Conunnne, or Commtmioate, a term made use of to denote the act of receiving the Lord's Supper. See Lord's Supper.
ComxniixiicantB, (1.) a sect of Anabaptists (q. v.); (2.) a term used to designate church-members who par- take of the Lord's Supper (q. v.).
Commtmioatio Idiomfttnin, a doctrine of the Lutheran Church as to the person of Christ. In the ancient Church the question arose if a real personal unity of the divine and the human elements in the per- son of Christ could be effected without destroying the distinction of natures. The ancient Church maintain- ed the reality of the personal unity of the two ele- ments by condemning the Nestorian, Monophysite, and Monotheletic doctrines. The Lutheran theology undertook to show the possibiUty of this union. Luther laid the foundation of the doctrine by the assertion that Christ, according to his humanit}% fiUs all things, and is ubiquitous. He did not use, however, the expres- sion communicatio idiomatum, which was first employed
COMMUNICATIVE LIFE
442
COMMUNION
in the Formula CancordiiB (q. y.). Three classes of Scriptural passages were addacedby the old Latheran writers in behalf of this doctrine : 1, those in which qualities belonging to one nature only are attributed to the whole person ; 2, those which predicate of one nature an activity which belongs to the work of re- demption, consequently to the whole fwrson ; 8, those which transfer divine attributes to Christ's human na- ture. The Formula Concordia, however, expressly rejects a restriction of the divine nature, in conse- quence of its union with the human. Zwingle, with whom, on the whole, the theologians of the Reformed Church agreed, rejected the doctrine of a real commur nioatio idiomatwn (peculiar qualities of the two na- tures), and explained the passages adduced by the Lu- therans as figures of speech (dAXotoKnc). The Supra- naturalistic school of the later German theology does not expressly reject the doctrine, but explains it away. The Rationalistic, ^Esthetic, and Speculative schools of Germany either reject it entirely, or partly put upon ittm ethical or speculative construction. The revived Lutheran orthodoxy of the 19th century partly re- stricts itself to a mere revival of the old doctrine, and partly attempts to complete it by asserting a self-re- striction of the divine nature in Christ, in consequence of his union with the human. According to this doc- trine, which was in particular developed by Sartorius {Dorpater Beitr&ge zu den theologischen Wisaenachaften, Hamburg, 1882) and Thomasius (BeUrd^e aur ktrch- lichen ChrittoUigit, Erlangen, 1845), the Logos, from the moment of his incarnation, renounced his dwine »elf-conaeUmtnet$ in order to develop himself in a mere- ly human form. See, besides the works already men- tioned, Domer, Hittory of the Peraon qf Christ, Edinb. translation, vol. U; Hase, EvangeUtche DogmcEtik, p. 221 sq. ; Gieseler, Church History, edited by Smith, vol. iv, § 87 ; Hagenbach, History of Doctrines (Smith's), § 266, 267 ; Pearson On the Creed, art. ii ; and the arti- cle Christoloot, p. 281.
Comxntmicative Life. Ecclesiastical writers, in describing the habits of monks, distinguish between vita commumcaiiva and vita rentmciativcu The usual plan was for candidates to take a solemn vow of pov- erty, and consequently to renounce the world by dis- posing of their estates to charitable uses, before they entered into a community, where they were to have all things in common. Others kept their estates in their own hands, and yet enjoyed no more of them than if they had passed over to others ; for they distributed their whole yearly revenue to the poor, and to such uses as the daily necessities of men required. The latter was called the communicative life. — Farrar, Ecd. Dictionary, s. v. ; Bingham, Orig, Eccl. vii, 8, 9.
Commnnio Laloa, in the language of the Church of Rome, means properly the rank of the laity, but is more commonly used to signify the status of a clergyman transferred from the privileged class of the clergy to the lay community. Only the clergy of the lower grades (see Clbrot) could voluntarily go back to the rank of the laity ; those who had received one of the higher orders (upwards from the diaconate) could be transfer- red back to the laity only by legal dispensation grant- ed by the pope, or by degradation. Clergymen of the lower grades can, according to the canon law, con- tract a valid marriage, but thereby lose their benefices and the privileges of the clergy. The Council of Trent allowed that in exceptional cases the lower or- ders be conferred upon married men (in case they had not been married oftener than once), and, on condition of their wearing the tonsure and the derical habit, granted to them the privilegia canonis et fori (see Clerot). Papal dispensation for members of the higher clergy to re-enter the rank of the laity (in par- ticular, for the purpose of manning) has only been '^vcn in rare instances. The transfer of a clergyman e rank of the laity, as a punishment, took place,
according to the andent canonical law, m with deposition, but, according to the later Uw, edj in consequence of degradation (q. v.). See Wetaer i. Welte, Kirchen-Lex. il, 718 ; Bingham, Orig. EoeL xrs, 2 ; Farrar, Ecd, Diet, s. v.
Commnnio Peregrina. In the early Qhsark the term communio denoted not only a participation of the Eucharist, but also a right of partaking of tbe bounty of the Church. When travellers or strangffrs came to any church without bringing letters tesHmtm- al, by which they might be ascertained to be memben of some Christian church, they were liable to the sm- picion that they were under the censure of tlie Chorcii to which they had belonged. Until they could ihm clear themselves from imputation, they were not ad- mitted to the Lord's table, but were allowed to derire their means of temporal maintenance from the Chur^ fund. In this way delinquent dergymen were some^ times treated in their own churches, and this was call- ed commumo peregrina. They were not permitted to officiate or to be present at the cdebration of the Lmti'g Supper until they had given satisfaction to the ChardL — Farrar, Fed, Diet, s. v. ; Bingham, Or^, Ecd, xrii, 8,1.