Council of Elvira (c. 305): source notes

Back to notes index · conventions

Topic: icons

See icons reasoning.

ICO S1: Canon 36

• Source: Concilia Hispaniae (Collectio Hispana), c. 36, la.wikisource.org/wiki/Concilia_Hispaniae/1; text and dating in J. Vilella and P.-E. Barreda, Veleia (see ojs.ehu.eus)
• Text: “Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colitur et adoratur in parietibus depingatur” (“pictures ought not to be in church, lest what is worshipped and adored be painted on the walls”).
• Context: Date and meaning are disputed. Traditionally dated c. 305; Vilella and Barreda argue the canon belongs to a later (late 4th–early 5th c.) pseudo-Elviran stratum and that the ne quod colitur clause is an interpolation dependent on Ex 20:5. It is cited here as evidence of opposition to wall-images in churches, with the date treated as uncertain.
• Bears on: I3
• Status: verified (Latin)