Nor let any of the bishops presume it lawful to admit to the service of the divine mysteries bigamists, or those who take marriages abandoned by others, or any men after penance, or men without letters, or those defective in body, or bondsmen, or those entangled in the bonds of the curia and of public affairs, or any examined at random without the waiting of a fitting time; nor let them at their own pleasure seek to invade the rights of others without the just disposition of the apostolic see commanding it. That new basilicas be dedicated by the bishops only by the precept of the pope. IV. Let them not dare to dedicate newly founded basilicas without the precepts customarily sought, nor aspire to claim for themselves clerics belonging to another's authority.
That no fees be exacted from those to be baptized and confirmed among the faithful. And if any commit this, they shall be subject to the peril of their office. V. Let them fix no fees upon the faithful to be baptized and confirmed, nor desire to harass those being reborn by any impositions laid upon them, since 'what we receive freely, we are commanded to give freely' (Matt. 10). And therefore let them by no means attempt to exact anything from the aforesaid, whereby those people—either deterred by compelling poverty, or driven off by indignation—should disdain to approach the means of their redemption; holding it for certain that those who shall be caught to have admitted what is forbidden, or who shall not rather of their own accord have corrected what they committed, are to undergo the peril of their own office.
That presbyters keep the due measure: that they not confect the chrism, not confirm, nor, in the presence of any bishop, presume either to pray or to sit unless bidden by him, nor make an acolyte or subdeacon. VI. No less also do we forbid presbyters to reach beyond their own measure, and boldly to assume to themselves the things due to the episcopal eminence: to seize for themselves the faculty neither of confecting the chrism, nor of administering the pontifical confirmation;
in the presence of any prelate, unless perhaps they are bidden, let them not presume that the license either of prayer or of the sacred action is available to them; nor under his sight, unless bidden, let them presume either to sit or to handle the venerable mysteries; nor let them suppose that it is granted to them in any way, without the supreme pontiff, to have the right of making a subdeacon or an acolyte; nor let them at all doubt that, if they think anything specially pertaining to the episcopal ministry is to be carried out on their own initiative, they are at once deprived of the dignity of the presbyterate and of the sacred communion.
3:365
Quodfierinecesseest, censeamus, sieorumpraesuledeferente, hujusmodifueritprævaricatiocomprobata, nccipsoeorumepiscopoaculpaconniventiæ, etultionevacaturo, siimmoderatafacientesdissimulaveritvindicare. SimiliterutdiaconimensurampropriamjuxtaPatrumdecretacustodiant. VII.
Which we judge must necessarily be done, if, on the report of their prelate, a transgression of this kind shall have been proven—their bishop himself not being free from either the fault of connivance or from punishment, if he shall have dissembled to punish those doing immoderate things. Likewise, that deacons keep their own measure according to the decrees of the Fathers. VII.
We appoint that deacons also keep their own measure, nor do we permit them to attempt anything beyond the tenor allotted by the fathers' canons, nor to apply at all to their own ministry any of those things which antiquity properly decreed for the higher orders; let them not dare to baptize without a bishop or presbyter, unless perhaps, being appointed far from the aforesaid offices, extreme necessity compel them—which is also generally conceded to lay Christians to do. That deacons may not sit in the presbytery, nor, when an ecclesiastical discourse is held, nor ought they usurp the prerogative of administering the sacred Body while presbyters are present. VIII.
That they not sit in the presbytery when the divine mysteries are celebrated, or whenever any ecclesiastical discourse is held; let them not have the right of exercising the prerogative of the sacred Body under the gaze of the bishop or presbyter, except when these are absent. For we too strive earnestly to keep the decrees of the venerable sanctions, and we hold that even those things which perhaps seem fit to be relaxed for some useful benefit are to be relaxed only without their detriment. That the apostolic see keeps the fathers' canons with pious and devoted zeal. IX.
