The Presbyters Project

Canon 25

Addimus itaque, fratres, carissimi; praeterea, cum de quorumdam clericorum, quamuis lectorum, erga uxores proprias incontinentia referretur, placuit quod et in diuersis conciliis firmatum est: Subdiacones qui sacra mysteria contrectant diacones, presbyteri, sed et episcopi secundum priora statuta etiam ab uxoribus se continere, ut tamquam non habentes uideantur esse; quod nisi fecerint, ab ecclesiastico remoueantur officio. Ceteros autem clericos ad hoc non cogi, nisi maturiore aetate.

Ab uniuerso concilio dictum est: quae uestra sanctitas est iuste moderata, et sancta et deo placita sunt, confirmamus.

(ed. Munier 1974: 108-109)

Canon 25

We add, most dear brethren, moreover, since we have heard of the incontinency of certain clerics, even if they were only lectors, towards their wives, it pleased us what had been stated in various councils:

The subdeacons who touch the holy mysteries, the deacons, presbyters, but also bishops, in accordance with former statutes, should abstain from their wives, so that they can be seen as though they had them not. If they do not do it, they should be removed from office. But the rest of the clergy are not to be compelled to this, unless more mature in age.

And the whole council said: What your holiness has justly said is holy, and pleasing to God, and we confirm it.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The canon is repeated in the Excerpts of the Registry of the Church of Carthage (canon 70), with the notice that it is taken from the council of Carthage, AD 401.

The justification for the prohibition on "touching the holy mysteries" is given only in the case of the subdeacons, but it seems that it was valid for all grades.

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:

Family life - Marriage

Sexual life - Sexual abstinence

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

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, ER259, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=259