§ 42. General Survey

By the publication of the fundamental canonical collection, the constitution and government of the Church had been secured, and a lawful life within it was guaranteed for future times. The fundamental laws for the legal relations of the Church—both within the Church itself and toward the state and toward those who are outside the Church—had already been issued in the second period, and the legislative power of the Church now had only to apply those fundamental laws and to see that fidelity to their spirit was maintained. As circumstances changed for the Church in the course of the centuries, and as, in consequence of those changed circumstances, the laws of the Church began to be understood variously, the need made itself felt to prepare new collections that would best satisfy the practical needs of the time, that would clarify the true sense of the fundamental laws of the Church, and that would set forth all those legal institutions which were contained in essence within those laws. With such aims a number of canonical collections of various kinds appeared in this period, among which the most important are those containing interpretations of the canons, which contributed most to the development of church law, both on its practical and on its theoretical side. These various collections were prepared in the Greek language, and almost simultaneously they were translated also into the languages of those peoples who were in unity with the Greek Church, from which they had received Christianity.