A Source Book for Ancient Church History Part 71

Ch. 8. All saints who serve G.o.d truly strive to give themselves to reading and prayer, and to perseverance in good works, and building no mortal sins and no little sins, that is, wood, hay, and stubble, upon the foundation of Christ; but good works, that is, gold, silver, and precious stones, will without injury go through that fire of which the Apostle spoke: Because it will be revealed by fire. But those who, although they do not commit capital sins, yet are p.r.o.ne to commit very little sins and are negligent in redeeming them, will attain to eternal life because they believed in Christ, but first either in this life they are purified by bitter tribulation, or certainly in that fire of which the Apostle speaks they are to be tormented, that they may come to eternal life without spot or wrinkle. But those who have committed homicide, sacrilege, adultery and other similar sins, if there does not come to their aid suitable penitence, will not deserve to go through that fire of purification to life, but they will be thrown into death by eternal fire.

(_b_) Gregory the Great, _Dialogorum libri IV, de Vita et Miraculis Patrum Italicorum_, IV, 56. (MPL, 77:425.)

The sacrifice of the ma.s.s.

See also the selection below on the doctrine of purgatory.

It should be considered that it is safer to do to men, while one is living, the good which one hopes will be done by others after ones death.

It is more blessed to depart free than to seek liberty after chains. We ought, with our whole mind, despise the present world, especially since we see it already pa.s.sing away. We ought to immolate to G.o.d the daily sacrifice of our tears, the daily offerings of His flesh and blood. For this offering peculiarly preserves the soul from eternal death, and it renews to us in a mystery the death of the Only begotten, who, although being risen from the dead, dieth no more, and death hath no more dominion over Him (Rom. 6:9); yet, while in Himself He liveth immortal and incorruptible, for us He is immolated again in this mystery of the sacred oblation. For it is His body that is there given, His flesh that is divided for the salvation of the people, His blood that is poured, no longer into the hands of unbelievers, but into the mouths of the faithful.

For this let us ever estimate what this sacrifice is for us, which for our absolution ever imitates the pa.s.sion of the only begotten Son. For what one of the faithful can have any doubt that at the very hour of the offering [_immolatio_], at the word of the priest, the heavens are opened, the choirs of angels are present at the mystery of Jesus Christ, the lowest things are united to the highest, earthly things with heavenly, and from the invisible and the visible there is made one?

(_c_) Gregory the Great, _Dialog._, IV, 39. (MSL, 77:393.)

The doctrine of purgatory.

Gregory hardly adds anything to Augustine more than a clearer definition after the lines laid down by Csarius of Arles.

From these sayings [John 12:35; II Cor. 6:2; Eccles. 9:10] it is evident that as one left the earth so one will appear before the judgment. Yet still it is to be believed that for certain slight sins there is to be before that judgment a fire of purification, because the Truth says that, if one utters blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, his sin will be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the future [Matt. 12:31]. From this saying one is given to understand that some sins can be forgiven in this life, others in a future life.

(_d_) Gregory the Great, _In Evangelia_, II, 37, 8. (MSL, 76:1279.)

The application of the sacrifice of the ma.s.s to persons in purgatory.

Not long before our time the case is told of a certain man who, having been taken captive, was carried far away [_cf. Dialog._, IV, 57], and because he was held a long time in chains his wife, since she had not received him back from that captivity, believed him to be dead and every week she had the sacrifice offered for him as already dead. And as often as the sacrifice was offered by his spouse for the absolution of his soul, the chains were loosed in his captivity. For having returned a long time after, greatly astonished he told his wife that on certain days each week his chains were loosed. His wife considered the days and hours, and then knew that he was loosed when, as she remembered, the sacrifice was offered for him. From that perceive, my dearest brothers, to what extent the holy sacrifice offered by us is able to loose the bonds of the heart, if the sacrifice offered by one for another can loose the chains of the body.

103. The Foundation of the Medival Penitential System

The penitential system, as it was organized in the Western Church in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, was but the carrying out of principles which had appeared elsewhere in Christendom and were involved in the primitive method of dealing with moral delinquents by the authorities of the Church. [See the epistles of Basil the Great to Amphilochius (Ep. 189, 199, 217) in PNF, ser. II, vol. VIII.] Similar problems had to be handled everywhere whenever the Church came to deal with moral conduct, and much the same solution was found everywhere. There is, however, no known connection between the earliest penitentials of the Western Church, those of Ireland, and the similar books of the East. There is no need of supposing that there was a connection. But in the case of the works attributed to Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, himself a Greek and probably a native of Tarsus, there is a provable connection which is evident to any one reading his work, as he refers to Basil and others. The characteristics of the Western penitentials are their minute division of sins, their exact determination of penances for each sin, and the great extent to which they were used in the practical work of the Church. They serve as the first crude beginnings of a moral theology of a practical character, such as would be needed by the poorly trained parish clergy of the times in dealing with their flocks. On account of the nature of these works, it is hardly necessary or expedient to give more than a few brief extracts in addition to references to sources. Much of the matter is extremely offensive to modern taste.

