Distinction XVIII

GRATIAN. Part I. Councils of bishops, therefore, as appears from the foregoing, are invalid for defining and establishing, but not for correcting. For councils of bishops are necessary for exhortation and correction; although they do not have the force of establishing, they nevertheless have authority to impose and enjoin what has been established elsewhere and commanded to be observed generally or specially. [PALEA.

It pleased the council that, with the primacy of the metropolitan preserved, the other bishops should yield place one to another according to the time of their ordination.]

Hence Leo I [epistle LXXXII, c. 7] to Anastasius, bishop of Thessalonica:

Concerning episcopal councils, however, we enjoin nothing other than what the holy fathers beneficially ordained: namely, that two meetings should be held in each year, in which judgment is to be given concerning all complaints that are accustomed to arise among the diverse orders of the Church. And if perhaps among those very persons who preside there arises—which God forbid—a cause concerning greater sins that cannot be defined by a provincial examination, the metropolitan will take care to instruct your fraternity concerning the quality of the whole affair, so that if, even with the parties placed before you, the matter has not been quieted by your judgment, whatever it is may be transferred to our cognizance.

Likewise from the Council of Nicaea [c. 5]. Let a council be held once before the days of Lent, so that, all enmities, if there are any, having been cut away, a clean solemn offering may be made to God; but let the second be held around the time of autumn.

Likewise from the Council of Antioch [c. 20]. For the sake of ecclesiastical causes and of resolving the controversies that exist, it seemed sufficient for a council of bishops to be held twice a year throughout the individual provinces: once, indeed, after the third week of the paschal solemnity, so that the council may be completed in the fourth week that follows—that is, at mid-Pentecost. Those who dwell in the larger cities—that is, the metropolitan cities—are to admonish their fellow provincial bishops. §1. The second council, however, is to be held on the Ides of October, which day is found among the Greeks to be the tenth of the month Hyperberetaeus. In these councils both priests and deacons ought to be present, as well as all, however many, who consider themselves injured, and they are to await the synodal judgment. Nor is it permitted for any persons to hold councils among themselves without the knowledge of the metropolitan bishops, to whom it is established that judgment concerning all causes has been entrusted.

Likewise from the Council of Laodicea [c. 40]. Bishops who have been summoned ought not to disdain a synod, but ought to attend and either teach or be taught those things that are useful for the correction of the Church and of others; if they disdain it, they appear to accuse themselves, unless perhaps they are unable to go.

Likewise from the Council of Chalcedon [c. 19]. It has reached our ears that the established councils of bishops are by no means celebrated in the provinces. This is proved by the fact that many ecclesiastical matters that need correction are neglected. This holy synod therefore established, according to the rules of the fathers, that the bishops throughout the individual provinces should come together in one place twice a year, where the individual things that have arisen are to be corrected. §1. But bishops established in their cities who are unwilling to assemble—especially when they are in bodily health and are also free from all other pressing necessities and inexcusable affairs—may be reproved with the admonitions of fraternal charity.

Likewise from the Seventh Synod [c. 6]. Part II. Since there is indeed a rule that says regular inquiries ought to be made twice a year throughout the individual provinces by an assembly of bishops, because of fatigues and so that those who are to be assembled may have a suitable time for making the journey, the holy fathers of the Sixth Synod defined that, every excuse being removed, they are by all means to be held once a year and the things that have been corrupted are to be corrected. We too therefore renew this canon; and if any prince is found to prohibit this, let him be deprived of communion. But if any of the metropolitans neglects to do this without necessity or force or some reasonable occasion, let him be subject to canonical penalties. Moreover, while a synod is being held concerning canonical and evangelical affairs, the assembled bishops ought to be engaged in meditation and solicitude for guarding the divine and life-giving commandments of the Lord. §1. Further, let the metropolitan not have license to demand any of the things that a bishop brings with him, whether a beast of burden or any kind of object. But if he is convicted of having done this, let him pay fourfold.

Likewise Leo IV [to the bishops of Britain, c. 3]. Concerning eulogiae to be brought to sacred councils, we find nothing determined by our predecessors, but it is to be as it pleases each priest. For if it is established that blessings are to be brought at that time, perhaps they will attend synods less willingly and will object still more to coming. These, as I judge, are neither reasonably to be required nor, if brought voluntarily, to be refused.

Likewise from the Fourth Council of Carthage [c. 21]. A bishop is not to delay going to a synod unless he is hindered by a sufficiently grave necessity, yet in such a way that he sends a legate in his own person, being prepared, with the truth of the faith preserved, to receive whatever the synod shall establish.

Likewise from the Fifth Council of Carthage [c. 10]. It pleased the council that, whenever a council is to be assembled, the bishops who are hindered neither by age, illness, nor another graver necessity should attend fittingly. §1. But if they cannot attend, they are to subscribe their excuses in writing; and unless they render an account of their impediment to their primate, they ought to be content with the communion of their own church.

[PALEA.

A bishop ought not to compel an abbot to go to a synod unless some reasonable cause exists.]

Likewise from the Second Council of Arles [c. 19]. But if anyone has neglected to be present, or has believed that the assembly of the brothers should be abandoned before the council is dissolved, let him recognize himself as alienated from the communion of the brothers; nor may he be received unless he has been absolved in the following synod.

Likewise from the Council of Agde [c. 35]. If a metropolitan bishop sends letters to his fellow provincial bishops in which he invites them either to the ordination of the supreme pontiff or to a synod, laying all things aside—except grave bodily illness and a royal command—let them not delay being present on the appointed day. But if they are absent, as the ancient authority of the canons commands, let them be deprived of the charity of the brothers and the communion of the Church until the next synod.

Likewise from the Council of Tarragona [c. 6]. If any of the bishops, admonished by the metropolitan to come to a synod, disdains to come when no grave bodily necessity intervenes, as the statutes of the fathers sanctioned, let him be deprived until the future council of the communion of charity of all the bishops.

Likewise from the Council of Pope Martin. For the sake of ecclesiastical causes and the resolution of disputes, it pleased the council that a council should be held twice a year throughout the individual provinces, with the metropolitan bishop summoning all the provincial bishops, so that all priests and deacons, or those who consider themselves injured, may come to the council, in order that the causes examined in the council may be brought to a just judgment. And if any bishops, priests, or deacons are manifestly found in an offense, let them be excommunicated according to reason for as long as it pleases the common consent to give judgment concerning them. But no bishop may hold his own councils among his own people, except those to whom metropolitan sees have been entrusted.

[PALEA.

Every year a bishop is to hold a synod in his diocese composed of his clerics as well as abbots, and is to examine the other clerics and monks.] GRATIAN. But the individual bishops are to take care to make known to their churches the things that are established in councils. Hence in the Council of Toledo [XVI, c. 6]:

We decree that, while a council is being conducted in any province, each of the bishops should by his admonitions make no delay, within the space of six months, in gathering all the abbots, priests, deacons, and clerics, and also the whole assembly of the city over which he is recognized to preside, and also the entire people of his diocese, so that before them he may disclose most fully all the things known to have been enacted or defined in the council in that year. §1. But if anyone believes that these things are to be treated as of little account, let him remain punished everywhere by a sentence of excommunication for the course of two months.