A. D. 390. the Penitentiary therefore was to receive the confessions of Soz. 7. 16. those who had fallen after baptism. He' was to be a person of known excellence of character, secrecy, and prudence. He prescribed to each person according to his sin, the penance that he was to perform, and dismissed him to inflict on himself the punishment he had incurred. At Constantinople a woman of rank once came to the Penitentiary Priest, and confessed to him in detail the sins which she had committed since her baptism. The Priest directed her to fast and pray continually. As on this account she continued a long time in the church, she suffered herself to be seduced by a Deacon. She declared this sin, which occasioned great scandal among the people and great indignation against the Clergy, from the shame which it brought upon the whole Church. The Bishop Nectarius was much perplexed to know how to act in this affair. He deposed the Deacon, and by the advice of a Priest called Eudæmon, a native of Alexandria, he withdrew the Penitentiary Priest, and gave every one liberty to partake of the mysteries, according to the guidance of his conscience. It is thus that the historian Socrates relates the matter, which he says he had from Eudæmon's own mouth; and adds, that he said to him, "Whether your advice has been "of service to the Church or not, God knows; but I see that you have given occasion to the faithful not to reprove one "another, and to transgress the precept of the Apostle, who 'Eph.5.11. "says, Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." These words of Socrates can only be applied to the public confession of certain sins, which the Penitentiary could enjoin as he thought proper, and which gave occasion to the faithful to reprove and correct the sinners. 1 The greatest part of the Eastern Churches followed the example of the Church of Constantinople, and suppressed the Penitentiary Priest. That is to say, they returned to the ancient custom, which was preserved in the West, viz. that the Bishop himself should take care of public penance, with 1 Only, viz. because the Priest would not divulge the confession; as the secrecy required in him shews. But this Priest seems to have something more of a ju dicial character, (see not. Vales.) and would convict by witnesses and other evidence. He might in this case have exposed the Deacon, not the woman. $6. in Psal. out the offenders being obliged to apply to a particular Priest. A. D. 390. They retained the ancient liberty, mentioned by Origen', of Hom. 2 choosing their spiritual physician themselves, and of confessing, 37. tom. 2. if he thought proper, some of their sins even in public, or of P. 688. approaching the holy mysteries without having recourse to penance, if they believed it conscientiously to be unnecessary, as is still the custom among us". It will be plainly seen by the sequel of this history, that the suppression of the Penitentiary Priest has been of no prejudice, either to the secret confession, which is always necessary for the administration of penance, or to public penance, which is always practised in some cases even in the Church at Constantinople. XXIV. Laws con cerning esses and Monks. 2 Soz. 7. 16. 4 16. tit. 2. 27.de Episc. 1 Tim. 5. 9, 10. prædia.] Sozomen seems to suppose that the person who caused this scandal was a deaconess. For he thinks that it was the occasion of the law3 which Theodosius made, for the Deaconhonour and reputation of the Church, by which he forbids that any women under the age of sixty should be chosen for deaconesses, according to the precept of the Apostle'. It is his will also that they have children, and that they provide a guardian for them, if still necessary; that they leave to others the management of their lands3, and only enjoy the [ bona, i.e. revenues, of which they may dispose as liberally as they please. He forbids them to dispose of their jewels" and other valuables; or to appoint the Church or any Clerk [or poor [ sub reliman] for their heir, or to leave any thing by way of legacy, fensione.] by Fideicommissum', or by any kind of bequest, on penalty of [" see bk. its being null. He will not suffer any women who have cut off their hair under pretence of religion to be admitted into the church", under penalty, if any Bishop permits it, of his being deposed. This is the execution of a canon of the council of Gangra". This law is addressed to the Tatian, Prætorian Præfect of gionis de 18.4.note i.] 8 bk. 17. p Eustathius, the heretic, was for p. 1104. 'having all virgins shorn or shaven at Mans. circ. "their consecration; but the Council A. D. 324.] "of Gangra immediately rose up against "him and anathematized the practice; "passing a decree in these words, If any "woman under pretence of an ascetic "life cut off her hair, which God hath given her for a memorial of subjection, "let her be Anathema, as one that dis"annuls the Decree of Subjection." Bingham, bk. 7. 4. 6. A. D. 390. the East, and dated the eleventh of the calends of July, at Milan, under the fourth Consulship of Valentinian with Neoterius, i. e. the 21st of June A. D. 390. But two months after, viz. the 23rd of August, it was revoked in part by Cod. Th. another law', which permits deaconesses, during their lifetime, to give their slaves, and all their other goods, even [manci- their jewels, to Clerks or to the Church. 16. 2. 28. pia, supellectilem, prædam. Cod. Th. et ibi Go thofr. 4 Theodosius at the same time made a law3 against the Monks, which enjoined them to retire into desert places, and 16. tit. 3. 