Folia Canonica 5. (2002)
STUDIES - Szabolcs Anzelm Szuromi: The Development of the Clerical Orders prior to the Discipline of Statuta Ecclesiae Antique (5th Century)
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLERICAL ORDERS 105 letter of St. Jerome. The bishop seems to be the head of the college of priests. Deacons are ordained to help the bishop and the priests also, not only the bishop. This idea is contained in numerous canons which mention alternately the bishop and the priest concerning the function of deacon. This interpretation can set in proper light the unity of the different degrees of Holy Orders. The 52nd letter of St. Jerome is a good exemple of this theological background. The bishop is not called “Lord” by the other clerics because there is only one Lord, one Church and one Service. The bishop has been elected particularly for the pastoral misson in the Church in a paternal spirit as a successor of the Apostles.62 The perfection of Holy Orders as a sacrament finds its fulfilment in the episcopal degree. The clerical degrees became more specified in the course of the theological and institutional developments of the Early Middle Ages,63 and reached full clarification in the 11th Century.64 62 „Esto subiectus pontifici tuo et quasi animae parentem suspice; amare filiorum, timore seruorum est: et si pater sum, inquit, ubi est honor meus? et si dominus ego sum, ubi est timor meus? plura tibi in eodem uiro obseruanda sunt nomina: monachus, pontifex, anunculus. Sed et episcopi sacerdotes se sciant esse, non dominos: honorent clericos quasi clericos, ut et ipsis a clericis quasi episcopis deferatur. Scitum illud est oratoris Domitii: «ego te», inquit, «habeam ut principem, cum tu me non habeas ut senatorem»? Quod Aaron et filios eius, hoc episcopum et presbyteros nouerimus: unus Dominus, unum templum, unum sit etiam ministerium. Recordemur semper quid apostolus Petrus praecipiat sacerdotibus: pascite eum, qui in uobis est, gregem Domini prouidentes non coacto, sed spontanee secundum Deum, neque surpilucri gratia, sed uoluntarie; neque ut dominantes in cleris, sed forma facti gregi et ex animo, ut, cum apparuerit princeps pastorum, percipiatis inmarcescibilem gloriae coronam. Pessimae consuetudinis est in quibusdam ecclesiis tacere presbyteros, et praesentibus episcopis non loqui quasi aut inuideant aut non dignentur audire. Et si alii, inquit Paulus apostolus, fuerit reuelatumsedenti, prior taceat. Potestis enim per singulos prophetare ut omnes discant et omnes consolentur. Et spiritus prophetarum prophetis subiectus est; non enim est dissensionis Deus, sed pacis. Gloria patris est filius sapiens: gaudeat episcopus iudicio suo cum tales Christo elegerit sacerdotes. ” San Jeronimo: Epistolaria I (Biblioteca de autores cristianos 530), Madrid 1993. 473-475. 63Cf. J. Imbert, Les temps Carolingiens (741-891). L'Église: Les institutions (Histoire du Droit et des Institutions de l’Eglise en Occident V/I), Paris 1994. 91-124. 64 Cf. Gaudemet, Église et cité (nt. 22), 478-493.
