The Condemnation of Priscillian’s use of non-Canonical Books and his Defense in Tractatus III: Liber de Fide et de Apocryphis

Alberto Ferreiro

Seattle Pacific University, Seattle , United States
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5452-8474


Abstract

One of the accusations against Priscillian and his followers was their use of non-canonical books in their writings and teachings. This was proof positive for Priscillian’s opponents that he and his followers were a sect worthy of condemnation and that their writings were tainted with heresy. These accusations are found in several of the Suevic-Visigothic councils of Hispania. it is fortuitous that we have Priscillian’s response to this accusation in his Tractatus III: Priscilliani Liber de Fide et de Apocryphis. In this work Priscillian wrote a spirited and proficient defense against his adversaries.

 

Keywords:

Priscillian, Visigothic Councils, I Enoch, Epistle of Jude, Old Testament Apocrypha, Tractatus III, Liber de fide et de Apocryphis, New Testament Apocrypha

Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, v. 1-3, ed. R.A. Lipsius – M. Bonnet, Darmstadt 1959, tr. D.L. Eastman, The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul, Society of Biblical Literature. Writings from the Greco-Roman World 39, Atlanta 2015.

Augustinus, De civitate Dei, in: Sancti Avrelii Avgvstini, De Civitate Dei, Libri XI-XXII, Avrelii Avgvstini Opera 14/2, CCSL 48, Turnhout 1955, tr. G. Bray, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, ed. G. Bray, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament 11, Downers Grove 2000, p. 254-255.

Concilios Visigóticos e Hispano-Romanos, ed. J. Vives – T. Marín Martínez – G. Martínez Díez, España Cristiana. Textos 1, Barcelona – Madrid 1963.

Eusebius Pamphilius, Ecclesiasticae Historiae, PG 20, tr. G.A. Williamson, The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, Minneapolis 1965.

Hieronymus, Epistula 133, ed. I. Hilberg, CSEL 56, Vienna 1918, p. 247-248.

I Concilio Caesaraugustano MDC Aniversario, Zaragoza, 25-27 Septiembre de 1980, ed. G. Fatás Cabeza, Zaragoza 1981.

Leo I Magnus, Epistula XV ad Turribium Asturicensem episcopum, PL 54, 688-690.

Priscillianus Abulensis, Tractates, tr. M. Conti, Priscillian of Avila: The Complete Works, Oxford Early Christian Texts, Oxford 2010.

Priscillianus Abulensis, Priscilliani in Pauli Apostoli Epistulas Canones a Peregrino Episcopo Emendati, tr. M. Conti, Priscillian of Avila, The Complete Works, Oxford Early Christian Texts, Oxford 2010.

Sulpicius Severus, Chronicorvm, ed. K. Halm. CSEL 1, Vienna 1866.

Tertullianus, De cvltv feminarvm, Libri dvo. Liber I 3, ed. E. Kroymann, CSEL 70, Vienna – Leipzig 1942, p. 63-64, tr. G. Bray, James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, ed. G. Bray, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament 11, Downers Grove 2000, p. 254.

Turibius Asturicensis, Epistula ad Idacio et Ceponio episcopis, PL 54, 693-695.

Vincentius Lerinensis, Commonitorivm. Excerpta, ed. R. Demeulenaere, CCSL 64, Turnhout 1985.

Burrus V., The Making of a Heretic: Gender, Authority, and the Priscillianist Controversy, Berkeley 1995.

Chadwick H., Priscillian of Avila. The occult and the charismatic in the early Church, Oxford 1976.

Díaz Martínez P.C., El Reino Suevo (411-585), Akal Universitaria. Serie Reinos y dominios en la Historia de España, Madrid 2011.

Doctrinal Diversity. Varieties of Early Christianity, ed. E. Ferguson, Garland Series 4, New York 1999.

Elliott J.K., The Apocryphal New Testament. A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation based on M. R. James, Oxford 1993. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., De prohibitione carnis: Meat Abstention and the Priscillianists, “Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum” 11/3 (2007) p. 464-478. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., Epistolae Plenae: The Correspondence of the Bishops of Hispania with the Bishops of Rome: Third through Seventh Centuries, Medieval and Early Modern Iberia Series 74, Leiden 2020. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., Jerome’s Polemic Against Priscillian in his Letter to Ctesiphon (133,4), “Revue des Études Augustiniennes” 39/2 (1993) p. 309-332. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., Priscillian and Nicolaitism, “Vigiliae Christianae” 52/4 (1998) p. 382-392. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., Simon Magus and Priscillian in the Commonitorium of Vincent of Lérins, “Vigiliae Christianae” 49/2 (1995) p. 180-188. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., Sexual depravity, doctrinal error, and character assassination in the fourth century: Jerome against the Priscillianists, “Studia Patristica” 28 (1993) p. 29-38.

Ferreiro A., Simon Magus in Patristic, Medieval, and Early Modern Traditions, Studies in the History of Christian Traditions 125, Leiden 2005. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., Simon Magus, Nicolas of Antioch, and Muhammad, “Church History” 72/1 (2003) p. 53-70. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., St. Braulio of Zaragoza’s Letters on Mourning, “Augustinianum” 59 (2019) p. 157-192. (Crossref)

Ferreiro A., Sufficit septem diebus: Seven Days Mourning the Dead in the Letters of St. Braulio of Zaragoza, “Studia Patristica” 23/97 (2017) p. 255-264.

Freire Camaniel J., Gallaecia. Antigüedad, intensidad y organización de su cristianismo (siglos I-VII), Colección Galicia Histórica. Instituto de Estudios Gallegos Padre Sarmiento, Coruña 2013.

Hultin, J., Jude’s Citation of I Enoch, in: Jewish and Christian Scriptures. The Function of ‘Canonical’ and ‘Non-Canonical’ Religious Texts, ed. J.H. Charlesworth – L.M. McDonald, Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies Series. T&T Clark, London 2010.

Jacobs A.S., The Disordered Books: Priscillian’s Canonical Defense of Apocrypha, “Harvard Theological Review” 93 (2000) p. 135-159. (Crossref)

Martín Giudice H., Prisciliano y la Biblia, Roma 2008.

Neil B., Leo the Great. The Early Church Fathers Series, London – New York 2009. (Crossref)

Orlandis J. – Ramos-Lissón D., Historia de los Concilios de la España Romana y Visigoda, Pamplona 1986.

Sánchez S.J.G., Priscillien, Un Chrétien non Conformiste, Théologie Historique 120, Paris 2009.

Download

Published
2023-06-15


Ferreiro, A. (2023). The Condemnation of Priscillian’s use of non-Canonical Books and his Defense in Tractatus III: Liber de Fide et de Apocryphis. Vox Patrum, 86, 51–74. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.14941

Alberto Ferreiro  betomicielo@gmail.com
Seattle Pacific University, Seattle https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5452-8474



License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.