That the Holy Spirit subsists, lives, speaks and foretells I have told you repeatedly on former occasions. Paul writes clearly to Timothy, Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith. This we see in the factions of former times and in our own day. How diverse and multiform are the errors of the heretics.

How could anyone be silent in regard to the divine authority of the Holy Spirit? The ancient prophets cried out, These things say the Lord. When Christ came, he also used this word say in his own person, But I say unto you. Listen now to what the prophets of the New Testament proclaim. Take the prophet Agabus in the Acts of the Apostles, Thus says the Holy Spirit.^[1] So, too, Paul to Timothy, Now the Spirit expressly says . . . .

Considering the signs mentioned by Gospel and prophecy which we see happening, would anyone deny that we ought to hope for the coming of the Lord? Manifestly, it is nearer and nearer every day. But the exact span of the nearness, that, as we said, is not for you to know. Notice when the apostle said this, For our salvation is nearer than when we believed. The night is past and the day is at hand,^[1] and look how many years have passed! Yet, what he said was not untrue. How much more probable is it to say now that the coming of the Lord is near when there has been such an increase of time toward the end! Certainly the apostle said, The Spirit manifestly says that in the last times some shall depart from the faith. Obviously, those were not yet the times of heretics such as he describes them in the same sentence, but they have now come. According to this, we seem to be in the last times, and the heretics seem to be a warning of the end of the world.

There were prophets a very long time ago more ancient than these^[1] who are reputed to be philosophers, blessed and righteous and dear to God. They spoke by a divine spirit, and they oracularly predicted future events which are now taking place. They are truly called prophets. . . . Past events and events now taking place compel us to agree with what was spoken by them. Furthermore they deserved to be believed because of the miracles which they performed, since they were glorifying God the Creator and Father of the universe and they were announcing the Christ coming from him, his Son. The false prophets who were filled with the deceitful and filthy spirit never did nor now do this. They dare to work various supposed miracles in order to impress men, and they glorify the spirits and demons of deceit.

These are the doctrines of men and of demons that produce for itching ears of the spirit this world’s wisdom. This is what the Lord called foolishness.^[1] God chose the foolish things of the world to confound even philosophy itself. For philosophy is the material of the world’s wisdom, the rash interpreter of the nature and the providence (dispensations) of God.

Now concerning their blasphemous assertion who say that the Son does not perfectly know the Father, we need not wonder. Indeed, having once purposed in their mind to wage war against Christ, they impugn also these words of his, As the Father knows Me, even so know I the Father.^[1] . . . Moreover, concerning these very men, warnings are not wanting to us, for the Lord foretold, Take heed that you are not deceived: for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draws near: do not go therefore after them.^[2] Paul, too, having learned these things from the Savior, wrote, In the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils which turn away from the truth.

As for me, indeed, would that they might have a will to hear, that they might believe—to hear with true love and meekness, as men seeking what is true and not assailing all truth. For it is written that we pay no heed to endless fables and genealogies, which do rather raise disputes than set forward the godly edification, which is in faith. But the aim of the charge is love from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, whence some have erred and betaken themselves to empty babbling. For they are desirous of being teachers of the law, without understanding the words they say, nor the things whereof they speak with assurance.^[1] In another place also the same apostle says, Avoid foolish and ignorant questionings.^[2] Such men, who sow disputes—that is to say, heretics—the apostle bids us leave alone. Of them he says in yet another place that certain shall depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits and the doctrines of devils.

Therefore it becomes us to watch, lest some deception be conveyed under the clothing of their phrases and they lead some away from the true faith. And if they venture to advance the opinions of Arius, when they see themselves proceeding in a prosperous course, nothing remains for us but to use great boldness of speech. For we are to remember the predictions of the apostle, which he wrote to forewarn us of such heresies and which it becomes us to repeat. For we know that, as it is written, in the latter times some shall depart from the true faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, that turn from the truth.^[1]

The fulfillment of these predictions in the Manichaeans is as clear as day to all that know them and has already been proved as fully as time permits.

