Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 629
According to Canon 8 of the Breviary of Ferrandus of Carthage (North Africa, AD 523/546, repeating the norm of the Council of Ancara AD 314) the presbyters who were ordained bishops but not accepted by the people should remain presbyters in their previous Churches.
Canon 8
 
Vt episcopus, qui ordinatus non suscipitur, aliam ecclesiam non occupet sed in ecclesia, ubi presbyter fuerat, tamquam presbyter sedeat.
Concilio Anquiritano, tit. 18.
 
(ed. Munier 1974: 287)
Canon 8
 
If a bishop is ordained, but not accepted [by the people], he should not seize another Church, but remain presbyter in the Church where he was the presbyter.
Council of Ancara, title 18.
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The canon repeats the norm of Canon 18 of the Council of Ancara (AD 314). Apart from the interesting notion that a newly ordained bishop can be rejected by the people (as if the ordination preceded the popular acclamation), the canon seems to assume that the bishops were normally chosen from among the presbyters, but from another diocese.

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
  • East
City
  • Carthage
  • Ancara

About the source:

Author: Ferrandus of Carthage
Title: Breviary of Ferrandus, Breviatio Canonum
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa), Ancara (East)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Ferrandus was a deacon of Carthage; he died before 546. His "Breviary" is the first systematic collection of canons produced in Africa. It contains the titles (not the entire text) of 232 canons of different councils (not only from Africa), treating mainly the duties of various clerical offices (1-144), ecclesiastical delicts (145-198), and liturgical norms (199-232).
Edition:
C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 284-311.  
 
Bibliography:
J. Gaudemet, Les Sources du droit de l’Église en Occident du IIe au VIIe siècle, Paris 1985.

Categories:

Ecclesiastical transfer
    Further ecclesiastical career - Bishop
      Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
        Further ecclesiastical career - None
          Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER629, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=629