A certain bishop and a certain diocese in Egypt at the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries: The testimony of the Canons of Athanasius

The Canons of Athanasius, a homiletic work written at the beginning of the fifth century in one of the cities of the Egyptian chora, provide us with many important and detailed pieces of information about the Church hierarchy. Information gleaned from this text can be found in studies devoted to the history of Christianity of the fourth and fifth centuries, but rarely are they the subject of reflection as an autonomous subject. To date, no one has endeavoured to determine how the author of the Canons sought to establish the parameters of his work: why he included certain things in this work, and why left other aspects out despite them being within the boundaries of the subject which he had wished to write upon. This article looks to explore two thematic areas: firstly, what we learn about the hierarchical Church from the Canons, and secondly, what we know about the hierarchical Church from period sources other than the Canons. This article presents new arguments which exclude the authorship of Athanasius and date the creation of the Canons to the first three decades of the fifth century.

Between Heaven and Earth: Family ownership versus rights of monastic communities. The Theodosian Code and late antique legal practice

This article investigates the relationship between the legislation introduced in the field of proprietary rights assigned to various Church entities and the practice of accumulation of wealth by the monastic communities in late antique Egypt. On the one hand, among the literary sources the predominant theme concerning Egyptian monasticism is the idea of voluntary poverty and renunciation of worldly possessions aimed at the pursuance of a contemplative life. On the other hand, the papyri offer insight into monastic life that does not seem to have been entirely detached from the outside world. In this vein, the laws of Valentinian I and Theodosius II clearly indicate that monks and nuns continued to own property without disturbance after undertaking religious life. In addition, Theodosius the Great and later emperors restricted the freedom of certain groups of citizens to disown their property, rendering the Christian ideal of voluntary poverty not always feasible. It is only with Justinian that the rules regarding monastic poverty are shaped and set by the secular power. The incentive for this study is to check for any conflict between the principles of classical Roman law in the field of private ownership and imperial legislation included in the Codex Theodosianus. Giorgio Barone-Adesi observed the tension that took place between the Christian communities and their corporations that were allotted ever broader privileges and the Roman principle of preservation of the property within the family unit. There is, however, still some room left for discussion since not all the data easily adds up to an unequivocal conclusion. In this analysis, the Code is treated as a measure for taking a stand by the legislator in the dispute between the will of the owner, recognition of the rights of the heirs and family members, and finally the privileges granted to the religious consortia.