Opening
SYNOD AT ORANGE, A.D. 441. 159
no bishop is again to enter it, except at the command of the metropolitan.
8. “When the times are peaceable, in accordance with the ancient (Nicene) law, two Synods shall be held annually.” ?
These eight canons are found in the same form in all the ancient manuscripts, with one single exception, that of a codex of the Isidorian collection, belonging to the Church of Urgel, which omits the eighth canon and substitutes two others in its place. The first of these threatens with excommunication all who rise in rebellion against the Church and its leaders; the second, with canon 8, orders, although in other words, the holding of two provincial Synods in each year. Baluzius, who first edited these two canons,” remarks correctly that this last canon is borrowed from the Synod of Antioch of the year 341. It is in fact almost verbally identical with its 20th canon.
Sxc. 162. Synod at Orange, a.v. 441.
A second Gallican Synod was held November 8, 441, in the church which is known as the Ecclesia Justinianensis or Justianensis, in the diocese of Orange. It is therefore called Justinianensis or Arausicana i., and as Orange lies in the south-east of France, and was subject to the Metropolitan of Arles, S. Hilary presided also on this occasion, and among the sixteen other bishops who were present we find several other members of the previous Synod. Moreover, the neighbouring province of Lyons was also represented by its Metropolitan, Eucherius, who at the same time subscribed in the name of all his suffragans. Occasion for the holding of this Synod was given, as its 29th canon shows, by the provision at Riez, which decided that the institution of provincial Synods should again be brought into action. The thirty canons which were passed
1 Mansi, t. v. p. 1189 sq., with notes variorum. Without these in Sirmond, Concil. Gall. t. i. p. 65 sqq., and Hardouin, t. i. p. 1747. A new revision of the text of these canons was made by the monks of S. Maur in their new collection of the Gallican Synods, of which only the first volume appeared in 1789, reprinted by Bruns, Biblioth. Eccles. t. i. P. ii. p. 116 sqq.
* Reprinted in Mansi, /.c. p. 1194 sq. ; Hardouin, t.i. p. 1751; and Bruns, Le. p. 121.
160 HISTORY OF THE COUNCILS.
by this Synod, and which became the subject of many learned and specially of canonistical controversies, are as follow :'—
1
1. “If heretics in a mortal sickness wish to become Catholics, then in the absence of the bishop a priest may mark them with the chrism and benediction,” that is, may give them confirmation.’ |
2
2. “Priests who are allowed to baptize should always be provided with the chrism. Anointing with the chrism we (in Gaul) will allow to be conferred only once ;’ and if it has from any reason been omitted at baptism, this must be told to the bishop at confirmation, A repetition of the anointing has indeed, in itself, nothing against it, but is not necessary.”
This is probably the sense of this obscure canon, whose place in the text is not quite certain. Sirmond and Petrus Aurelius had a great controversy over it.‘
3
3. “ When penitents fall ill, then the Communion, the Viati- cum, shall be given to them without the reconciling laying on of hands (that is, solemn reconciliation). That alone is sufficient for the dying. If, however, they recover, they must again take their place in the order of penitents, and only’ after the performance of the proper works of penance receive the regular Communion (legitimam communionem), together with reconcil- ing laying on of hands.”
Some understand by the Communion, which is here allowed to the dying, only the communio precum, but not the holy Eucharist. But they are certainly wrong. Cf. Frank, Die Bussdisciplin der Kirche, Mainz 1867, 5, 736 and 905; Remi Ceillier, Histoire des auteurs sacrés, etc, t. xiii. p. 779. Something similar to this was before ordered by the Synod of Nicsea (canon 13) and the supposed fourth Synod of Carthage, A.D. 398 (canons 76—78); see vol. ii. p. 416 ἢ
1 Printed in Sirmond, Concil. Gallia, t. i. p. 71; Hardouin, t. i. p. 1783. Best in Mansi, t. vi. p. 434 sqq., and Bruns, /.c. p. 122 sqq. (Here with the variations of the S. Maur edition, cf. above, note 1, p. 159.)
