The Presbyters Project

Letter 114

1. [...] Quamuis ergo iam per fratrem et conpresbyterum meum Caelestinum miserim legem, quam quidem et ante, quam mitterem, ignorare utique non deberes, qua concessum est eis, qui praecipiuntur ab aliqua potestate iudiciis exhiberi, ut ad gesta municipalia perducantur atque illic interrogentur, utrum uelint triginta dies in ea ciuitate, ubi tenentur. Agere sub moderata custodia ad parandos sibi fructus uel rem suam, sicut necesse fuerit, ordinandam, quae lex, sicut mihi memoratus presbyter renuntiauit, tuae religioni recitata est. [...]

(ed. Goldbacher 1898: 661-662)

Letter 114

1. [...] I sent to you, by my brother and fellow presbyter, Caelestinus, the text of the law of which you ought, of course, not to have been ignorant, even before I sent it. By that law it is permitted to those who are ordered by some authority to present themselves to the courts that they be brought before the municipal court and asked whether they want to spend thirty days under moderate surveillance in that city in which they are detained in order to prepare resources for themselves and set their case in order, as is needed. As the presbyter I mentioned reported to me, this law was read out for your revered selfs. [...]

(trans. R. Teske, slightly altered)

Discussion:

The identification of Celestine with the anonymous presbyter mentioned in Letter 115 in regard to the same affair [472], is unsure.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Hippo Regius

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The letters of Augustine of Hippo cover a wide range of topics: Holy Scripture, dogma and liturgy, philosophy, religious practice and everyday life. They range from full-scale theological treatises to small notes asking someone for a favour. The preserved corpus includes 308 letters, 252 written by Augustine, 49 that others sent to him and seven exchanged between third parties. 29 letters have been discovered only in the 20th century and edited in 1981 by Johannes Divjak; they are distinguished by the asterisk (*) after their number.

The preserved letters of Augustine extend over the period from his stay at Cassiciacum in 386 to his death in Hippo in 430.

Edition:

Edition:

A. Goldbacher ed., S. Augustini Hipponiensis Episcopi Epistulae, Pars 2, Ep. 31-123, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 34/2, Prague-Vienna-Leipzig 1898.

Translation:

Saint Augustine, Letters 100-155, trans. R. Teske, New York 2003.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR264.

Ecclesiastical administration - Ecclesiastical envoy

PR264.

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

PR264.

Relation with - Secular authority

PR264.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER598, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=598