Episcopal Elections 250-600: Hierarchy and Popular Will in Late Antiquity

Theological Studies, March, 2008 by Maureen A. Tilley

EPISCOPAL ELECTIONS 250-600: HIERARCHY AND POPULAR WILL IN LATE ANTIQUITY. By Peter Norton. Oxford Classical Monographs. New York: Oxford University, 2007. Pp. xi + 271. $99.

Norton begins provocatively with John Chrysostom's opinion that all the ills of the church "are due to the ill-considered and random manner in which bishops are chosen" (De sacerdotibus III.10). Whether readers think this cause applies in their own dioceses or not, they will find ample evidence of problems with episcopal elections in late Antiquity (for example, when, in a contested area, the choice of a particular candidate was crucial to the maintenance of orthodoxy).

N.'s book is a series of interrelated studies on the topic of episcopal elections rather than a sustained argument. The first chapter situates the rest against the backdrop of late Antiquity, when offices were routinely bought and sold among the elite. Chapter 2 lays out ecclesiastical regulations regarding elections, warning readers how each piece of general legislation had its roots in particular circumstances, and how they needed and received particular interpretations by bishops and civil rulers. Then comes a chapter on the role of the Christian populace and imperial officials in elections. Yvette Duval's Les chretientes d'occident el leur eveque au IIIe siecle (2005) has already covered some of this ground. N. differentiates the role of those who elect and those who acclaim, but, like Duval, he defends the idea that local groups had a role in elections well beyond the subapostolic era. Chapter 4 deals with imperial interventions. As one might expect, N. finds more interventions in large cities than small towns, and most often in periods of doctrinal crisis, so that, by the fifth and sixth centuries, "court politics and theological debate had been inextricably intertwined" (89). But imperial intervention was tempered by popular opinion and by the need to find suitable replacements before deposing uncooperative patriarchs. Chapter 5, "Provinces and patriarchs: organizational structures," helpfully explores the ways in which the jurisdictional divisions of the Christian church sometimes did and at other times did not follow the administrative areas of the Roman Empire. Sometimes the lack of coincidence was a matter of shifting political boundaries, and at other times it was due simply to the fact that cities important in the history of the development of the church were not provincial administrative centers. While this chapter may be very useful for some readers, it provides little support for the original and main focus of the book, the development of the system of metropolitans.

However, the next two chapters delve into metropolitan systems in detail in the West and in the East respectively. These are the best researched and most valuable portions of the book. Focusing on the metropolitan system allows N. to draw on material from the earlier chapters. The metropolitans, more active in the East than the West, did not always control elections directly, but they did preside over the consecration of bishops in their regions, giving the metropolitans a sort of veto power. Thereby they insured orthodoxy and the moral character of the bishops under them, at least when the system worked well and no rogue heretical bishops traveled about also consecrating clergy (164). Chapter 8 is simply a list of issues and examples associated with simony and corruption, occasionally reflecting on the role of metropolitans. Chapter 9 provides three cases of disputed elections. A summary and concluding chapter round out the volume.

N.'s book is a revised dissertation begun under G. E. M. de Ste. Croix in the early 1980s and finished only recently under Mark Edwards at Christ Church. Despite or perhaps because of long gestation, the character of the chapters vary considerably: some are simply catalogues and case studies while others, especially chapters 6 and 7, make some attempt at an argument. On the plus side, N. covers a broad span of time and geography but is careful to make sure that his comments avoid sweeping generalities. He also carefully notes problems dealing with various genres of literature, for example, legal codes, letters, and hagiography.

There are indications of copious research--in N.'s treatment of metropolitans, on the origins of the terna, and in the appendix--of often difficult-to-find documents (in translation). It is a pity that the brief index does not allow the researcher to find important material on other issues strewn throughout the book. I recommend it for research libraries but not for classroom use.

MAUREEN A. TILLEY

Fordham University, New York