv ZaXwyu?? 
 yevtvOai, OVK fv avrri rrj Ma/>/a. OVK ewtTpeif/ev ai/TTJ Sovvai. pdirTUT/j.a, OVK 
 ev\oyr/ffat. yaa^T/rds . . . ov TTJV Ka\ovfj.{vr)i> /j.r]T^pa. 'Poiupov, ov TO.S dKo\ov6r]crdcras 
 dirb TaXtXa/as, ov TTJV ~M.dp9ai' TTJV dSe\<pr)v Aafdpou /cat Maplav . . . TOVTO Troielv 
 irpofftTa^e TO di'a>/za. There is very little in the extra-canonical literature 
 known of the two sisters of Lazarus. In the catalogue of Christian sects 
 which Celsus had given (Origen. contra Celsum v. 62) it is said : ' Some are 
 also Sibyllists ; also I know some Simonians, Marcellians from Marcellina, 
 Harpokratians from Salome, and others from Mariamne (= Mary), and others 
 from Martha ; Marcionites who put Marcion at their head. ' This account is 
 illustrated by what Hippolytus (Philos. v. 7, p. 95, also x. 9) tells us, that 
 the Naassenes appealed to a tradition about James, the Lord's brother, 
 which had reached them through Mariamne. In the ' Pistis Sophia,' a 
 writing preserved in Coptic, a Mary holds discourse with our Lord ; 
 she has the place of honour beside John, but is not the mother of Jesus, but 
 is identified with Mary Magdalene (ed. Schwartz and Petermann, p. 182), and 
 probably also with Mary the sister of Martha. For Martha sometimes appears 
 in the book beside her. The pair of sisters appears thus in Egyptian gnostic 
 circles, and it is this authority of the sisters, especially of Mary, which our 
 fragment seems to combat. Another tradition of Mariamne (= Mary) is 
 found in the Gnostic Acts of Philip (see Tischendorf, Acta Apocrypli. p. xxxii., 
 etc. ; Lipsius, Apocrypli. Apostelgesch. ii. 2, p. 1 and fol.). Here she is intro- 
 duced as the sister of Philip, who accompanies him in his wanderings in 
 man's dress. (Salmon, Dictionary of Christian Biography, iii. p. 830). 
 
 9. peidiuxrav, K.T.\. See Genesis xviii. 12 and fol. (Sarah). /j.et5iav is the 
 
 soft soundless smile, ye\ai> the ringing laugh (see the ascending scale, h. 
 
 Horn. Cer. 204, yuet5?)0-cu ye\d<rai re). The change is here thus an intentional one. 
 
 OVK^TI, ' no more, ' ' not again. ' The word would have been explained 
 
 by the connection which is wanting. At what did Mary laugh ? 
 
 10. Tr/Do^Xeye. When ? Probably when they were sent forth. 
 Tjfuv, that is, ' us apostles.' 
 
 11. edidacrKev. See the ' StSdovcaXos ' above, and in par. 6. 
 
 OTI TO da-Oevts, K.T.X. An apocryphal expression of the Lord, I believe, 
 not found elsewhere. It is possible that it comes from the Gospel of the 
 Egyptians, for in this there must have been much about male and female. 
 See the fragments in Hilgenfeld, Nov. Test, extra can. fasc. iv. ed. ii. p. 43 
 and fol. However, in these fragments the question is never of saving the 
 woman by the man, but of a neutralisation of the sexes. This salvation 
 through the male ('sealing ') played a part among the Marcionites, but never 
 occurs otherwise in the ancient church. Hence it may be doubted whether, 
 according to the original sense of the Lord's word, TO daOeves can mean the 
 woman and TO l<rxyp v the man (see 1 Peter iii. 7 : ws aaQeveffTtpq (r/cei/et : 
 1 Clem. vi. 2 : ywaiKes . . . at dcrGeve'is r$ trw/ctcm, Eusebius, Hist. Evan. V. 
 i. 18). It is indeed very possible that under TO avQevts, ' the flesh,' and under 
 TO iirxvpov, ' the spirit, ' are to be understood, that thus the saying may have
 
 SOURCES OF THE APOSTOLIC CANONS 
 
 27 
 
 TOV i&xypov (Tto@ijareTa.i . . . rats 
 
 uAAu CTTI TTJS y^s 
 15 Ka$eo/Mevous . . . TTWS ovv 
 8vvdfj.f&a TTfpl ywaiKtov StaKovtas 
 6/3rcu, ei p.ij TI 8ta.Koviav iva 
 rats 
 
 had (already) said to us, when he 
 used to teach, that the weak 
 shall be saved by the strong. It 
 is not proper for the women to 
 pray standing, but sitting on the 
 ground. How then can we, 
 concerning women, order them 
 services, unless perchance that of 
 coming to the help of necessitous 
 women ? 
 
 been used by the author in a sense foreign to him. Perhaps he was thinking 
 of 1 Tim. ii. 15 : yvvi) ffwOrjcreTai Sta TTJS reKvoyoviasl 
 
 13. /U.TJ 6p6als, K.T.X. A new reason why the women should not be allowed 
 to perform deacons' services ; it becomes them to pray sitting on the ground, 
 but in those services they would have to stand. So far as I am aware there 
 is nothing known elsewhere of the sitting of women while praying. Bingham 
 in his Orig. Eccl. lib. xiii. ch. 8 says nothing about it. A woman standing 
 in prayer is of common occurrence in early Christian painting. 
 
 17. diaKoviav 'iva. tiriij-xyawin, K.T.\. The only ecclesiastical service with 
 which women can be trusted is the nursing of women needing help.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT ACCORDING TO SOURCE A OF THE 
 APOSTOLIC CANONS. 
 
 1. Order of precedence of the Offices. The fragment of Source 
 A which the editor of the Apostolic Canons has introduced 
 treats first of the bishop and the presbyters, then of the reader, 
 and after that of the deacons. The answer to the question as 
 to whether this striking order is by chance or no, can only be 
 settled in connection with an investigation on the origin of the 
 readership in the church. Such an investigation, however, 
 leads necessarily to the discussion of the more comprehensive 
 problem which the ' lower orders,' especially in their origin, 
 offer to the church historian. As this problem has not as yet 
 been undertaken, I have felt myself compelled to take it in 
 hand in order to bring light on our Source A. In the treatise 
 supplemental to this work, ' On the Origin of the Eeadership and 
 of the other lower Church Orders,' will be found a complete 
 answer to the questions which are raised by the striking posi- 
 tion of the reader in this document, and by the qualities which 
 are demanded of him. The high importance of our Source will 
 by these very instructions relating to the reader come out in a 
 strong light. 
 
 2. The Government of the Congregation : the Bishop and the 
 College of Presbyters. At the head of the congregations, which the 
 author has here in view, stood everywhere already one bishop *, 
 who is also called 'pastor.' Further, the difference between 
 'ordo' and 7r\rjOos 2 in the aSe\(j)6rr)<; 3 is already clearly marked. 
 Among the former (without there being a collective name for 
 
 1 Par. 1, and especially 2, 11. 15 and 17. The plural TU 
 
 (par. 2, 1. 19) does not contradict this. See the remarks on the passage. 
 
 2 This word occurs in the Source several times ; see also the designation 
 oi tro\\ol (par. 1, end), ol irdvres (par. 2, end). 3 Par. 2, 1. 13.
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 29 
 
 them) are reckoned the presbyters, the reader, the deacons, 
 and the widows. Even the presbyters are bound to a willing 
 disposition towards the bishop 1 , they are further designated 
 as consecrated with and fellow-combatants with the bishop 2 . 
 From these statements it appears without doubt that the 
 bishop at least in one view, although primus inter pares, is 
 considered the superior of the presbyters. From the con- 
 ception 'consecrated with' it follows, however, further that 
 the worship was already in some way advanced in the light of 
 a mystery, and that the difference between clergy and laity 
 had found expression in the different position of the latter 
 in worship. The bishop is the pvcrTrjs, the presbyters are the 
 <rvfj,]j,v<rTat, ; the laity are, however, called to divine service 3 by 
 the presbyters, and to be instructed in all submission 4 . 
 
 Of the reader it is said that he should fill the ear of the 
 ' ignorant ' by his reading 5 . The immaturity, that is, the want 
 of independence, of the 7r\fj6os, especially in divine service, 
 appears plainly from this source. 
 
 As to the abilities of the bishop, the qualities demanded of 
 him in par. 1 do not allow us to form a sure judgment. The 
 requirements that he ' should be faultless, a friend of the poor, 
 honourable, no drunkard, no adulterer, not avaricious, nor a 
 slanderer, or a partisan, or suchlike ' appear as quite common. 
 However, we may perhaps be able to gain a certain knowledge 
 from these requirements. Besides, four other points must be 
 considered, first, it is required of the bishop alone that he 
 should have a good report among the heathen 6 ; second, there is no 
 fixed age demanded for him 7 ; third, marriage is allowed him 8 ; 
 fourth, a certain amount of education is credited to him (com- 
 petence to expound the scriptures), not yet positively as neces- 
 sary for him, but only as very desirable. The first regulation is 
 only intelligible, if the bishop, in circumstances in his position 
 
 1 Par. 2, 1. 17. 2 2, 11. 15, 16. 3 2, 1. 16. 4 2, 1. 25. 5 Par. 3, end. 
 
 6 Any analogous regulation for the presbyters is wanting. As to the 
 deacons we read (par. 4), /jLenaprvprj^voi irapa. rov ir\-/i6ovs. Here there is 
 only required a testimony from the congregation. 
 
 7 It is expressly stated for the presbyters (par. 2) that they must be 
 advanced in age. 
 
 8 Celibacy is indeed already desirable ; but as to the presbyters it is 
 distinctly said that they are to have no connection with women.
 
 30 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 as bishop, had to have intercourse with the non-Christians. 
 "We conclude from this (see the parallel regulation 1 Tim. iii. 7), 
 and from the want of such a regulation in the case of the 
 presbyters and deacons, that the bishop alone had to represent 
 the congregation to the outer world. The two following points 
 are interesting on this account, that they do not harmonise with 
 the instructions binding on the presbyters. From the bishop 
 neither a certain age nor celibacy is required, though both are 
 necessary to the presbyters. Even here we are reminded of the 
 question raised in more modern times, as to whether the bishop 
 had been originally anything other than a presbyter. Whence 
 then the difference of qualifications ? But this question presses 
 still more, when we reflect that in our Source, as also in 1 Tim. 
 iii., the qualities required for the bishop and the deacons show a 
 much greater resemblance than those required for the bishop and 
 the presbyters. Lastly, as to the fourth point, it appears 
 plainly here that education and teaching capacity were not yet 
 considered as a necessary requisite of the bishop. However 
 desirable it appears to the author of our Source that the bishop 
 should be also the one who edifies the congregation out of the 
 Holy Scriptures, he cannot have recognised in this function the 
 peculiar activity and significance of the bishop. 
 
 Where then is this to be sought for ? Now we have already 
 learnt two regulations : 1. the bishop represents the congre- 
 gation to the outer world (hence he is also its eVt/ia^o?) ; 
 2. he is the /iuo-TT?? of the congregation, that is, the conductor 
 of the worship. Now let us return to the general qualities which 
 are demanded in paragraph 1 for the bishop (el 
 V7rdp%ei,, el ^iXoTrrw^o^, el cra)<f>pa>v, pr) /JbeQvcros, /J,r) 
 jjiTj TrXeoveKTiv? rj \ol8opo<? rj TrpocrcoTroX^TrTJ/? Kal TO, TOVTOIS 
 ofAoid) : we are struck by the fact that among them there is 
 really only one positive and concrete : ^tXo7TTco%o9 ; the remain- 
 ing ones are comprised together in the conception ' blameless 
 in manners V Thus this quality must be decidedly important, 
 and on that account shows an important function of the bishop. 
 
 1 A special weight cannot be laid on the /ur? Tr/xxrwTroXijTTTijs, as it stands 
 beside irXeoi^/mjs and \ot8opos in a list which is subordinated to the 
 chief conception, <rd}<j>puv. It is therefore to be explained according to the 
 regulation found in par. 4 for the deacons : ^ Trp&a-uirov Tr\ovfflov \a.fj.fid.vovTes. 
 (See also par. 6, /wjre liko^tnov irpocruTrdXii'jrTovvTes.) The case in par. 2 is a 
 different one. Here the ' respect of person ' in a judicial act is considered.
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 31 
 
 He is the administrator for the poor ; the ^tXoTrrta^o? corre- 
 sponds to the above-mentioned technical term for the bishop, 
 TroifAijv, and explains it clearly. The bishop is the head of the 
 congregation as far as he is its administrator and pastor ; that 
 is, he cares for all the needs of the congregation, especially for 
 those of the poor. He represents the congregation to the outer 
 world, and he is at the same time director of the worship. In 
 these relations all the members of the congregation, including 
 the presbyters and deacons, are bound to him in willing 
 service. 
 
 That these two functions, direction of the charitable adminis- 
 trations \ and direction of the worship, are not foreign to one 
 another, but rather are connected in the closest manner, has 
 been known for a long time. But our Source shows this 
 also in the closest connection, and indeed in one sentence, 
 which, as short as it is, contains one of the most valuable 
 accounts which we possess from the oldest time of the church 
 in relation to the organisation of congregations. The sentence 
 runs : ol e'/c Sefywv Trpeo-flvrepoi Trpovoijaovrai rwv eincricb'rrwv 
 Trpo? TO dvaiacmjpiov, OTTCO? rif^TJawcrt Kal evrifjujdwcriv, ets o 
 av Bey. In order to estimate it justly, we have first to consider 
 what the Source especially orders concerning the presbyters. 
 
 The introduction of the section can unfortunately no longer 
 be restored with certainty. Above all, we can no longer make 
 out whether, how, and by whom, according to the author, the 
 presbyters should be appointed 2 . So much, however, is clear, 
 that the presbyters of the Apocalypse were in the mind of 
 the author. He has accordingly laid stress on the number 24, 
 because it is an even number, and consequently desires an 
 even number because the functions of the presbyterate neces- 
 sitate two divisions 3 . To the Apocalypse, however, the author 
 has simply transferred the two functions of the presbyters. 
 From this it follows that they really existed in the congregations 
 which the author has in view. The one part of the presbyters 
 
 1 Par. 1, 1. 20 : r-g ayd-jry els irdvTas 
 
 3 See in pars. 3, 4, 5 the KaOiaraffOat. 
 
 3 The author has (see also par. 1) small congregations in view. For these, 
 two presbyters are sufficient. Larger congregations must naturally have more 
 presbyters. The number, however, must remain an even one. Thus I think 
 the author is to be understood.
 
 32 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 has (in divine service) a function in relation to the bishop, the 
 other one in relation to the congregation 1 . The qualities de- 
 manded for them characterise them, first, as a college of worthy 
 persons, standing at the side of the bishop. They shall be 
 advanced in years, they shall keep from marriage, and they 
 shall be the willing av^va-Tcu fcal avveTri^a^ot of the bishop, 
 supporting 2 him in the assembly of the congregation ; second, 
 as a directing counsel and juridical council 3 to the congrega- 
 tion. Here are thus two separate courts of justice within 
 the college. The one half of the presbyters has to look 
 after the order in the 7r\fjOo<> 4 during divine service and warn 
 the disturbers 5 . If, however, a member of the congregation 
 opposes the warning and shows himself disobedient, the whole 
 college (as a supreme court) has to meet together and decree 
 unanimously the suitable punishment on such a one 6 . But 
 what has the other half of the presbyters, what have the 
 presbyters on the right, to do ? Here stands the important 
 problem, the sense of which is explained and thoroughly treated 
 in the note at the passage ' they shall bear the cares for the 
 bishop at the altar, so that they may distribute the gifts of 
 honour and even receive there the necessary amounts (or in 
 regard to all needs).' 
 
 This passage is of immense importance for understanding 
 the function of the presbyters as well as that of the bishop. 
 
 First it is to be observed that of the relation of the pres- 
 byters to the bishop the same word is used (irpovoelcrdaC), which 
 shows their relation to the congregation. This is the technical 
 term for the function of the care and of the ' rule,' and that 
 
 1 This separation occurs in no other source. 
 
 3 Thus are to be understood the words <rvt>a9polfot>Ta.s TO irX??0oj standing be- 
 tween ffVfJLfJLijffTas rod tiri<rK6irov ical ffvveTri/j.dxovs and irpo9vfJLOv/j.4vovs rov iroi^va,. 
 On account of their position they must also have a relation to the bishop, 
 and this can be found in the ctiv, although ffwaOpoifriv signifies, as a rule, 
 little more than adpoifriv. But if this meaning were to be accepted here, 
 how did the sentence receive the position in which we find it, and how was 
 it to be thought that the presbyters alone had to assemble the congregation ? 
 
 See the twice occurring // irpbcrwirov \a/j.pdveiv in par. 2, 11. 14 
 and 31. 
 
 4 Par. 2, 1. 22 : oi e apiorepCbv trpecr^ijTepoi irpovoriffovrai rov ir\f}6ovs. 
 
 5 This function fell to the deacons later. There is also here an archaism. 
 
 6 See the end of par. 2. The congregation is not a participator in adminis- 
 tering discipline.
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 33 
 
 among the presbyters 1 . Thus also the bishop stands under the 
 care of the presbytery. That is information of the first impor- 
 tance ; for what we hitherto might only have guessed at, we 
 now receive incontestable proof of. We discover that even 
 in the time in which from a plurality of bishops there has come 
 to be only one, a kind of supervision of the presbyters over the 
 bishop's actions has continued. The episcopal monarchy has 
 thus not yet had, even at the beginning, the significance of an 
 autocracy ; rather has the supreme control of the presbyters 
 continued at times (at least in certain countries). There were 
 Trpea-fivrepoi ol Trpo'ia-rdpcvoi rfjs eKKXrjcrias 2 in the full sense 
 of the word, when as yet there were no eViV/coTrot, but only 
 one bishop (a single pastoral office). The directing council 
 (or, more strictly, the council bearing the cares) which had to 
 superintend the bishop, and the bishop who was the pastor, the 
 liturgist and representative of the congregation to the outer 
 world, raising by these functions a claim on all sides to good will 
 and obedience, are not excluded. We have rather to recognise 
 a peculiar dyarchy (the presbyterian council and bishop) in the 
 congregation, within which authority and subordination prevail. 
 We know also from another source that our document presup- 
 poses such a state. In paragraph 5 it says of the serving congre- 
 gational widows : TO, Seovra a7rajje\\ova-a rot? Trpecrfivrepois. 
 If this passage stood isolated, the upholders of the theory of 
 the original identity of the presbyters and bishops in early 
 times might take it as a plain witness in their favour, and 
 certainly with great probability ; for in instructions of a later 
 date we find in similar cases : ra Beovra a7rajj\\ova-a TO> 
 eTria-KOTra) 3 . See my remark on paragraph 5. Our author, how- 
 ever, distinguishes particularly between the one bishop and the 
 council of presbyters. If he now in spite of this tells the 
 widows to announce what was necessary to the latter and not 
 to the bishop, it follows undoubtedly that formerly the pres- 
 
 1 As, for example, on profane and on church inscriptions ; see Le Baa 
 and Waddington, Inscrip. Grecq. et Lat., etc., III. No. 2558, p. 582(inDeir- 
 Ali, about three miles south of Damascus, \x' aer. Seleucid = 318-19 A.D.) : 
 Sweryory-fy MapKiuvurruv KW/X(TJS) Aefidfiuv TOV K(vplo)v *c[a]t ff(wr?5)pos 'lij(ffoO) 
 X/>i<rToC irpovoiq. Haij\ov irpecr/3(w^pou). 
 
 3 For this expression see the Shepherd of Hernias and other witnesses. 
 
 3 The epistle of James agrees here with our document, as does also the 
 epistle of Polycarp (see 6. 1) : ol irpffffttTepoi . . . (TriffKeirTbijevoi iravras dcrGeveis. 
 
 C
 
 34 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 byters had been always in reality ol 7rpola-rd/j,evoi rf;? 
 Kfc\rj<Tia<;. Such a position could not last long, as the neces- 
 sary conflict between the bishop and the council must arise. 
 But that there was a time in which the episcopal-diaconal 
 organisation of the congregation had been of equal weight 
 with that of the presbyterian, consequently it can no more be 
 denied that one or other of their roots had withered. I have 
 remarked in the Analecta to my translation of Hatch's Early 
 Christian Churches, p. 229 : ' The later fixed government of the 
 Church (Bishop, Presbyterian Council, Deacons), is a com- 
 bination of two different organisations. As far as the congre- 
 gation was divided into those that guided and those that were 
 led, and the congregation would be sufficient for this separa- 
 tion for each sphere of action 1 , the distinction of ol irpea-- 
 fivrepot, and ol vecorepot, (7r\rj0of) was originally given. So far 
 as the congregation embraced a system of functions (looking after 
 the poor, worship, correspondence, in short, economy in the 
 widest sense of the word), and formed an active brotherhood, 
 special officials for government were necessary '; and this is con- 
 firmed by our Source. This fixes sufficiently the point in the 
 development of both organisations in which the monarchical 
 bishop appears as the single person in his own sphere on the 
 same level with the council of elders. He is still indeed 
 watched over, but otherwise he appears as the pastor, liturgist, 
 and representative of the congregation, whom the presbyters 
 have to support, as they are also bound to give him willing 
 service. But wherein are the presbyters the rulers over the 
 bishop I This question is also answered to us by our Source : 
 that is, in the disposal of the gifts taking place during the divine 
 service. The bishop is at the dvo-iaa-r^ptov not only the litur- 
 gist, but also the manager of the congregation ; but his govern- 
 ment is subordinated to the care of the council of the elders, 
 that is, to a half of it. This council reveals itself as the judg- 
 ment court for order and discipline in the congregation, which 
 extends its authority, Trpovoia, as well over the bishop as over 
 the congregation. The bishop is, however, not only 
 
 1 See also Hatch's own explanations on p. 66 : ' The presbyters had the 
 supreme oversight of all matters of adminstration ' ; and the expositions of 
 the patriarchal organisation of the congregations in its difference from and its 
 relation to the administration in my edition of the AiSax^i, p. 146 and fol.
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 35 
 
 , and eVt'/ia^o? in the congregation, but also oi'oz/6//,o9. 
 It is certainly no news that he is that, especially in the divine 
 service of the congregation 1 . But it is new to us that he 
 acts independently as steward, however he stands under a 
 kind of supervision of the presbyters. It is not said that this 
 supervision extended to the other functions of the bishop. It 
 is however worthy of observation that in par. 1 and 2 only 
 what is quite essential to the bishop is treated of, as he exer- 
 cises functions in the assembly of the congregation. Here 
 arises the question, which must especially be raised in regard 
 to the Epistle of Polycarp (c. 6) : Has the bishop originally pos- 
 sessed, apart from his office in the worship and as a steward, 
 other functions ? Does not the dyarchy in the congregation 
 explain that originally the bishop had been the guide and 
 principal only in the sphere of the regular government of the 
 congregation ? 
 
