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ER 2268

Canon 21 (= canon 17 in the Greek version) of the Council of Serdica (Dacia) in 343 says that the bishops, presbyters, and deacons exiled unjustly from their cities should be welcomed elsewhere and allowed to stay as long as necessary.

Latin text:

Canon 21

OSSIVS EPISCOPVS DIXIT:

Suggerente autem fratre et coepiscopo nostro Olympio, hoc placuit, ut si aliquis uim perpessus et inique expulsus, propter disciplinam uel catholicam confessionem uel defensionem ueritatis, fugiens pericula innocens et deuotus ad aliam uenerit ciuitatem {siue episcopus seu praesbyter aut diaconus}, non prohibeatur inmorari quamdiu aut redire potuerit aut iniuria eius remedium acceperit: quia durum est {eum} qui persecutionem patitur non recipi; etiam et larga beniuolentia et humanitas est exhibenda.

Greek text:

Canon 17

Ὅσιος ἐπίσκοπος εἶπεν·

Ὑποβάλλοντος καὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἡμῶν Ὀλυμπίου καὶ τοῦτο ἤρεσεν, ἵνα εἴ τις ἐπίσκοπος βίαν ὑπομείνας ἀδίκως ἐκβληθείη, ἢ διὰ τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἢ διὰ τὴν ὁμολογίαν τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας ἢ διὰ τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐκδικίαν, καὶ φεύγων τὸν κίνδυνον ἀθῷ ος καὶ καθωσιωμένος ὤν εἰς ἑτέραν ἔλθοι πόλιν, μὴ κωλυέσθω ἐκεῖ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον διάγειν ἕως ἄν ἐπανέλθῃ ἢ τῆς ὕβρεως τῆς γεναμένης αὐτῷ ἀπαλλαγὴν εὑράσθαι δυνηθείη. σκληρὸν γὰρ καὶ βαρύτατον ἐλασίαν ἄδικον ὑπομεμενηκότα μὴ ὑποδέχεσθαι ὑφ᾽ἡμῶν, πλείστη γὰρ καλοκἁγαθίᾳ, καὶ φιλοφρονήσει ὀφείλει παραδέχεσθαι ὁ τοιοῦτος.

Πάντες εἰρήκασιν·

Ἥρεσεν καὶ τοῦτο.

(ed. Turner 1939)

Latin text:

Canon 21

BISHOP OSSIUS SAID:

Moreover, at the suggestion of [our] brother and fellow-bishop Olympius, this has been [found] pleasing, that if anyone is forcefully and unjustly expelled [from his church] because of [his] doctrine or catholic confession or defence of the truth, fleeing peril, guiltless and devout, comes to another city, whether bishop or presbyter or deacon, he shall not be forbidden to remain there until he can either return [to his church] or has received remedy for his injury; for it is hard for him who has suffered persecution not to be received. For this reason both great kindness and courtesy must be shown.

Greek text:

Canon 17

BISHOP OSSIUS SAID:

At the suggestion of our brother Olympius we have determined this also: that if any bishop sustains violence and is unjustly expelled [from his church], either for his discipline, for his knowledge, for his confession of the catholic church, or for the defence of truth, and fleeing from danger—although he is innocent and pure—comes to another city, let him not be hindered from living there until he can return [home] or has been delivered from the injustice that has been done to him. For it is harsh and disagreeable that one exiled unjustly should not be received by us, and it is with good will and friendliness that such a one ought to be received.

(trans. Hess 2002: 225, 239)

Discussion:

Bishop Olympius was a prelate in the city Aenus in Thracia.

Place of event:

Region

Danubian provinces and Illyricum

City

Serdica

About the source:

Title: Council of Serdica 343, Council of Sardica 343, Concilium Serdicense a. 343, Concilium Sardicense a. 343
Origin: Serdica (Danubian provinces and Illyricum)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The Council of Serdica in Dacia was a part of the Trinitarian controversy. The matter failed to be settled at the council of Nicaea in 325 which produced a credo with the controversial term "homoousios" (consubstantial) to describe the Son-Father relation in the Trinity. One of the fiercest pro-Nicenes was bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, whom his opponents managed to sentence at the council of Tyre in 335. This decision caused controversy and there were attempts to revise it. In 341, in Rome, Pope Julius I gathered a council which overturned the sentence. Julius asked the Eastern bishops to approve this revision, but when they gathered in Antioch in 341 they failed to do that; they also issued the formulation of faith which avoided the term "homoousios", approved by the council of Nicaea. Julius I asked the emperors Constans and Constantius to convene a new council to resolve this disagreement. The council gathered in Sardica in 343 and was presided over by Hosius of Cordoba. Eastern bishops arrived but were unwilling to acquit Athanasius (and other pro-Nicenes condemned by the Eastern councils: Marcellus of Ancyra and Asclepus of Gaza) and they soon left the council and withdrew to Philippopolis where they held their own gathering. The Westerners continued the proceedings, rehabilitated Athanasius, and issued a set of disciplinary canons. These survived in two differing versions, Latin and Greek. There are 21 canons in the Latin text, and twenty in the Greek; the arrangement also slightly differs. For a detailed discussion of the council of Serdica 343 and the textual problems caused by the surviving text see: Hess 2003, Stephens 2015. See also Simonetti 1975: 161-87; Hanson 1988: 293-305.

Edition:

C.H. Turner (ed.), Ecclesiae Occidentalis monumenta iuris antiquissima, 2 vols, Oxford 1899-1939

Translation:

H. Hess, The Early Development of Canon Law and the Council of Serdica, Oxford 2002

Bibliography:

R.P.C. Hanson, The search for the Christian doctrine of God: the Arian controversy 318-381, Edinburgh 1988.

M. Simonetti, La crisi ariana nel IV secolo, Roma 1975.

C.W.B. Stephens, Canon law and episcopal authority: the canons of Antioch and Serdica, Oxford 2015.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence

Ecclesiastical transfer

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Exile

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2268, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2268