the history of heresies, and their refutation - Catholic Apologetics ...

the infamous Thalia, were likewise condemned by the Emperor and the council, and the Emperor
published a circular or decree through the entire empire, ordering the writings of Arius to be everywhere
burned, and denouncing the punishment of death against any one who would controvert this order (39).
19. The council having disposed of Arius, next suspended Meletius, Bishop of Lycopolis, from all his
episcopal functions, and especially from ordaining any one; but ordered, at the same time, that all his
followers should be admitted to the communion of the Church on condition of renouncing his schism and
doctrine (40).
20. The council likewise arranged the question of the celebration of Easter, which then made a great noise
in Asia, by ordering that in future it should be celebrated not in the Jewish style, on the fourteenth day of
the moon but according to the Roman style, on the Sunday after the fourteenth day of the moon, which
falls after the vernal equinox.
(37) St. Hieron. Epist. ad Ctesiphont.
(38) Juenin, Theol. t. 3, ar, 4, sec. 1.
(39) Fleury, t. 2, l. 11, n. 24; Orsi, t. 5, l. 12, n. 42.
(40) N. Alex. ar. 4, sec. 2,
This the council declared was not a matter of faith, but discipline (41); for whenever it speaks of articles of
faith as opposed to the errors of Arius, the words, " This the church believes," are used, but in making this
order, the words are, " We have decreed, &c." This decree met with no opposition, but as we learn from
the circular of Constantine, was embraced by all the Churches (42), and it is thought that the council then
adopted the cycle of nineteen years invented by Meto, an Athenian astronomer, for fixing the lunations of
each year, as every nineteenth year the new moon falls on the same day of the solar year as it did
nineteen years before (43).
21. The council next decreed twenty canons of discipline; we shall mention some of the principal ones.
1st. The council excludes from the clergy, and deposes, all those who have voluntarily made themselves
eunuchs, in opposition to the heresy of the Valerians, who were all eunuchs; but more especially to
condemn those who justified and followed the example of Origen, through love of chastity (44). By the
third canon, the clergy are prohibited from keeping in their houses any woman unless a mother, a sister,
an aunt, or some person from whom no suspicion can arise. It was the wish of the council to establish the
celibacy of bishops, priests, and deacons, and sub-deacons even, according to Sozymen, but they were
turned from this by St. Paphnutius, who forcibly contended that it was quite enough to decree that those
already in holy orders should not be allowed to marry, but that it would be laying too heavy an
obligation on those who were married before they were admitted to ordination, to oblige them to
separate themselves from their wives. Cardinal Orsi, however, says (45), that the authority of Socrates is
not sufficient to establish this fact, since both St. Epiphanius, who lived in the time of the council, and St.
Jerome (46), who was born a few years after, attest that no one was admitted to orders unless unmarried,
or if married, who separated himself from his wife. It was ordained in the fourth canon that bishops
should be ordained by all the co-provincial bishops, or at least by three with consent of the rest, and that
the right of confirmation appertaining to the Metropolitan, should be strictly preserved.
(41) St. Athan. de Synod, n. 5; Nat, Alex. ar 4 sec; 2 (42) Euseb. His. l. 3, c. 18, & Socrat. (44) Ibid.; N. Alex.
ibid. (45 ) Orsi ibid; Soc. l. 1. (46) Epiphan. Her. 59, & St. Hier. adv. Vigilan.
The sixth canon says that the rights of the Patriarchal Sees shall be preserved, especially those of the See
of Alexandria, over the Churches of Egypt, of Lybia, and of Pantopolis, after the example of the Bishop of
Rome, who enjoys a similar authority over the Churches subject to his Patriarchate. Noel Alexander (47)
has written a special dissertation to prove that the primacy of the Roman See is not weakened by this
canon, and among other proofs adduces the sixth canon of the great council of Chalcedon; " the Roman
Church always had the primacy," and it is proved, he says, that after this canon was passed, the Bishop of
Rome judged the persons of the other patriarchs, and took cognizance of the sentences passed by them,
and no one ever complained that he usurped an authority which did not belong to him, or violated the
sixth canon of the council of Nice.
22. Finally, the fathers wrote a circular letter addressed to all churches, giving them notice of the
condemnation of Arius, and the regulation concerning the celebration of Easter. The council was then
Page 28 of 352