THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
of early Christianity that it had no offering, and therefore no priests. All the faithful wore conceived as priests, and prayer as their i. Early offering; but, if all were priests, there and was no room for a professional priest- Patristic hood, and prayer can not he conceived Conceptions, as material. This idea of a congregation of priests (the universal priesthood, as it is called) was a favorite in the ancient Church, and was regarded as part of the superiority of Christianity (Justin Martyr, Trypho, cxvi.). Irenams (Hcer., IV., viii.< 3) uses it to justify his designation of the apostles as priests. Tertullian (De exhortatione caslitalis, vii.) grounds upon it the right of all Christians to administer the sacraments (cf. De baptismo, xvii.; De monogamia, vii.). Origen (e.g., " On Prayer," xxviii. 9) and Augustine (Civitas Dei, xx. 10"; Reuter in ZKG, vii. 209) know of it and approve it, and even Leo the Great mentions it (e.g., Sirmo, iv. 1) with approbation. In time, however, another set of ideas supplanted that of the universal priesthood, and it became customary to name bishops and presbyters " priests " (sacerdotes) . The designation was in use in Africa in Tertullian's time (cf. De baptismo, xvii.; De exhortatione castitatis, vii.) and it is found in Rome and the East in the third century. Comparison between the Christian officials and the Old-Testament priesthood was instituted as early as the end of the first century (cf. I Clement xl. sqq.); this may have led to giving the name of the latter to the former, but it is more likely that this conception was introduced by that of a Christian offering. As early as the Didache (cf. chap, xiv.) the elements of the eucharist were called " offerings." The usage at first was figurative, and the congregation, not the officials, were thought of as making the offering (cf. Justin, Trypho, cxvii.; Apol., i. 67; Irenaeus, Hcer., IV., xvii. 5, xviii. 1). But, the phraseology having come into use, it was inevitable that thought should progress. The conception of a Christian altar, the place of offering, grew up in the time when Christians were still declaring " we have no altar " (cf. Apostolic Constitutions, ii., vii.). From all this it was not far to the thought that bishops and presbyters are priests, not as Christians, because of the universal priesthood, but by virtue of their office; and the language of Tertullian (ut sup.) shows that the transition had been made. Old-Testament notions doubtless added their influence. In the third century the offerings were made not by but for the faithful, and the Christian priest had become the mediator between God and his servants. The figurative sense was remembered for a time beside the new interpretations, but ultimately was lost sight of. The letters of Cyprian in many passages present bishops, presbyters, and even deacons as " priests," who offer sacrifice to God and fill a mediatory office; they and not the congregation make the eucharistic offering, and it is assumed that Old-Testament passages are applicable to the Christian priests. The development of thought in the Greek Church was the same (ct. Apostolic Constitutions, II., xxv. 12, IV., xv. 1; the third of the Apostolic Canons; canons L and ii. of the Synod of Ancyra, Mansi, Collectio,
ii. 513; Synod of Laodicoa, canon xix., Mansi, 567" Chrysostom, " On Priesthood," iii. 4, iv. 1, vi. 4, 11. Chrysostom's views of the priesthood are still held unchanged in the Eastern Church).
The medieval Church accepted this conception without question. From it or in connection with it theologians (e.g., Peter Lombard; cf. the " Sentences," iv. dist. 24J) developed the doctrine of the sacrifice of the mass (see Mass, I).
2. The The authorities on church polity made Medieval it the basis of the exclusive right of Church, the hierarchy and especially of the
bishop of Rome to govern the Church. Thomas Aquinas remembered the universal priesthood; but he drew from it only the conclusion that all the faithful as priests bring spiritual offerings to God, not the inference that they have no need of human mediators (Summa, iii., quest. 82, art. 1; cf. iii. quest. 26, art. 1, Sup. iii. quest. 37, art. 2). If the mass was a sacrifice, the celebrant must be regarded as a priest in the fullest sense. So the universal priesthood was lost sight of until it was revived by the Reformation. Then it appeared as the necessary consequence of the very fact of Christianity. The entire conception of sacrifice was rejected, and with it went all danger of a return of the thoughts which had grown from it.
The Roman Church adheres to the medieval doctrine. To be sure its catechism (De ord. soar., §§ 505-506, p. 613, ed. Danz) speaks of a twofold priesthood — an " inner " and an " outer," the former common to all, the latter the prerogative of a class set apart for their appropri-
3. The ate service. But how strongly the Roman emphasis falls on the latter appears
Doctrine, from the unreserved judgment of the Council of Trent (session xxiii., De sacr. ord., chap, iv.): " If any one affirm that all Christians indiscriminately are priests of the New Testament or that they are all mutually endowed with an equal spiritual power, he clearly does nothing but confound the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is an army set in array." The ecclesiastical priesthood follows from the New-Testament sacrifice, and the Scriptures and church tradition agree that it was instituted by the Lord and that its " power of consecrating, offering, and administering his body and blood, as also of forgiving and of retaining sins," was delivered to the apostles and their successors (I.e., chap, i.; cf. canon i.). The priestly order was always entered by means of an i-.ct of benediction, which was conceived as a sacrament as early as Augustine (Contra cpist. Parmeniani, ii. 24, 28, 29). Peter Lombard (" Sentences," iv., dist. 24) repeats the thoughts of Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas (Summa, iii., Sup. quest. 34-40) develops them but slightly. The scholastic doctrine is summed up in the bull Exultate Deo of Eugcnius IV On these old foundations the anti- Protestant doctrine is built up in the authoritative writings of the Roman Church. It is said: " As Christ was sent by the Father and the apostles by Christ, so to-day priests are sent, with the same power which clothed Christ and the apostles, for the perfection of the faithful and the upbuilding of the body of Christ. No one can assume this honor