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Presbyters Serving as Pastors in Roman Africa
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James Patout Burns
Published/Copyright:
July 10, 2021
Abstract
Presbyters served as individual pastors for rural congregations or at a regional church in the city of Carthage or another city, such as Sufetula, that had multiple churches and congregations. Twenty such presbyters can be identified by name or location. A presbyter or group of presbyters also might serve as a substitute for a bishop who was travelling, disabled, or between the death of one bishop and consecration of a successor. One such presbyter (Heraclius of Hippo) can be identified as long-term administrator for Augustine. Augustine’s correspondence and the legislation of the African bishops—usually on disciplinary issues—provides most of the information about presbyters serving as pastors. The legislation of the African church restricted the authority of these presbyters to baptize and to perform other actions that changed the status of a member of the congregation: admit penitents to communion apart from emergencies, to consecrate virgins. Although the legislation referred to the presbyter as praepositus, the person placed in charge, presbyteral pastors acted under the supervision of the bishop.
Keywords: presbyters; pastoral office; rural congregations; rural churches; church legislation; Roman African Christianity
Published Online: 2021-07-10
Published in Print: 2021-07-27
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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- “Neither Poverty nor Riches”: Ambrosiaster and the Problem of Clerical Compensation
- Audientia sacerdotalis?—Remarks on the Legal Nature of Dispute Resolution by Ecclesiastics in Late Antiquity
- Rezensionen
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- Philipp Pilhofer: Das Martyrium des Konon von Bidana in Isaurien. Einleitung, Text und Übersetzung, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 188, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2020, XX + 195 S., ISBN 978-3-11-064105-9, € 99,95.
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- Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich and Stefan Rebenich, eds.: Interreligiöse Konflikte im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert. Julian „Contra Galilaeos“ – Kyrill „Contra Iulianum“, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 181 (Berlin: de Gruyter) 2019, XV + 292 pp., ISBN 978-3-11-055124-2, € 99,95.
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Keywords for this article
presbyters;
pastoral office;
rural congregations;
rural churches;
church legislation;
Roman African Christianity
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Clerics and Their Multiple Roles in Late Antique Christianity—Introduction
- Artikel
- How Numerous and How Busy were Late-Antique Presbyters?
- The Role of Clerics in North African Third-Century Martyr Narratives
- From Slave to Bishop. Callixtus’ Early Ecclesial Career and Mechanisms of Clerical Promotion
- Presbyters Serving as Pastors in Roman Africa
- “Neither Poverty nor Riches”: Ambrosiaster and the Problem of Clerical Compensation
- Audientia sacerdotalis?—Remarks on the Legal Nature of Dispute Resolution by Ecclesiastics in Late Antiquity
- Rezensionen
- Pedro Barceló: Die Alte Welt. Von Land und Meer, Herrschaft und Krieg, Mythos, Kult und Erlösung, Darmstadt (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft) 2019, 704 S., ISBN 978-3-8053-5186-7, € 35,–.
- Anna Usacheva und Anders-Christian Jacobsen, Hgg.: Christian Discourse in Late Antiquity: Hermeneutical, Institutional and Textual Perspectives, Paderborn (Ferdinand Schöningh) 2020, XIV + 249 S., ISBN 978-3-506-70346-0, € 84,76.
- Paul R. Gilliam III: Ignatius of Antioch and the Arian Controversy, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 140, Leiden (Brill) 2017, XII + 258 S., ISBN 978-90-04-34287-3, € 120,–.
- Philipp Pilhofer: Das Martyrium des Konon von Bidana in Isaurien. Einleitung, Text und Übersetzung, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 188, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2020, XX + 195 S., ISBN 978-3-11-064105-9, € 99,95.
- Blossom Stefaniw: Christian Reading: Language, Ethics, and the Order of Things, Oakland (University of California Press) 2019, X + 249 S., ISBN 978-0-520-30061-3, $ 95,–.
- Gerlinde Huber-Rebenich and Stefan Rebenich, eds.: Interreligiöse Konflikte im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert. Julian „Contra Galilaeos“ – Kyrill „Contra Iulianum“, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 181 (Berlin: de Gruyter) 2019, XV + 292 pp., ISBN 978-3-11-055124-2, € 99,95.
- Jutta Günther: Musik als Argument spätantiker Kirchenväter. Untersuchungen zu Laktanz, Euseb, Chrysostomos und Augustinus, PHILIPPIKA. Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. Contributions to the Study of Ancient World Cultures 132, Wiesbaden (Harrassowitz) 2019, X + 383 S., ISBN 978-3-44-11199-7, € 84,–.
- Patrick Brimioulle: Das Konzil von Konstantinopel 536, Roma Aeterna. Beiträge zu Spätantike und Frühmittelalter 8, Stuttgart (Franz Steiner) 2020, 323 pp., ISBN 978-3-515-12666-3, € 58,–.
- Rita Lizzi Testa und Giulia Marconi, Hgg.: The Collectio Avellana and Its Revivals, Newcastle upon Tyne (Cambridge Scholars) 2019, XXXII + 650 S., ISBN 978-1-5275-2150-6, £ 105,99.
