Ileyne, Censura Boi-thii. (Opuscc. Th. VI. p. 143ss.)— /'. Hand, Boeth. (Ersch. u. Grubcr's EncykL
vol. XI. p. 2S3ss.) Gust. Buur, de Bocthio. Daniist. 1S41.
fir) De artibus ac disciplinls libcralium litt. Institutio ad div. lectiones. Hist. Ecclesiae tripartit/i.
Variae Epp.— 0pp. ed. Garet. Eothomag. 1079. Yen. 1729. 2 Th. t.—Stdiidlin, \\. Cassiod. (.\rclnv. f.
KGesch. 1825. p. 259ss. SSlss.)
h)J. F. S. AuguMn, da catenis PP. graecis in N. T. Ilal. 1762. {NoesscUi Coinmentt. ad I£.
ec<r. Ual. 1817.
134 ANCIENT CHURCn HISTORY. PEE. II. IMPERIAL CHURCE. A. D. 312-SOO.
Latin Church (/) from sentences taken from tlie more ancient fathers by Isido-
rus, Bishop of If isj)a Us (d. 036), and another more complete, and on account
of its application of Aristotelian formulae more scientific, was compiled for
the Greek Church by the monk Joh7i Damascernis (d. 754). The latter
also collected together the various decisions "which had been given by the
Church in its earlier religious controversies, and thus settled these disputes
for his Church for a thousand years after him. (Jc) A Eoman catalogue of
apocryphal and rejected works, which had been gradually enlarging from the
time of Ilormisdas (514-523), and had finally become essentially fixed about
the middle of the sixth century, exhibits the contracted spirit as well as the
state of criticism at that time, for even some of the more ancient fathers are
rejected as apocryphal because they were inconsistent with some Eoman
assertions, or did not correspond with the later orthodoxy. (J)
CHAP. III.— SOCIAL constitutio:n^ of the church.
Bibliotlieca juris can. veteris, op. Giiil. et ITenr. Ju,stelli, Par. 1661. 2. Th. f. SpitUer, Gescli. il.
can. Eechts bis a. A. falsch. Isidor. Hal. 17TS. (Works, ed. by WCicMer, Stuttg. 1S2T. vol. l.^—rUnicl;
Gescb. d. kircbl. Gesellscbafts-Verf. vol. I. p. 276?s. Ease, de jure ecc. P. I. p. 82ss. P. II. C
Jiiffel, Gescb. Darst. d. Verb. zw. K. u. Staat. Mainz. 1S36. vol. I. p. 114ss.
§ 120. Legislation and BooJcs of Law.
Ecclesiastical laws were enacted sometimes by synods and sometimes by
the emperors. The first idea of general laws for the whole Church seems to
have been derived from the General Councils, with whose decisions were
soon united those of the inferior synods and the canonical institutes of a few
fathers, which individual bishops had collected for their private direction,
but which passed into general use. Such collections are first noticed in the
Synod of Chalcedon, where, however, they possessed no general authority, (a)
But even then it had become customary, at least in the Greek Church, to
regard the canons of certain synods as possessing the authority of general
laws. This agreement seems to have become complete in the sixth century,
but it was not until the second canon of the Trullan Synod (Quinisexta 692)
that the constituent parts of the Greek canon law which had long been in
use, were recognized as legally binding. (5) The African Church at the
Council of Carthage, 419, gave its sanction to a collection of its own domes-
tic canons, (c) which was gradually accepted as a part of the general ecclesi-
j) Sententiarum s. de summo bono 1. III. comp. § 167. note a.
k)Tly)yrt yvuxreces' a) ra <pi\oao<piKd,, ^) irepl alpiaioiv, y) iKSoffis OKpi/Sijs Trjs op^o-
5o|oii Tricrreccs. 0pp. ed. Jlich. Lequien, Par. 1712. 2. Th. f.
I) Threefold text in Mansi Th. YIII. p. 153ss. Since Ilincmar of Kheims it is commonly quoted
as Pecretum Gelasii (494), thus by Gratian: c. 3. Dist XV. comp. Gieseler, KGesch. vol. 1. Abth.
