found

If a bishop or an elder or a deacon or one of the ordained clergy eats meat in which there is the blood of its life, or which has not been slaughtered, or of which an animal has been biting, or which has been found dead, let him be deposed, as the law commands in regard to this. And if he be a layman, let him be expelled.

He who has lately been baptized shall not be ordained as a bishop. He who has come from among the gentiles, or has been living in sins and has been baptized, shall not be ordained as bishop at once ; nor is it allowed that he who has not been tried, shall become the teacher of other men, but he shall become this by the grace of God. Nor shall it be allowed the bishop that he shall gather and accumulate wealth, but he shall be found to be a servant of the church ; but if not, he shall not perform episcopal functions. "There is no one who can serve two masters," according to the command of our Lord. And we command that no servant shall be ordained but with the consent of his master, lest his master be offended, for in this way the families are diminished. If ever there is found a servant in his time who is worthy of the station of ordination, as there has appeared to us Onesimus, and his master sets him free and lets him go forth from his family, let him be ordained.

He who has lately been baptized shall not be ordained as a bishop. He who has come from among the gentiles, or has been living in sins and has been baptized, shall not be ordained as bishop at once ; nor is it allowed that he who has not been tried, shall become the teacher of other men, but he shall become this by the grace of God. Nor shall it be allowed the bishop that he shall gather and accumulate wealth, but he shall be found to be a servant of the church ; but if not, he shall not perform episcopal functions. "There is no one who can serve two masters," according to the command of our Lord. And we command that no servant shall be ordained but with the consent of his master, lest his master be offended, for in this way the families are diminished. If ever there is found a servant in his time who is worthy of the station of ordination, as there has appeared to us Onesimus, and his master sets him free and lets him go forth from his family, let him be ordained.

But in the assemblies, and nations, and churches, there shall be many tumults, for there shall arise evil shepherds unjust slothful avaricious, lovers of pleasures, lovers of gains lovers of money, talkative, boastful, haughty, gluttonous, perverse, rash, given to delights, vainglorious opposing the ways of the Gospel and fleeing from the strait gate removing from themselves every humiliation and not sorrowing for My humiliation, rejecting all the words of truth, and despising all the ways of piety, and not mourning for their sins. Therefore there shall be shed abroad among the nations unbelief, hatred of the brotherhood, wickedness, bitterness, slothfulness, envy, hatred, strife, theft, oppression, drunkenness, debauchery, lasciviousness, licentiousness, fornication, and all such works as are contrary to the commandments of life. For from many mourning and gentleness shall flee away, and peace and meekness, and poverty and piety, and tears, because the shepherds heard these things, and did not do them, and moreover did not shew! My commandments, seeing that they [themselves] are examples of wickedness in the nation. But the time shall come when some of them will deny Me, and will stir up confusions in the earth, and put their trust in a corruptible king. But they who in My Name endure unto the end shall be saved. Then they shall ordain commandments for men, [commandments] unlike the book of commandments in which the Father is well pleased; and My elect and My holy ones shall be rejected by them, and called among them, as it were, the polluted. Yet these are the upright ones, pure, sad, merciful, quiet, kind, always knowing Him who is among them at all times, and they shall be called mad for My sake, who have saved them. It shall come to pass also in those days that My Father shall gather together out of that generation the pure ones, even the pure and faithful souls, those to whom I will appear, and with whom I will make My habitation, and I will send to them the understanding of knowledge and of truth, and the understanding of holiness, and they shall not cease praising and giving thanks to their God,! My Father who sent Me; and they shall speak the truth at all times, and they shall teach [others] whose spirit they have tried [and have found] that they are upright and worthy, as for the kingdom, and shall instruct them in knowledge and strength and prudence. And those who suffer persecution because they live in piety shall receive the reward of their praise. And it shall be in those times that all the kingdoms shall be disturbed, and all the world also [shall see] affliction and want; and all this world shall be reputed as nothing; and all its possessions shall be destroyed by many [destroyers], and there shall be great scarcity of crops, and the winter shall be very severe; and the princes shall be few in number and small, who have rule over gold and over silver, and are rich in all those things which are in this world; and the children of this world shall hold their storerooms and barns, and shall have rule over the markets of buying and selling. Many shall be afflicted, and on that account shall call upon their God that they may be delivered. Blessed are they who are not [alive] at that time; and [blessed] they [also] who shall be [alive indeed], but [shall] endure. For when these things shall come to pass, then soon she that travaileth is near to bring forth, for the time is fulfilled.

At early dawn let the bishop assemble the people, so that the service may be finished before the rising of the sun. When he saith the First Hymn of Praise, of the Dawn, the presbyters and deacons and the rest, the faithful also, [standing] close by, let him say thus: Praise to the Lord. And let the people say: It is meet and right. The bishop: It is meet and right that we should praise and laud and give thanks to Thee, who didst make all, ineffable God. Stretching forth our souls upward, we raise to Thee, O Lord, a hymn of praise for the morning,—to Thee who art all-wise, powerful, great in mercies, O God, the Confirmer and Raiser-up of our souls; we praise Thee, the Word who before the worlds wast begotten of the Father, and restest alone with Thy saints who art praised with the hymns of the archangels——Thee the Maker, who wast not made with hands, and who makest known holy things which are invisible, pure, and spotless——Thee who hast made known to us the hidden mysteries of wisdom, and didst promise to us immortal light; we lift up praise to Thee in pure holiness, we Thy servants, O Lord. And let the people say: We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks to Thee, O Lord; and we beseech Thee, O our God. Also [let] the bishop say: O God, the Begetter of light, the Principle of life, the Giver of knowledge, the Gift of grace, the Maker of souls, who makest things [that are] beautiful, the Giver of the Holy Ghost, the Treasure of Wisdom, and the Maker of good things, the Lord, the Teacher of holiness, who rulest the worlds by Thy will, the Receiver of pure prayers; we praise Thee, the Only-begotten Son, the First-born and Word of the Father, who didst bestow all Thy grace on us who call upon Thee, the Helper, and upon the Father who begat Thee; who hast an essence that cannot be injured, where neither moth nor worm doth corrupt; who givest to all that with all their heart trust in Thee those things which the angels have desired to behold; who art the Guardian of light eternal and [of] treasures incorruptible; who hast by the will of Thy Father shed light on the darkness which [is] in us; who from the depth hast raised us up to light; who hast given us life out of death, and bestowed upon us freedom out of slavery; who by the cross hast made us of the household of Thy Father, and by Thy gospel hast guided us to the heights of heaven, and hast comforted us by Thy prophets; who in Thine own Person hast made us of the household of God the Father of lights; grant us, O Lord, that we may praise Thee, our God, so that always with unceasing thanksgiving we may speak praises to Thee, we Thy servants, O Lord. The people: We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks to Thee, we beseech Thee, O our God. Let the bishop also say: We sing to Thee with our mouths this triple hymn of praise as a figure of Thy kingdom, O Son of God, who [art] by eternity; who [art] above all, with the Father; whom all creation praiseth, trembling with fear of Thy Spirit; at whom all nature trembleth in fear and [whom] every soul of the righteous blesseth; with whom all we have taken refuge; who hast made confusion, storms, [and] wind to cease from us; who hast been to us an haven of rest, and a place to flee unto from corruption; in whom we have hope of eternal salvation; who makest the peacefulness of fine weather for those who are buffeted on the seas and with the tempests; who in sicknesses art entreated and healest without price; who art with those that are shut up in prison; who hast loosed us from the bonds of death; [who art] the Comforter of the poor, and of those who mourn, and of those who have laboured and wearied themselves with the cross; who turnest away from us every menace; who for us hast reproved the craft of Satan; who drivest away his menaces, and givest us courage; who thrustest away all error from those that trust in Thee; whom the prophets and apostles praised secretly: we praise Thee, O Lord, we lift up to Thee a doxology, so that, having known Thee, we may rest in the habitations of life, doing Thy will alway. And grant to us, O Lord, to walk according to Thy commandments, and in mercy visit us all, both small and great, the prince and his people, the shepherd and his flock; for Thou, O Lord, art our God, and blessed and praised [is] Thy kingdom—Tthe kingdom] of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, both before the worlds, and now and always, and for the ages, and for ever and ever without end. And let the people say: Amen. Let them sing psalms and four hymns of praise; one by Moses, and of Solomon, and of the other prophets. Thus: little singing-boys; two virgins; three deacons; three presbyters. And so let the hymn of praise be said by the bishop, or by one of the presbyters. Let wt be said thus: The grace of our Lord [be] with you all. And let the people say: And with thy spirit. And let the priest say: Also let us praise our Lord. And let the people say: Meetly and rightly. Let the priest say: Let your hearts be fixed. And let the people say: We have [them fixed] with the Lord. O Lord, the Father, the Giver of light, the Author of all power and of all spirits, the Sealer of eternal light, and the Guide of life, the Maker of felicity and immortality, who hast made us to pass through material darkness, and hast bestowed upon us immaterial light; who hast loosed the bonds of disobedience and crowned us with the faith which is Thine; who dost not keep far off from Thy servants, but art in them always; who dost not neglect those [souls] which with labour and in Thy fear beseech Thee; who knowest all things before they are thought, and searchest out all things before they are considered, and givest what Thou wilt give before we ask Thee; who art well pleased to hear those who with heart undoubting serve Thee, O King of the highest lights and the soldiery of heaven, who hearest the archangels when they praise Thee, and art pleased in them; Answer us, O Lord, we beseech Thee. Grant us with boldness [with] unceasing voice to praise Thee, to laud Thee, to lift up to Thee a doxology; so that being guarded by Thee and guided in light, we Thy servants, O Lord, may constantly praise Thee. The people: We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks to Thee, O Lord; and we beseech Thee, O our God. The priest: O Lord Jesus, hear us, O Holy One, who wast the Voice of the dumb and the irrational, the Strength of the paralysed, the Giver of light to the blind, the Guide of the lame, the Cleanser of the lepers, the Curer of material fluxes, the Healer of the deaf and dumb, the Reprover of death, the Tormentor of darkness, the Ray of light, and the Lamp that is not quenched, the Sun that is not darkened [and] resteth [not]; but who always givest light unto Thy saints; who hast established all things together for the good likeness of comeliness; who art the well-tempered Reason; who hast plainly given light to all; who art the Saviour of the sons of men, and the Converter of souls; who art the Provider of all things as is right, the Maker of the angels, who adornest all; the Thought of the Father; who didst found the worlds in prudence and wisdom, and didst establish them together; and wast sent from Thy eternal Father unto us; the Intelligence of the Spirit who may not be apprehended or understood, the Maker-known of things invisible; Thou art glorious, and Thy Name is Wonderful. Therefore we also, Thy servants, O Lord, give praise to Thee. The people: We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we give thanks to Thee, O Lord; we beseech Thee, O our Lord. The priest: We sing, O holy Lord, this threefold hymn of praise to Thee, who didst give us a faith in Thee which cannot be loosed, whereby Thou didst make us to conquer the bonds of death; who didst create upright minds in them that trust in Thee, that they might be gods; who by the Spirit didst give unto us to tread under foot all the power of the enemy that we may not profane those things which may not be profaned; who by Thy mediation hast made friendship for us with Thy Father. Answer us Thy servants, O Lord, [Thou] whom without ceasing we entreat, who at our supplication givest [us] power against the adversary; whom alway we ask, as [it were], for the overthrow of the Evil one; Hear us, O King Eternal; comfort the widows, help the orphans; pity and cleanse those who are possessed with unclean spirits, give wisdom to the unwise; convert those who go astray; deliver those who are in prison; guard us all, for Thou, O Lord, art our God; blessed and glorious is Thy kingdom. The people: Amen.

But if they are severally chosen to receive the laver, let them be proved and investigated first, how they have lived while catechumens, if they have honoured widows, if they have visited the sick, if they have walked in all meekness and love, if they were earnest in good works. But let them be borne witness to by those who bring them. And when they hear the Gospel, let a hand be laid on them daily. Let them be exorcised from that day when they are chosen. And let them be baptized in the days of Pascha. And when the days approach, let the bishop exorcise each one of them separately by himself, so that he may be persuaded that he is pure. For if there be one that is not pure, or in whom is an unclean spirit, let him be reproved by that unclean spirit. If then any one is found under any such imagination, let him be removed from the midst [of them], and let him be reproved and reproached that he hath not heard the word of the commandments and of instruction faithfully, because the evil and strange spirit abided in him. Let those who are about to receive the laver be taught on the fifth day of the last week only, to wash and bathe their heads. But if any woman then be in the customary flux, let her also take in addition another day, washing and bathing beforehand. Let them fast both [on] the Friday and [on] the Saturday.

On the Saturday let the bishop assemble them who receive the laver, and let him bid them to kneel while the deacon proclaimeth. And when there is silence let him exorcise [them], laying a hand on them, and saying: O God of heaven, God of the lights, God of the archangels who are under Thy power, God of the angels who are under Thy might, King of glories and of dominions, God of saints, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; who hast loosed the souls that were bound by death; who hast enlightened him that was bound in darkness and fixed firm, by the firm-fixing of the suffering of Thy Only-begotten; who hast loosed our cords and hast loosed every weight from [off] us; who hast repelled from us every attack of the Evil One; O Son and Word of God, who hast made us immortal by Thy death; who hast glorified us with Thy glory; who hast loosed all the bands of our sins by Thy passion; who hast borne the curse of our sins by Thy cross, and by Thy resurrection hast taught [mankind] to pass from [being] sons of men to become gods; who hast taken on Thee our humiliation; who hast trodden the way to heaven for us; who hast changed us from corruption to incorruptibility; hear me, O Lord, who cry to Thee in pain and fear,O Lord God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, before Him before whom stand the holy hosts of archangels and of cherubim and armies without number, of princes and of seraphim; whose veil [is] the light, and before whose face [is] fire; the throne of whose glory is ineffable; the habitations of whose delights, which Thou hast prepared for Thy saints, are ineffable, the raiments and treasures of which are visible to Thee alone and to Thy holy angels; before whom all things tremble, giving praise; whose glance measureth the mountains, and whose Name, when uttered, cleaveth the depths; whom the heavens which are shut up by Thy hand, hide from view; before whom the earth and the depths together tremble; before whom the sea and the dragons that [are] in it quake; of whom the wild beasts trembling, stand in awe; through whom the mountains and the firmament of the earth melt with fear; at whose power the tempest of the winter quaketh and trembleth, and the raging whirlwind keepeth its limits; because of whom the fire of vengeance doth not overpass that which hath been prescribed to it, but abideth when reproved by Thy commandment; because of whom the whole creation travaileth, groaning with groans, being bidden to tarry till its time; from whom all nature and creation that opposeth itself fleeth; because of whom the whole army of the adversary is subdued, and the Devil is fallen, and the serpent is trodden down, and,the dragon is killed; because of whom the nations which have confessed Thee are enlightened and strengthened in Thee, O Lord; because of whom life is revealed and hope confirmed, and faith strengthened and the Gospel preached; because of whom corruption is brought to naught and incorruptibility waxeth strong; through whom man was fashioned from the earth, but having believed in Thee he is no longer earth; O Lord God Almighty, I exorcise these in the Name of Thee and of Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ. Drive away from the souls of these Thy servants every disease and illness, and every stumbling block and all unbelief, all doubt and all contempt, every unclean spirit that worketh, that is a witch, that killeth, that is under the earth, that is fiery, dark, evil-smelling, given to witchcraft, lascivious, loving gold, uplifted, money loving, wrathful. Yea, O Lord God, overthrow from these Thy servants who have been named in Thee the weapons of the Devil, all magic, witchcraft, fear of idols, divination, astrology, necromancy, observation of the stars, astronomy, pleasure of the passions, love of disgraceful things, sadness, love of money, drunkenness, fornication, adultery, lasciviousness, contumacy, contentiousness, wrath, confusion, wickedness, evil suspicion. Yea, O Lord God, hear me, and breathe on these Thy servants the spirit of tranquillity, that, being guarded by Thee, they may bring forth in Thee fruits of faith, of virtue, of wisdom, of purity, of self-discipline of patience, of hope, of concord, of modesty, of praise. For by Thee they have been called as servants, in the Name of Jesus Christ, being baptized in the Trinity, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, the angels, glories, dominions, all the heavenly army being witnesses. O Lord, the real-essence of our life and theirs, guard their hearts, O God, for Thou art mighty and glorious for ever and ever. And let all the people, also the priests, say: Amen, So be it, so be it, so be it. If any one be in the endurance of any thing, rise suddenly while the bishop is saying [these words], and weep or cry out, or foam [at the mouth] or gnash with his teeth, or stare or be much uplifted or altogether run away, being quickly carried off, let such an one be put aside by the deacons, so that there be no disturbance while the bishop is speaking, and let such an one be exorcised by the priests until he be cleansed, and so let him be baptized. After the priest exorciseth those who have drawn near, or him who is found unclean, let the priest breathe on them and seal them between their eyes, on the nose, on the heart, on the ears; and so let him raise them up.

If a poor man die, let those who provide for each one, provide for his clothing. If any one who is a stranger die and he have no place to be buried, let those who havea place give [it]. But if the Church hath [a place] let it give [it], And if he have no covering, let the Church similarly give it. But if he have not grave clothes, let him be shrouded. But if a man be found to have possessions, and do not leave them to the Church, let them be kept for.a time; and after a year let not the Church appropriate them, but let them be given to the poor for his soul. But if he desire to be embalmed, let the deacons provide for this, a presbyter standing by. If the Church have a graveyard, and there be one who abideth there and keepeth it, let the bishop provide for him from the Church, so that he be no burden to those who come there.

Concerning him who is baptised. When one has been chosen or who is ready for baptism they shall examine their life; if they lived in the fear of God before they are baptised, if they honoured the widow, or if they visited the sick, or if they did all good, and if there is witness in their favour from those who bring them; and if they have done thus they shall hear the Gospel from the time that they were set apart, and they shall lay hand upon them and every day instruct them. And when the day draws near on which they shall be baptised, the bishop binds every one of them by oath, that he may know if they are pure. And if one was found who was not pure, they shall put him aside by himself; for he has not hearkened to the word of instruction with faith; because it is not proper to baptise (lit. do to) an utter alien. And they shall instruct those who shall be baptised that they should wash and be exorcised on the fifth day of the week (sabbath); and if there was a menstruous woman among them, she shall be put aside, that she may be baptised on another day. And those who desire to be baptised shall fast on Friday, and the bishop shall assemble all those who shall be baptised on Saturday into one place, and shall command all of them (to make) prayer and prostration; and when he has laid his hand upon them, let him exorcise the unclean spirit that he may flee away from them and not enter into them again. And when he has finished his exorcising, he shall breathe upon them, and they shall read to them the Scriptures, and exhort them. And they who shall be baptised shall not bring with them any ornament of gold, nor ring nor gem of any kind; but every one of them shall give thanks, and it is fitting for them whom it beseems to bring their Oblations also at the time.