 With what we have now explained, all that our Source con- 
 tains about the bishop and the council of elders is exhausted ; 
 but it still brings out a striking and important regulation : that 
 is, on the election of a bishop. The passage runs 2 : ' If there 
 are in one place few men, and not twelve persons who are fit 
 to vote in respect to the election of a bishop, one must write to 
 the neighbouring churches, where there is a settled one, in 
 order that three selected men may come and examine carefully 
 if he is worthy.' 
 
 This regulation, for which a parallel is not known to me, is 
 of interest in more than one point of view. (1) It teaches 
 us that a well-ordered form of congregation was considered 
 necessary in all cases : even where there were less than twelve 
 Christians of age of the male sex (these only appear as entitled 
 to vote) present in a town, a bishop must be chosen (what 
 wisdom is expressed in this regulation !). (2) It shows the 
 sovereign right of the congregation to choose their bishop still 
 unfettered. (3) It throws a bright light on the close connec- 
 tions of the congregations with one another, and of their inter- 
 course by letter the strong congregation shall come to the 
 
 1 Just as little is it new that our passage excludes the practice of fixed 
 payments to the bishop and the clergy ; see Eus. Hist. Eccl. v. 28, and the 
 reproaches made to the Montanists. 
 
 2 See par. 1.
 
 36 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 help of the weak, and assist them to an organisation. (4) It 
 shows us how carefully they went to work in the election of a 
 bishop : a committee of selection of less than twelve members 
 does not evidently offer the necessary guarantees in regard to 
 a right election; a future bishop should receive his testi- 
 mony of qualification from at least twelve persons. But 
 that where this demand was not to be fulfilled in the single 
 congregation, the episcopal formation of the congregation was 
 not to be abandoned, but rather the neighbouring congregation 
 drawn upon, is a proof as well for the connection of congrega- 
 tions, as also for the beginning of the consideration that the 
 united church had to take an interest in each single bishop, 
 and that accordingly similar ordinances were valid for all 
 bishops. Here is therefore distinct evidence of the transfor- 
 mation of the episcopate as a congregational office into the 
 episcopate as an ecclesiastical office. (5) The passage con- 
 tains nothing as to whether the person chosen must already 
 belong to the order ; as there is no definition as to age given, so 
 there is also wanting any instruction in that relation. But 
 still more (and that is perhaps the most interesting), even 
 those three men selected from the neighbouring congregations 
 to strengthen the committee of selection are simply called 
 eK\KTol avSpes. There is nothing said about their being 
 clergymen. The election (there is nothing said, and indeed 
 nothing to be said, about the consecration) is thus represented 
 as an act for which the difference of clergy and laity does not 
 come into consideration. 
 
 As remarked, this direction is unique l , but when we come 
 later in history we are met by an institution which pro- 
 bably arose somehow out of the order which our Source has 
 marked. In the letter of Cornelius of Rome to Fabius of 
 
 1 There is, however, an interesting parallel, which does not exactly refer 
 to the election of a bishop, but still to the conditions of government. When 
 about the year 96 disturbances broke out in the Corinthian church regarding 
 the direction of the congregation (fyus tiri rov 6v6/j.aros rrjs fTriffKOTrfjs, 1 Clem. 
 ad Horn. 44, 1), the Roman church sent them not only a letter, but also three 
 selected men, and tacitly supposed that these three men would be acknow- 
 ledged by the sister church as authorised. See c. 63, 3 : eiri^aiMev Sf &v8pas 
 iriffTOus teal ff&Qpovas, diro ^TIJTOS a.va<TTpa.<t>tvTas wy yr/povs d/u^uTrrws ei> THUV, 
 o'lrives [idprvpes Pffovrai fuera^fi vfj.(av xa.1 ty/u.wj'. C. 65, 1 : TOI)S d direffraX/aL^vovs d<f>' 
 i)Hu}i> ~K.\atidiov "E<f>r)fioi> Kai OtiaXtpiov 'Biruva crbv xal ^opTovvdry ev (ipr/vy pera 
 dvair{p.\f/a.Te irp&s TJ/J.O.S.
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 37 
 
 Antioch we read the following x : ' (Novatian) chose two com- 
 panions who had given up their salvation, and sent them to a 
 small and quite insignificant part of Italy to deceive there 
 three bishops, peasants, and extremely simple men, by some 
 deceptive representation. He caused them to understand by 
 assurances and protestations that they must betake them- 
 selves to Rome hastily, in order that by the mediation of them 
 and of the other bishops that dissension, of which kind there 
 was always something, might be taken away 2 . When they 
 were now come, he caused them, as they were men, who, as 
 already said, were too simple in opposition to the intrigues and 
 cuniiingness of bad men, to be surrounded by some of the 
 people of his sort commissioned thereto, and compelled them 
 then by force at the tenth hour, when they reeled with 
 drunkenness, to give him, by an apparent and invalid laying on 
 of hands, the episcopal ordination.' This story shows that 
 in the middle of the third century (in Eome) it was the 
 naturalised custom to have bishops consecrated by three 
 foreign bishops ; only such a consecration could be considered 
 as perfect. It shows however, further, that three foreign bishops 
 are cited in order to put down disturbances which troubled the 
 order of the church. Doubtless this fixed practice stands in 
 connection with the arrangement met with in our Source ; it 
 has been developed from it. But in place of three ' selected 
 men ' we now meet with bishops. In this form, as is known, 
 it has in the Catholic Church, on the ground of the established 
 decrees of the Synods of Aries and Nicaea, been made into an 
 invariable law : the bishop must be consecrated by at least 
 three bishops 3 . Hitherto we were not able to put back the 
 
 1 See Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. vi. 43, 8, 9. 
 
 2 'Os $r)6ev Trava i)Ti<rdr]TroTovv 5i%o<7Ta<rta yeyovvla fffiv Kal er^pots liriffKt>irot.s 
 
 3 See the 20th Canon of Aries : De his qui usurpant sibi, quod soli debeant 
 episcopos ordinare, placuit, ut nullus hoc sibi praesumat nisi assumptis secum 
 aliis septem episcopis. Si tamen non potuerit septem, infra tres non audeat 
 ordinare. Can. 4 of Nicaea : 'EiriffKoirov irpoa-f]Ki /j,d\iffra /JL^V VTT(> iravrtav TWV 
 ev rrj eirapxia KadiffravQai' ' 5 8vcrx f p* f fy T & TOLOVTO, T) Sia KaTeweLyoCffav 
 -dfdyKfiv )) did /UTJKOS 65oO, f^diravros rpeis eirt rb avr6 crvvayo/jLtvovs, 
 yivo^vuv Kal T&V dir6i>Tuv Kal avvTiBe^vuv Sia ypaftfuiTUv, r6re r 
 iroielcrOai : besides the 12th Canon of Laodicea, can. 19 of Antioch, Const. 
 App. VIII. 4, 20; see Hefele, Conciliengesch, vol. L 2d ed. p. 384 fol. 
 Custom did not generally observe this law everywhere in the church ;
 
 38 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 law beyond the time of Cornelius (250 A.D.), and its origin was 
 obscure. Our Source in some measure lightens the darkness. 
 
 3. The Reader. The most important points on the position 
 of the reader in our source will be treated of in the supple- 
 ment, to which we now refer. Still, the following should be 
 remarked. Teachers and prophets, as in the AtSa^, are not 
 found in our Source l . Accordingly the bishop appears as 
 /iucrr^?, the presbyters as crv^vcnai 2 . In this conception 
 free speech for edification on the foundation of the holy scrip- 
 tures is not necessarily included; capacity to expound the 
 scriptures was certainly desired of the bishop, but not abso- 
 lutely demanded. It is the reader who must regularly have 
 this capacity; of him it is said that he must be 
 etSco? OTI evayye\tcrTov TOTTOV epyd^erai" 6 jap 
 WTO. pr) voovvros eyypcupo? \oiytcr6ijaeTai irapa rc3 $e&>. The 
 author has chosen the word evay<ye\i(TTij<; as the general desig- 
 nation of the teacher with the charisma. The apostles, as well 
 as the prophets and teachers, are all evangelists. We have 
 here thus a reminiscence of a past organisation of the congre- 
 gation 3 . It has, in fact, passed away ; for the reader is ati 
 elected official. The double position in which he acted did not 
 last long. He would soon have to hand over to the bishop the 
 important function of the exposition of the scriptures, which is 
 shown even in our Source in the regulation that, where pos- 
 sible, the bishop should be TratSeia? /xero^o?, /c.r.X. 4 , and 
 thereby he would sink into the position of a lower church 
 minister, as his service, the mere reading of the scriptures, was 
 
 hence it had always to be enjoined afresh. We find also varying arrange- 
 ments. Thus in the 1st Apostolic Canon it stands : eVicr/coTroj xflporovelffQu 
 virb eiriffKbirwv Svo T) rpiuiv ; in the 2nd Arabic Canon of Hippolytus : ' One 
 shall be chosen out of the bishops and presbyters, who will lay his hand on 
 the head of the person to be consecrated.' It is possible that in the Irish 
 Church at the episcopal consecration only one bishop was invited. See, how- 
 ever, Loofs, Antiq. Britonum Scotommque ecdeaiae, pp. 26 and 75; and 
 generally in Hatch's article, ' Ordination,' in the Christian Antiq. 
 
 1 Even the AtSaxi? notes the fact that charismatic (inspired) teachers may 
 be sometimes wanting. See c. 13, 4 : tav 3 fj.rj ^x^re 7rpo<prjTi]v, S6re TOIS 
 
 2 In the Ai5ox?7 the prophets (13, 3) are designated as the high priests of 
 the congregation. 
 
 3 See my edition of the Ai5axi?,p. 93 and fol. 
 
 4 In Rome the bishop was not a teacher until the fifth century ; see 
 Sozom. Hist. Eccl. vii. 19.
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 39 
 
 a purely mechanical one. Our Source comes from an earlier 
 time, and its requirements are quite unique. It requires, first, 
 a thorough examination of the person to be chosen ; then a list 
 of moral qualities which are in the closest relation to the func- 
 tion of a reader l ; further, obedience and benevolent intentions, 
 probably in regard to the bishop 2 ; lastly, the abovementioned 
 properties of a good delivery, and the capacity to explain what 
 he reads. Between them stands the astonishing regulation that 
 the reader should be the first in the assembly at the Sunday 
 divine services 3 . Why should it be the reader ? Are we here 
 to recognise a reminiscence of that past time when the charis- 
 matic teachers, whose diminished office the reader had in- 
 herited, were the directors of the devotional assemblies in 
 which they preached ? 
 
 4. The Deacons. The bishop, the council of presbyters, and 
 the reader exercise their functions completely within the 
 solemn assemblies of the congregation. What is said with 
 regard to them in our Source stands therefore thoroughly in 
 connection with those assemblies. It is otherwise with the 
 deacons; they appear as the maintainers, ministers, and comforters 
 of the congregation in their daily life 4 . In this activity a cer- 
 tain independence and authority belongs to them. Everything 
 which our Source remarks on the deacons is to be understood 
 from that standpoint. First, the appointment of (at least) 
 three deacons is required. The motive of this is clear. They 
 shall be three in order that they may be able to bear an 
 effective witness in cases of complaint before the discip- 
 linary judgment of the presbyters 6 . The deacons are thus also 
 public accusers ; in short, the middlemen between the con- 
 gregation and their government. In the second place an 
 examination of them is demanded, not only in general, but 
 specially ' in every act of service '. There are many duties of a 
 practical kind that are obligatory on them ; and they must 
 
 1 MTJ y\wffffOK6iros, /U.TJ /jL^dvffos ftrfre y\wro\6yos, 
 
 2 See the parallel regulation for the presbyters. 
 
 3 'Ec TCUJ KvpiaKals ffwbSois irp&ros fftivSpofios. A remembrance of this 
 appears to be present in the 37th Arabic Canon of Hippolytus. 
 
 4 That they have also in the divine service fixed obligations is not said in 
 this source ; but on the other hand, it is not denied. Besides, the presbyters 
 exercise the discipline during divine service ; see above. 
 
 See par. 4 : rpeis ytypatrrat. ydp. TTL rpiCov ffraO^fferai TTO.V
 
 40 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 have already proved themselves as experienced in them. In 
 the third place, an approbation on the part of the congregation 
 is desired not, as in the case of the bishop, a good report 
 from the non-Christians ; for the deacons have nothing to do 
 with the connection of the congregation with the outer world. 
 After these general instructions follows a list of single ones, which 
 expose very plainly the functions of the deacons ; they must be 
 pattern fathers (//.oz/oya/toi, retcvoTpofoi), besides being honour- 
 able, gentle, peaceable, not murmuring, not double-tongued, 
 not passionate. From this we perceive that they take a part 
 in all the details of the life of the congregation, advising 
 one, comforting another, exhorting another ; and in this activity 
 it is necessary that they should have earnestness, friendliness, 
 unwearied action, and calm. But, above all, it is important 
 for them to behave justly in the opposition of rich and poor, 
 which is found in the churches : the rich must by no means be 
 preferred, the poor must not be oppressed ; indeed one of the 
 chief tasks of the deacons is to compel the rich to give, and to 
 call forth good works which take place in silence. Hence 
 must they be judicious men. As, however, generosity can only 
 be stirred up by one who is generous, they should themselves 
 be willing to give and to communicate l . 
 
 Deacons who thus prove themselves the models and advisers 
 of the congregation have also a claim on honour, esteem, and 
 awe on their side. As the author of the AtScr^ 2 has named 
 the deacons together with the bishops the reTt/i^/iei/ot of the 
 congregation, so has our author reckoned them among the 
 honoured ones 3 . But, in conclusion, he remarks expressly that 
 a kind of police power belongs to them over those ' walking 
 disorderly V The means which they have to use for this are 
 warning, exhortation, threatening; despisers, however, must 
 they leave completely to themselves 5 . Of course there is 
 here no reference to excommunication, but a rule is given 
 for the conduct of the deacons. No more is said ; but we 
 
 1 The words w^ oby TTO\\$ xp^fot are evidently interpolated, being 
 foreign to the sense of the passage. 
 
 2 See c. 15. See par. 4, 1. 16 f. 
 
 4 See par. 4, at end. 
 
 5 The irapairt/jiirfffQai answers to the regulation in the AiSax'fl ; c. 15, 3 : 
 Kal iravrl affroxovvn Kara rov trtpov /uir)8fis XaXe/rw fj.T)5 Trap' V/JLUV axovtrw, ?ws
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 41 
 
 might conclude from the introduction to the whole section that 
 the deacons in such cases would have to make an announce- 
 ment to the council of presbyters. 
 
 5. The Widows. The division of work among the widows, 
 the number of whom is to answer to the number of the 
 deacons, is completely new to us. That the widows of the 
 congregation were to be the intercessors for the congregation, 
 and the nurses of the women, we knew long ago. But that 
 these obligations were to be divided is surprising. According 
 to our Source two widows are appointed for intercessory prayer 
 and (what is also new) for the reception of revelations, and 
 have nothing to do with the nursing of women. This order 
 
 ra? aTro/caXi/v/ret? Trepl ov av Serj) is extremely ancient, 
 and reminds us of a still earlier state of things. In the 
 Ai8a%7; we read l of prophets who speak ' in the spirit/ who 
 order ' in the spirit ' a meal for others, who ' in the spirit ' beg 
 for money for the needy, and demand gifts. Of such prophets 
 our Source does not speak, but it has introduced to us in the 
 bishop the mystic ; in the presbyters the companion mystics ; 
 in the reader the representative of the charismatic teacher. 
 These have shared in the inheritance of the prophets and 
 teachers. Should not the widow also have her share, and 
 should not the revelations which were expected for her be the 
 residuum of those revelations of the prophets who have died 
 out? No doubt the selected apocalyptic widows died out 
 likewise, and in a very short time selection and apoca- 
 lypse are not compatible ; but even here we are shown that 
 as with the reader and as with the bishop and council of pres- 
 byters, so here our Source does not exhibit to us the complete 
 Catholic Church government, but its vestibule. This entrance 
 hall stands incomparably nearer to the Catholic government, 
 than it does to the early Christian; it contains, however, 
 features drawn from the latter. Our Source shows us the 
 middle step between the organisation which we find in the 
 AtSa^?;, and that which we find at the end of the second 
 century : it is in this that consists its inestimable value 2 . 
 
 1 Chapter 11. 
 
 - We still possess a writing whose accounts on the ordinances of govern- 
 ment agree with those of the AiSaxij, however, in such a manner that it shows 
 the progress in the dying out of the old enthusiastic organisation. I mean the
 
 42 CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 What this Source says of the widow as a mirse, has already 
 been partly spoken of l ; partly it is without any particular 
 interest. 
 
 Ascensio Jesaiae, that is the latest recension, which also belongs to the second 
 century (see Dillmann's Ascensio Jesaiae, 1877, and my review of the work in 
 the Theol. Lit. Zeitung, 1878, no. 4). The passage referred to, and which 
 is exceedingly instructive runs, (c. iii. 23-31) : Et iis diebus multi erunt 
 amatores munerum quamquam denudati sapientia, et erunt multi seniores 
 inique agentes et pastores oppressores oviuni suarum et erunt 
 rapaces socordia sua pastores sancti. Et commutabunt multi honorem 
 vestitus sanctorum cum vestitu amatoris auri, et erit personarum acceptio 
 multa illis diebus et amatores honoris huius mundi. Et erunt calumniatores et 
 calumniantes multi etinanis honor sub appropinquationem domini et secedet 
 spiritus sanctus e multis. Nee erunt illis diebus prophetae 
 multi uec qui loquentur res confirmatas nisi singuli singulis 
 locis, propter spiritum mendacii et fornicationis et inanis honoris et amoris 
 auri, qui futurus est in iis qui dicentur servi istius iisque qui recipient istum. 
 Et erit inter eos odium magnum, in pastoribus et in senioribus 
 inter sese. Nam invidia magna erit ultimis diebus, nam quivis quod ei 
 libitum est coram oculis suis loquetur. Et negligent prophetiam prophe- 
 tarum, qui ante me fuerunt, et meas quoque visiones negligentes, 
 ufc ebullitionem cordis sui loquantur. 
 
 1 See above, on the words TO. Stovra. a.irayyt\\ov<ra. TOIS irpefffivrtpois, and the 
 notes to par. 5.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE HISTORICAL CONTENTS OF SOURCE B. 
 
 IN comparison with the rich historical contribution which 
 Source A has brought us, what is offered us by Source B must 
 be called trivial. In addition to this in the second half the 
 order of words of the torn document is by no means to be 
 depended on, and the apocryphal evangelical fragment which 
 is communicated in it offers us an insoluble problem. What 
 can be remarked on this subject is done in the note to the 
 passage. On that account we leave it on one side. 
 
 Source B is, as announced above, incontestably a document 
 by itself; that is proved by the duplicate passage A (ordinance 
 in relation to the deacons) \ B gives regulations for deacons, 
 laity, and women in relation to the obligations laid upon them 
 in the church, and is probably a fragment of the conclusion of 
 a treatise of canon law. But in spite of certain peculiarities 
 in the form 2 , and in spite of the designation of Jesus as the 
 ' Teacher,' B stands in the closest relations, one might say kin- 
 ship, to A. This is shown, first, in the sources of both docu- 
 ments 3 ; second, in the striking agreement of the constitution 
 of the deacons ; third, even in the selection of words 4 . Thus 
 
 1 The duplicate is partly a very perfect one ; compare par. 6 : ^re irivTjra 
 vTrfpoirreijovTes (jufjTe ir\oti<nov Trpoo'toTroXijTrTowres with par. 4 : /UTJ irpbcruTrov 
 ir\ovffiov \a/j.{3dvovTfs ^8^ irivt\To. KaradwaffTevovres ; also par. 6 : fTrava.yKdffovffi 
 robs 5vva./j.ti>ovs a.Tro6-r](ra.vpifu> et's %pya dyaOd with par. 4 : tiravayKd^ovTes TOI>J 
 ^Xovras T & v d5e\(f>ui> aTrXovv rots xetpas. 
 
 2 In A, par. 3-5, at the beginning KaBiaraveaOuaav is always used. (In 
 par. 2, the beginning is not found.) In B there is no question of 
 appointing. 
 
 3 See the following paragraphs. 
 
 4 The material is really very small, so much the more important is the 
 agreement. The symbol of the angels is used in A (par. 2) and in B (par. 7) ; 
 (Trai>ayKdeu> (of the deacons), pars. 4 and 6 ; Ova-iaffT-fipiov, pars. 2 and 7 ;
 
 44 HISTORICAL CONTENTS OF SOURCE B. 
 
 the two sources must stand closely together even in point of 
 time. 
 
