Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 945
The Donatists have presbyters in the Churches of Zuri and of Nigrensium Maiorum (North Africa) in AD 411. Account of the Acts of the Conference of Carthage, AD 411.
Session 1
 
133. [...] Et recitauit: "Qui supra pro Paulino Zurensi praesente, litteras nesciente, coram uiro clarissimo tribuno et notario Marcellino suprascripta mandaui et subscripsi Carthagini". Quo recitato, et accedente episcopo Paulino catholico, idem dixit: "Catholica est". Habetdeum diaconus Primiani episcopi dixit: "Presbyter est illic noster. Dioecesis est nostra".
Et recitauit: "Lucrus episcopus plebis Nigrensium Maiorum, coram uiro clarissimo tribuno et notario Marcellino, suprascripta mandaui et subscripsi Carthagini". Quo recitato, idem dixit: "Unitas est". Habetdeum diaconus dixit: "Presbyterum habet". [...]
 
(ed. Lancel 1972: 750-751)
Session 1
 
133. [...] [Marcellinus] read: "I singed the aforementioned mandate before Marcellinus, vir clarissimus, tribune and notary, in Carthage for Paulinus of Zuri, who is present but does not know the letters". When it was read, the Catholic bishop Paulinus advanced and said: "The place is Catholic". Habetdeum, the deacon of the [Donatist] bishop Primianus, said: "There is our presbyter there. The diocese is ours".
And he read: "I, Lucrus, the bishop of the people of Nigrensium Maiorum signed the aforementioned mandate before Marcellinus, vir clarissimus, tribune and notary, in Carthage". When it was read, he said: "There is [Catholic] unity". The deacon Habetdeum said: "There is [our] presbyter"[...]
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

On the first day of the Conference, the Donatists challenged the list of the signatures of the Catholic bishops on the document in which they had assigned their representatives. The roll call followed, in which the tribune Marcellinus, who presided, called the Catholic bishops one by one, and their Donatist counterparts were to identify them. Then the roll call proceeded in the opposite way, with the Donatist bishops identified by the Catholics.
Although the Catholic bishop of Zuri (an analphabet!) claims that all are Catholics there, the Donatists protest that their diocese exists in this place in which they have a presbyter (possibly the episcopal see was temporarily vacant). The same situation repeats itself with  the diocese of Nigrensium Maiorum.
We do not know exactly where the Churches described as Zuriensis (the place been called hipothetically Zuri by Serge Lancel, whom I follow) and Nigrensium Maiorum were.
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Zuri
  • Carthage
  • Nigrensium Maiorum Plebs

About the source:

Title: Acts of the Conference of Carthage, Gesta Collationis Carthaginiensis
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian, Donatist
The conference between the Catholics and the Donatist was held in Carthage on 1-8 June 411. Its goal was to arrive at the unity between the rival Churches. The proceedings were minutiously recorded, and the majority of the acts have been preserved to our days.
Edition:
S. Lancel ed., Actes de la Conférence de Carthage en 411, tome II, Sources Chrétiennes 195, Paris 1972.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist
    Functions within the Church - Parish presbyter
      Functions within the Church - Rural presbyter
        Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
          Specific number of presbyters from the same church
            Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER945, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=945