Canon Law & Easter Computus 3 part 3/11

For since in those times frequent persecutions arose, lest the granted facility of communion should fail to recall from their fall men made secure about reconciliation, communion was rightly denied and penance granted: lest the whole be utterly refused, and reason made of the time a harsher remission. But after our Lord restored peace to His Churches, now, terror being driven away, it was resolved that communion be given to the departing, both for the Lord's mercy's sake, as a viaticum, as it were, for those about to set forth, and lest we seem to follow the harshness and hardness of the Novatian heretics who deny pardon. Communion, therefore, shall be granted with the final penance, that men of this kind may, even at their last, by the permission of our Saviour, be rescued from perpetual destruction.

On administrations (public offices). XXIII. It has also been asked concerning those who, after baptism, have held administrative offices, and either employed only tortures, or even pronounced a capital sentence; concerning these we read nothing defined by our forefathers (Rom. 13). For they remembered that these powers had been granted by God, and that for the punishment of the guilty the sword had been permitted, and that the minister of God had been appointed an avenger in such matters. How then should they reprehend a deed which they saw to be granted with God as its author? Concerning these, therefore, we hold the matter as it has hitherto been observed, lest we seem either to overturn discipline, or to come against the authority of the Lord. But to themselves, in rendering account, all their deeds shall be reserved.

That husbands who communicate should not be reconciled with adulterous wives. XXIV. And this also was desired to be known, why husbands who communicate are not reconciled with adulterous wives, whereas, on the contrary, wives seem to remain in the fellowship of adulterous husbands. On this point the Christian religion condemns adultery in both sexes by equal reasoning; but women do not easily accuse their own husbands of adultery, and hidden sins do not incur punishment; husbands, however, have been more freely accustomed to denounce adulterous wives before the priests, and therefore, when the woman's crime has been disclosed, communion is denied her; but when the husband's offence is hidden, no one is easily restrained on mere suspicion—yet he too will be removed if his disgrace be exposed.

Since, then, the case is equal, sometimes, when proof is wanting, the reasoning of punishment is put to rest. That those who dictate petitions, even capital ones, should be held immune. XXV. This also you wished to inquire, whether it be freely granted to those who dictate petitions—indeed, after the regeneration of baptism—to seek from rulers the death of someone, or his blood, on account of guilt? Which thing rulers never grant without examination, but always remit the charges or crimes committed to the judges, that, the case being examined, they may be punished: and when these have been delegated to the magistrate of inquiry, either acquittal or condemnation is pronounced according to the quality of the business; and while the authority of the laws is exercised against the wicked, the one who dictated will be immune.

That those who, through the intervention of a repudiation, have endured divorce, and have bound themselves to other marriages, are shown to be adulterers. XXVI. Concerning these also your Charity has inquired, who, a repudiation intervening, have joined themselves to another marriage, whom it is manifest to be adulterers on both sides. But those who, even while the wife yet lives—although the union may seem to have been dissolved—have hastened to another union, cannot but be seen to be adulterers, to such a degree that even those persons to whom such people are joined are themselves also seen to have committed adultery, according to that which we read in the Gospel: Whosoever shall put away his wife, and shall marry another, committeth adultery; and likewise he that marrieth her that is put away, committeth adultery (Matt.

19), and therefore all such are to be kept from the communion of the faithful. But concerning their parents or kinsfolk, nothing of the kind can be determined, unless they be detected to have been instigators of the unlawful union. Which books are to be received in the canon. XXVII. Which books are received in the canon of the Scriptures, a brief list appended shows. These, then, are the things which you wished to be advised of by word: the five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; and also one of Joshua son of Nun, and one of Judges, and four books of Kingdoms, together also with Ruth. Sixteen books of the Prophets, five books of Solomon, the Psalter. Likewise of the histories, one book of Job, one of Tobit, one of Esther, one of Judith, two of Maccabees, two of Ezra, two of Chronicles.

Likewise of the New Testament: the four books of the Gospels; the fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul; the five Epistles of John; the two Epistles of Peter; the Epistle of Jude; the Epistle of James; the Acts of the Apostles; the Apocalypse of John. But the rest, which are circulated under the name of Matthias, or of James the Less, or under the name of Peter and John (which were written by a certain Leucius), or under the name of Andrew (which were written by the philosophers Nexocharis and Leonidas), or under the name of Thomas, and if there be any others—these you shall know are not only to be repudiated, but even to be condemned. Given on the tenth day before the Kalends of March, in the consulship of Stilicho for the second time and of Anthemius (in the year of Christ 405). Innocent to Felix, bishop of Nuceria, greeting.

