Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
1 Timothy 3:2
There are 26 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 146, footnote 8 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Athenagoras (HTML)
A Plea for the Christians (HTML)
Chapter XXXIII.—Chastity of the Christians with Respect to Marriage. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 826 (In-Text, Margin)
... closer communion with God. But if the remaining in virginity and in the state of an eunuch brings nearer to God, while the indulgence of carnal thought and desire leads away from Him, in those cases in which we shun the thoughts, much more do we reject the deeds. For we bestow our attention, not on the study of words, but on the exhibition and teaching of actions,—that a person should either remain as he was born, or be content with one marriage; for a second marriage is only a specious adultery.[1 Timothy 3:2] “For whosoever puts away his wife,” says He, “and marries another, commits adultery;” not permitting a man to send her away whose virginity he has brought to an end, nor to marry again. For he who deprives himself of his first wife, even though she ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 402, footnote 7 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2668 (In-Text, Margin)
... Dominus, uxorem a viro non sepamri; sin autem separata fuerit, maneat innupta, vel viro reconcilietur; et virum uxorem non dimittere. Reliquis autem dico ego, non Dominus: Si quis frater,” usque ad illud: “Nunc autem sancta est.” Quid autem adhæc dicunt, qui in legem invehuntur, et in matrimonium, quasi sit solum a lege concessum, non autem etiam in Novo Testamento? Quid ad has leges latas possunt dicere, qui sationem abhorrent et generationem? cure “episcopum” quoque, “qui domui recte præsit,”[1 Timothy 3:2] Ecclesiquoæ ducem constituat; domum autem Dominicam “imius mulieris” constituat conjugium. “Omnia” ergo dicit esse “munda mundis; pollutis autem et infidelibus nihil est mundum, sed polluta est eorum et mens, et conscientia.” De ea autem voluptate, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 54, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Exhortation to Chastity. (HTML)
Even the Old Discipline Was Not Without Precedents to Enforce Monogamy. But in This as in Other Respects, the New Has Brought in a Higher Perfection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 540 (In-Text, Margin)
... priests shall not pluralize marriages.” I may affirm even that that is plural which is not once for all. That which is not unity is number. In short, after unity begins number. Unity, moreover, is everything which is once for all. But for Christ was reserved, as in all other points so in this also, the “fulfilling of the law.” Thence, therefore, among us the prescript is more fully and more carefully laid down, that they who are chosen into the sacerdotal order must be men of one marriage;[1 Timothy 3:1-2] which rule is so rigidly observed, that I remember some removed from their office for digamy. But you will say, “Then all others may (marry more than once), whom he excepts.” Vain shall we be if we think that what is not lawful for priests is lawful ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 69, footnote 1 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Monogamy. (HTML)
The Explanation of the Passage Offered by the Psychics Considered. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 668 (In-Text, Margin)
Come, now, you who think that an exceptional law of monogamy is made with reference to bishops, abandon withal your remaining disciplinary titles, which, together with monogamy, are ascribed to bishops.[1 Timothy 3:1-7] Refuse to be “irreprehensible, sober, of good morals, orderly, hospitable, easy to be taught;” nay, indeed, (be) “given to wine, prompt with the hand to strike, combative, money-loving, not ruling your house, nor caring for your children’s discipline,”—no, nor “courting good renown even from strangers.” For if bishops have a law of their own teaching monogamy, the other (characteristics) ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 396, footnote 14 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. I.—On Examining Candidates for the Episcopal Office. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2595 (In-Text, Margin)
II. Let him therefore be sober, prudent, decent, firm, stable, not given to wine; no striker, but gentle; not a brawler, not covetous; “not a novice, lest, being puffed up with pride, he fall into condemnation, and the snare of the devil: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased.” Such a one a bishop ought to be, who has been the “husband of one wife,”[1 Timothy 3:2] who also has herself had no other husband, “ruling well his own house.” In this manner let examination be made when he is to receive ordination, and to be placed in his bishopric, whether he be grave, faithful, decent; whether he hath a grave and faithful wife, or has formerly had such a one; whether he ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 457, footnote 5 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Sec. III.—The Heresies Attacked by the Apostles (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3242 (In-Text, Margin)
XVII. We have already said, that a bishop, a presbyter, and a deacon, when they are constituted, must be but once married, whether their wives be alive or whether they be dead; and that it is not lawful for them, if they are unmarried when they are ordained, to be married afterwards; or if they be then married, to marry a second time, but to be content with that wife which they had when they came to ordination.[1 Timothy 3:2] We also appoint that the ministers, and singers, and readers, and porters, shall be only once married. But if they entered into the clergy before they were married, we permit them to marry, if they have an inclination thereto, lest they sin and incur punishment. But we do not permit any one ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 579, footnote 1 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)
