The Presbyters Project

Canon 22

Qualiter excommunicari oporteat qui canonis huius non custodient sententiam.

Quia iuvante nos divina gratia ea in hoc sancto concilio peregrinus quae ad rectitudinem ecclesiastici ordinis sunt debita, in aliquibus sententiis cavendi modum imposuimus, aliqua tamen, quia singulari ordine non manent constricta, per huius sententiae decretum instituimus, quod quisque episcoporum vel presbyterorum atque inferiori gradu constituti debeant metuere. Quisquis huius cannonicae regulae instituta servare distulerit, quamlibet maior esse videatur, mediocris vero aut inferiori gradu constitutum se esse perspexerit, ut causa permiserit, a metropolitano episcopo cum suis confinitimis, qui supra notatum sententiarum ordinem custodierint is qui servare distulerit excommunicatum se evidentissime noverit.

(ed. Vives 1963: 342)

Canon 22

How to excommunicate those who do not observe the decree of this Canon.

With the help of divine grace we enacted in this holy council what is necessary for the rectitude of the ecclesiastical order. In some decrees we indicated the methods of deterring. In other cases, however, because they are not restricted by a specific order, we declare by this decree what any bishop or presbyter or a cleric of the inferior grade shall beware of. Whoever fails to observe the decrees of this canonical rule, however grand he would seem, he shall find himself established in a mediocre or inferior grade, according to the case, by the metropolitan bishop with his suffragans who according to the order of decrees noted above shall take care that a person who fails to observe it shall find himself most evidently excommunicated.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Canon 22 is the last canon issued by the council. It provides the universal sanction for breaking any other canon decreed by the council.

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 the Bishop Proficius of Mérida, and eleven other bishops were present.

Edition:

J. Vives ed., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Barcelona-Madrid 1963.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema

Administration of justice - Demotion

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER852, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=852