Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/The Decretals/The Epistles of Zephyrinus/Notes by the American Editor

Notes by the American Editor.

1.&#160; The translator&#8217;s reference to Canon 73 is a mistake, and quite misleading.&#160; See vol. vii. Canon 74, p. 504.

2.&#160; It is worth while to recall who and what Zephyrinus was.&#160; See vol. v. p. 156, Elucidation V.; also same volume of this series, p. 157, Elucidation VI.&#160; This unhappy prelate was a heretic; and his decrees and opinions are worthless, as Hippolytus shows.&#160; Hence this letter, even were it genuine, would be of no value whatever.&#160; Consult also vol. v. p. 156, in Elucidation IV.; also same volume, Elucidation III.

3.&#160; On p. 610, Ep. 2, sec. 1, observe the reference to the &#8220;statutes of Emperors,&#8221; where the wily forger forgot himself, as if the C&#230;sars of this date had legislated for the Christian Church.&#160; On the spirit of the ancient Canons, refuting all these Decretals, compare the Canons of Nic&#230;a, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 15; of Constantinople, 2 and 3; of Ephesus, 8; and of Chalcedon, 9 and 28.&#160; To these Canons, against the claims of the Paparchy, the Church of England appealed at her Restoration.