Evil bishop as tyrant in Isidore of Seville’s Sententiae

Abstract

The article focuses on the figure of an evil bishop in Isidore of Seville’s Sententiae in connection with the image of a tyrant. Analysis of the text demonstrates that the notion of a bad bishop is noticeably determined by the image of a tyrant. Thus, the set of the key vices of a bad bishop (first of all, pride, anger and cruelty) corresponds within the Roman rhetorical tradition to the key characteristics of a tyrannus, which has already been reinterpreted in Christian terms. The activity of a bad bishop, like that of a tyrant, results in social disorganization and in the destruction of the populus. The image of a tyrant is applied to an evil primate because the figure of the bishop was rooted in a system of political values which already had been transformed significantly. The anger and pride of a wicked bishop placed him in the sphere of the secular and connected him with the devil, thereby destroying the very essence of episcopal ministry. As a result of desacralization the bishop ceased to be the center of all social ties of the community. The rhetoric associated with the image of a tyrant most adequately reflects this perception of the social role of the bishop.