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The Canons of the Orthodox Church

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APOSTOLIC CANONS#

THE 85 CANONS
OF THE HOLY AND RENOWNED APOSTLES (5th C.)#

[Epitome: A bishop must not be ordained by less than two bishops (1), but one bishop can ordain a priest or lower clergy (2) if the candidate is unstained by fornication or serious sins (61). Clergy are forbidden to offer any food (including first-fruits [4]) on the altar besides bread and wine (3), divorce their wives (5), engage in worldly cares (6), celebrate Passover with the Jews (7), fail to partake of Communion if able (8), pray with a deposed clergyman (11), abandon their own parish for another one (14) in disobedience to their own bishop (15). A bishop must not receive such renegades (16). The faithful must not leave in the middle of a service (9), pray with the excommunicated (10), make themselves eunuchs (23, 24), or join a congregation in another city without commendatory letters (12) by being deceitful (13). Clergy cannot be married twice after Baptism (17) or marry a non-virgin from the faithful (18) or sister-in-law or niece (19), or offer themselves as surety (20), or commit fornication, perjury, or theft (25), or strike the faithful (27), or serve the Liturgy after being defrocked (28), or receive ordination for money (29). A cripple (77)—so long as he is not blind or deaf (78)—or a eunuch may be ordained bishop (21), but not if he has mutilated himself (22). Among the clergy, only readers and chanters can get married after ordination (26). A bishop may not take possession of a see by means of the secular powers (30) or ordain anyone outside his diocese (35) or ordain his relatives to the episcopacy as a favor (76). Clergy are forbidden from separating themselves and their followers from their lawful bishop (31) or receiving into communion one who was excommunicated by another (32) or receiving unauthorized traveling clergy (33) or neglecting the care of the laity (36) and clergy by pious instruction (58) and supplying necessities (59) or doing anything without the consent of their bishop (39). Bishops must submit to the leadership of their chief bishop (34), have a synod meeting twice a year (37), manage all ecclesiastical matters (38) and Church property (41), but cannot appropriate what belongs to the Church for their own relatives (38). If a bishop has any personal property, it must be publicly known so that he may bequeath it as he wishes when he dies (40). Clergy (42) and laity may not play dice or get drunk (43) or frivolously divorce and remarry (48). None should abhor marriage, meat, or wine (51) or refuse to partake of these foods on feast days (53), or mock the disabled (57), or read in church impious writings falsely attributed to the saints (60), or eat blood or carrion (63), or fast on Sunday or Saturday (64), or pray in a temple of Jews or heretics (65), or fail to keep the fasts (69), or participate in the traditions of the Jews or accept holiday gifts from them (70). Clergy may not practice usury (44), pray with heretics, or allow them to perform any church service (45), or accept their baptism or Eucharist (46), or rebaptize the Orthodox or fail to rebaptize heretics (47), or fail to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (49) with three immersions (50), or eat in a tavern (54), or insult the bishop (55), priest, or deacon (56), or deny their Faith or their rank (62), or accept a second ordination (68), or ordain one who is possessed (79) or a neophyte (80), or hold public office (81) or military rank (83). The clergy must welcome repentant sinners (52), summon accused bishops to trial personally (74), reject the legal testimony of heretics and require two or more Orthodox witnesses (75), and ordain slaves only after emancipation (82). The faithful must not give oil or light lamps in a temple of the heathen or the Jews (71) or steal candles or oil (72) or sacred vessels or cloths from a church (72). Unintentional murder (66), rape (67), and insulting a king or ruler (84) are also penalized, and a canon of Scripture is given (85).]

Canon 1 of the Holy Apostles
A bishop must be ordained by two or three other bishops.

Canon 2 of the Holy Apostles
A priest must be ordained by a single bishop, and so must a deacon and other clergymen.

Canon 3 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest, contrary to the Lord’s ordinance relating to sacrifice, offers anything else at the sacrificial altar, whether it be honey, or milk—or artificial liquor instead of wine—chickens, or any kind of animal, or vegetables, contrary to the ordinance, let him be deposed: except ears of new wheat or bunches of grapes, in due season. Let it not be permissible to bring anything else to the sacrificial altar but oil for the lamp and incense at the time of the holy Oblation.

Canon 4 of the Holy Apostles
Let all other fruit be sent home to the bishop and priests as first fruits, but not to the sacrificial altar. It is understood that the bishop and priests shall distribute a fair share to the deacons and other clergymen.

Canon 5 of the Holy Apostles
No bishop, priest, or deacon shall divorce his own wife under pretext of reverence. If he divorces her, let him be excommunicated; and if he persist in so doing, let him be deposed.

Canon 6 of the Holy Apostles
A bishop or priest or deacon must not undertake worldly cares. If he does, let him be deposed.

Canon 7 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon celebrate the holy day of Pascha before the vernal equinox with the Jews, let him be deposed.

Canon 8 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon, or anyone else in the clerical list, fail to partake of Communion when the Oblation has been offered, he must tell the reason; and if it is a good excuse, he shall receive a pardon. But if he refuses to tell it, he shall be excommunicated, on the ground that he has become a cause of harm to the laity and has instilled a suspicion against the one offering it, that the latter has failed to present it in a sound manner.

Canon 9 of the Holy Apostles
All those faithful who enter and listen to the Scriptures but do not stay for prayer and Holy Communion must be excommunicated, on the ground that they are causing the Church a breach of order.

Canon 10 of the Holy Apostles
One who prays with the excommunicant shall himself be excommunicated.

Canon 11 of the Holy Apostles
A clergyman who prays in company with a deposed clergyman shall also be deposed.

Canon 12 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman or layman who has been excommunicated, or who has not been admitted to repentance, shall go away and be received in another city without commendatory letters, both the receiver and the one received shall be excommunicated.

Canon 13 of the Holy Apostles
If he has been excommunicated let his excommunication be augmented, on the ground that he has lied and that he has deceived the Church of God.

Canon 14 of the Holy Apostles
A bishop shall not abandon his own parish and go outside of it to interlope to another one, even though urged by a number of persons to go there, unless there be a good reason for doing so, on the ground that he can be of greater help to the inhabitants there, by reason of his piety. And even then he must not do so of his own accord, but in obedience to the judgment of many bishops, and at their urgent request.

Canon 15 of the Holy Apostles
If any priest, or deacon, or anyone at all on the list of clerics, abandoning his own province, departs to another, and after deserting it entirely, sojourns in another, contrary to the mind of his own bishop, we bid him to officiate no longer, especially if his bishop summons him to return and he has not obeyed and persists in his disorderliness; however, he may commune there as layman.

Canon 16 of the Holy Apostles
On the other hand, if the bishop with whom they are associating admits them as clergymen in defiance of the deprivation prescribed against them, he shall be excommunicated as a teacher of disorder.

Canon 17 of the Holy Apostles
Whoever has entered into two marriages after Baptism, or has possessed himself of a mistress, cannot be a bishop, or a priest, or a deacon, or anything else in the list of clerics.

Canon 18 of the Holy Apostles
No one who has taken a widow, or a divorced woman, or a harlot, or a housemaid, or any actress as his wife, may be a bishop, or a priest, or a deacon, or hold any other position at all in the clerical list.

Canon 19 of the Holy Apostles
Whoever marries two sisters, or a niece, may not be a clergyman.

Canon 20 of the Holy Apostles
Any clergyman that gives himself as security shall be deposed.

Canon 21 of the Holy Apostles
A eunuch, whether he became such by influence of men, or was deprived of his virile parts under persecution, or was born thus, may, if he is worthy, become a bishop.

Canon 22 of the Holy Apostles
Let no one who has mutilated himself become a clergyman; for he is a murderer of himself, and an enemy of God’s creation.

Canon 23 of the Holy Apostles
If anyone who is a clergyman should mutilate himself, let him be deposed, for he is a self-murderer.

Canon 24 of the Holy Apostles
Any layman who has mutilated himself shall be excommunicated for three years, for he is a plotter against his own life.

Canon 25 of the Holy Apostles
Any bishop or priest or deacon that is taken in the act of committing fornication or perjury or theft shall be deposed but shall not be excommunicated, for Scripture says: “Ye shall not exact revenge twice for the same offense.” The same rule applies also to the rest of clergymen.

Canon 26 of the Holy Apostles
As to bachelors who have entered the clergy, we allow only readers and chanters to marry if they wish to do so.

Canon 27 of the Holy Apostles
As for a bishop or priest or deacon that strikes believers for sinning, or unbelievers for wrong-doing, with the idea of making them afraid, we command that he be deposed. For the Lord has nowhere taught that; on the contrary, He Himself when struck did not strike back; when reviled, He did not revile His revilers; when suffering, He did not threaten.

Canon 28 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon who has been justly deposed for proven crimes should dare to touch the Liturgy which had once been put in his hands, let him be cut off from the Church altogether.

Canon 29 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop become the recipient of this office by means of money, or any priest, or any deacon, let him be deposed, as well as the one who ordained him, and let him be cut off entirely even from communion, as was Simon Magus by Peter.

Canon 30 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop comes into possession of a church by employing secular rulers, let him be deposed and let him be excommunicated, and also all those who communicate with him.

Canon 31 of the Holy Apostles
If any priest, condemning his own bishop, draws people aside, and sets up another altar, without finding anything wrong with the bishop in point of piety and justice, let him be deposed, on the ground that he is desirous of power. For he is a tyrant; and let the rest of the clergymen and all those who abet him be treated in the same manner. But let the laymen be excommunicated. Let these things be done after one, and a second, and a third request of the bishop.

Canon 32 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop excommunicates any priest or deacon, these men must not be received by anyone except the one who excommunicated them, unless by a coincidence the bishop who excommunicated them should decease.

Canon 33 of the Holy Apostles
None of the foreign bishops, priests or deacons shall be received without commendatory letters. Even when they bear such, they shall be examined. And if they really are preachers of piety, they shall be received; but if they are not, after furnishing them with any necessities, they shall not be admitted to communion. For many things are done with a view toward plunder.

Canon 34 of the Holy Apostles
It befits us bishops of every nation to know the one among them who is the premier or chief, and to recognize him as their head, and to refrain from doing anything superfluous without his advice and approval: but, instead each of them should do only whatever is necessitated by his own parish, and by the territories under him. Let not even such a one do anything without the advice, consent and approval of all. For thus will there be concord, and God will be glorified through the Lord in Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Canon 35 of the Holy Apostles
A bishop shall not dare to confer ordinations outside of his own boundaries, in cities and territories not subject to him. If he is proved to have done so against the wishes of those having possession of those cities or territories, let him be deposed, as well as those whom he ordained.

Canon 36 of the Holy Apostles
In case any bishop who has been ordained refuses the office and the care of the laity, which has been entrusted to him, he shall be excommunicated and remain so until such time as he accepts it. This also applies to a priest and deacon. But if upon departing, he fail to accept it, not contrary to his own inclination, but because of the spitefulness of the laity, let him be a bishop, but let the clergy of that city be excommunicated, since no one can correct such an insubordinate laity.

Canon 37 of the Holy Apostles
Twice a year let a synod of bishops be held, and let them examine one another in regards to dogmas of piety, and let incidental ecclesiastical contradictions be eliminated: the first one, in the fourth week of Pentecost; the second one, on the twelfth of Hyperberetaeus (October).

Canon 38 of the Holy Apostles
Let the bishop have the care of all ecclesiastical matters and let him manage them, with the understanding that God is overseeing and supervising. Let him not be allowed to appropriate anything from this or to give God’s things to his relatives. If they be indigent, let him provide for them as indigents, but let him not trade off things of the Church under this pretext.

Canon 39 of the Holy Apostles
Let priests and deacons do nothing without the consent of the bishop. For he is the one entrusted with the Lord’s people, and it is from him that an accounting will be demanded with respect to their souls.

Canon 40 of the Holy Apostles
Let the bishop’s own property (if indeed he has any) be publicly known, and let the Lord’s be publicly known. In order that the bishop may have authority to dispose of his own property when he dies, and leave it to whomever he wishes and as he wishes. And lest, by reason of any pretext of ecclesiastical property, the property of the bishop be mixed and buried therein and that he may have a wife and children, relatives or house servants. For it is only just with God and men that neither the church should suffer any loss owing to ignorance of the bishop's property, nor the bishop, or his relatives, should have their property confiscated on the pretext that it belonged to the church. Or even to have trouble with those who are quarreling over his property, and to have his death involved in aspersions.

Canon 41 of the Holy Apostles
We command that the bishop have authority over the property of the church. For if the precious souls of men ought to be entrusted to him, there is little need of any special injunction concerning money; so that everything may be entrusted to be governed in accordance with his authority, and he may grant to those in need through the priests and deacons with fear of God and all reverence; while he himself may partake thereof whatever he needs (if he needs anything) for his necessary needs, and for brethren who are his guests, so as not to deprive them of anything, in any manner. For God’s law has enjoined that those who serve at the altar are to be maintained at the altar’s expense. The more so in view of the fact that not even a soldier ever bears arms against belligerents at his own expense.

Canon 42 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon wastes his time by playing dice, or getting drunk, either let him desist from this or let him be deposed.

Canon 43 of the Holy Apostles
Let any subdeacon, or readers, or chanter who does similar things either desist or be excommunicated. This applies to any layman.

Canon 44 of the Holy Apostles
Let any bishop or priest or deacon who demands interest on money lent to others either cease doing so or be deposed.

Canon 45 of the Holy Apostles
Let any bishop or priest or deacon that only joins in prayer with heretics be suspended, but if he has permitted them to perform any service as clergy let him be deposed.

Canon 46 of the Holy Apostles
We order any bishop or priest, that has accepted any heretic’s baptism or sacrifice be deposed; for “what consonance has Christ with Belial? Or what part has the believer with an unbeliever?”

Canon 47 of the Holy Apostles
If a bishop or priest baptize anew anyone that has had a true baptism, or fail to baptize anyone that has been polluted by the impious, let him be deposed, on the ground that he is mocking the Cross and Death of the Lord and for failing to distinguish priests from pseudo-priests.

Canon 48 of the Holy Apostles
If any layman who has divorced his wife takes another, or one divorced by another man, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 49 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest baptize anyone not into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Lord’s ordinance, but into three beginningless beings or into three sons or into three comforters, let him be deposed.”

Canon 50 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest does not perform three immersions (baptisms) in making one baptism, but only a single immersion (baptism) that given into the death of the Lord, let him be deposed. For the Lord did not say, Baptize into my death, but, “Go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

Canon 51 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon, or anyone at all on the holy list, abstain from marriage, or meat, or wine, not as a matter of mortification, but out of an abhorrence thereof, forgetting that all things are exceedingly good, and that God made man male and female, but blasphemously misrepresenting God’s work of creation, either let him correct and purge his ways or let him be excluded from the Church. The same applies to a layman.

Canon 52 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest shall refuse to welcome back anyone returning from sin, but on the contrary, rejects him, let him be deposed, since he grieves Christ, who said: “There is joy in heaven over a single sinner who repents.”

Canon 53 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop, priest or deacon, on the days of feasts will not partake of meat and wine, because he loathes these things, and not on account of asceticism, let him be deposed, on the ground that he has his own conscience seared and has become a cause of scandal to many.

Canon 54 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman be discovered eating in a tavern let him be excommunicated, except only in case it he happens to be at a wayside inn where he puts up out of necessity.

Canon 55 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman should insult the bishop let him be deposed. For “you shall not speak badly about your people’s ruler.”

Canon 56 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman should insult a priest or a deacon, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 57 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman ridicules the lame, or the deaf or the blind or the crippled, let him be excommunicated. The same applies to a layman.

Canon 58 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest neglects the clergy or the laity, and neglects to instruct them in piety, let him be excommunicated: but if he persists in his negligence and indolence, let him be deposed.

Canon 59 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest fails to supply necessities when any of the clergy is in want, let him be excommunicated. If he persists, let him be deposed, as having murdered his brother.

Canon 60 of the Holy Apostles
If anyone reads to the public in churches, the books of impious writers bearing false inscriptions and purporting to be holy, to the injury of laity and clergy, let him be deposed.

Canon 61 of the Holy Apostles
If a charge of fornication, or of adultery, or of any other forbidden act be brought against one of the faithful, and be proved, let him not be promoted to the clergy.

Canon 62 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman, for fear of any man, whether a Jew or a Greek or a heretic, should deny the name of Christ, let him be cast out; or if he deny the name of clergyman, let him be deposed; and if he repent, let him be accepted as a layman.

Canon 63 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon, and all on the clerical list, eat meat in the blood of its soul, or that which a wild beast has killed, or that which has died a natural death, let him be deposed. For the Law has forbidden this. But if any layman do this, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 64 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman is found to be fasting on the Lord’s Day (Sunday), or on Saturday with the exception of one only, let him be deposed. If he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 65 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman, or layman, enter a synagogue of Jews or of heretics to pray, let him be both deposed and excommunicated.

Canon 66 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman strikes anyone in a fight, and kills by a single blow, let him be deposed for his insolence. But if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 67 of the Holy Apostles
If anyone is keeping a virgin whom he has forcibly raped and who is not promised to another, let him be excommunicated. And let it not be permissible for him to take another, but let him be obliged to keep her whom he has made his choice even though she happens to be indigent.

Canon 68 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon accepts a second ordination from anyone, let him and the one who ordained him be deposed, unless it be established that his ordination has been performed by heretics. For those who have been baptized or ordained by such persons cannot possibly be either faithful Christians or clergymen.

Canon 69 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon, or subdeacon, reader, or chanter fails to fast throughout the forty days of the Great Fast, or on Wednesday, or on Friday, let him be deposed, unless he has been prevented from doing so by reason of bodily illness. If, on the other hand, any layman fail to do so, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 70 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop, priest, or deacon, or anyone at all who is on the list of clergymen, fast together with Jews, or celebrates a holiday together with them, or accepts from them holiday gifts or favors, such as unleavened wafers, or anything of the like, let him be deposed. If a layman do likewise, however, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 71 of the Holy Apostles
If any Christian conveys oil to a temple of heathen, or to a synagogue of Jews, in their festivals, or lights lamps for them, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 72 of the Holy Apostles
If any clergyman, or layman, takes a wax candle or any oil from the holy church, let him be excommunicated and be compelled to give back what he took, together with a fifth part of its value as well.

Canon 73 of the Holy Apostles
Let no one appropriate any longer for his own use any golden or silver vessel that has been sanctified, or any cloth: for it is unlawful to do so. If anyone be caught in the act, let him be punished with excommunication.

Canon 74 of the Holy Apostles
When trustworthy men have accused a bishop of something, bishops must summon him; and if he answers and confesses, or is found guilty, let the penalty be fixed. But if when summoned he refuses to obey, let him be summoned a second time by sending two bishops to him. If even then he refuses to obey, let him be summoned a third time, two bishops again being sent to him; but if even then he shows contempt and fails to answer, let the synod decide the matter against him in whatever way seems best, so that it may not seem that he is getting the benefit by evading a trial.

Canon 75 of the Holy Apostles
No heretic shall be accepted as a witness against a bishop, but neither shall one faithful alone: for “every charge shall be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses.”

Canon 76 of the Holy Apostles
It is decreed that no bishop shall be allowed to ordain whomsoever he wishes to the office of the Episcopate as a matter of concession to a brother, or to a son, or to a relative. For it is not right for heirs to the Episcopate to be created, by subjecting God’s things to human passion; for God’s Church ought not to be entrusted to heirs. If anyone shall do this, let the ordination remain invalid and void, and let the bishop himself be penalized with excommunication.

Canon 77 of the Holy Apostles
If any cripple, or anyone with a defect in an eye or in a leg, is worthy of the episcopate, let him be made a bishop, for it is not an injury to the body that defiles one, but a pollution of the soul.

Canon 78 of the Holy Apostles
Let no one that is deaf nor anyone that is blind be made a bishop, not on the ground that he is deficient morally, but lest he should be embarrassed in the exercise of ecclesiastical functions.

Canon 79 of the Holy Apostles
If anyone is possessed of a demon, let him not be made a clergyman, nor even be allowed to pray in company with the faithful. But after he has been cleansed from it, let him be received, and if worthy be made one .

Canon 80 of the Holy Apostles
It is not right to ordain a man a bishop immediately after he has joined the Church and been baptized, if he has hitherto been leading a heathenish life, or has been converted from wicked behavior. For it is wrong to let one without experience become the teacher of others, unless in some special case this be allowed as a matter of divine favor and grace.

Canon 81 of the Holy Apostles
We have said that a bishop, or a priest, must not descend himself into public offices, but must attend to ecclesiastical needs. Either let he be persuaded, therefore, not to do so, or let him be deposed. For no one can serve two masters, according to the Lord’s injunction.

Canon 82 of the Holy Apostles
We do not permit house servants to be ordained to the clergy without the consent of their masters, to the sorrow of the masters owning them. For such a thing causes an upheaval in the households. But if any house servant should appear to be worthy to be ordained to any rank, as our own Onesimus did, and their masters are willing to permit it, and grant them their freedom (by liberating them from slavery), and allow them to leave home, let him be so ordained.

Canon 83 of the Holy Apostles
If any bishop or priest or deacon is engaged in military matters, and wishes to hold both a Roman (i.e.; civil) and a holy office, let him be deposed. For “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s”

Canon 84 of the Holy Apostles
If anyone insults an emperor or king, or any other ruler, contrary to what is right and just, let him pay the penalty. Accordingly, if he is a clergyman, let him be deposed; but if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 85 of the Holy Apostles
To all you clergymen and laymen let the following books be venerable and holy: Of the Old Covenant, the five of Moses, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; the one of Jesus of Nave (commonly called Joshua in English); the one of Judges; the one of Ruth; the four of the Kingdoms; two Chronicles of the Book of Days; two of Esdras; one of Esther; three of the Maccabees; one of Job; one Psalter (Psalms); three of Solomon, namely, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs; twelve of the Prophets; one of Isaiah; one of Jeremiah; one of Ezekiel; one of Daniel; outside of these it is permissible for you to recount in addition thereto also the Wisdom of very learned Sirach by way of teaching your younger folks. Our own books, that is to say, those of the New Covenant, comprising four Gospels, namely, that of Matthew, of Mark, of Luke, and of John; fourteen Epistles of Paul; two Epistles of Peter, three Epistles of John; one of James; one of Jude; two Epistles of Clement; and the Injunctions addressed to you bishops through me, Clement, in eight books, which ought not to be divulged to all on account of the secret matters they contain) and the Acts of us Apostles.

CANONS OF THE ECUMENICAL SYNODS#

THE TWENTY CANONS
OF THE HOLY FIRST ECUMENICAL SYNOD (325)#

[Epitome: Clergy must not castrate themselves (1), live together with a maid unless a blood relative (3), receive those excommunicated by another (5), move from their assigned city to another (15), or commit usury (17). They should not be quickly elevated after Baptism (2), and if they had an impediment, they must be deposed (9, 10). Bishops should be installed by all the bishops of the province and the metropolitan’s consent (4, 6), have a synod meeting before the Great Fast and in the fall (5), and may not ordain clergy who belong to another diocese (16). The Patriarch of Alexandria has authority over Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, and each other patriarchate retains its seniority, according to custom (6), including the Bishop of Jerusalem (7). Repenting Cathari can be received in their orders, or their bishops can become priests in existing Orthodox sees (8), but Paulianists must be rebaptized and ordained if worthy (19). The synod also canonizes those who voluntarily denied the Faith (11), lapsed soldiers (12) and catechumens (14), but the dying lapsed ones should be given Communion (13). Deacons may not administer Communion to priests or touch the Eucharist before their superiors or sit in their presence (18), and the faithful do not bend the knee on Sunday or during the fifty days after Pascha (20).]

Canon 1 of the First Ecumenical Synod
If anyone has been castrated by surgeons for a disease, or has been castrated by barbarians, let him remain in the clergy. But if anyone has castrated himself when well, he must be dismissed even if he is examined after being in the clergy. And henceforth no such person must be promoted to Holy Orders. But as is self-evident, though such is the case as regards those who affect the matter and dare to castrate themselves, if any persons have become eunuchs by barbarians or their lords, but are otherwise found to be worthy, the canon admits such persons to the clergy.

Canon 2 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Inasmuch as many things, whether of necessity or otherwise are urgently demanded by men or have been demanded by men, have been done contrary to the ecclesiastical canon so that men who have but recently come to the faith from a heathen life and have been catechized for only a short time, have been conducted directly to the spiritual bath; and as soon as baptized have been given an episcopate or the priesthood, it has seemed well henceforth to have no such thing occur. For the catechumen needs more time and a longer trial after baptism. The Apostolic letter is also plain which says, “not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he falls into the devil’s snare” (II Timothy 3:6). If, on the other hand, in the course of time any sin of the soul is found against the person, and it is exposed by two or three witnesses, let such a person be dismissed from the clergy. As for anyone acting contrary hereto, as having the hardihood to do things opposed to the great synod, he himself shall be in danger of losing his standing in the clergy.

Canon 3 of the First Ecumenical Synod
The great synod has generally forbidden any bishop, priest, or deacon, or anyone else among those in the clergy, the privilege of having a housekeeper; unless she is either a mother, a sister, an aunt, or a person above suspicion.

Canon 4 of the First Ecumenical Synod
It is most proper that a bishop should be installed by all those in his province. But if such a thing is difficult either because of the urgency of circumstances, or because of the distance to be traveled, at least three should meet together somewhere, and by their votes combined with the votes of those who are absent and join in the election by letter, they should thereafter carry out the ordination. But as for the ratification of the proceedings, let it be entrusted in each province to the metropolitan.

Canon 5 of the First Ecumenical Synod
As regards those who have been denied communion, whether clergy or laity, by the bishops in every eparchy, let the opinion prevail expressed in the canon prescribing that those rejected by some are not to be received by others. But let an investigation be made as to whether or not they have been unchurched on account of smallness of soul or contentiousness or any other such repugnancy of the bishop. In order, therefore, that a proper investigation may be made, it has seemed well that synods be held twice every year. In each eparchy and in a common discussion held by all the bishops of the eparchy assembled together. For this purpose let such questions be considered and decided upon. And thus those who have admittedly clashed with the bishop would seem to be reasonably excluded from communion until such time as by common consent of the bishops it may seem better to let a more philanthropic vote be given in their behalf. As for these synods, let one of them be held before the Great Fast, in order that, with the elimination of all smallness of soul, the gift may be offered to God in all its purity; and let the second one be held sometime in autumn.

Canon 6 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Let the ancient customs prevail which were in practice in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, to allow the Bishop of Alexandria to have authority over all these parts, since this is also the treatment usually accorded to the Bishop of Rome. Likewise with reference to Antioch, and in other provinces, let the seniority be preserved to the Churches. In general it is obvious that in the case in which anyone has been made a bishop without the metropolitan’s approval, the great synod has prescribed that such a person must not be a bishop. If however, concerning the common vote of all, though reasonable and in accordance with an ecclesiastical Canon, two or three men object on account of contentiousness, let the vote of the majority prevail.

Canon 7 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Inasmuch as a custom has prevailed, and an ancient tradition, for the bishop in Aelia [Jerusalem] to be honored, let him have the sequence of honor, with the metropolitan having his own dignity preserved.

Canon 8 of the First Ecumenical Synod
As concerning those who call themselves Cathari and who are claiming to be adherents of the catholic and apostolic Church, it has seemed right to the holy and great synod, when they have had hands laid upon them, to let them remain in the clergy. Above all, that it is fitting for them to confess to this in uniting, to wit, that they will agree to and will adhere to the dogmas of the catholic and apostolic Church. That is, that they will hold communion with persons married a second time, and with those who in time of persecution have lapsed from the faith; regarding whom a length of time has been fixed, and a due season has been set for their repentance. This is so that they may adhere to the dogmas of the Catholic Church in everything. Wherever they are the only ones found to have been ordained, whether in villages or in cities, they shall remain in the same habit (or order). But wherever there is a bishop of the Catholic Church, where some of them [Cathari] are joining it, it is obvious that, as the bishop of the Church will keep the dignity of bishop, the one called a bishop among the so-called Cathari shall have the honor of a priest, unless it should seem better to the bishop that he should share in the honor of the name. But if this does not please him, he shall devise a position either of a chorepiscopus or of a priest, with the object of having him seem to be wholly in the clergy, or else there would then be two bishops in the same city.

Canon 9 of the First Ecumenical Synod
If some persons have been promoted to the priesthood without due examination, or when given a hearing confessed their sins to them, and after they confessed, these men, acting contrary to the canon, laid hands upon such persons, the canon will not admit them. For the Catholic Church insists upon irreproachability.

Canon 10 of the First Ecumenical Synod
As many persons as have been guilty of serious lapses and have been ordained in ignorance thereof or even after the ordainers have become aware thereof, they will not be admitted under the ecclesiastical Canon. For when they have become known, they shall be deposed.

Canon 11 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Concerning those who have transgressed without any need, without being deprived of goods, without being in any peril, or in any such strait as occurred during the tyranny of Licinius, it has seemed fit to the synod to be kind to them, even though they did not deserve philanthropic treatment. As many, therefore, as sincerely repent with remorse shall pass three years among listeners as believers, and seven years as kneelers. In addition; for two years without communicating with the offering, they may pray with the people.

Canon 12 of the First Ecumenical Synod
As for those persons who were summoned by grace [to martyrdom], and after displaying a preliminary enthusiasm and taking off their [army] belts, they returned like dogs to their vomit, in such a way that some of them even wasted money in an effort to re-establish themselves in the army by means of gifts, let them be kneelers for ten years after devoting three years as listeners. But in addition to all these requirements it is requisite to examine into the will (or inclinations) and the kind of repentance. For as regards all those who with fear, and tears, and patience, and the doing of good to others have displayed proofs of their conversion by actual performance and not by mere pretense, after they have fulfilled the time fixed for their listening period, they shall participate in prayers unrestrictedly, with the further concession of a right to the bishop to devise some more philanthropic treatment regarding them. But as for those who acted unconcernedly, and who thought the pretense of going to church a sufficient proof of their conversion, let them fulfill the time to the utmost limit.

Canon 13 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Concerning those [lapsed] who are departing, the old and canonical law shall be kept even now, so that, if anyone is exiting, he should not be deprived of the necessary support [Mysteries]. However, when all hope is gone and he has been given Communion, if he again is found among the living, let him stay with those who participate in prayer only. In general, moreover, as concerning anyone at all that is on the verge of making his departure, if he asks to partake of the Eucharist, let the bishop examine him and then impart the Oblation.

Canon 14 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Concerning lapsed catechumens, it has seemed proper to the holy great Synod to let them off with only three years’ listening and to allow them thereafter to pray together with catechumens.

Canon 15 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Because of much disturbance and the mutinies which took place, it has seemed best to do away altogether with the custom, which obtained contrary to the apostolic canon in some places, and not to allow either a bishop or a priest or a deacon to go from one city to another. If after the holy and great synod’s definition, anyone should attempt to do such a thing, or has actually undertaken to do such a thing, let the resulting affair be invalidated by all means, and let him be reinstated in the church in which the bishop or priest in question was ordained.

Canon 16 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Any priests or deacons, or other persons covered by the canon, who take the risk, without having the fear of God before their eyes, or keeping aware of the ecclesiastical canon, of departing from their own church, they must not be admitted at all in another church, but they must be strictly forced to return to their own parish, or, in case they insist, it is proper for them to be excluded from Communion. If on the other hand, anyone should surreptitiously snatch away one belonging to another and ordain him in his own church, without the consent of his bishop, from whom the one covered by the canon departed, let the ordination be invalid.

Canon 17 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Because of the fact that many persons covered by the canon, out of greed and in pursuit of shameful gain willfully forgot the divine passage of holy Scripture saying “who has not lent out his money at interest” (Psalm 15:5), and in lending demanded a profit, the holy and great synod has deemed it just and right that in case anyone is found after the adoption of this definition receiving interest for the use of money, or otherwise exploiting the matter, or demanding commission, or through any other subterfuge contriving to exact shameful profits, he shall be deposed from the clergy and shall be an alien to the canon.

Canon 18 of the First Ecumenical Synod
It has come to the notice of the holy and great Synod that in some regions and cities deacons are giving the Eucharist to priests, which is something that neither the canon nor custom has allowed those who have not the authority to offer, to give the Body of Christ to those offering it. It has also further been learned that already some deacons touch the Eucharist even before the bishops. Let all these things, therefore, be done away with, and let deacons conform to their own standards, well knowing that they are servants of the bishop, and that they are inferior to priests. Let them take the Eucharist in due order after the priests, with either the bishop or the priests administering it to them. But neither let it be permissible for deacons to sit among priests for to do so is contrary to the canon, and is contrary to due order: if in this disregard of these definitions, anyone refuses to obey, let him be dismissed from his deaconate.

Canon 19 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Concerning the Paulianists who afterwards took refuge in the Catholic Church, it is established that they be rebaptized without fail. If in the past any of them have been [ordained] in the clergy, if under close examination are shown to be blameless and irreproachable, after rebaptism let them be ordained by a bishop of the Orthodox Catholic Church. But if the investigation finds them unfit, let them be deposed. Likewise as concerning deaconesses, and all those who are embraced by the canon in any way and are being examined, the same form shall be observed. We have referred to the deaconesses who have been examined under cover of the habit, since they have neither any claim to appointment to any order, so that they are to be examined without fail among the laymen.

Canon 20 of the First Ecumenical Synod
Since there are some persons who kneel in church on the Lord’s Day and on the days of Pentecost, with a view to preserving uniformity in all parishes, it has seemed best to the holy synod for prayers to be offered to God while standing.

THE SEVEN CANONS
OF THE HOLY SECOND ECUMENICAL SYNOD (381)#

[Epitome: The council accepts the faith of Nicaea and anathematizes all heresy, and particularly the Evnomians, Adhesions, Semi-Arians, Spirit-fighters, Sabellians, Marcellians, Photinians, and Apollinarians (1). Bishops may not administer affairs in another diocese, and barbarian nations must be administered according to historical custom (2). The Bishop of Constantinople (New Rome) is second in honor to the Bishop of Rome (3). The usurper Maximus the Cynic is not a true bishop, and all his ordinations are invalid (4). The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equally divine (5). Accusations against a bishop of moral misconduct must be considered, even from dishonorable men and the non-Orthodox, but accusations concerning ecclesiastical matters can only come from Orthodox in good standing, who will suffer the same punishment if they are falsely accusing; and if the provincial bishops cannot decide a case, they may appeal to a higher synod, but in no wise should secular authorities be appealed to (6). Repentant heretics who recant in writing and anathematize every heresy and have already received the proper external form of Baptism may be chrismated into the Church, but other heretics who baptize improperly or believe far differently from the Orthodox must be baptized (7).]

Canon 1 of the Second Ecumenical Synod
The holy fathers assembled in Constantinople have decided not to set aside the faith of the three hundred and eighteen fathers who met in Nicaea, Bithynia, but to let it remain sovereign, and that every heresy be anathematized, and especially and specifically that of the Evnomians, including that of the Adhesions, and that of the Semi-Arians, including that of the Pnevmatomachs, and that of the Sabellians, and that of the Marcellians, and that of the Photinians, and that of the Apollinarians.

Canon 2 of the Second Ecumenical Synod
Bishops must not leave their own diocese and go over to churches beyond its boundaries; but, on the contrary, in accordance with the canons, let the bishop of Alexandria administer the affairs of Egypt only, let the bishops of the East govern the Eastern Church only, the priorities granted to the church of the Antiochians in the Nicene canons being kept inviolate, and let the bishops of the Asian diocese administer only the affairs of the Asian church, and let those of the Pontic diocese look after the diocese of Pontus only, and let those of the Thracian diocese manage the affairs of the Thracian diocese only. Let bishops not go beyond their own province to carry out an ordination or any other ecclesiastical services unless summoned there. When the canon prescribed in regard to dioceses is duly kept; it is evident that the synod of each province will confine itself to the affairs of that particular province, in accordance with the regulations decreed in Nicaea. But the churches of God that are situated in territories belonging to barbarian nations must be administered in accordance with the customary practice of the fathers.

Canon 3 of the Second Ecumenical Synod
Let the Bishop of Constantinople, however, have the priorities of honor after the Bishop of Rome, because of its being New Rome.

Canon 4 of the Second Ecumenical Synod
As concerning Maximus the Cynic, and the disturbance caused by him in Constantinople, it is hereby decreed that Maximus neither became nor is a bishop, and that neither are those ordained by him entitled to hold any clerical rank whatsoever. Let everything connected with him or done by him be annulled.

Canon 5 of the Second Ecumenical Synod
As concerning the Tome of the Westerners, we have accepted also those in Antioch who confess a single divinity of Father and of Son and of Holy Spirit.

Canon 6 of the Second Ecumenical Synod
Because many men, in a spirit of enmity and for purposes of slander being desirous to confound and subvert ecclesiastical discipline, connive to fabricate certain charges against Orthodox bishops managing the churches, in an attempt designing nothing else but to sully the reputation of the priests and to raise disturbances among peoples who are at peace; on this account it has pleased the holy synod of the bishops who have convened in Constantinople to decree that informers are not to be admitted without examination, nor are all men to be allowed to bring accusations against those managing the churches, nor yet are all to be excluded. But if anyone lay a personal grievance, that is, a private complaint, against a bishop, on the ground that he has been a victim of the bishop’s greed or other unjust treatment, in the case of such accusations neither the personality nor the religion of the accuser is to be inquired into. For then the conscience of the bishop must be clear in every respect, and the man who claims to have been wronged should receive justice whatever be his religion. But if the indictment brought against the bishop be of an ecclesiastical nature, then the personality of the informers must be considered, in order, first of all, not to allow heretics to make charges against Orthodox bishops in regard to ecclesiastical matters. We call heretics those who have of old been proscribed from the Church and those who have thereafter been anathematized by us; and in addition those who though pretending to confess the sound faith, have schismatically separated and have gathered congregations in opposition to our canonical bishops. Further, as regarding those who have previously been condemned by the Church on certain charges and have been ousted from this or excluded from Communion, whether they belong to the clergy or to the ranks of laymen, neither shall these persons be allowed to accuse a bishop until they have first cleared themselves of their own indictment. Likewise as regarding those who themselves previously been accused, they are not to be permitted to accuse a bishop, or other clergymen, until they have first proved themselves innocent of the charges placed against them. If however, certain persons are neither heretics nor excluded from Communion, nor condemned, nor previously charged with any offenses, should declare that they have an accusation of an ecclesiastical nature against a bishop, the holy synod bids these persons to lodge their accusations before all the bishops of the province and before them to prove the charges against the bishop involved in the case. But if it so happen that the provincial bishops are unable or incompetent to decide the case against the bishop and make the correction due, then they are to go to a greater synod of the bishops of this diocese summoned to try this case. And they are not to lodge the accusation until they themselves have in writing agreed to incur the same penalty if in the course of the trial it be proved that they have been slandering the accused bishop. But if anyone, scorning what has been decreed in the foregoing statements, should dare either to annoy the emperor’s ears or to trouble courts of secular authorities or an ecumenical synod to the disturbance of all the bishops of the diocese, let no such person be allowed to present any information whatever, because of his having thus roundly insulted the canons and ecclesiastical discipline.

Canon 7 of the Second Ecumenical Synod
As for those heretics who proceed to embrace Orthodoxy and join the portion of the saved, we accept them in accordance with the subjoined sequence and custom: Arians, and Macedoniacs, and Sabbatians, and Novatians, those calling themselves Cathari (or “Pure”), and the Aristeri, and Apollinarians we accept when they offer Orthodox recantations and anathematize every heresy that does not hold the same beliefs as the catholic and apostolic Church of God, and are sealed first with Holy Chrism on their forehead and their eyes, and the nose and mouth and ears; and in sealing them we say: “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” As for Evnomians, however, who are baptized with a single immersion, and Montanists, who are here called Phrygians, and the Sabellians, who teach that Father and Son are the same person, and some other errors, and those belonging to other heresies (for there are many heretics here, especially such as come from the country of the Galatians: all of them that want to adhere to Orthodoxy we are willing to accept as pagans. Accordingly, on the first day we treat them as Christians; on the second day, catechumens; then, on the third day, we exorcize them with the act of blowing thrice into their face and into their ears; and thus do we catechize them, and we make them stay a time in the church and listen to the Scriptures, and then we baptize them.

THE EIGHT CANONS
OF THE HOLY AND ECUMENICAL THIRD SYNOD (431)#

[Epitome: The synod condemns followers of Nestorius, Celestius, and Charisius (1, 4, 7), who by apostasy have forfeited their rank (2). Depositions of Orthodox clergy by Nestorius are annulled, and such clergy must not submit in any way to the apostates (3). If Nestorius reinstates any deposed apostates, it is meaningless (5). None may alter the decisions of Ephesus concerning any person (6), or compose a formula of faith different from the definition of Nicaea (7). The Church of Cyprus shall be independent and ordain its own bishops, and the same applies to every province that has not from the beginning belonged under the jurisdiction of any patriarchate (8).]

Canon 1 of the Third Ecumenical Synod
Since those who for any reason, whether of an ecclesiastical or of physical nature, are absent from the holy synod and have remained in their own town or district ought not to be left in ignorance of the synod’s regulations regarding them, we make known to your holiness and love that if any metropolitan of the province has apostatized from the holy and ecumenical synod and joined the assembly of the apostasy, or has joined it thereafter, or has adopted the sentiments of Celestius or intends to adopt them, he shall have no power whatsoever to perpetrate anything against the bishops of the province, being already expelled and stripped of every function and of all ecclesiastical communion by the present synod. Moreover, he shall be liable, in any case, to be expelled from the rank of the episcopate by those very bishops of the province and by surrounding metropolitans who adhere to the beliefs of Orthodoxy.

Canon 2 of the Third Ecumenical Synod
If, on the other hand, any provincial bishops have failed to attend the holy synod and have joined the apostasy, or should attempt to do so, or even after subscribing to the deposition of Nestorius have again gone to the synods of apostasy, all such persons, in the judgment that has seemed best to the holy synod, have alienated themselves from Holy Orders and have forfeited their rank.

Canon 3 of the Third Ecumenical Synod
If some of the clergymen in any city or district have been shorn of Holy Orders by Nestorius and his party on account of their believing rightly, we have adjudged it right and just that they be restored to their own rank. We collectively bid the clergymen who agree in their beliefs with the Orthodox and the ecumenical synod not to submit in any way whatever to the bishops who have apostatized or have deserted us.

Canon 4 of the Third Ecumenical Synod
If any of the clergymen should apostatize and dare, either publicly or privately, to hold the beliefs of Nestorius or of Celestius, the holy synod has deemed it just and right that these men too should be deposed.

Canon 5 of the Third Ecumenical Synod
As for all those who have been condemned by the holy synod or by their own bishops for improper acts and to whom Nestorius and those sharing his views and beliefs have sought, or should seek, to give back communion or rank, uncanonically and in accordance with the indifference shown by Nestorius in all matters, we have deemed it right and just that they too remain without benefit and that they be left nevertheless deposed.

Canon 6 of the Third Ecumenical Synod
Likewise in regard to any persons who should wish to alter in any way whatsoever anything that has been enacted by the holy synod in Ephesus concerning anyone, the holy synod has prescribed that if they be bishops or clergymen, they are to lose their own rank entirely, while if they be laymen, they are to be excluded from communion.

Canon 7 of the Third Ecumenical Synod
These things having been read aloud, the holy synod then decreed that no one should be permitted to offer any different belief or faith or in any case to write or formulate any other than the one defined by the holy fathers assembled with the Holy Spirit in the city of Nicaea. As for those who dare either to formulate a different belief or faith, or to present one, or to offer one to those who wish to turn to acknowledgment of the truth, whether they [converts] are pagans or Jews or they are members of any heresy whatever, if bishops or clergymen, they shall be deposed as bishops from their episcopate, and as clergymen from their clericate; but if they are laymen, they shall be anathematized. In the same manner, if any persons be discovered or exposed, whether bishops, clergymen, or laymen, in the act of believing or teaching the things embodied in the exposition presented by Charisius the priest concerning the incarnation of the only-begotten Son of God, or by any chance the unholy and perverse dogmas of Nestorius which have even been subjoined, let them stand liable to the judgment of this holy and ecumenical synod. As a consequence, that is to say, the bishop shall be deprived of his episcopate and be left deposed, while the clergyman shall likewise forfeit his priesthood. If on the other hand any such person is a layman, let him also be anathematized, as aforesaid.

Canon 8 of the Third Ecumenical Synod
Our fellow bishop Reginus, most beloved by God, and with him the most God-beloved bishops of the province of the Cypriotes Zeno and Evagrios, have announced an innovation, a thing which is contrary to the ecclesiastical laws and the canons of the holy apostles, and one which affects the freedom of all. Hence, since common ailments require more drastic treatment, on the ground that they do greater damage, and especially in view of the fact that the Bishop of Antioch, far from following the ancient custom, has been performing the ordinations in Cyprus, according to information given in the Book of Orthodox Documents (Livelon) and by oral statements made by most pious gentlemen who have approached the holy synod. Therefore those who preside over the churches in Cyprus shall retain their privilege unaffected and inviolate, according to the canons of the holy fathers and ancient custom, whereby they shall themselves perform the ordinations of the most reverent bishops. The same rule shall hold good also with regard to the other dioceses and churches everywhere, so that none of the bishops most beloved by God shall take hold of any other province that was not formerly and from the beginning in his jurisdiction or was not held by his predecessors. But if anyone has taken possession of any, and has forcibly subjected it to his authority, he shall return it to its rightful possessor, in order that the canons of the fathers not be transgressed, nor the secular be introduced, under the pretext of divine services; lest imperceptibly and little by little we lose the freedom which our Lord Jesus Christ, the Liberator of all men, has given us as a free gift by His own blood. For this reason, it seemed best to the holy and ecumenical synod that the rights of every province, formerly and from the beginning belonging to it, be preserved clear and inviolable, in accordance with the custom which prevailed of old, each metropolitan having permission to take copies of the proceedings for his own security. If, on the other hand, anyone introduce any form conflicting with the decrees that have now been sanctioned, it has seemed best to the entire holy and ecumenical synod that it shall be of no effect.

THE THIRTY CANONS
OF THE HOLY AND ECUMENICAL FOURTH SYNOD (451)#

[Epitome: The canons of previous synods remain in force (1). Simony and anyone who facilitates it (2) are condemned, as well as those who abduct women as wives or abet them (27). Clergy may not manage estates or secular offices for the sake of gain (3) or move from one city to another (5) but must be assigned to a particular temple (6)—only one church (10, 20)—and cannot be involved in the army or any secular rank (7) or resort to secular courts (9) or perform services in another city without recommendatory letters from their own bishop (13). None may build a church or monastery without the consent of the bishop of the city, and monks must occupy themselves with prayer, and a slave cannot become a monk without his owner’s consent (4). Clerics and laymen cannot desert their assigned responsibilities and abandon their bishop (8) or file charges against a clergyman without the accusers’ reputation being considered (21). A dispute with a bishop should be tried by the synod of the province, and a dispute with the metropolitan by the patriarch or the exarch of the diocese (9). The poor who travel in need of assistance shall be given peace letters but not recommendatory letters (11). Bishops may not divide one province into two in order to make a new metropolitanate (12) and should not avoid the twice-yearly synod meetings (19). Lower clergy cannot take a wife that is of a different faith or have their children baptized by heretics (14). Deaconesses must be forty years old and cannot get married after their appointment (15), like monastics (16). If during the past thirty years, there has been a dispute about episcopal jurisdiction over a rural parish, the provincial synod shall decide its fate (17). Clergy must not engage in conspiracy or faction (18) or seize the possessions of their deceased bishop (22). Clergy and monks are forbidden to sojourn in Constantinople and meddle in Church affairs (23), and consecrated monastic properties must remain monasteries perpetually (24). A metropolitan must ordain a bishop for a widowed church within three months (25), and every cathedral should have a steward among the clergy to manage church possessions (26). The Archbishop of Constantinople is second after Rome (28). A bishop cannot be demoted to priest but should be entirely defrocked if he transgress (29), and the bishops of Egypt will subscribe to the Tome after the new Patriarch of Alexandria is ordained (30).]

Canon 1 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
We pronounce it just and right that the canons promulgated by the holy fathers, in each and every synod down to the present time, continue in full force and effect.

Canon 2 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
If any bishop ordain anyone for money, and make merchandise of the unsellable grace, and perform the ordination of a bishop, chorepiscopus, priest, deacon, or any one on the roll of the clergy, with a view to gain; or nominate any steward (economos), ecclesiastical advocate (ekdikos), or doorkeeper (paramonarios), or anyone else that belongs to the canon, for money, with the object of making a shameful profit for himself: let him who is found guilty of having undertaken this stand in peril of his office, and let him who has been thus ordained have no benefit from such traffic in ordinations or nominations, but on the contrary, let him be without any claim upon the dignity or job which he has thus obtained by means of money. If, in fact, anyone even appear as a middleman or factor or intermediary for such shameful and illicit deals, let him too, if he be a clergyman, forfeit his office; but if he be a layman or a monk, let him be anathematized.

Canon 3 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
It is come to the knowledge of the synod that some of those who had been listed in the roll of the clergy hire other men’s estates for the sake of filthy lucre and undertake to negotiate secular affairs, to the neglect of the Divine Liturgy, and betake themselves to the families of secular men, whose estates they undertake to manage out of love of money. Therefore the holy and great synod decrees that no bishop, clergyman, or monk shall henceforth be allowed to farm any estate or office, or to involve himself in secular cares, unless he be unavoidably called by laws to the guardianship of minors, or the bishop permit him to take care of the affairs of a church, or of those of orphans or widows unprovided for, and of persons in especial need of ecclesiastical assistance, for the fear of God. If anyone presume to transgress hereafter any of the rules herein decreed, that person shall be liable to ecclesiastical penalties.

Canon 4 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Let those who sincerely and truly enter upon monastic life be accorded due honor. But inasmuch as some use the monk’s garb to disturb the affairs of the Church and civil government by going round in the cities negligently disregarding their duties, and even undertaking to build themselves monasteries, it is decreed that no one shall anywhere build or establish any monastery or any oratory (i.e. prayerhouse) without the consent and approval of the bishop of the city; and that monks in every city and country be subject to the bishop, and embrace quietude, and pay heed only to fasting and prayer, while continuing in the places patiently to which they have been assigned, without intruding upon or meddling in ecclesiastical affairs, nor leaving their own monasteries, unless at any time they be permitted to do so by the bishop of the city on account of some exigency; and that no one shall receive a slave into the monasteries to become a monk, without his owner’s consent and approval. We have decreed that anyone transgressing this rule of ours shall be excluded from communion, in order that the name of God be not blasphemed. The bishop of the city, however, is required to make proper provision for monasteries.

Canon 5 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
As regards bishops or clergymen who go from city to city, it has seemed fitting that the canons laid down by the holy fathers should remain in effect and be enforced.

Canon 6 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
It is decreed that no one shall be ordained at large either a priest or a deacon, nor anything else at all in the ecclesiastical ranks unless he be particularly assigned to the church of some city, or to a martyry, or to a monastery. As for those ordained at large the holy synod has determined that any such chirothesy (ordination) shall be null and void, and that such ordinees shall not be allowed to officiate anywhere, to the dishonor of the ordainer.

Canon 7 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
We have decreed in regard to those who have once been enrolled in the clergy or who have become monks shall not join the army nor obtain any secular position of dignity. Let those be anathematized who dare to do this and fail to repent, so as to return to that which they had previously chosen on God’s account.

Canon 8 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
As for the clergymen attached to poorhouses or monasteries or martyries, let them remain under the authority of the bishop of the city in question, and not disrespectfully desert their own bishop, in accordance with the teaching imparted by the holy fathers. As regards those who dare to defy any such formal ruling, in any manner whatever, and who refuse to submit to their own bishop, in case they are clergymen let them be liable to the penalties prescribed by the canons, but if they are monks or laymen, let them be excluded from communion.

Canon 9 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
If any clergyman has a dispute with another, let him not leave his own bishop and resort to secular courts, but let him first submit his case to his own bishop, or let it be tried by referees chosen by both parties and approved by the bishop. Let anyone who acts contrary hereto be liable to canonical penalties. If, on the other hand, a clergyman has a dispute with his own bishop, or with some other bishop, let it be tried by the synod of the province. But if any bishop or clergyman has a dispute with the metropolitan of the same province, let him apply either to the exarch of the diocese or to the throne of the imperial capital Constantinople, and let it be tried before him.

Canon 10 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Let no clergyman be entitled to be on the roll of the churches of two different churches at the same time, i.e. of that in which he was originally ordained, and of that to which he has resorted on the plea that it appeals to him more than the other because of its being a larger church, when in reality he is actuated by vainglory. As for those who do so, let them be reinstated in their own church, wherein they were originally ordained, and let them officiate there only. If, on the other hand, anyone has been already translated from one church to another, let him have nothing to do with the affairs of the former church, as regards the martyry connected to it, or the poorhouses, or the inns administered by it. As for those who dare to do anything hereby prohibited, after the definition of this great and ecumenical synod, this holy synod has decided that he shall forfeit his own rank.

Canon 11 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
As for all those who are indigent and in need of assistance, upon proof, we have made it a rule that they are to travel only with pacific ecclesiastical letters, and not with recommendatory letters; for recommendatory letters are to be granted only to persons who are under suspicion.

Canon 12 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
It has come to our knowledge that some persons, by resorting to the civil authorities, have obtained pragmatics whereby they have contrived to divide one province into two, contrary to the ecclesiastical canons, and as a result there are two metropolitans in one and the same province. The holy synod has therefore made it a rule that no bishop shall hereafter be allowed to do such a thing. For, if anyone shall attempt to do so, he shall forfeit his own rank. As for all those cities which have already been honored with the name of metropolis by letters of the emperor, let them enjoy only the honor, and likewise the bishop who is administering its church; it being left plain that the rights properly belonging to the real metropolis are to be preserved to this metropolis alone.

Canon 13 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Strange clergymen and readers (anagnosts) are not to be allowed to conduct services anywhere in a different city without having letters recommendatory from their own bishop.

Canon 14 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Inasmuch as readers and chanters in some provinces have been permitted to marry, the holy synod has made it a rule that none of them shall be allowed to take a wife that is of a different faith. As for those who have already had children as a result of such a marriage, if they have already had their offspring baptized by heretics, let them bring them into the communion of the Orthodox Catholic Church. But if they have not baptized them, let them no longer have any right to baptize them with heretics, nor, indeed, even to contract a marriage with a heretic, or a Jew, or a pagan, unless they first promise and undertake to convert the person joined to the Orthodox Christian to the Orthodox Faith. If, on the other hand, anyone transgresses this rule of the holy synod, let him be liable to a canonical penalty.

Canon 15 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Let no woman be ordained a deaconess before the age of forty, and even then after a strict test. But if she, after receiving the gift of chirothesia and remaining for some time in the ministry, proceeds to give herself in marriage, thus insulting the grace of God, let any such actress be anathematized together with the man who has joined himself with her in marriage.

Canon 16 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
If any virgin has dedicated herself to the Lord God, or any men likewise have become monks, let them not be permitted to engage in marriage. If, however, they be found to be doing this, let them be denied communion, and be excluded from there. But we have made it a rule that the local bishop is to have control of kindliness in regard to the treatment of them.

Canon 17 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Concerning rural parishes, or country parishes, in any province, they shall remain in the undisputed possession of the bishops now holding them, and especially if they have held them in their possession and have managed them without coercion for thirty years or more. But if during a period of thirty years there has arisen or should arise some dispute concerning them, those claiming to have been unjustly treated shall be permitted to complain to the synod of the province. But if anyone has been unjustly treated by his own metropolitan, let him complain to the exarch of the diocese, or let him have his case tried before the throne of Constantinople, according as he may choose. If, on the other hand, any city has been rebuilt by imperial authority or has been built anew again, pursuant to civil and public formalities, let the order of the ecclesiastical parishes be followed.

Canon 18 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
The crime of conspiracy, or of faction, already prohibited by secular laws, ought still more to be forbidden to appear in the Church of God. If, therefore, there be found any clergymen, or monastics, to be conspiring or to be engaged in factiousness of any kind, or hatching plots against bishops or fellow clergymen, they shall forfeit their own rank altogether.

Canon 19 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
It has come to our ears that the canonically prescribed synods of bishops are not held in the provinces, and as a result of this fact many ecclesiastical matters in need of correction are neglected. The holy synod, therefore, has made it a rule, in accordance with the canons of the holy fathers, for the bishops to meet twice a year in convention somewhere in each province, wherever the bishop of the metropolis designates, and for all matters to be corrected that may come up. As for those bishops, on the other hand, who fail to attend the meeting, but who, instead of doing so, remain at home in their respective cities, and lead their lives therein in good health and free from every indispensable and necessary occupation, they are to be reprimanded in a brotherly way.

