Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 940
Canon 5 of the Twelfth Council in Toledo (Iberian Peninsula, AD 681) orders priest to always eat the bread they consecrated during the mass.
Canon 5
 
De quorundam consuetudine sacerdotum foedissima, qui oblatis per se sacrificiis non communicant.
 
Relatum nobis est quosdam de sacerdotibus non tot uicibus communionis sanctae gratiam sumere quotquot sacrificia in uno die uidentur Deo offerre, sed in uno die, si plurima per se Deo offerant sacrificia, in omnibus se oblationibus a communicando suspendant, et in sola tantum extremi sacrificii oblatione communionis sanctae gratiam sumant, quasi non sit totiens reus illius ueri et singularis sacrificii quotiens participator corporis et sanguinis Domini nostri Iesu Christi esse destiterit. Nam ecce Apostolus dicit: "Nonne qui edunt hostias participes sunt altaris?" (1 Cor 10:18). Si ergo qui edunt hostias participes sunt altaris, certum est quod ii qui sacrificantes non edunt, rei sunt Dominicis sacramentis. Quicumque ergo sacerdotum deinceps diuino altario sacrificium oblaturus accesserit et se a communione suspenderit, ab ipsa qua se indecenter priuauit gratia communionis, anno uno repulsum se nouerit. Nam quale erit illud sacrificium cui nec ipse sacrificans participasse cognoscitur? Ergo hoc modis omnibus est tenendum, ut quotiensque sacrificans corpus et sanguinum Iesu Christi Domini nostri in altario immolat, totiens perceptioni corporis et sanguinis Christi se participem praebeat.
 
(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 2002: 167-169)
Canon 5
 
On the most detestable custom of some priests who do not receive the communion offered by them.
 
We have been informed that some priests do not receive the grace of the Holy Communion every time they offer the sacrifice to God during the day, but only once a day. If they offer sacrifice to God more then once, they refrain from communicating during all the sacrifices, and only receive the grace of the Holy Communion on the very last offering of the sacrifice, thinking that a person who refrains from participating in the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is not an offender of this true and unique sacrifice. Yet the Apostle said: "are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?" (1 Cor 10:18). If then those who eat the sacrifaces are the partakers of the altar, it is certain that those who sacrifice, but do not eat, offend the sacraments of the Lord. From now on, whoever of the priests approaches the altar to offer a sacrifice and refrains from communicating shall know that he is separated for one year from the grace of the communion from which he indecently abstained. For how can it be a sacrifice when even the one offering it does not participate in it? Therefore it shall be by all means observed that a priest is a partaker of the Body and Blood of Christ every time he offers the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the altar.
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Toledo

About the source:

Title: Concilium Toletanum XII a. 681, Concilium XII Toletanum a. 681, Twelfth Council of Toledo in 681 AD
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Twelfth Council of Toledo gathered on 9 January 681, after the reign of King Wamba came to an end. The senior bishop at the council was Julian of Seville, and the bishop of Toledo was at the time Julian of Toledo (the author of Historia Wambae). The preface of the acts of the council relates the end of Wamba`s rule, his illness, and the penance he received on his deathbed. He survived, but, as a penitent, he could not continue to be a king; thus the new kingdom passed to Ervig, whose rule the council confirmed. Since the circumstances of Ervig`s ascent to power were at least suspicious, Ervig issued a document, (a tomus) to assert his version of the facts related above that was appended to the acts of the council (Thompson 1960: 229–231). The council also confirmed the anti-Jewish legislation added by Ervig to the Lex Visigothorum (there are 28 of them, many concern priests and presbyters; see [553], [555], [606], [632], [635], [636], [637], [646], [648], [649], [652]), see Collins 2004: 234-235.
Edition:
G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez eds., La colección canónica Hispana, Monumenta Hispaniae sacra. Serie canónica 6, Madrid 2002.
Bibliography:
R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford 2004.
E.A. Thompson, The Goths in Spain, Oxford 1969.

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
    Ritual activity - Eucharist
      Ritual activity - Temporal impediment to presbyterial activity
        Public law - Ecclesiastical
          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: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER940, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=940