II. THE CANONS OF THE SECOND SYNOD have a style quite different from those of the first, are not so simple,
20. Catholics who return to the worship of idols or eat food offered to idols, must be dismissed from Church membership. So also with those
who eat of animals which have died, or which have been killed by other animals.
21. Abbots who despise the prescriptions of the bishops, must not be allowed at communion. Bishops, however, who do not regard these canons, must know that they will be responsible before God and their brethren. f410
SEC. 248. SYNOD AT CARTHAGE, A.D. 535.
The Emperor Justinian the Great had, in the year 534, sent his general Belisarius, with 600 ships and 35,000 soldiers, into Africa, to put an end to the Vandal kingdom. In consequence, being freed from the long and heavy oppression of the Arians, there met together 217 African bishops, under the presidency of Archbishop Reparatus of Carthage (successor of Boniface), in the year 535, in an African general Council in the Basilica Fausti at Carthage, which city had, in honor of the Emperor, received the surname of Justiniana. In that church, which Hunneric had previously wrested from the Catholics, there were many relics of the martyrs, and the bishops believed that it was owing to their intercession that they had been freed from their oppressors. For a hundred years, they said, there had been
no African general Council held, and all the assembled bishops were now filled with joy, and full of thanks to God for this meeting. The ordinances of Nicaea were read, and the question then arose, whether those who had been Arian priests (of the Vandals) should, after reception of the orthodox doctrine, be left in their offices, or should only be taken into lay
communion. All the members of the Synod inclined to the latter view; yet they would not decide, but resolved unanimously to apply to Pope John II. for guidance, not only on this matter, but on the second question, whether those who had been baptized as children of Arians might be admitted into the clerical order.
To this end they addressed a synodal letter to the Pope, and sent therewith two bishops of their number, Caius and Peter, with the Carthaginian deacon Liberatus to Rome. At the close of their letter they add, that it had often come to pass that African bishops had, in an arbitrary manner, left their churches, and betaken themselves to lands beyond the sea (Italy). The Church had tolerated this in that unhappy period (of Vandal supremacy).
For the future, however, any bishop or priest, or other cleric, if he should come without a letter of peace, and could not show that he was sent for the service of the Church, ought to be regarded in the same manner as a
heretic, and not received into communion by the Pope. f411
When the African deputies arrived in Rome, John II. was already dead.
Therefore his successor, Agapetus I., answered the inquiries of the Synod, and added to his letter the ancient canons which contained the ecclesiastical rules on the points in question. This appendix is lost. In the letter itself, however, the Pope declares that
(a) a converted Arian ought never to be advanced to an ecclesiastical office, whatever his age might have been (i.e. even if he were a child), when he was spotted with that plague; and that
(b) their office in the Church could not be left to the converted Arian priests, but that they should receive support from the property of the Church. Finally, the Pope fully conceded the wish of the Synod in regard to the clergy traveling without leave, as it was in accordance with the canons. f412
Besides this, we possess a part of the minutes of the Synod of Carthage in which the relation of the monasteries to the bishops is treated. Bishop Felician of Ruspe, the successor of S. Fulgentius, brought forward that his
predecessor had founded a monastery in the city of Ruspe, and he prayed now that something might be settled in the matter of monasteries.
Thereupon Bishop Felix of Zactara (or Zattara), in the ecclesiastical province of Numidia, declared: “In regard to the monastery of the Abbot Peter, whose abbot is now Fortunatus, they must abide by the decisions of the Synod under Boniface (see above, sec. 238); but the other monasteries should enjoy the fullest liberty as far as the Councils allow. If they wish that clergy should be ordained or oratories consecrated, this shall be done by the bishop of the place or of the neighborhood. In other respects, however, the monasteries are independent of the bishop, and have no duties to render to him. Moreover, the bishop must not erect a chair (cathedra) for himself in any monastery, nor must he ordain anyone without consent of the abbot. When the abbot dies, the whole society (of the monastery) shall elect a new one; and the bishop shall in no way usurp the right of election. If a dispute arises respecting the election (among the monks), other abbots shall decide; if the dispute continues, the matter shall be brought before the primate of the province. At divine service the bishop should read aloud (from the diptychs), among the others whom he has ordained, also the monks of his district whom he has ordained.” f413 We do not know whether all of this was merely the private opinion of Bishop Felix, or whether it was made a decree by the Synod.
Finally, the Synod send an embassy to the Emperor Justinian, to entreat of him the restoration of those possessions and rights of the Churches in Africa which the Vandals had taken away. The Emperor gave consent to this request in the edict to Salomo, his Praefectus Praetorio for Africa. f414
SEC. 249. SYNOD AT CLERMONT, IN AUVERGNE (CONCILIUM ARVERNENSE), A.D. 535.
With the assent of King Theodebert of Austrasia, a grandson of Chlodwig the Great, fifteen bishops assembled at a Synod in the church at Clermont, in the country of the Arverni. At the head stood Archbishop Honoratus of Bourges, whom we have already learnt to know at the second Synod of Orleans. We also meet here Bishops Flavius of Reims, Nicetius of Treves (Trier), Hesperius of Metz, Desideratus of Verdun, Grammaticus of Vindonissa, and Domitianus Coloniensis, that is, of Coln (Cologne), or, as other manuscripts read, Ecclesioe Tungrorum, i.e. of Tungern. f415 We see that Germany had here a good many representatives. As usual, the ancient canons were enjoined, and some new ones published.
1. No bishop shall bring forward at the Synod any other subject until