_Syricius_, by the Seventh Article of his Letter, obliges all Priests and Deacons to observe Celibacy; and as some had not paid due Obedience to that Command of the Church, he allows those who should acknowlege their Fault, and plead Ignorance, to continue in their Rank, though without Hopes of rising: but as for those who should presume to defend this Abuse as lawful, he declares them deposed and degraded from the Rank they held in the Church[1233]: Pope _Innocent_ I. writing to _Exuperius_ Bishop of _Toulouse_, quotes and transcribes great Part of this Article[1234]. The Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Articles describe at length the Life which those ought to have led, who are raised by the Clergy and People to the Episcopal Dignity, and the Steps or Degrees by which they should ascend to it. They ought first to have been Readers; at the Age of Thirty, Acolytes, Subdeacons, and Deacons; Five Years after, Presbyters; and in that Degree they were to continue Ten Years before they could be chosen Bishops. Those who had been married to Two Wives, or to a Widow, are absolutely excluded from ever sitting in the Episcopal See. Even the Lectors are forbidden, on pain of Deposition, to marry twice, or to marry a Widow[1235]. These, and several other less important Regulations, _Syricius_ delivers as general Rules to be inviolably observed by all Churches, often declaring, that those who do not readily comply with them shall be separated from his Communion by the Sentence of a Synod, and strictly injoining the chief Prelates of each Province to take care they be punctually observed within the Bounds of their respective Jurisdictions, on Pain of being deposed, and treated as they deserve. He therefore desires _Himerius_ to notify his Letter, not only to all the Bishops of his Diocese or Province, but likewise to those of _Carthagena_, _Bætica_, _Lusitania_, _Galicia_, and to all the neighbouring Bishops, meaning perhaps those of _Gaul_; for _Innocent_ I. supposes the Decrees of his Predecessor _Syricius_ to be known to _Exuperius_ of _Toulouse_[1236]; and in all Likelihood they were so to others in that Country. This Letter is the First of all the Decretals acknowleged, by the Learned, to be genuine, and likewise the First in all the antient Collections of the Canons of the _Latin_ Church. It is quoted by _Innocent_ I. and _Isidore_ of _Seville_, and is the only Letter of the many ascribed to _Syricius_, that _Dionysius Exiguus_ has inserted in his Collection. It is to be found in Father _Quesnel_’s _Roman Code_[1237]; and _Cresconius_ quotes no other Decrees of _Syricius_ but what are taken from this Letter. It is dated the Third of the Ides of _February_, that is, the Eleventh of that Month 385. _Arcadius_ and _Bauto_ being Consuls[N21]. ----- Footnote N21: