How and When We Ought to Celebrate the Memorials of the Faithful Departed, and that We Ought Then to Give Somewhat Out of Their Goods to the Poor.
XLII. Let the third day of the departed be celebrated with psalms, and lessons, and prayers, on account of Him who arose within the space of three days; and let the ninth day be celebrated in remembrance of the living, and of the departed; and the fortieth [3739] day according to the ancient pattern: for so did the people lament Moses, and the anniversary day in memory of him. [3740] And let alms be given to the poor out of his goods for a memorial of him. [3741]
That Memorials or Mandates Do Not at All Profit the Ungodly Who are Dead.
XLIII. These things we say concerning the pious; for as to the ungodly, if thou givest all the world to the poor, thou wilt not benefit him at all. For to whom the Deity was an enemy while he was alive, it is certain it will be so also when he is departed; for there is no unrighteousness with Him. For "the Lord [3742] is righteous, and has loved righteousness." [3743] And, "Behold the man and his work." [3744]
Concerning Drunkards.
XLIV. Now, when you are invited to their memorials, do you feast with good order, and the fear of God, as disposed to intercede for those that are departed. For since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, that so you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, "The men in power are passionate. But let them not drink wine, lest by drinking they forget wisdom, and are not able to judge aright." [3745] Wherefore [3746] both the presbyters and the deacons are those of authority in the Church next to God Almighty and His beloved Son. [3747] We say this, not they are not to drink at all, otherwise it would be to the reproach of what God has made for cheerfulness, but that they be not disordered with wine. For the Scripture does not say, Do not drink wine; but what says it? "Drink not wine to drunkenness;" and again, "Thorns spring up in the hand of the drunkard." [3748] Nor do we say this only to those of the clergy, but also to every lay Christian, upon whom the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is called. For to them also it is said, "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath uneasiness? who hath babbling? who hath red eyes? who hath wounds without cause? Do not these things belong to those that tarry long at the wine, and that go to seek where drinking meetings are?" [3749]
Concerning the Receiving Such as are Persecuted for Christ's Sake.
XLV. Receive ye those that are persecuted [3750] on account of the faith, and who fly from city to city, [3751] as mindful of the words of the Lord. For, knowing that though "the spirit be willing, the flesh is weak," [3752] they fly away, and prefer the spoiling of their goods, that they may preserve the name of Christ in themselves without denying it. Supply them therefore with what they want, and thereby fulfil the commandment of the Lord.
[3706] This chapter is not found in the Coptic and Syriac. One V. ms. has the following note: "Matthew (probably a mistake for Matthias) taught the doctrines of Christ in Judea, and was one of the seventy disciples. After the ascension of Christ he was numbered with the twelve apostles, instead of Judas, who was the betrayer. He lies in Jerusalem."
[3707] Ps. civ. 15.
[3708] The Oxford ms. reads: "I the same, Simon the Canaanite, make a constitution."
[3709] "Deacons" omitted in Oxford ms. and in Coptic.
[3710] "Two," Oxford ms.
[3711] "One," Oxford ms.
[3712] One V. ms. has the following instead of the title: "Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, having proclaimed the Gospel of Christ to the Gentiles from Jerusalem even to Illyricum, was cut off in Rome while teaching the truth, by Nero and King Agrippa, being beheaded, and has been buried in Rome itself."
[3713] [Note this uniform testimony of antiquity against theatricals in all forms ]
[3714] [Purveyors to the play-house.]
[3715] Luke iii. 14.
[3716] [Compare vol. v. p. 130, [291]note 1.]
[3717] John vi. 45.
[3718] Eph. vi.; Col. iv.; Philem.
[3719] The Coptic adds, "the holy mother of God."
[3720] [Compare vol. iii. pp. [292]164, [293]352.]
[3721] One V. ms., Coptic, and Syriac omit "first."
[3722] The Syriac and Coptic add: "and His side being wounded, blood and water came forth."
[3723] Matt. xviii. 20. [A token that much of these constitutions is truly primitive.]
[3724] 2 Cor. vi. 14. [Compare p. 483, supra: Energumens?]
