THE CHURCH CONSIDERED AS AN ASSOCIATION OF POOR
PEOPLE.--INSTITUTION OF THE DIACONATE.--DEACONESSES
AND WIDOWS.
A comparison of the history of religion shows, as a general truth,
that all those religions not contemporary with the origin of language
itself, owe their establishment to social rather than theological
causes. This was assuredly the case with Buddhism, the prodigious
success of which may be traced to its social element, rather than
to the nihilistic principle on which it was based. It was in
proclaiming the abolition of castes, and establishing, in his words,
"a law of grace for all," that Sakya-Mouni and his disciples gained
the adherence, first of India, and then of the largest portion of
Asia.[7.1] Like Christianity, Buddhism was a movement of the lower
classes. Its great attraction was the facility it afforded the poor to
elevate themselves by the profession of a religion which improved their
condition and offered them inexhaustible assistance and sympathy.
The poor were a numerous class in Judea during the first century.
The country was naturally scantily provided with luxuries. In these
countries where industry is almost unknown, almost every fortune
owes its origin either to richly endowed religious institutions or
government patronage. The riches of the temple were for a long time
the exclusive appanage of a limited number of nobles. The Asmoneans
gathered around their dynasty a circle of rich families; and the Herods
considerably increased the welfare and luxury of a certain class of
society. But the real theocratic Jew, turning his back upon Roman
civilization, only became poorer. He belonged to a class of holy men,
fanatically pious, rigidly observant of the law, and miserably and
abjectly poor. From this class, the sects of enthusiasts so numerous
at this period, received their recruits. The universal dream of
these people shadowed forth the triumph of the poor Jew who remained
faithful, and the humiliation of the rich, who were considered as
renegades and traitors, because of their civilization and different
mode of life. Intense indeed was the hatred entertained by these poor
fanatics against the splendid edifices which now began to adorn the
country, and against the public works of the Romans.[7.2] Obliged as
they were to toil for their daily bread on these structures, which to
them seemed monuments of pride and forbidden luxury, they considered
themselves the victims of men who were rich, wicked, corrupt, and
infidels to the Divine Law.
In such a social state an association for mutual benefit would
naturally receive a warm welcome. The little Christian Church appeared
to be a paradise. This family of simple and united brethren attracted
people from every quarter, who in return for that which they brought
secured a settled future, the society of congenial friends, and
precious spiritual hopes. The general custom of converts[7.3] was to
convert into specie their property, which usually consisted of little
farms but scantily productive. To unmarried people in particular the
exchange of their plots of land for shares in a society which would
secure them a place in the Heavenly Kingdom, could not be otherwise
than advantageous. Several married persons did likewise. Care was
taken that the new associates should contribute their entire effects
to the common fund without retaining any portion for private use.[7.4]
Indeed, as each one received from the common treasury in proportion
to his needs,{7.5} and not in proportion to his contributions, every
reservation of property was a fraud on the community. Such attempts
at organization show a surprising resemblance to certain Utopian
experiments made recently; but with the important difference that
Christian communism rested on a religious basis, which is not the
case with modern socialism. It is evident that an association whose
dividends were declared not in proportion to the capital subscribed,
but in proportion to individual needs, must rest only upon a sentiment
of exalted self-abnegation and an ardent faith in a religious ideal.
Under such a social constitution, however, and despite of the high
degree of fraternity, the administrative difficulties were necessarily
numerous. The difference of language between the two factions of the
community inevitably led to misapprehensions. The Jews of higher
birth could not restrain a feeling of contempt for their more humble
brethren in the faith, and soon expressed their dissatisfaction.
"The Hellenists," whose numbers daily increased, complained that
their widows received less at the distributions than those of the
"Hebrews."[7.6] Until this time the apostles had attended to the
financial affairs of the community; but, feeling now the necessity of
delegating to others this part of their authority, they proposed to
confide the administrative duties to seven experienced and leading
men. The proposition was accepted, and at the election, Stephanus or
Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas,
were chosen. This last was a simple proselyte from Antioch, and
Stephen, perhaps, was the same.[7.7] It seems that, in opposition
to the course followed in the election of the Apostle Matthew, the
choice of the seven administrators was not made from a group of
primitive disciples, but from the new converts, and especially from
the Hellenists. The names of all of them, indeed, were purely Greek.
Stephen was the leading spirit of the seven, who, in accordance with
the established rite, were formally presented to the apostles, and
confirmed by them in the ceremony of laying on of hands.
