The Presbyters Project

Letter 35

4. [...] Tamen per Spanianum transeuntibus nobis presbyter ipsius stans in medio fundo catholicae ac laudabilis feminae uoce inpudentissima post nos clamauit, quod traditores et persecutores essemus, quod conuicium etiam in illam feminam iaculatus est, quae communionis est nostrae, in cuius medio fundo stabat. [...] Ausus etiam idem presbyter homini rusticano conductori fundi ecclesiae comminari.

(ed. Goldbacher 1898: 30-31)

Letter 35

4. [...] Meanwhile, when we were passing through Spanianum, his [Proculeian's] presbyter, standing in the midst of the estate of a Catholic and praiseworthy woman, shouted out after us with a most impudent cry that we were traditors and persecutors. He even hurled this abuse at that woman who belongs to our communion and in the midst of whose estate he was standing. [...] The same presbyter also dared to threaten a villager who manages the estate of the Church.

(trans. R. Teske, slightly altered)

Discussion:

The presbyter in question was a Donatist, responsible to Proculeian, the Donatist bishop of Hippo.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Spanianum

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:

A. Goldbacher ed., S. Augustini Hipponiensis Episcopi Epistulae, Pars 2, Ep. 31-123, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 34/2, Prague-Vienna-Leipzig 1898.

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

Conflict

Relation with - Noble

Relation with - Townsman

Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic

Invective

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER712, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=712