Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 833
Canon 14 of the Council in Merida (Iberian Peninsula) in AD 666 indicates how to divide among the clergy the offerings brought to the Church by the faithful.
Canon 14
 
De pecunia quae in ecclesia Dei offerentur fideliter colligenda et fideliter dividenda.
 
In sancta Dei ecclesia diebus festis pro consuetudine et mercede communicationis tempore a fidelibus pecuniam novimus ponere. Pro hoc placuit sancto concilio hanc rectitudinis ponere regulam, ut quia omni clero communis labor manet in officio sancto, omnibus iuxta meritum ex hac rependatur vicissitudo. Statuimus in nostris ecclesiis vel civitatibus hoc esse servandum, ut quicquid pecuniae a fidelibus in ecclesia fuerit oblatum fideliter collectum maneat et conservatum et fideliter episcopo praesentetur, qualiter exin[de] tres partes fiant aequales: unam episcopus habeat; et alteram presbyteres et diacones inibi deservientes consequantur et inter se, ut dignitas et ordo poposcerit, dividant; tercia vero subdiaconibus et clericis tribuatur, ut a primiclerio, iuxta quod in officio eos prespicit esse intentos, ita simgulis dispensetur. Similis forma et de parrochitanis presbyteris in ecclesiis illis a Dei creditis erit servanda.
 
(ed. Vives 1963: 335)
Canon 14
 
That money that is offered faithfully in the Church of God shall be collected and faithfully divided.
 
We know that in the holy Church of God in festival days the faithful offer money because of the custom, and as a reward for the distribution of communion. Therefore, it pleased the holy council to impose a rightful rule that because the whole clergy has the common work in the holy office, all of them have a right to the remuneration from these offerings according to their merits. We decree that it shall be observed in our churches and cities that whatever money has been faithfully offered by the faithful in the Church shall be collected, kept, and given faithfully to the bishop, who shall divide it into three equal parts: the bishop will have one, the other will be for division according to the dignity and order among the deserving presbyters and deacons, and the third will be given to subdeacons and other clerics, and the primiclerius will divide it among them according to their efforts in the office. Similar rules shall be observed by the parish presbyters in the churches entrusted them by God.
 
(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 Lusitania was held in Mérida in the church of Jerusalem in November 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 - Parish presbyter
    Functions within the Church - Cathedral presbyter
      Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
        Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property
          Public law - Ecclesiastical
            Economic status and activity - Gift
              Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
                Relation with - Deacon
                  Relation with - Lower cleric
                    Livelihood/income
                      Devotion - Donations and offerings
                        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER833, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=833