Letter 26: Severus rules that Paul's long absence should not keep disputed clergy from ministry while the monastery question waits.

Paul, bishop of Olba, has shown by his long absence that he has acted as a hireling rather than a shepherd. When the wolf comes, the hireling leaves the sheep and flees. We should no longer wait for someone of such unstable character, but should settle the matter before us on a good foundation and according to the laws of the Spirit. Paul accused the God-loving Hilarian, bishop of Diocaesarea, of ordaining contrary to the canons in a monastery outside his jurisdiction. We therefore prohibited those ordained from exercising ministry until the case could be examined, because the matter was unclear and tangled. Since Paul has remained away unreasonably and outside church order, I judge that the men should now be released from the inhibition and allowed to minister. The question of the monastery, the ordination itself, and the proper jurisdiction can be reserved for a future time if circumstances invite us to reopen it.

Paul the bishop of Olba, as may be inferred from his so long and protracted absence, has done the work of a hireling and not of a shepherd, one who, when he sees the wolf coming, as the sacred book of the gospels says, " leaveth the sheep and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth and scattereth them; and he careth not for the sheep because he is an hireling and not the shepherd,"- Henceforth therefore we also ought no longer to wait for a man of such unstable character as his (it is right for us to speak in this gentle language), but to settle the things that lie before us on a Q-ood basis, and in accordance with the purpose of the laws of the Spirit. The same Paul charged the God-loving Hilarian bishop of Diocaesarea with having performed an ordination, contrary to the holy canons, in a monastery which is not in his jurisdiction; and we thought it right to prohibit those who were ordained from exercising the sacred ministry until the details of the case" should be examined;"* for the matter was not ^ I Co. X. 32. - John X. 12, 13. ^ vTTo^ccrts. * Cf. p. 70. amination and a correct decision. But now we have determined it to be right to release the said men from the inhibition and to allow them to exercise the ministry, since it is not possible to wait any longer for a man who has been absent so unreasonably and in a manner unknown to the church ordinances. Therefore your sanctity also, in accordance with the conclusion at which we have arrived, must now allow the men to perform priestly functions, reserving the examination into the doubt as to the monastery, and as to the ordination itself and those to whom the jurisdiction over this belongs for a future season, if the time should invite us to this