makes him a higher or a lower bishop. All alike are successors of the apostles.9

2. But you will say: "How comes it then that at Rome a presbyter is ordained on the recommendation of a deacon?" 10 Why do you bring forward a custom which exists in one city only? Why do you maintain, in opposition to the laws of the Church, a paucity which has given rise to arrogance? The rarer anything is, the more it is sought after. In India pennyroyal is more costly than pepper. Their paucity makes deacons persons of consequence, while presbyters are less thought of owing to their great numbers. 11 But even in the church of Rome the deacons stand while the presbyters seat themselves, although bad habits have by degrees so far crept in that I have seen a deacon, in the absence of the bishop, seat himself among the presbyters, and at social gatherings give his blessing to them.1 Those who act thus must learn that they are wrong and must give heed to the apostles' words: "It is not fit that we should leave the word of God and serve tables." 13 They must consider the reasons which led to the appointment of deacons at the beginning. They must read the Acts of the Apostles and bear in mind their true position.

12

Of the names "presbyter" and "bishop" the first denotes age, the second rank. In writing both to Titus and to Timothy, the Apostle speaks of the ordination of a bishop and of deacons, but says not a word of the presbyters; for the fact is that the word "bishop" includes presbyter also. 14 Again when a man is promoted it is from a lower place to a higher.15 Either then a 9 In the appeal from urbs to orbis and in the following sentences Jerome seems to be returning to a second or third century position, with the regula veritatis or fidei in each apostolic church as the auctoritas for doctrine and bishops all equal. Any one would allow, of course, that the importance of a man's see does not affect his sacerdotium, the fact that he is a bishop. Jerome appears to go further and say that it does not affect his dignity (meritum) or make him "higher" than another bishop (sublimiorem). But the passage is rhetorical, and he does not say enough to define his views precisely.

10 From Q. 9, but Ambrosiaster gives a different answer. In effect, he says why not? Laymen give testimony to deacons, etc.

11 Under Pope Cornelius (c. 253) there were seven deacons to forty-six presbyters at Rome (Eus., H.E., VI, 43, 11). The deacons remained seven for a long time.

12 Both points from Ambrosiaster, Q. 3 and 7. Compare Nicaea, canon 18. 13 Acts 6:2.

14 Cf. Q. 4 ad fin., Maior ordo intra se et apud se habet et minorem.

15 Cf. Q. 4 ad init., Quasi ex presbiteris diaconi et non ex diaconibus presbiteri ordinentur.

presbyter should be ordained deacon, from the lesser office, that is, to the more important, to prove that a presbyter is inferior to a deacon; or if on the other hand it is the deacon that is ordained presbyter, this latter should recognize that, although he may be less highly paid than a deacon, he is superior to him in virtue of his priesthood. In fact as if to tell us that the traditions handed down by the apostles were taken by them from the Old Testament, bishops, presbyters and deacons occupy in the Church the same positions as those which were occupied by Aaron, his sons, and the Levites in the temple.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. GENERAL HISTORIES OF THE EARLY CHURCH

Duchesne, L.: The Early History of the Christian Church. English translation in three volumes, Murray, London 1909-1924. Fliche, A. and Martin, V. edd.: Histoire de l'Eglise, vols. 1-4. Bloud et Gay, Paris 1934-1937.

The first two volumes have been translated by E. C. Messenger and published as J. Lebreton and J. Zeiller, The History of the Primitive Church, 4 vols., Burns, Oates and Washbourne, London 1942-1948; and the third as J. R. Palanque (etc.), The Church in the Christian Roman Empire, 2 vols., 1949-1952.

Gwatkin, H. M.: Early Church History to A.D. 313, 2 vols., Macmillan, London 1909.

Kidd, B. J.: A History of the Church to A.D. 461, 3 vols., Oxford 1922. Lietzmann, H.: Geschichte der Alten Kirche, 4 vols., Berlin 1932-1944.

This has been translated by B. L. Woolf and published as: 1. The Beginnings of the Christian Church, Nicholson and Watson, London 1937.

2. The Founding of the Church Universal, Nicholson and Watson, London 1938.

3. From Constantine to Julian, Lutterworth Press, London 1950. 4. The Era of the Church Fathers, Lutterworth Press, London 1951.

B. PATROLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF PATRISTIC DOCTRINE Altaner, B.: Patrologie, ed. 3, Freiburg, 1951.

Bardenhewer, O.: Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, 5 vols., Freiburg 1912-1932.

Bethune-Baker, J. F.: An Introduction to the Early History of Christian Doctrine. Methuen, London 1903, and subsequent revisions. Harnack, A.: History of Dogma, 7 vols. Williams and Norgate, London 1894-1899.

Labriolle, P. de: Histoire de la Littérature Latine Chrétienne, 3rd ed., revised by G. Bardy, Paris 1947.

There is an English translation of the first edition, Kegan Paul, London 1924.

Loofs, F.: Leitfaden zum Studium der Dogmengeschichte, ed. 4, Halle 1906. A revised edition, by K. Aland, is in progress. Parts 1 and 2 were published by Niemeyer, Halle 1950, 1953.

Quasten, J.: Patrology, 2 vols. (so far), Utrecht 1950, 1953.
Seeberg, R.: Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte, I-II, ed. 3, Leipzig

1922.

Tixeront, J.: History of Dogmas, 3 vols. Herder, U.S.A. 1930.

C. THE PATRISTIC DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH AND THE

MINISTRY

Bardy, G.: La Théologie de l'Eglise de saint Clément de Rome à saint Irenée.

La Théologie de l'Eglise de saint Irenée au concile de Nicée. Les Editions du Cerf, Paris 1945 and 1947.

Burn-Murdoch, H.: Church, Continuity and Unity. Cambridge University Press: 1945.

Lubac, H. de: Catholicism. Burns, Oates and Washbourne, London 1950.

Gore, C.: The Church and the Ministry, 1886, revised by C. H. Turner, 1919, and published with an appendix, S.P.C.K., London 1936. Greenslade, S. L.: Schism in the Early Church. S.C.M. Press, London 1953.

Headlam, A. C.: The Doctrine of the Church and Christian Reunion. John Murray, London 1920.

Jalland, T. G.: The Origin and Evolution of the Christian Church. Hutchinson, London n.d. (Preface, 1948).

Kirk, K. E., ed.: The Apostolic Ministry. Hodder and Stoughton, London 1946. Especially c. IV, "The Ministry in the Early Church," by Dom Gregory Dix.

Mersch, E.: Le Corps Mystique du Christ, ed. 2, 2 vols. Paris 1936. Swete, H. B., ed.: Essays on the Early History of the Church and the Ministry. Macmillan, London 1918, 1921. Especially c. III, "Apostolic Succession," by C. H. Turner.

(i) Editions and Translations

D. TERTULLIAN

Q. S. Fl. Tertulliani quae supersunt omnia, ed. F. Oehler, Leipzig 1853-1854, in 3 vols., the third containing dissertations. Long the standard complete edition, with valuable notes. Tertulliani Opera, Vienna 1890-1942 (C.S.E.L. vols. XX, XLVII, LXIX, LXX), edited by A. Reifferscheid, G. Wissowa, A. Kroymann, H. Hoppe, and to be completed by one more volume. Q. S. Fl. Tertulliani Opera, Turnhout 1954 (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, I-II). A complete text; some works are reprints of the Vienna and other texts, some are newly edited. Volume I contains a valuable bibliography.

The Writings of Tertullian, translated by S. Thelwall and P. Holmes, 4 vols. Edinburgh 1868-1870. Complete.