Speaking lies in hypocrisy. This implies that they do not utter these falsehoods through ignorance and unknowingly but as acting a part, knowing the truth but having their conscience seared, for they are men who live evil lives.

In what way then is she a virgin who has fallen away from the faith, who has devoted herself to the deceivers, who obeys the demons and honors falsehood? In what way is she a virgin who has a seared conscience? For the virgin must be pure not only in body but also in soul if she is going to receive the holy bridegroom. . . . Virginity is defined by holiness of body and soul. But if a woman is unholy and impure in each respect, how could she be a virgin? . . . But she shows me a pale face, wasted limbs, a shabby garment and gentle glance. . . . What is the good of all that when the eye of the soul is bold,^[1] for what could be more audacious than that eye encouraging her real eyes to consider the objects of God’s creation as bad?

Having their consciences seared means not having a whole conscience, for they live the opposite of what they teach.

Consciences seared refers to their final numbing, the deadening of their consciences.

The seared conscience is a branded conscience, with the implication that they have been corrupted by falsehood which makes a mark on their consciences like a brand on skin.

It follows that celibacy is not particularly praiseworthy unless it arises through love of God. The blessed Paul says of those who show a distaste for marriage, In the last days people will abandon the faith, attaching themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demonic powers that they should abstain from food, at the same time forbidding marriage. Again he says, Do not let anyone disqualify you in forced piety of self-mortification and severity to the body.^[1] . . . Well? Did not the righteous of past days share gratefully in God’s creation? Some of them married and produced children without loss of self-control.

The Savior then commanded, What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.^[1] But man wishes to put asunder what God has joined together. He does this when, falling away from the sound faith, he gives heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron, and by forbidding them not only to commit fornication but even to marry. In this way he dissolves even those who before had been joined together by the providence of God.

Do you still want me to show you what kind of fast it is appropriate for you to practice? Fast from every sin, take no food of malice, take no feasts of passion, do not burn with any wine of luxury. Fast from evil deeds, abstain from evil words, hold yourself from the worst evil thoughts. Do not touch the secret loaves of perverse doctrine. Do not desire the deceptive foods of philosophy which seduce you from truth. Such a fast pleases God. But to abstain from the foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful and to do this with those who crucified Christ cannot be acceptable to God. . . . However, we do not say this that we may loosen the restraints of Christian abstinence.

The apostle set a brand upon those who were inclined entirely to forbid marriage and who were determined to lay an interdict on meats which God has created. We, however, do not do away with marriage if we disavow its repetition, nor do we condemn meats if we fast oftener than others. It is one thing to regulate but another thing to do away with altogether.

Others, however, styling themselves Encratites, acknowledge some things concerning God and Christ consistently with the church. In respect, however, of their ascetic mode of life, they pass their days inflated with pride. They suppose that by their choice of foods they magnify themselves. They abstain from animal food, [and] being water drinkers, forbid to marry, devoting themselves during the remainder of life to habits of asceticism. But persons of this description are viewed more as cynics than as Christians, inasmuch as they do not attend to the words spoken against them by the apostle Paul.

Well, someone says, what do you expect us to do? To live in the mountains and become monks? This question saddens me for this reason, that some think only monks to be truly concerned with decency and chastity. Yet surely Christ made his laws to apply to everyone. . . . Indeed, I do not forbid marriage, nor do I mean to block your access to pleasure, but I want you to have it in a chaste way, not shamefully or in a way deserving reproach and subject to endless misgivings. I do not insist that you live in the mountains and the deserts but that you be good and moderate and chaste, while dwelling in the midst of the city.

