L'Eveque dans la Cite du IVe au Ve Siecle: Image et Autorite.

Norris, Frederick W.

L'Eveque dans la Cite du IVe au Ve Siecle: Image et Autorite. Edited by Eric Rebillard and Claire Sotinel. Collection de l'Ecole francaise de Rome 248. Rome: Ecole francaise de Rome, 1998. 158 pp. n.p.

This set of essays, Actes de la table ronde organisee par l'Instituto patristico Augustinianum et l'Ecole francaise de Rome (Rome, 1 et 2 decembre 1995), carefully offers details about its topic. Together these articles emphasize that the largest influence of bishops during the period depended upon their dignity and honor. That was true even of the titles given bishops in The Theodosian Code (di Berardino). They were viewed as the mediators between God and man (Cracco Ruggini) and were expected to help the poor as well as the downtrodden and push for justice (Martin). In doing that they adopted some aspects of civil patrons (Lapelley), yet lines were drawn between a bishop's prerogative and those of civil authorities (Barone-Adesi). Their place was also distinguished from that of the monks (Wipszycka). The prosopography of Christians in Italy shows their restraint in spending on themselves, their assistants, and their communities (Soteriel), something that doubtless had moral weight. There was a marked development of the sense of rector Ecclesia with its concern for sacerdotal formation (Lizzi). The large number of letters from Augustine indicates that he often wrote of personal issues that he mentioned in order to sway his correspondents (Rebillard).

As a rule the episcopal office in cities was in flux, not yet the urban power base that it would later become. The fourth and fifth centuries were a seminal period in the development of bishops' roles within city life. In the third century Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, had been a rich, established Roman procurator when he became bishop. The council that deposed him worried about his christology, but the clearest information concerns his filling his role as bishop with the trappings and power of his Roman office. Disciples of Christ were not to act that way.

Wealthy, well-connected men became candidates for bishoprics, occasionally almost shanghaied into office. Sometimes they used their resources not only to help the poor and work for justice but also to pay for church structures and, in the case of lesser towns like Cyrus in which Theodoret served, even an important local bridge. Their web of authority depended on the status of their families, but also upon their personal character. The tracks already had been laid down, however, over which a much more authoritarian, politically self-interested bishop could travel.

Frederick W. Norris Emmanuel School of Religion