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Cæsarius Arelatensis is said to have been at seven. And this leads us to understand what Sidonius Apollinaris means, when speaking of John, bishop =of Chalons, he says, he was a reader from his infancy. Which is also said of St. Felix by Paulinus, that he served in the office of a reader from his tender years. So Victor Uticensis, describing the barbarity of the Vandalic persecution in Africa, he aggravates their cruelty with this circumstance, that they had murdered or famished all the clergy of Carthage, five hundred or more, among whom there were many infant readers." Now, the reason why persons were ordained so young to this office, was what I have intimated before, that parents sometimes dedicated their children to the service of God from their infancy, and then they were trained up and disciplined in some inferior offices, that they might be qualified and rendered more expert for the greater services of the church.

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE OSTIARII OR DOOR-KEEPERS.

Sect. 1. No mention of this order till the

tury.

THIS is the last of those five orders, which are pretended by the present third or fourth cen- church of Rome to be of apostolical institution: but for three whole centuries, we never so much as meet with the name of it in any ancient writer, except in the epistle of Cornelius,' bishop of Rome, where the ruλwpoi, or door-keepers, are mentioned with the rest. In Cyprian and Tertullian there is no mention of them: the first and lowest order with them is that of readers, as it is now in the Greek church, among whom the order of door-keepers has been laid aside from the time of the council of Trullo, anno 692, as Schelstrate scruples not to confess; though he blames Morinus for being a little too frank and liberal in extending this concession to the apostoli

cal ages; and in order to confute him, alleges the authority of Ignatius and Clemens Romanus for the antiquity of this order. But he refers us only co spurious treatises under their names, not known ill the fourth century, about which time it is owned his order began to be spoken of by some few Greek

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writers. For Epiphanius' and the council of Laodicea put the Ovpwpoì, that is, door-keepers, among the other orders of the clergy. And Justinian also, in one of his Novels, speaks of them as settled in the great church of Constantinople, where he limits their number to one hundred, for the use of that and three other churches. This proves that they were settled in some parts of the Greek church, though, as Habertus' observes, they continued not many ages, nor ever universally obtained an establishment in all churches.

What sort of ordination they had

Sect. 2. The manner of

the Latin church.

in the Greek church we do not find; their ordination in for there is no author that speaks of it. In the Latin church it was no more but the bishop's commission, with the ceremony of delivering the keys of the church into their hands, and saying, Behave thyself as one that must give an account to God of the things that are kept locked under these keys; as the form is in the fourth council of Carthage, and the Ordo Romanus, and Gratian," who have it from that council.

Sect. 3. Their office and function.

Their office is commonly said to consist in taking care of the doors of the church in time of Divine service, and in making a distinction betwixt the faithful and the catechumens, and excommunicated persons, and such others as were to be excluded from the church. But I confess this is more than can be made out from ancient history, at least in reference to the state and discipline of many churches. For, in the African church particularly, as I shall have occasion to show in another place, a liberty was given not only to catechumens and penitents, but also to heretics, Jews, and heathens, to come to the first part of the church's service, called the missa catechumenorum, that is, to hear the Scripture read, and the homily or sermon that was made upon it: because these were instructive, and might be means of their conversion, so that there was no need of making any distinction here. Then, for the other part of the service, called missa fidelium, or the communion service, the distinction that was made in that, was done by the deacons or subdeacons, and deaconesses, as I have showed before in speaking of those orders. So that all that the door-keepers could have to do in this matter was only to open and shut the doors as officers and servants under the other, and to be governed wholly by their direction. It belonged to

4

Ignat. Ep. ad Antioch. et Clement. Constit. lib. 3. c. 11. Epiphan. Expos. Fid. n. 21. 5 Conc. Laodic. c. 24. Just. Novel. 3. c. 1. Insuper centum existentibus iis, qui vocantur ostiarii.

7 Habert. Archieratic. par. 5. obs. 1. p. 47.

8 Conc. Carth. 4. c. 9. Ostiarius cum ordinatur-ad suggestionem archidiaconi tradat ei episcopus claves ecclesiæ, dicens, Sic age quasi redditurus Deo rationem de his rebus quæ his claoibus recluduntur.

Ordo Roman. part. 2. p. 98. 10 Grat. Dist. 23. c. 19.

them likewise to give notice of the times of prayer and church assemblies; which in time of persecution required a private signal for fear of discovery: and that perhaps was the first reason of instituting this order in the church of Rome, whose example by degrees was followed by other churches. However it be, their office and station seems to have been little more than that of clerks and sextons in our modern churches.