And since we desire that nothing be rashly permitted us against the reverence of the salutary rules, and since the apostolic see, the Lord favoring, strives with a pious and devoted purpose to hold to all these things which are fixed by the fathers' canons, it is quite unworthy that anyone, whether among the bishops or among the subsequent orders, should refuse this observance which he sees the see of blessed Peter both to follow and to teach; and it is quite fitting that the whole body of the Church should agree with itself in this observance which it beholds to flourish there where the Lord has placed the headship of the whole Church. Scripture saying, 'Set charity in order within me' (Song 2), and likewise, 'Let all things be done in order' (1 Cor. 14); and again,
the Psalmist proclaiming, 'Encompass Sion and embrace her; declare in her towers; set your hearts on her strength, and distribute her degrees, that you may recount it to another generation; for this is God, our God forever, and he himself shall rule us forever' (Ps. 47)—this God, without doubt, who is recounted in the height of the ecclesiastical dignities, and on whose strength hearts are to be set by good works, is, with all the degrees indeed distributed, our God and the ruler to be proclaimed to the Christian peoples; where let no one esteem anything diminished for himself,
since from the perfection of each grade nothing perishes, and by fittingly retaining what has been conferred by heavenly dispensation, it grants us alike that God be made knowable and that he be our ruler. For even if anything is granted as to the quantity of times, it is weighed by the diligence gathered to one's morals; if that which was to be tended to by a prolonged age is now contained in the purpose of his life—provided that those things which are in no way dissembled do not steal in—any one of which, when it has become clear to exist, would rightly convict the person as reprehensible for the clerical insignia. Although those things are sometimes to be allowed which, if the integrity of the rest stand firm, cannot of themselves do harm,
yet those things are greatly to be guarded against which cannot be received without manifest disfigurement. And if even those very things which are sometimes believed to be granted with no detriment, the regard of affairs and times compels, or the consideration of an accelerated provision excuses, how much more are those things in no way to be mutilated which neither any necessity nor any ecclesiastical advantage at all extorts? That, apart from the paschal season or Pentecost, no one presume to baptize, except only all those whom extreme sickness has compelled. X.
Let no one believe that he has any warrant to baptize anywhere at any time, apart from the paschal feast and Pentecost, that venerable sacrament—excepting only the onset of a most grievous illness, in which it is to be feared lest, with the danger of the disease increasing, the sick person, perhaps overtaken by death without the saving remedy, depart to perdition. That the ordinations of presbyters and deacons can be celebrated only at certain times. XI. Let them also not perform the ordinations of presbyters and deacons except at certain times and days, that is, in the fast of the first and fourth month, of the seventh and the tenth; but let one know that they are also to be celebrated at the beginning of Lent, and on the mid-Lent day, in the fast of the Sabbath toward evening.
Nor, for the sake of any advantage, are they to prefer either a presbyter or a deacon to those who were ordained before them. That on the appointed days the sacred virgins be veiled. XII. To devout virgins also let them by no means impose the sacred veil except either at the Epiphany, or in the Paschal whites, or on the birthdays of the Apostles—unless perhaps, as was said concerning baptism, to those seized by grave illness, lest they depart from the world without this gift, it not be denied to those who implore it. That widows not be veiled. XIII. But let none of the bishops attempt to veil widows, which neither divine authority delegates nor the form of the canons prescribes.
It is therefore by no means to be usurped, and the ecclesiastical protections are so to be afforded to them that nothing unlawful be committed. That no prelate, under a religious name, defend the slave or bondsman of a Church or of a monastery against the will of their masters: anyone who attempts to perpetrate this shall undergo the peril of his honor and of communion. XIV. The presumption of a general complaint is also to be avoided, by which almost everywhere all men allege that slaves and bondsmen, fleeing the rights and possession of their masters under the pretext of a religious manner of life, either betake themselves to monasteries or to ecclesiastical service, and are admitted indifferently even while the prelates restrain them. This ruinous practice must be removed in every way,
lest, through the institution of the Christian name, either the property of others seem to be invaded, or public discipline seem to be subverted. Especially since it is not fitting that the very dignity of the clerical ministry be darkened by this obligation, and be compelled to wrangle over the standing and condition of those serving under it, or to appear—God forbid—liable to those things from which it has duly and fittingly forbidden them by a careful interdiction.
Whatever bishop, presbyter, deacon, or those who are known to preside over monasteries, keeping such persons with them, shall think that they are not to be restored to their patrons, or henceforth are to be applied either to ecclesiastical service or to religious congregations—unless perhaps they have first been released by the will of their masters under the testimony of a written instrument, or granted by a lawful transaction—let them not doubt that they shall undergo the peril of their own honor and of communion, if anyone's truthful complaint shall strike us concerning this matter. For with great zeal, according to the blessed Apostle, it must be guarded against, lest the faith and discipline of the Lord be blasphemed (Rom. 2; 1 Tim. 6). That clerics pursue no dishonest trades nor base gains.