Canon 20 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
As we have already decreed, it is not permissible for clergymen officiating in a church to be given a church in another city; but, on the contrary, they must rest content with the one in which they were originally deemed worthy to conduct divine services: except those who have gone over to another church as a result of their having been forced to flee from their own country. If any bishop nevertheless admits a clergyman belonging to another bishop, after promulgation of this rule, it has been decided that both of them, i.e. the clergyman so admitted and the bishop admitting him, are to be excluded from communion until such time as the clergyman who has left his own city see fit to return to his own church.

Canon 21 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Clergymen or laymen accusing bishops or clergymen are not to be allowed to file charges against them promiscuously and without investigation until their own reputation has been examined into.

Canon 22 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Clergymen, after the death of their own bishop, shall not be allowed to seize his effects, as is prohibited even by the canons of old, on pain of being stripped of their own offices.

Canon 23 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
It has come to the ears of the holy synod that certain clergymen and monastics, without being handed any permission by their own bishop, and in fact, sometimes even after he has excluded them from communion, have resorted to the imperial city of Constantinople, and stay there a long time, causing disturbances and meddling in the ecclesiastical situation, and engender upheavals in the households of some persons. Hence the holy synod has decreed that they first be reminded, through the defensor (ecclesiastical advocate) of the most holy Church of Constantinople, to take their departure from the imperial city. But if they impudently persist in doing the same things, they are to be expelled from the city even against their will through the same defensor, and are to betake themselves to their own regions.

Canon 24 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
As for monasteries which have once been consecrated with the consent of the bishop, they are to remain monasteries perpetually, and the property owned by them is to be kept safe, and no more be permitted to serve as mundane haunts of vice. Those who permit this to occur are liable to the penalties provided by the canons.

Canon 25 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Whereas some metropolitans, as we have been informed, neglect the flocks committed to their care, and postpone the ordinations of bishops, the holy synod has decreed that they must perform ordinations within three months unless some unavoidable necessity require the time to be lengthened. If they fail to carry out this rule, they shall be liable to ecclesiastical penalties; and the income of the widowed church shall be preserved to be retained by the steward of the same church.

Canon 26 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Since in some churches, as we have been informed, the bishops are administering the ecclesiastical affairs with the services of a steward (economos), it has seemed most reasonable and right that each and every church that has a bishop should also have a steward selected from its own clergy to manage the ecclesiastical affairs of that particular church in accordance with the views and ideas of its own bishop, so as to provide against the administration of the church being unwitnessed, so as to prevent the property of the same church from being wasted as a result of such stewardless administration and to prevent any obloquy from attaching itself to Holy Orders.

Canon 27 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
The holy synod has made it a rule regarding those who take women by force under pretense of marriage, and their accomplices and abettors, that if they should be clergymen, they shall forfeit their own rank, but if they are laymen, they shall be anathematized.

Canon 28 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Everywhere following the decrees of the holy fathers, and aware of the recently recognized canon of the one hundred and fifty most God-beloved bishops who convened during the reign of Theodosius the Great of pious memory, who became emperor in the imperial city of Constantinople, otherwise known as New Rome: we too decree and vote the same things in regard to the privileges and priorities of the most holy Church of that same Constantinople and New Rome. And this is in keeping with the fact that the fathers naturally enough granted the priorities to the throne of Old Rome on account of her being the imperial capital. And motivated by the same object and aim the one hundred and fifty most God-beloved bishops have accorded the like priorities to the most holy throne of New Rome, with good reason deeming that the city which is the seat of an empire, and of a senate, and is equal to old imperial Rome in respect of other privileges and priorities, should be magnified also as she is in respect of ecclesiastical affairs, as coming next after her, or as being second to her. And it is arranged so that only the metropolitans of the Pontic, Asian, and Thracian dioceses shall be ordained by the most holy throne of the most holy Church of Constantinople, aforesaid, and likewise the bishops of the aforesaid dioceses which are situated in barbarian lands; that is to say, that each metropolitan of the aforesaid dioceses, together with the bishops of the province, shall ordain the bishops of the province, just as is prescribed by the divine canons. But the metropolitans of the aforesaid dioceses, as has been said, are to be ordained by the Archbishop of Constantinople, after the elections have first been conducted in accordance with custom, and have been reported to him.

Canon 29 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
For a bishop to bear the rank of priest is sacrilege. However, if any just reason determines their removal from practice as bishops, then neither ought they to occupy the position of priest. But if for any cause than some crime they have been deprived of the dignity and office, they shall be restored to the dignity and office of the episcopate.

Canon 30 of the Fourth Ecumenical Synod
Whereas the most reverent bishops of Egypt postponed subscribing to the epistle of the most holy Archbishop Leo for the present, not because they opposed the Catholic Faith but on the allegation that it is a custom in the diocese of Egypt to do nothing of this sort without the consent and formal approval of their archbishop, and therefore request to be excused until the one who is to be the bishop for the great city of the Alexandrians has been ordained: it has appeared to us reasonable and consonant with the spirit of philanthropy that they be excused and allowed to remain upon the like habit in the Imperial City till an archbishop has been ordained for the great city of the Alexandrians. Let them therefore give security that they will not leave this city till the city of the Alexandrians has been accommodated with a bishop.

THE HOLY FIFTH ECUMENICAL SYNOD (553)#

[no canons]

THE HOLY SIXTH ECUMENICAL SYNOD (681)#

[no canons]

THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWO CANONS
OF THE HOLY AND ECUMENICAL QUINISEXT (FIFTH-AND-SIXTH) SYNOD (692)#

Assembled in the Trullo Palace

[Epitome: The Faith shall remain free of any innovation, preserving the decisions of the previous six ecumenical councils (1). The synod accepts the 85 Apostolic Canons, as well as the canons from the synods of Nicaea, Ankyra, Neocaesarea, Gangra, Antioch, Laodicea, Constantinople I and II, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Sardica, and Carthage, and also the canons composed by Dionysios, Peter, Athanasios, Timothy, Theophilos, Kyril of Alexandria, Gregory of Neocaesarea, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory the Theologian, Amphilochios of Iconium, Gennadios of Constantinople, and Cyprian of Carthage, but the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles has been corrupted by heretics (2). Clergy cannot be married twice after Baptism or have a concubine or marry a non-virgin (3) or operate a tavern (9) or charge interest (10) or pay money for ordination (22) or charge money for Holy Communion (23) or attach themselves to another church without their bishop’s permission (17), returning to their own church in a timely manner in the case of disaster (18). None may have intercourse with a woman consecrated to God (4) or live together with a female unless a blood relative (5) or associate with the Jews or eat their unleavened bread or consult their doctors or take their medicines or visit a bath with them (11). Among the clergy, only readers and chanters can get married after ordination (6), and deacons must not sit down before the priests (7). Bishops must have a synod meeting at least once a year (8) and cannot live with their wives after episcopal consecration (12), but priests and lower clergy may have intercourse with their wives, but not before celebrating the Liturgy (13). At ordination, a subdeacon must be twenty (15), a deacon twenty-five, a priest thirty, and a deaconess forty years old (14). The seven deacons in the Book of Acts did not have the office of liturgical assistants like today, but they were ministers to the bodily needs of Christians (16). Clergy must teach the people, especially on Sundays, about the Scriptures, in accordance with the writings of the holy fathers (19), but a bishop should not do so in a city not his own (20), and rural dioceses existing for more than thirty years must not be taken away from their bishops (25). Repentant clergy can be reinstated and have their hair shorn again, but the unrepentant must grow back their hair (21). Clergy are forbidden to watch sports or engage in pastimes (24) or wear non-clerical garb (27) or distribute grapes together with the Eucharist (28) or offer honey or milk on the altar (57) or roast meat in the temple (99) or celebrate the Mysteries in a private house without the local bishop’s permission (31) or engage in conspiracy or faction (34), and a priest who has contracted (and then dissolved) an unlawful marriage may not perform any priestly function (26). None should break the fast on Holy Thursday (29) or gamble (50), perform in a theater, go to a stadium or spectacle, or watch a dance on a stage (51), or fast on Saturday (55). Unstable barbarian priests who have vowed to live celibately with their wives must rather cease cohabitation with them altogether (30). Clergy must offer wine mingled with water in the Liturgy (32), and clerical rank should not be hereditary, and a man cannot read the Scriptures in church without being ordained reader (33). Metropolitans may not pilfer the belongings of a dead bishop (35), and a bishop prevented from accessing his see shall still be permitted to ordain clergy for himself and rule from a distance (37), but a bishop cannot appropriate for himself a newly built city against ecclesiastical rule (38). Constantinople is second in honor to old Rome, followed by Alexandria, then Antioch, and then Jerusalem (36). The Archbishop of Cyprus shall retain his autocephalous privileges while sojourning in the Hellespont (39). Monastics, after being examined, can be admitted at ten years old (40) and must live in a monastery, not wandering about with uncut hair (42) or leaving the monastery unescorted or without a blessing (46), and a hermit must first be thoroughly tested by an abbot before being totally isolated, from which state he is then forbidden to renege (41). Anyone may become a monastic no matter what sins he has committed (43), but he cannot engage in marriage or fornication (44), and no woman may sleep at a men’s monastery, nor a man at the women’s (47). Women becoming nuns should not adorn themselves in fine clothes in order to dramatically cast them aside at initiation (45). A bishop’s former wife must go to a distant convent when he is ordained (48), and consecrated monasteries must remain monasteries in perpetuity (49). During the Great Fast, except on Saturdays and Sundays and the Annunciation, the Presanctified Liturgy should be celebrated (52), but eggs and cheese are not allowed on the weekend (56). A widow may not marry her child’s godfather (53), nor anyone his cousin or father-in-law or mother-in-law or brother-in-law or sister-in-law or son-in-law or daughter-in-law (54). A layman cannot self-administer the holy Mysteries in the presence of a bishop, priest, or deacon (58), nor prefer to be baptized in a house rather than a church (59), or pretend to be possessed (60), or participate in fortune-telling, amulets, or enchantments (61), or publicly speak or teach (64), or enter the sanctuary (69). None may engage in pagan festivals or traditions, dancing, or wearing costumes or masks (62), or light bonfires for the new moon (65), or eat blood (67), or marry the non-Orthodox (72), or attend the baths with the opposite gender (77), or skip church for three consecutive Sundays (80). Fake lives of saints composed by heretics should be burned (63). The faithful, from Pascha till the following Sunday, should spend their time in leisure in the churches, engaged in psalmody and celebration and not visit any spectacle (66), nor should they celebrate the postpartum period of the Virgin Mary with boiled wheat flour (79). Holy books cannot be cut up or destroyed (68), and women may not talk during the Divine Liturgy (70). Those in law school should not engage in pagan customs or garb themselves in unusual robes (71), and the Cross must not be represented on the floor (73). Christians should not celebrate love-feasts, reclining on couches, and certainly not eat in the church (74), nor make any spurious addition to the Trisagion Hymn (81). Chanters may not sing in a disorderly way (75), and no food, drink, perfume, or merchandise should be sold inside a church (76). Catechumens must learn the Faith and recite their lessons to the priest or bishop every week (78), and Christ should not be depicted in icons symbolically as a lamb but represented in His human form (82). The Eucharist must not be imparted to the dead (83), and if there is any doubt that a person in infancy was duly baptized, he should be baptized (84). Slaves must have three witnesses to their emancipation (85). None may train prostitutes (86) or take abortion drugs (91) or abduct a woman as a wife or facilitate this (92) or take pagan oaths (94) or make prostrations from Saturday evening until Sunday evening (90) or live with a wife in the catechumenate or holy precincts (97) or marry a woman betrothed to another man (98) or make a provocative painting or portrait (100). A spouse guilty of adultery is punished, but not the innocent party (87), and animals are not allowed in a church without grave necessity (88). The fast of Holy Week ends during the night (early morning) of Pascha Sunday (89). A woman should not remarry before being certain of her missing husband’s death, and if she has remarried in ignorance, her first husband may take her back when he returns after a long absence (93). Some heretics may be accepted with a written renunciation of heresy and then Chrismation, but not those who have received an improper form of Baptism or who differ greatly from Orthodox dogmas (95). Women may not beautify their hair (96), Holy Communion should be received in the hands, not in any container (101), and clergy must use discretion in applying penances, modifying their decisions based on the state of the penitent (102).]

Canon 1 of Trullo
In beginning of either a discourse or an action of any kind, the thoughtful find it best to begin with God and to rely upon God, in accordance with the utterance of the Theologian. Hence, inasmuch as we have already preached piety in a clarion voice, and the Church in which Christ has been laid as the foundation is continually growing apace and waxing more and more capable, insomuch that it may be said to have outgrown the cedars of Lebanon, and now in commencing a recital of holy words, by divine grace we decree that the Faith which has been handed down to us shall be and remain exempt from any and every innovation and mutilation just as it has been delivered to us by those who have been both eyewitnesses and servants of the word of the God-approved apostles, and further by the three hundred and eighteen holy and blissful fathers who convened in Nicaea in the reign of Constantine, who became our emperor, against impious Arius and the heathenish deity of a diverse god, or one might more aptly say of a multitude of diverse gods, which was dogmatized by him; and who in their unanimous consensus of opinion regarding the Faith revealed and stated to us with convincing clearness the fact that the three hypostases of the thearchic nature are of the same essence, without allowing this important point to remain hidden under a bushel of ignorance, but on the contrary, openly taught the faithful outright to adore the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit with one adoration, and deposed and denounced the opinion that divinity is of unequal grades and efficiently overthrew and demolished the puerile toys which the heretics had built up and erected upon sand in opposition to Orthodoxy.

Likewise it is to be noted that we are determined to strengthen as much as we can the Faith which was proclaimed by the one hundred and fifty holy fathers who convened in the Imperial City itself in the reign of Theodosios the Great, who also became our emperor, embracing the utterance of the Theologian [Gregory] and driving out profane Macedonius along with previous enemies of the truth, on the ground that he impudently and arrogantly opined the Head of lordship to be a servant and slave, and as having preferred as a matter of choice to split the indivisible unit in robber fashion, as though the mystery of the hope were not sufficient to sustain us. Along with this abominable fellow who waxed rabid against the truth they courageously condemned also Apollinaris the monstrous initiate of wickedness and, vice, who vomited forth an impious view proclaiming the Lord to have been incarnate in body without a mind and without a soul, so that it is hence evident that he too was addicted to the unwelcome conclusion that we have been left with an imperfect hope of salvation.

But as a matter of fact we also gladly ratify the teachings set forth by the God-bearing fathers who earlier assembled themselves in the city of Ephesus in the reign of Theodosius, who was the son of Arcadius and who also became our emperor, and we hold them to be an unbreakable and mighty power of piety, preaching one Christ the Son of God Who became incarnate, and the undefiled Ever-Virgin who without seed gave birth to Him, holding her to have been properly speaking and truly Theotokos (Birthgiver of God), and driving away into banishment the driveling dissension of Nestorius on the ground that it has lost all contact with the divine Oracles, while at the same time it seeks to renew the prevalence of Jewish ungodliness and aversion to piety, and we dogmatize the one Christ to be human being in due form and a God in due form.

But we do not stop here. In an Orthodox manner we confirm the faith which was engrossed upon a pillar in the metropolis of the Chalcedonians in the reign of Marcian, who also became our emperor, by the six hundred and thirty God-approved fathers, which conveyed to the ends of the earth in a loud voice, the one Christ the Son of God composed of two natures and in these two same natures glorified; and we have driven out of the holy precincts of the Church Eftyches the vain-minded, who declared it to be his opinion that the great mystery of the economy was only seemingly consummated, as something sinister and miasmatic, and along with him also Dioscoros and Nestorius, the former being a defender and champion of dissension, the latter of confusion, and both of them being diametrically opposite outlets of impiety, fallen out in the same direction towards one and the same yawning chasm of perdition and godlessness.

But neither do we stop here. We take the pious utterances of the one hundred and sixty-five God-bearing fathers who assembled upon the ground of this Imperial City in the reign of Justinian, who became our emperor and who passed away at the termination of his pious career, and, recognizing them to have been inspired and uttered by the Spirit, we teach them outright to our posterity; which fathers indeed as a synod anathematized and consigned to abomination Theodore of Mopsuestia, the teacher of Nestorius, and in addition Origen and Didymus and Evagrius, who joined hands in refashioning the Greek myths and recounting to us periods and mutations of certain bodies and souls, prompted by raptures and hallucinations of the mind, and in drunken revelry impiously exulting over the resurrection of the dead; as well as what had been written by Theodoret against the right Faith and correct belief and against the Twelves Chapters (Anathemas) of blissful Kyril; and also the so-called letter of Ibas. And again, we faithfully join together in the promise and vow to preserve and safeguard and keep inviolable the Faith declared by the sixth holy synod recently assembled on the grounds of this Imperial City in the reign of Constantine [IV], who became our emperor and passed away at the termination of his divine career, and which received still greater validity by virtue of the fact that the pious emperor himself sealed up the volumes containing it by impressing them with his own seals with a view to ensuring their safety in every succeeding age; and which has with the love of God clearly enabled us to entertain an Orthodox conception of the straightforward dogma which they outlined of the truth that there were and are two natural wills, or that is to say, wishes, and two natural energies inherent in the incarnate economy of our one Lord Jesus, the true God; and which synod by a vote of piety condemned those who teach their laities outright the doctrine of a single will and of a single energy inherent in our one Lord and God Jesus Christ, among whom we cite by name Theodore the Bishop of Faran, Kyros the Patriarch of Alexandria, Honorius the Pope of Rome, Sergios, Pyrrhos, Paul, Peter, all four of whom have acted as presiding chairmen in this God-guarded city, Macarius who became the bishop of the Antiochians, Stephanos his disciple, and foolish Polychronios.

Hence we solemnly decree that this synod, while preserving intact the common body of Christ our God, and, succinctly speaking, of all the men who have distinguished themselves in the Church of God and have become luminaries in the world, “holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:16), is committed to holding the Faith firmly and sure, even, till the consummation of the age, and that it shall remain immutable and unaltered, as well as their God-imparted writings and dogmas; and rejecting and anathematized, on the ground that its authors were enemies of the truth, and snortingly and ravingly uttered vain things against God and made injustice the highest object of their study and meditation. If, however, there be anyone in the world who does not care to hold and embrace the aforesaid dogmas of piety and believe and preach thus but, on the contrary, attempts to bypass them, let him be anathema, in accordance with the definition already previously promulgated by the aforesaid holy and blessed fathers, and let him be erased and expunged from the Christian roll like an alien, and as one not belonging to our Faith. For we are fully resolved and have been determined not to add anything to or to remove anything from what has previously been decreed, or any words whatsoever that we have been able to understand.

Canon 2 of Trullo
This too has appeared best to the this holy synod, as well as most important, that the 85 Canons handed down to us in the name of the holy and glorious apostles, and as matter of fact accepted and validated by the holy and blessed fathers preceding us, be henceforth retained and left firm and secure for the care of souls and the cure of diseases. However, inasmuch as we are ordered in these canons to accept the Injunctions (Constitutions) of the same holy apostles as transmitted through Clement, into some of which certain spurious passages destitute of piety have been interpolated long ago by the heterodox to the detriment of the Church, and have tarnished the becoming and natural beauty of the divine dogmas for us, we have suitably weeded out such ordinances in furtherance of the edification and security of the most Christian flock, not in the least way being minded to approve the fantastic inventions of heretical mendacity that have been inserted in the genuine and uncorrupted teaching of the apostles. On the other hand, we ratify all the rest of the holy canons promulgated by our holy and blissful fathers, to wit: the three hundred and eighteen foregathered in Nicaea, those convened in Ankyra, and furthermore also those who met in Neocaesarea, likewise those who attended the meeting in Gangra, but in addition to these also those who convened in Antioch, Syria, and furthermore also those who held a synod in Laodicea; further, again, the one hundred and fifty who convened in this God-guarded and imperial capital city, and the two hundred who assembled at an earlier time in the metropolis of Ephesus, and the six hundred and thirty holy and blissful fathers who met in Chalcedon. Likewise those who convened in Sardica and also those in Carthage. Further and in addition, to all these those now again convened in this God-guarded and imperial capital city in the time of Nectarios the president of this imperial capital city, and of Theophilos who became Archbishop of Alexandria. Furthermore also of Dionysios who became Archbishop of the great city of Alexandria, and of Peter who became Archbishop of Alexandria and a martyr withal, and of Gregory the Wonder-worker who became Bishop of Neocaesarea, of Athanasios the Archbishop of Alexandria, of Basil the Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, of Gregory of Nyssa, of Gregory the Theologian, of Amphilochios the Archbishop of Iconium, Timothy a former archbishop of the great city of Alexandria, of Theophilos an archbishop of the great city of the Alexandrians, of Cyril an Archbishop of Alexandria, and of Gennadius who became a patriarch of this God-guarded imperial capital city. Furthermore, the canon promulgated by Cyprian who became an archbishop of the country of Africa and a martyr, and by the synod supporting him, who alone held sway in the places of the aforesaid presidents, in accordance with the custom handed down to them; and no one shall be permitted to countermand or set aside the canons previously laid down, or to recognize and accept any canons, other than the ones herein specified, that have been composed under a false inscription by certain persons who have taken in hand to barter the truth. Nevertheless, if anyone be caught innovating with regard to any of the said canons, or attempting to subvert it, he shall be responsible in respect of that canon and shall receive the penalty that it prescribes and be chastised by that canon which he has offended.

Canon 3 of Trullo
Whereas our pious and Christ-loving emperor, in his address to this holy and ecumenical synod, has suggested that those enlisted in the clergy and conveying to others the divine truths should be pure and faultless ministers, and worthy of the intellectual Sacrifice of the great God and Victim and High Priest, and eliminate the hatred due to friction resulting from illicit marriages; and, in addition to this, seeing that the most holy Church of the Romans is disposed to observe the canon of strict conformity; while, on the other hand, we under the throne of this God-guarded and imperial capital city have neither carried meekness to excess nor have left an acrid impression of austerity; and especially in view of the fact that failure due to ignorance extends to a multitude of not a few men, therefore we concur in decreeing that, as regards bigamists who have been enslaved to sin, and have not chosen to recede from this, as of the fifteenth day of the month of January last past, in the last fourth Indiction, in the year six thousand one hundred and ninety, they are to be subjected to canonical deposition; but as for those bigamists who have taken cognizance of their own interest before we had notice of their doing anything wrong, and who cut out the evil besetting them and chased this foreign and spurious engagement far away, or even those whose wives after a second marriage have died, if they too have seen their way to return to good sense after later learning sobriety and have quickly come to forget their former misdeeds and violations of the law, whether they happen to be priests or deacons—it has seemed best to us for these men to be dismissed from every clerical office, or priestly activity, having already been penalized for an express length of time. But we have decided that in the case of those who have committed the iniquitous act unwittingly and who are weeping to the Lord to be pardoned for this, they deserve to share in the honor of standing and sitting in the place reserved for the presidency, for to bless one that ought to take care of his own wounds is inconsistent. But on the other hand, as for those who have contracted but one marriage, and this with a woman that was a widow; and likewise as, for those who after ordination have involved themselves in an illegal marriage, that is to say, priests and deacons and subdeacons, not long ago excluded from the holy Liturgy and canonized, we order them to be restored to their former ranks, without being in any way promoted to any higher rank, it being obvious that their illegal marriage has been dissolved. We have made these decrees effective as of the said fifteenth day of the month of January, in the fourth Indiction, in regard to those guilty of the offenses before specified and in priestly offices; but besides this we henceforth decree and renew the canon prescribing that anyone who has become involved in two marriages after Baptism, or has acquired a concubine, “cannot become a bishop or a priest or a deacon, or anything else in the roll of the priesthood. Likewise in regard to anyone that has taken a widow, or a divorcee, or a harlot, or house servant, or an actress to wife, we decree that he cannot be a bishop, or a priest, or a deacon, or anything else in the roll of the priesthood.”

Canon 4 of Trullo
If any bishop or priest or deacon, or subdeacon, or reader (anagnost), or chanter, or doorkeeper has intercourse with any woman that has been consecrated to God, let him be deposed, on the ground that he has contributed to the delinquency of a bride of God. If, on the other hand, he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 5 of Trullo
Let no one on the clerical list acquire a woman or a housemaid except persons mentioned in the canon as being above suspicion, but let him safeguard his reputation in this respect. Let even eunuchs safeguard themselves in this very same situation too, by providing themselves with a blameless character. As for those who transgress this injunction, if they are clergymen, let them be deposed; but if they are laymen, let them be excommunicated.

Canon 6 of Trullo
Inasmuch as it has been declared in the Apostolic Canons that of those being promoted to the clergy only readers and chanters may marry, we too, in keeping with this prohibition, decree that henceforth no subdeacons, or deacon, or priest at all, after the ordination bestowed upon him, has permission to contract a matrimonial relationship for himself: if he should dare to do this, let him be deposed. But if anyone wants to contract a legal marriage with a woman before being admitted to the clergy as a subdeacon, or a deacon, or priest previous to ordination, let him do so.

Canon 7 of Trullo
Since we have learned that deacons having ecclesiastical offices in some of the churches have hence had the impudence and self-assertion to sit down ahead of the priests we decree that no matter in what office, that is to say, ecclesiastical position, a deacon happens to be, he must not sit down before the priest does so, unless he is acting as the personal representative of his own patriarch or metropolitan and has cone to another city on some errand. For then, on the ground that he is filling the place of the latter, he shall be honored. If nevertheless anyone should dare to do such a thing by resorting to tyrannical audacity, let that person, after being deprived of his proper rank, become the lowest of all those who belong to the list in which he is enrolled in the church to which he belongs, in view of the fact that our Lord admonishes not to enjoy being called the first, according to the teaching of our Lord and God Himself as found in the Gospel of the Evangelist Saint Luke (Luke 14:7). For He told those called something like the following parable: “When ye have been invited by anybody to a wedding, do not take your seat in the first place, lest someone else more honorable than you have been invited by him, and when he who has invited both you and him comes, he tell you bluntly, ‘Give this man thy seat’; and then to your shame you will begin taking the last seat in the house. But, instead, when ye have been invited, slump into the last seat so that when the host comes round he may say to you: ‘Friend, take a better seat.’ Then glory will be yours in the midst of those making up the rest of the company: since whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” The same rule shall be observed also with respect to the other holy orders, since we know spiritual dignities to be superior to mundane offices.

Canon 8 of Trullo
With a desire to hold fast to whatever our holy fathers have decreed, in everything, we hereby renew the canon prescribing that synods of the bishops in each province must be held every year, in whatever place the bishop of the metropolis may designate. But since on account of incursions of barbarians and on account of other incidental causes, the presidents of the churches find it impossible to hold synods twice a year, it has seemed best for a synod of the aforementioned bishops to be held by all means once a year for ecclesiastical matters that naturally arise in every province, to last from the festival of holy Pascha until the end of the month of October in each year, in the locality which the bishop of the metropolis, as we have said shall designate. As for those bishops who fail to attend the meeting, but who, instead of doing so, remain at home in their respective cities, leading their lives therein in good health and free from every indispensable and necessary occupation, they are to be reprimanded in a brotherly way.

Canon 9 of Trullo
No clergyman shall be allowed to operate a tavern or barroom. For if such a person is not permitted to enter a tavern, much less is he permitted to serve others in one and do what it is not lawful for him to engage in. But assuredly if he should perpetrate such an enormity, let him either be suspended, or be deposed.

Canon 10 of Trullo
Let any bishop or priest or deacon who takes interest, or what is called a percentage, on money either cease doing so or be deposed.

Canon 11 of Trullo
Let no one enrolled in the clerical list or any layman eat the unleavened wafers manufactured by the Jews, or in any way become familiar with the Jews or call them in case of sickness, or take any medicines from them, or even bathe with them in public bathing beaches or bathhouses. If anyone should attempt to do this, if he is a clergyman, let him be deposed, or if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 12 of Trullo
And this too has come to our knowledge, that both in Africa and Libya and other regions the most God-beloved prelates there continue living with their own wives even after the ordination has been conferred upon them, and will not abandon their wives, thus becoming an object of offense and a scandal to others. We have therefore made it a matter of great concern to us to do everything possible, for the benefit of the flocks under hand, and it has seemed best not to allow such a thing to occur hereafter at all. We assert this, however, not with any intention of setting aside or overthrowing any legislation laid down apostolically, but having due regard for the salvation and safety of peoples and for their better advancement with a view to avoiding any likelihood of giving anyone cause to blame the priestly polity. For the divine apostle says: “Do everything for the glory of God. Give no offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Greeks, nor to the Church of God: even, as l try to please all men in everything, without seeking any advantage of mine own, but the advantage of the many in order that they may be saved. Become ye imitators of me, just as I also am [an imitator] of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:32-33; 11:7). If anyone should be shown to be doing this, let him be deposed.

Canon 13 of Trullo
Since we have learned that in the church of the Romans it is regarded as tantamount to a canon that ordinands to the deaconate or priesthood must solemnly promise to have no further intercourse with their wives, continuing, however, in conformity with the ancient canon of apostolic rigorism and orderliness, we desire that henceforth the lawful marriage ties of sacred men become stronger, and we are in no wise dissolving their intercourse with their wives nor depriving them of their mutual relationship and companionship where properly maintained in due season, so that if anyone is found to be worthy to be ordained a subdeacon or a deacon or a priest, let him in no way be prevented from being elevated to such a rank while cohabiting with a lawful wife. Nor must he be required at the time of ordination to refrain from lawful intercourse with his own wife, lest we be forced to be downright scornful of marriage, which was instituted by God and blessed by His presence, as attested by the unequivocal declaration of the Gospel utterance: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6); and the apostle’s teaching: “Marriage is honorable, and the bed is undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4), and: “Are you bound unto a wife? Seek not to be freed” (1 Corinthians 7:27). We are cognizant, though, that those who met in Carthage and made provision of decency in the life of ministers declared that subdeacons and deacons and priests, busying themselves as they do with the holy Mysteries, according to their rules, are obliged to practice abstinence in connection with their helpmates, in order that we may likewise keep the injunction handed down through the apostles, and continued from ancient times in force, well knowing that there is a proper season for everything, and especially for fasting and praying. For those who assist in the ceremonies at the sacrificial altar have to be temperate in all things at the time when they are handling holy things, so that they may be able to gain whatever they ask God for. If, therefore, anyone acting contrary to the Apostolic Canons require any person who is in Holy Orders—any priest, we mean, or deacon, or subdeacon to abstain from intercourse and association with his lawful wife, let him be deposed. Likewise, if any priest or deacon expel his own wife on the pretext, of reverence, let him be excommunicated; and if he persists, let him he deposed.

Canon 14 of Trullo
Let the canon, of our holy and God-bearing fathers be observed also in respect to this, that a priest may not be ordained before he is thirty years old, though the man be thoroughly worthy; but, instead, let him be obliged to wait. For our Lord Jesus Christ was baptized when He was thirty years old, and then He began teaching. Likewise, let no one be ordained as a deacon before he is twenty-five years old, nor a deaconess before she is forty years old.

Canon 15 of Trullo
Let no one be ordained a subdeacon if he is less than twenty years old. If anyone should be ordained in any clerical position whatever without having reached the years decreed, let him be deposed.

Canon 16 of Trullo
Since in the Book of Acts the apostles instruct us to appoint seven deacons, the fathers of the synod held in Neocaesarea have thus clearly asserted in the canons they promulgated that there must be seven deacons according to the canon, even though the city be a quite big one: witness the Book of Acts. In the course of fittingly harmonizing the sense of the fathers with the apostolic saying, we discovered that their words in this connection did not pertain to the men serving as ministers to the mysteries, but to those attending to the needs of the table, the text of the Book of Acts being as follows: “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them and said, ‘We do not like to forsake the word of God to serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look out among you seven men of a good reputation, full of Holy Spirit and of wisdom, which we may appoint for this task. We will apply ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ And their assertion pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas an Antiochian proselyte; whom all they set before the apostles” (Acts 6:7-6) In the course of interpreting this passage, John Chrysostom, the teacher of the Church, dilates thus: “It is to be marveled that the multitude did not split apart in choosing the men, that the apostles were not frowned upon by them! It is to be wondered what sort of dignity of office they possessed, and what sort of ordination they received. This is something that needs to be learned. Was it the ordination of deacons? We might well wonder. But then, that is not in the churches. Or was the arrangement one of priests? So far, though, there had been no bishop, but only apostles. Hence, I opine it is plain and obvious that neither the name of deacons nor that of priests is appropriate.” Resting upon these words, therefore, we too proclaim that as respects the aforesaid seven deacons they were not selected to minister to the mysteries, according to what has been said in connection with the previous interpretation of the teaching, but on the contrary, that they were selected to serve the common need of the Christians then gathered together; and that they continue to be an example to us, as they actually became, of philanthropy and diligence in regard to the needy.

Canon 17 of Trullo
Inasmuch as clergymen of various churches have abandoned their own churches, in which they were ordained, and have run over to other bishops, and without the consent of their own bishop have had themselves enrolled in the others’ churches, and as a result of this they came to be insubordinate, we decree that, beginning with the month of January of the last fourth indiction, not a single one of all the clergymen, regardless of what rank he happens to be in, has permission, unless furnished by a written release of his own bishop, to be enrolled in a different church. For, whoever fails to abide by this rule hereafter, but, on the contrary, so far as lies in his power disgraces him who bestowed the ordination on him, let both him and the one who illogically accepted him be deposed.

Canon 18 of Trullo
Clergymen who on the pretext of an incursion of barbarians, or as a result of any other circumstance, have emigrated, whenever their exigency has ceased, or the incursions of barbarians, on account of which they made their departure, are commanded to return to their own churches, and not to stay away from them for a long time without a good excuse. If anyone fails to conduct himself agreeably to the present canon, let him be excommunicated until he returns to his own church. Let this same rule apply also to the bishop who is keeping him.

Canon 19 of Trullo
We declare that the deans of churches, on every day, but more especially on the Lord’s Days, must teach all the clergy and the laity words of truth out of the Holy Bible, analyzing the meanings and judgments of the truth, and not deviating from the definitions already laid down or the teaching derived from the God-bearing fathers; but also, if the discourse be one concerning a passage of Scripture, not to interpret it otherwise than as the luminaries and teachers of the Church in their own written works have presented it; and let them rather content themselves with these [patristic] discourses than attempt to produce discourses of their own, lest, at times being resourceless, they overstep the bounds of propriety. For by means of the teaching afforded by the aforesaid fathers, the laity, being apprized of the important and preferred things, and of the disadvantageous and rejectable, are enabled to adjust their lives for the better and do not become a prey to the ailment of ignorance, but by paying due attention to what is taught, they sharpen their wits so as to avoid suffering wrongly, and for fear of impending punishments they work out their own salvation.

Canon 20 of Trullo
Let not any bishop teach publicly in another city that does not belong to his see. If anyone be caught doing this, let him be deposed from the office of bishop and perform the functions of a priest.

Canon 21 of Trullo
Those who become responsible for canonical crimes, and on this account are subject to complete and permanent deposition from office and are thrust into the status of laymen, if with a view to returning they voluntarily forgo the sin on account of which they lapsed from grace and render themselves utter strangers thereto, let them be tonsured in clerical guise. But if they fail to do this of their own accord and as a matter of choice, let them grow back the hair of their heads, on the ground that they have preferred the return into the world to the heavenly life.

Canon 22 of Trullo
We command that those men be deposed, whether they are bishops or clergymen whatsoever, who have been ordained or are being ordained for money, and not in accordance with a test and choice of life.

Canon 23 of Trullo
Concerning the rule that no one, whether a bishop or a priest or a deacon, who imparts of the undefiled Communion shall collect from the partaker coins or any compensation whatsoever in exchange for such communion. For neither is grace bought, nor do we impart the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit for money; but on the contrary, it must be imparted to the worthy without the incentive of knavishness. If, however, any person enrolled in the clergy should be found to be demanding compensation of any kind of him to whom he imparts of the undefiled Communion, let him be deposed, on the ground that he is votary of Simon’s delusion and malfeasance.

Canon 24 of Trullo
Let none of those enrolled in the clerical list, nor any monks, attend horse races or become involved in pastimes. But if any clergyman should he invited at a wedding, whenever dishonorable games are introduced, let him rise up and protest, and thereupon let him depart, since the teaching of our fathers thus commands. In case anyone is caught and found guilty of this, let him either cease or be deposed.

Canon 25 of Trullo
In addition to all the others, we renew the canon which prescribes that the rural or district parishes belonging to each church are to remain immutably assigned to the bishops holding them, and especially in the case of those who managed to hold them for a period of thirty years without resorting to force. But if within thirty years there has been, or should be, any dispute about them, those who claim to have been wronged shall be permitted to bring the matter before the synod of the province.

Canon 26 of Trullo
As for a priest who has unwittingly entangled himself in an unlawful marriage, let him retain his rights to sitting with his rank, in accordance with what has been prescribed to us as legislation by the holy canon, but let him refrain from the rest of functions and activities. For a pardon is sufficient for him; but for him to bless another person, when he ought to be looking after his own wounds, is inconsistent: for blessing is the impartation of holiness. But how can one who lacks this, on account of his lapse as a result of ignorance, impart it to another? Let him therefore bless no one either publicly or privately; neither let him distribute the body of Christ to others, nor perform any other liturgical office. On the contrary, while contenting himself with the presidency, let him persistently weep to others, and to the Lord, to be pardoned for the iniquitous deed that he has unwittingly perpetrated. For it is obvious that any such unlawful marriage must be dissolved, and that the man will have no essential share in the holy office of which he has been deprived.

Canon 27 of Trullo
Let no one on the clerical list wear inappropriate clothing, either when living in the city or when walking the road; but, on the, contrary, let him wear garments that have already been assigned to the use of those who are enrolled in the clergy. If anyone should commit such a violation, let him be excommunicated for one week.

Canon 28 of Trullo
Since we have learned that in various churches when grapes are offered at the sacrificial altar, in accordance with a certain custom which has gained prevalence, by affixing them to the bloodless sacrifice of the Oblation, the ministers thus distribute both to the laity, we have seen fit to decree that no one in holy Orders shall do this any more; but on the contrary, for the purpose of vivification and remission of sins, they shall impart to the laity of the Oblation only, regarding the offering of grapes as first-fruits offered by way of thanks to the Giver of fruits, whereby our bodies, in accordance with the divine definition, are enabled to grow and to be nourished. If, then, any clergyman does contrary to what has been commanded, let him be deposed.

Canon 29 of Trullo
The canon of the fathers who met in Carthage prescribes that the holy rites of the sacrificial altar, unless performed by men undergoing a fast, are not to be celebrated at all, except on one day of the year on which the Lord’s Supper is celebrated, perhaps having decided to employ such an economy of the divine fathers on account of certain pretexts advantageous to the Church in such seasons. Since there is nothing to compel us to abandon rigorism, we decree, pursuant to the traditions of the apostles and of the fathers, that the fasting during the Thursday that falls in the last week in the Great Fast must not be omitted, and the whole fast of the Great Fast dishonored by being prematurely broken.

Canon 30 of Trullo
Willing to do everything for the edification of the Church, we have decided to make concessions to priests in barbarian churches, so that if they are seeking to circumvent Apostolic Canon 5 by not expelling their wife, on the pretext of reverence, and to do what is beyond the limits set by it, by coming to a private agreement with their spouses to abstain from intercourse with each other. We decree that these priests shall cohabit with these wives no more, in any manner whatsoever, so as to afford us thereby positive proof that they are carrying out their promise. We make this concession to them, not for any other reason, but because of the pusillanimity of their thought, and the bizarre character of their ideas of morality, and the unsettled state of their minds.

Canon 31 of Trullo
As for those clergymen who hold a Liturgy in oratories or prayerhouses or in private residences, or who carry out a Baptism therein, without having obtained the consent of the local bishop to do this, we decree that if any clergyman fail to guard against doing this, let him be deposed.

Canon 32 of Trullo
Since it has come to our knowledge that in the country of the Armenians those conducting the bloodless Sacrifice are wont to offer wine alone at the holy Table, without mixing water with it, on the alleged ground that the teacher of the Church John Chrysostom said in his commentary of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew the following: “On what account did He not drink water after He rose, but wine?—another wicked heresy being thus eradicated, roots and all. For since there were some who used water in the Mysteries, He showed both when He delivered the Mysteries and when He rose from the tomb, that he set a mere table without mysteries and used wine, derived, he says, from the product of the vine” (Homily 82). But a vine produces wine, not water. Hence they infer that the teacher disallowed the offering of water in the holy Sacrifice (Matthew 26:29). Lest they remain henceforth in ignorance of the facts, we proceed to reveal the fathers’ meaning in an Orthodox manner. For, in view of the fact that the wicked heresy of the Aquarians was an old one, wherein they use water alone instead of wine in their own sacrifice, by way of refuting the unlawful doctrine of that particular heresy and showing that they are contravening the apostolic tradition, this God-bearing man asserted the said words. Since even in the church of his jurisdiction, where he had the pastoral rulership in his hands, he taught that water should be admixed whenever it was requisite to perform the bloodless Sacrifice, pointing out that from the precious side of our Redeemer and Savior Christ the God there had exuded a mixture of blood and water, which mixture was shed, or poured out for the vivification of all the world and redemption from sins. And in connection with all churches where the spiritual luminaries shone forth, this God-given procedure prevails. For this is also in keeping with the fact that both Iakovos the carnal brother of Christ our God, who was the first to be entrusted with the throne of the church of the Jerusalemites, and Basil the bishop of the Caesareans and one whose renown rapidly spread over the whole inhabited earth, having each of them handed down to us in writing the mystical Liturgy, have given out that the holy chalice is to be filled full of water and wine in the Divine Liturgy. And the devout fathers assembled in Carthage, too, thus expressly mentioned that in the holy elements nothing more than the body and the blood of the Lord should be offered, just as the Lord Himself taught, that is, bread and wine, mixed with water. If, therefore, any bishop or priest fail to follow the procedure taught by the apostles, mixing water with wine, and thus to offer the undefiled Sacrifice, let him be deposed, on the ground that he has been divulging the Mystery imperfectly or deficiently and innovating the rites handed down.

Canon 33 of Trullo
Since we have learned as a matter of fact that in the country of the Armenians only those who are of priestly lineage are eligible for the clergy, pursuant to Jewish customs, in an attempt to practice these, and that some of them do not even tonsure their chanters and readers when installing them in the divine temple, we have seen fit to concur in decreeing that from now on those who wish to promote certain persons to the clergy are not allowed to pay any regard to the lineage of the ordinand. But, on the contrary, after first testing them as to whether they are worthy according to the definitions laid down in the holy canons to be enrolled in the clergy, they shall ordain them ecclesiastics, whether they have been born of ancestors who were priests or not. Nor, furthermore, shall they permit anyone to speak from the pulpit to the laity the divine words, in accordance with the order of enrollment in the clergy, unless such person has something to show in the way of a priestly tonsure and receives the blessing canonically from the proper pastor. If anyone be caught acting contrary to the rules prescribed, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 34 of Trullo
In view of the fact that the clerical canon clearly states that as the crime of conspiracy or of faction is utterly forbidden even by civil laws, it is much more fitting still that this be prohibited from occurring in the Church of God, we too are sedulous to insist that if any clergymen or monks be found either conspiring together or engaging in actional intrigues or hatching plots against bishops or fellow clergymen, they shall forfeit their own rank altogether.

Canon 35 of Trullo
Let none of all the metropolitans, when a bishop dies who is under his throne, have any right to remove or to usurp his belongings or those of his church, but let them be under the safe keeping of the clergy of the church of which the deceased happened to be president until the induction or installation of another bishop, unless there be no clergymen left in the same church. It is the metropolitan who shall safely keep all such things undiminished and hand all of them over to the bishop who is to be ordained.

Canon 36 of Trullo
Renewing the laws made by the one hundred and fifty holy fathers who assembled in this God-guarded imperial capital city, and by the six hundred and thirty of those who assembled in Chalcedon, we decree that the throne of Constantinople shall enjoy equal priorities with the throne of older Rome and in ecclesiastical matters shall be magnified like the latter, coming second after the latter; after which the throne of the great city of the Alexandrians shall come next, then that of Antioch, and after this the throne of the city of the Jerusalemites.

Canon 37 of Trullo
Since at various times there have been inroads of barbarians, and many cities have as a result become subject to the iniquitous, so that the prelate of such a city has been unable after ordination to take possession of his own throne and to be installed therein in clerical state, and thus to act and employ himself in accordance with the prevailing custom of bestowing ordinations and doing everything that pertains to a bishop, we, being determined to safeguard the rights of the priesthood to honor and respect, and being in nowise disposed to consent to any curtailment of ecclesiastical rights or to allow the heathen influence to be exercised over those so ordained, and on account of the cause recited above since they are unable to gain possession of their own thrones, we have seen fit to concur in decreeing that no prejudice shall result from this to prevent them from bestowing ordinations canonically upon various clergymen and from employing the authority of the presidency in accordance with the same definition; and that any and all administration advanced by them shall be sure and duly established. For the definition of economy shall not be restricted or limited by the circumstances of necessity or be circumscribed as touching its rigor.

Canon 38 of Trullo
We too retain the canon which was laid down by our fathers and which reads as follows: If any city has been rebuilt by imperial authority, or has been built anew again, pursuant to civil and public formalities, let the order of the ecclesiastical parishes be followed.

Canon 39 of Trullo
Seeing that our brother and fellow minister John the prelate of the island of the Cypriots has departed thence with his laity and has come to the eparchy of the Hellespont, both because of barbarian assaults and because they have been freed from heathen slavery and have become subject to the ruling powers of the most Christian empire, by the providence of the man-loving God, and by the hard work of our Christ-loving and pious emperor, we see fit to concur in decreeing that the privileges conferred upon and granted to the throne of the aforesaid man by the God-bearing fathers who convened in Ephesus long ago shall be preserved without any innovations, so that the new Justinianopolis shall have the right of Constantinople, and the most God-beloved bishop appointed over it shall preside over all those in the eparchy of the Hellespontians and be ordained by his own bishops, in accordance with the ancient custom. For our God-bearing fathers have already decided that the customs obtaining in each church are to be continued, the bishop of the city of the Kyzikenians being subject to the prelate of the said Justinianopolis, in imitation of the rest of all the bishops who are under the mentioned most God-beloved prelate John, by whom, if the need arises, the bishop of the same city of the Kyzikenians shall be ordained.

Canon 40 of Trullo
Since it is very conducive to salvation for one to become closely attached to God by retiring from the turmoil of life, we must not welcome without examination those who unseasonably choose the monastic life but must observe the definition handed down to us by the fathers even in these matters, so as to make it incumbent upon us to welcome the promise of a life in accordance with God then, when it is already certain and has been done with consent and judgment, after the maturity of the reason. Therefore let anyone who is about to submit to the monastic yoke and who is not less than ten years old, the test for this resting with the president, if he deems the time to be more advantageous for growth as preparation for entrance into and continuance in the monastic life. For even though Saint Basil the Great in his holy canons welcomes the girl who voluntarily offers herself to God and embraces virginity when passing through her seventeenth year, and makes it a law for her to be enrolled in the battalion of virgins, yet even so, following the example with respect to widows and deaconesses closely we have allowed those choosing the solitary life the said time proportionately. For in the divine apostle it is written: “Let a widow not be taken into the number under sixty years old, if she has been the wife of one husband” (I Timothy 5:9). The holy canons, on the other hand, give instructions to the affect that a deaconess can be ordained only when she is at least forty years old, the Church having by the grace of God become mightier and advancing forward, and the tendency of the faithful to keep the divine commandments having become firmly fixed and secure, after exquisitely perceiving which fact quite recently we have seen fit to decree the blessing of grace upon the one about to undertake the struggle of living in accordance with God, impressing it precisely like a seal quickly and hence seeking to prevent him from lingering too long, and urging him forward into the arena, or rather indeed we might say impelling him to the choice and state of what is good.

Canon 41 of Trullo
Those wishing to depart from cities or villages where they are living in cloisters, and to look after themselves alone by themselves, must first enter a monastery, and become duly accustomed to the anchorite life, and to submit for three years straight to the exarch of the monastery in fear of God, and to fulfill obedience fittingly in all respects; and thus while confessing a predilection for such a life, they may embrace this [hermit life] with all their heart, and the fact must appear and be verified by test of trial by the local prelate. It is desirable, though, that they may spend the following year staying outside by waiting with fortitude in the hermitage so that their purpose may be fully manifested. For they shall afford such clear evidence that they are not seeking empty glory (i.e. are not in pursuit of vainglory) but are striving after this quietude for the sake of what is really good itself. When such a long time has been completed, those who persist in the same preference shall be [permanently] shut up, and it shall no longer be possible for them to leave this solitary confinement when they want to, except and unless it be for the common advantage and benefit, or some other necessity forcing them towards death, and they are being drawn towards this alternative, and thus with the blessing of the local bishop. But apart from the said pretexts, in case they should attempt to make an exit from their enclosures, the first [punitive] formality is that they must be duly imprisoned in the said hermitage against their will and must be forced to fast again and again and to submit to other hardships, so as to be made well aware of the fact that “No one who, after putting his hand to the plow, looks back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven.”

Canon 42 of Trullo
As touching so-called hermits who, dressed in black and with a growth of hair on their head, go about the cities and associate with laymen and women, and insult their own profession, we decree, if they choose to tonsure their hair and adopt the habit of other monks, that they be installed in a monastery and be enrolled with their brethren there. But if they do not prefer to do so, they must be driven out of the cities altogether and be forced to dwell in wildernesses, from which they formed the name they have applied to themselves.

Canon 43 of Trullo
It is permissible for a Christian to choose the ascetic mode of life and abandoning the turbulent whirl of ordinary life to enter a monastery and to take a tonsure in accordance with the monastic habit, even though he should have been found guilty of any offense whatsoever. For our Savior God said: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). As, therefore, monastic life represents to us a state of repentance as though engraved upon a pillar, we join in sympathizing with anyone that genuinely adopts it, and no manner of means shall prevent him from accomplishing his aim.

Canon 44 of Trullo
Any monk that is found guilty of the act of fornication, or of accepting a woman for the purpose of matrimony and with a view to living with her, shall be compelled to suffer the punishment of undergoing the penalties prescribed by the canons.

Canon 45 of Trullo
Since we have learned that in some monasteries the women about to be deemed worthy of that holy habit, first dress themselves up in fine style with silken and all sorts of fancy costumes, and, what is more, worn in worldly fashion and ornamented with gold and precious stones, and show themselves off before those who are inducting them, and that while they are approaching the altar they take off all these materials, and that thereupon and without further ado the blessing of the habit is pronounced upon them, this shall no longer be done. For it is not pious or meritorious for any woman that has already of her own free will and preference renounced every pleasure of delightfulness of life and has embraced the career modeled after God, and has confirmed this with undeviating strict vows, and thus has come to the monastery, once more in remembrance to pass through this repetition of that perishable and turbulent world whereof she has already committed herself to forget. As a result thereof she is rendered doubtful, and her soul is agitated, as though billows were surging over it, and turning it this way and that, so that after all they do not even shed a tear, be it only once in a while, nor do they exhibit any contrition in their heart through their body. But even if a tear do for an instant, as is but natural, well up and leap out, it is less on account of any disposition in favor of the ascetic struggle than for their having abandoned the world and the things in the world, and rather with a thought to having others see it.

Canon 46 of Trullo
As touching women who prefer the ascetic life and are enrolled in a convent, in general let them not step outside of it, but if they are compelled to do so by any indispensable necessity, let them do so with the blessing and permission of the abbess. Even then let them not go out all alone by themselves, but let them be accompanied by some deaconesses and mother superiors in the monastery provided with a warrant from the eldress. They must not be permitted to sleep outside of the building at all. But men who are leading the monastic life may themselves step out, when there is urgent need of their doing so, only with the blessing of the one in charge of the monastery. So that those who violate the rule which we have now made, whether men or women, must be subjected to suitable penalties.

Canon 47 of Trullo
Let no woman sleep in the men’s monastery, nor any man in the women’s. The reason is that the faithful believers must be remote from any scandal, and must regulate their own life to be seemly and accordant to the Lord. If anyone do this, whether he be a clergyman or a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 48 of Trullo
The wife of a man who is being elevated to the presidency of an episcopate, and who by mutual agreement separates in advance, after his ordination to the episcopate, let her enter a monastery that is in a location far removed from the residence of the bishop, and let her be provided for by the bishop. But if she also appears to be worthy, let her also be elevated to the dignity of deaconess.

Canon 49 of Trullo
Renewing this holy canon too, we decree that monasteries that have once been consecrated and established in accordance with the consent and approval of a bishop shall remain monasteries unto perpetuity, and the property that belongs to them shall be kept safe in the monastery; and that they can no longer become worldly resorts, nor be let out by anybody whatever to any worldly tenants whatever. Though this has been done up till now, we nevertheless decree that it shall not be continued in any way whatever. Those who attempt to do this hereafter shall be subject to the penalties provided by the canons.

Canon 50 of Trullo
From now on, nobody, whether a clergyman or a layman, is permitted to gamble. In case anyone be caught doing this, if he be a clergyman, let him be deposed, but if he be a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 51 of Trullo
The holy and ecumenical synod universally prohibits so-called pantomimes and their theatrical exhibitions; afterwards, in keeping with this, also the spectacles of wild animal fury and of hunters' prowess, and the execution of dances on the stage. If anyone flouts the present canon, and gives himself over to any of the things herein prohibited, in case he is a clergyman, let him be deposed, but if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 52 of Trullo
On all the forty days of the Great Fast devoted to fasting, with the exception of Saturday and the Lord’s Day and the days of the holy Annunciation, let the holy Liturgy of the Presanctified be celebrated.

Canon 53 of Trullo
Since familiarity with respect to the spirit is superior to the association of bodies, while, on the other hand, we have learned that some persons, after becoming sponsors to children subjected to the formalities of a holy and saving Baptism, have entered into a marriage contract with the widowed mothers of those children, we decree that henceforth nothing of the kind shall be done. If any persons be detected doing this hereafter, first and foremost let such persons desist from such unlawful state of matrimony, and afterwards let then be compelled to undergo the penalties prescribed to be suffered by those guilty of fornication.

Canon 54 of Trullo
In view of the fact Holy Scripture clearly teaches us that which is embodied in the following passage, to wit: “Thou shalt not intrude upon any relative of your flesh to expose his private parts” (Lev. 18:6), the God-bearing Basil merely enumerated some of the forbidden marriages in his canons relating thereto, passing over most of them in silence, and pointing out to us on both hands that which is of benefit. For after eschewing the multitude of obscene appellations, as though to avoid defiling his discourse with the words, he dealt with the filth in general terms, in which he pointed out concisely the marriages that are unlawful. But inasmuch as such silence and inability to discern what marriages are prohibited as illicit led naturally to confusion, we have concurred in seeing fit to present the facts concerning this matter more nakedly. Accordingly, we decree that henceforth anyone who enters into matrimonial relation ship with his own cousin; or any father and his son who likewise take a mother and her daughter, or two sisters; or a mother and her daughter likewise take two brothers; or two brothers take two sisters—shall incur a seven years’ penalty, after they cancel the unlawful marriage contract.

Canon 55 of Trullo
Since we have learned that those in the city of the Romans during the holy fast of the Great Fast are fasting on the Saturdays thereof, contrary to the ecclesiastical practice handed down, it has seemed best to the holy synod for the Church of the Romans to hold rigorously the canon saying: “If any clergyman be found fasting on the Lord’s Day, or on Saturday, with the exception of one only let him be deposed. However, if a layman, let him be excommunicated.”

Canon 56 of Trullo
Likewise we have learned that in the country of the Armenians and in other regions on the Saturdays and on the Lord’s Days of the holy Great Fast some persons eat eggs and cheese. It has therefore seemed best to decree also this: that the Church of God throughout the inhabited earth, carefully following a single procedure, shall carry out fasting and abstain precisely as from every kind of thing sacrificed, so and especially from eggs and cheese, which are fruit and produce from which we must abstain. As for those who fail to observe this rule, if they are clergymen, let them be deposed; but if they are laymen, let them be excommunicated.

Canon 57 of Trullo
That honey and milk must not be offered at the altars.

Canon 58 of Trullo
Let no one ranked among the laity self-administer the divine Mysteries when a bishop, or a priest, or a deacon is present. Let anyone that dares to do any such thing be excommunicated for a week on the ground that he is doing the contrary of what has been ordered. Thus will he be instructively persuaded “not to think contrary to what he ought to think” (Romans 12:3).