Let no one think . . . we are disregarding the institution of marriage. We are not ignorant of the fact that this also is not deprived of God’s blessing. But since there is sufficient support for it and since the common nature of man, be-stowed on all who come to birth through marriage, automatically inclines in this direction—whereas virginity somehow goes against nature—it would be superfluous to go to the trouble of writing a plea for marriage or a eulogy of it. It is pointless to emphasize its indisputable inducement, I mean pleasure, unless there should be need of such words because of some people who tamper with the teachings of the church on marriage, whom the apostle calls those having their conscience branded.

Do not abhor meats as if they were taboo. The apostle evidently knew people like that, since he says that there are those who forbid to marry and command to abstain from meats which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe. If therefore you are abstaining from these things, let it not be as from things abominated, or your reward is lost, but as good things let them be transcended, in the quest of the fairer spiritual rewards that are set before you.

Have I not, I would ask, in the very forefront of my work^[1] set the following preface: We are no disciples of Marcion or of Manichaeus, to detract from marriage. Nor are we deceived by the error of Tatian, the chief of the Encratites, into supposing all cohabitation unclean. For he condemns and reprobates not marriage only but foods also which God has created for us to enjoy. We know that in a large house there are vessels not only of silver and of gold but of wood also and of earth.^[2] We know, too, that on the foundation of Christ which Paul the master builder has laid, some build up gold, silver and precious stones; others, on the contrary, hay, wood and stubble.^[3]

The fact that the Lord was invited and came to the wedding, even without considering the mystical meaning, was meant to affirm what he himself created.^[1] For there were going to be those, about whom the apostle spoke, who would forbid marriage and say that marriage is an evil and that the devil created it, although the same Lord in the Gospel, when asked whether a man is allowed to divorce his wife for any reason, replied that he is not allowed except in the case of fornication.^[2]

The church of God, established in the midst of much chaff and much cockle, tolerates many things, yet it does not approve or accept in silence or practice those things that are contrary to faith and good living. Therefore, what you wrote of certain brothers refraining from meat because they believe it to be unclean is very clearly against faith and sound doctrine.

It should also be laid down as essential that continency is inexorably demanded of combatants for godliness, so that they may bring the body into subjection, for every athlete exercises self-control in all things.^[1] However, to avoid being classed with the enemies of God who are seared in their conscience and, therefore, abstain from food which God has made for the faithful to partake of with thanksgiving, we should taste each dish when occasion offers so as to indicate to those looking on that all things are clean to the clean^[2] and that every creature of God is good and nothing to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. The aim of continency must nevertheless be kept in mind also, to the extent that we satisfy our need with the plainer foods and those necessary to sustain life, avoiding the evil of taking our fill of them and abstaining absolutely from those foods whose sole purpose is to give delight.

By speaking thus of things eatable, he by anticipation impugns the heresy of those who introduce an uncreated matter and assert that these things proceed from it. . . . He lays down two positions. The first is that no creature of God is unclean. The second is that if it were to become so, you have a remedy: seal it, give thanks and glorify God, and all the uncleanness passes away. . . . So a thing is not unclean by nature but becomes so through your willful disobedience. What then, is not swine’s flesh unclean? By no means, when it is received with thanksgiving and with the seal. Nor is anything else. It is your unthankful disposition to God that is unclean.

This, assuredly, appeared to me to be ridiculous—to vow to abstain from pork. Therefore, teach them to refrain from foolish prayers and promises; nevertheless, allow the use to be a matter of indifference. No creature of God which is received with thanksgiving is to be rejected. Therefore, the vow is ridiculous; the abstinence is not necessary.

The whole of creation is in inward harmony, since the bond of concord is nowhere broken by the natural opposition. In the same way the divine wisdom also provides a blending and admixture of the sensible with the intelligible nature, so that all things equally participate in the good and no existing thing is deprived of a share in the higher nature. Now the sphere corresponding to the intelligible nature is a subtle and mobile essence, which by virtue of its special nature and its transcending the world has a great affinity with the intelligible. Yet, for the reason given, a superior wisdom provides a mingling of the intelligible with the sensible creation. In that way, as the apostle says, no part of creation is to be rejected, and no part fails to share in the divine fellowship. On this account the divine nature produces in man a blending of the intelligible and the sensible, just as the account of creation teaches.