II. p. 383s. {Davidson's transl. vol. II. p. 110. § 114. note 2.]
a) Respecting collections called apostolic: See § 57. comp. J. W. A'cte^Z, Gesch. des Kirchen-
recbts. Gitss. 1S43. vol. I.
h) Acts and 102 canons : Mansi Th. XI. p. 92T-1006.
c) JustelU Bibl. Th. I. 303ss. Mansi Th. III. p. 698ss.
CHAP. III. CONSTITUTION^. §120. TIIEODOSIAN & JUSTINIAN CODES. 135
astical law. Of the Koman Cliurch of tlie time of the Council of Chalcedon,
â– vve only know that in its collection the Nicaean canons were mingled with
those of Sardica. The civil laws, so far as they relate to ecclesiastical atiairs,
may generally he found under their appropriate titles in the two collections
of imperial laws called Codex TheoJonianus, 438, and CoJcx Jmtinianeus^
634, and the Novels attached to each. The efforts of Justinian to give a
scientific form to political and civil law, must have had a considerable influ-
ence upon ecclesiastical law. John Scholasticus, successively an advocate, a
prej^byter at Antioch, and the Patriarch of Constantinople (d. 578), arranged
the canons which he Ibund in the ordinary collections, together with the
second and third epistles of Basil relating to the canons, under fifty titles
according to their subjects, (</) This digest, on account of its adaptation to
general use, as well as the reputation of its author, soon became a standard
authority in the Greek Church. A collection of civil laws relating to the
Cliurch, prepai'cd by tliis same John, contains extracts fi'om the ten Novels
of Justinian, arranged under eighty-seven chapters, (c) Another collection,
embracing the whole ecclesiastical legislation of Justinian, sometimes in full
and sometimes abridged, together with an appendix containing the four
Novels of Ileraclius, has been erroneously attributed to Theodore Balsamon,
but really belongs to the seventh century. (/) The practical wants of the
Church called forth a work in which the civil laws relating to the Church
(j/o/Ltoi) wore arranged in harmony with the ecclesiastical laws (KavoVej), and
which has since been called the Xomocanon. Under the fifty titles of the
collection of canons by Scholasticus, the corresponding civil laws Avere intro-
duced, and even these were principally derived from his book, {g) The peni-
tential laws were systematized, and their severity was accommodated to the
mildness of his ago, and of his own dispo.sition, hy John iho. Faster {vrjaTevTi'js)^
Patriarch of Constantinople (585-595). (h) The old code of tlie Roman
Church, (/) called by Dionysius I'l-arislath prisca^ was gradually increased
and strengthened in authority after the Council of Clialcedon, by translations
from the Greek books of laws. The incompleteness and want of arrange-
ment which characterized this work, induced Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian
and a Roman monk, to revise it, and to form a new code (498-514). (^) The
first part contains a faitliful translation of the i)riucipal articles of the Greek
synodal laws, the canons of Sardica, and the African collection. The second
part contains all the decretals Avhich could then be found at Rome, by eight
popes, from Siricius (d. 398) to Anastasius II. (d. 498). This Codex Dionysii
d) JuMelli Blbl. Th. II. p. 499-602.
«) '2,vvayti>-/T) ftapuf 5(aTo|fa>c. Unprinted.
/) Tuv e'/cKA. Siara^foiu avKKoyij. JustelU Bibl. Th. II. p. 1217-14T8.— Jf: R. Biener, de
collection ibus canonum Ecc. graecae. Bcr. 182T.
fir) JudMi Bibl. Til. II. p. 603-672.
h)' hKoXov^ia (coJ Ta|if eVi f^ofioXoynvfievur. The existing Recension formed from later
revisions is in Morini Comni. hist de disciplina in aduiinistr. sacr. poenitentiae. (Par. 1651. f.) Ven.
1702. f. p. 616SS.
i) In Leon. 0pp. Th. III. p. 4T3ss. ard ^^ansi Th. YI. p. llOSss.
A) Ed. Fr. Pilhoeus, Par. 16b7. f. JustelU Bib!. Th. I. p. 97ss. conip. DaVcrin. Ds. in Leon.
0pp. Th. III. p. 174SS.
