The Presbyters Project

Canon 15

De rebus ecclesiasticis gubernandis.

Quae sunt ecclesiae debent ecclesiae conservari cum omni diligentia et bona conscientia et fide Dei qui omnia videt et iudicat. Gubernari ergo oportet cum iudicio et potestate episcopi, cui etiam omnis populus et congregatio commissa est animarum. Manifesta autem debent esse quae ad ecclesiam pertinent, in conscientia eorum qui circa episcopos sunt presbyteri et diaconi, ut hi omnes sciant quae sunt ecclesiae propria, ut si episcopo contigerit transitus, nihil eos latere possit ex his quae ad ecclesiam pertinent, ut nullo modo possint minui et perire. Neque res propriae episcopi debent importunitatem pro rebus ecclesiae pati. Dignum re vera et iustum est apud Deum et homines ut ea quae episcopi propria sunt cui voluerit derelinquat, et neque ecclesiam perpeti damnum neque episcopum pro rebus ecclesiae condemnari aut post eius obitum in causas quae ad eum non pertinent aut in maledictum incedere.

(ed. Barlowe 1950: 127-128)

Canon 15

On administering church property.

Things belonging to the Church shall be kept with all diligence, good conscience, and faith in God who sees and judges everything. It is necessary then that [the Church] be ruled with the judgmenet and power of the bishop to whom whole people and congregation is entrusted. The property of the Church shall be known to the presbyters and deacons who are around the bishop so that they all know what belongs to the Church. If the bishop dies, nothing from the property of the Church shall escape their notice lest it be diminished or lost. But the private property of the bishop shall not suffer any deprivation in favour of the Church property. It is good and just in the eyes of God and people that the bishop can bestwo his private property on whoever he wants, and neither the Church shall suffer any loss nor the bishop shall be charged in favour of the ecclesiastical property, and after his death he should not be cursed for the affaires which did not regard him.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Cf. canon 24 of the Council of Antioch in AD 341.

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

City

Braga

About the source:

Author: Martin of Braga
Title: Collectio orientalium canonum, seu Capitula Martini, Capitula Martini, Collection of the Eastern canons
Origin: Braga (Iberian Peninsula), Antioch (East)

In the manuscript tradition the canons of the Second Council of Braga (Iberian Peninsula) in AD 572 are followed by the Eastern canons collected and translated into Latin by Martin of Braga (Iberian Peninsula). He was using a Greek collection, impossible to identify with any of the collections known today, which gathered the canons of the several Eastern councils. Martin quotes also the canons of the First Council of Toledo AD 400. Martin dedicated his work to Bishop Nitigisius of Lugo (Iberian Peninsula). Those two bishops met on the Second Council of Braga, and possibly the collection was composed for this occasion (Barlowe 1950: 84-87).

Edition:

C. Barlowe ed., Martini episcopi Bracarensis opera omnia, New Haven 1950.

Categories:

Functions within the Church - Cathedral presbyter

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Ecclesiastical administration - Administering Church property

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Private law - Ecclesiastical

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1061, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1061