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| Of Mavia, Queen of the Saracens, and the ordination of Moses the monk. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter XX.—Of
Mavia,759
759 cf.
Soz. vi. 38, and Soc. iv. 36. | Queen of the Saracens, and the
ordination760
760 The
word used is χειροτονία, of which it is well to trace the varying usages. These
are given by the late Rev. E. Hatch (Dict. Christ. Ant. ii. 1501) as
follows. “This word is used (a) in the N.T. Acts xiv. 24, χειροτονήσαντες
δὲ αὐτοῖς
κατ᾽
ἐκκλησίαν
πρεσβυτέρους: 2 Cor. viii. 19 (of Titus) χειροτονηθεὶς
ὑπὸ τῶν
ἐκκλησιῶν; (b) in sub-apostolic Greek, Ignat. ad Philad. c. 10; (c)
in the Clementines, Clement. Ep. ad Jacob. c. 2; (d) in the Apostolical
Constitution; (e) in the Canon Law; (f) in the Civil Law. Its meaning
was originally “to elect,” but it came afterwards to mean
even in classical Greek, simply “to appoint to office,”
without itself indicating the particular mode of appointment (cf.
Schömann de Comitüs, p. 122). That the latter was its
ordinary meaning in Hellenistic Greek, and consequently in the first
ages of church history, is clear from a large number of instances; e.g.
in Josephus vi. 13, 9, it is used of the appointment of David as King
by God; id. xiii, 22, of the appointment of Jonathan as High Priest by
Alexander; in Philo ii, 76 it is used of the appointment of Joseph as
governor by Pharaoh; in Lucian, de morte Peregrini c. 41 of the
appointment of ambassadors. “In Sozomen vii, 24 of the
appointment of Arcadius as Augustus by Theodosius.” “In
later times a new connotation appears of which there is no early trace;
it was used of the stretching out of the bishop’s hands in the
rite of imposition of hands.” The writer of the above seems
hardly to do justice to its early use for ordination as well as for
appointment. In the Pseudo-Ig. ad. Her. c. iii, it is said of
bishops ἐκεῖνοι
χειροτονοῦσι,
χειροθετοῦσι
and Bp. Lightfoot comments “while χειροθεσία
is used of laying on of hands, e.g. in
confirmation, χειροτονία
is said of ordination, e.g. Ap. Const. viii. 27.
‘ἐπίσκοπος
ὑπὸ τριῶν ἢ
δύο
ἐπισκόπων
χειροτονεῖσθω.’ Referring originally to the election of the
Clergy χειροτονία
came afterwards to be applied commonly, as here, to
their ordination.” Theodoretus uses the word in both
senses, and sometimes either will fit in with the context. | of Moses the monk.
At this
time761 the Ishmaelites were devastating the
country in the neighbourhood of the Roman frontier. They were
led by Mavia, a princess who regarded not the sex which nature had
given her, and displayed the spirit and courage of a man. After many
engagements she made a truce, and, on receiving the light of divine
knowledge, begged that to the dignity of high priest of her tribe might
be advanced one, Moses by name, who dwelt on the confines of Egypt and
Palestine. This request Valens granted, and ordered the holy man to be
conveyed to Alexandria, and there, as the most convenient place in the
neighbourhood, to receive episcopal grace. When he had arrived and saw
Lucius endeavouring to lay hands on him—“God forbid”
said he “that I should be ordained by thine hand: the grace of
the Spirit visits us not at thy calling.” “Whence,”
said Lucius, “are you led to conjecture this?” He rejoined
“I am not speaking of conjecture but of clear knowledge; for thou
fightest against the apostolic decrees, and speakest words against
them, and for thy blasphemous utterances thy lawless deeds are a match.
For what impious man has not on thy account mocked the meetings of the
Church? What excellent man has not been exiled? What barbarous savagery
is not thrown into the shade by thy daily deeds?” So the brave
man said, and the murderer heard him and desired to slay him, but was
afraid of kindling once again the war which had come to an end.
Wherefore he ordered other bishops to be produced whom Moses had
requested. After receiving the episcopal grace of the right worthy
faith Moses returned to the people who had asked for him, and by his
apostolic teaching and miracles led them in the way that leads to
truth.762
762 Sozomen (vi. 38) describes Lucius as remonstrating in moderate
language. “Do not judge of me before you know what my creed
is.” Socrates (iv. 36) makes Moses charge Lucius with condemning
the orthodox to exile, beasts, and burning. On Socrates Valesius
annotates “Hanc narrationem de episcopo Saracenis dato et de pace
cum iisdem facta, desumpsit quidem Socrates, ex Rufini lib. ii.
6.” Lucius was ejected from Alexandria when the reign of Valens
ended with his death in 378. Theodoretus appears to confound this
Lucius with an Arian Lucius who usurped the see of Samosata. Vide chap.
xviii. |
These then were the deeds done
by Lucius in Alexandria under the dispensation of the providence of
God. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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