free choice of each; except that ecclesiastical custom had determined certain days as especially appropriate for that purpose, which were very different in different churches.2 Besides on particular occasions the churches were summoned by their bishops to a general fast ;3 and in like manner certain fasts were imposed

cujusque. Sic et Apostolos observasse, nullum aliud imponentes jugum certorum et in commune omnibus obeundorum jejuniorum: proinde nec stationum, quae et ipsae suos quidem dies habeant, quartae feriae et sextae, passive tamen currant, neque sub lege praecepti-cum fides libera in Christo ne Judaicae quidem legi abstinentiam quorumdam ciborum debeat, semel in totum macellum ab Apostolo admissa, detestatore eorum, qui sicut nubere prohibeant, ita jubeant cibis abstinere a Deo conditis: et ideo nos (the Montanists) esse jam tunc praenotatos in novissimis temporibus abscedentes a fide, intendentes spiritibus mundi seductoribus, doctrinis mendaciloquorum inustam habentes conscientiam (1 Tim. iv. 1, 2). Sit et cum Galatis nos quoque percuti ajunt observatores dierum et mensium et annorum (Gal. iv. 10, cf. c. 14: galaticamur plane). Jaculantur interea et Esaiam pronunciasse: non tale jejunium Dominus elegit, id est, non abstinentiam cibi, sed opera justitiae, quae subtexit (Es. lviii. 5, 6). Et ipsum Dominum in evangelio ad omnem circa victum scrupulositatem compendio respondisse, non his coinquinari hominem, quae in os inferantur, sed quae ex ore proferantur, cum et ipse manducaret et biberet usque in notationem: Ecce homo vorator et potator (Matth. xi. 19). Sic et Apostolum docere, quod esca nos Deo non commendet: neque abundantes, si edamus, neque deficientes, si non edamus (1 Cor. viii. 8). Comp. Neander's Antignosticus, S. 279 ff.

2 Origenes hom. x. in Levitic. § 2: Habemus enim quadragesimae dies jejuniis consecratos. Habemus quartam et sextam septimanae dies, quibus solemniter jejunamus. Is this translation of Rufinus correct? cf. Dionys. epist. can. ad Basilid. can 1: μndè ràs ¿§ TŵV VoTelŵv ǹμépas ἴσως, μηδὲ ὁμοίως πάντες διαμένουσιν· ἀλλ ̓ οἱ μὲν καὶ πάσας ὑπερτιθέασιν (i. e. fasting all days successively. Respecting these reptéσeis, superpositiones, see Bingham, vol. ix. p. 229. Routh reliqu. sacr. ii. p. 419), đơtτοι διατελοῦντες, οἱ δὲ δύο, οἱ δὲ τρεῖς, οἱ δὲ τέσσαρας, οἱ δὲ οὐδεμίαν.—εἰ δέ τινες οὐχ όπως οὐχ ὑπερτιθέμενοι, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ νηστεύσαντες ἢ καὶ τρυφήσαντες τὰς προαγούσας τέσσαρας, εἶτα ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τὰς τελευταίας δύο καὶ μόνας ἡμέρας, αὐτὰς ὑπερτιθέντες, τήν τε παρασκευὴν καὶ τὸ σάββατον, μέγα τι καὶ λαμπρὸν ποιεῖν νομίζουσιν, ἂν μέχρι τῆς ἔω διαμείνωσιν, τούτους οὐκ οἶμαι τὴν ἴσην ἄθλησιν πεποιῆσθαι τοῖς τὰς πλείονας ἡμέρας προησκηκόσι. Const. Apost.

ν. 18 : ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις οὖν τοῦ Πάσχα νηστεύετε ἀρχόμενοι ἀπὸ δευτέρας μέχρι τῆς παρασκευῆς καὶ σαββάτου ἓξ ἡμέρας κ. τ. λ.

