The Teaching of Priscillian - 3

The Roman Walls of Lugo (Galicia)  



The Porta do Carme (Puerta Mina) - One of the Roman gateways through the walls of Lugo

Question 4 - "What was Priscillian's attitude to ordaining clergy (bishops) with an itinerant ministry?" (i.e. not having a defined 'See')

Ana Maria C.M. Jorge (1) says "As to the issue of episcopal ordinations, after Priscillian’s death, Hydatius of Chaves (2) tells us that at the beginning of the 5th century there was a very unusual situation in the neighboring province of Galicia: increasing numbers of bishops without specific seats, and conflict between an established hierarchy and an itinerant one – in other words, a confrontation between two different visions of the episcopate [see Díaz y Díaz 1983: 93  - (3)]".

The answer to Question 3 (see previous post) has a direct bearing on the issue of ordinations. If the small rural community churches were to be fully self-contained within the 'Catholic Church' and have a regular celebration of the Eucharist, then an ordained 'local' ministry would be needful. As we saw in the previous blog, the trend within the 'orthodox' church seems to have been for a concentration of church ministry within towns and cities. Small rural communities appear to have been left outside any heirarchical organisation.

This has been a problem for the Christian church down the ages! The evangelisation of remote areas, even today, often depends on lay evangelists. The 'control' and 'organisation' of such churches by the bishop / priest in the nearest town, often many miles distant, appears to leave a lot to be desired. The ethos of these small village churches is based on meetings within the home of one of the leading Christian families, with worship being led by the 'elder of the household'.
                               
A 'familial based church' still does not fit easily into our western, european based, church order!

In the Priscillianist churches the answer to the oversight of small rural Christian communities would seem to have been a proliferation of intinerant bishops / priests. They appear to have been independent of the heirachical structure and not answerable to the diocesan bishop based in the city. 

Again -  Ana Maria C. M. Jorge says:-
"The Council of Toledo in 400 sufficed in its own right to reveal the problems from which the Hispanian churches were suffering at around the turn of the century. We should recall that in general terms the Council sought to ensure orthodoxy in Hispania by admitting the credo and discipline established by the Council of Nicaea. . . . . . What was really at stake was the hierarchical model of the church that had been emphasized at Nicaea, which was opposed to any other concept of Christian life, and particularly to any organization of the church by the community. [see Escribano Paño 1995: 271 - ]."(4)

Priscillian's teachings and practices seem to have been incompatible with the organization of the heirachical church as it was then established. His teachings were at odds with the lifestyle of many of the bishops of his day. As we have seen, even S. Severus in his condemnation of Priscillian, has to admit that Ithacius was a man "without weight, without any touch of holiness; talkative, impudent, given to high living, much enjoying the pleasures of the stomach and a gormandizer". (5) If this was an example of the standard of life in the leadership of the Church at that time, then Priscillian would have had widespread support among the ordinary people of his day.

"What Priscillian wanted was to reform the church. He thought that the separation of men and women was not inevitable and that the fundamental thing was to seek out the traditional practices of Christian asceticism" (Mayeur 1995: 415 et seq.).(6)

And finally :-  "We should note that the confrontation between town and country also became a part of the process by which Priscillian and his entourage made Christianity an established part of culture. The fact is that it seems that, thanks to Priscillianist practices, Christianity spread out into the rural areas, which were still within the towns’ sphere of influence." (7)

With the evidence we have, it would appear that either Priscillian himself, or his followers soon after his martyrdom, ordained clergy to an itinerant ministry in the countryside. This would be in keeping with what we have already learned of his beliefs and practices and would be necessary for the independence of the Priscillianist churches.


After a brief summary we will move on to a consideration of the theological beliefs of Priscillian, as revealed in his writings.


(1) 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)

(2) Hydatius of Chaves (Chronicle 1974: 104)

(3) - This quote is from - Díaz y Díaz, M. C. (1983). L'expansion du christianisme et les tensions épiscopales dans la Péninsule ibérique. Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique, 6: 84-94.

(4) Escribano Paño, M. V. (1995). Cristianización y lideranzo en la Lusitania tardía. In IV Reunió de Arqueología (Paleo)Cristiana Hispànica. Barcelona: Ed. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 267-275. Quoted in Jorge. opp.cit.

(5) Sulplicius Severus quoted in Chadwick opp.cit. p.149

(6) Mayeur, J. M. dir. (1995). Histoire du christianisme: Naisssance d’une chrétienté (415 ff.). Vol. 2. Desclée. Quoted in Jorge. opp.cit.

(7) Jorge. opp.cit.