34. Of the sober behaviour of the secular [2068] in church. [2069]
35. That deacons may pronounce the benediction and thanksgiving at the love-feasts when a bishop is not present. [2070]
36. Of the first-fruits of the earth, and of vows. [2071]
37. When a bishop celebrates the holy communion (Synaxis), [2072] the presbyters who stand by him should be clothed in white. [2073]
38. That no one ought to sleep on the night of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. [2074]
[2036] These were first published in French by Jo. Michael Wanslebius in his book De Ecclesia Alexandrina, Paris, 1677, p. 12; then in Latin, by Job Ludolfus, in his Commentar. ad historiam Æthiopicam, Frankfort, 1691, p. 333; and by William Whiston, in vol. iii. of his Primitive Christianity Revived, published in English at London, 1711, p. 543. He has also noted the passages in the Constitutions Apostolicæ, treating the same matters.
[2037] Constit. Apostol., lib. vi. ch. 11, etc.
[2038] Lib. vii. ch. 41.
[2039] Lib. vii. ch. 4, 5, 10. [The service of the faithful, Missa Fidelium, not the modern Mass. See Bingham, book xv. The Missa was an innocent word for the dismission of those not about to receive the Communion. See Guettée, Exposition, etc., p. 433.]
[2040] Lib. viii. ch. 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 45.
[2041] Lib. viii. ch. 21, 22.
[2042] Lib. viii. ch. 1, 2.
[2043] Lib. viii. ch. 46, 32.
[2044] Lib. viii. ch. 46, 32.
[2045] Studia.
[2046] Lib. viii. ch. 46, 32.
[2047] Wanting.
[2048] Lib. viii. ch. 32.
[2049] Lib. viii. ch. 32.
[2050] Lib. viii. ch. 32.
[2051] Lib. viii. ch. 32.
[2052] Lib. ii. ch. 57.
[2053] Lib. v. ch. 6.
[2054] Lib. v. ch. 13, 15.
[2055] Lib. ii. ch. 36.
[2056] Lib. v. ch. 15, etc.
[2057] Lib. vii. ch. 39, 40, 41.
[2058] Lib. iv. ch. 2.
[2059] Lib. iii. ch. 19, viii. ch. 34.
[2060] Lib. viii. ch. 32.
[2061] Lib. ii. ch. 59.
[2062] Wanting.
[2063] Wanting,
[2064] Lib. vii. ch. 39, etc.
[2065] Lib. viii. ch. 28.
[2066] Lib. iii. ch. 6, 7, 13.
[2067] Lib iv. ch. 14, viii. ch. 41-44.
[2068] i.e., laymen.
[2069] Lib. ii. ch. 57.
[2070] Wanting.
[2071] Or offerings. Lib. ii. ch. 25.
[2072] [Synaxis. Elucidation II.]
[2073] Lib. vii. ch. 29, viii. 30, 31. (See the whole history of ecclesiastical antiquity, on this point, in the learned work of Wharton B. Marriott, Vestiarium Christianum, London, Rivingtons, 1868.]
[2074] Lib. viii. ch. 12, v. ch. 19.
Canons of the Church of Alexandria.
Wrongly ascribed to Hippolytus. [2075]
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Those are the canons of the Church, ordinances which Hippolytus wrote, by whom the Church speaketh; and the number of them is thirty-eight canons. Greeting from the Lord.
Canon First. Of the Catholic faith. Before all things should we speak of the faith, holy and right, regarding our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; and we have consequently placed that canon in the faith (the symbol); and we agree in this with all reasonable certitude, that the Trinity is equal perfectly in honour, and equal in glory, and has neither beginning nor end. The Word is the Son of God, and is Himself the Creator of every creature, of things visible and invisible. This we lay down with one accord, in opposition to those who have said boldly, that it is not right to speak of the Word of God as our Lord Jesus Christ spake. We come together chiefly to bring out the holy truth [2076] regarding God; and we have separated them, because they do not agree with the Church in theology, nor with us the sons of the Scriptures. On this account we have sundered them from the Church, and have left what concerns them to God, who will judge His creatures with justice. [2077] To those, moreover, who are not cognisant of them, we make this known without ill-will, in order that they may not rush into an evil death, like heretics, but may gain eternal life, and teach their sons and their posterity this one true faith.
Canon Second. Of bishops. A bishop should be elected by all the people, and he should be unimpeachable, as it is written of him in the apostle; in the week in which he is ordained, the whole people should also say, We desire him; and there should be silence in the whole hall, and they should all pray in his behalf, and say, O God, stablish him whom Thou hast prepared for us, etc.
Canon Third. Prayer in behalf of him who is made bishop, and the ordinance of the Missa. [2078] O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, etc.