Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1434
An Arian presbyter Abragil discusses with Fulgentius, the bishop of Ruspe (North Africa) the nature of the Holy Spirit. Carthage, AD 516/519. Account of Pseudo-Ferrandus, "Life of Fulgentius", after AD 534.
Chapter 21
 
48. De Spiritu sancto interroganti presbytero Abragile, per Commonitorium paruissimum testimonia protulit plura, docens eum cum Patre et Filio Deum unum simpliciter confitendum.
 
(ed. Isola 2016: 206)
Chapter 21
 
48. When Presbyter Abragil asked him about the Holy Spirit, Fulgentius brought forward many testimonies in a small Commonitorium, teaching him that he should be confessed simply as one God together with Father and Son.
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The meeting between Fulgentius and Abragil took place at the court of the Vandal King Thrasamund between the exiles of Fulgentius to Sardinia. I assume that Abragil was Arian because of the context: the precedent interlocutor of Fulgentius was an Arian bishop, and the general setting is the debate in front of the king, in which Fulgentius was expected to present the Catholic doctrine. Abragil does not seem to be a Germanic name, and of course it is not Latin, so it may have indigenous African origins.

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Carthage

About the source:

Author: Ferrandus
Title: Vita Fulgentii, Life of Fulgentius
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
None of the manuscripts transmitting the "Life of Fulgentius" provides the name of its author. It was firstly attributed to the deacon Ferrandus by Chifflet in 1649. This theory was largely accepted, by, among others, G.G. Lapeyre, who offered a critical edition of the "Life" in 1929. It was, however rejected by A. Isola in his 2016 edition for Corpus Christianorum, who retains it an anonymous work. It is dedicated to Felicianus, the successor of Fulgentius on the see of Ruspe, so it must have been written in a reasonable span of time after the death of Fulgentius in AD 533.
Edition:
A. Isola ed., Vita S. Fulgentii episcopi, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 91F, Turnhout 2016.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Arian
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic
Education - Theological interest
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1434, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1434