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the difference of times and places, or the readiness and proficiency of the Catechumens themselves. The Council of Eliberis, A. D. 305, appointed two years' trial for new converts. The Apostolical Constitutions lengthen the term to three years, but with this limitation, that if men were very diligent and zealous, they might be admitted sooner. Bingham, b. x. c. 1, s. 5.

III. 1. Dwelling with him, rvveisakтOV.] The Syneisactæ, or Agapetæ, as Jerome and Epiphanius also call them, were females, generally some of the virgins of the Church, whom some of the Clergy lodged and entertained in their houses, professing to love them only as sisters with a chaste love. This practice however necessarily occasioned great scandal, and therefore was severely reprobated by the early fathers, and forbidden by many Councils. Bingham, b. vi. c. 2, s. 13.

IV. 1. By all the Bishops.] The general practice of the Church as mentioned by Cyprian and others was, that all the Bishops of the province who could attend, should be present at the Ordination of a Bishop. The present Canon however relates not so much to the Ordination, as to the selection and appointment of the person to be ordained Bishop. It seems to have been particularly directed against Meletius, and intended to establish the rights of Metropolitans and provincial Bishops, which he had invaded by presuming to ordain Bishops without the authority of his Metropolitan, or the consent of his fellow Bishops in the province of Egypt.

2. At all events three.] The Apostolical Canons and Constitutions allow of the Ordination of a Bishop by two or three Bishops, but this practice was forbidden by many of the early Councils, which required at least three. Bingham.

V. 1. Of these Synods. See Apost. Can. 37.] This Canon, as Beveridge observes, limits appeals from the sentence of a Bishop to the general assembly of the Bishops of the province. This was indeed the practice of the Church before this Council, as appears from Cyprian's Letter to Cornelius, Bishop of Rome. The Bishops of Africa therefore in their synodal Letter to Celestine, Bishop of Rome, asserted their rights in this particular in the strongest manner, and alleged this Canon of the Council

of Nice as conclusive upon the subject; a fuller account of this matter will be given in the concluding note upon these Canons.

2. Before Lent.] The observance of a fast before Easter is certainly of very great antiquity, though it seems doubtful whether it can, strictly speaking, be accounted an apostolical tradition. It seems also to have been variously observed in different parts of the Church for several ages, and it cannot be ascertained when and where it was first extended to forty days, and received the name of reocapaкóσrn, or Quadragesima. Some writers, indeed, and amongst them Daillè and Bishop Taylor, imagine that it was probably at first only a fast of forty hours, that is, of the Friday and Saturday before Easter Sunday; the time during which Christ the Bridegroom was taken away from His disciples between His passion and His resurrection, and that it grew by degrees from forty hours to forty days, retaining the name of the Quadragesimal fast under all its changes; but this opinion is shown by Beveridge to be utterly unfounded. The only authority indeed to which its advocates pretend, is a passage of Irenæus quoted by Eusebius, newly and wrongly pointed and translated; and which, rightly translated, mentions forty days, and not hours. On the other hand, Beveridge seems to carry the present form of Lent, that is, of forty fasting days exclusive of the Sundays, too high, for it is certain from a quotation which he gives from Theophilus Alexandrinus, that in his time, about A. D. 400, the forty days included the Sundays, from the first day of the fast to Easter-eve. The subject, however, is too long to admit of being discussed in a note. Bingham considers the various particulars respecting it with his usual clearness and impartiality; and to him, and the authors quoted by him, and especially to Bishops Taylor and Beveridge, the reader is referred for fuller information. Bingham, b. xxi. c. 1; Bishop Taylor, Rule of Conscience, b. iii. c. iv. rule 13; and Beveridge's Essay de Jejunio Quadragesimali Codex Can. Eccl. Primitiv. vindicatus, 1. iii.

VI. 1. Let the ancient customs be maintained.] The object and intention of this Canon seems clearly to have been, not to introduce any new powers or regulations into the Church, but to confirm and establish ancient customs already existing. This

