Varia Dubiae Auctoritatis Scripta

APPENDIX. VARIOUS WRITINGS OF DUBIOUS AUTHORITY. CHAPTER OF SAINT SILVESTER THE POPE. (From the Mansi collection of councils.) If anyone has joined a daughter or a sister from the sacred font or chrism in marriage, they shall be separated and do penance for years. DECREE OF SAINT SILVESTER THE POPE. (From the same source.) We establish and decree in the present year that, in the first place, they be called paternally and be awaited for seven days, with the license of no ecclesiastical matter being denied. To this waiting, however, another seven days shall be added, with the license to enter the church and to hear all divine offices being denied. Then, two days shall be added, with the accused suspended from the peace and communion of holy Church; thereafter, for another two days under the same waiting, the accused shall be dealt with. To these, one day being added, with all waiting now as if despaired of, the accused shall immediately be struck by the sword of anathema. CENSORSHIP OF THE TWO FOLLOWING LETTERS.

(Coust. Appendix, p. 51.) I. Those two letters were first published by Peter Crabbe from an ancient Cologne book. Baronius claims to have found both together in two copies of the Cresconian collection; but he saw fit to insert only the first into his *Annals* at the year 325, no. 171, content to add the following about the second: "To this is attached a letter of Silvester to the synod, but very corrupt, which is also considered spurious because of the consuls wrongly placed, inasmuch as it is held to have been given and received under the fourth consulship of Constantius with the eighth or seventh of Constantine, which is the fifth year from this one. Although in the fifth year after the Nicene synod, that is 329, not Constantius, but his elder brother Constantine the fourth, with Constantine the father the eighth, held the consulship; but in the year 325, Constantius entered upon his first, not his fourth, consulship with Constantine the seventh." Concerning the same letter, Labbe, in vol. II of the Councils, p. 58, judges thus: "Nor is this response genuine, which I would truly call spurious and very corrupt, and not merely almost so, as Binius says.

II. Nor did Labbe himself consider the first letter more genuine, since, he says, its style betrays forgery along with the chronological note. That it is in fact unworthy of such a council, a mere reading persuades; and anyone will be more and more convinced of this when he compares it with the other genuine letter of the same council to the Alexandrian and other churches. In the latter, the bishops assembled at Nicaea and convoked to the great and holy council first simply offer greetings, and then explain what was done and what was defined by them. In the former, however, greetings are offered by Hosius, then Macarius of Jerusalem, to Alexander of Alexandria and Eustathius of Antioch, bishops who ought to have been named first, are not named at all, nor is anything afterwards set forth concerning what had been decreed. And this was all the less to be passed over in silence in this letter, since it purports to have been written by the synod in order to seek confirmation of what it had done. Baronius indeed says, in the year 325, n.: that the decree of faith and the rest of the proceedings of the synod were sent with this letter is certain. And his assertion is partly confirmed by Dionysius Exiguus and other compilers of canons not inferior to Dionysius in age, insofar as they note that it pleased the Nicene synod that all that was decreed should be sent to the bishop of the city of Rome. But we cannot agree with the one who asserts that all these things were sent with that letter.

in which nothing is said to have been sent: for custom teaches that such matters are not passed over in silence in letters of this kind. III. But there is also no lack of signs by which this letter of the Synod of Nicaea and Silvester’s rescript are detected to have come from the same workshop from which the earlier Constitutum issued. In them we find an equal barbarism of speech; and they share certain expressions which, the more singular they are, the less they allow us to doubt that they originated from the same mind. Moreover, just as the Constitutum, as its very title shows, decrees how the rank or religion is to be preserved by Silvester, and then, in chapter 3, it is said of this pope, *He made the GRADUS*: so in the letter to Silvester we read that it befits him to establish the GRADUS or orders of the city. Again, in the same letter, where it occurs, *As mystical truth teaches*, it agrees with the chapter of the Constitutum: *Thus mystical truth is given*. Likewise we note in the aforementioned letter of the Synod of Nicaea, *FIXED ranks*, in Silvester’s rescript, *I confirm and fix that you have received the holy grace of chrism*, in the same pope’s Constitutum, no. 4, *FIXED curtains*, and chapter: *Whatever I FIX by word, let it be confirmed by your chirograph*. And from this passage, where *chirograph* is used for subscription, one can understand that of Silvester writing back to the Synod of Nicaea: *I offer my chirograph and that of my disciples*.

