Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 893
Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius (North Africa) describes the Manichaean Church hierarchy. Augustine, "De haeresibus", AD 428/430.
46, 16. [...] Propter quod etiam ipse Manichaeus duodecim discipulos habuit in instar apostolici numeri, quem numerum Manichaei hodieque custodiunt. Nam ex electis suis habent duodecim quos appellant magistros, et tertium decimum principem ipsorum; episcopos autem septuaginta duos, qui ordinantur a magistris, et presbyteros, qui ordinantur ab episcopis indefiniti. Habent etiam episcopi diaconos.
 
(ed. R. Vander Plaetse, C. Beukers 1969: 318)
46, 16. [...] For this reason, Manichaeus himself had twelve disciples to match the number of the apostles. Even today the Manichees preserve that number, for they have twelve of their Elect whom they call teachers and a thirteenth whom they call their leader. They have seventy-two bishops who are ordained by the teachers, and they have an indefinite number of presbyters who are ordained by the bishops. The bishops also have deacons.
 
(trans. R. Teske, slightly altered)

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Heresies, De haeresibus
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Augustine wrote this catalogue of 88 heresies with their descriptions, answering to the repeated pleas by the deacon of Carthage, Quodvultdeus, between AD  428 and 430. The book is largely based on the works of Epiphanius of Salmina and Filastrius of Brescia.
Edition:
R. Vander Plaetse, C. Beukers edd., Sancti Aurelii Augustini De haeresibus, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 46, Turnhout 1969, 286-351.
Translation:
 
Saint Augustine, Heresies, in: Arianism and Other Heresies, tr. R. Teske, New York 1994, 31-60.
 

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
      Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Manichaean
        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER893, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=893