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67-474: The principal and almost contemporary source for the career of Priscillian is the Gallic chronicler Sulpicius Severus , who characterized him ( Chronica II.46) as noble and rich, a layman who had devoted his life to study, and was vain of his classical pagan education. Priscillian was born around 340, into the nobility, possibly in northwestern Hispania ( Gallaecia ), and was well-educated. About 370, he initiated

134-407: A bureaucratic role as monitors of the imperial administration, to the magister . Control of the feared agentes , or magistriani as they were also known, gave the office great power. The office rose quickly in importance: initially ranked as a regimental commander, tribunus , by the end of Constantine's reign the magister was a comes and member of the imperial consistorium was one of

201-423: A catalogue of miracles, told in all the simplicity of absolute belief. The power to work miraculous signs is assumed to be in direct proportion to holiness, and is by Severus valued merely as an evidence of holiness, which he is persuaded can only be attained through a life of isolation from the world. In the first of his Dialogues (fair models of Cicero ), Severus puts into the mouth of an interlocutor (Posthumianus)

268-402: A civil tribunal, and worked to reduce the persecution. Pope Siricius censured not only Ithacius but the emperor himself. On receiving information from Maximus, he excommunicated Ithacius and his associates. On an official visit to Augusta Treverorum, Ambrose refused to give any recognition to Ithacius, "not wishing to have anything to do with bishops who had sent heretics to their death". Before

335-656: A close follower. According to Raymond E. Brown (1995), the source of the Comma Johanneum , a later insertion into the First Epistle of John , known since the fourth century, appears to be the Latin Liber Apologeticus by Priscillian. The modern assessment of Priscillian is summed up by Henry Chadwick (1976). Sulpicius Severus Sulpicius Severus ( / s ʌ l ˈ p ɪ ʃ ə s ˈ s ɛ v ər ə s / ; c. 363 – c. 425)

402-449: A form which lovers of Sallust and Tacitus could appreciate and enjoy. The style is lucid, almost classical. In order that his work might fairly stand beside that of the old Latin writers, Severus ignored the allegorical approach to interpreting sacred history that had been favoured by both heretics and the orthodox of his age. As an authority on the period prior to his own, Severus offers few guarantees and rarely corrects or supplements

469-605: A large majority, who invoked the aid of Maximus against their erring brethren. In this connection, the account given by Severus of the Council of Rimini in 359, where the question arose whether the bishops attending the assembly might lawfully receive money from the imperial treasury to recoup their travelling and other expenses, is notable. Severus evidently approved the action of the British and Gaulish bishops, who deemed it unbecoming that they should lie under pecuniary obligation to

536-439: A large part of the western portion of the empire, though he never conquered Italy. He had reproached him with attacking and overthrowing his predecessors on the throne, and for his dealings with the church. Severus loses no opportunity for laying stress on the crimes and follies of rulers, and on their cruelty, though he once declares that, cruel as rulers could be, priests could be crueller still. This last statement has reference to

603-570: A movement in favour of asceticism. Priscillian advocated studying not only the Bible, but also apocryphal books. His followers, who were won over by his eloquence and his severely ascetic example, included the bishops Instantius and Salvianus. According to Priscillian, apostles, prophets, and "doctors" (in the Latin sense of "teachers") are the divinely appointed orders of the Church, preeminence being due

670-407: A pleasing description of the life of coenobites and solitaries in the deserts bordering on Egypt . The main evidence of the virtue attained by them lies in the voluntary subjection to them of the savage beasts among which they lived. But Severus was no indiscriminating adherent of monasticism. The same dialogue shows him to be alive to its dangers and defects. The second dialogue is a large appendix to

737-544: A short biography by the historian Gennadius of Massilia . Born of noble parents in Aquitaine, Severus enjoyed excellent educational advantages. He was imbued with the culture of his time and of his country, a centre of Latin letters and learning. He studied jurisprudence in Burdigala (Modern Bordeaux) and was renowned as an eloquent lawyer; his knowledge of Roman law is reflected in parts of his writings. He married