Let it be observed that there is no such thing in the world as evil irrespective of a will. Evil is not discoverable in a substance apart from willing. Every creature of God is good, and nothing of his to be rejected. All that God made was very good.^[1] But the habit of sinning entered as we have described, and with fatal quickness, into the life of man. From that small beginning spread into this infinitude of evil. Then that godly beauty of the soul which was an imitation of the Archetypal Beauty, like fine steel blackened with vicious rust, preserved no longer the glory of its familiar essence but was disfigured with the ugliness of sin.

Because sin or iniquity is not a seeking of things evil by nature but an abandonment of the better things, this is found written in Scripture. Every creature is good. Every tree that God planted in paradise was good. Man, therefore, did not desire anything evil by nature when he touched the forbidden tree. But by departing from what was better he himself committed an act that was evil.

It is not the uncleanness of meat that I fear, but the uncleanness of an incontinent appetite.

As there is an unconscious worship of idols and devils in the fanciful legends of the Manichaeans, so they knowingly serve the creature in their worship of the sun and the moon. And in what they call their service of the Creator they really serve their own fancy, and not the Creator at all. For they deny that God created those things which the apostle plainly declares to the creatures of God, when he says of food, Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving. This is sound doctrine. . . . The apostle praises the creature of God but forbids the worship of it. And in the same way Moses gives due praise to the sun and moon, while at the same time he states the fact of their having been made by God. They have been placed by him in their courses—the sun to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night.

The first cause of sin crept in from the enjoyment of food. What more salutary gift of God does our redeemed liberty use than that the will, which once did not know how to restrain itself from forbidden things, now knows how to restrain itself from lawful things? Every creature of God is good, and nothing ought to be rejected, which is received with the giving of thanks. We were not created to seek out all the riches of the world with a foul and shameless greed. We can restrain voluntarily from what is lawful.

Virtues and vices are the food of the soul, which can feed on either one, turning to whichever one it wants to. If it is bent toward moral excellence, it will be fed by virtue—by righteousness, temperance, meekness, endurance. In other words, it’s just as St. Paul says, being nourished by the word of truth. That’s the way it was with our Lord, who said, My food is to do the will of him who sent me.^[1]

Let the church of God, therefore, in this spiritual way^[1] understand the births, in this way receive the procreations, in this way uphold the deeds of the fathers with a fitting and honorable interpretation and in this way not disgrace the words of the Holy Spirit with foolish rabbinic fables^[2] but reckon them to be full of honor, full of virtue and usefulness.

By these are meant Jewish traditions, and he calls them fables, either because of their falsehood or their unseasonableness. For what is seasonable is useful, but what is unseasonable is not only useless but injurious.

Godless wives tales are Jewish speculations in the form of false interpretations of the law and its proper observance.

Paul is here rejecting apocryphal books that profess to contain his teaching or that of other apostles but that are really misrepresentations of that teaching.

Therefore St. Paul urges us to exercise our faith in the face of troubles. Having already come through them victoriously, he said, Therefore I take pleasure in persecutions and weaknesses.^[1] In another place he said, Exercise yourself in godliness. He knew that those who choose to live godly lives are going to be persecuted, so he wanted his disciples to be aware of the difficulties they would face. Then when the trials and afflictions did come, they would have built up enough strength to handle them easily. You yourself know that when you’ve been looking forward to something, even if it’s hard, you experience a secret joy when it actually comes.

Surely only an infantile mind, like a baby who can only drink milk, is ignorant of the great mystery of our salvation. Education progresses gradually. The school of righteousness attempts to bring us to maturity by first teaching us easy, elementary lessons suited for our limited intelligence. Then God, who provides us with every good thing, leads us to the truth, by gradually accustoming our darkened eyes to its great light. In the deep reaches of his wisdom and the unsearchable judgments of his intelligence, he spares our weakness and prescribes a gentle treatment. He knows our eyes are accustomed to dim shadows, so he uses these at first.

