Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2394
DRAFT: Jerome, presbyter in Bethlehem, writes to Pammachius about the requirement of chastity for higher clergy. Jerome, Letter 49, .
Letter 49 to Pammachius
 
10. (…) Ecce perspicue nuptias diximus concedi in euangelio, sed tamen easdem in suo officio permanentes praemia castitatis capere non posse.
Quod si indigne accipiunt mariti, non mihi irascantur, sed scripturis sanctis, immo episcopis, presbyteris et diaconis et uniuerso choro sacerdotali et leuitico, qui se nouerunt hostias offerre non posse, si operi seruiant coniugali.
 
(...)
21. Igitur, ut dicere coeperamus, christus uirgo, uirgo maria utrique sexui uirginitatis dedicauere principia; apostoli uel uirgines uel post nuptias continentes; episcopi, presbyteri, diaconi aut uirgines eliguntur aut uidui aut certe post sacerdotium in aeternum pudici: quid nobis ipsis inludimus et irascimur, si subantibus semper ad coitum praemia pudicitiae denegentur?
 
(ed. Hilberg 1910: 365, 386)
Letter 49 to Pammachius
 
 10. (…) See my express declaration that marriage is allowed in the Gospel, yet that those who are married cannot receive the rewards of chastity so long as they render their due one to another. If married men feel indignant at this statement, let them vent their anger not on me but on the Holy Scriptures; nay, more, upon all bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and the whole company of priests and levites, who know that they cannot offer sacrifices if they fulfil the obligations of marriage.
 
 (...)
21. Therefore, as I was going to say, the virgin Christ and the virgin Mary have dedicated in themselves the first fruits of virginity for both sexes. The apostles have either been virgins or, though married, have lived celibate lives. Those persons who are chosen to be bishops, priests, and deacons are either virgins or widowers; or at least when once they have received the priesthood, are vowed to perpetual chastity.
 
(trans. Fremantle, Lewis, and Martley 1893)
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Italy south of Rome and Sicily
  • East
City
  • Nola
  • Bethlehem

About the source:

Author: Jerome
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Bethlehem (East)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The large corpus of Jerome`s letters covers both great theological themes and personal issues. They are one of the most important sources for our knowledge of Christian life in the 4th-5th century.
Edition:
I. Hilberg ed., Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, Pars 1, Ep. 1-70, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 54, Vienna-Leipzig 1910.
 
Translation:
St. Jerome, Letters and selected works, transl. W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis, and W.G. Martley, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 6 Buffalo, NY 1893.

Categories:

Family life - Marriage
    Family life - Permanent relationship before ordination
      Family life - Permanent relationship continued after ordination
        Family life - Widowerhood
          Sexual life - Sexual activity
            Sexual life - Virginity
              Ritual activity - Eucharist
                Family life - Celibacy
                  Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2394, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2394