The Presbyters Project

Sermon 301A (= Sermon Denis 17)

8. Sed paucos uos uideo. Ecce ueniet dies passionis Christi, ecce ueniet pascha, et ista spatia multitudinem uestram non capient. Ergo ipsi haec loca implebunt, qui modo theatra implestis? Vel comparate loca, et contundite pectora. dicitis fortasse: bene uos ab istis abstinetis,

qui clerici estis, qui episcopi estis, non autem nos laici. Itane uero haec uox iusta uobis uidetur? Quid enim sumus nos, si peritis uos? Aliud est, quod sumus propter nos; aliud, quod sumus propter uos. Christiani sumus propter nos, clerici et episcopi non nisi propter uos. Apostolus non clericis, non episcopis et presbyteris loquebatur, quando dicebat: uos autem estis membra Christi. Plebibus dicebat,

fidelibus dicebat, christianis dicebat: uos autem estis membra Christi.

(ed. Morin 1930: 88)

Sermon 301A (= Sermon Denis 17)

8. But I see your numbers are few. Along comes the day of Christ's passion, along comes Easter, and this space won't be able to contain your crowds. So will you, who have just now been filling the theaters, be the people filling this place? At least compare the places, and beat your breasts. Perhaps you're saying, 'It's all very well for you to abstain from these things, you clergy, you bishops, but not for us lay people.' So does that really strike you as a fair thing to say? After all, what are we, if you perish? What we are for our own sakes in one thing, what we are for yours another; we are Christians for our own sakes, clergy and bishops only for yours. The apostle wasn't talking to the clergy, not to bishops and presbyters when he said: But you are the members of Christ.

(trans. E. Hill, slighltly altered)

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Hippo Regius

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Sermons, Sermones, Homilies
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Copies of between 400 and 500 of Augustine`s sermons have survived to our times. Most of these 400-500 sermons were taken down by scribes as he preached without the use of a prepared script. They are a faithful stenographic record of what Augustine actually said, with probably no subsequent editing of them by himself.

They cover a wide range of topics. They are usually based on the Scripture passage read during the liturgy. The homilies on the Psalms and the Gospels have been preserved in separate collections.

Edition:

Morin G. ed., Sancti Augustini Sermones post Maurinos reperti, in: Miscellanea Agostiniana, vol. 1, Rome 1930.

Translation:

Saint Augustine, Sermons (273-305A) on the Saints, trans. E. Hill, New York 1994.

Categories:

Entertainment - Spectacles

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Reasons for ordination - Pastoral needs of the Christian community

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, ER830, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=830