A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

54 A Source Book for Ancient Church HistorySee that ye follow the bishop as Jesus Christ does the Father,and the presbyters as ye would the Apostles; and reverence thedeacons as a commandment of God. Without the bishop let noone do any of those things connected with the Church. Let thatbe deemed a proper eucharist which is administered either bythe bishop or by him to whom he has intrusted it. Whereverthe bishop shall appear there let also the multitude be, even aswherever Jesus Christ is there is the Catholic Church. It is notlawful without the bishop either to baptize or to make an agape.But whatsoever he shall approve that is also pleasing to God, sothat everything that is done may be secure and valid.§ 15. Church Discipline[043]The Church was the company of the saints. How far, then, couldthe Church tolerate in its midst those who had committed seriousoffences against the moral law? A case had occurred in theCorinthian church about which St. Paul had given some instructionsto the Christians of that city (cf. I Cor. 5:3-5; II Cor. 13:10).There was the idea current that sins after baptism admitted of nopardon and involved permanent exclusion from the Church (cf.Heb. 10:26). A distinction was also made as to sins wherebysome were regarded as “sins unto death” and not admitting ofpardon (cf. I John 5:16). In principle, the exclusion from theChurch of those who had committed gross sins was recognized,but as the Church grew it soon became a serious question asto the extent to which this strict discipline could be enforced.We find, therefore, a well-defined movement toward relaxingthis rigor of the law. The beginning appears in Hermas, whoadmits the possibility of one repentance after baptism. A specialproblem was presented from the first by the difference betweenthe conceptions of marriage held by the Christians and by theheathen. The Church very early took the position that marriage