The Presbyters Project

Tractate 41

10. Prima est ergo libertas, carere criminibus. Ideo et apostolus Paulus quando elegit ordinandos uel presbyteros uel diaconos, et quicumque ordinandus est ad praeposituram ecclesiae, non ait: si quis sine peccato est; hoc enim si diceret, omnis homo reprobaretur, nullus ordinaretur: sed ait: "si quis sine crimine est", sicuti est homicidium, adulterium, aliqua immunditia fornicationis, furtum, fraus, sacrilegium, et cetera huiusmodi. Cum coeperit ea non habere homo - debet autem non habere omnis christianus homo -, incipit caput erigere ad libertatem; sed ista inchoata est, non perfecta libertas. Quare, inquit aliquis, non est perfecta libertas?

(ed. Willems 1954: 363)

Tractate 41

10. The first freedom, then, is to be without crimes. And so when the Apostle Paul chose either presbyters or deacons to be ordained, and when anyone is to be ordained to take charge of a church, he does not say, If anyone is without sin. For if he were to say this, every person would be rejected, no one would be ordained. But he says, "If anyone is without crime", such as homicide, adultery, and uncleanness of fornication, theft, fraud, sacrilege, and other things of this sort. When a person begins not to have these – and no Christian ought to have these – he begins to lift his head to freedom; but his freedom has only been begun, it has not been brought to perfection.

(trans. J.W. Rettig, slightly altered)

Discussion:

The passage comes in the middle of the discussion on freedom, when Augustine describes true freedom as freedom from grave sins (because one cannot be free of all sins).

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Tractates on the Gospel of John, In Iohannis evangelium tractatus, Tractatus in Euangelium Ioannis
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The "Tractates on the Gospel of John" consist of pieces of writing that were either homilies delivered by Augustine, or tractates dictated by him in private. Although all of them are based on the Gospel of John, they cover a wide range of pastoral and theological issues.

Edition:

R. Willems ed., Sancti Aurelii Augustini In Iohannis evangelium tractatus CXXIV, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 36, Turnhout 1954.

Translation:

Saint Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John 28-54, trans. J.W. Rettig, Washington 1993.

Categories:

Impediments or requisits for the office - Improper/Immoral behaviour

Theoretical considerations - On priesthood

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER812, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=812