Bracara Augusta II / Braga II (Bracara Augusta)
Provincial Council of the Suevic Kingdom in Gallaecia; 572
The Second Council of Braga convened 1 June 572 (Era 610) during the reign of King Miro (570-583), a Suevic king with whom Martin, the Metropolitan of Braga, had a close relationship. Twelve bishops gathered just eleven years after the first Braga council of 561. Six were from the Braga district, the other six from Lugo, led by their Metropolitan Nitigisius of Lugo. Some things had changed in the Gallaecian Church as reflected in the schema of this council of 572. One important development in the hierarchy of the Church in Braga is that Martin of Braga had been elevated to Metropolitan and the acts of the council reveal his prominent presence at this council. Whereas the main item of Braga I had been the heresy of Prisicillianism, this council treats it as a negligle thing of the past, the focus was entirely different. There is one direct reference to the ‘sect’ in Canon 10 and a possible veiled one in Canon 57 of the Capitula Martini as noted below. On the other hand, the heresy of Arianism was never to of the agenda at either council, that was a problem the Visigoths had to contend with. Martin of Braga never wrote any treatise specifically denouncing either heresy, they were not perceived by him to be an immediate danger in Gallaecia to warrant his attention. There are ten Canons accompanying the council text prefacing the eastern canons that Martin of Braga introduced. The first five canons address various duties of the bishop, noteworthy is Canon 1. There it was ordered that the bishop should visit his diocese to teach the catechumens the symbolum of the faith twenty days preceding Easter. Canon 2 limited bishops to keep only two-thirds of any offerings, the third part was reserved for the maintainance of church structures. In addition, clergy must not be made to work by the bishops as if they were his slaves. Canon 3: It was expressly forbidden of bishops to accept any payment for the ordination of any clergy. Canon 4 prohibited accepting money for the Chrism because it resembled Simon Magus offering Peter money for the gift of God [simony] – sicut simon magus donum Dei pecunia enere. Canon 5 forbade bishops from requiring payment for consecrating a basilica. If, on the other hand, a gift was offered voluntarily, they were at liberty to accept it. Canons 6 and 7 sought to prevent illegitimate acquistion of money: in 6, oratories should not be used to make money from the offerings of the people and in 7, no fee should be demanded of a cleric for administering baptism. A free will offering was allowed to be accepted, however. It becomes obvious that these canons were needed in the face that many bishops were abusing their episcopal office to fill their pockets illegitimately with money. Worse still of reducing sacraments and the spiritual gifts of bishops as a means to make ill-gotten money. Canon 8 ordered excommunication of anyone who falsely accused any clergy without proving its veracity. Canon 9 recommended that the Metropolitan every year communicate to his bishops the date of Easter. Canon 10 prohibited presbyters from celebrating Mass for the dead for eating or drinking beforehand. They associated this practice with the Priscillianists. This is the only explicit mention of the group at this council. Relevant along these lines is Canon 57 of the Capitula Martini could be an indirect reference to Priscillianists who were frequently falsely accused of being Manichaens for allegedly fasting on Sunday - aut aliqua necessitate die dominica pro quadam religione ieiunaverit sicut Manichaei.
What makes the Second Council of Braga extraordinary in comparison to all of the councils of the Suevic-Visigothic period is its unique role in the ongoing introduction of Eastern practices from the Byzantine Empire. Something that has not been appreciated enough or explored by current scholarship. It was at that council where Martin, himself from the Eastern province of Pannonia, introduced into the Gallaecian Church the collection of eighty-four eastern conciliar canons known as the Capitula ex Orientalium Patrum Synodis a Martino Episcopo Ordinata Atque Collecta. Martin selected, collated, edited, adapted in some cases, and translated them from Greek into Latin with his assistant Paschasius of Dumium. The provenance and number of canons from the Eastern councils breaks down as follows: Nicaea (11), Ancyra (10), Gangra (2), Neocaesaria (10), Antioch (18), Laodicea (19), and 9 from the First Council of Toledo I (400). The provenance of eleven additional canons do not correspond to any previous councils. There are also a few that spoke about paganism which have no conciliar origin. The canons treat a broad range of topics that Martin perceived were pressing issues in the Gallaecian Church. For Gallaecia the Capitula Martini was a major development for the Church. It fortified the Church so that it survived long after the Suevic Kingdom was assimiliated by the Visigoths in 585, including a failed attempt to convert it to Arianism. There is no mistaking, moreover, that the Capitula Martini demonstrates that Martin was a major figure in the flow of influences from East to West into Hispania that shaped overall Church and society. Martin, furthermore, ensured that the Church in Gallaecia, in what was considered the most remote territory of the West finis terrae, would not remain isolated from the universal Church. Scholars have long identified political, social, and liturgical Eastern influences on Hispania, even in Gallaecia. Domingo Ramos-Lissón remarked that the auctoritas of Martin is evident in the fact that he introduced, edited, and selected which ones would make up the eighty-four. The earliest date given to for this collection to be compiled is given at 569 by the editor of Martin’s work Claude Barlow, (Martini Episcopi, 86). He also argued persuasively that the language and style of the council minutes is strikingly similar to that of Martin’s in his other works, which indicates that he was the final redactor of the council minutes (Martini Episcopi, 83). Lastly, Martin had the unwavering backing of the bishops when they professed at the end of the canons before signing their full approval – His ita gestis placuit omnibus pro confirmanda horum observantia propria unumquemque manu subscribere. Eastern influences on the Visigothic liturgy and ecclesial hierarchy were active prior to Martin and they continued long after his death. The Capitula Martini, however, represents a major introduction of Eastern conciliar canons into Gallaecia that also had influence in greater Hispania.
----------
QQ: Cl. W. Barlow (ed.), Martini Episcopi Bracarensis Opera Omnia, New Haven 1950, for the council text: 116-123, the Capitula Martini: 123-144; Vives/Marín Martínez/Martínez Díez, Concilios Visigóticos e Hispano-Romanos, 78-106; Weckwerth, Clavis Conciliorvm Occidentalivm, 195.
Lit.: Orlandis/ Ramos-Lissón, Concilios de la España Romana y Visigoda 150-159; D. Ramos-Lissón, San Martín de Dumio y el II Concilio Bracarense (572), in: AHC 35 (2003) 234-246. J. Freire Camaniel, Gallaecia: Antigüedad, intensidad y organización de su cristianismo (siglos I-VII), A Coruña 2013, 647-651; A. Prieto Prieto, El marco político-religioso de los Concilios Bracarenses I y II, 33-91 and G. Martínez Diez, Los Concilios suevos de Braga en las colecciones canónicas de los siglos VI-XII, 92-105 in: El Concilio de Braga y la función de la legislación particular en la Iglesia, Salamanca 1975. – Braga (1º giug. 1262), in: DizCon 1 (1963) 208 [A. Cerullo]; Braga, in: LexMa 2 (1983) 539 [T. Gonçalinho].
Ferreiro, Alberto
Dezember 2024
Empfohlene Zitierweise:
Ferreiro, Alberto, Bracharense / Braga II: Provincial Council of the Suevic Kingdom in Gallaecia; 572, in: Lexikon der Konzilien [Online-Version], Dezember 2024; URL: http://www.konziliengeschichte.org/site/de/publikationen/lexikon/database/4298.html