Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

ministers, but not one single man worthy of the service of the altars. Of this you yourselves
supply proof from your difficulty in finding suitable candidates for election. As, then, I
perceive that the evil is gradually reaching a point at which it would be incurable, and especially
at this moment when a large number of persons are presenting themselves for the
ministry through fear of the conscription, I am constrained to have recourse to the restitution
of the canons of the Fathers. I thus order you in writing to send me the roll of the ministers
in every village, stating by whom each has been introduced, and what is his mode of life.
You have the roll in your own keeping, so that your version can be compared with the
documents which are in mine, and no one can insert his own name when he likes. So if any
have been introduced by presbyters after the first appointment, 2202 let them be rejected,
and take their place among the laity. Their examination must then be begun by you over
again, and, if they prove worthy, let them be received by your decision. Drive out unworthy
men from the Church, and so purge it. For the future, test by examination those who are
worthy, and then receive them; but do not reckon them of the number before you have reported
to me. Otherwise, distinctly understand that he who is admitted to the ministry
without my authority will remain a layman.
2202 μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ἐπινέμησιν. ᾽Επινέμησις is in later Greek the recognized equivalent for “indictio” in
the sense of a period of fifteen years (Cod. Theod. xi. 28. 3). I have had some hesitation as to whether it could
possibly in this passage indicate a date. But ἐπινέμησις does not appear to have been used in its chronological
sense before Evagrius, and his expression (iv. 29) τοὺς περιόδους τῶν κύκλων καλουμένων ἐπινεμήσεων looks
as though the term were not yet common; ἐπινέμησις here I take to refer to the assignment of presbyters to
different places on ordination. I am indebted to Mr. J. W. Parker for valuable information and suggestions on
this question.
To the Chorepiscopi.
470
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