The Presbyters Project

Chapter 15

Ut clerici nulla negotia inhonesta nec turpia lucra sectentur.

15. Consequens fuit, ut illa quoque, quae de Piceni partibus nuper ad nos missa relatio nuntiavit, non praetereunda putaremus, id est, plurimos clericorum negotiationibus inhonestis et lucris turpibus imminere, nullo pudore cernentes evangelicam lectionem, qua ipse Dominus negotiatores a templo verberatos flagellis asseritur expulisse, nec apostoli verba recolentes, quibus ait: "Nemo militans Deo implicat se negotiis saecularibus", psalmistam quoque David surda dissimulantes aure cantantem: "Quoniam non cognovi negotiationes, introibo in potentias Domini". Proinde huiusmodi aut ab indignis posthac quaestibud noverint abstinendum, et ab omni cuiuslibet negotiationis ingenio vel cupiditate cessandum; aut in quocunque gradu sint positi, mox a clericalibus officiis abstinere cogantur: quoniam domus Dei domus orationis et esse debet et dici, ne officina negotiationis et spelunca potius sit latronum.

(ed. Thiel 1868: 361.36)

Chapter 15

That the clergy should not pursue dishonourable business dealings or filthy profiteering.

15. It has come about as a consequence that we think the facts related to us in a report sent to us lately from the districts of Picenum should be not overlooked, that is, that very many of the clergy are intent on dishonourable business-dealings and filthy profiteering. They hear with no shame that Gospel reading by which the Lord himself is said to have driven out the traders from the temple by beating them with whips [cf. Matt 21:12; John 2:15), nor do they recall the words of the apostle in which he said: "Nobody fighting for God entangles himself in civilian business" [2 Tim 2:4]. They also pretend to turn a deaf ear to the Psalmist David as he sings: "Because I have not known business, I shall enter into the sovereignty of the Lord" [Ps 70:15-16]. Accordingly, let them know that they are either to refrain from unworthy pursuits of this kind and that there is to be a cessation from every inclination or desire for business of whatever kind, or that they will soon be forced to keep away from clerical offices in whatever rank they are appointed: "the house of the Lord is a house of prayer" and must be so and be said to be so, lest instead it become a business office, and, even more, "a den of thieves" [Luke 19:46].

(trans. Neil - Allen 2014: 144.151-152)

Discussion:

Letter 14 of Pope Gelasius, written on 11 March 494, was addressed to the bishops of Lucania and Bruttium (i.e. nowadays Calabria) and Sicily. They were under Gelasius' direct metropolitan jurisdiction. The long letter is a "decretal" and contains mainly various norms regulating the rights and obligation of clergy.

Lending money is not explicitly mentioned by Gelasius, but it most probably enters the category of "dishonourable business dealings and filthy profiteering".

Place of event:

Region

Rome
Italy south of Rome and Sicily

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 2004.

Bibliography:

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

Categories:

Economic status and activity - Buying & selling

Economic status and activity - Loans

Economic status and activity - Indication of wealth

Livelihood/income

Theoretical considerations - On priesthood

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1888, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1888