Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 348
Canon 11 of the Third Council of Toledo (Iberian Peninsula, AD 589) forbids receiving an absolution from presbyters without observing the rules of penance.
[Titulus in recensione Iuliana] XI Vt paenitens paenitentiam agat.
[Titulus in recensione Vulgata] XI Quod paenitentes secundum modum canonum antiquorum agere paenitentiam debeant.
 
Canon 11
 
Quoniam comperimus per quasdam Spaniarum ecclesias non secundum canonem sed foedissime pro suis peccatis homines agere paenitentiam, ut quotiensque peccare libuerit totiens a presbytero se reconciliari expostulent, et ideo pro coercenda tam exsecrabili praesumptione id a sancto concilio iubetur, ut secundum formam canonum antiquorum detur paenitentia, hoc est ut prius inter reliquos paenitentes ad manus impositionem crebro recurrere, expleto autem satisfactionis tempore, sicuti sacerdotalis contemplatio probauerit, eum communioni restituat. Ii uero qui ad priora uitia uel infra paenitentiae tempus uel post reconciliationem relabuntur, secundum priorum canonum seueritate damnetur.
 
The summary of the canon in the latter part of the concilar acts, so-called Edictum regis:
 
[11] Quod paenitentes secundum modum canonum antiquorum debeant agere paenitentiam.
 
(eds. Martinez Diez, Rodriguez 1992: 104, 106, 117-119, 136)
 
 
 
 
 
 
[Title in the recension Iuliana] XI That a penitent shall do penance.
[Title in the recension Vulgata] XI That penitents shall do penance according to the ancient canons.
 
Canon 11
 
We have learnt that in some Spanish churches people do penance for their sins not according to the canons but in the most disgusting way, that whenever it pleased them to sin, at such times they demand reconciliation from a presbyter. Therefore to restrain such detestable audacity the holy council decided that penance shall be done in the form indicated in the ancient canons: that is, first a penitent shall join the other penitents by the imposition of hands, and after a time of atonement, the priest having approved the penitent can restore him to the communion. Those, however, that slide back to the old vices in the time of reconciliation, or afterwards, shall be condemned with the severity of the ancient canons.
 
The summary of the canon in the latter part of the concilar acts, so-called Edictum regis:
 
[11] That penitents shall do penance according to the ancient canons.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

The allusion to the form of penitence in the ancient canons (ut secundum formam canonum antiquorum detur paenitentia) may refer e.g. to Canon 11 of the Council of Nicea in AD 325 and Canon 15 of the Council of Agde in AD 506 [923]. The severity of the ancient canons that order to excommunicate those who commit a sin after completion of penance may refer to Canon 7 of the Council of Elvira (for the discussion on the dating of this council see e.g. [49]. These references are given by the editors, see Martinez Diez, Rodriguez 1992: 120, n. 33).

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Toledo

About the source:

Title: Third Council of Toledo (589), Concilium III Toletanum, III Concilium Toletanum a. 589
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Third Council of Toledo in 589 is a pivotal event that changed the religious allegiance of the Visigothic kingdom. The ruling elites of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse (418-507), and later in the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula adhered to the Arian (Homoian) Christianity, whereas the Roman population were dominantly Catholic (though the frontiers between the denominations were not impenetrable, as we know Goths who converted to the Nicene Christianity and Romans who were Homoian). In 587 King Reccared converted to Catholicism. This was followed by the decision to eliminate the religious division in the kingdom. The Third Council of Toledo in 589 assembled in May to confirm the conversion of all the Gothic leaders and Arian clergy to the Catholicism.
The literature on the conversion of the Visigoths and the Third Council in Toledo is voluminous - only a few seminal books and papers are signalised in the bibliography section below.
 
The acts of the Third Council of Toledo are transmitted in the 7th-century canonical collection from Spain, so-called Hispana. Its authorship has been atrributed to Isidore of Seville (it is still accepted by Martinez Diez 1966; other scholars reject this attribution: Munier 1966; Gaudemet 1967: 122-124; Schaferdiek 1967: 144-148; Landau 1968: 406-418). The collection has several recensions: primitive one, so-called Isidoriana, lost today; the Juliana recension edited after 681 and attributed to Julian of Toledo, that adds to the previous recension the acts and canons of the councils from the fifth council of Toledo do the twelfth (in 681); the Vulgata recension edited between 694-702 that adds the acts and canons of the councils from the the thirteenth council of Toledo up to the seventeenth held in 694, this recension was the most widespread during the Middle Ages (more bibliography see Kéry 1999: 61-67). The two recensions Iuliana and Vulgata give different titles to the canons of the Third Council of Toledo (Martinez Diez 1992: 17-20).
Edition:
Editions:
G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 5, Madrid 1992.
J. Vives ed., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Barcelona-Madrid 1963.
 
Bibliography:
El Concilio III de Toledo. XIV Centenario, ed. R. Gonzalvez, Toledo 1991.
R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford, OX, UK; Malden, MA, USA 2004.
J. Gaudemet, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Revue historique de droit français et étranger 4e ser.  45 (1967), 122-124.
J.N. Hillgarth, "La conversión de los Visigodos. Notas criticas", Analecta Sacra Tarraconensia 34/1 (1961), 21-46.
L. Kéry, Canonical collections of the early Middle Ages (ca. 400-1140): a bibliographical guide to the manuscripts and literature, Washington, D.C 1999.
M. Koch, Ethnische Identität im Entstehungsprozess des spanischen Westgotenreiches, Berlin; New York 2012.
P. Landau, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Kanonistische Abteilung 54 (1968), 406-414.
G. Martínez Díez, La Colección canónica Hispana, vol. 1 Estudio, Madrid 1966.
C. Munier, "Saint Isidore de Séville est-il l’auteur de I’Hispana chronologique?", Sacris Erudiri 17 (1966), 230-241.
K. Schaferdiek, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 78 (1967), 144-148.
E.A. Thompson, "The Conversion of the Visigoths to Catholicism", Nottingham Medieval Studies 4 (1960), 4-35.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
      Ritual activity - Reconciliation/Administering penance
        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER348, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=348