Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 398
Canon 20 of the Fourth Council of Toledo (Iberian Peninsula, AD 633) fixes the age required to be ordained deacon or presbyter.
[Titulus in recensione Iuliana] XX Quod in ueteri lege ab anno uigesimo quinto Leuitae ordinare mandantur.
[Titulus in recensione Vulgata] XX De numero annorum quo sacerdotes et Leuitae ordinentur.
 
Canon 20
 
In ueteri lege ab anno uicesimo et quinto Leuitae tabernaculo seruire mandantur, cuius auctoritatem in canonibus et sancti Patres secuti sunt. [...] a uiginti quinque annis aetatis Leuitae consecrentur et a triginta presbyteres ordinentur, ita ut secundum Apostolicum praeceptum probentur primum et sic ministrent nullum crimen habentes.
  
(eds. Martinez Diez, Rodriguez 1992: 164, 172, 211-212)
[Title in the recension Iuliana] XX That the ancient law orders to be ordained a deacon a person must be 25 years of age
[Title in the recension Vulgata] XX On the age required to be ordained a priest or a deacon
 
Canon 20
 
The ancient law [Num 8:24] whose authority is followed by the canons and the holy fathers ordered that a deacon 25 years of age can serve the tabernacle. [...] a person 25 years of age can be consecrated a deacon and a person 30 years of age can be ordained presbyter, so that according to the precept of the Apostle they are first recognised as fit [to the office] and then serve being free of any crime.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

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, "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.
 

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
      Impediments or requisits for the office - Age
        Act of ordination
          Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER398, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=398