[3725] The words from "I, James" to "ordain thus" are omitted in the V. mss., and the following words are given instead in the two V. mss.: "James, the brother of the Lord, has been killed with stones (the other ms. reads, with sticks') by the Jews in Jerusalem on account of the doctrines of Christ." Ch. xxxv.-xli. are omitted in the Oxford ms., and in Syriac and Coptic.
[3726] "Before all" is omitted in one V. ms.
[3727] One V. ms. reads "sender forth" instead of "Lord."
[3728] Ps. lxxiv. 16.
[3729] One V. ms. reads "with" instead of "in."
[3730] Ps. xliv. 20.
[3731] Ex. xxxiv. and xx.
[3732] Ps. xvii. 8.
[3733] One V. ms. reads, "with whom," and "with the Holy Spirit."
[3734] [They are "at rest." Yet this prayer, and wherefore? See St. Augustine, Confessions (ed. Migne), p. 765, Nebridius.]
[3735] Matt. xxii. 32; Wisd. iii. 1.
[3736] "With whom," one V. ms.
[3737] Ps. xxviii. 9.
[3738] 2 Tim. iv. 7.
[3739] The Syriac and a Greek marginal reading give "the thirtieth."
[3740] Deut. xxxiv. 8. [Comp. Aug., Confess. (ed. Migne), p. 778.]
[3741] [The "month's mind" was anciently of this sort, with no reference to purgatorial penalties. "Credo jam feceris quod rogo."--Aug.]
[3742] The Syriac and the Oxford ms. read "God" instead of "Lord."
[3743] Ps. xi. 7.
[3744] Isa. lxii. 11.
[3745] Prov. xxxi. 4, LXX.
[3746] The Syriac, the Coptic, and the Oxford ms. add, "the bishops." The Coptic omits "the deacons."
[3747] The Coptic adds, "Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit."
[3748] Prov. xxiii.; Ecclus. xxxi. 25-31; Eph. v. 18; Prov. xxvi. 9.
[3749] Prov. xxiii. 29, 30.
[3750] [A token of the early origin of what is genuine in these interpolated Constitutions.]
[3751] Matt. x. 23.
[3752] Matt. xxvi. 41.
Sec. V.--All the Apostles Urge the Observance of the Order of the Church.
That Every One Ought to Remain in that Rank Wherein He is Placed, But Not Snatch Such Offices to Himself Which are Not Entrusted to Him.
XLVI. Now this we all in common do charge you, that every one remain in that rank which is appointed him, and do not transgress his proper bounds; for they are not ours, but God's. For says the Lord: "He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that heareth me, heareth Him that sent me." And, "He that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me." [3753] For if those things that are without life do observe good order, as the night, the day, the sun, the moon, the stars, the elements, the seasons, the months, the weeks, the days, and the hours, and are subservient to the uses appointed them, according to that which is said, "Thou hast set them a bound which they shall not pass;" [3754] and again, concerning the sea, "I have set bounds thereto, and have encompassed it with bars and gates; and I said to it, Hitherto shalt thou come, and thou shalt go no farther;" [3755] how much more ought ye not to venture to remove those things which we, according to God's will, have determined for you! But because many think this a small matter, and venture to confound the orders, and to remove the ordination which belongs to them severally, snatching to themselves dignities which were never given them, and allowing themselves to bestow that authority in a tyrannical manner which they have not themselves, and thereby provoke God to anger (as did the followers of Corah and King Uzziah, [3756] who, having no authority, usurped the high-priesthood without commission from God; and the former were burnt with fire, and the latter was struck with a leprosy in his forehead); and provoke Christ Jesus to anger, who has made this constitution; and also grieve the Holy Spirit, and make void His testimony: therefore, foreknowing the danger that hangs over those who do such things, and the neglect about the sacrifices and eucharistical offices which will arise from their being impiously offered by those who ought not to offer them; who think the honour of the high-priesthood, which is an imitation of the great High Priest Jesus Christ our King, to be a matter of sport; we have found it necessary to give you warning in this matter also. For some are already turned aside after their own vanity. We say that Moses the servant of God ("to whom God spake face to face, as if a man spake to his friend;" [3757] to whom He said, "I know thee above all men;" to whom He spake directly, and not by obscure methods, or dreams, or angels, or riddles),--this person, when he made constitutions and divine laws, distinguished what things were to be performed by the high priests, what by the priests, and what by the Levites; distributing to every one his proper and suitable office in the divine service. And those things which are allotted for the high priests to do, those