Concerning the ordinance of the gift which is of the Apostles, according to the orthodox statement (lit. word). We have written concerning graces so far as God our Lord has granted to us of his own counsel. Formerly he gave grace (lit it) to man, while bringing near to him that which had gone astray in type; and now (he gave) the beloved Son who is in all the holy ones. Having come to the source of the proper tradition in the churches, we have attained that (men) should learn well what has been (received) until now; they handed them on and kept them as our ordinances: yet, though they knew that they were quite firm concerning that which had been found for them, now unawares they slipped away. And those indeed who knew not, (to them) the Holy Spirit is giving the perfection of grace. For them who believe rightly as they know, how seemly it is that they should hand on and keep those things which are established in the Church. Concerning the ordinance of baptism. Those who shall be baptised shall do thus (lit. thus it is). They shall come into the baptistery, and they shall give their names. And then first they shall examine their lives as to whether they are fit for baptism, and if they read the Scriptures, and also if they have learnt the psalm. And likewise there shall be sponsors for him who shall be baptised, and thus he who is sponsor shall know that he shall give account at the day of judgment for it And they shall cause therefore the prayer to follow after the examination, saying thus: [The prayer concerning those who gave their names] Lover of man and merciful author of blessing, merciful and whose habit is goodness, and the fountain of all blessing, thou who madest that which was not into that which was, with each one which was made thou gavest size and place: thou art able — remove it and take it away. Now, Lord, take away and remove this thy servant from wickedness into goodness. Grant that he may inherit the blessed sonship which is in the heavens, that he may then no longer be one born of flesh, but may abide truly in thine obedience: through thy only Son our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might now, etc. The prayer for those who gave their names. And again we beseech God the almighty, the Father of the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, for those who gave their names, that he may open the ear of their heart and enlighten the eyes of their mind, and give to them the light of knowledge, he who has authority over mercy, the Lord our God And the deacon shall say: Pray ye for those who gave their names. And the bishop shall say: God the almighty, thou who calledst thy servants, who gave their names, from darkness into light, and from ignorance into the knowledge of the truth: blot out all the vestige of error from their thought; place thy law and thy commandment within their heart: and give to them knowledge which is seemly, impart to them, both men and women, the washing of regeneration for the forgiveness of sin; make them the temple of the Holy Spirit, through our Lord Christ, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might now, etc. The prayer of consecration for those who bring the bread and water or oil to be blessed in the holy forty (days), after the examination of those who are to be baptised. God, my Lord Jesus Christ, lover of man, who alone hast made oblation. And thou knowest and to them indeed who are able thou speakest the greatness of the honour of the Father and of thy creation. Thou, the Mediator, the Chief Priest for every soul, and the healing for those who are suffering. Thou whose name is sanctified by the holy ones, may the power which enlightens thy name lighten upon the oil and water and bread, and make them to become safety and healing and purification for those who offered in faith, for thy name is restoration to us, and redemption, revelation, and sanctification. And to thee be glory and to thy holy Father now, etc. And he who comes to baptism shall learn the commandment as he receives (baptism): how seemly it is that he live carefully, as he to whom will be imparted the holy atonement of grace by eating. At early morning the bread and water shall be blessed, and he shall be anointed with the oil, until (the time) when shall be imparted that holy grace of baptism. When therefore he will come to baptism, he who will baptise him shall take him, and having turned him then to the west, with his right hand or both his hands outstretched, and his face opposite towards the east without fear — and if he was a full-grown man he shall speak: but for the children who cannot speak, and if it was a weak person, the believing father and believing mother shall speak, or relatives likewise (being) believing men and believing women. And he shall anathematise, being naked, in the water without fear, saying thus: [The first prayer for baptism, over the water] God, my Lord almighty, who madest heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them, who madest man in thine own form and likeness, who mingledst and unitedst the immortal with the mortal, who madest living man a combination of the two, and gavest to that which was made body a soul also, which thou causest to dwell within: iS stir this water and fill it up with thy Holy Spirit, that it may become water and Spirit for regeneration to those who are to be baptised: work a holy work and make them to become sons and daughters of thy holy name: wash them with water, and instruct them by the Holy Spirit, through the coming of our Lord Christ thy Son, through whom to thee with him be glory and might now and always and with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. The prayer of the consecration of the water. Eternal iS God, who knowest what is secret, we pray and beseech thee, send thy Holy Spirit and his power upon this water and change it and sanctify it and bless it and set it against. all that opposes, cause it to be against all divination and potions, both those which are drunk, and those which are sprinkled, or (used) in any other way; cause it to be for healing and for life to him who shall receive of it in faith, and in the glory of thy only beloved Son, for to thee is glory and might with the Holy Spirit now, etc. The prayer for the holy waters of the Yurdanos, which are mingled with sweet scent. As the priest stands towards the east with the proper vestment, and while the clergy stand in their several orders of sequence, he shall say, having first finished the ordinary form of prayer: God, my Lord almighty, thou madest heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them; and thou madest man in thy form and in thy likeness; and thou placedst him in the garden, that he might live an immortal life; but he, having fallen into error by Satan, the enemy of our kind, became the cause of death upon us all: yet thy goodness did not therefore desert us, but thou sentest thine only Son our Lord Jesus Christ into the world, and not to judge the world, but to save the world by him. He therefore having come, changed our birth into the new (birth) which is by this water and Spirit of regeneration. And for this cause I call upon thee, my Lord, maker of all, who mingledst and unitedst mortal with immortal, having made living man a combination of the two, giving movement to the created body, and soul which thou causedst to dwell (in it): stir this water and fill it up with that which is of the Holy Spirit, that it may become water and also Spirit of regeneration to those who shall be baptised in it Cause, my Lord, that they may become little sons and daughters of the holy name; and purify them and wash them with water and instruct them with the Holy Spirit, through the coming of our Lord Christ with the Holy Spirit May it be to all who shall be baptised in it a washing of regeneration for cleansing from all sin. And prepare those whom the Holy Spirit chose, to come upon them; that (clothed) with incorruptible vesture they may rise at the resurrection of the dead; and may every evil spirit be removed from them, having been expelled according to thy holy infallible promise of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might and greatness from before the age now and always and to generation of infinite generation, and to age of age. Amen. And then the priest shall go down into die water of the Yurdanos, taking hold o( the head of him who shall be baptised, and saying to him: I baptise thee in die name of the Father and the Son and die Holy Spirit, and at each of the names of the Holy Trinity, he who is baptised also saying Amen. And then having come up from the water, they who promise for him shall receive him, and he who was baptised shall find then a clean linen doth, that with it the water may be wiped off, and that he may be kept with great care. And if he who shall be baptised is weak, he shall stand up naked in the early morning as soon as one can see, and thus he who baptises shall pour water upon his head, saying: I baptise thee in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and at each name of the Holy Trinity he pours forth once, and not afterwards as to alL' And after they have clothed him with the baptismal (robe), the Chief Priest shall make prayer for the men, and if not, the priest before the unction with the chrism of him who was thus sanctified. The prayer of the holy oil of chrism with which the catechumens (lit. new ones) are anointed, and for full Christians who are sick. God, my Lord almighty, the Father of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, stretch out thy hand invisible upon the fruit of this olive with which thou anointedst the Priests and Prophets; and thou hast given power to it with thine own hand, that for those who shall be anointed therewith, it may be for healing and safety and benefit in all diseases and sicknesses, and for extermination of every Satanic adversary; make an unction by thine own grace, really for them to whom it is given, the Holy Spirit, through the name and through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might now, etc. And breathe on his face thrice. The prayer of the holy oil for anointing him who is to be baptised. God, my Lord almighty, God of hosts [lit. powers), we call upon thy great name and powerful in all things and the Holy Spirit and thy universal name. We pray thee and we beseech thee to send upon this oil spirit and power, and cause it to become a breastplate of the faith against all work of Satan, and make (it) for the perfection of all piety and knowledge, through, etc. The prayer of the holy oil for unction with the chrism of those who are baptised. Thus in giving thanks shall the bishop speak and say: The Lord (be) with you all. And the people who stand by shall say: With thy spirit. And the bishop shall say: Lift up your hearts. And they who stand by shall say: (We have them) with the Lord our God. And the bishop shall say: Let us give thanks to the Lord. And those shall say: Right and just, it is meet And then the Chief Priest, to whom alone it belongs to consecrate the chrism, having taken it, standing rightly, shall offer up the prayer and shall complete the invocation of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and say thus: Right it is and just. We praise thee and glorify thee and confess thee and worship thee and give thanks to thee for all the mercy which thou hast done for us and all thy benefit: when the world was gone astray thou savedst (it), having sent thine only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, not to judge the world, but to save the world, and gather together our dispersion, that we may assemble, and confess thee the one true God who sentest our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom we offer this chrism which thou hast given to us for healing and for using in other necessities, that thou wilt be willing and wilt send the Holy Spirit upon it, through our Lord Jesus Christ; and that it may become an unction of holiness and seal of the Holy Spirit upon every person of those who receive the washing of regeneration and forgiveness, as far as thou hast given to them: and may it be to them redemption and sure grace and a holy seal of unction and communion of their nature with the Holy Spirit; and cause that they may be named (his) temple, through the name of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might from before the age and unto the age, now, etc. The prayer of the holy oil, the oil with which he who is baptised is to be anointed on the place of anointing. My Lord, almighty, who wast to the Prophets God, and to the Apostles God, the Father of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who from the beginning by the Prophets preachedst the coming of our Lord Christ, who sentest Yuhanes,the Prophet before his coming, give power to this holy oil and bless it for baptism, may it sanctify thy servants and handmaids and prepare them (lit. him) for thee, while they (lit. he) call upon thee; and cause it to destroy all poison and expel every evil and unclean spirit, and may all unclean lust remove away by this unction, through the name of thy only Son; and may it be sanctified by thine own grace, and be to all who are baptised oil of healing and safety and power for planting the good olive tree and for (bearing) fruit toward thee and to Christ, through the Holy Spirit, by the faith in the name of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, through whom to thee with him and with, etc. as And breathe into the oil thrice. And with it he shall anoint him who is baptised on his breast and on his shoulders and all his body, saying: The oil of holy unction against every adversary, operate for grafting into thine own good olive tree, the Church, and work blessing. And he shall answer and say: Amen. And if it is a man (this is done) by him who ministers. or by the priest who is there; or (if) a woman, by a female believer who is perpetually virgin. Further (the prayer) for the laying hand upon the catechumens. God the almighty, the Father of the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, to thee have humbled their heads thy servants the catechumens, and to thee they have subdued the hardness of heart and flesh, look down from thy worthy dwelling-place, bless them, male and female, and may thine ear hearken to them and hear their prayer. Give them to know the power of the word with which they are instructed as a sure utterance; and in due time impart to them, male and female, the washing of regeneration for the forgiveness of sin; make them the temple of the Holy Spirit through Christ: for to thee is glory and power and might, now, etc Concerning the oil of chrism for those who are baptised. The bishop shall speak thus in giving thanks after the several bishops and presbyters and deacons are ready. The Chief Priest being present shall celebrate, saying: The Lord (be) with you alL They who stand by shall say: With thy spirit And the bishop shall say: Lift up your hearts. They who are present shall say: We have (them) with the Lord our God. And the bishop shall say: Let us give thanks to the Lord. And they who are present shall say: Right and just, it is meet And then the Chief Priest, to whom alone it belongs to consecrate the chrism, having taken it, and standing in front carefully, shall offer up the prayer and say the invocation of the coming of the Holy Spirit, [the bishop] thus saying: Right it is and just We praise thee and glorify thee and confess thee and give thanks to thee in all that thou hast done to us — blessings and all thy benefit: for thou savedst the lost world, thou sentest thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, not to judge the world, but to save the world by him, and he gathered together our dispersion; and we know that thou alone art the true Lord who sentest Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we offer to thee this chrism, which thou hast given us for healing and using in other necessities, that thou wouldst be willing to send thy Holy Spirit upon it, through our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and may it become an unction of holiness and seal of the Holy Spirit for those who shall receive of it, and the washing of regeneration to them to whom was given redemption and sure grace; may it seal them with the seal of unction and washing of their nature; cause that they may be named the temple of the Holy Spirit, through the name of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, through whom, etc. And breathe thrice into his face, and then anoint him with the holy chrism on his forehead and breast, saying to each: I give to thee the holy unction and the seal of grace of the Holy Spirit. And he who is sealed shall say: Amen. If it is a presbyter who baptises, let him take the chrism from the bishop, and anoint them after they have put on the baptismal (robe); and then he proceeds to pray, and having finished the prayer of the holy oil, they cause three little children to come near to him, and their elders likewise, and having turned them towards the west, first they shall anathematise Satan, saying thus: I anathematise thee, Satan, and all thy wicked angels and all thy work and all thy errors and all thy orders. And then turning himself again towards the east and stretching out his hands, he confesses God, saying: I believe in one God, the Father above all, almighty, and in the only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, and in the resurrection of the body, and in the holy assembly, the one Catholic Church. And then he shall say thrice: Amen. And he shall say thus stretching out his hands and humbling his head in fear, saying as he hears from him who baptises him thus, this. faith in the Trinity: I believe in thee, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in thine only Son Jesus Christ our Lord and our Saviour, and in the Holy Spirit, and in the i5 resurrection of the body, and the holy, one. Catholic, Apostolic Church. And they shall ask him thrice, saying: Dost thou believe ? And thrice he shall say: I believe, I believe, I believe. And if it was a man fully grown he shall speak: and concerning children who have no word or a dumb person or sick, the believing father and believing mother, or relatives knowing (them), being likewise believers, shall speak instead of that child or instead of him who has no word or instead of the sick, saying each of their names. And after the confession of faith he says thus: (The prayer) of the laying on of hand. My Lord almighty, the Father of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom thy servants and handmaids have humbled themselves; and to thee they have subdued the hardness of heart and flesh, look down from the heaven thy sanctuary, stretch out thine invisible hand upon them. Lord of heaven and earth, who through thine only Son hast made known knowledge of thee in the earth, and hast prepared for them with a heavenly calling. Confirm these persons, that they may obtain thy power, and confirm their faith, that nothing shall ever separate them (from it), but let them be united in thine only Word, through whom to thee (be) glory and might with the Holy Spirit now, etc. And breathe thrice. And thus shall they be anointed with the holy oil on the place of unction, anoint his heart and his breast and on his back and on all his body, saying thus: May the unction of holy oil operate against every adversary and for the planting firmly of the faith in the good olive tree, the Catholic Church, and do good. And he who is anointed shall say: Amen. The prayer after the unction. Father of thine only Son Jesus Christ, the root which is not cut off, redeemer of the sold, cause not to remain any trace of the old state in those who are converted to thy faith; who are obeying thee. Cause that they may be in purity of soul, children of regeneration, those who share in thy grace; and impress upon them the living character, through thine only Son, through whom, etc And then the priest shall take him and go down into the Yurdanos and baptise him, and as he baptises him he shall look toward the east, (being) in the proper vestment And the clergy also standing in their orders, The presbyter shall first baptise the children, and further, the Chief Priest being down in the Yurdanos shall baptise, laying his hand upon him whom he baptises and saying thus: I baptise thee, N or M, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And he who is baptised shall say: Amen. And then after he has baptised he shall go forth to the Table as if for the Eucharist: and after they have prepared it (sc. the Table) for each, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons being present, the Chief Priest shall sanctify with the chrism, saying thus: The prayer of blessing and of laying hand on those who have been baptised, before the anointing with the chrism which has been sanctified, the bishop or the presbyter who baptised saying thus: Eternal God, almighty. Father of the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hast regenerated us thy servants and thy handmaids by water and the Holy Spirit in the washing of regeneration which thou grantedst to them for the forgiveness of sin, send now upon them the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, that therefore he may impart to them an entering into thy heavenly kingdom, according to thy holy infallible promise, through our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, through whom with him and with the Holy Spirit be glory and honour and might now, etc. And breathe thrice, and then anoint them with the holy chrism on the forehead and on his breast, saying to each one: The holy unction and the seal of the grace of the Holy Spirit. And he who is sealed shall say: Amen. And if it is a presbyter who baptises, let him take the chrism from the bishop and anoint them, after they have been clothed with the baptismal (robe). And then (comes) the order (lit. sequence) of the Presfora. The (prayer of) unction of oil which the Chief Priest consecrates for those who receive the washing, and for sick believers. God, my Lord, almighty, the Father of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, stretch out thine invisible hand upon the fruit of this olive with which thou anointedst the Priests and the Prophets; and thou hast given power with thy hand that it may become to those who shall be anointed with it for healing and benefit, and for every disease nd every sickness. Destroy every adversary, and make (it) the unction of thy grace for remission of sin to those to whom has been given the Holy Spirit, through the name and through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might from before the age now, etc. And breathe therefore thrice. Before the Presfora and after the departure of the catechumens there shall be prayer of three kinds, for peace one, for the congregation one, and for the Patriarch (papas) one. And then the deacon shall say with a loud voice: Those who are not admitted to communion depart And none of the catechumens shall stand here within. And further, the subdeacon shall open the doors; and further he shall say; Those who are not admitted to communion depart. And then further, the deacon shall say to the people: Kiss one another with a kiss of holiness. And then when they have severally given the salutation, the chief deacon shall say: Shut the doors, O subdeacons. This indeed as it was said at the prayer of the congregation. And if the bishop administers the baptism, or one ordained, he shall not say: There is not here a catechumen who is not one of the congregation, nor is there any adversary here. On the day alone on which they receive baptism, after the Presfora he shall offer the cup and the milk and honey with the bread and the cup of wine: and they shall bless (them) together, and those alone who receive for the first (time) shall receive of it And then the bishop shall say the thanksgiving of the milk: We give thanks to thee, God, almighty, the Father of our spirit, who hast begotten us again by water and the Spirit through Christ Jesus our Lord,: whom thou gavest. He instituted the holy washing (of baptism) for the forgiveness of sin to our race. Because we are thy flock which is in secret, born of the word, and we are nourished with the milk of nourishment of thy grace in the bosom of our holy mother by the voice of the consolations of the Holy Spirit And thou, O Lord, always hast given to us food and nourishment of thy sons, milking out the milk of life. According to the form and command of creation we offer to thee this milk and honey which flows from the holy Church, our mother, who caused us to grow by her breasts, which were sanctified by thee. O Lord, bless it with blessing and sanctify it with sanctifying, that it may become to them who partake of it incorruptible communion, nourishment and washing; let it be for instruction in thy fear and in soberness, and for measure of stature, because thine all honourable name has been glorified for ever and ever. Amen. And thou shalt give of his Body, and say: This is the Body of Christ. And he who receives shall say: Amen. And thou shalt give the cup, and say: This is the Blood of Christ And he who receives shall say: Amen and Amen. And afterwards thou shalt pray thus, having laid thy hand upon their head, and say: I bless thee, O Lord, because thou hast imparted to thy servants and thy handmaids the washing of regeneration for the forgiveness of sin, (and) that which is the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Body and Blood of Christ. We pray thee and we beseech thee, surround thy servants and thy handmaids with the power of thine Angels, and be to them protection by thy divinity, cause them to obtain the heavenly mystery, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom, etc. The ordinance of Baptism is finished.