 Now, as far as relates to the section on the deacons (par. 6), 
 it is worthy of remark that, like A, par. 4, it contains nothing 
 on the function of the deacons at worship ; rather, exactly as 
 in A, they appear as those moving about in the congregation, 
 the acknowledged helpers and exhorters of the members. The 
 expression, epydrat rwv Kakwv epycov, vv^drj^epov 7Ti\evcrcrov- 
 T69 TravTa^ov, characterises them especially well. There are 
 two single points which are important to us : first, it is said 
 that the deacons shall not exclude the poor from the division 
 of the \oyia ; second, it is promised them that after a blameless 
 holding of their office they may attain the office of bishop. 
 As far as relates to the first, our Source offers by the side of 
 1 Cor. xvi. the only witness for the word \ojia, and is one of 
 the few witnesses in Christian antiquity for the existence of 
 a congregational treasury. As touching the second, the passage 
 confirms the special affinity between the bishops and the 
 diaconate. The deserving deacon is promised, not the pres- 
 byter's office, but that of the bishop. This agrees completely 
 with the references which Hatch l has given 2 . It should be 
 observed (as we have shown above) that even in the third century 
 the presbyters were completed out of the number of the readers. 
 Thus in this advancement within the catholic church govern- 
 ment (the deacon to bishop, the reader to presbyter) we see the 
 reminiscence of an older pre-catholic form of government. 
 Already in the third century in connection with the abase- 
 ment of the presbyters and the readers, this practice begins 
 to be naturalised, that the deacon should ascend to the pres- 
 byter, the presbyter to the bishop, the reader however to the 
 acolyte or sub-deacon. In the section on the laity (par. 7), 
 which is gathered together from bits of older writings, the only 
 thing worthy of remark is the designation of the clergy as 
 
 Gai, pars. 4 and 6 ; irapedpeveiv, pars. 5 and 7 ; Troifj-qv (for the 
 bishop), par. 2, and T^TTOS Trotyuemis for the bishop's office, par. 6 ; irpoyu- 
 7roAi77rT7;s, par. 1, and irpoffuiroKyirTeiv, par. 6, r6n-os (for a position of rank), 
 pars. 3, 6, and 7. 
 
 1 Organization of the Early Christian Churches, 3rd ed., p. 52 note 59, 
 and p. 54. 
 
 - See also my notes in the Analecta, p. 246, and in my edition of the 
 , p. 140 and follg.
 
 HISTORICAL CONTENTS OF SOURCE B. 45 
 
 TrapeSpevovres rw Ovo-iao-Tijpia). They are thereby designated 
 as priests, or, more correctly, there is only one step from this 
 to the designation of ' priest.' 
 
 Lastly (par. 8) from the constitution on the women, in which 
 every public office in the church is forbidden them (they have 
 simply to busy themselves with the nursing of sick women), it 
 appears that formerly there must have been some expression of 
 a desire for a public service for the women. If we consider 
 what part women play as priestesses in many heathen re- 
 ligions we cannot wonder at this desire.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE SOURCES LYING AT THE FOUNDATION OF DOCUMENTS A AND R 
 
 IN regard to their sources and the manner of their application, 
 our fragments, which must here be judged together, offer quite 
 a pattern type for the pre-catholic time. There are quoted as 
 absolutely authentic authorities, first, with yeypcnrrai (par. 4), 
 an Old Testament passage, Deut. xix. 1 5 ; second, three times 
 words of our Lord, that is (par. 6), Matt. xxv. 37, (par. 8) Matt. 
 xxvi. 26 and follg., and also an apocryphal saying of our Lord, 
 TO acrOeves Bia TOV Icr^ypov crwOijcreTai,. The first passage is 
 introduced by Trpoopwvres TOVS \6yovs TOV StSacr/caXou i]fjbwv, 
 the second by 6 StSacr/caXo? . . . \eycov, the third by Trpoe- 
 \eyev, ore eSioaa-fcev these are the very oldest forms of quota- 
 tion ; third, the Eevelation of St. John (par. 2), in so far as in 
 the situation depicted it is represented as suitable for the order 
 in the church. We find besides a reminiscence of the text of 
 an apocryphal evangelical sermon. Thus the Old Testament, 
 the words of our Lord, and an apocalypse form the important 
 cases. The words of our Lord are made use of in the synop- 
 tical setting, but our synoptical gospels are still not considered 
 as alone authoritative, as is proved by the apocryphal quota- 
 tion. A canon of the New Testament is to our authors unknown ; 
 this is so much the plainer as (apart from the pastoral epistles, 
 which require here a peculiar examination) reminiscences of 
 New Testament writings are not completely wanting. Their 
 significance is really doubtful. We can only assert with safety 
 that our author has read St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians 1 . 
 Very probably knowledge of the Epistle to the Thessalonians 
 is shown in A 2 . On the other hand, the parallels to 2 Cor- 
 
 1 Compare 1 Cor. v. 11 with par. 1, 1 Cor. vii. 1 with par. 1, 1 Cor. vii. 
 24 with par. 7, 1 Cor. ix. 13 with par. 7, 1 Cor. xvi. 1-2 with par. 6. 
 
 2 Compare 1 Thess. iii. 12 with par. 1, 1 Thess. v. 14 with par. 4. See 
 also2Thess. iii. 6, 11.
 
 SOURCES OF DOCUMENTS A AND B 
 
 47 
 
 inthians, Galatians, and James do not allow us to form a judg- 
 ment on them 1 . There is no doubt that B must have read 
 the first epistle of Clement to Corinth 2 . There is no trace of 
 a knowledge of the gospel of St. John. 
 
 The relation of our documents to the pastoral epistles is of 
 extraordinary interest. Firstly let us here collect together the 
 materials : 
 
 yvvtj ei/ ja-v- 
 VTTO- 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 11 
 Xtp fj.av6avfT(D 
 rayg. 
 
 1 Tim. ii. 12: SiodarKfiv yv- 
 
 VO.IKI OVK (TTlTpfTTti) 3 . 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 2 f. : 8ei TW ITTUTKO- 
 TTOV dvTriXr)fj.TTTOV eivai, yuta? 
 yuvatKos avSpa, vrjfftdXiov, (rw- 
 (f>pova, Koo-fJiiov, (f>iX6^fvov, St- 
 /x^ Trdpoivov, fj,rj 
 , aAAa eTrtci/c^, a/xa^ov, 
 d<f>i\dpyvpov . . . 8ei 8e /cat 
 KaXrjv e^ctv <XTTO TWV 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 3. 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 8 f. : SiaKovovs cre/x- 
 vovs, /*^ StAoyovs, /i^) otv<p 
 . . /cat 
 
 TOV, etra StaKoveircocrav . 
 
 Staxovot eo-Twcrav /uas ywai- 
 
 KOS avSjOes, TCKVCOV /caAws 
 TTyDOt'crTa/ievot Kai TWV IStwv 
 
 OIKWV. 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 8 : //>) oivq> 
 
 Par. 2: OTTWS evcrTadrja-y /cat 
 ddopvj3ov y, TT/DWTOV /xe 
 
 viroTayr. 
 See Par. 8. 
 
 Par. 1 : (eVto-KOTros) ei rts <f>^- 
 fJ.rjv KaXrjv e^et aTro rwi' cd- 
 v<3v, i dvap-dprr]TO<s VTrdp^i, 
 et ^lAoTrrw^os, et crw^/awv, p) 
 p,e6vcro<s, fj,^ Tropvos, /M^ TrAeo- 
 ve/<T7/s ?} \oiSopos . . . KaAov 
 /u,ev e?vai aywcuos, et Se /A^, 
 CITTO /ttas yu^at/cos' TraiSeia? 
 //.ero^os . . . et Se dypdp.fji.a.TO'S, 
 
 Reminiscences also in par. 4. 
 
 Par. 4 : SIOKOVOI ecrTcocrav SeSo- 
 KtjLiacr/ievoi Tracry SiaKOVtji . . . 
 fJ.ov6yaiJ.oi, reKVOT/oo^ot, cr<u</3oves 
 
 )(p(tfJ.VOl. 
 
 Par. 5 (of the widow) : /AT) 
 /AT) otvy TroAAw 
 
 1 Compare 2 Cor. xiii. 1 with par. 4, 2 Cor. xi. 25 with par. 6, Gal. v. 21 
 with par. 1 , James ii. 6 with par. 4, James ii. 9 with par. 6. 
 
 - See the remarks on par. 6 end, and par. 7. 
 
 3 In Tit. ii. 4 it is demanded of the female presbyters that they must be 
 Ko\oSiSdffKa\oi ; this striking demand is explained by the context.
 
 48 
 
 SOURCES OF DOCUMENTS A AND B 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 13 : ot /caAws Sta- Par. 6 : ot /caAws 
 
 (Stu/covot) (3a.Qfi.ov (Sta/covot) . . . TOTTOV ec 
 
 3iS KaXov TrepnroiovvTat. TrepnroiovvTai, TOV TTOILL^VLK 
 
 1 Tim. v. 5 : 1} 6Wws x^/ a P ai> - 5 : at x*lP at 
 
 /cat p.efj.ovwfj.evr] . . . Trpoo'/xevet vowat T 
 rats 8e7yo-o-tv /cat rats Trpcxrcv- 
 \ais VU/CTOS /cat r)[j.epas. 
 
 1 Tim. v. 10 : Iv e'pyois /ca- Par. 5 : tVa SvvTjrat v^ 
 
 Acts fJ.apTVpovfj.evr) . . . et ^At- T<XS WKrepivas w^peo-tas /cat 
 
 t', t TTavri et rts erepa ySouAotro epyaya- 
 
 Oeiv. 
 
 1 Tim. V. 20 : tVa /cat ot Aot- Par. 2 : iva /cat ot AotTrot <f>6/3ov 
 
 TTOL <f)6/3ov e'xwo-iv (with regard l^wo-n/ (with regard to disci- 
 
 to discipline). pline). 
 
 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18: dyaOoep- Par. 5 : epyayaOeiv, par. 4 : rail' 
 
 yetv, 7rAovTtv Iv e/ayots /caAot?, Kpv(f>i(av epywv /caAot TrporpeTr- 
 
 t, /COtVWVl/COVS, TtKOi . . . eVMTaSoTOl, /COtVW- 
 
 cavTots ^e- vt/cot, par. 6 : dTroOya-avpifeiv ets 
 
 fieAiov /caAoi/. ^/7 a aya^a, par. 5 : Orja-avpicrfJiara 
 
 dya6d, par. 6 : tpydraL TWV /caAwi/ 
 
 2 Tim. ii. 17: CTTI TrAetov Par. 2 : Kat eVt TrAetov veftrjOf/ ais 
 
 TrpOKoif/ova'iv aVepeias, xat 6 yayypatva, /cat 
 
 Aoyos avrwv ws yayypaiva vofj-rfv ot Travres. 
 eAt. . . . iii. 6 : 
 
 yvvatKapta 
 2 Tim. iv. 2 : eTriTt 
 
 Par. 4 : ous 5e jrapa/caAovvre?, 
 
 os 
 
 Par. 3 : ewyyeAioTou TOTTOV e/a- 
 
 2 Tim. iv. 5 : epyov 
 tvayyeAto-TOv. 
 
 At the first glance our documents appear as a speaking 
 supplement for the justice of the well-known sentence of the 
 Muratorian Fragment regarding the pastoral epistles : ' in 
 ordinatione ecclesiasticae disciplinae sanctificatae sunt.' The 
 pastoral epistles, especially the First Epistle to Timothy, appear 
 to have formed the basis for the canon law definitions of our 
 author. We possess from the oldest times no other documents 
 in which the service, which the pastoral epistles have afforded 
 to the settlement of ecclesiastical order and discipline, appears 
 to come out as plainly as here. The Apostolic Canons which, 
 as far as I know, have not yet been used for the history of the
 
 SOURCES OF DOCUMENTS A AND B 49 
 
 pastoral epistles, thus prove themselves a very important monu- 
 ment with regard to the early history of the New Testament 
 Canon. But does a use of the epistles of Timothy really occur 
 here ? The question is not, in my opinion, a simple one. That 
 a literary connection exists is without doubt ; but do our docu- 
 ments presuppose the pastoral epistles in their present form, 
 and is it really to be made out whether the priority should be 
 given to them or to A and B ? 
 
 The next impression, derived from the consideration of the 
 parallel passages, after the literary relation is affirmed, is this, 
 that we have before us in the sections of the First Epistle to 
 Timothy and in our documents two independent recensions on 
 the foundation of a common material. It can be no question 
 of slavish dependence and mechanical copying of the ordinances 
 on the one side or the other. It is sufficiently clear that 
 what is said on the bishop, on the deacons, and on the widows 
 is the same ; and yet it is quite different. So much is thus at 
 least plain : if our author had read the canonical regulations 
 in the Epistles to Timothy, they were of no binding authority 
 on him. The freedom with which they have been treated puts 
 this without doubt. But still more : the First Epistle to 
 Timothy requires plainly of the bishop that he should be 
 SiSatcTifcos (ch. iii. 2) ; in A this requirement only appears as a 
 wish ; however, it says of the reader, who is not mentioned in 
 the pastoral epistles, that he should be SitjyrjTiKo^, ei&u? on, 
 vajj\t(TTov TOTTOV ep<yderai. In A it is said of the widows 
 that they should wait on the revelations, irepl ov av bey, while 
 we find in the Epistle to Timothy no trace of this ancient 
 regulation. On the other hand, there are undoubtedly traces 
 of the highest antiquity in the First Epistle to Timothy ; thus 
 it is there said quite simply of the bishop, /ua9 yvvaiKos avBpa, 
 while it stands in A, KO,\OV ^,ev elvat dyvvaios, el Be p,r) djro 
 /ua? yvvaiKos. If we miss the regulations in the First Epistle 
 to Timothy and in A B about the original organisation of the 
 congregations, the proportion of the archaistic element is about 
 the same in both- (there is indeed something greater in the 
 former, as it brings to light the position which is given to 
 Timothy himself), but it comes out in different ways and in 
 various places. One has the impression that the author of the 
 pastoral epistles and our authors must have written about the 
 
 D
 
 50 SOURCES OF DOCUMENTS A AND B 
 
 same time, that the ecclesiastical circumstances in which 
 they stood were about the same, that they had essentially 
 the same body of canonical ordinances and to some extent 
 the same order of words, but that they had conceived their 
 regulations quite independently on the same ground. There 
 is still one observation to be emphasised : according to A 
 we can form to ourselves a picture of the government which 
 the authors wished to see affirmed, while it is hardly possible to 
 do so from the pastoral epistles. The canonical regulations in 
 the First Epistle to Timothy are wanting in order, and discon- 
 nected; in chapter iii. the question is of the bishop and 
 deacons, in chapter v. of the widows and presbyters ; between 
 these, and scattered here and there, are regulations on the 
 competency of the person addressed. In many of the ordinances 
 we see references to an earlier time than that shown by A B, 
 and by others we are led into a later epoch. 
 
 If we were sure that the pastoral epistles are in every point of 
 view integral and original pieces of writing we could rest 
 satisfied in spite of everything (that will have to be conceded) 
 with the opinion that they had been read and taken advantage 
 of by the authors of our documents. But that certainty by no 
 means exists; it exists for none of the three epistles. In 
 regard to the Second Epistle to Timothy, it is generally ad- 
 mitted; in regard to the Epistle to Titus quite lately Otto 
 Eitschl 1 has made valid arguments against the originality of 
 Ch. i. 7-9 which deserve every consideration ; with regard to 
 the First Epistle to Timothy the section Ch. iii. 1-13 must 
 raise a doubt of its position between Ch. ii. 1 follg. and 
 Ch. iii. 14 and follg. It does not belong to an epistle, but 
 to a law book. However, it is not permitted us at this time 
 to continue our investigations on the pastoral epistles as if 
 it were certain that the varied material which they contain lies 
 before us in its original form and in its original connection. 
 
 Bearing this in mind, we are not in a position to continue 
 further our considerations on the relations of our documents 
 with the pastoral epistles and bring them to a conclusion. 
 
 As we do not possess any other writings which will throw 
 light on the sections of the pastoral epistles relating to the 
 government of the church, the question thus arises whether 
 1 Theol. Lit. Zeitung, 1885, No. 25.
 
 SOURCES OF DOCUMENTS A AND B 51 
 
 we shall make any sure progress in the positive criticism of 
 these unique compilations of the time when the transition of 
 the enthusiastic organisation of the church into the Church 
 Catholic took place. 1 
 
 1 It is also to be remarked that our documents A B show a certain relation 
 to the text of the first six books of the Apostolic Constitutions. However, 
 this can only be treated of after a searching investigation of this hitherto 
 strangely neglected writing.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE DATE OF THE COMPOSITION OF DOCUMENTS A AND B 
 
 THE indications of date have been shown as completely as 
 possible in chapters 2-5. Thus there is only needed here a 
 short recapitulation. In my edition of the Aia%?7 I had shown 
 document A as belonging to the beginning of the third cen- 
 tury, and B to the end of the second. The first statement 
 was really caused by what I find was a false though common 
 opinion on the origin of the readership. I see now no cause 
 to separate the two documents from one another, and to assume 
 that the time of their authorship was later than the end of the 
 second century, it appears to me rather that even the end of 
 the second century is excluded. Instead of a closer determina- 
 tion of the time in figures, giving somewhere between 140 
 and 180, which must, however, be always uncertain, because 
 the development in various provinces proceeded with varying 
 rapidity, I must content myself with affirming that our docu- 
 ments have thus the closest parallels in the pastoral epistles and 
 in the description of the church organisation by Justin, and that 
 the circumstances of composition which they presuppose are to 
 be held as the immediate introduction to the Catholic Church 
 government ; while reminiscences of the organisation for which 
 the AtSa^ offers us a witness are not wanting. There is no 
 presumption of the existence of a New Testament Canon in 
 the documents ; but even in the third century there were in 
 all probability provinces in which such a thing was unknown, 
 so that here also nothing is gained as to the time. It may be 
 granted that a fixed divine service and congregational order 
 existed in the time at which our documents arose. Here we 
 have in the description which Justin has given in his Apology 
 the best parallel. If the fragments originated in Egypt we
 
 DATE OF DOCUMENTS A AND B 53 
 
 could place their authorship comparatively late between the 
 years 1 40-180. If we place value on the use made of the Pauline 
 and of the Roman Epistle to the Corinthians, and on that 
 account remove the documents to Greece, we dare not put their 
 authorship much later than the middle of the second century. 
 That we cannot fix the time of authorship within a generation 
 is, particularly in relation to our knowledge of early Christian 
 literature, of little importance. Every student will rejoice 
 with us at the addition of two such instructive documents to 
 the valuable treasures of this literature. 
 
 Our knowledge of the history of the pre-catholic government 
 has really been most considerably increased thereby, for 1. 
 They have given us the key by which to open up a series of 
 hitherto not understood and hence not considered problems 
 on the original nature of the office of reader in its full 
 significance. 2. They have given us a sure hint in relation to 
 the origin of the hitherto mistaken so-called ' lower orders.' 
 3. They have shown us a condition of church government 
 in which so to speak there existed a dyarchy of the presby- 
 terian council and of the one bishop, and have shown us the 
 presbyters as the comptrollers of the bishop's management of 
 the gifts. 4. They have brought us an incontestably plain 
 evidence of rising from the diaconate to the episcopate. 
 
 5. They have shown us the last remains of the enthusiastic 
 constitution, already nearly extinct, as it stood immediately 
 before the complete establishment of the catholic church 
 constitution ; they have, in one word, introduced us to the last 
 step but one in the development which has taken place from 
 the government of the AtSa^ 7 ? t the old catholic constitution. 
 
 6. Lastly, they have thrown a peculiar light on the pastoral 
 epistles; for they are the only documents which offer us in 
 their regulations real parallels to the canonical ordinances of 
 the pastoral epistles in early church history.
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP AND 
 OF THE OTHER LOWER ORDERS. 
 
 Source A x contains regulations on the appointment of the 
 clergy, and in the following order: bishop, presbyter, reader, 
 deacons (and widows). On the reader it says : 'Azwyixoo-Tr;? 
 (ct?), Trpwrov SoKi/J,f) SeSo/ayiiacryu,ez>o9, /AT) 7X0)0-- 
 
 evyvu>fJbwv, ev rals KvpiaKals crui/oSot? Trpwro? 
 eu?7/eoo9, St,r)yrjriK6<;, ei'S&>9 OTI evayye\i(TTOv TOTTOV 
 
 yap e/ATrtTrXwv wra pr) voovwros eyypa</>09 \oyiadijcreTai Trapa 
 T&> $ea>. 
 
 The arrangement of the order of the offices here is sur- 
 prising. If we did not know that nearly every document 
 of the oldest time (especially any concerning the government) 
 contains something singular, we might be inclined to consider 
 the precedence of the reader before the deacons as an indif- 
 ferent incident not further to be explained. Hitherto, as far 
 as I know, there is no indication in any of the sources 
 known to us, that the reader possessed 2 a superior position to 
 
 1 See above, p. 7 and follg. 
 
 2 In Bingham, Orig. vol. ii. (1725) p. 29 and f., we find nothing on the 
 subject, just as little in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, in Kraus, 
 Recd-Encyklop. d. Christ. Alterthumer (see the article ' Lector,' by Peters), 
 and in the older and in the more modern text-books of Church Law, as far as 
 
 1 know. The older monographs (but which were not accessible to me) on 
 the reader's office are J. A. Schmid, de primitivae ecclesiae lectoribus, 
 Helmst. 1696; Celsius, de anagnostis vet. eccl., Upsal. 1718 ; Frommann, de 
 hermeneuta vet. eccl., Altorf 1747. Probst, in more modern times, has 
 treated fully (Kirchl. Disciplin in denSersten christl. Jahrh., 1873, p. CO 
 and follg., and pp. 108-119) of the lower ordines, without, however, sifting 
 critically the (very incomplete) material offered. That he should have 
 treated of the readers together with the ' cantor es' (p. 113 and follg.), is an 
 arbitrary proceeding, doubly striking in a Roman Catholic scholar ; for the 
 ' cantores' have in the West never belonged to the lower ordines. Hatch, in 
 his lectures on the Organization of the Early Christian Churches, has paid 
 no attention to the lower orders.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READEESHIP 55 
 
 the deacons, and in the passage which even now is still con- 
 sidered as the oldest witness for the existence of a special 
 reader's office in the Catholic hierarchy, the superiority of the 
 deacons over the reader is, as it appears, plainly presumed 1 . 
 We thus find also in most Eoman Catholic and Protestant 
 text-books the assertion that the readership and the other 
 lower church orders, since the end of the second or the begin- 
 ning of the third century, have arisen out of the diaconate ; that 
 is, it is acknowledged that it must find its origin 2 in the new 
 
 1 Tertullian, de Praescr. 41 : ' Itaque ' (in the heretical [Marcionite] 
 communities) 'alias hodie episcopus, eras alius ; hodie diaconus qui eras lector, 
 hodie presbyter qui eras laicus.' Besides, De Rossi has discovered in the 
 catacombs of St. Agnes an inscription ' Favor Lector,' and thinks that this is 
 older than the testimony of Tertullian to the existence of the office of reader. 
 
