placed under the immediate inspection of chorepiscopi or rural bishops, and visitors, who were commissioned by the bishop of the whole diocese or rapoikia. The country clergy in the diocese of Cæsarea in the time of S. Basil, were under the superintendence of no less than fifty rural bishops. Thus arose the lesser rural parishes; and the oblations, tithes, &c. of these districts were in after ages assigned to their particular clergy, instead of going to the general fund of the church. The institution of districts and of lesser parishes in the cities themselves is of uncertain antiquity. In the Roman church it is said, on rather doubtful authority, to have been effected by Dionysius, bishop in the third century. In the following century we read of many churches at Rome, Alexandria, Carthage, &c. It is observed by Bingham, that the lesser churches or tituli in cities, were not usually at first appropriated to particular presbyters, but were served in common by the presbyters of the principal church. The opinion of Thomassin is very probable, that public baptism, reconciliation of penitents, and the consecration of the eucharist, were for a long time performed by the bishop at the cathedral, and not in the lesser churches; though a different custom gradually prevailed. At the beginning of the fifth century, as we learn from the epistle of Innocentius to Decentius, bishop of Eugubium, the presbyters of all the Roman tituli or lesser churches, received on every Lord's day the sacrament consecrated by the bishop, and did not themselves consecrate; that power being exercised apparently only by the presbyters of the churches of the martyrs, which * Bingham, Antiquities, book y Thomassin. pars i. lib. ii. ix. c. 8. s. 5. VOL. II. c. 21. Dd were in the country. The presbyters of the city, constituting the original presbytery of the church, were of more authority and dignity than the rural presbyters, who were forbidden by the council of Neocæsarea to officiate in the city unless in the absence of the bishop and presbyters (can. 13). They had the whole cure of souls under the bishop, either conjointly or separately, and preserved their privileges generally. But in later ages, presbyters under their direction were assigned to the lesser churches in the city; parochial districts were formed, and the presbyters of the principal church, who were finally entitled CANONICI and PREBENDARII, and lived together under peculiar rules and statutes, were gradually divested of the cure of souls, though they still had great authority and privileges, and, together with the great officers of the church, such as the archdeacon, &c. were regarded generally as the bishop's council in all the affairs of the church". These alterations were introduced gradually and by the internal regulations of each particular church. III. We are to consider, thirdly, the changes in general discipline and in the offices of the priesthood which resulted from these institutions. The rural presbyters were of the same merit and sacerdotal dignity as those of the city; but their great number, and the remoteness of their situations in rural districts, rendered it impossible to consult them ordinarily in the general affairs of the church, or to unite them with the original presbytery. Thus they were invested only with a particular jurisdiction in their z Ibid. For the origin and history of Chapters, see Thomassin. Vet. et Nov. Eccl. Discipl. Part I. lib. iii. c. 7-10. See also Van Espen, Jus. Univers. Eccl. pars i. tit. 8. respective parishes, and were placed generally under the bishop's superintendence and visitation. On the other hand, they necessarily obtained the right of performing ordinarily and publicly in their churches, almost all those offices which were chiefly reserved to the bishop in the city. The city presbyters of both kinds above mentioned, themselves gradually obtained similar privileges by the concession of the bishops; and in return transferred to them by a tacit consent, much of their ordinary power of jurisdiction. Even in the time of St. Jerome, it seems that the tendency of popular feeling was to depress the dignity and authority of the priesthood; and he magnified that office to the utmost limit in opposing himself to these errors. The bishops of the fourth council of Carthage decreed, with laudable piety and humility: "ut episcopus quolibet loco sedens, stare presbyterum non patiatur," and "ut episcopus in ecclesia, et in consessu presbyterorum sublimior sedeat; intra domum vero collegam se presbyterorum esse cognoscat "." The wealth and temporal power of bishops during the middle ages, may have induced some of the ignorant to suppose that presbyters were exceedingly inferior to bishops; but the catholic church, which sees with the eye of Faith; as she acknowledges the same sacred dignity of the priesthood in every bishop, whether oppressed with extreme poverty, or whether invested with princely dignity and wealth, also views the greatness and the sanctity of the office of presbyter, as little inferior to those even of the chief pastors who succeed the apostles; and the church has never flourished more, nor b Carthag. iv. c. 34. Harduin. Conc. t. i. p. 981. c Can. xxxv. has the episcopate ever been held in truer reverence, than under the guidance of those apostolical prelates who, like S. Cyprian, resolved to do nothing without the consent of the church, and who have most sedulously avoided even the appearance of "being lords over God's heritage." The spirit of a genuine christianity will lead the presbyters to reverence and obey the bishops as their fathers; and will induce bishops to esteem the presbyters as fellow-workers together with them, and brethren in Jesus Christ. CHAPTER III. ON THE DIACONATE. WE find deacons but rarely spoken of in scripture. The first appointment of deacons is mentioned (Acts vi.) to have been made in consequence of the murmuring of the Greeks that they were neglected in the daily ministrations. We do not hear of them afterwards till St. Paul addressed his epistle to the Philippian church, whose "deacons” he mentions; and in his first epistle to Timothy, directions are given for the choice of deacons, which infer that they were then as commonly established in the church as presbyters. S. Clement of Rome says that the apostles, having preached everywhere, " ordained their first-fruits bishops and deacons." Ignatius and Polycarp also mention the deacons of the churches they wrote to. Deacons are also mentioned by Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, * Phil. i. 1. 1 Tim. iii. 8, &c. Tertullian, Cyprian, &c. and without doubt the order continued always in the church . The office of deacons seems at first to have related chiefly to the administering relief to the poorer brethren but scripture does not limit them to this duty: and in fact we find Stephen preaching the gospel, and Philip the deacon both preaching and baptizing. These instances are sufficient to justify the church in permitting the deacons, in case of necessity, both to preach and to baptize. According to Bingham their ordinary duties in the primitive church consisted in taking care of the utensils of the altar, receiving the oblations of the people, delivering them to the priest, reading aloud the names of benefactors, distributing the consecrated elements and carrying them to the absent, directing the behaviour of the people in church, attending on the bishops and acting as their messengers and representatives in synods, sometimes keeping the doors during the celebration of the sacred service, inquiring after the poor and acting as almoners to them, informing the bishop of misdemeanours, in some churches acting as catechists. It seems that for many centuries, the ordinary office of the deacon related rather to such duties as are now performed by our parish-clerks and churchwardens, than to the higher parts of the ministerial office. In the oriental churches the diaconate has always continued to be not only an order, but an office with distinct duties in every church: so that no bishop or presbyter officiates without the assistance of his deacon. For ample information with regard to deacons in the church, see Bingham, Antiquities, book ii. c. 20. Thomassin. Vet. et Nov. Eccl. Discipl. pars i. lib. ii. c. 29-33. d Acts vi. 10. e Acts viii. 5. 38. |