Revelation of Paul. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2548 (In-Text, Margin)
... service of God. And I saw there another old man carried in haste by four angels; and they threw him into the fiery river up to the girdle, and he was frightfully burnt by the lightnings. And I said to the angel: Who is this, my lord? And he said to me: This whom thou seest was a bishop, and that name indeed he was well pleased to have; but in the goodness of God he did not walk, righteous judgment he did not judge, the widow and the orphan he did not pity, he was neither affectionate nor hospitable;[1 Timothy 3:1-4] but now he has been recompensed according to his works. And I looked, and saw in the middle of the river another man up to the navel, having his hands all bloody, and worms were coming up through his mouth. And I asked the angel: Who is this, my ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 509, footnote 10 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)
Book XIV. (HTML)
The Marriage of Church Dignitaries. (HTML)
... legislation of the Apostle concerning ecclesiastical matters; for Paul wishes no one of those of the church, who has attained to any eminence beyond the many, as is attained in the administration of the sacraments, to make trial of a second marriage. For laying down the law in regard to bishops in the first Epistle to Timothy, he says, “If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. The bishop, therefore, must be without reproach, the husbands of one wife, temperate, sober-minded,”[1 Timothy 3:1-2] etc.; and, in regard to deacons, “Let the deacons,” he says, “be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well,” etc. Yea, and also when appointing widows, he says, “Let there be no one as a widow under threescore years ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 408, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Good of Marriage. (HTML)
Section 21 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1989 (In-Text, Margin)
... many souls there shall be hereafter one City of such as have one soul and one heart towards God; which perfection of our unity shall be hereafter, after this sojourn in a strange land, wherein the thoughts of all shall neither be hidden one from another, nor shall be in any matter opposed one to another; on this account the Sacrament of marriage of our time hath been so reduced to one man and one wife, as that it is not lawful to ordain any as a steward of the Church, save the husband of one wife.[1 Timothy 3:2] And this they have understood more acutely who have been of opinion, that neither is he to be ordained, who as a catechumen or as a heathen had a second wife. For it is a matter of sacrament, not of sin. For in baptism all sins are put away. But he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 91, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles (HTML)
Homily XIV on Acts v. 34. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 334 (In-Text, Margin)
... Apostles were not rejected by them. But what sort of rank these bore, and what sort of office they received, this is what we need to learn. Was it that of Deacons? And yet this is not the case in the Churches. But is it to the Presbyters that the management belongs? And yet at present there was no Bishop, but the Apostles only. Whence I think it clearly and manifestily follows, that neither Deacons nor Presbyters is their designation: but it was for this particular purpose that they were ordained.[1 Timothy 3:1-2] And this business was not simply handed over to them without further ceremony, but the Apostles prayed over them, that power might be given to them. But observe, I pray you, if there were need of seven men for this, great in proportion must have ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13, page 184, footnote 6 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians. (HTML)
Homilies on Philippians. (HTML)
Philippians 1:1,2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 526 (In-Text, Margin)
... that he was a Bishop appears by his saying to him, “Lay hands hastily on no man.” (1 Tim. v. 22.) And again, “Which was given thee with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery.” (1 Tim. iv. 14.) Yet Presbyters would not have laid hands on a Bishop. And again, in writing to Titus, he says, “For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge. If any man is blameless, the husband of one wife” (Tit. i. 5, 6.); which he says of the Bishop.[1 Timothy 3:2] And after saying this, he adds immediately, “For the Bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self willed.” (Tit. i. 7.) So then, as I said, both the Presbyters were of old called Bishops and Deacons of Christ, and the Bishops Presbyters; and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 270, footnote 6 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Arian History. (Historia Arianorum ad Monachos.) (HTML)
Arian History. (Historia Arianorum ad Monachos.) (HTML)
Arian Persecution Under Constantine. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1519 (In-Text, Margin)
... banishment under a sentence of the Emperor, as if he were guilty of the crimes which they wish to charge upon him, or as if, like Naboth, he had insulted the King; while he who advocates the cause of their heresy is sought for and immediately sent to take possession of the other’s Church; and henceforth confiscations and insults, and all kinds of cruelty are exercised against those who do not receive him. And what is the strangest of all, the man whom the people desire, and know to be blameless[1 Timothy 3:2], the Emperor takes away and banishes; but him whom they neither desire, nor know, he sends to them from a distant place with soldiers and letters from himself. And henceforward a strong necessity is laid upon them, either to hate him whom they love; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 271, footnote 3 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Arian History. (Historia Arianorum ad Monachos.) (HTML)
Arian History. (Historia Arianorum ad Monachos.) (HTML)