3 Tertull. de jejun. c. 13, comp. § 53, note 33. The bishops sometimes showed themselves ambitious even here. Origenes in Matth. commentariorum series § 10: Qui docent etiam abstinere a cibis, et alia hujusmodi, ad quae non omnino oportet cogere homines fideles, alligant per verbum expositionis suae onera gravia, citra voluntatem Christi dicentis: Jugum meum suave est, et onus meum leve est : et imponunt ea, quan tum ad verbum suum, super humeros hominum, curvantes eos, et cadere

on the penitents.4 External asceticism generally was progressively and increasingly valued ; and there were very many ascetics of both sexes, although they were bound by no irrevocable

The Alexandrian distinction of a higher and lower virtue had a special influence in recommending this asceticism. It is true that the renouncing of sensual enjoyments (parela), cording to Clement of Alexandria, was only the means for attaining to that higher virtue, i. e. to that passionless state, (árácia) whereby man is made like to God, and united to Him;s so that whoever has reached this point has no more need of that renunciation of sensual gratification ; but afterwards, the opinion that

facientes sub pondere gravium mandatorum eos, qui bajulare ea non sufferunt. Et frequentur videre est, eos qui talia docent, contraria agere sermonibus suis, etc.

Even, it would seem, of forty days in imitation of Jesus. Petri Alex. can. 1.

5 cf. Cyprianus de habitu virginum; Methodii convivium decem virginum (in Combefisii auctarium novissimum biblioth. Graecorum Patrum. P. I. p. 64 ss.), and the two supposititious letters to virgins that pass under the name of Clement of Rome, which probably appeared about this time, and were first communicated to the public in the Syriac language by Wetstein, N. T. tom. ii. (Moehler, Patrologie, i. 67, declares them genuine).

6 Cypriani epist. 62: Quod si (virgines) ex fide se Christo dicaverunt, pudicae et castae sine ulla fabula perseverent, et ita fortes et stabiles praemium virginitatis exspectent. Si autem perseverare nolunt, vel non possunt, melius est ut nubant, quam in ignem delictis suis cadant. Certe nullum fratribus aut sororibus scandalum faciant, etc. Concil. Illiberit. can 13, is directed against the lustful excesses of the virgins, quae se Deo dicaverint, and consequently does not belong to our present purpose. On the other hand, Conc. Ancyran. can 19: "Oσoɩ mapleviav ἐπαγγελλόμενοι, ἀθετοῦσι τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, τὸν τῶν διγάμων ὅρον ἐκπληρούTwσav. Bigamists, according to Basilii ep. can. iv., were subjected to the penance of a year.

7 See above § 63, note 25.

8 See § 63, note 27. Daehne de voe Clementis, p. 107.

9 Clem. Alex. Strom. iv. p. 626 of the yvwoTIKÓS: OŮK EYKρATÈS OUTOS ἔτι, ἀλλ' ἐν ἕξει γέγονεν ἀπαθείας. vii. p. 874 : διὸ καὶ ἐσθίει καὶ πίνει καὶ γαμεῖ (ὁ γνωστικὸς), οὐ προηγουμένως ἀλλὰ ἀναγκαίως τὸ γαμεῖν δὲ, ἐὰν ὁ λόγος ἔρῃ, λέγω, καὶ ὡς καθήκει. Γενόμενος γὰρ τέλειος (maritus) εἰκόνας ἔχει τοὺς ̓Αποστόλους, καὶ τῷ ὄντι ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἐν τῷ μονήρη ἐπανελέσται δείκ νυται βίον, ἀλλ ̓ ἐκεῖνος ἄνδρας νικῇ, ὁ γάμῳ καὶ παιδοποιΐᾳ, καὶ τῇ τοῦ οἴκου πρα οίᾳ ἀνηδόνως τε καὶ ἀλυπήτως ἐγγυμνασάμενος, μετὰ τῆς τοῦ οἴκου κηδε μονίας ἀδιάστατος τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γενόμενος ἀγάπης, καὶ πάσης κατεξανιστά μενος πείρας, τῆς διὰ τέκνων καὶ γυναικὸς, οἰκετῶν τε καὶ κτημάτων προσφερομένης. Τῷ δὲ ἀοίκῳ τὰ πολλὰ εἶναι συμβέβηκεν ἀπειράστῳ. cf. lib. iii. p. 546, etc. de Wette Gesch. d. christl. Sittenlehre, i. 224.