Sect. 1.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE PSALMISTÆ, OR SINGERS.

The singers a dis

tinct order from

readers in the an

cient church.

I HAVE hitherto given an account of those five inferior orders, which the church of Rome has singled out from the rest, and without any reason stamped them with the authority and character of apostolical institution; whilst yet she takes no notice of some others, which have as good pretence to antiquity, and to be styled distinct clerical orders, as most of the former. Among these I reckon the psalmista, the copiate, and the parabolani of the primitive church. Habertus,' and Bellarmine, and others, who are concerned to maintain the credit of the Romish church in making but five inferior orders, pretend that singers and readers are only one and the same order. But as the canonists of their own church generally reckon them two, so nothing can be more evident than that they were always accounted so in the primitive church from their first institution. For they are distinguished as much as any other orders, by all the writers that mention them, as the reader that is curious in this matter may satisfy himself by consulting the places of Ephrem Syrus, the council of Laodicea, and those called the Apostolical Canons, and Constitutions, the author' of St. Mark's liturgy, the epistle under the name of Ignatius, Justinian, and the council of Trullo," referred to in the margin. Particularly Justinian's Novel does so distinguish them, as to inform us that there were twenty-five singers and one hundred and ten readers in the Greek church of Constantinople. Which is a convincing evidence that they were of different orders.

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seems to have been about the beginning of the fourth century. For the council of Laodicea is the first that mentions them, unless any one thinks perhaps the Apostolical Canons to be a little more ancient. The reason of instituting them seems to have been to regulate and encourage the ancient psalmody of the church. For from the first and apostolical age singing was always a par of Divine service, in which the whole body of the church joined together: which is a thing so evident, that though Cabassutius" denies it, and in his spite to the reformed churches, where it is generally practised, calls it only a protestant whim; yet Cardinal Bona has more than once 12 not only confessed, but solidly proved it to have been the primitive practice. Of which therefore I shall say no more at present, but only observe, that it was the decay of this that first brought the order of singers into the church. For when it was found by experience, that the negligence and unskilfulness of the people rendered them unfit to perform this service without some more curious and skilful to guide and assist them; then a peculiar order of men were appointed, and set over this business, with a design to retrieve and improve the ancient psalmody, and not to abolish or destroy it. And from this time these were called κανονικοὶ ψαλταὶ, the canonical singers, that is, such as were entered into the canon or catalogue of the clergy, which distinguished them from the body of the church. In sone places, it was thought fit for some time to prohibit all others from singing but only these; with design, no doubt, to restore the concent of the ancient ecclesiastical harmony, which otherwise could not well have been done, but by obliging the rest for some time to be silent, and learn of those who were more skilful in the art of music. Thus I understand that canon of the council of Laodicea," which forbids all others to sing in the church, except only the canonical singers, who went up into the ambo, or singing desk, and sung out of a book. This was a temporary provision, designed only to restore and revive the ancient psalmody, by reducing it to its primitive harmony and perfection. That which the rather inclines me to put this sense upon the canon, and look upon it only as a prohibition for a time, is, that in after ages we find the people enjoyed their ancient privilege of singing all together; which is frequently mentioned by St. Austin, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Basil, and many others, who give an account of the psalmody and service of the church in

10 Concil. Trull. c. 4.

11 Cabassut. Notit. Concil. c. 38. p. 201.

12 Bona, Rer. Liturg. lib. 1. c. 25. n. 19. It. de Divin. Psalmod. c. 17.

13 Conc. Laodic. c. 15. un dεīv πλéov TWV KAVOVIK ψαλτῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τὸν ἄμβωνα ἀναβαινόντων, καὶ ἀπὸ διφθέρας ψαλλόντων, ἑτέρους τινὰς ψάλλειν ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ.

their own ages, of which I shall speak more here

after in its proper place.

Sect. 3. Why called Η υποβολείς.