Some indeed put it thus, Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies and not to what is useful. The reference is to that kind of usefulness which is always on the watch for making gains in business and has been bent and diverted by the habits of men to the pursuit of money. For as a rule most people call that only useful which is profitable, but we are speaking of that kind of usefulness which is sought in earthly loss that we may gain Christ,^[1] whose gain is godliness with contentment.^[2] Great, too, is the gain whereby we attain to godliness, which is rich with God, not indeed in fleeting wealth but in eternal gifts, and in which rests no uncertain trial but grace constant and unending. There is therefore a usefulness connected with the body, and also one that has to do with godliness, according to the apostle’s division, Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things.

Godliness, then, which is the true worship of God, is profitable to all things, since it deflects or blunts the troubles of this life and leads to that other life, our salvation, where we shall suffer no evil and enjoy the supreme and everlasting good. I exhort you as I do myself to pursue this happiness more earnestly and to hold to it with strong constancy.

St. Paul is plainly referring to this when he says, bodily exercise is profitable for a little, but godliness (by which he surely means charity) is profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is and of the life to come. What is said to be profitable for a little cannot be profitable forever and cannot (of itself) bring a man to the perfect life. The phrase for a little might mean one of two things. It might mean for a short time, since these bodily exercises are not going to last as long as the man who practices them. Or it might mean only of little profit. Corporal austerity brings the first beginnings of progress, but it does not beget that perfect charity which has the promise of this life and the life to come.

Our reply to this^[1] is that he attributes to us statements which we do not make. For we both read and know that God loves everything that exists and hates nothing that he has made; for he would never have made anything if he had hated it.^[2] . . . He is also called Savior of all men, especially of those who believe, and his Christ is a propitiation for our sins, but not for ours only, but also for the whole world.^[3] . . . But now, according to our preaching, Jesus who is called the Christ of God by a certain traditional usage in the Bible has come on behalf of sinners in all places, that they may forsake their sin and entrust themselves to God.

We also, following our teacher Christ, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe. are obliged to say that there are two ways. One is the way of life, the other of death. These have no comparison one with another, for they are very different, or rather entirely separate. The way of life is that of nature, but that of death was afterwards introduced—it not being according to the mind of God but from the snares of the adversary.

But in the Lord’s own very humility (in consenting to be baptized by John) there is a marvelous medicine; one was baptizing, the other healing. You see, if Christ is the Savior of all, especially of the faithful—it is the apostle’s judgment, and a true one, that Christ is the Savior of all—then nobody may say, I have no need of a savior. If you say this, you are not bowing humbly to the doctor’s orders but perishing in your disease.

The Savior of all, especially of believers, is spoken of by the apostle as one. Yet no one argues from this expression that the Son does not save believers or that those who share in salvation receive it apart from the Spirit. But God who is over all is the Savior of all, while the Son brings salvation to effect by the grace of the Spirit. Yet on this account Scripture does not call them three Saviors, although salvation is recognized to come from the holy Trinity. AN ANSWER TO ABLABIUS:

In some cases it is necessary to command, in others to teach. If you command in cases where teaching is required, you will become ridiculous. Again, if you teach where you ought to command, you are exposed to the same reproach. . . . Not to profess Judaism should be a simple command, but teaching is required when you would lead people persuasively to part with their possessions, to live chastely, or when you would discourse on faith. . . . But where the salvation of others is concerned, command and interpose with authority. This is not a case for moderation but for authority, lest the common good suffer.

For what reason then does he write only to Titus and Timothy? It is because he had already committed the care of churches to them, and certain specified places had been assigned to them, but the others were listening in to what he said to them. For so preeminent in virtue was Timothy that his youth was no impediment to his promotion; therefore he writes, Let no man despise your youth. . . . For where there is virtue, all other things are superfluous, and there can be no impediment.

