Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 752
Clarus, the Donatist presbyter of Subbula (North Africa) is ordered by his bishop to exhume the victims of the imperial persecution of the Donatists after AD 347. Optatus of Milevis, "Against the Donatists", North Africa, AD 364/367.
Book 3
 
4. [...] Ex quorum numero cum aliqui in basilicis sepeliri coepissent, Clarus presbyter in loco Subbullensi ab episcopo suo coactus est ut insepultam faceret sepulturam. [...]
 
(ed. Ziwsa 1893: 82-83)
Book 3
 
4. [...] When some of them [circumcellions killed by the imperial troops] started to be buried in basilicas, Clarus, the presbyter in Subbulla was made by the bishop to have the burial undone.
 
(trans S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

It is not exactly clear whether the presbyter Clarus mentioned in the passage was the one who buried the Donatist victims of the Macarian persecution (ca AD 347) in the basilica, although the context seem to suggest it. More importantly, the Donatist bishop of the place was evidently not convinced that those dead deserved such an honour.

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Subbulla

About the source:

Author: Optatus of Milevis
Title: Against the Donatists, Contra Parmenianum Donatistam, Contra Donatistas, Against Parmenian the Donatist, De Schismate Donatistarum, On the Donatist Schism
Origin: Milevis (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Optatus, the Catholic bishop of Milevis in North Africa, wrote his only book between 364 and 367. It answers the treatise written by Parmenian, the Donatist bishop of Carthage. It provides theological arguments against the Donatists and presents the history of the conflict from the beginning to the middle of the fourth century.
Edition:
K. Ziwsa ed., S. Optati Milevitani libri VII accedunt decem monumenta vetera ad Donatistarum historia pertinentia, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 26, Prague-Wien-Leipzig 1893.
 
Translation:
Optatus: Against the Donatists, translated and edited by Mark Edwards, Liverpool 1997.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Ritual activity - Burying the dead
Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
Devotion - Veneration of saints and relics
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER752, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=752