The Presbyters Project

II.7. De presbiteris.

(1) Presbiterorum ordo exordium sumpsit a filiis, ut dictum est, Aaron. Qui enim sacerdotes uocabantur in ueteri testamento, hii sunt qui nunc appellantur presbiteri, et qui nuncupabantur principes sacerdotum nunc episcopi nominantur. Presbiteri autem interpretantur seniores, quia seniores aetate Greci "presbiten" uocant.

His enim sicut episcopis dispensatio mysteriorum dei commissa est. (2) Praesunt enim ecclesiae Christi, et in confectione diuini corporis et sanguinis consortes cum episcopis sunt, similiter et in doctrina populorum et in officio praedicandi; ac sola propter auctoritatem summo sacerdoti clericorum ordinatio et consecratio reseruata est, ne a multis disciplina ecclesiae uindicata concordiam solueret, scandala generaret. Nam Paulus apostolus eosdem presbiteros ut uere sacerdotes sub nomine episcoporum ita adseuerat loquens ad Titum: Huius, inquid, rei gratia reliqui te Cretae, ut ea quae desunt corrigas et constituas per ciuitates presbiteros, quemadmodum ego tibi disposui, siquis sine crimine est, unius uxoris uirum, filios habentemfideles non in accusatione luxoriae aut non subditos. Oportet enim episcopum sine crimine esse. Qua sententia ostendit presbiteros etiam sub episcoporum nomine taxari. (3) Vnde et ad Timotheum de ordinatione episcopi et diaconi scribit, de presbiteris omnino tacuit, quia eos in episcoporum nomine conprehendit. Secundus enim et paene coniunctus gradus est, sicut et ad Philippenses episcopis et diaconibus scribit, cum una ciuitas plures episcopos habere non possit, et in Actibus presbiteros ecclesiae iturus Hierusolima congregauit quibus inter cetera: Videte gregem in quo uos spiritus sanctus episcopos ordinauit. Vnde etiam tales in ecclesia presbiteros constituendos esse sicut episcopos, et apostolus ad Titum loquitur et canones ipsi testantur.

(4) Presbiteros autem merito et sapientia dici, non aetate. Nam et Moysi praecipitur ut elegat presbiteros. Vnde et in Prouerbiis dicitur: Gloria senum canities. Quae est haec canities? Haud dubium quin sapientia, de qua scriptum est: Canities hominum prudentia est; cumque nongentos et amplius annos ab Adam usque ad Abraham uixisse homines legerimus, nullus alius primus appellatus est presbiter, id est senex, nisi Abraham qui multo paucioribus annis uixisse conuincitur. Non ergo propter decrepitam senectutem sed propter sapientiam presbiteri nominantur. Quod si ita est, mirum est cur insipientes constituuntur.

(ed. Lawson 1989: 64-66)

II.7. Presbyters.

(1) The order of presbyters received its origin, as it has been said, from the sons of Aaron. For those who were called priests in the Old Testament, it is these who are now named presbyters, and those who were called chief priests are now called bishops. "Elders," however, is translated as "presbyters," because the the elders by age are called by the Greeks "presbytes."

To presbyters, as to bishops, the dispensation of the mysteries of God has been committed. (2) For they preside over the churches of Christ and are partners with the bishops in the confecting of the divine body and blood, similarly also in teaching the people and in the office of preaching. By reason of authority, the ordination and consecration of clerics is reserved solely to the bishop, lest, the discipline of the church being claimed by many, it might loosen the concord and generate scandals. Paul the apostle asserted that those presbyters, under the name of bishops, are truly priests when he says to Titus: "I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you should put in order what remained to be done, and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you: someone who is blameless, married only once, whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and not rebellious. For a bishop... must be blameless" [Titus 1:5-7]. By this statement he showed that presbyters also are to be classified under the name of bishops. (3) And when he wrote to Timothy about the ordination of the bishop and the deacon [see 1 Tim 3:1-13], he was totally silent about presbyters, because he included them in the name of bishops. For the presbyterate is a second and almost joined grade, as he also wrote to the Philippians "[with their] bishops and deacons" [Phil 1:1], since it is not possible that one city would have many bishops. Also in Acts, about to go to Jerusalem, he gathered the presbyters of the church and said to them among other things: "Keep watch over the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has ordained you bishop" [Acts 20:28]. And that such presbyters in the church have been constituted to be just like bishops, both the apostle says to Titus [see Titus 1:6], and the canons themselves testify.

(4) Presbyters are named such, however, by merit and wisdom, not by age. For Moses also was directed to choose presbyters. Whence it is also said in Proverbs: "the beauty of the aged is their grey hair" [Prov 20:29]. What is the grey hair? There is no doubt that it is wisdom, about which it is written: "the grey hair of men is discretion" [Wis 4:8]. When we read [Gen 5:27] that men from Adam up to Abraham had lived more than nine hundred years, no other person is first called presbyter, that is, elder, except Abraham, who is proven to have lived far fewer years. Therefore presbyters are named not on account of decrepit old age but on account of wisdom. And if this is so, it is a wonder why they are constituted foolish.

(trans. Knoebel 2008: 77-78, slightly adapted)

Discussion:

On the presbyters as coming from Aaron see [1288].

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 another 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:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Usurping episcopal power

Ritual activity - Eucharist

Ritual activity - Ordaining

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Equal prerogatives of presbyters and bishops

Theoretical considerations - On priesthood

Theoretical considerations - On church hierarchy

Pastoral activity - Preaching

Pastoral activity - Teaching

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1333, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1333