Canon 9 of the Council of Carthage (North Africa, AD 419) threatens bishops and presbyters who accept the excommunicated with the same penalty.
Intended for scholary use. For credentials see Bibliography
Canon 9
Augustinus episcopus legatus prouinciae Numidiae dixit: hoc statuere dignamini, ut si qui forte merito facinorum suorum ab ecclesia pulsi sunt et siue ab aliquo episcopo uel presbytero fuerint in communione suscepti, etiam ipse pari cum eis crimine teneatur obnoxius, refugientes sui episcopi regulare iudicium.
Ab uniuersis episcopis dictum est: hoc omnibus placet.
(ed. Munier 1974: 103)
Canon 9
Bishop Augustine, the legate of the province of Numidia, said: it is worth stating that if someone was expelled from his Church because of his wrongdoings, and is accepted into communion by another bishop or presbyter, the latter shall be held responsible for the same crime, since the former was escaping from the regular judgement of his bishop.
All the bishops said: we agree.
(trans. S. Adamiak)
Discussion:
This canon repeats Canon 7 of the Council of Carthage 390 [159]. It aims at maintaining the cohesion of the ecclesiastical discipline, confirms that not only bishops, but also presbyters are able to accept the excommunicated into communion.
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:
J. Gaudemet, Les Sources du droit de l'Église en Occident du IIe au VIIe siècle, Paris, 1985.
C.H. Turner, Ecclesiae occidentalis monumenta iuris antiquissima, vol. 1-2, Oxford 1889-1939.
Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema
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, ER231, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=231
We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can view our cookie policy here.
