Letter 26: Frequent and insistent complaints reach Gelasius about bishops who neither know the ancient canons nor obey his own...

Gelasius to the bishops Herculentius, Stephanus, and Justus. A frequent and persistent complaint indeed resounds about us concerning those bishops who, taking thought neither for the ancient rules nor for our decrees recently issued, do not turn away persons who, being liable and bound to estates [as bondsmen tied to the land], come forward to the belt [insignia] of clerical office. For recently the agents of the illustrious woman Placidia have lodged a complaint by the presentation of a petition, [stating] that Sabinus, bishop of the city of Marcellianum or Casilinum, seizing the occasion of the absence of their patroness, the mistress over Antiochus, a slave belonging by right to her, advanced him all the way to the honor of the presbyterate, and adorned his brother Leontius with the privilege of clerical office. And therefore, dearest brothers, we assign to you by our authority the investigation laid before [us] between the aforesaid agents and those who are reclaimed as being of the lowest condition: and, once the whole truth has been examined, if in fact [the party] cannot by reason dissolve the stain of resistance to justice charged against him, hand back in every way Leontius the cleric, whom the rank established by the laws does not protect, to follow the obligation of his kinship [as a bondsman]. But as for Antiochus, since on account of his priesthood he can no longer be taken back, if [his mistress] desires to place him in her own church in this honor in which he now is, let her have him not as one restored to her, but [let her regard him] as one received for the celebration of the mysteries.

(a.494 Oelasii papae ad Uerculentium. Stephanam et Justum —496) . ^ episcopos. Simiiiter de servis duohus Placidiae feminae Ulustris ordinatis deeertdt. p.; * Gelasius Herculentio, Stephano et Justo epi- scopis. Frequens equidem et assidua nos querela^ circumstrepit de his pontificibuS; qui neque antiquas regulas nec decreta nostra noviter directa cogitantes^ obnoxias possessionibus *) obhgatasque personas venientes ad clericalis officii cingulum non refutant. Nuper etenim actores illustris feminae Placidiae petitorii oblatione conquesti sunt, Sabinum Marcellianensis sive Casilinatis ^) urbis Antiochum servum juris patronae suae^ absentis dominae occassione captata, ad presby- terii honorem usque productum^), ejusque fratrem Leontium cleri- calis officii privilegio decorasse. Et ideo, fratres carissimi, inter 1 supradictos actores et eos^ qui conditionis extremae repetuntur, ob- jectam cognitionem vobis nostra auctoritate deputamus: et onmi veritatc discussa^ si revera objectam sibi maculam justitiae refraga- tionis nou potuerit ratione diluere; Leontium clericum, quem gradus praefinitus legibus nou defendit^ ad sequendam cognationis^) suae necessitatem modis omnibus redhibete. Antiochum vero, quia pn>- pter*) sacerdotium non jam potest retoUi, si in suam ecclesiam iii hoc, in quo est, honore desiderat coUocare^), non veluti redditom sibi, sed habeat pro mysterioriun ^) celebratione susceptum. uense I c. 8 ct conciliuin Aurclianense III c. 26. £t baec qaidem epistolae hiQat veritateni magifl ac magis coniirmant, quuni illam eo iuteryallo, quod num inter et Valentinianum III intercessit, conscriptam esse pateat. ') X' possessoHbus ^ moxque Q' iUigatasque personas venientet ad cingulum. •) Ita Q« Q« W D« T. Clusitanae Z. In fragmento 17 epistolae Pelagii I nd Petrum episcopum Potentinum 8cript«ie mentionem fieri videbiinas MarceiHtmen- sis ecclesiae sive Consilinatium. ') X' perductum. ®) Z hic addit domina, quod certe debet subaudiri. I EPISTOLAB 20 — 23. 389