The Presbyters Project

XXXVII. De clericis excommunicatis.

Si quis episcopus in concilio excommunicatus fuerit sive presbyter sive diaconus et post excommunicationem praesumpserit sive episcopus ille aut presbyter vel diaconus facere oblationem vel matutinum aut vespertinum sacrificium quasi in officio suo agere sicut prius, non liceat ei nec in alio concilio spem reconciliationis habere nec ultra recolligi, sed etiam eos qui ei communicaverint omnes ab ecclesia respui, maxime eos qui sciebant eum esse deiectum. Si autem permanserit turbans et concitans ecclesiam per forasticam potestatem, oportet eum sicut seditionarium ab omni plebe expelli.

(ed. Barlowe 1950: 134)

XXXVII. On the excommunicated clerics.

If a bishop, presbyter, or deacon has been excommunicated at the council, and after the excommunication this bishop, presbyter, or deacon presumed to offer a matutinal or vesperine sacrifice like he used to do in his office, he is not allowed to do that, and he will not have a hope of reconciliation at another council, and he will not be reconciled, but also all those who communicated with him shall be expelled from the Church, and especially those who knew that he is an excommunicant. If, however, he does not stop to confuse and shake his Church by the judicial power, he shall be expelled from all the people as a rebel.

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Cf. canons 4 and 5 of the Council of Antioch (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)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

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:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Usurping presbyterial power

Ritual activity - Eucharist

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema

Ritual activity - Daily mass

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1117, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1117