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ER 462
Augustine, the bishop of Hippo Regius (North Africa) reports that some Donatist presbyters threatened Catholics with death. Augustine, Letter 105, AD 406/410.
Letter 105
 
1. [...] Propterea mandauerunt nobis quidam presbyteri partis uestrae dicentes: recedite a plebibus nostris, si non uultis, ut interficiamus uos. [...]
 
(ed. Goldbacher 1898: 595)
Letter 105
 
1. [...]  Therefore some presbyters of your side sent [the message] to us saying: leave our dioceses, if you do not want us to kill you. [...]
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The presbyters seem to be important in the Donatist community, as they can proceed with such serious threats against Catholics. However, in all probability their intention is not to conduct a kind of a general anti-Catholic purge, but rather to defend against Catholic proselytising.

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Hippo Regius

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The letters of Augustine of Hippo cover a wide range of topics: Holy Scripture, dogma and liturgy, philosophy, religious practice and everyday life. They range from full-scale theological treatises to small notes asking someone for a favour. The preserved corpus includes 308 letters, 252 written by Augustine, 49 that others sent to him and seven exchanged between third parties. 29 letters have been discovered only in the 20th century and edited in 1981 by Johannes Divjak; they are distinguished by the asterisk (*) after their number.
The preserved letters of Augustine extend over the period from his stay at Cassiciacum in 386 to his death in Hippo in 430.
Edition:
Edition:
A. Goldbacher ed., S. Augustini Hipponiensis Episcopi Epistulae, Pars 2, Ep. 31-123, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 34/2,  Prague-Vienna-Leipzig 1898.
Translation:
Saint Augustine, Letters 1-99, trans. R. Teske, New York 2001.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist
    Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
      Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic
        Conflict - Violence
          Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER462, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=462
          Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
          last edited: 2018-03-13 11:40:20
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