1 36 ANCIENT CnURCII HISTORY. PEK. II. IMPERIAL CHURCH. A. D. 312-800.
was much fovored by the popes, and became a standard legal authority not
only in the Roman Church, whose domestic laws were found in it, but in
almost all the "West. Later decretals were therefore gradually appended to
it. The book of laws for the Spanish Church originated in the first half of
the sixth century, and was probably revised by Isidore of Hisjxdis^ whose
name it bears, but continual additions have been made to it since his time. (I)
It contains in the first part not only the greater part of the Greek synodal
laws, but the canons of the Spanish and Galilean councils, and in the second
part, besides the decretals of the Dionysian code, a few letters from the
popes to the Spanish and Gallican bishops. Other systematic compilations
made during this period are of less importance. They are the Breoiarmm
of Fulgentius Ferrandus^ a deacon of Carthage (about 547), a work which
had no dependence upon the Dionysian code, {m) and the Concordia, of
Cre^conius, an African (about 690), Avhich was an analysis of that code
according to its contents, (h)
§ 121. The Eonuin Empire.
The cultivation of the fine arts had entirely ceased from the time of Con-
stantine, and no ornaments could be found for his new city and his trium-
phal arch in the very forum of Rome, but by spoiling the ancient monuments.
Nearly the whole intellectual energy of the age was enlisted in the service
of the Church, so that the only science which seemed to flourish without
ecclesiastical influence was jurisprudence. In consequence of the founding
of Constantinople, the whole power of the empire was directed to the East,
and after the division made by Theodosius (395) the East and the "West re-
mained permanently separated. But so perfectly had the various nations
conquered by the Romans been made to feel as one people, that both these
divisions regarded themselves as only different parts of the one great empire.
"While the Germanic nations stormed at the portals of the "West, and even
when they broke through them in the fifth century, the civil constitution and
the habits of the people remained Roman under the long dominion of the
Goths in Italy. The East was governed by a lifeless and rigid mechanism,
the moving spring of Avhich was at Constantinople. The extinction of the
reigning families and the ascendency of the army, rendered abortive the fre-
quent efforts to establish a popular hereditary monarch}', but the want of this
was in some degree supplied hy the imperial nomination of colleagues and
successors. But the majesty of the Roman people and the confidence that
they were destined to universal dominion had been transferred to their rulers.
In this form it was now consecrated by the Church, and systematical^ de-
fended by arguments supplied by jurisprudence. Amid all the agitations pro-
duced by dynastic changes, this idea of an imperial government appointed by
God for supreme dominion on earth became profoundly fixed in the hearts
of the people.
V) CoUectio canonum Eccl. Hlspaniae. Matrit 1808. f. Epistolae decretales ac rescr. Eom. Pontifl-
cum. Matr. 1S21. f. (wl. A. Gon^alta.)
m) Justelli Bibl. Th. I. p. 456ss. n) Justelli Bibl. Th. I. Append, p. 83s8.
CHAP. Iir. COXSTITUTION. §122. RELATIONS OF CIirKClI & STATE. 137
§ 122. Power of the Emperor over the Church.
The emperors, accustomed to exercise the power, not only of au ab.solutG
eoveroign but of a supreme pontiff, endeavored to sell tlieir favor to the
Church at the price of its ancient liberties. A decisive influence was gained
by them in the right of nominating the bishops, especially the metropolitan.
The Church on the other hand was anxious to compel all its members to ob-
serve the well defined and slow process of a regular advancement from the
inferior to the superior stations, and disapproved of all translations of a
bishop from one diocese to anotlier, as nothing less than sjiiritual adultery.