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804-399: Is mentioned in the decrees. The synod forbade certain practices. It forbade assumption of the title of "doctor", and forbade clerics from becoming monks on the motivation of a more perfect life; women were not to be given the title of " virgins " until they had reached the age of forty. Michael Kulikowski characterizes the concern at Zaragoza as the relationship between town and country, and

871-532: Is urged. Priscillian placed considerable weight on apocryphal books , not as being inspired but as helpful in discerning truth and error. It was long thought that all his writings had perished, but in 1885, Georg Schepss discovered at the University of Würzburg eleven genuine tracts, published in the CSEL in 1886.Though they bear Priscillian's name, four describing Priscillian's trial appear to have been written by

938-539: The Scholae Palatinae . He was also appointed head of the palatine secretariats, divided into four bureaux, the sacra scrinia , each under a respective magister : the scrinium memoriae , the scrinium epistularum , the scrinium libellorum and the scrinium epistolarum Graecarum . The first bureau handled imperial decisions called annotationes , because they were notes made by the emperor on documents presented to him, and also handled replies to petitions to

1005-896: The Chronicle of Severus, and going down to 511. The chief editions of the complete works of Severus are those by De Prato (Verona, 1741) and by Halm (forming volume i. of the Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum , Vienna, 1866). There is a most admirable monograph on the Chronicle by J. Bernays (Berlin, 1861). See also Goelzer, Grammaticae in Sulp. Severum observationes (1884) (thesis). Severus' works are to be found in P.L. 20, 95-248; later edition by Karl Halm, Opera , CSEL 1 (Vienna, 1866) (on Google Books) Magister officiorum The magister officiorum ( Latin ; lit.   ' Master of Offices ' ; Greek : μάγιστρος τῶν ὀφφικίων , romanized :  magistros tōn offikiōn )

1072-599: The Praetorian Prefecture of the East of some of its jurisdiction over the cursus publicus , the palace guard ( Scholae Palatinae ) and the imperial arsenals ( fabricae ) and handed them to the magister officiorum . These last changes are reflected in the Notitia Dignitatum , a list of all offices compiled c.  400 . In the year 443 the eastern magister was made inspector-general of

1139-466: The proconsuls of the provinces of Africa and Achaea . The placements gave the magister , and by extension the emperor, on-the-spot "watchdogs" over the upper echelons of the administration, as the princeps was a key position: his role was to control the staff, not to do paperwork; he composed confidential reports directly for the magister officiorum , without the praetorian prefect's involvement, and vetted all business coming in and going out of

1206-457: The "unlearned" are the mass of Christians and the learned are the cultivated Christians and pagans alike, to whom the rude language of the sacred texts, whether in Greek or Latin, would be distasteful. The literary structure of the narrative shows that Severus had in his mind principally readers on the same level of culture with himself. He was anxious to show that sacred history might be presented in

1273-632: The Gospels and the Acts, "lest the form of his brief work should detract from the honour due to those events". It is a source of primary importance for the history of Priscillianism and contains considerable information respecting the Arian controversy . The book was a textbook, and was used as such in the schools of Europe for about a century and a half after the editio princeps was published by Flacius Illyricus in 1556. Severus nowhere clearly points to

1340-712: The Great , and Orosius (who quotes a fragment of a letter of Priscillian's), although at the Council of Toledo in 400, fifteen years after Priscillian's death, when his case was reviewed, the most serious charge that could be brought was the error of language involved in a misrendering of the word innascibilis ("unbegettable"). Augustine criticized the Priscillianists, who he said were like the Manicheans in their habit of fasting on Sundays. Priscillianism continued in

1407-474: The Life of Martin, and really supplies more information of his life as bishop and of his views than the work which bears the title Vita S. Martini . The two dialogues occasionally make interesting references to personages of the epoch. In Dial. 1, cc. 6, 7, we have a vivid picture of the controversies which raged at Alexandria over the works of Origen. The judgement of Severus himself is no doubt that which he puts in