The administrators thus designated received the Syriac name of
_Schammaschin_, and were also sometimes called "the seven," in the
same manner that the apostles were called "the twelve."[7.8] Such
was the origin of the Diaconate, the most ancient of sacred and
ecclesiastical orders. In imitation of the church of Jerusalem, all
the other churches introduced the Diaconate, and the institution
spread with marvellous rapidity. This institution, indeed, elevated
the care of the poor to an equality with religious services. It was a
proclamation of the truth that social questions should be the first
to occupy the attention of man. It was the introduction of political
economy into religious affairs. The deacons were the best preachers
of Christianity, and we shall soon see how they played their part as
evangelists. As organizers, financial directors, and administrators,
they had a still more important part. These practical men in perpetual
contact with the poor, the rich, and the women, visited everywhere,
observed everything, and by their exhortations were the most efficient
agents of conversion.[7.9] They did much more than the apostles who
remained stationary at the central point of authority in Jerusalem; and
to them we are indebted for the most prominent and solid features of
Christianity.
From a very early period women were admitted to this employment;[7.10]
and, as in these days, they were called "sisters."[7.11] At first
they were widows;[7.12] but later, virgins were preferred for this
office.[7.13] Admirable tact was shown by the Church in this movement.
These good and simple men, with that profound science which comes from
the heart, laid the basis of that grand system of charity which is
the peculiar merit of Christianity. They had no precedent for such an
institution. A vast system of benevolence and of reciprocal aid, to
which the two sexes brought their diverse qualities, and lent their
united efforts for the relief of human misery, was the holy creation
which resulted from the travail of these two or three first years--the
most prolific years in the history of Christianity. It is certain
that the vital thoughts of Jesus filled the souls of His disciples
and directed all their acts. Justice, indeed, demands that to Jesus
should be referred the honor of all the great deeds of His apostles.
It is probable that during His life He laid the foundations of those
establishments which were successfully developed so soon after His
death.
Women, naturally, were attracted towards a community where the weak
were so cordially protected. Their position in society had previously
been humble and precarious; widows, particularly, notwithstanding
several protecting laws, were but little respected,[7.14] and often
even abandoned to misery. Many of the doctors were opposed to giving
them any religious education.[7.15] The Talmud placed along with the
other pests of mankind, the gossiping and inquisitive widow, who spent
her days in chatting with her neighbors, and the maiden who wasted her
time in incessant praying.[7.16] The new religion offered to these
poor and neglected souls a sure and honorable asylum.[7.17] Several
women occupied a prominent place in the Church, and their houses
served as places of meeting;[7.18] while those who had no houses were
formed into a species of feminine presbyteral body,{7.19} comprising
probably the virgins, who did important duty in charitable works. Those
institutions, regarded as the fruit of a later Christianity, such as
congregations of women, nuns, and sisters of charity, were really one
of its first creations, the beginning of its influence, and the most
perfect expression of its spirit. The admirable idea of consecrating
by a sort of religious character and subjecting to regular discipline
those women who were not in the bonds of marriage, is peculiarly and
entirely Christian. The word "widow" became a synonyme for a person
devoted to religious works, consecrated to God, and, consequently,
a "deaconess."[7.20] In those countries, where the wife at her
twenty-fourth year already began to fade, and where there was no middle
state between the child and the old woman, it was practically a new
life which was thus opened for that portion of the human race the most
capable of devotion.
The times of the Seleucidæ had been a terrible epoch for female
depravity. Never before were known so many domestic dramas, and
such a series of poisonings and adulteries. The wise men of that
day considered woman as a scourge to humanity; as the first cause
of baseness and shame; as an evil genius whose only part in life
was to impair whatever there was of good in the opposite sex.{7.21}
Christianity changed all this. At that age which, to our view, is yet
youth, but at which the existence of the Oriental woman is so gloomy,
so fatally prone to evil suggestions, the widow could, by covering her
head with a black shawl,{7.22} become a respectable person worthily
employed, and, as a deaconess, the equal of the most esteemed men in
the community. The difficult and dubious position of the childless
widow, Christianity elevated even to sanctity.{7.23} The widow became
almost the equal of the maiden. She was καλογρια, "beautiful old
age,"{7.24} venerated and useful, and receiving the respect usually
awarded to a mother. These women, constantly going to and fro,{7.25}
were the most useful missionaries of the new religion. Protestants are
in error in viewing these facts through the light of the system of
modern individuality. Socialism and cenobitism are primitive features
of Christianity.
