The Presbyters Project

Chapter 11

Presbyterorum et diaconorum ordinationes certis celebrari posse temporibus.

11. Ordinationes etiam presbyterorum et diaconorum nis certis temporibus et diebus exercere non audeant, id est: quarti mensis jejunio, septimi et decimi, sed etiam quadragesimalis initii, ac medianae Quadragesimae die, sabati jejunio circa vesperam noverint celebrandas: nec cujuslibet utilitatis seu presbyterum seu diaconum his praeferre, qui ante ipsos fuerint ordinati.

(ed. Thiel 1868: 360.368-369)

Chapter 11

That the ordinations of presbyters and deacons may be celebrated at fixed times.

11.Neither let them dare to ordain presbyters and deacons, except at fixed times and on fixed days, that is: let them know that they are to perform them during the fast of the fourth month, the seventh and tenth, but also at the beginning of Lent and in the middle of Lent, during the fast of Saturday, towards evening. It is of no use at all to promote either a presbyter or a deacon ahead of those who have been ordained before them.

(trans. Neil - Allen 2014: 144.150, slightly altered)

Discussion:

The last sentence suggests a certain order in the promotion of the clergy: they should be promoted according to the period spent in lower office.

The times set for ordinations are what later came to be known as Ember Days, the time set for fasting during each of the four seasons of the year. "The middle of Lent" may be the "Dominica Mediana", the fifth Sunday of Lent, which was the station at St Peter's. The Ember Saturdays are confirmed as the traditional days for the ordinations in other sources: The Gelasian Sacramentary and Ordo Romanus IV (see Jeffrey 2013: 175).

The same information is given in paragraph 3 of Letter 15 of Gelasius (ed. Thiel 1868: 380), which is the general formulary for his letters, and applied in his Letter 16 (ed. Thiel 1868: 381).

Place of event:

Region

Rome

City

Rome

About the source:

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

Gelasius I was the bishop of Rome between AD 492 and 496.

Edition:

Thiel A. ed., Epistulae Romanorum pontificum genuinae et quae ad eos scriptae sunt a S. Hilario usque ad Pelagium II, 1, Braunsberg 1868, 287-510.

Translation:

B. Neil, P. Allen edd., The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496): Pastor and Micro-Manager of the Church of Rome, Turnhout 2014.

Bibliography:

P. Jeffery, "The early liturgy of Saint Peter's and the Roman liturgical year”, [in :] Old Saint Peter’s, Rome, ed. R. McKitterick et al., Cambridge 2013, 157–176.

B. Neil, P. Allen edd., The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496): Pastor and Micro-Manager of the Church of Rome, Turnhout 2014.

Categories:

Former ecclesiastical career - Deacon

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Act of ordination

Impediments or requisits for the office - Ecclesiastical career

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1884, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1884