The Presbyters Project

Canon 24

Vt clerici continentes ad uiduas uel uirgines nisi ex iussu uel permissu episoporum uel presbyterorum non accedant; et hoc non soli faciant, sed cum clericis aut cum quibus episopus aut presbyter iusserit.

Sed nec ipsi episcopi aut presbyteri soli habeant accessum ad huiusmodi feminas, sed aut ubi clerici praesentes sunt aut graues aliqui christiani.

(ed. Munier 1974: 40)

Canon 24

Clerics living in continence should not approach widows or virgins if not ordered or permitted by bishops or presbyters; and they should not do so alone, but with other clerics or someone appointed by the bishop or the presbyter.

And the bishops and presbyters themselves should not approach such women alone, but only in the presence of clerics or other respectable Christians.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

This canon is interesting not so much because of its common sense regulations in regard to the relations between clerics (who vowed continence) and women, as for the fact that it gives to presbyters the same authority as to bishops in regard to other clerics.

The canon was repeated in Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta as Canon 38.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Carthage
Hippo Regius

About the source:

Title: Breuiarium Hipponense
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The bishops of Byzacena arrived too early for the African plenary council at Carthage in AD 397. Since they had to leave the city before the actual beginning of the proceedings Aurelius of Carthage charged them with editing the decisions of the Council of Hippo of AD 393. The document drafted in this way and accepted on 13 August 397 was called the "Breviarium Hipponense", and it was included later in the Canons in causa Apiarii from AD 419, Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta, Breviarium of Ferrandus and Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua.

Edition:

C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 23-53.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Relation with - Lower cleric

Relation with - Woman

Ecclesiastical administration

Equal prerogatives of presbyters and bishops

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER218, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=218