And the bishop who is persuaded by error or by evil thought is not a bishop, but one with a false name. And he was not ordained by God, but by man. Like Ananyas and Samyas in Israel; and Sedekyas and Akiya, who were false prophets in Babilon. And Bala'am indeed the diviner was punished with punishment for corrupting the people of Israel with Be'el Fegor; and Kayafa at last was a self-murderer; and the sons of Askeva also, devising to expel demons, having been wounded by them, fled away suffering pains. And the kings of Esrael and of Juda when they all sinned were punished with punishment. It is clear then that bishops and presbyters with false names shall not escape from the punishment of God, and therefore it is said to them: Now, O ye priests who disgrace my Name, I will deliver you to the slaughter, as Sadeka and Akiya whom the king of Babilon roasted, as said Eremyas the prophet. This then we say, and we do not despise true prophecy, because we know that for prophecies the mind of God was upon righteous men, working (with them). But we are removing the audacity of the boastful; and we are bringing this near, (that) in the case of those who are such God removes their grace. For God resisteth the boastful, and giveth grace to the humble. Silas and Agabos amongst ourselves, when they prophesied, therefore did not make themselves equal to the Apostles nor overstepped their own measure, though they were lovers of God. And women have prophesied: first, the sister of Muse and sister of Aron, Maryam, and after this, Dobira, and after her, Ela, Aster, and Yudit: the one was with Yusyes and the other with Daryus. And the Mother of our Lord prophesied, and Elesabet also who was of her family, and Hana, and amongst ourselves also the daughters of Filepos; but these did not magnify themselves above men, but they kept their own measure. Therefore amongst you also, whether they are men or women, and they obtained any such grace, let them humble themselves, that God may delight in them, for he indeed said: To whom shall I look except to the humble and gentle and quiet one, and who trembleth at my word. But keep yourselves from the religion of demons and from gods, and from dead things keep, and from blood and things strangled, and further, a bone shall not be broken. But concerning Apostles and Prophets according to the ordinance of the Gospel thus do ye. Every apostle who comes to you shall not remain except one day or the next; and if he has need, the third also; and if he stayed longer he is a false prophet. And every prophet who speaks in the spirit shall be proved, and he shall be examined that there may be no sin (in him). And everyone who speaks in the spirit is a prophet: if he lives the life of God, he is a true prophet: by his life hitherto shall be known every false prophet, or a (true) prophet And every prophet who orders a table in the spirit shall not eat of it: otherwise he is a false prophet And every prophet then who teaches, but does not the truth, is a false prophet. And every prophet proved in truth, who acts in the assembly of men and acts unlawfully, shall not be judged by you, for his judgment is from God; because thus did the ancient prophets. And he who says in the spirit. Give to me gold or anything else, ye shall not listen to him. And if he speaks for another, give to him; there is no one who shall examine him. And ye shall receive everyone who comes to you in the name of our Lord, and then having proved him ye shall know, for ye have wisdom, and so (to speak) on the right hand and on the left. If he is a passer-by, help him as much as ye can, and let him not remain with you beyond the next day and the third day. And if he had need and wished, he may remain with you, if he has a trade to work at; but if he works not he shall not be supported, and if he has no trade and works not, according to your wisdom devise for him that he shall not remain with you idle. And if he is unwilling to do thus, he is a seller of 'o the name of Christ, and ye shall beware of such. Every true prophet then who wishes to remain with you is worthy of sustenance, then support him; and therefore all first-fruits of the wine-press and the threshing-floor, of oxen, of sheep, give the first-fruits of it to the prophets, '5 because they are your Chief Priests. And if ye have not a prophet, give to the poor. And if thou makest bread, give the first-fruit of it according to the commandment. And likewise an earthenware vessel of wine or of oil, and of honey, having opened it, having taken the first-fruit of it, give it to the poor. And gold and raiment and everything, having taken the first-fruit of it, which thou wishedst, give it according to the commandment of the Lord. Your fast also shall not be as the hypocrites, because they fast on the second day of the week, and on the fifth. But ye, fast on the fourth and the sixth (lit. the evening). And ye shall not pray as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in the Gospel. And in your churches, ye presbyters and deacons, and all the congregation (on) the sabbaths, make a place for the brethren, having ordered it with all diligence and care. If one is found sitting out of his order he shall be rebuked, because he has spoiled the holy Church, the dwelling of God. And it is like as we see the animals which speak not, oxen and horses and goats and sheep according to the existing kinds, if they are awake, they ruminate, and then do not separate themselves one from another (of their own kinds), thus also in the church the youths shall sit by themselves, if there is room, and if there is not room they shall stand. The elders shall sit by themselves, and if they have children let them hold them in their arms. Further, the virgins also shall sit by themselves; if there is not sufficient room, they shall stand in front of the other women. Those who have children with them and are married shall sit by themselves. Also the widows (of the church) and the (other) widows shall sit by themselves. If brothers or sisters of (other) districts should come in, the deacon having come shall make inquiry. If one has a husband or is a widow, he shall cause them to enter and make them sit in separate places. The presbyters also shall sit in their own several places. And if another presbyter should come of the (other) districts, they shall receive him into the place which is seemly for him. And if any other man or woman comes in lay dress, either a man of the district or from other districts, being brethren, thou, presbyter, while thou speakest the word which is concerning God, or while thou hearest or readest, thou shalt not respect persons, nor leave thy ministering to command places for them, but remain quiet, for the brethren shall receive them, and if they have no place (for them) the lover of brothers or of sisters, having risen, will leave place for them. If (there are) youths, while the elder men remain sitting, having risen up, they shall leave their places. Thou, deacon, hast thou observed among those who sit a young man or a virgin, having risen up, cause to sit down that man or that woman who left (a place), then having made her rise up outside the church, cause her to stand at the door, that others may learn a lesson and leave place for their elders. Desire to make large churches (lit. houses). And if a poor man or woman either of the district or of the (other) districts should come in and there is no place for them, thou, presbyter, make place for such with all thy heart, even if thou wilt sit on the ground, that there should not be respecting the person of man but of God. And if then we have omitted anything, our brethren, God will reveal (it) to those who are worthy, while he steers the holy Church into quiet and a harbour. And this word shall not be hidden concerning the gifts which God gave to the youths as they wished, and as they acquire the similitude of those who dwell in falsehood, and are moved because of alien spirits. And God appointed impious men to be such as either prophesied or did signs. And now the word will guide us to that which is better for the ordinance of the Church: that ye indeed, the bishops whom we ordained and sent from ourselves by the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ — if ye know this ordinance from us — that ye might do all and not neglect anything, as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded, as the ordinance which we gave to you. And ye know that he who heard from us is he who heard from Christ, and he who heard from Christ heard from God the Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Concerning the ordination of Bishops and the ordinance of the Oblation (Kuerban). It is seemly that the bishops should be ordained, as we said before, and we command all the people in common, that he may be a man choice and honest and holy in everything, who has been chosen from the people. When they have named (him) and are content (with him) all the people shall assemble; the presbyters, and the deacons, and the bishops (also), who shall assemble on the day of the sabbath. And he who is greatest shall ask of the presbyters and deacons who are among them, saying: Is this one he who pleased you that he should be your chief? If they say altogether: Yes, he to shall ask them again and say to them again: Is this one worthy of the honourable office, and has he done rightly with all honesty, and has he virtue before (lit. from) God, and did he observe justice with man ? Is he able to order the men of his own house well, and has he conducted his life in truth ? Has nothing been found against him ? And if all of them should answer together and say: Yes, thus (it is) in truth and not in partiality, and God the Father and Christ his Son and Holy Spirit, the Spirit of righteousness, the Paraklitos, (being) judge of all; he shall ask them again even a third time, and say: Is this one worthy in truth and in right of this office; from the mouth of two or (lit. and) three every word shall be established. And if they say three times: Yes, he is worthy, they shall all spread forth their hands, and if they do thus with one consent, there shall be silence, and one great one of the great bishops shall rise up, and two other bishops with him, with the rest of the bishops all standing, and the presbyters also at the altar, praying quietly, and the deacons bearing the holy Gospel spread open upon the head of him who is to be ordained. And the bishops shall sit down upon seats and they shall say: He is worthy of it And then all shall salute him with the kiss of the Lord, and they shall read the Holy Scriptures. And when they have finished the reading from the Gospel, the bishop who was sealed ' shall salute (lit kiss) all the Church and say: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And all shall say: With thy spirit. When he has finished saying, then all the people shall say the words of joy, and when it is finished, then he shall give them instruction and speak, (and the deacon) shall go up on a high place, and cry and say: Let not any stand here except the Faithful. Likewise when the bishop has finished all the prayer which it is proper for him to say for the sick (and) the rest, the deacon shall say to them: Kiss one another with a holy kiss. And all the priests shall kiss the bishop: and of the lay people, man shall kiss man, and woman shall kiss woman: and the young children shall stand just below the bema, and another deacon shall stand with them, that they may not quarrel with one another; and other deacons shall go to guard the men and women, that there may be no disturbance among them, and that they may not beckon one to another, nor look about, nor go to sleep. The subdeacons shall stand at the door of the women, and other deacons shall stand at the door of the men; that no one may go out, and that they let not the door be opened at the time of the holy Oblation (Kuerban), nor enter the doors of the Faithful, And the subdeacon shall bring water to the priests, that they may wash their hands as a likeness of those who are holy in their souls, and (that) we lifted (them) up to God. And the deacons shall close the gates, and no other shall come in, and he shall say: Let none of the catechumens stand here, or be here at all, lest they should hear the word and partake of the Mystery, and let there not stand any except the Faithful, nor let any of the heretics stand here. O ye women, guard lest your children should run about here and there, or be disorderly, or lest their days should be few. And let not any bear malice in his heart against another, nor any stand here who is not worthy of God: and they shall stand in fear and trembling, that they may be worthy of this work. And after this the deacon shall bring the bread of the sacrifice to the bishop into the house of the sanctuary, and the presbyters shall stand on the left hand, 3° as the likeness of the Apostles who stood with their Teacher. The deacons shall stand on either side at the altar, and they shall hold the flabella made of anything of beautiful appearance, or of feathers of peacock, or of cotton fabric of beautiful appearance, that they may drive away little flying creatures, lest any of them should fall into the cup. And thus the chief priest shall pray over the sacrifice, that the Holy Spirit may descend and dwell upon them; upon the bread that it may become the Body of Christ, and upon the cup that it may become the Blood of Christ. And then the bishop shall say the coming of the Holy Spirit, and when he has finished the prayer which is proper to be said thus, the bishop himself shall first communicate, and after him the presbyters, and afterwards the deacons, and afterwards likewise the subdeacons, and after them the readers, and after them all the people shall receive. The bishop shall administer, saying: This (is) the bread which came down from the heavens, this is the Body of Christ. And he who receives shall say: Amen. And then the deacon shall administer the cup and say: This is the Blood of Christ, and this is the cup of life. And he who receives shall say: Amen and Amen. They shall sing psalms until all have received the Oblation, and when all the people have received, afterwards they shall administer to the women. And after the singers have finished singing the psalms, then the deacon shall chant, saying: We have received of the precious Body which is the Body of Christ, and we thank him that he makes us worthy to partake of the precious and holy Mystery. After this the bishop shall give thanks and pray for those who have eaten the Body of Christ and for those who have drunk of the Blood of Christ And when he has finished praying, the deacon shall say: Bow your head before God, that he may bless you. And when further he has done that with which they are blessed, the deacon shall say: Go away in peace. And as for the fragments, if any are left, the presbyters and deacons shall take care that nothing is left of the Oblation, and they shall take great care that not much should be left, lest they be guilty of great error and sin, like the sons of Aaron and the children of Ela whom the Holy Spirit destroyed, because they profaned the sacrifice of God; how much more they who profane the Body of Christ and his precious Blood, and esteem it temporal food of flesh, whereas it is spiritual to those who receive it in purity. And this we command you, bishops, presbyters, and deacons, concerning the service of the holy Mystery.

Concerning the Virgins and Widows. And he shall not lay hand upon virgins, because this thing is not a commandment from God, for it is concerned with the character of a man; and it is not that (the virgin) despises marriage, but that he may have time for the service of God. And concerning Widows. He shall not lay hand upon a widow, but if she lives alone, and her husband has been dead many years, being a widow of long time, and if she has lived industriously, and if no accusation is found against her, and if she was able to order properly the men of her own house like Yudit, and if she loved all good things like Yudit, then she shall be put (lit. ordained) into the Order of Widows. And if her husband was dead a short time, and not long, she shall not be trusted nor put into the Order of Widows, but shall remain a long time, with good works, with fasting and prayer, keeping apart, that she may subdue herself patiently. The horse indeed and the mule are not controlled except by a strong rein. Concerning male Virgins. They shall not ordain male virgins, because this thing is from the will of the heart alone by the grace of God and by the love of Christ Jesus; for when the Holy Spirit makes abode with a man, he obtains grace and healing, being known by the grace which he has, which will be known to all men. And if he had a call for this work (of the ministry), that he should be ordained bishop or presbyter or deacon, they shall lay hand upon him (lit. them).

Concerning the Order of the Priesthood. Each one of you knows what we have ordained for you, and further ye know that there are some whom we name bishops, and others whom we name presbyters, and others are named deacons. With prayer we laid hand upon them, and we appointed to each an Order according to its different name. And among us there is no one who desires a filling of our hand, nor will he receive from us that which he wishes for of priesthood, as the priests of the oxen of Iyurebe'am, which were made as an abomination to God. Unless there had been a special Order for each according to law, one name would have sufficed for all the world; but having been taught by God a guidance for all functions, we have separated for the bishops the ordination of the priesthood, for the presbyters the priesthood, for the deacons the service.... that the work of the service might be completed withal. It is not seemly for the deacons to offer the Oblation, or to baptise, or to give the Eulogia to small or to great. And the presbyter shall not ordain anyone, because he was not worthy (of anything) beside his Order. For God is not a God of confusion, so that the inferiors may not grasp (at office) with audacity. What work then will be completed by the imperfect } And they make a new law to their own destruction, and do not know that it is a small thing which is in their power (lit. with them); and they kick with their feet in the net And if thus, they do not oppose us, but they oppose the Bishop of all the world, the Son of God, the Chief Priest Jesus Christ our Lord, A chief priest, priests, and levites were ordained by Moses, the lover of God, and we the twelve Apostles were ordained by our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and we ordained for us Klementos and Ya'ekob and others with them, that we might send ' each one of them, and further, we all of us ordained withal presbyters and deacons. And the first Presbyter, the only true Chief Priest, is our Lord Jesus Christ, who did not grasp for himself the honour, but the Father ordained him. And as he is the Chief Priest for us, so he offered spiritual sacrifice to God the Father before he was crucified, and he commanded us to do likewise. And there were others with us who believe in him, but he does not grant to all who believe in him to be priests, nor to obtain the Order of ordination of priesthood like us. And after his Ascension we offered according to the ordinance of the holy bloodless Oblation. And we ordained bishops and presbyters and deacons in number seven, and amongst them Estifanos, the first martyr, who was not the least of us in his love of God: but he showed his service of God by faith and love of Jesus Christ our Lord, so much that he gave his life up for his sake; and the wicked Jews, the murderers of the Lord, stoned him with stones for his name and killed him. But he was a man of such fervent spirit that he saw our Lord Christ at the right hand of God, and he saw the open gates of the heavens. And it is nowhere found that he did what was not suitable for him as deacon, that he offered sacrifice or laid hand upon anyone, but he kept to his Order of deacon unto the end. For thus it was proper for the martyr of our Lord Christ to fulfil the duties of his Order. And if there are any who blame Filepos the deacon and Hananya the faithful brother because the one baptised the eunuch and the other baptised even me, Pawlos, they are deluded as to what we say; for we say that no one should take by force the ordination of priesthood, but he obtained it from God, as Malkasedek and Ya'ekob; or from the chief priest, as Aron from IS Muse; therefore that Filepos and Hananya themselves took not ordination from themselves, but from our Lord Christ. They believed in the Chief Priest of God, with whom there is none to be compared. PRAYER OF EARLY MORNING And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, while thanking him because he has kept us throughout the night, and brought us from darkness into light, from corruption into that which is incorruptible, and from ignorance into the knowledge of the truth, that throughout the day also he may cause us to be in all peace and health, and protect his people with the power of his angels, who has authority over all work of blessing, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray. O Lord the almighty, do thou cause us to be in all peace and health throughout the day, for thou hast kept us throughout the night Thou, Lord, the almighty, send to us thine angel the good guide. And have mercy upon us according to the greatness of thy mercy, and according to the multitude of thy clemency blot out our wickedness. And none of us is an alien and a backslider, put us not away from thy favour, because of thy name which was named over us. Be forgiving to us and forsake us not. Grant us to obtain favour before thee and before Christ thy Son, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE SICK And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. for the sick brethren, that he may remove all sickness and all suffering from them. Having taken away the spirit of disease, may he who has authority for all healing give to them life, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the sick. God the almighty, the Father, etc. we pray thee and we beseech thee for the sick brethren. Grant to them life. Take away the spirit of sickness. Cause to pass away from them all disease and all suffering. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: Have mercy upon us. Physician of the soul and physician of the body, thou art the overseer of all flesh, and of those who are troubled with unclean spirits; deliver every tormented and IS oppressed soul, give health and give rest, drive away all disease from this house, and from those who call upon thy holy and blessed name. Having healed the disease of all of our souls, grant perfect soundness, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO MAKE A JOURNEY And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, JO etc, for those our brethren who make a journey, and also for those who are about to make a journey, whether by sea, or by rivers, or by the deeps, or by road, in whatever journey they may travel, that he may bring all into the safe harbour, the almighty Lord our God. IS The deacon shall say: Pray. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for our brethren who make a journey, and also for those who are about to make a journey abroad; direct (them) as fellow (traveller) though we are many. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. Bring them into the safe harbour. Restore them to their people with joy and with peace, rejoicing and causing to rejoice, through, etc PRAYER FOR RAINS And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc, for rains, that he may send his rain into the place where it is needed, the almighty Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee, send thy rains into the place where they are needed. Make to rejoice the face of the earth, and water its furrows. Bring the sowing and the harvest, and bless the circle of the year with thy goodness. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. For the poor of thy people, and for all those who hope in thee, work with us according to thy clemency, and nourish our mind with the doctrine of the Godhead, and with understanding which is from thee, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE FRUIT OF THE EARTH And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father etc. for the fruit of the earth, that he may increase the fruit of the earth, and that he may be pleased to bring the sowing and the harvest. May he grant rich favour, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the fruit of the earth. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee, increase the fruit of the earth, and be pleased (and) bring the sowing and the harvest, which is from thy goodness. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. For the poor of thy people and for all who call upon thy holy and blessed name, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE WATERS OF THE RIVERS And again we' beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc, for the waters of the rivers, that he may cause (them) to rise up to their (proper) measure. Make to rejoice the face of the earth. May he bring the sowing and the harvest May he grant rich favour, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the waters of the rivers. God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee, cause to rise the waters of the rivers up to their (proper) measure. Make to rejoice the face of the earth, and water its furrows. Multiply food, and bless the circle of the year with thy goodness. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. For the poor of thy people, and for all who call upon thy holy and blessed name, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE KING as And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. for the lover of God, our king, Iyasu, that he should keep his kingdom without trouble, in peace and righteousness, the almighty Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the king. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for the king of this land, the lover of God, our king, Iyasu, and grant to him what is useful for him. Cause to submit his enemy, the peoples who are against his wall& And speak in his heart for thy holy Church. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon him. Grant him without error to keep (his) understanding concerning the faith in the excellence of thy Godhead, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO OFFER AN OFFERING And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, is etc. for those who offer an offering in the holy, one, catholic (lit. which is over all) Church, a sacrifice, first fruits, tithes, a thanksgiving, a memorial, whether much or little, secret and open. And as for those who have nothing and wish to give, (though) they have nothing to to give, accept their desire, and having accepted the longing of every one of them, grant to them the heavenly Spirit And as for those who have somewhat and do not wish to give, soften their heart to do good, thou (lit. he) who hast authority for all work of blessing, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for those who offer an offering. God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for those who offer an offering to the holy, one, catholic Church, to the honour of thy name, an offering and a thanksgiving of first-fruits and of tithes, of much and of little, of secret and of open. And as for those who have nothing (yet) who wish to give, accept their desire as the offering of Abel: and as the Hebrew woman who offered the two mites, and as the sacrifice of the forefathers. And thus accept into the heavenly altar. Repay them with a reward of blessing, heavenly in return for earthly, and much in return for little, and open in return for secret, and life everlasting in Christ in return for food and drink, through, etc PRAYER FOR THE CATECHUMENS And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. as regards his servants the catechumens, that he may impart to them in due time the washing of regeneration for the forgiveness of sin, the almighty Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the catechumens, God the Lord almighty, the Father, etc. we pray thee and we beseech thee, have mercy upon thy servants the catechumens. Be kind, (and) remove from them all the remains of the idols. Impose upon their hearts thy law and thy commandment, and thy righteousness and thine ordinance. Speedily let thy mercy find us. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. In proper time (impart to them) the washing of regeneration for the forgiveness of sin. Make them the shrine of the Holy Spirit, through our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, through whom, etc. PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. Lord of the living, Life of the dead, and Hope of the desperate, Helper of the afflicted, Cleanser of sinners, who hast abolished death and burst the bonds of Satan (Sayetan). Thou hast granted life to the race of men, thee we pray and beseech, who wilt not die for ever and ever, with whom is the treasure of life, for those who have fallen asleep and rested in the faith; the forefathers, the bishops, (papasat), presbyters and deacons, and readers (anaguenestis), and monks, and virgins, and widows (of the order), infants, widows and orphans (lit. offspring of the dead); and for the soul of thy servant N(egale) and for the soul of all those who are there in that place, whom thou calledst from among thy people in righteousness and in uprightness. Give rest to their soul in the place of pasturage by the water of rest, in the bosom of Abreham, Yeshak, and Ya'ekob, in the garden of joy, among the guides of light, thine angels, having united (them) with thy holy ones. And raise up their body in the day which thou hast appointed, according to thy holy unlying promise of thy heavenly kingdom; for there is no death to thy servants, but rather a passing, and although one has sinned, and the law of man was hidden from them, be indulgent; for thou, God, art good and the lover of man; for there is none pure from uncleanness before thee, even though he lived one hour upon the earth. Do thou grant passings to their soul freely, without hindrance. Send the Spirit of the Comforter, and who gives consolation to their people. Comfort them, cause them to rejoice in Christ, through, etc. PRAYER FOR PEACE And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc, for the peace of the holy, one, catholic Church, that he may grant much peace upon all rulers (lit. shepherds) and peoples and upon all flocks, he who has authority for all peace, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for peace. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for the peace of the holy, one, catholic Church. King of peace, give to us peace, because thou gavest to IS us everything. Possess us, God, and reward us, for beside thee there is no other whom we know. And thy holy name we name and we invoke. Do thou impart thy heavenly peace upon us all. Preserve (our) life (lit. soul) and our condition of this world peacefully. Give peace to the king of this land, and through thy holy name give counsel to the rulers of the neighbouring peoples. Guard our coming in and our going out in peace, that living in a quiet and tranquil life we may be found in all piety, in the fear of God and virtue in Christ, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE CONGREGATION And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. for the congregation, this as well as all our congregations, that he may grant that it may be according to his holy will, the almighty Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for our congregation. God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for this our congregation as well as all our congregations. Grant that it may be according to thy holy will, where we do this service of our congregation and other congregations also. And make it a house of prayer and a house of blessing. Vouchsafe to bestow upon us, and upon those who (come) after us, the everlasting salvation. Rise up, O Lord, and let all thine enemies be scattered, and let all flee away from before thy face who hate thy holy and blessed name, and make thy people ten thousand of ten thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, through, etc PRAYER FOR THE PAPAS And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. for the blessed and holy Papas, Aba N(egale), that thou wilt in keeping keep him for us during many years and during times of peace, while he fulfils the priesthood which has been entrusted to him by thee. May the Lord our God grant rich favour. The deacon shall say: Pray for Papas N. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for the blessed Papas N. In keeping keep him for us during many years, during times of peace, while he fulfils the priesthood which was entrusted to him by thee, together with all the bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and with all the fulness of the holy, one, catholic Church. And the prayer which they make for us and for all thy people hear (it), and accept them; and open to them the treasury of thy clemency; and further, pour down upon him abundantly thy grace of thy Holy Spirit, thy heavenly blessing, that he may bless thy people; and moreover, cause to submit every enemy, visible or invisible, and bruise (them) under his feet; and himself indeed keep for thy Church in glory, through thine only Son, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might, now and ever and for ever and ever. Amen.

