264: THIED PEKIOD. A.D. 311-590.
uuiversallj regarded as the veliicles and propagators of ♦lie gifts of the Holy Ghost, and tlio teachers and hxwgivers of the church in all matters of faith and discipline. The specific distinction between them and the presbyters was carried into everything ; while yet it is worthy of remark, that Jerome, Chrysostom, and Theodoret, just the most eminent exegetes of the ancient church, expressly acknowledged the original identity of the two offices in the New Testament, and consequently derive the proper episcopate, not from divine institution, but only from church usage.'
The traditional participation of the people in the election, wliich attested the popular origin of the episcopal office, still continued, but gradually sank to a mere formality, and at last became entirely extinct. The bishops filled their own vacancies, and elected and ordained the clergy. Besides ordination, as the medium for communicating the official gifts, they also claimed from the presbyters in the West, after the fifth century, the exclusive prerogatives of confirming the baptized and consecrating the chrism or holy ointment used in baptism.' In the East, on the contrary, confirmation (the chrism) is performed also by the presbyters, and, according to the ancient custom, immediately follows baptism.
To this spiritual preeminence of the bishops was now added, from the time of Constantine, a civil importance. Through the union of the church with the state, the bishops became at the same time state officials of weight, and enjoyed the various privileges wliich accrued to the church from this connection." They had thenceforth an independent and legally valid jurisdiction ; they held supervision of the church estates, which were sometimes very considerable, and they had partial charge even of tlie city property ; they superintended the morals of the people, and even of the emperor; and they exerted iiifiu-
' See the passages quoted in § 62, aud the works there referred to. The moderu Komish divine, Perroiie, in his Prselectioues Theologica;, t. ix. § 93, denies that the doctrine of the superiority of bishops over presbyters by divine riffht, is au article of the Catliolic faith. But the council of Trent, sess. xxiii. can. (3, condemns all who deny the divine institution of the three ordei-s.
' Innocent I., Ep. ad Decent. . " Ut sine chrisuiate et episcopi jussicne nequ* prcabyter neque diaconus jus habeant baptizaudL" ' Comp. above, ch. iii. § 14-16
§ 53. THE BISHOPS. 265
ence upon the public legislation. They were exempt irom civil jurisdiction, and could neither be brought as witnesses before a court nor be compelled to take an oath. Their dioceses grew larger, and their power and revenues increased. Dominus heatissimus (jiaKapL(t)TaTo<i), sanctissimus {oyKOTaros;) or reveroidissimus, Beaiitudo or Sanctitas tua^ and similar high-sounding titles, passed into universal use. Kneeling, kissing of the hand, and like tokens of reverence, came to be Bhown them by all classes, up to the emperor himself. Chrysostom, at the end of the fourth century, says : " The heads of the empire (hyparchs) and the governors of provinces (toparchs) enjoy no such honor as the rulers of the church. They are first at court, in the society of ladies, in the houses of the great. No one has precedence of them."
To this position corresponded the episcopal insignia, which from the fourth century became common : the ring, as the symbol of the espousal of the bishop to the church ; the crosier or shepherd's staff (also called crook, because it was generally curved at the top) ; and the pallium,' a shoulder cloth, after the example of the ephod of the Jewish high-priest, and perhaps of the sacerdotal mantle worn by the Roman emperors as pontifices maximi. The pallium is a seamless cloth hanging over the shoulders, formerly of white linen, in the West; subsequently of white lamb's wool, with four red or black crosses wrought in it with silk. According to the present usage of the Roman church the wool is taken from the lambs
' 'Upa. (ttoXt), wiJ.ocp6piov, superhumerale, pallium, also ephod (Ti^x (iruuls). The ephod (Ex. xxviii. 6-11 ; and xxxix. 2-5), in connection with the square breastplate belonging to it ("jtJn comp. Ex. xxviii. 15-30 ; xxxix. 8-21), was the principal official vestment of the Jewish high-priest, and no doubt served as the precedent for the archiepiscopal pallium, but exceeded the latter in costliness. It consisted of two shoulder pieces (like the pallium and the chasubles), which hung over the upper part of the body before and behind, and were skilfully wrought of fine linen in three colors, fastened by golden rings and chains, and richly ornamented with gold thread, and twelve precious stones, on which the names of the twelve tribes were graveik Whether the sacred oracle, Urim and Thummim (LXX. : SriAwa-cs Kai a.\7]S)eia, Ex. xxviii. 30), was identical with the twelve precious stones in the breastplate, tb» learned are not agreed. Comp. Winer, Bibl. Reallex., and W. Smith, Dictionary of the Bible, sub Urim and Thummim.