III. (Most holy father, p. 18.)

Gregory Thaumaturgus

Canon IX.^[139]

Now, those who have found in the open field or in their own houses anything left behind them by the barbarians, if they have once been put on their trial and convicted, ought to fall under the same class of the repentant. But if they have declared themselves and made restitution, they ought to be deemed fit for the privilege of prayer.^[140]

Canon X.

And they who keep the commandment ought to keep it without any sordid covetousness, demanding neither recompense,^[141] nor reward,^[142] nor fee,^[143] nor anything else that bears the name of acknowledgment.

Canon XI.^[144]

Weeping^[145] takes place without the gate of the oratory; and the offender standing there ought to implore the faithful as they enter to offer up prayer on his behalf. Waiting on the word,^[146] again, takes place within the gate in the porch,^[147] where the offender ought to stand until the catechumens depart, and thereafter he should go forth. For let him hear the Scriptures and doctrine, it is said, and then be put forth, and reckoned unfit for the privilege of prayer. Submission,^[148] again, is that one stand within the gate of the temple, and go forth along with the catechumens. Restoration^[149] is that one be associated with the faithful, and go not forth with the catechumens; and last of all comes the participation in the holy ordinances.^[150]

Elucidations.

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I. (The title, p. 18.)

This is a genuine epistle, all but the eleventh canon. It is addressed to an anonymous bishop; one of his suffragans, some think. I suppose, rather, he consults, as Cyprian did, the bishop of the nearest Apostolic See, and awaits his concurrence. It refers to the ravages of the Goths in the days of Gallienus (a.d. 259–267), and proves the care of the Church to maintain discipline, even in times most unfavourable to order and piety. The last canon is an explanatory addition made to elucidate the four degrees or classes of penitents. It is a very interesting document in this respect, and sheds light on the famous canonical epistles of St. Basil.

II. (Basil the Great, p. 18, note.)

The “Canonical Epistles” of St. Basil are not private letters, but canons of the churches with which he was nearest related. When there was no art of printing, the chief bishops were obliged to communicate with suffragans, and with their brethren in the Apostolic See nearest to them. See them expounded at large in Dupin, Ecclesiastical Writers of the Fourth Century, Works, vol. i., London, 1693 (translated), p. 139, etc.