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1474-583: The Pauline epistles (including the Epistle to the Hebrews ) into a series of texts on their theological points and wrote an introduction to each section. These canons survived in a form edited by Peregrinus . They contain a strong call to a life of personal piety and asceticism, including celibacy and abstinence from meat and wine. The charismatic gifts of all believers are equally affirmed. Study of scripture

1541-467: The Priscillianists are known through the condemnatory canons issued by the 380 synod, such as receiving the Eucharist in the church but eating it at home or in the conventicle; women joining with men during the time of prayer; fasting even on Sunday; and meditating at home or in the mountains instead of attending church during Lent . According to historian Ana Maria Castelo Martins Jorge , "He played

1608-675: The Priscillianists’ interpretation of the Apocrypha. In 412, Lazarus, bishop of Aix-en-Provence , and Herod, bishop of Arelate , were expelled from their sees on a charge of Manichaeism. Proculus, the metropolitan of Massilia , and the metropolitans of Vienna and Gallia Narbonensis Secunda were also followers of the rigorist tradition of Priscillian. Something

1675-462: The authority of the urban episcopacy over religious practice in outlying rural areas. In the immediate aftermath of the synod, Priscillian was elected bishop of Abila or Abela , and was consecrated by Instantius and Salvianus. Priscillian was now a suffragan of Ithacius of Ossonoba , the metropolitan bishop of Lusitania , whom he attempted to oust, but who then obtained from the emperor Gratian an edict against "false bishops and Manichees ". This

1742-455: The bishops who had left Maximus no peace till he had stained his hands with the blood of Priscillian and his followers. Martin, too, had denounced the worldliness and greed of the Gaulish bishops and clergy. Accordingly, we find that Severus, in narrating the division of Canaan among the tribes, calls the special attention of ecclesiastics to the fact that no portion of the land was assigned to

1809-488: The border army units or limitanei and was ordered to bring them up to full strength and effectiveness. In the course of time, the office also took over the coordination of foreign affairs (already in the late 4th century, the official translators and interpreters were under the control of the magister officiorum for this reason), and in the East, the Notitia records the presence of four secretaries in charge of

1876-452: The class of readers for whom his book is designed. He disclaims the intention of making his work a substitute for the actual narrative contained in the Bible . "Worldly historians" had been used by him, he says, to make clear the dates and the connexion of events and for supplementing the sacred sources, and with the intent at once to instruct the unlearned and to "convince" the learned. Probably

1943-505: The daughter of a wealthy consular family, who died young, leaving him no children. At this time Severus came under the powerful influence of Saint Martin , bishop of Tours , by whom he was led to devote his wealth to the Christian poor, and his own powers to a life of good works and the contemplative vision of God . This choice incurred his father's displeasure, but he was encouraged in his determination by his mother-in-law. To use

2010-530: The doctors, among whom Priscillian reckoned himself. The "spiritual" comprehend and judge all things, being "children of wisdom and light"; and the distinction between flesh and spirit, darkness and light, Moses and Christ, and the "prince of this world" and Christ, are emphasised. In asceticism, Priscillian distinguished three degrees, though he did not deny hope of pardon to those who were unable to attain full perfection. The perfect in body, mind, and spirit were celibate, or, if married, continent. Certain practices of

2077-471: The emperor. His ideal of the church required that it should stand clear and above the state. More popular during the Middle Ages was Severus' Life of St. Martin , as were also the dialogues and letters which relate to the same subject. These works did much to establish the great reputation which that wonder-working saint maintained throughout the Middle Ages. The book is not properly a biography, but

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2144-502: The emperor. The second handled correspondence with foreign potentates and with the provincial administration and the cities, the third dealt with appeals from lower courts and petitions from those involved in them, and the fourth handled the documents issued in Greek and the translation of Latin documents into Greek. Constantine also transferred the supervision of the agentes in rebus , a corps of trusted messengers who also functioned in

2211-644: The historical record transmitted thanks to other sources. Jakob Bernays suggested that he based his narrative of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus on the account given by Tacitus in his Histories , a portion of which has been lost. In his allusions to the Gentile rulers with whom the Jews came into contact from the time of the Maccabees onwards, Severus discloses some points which are not without importance. The real interest of Severus' work lies, first, in

