Chapter IX: Section 7: The First Schism and the Appointment of the Diaconate

[Sidenote: A. D. 33. The first deadly sin in the Church.]

Great and deadly sin had already made its way into Christ's fold, and been cast out from the midst of it by a fearful judgment. Ananias and Sapphira had "lied unto God," and been struck dead for their impiety; and the "great fear" excited by this first display of the judicial powers of the Church had been followed by another influx of conversions; for "multitudes were added to the Lord[37]." [Sidenote: A.D. 34. The first schism.] And now came the first division in the body, "a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews[38]."

[Sidenote: Distinction between "Grecians" (or Hellenists) and "Hebrews."]

By the "Grecians" are meant those Jews of foreign birth and education who had adopted Greek customs and the Greek language so entirely, that some even of their most learned men did not understand Hebrew {17} but read the Scriptures of the Old Testament in the Septuagint Version. They were much despised by the stricter and more narrow-minded "Hebrews," the natives of Palestine, or Syro-Chaldaic Jews; and the rivalries of these two Jewish sects were carried even into the bosom of Christ's Church. [Sidenote: Complaint of the "Grecians."] The Grecians, or "_Hellenists_" complained that their widows were neglected in the daily distribution of alms; perhaps grounding their complaint on the fact that the Twelve were all Hebrews. [Sidenote: Deacons ordained.] And the Apostles commanded that "seven men of honest report" should be chosen from the body of believers, and presented to them, that they might be ordained by Imposition of Hands to minister to the bodily wants of the poor and aged. This was the first institution of the Order of Deacons[39], the lowest of the three holy offices which were to be continually handed down and perpetuated in the Church. Thus did the Apostles begin to impart to others such a portion of the ministerial grace, of which they themselves had been at first the sole recipients, as might enable those whom they ordained to aid them, in a subordinate degree, in the work of building up the mystical Body of Christ.

[Sidenote: Increasing conversions.]

This fresh proof of the vitality of the Church through the active, living Presence of her Divine Head, was followed by a new feature in the still increasing conversions to her fold. It was no longer the poor and the unlearned only, or chiefly, who listened to the teaching of the Apostles, {18} "a great company of the Priests were obedient to the Faith[40]," while, on the other hand, a growing and more bitter spirit of persecution was soon to develope itself.