Letter 8

From: Council of Orleans III (synodal letter) To: Frankish church Date: ~538 AD Context: The third council of Orleans in the Merovingian period, continuing the work of regularizing church discipline. The holy synod assembled for the third time at Orleans, to all the churches of the Franks. We address the following matters. On clergy who have taken on secular work or entanglements: a bishop, priest, or deacon who has accepted a secular administrative role from a king or magnate, and who is thereby functioning as a civil official rather than as a pastor, must choose between the two roles. The clerical order and secular governance are not incompatible in principle — we are not arguing that — but they are incompatible in practice when one prevents the other. A bishop who is spending his time managing estates and dispensing secular justice for a Frankish count is not functioning as a bishop, whatever his title. On the reconciliation of sinners: we wish to affirm the full power of public penance and the church's absolution in cases of grave sin. There has been reluctance in some quarters to impose public penance on powerful men whose displeasure is feared. This reluctance is understandable and this council condemns it. The powerful and the poor stand equally before God and equally before the church's discipline. On the Jews: they are not to be compelled to receive baptism. Compelled baptism is not baptism. On pilgrimage: while pilgrimage to holy sites is a praiseworthy act of devotion, clergy who leave their posts to go on pilgrimage without the permission of their bishop are considered to be absent without leave, and appropriate correction will follow. Given at Orleans. The assembled bishops.