XV. It followed that we should think those things also not to be passed over which a report lately sent to us from the parts of Picenum announced—namely, that very many of the clerics are intent upon dishonest trades and base gains, beholding with no shame the Gospel reading, since the Lord himself is asserted to have driven the traders out of the temple, beaten with whips (Matt. 21; John 2); nor recalling the words of the Apostle, in which he says, 'No one serving as God's soldier entangles himself in secular affairs' (2 Tim. 2); and with a deaf ear dissembling David the Psalmist singing, 'Because I have not known trafficking, I will enter into the powers of the Lord' (Ps. 70);
therefore let such men know that henceforth they must abstain from unworthy gains, and must cease from all the devices and the cupidity of every kind of trafficking; or else, in whatever grade they are placed, let them at once be compelled to abstain from the clerical offices, since the house of God both ought to be and to be called a house of prayer, lest it be rather a workshop of trafficking and a den of robbers (Luke 19; Isa. 56). That no one ignorant of letters, or diminished in any part of the body, be promoted to the clergy. XVI.
We have learned that the unlettered also, and those diminished in some part of the body, come without any regard to the ecclesiastical service—which both ancient tradition and the old form of the apostolic see does not receive, because one lacking letters cannot be fit for the sacred offices, and the legal precepts sanctioned that nothing defective at all be offered to God (Lev. 21). Therefore henceforth let these things be avoided in every way, nor let any such be received into the clergy. But if any such were received before, either by their own rashness or by the negligence of those presiding, let them persevere in the places in which they are established only to this extent:
that they never seize any promotion, and let them count it enough that this very thing has been permitted to them out of excessive compassion. Concerning those who cut themselves off. XVII. But concerning those who shall have mutilated themselves, the fathers' canons have plainly set down what is to be followed, the tenor of which it will suffice to have here inserted. For they say that those who perpetrate such things, as soon as they are recognized, ought to be excluded from the clerical office—which it behooves us to keep in every way, since it is granted to no one to deem anything lawful beyond those things which the memorable form has decreed. That the criminal cannot be promoted to the clergy, and that those placed in the clergy, if they are found in any crimes, be debarred from their offices. XVIII.
We have also learned that men entangled in certain horrendous crimes, all discretion being cast aside, not only have no necessary repentance for their atrocious deeds, but, with no correction at all ensuing, press on toward the divine ministry and its honor. And that some, established in the very orders, offending with grave crimes, are not repelled—though the Apostle cries out (1 Tim. 5), 'Lay hands hastily on no one, nor share in the sins of another'; and the venerable constitutions of our elders pronounce that such men, even if perhaps they have crept in, both those who have sinned beforehand, once detected, ought to be expelled, and those forgetful of their sacred profession, and transgressors of the holy purpose, ought without doubt to be removed.
That it be not permitted for those ensnared by demons and other afflictions to handle the sacred ministries. XIX. Indeed we have learned that all manner of unlawful things break out to such a degree that the handling of the most sacred ministries is granted to those ensnared by demons and like afflictions; and if to these, set in this work, something of their own affliction should befall, who would be confident concerning the salvation of his own faithful, when he has seen the ministers themselves vexed by so great a calamity of human ailment? And therefore they must necessarily be removed, lest a scandal be generated for the weak, for any of whom Christ has died. Finally, if the divine law by no means permitted one wounded or feeble in body to touch the holy things (Rom. 14; 1 Cor. 8; Lev. 22),
how much more is it unfitting that those stricken in mind—which is worse—be dispensers of the heavenly gift? That those who associate themselves with sacred virgins and mingle incestuous covenants cannot communicate, unless perhaps they have performed public penance. XX. We have learned that some rashly associate themselves with sacred virgins, and, after a purpose dedicated to God, mingle incestuous and sacrilegious covenants; whom it is just to thrust forthwith from the sacred communion, and by no means to receive again except through public and approved penance—or at least, to these as they pass from the world, the viaticum, if nevertheless they have repented, let it not be denied.
That widows, as was said above, not be veiled; and if, having changed their purpose, they trample upon the continence they professed, they themselves shall render an account to God for their own deeds. XXI. For concerning widows being veiled under no benediction we have above treated at length: who, if of their own will, with changeable mind, they trample upon the chastity of their former marriage which they professed, it shall pertain to their own peril with what satisfaction they ought to appease God. For just as, if perhaps they could not contain themselves, according to the Apostle (1 Tim. 5) they were by no means forbidden to marry, so, having taken deliberation with themselves, they ought to have kept the faith of the modesty promised to God.
