Canon 15 of the Council of Hippo (North Africa, AD 393), preserved in the "Breviarium Hipponense" (AD 397), prohibits clerics to earn money by administration of goods or commercial activity.
Intended for scholary use. For credentials see Bibliography
Canon 15
Vt episcopi, presbyteri et diaconi non sint conductores aut procuratores priuatorum neque ullo tali negotio uictum quaerant, quo eos uel peregrinari uel ab ecclesiasticis officiis auocari necesse est.
(ed. Munier 1974: 38)
Canon 15
Bishops, presbyters and deacons should not be contractors or administrators of private domain, nor should they seek to earn money for living in such ways that would make it necessary to travel or be summoned away from ecclesiastical duties.
(trans. S. Adamiak)
Discussion:
Cf. canon 9 of the Council of Carthage (345/348), [128]. The word "privatorum" was probably added not in opposition to state property, but to the ecclesiastical one, which could of course be administered by the clergy.
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:
Travel and change of residence
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Economic status and activity
Public functions and offices after ordination - Administering secular property
Livelihood/income
Please quote this record referring to
its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
S. Adamiak, Presbyters
in the Late Antique West, ER211, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=211
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