The Presbyters Project

Chapter VI

12. [...] In Italia quoque, nobis apud Campaniam constitutis, dum uenerabilis et apostolico honore nominandus papa Leo Manichaeos subuerteret et contereret Pelagianos et maxime Iulianum ambientem, quidam Florus nomine, spiritu seductionis adreptus, uirtutem et meritum sibi sancti Sossi martiris adsignans, haud procul a Neapolitana ciuitate in subuersionem animarum <cum> quaedam promitteret faceretque inlicita, a germano uenerabilis Nostriani episcopi Etherio presbytero simul cum clericis praedictae ecclesiae detentus et coercitus, digne a praefatae prouinciae liminibus pulsus est. [...]

(ed. Braun 1976: 198)

Chapter VI

12. [...] The same things happened in Italy. I sojourned in Campania when venerable Pope Leo, who should be called with the reverence due to the Apostles, was fighting against the Manicheans and destroying the Pelagians, especially the cunning Julian. At that time a certain Florus, seized by the spirit of seduction, claimed to have been given the power of the holy martyr Sossius, and, not far away from the city of Naples, he promised and performed what is forbidden, to the ruin of the souls. He was detained, coerced, and deservedly expelled outside the limits of the province by the Presbyter Etherius, the brother of the venerable Bishop Nostrianus, and other clerics. [...]

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The presbyter in question could be named Etherius or Herius, depending on how we read the text: "Etherio" or "et Herio". Sossius was a martyr of Misenum near Naples. Florus is probably identical with Bishop Florius of unknown place in Italy, deposed by Pope Zosimus for following Pelagius in AD 418 (Florus 4 in PCBE Italie 1). For this episode see COS E00997.

Place of event:

Region

Italy south of Rome and Sicily

City

Naples

About the source:

Author: Quodvultdeus
Title: Dimidium temporis

"Dimidium temporis" ("On the half of the times") is the appendix to the "Book of the Promises and Prophecies of God", now generally accepted as having been written by Quodvultdeus. Quodvultdeus was a deacon, and later the bishop of Carthage (North Africa), expelled with his clergy by the Vandal King Huneric to Italy in AD 439. It was there that he wrote this work, after the beginning of the anti-Manichaean action by Pope Leo I in AD 443, and before his own death in AD 454.

Edition:

R. Braun ed., Opera Quodvultdeo Carthaginiensi episcopo tributa, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 60, Turnhout 1976, 190-215.

Bibliography:

Quodvultdeus, Livre des promesses et des prédictions de Dieu, introduction, texte latin, traductione et notes par R. Braun, Sources Chrétiennes 101-102, Paris 1964.

Categories:

Social origin or status - Clerical family

PR625.

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR625.

Public law - Ecclesiastical

PR625.

Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic

PR625.

Administration of justice - Exile

PR625.

Ecclesiastical administration

PR625.

Equal prerogatives of presbyters and bishops

PR625.

Conflict - Violence

PR625.

Devotion - Veneration of saints and relics

PR625.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1354, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1354