1. to lead a solitary life. It is dated the 3rd of September in the same year 390, and addressed to the same Tatian, the Prætorian Præfect of the East; which leads us to suppose that it related chiefly to the Egyptian and Syrian Monks, who under pretence of zeal, came into the towns to importune the judges to pardon criminals, often so violently as to raise sedition, and waged an open war with the Pagans, demolishing their idols and temples. We have seen how TheoSupra ch. dosius complained of it to St. Ambrose'. However he revoked 14. p. 163. this law about twenty months after, on his return to ConCod. Th. stantinople, by another law of the 17th of April in the year 392, addressed to the same Tatian, and in which he [dum ju- ascribed the former prohibition to the injurious solicitations aguntur in- of the judges, and permitted the Monks to have free access juriis.] into the cities. The Emperor Theodosius having spent almost Socr.5.18. three years in Italy', left the young Valentinian there, and Marcell. returned with his son Honorius to Constantinople, which he entered on the 10th of November, under the Consulship of Tatian and Symmachus, i. e. in the year 391. 16. tit. 3. 2. diciariis Chron. an. 391. XXV. Heresy of 5 8 Among the vagrant Monks who at that time infested the the Massa- East, may be reckoned the Massalian heretics, who made Epiph. profession of renouncing the world, though really they were Her. 80. not all Monks'. They were called in Syriac Massalians or Messalians, and in Greek Euchites, that is to say, Supplicators, because they made the essence of religion to consist in prayer p. 1067. 1 2 ch. 33. only. They were also called in Syriac Abin and Paanin, that A. D. 390. is, Perverse'. They were of two sorts; the most ancient were heathens, and had nothing in common with Jews or Christians. Although they admitted a plurality of gods, they nevertheless worshipped but one only, whom they named the Almighty. It is commonly thought, and with some foundation, that they are the same with those whom others call Hypsistarians", or worshippers of the Most High'. Their oratories were very bk. 11. large buildings open at the top like market-places; here they met together night and morning, and by the light of many Epiph. §2. lamps, sang certain hymns to the praise of God; whence they were also called in Greek Euphemites. Many of these, because they corrupted3 the truth, and imitated the customs [ rapaxaand practice of the Church without being Christians, were pάTTE.] ράττειν.] put to death by some magistrates'. The Euphemites took [Tv ȧpχύντων ζηthe bodies of such of their members as had been put to death, and buried them in certain places where they afterwards used to sing their hymns; whence they called themselves, Martyrians. Some of them reflecting on the great influence § 3. and power which the devil has to hurt mankind, addressed themselves to him, worshipped him, and prayed to him in order to appease him; whence these took the name of Satanians. Such were the heathen Massalians. λωταί.] Those who bore the name of Christians, began about the reign of Constantius, but their origin is uncertain. They came from Mesopotamia, and some of them were at Antioch when St. Epiphanius wrote his treatise Against Heresies, i. e. A. D. 376. He ascribes their error to the extreme sim- [ begun A.D. 374.] plicity of some among them', who had taken in too literal a A '§4. p. 1070. sense the precept of our LORD, of forsaking all to follow him, and selling their goods and distributing to the poor. They indeed abandoned every thing; but they afterwards led an idle and vagabond life, asked alms, and lived together men § 3. and women promiscuously, sleeping in the open streets during • See Ezra 6. 10. by, from the Chald. y, to pray. It occurs again Dan. 6. 11. T: This sentence is omitted by the Benedictine Editors. S. Hieron. Proom. in Dial. adv. Pelag. tom. 4. pars 2. p. 484. not. a. u Gregory, the father of Gregory Nazianzen, was originally a Hypsistarian and was converted by St. Leontius of Cæsarea, as the latter was on his way to the Council of Nicæa. Greg. Naz. Orat. (19) 18. Bened. c. 5. tom. 1. p. 333-338. 8 St. John Hær. 8o. $ 5, 6. 6. 27. A. D. 390. the summer nights. They never fasted, but would eat as early as eight or nine in the morning, and even before day1 Theod. break, as they felt hungry. They' rejected all manual Hist. 5. 10. labour as wicked, abusing those words of our Saviour, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. St. Epiphanius opposes chiefly this erroneous opinion with respect to labour; he shews the inconveniences of living upon alms, and the cringing meanness it involves towards the rich, even towards such as had acquired their possessions by unlawful means. 12 Thess. He cites the precept of the Apostle', and the practice of the Monks, particularly the Egyptian, who united so well the duties of labour and prayer. He adds the example of the Priests and Bishops, who though they might justly claim a subsistence from their flock, (who owed them the first-fruits and oblations of all their lawful gains,) made notwithstanding a moderate use of them. "The greatest part," says he, "though not all of them, imitating the example of the "Apostle St. Paul, labour with their hands at some art "which is not incompatible with their dignity and their "continual application to the government of the Church, "that, after having instructed the people committed to their care, they may moreover have the conscientious joy of "having supplied their wants by their own hands, and of 3. 10. Theod. 4. 11. having given to the poor the surplus both of their ob"lations and of their labour; such is their zeal towards "God, and love for their neighbour." This is the account which St. Epiphanius gives of the greatest part of the Bishops and Priests of his time. "The Messalians deny," says Theodoret, "that those who Hær. Fab. «receive Baptism derive any benefit from it. It cuts away "indeed former sins, like a razor, but the root of sin is left "standing. It is incessant prayer which tears up the root of 66 sin, and drives the evil spirit, which from the first dwells with "each man, from the soul. For they imagine that as soon as a man is born an evil spirit forthwith becomes his com"panion and moves him to wicked actions. This spirit "neither Baptism nor aught else can expel but instant prayer alone. It departs in blowing the nose and in spitting," and some have said that in this process of puri |