Canon 59 of Trullo
Let no Baptism be performed for anyone that is in an oratory within a house at the time; but let those who are going to be deemed worthy of the undefiled illumination come to the Orthodox Catholic churches and there enjoy this gift. If, however, anyone be caught not keeping what has been laid down by us as rules, if he should be a clergyman, let him be deposed; but if he should be a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 60 of Trullo
In view of the fact that the apostle loudly proclaims that “he that cleaves to the Lord is one spirit” (I Cor. 6:17), it is obvious also that he who makes himself intimate with the adversary becomes one with him by association. As touching, therefore, those who pretend to be possessed with demons and who with their vileness of manners are want to simulate the habits of those persons, it has seemed best to penalize them by all means and to subject them to such hardships and pains as those who are really possessed with demons would be deservedly subjected to for the purpose of ridding them of the demon’s energy.

Canon 61 of Trullo
Those who consult soothsayers or so-called “hecantontarchs” of other such fortune-tellers in the hope of learning from then whatever may be revealed to them, in accordance with what the fathers had formerly decided in regard to them, let them incur the canon of six years. The same penalty ought to be inflicted also upon those who lead bears after them, or other such animals, for the purpose of sport and harm of the more simple-minded, and who tell the fortune and fate and genealogy and other such things to the populace, in accordance with the rigmarole of delusion. As for those who are called cloud-chasers and enchanters and amuletics and soothsayers, if they persist in these professions, and refuse to change their occupation and to eschew these pernicious acts and Greek practices, we decree that they be thrust out of the Church altogether, in conformity with what the holy canons also prescribe. “For what communion has light with darkness” as the apostle says; “or what agreement, has a temple of God with idols? Or what portion has a believer with an infidel? And what concord has Christ with Belial?” (II Cor. 6:15-16).

Canon 62 of Trullo
We wish once for all to extirpate from the life of the faithful the so-called festival of the kalends, and the so-called Vota, and the so-called Brumalia, and the public festival celebrated on the first day of March. Furthermore, we dismiss the public dances of women that are calculated to wreak great harm and injury. Furthermore we dismiss also the dances and ritualistic ceremonies performed by men or women in the name of what are falsely called gods among Greeks, after an old custom which is alien to the life of Christians, at the same time decreeing that no man shall put on any feminine costume, nor shall a woman put on any that befits men. But neither shall anybody put on comic or satyric or tragic masks; neither shall anybody shout the name of abominable Dionysus while engaged in squeezing grapes in the winepresses, nor when pouring the wine into the casks shall they provoke laughter by a show of ignorance or of vanity by producing the effects of demoniacal delusion. As for those who from now on attempt to carry out any of the aforesaid improprieties, while well aware of what they are doing, if they should be clergymen, we command that they be deposed, but if laymen, that they be excommunicated.

Canon 63 of Trullo
With regard to the falsely compiled martyrologies fabricated by the enemies of the truth, with the intention to dishonor the martyrs of Christ and to lead those who hear them into unbelief, we forbid them be read publicly in the churches, but these things must be consigned to fire. Those who accept them and recognize them as being true, we anathematize.

Canon 64 of Trullo
That a layman must not publicly speak or teach, thus investing himself with the dignity of a teacher, but instead must submit to the ordinance handed down by the Lord, and to open his ear wide to those who have received the grace of teaching ability, and to be taught by them the divine facts thoroughly. For in the one Church God created different members, according to the utterance of the apostle, in interpreting which Saint Gregory the Theologian clearly presents the right procedure in these matters by saying: “Let us have respect for this procedure, brethren, and let us observe it. First, let one man be a listener as the hearing recipient; another, the tongue; another, a hand; another, something else; let one man teach, and let another man learn; and after short periods, as touching one who learns in a state of obedience, and one who leads the chorus in hilarity, and one who renders service in cheerfulness and willingness, let us not all be a tongue, heeding the most apt saying: ‘All are not apostles; all are not prophets; all are not interpreters’” (I Corinthians 12:29), and somewhat after: “Why are you making out that you are a shepherd, when you are a sheep? Why are you becoming a head, when you happen to be a foot? Why are you attempting to be a general, when you are placed in the ranks of ordinary soldiers? And from another quarter Wisdom bids: ‘Be not hasty in words; do not compete with a rich man when thou art indigent, nor seek to be wiser than the wise’ (Proverbs 23:4). If anyone is found disobeying the present canon, let him be excommunicated for forty days.

Canon 65 of Trullo
We command that henceforth the bonfires lit by some persons on the occasion of the new moon in front of their own workshops or houses, and over which some persons even leap, in accordance with an ancient custom, it is babbled, shall be abolished and done away with. Whoever, therefore, who does any such thing, if he be a clergyman, let him be deposed; but if he be a layman, let him be excommunicated. For it is written in the Fourth Book of Kings: “And Manasseh built an altar to the whole host of heaven, in the two courts of the Lord’s house, and passed his children through fire, and consulted augurs, and appointed ventriloquists, and multiplied seers, and he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to wrath” (II Kings 23:4-6).

Canon 66 of Trullo
The faithful are required to spend the time in a state of leisure without fail in the holy churches from the holy days of the resurrected Christ our God to New Sunday (Thomas Sunday) in psalms and hymns, and in spiritual songs called odes, while being gladdened in Christ and celebrating, and paying close attention to the reading of the divine Scriptures, and delighting themselves to their heart’s content in the holy Mysteries. For thus we shall be jointly resurrected and exalted with Christ. Therefore during the days in question let no horse races or other popular spectacle be held at all.

Canon 67 of Trullo
Divine Scripture has commanded us to “abstain from blood, and strangled flesh, and fornication” (Genesis 9:3-4; Lev. 17 and 18:13; Acts 15:28-29). We therefore suitably penalize those who on account of their dainty stomach eat the blood of any animal after they have rendered it eatable by some art. If, therefore, anyone from now on should attempt to eat the blood of any animal, in any way whatsoever, if he be a clergyman, let him be deposed; but if a layman let him be excommunicated.

Canon 68 of Trullo
As regards the fact that it is not permissible for anyone to destroy, or to cut up, or to turn over to book stores or to so-called druggists, or anyone else whatsoever for destruction any of all the books of the Old and New Covenants, or of our holy and eminent preachers and teachers, unless it be completely useless because of having been damaged by bookworms or water or in some other way. Anyone found doing such a thing from now on, let him be excommunicated for a year. Likewise anyone buying such books, unless he keeps them for his own use and benefit, nor should he give them away to others to keep, but who attempts to destroy them, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 69 of Trullo
Let it not be permitted to anyone among all the laity to enter within the holy altar, with the exception that the imperial power and authority is in no way or manner excluded from this whenever it wishes to offer gifts to the Creator, in accordance with a certain most ancient tradition.

Canon 70 of Trullo
Let it not be permissible for women to talk during Divine Liturgy, but in accordance with the words of Paul the Apostle, “Let your women remain silent. For it has not been permitted them to talk but to obey, as the Law directs. If they wish to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home.”

Canon 71 of Trullo
Those being taught the civil law must not resort to the pagan customs, nor moreover must they appear upon the theater stage, or engage in so-called cylistrae, or garb themselves in robes not in common use, either at the time they are commencing their course of study, or at the time they are finishing it, or, to speak more generally, at any time in the midst of their education. From now on if anyone should dare to do so, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 72 of Trullo
Let no Orthodox man be allowed to contract a marriage with a heretical woman, nor moreover let any Orthodox woman be married to a heretical man. But if it should be discovered that any such thing is done by any one of the Christians, no matter who, let the marriage be deemed void, and let the lawless marriage tie be dissolved. For it is not right to mix things immiscible nor to let a wolf get tangled up with a sheep and the lot of sinners get tangled up with the portion of Christ. If, therefore, anyone violates the rules we have made, let him be excommunicated. But in case persons who happen to be still in the state of unbelief and to be not yet admitted to the fold of the Orthodox have joined themselves to each other by lawful marriage, then and in that event, the one of them having chosen the good start by running to the light of truth, while the other, on the contrary, has been held down, by the bond of delusion for having failed to welcome the choice of gazing, at the divine rays (whether it be that an infidel woman has looked with favor upon a man who is a believer, or vice versa an infidel man upon a woman who is a believer), let them not be separated, in accordance with the divine apostle: “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife by the husband” (I Corinthians 7:14).

Canon 73 of Trullo
Seeing that the vivifying Cross has shown us the way to salvation, we ought to make every endeavor to render the honor deserved to that which has been the means whereby we have been saved from the old lapse. Hence both in mind and in word and in sentiment paying it adoration, we by all means command that imprints of the Cross on the ground made by some persons be erased, lest the symbol signifying the trophy of victory to us be desecrated by being trodden upon by people walking over the ground. We therefore decree that henceforth those who make the sign or imprint of the Cross upon the ground shall be excommunicated.

Canon 74 of Trullo
That so-called agapae or love-feasts, must not be held at the Lord’s Suppers, or at the churches, and that one is not to eat them inside of a house or to lay a table with couches. As for those who dare to do this, let them either cease or be excommunicated.

Canon 75 of Trullo
We wish those who attend church for the purpose of chanting neither to employ disorderly cries and to force nature to cry out aloud, nor to foist in anything that is not becoming and proper to a church; but, on the contrary, to offer such psalmodies with much attention and contrition to God, Who sees directly into everything that is hidden, from our sight. “For the sons of Israel shall be reverent” (Leviticus 15:30), the holy word has taught us.

Canon 76 of Trullo
That within the holy precincts no tavern or showcase for the display of perfumes or of other kinds of merchandise must be set up; for the respectability of the Church must be preserved, seeing that our Savior and God, instructing us by His conduct while living in the flesh, bade us not to make His Father’s house, a house of merchandise (John 2:16). He even poured out the coins of the money-changers and drove them all out of the Temple who were making it a marketplace. If, therefore, anybody is caught in doing what is here prohibited, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 77 of Trullo
That those who have been admitted to the priesthood, or clerics, or ascetics ought not to bathe in public baths with women, nor ought any Christian layman do so. For this is the first thing heathen find to condemn. In case, however, anyone be caught in the act of committing this impropriety, if he is a clergyman, let him be deposed; but if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 78 of Trullo
That those [catechumens] being enlightened must learn all about the Faith, and on every Thursday must recite to the bishop or to the priest.

Canon 79 of Trullo
Confessing the divine childbirth to have resulted from the Virgin without childbed, as well as without its being induced by seed; and preaching to all the flock, we require those who have done anything that was not proper to submit to correction. Hence, in view of the fact that after the holy Nativity of Christ our God some persons are shown to be boiling fine flour and giving thereof to one another, on the pretext of paying honor to the alleged postpartum period of the all-undefiled Virgin Mother, we decree that nothing of the kind shall be done by the faithful. For this is no honor to the Virgin, at any rate, who gave birth to the Logos in the flesh, Who is incapable of being spatially bound and Whose birth was beyond the mind and reason of man, from common knowledge and our own experience to define and subscribe to the events attending her ineffable birthgiving. Henceforth, therefore, in case anyone should be caught in the act of doing this, if he be a cleric, let him be deposed; but if he be a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 80 of Trullo
In case any bishop or priest or deacon, or anyone else on the list of the clergy, or any layman, without any graver necessity or any particular difficulty compelling him to absent himself from his own church for a very long time, fails to attend church on the Lord’s Day for three consecutive weeks, while living in the city, if he be a cleric, let him be deposed; but if he be a layman, let him be excluded from Communion.

Canon 81 of Trullo
Precisely because we have learned that in some countries, in the hymn called the Trisagion, by way of addition, after the words “Holy Immortal” there are inserted the words “Who was crucified for our sake, have mercy upon us,” but this addition was left out from that hymn by the holy fathers of old on the ground that it is alien to piety, considering that such an utterance must be due to some innovating and disloyal heretic, we too, hereby confirming and ratifying the decisions piously made in the way of legislation by our holy fathers heretofore, do anathematize those who still persist after this definition in allowing this utterance to be voiced in church, or to be joined to the Trisagion Hymn in any other manner. Accordingly, if the transgressor of the rules laid down here be a member of the clergy, we command that he be shorn of his clerical standing; but if he be a layman, that he be excommunicated.

Canon 82 of Trullo
Since in some of the paintings of the venerable icons, a lamb is inscribed as being shown or pointed at by the Forerunner’s finger, which was taken to be a type of grace, suggesting beforehand through the law the true Lamb to us, Christ our God, therefore, eagerly embracing the old types and the shadows as symbols of the truth and pre-indications handed down to the Church, we prefer the grace, and accept it as the truth in fulfillment of the Law. Since, therefore, that which is perfect even though it be but painted is imprinted in the faces of all, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world Christ our God, with respect to His human character, we decree that henceforth He shall be inscribed even in the icons instead of the ancient lamb: through Him being enabled to comprehend the reason for the humiliation of God the Logos, and in memory of His life in the flesh and of His Passion and of His saving death, being led by the hand, as it were, and of the redemption of the world which thence accrues.

Canon 83 of Trullo
Let no one impart of the Eucharist to the bodies of the dead. For it is written: “Take, eat” (Matthew 26:26); but the bodies of dead persons can neither take nor eat anything.

Canon 84 of Trullo
Closely following the fathers’ institutions, we decree also as concerning infants, whenever there can be found no reliable witnesses who can state beyond a doubt that they have been duly baptized, and neither are they themselves owing to their infancy able to give any information at all in reply to questions respecting the mystagogical rite administered to them, they must be baptized without putting any obstacle in the way, lest any such hesitation may deprive them of such purifying sanctification.

Canon 85 of Trullo
“By the mouth of two or three witnesses must every word be confirmed” (Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15; cf. Matthew 18:16), we are taught by Scripture. In the case therefore of those slaves who are being freed by their masters, we prescribe that they shall enjoy this honor pursuant to the testimony of three witnesses. Those having present knowledge shall offer verification to the freedom that they are bestowing of their own accord.

Canon 86 of Trullo
As for those who procure and train prostitutes to the detriment of souls, if they should be clergymen, we decree that they be excommunicated and deposed; but if they be laymen, that they be excommunicated.

Canon 87 of Trullo
A woman who has abandoned her husband is an adulteress if she has betaken herself to another man, according to the holy and divine Basil, who most excellently and aptly extracted this item of knowledge from the prophecy of Jeremiah, which says that “if a wife transfers herself to another man, she shall not return to her husband, but by polluting herself she shall remain polluted” (Jer. 3:1); and again, “Whosoever has an adulteress [as his wife], is foolish and impious” (Proverbs 18:22). If, therefore, a woman appears to have departed from her husband without a good reason, the man deserves to be pardoned, while the woman deserves a penalty. The pardon shall be given to him so that he may have communion with the Church. Any husband, however, who abandons his lawful wife, and takes another, according to the Lord’s decision, is subject to the judgment attached to adultery. It has been canonically decreed by our fathers that such men shall serve a year as weepers, two years as listeners, three years as kneelers, and during the seventh year shall stand together with the faithful, and thus be deemed worthy to partake of the prosphora if indeed they truly repent with tears.

Canon 88 of Trullo
Let no one introduce into a holy temple any beast whatsoever, unless it happens that when someone is journeying, and being under the greatest necessity and without a habitation or resort of any kind, he puts up in such a temple. For if he does not let his beast stay inside it will perish. But with the loss of his beast of burden and as a result of his being thus left without any means of carriage he will expose himself to the danger of death. For we are taught that “the Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27), so that through all it is preferable to consider the salvation and safety of the man. But if anyone should be caught introducing a beast into a temple without there being any real necessity, as has been said, if he be a cleric, let him be deposed; but if he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 89 of Trullo
The faithful celebrating the days of the saving Passion with fasting and prayer and contrition must cease their fast about the middle hours of the night after Great Saturday, the divine Evangelists Matthew and Luke having signaled us the lateness of night, the one by adding the words “at the end of the Sabbath” (Matthew 28:1) and the other by saying “very early in the morning” (Luke 24:1).

Canon 90 of Trullo
We have received it canonically from our God-bearing fathers not to bend the knee on Sundays when honoring the Resurrection of Christ. Since this observation may not be clear to some of us, we are making it plain to the faithful, so that after the entrance of those in Holy Orders into the sacrificial altar on the evening of the Saturday in question, let none of them bend a knee until the evening of the following Lord’s Day, when, after the entrance during Vespers, again bending knees, we thus begin offering our prayers to the Lord. For inasmuch as we have received it that the night succeeding Saturday was the precursor of our Savior’s rising, we commence our hymns at this point spiritually, ending the festival by passing out of darkness into light, in order that we may hence celebrate altogether the Resurrection for a whole day and a whole night.

Canon 91 of Trullo
As for women who furnish drugs for the purpose of procuring abortions, and those who take, fetus-killing poisons, they are made subject to the penalty prescribed for murderers.

Canon 92 of Trullo
As for those who kidnap women on the pretext of marriage, or who aid and abet those who kidnap them, the holy synod has decreed that if they be clergymen, they shall forfeit their own rank, but if they be laymen, they shall be anathematized.

Canon 93 of Trullo
After her husband’s departure and when he has vanished, yet before becoming convinced of his death, any woman that cohabits with another man is committing adultery. Likewise the wives of soldiers who, when their husbands have disappeared, remarry are subject to the same rule precisely as those who fail to await the return of their husband when he has left home. Nevertheless, in this case there is room for condoning their conduct because there is more suspicion of death. The woman however, who has unwittingly married a man who has been temporarily abandoned by his wife, and has been left afterwards because of his former wife’s return to him, is indeed guilty of having committed fornication, but unknowingly. Though she shall not be denied the right to marry, yet it would be better if she should remain as she is. If the soldier should ever return in time whose wife on account of his protracted absence has taken another husband, he shall have the right, if he so should choose, to take back again his own wife, a pardon being granted to her on account of lack of knowledge and to the man who has cohabited with her in the course of a second marriage.

Canon 94 of Trullo
As for those who take pagan oaths, the canon makes them liable to penalties; and we decree their excommunication.

Canon 95 of Trullo
As for heretics who are joining Orthodoxy and the portion of the saved, we accept them in accordance with the subjoined sequence and custom. Arians and Macedonians and Novatians, who called themselves Cathari and Aristeri, and the Tessarakaidekatitae, or those called Tetradites and Apollinarians, we accept when they give us documents and when they anathematize every heresy that does not think as the holy catholic and apostolic Church of God thinks, and are sealed, i.e. are anointed first with holy Chrism on the forehead and the eyes, and the nose and mouth, and the ears, while we are anointing them and sealing them we say, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” As concerning Paulianists who have afterwards taken refuge in the Catholic Church, a definition has been promulgated that they have to be rebaptized without fail. As for Evnomians, however, who baptize with a single immersion, and Montanists who are hereabouts called Phrygians and Sabellians, who hold the tenet of Hyiopatoria (modalistic monarchism) and do other embarrassing things; and all other heresies—for there are many hereabouts, especially those hailing from the country of the Galatians—as for all of them who wish to join Orthodoxy, we accept them as pagans. Accordingly, on the first day, we make them Christians; on the second day, catechumens; after this, on the third day we exorcise them by breathing three times into their faces and into their ears. And thus we catechize them, and make them stay for a long time in church and listen to the Scriptures, and then we baptize them. As for Manicheans, and Valentians, and Marcionists, and those from similar heresies, they have to give us documents and anathematize their heresy, the Nestorians, and Novatians, and Eftyches and Dioscoros, and Severus, and the other exarchs of such heresies, and those who entertain their beliefs, and all the aforementioned heresies, and thus they are allowed to partake of Holy Communion.

Canon 96 of Trullo
Those who have been baptized into Christ and put on Christ have solemnly promised to emulate and imitate His life in the flesh. Therefore those who adorn and arrange their hair by cunningly plaiting or waving it to the detriment of beholders, hence offering a lure to unstable souls, we undertake to treat them in a fatherly fashion with a suitable penalty, while training them and teaching them how to live in a temperate and sane manner, with the object of enabling them to lay aside the deceit and vanity of material things in order that they may incline their minds towards a life which is perpetually unruffled and blissful, and to enjoy chaste association in fear, and to approach as near as possible to God through their purity of life, and to adorn the inner rather than the outer man with virtues and good and blameless manners, so that they may not have any trace left in them of the rudeness of the adversary. If, however, anyone should act in a manner contrary to the present canon, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 97 of Trullo
As regards those who are living with a wife or are otherwise indiscreetly secularizing holy places and treating them contemptuously, and thus domiciling therein, we command them to be evicted even from the catechumenates in the religious houses. In case anyone should fail to observe this rule, if he be a clergyman, let him be deposed; but if he be a layman, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 98 of Trullo
Whoever takes by way of matrimonial union any woman betrothed to another man, while the man to whom she has been betrothed is still alive, shall be deemed liable to the penalty provided for the crime of adultery.

Canon 99 of Trullo
And this too occurs in the country of the Armenians, we have learned that some persons, roasting pieces of meat within the space of the sacrificial altars of holy temples, offer parts assigned to priests, distributing them in a Jewish fashion. Hence, with the object of maintaining the unblemished holiness of the Church, we decree that none of her priests shall be permitted to accept consecrated pieces of meat from those offering them, but shall be content with only what the offerer is pleased to offer, any such offer being made outside of the church. If anyone should fail to do so, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 100 of Trullo
“Let your eyes look aright, and keep your heart with all diligence” (Proverbs 4:25 and 23), wisdom bids us. For the sensations of the body can easily foist their influence upon the soul. We therefore command that henceforth in no way whatever shall any pictures be drawn, painted, or otherwise wrought, whether in frames or otherwise hung up, that appeal to the eye fascinatingly, and corrupt the mind, and excite inflammatory urging to the enjoyment of shameful pleasures. If anyone should attempt to do this, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 101 of Trullo
The divine apostle loudly proclaims the man created in the image of God to be a body of Christ and a temple. Standing, therefore, far above all sensible creation, and having attained to a heavenly dignity by virtue of the saving Passion, by eating and drinking Christ as a source of life, he perpetually readjusts both his eternal soul and his body, and by partaking of the divine grace he is continually sanctified. So that if anyone should wish to partake of the undefiled body during the time of a synaxis (gathering) and to become one therewith by virtue of transessence, let him form his hands into the shape of a cross, and thus approaching let him receive the Communion of grace. For in no way do we welcome those men who make certain receptacles out of gold, or any other material, to serve instead of their hand for the reception of the divine Gift, demanding to take of the undefiled Communion in such containers; because they prefer soulless matter and an inferior article to the image of God. In case, therefore, any person should be caught in the act of imparting of the undefiled Communion to those offering such receptacles, let him be excommunicated, both he himself and the one offering then.

Canon 102 of Trullo
Those who have received from God authority to bind and to loose must take into consideration the quality of the sins, and the willingness and readiness of the sinner to return, and thus offer a treatment suited to the sin in question, lest by employing an immoderate adjustment in one direction or the other, they fail in compassing the salvation of the one ailing. For the diseases called sin are not simple affairs but, on the contrary, various and complex, and they produce many offshoots of the injury as a result hereof, the evil becomes widely diffused, and it progresses until it is checked by the power of the one treating it. So that a person who is professing the science of treating ailments as a spiritual physician ought first to examine the disposition of the sinner, and ascertain whether he tends to health or on the contrary provokes the malady to attack him by his own actions; at the same time bearing in mind that he must provide against any reversion, and considering whether the patient is struggling against the physician, and whether the ulcer of the soul is being aggravated by the application of the remedy; and accordingly to mete out mercy in due proportion to the merits of the case. For all that matters to God and to the person undertaking pastoral leadership consists in the recovery of the straying sheep and in healing the one wounded by the serpent. Accordingly, he ought not to drive the patient to the verge of despair, nor give him rein to dissoluteness and contempt of life but, on the contrary, in at least one way at any rate, either by resorting to more extreme and stringent remedies, or to gentler and milder ones, to curb the disease and to put up a fight to heal the ulcer for the one tasting the fruits of repentance, wisely helping him on the way to the splendid rehabilitation to which the man is being invited. We must therefore be versed in both, i.e. both the requirements of accuracy and the requirements of custom. In the case of those who are obstinately opposed to extremities we must follow the formula handed down to us, just as Saint Basil teaches us outright.

THE TWENTY-TWO CANONS
OF THE HOLY AND ECUMENICAL SEVENTH SYNOD (787)#

[Epitome: The synod accepts all the decrees of the prior six ecumenical councils, as well as the Apostolic Canons and those of the regional synods and the holy fathers (1). A bishop must thoroughly know the Scriptures and the holy canons (2), and clergy cannot be appointed by secular rulers (3) or carry out their ministry for the sake of profit (4) or be ordained for money (5, 19) or be attached to two churches unless needed (15) or wear luxurious clothes (16). Each province must have an annual synod meeting of bishops (6). Temples must be consecrated with relics of martyrs (7), and Judaizers are prohibited entry (8). Heretical writings must be thrown away (9), and clergy may not privately minister to government officials or serve in other churches without episcopal permission (10), and every bishop should have a steward in his cathedral (11). Bishops and abbots may not sell Church property indiscriminately (12). None may take control of Church buildings and estates and use them for secular purposes (13) or charge money for admission to the monastic life (19) or make a mixed-gender monastery (20). Children cannot be made clergy, and abbots may ordain readers for their own monasteries, and vicar-bishops must have permission to ordain anyone (14). Bishops should prevent the construction of churches by people who lack the means to finish (17). Women may not labor in a bishopric or monastery, and they must hide themselves if a bishop or abbot goes to visit a secular place (18). If anyone leaves a monastery, he cannot take back the things that have been consecrated to God (19). Monks must not privately speak or eat with nuns (20) or join another monastery without their first abbot’s permission (21). Christians should not eat for the sake of enjoyment or eat in the presence of theatrical arts or music or dancing, and priests may not eat privately with women, but clergy and monks may stay for the night, if needed, at an inn or house (22).]

Canon 1 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
For those who have been allotted a clerical dignity, the representations of canonical ordinances amount to testimonies and directions. Gladly accepting these, we sing to the Lord God with David, the spokesman of God, the following words: “I have delighted in the way of Thy testimonies as much as in all wealth,” and “Thy testimonies which Thou hast commanded witness righteousness.... Thy testimonies are righteousness forever: give me understanding, and I shall live” (Psalms 119:14, 138 and 144). And if forever the prophetic voice commands us to keep the testimonies of God, and to live in them, it is plain that they remain unwavering and rigid. For Moses, too, the beholder of God says so in the following words: “To them there is nothing to add, and from them there is nothing to remove” (Deuteronomy 12:32). And the divine Apostle Peter, exulting in them, cries: “which things the angels would like to peep into” (I Peter 1:12). And Paul says: “Though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any gospel other than that which you have received, let him be anathema” (Gal. 1:8). Seeing that these things are so and are attested to us, and rejoicing at them “as one that finds great spoil” (Psalm 119:162), we welcome and embrace the divine canons, and we corroborate the entire rigid fiat of those that have been set forth by the renowned apostles, who were and are trumpets of the Spirit, and those both of the six holy ecumenical synods and of the ones assembled regionally for the purpose of setting forth such edicts, and of those of our holy fathers. For all those men, having been guided by the light dawning out of the same Spirit, prescribed rules that are to our best interest. Accordingly, we too anathematize whomsoever they consign to anathema; and we too depose whomever they consign to deposition; and we too excommunicate whoever they consign to excommunication; and we likewise subject to a penalty anyone whom they make liable to a penalty. For “Let your conduct be free from avarice; being content with such things as are at hand” (Hebrews 13:5), explicitly cries the divine Apostle Paul, who ascended into the third heaven and heard unspeakable words (II Corinthians 12:2-4).

Canon 2 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Since as a matter of fact we are binding ourselves to God by chanting: “I will meditate in Thy statutes; I will not forget Thy words” (Psalm 119:16), it befits all Christians to keep this for their own salvation, but more eminently so for those invested with a clerical dignity. Hence we decree that anyone who is about to be promoted to the rank of bishop shall by all means know the psalter, in order that he may be able to admonish all the clergy about him to become initiated, and that he be scrupulously examined by the metropolitan as to whether he is cheerfully willing to read searchingly and not cursorily the holy canons and the Holy Gospel, the book of the divine apostle, and all the divine Scripture, and in accordance with the divine commandments to hold intercourse with and teach the laity about him. For the essentiality of our prelacy is the words taught by God, or, at any rate, the true science of the divine Scriptures, just as great Dionysios declared. But if he should be in doubt and not care to do and teach thus, he must not be ordained. For God has said prophetically: “Because thou hast rejected knowledge I will also reject thee from acting as My priest” (Hos. 4:6).

Canon 3 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Every appointment of a bishop, or of a priest, or of a deacon made by civil rulers shall remain void, in accordance with the canon which says: “If any bishop comes into possession of a church by employing secular rulers, let him he deposed, and let him be excommunicated. And all those who communicate with him too.” For it befits anyone who is going to be promoted to a bishopric to be appointed by bishops, as was decreed by the holy fathers assembled in Nicaea, in the canon saying, “It is most fitting that a bishop should be installed by all those in his province. But if such a thing is difficult either because of the urgency of circumstances, or because of the distance to be traveled, at least three should meet together somewhere and by their votes combined with those of the ones absent and joining in the election by letter they should carry out the ordination thereafter. But as for the ratification of the proceedings, let it be entrusted in each province to the metropolitan.”

Canon 4 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
The preacher of the truth Paul, the divine apostle, as if laying down a canon to the priests of the Ephesians, but rather to every clerical aggregate, spoke openly and aboveboard as follows: “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. I have shown you in all things that by thus laboring you ought to assist the weak, and remember that...it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:33, 35). Wherefore we too, having become pupils and disciples of his, decree that no bishop shall devise or think of ways of making shameful profits, alleging lame excuses such as are offered in the case of sins in general, to the effect that bishops, or clergymen, or monks serving under him demand gold or silver or any other commodity. For the apostle says: “The unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9), and “children ought not to lay up treasure for their parents, but parents for their children” (1I Corinthians 12:14). If, therefore, on account of any demand for gold or for any other commodity, or on account of any idiosyncrasy, anyone be found to be excluding from the Liturgy and excommunicating anyone among the clergymen under him, or shutting a venerable temple to prevent liturgies of God from being conducted therein, venting his rage upon insentient objects, he himself is in reality insentient and will become subject to self-torture, and “his mischief shall return upon his own pate” (Psalm 7:16), as transgressor of a commandment of God and of the apostolic ordinances. For Peter, the coryphaean summit of the apostles, also commands: “Tend the flock of God which is among you, not with coercion, but voluntarily, after the manner of God. Not for the sake of shameful gain, but willingly. Not as lording it over the charges allotted to you, but as having become models for the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear in person, ye shall receive the reward of an unfading crown of glory” (I Pet. 5:2-4).

Canon 5 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
It is a deadly sin when any sinners remain incorrigible. But what is worse than this happens if they insist upon rising up against piety and truth, preferring Mammon to obedience to God, and failing to cling fast to His canonical ordinances. Among those persons God is not the Lord, unless by any chance they be humbled and again become sober enough to see their own mistake. For it rather befits them to approach God and with a contrite heart to ask for remission of this particular sin, and for pardon, instead of pluming themselves on their lawless behavior. For “the Lord is nigh to those who are contrite of heart” (Psalm 34:18). As for those, boasting that by giving gold they have obtained some rank in the Church and trusting to this wicked custom, which is alien to God and alienates men from God, and from every holy Order; and as a result thereof with an impudent face and unbridled mouth dishonoring by reproachful words those who have been elected and installed through virtuousness of life by the Holy Spirit, without the giving of any money, those who have been doing this at first are to receive the lowest rank in their own battalion. But if they insist and persist, they are to be corrected by means of a penance. If, on the other hand, anyone ever should appear to have done this with a view to ordination, let him suffer in accordance with the apostolic canon which says: “If any bishop or priest or deacon gain possession of this dignity by means of money, let both him and the one who ordained him be deposed, and exscinded, or cut off, altogether from communion, as was Simon the sorcerer by me, Peter.” Likewise also in accordance with the second canon of the devout fathers assembled in Chalcedon, which says: “If any bishop ordain anyone for money, and make merchandise of the unvendible grace, and perform the ordination of a bishop, auxiliary bishop, priest, deacon, or anyone on the roll of the clergy, with a view to gain; or nominate any steward, ecclesiastical advocate (ekdikos), or doorkeeper (paramonarios), or anyone else that belongs to the canon, for money, with the object of making a shameful gain for himself let him who is found guilty of having undertaken this stand in peril of his office; and let him who has been thus ordained have no benefit from such traffic in ordinations or nominations, but on the contrary, let him be without any claim upon the dignity or job which he has thus obtained by means of money. If, in fact, anyone even appear as a middleman or factor or intermediary for such shameful and illicit deals, let him too, if he be a clergyman, forfeit his office; but if he be a layman or a monk, let him be anathematized.”

Canon 6 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Since there actually is a canon which says canonical discussions must be held twice a year in each province through an assembly of bishops, but on account of the inconvenience and the lack of means of traveling, those who were called upon to assemble had to face, the devout fathers at the Sixth Ecumenical Synod decreed that one assembly be held each year, by all means and on any pretext, and wrong things be corrected: therefore we renew this latter canon. Accordingly, if any civil ruler be found attempting to prevent this, let him be excommunicated. If, on the other hand, any one of the metropolitans should fail to see that this is done, except in case of necessity and violence, or some reasonable excuse, he is to be liable to the penalties. When a synod has been convoked in regard to canonical and evangelical matters, the bishops assembled must engage in meditation and careful consideration of how the divine and vivifying commandments of God are to be kept. For “in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalm 19:11); and seeing that “the commandment is a lamp; and the law is a light and reproof with instruction in the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23), and “the commandment of the Lord is far shining, illuminating the eyes” (Psalm 19:8). But no metropolitan shall have any right to demand a beast or other possession among the chattels which a bishop takes along with him. But if he be proved to have done so, he shall pay back the value of it fourfold.

Canon 7 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Paul the divine apostle said: “Some men’s sins are plainly evident,...whereas those of other men follow after” (I Timothy 5:24). Sins, therefore, being committed in advance, other sins follow them. Thus the impious heresy of accusers of the Christians was followed by other acts of impiety. For precisely as they removed the face in the venerable icons from the Church, they have also abandoned certain other customs which must he renewed, and in accordance with both the written and the unwritten law they must thus prevail. As to any venerable temples, therefore, that have been consecrated without holy relics of martyrs, we decree that in them there shall be made a deposit of relics together with the usual prayer. Let anyone, then, that consecrates a temple without holy relics be deposed, on the ground that he has transgressed ecclesiastical traditions.

Canon 8 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Inasmuch as some persons who have been misled by their inferences from the religion of the Jews have seen fit to sneer at Christ our God while pretending to be Christians, but secretly and clandestinely keeping the Sabbath and doing other Jewish acts, we decree that these persons shall not be admitted to communion, nor to prayer, nor to church, but shall be Jews openly in accordance with their religion; and that neither shall their children be baptized, nor shall they buy or acquire a slave. But if any one of them should be converted as a matter of sincere faith, and confess with all his heart, triumphantly repudiating their customs and affairs, with a view to censure and correction of others, we decree that he shall be accepted and his children shall be baptized, and that the latter shall be persuaded to hold themselves aloof from Jewish peculiarities. If, on the other hand, the case is not thus, they are not to be accepted under any other circumstances whatever.

Canon 9 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
All adolescent adornments and maniacal bacchanalia, the false writings that have been brought forth against the venerable icons, must be turned in to the bishopric of Constantinople to be put away together with the rest of heretical books. If, on the other hand, anyone should be found hiding these, if he be a bishop, a priest, or a deacon., let him be deposed; but if he be a layman or a monk, let him be excommunicated.

Canon 10 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Inasmuch as some of the clergymen, flouting the canonical ordinance and leaving their own parish, run off into another parish, and for the most part into this God-guarded and imperial city, and become attached to civil magistrates, conducting services in their oratories, it is therefore not allowable to receive these persons in any house or church without the permission of their own bishop and of that of Constantinople. If anyone should do so persistently, let him be deposed. As for any of the priests who do this notwithstanding what has been said in the foregoing, it is not for them to undertake secular and mundane cares, as they are forbidden to do so by the divine canons. But if anyone be caught red-handed in the employ of the so-called magnates (meizoteri), let him be dismissed, or let him be deposed. To come at once to the point, therefore, let him keep re-reading the divine Scriptures with the object of teaching children and servants and slaves. For it was to this that he was called when Holy Orders fell to his lot.

Canon 11 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
All of us being obliged to keep the divine canons, we ought to maintain by all means inviolable the one saying that there should be stewards in every church. Accordingly, if each metropolitan appoints a steward in his church, it is well and good; but if not, the bishop of Constantinople is given permission to appoint a steward in the same church by virtue of his office. Like permission is given also to metropolitans if the bishops under them do not care to appoint stewards in their own churches. The same rule is to be observed also in the case of monasteries.

Canon 12 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
If any bishop or any abbot be found disposing of productive property of the bishopric or monastery respectively into the hands of lay rulers, or of any other person, the transfer is to be invalid and void, in accordance with the apostolic canon saying: “Let the bishop have the care of all ecclesiastical matters and let him manage them in the understanding that God is overseeing and supervising. Let him not be allowed to appropriate anything from there or to give God’s things to his relatives. If they be indigent, let him provide for them as indigents, but let him not trade off things of the Church under pretext.” If it be alleged as an excuse that the property is actually a liability involving a loss or overall expertise and that the fields are not rendering any profit or benefit, even so, the place must not be sold or let out to the civil rulers of the region but to clergymen or to farmers. But if by employing some cunning rascality, a civil ruler should buy the fields from a clergyman or a farmer, even so, let the sale be invalid and void, and let the property be restored to the bishopric, or to the monastery, as the case may be, and let the bishop, or the abbot, respectively, who does this be driven out—the bishop out of the bishopric, and the abbot out of the monastery—on the ground that they are plundering wrongfully what they did not gather together.

Canon 13 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
In view of the fact that on account of the disaster attending our sins certain charitable institutions have been pillaged by men, including both bishoprics and monasteries, and have been made into common resorts, if those who now have possession of them are willing to return them, in order that they may be restored to their pristine condition, it is well and good: but if not, in case those men who now have them in their possession are on the clerical list we command that they be deposed or if they be monks or laymen, that they be excommunicated, on the ground that they stand condemned by the Father, and by the Son and by the Holy Spirit; and let them be relegated to where “their worm, shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched” (Is. 66:24; Mark 9:14, 46, 48), since they are opposed to the Lord’s utterance saying: “Make not My Father’s house a house of merchandise” (John 2:16).

Canon 14 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
It is perfectly plain to everybody that order reigns in the Church, and that it is pleasing to God for the transactions of the priesthood to be maintained with rigorousness. Since, then, we behold some persons receiving the tonsure of the clergy from infancy and without imposition of hands, and reading from the pulpit at the synaxis, but doing so in an uncanonical fashion, we forbid the doing of this from now on. The same rule is to be observed also with reference to monks. As for the appointment of a reader by imposition of hands, each abbot is given permission to do this but only in his own monastery, provided that imposition of hands has been laid upon that very same abbot himself by a bishop to enable him to have the presidency of an abbot—that is to say, more plainly speaking, if he is a priest. Likewise also in accordance with the ancient custom, vicar-bishops may only with the permission of the bishop appoint readers (with imposition of hands).

Canon 15 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
From now on let no clergyman be attached to two churches. For this is a mark of commerce and of greediness for profits and is alien to ecclesiastical usage. For we have been told by the voice of the Lord Himself that “no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will cling to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24). Each person, therefore, in accordance with the apostolic utterance, wherever he happens to be, ought to stay there and serve in one church. For things done on account of greediness for profits in connection with ecclesiastical matters are alien to God’s institutes. To supply the needs of this life there are various occupations. Let anyone, therefore, who so wishes gain the needs of the body from them. For the apostle has said, “These hands have ministered unto my needs, and unto those of them who were with me” (Acts 20:84). Accordingly, what is said here is to be applied in this God-protected city; but in small towns outside of it, for want of men, let there be concessions.

Canon 16 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Every luxury and adornment of the body is alien to the clerical order. Bishops or clergymen, therefore, who adorn themselves with splendid and conspicuous clothes need to be corrected; but if they insist upon it, they must be condemned with a penalty. Likewise as regards those who anoint themselves with perfumes. But inasmuch as a root of bitterness growing up, the heresy of the accusers of Christians, has become a pestilence, and those who have joined it not only have deemed iconic representations in paintings to be an abomination but have even rejected every form of reverence, being inclined to loathe those who live decently and piously, and that which has been written has been fulfilled in them, namely, “Piety is an abomination to a sinner” (Sirach 1:28). If, therefore, persons are found laughing at those clothed in cheap and sufficient vestments, let them be corrected with a penalty. Forever since the days of old every priestly man has contented himself with moderate and decent vestments. Basil the Great says that everything that is worn not because of any genuine need or necessity, but instead for adornment incurs the discredit of being ostentatious, But neither did they put on any garments made of silk fabrics and embroidered with various designs; nor did any of them add any differently colored appendages to the edges of their vestments. For they had been told by the Speaker of God’s language that those who wear soft raiment are in the houses of kings (Mt. 11:8).

Canon 17 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Some of the monks, after leaving their monasteries, having become imbued with a yearning to rule and with a loathsomeness to obey, undertake to build prayer-houses without having the things necessary to finish them. If, therefore, anyone shall undertake to do this, let him be prevented by the local bishop. But if he has the necessary things for their completion, let him carry out his plans. The same rule is to be observed also as regards laymen and clerics.

Canon 18 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Be unoffending even to outsiders, says the apostle (I Corinthians 10:32). But for women to be dwelling in bishoprics, or in monasteries, is a cause for everyone’s taking offense. If, therefore, anyone be caught in possession of a female slave or of a free woman in a bishopric, or in a monastery, for the performance of any service or ministration, let him be penalized; and if he persists, let him be deposed. If, on the other hand, it should happen that in the suburbs there are women, and a bishop, or abbot, wants to go to there, while the bishop or abbot is present, let no woman perform any sort of service whatever for him during that time, but let her keep to herself in a different place until the bishop takes his departure, to avoid any reproach.

Canon 19 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
Among the headmen of the Church the hatred of avarice has been abated to such an extent that every some of the men and women called reverent, having forgotten the Lord’s commandment, have been deceived or misled into allowing the admission for money of those joining the clerical order or the monastic life. The result is that, as Basil the Great says, what is disreputable from the start is to be wholly rejected. For neither is it possible to serve both God and mammon. If, therefore, anyone be found doing this, in case he is a bishop or an abbot or anyone in the priesthood, either let him cease or let him be deposed in accordance with the second canon of the holy synod held in Chalcedon; but if the offender is an abbess, let her be driven out of the monastery, and let her be delivered to a different monastery for subordination. Likewise, too, in the case of an abbot who lacks ordination as a priest. As regards property of any kind given by parents to their children by way of dowry or personal belongings that have been donated by donors who acknowledge them to be things consecrated to God, we have decreed that whether they stay or leave, those things are to remain in the monastery, in accordance with his promise, unless his departure has been caused (blessed) by the prior.

Canon 20 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
As from now on we decree that no double monastery is to be made, because this becomes a scandal and offense to many persons. But if certain persons with their relatives choose to renounce the world and to follow a solitary life, the men must retire to a monastery for men, and the women must enter a monastery for women. For it is this that God approves. As for those which have been double hitherto, let them be maintained, in accordance with the canon of our holy father Saint Basil, and in accordance with his injunction let them be so formulated. Let not monks and nuns dwell in a single monastery. For adultery will creep in where there is a chance due to their dwelling together. Let no monk have the liberty to address a nun, or a nun to address a monk, with a view to speaking in private. Let no monk look into a women’s monastery, nor let any nun eat with a monk alone. And when the necessities of life are being conveyed from the men’s quarters to those of the nuns, let the abbess of the monastery receive these outside the gates with some aged nun. If it should happen that any nun should want to see a monk who is her relative, let him speak with her briefly and in a few words in the presence of the abbess.

Canon 21 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
A monk or nun must not leave his or her monastery and go away to another. But if this should occur, it is necessary that he or she be afforded a hospitable reception as a guest. But it is not fitting that he or she be entered without the approval of his abbot, or of her abbess, as the case may be.

Canon 22 of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod
For everything to be dedicated to God, and not to be slavishly subject to one’s own will, is undoubtedly a great thing in itself. For whether you are eating or you are drinking, the divine Apostle says, you are doing everything for the glory of God. Christ, therefore, our God, in His Gospels has ordered us to cut out the origins of sins. For not only is adultery chastised by Him but even a mental tendency to attempt adultery is condemned, in that He says: “Whoever looks upon a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Taking a cue from this assertion, we ought to purify our thoughts. “All things are permitted, but not all things are edifying” (I Corinthians 10:23), we are taught by an apostolic utterance. It is therefore indispensable for every man to eat in order to live. Accordingly, for those whose life is one of marriage and children and popular amusement, it is proper for men and women to eat in mixed company, though to avoid calumny and reproach they ought to take food merely in order to obtain nourishment and not for the enjoyment of it and in absence of theatrical arts or what may be called satanic songs, music of harps, and whorish contortions of the body. For upon such as participate in these things the prophetic curse descends, speaking as follows: “Woe unto them who drink wine with harp and lute, but regard not the work of the Lord, neither have considered the works of his hands comprehendingly” (Isaiah 5:12). And if there ever should be such among the Christians, let them correct themselves or be corrected; but if not, let the rules laid down by those before us canonically and promulgated prevail in regard to them. But as for those persons whose life is quiet and monotonous, he who has joined hands with the Lord God “ought to bear the yoke solitary, as he sits alone in silence” (Lam. 3:27-28). But what is more, even for those who have chosen a priestly life, it is not at all permissible for them to eat privately in the company of women, unless it be somewhere together with God-bearing and reverent men and women, in order that the banquet itself may lead to some spiritual guidance. And in the case of relatives, too, let him do the same. If, again, during a journey a monk or a priestly man should happen to be in want of what he needs, and as a matter of necessity wishes to put up somewhere, be it at an inn or in so one’s home, he is to have the right to do this, on the ground of the exigency.

CANONS OF THE REGIONAL SYNODS#

THE SEVENTEEN CANONS
OF THE SO-CALLED FIRST-SECOND SYNOD HELD IN THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY APOSTLES (861)#

[Epitome: Laymen who donate lands for monasteries may not have control over them afterwards, and a bishop must approve the building of a new monastery (1). A monk must dispose of all his property (6) and may only be tonsured in the presence of his abbot (2) after three years of probation (5). An abbot must strive to bring back any tonsured monk who runs away (3), and a monk may not join a different monastery without permission (4). Bishops cannot neglect the upkeep of their own bishoprics for the sake of building new monasteries (7) or be appointed to a church whose prelate is still alive, and bishops may not abandon their sees for more than six months (16). None may castrate himself or another (8) or use for common purposes the consecrated vessels or cloths (10). Clergy may not strike anyone (9) or hold secular offices (11) or celebrate the mysteries in a private house without the local bishop’s permission (12). Clergy may not secede from their bishop before synodal judgment (13), nor bishops from their metropolitan (14) or patriarch, unless he is a heretic (15). No layman or monk may be elevated suddenly to the episcopate but must fulfill the required length of service in each ascending rank (17).]

Canon 1 of the First-Second Synod
The building of monasteries, which is something so seemly and honorable, and rightly excogitated by our blissful and devout fathers of old, is seen to be done wrongly today. For some men, bestowing the name of monastery on their own property and domain, and promising God to sanctify this, have recorded themselves as owners of the consecrated lands and buildings, and have contrived to devise a way in which to devote them to a divine purpose in name only. For they do not blush to assume the same authority over them after the consecration as they could have exercised before this without overstepping their rights. And so much commercialized has the thing become that many of the lands and buildings consecrated are being sold openly by the consecrators themselves, inspiring beholders with amazement and indignation. And not only have they no regret for what they have done in appropriating to themselves authority over what was dedicated to God once, but they even fearlessly confer it upon others. For these reasons, then, the holy synod has decreed that no one shall have a right to build a monastery without the consent and approval of the bishop. With his knowledge and permission, after he has executed the necessary prayer, as was enjoined legislatively by the God-beloved fathers of olden times, they may build a monastery together with all its accessories, recording every thing belonging thereto in a brief and depositing the latter in the archives of the bishopric; the consecrator having no right whatever to make himself an abbot, or anyone else in his stead, without the consent of the bishop. For if one is no longer able to exercise ownership over what he has given away to some other human being, how can one be conceded the right to appropriate the ownership of what he has sanctified and dedicated to God?

Canon 2 of the First-Second Synod
In view of the fact that some men pretend to take up the life of monasticism not in order to become purely servants of God but in order that in addition to and by virtue of the grave appearance of the habit they may acquire the glory and mien of reverence and find hence a way of enjoying in abundance the pleasures connected therewith, and only sacrificing their hair, they spend their time in their own homes, without fulfilling any service or status whatever of monks, the holy synod has decreed that no one at all shall assume the monastic habit without the presence of the person to whom he owes allegiance and who is to act as his superior or abbot and to provide for the salvation of his soul, by which is meant a God-beloved man at the head of a monastery and capable of saving a soul that has but recently offered itself to Christ. If anyone be caught tonsuring a person without the presence of the abbot who is to have charge of him, he shall be deposed on the ground that he is disobeying the canons and offending against monastic decorum, while the one who has been illogically and irregularly tonsured shall be consigned to whatever allegiance and monastery the local bishop may see fit. For indiscreet and precarious tonsures have both dishonored the monastic habit and caused the name of Christ to be blasphemed.

Canon 3 of the First-Second Synod
Even this is wrong when it is done, but what is much worse, when overlooked and neglected, has been judged to need correction, in order that anyone who is the head of a monastery shall not fail to seek with great diligence to recover monks ranged under him that have run away or upon finding them shall not fail to take them back and to regain them by subjecting the diseased part to proper and suitable medical treatment of the offense, striving to strengthen it. The holy synod has decreed that one failing to do so shall be subject to excommunication. For if a man who has undertaken the protection of irrational animals and woefully neglects his flock is not left unpunished, if any man who has been entrusted with the pastoral rulership of the cattle of Christ suavely and indolently betrays their salvation, he will surely collect punishment for his daring action. But if any monk refuses to come back when called upon to do so, the bishop shall excommunicate him.

Canon 4 of the First-Second Synod
The evil one has striven in many ways to render the respectable habit of the monks an object of reproach, and he has found ready assistance in this to result from the opportunity afforded by the heresy that has seized control of things. For the men who are living monastically abandon their own monasteries under the stress of heresy, some going to other monasteries and some falling into the habitations of worldly men. But this is deplorable when what was then being done for piety’s sake made them appear to deserve felicitation, but has now degenerated into an illogical custom, which makes them appear ridiculous. For in spite of the fact that piety has spread into every corner and the Church has got rid of scandals, yet some men who have deserted their own monasteries, and like an unrestrainable stream are pouring and flowing into other channels, now are filling the monasteries with great indecorum and introducing disorder into these with their riotous entrance and are distracting and disorganizing the orderly element of submissiveness. But by way of halting the restless and unrestrainable rush, the holy synod has decreed that if any monk runs away from his own monastery to another or riotously enters a worldly habitation, both he himself and the one receiving him shall be excommunicated until the absconder has returned to the monastery which he has wrongly fallen out of. But if, in any particular case, the bishop should wish to send away to another monastery some of the monks of proven reverence and decorousness of life for the purpose of stocking the other monastery, or should wish to transfer them even to a mundane house for the purpose of compassing the salvation of the inmates thereof by establishing the monks therein, or should see fit to place them elsewhere, this course shall not render either the monks or the ones receiving them subject to any penalty.

Canon 5 of the First-Second Synod
We find that indiscreet and unapproved renunciations are ravaging monastic decorum to a great extent. For some men impetuously flinging themselves into the monastic mode of life, and owing to the roughness and painfulness of asceticism giving it scant affection, wretchedly relapse again into a flesh-loving and pleasurable life. The holy synod has therefore decreed that no one shall lay claim to the monastic habit until after the expiration of the term of three years allowed them to prove their worthiness they turn out to be adequate and fit to take up such a mode of life in earnest; and it has bidden this to prevail by all means as the rule; unless, nevertheless, it should so happen anywhere that some grave disease has overtaken the person, making it necessary to shorten the period of his trial; or unless, nevertheless, there should be anywhere a man so reverent as to lead a monastic life even in a worldly habit—for in the case of such a man even a six months’ period of trial is sufficient for a thorough test. If anyone does anything contrary to these words, the abbot, on the one hand, shall pay the penalty by forfeiting his abbotship for his irregularity and be compelled to conduct himself as a subordinate; the monk, on the other hand, shall be consigned to another monastery that observes monastic strictness.

Canon 6 of the First-Second Synod
Monks ought not to have anything of their own; everything of theirs ought to be assigned to the monastery. For the blessed Luke says concerning those who believe in Christ and conform to the monks' way of life: “Neither said any of them that anything of the things which he possessed was his own; but, on the contrary, they held everything in common” (Acts 4:32). Wherefore unto those wishing to lead the monastic life permission is given to dispose of their property to whatever persons they may wish, so long, that is to say, as the property may be legally transferred to them. For after their entering upon the monastic life the monastery has the ownership of all they bring with them, and they have nothing of their own to worry about other than what they have been allowed to dispose of beforehand. If anyone be caught appropriating or claiming any possession that has not been made over and conveyed to the monastery, and revealed to be enslaved to the passion of love of property, that possession shall be seized by the abbot or bishop, and shall be sold in the presence of many persons, and the proceeds from there shall be distributed to the poor and indigent. As for anyone who shall meditate holding back any such possession, after the fashion of Ananias of old, the holy synod has decreed that he shall be chastened with a suitable discipline. It is to be understood, moreover, that whatever rules the holy synod has made in regard to men who are leading the monastic life of monks, the same rules apply also to women who are leading the monastic life of nuns.

Canon 7 of the First-Second Synod
We see many of the bishoprics falling down and in danger of being relegated to utter destruction because, we venture to say, the heads of these establishments consume their thought and attention in projecting new monasteries and exploiting these projects, and in contriving to convert the income thereof to their own use they busy themselves with the development of those. The holy synod has therefore decreed that not one of the bishops shall be permitted to build a new monastery of his own to the detriment of his own bishopric. If anyone be caught daring to do this, he shall be punished with the proper penalty, while the building he has erected shall be assigned to the estate of the bishopric as its own property, on the ground that he has not even so much as had a right to originate a monastery. For nothing that has been unlawfully and irregularly in vogue can be taken to be exploitable to the prejudice of what is canonically consistent.

Canon 8 of the First-Second Synod
The divine and holy canon of the apostles judges those who castrate themselves to be self-murderers; accordingly, if they are priests, it deposes them, and if they are not, it excludes them from advancement to Holy Orders. Hence it makes it plain that if one who castrates himself is a self-murderer, he who castrates another man is certainly a murderer. One might even deem such a person quite guilty of insulting creation itself. Wherefore the holy synod has been led to decree that if any bishop or priest or deacon be proved guilty of castrating anyone, either with has own hand or by giving orders to anyone else to do so, he shall be subjected to the penalty of deposition from office; but if the offender is a layman, he shall be excommunicated: unless it should so happen that owing to the incidence of some affliction he should be forced to operate upon the sufferer by removing his testicles. For precisely as the first canon of the synod held in Nicaea does not punish those who have been operated upon for a disease for having the disease, so neither do we condemn priests who order diseased men to be castrated, nor do we blame laymen either when they perform the operation with their own hands. For we consider this to be a treatment of the disease but not a malicious design against the creature or an insult to creation.

Canon 9 of the First-Second Synod
In view of the fact that an apostolic and divine canon subjects to deposition priests that attempt to strike believers who have sinned or unbelievers who have wronged someone, those who are devising a way to satisfy their own animus and garbling the apostolic ordinances have taken it to mean priests striking persons with their own hands, when as a matter of fact neither does the canon imply any such thing, nor does right reason permit this to be assumed. For it would be truly vain and exceedingly precarious to depose a priest for striking someone three or four times with his own hands, but to leave unpunished one who, permission being given, beats someone by order of another mercilessly and to death, instead of augmenting the punishment. Wherefore seeing that the canon simply chastises the act of striking, we too join in condemning this. For a priest of God ought indeed to reprimand a disorderly person with instructions and admonitions and at times even with ecclesiastical censures, but not with whips and blows to assault men's bodies. If, however, there should be some men who are utterly insubordinate and refuse to yield to correction because of censures, no one is prohibited from correcting these persons by haling them before the local magistrates. In fact, Canon 5 of the Synod in Antioch has canonically decreed that persons causing disturbances and revolts to the Church shall be converted and brought to their senses again by recourse to the civil authority.

