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| In What Manner, and from What Cause, the Functions of the Presbyter, Appointed to Preside over the Imposition of Penance, were abolished. Dissertation on the Mode of Imposing Penance.
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Chapter XVI.—In What
Manner, and from What Cause, the Functions of the Presbyter, Appointed
to Preside over the Imposition of Penance, were abolished. Dissertation
on the Mode of Imposing Penance.
Nectarius, about this period,
abolished the office of the presbyter whose duty it was to preside over
the imposition of penance; and this is the first instance of the
suppression of this office in the Church.1547
| 1547Soc. v. 19; yet Soz.’s account and setting is
different.
|
This example was followed by the bishops of every region. Various
accounts have been given of the nature, the origin, and the cause of
the abolition of this office. I shall state my own views on the
subject. Impeccability is a Divine attribute, and belongs not to human
nature; therefore God has decreed that pardon should be extended to the
penitent, even after many transgressions. As in supplicating for
pardon, it is requisite to confess the sin, it seems probable that the
priests, from the beginning, considered it irksome to make this
confession in public, before the whole assembly of the people. They
therefore appointed a presbyter, of the utmost sanctity, and the most
undoubted prudence, to act on these occasions; the penitents went to
him, and confessed their transgressions; and it was his office to
indicate the kind of penance adapted to each sin, and then when
satisfaction had been made, to pronounce absolution. As the custom of
doing penance never gained ground among the Novatians, regulations of
this nature were of course unnecessary among them; but the custom
prevailed among all other heretics, and prevails even to the present
day. It is observed with great rigor by the Western churches,1548
particularly at Rome, where there is a place appropriated to the
reception of penitents, in which spot they stand and mourn until the
completion of the services, for it is not lawful for them to take part
in the mysteries; then they cast themselves, with groans and
lamentations, prostrate on the ground. The bishop conducts the
ceremony, sheds tears, and prostrates himself in like manner; and all
the people burst into tears, and groan aloud. Afterwards, the bishop
rises first from the ground, and raises up the others; he offers up
prayer on behalf of the penitents,
and then dismisses them. Each of the penitents subjects himself in
private to voluntary suffering, either by fastings, by abstaining from
the bath or from divers kinds of meats, or by other prescribed means,
until a certain period appointed by the bishop. When the time arrives,
he is made free from the consequences of his sin, and assembles at the
church with the people. The Roman priests have carefully observed this
custom from the beginning to the present time. In the church at
Constantinople, a presbyter was always appointed to preside over the
penitents, until a lady of the nobility made a deposition to the
effect, that when she resorted as a penitent to the presbyter, to fast
and offer supplications to God, and tarried for that purpose, in the
church, a rape had been committed on her person by the deacon. Great
displeasure was manifested by the people when this occurrence was made
known to them, on account of the discredit that would result to the
church; and the priests, in particular, were thereby greatly
scandalized. Nectarius, after much hesitation as to what means ought to
be adopted, deposed the deacon; and, at the advice of certain persons,
who urged the necessity of leaving each individual to examine himself
before participating in the sacred mysteries, he abolished the office
of the presbyter presiding over penance. From that period, therefore,
the performance of penance fell into disuse; and it seems to me, that
extreme laxity of principle was thus substituted for the severity and
rigor of antiquity. Under the ancient system, I think, offences were of
rarer occurrence; for people were deterred from their commission, by
the dread of confessing them, and of exposing them to the scrutiny of a
severe judge. I believe it was from similar considerations, that the
Emperor Theodosius, who was always zealous in promoting the glory of
the Church, issued a law,1549
| 1549Cod. Theod. xvi. 2. 27.
|
enacting that women should not be admitted into the ministry, unless
they had had children, and were upwards of sixty years of age,
according to the precept of the Apostle Paul.1550
| 15501 Tim. v.
9. Cf. change in Justinian,
Novell. 123. 13.
|
By this law it was also decreed, that women who had shaved their heads
should be ejected from the churches; and that the bishop by whom such
women were admitted should be deposed from the bishopric.
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