20.12. The Interaction of the Civitas Terrena and the Civitas Dei
Augustine earnestly desired that the civitas terrena should help to establish the civitas Dei, and that the civitas Dei should leaven with moral influence the civitas terrena. It remains for us to see how far his dream was realised, in other words how far the Christian Empire affected the Church and was in turn affected by it.
The influence of the Empire upon the internal and external structure of the Church had been felt from the first. Thus, the development of the monarchical episcopate was doubtless due in great measure to the example of Roman law, which required all corporate bodies to have a representative. The mark of Roman law is also seen in the Western doctrines of Free Will, Sin and its transmission, and Atonement. The language in which these problems are stated is the phraseology of the courts, and recalls the Roman penal code, theory of contract and delict, debt, universal succession, etc. The effect of civil order is seen in certain pieces of church administration which though themselves practical are the expression of underlying theory, and therefore call for notice here.
(1) The Church was organised in "dioceses" (with exarchs or patriarchs), provinces (with metropolitans or primates), and cities (with bishops), much in the manner of the Empire. This arrangement was not directly imposed upon the Church by the Empire nor did it exactly correspond to the imperial distribution. But the sudden rise of the see of Byzantium from a subordinate position into the next place of honour after Rome proves that civil importance was a factor in determining ecclesiastical precedence.
(2) The bargain proposed by Nestorius to Theodosius II, "Give me the world free from heretics and I will give thee heaven" was in a fair way of fulfilment. The emperors from being foes became powerful friends to the Church, able to give the material support that Augustine desired. Constantine would no doubt gladly have enjoyed the same controlling relation towards his adopted religion as he held towards the religion of which he and his successors till Valens remained chief pontiffs. But the Church was too strong for that, and the rescript of A.D. 314, in which he declared that the sentence of the bishops must be regarded as that of Christ Himself, shews what their power was, and hints what they might have done with it. Still, he was allowed to style himself (perhaps in jest) αποστόλων των ίσος , and he set the example of convoking general councils, the decrees of which were published under imperial authority and thus acquired a political importance. Those only who accepted their rulings could enjoy the rights of state favour, and civil penalties were presently threatened in the interest of civic peace against all who declined to acknowledge them.
(3) Pagan teachers, priests, and doctors were already exempt from certain civil charges on the ground of professional usefulness. To this list Constantine added first the African, and later all Christian, clergy; and them he allowed to engage in trade untaxed because they could give their profits to the poor. Clerical families and property were likewise excused all the ordinary responsibilities of curiales. Many citizens sought this immunity from taxation, even after the State, fearing the loss of useful service, had forbidden the ordination of curials; and the Church came to welcome the exclusion of the well-to-do from her ministry as a protection against unworthy ministers, as she also did the removal of exemption from trade taxes, for the age was averse from any interference with the spiritual duties of the clergy. But the fact that privileges were withdrawn from the heathen priesthood and bestowed on the clergy enhanced the position of the latter as a favoured class.
(4) The Church was distinguished as a corporation capable of receiving donations and bequests. Earlier confiscations and restorations prove that the Church had held property long before the time of Constantine. But Constantine bestowed upon it a more extensive privilege than was known to any heathen religious foundation. Whereas the latter could only be endowed under special circumstances, and, with few exceptions, never acquired the right to receive bequests, "the sacred and venerable Christian churches" might be left anything by anybody. Abuse of the privilege gradually led to its withdrawal under Valentinian III, and Christian writers deplore the cause more keenly than the result; but the growing wealth was as a rule generously applied to philanthropic work started by the Church, and Augustine was justified in calling upon churchmen to remember Christ as well as their sons. They were the more likely to listen, since the old Jewish belief that alms win heaven, had taken root and sprung up in the doctrine of merit.
(5) The Church secured another prerogative, which was fraught with serious consequences, in the establishment of episcopal courts as an integral part of the secular judicial system with final jurisdiction in civil cases. But it had analogy with the Roman institution of recepti arbitri, an extrajudicial arrangement allowing the civil authority to step in and enforce the decision of the arbitrator. At a time when, as we learn from Salvian and Ammianus, the courts were monuments of justice delayed and of chicanery, it was no small boon to be allowed to carry a civil suit to the arbitration of a bishop whose equitable decision had the force of law. The early history of this remarkable legislation is obscure and complicated, but it clearly contained in germ the clerical exemption from criminal procedure which formed one of the most difficult problems in medieval politics. The episcopal jurisdiction underwent considerable limitations and bishops lost their position of privilege before the law; but appeal to the episcopal court became a tradition in the Church.
(6) There are other indications of the great influence acquired by bishops in the administration of justice. Into their hands passed the right of intercession formerly exercised in behalf of clients by wealthy patrons or hired rhetoricians. One of their duties, according to Ambrose, was to rescue the condemned from death, and he himself was active in its discharge. So Basil interceded for the unfortunate inhabitants of Cappadocia at the partition of the province in A.D. 371. So Flavian of Antioch, with better success, stood between his flock and the emperor, not unjustly irritated by the riot of 387.
(7) Closely connected with episcopal intercession was the right of asylum, transferred from heathen temples to Christian churches, which afforded protection to fugitives, pending the interference of the bishops. One out of many instances, and that the most romantic, is the case of the miserable Eutropius (A.D. 399), who benefited by the privilege which he had himself in the previous year sought to circumscribe.
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