Arian Persecution Under Constantine. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1522 (In-Text, Margin)
... strange it is that, as I said before, no accusation is brought against any of them; or if any be accused, he is not brought to trial; or if a shew of enquiry be made, he is acquitted against evidence, while the convicting party is plotted against, rather than the culprit put to shame. Thus the whole party of them is full of idleness; and their spies, for Bishops they are not, are the vilest of them all. And if any one among them desire to become a Bishop, he is not told, ‘a Bishop must be blameless[1 Timothy 3:2];’ but only, ‘Take up opinions contrary to Christ, and care not for manners. This will be sufficient to obtain favour for you, and friendship with the Emperor.’ Such is the character of those who support the tenets of Arius. And they who are zealous ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 16, footnote 18 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Heliodorus, Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 226 (In-Text, Margin)
... from the church and torn to pieces by ravening demons. Should the entreaties of your brethren induce you to take orders, I shall rejoice that you are lifted up, and fear lest you may be cast down. You will say: “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.” I know that; but you should add what follows: such an one “must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, chaste, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker but patient.”[1 Timothy 3:2-3] After fully explaining the qualifications of a bishop the apostle speaks of ministers of the third degree with equal care. “Likewise must the deacons be grave,” he writes, “not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 96, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Nepotian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1394 (In-Text, Margin)
... For “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” Somehow or other the very man who begs leave to offer you a gift holds you the cheaper for your acceptance of it; while, if you refuse it, it is wonderful how much more he will come to respect you. The preacher of continence must not be a maker of marriages. Why does he who reads the apostle’s words “it remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none” —why does he press a virgin to marry? Why does a priest, who must be a monogamist,[1 Timothy 3:2] urge a widow to marry again? How can the clergy be managers and stewards of other men’s households, when they are bidden to disregard even their own interests? To wrest a thing from a friend is theft but to cheat the Church is sacrilege. When you ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 142, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2021 (In-Text, Margin)
2. To what does all this tend, you ask. I reply; you remember the question that you proposed. It was this. A Spanish bishop named Carterius, old in years and in the priesthood has married two wives, one before he was baptized, and, she having died, another since he has passed through the laver; and you are of opinion that he has violated the precept of the apostle, who in his list of episcopal qualifications commands that a bishop shall be “the husband of one wife.”[1 Timothy 3:2] I am surprised that you have pilloried an individual when the whole world is filled with persons ordained in similar circumstances; I do not mean presbyters or clergy of lower rank, but speak only of bishops of whom if I were to enumerate them all one by one I ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 143, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2025 (In-Text, Margin)
... given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker…but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”[1 Timothy 3:1-7] While immediately at the commencement of the epistle to Titus the following behests are laid down: “For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 147, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2104 (In-Text, Margin)
... notions of the perfect orator and the perfect philosopher do not detract from Demosthenes and Plato but merely set forth abstract ideals; so, when I describe a bishop and explain the qualifications laid down for the episcopate, I am but supplying a mirror for priests. Every man’s conscience will tell him that it rests with himself what image he will see reflected there, whether one that will grieve him by its deformity or one that will gladden him by its beauty. I turn now to the passage in question.[1 Timothy 3:1-7] “If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.” Work, you see, not rank; toil not pleasure; work that he may increase in lowliness, not grow proud by reason of elevation. “A bishop then must be blameless.” The same thing that he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 363, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4394 (In-Text, Margin)
... of Ammon, it shall be for the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” Supposing (they say) a dog or an ass had met him, what would he have done? Their meaning is that God so ordered events that he who had improvidently made a vow, should learn his error by the death of his daughter. And if Samuel who was brought up in the tabernacle married a wife, how does that prejudice virginity? As if at the present day also there were not many married priests, and as though the Apostle did not[1 Timothy 3:2] describe a bishop as the husband of one wife, having children with all purity. At the same time we must not forget that Samuel was a Levite, not a priest or high-priest. Hence it was that his mother made for him a linen ephod, that is, a linen ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 371, footnote 9 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4493 (In-Text, Margin)
