Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 775
Optatus of Milevis denonunces the Donatist persecutions of the Catholic Church in the 4th century, including the demotion of deacons, presbyters and bishops, and the imposition of penance on boys, which made them unfit for ordination. Optatus of Milevis, "Against the Donatists", North Africa, AD 364/367.
Book 2
 
24.  [...] Extendistis enim manum et super omne caput mortifera uelamina praetendistis, ut cum sint, sicut supra dixi, quattuor genera capitum in ecclesia: episcoporum, presbyterorum, diaconorum et fidelium. Nec uni parcere uoluistis. Euertistis animas hominum. Hos actus uestros dolet Deus in Ezechiele propheta cum dicit: Vae facientibus uelamen - hoc est imponentibus manum - super omne caput et super omnem aetatem ad euertendas animas. Inuenistis pueros, de paenitentia sauciastis, ne aliqui ordinari potuissent: agnoscite uos animas euertisse! Inuenistis fideles antiquos, fecistis paenitentes: agnoscite uos animos euertisse! Inuenistis diaconos, presbyteros, episcopos, fecistis laicos: agnoscite uos animas euertisse!
 
(ed. Ziwsa 1893: 61)
Book 2
 
24. [...] For you have extended your hands and spread deadly veils over every head, so that, while there are, as I said above, four types of head in the Church, of the bishops, of the presbyters, of the deacons and of the faithful: you have chosen not to spare a single one, you have ruined human souls. These acts of yours God bewails in his prophet Ezekiel, when he says, 'Woe to those who make a veil' - that is who lay a hand - 'over every head and over every age for the ruin of souls'. You have found boys; you have wounded them with a penance, so that none could be ordained; acknowledge that you have ruined their souls. You have found faithful people of long standing; you have made them repent; acknowledge that you have ruined their souls. You have found deacons, presbyters, bishops; you have made them laics; acknowledge that you have ruined their souls.
 
(trans M. Edwards 1997: 52-53)

Discussion:

The meaning of the passage is not exactly clear. Optatus hints at some practices of the Donatists towards the Catholics: reducing the clergy to the lay status - and 'ruining their souls' in the process (but does it refer to the Catholic clergy that passed to the Donatists?) - and imposition of penance on the boys, which would not allow them to be ordained in the future (but in the Catholic or Donatist Church?).

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
    Impediments or requisits for the office - Improper/Immoral behaviour
      Impediments or requisits for the office - Heresy/Schism
        Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic
          Further ecclesiastical career - None
            Administration of justice - Demotion
              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, ER775, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=775