{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/214/2140343.htm","path":"chr/ecf/214/2140343.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/214/2140343.htm","text":"Forasmuch as certain of the metropolitans, as we have heard, neglect the flocks committed to them, and delay the ordinations of bishops the holy Synod has decided that the ordinations of bishops shall take place within three months, unless an inevitable necessity should some time require the term of delay to be prolonged. And if he shall not do this, he shall be liable to ecclesiastical penalties, and the income of the widowed church shall be kept safe by the steward of the same Church.\nLet the ordination of bishops be within three months: necessity however may make the time longer. But if anyone shall ordain counter to this decree, he shall be liable to punishment. The revenue shall remain with the \u0153conomus.\nThe \u201cSteward of the Church\u201d was to \u201ctake care of the revenues of the church widowed\u201d by the death of its bishop, who was regarded as representing Him to whom the whole Church was espoused (see Eph. v. 23 ff.). So in the \u201corder of the holy and great church\u201d of St. Sophia, the \u201cGreat Steward\u201d is described as \u201ctaking the oversight of the widowed church\u201d (Goar, Eucholog., p. 269); so Hincmar says: \u201cSi fuerit defunctus episcopus, ego\u2026visitatorem ipsi viduat\u00e6 designabo ecclesi\u00e6; \u201cand the phrase, \u201cviduata per mortem N. nuper episcopi\u201d became common in the West (F. G. Lee, Validity of English Orders, p. 373). The episcopal ring was a symbol of the same idea. So at St. Chrysostom\u2019s restoration Eudoxia claimed to have \u201cgiven back the bridegroom\u201d (Serm. post redit., iv.). So Bishop Wilson told Queen Caroline that he \u201cwould not leave his wife in his old age because she was poor\u201d (Keble\u2019s Life of Wilson, ii., 767); and Peter Mongus, having invaded the Alexandrian see while its legitimate occupant, Timothy Salophaciolus, was alive, was expelled as an \u201cadulterer\u201d (Liberatus, Breviar., xviij.).\nThis canon is found in the Corpus Juris Canonici, Gratian\u2019s Decretum, Pars I., Dist. LXXV., C. ij. 293\nI think this is the first time I have ever noticed Van Espen to have omitted giving the reference.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XIV: The Fourth Ecumenical Council. The Council of Chalcedon.: Canon XXV","type":"page"}