(_a_) King thelberht, _Laws_. Thorpe, _Ancient Laws and Inst.i.tutes_ (Rolls Series), 1 _ff._

The Early Germanic Codes are full of regulations whereby for an injury the aggrieved party, or his family in case of his death, could be prevented from retaliating in kind upon the aggressor and his family. This was effected by a money payment as compensation for damages sustained, and the amount for each sort of injury was carefully regulated by law, _i.e._, by ancient custom, which was reduced to writing in the sixth century in some cases. The _Laws of thelberht_ are written in Anglo-Saxon and are probably the earliest in a Teutonic language. For a translation of characteristic portions of the _Salic Law_, which should be compared with the _Laws of thelberht_ to show the universality of the same system, see Henderson, _Select Historical Doc.u.ments of the Middle Ages_, p. 176, London, 1892; also Hodgkin, _Italy and Her Invaders_, VI, 183, for the Lombard law of Rothari, a little later, but of the same spirit.

21. If any man slay another, let him make bot with a half leod-geld of 100 s.h.i.+llings.

22. If any man slay another at an open grave, let him pay 20 s.h.i.+llings and pay the whole leod within 40 days.

23. If a stranger retire from the land, let his kindred pay a half leod.

24. If any one bind a freeman, let him make bot with 20 s.h.i.+llings.

25. If any one slay a ceorls hlaf-aeta,(269) let him make bot with 5 s.h.i.+llings.

38. If a shoulder be lamed,(270) let bot be made with 12 s.h.i.+llings.

39. If the ear be struck off, let bot be made with 12 s.h.i.+llings.

40. If the other ear hear not, let bot be made with 25 s.h.i.+llings.

41. If an eye be struck out, let bot be made with 50 s.h.i.+llings.

51. For each of the four front teeth, 6 s.h.i.+llings; for the tooth that stands next to them, 4 s.h.i.+llings; for that which stands next to that, 3 s.h.i.+llings, and then afterward 1 s.h.i.+lling.

(_b_) Vinnian, _Penitential_. Wa.s.serschleben, _Die Bussordnungen der abendlndischen Kirche_, 108 _ff._

This is one of the earliest of the penitentials and belongs to the Irish Church.

1. If one has committed in his heart a sin of thought and immediately repents of it, let him smite his breast and pray G.o.d for forgiveness and perform satisfaction because he has sinned.

2. If he has often thought of the sins and thinks of committing them, and is then victor over the thought or is overcome by it, let him pray G.o.d and fast day and night until the wicked thought disappears and he is sound again.

3. If he has thought on a sin and determines to commit it, but is prevented in the execution, so is the sin the same, but not the penance.(271)

6. If a cleric has planned in his heart to smite or kill his neighbor, he shall do penance half a year on bread and water according to the prescribed amount, and for a whole year abstain from wine and the eating of meat, and then may he be permitted again to approach the altar.

7. If it is a layman, he shall do penance for a whole week; for he is a man of this world and his guilt is lighter in this world and his punishment in the future is less.

8. If a cleric has smitten his brother [_i.e._, a clergyman] or his neighbor and drawn blood he shall do penance a whole year on bread and water; he may not fill any clerical office, but must with tears pray to G.o.d for himself.

9. Is he a layman, he shall do penance for 40 days, and according to the judgment of the priest or some other righteous man pay a determined sum of money.

(_c_) Theodore of Tarsus, _Penitential_, I. Haddan and Stubbs, III, 73 _ff._

For Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, see W. Stubbs, art. Theodorus of Tarsus in DCB. That he wrote a penitential is not certain. But that he was regarded as the author of a penitential is clear enough. In fact, his name is attached to penitentials in much the same way as Davids name is attached to the whole book of Psalms. For a discussion of the various works attributed to Theodore, see Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils and Ecclesiastical Doc.u.ments_, _loc. cit._ This is a characteristic penitential and may be regarded as following closely the decisions and opinions of Theodore. Much of it is unprintable in English.

Cap. I. _On drunkenness._ 1. If any bishop or other person ordained is customarily given to the vice of drunkenness, let him cease from it or be deposed.