the higher virtue must manifest itself especially in external asceticism1o obtained currency, after the example of Origen, in the Christian school at Alexandria, as well as among the new Platonists. To this high estimation of celibacy, increased by the cause just mentioned, which sometimes bordered almost upon contempt of the married state,12 was attached very naturally the

10 Tzschirner's Fall des Heidenthums, i. 435 ff.

11 Origenes in ep. ad. Rom. lib. iii. (ed. de la Rue, iv. p. 507): Donec quis hoc facit tantum quod debet, i. e. ea quae praecepta sunt, inutilis servus est (according to Luc. xvii. 10). Si autem addas aliquid praecep tis, tunc non jam inutilis servus eris, sed dicetur ad te: Euge serve bone et fidelis (Matth. xxv. 21). Quid autem sit quod addatur praeceptis, et supra debitum fiat, Paulus Apostolus dicit: De virginibus autem praeceptum Domini non habeo: consilium autem do, tamquam misericordiam consecutus a Domino (1 Cor. vii. 25). Hoc opus super praeceptum est. Qui ergo completis praeceptis addiderit etiam hoc, ut virginitatem custodiat, non jam inutilis servus, sed servus bonus et fidelis vocabitur. Et iterum praeceptum est, ut hi qui Evangelium annunciant, de Evangelio vivant. Paulus tamen dicit, quia nullo horum usus sum; et ideo non inutilis erat servus, sed fidelis et prudens. Euseb. demonstrat. evang. i. c. 8 : οἱ μαθηταὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅσα μὲν ἅτε τὴν ἕξιν διαβεβηκόσι πρὸς τοῦ τελείου διδασκάλου παρήγγελτο, ταῦτα τοῖς οἵοις τε χωρεῖν παρεδίδουν ὅσα δὲ τοῖς ἔτι τὰς ψυχὰς ἐμπαθέσι, καὶ θεραπείας δεομένοις ἐφαρμόζειν ὑπελάμβανον, ταῦτα συγκατιόντες τῇ τῶν πλειόνων ἀσθενίᾳ—φυλάττειν παρεδίδοσαν ὥστε ἤδη καὶ τῇ Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ δύο βίων νενομοθετῆσθαι τρόπους. τὸν μὲν ὑπερφυῆ, καὶ τῆς κοινῆς καὶ ἀνθρωπίνης πολιτείας ἐπέκεινα, οὐ γάμους, οὐ παιδοποΐας, οὐδὲ κτῆσιν, οὐδὲ περιουσίας ὕπαρξιν παραδεχόμενον, ὅλον δὲ δι ὅλου τῆς κοινῆς καὶ συνήθους ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀγωγῆς παρηλλαγμένον, καὶ μόνῃ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ θεραπείᾳ προσῳκειωμένον καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἔρωτος οὐρανίου. Οι δὴ τόνδε μετιόντες τὸν τρόπον, τῶν θνητῶν βίον τεθνάναι δοκοῦντες, καὶ αὐτὸ μόνον τὸ σῶμα φέροντες ἐπὶ γῆς, φρονήματι δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν εἰς οὐρανὸν μετενηνεγμένοι, οἷά τινας θεοὶ, τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐφορῶσι βίον, ὑπὲρ τοῦ παντὸς γένους ἱερωμένοι τῷ ἐπὶ πάντων θεῷ, οὐ βουθυσίαις καὶ αἵμασιν,—δόγμασι δὲ ὀρθοῖς ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας, ψυχῆς τε διαθέσει κεκαθαρμένης, καὶ προσέτι τοῖς κατ ̓ ἀρετὴν ἔργοις τε καὶ λόγοις. οἶς τὸ θεῖον ἐξιλεούμενοι, τὴν ὑπὲρ σφῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν σφίσιν ὁμογενῶν ἀποτελοῦσιν ἱερουργίαν. Τοιόσδε μὲν οὖν καθέστηκεν ὁ ἐντελὴς τῆς κατὰ τὸν χριστιανισμὸν πολιτείας τρόπος. Ο δ' ὑποβεβηκὼς ἀνθρωπινώτερος, οἷος καὶ γάμοις συγκατιέναι σώφροσι καὶ παιδοποιΐαις κ. τ. λ.—Καὶ τις τούτοις δεύτερος εὐσεβείας ἀπενεμήθη βαθμός κ. τ. λ.