Here I must note, that these ca

nonical singers were also called vπoBoλɛis, monitors, or suggestors, from their office, which was to be a sort of precentors to the people for the custom in some places was for the singer or psalmist to begin a psalm or hymn, and sing half a verse by himself, and then the people answered in the latter clause; and from this they were said ηxεïv, or succinere, to sing after him, by way of antiphona or responsal. In this sense, Epiphanius Scholasticus understands the name voẞoλsis in Socrates," for he translates it, psalmi pronunciatores: and so both Valesius 1 and Cotelerius explain it. But Habertus is of the contrary mind: he thinks the name," πoßoλiç, denotes not singers, but readers; and that they were so called, because they suggested to the preachers a portion of Scripture to discourse upon for then their homilies were frequently upon such parts of Scripture, as the reader had just before repeated. The controversy is nice betwixt these learned men, and I shall no further inquire into the merits of it, but leave it to every judicious reader to determine.

16

Sect. 4. What sort of ordination they had.

15

There is but one thing more that needs be noted concerning this order, which is the manner of their designation to this office: which in this agreed with all the other inferior orders, that it required no imposition of hands, or solemn consecration: but in one thing it differed from them, that whereas the rest were usually conferred by the bishop or a chorepiscopus, this might be conferred by a presbyter, using this form of words, as it is in the canon of the fourth council of Carthage: 18 See that thou believe in thy heart what thou singest with thy mouth, and approve in thy works what thou believest in thy heart. And this is all the ceremony we find any where used about their designation.

"Socrat. lib. 5. c. 22.

19

15 Vales. in Socrat. ibid.

Coteler. Not. in Constit. Apost. lib. 2. c. 57. "Habert. Archierat. par. 4. obs. 1. p. 39. "Couc. Carthag. 4. c. 10. Psalmista, id est, cantor potest absque scientia episcopi, sola jussione presbyteri, officiun suscipere cantandi, dicente sibi presbytero: Vide ut quod ore cantas, corde credas: et quod corde credis, operibus comprobes.

Cod. Th. lib. 13. Tit. 1. de Lustrali Collat. Leg. 1. It. Hib. 16. Tit. 2. de Episc. Leg. 15.

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Epiphan. Expos. Fid. n. 21.

'Epist. ad Antioch. n. 12.

Gothofred. Com, in Cod. Th. lib. 13. Tit. 1. Leg. 1. Hieron. de septem Ordin. Eccles. t. 4. p. 81. * Justin. Novel. 43 et 59.

CHAPTER VIII.

OF THE COPIATE OR FOSSARII.

Sect. 1.

The copiate or

5

ANOTHER Order of the inferior clergy in the primitive church were those, fossari reckoned whose business was to take care of among the clerici of the primitive church. funerals, and provide for the decent interment of the dead. These, in ancient writers, are commonly termed copiata, which is the name that Constantine gives them in two rescripts' in the Theodosian Code. Epiphanius speaks of them' under the same name, styling them Komáraι, and the author under the name of Ignatius, KоTYTES. Gothofred deduces it from the Greek word oлáLav, which signifies resting; others from KоTETÒS, mourning; but generally the name is thought to be given them from κóπоç, and кomiãoα, which signify labouring; whence they are by some called laborantes. The author under the name of St. Jerom styles them fossari, from digging of graves: and in Justinian's Novels they are called lecticarii, from carrying the corpse or bier at funerals. Gothofred thinks it improper to reckon these among the clerici' of the ancient church: but when we are speaking of things and customs of the ancient church, I know not how we shall speak more properly than in the language of the ancients, who themselves call them so. For not only the author under the name of St. Jerom calls them the first order of the clerici, as they are in his account; but St. Jerom himself also gives them the same title, speaking of one that was to be interred: The clerici, says he, whose office' it was, wound up the body, digged the earth, builded a vault, and so according to custom made ready the grave. This is the reason why Epiphanius" and the counterfeit Ignatius reckon them among the inferior orders. And Gothofred had no need to make emendations upon those imperial laws" in the Theodosian Code, which give the copiate the name of clerici, and entitle them to some immunities and privileges upon that account: for this, as appears, was only to speak in the language and style of other ecclesiastical writers.

Gothofr. Not. in Cod. Th. lib. 16. Tit. 2. Leg. 15. 8 De septem Ordin. Eccles. Primus in clericis fossariorum ordo est, &c.

Hieron. Ep. ad Innocent. de Muliere septies icta, t. 1. p. 235. Clerici, quibus id officii erat, cruentum linteo cadaver obvolvunt, et fossam humum lapidibus construentes, ex more tumulum parant.

