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On the Ruin of Britain
St Gildas, tr. Williams, 1899
Quotations from the Ordinal or Service Book used in the consecration of priests or…
Quotations from the Ordinal or Service Book used in the consecration of priests or ministers (deacons?)
But why will I use at considerable length the testimonies of opinion, though expressed by various persons and scattered here and there? Why will I be tossed on the waves in the despicable craft of my own intellect. I have thought it necessary to recur finally to those lessons which have been extracted from almost every befitting text1 of the Holy Scriptures, not only to be repeated for this present object, but also to be a confirmation of the rite2 by which the hands of priests or ministers are consecrated3, and to teach them continually not to abandon the commandments that are faithfully contained therein by falling off from the dignity of priest. It will also become more evident to all that eternal punishments await them, and the men who do not, according to their powers, fulfil the teaching and commandments of those lessons, are not priests or ministers of God4.
Let us therefore hear what Peter, the prince of the apostles5, has pointed out, respecting such a matter: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who by his great mercy begat us again unto hope of life eternal by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, that fadeth not away, undefiled, reserved in heaven for you, who are guarded by the power of God. Why indeed is such an inheritance foolishly defiled by you, which does not fall away like an earthly one, but is an inheritance that fades not away, and eternal.
After a while: Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, hope perfectly for that grace which is brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus Christ. Examine the depths of your heart, whether you are sober, and maintain perfectly the priestly grace that is to be searched in the revelation of the Lord. Again he says: As children of blessing, not fashioning yourselves to those former lusts of your ignorance, but according to him who hath called you to be holy, be ye holy in all manner of life. Because it is written, Be ye holy for I am holy. Who of you, I ask, has so followed holiness with all ardour of soul, that he hastened to fulfil this command to the utmost of his power? But let us see what is contained in the second lesson from the same apostle. Beloved, he says, purify your souls unto obedience of faith, by the Spirit in love, in love of the brethren, loving one another from a true heart fervently, as born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God who liveth and abideth for ever.
Notes
- Textu merito. Textus seems to mean what we express by “context;” from every part that deserved quotation, owing to its appropriateness for a particular purpose, these excerpts had been made: they were intended not only to be read as portions of Scripture, but to confirm the consecration of priests.
- Benedictioni. Strictly speaking, a benedictio is a prayer for benediction or blessing, just as eucharistia is a prayer of thanksgiving; but in both cases ecclesiastical language came to assume that a special consecration follows the utterance of such a prayer. Therefore, a benedictio being a consecratory prayer, the word is used for “consecration.”
- Sacerdotum vel ministrorum. Ministri may here mean deacons, who are mentioned below in the lesson read “on that day.” The earliest probable instance of the word in this sense is found in Pliny’s correspondence with the Emperor Trajan. The Governor of Bithynia endeavoured to get information “from two maid-servants who were called deaconesses”: ex duabus ancillis quae ministrae dicebantur, Ep. x, 96. Commodian, Instr., ii, 27, has the curious zacones = diacones, as well as ministri, under the title, MINISTRIS = TO DEACONS.
Mysterium Christi, Zacones, exercite caste,
Idcirco ministri facite praecepta magistri.
It seems, not infrequently, to be used for the ordines minores as a class. Thus, ministri ecclesiae in Cypr., Ep. 34, 4; also Sulp. Sev., Vita S. Mart., 9, 5: cum fortuito lector defuisset turbatis ministris, etc. Gildas himself calls Stephen proto-minister, c. 73.
On the other hand, the context seems to favour the view that vel has its usual meaning, and therefore ministri in its inclusive meaning is an alternative term for sacerdotes. It is so employed above: quam plurimos ministros, c. 66. - Non esse sacerdotes. From this and other passages, such as: O inimici Dei et non sacerdotes, veterani malorum et non pontifices, traditores et non sanctorum apostolorum successores et non Christi ministri (c. 108), we must understand that Gildas regarded the grace of consecration to have been forfeited by the evil life of these men. They had ceased to be priests any longer. The principle “Mali enim sacerdotes veri sunt sacerdotes, tametsi indigni” is not that of Gildas; with him efficacy in ministration depends upon the character of him that ministers. The same may be gathered from his words in c. 108: “It is plain that the man who from his heart calls you priest is not a good Christian.” Also c. 109: “How can you loose anything so that it shall be loosed in heaven, when you are shut out from heaven on account of your wickedness?”
- Princeps apostolorum, cf. clavicularius, c. 73. In assigning this exalted position to Peter, Gildas is following the common belief of the Western Church in his age. Cyprian, who regarded the unity of the Church as secured by its being “built on Peter,” seems not to have attributed to him any further primacy: “nam nec Petrus quem primum Dominus elegit . . . . . . vindicavit sibi aliquid insolenter aut adroganter adsumpsit ut diceret se primatum tenere,” Ep. 71, 3; “hoc erant utique et ceteri apostoli quod fuit Petrus, pari consortio praediti et honoris et potestatis”: “endowed with equal fellowship both of honour and power,” De Un., 4. But Optatus Milevitanus, who wrote in the stream of new power under Siricius (c. 375), speaks of St. Peter as “head of all the apostles,” (omnium apostolorum caput) (ii, 2), praeferri omnibus apostolis meruit et claves regni coelorum communicandas ceteris solus accepit (vii, 3); Petrum principem scilicet nostrum (ii, 4). The fourth century is explicit on this belief in the pre-eminence of Peter.
Unus eligitur ut capite constituto schismatis tollatur occasio (Jerome, Adv. Iov., i, 26).