Everything about The Synod Of Elvira totally explained
The
Synod of Elvira () was an ecclesiastical
synod held in
Hispania Baetica, which ranks among the more important provincial synods, for the breadth of its canons. Its date can't be determined with exactness, but is believed to be in the first quarter of the fourth century. It was one of three councils, together with the
Synod of Arles and the
Synod of Ancyra, that first approached the character of general councils and prepared the way for the first
ecumenical council. It was attended by nineteen bishops, and twenty-six presbyters, mostly from
Hispania Baetica. Deacons and laymen were also present.
Date of the synod
The solution of the question of the date hinges upon the interpretation of the canons, that is, upon whether they're to be taken as reflecting a recent persecution, or as redacted in a time of peace, that's either after or before the
persecution under Diocletain. Thus the earliest investigators,
Louis Duchesne and Victor De Clercq argue for a date between 300 and 303, for example before the persecution under
Diocletian; others for a date between 303 and 314, after the persecution, but before the
Synod of Arles; a few others argue for a date between the synod of Arles and the
Council of Nicaea, (325).
Karl Josef von Hefele and
Robert William Dale follow early compilers of the canons
Giovanni Domenico Mansi and
Jean Hardouin in agreement upon 305 or 306, while Hennecke concludes that "the whole attitude points to a time of peace, not to one immediately following a persecution; the complete absence of any provisions as to the case of the lapsed is enough to preclude the modern theory as to the date".
The meeting place
The place of meeting, Eliberri, rendered as Elvira, wasn't far from the modern
Granada, if not, as A.W. Dale and Edgar Hennecke think, actually identical with it. There the nineteen bishops and twenty-four presbyters, mostly from
Hispania Baetica and
Carthago Nova, assembled, probably at the instigation of
Hosius of Córdoba, but under the presidency of Felix of Accitum (
Guadix) in Baetica, probably by virtue of his being the oldest bishop present, with a view to restoring order and discipline in the church. The canons which were adopted reflect with considerable fulness the internal life and external relations of the Spanish Church of the fourth century. The reputation of this council drew to its canons further canons that came to be associated with the Synod of Elvira.
The canons
Victor De Clercq notes "that except for
Ossius of Cordova, we know practically nothing about these men, nor do we know with certainty when and why the council was held, and that the church of Spain is one of the least known in pre-constantinian times". The social environment of
Christians in Hispania may be inferred from the canons prohibiting marriage and other intercourse with
Jews,
pagans and
heretics, closing the offices of
flamen and
duumvir to Christians, forbidding all contact with
idolatry and likewise participation in pagan festivals and public games. The state of morals is mirrored in the canons denouncing prevalent vices. The canons respecting the clergy exhibit the clergy as already a special class with particular privileges, as acting under a more exacting moral standard, with heavier penalties for delinquency. The
bishop has acquired control of the
sacraments,
presbyters and
deacons acting only under his orders; the episcopate appears as a unit, bishops being bound to respect one anothers' disciplinary decrees.
Maurice Meigne considers that only the first twenty-one canons in the list that has been transmitted were promulgated at Elvira; the remainder having been added to the collection.
By the terms of canon 1, lapsed Christians were forbidden the holy communion even
in articulo mortis, an unusually severe application of
Novatianist principles, which had divided the church since the recovery from mid third-century persecutions: compare the severity of
Cyprian of Carthage. The subject of this leading canon is a major indication for a date following recent persecution.
Among the later canons, of especial note are canon 33, enjoining
celibacy upon all clerics, married or not, and all who minister at the altar (the most ancient canon of
clerical celibacy); canon 36, forbidding pictures in churches (compare the
Iconoclastic Controversy in the East); canon 38, permitting lay
baptism under certain conditions; and canon 53, forbidding one
bishop to restore a person
excommunicated by another.
Documentation
The scanty documentation of the Synod of Elvira was first assembled by Ferdinand de Mendoza,
De confirmando Concilio IIIiberitano ad Clementem VIII, 1593.
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