We cannot but marvel that your Charity, following the institutions of our forefathers, refers to us—as to the head and summit of the episcopate—all matters whatsoever that can admit of any doubt: so that the Apostolic See, being consulted, may pronounce, out of those very doubtful matters, something certain and to be done; which we both gladly accept, and we commend your Charity as mindful of the canons. You wrote, therefore, that, by the fervour of faith in which you are strong, and by love of the holy people, you have either repaired the Churches of God or built new ones; but that in these you do not have clerics whom you may appoint, while there are some, indeed many, who are twice-married (digami)—at which we were astonished that a prudent man should wish to consult us about things that are known to all by certain reasoning.

Therefore we say this not as to one ignorant, but we say that you, perhaps being occupied in other matters, have forgotten this. If anyone, willingly, shall amputate a part of his body, he cannot be a cleric; but unwillingly, he can. XXVIII. He, therefore, who willingly cuts off for himself a part of any finger, him the canons do not admit to the clergy; but he to whom it happened by some chance, while he was either giving his attention to rustic labour, or, in doing something, struck himself unwillingly—these the canons command both to be made clerics, and, if they have already been found in the clergy, not to be cast out. For in the former the will was judged, which dared to lay the iron upon itself (a thing which surely no one can doubt that others too might do); but in the latter the chance has merited pardon.

That the twice-married cannot be admitted to the clergy. XXIX. But concerning the twice-married there ought not even to have been consultation, since the reading of the Apostle is manifest, that the husband of one wife ought to be admitted to the priesthood or to the clerical state (1 Tim. 3). And yet, even this same man, if he took a virgin—for as to her whom he had before a (previous) husband, although that husband be dead, nevertheless, if she be afterwards joined to a cleric, the cleric who took her cannot be one—because in the Law it is provided that a priest may not have a widow nor a rejected woman as wife. Which laymen ought not to be promoted to the clergy. XXX. Concerning laymen, indeed, your religion has consulted what the canons forbid to ordain. It is certain, indeed, that the ecclesiastical rules contain this:

but it has not been so defined as to be established concerning all laymen. For clerics cannot be born and not made; but there are designated kinds (of men) from which one cannot attain to the clerical state, that is: if any of the faithful has served as a soldier, if any of the faithful has pleaded causes (that is, acted as advocate), if any of the faithful has held administrative office. But concerning the curiales (town councillors) there is a manifest reason, since, even if men of this kind be found who ought to be made clerics, nevertheless they are often recalled to the curia; one must beware of these, on account of the tribulation which often arises from them for the Church. As to which laymen may become clerics, here the concubine is openly forbidden.

XXXI. But laymen who were baptized while having wives, and have so conducted themselves that their reputation wavers in nothing, so that they have either been joined to clerics or have clung to monasteries from the time they were baptized—if they have known no concubine, no kept woman, if they have been vigilant in all good works—men of this kind are not forbidden to be taken up into the lot of the clerical state. On the times to be spent in the clergy. XXXII. Yet so, indeed, that in their case the times appointed by our forefathers be observed: nor let anyone too quickly become a lector, too quickly an acolyte, too quickly a deacon, too quickly a priest.

Because if they continue long in the minor offices, and their life as well as their service is approved, so that, afterward emerging by the merits of their length of service, they may come to the priesthood, and may not snatch beforehand what a proven life deserves to receive. Since, therefore, it has been shown by sure definition who ought to be admitted, and who indeed rejected, out of all these whom your Worthiness sees cannot be rejected, you ought to choose those whom you may make clerics. For if we should be unwilling to show any favour or benefit to men, we can find such men, of whose taking up we need neither incur reproach nor blush. Innocent to the bishops Maximus and Severus, through the Bruttii. The norm of the ecclesiastical canons ought to be unknown to no

priest, because it is unseemly that this be not known by a pontiff to his own people: especially since it is both known by religious laymen, and is held by them to be kept. Recently Maximilianus, our son, an agent in (public) affairs, brought forward a complaint of such a kind, as the appended series of his petition declares. That those who have begotten sons while in the presbyterate ought to be removed from office. XXXIII. He who, led by zeal for faith and discipline, does not suffer the Church to be polluted by unworthy presbyters, whom he asserts to have begotten sons while in the presbyterate—which is not lawful—I would set this forth, did I not know that your Prudence has knowledge of the whole law.