Concerning the Order of the Priesthood. Each one of you knows what we have ordained for you, and further ye know that there are some whom we name bishops, and others whom we name presbyters, and others are named deacons. With prayer we laid hand upon them, and we appointed to each an Order according to its different name. And among us there is no one who desires a filling of our hand, nor will he receive from us that which he wishes for of priesthood, as the priests of the oxen of Iyurebe'am, which were made as an abomination to God. Unless there had been a special Order for each according to law, one name would have sufficed for all the world; but having been taught by God a guidance for all functions, we have separated for the bishops the ordination of the priesthood, for the presbyters the priesthood, for the deacons the service.... that the work of the service might be completed withal. It is not seemly for the deacons to offer the Oblation, or to baptise, or to give the Eulogia to small or to great. And the presbyter shall not ordain anyone, because he was not worthy (of anything) beside his Order. For God is not a God of confusion, so that the inferiors may not grasp (at office) with audacity. What work then will be completed by the imperfect } And they make a new law to their own destruction, and do not know that it is a small thing which is in their power (lit. with them); and they kick with their feet in the net And if thus, they do not oppose us, but they oppose the Bishop of all the world, the Son of God, the Chief Priest Jesus Christ our Lord, A chief priest, priests, and levites were ordained by Moses, the lover of God, and we the twelve Apostles were ordained by our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and we ordained for us Klementos and Ya'ekob and others with them, that we might send ' each one of them, and further, we all of us ordained withal presbyters and deacons. And the first Presbyter, the only true Chief Priest, is our Lord Jesus Christ, who did not grasp for himself the honour, but the Father ordained him. And as he is the Chief Priest for us, so he offered spiritual sacrifice to God the Father before he was crucified, and he commanded us to do likewise. And there were others with us who believe in him, but he does not grant to all who believe in him to be priests, nor to obtain the Order of ordination of priesthood like us. And after his Ascension we offered according to the ordinance of the holy bloodless Oblation. And we ordained bishops and presbyters and deacons in number seven, and amongst them Estifanos, the first martyr, who was not the least of us in his love of God: but he showed his service of God by faith and love of Jesus Christ our Lord, so much that he gave his life up for his sake; and the wicked Jews, the murderers of the Lord, stoned him with stones for his name and killed him. But he was a man of such fervent spirit that he saw our Lord Christ at the right hand of God, and he saw the open gates of the heavens. And it is nowhere found that he did what was not suitable for him as deacon, that he offered sacrifice or laid hand upon anyone, but he kept to his Order of deacon unto the end. For thus it was proper for the martyr of our Lord Christ to fulfil the duties of his Order. And if there are any who blame Filepos the deacon and Hananya the faithful brother because the one baptised the eunuch and the other baptised even me, Pawlos, they are deluded as to what we say; for we say that no one should take by force the ordination of priesthood, but he obtained it from God, as Malkasedek and Ya'ekob; or from the chief priest, as Aron from IS Muse; therefore that Filepos and Hananya themselves took not ordination from themselves, but from our Lord Christ. They believed in the Chief Priest of God, with whom there is none to be compared. PRAYER OF EARLY MORNING And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father of our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, while thanking him because he has kept us throughout the night, and brought us from darkness into light, from corruption into that which is incorruptible, and from ignorance into the knowledge of the truth, that throughout the day also he may cause us to be in all peace and health, and protect his people with the power of his angels, who has authority over all work of blessing, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray. O Lord the almighty, do thou cause us to be in all peace and health throughout the day, for thou hast kept us throughout the night Thou, Lord, the almighty, send to us thine angel the good guide. And have mercy upon us according to the greatness of thy mercy, and according to the multitude of thy clemency blot out our wickedness. And none of us is an alien and a backslider, put us not away from thy favour, because of thy name which was named over us. Be forgiving to us and forsake us not. Grant us to obtain favour before thee and before Christ thy Son, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE SICK And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. for the sick brethren, that he may remove all sickness and all suffering from them. Having taken away the spirit of disease, may he who has authority for all healing give to them life, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the sick. God the almighty, the Father, etc. we pray thee and we beseech thee for the sick brethren. Grant to them life. Take away the spirit of sickness. Cause to pass away from them all disease and all suffering. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: Have mercy upon us. Physician of the soul and physician of the body, thou art the overseer of all flesh, and of those who are troubled with unclean spirits; deliver every tormented and IS oppressed soul, give health and give rest, drive away all disease from this house, and from those who call upon thy holy and blessed name. Having healed the disease of all of our souls, grant perfect soundness, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO MAKE A JOURNEY And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, JO etc, for those our brethren who make a journey, and also for those who are about to make a journey, whether by sea, or by rivers, or by the deeps, or by road, in whatever journey they may travel, that he may bring all into the safe harbour, the almighty Lord our God. IS The deacon shall say: Pray. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for our brethren who make a journey, and also for those who are about to make a journey abroad; direct (them) as fellow (traveller) though we are many. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. Bring them into the safe harbour. Restore them to their people with joy and with peace, rejoicing and causing to rejoice, through, etc PRAYER FOR RAINS And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc, for rains, that he may send his rain into the place where it is needed, the almighty Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee, send thy rains into the place where they are needed. Make to rejoice the face of the earth, and water its furrows. Bring the sowing and the harvest, and bless the circle of the year with thy goodness. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. For the poor of thy people, and for all those who hope in thee, work with us according to thy clemency, and nourish our mind with the doctrine of the Godhead, and with understanding which is from thee, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE FRUIT OF THE EARTH And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father etc. for the fruit of the earth, that he may increase the fruit of the earth, and that he may be pleased to bring the sowing and the harvest. May he grant rich favour, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the fruit of the earth. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee, increase the fruit of the earth, and be pleased (and) bring the sowing and the harvest, which is from thy goodness. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. For the poor of thy people and for all who call upon thy holy and blessed name, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE WATERS OF THE RIVERS And again we' beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc, for the waters of the rivers, that he may cause (them) to rise up to their (proper) measure. Make to rejoice the face of the earth. May he bring the sowing and the harvest May he grant rich favour, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the waters of the rivers. God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee, cause to rise the waters of the rivers up to their (proper) measure. Make to rejoice the face of the earth, and water its furrows. Multiply food, and bless the circle of the year with thy goodness. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. For the poor of thy people, and for all who call upon thy holy and blessed name, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE KING as And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. for the lover of God, our king, Iyasu, that he should keep his kingdom without trouble, in peace and righteousness, the almighty Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the king. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for the king of this land, the lover of God, our king, Iyasu, and grant to him what is useful for him. Cause to submit his enemy, the peoples who are against his wall& And speak in his heart for thy holy Church. Speedily let thy mercy find us, O Lord. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon him. Grant him without error to keep (his) understanding concerning the faith in the excellence of thy Godhead, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO OFFER AN OFFERING And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, is etc. for those who offer an offering in the holy, one, catholic (lit. which is over all) Church, a sacrifice, first fruits, tithes, a thanksgiving, a memorial, whether much or little, secret and open. And as for those who have nothing and wish to give, (though) they have nothing to to give, accept their desire, and having accepted the longing of every one of them, grant to them the heavenly Spirit And as for those who have somewhat and do not wish to give, soften their heart to do good, thou (lit. he) who hast authority for all work of blessing, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for those who offer an offering. God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for those who offer an offering to the holy, one, catholic Church, to the honour of thy name, an offering and a thanksgiving of first-fruits and of tithes, of much and of little, of secret and of open. And as for those who have nothing (yet) who wish to give, accept their desire as the offering of Abel: and as the Hebrew woman who offered the two mites, and as the sacrifice of the forefathers. And thus accept into the heavenly altar. Repay them with a reward of blessing, heavenly in return for earthly, and much in return for little, and open in return for secret, and life everlasting in Christ in return for food and drink, through, etc PRAYER FOR THE CATECHUMENS And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. as regards his servants the catechumens, that he may impart to them in due time the washing of regeneration for the forgiveness of sin, the almighty Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for the catechumens, God the Lord almighty, the Father, etc. we pray thee and we beseech thee, have mercy upon thy servants the catechumens. Be kind, (and) remove from them all the remains of the idols. Impose upon their hearts thy law and thy commandment, and thy righteousness and thine ordinance. Speedily let thy mercy find us. The deacon shall say: Let us all say. The people shall say: O Lord, have mercy upon us. In proper time (impart to them) the washing of regeneration for the forgiveness of sin. Make them the shrine of the Holy Spirit, through our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, through whom, etc. PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. Lord of the living, Life of the dead, and Hope of the desperate, Helper of the afflicted, Cleanser of sinners, who hast abolished death and burst the bonds of Satan (Sayetan). Thou hast granted life to the race of men, thee we pray and beseech, who wilt not die for ever and ever, with whom is the treasure of life, for those who have fallen asleep and rested in the faith; the forefathers, the bishops, (papasat), presbyters and deacons, and readers (anaguenestis), and monks, and virgins, and widows (of the order), infants, widows and orphans (lit. offspring of the dead); and for the soul of thy servant N(egale) and for the soul of all those who are there in that place, whom thou calledst from among thy people in righteousness and in uprightness. Give rest to their soul in the place of pasturage by the water of rest, in the bosom of Abreham, Yeshak, and Ya'ekob, in the garden of joy, among the guides of light, thine angels, having united (them) with thy holy ones. And raise up their body in the day which thou hast appointed, according to thy holy unlying promise of thy heavenly kingdom; for there is no death to thy servants, but rather a passing, and although one has sinned, and the law of man was hidden from them, be indulgent; for thou, God, art good and the lover of man; for there is none pure from uncleanness before thee, even though he lived one hour upon the earth. Do thou grant passings to their soul freely, without hindrance. Send the Spirit of the Comforter, and who gives consolation to their people. Comfort them, cause them to rejoice in Christ, through, etc. PRAYER FOR PEACE And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc, for the peace of the holy, one, catholic Church, that he may grant much peace upon all rulers (lit. shepherds) and peoples and upon all flocks, he who has authority for all peace, the Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for peace. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for the peace of the holy, one, catholic Church. King of peace, give to us peace, because thou gavest to IS us everything. Possess us, God, and reward us, for beside thee there is no other whom we know. And thy holy name we name and we invoke. Do thou impart thy heavenly peace upon us all. Preserve (our) life (lit. soul) and our condition of this world peacefully. Give peace to the king of this land, and through thy holy name give counsel to the rulers of the neighbouring peoples. Guard our coming in and our going out in peace, that living in a quiet and tranquil life we may be found in all piety, in the fear of God and virtue in Christ, through, etc. PRAYER FOR THE CONGREGATION And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. for the congregation, this as well as all our congregations, that he may grant that it may be according to his holy will, the almighty Lord our God. The deacon shall say: Pray for our congregation. God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for this our congregation as well as all our congregations. Grant that it may be according to thy holy will, where we do this service of our congregation and other congregations also. And make it a house of prayer and a house of blessing. Vouchsafe to bestow upon us, and upon those who (come) after us, the everlasting salvation. Rise up, O Lord, and let all thine enemies be scattered, and let all flee away from before thy face who hate thy holy and blessed name, and make thy people ten thousand of ten thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, through, etc PRAYER FOR THE PAPAS And again we beseech the almighty God, the Father, etc. for the blessed and holy Papas, Aba N(egale), that thou wilt in keeping keep him for us during many years and during times of peace, while he fulfils the priesthood which has been entrusted to him by thee. May the Lord our God grant rich favour. The deacon shall say: Pray for Papas N. Lord our God the almighty, we pray thee and we beseech thee for the blessed Papas N. In keeping keep him for us during many years, during times of peace, while he fulfils the priesthood which was entrusted to him by thee, together with all the bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and with all the fulness of the holy, one, catholic Church. And the prayer which they make for us and for all thy people hear (it), and accept them; and open to them the treasury of thy clemency; and further, pour down upon him abundantly thy grace of thy Holy Spirit, thy heavenly blessing, that he may bless thy people; and moreover, cause to submit every enemy, visible or invisible, and bruise (them) under his feet; and himself indeed keep for thy Church in glory, through thine only Son, through whom to thee with him and with the Holy Spirit (be) glory and might, now and ever and for ever and ever. Amen.

But if any one curse you, bless him. For it is written in the book of Numbers: He that blesses you is blessed, and he that curses you is cursed. In the same manner it is written in the Gospel: Bless those who curse you. Being injured, do not avenge yourselves, but bear it with patience; for the Scripture speaks thus: Say not, I will avenge myself on my enemy for what injuries he has offered me; but acquiesce under them, that the Lord may right you, and bring vengeance upon him who injures you. For so says He again in the Gospel: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; and you shall be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He makes His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and rains on the just and unjust. Let us therefore, beloved, attend to these commandments, that we may be found to be the children of light by doing them. Bear, therefore, with one another, you servants and sons of God.

