The Presbyters Project

Day 3

35. [...] Ergo catholici responderunt, cum mirum non esset esset que in rebus humanis usitatissimum ut non duo tantum, uerum etiam plures homines uno nomine uocarentur, fieri quidem potuisse ut ille traditor Straton presbyter fuerit, iste autem alius Straton diaconus, quoniam donatistae dixerant et diaconos et presbyteros hortatores uanissimae superstitionis a gentilibus appellari; quamquam omnes clericos isto contumelioso nomine gentiles appellare potuerint et multo esset incertius cuius gradus clericus ille traditor fuerit, uerumtamen etiamsi eum diaconum fuisse posset ostendi, neque hoc esse incredibile aut mirum, cum ante paruum tempus in ipsa urbe Roma duo Petri diaconi fuerint.

(ed. Lancel 1974, 299-300)

Day 3

35. [...] So the Catholics responded that it is not only not strange, but very common in human affairs that not only two, but even more people are called by the same name, so it could be that there was a presbyter Straton, who betrayed, and another Straton, a deacon. The Donatists themselves said that the pagans called both the deacons and presbyters the instigators of the most vain superstition. It is possible that the pagans labelled all clerics with this derogatory term, and so it is very unsure of what grade this cleric-traditor was. Even if it can be proven that he was a deacon, there is still nothing unusual about it; just a short time before there were two deacons named Peter.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The Donatists produced documents proving that a deacon Straton was among those who gave the holy books to the persecutors during the Diocletianic persecution. The Catholics contested those documents, but also argued that there may have been two Stratons in Rome at that time: a deacon and a presbyter (which is not very convincing), only the latter being a traditor.

Place of event:

Region

Rome

City

Rome

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: A Summary of the Meeting with the Donatists, Breviculus Conlationis cum Donatistis, Breuiculus Collationis cum Donatistis
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The Conference in Carthage took place on 1-8 June 411. The proceedings were carefully recorded by stenographers and published in their entirety. In winter 411/412 Augustine wrote his summary to make the lecture of the long proceedings easier. Augustine`s summary provides us with the main threads of the discussions, stressing at the same time the main lines of the Catholic argumentation.

Edition:

S. Lancel ed., Sancti Augustini Breviculus Conlationis cum Donatistis, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149A, Turnhout 1974, 261-306.

Bibliography:

PCBE Italie 2: Strato.

J. Rüpke, Fasti sacerdotum: a prosopography of pagan, Jewish, and Christian religious officials in the city of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499, Oxford 2008, no. 3162, Strato, p. 905.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Disrespected by

Relation with - Secular authority

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER932, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=932