The Presbyters Project

Session 1

207. [...] Item recitauit: "Victorinianus episcopus Aquensis". Cumque accessisset, idem dixit: "Mandaui et subscripsi". Asellicus episcopus ecclesiae catholicae municipi Tusuritani dixit: "Sub testificatione omnipotentis Dei et Iesu Christi saluatoris nostri, dico nos sic esse de Arzugibus profectos die III kalendarum maiarum. Presbyter fuit, non episcopus; in uia ordinatus est. Sed hac factione qua ualet est illic episcopus, in adulterio detectus. Adhuc pendet cognitio".

(ed. Lancel 1972: 894-896)

Session 1

207. [...] [Marcellinus] read: "Victorinianus, the bishop of Aquae". When he approached, he said: "I signed the mandate". Asellicus, the bishop of the Catholic Church of the town of Tusuros, said: "Let Almighty God and Jesus Christ our Saviour be witnesses to this, I say that we were departing from Arzuges on the third day before the Kalends of May [29 April]. He was a presbyter, not a bishop. He was ordained on the way. The [Donatist] party about which we are talking has the bishop there, but he was found adulterous. The investigation is under way". [...].

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

On the first day of the Conference, the Donatists challenged the list of the signatures of the Catholic bishops on the document in which they had assigned their representatives. The roll call followed, in which the tribune Marcellinus, who presided, called the Catholic bishops one by one, and their Donatist counterparts were to identify them. Then the roll call proceeded in the opposite way, with the Donatist bishops identified by the Catholics.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Arzuges
Aquae

About the source:

Title: Acts of the Conference of Carthage, Gesta Collationis Carthaginiensis
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian, Donatist

The conference between the Catholics and the Donatists was held in Carthage on 1-8 June 411. Its goal was to arrive at unity between the rival Churches. The proceedings were minutely recorded, and the majority of the acts have been preserved to our days.

Edition:

S. Lancel ed., Actes de la Conférence de Carthage en 411, tome II, Sources Chrétiennes 195, Paris 1972.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist

PR579.

Further ecclesiastical career - Bishop

PR579.

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR579.

Act of ordination

PR579.

Ecclesiastical administration - Participation in councils and ecclesiastical courts

PR579.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1139, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1139