Let the husband not be insolent nor arrogant towards his wife; but compassionate, bountiful, willing to please his own wife alone, and treat her honourably and obligingly, endeavouring to be agreeable to her; (III.) not adorning yourself in such a manner as may entice another woman to you. For if you are overcome by her, and sinnest with her, eternal death will overtake you from God; and you will be punished with sensible and bitter torments. Or if you do not perpetrate such a wicked act, but shakest her off, and refusest her, in this case you are not wholly innocent, even though you are not guilty of the crime itself, but only in so far as through your adorning you enticed the woman to desire you. For you are the cause that the woman was so affected, and by her lusting after you was guilty of adultery with you: yet are you not so guilty, because you did not send to her, who was ensnared by you; nor did you desire her. Since, therefore, you did not deliver up yourself to her, you shall find mercy with the Lord your God, who has said, You shall not commit adultery, and, You shall not covet. For if such a woman, upon sight of you, or unseasonable meeting with you, was smitten in her mind, and sent to you, but you as a religious person refused her, if she was wounded in her heart by your beauty, and youth, and adorning, and fell in love with you, you will be found guilty of her transgressions, as having been the occasion of scandal to her, and shall inherit a woe. Wherefore pray to the Lord God that no mischief may befall you upon this account: for you are not to please men, so as to commit sin; but God, so as to attain holiness of life, and be partaker of everlasting rest. That beauty which God and nature has bestowed on you, do not further beautify; but modestly diminish it before men. Thus, do not permit the hair of your head to grow too long, but rather cut it short; lest by a nice combing your hair, and wearing it long, and anointing yourself, you draw upon yourself such ensnared or ensnaring women. Neither do you wear over-fine garments to seduce any; neither do you, with an evil subtlety, affect over-fine stockings or shoes for your feet, but only such as suit the measures of decency and usefulness. Neither do you put a gold ring upon your fingers; for all these ornaments are the signs of lasciviousness, which if you be solicitous about in an indecent manner, you will not act as becomes a good man: for it is not lawful for you, a believer and a man of God, to permit the hair of your head to grow long, and to brush it up together, nor to suffer it to spread abroad, nor to puff it up, nor by nice combing and platting to make it curl and shine; since that is contrary to the law, which says thus, in its additional precepts: You shall not make to yourselves curls and round rasures. Nor may men destroy the hair of their beards, and unnaturally change the form of a man. For the law says: You shall not mar your beards. For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men. But if you do these things to please men, in contradiction to the law, you will be abominable with God, who created you after His own image. If, therefore, you will be acceptable to God, abstain from all those things which He hates, and do none of those things that are unpleasing to Him.

For let us learn what the sacred word says in the book of Wisdom: My son, keep my words, and hide my commandments with you. Say unto Wisdom, You are my sister; and make understanding familiar with you: that she may keep you from the strange and wicked woman, in case such a one accost you with sweet words. For from the window of her house she looks into the street, to see if she can espy some young man among the foolish children, without understanding, walking in the market-place, in the meeting of the street near her house, and talking in the dusk of the evening, or in the silence and darkness of the night. A woman meets him in the appearance of an harlot, who steals away the hearts of young persons. She rambles about, and is dissolute; her feet abide not in her house: sometimes she is without, sometimes in the streets, and lies in wait at every corner. Then she catches him, and kisses him, and with an impudent face says unto him, I have peace-offerings with me; this day do I pay my vows: therefore came I forth to meet you; earnestly I have desired your face, and I have found you. I have decked my bed with coverings; with tapestry from Egypt have I adorned it. I have perfumed my bed with saffron, and my house with cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; come, let us solace ourselves with love, etc. To which he adds: With much discourse she seduced him, with snares from her lips she forced him. He goes after her like a silly bird. And again: Do not hearken to a wicked woman; for though the lips of an harlot are like drops from an honey-comb, which for a while is smooth in your throat, yet afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than any two-edged sword. And again: But get away quickly, and tarry not; fix not your eyes upon her: for she has thrown down many wounded; yea, innumerable multitudes have been slain by her. If not, says he, yet you will repent at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and will say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart has avoided the reproofs of the righteous! I have not hearkened to the voice of my instructor, nor inclined mine ear to my teacher. I have almost been in all evil. But we will make no more quotations; and if we have omitted any, be so prudent as to select the most valuable out of the Holy Scriptures, and confirm yourselves with them, rejecting all things that are evil, that so you may be found holy with God in eternal life.

For let us learn what the sacred word says in the book of Wisdom: My son, keep my words, and hide my commandments with you. Say unto Wisdom, You are my sister; and make understanding familiar with you: that she may keep you from the strange and wicked woman, in case such a one accost you with sweet words. For from the window of her house she looks into the street, to see if she can espy some young man among the foolish children, without understanding, walking in the market-place, in the meeting of the street near her house, and talking in the dusk of the evening, or in the silence and darkness of the night. A woman meets him in the appearance of an harlot, who steals away the hearts of young persons. She rambles about, and is dissolute; her feet abide not in her house: sometimes she is without, sometimes in the streets, and lies in wait at every corner. Then she catches him, and kisses him, and with an impudent face says unto him, I have peace-offerings with me; this day do I pay my vows: therefore came I forth to meet you; earnestly I have desired your face, and I have found you. I have decked my bed with coverings; with tapestry from Egypt have I adorned it. I have perfumed my bed with saffron, and my house with cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning; come, let us solace ourselves with love, etc. To which he adds: With much discourse she seduced him, with snares from her lips she forced him. He goes after her like a silly bird. And again: Do not hearken to a wicked woman; for though the lips of an harlot are like drops from an honey-comb, which for a while is smooth in your throat, yet afterwards you will find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than any two-edged sword. And again: But get away quickly, and tarry not; fix not your eyes upon her: for she has thrown down many wounded; yea, innumerable multitudes have been slain by her. If not, says he, yet you will repent at the last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and will say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart has avoided the reproofs of the righteous! I have not hearkened to the voice of my instructor, nor inclined mine ear to my teacher. I have almost been in all evil. But we will make no more quotations; and if we have omitted any, be so prudent as to select the most valuable out of the Holy Scriptures, and confirm yourselves with them, rejecting all things that are evil, that so you may be found holy with God in eternal life.

But concerning bishops, we have heard from our Lord, that a pastor who is to be ordained a bishop for the churches in every parish, must be unblameable, unreprovable, free from all kinds of wickedness common among men, not under fifty years of age; for such a one is in good part past youthful disorders, and the slanders of the heathen, as well as the reproaches which are sometimes cast upon many persons by some false brethren, who do not consider the word of God in the Gospel: Whosoever speaks an idle word shall give an account thereof to the Lord in the day of judgment. And again: By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned. Let him therefore, if it is possible, be well educated; but if he be unlettered, let him at any rate be skilful in the word, and of competent age. But if in a small parish one advanced in years is not to be found, let some younger person, who has a good report among his neighbours, and is esteemed by them worthy of the office of a bishop — who has carried himself from his youth with meekness and regularity, like a much elder person, — after examination, and a general good report, be ordained in peace. For Solomon at twelve years of age was king of Israel, and Josiah at eight years of age reigned righteously, and in like manner Joash governed the people at seven years of age. Wherefore, although the person be young, let him be meek, gentle, and quiet. For the Lord God says by Esaias: Upon whom will I look, but upon him who is humble and quiet, and always trembles at my words? In like manner it is in the Gospel also: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Let him also be merciful; for again it is said: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Let him also be a peacemaker; for again it is said: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the sons of God. Let him also be one of a good conscience, purified from all evil, and wickedness, and unrighteousness; for it is said again: Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Let not a bishop be given to filthy lucre, especially before the Gentiles, rather suffering than offering injuries; not covetous, nor rapacious; no purloiner; no admirer of the rich, nor hater of the poor; no evil-speaker, nor false witness; not given to anger; no brawler; not entangled with the affairs of this life; not a surety for any one, nor an accuser in suits about money; not ambitious; not double-minded, nor double-tongued; not ready to hearken to calumny or evil-speaking; not a dissembler; not addicted to the heathen festivals; not given to vain deceits; not eager after worldly things, nor a lover of money. For all these things are opposite to God, and pleasing to demons. Let the bishop earnestly give all these precepts in charge to the laity also, persuading them to imitate his conduct. For, says He, Make the children of Israel pious. Let him be prudent, humble, apt to admonish with the instructions of the Lord, well-disposed, one who has renounced all the wicked projects of this world, and all heathenish lusts; let hint be orderly, sharp in observing the wicked, and taking heed of them, but yet a friend to all; just, discerning; and whatsoever qualities are commendable among men, let the bishop possess them in himself. For if the pastor be unblameable as to any wickedness, he will compel his own disciples, and by his very mode of life press them to become worthy imitators of his own actions. As the prophet somewhere says, And it will be, as is the priest, so is the people; for our Lord and Teacher Jesus Christ, the Son of God, began first to do, and then to teach, as Luke somewhere says: which Jesus began to do and to teach . Wherefore he says: Whosoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of God. For you bishops are to be guides and watchmen to the people, as you yourselves have Christ for your guide and watchman. You should therefore become good guides and watchmen to the people of God. For the Lord says by Ezekiel, speaking to every one of you: Son of man, I have given you for a watchman to the house of Israel; and you shall hear the word from my mouth, and shall observe, and shall declare it from me. When I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; if you do not speak to warn the wicked from his wickedness, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, and his blood will I require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked from his way, that he may turn from it, and he does not turn from it, he shall die in his iniquity, and you have delivered your soul. In the same manner, if the sword of war be approaching, and the people set a watchman to watch, and he see the same approach, and does not forewarn them, and the sword come and take one of them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood shall be required at the watchman's hand, because he did not blow the trumpet. But if he blew the trumpet, and he who heard it would not take warning, and the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon him, because he heard the trumpet and took not warning. But he who took warning has delivered his soul; and the watchman, because he gave warning, shall surely live. The sword here is the judgment; the trumpet is the holy Gospel; the watchman is the bishop, who is set in the Church, who is obliged by his preaching to testify and vehemently to forewarn concerning that judgment. If you do not declare and testify this to the people, the sins of those who are ignorant of it will be found upon you. Wherefore do you warn and reprove the uninstructed with boldness, teach the ignorant, confirm those that understand, bring back those that go astray. If we repeat the very same things on the same occasions, brethren, we shall not do amiss. For by frequent hearing it is to be hoped that some will be made ashamed, and at least do some good action, and avoid some wicked one. For says God by the prophet: Testify those things to them; perhaps they will hear your voice. And again: If perhaps they will hear, if perhaps they will submit. Moses also says to the people: If hearing you will hear the Lord God, and do that which is good and right in His eyes . And again: Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord. And our Lord is often recorded in the Gospel to have said: He that has ears to hear, let him hear. And wise Solomon says: My son, hear the instruction of your father, and reject not the laws of your mother. And, indeed, to this day men have not heard; for while they seem to have heard, they have not heard aright, as appears by their having left the one and only true God, and their being drawn into destructive and dangerous heresies, concerning which we shall speak again afterwards.

But if you refuse to receive him that repents, you expose him to those who lie in wait to destroy, forgetting what David says: Deliver not my soul, which confesses to You, unto destroying beasts. Wherefore Jeremiah, when he is exhorting men to repentance, says thus: Shall not he that falls arise? Or he that turns away, cannot he return? Wherefore have my people gone back by a shameless backsliding? And they are hardened in their purpose. Turn, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Receive, therefore, without any doubting, him that repents. Be not hindered by such unmerciful men, who say that we must not be defiled with such as those, nor so much as speak to them: for such advice is from men that are unacquainted with God and His providence, and are unreasonable judges, and unmerciful brutes. These men are ignorant that we ought to avoid society with offenders, not in discourse, but in actions: for the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. And again: If a land sins against me by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of bread upon it, and send famine upon it, and destroy man and beast therein: though these three men, Noah, Job, and Daniel, were in the midst of it, they shall only save their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord God. The Scripture most clearly shows that a righteous man that converses with a wicked man does not perish with him. For in the present world the righteous and the wicked are mingled together in the common affairs of life, but not in holy communion: and in this the friends and favourites of God are guilty of no sin. For they do but imitate their Farther which is in heaven, who makes His sun to rise on the righteous and unrighteous, and sends His rain on the evil and on the good; and the righteous man undergoes no peril on this account. For those who conquer and those who are conquered are in the same place of running, but only those who have bravely undergone the race are where the garland is bestowed; and no one is crowned, unless he strive lawfully. For every one shall give account of himself, and God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked; for with Him it is a constant rule, that innocence is never punished. For neither did He drown Noah, nor burn up Lot, nor destroy Rahab for company. And if you desire to know how this matter was among us, Judas was one of us, and took the like part of the ministry which we had; and Simon the Magician received the seal of the Lord. Yet both the one and the other proving wicked, the former hanged himself, and the latter, as he flew in the air in a manner unnatural, was dashed against the earth. Moreover, Noah and his sons with him were in the ark; but Ham, who alone was found wicked, received punishment in his son. But if fathers are not punished for their children, nor children for their fathers, it is thence clear that neither will wives be punished for their husbands, nor servants for their masters, nor one relation for another, nor one friend for another, nor the righteous for the wicked. But every one will be required an account of his own doing. For neither was punishment inflicted on Noah for the world, nor was Lot destroyed by fire for the Sodomites, nor was Rahab slain for the inhabitants of Jericho, nor Israel for the Egyptians. For not the dwelling together, but the agreement in their sentiments, alone could condemn the righteous with the wicked. We ought not therefore to hearken to such persons who call for death, and hate mankind, and love accusations, and under fair pretences bring men to death. For one man shall not die for another, but every one is held with the chains of his own sins. And, behold, the man and his work is before his face. Now we ought to assist those who are with us, and are in danger, and fall, and, as far as lies in our power, to reduce them to sobriety by our exhortations, and so save them from death. For the whole have no need of the physician, but the sick; since it is not pleasing in the sight of your Father that one of these little ones should perish. For we ought not to establish the will of hard-hearted men, but the will of the God and Father of the universe, which is revealed to us by Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

As to a good shepherd, let the lay person honour him, love him, reverence him as his lord, as his master, as the high priest of God, as a teacher of piety. For he that hears him, hears Christ; and he that rejects him, rejects Christ; and he who does not receive Christ, does not receive His God and Father: for, says He, He that hears you, hears me; and he that rejects you, rejects me; and he that rejects me, rejects Him that sent me. In like manner, let the bishop love the laity as his children, fostering and cherishing them with affectionate diligence; as eggs, in order to the hatching of young ones; or as young ones, taking them in his arms, to the rearing them into birds: admonishing all men; reproving all who stand in need of reproof; reproving, that is, but not striking; beating them down to make them ashamed, but not overthrowing them; warning them in order to their conversion: chiding them in order to their reformation and better course of life; watching the strong, that is, keeping him firm in the faith who is already strong; feeding the people peaceably; strengthening the weak, that is, confirming with exhortation that which is tempted; healing that which is sick, that is, curing by instruction that which is weak in the faith through doubtfulness of mind; binding up that which is broken, that is, binding up by comfortable admonitions that which is gone astray, or wounded, bruised, or broken by their sins, and put out of the way; leasing it of its offenses, and giving hope: by this means restore it in strength to the Church, bringing it back into the flock. Bring again that which is driven away, that is, do not permit that which is in its sins, and is cast out by way of punishment, to continue excluded; but receiving it, and bringing it back, restore it to the flock, that is, to the people of the undefiled Church. Seek for that which is lost, that is, do not suffer that which desponds of its salvation, by reason of the multitude of its offenses, utterly to perish. Search for that which is grown sleepy, drowsy, and sluggish, and that which is unmindful of its own life, through the depth of its sleep, and which is at a great distance from its own flock, so as to be in danger of falling among the wolves, and being devoured by them. Bring it back by admonition, exhort it to be watchful; and insinuate hope, not permitting it to say that which was said by some: Our impieties are upon us, and we pine away in them; how shall we then live? As far as possible, therefore, let the bishop make the offense his own, and say to the sinner, Do thou but return, and I will undertake to suffer death for you, as our Lord suffered death for me, and for all men. For the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; but he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, that is, the devil, and he leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf seizes upon them. We must know, therefore, that God is very merciful to those who have offended, and has promised repentance with an oath. But he who has offended, and is unacquainted with this promise of God concerning repentance, and does not understand His long-suffering and forbearance, and besides is ignorant of the Holy Scriptures, which proclaim repentance, inasmuch as he has never learned them from you, perishes through his folly. But — like a compassionate shepherd, and a diligent feeder of the flock — search out, and keep an account of your flock. Seek that which is wanting; as the Lord God our gracious Father has sent His own Son, the good Shepherd and Saviour, our Master Jesus, and has commanded Him to leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and to go in search after that which was lost, and when He had found it, to take it upon His shoulders, and to carry it into the flock, rejoicing that He had found that which was lost. In like manner, be obedient, O bishop, and seek that which was lost, guide that which has wandered out of the right way, bring back that which is gone astray: for you have authority to bring them back, and to deliver those that are broken-hearted by remission. For by you does our Saviour say to him who is discouraged under the sense of his sins, Your sins are forgiven you: your faith has saved you; go in peace. But this peace and haven of tranquillity is the Church of Christ, into which do you, when you have loosed them from their sins, restore them, as being now sound and unblameable, of good hope, diligent, laborious in good works. As a skilful and compassionate physician, heal all such as have wandered in the ways of sin; for they that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For the Son of man came to save and to seek that which was lost. Since you are therefore a physician of the Lord's Church, provide remedies suitable to every patient's case. Cure them, heal them by all means possible; restore them sound to the Church. Feed the flock, not with insolence and contempt, as lording it over them, but as a gentle shepherd, gathering the lambs into your bosom, and gently leading those which are with young.

As to a good shepherd, let the lay person honour him, love him, reverence him as his lord, as his master, as the high priest of God, as a teacher of piety. For he that hears him, hears Christ; and he that rejects him, rejects Christ; and he who does not receive Christ, does not receive His God and Father: for, says He, He that hears you, hears me; and he that rejects you, rejects me; and he that rejects me, rejects Him that sent me. In like manner, let the bishop love the laity as his children, fostering and cherishing them with affectionate diligence; as eggs, in order to the hatching of young ones; or as young ones, taking them in his arms, to the rearing them into birds: admonishing all men; reproving all who stand in need of reproof; reproving, that is, but not striking; beating them down to make them ashamed, but not overthrowing them; warning them in order to their conversion: chiding them in order to their reformation and better course of life; watching the strong, that is, keeping him firm in the faith who is already strong; feeding the people peaceably; strengthening the weak, that is, confirming with exhortation that which is tempted; healing that which is sick, that is, curing by instruction that which is weak in the faith through doubtfulness of mind; binding up that which is broken, that is, binding up by comfortable admonitions that which is gone astray, or wounded, bruised, or broken by their sins, and put out of the way; leasing it of its offenses, and giving hope: by this means restore it in strength to the Church, bringing it back into the flock. Bring again that which is driven away, that is, do not permit that which is in its sins, and is cast out by way of punishment, to continue excluded; but receiving it, and bringing it back, restore it to the flock, that is, to the people of the undefiled Church. Seek for that which is lost, that is, do not suffer that which desponds of its salvation, by reason of the multitude of its offenses, utterly to perish. Search for that which is grown sleepy, drowsy, and sluggish, and that which is unmindful of its own life, through the depth of its sleep, and which is at a great distance from its own flock, so as to be in danger of falling among the wolves, and being devoured by them. Bring it back by admonition, exhort it to be watchful; and insinuate hope, not permitting it to say that which was said by some: Our impieties are upon us, and we pine away in them; how shall we then live? As far as possible, therefore, let the bishop make the offense his own, and say to the sinner, Do thou but return, and I will undertake to suffer death for you, as our Lord suffered death for me, and for all men. For the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep; but he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, that is, the devil, and he leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf seizes upon them. We must know, therefore, that God is very merciful to those who have offended, and has promised repentance with an oath. But he who has offended, and is unacquainted with this promise of God concerning repentance, and does not understand His long-suffering and forbearance, and besides is ignorant of the Holy Scriptures, which proclaim repentance, inasmuch as he has never learned them from you, perishes through his folly. But — like a compassionate shepherd, and a diligent feeder of the flock — search out, and keep an account of your flock. Seek that which is wanting; as the Lord God our gracious Father has sent His own Son, the good Shepherd and Saviour, our Master Jesus, and has commanded Him to leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and to go in search after that which was lost, and when He had found it, to take it upon His shoulders, and to carry it into the flock, rejoicing that He had found that which was lost. In like manner, be obedient, O bishop, and seek that which was lost, guide that which has wandered out of the right way, bring back that which is gone astray: for you have authority to bring them back, and to deliver those that are broken-hearted by remission. For by you does our Saviour say to him who is discouraged under the sense of his sins, Your sins are forgiven you: your faith has saved you; go in peace. But this peace and haven of tranquillity is the Church of Christ, into which do you, when you have loosed them from their sins, restore them, as being now sound and unblameable, of good hope, diligent, laborious in good works. As a skilful and compassionate physician, heal all such as have wandered in the ways of sin; for they that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For the Son of man came to save and to seek that which was lost. Since you are therefore a physician of the Lord's Church, provide remedies suitable to every patient's case. Cure them, heal them by all means possible; restore them sound to the Church. Feed the flock, not with insolence and contempt, as lording it over them, but as a gentle shepherd, gathering the lambs into your bosom, and gently leading those which are with young.

