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NECTARIUS, about this period, abolished the office of the
presbyter whose duty it was to preside over the imposition of penance;
and this is the first instance of the suppression of this office in the
Church. This example was followed by the bishops of every region.
Various accounts have been given of the nature, the origin, and the
cause of the abolition of this office. I shall state my own views on
the subject. Impeccability is a Divine attribute, and belongs not to
human nature; therefore God has decreed that pardon should be extended
to the penitent, even after many transgressions. As in supplicating
for pardon; it is requisite to confess the sin, it seems probable that
the priests, from the beginning, considered it irksome to make this
confession in public, before the whole assembly of the people. They
therefore appointed a presbyter, of the utmost sanctity, and the most
undoubted prudence, to act on these occasions; the penitents went to
him, and confessed their transgressions; and it was his office to
indicate the kind of penance adapted to each sin, and then when
satisfaction had been made, to pronounce absolution. As the custom of
doing penance never gained ground among the Novatians, regulations of
this nature were of course unnecessary among them; but the custom
prevailed among all other heretics, and prevails even to the present
day. It is observed with great rigor by the Western churches,
particularly at Rome, where there is a place appropriated to the
reception of penitents, in which spot they stand and mourn until the
completion of the services, for it is not lawful for them to take part
in the mysteries; then they cast themselves, with groans and
lamentations, prostrate on the ground. The bishop conducts the
ceremony, sheds tears, and prostrates himself in like manner; and all
the people burst into tears, and groan aloud. Afterwards, the bishop
rises first from the ground, and raises up the others; he offers up
prayer on behalf of the penitents, and then dismisses them. Each of
the penitents subjects himself in private to voluntary suffering,
either by fastings, by abstaining from the bath or from divers kinds of
meats, or by other prescribed means, until a certain period appointed
by the bishop. When the time arrives, he is made free from the
consequences of his sin, and assembles at the church with the people.
The Roman priests have carefully observed this custom from the
beginning to the present time. In the church at Constantinople, a
presbyter was always appointed to preside over the penitents, until a
lady of the nobility made a deposition to the effect, that when she
resorted as a penitent to the presbyter, to fast and offer
supplications to God, and tarried for that purpose, in the church a
rape had been committed on her person by the deacon. Great displeasure
was manifested by the people when this occurrence was made known to
them, on account of the discredit that would result to the church; and
the priests, in particular, were thereby greatly scandalized.
Nectarius, after much hesitation as to what means ought to be
adopted, deposed the deacon; and, at the advice of certain persons,
who urged the necessity of leaving each individual to examine himself
before participating in the sacred mysteries, he abolished the office
of the presbyter presiding over penance. From that period,
therefore, the performance of penance fell into disuse; and it seems
to me, that extreme laxity of principle was thus substituted for the
severity and rigor of antiquity. Under the ancient system, I think,
offences were of rarer occurrence; for people were deterred from their
commission, by the dread of confessing them, and of exposing them to
the scrutiny of a severe judge. I believe it was from similar
considerations, that the Emperor Theodosius, who was always zealous
in promoting the glory of the Church, issued a law, enacting that
women should not be admitted into the ministry, unless they had had
children, and were upwards of sixty years of age, according to the
precept of the Apostle Paul. By this law it was also decreed, that
women who had shaved their heads should be ejected from the churches;
and that the bishop by whom such women were admitted should be deposed
from the bishopric.
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