The Presbyters Project

Canon 20

Si autem presbyteri uel diaconi fuerint accusati, adiuncto sibi ex uicinis locis propriis episcopis legitimo numero collegarum, quos ab eodem accusati petierint, idest una secum in presbyteri nomine sex, in diaconi tres, ipsorum causam discutiant, eadem dierum et dilationum et a communione remotionum et discussione personarum inter accusatores et eos qui accusantur forma seruata. Reliquorum autem clericorum causas etiam solus episcopus loci cognoscat et finiat.

(ed. Munier 1974: 107)

Canon 20

If presbyters or deacons have been accused, let their case be discussed by their bishops, who should be joined by the legitimate number of their fellows from neighbouring places, that is five in a presbyter's case, two in a deacon's. The same form should be maintained in regard to the days, the adjournments, the withdrawal of communion and the distinction of persons between the accused and the accusers.

The cases of other clerics should be judged by their bishop alone.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The canon repeats Canon 8 of the Breviary of Hippo [190].

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.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER247, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=247