Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 389
Canon 4 of the Fourth Council of Toledo (Iberian Peninsula, AD 633) formulates the procedure according to which councils shall be held.
[Titulus in recensione Iuliana] IIII De formula secundum qua debeat sancta synodus in Dei nomine fieri.
[Titulus in recensione Vulgata] IIII Formula qualiter concilium fiat.
 
Canon 4
 
Formula secundum qua debeat sancta synodus in Dei nomine fieri.
 
Hora itaque prima diei ante solis ortum eiciantur omnes ab ecclesia, obseratisque foribus cunctis, ad unam ianuam, per quam sacerdotes ingredi oportet, ostiarii stent. Et conuenientes omnes episcopi pariter introeant et secundum ordinationis suae tempus resideant. Post ingressum omnium episcoporum atque consessum uocentur deinde presbyteres quos causa probauerit introire; nullus se inter eos ingerat diaconorum. Post hos ingrediantur diacones probabiles quos ordo poposcerit interesse, et corona facta de sedibus episcoporum presbyteres a tergo eorum resideant, diacones in conspectu episcoporum stent. Deinde ingrediantur laici qui electione concilii interesse meruerint; ingrediantur quoque et notarii quos ad recitandum uel excipiendum ordo requirit, et obseruentur ianuae. Sedentesque in diuturno silentio sacerdotes et cor totum habentes ad Deum, dicat archidiaconus: 'Orate'. Statimque omnes in terra prostrabuntur, et orantes diutius tacite cum fletibus atque gementibus, unus ex episcopis senioribus surgens orationem palam fundat ad Dominum, cunctis adhuc in terra iacentibus. Finita autem oratione et repsonso ab omnibus 'Amen', rursus dicat diaconus 'Erigite vos', et confestim omnes surgant et cum omni timore Dei et disciplina tam episcopi quam presbyteres sedeant, sicque omnibus in suis locis in silentio consedentibus diaconus alba indutus codicem canonum in medio proferens capitula de conciliis agendis pronuntiet, finitisque titulis metropolitanus episcopus concilium alloquatur dicens: 'Ecce, sanctissimi sacerdotes, recitate sunt ex canonibus priscorum Patrum sententiae de concilio celebrando. Si qua igitur quempiam uestrum actio commouet, coram suis fratribus proponat'. Tunc si aliquis quamcumque querellam quae contra canonem agit, in audientiam sacerdotalem protulerit, non prius ad aliud transeatur capitulum nisi primum quae proposita est actio terminetur. Nam et si presbyter aliquis aut diaconus, clericus siue laicus, de his qui foris steterint, concilium pro qualibet re crediderit appellandum, ecclesiae metropolitanae archidiacono causam suam intimet, et ille concilio denuntiet. Tunc illi et introeundi et proponendi licentia concedatur. Nullus autem episcoporum a coetu communi secedat antequam hora generalis secessionis adueniat; concilium quoque nullus soluere audeat nisi fuerint cuncta determinata, ita ut quaecumque deliberatione communi finiuntur, episcoporum singulorum manibus subscribantur. Tunc enim Deus suorum sacerdotum interesse credendus est si tumultu omni abiecto sollicite atque tranquille ecclesiastica negotia terminentur.
 
(eds. Martinez Diez, Rodriguez 1992: 162, 171, 186-189)
[Title in the recension Iuliana] IIII On the procedure according to which a holy council shall be held in the name of God
[Title in the recension Vulgata] IIII The procedure of holding a council
 
Canon 4
 
The procedure according to which a holy council in the name of God shall be held
 
In the first hour before the sunrise everybody shall be removed from the church. All the doors shall be bolted and the ostiarii shall stand by the door through which priests (sacerdotes) will come. And all the bishops coming will enter together and take their seats in order according to the time of their ordination. After all the bishops enter and sit, presbyters who have been approved to enter, shall be called; no deacon shall enter among them. Afterwards deacons who were asked to participate shall come in, and as a circle is made of the bishops' seats and the presbyters sit behind their backs, the deacons shall stand in sight of the bishops. Then the lay people may enter who were elected to participate in the council. Also record keepers shall enter who are needed to read and write down in shorthand. Then the doors shall be guarded. The priests will seat in the long silence and have one heart directed toward God, and then the archdeacon will say "Let us pray." At once everybody will prostrate and pray tearfully for a long time in silence. One of the senior bishops will stand up and offer a prayer to the Lord as the others still lay on the ground. The prayer having been recited, all answer "Amen" and the deacon says "Stand up" and they instantly raise. Then the bishops and presbyters take their seats with the fear of God and discipline. While all sit in their places in silence, a deacon clad in a white alb brings the book of the canons and pronounce the rules for the holding of councils. Afterwards the metropolitan bishop gives an address to the council saying: "Lo, the most holy priests, the rules for the holding of councils has been read from the canons of the ancient Fathers. If any of you want to make a complaint, let him propose it before his brothers." Then if someone makes a complaint about something that is contrary to the canons, no sooner should they move to the next case than they solve the proposed complaint. But if a presbyter, or a deacon, another cleric, or a layman of those who are outside has any complaint to make, he shall inform of it the archdeacon of the metropolitan church, and the latter will announce it to the council. Only then it is allowed that the claimant enters and submits his case. No bishop is to withdraw from the common gathering before the official hour of the dismissal. No one also dares to dismiss the council before all issues are decided. Whatever has been decided in the common deliberation, shall be subscribed by all the bishops. Only then, we believe, is God present among his priests when the ecclesiastical affairs are decided in tranquillity and without disorder.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Canon 4 of the Fourth Council of Toledo was the first regulation of that kind (Orlandis, Ramos-Lissón 1986: 269-270). It was later incorporated to the so-called Ordo de celebrando concilio (Munier 1963).
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Toledo

About the source:

Title: Fourth Council of Toledo (633), IV Council of Toledo, IV Concilium Toletanum, IIII Concilium Toletanum, Concilium Toletanum quartum a. 633
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Fourth Council of Toledo was a council of the whole Visigothic church (86 bishops were present) gathered by King Sisenand (631-636)  in 633 and held under the presidency of Isidore of Seville. It is sometimes claimed on stylistic grounds that Isidore was an author of the decrees (Collins 2004: 79).
 
The acts of the Fourth Council of Toledo are transmitted in the 7th-century canonical collection from Spain, the so-called Hispana. Its authorship has been attributed to the 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). This collection has several recensions: a primitive one, the so-called Isidoriana, lost today; the Juliana recension edited after 681 and attributed to the 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 and 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 Fourth Council of Toledo (Martinez Diez 1992: 17-20).
Edition:
G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 5, Madrid 1992.
Bibliography:
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.
L. Kéry, Canonical collections of the early Middle Ages (ca. 400-1140): a bibliographical guide to the manuscripts and literature, Washington, D.C 1999.
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, "L’Ordo de celebrando concilio wisigothique. Ses remaniements jusqu’au Xe siècle", Revue des Sciences Religieuses 37 (1963), 250-271.
C. Munier, "Saint Isidore de Séville est-il l’auteur de I’Hispana chronologique?", Sacris Erudiri 17 (1966), 230-241.
J. Orlandis, D. Ramos-Lissón, Historia de los concilios de la España romana y visigoda, Pamplona 1986.
K. Schaferdiek, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 78 (1967), 144-148.
 

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Ritual activity - Eucharist
      Ecclesiastical administration - Participation in councils and ecclesiastical courts
        Public law - Ecclesiastical
          Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
            Relation with - Deacon
              Equal prerogatives of presbyters and bishops
                Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER389, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=389