The Teaching of Priscillian - 2

Wayside shrine at La Vega, Asturias; on the Camino de Santiago  (The Way of St. James)

Question 3 - "On what basis were the Priscillianist churches organised? Hierarchical or Familial?" (1)

The relationship between Jesus and His followers is portrayed in the Gospels as 'familial'. "Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother". (2) And the instruction given by Jesus to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection -  " go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." (3)

The early records of the Christian Church as shown in the letters of St. Paul (4) give an outline of the development of an incipient hierarchical order. Over a period of some 150 years, this moved the infant church from being a series of meetings held in the homes of 'patrons' e.g. Prisca and Aquila (Romans 16 vv.3-5) and Nympha at Laodicea (Colossians 4 v.15) to an organised structure with presbyter / bishops and deacons.

It would seem that there was a fairly rapid transition from small groups meeting for prayer and teaching in the homes of individuals, to a form modeled along the lines of the Jewish Synagogue or the Roman 'school hall'. This would inevitably lead to a more centralised organisation with one 'bishop' having oversight of the church groups in a town or city.
It is suggested that this move away from the 'church in the household' to the 'church of the area', from a 'religion of the private space of a household' to the 'religion of the public sphere of a temple', (5) led to the exclusion of women from leadership. The traditional role and influence of women in Greek and Roman culture was within the household. This meant that she could (and did) have a responsibility and role in the church meetings 'in her house'.
When the church meetings moved into the public sphere there were tensions regarding the role of women - see l Corinthians chapter 11. Toriesen summarises this as "The good woman who stayed at home was chaste; the public woman was, by definition, loose." (6) 

With this background, we can look again at the accusations brought against the Priscillianists, recorded in the canons of the Council of Saragossa A.D.380 (7):-
(i) Women attending Bible-readings in the houses of men to whom they are unrelated.
(ii) Fasting on Sundays and withdrawal from the worship of the church during Lent and Advent.
(iv) Recession into cells and mountain retreats.
(viii) The title of 'teacher' being granted to unauthorised persons. (presumably laymen).

Along with the comment about Priscillian's women companions  as  "an abandoned company of loose females" (8) it would appear that the customary worship of the Priscillianists was in the private sphere. Within the Familial security of a 'house-church' women could, and did, play a full part. - There is the possibility that (viii) above was a condemnation, not only of 'lay-teachers and preachers' but also of women taking that role!
In the paper by Ana Maria C.M. Jorge, she says :- "One of the accusations leveled at Priscillian was that he led the Christians of the towns to go to isolated villae in the country. "(9)

To summarise:- All the evidence on the early development of the Priscillianists show it to be a house-church movement, outside the control and supervision of the hierarchical leadership of the 'catholic' church. This  would, of necessity, be condemned by the diocesan bishops, who were concerned to  defend their positions of power.

The basis on which the Priscillianist churches were organised would appear to be Familial.
               

(1) This question is asked byVirginia Burrus:-  "Was the church a "political" community in which relationships between individuals were sharply delineated by the hierarchical ranks of office and gender? Or was it a "familiar" social body in which relationships were ordered by the more fluid hierarchies of birth, material resources, experience, education, or personal gifts of insight or eloquence?"
 Virginia Burrus. "The Making of a Heretic. Gender, Authority, and the Priscillianist Controversy". University of California Press 1995.
(2) Matthew 12, verses 46 -50
(3) John 20, verse 17
(4) e.g. 1 Thessalonians is usually dated to about A.D.52 through to 2 Timothy dated to about A.D.67
(5) Karen Jo Toriesen "When women were priests" Harper Collins 1995. p. 37
(6) Toriesen. p. 143
(7) C.H.Turner Eccles. occid.momument iuris antiqu. i. 417 - 24 
(8)  Sulpicius Severus. Chron ll 48.1
(9) Ana Maria C.M. Jorge. The Lusitanian Episcopate in the 4th Century: Priscillian of Ávila and the Tensions Between Bishops
     Center for the Study of Religious History (CEHR). Portuguese Catholic University (UCP)