Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2388
DRAFT Jerome of Stridon confirm that bishops lay hands on the people who have been baptized by the presbyters and deacons. Jerome, The Dialogue Against the Luciferians, written probably in Antioch, ca AD 379.
9. ORTHODOXVS dixit: Non quidem abnuo hanc esse Ecclesiarum institutionem ut ad eos, qui longe a maioribus urbibus per presbyteros et diaconos baptizati sunt, episcopus ob inuocationem Spiritus Sancti manum impositurus excurrat.
Sed quale est ut Ecclesiae leges ad haeresim transferas et Virginis tuae integritatem per meretricum lupanaria partiaris.
Episcopus si imponit manum, eis imponit qui in recta fide baptizati sunt, qui in Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto tres personas unam substantiam crediderunt.
(...) Alioquin, si ad episcopi tantum imprecationem Spiritus Sanctus defluit, lugendi sunt qui, in lectulis aut in castellis et remotioribus locis per presbyteros et diaconos baptizati, ante dormierunt quam ab episcopis inuiserentur. Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis dignitate pendet. Cui si non exsors quaedam et ab omnibus eminens detur potestas, tot in Ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes. Inde adeo uenit ut, sine chrismate et episcopi iussione, neque presbyter neque diaconus ius habeant baptizandi. Quod frequenter, si tamen necessitas cogit, scimus etiam laicis licere. Vt enim accipit quis, ita et dare potest.
 
(ed. Canellis 2000: 26)
9. O. I do not deny that it is the practice of the Churches in the case of those who living far from the greater towns have been baptized by presbyters and deacons, for the bishop to visit them, and by the laying on of hands to invoke the Holy Ghost upon them. But how shall I describe your habit of applying the laws of the Church to heretics, and of exposing the virgin entrusted to you in the brothels of harlots? If a bishop lays his hands on men he lays them on those who have been baptized in the right faith, and who have believed that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are three persons, but one essence.
(...)  Otherwise, if the Holy Ghost descends only at the bishop’s prayer, they are greatly to be pitied who in isolated houses, or in forts, or retired places, after being baptized by the presbyters and deacons have fallen asleep before the bishop’s visitation. The well-being of a Church depends upon the dignity of its chief-priest, and unless some extraordinary and unique functions be assigned to him, we shall have as many schisms in the Churches as there are priests. Hence it is that without ordination and the bishop’s license neither presbyter nor deacon has the power to baptize. And yet, if necessity so be, we know that even laymen may, and frequently do, baptize. For as a man receives, so too he can give.
 
(trans. W.H. Fremantle)

About the source:

Author: Jerome
Title: Altercatio Luciferiani et Orthodoxi, The Dialogue Against the Luciferians
Origin: East
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Edition:
Canellis, ed., Hieronymus: Altercatio Luciferiani et Orthodoxi, CChr.SL vol. 79B (Turnhout 2000)
 
Translation:
W.H. Fremantle, “The Dialogue Against the Luciferians” in NPNF2, vol. 6 (New York, 1893), pp. 319-34.

Categories:

Functions within the Church - Rural presbyter
    Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
      Ritual activity - Baptism and instructing catechumens
        Equal prerogatives of presbyters and deacons
          Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2388, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2388