And therefore, dearest brothers, the tenor of the petition which is appended having been examined, you shall order those who are said to have perpetrated such things to be set in the midst, and, the objections which are charged against these very presbyters having been discussed, if they can be convicted, let them be removed from the priestly office. For those who are not holy cannot handle holy things, and let them be made strangers to the ministry which they have polluted by living unlawfully. But we marvel that the bishops dissemble these things, so that they are judged either to connive at or to be ignorant that such things are unlawful. That after penance no one can be admitted to the clergy. XXXIV. Innocent to Agapitus, Macedonius, and Marianus, bishops of Apulia.

Many things contrary to the ecclesiastical canons and the decrees of our forefathers, usurped by very many in your province, both the reports of divers persons and most trustworthy suggestions have related—things which, indeed, could easily be cut off, if bishops were not found to be the authors of them. Who, while they strive to show favour either to friends or to those who comply with them, violate religion and corrupt the orders, and thus it comes about that any unworthy persons receive ecclesiastical honours, and are admitted to the clergy who would not deserve to have even a worthy place among the laity—just as now, by the petition given to us, it has been shown that a certain Modestus, involved in many crimes (on account of which he is even said to have done penance), has not only been made a cleric, which is not lawful,

but even aspires to the summit of the episcopate, although the canons established at Nicaea exclude penitents even from the lowest offices of clerics. And therefore, dearest brothers, the tenor of the petition having been examined, you shall order him to be presented, and if it truly be established that he is such as the petition affirms, let him be removed not only from the ambition of the episcopate, but even from the office of the clerical state. Concerning Bubalius and Taurianus, condemned by the provincial bishops, whose sentence the Apostolic See has taken care to review. XXXV. Innocent to Rufus, Gerontius, Sophronius, Flavianus, Macedonius, Prosdotius, and Aristaeus, bishops established throughout Macedonia.

The delay of our fellow-bishops Maximianus and Eumenius, or rather the unfavourableness of the times, has caused that you should renew your complaint concerning Bubalius and Taurianus, and that we should again rise up against most abandoned men; but as I can, I will pursue a summary of so great evils in fewer words, and will briefly review the things which I have observed in the volume of your letters. It could not seem grievous to your most pious minds that anyone's judgment be reviewed, because truth, the more it is agitated, the more it shines forth in the light; and ruin, recalled into judgment, is more gravely and without penitence condemned; for it is a divine fruit that justice be more often re-examined, dearest brothers.

But this I see has moved your minds, that Bubalius, often caught in many deceits, has alleged copies of letters feigned as if from us: although, according to the man's custom, nothing that he might bring forward would now seem worthy of any credit. But let all murmuring about such business now be silenced, and let the very pantings of the convicted devil be suppressed. We have appended, moreover, to these our former letters, which I had sent through the aforesaid bishops: in which the full sentence of our judgment has been so designated, that, when you re-read them, you may henceforth raise nothing ambiguous, nothing to be further inquired into in this cause.

But send this little page of ours to be re-read more carefully by the believing bishops, that they may know most fully what concerns Bubalius and Taurianus, and the others of the provinces, that those who are worthy of admonition may observe to beware of such men, lest they obtain a like lot. On boundaries by no means to be removed. XXXVI. Innocent to Florentius, bishop of Tibur. Not once, but several times, divine Scripture cries out (Deut. 19 and 27; Prov. 22) that the boundaries set up by the fathers ought not to be removed: because it is impious that, if one man has always possessed something, another should invade it—which our brother and fellow-bishop Ursus asserts that your Goodness has perpetrated.

For he has complained, not without grief, that you have invaded the parish of Nomentum or Felicia, belonging by ancient right to his diocese, and have there celebrated the divine mysteries, the same man being neither consulted nor knowing of it. And if this be true, you should know that you have incurred (guilt) not lightly; wherefore, if you wish to avoid the odium of so great a usurpation, it behoves you, admonished by our letter, to abstain: assuredly, if you believe that anything of justice supports you, all things being kept intact and remaining in their former state, after the days of venerable Easter you ought to be present, that you may answer to the said claims, and, the parties being set in the midst, we may inquire what antiquity or truth holds.

If anyone's wife shall have been carried off into captivity, and the husband shall have taken another, upon the return of the first, the second woman ought to be excluded. XXXVII. Innocent to Probus. The disturbance of the barbarian storm has brought a calamity upon the validity of the laws; for the inroad of captivity had made a blemish upon the well-established marriage between Fortunius and Ursa, unless the holy statutes of religion should provide (a remedy). For while the aforesaid woman Ursa was held in captivity, the aforesaid Fortunius is known to have entered into another marriage with Restituta. But, by the favour of the Lord, Ursa having returned, came to us, and, with no one denying it, thoroughly proved that she was the wife of the said man.

