§ 64. The Older Period

One of the fundamental qualities with which a servant of the Church must be distinguished consists in this: that he be worthy to teach.[1] For this reason, following the example of the Founder of the Church, who in a special manner instructed His apostles, who were to be teachers of the faith,[2] these same apostles always exhorted the pastors of the Church to give themselves to learning,[3] and appointed as pastors only such as had been trained from youth in Christian doctrine.[4] Following this precept of Holy Scripture, the Church has always given its chief attention to its servants, so as to educate and equip them for the successful performance of their service. The ordinary and habitual means for this was, and must be, that candidates pass through the various degrees of the church hierarchy under the guidance of older and more experienced servants of the Church. But besides this, the Church, from the earliest times, concerned itself with schools of religion, which were to be nurseries of Christian enlightenment. Such schools existed at the outset at Ephesus, Alexandria, and elsewhere.[5] From the time of Constantine the Great these began to multiply, and in the course of time we find them, both in the East and in the West, in all the chief centers of the Christian world.[6] These schools were intended for general Christian education, while for theological formation in particular there existed special schools at the episcopal sees.[7] Since the clergy of each eparchy, by the very constitution of the Church, are the helpers and deputies of the bishop in the performance of church service, from this there arose for bishops the right and duty to direct and to supervise the education and upbringing of their clergy, so that afterward they might, without misgiving, entrust to them the pastoral service in the places assigned.[8] The chief subject of study in these schools was Holy Scripture, and for this reason the canons prescribe that candidates for the priesthood must know Scripture exactly and be acquainted with it not only in its words but also in its spirit.[9] Besides this, they had to know all the laws of the Church and, in general, everything pertaining to the constitution, government, and life of the Church.[10] Alongside this theological formation, it was required of candidates for the priesthood that they also be skilled in the corresponding secular branches of knowledge,[11] so that on the one hand they might raise the standing of the clergy in educated secular circles, and on the other might be able to withstand the false teachings that arise in the world, and so help that light to be spread everywhere which shines even in darkness and which the darkness cannot overcome.[12] The canons stress with full decisiveness the necessity of the prior, complete formation of candidates for the priesthood, and strictly forbid ordaining one who has not shown sufficient knowledge at the corresponding examination.[13]

So that, alongside learning, candidates for the priesthood might also become accustomed to ordering their own life in keeping with the priestly calling, seminaries were established, already in the earliest times, at the episcopal sees. The first mention of seminaries is found in the West,[14] and from there such seminaries have since spread everywhere. And where they could not be established, and likewise where separate theological schools could not exist, monasteries supplied the lack, for they were, in ancient times, always centers of learning and of all that pertained to enlightenment. These monastery schools stood, as did the monasteries themselves, under the unconditional authority of the respective bishop.