Ancient door lintel - Paradela, Toques, Spain
Ana Maria C.M. Jorge states:-
"Priscillian helps us to achieve a better understanding of the Christianization process and the orthodox/heterodox debate in late antiquity. He also provides insight into the complexity of a period which precludes any arbitrary simplification and which, despite a search for unity, proves to be a time of opposition and confrontation." (2)In spite of the Synod of Nicaea and their creed (A.D. 325), the years immediately following were a time of uncertainty. There were a number of attempts to overthrow the "orthodoxy" of the Nicene Formulas which were seen as the work of a minority in the Church. Arianism was still a force to be reckoned with. In 385, Justina, the mother of the boy Emperor of Rome, had asked Bishop Ambrose to give permission for an Arian basilica to be dedicated in Milan. As late as 585 the Visigoth conquerors of northern Spain were Arian Christians.
Questions were also being asked around the relationship of the Divinity and Humanity of Christ and answered in various ways. A form of Monarchianism seems to have been held by Priscillian without it being condemned as a heresy - i.e. it was an acceptable form of Christianity at that time.
Priscillian's version of Christianity seems to have rapidly become popular with women and country folk, especially those in the upper classes of society. His rigorist teaching, along with an ascetic way of life can easily be understood as a challenge to the city dwelling bishops of the time. Sulpicius Severus was among those who "bitterly attacked the western bishops of his time whose principal care was either to maximize the return from their estates, or, if not landowners, to go about begging, so that in either case, whether rich or poor, their single obsession was money". (3)
When this is compared to the absoluteness of the Priscillian demand "None can be Christ's disciple if he loves anyone more than God", and the acceptance of baptism entails "a total abandonment of the foul darkness of secular activities" (4) it was inevitable that there would be a reaction from some of the more 'worldly' bishops of the time.
The following statement appears to summarise the situation!
Priscillianism was:-"One of the first protest movements against the corruption and vice of the orthodox catholic clerics" (5)
Opposition to the teaching
In a desire to prevent the “sect” from growing, Idacius of Mérida and Ithacius of Ossonuba, (modern Estoi near Faro in the Algarve) denounced the Priscillianist movement to Gratian in 381. The Emperor immediately published an edict ordering the Spanish bishops to expel the “heretics from their churches: "... (6)In response the bishops Instantius, Salvianus and Priscillian travelled to Rome. On the way they passed through Aquitania where they were joined by the widow Euchrotia, her daughter Procula and other women. S. Severus represents these as "an abandoned company of loose females". Chadwick notes that "this feminine company with the three bishops was a serious imprudence" but with Priscillian's known opinion on the equality of women it is understandable.
The request for an audience with Damasus, the bishop of Rome fell on deaf ears.(7) The bishops Instantius, Priscillian and Salvianus went on to Milan hoping to have an audience with bishop Ambrose. While they were there it seems that Salvianus died. Once again they were refused. They did however (by means of bribery?) obtain an imperial rescript restoring them to their churches. (8)
On the return of Priscillian and Instantius to Spain, bishop Ithacius repeatedly attempted to resist their restoration to their bishoprics, holding that they were heretical. At this point Priscillian and his party seem to have had the upper hand (or more influence in the right places!) as they obtained an order for the arrest of Ithacius as "perturbator ecclesiarum" (9) Ithacius fled to the imperial city of Trier in Gaul and found refuge with the bishop Brittanus.
In A.D. 383 the emperor Gratian was assassinated and Magnus Maximus took power and entered Trier as the new emperor.
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Notes
(1) Council of Burdigala (Bordeaux) at which Bishop Instantius was deposed was in A.D. 385. From there Priscillian appealed to the Emperor at Trier. (See next blog post)
(2) Ana Maria C.M. Jorge - Abstract
(3) Chadwick p.5 (1975 ed.) quoting Sulpicius Severus Chron l: 23
(4) Wurzburg Tractates (Tract. ii pp.34 f. Schepss) The Tractates were a Priscillian statement of faith.
See next post for more detail.
(5) "uno de los primeros movimientos de protesta contra la corrupción y el vicio del clero católico ortodoxo" La Historia con Mapas. Biografía de Priscilianismo (s. IV-VI) - (My translation)
(6) Sulpicius Severus Chron ll 47.2
(7) The petition addressed to Damasus appears as the second of the Wurzburg Tractates.
(8) Sulpicius Severus Chron ll 48.2
(9) Sulpicius Severus Chron ll 49.1
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