 - Thomas Aquinas was, I believe, the first to assert definitely that it had 
 its origin in the diaconate, quoting a passage in Dionysius the Areopagite 
 (Summa Suppl. Part III. Quaest 37, Art. 2 : ' In primitiva ecclesia propter 
 paucitatem ministrorum omnia inferiora ministeria diaconibus committe- 
 bantur. . . . Nihilominus erant omnes praedictae potestates, sed implicite 
 in una diaconi potestate'). As we see, it is a dogmatic theory which 
 influenced him. While all the lower orders are conceived as contained 
 implicitly in the diaconate, they must be all dated back to the Apostolic 
 Age. On the strength of the authority of Thomas this view has become the 
 prevailing one in the Roman Catholic Church (in more ancient times it was 
 opposed by Cardinal Bona, Her. Liturg. 1. 1, c. 25, c. 16, who only allowed 
 it as valid for the sub-deacons, and by Morinus, De Ordin. P. III. exerc. 
 14 c. 1). It has now been repeated without hesitation by teachers of 
 canon law and of dogmatics (see also C. Trident. Sess. XXIII. de sacr. ord. 
 c. 2, and the Catechism, rom. Pars II. qu. XII. XV. -XIX.) ; see B. Phillips' 
 Kirchenrecht, 3rd ed. vol. i. (1855), pp. 284 and 310, etc., as well as his 
 Lehrb. d. Kirchenrechts, 3rd ed. 1881, p. 101 : ' Out of the diaconate have 
 proceeded the orders of sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, and door- 
 keepers.' P. 106 : ' In the Divine institution of the three hierarchical orders, 
 especially of the diaconate, and therewith also in its sacramental signifi- 
 cance, the remaining five degrees dependent on it, although singly they 
 only belong to the jus ecclesiasticum, have mediately their share, in so far 
 as the functions which are connected with them originally belonged all to 
 the diaconate.' But even the Protestant canonists and teachers have 
 accepted, as a decided truth, the conclusion that the lower orders, including 
 the readership, sprung from the diaconate ; that is, that they arose first in 
 the third century. J. Delitzsch, in his Lehrsystem d. rom. Kirche, i. 129, 
 writes thus : ' At the first there proceeded out of the diaconate various 
 minor offices and degrees of consecrated orders such as sub-deacons, 
 acolytes, exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers.' Friedberg is more careful in 
 his Lehrbuck des Kirchenrechts, 2d ed. p. 104, and denies any such deriva- 
 tion ; and so does Richter-Dove, Lehrb. d. Kath. u. Evany. Kirchen-Rechts, 
 6th ed. Svo, p. 289. Kurtz too (Lehrb. d. Kirchengesch. 9th ed. vol. i. ) has 
 been silent on the origin of the ' ordines minores'; however, he expressly
 
 56 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 requirements of the divine service and of church order, and 
 has naturally its position after that of the much older 
 diaconate. 
 
 Our passage however, in which the reader stands before the 
 deacon (I call in what follows the whole piece referred to 
 [c. 16-21] ' Source A of the Apostolical Canons') requires that 
 we should examine the testimony which we possess bearing on 
 the nature and history of the readership, and convince our- 
 selves whether this office really existed from its earliest origin 
 as one related to the diaconate and subordinate to it, or 
 not rather as one of an entirely different kind. Such an 
 examination is so much the more necessary, as our passage 
 offers us a problem not only in the representation of the 
 reader before the deacon, but also in what is required of the 
 reader (Birjjrj TLKO 9, etSo>9 ort, evayyeX.ia'Tov TOTTOV epjd^erai). 
 This is very striking, but beside this there is one other 
 thing remarkable. Our fragment contains, besides the three 
 well-known Catholic ' ordines,' the readership alone. But 
 wherever after the middle of the third century we find this 
 office, we find (at least in the West) also regularly sub- 
 deacons, acolytes, exorcists, and doorkeepers, and in this 
 group the readers stand (in Rome) very low in the list, that is, 
 between the exorcists and doorkeepers 1 . Thus is it called, 
 even in the famous passage of the letter of the Roman bishop 
 Cornelius to the Antioch bishop Fabius in the year 250, 
 according to Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. vi. 43, 11): OVK rjirf- 
 
 claims the office of the reader as the oldest. Hinschius (System d. Kathol. 
 Kirchenrechts, I. 1869, p. 2) declares : ' The fact that with the spread of 
 Christianity the deacons fitted for the service were not sufficient, so much 
 the less as they maintained the number seven, owing to the circumstance 
 that the apostles in Jerusalem appointed seven, gave a reason for the separa- 
 tion of the further offices.' Hase (Kirchengeschichte, I. 1885, p. 419) writes : 
 ' The lesser church service was looked after by the laity, out of whom were 
 formed the four grades of semi-clerics.' Planck (Geschichte d. chrintl.- 
 kirchl. Gesellschaftsverfassung, 1803, i. pp. 141-177), finds that the services per- 
 formed by the new officials had previously been done by the presbyters and 
 deacons, and he concludes from this that the origin of the new offices arose 
 from the possessors of the older offices advancing from ministers into rulers 
 of the congregation, and hence they needed fresh special servants. 
 
 1 We find the offices given together, with the exception of that of the 
 doorkeepers, in the Epistles of Cyprian ; see O. Ritschl, Cyprian v. Karthago 
 u.a.w. (1885), p. 235 and fol. Ritschl has correctly laid no stress on the 
 absence of the doorkeepers.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 57 
 
 crraro, eva tVicr/eoTroi/ Beiv elvai ev KaOoXi/cy KK\rjcria, V fi 
 OVK d<yvoel TrpeafivTepovs elvat recro-apaKovra e%, Siaicovovs 
 eTrrd, vTToBiatcovovs CTTTCI, aKO\ov6ov<; Bvo ical reacrapdicovra, 
 Be ical dvayvwa-ras apa irvXwpols, Bvo KOI 
 Thus there can be no doubt of this as an office 
 in the circle of higher and lower hierarchical offices, the reader- 
 ship took a very low position in the second half of the third 
 century (at Eome). But how is it to be explained that the 
 other lower church offices do not occur in our fragments, and 
 that the readership, which is the only one named, stands before 
 the diaconate ? Does the origin of our fragment (perhaps for 
 the East) explain the problem, or has (this question must 
 necessarily arise) the readership, before it was a part of the 
 hierarchy, experienced a history of its own ? has it, in a word, 
 not had originally a totally different nature and significance, 
 but of ivhich it has now been deprived ? 
 
 As soon as this question is asked, there is no more need to 
 complain of the silence of our certainly meagre sources. They 
 were hitherto only dumb because they had not been questioned. 
 We possess, in fact, still the means to justify, in some measure, 
 the singular attitude of our Source in regard to the reader, and 
 to dig out its crumbling primitive history. It will be shown 
 that this history has stood in connection with the history of 
 the enthusiastic organisation of the congregations. In what 
 follows we will try to bring the primitive history of the reader- 
 ship to light, and therewith to connect a research on the origin 
 of the lower orders in general, and on their engrafting into the 
 hierarchy. 
 
 Cornelius of Eome has in the passage quoted, as it appears, 
 collected in one group exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers 1 , 
 while he has mentioned the remaining offices singly. Doubt- 
 less this group has appeared to him as the lowest within the 
 hierarchy. At the first glance it appears as somewhat hetero- 
 geneous, for more varied functions than the driving out of 
 the devil, reading of the scripture, and church doorkeeping, 
 can hardly be imagined. But, compelled to seek for something 
 to unite them, we easily find the agreement : that the first (the 
 exorcists) have to speak a sacred formula (the formula of 
 devil-exorcising) ; the second (the readers) read the holy scrip- 
 
 1 However, it is possible that the number 52 only refers to the ostiarii.
 
 58 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 ture ; and the third have to watch the holy building ; that is, 
 the holy assembly. It is thus a service in holy things which 
 combines the clergy in this group, but a mechanical service ; 
 just on that account they have the lowest rank. The task of 
 the reader in Rome must have been considered mechanical, 
 and for that reason a lower service in things holy. 
 
 All developments in the region of church government were 
 completed most speedily at Eome. It might therefore happen 
 that at Carthage still older circumstances and arrangements 
 existed at the same time. In fact we meet with such in the 
 collection of Cyprian's letters. 
 
 We should next determine its agreement with the Roman 
 order described by Cornelius. Besides the bishop, presbyters, 
 and deacons there were, according to Cyprian, other ministeria 
 among the clergy J , and these are the exorcists, the readers, the 
 sub-deacons, and the acolytes. These are not seldom men- 
 tioned by Cyprian, specially as letter carriers, and are designated 
 as clergy expressly by him and other Carthaginians 2 . As in 
 the official writing, ep. 23 s , the exorcist precedes the reader, 
 so we may take it for granted that the same arrangement was 
 accepted in Carthage as in Rome 4 . 
 
 But on the other side Cyprian betrays a view of the reader- 
 ship which lets us see this office in another light, and adds 
 thereto some problems which deserve the highest consideration. 
 In the 39th letter he reports to his congregation that he has 
 appointed certain worthy people as readers, and then continues 
 (c. 5) : ' ceterum presbyterii honorem designasse nos illis iam 
 sciatis, ut et sportulis idem cum presbyteris honorentur et 
 divisiones mensurnas aequatis quantitatibus partiantur, sessuri 
 nobiscum provectis et corroboratis annis suis,' etc. Thus these 
 readers were not to become mere exorcists, or sub- deacons or 
 deacons, but they were to be immediately appointed to be pres- 
 byters. Hence Otto Ritschl rightly remarks 5 : ' . . . and thus we 
 
 1 See, for example, Ep. 43, 1. 
 
 2 See especially the letter of the confessors to Cyprian where it says (Ep. 
 23) : ' praesente de clero et exorcista et lectore.' Ritschl, p. 208 f. 235 f. 
 
 3 See the preceding remark. 
 
 4 That according to Cyprian the readership with the sub-diaconate and the 
 office of exprcist belongs to the lower orders, thus that it is under the dia- 
 conate, is plain, and proved so by Ritschl. 
 
 5 Also on p. 185.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 59 
 
 see here also, how Cyprian had in view laymen, whom he first 
 nominated readers, as future presbyters. Perhaps, besides this 
 course, there was the other that a sub-deacon should rise to be 
 a deacon V Besides, it is to be observed that in Carthage at 
 the time of Cyprian there had been not only ' presbyter! doc- 
 tores V but also lectores doctorum audientium 3 , and that these, 
 both presbyters and readers, stood in the closest connection. 
 The latter, doubtless, supported the former while teaching 4 . 
 But these 'lectores doctorum audientium' were not clergy- 
 men, but only clero proximi ; further, this passage shows us that 
 the laity were trusted with the reading" in divine service, 
 but they still remained laity. Lastly, Cyprian gives in the 
 39th Epistle (chap, iv.), a description of the significance of the 
 readership, and at the same time a notice on the position which 
 the reader took during the divine service in the church ; both 
 show again, as it seems, a certain relationship of the presby- 
 terate with the readership. ' Quid aliud,' it says of the reader, 
 ' quam super pulpitum id est super tribunal ecclesiae oporte- 
 bat imponi, ut loci altioris celsitate subnixus et plebi universae 
 pro honoris sui claritate conspicuus legat praecepta et evan- 
 gelium domini quae fortiter ac fideliter sequitur ? vox dominum 
 confessa in his cottidie quae dominus locutus est audiatur. 
 Viderit an sit ulterior gradus ad quern profici in ecclesia possit/ 
 As the presbyters form the ecclesiastical judges, and as the 
 tribunal of the church have their seat in the apse of the church, 
 so does the reader also stand ' super tribunal,' and as the pres- 
 byters exhort and practise discipline on the ground of the 
 Divine word, so has the reader also to cause the vox domini to 
 sound forth 5 . 
 
 Thus the lowest of the ordines minores appears accord- 
 
 1 See also Ritschl, p. 236. 
 
 2 See on this Dodwell's Dissertatio Cypr. VI. in Migne's Patr. Lot. torn, 
 v. pp. 33-48, and the remarks of Ritschl thereon on pp. 171 f. 232 f. 
 
 3 The explanation given by Ritschl on p. 171 to the 29th Epistle seems to 
 me correct ; see also p. 232 f. 
 
 4 See Cypr. , ep. 29 : ' f ecisse me autem sciatis lectorem Saturum et 
 hypodiaconum Optatum confessorem, quos iam pridem communi consilio 
 clero proximos feceramus, quando aut Saturo die paschae semel atque iterum 
 lectionem dedimus aut, modo cum presbyteris doctoribus lectores probaremus, 
 Optatum inter lectores doctorum audientium constituimus,' etc. etc. 
 
 5 But certainly, even according to Cyprian, the lector is simply a reader, 
 not even a homilist ; and it must besides not be overlooked that Cyprian in
 
 60 
 
 ing to this description as a very high one 1 ; from the reader- 
 ship one can rise direct to the office of a presbyter: there 
 is something quite special, readers associated with special pres- 
 byters (the lectores doctorum audientium by the side of the pres- 
 fyteri doctores) ; they have to do with the higher education, but 
 they are not members of the clergy, but are reckoned as laymen ; 
 lastly, the reading in the church during divine service can be 
 handed over by the bishop to accomplished laymen. All these 
 facts are of the highest importance ; they show that the posi- 
 tion within the hierarchy to which the readership has fallen 
 does not show the significance which the function of the reader 
 must have possessed in more ancient times, or (more correctly 
 expressed) they show that the readership could not possibly 
 have developed out of the diaconate as a ramification of it ; 
 rather must it have had its own proper roots by the side of 
 the episcopal-diaconal organisation of the congregation 2 . 
 
 But beyond this general acknowledgment the announcements 
 in the Cyprian correspondence will not carry us. Let us pass 
 
 other places tries to reduce the significance of the reader as much as possible. 
 The most important and most detailed passage on the readers in the time 
 before Constantine which we possess is in the ' Gesta apud Zenophilum ' 
 (Routh, Reliquiae Sacr. torn. iv. ed. II. pp. 322-325), for the congregation 
 at Cirta. We there discover that the readers kept the sacred codices in 
 their houses. In the church itself was only one codex, pernimius maior, 
 under the care of the sub-deacons. On the other hand, with the seven 
 readers which the church at Cirta had at the time of the Diocletian persecu- 
 tion, were found 32 codices and 5 quinions. Of those seven readers, one 
 was a tailor, one a grammarian, one an Imperial servant (Caesarianensis). 
 Among the signatures of the Canons of Aries (314) we find the names of 
 7 exorcists and 2 readers (see Routh, p. 312). 
 
 1 Compare also the contemporary poem of Commodian, ' lectoribus ' 
 (Instruct. II. 26). In this it stands : ' Vos flores in plebe, vos estis Christi 
 lucernae, Servate quod estis et memorare potestatis.' 
 
 2 The recognition of this fact is further strengthened by observing that 
 the reader, together and in close connection with the exorcist, suddenly 
 appears among the clergy (at Rome and Carthage). That, however, the 
 exorcists had originally signified something quite different from the ordo 
 minor of the exorcists needs hardly to be proved. However in the older 
 time the ' exorcismos agere ' is generally joined to the ' docere ' (see, for 
 example, Pseudoclem. de virgin. I. 10; Tertullian de praescr. 41 : 'Ipsae 
 mulieres haereticae quam procaces ! quae audeant docere, contendere, exor- 
 cismos agere, curationes repromittere. ' Now if the ordo minor of the exor- 
 cists is the phlegma of the old demon-exorcists, who possessed the 'Spirit,' the 
 ordo minor of the readers is the phlegma of the older teachers who were 
 filled with the Spirit. This assertion is purely an hypothesis ; but the won- 
 derful connection in Cyprian and Cornelius of ' exorcista et lector ' must 
 certainly lead to it.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 61 
 
 on to Tertullian. In the first place, it is to be admitted 
 that, if we leave out of view one passage, we must acknowledge 
 that Tertullian only knew as within the clergy the bishop, 
 presbyter, and deacon (and the widows 1 ) ; thus he knew nothing 
 yet of the so-called ordines ininores 2 . But the passage already 
 quoted (De Praescript. 41) shows that in his time at Carthage 
 there were readers, and that they stood in rank below the 
 deacons. Still with the latter too much has already been 
 asserted. Tertullian writes : ' Itaque alius hodie episcopus, 
 eras alius ; hodie diaconus qui eras lector, hodie presbyter qui 
 eras laicus.' According to this it appears, at the first glance, 
 as if Tertullian in this recognised as a disorder among the 
 heretics, that any one among them could rise from the diaconate 
 to the readership, and one appears to be justified in asserting 
 that, in the sense of Tertullian, the reversed order was that in 
 the church, and then the prevailing one. Thereby would it be 
 proved that in the year 203 at Carthage within the clergy 
 there was at least a fourth grade subordinate to the diaconate ; 
 that is, the readership. This conclusion is compulsory on all 
 those who still maintain that already, about the year 200, all 
 riyovpevot, in the congregations, as well as all those who exer- 
 cised spiritual functions, had received their fixed position 
 within the hierarchical episcopal organisation. Whoever is not, 
 however, of this opinion, and is ready to be convinced other- 
 wise for example, out of the history and works of Origen, or 
 out of the valuable notice in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. vi. 19 to 
 end must necessarily be surprised that Tertullian in one 
 single passage should have distinguished indirectly four orders 
 in the clergy, while everywhere else he only speaks of three. 
 
 But must this passage be really thus understood, that at 
 Carthage at that time there was existing the ordo minor of the 
 readership, and that Tertullian blames the heretics for their 
 rising from the diaconate to the readership (instead of from 
 the readership to the diaconate) ? By no means ; rather is a 
 totally different explanation of this passage offered. The com- 
 plete passage runs as follows : ' Ordinationes haereticorum 
 temerariae, leves, inconstantes. Nunc neophytos conlocant, 
 
 1 See, for example, de praescript. 3 : ' episcopus, diaconus, vidua. ' 
 
 2 See, for example, de bapt. 17, also de fuga 11 ; de exhort. 7 ; de monog. 
 11, 12. Tertullian separates (de corona 10) 'sacerdotes,' ' ministri ' in, 
 heathen worship, but not in the Christian.
 
 62 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 mine saeculo obstrictos, nunc apostatas nostros, ut gloria eos 
 obligent, quia veritate non possunt. Nusquam facilius profici- 
 tur quam in castris rebellium, ubi ipsum esse illic promereri est. 
 Itaque alius hodie episcopus, eras alius ; hodie diaconus qui 
 eras lector, hodie presbyter qui eras laicus. Nam et laicis 
 sacerdotalia munera iniungunt.' Tertullian has a much more 
 serious reproach to make against the heretics than that they 
 did not correctly observe the degrees of order within the 
 clergy. He reproaches them with this, that their 'ordina- 
 tiones ' are especially ' temerariae, leves et inconstantes.' This 
 reproach he grounds in a double way. First, he asserts that 
 they put unqualified persons into the clergy; and secondly, 
 he says, that the boundary between the ' ordo ' and the members of 
 the congregation is not a fixed one but fluctuating. He illustrates 
 this last sentence, which he concludes with the general reproof, 
 'nam et laicis sacerdotalia munera iniungunt,' by three 
 examples (1) The bishops among the heretics change from one 
 day to another ; (2) That he who is a deacon to-day may be a 
 reader to-morrow ; (3) That he who is a presbyter to-day is a 
 layman to-morrow. Thus, according to Tertullian, the reader be- 
 longs as little to the ' ordo ' as does the layman. He does not blame 
 them because an ordained person (the deacon) must descend 
 and accept a lower ordination, but rather because the ordained 
 deacon gives up his ordination, and returns to a position which 
 does not belong to the position of the ordained (the clergy). 
 
 Thus we may conclude that Tertullian (as all other passages 
 of his writings show) knew of only three ( or dines' in the clergy 1 . 
 There were certainly at his time readers ; Tertullian would have 
 perhaps considered their position as subordinate to that of bishops, 
 priests, and deacons, but they did not belong to the clergy. 
 
 But to what then did they belong ? We may here answer 
 by the counter-question, To what did the ' martyrs,' the ' con- 
 fessors,' the ' virgins of both sexes,' the ' doctors,' the 'prophetae 
 et prophetissae ' belong ? We find all these in Tertullian 2 . 
 They were very important, honourable persons, but they did 
 not belong to the clergy. 
 
