Archaeologia Adriatica, Vol. 2 No. 2, 2008.
Original scientific paper
The Controversial Bishop Malchus and the Delminium Diocese
Ante Škegro
; Hrvatski institut za povijest
Abstract
A strong ecclesiastical organisation (parochiae, ecclesiae) had developed on the territory of Roman Dalmatia by the end of classical antiquity. This was primarily due to the Salonitan ecclesiastical community and its dignitaries, who had jurisdiction over the provinces of Western Illyricum from the time of the Ostrogothic dominion (493-537). However, they did not administer the Papal Patrimony of the Roman Church, which was under the direct authority of papal officials at least from the second half of the 6th century. Revenues (pensiones) collected from it were not only sent to the Pope and his Curia, but were distributed among poor Christians, especially during the pontificate of Gregory the Great (590-604). Bishop Malchus, deprived of the administration of the Papal Dalmatian Patrimony in 591/592, is commonly considered to be one of the first diocesan bishops of Delminium, although the extant sources do not confirm such a supposition.
Keywords
the Roman Province of Dalmatia; Delminium; Early Christianity; Papal possessions; Bishop Malchus
Hrčak ID:
37127
URI
Publication date:
23.5.2009.
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