202 TULRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
synod or* Orleans, in 533, ordained in its eighteenth canon "]N"o woman shall henceforth receive the lenedictio diiconalu [which had been substituted for ordlnatio], on account of the A^eakness of this sex." The reason betrays the w^ant of good deaconesses, and suggests the connection of this abolition of an apostolic institution with the introduction of the celibacy of the jn-iesthood, which seemed to be endangered by every sort of female society. The adoption of the care of the poor and sick by the state, and the cessation of adult baptisms and of the custom of immersion, also made female assistance less needful. In modern times, the Catholic church, it is true, luis special societies or orders of women, like the Sisters of Mercy, for the care of the sick and poor, the training of cliildren, and 'ytJier objects of practical charity ; and in the bosom of Protestantism also similar benevolent associations have arisen, under the name of Deaconess Institutes, or Sisters' Houses, though in the more free evangelical spirit, and without the bond of a vow,' But, though quite kindred in their object, these associations are not to be identified with the office of deaconess in the apostolic age and in the ancient church. That w^as a regular, standing office in every Clmstian congregation, corresponding to the office of deacon ; and has never since the twelfth century been revived, though the local work of charity has never ceased.
To the ordinary clergy there were added in this period sundry extraordinary church offices, rendered necessary by the multiplication of religious functions in large cities and dioceses :
1. Stewards.' These officers administered the church property under the supervision of the bishop, and were chosen in part from the clergy, in part from such of the laity as wera
* The Deaconess House (Mutterhaus) at Kaiscrawerth on the Rhino, founded in 1836 ; Bethany in Berlin, 184*7 ; and similar evangelical hospitals in Dresden, 1842, Btraabuig, 1842, Paris (institution des diaconesses des 6glise3 evangcliques de France), 1841, Loudon (Institution of Nursing Sisters), 1840, New York (St. Luke's Hogpital^ Pittsburg, 1849, Smyrna, Jerusalem, etc.
* OIkuuo^ou Besides these there were also Kiiixi)\iapxai, aacellarii, thefaurariu
§ 53. THE BISHOPS. 263
versed in law. In Constantinople the " great steward " was a person of considerable rank, though not a clergyman. Tlio council of Chalcedon enjoined upon every episcopal diocese the appointment of such officers, and the selection of them from the clergy, " that the economy of the church ndght not be irresponsible, and thereby the church property be exposed to waste and the clerical dignity be brought into ill repute." * For conducting the litigation of the church, sometimes a special advocate, called tlie e/c8t«09, or defensor, was appointed.
2. Secretaries,^ for drawing the protocols in public ecclesiastical transactions (gesta ecclesiastica). They were usually clergymen, or such as had prepared themselves for the service of the church.
3. Nurses or Pababolani,' especially in connection with the larger church hospitals. Their office was akin to that of the deacons, but had more reference to the bodily assistance than to the spiritual care of the sick. In Alexandria, by the fifth century, these officers formed a great guild of six hundred members, and were not rarely misemployed as a standing army of episcopal domination.* Hence, upon a complaint of the citizens of Alexandria against them, to the emperor Tlieodosius II., their number were reduced to five hundred. In the West they were never introduced.
4. BuRiERS OF THE DEAD* likewise belonged among these ordines minores of the church. Under Theodosius II. there were more than a thousand of them in Constantinople.
§ 53. Tke Bishops.
The bishops now stood with sovereign power at the head of the clergy and of their dioceses. They had come to be
' Cone. Cluilced. can. 26. This canon also occurs twice in the Corp. jur. can. c. 21, C. xvi. q. 7, and c. 4, Dist. Ixxix.
* TaxL'Tpct^oi, notarii, excerptores.
' Parabolani, probably from irapa^aWeiv r^^v ^otji', to risk life ; because in contagious diseases they often exposed themselves to the danger of death .
* A. perversion of a benevolent association to turbulent purposes similar to thai Df the firemen's companies in the large cities of the United States.
* KaTriaraj, copiatoe, fossores, fossarii.