 We have thus to decide that the readers (and with them the 
 
 If we leave out of view the ' viduae. ' 
 
 2 Doctor : de praescr. 3. 14 ; adv. Prox. 1. See my edition of the 
 pp. 131-137, on teachers.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 63 
 
 exorcists) first came into the clergy in the time between 
 Alexander Severus (c. 222) and Philippus Arabs in Carthage 
 and Borne, and were attached to the deacons as lower officers l . 
 There were there, about the year 200, undoubtedly special 
 readers. But if this was the case, and if we consider that 
 they, together with the exorcists, were added afterwards to the 
 clergy, while at Cyprian's time they possessed a certain affinity 
 to the presbyters, especially to the presbyteri-doctores, and on 
 the other hand laymen could still be always intrusted with 
 the reading, there must exist the well-grounded supposition 
 that their function earlier had not been a mere mechanical 
 one, or was at least not held to be so. So far as they by the 
 reading of the holy scriptures according to their vocation had 
 edified the congregation, they must (just as the exorcists) have 
 been brought into a special relation to the Holy Spirit, It is 
 easily to be supposed that they probably besides reading had 
 possessed also the right of expounding the scriptures. But in 
 this passage we have no ground to adopt this hypothesis. It 
 suffices for us to remember that in the older time, in the second 
 century, the functions of reading the scriptures and of preaching 
 were often quite closely connected, because both had the same 
 end and the like success, that is, the edification of the con- 
 gregation 2 . The spiritually filled teacher and prophet did not 
 
 1 For the Roman church the silence of Hippolytus is of significance. From 
 the Philosophumena, which were written soon after the death of Callistus, 
 thus soon after the year 222, there is evidence that then only bishops, pres- 
 byters, and deacons were reckoned in Rome among the clery. See IX. 12 : 
 'E?ri KaXXicrroi; ijp^avro fTrlffKOiroi Kal irpeffptirfpoi Kal SiaKovoi diyafjiot Kal rpLya/j.01 
 KaOiffraffOai fis /cXi^pous. El d TIS ev K\^p(f> &v ya/j.oli), p-eveai rbv TOLOVTOV 
 iv rif K\-f)p<p ws fj-i) a/j.aprriK&ra. Thus the year 222 marks the terminus a 
 quo for the increase of the clergy by the lower clergy. Just so far do the 
 last writings of Tertullian lead us. Hagemann indeed (Rdmische Kirche, 
 1864, p. 64 and follg.) quite arbitrarily refers to the sentence el Se, K.T.\., on 
 lower clergy, to free Callistus from the reproach that he suffered mar- 
 riage of the priests; so does Probst (Kirchl. Disciplin, 1873, p. 61). This 
 view was first given out by Dollinger (Kallist. u. Hippolyt, p. 150 and follg.) ; 
 it is however refuted by Langen (Gesch. d. rSm. K. i. p. 252 and follg. ; see 
 Tert. de Monog. 12). Even De Rossi (Bullet., 1886, p. 33) has not 
 adopted it. 
 
 2 See, for example, 1 Tim. iv. 13 : ?y fyxopat. Trpbvexe ry avayvdvet, rrj 
 irapa.K\-f]ffei, TTJ SidaffKa\ia. The sense is that the evangelist of the congrega- 
 tion, Timothy, should exercise these three functions until the apostle should 
 come and undertake them. From a later time, we may be reminded of Tertul- 
 lian, De anima 9 : ' Scripturae leguntur aut psalmi canuntur aut allocutiones
 
 64 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 give out their own, but that which the Holy Spirit laid on their 
 lips. Thus there consisted no real difference between them and 
 those who put in efficacy the written word of the Holy Spirit. 
 If we add to this that the art of reading l and a good delivery 
 could not have been common among the uncultivated congre- 
 gations of Christians in the second century (there were even 
 among the bishops Analphabeti), it can thus be perfectly under- 
 stood that the readers of the second century would have stood 
 in the highest esteem. That there was, however, in Rome 
 even in the middle of the second century a reader distinct from 
 the overseer and from the deacons is shown in the famous 67th 
 chapter of the First Apology of Justin, in which the congre- 
 gational divine service is depicted. Here it is said : Kal ra 
 aTTO/jLvrjuovev/jLara TWV airocnoKwv rj ra crv<y<ypdfjifj,aTa rwv 
 7rpo(f)'rjra)v avaytvcocrKerai, pe^pis ey^copel. Etra Travcra^evov 
 rov dvayivcoa-fcovros 6 Trpoecrra)? Sia \6yov rrjv vovQeaiav 
 Kal 7rp6K\7)(TLV TT)? rwv Kakwv TOVTWV fAi/jurjaecos Troielrai. And 
 at the end: rot? ov Trapova-i Bia ra>v SICIKOVCOV [the sacred 
 food] Tre/iTrerat. 
 
 Thus about the year 150 the 'sermon' was in Eome the 
 regular affair of the overseer, but there was (at least) one 
 special reader. The western sources lead us no further. We 
 possess, however, fortunately eastern sources which strengthen 
 our conjectures on the original significance and the oldest 
 history of the reader, which we have already indicated above, 
 and give us a more sure introduction to it. 
 
 In the eastern churches the lower orders are never so distinctly 
 marked out and in such a fixed order (five) as in the west. Also 
 the holders of these offices, from the moment when they appear 
 as lower church officers, appear to have played if possible a still 
 
 proferuntur aut petitiones delegantur. ' Compare Origen c. Celsum III. 50 : 
 Kal 81' dvayvwcr/idruj' Kal Sia TU>V eh avra Sir)yr]crfuv Trporp^TrovTes. Pseudo-Clem, 
 de Virgin. I. 10 : 'legere scripturas aut exorcizare aut docere.' 
 
 1 The scriptio continua in which the books were then written made the 
 reading of them extraordinarily difficult. Thus Hermas says, Vis. II. 1, 4 : 
 /j.eTypa\f^d/j,ijv irdvra irpbs ypd/ji/ma (that is the whole book handed to him), ovx 
 rjvpiffKov yap rds <riAXa/3ciy. Compare also Isidore, de Offic. II. 10, 2 (see 
 Wassersehleben Die irische Kanonensammlung, 2d ed. p. 24) : ' Qui ad lectoris 
 provehitur gradum, ista erit doctrina : in libris inbuttis, sensuque verborum 
 scientia ornatus ita, ut in distinctionibus sententiarum intelligat, ubi finiatur 
 iunctura, ubi adhuc pendeat oratio, ubi sententia extrema concludatur et his 
 similia.'
 
 ORIGIN OP THE READERSHIP 65 
 
 more subordinate part than in the western. On the other hand 
 some of these orders have been retained effectively in the life of 
 the church in the west, while in the east they have been practi- 
 cally as good as extinguished. In what follows I shall first give 
 a short survey of the state in which we find them in the fourth 
 century, when the lower orders may first be observed within the 
 clergy in the west, and from that point work backwards. 
 
 In the so-called Apostolic Canons 1 there are reckoned in 
 many passages, besides the bishop, presbyter, and deacon, 
 other persons in the KaraXoyos 6 lepariicos, and general 
 directions given for them 2 . In three passages they are in fact 
 introduced: (ch. 27, 69) readers and psalm-singers, (ch. 43) 
 sub-deacons, psalrn-singers, and readers ; in Dionysius Exiguus 
 the readers stand here also first. Marriage was permitted to 
 readers and psalm-singers in their office. Acolytes, exorcists, 
 and doorkeepers are not mentioned. In the Canons of the 
 Synod of Laodicea 3 it is said, ch. 15, 'that besides the psalm- 
 singers appointed thereto, who mount the ambo and sing out of 
 the book, no others should sing in church ' ; in chapter 1 7 that 
 psalm-reading and lesson should alternate in divine service; 
 then follow from ch. 20 some regulations on the servants 
 (vTrrjpeTwv), and all (the lower) clergy. Sub-deacons are justly 
 understood among them. The regulations show what subordi- 
 nate officials these clergy had been 4 . The second Canon con- 
 tains a sufficient announcement on the clerical degrees of rank 
 in the following order : presbyters, deacons, ministers (sub- 
 deacons), readers, psalm-singers, exorcists, doorkeepers. Aco- 
 lytes are not known, and psalm-singers are added to the readers 
 (a proof how low they stand) ; otherwise the said order lies 
 before us as in the letter of Cornelius. But before everything, 
 it is important that we read in the twenty-sixth Canon : ' Who- 
 ever is not ordained by the bishop may not exorcise either in 
 
 1 See Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, i., 2d ed., p. 793 and follg. These canons 
 may be named here, although their last editing is later than the fourth 
 century. 
 
 2 See the canons 9, 15, 17, 18, 26, 51, 63, 70, according to the Roman 
 numbering. 
 
 3 Hefele, p. 746 and follg. 
 
 4 See ch. 21 : the ministers (sub-deacons) shall not move the sacred vessels. 
 Ch. 22 : they may not carry the orarium, just as little (ch. 23) may the 
 readers and psalm-singers. See also ch. 25. 
 
 E
 
 66 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 the church or in the houses.' Such a regulation was thus still 
 necessary; that is, there were still laymen who practised as 
 exorcists \ Lastly, it may be remarked that the Synodal Canons 
 in several places (see 27, 30, 36, 41, 42, and 54) distinguish be- 
 tween the higher (iepariKoi) and the lower (/c^ptKoi) clergy, and 
 acknowledge by their side a special class of ascetics (see 24, 30). 
 In the forged recension of the Ignatian epistles, which arose in 
 the middle of the fourth century 2 , the following order is given : 
 presbyters, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, psalm-singers, door- 
 keepers, grave-diggers, exorcists, confessors, deaconesses, virgins, 
 lay brethren, lay sisters 3 . This is the completest list which we 
 possess of the fourth century. Again we observe, as everywhere 
 in the east, the connection of readers and psalm-singers, while 
 in the west it is the exorcists and readers who stand together. 
 The same Syro- Palestinian cleric who in the fourth century 
 forged the Ignatian epistles edited also older canonical law 
 books, and out of them restored the collection of eight books 
 of Apostolic Constitutions 4 . Accordingly we find also in the 
 eighth book of this collection, chapters 4, 5, 15-17, the follow- 
 ing clerical stages : bishop, presbyter, deacon, deaconesses, 
 sub-deacons, readers, confessors, virgins, widows, exorcists ; 
 in chapter 27 at the end, however, by the side of the readers, 
 psalm-singers are specially mentioned. It is seen that there 
 are wanting only the doorkeepers and the gravediggers who were 
 certainly not consecrated 5 . A complete and strict order of rank 
 of the ministering clergy did not exist as it did at Eome. Epi- 
 phanius 6 gives the following order : bishop, presbyter, deacon, 
 
 1 I quote here the remark of Hefele, and refrain from any commentary 
 on it : ' Balsamon here concludes that 3 exorcising is identical with 
 "catechising the unbelieving," and Van Espen remarks on this : " there is a 
 double power of the demons on man, an outer and an inner ; by the latter 
 man is, among other things, fast held in unbelief, and for that purpose 
 catechetical instruction is also an exorcism. " ' 
 
 2 See my edition of the AtSax^j P- 241 and follg. 
 
 3 See the Pseudo-Ignat. ad Antioch. 12. 
 
 4 See my edition of the Ai3ax^, etc. 
 
 5 Const. App. III. 11, the editor has the following order : bishop, pres- 
 byter, deacon : ol \oiirol K\i]pucol olov avayvStarai rj ipdXrcu ?} Trv\upol T) vTrrjp^Tai. 
 and immediately after avayvutarai, viryptrai, $8oi, irvXupol. The ' servants ' 
 are the sub-deacons. II. 28 : bishop, presbyter, deacon, reader, psalm- 
 singers, doorkeeper ; VI. 17 : bishop, presbyter, deacon, minister, psalm- 
 singers, readers, doorkeepers. 
 
 6 Panarion, Expos, fidei, c. 20.
 
 67 
 
 sub-deacon ; these four ranks he reckons for the lepwo-vvrj, for 
 which he gives special duties and positions in regard to marriage, 
 and who hence can only be recruited from certain classes of men. 
 Then he continues : fiera ravTijv rrjv lepwa-vvrjv \OITTOV dvajvaxj-- 
 rdyfjia e o\a>v TWV rayfjudrfov, rovrea-ri Trapdevcov /cal fjiova- 
 Kal eyKparevojAevwv KOL ^r)pevcrdvr(ov Kal rwv ert, ev 
 w, el Se eitj dvd<yKr),Kal diro rcav fjuera Odvarov T?}9 irp(a- 
 T79 ryvvaitccx; Bevrepa <rvva(f)0evTQ)v. Kal jap ovtc e&riv iepeits 6 
 dvayvfoarT)^, d\\' a>9 7/9a//./4arei'9 rov Xoyov. Hereupon he 
 mentions the deaconesses, then (e?}9 TOVTWV) the exorcists, and 
 the interpreters x (eTrop/cia-ral Kal ep/JL^vevral 7X0)0-0-779 efc 
 y\6i)a-(Tav 77 ev rat9 dvayvaxreaiv rj ev rat9 7rpocro/j,i\iai<;). 
 Gravediggers and doorkeepers make up the end. We have 
 here manifestly present the same relations and the same order 
 as in the pseudo-Ignatius (and pseudo-Clement). 
 
 If we pass on as far as the beginning of the fourth century 
 we find accounts of the lower clergy very rare. But that there 
 were such about 325 in the east is shown by the sixteenth 
 canon of Mcaea, for we there meet with a regulation for pres- 
 byters and deacons, and thereto rofc ev r&5 icavovt e'fera^o- 
 fievois. Under this expression, which occurs twice, only the 
 lower clergy can be understood 2 . The canons of the Synod of 
 Neo-Caesarea carry us still further back. Here it says (ch. 10) 
 that a deacon, who has sinned, rrjv rov vTryperov rd^iv e^ero). 
 He should thus be degraded to the clerici minores, that is, to a 
 sub-deacon 3 . The name ' sub-deacon ' occurs besides in the east 
 for the first time in Athanasius 4 . 
 
 In what we have hitherto said we have given a survey of 
 the clerici minores in the oriental churches in the fourth century. 
 
 1 The interpreters of the speakers of tongues is not meant, as a closer 
 consideration makes plain. 
 - See Hefele. 
 
 3 On vir-qpfrris in the sense of a collective designation of the lower clergy 
 see the second Canon of Aries. It equals sub-deacon in the Canons of 
 Laodicea (see above and Routh, Reliq. Sacr. iv. p. 199). The fifteenth Canon 
 of Neo-Caesarea is also instructive for the origin of the sub-diaconate : 
 AtaKOvot eirra 6<f>el\ova-iv elvai Kara rov Kav6t>a, K&V irdvv fieyAXij eti) 77 ir6\tj' 
 Treur6ri<Tri 5t &vb rijs /3f/3\ou ruiv -n-pd^ewv. 
 
 4 Epist. ad solitar. vitam ag. torn. i. p. 380, Paris edition, 1698 : Evr^x 10 " 
 viroSiaKovov S.vSpa /caXws VTrriperovvra r-y lKK\rjfftq.. Here also we recognise the 
 identity of virodiaKovos and uTrijp^nys. The deacons were in reality no longer 
 ' servants ' ; hence for the performance of services vvijpeTftv is used instead 
 of 8ia.Kovfii>.
 
 68 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 It has shown us that their order was not a very strict one, but 
 that the readers had received their position by the side of the 
 psalm-singers, who do not occur in the west l . It teaches us 
 us further that acolytes did not exist as clergy in the east, and 
 it shows lastly that even in the fourth century the occurrence 
 of unordained laymen as exorcists had to be opposed. Basil 
 has, however, given us the most important difference between 
 the Kardhoyos rwv lepwjjievoyv dvSpwv and the lower clergy 
 when he designated the latter as Trpoo-fcaprepovvTes ev d%etpo- 
 Tovr)T(t> vTrtipeaia 2 . They must be appointed by the bishop, 
 but they were at least according to Basil not consecrated, 
 as were the presbyters and deacons 3 . 
 
 Hitherto we have been left in darkness as to the origin of 
 these offices. But might not perhaps something be made of 
 such passages where the appointment of readers and exorcists 
 is described ? The Apostolic Constitutions contain, as is well 
 known, some very old fragments in all their books. They 
 communicate to us the prayer, which was to be spoken during 
 the consecration of the reader 4 , and this is, in fact, extremely 
 remarkable. It runs : f O #eo? 6 alcovio?, 6 TroXu? ev eXeet, 
 Kal oltCTip/Aois, 6 rrjv rov Koafjiov a-vcrracriv Sid rwv evep- 
 jovfjievfov (fravepoTTOtricras Kal rov apifffibv rwv eK\eKru>v <rov 
 Sia<f)v\drro)v avros Kal vvv eTuSe eVt rov ey^eipi^ofjuevov 
 TO? tt7/a? crov 7pa<a? dvayivaxr/ceiv rw Xa&> aov, Kal So? 
 ai>T( 7rvevfJ,a ayiov, Trvevfjia irpot^'rjriKov 6 cr 
 "EcrSpay rov depdirovrd aov evrl TO dvayivcoaKeiv TOV? 
 <rov Tc3 Xac3 crov, Kal vvv TrapaKaXov/jLevos v<$> r^wv crofyiaov 
 rov Bov\6v (rov Kal So? avrw, dKardyvoja-rov Siavvaavra TO 
 avrui epyov, a%iov dvaSe^drjvai, fjuei^ovos /3a6/j,ov 
 O, fJ,e6' ov crot rj $6a K.T.\. 
 
 1 On their origin see Fertsch in the Denkschrift d. Predigerseminars zu 
 Friedberg, Giessen, 1839, p. 70. " Basil, ep. canon 51. 
 
 3 We find in Origen no account of lower clergy in the church. There 
 were of course readers as well as ' doctores ' during his time in Alexandria, 
 but they did not belong to the ' ordo.' 
 
 4 According to VIII. 21 he should be consecrated by the laying on of 
 hands, not so according to Basil. In the Atarcxfets rdv ayiwv diro(rT6\uv irepl 
 Xfiporovi&it 5iot 'liriroMrov (Reliq. jur. eccles., ed. Lagarde, p. 5 and follg. ), 
 which give in a shorter form the eighth book of the Constitutions, and 
 belong at any rate at the earliest to the fourth century, it says : dvayvuffTrjs 
 KaOiararai, tTridiS6vTOS ai/n (3ij3\lov rov ^TriaK&irov, oi'5 70,^ %ei/>o0eTe?Tai. The 
 consecration prayer is on this account also wanting.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 69 
 
 Can this prayer apart from its unfitting and ugly conclu- 
 sion, a%iov K.T.\. have been composed in the fourth century ? 
 Certainly not. as little as most of the other consecration prayers 
 in the eighth book of the Constitutions. Like these it shows 
 its dependence on the great prayer in the first Epistle of 
 Clement 1 , and while the Holy Spirit, the prophetic spirit, 
 is entreated to descend on him who is to be consecrated, his 
 function appears in a different light from that which rests 
 on the reader joined to the psalm-singer of the fourth century. 
 We are rather reminded of passages like that in 1 Tim. iv. 14 : 
 firj ajj,e\ei rov ev crol papier paras, o eBodrj croi, Bia irpo^reia^ 
 //.era 7ri6eaea><; rwv ^eipwv rov rrpecrfBvreplov. The prophetic 
 spirit shall be apportioned to the reader. God himself shall in- 
 struct him (o-o<iew>) ; as Ezra shall he stand in the congrega- 
 tion ; he is consecrated to a special work, not to an office. This 
 prayer belongs to Christian antiquity, or at least it points back 
 to it 2 . It shows us that the reader was once reckoned among the 
 persons who had the charisma. 
 
 Nor is it otherwise with the exorcists according to the 
 Const. App. VIII. 25 : 'E7rop/ao-T^9 ov ^etporovelrai 3 - evvoias 
 yap Kovcriov TO e7rad\ov teal ^a/otro? 6eov Sta X/jtcrrov 
 eTrMpoirijcrei rov dyiov rrvevparo^' o yap \a/3a>v ^dpicrfjua 
 lafidrwv $1 airoKakv-fyeuts vrro 6eov avabelicvvrai, (pavepas 
 ovcnjs rracnv rfjs ev avrw ^aptTO?. eav Se XP ^ a a v r v 
 yevtjrat, et? erricrKorrov rj rrpecrftvrepov rj bidfcovov %iporoveirai. 
 
 According to this regulation again apart from the conclusion 
 the exorcist does not yet specially belong to the clergy. He 
 has a charisma received from God, and by his exercise of it he 
 is ipso facto announced by God as an exorcist 4 . 
 
 This view is also represented in the instructive fragment 
 which opens the eighth book of the Constitutions ; it is however 
 
 1 See 1 Clem. 60, 1 : at> TTJI> atvvacv TOV /c6cr^ou (riiffrafftv dia. -rdv i 
 i<t>a.vepoiroli}aas . . . i\f/i/j.wv Kal ofrm/^oj . . . (59, 2) : STTWS ri>v 
 ^K\eKTU>v abrov ev dfXy r<f K6fffjLU> dta<f>v\d.!-ri. 
 
 - Probst (Kirchl. Disciplin i. d. 3 ersten Jahrh., p. 119) believes that this 
 prayer was composed after the middle of the third century ; but his argu- 
 ments are very vague. 
 
 3 Thus it is said also (ch. 53) for the confessor. 
 
 4 In relation to the practice of exorcism among the possessed and the sick 
 in the middle of the third century, compare Cornelius in Eusebius, H. E. 
 VI. 43, 14, Firmilian in Cyprian, Ep. 75, 10, and Pseudo-Clem, de Virgin. 
 I. 12.
 
 70 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 also especially in MSS. under the title At8acra\ia rwv dyicav 
 aTTocTToXcoz/ TTepl ^apiafjidrwv l . Here the charismata, exorcism, 
 healing of the sick and prophecy are all acknowledged as gifts 
 bestowed on certain laymen by God, but the possessors of 
 them are warned not to exalt themselves above their office. 
 But at the same time these gifts are greatly lowered in their 
 significance ; they are only given to the church for its mission- 
 activity and bring no gain to the congregation ; they would 
 therefore cease if there were no more unbelievers ; much higher 
 than the ^apicr/jLara ra 8ia rS>v crrjpeiwv stands the ^dpia-pa 
 TrvevpariKov, which every Christian, in so far as he is believing, 
 has attained. 'Eejoice not' this gospel saying is quoted 
 ' that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice rather that your 
 names are written in heaven.' Here we see plainly in an 
 original source of the apostolic constitutions of the third century, 
 how in the course of that century the gifts of grace and their 
 possessors, the prophets and exorcists, were deposed until they 
 became regular clergy ordinis minoris, and therewith were 
 transformed into something quite new 2 . 
 
 The Apostolic Constitutions, however, bring us one more 
 important notice. In Book II. Ch. 28 there is an account of 
 the share that the various clergy should receive out of the 
 church treasury, and of the reader it says: el 8e ical dva- 
 <yi><ocrT?79 eaTi, Xa/A/3ai>eT&> /cat auro? poipav fjLtav et? rif^rjv 
 T&V TT/O o<f>r) T&v. The deacons are compared with Christ, the 
 presbyters with the apostles, the readers with the prophets. Have 
 we not here a reminiscence that the reader was formerly con- 
 sidered as one gifted with the Holy Spirit ? Does not the et? 
 Tiprjv r&v TrpotyijTwv agree with that Trvev^a irpo^rLKov 
 which, according to the old consecration prayer, was prayed to 
 be sent down on the reader ? 
 