But if any one returns, and shows forth the fruit of repentance, then do you receive him to prayer, as the lost son, the prodigal, who had consumed his father's substance with harlots, who fed swine, and desired to be fed with husks, and could not obtain it. This son, when he repented, and returned to his father, and said, I have sinned against Heaven, and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son; the father, full of affection to his child, received him with music, and restored him his old robe, and ring, and shoes, and slew the fatted calf, and made merry with his friends. Therefore, O bishop, act in the same manner. And as you receive an heathen after you have instructed and baptized him, so do you let all join in prayers for this man, and restore him by imposition of hands to his ancient place among the flock, as one purified by repentance; and that imposition of hands shall be to him instead of baptism: for by the laying on of our hands the Holy Ghost was given to believers. And in case some one of those brethren who had stood immoveable accuse you, because you are reconciled to him, say to him: You are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was meet to make merry and be glad: for this your brother was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. For that God does not only receive the penitent, but restores them to their former dignity, holy David is a sufficient witness, who, after his sin in the matter of Uriah, prayed to God, and said: Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with Your free Spirit. And again: Turn Your face from my sins, and blot out all mine offenses. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my inward parts. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Therefore, as a compassionate physician, heal all that have sinned, making use of saving methods of cure; not only cutting and searing, or using corrosives, but binding up, and putting in tents, and using gentle healing medicines, and sprinkling comfortable words. If it be an hollow wound, or great gash, nourish it with a suitable plaister, that it may be filled up, and become even with the rest of the whole flesh. If it be foul, cleanse it with corrosive powder, that is, with the words of reproof. If it have proud flesh, eat it down with a sharp plaister — the threats of judgment. If it spreads further, sear it, and cut off the putrid flesh, mortifying him with fastings. But if, after all that you have done, you perceive that from the feet to the head there is no room for a fomentation, or oil, or bandage, but that the malady spreads and prevents all cure, as a gangrene which corrupts the entire member; then, with a great deal of consideration, and the advice of other skilful physicians, cut off the putrefied member, that the whole body of the Church be not corrupted. Be not therefore ready and hasty to cut off, nor do you easily have recourse to the saw, with its many teeth; but first use a lancet to lay open the wound, that the inward cause whence the pain is derived being drawn out, may keep the body free from pain. But if you see any one past repentance, and he has become insensible, then cut off the incurable from the Church with sorrow and lamentation. For: Take out from among yourselves that wicked person. And: You shall make the children of Israel to fear. And again: You shall not accept the persons of the rich in judgment. And: You shall not pity a poor man in his cause: for the judgment is the Lord's.

You shall therefore cast him out of the congregation as a murderer of his brother. Some time afterwards, if he says that he repents, mortify him with fastings, and afterwards you shall lay your hands upon him and receive him, but still securing him, that he does not disturb anybody a second time. But if, when he is admitted again, he be alike troublesome, and will not cease to disturb and to quarrel with his brother, spying faults out of a contentious spirit, cast him out as a pernicious person, that he may not lay waste the Church of God. For such a one is the raiser of disturbances in cities; for he, though he be within, does not become the Church, but is a superfluous and vain member, casting a blot, as far as in him lies, on the body of Christ. For if such men as are born with superfluous members of their body, which hang to them as fingers, or excrescences of flesh, cut them away from themselves on account of their indecency, whereby the unseemliness vanishes, and the man recovers his natural good shape by the means of the surgeon; how much more ought you, the pastors of the Church (for the Church is a perfect body, and sound members; of such as believe in God, in the fear of the Lord, and in love), to do the like when there is found in it a superfluous member with wicked designs, and rendering the rest of the body unseemly, and disturbing it with sedition, and war, and evil-speaking; causing fears, disturbances, blots, evil-speaking, accusations, disorders, and doing the like works of the devil, as if he were ordained by the devil to cast a reproach on the Church by calumnies, and mighty disorders, and strife, and division! Such a one, therefore, when he is a second time cast out of the Church, is justly cut off entirely from the congregation of the Lord. And now the Church of the Lord will be more beautiful than it was before, when it had a superfluous, and to itself a disagreeable member. Wherefore henceforward it will be free from blame and reproach, and become clear of such wicked, deceitful, abusive, unmerciful, traitorous persons; of such as are haters of those that are good, lovers of pleasure, affecters of vainglory, deceivers, and pretenders to wisdom; of such as make it their business to scatter, or rather utterly to disperse, the lambs of the Lord.

Let not the heathen therefore know of your differences among one another, nor do you receive unbelievers as witnesses against yourselves, nor be judged by them, nor owe them anything on account of tribute or fear; but render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's, as tribute, taxes, or poll-money, as our Lord by giving a piece of money was freed from disturbance. Choose therefore rather to suffer harm, and to endeavour after those things that make for peace, not only among the brethren, but also among the unbelievers. For by suffering loss in the affairs of this life, you will be sure not to suffer in the concerns of piety, and will live religiously, and according to the command of Christ. But if brethren have lawsuits one with another, which God forbid, you who are the rulers ought thence to learn that such as these do not do the work of brethren in the Lord, but rather of public enemies; and one of the parties will be found to be mild, gentle, and the child of light; but the other unmerciful, insolent, and covetous. Let him, therefore, who is condemned be rebuked, let him be separated, let him undergo the punishment of his hatred to his brother. Afterwards, when he repents, let him be received; and so, when they have learned prudence, they will ease your judicatures. It is also a duty to forgive each other's trespasses — not the duty of those that judge, but of those that have quarrels; as the Lord determined when I Peter asked Him, How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? He replied, I say not unto you, Until seven times, but until seventy times seven. For so would our Lord have us to be truly His disciples, and never to have anything against anybody; as, for instance, anger without measure, passion without mercy, covetousness without justice, hatred without reconciliation. Draw by your instruction those who are angry to friendship, and those who are at variance to agreement. For the Lord says: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

We said before that judgment ought not to be given upon hearing only one of the parties; for if you hear one of them when the other is not there, and so cannot make his defense to the accusation brought against him, and rashly give your votes for condemnation, you will be found guilty of that man's destruction, and partaker with the false accuser before God, the just Judge. For as he that holds the tail of a dog, so is he that presides at unjust judgment. But if you become imitators of the elders in Babylon, who, when they had borne witness against Susanna, unjustly condemned her to death, you will become obnoxious to their judgment and condemnation. For the Lord by Daniel delivered Susanna from the hand of the ungodly, but condemned to the fire those elders who were guilty of her blood, and reproaches you by him, saying: Are you so foolish, you children of Israel? Without examination, and without knowing the truth, have you condemned a daughter of Israel? Return again to the place of judgment, for these men have borne false witness against her.

Wherefore, O bishop, when you are to go to prayer after the lessons, and the psalmody, and the instruction out of the Scriptures, let the deacon stand near you, and with a loud voice say: Let none have any quarrel with another; let none come in hypocrisy; that if there be any controversy found among any of you, they may be affected in conscience, and may pray to God, and be reconciled to their brethren. For if, upon coming into any one's house, we are to say, Peace be to this house, like sons of peace bestowing peace on those who are worthy, as it is written, He came and preached peace to you that are near, and those who are far off, whom the Lord knows to be His, much more is it incumbent on those that enter into the Church of God before all things to pray for the peace of God. But if he prays for it upon others, much more let himself be within the same, as a child of light; for he that has it not within himself is not fit to bestow it upon others. Wherefore, before all things, it is our duty to be at peace in our own minds; for he that does not find any disorder in himself will not quarrel with another, but will be peaceable, friendly, gathering the Lord's people, and a fellow-worker with him, in order to the increasing the number of those that shall be saved in unanimity. For those who contrive enmities, and strifes, and contests, and lawsuits, are wicked, and aliens from God.

When you call an assembly of the Church as one that is the commander of a great ship, appoint the assemblies to be made with all possible skill, charging the deacons as mariners to prepare places for the brethren as for passengers, with all due care and decency. And first, let the building be long, with its head to the east, with its vestries on both sides at the east end, and so it will be like a ship. In the middle let the bishop's throne be placed, and on each side of him let the presbytery sit down; and let the deacons stand near at hand, in close and small girt garments, for they are like the mariners and managers of the ship: with regard to these, let the laity sit on the other side, with all quietness and good order. And let the women sit by themselves, they also keeping silence. In the middle, let the reader stand upon some high place: let him read the books of Moses, of Joshua the Son of Nun, of the Judges, and of the Kings and of the Chronicles, and those written after the return from the captivity; and besides these, the books of Job and of Solomon, and of the sixteen prophets. But when there have been two lessons severally read, let some other person sing the hymns of David, and let the people join at the conclusions of the verses. Afterwards let our Acts be read, and the Epistles of Paul our fellow-worker, which he sent to the churches under the conduct of the Holy Spirit; and afterwards let a deacon or a presbyter read the Gospels, both those which I Matthew and John have delivered to you, and those which the fellow-workers of Paul received and left to you, Luke and Mark. And while the Gospel is read, let all the presbyters and deacons, and all the people, stand up in great silence; for it is written: Be silent, and hear, O Israel. And again: But stand there, and hear. In the next place, let the presbyters one by one, not all together, exhort the people, and the bishop in the last place, as being the commander. Let the porters stand at the entries of the men, and observe them. Let the deaconesses also stand at those of the women, like shipmen. For the same description and pattern was both in the tabernacle of the testimony and in the temple of God. But if any one be found sitting out of his place, let him be rebuked by the deacon, as a manager of the foreship, and be removed into the place proper for him; for the Church is not only like a ship, but also like a sheepfold. For as the shepherds place all the brute creatures distinctly, I mean goats and sheep, according to their kind and age, and still every one runs together, like to his like; so is it to be in the Church. Let the young persons sit by themselves, if there be a place for them; if not, let them stand upright. But let those that are already stricken in years sit in order. For the children which stand, let their fathers and mothers take them to them. Let the younger women also sit by themselves, if there be a place for them; but if there be not, let them stand behind the women. Let those women which are married, and have children, be placed by themselves; but let the virgins, and the widows, and the elder women, stand or sit before all the rest; and let the deacon be the disposer of the places, that every one of those that comes in may go to his proper place, and may not sit at the entrance. In like manner, let the deacon oversee the people, that nobody may whisper, nor slumber, nor laugh, nor nod; for all ought in the church to stand wisely, and soberly, and attentively, having their attention fixed upon the word of the Lord. After this, let all rise up with one consent, and looking towards the east, after the catechumens and penitents are gone out, pray to God eastward, who ascended up to the heaven of heavens to the east; remembering also the ancient situation of paradise in the east, from whence the first man, when he had yielded to the persuasion of the serpent, and disobeyed the command of God, was expelled. As to the deacons, after the prayer is over, let some of them attend upon the oblation of the Eucharist, ministering to the Lord's body with fear. Let others of them watch the multitude, and keep them silent. But let that deacon who is at the high priest's hand say to the people, Let no one have any quarrel against another; let no one come in hypocrisy. Then let the men give the men, and the women give the women, the Lord's kiss. But let no one do it with deceit, as Judas betrayed the Lord with a kiss. After this let the deacon pray for the whole Church, for the whole world, and the several parts of it, and the fruits of it; for the priests and the rulers, for the high priest and the king, and the peace of the universe. After this let the high priest pray for peace upon the people, and bless them, as Moses commanded the priests to bless the people, in these words: The Lord bless you, and keep you: the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace. Let the bishop pray for the people, and say: Save Your people, O Lord, and bless Your inheritance, which You have obtained with the precious blood of Your Christ, and hast called a royal priesthood, and an holy nation. After this let the sacrifice follow, the people standing, and praying silently; and when the oblation has been made, let every rank by itself partake of the Lord's body and precious blood in order, and approach with reverence and holy fear, as to the body of their king. Let the women approach with their heads covered, as is becoming the order of women; but let the door be watched, lest any unbeliever, or one not yet initiated, come in.

Choose your widows not under sixty years of age, that in some measure the suspicion of a second marriage may be prevented by their age. But if you admit one younger into the order of widows, and she cannot bear her widowhood in her youth, and marries, she will procure indecent reflections on the glory of the order of the widows, and shall give an account to God; not because she married a second time, but because she has grown wanton against Christ, and not kept her promise, because she did not come and keep her promise with faith and the fear of God. Wherefore such a promise ought not to be rashly made, but with great caution: for it is better for her not to vow, than to vow and not to pay. But if any younger woman, who has lived but a while with her husband, and has lost him by death or some other occasion, and remains by herself, having the gift of widowhood, she will be found to be blessed, and to be like the widow of Sarepta, belonging to Sidon, with whom the holy prophet of God, Elijah, lodged. Such a one may also be compared to Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser, which departed not from the temple, but continued in supplications and prayers night and day, who was fourscore years old, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity, who glorified the coming of Christ, and gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke concerning Him to all those who looked for redemption in Israel. Such a widow will have a good report, and will be honoured, having both glory with men upon earth, and eternal praise with God in heaven.

If, therefore, this prophetess confesses the resurrection, and does not deny the restoration of all things, and distinguishes the godly from the ungodly, it is in vain for them to deny our doctrine. Nay, indeed, they say they can show a resemblance of the resurrection, while they do not themselves believe the things they declare: for they say that there is a bird single in its kind which affords a copious demonstration of the resurrection, which they say is without a mate, and the only one in the creation. They call it a phœnix, and relate that every five hundred years it comes into Egypt, to that which is called the altar of the sun, and brings with it a great quantity of cinnamon, and cassia, and balsam-wood, and standing towards the east, as they say, and praying to the sun, of its own accord is burnt, and becomes dust; but that a worm arises again out of those ashes, and that when the same is warmed it is formed into a new-born phoenix; and when it is able to fly, it goes to Arabia, which is beyond the Egyptian countries. If, therefore, as even themselves say, a resurrection is exhibited by the means of an irrational bird, wherefore do they vainly disparage our accounts, when we profess that He who by His power brings that into being which was not in being before, is able to restore this body, and raise it up again after its dissolution? For on account of this full assurance of hope we undergo stripes, and persecutions, and deaths. Otherwise we should to no purpose undergo such things if we had not a full assurance of these promises, whereof we profess ourselves to be the preachers. As, therefore, we believe Moses when he says, In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth; and we know that He did not want matter, but by His will alone brought those things into being which Christ was commanded to make; we mean the heaven, the earth, the sea, the light, the night, the day, the luminaries, the stars, the fowls, the fishes, and four-footed beasts, the creeping things, the plants, and the herbs; so also will He raise all men up by His will, as not wanting any assistance. For it is the work of the same power to create the world and to raise the dead. And then He made man, who was not a man before, of different parts, giving to him a soul made out of nothing. But now He will restore the bodies, which have been dissolved, to the souls that are still in being: for the rising again belongs to things laid down, not to things which have no being. He therefore that made the original bodies out of nothing, and fashioned various forms of them, will also again revive and raise up those that are dead. For He that formed man in the womb out of a little seed, and created in him a soul which was not in being before — as He Himself somewhere speaks to Jeremiah, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; and elsewhere, I am the Lord who established the heaven, and laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man in him, — will also raise up all men, as being His workmanship; as also the divine Scripture testifies that God said to Christ, His only-begotten, Let us make man after our image, and after our likeness. And God made man: after the image of God made He him; male and female made He them. And the most divine and patient Job, of whom the Scripture says that it is written, that he was to rise again with those whom the Lord raises up, speaks to God thus: Have you not milked me like milk, and curdled me like cheese? You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and favour, and Your visitation has preserved my spirit. Having these things within me, I know that You can do all things, and that nothing is impossible with You. Wherefore also our Saviour and Master Jesus Christ says, that what is impossible with men is possible with God. And David, the beloved of God, says: Your hands have made me, and fashioned me. And again: You know my frame. And afterward: You have fashioned me, and laid Your hand upon me. The knowledge of You is declared to be too wonderful for me; it is very great, I cannot attain unto it. Your eyes did see my substance, being yet imperfect; and all men shall be written in Your book. Nay, and Isaiah says in his prayer to Him: We are the clay, and You are the framer of us. If, therefore, man be His workmanship, made by Christ, by Him most certainly will he after he is dead be raised again, with intention either of being crowned for his good actions or punished for his transgressions. But if He, being the legislator, judges with righteousness; as He punishes the ungodly, so does He do good to and saves the faithful. And those saints who for His sake have been slain by men, some of them He will make light as the stars, and make others bright as the luminaries, as Gabriel said to Daniel. All we of the faithful, therefore, who are the disciples of Christ, believe His promises. For He that has promised it cannot lie; as says the blessed prophet David: The Lord is faithful in all His words, and holy in all His works. For He that framed for Himself a body out of a virgin, is also the Former of other men. And He that raised Himself from the dead, will also raise again all that are laid down. He who raises wheat out of the ground with many stalks from one grain, He who makes the tree that is cut down send forth fresh branches, He that made Aaron's dry rod put forth buds, will raise us up in glory; He that raised Him up that had the palsy whole, and healed him that had the withered hand, He that supplied a defective part to him that was born blind from clay and spittle, will raise us up; He that satisfied five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes, and caused a remainder of twelve baskets, and out of water made wine, and sent a piece of money out of a fish's mouth by me Peter to those that demanded tribute, will raise the dead. For we testify all these things concerning Him, and the prophets testify the other. We who have eaten and drunk with Him, and have been spectators of His wonderful works, and of His life, and of His conduct, and of His words, and of His sufferings, and of His death, and of His resurrection from the dead, and who associated with Him forty days after His resurrection, and who received a command from Him to preach the Gospel to all the world, and to make disciples of all nations, and to baptize them into His death by the authority of the God of the universe, who is His Father, and by the testimony of the Spirit, who is His Comforter, — we teach you all these things which He appointed us by His constitutions, before He was received up in our sight into heaven, to Him that sent Him. And if you will believe, you shall be happy; but if you will not believe, we shall be found innocent, and clear from your incredulity.

