講道與書信 第 79 章

Leo, bishop of the city of Rome, to all the bishops appointed throughout Campania, Picenum, Tuscia, and in all the provinces, greeting in the Lord. As the state of the Churches, composed by wholesome ordering, gives us occasion for gladness, so it saddens us with no light grief, as often as we learn that anything has been presumed or committed contrary to the constitutions of the canons and ecclesiastical discipline; and if we do not prune these away with the vigilance we owe, we cannot excuse ourselves to him who willed us to be watchmen (Ezek. 3:17), while we permit the pure body of the Church, which we ought to keep clean from every stain, to be defiled by the wicked contagion of the ambitious, since the very frame of the members, through their dissimilarity, does not agree with itself.

That the ordination of another man's slave is unlawful. — Men are everywhere admitted to sacred orders for whom no dignity of birth and no worthiness of character speaks; and those who have not in the least been able to obtain freedom from their masters are advanced to the summit of the priesthood, as though servile baseness could seize upon this honour. And one is believed capable of being approved by God who has not yet been able to prove himself to his own master. Twofold, therefore, in this matter is the guilt: for the sacred ministry is defiled by the baseness of such an association, and the rights of masters — so far as concerns the rashness of unlawful usurpation — are dissolved. From such men, therefore, most beloved brethren, let all the priests of your province hold themselves aloof;

and we desire that restraint be exercised not only in regard to these, but also in regard to others who are bound by their birth-condition or by some obligation of status: unless perchance the petition or consent of those who claim some power over them has intervened. For he who is to be enrolled in the divine warfare ought to be free from all others (2 Tim. 1:4), so that he may not be dragged away by any bonds of necessity from the household camp to which his name is inscribed. CHAP. II. That a man who has married a widow, or who has been the husband of more than one wife, is to be barred from the sacred ministry. — But of what sort he ought to be who, when the honour of his birth and character has been established in each case, is to be joined to the ministry of the holy altar, we have learned both from the teaching of the Apostle (1 Tim. 3:2; Tit. 1:6) and from the divine precept (Lev.

21:14), and from the rules of the canons — from which we find that very many of the brethren have swerved and gone utterly astray. For it is established that men have attained to the priesthood who married widows; and that some too, who have had numerous marriages and a life more freely given to every license, have been admitted to sacred orders indiscriminately with the gates thrown open, against that word of the blessed Apostle by which he cries out to such men, saying: 'The husband of one wife' (1 Tim. 3:2); and against that precept of the ancient law by which it is said and enjoined: 'Let the priest take a virgin to wife, not a widow, not one that has been divorced' (Lev. 21:14).

These men, therefore, whosoever such have been admitted, we command by the authority of the Apostolic See to be debarred from ecclesiastical offices and from the priestly name; nor will they be able to claim for themselves this dignity of which they were incapable through that very thing which stood in their way: the care of this examination being especially reserved to us, so that if perchance any offences have been committed in these matters, they may be corrected, and it may not be permitted to commit them further, and that no excuse may arise from ignorance — although it has never been permitted for a priest to be ignorant of what has been defined by the rules of the canons. These things, therefore, we have sent in writing to your provinces through Innocent, Legitimus and Segetius, our brethren and fellow-bishops;

so that the things which are known to have sprung up wickedly may be plucked out by the roots, and no tares may corrupt the Lord's harvest. For thus will the things that are pure yield abundant fruit, if the things which are wont to choke the growing crop are more diligently cut away. CHAP. III. Usury forbidden to laymen and clerics. — Nor have we thought that this too should be passed over, that certain men, seized by desire of base gain, practise usurious money-lending and wish to grow rich by interest. This we lament as falling not only — I will not say — upon those established in the clerical office, but even upon laymen who desire to be called Christians. This we decree shall be more severely punished in those who are convicted of it, so that every opportunity of sinning may be taken away. CHAP. IV.

That a cleric shall not practise money-lending either in his own name or in another's. — This too we have thought must be forewarned: that as a cleric must not in his own name, so neither in another's name, attempt to practise money-lending; for it is unseemly to charge one's own crime to another's advantage. But this is the only interest we ought to look to and to practise: that what we here bestow in mercy, we may be able to receive back from that Lord who will repay it manifold and everlasting. CHAP. V. That a bishop who breaks the canons shall be deposed.

