Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

The adversaries concede that the hierarchy of the Church existed in the middle of the second century, or at least toward its end, but they deny that it existed before that. Hence, to refute them fully, we summon only the ancient apostolic fathers, who wrote about the hierarchy already as the first century was drawing to a close, or certainly at the beginning of the second century: namely, the author of the Doctrina duodecim apostolorum, Clemens romanus, Ignatius, and Polycarpus.

1. The Doctrina duodecim apostolorum (written in Syria in the last decades of the first century), after it made mention of the eucharistic sacrifice, continues: "Appoint¹ therefore for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men who are meek and not covetous of silver and truthful and proven; for they themselves also minister to you the ministry of the prophets and teachers. Do not therefore despise them; for they are the honored ones among you together with the prophets and teachers".² For in what precedes the Doctrina had commanded that itinerant teachers or "apostles" and charismatic prophets be received and honored "as the Lord",³ whose gospel they announce and whose knowledge they increase. Now it is added that the stable clerics, namely bishops and deacons, are also to be treated with the same honor, who exercise in the churches not only the teaching office of the teachers and prophets, but also the priestly office, which the teachers and prophets do not possess. From this it is perceived that bishops and deacons presided over the individual churches of Syria in that time contemporaneous with the apostles.

2. Clemens romanus (a. 81-96) wrote an epistle at Rome to the Corinthians, in order to check the sedition which some, more powerful in knowledge and wiser in judgment,⁴ had stirred up against the presbyterium of the church. This faction of pride against authority he sharply attacks in this way: "Shameful, brethren, exceedingly shameful to hear and unworthy of the Christian manner of life are the things we have learned: that the very firm and ancient church of the Corinthians, because of one or two men, stirs up sedition against the presbyters".⁵ This struggle of certain faithful against the presbyterium is unheard of and illicit among Christians for this reason, that the ecclesiastical hierarchy was instituted by God and has come down by apostolic succession to its present possessors: "The apostles were made preachers of the gospel to us by the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ was sent by God. Christ therefore from God, and the apostles from Christ; and both came to be in an orderly way from the will of God. Therefore, having received the commandments and, filled with full certainty through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed by the word of God, they went forth with the sure confidence of the Holy Spirit, announcing the coming of the kingdom of God. Preaching therefore the word through regions and cities … they appointed bishops and deacons for those who were to believe … And what wonder, that those to whom this office was committed by God in Christ should have appointed the aforesaid? Therefore those who were appointed by them [the apostles], or afterwards by other eminent men with the consent of the whole church … we judge are not justly cast out from their office. For our sin will not be light, if we cast out from the episcopate those who offered the gifts [the sacrifice] holily and without reproach".⁶ "Let us reverence our superiors (τοὺς προηγουμένους ἡμῶν) … We ought to do all things in order, which the Lord commanded us to perform at the appointed times. Namely, the oblations and the sacred services are to be performed where and by whom He wills them to be celebrated; He Himself defined this by His most exalted will … For to the high priest his own offices have been assigned, to the priests their own place has been appointed, and upon the Levites their own ministries (διακονίαι) devolve. The layman is bound by the precepts of the laity".⁷

"You therefore, who have laid the foundations of the sedition, be subject to the presbyters in obedience and receive correction unto repentance, bending the knees of your hearts. Learn to be submissive, laying aside the glorious and proud arrogance of your tongue; for it is better for you to be found small and of good repute in the flock of Christ, than, being excessively splendid, to be cast out from His hope".⁸

Thus s. Clemens, a disciple of the apostles and the successor of Peter in the Roman see, teaches: 1°. that the churches both of the West, from which he writes, and of the East, to which he writes, were hierarchically constituted in such a way that the subjects are subordinate to the superiors and the laity to the clerics. 2°. that the presbyterium of the church embraces the bishops and deacons, or rather, after the model of the Old Testament, the bishops, the presbyters of the second grade, and the deacons. 3°. that this hierarchical constitution of the church was already in force in the time of the apostles, indeed that it owes its origin to Christ and God Himself.

3. Ignatius († c. 107), a distinguished martyr, certainly a disciple of the apostles and the successor of Peter at Antioch, in his epistles is almost wholly occupied with urging obedience and submission toward the ecclesiastical hierarchy. He describes the form of the hierarchy, moreover, as composed of the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons. He entreats the Magnesians: "I exhort you to strive to do all things in the concord of God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God, and the presbyters in the place of the apostolic senate, and the deacons, most dear to me, entrusted with the mystery of Jesus Christ … Just as therefore the Lord did nothing without the Father, being united with Him, neither through Himself nor through the apostles: so neither should you do anything without the bishop and the presbyters … Strive therefore to be confirmed in the doctrines of the Lord and of the apostles … with your most worthy bishop and the spiritual crown of your presbyterium worthily woven together, and with the deacons pleasing to God".⁹

