63

66

gularly to be performed. Thus the word knpútai frequently occurs in the ancient rituals and canons; as in the Apostolical Constitutions, as soon as the bishop has ended his sermon, the deacon is to cry, Let the hearers and unbelievers depart." Then he is to bid the catechumens pray, and to call upon the faithful also to pray for them, repeating a form of bidding prayer, to instruct the people after what manner they were to pray for them. Which form may be seen both in the Constitutions," and in St. Chrysostom. After this the deacon was to call in like manner upon the energumens, the competentes, and the penitents in their several orders, using the solemn words of exhortation both to them and the people to pray for them, ἐκτενῶς δεηθώμεν, Let us ardently pray for them. Then again, when the deacon had dismissed all these by a solemn cry, ἀπολύεσθε, προέλθετε, or, Ite, Missa est ; he called upon the faithful to pray again for themselves, and the whole state of Christ's church, repeating another form of bidding prayer before them. And this is there called the deacon's poopwvnois, or exhortation to pray, to distinguish it from the bishop's wikλŋot, which was a direct form of address to God, whereas the deacon's address was to the people: for which reason it was called рoopóvŋσic, and kŋúžaι, bidding the people pray; or a call and exhortation to pray, with directions what they should pray for in particular. This the Latins called both oratio and prædicatio, as may be seen in one of the councils of Toledo," which explains the word orare, by prædicare, making them both to signify this office of the deacon. And hence one of the deacon's ornaments (that I may note this by the way) is called by the same council his orarium, because he used it sometimes as a private signal to give notice of the prayers to his brethren of the clergy. By all this we may understand what Socrates means, when he says Athanasius commanded his deacon kŋpúžαi ε¿õýv, to bid prayer; and how we are to interpret that controverted canon of the council of Ancyra, which, speaking of some deacons that had lapsed into idolatry, and degrading them, says, They should no longer ŋpúσσIV :° which some interpret preaching, but others" more truly understand it of this part of the deacon's office, which was to be the rýpu or præco, the sacred crier of the congregation.

69

63 Const. Apost. lib. 8. c. 5. κηρυττέτω, μή τις τῶν ἀκροωμένων· μή τις τῶν ἀπίστων. 65 Chrys. Hom. 2. in 1 Cor.

64 Ibid. c. 6. 66 Const. Apost. lib. 8. c. 10.

67 Con. Tolet. 4. c. 40. Unum orarium oportet Levitam gestare in sinistro humero, propter quod orat, id est, prædicat. Socrat. lib. 2. c. 11. 69 Con. Ancyr. c. 2. 70 Habert. Pontifical. p. 203. Bevereg. Not. in Con. Ancyr. c. 2. Suicer. Thesaur. Eccles. t. 2. p. 99.

71 Ambros. Com. in Eph. iv. Nunc neque diaconi in populo prædicant, neque clerici vel laici baptizant.

Sect. 11.

7. Deacons allowed to preach by the bishop'e authority.

But

If it be inquired, whether deacons had any power to preach publicly in the congregation? the answer must be the same as in the case of baptism: they had power to preach by licence and authority from the bishop, but not without it. The author under the name of St. Ambrose" says positively, that deacons did not preach in his time; though he thinks originally all deacons were evangelists, as Philip and Stephen were. I have showed before, that presbyters themselves in many places were not allowed to preach in the bishop's presence, but by his special leave; and therefore it is much more reasonable to conclude the same of deacons. Blondel" and Baronius think that St. Chrysostom preached those elegant discourses, de Incomprehensibili Dei Natura, de Anathemate, &c. while he was but a deacon. others think" more probably, that those were not sermons which he preached in the church, but only discourses that he composed upon other occasions; and that his first sermon was that which he preached when he was ordained presbyter, now extant in his 4th vol. p. 953. But if he ever preached while he was deacon, there is no question to be made but that he had the authority of his bishop Meletius for doing it as Philostorgius" says, Leontius the Arian bishop of Antioch permitted Aetius his deacon to preach publicly in the church. Ephrem Syrus perhaps was another such instance: for he was never more than a deacon of the church of Edessa; yet Photius" says he composed several homilies or sermons, which were so excellent in their kind, that after his death they were translated into other languages, and allowed to be read in many churches immediately after the reading of the Scriptures, as St. Jerom " acquaints us. In some places, as in the French churches, the deacons were authorized by canon to read some such homilies in the church instead of a sermon, when the presbyter happened to be sick, and could not preach, as appears from the order made in the council of Vaison" upon this occasion. But here was necessity and permission too: so that the case of deacons preaching in those ages of the church seems to have been (according to the resolution, which Vigilius" afterward gave of it) allowable, if authorized by the bishop; but a presumption both against custom and canon, if done without his permission.