 We possess, however, still three documents of canon law 
 which are older than the Apostolic Constitutions, and have 
 served them partially as a basis : that is, 1st, the AtSao-/ea\ta, 
 only preserved in the Syriac, the foundation of the first six 
 
 1 Lagarde, JReliq. p. 1 and follg. 
 
 2 Origen speaks several times in his books against Celsus of the dying out 
 of the charismata. See also the fragment out of the Commentary on the 
 Proverbs (Opp., ed. Delarue, iii. p. 5) : pi] 6av/j.dffris 5t, el vvv 6 a\riOs /caret 
 Oebv crowds 01)% tdptfftrtu ' eK\e\oiwe yap ra Tr\e'i(TTa TWV ^aiperuv xapiff/j.a.Tui>, ws 
 J) fj.-ri5a.fj.us 7) ffirai>lus evplffKfaOai.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 71 
 
 books of the Apostolic Constitutions ; 2nd, the Canons of Hippo- 
 lytus in Arabic, which is the most correct version, the old 
 source which lies at their basis here comes into consideration ; 
 and 3rd, the A< SC^T) TCOV SwSetca aTrocrroXcov. The last, the oldest 
 document, unfortunately for our purpose, yields nothing direct, 
 for neither readers nor exorcists are mentioned in it. However, 
 the two first named deserve our attention in a high degree. 
 Lagarde has made accessible to us in the most thankworthy 
 manner the Didaskalia, which exist in Syriac, in Bunsen's 
 Analecta Ante-Nicaena (vol. ii., 1 854). He has printed them also 
 in a Greek re-translation, as well as the first six books according 
 to the vulgar Greek edition, with double type, so that at once the 
 original and the work of the editor can be easily distinguished. 
 The foundation which lies before us in the Syriac translation, 
 not without small omissions and additions 1 , belongs rather to 
 the first than to the second half of the third century. That is 
 shown also in the order of government. The Didaskalia does 
 not yet know of the sub-deacons, the psalm-singers, and the ostiarii, 
 it knows besides the bishop, the presbyters, the deacons, and the 
 widows, only the reader. Thus it shows us the same condition 
 within the clergy as our Source A. But still more : one passage 
 throws a bright light on the significance and position of the 
 reader. In Book II. 20, it says 2 : 'A<opie<r#&> Be ev rfj Bo^y 
 TO ro3 TTOifjievi eOiucov, KV.V pr) TrapaSe^rat, el<? TI/J,T)V Oeov rov 
 rrjv leparelav avra) ey^eipiaavro 1 ?. ocrov Be eKaa-rrj T&V yyp&v 
 BiBorai, Bt7r\ovv BiB6a-8a> TO?? BcaKovois ei? 'yepas XpicrroO. et 
 Be Tt? 6e\oi Kal TOU? -irpea-fivrepovs rifjiav, BITT\OVV BiBoro) 
 ay-rot? d>? Kal rot? Sta/coi/ot?. Tifjid<r0ai jap 6(f>ei\ov(riv &><? 
 aTroo-roXoi Kal co? (rv^ovXoi rov eTTicrKOTTov Kal TT}? eKK\r)crias 
 o-T</>ai>o<?. elal yap (rvveSpiov Kal ftov\rj TT}? KK\T]cria<$. el Be 
 Kal dva<yv(i)<TT'r)<; ecrri, \a[Jif3aveT(t) Kal ayro? a>9 ol 
 Trpea-fivrepot, [et? rifj,rjv rwv TrpotyrjT&v 3 ]. eKaarw ovv 
 dgiwfjiaTi 01 \a'iKol rrjv 7rpO(rrJKOV<rav Ti/Arjv VfJ,ercoa-av ev 
 rot? 
 
 1 The additions are for the most part anti-Novatian ; by them contradic- 
 tions have come into the text of the Didaskalia. Omissions are not very rare. 
 
 3 We have introduced above part of the passage, but as it was revised by 
 the editor of the fourth century. 
 
 3 These words are wanting in the Syriac, but their existence is attested 
 by Greek, and they are required by the context. It is quite improbable that 
 they have been added by the editor.
 
 72 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 Thus the office of the reader is an a^iw^a : it belongs, as it 
 does in our Source A, to the clergy ; but it is not an absolutely 
 necessary a^iw^a in the clergy; the reader may also be wanting. 
 Where there is a reader, he should have as much as the presby- 
 ters, that is, double what the widow receives, for he has the 
 position of a prophet. 
 
 What is so eminently instructive in this regulation is this, 
 that the reader appears here among the clergy, but not as a 
 servant there were not yet any ordines minores but in an 
 equal position to the presbyters and deacons. Here we have a 
 real parallel to the regulation in Source A on the reader ; the 
 \a^aver(o &>? ol Trpea-ftvrepot, reminds us of the affinity of 
 readers and presbyters in Cyprian, and the et? n^v rwv 
 TrpocjjtjTwv points out that the function of the reader was not 
 yet considered as a purely mechanical duty in holy things. 
 But still plainer does the importance of our passage come out 
 if we compare it with its re-edition in the second book of the 
 Apostolic Constitutions. It runs : Et Se KOL ava^vcacrr^ earl, 
 "\,ap/3avera> Kal avrbs /juolpav piav et<? n,pr]V rw 
 
 Kal a/Vu.woo? fcal TrvKwbs. e/cao"T ovv 
 
 Thus the editor has changed the double share of the reader into 
 a single one; he has therefore omitted the ivords a>9 ol Trpea- 
 Pvrepoi, and has lastly by adding to the reader the psalm-singer 
 and door-keeper thereby degraded him into a quite subordinate 
 sphere. 
 
 There lies, as we see, quite a piece of the history of the reader 
 between the definition of the Didaskalia and the definition of 
 its editor in the fourth century. It is not the first phase of the 
 history of the reader but the second. The first was already 
 past at the moment in which the reader found a position, still 
 a high one, in the clergy. 
 
 With the gain which the Didaskalia has procured for the 
 history of the reader anything we can learn from the Arabic 
 canons of Hypolytus is not to be c"oropared, but it is still not 
 without importance. We certainly require a thorough examina- 
 tion of these canons 1 , and until we have received this any 
 consideration of single points can only promise an hypothetical 
 
 1 The disquisition given by Haneberg in his valuable publication (1870) 
 cannot be considered as such.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 73 
 
 value. As the Canons exist in Arabic, they form a law book 
 which has got into disorder and been disfigured by very late 
 additions. But an old foundation is unmistakable, and can 
 indeed be proved, as this is shown already in its close relations 
 with the original text of the 8th book, especially in the first half 
 of the Constitutions. The canons recognise, besides the bishop, 
 presbyters, and deacons, only readers and sub-deacons. Of 
 the first, however, we read (chapter 7) l : ' Qui eligitur 
 Anagnostes, ornatus sit virtutibus diaconi, neque manus ipsi 
 imponatur primo, sed liber evangelii ab episcopo ipsi porri- 
 gatur'; and chapter 37 2 : 'Etiam Anagnostae habeant festiva 
 indumenta sicut diaconi et sacerdotes et stent in ambone et 
 alter alterum excipiat, donee totus populus congregetur.' 
 
 Here it strikes us that the reader has to be adorned with 
 the virtues of the deacon, and that he is not to be specially 
 consecrated. If he has to possess the qualities of a deacon 
 before he is appointed reader, he appears at least equal in 
 rank to the deacons. We only point here to this remarkable 
 passage, and reserve to ourselves further explanations. But we 
 remember here the above mentioned saying of Tertullian that 
 in the heretic (Marcionite) churches, ' hodie diaconus est qui 
 eras lector.' Tertullian has judged this as a punishable dis- 
 order; but we may now say it was no disorder, but the reten- 
 tion of an older order. Should it be shown that a deacon pos- 
 sessed the gift of reading, he could also act as reader to the 
 congregation. Reader and deacon were not yd distinct orders, 
 but had quite different functions 3 . 
 
 Let us return now to our Source A. It places the reader 
 between the presbyters and deacons, and thus determines : 
 ' A.vayvct)(TTi>]<> KaOiaraveadw (el<?) Trpwrov SoKi/jufj SeBoKif^acr- 
 vr)/coos, &ir)<yT]TiK6<;, eiSo>9 ore evajyeXicrrov TOTTOV 
 6 yap e/u/TTiTrXeoi' cora fi,r) VOOVVTOS eyypatyos \oryi- 
 irapa TO> Geq>.' The reader shall, according to this, be 
 appointed on the ground of an examination : this characterises 
 
 1 See Haneberg, p. 67 and fol. - Hid. p. 94. 
 
 3 It is worth mentioning that we possess also a notice on readings in the 
 Marcionite, or more strictly in the Apelleian Church. Of Apelles it is said 
 in the Pseudo-Tertullian, in the spurious supplement to the Praescriptiones : 
 ' Solo utitur (evangelio) et apostolo, sed Marcionis, id est non toto. Habet 
 praeterea privatas, sed extraordinarias lectiones suas, quas appellat Phane-
 
 74 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 him as an official like the deacon. But as an official he 
 appears in the Didaskalia, and indeed, as here, as a higher 
 official, and not yet as a servant in the proper sense of the word. 
 Our Source places him between the presbyters and deacons ; 
 but also according to the Didaskalia he was to receive the same 
 portion (n^ri} as the presbyters; according to the Arabic 
 canons he was to be adorned with the virtues of a deacon ; 
 and even from the epistles of Cyprian there appears a closer 
 affinity of the reader to the presbyters, especially to the presby- 
 teri-doctores. Lastly, in our Source A it says that the reader 
 must be mindful that he occupies the place of an evangelist x . 
 By the evangelists are to be understood charismatic teachers. 
 Of these Source A says nothing, but it contains, just in this 
 designation of the reader, a rudiment of them. The reader 
 appears in it by no means as one intrusted with a lower 
 mechanical service in holy things, but. he is in it a charis- 
 matic teacher. But it is this manner of considering it which 
 we find in the old consecrating prayer for the reader : So? avra) 
 Trvevpa aytov, irvev/jia rrpo^riicov ; we find it in the regula- 
 tion that the reader should receive his portion ei<? Tifjurjv TWV 
 Trpo^ijTwv ; we may, lastly, in all probability surmise this to be 
 the case in the Marcionite congregations where the reader in 
 Tertullian's time was not reckoned in the ordo, and where a 
 layman or even a deacon could act as reader. We see thus 
 that the regulations hitherto considered in our Source are not 
 absolutely unprecedented. We have found for them various 
 and important parallels. It is at any rate now manifest that the 
 reader is shown in our Source to be in a position in which it 
 would be impossible to reckon on any continuance. In the 
 ' dvayvcoa-rt}^ Kadtcrravea-dco Trp&Tov BoKifjif 8e8oKifj,acrfj,evos' 
 and in the ' et'Sox? <m evayye\ia-Tov TOTTOV epyd^erat,' there lies 
 a deep contradiction : it is the contradiction of the future and 
 past in the government of the church. If the reader is an 
 
 1 Even if tpydfeffOai were to be translated by 'to acquire,' which is impro- 
 bable, the reference to the evangelist would still be significant. According 
 to the Irish Collection of Canons, Book V. (Wasserschleben, die irische Kano- 
 nensammlung, 2d Aufl. p. 24), a Synodus Romana (in truth the statuta 
 ecclesiae antiq. c. 8) has determined that at the consecration of a reader, 
 the bishop, while he hands him the sacred codex, shall say : ' Accipe et 
 esto verbi dei revelator, si fideliter et utiliter impleveris hoc officium, habi- 
 turus partem cum his, qui ministraverunt verbum domini.'
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 75 
 
 evangelist appointed by God, he cannot be at the same time an 
 official appointed by the congregation. As soon as he became 
 the latter, he could not long continue to be the former. But if 
 he was only an official without being at the same time a priest, 
 without being able to receive consecration like a deacon, he 
 must become a lower official, and that so much the more as 
 the function of edification passed more and more into the 
 hands of the priests. The change of the bishops and presby- 
 ters into a priesthood which stood high above the congregation 
 put an end to all charismata, and forced their possessors 
 they were now valued only according to to their relationship 
 to the priesthood into a low position l . 
 
 Our Source, however, contains yet one regulation for which 
 we have hitherto found no parallel. It requires that the reader 
 should be ' SnryTjTifcos,' and has added specially to this quality 
 the following words : ' et'&w"? OTI evayjeXtarov TOTTOV epyd^erat.' 
 Capacity of teaching, the capacity of expounding the holy scrip- 
 tures can alone be understood by the word ' SirjyrjTiKo^' and 
 this explanation is confirmed by the fact that this capacity 
 was not yet demanded in all circumstances of the bishop 2 : 
 the reader is thus here brought nearer to the doctor, the old 
 8t8d(TKa\o<?, than is hitherto to be found in any other source. 
 We have seen how close the dvdyvwcris and the SiSaa-tcdXia 
 were brought together in the oldest time 1 Tim. iv. 13 : ea>? 
 ep^o/jiai Trpocre^e rfj dvayvaxrei, rfj 7rapa/cXr;<ret, rfj SiSacr/cdXla 
 we also saw that even in the time of Cyprian the non- 
 clerical lectores doctorum audientium were in connection 
 with the presbyteri-doctores ; we heard that gifts were to be 
 bestowed on the readers et? np/rjv rwv Trpo^Tjrwv ; but a direct 
 assertion that the charisma of the Anagnosis could include its 
 related charisma of exposition and teaching was wanting. 
 The reverse case certainly needs no proof. There is no 
 doubt that the free teachers, such as there were in the third, 
 
 1 As soon as the episcopal organisation had established itself even before 
 the bishop received priestly qualifications the significance of all posses- 
 sors of the charismata was destroyed. The sentence of Ignatius (ad Smyrn. 
 viii. 1) : M^Seis X W P' S T v tiriffK6irov TI irpacrcr^TU eh rty ticK\ri<riav, is here 
 decisive. 
 
 - It is said of the bishop in Source A of the Apostolic Canons : 
 /a^roxos, Swd/Aevos Tas ypa<f>a.s ep/A'rjveijfiv' ' 8 dypd/i/MtTos, Trpafc
 
 76 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 and even in the fourth century l , used also to read aloud the 
 texts which they expounded. In this sense each doctor was 
 also a reader ; but the reverse cannot at least have been the 
 rule, rather, it must have been extremely rare, otherwise the 
 functions of the reader and of the doctor would not have 
 been so definitely differentiated in ordinary church language. 
 Thus the demand of our Source A is at any rate a striking 
 one ; it does not correspond with the rule ; it is explained by 
 this, that at the time of the author the prophets and teachers 
 were conceived as dying out, or at least were very rare (he 
 does not name them), and that the taking up of their functions 
 could not be in all cases required of the bishops, because they 
 were too uneducated (aypayuynarot, see above, what our Source 
 still presupposes in regard to the bishops). There it was better 
 to intrust with the power of instructive exposition the man 
 who offered certain sureties by the gift of the Anagnosis and 
 of a good delivery. It was a period of transition reading 
 aloud is one thing, and exposition and free speech another; the 
 situation could not last long, and certainly many congregations 
 did not pass through it. The instructive speech for edifi- 
 cation, as a rule, passed rather, as Justin relates, from the 
 doctores to the 'overseer/ that is, to the presbyters. We 
 therefore could not wonder if we cannot show a parallel for 
 our passage out of the scanty literature of the second 
 century. 
 
 But we do possess a parallel. It is contained in one of the 
 two passages which are the oldest of those which stand espe- 
 cially at our service for the reader, and which on that account 
 I have kept back until the end. The first is Apoc. i. 3, and 
 the second the so-called 2d Epistle of Clement. The first 
 shows us in a surprising manner, what position the reader 
 possessed even at the end of the first century, and the second is 
 a sermon preached ~by a reader 2 . 
 
 The Eevelation of St. John, as it lies before us, begins, 
 
 1 See the references in my edition of the AtSox^, p. 131 and fol., and besides 
 the 98th Canon of the fourth Council of Carthage of the year 399 : ' Laicus 
 praesentibus clericis, nisi ipsis rogantibus, docere non audeat.' 
 
 2 We leave aside the passage of Hermas, Vis. II. 4, 3 ; the layman Hernias 
 is here asked to read to the Roman presbyters a book of revelations 
 handed to him : ' ffi> ft avayvucri eis ratirriv TTJV Tr6\u> yuerd T&V rftfffturdpttf r&v 
 
 y r?~s d/c/cXTjirias. For our question the passage has hardly any weight.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 77 
 
 chapter i., verses 1 and 2, with a short announcement of 
 the contents, origin, and communication of the book ; then 
 it says (verse 3) : /ua/capto? o avayivcao-fctov fcal oi afcovovres 
 TOW? \6<yov<f T?79 Trpo^T/reiW This distinction would have 
 been an empty pedantry if the reader had not then pos- 
 sessed a peculiar and prominent position in the congrega- 
 tions. Thus is the verse of significance for the date, and 
 for the original position of the reader. There were certainly 
 readers about the year 100, and at that time congregations 
 could, in view of edification, be divided into reader and 
 hearers. 
 
 But what we seek the 2nd Epistle of Clement provides for us. 
 This writing, now that it has been made completely accessible 
 to us by Bryennios, has, as is well known, claims to give us 
 the copy of a sermon, and that of the oldest sermon which we 
 possess (not later than the middle of the second century). That 
 it was not delivered by the bishop or a presbyter 1 was to be seen 
 from chapter xvii. 3, and still plainer from chapter xix. 1. The 
 preacher comes here to a conclusion, and says : " 'flare, aSeX^ot 
 teal aSe\(f)al, pera TOV 6eov -7-779 a\r)6ela^ avajivfaa/co) vjuv 
 evrev^iv ei'<? TO Trpoo-e^eiv rots <yeypa/j,/j,6VOL<;, 'iva KOI eavrovs 
 <T&)crr)T6 KOI TOV dvayivcocTKovTa ev v^fiv. On the strength of 
 this passage I had in my edition (1876) ascribed the sermon to 
 a ' StSacr/caXo?.' As I was certain that a presbyter or the 
 ' overseer ' could not have preached the sermon, and as I then 
 knew nothing of the significance of the readers in the oldest 
 time, there remained to me no other alternative. But even 
 then I remarked that the author expressly stated that he read 
 his sermon, and that this statement was contrary to what had 
 elsewhere been conjectured on the oldest sermons. 
 
 Now for the first time, after the reader has come into clearer 
 light, is it possible to decide on this passage. The author 
 announces (1) that before his sermon he read a portion of 
 the Holy Scriptures ; he remarks (2) casually that he also 
 
 1 Kctl /j.7) fjidvov &pTi, says the preacher, SOKU^SV iriffrtveitt Ko.1 irpocrx ei - v & T$ 
 vovderfiffOai r/yuas virb TUV Trpefffivrtpuv, dXXd KO! Srav eh O!KOV dira.\\ayu[j.ei> 
 fj,i>rjfji,ovtjufjLet> ruv TOV xvptov ^vraXfj-druv. One who is himself a presbyter 
 would not speak like this, although it is so assumed not only by Bryennios, 
 but also by Lightfoot ; see Clement of Rome, Appendix, p. 304. 
 
 2 Thus all critics and exegetes after the example of Bryennios understand 
 the difficult words: ' pera rbv Oebv rijs d.\i)6elas dvayivdMTKu.' They are 
 explained by the following roZs yey pa.fj.fj.fr otj.
 
 78 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 read his sermon relating to this portion, and he calls himself 
 (3) ' o dvaywcoatceov ev vptv,' and makes the same distinction 
 (you, the hearers he who is reading among you) which we 
 have found in the Eevelation of St. John l . 
 
 Our author is thus no SiSaovcaXo?, but he is the reader to the 
 congregation, who follows up his lesson with a thorough exposition, 
 and this he also reads. 
 
 Here we have thus the dvayvaxrTTjs S/^iy^Ti/co?, etSeb? on 
 evay<ye\i(rTov roirov epja^erai. Our elaborate and read sermon 
 is separated in its performance and its character very decidedly 
 from the free discourses of the Si8aovcaXo, as we must surmise 
 these to be. Our author does not rely on the ' Spirit,' he sets 
 up no spiritual personal quality as preacher, he does not speak 
 o><? wv T4<?, as we know the old StBdaKa\oi, did 2 , but he speaks 
 rather of himself in the most depreciating manner 3 , includes 
 himself everywhere with his hearers 4 , and ranks himself 
 below the presbyters 5 . Thus we may conclude that we Jiave 
 in the second epistle of Clement not the unrestrained speech of a 
 spiritual teacher, but the elaborate sermon intended for delivery 
 of a congregational reader, like those which Source A has made 
 known to us 6 . 
 
 We may thus characterise the information which Source A 
 gives us on the reader as neither needing correction, nor acci- 
 dental or altogether unique. We have rather to acknowledge 
 
 1 The words 'iva /cat iavnAt o"w<r??re /cat TOV dvayiv&ffKovTa ev V/MV can also so 
 be understood, as if the author only called himself the reader on account of 
 the momentary situation ; but the absolutely laid down ' 6 dvayiv&o~KWv ev 
 V/MV,' makes the explanation given in the text far more probable. 
 
 2 The 5i5d<r/caXos writes, speaks, and gives instructions (5tard<7<reTat) us &v 
 TIS like an apostle. His attitude towards the congregation is as of one 
 appointed by God. See the manner of expression in Barnabas I. 8, IV. 9 ; 
 Ignat. ad Ephes. III. 1 ; Dionys. Alex. ep. ad Basil., when they speak of the 
 activity of the 5t5d<r/caXot. The exact opposite of this is found in our author. 
 
 3 See c. 18, 2 : /cat yhp avTbs Travda/j.a.pTW\bs &>v Kal /U^TTW (pvyuv TOV Treipaafibv, 
 dXX' rc &v iv /u&rots rot's dpydvois TOV dta/36Xov, airovSdfa TTJV diKaiofftivijv 
 di&iceiv, K.T.\. Similarly in other passages. 
 
