Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1627
Presbyters Germanus, Cassianus, and Paul carry letters between the bishops of Rome, Constantinople and Antioch. Letters 7, 19, and 20 of Pope Innocent I (AD 401-417).
Letter 7
to John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople:
 
1. Ex litteris charitatis vestrae, quas per Germanum presbyterum et Cassianum diaconum misistis [...]
 
Letter 19
to Alexander, bishop of Antioch in Syria:
 
Et quia noster compresbyter Cassianus gratum dixit tuae fore dignationi, si meo consilio in civitate vestra clericatus ordinem ducere censerentur; statui propter benevolentiam tuam, promissaque memorati, ut inter caeteros sacerdotes ministrosque qui in civitate sunt, annumerentur, frater charissime.
 
Letter 20:
to Alexander, bishop of Antioch in Syria:
 
Voluit enim compresbyter noster Cassianus, hanc amicitiarum nostrarum paginulam per compresbyterum nostrum Paulum, Nicolaum, diaconum, et Petrum subdiaconum filios nostros, quasi primitias pacis nostrae conscribi.
 
(ed. Coustant 1845: 501.541.543)
Letter 7
 
to John Chrysostom, the bishop of Constantinople:
 
1. From the letter of Your Charity, that you sent to us through the Presbyter Germanus and Deacon Cassianus [...]
 
Letter 19
to Alexander, bishop of Antioch in Syria:
 
Our fellow presbyter Cassianus said that it would please Your Charity if with my approval  they were considered [worthy] of joining the clerical order in your city. Mindful of this promise, and because of your benevolence, I decided that they can be counted among other priests and ministers who are in the city, my dearest brother.
 
Letter 20:
to Alexander, bishop of Antioch in Syria:
 
Our fellow presbyter Cassianus wanted to subscribe to this letter of our friendship, sent by our fellow Presbyter Paul, and our sons, Deacon Nicholaus and Subdeacon Peter, as to the first offerings of our peace.
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

Cassianus and Germanus are mentioned for the first time in Palladius' "Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom", and in Letter 7 of Innocent I presented here. Palladius writes about the Presbyter Germanus and Cassianus being among those who brought the response of John Chrysostom to the Synod of Oak in AD 403. The letter to Innocent I, to which Letter 7 answers, was carried by them to Rome between AD 404 and 406. The Cassianus mentioned here is John Cassian [369]. It is not very probable that Germanus is the same Germanus [244] who returned from Rome to Africa.
 
Alexander was the patriarch of Antioch between ca 412 and 417 (or even 421); he tried to heal a schism that resulted from the affair of John Chrysostom. Pope Innocent I consulted on this matter with a Presbyter Cassianus, whose identification with the Cassianus mentioned in the first letter is a hypothesis, which is tentatively accepted in PCBE Gaule 1: Cassianus 2, but rejected by Stewart 1998: 13-15, and Dunn 2015.
 
Letter 19 refers to "the clerical supporters of Paulinus of Antioch who had left there because of the Melitan schism and relocated to Italy" (Dunn 2015).

Place of event:

Region
  • Rome
  • East
City
  • Rome
  • Constantinople
  • Antioch

About the source:

Author: Innocent I
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Innocent I was the bishop of Rome from AD 401 to 417. Several of his letters, especially to the bishops of Gaul and Spain, are "decretals": authoritative letters containing papal rulings, usually in response to questions raised by the bishops.
Edition:
P. Coustant ed., S. Innocentii Papae Epistolae et Decreta, Patrologia Latina 20, Paris 1845, 463-608.
Bibliography:
 G.D. Dunn, "Cassian in Syria?: The Evidence of Innocent I”, Vigiliae Christianae 69 (2015), 3-17.
D. Jasper, H. Fuhrmann, Papal Letters in the Early Middle Ages, Washington 2001.
C. Stewart, Cassian the Monk, Oxford 1998.
 

Categories:

Travel and change of residence
Former ecclesiastical career - Deacon
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Ecclesiastical administration - Ecclesiastical envoy
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1627, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1627