IV. 1. Hearers.] For the account of the various orders and degrees of penitents in this and the following Canons, see the note on the 8th Nicene Canon.

2. Communion.] Tò réλɛiov, the perfection. This name is very frequently given to the Holy Eucharist in the ancient Canons, as being "that sacred mystery which unites us to Christ, and gives us the most consummate perfection that we are capable of in this world." (Bingham.)

VI. 1. The great day.] That is, Easter day. The great reverence which the Primitive Church, from the very earliest ages, felt for the holy festival of Easter, is manifested by the application of the epithet Great, to everything connected with it. The preceding Friday, i. e. Good Friday, was called the Great Preparation, rapɑokevǹ, the Saturday, the Great Sabbath, and the whole week, the Great Week.

XIII. 1. Chorepiscopi.] This Canon in its present form, as it exists in all the Greek copies, is utterly unintelligible, and the Greek commentators do not give us any assistance, excepting that John of Antioch reads in each Parish, instead of another. The old Latin interpreters, however, furnish us with what appears certainly to have been the true reading. "The Chorepiscopi are not to be allowed to ordain Presbyters or Deacons, nor the Presbyters of a City to do anything without the permission of the Bishop in writing in each Parish." This is the interpretation of Isidore Mercator, of Hadrian I. in the Epitome of Councils which he sent to Charlemagne, and also of Fulgentius Ferrandus, Deacon of Carthage. (v. Bev. in Can.)

XIX. 1. Digamists.] According to some of the Ancient Canons, Digamists were to be suspended from Communion for one or two years, though Beveridge and others doubt whether the rule was not meant to apply to such marriages only as were contracted before a former one was dissolved. Bingham thinks that it was intended to discountenance marrying after an unlawful divorce. It is clear from Tertullian's arguments in his treatise de Monogamia, that the Primitive Church did not censure second marriages when the first was cancelled by death. (See Bingham, b. xv. c. iv. s. 18.)

THE CANONS OF NEOCESAREA.

THE Synod of Neocæsarea in Pontus was held in the same year with that of Ancyra, or the following one, and therefore, also before that of Nice. It was attended by about the same number of Bishops as that of Ancyra, and several of the same Bishops.

CANON I. If a Presbyter marry, let him be removed from his order; but if he commit fornication or adultry, let him be altogether cast out, and be brought to

penance.

II. If a woman marry two brothers, let her be cast out even unto death, if she will not be persuaded to dissolve the marriage but for lenity's sake she shall be admitted to repentance at the time of death, if she says that in the event of her recovery she will dissolve the marriage. If, however, a woman or her husband die in such a marriage, penance is not to be easily allowed to the survivor.

III. With respect to those who fall into many marriages, the prescribed time is well known, but their repentance and faith may shorten the term.

IV. If any man lusting after a woman purposes to lie with her, but his intention does not come into act, it is manifest that he has been saved by grace.

V. If a Catechumen has entered into the church and stood in the station of Catechumens, and yet be guilty of sin; if he be a kneeler, let him become an hearer upon desisting from his sin; but if he continue to sin when an hearer, let him be cast out. (See note on Nic. Can. xiv.) VI. With respect to a woman who may be with child, it is decreed, that she is to be baptized whenever she will: for the woman has not any communion with the child in this matter, because each person's particular purpose is shown by his own profession.

VII. A Presbyter must not be a guest at the wedding of a person who is marrying a second time; for whereas the digamist needs to undergo penance, what a Presbyter must he be who sanctions the marriage by his presence at the feast?

VIII. If the wife of any one has been clearly convicted of adultery whilst he was a Layman, a man so circumstanced cannot be admitted to the Ministry. But if she has committed adultery after his ordination, he ought to put her away. If, however, he continues to live with her, he cannot retain the ministry which had been comImitted to him.

IX. If a Presbyter who had formerly sinned with his body should be promoted, and should confess that he sinned before ordination, let him not make the offering. Let him, however, continue in the rest of his offices on account of his diligence in other respects. For many have asserted that ordination remits sins. But if he does not confess, and cannot be convicted clearly, he is to act upon his own responsibility.

X. In like manner a Deacon, if he has fallen into the same sin, may retain the rank of Minister.

XI. Let not a man be ordained Presbyter under thirty years of age, notwithstanding he may be in every respect

worthy, but let him be reserved. For the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized, and began to teach in his thirteenth year.

XII. If any man has been baptized (1) in sickness, he must not be promoted to be a Presbyter, for his faith was not of his own free choice, but of necessity. Unless perhaps an exception is made on account of his subsequent diligence and faith, or on account of a scarcity of men.

XIII. Country Presbyters may not offer in the Church of the City, the Bishop or Presbyters of the City being present, nor give the bread or cup with prayer. If, however, these should happen to be absent, and he [a Country Presbyter] be called alone to the prayer, he may give it.

XIV. The Chorepiscopi are after the pattern of the Seventy; but as partners in the Liturgy, on account of their diligence towards the poor, they are honored so as to offer.

XV. The Deacons ought to be seven according to the Canon, even if the City be very great. This is proved by the Book of the Acts.

NOTES.

Canon XII. 1. Baptized.] Literally, enlightened, which was a common term in the Primitive Church for Baptism. In sickness. It being undoubtedly believed that Baptism was a complete cleansing from all previous sin, many persons were disposed to delay their Baptism till the approach of death; a practice which was severely censured and discouraged by the Primitive Church. They did not, indeed, at all deny the efficacy of such Baptism (which was called Clinic Baptism, i. e. Baptism in bed), but considered those who adopted it highly blameable, and, therefore, subjected them to such disqualifications as that in this Canon. That this was an old rule of the Church appears from the account which

Cornelius gives of the ordination of Novatian more than fifty years before the celebration of this Council, to which ordination the whole of the Clergy and many of the people objected as unlawful, because he had received Clinic Baptism.

Canons XIII. and XIV. These two Canons are commonly joined together, making the whole number of the Canons of this Council fourteen only.