Sacerdos vs. Episcopus. The employment of the Treatise de septem ordinibus ecclesiae by Isidore of Seville (a source study)

• Main Author: Elena Marey
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: St. Tikhon's Orthodox University 2018-12-01
• Series: Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского гуманитарного университета: Серия I. Богословие, философия
• Subjects: Исидор Севильский; епископ; пресвитер; ''О церковных службах''; ''О семи церковных чинах''; Псевдо-Иероним
• Online Access: http://periodical.pstgu.ru/ru/pdf/article/6480

The aim of this article is to reveal the methods and characteristic features of Isidore of Seville’s interpretation of the anonymous text De septem ordinibus ecclesiae (5th — early 7th centuries). This text, traditionally attributed to St. Jerome, deals with the functions of church servants and clerics. Isidore reinterprets it in the second part of his book De ecclesiasticis offi ciis, also devoted to the origin and functions of clerics. Isidore often makes use of the text of his predecessor but almost never quotes the borrowed sentences completely and unchanged. The text of Ps.-Jerome was used by Isidore as a set of rhetorical patterns which he needed in order to express his own ideas. Thus, Isidore reinterprets the concept of sacerdos: in his text it is, fi rst of all, the bishop. Besides, Isidore fi lls the image of the bishop with new content; it is signifi cant that Isidore uses only the prologue from Ps.-Jerome’s text, rather than a specifi c chapter devoted to bishops. Isidore’s sacerdos, as opposed to the episcopus of Ps.-Jerome, is actively involved in the life of the Christian community: he preaches, instructs the fl ock, gives alms, takes part in legal proceedings and performs the sacraments.