For they began to hold a council against the Lord on the second day of the week, in the first month, which is Xanthicus; and the deliberation continued on the third day of the week; but on the fourth day they determined to take away His life by crucifixion. And Judas knowing this, who for a long time had been perverted, but was then smitten by the devil himself with the love of money, although he had been long entrusted with the purse, and used to steal what was set apart for the needy, yet was he not cast off by the Lord, through much long-suffering; nay, and when we were once feasting with Him, being willing both to reduce him to his duty and instruct us in His own foreknowledge, He said: Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you will betray me; and every one of us saying, Is it I? And the Lord being silent, I, who was one of the twelve, and more beloved by Him than the rest, arose up from lying in His bosom, and besought Him to tell who it should be that should betray Him. Yet neither then did our good Lord declare His name, but gave two signs of the betrayer: one by saying, he that dips with me in the dish; a second, to whom I shall give the sop when I have dipped it. Nay, although he himself said, Master, is it I? the Lord did not say Yes, but, You have said. And being willing to affright him in the matter, He said: Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for him if he had never been born. Who, when he had heard that, went his way, and said to the priests, What will you give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they bargained with him for thirty pieces of silver. And the scripture was fulfilled, which said, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the house of the potter. And on the fifth day of the week, when we had eaten the passover with Him, and when Judas had dipped his hand into the dish, and received the sop, and had gone out by night, the Lord said to us: The hour has come that you shall be dispersed, and shall leave me alone; and every one vehemently affirming that they would not forsake Him, I Peter adding this promise, that I would even die with Him, He said, Verily I say unto you, Before the cock crows, you shall thrice deny that you know me. And when He had delivered to us the representative mysteries of His precious body and blood, Judas not being present with us, He went out to the Mount of Olives, near the brook Cedron, where there was a garden; and we were with Him, and sang an hymn according to the custom. And being separated not far from us, He prayed to His Father, saying: Father, remove this cup away from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done. And when He had done this thrice, while we out of despondency of mind were fallen asleep, He came and said: The hour has come, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. And behold Judas, and with him a multitude of ungodly men, to whom he shows the signal by which he was to betray Him — a deceitful kiss. But they, when they had received the signal agreed on, took hold of the Lord; and having bound Him, they led Him to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, wherein were assembled many, not the people, but a great rout, not an holy council, but an assembly of the wicked and council of the ungodly, who did many things against Him, and left no kind of injury untried, spitting upon Him, cavilling at Him, beating Him, smiting Him on the face, reviling Him, tempting Him, seeking vain divination instead of true prophecies from Him, calling Him a deceiver, a blasphemer, a transgressor of Moses, a destroyer of the temple, a taker away of sacrifices, an enemy to the Romans, an adversary to Cæsar. And these reproaches did these bulls and dogs in their madness cast upon Him, till it was very early in the morning, and then they lead Him away to Annas, who was father-in-law to Caiaphas; and when they had done the like things to Him there, it being the day of the preparation, they delivered Him to Pilate the Roman governor, accusing Him of many and great things, none of which they could prove. Whereupon the governor, as out of patience with them, said: I find no cause against Him. But they bringing two lying witnesses, wished to accuse the Lord falsely; but they being found to disagree, and so their testimony not conspiring together, they altered the accusation to that of treason, saying, This fellow says that He is a king, and forbids to give tribute to Cæsar. And themselves became accusers, and witnesses, and judges, and authors of the sentence, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him; that it might be fulfilled which is written by the prophets concerning Him, Unjust witnesses were gathered together against me, and injustice lied to itself; and again, Many dogs compassed me about, the assembly of the wicked laid siege against me; and elsewhere, My inheritance became to me as a lion in a wood, and has sent forth her voice against me. Pilate therefore, disgracing his authority by his pusillanimity, convicts himself of wickedness by regarding the multitude more than this just person, and bearing witness to Him that He was innocent, yet as guilty delivering Him up to the punishment of the cross, although the Romans had made laws that no man unconvicted should be put to death. But the executioners took the Lord of glory and nailed Him to the cross, crucifying Him indeed at the sixth hour, but having received the sentence of His condemnation at the third hour. After this they gave to Him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. Then they divided His garments by lot. Then they crucified two malefactors with Him, on each side one, that it might be fulfilled which was written: They gave me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink. And again: They divided my garment among themselves, and upon my vesture have they cast lots. And in another place: And I was reckoned with the transgressors. Then there was darkness for three hours, from the sixth to the ninth, and again light in the evening; as it is written: It shall not be day nor night, and at the evening there shall be light. All which things, when those malefactors saw that were crucified with Him, the one of them reproached Him as though He was weak and unable to deliver Himself; but the other rebuked the ignorance of his fellow and turning to the Lord, as being enlightened by Him, and acknowledging who He was that suffered, he prayed that He would remember him in His kingdom hereafter. He then presently granted him the forgiveness of his former sins, and brought him into paradise to enjoy the mystical good things; who also cried out about the ninth hour, and said to His Father: My God! My God! Why have You forsaken me? And a little afterward, when He had cried with a loud voice, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and had added, Into Your hands I commit my spirit, He gave up the ghost, and was buried before sunset in a new sepulchre. But when the first day of the week dawned He arose from the dead, and fulfilled those things which before His passion He foretold to us, saying: The Son of man must continue in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. And when He was risen from the dead, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, then to Cleopas in the way, and after that to us His disciples, who had fled away for fear of the Jews, but privately were very inquisitive about Him. But these things are also written in the Gospel.

He therefore charged us Himself to fast these six days on account of the impiety and transgression of the Jews, commanding us withal to bewail over them, and lament for their perdition. For even He Himself wept over them, because they knew not the time of their visitation. But He commanded us to fast on the fourth and sixth days of the week; the former on account of His being betrayed, and the latter on account of His passion. But He appointed us to break our fast on the seventh day at the cock-crowing, but to fast on the Sabbath day. Not that the Sabbath day is a day of fasting, being the rest from the creation, but because we ought to fast on this one Sabbath only, while on this day the Creator was under the earth. For on their very feast-day they apprehended the Lord, that oracle might be fulfilled which says: They placed their signs in the middle of their feast, and knew them not. You ought therefore to bewail over them, because when the Lord came they did not believe in Him, but rejected His doctrine, judging themselves unworthy of salvation. You therefore are happy who once were not a people, but are now an holy nation, delivered from the deceit of idols, from ignorance, from impiety, who once had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy through your hearty obedience: for to you, the converted Gentiles, is opened the gate of life, who formerly were not beloved, but are now beloved; a people ordained for the possession of God, to show forth His virtues, concerning whom our Saviour said, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest to them that asked not after me. I said, Behold me, to a nation which did not call upon my name. For when you did not seek after Him, then were you sought for by Him; and you who have believed in Him have hearkened to His call, and have left the madness of polytheism, and have fled to the true monarchy, to Almighty God, through Christ Jesus, and have become the completion of the number of the saved — ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; as it is written in David, A thousand shall fall beside you, and ten thousand at your right hand; and again, The chariots of God are by tens of thousands, and thousands of the prosperous. But unto unbelieving Israel He says: All the day long have I stretched out mine hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people, which go in a way that is not good, but after their own sins, a people provoking me before my face.

For even now, on the tenth day of the month Gorpiæus, when they assemble together, they read the Lamentations of Jeremiah, in which it is said, The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord was taken in their destructions; and Baruch, in whom it is written, This is our God; no other shall be esteemed with Him. He found out every way of knowledge, and showed it to Jacob His son, and Israel His beloved. Afterwards He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men. And when they read them, they lament and bewail, as themselves suppose, that desolation which happened by Nebuchadnezzar; but, as the truth shows, they unwillingly make a prelude to that lamentation which will overtake them. But after ten days from the ascension, which from the first Lord's day is the fiftieth day, keep a great festival: for on that day, at the third hour, the Lord Jesus sent on us the gift of the Holy Ghost, and we were filled with His energy, and we spoke with new tongues, as that Spirit did suggest to us; and we preached both to Jews and Gentiles, that He is the Christ of God, who is determined by Him to be the Judge of quick and dead. To Him did Moses bear witness, and said: The Lord received fire from the Lord, and rained it down. Him did Jacob see as a man, and said: I have seen God face to face, and my soul is preserved. Him did Abraham entertain, and acknowledge to be the Judge, and his Lord. Him did Moses see in the bush; concerning Him did he speak in Deuteronomy: A Prophet will the Lord your God raise up unto you out of your brethren, like me; Him shall you hear in all things, whatsoever He shall say unto you. And it shall be, that every soul that will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among his people. Him did Joshua the Son of Nun see, as the captain of the Lord's host, in armour, for their assistance against Jericho; to whom he fell down, and worshipped, as a servant does to his master. Him Samuel knew as the Anointed of God, and thence named the priests and the kings the anointed. Him David knew, and sung an hymn concerning Him, A song concerning the Beloved; and adds in his person, and says, Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O You who are mighty in Your beauty and renown: go on, and prosper, and reign, for the sake of truth, and meekness, and righteousness; and Your right hand shall guide You after a wonderful manner. Your darts are sharpened, O You that are mighty; the people shall fall under You in the heart of the king's enemies. Wherefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows. Concerning Him also spoke Solomon, as in His person: The Lord created me the beginning of His ways, for His works: before the world He founded me, in the beginning before He made the earth, before the fountains of waters came, before the mountains were fastened; He begot me before all the hills. And again: Wisdom built herself a house. Concerning Him also Isaiah said: A Branch shall come out of the root of Jesse, and a Flower shall spring out of his root. And, There shall be a root of Jesse; and He that is to rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him shall the Gentiles trust. And Zechariah says: Behold, your King comes unto you, just, and having salvation; meek, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. Him Daniel describes as the Son of man coming to the Father, and receiving all judgment and honour from Him; and as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and becoming a great mountain, and filling the whole earth, dashing to pieces the many governments of the smaller countries, and the polytheism of gods, but preaching the one God, and ordaining the monarchy of the Romans. Concerning Him also did Jeremiah prophesy, saying: The Spirit before His face, Christ the Lord, was taken in their snares: of whom we said, Under His shadow we shall live among the Gentiles. Ezekiel also, and the following prophets, affirm everywhere that He is the Christ, the Lord, the King, the Judge, the Lawgiver, the Angel of the Father, the only-begotten God. Him therefore do we also preach to you, and declare Him to be God the Word, who ministered to His God and Father for the creation of the universe. By believing in Him you shall live, but by disbelieving you shall be punished. For he that is disobedient to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Therefore, after you have kept the festival of Pentecost, keep one week more festival, and after that fast; for it is reasonable to rejoice for the gift of God, and to fast after that relaxation: for both Moses and Elijah fasted forty days, and Daniel for three weeks of days did not eat desirable bread, and flesh and wine did not enter into his mouth. And blessed Hannah, when she asked for Samuel, said: I have not drunk wine nor strong drink, and I pour out my soul before the Lord. And the Ninevites, when they fasted three days and three nights, escaped the execution of wrath. And Esther, and Mordecai, and Judith, by fasting, escaped the insurrection of the ungodly Holofernes and Haman. And David says: My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh fails for want of oil. You should therefore fast, and ask your petitions of God. We enjoin you to fast every fourth day of the week, and every day of the preparation, and the surplusage of your fast bestow upon the needy; every Sabbath day excepting one, and every Lord's day, hold your solemn assemblies, and rejoice: for he will be guilty of sin who fasts on the Lord's day, being the day of the resurrection, or during the time of Pentecost, or, in general, who is sad on a festival day to the Lord. For on them we ought to rejoice, and not to mourn.

Above all things, O bishop, avoid the sad and dangerous and most atheistical heresies, eschewing them as fire that burns those that come near to it. Avoid also schisms: for it is neither lawful to turn one's mind towards wicked heresies, nor to separate from those of the same sentiment out of ambition. For some who ventured to set up such practices of old did not escape punishment. For Dathan and Abiram, who set up in opposition to Moses, were swallowed up into the earth. But Corah, and those two hundred and fifty who with him raised a sedition against Aaron, were consumed by fire. Miriam also, who reproached Moses, was cast out of the camp for seven days; for she said that Moses had taken an Ethiopian to wife. Nay, in the case of Azariah and Uzziah, the latter of which was king of Judah, but venturing to usurp the priesthood, and desiring to offer incense, which it was not lawful for him to do, was hindered by Azariah the high priest, and the fourscore priests; and when he would not obey he found the leprosy to arise in his forehead, and he hastened to go out, because the Lord had reproved him.

Let us therefore, beloved, consider what sort of glory that of the seditious is, and what their condemnation. For if he that rises up against kings is worthy of punishment, even though he be a son or a friend, how much more he that rises up against the priests! For by how much the priesthood is more noble than the royal power, as having its concern about the soul, so much has he a greater punishment who ventures to oppose the priesthood, than he who ventures to oppose the royal power, although neither of them goes unpunished. For neither did Absalom nor Abdadan escape without punishment; nor Corah and Dathan. The former rose against David, and strove concerning the kingdom; the latter against Moses, concerning pre-eminence. And they both spoke evil; Absalom of his father David, as of an unjust judge, saying to every one: Your words are good, but there is no one that will hear you, and do you justice. Who will make me a ruler? But Abdadan: I have no part in David, nor any inheritance in the son of Jesse. It is plain that he could not endure to be under David's government, of whom God spoke: I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my commands. But Dathan and Abiram, and the followers of Corah, said to Moses: Is it a small thing that you have brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of a land flowing with milk and honey? And why have you put out our eyes? And will you rule over us? And they gathered together against him a great congregation; and the followers of Corah said: Has God spoken alone to Moses? Why is it that He has given the high-priesthood to Aaron alone? Is not all the congregation of the Lord holy? And why is Aaron alone possessed of the priesthood? And before this, one said: Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

Receive the penitent, for this is the will of God in Christ. Instruct the catechumens in the elements of religion, and then baptize them. Eschew the antheistical heretics, who are past repentance, and separate them from the faithful, and excommunicate them from the Church of God, and charge the faithful to abstain entirely from them, and not to partake with them either in sermons or prayers: for these are those that are enemies to the Church, and lay snares for it; who corrupt the flock, and defile the heritage of Christ, pretenders only to wisdom, and the vilest of men; concerning whom Solomon the wise said: The wicked doers pretend to act piously. For, says he, there is a way which seems right to some, but the ends thereof look to the bottom of hell. These are they concerning whom the Lord declared His mind with bitterness and severity, saying that they are false Christs and false teachers; who have blasphemed the Spirit of grace, and done despite to the gift they had from Him after the grace of baptism, to whom forgiveness shall not be granted, neither in this world nor in that which is to come; who are both more wicked than the Jews and more atheistical than the Gentiles; who blaspheme the God over all, and tread under foot His Son, and do despite to the doctrine of the Spirit; who deny the words of God, or pretend hypocritically to receive them, to the affronting of God, and the deceiving of those that come among them; who abuse the Holy Scriptures, and as for righteousness, they do not so much as know what it is; who spoil the Church of God, as the little foxes do the vineyard; whom we exhort you to avoid, lest you lay traps for your own souls. For he that walks with wise men shall be wise, but he that walks with the foolish shall be known. For we ought neither to run along with a thief, nor put in our lot with an adulterer; since holy David says: O Lord, I have hated them that hate You, and I am withered away on account of Your enemies. I hated them with a perfect hatred: they were to me as enemies. And God reproaches Jehoshaphat with his friendship towards Ahab, and his league with him and with Ahaziah, by Jonah the prophet: Are you in friendship with a sinner? Or do you aid him that is hated by the Lord? For this cause the wrath of the Lord would be upon you suddenly, but that your heart is found perfect with the Lord. For this cause the Lord has spared you; yet are your works shattered, and your ships broken to pieces. Eschew therefore their fellowship, and estrange yourselves from their friendship. For concerning them did the prophet declare, and say: It is not lawful to rejoice with the ungodly, says the Lord. For these are hidden wolves, dumb dogs, that cannot bark, who at present are but few, but in process of time, when the end of the world draws near, will be more in number and more troublesome, of whom said the Lord, Will the Son of man, when He comes, find faith on the earth? and, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold; and, There shall come false Christs and false prophets, and shall show signs in the heaven, so as, if it were possible, to deceive the elect: from whose deceit God, through Jesus Christ, who is our hope, will deliver us. For we ourselves, as we passed through the nations, and confirmed the churches, curing some with much exhortation and healing words, restored them again when they were in the certain way to death. But those that were incurable we cast out from the flock, that they might not infect the lambs, which were found with their scabby disease, but might continue before the Lord God pure and undefiled, sound and unspotted. And this we did in every city, everywhere through the whole world, and have left to you the bishops and to the rest of the priests this very Catholic doctrine worthily and righteously, as a memorial or confirmation to those who have believed in God; and we have sent it by our fellow-minister Clement, our most faithful and intimate son in the Lord, together with Barnabas, and Timothy our most dearly beloved son, and the genuine Mark, together with whom we recommend to you also Titus and Luke, and Jason and Lucius, and Sosipater.

Receive the penitent, for this is the will of God in Christ. Instruct the catechumens in the elements of religion, and then baptize them. Eschew the antheistical heretics, who are past repentance, and separate them from the faithful, and excommunicate them from the Church of God, and charge the faithful to abstain entirely from them, and not to partake with them either in sermons or prayers: for these are those that are enemies to the Church, and lay snares for it; who corrupt the flock, and defile the heritage of Christ, pretenders only to wisdom, and the vilest of men; concerning whom Solomon the wise said: The wicked doers pretend to act piously. For, says he, there is a way which seems right to some, but the ends thereof look to the bottom of hell. These are they concerning whom the Lord declared His mind with bitterness and severity, saying that they are false Christs and false teachers; who have blasphemed the Spirit of grace, and done despite to the gift they had from Him after the grace of baptism, to whom forgiveness shall not be granted, neither in this world nor in that which is to come; who are both more wicked than the Jews and more atheistical than the Gentiles; who blaspheme the God over all, and tread under foot His Son, and do despite to the doctrine of the Spirit; who deny the words of God, or pretend hypocritically to receive them, to the affronting of God, and the deceiving of those that come among them; who abuse the Holy Scriptures, and as for righteousness, they do not so much as know what it is; who spoil the Church of God, as the little foxes do the vineyard; whom we exhort you to avoid, lest you lay traps for your own souls. For he that walks with wise men shall be wise, but he that walks with the foolish shall be known. For we ought neither to run along with a thief, nor put in our lot with an adulterer; since holy David says: O Lord, I have hated them that hate You, and I am withered away on account of Your enemies. I hated them with a perfect hatred: they were to me as enemies. And God reproaches Jehoshaphat with his friendship towards Ahab, and his league with him and with Ahaziah, by Jonah the prophet: Are you in friendship with a sinner? Or do you aid him that is hated by the Lord? For this cause the wrath of the Lord would be upon you suddenly, but that your heart is found perfect with the Lord. For this cause the Lord has spared you; yet are your works shattered, and your ships broken to pieces. Eschew therefore their fellowship, and estrange yourselves from their friendship. For concerning them did the prophet declare, and say: It is not lawful to rejoice with the ungodly, says the Lord. For these are hidden wolves, dumb dogs, that cannot bark, who at present are but few, but in process of time, when the end of the world draws near, will be more in number and more troublesome, of whom said the Lord, Will the Son of man, when He comes, find faith on the earth? and, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold; and, There shall come false Christs and false prophets, and shall show signs in the heaven, so as, if it were possible, to deceive the elect: from whose deceit God, through Jesus Christ, who is our hope, will deliver us. For we ourselves, as we passed through the nations, and confirmed the churches, curing some with much exhortation and healing words, restored them again when they were in the certain way to death. But those that were incurable we cast out from the flock, that they might not infect the lambs, which were found with their scabby disease, but might continue before the Lord God pure and undefiled, sound and unspotted. And this we did in every city, everywhere through the whole world, and have left to you the bishops and to the rest of the priests this very Catholic doctrine worthily and righteously, as a memorial or confirmation to those who have believed in God; and we have sent it by our fellow-minister Clement, our most faithful and intimate son in the Lord, together with Barnabas, and Timothy our most dearly beloved son, and the genuine Mark, together with whom we recommend to you also Titus and Luke, and Jason and Lucius, and Sosipater.