The emperor frequently entertained the appeals of those who considered
themselves aggrieved by the bishops. A regular system of punishments was
then appointed by the Church for all who should thus appeal from its deci-
sions to the emperor. («) The emperors called together the general councils
of the Church, presided in them througli their envoys, and publislied their
decrees as laws of the empire, (l)) As none but the Catholic Church was en-
titled to civil privileges, when different bishops were opposed to each other,
the emperor himself was obliged to decide which of them belonged to the
orthodox church. Hence many laws, even on matters of doctrine, wei'e
enacted by them, and those who obtained their ends by court favor en-
couraged them in this and commended them for it. The imperial edicts were
also published by being read in the churches, {c) Many bishops who longed
for the imjierial favor were jdiant tools in the hands of ambitious rulers, and
tlie Italian clergy had some reason to suspect that a Greek bishop, for his
own emolument, could be induced to grant, without fear or shame, any
request which might be made of him. (d) The emperors, however, were ft'e-
quently the mere tools of an ecclesiastical party, and their laws for the regu-
lation of doctrines, when not confirmed by the authority of the Church, sel-
dom survived their authors. The freedom of the Church never Avanted bold
and successful advocates, and though it was practically violated in every pos-
sible way, its legality was always acknowledged by the emperors themselves, (e)
The people generally regarded it as the highest principle of law, that God
has bestowed all power on earth upon the monarcliy and the priesthood, but
that he had assigned to each of these certain immovable boundaries Avhich
neither could transgress without guilt and peril. (/)
§ 123. Power of the Church over the State.
The severity of the ancient Roman laws was much mitigated by the influ-
ence of Christianity whenever they did not fall in with the prejudices of
the Church, and thus a way was prepared for an acknowledgment of the
a) Cone. Antioch. can. 12. [Landon, p. 33. can. 12.] Coyistant. I. can. 6.
I) Cone. Constant. I. Ep. ad Theodos. {Manfti Th. III. p. 55T.)
c) L. 20. Cod. Tlitod. <le rebus eccl. (XVI, 2.) et Gotbofredus ad b. 1.
d) MansilU. IX. p. 153.
«) On the other hand Constantino's episcopacy (Eiiseb. vita Const. IV, 24.) was referred to ■with
the same semblance of argument as was used for the sovereignty of the bisliops : Sozom. I, IT.
Riifin. I, 2.
/) Oelaslus I. ad Anastasliim a. 494. {ifanai Th. VIII. p. 31.)
I 38 ANCIENT CHURCH HISTORY. PER. II. IMPERIAL CHURCH. A. D. Sl^-SOO.
general riglits of man. (a) Some bishops went so far as to oppose even capital
punishments, on the ground that their barbarity was inconsistent Avith reason
and humanity, (l) The right of asylum which had formerly been conceded
to a few of the ancient temples was extended to all Christian churches, and
proved a serious detriment to the administration of justice. But Chrysostom
lived to enjoy the triumph of seeing the very minister whose exorbitant
power once threatened to abolish this privilege, clinging to the altar for his
own protection, (c) Great political power Avas acquired by the bishops in
consequence of their personal influence among the people, and the devotion
of the emperors to theological controversies. The law gave them a certain
right to superintend the affairs of the congregations both in town and
country ; they also possessed a certain right, frequently usm-ped but finally
regulated by law, of acting as intercessors for those who were unfortunate or
criminal, and a certain kind of patronage was conceded to them for all per-
sonae miscrahiles. ((7) The Church undertook the censorship of the morals
of civil functionaries, and summoned to their bar those who were above hu-
man enactments, (e) No one dared to meet the fury of a Governor of the
Pentapolis but Synesius the bishop. When a whole city had fallen a sacri-
fice to the wrath of Theodosins /., Ambrose ventured to give utterance to
the monarch's conscience, and the royal offender was excluded from the
Church. (/*) When an unlimited power was exercised by the civil rulers,
the Church thus became a safe retreat for popular freedom, and saints played
the part of tribunes of the people. Sometimes even royal honors were be-
stowed upon bishops, and what was at first accorded by pious humility,
pious arrogance took care to demand and retain. From the truth that heavenly
things were superior to earthly, the inference was drawn that the hierarchy
should be greater than the monarchy, and should have precedence in earthly
dignity, (g) In his City of God, the secular power is described by Augustine
as an irrational despotism which commenced with a fratricide, and tends to
subversion that it may give place to the celestial kingdom.
§ 124. Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction.
Slryck, de orig. et iisu jurisdictionis ecc. Hal. 1710. 4. (Opnscc. Th. XIV.) IT. Jf. I/ebensireit
Hist jurisd. ecc. Dss. III. 1773ss. 4. Bruno Schilling, de orig. jurisd. ecc. in eausis civil. Lps. 1S25. 4.