76

72 Blondel, Apol. p. 57. Baron. an. 386. p. 512. 73 Cave, Hist. Liter, vol. 1. p. 253.

* Philostorg. lib. 3. c. 17. διδάσκειν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐπιτρέπει.

75 Phot. Cod. 196. Λόγοι ἐννέα καὶ τεσσαράκοντα. 76 Hieron. de Scriptor. c. 115.

77 Con. Vasens. 3. c. 2. Si presbyter, aliqua infirmitate prohibente, per seipsum non potuerit prædicare, Sanctorum Patrum homiliæ a diaconibus recitentur.

79 Vigil. Ep. ad Rustic. et Sebastian. Concil. t. 5. p. 554. Adjecistis etiam execranda superbia, quæ nec legun

Seet. 12

8. Also to reconcile penitents in cases of extreme necessity.

And so the case stood likewise with deacons in reference to the power of reconciling penitents, and granting them absolution. This was ordinarily the bishop's sole prerogative, as the supreme minister of the church; and therefore rarely committed to presbyters, but never to deacons, except in cases of extreme necessity, when neither bishop nor presbyter were ready at hand to do it: in this case deacons were sometimes authorized, as the bishop's special delegates, to give men the solemn imposition of hands, which was the sign of reconciliation. Thus we find it in Cyprian, in the case of those penitents, whom the martyrs by their letters recommended to the favour of the church: If, says he," they are seized by any dangerous distemper, they need not expect my return, but may have recourse to any presbyter that is present; or if a presbyter cannot be found, they may make their confession before a deacon; that so they may receive imposition of hands, and go to the Lord in peace. Here it is observable, that none below a deacon are commissioned to perform this office; nor were the deacons authorized to do it, but as the bishop's delegates, and that in cases of extreme necessity, when no presbyter could be found to reconcile the penitent at the point of death.

And to suspend the inferior clergy in some extraordinary cases.

In the like case, that is, in the case of absolute necessity, it seems very probable, that in some of the Greek churches they had power to suspend the inferior clergy, when need so required, and neither bishop nor presbyter was present to do it. Which may be collected from those words of the author of the Constitutions, where he says, a deacon excommunicates a subdeacon, a reader, a singer, a deaconness, if there be occasion, and the presbyter be not at hand to do it. But a subdeacon shall have no power to excommunicate any, either clergy or laity; for subdeacons are only ministers of the deacons. This was a power then committed to deacons in extraordinary cases, and a peculiar privilege which none of the inferior clergy might enjoy.

them; in which station we commonly find them employed in the ancient councils: but then there were two things in which they were treated as inferior to presbyters: 1. In that presbyters are usually represented as sitting together with their bishops, while the deacons stood with all the peo ple. 2. Presbyters were sometimes allowed to vote, as has been showed before; but there are no instances that I know of, to evidence the same privilege to belong to deacons. Only when bishops could not attend in person, they many times sent their deacons to represent them; and then they sat and voted, not as deacons, but as proxies, in the room and place of those that sent them. Of which there are so many instances in the acts of the councils, that it is needless to refer the reader to any of them. Yet they that desire to see examples, may consult Christianus Lupus in his notes upon the seventh canon of the council of Trullo, where he observes some difference in the sitting and voting of deacons in the Eastern and Western councils: in the Eastern councils, if a deacon represented a metropolitan or a patriarch, he sat and subscribed in the place that the metropolitan or patriarch himself would have done, had he been present; but in the Western councils it was otherwise; there the deacons voted after all the bishops, and not in the place of those whose proxies they were.

Thus it was in general councils. But in provincial and consistorial synods, the deacons were sometimes allowed to give their voice, as well as the presbyters, in their own name. Of which the reader may see several instances in the Roman councils under Symmachus and Gregory II., published by Justellus in his Bibliotheca Juris Canonici, and in the fourth tome of the councils, where first the bishops, then the presbyters, and then the deacons, subscribe every one in their own name in particular. And those that are curious about this matter, may furnish themselves with many other such examples.

