Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume III/Theodoret/Ecclesiastical History/Book IV/Chapter 20

.&#8212;Of Mavia, Queen of the Saracens, and the ordination The word used is &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#964;&#959;&#957;&#8055;&#945;, of which it is well to trace the varying usages. These are given by the late Rev. E. Hatch (Dict. Christ. Ant. ii. 1501) as follows. &#8220;This word is used (a) in the N.T. Acts xiv. 24, &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#964;&#959;&#957;&#8053;&#963;&#945;&#957;&#964;&#949;&#962; &#948;&#8050; &#945;&#8016;&#964;&#959;&#8150;&#962; &#954;&#945;&#964;&#8125; &#7952;&#954;&#954;&#955;&#951;&#963;&#8055;&#945;&#957; &#960;&#961;&#949;&#963;&#946;&#965;&#964;&#8051;&#961;&#959;&#965;&#962;: 2 Cor. viii. 19 (of Titus) &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#964;&#959;&#957;&#951;&#952;&#949;&#8054;&#962; &#8017;&#960;&#8056; &#964;&#8182;&#957; &#7952;&#954;&#954;&#955;&#951;&#963;&#953;&#8182;&#957;; (b) in sub-apostolic Greek, Ignat. ad Philad. c. 10; (c) in the Clementines, Clement. Ep. ad Jacob. c. 2; (d) in the Apostolical Constitution; (e) in the Canon Law; (f) in the Civil Law. Its meaning was originally &#8220;to elect,&#8221; but it came afterwards to mean even in classical Greek, simply &#8220;to appoint to office,&#8221; without itself indicating the particular mode of appointment (cf. Sch&#246;mann de Comit&#252;s, p. 122). That the latter was its ordinary meaning in Hellenistic Greek, and consequently in the first ages of church history, is clear from a large number of instances; e.g. in Josephus vi. 13, 9, it is used of the appointment of David as King by God; id. xiii, 22, of the appointment of Jonathan as High Priest by Alexander; in Philo ii, 76 it is used of the appointment of Joseph as governor by Pharaoh; in Lucian, de morte Peregrini c. 41 of the appointment of ambassadors. &#8220;In Sozomen vii, 24 of the appointment of Arcadius as Augustus by Theodosius.&#8221; &#8220;In later times a new connotation appears of which there is no early trace; it was used of the stretching out of the bishop&#8217;s hands in the rite of imposition of hands.&#8221; The writer of the above seems hardly to do justice to its early use for ordination as well as for appointment. In the Pseudo-Ig. ad. Her. c. iii, it is said of bishops &#7952;&#954;&#949;&#8150;&#957;&#959;&#953; &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#964;&#959;&#957;&#959;&#8166;&#963;&#953;, &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#952;&#949;&#964;&#959;&#8166;&#963;&#953; and Bp. Lightfoot comments &#8220;while &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#952;&#949;&#963;&#8055;&#945; is used of laying on of hands, e.g. in confirmation, &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#964;&#959;&#957;&#8055;&#945; is said of ordination, e.g. Ap. Const. viii. 27. &#8216;&#7952;&#960;&#8055;&#963;&#954;&#959;&#960;&#959;&#962; &#8017;&#960;&#8056; &#964;&#961;&#953;&#8182;&#957; &#7970; &#948;&#8059;&#959; &#7952;&#960;&#953;&#963;&#954;&#8057;&#960;&#969;&#957; &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#964;&#959;&#957;&#949;&#8150;&#963;&#952;&#969;.&#8217; Referring originally to the election of the Clergy &#967;&#949;&#953;&#961;&#959;&#964;&#959;&#957;&#8055;&#945; came afterwards to be applied commonly, as here, to their ordination.&#8221; Theodoretus uses the word in both senses, and sometimes either will fit in with the context. of Moses the monk.

this time the Ishmaelites were devastating the country in the neighbourhood of the Roman frontier. They were led by Mavia, a princess who regarded not the sex which nature had given her, and displayed the spirit and courage of a man. After many engagements she made a truce, and, on receiving the light of divine knowledge, begged that to the dignity of high priest of her tribe might be advanced one, Moses by name, who dwelt on the confines of Egypt and Palestine. This request Valens granted, and ordered the holy man to be conveyed to Alexandria, and there, as the most convenient place in the neighbourhood, to receive episcopal grace. When he had arrived and saw Lucius endeavouring to lay hands on him&#8212;&#8220;God forbid&#8221; said he &#8220;that I should be ordained by thine hand: the grace of the Spirit visits us not at thy calling.&#8221; &#8220;Whence,&#8221; said Lucius, &#8220;are you led to conjecture this?&#8221; He rejoined &#8220;I am not speaking of conjecture but of clear knowledge; for thou fightest against the apostolic decrees, and speakest words against them, and for thy blasphemous utterances thy lawless deeds are a match. For what impious man has not on thy account mocked the meetings of the Church? What excellent man has not been exiled? What barbarous savagery is not thrown into the shade by thy daily deeds?&#8221; So the brave man said, and the murderer heard him and desired to slay him, but was afraid of kindling once again the war which had come to an end. Wherefore he ordered other bishops to be produced whom Moses had requested. After receiving the episcopal grace of the right worthy faith Moses returned to the people who had asked for him, and by his apostolic teaching and miracles led them in the way that leads to truth.

These then were the deeds done by Lucius in Alexandria under the dispensation of the providence of God.