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ID
ER 192
Canon 11 of the council of Hippo (North Africa, AD 393), preserved in the "Breviarium Hipponense" (AD 397), prohibits the children of bishops and clerics to watch or participate in secular spectacles.
Canon 11
 
Vt filii episcoporum et clericorum spectacula saecularia non exhibeant nec expectent.
 
(ed. Munier 1974: 37)
Canon 11
 
The children of bishops and clerics should neither participate in secular spectacles nor watch them.
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

Since we do not have any canon of this council against the participation of clerics themselves in spectacles, it seems that this temptation was limited only to their offspring. "Filii" should be most probably understood as children of both sexes, not only sons. The secular spectacles mentioned here are probably mainly theatrical plays (considered very immoral), but this expression might have also referred to circus and possibly gladiatorial games.

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Carthage
  • Hippo Regius

About the source:

Title: Breuiarium Hipponense
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The bishops of Byzacena arrived too early for the African plenary council at Carthage in AD 397. Since they had to leave the city before the actual beginning of the proceedings Aurelius of Carthage charged them with editing the decisions of the Council of Hippo of AD 393. The document drafted in this way and accepted on 13 August 397 was called the "Breviarium Hipponense", and it was included later in the Canons in causa Apiarii from AD 419, Registri Ecclesiae Carthaginensis Excerpta, Breviarium of Ferrandus and Statuta Ecclesiae Antiqua.
Edition:
C. Munier ed., Concilia Africae a. 345-a. 525, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 149, Turnhoult 1974, 23-53.  

Categories:

Family life - Offspring
    Entertainment - Spectacles
      Described by a title - Clericus
        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER192, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=192
        Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
        last edited: 2017-08-21 15:12:10
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