Canon 10 of the First-Second Synod
Those who appear to be victims of their own passions not only do not shudder at the thought of the punishment provided by the sacred canons, but have actually dared to laugh them to scorn. For they distort themselves, and in conformity with their venomous nature they forge their will awry; in order that thanks to the magnanimity of their venom, according to Saint Gregory the Theologian, not only may the evil be kept from affecting their responsibility, but may even be thought something divine. For this holds true in the case of the apostolic canon that says that no one shall appropriate any golden or silver vessel that has been sanctified, or any piece of cloth, to his own use. For that would be unlawful. If anyone be caught doing so, let him be disciplined with excommunication. Taking this canon to be in effect an advocacy of their own unlawful deeds, they allege that one must not deem those men worthy of deposition who employ the venerable table cover of the holy Table to make a tunic for themselves or reshape it into any other vestment. Not only so, but not even those who employ the holy chalice. O, what impiety! or the venerable diskos; or things akin to these, because, they expend them for needs of their own, or defile them outright! For the canon says that those who become guilty of this are to be punished with excommunication, but has made no one liable to deposition for such an act. But who would tolerate the magnitude of any such perversion and impiety? For notwithstanding that the canon inflicts excommunication upon those who merely use what is sanctified, but do not appropriate it to the extent of purloining it entirely, they, on the other hand, exempt from deposition those who plunder and sacrilege the equipment of the Holy of Holies, and as for those who pollute the venerable diskos or holy chalices by putting them into use for the serving of food, so far at any rate as they rely upon their own judgment, they rank them as undeposed, notwithstanding that the contamination has become apparent to all, and it is plain that those who do such things not only incur liability to deposition but even become subject to charges of committing the worst kind of impiety. Wherefore the holy synod has decreed that those who. purloin for their own profit, or who misuse for some unholy purpose, in general any one of the sacred and holy vessels or utensils in the sacrificial altar, or of the vestments, or the holy chalice or the diskos, or the tongs, or the venerable table cover, and the so-called “aer,” are to be compelled to undergo total and complete deposition. For one charge is that of having profaned, and the other charge is that of having plundered the holy things. As touching those, however, who convert to an unholy use for themselves, or bestow upon another person, consecrated vessels or vestments outside of the sacrificial altar the canon excommunicates them and we join in excommunicating them. But as for those who utterly purloin them and take them away we make them liable to condemnation as sacrilegists.

Canon 11 of the First-Second Synod
The divine and holy canons impose the penalty of deposition on priests or deacons who undertake secular offices or worldly cares, or the so-called curatories (superintendence) in the households of civil magistrates. We too confirm this, and as concerning the rest of those who are included among the clergy we decree that in case any one of them is being employed in secular offices, or undertakes or accepts so-called curatories in the households of civil magistrates or in the suburbs, that person shall be ousted from his own clergy. For, according to the most veracious utterance pronounced by Christ Himself, our true God, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13).

Canon 12 of the First-Second Synod
Besides the fact that the Holy and Ecumenical Sixth Synod has made liable to deposition clergy who are officiating or baptizing within a home in chapels without the consent and approval of the bishop, we too join hands with that synod in condemning them likewise. For inasmuch as the holy Church is expounding the Faith straightforwardly and soundly and is professing and defending the true word and is both maintaining and teaching outright the decorum regulating conduct in actual life, it is dissonant and undevout to relegate those living together without lack of education to their own roles to vitiate her good order and to permeate her with troubles and scandals galore. Wherefore the present holy synod in cooperation with God, and in agreement with the ecumenical and holy Sixth Synod, has decreed that those who are officiating within a private home in prayer-houses are removed from the clergy, that is to say, the removal from the clergy being awarded them by the local bishop. But if any other persons than these, without the bishop's lending his good will, should fall into those roles and dare to touch the Liturgy, they are to be deposed from office, whereas those on the other hand who partook of their Communion are to undergo excommunication.

Canon 13 of the First-Second Synod
The all-evil one, having planted the seed of heretical tares in the Church of Christ, and seeing these being cut down to the roots with the sword of the Spirit, took a different course of trickery by attempting to divide the body of Christ by means of the madness of the schismatics. But, checking even this plot of his, the holy synod has decreed that henceforth if any priest or deacon, on the alleged ground that his own bishop has been condemned for certain crimes, before a synodal hearing and investigation has been made, should dare to secede from his communion, and fail to mention his name in the holy prayers of the liturgical services in accordance with the custom handed down in the Church, he shall be subject to prompt deposition from office and shall be stripped of every clerical honor. For anyone who has been established in the rank of priest and forestalls the metropolitan’s judgment and, judging matters before a trial has been held, insofar as lies in his power, condemns his own father and bishop, he is not even worthy of the honor or name of priest. Those, on the other hand, who go along with him, in case any of them should be among those in Holy Orders, they too shall forfeit their own rights to honor, or in case they should be monks or laymen, let them be utterly excommunicated from the Church until such time as they spew upon and openly renounce all connection with the schismatics and decide to return to their own bishop.

Canon 14 of the First-Second Synod
If any bishop, on the allegation that charges of crime lie against his own metropolitan, shall secede or apostatize from him before a synodal verdict has been issued against him, and shall abstain from communion with him, and fail to mention his name, in accordance with custom, in the course of the divine Mystagogy, the holy synod has decreed that he shall be deposed if merely by seceding from his own metropolitan he shall create a schism. For everyone ought to know his own bounds, and neither ought a priest treat his own bishop scornfully or contemptuously, nor ought a bishop to treat his own metropolitan so.

Canon 15 of the First-Second Synod
The rules laid down with reference to priests and bishops and metropolitans are still more applicable to patriarchs. So that in case any priest or bishop or metropolitan dares to secede or apostatize from the communion of his own patriarch, and, fails to mention the latter’s name in accordance with custom duly fixed and ordained, in the divine Mystagogy, but before a synodal verdict has been pronounced and has passed judgment against him creates a schism, the holy synod has decreed that this person shall be held an alien to every priestly function if only he be convicted of having committed this transgression of the law. Accordingly, these rules have been sealed and ordained as respecting those persons who under the pretext of charges against their own presidents stand aloof and create a schism and disrupt the unity of the Church. But as for those persons, on the other hand, who, on account of some heresy condemned by holy synods, or fathers, withdrawing themselves from communion with their president, who, that is to say, is preaching the heresy publicly and teaching it bareheaded in church, such persons not only are not subject to any canonical penalty on account of their having walled themselves off from any and all communion with the one called a bishop before any synodal verdict has been rendered, but on the contrary, they shall be deemed worthy to enjoy the honor which befits them among Orthodox Christians. For they have defied not bishops, but pseudo-bishops and pseudo-teachers; and they have not sundered the unity of the Church with any schism but, on the contrary, have been sedulous to rescue the Church from schisms and divisions.

Canon 16 of the First-Second Synod
It is also necessary to decree something in regard to the quarrels and disturbances that are taking place in God’s Church. Under no circumstances shall, any bishop be appointed over a church whose prelate is still alive and is in good standing of honor, unless he himself shall voluntarily resign. For the cause of one who is going to be ousted from the church must first be canonically examined and brought to a conclusion, and then thereafter when he has been duly deposed, another man may be promoted to the episcopacy in his stead. But if any bishop in good standing of honor neither cares to resign nor to pastor his own laity but, having deserted his own bishopric, has been staying for more than six months in some other region, without being so much as detained by an imperial rescript nor even being in service in connection with the liturgies of his own patriarch, nor, furthermore, being restrained by any severe illness or disease utterly incapacitating his motion to and from his duties; any such bishop, therefore, who is not prevented by any of the said excuses from performing his duties, nevertheless holds himself aloof from his own episcopate and for a period of over six months sojourns in some other locality, shall be deprived altogether of the honor and office of bishop. For because of his woefully neglecting the flock which has been entrusted to him, and tarrying in some other region for a period of more than six months, the holy synod has decreed that he shall be deprived altogether of the bishopric whereby he was appointed to act as a pastor, and that someone else shall be chosen to fill his place in the episcopacy.

Canon 17 of the First-Second Synod
Since we have been occupied with matters of ecclesiastical good order, it behooves us to decree also this: that henceforth none of the laymen or monks shall be allowed to ascend to the height of the episcopacy precipitately and multitudinously as in a stampede, but on the contrary, by being duly examined with reference to the various ecclesiastical degrees or grades, let them thus attain to ordination to the episcopacy. For even if hitherto and up till now some laymen and some monks, owing to need or want demanding it, have been enabled to attain to the honor of the episcopate immediately and without further ado, and they have distinguished themselves for virtuousness and have exalted their churches, yet the fact is that what is of rare occurrence cannot be made a law of the Church; we therefore decree that this shall no longer be done hereafter and henceforth, but that the ordinee must pass through the priestly degrees in a logical manner by fulfilling the required length of service of each order before proceeding to the next higher rank.

THE THREE CANONS
OF THE SYNOD HELD IN THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY WISDOM (879)#

[Epitome: Any depositions and excommunications by Pope John must be recognized by Patriarch Photios, and vice versa (1). Bishops may not resign in order to live as simple monks, but if they do, they can never again perform episcopal functions (2). Lay officials cannot strike a bishop or imprison him without cause (3).]

Canon 1 of the Synod of Hagia Sophia
This holy and ecumenical synod has decreed that so far as concerns any clergy or laymen or bishops from Italy that are staying in Asia or Europe or Africa under bond or deposition or anathema imposed by the most holy Pope John, all such persons are to be held in the same condition of penalization also by the most holy Patriarch of Constantinople Photios. That is to say, either deposed or anathematized or excommunicated. All those persons, on the other hand, whom Photios our most holy patriarch, has condemned or may condemn to excommunication or deposition or anathematization in any diocese whatsoever, whether clerics or laymen or any of the persons who are of the priestly rank, are to be treated likewise by most holy Pope John, and his holy Church of God of the Romans, and be held in the same category of penalization. Nothing, however, shall affect the priorities due to the most holy throne of the church of the Romans, nor shall anything redound to the detriment of her president as touching the sum total of innovations, either now or at any time hereafter.

Canon 2 of the Synod of Hagia Sophia
Though hitherto some bishops, having descended to the habit of monks, have been forced nevertheless to remain in height of the prelacy, they have been overlooked when they did so. But with this in mind, this holy and ecumenical synod, with a view to regulating this oversight, and readjusting this irregular practice to the ecclesiastical statutes, has decreed that if any bishop or anyone else with an episcopal office is desirous of descending to monastic life and of replenishing the region of repentance and of penitence, let him no longer cherish any claim to episcopal dignity. For the monks’ conditions of subordination represent the relationship of pupil and not of teacher or of presidency; nor do they undertake to pastor others but are to be content with being pastored. Wherefore, in accordance with what was said previously, we decree that none of those who are on the episcopal list and are enrolled pastors shall lower themselves to the level of the pastored and repentant. If anyone should dare to do so after the delivery and discrimination of the decision hereby being pronounced, he, having deprived himself of his prelatic rank, shall no longer have the right to return to his former status, which by actual deeds he has vitiated.

Canon 3 of the Synod of Hagia Sophia
If any layman, after becoming a man of authority, and conceiving a contempt for divine and imperial injunctions and laughing to scorn the dread statutes and laws of the Church, shall dare to strike any bishop, or to imprison one, without reason or cause, or for a fictitious reason or cause, let such a one be anathema.

THE CANON
OF THE THIRD HOLY SYNOD HELD IN CARTHAGE IN THE TIME OF CYPRIAN (258)#

[Epitome: Baptism and Chrism do not exist outside the Catholic Church, and heretics who convert should be baptized.]

Canon of the Third Synod of Carthage

Being assembled in a common purpose, dear brethren, we have read letters sent by you concerning those who are presumed among heretics or schismatics to have been baptized and who are joining the Catholic Church, the one in which we are baptized and are regenerated, concerning which facts we are firmly convinced that you yourselves in doing so are ensuring the firmness of the Catholic Church. Yet inasmuch as you are of the same communion with us and wished to inquire about this matter on account of a mutual love, we are moved to give you, and conjoin in doing so, not any recent opinion, nor one that has been only recently established, but, on the contrary, one which has been tried and tested with all accuracy and diligence of old by our predecessors and which has been observed by us. Ordaining this also now, which we have been strongly and securely holding throughout time, we declare that no one can be baptized outside of the Catholic Church, there being but one Baptism, and this being existent only in the Catholic Church. For it has been written: “They have forsaken Me Who am a fountain of living water, and have dug themselves broken cisterns, which can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). And again the holy Bible forewarns saying: “Keep away from another’s water, and do not drink from another’s fountain” (Proverbs 5:15). For the water must first be purified and sanctified by the priest, in order that it may be able to wipe away with its baptismal efficacy the sins of the person being baptized. Through Ezekiel the prophet the Lord says: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and will cleanse you;...and a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I bestow upon you” (Ezekiel 36:25-26). But how can one who is unclean himself purify and sanctify water, when there is in him no Holy Spirit, and the Lord says in the Book of Numbers: “And whatsoever an unclean person touches shall be unclean” (Numbers 19:22)? How can anyone that has been unable to deposit his own sins outside the Church manage in baptizing another person to let him have a remission of sins? But even the interrogation itself that arises in Baptism is a witness to the truth. For in saying to the one being baptized, “Dost thou believe in an everlasting life and that thou shalt receive a remission of sins?” we are saying nothing else than that it can be given in the Catholic Church but that among heretics, where there is no Church, it is impossible to receive a remission of sins. And for this reason the advocates of the heretics ought either to change the question for something else or else give the truth a trial, unless they have something to ascribe a church to them. But it is necessary for anyone that has been baptized to be anointed, in order that, upon receiving the Chrism, he may become a partaker of Christ. But no heretic can sanctify oil, seeing that he has neither an altar nor church. Not a drop of Chrism can exist among heretics. For it is obvious to you that no oil at all can be sanctified amongst them for use in connection with the Eucharist. For we ought to be well aware and not ignorant of the fact that it has been written: “Let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head” (Psalm 140:6); which indeed even in olden times the Holy Spirit made known in psalms, lest anyone, having been sidetracked and led astray from the straight way, be anointed by the heretics, who are opponents of Christ. But how shall one who is not a priest, but a sacrilegist and sinner, pray for the one baptized, when the Scripture says that “God does not hear sinners; but if anyone be a worshiper of God, and does His will, He will hear him” (John 9:31). Through the holy Church we can conceive a remission of sins. But who can give what he has not himself? Or how can one do spiritual works that has become destitute of Holy Spirit? For this reason anyone joining the Church ought to become renewed, in order that within, through the holy elements, he become sanctified. For it is written: “Ye shall be holy, just as I Myself am holy, says the Lord” (Leviticus 19:2; 20:7), in order that even one who has been duped by specious arguments may shed this very deception in true Baptism in the true Church when as a human being he, coming to God and seeking a priest, being gone astray in error, stumbled upon a sacrilegist. For to sympathize with persons who have been baptized by heretics is tantamount to approving the baptism administered by heretics. For one cannot conquer in part or vanquish anyone partially. If he was able to baptize, he succeeded also in imparting the Holy Spirit. If he was unable, because, being outside, he had no Holy Spirit, he cannot baptize the next person. There being but one Baptism, and there being but one Holy Spirit, there is also but one Church, founded by Christ our Lord upon [the saying of] Peter, by a source and principle of unity. And for this reason whatever they do is false and empty and vain, everything being counterfeit and unauthorized. For nothing that they do can be acceptable and desirable with God. In fact, the Lord calls them His foes and adversaries in the Gospels: “He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathers not with Me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30). And the blissful Apostle John, who kept the Lord's commandments, stated beforehand in his epistle: “You have heard that the Antichrist shall come, but even now there have come to be many Antichrists” (I John 2:18). Hence we know that it is the last hour. They came out of us, but they were not of us. Hence we too ought to understand, and think, that enemies of the Lord, and those called Antichrists, could not give grace to the Lord. And for this reason we who are with the Lord and who are upholding the oneness and unity of the Lord, and after the measure of His worth imbuing ourselves therewith, exercising His priesthood in the Church, we ought to disapprove and refuse and reject and treat as profane everything done by His opponents, that is, foes and Antichrists. And to those who from error and crookedness come for knowledge of the true and ecclesiastical Faith we ought to give freely the mystery of divine power, of unity as well as of faith, and of truth.

THE TWENTY-FIVE CANONS
OF THE HOLY REGIONAL SYNOD HELD IN ANKYRA (315)#

[Epitome: Repentant presbyters who formerly denied Christ under torture may sit with the priests but cannot perform any priestly functions (1), and the same applies for deacons (2). Any of the persecuted who, remaining steadfast, were forced to hold something or eat idolatrous food are considered guiltless (3), but those who sacrificed to idols or nonchalantly ate idolatrous food are canonized (4), especially those who sacrificed repeatedly (8), but penances are adjusted depending on the person’s disposition (5), a more severe penalty being assigned to those who were only verbally threatened, yet those who are dying may be given Communion (6). The synod canonizes those who participated in a heathen festival but brought their own food (7) or who caused others to apostatize (9) or who committed bestiality (16) or adultery (20) or murder (22) or abortion (21) or involuntary homicide (23) or broke their promise of virginity (19) or practiced divination (24) or committed fornication or a rape that led to suicide (25). Deacons may not marry after ordination, unless they told the bishop beforehand that they desired to get married (10). Betrothed girls who have been abducted by other men must be given back to their fiancés (11). Those who sacrificed to idols before Baptism may be ordained (12), and auxiliary bishops may not ordain without permission by their superior (13). Clergy shall not abhor meat but should at least taste a little (14). Church items sold unbeknownst to the bishop must be restored to the Lord’s house (15), and lepers guilty of bestiality must stand with the demonized (17). Bishops who cannot enter their sees may not encroach on other dioceses (18), and a woman who has vowed virginity may not live with any man, even as a brother (19).]

Canon 1 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for priests who sacrificed to idols but afterwards succeeded in recovering their senses, not with any trickery, but in truth, not after previous preparations, and pretenses, and persuasions, in order to seem as though being put to tortures, but actually having these inflicted only seemingly and in sham, it has been deemed but right that they should share the honor of sitting in the seats of their class, without, however, being allowed to offer the Mysteries, or to deliver homilies, or to perform any function pertaining to priestly offices.

Canon 2 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for deacons who likewise sacrificed to idols but thereafter succeeded in recovering their senses, they are to enjoy the other marks of honor, but are to cease all Divine Liturgies, including both that of the Bread and that of offering the Cup, and that of preaching. But in case some of the bishops, however, should sympathize with their toil, or humility of meekness, and wish to give them something further, or to take away anything, the power shall rest with them.

Canon 3 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for those who were fleeing and were caught, or who were delivered up by their own intimates, or who otherwise had their property taken array from them, or who had to undergo tortures, or were cast into a jail while crying out that they were Christians and being torn to pieces, or who had anything put in their hands for violence by those employing force against them, or who had to accept some food of necessity, though confessing throughout that they were Christians, and ever exhibiting mournfulness over the occurrence in their whole make-up and their habit and humbleness of life, they, as being without sin, are not to be excluded from communion. Even if they were excluded by someone as a matter of excessive strictness, or by some even through ignorance, they must immediately be admitted and restored to their rights. This applies likewise both to those who belong to the clergy, and to other members of the laity. A further question examined into was whether laymen can be promoted to orders if they incur the same necessity. It has been deemed but right that these persons too, as not having committed any sin, provided that their previous life has been correct and upright, be advanced to orders by imposition of hands.

Canon 4 of the Synod of Ankyra
As concerning those who have sacrificed under duress, and in addition to these, those who have eaten supper at the idols, it has been deemed fitting that those persons who in being led away thereto went up in too gay raiment and wore luxurious clothes and partook of the prepared supper indifferently, should do a year as listeners, and three years as kneelers. They shall partake of prayer only, for two years, and then shall come to perfection.

Canon 5 of the Synod of Ankyra
But as for those who went up with clothes of mourning and upon reclining ate while weeping throughout the time they were reclining, if they have fulfilled the three years’ time of kneeling, let them be admitted [to the nave] without any Offering (Eucharist). But if they did not eat, after doing two years of kneeling, let them commune (co-stand) in the third year, without any Offering, in order that they may receive perfection in the fourth year. But bishops are to have the power, after examining into the mode of the conversion, to exercise philanthropy or to add more time to the penance. But above all let the previous life be inquired into, and let the life thereafter be investigated, and thus shall the philanthropy be meted out in due proportion.

Canon 6 of the Synod of Ankyra
As concerning those who merely in obedience to a threat of being imprisoned and punished and of having their property taken away, or of being forced to change their abode, have sacrificed and up to the present time have failed to repent and have neither been led to return, but have now come to join the Church and have become minded to return at a time coinciding with that of the synod, it has been deemed but right that until the great day [of Pascha] they be admitted as listeners, and that after the great day they be obliged to serve three years as kneelers, and for two more years they are to commune (co-stand) without an Offering, and thus to arrive at perfection; so that they shall fulfill the whole period of six years. But if any persons were admitted to repentance before this synod convened, from that time let the term of six years be considered as having commenced. Nevertheless, if there be any danger and expectation of death ensuing from a disease or any other cause, let these persons be admitted conditionally.

Canon 7 of the Synod of Ankyra
As concerning those persons who participated in a feast on the occasion of a heathen festival, brought their own food to it, and ate thereof, it has seemed fitting that they should be admitted [to co-stand] after spending two years' time in kneeling. As to whether each of them ought to be allowed the Offering too, this is for the bishops to determine, and to investigate the rest of the life of each person.

Canon 8 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for those who have sacrificed a second and a third time under compulsion, let them kneel for a space of four years, then commune for two years without the Oblation, and with the seventh be admitted unreservedly.

Canon 9 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for all who not only apostatized but even revolted and compelled brethren or caused them to be compelled to apostatize, let them receive the listening station for three years, and during six years more that of kneeling, and let them then commune (co-stand) for a year without the Oblation, in order that, after doing the full stretch of ten years, they may partake of it unabridged. During this time, nevertheless, let the rest of their life be kept under surveillance.

Canon 10 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for deacons who are appointed in spite of their [single] condition, if they gave evidence and insisted that they would have to marry, being unable to remain single, and who thereafter have married, let them stay in service, because they have been allowed to do so by the bishop. But if any of them have kept silent as to this, and have agreed to remain single when ordained, but thereafter entered into marriage, let them be dismissed from the deaconate.

Canon 11 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for girls that have been engaged or betrothed and thereafter have been grabbed by other men, it has seemed best that they be given back to the men to whom they were previously betrothed, even though they have suffered violence at the hands of the former.

Canon 12 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for those who had sacrificed before Baptism and thereafter were baptized, it has seemed right to allow them to be promoted to orders, as having undergone a bath of purification.

Canon 13 of the Synod of Ankyra
Auxiliary bishops shall have no right to ordain priests or deacons, but moreover, not even city priests may they ordain without being allowed to do so by the bishop with letters in another diocese.

Canon 14 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for those priests or deacons who are in the clergy and who abstain from meat, it has seemed right for them to touch and taste the meat and then, if they so wish, to refrain from eating it; but if they are unwilling to eat even vegetables that have been cooked with meat, and refuse to submit to the canon, let them be dismissed from the orders.

Canon 15 of the Synod of Ankyra
With reference to things belonging to the Lord’s house, whatever priests have sold in the absence of a bishop, they shall be restored to the Lord’s house. But it is to be left to the judgment of the bishop whether the price should be paid back or not, on account of the fact that many times the profit resulting from things bought repays them more than the price they themselves paid for them.

Canon 16 of the Synod of Ankyra
As regards those who have irrationalized or who are irrationalizing (committing bestiality), all who committed this sin before they were twenty years old must spend fifteen years in kneeling before being permitted communion in prayers, and then, after passing five years in communion [in prayers], they taste of the Oblation (Eucharist). But let their life during the term of kneeling be scrutinized, and then let them be accorded the benefit of philanthropy. But if any of them have indulged in the sin to satiety, let them have the long term of kneeling. As for those who have passed that age and who, though possessing wives, fell into the sin, let them spend twenty-five years in kneeling before receiving the right to commune in prayers; then, after they have spent five years in the communion of prayers, let them receive the Oblation. But if any of them sinned when possessing wives and having passed the age of fifty years, let them receive Communion only at the time of their exit from life.

Canon 17 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for those who have committed an irrational crime [of bestiality], and are lepers or, more explicitly speaking, have contracted leprosy, the holy synod has commanded that these persons pray with the weather-bitten (demonized).

Canon 18 of the Synod of Ankyra
If any persons who have been appointed bishops and have not been accepted by that diocese to which they have been assigned should wish to intrude or encroach upon other dioceses, and to displace those established therein, and to excite riots against them, let them be excommunicated. If, however, they should wish to be seated in the presbytery, where they were priests formerly, let them not be deprived of the honor. But if they engage in riots against the bishops therein established, let them be shorn of the honor of the presbytery, and let them be proscribed.

Canon 19 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for those who have promised to maintain their virginity but break their promise, let them fulfill the term of digamists. With regard to virgins however, who are cohabiting with men as sisters, we have prohibited this.

Canon 20 of the Synod of Ankyra
If the wife of anyone be involved in adultery or any man commit adultery, she or he, respectively, must obtain absolution in seven years, in accordance with the progressive degrees.

Canon 21 of the Synod of Ankyra
Regarding women who become prostitutes and kill their babies, and who make it their business to concoct abortives, the former rule barred them for life from Communion, and they are left without recourse. But having found a more philanthropic alternative, we have fixed the penalty at ten years, in accordance with the fixed degrees.

Canon 22 of the Synod of Ankyra
As regards willful murders, let them kneel continually, but they are to be granted absolution only at the end of their life.

Canon 23 of the Synod of Ankyra
As regards involuntary homicide, the first rule bids the guilty one to spend seven years in order to attain to absolution in accordance with the fixed degrees; whereas the second requires him to fulfill a term of five years.

Canon 24 of the Synod of Ankyra
As for those who are practicing divination and continuing the customs of the heathen and who are introducing persons into their homes with a view to discovering sorceries, or even with a view to purification, let them fall under the canon of five years in accordance with the fixed degrees: three years of kneeling, and two years of prayer without the Oblation.

Canon 25 of the Synod of Ankyra
When one has become engaged to a girl but has in addition defiled her sister too, so that she has been made pregnant by him, and he has after this married the one betrothed to him, but the one defiled has hanged herself. Those aware of the facts have been ordered to spend ten years as co-standers in order to gain admission, in accordance with the fixed degrees.

THE FIFTEEN CANONS
OF THE REGIONAL SYNOD HELD IN NEOCAESAREA (315)#

[Epitome: An ordained priest may not marry or commit fornication (1) or dine at the wedding of those marrying a second time (7). A woman cannot marry her brother-in-law (2), and this synod penalizes those who marry more than once (3). If a man desires to sleep with a woman but is prevented, he was rescued by grace (4). Catechumens guilty of sin may not stand in the nave (5). A pregnant woman can be baptized, and the mystery is not thereby imparted to the fetus (6). The husband of an adulteress, if a layman, may not be ordained, and if a clergyman, must divorce her (8). Priests with impediments who were ordained in ignorance may not celebrate the mysteries (9), and deacons too (10). A man must be thirty years old (11) and not have received Baptism while dying to be ordained a priest (12). Village priests may not liturgize in a city church if a bishop or city priest is present (13), but vicar bishops may liturgize (14). Every city, however large, should have seven deacons (15).]

Canon 1 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
If a priest gets married, he is displaced from orders, but if he commit fornication or adultery, he must be ousted altogether and be led to repentance.

Canon 2 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
If a woman gets married to two brothers, let her be thrust out until her death; but, nevertheless, at the time of death if she decides to dissolve the marriage in case she recovers her health, for the sake of philanthropy she shall be allowed the benefit of repentance. But if the woman dies while so wedded, or the husband does, repentance will be difficult for the one who is left as survivor.

Canon 3 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
As concerning those persons who become involved in a plurality of marriages, the length of sentence to which they are liable is clear as fixed, but their recantation and faith will avail to shorten the time.

Canon 4 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
If any man has felt a desire for a woman and has conceived an intention to lie with her but this desire was not actualized, it appears that he was rescued by grace.

Canon 5 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
If any catechumen, who stands in the rank of catechumens when he enters the Lord’s house, commits a sin, in case he is one of those who have to kneel or bend their knees [in the nave], let him join the listeners [in the narthex] if he is no longer committing sins; but if even when placed among the listeners he continues committing sins, let him be thrust out.

Canon 6 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
As concerning a woman who is pregnant, we decree that she ought to be illuminated whenever she so wishes. For in this case there is no intercommunion of the woman with the child, owing to the fact that every person possesses a will of his own which is shown in connection with his confession of faith.

Canon 7 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
No priest is permitted to dine at the wedding of persons marrying a second time. For, if the plight of a digamist is one demanding repentance, what will be that of a priest who is lending his consent to the wedding by attending it?

Canon 8 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
When the wife of a layman commits adultery, if she has been convicted openly of this offense, that layman cannot enter the service. If, on the other hand, she commits adultery after his ordination, he must divorce her. But if he continues to live with her, he cannot retain possession of the office that has been placed in his hands.

Canon 9 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
If any priest who has committed a bodily sin beforehand has been promoted, and confesses that he sinned before his ordination, let him not offer the Oblation, but let him remain in other respects for the rest of his course. For most persons would forgive the other sins, and let the ordination go. But if he fails to confess but is openly proved guilty, let him have no authority to exercise that function on any account.

Canon 10 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
Likewise if a deacon falls into the same sin, let him keep the rank of servant.

Canon 11 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
Let no man be ordained a priest before he is thirty years old, even though the man be worthy in every other respect, but let him be obliged to wait. For the Lord Jesus Christ was baptized and commenced teaching in His thirtieth year.

Canon 12 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
If a diseased (dying) person be illuminated, he cannot be promoted to a priest; for his faith and belief was not a result of his own will, but a result of necessity: unless perhaps on account of his diligence and faith thereafter and on account of a want of men.

Canon 13 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
Village priests cannot offer in the Lord’s house of a city if a bishop or a city priest is present, nor moreover can he administer Bread (the Eucharist) in prayer, nor a chalice. But if they are absent, and he is called alone to prayer, he may give.

Canon 14 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
Auxiliary bishops, though belonging to the type of the seventy, are honored with the right to offer [the Eucharist], in view of their diligence in regard to the poor.

Canon 15 of the Synod of Neocaesarea
There ought to be seven deacons, even though the city be a quite large one. You may convince yourselves by referring to the book of the Acts.

THE TWENTY-ONE CANONS
OF THE REGIONAL SYNOD HELD IN GANGRA (340)#

[Epitome: None may abominate marriage or marital relations (1, 10) or meat (2) or slavery (3) or married priests (4) or gatherings in the church (5), nor may one have a church estranged from the Church (6) or receive or distribute the Church’s produce without the blessing of the bishop or steward (7, 8) or remain a virgin because he considers marriage unclean (9) or abhor the common meals after Liturgies (11) or the celebrations of the martyrs (20) or wear tattered clothing in order to appear more righteous than those wearing ordinary clothes (12) or fast on Sunday (18) or break the fasts of the Church (19). Women may not wear men’s clothing for the sake of asceticism (13) or abandon their husbands from a disdain of marriage (14) or cut off their hair (17). Parents cannot abandon or neglect their children for the sake of asceticism (15), nor children their parents (16). Christians do esteem continence and humility and frugality but should practice asceticism prudently (21).]

Canon 1 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone disparages marriage, or abominates or disparages a woman sleeping with her husband, notwithstanding that she is faithful and reverent, as though she could not enter the Kingdom, let him be anathema.

Canon 2 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone criticize adversely a person eating meat (without blood, and such as is not meat that has been sacrificed to idols or strangled) with reverence and faith, as though he had no hope of partaking, let him be anathema.

Canon 3 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone, on the pretext of piety, teach a slave to scorn his master and to leave his service and not to afford his services to his own master with favor and all honor, let him be anathema.

Canon 4 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone discriminates against a married priest, on the ground that he ought not to partake of the Offering when that priest is conducting the Liturgy, let him be anathema.

Canon 5 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone teach that the Lord’s house is contemptible and that so are the synaxes (gatherings) therein, let him be anathema.

Canon 6 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone conducts a church of his own apart from the Church and, scorning the Church, wishes to perform the functions of the Church without a priest's helping, with the approval and consent of a bishop, let him be anathema.

Canon 7 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone wants to take or to give ecclesiastical fruits or produce outside the church against the advice of the bishop or of the persons in whose hands such things have been placed and does not want to act with his consent and approval, let him be anathema.

Canon 8 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone gives or takes any fruit or produce, except the bishop or the man appointed to act as steward of the almonry, let both the giver and the taker be anathema.

Canon 9 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone should remain a virgin or observe continence, as if he had become an anchorite abominating marriage, and not for the good standard and holy feature of virginity, let him be anathema.

Canon 10 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone leading a life of virginity for the Lord should regard married persons superciliously, let him be anathema.

Canon 11 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone should scorn those who hold love feasts (agapae) in good faith, who invite their brethren to join them for honor of the Lord, and should refuse to respond to the invitations for the sake of vilifying the affair, let him be anathema.

Canon 12 of the Synod of Gangra
If any of the menfolk uses a tattered overcoat for the sake of supposedly ascetic exercise, and as if endowed with righteousness by this, he should regard disdainfully those men who are wearing [ordinary] robes called beri and using the common dress that is in vogue, let him be anathema.

Canon 13 of the Synod of Gangra
If for the sake of supposedly ascetic exercise any woman change apparel, and instead of the usual and customary women’s apparel, she dons men’s apparel, let her be anathema.

Canon 14 of the Synod of Gangra
If any woman should abandon her husband and wish to depart because she abominates marriage, let her be anathema.

Canon 15 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone should abandon his own children, or fail to devote himself to feeding has children, and fail, as far as depends on them, to bring them up to be godly and to have respect for God but, under the pretext of ascetic exercise, should neglect them, let him be anathema.

Canon 16 of the Synod of Gangra
If any children of parents, especially of faithful ones, should depart on the pretext of godliness and should fail to pay due honor to their parents, godliness, that is to say, being preferred with them, i.e. among them, let them be anathema.

Canon 17 of the Synod of Gangra
If any woman for the sake of supposedly ascetic exercise cuts off her hair, which God gave her to remind her of the fact that she is subject to the will of her husband, let her be anathema, on the ground that she has disobeyed the injunction to be obedient.

Canon 18 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone for the sake of supposedly ascetic exercise should fast on the Lord’s Day, let him be anathema.

Canon 19 of the Synod of Gangra
If any of those persons who engage in ascetic exercise, without any bodily need of it, should pride themselves on this and should break the fasts handed down to the commonalty and kept by the Church, under the hallucinations that their reasoning in this matter is perfect, let them be anathema.

Canon 20 of the Synod of Gangra
If anyone should find fault with the assemblies (synaxes) in honor of the martyrs, or with the Liturgies conducted thereat, and the commemorations of them, owing to his being imbued with a proud disposition and overcome with a loathing, let him be anathema.

Canon 21 of the Synod of Gangra
We state these things not by way of cutting off from the Church of God persons wishing to exercise themselves ascetically in accordance with the Scriptures but those who take the matter of ascetic exercises as something to be proud of and who regard those living and conducting themselves in an easier manner disdainfully and who introduce novelties that are contrary to the Scriptures and the ecclesiastical canons. For the fact is that we admire virtue with humility and welcome continence with modesty and piety, and esteem anchoretic departures from mundane affairs with humility, and honor modest cohabitation of matrimony, and do not despise wealth with justice and with the doing of good. And we praise frugality and cheapness of garments, worn solely for protection of the body and plainly made; whereas we abhor loose and outworn fashions in dress. And we honor the houses of God, and we embrace the meetings that occur therein as holy and beneficial; though we do not confine piety to the houses but honor every place that is built in the name of God. And we consider the congregation in the church of God to be a benefit to the public and felicitate those brethren who do good to the poor in accordance with the traditions of the Church by way of supererogation. And, concisely speaking, we prayerfully hope that all the things will be done in the Church and in church that have been handed down traditionally by the divine Scriptures and the apostolic traditions.

THE TWENTY-FIVE CANONS
OF THE REGIONAL SYNOD HELD IN ANTIOCH (341)#

[Epitome: All must celebrate Pascha according to the ordinance of the Synod of Nicaea (1). None of those able and present may refuse to partake of Holy Communion or pray together with the excommunicated (2). Clergy may not attach themselves to a different parish, nor accept any such renegades (3). Deposed clergy who are disobedient may never be reinstated, nor may any have communion with them (4), and clergy may not separate themselves from their lawful bishop and set up their own church (5). The excommunicated can only be readmitted by the bishop who excommunicated him or by a synod’s decision (6), and strangers must have commendatory letters from their bishop (7). Vicar-bishops in country districts shall only send commendatory letters to neighboring bishops (8), and bishops have authority to act and ordain within their own dioceses but must do nothing further without the consent of the metropolitan, who also must act with the consent of those beneath him (9), and auxiliary bishops cannot ordain deacons or higher without the consent of their ruling bishop (10). Clergy cannot visit the emperor without their metropolitan’s permission (11), nor may deposed clergy annoy the emperor, and they can only appeal to a higher synod (12). Unauthorized ordinations outside a bishop’s own diocese are null and void (13). If there are disagreements in the trial of a bishop, the metropolitan must summon bishops of other provinces to decide the case (14), but if the judgment is unanimous, the condemned bishop may not appeal to others (15). Without synodal approval, a bishop may not insinuate himself into a church with no bishop (16), nor refuse to accept the church appointed to him (17), but if he cannot access his diocese, he retains his rank wherever he sojourns (18). A bishop should be ordained by the metropolitan and with the consent of the majority of the synod (19) and may not impose himself on another diocese (21) or ordain anyone therein without the local bishop’s permission (22). Synods of bishops should be held twice yearly, where disputes are settled (20). A bishop cannot appoint his successor (23), but he does have authority over the revenues and property of his church, so long as he does not plunder it for the benefit of his relatives (25). The clergy should know what is the property of the Church so that none of it is misappropriated in the case of the bishop’s death (24).]

Canon 1 of the Synod of Antioch
As for all persons who dare to violate the definition of the holy and great synod convened in Nicaea in the presence of Eusebius, the companion of the most God-beloved Emperor Constantine, concerning the holy festival of the saving Pascha, we decree that they be excluded from Communion, and be outcasts from the Church if they persist more captiously in objecting to the decisions that have been made as most fitting in regard thereto; and let these things be said with reference to laymen. But if any of the persons occupying prominent positions in the Church such as a bishop or a priest or a deacon, after the adoption of this definition, should dare to insist upon having his own way, to the perversion of the laity, and to the disturbance of the Church, and upon celebrating Pascha along with the Jews, the holy synod has hence judged that person to be alien to the Church, on the ground that he has not only become guilty of sin by himself, but has also been the cause of corruption and perversion among multitude. Accordingly, it not only deposes such persons from the Liturgy but also those who dare to commune with them after their deposition. Moreover those who have been deposed are to be deprived of the external honor too of which the holy canon and God’s priesthood have partaken.

Canon 2 of the Synod of Antioch
As for all those who enter the church and listen to the sacred Scriptures but who fail to commune in prayer together and at the same time with the laity, or who shun participation in the Eucharist, according to some irregularity, we decree that these persons be outcasts from the Church until, after going to confession and exhibiting fruits of repentance and begging forgiveness, they succeed in obtaining a pardon. Furthermore, we decree that communion with those excluded from communion is not allowed, nor is it to be allowed in any other church to admit those who have been denied admittance to a church. If anyone among the bishop or priests or deacons, or of the canon, should appear to be communing with those who have been excluded from communion, he too is to be excluded from communion on the ground of seemingly confusing the canon of the Church.

Canon 3 of the Synod of Antioch
If any priest or deacon, or anyone else at all of those who belong to the priesthood, shall depart for another parish after leaving his own and subsequently, having changed his position altogether, tries to stay in another parish for a long time, let him no longer celebrate Liturgy, especially in case he is summoned by his own bishop and admonished to return to the parish he belongs to, and fails to obey. But if he persists in the irregularity, he must be utterly deposed from liturgizing, on the ground that there is no longer any possibility of his being reinstated. If, after he has been deposed for this reason, another bishop admits him, the latter too shall be punished by a common synod, on the ground that he is violating the ecclesiastical laws.

Canon 4 of the Synod of Antioch
If any bishop deposed by a synod, or any priest or deacon deposed by his own bishop, should dare to perform any act of Liturgy—whether it be the bishop in accordance with the advancing custom, or the priest or the deacon, let it no longer be possible for him to have any hope of reinstatement even in another synod, nor let him be allowed to present an apology in his own defense, but on the contrary, let all of those who ever commune with him be cast out of the Church, and especially if after learning about the decision pronounced against the aforesaid, he should dare to commune with them.

Canon 5 of the Synod of Antioch
If any priest or deacon, having shown contempt for his own bishop has excommunicated himself from the church and has formed a congregation of his own and has set up an altar, and in spite of the bishop’s inviting him to return, if he should remain disobedient and should refuse to obey or even submit to him when he calls him once and twice, let him be utterly deposed and be no longer accorded any remedy, nor be capable of having his honor restored. But if he should stick to his position, making a lot of noise and creating an upheaval in the Church, let him be brought back by an appeal to the civil authorities as a riotous character.

Canon 6 of the Synod of Antioch
If anyone has been excluded from communion by his own bishop, let him not be admitted by others until he has been accepted by his own bishop. Or, a synod having been held, if he has defended himself in answer to the charge and has convinced the synod and has succeeded in receiving a different verdict. The same rule applies to laymen and priests and deacons, and to all persons in the canon.

Canon 7 of the Synod of Antioch
Let no stranger be admitted without letters pacifical.

Canon 8 of the Synod of Antioch
Nor shall letters canonical be given by [high] priests in country districts other than to send letters to neighboring bishops, but to give letters pacifical (commendatory) only to auxiliary bishops who are irreproachable.

Canon 9 of the Synod of Antioch
The presiding bishop in a metropolis must be recognized by the bishops belonging to each province (or eparchy) and undertake the cure of the entire province, because of the fact that all who have any kind of business to attend to are wont to come from all quarters to the metropolis. Hence it has seemed best to let him have precedence in respect of honor, and to let the rest of the bishops do nothing extraordinary without him, in accordance with the ancient canon of the fathers which has been prevailing, or only those things which are imposed upon the parish of each one of them and upon the territories under it. For each bishop shall have authority over his own parish, to govern in accordance with the reverence imposed upon each, and to make provision regarding all the territory belonging to his city, as also to ordain priests and deacons, and to dispose of details with judgment, but to attempt nothing further without the concurrence of the bishop of the metropolis; nor shall he himself without the consent and approval of the rest.

Canon 10 of the Synod of Antioch
As for auxiliary bishops in villages or country towns, or so-called chorepiscopi, even though they have received ordination by the laying on of hands, it has seemed best to the holy council that they should recognize their own limitations and govern the churches subject to their jurisdiction and be content with the cure and guardianship of these and, on the other hand, to appoint readers and subdeacons and exorcists and be content with their promotion and not venture to ordain a priest or even a deacon without the concurrence of the bishop in the city to whom he and his district are subject. But if anyone should dare to transgress the rules laid down, let him be deposed from office and even from whatever honor he has been enjoying. An auxiliary bishop is to be made such by the bishop of the city to which he is subject.

Canon 11 of the Synod of Antioch
If any bishop or priest or anyone at all of the canon, without the consent and letters of the bishops in the province, and especially of the bishop having charge of the metropolis, should rush off to see the emperor, he is to be outlawed, and is to be made an outcast not only from the communion, but also from the dignity which he happens to be enjoying, on the ground that he has been guilty of daring to annoy the ears of our most God-beloved emperor in contravention of the law of the Church. But if any urgent need should demand his rushing to see the emperor, he must do this with thoughtfulness and with the consent and approval of the bishop in charge of the metropolis of the province, or of those therein, and be furnished with letters from them.

Canon 12 of the Synod of Antioch
If any priest or deacon deposed by his own bishop, or any bishop deposed by a synod, should dare to annoy the emperor’s ears, he must address his appeal to a greater synod of bishops and specify whatever justice he thinks that he is being denied to a number of bishops and accept whatever examination and adverse judgment he may receive from them. But if paying no heed thereto, he should annoy the emperor, he shall be precluded from any pardon and shall be allowed no opportunity to make an apology in his own defense, nor to entertain any hope of reinstatement.

Canon 13 of the Synod of Antioch
Let no bishop dare to go over from one province into another and ordain any persons in church to promotion of the Liturgy, even though he take others along with him unless, having been asked to do so, he should arrive by letters of the metropolitan and of the bishops accompanying him, into whose district he should happen to be passing. But if, without anyone inviting him or calling him, he should depart irregularly to lay hands upon certain persons and to meddle in the status quo of ecclesiastical affairs that do not concern him, all things whatsoever that he may do shall be null and void and invalid; and he himself shall incur a suitable sentence for his irregularity and his unreasonable proceeding, having been already deposed hence by the holy synod.

Canon 14 of the Synod of Antioch
If any bishop should be judicially tried in regard to any charges and afterwards it should happen that the bishops in the province disagree concerning him, some pronouncing the one being tried innocent, while others pronounce him guilty, by way of precluding any dispute, it has seemed best to the holy synod for the bishop of the metropolis to summon some other bishops from neighboring provinces who are to reach a verdict and dispel any dispute, with the object of affirming and confirming what is presented together with the bishops of that province.

Canon 15 of the Synod of Antioch
If any bishop accused of any crimes should be tried by all the bishops in the province and all of them have pronounced one decision against him in complete agreement with each other, let him no more be tried again by others, but let the concordant verdict of the bishops of the province stand on record.

Canon 16 of the Synod of Antioch
If any bishop without a see impose himself upon a church without a bishop and seize the throne thereof without the approval of a complete synod, he shall be cast out, even though all the laity whom he has seized should choose to keep him. A complete synod is one at which the metropolitan is also present.

Canon 17 of the Synod of Antioch
If any bishop who has received ordination as such and has been appointed to take charge of a congregation should refuse to accept the office and to depart from the church entrusted to him, let him be excluded from communion until he has been compelled to accept it, or until a complete synod of the bishops of the province in question determines his fate.

Canon 18 of the Synod of Antioch
If any bishop duly ordained to a diocese fail to go to the one to which he has been ordained, not through any fault of his own but either because of the anfractuosity of the laity, or for some other reason for which he is not responsible, he shall retain the honor and office, only without causing any disturbance to the affairs of the church where he should be accorded a congregation. But he shall await the outcome of the decision of a complete synod of the province in regard to his appointment.

Canon 19 of the Synod of Antioch
No bishop shall be ordained without a synod and the presence of the metropolitan of the province. He must be present in any case, and it were better that all the fellow ministers in the province should attend the synod too; accordingly, the bishop in the metropolis should be summoned to it by letter. And it were better that all of them should respond, but if this be found difficult, at least a majority of them ought in any case to be present or to join in the voting by means of letters, and thus let the stipend be granted by a majority of votes of those present or joining by letter. If any ordination has been obtained otherwise than has been defined and prescribed, let it be void. But if a stipend has been granted in accordance with the canon provided, and some persons should object to it on account of their having a quarrel of their own, let the majority vote prevail.

Canon 20 of the Synod of Antioch
In regard to ecclesiastical needs and the settlement of disputes, it has seemed well that synods of the bishops of each province should be held twice a year. Once after the end of the third week of the festival of Pascha, so that the synod may be finished with its business by the fourth week of Pentecost, the bishop in the metropolis reminding the provincials of it. As for the second synod, it shall be held on the ides (15th) of October, which is the tenth day of the month of Hyperbetaeus. So that these very synods shall be attended by priests and deacons in addition and by all those who deem themselves to have been treated unjustly or to have been wronged in any way, and who wish to have their cases reviewed by the synod. But let it not be permissible for any persons to hold any such meetings in the way of synods without the presence of those who have been entrusted with the metropolis.

Canon 21 of the Synod of Antioch
A bishop shall not go over from one diocese to another, nor arbitrarily impose himself, even though he be constrained by the laity, nor even though he be compelled to do so by sheer coercion on the part of bishops. Instead, he must stay where he has been allotted a church by God in the beginning, and not go away from it for another, in accordance with the rule which has already been previously laid down concerning this.

Canon 22 of the Synod of Antioch
A bishop shall not intrude upon another city that is not subject to his jurisdiction, nor upon a territory that does not belong to his dominion, for the purpose of ordaining anyone or of appointing priests or deacons in regions that are subject to the jurisdiction of another bishop, except, of course, with the consent and approval of the bishop proper to the territory in question. If, however, anyone should dare to do such a thing, let the ordination be null and void, and let him be punished by the synod.

Canon 23 of the Synod of Antioch
No bishop shall be permitted to appoint another as his successor in office, even though he is approaching the end of his life. But if any such thing should be done, the appointment shall be void and of no effect. The ecclesiastical law shall be kept which declares that only with a synod and the decision of bishops, and not otherwise, may a worthy one be promoted to take over the authority held by the one who has been laid to rest in sleep.

Canon 24 of the Synod of Antioch
The rules and regulations of the Church must be rightly kept for the Church with all diligence and in all good conscience and faith resting in God, Who is the superintendent and judge of all things, and the affairs of the Church should be governed with the judgment and authority of the bishop entrusted with all the laity and the souls of all the members of the congregation thereof. What belongs to the dominion of the Church is manifest and well known to the priests and deacons under his jurisdiction, so that these persons ought to be well aware, and not ignorant, of whatever is property of the Church, so that nothing should escape their observation to enable them, in case the bishop should depart life, in view of the fact that the things belonging to the dominion of the Church are manifest, to prevent any of them from being embezzled or made away with and lost, and to see that none of the bishop’s own things are disturbed on the pretense that they are ecclesiastical property. For it is just and pleasing to both God and man that the bishop should leave his own property to whomsoever he may will it, but that things belonging to the Church should be kept for the Church, and that neither should the Church sustain any loss or damage, nor should property of the bishop be confiscated on the pretense that it belongs to the Church; nor should those persons be involved in any trouble in claims thereto, with the result of defaming him after death.

Canon 25 of the Synod of Antioch
A bishop shall have authority over the property and funds of his church so as to be able to administer it to all needing it with all reverence and fear of God. He too shall partake thereof so far as he may have need thereof (if he should have any need) for his own necessary wants and for those of the brethren he has under his hospitation, so as not to leave them in any way unprovided for according to the divine apostle, who says: “Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content” (I Timothy 6:8). But if he should not be content with that but should convert property [of the church] to the needs of his own household and should fail to handle the revenue of the church, of the fruit of the fields, with the consent and approval of the priests and deacons, he should extend the authority to his own intimates and relatives or brothers or sons, with the consequence of thereby imperceptibly or unobservedly causing the assets of the church to be injured; he shall be held accountable to the synod of the province. If, on the other hand, the bishop and the priests serving with him be traduced on the alleged ground that they are appropriating to themselves goods belonging to the church, whether it be from the fields or from any other alleged property of the church, on the alleged ground that the indigent are being oppressed, whereas, in point of fact, calumny and defamation are being inflicted by the words upon those so governing, and they are charged with liability to correction, the holy synod must determine what ought to be done.

THE FIFTY-NINE [OR SIXTY] CANONS
OF THE REGIONAL HOLY SYNOD HELD IN LAODICEA (364)#

[Epitome: After a period of penance, the synod admits to Communion those who marry a second time (1) or sin grievously (2). The recently baptized may not be ordained (3), and clergy may not charge interest (4). Listeners under penance may not be present at ordinations (5), and obstinate heretics may not enter the church (6). Converting heretics must anathematize every heresy (7), and clergy and even high ranking men among the Phrygian heretics must be baptized (8). None may visit the shrines of heretical so-called “saints” (9, 34) or marry a heretic (10) or chant in church unless a chanter (15). Women may not be appointed to a position of ecclesiastical authority (11). Bishops shall be appointed by the metropolitan and synod after testing (12), and priests shall not be elected by the laity (13). The Eucharist must not be sent to another diocese as a festal custom (14). The Gospel and other Scriptures should be read on Saturdays (16), and the psalms must not be chanted uninterruptedly but with other things interspersed (17). New prayers should not be introduced into the order of the services (18), and after the bishop’s sermon the prayer for the catechumens is performed, then their dismissal, then the prayer for the penitents and their dismissal, then the prayers for the faithful and the kiss of peace, and then the Oblation is offered (19). Deacons, though honored by the other clergy, should not sit down before a priest (20), and ecclesiastical servants may not enter the diaconicon or touch sacred vessels (21). Doorkeepers do not wear an orarion but must guard the doors (22), nor do readers or chanters wear oraria (23). Lower clergy cannot distribute Holy Communion (25), and only those duly appointed should perform exorcisms (26). None should refrain from work on Saturday (29) or take home food from the agape meals intended for the poor (27), and these meals may not take place in churches or sacred premises (28). Men must not bathe in public baths with women (30). Heretics can be married only if they become Christians (31), and none should accept the blessing of a heretic (32) or pray with heretics or schismatics (33) or fraternize with them (34) or only call upon angels instead of God (35) or engage in magic, enchanting, numerology, or astrology or wear amulets (36) or accept holiday tokens—including unleavened wafers (38)—sent by Jews or heretics or celebrate any holiday with them (37) or with the heathen (39). Bishops cannot neglect to attend synods (40). Clergy must travel with commendatory letters (41) and the bishop’s permission (42) and should never enter a tavern (24) or behold any theatrical performance or spectacle (54). Doorkeepers may not abandon their post even for a moment (43), and women may not enter the sanctuary (44). Catechumens cannot be baptized on Pascha who have enrolled later than the second week of the Great Fast (45), and they must learn the Faith thoroughly and recite their lessons to the clergy every Thursday (46). Those who receive Baptism on their deathbed but then recover must now learn the Faith thoroughly (47). The newly-illumined must be also chrismated (48). During the Great Fast, Liturgies and feasts of the martyrs (51) should be celebrated only on Saturday and Sunday (49), and the fast of Holy Thursday must not be violated (50), and weddings and birthday parties should not occur during the Fast (52). Weddings must not have dancing (53), and none should hold banquets where money is charged (55). Priests must not enter the sanctuary before the entrance of the bishop (56), and clergy should not celebrate the Liturgy in private houses (58). Villages and small towns should only be given a vicar-bishop (57), and only canonical Scriptures should be read in church (59).]

Canon 1 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the need of allowing Communion by concession to those who, in accordance with the ecclesiastical canon, have freely and legally contracted a second marriage, without having entered into a clandestine marriage, after a little time has elapsed and they have spent it in prayers and fasts.

Canon 2 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the need of admitting to Communion, for the sake of God’s compassion and goodness, those who have sinned outright in various offenses and who have abided their time with fortitude and the prayer of confession and repentance and who have achieved complete aversion to the evils, in proportion to the offense, time for repentance having been given to such persons.

Canon 3 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the need of not admitting to Holy Orders those persons who have been illumined (baptized) recently.

Canon 4 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the fact that those who are in priestly orders must not lend out money and take interest and the so-called “half-of-the-whole.”

Canon 5 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the fact that ordinations must not be performed in the presence of listeners.

Canon 6 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the necessity of not permitting heretics to come into the house of God, so long as they persist in their heresy.

Canon 7 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the need of refusing to accept persons from heresies, that is, Novatians or, in other words, Photinians or Tessareskaidecatites, when they are converted, whether catechumens or such as are known among them as faithful believers, until they have anathematized every heresy, and that par excellence in which they have been captivated. Then and thereafter those called among themselves “faithful,” being put to learning the symbols of the Faith (the articles of the Creed), and having been anointed, may henceforward partake of them.

Canon 8 of the Synod of Laodicea
As concerning those returning from the heresy of the so-called Phrygians, even though they happen to be in the class which with them is supposed to be the clergy, and even though they should be among those called “greatest,” such persons are to be catechized with the utmost diligence and are to be baptized by the bishops and priests of the Church.

Canon 9 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the fact that those belonging to the Church must not be allowed to go visiting the cemeteries of the so-called martyria (i.e. shrines of martyrs) of any heretics for the purpose of prayer or of cure; but on the contrary, those who do so, if they be among the faithful, shall he excluded from Communion for a time until they repent and confess their having made a mistake, when they may be readmitted to Communion.

Canon 10 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the fact that persons belonging to the Church must not carelessly and unconcernedly give their own children to marriage with heretics.

Canon 11 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the necessity of avoiding the appointment of so-called presbytides, or presiding women, in the church.

Canon 12 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the fact that bishops are to be appointed to ecclesiastical office by judgment of the metropolitans and of the bishops in their retinue, provided that they have been tried and tested for a long time, both in respect of words of faith and in point of behavior and conduct conforming to right reason.

