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

To the Commentariensis. 3246
Letter CCLXXXVI. 3245
Whereas certain vagabonds have been arrested in the church for stealing, in defiance
of God’s commandment, some poor men’s clothing, of little value otherwise, yet such as
they had rather have on than off their backs; and whereas you consider that in virtue of your
office you yourself should have the custody of the offenders:—I hereby declare, that I would
have you know that for offences committed in the church it is our business to mete out
punishment, and that the intervention of the civil authorities is in these cases superfluous.
Wherefore, the stolen property, as set forth in the document in your possession and in the
transcript made in the presence of eyewitnesses, I enjoin you to retain, reserving part for
future claims, and distributing the rest among the present applicants.
As for the offenders,—that they be corrected in the discipline and admonition of the
Lord. By this means I hope to work their successive reformations. For where the stripes of
human tribunals have failed, I have often known the fearful judgments of God to be effectual.
If it is, however, your wish to refer this matter also to the count, such is my confidence in
his justice and uprightness that I leave you to follow your own counsels.
3245 Placed in the episcopate.
3246 A registrar of prisons, or prison superintendent. Cod. Just. ix. 4. 4. Dis. xlviii. 20. 6.
To the Commentariensis.
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