55. The decree of St. Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople, is well-known in the Greek church. Methodius was Patriarch about the middle of the ninth century and tirelessly strove to call the wanderers back home to holy unity. His decree lays down the method of restoring to the Church those who have left it and subsequently returned: "At the end of the prayer he takes the holy oil in accordance with the custom of the baptized, and anoints him, making the sign of the Cross on his forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, both ears, hands, breast, and shoulders while he says: 'the sign of the gift of the Holy Spirit."'

This passage certainly gives rise to a great difficulty, for apparently it must be admitted either that the words "the sign of the gift of the Holy Spirit" are not the form of the sacrament of confirmation in the Greek church or that this sacrament is conferred a second time on those who have already received it validly once, if after the sin of apostasy they desire to return to the Church. The latter view is of course contrary to the established opinion that sacraments, which impress a character on the soul, can never be conferred again on those who have received them validly once. This was defined by the Council of Trent, session 7, on the sacraments in general, canon 9. There is no use in appealing to canon 7 of the Council of Constantinople, which was mentioned above. This canon lays down that Arians, Macedonians, Novatians, and Apollinarians who turn from their heresy and come to the Church are to be received with holy chrism. This ruling refers only to these heretics, since they confer the sacrament of confirmation invalidly, if at all; the decree of St. Methodius though is general and applies to all who wish to return after leaving the Church. Moreover, since provisions similar to those of the decree of Methodius are made in some euchologies in the section on the reconciliation of penitents, the same difficulty arises in these cases.