Canon 13 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the necessity of not permitting others to conduct the election of candidates for the priesthood.

Canon 14 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the prohibition of sending to other dioceses the pieces of holy Bread (Communion) as evlogiae (blessings) during the festival of Pascha.

Canon 15 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the necessity of not permitting any longer persons to chant in church other than those who are canonical chanters ascending the pulpit (or ambo) and chanting from parchments.

Canon 16 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the necessity of reading Gospels together with other Scriptures on Saturday.

Canon 17 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the injunction not to run the psalms together in the course of synaxes but, on the contrary, to do reading in the midst in connection with every psalm.

Canon 18 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the requirement that the same Liturgy must be celebrated with prayers at all times, both in the Nones (Hours) and in the Vespers.

Canon 19 of the Synod of Laodicea
Concerning the requirement that sermons of bishops in particular must first be followed by a prayer for catechumens, and after the catechumens leave, the prayer for those in the state of penitence must be said; and after these persons have come forward under hand and have withdrawn, then shall the prayers for the faithful be said thrice—once, the first time, silently, but the second and third time aloud; and then the peace is to be bestowed. And after the priests have bestowed the [kiss of] peace upon the bishop, then shall the laymen bestow the [kiss of] peace; and then, shall the holy Oblation be celebrated; and only for members of the clergy is it permissible to go into the sacrificial altar and commune.

Canon 20 of the Synod of Laodicea
That a deacon must not sit down ahead of a priest but must take his seat only when bidden by the priest. Likewise deacons are entitled to be honored by their servants (i.e. subdeacons) and all clergy.

Canon 21 of the Synod of Laodicea
That servants must not have any place in the diaconicum, or touch the sacred vessels.

Canon 22 of the Synod of Laodicea
That a servant must not wear an orarium, nor desert the doors.

Canon 23 of the Synod of Laodicea
That readers and chanters must not wear oraria, and thus read or chant.

Canon 24 of the Synod of Laodicea
That members of the clergy, from priests to deacons and so on of the ecclesiastical order, down to servants and readers and chanters and exorcists and doorkeepers and those belonging to the order of ascetics, must not enter a tavern.

Canon 25 of the Synod of Laodicea
That servants must not give the Bread (Eucharist), nor bless the Chalice.

Canon 26 of the Synod of Laodicea
That those who have not been duly promoted by bishops must not exorcize anyone, either in churches or in private houses.

Canon 27 of the Synod of Laodicea
That members of the priesthood, and clergy and laymen, who are invited to an agape (meal for the poor) must not take away portions, on account of the insult inflicted upon the ecclesiastical order.

Canon 28 of the Synod of Laodicea
That so-called agapae must not be held in houses of the Lord or in churches, and persons must not eat or lay at table with couches in a house of God.

Canon 29 of the Synod of Laodicea
That Christians must not Judaize and rest on Saturday but must work on this day preferring to rest as Christians on the Lord’s Day if able to do so. If they be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema, from Christ.

Canon 30 of the Synod of Laodicea
That members of the priesthood or clerics or ascetics ought not to bathe in public baths with women, nor ought any Christian or layman. For this is the first thing heathen are prone to condemn.

Canon 31 of the Synod of Laodicea
That one must not intermarry with any heretics, or give one’s sons or daughters to them, but rather ought one to take theirs, if they should promise to become Christians.

Canon 32 of the Synod of Laodicea
That one must not accept blessings of heretics, which are rather misfortunes rather than blessings.

Canon 33 of the Synod of Laodicea
That one must not join in prayer with heretics or schismatics.

Canon 34 of the Synod of Laodicea
That no Christian must desert martyrs of Christ, and go away to pseudo-martyrs of heretics, that is; nor must they themselves fraternize with the aforesaid heretics.

Canon 35 of the Synod of Laodicea
That no Christian must desert the Church of God and go away and call persons angels and collect congregations, which is prohibited. If anyone, therefore, be found to be adhering to this hidden idolatry, let him be anathema, because he deserted our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and went over to idolatry.

Canon 36 of the Synod of Laodicea
That members of the priesthood and clergy must not be magicians or enchanters, or numerologists or astrologers, or make what are called amulets, which are shackles for their souls accordingly, we have bidden those wearing these things to be cast out of the Church.

Canon 37 of the Synod of Laodicea
That one must not accept holiday tokens sent by Jews or heretics, nor celebrate any holiday along with them.

Canon 38 of the Synod of Laodicea
That one must not accept unleavened wafers from Jews, nor participate in their impieties.

Canon 39 of the Synod of Laodicea
That one must not join the heathen in celebration of holidays and festivals and share in their atheism.

Canon 40 of the Synod of Laodicea
That bishops when invited to a synod must not treat the matter scornfully but, on the contrary, must attend it and teach or be taught, for the correction of the Church and of the rest [of the bishops]. If he treat it scornfully, he makes himself liable to charges, unless it should be that he stayed away on account of some anomaly.

Canon 41 of the Synod of Laodicea
That no member of the priesthood or clergy ought to travel without canonical letters.

Canon 42 of the Synod of Laodicea
That no member of the priesthood or clergy ought to travel without the bidding of a bishop.

Canon 43 of the Synod of Laodicea
That servants (doorkeepers) must not desert the doors, even for a moment, and attend prayer.

Canon 44 of the Synod of Laodicea
That women must not enter the sacrificial altar area.

Canon 45 of the Synod of Laodicea
That candidates must not be accepted for Illumination after two weeks of the Great Fast.

Canon 46 of the Synod of Laodicea
That persons being illuminated must learn the faith thoroughly, and recite on Thursday in every week to the bishop or to the priests.

Canon 47 of the Synod of Laodicea
That persons who receive Illumination while they are in a state of illness, and afterwards recover, must learn the Faith thoroughly and realize that they have been granted a divine gift.

Canon 48 of the Synod of Laodicea
That the illuminated, after Baptism, must be anointed with heavenly Chrism and be partakers of the Kingdom of Christ.

Canon 49 of the Synod of Laodicea
That in the Great Fast Bread (the Eucharist) must not be offered, except on Saturday and the Lord’s Day only.

Canon 50 of the Synod of Laodicea
That in the last week of the Great Fast Thursday ought not to be broken and the whole Great Fast be dishonored; but on the contrary, throughout the period of the Fast persons ought to fast by confining themselves to xerophagia (eating dry foods).

Canon 51 of the Synod of Laodicea
That during the Great Fast the birthdays of the martyrs ought not to be celebrated; but commemorations of the holy martyrs ought to be held on Saturdays and Lord’s Days.

Canon 52 of the Synod of Laodicea
That weddings and birthday celebrations must not be held during the Great Fast.

Canon 53 of the Synod of Laodicea
That Christians attending weddings must not jump about or dance, but must eat or dine in decent manner, as becomes Christians.

Canon 54 of the Synod of Laodicea
That members of the priesthood and clergy must not witness spectacles at weddings or suppers, but before the actors taking part in theatricals enter, they are to rise and leave.

Canon 55 of the Synod of Laodicea
That members of the priesthood and clergy must not hold banquets by contributions, but neither must laymen do so.

Canon 56 of the Synod of Laodicea
That priests must not enter and sit down in the bema before the entrance of the bishop but must enter together with the bishop, unless it should happen that the bishop is in difficulties or away from the city.

Canon 57 of the Synod of Laodicea
That in villages and in small towns and country districts bishops are not to be appointed, but circuitors (traveling chorepiscopi), who, however, having been pre-appointed, may do nothing without the consent and approval of the bishop.

Canon 58 of the Synod of Laodicea
That an Oblation must not be offered in private houses by bishops or priests.

Canon 59 of the Synod of Laodicea
That private psalms must not be recited in church, nor uncanonical books, but only the canonical books of the New and of the Old Covenants.

[Canon 60 of the Synod of Laodicea (a later interpolation)]
[These are all the books of the Old Testament appointed to be read: 1) Genesis of the world; 2) The Exodus from Egypt; 3) Leviticus; 4) Numbers; 5) Deuteronomy; 6) Joshua the son of Navi; 7) Judges, Ruth; 8) Esther; 9) Of the Kings, First and Second; 10) Of the Kings, Third and Fourth; 11) Chronicles, First and Second; 12) Esdra, First and Second; 13) The Book of Psalms; 14) The Proverbs of Solomon; 15) Ecclesiastes; 16) The Song of Songs; 17) Job; 18) The Twelve Prophets; 19) Isaiah; 20) Jeremiah, and Baruch, the Lamentations, and the Epistle; 21) Ezekiel; 22) Daniel. And these are the books of the New Testament: Four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; The Acts of the Apostles; Seven Catholic Epistles, to wit, one of Iakovos, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude; Fourteen Epistles of Paul, one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Hebrews, two to Timothy, one to Titus, and one to Philemon.]

THE 20 CANONS
OF THE HOLY REGIONAL SYNOD HELD IN SARDICA (347)#

[Epitome: A bishop may not change from one city to another (1), even if the laity cause a disturbance and demand him as their bishop (2), nor may a bishop cross over into a different diocese uninvited, but he may appeal any condemnation against him to the Bishop of Rome (3), and the appealing bishop cannot be replaced until the pope gives judgment (4), who has the final decision (5). If a populous province needs more bishops but the local bishop neglects to ordain anyone and the people are demanding their own choice, bishops of neighboring provinces may satisfy their desire by ordaining a metropolitan, but it is unnecessary to ordain a hierarch for a small town (6). Bishops may not visit the emperor to request aid but should help the afflicted with their own resources (7), but if there is a worthy reason, a bishop can send his deacon (8), and requests sent to other bishops or the emperor should first be presented to the metropolitan or the Pope of Rome before being forwarded (9). But bishops who are unworthily visiting the emperor should be shunned (20). None may be consecrated bishop without first becoming a reader and then passing through all the ranks in due time (10). Bishops may not go to another diocese in order to show off their knowledge or stay there for three weeks or more (11), unless they are attending to their own properties and will not intrude in another’s cathedral (12), and no prelate may give Communion to a clergyman excommunicated by another bishop (13), but anyone excommunicated may resort to the metropolitan for appeal, though he may not receive Communion until the investigation is concluded (14). A bishop may not ordain someone who belongs to a different diocese (15), and clergy may not sojourn in another province (16), but bishops unjustly persecuted may move to another city (17). Those nominated to the priesthood but then ordained by schismatics can be received in their orders if they return to their assigned churches (18), and anyone who transgresses the abovementioned canons will be deposed (19).]

Canon 1 of the Synod of Sardica
It is not so much the foul custom as it is the exceedingly injurious corruption of affairs that must be rooted out from the very foundation, in order that no bishop be allowed to change from a small city to another city. For the pretext offered in excuse of this is evident on account of which such things are undertaken. For so far no bishop has ever been found to have attempted to change from a larger city to a very small city. Hence it has to be concluded that such personas have to be regarded as motivated by an ardent sense of greed and that they prefer to be slaves to conceit, so as to succeed in seemingly acquiring greater authority. All men, therefore, like this, so that such villainy ought to be the more sternly avenged. For we deem that not even laymen ought to associate with such persons.

Canon 2 of the Synod of Sardica
If anyone be found so mad or bold as to take it into his head to circumvent such restrictions by affirming and stoutly maintaining that he has been given letters from the multitude to himself, it is plain that he has been enabled to do so by corrupting a few men with a reward or prize of some kind to stage a riot or disturbance in the church, on the pretense that they are demanding to have him as their bishop. We therefore deem such intrigues and artifices to be punishable once for all, so that no such offender will be considered to merit even lay communion in the end.

Canon 3 of the Synod of Sardica
And it is necessary to add this too, that no bishop may cross from his own diocese or province into another province in which there happen to be bishops, unless he be called or invited by some of the brethren therein, lest we seem to be shutting the gates of love. And this likewise must be provided, so that, if anyone among the bishops in a province should be at variance with a brother and fellow bishop, he shall not call upon any other one of the bishops from another province to support his cause. If, therefore, any of the bishops in any dispute seem to be condemned and considers himself not to be at fault, but that it would be a good thing to have the case reopened, if it seem right to you, let us honor the memory to the love of Saint Peter the Apostle, and let the case be appealed from the judges to Julius the Bishop of Rome, so that through the bishops who are neighbors to the province in question a new court may be held and he be granted new examiners. But if it cannot be established that such is the case as to merit a new trial, let what has once been tried and decided be re-examined, but, on the contrary, let whatever really is so be accepted as true.

Canon 4 of the Synod of Sardica
If any bishop be deposed by these bishops at a judicial trial who have their seats in neighboring territory and demands for himself a new opportunity to defend himself against the charges, let his seat not be filled by another incumbent until the bishop of the Romans has been informed of the facts and has issued a ruling concerning him.

Canon 5 of the Synod of Sardica
It has pleased this synod to decree that if any bishop be indicted, and the bishops of the same diocese remove him from his rank, and by way of appeal he has recourse to the most blessed bishop of the Church of the Romans, and the latter expresses a desire to hear the matter through and deems that it is right and just for the trial of the case to be reopened, let him write to these bishops and request those who are close to the province in question, to make a searching investigation of the points in the case with due diligence and accuracy, and in accordance with faith in the truth pronounce a decision regarding it. But if any person demands again to have his case heard and sees fit to request that it be tried by the bishop of the Romans, let the latter send priests from his own flank in order that he may be in the authority of the bishop himself. If he rules that it is right and decides that judges ought to be sent to try the case together with the bishops and to exercise authority derived from the one who sent them, then let this too be done. But if he deems the verdict and decision in regard to the bishop’s case to be sufficient, let him do whatsoever may seem best to his most prudent sense of discretion.

Canon 6 of the Synod of Sardica
If it happen in one province in which there are a great many bishops that [only] one bishop is left and that, owing to some negligence, he does not care to attend and consent to the ordination of bishops but, on the other hand, the multitudes gather themselves together and demand that the man whom they want be ordained bishop, the bishop so left must first be reminded (i.e. informed) by letters of the exarch of the province in question (this means the bishop of the metropolis) that the multitudes are demanding to be given a shepherd and we deem that he would do well to come in person of his own accord. Otherwise, if he fail to come or even to reply after being notified in writing, the will of the multitude must be done to its satisfaction. That is, the bishops of a nearby province must be summoned for ordination of the bishop of the metropolis. It is allowable in general to appoint a bishop to a village or to a small town for which a single priest would amply suffice. But it is not necessary that bishops be appointed thereto, lest the name and authority (i.e. the office) of bishop be rendered contemptible or despicable; but instead, it is the duty of the bishops of the province in question, as I have said, to ordain bishops in these towns where bishops had even before held office. But if any city should be found so populous in numbers of laity as to be considered to deserve it, let it have an episcopate.

Canon 7 of the Synod of Sardica
Our inopportuneness and great pertinacity and unjust demands have caused us to not to have so much grace and outspokenness as we ought to possess. For many of the bishops keep visiting the [emperor’s] camp, and this is especially true of the Africans, who, as we have learned from our dear brother and fellow Bishop Gratus, will not accept saving advice but scorn in such fashion that one man keeps carrying a great many various petitions to the camp notwithstanding that they cannot be of any benefit to the Church, and not, as ought to be done, and as also befits the situation in regard to poor persons and laymen, or to widows, by way of gaining assistance and succor, but with a view to obtaining worldly offices and favors for certain persons. This baseness therefore, causes us no little dissatisfaction but scandal and contrition. We have deemed it more proper and becoming for a bishop to lend aid of his own, whenever anyone is being forcibly ill-treated or any of the widows is being wronged, or again any orphan is being deprived of what belongs to him, and in whatever other situations demand such attention. We decree that no bishop shall have to visit the camp except those whom our most reverent emperor by his own letters sees fit to summon. But inasmuch as it often happens that persons deserving pity resort to the Church when they have been condemned to confinement or to an island on account of their own sins, or again by any other decision whatsoever have been put out of home, help is not to be denied to such persons, but without procrastination and without hesitation such persons are to be allowed their requests.

Canon 8 of the Synod of Sardica
Let this too be enacted, since it has seemed prudent, lest one or another of the bishops incur condemnation in the course of visiting the camp, that if any of them should have such suits as we have mentioned hereinabove, they should send them by a deacon of their own. For the person of a servant happens not to be obnoxious, and the favors sought will be the more readily granted.

Canon 9 of the Synod of Sardica
Let this too be enacted, in order that bishops in any province whatsoever may send suits to a brother and fellow bishop of theirs, the one who happens to be in the larger city, that is, in the metropolis, he himself should send his deacon with the suits, giving him also letters commendatory, by which is meant writing conformably to our brethren and fellow bishops, if there be any of them during that season residing in the region or in the city wherein the most pious emperor is directing public affairs. But if any bishop should have friends at the Court of the Palace, and should wish to make any request for anything that is fairly proper, he should not be prevented from making it and bidding them to lend their own good help to the one making the request. As for those going to Rome, as I have previously informed our dear brother and fellow Bishop Julius, they must give him whatever suits they may have, in order that he may first examine them himself and see whether any of them be impudent, and then lend his own protection and effort and send them to the [emperor’s] camp.

Canon 10 of the Synod of Sardica
Due care must be taken to investigate with all accuracy and diligence so that, if any rich man or man of eloquence from the forum should demand to be made a bishop, he shall not be appointed unless he first performs services of a reader and of a deacon and of a priest, in order that, if he be deemed worthy with respect to each grade, he may progress by promotion to the apex of the episcopate. The grade, this means, in each rank shall not be of too short a length of time to enable his faith and the kindliness of his manners, and his solidity, and his blandness to become patent, and he himself, after being deemed worthy of Holy Orders, shall enjoy the highest honor. For neither is it right, nor does science or good usage approve one’s proceeding boldly and lightly to this point so as to be appointed either a bishop or a priest or a deacon offhand; for in such a case he would naturally be deemed a neophyte, since indeed even the most blessed apostle, who also became a teacher of the heathen, appears to have prohibited premature appointments. For the test of the longest possible time will be able to elicit the habit and the manner of each man without much uncertainty.

Canon 11 of the Synod of Sardica
Whenever a bishop goes from one city to another city, or from one eparchy to another eparchy, for the sake of boasting, with a view to having eulogies bestowed upon him, or to appear as being devoted to religion, and desires to stay there too long a time, and the bishop of that city is not an experienced teacher, we decree that he shall not treat the latter scornfully and deliver sermons frequently and thereby endeavor to bring disgrace and ignominy upon the bishop of that place. For this excuse has been wont to cause trouble, and such cunning rascality shows that he is endeavoring to court and to usurp the other’s ecclesiastical property and will not hesitate to abandon the church assigned to him and to step over into the other one. The time, therefore, for this must be fixed (since it has been deemed to be nothing short of inhuman and rude not to welcome a visiting bishop). Remember that in time past our fathers judged that if any layman staying in a city three Lord's Days should fail to attend church for three weeks in succession, he should be denied communion. If, therefore, this has been made a law as respects laymen, no bishop must or ought or can without disadvantage stay away from his own church for any great length of time, and grieve the laity entrusted to him, unless he be under some grave necessity or in some difficult situation.

Canon 12 of the Synod of Sardica
Since some of the brethren and fellow bishops in a city in which they are appointed to be bishops seem to own exceedingly little property there but in other regions have large possessions of land, from which they can lend succor to the indigent, in such cases we judge it to be allowable, when it comes to their going to their own possessions and gathering in the crops thereof, for them to stay for three consecutive Lord’s Days, that is, for three weeks, upon their own land, and, in order to avoid seeming to be negligent in the matter of coming to church along with others, we deem it allowable for them to visit the nearest church in which a priest is conducting services and celebrate Liturgy; though not to go continually and too frequently to a city in which there is a bishop. For in this manner not only will his own affairs suffer no damage or loss or injury in spite of his absence, but the possibility of being charged with conceit and inflation will seem to be averted.

Canon 13 of the Synod of Sardica
If any deacon or priest or even any one of the clergy is excluded from Communion and resorts to another bishop acquainted with him and knowing that he has been denied Communion by his own bishop, it pleases us to assert that he ought not to offer an insult to the bishop who is his brother by affording him Communion. However, if he should dare to do so, let him know that when the bishops have assembled, he will render himself answerable for his conduct.

Canon 14 of the Synod of Sardica
If any bishop prove irascible (a thing which ought not to have any abode in such a man) and be moved to act too soon in regard to a priest or deacon and should want to cast him out of church, we must provide against such a man’s being condemned hastily and being deprived of Communion; instead, let the one cast out have a right to resort to the bishop of the metropolis of the same province. Or if the bishop of the metropolis be absent, let him have recourse to the bishop of a nearby diocese and demand that the matter be investigated by him with due accuracy. For it is not right to refuse to lend an ear to those demanding a hearing. And that bishop, who justly or unjustly cast the man out, ought to put up with the situation nobly, in order that an investigation of the matter may be made, and his decision either be confirmed, or receive correction. But until the details of the case be investigated diligently and with faith, he who lacks the right to Communion before the matter has been determined, ought not to insist upon communing. But if some of the clerics, having met him, discern his self-conceit and arrogance (since it is not desirable that one should patiently endure an insult of an unjust reprehension), they ought to make him return to his senses with bitter and severe enough words, in order that by bidding him to do things that are proper they may act like servants and show obedience. For precisely as a bishop ought to show his servants love and a good disposition, in the same manner those acting as servants ought to perform the duties of their service to bishops without guile.

Canon 15 of the Synod of Sardica
We enact that if any bishop from a different diocese wants to appoint another’s servant, without the consent of his bishop, to any grade or rank, any such appointment shall be deemed invalid and ineffective. If any of us should permit themselves to do this, they ought to be both reminded and corrected by their brethren and fellow bishops.

Canon 16 of the Synod of Sardica
Since many times priests and deacons come to the metropolis of the Thessalonians from other provinces, and not content with a brief stay there they take up their abode there and continue spending all their time there or only after a very long time and reluctantly are forced to return to their own churches, let these rules and those which have been laid down in regard to bishops be kept also in regard to these persons.

Canon 17 of the Synod of Sardica
If any bishop who has suffered violence has been cast out unjustly, either on account of his knowledge or on account of his confession of the Catholic Church, or on account of his insisting upon the truth and fleeing from peril, when he is innocent and put in jeopardy, should come to another city, let him not be prevented from living there, until he can return or can find relief from the insolent treatment he had received. For it is cruel and most burdensome for one who has had to suffer an unjust expulsion not to be accorded a welcome by us. For such a person ought to be shown great kindness and courtesy.

Canon 18 of the Synod of Sardica
Since we ought to be quiet and patient and entertain perpetual compassion for all men once they have been promoted to an ecclesiastical clericate by some of our brethren, they are henceforth not to be accorded recognition unless they go back to the churches to which they were assigned or nominated. Let neither Eutychianus claim for himself the title of bishop, nor let Musaeus be deemed a bishop; but if they should demand lay Communion, it ought not to be denied to them.

Canon 19 of the Synod of Sardica
These rules having been laid down in a saving and consistent manner, and with due regard for our honorable position as priests, and having pleased both God and men, they will not be able to acquire their full power and efficacy unless the decisions arrived at also entail a fear. For we ourselves have more than once known the divine and most reverend name of Holy Orders to have come into condemnation on account of the shameless behavior of a few. If, therefore, anyone should dare to do anything contrary to what has seemed best to all of us, in an endeavor to please egoism and self-conceit rather than God, let him know right now that he will be rendering himself answerable for a crime, and that he will forfeit both the honor and the office of the episcopate.

Canon 20 of the Synod of Sardica
And this will thence become well known indeed and fulfilled if each of us who are acting as bishops in the byways, or, more expressly, adjacent to a canal that has caught sight of a bishop would but ask him to explain why he is passing there and whither he is making a journey. And if he find out that he is heading for the [emperor’s] camp, if he will but inquire further as to objects set forth in the foregoing canons and whether he is proceeding by invitation, if so, no obstacle should be offered to his departure. But if it be for the sake of ostentation, as has been told our love, or he is bent upon presenting demands of certain persons to the camp, no one is to be permitted either to sign his letters or to commune with such, a person.

THE TWO CANONS
OF THE REGIONAL HOLY SYNOD ASSEMBLED THE SECOND TIME IN CONSTANTINOPLE (394)#

[Epitome: A bishop must be ordained by more than two (1), and he can only be deposed by more than three bishops, the whole synod (2).]

Canon 1 of the Synod of Constantinople
We enact that it shall not be permissible for a bishop to be ordained by two, conformably to the Nicene Synod.

Canon 2 of the Synod of Constantinople
We enact that hereafter a responsible bishop, when being tried, can be deposed neither by three nor much less by two, but only by vote of a larger synod, and if possible of all the provincials, just as the Apostolic Canons also decreed, in order that the condemnation of one deserving to be deposed may be shown by a vote of the majority, in the presence of the one being tried, with greater accuracy.

CANONS OF THE REGIONAL SYNOD HELD IN CARTHAGE (419)#

[As these canons from Carthage in some places contradict the universal customs of the Eastern Church and otherwise mostly restate other canons already cited herein or are relevant only to their historical context, we present only a selection of its useful rules.]

Care should be taken to see that the children of priests shall not give any mundane spectacles, nor witness any. This, in fact, has ever been preached to all Christians, to the effect that wherever there are blasphemies they ought not to approach.

It is decreed that as regards persons who are ill and unable to reply in their own behalf, they are then to be baptized when of their own free will and choice they may give testimony about themselves at their risk.

It is decreed that grace or absolution shall not be denied to actors and mimes, and to other such persons or to apostates, when they repent and return to God.

Let it be permissible furthermore to have the sufferings of the martyrs read [in church] whenever their anniversaries are being celebrated.

As concerning the faith of the synod held in Nicaea as exhibited in its tractate, we have learned that it is true that as concerns the rule that the Holies are not to be administered after breakfast, in order that they be offered [only] by persons fasting, as is becoming, this was affirmed at that time.

The exceedingly religious emperors must be petitioned to order that the remains of idols that have been left all over Africa be completely removed and eliminated therefrom. For indeed in many maritime regions and various possessions there still flourishes the unrighteousness of error, so that these things ought to be ordered to be wiped out of existence; and their temples too, which have been built in fields and in concealed places without any regard for decency, ought by all means to be ordered to be destroyed.

It has pleased the synod to decree as regarding infants that whenever reliable witnesses cannot be found to declare that they have been baptized beyond a doubt, nor, on account of their age, are the infants themselves able to vouch for any ceremony administered to them, these persons ought to be baptized without any hindrance, lest any such hesitation deprive them of such of the purification due to sanctification.

It has likewise been determined that no mediator shall be allowed to hold a see, even though it has been given to a mediator by reason of any demands or dissensions of the laities or populaces; but, on the contrary, they must endeavor within a year to provide a bishop. If they neglect to do so, at the end of the year another mediator shall be selected by vote.

It has pleased the synod to decree that everywhere, over field and vineyard, that sacrificial altars have been erected as though in memory of martyrs, in which not even the body or corpse of a martyr can be shown to be enshrined, they shall be destroyed, if possible, by the local bishops. If this be inexpedient owing to public uproar, let the multitudes be nevertheless admonished not to mob those localities, and let steps be taken to prevent the right-minded from being seized with any superstitious awe of such places and to see that no commemoration whatever of martyrs by the same token be celebrated, unless there be somewhere a body or some remains, or an account of them has been handed down by tradition from antiquity. For as regards all sacrificial altars that have been erected anywhere on the strength of dreams or vain revelations offered by any human beings, let all such stories be by all means discredited.

It has pleased the synod to decree that whoever calls Adam, the first man created, a mortal man so made that whether he sin or not he is bound to die in the body, that is, to depart from the body, not owing to his deserving this fate by reason of the sin but because of a necessity inherent in his nature, let him be anathema.

It has pleased the synod to decree that whosoever should declare that the grace whereby we are justified through Jesus Christ our Lord to be effective only for the remission of sins already perpetrated, and not to afford help by way of preventing perpetration of other sins in addition thereto, let him be anathema.

It has further pleased the synod to decree that whosoever should say that the reason why the grace of justice has been bestowed upon us is in order that we might through self-mastery be able the more easily and readily to fulfill it through grace, as though indicating that even if the grace had not been given we should still have been able, howbeit not easily and readily, to fulfill the divine commandments without its aid, let him be anathema. For when the Lord was speaking about the fruits of the commandments, He did not say, “Without Me ye will have difficulty in doing anything” (cf. John 15:5).

It has pleased the synod to decree about what Saint John the Apostle said: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8), that whosoever shall deem that this thought is to be interpreted as meaning that we ought out of humility to refrain from saying that we have no sin, not that it is truly so, shall be anathema. For the apostle goes on to say in anticipation of such a misinterpretation: “But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ibid., 1:9). Where it is made quite plain that this was said not only out of humility, but furthermore truthfully. For the apostle might have said, “If we say that we have no sin, we are exalting ourselves, and there is no humility in us”; but by saying “We are deceiving ourselves, and there is no truth in us,” he quite evidently pointed out that anyone asserting that he himself has no sin is not telling the truth but, on the contrary, is lying.

It has pleased the synod to decree that no matter how many accusations are brought against any clergymen whatever, and if the first one of such accusations to be examined could not be proved, the rest of the accusation thereafter shall not be admitted to a hearing.

BEGINNING OF THE INDIVIDUAL CANONS OF THE HOLY FATHERS#

THE FOUR CANONS
OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS DIONYSIOS (3rd C.)#

the Archbishop of Alexandria and Confessor,
into which his Canonical Letter to Bishop Basilides has been divided

[Epitome: The fast before Pascha ends at midnight (1). Menstruating women cannot receive Communion (2), and married persons should abstain from intercourse by mutual consent (3). Men who have a nocturnal emission should exclude themselves from the Eucharist if their conscience convicts them (4).]

Canon 1 of Saint Dionysios
You have written me a letter, my most faithful and learned son, inquiring about the hour when one must cease fasting on Pascha. For you say that some of the brethren assert that one must do this shortly before the time when the cock crows or thereabouts, while others assert that it must be commenced with or from the time of evening. For the brethren in Rome, as they say, wait for the cock; whereas in the case of persons here you said that it would be earlier. But you are asking to have the exact condition fixed, and the hour accurately measured, which, is both difficult and misleading. For the fact that after the time of our Lord’s Resurrection the festival and the festivity ought to commence, though humbling the soul with fasting up to that point, is one that will be acknowledged by all alike. It is apparent, however, that you have quite soundly affirmed by what you have written to me and have noticed from the divine evangelists, that there is no precise information in them concerning the hour at which He rose. For the Evangelists have presented a different account about those who came to the tomb at times far apart and said that they had found the Lord to have risen already. “And late on the Sabbath day,” says Saint Matthew (28:1). “In the morning while it was still dark,” says Saint John (20:1). “Very early in the morning,” says Saint Luke (24:1). “And very early in the morning when the sun was rising,” says Saint Mark (16:2). Accordingly, it may be said that as to exactly when He rose, not one of them declares anything clearly. That it was late on the Sabbath, at the dawn of one of the Sabbaths, until the rise of the sun on one of the Sabbaths, those who visited the tomb found Him not lying in it, this is a fact which has been acknowledged over and over again, and there is no disagreement about it either, nor have we entertained any suspicion that the evangelists conflict with each other in regard to this matter. But, on the contrary, though it may seem to be “much ado about nothing” to discuss the question any further as to whether they are all in agreement on that night that the Lord Who is the Light of the world had already dawned upon it, the dispute is about the hour. Let us gratefully welcome, however, what has been said, and let us do our best to conform faithfully therewith. As for what has been asserted by Saint Matthew, it runs as follows: “It was late on the Sabbath about the time of daybreak on one of the Sabbaths that Mary Magdalene and another Mary came to take a look at the sepulcher. And lo, a great earthquake occurred. For an angel of the Lord, having descended out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone, and sat down upon it. His countenance was like a flash of lightning, and his raiment was as white as snow. And for fear of him the guards quaked, and became like dead men. The angel, however, in reply told the women, Fear not; for I know that you are seeking Jesus, Who has been crucified. He is not here: He is risen, as He said” (Matthew 28:1-5). As respects the word “late,” some will imagine it to denote the evening of Saturday, in accordance with the affinity of the verb; those, however, who are supposed to be the ones able to judge the matter more wisely and more learnedly, will not assent to this, but will insist that it was deep night; because, as is patent, the word “late” denotes lateness and a long time, and because the statement that it was “about the time of daybreak” implies that it was nighttime. And they came, not as the rest say, bringing spices, but in order to look at the sepulcher; and they found the earthquake to have occurred, and the angel sitting upon the stone, and were told by the latter, “He is not here; he is risen.” Likewise John says: “On the first day of the week early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb; and she saw that the stone had been removed, from the tomb” (John 20:1). Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that it was still dark, she went forward to the tomb. Luke says: “And they rested on the sabbath day in accordance with the commandment. But upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices that they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb” (Luke 23:56 and 24:12). It may be that the phrase “very early in the morning” indicates the approach of dawn of the first day of the week, on account of the fact that the entire Sabbath together with the night succeeding it had completely passed away, and another day was beginning when they came bringing the spices and perfumes. Hence it is plainly evident that He must have risen a long while before. Evangelist Mark confirms this by saying: “They bought spices, that they might come and anoint him; and very early in the morning of the first day of the week they came unto the tomb, after the sun had dawned.” He, too, says “very early in the morning,” which is the meaning of the Greek words both here and in Luke. And he adds “after the sun had dawned.” For their rush and the way they came make it plain that it must have been very early in the morning, and that morning must have just commenced; in fact, they had been delayed during their journey, and were lingering about the tomb till sunrise. And then the young man in a white robe said to them: “He is risen; He is not here.” These facts being as stated, we venture to express our opinion of the matter to precisionists as follows: As for the question respecting the precise hour, or half hour, or quarter of an hour, it would befitting to commence rejoicing over the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead, we are inclined to find fault with those who accelerate the time too fast, and want to have it allowed to start even before midnight, on the ground that they are heedless of the hour and blameworthy as nearly having stopped the race, whereof a wise man has said: “The least is not a little in life.” On the other hand we follow those who procrastinate and advance the hour as much as possible, and show fortitude in waiting till even the fourth watch, in which our Savior appeared walking upon the sea to those in the ship (Matthew 14:25), as we consider them brave and assiduous. But let us not quarrel with those who take the middle course, as they have been actuated or have been able to do, since not all men can endure even the six days of fasting equally, nor in the same manner; but, on the contrary, some of them pass all of those days without any food, while others pass only two, and others only three, and others only four, and some none at all. Accordingly, to those who have striven to the utmost in passing through all the days of fastings and have afterwards become exhausted, having all but expired, it is pardonable for them to taste of food so much the sooner. But if some men, not as having passed through all those days fasting, but not having even fasted or having even spent the first four days in luxuriating, and afterwards coming to the last two remaining days, namely, Friday and Saturday, confine their fasting to these alone, we do not deem them to be doing anything great and splendid; if they stick it out till dawn, I am not of opinion that they are entitled to equal credit for their exploit with those who have fasted a greater number of days. These things I have written by way of advice as what I think.

Canon 2 of Saint Dionysios
Concerning menstrual women, whether they ought to enter the temple of God while in such a state, I think it superfluous even to put the question. For, I opine, not even they themselves, being faithful and pious, would dare when in this state either to approach the holy Table or to touch the body and blood of Christ. For not even the woman with a twelve years’ issue would come into actual contact with Him, but only with the edge of His garment, to be cured. There is no objection to one’s praying no matter how he may be or to one’s remembering the Lord at any time and in any state whatever, and petitioning to receive help; but if one is not wholly clean both in soul and in body, he shall be prevented from coming up to the Holy of Holies.

Canon 3 of Saint Dionysios
Persons who are self-sufficient and married ought to be judges of themselves. For we are told in writing by Saint Paul that it is fitting that they should abstain from each other by agreement for a time in order that they may indulge in prayer, and again come together (I Corinthians 7:5).

Canon 4 of Saint Dionysios
As for those men who involuntarily become victims of nocturnal emission, let them too be guided by their own conscience as to whether to indulge [in Communion] or not and decide for themselves, whether they have any doubt about this matter or not, as also in the case of foods, “he that doubteth is condemned if he eat” (Romans 14:23). And let everyone be conscientious in these matters, and outspoken, in accordance with his own inclination, when he approaches God. In honoring us (for you know you are, dear) by asking these questions, you have taken us to be like-minded, as indeed we are, and you are making us partners in your decision. As for me, it is not as a teacher, but as one who deems it fitting for us to talk with each other with all simplicity, that I have set forth my own conception of the matter for our common benefit. After finding that this conception of the matter meets with your approbation, my most sensible son, when you come to see whether it is so, you may write in turn about these matters whatever appears to you right and better. Farewell, my dear son, and I pray that this finds you in peace ministering to the Lord.

THE TWELVE CANONS
OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS GREGORY, ARCHBISHOP OF NEOCAESAREA, THE MIRACLE-WORKER (262)#

into which his Canonical Epistle is divided

[Epitome: Captives of barbarians may eat the food given them (1), and raped women should be excommunicated if they had not been living a pious life (2). The faithful are forbidden to steal (3), even something that was lost (5) or plundered (10), even for the sake of replacing their own stolen property (6), because what belongs to another is considered consecrated to God (4), and they must return stolen goods without asking for a reward (11). None may collaborate with the infidel barbarians (8) or hold in detention those who have escaped barbarian captivity (7) or plunder his neighbor’s house during a barbarian invasion (9). Weepers must stand on the porch; listeners, kneelers (prostrators), and catechumens stay in the narthex until their dismissal; co-standers remain in the nave, and the Eucharist is received at the altar (12).]

Canon 1 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
It is not the foods that concern us, most sacred pope, if the captives ate them, which the conquerors offered them, especially since it is said by all of them that the barbarians who overran our parts of the earth had not been sacrificing to idols. But the apostle says: “Foods are for the belly, and the belly is for foods. But God will abolish both these and that” (I Corinthians 6:13). Moreover, the Savior, Who makes all foods clean, says: “It is not what goes in that defiles a man, but what goes out” (cf. Matthew 15:11).

Canon 2 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
Concerning the charge that the female captives have been ravished, the barbarians violating their bodies. But if the life of any particular one of them has been duly investigated and she has been found to have been following the lead of amorous glances, as is written (Ruth 3:10), it is plain that a propensity to fornication may be suspected also during the time of captivity; accordingly, such females ought not to be admitted offhand to communion of prayers. If, however, it is found that any particular one of them has lived a life of the utmost sobriety, and that her previous life has been pure and above suspicion, but that she has now fallen as a result of violence and necessity a victim to insult, we have the example to be found in Deuteronomy in the case of the damsel whom a man found in the field and forced to sleep with him: “Unto the damsel,” it says, “ye shall do nothing: there is in the damsel no sin deserving death; for this matter is like the case in which a man rises up against his neighbor and puts his soul to death…. The damsel shouted, and there was no one responding to her appeal” (Deuteronomy 22:26-27). So much for these matters.

Canon 3 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
Greed is a terrible thing, and it is not possible in a single letter to quote the divine Scriptures wherein robbery is denounced not only as something to be avoided but also as something that is positively horrible; but in general greediness and laying hold of what belongs to others with a view to filthy lucre and every such offender is to be banished from the Church of God. But in time of an incursion, amid so much wailing and so much lamentation, for one to dare to select the time that brings ruin to everyone as the time for them to make a profit is a mark of impious and God-hated men who have cared nothing about exorbitance. Hence it has seemed best to banish all such persons, lest the wrath fall upon all the laity, and first upon the chief functionaries themselves, who have not invited it. For I fear, as the Scripture says, “lest the impious man bring about the destruction of the righteous man” (Genesis 18:23; Colossians 3:6). “Fornication,” it says, “and greed, on account of which the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience. Be not therefore partakers with them. For once upon a time ye were darkness, but now ye are a light in the Lord. Walk like children of light. For the fruit of light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Testing to see what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things that they do in secret. But everything that is reproved by the light is made manifest” (Ephesians 5:3-13). Such is what the apostle says. But if because of previous greed manifested in time of peace, when they are paying the penalty in the very time of wrath, some men again turn to greed, by profiting from the blood and ruination of men who have been upset, or captives murdered, what else is to be expected? or, as striving greedily to accumulate wrath, both for themselves and all the laity?

Canon 4 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
Is it not a fact that, behold, Achar, the great-grandson of Zerah, did really commit a serious trespass by stealing of the devoted thing, and the wrath was kindled against the whole congregation of Israel? (Josh. 7:1). Though this man alone committed the sin, can it be said that he died alone in his sin? It is necessary for us to deem anything a devoted thing if it is not ours, but is something for which the profit belongs to another. For be it noted both that Achar took of the booty, and that they now are taking of the booty too. For he was misappropriating the property of the foes, while those now are making profit out of the property of the brethren, a ruinous profit.

Canon 5 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
Let no one deceive himself as having found it, either; for not even a finder is permitted to profit from it. For Deuteronomy says: “On seeing thy brother’s calf or his sheep going astray, you shall not overlook them on the way, but you shall in any case restore them to your brother. And if thy brother be not near to you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring them to your own house, and they shall be with you until your brother seek after them, and you shall give them back to him. Thus shall you with his ass; and thus shall you do with his raiment; and thus shall you do with respect to every loss of your brother’s, whatever may be lost by him and you may find” (Deuteronomy 22:1-3). That is what Deuteronomy says. In Exodus, not only if you find goods of your brother’s, but even of your enemy: “You shall surely return them,” it says, “to their owner’s house” (Exodus 23:4). But if it is not permissible in time of peace to profit as a result of your brother’s or your enemy’s indolence or luxuriation or neglect of his own belongings, much more is it forbidden when he is in war and fleeing from foes and necessarily abandoning his own property.

Canon 6 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
Many persons deceive themselves in that they hold on to property of others which they have found and claim it instead of the property which they themselves have lost, since by the same treatment as they received from Boradi and Goths they are making themselves Boradi and Goths to others. We therefore have sent the brother and fellow senior Ephrosynos to you for this, that in accordance with the plan here he may furnish one there similarly, and tell you whose accusations ought to be considered, and who ought to be banished from prayers.

Canon 7 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
An incredible statement has been made to us to the effect that in your country a thing has been done, no doubt by impious infidels unacquainted with even the name of the Lord, as may be surmised from their having attained to such great cruelty and inhumanity as to hold in custody by force captives who succeeded in escaping. Send some men into the country, lest lightning fall upon those doing such things.

Canon 8 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
As for those, therefore, who have been induced to join the barbarians and to depart with them in captivity, forgetting that they ever were faithful Christians, and turning barbarians themselves to such an extent as to slay men of their own race, either by cudgeling or by hanging them or, failing this, by pointing out roads or houses to barbarians ignorant of them, they ought to be excluded from listening until such time as some common decision can be arrived at concerning them by the holy fathers when they meet, and before they do by the Holy Spirit.

Canon 9 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
As for those, on the other hand, who dared to invade the homes of other persons, if they have been accused of doing so and have been proved guilty, they do not deserve even to be listeners, unless they tell everything and give back everything, in which case they may be placed in the class of kneelers who have returned.

Canon 10 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
As for those, on the other hand, who found something in the plain or in their own houses that was left there by the barbarians, if they be accused of this and be proved guilty, likewise among the kneelers [let them pray]; but if they themselves tell everything and return everything, let them be declared worthy of prayer.

Canon 11 of Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea
As for those who fulfill the commandment [to return stolen goods], they must fulfill it without any regard for filthy lucre, either in demanding something as reward for the giving of information, or as reward for saving, or as reward for finding, or as any kind of reward they may want to call it.

[Canon 12 (a scholium)]
[The station of weepers is outside the doorway of the oratory, where the sinner has to stand and beg the faithful who are passing in to pray for him. The station of listeners is within the doorway in the narthex, where the one who has committed a sin has to stand until the catechumens pass out from there. For “while listening,” it says, “to the Scriptures and the teaching, let him be put outside and not be allowed the right to participate in prayer.” The station of kneelers is within the doorway of the temple where the kneeler stands in order to pass out together with the catechumens. The station of co-standers is that in which one stands together with the faithful and does not pass out together with the catechumens. Last is the place where the consecrated elements are received.]

THE 15 CANONS
OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS PETER, ARCHBISHOP AND MARTYR OF ALEXANDRIA (304)#

into which his discourse concerning repentance is divided

[Epitome: The saint canonizes those who lapsed under torture (1) or imprisonment (2) or simply from fear (3) or under compulsion from their masters (6) or who feigned denial (5) or forced their slaves to sacrifice (7), but the unrepentant are liable to Gehenna (4). Those are not penalized who formerly lapsed but afterwards confessed Christ and suffered torture and imprisonment (8) or who brashly offered themselves up to martyrdom when they should have fled, as the Lord teaches (9), or who had forced into their mouths idolatrous food or incense in their hands (14) or who avoided persecution by paying a great sum of money (12) or fleeing (13). Lapsed clergy cannot retain their rank (10). We should sympathize and pray for those who zealously joined the contest and then lapsed but afterwards repented and died (11). Christians fast on Wednesday because of the betrayal of the Lord, and on Friday due to His Crucifixion, but Sunday is a joyous holy day on account of His Resurrection, on which day we make no prostrations (15).]

Canon 1 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
Now therefore that a fourth Pascha has succeeded the persecution, as touching those who, though they were rounded up and imprisoned and patiently endured incurable tortures and unbearable scourges and many other unavoidable terrors, yet at a later time were betrayed by the weakness of the flesh, notwithstanding that they were not welcomed back in the beginning because of the exceedingly great fall they suffered subsequently, still, because of the fact that they did display great valor and for a long time fought back (for it was not willingly that they succumbed but only after they had been outrageously betrayed by the weakness of the flesh, since even the wounds of Jesus are exhibited on their bodies, and some of them have been in deep mourning for the third year), it is decreed that they be additionally sentenced, as a reminder, to forty more days, counting from their return to the Church; which is the number of days, however, that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ fasted after being baptized, when He was tempted by the devil. And by thoroughly exercising themselves for that number of days, having become more sober than ever, they shall henceforth engage in spending their waking time in prayers, at the same time meditating and concentrating their mind upon what the Lord said to His tempter who was trying to induce Him to pay adoration to him: “Get behind me, Satan.; for it is written: Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou worship” (Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8; Deuteronomy 6:13).

Canon 2 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
As touching those who after being only imprisoned patiently endured the afflictions and stenches in prison as though in a siege but later became captives (i.e. denied Christ) without undergoing the tortures of war, with a very poor display of power, one year will suffice them when added to the other year, since they too surrendered themselves wholly to be afflicted for the sake of Christ, though they did enjoy much comfort in prison from their brethren, which they will have to return many-fold if they wish to be redeemed from the exceedingly bitter captivity of the devil, especially when reminded of the passage saying: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, wherefore He has anointed Me, to preach the Gospel unto the poor, and has sent Me forth to preach release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth the brokenhearted in remission, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of retribution” (Is. 61:1-2; Luke 4:18-19).

Canon 3 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
Concerning those, on the other hand, who suffered no such fate at all, nor have shown fruit of faith, but on the contrary, deserted to wickedness, betrayed by cowardice and fear, but who have now begun to repent, it is necessary and apropos to quote the parable of the fruitless fig tree, as the Lord tells it: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and looked for fruit thereon and found none. Then said he unto the vine-dresser, Behold, these three years I have been coming and looking for fruit on this fig tree, and have not found any; cut it down. Why should it encumber the ground? And he in reply said unto him, Lord, leave it alone this year too, till I dig around it, and fertilize it. Then if it bear fruit, all will be well; but if it fail to do so, in the, future thou shalt cut it down” (Luke 13:6-9). By keeping this parable before their eyes and showing fruit worthy of repentance during the space of one whole year as herein specified, they shall be rather benefited.

Canon 4 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
To those, on the other hand, who remain desperate and unrepentant, possessed of the Ethiopian’s skin and the leopard’s spots, let the story of the other fig tree be told: “Let no fruit grow out of you henceforth forever. And immediately it withered away on this account” (Matthew 21:19; cf. Mark 11:13-14). For that too is fulfilled in regard to then at any rate that was said by Ecclesiastes: “That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). For if what is crooked is not first straightened, it is not entitled to a number. Hence after all they will have that too happen to them which the prophet Isaiah has said: “And they shall see,” says he, “the carcasses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abomination to the sight of all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24); since even as he said before this, the unjust shall be so tossed about by the billows that they shall be unable to find any rest in the future: there is no gladness so far as the impious are concerned, says God.

Canon 5 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
As touching those men, on the other hand, who, in the same way as David feigned himself an epileptic to escape being put to death, though he was not a real epileptic (I Kings 21:13-15), and who did not state their denial in black and white, but contrived to elude the enemies’ plots, in spite of appearing to be sorely distressed, by acting like sane and resolute children amid foolish children; or, in other words, by pretending to have visited the altars of the heathen gods or to have written something with their own hand or by putting heathen in their stead (even though, as I have been told, some confessors actually pardoned some of them for doing so, as indeed by appearing to be very reverent they escaped becoming suicides as victims of the fire and exhalation of the unclean demons). Inasmuch, therefore, as they did escape detection by doing so in a silly manner, yet they shall be let off with a six months’ sentence out of consideration for their reverting in repentance. For thus shall they too be rather benefited by diligently meditating that prophetic utterance and repeating the words: “Unto us a Child has been begotten, a Son, even, has been given unto us, Whose government is borne upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Messenger of the great counsel,” (Isaiah 9:6) and precisely Who, as ye are aware, in the sixth month (Luke 1:36) of the conception of the other child, who preached in advance before the face of His entrance repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3), was Himself conceived too, to preach repentance. And this is not strange, for we are told that both of them first of all commenced preaching not only about repentance but also about the kingdom of heaven, which, as we have learned, is within us; the saying that it is “at hand,” or near to us, is what is referred to in the passage saying: “The word is near thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart,” which we believe in our own mouth and in our own heart, and when, reminded thereof, they too shall learn to confess with their mouth that Jesus is the Lord, while believing in their own heart that God raised Him from the dead, the more so indeed because of their being told that He is believed with the heart unto righteousness, but with the mouth is confessed unto salvation (Romans 10:8-10).

Canon 6 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
Concerning the Christian slaves who sacrificed vicariously, the slaves as being in the control of others, and themselves in a way imprisoned by their masters, and having been frightfully threatened by them, and for fear of them having consented and slipped, they shall exhibit works of repentance for a full year, learning henceforth as servants and slaves of Christ to do the will of God and to fear Him, the more so when they are told that everyone, if he do what is good, shall receive a recompense from the Lord, whether he be bond or free (Ephesians 6:8).

Canon 7 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
As touching freemen, they shall be required to spend three years in penitence, both on the ground that they were hypocrites and on the ground that they forced their fellow slaves to sacrifice, in view of the fact that they disobeyed the apostle, who insists that masters treat their slaves alike and refrain from threatening them: “And you masters,” he says, “treat them in the same way, refraining from threats, and being well aware that your own Lord is in heaven, and that there is in Him no respect of persons” (Ephesians 6:9). But if all of us have but one Lord and He is no respecter of persons, since “Christ is all and in all, both in barbarians and in Scythians, in bondmen and in freemen” (Colossians 3:11), they ought to consider what they have done, if they want to save their soul, who have dragged their fellow slaves to idolatry, when they might have escaped if what is just and equal (Colossians 4:1) had been granted them, as the apostle again says.

Canon 8 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
As touching those who were betrayed and lapsed and who [afterwards] entered the contest of their own accord and confessed that they are Christians, being cast into prison with tortures, it is but reasonable and right to encourage them and commune with them in everything with a rejoicing heart, both in prayers and in receiving of the body and blood of Christ, and to allow them the comfort of the Logos, in order that they may be enabled to put forth still greater efforts themselves in the contest for the prize of the higher calling (Philippians 3:14). “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again” (Proverbs 24:16). Though all the lapsed ones did this, they manifested most perfect and wholehearted penitence.

Canon 9 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
And concerning those who as though awaking from sleep rush into the contest, in travail and about to draw upon themselves a temptation, like persons engaged in a sea battle and engulfed in waves, and adding fire to the flaming coals of sinners amidst the brethren, they too ought to be allowed Communion, the more so as having reached this externalization of their madness in the name of Christ, notwithstanding that they fail to heed His words wherein He says: “Pray that ye enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). And again in prayer to say to the Father: “Let us not be brought into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Luke 11:4). Perhaps they are ignorant of the fact that our Lord and Teacher many times tried to avoid those who were plotting against Him and that He never openly walked abroad on their account and that when the time for His Passion was approaching He did not surrender Himself but, on the contrary, evaded them until they came upon Him with swords and clubs. Then He said to them: “Are ye come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me?” (Mark 14:48). They, in turn, it says, delivered Him to Pilate. To be like Him, at any rate, those who have gone so far as to suffer for Him on purpose, should be reminded of His divine words, whereby He explicitly cautions them in regard to persecutions by saying: “But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues” (Matthew 10:17). “They will deliver you up,” He said, and not “Ye shall deliver yourselves up.” He added: “And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My name,” and not, “Ye shall bring yourselves”; since He wants you to jump from place to place when persecuted for His name. As again we hear Him saying: “And when they drive you out of this city, flee into another” (Matthew 10:23). For He does not want us to desert to the lieutenants and satellites of the devil but, on the contrary, wants to keep us from causing them to perpetrate more murders, as though we were forcing them rather to increase the severity and effectiveness of death-dealing works. On the contrary, He wants us to beware of and evade them. “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Thus Stephen was the first one following His footsteps to undergo martyrdom in Jerusalem, after being seized by surprise by the lawbreakers, and being brought into the council was stoned to death and glorified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, begging and saying: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (Acts 7:60). Thus Jakob (Iakovos) the second to be arrested by Herod had his head cut off with a sword (Acts 12:2). Thus the leading Apostle Peter, after being many times arrested and imprisoned and dishonored, was later crucified in Rome. And far famed Paul after being many times delivered up and risking death and having engaged in many exploits and having boasted in the midst of many persecutions and afflictions, had his head cut off with the sword too in the same city, and wherein he had boasted he met his end: notwithstanding that in Damascus he was let down through the wall in a basket by night and escaped from the hands of those who were trying to catch him. For their chief object was to preach the Gospel and to teach the word of God, wherein they encouraged the brethren to persist in the faith; accordingly, they used to say “that through many afflictions must we enter the kingdom of heaven” (Acts 14:22; II Cor. 11:32-33). For they were not seeking their own interest but that of the multitude, in order that they might be saved; and there were many things to be said to them in regard to these matters for the purpose of getting them to act in accordance with the word (I Corinthians 10:33; Hebrews 11:32), had it not been, as the apostle says, that the time would have failed him to tell more.

Canon 10 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
Hence it is not reasonable even for those who have deserted from the clergy, have lapsed, and have struggled back, to be still in the ministry, the more so indeed because they abandoned the Lord’s flock and defaulted, a thing which none of the apostles did. As a matter of fact the blessed Apostle Paul, who withstood many persecutions and displayed many exploits in contests, having been confident that it was better to depart and be with Christ, added the following remark: “Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1:24). For, considering not his own interest “but that of the multitude in order that they may be saved” (I Corinthians 10:33), he deemed it more needful than his own repose to remain with the brethren and take diligent care of them, even as he wanted a teacher to be a model for believers in his teaching (Romans 12:7; I Timothy 4:2). Hence those [clergy] condemning themselves to prison, lapsing, and struggling back are utterly senseless. For how can they demand what they have abandoned, when they could have been useful to the brethren at such a time? As long as they were unoffending it must be conceded that they were entitled to pardon for their unreasonable action, but when they actually offended, as though vaunting themselves (I Corinthians 13:4) and deliberately defaulting, they may no longer officiate. Wherefore let them rather take care to conduct themselves humbly, discarding vainglory. For Communion with attention and with exactitude being administered in both kinds should suffice them, both in order that they be not minded to trouble themselves violently and hastily in reaching after a way of departure from here; and in order that some who have lapsed may not offer the excuse that they have slipped on account of the reprimand, who shall more than all others incur shame and reproach on the basis of that one who laid a foundation but was unable to build upon it: “lest, haply, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish” (Luke 14:29-30).

