The Presbyters Project

Canon 9

Praeterea, quod dignum et pudicum et honestum est suademus: sacerdotes et leuites cum uxoribus suis non coeant, quia in ministerio ministri quotidianis necessitatibus occupantur.

Ad Corinthios namque Paulus sic scribit dicens: abstinete, ut uacetis orationi.

Si ergo laicis abstinentia imperatur, ut possint deprecantes audiri, quanto magis sacerdos utique omni momento paratus esse debet, munditiae puritate securus, ne aut sacrificium offerat aut baptizare cogatur.

Qui si contaminatus fuerit carnali concupiscentia, quid faciet? Excusabit? Quo pudore, qua mente usurpabit? Qua conscientia, quo merito hic exaudiri se credit, cum dictum sit: omnia munda mundis, coinquinatis autem et infidelibus nihil mundum?

Qua de re hortor, moneo, rogo: tollatur hoc obprobrium, quod potest iure etiam gentilitas incusare.

Forte creditur, quia scriptum est: unius uxoris uirum?

Non permanentem in concupiscentia generandi dixit, sed propter continentiam futuram; neque enim integros non admisit qui ait: uellem autem omnes homines sic esse sicuti et ego.

Et apertius declarat dicens: qui autem in carne sunt, deo placere non possunt; uos autem iam non estis in carne sed in spiritu..

(ed. Munier 1974: 61-62)

Canon 9

Then, we suggest what is worthy, modest and upright: priests and levites should not couple with their wives, because they are occupied by the daily requirements of their office.

In fact Paul wrote to the Corinthians: abstain from each other to give yourselves to prayer [1 Cor 7,5]. If he orders abstinence to lay people, so that their prayers can be heard, how much more to a priest, who should be ready at any time, secure in the purity, to perform the sacrifice or be called to baptize.

If he was contaminated by carnal concupiscence, what should he do? Excuse himself? With what sense of modesty, with what state of mind will he dare to act? How will he believe that he may be heard, with what conscience, by which merit, since it has been said: everything is pure for the pure, and nothing is pure for those who are polluted and unfaithful.

Therefore I exhort, admonish and ask: this scandal, which can be justly criticised by the gentiles, must be removed.

Someone may refer to what has been written: a man of one wife. He did not say it [to promote] the concupiscence of generation, but future continence. He, who said "I want all men to be as I am", does not admit other than the pure. He declares it openly saying: those who are in the flesh cannot please God, and you are not in the flesh but in the spirit.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

Pope Siricius addresses his advice of sexual continence to "sacerdotes et levitae". The latter term certainly refers to the deacons, whereas the former seems to describe both bishops and presbyters; it would be rather strange to address such requirements to bishops and deacons alone, omitting presbyters. Then, the justification for the continence is more or less ritual: the prayers of the pure will be better heard by God. However, the description of the ritual functions of "sacerdotes": offering the sacrifice (of Mass) and baptizing, fits both bishops and presbyters.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa
Rome

City

Thelensis Civitas
Rome

About the source:

Title: Concilium Thelense, Concilium Theletense
Origin: Thelensis Civitas (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

A council of bishops of Byzacena gathered on 24 February 418 in an otherwise unknown place. The council is transmitted in various codices as "Thelense", "Theleptense", "Zelense" and others. The only preserved part of the acts of the council is the letter ("tractatoria") of Pope Siricius, written and accepted at the Council of Rome on 6 January 386 ("Data Roma in concilio episcoporum lxxx sub die viii idus ianuarias post consulatum Arcadi Augusti et Bautonis uu. cc. consulum"), and destined firstly to the bishops of southern Italy. The tractatoria of Siricius was read and accepted at the council of 418 in Byzacena.

The text of the tractatoria of Siricius is also edited as his Letter 5 (CPL 1637, PL 13, 1158-9).

Edition:

C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 53-65.

Categories:

Family life - Marriage

Family life - Permanent relationship continued after ordination

Sexual life - Sexual activity

Sexual life - Sexual abstinence

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Ritual activity - Baptism and instructing catechumens

Ritual activity - Eucharist

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, ER276, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=276