* Compare Sirmond’s note on this canon in Mansi, t. vi. p. 443 sq.
3 This was otherwise in Rome, where the chrism was applied twice, at baptism and at confirmation ; and this is now the universal practice.
4 Cf. Mayer, Gesch. des Katechwmenats, Kempten 1868, 5, 188. Du Pin, Novelle Biblioth. t. iv. p. 367, t. xvii. p. 204, and Sirmond’s note in Mansi, l.c. p. 444.
SYNOD AT ORANGE, A.D. 441. 161
4
4. “To clerics who request penance it is not to be denied.”
It is doubtful whether this canon speaks only of private or also of public penance. In ancient times, at least, it was held to be incompatible with the dignity of a spiritual person that he should do penance in public. It was thought preferable to depose him. So says Pope Siricius, about the year 390, in his letter to Himerius, c. 14: Penitentiam agere cuiquam non conceditur clericorum. The thirteenth Council of Toledo, on the contrary (can. 10), allows penance to the clergy without deposition, if they have not committed a capital crime.” In a similar sense our canon is to be understood.’
5
5. “If any one has taken refuge in a church he shall not be given up, but shall be sheltered from respect to the sacred place.”
6
6. “If any one has in this way lost a servant, he shall not take the servant of a clergyman as amends, under penalty of anathema.”
7
7. “If any one shall seek to deprive of liberty one who has been set free in the church, he shall suffer the ecclesiastical penalty.”
8
8. “A bishop shall not ordain the clergyman of another diocese unless he takes him to himself; and not in that case without having consulted the bishop in whose diocese he was formerly.”
9
9. “If any one has ordained men from another diocese, he must, if they are blameless, either employ them himself or obtain for them the forgiveness of their own bishop.”
10
10. “If a bishop founds a church in a strange diocese, with permission of its bishop, which it were besides sinful to refuse, the right to consecrate that church does not belong to him, but to the other bishop. In this church, moreover, he has not the right of institution, but only of presentation. Ifa layman has built a church, he must ask no other bishop but that of the diocese to consecrate it.”
11
11. “A bishop must have no communion with any one whom another bishop has excommunicated.”
12
12. “If any one becomes suddenly dumb, he may be
1 In Hardouin, t. i. p. 851. 3 Hardouin, t. iii. p. 1745. 3 Cf. Sirmond’s note in Mansi, l.c. p. 444; and Kober, Deposition etc. S. 71 f.
il. L
162 HISTORY OF THE COUNCILS.
admitted to baptism or penance, if he indicates his wish for it by signs.”
13
13. “To those who have lost their reason, all possible blessings of religion (quecunque pietatis sunt) shall be granted” (1.6. prayer, baptism, the anointing of the sick; the holy Eucharist, however, was only given to those who had asked for it while they were in possession of reason).
14
14. “Persons possessed, who have already been baptized and have given themselves into the care and guidance of the clergy, may communicate, in order to strengthen themselves against the attacks of the evil spirit, or to purify themselves from them.” (Cf. ο. 37 of the Synod of Elvira.)
15
15. “ Persons possessed, who. are only catechumens, i be baptized when it is necessary or suitable.”
16
16. “Those who have been once publicly possessed a a demon shall not be ordained. If such have been ‘already ordained, they shall lose their office.”
17
17. “At the same time with the Capsa (Ciboriwm), the chalice is to be brought and is to be sanctified (consecrare) with a small portion of the Eucharist.”
