Note 572 — Chapter XVIII

Phot. c. 59. Chrys. Ep. 125 ad Cyr., where he indignantly repels the charge:—“had he done so, might his name be blotted out from the roll of bishops;” but at the same time he deprecates the treatment of such an offence (had it been committed) with extreme severity: for had not our Lord Himself instituted that holy feast, and had not St. Paul baptized without previously fasting? Chrysostom shrinks in horror from the supposition of such a gross violation of ecclesiastical rule as the act in his case would have been, but refuses to place it on the same footing with the commission of a flagrant moral crime, or direct disobedience to any command of Christ. There are, however, some doubts whether this letter is genuine. See infra, p. 317, and note.