Abstract
The article attempts to determine the circle of people who participated in the election or appointment of bishops of the Christian Church of the 4th-5th centuries and their ordination, as well as those who could infl uence the selection and approval of candidates, on the basis of monuments of canon law of this era - the Council rules and the “Apostolic decrees”. In the period under review, both in the east and in the west, a monarchical episcopate was already formed, a system of metropolitans existed and a “pentarchy” was being formed - the rise of the thrones in the fi ve largest and oldest centers of Christianity, to which the metropolises and eparchies, those were part of their dioceses, were subordinated. This time is extremely rich in councils, on the basis of the defi nitions of which the canon law of the Christian Church was created. In this work, we examine those council’s defi nitions, that governed the election and appointment of bishops, in addition, special attention is paid to the rights of laity and clergy, so we research not only the rules directly regulating the election and ordination procedure, but also decisions regarding relationships already consecrated bishops with their fl ock. The study showed that out of 22 rules, that one way or another are concerned with the selection of candidates, their ordination as bishops and subsequent relations with the people (acceptance or rejection) - only one allows lay people to participate in election, and two allow clergymen. In the vast majority of cases, the appointment of a bishop is the prerogative of the episcopate, among which the main characters stand out as metropolitans and collegiums of local bishops under them. A number of rules explicitly prohibit laity to infl uence the choice of bishops. The canons as a whole also reinforce the tradition of conciliar (not sole) ordination; at the same time, the law in the field of regulating the elections of the main bishops of the dioceses (future “patriarchs” and popes) and the metropolitans is very poorly developed: the few rules governing such elections are insufficient and vary among themselves depending on time and region.
Keywords
Late Antiquity, Christianity; election of bishops; council’ rules; undivided Church; election of the metropolitans; ordination.
Aksakov, N.P. 1906: Ob izbranii episkopov v drevney khristianskoy Tserkvi [On the election of bishops in the ancient Christian Church]. Saint Petersburg.
Alberigo, G., Melloni, A. (ed.) 2011: Corpus Christianorum – Conciliorum oecumenicorum generaliumqe decretal. Vol. 1. Turnhout.
Barnes, T. D. 2017: Emperors and Bishops of Constantinople (324–431). In: G.E. Demacopoulos (ed.), Christianity, Democracy, and the Shadow of Constantine (Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought). New York, 175–201.
Bolotov, V.V. 2008: Lektsii po istorii drevney Tserkvi. T. 3–4 [Lectures on the history of the ancient church]. Vol. 3–4. Moscow–Minsk.
Fyustel’ de Kulanzh, N.D. 1904: Istoriya obshchestvennogo stroya Drevney Frantsii. [The history of the social system of ancient France]. Saint Petersburg.
Griffe, É. 1966: La Gaule chrétienne à l’époque romaine. Vol. II, III. Paris.
Griffith, P. 2018: Canon Law in Post-Imperial Gaul. PhD Thesis. London.
Hefele, C.J. 2007: History of the Councils of the Church: from the Original Documents, to the close of the Second Council of Nicaea A.D. 787. Vol. 1–4. Portland.
Karpant’e, Zh., Lebren, F. 2007: Istoriya Frantsii [History of France]. Saint Petersburg.
Mansi, J.D. (ed.) 1769: Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova Amplissima Collectio. Vol. 2–7. Florentia.
Mitrofanov, A.Yu. 2006: Istoriya tserkovnykh soborov v Italii (IV–V vv.) [The history of church councils in Italy (the 4th and 5th centuries)]. Moscow.
Patsavos, L.J. 2007: A Noble Task: Entry into the Clergy in the First Five Centuries. Brookline.
Rapp, C. 2005: Holy bishops in late antiquity. The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Transition. Los Angeles–London.
Salzman, M.R. 2004: The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religion Change in the Western Roman Empire. Cambridge.
Smirnov, E. 1872: Istoriya khristianskoy Tserkvi. Vypusk 2 (313–1054) [The history of the Christian church. Iss. 2 (313–1054)]. Ryazan.
Solodovnikov, V. 2008: Pervye Gall’skie sobory IV–V вв. [The fi rst Gallic councils of the 4th and 5th centuries]. Moscow.
Talberg, N. 1991: Istoriya khristianskoy tserkvi [The history of the Christian church.]. Pt. 1. Moscow.
Telminov, E.A. 2009: Khristianskaya tserkov’ v obshchestvenno-politicheskoy zhizni Gallii V v. n. e. [The Christian Church in the socio-political life of Gaul in the 5th century AD]. Tobolsk.
Torjesen, K.J. 2008: Clergy and laity. In: S. Harvey (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies. Oxford, 389–405.
Vishnevskiy, A.A. 2006: Kanonicheskoe pravo. Drevnyaya Tserkov’ i zapadnaya traditsiya [Canon Law. Ancient Church and Western Tradition]. Moscow.