Sergey Vorontsov: Ecclesia in the works of Isidore of Seville: meaning and usage

1.Isidore defines the Church in several treatises (especially,sententiae, de ecclesiaticis officiis,. etymologiae). The reconstruction of Isidore’s opinion on the Church seems to be problematic, because a) Isidore’s texts are constructed mainly from the quotations; b) these definitions seem to be commonplaces. However, not only the meaning, but also the usage of the notion should be considered (Q. Skinner).2.The usage is to be reconstructed from the structures 0f the text. Isidore includes the passages onecclesiain the context of different notions inde ecclesiasticis officiis, Etymologiaeandsentaentiae. InEtymologaeecclesiais correlated to the notions ofreligioanddogma, on the one hand, and to the long raw of the deviations from the doctrine of the Church. The connotations of theecclesiahere is the unity of orthodoxy.Ecclesiainde ecclesiasticis officiisis the unity that possesses special customs (mores, consuetudines) and laws. Hereecclesiais identified with the clergy and is opposed touiri saeculares. InsententiaeIsidore uses the termecclesiamostly in the context of eternal salvation, preferring to use notions likegrex, populus, plebsfor temporal dimension3.It is not necessary to make some unified structure of “Isidore’s concept of the Church”, based on the Modern concept of the authorship. According to the rhetorical culture of his time Isidore could use the motive of the Church in different ways.