12 Origenis in Num. hom. vi. (ed. de la Rue, t. ii. p. 288): Ego, licet non usquequaque pronunciem, puto tamen quod sint nonnulla etiam communium hominum gesta, quae quamvis peccato careant, non tamen digna videantur, quibus interesse putemus Spiritum sanctum. Ut verbi gratia dixerim, connubia quidem legitima carent quidem peccato, nec tamen tempore illo, quo conjugales actes geruntur, praesentia sancti Spiritus dabitur, etiamsi propheta esse videatur, qui officio generationis obsequitur: namely, Comm. in Matth. t. xvii. (t. ii. p. 827), ἐν μολυσμῷ πως ὄντων καί ἀκαθαρσίᾳ τινὶ τῶν χρωμένων ἀφροδισίοις.

14

notion of its being especially becoming in priests to renounce the marriage intercourse.13 And though no general ecclesiastical law was yet enacted on the subject, yet, as the priests had already been forbidden to marry a second time (§ 53, note 28), a regulation was now made in addition that they should only keep the woman whom they had married before ordination; while in office itself, they should not marry ;15 and that the person they had married must have been a virgin. 16 Among ascetics, the dangerous practice arose of taking to themselves virgins for the purpose of living with them in pure spiritual communion, vanquishing all temptations. They called thom ἀδελφαί, sorores.17 Others gave them the appellations evveloαKTO, 18 subintro

18 Euseb. demonstr. Evang. i. c. 9 : Χρῆναι γὰρ, φησὶν ὁ λόγος, τὸν ἐπίσε κοπον γεγονέναι μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα. πλὴν ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἱερωμένοις, καὶ περὶ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ θεραπείαν ἀσχολουμένοις ἀνέχειν λοιπὸν σφὰς αὐτοὺς προσήκει τῆς γαμικῆς ὁμιλίας.

tur.

14 It was only the rigid council at Illiberis that ordained, Can. 33: Placuit in totum prohibere Episcopis, Presbyteris et Diaconibus vel omnibns Clericis positis in ministerio, abstinere se a conjugibus suis, et non generare filios: quicunque vero fecerit, ab honore Clericatus extermineThe meaning is ambiguous, but the true sense is probably this, that conjugal intercourse is forbidden bishops, presbyters, and deacons merely (in totum), and to the inferior clergy as long as they are engaged in the active service of the church. These latter might live together with their wives, can. 65: si cujus Clerici uxor fuerit moechata, et— maritus non eam statim projecerit, nec in finem accipiat communionem. Examples of married bishops and presbyters, belonging to this period, may be found in Calixtus de conjugio clericorum, ed. Henke, p. 201.

15 Const. Ap. vi. 17, Canon Ancyr. x. : Διάκονοι, ὅσοι καθίστανται, παρ' αὐτὴν τὴν κατάστασιν εἰ ἐμαρτύραντο καὶ ἔφασαν χρῆναι γαμῆσαι, μὴ δυνάμενοι οὕτως μένειν· οὗτοι μετὰ ταῦτα γαμήσαντες, ἔστωσαν ἐν τῇ ὑπηρεσίᾳ, διὰ τὸ ἐπιτραπῆναι αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου. Τοῦτο δὲ εἴ τινες σιωπήσαντες, καὶ καταδεξάμενοι ἐν τῇ χειροτονίᾳ μένειν οὕτως, μετὰ ταῦτα ἦλθον ἐπὶ γάμον, πεπαῦσθαι αὐτοὺς τῆς διακονίας. Can. Neocaesar. 1: Πρεσβύτερος ἐὰν γήμῃ, τῆς τάξεως αὐτὸν μετατίθεσθαι.

