Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 77
Canon 65 of the Council of Elvira orders clerics to expell their adulterous wives. Collection of canons associated with the Council of Elvira (Iberian Peninsula), ca AD 300/600.
Canon 65
 
De adulteris uxoribus clericorum.
 
Si cuius clerici uxor fuerit moechata et scierit eam maritus suus moechari et non eam statim proiecerit, nec in finem accipiat communionem, ne ab his qui exemplum bonae conversationis esse debent, ab eis uideantur scelerum magisteria procedere.
 
(eds. Martínez Díez, Rodríguez 1984: 263)
Canon 65
 
On the adulterous wives of the clerics.
 
If a cleric knows that his wife commited adultery and he does not expel her immediately, he shall not receive communion even before death, so that it does not seem that those who should give an example of a good life follow the teachings of sin.
 
(trans. M. Szada)
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Elvira

About the source:

Title: Council of Elvira, Concilium Eliberritanum
Origin: Elvira (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The exact date of the council and the nature of the Elvira canons continues to be debated. Vilella and Barred 2006, Villela 2014 argue that it is a late, heterogenous compilation created in many phases between the late 4th century and the second half of the 6th. The unitary view is defended by Sotomayor and Berdugo Villena, in Sotomayor, Fernandez Ubina eds. 2008: 89-114. The council is usually dated to the first quarter of the 4th century, see Sotomayor in Sotomayor, Fernandez Ubina eds. 2008: 137-168). For a more complete account of the recent research on the Council of Elvira see Sánchez 2008.
Edition:
Editions:
Concilium Eliberritanum, in: J. Vives ed., Concilios visigóticos e hispano-romanos, Barcelona-Madrid 1963.
G. Martínez Díez, F. Rodríguez, eds., La colección canónica Hispana, v. 4 Concilios Galos. Concilios Hispanos: primera parte, Madrid 1984.
Bibliography:
M.J.L. Sánchez, "L’état actuel de la recherche sur le concile d’Elvire", Revue des sciences religieuses 82 (2008), 517-546.
M. Sotomayor and T. Berdugo Villena, "Valoración de las actas" in: M. Sotomayor, J. Fernández Ubiña, El Concilio de Elvira y su tiempo, Granada 2005, 89-114.
M. Sotomayor, "Sobre la fecha del concilio" in: M. Sotomayor, J. Fernández Ubiña, El Concilio de Elvira y su tiempo, Granada 2005, 137-168.
J. Vilella, P.-E. Barreda, Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, "¿Cánones del Concilio de Elvira o Cánones Pseudoiliberritanos?", Augustinianum 46 (2006), 285-373.
J. Vilella, "The Pseudo-Iliberritan Canon Texts", Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity 18 (2014), 210-259..

Categories:

Family life - Marriage
    Family life - Separation/Divorce
      Described by a title - Clericus
        Impediments or requisits for the office - Improper/Immoral behaviour
          Relation with - Wife
            Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
              Administration of justice - Excommunication/Anathema
                Private law - Ecclesiastical
                  Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER77, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=77