Finally, in the same letter, just as in the Constitutum, Victorinus is blamed for the same reason and in the same words, because he declared the Paschal cycles to be deceptive. The parent of those misshapen offspring cannot lie hidden at all, as indeed his own speech makes him manifest. We have already more than once set forth our conjectures, by which we suspect that he lived in the time of Pope Symmachus. LETTER OF THE SYNOD OF NICAEA TO POPE SILVESTER (From the same source.) That whatever it decrees may be confirmed by him. To the most blessed pope of the city of Rome, Silvester, to be venerated with all reverence, Hosius, bishop of the province of Spain from the city of Corduba, Macarius, bishop of the city of Jerusalem, Victor and Vincentius, presbyters of the city of Rome ordained by your direction, and the other 318 bishops, send greetings in the Lord. Since we confess that we are writing to your Roman see everything confirmed concerning the divine mysteries of ecclesiastical utility, which pertain to the strength of the holy catholic and apostolic church, explained and translated from Greek, we now hasten to be strengthened for the increase of the true faith.

Therefore, let your apostolic teaching decide that the bishops of your entire apostolic city gather together in one place and hold your council: just as mystical truth teaches, let it confirm our decrees, so that our rule may have fixed grades connected to the ordination of your holiness; for it is fitting that the number of the said co-bishops learn from you the grades or orders to establish for the city. Whatever we have decreed in the Council of Nicaea, we beg to be confirmed by the consent of your mouth. May your Beatitude pray for the entire council. Given on the Kalends of July, received on the Kalends of November, under the supreme consuls Paulinus and Julianus. LETTER OR RESCRIPT OF SILVESTER TO THE NICENE SYNOD. (Coust. App., p. 54.) Silvester, bishop of the apostolic see and of the holy Catholic Church of the reverend religion of the city of Rome, to the brothers and co-bishops who have gathered in the Council of Nicaea, greetings in the Lord.

I am glad that you preserve a ready benevolence. For I also confirm and establish, against those who cry out against your teaching concerning the mystery or unity of the Trinity, that you have received the holy grace of chrism according to the sayings and evangelical teaching: concerning which, upon examination, I prove that those things which flowed into your and our mystery have been true and will remain so. I offer my own chirograph and that of my disciples, in your holy council, to give an equal consent to whatever you have established. And in the bosom of your synod I will bind up small precepts for the sake of the discipline of the Church, on account of Victorinus, who affirmed whatever he wished by his own judgment and proclaimed deceitful Paschal cycles, and so that the whole of your holy council may deign to accept the unity examined with the bishops of the entire city of Italy. And in another hand: May the blessedness of your holy council of three hundred and eighteen pray for us, that the increase of the charity which has been given to you by our Lord Jesus Christ may be preserved. Given on the kalends of November, received on the ides of February, in the seventh consulship of Constantine and the fourth of Caesar Constantius.

Another Letter of St. Silvester to the Synod of Nicaea. (Council, vol. II, p. 721.) PRELIMINARY NOTE OF THE COLLECTOR. In a Vatican codex these twin apocryphal letters are contained; a third is also appended, which stands in the second place in the same codex, and since no one has hitherto inserted it in collections, it is therefore to be added here, as it is presented by the Ballerini in the work more frequently cited, p. 190. Here begins the letter of Bishop Silvester to the Council of Nicaea, sent through Abundantius the presbyter and Abundantius the deacon, in the consulship of Paulinus and Julianus, on the kalends of October. To the most blessed brothers, the holy and fellow bishops, or fellow presbyters, who are gathered in the Nicene Council, Sylvester, bishop and president of the apostolic and catholic city of Rome, sends greetings in the Lord. Our most glorious and most pious son, Constantine Augustus, when he learned through the constitutions of your holiness the matters made known to his ears, we, with our Lord Jesus Christ commanding, receive with affection together with you, and the right and adorned faith opens an entrance to the whole world. We believed it should be made known to your charity that a council was gathered by us in our diocese against Victorinus the bishop and Hippolytus the deacon, who were revealed to be in the company of the Manichaeans, and against Jobianus and Calixtus, who in their arrogance said that Easter does not come on its own day nor month, but is to be observed on the kalends of May. Let the whole world know that these men have been condemned, cast out of the Church, and excommunicated.

Those who, with the knowledge of the apostolic see published in the council, kept silent, not rightly understanding with their own minds, and who dared to perpetrate the execrable pollution of the innocent by their criminal compositions, are condemned. And because in that fatal withdrawal, forestalled by death on the last day, they dared to leave behind a pollution of the priesthood by their own ordination, which we decree is to be condemned as invalid by holy men and fellow priests through our preaching and apostolic teachings, we condemn, with an anathema, against Photius and especially Sabellius and Arius, as if confirming with your own voice, and we preserve whatever you established in the Council of Nicaea of the city of Bithynia for the moderation of the universal Church, with equal form, as you judge with balanced consideration. Given on the Kalends of January. And in another hand: May our Lord Jesus Christ deign to preserve you, holy brothers and fellow bishops.