Wherefore, lord son deservedly illustrious, we have determined, the catholic faith supporting it, that that is the marriage which was first founded by divine grace; and the union of the second woman, while the first survives and was not cast out by divorce, can by no compact be legitimate. To Aurelius of Carthage, and Augustine of Hippo, bishops, salutatory writings full of charity. XXXVIII. Innocent to Aurelius and Augustine, bishops. That return of the most welcome Germanus, our fellow-presbyter, ought not to have been void of our office; for to greet most dear ones through dear ones seems to us in a manner natural and consequent.

We desire, therefore, most beloved, that your brotherhood rejoice in the Lord, and we pray that you render equal vows to God for us, because, as you well know, we accomplish more by common and mutual prayers than by single or private ones. To Juliana, a noblewoman, an exhortatory writing of the same pope. XXXIX. That you are a singular member of the Church, that the greatness of your religion exists, and is reverenced by us most reverently, is sufficiently manifest to all. For at the very summit of nobility you bestow a far nobler devotion upon the Church, and, more joyful in the acknowledgment of Christ, you obey His precepts, and you exult rather in faith than glory in the flower of so great a lineage.

It is of the highest virtue to have vanquished the glory of the flesh, and it is of the great grace of Christ to have surpassed nobility by character, lady daughter deservedly illustrious. Being therefore certain, most beloved, strive to illumine with eternal and divine offices whatever spaces of this life there are, that He who rendered you distinguished may render you, through the ages, more illustrious to Himself. To Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, concerning Easter. XL. Innocent to Aurelius. The office of our charity is severed by no interval, even if the paper bear no written lines. For spiritual grace lives in our mutual hearts, and the priestly fellowship itself cherishes our love. Since, therefore, it is unworthy that the unity of the Church be not kept, and that we should not all alike both feel and pronounce the same thing.

dearest brother, I have written out this letter concerning the paschal reckoning of another year—I mean the coming year. For since before the second day of April the moon is reckoned at almost sixteen (for it is something less), and likewise on the fourth day before the Kalends of the same (month) it comes to twenty-three, I have judged that the paschal festival ought to be celebrated on the eleventh day before the said Kalends: because on the twenty-third moon we know that no Easter was ever made before this Easter. I have set forth and proclaimed the tenor of my opinion;

now it will be for your Prudence, in agreement with me, my brother, together with our fellow-priests, of one mind, to review this very matter in a most religious synod, so that, if nothing resists our arrangement, you may write back to us most fully and openly, that we may, by letters beforehand (as is the custom), prescribe the deliberated paschal day to be observed in its own time. And our fellow-presbyter Archidamus, although I know that you receive him most gladly and after your wonted manner, yet out of abundance I ask that you deign to have him among your own. Concerning the Church of Antioch. XLI. Innocent to Boniface the presbyter. The Church of Antioch, which, before he came to the city of Rome, the blessed apostle Peter illustrated by his presence

—as a true sister of the Roman Church—did not long suffer herself to be estranged from the same; for, legates having been sent, she so sought and obtained peace, that she might both receive the Evagrians in their own orders and places, with the inviolate ordination which they had received from the aforesaid (Evagrius), and gather and congregate into one the clerics or laymen of John of holy memory. The bishop of that very city, my brother Alexander, promising that, even if perchance anyone of a later ordination, either from us or from elsewhere, should come to them, he would receive him without controversy, and would recite the name of the said bishop among the bishops at rest:

to which matter let him know that we have given our hands (i.e., assented), dearest brother, and that we have received these into our very bowels (of affection), lest the members which had sought health should long be held strangers to the unity of the body. But all the things which have been done in order, my son the deacon Paulus—the bearer, namely, of these letters—will be able to narrate to your Charity: so that you may both have common joy with us, and may inform those who have been accustomed to intervene on behalf of the Antiochene parties. To Alexander, bishop of Antioch, concerning peace. XLII. Innocent to Alexander the bishop. How welcome to me, how pious, how necessary the legation directed to us from your Holiness, dearest brother, you will learn by the recital of those very acts.

For our fellow-presbyter Cassianus wished that this little page of our friendships should be written through our fellow-presbyter Paulus, the deacon Nicolaus, and the subdeacon Petrus, our sons, as the first-fruits, as it were, of our peace. I greet therefore both your brotherhood, dear to me in Christ, and all that Church which feels so well with you, and I ask that you both address us, as you do, more frequently with letters, and more often gladden us with news of your welfare. For the Lord will grant (as I trust) that we recompense the losses of all past time by the most loving converse of letters. Concerning Atticus, bishop of Constantinople. XLIII. Innocent to Maximianus the bishop.

