The Presbyters Project

Canon 3-4

Aurelius episcopus dixit: cum praeterito concilio de continentiae et castitatis moderamine tractaretur, gradus isti tres, qui constrictione quadam castitatis per consecrationes adnexi sunt, episcopos, inquam, presbyteros et diaconos, ita placuit, ut condecet sacros antistites ac Dei sacerdotes necnon et leuitas, uel qui sacramentis diuinis inseruiunt, continentes esse in omnibus, quo possint simpliciter quod a Domino postulant impetrare, ut quod apostoli docuerunt et ipsa seruauit antiquitas nos quoque custodiamus.

Faustinus episcopus ecclesiae Potentinae prouinciae Piceni, legatus Romanae ecclesiae dixit: placet ut episcopus, presbyter et diaconus, uel qui sacramenta contrectant, pudicitiae custodes, ab uxoribus se abstineant.

Ab uniuersis episcopis dictum est: Placet ut in omnibus et ab omnibus pudicitia custodiatur qui altariis inseruiunt.

(ed. Munier 1974: 101-102)

Canon 3-4

Bishop Aurelius said: since the previous council was dealing with continence and chastity, these three grades which are certainly joined by the consecration with the obligation of chastity, namely bishop, presbyter and deacon [should be more thoroughly instructed to maintain modesty].

We have thought that holy pontiffs and the priests of God and levites and those who serve the divine mysteries should be continent in everything, so that they may obtain more easily from the Lord what they ask for. The Apostles taught it this way and so it was also observed by the ancient tradition, by which we also abide.

Faustinus, the bishop of Potenza in the province of Picenum, the legate of the Roman Church said: we agree that the bishop, presbyter and deacon, and those who deal with the sacraments, the guardians of modesty, should refrain from their wives.

All the bishops said: We agree that chastity should be maintained in everything and by all who serve the altars.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

This canon refers to Canon 2 of the Council of Carthage AD 390 [132]. See the discussion there. The passage "should be more thoroughly instructed to maintain modesty" has been copied from there, to make the sentence more logical.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Carthage

About the source:

Title: Canones in causa Apiarii
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Apiarius, a presbyter of Sicca Veneria in North Africa, was excommunicated for some unspecified crimes by his bishop, Urbanus. In 418 he appealed directly to Pope Zosimus, who sent legates to Africa to assess the charges. The council of African bishops gathered in Carthage in May 419 to address the question. On the 25 May they approved several disciplinary canons, mainly repeated from previous councils, which are known collectively in scholarship as “Canones in causa Apiarii”. They were also sometimes transmitted as the part of “Codex Apiarii causae”, together with other acts of the council of 419.

We follow the edition of Munier, who followed Turner, who established the text according to three codices: Vindobonensis 2141, fol. 106, Monacensis (olim Frisingensis), fol. 64`, and Wirceburgensis Univ. mp. th. f. 146, fol. 66. We ignore the later textual traditions, namely Italian collections (which were the basis of the edition of brothers Ballerini in PL 56), and the redaction of Dionysius Exiguus; both of them have been included in the Corpus Christianorum edition, and they contain only minor changes, which we ignore, with the exception of two canons not transmitted in the first recension.

Edition:

C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 79-165.

Bibliography:

C.H. Turner, Ecclesiae occidentalis monumenta iuris antiquissima, vol. 1-2, Oxford 1889-1939.

Categories:

Family life - Marriage

Family life - Permanent relationship before ordination

Sexual life - Sexual abstinence

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Act of ordination

Ritual activity - Eucharist

Ritual activity - Presiding at prayer

Relation with - Wife

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER227, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=227