The Presbyters Project

Letter 14

Ex relatione fratris nostri Archidami presbyteri, qualiter suscepti sitis vel quid egeritis, cognovimus, vel qualiter illi suscepti sunt, qui contra canones adversum nos ad Comitatum, nescio qua audentes temeritate, ire voluerunt. Ad quos haec, quae nunc misimus, olim scripta feceramus, eorum quas injuriose miserant respondentes epistolis. Sed quoniam non potuerunt rei in sua, hoc est, in nostra ecclesia Romana, cum nostris compresbyteris commorari, has ad vos illis tradendas litteras destinavimus, in quibus decreto nostro sanximus, memoratos perturbatores omnium ab apostolicae nostrae sedis communione alienos fuisse, atque nostra subscriptione prolatam sententiam suscepisse. Illos etiam, qui effrenato huic facto consilioque assensum commodare voluerunt, vestrae charitatis est aestimare qualiter habeantur. Quibus hoc objicere vos debetis, quod juxta canonum praecepta fortiter incurrere, et qualiter presbyteros non decebat, rebelles exstitere. Vos autem monemus in speculis esse debere, ne quo eorum prorumpat audacia, quos anathematizatos scit sancta et apostolica Ecclesia. De his vero, qui eorum se societati junxerunt, quid agere debeamus, cum reversi fueritis, consilio meliori tractabimus.

(ed. Coustant 1845: 679-680)

Letter 14

We learnt from our brother Presbyter Archidamus how you were received and what you did, and also the manner of reception for those who had chosen to go to the imperial court against us, contrary to the canons, with I know not how daring an impertinence. We have already written to them before, and we are doing so now, although they responded with offensive letters. But as the guilty could not remain in their, that is our, Roman Church, together with our fellow presbyters, we are sending this letter to you, in which we pronounce our decision that the aforementioned troublemakers should be cut off from the communion of our Apostolic See, and accept the decision pronounced by our letter. Your Charity should decide how to treat those who would like to give their consent to the unruly deeds and plans. You should object to that which was certainly done against the precepts of the canons, since the presbyters are not supposed to remain rebellious. We advise you to be on guard lest the audacity of those whom the holy and Apostolic Church knows to be anathematised burst forth. We will take better counsel about what should be done with those who joined them, when they come back [to Rome].

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

According to the first collections in which the letter was preserved, it was addressed to the presbyters and deacons of Rome who travelled to Ravenna. Later collections presumed that Zosimus wrote to the clergy of Ravenna. The first alternative is to be preferred (Dunn 2016: 6). In fact, we can see in the letter two groups of Roman clerics who went to Ravenna: the "rebels" (only presbyters), and the second group, loyal to Zosimus, to whom he addressed his letter.

The "rebellious" presbyters went to the imperial court with some grudges against Zosimus, possibly in relation to the seeming support of the pope for Pelagianism.

It is not clear which canons Zosimus was thinking of when he said that they prohibit the presbyters from appealing to the emperor.

The tensions within the Roman clergy at the time resulted in the double election of the successor of Zosimus after his death in AD 418, when both Deacon Eulalius and Presbyter Boniface [225] were elected.

Presbyter Archidamus, who is mentioned at the beginning of the letter and who informed Zosimus about the situation, is probably the same who carried the letter of Pope Innocent I to Africa in AD 413 [1707].

Place of event:

Region

Rome
Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

City

Rome
Ravenna

About the source:

Author: Zosimus
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Zosimus was the bishop of Rome from AD 417 to 418.

Edition:

P. Coustant ed., S. Zosimi Papae Epistolae et Decreta, Patrologia Latina 20, Paris 1845, 642-686.

Bibliography:

G.D. Dunn, "Zosimus and Ravenna: Conflict in the Roman Church in the Early Fifth Century”, Revue d’Etudes Augustiniennes et Patristiques 62 (2016), 1–20.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR741.

Conflict

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Relation with - Monarch and royal/imperial family

Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1759, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1759