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ER 772
Optatus of Milevis, describing the Diocletianic persecution in the beginning of the 4th c., refers to the deacons as the third, and the presbyters as the second, rank of priesthood. Optatus of Milevis, "Against the Donatists", North Africa, AD 364/367.
Book 1
 
13. [...] Nam ferme ante annos sexaginta et quod excurrit per totam Africam persecutionis est diuagata tempestas quae alios fecerit martyres, alios confessores, nonnullos funestam prostrauit in mortem, latentes dimisit illaesos. Quid commemorem laicos qui tunc in ecclesia nulla fuerant dignitate suffulti? Quid ministros plurimos? Quid diaconos in tertio, quid presbyteros in secundo sacerdotio constitutos?
 
(ed. Ziwsa 1893: 15)
Book 1
 
13. [...] For a full sixty years ago and more the storm of persecution spread throughout the whole of Africa, which made martyrs of some, confessors of others, laid low not a few in grievous death, but let those who hid go unharmed.Why should I recall the laity, who at that time were supported by no office in the church? Why recall the great number of ministers? Why recall the deacons who stood in the third, or the presbyters in the second rank of priesthood?
 
(trans M. Edwards 1997: 12-13)

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa

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:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Theoretical considerations - On priesthood
      Theoretical considerations - On church hierarchy
        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER772, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=772
        Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
        last edited: 2017-01-17 12:08:30
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