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Delator
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==Canon law== The term delatores was used by the Hispanian [[Synod of Elvira]] (c. 306) to stigmatize those Christians who appeared as accusers of their brethren. This synod decided<ref>can. lxxiii, [[Karl Josef von Hefele|Hefele]], Conciliengeschichte, 2d ed., I, 188.</ref> that if any Christian was proscribed or put to death through the denunciation (''delatio'') of another Christian, such a delator was to suffer perpetual [[excommunication]], an extreme ecclesiastical punishment. No distinction is made between true and false accusation, but the synod probably meant only the accusation of Christianity before the pagan judges, or at most a false accusation.{{original research inline|date=November 2021}} Any false accusation against a bishop, priest or deacon was visited with a similar punishment by the same synod. The punishment for false witness in general was proportioned by can. lxxiv{{Clarify|date=October 2024}} to the gravity of the accusation. The [[Council of Arles (314)]] issued a similar decree when it decided that Christians who accused falsely their brethren were to be forever excluded from communion with the faithful. During the persecutions of the early Christians it sometimes happened that [[apostate]]s denounced their fellow Christians. The [[younger Pliny]] relates in a letter to [[Trajan]]<ref>Apostolic Fathers ed. Lightfoot, 2d ed., I. i, 50 sqq.</ref> that an anonymous bill of indictment was presented to him on which were many names of Christians; we do not know if the author of this ''libellus'' was a Christian. According to can. xiii of the [[Council of Arles]], during the [[Diocletianic Persecution|persecution of Diocletian]] Christians were denounced by their own brethren to the pagan judges. If it appeared from the public acts that an ecclesiastic had done this, he was punished by the synod with perpetual deposition; however, his [[ordination]]s were still considered valid. In general, false accusation is visited with severe punishments in later synods, e.g. [[Second Council of Arles]],<ref>443 or 453, can. xxiv.</ref> the [[Council of Agde]]<ref>506, can. viii.</ref> and others. These decrees appear in the later medieval collections of canons. New punitive decrees against calumny were issued by [[Pope Gregory IX]] in his Decretals.<ref>de calumniatoribus, V, 3 in Corp. Jur. Can.</ref>
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