The Presbyters Project

Chapter 28

Quod episcopus, presbyter et diaconus, a quocunque clerico veraciter fuerit accusatus, quod adversus haec constituta fecerit, potest sine dubitatione percelli: sui etiam honoris periculum episcopus subiturus, si haec omnia Ecclesiae noscenda tacuerit.

28. Quapropter nec clericorum quisquam se huius offensae futurum confidat immunem, si in his, quae salubriter sequenda deprompsimus, sive episcopum sive presbyterum seu diaconum viderit excedentem, non protinus ad aures nostras deferre curaverit, probationibus dumtaxat competenter exhibitis, ut transgressoris ultio fiat ceteris interdictio delinquendi. Sui vero modis omnibus erit unusquisque pontificium ordinis et honoris elisor, si cuiquam clericorum, vel Ecclesiae totius auditui haec putaverit supprimenda.

(ed. Thiel 1868: 361. 378-379)

Chapter 28

That a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, verifiably accused by any cleric at all of acting against these ordinances, can be struck down without hesitation; also a bishop will endanger his office if he remains silent on all these matters that should be brought to the attention of the Church.

28. Accordingly, let none of the clergy be confident of escaping this offence in the future if, in the matters we have drawn up that are to be followed vigorously, he should see a bishop or presbyter or deacon overstepping the mark, and has not made a point of bringing it to our attention immediately, as long as the votes of assent have been procured properly, so that the transgressor's punishment may prohibit others from offending. Indeed by all means each single pontiff will be the destroyer of his own rank and office if he thinks that these matters are to be kept concealed from any of the clergy or from the hearing of the whole Church.

(trans. Neil - Allen 2014: 146.157, slightly modified)

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.

This final regulation refers to all the parts of this long letter: see [1878], [1882], [1882], [1883], [1884], [1885], [1888], [1891], [1960], [1967], [1970], [1974], [1977], [1981], [1985], and [1987].

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 2014.

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:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Demotion

Equal prerogatives of presbyters and bishops

Equal prerogatives of presbyters and deacons

Ecclesiastical administration - Overseeing clergy and Church staff

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1988, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1988