He admonishes the Trallians: "Let all reverence the deacons as Jesus Christ, and likewise the bishop, who is the type of the Father, and the presbyters as the senate of God and the council of the apostles. Without these the church is not called".¹⁰ "Guard yourselves from such [heretics]. This, however, will come about if you are neither puffed up nor torn away from God, Jesus Christ, the bishop, and the precepts of the apostles. He who is within the altar is clean; he who is outside the altar, however, is not clean; that is, he who does anything without the bishop and the presbyterium and the deacons is not clean in conscience".¹¹

He bids the Philadelphians to be united "with the bishop and his presbyters and the deacons appointed according to the mind of Christ, whom He confirmed in stability through His Holy Spirit according to His own will".¹² And to the same he recalls: "I cried out while I was present, I spoke with a loud voice, with the voice of God: Obey the bishop and the presbyterium and the deacons".¹³

S. Ignatius therefore testifies: 1°. that a hierarchy consisting of the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons necessarily presides over the individual churches. And indeed 2°. that this hierarchical constitution existed from the time of the apostles; for he mentions the grades of the hierarchy not as new or recently introduced, but as well known and received by use already in the past apostolic decades, to which Ignatius was a contemporary. Indeed, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons, he says, are "appointed according to the mind of Christ" and confirmed "according to His own will", in such a way that "without these the church is not called".

4. Polycarpus, martyr (a. 107), immediately after the death of Ignatius, his friend, wrote a letter to the Philippians¹⁴ admonishing the same: "It is necessary to abstain from all these [covetousnesses], but to be subject to the presbyters and deacons as to God and Christ".¹⁵ But he also mentions the presbyterium of the church of Smyrna and implicitly designates himself bishop of this church by inscribing his epistle in this way: "Polycarpus and the presbyters who are with him, of the church of God which sojourns at Philippi".¹⁶ That he was in truth the bishop of the Smyrnaeans, both s. Ignatius¹⁷ and the Martyrium s. Polycarpi¹⁸ and Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus,¹⁹ relate. Finally Irenaeus testifies that in his early age he knew Polycarpus to have been constituted bishop by the apostles themselves.²⁰ If these things are compared, it is clear that, according to the testimony of Polycarpus, a disciple of the apostles, the churches were so ordered that they were directed by a presbyterium composed of the bishop, the presbyters of the second grade, and the deacons.

With all these things considered, the falsity of the opposing opinion on the origin of the ecclesiastical hierarchy escapes no one. They keep asserting that the hierarchy is an invention and contrivance of the men of the second century of the Christian era. On the contrary, the fathers writing around the year one hundred testify not only that the hierarchy was already flourishing in the church, but that it flourished from ancient times, from the age and will of the apostles and of Christ. And in truth the apostles exercised by deeds, asserted by words, and communicated to others the hierarchy received from Christ. Christ Himself signified, promised, and conferred the hierarchical power upon the apostles. Therefore they err enormously who, denying the distinction between clerics and laity, superiors and subjects, imagine the church of Christ to be constituted democratically.

This one thing must be conceded: that the hierarchical organism gradually grew while Christ and the apostles were living. While Christ was living, He alone was the hierarch of the nascent church. After the departure of the Lord, the apostles held the supreme governance of the church, yet with other clerics chosen as helpers and successors. When at last the apostles had died, the threefold hierarchical order of bishops, presbyters, and deacons continued to administer the churches, just as it had been taught by the apostles. Hence the council of Trent rightly pronounces "the hierarchy instituted by divine ordination, which consists of bishops, presbyters, and ministers".²¹ The laity never delegated the power of governing the church to the clerics, nor did they themselves possess it.

The adversaries do indeed adduce the ancient practice by which the people of the faithful elected the clerics. But even if the lay people had had and exercised the right of election, it would be wrong to conclude from this that the people also conferred the office and the hierarchical power. In truth, the hierarchical power, as we have abundantly seen, was conferred not by the faithful, but by the apostles and their delegates and successors.²² Yet neither did the right of suffrage, or of election properly so called, belong to the people; rather, a mere judgment about the good repute and the qualities of those to be elected was sometimes granted to the faithful. In this sense the multitude of the faithful took part in the election of Matthias and of the first deacons;²³ in this sense the superiors of the church of the Corinthians were constituted "with the consent of the whole church", as Clemens romanus testifies.²⁴ In this sense Cyprianus writes: "Priestly ordinations ought to take place only under the knowledge of the assisting people, so that, with the people present, either the crimes of the wicked may be disclosed or the merits of the good may be proclaimed, and the ordination may be just and legitimate, having been examined by the suffrage and judgment of all".²⁵ But just as at the beginning of the Christian cause the practice of consulting the people in the election of clerics was not constant,²⁶ so neither did it prevail always and necessarily in later times, and at length, on account of the fault of the people abusing it and other inconveniences, it was almost entirely abolished.²⁷