Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2371
The heretics known as Tertullianists led by a presbyter control the church of Processus and Martinianus in Rome during the usurpation of Maximus (387-388; it may be an error for Eugenius who controlled Rome in 392-394). Arnobius the Younger, Praedestinatus, probably c. 440 in Rome.
Praedestinatus 1.86
 
Tertullianistas olim a Sotere papa Romano damnatos legimus. Cur autem octogesimam et sextam eos haeresem dicamus arripuisse, haec causa est, quod quaedam Octauiana ueniens ex Africa, cuius uir, Hesperius nomine, uidebatur duci Arbogasti ualde coniunctus, qui etiam apud Maximum tyrannum multum potuit, haec Octauiana adduxit secum quendam tergiuersatorem uersutumque daemonem, cui uix centum occurrerent uerbosanti atque in hominem confidenti. Hic cum se presbyterum diceret Tertullianistam, meruit per sacrum scriptum ut sibi collegium extra muros urbis fabricaret. Quod dum impetrasset a tyranno Maximo, sanctorum nostrorum exclusit locum, id est duorum fratrum Processi et Martiniani, dicens eos Phryges fuisse, et ideo hanc legem tenuisse, quam Tertullianus, atque hoc ordine per occasionem martyrum dei populum seducebat. Deo autem Theodosio religioso Augusto dante uictoriam, punitoque satellite Maximi de cuius se Tertullianista potestate iactabat, statim fugit cum matrona qua uenerat, nec uiuentis nec mortui rumore renouato. Martyrum suorum deus excubias catholicae festiuitati restituit.
 
(ed. F. Gori 2000, 49-50)
Praedestinatus 1.86
 
We read that the Tertullianists were once condemned by Soter, the Pope of Rome. But this is the reason why we would say that the eighty-sixth heresy took hold of them: there was a certain Octaviana, who came from Africa, whose husband, Hesperius by name, appeared as a strong supporter of the commander Arbogast, who was very powerful with the tyrant Maximus. This Octaviana brought with her a certain trickster and cunning demon, whom hardly a hundred men could oppose when arguing and being arrogant to a person. When he said that he was a Tertullianist presbyter, he gained, through an imperial rescript, permission to found a congregation outside the walls of the city. When he obtained this from the tyrant Maximus, he closed the shrine of our saints [by implication, closed it to all except Tertullianists], that is, of the two brothers Processus and Martinianus, saying that they had been Phrygians [Montanists], and therefore had the same doctrine as Tertullian: and by this order, through the pretext of the martyrs of God, he seduced the people. But when God gave victory to the most religious Augustus Theodosius, then together with the henchman of Maximus, about whose power the Tertullianist had boasted, he immediately fled with the matron by means of whom he had come, and there was no further rumour of him living or dead. God restored the vigils of his martyrs to catholic celebration.
 
(trans. D. Lambert, E07945 in Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity database, http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07945)

Discussion:

It is uncertain whether the story is of historical value. There is a problem in dating the episode: as David Lambert noticed in the commentary to the entry in record E07945 in the CSLA database, Arbogast was not a supporter of Maximus but of Eugenius. Moreover, Maximus was presenting himself as a great proponent of Nicene orthodoxy, it would be out of character for him to concede a basilica in Rome to the heretical group. Also no other source mentiones the event or the persons allegedly involved in it.

About the source:

Author: Arnobius the Younger
Title: Praedestinatus
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian, Pelagian
The author named Arnobius (usually called Arnobius the Younger to distinguish him from the third-century author Arnobius of Sicca) is known only from the works attributed to him in the manuscript tradition: the so-called Praedestinatus, the Commentarii in Psalmos, and several others smaller works (e.g. Liber ad Gregoriam, a consolation to a woman in difficult marriage). From the evidence of these works we can say that their author was a monk who lived in Rome in the mid-fifth century. Praedestinatus was surely written during the pontificate of Sixtus III, ca 435 (but there are some who doubt attribution to Arnobius, see note in Clavis Patrum Latinorum 243). His most famous work is the Conflictus cum Serapione on the Christological positions held by the churches of Rome and Alexandria. This works assumes the positions promulgated at the Council of Chalcedon so it was written after 451.
 
The Praedestinatus is a treatise opposing the doctrine of predestination as formulated by Augustine during his involvement of the so-called Pelagian controversy. The cited passage comes from the first part of the work, the catalogue of heresies based on Augustine`s De haeresibus.
Edition:
Gori, F. ed.), Praedestinatus qui dicitur, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 25B, Turnhout, 2000.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Montanist
    Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Relation with - Secular authority
      Relation with - Noble
        Relation with - Woman
          Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic
            Administration of justice - Exile
              Devotion - Veneration of saints and relics
                Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2371, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2371