The authorities for the comparative table of sources are as follows: For Ethiopic, Arabic, Sahidic, see Horner, The Statutes of the Apostles (London, 1904). For Bohairic, see Tattam, Apostolical Constitutions (London, 1848). For Latin fragments, see Hauler, Didascaliae Apostolorum Fragmenta (Leipzig, 1900). For Canons of Hippolytus, see Achelis, Die ältesten Quellen des orientalischen Kirchenrechts, in Texte und Untersuchungen VI (Leipzig, 1891): or Riedel, Die Kirchenrechtsquellen des Patriarchats Alexandrien (Leipzig, 1900). For Constitutiones per Hippolytum, see Lagarde, Reliquiae iuris eccl. antiq. (Leipzig, 1856); or Funk (as below), under the title "Epitome," ii 72-96. For Apostolic Constitutions, see Funk, Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum (2 vols. Paderborn, 1906), or Cabrol and Leclercq, Monumenta Ecclesiae liturgica, vol. 1 sect. 2 (Paris, 1913). Each of these contains also others of the above documents. For The Testament, see Rahmani, Testamentum D. N. Jesu Christi (Mainz, 1899); Cooper and Maclean, The Testament of our Lord (Edinburgh, 1902); it forms the first two books of the Syrian Octateuch. For The Syrian Octateuch (SO) see F. Nau, La Version syriaque de l'Octateuque de Clément, traduit en Français (Paris, 1913). The first two books contain The Testament: the third contains the Apostolic Church Order: the next four books are the equivalent of the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions, but no account of the Liturgy (A. C. VIII 10-15) is included, and certain other topics (A. C. VIII 35-41) are also wanting here, having already been, for the most part, handled in The Testament. The last book contains The Canons of the Apostles. A considerable part of the earlier authorities is printed in Journal of Theol. Studies, April 1915 (vol. xvi, No. 63, pp. 323—371). This Essay had been for a long time in print before the appearance of Dom Connolly's minute investigation of certain points connected with these documents in his volume, The so-called Egyptian Church Order and derived documents (Texts and Studies, vol. VIII, No. 4, Cambridge, 1916). He declares definitely for Hippolytus' authorship of the First Church Order. So far as the purpose of the present Essay is concerned, there is not much difference between us. SUMMARY A. TERMS OF COMMUNION Introduction: the New Testament basis I. Conditions of Initiation into the Communion of the Church. i. Admission to the Catechumenate ii. The Catechesis iii. Lent and the Catechumenate v. Infant Baptism II. Conditions of Continuance in the Communion of the Church. i. The Disciplinary System ii. The Sins which incurred Suspension from Com- 339 342 352 355 357 363 366 368 iv. Cases in which Reconciliation was refused iii. The Application of the Discipline III. Conditions of Restoration to the Communion of the Church. i. The Status of the Penitent ii. The Character and Duration of Penance iii. The Process of Reconciliation IV. Conclusion . VI TERMS OF COMMUNION AND THE MINISTRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS IN EARLY TIMES A. TERMS OF COMMUNION Like other societies, the Christian Society has always had its conditions of membership, its terms of communion,' corresponding to its presuppositions and its aims. In considering these 'terms,' as they were understood in the ante-Nicene period of the history of the Church, there are obviously three subjects to be handled. First, the terms of admission to the fellowship of the Church; and, since Baptism is the door of entrance, we have to enquire what were the conditions on which Baptism was bestowed. Secondly, since what was required of candidates for Baptism was no passing disposition but the permanent attitude of the Christian life, and continuance in the Christian fellowship was therefore conditional upon the continued observance of the original terms of admission, and the grave violation of them involved the suspension of membership, in other words, excommunication; we have to consider the conditions under which Excommunication was incurred. And thirdly, since the purpose of excommunication was in part to secure the reformation of the offender and his restoration to communion, we have to enquire what were the terms on which the offender might be reconciled, that is, the conditions of Absolution. In order to set out the facts under these three heads, we may attempt to collect and arrange such information as is available, first, as to the process of Christian Initiation, and then as to the disciplinary system of the Church in so far as it was concerned with the Excommunication and the Reconciliation of offenders. The principles and the essential elements of the later practice of the Church are to be found in the New Testament. The individual instances of Baptism alluded to in the New Testament are rather exceptional cases than examples of what may be supposed to have been the normal procedure in churches already in some degree settled. But the circumstances of these cases are sufficient to indicate that the conditions of baptism were summed up in two requirements: Repentance and Faith. The apostolic message was 'repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ'1. 'The saving grace of God had appeared to all men, teaching us that, renouncing ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should begin to live soberly, righteously, and godly'2. S. Peter's charge, therefore, at the outset is Repent and be baptized's. The first condition is the renunciation of the past; and so far, like the baptism of John, Christian baptism is a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins'4. But it is 'Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ'. Baptism therefore presupposes confession with the mouth that Jesus is Lord, and belief with the heart that God raised Him from the dead'. This word of faith which' the apostles' preached' could be summarised, as it is here, in 'Jesus is Lord,'8 or in 'I believe that Jesus Christ is 1 Acts xx 21: cf. xxvi 18, Heb. vi 1. 3 Acts ii 38. Rom. x 9. 2 Tit. ii 11 sq. 4 S. Luke iii 3, Acts xiii 24. 5 Acts ii 38. ? Rom. x 8. 8 I Cor. xii 3, 2 Cor. iv 5, Phil. ii 11. |