might not be meddled with by the priests; and what things were allotted to the priests, the Levites might not meddle with; but every one observed those ministrations which were written down and appointed for them. And if any would meddle beyond the tradition, death was his punishment. And Saul's example does show this most plainly, who, thinking he might offer sacrifice without the prophet and high priest Samuel, [3758] drew upon himself a sin and a curse without remedy. Nor did even his having anointed him king discourage the prophet. But God showed the same by a more visible effect in the case of Uzziah, [3759] when He without delay exacted the punishment due to this transgression, and he that madly coveted after the high-priesthood was rejected from his kingdom also. As to those things that have happened amongst us, you yourselves are not ignorant of them. For ye know undoubtedly that those that are by us named bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, were made by prayer, and by the laying on of hands; and that by the difference of their names is showed the difference of their employments. For not every one that will is ordained, as the case was in that spurious and counterfeit priesthood of the calves under Jeroboam; [3760] but he only who is called of God. For if there were no rule or distinction of orders, it would suffice to perform all the offices under one name. But being taught by the Lord the series of things, we distributed the functions of the high-priesthood to the bishops, those of the priesthood to the presbyters, and the ministration under them both to the deacons; that the divine worship might be performed in purity. For it is not lawful for a deacon to offer the sacrifice, or to baptize, or to give either the greater or the lesser blessing. Nor may a presbyter perform ordination; for it is not agreeable to holiness to have this order perverted. For "God is not the God of confusion," [3761] that the subordinate persons should tyrannically assume to themselves the functions belonging to their superiors, forming a new scheme of laws to their own mischief, not knowing that "it is hard for them to kick against the pricks;" [3762] for such as these do not fight against us, or against the bishops, but against the universal Bishop and the High Priest of the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord. [3763] High priests, priests, and Levites were ordained by Moses, [3764] the most beloved of God. By our Saviour [3765] were we apostles, thirteen in number, ordained; and by the apostles I James, and I Clement, and others with us, were ordained, that we may not make the catalogue of all those bishops over again. And in common, presbyters, and deacons, and sub-deacons, and readers, were ordained by all of us. The great High Priest therefore, who is so by nature, is Christ the only begotten; not having snatched that honour to Himself, but having been appointed such by the Father; who being made man for our sake, and offering the spiritual sacrifice to His God and Father, before His suffering gave it us alone in charge to do this, although there were others with us who had believed in Him. But he that believes is not presently appointed a priest, or obtains the dignity of the high-priesthood. But after His ascension we offered, according to His constitution, the pure and unbloody sacrifice; and ordained bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, seven in number: one of which was Stephen, [3766] that blessed martyr, who was not inferior to us as to his pious disposition of mind towards God; who showed so great piety towards God, by his faith and love towards our Lord Jesus Christ, as to give his life for Him, and was stoned to death by the Jews, the murderers of the Lord. Yet still this so great and good a man, who was fervent in spirit, who saw Christ on the right hand of God, and the gates of heaven opened, does nowhere appear to have exercised functions which did not appertain to his office of a deacon, nor to have offered the sacrifices, nor to have laid hands upon any, but kept his order of a deacon unto the end. For so it became him, who was a martyr for Christ, to preserve good order. But if some do blame Philip [3767] our deacon, and Ananias [3768] our faithful brother, that the one did baptize the eunuch, and the other me Paul, these men do not understand what we say. For we have affirmed only that no one snatches the sacerdotal dignity to himself, but either receives it from God, as Melchisedec and Job, or from the high priest, as Aaron from Moses. Wherefore Philip and Ananias did not constitute themselves, but were appointed by Christ, the High Priest of that God to whom no being is to be compared.