Archbishop Dabral of Split defended Orthodoxy in 1050

Before the Roman Church left the unified Christian community, and for a long time after that, the Balkans were the scene of a fierce confrontation between the Vatican and the Orthodox people, their language, and their clergy. One of the martyrs for the faith in these confrontations was the Archbishop of Split, Dabral. We quote the account of this martyrdom from a text by Archdeacon Thomas from the 13th century.

Split Church Council of 925 (Celestin Medović, Croatian Institute of History in Zagreb); photo: Wikipedia/ SpeedyGonsales

As early as 925, in the presence of the papal legates Ivan and Leo, the Synod of Split was held, the tenth point of the conclusion of which stipulated that no bishop should perform the liturgy in the Slavic language:

“Ut nullum episcopum nostræ provinciæ audeat in quolibet gradu sclavinica lingua promoveri, tam in clericatu et monachatu deo deservire.”

The decisions of subsequent synods also related to the prohibition of performing the liturgy in the Serbian language, prohibiting priests from having a family, growing beards and hair, and even prohibiting the ordination of Slavs as priests if they did not speak Latin perfectly.

All these prohibitions and records of the great resistance of the people and clergy indicate that the Orthodox rite was dominantly spread throughout the entire Slavic littoral during the 12th century.

. . .

After the death of Archbishop Paul in 1030, Dabral from Split was appointed to the head of the Split archbishopric (around 1030-1050).

Pope Leo IX rebukes the Devil. Weissenau Passionarium (circa 12th century, Bodmer Library in Cologne); photo: Wikipedia

Dabral was powerful and respected, so no one dared to reproach him for his actions. He had a wife and children, as if he were a layman, and he kept them in the archbishop’s palace. The entire diocese echoed with the cries of children and the quarrels of maids.

When the high priest was informed of such an “indecent” life of the archbishop, he immediately sent an envoy named Ivan, a man of great prudence and caution. Arriving in that region, he convened a synod and began an investigation into the “initiator and participants”.

Dabral defended himself by saying that the aforementioned wife was legitimate to him, that according to the custom of the Eastern Church he could freely keep her.

However, the envoy considered Dabral’s apologies worthless and, based on apostolic authority, sentenced him and permanently deprived him of the administration of the Split church.

After Dabral, the Split archbishop was a certain Ivan (c. 1050-1059), originally from the city itself. He built the church of St. Felix under the stream. And when he became useless due to old age, he retired from his pastoral duties, lived for some time in the same church and soon died.

Thomas the Archdeacon – History of the Bishops of Salona and Split

“History of the Bishop of Salona and Split” (Historia Salonitanorum) is a chronicle of Thomas the Archdeacon from the 13th century (around 1266). It was first published by the Trogir historian Ivan Lučić (1604-1679) in the 15th century. An updated and revised anonymous version of this work, known as Historia Salonitana maior, was published in the 16th century, and critical editions of both were republished by Nada Klajić in Belgrade in 1967.

Dalibor Drekić

Sources:

Thomas (de Spalato), Historia Salonitana (Franjo Rački) Monumenta spectantia historiam Slavorum meridionalium, JAZU, Zagreb, 1894.

Historia salonitana maior (Nada Klaić), Scientific work, Belgrade, 1967.

Toma Arhiđakon, Povijest salonitanskih i splitskih prvosvećenika, Književni krug Split, 2003.

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