The Presbyter of Penitence Is Done Away With

At this time it was thought necessary to abolish the office of the presbyters in the churches who had charge of penitence. This was done for the following reason. When the Novatians separated themselves from the church because they would not share communion with those who had lapsed during the persecution under Decius, the bishops added a presbyter of penitence to the church’s roll of clergy, so that those who had sinned after baptism might confess their sins in the presence of the presbyter appointed for this. This way of discipline is still kept up by all the other sects, along with their other heretical institutions. Only the Homoousians, together with the Novatians who hold the same doctrine, have given it up. The Novatians, indeed, would never allow it to be set up at all. The Homoousians, who now hold the churches, kept this office for a considerable time but abolished it in the time of Nectarius, because of something that happened in the church of Constantinople. [a]

It happened like this. A woman of a noble family came to the penitentiary and made a general confession of the sins she had committed since her baptism. The presbyter told her to fast and pray continually, so that along with the confession of her wrongdoing she might also have works to show worthy of repentance. Some time after this the same lady came again and confessed that she was guilty of another crime: a deacon of the church had slept with her. When this was proved, the deacon was expelled from the church. But the people were very indignant. They were offended not only at what had taken place, but also because the deed had brought scandal and disgrace on the church. Since the clergy were being taunted and reproached on account of it, Eudaemon, a presbyter of the church and an Alexandrian by birth, persuaded Nectarius the bishop to abolish the office of penitentiary presbyter and to leave everyone to his own conscience in taking part in the sacred mysteries. Only in this way, he judged, could the church be kept free of disgrace.

I heard this explanation of the matter from Eudaemon himself, and I have ventured to put it into the present work. For, as I have often said, I have spared no pains to get a reliable account of events from those who knew them best, and to examine every report, so as not to set down anything that might be untrue. When Eudaemon first told me what had happened, I said to him: “Presbyter, God knows whether your advice has been good for the church or not. But I see that it takes away the occasion for rebuking one another’s faults, and keeps us from acting on the apostle’s command: ‘Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather rebuke them.’” Let this be enough on this matter.