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ER 1521

Pope Agapetus I replies to the letter of Bishop Reparatus and other African bishops and agrees with them that no Arian should be admitted to the holy orders, but he orders to provide financial support for the former Arian clerics. He also assents with African bishops on the restrictions of clerical travels, AD 535. Letter 86 in the Collectio Avellana compiled in the second half of the 6th c.

Epistula 86

The Pope expresses joy over the liberation of Africa from the Vandal regime and reassures the recipients of his constant care for the African Church.

5. Sed eiusmodi, sicut et uobis cautissime uisum est, praestemus officium in obseruatione pastorum, ne, cum perdita uolumus congregare, pereamus et, cum sub nimia rela<xa>tione absoluimus, obnoxii, quod auertat dominus, cadamus in culpam, maxime cum priorum nostrorum sententia redeuntes ad nos ex Arrianis quolibet modo in qualibet aetate illius pestilentiae labe pollutos tanta caritate in fide complexa est, eiusmodi iustitia sub dilectione redarguit, tanta ratiocinatione de ambitu honoris exclusit, ut erubescerent aliud magis quaerere quam redire. 6. De eo uero, quod piissima conpunctione requisistis, utrum, etsi in officium suum non debent suscipi aut eos non oportet omnino promoueri, alimoniorum saltem utilitatibus adiuuentur, laudamus hortamur amplectimur, ut re uera, quod eis promotio aut officium, in quo fuerint, abnegatur, canonum uos reuerentiam iudicent omnes adpetere quam gerere cupiditatis ardorem. Uenientes igitur ad fidem sincerissimam nutriat humanitas, consoletur; prompta sit omnibus misericordia, in cuius remuneratione dictum est: beati misericordes, quia ipsi misericordiam consequentur. 7. Illud quoque, quod catholicos, qui praesunt aut militant ecclesiae, sine sacerdotum suorum litteris suscipi a nobis minime debere mandatis, et canonibus est congruum et disciplinae prodesse iudicamus ac fidei, quia permanendo in ecclesiis, in quibus militant, et ministerii sui poterunt adsiduitate in dei saluatoris nostri amore feruescere et, quae in peruagatione reprehensibilia sunt, uitare. Dat. V. Id. Septembr.

(ed. Guenther : 331-332).

Letter 86

The Pope expresses joy over the liberation of Africa from the Vandal regime and reassures the recipients of his constant care for African Church.

5. We confirm the same duty in the service of the pastors which you fulfill with a great care lest we ourselves be lost while trying to gather what was lost and lest we be found guilty of wrongdoing (let the Lord prevent that!) because we have given absolution with exceeding laxity. While the decision of our predecessors embraced with such love in faith all those returning to us from the Arians, regardless of the way and age in which they had been polluted with a stain of this pestilence, the justice of this sentence led by love refuted [the error] and with great consideration excluded the striving for honours, so that they should rather feel ashamed to seek anything else than just coming back. 6. In regard to the issue about which you have asked with such modesty, whether, if they are not supposed to be accepted with their office nor by any means promoted, they could receive at least means of sustenance, we commend, we exhort, we favour that although the promotion and office which they previously held is refused to them, you should judge everything seeking rather the respect for the canons than being led by the ardour of greed. Benevolence nourishes and consoles those who are returning to the most sincere faith; let mercy be accessible to all! And there is a reward for mercy, as is said: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" [Matt 5:7]. 7. As for the Catholics presiding over or serving a church, concerning whom you have ordered that if they have not the letters of their bishop they should not be received by us, we decree that it is consistent with the canons as well as beneficial for the discipline and faith, because remaining in the churches in which they serve, they can by constant attendance to their service be ardent with love to God, our Saviour, and avoid those things that are reproachable during travels. Given on the fifth day before the Ides of September [= 9 September 535].

(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa
Rome

City

Carthage

About the source:

Author: Agapetus I
Title: Collectio Avellana
Origin: Rome
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The letter of the Pope Agapetus I is a response for the letter sent to Rome by Bishop Reparatus of Carthage and other African bishops gathered at the council. It was addressed to the Pope John II [899] who could not respond to the letter because he died on 8 May 535. His successor, Agapetus I, responded on 9 September 535 (Adamiak 2016: 134-135). See also Kaegi 1965: 40.

Collectio Avellana is a collection containing 244 letters issued by emperors, imperial magistrates and popes. The earliest item is dated to AD 367, the latest to AD 553. Hence, the compilator worked most probably in the second half of the 6th century. Two hundred documents of the Collectio are not known from any other collection. The editor of the Collectio, Günther noticed that it can be divided into five thematic parts (Gunther 1896: 3-96; Steinacker 1902: 14-15; Blaudeau 2013: 4) :

1) no. 1-40 is an independent collection making use of the records of the prefecture of the city of Rome concerning two episcopal elections;

2) no. 41-50 that are derived from the records of the bishopric in Carthage, and consist of the letters of Innocentius I and Zosimus;

3) no. 51-55, the late letters of Leo I not known from any other source, regarding the exile of Bishop Timothy II of Alexandria;

4) no. 56-104 the group of letters from the pontificates of Simplicius, Gelasius, Symmachus, John, Agapet, and Vigilius;

5) no. 105-243 the letters from the records of Hormisdas.

The modern name of the collection derives from the codex Vaticanus Latinus 4961 copied in the monastery Sancti Crucis in fonte Avellana that was considered the oldest by the brothers Ballerini who edited the Collectio in 1787.

Edition:

O. Guenther ed., Epistolae Imperatorum Pontificum Aliorum Inde ab a. CCCLXVII usque DLIII datae Avellana Quae Dicitur Collectio, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 35/1, 35/2, Prague, Vienna, and Leipzig 1895

Translation:

S. Adamiak, Carthage, Constantinople and Rome: Imperial and Papal Interventions in the Life of the Church in Byzantine Africa (533-698), Rome 2016

Bibliography:

S. Adamiak, Carthage, Constantinople and Rome: Imperial and Papal Interventions in the Life of the Church in Byzantine Africa (533-698), Rome 2016

W.E. Kaegi, "Arianism and the Byzantine Army in Africa 533-546”, Traditio 21 (1965), 23–53.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Arian

Change of denomination

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Impediments or requisits for the office - Heresy/Schism

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης

Livelihood/income

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1521, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1521