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LIBELLATICI

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 538 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LIBELLATICI , the name given to a class of persons who, during the persecution of See also:

Decius, A.D. 250, evaded the See also:con-sequences of their See also:Christian belief by procuring documents (libelli) which certified that they had satisfied the authorities of their submission to the See also:edict requiring them to offer See also:incense or See also:sacrifice to the imperial gods. As See also:thirty-eight years had elapsed since the last See also:period of persecution, the churches had become in many ways lax, and the number of those who failed to hold out under the persecution was very See also:great. The See also:procedure of the courts which had See also:cognizance of the See also:matter was, however, by no means strict, and the See also:judges and subordinate officials were often not See also:ill-disposed towards Christians, so that evasion was fairly easy. Many of those who could not hold out were able to secure certificates which gave them See also:immunity from See also:punishment without actually renouncing the faith, just as " See also:parliamentary certificates " of conformity used to be given in See also:England without any pretext of fact. It is to the persons who received such certificates that the name libellatici belonged (those who actually fulfilled the edict being called thurificati or sacrificati). To calculate their number would be impossible, but we know from the writings of See also:Cyprian, See also:Dionysius of See also:Alexandria and other contemporaries, that they were a numerous class, and that they were to be found in See also:Italy, in See also:Egypt and in See also:Africa, and among both See also:clergy and laity. See also:Archbishop See also:Benson is probably right in thinking that " there was no systematic and See also:regular procedure in the matter," and that the libelli may have been of very different kinds. They must, however, as a See also:general See also:rule, have consisted of a certificate from the authorities to the effect that the accused See also:person had satisfied them. [The name libellus has also been applied to another See also:kind of document —to the letters given by confessors, or by those who were about to suffer martyrdom, to persons who had fallen, to be used to secure forgiveness for them from the authorities of the See also:Church. With such libelli we are not here concerned.] The subject has acquired a fresh See also:interest from the fact that two of these actual libelli have been recovered, in 1893 and 1804 respectively, both from Egypt; one is now in the See also:Brugsch See also:Pasha collection in the See also:Berlin Museum; the other is in the collection of papyri belonging to the See also:Archduke Rainer. The former is on a See also:papyrus See also:leaf about 8 by 3 in., the latter on See also:mere fragments of papyrus which have been pieced 'together.

The former was first deciphered and described by Dr Fritz Krebs, the latter by Dr K. Wessely: both are given and commented upon by Dr Benson. There is a remarkable similarity between them: in each the See also:

form is that N. " was ever See also:constant in sacrificing to the gods"; and that he now, in the presence of the commissioners of the sacrifices (oi np17pEVOLTwv Ovvwv), has both sacrificed and drunk [or has poured libations], and has tasted of the victims, in See also:witness whereof he begs them to sign this certificate. Then follows the See also:signature, with attestations. The formerof the two is dated, and the date must fall in the See also:year 25o. It is impossible to prove that either of the documents actually refers to Christians: they may have been given to pagans who had been accused and had cleared them-selves, or to former Christians who had apostatized. But no doubt libelli in this same form were delivered, in Egypt at least, to Christians who secured immunity without actual See also:apostasy; and the form in Italy and Africa probably did not differ widely from this. The practice gave rise to complicated problems of ecclesiastical discipline, which, are reflected in the See also:correspondence of Cyprian and especially in the Novatian controversy. See E. W. Benson, 'Cyprian (See also:London, 1897) ; Theol.

Literaturzeitung, 2oth'of See also:

January and 17th of See also:March 1894. (W. E.

End of Article: LIBELLATICI

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