deacon rebuke him, and transfer him to his proper station, as the pilot or steersman of the church. And again a little after, Let the deacon overlook and superintend the people, that no one talk, or sleep, or laugh, but give ear to the word of God. This is evident also from St. Chrysostom, who, speaking of the irreverent behaviour of some in the church, bids their neighbours first rebuke them, and if they would not bear it, to call the deacon & to do his office toward them. Agreeable to this, Optatus tells us a very remarkable story of Caecilian, archdeacon of Carthage, that observing one Lucilla, a rich woman, commit an indecent act in the time of receiving the holy communion, (for before she received the bread and wine, she was used to kiss the relics of some pretended martyr,) he rebuked her for it by virtue of his office: which she so highly resented, that afterward, when he was chosen bishop, she factiously withdrew herself, with some others, from his communion, and pretending his ordination to be illegal, she, by her power, got Majorinus ordained against him: and this was one of the principal causes of the schism of the Donatists, as Optatus there observes: It had its rise from the implacable malice of a proud and angry woman, who could never forgive the deacon that rebuked her in the church. Some may perhaps imagine, that what Cæcilian did was by virtue of a superior office, and that as archdeacon he was of a higher order, as now commonly archdeacons

Sect. 15.

11. Deacons an

ciently performed

the offices of all the

church.

The other thing I would further remark concerning the office of deainferior orders of the Cons is this, that before the institution of the inferior orders of the church, (which were not set up in all churches at once, nor perhaps in any church for the two first ages, as shall be showed hereafter,) the deacons were employed to perform all such offices as were in after ages committed to those orders; such as the offices of readers, subdeacons, exorcists or catechists, door-keepers, and the like. Thus Epiphanius observes, that originally all offices of the

83 Constit. Apost. lib. 2. c. 57. p. 264. 'O diákovos iπioKOTTEĹTW TOV Xaov, &c. Confer lib. 8. c. 11.

84 Chrys. Hom. 24. in Act.

85 Optat. lib. 1. p. 40. Cum correptionem archidiaconi Cæciliani ferre non posset, quæ ante spiritalem cibum et potum, os nescio cujus martyris, si tamen martyris, libare dicebatur, &c.

66 Epiphan. Hær. 75. Aerian.

church were performed by bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and therefore no church was without a deacon. This was certainly the practice in the time of Ignatius, who never speaks of any order below that of deacons; but without them, he says, no church was called a church. So that all the inferior offices must then be performed by deacons. And even in after ages we find that several of the inferior offices were many times put upon the same man, perhaps to avoid the charge of maintaining an over-numerous clergy in lesser churches. Thus Eusebius tells us, that Romanus the martyr was both deacon and exorcist in the church of Cæsarea. And Procopius the martyr had three offices in the church of Scythopolis; he was at once reader, interpreter, and exorcist; as we learn from the Acts of his Martyrdom" published by Valesius. Now both these were martyred in the beginning of the fourth century, in the time of the Diocletian persecution. And we find, a whole age after this, if the author under the name of St. Austin' may be credited, that except in such great and rich churches as the church of Rome, where there was a numerous clergy, all the inferior services were still performed by the deacons. In the Greek church they were always the vλwpoi, or door-keepers, in the time of the oblation and celebration of the eucharist, as may be seen in the Apostolical Constitutions," where the deacons are commanded to stand at the men's gate, and the subdeacons at the women's, to see that no one should go out or come in during the time of the oblation. These were anciently the deacons' principal employments in the assemblies of the church.

90

Sect. 16. 12. Deacons the bishop's sub-almoners.

But besides these, we are to take notice of two or three other offices, in which they were commonly employed by the bishop out of the church. One of these was to be his sub-almoner, to take care of the necessitous, such as orphans, widows, virgins, martyrs in prison, and all the poor and sick who had any title to be maintained out of the public revenues of the church. The deacons were particularly to inquire into the necessities and wants of all these, and make relation thereof to the bishop, and then distribute to them such charities as they received from him towards their relief and assistance. archdeacon indeed was as it were the bishop's treasurer, but all the deacons were his dispensers, or ministers of the church's charity to the indigent.

67 Ignat. Ep. ad Tral. n. 3.

8s Euseb. de Martyr. Palæstin. c. 2.

The

89 Acta Procop. ap. Vales. Not. in Euseb. de Martyr. Palæst, c. 1. Ibi ecclesiæ tria ministeria præbebat: unum in legendi officio, alterum in Syri interpretatione sermonis, et tertium adversus dæmones manus impositione consummans. 90 Aug. Quæst. Vet. et N. Test. c. 101. cited before, sect. 4. 91 Const. Apost. lib. 8. c. 11.

Which appears from several passages in Cyprian," Dionysius" of Alexandria, and the author" of the Constitutions, who speak indifferently of this office as common to all the deacons. Particularly in the Constitutions, the duty of the deacon is thus described, that he should inform his bishop, when he knows any one to be in distress, and then distribute to their necessities by the directions of the bishop; but to do nothing clancularly without his consent, lest that might seem to accuse him of neglecting the distressed, and so turn to his reproach, and raise a murmuring against him.

