The Presbyters Project

Praefatio

[...]

Rursum cum Helladio, episcopo sedis eius, Iustus diaconus fastu superbiae insultaret, post mortem quidem sui pontificis uixit episcopus et ipse; sed tabefactus et in reprobrum uersus sensum, ob intemperantiam morum a ministris altaris sui dormiens strangulatus laqueo expirauit.

(eds. V. Yarza Urquiola, C. Codoñer 2007: 599)

Preface [...]

Again when Justus the deacon had insulted Helladius, the bishop of this see, with his haughty arrogance and after the death of his bishop

lived on as the bishop himself, he became ill and mad with the result that he died - he was strangled in his sleep by those who helped him at his own altar because of the intemperance of his ways.

(trans. A.T. Fear 1997: 108)

Discussion:

This episode about Justus made it difficult to identify this Toletan deacon from the times of Helladius (bishop of Toledo from 615 to 633) with the successor of Helladius, bishop Justus to whom Ildefonsus devotes a laudatory chapter further in the text. Some scholars see in this episode evidence of the episcopal schism in Toledo. Others proposed that the deacon Justus was promoted to the episcopal see elsewhere, not in Toledo. For detailed bibliographical references see PRVT 246, p. 115, n. 1.

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Toledo

About the source:

Author: Ildefonsus of Toledo
Title: On the Lives of the Famous Men, De viris illustribus, Lives of Illustrious Men
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Ildefonsus of Toledo wrote the continuation of the "De viris illustribus" written by Isidore of Seville during the time of his episcopacy in Toledo sometime between 657 and 667.

Edition:

V. Yarza Urquiola, C. Codoñer eds., Ildefonsi Toletani De virginitate Sanctae Mariae, De cognitione baptismi, De itinere deserti, De viris illustribus, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 114A, Turnhout 2007

Categories:

Conflict

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης

Conflict - Violence

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER557, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=557