Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 818
Canon 10 of the Council in Mérida (Iberian Peninsula) in AD 666 orders bishops to appoint an archpresbyter, archdeacon and primiclerus in their churches.
Canon 10
 
Ut omnis episcopus infra hanc provinciam constitutis archipresbyterum, archidiaconum et primiclerium in sua ecclesia habeat.
 
Communi deliberatione sanccimus, ut omnes nos episcopi infra nostram provinciam constituti in cathedralibus nostris ecclesiis singuli nostrum archipresbyterum, archidiaconum et primiclerium habere debeamus; sanctus quippe est ordo et a nobis per omnia observandus. Ideoque placuit huic magna[e] synodo, ut quicumque ad officium hoc pervenerit humilitatem pontifici suo et reverentiam praebeat, ne quolibet modo superbiae fastum quilibet ex his incurrat, sed in ordine quo quisque fuerit constitutis benigne persistat, et sui dignitatem officii per omnia teneat. Si quis ex his sui gradus ordinem non custodierit et quae illi pro tali officio a suo episcopo imperata fuerint adimplere distulerit, prout causa patuerit, excommunicationis damno multandum se noverit.
 
(ed. Vives 1963: 332)
Canon 10
 
That every bishop from this province shall have an archpresbyter, archdeacon and primiclerius in his Church
 
With shared consideration we decree that all the bishops appointed in our province shall have in their cathedral churches an archpresbyter, an archdeacon and a primiclerius. For this is a holy order, and we shall observe it in every respect. Therefore, it pleased this great council that whoever obtains this office shall be humble and reverent toward his bishop lest he develops a disdainful pride. All of them shall remain kindly in the positions to which they have been appointed, and respect the dignity of their office in every respect. If one of them fails to perform duties of his grade and does not fulfil what was ordered to him by his bishop, and it is proven to him, he shall find himself punished with excommunication.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Merida

About the source:

Title: Council of Merida in 666, Concilium Emeritense a. 666, Council of Mérida in 666
Origin: Merida (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The provincial council of the province of Lusitania was held in Mérida in the church called Jerusalem in November AD 666. It was presided by Bishop Proficius of Mérida, and eleven other bishops were present.
Edition:
J. Vives ed., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Barcelona-Madrid 1963.

Categories:

Functions within the Church - Archpresbyter
    Functions within the Church - Cathedral presbyter
      Public law - Ecclesiastical
        Conflict
          Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
            Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
              Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema
                Theoretical considerations - On church hierarchy
                  Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER818, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=818