Pre-Nicene Reconciliation Texts:East and West Syria / Asia Minor

Didache (c. 50 – 150 CE)

• 4:14: “In the assembly, you will confess your sins and not come to prayer with a bad conscience.”

• 14:1: “On the Lord’s Day of the Lord come together to break bread and give thanks, after having also confessed your sins so that your sacrifice might be pure.”

• 15:3: “Furthermore, correct one another, not in anger but in peace, as you find in the gospel; and if anyone wrongs his neighbor, let no one speak to him, nor let him hear a word from you, until he repents. As for your prayers and acts of charity and all your actions, do them all just as you find it in the gospel of the Lord.”

Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 CE)

• “I warn you beforehand against wild beasts in the shape of men; not only must you not receive them but, if possible, not even to meet them, only you must pray for them, so that they might repent, as difficult as this is. Yet Jesus Christ has such a power, Himself who is our true life.” (Smyrn. 4:1)

• Smyrn 5:3; 9:1

• Eph 10:1

• Phil 3:2;

• “To all, therefore, who do penance (μετανοουσιν) the Lord accords remission, if they do penance (μετανοήσωσιν) into the unity of God and the council of the bishop.” (Phil. 8:1)

Epistle of Barnabas (c. 130-140 CE)

• “Two Ways” catechism [18-21]

• 4:1-2, 13; 10:5

• 19:4: “You will not show partiality toward persons you rebuke for their faults.”

• 19:12: “You will confess your sins and not come to prayer with a bad conscience.”

Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 135 CE):Letter to the Philippians

• 6:1: “Let the priests be compassionate, merciful to all, bringing back the wandering, having an oversight of all the weak, not neglecting the widow or the orphan or the poor…not quickly believing against any, not relentless in judgment, knowing that we are all debtors in sin.”

• 11:4: “Therefore, I am very sorry for him [Valens] and his wife; may the Lord give to them true repentance. Therefore be very moderate yourselves in this; and do not look upon them as enemies, but call them back as suffering and erring members, in order to save your whole body. Doing this, you edify one another.”

Didascalia Apostolorum(c. 200 – 250 CE)

• 50:20-51:5: “For we do not believe, brothers, when [once] a man has gone down into the water that he will do again the abominable and defiled works of the wicked unbelievers. For it is manifest and known to everyone that whoever does evil after baptism is already condemned to the Gehenna of fire.”

• 64:14-17: “But when you have seen one who has sinned, be angry at him and command that they cast him out. And when he is cast out, let them be angry at him, and contend with him, and keep him outside the church.”

• 64:21-65:4: “And then, O bishop command [the sinner] to come in, and ask him whether he repents. And if he is worthy to be received into the church, appoint him days of fasting according to his transgression: two weeks, or three, or five, or seven. And so dismiss him that he may go, saying to him all that is right for admonition and instruction.”

• 68:23-25: “And when he who has sinned has repented and wept, receive him. And while the whole people pray over him, lay [your] hand upon him, and allow him from this point on to be in the church.”

• 114:10-16: “And so as you baptize an unbeliever and receive him, so also lay the hand upon this man while everyone is praying for him, and then bring him in and let him be in/receive communion with the church. Indeed, the laying on of the hand shall be to him instead of baptism – indeed, whether by the laying of the hand, or by baptism, that they receive the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”

• Who:• Does (or refrains from doing) what:

– Exclusion of serious sinner (voluntarily [52:7-10] or by bishop [64:14-17])

– Individual members of the community/deacons care for the excluded person (64:17-21)

– Bishop examines the seriousness of the candidate for penance and assigns penance (64:21-65:4)

– 2, 3, 5, or 7 weeks of fasting by penitent– Bishop reconciles the penitent in the context of

community prayer by a hand-laying (68:23-25)

Gregory the Wonderworker (d. c. 270-275 CE): Canonical Epistle

• Canon 9: “Now those who have been so audacious as to invade the houses of others should not be considered fit even to be listeners [ακροασεως] in the public assembly, if they have once been tried and convicted. But if they have denounced themselves and made restitution, they should be returned to the rank of the prostrators [υποπιπτειν] .”

• Canon 12 [spurious?]: “Mourning (προσκλαυσις)occurs outside the gate of the place of prayer; standing there, the sinner should beg the faithful as they enter to offer prayers on his behalf.

• [ακροωμενοι] Listening happens inside the gate of the forecourt, where the offender should stand until the departure of the catechumens, and then go forth. It is said, when he has heard the scripture and the instructions, let him be put forth as one not deserving of the prayer.”

• “[υποπιπτοντες] Prostration occurs when such a one stands at the gate of the nave, and goes forth along with the catechumens.

• [συνισταται] Standing together with occurs when he stands beside the faithful and does not go forth with the catechumens.

• Last is that of participant in the Holies.”

Methodius of Olympus: De lepra(d. c. 312 CE)

• VI. 7-8: voluntary separation from and return to reception of communion

• VI. 9: “But if the evil does not stop and cease, he must go to the chastisers, in order to show his spot to the bishop…he must not feel ashamed to confess [εξαγορευσαι] the truth.”

• VII.5: “He [the bishop] must separate him [and put him] into the exomologesis. He has to pronounce him unclean and restrain him from communion. He must weep and pray for him…And if he ceases, after he has been kept one and a second week from the assembly, then he will be examined again, whether he has mourned and felt a godly grief which produces metamelon which leads to salvation, then he is hopeful, he is clean, for the evil has not spread.”