The Presbyters Project

Canon 79

De clericis qui intra annum causam suam agere non procurauerint.

Rursus constitutum est ut, quoties clericis conuictis et confessis in aliquo crimine uel propter eorum quorum uerecundiae parcitur uel propter ecclesiae opprobrium aut insolentem insultationem haereticorum atque gentilium, si forte causae suae adesse uoluerint et innocentiam suam asserere, intra annum excommunicationis hoc faciant.

Si uero intra annum causam suam purgare contempserint, nulla eorum uox postea penitus audiatur.

(ed. Munier 1974: 203-204)

Canon 79

About clerics who would not appeal their cases within a year.

It has also been decided that if clerics were convicted and confessed any crime, either for their timidity, or because of the reproach of the church, or the insolence of heretics and pagans, and they may want to be present when their case is discussed and assert their innocence, let them do it within a year of the excommunication.

And if they neglected to expunge their case within a year, their penitent voice shall not be heard afterwards.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The text appears to be corrupted, its exact meaning is unclear.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa
Italy south of Rome and Sicily

City

Carthage
Capua

About the source:

Title: Carthage Register, Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The text of the canon was transmitted in the Carthage Register (Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta). This collection was compiled by an anonymous author in the 5th century and included by Dionysius Exiguus in his "Codex canonum Ecclesiae Universae" in the early 6th century. It is sometimes known as "Codex canonum Ecclesiae Africanae" (Clavis Patrum Latinorum erroneously attributes this name to the "Codices in causa Apiarii" alone). In the text of the collection, the fiction is maintained, as if they were all read at the session of the Council of Carthage, 30 May 418. The canons from this collection were accepted later by the Council of Trullo (AD 692).

Edition:

C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 173-247.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic

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, ER310, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=310