Parabolani

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The Parabolani or Parabalani (παράβολοι or παραβολᾶνοι) were a partly militant Christian lay brotherhood at the time of the early Church . They are mentioned in the period from the 3rd to the 6th century and operated in the larger cities of the east of the Roman Empire , certainly in Carthage , Ephesus , Alexandria and Constantinople .

Originally, in the 3rd century, at the time of Dionysius of Alexandria , Bishop of Alexandria, the Parabolani took care of the plague sufferers, whose burial they were also entrusted with. Hence its name “ παραβάλλεσθαι τὴν ζωήν ” (“parabállesthai tēn zōēn”, “to commit one's life”). From Alexandria and Ephesus it is said that in the 5th century they formed a protective force for the local bishop, which acted extremely aggressively against people of different faiths. The institution of the Parabolani as the private bodyguard of a bishop can be seen as analogous to the private armies of the landowners, the buccelarians .

The Parabolani played an important role in the conflict between Cyril of Alexandria and the city prefect of Alexandria, Orestes . The murder of the Neoplatonic philosopher Hypatia , in which the Parabolani allegedly participated, also takes place in this conflict .

A year after this event, the city's citizens sent a delegation to Emperor Theodosius II to restrict the power of the Parabolani. This resulted in a law in 416 and revised 418:

  • The number of Parabolani was to be limited to 500 men (from 418: 600). Theodosius II also reduced their number in Constantinople to 950 men
  • They were not allowed to appear as a group in court, on city council or in the theater.
  • They could be recruited from the poor and craftsmen, honorati and curiales were excluded.
  • The Praefectus Augustalis selects the people, from 418 this task was assigned to the bishop. Their names have been entered in a public register.

The Paraboloni also played a role during the " Synod of Robbers " in Ephesus in 449. There, Bishop Basil of Seleucia was threatened by a group of monks and Parabolani who came to the council under their leader Barsauma of Nisibis .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Socrates Scholastikos , Historia ecclesiastica 7.15.
  2. ↑ Codex Theodosianus XVI, 2.43.
  3. ↑ Codex Iustinianus I, 2.4.