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Apostolische Konstitutionen und Kanones

22. Der Bischof lasse sich von der Geschichte belehren und nehme ein Beispiel, wie Gott gegen David, die Niniviten, gegen Ezechias und seinen Sohn Manasses verfuhr.

Du mußt, o Bischof, auf die hinter uns liegende Zeit S. 60 zurückschauen und von ihr klugen Gebrauch machen bei Unterweisung Derjenigen, welche bitterer oder milder Lehren bedürfen. Es ist auch billig, daß du im Urtheil dem Willen Gottes folgest und auf welche Weise Gott die Sünder oder die Bekehrten richtet, ebenso auch du richtest. Oder befreite Gott nicht sogleich den gefallenen David, nachdem er durch Nathan zur Rede gestellt war und Besserung versprochen hatte? „Vertraue,” sprach er, „du wirst nicht sterben.”¹ Hat er nicht den Jonas, welchen er wegen seiner Weigerung, den Niniviten zu predigen, vom Haifische des Meeres verschlingen ließ, am Leben erhalten, sobald er im Bauche des Fisches betete? Hat er nicht den Ezechias, der sich ein wenig im Stolze übernahm, nachher aber in Thränen Abbitte that, von seinem Vergehen freigesprochen?

Höret denn, ihr Bischöfe, ein hieher passendes Beispiel. Im vierten Buche der Könige und im zweiten Buche Paralipomenon steht geschrieben: „Ezechias entschlief zu seinen Vätern, und Manasses, sein Sohn, ward König an seiner Statt. Zwölf Jahre war Manasses alt, da er zu regieren begann, und fünf und fünfzig Jahre regierte er zu Jerusalem. Der Name seiner Mutter war Haphsiba. Und er that Böses vor den Augen des Herrn nach den Götzen der Völker, welche der Herr vertilgte vor den Augen der Söhne Israels. Und er verkehrte sich und baute die Höhen, welche Ezechias, sein Vater, verwüstet hatte, und errichtete Altäre dem Baal und machte Haine, wie Achab, der König von Israel, gethan, und betete das ganze Heer des Himmels an und diente ihm. Und er baute Altäre im Hause des Herrn, wovon der Herr gesagt hatte: Zu Jerusalem soll der Sitz meines Namens sein! Und er baute Altäre dem ganzen Heere des Himmels in beiden Vorhöfen des Tempels des Herrn. Und er ließ seinen Sohn durchs Feuer gehen und gab sich aufs Wahrsagen und merkte auf Zeichen und stellte Wahrsager auf und vermehrte die Zeichendeuter, also daß S. 61 er Böses that vor dem Herrn und ihn reizte. Auch setzte er den Götzen des Haines, den er gemacht, in den Tempel des Herrn, von welchem der Herr zu David und zu Salomon, seinem Sohn, gesprochen: In diesem Tempel zu Jerusalem, das ich erwählet aus allen Stämmen Israels, soll der Sitz meines Namens sein ewiglich. Und ich will den Fuß Israels nicht fürder bewegen lassen aus dem Lande, das ich ihren Vätern gegeben: wenn sie nur Alles halten und thun, was ich ihnen selbst geboten und das ganze Gesetz, welches ihnen Moses, mein Knecht, befohlen hat. Aber sie hörten nicht, sondern wurden verführt von Manasses, daß sie es ärger machten als die Völker, welche der Herr vertilgt hat vor dem Angesichte der Söhne Israels. Und der Herr redete durch die Hand seiner Diener, der Propheten, und sprach: Weil Manasses, der König von Juda, diese ärgsten Gräuel gethan, ärger denn Alles, was die Amorrhiter vor ihm gethan, und auch Juda sündigen machte mit seinen Unfläthereien, darum spricht also der Herr, der Gott Israels: Siehe, ich will Unglück bringen über Jerusalem und Juda, daß dem, der es hört, die beiden Ohren klingen sollen. Und ich will über Jerusalem die Meßschnur Samaria's ziehen und das Gewicht des Hauses Achabs, und ich will Jerusalem auswischen, wie man eine Schreibtafel auszuwischen pflegt, und will sie auswischen und umkehren und öfter mit dem Griffel über sie hinfahren. Und ich will die Überbleibsel meines Erbes verlassen und sie in die Hände ihrer Feinde geben, daß sie zur Verwüstung und zum Raube seien allen ihren Feinden: darum, daß sie Böses vor mir gethan und nicht aufhörten, mich zu reizen seit dem Tage, da ihre Väter aus Ägypten gezogen, bis auf diesen Tag. Überdieß vergoß Manasses auch unschuldig Blut sehr viel, bis Jerusalem davon übervoll ward außer seinen Sünden, womit er Juda sündigen machte, daß es Böses that vor dem Herrn.”² S. 62

Ihr habt also gehört, geliebteste Söhne, wie Gott der Herr Denjenigen, welcher Götzenbildern anhing und viele Unschuldige gemordet, leicht gezüchtigt hat, und wie er ihn, sobald er wieder zur Besinnung gekommen, aufgenommen, ihm seine Sünden nachgelassen und in sein Reich ihn wieder eingesetzt hat; denn nicht nur Verzeihung schenkt Gott den Büßern, sondern er setzt sie auch in ihre frühere Würde wieder ein.

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Constitutions of the Holy Apostles

XXII. That David, the Ninevites, Hezekiah, and His Son Manasseh, are Eminent Examples of Repentance, the Prayer of Manasseh King of Judah.