 4 See especially c. 17 and 19. 
 B See c. 17. 
 
 e It is worthy of remark, as a parallel, that the martyr Procopius had 
 exercised in the church at Scythopolis the office of a reader, interpreter, and 
 exorcist. See Ruinart, ActaMart. Sine. ii. 1, p. 318. Whether the catechists 
 and readers have ever belonged together remains dark. Horn. Clem. III. 71 
 forms a conception of the presbyters and catechists.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 79 
 
 that in it an important historical announcement is preserved 
 to us. The Source is shown in this piece in its arrangement 
 and in that which it says on the reader as an extremely 
 valuable document, which casts a bright light on hitherto 
 unconsidered witnesses, which being fragmentary had been 
 declared to be false, and challenges and renders possible an 
 explanation of their details. 
 
 The preceding references may justify the following attempt 
 to give the primitive history of the reader in the church in 
 consideration of his place among the other lower orders J . 
 
 I. A completely organised congregation at the end of the 
 apostolic age possessed: 1. Prophets and teachers, who were 
 awakened by the spirit, and announced the word of God ; 2. a 
 circle of elders who in all emergencies which affected the 
 congregation could come forth to guide them, and who had to 
 watch over especially the life and the evangelical character of 
 the congregation, and hence admonished, punished, and com- 
 forted ; 3. the administrative officials bishops and deacons 
 who possessed the charisma of government and of public service, 
 
 1 The following conclusions are based partially on the researches which I 
 have published in the Analecta to Hatch, Gesellschaftsverfass. d. christl. 
 Kirche, 1883, as well as in my edition of the AtSaxij, pp. 88-170 on the oldest 
 history of church government. It may also be remarked that the appoint- 
 ment of special readers in Christian congregations cannot be explained by 
 the synagogal worship. See Schiirer, Gesch. d. jiid. Volkes im Zeitalter 
 Christi, Part u. p. 364 : ' By the side of the elders who had to direct in 
 general the services of the (Jewish) congregation, special officers had to be 
 appointed for special objects. But the peculiar thing here is, that just for the 
 ordinary divine service, reading of the scriptures, sermon, and congregational 
 prayer, no special officers were appointed. These acts were performed in the 
 time of Christ more often by the members of the congregation alternately. ' 
 But for the fixing of the origin of the lower orders we must completely dis- 
 regard the synagogal worship and the Jewish officers. The appointment 
 of the lower church offices falls in a time in which nothing'more was learned 
 or taken from Judaism on the part of the church. Hence we must not be 
 misled by observing that the church fathers and the canons of later date 
 refer times without number (see, for example, Isidor. de Offic. II. 10, or 
 the collection of Irish canons in Wasserschleben, p. 22 and follg.) the appoint- 
 ment of the lower orders to the Old Testament (sub-deacons = Levites, etc. ). 
 This practice is only a special instance out of an innumerable number of 
 similar cases which have arisen from certain altogether misleading con- 
 ceptions of the relations of the church to the 'Old Testament church,' On 
 this conception and its consequences I have treated in my edition of the 
 AtSctx 17, p. 239 and follg. , and in my Lehrb. d. Dogmengesch. Bk. i. p. 220 
 and follg.
 
 80 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 and who had to act especially in divine service and in the care 
 of the poor ; the bishops were also members of the presbytery. 
 But besides these there were active in the congregations the 
 most varied charismata : 8vvd/j,eis, ^apifr^ara la/jbdrwv, ryevrj 
 <y\(>cro-(0v, etc., etc. (see 1 Cor. xii., Mark xvi. 17, 18). Each 
 individual gift or talent which aimed at the edification of 
 the congregation (in the fullest sense of the word) was con- 
 sidered as a charisma of the Holy Ghost; but among the 
 possessors of these only the (apostles)," prophets and teachers 
 held a special rankin the congregations, for they were the spirit- 
 bearers /car e^o^rjv, in so far as their efficiency was absolutely 
 necessary for the congregation. 
 
 Among the various ' men of gifts ' there were even in the 
 earliest times readers and exorcists. As regards the former, we 
 may safely surmise that the public reading of the Old Testament 
 took place from the beginning in the heathen-Christian congre- 
 gations. It formed an integral part of divine service. Also 
 other writings, apocalypses, epistles, and soon even gospels were 
 to be read in the church. Not many, however, were fitted for 
 this, and there must have been many highly esteemed prophets 
 and teachers who could edify by free speech who were not able 
 to read the holy scriptures. Thus readers were necessary, and 
 the existence of such we find presupposed even in the Apocalypse 
 of St. John. The art of reading and of delivery for the object of 
 edification of the congregation was considered a gift of the Holy 
 Spirit. So far as the reader served for this edification he ap- 
 proximated to the prophets and teachers ; for dvdyvwa-ts of the 
 word of God, TrapafcXqa-is and SiSa<r/ca\ia belonged closely 
 together (1 Tim. iv, 13). In an old consecration prayer for the 
 reader which is preserved to us, the irvev/jia TrpocfrijTitcov is 
 prayed to be sent down on him, and even, in comparatively later 
 times, what is paid to the reader out of the congregational trea- 
 sury is designated as given els n^v rwv TrpocfrrjTwv. But the 
 capacity and the right to free speech for edification in which the 
 Holy Spirit spoke direct and ad hoc to the congregation always 
 formed the fixed boundary between the prophets and teachers 
 on the one side the readers on the other. The former came forth 
 with a peculiar indisputable authority in the congregations, 
 while the reader possessed no personal authority. The former 
 must be maintained by the congregation ; with regard to the
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 81 
 
 readers such a duty was considered as little as it was with the 
 exorcists * and other possessors of spiritual gifts. 
 
 II. In the course of the second century the organisation of 
 congregations was thoroughly altered : the foundations of the 
 government of the Catholic Church were formed. The altera- 
 tions are shown principally by three developments. 1st, The 
 prophets and teachers died out more and more, or were deprived 
 of their original significance. 2nd, The worship and other 
 relations made it necessary to place one man at the head of 
 the administration of the congregation the eViWoTrot were 
 fused into the bishop. 3rd, The directing college of elders was 
 more and more degraded to the position of an advising college 
 for the support of the bishop. Thus was the ruling order 
 developed in the congregation: bishop, presbyters, deacons; 
 and these officials formed a special body of consecrated persons 
 above the laity. This development was accomplished in the 
 various provinces with different degrees of rapidity, and ac- 
 cordingly we find various transitional forms in different 
 churches. These transitional forms must have been specially 
 present in regard to the function of spiritually edifying the 
 congregation 2 . As far as it was possible, the free speech for 
 edification passed over to the bishop, partly also to the pres- 
 byters, the latter of whom had always exhorted and punished 
 in accordance with the gospels. In Justin the ' overseer,' that 
 is, the bishop, appears as the homilist. But by his side until 
 the end of the second century there were probably everywhere 
 free teachers laymen to whom permission was given not 
 only to speak in the divine service but also to exercise 
 the work of teaching. Such people enjoyed by the side 
 of the officials, just the same as the confessors, virgins, 
 
 1 In ancient Christian literature we hear very much of exorcisms and 
 exorcists, from St. Paul down to Origen (and still further), especially in Justin 
 and the apologists. However, it is not necessary for our purpose to collect 
 and bring out these passages. Only this may be remarked : that exorcism at 
 a very early period played a part in baptism, and that accordingly the 
 exorcists as well as the readers received a function in the divine, that is, the 
 public services of the church. That one could not be appointed an exorcist, 
 or at least consecrated as such, comes out in the regulation of the eighth 
 book of the Apostolic Constitutions, chap. 25, but as a remnant of a system 
 that had passed away. 
 
 2 Similarly uncertain and different must have been for about two generations 
 the relations of the Trpefffivrfpoi oi irpoiffrd/Mevot. to the bishop until the bishop 
 became perfect monarch. It is not our part to give here any further details. 
 
 F
 
 82 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 widows, and exorcists, a more or less high esteem. They 
 possessed rank but not an office. The position of the 
 reader appears to have been the most uncertain one. 
 As a rule, in the second century he had stood outside the 
 newly formed ordo, as did the doctor or the exorcist, and his 
 duties were restricted to the Anagnosis. Thus it appears from 
 Justin and Tertullian that the reader belonged to the laity. In 
 the Marcionite congregations it was not yet considered a disorder 
 if, for example, a deacon undertook the function of the Anagnosis 
 in divine service. And in single catholic congregations of 
 the east dispositions were not wanting to include the reader in 
 the ordo as well as also to extend his functions. The oldest 
 Christian sermon which we possess is that which was specially 
 prepared for reading by an old reader who must have been more 
 than a mere reader. In the Didaskalia which exist in Syriac the 
 reader alone stands beside the presbyters and deacons as an 
 official of the congregation, and it was settled that he should re- 
 ceive the same portion out of the congregational treasury as they 
 els Tiprjv ruv jrpocfrrjTwv. In Source A of the Apostolic 
 Canons the reader is placed, according to his rank, between the 
 presbyters and deacons : it was expected of him that he should 
 be Str)ryr)TiKos, and he is reminded that he holds the place of an 
 evangelist. Here it is plainly to be seen that the reader was to 
 step into the blank, which was the consequence of the general 
 dying out or rather the drawing back of the ' teachers.' He was 
 certainly peculiarly a makeshift, for the same Source considers 
 it very desirable that the bishop should be TratSe/a? /xero^o?, 
 Si;z/a/i,ei/o9 ra9 7pa<a9 ep/Arjveveiv. The function of the Ana- 
 gnosis might be considered in a twofold manner. Its possessor 
 might approximate to those filled with the Spirit and become 
 an r)yovfj,vo<? in the congregation, but he might also sink to a 
 lower sphere, becoming an elected minister, and limited to the 
 function of Anagnosis. In the change of the original orders in 
 the second century, and the departure of the enthusiastic teacher, 
 the reader might have had a high future, and in fact he must 
 certainly have had such in some single congregations in the 
 east for some time, but the new episcopal organisation of the 
 congregation in the end excluded and deeply degraded him. 
 
 III. In the first half of the third century the new church 
 organisation reached its final form in the congregations.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 83 
 
 This finality is characterised by four moments : 1st, by 
 the quality of the sacrificing priesthood, who now took the 
 position of higher clergy, and were settled in it by a solemn 
 consecration ; 2nd, by a comprehensive adoption of the com- 
 plicated forms of the heathen worship, of the temple service, 
 and of the priesthood, as well as by the development of the 
 idea of a magical power and real working of sacred actions l ; 
 3rd, by the strict and perfect carrying out of the clerical organi- 
 sation in the sense that everything, however old, of dignities, 
 claims, and rights should be excluded, or at any rate made over 
 and subordinated to them ; 4th, by the dying out, that is, by 
 the extermination of the last remains of the charismata, which 
 under the new relations were dangerous, seldom appearing, and 
 often besides compromising and discrediting, as far as they rose 
 above the rank of the harmless. 
 
 As now the exorcist and reader were necessary for certain 
 acts in the divine service, a certain rank by the side of the 
 priests and deacons might exist in the church, but not any 
 more as independent. Thus in the time between Alexander 
 Severus and Philip the Arabian, that is, in the years 222 to 249, 
 which were most decisive for the consolidation of the churches, 
 first at any rate in Eome, then also in the west 2 , the appoint- 
 ment of clerici minores is met with, and exorcist and reader are 
 remitted to this position in this separation of higher and 
 lower, acting and ministering clergy, of priests and of servants 
 in holy things, we see at once a striking agreement with the 
 Eoman sacrificial system 4 . 
 
 1 See on the significance of the alterations named under 1 and 2, Tzschirner, 
 Fall d. Heidenthums, p. 606 and follg. 
 
 ' J Of course gradually, but quickest in the large towns. Perhaps it is not 
 by chance that even by Commodian in his Instructions only readers were 
 named and honoured with a special poem, while he is silent as to the 
 other ordines minores. Commodian has, as is well known, much that is 
 ancient. On the other hand, it is to be observed that Cyprian (Ep. 55, 8) 
 says in praise of Cornelius : ' non ad episcopatum subito pervenit, sed per 
 omnia ecclesiastica officia promotus ... ad sacerdotii sublime fastigium cunctis 
 religionis gradibus ascendit. ' Thus the appointment of clerici minores had 
 before 249 taken place in Rome for several years. 
 
 3 There were, however, as is plain from Cyprian's letters, at least in 
 Carthage for a time, remembrances of the former different position of the 
 reader ; for instance, the affinity of the reader to the presbyters, and the 
 practice of letting him be advanced to a presbyter is instructive. 
 
 4 See on this Marquardt, Rom. Staatsveni-aUuny, vol. iii. (1878), especially 
 p. 203 and follg.
 
 84 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 It is still a question whether the necessity of lowering the 
 exorcist and the reader had given an impulse in the Roman 
 church to accept the Eomish-sacrificial separation, or if the 
 position of the clerici minores had already been settled when the 
 former had to have their rank determined. In order to decide it, 
 attention must be drawn to the other clerici minores which, at least 
 for us, arise suddenly in the clergy at Rome and Carthage. They 
 are the five classes, which are first mentioned by BishopCornelius : 
 ' sub-deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, and door-keepers.' 
 
 "What a difference there was between the exorcist and the 
 reader on one side, and the sub-deacon, acolyte, and door- 
 keeper on the other ! The former had already a history in the 
 church when they became clerici minores, and were certainly 
 not developed out of the diacouate ; with the latter it is, how- 
 ever, quite different. Their names and functions only appear 
 before us with certainty for the first time in the year 250. 
 Whence do they arise ? 
 
 In regard to the sub-deacons the answer, as it seems, is a 
 simple one. Here the name itself points to its origin. The 
 subdeacons have really developed out of the diaconate. Two 
 causes have here been at work. At first it was thought, on the 
 strength of the account in the Acts of the Apostles, not right to 
 over-step the number of seven for the deacons, while in larger 
 towns a larger number of deacons was necessary 1 . In the 
 second place the deacons became so dignified that they sought 
 to rid themselves of the lower ministerial services. 
 
 The sub-deacons are thus in their origin the superfluous 
 deacons (over seven) and are at the same time the SiaKovot 
 vTrrjpeTat 2 . This double character explains the fact that 
 they took the highest place among the clerici minores, they even 
 gravitated more and more towards the higher clergy, until 
 once for all Innocent in. numbered them among the higher 
 
 1 Cornelius in his list of the Roman clergy gives the number of deacons 
 in Rome as restricted to seven. See the above quoted fifteenth canon of 
 Neo-Caesarea : Atd/copot firra 6(f>el\ovffiv elveu Ka.ra.rbv Kav6va, K&V irdvv fj.eyd\i) etr) 
 t) 7r6Xts' ireiffd^ffr) 8t diri> TTJJ filfiXov r>v irpdeuv. See for Rome Sozom. H. E. 
 vii. 19. Of the Roman bishop Symmachus (end of fifth century) it is said that 
 he was chosen ws %va rQiv eirrd SLCLK^VUV Svra (see Photius, Erotem. , in Routh's 
 Reliquiae Sacr. ed. 2. T. in., p. 61). At a later time the restriction of the 
 number to seven was not retained. 
 
 2 See Const. App. VIII. 28 : 'TTroSta/ciry OVK Qeffriv d<f>opi<rai . . . viryperai 
 ydp elffi 6iaK6vuv. Ignatius (Trail. 2. 3) calls the deacons themselves inritptrai.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 85 
 
 ordines in the west 1 . But the necessity of appointing sub- 
 deacons by no means explains the institution of the clerici 
 minores in the church. These officials could always, as being 
 related to the deacons, be reckoned as belonging to the one or do 
 in the church. We must, therefore, direct our attention to the 
 acolytes and doorkeepers. Here we find in fact the key to the 
 historical understanding of the whole momentous institution 
 of the clerici minores. 
 
 Exorcists and readers there had been in the church from old 
 times : sub-deacons are not essentially strange, as they participate 
 in a name (deacon) which dates from the earliest days of 
 Christianity. But acolytes and door-keepers ( r jrv\wpoL) are 
 quite strange, are really novelties. And these acolytes even at 
 the time of Cornelius stand at the head of the ordines minores : 
 for that the sub-deacons follow on the deacons is self-evident. 
 Whence do they come ? Now if they do not spring out of the 
 Christian tradition, their origin must be explained from the 
 Roman. It can in fact be shown there with desirable plainness. 
 
 Marquardt in his exposition of the Eoman sacrificial system - 
 depicts on p. 203 and follg. the state temple, and on p. 212 and 
 follg. the state-priest. 
 
 1. The temples have only partially their own priests, but 
 
 1 See the article ' Sub-deacon ' by Friedberg in Herzog's Real-Encyklopadie, 
 2d ed. vol. xv., p. 7 and follg. According to Cornelius and Cyprian sub-deacons 
 were mentioned in the thirtieth canon of the Synod of Elvira (about 305), so 
 that the sub-diaconate must then have been acknowledged as a fixed general 
 institution in the whole west (see Dale, The Synod of Elvira, Lond., 1882). 
 The same is seen in the ' gesta apud Zenophilum.' As the appointment of the 
 lower orders took place at Rome between about the years 222-249, the an- 
 nouncement in the Liber Pontificalis (see Duchesne's edition, fasc. 2, 1885, 
 p. 148) is not to be despised, as according to it Bishop Fabian appointed seven 
 sub-deacons : ' Hie regiones dividit diaconibus et fecit vii sub-diaconos. ' 
 The Codex Liberianus indeed (see Duchesne, fasc. 1, pp. 4 and 5 ; Lipsius, 
 C/ironologie d. r6m. BischOfe, p. 267) only contains the first half of the sentence, 
 and what the Liber Pontif. has added of the account of the appointment of 
 sub-deacona (. . . qui vii notariis imminerent, ut gestas martyrum in integro 
 fideliter colligerent) is, in spite of the explanation of Duchesne not con- 
 vincing. According to Probst and other catholic scholars the subdiaconate 
 existed in Rome a long time before Fabian (Kirchl. Disciplin, p. 109), but 
 Hippolytus is against them. Besides, it should be observed that the officials 
 first, even in Carthage, are called hypo-deacons, though the word sub- 
 diaconus was by degrees used in the west. This also points to a Roman 
 origin of the office, for in the Roman church in the first part of the third 
 century the Greek language was the prevailing one, but not at Carthage. 
 
 2 See ante.
 
 86 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 they all have a superintendent (aedituus = curator templi). 
 These aeditui, who lived in the temple, fall again into 
 two classes. At least ' in the most important brotherhoods the 
 chosen aedituus was not in a position to undertake in person 
 the watching and cleaning of the sacellum. He charged there- 
 fore with this service a freedman or slave.' ' In this case the 
 sacellum had two aeditui, the temple-keeper, originally called 
 magister aedituus, and the temple-servant, who appears to be 
 called the aedituus minister.' ' To both it is common that they 
 live in the temple J , although in small chapels the presence of 
 the servant is sufficient. The temple- servant opens, shuts 2 , and 
 cleans the sacred place, and shows to strangers its curiosities 3 , and 
 allows according to the rules of the temple those persons to offer up 
 prayers and sacrifices to whom this is permitted, while he sends 
 away the others V 
 
 1 Suetonius, Domit. 1, Tac. Hist. III. 74, L. Pomponius Bononiensis in 
 Nonius, p. 75, 15, and Gellius XII. 10, 7, Macrob. X. 2, 12, Plut. q. R. 35, 
 Varro de 1. L. 22 (note by Marquardt). 
 
 2 Plaut. Cure. I. 3, 46, Liv. XXX. 17, 6, Capitolin., Pert. IV. 9 (note by 
 Marquardt). 
 
 3 Plin. n. h. 32, 17, Horat. Epist. II. 1, 230. Friedlander, Darstell., I. p. 
 170, ff. 1 (note by Marquardt). 
 
 4 This function, which the Greek vewK6pos also had, is made known to us 
 best by the inscription of Arcesina in Amorgos, edited by R. Weil in the 
 Mittheilungen des arch. Instituts in Athen, vol. i. p. 342 : "E5oe rfj flovX-fj /ecu 
 T<f> 8rifJ.({> "Ay[vav] el-re' MeXtTWi/ t[we<TT]drei. /j.r) ei-eivai Ka.Td[px]eff()ai et's r6 
 'Hpcu[ov] evt$ fj,r]Sevi, ^/j.irifj.e\e[iff]6ai de rbv veuK[6po]v Kalf^elpyeiv eav Se fir) 
 f^eipyH, airorivtiv avrbv TTJS i]fji.epas eKaffrys 5e/ca 5/>a[x]yuas lepas rifUpq.. On the 
 Roman aeditui see Seneca ep. XLI. 1 : ' Non sunt ad caelum elevandae manus 
 nee exorandus aedituus, ut nos ad aurem simulacri, quasi magis exaudiri 
 possimus, admittat ' (note by Marquardt). On the existence and significance 
 of a lower clergy in the oriental religions see Reville (La Religion a Some 
 sous les Sev&res, p. 53) : A cote" du clerg6 regulierement constitue, c'est-a-dire 
 charge" du sacerdoce par une association regulierement organisee et attache" a 
 un sanctuaire particulier, il y avait encore dans la plupart de ces religions 
 orientales une sorte de bas clerge" irregulier, qui colportait sa marchandise 
 religieuse a peu pres partout. ' These wandering irregular clergy are, however, 
 to be compared chiefly with the old apostles, prophets and teachers, not with 
 the ordines minores. On the other hand the Mithras-religion, whose confessors 
 formed a close society, possess an organised hierarchy, wherein are various lower 
 grades, that is, stages. On the number of these grades investigators are not 
 clear. (See Reville's Religion, p. 100, and Marquardt, p. 86 and follg. ) Some 
 count 12, others 8, others 7 grades. These are known to us from the inscrip- 
 tions (see Henzen C. I. L. VI. p. 754), and from Jerome ep. 57. Marquardt 
 accepts seven grades that of the ravens (KopctKes), that of the initiated 
 
 ), that of the fighters (milites), that of the lions, that of the Persians,
 
 87 
 
 2. ' Besides the endowment, the colleges of priests were 
 also supplied with a body of servants ' the under officials 
 ' they were appointed to the priests ... by all of whom they 
 were used partly as letter-carriers (tabellarii), partly as scribes, 
 partly as assistants at the sacrifices.' Marquardt reckons (page 
 218 and fol.) the various categories of them among the sacerdotes 
 publici (lictores, pullarii, victimarii, tibicines, viatores), sixthly, 
 the calatores, in the priests' colleges free men or freed men, 
 not slaves, and in fact one for the personal service of each 
 member 1 . 
 
 that of the sun-coursers (i)\ioSp6/j.oi), and that of the patres. He expressly 
 remarks on these : ' the ravens are the beginners, they still serve as virype- 
 roOcTes.' [This is the same expression which is used in the east from the 
 fourth century for the sub-deacons and especially for the lower offices. See 
 above.] 'The soldier, however, receives in humility the crown.' We may 
 therefore acknowledge in the Mithras-worship five upper and two lower 
 orders. Here then we have a true parallel to the Christian Institution ; yet, 
 the differences are unmistakable. On the ' flamines maiores et minores' see 
 Marquardt p. 314 and follg. 
 
