The Presbyters Project

Chapter 21

48. De Spiritu sancto interroganti presbytero Abragile, per Commonitorium paruissimum testimonia protulit plura, docens eum cum Patre et Filio Deum unum simpliciter confitendum.

(ed. Isola 2016: 206)

Chapter 21

48. When Presbyter Abragil asked him about the Holy Spirit, Fulgentius brought forward many testimonies in a small Commonitorium, teaching him that he should be confessed simply as one God together with Father and Son.

(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

The meeting between Fulgentius and Abragil took place at the court of the Vandal King Thrasamund between the exiles of Fulgentius to Sardinia. I assume that Abragil was Arian because of the context: the precedent interlocutor of Fulgentius was an Arian bishop, and the general setting is the debate in front of the king, in which Fulgentius was expected to present the Catholic doctrine. Abragil does not seem to be a Germanic name, and of course it is not Latin, so it may have indigenous African origins.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Carthage

About the source:

Author: Ferrandus
Title: Vita Fulgentii, Life of Fulgentius
Origin: Carthage (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

None of the manuscripts transmitting the "Life of Fulgentius" provides the name of its author. It was firstly attributed to the deacon Ferrandus by Chifflet in 1649. This theory was largely accepted, by, among others, G.G. Lapeyre, who offered a critical edition of the "Life" in 1929. It was, however rejected by A. Isola in his 2016 edition for Corpus Christianorum, who retains it an anonymous work. It is dedicated to Felicianus, the successor of Fulgentius on the see of Ruspe, so it must have been written in a reasonable span of time after the death of Fulgentius in AD 533.

Edition:

A. Isola ed., Vita S. Fulgentii episcopi, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 91F, Turnhout 2016.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Arian

PR661.

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR661.

Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic

PR661.

Education - Theological interest

PR661.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1434, https://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1434