— This, therefore, our admonition declares: that if any of the brethren shall attempt to go against these ordinances, and shall have dared to admit what is forbidden, let him know that he is to be removed from his office, and that he who has been unwilling to be a companion of discipline shall not be a partaker of our communion. But that nothing may perchance be believed to have been overlooked by us, we command that all the decretal ordinances — both of Innocent of blessed memory and of all our predecessors, which have been promulgated concerning ecclesiastical orders and the disciplines of the canons — be so guarded by your love, that if anyone shall have offended in them, he may know that pardon will thenceforth be denied him. Given on the sixth day before the Ides of October, in the consulship of Maximus for the second time and of Paterius, most illustrious men.

CHAP. I. — Every salutary admonition, which we believe comes about by the Lord's inspiration, redounds to the reward both of him who admonishes and of him who is admonished; and therefore we gladly take up this task, since we hasten to please our God not only by our own acts but by those of all our brethren and fellow-priests. For it returns to our own credit, if the Churches are so governed that no access is opened to complaints. Let this precept, therefore, most beloved brethren, be sweet and delightful to your love, which you know flows from the authority of the Apostolic See, with the grace of charity preserved; and do not believe that any of your rights is diminished, if in present as in future matters you see it provided against, lest access be opened to unlawful presumptions.

For it is more cautious to resist usurpations before they are attempted, than to redress what has been usurped. CHAP. II. — And because our care is extended through all the Churches, the Lord requiring this of us, who committed the primacy of his faith to the most blessed Apostle Peter as the recompense of apostolic dignity, establishing the universal Church upon the solidity of that very foundation, we share the burden of the solicitude which we bear with those who are joined to us by the charity of collegiality. Therefore, following the example of those whose memory is to be venerated by us, we have committed our office in vicariate to our brother and fellow-bishop Anastasius, and have enjoined him to be as it were upon the watchtower, lest anything unlawful be presumed by anyone:

we admonish that your love obey him in those things which pertain to ecclesiastical discipline. For it is not so much he who is obeyed as we, who are known to have committed this to him, on account of our solicitude, throughout those provinces. CHAP. III. — For we wish such priests to be made unto the Lord, in whom all things concur that are defined by the ecclesiastical canons: that bishops, presbyters and deacons be husbands of one wife according to the sentence of the blessed Apostle (1 Tim. 3:2), and that they have taken this one wife, according to the precepts of the law, as a virgin, not a widow, not one divorced, as the scripture of the law testifies (Lev. 21:13, 14; Ezek. 44:22).

Nor let anyone suppose that he can attain to the priesthood who, before baptism, upon the failing of the wife he had, took another again after he was renewed through the grace of baptism; for although sins are blotted out by baptism, the number of wives is not abrogated. Nor, moreover, will he be able to plead in his own excuse that he can deny himself the father of those children whom he received before baptism. For neither can a wife, who is granted by the precept of the law, be reckoned among the sins which are washed away by baptism. CHAP. IV. — Whosoever of the brethren shall have been summoned to a synod, let him attend, and not deny himself to the congregation: knowing that causes pertaining to God are to be dealt with there. Whatever causes, as commonly happens, shall arise among the priests, let it be reserved to the examination of him to whom we have committed our office:

so that under the fear of God, with him presiding, every ambiguity may be settled. Let nothing be done to our injury, contrary to these things which we have established. Let it be made known to us by his report, if anything shall have to be referred to us: for we wish you to belong to him in such wise that the priests of your provinces belong to you. Those, therefore, who desire that what is rightly owed be granted them by the authority of the Apostolic See, let them not strive to lessen it by their own obstinacy. CHAP. V. — But as the ordination of priests is committed to your love in your own sphere, so we wish you to consult our brother and fellow-bishop Anastasius concerning the chief pastors; to whom we have determined the consecration of metropolitan bishops should be reserved, as inquirer and guardian, so that when a fixed head is set over them, the order of ecclesiastical discipline may be preserved in all things.

But let your love know that he himself has been admonished by our letters concerning the fixed rules of the canons, so that he may from time to time make the more certain concerning the state of your Churches by his report; knowing that it will be reckoned to his charge by us, if anything of the things we have established shall have been violated by him. CHAP. VI. — But if any weightier causes or appeals shall arise, we have decreed that they ought to be sent to us under his own report, so that we, preserving the ecclesiastical custom, may pronounce sentence. But as for these things which we have sent in writing through my son Nicolaus the presbyter, write back to us, on the messengers' return, that we may know you have received the same. Given on the day of the Ides of January, in the consulship of Theodosius for the eighteenth time and of Albinus.