C. F. A. Jungk, de Orig. et progressu episcopalis jud. in eausis civil, laicorum usque ad Justinian.
Ber. 1S.32.
Although the sentence of the episcopal court, in its capacity of a court of
a) Emeh. Yita Const lY, 26. L. 2. Cod. Theod. de poen. (IX. 40.)— C. G. de Rhoer, Dissert, de
effectu rel. chr. in jurispr. Rom. Gron. 1776. // O. de Jfeysenhurg, de chr. rel. vi et etfectu in jus
civile (speciatim Institt. 1. I.) Getting. 1S28. 4. Troplong, do rinfluence du Clirist snr le droit civil
des Remains. Par. 184.3.
h) AmhroK. Ep. 25. 26. (al. 51. 52.) Avgxuitin, Ep. 133. 134. 153.— L. 15 et 16. Cod. Theod. de
poen. (IX. 40.)
c) Cod. Theod. de his, qui ad Ecc. confngiunt (IX, 45.) Socrat. YI, 5. Sozom. YIII, 7.
d) Cone. Sardic. can. 7. Amlros. do Offic. II, 29. Const. 22. 24. 27s. 80s. C. de Episo.
audientia. (I, 4.)
e) Cone. Arelat. a. 314. c. 7. Gregor. Naz. Orat. 17. (Th. I. p. 271.)
/) Synesii Ep. 57s. 72. %9.—Rufin. XI, IS. Tlieodoret. Y, 17. Sozom. YII, 24. L. 1.3. Cod. Theod.
de poen. (IX, 40.) Comp. 7: L. F. Tofel, de Thessaionica. Ber. 1S39. p. XLYIIss.
g) Constitt. apost. II, 34. Chrysost. de Sacerd. Ill, \.—Sulp. Severi Yita Martini, c. 20.
CIIAP. III. CONSTITUTIOX. § 121. ECCLES. JURISDICTION. § 12:.. PUOI'EnTV. 1 39
arbitration possessed a certain Icijal finthority, (''0 its voluntary jurisdiction
was not much needed under a Christian government, and after the sixth
century it Avas less resorted to. The claim that all causes relating to mar-
riage and to wills (cau.sae mixtae) should be decided there, was generally
resisted by the secular tribunals, but the obstacles to marriage laid down in
the Mosaic law were recognized by the civil code, and were sometimes ex-
tended even to spiritual relation.shii)s. Divorces very rarely, and the marriage
of divorced persons still less frequently, were permitted by the episcopal
courts. These first became tlie ordinary tribunals for the cleri^y in civil causes
about the time of Justinian I., {b) but tlio municipal courts continued to exer-
cise jurisdiction as at first in criminal causes until Valentinian III. gave (452)
the plaintiff the privilege of choosing before which of these courts his cause
should be tried, (c) Justinian I. a.ssigned particular parts of every such
criminal cause to each of these courts, (d) and Heraclius (623) entirely ex-
cluded tliem from the municipal courts, (c) According to ecclesiastical usage
it was thought unbecoming for a clergyman to appear in his own cause either
as phiintitf or defendant before a civil tribunal. (/) When cited before the
emperor the bishops would indeed make their appearance, but a sentence of
condemnation was not readily acknowledged except where a synod concurred
in it. In all matters purely ecclesiastical the episcopal courts and synods were
regarded as the only competent tribunals. ((/)
§ 125. Church Property.
Jerome a Costa (Richard Simon.) Ilist. de rorigine et du progres des revenus ecc. Frcf. 16S4. 21.
Tlwmassin. (§ 9. note b.)
The clergy were supported, especially under the first Christian emperors,
by revenues supplied by the government, by a portion of the property they
inherited from the old temples, and by ecclesiastical possessions falling to
them from heretics. Though they often preached to the peoi^lo that they had
a divine right to the first-fruits and the tithes, their preaching was not much
regarded, ((t) But when Constantine confirmed (321) to the people a com-
plete right to devise property at pleasure to the Church, such bequests be-
came an inexhaustible .source of wealth, (b) It was not long before one
could scarcely die without being reminded of his duty to the Church, and a
law became necessary in which the clergy were forbidden to solicit such be-
quests (370). {<•) As this wealth, however, was posse&sed by the Church in
trust for the poor, it was looked upon with much afiection. All institutions
of benevolence originated in the Church, {d) Its wealth contributed to its
power and freedom. The management of the funds was generally in tho
a) Sozom. I, 9. The legal passages in ITase, de jure ecc. P. I. p. 53ss.
b) Nov. 8.3. Pracf. et § 1. Nov. 123. c. 21.
c) L. 47. Cod. Tkeod. de Epi.sc. (XVI, 2.) Nov. 1. de Episc. judicio in Aniani Collectione.
