Decree X

We believe that what is called, or rather is, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and in which we have been taught to believe, containeth generally all the Faithful in Christ, who, that is to say, being still on their pilgrimage, have not yet reached their home in the Fatherland. But we do not in any wise confound this Church which is on its pilgrimage with that which is in the Fatherland, because it may be, as some of the heretics say, that the members of the two are sheep of God, the Chief Shepherd,t and hallowed by the same Holy Spirit; for that is absurd and impossible, since the one is yet militant, and

Παρὰ Χριστοῦ. T Cf. Ps, xciv. [ xcv. ], 7.

on its journey; and the other is triumphant, and settled in the Fatherland, and hath received the prize. Of which Catholic Church, since a mortal man cannot universally and perpetually be head, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself is head, and Himself holding the rudder is at the helm in the governing of the Church, through the Holy Fathers. And, therefore, over particular Churches, that are real Churches, and consist of real members [of the Catholic Church], the Holy Spirit hath appointed Bishops as leaders and shepherds, who being not at all by abuse, but properly, authorities and heads, look unto the Author and Finisher of our Salvation, and refer to Him what they do in their capacity of heads forsooth.

But forasmuch as among their other impieties, the Calvinists have fancied this also, that the simple Priest and the High Priest are perhaps the same; and that there is no necessity for High Priests, and that the Church may be governed by some Priests ; and that not a High Priest [only], but a Priest also is able to ordain a, Priest, and a

number of Priests to ordain a High Priest ; and affirm in lofty language that the Eastern Church assenteth to this wicked notion—for which purpose the Tenth Chapter was written by Cyril—we explicitly declare according to the mind which hath obtained from the beginning in the Eastern Church :—

That the dignity of the Bishop is 5ο necessary in the Church, that without him, neither Church nor Christian could either be or be spoken of. For he, as a successor of the Apostles, having received in continued succession by the imposition of hands and the invocation of the All-holy Spirit the grace that is given him of the Lord of binding and loosing, is a living image of God upon the earth, and by a most ample participation of the operation of the Holy Spirit, who is the chief functionary, is a fountain of all the Mysteries [Sacraments] of the Catholic Church, through which we obtain salvation.

And he is, we suppose, as necessary to the Church) as breath vis ‘to man, or ‘the, sun το the world. Whence it hath also been elegantly

said by some in commendation of the dignity of the High Priesthood, ‘What God is in the heavenly Church of the first-born, and the sun in the world, that every High Priest is in his own particular Church, as through him the flock is enlightened, and nourished, and becometh the temple of God.’+

And that this great mystery and dignity of the Episcopate hath descended unto us by a continued succession is manifest. For since the Lord hath promised to be with us always, although He be with us by other means of grace and Divine operations, yet in a more eminent manner doth He, through the Bishop as chief functionary, make us His own and dwell with us, and through the divine Mysteries is united with us; of which the Bishop is the first minister, and chief functionary, 1 through the Holy Spirit, and suffereth us not to fall into heresy. And, therefore [John] the Damascen, in his Fourth Epistle to the Africans, hath said, the Catholic Church is everywhere* committed to the

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care of the Bishops; and that Clement, the first Bishop of the Romans, and Evodius at Antioch, and Mark at Alexandria, were successors of Peter is acknowledged. Also that the divine Andrew seated Stachys on the Throne of Constantinople, in his own stead ; and that in this great holy city of Jerusalem our Lord Himself appointed James, and that after James another succeeded, and_ then another, until our own times. And, therefore, Tertullian in his Epistle to Papianus* called all Bishops the Apostles’ successors. To their succession to the Apostles’ dignity and authority Eusebius, the [friend] of Pamphilus, testifieth, and all the Fathers testify, of whom it is needless to give a list; and this the common and most ancient custom of the Catholic Church confirmeth.

And that the dignity of the Episcopate

ignoro. Sententia vero haud a Tertulliani mente abhorret, et est simile quiddam advers. Marcion. iv., 5: ‘Nam etsi Apocalypsin ejus Marcion respuit, ordo tamen episcoporum ad originem recensus in Joannem stabit auctorem.’ Spectat ejus orat. ad Apoc. ii. et iil. Quare paullo post de ceterarum ecclesiarum generositate dixit.

differeth from that of the simple Priest, is manifest. For the Priest is ordained by the Bishop, but a Bishop is not ordained by a Priest, but by two or three High Priests, as the Apostolic Canon directeth. And _ the Priest is chosen by the Bishop, but the High Priest is not chosen by the Priests or Presbyters, nor is he chosen by secular Princes, but by the Synod of the Primatialt Church of that country, in which is situated the city that is to receive the ordinand, or at least by the Synod of the Province { in which he is to become a Bishop. Or, if ever the city choose him, it doth not this absolutely ; but the election is referred to the Synod ; and if it appear that he hath obtained this agreeably to the Canons, the Elect is advanced by ordination by the Bishops, with the invocation of the All-holy Spirit; but if not, he is advanced whom the Synod chooseth. And the Priest, indeed, retaineth to himself the authority and grace of the Priesthood, which he hath received; but the Bishop imparteth it to others also. And the one having received the dignity of the Priesthood

from the Bishop, can only perform Holy Baptism, and Prayer-oil, minister sacrificially the unbloody Sacrifice, and impart to the people the All-holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, anoint the baptised with the Holy Myron [Chrism], crown the Faithful legally marrying, pray for the sick, and that all men may be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth,t and especially for the remission and forgiveness of the sins of the Faithful, living and dead. And if he be eminent for experience and virtue, receiving his authority from the Bishop, he directeth those Faithful that come unto him, and guideth them into the way of possessing the heavenly kingdom, and is appointed a preacher of the sacred Gospek’)); But: the, High’) Priest 1s σοι πα minister? of all these, since he is in fact, as hath been said before, the fountain of the Divine Mysteries and graces, through the Holy Spirit, and he alone consecrateth the Holy Myron. And the ordinations of all orders and degrees in the Church are proper to him; and in a primary and highest sense he

bindeth and looseth, and his sentence is approved by God, as the Lord hath promised. And he preacheth the Sacred Gospel, and contendeth for the Orthodox faith, and those πας περα to, hear hel-casteth out of, the Church as heathens and publicans,t and he putteth heretics under excommunication and anathema, and layeth down his own life for the sheep.t From which it is manifest, that without contradiction the Bishop differeth from the simple Priest, and that without him all the Priests in the world could not exercise bieeepastorate im) the’ ‘Church. ο οσα ος govern it at all.

But it is well said by one of the Fathers, that) it is)not ‘easy to’ find a’ heretic -that hath understanding. For when these forsake the Church, they are forsaken by the Holy Spirit, and there remaineth in them neither understanding nor light, but only darkness and blindness. For if such had not happened to them, they would not have opposed things that are most plain; among which is the truly great mystery of Episcopacy, which is taught

PROT Onn xO TT:

by Scripture, written of, and witnessed to, both by all Ecclesiastical history and the writings of holy men, and always held and acknowledged by the Catholic Church.