... Gentiles, whose highest virtue consisted in not plundering another’s goods, have repudiated the obligation of perpetual chastity and continence, when they were told in the letter to keep themselves from idols, and from fornication, seeing that fornication was heard of among them, and such fornication as was not “even among the Gentiles.” But the very choice of a bishop makes for me. For he does not say: Let a bishop be chosen who marries one wife and begets children; but who marries one wife, and[1 Timothy 3:2] has his children in subjection and well disciplined. You surely admit that he is no bishop who during his episcopate begets children. The reverse is the case—if he be discovered, he will not be bound by the ordinary obligations of a husband, but ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 459, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5207 (In-Text, Margin)
... attain to what is possible. Similarly he has given different rules and various virtues, all of which we cannot possess at the same time. Hence it happens that a virtue which in one person takes the chief place, or is found in perfection, in another is but partial; and yet, he is not to blame who has not all excellence, nor is he condemned for lacking that which he has not; but he is justified through what he does possess. The Apostle described the character of a bishop when he wrote to Timothy,[1 Timothy 3:2] “The bishop, therefore, must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, modest, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach; no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money; one that ruleth well his own house, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 272, footnote 6 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3295 (In-Text, Margin)
10. But why should I paint for you the portrait of the man? St. Paul has sketched him by anticipation. This he does, when he sings the praises of the great High-priest, who hath passed through the heavens (for I will venture to say even this, since Scripture can call those who live according to Christ by the name of Christs): and again when by the rules in his letter to Timothy,[1 Timothy 3:2] he gives a model for future Bishops: for if you will apply the law as a test to him who deserves these praises, you will clearly perceive his perfect exactness. Come then to aid me in my panegyric; for I am labouring heavily in my speech, and though I desire to pass by point after point, they seize upon me ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 41, footnote 5 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter L. The Levites ought to be utterly free from all earthly desires. What their virtues should be on the Apostle's own showing, and how great their purity must be. Also what their dignity and duty is, for the carrying out of which the chief virtues are necessary. He states that these were not unknown to the philosophers, but that they erred in their order. Some are by their nature in accordance with duty, which yet on account of what accompanies them become contrary to duty. From whence he gathers what gifts the office of the Levites demands. To conclude, he adds an exposition of Moses' words when blessing the tribe of Levi. (HTML)
... fish’s mouth: “Give to them for Me and for thee.” Wherefore the Apostle, when he said: “A bishop should be sober, modest, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not covetous, nor a brawler, one that rules well his own house,” also added: “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let them also first be proved, and so let them serve, being found blameless.”[1 Timothy 3:2-10]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 465, footnote 4 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)
Epistle LXIII: To the Church at Vercellæ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3734 (In-Text, Margin)
61. And so the Apostle has given a pattern, saying that a bishop must be blameless,[1 Timothy 3:2] and in another place: “A bishop must be without offence, as a steward of God, not proud, not soon angry, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy of filthy lucre.” For how can the compassion of a dispenser of alms and the avarice of a covetous man agree together?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 466, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)
Epistle LXIII: To the Church at Vercellæ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3738 (In-Text, Margin)
... washed away; so that if anyone have polluted his body with very many whom he has bound to himself by no law of marriage, all the sins are forgiven him, but if any one have contracted a second marriage it is not done away; for sin not law is loosed by the laver, and as to baptism there is no sin but law. That then which has to do with law is not remitted as though it were sin, but is retained. And the Apostle has established a law, saying: “If any man be without reproach the husband of one wife.”[1 Timothy 3:2] So then he who is without blame the husband of one wife comes within the rule for undertaking the priestly office; he, however, who has married again has no guilt of pollution, but is disqualified for the priestly prerogative.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 3, footnote 5 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Letters. (HTML)
To the Bishops appointed in Campania, Picenum, Etruria, and all the Provinces. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 33 (In-Text, Margin)
... and the regulations of the canons, from which we find very many of the brethren have turned aside and quite gone out of the way. For it is well known that the husbands of widows have attained to the priesthood: certain, too, who have had several wives, and have led a life given up to all licentiousness, have had all facilities put in their way, and been admitted to the Sacred Order, contrary to that utterance of the blessed Apostle, in which he proclaims and says to such, “the husband of one wife[1 Timothy 3:2],” and contrary to that precept of the ancient law which says by way of caution: “Let the priest take a virgin to wife, not a widow, not a divorced woman.” All such persons, therefore, who have been admitted we order to be put out of their offices in ...