But we ought to cast no snare upon such women, but only to set forth the exhortations of the everlasting reward and the punishments of the divine judgment, so that our conscience may be absolved, and their own intention render an account to God for itself. For one must take heed of those things which the blessed Apostle Paul testifies concerning their morals and acts (in the same place), which we forbear to expound more plainly, lest the unstable sex seem not so much to be deterred as instructed. That second marriages not be denied to laypeople, to whom however it is by no means granted to come to the clergy on account of this deed. XXII. Just as it is granted to laypeople to enter second marriages, so after them no one is permitted to come into the clerical college.
For one thing is the license generally granted to human frailty, another ought the life dedicated to the service of divine things to be (1 Cor. 7). That if anyone shall have received a deserter of his own Church, and advanced him in any dignity, both are to be subject to the sentence which the canons have fixed. XXIII. Whoever, a deserter of his own Church, no causes existing, shall think he must pass over to another, and shall have been rashly received and promoted—whether he himself, or his receiver and promoter—shall not escape the constitutions of the reverend canons which they fixed to be kept concerning such presumptuous men.
That if any from among the monks and laymen of whom it was spoken above are chosen for the clergy when no necessity compels, the ancient institutions ought to be observed concerning them; and if they are proven to have purchased the sacred dignity for a price, let them be deposed from office, for the crime of Simon Magus entangles both the giver and the receiver. XXIV. Concerning monks and laymen, things have been set forth more copiously in the first part of this instruction—which things, and to what extent, are granted for the necessity of affairs and times; and how, where no necessity of fact shall be proven to be involved, nothing but the old institution ought to be kept.
But those whom it shall be established to have, being unworthy in merits, purchased the sacred dignity for a price, once convicted, ought to be debarred—those who perpetrate such a deed not without peril—because the condemnation of Simon, which the sacred reading attests (Acts 8), entangles equally the giver and the receiver. Concerning sacred places newly established, although it was said above, this is now nevertheless added: that no basilica built under the name of the deceased be dedicated. XXV. Concerning the consecration of holy places, although it was briefly comprised above,
it has also been made manifest to us that some presume, without the precept of the apostolic see, to consecrate churches or oratories that have been built; yet we are moved by a still more detestable report, that they are said boldly to establish for sacred uses constructions erected under whatever name of the deceased—and, as is said, not at all of the faithful—which things, since they are so bitter, so harsh, that our very hearing can scarcely bear them:
if the affection of Christianity in those regions is truly sure and fixed, let these matters be inquired into more strictly, and let those by whom they were done be brought to light; for just as, while the names lie hidden in this atrocity, there exists no one against whom the due sentence may be pronounced, so when one has been exposed by manifest proofs, he—such as the enormity of so great a crime demands—shall by no means escape vengeance. That it is a sacrilege for women to minister at the sacred altars, or to presume anything of those things which are assigned to the offices of men. XXVI.
Nonetheless we have heard with impatience that so great a contempt for divine things has crept in, that women are reported to minister at the sacred altars, and that the female sex performs all those services which are assigned to the ministry of men alone—a sex to which they do not belong. Yet of all the offenses which we have touched upon one by one, the whole guilt of these injuries and the crime falls back upon those priests who either commit such things, or who, by failing to make public those who commit them, show that they favor wicked excesses—if indeed they are still to be called by the name of priests, who so strive to cast down the office of religion entrusted to them that, prone to whatever is perverse and profane, they pursue deadly precipices with no regard for the rule of Christ. And since it is written (Ecclus. XIX):
'He who despises small things falls little by little,' what is to be thought of such men, who, taken up with the immense and manifold masses of their depravities, have brought about a vast ruin by their many onslaughts—a ruin which seems not only to overwhelm themselves, but, unless they are healed, to bring deadly destruction upon the whole Church? Let them not be in doubt—both those who have dared to commit these things, and likewise those who until now have kept silent about what they knew—that they lie under the forfeiture of their own honor, unless with all the speed they can muster they hasten to cure their lethal wounds with fitting remedy. For by what reckoning do they hold the rights of pontiffs, who so dissemble the duties enjoined upon them by their pontifical watches that they rather work things contrary to the house of God over which they preside?