Sect. 17.

13. Deacons to inform the bishop

ors of the people.

Another office of the deacons in this respect was, to make inquiry into the of the misdemean morals and conversation of the people; and such evils as he could not redress himself, by the ordinary power which was intrusted in his hands, of those he was to give information to the bishop, that he by his supreme authority might redress them. Let the deacon, says the book of Constitutions, refer all things to the bishop, as Christ did to the Father: such things as he is able, let him rectify, by the power which he has from the bishop; but the weightier causes let the bishop judge.

Sect. 18. Hence deacons commonly called the bishop's eyes, his mouth, angels, prophets, &c.

Upon this account the deacons were usually styled the bishop's eyes and his ears, his mouth, his right hand, and his heart because by their ministry he overlooked his charge, and by them took cognizance of men's actions, as much as if he himself had seen them with his own eyes, or heard them with his own ears: by them he sent directions and orders to his flock, in which respect they were his mouth and his heart; by them he distributed to the necessities of the indigent, and so they were his right hand. These titles are frequently to be met with in the Constitutions," and the author of the Epistle to St. James. And Isidore of Pelusium, in allusion to them, writing to Lucius," an archdeacon, he tells him in the phrase of the church, that he ought to be all eye, forasmuch as deacons were the eyes of the bishop. The author of the Constitutions" terms them likewise the bishop's angels and prophets, because they were the persons whom he chiefly employed in messages, either to his own people, or foreign churches. For then bishops did nothing but by the mouth or hands of one of their clergy.

97

101

Sect. 19. Deacons to be multiplied accord

ties of the church.

For this reason, there being such a multitude and variety of business commonly attending the deacon's office, ing to the necessi it was usual to have several deacons in the same church. In some churches they were very precise to the number seven, in imitation of the first church of Jerusalem. The council of Neocæsarea 100 enacted it into a canon, that there ought to be but seven deacons in any city, though it was never so great, because this was according to the rule suggested in the Acts of the Apostles. And the church of Rome, both before and after this council, seems to have looked upon that as a binding rule also. For it is evident from the epistle of Cornelius, written in the middle of the third century, that there were then but seven deacons in the church of Rome, though there were forty-six presbyters at the same time. And Prudentius intimates that it was so in the time of Sixtus also, anno 261. For speaking of Laurentius the deacon, he terms him,102 the chief of those seven men, who had their station near the altar; meaning the seven deacons of the church. Nay, in the fourth and fifth centuries, the custom there continued the same, as we learn both from Sozomen,103 and Hilarius Sardus,10 the Roman deacon who wrote under the name of St. Ambrose. But Sozomen says, this rule was not observed in other churches, but the number of deacons was indifferent, as the business of every church required. And it is certain it was so at Alexandria and Constantinople. For though one of the writers of the Life of St. Mark, cited by Bishop Pearson, 105 says St. Mark ordained but seven deacons at Alexandria, yet in after ages there were more: for Alexander, in one of his circular letters," names nine deacons, whom he deposed with Arius for their heretical opinions; and it is probable there were several others who continued orthodox: for in the form of Arius his condemnation, published 107 by Cotelerius, the catholic deacons of Alexandria and Mareotes are mentioned, as joining with their bishop in condemning him. And for the church of Constantinople, the number of deacons was there so great, that in one of Justinian's Novels, 108 find them limited to a hundred for the service of the great church and three others only. So that it is evident the number of deacons usually increased with the necessities of the church, and

106

we

103 Sozom. lib. 7. c. 19. Διάκονοι παρὰ ̔Ρωμαίοις εἰσέτι νῦν οὐ πλείους εἰσὶν ἑπτά.

101 Ambros. Com. in 1 Tim. iii. p. 995. Nunc autem septem diaconos esse oportet, aliquantos presbyteros, ut bini sint per ecclesias, et unus in civitate episcopus.

105 Vit. S. Marci ap. Pearson. Vind. Ignat. para 1. c. 11. p. 329. B. Marcus Anizanum Alexandriæ ordinavit epis copum, et tres presbyteros, et septem diaconos.

106 Alex. Ep. Encycl. ap. Theodor. lib. 1. c. 4. 107 Coteler. Not. in Const. Apost. lib. 8. c. 28. 108 Justin. Novel. 3. c. 1.

the church of Rome was singular in the contrary practice.

Sect. 20.

deacons might be

ordained.