But the wise servants of the Lord, who have really put on the new nature created in the likeness of God,^[1] listen to what he says. They apply to themselves the commandment given to Timothy, Set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. They keep the Easter feast so properly that even unbelievers, seeing their orderliness, must say, God is truly with them.^[2]

In what way is it said that bad shepherds kill the sheep? By leading bad lives, by setting a bad example. Was it for nothing that a servant of God was told, one prominent among the members of the supreme shepherd, Offering yourself in all company as an example of good works;^[1] and Be a model to the faithful. You see, even a strong sheep often enough, when he notices his pastor leading a bad life, if his eyes wander from the rules of the Lord and are attracted by human considerations, begins to say to himself, If my pastor lives like that, who am I not to behave as he does? He has killed a strong sheep. So if he has killed a strong sheep, what must he be doing for the others, seeing that by his bad life he has slaughtered what he hadn’t fattened himself, but has found fat and sturdy?

However, the life of the speaker has greater weight in determining whether he is obediently heard than any grandness of eloquence. For he who speaks wisely and eloquently but lives wickedly may benefit many students, even though, as it is written, he may be unprofitable to his own soul.^[1] . . . And thus they benefit many by preaching what they do not practice; but many more would be benefitted if they were to do what they say. For there are many who seek a defense of their evil lives in those of their superiors and teachers, responding in their hearts or, if it breaks forth so far, with their lips, and saying, Why do you not do what you preach that I do? Thus it happens that they do not obediently hear one who does not hear himself, and they condemn the word of God which is preached to them along with the preacher himself. Hence, when the apostle, writing to Timothy, said, Let no man despise thy youth, he added the reason why he was not to be despised and said, but be an example of the faithful in word, in conduct, in charity, in faith, in chastity.

So, then, the superior guide is to be mindful of the apostle’s precept, Be an example to the faithful. He should make his life a shining model for the observance of every commandment of the Lord, so that there may be no excuse for those under his guidance to think the Lord’s commands impossible or readily to be set aside. He should consider first, then, that which is first in importance. He should be, by the love of Christ, so confirmed in humility that, even if he is silent, the example of his actions may afford more effective instruction than any words. If, indeed, the goal of Christianity is the imitation of Christ according to the measure of his incarnation, insofar as is conformable with the vocation of each individual, they who are entrusted with the guidance of many others are obliged to animate those still weaker than themselves, by their assistance, to the imitation of Christ.

There is no way of resisting the temptation^[1] to pride except by instilling the fear and love of God, through frequent pondering of the sacred books. But he who does this must show himself a model of patience and humility by attributing to himself less honor than is offered, neither swallowing all nor refusing all from those who honor him. What praise and honor he accepts he must not receive for himself—for he should refer all to God and despise human things—but for the sake of those whom he could not help if he were to lose dignity by too great self-depreciation. Applicable to this is the saying, let no man despise your youth, recalling that he who said that said in another place, If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.^[2]

Now every scribe who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a householder who brings forth out of his treasury things new and old.^[1] Therefore, it clearly follows by conversion of the proposition,^[2] as it is called, that every one who does not bring forth out of his treasury things new and old is not a scribe who has been made a disciple for the kingdom of heaven. We must endeavor, therefore, in every way to gather in our heart, by giving heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching and by meditating in the law of the Lord day and night.^[3] We must observe not only the new oracles of the Gospels and of the apostles and their revelation but also the old things in the law which has the shadow of the good things to come^[4] and in the prophets who prophesied in accordance with them.

In addition, if grief and trouble, even perils and reproaches from an unlearned people are stirred up as the result of a spirit of animosity, bear them with courage and constancy. Look rather to our Lord and Savior, the true shepherd who condescended to suffer, not only tribulation but even death, for the sake of the sheep. It is necessary for you to bear many adversities, if you want to preserve right doctrine and continuously to preach the word of God as it is expedient to do. The precepts of justice are always bitter to those who lead a wicked life. For this reason I exhort you today in the sight of God and his angels, and I declare with the voice of the apostle, Devote yourself to the reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching.