The learned Remi Ceillier (/.c. p. 782) explains this obscure canon thus: In the ancient Church they had at each solemn mass a host consecrated at an earlier mass laid on the altar; and in the Roman Church at the very beginning of the mass, in the Gallican Church somewhat later, but before the con- secration, the deacon brought forward this formerly consecrated host in a special vessel (Capsa).? Our canon then requires that this custom shall be retained, and this Capsa shall be always placed upon the altar at the same time with the chalice, and further that a particle from this Capsa shall be thrown into the chalice. Instead of inferendus est caliz, some codices read offerendus (it is to be offered), but the majority of manuscripts have inferendus. Finally, the sense of consecrare is explained by the words hae commixtio et consecratio etc., which we still recite at the mixture of the host and chalice,
1 Cf. Sirmond’s note a. h, 1.
* Cf. on this subject Meckell, Abhandlung tiber die rémischen Ordines, in the Tiibingen Theol. Quartalschr. 1862, S. 81.
— oe
SYNOD AT ORANGE, A.D. 441. 163
18
18. “The Gospel shall be read in the presence of the catechumens.”
19
19. “They shall not (before the time of their baptism) enter the baptistery.”
20
20. “At family devotions they shall not receive the benediction at the same time with the faithful, but shall separate themselves from the rest and remain separate for the benediction.”
21
21. “If two bishops have ordained a third in opposition to his will, they shall both be deposed, and he who has been thus ordained shall, if he is otherwise upright, receive one of the two sees thus vacated. If, however, they have consecrated him with his consent, he shall also be deposed ” (in accordance with c. 4 of Nicza).
22
22. “ Married men shall not henceforth be ordained deacons, unless they have previously vowed chastity.”
23
23. “He who, after receiving ordination to the diaconate, shall have intercourse with his wife, shall be deposed.”
24
24. “Those, however, who, at an earlier period (before the passing of this law), were ordained deacons and have fallen back into married intercourse, are excepted from this punish- ment. But, in accordance with the decrees of the Synod of Turin (c. 8; see vol. ii. p. 427), they must not be advanced to higher dignity.”
25
25. “Persons twice married, in case they are received into the number of the clergy by reason of their upright conduct, shall not be advanced higher than to the subdiaconate.”
26
26. “ Deaconesses shall no longer be ordained, and (in divine service) they shall receive the benediction only in common with the laity (not among those holding clerical offices).”
27
27. “The vow of widowhood must be made in presence of the bishop, in the secretarium,’ and is to be indicated by the widow’s dress which the bishop confers. If any one violates such widows, he shall be punished; and she herself, if she _ again leaves the condition of widow.”
1 The Secretarium is a building adjoining the church, which embraced several divisions, Diaconicum, Salutatorium, and Metatorium, and in which Synods were often held. Cf. Binterim, Denkw. Bd. iv. ΤῊ]. 1, S. 139 ff. (Cf. Dictionary of Christ. Antiquities, s.v.]
164 HISTORY OF THE COUNCILS.
28
28. “If any one breaks the vow of virginity, he is to suffer the ecclesiastical penalty.”
29
29. “That which is here decreed shall henceforth have validity. Those are blamed who have not appeared at the Synod, either personally or by representatives, and have despised the prescriptions of the Fathers, according to which two Synods ought to be held annually, which, however, at present is not perhaps possible. Every future Synod shall be announced at the previous one, and the next shall be held on the 18th of October next year (442) at Lucianum, also in the province of Orange. Those bishops who are not now present shall receive notice of it from Hilary.”
30
30. “If a bishop has become ill or feeble, or if he can no longer speak, he must not have his episcopal functions dis- charged by a priest in his pranenne, but shall avant a neigh- pouring bishop to assist him.”
Besides these thirty genuine canons, several other ordinances are ascribed to one Synod by Gratian (in the Corp. jwr. can.) and others, which, however, have no authority. Mansi (dc. p. 441 sqq.) has also printed them. They treat of excom- munication, of the reception of the excommunicated, of the fast on Easter Eve,’ which, except in the case of children and the sick, was not to end before the beginning of the night; finally, of the fact that on Good Friday and Easter Eve the holy mysteries were not to be celebrated.