Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 902
Canon 8 of the Council of Agde (Gaul, AD 506) orders that if a layman were to grant protection to a cleric fleeing justice, he or she would be excommunicated along with the said cleric.
[Titulum secundum cod. A] VIII. De clericis qui post laicus fugiunt.
[Titulum secundum cod. R] VIII. Si clericus saecularem personam fugerit.
[Titulum secundum coll. Hispanam] VIII. De clericis qui ad saeculares confugiunt.
 
Id etiam placuit ut clericus, si relicto officio suo propter districtionem ad saecularem fortasse confugerit et ei (is ad quem recurrit) solatium defensionis impendent, cum eodem de ecclesiae communione pellatur.
 
(ed. Munier 1963: 196, 220, 222, 224)
[Title according to cod. A] VIII. On clerics who run away after a layman.
[Title according to cod. R] VIII. If a cleric would run away from a lay person.
[Title according to the Hispana collection] VIII. On the clerics who flee to the laymen.
 
It is also proper that a cleric who deserted his office seeks refuge offerede by a layman to avoid punishment, will be banned from communion with the Church together with the man to whom he has run away and who granted him the comfort of protection.
 
(trans. J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

Quite probably, the person to whom a cleric could run away was a nobleman powerful enough to resist ecclesiastic officials.

Place of event:

Region
  • Gaul
City
  • Agde

About the source:

Title: Council of Agde, Concilium Agathense anno 506
Origin: Agde (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Council of Agde was held in September of 506 under the auspices of Cesarius, bishop of Arles, and with the permission of the Visigothic King Alaric. The first 47 canons are considered genuine, since only those are present in the oldest codices. The rest, present in some manuscripts, must have been taken from the other council acts, especially those of the Council of Epaone in 517. This council was attended by 24 bishops, and 8 presbyters and 2 deacons, who represented their bishops. More on the council, see Klingshirn 1994, 97-104.
Edition:
Ch. Munier ed., Concilia Galliae a. 314-a. 506, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 148, Turnhoult 1963.
Bibliography:
W.E. Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles: the making of a Christian community in late antique Gaul, Cambridge 1994.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus
    Public law - Ecclesiastical
      Relation with - Noble
        Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
          Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema
            Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER902, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=902