The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Priscillian of Ávila
d. c. 385 · Bishop of Ávila · First heretic executed by the state · Hispania → Trier
The Nicene Age
Who Priscillian of Ávila was
A charismatic, ascetic Spanish nobleman and bishop of Ávila whose rigorous, mystical movement — accused, probably unfairly in part, of Manichaean dualism and secret magic — spread across Spain and Gaul. Charged before the usurper Maximus at Trier, he was tortured and beheaded around 385, the first Christian ever put to death by a Christian state for heresy. The execution horrified Ambrose and Martin of Tours, who broke communion with the bishops who had sought it; the precedent it set — the secular sword against heretics — cast a long and terrible shadow. Included here as the orthodox writers record him: a heretic, yet one whose killing the greatest orthodox saints condemned.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees and heretics & schismatics.
Common questions
When did Priscillian die?
Priscillian of Ávila is dated d. c. 385 in the archive, which places Priscillian in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Priscillian write?
Priscillian of Ávila has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: The Würzburg Tractates (with the canons on Paul).
Which early sources mention Priscillian?
Priscillian of Ávila is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Jerome of Stridon, Sulpicius Severus and Augustine of Hippo. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Priscillian from?
The archive associates Priscillian of Ávila with Hispania, Trier. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (1)
The Würzburg Tractates (with the canons on Paul)
Eleven tractates lost for fourteen centuries, recovered in 1885 from a 5th–6th-century uncial codex — the condemned man's own defenseLet no one bring the name of heresy against those who believe in Christ and confess the whole of the scriptures.Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
On Illustrious Men 121 (executed at Trier by Maximus)
c. AD 392Priscillian, bishop of Abila, put to death at Treves by the tyrant Maximus, published many short writings, some of which have reached us.Jerome of Stridon · On Illustrious Men 121 · source text
Chronicle II.46–51
c. AD 400Priscillian was condemned to death… Thus, by a most evil precedent, men who were God’s were put to death by the sword; and this deed the bishops Ambrose and Martin abhorred, refusing communion with his accusers.Sulpicius Severus · source text
On Heresies 70 (the Priscillianists)
c. AD 428Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside Priscillian in the sources
This figure is placed with Priscillian by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Priscillian naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Priscillian, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.