Gelasian Decree

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GELASIAN DECREE

So-called, consists of 5 chapters concerned with (1) the Holy Spirit and the names of Christ, (2) the canon of Sacred Scripture, (3) the primacy of Peter and of the apostolic see, as well as the precedence of patriarchal sees,(4) the authority of the decrees of general (ecumenical) councils, and (5) the authority of patristic and papal writings, along with the acceptability of other Christian works available at the time (see Denz 178, 179180, 350354). A compilation of documents of probably different periods, it is thought by many scholars to have been put together privately by a cleric of southern Gaul or northern Italy at the beginning of the 6th century.

Bibliography: e. von dobschÜtz, Das Decretum gelasianum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis (TU 3d ser. 8.4;1912). g. bardy, Dictionnaire de la Bible, supplement (Paris 1928) 3:579590. t. camelot, Catholicisme 4: 1804.

[m. o'callaghan]