I speak nothing here of the qualifi

Of the age at which cations required in deacons, because they were generally the same that were required in bishops and presbyters, and will be spoken of hereafter: only in their age there was some difference, which is here to be observed. Bishops and presbyters, as has been noted above, might not ordinarily be ordained before thirty, but deacons were allowed to be ordained at twenty-five, and not before. This is the term fixed both by the civil and canon law, as may be seen in Justinian's Novels, the councils of Agde," Carthage, Trullo, and many others. And it was a rule very nicely observed for though we meet with some bishops that were ordained before this age, yet those (as I have showed before) were never deacons, but ordained immediately bishops from laymen: but among those that were ordained deacons, we scarce meet with an instance of any one that was ordained before the age of twenty-five in all the history of the church.

109

The last thing which I shall observe of deacons, is the great deference

to presbyters, and and respect they were obliged to pay to presbyters, as well as to the bishop.

112

It has been proved before, that the presbyters had their thrones in the church, whereon they sat together with their bishop: but the deacons had no such privilege, but are always represented as standing by them. So the author of the Constitutions and Gregory Nazianzen " place them in this order, viz. the bishop sitting on the middle throne, the presbyters sitting on each hand of him, and the deacons standing by. The council of Nice expressly forbids deacons to sit among the presbyters in the church. And it is evident from St. Jerom" and the author under the name of St. Austin," that though the Roman deacons were grown the most elated of any others, yet they did not presume to sit in the church. Nay, some canons go further, and forbid " deacons to sit any where in the presence of a presbyter, except by his permission.

113

The like respect they were to pay to presbyters in several other instances, being obliged to minister

109 Just. Novel. 123. c. 13. Presbyterum minorem triginta quinque annorum fieri non permittimus. Sed neque diaconum aut subdiaconum viginti quinque.

110 Conc. Agathens. c. 16. Conc. Carthag. 3. c. 4. Conc. Trull. c. 14. Conc. Tolet. 4. c. 20.

I Constit. Apost. lib. 2. c. 57.

112 Greg. Naz. Somn. de Eccles. Anastas.

113 Conc. Nic. c. 18.

114 Hieron. Ep. 85. ad Evagr. In ecclesia Romæ presbyteri sedent, et stant diaconi.

115 Aug. Quæst. Vet. et Nov. Test. c. 101. Quanquam Romanæ ecclesiæ diaconi modice inverecundiores videantur, sedendi tamen dignitatem in ecclesia non præsumunt.

to them, as well as to the bishop, in the performance of all divine offices; none of which might be performed by a deacon in the presence of a presbyter, without some special reason for it, as has been noted before. Nay, a deacon was not allowed so much as to bless a common feast, if a presbyter was present at it as we may see in St. Jerom's epistle to Evagrius, where he censures the Roman deacons somewhat sharply for presuming to do so.

But then, as the canons obliged deacons to pay this respect to presbyters; so, to distinguish them from the lesser clergy, all the inferior orders were required to pay the same respect to them. The council of Laodicea, in the same canon that says, a deacon shall not sit in the presence of a presbyter without his leave, adds immediately after, that in like manner the deacon shall be honoured by the subdeacons and all the other clergy. And the council of Agdes repeats the canon in the same words. I shall here also remind the reader of what I have observed before, that deacons in some churches had power to censure the inferior clergy in the absence of the presbyters. St. Jerom " seems also to say, that their revenues were rather greater than those of the presbyters, which made them sometimes troublesome and assuming. Beside all this, the order of deacons was of great repute, because the archdeacon was always then one of this order, and he was commonly a man of great interest and authority in the church; of whose powers and privileges, because it is necessary to discourse a little more particularly, I shall treat distinctly of them in the following chapter.

119

116 Concil. Laodic. c. 20. Carthag. 4. c. 39.

117 Hieron. Ep. 85. ad Evagr. Licet increbrescentibus vitiis, inter presbyteros absente episcopo sedere diaconum viderim et in domesticis conviviis, benedictiones presbyteris dare, al. benedictiones coram presbyteris dare.

118 Conc. Agathens. c. 65. Non oportet diaconum sedere præsente presbytero, sed ex jussione presbyteri sedeat. Similiter autem honorificetur diaconus a ministris inferioribus et omnibus clericis.

119 Hieron. Ep. 85. ad Evagr. Presbyter noverit se lucris minorem, sacerdotio esse majorem. Id. Com. in Ezek, c. xlviii. Ultra sacerdotes, hoc est, presbyteros intumescunt: et dignitatem non merito sed divitiis æstimant.