indeed is evident from the very first words of it: "Let the ancient customs be maintained." It appears to have been made with particular reference to the case of the Church of Alexandria, which had been troubled by the irregular proceedings of Miletius, and to confirm the ancient privileges of the Bishops of that see which he had invaded. The latter part of it, however, applies to all Metropolitans, and confirms all their ancient privileges ; one of which, viz. the ratifying of all matters relating to the ordination of the Bishops of their respective provinces, had been particularly noticed and confirmed by the fourth Canon. The paraphrase or interpretation of Aristenus gives the clear sense of the first part of the Canon, which is somewhat obscurely expressed. "Let the Bishop of Alexandria have the authority over Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis; and the Bishop of Rome over those places which belong to Rome; and the Bishop of Antioch and the others over those which belong to them respectively." It may be proper to mention that the legates of Leo the Bishop of Rome, at the Council of Chalcedon, in attempting to prevent the ratification of the twenty-eighth Canon of that Council, asserted that it was contrary to this Canon of the Council of Nice, which they quoted as beginning thus: "The Church of Rome has always had the primacy, therefore also Egypt has it, so that the Bishop of Alexandria has authority over all; for this also has been customary to the Bishop of Rome." Aetius, the Archdeacon of Constantinople, however, in replying to them, quoted the Canon as it is usually read, and as it indeed appears in all the Greek copies, and in all the versions, with the exception of an old Latin one, in which the title and the beginning of it are as follows: "Of the primacy of the Roman Church, or of the Bishops of other cities. It is of ancient custom that the Bishop of Rome should have the primacy, that he should govern the suburbicarian district (suburbicaria loca), and all the province by his own care. But as regards the parts of Egypt, that the Bishop of Alexandria should have the care of all of them," &c. Beveridge supposes this ancient version to have been used at Rome, at the time of the Council of Chalcedon, and that the Roman legates perverted it to their purpose. Certain it is that there are no other traces of the reading which they proposed. See note on the twenty-eighth Canon of the Council of Chalcedon.

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2. This is customary to the Bishop of Rome.] from this expression, that the privileges of jurisdiction proper to the Bishop of Rome, which are recognized by the Nicene Council, are no more than those of any other Metropolitan. The extent of this jurisdiction is stated, in the old Latin version quoted in the preceding note, to be "the suburbicarian districts, and all the province." It is probable that at the time of the Nicene Council these terms were of the same extent, and that the province of Rome contained only the suburbicarian districts, The utmost extent, however, that can be assigned to the word province," cannot make it reach beyond the limits of the different provinces, which are stated to be subject to the most glorious Eparch of Rome, in the ancient account of the cities of the different provinces, which is printed by Beveridge, amongst his Annotations on the Canons of the Council in Trullo, from the Ms. in the Bodleian Library. According to this account, the different provinces under the jurisdiction of Rome are as follows: "The province under the most glorious Eparch of Rome, or of Italy. 1. The province of Rome called Urbicaria; 2. the province of Campania; 3. the island of Sicily; 4. the province of Calabria; 5. the province called Annonaria; 6. the province of Emia, or Emilia."

VII. 1. Ælia.] After the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a new city was built by Ælius Hadrianus, on or immediately adjoining the site of it, which he called after his own name Ælia, or Ælia Capitolina, from the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus erected in it.

2. The second place of honor.] Tǹv ȧkodovðíav Tñs tiμñs, i. e. an honorary precedence over the other Bishops of the province, but unaccompanied with any authority over them; similar to that which the Bishop of London enjoys in the province of Canterbury.

3. The metropolis.] The metropolis of the province in which Jerusalem was situated, was at that time Cæsarea. Afterwards, when the Bishop of Jerusalem was constituted a patriarch, the limits of his jurisdiction were the three Palestines.

VIII. 1. Cathari.] These were the Novatians, a sect so called from Novatian, a presbyter of the Church of Rome, who having

adopted very severe notions respecting those who had lapsed in persecution, and also respecting other offenders, and having in vain opposed the ordination of Cornelius, who was elected Bishop of Rome, A. D. 250, separated from the Church,- and brought to Rome three Bishops from the further part of Italy, whom he compelled by force to ordain him Bishop. He then erected a new society, and ordained Bishops and Presbyters in it. There was no difference in point of doctrine between the Novatians and Catholics: what particularly distinguished this sect was their refusing to readmit to communion those who after baptism had fallen into grievous sins; and to communicate with those who had married twice; and other such-like severities of discipline. They pretended to an extraordinary degree of purity, and therefore called themselves Cathari, or the pure; and obliged such as came over to them from the general body of Christians, to be rebaptized on entering into their society. One of the chief partizans of Novatian was Novatus, a Carthaginian presbyter, who passed over to Rome from Carthage to avoid the excommunication of Cyprian his Bishop. Mosheim, b. i. p. 2. c. v. s. 17. Bingham's Scholas. Hist. of Lay Baptism, part ii. c. ii. s. 2.

2. A Chorepiscopus.] The Chorepiscopi, or country Bishops, were generally assistants to the city Bishops, appointed by them in the country where their dioceses were too large for their constant personal superintendence. There are some differences amongst the learned as to the extent of their authority and power: some supposing them to have been mere Presbyters; others, that some of them were Presbyters, and some Bishops; but the true opinion seems to be, that they were all Bishops, though subordinate and subject to the city Bishops, and with limited powers. Their office was to preside over the country clergy, and to inquire into their behavior, and make report thereof to the city Bishop; as also to provide fit persons for the inferior ministries in the Church. They had certain privileges conferred upon them, which are enumerated by Bingham as follows: 1. They might ordain the inferior orders of the clergy, as readers, subdeacons, and exorcists, for the country churches; 2. They might confirm in country churches; 3. They might grant

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