In what did St. Paul surpass the rest of the apostles? . . . Is it not because of the excellence of his epistles? By this he has helped and will help and, as long as the human race remains, will never stop helping the faithful, not only of his own time but from that day to this and those who shall believe until the coming of Christ. For his writings fortify the churches all over the world like a wall of steel. . . . His writings are not only useful to us for the refutation of false doctrine and the establishment of the true, but they help us very greatly, too, in living a good life. . . . These facts are enough to show that he took great pains over this part of his work. But listen also to what he says to his disciple in a letter, Give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching.

It is not possible, I say, not possible, ever to exhaust the mind of the Scriptures. It is a well which has no bottom.

Here he calls teaching prophecy.

If you are willing, you will have more success with each other than we can have. For you both are with one another for a longer time, and you know more than we of each other’s affairs. Further, you are not ignorant of each other’s failings, and you have more freedom of speech, and love and intimacy. These are no small advantages for teaching but great and opportune moments for it. You will be more able than we both to reprove and exhort. And not this only, but because I am but one, whereas you are many; and you will be able, however many, to be teachers. Therefore I entreat you, do not neglect this gift.

He speaks here not of presbyters but of bishops. For presbyters cannot be supposed to have ordained a bishop.

The apostle clearly teaches that presbyters are the same as bishops. . . . Writing to Titus the apostle says, For this cause I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are wanting, and appoint presbyters in every city, as I had instructed. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having believing children not accused of wantonness or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God.^[1] And to Timothy he says, Neglect not the gift of prophecy that is in you, which was given you through the laying on of hands of the presbytery.

Those whom he calls presbyters in this passage are not those whom we now call by that name—Paul does not usually allow to presbyters as such the power of ordination by the laying on of hands. Rather he says that the gathering of the apostles was present with him when he laid hands in his ordination. He calls this the council of presbyters as a designation of honor. It is in accordance with this custom that at the ordination of a bishop not one, but the multitude of bishops present, implement the ordination.

When a deacon is to be ordained he is chosen after the fashion of those things said above, the bishop alone in like manner imposing his hands upon him as we have prescribed. In the ordaining of a deacon, this is the reason why the bishop alone is to impose his hands upon him: he is not ordained to the priesthood, but to serve the bishop and to fulfill the bishop’s command. He has no part in the council of the clergy, but is to attend to his own duties and is to acquaint the bishop with such matter as are needful. He does not receive that Spirit which the presbytery possesses and in which the presbyters share. He receives only what is entrusted to him under the bishop.

For this reason, then, the bishop shall ordain a deacon. On a presbyter, however, let the presbyters impose their hands because of the common and like Spirit of the clergy. Even so, the presbyter has only the power to receive, and has not the power to give. That is why a presbyter does not ordain the clergy; for at the ordaining of a presbyter, he but seals while the bishop ordains.

Over a deacon, then, let the bishop speak thus:.

“To the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.” Since it was likely that the Jews too would call themselves “saints” from the first oracle, when they were called a “holy people, a people for God’s own possession” [Ex 19:6; Dt 7:6, etc.]; for this reason he added, “to the saints in Christ Jesus.” For these alone are holy, and those henceforward profane. “To the fellow bishops and deacons.” What is this? Were there several bishops of one city? Certainly not; but he called the presbyters so. For then they still interchanged the titles, and the bishop was called a deacon. For this reason in writing to Timothy, he said, “Fulfill your ministry,” when he was a bishop. For that he was a bishop appears by his saying to him, “Lay hands hastily on no man” [1 Tm 5:22]. And again, “Which was given you with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery” [1 Tm 4:14]. Yet presbyters would not have laid hands on a bishop.