The bishop and priest of later days did not yet exist; but that
intimate familiarity of souls not bound by ties of blood, known as the
pastoral ministry, was already founded. This was always the special
gift of Jesus; and, as it were, a heritage from Him. Jesus had often
said that He was more than father and mother, and that those who
followed Him must forsake those beloved beings. Christianity placed
some things above the family. It created a fraternity and spiritual
marriages. The ancient system of marriages, which without restriction
placed the wife in the power of the husband, was mere slavery. The
moral liberty of woman began when the Church gave her in Jesus a friend
and a guide, who advised and consoled her, always listened to her
grievances, and sometimes advised resistance. Women need a governing
power, and are only happy when governed; but it is necessary that
they should love the one who wields that power. This is what neither
ancient society, Judaism, nor Islamism, were able to do. Woman never
had a religious conscience, a moral individuality, or an opinion of her
own, previous to Christianity. Thanks to the Bishops and to monastic
life, Radegonda found means for escaping from the arms of a barbarous
husband. The life of the soul being all that is really of importance,
it is just and reasonable that the pastor who would make the divine
chords of the heart vibrate, the secret counsellor who holds the key of
the conscience, should be more than a father, more than a husband.
In one sense Christianity was a reaction against the too narrow
domestic system of the Aramaic race. The old Aramaic societies only
admitted married men, and were singularly strict in their views of the
marriage relation. All this was something analogous to the English
family--a narrow, closed up, contracted circle--an egotism of several,
as withering to the soul as the egotism of an individual. Christianity,
with its divine idea of the liberty of God, corrected these
exaggerations. And first it allotted to every one the duties common to
mankind. It saw that the family relation was not of sole importance
in life, or at least that the duty of reproducing the human race did
not devolve on every one; and that there should be persons freed from
these duties, which are undoubtedly sacred, but not intended for every
one. The same exceptions made in favor of the _hetairæ_ like Aspasia by
Greek society, and of the _cortigiana_ like Imperia, in recognition of
the necessities of polished society, Christianity made for the priest
and the deaconess for the public welfare. It admitted different classes
in society. There are people who find it more delightful to be loved by
a hundred people than by five or six; and for these the family in its
ordinary conditions seems insufficient, cold, and wearisome. Why, then,
should we extend to all, the exigencies of our dull and mediocre social
system? His temporal family is not sufficient for man; he feels the
need of brothers and sisters besides those of the flesh.
By its hierarchy of different social functions,{7.26} the primitive Church
seemed to conciliate for the time these opposing exigencies. We shall
never understand, never comprehend, how happy these people were under
these holy regulations which sustained liberty without restraining
it, and permitted at the same time the advantages of communistic
and private life. It was far different from the confusion of our
artificial societies, in which the sensitive soul so often finds it
cruelly isolated. In these little refuges which they call churches,
the social atmosphere was sweet and inviting; the member lived there
in the same faith and actuated by the same hopes. But it is clear
that these conditions could not apply to a very large society. When
entire countries became Christianized, the system of the first churches
became a Utopian idea only partially realized in monasteries, and the
monastic life in this sense was the continuation of the primitive
churches.{7.27} The convent is the necessary consequence of the
Christian spirit; there is no perfect Christianity without the convent,
because it is only there that the evangelical idea can be realized.
A large share of the credit, certainly, of these great creations should
be given to Judaism. Each one of the Jewish communities scattered
along the shores of the Mediterranean was already a sort of church,
with its charitable treasury. Almsgiving, always recommended by the
elders,[7.28] was a recognised precept; it was practised in the temple
and in the synagogues,{7.29} and it was deemed the first duty of
the proselyte.{7.30} In every age Judaism was noted for its careful
attention to the poor, and the fraternal charity which it inspired.
It would be highly unjust to hold up Christianity as a reproach to
Judaism, since to the latter primitive Christianity owes almost
everything. It is when we look upon the Roman world that we are the
most astonished at the miracles of charity performed by the Church.
Never did a profane society, recognising only right for its basis,
produce such admirable effects. The law of every profane, or, if I may
say so, every philosophic system of society, is liberty, sometimes
equality, but never fraternity. To charity, viewed as a right, it
acknowledges no obligations; it only pays attention to individuals;
it finds charity often inconvenient, and neglects it. Every attempt
to apply the public funds to the aid of the poor savors of communism.