 1 Serv. ad Ge. I. 268 : ' Pontifices sacrificaturi praemittere calatores suos 
 solent ' (note by Marquardt). Mommsen, Rom. Staatsrecht, vol. i. (2nd ed. ), 
 p. 344 : ' Among the priests we find the institution of the calatores. Origin- 
 ally these appear to have been those slaves who were at hand when the 
 master commanded, and generally to execute his commands. Later to the 
 higher colleges of priests there was given to each member a freedman, who 
 was chosen and dismissed by him, and appointed for his special personal 
 service.' In general it is to be remarked that it is just that Roman priest- 
 hood, as to which we are by far the best informed, the Fratres Arvales (see 
 Henzen, Acta fratrum Arvalium quae supersunt restituit et illustravit, 1874 ; 
 and Marquardt, p. 428 and fol. ), which in its constitution offers the most 
 striking parallel to the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The superintendent of the 
 Arvales is a magister ; and beside him, and as an assistant to him, we find 
 in the sacrifices a flamen. On solemn occasions appear further four pueri 
 ingenui patrimi et matrimi, senatorum filii, . . . they are the ministri 
 at the sacrifice during the meal of the Arvales, place the fruits from the 
 table upon the altar, but they take part in the meal at tables by them- 
 selves, sitting on chairs, and receive, like the priests, their sportulae.' 
 Here we have the companion picture to the bishop, the priest, and the dea- 
 cons. But Marquardt thus continues : ' To these now come the servants, 
 that is, first, a number of servi publici . . . whom the magister takes charge 
 of (allegit). . . . They were afterwards required for other services, or per- 
 formed at the same time other services, as at one time a tabularius rationis 
 castrensis appears at the sacrifices of the Arvales ; secondly, the aedituus, 
 who seems to be a servus collegii ; and lastly, the calatores. Each member 
 chooses out of his freedmen a calator.' Any one acquainted with Church his- 
 tory must here be reminded of subdeacons, doorkeepers, and acolytes. The 
 hitherto discovered registers of the Arvales reach from 14 to 241 A.D.
 
 Here we have the forerunners of the church doorkeepers 
 and acolytes. Thus says the fourth Council of Carthage, as far 
 as refers to the former : ' Ostiarius cum ordinatur, postquam 
 ab archidiacono instructus fuerit, qualiter in domo dei debeat 
 conversari, ad suggestionem archidiaconi, tradat ei episcopus 
 claves ecclesiae de altari, dicens : Sic age, quasi redditurus 
 deo rationem pro his rebus, quae hisce clavibus recluduntur.' 
 The ostiarius (TruXw/xk) is thus the aedituus minister. He had 
 to look after the opening and shutting of the doors, to watch 
 over the coming in and going out of the faithful, to refuse 
 entrance to suspicious persons, and, from the date of the more 
 strict separation between the missa catechumenorum and the 
 missa fidelium, to close the doors, after the dismissal of the cate- 
 chumens, against those doing penance and unbelievers l . He 
 first became necessary when there were special church buildings 
 (there were such even in the second century), and they like the 
 temples, together with the ceremonial of divine service, had 
 come to be considered as holy, that is, since about 225. 
 
 The church acolytes 2 are without difficulty to be recognised 
 in the under officials of the priests, especially in the ' calatores,' 
 the personal servants of the priests. According to Cyprian the 
 acolytes and others are used by preference as tabellarii. Accord- 
 ing to Cornelius there were in Eome forty-two acolytes. As he 
 gives the number of priests as forty-six, it may be concluded 
 with something like certainty that the rule was that the num- 
 ber of the priests and of the acolytes should be equal, and that 
 the little difference may have been caused by temporary 
 vacancies. If this view is correct, the identity of the calator 
 with the acolyte is strikingly proved. But the name ' acolyte ' 
 plainly shows the acolyte was not, like the doorkeeper, attached 
 to a sacred thing, but to a sacred person 3 . 
 
 ] See Kriill in Kraus, Real-Encydop., vol. ii. p. 572 and fol. ; and Arm- 
 field in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 1528. 
 
 a On their later history see Kriill's article in Kraus, Real-Encydop., 
 voL i. p. 30; and Butler in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, vol. i. 
 p. 13. 
 
 3 Cornelius uses in his letter the Greek names d/c6Xoi>0oj and wXup&s, 
 because he writes in Greek (dK6Aou0os is every attendant, scholar, follower, 
 adherent, especially the servant or boy who accompanies his master when he 
 goes out; see Passow). But Cyprian says 'acoluthi,' and no other name. 
 This name has become in the West a technical term. Thus the institution of 
 the acolytes was adopted in Rome at a time in which the congregation was
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 89 
 
 The new requirements of the sacerdotal and religious church 
 system in Borne, enriched after the heathen pattern, called forth 
 the acolytes and doorkeepers as antitypes to the calatores and 
 aeditui ministri. Thus a foundation was laid for the ordo 
 clericorum miuorum. But that from them was created an 
 effective and closely confined ordo of the second rank, and that 
 in this ordo the sub-deacons, the readers and the exorcists 
 found their places 1 , and that thus a well-linked chain was 
 
 mostly a Greek-speaking one. On the other hand, 'ostiarius' became the tech- 
 nical term, and not ' TrvXwpis ' ; the name 'aedituus' was specially avoided; 
 for the church building was not an ' tedes. ' Besides, the sub-deacons, and 
 not the deacons, appear to answer to the magister aedituus, as plainly 
 appears from the Gesta apud Zenophilum (Routh, iv. p. 323 and fol.). I 
 only know of two passages in which acolyte is rendered by 'sequens,' and 
 these are in the Liber Pontificalis (see Duchesne's edition, fasc. 2, pp. 137, 
 161). Speaking of the Roman bishop Gaius (283-296) it says : ' Hie consti- 
 tuit ut ordines omnes in ecclesia sic ascenderetur (sic) : si quis episcopus 
 mereretur, ut esset ostiarius, lector, exorcista, sequens (Probst, Kirchl. 
 Diwiplin., p. 75, translates this word by 'so then'!) subdiaconus, diaconus, 
 presbyter, et exinde episcopus ordinaretur. ' Duchesne remarks here cor- 
 rectly : ' Sequens a ici le sens d'acolythe. II y aurait un exemple pi- 
 graphique de cette acception si le sens du mot "sequentibus," dans une 
 inscription de Narbonne, etait sfirement celui que propose M. Le Blant, 
 Inscr. Ghret. de la Gaule, Tom. II. No. 617.' Besides we find in the Liber 
 Pontif. in the parallel, although much fuller, regulation of Pope Sylvester 
 (p. 171) not 'sequens,' but ' acolitus.' It may be remarked, in passing, that 
 the acolyte soon lost his original function he gave it up to non-clerical 
 functionaries, and in worship employed himself with services, indeed, which 
 would not accord with his position above that of reader, such as kindling the 
 lights in church. In some provincial churches he disappears entirely for a 
 time. Thus in one document of the Irish collection of canons (see Wasser- 
 schleben, 2nd ed. pp. 22-26) only four lower orders are fixed ; though in the 
 last recension (26 and fol. ) the acolyte has been added. We have above fixed 
 the time for the institution of the clerici minores in Rome in the years 222-249 
 (the time between the composition of the Philosophumena and Cyprian). We 
 may fix the time more precisely if we consider (1) that Cornelius, according to 
 the witness of Cyprian, had gone through all the church orders ; (2) that the 
 names of the offices are all Greek ; (3) that the Liber Pontif. traces the appoint- 
 ment of sub-deacons to the time of Bishop Fabian. Hence, with great proba- 
 bility it may be asserted that the appointment of the clerici minores in Rome 
 took place in the first years of the government of Fabian, thus soon after theyear 
 236. The announcement in the Lib. Pontif., p. 137, that Victor had appointed 
 the ' sequentes,' cannot be correct, at least in the strict sense (as an ordo). 
 2 The order in which the five offices is arranged is thoroughly transparent. 
 It is easily to be understood that the sub-deacons should occupy the first 
 place, and that the exorcist and reader should stand together. Neither is there 
 anything remarkable in the position of the doorkeeper at the end. But it is 
 not easy to see the meaning of the rank accorded to the acolyte. May we con-
 
 90 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 formed, is not one of the least of the great actions of the 
 Roman Church for the building up of the ecclesiastical con- 
 stitution, but rather one of the greatest 1 . Thus the church 
 created a nursery for the higher clergy; thus it allured the 
 ambitious by means of numerous stages ; thus it could for years 
 thoroughly sift from among the clergy of the second order, and 
 only advance to the influential higher dignities men well proved. 
 Thus at last had it fortunately debased the old, as one may 
 say, palseontological dignities, those of the exorcists and 
 readers, that is, rendered them harmless. Many churches of the 
 west very speedily followed their example, and accepted the 
 institution of an effective, five-membered, strictly closed ordo 
 dericorum ministrorum. This institution, as it is now plain, 
 did not proceed out of the diaconate : it is a complicated pic- 
 ture ; it includes three categories, which in their origin had 
 nothing in common, exorcists and readers 2 , sub-deacons, acolytes 
 and doorkeepers. 
 
 The last mentioned offices appear indeed as if their funda- 
 mental idea was the imitation of the Eoman sacrificial arrange- 
 ments : but in carrying out this idea in the creation of an 
 effective spiritual rank of the second order, and in the founding 
 of a preparatory school for the priestly office it rises high above 
 a mere imitation : it is the most striking witness of the way 
 
 elude from the position which he takes that he gave the impulse for the forma- 
 tion of the whole class of ordines minores ? At any rate it is to be observed 
 (see above) that Cornelius only really points out three categories : sub-deacons 
 acolytes exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers. The last category is for 
 him a single one, because those reckoned in it, as above shown, appear to be 
 intrusted with a more or less mechanical service in holy things. The 
 acolytes must have had a greater responsibility. The number 52, which 
 Cornelius has given as the total number of the exorcists, readers, and door- 
 keepers in Rome, can unfortunately not be differentiated. 
 
 1 It is on this account very striking that Langen, in his exhaustive History 
 of the Roman Church, vol. i. (1881), has not mentioned it. 
 
 2 That there were parallels to be found even for the readers in the heathen 
 worship is partly to be considered as a coincidence, partly a consequence of 
 the later, that is of the special, development of the readership. Such readers 
 as had the custody of the holy scriptures, and also interpreted them, remind 
 one of the fifteen viri sacris faciundis, who had to preserve under lock and 
 key the sibylline books, write them out and explain them ('interpretes ') ; 
 see Marquardt, p. 366 and fol. Also for the origin of the sub-diaconate, as 
 above shown, there is no necessity to turn to the Roman religion, although 
 even here many parallels appear of considerable importance ; see further 
 the Supplementary Chapter.
 
 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 91 
 
 in which the Eoman church understood how to overcome 
 the dangers which still always threatened her from a dead 
 organisation of the church, to build up her episcopal-pres- 
 byterian constitution, and to adopt the useful elements of the 
 religious and civil conditions of Eoman life l . So far as she 
 made it possible for every one, even the least, to reach the 
 highest dignity of a priest from the lowest position of a 
 sexton, and on the other side required, as a rule, every one 
 to begin to serve the church from the lowest step, so far, I 
 say, she broke with the ancient view that the priesthood should 
 be accessible to certain classes only, and also tore down the wall 
 of separation between the priests and the temple servants. The 
 
 i The organising genius of the leaders of the Roman church in the third 
 century comes out plainly when we follow the origin and development of the 
 clerici minores in the East. Everything was settled there much later. The 
 number of stages remained fundamentally just as uncertain as did the 
 relations of rank ; even the conception of a real ordo of the second grade M'as 
 not strictly marked. Thus, for example, we do not find the acolytes as 
 an ' ordo ' in the East, although they were not wanting (see the description of 
 Paul of Samosata, Metropolitan of Antioch, in Eusebius, Hist. Ecc. vii. 30, 
 8 : tlaSifav 5ri/j.oalq. /cat dopv<f>opovfi.evos rCiv JAW irpoiropevo/j.tvui', TWI> dt (f>eiro/dvwi> 
 iroXXuv rbv dpi6fj.6v, or Euseb., Vit. Constant. III. 8, where it is said of the 
 Council of Nicaea : eiri TTJS TrapovcrTjs xopetas einaKbiruv /j.ev TT\T]()VS ty, irevTijKOVTa. 
 KO.L StaK&vuv dpi6fj,bi> virepaKovrl^ovaa,, eiro/jifvwv 5 TOVTOIS irpefffivrtpwv /cat 
 5ia.K6i>wv, a,KO\o{iOti}V re -ir\eicrruv Saw erepuv ovd' fy apid/tos fls KaTa\T)\f/iv). 
 The readers were here and there in the second and third century sought 
 to be taken into the ordo of priests and deacons, doubtless because the possi- 
 bility of two ordines had not yet been thought of ; then there appeared in the 
 group psalm-singers, gravediggers, etc., without any fixed stages of rank 
 having been formed. It is peculiarly oriental this coupling of the psalm- 
 singer with the reader, since the fourth century. It may be considered pro- 
 bable that so far as the East, in the fourth century, had comprehended and 
 embraced the thought of an ordo minor it had been influenced by the west 
 (by Rome). On the great differences of the oriental church with regard to 
 the ordines and the present position, in which the sub-deacons and readers 
 really still exist, see Denzinger, Ritiis Orientalium, Tom. I. (1863), p. 116 
 and fol. ; Silbernagl, Verfassung u. gegenwdrtiger Bextand sammtl. Kir- 
 chen d. Orients, 1865, p. 2 f. and passim ; Gass, Symbolik d. griech. Kirchen, 
 1872 (p. 277 and fol.) ; and the striking articles as, for example, ' Armenier,' 
 'Kopten,' etc., in Herzog's Real- Ency clop. , 2nd ed. ; and in the Dictionary 
 of Christian Biography, by Smith and Wace. The Roman Church and the 
 western churches generally have not appointed any new classes of officers 
 in the clergy after the middle of the third century. Thus even before 
 Constantine there were ' fossores ' in the churches (see, for example, the Gesta 
 apiid Zenophilum, in Routh, L c. IV. p. 323), soon also ' cantores ' ; but they 
 were not 'de clero,' as the exorcists, readers, and doorkeepers.
 
 92 ORIGIN OF THE READERSHIP 
 
 conception of a clergy of eight degrees 1 is certainly not a 
 Christian one ; but in the fundamental idea that this clergy 
 should be neutral in the difference between high and low, rich 
 and poor, Koman and barbarian, a Christian thought was effect- 
 ively at work and therein the old world found its conqueror. 
 
 1 I do not go any further into the various rights and duties of the higher 
 and lower clergy (thus, in regard to marriage and church requirements) or 
 the manner of designation, choice, appointment of the latter, as these ques- 
 tions do not belong to the history of the origin of the lower clergy. Still 
 from here also there falls a light on the origin of the whole group.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY 
 
 It has been shown above that the appointment of the 
 clerici minores in Kome took place, most probably in the first 
 years of the government of the Bishop Fabian, thus soon after 
 the year 236, and we have in this connection pointed to the 
 assertions of the Catal. Liberianus and of the Lib. Pontificalis 
 (of Fabian). These assertions deserve a special consideration. 
 
 The Catal. Liberianus remarks on Fabian: 'Hie regiones 
 divisit diaconibus.' As is well-known, the few historical notices 
 which the Catalogue contains on the events of the time of 
 government of single popes are reliable : we find such notices 
 only on Pius, Pontian, Fabian, Cornelius, Lucius, and Julius. 
 We may thus accept as authentic the statement that Fabian 
 divided the regions of the city of Eome among the deacons : 
 that is, that he placed each region under a deacon. This is an 
 extremely interesting piece of news, for it shows the adapta- 
 tion of the church government of the Christian congregations in 
 Rome to the civic-religious system in a most instructive manner. 
 The regions that is, the overseers of the regions in Eome in 
 the time of the Empire may be described in short thus l : 
 Augustus had in place of the four old regions made fourteen 
 new ones. For each of these regions an overseer was chosen 
 yearly by lot. The overseers had to sanction the building of 
 temples for the lares, and to arrange and perfect in their circles 
 the local sacrifices. 'The Augustan overseers of the regions 
 have, to all appearance, nothing more to do with the general 
 town arrangements ; and it appears as if this appointment, as 
 well as the whole arrangement of the suburbs of the capital, had 
 an overwhelmingly religious character.' So it remained apart 
 from an attempted alteration on the part of Domitian, as to which 
 we have no authentic information until the beginning of 
 
 1 See Mommsen, Rom, Staatsrecht, Bd. II. 1st Abth. (1874), p. 485, and 
 II. 2nd Abth. (1877), pp. 992 and fol., 1012 and foL, 1031 and fol.
 
 94 SUPPLEMENTARY 
 
 the third century. Heliogabalus had in view, however, a new 
 order of things, and his successor, Alexander Severus, carried 
 it out. Of the former it is said (Vita 20) : ' Voluit et per 
 singulas urbis regiones praefectos urbi facere, et fecisset si 
 vixisset '; of the latter (Vita 13) : ' Fecit Eomae curatores urbis 
 quattuordecim, sed ex consulibus viros, quos audire negotia 
 urbana cum praefecto urbis iussit, ita ut omnes aut magna pars 
 adessent cum acta fierent.' Thus Alexander placed by the side 
 of the city prefect a kind of council of fourteen consular 
 curators appointed for the single regions of the town. It is of 
 no importance to consider the relations they held to the old 
 overseers, whether they took their place or worked beside them. 
 What is new and important to us is this, that in the interest 
 of directing and taking care of the town community the single 
 regions received curators, a kind of under-burgomasters, who 
 stood under the city prefect, and had to transact the town busi- 
 ness with him. Now it is just at this time that we meet with 
 the notice in the Catalog. Liber. : ' Fabianus regiones divisit 
 diaconibus.' When we call to mind the scope of action allotted 
 to the church deacons the parallel is striking ; they are in a 
 certain measure the under bishops ; they have relations to the 
 bishop just as the curatores urbis to the praefectus urbi. Thus 
 Fabian has here followed the new municipal arrangements 
 in his appointments ; for the reverse view is, in spite of Alex. 
 Sever., Vita 45 1 , quite improbable. The new municipal ar- 
 rangements had, it appears, only a short existence : while the 
 ecclesiastical ones remained, and have on their part contributed 
 to such a state of things that the Eoman bishop held his con- 
 gregation so firmly in hand, and was so powerful in the city, 
 that even Decius declared that the raising of an anti-Caesar 
 in Rome would be more endurable to him than the appoint- 
 ment of a bishop there 2 . 
 
 There were,, however, in Rome fourteen regions, and the 
 
 1 ' Ubi (Alfexander) aliquos voluisset vel rectores provinces dare vel pro- 
 positos facere vel procuratores, id est rationales, ordinare, nomina eorum 
 proponebat, hortans populum, ut si quis quid haberet criminis probaret 
 manifestis rebus, si non probasset, subiret poenam capitis ; dicebatque, 
 grave esse, cum id Christian! et ludaei facerent in praedicandis sacerdotibus, 
 qui ordinandi sunt, non fieri in provinciarum rectoribus, quibus et fortunae 
 hominum committerentur et capita. ' 
 
 2 Cypr., Ep. 55, 9.
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY 95 
 
 Catal. Liber, speaks of a dividing of the regions among them. 
 Did each deacon, perhaps, receive two regions ? The Liber 
 Pontif. adds to the notice of Liberianus the words : ' et fecit 
 septem subdiaconos.' If this assertion is not to be trusted by 
 itself, at any rate the account of Cornelius in the letter to 
 Fabius of the year 250 is indisputable, that in Rome there were 
 seven deacons and seven sub-deacons. Thus we have the fourteen 
 overseers. Before Fabian we cannot prove the existence of 
 sub-deacons ; it is certain that Fabian divided the regions ; the 
 sub-deacons could not have risen later than the time of Fabian 
 in Rome; at the time of the successor to Fabian the total 
 number of deacons and sub-deacons was fourteen thus it is 
 exceedingly probable that the appointment of seven sub-deacons in 
 Rome, and with it the creation of the sub-diaconate generally was 
 a consequence of the arrangement of Fabian, by which each region 
 should receive an ecclesiastical curator, while, in deference to 
 holy scripture, the number seven for the deacons was not allowed 
 to be increased. Even by this hypothesis the fact remains that 
 the sub-diaconate is nothing else than the diaconate of a second 
 order ; but the occasion for its formation is now to a certain 
 degree proved, by which the ecclesiastical government was 
 to be settled on the same lines as the municipal. 
 
 There is no doubt also in the number of the acolytes a sig- 
 nificance from what has been given above in the fourteen 
 regions (14x3 = 42), so that in each region there were three 
 acolytes. Beyond all question 1 in later times there were 
 acolytes for the regions. But later circumstances must not be 
 dated back, without further consideration, into the third cen- 
 tury, and besides the name of acolyte is not appropriate to 
 such a meaning. 
 
 1 See Hinschius, System des kath. Kirchenrechts, vol. i. pp. 322, 377. The 
 subject of the later ecclesiastical regions and their government is not treated 
 here. 
 
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