Nicostratus -- Deacon and Rogue

Nicostratus -- Deacon and Rogue
and
An Unnamed Deacon Noted For His Insolence

A few years after the Resurrection, around A.D. 34, seven men of good reputation, filled with the Spirit and with wisdom, were selected by the Christian Hellenists and commissioned as the first deacons by the Apostles through the laying on of hands. The original task for which they were chosen was to manage the daily distribution of food (waiting on tables) to the widows in the Christian Hellenist community. (Ac 6:1-6)

Because of the duties entrusted to them, deacons were expected to be highly principled and upright in their conduct. Thus, between the years 65 and 80, one of the Pastoral Epistles informs us that "deacons must be respectable, not double-tongued, moderate in the amount of wine they drink and with no squalid greed for money. They must hold to the mystery of faith with a clear conscience. They are first to be examined, and admitted to serve as deacons only if there is nothing against them." (1 Tm 3:8-10) Similarly, St. Ignatius of Antioch, about the year 110 writes: "It is fitting also that the deacons of the mysteries of Jesus Christ should in every respect be pleasing to all. For they are not ministers of meat and drink [only], but servants of the Church of God. They are bound, therefore, to avoid all grounds of accusation [against them], as they would do fire." (Epistle to the Trallians, ch. 2) More bluntly and more specifically, Hermas, in early 2^nd century Rome, condemns "deacons, who discharged their duty ill, and who plundered widows and orphans of their livelihood, and gained possessions for themselves from the ministry, which they had received." (The Pastor [Sheperd], Sim. IX, 26)

These guidelines and concerns likely arose because there had been deacons who had a "squalid greed for money," who provided "grounds [for] accusations [against them]," and who "plundered widows and orphans of their livelihood."

In fact, there are two deacons whose infamy has come down to us from antiquity.

One such embarrassment to the order of the diaconate is known to us by name. He is mentioned in correspondence between Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (A.D. 248-258), and Cornelius, Bishop of Rome (A.D. 249-251). Two of their letters discuss Nicostratus, a dishonest deacon who defrauded widows and orphans and robbed the Church.

Cornelius, writing to Cyprian, advised him that an unscrupulous deacon had fled from Rome to Africa and cautioned: "Therefore let care be taken that it be made known to all our co-bishops and brethren, that Nicostratus is accused of many crimes, and that not only has he committed frauds and plunders on his secular patroness, whose affairs he managed; but, moreover (which is reserved to him for a perpetual punishment), he has abstracted no small deposits of the Church." (Epistle xlvii)

Cyprian, replying to Cornelius, wrote: "Nicostratus, having lost the diaconate of sacred administrations, because he had abstracted the Church’s money by a sacrilegious fraud, and disowned the deposits of the widows and orphans, did not wish so much to come into Africa as to escape thither from the city, from the consciousness of his rapines and his frightful crimes. And now a deserter and a fugitive from the Church, as if to have changed the clime were to change the man, he goes on to boast and announce himself a confessor, although he can no longer either be or be called a confessor of Christ who has denied Christ’s Church." (Epistle xlviii)

Nicostratus was not the only deacon of ill repute to be noted in Cyprian’s epistles. In another, Cyprian responded to the complaint of a fellow bishop, Rogatianus, who on account of his age was despised by his deacon. Cyprian noted that he was "deeply distressed ... on reading your letter in which you complained of your deacon, that forgetful of your priestly station, and unmindful of his own office and ministry, he had provoked you by his insults and injuries." He told his colleague that he would have the support of his fellow bishops if he decided to use his episcopal authority to deal with the insolent deacon. Cyprian continued: "But deacons ought to remember that the Lord chose apostles, that is, bishops and overseers; while apostles appointed for themselves deacons after the ascent of the Lord into heaven, as ministers of their episcopacy and of the Church. ... therefore it behoves the deacon of whom you write to repent of his audacity, and to acknowledge the honour of the priest, and to satisfy the bishop set over him with full humility. ... But if, further, he shall harass and provoke you with insults, you must exercise against him the power of your dignity, by either deposing him or excommunicating him. ... And since you have written, that one has associated himself with that same deacon of yours, and is a partaker of his pride and boldness, you may either restrain or excommunicate him also, and any others that may appear of a like disposition, and act against God’s priest. Unless, as we exhort and advise, they should rather perceive that they have sinned and make satisfaction, and suffer us to keep our own purpose; for we rather ask and desire to overcome the reproaches and injustices of individuals by clemency and patience, than to punish them by our priestly power." (Epistle lxiv)

References

The Epistles of Cyprian: xlvii, Cornelius to Cyprian; xlviii, Cyprian to Cornelius; lxiv, Cyprian to Rogatianus. "The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5";

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1990.

"The Epistle to the Trallians" by Ignatius of Antioch. "The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I"; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1989.

"The Pastor [Shepherd]" by Hermas; translated by F. Crombie. "The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II"; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1989.