Canon 11 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
For those who first hastened to jump off in the boiling welter of persecution, having attended court, and beholding the holy martyrs hastening for the prize of the higher calling (Philippians 3:14), with fine zealousness eagerly engaged in this fight, exhibiting extraordinary boldness of speech and courage seeing indeed those dragged under and falling, on account of whom, being inwardly inflamed and inspired with a desire to do battle with the haughty and brazen objective opponent, hastened to this opportunity. “Be not wise in your own eyes” (Proverbs 3:7), with regard to which in all cunning he seemed to be winning the fight, though in reality he failed to notice that he was being defeated and overcome by those who with great fortitude endured the tortures inflicted with claws and scourges and the sharpness of the sword and the flames of the fire and the drownings in water. And due attention ought to be paid to those who are asking that prayers and petitions be offered, either in behalf of those who have been betrayed and frightfully punished in prison, by famine and thirst, or in behalf of those who outside the prison have been frightfully tortured in court by means of claws and scourges, but later were overcome by the weakness of the flesh, and their pleas ought to be granted. For no one is the worse for compassionately sympathizing and being acutely pained with those who are moaning and groaning for the ones who are defeated in the contest by the great violence of the mischievous devil, whether for parents, brothers, sisters, sons, or daughters. For we know that also for the faith of others some have enjoyed God’s goodness, both in the way of remission of sins and with respect to restoration of health and resurrection from the dead. Being ever mindful, therefore, of these many toilsome struggles which they endured in the name of Christ, and nonetheless of their woeful sufferings, without shutting our eyes to the fact that they changed their mind and bewailed the punishment meted out to them by betrayal, in feebleness and deadness of the body, and further without denying that they became martyrs in their life impolitically, we join hands in praying and in imploring for their expiation together with other dutiful proprieties, through the Comforter Who has come to our aid by offering the Father propitiation for our sins: “For, if anyone sin,” it says, “we have a just Comforter in Jesus Christ to intercede with the Father, and He is the propitiation for our sins” (I John 2:1-2).

Canon 12 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
Concerning those who have paid money to be left untroubled and undisturbed altogether by any vicious treatment, it is not possible to charge them with any wrongdoing. For they suffered damages and the loss of considerable money in order to avoid the loss of their soul or losing their life, a thing which others, because of their desire for filthy lucre, failed to do, although the Lord says: “For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36); and He also says: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). For they appeared to them to be serving God by reason of their having hated money and having trodden it underfoot and scorned it, and at the same time in doing so they fulfilled that which has been written: “The ransom of a man’s life is his riches” (Proverbs 13:8). Since even in the Acts of the Apostles we have read that when certain persons had been dragged before the rulers of the city in Thessalonica, instead of Paul and Silas, charged with having greatly discommoded them for the sake of the name and with having troubled the multitude and the rulers of the city, they were bailed out at an excessive cost. “And when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go,” it says. “And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea” (Acts 17:9-10).

Canon 13 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
Hence no blame attaches to those persons either who abandoned everything, for the sake of the salvation of their soul, and departed, on the ground that others were seized in their stead. For thus too in Ephesus instead of Paul they grabbed Gaius in the theater, and Aristarchus, fellow travelers of Paul, it says, and even though he wanted to enter the district (since it was on account of him who had persuaded a great multitude to adopt the religion of God that the riot occurred), the disciples would not let him do so. Moreover, “Certain chief officers of Asia, too, being his friends, sent unto him and besought him not to adventure himself into the theater” (Acts 19:30-31). If, nevertheless, any persons insist on caviling, let them not disparage those who sincerely heed the words of the one saying: “Escape for your own soul, and do not look behind you” (Genesis 19:17). Let them remind themselves also of the distinguished Apostle Peter’s statement that he was seized also and put in prison and was “delivered to four quaternions of soldiers to guard him” (Acts 12:3-4) but escaped by night from the hand of murderous Herod and was rescued from the expectation of all the people of the Jews, in accordance with a command of the angel of the Lord. When it became day, he says, “there was no small stir among the soldiers asking what had become of Peter. And when Herod sought for him, and did not find him he examined the guards, and commanded that they should be executed, on whose account no blame attaches to Peter. Far it would have been permissible for those who saw what occurred to have escaped, as well as all the children in Bethlehem, and within all its boundaries, had their parents known what was going to happen, which children were slain by the heinous murderer Herod for the sake of getting the one child whom he wanted to slay and was looking for with a view to destroying Him, who, however, also escaped at the command of the Angel of the Lord, and who had already commenced rapidly despoiling and swiftly ravaging in accordance with the designation of His name, just as had been written: “Call his name plunder quickly and despoil swiftly. For before the Child shall learn to say father or mother, he shall receive the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria in defiance of the King of Assyria” (Isaiah 8:3-4). At any rate the Magi, because of their having already been despoiled and ravaged, submissively and honorably paid adoration to the Child, opening their treasures and bestowing upon Him most seasonable and most befitting gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:11), as upon a King and a God and a Man. Hence they no longer deigned to turn to the Assyrian king when receiving help from Providence; for, it says, “having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another route” (Matthew 2:12). Hence when Herod “saw that he had been deceived by the Magi, he was exceedingly angry and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the boundaries thereof from two years old and under, with respect to the time which he had ascertained from the Magi” (Matthew 2:16); among these children, however, he failed to find the other child (John) who had been begotten before that time and whom he had been seeking to slay, though he did slay his father Zachariah “between the temple and the altar” (Matthew 23:35), after the child had escaped together with its mother Elisabeth, in regard to which children they are not to blame.

Canon 14 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
If there are some persons who have suffered great violence and coercion, having had a crucible put in their mouth and bonds, and having persisted with fortitude in the disposition of the faith, and having endured having their hands burned when offered against their will to the atrocious sacrifice, precisely as the thrice-blessed martyrs have written to me concerning those in Libya and as other fellow ministers have stated, such persons, especially when there are other brethren who joined in their martyrdom, may serve in the ministry, being placed in the rank of the confessors, as also those who have been utterly deadened amid numerous tortures, and no longer able to speak or to use their voice, or to move themselves by way of resisting when in vain trying to force themselves to do so. For they have not even consented to their abominableness, as I have been told again by fellow ministers. Anyone, therefore, that lives publicly and privately in accordance with the rules of Timothy shall be placed in the rank of the confessors, too, seeing that he obeys the one who says: “Pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, patience, and meekness. Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the everlasting life, whereunto you have been called and have confessed the good confession, before many witnesses” (I Timothy 6:11-12).

Canon 15 of Saint Peter of Alexandria
No one shall find fault with us for observing Wednesday and Friday, on which we have been commanded to fast with good reason by tradition. On Wednesday owing to the sanhedrin held by the Jews for the betrayal of the Lord; on Friday, owing to His having suffered for our sake. As for the Lord’s Day, on the other hand, we celebrate it as a joyous holiday because of His having risen from the dead, on which day we have not even received instruction to bend a knee.

CANONS OF SAINT ATHANASIOS THE GREAT (4th C.)#

[Epitome: No bodily excretion is impure or sinful of itself (1). Clergy who fall into heresy cannot be received back in their orders, unless they were coerced with violence to do so or did it as a pretense to protect their flocks from complete spiritual ruin; but those repenting must confess the Nicene Faith and anathematize the heretics (2). The saint names 22 canonical books of the Old Testament (including Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah), and 27 books of the New Testament, of which Scriptures nothing should be added or subtracted, but the other books that may be read are Wisdom, Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobias, the Didache, and the Shepherd, but other apocryphal writings were composed by heretics (3).]

First Epistle of Athanasios the Great, Addressed to the Monk Amun

All creatures of God are good and clean. For there is nothing useless or unclean that the Logos of God has made. “For we are a fragrance of Christ among the saved,” says the apostle (II Corinthians 2:15). But inasmuch as the devil’s arrows are various and versatile, and suffice to disturb the minds even of the most honest men, by inseminating them with cogitations of uncleanness and of pollution, let us proceed to dispel the evil one’s delusion briefly, with the grace of our Savior, and bolster up the mind of simpler men. “Unto the pure all things are pure” (Titus 1:15) but the conscience and everything of the impure. I am moved to admiration by the devil’s ingenuity, because though it breeds corruption and pestilence it suggests thoughts that seem to be pure, yet the result is rather an ambush than a test. For, as I said before, in order to occupy ascetics with mannerly and salutary meditation and appear in this respect to the winner, he nevertheless breeds such maggots as produce nothing good in life but only empty arguments and twaddle that one ought to forgo. For tell me, dear and most reverent friend, what sin or uncleanness is there in natural excretion? It is as if one should find fault with mucus exuding from noses and with the spittle expelled through the mouth. And we can say still more than this: the secretions of the stomach, which are necessary to the creature’s well-being and to its vital processes. Furthermore, if we believe man to be a work of God’s hands, in accordance with the divine Scriptures, how could any work be polluted when made by a pure power? And if we are a race or kindred of God (cf. Acts 17: 28-29), as the divine Acts of the Apostles assert, we have nothing in us that is impure or unclean. For it is only then that we may be polluted: when we perpetrate the foulest sin. But when any natural excretion occurs involuntarily, then, as we have said before, we must patiently put up with the necessity of nature. But simply because those who are inclined to dispute whatever is said aright, or rather done by God, are worst to cite a passage in the Gospel, on the ground that “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but that which comes out” (Matthew 15:11), we must necessarily disprove also this illogicality (for we shall not call it an argumentation). For first of all, being unsupported, they force the Scriptures to fit their ignorance. For the explanation of this divine assertion is as follows. Some men like these used to be in doubt about foods, and the Lord Himself, by way of exposing their ignorance, or, at any rate, making the deception patent to all, says that it is not what goes into a man that defiles him, or makes him unclean, but what comes out of him. Then he goes on to say from where it comes out, namely, from the heart. For there He knows the evil treasures of profane thoughts and of the other sins to be. The apostle who has had it taught says more concisely: “Food commendeth us not to God” (I Corinthians 8:8). But even now one might reasonably enough say that no natural excretion commends us to God for punishment. Even the children of physicians (to be ashamed of their externals) might counter to this that certain necessary passageways have been given to the creature for the purpose of enabling each of us to eliminate superfluous humors that accumulate in our members. Thus, for instance, the hairs of the head are superfluities, or excess baggage; and the aqueous ejections from the head, and the expulsions from the stomach, and above all the emissions of seminal passages. After all, what sort of things, for God, O most God-beloved old fellow, constitute the sinfulness when the Lord has created the animal such and has wanted to have it have such passages in its members? But inasmuch as we have to anticipate the objections of the wicked ones (for one might say that even their true use is not a sin either if the organs have been formed by the Creator), for this purpose let us cease asking them questions. What use are you referring to? That in the Law that God allowed by saying: “Be, fruitful, and multiply; and replenish the earth”? (Genesis 7:28), which the apostle accepted when he said: “Marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4): or the popular kind, performed clandestinely and adulterously? Since in other transactions in life too we shall find differences to occur in some way or another: for instance, it is not permissible to murder anyone (Exodus 20:13), yet in war it is praiseworthy and lawful to slay the adversaries. Thus at any rate those who have distinguished themselves in war are entitled to and are accorded great honors, and columns are erected in memory of them reciting their exploits. So that the same matter in some respect and at some time or other is not permitted, but in another respect and at some other time when there is a good occasion for it, may be allowed and permitted. The same argument holds also with regard to coition. Blessed is the man who in his youth having a free yoke employs his natural parts for the prudence of creating children. But if he employs them for licentious or lascivious purposes, he will receive the punishment prescribed by the apostle for fornicators and adulterers (Hebrews 13:4). For there being two roads in life as regards these matters, the one a more moderate and helpful road conducive to life, that of marriage, I mean; the other one being angelic and unsurpassable, that of virginity; but if anyone should choose the mundane life—that is to say, the way of marriage, though he is not liable to censure or blame, he will not receive so many gracious gifts. For what he will receive when he bears fruit will be thirty. But if he embraces the chaste and supra-mundane life, though the road is rough in comparison with the first and difficult to achieve, yet it has more wonderful features in the way of gracious gifts: for it has produced the perfect fruit, the hundred. So that their unclean and evil questions have their own solutions and have been solved by the divine Scriptures long before in times of old. Therefore, O Father, bolster up the flocks under your care by giving them comfort from Apostolic passages, by refreshing their souls with passages from the Gospels, by offering them pieces of good advice derived from the Psalms. By saying, for instance, “Enliven me, O Lord, according to Thy word” (Psalm 119:107); for it is in accordance with His words to worship Him with a pure heart. Being aware of this, the same prophet, as if translating his own utterance, says: “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 50:10), in order to prevent any unclean thoughts from disturbing me. And again David says: “Strengthen me with a guiding spirit” (Psalm 51:12), in order that even though any thoughts should ever disturb me or disconcert me, a strong force lent by Thee may support me like a scaffold and prevent my falling. He himself, therefore, while recommending these and such things, tells those who are tardy in obeying the truth: “I will teach transgressors Thy ways” (Psalm 51:73); and having confidence in the Lord that you will be able to persuade them to abstain from such wickedness, chant to them: “And impious men shall be converted unto Thee” (ibid.). But God grant that those who are malignantly seeking satisfaction shall cease from such vain labor, whereas those who are in doubt about the goodness of piety shall be reinforced with a guiding spirit. All of you who certainly understand the truth, have it unbroken and unshaken in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom be glory and dominion unto the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Second Epistle of the Same Saint to Ruffinianus, or Ruffianus

To Ruffianus, a very dear fellow minister and son of the Lord, Athanasios in the Lord sends greeting:

You write to a father things befitting a beloved son. As soon as you approached, at any rate, by means of your letter, I embraced you, O Ruffinianus, dearest of all persons to me; and I in turn, as one able to write to a son both in prefaces and middles and finals, refrained, in order that the recommendation and testimony might not be recognized by the letters. So believe thus as to intention: for you are my epistle, in accordance with what has been written, a letter read and understood in the heart (II Corinthians 3:2). So believe thus as to intention. Yea, believe. I address you and urge you to write. For not a little but, on the contrary, a great deal of cheer you give me by so doing. But since esthetically and ecclesiastically (for this again befits your reverence) you have asked about those who have withdrawn as a matter of necessity but who have not been destroyed in bad faith and have desired me to write what has seemed right concerning them in the synods and everywhere; learn, my most esteemed sir, that after the violence had subsided in the beginning, a synod was held with bishops present from the outer parts of the earth but also with fellow ministers inhabiting Greece. Nevertheless it also included those in Spain and France, and it pleased as well here as everywhere. It decreed that as touching the fallen ones who have taken over the leadership of impiety, they are to be pardoned if they repent, but they are not to be given a fairway to clerical office. As for those on the other hand who have not disavowed the religion of piety but have been dragged away as a result of necessity and violence, it has seemed best that they be given a pardon and be allowed also to remain in the clergy, especially in view of the fact that they have presented a plausible apology. Accordingly, it has seemed right in this case that some concession should be made. For they have given assurances that they will not change over to the religion of impiety. But in order to prevent any who have become most impious from corrupting the Church, they have preferred to go along with violence and carry the burden, rather than to let the people go to destruction. In saying this, they have seemed to me too to be speaking plausibly, owing their offering the excuse that Aaron the brother of Moses went along in the wilderness with the transgression of the people, though he had as an apology the fear lest the people return to Egypt and persist in idolatry. No wonder, for it looked reasonable that if they remained in the wilderness they might desist from impiety, whereas if they entered Egypt they would be subjected to friction, and the impiety rife among them would increase. On this account, therefore, their claim to the clergy became allowable. Those, on the other hand, who have been deceived and have suffered violence have been granted a pardon. These things I state to your reverence with confidence that your godliness will approve what has seemed best and will not condemn the truce of those who have thus met together. Deign to read these decisions to the priesthood and people under you, in order that they too, becoming acquainted with the facts, will not blame you for being thus disposed to regard such persons. For it would be unbecoming in me to write, when your reverence is well able to make known our disposition regarding them, and to supply everything that is missing or wanting, thanks to the Lord Who has filled you with every power of speech and every item of knowledge. Let the repentant, therefore, anathematize openly the mischief of Evdoxios and Evzoios by naming it as such. For they blasphemously represented the Logos of God to be a creature, and became protectors of the Arian heresy. Let them confess the Faith confessed by the fathers in Nicaea, and let them prefer no other synod over this synod. Convey the assurance of this to the brotherhood with you that with us in the Lord is addressing you.

From the Same Saint’s 39th Festal Epistle, which as the third here runs as follows:

But inasmuch as we have mentioned heretics as dead persons, and our selves as having salvation in the divine Scriptures, I fear lest, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians (II Corinthians 11:3), some of the honest ones be led astray from simplicity and chastity by the craftiness of men and thereafter begin relying upon other things, the so-called apocrypha, deceived by the likeness of the titles with the names of the true books, I beg you to be tolerant if what things I am writing about with a view to their necessity and usefulness to the Church are things which you already know and understand thoroughly. Since I am about to state these things, by way of excusing my boldness in doing so I shall make use of the formula of Saint Luke the Evangelist, who himself says: “Forasmuch as many men have taken in hand to set forth in due order a declaration on their part” (Luke 1:1) of the so-called apocrypha and to intermix these with God-inspired Scripture, concerning which we have full confidence, just as those who were eye-witnesses and servants of the Logos in the beginning have handed down the facts by tradition to the fathers, it has seemed good to me too to set forth, at the express request of genuine brethren and after learning the following facts from above, the rules which have been laid down as canons and delivered as teachings and believed to be divine books, in order that anyone, if deceived, may lay the blame on those who deceived him, or if he has remained clean and pure, he may rejoice again in finding himself reminded thereof. Now, therefore, be it said that the total number of books in the Old Testament is twenty-two; for, as I have been told, such is precisely the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. In order and by name each of them stands as follows. First comes Genesis, then Exodus, then Leviticus, and after this Numbers, and thereupon Deuteronomy. The rest of them are: Jesus (Joshua) of Navi, and Judges, and after this Ruth. And again the next are Kingdoms, four books; of which the first and the second are counted together as one, and the third and the fourth likewise as one. After these come Paralipomena (Chronicles), first and second, likewise counted as one book. Then Esdras (Ezra-Nehemiah), first and second, likewise counted as one. After these comes the Book of Psalms, and thereupon Proverbs. Then Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. In addition. to these there is the book of Job. This followed by the prophets, the twelve of which are counted as one book. Then come Isaiah and Jeremiah, and together with the latter are Baruch, Lamentations, and the Epistle, and with them are also Ezekiel and Daniel. Up to this point those enumerated have been books of the Old Testament. Those of the New Testament, again, must not be left out of the reckoning. They are: four Gospels, according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John, and after these come the Acts of the Apostles and the seven so-called catholic (or general) epistles of the apostles, these being as follows: of Iakovos, one; of Peter, two; then of John, three; and of Jude, one. In addition to all these there are also fourteen epistles of Saint Paul the Apostle, which are found written in the following order: the first one to the Romans; then to the Corinthians, two; and after these the one to the Galatians and one to the Ephesians, then one to the Philippians, and one to the Colossians, and two to the Thessalonians; after which comes the epistle to the Hebrews, and thereupon come two epistles to Timothy, one to Titus, and lastly one to Philemon, and again, the Revelation of John. These are all sources of salvation, so that anyone thirsting should take pains to fill himself with the sayings and facts recorded therein. In these alone it is that one may find a teaching ground on which to proclaim the good tidings of the Gospel, and to acquire the religion of piety. Let no one superimpose anything thereon, nor delete anything from there. Concerning these the Lord rebuked the Sadducces by saying: “You are deceived, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29; Mark 2:24, John 5:31).

Nevertheless, for the sake of greater exactness, I add also this, writing as I do the fact as a matter of necessity, that there are also other books than these outside of the list herein given, which, though not canonically sanctioned, are to be found formally prescribed by the fathers to be read to those who have just joined and are willing to be catechized with respect to the word of piety, namely: the Wisdom of Solomon; the Wisdom of Sirach; and Esther, and Judith, and Tobias; and the so-called Didache (Teaching of the Apostles), and the Shepherd. And yet dear readers, both with those canonically sanctioned and these recommended to be read, there is no mention of the Apocrypha; but on the contrary, the latter are an invention of heretics who were writing them as they pleased, assigning and adding to them dates and years, in order that, by offering them as ancient documents, they might have a pretext for deceiving honest persons as a consequence thereof.

THE NINETY-TWO CANONS
OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS BASIL THE GREAT (4th C.)#

FROM HIS CANONICAL EPISTLES

[Epitome: Heretics and schismatics lose the grace of the Spirit when they depart from the Church, but the Church can use economy and receive them into the Church without re-baptism if they used the correct external form of trine immersion and if their beliefs do not differ greatly from Orthodoxy (1). The saint condemns abortion (2), fornication by clergy (3) or monastics (6), sodomy, bestiality, murder, sorcery, adultery, idolatry (7), rape (25), simony (90), and divorce except for the sake of fornication (9). He also gives a penance to those who engage in a second and third marriage (4, 80) or commit involuntary murder (11, 57) or kill during war (13). Heretics who wish to convert at the end of their life can only be admitted if they show proof of their repentance (5). The seriousness of involuntary manslaughter depends on the circumstances, but those who make drugs or potions that cause death inadvertently are considered willful murderers (8); the penances should be adjusted according to the pastor’s discretion (54). Those who make an oath not to accept ordination may not break their vow (10), and those who marry more than once cannot be clergy (12). A man who gives away his usurious gains to the poor may be ordained (14), and God created birds, fish, sea mammals, and shellfish all on the fifth day of creation (15). Naaman [4 Kgs. 5:1] was a great man not with “the Lord” but with his lord, the King of Syria (16). Clergy who have been coerced to take an oath not to serve anymore may still perform priestly functions in private or in a different city (17). Fornication for a nun is adultery, and nuns must be 16 years old before making vows of their own free will, but they are condemned if they lapse from this way of life (18). Men who wish to live celibately must take vows to remain in that state (19). The saint does not punish women who vow virginity while in heresy but afterwards marry, nor catechumens for sins before Baptism (20). A husband who sleeps with another, unmarried woman is guilty of fornication, and his wife must accept him if he repents, but an adulterous wife must be divorced by her husband (21). Only previously unmarried women may be kept as plundered brides, if her family consents, but men who forcibly deflower such women are guilty of fornication (22). None may marry a brother-in-law or sister-in-law (23), even if her sister (the man’s wife) has died (78). Widows who remarry cannot be financially assisted by the Church, and women older than 60 should not remarry (24). Fornication is not the beginning of marriage; a man and woman who fornicate may be married, but they are given a penance (26). A priest who unwittingly married a forbidden woman can retain his rank but cannot perform any priestly function (27). It is unnecessary to abstain from pork and ridiculous to make a vow to do so (28). Rulers should not swear to harm certain persons, but they should annul any impetuous decisions (29). None may abduct a woman to wife or abet the man who does so (30), and a woman whose husband has disappeared cannot cohabit with another man until the husband’s death has been verified (31). Deposed clergy may still pray together with the laity (32). The saint also canonizes a woman whose infant dies due to neglect (33), unless she was unable to save it (52). The sin of an adulteress should not be publicly exposed (34), and a husband is not punished if his wife deserts him without just cause (35). Wives of soldiers who have gone missing should not remarry, but they are somewhat pardonable if they do (36). A man who sleeps with another man’s wife is not penalized a second time if he then marries a single woman (37). Girls cannot elope without their father’s consent (38, 42), nor bondwomen without their master’s consent (40, 42), but widows may marry freely (41). An adulteress must cease living with the other man in order to repent (39). To give a mortal blow is murder (43), and no Christian may insult Christ (45). A deaconess may not marry, even if she has committed fornication with a man (44), and a woman who has united with a man whose wife abandoned him but later returned is guilty of fornication but may still get married to another (46). Encratites and Saccophori and Apotactites must be rebaptized when they convert (47), and it is better for a woman unjustly divorced by her husband to remain single (48). A raped girl is not penalized (49). Third marriages are discouraged but allowed (50), and upper and lower clergy are all subject to the same canonical punishments (51). A widowed slave woman is allowed a second marriage, even if she lied about being ravished by her prospective husband (53). The saint canonizes any who kill a robber (55) or commit willful murder (56) or adultery (58) or theft (61) or fornication (59)—which for a monk or nun is penanced as adultery (60)—or homosexuality (62) or bestiality (63) or perjury (64, 82) or sorcery (65) or grave robbing (66) or incest (67) or who marry a relative (68) or conceal another’s grievous sin (71) or consult a fortune-teller (72) or have intercourse with or marry a step-sister (75) or sister-in-law (76) or mother-in-law (79). A reader who sleeps with his betrothed before the wedding may not be ordained to a higher rank, and no clergyman may elope with a spouse without a betrothal (69) or kiss a woman (70). Those who have voluntarily denied Christ can be given Communion only at their last hour (73). A priest may shorten an excommunication if the penitent fervently repents (74), but if he is incorrigible he should be shunned (84), and clergy should not be led down to perdition by the crafty arguments of unrepentant reprobates but must follow the laws of God and publicly and privately speak out against evil practices (85). Penances are given to a man who leaves his wife and marries another (77) or who engages in divination (83) or who transgressed the Faith by partaking in pagan rituals either through fear or under torture (81). Christians do not eat vulture or dog meat, unless it is a matter of survival (86). Not everything forbidden is explicitly mentioned in the laws; through marriage, a man’s in-laws become related to him, so he cannot take them in marriage (87). A clergyman may not have a female servant or housekeeper (88), and clergy cannot be appointed and ordained without the consent of the ruling bishop (89). The Church possesses unwritten traditions of great importance, passed on orally with reverence (91), and these should not be rejected (92).]

His First Canonical Epistle to Amphilochios Divided into Sixteen Canons

PREAMBLE
“Even a simpleton, when he asks after wisdom, shall be accounted wise. But the question of one who is [apparently] wise makes even a simpleton wise” (Proverbs 17:28), which by the grace of God is what happens to us whenever we receive the letters of your labor-loving and industrious soul. For the questions they ask make us better acquainted with ourselves and as it were more conscious of ourselves and we are taught many facts that we did not know about; and the pains we take in replying to them becomes a teacher to us. This is still more remarkable in view of the fact that never after receiving your questions and taking care of them have we been compelled to resort exactly to consulting either what we have been told by the priests nor to recollecting kindred things that we have learned when consulted by them.”

Canon 1 of Saint Basil
So far as concerns the question of the Cathari, though it had been said previously you did well to mention the subject, since it is necessary to follow the custom obtaining in each particular country because of their treating Baptism differently. After having at that time threshed out the matter concerning these men, it seems to me that there is nothing further to say in regard to the Pepuzeni. Accordingly I was in wonder to find that the matter had been appealed to great Dionysios in spite of his being canonical. For the older authorities had judged that baptism acceptable which disregarded no point of the Faith. Hence they have called some of them heresies and others schisms and others again parasynagogues. Heresies is the name applied to those who have broken entirely and have become alienated from the Faith itself. Schisms is the name applied to those who on account of ecclesiastical causes and remediable questions have developed a quarrel amongst themselves. Parasynagogues is the name applied to gatherings held by insubordinate priests or bishops, and those held by uneducated laities. As, for instance, when one has been arraigned for a misdemeanor held aloof from Liturgy and refused to submit to the canons but laid claim to the presidency and Liturgy for himself and some other persons departed with him, leaving the catholic Church—that is a parasynagogue. Heresies, on the other hand, are such as those of the Manichees and Valentinians and Marcionists, and that of these Pepuzeni themselves; for the question itself is one involving a difference of faith in God. It therefore seemed best to those who dealt with the subject in the beginning to rule that the attitude of heretics should be set aside entirely; but as for those who have merely split apart as a schism, they were to be considered as still belonging to the Church; as for those, on the other hand, who were in parasynagogues, if they have been improved by considerable repentance and are willing to return, they are to be admitted again into the Church, so that often even those who departed in orders with the insubordinates, provided that they manifest regret, may be admitted again to the same rank. As touching the Pepuzeni, therefore, it is obvious that they are heretics; for they have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, having illicitly and impudently blazoned Montanus and Priscilla with the appellation of the Paraclete. They deserve to be condemned, therefore, whether it be that they are inclined to deify themselves or others as human beings or that they have roundly insulted the Holy Spirit by comparing Him to human beings; accordingly they are thus liable to everlasting condemnation, because of the fact that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is without forgiveness (Matthew 12:31). What reason, then, is there for approving their baptism, when they are baptizing in [the name of] the Father, the Son, and Montanus and Priscilla? For persons have not been baptized who have been baptized in names that have not been handed down to us by the traditional teaching; so that if this fact has escaped the notice of great Dionysios, it is nevertheless incumbent upon us to guard against imitating the mistake. For the absurdity is self-evident and perspicuous to all who have any share at all of ability to reason even in a small way. As for the Cathari, they too are to be classed as schismatics. Nevertheless, it seemed best to the ancient authorities those, I mean, who, form the party of Cyprian and our own Firmilian—to class them all under one head, including Cathari and Encratites and Aquarians and Apotactites; because the beginning, true enough, of the separation resulted through a schism, but those who seceded from the Church had not the grace of the Holy Spirit upon them; for the impartation thereof ceased with the interruption of the service. For although the ones who were the first to depart had been ordained by the fathers and with the imposition of their hands they had obtained the gracious gift of the Spirit, yet after breaking away they became laymen, and had no authority either to baptize or to ordain anyone, nor could they impart the grace of the Spirit to others, after they themselves had forfeited it. Wherefore they bade that those baptized by them should be regarded as baptized by laymen and that when they came to join the Church they should have to be re-cleansed by the true Baptism as prescribed by the Church. Inasmuch, however, as it has seemed best to some in the regions of Asia, out of economy to many, to accept their baptism, let it be accepted. As for the case of the Encratites, however, it is necessary for us to look upon it as a crime, since as though to make themselves unacceptable to the Church they have attempted to anticipate the situation by advocating a baptism of their own; hence they themselves have run counter to their own custom I deem, therefore, that since there is nothing definitely prescribed as regards them, it was fitting that we should set their baptism aside, and if any of them appears to have left them, he shall be baptized upon joining the Church. If, however, this is to become an obstacle in the general economy [of the Church], we must again adopt the custom and follow the fathers who economically regulated the affairs of our Church. For I am inclined to suspect that we may by the severity of the proposition actually prevent men from being saved because of their being too indolent in regard to Baptism. But if they keep our [form of] baptism, let this not deter us. For we are not obliged to return thanks to them, but to serve the canons with exactitude. But let it be formally stated with every reason that those who join, on top of their baptism, must at all events be anointed by the faithful, that is to say, and thus be admitted to the Mysteries. I am aware that we have admitted to the chief seat of bishops the brethren in the party of Zonius and Satorinus who used to belong to that class. So that we are no longer able to distinguish those who were attached to that order from the Church, as much as to say that as a result of the acceptance of the bishops we have ipso facto made it a canonical obligation to allow them Communion.

Canon 2 of Saint Basil
A woman that aborts deliberately is liable to trial as a murderess. This is not a precise assertion of some figurative and inexpressible conception that passes current among us. For here there is involved the question of providing justice for the infant to be born but also for the woman who has plotted against her own self. For in most cases the women die in the course of such operations. But besides this there is to be noted the fact that the destruction of the embryo constitutes another murder, at least in the opinion of those who dare to do these things. It behooves us, however, not to extend their confession to the extreme limit of death but to admit them at the end of the moderate period of ten years, without specifying a definite time, but adjusting the cure to the manner of repentance.

Canon 3 of Saint Basil
A deacon who commits fornication after coming into the deaconate shall be ousted from the deaconate, to be sure, but yet after being expelled into the status of laymen, he shall not be excluded from the right of Communion. For it is an ancient canon that those who have forfeited their rank shall be subject to only this form of punishment, on the principle, as I think, on following the original dictate of that law which says: “You shall not take vengeance a second time for the same offense” (Nahum 1:9). Also for another reason, that those who are in the lay order and expelled from the status of the faithful, may be taken back into the status from which they fell and which they forfeited, whereas a deacon sustains once for all a permanent sentence to deposition. On the ground, therefore, that the deaconate cannot be given back to him, they took their stand upon this punishment alone. So much for the matter of forms. On the whole, however, a truer remedy is repudiation of sin. So that one who has disregarded grace for the sake of pleasure of the flesh may afford a perfect proof of his being cured by showing contrition of the heart and by refraining from being submissive to any enslavement by observance of continence with respect to pleasures of the flesh by which he was destroyed. It is necessary for us, therefore, to know both, namely, what strictness strictness demands and what custom requires but to follow the form traditionally taught us in regard to those who do not deserve extreme treatment.

Canon 4 of Saint Basil
As regards trigamy and polygamy we have decreed the same canon as in the case of digamy (i.e. second marriage) analogously. For it is a year in the case of digamy, but two years for the others. As for those who are guilty of trigamy (i.e. a third marriage), they are excommunicated for the space of three years and often four years. For such a marriage is no longer to be called a marriage, but polygamy, or rather mitigated fornication. Wherefore the Lord told the Samaritaness who had had five husbands in succession, “and he whom you now have is not your husband” (John 4:18), as being no longer themselves worthy when they have exceeded the measure of digamy to be called by the appellation of husband or wife. We have taken to the custom of condemning trigamists to five years’ excommunication not on the ground of any canon but only on the ground of usage followed by those who have preceded us. But it is necessary for us not to exclude them entirely from the Church but instead to entitle them to listening in some two years or three and thereafter to permit them to be co-standers, though obliged to abstain from Communion with that which is good (the Eucharist), and then after exhibiting some fruit of repentance, let them be restored to the status of persons entitled to Communion.

Canon 5 of Saint Basil
Those of the heretics who repent when about to pass out [of this life] must be admitted. They are to be admitted, that is to say, not indiscriminately but by testing whether they have exhibited any proof of their having actually decided to repent and whether they have borne any fruit in witness of their anxiety to be saved.

Canon 6 of Saint Basil
As regards fornication of canonicals (clergy and monastics), they are not to be accounted marriages but ought by every means available to be compelled to discontinue their intercourse. For this is also advantageous to the Church for safety and affords heretics no occasion to complain against us on the ground that we are attracting [people] to ourselves on account of our permitting them to sin.

Canon 7 of Saint Basil
Sodomists and bestialists and murderers and sorcerers and adulterers and idolaters deserve the same condemnation, so that whatever rule you have as regarding the others, observe it also in regard to these persons. But as for those who have been for thirty years repentant for an act of impurity that they committed unwittingly, there is no ground for our doubting that we ought to admit them. Both the fact of their ignorance renders them worthy of pardon, and so do also the voluntary character of their confession, and the fact that they have been exhibiting good intentions for such a long time; for they have surrendered themselves to Satan for nearly a whole human generation, in order to be educated not to indulge in shameful acts. So bid them to be admitted without fail, especially if they have shed tears that move you to compassion, and are exhibiting a life that deserves sympathy.

Canon 8 of Saint Basil
Any man who uses an axe against his own spouse in a fit of anger is a murderer. It is well that you reminded me, and it is worthy of your good sense to speak about these things at greater breadth. For there are many differences among voluntary and involuntary acts. It is an entirely involuntary act and one that is remote from the mind of the one commencing it, when one hurls a stone at a dog or tree but happens to hit a human being. For the impulse was for the wild beast to defend itself or to shake down the fruit, though it automatically suffered the blow when it chanced to be going by; so that such an occurrence is something involuntary. It is something involuntary, it must be conceded, also if anyone wishing to bring a person to his senses should strike him with a strap or rod lightly enough but the person who was struck should die. For the intention here is to be seen in the fact that the one who did the deed wished to improve the sinner, not to take his life. Among involuntary acts is likewise that one in which while defending oneself in a fight, one delivers a blow unsparingly to vital parts with a stick or with his fist so as to deal him a telling blow without killing him altogether; but this approaches being in the nature of a voluntary act. For a man who uses such an instrument in self-defense, or who inflicts a blow without sparing, is plainly guilty of failing to spare the person, owing to being under the sway of passion. Likewise when one has used a heavy club or a stone too big for a man to handle, it is to be classed among involuntary acts, because he wanted to do one thing but happened to do another; for he was led by anger to deliver such a blow as to slay the one hit, notwithstanding that it was his endeavor to crush the person with the instrument perhaps but not to kill him outright. Anyone, however, that wields a sword or any other such instrument, has no excuse whatever, and especially when he has hurled an axe at anybody. Nor is this astonishing when one considers that it is plain that he did not strike a blow with his hand, so as to have the measure of the blow on his person, but hurled it so that the weight of the iron and the sharp edge and the momentum it acquired by traveling a long distance all caused the blow to be necessarily destructive. An entirely voluntary act, again, and one that admits of no doubt at all, is one such as that of robbers and that of military assaults. For these men slay others for the sake of money, though they escape detection. Those engaged in wars are bent on slaying and murderous deeds; they can neither be scared nor be sobered but, on the contrary, are openly bent on killing the adversaries as a matter of choice. And if perchance for some other reason one mixes in a strange drug but it kills, we class this as a voluntary act, such as women often do when under the influence of a desire to try to gain the affection of someone by means of love charms and potions and by giving them drugs that darken their intellects. Such women, therefore, who kill someone in any such manner though actually having desired to do something else than what they did, are nevertheless classed with willful murderers, on account of the strange and forbidden nature of their contrivance. The same may be said of women who bring about a miscarriage by giving drugs for this purpose, and the women who take abortifacient poisons; they too are murderesses.

Canon 9 of Saint Basil
The decision of the Lord with respect to the order of the sense applies equally to men and women so far as concerns the prohibition of divorce “except on grounds of fornication” (Matthew 5:32 and 19:7). Custom, however, will not have it thus, but in regard to women it insists upon exactitude and stringency, seeing that the apostle says that “he who cleaves to a harlot is one body with her” (I Corinthians 6:16) and that Jeremiah says that “if a woman goes with another man, she shall not return to her husband, but shall surely be defiled” (Jeremias 3:1); and again: “Whoever keeps an adulteress is foolish and impious” (Proverbs 18:22). Custom, on the other hand, commands that men who are guilty of adultery or of acts of fornication must be kept by their wives; so that as regards a woman who is cohabiting with a man who has been left can be accounted an adulteress. For the fault here lies in the woman who divorced her husband, according to whatever reason she had for undoing the marriage. For whether it be that when beaten she could not bear the blows but ought rather to have exercised patience, or to obtain a divorce from the man with whom she at the time was cohabiting, or whether it be that she could not afford to lose the money, neither is this any excuse worthy considering. But if it were on account of his living in a state of fornication, we have no such observance in ecclesiastical usage, but neither is the wife of a faithless husband commanded to separate from him, but, on the contrary, she has to stay with him owing to the fact that the issue of the matter is unknown. “For what do you know, O wife, whether you shall save your husband?” (I Corinthians 7:16). So that a woman who deserts her husband becomes an adulteress in case she comes to another man. The man, on the other hand, whom she has left is pardonable, and a woman who cohabits with him is not to be condemned. If, however, a man deserts his wife and comes to another woman, he too becomes an adulterer because he is making her be an adulteress; and the woman cohabiting with him is an adulteress, because she has taken another woman’s husband for herself.

Canon 10 of Saint Basil
As regards those who take an oath and swear not to deign to accept ordination but repudiate their oath, let them not be compelled to commit perjury. For although there seems to be a certain canon which does allow such things, yet we have learned by experience that men who act contrary to their oaths do not prosper. Moreover, it behooves us to take into consideration also the species of oath and the words of it and the disposition with which they have taken it and the minute additions to the words, as if there be no comfort available, from anywhere, such persons must be allowed a free rein. As for the affair touching Severus, however, or, more precisely speaking, the priest whom he has ordained, some such comfort seems to be provided by the laws (if it seems thus to you too). Bid the Massadi to submit that field which is subject to hire and to which man was proclaimed the heir. For then, neither will he disregard his oath by failing to depart from the region; and Longinus taking Kyriakus along with him will not desolate the Church, nor will he even condemn his own soul by delaying matters; and we shall be persuaded not to do anything contrary to the canons, while treating Kyriakus as one who has sworn to remain with the Mindani [estate] but has accepted transposition. For a return shall amount to keeping the oath, but to subject him to economy shall not be accounted to him as perjury, because of his not abiding by his oath, nor leaving the Mindana [estate] for even a short time but staying with them henceforth. As for Severus, who offers the excuse of forgetfulness, we shall pardon him and say that the Knower of hidden things will not overlook His own Church when she is being ravaged by such a person who has been acting uncanonically from the beginning, and has been practicing witchcraft (or “performing curses”) contrary to the Gospels, teaching people to commit perjury, whereby he was transposed, but now lying whereby he feigns forgetfulness. Inasmuch, however, as we are not judges of hearts but merely judge from what we are told, we leave vengeance to the Lord, while we ourselves shall admit him indiscriminately, giving him a pardon for forgetfulness as a human weakness.

Canon 11 of Saint Basil
As for one that has committed an involuntary murder, he has fulfilled the requirements of justice by a term of eleven years. For it is plain that in the case of the ones assaulted we may observe the rules of Moses, and not deem one to have been murdered when he has been knocked down by the blows he received but has been able to walk again with a stick (Exodus 21:18-19). But if he did not recover from the blows, and the man who struck had no intention of killing him, we deem the assailant a murderer, to be sure, but an involuntary murderer.

Canon 12 of Saint Basil
The canon has unconditionally excluded all digamists (men who have married twice) from the service.

Canon 13 of Saint Basil
Our fathers did not consider the killings committed in the course of wars to be classifiable as murders at all, on the score, it seems to me, of allowing a pardon to men fighting in defense of sobriety and piety. Perhaps, though, it might be advisable to refuse them communion for three years, on the ground that they are not clean-handed.

Canon 14 of Saint Basil
If a person charging interest on money lent consents to distribute the ill-gotten gain to the poor and to rid himself of the disease of avarice, he is admissible to Holy Orders.

Canon 15 of Saint Basil
I marvel at your literal accuracy with regard to Scripture when you consider and postulate that the wording of the explanation is forced which exhibits what is plainly signified, and not the literal sense of the preposition “under” (Ps. 8:6). What is signified has been derived from a Hebrew expression. Since one must beware of idly passing over the problem raised by a man inclined to inquiry, the fowl of the sky and the fish of the sea received the same genesis at the time of creation; for both genera were brought forth out of the waters. As for the reason, it is that the characteristic peculiarity of each of them is the same. For the one kind of animals swim through the water, while the other kind float upon the air; accordingly, they were mentioned in common, though the figure of speech, being used in connection with fish inaptly, but quite properly in connection with all animals that live in water. For the fowl of the sky have been made subject to man, and so have the fish of the sea, and not they alone, but also all animals that traverse the paths of the sea. For not every aquatic animal is a fish, as grampuses (orcas) and whales and hammerhead sharks and dolphins and seals, and in addition walruses and sea dogs and sawfish and swordfishes, jellyfish, and scallops and all shellfish, not one of which is a fish; and all animals that traverse the paths of the seas. Thus there are three sorts of such animals, namely, fowls of the sky, fish of the sea, and all aquatic animals distinguishable from fish that also traverse the paths of the seas.

Canon 16 of Saint Basil
Now Naaman was a great man not with “the Lord,” but with his lord, or master, that is, was a man of powerful influence with the King of Syria (II Kings, 5:1). So pay strict attention to what the Bible says, and you will find there the solution of your question.

SECOND CANONICAL EPISTLE OF THE SAME SAINT BASIL TO THE SAME PERSON
DIVIDED INTO THIRTY-FOUR CANONS

Canon 17 of Saint Basil
You asked us about Bianor the priest, whether he is admissible to the clergy on account of the oath. I am aware that I myself have set forth already a certain common definition regarding all those who together with him took an oath to the clergy of the region round Antioch, to the effect that they are to refrain from public speaking but in private may perform the duties of priests. This very same pronouncement also affords him permission for his own service. For the priesthood is not those in Antioch but that in Iconium, which, as you yourself have sent to us notice, he wanted to exchange for Antioch in order to dwell there. That man, then, is acceptable, when he is required by your reverence to repent of the case of the oath that he swore in regard to the faithful man, because of his being unable to brook the annoyance of that slight danger.

Canon 18 of Saint Basil
As regarding lapsed virgins who had solemnly vowed themselves to living a decent life consecrated to the Lord but afterwards, owing to their having fallen under the sway of the passions of the flesh, have disregarded their own conventions, it is true that our fathers, naively and meekly making allowances for the weaknesses of the lapsable, laid down a law that they are to be admissible after a year, having treated the matter in the same vein as that of bigamists. But to me it seems, since the Church grows stronger by going forward with the grace of Christ, and the battalion of virgins is nowadays proliferating, one ought to pay strict attention to what appears to be the real sense of the thought embodied in the Scriptures, which it is possible to ascertain from the context. For widowhood is inferior to virginity. Necessarily, therefore, the sin of widows is of altogether secondary gravity in comparison with that of virgins. Let us see, therefore, what is written to Timothy by Saint Paul: “But refuse younger widows. For when they wax wanton toward Christ, they want to get married, being condemned because they have set aside their first faith” (I Timothy 5:11). If, therefore, a widow is liable to severe condemnation on the ground that she has set aside her faith in Christ, what must we conclude as concerning a virgin, who is a bride of Christ and a sacred vessel dedicated to the Lord?

Though it is a great sin for even a slave woman who has given herself up to a clandestine marriage to imbue the house with corruption and roundly insult the owner by her wicked mode of life, yet it is far more offensive for a bride to become an adulteress and to have become guilty of dishonoring her union with the bridegroom by giving herself up to licentious pleasures of the body. Necessarily, therefore, the widow is condemned like a corrupt slave, while the virgin incurs the condemnation of an adulteress. Precisely, therefore, as we call a man an adulterer who has intercourse with somebody else’s wife, and refuse to admit him to Communion until he has ceased indulging in the sin, so too, let it be said, we shall be disposed to regard the man who has a [consecrated] virgin. But what needs to be premised to us now is that the one called a virgin is one who has voluntarily tendered herself to the Lord and has renounced matrimony and has preferred a life of sanctity. As for the vows, we approve of them only then: after she has reached the age of discretion. For it is not proper to regard childish utterances on such subjects as altogether trustworthy and congruous but only that which has been averred after the age of sixteen or seventeen is to be considered the trustworthy and congruous result of reasonings and after being further examined she is to be enrolled among the virgins as a member of their class if it be found that she insists and begs with supplications to be admitted as such; accordingly the vow of such a maiden is to be sanctioned, and her disavowal thereof is indispensably to be punished. For parents and brothers tender many maidens, and even before they have attained the proper age, not because they have spontaneously striven after a life of celibacy but because their parents or brothers have been governed by considerations of convenience to themselves, which maidens must not be readily accepted, until we investigate their own mind openly.

Canon 19 of Saint Basil
We are not cognizant of any vows of men, unless it be that some men have enrolled themselves in the battalion of those who have adopted the monastic life, if they seem to accept celibacy by silent agreement. Nevertheless, I deem it fitting that in their case too that should receive primary attention. They must be asked, and from them must be taken a perspicuous vow, so that if any of them should by any chance return to a flesh-loving and sensual life afterwards they shall be incurring the penalty attached to those who commit fornication.

Canon 20 of Saint Basil
When women who are in a heresy have vowed virginity but afterwards have chosen matrimony instead of this, I do not deem it necessary to condemn these women. For “whatsoever things the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law” (Romans 3:19). But those who have not thus far come under the yoke of Christ and who do not recognize the legislation of the Lord, so as to be admissible to the Church along with all Christians, are also entitled to forgiveness for these mistakes as a consequence of their belief in Christ. And in general things done during the catechumenical life do not entail responsibilities: these persons, that is to say, are not accepted by the Church without Baptism, so that the priorities of generation in regard to them are something that is quite necessary.

Canon 21 of Saint Basil
If any man cohabiting with a woman fails afterwards to rest content with matrimony and falls into fornication, we judge such a man to be a fornicator, and we consider him to deserve even more in the way of penalties. We have not, however, any canon by which to task him with the charge of adultery if the sin is committed with a woman free from marriage. For an adulteress, it says, being defiled shall be defiled (Jer. 3:1) and shall not return to her husband. And “anyone who keeps an adulteress is foolish and impious” (Proverbs 18:22). One, however, who has committed fornication cannot be denied the right to cohabit with his wife. So that a wife must accept her husband when he returns from fornication, but a husband must send a defiled wife away from his home. The reason for these inconsistencies is not easily to be found, but at any rate a custom to this effect has obtained prevalence.

Canon 22 of Saint Basil
As for those men who have taken wives by rapine, if the latter were taken away from other men, to whom they had been engaged, the men guilty of rapine shall not be accepted before they have released the women in their possession and have restored them to the authority of the men to whom they had been engaged, whether the latter men are willing to take them back or insist upon refusing them. If, on the other hand, any man takes a woman who is at leisure, she must be taken away from him and be restored to her kin, but may be allowed to go free with the consent and approval of her kin, whether the latter be parents, or brothers, or any other persons entrusted with the superintendence of the girl’s affairs. If they choose to surrender her to the man in question, the marriage contract shall stand valid, but if they refuse to do so, she shall not be taken from them by main force. As for the situation in which a man possesses a woman as a result of defloration, whether this occurred in secret or more openly and by violence, the penalty provided for fornication must be imposed of necessity. But the first thing is that those men must be denied the right to prayers and must be compelled to join the weepers at the church door; and the next thing is that they shall be admitted to the right of listening; and the third thing is that they are to be accorded the relief of penitents; and the fourth thing is that they shall be allowed to remain in church as co-standers with the laity, though abstaining from the Offering, and are afterwards to be permitted to Communion of the good.

Canon 23 of Saint Basil
Concerning men who marry two sisters, or women who marry two brothers, a little epistle has already been addressed to you, a copy of which we sent to your reverence. But as for any man who has taken the wife of his own brother, he shall not be admitted before he has relinquished her.

Canon 24 of Saint Basil
In case a widow has been enrolled among the number of privileged widows, that is, a widow being helped by the Church, and she gets married, the apostle states that she is to be disregarded. As for a man who has become a widower, there is no law covering his case, but the penalty meted out to bigamists is sufficient to be imposed upon such a man. As touching a widow, however, who has attained to the age of sixty years, if she chooses again to cohabit with a man, she shall not be deemed to deserve the privilege of partaking of Communion until she desists from the passion of impurity. If, however, we number her before she is past sixty, the crime is ours, not the poor woman’s.

Canon 25 of Saint Basil
As for a man who keeps a woman as his wife after she has been ravaged by him, he shall incur the penalty provided for ravagement, while the woman shall be pardoned.

Canon 26 of Saint Basil
Fornication is not matrimony, and not even the beginning of matrimony. So that if it be possible to separate persons joined in fornication, this would be the best course to take. But if they insist upon marriage at all costs, let them pay the penalty for fornication.

Canon 27 of Saint Basil
Concerning a priest who unwittingly has become involved in a lawless marriage, I have prescribed that what ought to be done is to let him hold some share of the see but abstain from all other activities. For a pardon is all that such a man is entitled to. But to bless some other man with the task of taking care of his duties, would be inconsistent. For a blessing is an impartation of sanctity. But anyone who lacks this, owing to an unwitting offense, how can he impart it to another? Let him, therefore, not bless anyone either in public or in private, neither let him distribute the body of Christ round to others; neither let him engage in any other liturgical service: but, contenting himself with the presidency, let him weep along together with others and pray the Lord to forgive him his unwitting sin.

Canon 28 of Saint Basil
In my opinion it has appeared utterly ridiculous for anyone to vow to abstain from the eating of pork. So please condescend to teach them to abstain from uneducated vows and promises. As for the case in hand, the matter is one that is indifferent and allowable on any score. “For no creature of God is to be refused when it is taken with thanks” (I Timothy 4:4). So that the vow is ludicrous, and abstinence is unnecessary.

Canon 29 of Saint Basil
As for rulers, however, who swear to harm the persons they are ruling, it greatly necessitates them to heed their ways. Such heed is twofold: one point to be heeded is that they must be taught not to take oaths too readily and offhand; another point is that they must not persist in their bad judgments, so that when one has sworn in advance to harm another person, let him show repentance for the impetuousness of the oath, yet let him not affirm his own cunning under pretense of reverence. For it did not advantage even Herod when he kept his oath, who allegedly in order to avoid perjuring himself became the murderer of the prophet. The taking of an oath, indeed, is forbidden once for all, but far more, of course, is one to be condemned when it is taken for the doing of what is wrong or evil; so that the person who takes an oath must change his attitude of mind, and not endeavor to effect the performance of his unholy venture. For examine the absurdity more broadly. If anyone should swear to gouge out the eyes of his brother, consider whether it would be right for him to carry such an oath into effect; if anyone should swear to kill somebody; if anyone should swear to transgress some commandment or other. “I have sworn and have set myself to keep the judgments of Thy righteousness” (Psalm 119:106), not any sin. Precisely as it is incumbent upon us to perform commandments with irrevocable resolves, so does it is necessary for us to annul and destroy sin in all kinds of ways.

Canon 30 of Saint Basil
As touching wife-snatchers, we have no old canon but have ventured to express our own opinion, which is that they and their abettors be condemned to exclusion from prayers. But so far as concerns an elopement, the man is not responsible when there has been no rape nor has any abduction marked the affair. A widow, on the other hand, being sui juris (competent) and at liberty to follow, we need not concern ourselves about pretenses.

Canon 31 of Saint Basil
If after her husband has departed and disappeared, before having made due inquiry as to whether he is dead, any woman cohabits with another man, then she is committing adultery.

Canon 32 of Saint Basil
Clerics who commit a sin unto death, though they are degraded from their rank, they are not to be excluded from the society of laymen. For “Ye shall not exact vengeance twice for the same offense.”

Canon 33 of Saint Basil
As for any woman who conceives and brings forth on the way and [negligently] fails to take measures for it, let her be liable to the penalty provided for a murderer.

Canon 34 of Saint Basil
As for women who have committed adultery and have confessed it out of reverence or because they have been more or less conscience-stricken, our fathers have forbidden us to publish the fact, lest we afford same occasion for the death of the remorseful one; but they ordered that such women are to stand without Communion until they have completed the term of their penitence.

Canon 35 of Saint Basil
In the case of a husband who has been deserted by his wife, the reason for the abandonment must be looked into. If it appear that she has departed without a proportionate cause, the husband is to be deemed to deserve pardon, and she to deserve a punitive sentence. This pardon shall be given to him for the purpose of enabling him to commune with the Church.

Canon 36 of Saint Basil
As touching the wives of soldiers who have disappeared, if they remarry they are subject to the same provision as bears upon the case of the wives of men who have left the country, when they refuse to await their return. Nevertheless, there is some reason for a pardon here, because there is more reason to suspect death.

Canon 37 of Saint Basil
After being deprived of another man’s wife, if a man marries, he shall be liable to have charges brought against him in regard to the first case of adultery, but as regards the second case he shall be exempt from charges.

Canon 38 of Saint Basil
Maidens who without the consent and advice of their father run after men are guilty of fornication. But if the parents can be reconciled, the matter would seem to be susceptible of remediation. But they are not to be restored to Communion directly; they must, on the contrary, be sentenced to three years.

Canon 39 of Saint Basil
A woman who lives with an adulterer is an adulteress all the time.

Canon 40 of Saint Basil
A [slave] woman who in defiance of her lord yields herself to another man is guilty of fornication. But she who thereafter contracts a public marriage becomes a wedded wife. So that the first case is to be considered fornication, the second, matrimony. For the conventions of persons under the control of others are unreliable.

Canon 41 of Saint Basil
A woman in her widowhood who has authority of herself and the right to cohabit is not subject to criminal charges (if there is no man to disrupt the marriage), since Saint Paul said, “If the husband die, she is free to marry whomsoever she pleases, but only in the Lord.”

Canon 42 of Saint Basil
Marriages entered into without the consent of those in authority are fornications. Therefore, if the father or the master is alive, the contracting parties are by no means free from responsibility until the lords give approval of their cohabitation. For then the affair receives the character of a marriage.

Canon 43 of Saint Basil
Whoever has given his neighbor a [killing] blow is a murderer, whether he started the fight or was defending himself.

Canon 44 of Saint Basil
A deaconess who has been fornicating with a Grecian (pagan) is admissible to communion, but to the Offering she will be admissible in the seventh year, that is, if she lives in chastity. But a Grecian who after belief (conversion) again indulges in sacrilege [by marrying the deaconess] is returning to his vomit. We therefore no longer permit the body of the deaconess to be put to carnal use, on the ground that it has been consecrated.

Canon 45 of Saint Basil
If anyone who has received the name of Christian offers Christ an insult, his appellation shall be of no benefit to him whatsoever.

Canon 46 of Saint Basil
A woman who unwittingly marries a man abandoned by his wife for a time and who has afterwards been left by him on account of his former wife’s returning, has committed fornication, albeit unwittingly. She shall not, therefore, be denied marriage, though it were better that she remain single.