You shall not be an hypocrite, lest your portion be with them. You shall not be ill-natured nor proud: for God resists the proud. You shall not accept persons in judgment; for the judgment is the Lord's. You shall not hate any man; you shall surely reprove your brother, and not become guilty on his account; and, Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Eschew all evil, and all that is like it: for says He, Abstain from injustice, and trembling shall not come near you. Be not soon angry, nor spiteful, nor passionate, nor furious, nor daring, lest you undergo the fate of Cain, and of Saul, and of Joab: for the first of these slew his brother Abel, because Abel was found to be preferred before him with God, and because Abel's sacrifice was preferred; the second persecuted holy David, who had slain Goliah the Philistine, being envious of the praises of the women who danced; the third slew two generals of armies — Abner of Israel, and Amasa of Judah.

You shall not proceed to your prayer in the day of your wickedness, before you have laid aside your bitterness. This is the way of life, in which may you be found, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Do you first ordain bishops worthy of the Lord, and presbyters and deacons, pious men, righteous, meek, free from the love of money, lovers of truth, approved, holy, not accepters of persons, who are able to teach the word of piety, and rightly dividing the doctrines of the Lord. And honour such as your fathers, as your lords, as your benefactors, as the causes of your well-being. Reprove one another, not in anger, but in mildness, with kindness and peace. Observe all things that are commanded you by the Lord. Be watchful for your life. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and you like men who wait for their Lord, when He will come, at even, or in the morning, or at cock-crowing, or at midnight. For at what hour they think not, the Lord will come; and if they open to Him, blessed are those servants, because they were found watching. For He will gird Himself, and will make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. Watch therefore, and pray, that you do not sleep unto death. For your former good deeds will not profit you, if at the last part of your life you go astray from the true faith.

Now this we all in common do charge you, that every one remain in that rank which is appointed him, and do not transgress his proper bounds; for they are not ours, but God's. For says the Lord: He that hears you, hears me; and he that hears me, hears Him that sent me. And, He that despises you, despises me; and he that despises me, despises Him that sent me. For if those things that are without life do observe good order, as the night, the day, the sun, the moon, the stars, the elements, the seasons, the months, the weeks, the days, and the hours, and are subservient to the uses appointed them, according to that which is said, You have set them a bound which they shall not pass; and again, concerning the sea, I have set bounds thereto, and have encompassed it with bars and gates; and I said to it, Hitherto shall you come, and you shall go no farther; how much more ought you not to venture to remove those things which we, according to God's will, have determined for you! But because many think this a small matter, and venture to confound the orders, and to remove the ordination which belongs to them severally, snatching to themselves dignities which were never given them, and allowing themselves to bestow that authority in a tyrannical manner which they have not themselves, and thereby provoke God to anger (as did the followers of Corah and King Uzziah, who, having no authority, usurped the high-priesthood without commission from God; and the former were burnt with fire, and the latter was struck with a leprosy in his forehead); and provoke Christ Jesus to anger, who has made this constitution; and also grieve the Holy Spirit, and make void His testimony: therefore, foreknowing the danger that hangs over those who do such things, and the neglect about the sacrifices and eucharistical offices which will arise from their being impiously offered by those who ought not to offer them; who think the honour of the high-priesthood, which is an imitation of the great High Priest Jesus Christ our King, to be a matter of sport; we have found it necessary to give you warning in this matter also. For some are already turned aside after their own vanity. We say that Moses the servant of God (to whom God spoke face to face, as if a man spoke to his friend; to whom He said, I know you above all men; to whom He spoke directly, and not by obscure methods, or dreams, or angels, or riddles) — this person, when he made constitutions and divine laws, distinguished what things were to be performed by the high priests, what by the priests, and what by the Levites; distributing to every one his proper and suitable office in the divine service. And those things which are allotted for the high priests to do, those might not be meddled with by the priests; and what things were allotted to the priests, the Levites might not meddle with; but every one observed those ministrations which were written down and appointed for them. And if any would meddle beyond the tradition, death was his punishment. And Saul's example does show this most plainly, who, thinking he might offer sacrifice without the prophet and high priest Samuel, drew upon himself a sin and a curse without remedy. Nor did even his having anointed him king discourage the prophet. But God showed the same by a more visible effect in the case of Uzziah, when He without delay exacted the punishment due to this transgression, and he that madly coveted after the high-priesthood was rejected from his kingdom also. As to those things that have happened among us, you yourselves are not ignorant of them. For you know undoubtedly that those that are by us named bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, were made by prayer, and by the laying on of hands; and that by the difference of their names is showed the difference of their employments. For not every one that will is ordained, as the case was in that spurious and counterfeit priesthood of the calves under Jeroboam; but he only who is called of God. For if there were no rule or distinction of orders, it would suffice to perform all the offices under one name. But being taught by the Lord the series of things, we distributed the functions of the high-priesthood to the bishops, those of the priesthood to the presbyters, and the ministration under them both to the deacons; that the divine worship might be performed in purity. For it is not lawful for a deacon to offer the sacrifice, or to baptize, or to give either the greater or the lesser blessing. Nor may a presbyter perform ordination; for it is not agreeable to holiness to have this order perverted. For God is not the God of confusion, that the subordinate persons should tyrannically assume to themselves the functions belonging to their superiors, forming a new scheme of laws to their own mischief, not knowing that it is hard for them to kick against the pricks; for such as these do not fight against us, or against the bishops, but against the universal Bishop and the High Priest of the Father, Jesus Christ our Lord. High priests, priests, and Levites were ordained by Moses, the most beloved of God. By our Saviour were we apostles, thirteen in number, ordained; and by the apostles I James, and I Clement, and others with us, were ordained, that we may not make the catalogue of all those bishops over again. And in common, presbyters, and deacons, and sub-deacons, and readers, were ordained by all of us. The great High Priest therefore, who is so by nature, is Christ the only begotten; not having snatched that honour to Himself, but having been appointed such by the Father; who being made man for our sake, and offering the spiritual sacrifice to His God and Father, before His suffering gave it us alone in charge to do this, although there were others with us who had believed in Him. But he that believes is not presently appointed a priest, or obtains the dignity of the high-priesthood. But after His ascension we offered, according to His constitution, the pure and unbloody sacrifice; and ordained bishops, and presbyters, and deacons, seven in number: one of which was Stephen, that blessed martyr, who was not inferior to us as to his pious disposition of mind towards God; who showed so great piety towards God, by his faith and love towards our Lord Jesus Christ, as to give his life for Him, and was stoned to death by the Jews, the murderers of the Lord. Yet still this so great and good a man, who was fervent in spirit, who saw Christ on the right hand of God, and the gates of heaven opened, does nowhere appear to have exercised functions which did not appertain to his office of a deacon, nor to have offered the sacrifices, nor to have laid hands upon any, but kept his order of a deacon unto the end. For so it became him, who was a martyr for Christ, to preserve good order. But if some do blame Philip our deacon, and Ananias our faithful brother, that the one did baptize the eunuch, and the other me Paul, these men do not understand what we say. For we have affirmed only that no one snatches the sacerdotal dignity to himself, but either receives it from God, as Melchisedec and Job, or from the high priest, as Aaron from Moses. Wherefore Philip and Ananias did not constitute themselves, but were appointed by Christ, the High Priest of that God to whom no being is to be compared.

If any one of the clergy be found to fast on the Lord's day, or on the Sabbath day, excepting one only, let him be deprived; but if he be one of the laity, let him be suspended.

And all those kings went to the place and they found the earth there filled with snow, and upon the snow were large stones of snow, and one said to the other, Come, let us break through the snow and see, perhaps the men that remained with Enoch are dead, and are now under the stones of snow, and they searched but could not find him, for he had ascended into heaven.

And Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord chose him and his children to raise up seed from them upon the face of the whole earth.

And they found a large valley opposite to the east, and they built him a large and extensive city, and Nimrod called the name of the city that he built Shinar, for the Lord had vehemently shaken his enemies and destroyed them.

And there was not a man found in those days in the whole earth, who knew the Lord (for they served each man his own God) except Noah and his household, and all those who were under his counsel knew the Lord in those days.

And all the families assembled consisting of about six hundred thousand men, and they went to seek an extensive piece of ground to build the city and the tower, and they sought in the whole earth and they found none like one valley at the east of the land of Shinar, about two days' walk, and they journeyed there and they dwelt there.

All these went and built themselves cities as they found fit places for them, and they called their cities after the names of their fathers Cush, Mitzraim, Phut and Canaan.

And Seir the son of Hur, son of Hivi, son of Canaan, went and found a valley opposite to Mount Paran, and he built a city there, and he and his seven sons and his household dwelt there, and he called the city which he built Seir, according to his name; that is the land of Seir unto this day.

And Ashur son of Shem and his children and household went forth at that time, a very large body of them, and they went to a distant land that they found, and they met with a very extensive valley in the land that they went to, and they built themselves four cities, and they called them after their own names and occurrences.

And Abram went from them, and his anger burned within him. And Abram hastened and went from the chamber to his father's outer court, and he found his father sitting in the court, and all his servants with him, and Abram came and sat before him.

And Terah entered the room and found all the idols fallen down and broken, and the hatchet in the hand of the largest, which was not broken, and the savory meat which Abram his son had made was still before them.

And he found Abram his son still sitting in the house; and he said to him, What is this work thou hast done to my gods?

And Haran the brother of Abram was burned to ashes, and they sought for his body, and they found it consumed.

And Abram hearkened to the voice of Eliezer, and Abram hastened and ran for safety to the house of Noah and his son Shem, and he concealed himself there and found a place of safety; and the king's servants came to Abram's house to seek him, but they could not find him, and they searched through out the country and he was not to be found, and they went and searched in every direction and he was not to be met with.

And Abram hearkened to the voice of Eliezer, and Abram hastened and ran for safety to the house of Noah and his son Shem, and he concealed himself there and found a place of safety; and the king's servants came to Abram's house to seek him, but they could not find him, and they searched through out the country and he was not to be found, and they went and searched in every direction and he was not to be met with.

And in the evening Rikayon went out and found a house in ruins, formerly a bake house in Egypt, and he abode there all night in bitterness of soul and pinched with hunger, and sleep was removed from his eyes.

And when the king heard the words of Rikayon and his wisdom, Rikayon found grace in his sight, and he met with grace and kindness from all the servants of the king and from all the inhabitants of Egypt, on account of his wisdom and excellent speeches, and from that time they loved him exceedingly.

And these four kings went up with all their camps, about eight hundred thousand men, and they went as they were, and smote every man they found in their road.

And an angel of the Lord found her in the place where she had fled, by a well, and he said to her, Do not fear, for I will multiply thy seed, for thou shalt bear a son and thou shalt call his name Ishmael; now then return to Sarai thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.

For all the daughters of Tubal were in those days fair, for no women were then found in the whole earth so fair as the daughters of Tubal.

And at the end of three years after the children of Tubal had sworn to the children of Chittim not to give them their daughters for wives, about twenty men of the children of Chittim went to take some of the daughters of Tubal, but they found none.

And he said to them, If now I have found favor in your sight, turn in and eat a morsel of bread; and he pressed them, and they turned in and he gave them water and they washed their feet, and he placed them under a tree at the door of the tent.

And Abraham went to the wilderness, and he reached the tent of Ishmael about noon, and he asked after Ishmael, and he found the wife of Ishmael sitting in the tent with her children, and Ishmael her husband and his mother were not with them.

These are the families of the children of Nahor, that were born to them in Haran; and Aram the son of Kemuel and Rechob his brother went away from Haran, and they found a valley in the land by the river Euphrates.

And the children of Kesed also went to dwell where they could find a place, and they went and they found a valley opposite to the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

And Aram the son of Zoba went with his brethren, and they found a valley at a distance toward the eastern country and they dwelt there.

And Abraham and Isaac went to her to Hebron, and when they found that she was dead they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly over her; and Isaac fell upon his mother's face and wept over her, and he said, O my mother, my mother, how hast thou left me, and where hast thou gone? O how, how hast thou left me!

And the children of Midian, son of Abraham, went to the east of the land of Cush, and they there found a large valley in the eastern country, and they remained there and built a city, and they dwelt therein, that is the land of Midian unto this day.

And on a certain day Esau went in the field to hunt, and he found Nimrod walking in the wilderness with his two men.

And all the mighty men of Nimrod, who had left him to go to the wilderness, heard the cry at a distance, and they knew the voices of those two men, and they ran to know the cause of it, when they found their king and the two men that were with him lying dead in the wilderness.

And he there found some men; going from Haran to feed their flocks, and Jacob made inquiries of them, and they said, We are from Haran.

And Laban said unto him, Not so I pray thee; if I have found favor in thy sight do not leave me; appoint me thy wages and I will give them, and remain with me.

And Laban came home and he asked concerning Jacob and his household, and he was not to be found, and Laban sought his images to know where Jacob had gone, and could not find them, and he went to some other images, and he inquired of them and they told him that Jacob had fled from him to his father's, to the land of Canaan.

And those messengers went to Esau, and found him on the borders of the land of Edom going toward Jacob, and four hundred men of the children of Seir the Horite were standing with drawn swords.

And one camp went on and they found Esau coming with four hundred men toward his brother Jacob, and this camp ran toward Esau and his people and terrified them, and Esau fell off the horse in alarm, and all his men separated from him in that place, for they were greatly afraid.

And Esau refused to take the present, and Jacob said unto him, I beseech thee my lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand, for I have therefore seen thy face, as though I had seen a god-like face, because thou wast pleased with me.

And in the evening of the second day, they found eight small children who had not been circumcised, for their mothers had concealed them from Shechem and his father Hamor, and from the men of the city.

And when Simeon and Levi had gone forth from the city, the two young men that were left, who had concealed themselves in the city, and did not die amongst the people of the city, rose up, and these young men went into the city and walked about in it, and found the city desolate without man, and only women weeping, and these young men cried out and said, Behold, this is the evil which the sons of Jacob the Hebrew did to this city in their having this day destroyed one of the Canaanitish cities, and were not afraid of their lives of all the land of Canaan.

And the sons of Shobal were Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam, and the sons of Zibeon were Ajah, and Anah, this was that Anah who found the Yemim in the wilderness when he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.

And when they had passed the rampart they stood under the wall of the city, and they found all the gates of the city enclosed with iron doors.

And the sons of Jacob went up the road of the roof of that tower, and they saw, and behold there was another strong and high tower at a distance in the city, and the top of it reached to heaven, and the sons of Jacob hastened and descended, and went with all their men to that tower, and found it filled with about three hundred men, women and little ones.

And Judah at a distance knew the voice of Simeon's shouting, and Naphtali and Judah ran with their shields to Simeon and Levi, and found them fighting with those powerful men, unable to prevail over them as their shields were broken.

And all the sons of Jacob returned and walked about the city, searching if they could find any men, and they found about twenty young men in a cave in the city, and Gad and Asher smote them all, and Dan and Naphtali lighted upon the rest of the men who had fled and escaped from the second tower, and they smote them all.

And the sons of Jacob came to Gaash and they found the gates of the city locked, and about five hundred men standing at the top of the outer-most wall, and a people numerous as the sand upon the sea shore were in ambush for the sons of Jacob from without the city at the rear thereof.

And the third powerful man, seeing that his companions were killed, ran from before the sons of Jacob, and the sons of Jacob pursued him in the city; and whilst the powerful man was fleeing he found one of the swords of the inhabitants of the city, and he picked it up and turned to the sons of Jacob and fought them with that sword.

And the sons of Jacob led all the spoil which they had captured from Gaash and went to Bethchorin, and they found the city full of people like the sand of the sea, and they fought with them, and the sons of Jacob smote them there till evening time.

And an angel of the Lord found him wandering in the road toward the field, and Joseph said unto the angel of the Lord, I seek my brethren; hast thou not heard where they are feeding? and the angel of the Lord said unto Joseph, I saw thy brethren feeding here, and I heard them say they would go to feed in Dothan.

And Joseph hearkened to the voice of the angel of the Lord, and he went to his brethren in Dothan and he found them in Dothan feeding the flock.

Now therefore we will not listen to your words, nor attend to you, for we found the youth in the pit in the wilderness, and we took him; we will therefore go on.

Perhaps this youth is stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and why then have we done this thing? and if he should be sought for and found in our hands we shall die through him.

And Reuben tore his garments and he said, The child is not there, and how shall I reconcile my father about him if he be dead? and he went to his brethren and found them grieving on account of Joseph, and counseling together how to reconcile their father about him, and Reuben said unto his brethren, I came to the pit and behold Joseph was not there, what then shall we say unto our father, for my father will only seek the lad from me.

We had gathered in the cattle and had come as far as the road to Shechem and farther, when we found this coat upon the road in the wilderness dipped in blood and in dust; now therefore know whether it be thy son's coat or not.

And Jacob hastened and sent one of his servants to his sons, who went to them and found them coming along the road with the flock.

And the sons of Jacob came to their father about evening, and behold their garments were torn and dust was upon their heads, and they found their father crying out and weeping with a loud voice.

And Jacob said unto his sons, Tell me truly what evil have you this day suddenly brought upon me? and they answered their father Jacob, saying, We were coming along this day after the flock had been gathered in, and we came as far as the city of Shechem by the road in the wilderness, and we found this coat filled with blood upon the ground, and we knew it and we sent unto thee if thou couldst know it.

And the sons of Jacob went into the wilderness to seize the beasts, and behold a wolf came toward them, and they seized him, and brought him unto their father, and they said unto him, This is the first we have found, and we have brought him unto thee as thou didst command us, and thy son's body we could not find.

And I came this day into the field to seek my son, and your sons found me, and seized me and increased my grief, and have this day brought me before thee, and I have now spoken all my words to thee.