Church as Institute – transformed by Roman Law
Source texts
Pope Leo the Great
Administrational support during Jesus’ ministry
- Judas was the official treasurer ‘carrying the money box’ (John 12.6)
- When Jesus came to Sychar in Samaria, he sat at the well “while the disciples went away into the city to buy food” (John 4,8).
- Women supporting the organization of the twelve: “Also some women accompanied them … Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means” (Luke 8,2-3). Etc.
Birth of the Institution of the Church in Apostolic Times
- In new Christian communities, the apostles appoint leaders: ‘elders’ (prebyteroi) and ‘overseers’ (episkopoi) by laying hands on them. These local leaders found suitable homes in which the community (ekklesia) could meet.
- The apostles also appointed administrators (diakonoi) to look after the distribution of food to poor members of the community and ‘to serve tables’. They laid hands on them (Acts 6,1-6). Please, note: in the past diakonoi has been wrongly understood as just ‘servants’. New research (by John Collins) has established that they were ‘administrators’ in charge of running households.
Popes applying Roman Law to the Church
Pope Leo I, the Great (400-461). Aristocrat. Applied his knowledge of Roman organization to centralizing spiritual authority under papal control.
Pope Gregory I, the Great (590-604). Son of a Roman senator and prefect of Rome. Enforced Roman structures on the Church.
POSITIVE EFFECT OF CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION !!
Remember that the construction of an efficient supportive administration was also done under guidance of the Spirit promised by Jesus. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John14,26).
The Institute benefits from international centralisation. Examples:
- Local diocesan disputes can be resolved by a higher authority.
- Necessary reforms by the Council of TRENT (1545-1563) could slowly be enforced everywhere. For instance: abolishing corruption in the Curia; ensuring bishops were not elected on political grounds; providing better formation for priests; installing better pastoral care in dioceses; etc.
- Reforms by the SECOND VATICAN Council (1962-1965): introducing the vernacular in the liturgy; updating religious life; promoting ecumenism; establishing pastoral councils; etc.
- The Synodal process initiated by Pope Francis.
DEFORMITIES CREATED
DISTORTION ONE. Institutionalising the ministries
- Priests: ‘elders’ (presbyteroi) became ‘sacred men’ (sacerdotes)
- Ordination: the ‘laying on of hands’ became ‘ordination’ = official legal appointment of functionaries in the Roman Empire
- Community: the ‘ekklesia’ as community became ‘ecclesia’ as church building
DISTORTION TWO. Imposing patriarchy on women
The rights of women in general Civil Roman Law
Although a woman was considered a Roman citizen, she obtained her position only through her husband. Neither slaves nor women could carry their own name. Only men carried this distinct sign of their being a Roman citizen. The general law was: “In many sections of our law the condition of women is weaker than that of men”.
Moreover, the woman was excluded from all public functions and rights: “Women are excluded from all civil and public functions and therefore can neither be judges nor carry any civil authority, they cannot bring a court case, nor intercede for someone else nor act as mediators”.
- A woman could not have charge of another person. “Tutela virile officium est”. She could not have patronage of her children and cousins (except in later Roman law).
- Women could not function as witnesses, whether at the drawing up of a last will, or in any other form of law. “A woman is incapable of being a witness in any form of jurisprudence where witnesses are required”. Women were reckoned with minors, slaves, the dumb and criminals to be incapable of being witnesses.
- Women could not start a court case without being represented by a man. Women cannot represent themselves in law “because of the infirmity of their sex and because of their ignorance about matters pertaining to public life”.
In spite of a slight relaxation in laws which offered more protection to women in the Roman Empire of the 3rd and 4th centuries, the overall inferior status of women remained the same.
Information here: https://womenpriests.org/tradition/infe-rom-the-rights-of-women-according-to-roman-law/
Discussion in “Christ’s Idea of Authority in the Church”, chapters 3, 9 and 23.
John Wijngaards