We marvel that your Prudence requests writings to be sent to Atticus, bishop of the city of Constantinople, from us, both by your own pursuit and by a petition given (which is appended below): from whom you have not brought to us, nor to your synod, any letters at all, and you may judge that this is to be granted to one who does not ask: a thing which you ought (to know) to be conceded to entreaties when the reasoning has been examined, when communion, having been suspended, is restored to one who demonstrates that the causes for which it had yielded (i.e., been withdrawn) are now wiped away, and who professes the conditions of peace to be fulfilled. Which Atticus, neither among you nor among us, as I have said before, by sending any of his own men, has either wished to say or to demonstrate as completed.

Even as our brother and fellow bishop Alexander pursued the cause of the Church of Antioch with a worthy embassy and gave it his support, and proved his case, in all of which matters you yourself, who were thought worthy to take part, came to full knowledge of how, point by point, I had earlier examined all the writings of our most blessed John, once our fellow bishop, concerning this affair; and how those writings showed plainly enough that all the things which ought to have been done at Antioch had been brought to completion. Embracing the peace of these men, we have indeed given our pledge of faith, and have shown to all who will hereafter request the same a broad and open path.

provided only that they too, in their own station, shall at some time prove that the things which have been examined and completed were likewise done or fulfilled by them, and that communion, which these men by their solemn embassy have requested be restored to them, be granted. We therefore await both the declaration of the aforesaid man concerning all the conditions fulfilled, which at various times we have set forth, and his petition for communion: so that to him who rightly petitions and proves himself to deserve it we may restore that same communion, most dear brother. For long ago you received our fullest letters concerning all these matters, addressed to the holy synod of our brethren. Likewise to Alexander, bishop of Antioch, concerning peace. XLIV. The grace of apostolic favor has shone forth even to us with the great splendor of peace, and with so great a light of the joys that have illumined the faithful:

so that, while we render to God the greatest praises, we confess that we owe yet greater ones; and we have rejoiced in God all the more because, when all aspects of the proceedings of your fraternity had been examined, we recognized that the whole had been carried out with such piety and patience that in all things we praised the Lord, and we see that the very success was therefore granted to your labors, in that, being with all your strength a lover of peace, you sought it out and found it, and having found it, preserved it with the highest charity—both toward all, and especially toward those who were once reckoned under the name of the bishops Paulinus and Evagrius. I have the sum of my prayers fulfilled, since the cleansing of an ancient blemish is brought about in your times and by your merits.

Concerning those of that same name who in Italy had received the merits of clerical rank, I have judged it good, for the sake of quiet, that they retain the favor they have received. And because our fellow presbyter Cassian said it would be pleasing to your dignity if, by my counsel, they were judged worthy to hold clerical office in your city, I have determined, on account of my goodwill toward you and the promises of the aforesaid man, that they be numbered among the other priests and ministers who are in the city, most dear brother.

Moreover, I have gladly learned concerning the bishops Elpidius and Pappus that they have without dispute recovered their Churches; and I have made careful inquiry into many points in the records, as the appended documents attest, whether satisfaction had been given in all conditions in the case of the blessed John, a priest truly worthy of God. And when, point by point, the testimony of the legates was declared to have been fulfilled according to our wish, giving thanks to the Lord I received the communion of your Church in such a way that I may carry it before me that the fellow disciples of the apostolic see have been the first to give to the rest the way of peace: in which, both you and we being established, the kindness of the Lord Christ shall so embrace us, and so the communion, that it be henceforth assailed by no provocation, nor by any slight shame of contention from anyone whatsoever.

Now we have received the writings of bishop Acacius, since they were presented together with yours: lest, through wrong done by you, he who had once been suspended by us should be repudiated; and yet, with full sufficiency, we have determined in the acts—as you will graciously take care to read again—what ought to be observed in his person: namely that, if through all your counsels and such holy proceedings he shall have asked to be in communion, it be granted to the old man by your favor and by our judgment of communion, and that the grace of letters be extended by us. Twenty bishops of Italy subscribed. Likewise to Alexander, bishop of Antioch. That the first see of blessed Peter is recorded to be at Antioch. XLV. The burden and honor laid upon us by your fraternity has brought in the occasions of a necessary discussion:

so that we might be able to respond to your letters or to your memorandum, as the grace of the Holy Spirit grants. Therefore, turning back to the authority of the Nicene synod, which sets forth one single mind of all the priests throughout the whole world, which decreed concerning the Church of Antioch that it is necessary for all the faithful—not to say for the priests—to preserve it, by which decree we recognize the aforesaid Church to be set over its own diocese, not over any single province.