The Presbyters Project

II.8. De diaconibus.

[...] Sine his sacerdos nomen habet, officium non habet. (4) Nam sicut in sacerdote consecratio, ita in ministro dispensatio sacramenti est; ille orare, hic psallere mandatur; ille oblata sanctificat, hic sanctificata dispensat. Ipsis etiam sacerdotibus propter praesumptionem non licet de mensa domini tollere calicem, nisi eis traditus fuerit a diacono. Leuitae inferunt oblationes in altario, leuitae conponunt mensam domini, leuitae operiunt arcam testamenti. Non enim omnes uident alta mysteriorum quae operiuntur a leuitis, ne uideant qui uidere non debent et sumant qui seruare non possunt. [...]

(ed. Lawson 1989: 66, 67-68)

II.8. Deacons.

[...] Without the deacons, a priest has the name but he does not have the office. (4) For as in the case of priest, consecration is of the sacrament, so in the minister, dispensation is of the sacrament. The priest is commanded to pray, the deacon to sing psalms. The priest sanctifies the offerings; the deacon dispenses the things sanctified. Also it is not permitted for the priests, on account of presumption, to take the chalice from the table of the Lord, unless it has been handed to them by the deacon. Levites place the offerings on the altar; Levites prepare the table of the Lord; Levites cover the ark of the testament. For not all see the high things of the mysteries which are covered by the Levites, lest they who ought not to see, see, and those who are not able to serve, lay hold of them. [...]

(trans. Knoebel 2008: 79, 80)

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 Isidore`s death , although some scholars proposed that the De ecclesiasticis officiis were written before the composition of the 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 this 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 late antique 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 - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Ritual activity - Eucharist

Ritual activity - Presiding at prayer

Relation with - Deacon

Theoretical considerations - On priesthood

Theoretical considerations - On church hierarchy

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1334, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1334