The Presbyters Project

Canon 16

Ut episcopo non liceat tertiam de parrochitanis ecclesiis tollere sed quae instituta sunt debeat servare.

Bene divina disposuit gratia quid unaquaeque ecclesia [quidquid] a fidelibus conlatum [est] habeat. Per priscis quippe canonibus erat decretum, ut episcopus de parrochitanis ecclesiis tertiam assequeretur, cui sua plenissime sufficere possunt. Placuit huic sancto concilio, ut nullus provinciae Lusitaniae episcopus sentenciae huius terminum excedat, ne a qualibet parrochitana ecclesia tertiam auferre praesumat; sed quaeque exinde consequi potuerat totum in reparationem ipsarum baselicarum proficiat. Omnes vero supradicti presbyteres, qui virtutem habuerint episcopo suo placitum faciant, ut reparare ecclesias sibi commissas intendant. Quod si facere distulerint, ab episcopo suo districti ecclesias sibi creditas, ut ratio permittit, digne repare[n]t. Ecclesiae tamen, quae mundiales res nullas habent, sollicitudine, intentione et dipositione episcopali, ut ratio permiserit, habeant reparationem.

(ed. Vives 1963: 336)

Canon 16

That a bishop shall not take the third part [of offerings] from parish churches, but what has been provided shall be preserved [there].

The divine grace rightly determined that every church should have what it received from the faithful. The ancient canons decreed that a bishop, who has well enough of his own [revenues], shall receive the third part from parish churches. It pleased the holy council that no bishop of the Lusitanian province shall transgress this decision, that he should not take the third part from any parish church, but that should allocate anything that he could obtain from them to renovations for those basilicas. All the above-mentioned presbyters who have the means to do that shall promise their bishop to look after the renovation of the churches entrusted to them. If they fail to do so, their bishops shall compel them to repair them decently according to their means. For the reparation of churches that do not have any earthly property should be repaired through the care, effort and orders of the bishop, if his means allow it.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

The division of Church property in three parts is postulated e.g. by Canon 7 of the First Council of Braga in AD 561 [304]. One part is for the bishop, another for the clergy, and the third for the restoration of the churches. Apparently the exaction of the third part of the parish property by the bishop became very burdensome for presbyters, and they complained at the councils. Already the Second Council of Braga in AD 572 set limits on the amount of money that might be demanded from parishes by a bishop [329]. The Seventh Council of Toledo in AD 646 referred to the rulings of Braga in response to complaints by Galician presbyters who felt oppressed by the financial demands of their bishops, and that in consequence the churches were going to rack and ruin. The present canon of the Council of Mérida bears witness to a similar situation in the province of Lusitania. The problem of the ruined basilicas in the country must have been serious enough that the bishops agreed to resign from a part of Church revenues that had traditionally been due to them in order to finance renovation works and maintenance.

The canon speaks about "the above-mentioned presbyters" most probably because the former canon also refers to bishops and presbyters, or because the authors of the canon referred twice before to the "parish churches", which, implicitly, were led by the presbyters.

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

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property

Ecclesiastical administration - Construction/Renovation

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Livelihood/income

Economic status and activity - Taxes and services

Private law - Ecclesiastical

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, ER844, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=844