And how much could they avail before God, if they procured only what is fitting—let them look at what they deserve, when with detestable zeal they pursue what is adverse, and, as though this were rather the rule by which the Church ought to be governed, so whatever is hostile to ecclesiastical rules is perpetrated. For both if each of the pontiffs has known the canons, he ought to have kept them with unblemished guardianship; and if perchance he did not know them, he ought confidently to have consulted one who did. So much the more does no excuse come to the aid of those who err, because the one who knew set out not to keep what he knew, and the one who was ignorant took no care to learn what he was to do. Now, that in each Church over which a bishop presides four portions ought to be made, both of the revenue and of the offering of the faithful:
namely, that one part be the bishop's, the second the clergy's, the third the poor's, and the fourth be applied to the ecclesiastical fabric. XXVII. Four portions ought to be made, both of the revenue and of the offering of the faithful, as far as the resources of each Church allow (as was reasonably decreed long ago): of which let one be the pontiff's, the second the clergy's, the third the poor's, and the fourth to be applied to the fabric. Concerning these, just as it will be the priest's duty to pay out to the ministers of the Church the whole said amount, so let the clergy know that nothing beyond the sum assigned to them is to be insolently demanded. But as for those things which are allotted to the ecclesiastical buildings, let the manifest repair of the places show that they have been truly expended upon this work.
...of the saints, for it is impiety if, when the sacred buildings are left in want, the prelate should turn to his own gain the funds designated for these. Likewise the portion ascribed to the poor—although he may appear ready to show that he has dispensed it according to the divine reckonings—nevertheless, according to what is written, 'That they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven' (Matt. v), it ought also to be proclaimed by present testimony and not passed over in silence from the heralding of good repute. That a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, if truly accused by any cleric of having acted contrary to these constitutions, can without doubt be struck down; and that the bishop too will incur peril of his own honor if he keeps silent about what ought to be made known to the whole Church. XXVIII.
Wherefore, let none of the clergy trust that he will go unpunished for this offense in the future, if, in those matters which we have set forth as wholesomely to be followed, he sees a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon transgressing, and does not at once take care to bring it to our ears—provided only that suitable proofs are furnished—so that the transgressor may be punished, and that for the rest there may be an interdict against offending. But each of the pontiffs will in every way be the destroyer of his own rank and honor, if he thinks these things ought to be suppressed from any cleric, or from the hearing of the whole Church. Given on the fifth of the Ides of March, in the consulship of the most renowned men Asterius and Praesidius. (A.D. 494.) DECREES OF POPE ANASTASIUS.
To the most glorious and most clement son Anastasius Augustus, Anastasius the bishop. As the opening of my pontificate, I first proclaim the peace offered to the peoples; consequently, on behalf of the catholic faith, I come humbly as a suppliant to your Piety. In which I trust that the divine favor has first drawn near to me, in that the harmony in me and the unfailing aid of your most august name guarantee that, just as the lofty title of your Piety shines forth among all nations throughout the whole world, so through the ministry of my lowliness the see of the most blessed Peter may hold, in the universal Church (as it ever does), the primacy assigned to it by the Lord God; nor, on account of one dead man, may that saving tunic woven from above throughout (John...)
(John XIX) suffer the uncertainty of an evil lot: that tunic which alone could not come into rending for the sake of its own firmness. For him also, even in private life, there was so much zeal for sincere religion that, as most certain report has celebrated, no one—even among the foremost priests—is said to have kept more the rules of the Church laid down by the holy Fathers; which holy zeal we trust has grown together with the majesty of empire. That he discharges an embassy for Christ, while he prays for the peace of the Church. I. We therefore discharge an embassy on behalf of Christ, that you may not allow these men to be publicly named, because of the offense or the scandal:
men whose merits or deeds cannot be hidden from that Judge in whose judgment they are already set; nor can rash presumption, still in a mortal body, insert itself there, where not only open confession makes plain the merits of individuals, but even the secret of silence itself cannot lie hidden. For both our predecessor Pope Felix, and Acacius too, are without doubt there, where each, under so great a Judge, cannot lose the quality of his desert. That judgment must not be passed rashly concerning those who have already departed to God. II. And so, with the most blessed
Apostle Paul admonishing us that there be no stumbling-block of this kind in the Church, while we attempt to judge concerning those who have already passed away—a thing we cannot do—let your Tranquillity know that this must be observed. For he says of those who presume to judge concerning matters pertaining to God alone (Rom. XIV): 'For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself: for whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether therefore we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ rose from the dead, that he might be Lord both of the living and of the dead; but you, why do you judge your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the tribunal of God.' For it is written (Isa. XLV):