«f) Nov. 128. c. 21. § 1. e) JusteUi Uibl. Tli. II. p. 1.3613.
/) Com;. Carth. III. a 897. can. 9. IV. a. 419. can. 19. Chalc. can. 9.
g) L. 1. Cod. Theod. de rel. (XVI, 11.) Justini Nov. 12.3. c. 21. § 2.
a) Jiinaham, <^)rigg. occl. V, 5. h) L. 4. Cod. Theod. do Episc. (XVI, 2.)
c) L. 20. Cod. Tkeod. de Episc. Comp. Jlieron. Ep. 34. (al. 2.) ad Nepotian.
</) L. 6. Cod. Theod. de Episc. (XVI, 2.) Gelaaii Ep. IX. § 27.
140 ANCIENT CHURCH HISTORY. PER. II. IMPERIAL CHURCH. A. D. 312-800.
hands of the bishop, the distribution of tliera wns regulated by certain pre-
cise forms, and the aUenation of the property was controlled by prescribed
conditions. Every church Avas the legal heir of all the property "vvhich its
intestate clergyman had accumulated from ecclesiastical revenues. Whatever
the Church possessed was secured by an investment in real estate. This was
variously taxed according to the disposition and wants of the different gov-
ernments, but it was usually exempted from extraordinary, personal, and im-
proper burdens, (f)
§ 126. The Congregation and the Clergy.
As the clergy were generally independent of the favor of the people by
their ecclesiastical possessions, the congregations were entirely shut out from
all participation in the government of the Church. Sometimes the people
still gave effect to their wishes in a tumultuous manner, when a bishop was
chosen, and a certain influence was exercised on such occasions by distinguished
citizens, and was legalized by Justinian I., but it was disapproved of by the
second Synod of Nicaea (787). («) In the West, how^ever, and especially in
Eome, the people asserted their right to participate in elections, and the power
of the clergy was too dependent upon popular opinion to allow of many im-
portant privileges being withheld from the congregations. Even then some
voices continued to be raised in favor of a priesthood of all Christians before
God. (&) The clergy succeeded in throwing off the burdens which the State
had imposed upon it, and a series of civil enactments became necessary to
prevent the entrance of too many persons into ecclesiastical offices. These
required that no person should be ordained except to supply the place of a
deceased clergyman, and none who owed any service to a master or to the
state without the consent of those to whom it was due. An unsuccessful at-
tempt was made to procure a law by which none but indigent persons on
whom the state had no claim should be ordained to the sacred office. On the
other hand the spiritual power was frequently strengthened by the ordination
of distinguished philosophers, advocates, and high civil officers. In such
cases the law required that all landed property burdened with obligations to
the state should be surrendered to the municipal authorities. The clergy
were principally supported from the funds of the Church, but even as late as
the fifth century some ecclesiastical laws recommended that they should sus-
tain themselves by agricultural or other pursuits, (c) In the fourth century
the ordination of deaconesses was looked upon as a Montauistic custom, and
after the fifth their office was in the West entirely abolished, {d) The choice
of all his clergy came into the hands of the bishop, although the presbyters
once more augmented their authority by their attempts in some instances to
become independent pastors both in town and country. In this way they
e) L. 1. Cod. Tlieod. de annona. (XL, 1.) L. 15. IS. 21ss. Cod. Theod. de oxtraord. (XI, 16.) L. 6ss.
16s8. Cod. Theod. de Eplsc.
a) Jmtin. Nov. 123. c. 1. Nov. 187. c. 2. Cone. Nic. IL can. 3.
V) AuguHt. de Civ. Dei. XX, 10. Amhrosiaster ad Epbes. 4, 11.