XI. That None But a Bishop and Presbyter, None Even of the Inferior Ranks of the Clergy, are Permitted to Do the Offices of the Priests; That Ordination Belongs Wholly to the Bishop, and to Nobody Else.

Nay, further, we do not permit to the rest of the clergy to baptize,--as, for instance, neither to readers, nor singers, nor porters, nor ministers,--but to the bishops and presbyters alone, yet so that the deacons are to minister to them therein. But those who venture upon it shall undergo the punishment of the companions of Corah.¹ We do not permit presbyters to ordain deacons, or deaconesses, or readers, or ministers, or singers, or porters, but only bishops; for this is the ecclesiastical order and harmony.