[N71]. Against Translations there may be Reasons in Policy; but there can be none in Conscience; and none that are at all to the Purpose, have been alleged either by the Councils, or Fathers, though the former have exerted all their Authority to prevent them, and the latter all their Oratory to make them appear criminal. The Councils of Arles, of Nice, of Alexandria, of Sardica, of Chalcedon, of Antioch, forbid them on the severest Penalties the Church could inflict. The Council of Sardica, by its First Canon deprived such Bishops, as should change their Churches, even of the Lay-Communion: and because some pleaded, or at least the Council apprehended they might plead, the Desire and Request of the People; to leave no room for such an Excuse, the Council by its Second Canon deprived those, who should allege it, of the Lay-Communion, even at the Point of Death[[1]]. The Council of Alexandria, under St. Athanasius, in their Epistle to all the Catholic Bishops, speak thus of Eusebius, who had been translated from Berytus to Nicomedia: Eusebius did not reflect on the Admonition of the Apostle, Art thou bound to a Wife? Do not seek to be loosed. For if it be said of a Woman, how much more of a Church? To which if one is tied, he ought not to seek another; that he may not be likewise found an Adulterer, according to the Scripture[[2]]. What Analogy between a Wife, and a Bishoprick? The Bishops of that Assembly were even of Opinion, that Eusebius, by abandoning his former Church had annulled his Episcopacy. In the Synod under Mennas it was laid to the Charge of Anthimus, that being Bishop of Trebisond, he had adulterously seized on the See of Constantinople[[3]]. In the same Strain have the Fathers declaimed against Translations, whenever an Opportunity offered of bringing in that favourite Topic; for the Canons and Decisions of the Councils were only the private Opinions of the major Part of the Bishops, who composed them. They generally inveigh against that adulterous Traffick, as if they supposed a Bishop to be married to the Church, which he was ordained to serve, or tied to it by Bonds no less indissoluble than a Husband to his Wife: And it was upon that Supposition, that they charged with Adultery those, who passed from one Church to another. But that Supposition none of them have been able to make good either from Scripture or Reason. As for the Command of the Apostle in his Letter to Timothy, A Bishop must be the Husband of one Wife, which some of them have interpreted as levelled against Translations; the far greater Part both of the Fathers and Councils have in that Passage understood the Word Wife, not in a metaphorical, but a natural Sense, and thereupon excluded from the Episcopal Dignity such as had been twice married. But allowing St. Paul to have meant a Church by the Word Wife, the most obvious and natural Interpretation we can give to his Words, is, that he there forbids Pluralities of Bishopricks, which were once very common in the Church of Rome.
But whatever Reasons the Fathers and Councils may have alleged, or could allege, against Translations, they have themselves defeated them all by the contrary Practice. For some of the greatest Saints, and Lights of the Church, have been either translated, or approved and promoted the Translations of others. The famous Methodius, who suffered under Diocletian in the Year 311. or 312. passed from the See of Olympus in Lycia to that of Tyre[[4]]. Eustathius, who is supposed to have presided at the Council of Nice, was translated from Berœa to Antioch, that is, from a small See to the second in the East[[5]]; nay, Sozomen ascribes this Translation to the Council of Nice itself[[6]]. Syderius, Bishop of Erythra in Libya, was translated by Athanasius to Ptolemais, the Metropolis of the whole Pentapolis[[7]]. Euphronius Bishop of Colonia, a small Town on the Borders of Armenia, was by a Synod, consisting of all the Orthodox Bishops of that Province, translated to the Metropolitan See of Nicopolis; that Translation was highly applauded by St. Basil, who thought it owing not to human Prudence, but to a particular Inspiration of the Holy Ghost[[8]]; the Arians being very powerful in that City, and no Man more fit to make head against them than Euphronius. The Inhabitants of Colonia were very unwilling to part with their Bishop; and the Ecclesiastics there even threatened to join the Arian Party, if Euphronius was taken from them[[9]]. But they were in the End prevailed upon by St. Basil to acquiesce in the Will of God, who, said he, had inspired the Prelates with such a Resolution[[10]]. From these (and many other Instances might be alleged) it is manifest, that the Fathers spoke like mere Declaimers, when they compared a Bishop, who left one Church, and took another, to a Husband, who abandoned his Wife, and married another Woman. But indeed they only inveighed thus, generally speaking, against Translations, when the Persons translated were of the Party, which they opposed; it was then Adultery, it was forfeiting the Episcopal Dignity, to pass from one Church to another. But when they apprehended, that such Changes could any-ways promote the Cause which they had espoused and maintained, those Changes were thereby sanctified, and owing to a particular Inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
Pope Gelasius II. excused Translations by the Example of St. Peter. Who dares to maintain, says he, that St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, was to blame, for changing the See of Antioch for that of Rome[[11]]? And who dares to maintain, that any Bishop is to blame for doing what the Prince of the Apostles had done before him? But were there no other Instances, besides that of St. Peter, to give a Sanction to Translations, I should readily grant them never to have been allowed in the Church. For St. Peter never was Bishop of Rome, as I have shewn already[[12]]; and some of the Reasons, proving him never to have been Bishop of Rome, make equally against his pretended Episcopacy of Antioch. Most of the Ecclesiastical Writers indeed suppose him to have been Bishop of Antioch; but St. Luke is quite silent on that Head, though within the Compass of his History, as Jerom observed[[13]]; and his Silence ought to be of more Weight, than the Authority of Writers, who lived some Ages after. Origen, who flourished in the Third Century, was the first who mentioned St. Peter’s See of Antioch, saying, It was held by Ignatius after him[[14]]. Origen was copied by Eusebius, and Eusebius by those, who came after him.
On Translations a modern Writer of the Court of Rome reasons thus: “Translations have been severely censured by the Fathers, and often condemned both by the Popes and the Councils. But neither can the Councils tie the Hands of the Popes, nor can one Pope tie the Hands of another. The Power of dispensing with all canonical Impediments the Popes hold by Divine Right; which therefore can only be restrained by divine Authority. However, Translations ought not to be allowed, but on most urgent Occasions; and it is in order to prevent them, that the Popes have adopted the wise Regulations of some well-governed Republics, where certain Goods are not prohibited, but loaded with such Customs as are next to a Prohibition[[15]].” The Canons were made for the Good of the Church, and the People; and therefore cannot be binding when they oppose either. Hence it follows, that there being in such Cases no Room left for a Dispensation, nothing ought in Justice to be exacted for it. And yet, let the Occasion be ever so urgent, a very considerable Sum must be paid into the Apostolic Chamber for the pretended Dispensation. If the Occasion is not urgent, they allow the Canons to be binding; and what can induce the Popes to dispense with them, but that, which one of them taxed those Bishops with, who seek Translations, Avarice, filthy Lucre, and an ungodly Desire of greater Wealth[[16]]? as if the Canons had been made with no other View but to give the Popes an Opportunity of filling their Coffers by granting Leave to transgress them.
[1]. Concil. t. 2. p. 628.
[2]. Syn. Alex. apud Athan. apol. 2.
[3]. Concil. sub Menn. p. 9.
[4]. Hier. vir. ill. c. 83. Socr. l. 6. c. 13.
[5]. Theod. l. 1. c. 6. Theoph. Eutych. & alii.