Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/171

Rh a priest, or became fit to exercise the authority of the highpriesthood. After His ascension, we, according to His commandment, offered up a pure and unbloody oblation, and appointed bishops, presbyters, and seven deacons, of whom one was the blessed martyr Stephen, who came behind none of us in his love to. … This man, who was full of the, and who saw seated on the right hand of , and the doors of heaven opened, never performed any functions not appertaining to the diaconate, for he did not offer the oblation, neither did he lay hands on any, but he kept his diaconate to the end according to the will of. Should any persons, however, take umbrage from the act of Philip the deacon, and from the act of Ananias the believing brother, the one having baptized the Eunuch, and the other me Paul, they forget what we have already said, viz., that no man can take the authority of the priesthood unless it be given to him of God, as it was to Melchizedek and to Jacob, or unless it be given by the high-priest, as it was to Aaron by Moses. So that Philip and Ananias did not take this [function] to themselves, but were elected thereto by, the incomparable High-Priest of ." Canon XX. from the same.

§ 3. "It hath seemed good to the to ordain, that none of the faithful shall be permitted to give orders to the deacons or presbyters in the Church, or to give any directions respecting divine service, or the times thereof, or to enjoin that any thing should be added thereto or taken therefrom. Nor is it allowed that any who are such shall direct by whom this or that portion is to be read, or by whom this or that function is to be performed; but everything is to be done according to the accustomed and proper order, drawn up and appointed in the Church by the holy Fathers. It belongs to the archdeacon, or the head of the presbyters, or the head of the deacons, appointed by the Ordinary, to direct what all the deacons are to do, and what functions they are to exercise. As to the faithful, they have no permission or authority whatever to meddle with that which is above their degree; therefore let every one keep to his degree, and strictly abide in the lot which God has allotted to him. It is not for a presbyter to order a bishop, nor a deacon a presby-