The Presbyters Project

II.3. De generibus clericorum.

(1) Duo sunt autem genera clericorum: unum ecclesiasticorum sub regimine episcopali degentium, alterum acefalorum, id est sine capite, quem sequantur ignorantium.

Hos neque inter laicos saecularium officiorum studia neque inter clericos religio retentat diuina, sed solutos atque oberrantes sola turpis uita conplectit et uaga. (2) Quique dum nullum metuentes explendae uoluptatis suae licentiam consectantur, quasi animalia bruta libertate ac desiderio suo feruntur. Habentes signum religionis non religionis officium, ypocentauro similes nec equi nec homines, "mixtumque", ut ait poeta, "genus prolisque biformis".

Quorum quidem sordida atque infami numerositate satis superque nostra pars occidua pollet.

(ed. Lawson 1989: 54)

II.3. Types of clerics.

(1) There are two types of clerics: one of ecclesiastics living under episcopal direction, the other one of unattached ones, that is without a head, not knowing whom they follow.

Neither the pursuits of worldy obligations, as among the laity, nor of divine religion, as among the clerics, hold these latter ones fast. Rather a solitary, shameless, and wandering life embraces them, unfettered and wandering about. (2) Since they pursue the freedom of their own satisfied pleasure, fearing nothing, these clerics are carried about by freedom and their own desire like brute animals. Having the sign of religion but not the responsibility of religion, like the centaur they are neither horses not men, "a mixed breed and a hybrid offspring" as Virgil says.

Our western region, indeed, abounds in their more-than-sufficient sordid and infamous number.

(trans. Knoebel 2008: 69-70; slightly altered)

Discussion:

They quotation from Virgil is from Aeneid VI.25. Among other pagan and classical sources Isidore used is also Aulus Gellius, Macrobius, Pliny, Quintilianus, Varro, and Vegetius (see the complete list of Isidore's sources in Knoebel 2008: 23-26).

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Seville

About the source:

Author: Isidore of Seville
Title: De ecclesiasticis officiis, On the Ecclesiastical Offices, De origine officiorum
Origin: Seville (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Isidore was born probably ca 560, he became the bishop of Seville in 600, and he held that office to his death in AD 636. He wrote several works, among them the De ecclesiasticis officiis composed certainly after AD 598 (the composition of the Moralia in Job by Gregory the Great which are used by Isidore in the books 5 and 6). We cannot establish other terminus ante quem than the year of death of Isidore, although some scholars proposed that the De ecclesiasticis officiis were written before the composition of Chronicon in AD 615 (Lawson 1989: 13*-14*). The argument is based on the assumption that the list of Isidore`s writings composed by Braulio, bishop of Saragossa is ordered chronologically, but, as was demonstrated by its most recent editor (Martin 2006: 64-73), most certainly it is not the case.

Isidore composed the treatise at the request of Bishop Fulgentius of Écija (see the dedicatory letter at the beginning of the book). The De ecclesiasticis officiis is also one of the most important sources for the early Spanish liturgy.

Edition:

C.M. Lawson ed., Sancti Isidori episcopi Hispalensis de ecclesiasticis officiis, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 113, Turnhout 1989

Translation:

Isidore of Seville, De ecclesiasticis officiis, translation and introduction by T.L. Knoebel, Ancient Christian Writers 61, New York 2008

Categories:

Functions within the Church - Wandering presbyter/Without office

Described by a title - Clericus

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1286, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1286