2278-485: The imperial bodyguard was transformed into the tagmata . Until the reign of Emperor Michael III ( r.  842–867 ) there seem to have been only two magistroi , the senior of whom was termed prōtomagistros (πρωτομάγιστρος, "first magistros "), and who was again one of the senior ministers of the state (without specific functions) and head of the Byzantine Senate . From the reign of Michael III on,

2345-497: The incidental glimpses it affords all through of the history of his own time; next and more particularly, in the information he has preserved concerning the struggle over the Priscillianist heresy, which disorganised and degraded the churches of Spain and Gaul, and particularly affected Aquitaine. The sympathies here betrayed by Severus are wholly those of St. Martin. The bishop had withstood Maximus , who ruled for some years

2412-418: The intervention of Macedonius, the imperial magister officiorum and an enemy of Ambrose, they succeeded in procuring the withdrawal of Gratian's edict, and an order for the arrest of Ithacius. Instantius and Priscillian, returning to Spain, regained their sees and churches. A sudden change occurred in 383, when the governor of Britain, Magnus Maximus , rebelled against Gratian , who marched against him but

2479-399: The laity as desired to live out the old ascetic ideal." It is not always easy to separate the genuine assertions of Priscillian himself from those ascribed to him by his enemies, nor from the later developments taken by groups who were labelled Priscillianist. The long prevalent estimation of Priscillian as a heretic and Manichaean rested upon Augustine , Turibius of Astorga , Pope Leo I,

2546-445: The list of Severus' genuine works. Other letters (to his sister), on the love of God and the renunciation of the world, have not survived. Beside the above-mentioned three letters, seven others have been attributed to Severus. These are rejected as spurious by some critics, whilst the genuineness of the first two is admitted, rightly it would seem, by others. The World Chronicle of the so-called Sulpicius Severus has nothing to do with

2613-475: The matter was important enough. In a move that further strengthened the authority and power of the magister , sometime in the early 340s he was made inspector-general of the cursus publicus , the State Post. Perhaps at the same time, senior agentes were appointed as heads ( Principes ) of the staffs of the most important provincial governors: the praetorian prefects, the vicars of the dioceses , and

2680-414: The mouth of his interlocutor Posthumianus: "I am astonished that one and the same man could have so far differed from himself that in the approved portion of his works he has no equal since the apostles, while in that portion for which he is justly blamed it is proved that no man has committed more unseemly errors." Three Epistles on the death of Martin (ad Eusebium, ad Aurelium diaconum, ad Bassulam) complete

2747-612: The new ruler, Ithacius and Hydatius were deposed and exiled. The remains of Priscillian were brought from Augusta Treverorum to Spain, where he was honoured as a martyr, especially in the west of the country, where Priscillianism did not die out until the second half of the 6th century. The heresy, notwithstanding the severe measures taken against it, continued to spread in Gaul as well as in Hispania. A letter dated 20 February 405, from Pope Innocent I to Exuperius, bishop of Tolosa , opposed

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2814-477: The north of Hispania and the south of Gaul. Priscillian was honored as a martyr, especially in Gallaecia (modern Galicia and northern Portugal ), where his headless body was reverentially returned from Augusta Treverorum and allegedly became rediscovered and revered in the 9th century as Saint James the Great . Some writings by Priscillian were accounted orthodox and were not burned. For instance he divided

2881-479: The office and countersigned all documents. A law of 387 forbids the legal staffs of the prefects and vicars from instituting legal proceedings without the princeps ' s permission or order (as an additional means of determining the validity of a legal suit. The office's powers were further enhanced in the eastern (or Byzantine ) half of the Empire in 395, when Emperor Arcadius ( r.  395–408 ) stripped

2948-465: The office can first be definitely traced to the year 320, during the reign of Roman emperor Constantine the Great ( r.  306–337 ), but was probably created sometime soon after 312–13, probably as part of an effort to limit the power of the praetorian prefect ( praefectus praetorio ) the Roman emperor's chief administrative official. The magister was first given command of the palace guard,

