ccording to the Jewish computation is changed into the exact contrary
for the same reason (v. 17); and where his archetype lapses into
speaking of a lull in persecution he naively informs us that the Romans
have now given up persecuting and have adopted Christianity (vi. 26),
forgetting altogether that he is speaking in the character of the
apostles. Above all, he both magnifies the office of the Christian
ministry as a whole and alters what is said of it in detail (for
example, the deaconess loses rank not a little), to make it agree with
the circumstances of his day in general, and with his own ideas of
fitness in particular. It is here that his evidence is at once most
valuable and needs to be used with the greatest care. To give one
striking example of the value of these documents. The _Canones
Hippolyti_ (vi. 43) provide that one who has been a confessor for the
faith may be received as a presbyter by virtue of his confessorship and
not by the laying on of the bishop's hands; but if he be chosen a
bishop, he is to be ordained. This provision passes on into the Egyptian
_Ecclesiastical Canons_ and other kindred documents, and even into the
_Testamentum Domini_. But the corresponding passage in the Apostolical
Constitutions (viii. 23) entirely reverses it: "A confessor is not
ordained, for he is so by choice and patience, and is worthy of great
honour.... But if there be occasion, he is to be ordained either a
bishop, priest, or deacon. But if any one of the confessors who is not
ordained snatches to himself any such dignity upon account of his
confession, let the same person be deprived and rejected; for he is not
in such an office, since he has denied the constitution of Christ, and
is worse than an infidel."

Authorship, place, and date.

Who, then, is the author of the Constitutions, and what can be inferred
with regard to him? (i.) By separating off the sources which he used
from his own additions to them, it at once becomes clear that the latter
are the work of one man: the style is unmistakable, and the method of
working is the same throughout. The compiler of books i.-vi. is also the
compiler of books vii., viii. (ii.) As to his theological position,
different views have been held. Funk suggests Apollinarianism, which is
the refuge of the destitute; and Achelis inclines in the same direction.
But the affinities of the author are quite otherwise, the most
pronounced of them being a strong subordinationist