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Exothoumneni

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

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Expectancy

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(ἐξωθούμενοι ), the first of the four classes of catechumens (q.v.) in the early Church. They were instructed privately outside the Church, and prevented from entering into the Church until they were more fully enlightened. Expectatives, a term employed in the 14th century, when the French pontiffs residing at Avignon assumed to themselves the power of conferring all sacred offices, by which means they raised immense sums of money, calling forth the bitterest complaints from all the nations of Europe. Expectatives were abolished by the Coticil of Constance, March 25, 1436. (See EXPECTANCY).