§ 15. SUPPORT OF THE CLERGY. 101
St.. Jorome agrees with him.' The distinguished heathen pre feet, Practextatus, said to Pope Damasus, that for the price ol the bishopric of Rome he himself might become a Christian at once. The bishops of Constantinople, according to the account of Gregory ISTazianzen,' who himself held that see for a short time, were not behind their Roman colleagues in this extravagance, and vied with the most honorable functionaries of the state in pomp and sumptuous diet. The cathedrals of Constantinople and Carthage had hundreds of priests, deacons, deaconesses, subdeacons, prelectors, singers, and janitors.'
It is worthy of notice, that, as we have already intimated, the two greatest church fathers gave the preference in principle to the voluntary system in the support of the church and the ministry, which prevailed before the Nicene era, and which has been restored in modern times in the United States of America. Chrysostom no doubt perceived that under existing circumstances the wants of the church could not well be otherwise supplied, but he was decidedly averse to the accumulation of treasure by the church, and said to his hearers in Antioch : "The treasure of the church should be with you all, and it is only your hardness of heart that requires her to hold earthly property and to deal in houses and lands. Ye are unfruitful in good works, and so the ministers of God must meddle in a thousand nuitters foreign to their office. In the days of the apostles people might likewise have given them houses and lands ; why did they prefer to sell the houses and lands and give the proceeds ? Because this was without doubt the better way. Your fatliers would have preferred that you should give alms of your incomes, but they feared that your avarice might leave the poor to hunger; hence the present order of things."* Augustine desired that his people in Hippo should take back
' Hieron. Ep. 34 (al. 2) et passim. » Orat. 32.
* The cathedral of Constantinople fell under censure for the excessive number of its clergy and subordinate officers, so that Justinian reduced it to five hundred and twenty-five, of which probably more than half were useless. Comp. lust. Novell ciii.
* Homil. 85 in Matt. (vii. 808 sq.). Horn. 21 in 1 Cor. 1 (x. 190). Comp. also De sacerdot. 1. iii. c. IG.
102 THLKD PEKIOD. A.D. 311-590.
the church property and support the clergy and the poor bj free gifts.'
§ 16. Episcopal Jurisdiction and Intercession.
4. We proceed to the legal validity of the episcopal jurisdiction, which likewise dates from tlie time of Constantine.
After the manner of the Jewish synagogues, and according to the exhortation of St. Paul," the Christians were accustomed from the beginning to settle their controversies before the church, rather than carry them before heathen tribunals ; but down to the time of Constantine the validity of tlie bishop's decision depended on the voluntary submission of both parties. Now this decision was invested with the force of law, and in spiritual matters no appeal could be taken from it to the civil court. Constantine himself, so early as 314, rejected such an appeal in the Donatist controversy with the significant declaration : " The judgment of the priests must be regarded as the judgment of Christ himself."' Even a sentence of excommunication was final ; and Justinian allowed appeal only to the metropolitan, not to the civil tribunal. Several councils, that of Chalcedon, for example, in 451, went so far as to threaten clergy, who should avoid the episcopal tribunal or appeal fi-om it to the civil, with deposition. Sometimes the bishops called in the help of the state, where the offender contenmed the censure of the church. Justinian I. extended the episcopal jurisdiction also to the monasteries, neraclius subsequently (628) referred even criminal causes among the clergy to the bishops, thus dismissing the clergy thenceforth entirely from the secular courts ; though of course holding them liable
' Possidius in Vita Aug. c. 23 : " Alloqucbatiir plebem Dei, malle se ex collationibu8 plubis Dei viverc quam illarum possessionuin curam vel guboinationea pati et paratum so esse illia cedcre, ut eo modo oniiics Dei aervi et uuDistri vivd itjnt."
* 1 Cor. vi. 1-6.
• "Sacerdotum judicium ita debet haberi, ut ai ipae Dominus residena judics Optatua Milev.: De schism. Douat. f. 184.