3015-590: The office were the emperor's chief watchdogs. Almost all routine business was channeled to the office of the magister through the secretariats from other ministries such as the prefectures, the Treasury ('res summa, from 319 the Sacrae Largitions,') and the Crown Estates ('res privata'), though higher officials and military officers always had the right and duty to communicate with the emperors if

3082-403: The polished scholar, and the works of Severus are important because they reflect the ideas, influence and aspirations of Martin, the foremost ecclesiastic of Gaul . The chief work of Severus is the Chronicle ( Chronica , Chronicorum Libri duo or Historia sacra , c. 403), a summary of sacred history from the beginning of the world to his own times, with the omission of the events recorded in

3149-550: The role of a catalyst among Lusitanian Christians and crystallized a variety of ascetic, monastic and intellectual aspirations that were either fairly, or even entirely, incompatible with Christianity as it was lived by the great majority of the bishops of the day." His notable opponents in Hispania were Hyginus , bishop of Corduba , and Hydatius, bishop of Augusta Emerita . They accused Priscillian's teachings of being gnostic in nature. Through his intolerance of and severity toward Priscillian, Hydatius promoted rather than prevented

3216-594: The so-called Bureau of Barbarians under the magister' s supervision. One of the most important incumbents of this office was Peter the Patrician , who held the position from 539 to 565 and undertook numerous diplomatic missions in this role for Emperor Justinian I ( r.  527–565 ). The office was also retained in Ostrogothic Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire , and

3283-441: The solitary life, such as Severus was, is probably not free from exaggeration. Severus also fully sympathised with the action of St. Martin touching Priscillianism. This mysterious Western offshoot of Gnosticism had no single feature about it which could soften the hostility of a character such as Martin's, but he resisted the introduction of secular punishment for evil doctrine, and withdrew from communion with those bishops in Gaul,

3350-453: The spread of his sect. Hydatius convened a synod held at Caesaraugusta in 380. Ten bishops were present at this synod from Spain, and two from Aquitaine, Delphinus of Bordeaux, and Phœbadus of Agen. Although neither Priscillian nor any of his followers attended, he wrote in reply his third tract justifying the reading of apocryphal literature, without denying that their contents were partly spurious. Neither Priscillian nor any of his disciples

3417-586: The subject of this biography; it was written in Spain in the sixth century. The text of the Chronicle rests on a single 11th century manuscript, one of the Palatine collection now in the Vatican; of the other works manuscripts are abundant, the best being one of the 6th century at Verona. Some spurious letters bear the name of Severus; also in a manuscript at Madrid is a work falsely professing to be an epitome of

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3484-540: The time of Emperor Leo VI the Wise ( r.  886–912 ), however, the full former title was remembered: his powerful father-in-law, Stylianos Zaoutzes , is recorded once again as "master of the divine offices" ( μάγιστρος τῶν θείων ὀφφικίων ). In his administrative functions, the magister officiorum was replaced chiefly by the logothetēs tou dromou , who supervised the Public Post and foreign affairs, while

3551-488: The title was conferred on more holders, effectively becoming a court rank, the highest in the Byzantine hierarchy until the introduction of the proedros in the mid-10th century. The List of Precedence ( Klētorologion ) of Philotheos, written in 899, implies the existence of 12 magistroi , while during the reign of Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas ( r.  963–969 ), the western envoy Liutprand of Cremona recorded

3618-421: The top four palatine officials (along with the quaestor sacri palatii , comes rerum privatarum and comes sacrarum largitionum ). In order of precedence in 372 they ranked in the highest of senatorial ranks, illustres , behind the prefects, urban prefects and highest generals. The magister became a kind of "Minister of Internal Security, Administrative Oversight and Communications". The holders of

3685-405: The trial, Martin had obtained from Maximus a promise not to apply a death penalty. After the execution, Martin broke off relations with Felix , bishop of Augusta Treverorum, and all others associated with the enquiries and the trial, and restored communion only when the emperor promised to stop the persecution of the Priscillianists. Maximus was killed in his attempted invasion of Italy in 388. Under

