The Right Faith in the Lives of the Saints: 8. St. Sophronius of Jerusalem

Hieromonk Lavrentie | November 3, 2019

 

St. Sophronius of Jerusalem (†638), On the Confession of Sins (PG 87c, 3369–3371):

“If it is not possible to offer (the Liturgy) in the church, hold an assembly in the house, O bishop, so that no right-believing person may enter the church of the unbelievers; for it is not the place that sanctifies the man, but the man sanctifies the place. Let it be avoided by you, for it has been defiled by them; for just as reverent priests sanctify, so also those under a curse [enageis, from enagēs = guilty, under condemnation or curse] defile. And if it is not possible to gather either in a house or in a church, then let each one chant, read, and pray by himself, or two or three together, for ‘where two or three,’ says the Lord, ‘are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Mt. 18:20).” […]

“If any presbyter or deacon should separate himself from communion with his own bishop and not commemorate his name, supposedly censuring him for some fault, let him be deposed! And if a bishop should dare the same thing against his own metropolitan, let him also be deposed! Likewise, if a bishop or metropolitan should dare such things against the patriarch, let them be suspended from the priesthood! But if some separate themselves from someone not under the pretext of a fault, but because of a heresy condemned by a Synod or by the Holy Fathers, they are worthy of honor and acceptance as Orthodox.”

These two fragments are also found in other patristic texts. The second was taken almost in its entirety into the formulation of Canon 15 of the First-Second Synod (861), while the first appears to have been derived, slightly differently, from the Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII, 34). The version given by St. Sophronius is more trustworthy, having also the endorsement of his sanctified discernment, than the one currently preserved in the apostolic writing, since the latter has survived only with heretical interpolations and, although authentic, its precise original form is not clearly known. Nevertheless, for comparison and to allow the full picture to be reconstructed, we provide the text from the Constitutions (in the translation of Father Ioan I. Ică Jr., Canonul Ortodoxiei, p. 762):

“If it is not possible to come to church because of the unbelievers, hold gatherings in houses, O bishop, so that a right-believing person may not enter an assembly of unbelievers [Ps. 25:2]; for it is not the place that sanctifies the man, but the man sanctifies the place. And if the unbelievers occupy that place, you must flee from it, because it has been profaned by them; for just as pious priests sanctify, so also the defiled ones pollute. And if it is not possible to gather either in a house or in a church, let each one recite the psalms, read, and pray by himself, or together with two or three; for the Lord says: ‘Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them’ [Mt. 18:20].”

 

Romanian source: https://theodosie.ro/2019/11/03/dreapta-credinta-in-vietile-sfintilor-8-sf-sofronie-al-ierusalimului/