When a man dies of hunger, when entire classes languish in misery, the
policy of the profane social system limits itself to acknowledging
that the fact is unfortunate. It can easily show that there is no
civil order without liberty; now, as a consequence of liberty, he
who has nothing, and can get nothing, perishes from hunger. That is
indeed logical; but there is no guard against the abuse of logic. The
necessities of the most numerous class always result in dispensing with
it. Institutions purely political and civil are not enough; social
and religious aspirations claim a religious satisfaction. The glory
of the Jewish people is, that they boldly proclaimed this principle.
The Jewish law is social, and not political; the prophets, the authors
of the Apocalypses, were the promoters of social and political
revolutions. In the first half of the first century, in the presence
of profane civilization, the absorbing idea of the Jews was to repel
the benefits of the Roman system, with its philosophy, democracy, and
equality, and to proclaim the excellence of their theocratic law. "The
law is happiness," was the idea of such Jewish thinkers as Philon and
Josephus. The laws of other people were intended to secure justice,
and had nothing to do with the goodness and happiness of man; while
on the other hand, the Jewish law descended to the details of moral
education. Christianity is only the development of this idea. Each
church is a monastery where all possess rights over all the others;
where there should be neither poor nor wicked; and where, consequently,
every individual is careful to guard and restrain himself. Primitive
Christianity may be defined as a vast association of poor people; as
a heroic struggle against egotism, founded upon the idea that no one
has a right to more than is absolutely necessary for him, and that all
the superfluity belongs to those who possess nothing. It will at once
be seen that with such a spirit and the Roman spirit war to the death
must ensue; and that Christianity, on its part, can never dominate the
world without important modifications of its native tendencies and its
original programme.
But the needs which it represents will always last. The communistic
life during the second half of the Middle Ages, serving for the abuses
of an intolerant Church, the monastery having become a mere feudal
fief, or the barracks for a dangerous and fanatic military modern
feeling, became bitterly opposed to the cenobitic system. We have
forgotten that it was in the communistic life that the soul of man
experienced its fullest joy. The song, "Oh, how good and joyful a thing
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,"{7.31} has ceased to be
our refrain. But when modern individualism shall have borne its latest
fruits, when humanity, shrunken and saddened, shall also have become
weak and impotent, it will return to these great institutions and
stern disciplines; when our material society--I should say our world
of pigmies--shall have been scourged with whips by the heroic and the
idealistic, then the communistic system will regain all its force. Many
great things, such as science, will be organized under a monastic form.
Egotism, the essential law of civil law, of civil society, will be
insufficient for great minds; all coming, from whatever point of view,
will be opposed to vulgarity. The words of Jesus and the ideas of the
Middle Ages in regard to poverty will again be appreciated. It will
be understood that the possession of anything implies an inferiority,
and that the founders of the mystic life disputed for centuries as to
whether Jesus owned even that which he used for his daily wants. The
Franciscan subtleties will become again great social problems. The
splendid ideal devised by the author of the _Acts_ will be inscribed as
a prophetic revelation at the gates of the paradise of humanity: "And
the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul;
neither said of them that aught of the things which he possessed was
his own, but they had all things in common, neither was any among them
that lacked: for as many as were possessors of land or houses sold
them, and brought the price of the things that were sold, and laid them
down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man,
according as he had need. And they continuing with one accord in the
temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart."{7.32}
Let us not anticipate events. It is now about the year 36. Tiberius
at Caprea could have no more doubt that a formidable enemy to the
empire was growing up. In two or three years the new sect had made
surprising progress; now counted several thousands of adherents.{7.33}
It was easy to foresee that its conquests would be chiefly among the
Hellenists and proselytes. The Galilean group, which had heard the
Master, though preserving its precedence, seemed almost lost in the
current of new-comers who spoke Greek. At the time of which we speak,
no heathen, that is to say, no man who had not held previous relations
with Judaism, had entered into the Church; but proselytes{7.34}
performed important functions in it. The jurisdiction of the disciples
had also largely extended, and was no longer simply a little college of
Palestineans, but included people of Cyprus, Antioch, and Cyrene,{7.35}
and of almost all the points on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean
where Jewish colonies had been established. Egypt alone knew nothing of
the primitive Church, and for a long time remained ignorant. The Jews
of that country were almost in a state of schism with those of Judea.
They had customs of their own, superior in many points to those of
Palestine, and were almost entirely unaffected by the great religious
movement at Jerusalem.