16 According to Const. Ap. vi. 17, not èralpav, OlKÉTI, xýpav, ħ Exßeßλnμévny as well as Levit. xxi. 7, 14. Ezec. xliv. 22.

17 So previously amoug the Gnostics. Irenaeus, i. 1, § 12, says of some Valentinians: ὡς μετὰ ἀδελφῶν προσποιούμενοι συνοικεῖν, προϊόντος τοῦ χρόνου ἠλέγχθησαν, ἐγκύμονος τῆς ἀδελφῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ γενηθείσης. Perhaps also in the case of Marcion. See Hall. A. L. Z. April 1823, S. 850. Epiphanius, haer. 47, c. 3, accuses the Encratites of the same thing. The first trace of it among the catholics is in Hermae pastor, lib. iii, sim. ix. § 11, where the virgins say of Hermas: Nobiscum dormies ut frater, non ut maritus: frater enim noster es, et de caetero tecum habitare paratae sumus: valde enim carum te habemus, &c. Tertullian also, de jejuniis, c. 17, appears to blame the Catholics for the

ductae, ¿yanral, extraneae. Against this practice, which prevailed principally among the unmarried clergy, Cyprian first declared himself, and after him several synods.19

Hitherto the ascetics had lived scattered among other Christians without external distinction; but the Decian persecution was the cause of some Egyptian Christians 20 fleeing into the desert, and there in solitariness giving themselves up to an asceticism in the highest degree extravagant (ἐρημίται, μοναχοί). This new asceticism began to make greater noise, when, during Maximin's persecution (311), the hermit Antonius 21 appeared in a wild attire at Alexandria. But a season of persecution, which so readily engenders fanaticism, in addition to enthusiasm, was peculiarly adapted to procure approbation even for such oddities. Hence, Antony found imitators; and since the following time favoured such undertakings in another point of view, he was in the sequel regarded as the father of Monachism.22

same reason: apud te agape in cacabis fervet, fides in culinis calet, spes in ferculis jacet. Sed major his est agape, quia per hanc adolescentes tui cum sororibus dormiunt (an allusion to 1 Cor. xiii. 13). From the time of Cyprian the thing occurs more frequently. See below, note 19. Those ascetics appealed to the example of Jesus, John, and the apostles (Lib. de singularit. cleric. c. 20. Epiphan. haer. 78, c. 11), and named the young women after 1 Cor. ix. 5, Sorores (Conc. Ancyr. c. 19, Cod. Theodos. xvi. 2, 44). Comp. observationum selectarum, tom. vi. (Halae 1702) p. 230 ss. Dodwell, diss. Cyprian. iii. L. A. Muratori anecdota graeca, p. 218 ss. Heinichen ad Euseb. h. e. excurs. xiii. T. iii. p. 418

SS.

18 Euseb. vii. 30, 6: τὰς συνεισάκτους γυναῖκας, ὡς ̓Αντιοχεῖς ὀνομάζουσι. Perhaps the plaктol, 1 Cor. ix. 5, gave rise to that appellation proceeding from Antiochian wit. Perhaps, too, it originated from John xix. 27, ἔλαβεν αὐτὴν εἰς τὰ ἴδια i.e. συνεισήγαγεν.

19 Cyprian. epist. 5, 6, especially 62. Can. Illib. 27, Ancyr. 19, Nicaen. 3. The two Syriac letters falsely attributed to Clement also censure this abuse (note 5). The later work, de singularitate clericorum, in opp. Cypriani, is directed entirely against the practice.

20 Comp. Dionys. Alex. ap. Euseb. h. e. vi. 42.

21 He lived on a rock in the rocky desert at the Red Sea, a day's journey from it. See vita S. Hilarionis by Jerome, Et. Quatermère mémoires géographiques et historiques sur l'Egypte, (Paris, 2 tomes, 1811), i. 152.

22 Sozomenus, h. e. i. 12, 13. Vita Antonii by Athanasius (either spurious or greatly interpolated, see Oudini comm. de scriptor. eccles. ant. vol. i. p. 358).