CENSURE OF THE FOLLOWING OPUSCULE. (Coust. App., p. 55.) Peter Crabbe appended this council to the two preceding letters, but placed it before the superior Constitution, which is feigned to have been published at a Roman council held before that of Nicaea. Whether he transcribed those four monuments from one and the same exemplar, he does not declare. The difference in style suggests that the author of this work is different from the architect of the others. For in this one neither the same barbarism nor the same obscurity appears. Nor is there disagreement only in style, but also in the decreed matters between this and the other Roman council, as is shown by what is established in each concerning the time during which a cleric must remain in each grade before being promoted to another. This last document was unknown both to the author of the Liber Pontificalis and to Isidore Mercator. It becomes suspect even from its own title, in which it is said to have been held in the presence of Constantine, whereas it is agreed among Baronius and the learned that Constantine was absent from Rome at that time. Baronius thinks it a lapse of a scribe, who imprudently referred what is mentioned in the chapter on the Synod of Nicaea to this one. Who would also have brought himself to believe that 275 bishops then assembled, summoned by Silvester, when that was neither easy nor necessary? Moreover, the title of the chapter indicates that a statute was appended there, by which it was decreed that councils should be celebrated three times a year.

If that is so, who would think that council admissible, which, although it is said to have been convened especially for the purpose of confirming whatever was established at Nicaea, nevertheless immediately departs from that very definition concerning synods to be gathered twice a year? Wherefore, even if we freely grant that Silvester convened a synod immediately after the celebration of the Nicene Council, in which he confirmed the acts of that council, and that from this synod perhaps the decrees which are here subjoined were collected; yet, on the other hand, it must be granted that the collection itself, as it has come down to us, bears something not a little adulterated, which does not allow it a place among the genuine and authentic writings of the supreme pontiffs that carry authority, until it is corrected and supported by suitable authority. LETTER or report of the council which the holy pope Silvester celebrated, with the Emperor Constantine Augustus present, in the city of Rome within the Baths of Domitian, with 275 bishops who had been summoned to that same synod by the blessed Silvester.

From the same. I. Whatever was done at Nicaea is confirmed. Silvester, bishop and prelate of the holy and apostolic see of the city of Rome, said: Whatever was established at Nicaea in Bithynia for the strengthening of holy mother Church, catholic and apostolic, by the holy priests, three hundred and eighteen, we confirm in conformity with our own mouth. We anathematize all who have dared to dissolve the definition of the holy and great council which was gathered at Nicaea in the presence of the most pious and venerable prince Constantine Augustus. And all said: It pleases. II. On the solemnity of Easter. All bishops and presbyters are commanded to observe the celebration of Easter from the fourteenth moon to the twenty-first, so that the Lord's day may shine forth. And the bishops said: It pleases. III. On holding councils three times a year. Bishop Silvester said: We have considered it more robust counsel, if it pleases, that every bishop who comes to the council should confirm his faith by his own hand: so that thereafter, returning to his own parish, the bond of our greeting may be made known to his people, so that, with the faith of the council declared, the inviolate order may be preserved. And the bishops said: It pleases.

IV. That it is not lawful for any cleric to conduct a case in public. Bishop Silvester said: It is not lawful for any cleric whatsoever to conduct any case in public, nor for any cleric to stand before a lay judge. And the bishops said: It pleases. V. Concerning those to be placed in orders and those advancing. If anyone desires to be promoted to the clergy, it is just that he be a doorkeeper for one year, a reader for twenty years, an exorcist for ten years, an acolyte for five years, a subdeacon for five years, a deacon for five years, and if (perhaps thus) he proceeds to the honor of the presbyterate; and having served in that order for six years, if he has the favorable grace of all, not by reward, not by invasion of cupidity, not usurping any rank, he is thus to be chosen by the whole church to be consecrated bishop, with no member of the Church intervening, and with the whole Church assembling. And the bishops said: It pleases. VI. Concerning ordinations and that neophytes are not to be ordained. That it is not lawful for any bishop, without the whole church, to ordain a neophyte from the lowest grade up to the first. And the bishops said: It pleases.

Bishop Silvester said: Beginning with ourselves, we admonish with the moderation of leniency, that it be not lawful for any bishop to ordain or consecrate any grade of cleric, except with the entire assembled church, if it pleases. And the bishops said: It pleases. BRIEF EPILOGUE ANOTHER ROMAN COUNCIL HELD UNDER POPE SYLVESTER. (Conc. t. I, col. 1542.) In the times of the holy Pope Silvester and the most pious Augustus Constantine, a great council was held in Nicaea of Bithynia, and three hundred and eighteen catholic bishops were regularly gathered together by the summons of the same Pope Silvester, who set forth the whole, catholic, immaculate faith, and condemned Arius, Photinus, and Sabellius, and their followers. At the same time also, on the day of the Kalends of July, when the aforementioned great council was gathered in Nicaea, the pope himself, with the council of the aforementioned Augustus Constantine, having already made a canonical summons, gathered two hundred and sixty-seven bishops in the city of Rome, and again condemned both Calistus and Arius, and Photinus, and Sabellius, and decreed that no one should receive a repentant Arian presbyter unless the bishop of that same place should reconcile him, and confirm him with the most holy chrism, through the imposition of the bishop's hand, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, which cannot be given by heretics. In which council, by the consent and subscription of all, it was decreed that no layman should dare to bring a charge against a cleric.

