Volume 25, Issue 1 - Themenheft: Clerics and Their Multiple Roles in Late Antique Christianity Gastherausgeber: Robert Wiśniewski

This article seeks to count late-antique clergy and assess their workload. It estimates the number of clerics, and particularly presbyters, in Christian communities of various sizes, and investigates how and why the ratio of clerics to laypersons changed over time. First, by examining the situation in the city of Rome, it demonstrates that the growth in the ranks of the presbyters from the third to the fifth century was slow, and argues that this resulted from the competing interests of the bishops, lay congregation, rich donors, and above all the middle clergy. It is the last group who were reluctant to raise their number as this had a negative impact on their income. The results of this phenomenon can also be seen in other big sees of Christendom, in which, in Late Antiquity, there was one presbyter per several thousand laypersons. Interestingly, in smaller towns, this ratio was significantly lower, and in the countryside, it remained in the lower hundreds. Second, this article shows how the changing ratio of clerics to laypersons affected the level of professionalization of the former. In the big cities, the ecclesiastical duties of presbyters who served in a growing community were getting heavier. This turned the presbyters into full-time religious ministers, at the same time making them even more dependent on ecclesiastical income. In the towns and villages, however, the pattern was different. In the places in which one presbyter served a very small community, his job was less time-consuming but also brought him less income. In consequence, rural presbyters had to support their families through craft work, commerce, or farming, and they had time for this.

The comparison of the role of the clergy in the Passio Perpetuae , the Vita Cypriani , the Passio Mariani et Iacobi , and the Passio Lucii et Montani reveals that tensions around the respective authorities of clerics and martyrs/confessors continue to divide Christians in Carthage after the death of Cyprian.

Bishop Callixtus I of Rome (217?–222?) is well known for his position as manager of the κοιμητήριον, the earliest subterranean community burial ground, today known as the Catacombs of Callixtus. Less well documented, but particularly formative is, however, Callixtus’ early ecclesial career starting with his recognition as an authentic confessor shortly after his return from the mines of Sardinia. This contribution aims to shed some light on this formative period and explores the mechanisms behind Callixtus’ promotion to paid ecclesial ministry. It argues that Callixtus’ association with the clergy was neither an honorary, that is, automatic admission, nor merely a pious act to honour his individual and spiritual achievement. It seems, it was also a powerful instrument to financially support, integrate, and if necessary, control independent spiritual authorities. Moreover, Callixtus’ installation in active ministry, as well as that of other confessors, show typical patterns of client-patron relationship.

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.

In several places the anonymous Roman presbyter, now known as “Ambrosiaster,” expressed concern over the compensation given to presbyters. This article examines his comments in the context of several fourth-century developments: first, restrictions imposed on the members of the curial class in respect to holding clerical office, a phenomenon attested both in imperial legislation and in patristic sources; second, the spread of ascetical ideals of clerical life, fostered especially by writers such as Ambrose and Jerome. While Ambrosiaster shared the view that a member of the clergy ( ecclesiasticus ) should abstain from “worldly business activities” ( negotia saecularia ), in contrast to his more ascetic contemporaries, he stressed the importance of adequate payment for the clergy and encouraged wealthy Christians to provide it.

The problem of audientia episcopalis in late antiquity has been the subject of extensive research in the past. Previous studies have usually focussed on the legal doctrine, as well as the picture of bishop courts in the light of the literary sources. In contrast, the question of how audientia episcopalis functioned in the legal practice as shown by papyri has caused scholars much difficulty, due to the limited material available as well as the obscure nature of the institution. One could therefore ask: how is it possible that such allegedly common practice of dispute resolution by the bishops—as literary sources make us believe—is so elusive in the papyri? How to explain the simultaneous increase for that period of the papyrological attestations regarding arbitration/mediation carried out by the clergy of lower rank? Could we be dealing with some sort of audientia sacerdotalis functioning in the legal practice? How widespread was in fact the audientia episcopalis , and was this institution homogeneous or rather heterogeneous in nature? The paper presents the attempt to answer these questions by confronting the imperial law with the evidence of legal practice.