[104] Atton. Vercell. Epist. viii.—Epiphanius (Hæres. LXXIX) denies that women had ever been permitted to rise beyond the diaconate, and asserts that their functions in that grade were simply to render to women such offices as decency forbade to men. In the West, the ordination of deaconesses was prohibited by Concil. Arausican. I. ann. 441 can. xxvi.; Concil. Epaonens. ann. 513 can. xxi., and Concil. Aurelianens. II. ann. 538 can. xviii., on account of disorders arising through the fragility of the sex, as was perhaps not unnatural, after the adoption of enforced celibacy. It was probably for the sake of order that St. Paul forbade women from teaching or asking questions in church (I Cor. xiv. 34, 35; I. Tim. ii. 11, 12).
[105] Declaratum est enim hos eosdem nuptias accusare et docere quod nullus in conjugali positus gradu spem habeat apud Deum.... In domibus conjugatorum nec orationes quidem debere celebrari, persuasisse in tantum ut easdem fieri vetent.... Presbyteros vero qui matrimonia contraxerunt sperni debere dicunt, nec sacramenta quæ ab eis conficiuntur, attingi.—Concil. Gangrens. Proœm.
So also Socrates—“Benedictionem presbyteri habentis uxorem, quam lege cum esset laicus duxisset, tanquam scelus declinandum præcepit.”—Hist. Eccles. Lib. II. c. 33.
After the specific condemnation of this latter doctrine by the undoubtedly orthodox council of Gangra, it is somewhat remarkable to see it enunciated and erected into a law of the church by Gregory VII. in his internecine conflict with the married priests. Thus the heresy of one age becomes the received and adopted faith of another.
[106] Concil. Gangrens. c. 4.—Si quis decernit presbyterum conjugatum tanquam occasione nuptiarum quod offerre non debeat, et ab ejus oblatione ideo se abstinet, anathema sit.—I give the Isidorian version adopted by Gratian, Dist. XXVIII. c. 15, and by Burchard, Lib. III. 75. That of Dionysius Exiguus is somewhat different.
Can. 10.—Si quis propter Deum virginitatem professus in conjugio positos per arrogantiam vituperaverit, anathema sit.—Can. 1 and 9 are directed against those who condemn marriage, and teach that it affords no chance of heaven.
[107] Concil. Gangrens. Epilog.
[108] Lib. XVI. Cod. Theod. Tit. ii. l. 20.
[109] So great was the influx of wealth to the church from the pious legacies of the faithful that it became an evil of magnitude to the state, and in 370 a law of Valentinian pronounced null and void all such testamentary provisions made by those under priestly influence (Lib. XVI. Cod. Theod. Tit. ii. l. 20)—a provision repeated in 390 (Ibid. l. 27) with such additional details as show its successful evasion during the interval. Godefroi, in his notes to these laws (T. VI. pp. 48-50, 60-64), has collected much curious matter bearing on the subject.
[110] Synod. Roman. ad Gallos Episc. Respons. c. 3.—The date of this synod is not certain, but the year mentioned in the text is the earliest to which it is assigned. By some authorities it has been attributed to 398, and Hardouin suggests that it may even have been held under Innocent I.