The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496)

Pastor and Micro-Manager of the Church of Rome

By (author) Bronwen Neil By (author) Pauline Allen

Book cover: The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496)

Extent: 266 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Religious Studies

Series: Adnotationes

Series volume number: 1

Language: English, Latin

Paperback (Published)

(December 2014)

ISBN: 9782503552996

6.1 x 9.17 inches

Price: $100.00

In stock

While not completely neglected as a late-antique epistolographer, Gelasius has mainly been considered as a theologian prominent in the Acacian schism and as a forerunner of the mediaeval papacy. This imbalance will be redressed by considering his letters on various problems of his time, such as displaced persons, persecution, ransomi


While not completely neglected as a late-antique epistolographer, Gelasius has mainly been considered as a theologian prominent in the Acacian schism and as a forerunner of the mediaeval papacy. This imbalance will be redressed by considering his letters on various problems of his time, such as displaced persons, persecution, ransoming captives, papal property management, social and clerical abuses involving servants, orphans, slaves and slave-owners, the ordination of lower classes, preferential treatment of upper classes, the role of the papal scrinium, violent deaths of bishops, and the celebration of the pagan festival of the Lupercalia. This approach will round out the existing portrait of Gelasius, and make a contribution to a new history of the late-antique papacy, which will revise the view that Gregory the Great was a stand-alone micro-manager without precedent. Comparisons with earlier fifth-century popes like Innocent I and Leo I, and with later popes like Hormisdas and Pelagius I, show the trajectory from Gelasius to Gregory I.

Part 1. INTRODUCTION Preface Chapter 1 Life in late fifth-century Rome An African Pope? Gelasius' epistolary corpus The papal archive Rome and its bishops Chapter 2 Pastoral care Displaced persons Violent conflict Failure of the justice system Breakdown of the structures of dependence Chapter 3 Persecuting heretics Arianism The Acacian schism Pelagianism Manicheism The Lupercalia Chapter 4 Leading the universal church Appeals to Rome Clerical appointments Management of church patrimonies Gelasian decretals The Roman liturgy Conclusion Part 2. TEXTS IN TRANSLATION Section 1. The preeminence of Rome The Book of Pontiffs. Gelasius. To Anastasius Augustus (ep. 12) Section 2. Acacius and the eponymous schism To the bishops of the East (ep. 1) To the magister Faustus (ep. 10) To the bishops of the East (ep. 27) Section 3. The papal scrinium at work Regarding the absolution of Misenus (ep. 30) Two rental receipts (epp. 31-32) Section 4. Decretals Decretal to the bishops of Lucania, Bruttium, and Sicily (ep. 14) Decretal on canonical books (ep. 42) Section 5. Clerical and social abuses To the bishops of Sicily (ep. 17) To Bishop John of Spoleto (ep. 40) To Secundinus of Visinum (frg. 16) To Justus and Probus (ep. 3*) To Bishop Geruntius of Valva (ep. 7*) To Bishop Bellator (ep. 14*) To Bishops Cresconius, John, and Messala (ep. 20) On the dispute between Faustus and Eucharistus (ep. 22*) Section 6. Papal intervention in legal cases To Bishops Justus and Constantine (ep. 5*) To Mercurius (ep. 16*) To Bishop Siracusius (ep. 21*) To Bishops Respectus and Gerontius (ep. 8*) To the comes (teia) (ep. 9*) Section 7. Murders of bishops To Bishop John (ep. 36) To Bishops Majoricus and John (ep. 37) To Philip and Cassiodorus (ep. 38) To Bishops Majoricus, Serenus, and John (ep. 39) Section 8. Upper and lower classes To Bishops Martyrius and Justus (ep. 20) To Bishops Herculentius, Stephen, and Justus (ep. 21) To Bishops Rufinus and Aprilis (ep. 22) To Bishops Crispinus and Sabinus (ep. 23) To the comes (zeja) (ep. 24) To Bishop Felix (ep. 4*) To Bishop John of Sora (ep. 33) To Bishop Senecio (ep. 34) To Bishop Herculentius of Potentia (ep. 35) To Queen Heraleuva (frg. 36) Section 9. Displaced persons To Bishop Succonius of Africa (ep. 9) To Bishop Rusticus of Lyon (ep. 13) To the noblewoman Firmina (frg. 35) To Bishops Siracusius, Constantius, and Laurence (frg. 43) Section 10. Against pagan practices Against the Lupercalia Glossary Select Bibliography

  • By (author) Bronwen Neil
  • By (author) Pauline Allen