Canon XIII.
It
is not lawful for
Chorepiscopi to ordain presbyters or deacons, and most assuredly not
presbyters of a city, without the commission of the bishop given in
writing, in another parish.
Notes.
Ancient Epitome of Canon
XIII.
A chorepiscopus is not to ordain without the consent of
the bishop.
Hefele.
If the first part of the thirteenth canon is easy to
understand, the second, on the contrary, presents a great difficulty;
for a priest of a town could not in any case have the power of
consecrating priests and deacons, least of all in a strange
diocese. Many of the most learned men have, for this reason,
supposed that the Greek text of the second half of the canon, as we
have read it, is incorrect or defective. It wants, say they,
ποιεῖν
τι
, or
aliquid agere, i.e., to complete a religious
function
. To confirm this supposition, they have appealed to
several ancient versions, especially to that of Isidore:
sed
nec presbyteris civitatis sine episcopi præcepto amplius aliquid
imperare, vel sine auctoritate literarum ejus in unaquaque
(some
read
ἐν
ἐκάστῃ
instead of
ἐν
ἑτέρᾳ
)
parochia aliquid
agere
. The ancient Roman
ms.
of the
canons,
Codex Canonum
, has the same
reading, only that it has
provincia
instead of
parochia
. Fulgentius Ferrandus, deacon of
Carthage, who long ago made a collection of canons, translates in the
same way in his
Breviatio Canonum
:
Ut presbyteri
civitatis sine jussu episcopi nihil jubeant, nec in unaquaque parochia
aliquid agant
. Van Espen has explained this canon in the same
way.
Routh has given another interpretation. He
maintained that there was not a word missing in this canon, but that at
the commencement one ought to read, according to several
mss.
χωρεπισκόποις
in the dative, and further down
ἀλλὰ μὴν
μηδὲ
instead of
ἀλλα μηδὲ
then
πρεσβυτέρους
(in the accusative)
πόλεως
and finally
ἐκάστῃ
instead of
ἑτέρᾳ
,
and that we must therefore translate, “
Chorepiscopi
are
not permitted to consecrate priests and deacons (for the country) still
less (
ἀλλὰ
μὴν μηδὲ
) can they
consecrate priests for the town without the consent of the bishop of
the place.” The Greek text, thus modified according to some
mss.
, especially those in the Bodleian Library,
certainly gives a good meaning. Still
ἀλλὰ μὴν
μηδὲ
does not mean,
but still
less
: it means,
but certainly not
, which makes a
considerable difference.
Besides this, it can very seldom have happened that the
chorepiscopi
ordained presbyters or deacons for a town; and if
so, they were already forbidden, at least implicitly, in the first part
of the canon.