And that a presbyter may not bring any accusation against a bishop, nor a deacon against a presbyter, nor a subdeacon against a deacon, nor an acolyte against a subdeacon, nor an exorcist against an acolyte, nor a lector against an exorcist (item, 2, question 7), nor a doorkeeper against a lector. And a bishop shall not be condemned (2, question 3) except on the testimony of witnesses. Nor shall a supreme bishop be judged by anyone, since it is written: The disciple is not above the master. But a cardinal presbyter shall not be condemned unless by forty-four witnesses. A cardinal deacon appointed of the city of Rome shall not be condemned unless by (at least 37). A subdeacon, acolyte, exorcist, lector, doorkeeper shall not be condemned unless (as it is written) by seven witnesses. Moreover, witnesses and accusers shall be without any infamy, having wives and children, and altogether preaching Christ. No one shall accept the testimony of a layman (11, question 1) against a cleric (read: of a cleric against a layman). No one shall presume to examine any cleric in public, except in church. No cleric, whether deacon or presbyter, shall enter a court for any cause, nor presume to plead a case before a girded judge: since every court is named from bloodshed and the immolation of idols. And if any cleric, accusing a cleric, enters a court, let him receive anathema.

Here among the other aforementioned matters, the council decreed in synod that the sacrifice of the altar should not be celebrated by anyone on a silk cloth or a dyed one, but on a pure linen cloth consecrated by a bishop, that is, produced and woven from earthly flax, just as the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was buried in a pure shroud. And if anyone desired to serve in the Church or to advance, he should first be a doorkeeper, then a lector, and afterwards an exorcist, for periods of time which the bishop shall determine; then an acolyte for five years, a subdeacon for five years, a custodian of the martyrs for five years, a deacon for five years, a presbyter for three years, having been tested and approved by every father to such an extent that he also has a good testimony from those who are outside, being a husband of one wife, who however has been blessed by a priest. And if he has been found worthy, and the wishes of the people and the clergy concur, he shall be canonically consecrated bishop, whom afterwards neither cleric nor people ought to disturb: because bishops, who are called the thrones of God, are not to be torn apart, but rather to be borne with and venerated. Concerning whom the blessed Apostle Paul says: Do not rebuke an elder, but entreat him as a father.

We read, for the Lord Himself says, that the disciple is not above the master, that is, that no one ought to claim teaching for himself to the injury of the doctors, nor by any contrivance detract from the Lord’s disciples, that is, the successors of the apostles, or defame them; because injury to the doctors pertains to Christ, in whose stead they perform the office of legation. For how greatly they sadden the Lord who presume to do this, the Lord’s word in the Gospel testifies (Matthew 18). For the Savior Himself says that it is fitting for one who scandalizes one of these little ones to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and a millstone to be hung from his neck. If, therefore, such a penalty is here promised to those who scandalize the Lord’s disciples, what ought to befall them in the future must be most carefully considered; since no small peril can await before God those who refuse to show these things to their ministers. And this can finally be proven, if those who do not fear to practice such things fear God, if, imposing upon themselves a reproachful silence, they henceforth guard themselves from such acts: because it profits a man nothing to do the other good things, unless the mind is recalled from iniquity and the tongue is restrained from detraction. Whence the prophet says (Psalm 33): Restrain your tongue from evil, and let your lips not speak deceit. Turn away from evil and do good. For no one who does good wishes to harm another by word or deed. And so forth.

In the aforementioned synod, he established with the consent of all that no presbyter should presume to celebrate masses (De consec. dist. 1, Nullus presbyter missas) except in places consecrated by a bishop, if he wishes henceforth to be a sharer of his priesthood. And with an affection of piety, this most holy pope, through the synodal acts, recalled by apostolic authority many who had been excommunicated by other bishops and cast out by tyrants, to communion, and restored them to the positions in which they had once been instituted, upon satisfaction by a libellus, and received them after they had been purged, giving an example for the future of rescuing priests from the hands of persecutors. He also established that for no reason (98, distinct. Nullus aliqua ratione) should an overseas man be received among us into the clerical grade, unless he has been designated by the chirographs of five (five or more) bishops. A warning to the reader, concerning the following synod.

The following canons have been transcribed verbatim from two ancient exemplars, which in many places, due to the corruption of the exemplars, can scarcely or not at all be understood. Let the kindly reader take counsel, and if he can have anything more certain, let him communicate it.