Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 689
Canon 9 of the Second Council of Seville (Iberian Peninsula, AD 619) forbids bishops to appoint laymen as administrators of Church property.
Canon 9
 
De oequonomis ne ex laicis constituantur.
 
Nona actione didicimus quosdam ex nostro collegio contra mores ecclesiasticos laicos habere in rebus divinis constitutos oeconomos. Proinde pariter tractantes elegimus, ut unusquisque nostrum secundum Chalcedonensium patrum decreta ex proprio clero oeconomum sibi constituat. Indecorum est enim laicum vicarium esse episcopi et seculares in ecclesia iudicare: in uno enim eodemque officio non decet dispar professio. [...]
 
(ed. Vives 1963: 169)
Canon 9
 
That laymen shall not be appointed as administrators of property.
 
In the ninth proceeding we have learnt that some of us have appointed laymen as administrators of holy property against the ecclesiastical customs. Therefore, after discussion, we decided that each of us will choose administrators from his own clergy according to the decrees of the Chalcedonian fathers. Because it is improper that a layman be a vicar of a bishop and that lay people have authority in the Church, for unequal profession  is unbecoming in one and the same office.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

The canon alludes to Canon 26 of the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Seville
  • Cabra

About the source:

Title: Second Council of Seville 619 AD, Concilium Hispalense a. 619, Concilium Spalense a. 619, Concilium II Hispalense, Concilium II Spalense, Concilium Hispalense secundum, Concilium Spalense secundum
Origin: Seville (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Second Council of Seville was a provincial gathering held in the Jerusalem Church on 13 November 619 during the reign of King Sisebut. It was presided over by Isidore of Seville, and eight of his suffragans were present.
Edition:
J. Vives, Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Barcelona-Madrid 1963.

Categories:

Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property
    Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER689, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=689