The Presbyters Project

Book 1

1. [...] Hoc fere in sanctis ueteris testamenti libris euenit, si modo ille qui eis offenditur, doctorem potius eorum pium quam impium laceratorem requirat priusque studio quaerentis quam temeritate reprehendentis imbuatur. Nec si ea discere cupiens in aliquosforte inciderit uel episcopos uel presbyteros uel cuiuscemodi ecclesiae catholicae antistites et ministros, qui aut passim caueant nudare mysteria aut contenti simplici fide altiora cognoscere non curarint, desperet ibi esse scientiam ueritatis, ubi neque omnes a quibus quaeritur docere possunt neque omnes qui quaerunt discere digni sunt. [...]

(ed. Bauer 1992: 3-4)

Book 1

1. [...] This is almost exactly what happens with the holy books of the Old Testament, if only the person who is offended by them seeks out a pious teacher of them rather than an impious attacker of them and is first imbued with the desire of a student rather than the rashness of a critic. And if in the desire to learn these things he should perhaps come upon some bishops or presbyters or any sort of prelates or ministers of the Catholic Church who either occasionally avoid explaining the mysteries to just anyone or take no care to learn more profound matters, inasmuch as they are content with simple faith, he should not give up hope that there is knowledge of the truth where not all from whom it is sought can teach it and not all who seek it are worthy of learning it. [...]

(trans. R. Teske, slighlty altered)

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: De moribus ecclesiae Catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum, The Catholic Way of Life and the Manichean Way of Life
Origin: Thagaste (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The book was written after the return of Augustine to Africa (to Thagaste), but before his ordination as presbyter in Hippo.

Edition:

J.B. Bauer, De moribus ecclesiae Catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 90, Vienna 1992.

Translation:

Saint Augustine, The Catholic Way of Life and the Manichean Way of Life, in The Manichean Debate, introduction and notes R. Teske, editor B. Ramsey, New York 2006, 31-103.

Categories:

Education - Insufficient education

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Equal prerogatives of presbyters and bishops

Devotion - Reading the Bible and devotional literature

Pastoral activity - Teaching

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER804, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=804