3752-489: The trial. Sulpicius Severus notes that Martin of Tours protested to the Emperor against the ruling, which said that the accused who went to Treves should be imprisoned. Maximus, a Spaniard by birth, treated the matter not as one of ecclesiastical rivalry but as one of morality and society. He is also said to have wished to enrich his treasury by confiscation of the property of the condemned. At Augusta Treverorum, Priscillian

3819-458: The tribe of Levi , lest they should be hindered in their service of God. "Our clergy seem", he says, "not merely forgetful of the lesson, but ignorant of it, such a passion for possessions has in our days fastened like a pestilence on their souls." We here catch a glimpse of the circumstances which were winning over good men to monasticism in the West, though the evidence of an enthusiastic votary of

3886-418: The words of his friend Paulinus, he broke with his father, followed Christ , and set the teachings of the "fishermen" far above all his " Tullian learning." His ordination as a priest is vouched for by Gennadius, but no details of his priestly activity have reached us. He is said to have been led away in his old age by Pelagianism , but to have repented and inflicted long-enduring penance on himself. His time

3953-483: Was a Christian writer and native of Aquitania in modern-day France . He is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of Saint Martin of Tours . He is venerated as a Saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church . Almost all that we know of Severus' life comes from a few allusions in his own writings, some passages in the letters of his friend Paulinus , bishop of Nola, and

4020-607: Was a threat against the Priscillianists, since the Roman Empire had banned Manichaeism long before it legalized Christianity. Consequently, the three bishops, Instantius, Salvianus and Priscillian, went in person to Rome, to present their case before Pope Damasus I , himself a native of Hispania. Neither the Pope nor Ambrose , bishop of Mediolanum , where the emperor resided, granted them an audience. Salvianus died in Rome, but through

4087-469: Was assassinated. Maximus was recognized as emperor of Britain , Gaul and Spain , and made Augusta Treverorum , in Gallia Belgica , his residence. There Ithacius presented his case against Priscillian, and Maximus ordered a synod convened at Burdigala in 384. After this, the matter was transferred to the secular court at Augusta Treverorum. Ithacius and Hydatius of Mérida both went there for

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4154-437: Was condemned and, with five of his companions, executed by the sword in 385. Priscillian's execution is seen as the first example of secular justice intervening in an ecclesiastical matter and the first Christian killed by other Christians for heresy. Pope Siricius , Ambrose of Milan , and Martin of Tours protested against the execution, largely on the jurisdictional grounds that an ecclesiastical case should not be decided by

4221-499: Was done for its repression by a synod held by Turibius of Asturica in 446, and by that of Toletum in 447; as an openly professed creed it had to be declared heretical once more by the second synod of Bracara Augusta in 563, a sign that Priscillianist asceticism was still strong long after his execution. "The official church," says F. C. Conybeare , "had to respect the ascetic spirit to the extent of enjoining celibacy upon its priests, and of recognizing, or rather immuring, such of

4288-403: Was held by eminent Roman senators such as Boethius and Cassiodorus . The office survived as a bureaucratic function in the eastern half of the Roman Empire, but during the late 7th or the 8th century, most of the office's administrative functions were removed, and it was converted into the dignity of magistros (Greek: μάγιστρος, female form magistrissa , μαγίστρισσα). At least until

4355-534: Was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire . In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called magistros (μάγιστρος), until it disappeared in the 12th century. Although some scholars have supported its creation under Emperor Diocletian ( r.  284–305 ),

4422-423: Was passed chiefly in the neighbourhood of Toulouse , and such literary efforts as he indulged in were made in the interests of Christianity. In many respects no two men could be more unlike than Severus, the scholar and orator, well versed in the ways of the world, and Martin, the rough Pannonian bishop, champion of the monastic life, seer and worker of miracles. Yet the spirit of the rugged saint subdued that of

4489-415: Was tried by a secular court on criminal charges that included sorcery, a capital offence. Priscillian was questioned and forced to make the confession that he studied obscene doctrines, held nocturnal meetings with shameful women, and prayed while naked. Consequently, he was charged with practicing magic (maleficium), for which he was convicted and sentenced to death. Ithacius was his chief accuser. Priscillian

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