The Presbyters Project

Letter 25

VI,9. De his vero bapizatis, qui postea a daemonio, vitio aliquo aut peccato interveniente, arripiuntur, est sollicita dilectio tua, si a presbytero vel diacono possint aut debeant designari. Quod hoc, nisi episcopus praeceperit, non licet. Nam eis manus imponenda omnino non est, nisi episcopus auctoritatem dederit id efficiendi. Ut autem fiat, episcopi est imperare, ut manus eis vel a presbytero vel a caeteris clericis imponatur. Nam quomodo id fieri sine magno labore poterit, ut longe constitutus energumenus ad episcopum deducatur, cum si talis casus ei in itinere acciderit, nec perferri ad episcopum, nec referri ad sua facile possit?

(ed. Coustant 1845: 558-559)

Letter 25

VI,9. Your Honour asked also about those baptized who afterwards were caught by a demon because of some vice or sin: could they, and should they be signed [with the sign of the cross]? Unless the bishop orders it, it is not permitted. For the same reason they cannot at all lay hands, unless the bishop authorised them to do it. It is up to the bishop to decide whether presbyters or other clerics should lay hands on the possessed because an energumen cannot be escorted a long way to the bishop without great trouble, because if such case happens when he is travelling, he cannot easily be carried to the bishop, nor to his [place].

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The letter was sent on 19 March 416 to Decentius, bishop of Gubbio in Umbria (Italy).

Place of event:

Region

Rome

City

Rome

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:

R. Cabié, La lettre du Pape Innocent Ier à Décentius de Gubbio. Texte critique, traduction et commentaire, Louvain 1973.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Ritual activity - Imposition of hands

Ritual activity - Exorcism

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1724, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1724