10 Epiphan. et Ignat. ubi supra.

11 Cod. Th. lib. 7. Tit. 20. de Veteranis, Leg. 12. Dum se quidam vocabulo clericorum, et infaustis defunctorum obsequiis occupatos-defendunt, &c. Ibid. lib. 13. Tit. 1. de Lustrali Collat. Leg. 1. Clericos excipi tantum, qui copiatæ appellantur, &c. Ibid. lib. 16. Tit. 2. de Episc. Leg. 15. Clerici vero, vel hi quos copiatas recens usus instituit nuncupari, &c.

Sect. 2.

the time of Constantine.

This order seems to have been first First instituted in instituted in the time of Constantine: for Constantius his son, in one of those laws just now referred to, speaks of it as a late institution; and there is no writer of the three first ages that ever mentions it, but all that time the care of interring the dead was only a charitable office, which every Christian thought himself obliged to perform as occasion required. And that is the reason why we meet with so many noble encomiums of this sort of charity in the writers of those ages, but never once mention of any order instituted for that purpose. But when Constantine came to the throne, and was quietly settled in his new seat at Constantinople, he incorporated a body of men to the number of eleven hundred in that city, under the name of copiata, for that particular service: and so they continued to the time of Honorius and Theodosius junior, who reduced them to nine hundred and fifty:" but Anastasius augmented them again to the first number, which Justinian confirmed by two Novels " published for that purpose. And I suppose from this example of the Constantinopolitan church they took their rise in other populous churches.

13

But probably there might be some Sect. 3. Why called decani little difference between those in the and collegiati. church of Constantinople and other in the lesser churches. For at Constantinople they were incorporated into a sort of civil society, in the Roman language called, collegium, a college, whence the laws sometimes style them collegiati, and decani, collegiates, and deans. As in the forementioned laws of Honorius and Theodosius junior, and Justinian, and another of Theodosius the Great" in the Justinian Code, where he grants them an exemption from some other civil offices, provided they did not act upon a feigned and pretended title, but were really employed in the service of the church. But why they were called decani, is not very easy to conjecture. Probably it might be, because they resembled the palatine deans, who were a sort of military officers belonging to the emperor's palace, and are styled also corpus decanorum in both the Codes 15 mentioned by St. Chrysostom 16 and other Greek writers under the name of δεκανοὶ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις, deans of the palace, to distinguish them from those other deans of the church, which some unwarily confound together. But I am not very confident

12 Cod. Just. lib. 1. Tit. 2. de SS. Eccles. Leg. 4. Non plures quam nongenti quinquaginta decani deputentur ecclesiæ, &c.

13 Justin. Novel. 43 et 59.

14 Cod. Just. lib. 11. Tit. 17. de Collegiatis Leg. unica. Qui sub prætextu decanorum seu collegiatorum, cum id munus non impleant, aliis se muneribus conantur subtrahere, eorum fraudibus credimus esse obviandum.

15 Vid. Cod. Theod. lib. 6. Tit. 33. de Decanis. Leg. 1.

that this was the reason of the name, and therefore I only propose it as a conjecture, till some one assigns a better reason for it.

Sect. 4. Their office and privileges.

Their office was to take the whole care of funerals upon themselves, and to see that all persons had a decent and honourable interment. Especially they were obliged to perform this last office to the poorer sort, without exacting any thing of their relations upon that account. That it was so at Constantinople, appears from one of Justinian's Novels," which acquaints us how Anastasius the emperor settled certain revenues of land upon this society, and ordered a certain number of shops or work-houses in the city to be freed from all manner of tribute, and to be appropriated to this use; out of whose income and annual rents of the lands, the defensors and stewards of the church, who had the chief care and oversight of the matter, were to pay these deans, and see the expenses of such funerals defrayed. Justinian not only confirmed that settlement; but a complaint being made of an abuse that, notwithstanding the laws of Anastasius, pay was exacted for funerals, he published that his Novel on purpose to correct it. But we do not find that such settlements were made in all other churches, but it is more probable that the copiate were maintained partly out of the common stock of the church, and partly out of their own labour and traffic, which for their encouragement was generally exempted from paying custom or tribute, as we shall see hereafter.

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that they were not a distinct order, but chosen out of the inferior orders of the clergy, of which there is nothing said in that law, but rather the contrary, that they were to be chosen out of the poor of Alexandria.

Sect. 2.

and office.

