The Presbyters Project

Quia uero ad futurum prospicere conuenit, ne exoriri in statu pacis possit quaedam commotio litis, Patrum sententiam quae iam dictum Potamium episcopum rectitudine damnat, huic decreto conectere uigilantia nostra procurat:

IIII Ex concilio Valentino titulo IIII. Nec illud, fratres, scribere alienum ab ecclesiae utilitate censuimus, ut sciretis, quicumque sub ordinatione uel diaconatus uel presbyterii uel episcopatus mortali crimine dixerint esse pollutos, a supradictis ordinationibus submouendos, reos scilicet uel ueri confessione uel mendacio falsitatis. Neque enim absolui in his potest, si ipsi in se ipsos edixerint quod dictum in alios puniretur, cum omnis qui sibi fuerit mortis causa, maior homicida sit.

(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1992: 541-542)

Because it is fitting to think about the future and to prevent strife that might arise in a peaceful time, we vigilantly took care to add to this decree the sentence of the Fathers that rightly condemned the said bishop Potamius:

IIII From the council of Valence, canon 4. And we decided that it is useful for the Church to write to you brothers, may you be aware that if anyone shortly before or just after ordination to a diaconate, presbyterate or episcopacy said that he is under the stain of mortal crime, he should be removed from said clerical order. He will be considered guilty, either of what he truly confessed or of the falsity of lying. For no one can be absolved if he revealed things about himself that are punished in others, because everyone who is himself a reason for his death, is even more a murderer.

(trans. M. Szada, J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

For Canon 4 of the council of Valence AD 374 see [361].

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Toledo

About the source:

Title: Tenth Council of Toledo, Concilium Toletanum decimum a. 656, Concilium X Toletanum, Concilium Toletanum X, Concilium X Toletanum, Concilium Toletanum X
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The tenth council of Toledo assembled in December 656 AD during the reign of king Reccesvuint (653-672). It was presided by Eugenius II of Toledo. It was attended by 19 other bishops, and 5 representatives of the absent bishops.

The decree on the Bishop Potamius of Braga is preserved in the 7th-century canonical collection, the so-called Hispana. Its authorship has been attributed to Isidore of Seville (which is still accepted by Martinez Diez 1966; other scholars reject this attribution: Munier 1966; Gaudemet 1967: 122-124; Schaferdiek 1967: 144-148; Landau 1968: 406-418). This collection has several recensions: a primitive one, so-called Isidoriana, which is toaday lost; the Juliana recension edited after 681 and attributed to Julian of Toledo, which adds to the previous recension the acts and canons of the councils from the Fifth Council of Toledo to the Twelfth (in 681); the Vulgata recension edited between 694-702 that adds the acts and canons of the councils from the the Thirteenth Council of Toledo up to the Seventeenth held in 694; this recension was the most widespread during the Middle Ages (for more bibliography see Kéry 1999: 61-67). The decree on Potamius is attached to the acts after the subscriptions only in the Juliana recension. The Vulgata recension after the subscriptions adds only Canon 7 (Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1992: 537, n. 8).

Edition:

G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 5, Madrid 1992.

Bibliography:

R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford 2004.

J. Gaudemet, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Revue historique de droit français et étranger 4e ser. 45 (1967), 122-124.

L. Kéry, Canonical collections of the early Middle Ages (ca. 400-1140): a bibliographical guide to the manuscripts and literature, Washington, D.C 1999.

P. Landau, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte Kanonistische Abteilung 54 (1968), 406-414.

G. Martínez Díez, La Colección canónica Hispana, vol. 1 Estudio, Madrid 1966.

C. Munier, "Saint Isidore de Séville est-il l’auteur de I’Hispana chronologique?", Sacris Erudiri 17 (1966), 230-241.

J. Orlandis, D. Ramos-Lissón, Die Synoden auf der Iberischen Halbinsel bis zum Einbruch des Islam (711), Paderborn 1981.

K. Schaferdiek, review of: "G. Martinez Diez, La coleccion canonica Hispana 1", Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 78 (1967), 144-148.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Further ecclesiastical career - Lay status

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Demotion

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER811, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=811