It is also thy duty, O bishop, to have before thine eyes the examples of those that have gone before, and to apply them skilfully to the cases of those who want words of severity or of consolation. Besides, it is reasonable that in thy administration of justice thou shouldest follow the will of God; and as God deals with sinners, and with those who return, that thou shouldest act accordingly in thy judging. Now, did not God by Nathan reproach David for his offence? And yet as soon as he said he repented, He delivered him from death, saying, "Be of good cheer; thou shalt not die."¹ So also, when God had caused Jonah² to be swallowed up by the sea and the whale, upon his refusal to preach to the Ninevites, when yet he prayed to Him out of the belly of the whale, He retrieved his life from corruption. And when Hezekiah had been puffed up for a while, yet, as soon as he prayed with lamentation, He remitted his offence. But, O ye bishops, hearken to an instance useful upon this occasion. For it is written thus in the fourth book of Kings and the second book of Chronicles: "And Hezekiah died; and Manasseh his son reigned. He was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem; and his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord: he did not abstain from the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord destroyed from the face of the children of Israel. And Manasseh returned and built the high places which Hezekiah his father had overthrown; and he reared pillars for Baal, and set up an altar for Baal, and made groves, as did Ahab king of Israel. And he made altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord spake to David and to Solomon his son, saying, Therein will I put my name. And Manasseh set up altars, and by them served Baal, and said, My name shall continue for ever.³ And he built altars to the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord; and he made his children pass through the fire in a place named Ge Benennom;⁴ and he consulted enchanters, and dealt with wizards and familiar spirits, and with conjurers and observers of times, and with teraphim. And he sinned exceedingly in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. And he set a molten and a graven image, the image of his grove, which he made in the house of the Lord, wherein the Lord had chosen to put His name in Jerusalem, the holy city, for ever, and had said, I will no more remove my foot from the land of Israel, which I gave to their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the precepts that my servant Moses commanded them. And they hearkened not. And Manasseh seduced them to do more evil before the Lord than did the nations whom the Lord cast out from the face of the children of Israel. And the Lord spake concerning Manasseh and concerning His people by the hand of His servants the prophets, saying, Because Manasseh king of Judah has done all these wicked abominations in a higher degree than the Amorite did which was before him, and hath made Judah to sin with his idols, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I bring evils upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of them, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab; and I will blot out Jerusalem as a table-book is blotted out by wiping it. And I will turn it upside down; and I will give up the remnant of my inheritance, and will deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, because of all the evils which they have done in mine eyes, and have provoked me to anger from the day that I brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt even until this day. Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, beside his sins wherewith he made Judah to sin in doing evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord brought upon him the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, and they caught Manasseh in bonds, and they bound him in fetters of brass, and brought him to Babylon; and he was bound and shackled with iron all over in the house of the prison. And bread made of bran was given unto him scantily, and by weight, and water mixed with vinegar but a little and by measure, so much as would keep him alive; and he was in straits and sore affliction. And when he was violently afflicted, he besought the face of the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the face of the Lord God of his fathers. And he prayed unto the Lord, saying, O Lord, almighty God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed, who hast made heaven and earth, with all the ornament thereof, who hast bound the sea by the word of Thy commandment, who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by Thy terrible and glorious name, whom all men fear and tremble before Thy power; for the majesty of Thy glory cannot be borne, and Thine angry threatening towards sinners is insupportable. But Thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable; for Thou art the most high Lord,⁵ of great compassion, long-suffering, very merciful, and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O Lord, according to Thy great goodness, hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against Thee, and of Thine infinite mercy hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, has not appointed repentance to the just as to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, which have not sinned against Thee; but Thou hast appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner: for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied; my transgressions are multiplied, and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of mine iniquity. I am bowed down with many iron bands; for I have provoked Thy wrath, and done evil before Thee, setting up abominations, and multiplying offences. Now, therefore, I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching Thee of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge mine iniquities; wherefore I humbly beseech Thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me, and destroy me not with mine iniquities. Be not angry with me for ever, by reserving evil for me; neither condemn me into the lower part of the earth. For Thou art the God, even the God of them that repent, and in me Thou wilt show Thy goodness; for Thou wilt save me that am unworthy, according to Thy great mercy. Therefore I will praise Thee for ever all the days of my life; for all the powers of the heavens do praise Thee, and Thine is the glory for ever and ever. Amen. And the Lord heard his voice, and had compassion upon him. And there appeared a flame of fire about him, and all the iron shackles and chains which were about him fell off; and the Lord healed Manasseh from his affliction, and brought him back to Jerusalem unto his kingdom: and Manasseh knew that the Lord He is God alone. And he worshipped the Lord God alone with all his heart, and with all his soul, all the days of his life; and he was esteemed righteous. And he took away the strange gods and the graven image out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars which he had built in the house of the Lord, and all the altars in Jerusalem, and he cast them out of the city. And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace-offerings and thank-offerings. And Manasseh spake to Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. And he slept in peace with his fathers; and Amon his son reigned in his stead. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all things that Manasseh his father had done in the former part of his reign. And he provoked the Lord his God to anger."⁶

Ye have heard, our beloved children, how the Lord God for a while punished him that was addicted to idols, and had slain many innocent persons; and yet that He received him when he repented, and forgave him his offences, and restored him to his kingdom. For He not only forgives the penitent, but reinstates them in their former dignity.