Their office is described in the next Their institution law, where they are said to be deputed to attend upon the sick, and to take care of their bodies in time of their weakness." At Alexandria they were incorporated into a society to the number of five or six hundred, to be chosen at the discretion of the bishop of the place, out of any sort of men except the honorati and curiales, who were tied to serve in the civil offices of their country, and therefore were not allowed to enter themselves into any ecclesiastical service. They were to be under the government and direction of the bishop, as appears from the same law, which is a correction of the former law; for by it they were put under the government of the præfectus augustalis (as the chief civil magistrate was called at Alexandria): but by this law Theodosius revoked his former decree, and subjected them entirely to the care and disposition of the bishop; or, as the Greek collector of the ecclesiastical constitutions out of the civil law styles him, the pope; meaning, not the pope of Rome, as some ignorantly mistake, but the pope or bishop of Alexandria. For then it was customary to give every bishop the name of papa, as has been showed in another place." What time this order began, we cannot certainly determine the first notice we have of it is in these laws of Theodosius junior, anno 415. Yet it is not there spoken of as newly instituted, but as settled in the church before. And probably it might be instituted about the same time as the copiata were under Constantine, when some charitable offices, which were only voluntarily practised by Christians before, as every one's piety inclined him, were now turned into standing offices, and settled upon a certain order of men particularly devoted to such services. That it was not any order peculiar to the church of Alexandria, is evident, because there is mention made of the parabalani being at Ephesus in the time of the second council that was held there, anno 449. For Basilius Seleuciensis, who subscribed there to the condemnation of Flavian, and the absolution of Eutyches the heretic, being brought to a recantation in the council of Chalcedon, makes this apology for himself, that he was

Baron. an. 416. t. 4. p. 400. Fuisse hos minoris ordinis clericos allectos, exordium dati hoc anno rescripti insinuare videtur.

Cod. Th. ibid. Leg. 43. Parabalani, qui ad curanda debilium ægra corpora deputantur, quingentos esse ante præcepimus: sed quia hos minus sufficere in præsenti cognoVimus, pro quingentis sexcentos constitui præcipimus, &c. 'Collect. Constit. Eccles. lib. 1. Tit. 3. c. 18.

terrified into that subscription, by the soldiers that came armed into the church, together with Barsumas and his monks, and the parabalani, and a great multitude of others. The original word is rapaẞadaveig, which the old translator rightly renders, parabalani, which is the same with parabolani, for it is written both ways in ancient authors: but Binius, in his Greek edition of the councils, not understanding the word, explains it, i qui circa balnea versantur, as if the parabalani had been persons attending at the public baths; whereas now all men know their office was of a different nature, and their names given them for a reason very different from that of giving attendance at the baths.

Sect. 3.

name parabolani.

As to the reason of their name, to omit the fanciful interpretations of The reason of the Alciat and Accursius, which are sufficiently exposed by Gothofred, the opinion of Duarenus' and Gothofred seems to be the truest, that they were called parabolani from their undertaking παράβολον ἔργον, a most dangerous and hazardous office, in attending the sick, especially in infectious and pestilential diseases. The Greeks were used to call those apáßoλo, who hired themselves out to fight with wild beasts in the amphitheatre. And so Socrates the historian uses the word, speaking of Theodosius his exhibiting one of the public games to the people at Constantinople, he says, The people cried out to him that he should suffer one of the bold upáßolor to fight with the wild beasts. These were those whom the Romans called bestiarii, and sometimes paraboli and parabolarii, from the Greek word παραβάλλεσθαι, which signifies exposing a man's life to danger, as they that fought with wild beasts did. In this sense, I have had occasion to show before, the Christians were generally called parabolari by the heathens, because they were so ready to expose their lives to martyrdom. And it is the opinion of Gothofred" and some other" learned critics, that the ancient reading of the Greek copies of St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, chap. ii. ver. 30, was rapaßoλevoáμevos tỷ vx, exposing his life to danger, as an old Latin interpreter of Puteanus's renders it, parabolatus de anima sua. In the same sense these parabolani of the primitive church we are now speaking of, had their name from their bold exposing their lives to danger in attendance upon the sick in all infectious and pestilential distempers.

5 Book II. chap. 2. sect. 7.

Concil. Chalced. Act. 1. t. 4. p. 252.

7 Duaren, de Minist, et Benefic. lib. 1. c. 19.

s Socrat. lib. 7. c. 22. Ο δήμος κατεβόα, δεινῷ θηρίῳ ἕνα τῶν εὐφυῶν παραβόλων μάχεσθαι.

9 Book I. chap. 2. sect. 9.

10 Gothofr. Not. in Cod. Th. 16. t. 42.

"Vid. Grot. Hammond. Capel. in Philip. ii. 30.

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