Pope Zosimus, in a letter of 417 to the bishops of the provinces of Viennensis and Narbonensis II in southern Gaul (Epistolae Arelatenses, 5), justifies the primacy of the see of Arles on the grounds that its founder, *Trophimus (bishop and confessor of Arles, S00617), was the first bishop in Gaul, and was sent by the see of Rome. Written in Latin in Rome.
E00988
Documentary texts - Letters
Epistolae Arelatenses 5 = Pope Zosimus, Letter 5 ('Multa contra veterem', JK 334/JH 740)
ZOSIMUS EPISCOPIS PROVINTIAE VIENNENSI ET NARBONENSI SECUNDE, A PARI
[...]
Indecens ausus et in ipso vestibulo resecandus, hoc ab episcopis ob certas causas concilium agitantibus extorquere, quod contra statuta patrum et sancti Trophymi reverentiam, qui primus metropolitanus Arelatensis civitatis ex hac sede directus est, concedere vel mutare ne huius quidem sedis possit auctoritas! Apud nos enim inconvulsis radicibus vivit antiquitas, cui decreta patrum sanxere reverentiam. Et quia redire in ordinem suum intermissa praecepimus, fratres carissimi, metropolitanus Arelatensis civitatis episcopus iam inde Trophymo ordinationis seriem temporibus roboratam inviolabili in utramque Narbonensem et Viennensem auctoritate possideat.
'ZOSIMUS TO THE BISHOPS OF THE PROVINCE OF VIENNENSIS AND OF NARBONENSIS SECUNDA, EQUALLY
[...]
'He [Proculus, bishop of Marseille] shamelessly dared, and should have been cut short at the outset, to extort from the bishops carrying out this council because of certain cases, what was against the statutes of the fathers and reverence for Saint Trophymus, who was sent from this see as the first metropolitan of the city of Arles, on which not even the authority of this see is able to yield or change. For on our side antiquity, for which the decrees of the fathers sanctify reverence, lives on with its roots undisturbed. And because we have undertaken to return the things that were interrupted to their order, dearest brothers, let the metropolitan bishop of the city of Arles possess the succession of ordination from Trophymus in both Narbonensis and Viennensis, strengthened by time, with inviolable authority.'
Text: Gundlach 1892, 11.
Translation: David Lambert.
Place associated with saint's life
Non Liturgical ActivityAwarding privileges to cult centres
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - Popes
Theorising on SanctityUsing saints to assert ecclesiastical/political status
Source
Epistolae Arelatenses 5 (= Zosimus, Letter 5, 'Multa contra veterem') is a letter from Pope Zosimus (pope 417-418), dated 29 September 417, to the bishops of the Gallic provinces of Viennensis and Narbonensis Secunda. The letter survives as part of the collection known as the Epistolae Arelatenses (Arlesian Letters), sometimes also called the Collectio Arelatensis or the Liber auctoritatum ecclesiae Arelatensis, a collection of 56 letters and other documents relating to the see of Arles, dating from 417 to 557. The collection was compiled at some point after 557, presumably from the archives of the see.The text is quoted here from the MGH edition by W. Gundlach, which retains the irregularities in grammar and spelling transmitted in the early medieval manuscripts. These were almost certainly not in Zosimus' original.
Discussion
Just after becoming pope in March 417, Zosimus had written to the bishops of Gaul granting particular authority to the see of Arles (see E00954), including the right for its bishop to consecrate bishops in three Roman provinces (Narbonensis I, Narbonensis II and Viennensis, none of which had previously been subject to Arles), thus effectively depriving the existing metropolitan bishops of their status. The evidence suggests that Zosimus did this in response to lobbying by the current bishop of Arles, Patroclus (PCBE 4, 'Patroclus 2'), but he justified it by reference to a supposedly ancient tradition of Arlesian primacy established by its first bishop, Trophimus, who at an uncertain but distant period had established Christianity in Arles as a missionary sent by the see of Rome. Whether Zosimus actually believed this remains an open question (it is possible that he accepted in good faith a story told to him by Patroclus).Subsequent letters, dating from the autumn of 417 (see also E00960 and E01617), show Zosimus attempting to deal with the opposition this move aroused among the bishops affected. This letter responds to the news that two of them, Proculus of Marseille (PCBE 4, 'Proculus 1') and Simplicius of Vienne (PCBE 4, 'Simplicius 3') had ignored his instructions and were continuing to act as metropolitans by consecrating bishops. Zosimus' letter alludes to the irregular status that had been acquired by Proculus, a very long-serving bishop who had been in office since at least 381: he had been acting as metropolitan of the province of Narbonensis Secunda even though his see of Marseille was not only not its normal metropolitan see (Aix-en-Provence) but was not even in the province. How this peculiar situation had arisen is unknown, but Proculus had obtained recognition of it from a church council, the Council of Turin, which determined that he could continue to act as metropolitan for his lifetime, after which the role would revert to the bishop of Aix. (The Council of Turin had dealt with various jurisdictional issues among the sees of southern Gaul, but only fragmentary evidence for it survives, leading to long-standing controversies over its date and whether the surviving evidence refers to a single council or more than one; the most recent analysis, Mathisen 2013, concludes that there was a single council, held in 398 or 399.) It is the Council of Turin that Zosimus is referring to when he says that Proculus had 'dared to extort' (ausus ... extorquere) recognition of his metropolitan status from a council, in contravention of 'the statutes of the fathers and reverence for Saint Trophymus'.
As in his other letters on the issue, Zosimus asserts that the privileges of the see of Arles had been established when Trophimus was sent from Rome (ex hac sede) and had been maintained ever since (referring to their 'antiquity', to 'the statutes of the fathers', and to the situation as 'strengthened by time'). This is presented as a sole and sufficient justification for the see of Arles to possess additional powers.
After the letters of Zosimus in 417, there is no further surviving reference to Trophimus until the late 440s: see E00957.
Bibliography
Edition:Gundlach, W. (ed.), Epistolae Arelatenses genuinae, in: Epistolae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi (Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Epistolae 3; Berlin: Apud Weidmannos, 1892), 5-83.
Further reading:
Duchesne, L., Fastes épiscopaux de l’ancienne Gaule. Tome premier: Provinces du Sud-Est (Paris: Thorin & Fils, 1894).
Dunn, G.D., " Ecclesiastical Reorganisation of Space and Authority in Late Antique Gaul: Zosimus' Letter Multa contra (JK 334)," Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association 12 (2016), 1-34.
Mathisen, R.W., Ecclesiastical Factionalism and Religious Controversy in Fifth-Century Gaul (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1989).
Mathisen, R.W., "The Council of Turin (398/399) and the Reorganization of Gaul ca. 395/406," Journal of Late Antiquity 6:2 (2013), 264-307.
Pietri, L., and Heijmans, M., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 4 Prosopographie de la Gaule chrétienne (314-614) (Paris 2013). (= PCBE 4)
David Lambert
16/11/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00617 | Trophimus, bishop and confessor of Arles | Trophymus | Certain |
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