The Selection and Character of Elders

He finds rest in himself. The Wisdom that leads boldness in the squares of the beautiful city, in which the Creator brought all things into being, is proclaimed nowhere else but upon the edges of the walls to those guarding and watching over the divine city, according to the voice of Isaiah spoken thus before the King of Kings: 'Upon your walls I have set guards by day and by night, who will never be silent, ever remembering the Lord' (Isa 62:6).

In the designated divine squares of the blessed city, serious elders and elder women will still sit as before, holding in their hands their own staffs, this being a symbol of kingship, this being a participation in priesthood, and moreover in didactic words.

It is fitting to take elders who have been sold for wisdom, according to what is carried in the most holy Wisdom of Solomon, having this: 'For old age is precious, not because of many years, nor is it measured by the number of years; but there is much wisdom among men, and old age is a life without blemish' (Wis 4:9). This is the spiritual age appropriate to the friend of God who was credited with righteousness, Abraham, whose faith 'was reckoned to righteousness' (Rom 4:3).

For it was said by the hierophant Moses in Cosmopoeia: 'Abraham, having departed, died, having been nourished in good old age, elder and full of days.' For these things are not said because of a multitude of years of the cycles of the perceptible sun. For those born before him were of more years, yet none of them was called elder or full of days. For the father of Isaac was the first of men to be named elder from the embassies of those named by virtue.

Concerning those having such a judgment, a polity, and a mental age, the Cause of all things and the Provider of all good things says to his faithful servant: 'Appoint with yourself seventy elders, whom you yourself know to be elders' (Exod 24:1). From which it is shown that neither the appointment nor the laying on of hands makes...

He shows those who are older not as those who were previously so, but makes them manifest. For it was strictly ordered that those whom the forerunner already knew to be such should be ordained.

The same is possible in Joel (Joel 3:5), one of the Twelve Prophets, who protects the command 'to choose elders'—not as a preceding election, but as a subsequent recognition for the sake of manifesting those who have already acquired virtue and its seniority. Concerning those possessing this honor, it is written in Proverbs (Proverbs 16:31): 'The glory of elders is many,' which are made manifest by wisdom.

Equal and of equal strength to these mentioned elders exist also according to the New Covenant. For the Apostle, writing to his disciple Titus (Titus 1:5), has likewise inscribed to others: 'For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, as I commanded you, and establish elders in every city.' He mentions the characteristics of those previously appointed, those being placed into ecclesiastical ranks: monogamy, the best upbringing of children, and being perfected in the remaining virtues, whom he also calls bishops by ancient custom, as we have said elsewhere.

Immediately, indeed, it is brought forward in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 14:23) that 'Paul called the elders of the Church,' to whom he also says: 'The Holy Spirit has appointed you as bishops to shepherd the Church, which He acquired with His own blood' (Acts 20:28), and the following. To those having this rank, Peter, the foremost of Christ's disciples, addresses them in his epistle (1 Peter 5:1): 'I urge the elders among you.' And let us see what it is that he urges: to shepherd Christ's flock, not by compulsion, but willingly, so that, when the Chief Shepherd is revealed, they may receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4).

Those accounted as elders according to both covenants are kings, being according to Abraham, according to what was said by those who knew his excellence: 'King...