Canon 47 of Saint Basil
As for Encratites and Saccophori and Apotactites, they come under the same rule as Novatians; for concerning the latter a canon has been promulgated, even though different, whereas nothing has been said therein as touching the former. Be that as it may, we rebaptize such persons. If it be objected that what we are doing is forbidden as regards this practice of rebaptism, precisely as in the case of present-day Romans, for the sake of economy, yet we insist that our rule prevail, since, inasmuch and precisely as it is an offshoot of the Marcionites, the heresy of those who abominate marriage and who shun wine and who call God’s creation defiled, we therefore do not admit them into the Church unless they get baptized with our Baptism. For let them not say that they are baptized in Father and Son and Holy Spirit who assume God to be a bad creator, in a manner vying with the Marcionites and other heresies. So that if this pleases them more bishops ought to adopt it, and thus establish as a canon, in order that anyone following shall be in no danger, and anyone replying by citing it shall be deemed worthy of credence.

Canon 48 of Saint Basil
But the woman abandoned by her husband, in my opinion, ought to stay [single]. For the Lord has said, that if any man leaves his wife except on grounds of fornication, he is causing her to commit adultery (Matthew 5:32), since as a result of His calling her an adulteress He has debarred her from communion with any other man. For how can a husband be considered irresponsible as the cause of adultery, while the wife, deemed an adulteress by the Lord on account of communion with another man, is so called?

Canon 49 of Saint Basil
Defilements performed by force entail no responsibility, thus a slave girl violated by her own master is free from responsibility.

Canon 50 of Saint Basil
There is no law as to third marriages, so that a third marriage is not subject to any law. We look upon such things as defilements of the Church, but we do not bring them to public trials, on the ground that they are preferable to lax fornication.

The Third Canonical Epistle of the Same Saint to the Same Saint Divided into Thirty-Five Canons

Canon 51 of Saint Basil
As regards clergy, the canons have been promulgated indiscriminately, prescribing a single punishment for those who commit offenses of any kind, namely, expulsion from the service, whether they be possessed of any rank or are simply awaiting one in the service while unordained.

Canon 52 of Saint Basil
A woman who gives birth to a child on a way and knew how to save it, but treats it with contempt, thinking she could conceal her sin, having an utterly brutal and inhuman view of the matter, let her be judged as a murderess. But if she was unable to give the child proper attention and protection, and it died due to the lack of care and of necessities, the mother is pardonable.

Canon 53 of Saint Basil
A widowed slave woman may not have committed any great offense in desiring to marry a second time under pretense of ravishment, so she ought not to be charged on this account. For pretenses are not to be judged but actual intent. Thus it is evident that the penalty for a second marriage applies to her.

Canon 54 of Saint Basil
As respecting differences in cases of involuntary manslaughter I know that years ago I sent your piety an epistle, explaining the matter as far as we found it possible to do, and I can say nothing more than what was asserted therein. It is permissible to your good sense of judgment to increase the penalties or to relax them in accordance with the peculiarity of attending circumstances.

Canon 55 of Saint Basil
As for those who resist robbers [and kill them], if they themselves are outside of the [clergy of the] Church, they are to be excluded from communion with the good Boon; but if they are clerics, they are to be deposed from their rank. For every man, it says, who takes to the sword shall die by the sword.

Canon 56 of Saint Basil
A man who has voluntarily slain anyone and has thereafter regretted the deed and has repented of it shall be excluded from communion with the Fountain of Sanctity for twenty years. The twenty years shall be allotted to him in the following manner, to wit: For four years he must weep outside of the portal, standing upright beside the oratory, and begging the faithful that enter to make a special prayer for him, while he confesses over and over again the same transgression. After four years he is to be stationed among the listeners, and for five years he shall be permitted to go out together with them. For seven years he shall be permitted to go out together with the kneelers praying with them. Four years more shall he spend together with the faithful, but shall not be permitted to participate in the Offering. When these years have been duly fulfilled, he shall partake of the Holy Elements.

Canon 57 of Saint Basil
A man who has killed anyone involuntarily shall remain excluded from the holy Eucharist for ten years. The ten years shall be allotted to him in the following manner, to wit: For two years he shall keep weeping; for three years he shall spend his time listening; for four years, kneeling; and for one year only he shall mark time as a co-stander; and henceforth he shall be admitted to the Holies.

Canon 58 of Saint Basil
The sentence for a man guilty of having committed adultery is that he shall be excluded from the Holy Elements for fifteen years. These fifteen years shall be allotted to him in the following manner, to wit: For four years he shall keep weeping; for five years, listening; for four years, kneeling; for two years, co-standing without Communion.

Canon 59 of Saint Basil
A fornicator shall remain excluded from the Holy Elements for seven years: two weeping, and two joining the listeners, and two kneeling, and for one year only confined to co-standing; and in the eighth year he shall be admitted to Communion.

Canon 60 of Saint Basil
As for any girl or woman who has vowed to remain a virgin but has lapsed from her vow, she shall do the time fixed for the sin of adultery with the economy allotted to her to live by herself. The same penalty shall be meted out to persons who have vowed themselves to monastic life but have lapsed from there.

Canon 61 of Saint Basil
Anyone who has stolen anything, provided he has repented of his own accord and has accused himself of the theft, shall be excluded from the communion of the Holy Elements for one year only. But if he was detected, two years. The time shall be proportioned to him between kneeling and co-standing and thereupon he shall be deemed to deserve to participate in Communion.

Canon 62 of Saint Basil
As for any man who uncovers his nakedness in the midst of males (sodomy), he shall be allotted the time fixed for those transgressing in the act of adultery.

Canon 63 of Saint Basil
As for anyone who evinces his impiety by associating with irrational beasts, he shall stand delinquent for the same length of time.

Canon 64 of Saint Basil
As for a perjurer, he shall be excluded from Communion for ten years: two years weeping; three listening; four kneeling; one year only co-standing; and shall then be deemed worthy to partake of Communion.

Canon 65 of Saint Basil
As for anyone practicing incantation or sorcery, he shall be allotted the time of a murderer, it being proportioned to him in such a manner as though he had convicted himself of each sin for a year.

Canon 66 of Saint Basil
A grave robber shall remain excluded from Communion for ten years.

Canon 67 of Saint Basil
Incest between brother and sister shall be expiated by the sentence of a murderer.

Canon 68 of Saint Basil
The conjugation in matrimony of within the prohibited degrees [of kinship], if it be detected, shall be punished with the sentences of adulterers, on the ground that it falls in the same class of sinful acts affecting human beings.

Canon 69 of Saint Basil
As for a reader, if he has intercourse with his betrothed before the wedding, after being suspended from duty for one year he shall be permitted to read, though he shall forfeit his right to be advanced to any higher status; but if without betrothal he has stolen his wife without first betrothing her, that is, by marrying her clandestinely, he shall be dismissed from the ecclesiastical service. The same treatment shall be given to any other servant of the Church.

Canon 70 of Saint Basil
If any deacon has had his lips tainted [through kissing], and has confessed to have sinned to this extent [with a woman], he shall be suspended from the Liturgy. But he shall be allowed to partake of the Holy Elements along with the rest of the deacons. The same rule shall be applicable to priests. But if he be caught doing anything in excess of this, that is, any greater sin, no matter what may be his rank, he shall be deposed.

Canon 71 of Saint Basil
As for one who has been aware of their (another) having committed any of the aforesaid sins and has failed to confess it, but they have been detected or exposed and convicted of it, he shall do the same time that is done by the perpetrator of the evils, and he himself shall be subject to the same penalty.

Canon 72 of Saint Basil
Anyone resorting to fortune-tellers or other such persons, shall be given the same penalty and length of time as a murderer and the same penances.

Canon 73 of Saint Basil
Whoever has denied Christ and has violated the mystery of salvation ought to weep all the rest of his life, confessing his indebtedness and when he is about to pass from this life, when he shall be deemed worthy to partake of the Holy Things, by faith in God’s love for man.

Canon 74 of Saint Basil
However, if anyone who sins according to the aforementioned should become serious and earnest enough to confess them, the one who confides in the philanthropy of God and is able to loose and bind, if he exercises even greater philanthropy, may mitigate any heavy penalty imposed upon the sinner confessing if he sees that to be with fervor, by shortening the time. And in doing so he does not become worthy of condemnation, seeing that the history in the holy Scriptures shows that those who confess their sins with the greater pain, quickly have God’s love for man bestowed upon them.

Canon 75 of Saint Basil
Let not anyone who has been defiled with his stepsister, whether on his father’s side or on his mother’s side, be permitted to be present in any house of prayer, until he desists from this transgressive and unlawful practice. But after coming to realize the fearful sin, let him weep for three years at the door of the oratories while standing by them on the outside, and entreating the people entering for prayer, so that any of them sympathizing with him may beseech the Lord in his behalf with intensity. Thereafter let him spend three more years in listening only and hearing the Scripture and the teaching of the doctrine, but excluded from and not allowed the privilege of praying. Afterwards, if indeed it is true that he insisted upon it with tears and prostrated himself to the Lord with contrition of heart and profound humility, let him be accorded the right to spend three more years in kneeling, and then, if he exhibits fruits worthy of repentance, in the tenth year let him be admitted to prayer with the faithful, but without the privilege of the Offering, and after co-standing at prayer for two years along with the faithful, then and from then on let him be deemed to be deserving of the good of Communion.

Canon 76 of Saint Basil
The same canon applies also in regard to those who take their own sisters-in-law.

Canon 77 of Saint Basil
A man, however, who abandons his legally wedded wife and marries another woman, according to the Lord’s decision, is under the judgment of adultery. But it has been ruled and regulated by our fathers that such persons are to weep for a year, listen on the side for two years, kneel for three years, in the seventh year co-stand together with the faithful, and then be deemed worthy to participate in the Offering, provided they shed tears of repentance.

Canon 78 of Saint Basil
Let the same example hold also with regard to men taking two sisters to wife, even though it be at different times.

Canon 79 of Saint Basil
Those who go madly after their mothers-in-law are subject to the same canon as those who go madly after their own sisters.

Canon 80 of Saint Basil
The fathers passed over the question of polygamy (third marriage) in silence, as something bestial and utterly foreign to the human race. But to us it presents itself as a worse sin than fornication. Wherefore it is reasonable to make such persons amenable to the canons, and this means one year weeping and three years kneeling, then becoming acceptable to God.

Canon 81 of Saint Basil
Since many persons during the incursion of the barbarians transgressed the Faith in God by taking heathen oaths and tasting of certain things offered to idols purporting to be magical and then offered to them, these persons have already been dealt with economically on the basis of laws and canons formulated by the fathers. For as regards those who patiently endured the hardships resulting from necessitous tortures and, being unable to bear the pain, were impelled to denial, let them stand inadmissible for three years and continue listening for two years, and after kneeling for three years let them become admissible to Communion. But as regards those who without there being any great necessity betrayed the Faith in God, and after touching the tables of the demons and swearing Greek (pagan) oaths, let them be expelled for three years, and continue listening for two years, and after praying for three years on their knees and co-standing for another three years together with the faithful at prayer, then let them be admitted to the good of Communion.

Canon 82 of Saint Basil
As regards those who have committed perjury, if they broke their oaths as a result of force and coercion, they are liable to milder sentences, so that after six years in any case they are to be admissible. But as for those who betrayed their own Faith without any necessity, after weeping two years, and listening two years, and in the fifth year praying on their knees, and remaining for two more years without the Offering but admitted to communion of prayer, and then after they have exhibited repentance worthy of the name, let them be restored to the Communion of the body of Christ.

Canon 83 of Saint Basil
Those resorting to divination and continuing the usages of the heathen nations or admitting certain persons into their homes with the view of discovering sorceries and purification, let them fall under the canon of six years, one year weeping, and one year listening, and for three years co-standing among the faithful, then they shall be accepted.

Canon 84 of Saint Basil
We are writing all these things so that the fruits of repentance may be tested. For we do not judge these matters in every case with reference to time but are inclined to pay more attention to the manner of repentance. If they show themselves disinclined to give up their own customs, desiring rather to be slaves to pleasures of the flesh than to the Lord and they refuse to accept life lived in accordance with the Gospel, we have no common ground of discourse with them. For we have been taught to hearken, when in the midst of disobedient and gainsaying people, to the injunction that says, “If you can save anything, save your own soul!”

Canon 85 of Saint Basil
Let us not, therefore, choose to perish along with such persons but, filled with fear of the heavy Judgment and keeping before our eyes the fearful day of the Lord’s retribution, let us not willingly choose to perish for the sins of others and along with them. For if the terrible sufferings of the Lord had not chastened us, nor had such great and grievous blows knocked some sense into us and brought us to realization of the fact that it was on account of our iniquity that the Lord abandoned us and delivered us into the hands of the barbarians, and the people were led away as captives of their foes and were delivered to dispersion, because those who bore the name of Christ round the world dared to do these outlandish things; if they neither became aware nor even understood that it was on account of these things that the wrath of God overtook us, what common ground is left us to have words with them? Nevertheless, we ought to protest to them night and day, publicly and privately; but we ought to guard against being carried away by their cunning arguments and crafty tricks, while we pray indeed to win them and to have them rescued from the snare of the evil one, but if we are unable to accomplish this, let us make serious endeavors at least to save our own souls from everlasting damnation.

From the Same Saint, Excerpted from Another Epistle to the Same Saint

Canon 86 of Saint Basil
To the elegant Encratites in respect to their formidable problem, asking why we do not eat everything, let the answer be given that we abominate also our excrements. For in respect of value, vegetables are food to us (Genesis 9:3), but in respect of discretion as touching our mercenary interests, as also in the case of vegetables, we separate what is injurious or harmful from what is suitable and fit: seeing that even hemlock is a vegetable, precisely as a vulture too is meat; yet no one that has any sense would eat hyoscyamus (henbane), nor would he touch dog meat unless it were a matter of life and death, so that to eat it would be no iniquity.

Excerpted from the Same Saint’s Canonical Epistle to Diodoros, the Bishop of Tarsus

Preamble:
We have received letters bearing the signature of Diodoros, but the following are more in the style of someone else than Diodoros. For it seems to me that someone among the artisans has impersonated thee, that he might thus render himself credible to the listeners, in that, after being asked by some of them whether it were licitly permissible for him to take in marriage the sister of his deceased wife, he did not shudder in horror at the question but meekly brooked the sound he heard in his ears, and the lecherous desire, and quite gallantly and valiantly condescended to allow the practicality of the suggestion. For if I had had the letter handy, I would have sent it to thee, and thou wouldest have had enough to defend thyself and the truth. But inasmuch as the man who showed it to me snatched it back again, and precisely like a trophy against us who had barred the original document he carried round saying that he had the authority. Now I have written thee a letter, so that thou wilt be reminded of that spurious letter on both hands, and leave it no strength to injure anyone easily that may chance to encounter it.

Canon 87 of Saint Basil
First, let it be said (which is also the most important thing to note) that the custom among us which we have to propose in regard to such cases, having as it does the force of a law, on account of the fact that the institutions were handed down to us by saintly men. This may be described as follows. If anyone suffering from uncleanliness and overcome by it should ever fall into the unlawful state of having married two sisters, this is not to be deemed either a marriage nor may he be admitted to the congregation and membership of the Church until they have first separated from each other. So that, though there was nothing further to say, the custom sufficed to guard against the evil. But inasmuch as the writer of the letter by employing a false and yet specious argument attempted to entail such a great disorder and woe in life, it is necessary that not even we should refrain from deriving assistance from the words, notwithstanding that in regard to facts that are extremely perspicuous the prejudice obtaining among every community is more powerful than words. It has been written, it says, in Leviticus: “Neither shalt thou take her sister to wife to make her jealous, to uncover her nakedness in her presence while she is still alive” (Lev. 18:18). It is plainly evident from this, it says, that it is permissible to take a sister when her sister has died. As to this first thing, I shall ask permission to say that whatever the Law says is said in the Law, since thus also at least we would be subject to the Law’s requirements as to circumcision and the Sabbath and abstinence from certain foods (Romans 3:19). For indeed we shall not lay upon ourselves a yoke of slavery to the Law if we find anything to help us to enjoy ourselves in sensuality: if anything included in the requirements of the Law appears to be too severe, too burdensome, why then we shall have recourse to the freedom granted by Christ (Galatians 5:1). We have been asked whether it is written to take to wife a sister of a sister. We have answered, what we are sure of and what is true, that it is not written. But to infer a consequence by taking liberties with what has been left unsaid is the part of a legislator, not of one merely reciting the law. Since it is thus possible for anyone that wants to do so to find an excuse for taking to wife a sister while the wife is still alive. For this very same fallacy will apply to that man too. For it is written, it says: “Thou shalt not take...to make her jealous,” as much as to say that taking her without arousing jealousy is permissible. But anyone that advocates passion will consider the character of the sister to be devoid of jealousy. With that cause once removed, on account of which the cohabitation with both of them was forbidden, what is there to prevent taking the sisters? But we shall insist that these things are not written, neither has that point been settled; the meaning, on the other hand, of the sequence admits of points alike. By merely referring back a little way from this passage to subsequent legislation would have sufficed to disentangle the matter. For it is but natural that the Legislator could not include every kind of sin, but was especially concerned to forbid those of the Egyptians, whence He brought Israel away, and those of the Canaanites, to whom He took them. For the passage I refer to runs thus: “After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelled, ye shall not do: and, after the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am taking you, ye shall not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.” (Leviticus 18:3). So that it is naturally evident that the kind of sin prohibited was that of incurring the danger in those days of adopting the political systems in vogue among the heathen nations, in which event they would not even have any need of a legislator but might rest content with the untutored custom of resorting to calumny inspired by hatred, How, then, after forbidding the greater evil, could He have remained silent in regard to the lesser? Since it seemed right to many of the lovers of the flesh in those times to cohabit with sisters while these were each alive in spite of the example of the patriarch. But what ought we to do? To do what is written, or to conform with that which is nothing but guesswork based on silence? It is immediately evident that father and son ought not to use the same prostitute, yet no such thing is written in the laws. In the prophet, however, it is considered to deserve the utmost censure. For, he says, “And a man and his father will go in unto the same maid” (Amos 2:7). But how many other forms of impure passions the school of demons invented but divine Scriptures do not even refer to, being averse to sullying its fair character by naming shameful things but merely alluding to them in general terms, as Saint Paul the Apostle says: “But fornication, and all other uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as becometh saints” (Ephesians 5:3), comprehending under the noun “uncleanness” the unspeakable doings of sodomy and those of females too, so that silence does not by any means afford a license to lovers of pleasures. As for me, however, I say that the Legislator did not even remain silent concerning these matters either, but in fact very vehemently prohibited such things. For the passage saying: “None of you shall approach to anyone that is near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness” (Leviticus 18:6), comprehends also this kind of familiarity. For what could be more nearly related, or near of kin, to man than his own wife, or rather to say his own flesh? “For they are no longer two but one flesh” (Matthew 19:6), so that through the wife her sister attains to a state of close familiarity with the husband. For just as he must not take the mother of his wife, so must he not take her daughter either, because he is not allowed to take either his own mother or his own daughter to wife. Thus he is not allowed even to take a sister of his wife, because neither is he even allowed to take his own sister to wife, and vice versa, neither is a woman permitted to cohabit with relatives of her husband; for the rights of both and to both are held in common, by both sides of the relationship. To anyone wanting the marriage I will protest that “the fashion of this world is passing away” (I Corinthians 7:29, 31), and that “the time is short, leaving even those who have wives as though they had none” (I Corinthians 7:29, 31). On the other hand, if he misunderstands the passage saying “increase and multiply” (Genesis 1:28), I will laugh at one who is unable to distinguish times from legislations. The second marriage is meant to relieve people from the necessity of fornication, not to serve as a free pass to lechery. “If they cannot restrain their passion, let them marry” (I Corinthians 7:9), he says, but not, ‘Let them break the law when they are married.’ Those, on the other hand, who disregard nature entirely, and devour the soul with a passion for dishonoring women, again are compelled to distinguish the two sexes. To which of the two sexes shall they ascribe the offspring? Shall they say that they are brothers and sisters of each other, or that they are cousins? Make not, O man, the aunt a mother-in-law of the infants, whose duty it is not even to nurse it in the capacity of a mother; thou wilt only be imbuing the latter implacably jealous. It is only hatred of mothers-in-law that arouses animosity even after death. Rather might one say, in fact, that those who are foes in other respects join hands in pouring peaceful libations to the dead, whereas mothers-in-law excite hatred after death. To sum up. If anyone rushes into marriage [allowed] by law, the whole inhabited earth is opened to him; but if his zeal is the result of passion, it will only serve the more to exclude him, “that everyone should know enough to keep his vessel in sanctity and honor, not in the desire of concupiscence” (I Thessalonians 4:4-5). Though I would fain say more, there is a limit to the length of a letter. I prayerfully wish, and hope, however, either that our admonition may prove stronger than the forces of passion, or that this frightful desecration may not visit our country but remain confined to the lands in which there was the hardihood to perpetrate it.

A Canonical Epistle of the Same Saint to Gregory the Priest

Canon 88 of Saint Basil
I received your letters with all forbearance, and I marveled that, though able to defend yourself briefly and readily by means of the facts, you insist upon discussing the accusations and try to remedy the irremediable with small words. We were not the first nor the only ones to lay down the law, O Gregory, prohibiting women from cohabiting with men; but please read the canon promulgated by our holy fathers in the Synod of Nicaea, which explicitly prohibits them from being housekeepers. The respectability of celibacy consists in this, that it prevents association with women. So that, if anyone professing it verbally does the things done by those who cohabit with women, it is plain that he is forfeiting the respectability of virginity that resides in the appellation and is not actually abstaining from improprieties in the matter of sensual pleasure. You ought indeed to have been so much the more ready to yield to our suggestion as you assert outright that you are free from every bodily passion. For I am persuaded that neither a man of seventy years of age would cohabit in a passionate fashion with a woman, nor have we with regard to any supervening act ruled what we have ruled as due to any improper act but because we have been taught by the apostle that “no one should put an obstacle or a stumbling-block in his brother’s way” (Romans 14:13). But we are aware that what has been done by others soundly and sanely, will become to others an occasion for sinning. On this account we ordered you, in pursuance of the injunction of the holy fathers, to separate from the woman. Why, then, are you accusing the chorepiscopus and bringing up old enmities? Why are you blaming us for lending ready ears to admission of the calumnies? Cast her out of your house, therefore, and settle her in a monastery. Let her remain with virgins, and find yourself male servants, to prevent the name of God from being blasphemed on your account (Isaiah 52; Romans 2:24). Until you have done these things, the myriads of protests you are writing in letters will avail you nothing, but on the contrary, you will die suspended from duties and will have to give the Lord an account for your own state of suspension and idleness. If, on the other hand, you should dare, instead of correcting yourself, to oppose the priesthood, you will be anathema to all the laity, and any persons accepting you will become outlawed with respect to every church.

A Canonical Epistle of the Same Saint to the Chorepiscopi

Canon 89 of Saint Basil
I am exceedingly grieved to find that the canons of the fathers have been left unheeded and all strictness in the churches has been cast to the winds; and I fear lest, when this indifference has advanced a little more, the affairs of the Church will wind up in a state of utter confusion. Take those serving the Church, in the olden days it was a custom prevailing in the churches of God, for persons tried and tested with all rigor to be admitted and their upbringing was looked after with great concern and diligence, unless they turned out to be revilers, or drunkards, or ready to pick a fight, so as to instruct them in youth and enable them to attain to a state of sanctity, “without which no one shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). And accordingly this question was examined by priests and deacons living with them. They would report the matter to the chorepiscopi, who in turn, having access to the decisions arrived at by those who had testified truly to the facts, and having duly notified the bishop, would thus be free to enroll the servant in the battalion of the priestly orders. But nowadays, first having thrust us aside and without even condescending to report to us, they have invested themselves with all the authority. Afterwards, treating the matter with the utmost indolence, you have permitted priests and deacons to introduce unworthy persons into the Church at will, from an unexamined life in obedience to efforts made in their behalf, either by their relatives or as a result of friendship in some other respect. That is why a great number of servants are to be found in every village but not one deserving to minister at the altar, as you yourselves bear witness, being at a loss for men in the voting contests. Since, therefore, the matter has reached a stage of insufferable obnoxiousness, especially now when the most of them are resorting to ecclesiastical service as a means of escape from military service, I have necessarily come to the decision to renew the canons of the fathers, and I request you in writing this letter to send me a copy of the record of those enrolled in the service in each and every village, and by whom each of them was admitted thereto, and in what state of life he is. Keep a copy of the record for yourselves so as to be able to judge your affairs on the basis of the reports available to you; and let no one interpolate any spurious reports whenever he desires to do so. Thus, however, after the first survey, if any other persons have been admitted by the priests, let them be relegated to the laity; but let a reexamination of them be made by you, and if they be found worthy let them be admitted in pursuance of your decision to this effect. After you have cleansed the Church by driving out the ones unworthy of her, henceforth begin examining and proving the worthy ones before admitting them; but do not enroll any of them until you have referred them to us, or else make up your minds that he will be a layman whom you have admitted to the service without our consent and approval.

A Canonical Epistle of the Same Saint to the Bishops under Him

Canon 90 of Saint Basil
As touching the impropriety of the matter I am writing about, why it was suspected at all and spoken about, has filled my soul with anguish, but lately it has appeared to me incredible. Let the letter, therefore, about it be accepted by the one involved as a remedy for himself; as for the one not involved, let it serve as a safeguard; and as regards anyone who is indifferent, which I hope that no one among you will prove to be, let it serve as a protest. But what is it that I am talking about? They say that some of you have been taking money from the persons ordained, under the cloak of the name of piety. That is worse. For if anyone does what is bad on the pretext that it is something good, he deserves double punishment; for that which is held to be nothing bad has been causing and has been useful in the commission of sin, as who should say, it has been a good cooperator in this respect. Let these things, if such is the case, be done no longer; but let the matter be corrected, since otherwise it will become necessary to tell the one who accepts money that which was told by the apostle to the one wanting to give money for the avowed purpose of buying Holy Spirit: “Thy silver perish with thee” (Acts 8:20). For the one who wanted to buy because of his lack is to be judged more lightly than one who wants to sell the gift of God. For a sale has been made, and what you received freely from God, if you sell it, will be stripped of its gracious power as though it had been sold to Satan. For you are introducing a system of trading in spiritual matters into the Church, where we have been entrusted with the body and blood of Christ. These things must not be done thus. As for the, pretext, I can tell what that is: they think that they are not sinning because they accept the money after the ordination, and not at the same time that the ordination is carried out. But an acceptance is an acceptance no matter when it is actualized. I therefore beg you to put aside this step, or rather this expedition to Gehenna. Accordingly, do not soil your hands by taking such things and thereby render your selves unworthy to perform the holy mysteries. Pardon me if first as incredulous and afterwards as convinced I employ threats. If anyone after this letter of mine shall do such a thing any more, he shall depart from the altars here and go in search of one where the gift of God can be bought and sold,. “For we and the churches of God have no such custom” (I Corinthians 11:16; I Timothy 6:10). I have one more thing to add, and I will stop. These things are being done on account of avarice. Avarice is veritably the root of all evils and is called idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Prefer not, therefore, the idols to Christ for the sake of a little money; nor, again, imitate Judas by betraying a second time the one crucified but once for us, since the territories and the hands of those who accept these fruits shall be called Akeldama (Matthew 27:5; Acts 1:19).

From the 27th Chapter of the Same Saint’s Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit and Addressed to Amphilochios

Canon 91 of Saint Basil
Of the dogmas and preaching kept safely in the Church, we have some from written doctrine, and some from tradition handed down to us by the apostles we have received in a mystery, both of which have the same validity and force as regards the piety (i.e. the religion); accordingly, no one gainsays these, at least no one that has any experience at all in ecclesiastical matters. For if we should undertake to discard the unwritten traditions of customs, on the score that they have no great force, we should unwittingly damage the Gospel in vital parts and should rather be left with preaching confined to the mere name. Such a custom, for instance (to mention the first and most common one first), is that of sealing or signing with the sign of the Cross those who have set their hopes in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has taught it in writing? That of turning towards the East when praying—what writing has taught us to do this? The words uttered in the invocation connected with the exhibition of the Eucharist and of the cup of the blessing, what saint has bequeathed them to us? For indeed we are not even content with these [words] which the apostle or the Gospel has mentioned, but we add other ones before and after them on the ground that they contribute greatly to enhance the mystery, which words we have received from unwritten teaching. We bless the water of Baptism and the oil of the anointment (Chrism), and in addition thereto even the person being baptized, with reference to what documents? Is it not with reference to unspoken and mystical tradition? But what else? What written word has taught us the use of the oil in the anointing? And from where is the idea of baptizing (immersing) a person three times? But in fact, whatever is connected with Baptism, renouncing Satan and his angels, from what Scripture is it? Is it not from this unpublished and secret teaching which our fathers have kept as a guarded secret in unquestionable and noncurious silence, they having well enough taught us to preserve the beautiful instructions of the mysteries in silence? For when it comes to things which the uninitiated were not allowed even to lay eyes on, how could the teaching thereof be expected to triumph if embodied in writing? And not to speak of other things, this was the reason for unwritten tradition, as not having been thoroughly studied, to render knowledge of the dogmas a distasteful subject to the majority of men because of custom. For dogma is a thing that is quite different from preaching. For dogmas can be slurred over in silence, but preaching has to be given publicity. Vagueness of expression too is a sort of silence, much used in Scripture and rendering the sense of the dogmas difficult to grasp for the convenience of those who happen to hit upon it. For the sake of this it is that all of us look eastwards when engaged in prayers; few of us realize that in doing so we are seeking after an ancient fatherland, called Paradise, which God planted in Eden in the East (Genesis 2:8). And we stand upright when praying on the first of the week, though not all of us know the reason. For it is not only that it serves to remind us that when we have risen from the dead together with Christ we ought to seek the things above, in the day of resurrection, of the grace given us, by standing at prayer we remind ourselves, but that it also seems to serve in a way as an image of the age to come. Wherefore being also the starting-point of days, though not “the first” with Moses, but it has been called “one”. For, it says, “the evening and the morning were one day” (Genesis 1:5), on the grounds that it returns again and again. The eighth, therefore, is also the “one,” especially as respects that really first and true eighth day, which the psalmist too has mentioned in some of the superscriptions of his Psalms (Ps. 6; 11), serving to exhibit the state which is to succeed this period of time, the unceasing day, the day without evening, the day without end, the interminable and ageless age. Necessarily, therefore, the Church educates her foster children to fulfill their obligations to pray therein while standing upright, in order by constantly reminding them of the deathless life to prevent them from neglecting the provisions for the journey to there. And every Pentecost is a reminder of the expected resurrection in the age to come. For that one day, being multiplied seven times over, constitutes the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost (“the Fiftieth Day”). For, by starting from the first, one winds up on the same day when one comes to the end after counting fifty days evolved by running through the series (thus making forty-nine or seven weeks in all). Wherefore it is evident that it imitates even an age, precisely as in circular motion by starting from the same points it arrives at the same points in the end, wherein the laws of the Church have educated us to prefer the upright posture at prayer, thus transporting our mind, so to speak, as a result of a vivid and perspicuous suggestion, from the present age to the things to come in the future. And during each genuflection and straightening up again we are actually showing by deeds (i.e. by our actions) that it was through sin that we fell to the earth, and that through the love of man of the One Who created us we have been called back to heaven. In fact, a whole day would not suffice me to narrate the unwritten mysteries of the Church. I leave the rest unsaid. But out of what written works have we obtained the Creed itself, the confession of the Faith, the recital of a belief in a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit? If it be from the tradition of Baptism, as suggested by regard for the following of piety, as we are baptized, so ought we also to believe, and therefore deposit a confession similar to the Baptism. Let it be permitted to us in agreement with that same following to return that faith as glory. But if they insist upon discarding the mode of the doxology on the ground that it is unwritten, let them cede us the confession of the other points in regard to the faith of which we have enumerated the proofs in writing. Finally, seeing that there are so many unwritten ones having such great force in regard to the mystery of piety, will they not permit us one word that has come to us from the fathers which we have found still remaining among the unchanged churches as a result of an unaffected custom, having no small reason for its existence, nor short contribution to the power of the mystery?

An Excerpt from Chapter 29 of the Same Treatise of the Same Saint

Canon 92 of Saint Basil
Moreover, as relating to the assertion that the doxology containing the words “together with the Spirit” is unwitnessed and unwritten, what we have to say is that if nothing else that is unwritten is admissible, then let this not be admitted either; but if the majority of the mysteries are conveyed to us unscripturally, let us accept this one too together with numerous others. It is a usage that is apostolic, I presume, to adhere to unwritten and unscriptural traditions. For it says: “Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I have delivered them to you” (I Corinthians 7:12). And: “Hold on to the traditions which you have been taught, whether orally or through our epistle” (II Thessalonians 2:15), one of which indeed is the present one, which the first originators composed and handed on to their successors, in due process of time and ever mindful of usage, and have firmly rooted in the churches by dint of long custom. If, therefore, we are at a loss to present written evidence as though in a court of justice but can produce a whole multitude of witnesses, should we not receive an express permission from you? The way I look at the matter is as follows: “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (Deuteronomy 19:15). But if, on the other hand, we have exhibited the facts to you perspicuously for a long time, should we not except you naturally enough to say that there is no evidence to warrant our being put on trial? For how can it be denied that old doctrines are awesome and entitled to veneration because of their hoary antiquity?

THE EIGHT CANONS
OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS, GREGORY OF NYSSA (4th C.)#

[Epitome: Appropriate remedies must be applied for the various passions of the soul, considering that the soul has three aspects: cognitive, affective, and decisive (1). Those who deny the Faith under torture are given a penance, but those who willingly embrace paganism, Judaism, or a heresy, if they repent, are excluded from Communion until the time of their death (2). The saint canonizes those who visit sorcerers or soothsayers or enchanters (3) or engage in fornication, adultery, bestiality, pederasty (4), or voluntary or involuntary murder, but their time may be reduced if they willingly confessed their sin or show a contrite disposition, and any who are on their deathbed may be permitted Communion before their penance is ended (5). Covetousness, manifested in theft, and grave robbing, and sacrilege, should be healed by almsgiving or by manual labor to earn money for oneself and others (6), but grave robbers (7) and sacrilegious temple robbers are penalized (8).]

A Canonical Epistle Addressed to Letoius, Bishop of Melitine

Canon 1 of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
One of the things that lend effect to this holy feast is that we should cast about in our minds the lawful and canonical economy with its good effects, in regard to dealing with defective souls, with a view to having every mental ailment cured that has been the result of some sin or other. For inasmuch as this catholic feast day of creation, arranged to fall each year in the course of the fixed circuit of the annual cycle, being held all over the world in celebration of the resurrection of the fallen, is carried out (sin is the fall, and correction is the resurrection of the fallen body), it would be well on this day not only to invite those sick souls whose elementary nature has been radically changed, through bathing in the grace, and to worship God, but also those who through repentance and return from dead works (Hebrews 9:14) to the living way are again coming back and regaining their senses and to lead these persons by the hand, so to speak, to the saving hope from which they have become estranged through sin. But it is no small task to manage words concerning these persons in the right and well-treated judgment, in accordance with the injunction of the prophet which bids us that we “must manage words in judgment,” in order that, as the saying goes, it may remain undisturbed forever, and “a righteous man shall be in everlasting remembrance” (Psalm 112:6). For precisely as in the case of bodily treatment, the purpose of the art of the physician is to heal the one who is ill, though the kind of care given differs (for the curative method available for each of the diseases has to be suitably chosen with respect to the variety of the ailments); so too, since there is a great variety of affections in the case of a disease of the soul, the curative care will necessarily be of many kinds, and adapted to the disease it is intended to cure. As to how a technical method may be applied to the problem under consideration, that shall be the subject that we are going to discuss in more or less detail. As respecting the primary division, we have to consider there are three aspects pertaining to the soul, namely, the cognitive, the affective, and the decisive. These are the factors that determine the achievements of those who live in accordance with virtue and the failures of those who succumb to vice. Wherefore it behooves the person who is about to undertake the treatment to apply a suitable remedy to the diseased part of the soul. First of all he ought to reflect and try to discover in what the disease consisted, in order that he may know what treatment is fitted to the case in hand, lest owing to inexperience in the therapeutic method he apply the remedy to a different part than that which is diseased, as, in fact, we see many physicians lacking experience of the first part to suffer and only irritating the disease and making it worse with the remedial agents they are applying. For it often happens that an ailment requires the prevalence of warmth or of what is hot, since whatever has an excess of heat is apt to be useful in treating those who are suffering from injuries due to an excess of cold. But because they have chosen the wrong proportions and have thoughtlessly or inconsiderately applied too much heat, thereby burning the body and making the disease hard to heal, precisely therefore as it has been deemed to be stringently necessary to have a comprehension of the nature of the elements, so that each of them may be employed to the utmost advantage in restoring an ailing part to health that has been displaced from its natural position, so and in like manner we too have had recourse to the division of the aspects of the soul. Thus we shall take the origin and seat of diseases as an indication of the proper treatment and make a general survey. The main point, however, is that, as we have said, the nature of the soul’s movements is divided in three ways, namely, the cognitive, and the affective, and the instinctive. The accomplishments of the reasoning faculty of the soul are: a pious attitude as respecting Divinity and what is divine; the science of discerning what is good and what is bad, and which has a clear and unconfused conception of the nature of the underlying principles, what is to be chosen from among available realities, and what is abominable and repulsive. Accordingly, again on the contrary there will be in any given case the vice situated in that part to be considered, when there is any impiety as respecting what is divine and lack of judgment as respecting what is really fine and good. There is, however, a transposed and mistaken attitude as respecting the nature of things, so that light is taken to be darkness, and darkness to be light (Isaiah 5:20), as the Scripture says. As for the affective faculty, the virtue movement of it is that of having a yearning that induces one to strive for what is really desirable and is truly fine and good; and if there be any erotic power and disposition in us to employ it all there, by way of persuading oneself that there is nothing else to be craved for its own nature, save virtue and the nature which is a source of virtue, misconduct and sin find a harbor in this part, when one allows one’s desire to float away into the realm of insubstantial vainglory or into the colorful bloom painted upon bodies, whence result avarice and ambition and love of pleasure, and all such affections as depend upon such a kind of vice. Again, it is an accomplishment of his inborn disposition to entertain an abhorrence of what is evil or bad or wicked, and to wage a war upon the passions, and to steel the soul for bravery, in not becoming frightened by what is thought to be fearful by the multitude but to resist sin even to the point of bloodshed, and to scorn the threat of death and of painful engines of punishment, and of separation from the things that are sweetest and most liked, and of all things that once through some custom or prejudice are keeping the multitude enslaved to pleasure, also to obtain the mastery while championing the cause of virtue and the principles of the Faith. The negative aspect from such a part are obvious to all: envy, hatred, wrath, vituperation, brawls, quarrels, defensive arrangements, all of which merely prolong the malice and in many cases wind up in murders and bloodshed. For, the unreasoning and uneducated man, being unable to discover for himself where he can employ a weapon with the most advantage to himself, blunts the edge of the sword. Thus the weapon God has given us to defend ourselves with proves useless to one who misuses it.

Canon 2 of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
These matters having, therefore, been discerned in the said manner, all sins that are attached to the cognitive faculty of the soul have been judged more harshly by the fathers, and meriting greater and longer and more painfully laborious efforts to return, such as, for instance, if anyone has denied the belief in Christ or has been guilty of embracing Judaism or idolatry or Manichaeism or any other such evil, afterwards, when he has condemned himself for doing so, the duration of his repentance shall be that of his whole lifetime. For he shall never be allowed to pay adoration to God when a secret prayer is being performed together with the laity, but on the contrary, he shall be obliged to pray alone and by himself, and he shall be utterly a stranger to the communion of the sanctified Gifts in general. At the time of his exit [from life], then shall he be considered to deserve a portion of the Sanctification. But if he should unexpectedly survive, again he shall be compelled to go through life in the same judgment and to continue expiating his sin, without being allowed any portion of the sanctified Elements of the Mystical Supper until he departs from life. Those, of the opposite type, who have been seriously injured by torture and hard punishment, have been condemned only for an express length of time, so that the holy fathers, having thus bestowed their philanthropy upon them, on the ground that it is not a case of the soul dying in the body, but of the body failing to resist the injury inflicted upon it as a result of bodily weakness; wherefore they have been judged by the same standard as those guilty of fornication, and accordingly the forced and painful transgression has been accorded a moderate extenuation in the return.

Canon 3 of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
As for those who have gone to sorcerers or to soothsayers or to those persons who promise to effect purifications and aversions by the agency of demons, they are to be questioned with exactness and examined as to which of the two possibilities has led them to do so: whether it was that in spite of the fact that they persisted in their faith in Christ they were constrained by some necessity to that sin, by some harsh treatment or unbearable injury that impelled them to it, or it was due to their having contemptuously scorned the testimony which has been entrusted to us, that they had recourse to the alliance with demons. For if it was owing to their having set their faith aside and having disbelieved that God is the God adored by Christians, that they did it, then, that is to say, they shall be subject to the judgment inflicted upon transgressors. But if it was some unsupportable necessity that took control of their pusillanimity and led them to do this, and they were seduced into committing the offense by reason of some disappointment, or frustrated hope, then likewise philanthropy shall stand them in good stead, in like manner as in the case of those who were unable to withstand the tortures at the time of confession.

Canon 4 of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
As for sins done for the satisfaction of desire and for pleasure, they are divided as follows: It has pleased some of the more accurate authorities, indeed, to deem the offense of fornication to be tantamount to adultery; for there is but one lawful state of matrimony and conjugal relationship, namely, that of wife to husband and of husband to wife. Everything, then that is not lawful is unlawful at any rate, including even the case in which a man has no wife of his own, but has that of another man. For only one helper was given to man by God (Genesis 2:20), and only one head was set over woman. “That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctity and honor,” as divine Paul says (I Thessalonians 4:4-5), the law of nature permits the right use of it. But if anyone turns from his own, he will infringe upon another’s in any case; but another’s is whatever is not one’s own, even though its owner is not acknowledged. Hence it is evident that fornication is not far removed from the offense of adultery, as has been shown by those who give the question more accurate consideration, seeing that even the divine Scripture says: “Be not too intimate with another man’s wife” (Proverbs 5:20). Nevertheless, inasmuch as a certain concession was made by the fathers in the case to weaker men, the offense has been distinguished on the basis of the following general division to the effect that whenever a man fulfills his desire without doing any injustice to another man, the offense is to be called fornication; but when it is committed by plotting against and injuring another man, it is to be called adultery. Copulation with the lower animals, too, and pederasty are considered to belong to this class of offenses, because they too are a sort of adultery, or in the nature of adultery. For the wrongfulness consists in infringing upon what belongs to another or acting contrary to nature. This division, then, having been made also in connection with this kind of sin, the general remedy for it consists in the man’s becoming purified and being made pure as a result of regret for the passionate madness for such pleasures. But inasmuch as no injustice has been made admixed with the sin of those polluting themselves by fornication, therefore and on this score the length of time fixed for the return of those tainted by adultery has been double that fixed for the other forbidden evils. For, the penalty for copulation with lower animals and for the madness practiced upon males has been doubled, as I have said, because such cases involve one sin consisting in the enjoyment of a forbidden pleasure, and another sin consisting committing an injustice with what belongs to another man, after the manner of abusing another man’s wife. The difference between cases testing upon repentance, and offenses committed for the sake of pleasure amounts to the following. For any man who on his own initiative and of his own accord proceeds to confess the sins, the mere fact that he has condescended on account of secret acts to become an accuser of himself, as a result of an impulse of his own, is to be considered proof that the cure of the disease has already begun, and since he has shown a sign of improvement, he is entitled to kinder treatment. One, on the other hand, who has been caught in the act of perpetrating the offense, or who has been exposed involuntarily as a result of some suspicion or of some accusation, incurs an intensification of the penalty when he returns, so that only after he has been purified accurately may he then be admitted to communion of the sanctified Elements. The canon, therefore, is such that as for those who have polluted themselves by fornication, they are to pray along with kneelers for three years in a state of return, and are then to be allowed to partake of the sanctified Elements. But in the case of those who have made better use of their reversion and life and are showing a return to what is good, it is permissible for the one entrusted with the management of the matter, with a view to what is of advantage to the ecclesiastical economy, to reduce the length of time of listening and to allow a quicker reversion; and again he may even reduce the length of time and allow Communion to be administered sooner, as he may by actual test be persuaded to approve the condition of the person under treatment (Matthew 7:6). For precisely as it has been forbidden to throw a pearl to swine, so too it is a piece of absurdity the man in question of the most precious Pearl through indifference and insistence upon purity. A transgression committed after the manner of adultery, or, in other words, after the example of the other kinds of filthiness as has been said previously, shall be treated in all respects in the same way of judgment as is the abominable sin of fornication, but the length of time shall be doubled. But the disposition of the person being treated shall be observed in regard thereto, in the same manner as in the case of those who have allowed themselves to be polluted by fornication, so that sooner or later they shall be allowed the privilege of partaking of the Essence of the good.

Canon 5 of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
It remains in addition to these considerations to submit the impulsive faculty of the soul to an examination when, after disregarding the obligation to make good use of the impulse, it falls into sin. There being many influences involved in the sin with respect to the impulse; and of all evils it somehow pleased our fathers among other things not to insist upon accuracy of speech, nor to deem it to be worth much endeavor to treat all the offenses stemming from the impulse of anger, though as a matter of fact the Scriptures not only prohibit merely striking a man but also every vituperation or blasphemy and whatever else of the kind is due to the impulse of anger (Colossians 3:8; Ephesians 4:31). But it is only as regarding the felony of murder that it provided a deterrent in the way of penalties. It divided this kind of evil by differentiating voluntary and involuntary manslaughter; in this respect it is a case of voluntary murder first when it is one which has occurred by premeditation on the part of the person who designed it in such a manner as to commit a felony: afterwards that murder also was considered voluntary which is done by a man hitting and being hit during a fight, when he inflicts a mortal blow upon another man. For once a man has come under the control of his impulse [of anger] and gives way to the impulse of wrath, he takes no heed of any of the considerations which might check the evil tendency in time of passion, so that the result of the fight of murder is to be ascribed to a work of choice and not to any failure of efforts. Cases of involuntary manslaughter, on the other hand, are marked by manifest characteristics, as when one has his mind on something else and does a fatal act through failure to pay attention to the situation. In regard, therefore, to these cases, the sentence for voluntary murder is prolonged to triple the length of time as touching persons who in connection with their reversion are being treated for the voluntary felony. For it amounts to thrice nine years, a space of nine years being allotted with respect to each degree, so that in a case of complete excommunication the person affected has to remain shut out of church entirely for nine years, and to stay in the position of listener for nine more years, being allowed to listen only to the teachers and to the reading of the Scriptures; during the third series of nine years he is to keep praying along with kneelers in reversion; and thus in the end to become entitled to partake of the sanctified Gifts of the trans-essentiation. It goes without saying that in connection with such a murder, too, the same observation of the guilty one shall be made by the minister in charge of the economical management of the church, and the prolongation of his sentence shall be commuted in proportion to the measure of his reversion, so that instead of nine years with respect to each degree, he may be allowed to do only eight, or seven, or six, or five, provided that the magnitude of his reversion eclipses the time, so that he surpasses in point of endeavoring to mend his ways those who are cleansing themselves more indolently from their disgraceful stains over a long span of years. As for the involuntary felony, it has been deemed pardonable, though by no means praiseworthy. I said this in order to make it plain that even though one may involuntarily incur the taint of murder, on the score that he has already been made profane by the felony, the canon has declared him to have forfeited priestly grace. The same length of time required for purification from mere fornication is also required in the case of those who have been guilty of murdering anyone involuntarily, as has been found right by actual trial and test, that is to say, more plainly speaking, by trying and testing the mental attitude of the penitent in connection with these matters: so that if the reversion obtains the appearance of plausible credibility, the number of years should not be maintained unabated, but for the sake of commutation the penitent should be restored to the Church and to the right to partake of the Essence of the great boon involved in the Mystery of the Sanctification of the Holy Elements. But if anyone departs from life without having fulfilled the time fixed by the canons for the expiation of his sin, the philanthropy of the fathers bids that after partaking of the sanctified Gifts, he shall not be sent off to that last and faraway abode without being provided with that requisite necessity. But if after partaking of the sanctified Elements, he returns to life again, he shall await the fixed length of time, after succeeding to that degree in which he was before Communion was administered to him necessarily.

Canon 6 of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
As for the other kind of idolatry (for that is what the divine apostle calls covetousness), I know not how it was overlooked by the fathers and left without a remedy, though it seems that such an evil is an ailment of the third state of the soul (Colossians 3:5). This is all the more inexcusable in view of the fact that when reason begins to fail in judging about what is beautiful and imagines beauty to reside in matter, failing to look up at the immaterial Beauty, and his desire flows downwards, flowing away from that which is truly desirable, and the quarrelsome and mettlesome disposition takes many occasions from such a cause, and speaking on the whole, such a disease as this agrees with the apostle’s definition of greediness. For the divine apostle not only calls it “idolatry,” but also “the root of all evils” (I Timothy 6:10). And yet this particular species of disease was overlooked and left out of consideration and neglected. That is why this disease is rampant in the churches, and no one scrutinizes the men being admitted to the clergy to see whether perchance they have been defiled by such a species of idolatry. But as respects these matters, on account of the fact that they escaped the notice of our fathers, we deem it sufficient for purposes of public discourse in the way of teaching, so far as it may be possible to remedy the situation, to regard it precisely as when we are cleansing anyone from plethoric greedy ailments. Theft, and grave robbing, and sacrilege are the only offenses that we deem a disease because of the fact that they have been thus labeled by the fathers in the tradition handed down to us concerning them, although in the Scriptures greed and the charging of interest on loans are among the things that are prohibited, and the practice of adding things to one’s own estate that belong to some other person by taking advantage of one’s power and ability to oppress others, even though this be done under the pretext of business. Since, therefore, our view has no claim to the authority of canons, and does not deserve to be believed as such, we shall proceed at once to add the canonical judgment in regard to things that have admittedly been prohibited. Theft is divided into robbery and grave robbing. In both cases the object is the same, that of taking what belongs to others. In their opinion, however, there is a great difference between the two. For a robber will take even foul murder into alliance for the purpose in hand, and preparing for this very thing with weapons and with many hands and with opportune places, so that such an offender is liable to the same judgment as the murderer of a man, if as a result of regret he brings himself back to the Church of God. As for one who eludes observation when appropriating things belonging to others by filching them but afterwards in the course of confession reveals his own misdeed to the priest, he shall treat the ailment by concentrating his attention upon what is opposed to the disease. I mean that by giving what he has to the indigent, in order that by disposing of what he visibly owns he may cleanse himself of the disease of greediness. But if he possesses nothing, and has only his body, the apostle bids him to cure such a disease by bodily toil. The words of the passage in question run as follows: “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him toil by doing what is good, in order that he may have something to give to him that is in want” (Ephesians 4:28).

Canon 7 of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
As for grave robbing, this too is divided into pardonable and unpardonable. For if anyone, sparing devoutness, leaves the buried body untouched, so as to prevent the nakedness of its nature from being shown up to the sun, and employs the stones placed in the grave for the purpose of a work of some kind, though neither is this anything meriting praise, yet custom has made it pardonable when the transference of the material results in something preferable and more beneficial to the community. But to search through the dust from the flesh which has been turned into humus and to disarrange the bones, in the hope of recovering some jewelry that may have been buried together with the dead person and of profiting by it, is an offense which has been condemned to the same judgment as plain fornication, as has been explicated in the preceding discourse, the economy, that is to say, having the obligation to ascertain the proper treatment of the offender by investigating his life, so as to commute the duration of the penalty fixed by the canons.

Canon 8 of Saint Gregory of Nyssa
As for sacrilege, in the Old Covenant it was regarded as deserving nothing short of the condemnation inflicted for murder. For both the one who was arrested for murder (Joshua, Chapter 7) and the one who took things dedicated to God suffered alike the punishment of being stoned to death. In the matter of ecclesiastical custom, however, I know not how there has been adopted a more lenient attitude and a certain indulgence, so that purification from such a disease has come to be deemed more tolerable. For the tradition of the fathers has prescribed a sentence for such offenders that amounts to less time than is allotted as the sentence for adultery. But it is everywhere the practice to look upon this offense in the aspect of a misdemeanor, above all with consideration for the sort of disposition shown by the delinquent when he is undergoing treatment, and not to presume the time sufficient for a cure (for what cure is ever the result of time?) but to depend upon the individual will in the reverter to cure himself Having extemporized these observations from the facts at hand, O man of God, at the cost of much endeavor and earnest application for thy benefit, because of the obligation to heed the requests of brethren, we have made haste to send them on to thee in this epistle; as for thee, make the usual prayers to God in our behalf without fail. For thou owest a debt as a grateful son, to the one who begot thee after the manner of God, to take care of him in his old age by means of prayers, in accordance with commandment bidding to “honor parents in order that thou mayest be fortunate and may live on earth for many long years” (Exodus 20:72). It is plain though, that thou wilt accept the letter written to thee as a priestly symbol, and not dishonor this token of friendship, even if it should be something smaller than thy great genius.

HEROIC VERSES OF GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN (4th C.)#

Concerning What Books Are Accepted Scripture

[Epitome: The saint does not include any of the disputed books in his canon of the Old Testament and also excludes Esther and Revelation.]

Be not disposed to treat books with the mind of a thief,
For there are many pieces of viciousness interpolated therein.
Accept this number, my friend, from me as the approved list:
Of historical books there are but twelve all told;
They are the products of the most ancient Hebrew wisdom.
The first one is Genesis, then comes Exodus, then Leviticus,
Followed by Numbers, next by Deuteronomy, or the Second Law,
After which come Joshua, and Judges, and Ruth, which is the eighth;
The ninth and tenth books are the Acts of the Kings;
Then come the two Chronicles, and lastly thou hast Ezra.
The poetical books are five, of which the first is Job,
The next is David (Psalms), followed by the three books of Solomon,
Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, and Proverbs.
And five likewise are of a prophetic spirit.
One book in Scripture is formed of twelve as follows:
Hosea, and Amos, and Micah, which is the third one;
Afterwards come Joel, then Jonah, and then Obdiah;
The next ones are Nahum, and Habakkuk, and Sephoniah;
The last three of them are Haggai, and Zechariah, and Malachi.
These forming one book, the second book is Esaiah.
Afterwards comes the one called Jeremiah in his infancy,
Next there after Ezekiel and the grace of Daniel.
Of the ancient Scripture I have listed twenty-two books;
These writings of the Hebrews are opposed by twenty-two others.
Now let us count those of the New Mystery:
Matthew wrote the miracles of Christ to the Hebrews.
Mark wrote them to Italy, Luke to Achaia,
And to all men John the great preacher who visited heaven.
Afterwards come the Acts of the wise apostles,
Ten books are Paul’s, and so are four epistles.
There are seven Epistles Catholic, of which that of Iakovos is one,
Two are those of Peter, and three are those of John again.
The seventh is that of Jude, and you have them all.
If any be found outside of these, they are not genuine.

VERSES OF SAINT AMPHILOCHIOS (4th C.) ADDRESSED TO SELEUCUS,#

Concerning Which Books Are Accepted Scripture

[Epitome: Not every book considered Scripture is safe, and 22 books of the Old Testament are listed as canonical, although some also approve of Esther; in the New Testament, only three general epistles are accepted (one each of Iakovos, Peter, and John), although some accept seven, and a minority accepts Revelation.]

Nevertheless, there is another thing ye ought to learn
More than anything else. That not every book is safe,
Though possessing the venerable name of Scripture.
For there are, there are indeed at times books
With a false title. Some of them being middle ground and,
So to speak, neighbors bordering upon the word of truth.
Others again are spurious and exceedingly misleading,
Like decorations hung on the breast and counterfeit coins
Which bear the inscription of the emperor, true enough,
But which are proved to be counterfeit by their materials.
Since ye have the grace to ask which books are God-inspired,
Thus shall ye learn clearly each book in order.
I will tell you those of the Old Covenant:
The Pentateuch, comprising Genesis, or Creation, then Exodus,
And containing the Book of Leviticus in the middle;
After which come Numbers, and then the Second Book of Laws.
Add to these Joshua and the Judges.
Afterwards Ruth and the four books of the Kings.
Following these come at least the two books of Chronicles.
Next thereafter the first and the second of Ezra.
Next I will tell you five poetical books.
That of Job, who was crowned with achievements, suffering much,
The Book of Psalms, full of songs to benefit souls;
Three books of Solomon the Wise, comprising Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, and another the Song of Songs.
Right now to these prophets add the twelve I name:
Hosea first, then Amos second,
Micah, Joel, Obdiah, and the type
Of the three days’ Passion called Jonah;
Nahum, and after him Habakkuk; then the ninth
Sephoniah; and next Haggai and Zechariah;
And finally the angel of two names Malachi.
After whom ye shall learn the four great prophets,
Namely, Esaiah the great speaker who speaks out boldly,
Jeremiah, who is sympathetic and mystical,
Ezekiel; and last of all of them Daniel,
The same who is wisest in deeds and words.
In addition to these some approve of Esther.
Of the New Covenant now let me tell you the books.
Accept only four evangelists, and no other ones;
Namely: Matthew, then Mark, and third after these Luke,
Count close, take time, and add to these three
As the fourth one John, but first in sublimity of dogmas;
For I naturally and worthily call him a son of thunder,
Who in speech has sounded loudest and greatest to God.
But accept also the second book of Luke, namely,
That of the catholic Acts of the Apostles.
Thereupon add the ‘chosen vessel,’
The preacher and apostle to the heathen nations,
Paul, who wrote wisely to the churches
Twice seven epistles, and to the Romans one.
To the latter one must conjoin two to the Corinthians,
That to the Galatians, and that to the Ephesians;
After which that to the Philippians, that written
To the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians,
And one each to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon;
Besides which the one wrongly called spurious
To the Hebrews, for the grace of it is genuine.
Well, what about the Epistles Catholic?
Some say there are seven of them, and some only three.
We must accept that of Iakovos as one;
That of Peter as one, of those of John one,
Though some say the three of them, and in addition thereto
They accept the two of Peter; and that of Jude as the seventh
As for the Book of Revelation of John again,
Some approve it, but at least a majority call it spurious.
This should be a most truthful canon of the God-inspired Scriptures.

THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE 18 CANONS OF TIMOTHY (4th C.)#

THE MOST HOLY ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA

[Epitome: Catechumens who unwittingly partake of Communion should be baptized (1), but the demonized cannot be baptized, unless they are dying (2). Those faithful who are possessed by demons, if they are well behaved and do not blaspheme, may partake of Communion only on Sundays (3). Ill catechumens who lose their wits may be baptized, as long as they are not demonized (4). Spouses must abstain from intercourse the day before receiving Communion (5) and on [fast days,] Saturdays, and Sundays (13). A menstruating woman should not be baptized (6) or receive the Eucharist (7). A woman who gives birth during the Great Fast may break the fast in order to strengthen herself (8), as also anyone who is very sick and weak (10). Heretics may not be present in the church during the Anaphora (9). Clergy may not participate in weddings forbidden by the Church (11). A layman who has a wet dream may not receive Communion, unless it was only because of the envy of the devil (12). Suicides cannot be commemorated during church services, unless there was some extenuating circumstance (14). Those who accidentally swallow water while bathing may receive Communion (16), and a man may not divorce his demonized wife (15). We ought to reproach ourselves for our transgressions of God’s word (17). The age at which a child is accountable for his sins before God depends on his knowledge, perhaps ten years or older (18).]

Question 1 of Timothy of Alexandria
If a child of, say, seven years of age, or any adult person, find an opportunity at any place, when the Offering is being made, and unwittingly communes while he is a catechumen, what ought to be done about him?
Answer: He ought to be enlightened. For he has been called by God.

Question 2 of Timothy of Alexandria
If a person possessed of demons is a catechumen, and he himself wishes, or his own people want him, to receive Holy Baptism, ought he to receive it or not, and especially if he be at the point of death?
Answer: Unless a person possessed of demons be cleansed from the unclean spirit, he cannot receive Holy Baptism. He may be baptized at the time of his departure [from life].

Question 3 of Timothy of Alexandria
If anyone who is a believer is possessed of a demon, ought he to partake of the holy Mysteries or not?
Answer: If he does not repudiate the Mystery, nor otherwise in any way blaspheme, let him have Communion, not, however, every day in the week; for it is sufficient for him on the Lord’s Day only.

Question 4 of Timothy of Alexandria
If any catechumen, while ill, becomes out of his mind, and is unable to confess the Faith, and his own people beg to have him receive Holy Baptism while he is still alive, ought he to receive it, or not?
Answer: He ought to receive it if he is not influenced by an unclean spirit.

Question 5 of Timothy of Alexandria
If a woman has coition with her husband during the night, or as likely as not, a man with his wife, and a church meeting ensues, ought they to partake of Communion or not`?
Answer: They ought not to do so, because the apostle says emphatically: “Do not defraud one other except by mutual consent for a time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; and then come together again so that Satan not tempt you in your incontinency” (I Corinthians 7:5).

Question 6 of Timothy of Alexandria
If a woman who is a catechumen has given her name in order to be enlightened, and on the day appointed for the Baptism she incurs the plight (cycle) which regularly afflicts women, ought she to be enlightened on that day or defer, and how long ought she to defer?
Answer: She ought to defer until she has been purified.

Question 7 of Timothy of Alexandria
If a woman finds herself in the plight peculiar to her sex, ought she to come to the Mysteries on that day or not?
Answer: She ought not to do so until she has been purified.

Question 8 of Timothy of Alexandria
If a woman give birth before Pascha does she have to fast and not drink any wine, or is she released from the fasting and from the obligation not to drink wine, on account of her having given birth to a child?
Answer: Fasting was devised in order to humble the body. If, therefore, the body is already in a state of humbleness and illness or weakness, the person ought to partake of as much as he or she may wish and be able to get along with food and drink.

Question 9 of Timothy of Alexandria
Whether a clergyman ought to pray when Arians or other heretics are present, or does it not matter, at a time when he himself is making the prayer, that is to say, the Offering?
Answer: In the divine Anaphora, or Offering, the deacon addresses the congregation before the embrace, saying: “Those of you who are not in communion, depart.” There ought not, therefore, to be any persons present such as those mentioned, unless they promise to repent and to leave the heresy.

Question 10 of Timothy of Alexandria
If anyone is ill and emaciated very much as a result of long illness and he comes to holy Pascha (the Great Fast), ought he to fast without fail or may the clergyman release him and let him take any food he can, or even olive oil and wine, on account of his severe illness?
Answer: The sick person ought to be released and to be allowed to partake of food and drink so far as he is able to do so. For it is only just and right to let a person that has once become emaciated to partake of olive oil.

Question 11 of Timothy of Alexandria
If anyone calls a clergyman to celebrate a wedding, but he is told that the marriage is an unlawful one, or marriage to an uncle, or, that is to say, that it is one in which the sister of a dead wife is about to be married, should the clergyman consent or make an offering?
Answer: Once, you said, a clergyman hears that a wedding is unlawful, well, then, if the marriage is one that is unlawful, of course the clergyman ought not to participate in the sins of other persons.

Question 12 of Timothy of Alexandria
If a layman who has had a wet dream ask a clergyman to let him partake of Communion, ought the clergyman to administer Communion to him or not?
Answer: If it is a case of desiring a woman, he ought not. But if it was Satan tempting him in order to provide an excuse for excluding him from Communion of the divine Mysteries, the clergyman ought to administer Communion to him, since the tempter will not cease attacking during the time when he ought to partake of Communion.

Question 13 of Timothy of Alexandria
What days of the week ought to be assigned to those who are conjoined in marriage for them to abstain from communion with each other? And on what days ought they to have it?
Answer: Though I have already answered this question, I will answer now once more. The apostle says. “Do not defraud one another, unless it be for a time by mutual agreement, in order that ye may devote yourselves to prayer” (I Corinthians 7:5). And again: “Come together again, that Satan may tempt you in your incontinency” (ibid.). But one must necessarily abstain on Saturday and the Lord’s Day, on account of the fact that on these days the spiritual Sacrifice is being offered to the Lord.

Question 14 of Timothy of Alexandria
If anyone having no control of himself lays violent hands on himself or hurls himself to destruction, should an Offering be made for him or not?
Answer: The clergyman ought to discern in his behalf whether he was actually and truly out of his mind when he did it. For oftentimes those who are interested in the victim and want to have him accorded an Offering and a prayer in his behalf will deliberately lie and assert that he had no control of himself. Sometimes, however, he did it as a result of influence exercised by other men, or somehow otherwise as a result of paying too little attention to circumstances, and no Offering ought to be made in his behalf. It is incumbent, therefore, upon the clergyman in any case to investigate the matter accurately, in order to avoid incurring judgment.

Question 15 of Timothy of Alexandria
If a wife is so betaken of spirits that she will wear irons, while her husband says, “I cannot contain myself, and I want to take another wife,” ought he to take another or not?
Answer: Adultery is involved in this matter, and I have no reply to make concerning it, nor can I find any by cogitating it.

Question 16 of Timothy of Alexandria
If anyone fasting with a view to Communion while washing his mouth, or in the bath, has swallowed water involuntarily, ought he to commune?
Answer: Yes. Since Satan has found an occasion whereby to prevent him from partaking of Communion, he will keep on doing this more frequently.

Question 17 of Timothy of Alexandria
Seeing that we frequently listen to God’s word but fail to do it, are we therefore by logical inference under condemnation?
Answer: Even though we fail to do it, yet we ought not to fail to blame ourselves for our failure to obey when we are told what to do. Blaming ourselves is a part of our salvation.

Question 18 of Timothy of Alexandria
From what age on are sins judged by God?
Answer: Depending on the knowledge and prudence of each particular human being: some from the age of ten and up, and others only when older.

THE FOURTEEN CANONS
OF ARCHBISHOP THEOPHILOS OF ALEXANDRIA (4th C.)#

[Epitome: If the eve of Theophany falls on a Sunday, which is a festal day, we should eat some fruit instead of fasting entirely from food (1). Bishops who have joined in communion with heretics should be deposed, but clemency may be used depending on the circumstances (2). A priest guilty of past sexual sins must be deposed (3), but deposed clergy may appeal their case (4). A man who had married his niece may remain a clergyman only if he has had no intercourse with her after his Baptism (5). A reader must be deposed for fornication, but a careful investigation should be made (6). Ordinations may not be performed clandestinely (7). Extra wine and bread that was not used for the Eucharist should be consumed only by the clergy and the faithful, not any unbaptized person (8). Clergy can only be condemned with the testimony of trustworthy witnesses (9). A church needs a steward to manage its funds (10), and the poor should be afforded every comfort, but none may appropriate for himself the property of the Church (11). Converts to the Church may be ordained (12), and those involved in unlawful marriages must separate and fulfill a penance (13), as do those who seize the property of others (14).]

Canon 1 of Theophilos of Alexandria
Both custom and propriety require us to honor every Lord’s Day and to celebrate it as a feast, since it was in fact on that day that our Lord Jesus Christ pioneered for us the Resurrection from the dead. That is why in the sacred Scriptures it has been called also “the first day,” on the ground that it means to us a commencement of life, and also “the eighth day,” with especial reference to the fact that it has superseded the sabbatism of the Jews. Inasmuch, then, as it has happened to fall on the fast day of Holy Theophany, let us spend it economically, and acquit ourselves prudently with regard to each of the two, in order that by partaking of a few dates we may thwart the heresies that do not honor the resurrection day of the Lord Jesus Christ, and at the same time pay due respect to the fast day by awaiting the evening synaxis, which, God willing, is to be held here. Let us therefore assemble here at the ninth hour.

Canon 2 of Theophilos of Alexandria
As regards those who have entered into communion with the Arians and are holding possession down to this day of the churches, let them be treated in accordance with custom, provided, however, that others be appointed who are probably in Orthodoxy, and those be left in the fold and treated precisely as the Orthodox bishops in the Thebaid have done in other cities. As for those who were appointed by Apollo the bishop and who have entered into communion with the Arians holding the churches, let them be disciplined if, at any rate, they have done so of their own accord; but if in obedience to their own bishop, let them remain in the fold, on the ground that they failed to realize the unreasonableness of the matter. And if all the people repudiate these men together with the others, let different ones be ordained; but if they want them together with those with whom they have entered into communion, let these persons too be dealt with in accordance with the custom adopted by all the Orthodox bishops in the Thebaid.

Canon 3 of Theophilos of Alexandria
As regards Bistus, who was appointed a priest in Erebe, he must be looked into. And if he [in the past] raped a woman who had repudiated her husband while he was alive, let him not be allowed to be a priest anywhere; not even as a layman ought he to be gathered in, it being the custom of the Church to separate such persons. But this does not entail any prejudice to Bishop Apollo if he appointed him as a result of ignorance, the holy synod having bidden that the unworthy, after ordination, shall be expelled when found guilty of any crime.

Canon 4 of Theophilos of Alexandria
As concerning Sur, since Bishop Apollo has acted to have it verified and dismissed him and has estranged him from the church, let it be as the bishop has decided. If he wishes to have recourse to the privilege of justifying himself and finds fault with the decision of the bishop, he may do so.

Canon 5 of Theophilos of Alexandria
As regards Panuph, who was appointed a deacon in Lycopolis, an inquiry must be made. And if it be found that this man while a catechumen accepted his own niece in a matrimonial relationship but after Baptism was admitted to the clergy, let him remain in the clergy if it be that he has slept with her but after the Baptism he had no matrimonial relationship with her. But if he accepted his same niece in a matrimonial relationship while he was a believer, let him be estranged from the clergy. Bishop Apollo incurs no detrimental prejudice if he appointed him as a result of ignorance.

Canon 6 of Theophilos of Alexandria
As regards Jacob, he must be investigated. For if he was a reader and was proved guilty of the crime of fornication and was expelled by the priests but has been thereafter ordained, let him be expelled when a strict examination has been made, and not on the basis of mere suspicion due to whispering or speaking evil of him. But if he cannot be found liable, let him remain in the clergy accountable for whatever he may have done. For no attention ought to be paid to vain slander.

Canon 7 of Theophilos of Alexandria
As concerns those who are about to be ordained, let the following form be observed: all the priesthood is to agree and choose [the ordinand], and then the bishop is to lend his approval. And with the priesthood consenting to it, let him be ordained in the midst of the church with the laity present and the bishop delivering his inaugural address, though the laity may also stand witness thereto. But let no ordination be performed clandestinely. For when the Church is at peace, ordinations must be performed in the presence of the holy men and in church. If, however, in the parish those who have communed are some of those who share the views of those who have communed, let them not be ordained otherwise but with the approval of the truly Orthodox clergymen, with the bishop again present and delivering an address, and in the presence of the laity, only unless there has been some misstep.

Canon 8 of Theophilos of Alexandria
As to the things offered for the purpose of a sacrifice, whatever remains after the consumption of what is needed for the Mysteries, let the clerics distribute it; and let no catechumen either eat or drink thereof, but rather the clerics and the faithful brethren with them.

Canon 9 of Theophilos of Alexandria
Since Hierax says that this man, as though calumniously accused of fornication, ought not to be in the clergy, while Bishop Apollo maintains that no accuser has brought any such charges against him in the open, let this man too be examined, and if any accuser turns up that is worthy of belief and the crime is proved by adducing trustworthy witnesses, let him be expelled from the Church. But if he is worthy of the clergy and is attested for sobriety and sensibleness, let him remain therein.

Canon 10 of Theophilos of Alexandria
It is further decreed that it is the consensus of all the priesthood that another steward must be appointed, to which Bishop Apollo also assents, for the purpose of ensuring that the income of the church shall be expended properly.

Canon 11 of Theophilos of Alexandria
Let widows and indigents and sojourning strangers enjoy every comfort and let no one appropriate to himself the property of the Church.

Of the same, to Bishop Aphyngius (or Aphryngius), concerning the so-called Cathari

Canon 12 of Theophilos of Alexandria
Your Reverence has stated to me that some of those who call themselves Cathari are willing to join the Church. Since, therefore, the synod held in Nicaea by our blissful fathers has prescribed that those joining may be ordained, be you willing in accordance with this arrangement to ordain those who are willing to join the Church, at least if their life is correct and there is nothing to oppose them.

Of the same, to Bishop Agatho

Canon 13 of Theophilos of Alexandria
Being ignorant of the laws of the Church, Maximos insisted upon contracting an unlawful marriage; and since his being without a congregation annoys him, he has promised (since he committed the unlawful act unwittingly) to abstain from the unlawful cohabitation by mutual consent and agreement, and she also likes this. If, therefore, you ascertain by actual test that they are doing so by agreement and are not deceiving us (since the time is ten years), and if you see fit to admit them to the status of catechumens so far, govern accordingly. But if you see that they are trying to deceive us, and that their plight requires further discouragement, do whatever God suggests to you, being everywhere guided towards restraint. For inasmuch as you are in the locality you are better able to discern their state of mind.

Of the same, to Bishop Menas

Canon 14 of Theophilos of Alexandria
The priests in the village of Geminum have done a lawful thing if Efstathia, the bearer of the letter, is telling the truth. For she alleges that Kyrradius has been separated from the congregation or synaxis, on the ground that she has been treating others unjustly and refuses to desist from the injustice (stealing). Since, therefore, I have discovered that she is willing to mend her ways by remedying the evil of her own making, do you be willing to prepare her to first forgo injustice entirely and to be persuaded to repent and change her mind, in order that in this manner, if you see that she is adhering to the law of God, with a craving for the synaxis, to permit her to congregate together with the laity.

THE FIVE CANONS
OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS KYRIL, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA (5th C.)#

Into which are divided his canonical epistles to Domnus of Antioch and to the bishops in Libya

[Epitome: A bishop’s case must be tried by his fellow bishops, reverent men who are above suspicion in the trial (1), and the money of the accused should not be seized beforehand, for every bishop has power over the finances of his own church, though he should not sell Church property or valuables (2). Bishops cannot resign (3), and only worthy men, after investigation, should be ordained clergy, so as not to scandalize the laity (4). Catechumens who, due to some sin, have been separated from their peers may be baptized if they are dying (5).]

His Canonical Epistle to Domnus

Canon 1 of Saint Kyril
Every one of our ecclesiastical affairs when straightened out in conformity with canonical discipline, instead of causing us any embarrassment, actually relieves us from the disparaging remarks of some persons and rather gains us the commendation of right-thinking persons. For who would not accept an impartial decision to which in fact many persons have come? Or who will deny that to judge rightly and in keeping with the law is not reprehensible but rather merits praise? Accordingly, I am writing these things now because in the very letters sent to me, as well as those sent to our most devout and God beloved brother and fellow Bishop Proklos, your reverence does indeed call most reverent and God-beloved Peter a bishop, but as for him, he is weeping and asserting that he has been illegally dispossessed of the church which had been allotted to him. It would be worthy either to let him have the divine reality along with the name of Holy Orders or, at any rate, if in fact he were not worthy to officiate at the divine altar, not even to let him be honored with the title of bishop. But perhaps my words may seem to your reverence to be cruel and not brotherly; but it is not so in point of fact. For though we may possibly think that we treated the old man mercifully by leaving him the title alone, yet it would be far better to look at the matter from a different point of view. For he alleges that he would be able to sustain his own reputation but has not received a chance to plead his cause, neither has been granted so much as a canonical hearing. But if any such thing had occurred, the very tenor of the reporter’s notes would have proved him either guilty of the charges found in the verdict, and so he would have no ground for saying that he had been wronged, or at least after pronouncing him innocent, it would have restored to him the right to officiate in his church, or it would even have been placed in his own hands. But nothing of the kind having been done, he loudly reprobates the fact and claims to have suffered an unendurable injustice and to have been ousted without cause; he further adds that all the money he had was seized. Let your reverence, therefore, understanding as you do both what seems best suited to the divine laws and what befits the Church and those appointed to the Divine Liturgy, but furthermore also being inclined to pay deference to the letters from me, stop the old man’s tears. And if he should choose to be tried facing those who are bringing the charges against him, let him be tried in accordance with the usual procedure before your reverence and in the presence of the very reverent bishops under his hand, unless he should object to some of them on suspicion; for we do not believe any of the very reverent bishops to bear animosity against a brother. But lest this become a pretext stifling the trial to be held in regard to him, to avoid any appearance of not giving him a fair trial, it will do no harm to have some of the persons who are under suspicion stay away from the synod.

Canon 2 of Saint Kyril
As for the money unjustly taken away from him, justice may be done in two ways. First, it is to be observed that no such thing ought to have been done at all, and that deeply grieves and utterly disgusts the very reverent bishops throughout the world to have an account of finances be demanded of the expenses incurred by them, whether it be such as are derived from the income of the churches or such as result from any other source of profit. For every one of us will have to give an account to the Judge of all things as respects his own times and opportunities. For, as touching [sacred] jewelry and real estate, these must be preserved and exempt from sale for the churches; but those having charge of the divine priesthood from time to time ought to be trusted with the finances required for incidental expenses.

Canon 3 of Saint Kyril
As for resignation, documents not made of one’s own free will but due to coercion and fear and the threats of certain individuals, which, he says, caused him to hand over his resignation—and from a different point of view, it is a fact that it is not agreeable to the customs and institutions of the Church for “resignation libelli” to be offered by any of the sacred functionaries. For if they are worthy to officiate at the Liturgy, let them stay there; but if they are unworthy, let them not get out by resigning when they rather deserve to be condemned for things that, if anyone were to noise them abroad, would show that they were standing off their line of duty entirely. Tell the brotherhood with you: you are greeted by the one with us in the Lord.

Of the same saint, to the bishops all over Libya and Pentapolis.

Canon 4 of Saint Kyril
Care must be taken to do everything useful and necessary for the edification of the laity and contributive to the repute of the holy churches. For it is written, that “ye shall make the sons of Israel reverent” (Leviticus 15:31). Thus fathers of monasteries all over the province of Thebes, who are pious men and have a way of life that is not without wonder, having come to Alexandria and being asked by me regarding the condition of the monasteries there, reported that many persons were being scandalized on account thereof. Some newlyweds as though just stepping down from their bridal chambers grab some of the very reverent bishops, and without there being anyone around to tell what was going on they get themselves ordained clergy, or, at any rate, priests. Some others, moreover, being ousted from the monasteries as disorderly, again succeed in undergoing ordination and, becoming clerics, re-enter even the monasteries from which they had been expelled. And they insist upon offering whatever services it is customary for clerics to perform and to do these to such an extent as to disgust those knowing them and to cause them to abandon even the synaxes and not to bear to commune when those persons are officiating at the Liturgy. Since, therefore, for the edification of laity, as I have said, everything must be done by us, let your reverence bear these facts in mind; and if anyone should be about to be ordained a clergyman, let your reverence scrutinize his life and see whether he ever had a wife or not and how and when he got her, and when he might have abstained from her and whether he may not be one of the men ousted either by some other very reverent bishop or by some monastery; and let him be ordained only after he is found to be free from any and every accusation. For let us thus keep our own conscience clear and the sacred and venerable Liturgy free from any and every accusation.

Canon 5 of Saint Kyril
If some persons patiently enduring separation after being disciplined and penalized for offenses are about to die, at a time when they are catechumens, let them be baptized, and let them not be removed from mankind while they are destitute of grace or, at any rate, Holy Communion. For it seems but right to attend to this congruently to the customs and institutions and rules and regulations of the Church.

THE CANONICAL AND ENCYCLICAL EPISTLE#

to all the most devout metropolitans, and to the Pope of Rome or, in other words, the canon of Saint Gennadios, Patriarch of Constantinople, and of the synod sitting with him (459)

[Epitome: Simony is condemned.]

Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, after handing over the preaching of the Gospel to His holy disciples and sending them forth over the whole inhabited earth as teachers, gave an express command that what they had received from Him freely they were to impart the same to men freely, without charging therefore any copper or silver or gold, or any other thing of material or earthly value whatever. For, can it be said that earthly and transient things are any compensation for heavenly and spiritual gifts? He gave this commandment not only to those men, but also to us through them, whom He accounted worthy to install in their rank and stead. Accordingly, it now befits us, precisely as it did them at that time, to keep it and to observe it exactly and strictly, and not to try to garble things that cannot be garbled, nor to cast a die fraught with perils. “Freely ye received,” He says, “freely give.” (Matthew 10:8). “Take no copper, nor silver, nor gold for your purses” (Matthew 10:9). The words of this commandment are simple and clear, involving nothing bizarre, nor difficult of attainment, nor in need of any garbling explanation. From me, He says, ye received the office of the priesthood: if ye paid anything for it to Me, much or little, that too has been sold to you by Me, and you in turn must sell it to others; but if you received it gratis, give it gratis yourselves too. What is clearer than this commandment? Moreover, what is more advantageous to those obeying it? Woe, indeed, to those who obtain the gift of God or give it for money received! For such persons are “in the gall of bitterness and in the clutch of injustice” (Acts 8:23), according to the asseveration of Saint Peter, captured by their own avarice. Hence the canon concerning this of the devout and blissful fathers of the great and holy Ecumenical Synod held in Chalcedon accords with this law of the Lord’s, since it has been clearly enunciated to us in the following words: “If any bishop should ordain anyone for money and make merchandise of the unvendible grace and perform for money the ordination of a bishop, of a chorepiscopus, of a priest, of a deacon, or of anyone else numbered among the clergy; or should nominate any steward, ekdikus, or paramonarius, or anyone else that belongs to the canon, for money, with the object of making a shameful profit for himself let him who is found guilty of having undertaken this incur the peril of losing his own rank; and let him who has been thus ordained have no benefit from such traffic in ordinations or nominations, but on the contrary, let him be without any claim upon the dignity or job which in fact he has thus obtained by means of money. If, furthermore, anyone should even appear as a middleman or factor or intermediary for such shameful and illicit deals, let him too, if he be a cleric, forfeit his own rank; but if he be a layman or a monk, let him be anathematized.” The commandments of the canons of the holy fathers are very fine and eminently pious, repelling and checking every Satanic assault and every diabolic argument brought to bear against the spiritual gift. It will nowise allow a nomination for ordination to be effected through the use of money, or to be received, either by the one performing it or by the one receiving the nomination for ordination; but neither before the time of the ordination, nor after this time of ordination will it allow money to be given for the ordination, for it has generally forbidden bribery with this design. Nevertheless, since nowadays, notwithstanding that these things are manifestly prohibited, some persons in the land of the Galatians have been caught in the act of disregarding and transgressing these salutary and philanthropic commandments on account of their shameful greediness for profits and their avariciousness, it has seemed well to us too again to renew these very same commandments together with the holy synod having its home in this imperial city of New Rome, so as, without any artifice, or any pretext, or any sophistry, to cut out entirely the impious and abominable custom which, I know not how, has crept into the most holy churches, in order that, once the pronouncement upon the ordinands by the prelates has been made uncommercial and pure, the grace of the Holy Spirit may descend upon him from above. As matters stand nowadays, at any rate, I know not whether the grace of the Holy Spirit actually descends upon the candidate in accordance with the utterance of the proclamation and that it does not rather recoil from those making the nomination in exchange for money and not acting cleanly with their hands. Be apprised, therefore of everything, your reverence. Let everyone, therefore, that is caught doing such a thing, whether he be a bishop, or a chorepiscopus, or an itinerant, or priest, or deacon, or anyone else whosoever of the canon, or a layman, be condemned by common fiat of the prelates and by common consent. Just as concerning this the canon of the holy fathers has already declared. For grace must be grace, and money must nowhere have any influence with it. Let him therefore be and he is proscribed and shorn of every priestly dignity and function and is subject to the curse of the anathema whosoever presumes to obtain this by means of money, and whosoever promises to bestow this for money, whether he be a clergyman or a layman, and whether he be exposed or not be exposed doing so. For there is no possibility of reconciling things that are irreconcilable; neither can mammon agree with God, nor can those serving it serve God. This is also an indisputable pronouncement of the Lord’s. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Taking courage from these facts and yielding to them according to our ability, we too, together with the One Who asserted them, have made the pronouncement against those who transgress the law in such a fashion. But let your devoutness also take care, by resorting to every precaution, to make these facts plain by means of copies both to the most God-beloved bishops and itinerants under you and to all the others, in order that all of us Christians, with one spirit and one soul, may join hands in this matter and prevail against the common enemy with God’s help and cut out this root of avarice which the fiend has implanted in us, at the same time and together therewith cutting out also all the actual offshoots of the evils. We greet all the brotherhood with you in Christ. Please pray robustly for us in the Lord, most God-beloved brother. This epistolary discourse was signed by Gennadios himself in particular and by seventy-three bishops (or eighty-one).

THE THIRTY-FIVE CANONS
OF SAINT JOHN THE FASTER (6th C.)#

[Epitome: The duration of a penance may be reduced if the penitent will abstain from wine or meat or dairy or fish or olive oil or make prostrations or give alms or become a monastic (1). Wrestling with thoughts either deserves commendation, if an evil thought is contradicted, or censure if one consents to a demonic suggestion (4), which is the first cause of penance (5). The assault of a lustful thought is not given a penance (2), but the saint lists penances for presumption (3), a nocturnal emission (6), an emission while awake (7), masturbation of laity (8) and clergy (10), masturbation of two men (9), fornication (12), adultery (13), incest (14), intercourse with an in-law (15, 16), receiving Communion while menstruating (17), homosexuality (18), voluntary and involuntary manslaughter (20), abortion (21), miscarriage (22), suffocating a baby while sleeping (23), permitting an infant to die without Baptism (24), abandoning a baby (26), concealing the deadly sin of another (25), theft (27), grave robbing (29), sacrilege (30), perjury (31), sorcery, making amulets, and fortune-telling (32), willingly drinking something from a source that has been polluted by an unclean animal (34), and vomiting after Communion (35). A woman may not allow herself to be kissed and embraced by a man (11). A sodomized boy may not be ordained (19), nor a robber (28), and women under penance are excluded from Communion but not from the congregation (33). And another manuscript also has penances for intercourse with a stepmother, with a mother and daughter together, homosexuality with a relative or in-law, repeated incest, intercourse with a goddaughter or god-parent or cousin or heathen or Jew or Turk or heretic or eunuch, repeated bestiality, a man who sodomizes his wife, and adulterous wives of priests or deacons (and the latter must either be deposed or separate from their wives).]

Canon 1 (or Apology) of Saint John the Faster
The fact that we reduce the number of years of penitence will not seem to be out of keeping with reason to those, I presume, who can reason aright. For since neither in the great father Basil, nor furthermore in the more ancient of our marvelous fathers has any fasting or vigil or genuflection numerically been fixed for sinners but merely abstinence from the sacred Communion, we have concluded that it behooves us, in regard to those persons who are genuinely repentant and will to subject their flesh to the infliction of hardships, and to lead a life gratefully that will counterbalance their previous wickedness, according to the measure of their continence to countermeasure to them also a curtailment of the term of penitence. For instance, if anyone consented not to drink wine on determinate days, we decided to subtract one year from the sentence fixed by the fathers for the expiation of their offense. Likewise if he promises temperance in respect of meat for a time, we have seen fit to deduct another year; if in respect of cheese and eggs, or of fish, or of olive oil, and so on in each particular case of temperance in respect of any one of these articles, to remove a year. Nor is this all, but even he chooses to appease the Deity by frequently repeated prostrations, to do likewise, and especially if he exhibits a willingness to provide generous alms without straining his power, or overtaxing his ability. If, on the other hand, even after the lapse anyone has come under the God-pleasing and solitary life, we have seen fit to shorten still further his sentence, seeing that throughout (the rest of) his life he is destined to suffer harsh treatment such as becomes such a course of living.

Canon 2 of Saint John the Faster
An assault of sensual pleasure against the heart by thought is to be regarded as a sin not yet committed and not subject to the least penance.

Canon 3 of Saint John the Faster
Presumption: it is washed away with twelve metanias (prostrations).

Canon 4 of Saint John the Faster
The wrestling [with a thought], deserves a crown or a punishment.

Canon 5 of Saint John the Faster
Consent is the cause and origin of penances.

Canon 6 of Saint John the Faster
Anyone who has been polluted in sleep by reason of an emission of semen shall be denied Communion for one day; but after chanting the fiftieth Psalm and making forty-nine metanias, it is believed that he will thus be purified.

Canon 7 of Saint John the Faster
But one who has been polluted in body while awake is excluded from Communion for seven days, having also to chant the fiftieth Psalm and to make forty-nine metanias.

Canon 8 of Saint John the Faster
Anyone having committed masturbation is penalized forty days, during which he must keep himself alive by xerophagy (uncooked food) and must do one hundred metanias every day.

Canon 9 of Saint John the Faster
As for intercourse of men with one another, such as practicing double masturbation, it received the stated penance of up to eighty days.

Canon 10 of Saint John the Faster
If anyone among the clergy, before being admitted to Holy Orders, fell into the commission of masturbation without thinking perhaps that on this account alone he would be dismissed from the priesthood, let him first be sufficiently penanced and then let him be inducted into Holy Orders. But if he was caught doing this after admission to the priesthood, after being suspended for a whole year for this and being soberized with the usual penances, let him be readmitted to the priesthood. But if after realizing the sinfulness of it, he committed this offense twice or thrice, then, after being dismissed from the priesthood, let him come into the class of reader.

Canon 11 of Saint John the Faster
But for women as well, if any of them has allowed herself to be kissed and felt by man, without, however, being ravished by him, let her receive the penalty provided for masturbation.

Canon 12 of Saint John the Faster
Upon every monk or layman that has committed fornication we impose exclusion from Communion for two years, provided he consents to submit to xerophagy after the ninth hour (3pm) and to do two hundred and fifty metanias; but if he neglects to do so, let him fulfill the whole term fixed by the fathers.

Canon 13 of Saint John the Faster
We demand that an adulterer shall partake of Communion after three years, without shunning xerophagy after the ninth hour, but also doing 250 metanias per day. If he is disposed, however, to indolence in this matter, let him wait for the end of the term fixed by the fathers.

Canon 14 of Saint John the Faster
As for a man who has insanely attacked his own sister, we bid him to be deemed to be worthy of Communion after three years, provided he chooses to fast until evening and accepts xerophagy and does five hundred metanias daily.

Canon 15 of Saint John the Faster
As for a man who has mingled carnally with his sister-in-law or his daughter-in-law, we exclude him from Communion for two years provided he agrees to xerophagy after the ninth hour and to do three hundred metanias daily. But if he is a slave to negligence, let him fulfill the years specified by the fathers.

Canon 16 of Saint John the Faster
Any man who insanely attacks his own mother-in-law, without getting separated from his wife, is liable to the same penalties, in accordance with the law saying: “What is established on a sure basis to begin with is not invalidated by later happenings.”

Canon 17 of Saint John the Faster
As for menstruating women, let them not touch holy things for as many as seven days, as the Second Canon of Saint Dionysios but in particular the Seventh Canon of Timothy bids. This is also what the old Law ordered, but neither did it permit them to mingle with men; for it happens on this account that the seeds sown become weak and evanescent. Hence it was that divine Moses ordered the father of a defective to be stoned to death, on the ground that on account of his intemperance he failed to await the purification of his wife. But as for a woman who has been so scornful of the same uncleanness during this period and has touched the divine Mysteries, they bid her to remain without communion for forty days.

Canon 18 of Saint John the Faster
It has seemed advisable to exclude any man who has been so mad as to copulate with another man from Communion for three years, weeping and fasting, and towards evening confined to xerophagy, and doing two hundred metanias. But as for one who prefers to relax, let him fulfill the fifteen years.

Canon 19 of Saint John the Faster
A boy who has been ruined in front of any man cannot come into Holy Orders. For although on account of his immature age he did not sin himself, yet his vessel was rent and became useless in connection with sacred services. If, however, he received the ejaculation between his thighs, after being suitably penanced he shall not be barred from preferment to Holy Orders.

Canon 20 of Saint John the Faster
As for voluntary manslaughter, we exclude him from Communion for a space of five years, but as for involuntary manslaughter, for a space of three years, provided, after the ordeal of fasting until evening, the murderer confines himself to extreme xerophagy and consents to do three hundred metanias daily. But if he is sluggishly disposed, let the prescript of the fathers be fulfilled.

Canon 21 of Saint John the Faster
As for women who destroy embryos professionally, and those who give or take poisons with the object of aborting babies and dropping them prematurely, we prescribe the rule that they be treated economically up to five or even three years at most.

Canon 22 of Saint John the Faster
A woman who involuntarily has expelled a baby through miscarriage, receives her penalty of a year.

Canon 23 of Saint John the Faster
A woman, on the other hand, who overlies her baby and smothers it is deemed to deserve Communion after three years if she abstains from meats on the express days and from cheese and sedulously performs the rest of the requirements. Though if this happened as a result of the indolence or intemperance of the parents, it is very much like voluntary murder; but if it resulted from a plot of the adversary, the matter deserves a pardon. Nevertheless, even this latter case needs moderate penalties. For the abandonment [of God’s grace] was due to other [parental] misdemeanors.

Canon 24 of Saint John the Faster
When an unbaptized child dies owing to negligence on the part of its own parents, the parents are to be excluded from Communion for three years, and obliged to get along with xerophagy during this time and to propitiate the Deity on bent knees with protracted weeping and alms proportionate to their ability, while doing every day forty metanias.

Canon 25 of Saint John the Faster
If a nun becomes aware that other nuns are guilty of adultery or of child destruction and fails to reveal the fact to her superior, she is to get the same penalty as the one who actually committed the offense, according to Canon 71 of Basil the Great.

Canon 26 of Saint John the Faster
Women who expose their babies at the entrance to churches are chastised as murderesses, even though some persons picking them up take care of them.

Canon 27 of Saint John the Faster
As for a thief who voluntarily repents, we exclude him from Communion for 40 days; but as for one who has been detected and exposed, he is to be excluded for as long as six months, confined to xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing one hundred metanias daily.

Canon 28 of Saint John the Faster
A man found guilty of highway robbery in connection with so-called capital thievery cannot come into Holy Orders; but even if after coming into these he should fall into the offense, he is to be deprived of Holy Orders altogether, in accordance with Canon 25 of the Holy Apostles.

Canon 29 of Saint John the Faster
We prescribe that a grave robber remain excluded from Communion for one year and do two hundred metanias every day.

Canon 30 of Saint John the Faster
Sacrilege is chastised by a lesser term than adultery, according to Saint Gregory of Nyssa; and it is economized up to three years.

Canon 31 of Saint John the Faster
Persons who under stress of necessity (or in the absence of any necessity) have committed perjury, we have presumed to be required to postpone Communion for one year, confining themselves to xerophagy after the ninth hour, and doing two hundred and fifty metanias daily.

Canon 32 of Saint John the Faster
To those professing enchantry or sorcery, we curtail the economy to three years of penitence, provided they cheerfully consent to attach supreme importance to fasting every day and to subsist on hard and dry food after the ninth hour and to live as inartificially as possible and, furthermore, to execute two hundred and fifty adoratory salutations, reverently resting their forehead upon the ground. On a par with these persons we also set those women who make amulets and carry on the occupation of fortune-telling.

Canon 33 of Saint John the Faster
Neither a laywoman nor a nun can be separated for any offense whatsoever against the Church except only from Communion. For the canon asserts that we are doing this merely in order to prevent many of them from laying violent hands on themselves out of shame, precisely as neither a priest nor a deacon, owing to the precept, “You shall not exact vengeance twice for the same offense” (Nahum 1:9).

Canon 34 of Saint John the Faster
In case anything unclean falls into a well, or into olive oil, or into wine, let whoever has taken a taste thereof not touch meat and cheese for three days; and let him not commune for seven days.

Canon 35 of Saint John the Faster
Anyone who vomited after partaking of the divine Communion shall abstain from divine Communion for 40 days, singing the 50th Psalm every day and doing 50 metanias, no matter how this may have happened. For even though he may think that he has no responsibility, yet at least it is certain that this adversity was cast in his way on purpose by the Almighty due to some other trespass.

Note that the Canonicon of the Faster has been found in a manuscript codex containing also the penalties herein below set forth, except, that is to say, those mentioned by Blastaris.

If any man shall lie with his stepmother, he is to be penalized three years, fasting, that is to say, until evening, and making xerophagy his fare and doing five hundred prostrations every day.

If he lie with mother and daughter in the same place and at the same time, he shall be penalized four years, faring with xerophagy after the ninth hour, and doing three hundred prostrations every day.

If any man engage in arsenoeoetia (homosexuality) with two brothers, he is to be penalized likewise.

If any man commit arsenocoetia with his brother-in-law, he is to be penalized four years, faring with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing two hundred prostrations every day.

If any man commit arsenocoetia with his brother, he shall be penalized for eight years, faring with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing four hundred prostrations every day.

If a young brother undergo arsenocoetia performed by an older brother, without performing it himself, he shall be penalized for three years, faring with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing a hundred prostrations.

If any man lie with his daughter once, he shall be penalized five years; but if more than once, six years and seven, faring with xerophagy after the ninth hour, and doing daily five hundred prostrations.

If any man lie with his mother once, he shall be penalized seven years; but if he do so many times, twelve years, faring with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing five hundred prostrations.

If any man lie only once with his daughter born of Holy Baptism, he shall be penalized eight years; but if more than once, ten years, with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing five hundred prostrations.

If any man lie with his spiritual relative (from being a god-parent), he shall be penalized eight years, with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing three hundred prostrations daily.

If any man lie with a beast many times, when he has a wife, he shall be penalized eight years; but if he had no wife, and did so only once or twice or three times at the most, he shall be penanced three years, with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing three hundred metanias.

The same penalties are to be received by a woman who lies with a beast.

If any man lie with his female first cousin, he shall be penalized two years, with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing five hundred prostrations daily.

If any man lie with a heathen woman or heathen girl, or, more particularly speaking, with a woman or girl who is a Jewess, a Turkess, or a heretic, when he has no lawful wife, he shall be penalized three years, with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing two hundred prostrations daily. Likewise shall a woman having no lawful husband be penalized if she lie with a Jew, or with a Turk, or with a heretic, or, more particularly, with a Latin or an Armenian.

But if a man having a lawful wife, and a woman having a lawful husband, lie thereafter with such heathen or heretical persons, they shall be penalized four or five years, with xerophagy until the ninth hour and doing two hundred and fifty prostrations daily.

If the wife of a priest or of a deacon commit adultery, she shall be penalized three years, faring the while with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing three hundred prostrations daily—more severely, that is to say, than other adulteresses, in view of the fact that they slay their husbands by causing them to be deposed from Holy Orders on account of such adultery. As for their husbands, if they want to keep them, they shall be deposed from Holy Orders; but if they want to keep the Holy Orders, they shall be separated from their wives before they have any coition with them after the commission of the adultery, according to Canon 8 of Neocaesarea.

If any woman lie with two brothers, she shall be penalized for three years, faring the while with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing two hundred metanias daily.

If any woman shall lie with a eunuch, she shall be penalized for three years, faring the while with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing three hundred prostrations daily.

If any man perform arsenocoetia (sodomy) upon his wife, he shall be penalized for eight years, faring the while with xerophagy after the ninth hour and doing two hundred metanias daily.

THE EPISTLE OF SAINT TARASIOS OF CONSTANTINOPLE TO POPE ADRIAN OF ROME (787)#

[Epitome: None may buy or sell ordination for money, and those who do so do not truly have the grace of the Holy Spirit in them.]

In many places and many ways, evangelically, apostolically, and patristically, we are taught to have a non-avaricious policy in the exercise of Holy Orders, and not to take gold or silver for the ordination of any hieratic man or priestly functionary, as we shall prove in the subjoined essays, based upon Scriptural utterances of God and upon the teachings of the fathers of the Church. For those men who impose hands are servants of the Holy Spirit, not vendors thereof. For they have declared (Matthew 10:8) that men who have received the grace of the Holy Spirit freely must give it freely to those receiving it from them in turn, having acquired this liberty from the Lord’s utterance. But if anyone be proved to have bought this with gold, they pronounce such a man to be outlawed from the priestly class. For though he may have acquired Holy Orders nominally in a clerical manner, yet the assertion is disproved by the fact of the matter. For no one can serve both God and mammon, as we learn evangelically (Matthew 6:24). And since we have been told prophetically through the shouting of God: “Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem” (Isaiah 40:2), and again threatening: “But if the watchman see the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned; if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand” (Ezekiel 33:6); for fear of condemnation resulting from silence, we announce to all presiding dignitaries of our churches, to speak openly and freely, in accordance with the words of the apostle: “We are clean of the blood” (Acts 20:26) of those transgressing the canonical injunctions, and most especially of those who have ordained or been ordained for money. Peter the divine apostle, whose seat your brotherly holiness has come into, clerically deposed these offenders like Simon the sorcerer. On this account we do not hesitate to announce the truth, keeping and holding on to the doctrines published by the holy apostle and our fathers of celebrated memory, and if anything therein has been violated or transgressed by some men, we loathe and abominate them. Your brotherly and priestly prelatical holiness, therefore, legitimately and in accordance with the will of God pioneering in the exercise of episcopal authority enjoys a glory that is well known everywhere. For the great and first High Priest Christ our God has said through the prophet: “As I live, I will glorify those who glorify Me” (Romans. 14:11). For I am aware, sir, imbued with the desires of the spirit, that the ungodly heresy of Macedonius and his Spirit-fighting adherents is more tolerable [than simoniacs]. For while the former prate about the Holy Spirit being a creature and servant of God and of the Father, the latter, it seems, would make It their servant. For any lord, if he wish, can sell whatever he owns, whether it be a household servant or any other possession he has acquired. Likewise in the case of one buying, he acquires an object by paying the price in money because he wishes to become the lord of the object he is buying. Thus, those men who are engaged in this lawless practice lower the Holy Spirit, by sinning equally with blasphemers who said that Christ casts out demons by Beelzebul (Matthew 9:34); or, to express the fact more truly, they are very much like Judas the traitor, who sold and betrayed Christ to the God-slaying Jews in exchange for pieces of silver. As, therefore, the Holy Spirit is of the same essence as Christ our God, it is plain that They will be of the same portion to everybody as has been proved. If therefore it can be sold (for it evidently cannot), it is indisputable that the grace of the Holy Spirit is not in them, or, more explicitly speaking, they neither have received nor do they possess the power to exercise priestly functions or the offices of Holy Orders. Let them remember the words of Saint Peter, who told the one professing this: “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter” (Acts 8:21). For if the dignity of the priesthood can be sold, then decent conduct during their life is superfluous to priests, and so is conformity with the requirements of chastity and virtue. According to them Paul the divine apostle is also superfluous when he is teaching that “a bishop, then, must be irreproachable, temperate, modest, apt to teach, continent, an abstainer from intoxicating drinks, well equipped to teach the faithful word, in order to be strong enough to be of influence in the matter of sound doctrine, and to refute those gainsaying him” (I Timothy 3:2-7). All these qualifications are absent in a buyer and seller of Holy Orders. For the holy essays below presented declare him to be utterly a stranger to the priesthood who ever gives or takes at any time money whether before the ordination or after the ordination. For taking is taking, irrespective of when the taking occurred; moreover, they pretend to remove all ecclesiastical inconveniences if paid the money.

Canon 29 of the Holy Apostles: “If any bishop become the recipient of this dignity through money, or any priest, or any deacon, let him be deposed, as well as the one who ordained him, and let him be cut off from Communion, as was Simon the sorcerer by Peter.”

From the Acts of the Apostles: “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he shall receive Holy Spirit.’ But Peter said unto him, ‘Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God that perhaps thy heart’s thought may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the clutch of injustice’” (Acts 8:18-23).

From the Third Book of Kings, Chapter 13, verses 33-34: “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way but made again from among all the people priests of the high places. Whoever would fill his hand, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places. And this thing became a sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.”

From the Fourth Book of Kings, Chapter 5, 15-27: “And Naaman returned to Elishai, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him, and he said, ‘Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; now therefore, I pray thee, take a present from thy servant.’ But Elishai said, ‘As the Lord lives before which I am standing, I will accept none.’ And he urged him to take it; but he refused. And Naaman said, ‘If not, yet I pray thee, let there be given to thy servant two mules’ load of earth; for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offerings nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. In this matter the Lord will pardon thy servant; when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord will pardon thy servant in this matter.’ And said he unto him, ‘Go in peace.’ So he departed from him a little way. But Gehazi, the servant of Elishai the man of God, said, ‘Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving from his hands that which he brought: as the Lord lives, I will run after him and take something from him.’ So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he alighted from the chariot to meet him, and said, ‘Is all well?’ ‘My master has sent me, saying, “Behold, just now there have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets; give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of raiment.”’ And Naaman said, ‘Be content, take two talents.’ And he urged him and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of raiment, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bore them before them. And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed. But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elishai said unto him, ‘From where didst thou come, Gehazi?’ And he said, ‘Thy servant went no place.’ And he said unto him, ‘Did not my heart go with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive yards and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and menservants and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto you, and unto your seed forever.’ And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”

Of Basil the Great, from his Commentary on Isaiah, Chapter 8, verse 20: “He gave a law to help them say not like this word” of the ventriloquist (false prophet). For it was not invented for deception, like those words, but is a teacher of truth, whereas they practice divination for money. For this is the ludicrous thing, that ones deceived pay them money for the falsehood. But this word of the Law is not such as to have presents be given for it. For no one can pay for grace or give it for any payment. ‘Freely,’ He says, ‘ye received, freely give’ (Matthew 10:8). You see how Peter became indignant with Simon when the latter offered him money for the gift of the Holy Spirit? ‘Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money’ (Acts 8:21). So the words of the Gospel are not like the words sold by ventriloquists. For what could anyone give for it as equivalent exchange? Listen to David wondering and saying: ‘What shall I give unto the Lord for all that He has given unto me?’ (Ps. 115). So, then, there are no gifts or presents that can be given in exchange for this that are worth the grace received from Him. One gift is worth giving alone: that of keeping what has been given. He who gave you the treasure doth not expect any payment of a price for what was given, but the keeping of it in a manner worthy of the gift.”

Of the same saint, from his epistle to the bishops under himself which is his Canon 90: “They think that they are not sinning because they accept the money after the ordination and not at the same time that the ordination is carried out. But an acceptance is an acceptance no matter when the acceptance occurs. I therefore beg you to put aside this step, or rather this expedition to Gehenna. Accordingly, do not soil your hands by taking such things and thereby render yourselves unworthy to perform the holy Mysteries.”

From his Life of Saint John Chrysostom: “Eusebius, who had involved all us bishops in a long discussion and who was the accuser of six other bishops, came forward with a demand to be admitted to communion. Some of the bishops objected that he ought not to be admitted, on the ground that he was a slanderer. In the face of the objections he supplicated, saying: ‘Since the trial has been prolonged during two years and the postponement of it has been requested for the purpose of bringing witnesses, I pray your God-beloved reverence to let me have the witnesses today immediately. For though Antoninus, the bishop who took the money and ordained others is dead, yet at any rate there remain the persons who paid the money and were ordained.’ The present synod allowed the matter to be heard. Accordingly the case was commenced with a reading of the minutes of the previous transactions. The witnesses entered; and the six who had given [money] and been ordained also entered. At first they denied it. But when the witnesses insisted, laymen as well as priests, who seemed confident, although at first the said bishops denied their guilt, the witnesses charged them with it outright, reminding them of times and places, and telling the kinds of the pledges made and the amount, feeling uncomfortably affected by their consciences. Without much pressure the bishops confessed of their own accord they had paid and become [such], deeming this sort of procedure necessary to free themselves from the public ministry, and we pray, they said, [you to decide] if it is permissible for us to be in the ministry of the Church, since we paid money in order to receive it; for we gave some utensils belonging to our wives. In regard to these things, John [Chrysostom] promised the synod he would clear them of the senate [duty] by appealing to the emperor but told them to give orders to have returned to them what they had given by the heirs of Antoninus. The synod orders that they should receive the money from the heirs of Antoninus and that they be permitted to commune within the altar but be disfranchised as priests, lest, as a result of these men having been pardoned, the Jewish or Egyptian custom of buying and selling Holy Orders come to be adopted. For it is alleged that the ravager falsely called ‘the Patriarch of the Jews’ changes the chief rabbis every year, or every other year, with a view to collecting money; and likewise as to their zealous imitator the patriarch of the Egyptians, in order to fulfill the prophetic passage saying: ‘The priests thereof responded for gifts, and the prophets thereof divined for money’ (Micah 3:11).”

(Here he adduces in evidence also Canon 2 of the 4th Ecumenical Synod, which you may find there and read for yourself; and the passage found in the Epistle of Gennadios on a previous page of this work.)

From the Encyclical Epistle of Patriarch Gennadios: “Let him therefore be and he is proscribed and shorn of every priestly dignity and function and is subject to the curse of the anathema whosoever presumes to obtain this by means of money and whosoever promises to bestow this for money, whether he be a cleric or a layman, and whether he be exposed or not be exposed doing so. For there is no possibility of reconciling things irreconcilable; neither can mammon agree with God, nor can those serving it serve God. This is also an indisputable pronouncement of the Lord’s. ‘Ye cannot serve God and mammon’ (Matthew 6:21).”

Canon 22 of the canons of the Holy Sixth Ecumenical Synod: “‘We command that those men be deposed, whether they be bishops or clergymen whatever, who have been ordained or are being ordained for money and not in accordance with a test and choice of life, as well as those who ordained them.’ Let all of us lend an ear to these words, and listen to them, not only who are prelates, but also those of us who are numbered among the clergy and all men who are inhabiting the earth. For ‘we ought to give the more earnest attention to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip’ (Hebrews 2:1); since we have not been purchased with perishable silver or gold money from out of our vain way of life handed down from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as that of the undefiled immaculate lamb’ (I Peter 1:19). Thus teach us, most sacred sir, to follow the Scriptural and evangelical and apostolic precepts, as well as those of the canons and of the fathers. For we are willing to obey the words of your mouth. Get you up into the high mountains;...lift up thy voice with strength’ (Is. 40:9). Proceed on broad ground. Preach outspokenly, so that imposition of hands for money may take to flight and vanish completely, together with whatever else follows it out of avarice for shameful profit in the way of injustice and commercial traffic. For once this, together with its concomitants, is eliminated from the peculiar people called by the name of Christ and freely accorded redemption, all the contaminations due to wickedness will be excised by this by the roots; and the priests will flourish like palm trees exhaling a fragrance to the persons being saved and singing to the Church in exultation over the victory: ‘The Lord hath taken away from thee thy lawless deeds’ (Zephaniah 3:16). Furthermore, also sweetening the fruits reaped, as well as multiplying them in ripe old age, with their exaltation, I mean as heirs of that blissful and indefectible life.”

CANONS OF SAINT NIKEPHOROS OF CONSTANTINOPLE THE CONFESSOR (9th C.)#

Taken from his ecclesiastical Syntaxes and those of the holy fathers with him, thirty-seven in number, as translated into vernacular Greek

[Epitome: An antimension does not lose its holiness if it is inadvertently washed (1). A digamist is given a penance and does not wear a crown when married (2). A man may take shelter in a church’s narthex only in great necessity (3). Alms may be appropriated from the dead and given to the Church if the deceased had such an intention without committing it to writing (4). Wine and fish may be consumed if Annunciation falls on Holy Thursday or Holy Friday (5), and a hieromonk may ordain a reader or subdeacon for a monastery with the abbot’s blessing (6). A layman who has lived in sin for 20 years but then repented cannot be ordained (7), nor someone who has committed fornication even once (35). Children of a concubine or of a second or third marriage may be ordained if worthy (8), and Holy Communion should be given to the dying even if they are not fasting (9). On Sunday and during the fifty days after Pascha, we make bows instead of prostrations (10), and one may offer a single contribution or light one candle for the sake of multiple people (11). A priest must not make the sign of the Cross over the chalice during the Proskomide (12), and hot water is needed to celebrate the Liturgy (13). A monk who has discarded his schema but has returned to the monastery and repented should don it again without the tonsure prayers being repeated (14), and nuns may enter the holy sanctuary in order to light a candle or sweep (15). Monks must not do farm work during the Great Fast and then partake of wine and olive oil to strengthen themselves (16), and a monk may only leave his monastery if the abbot is a heretic or if women are in the monastery or if there is a children’s school therein (17). Monastics under penance should eat and pray together with the brotherhood and partake of antidoron (18), and during the Apostles’ Fast and Nativity Fast, monks should eat once a day on Wednesday and Friday, but they may eat twice if engaged in manual labor (19). A raped nun is excommunicated based on her manner of life (20), and none may don the habit of monks in order to evade the army draft or for some other scheme (21). A young priest-monk should not serve the Liturgy for nuns (22), and an abbot must not strip a penanced monk of his monastic garb (23). No one should welcome or greet a monk who has abandoned his habit (24). Anyone dying should be baptized or tonsured according to his wish (25), and a hieromonk must not celebrate the divine services without wearing an outer garment (26). A man’s confessor may excommunicate him but must not reveal his sins (27). The saint penances adultery, bestiality, and murder (28), but adjustments may be made for those who freely confess their sins (29). A priest may erect a cross in the ground with the bishop’s permission (30). None may charge interest or associate with those who do (31) or eat together with someone known to all as a fornicator (36). Monks should fast on Wednesday and Friday of the week before the Great Fast, eating cheese only in places where it is served (32). The Church does not accept offerings from unrepentant fornicators (33), and monks who break their vows must be forced to stay in the monastery (34). A newborn in danger of death should be baptized immediately, and until forty days are completed for the mother, the infant should be separated from her and nursed by another woman (37).]

Canon 1 of Saint Nikephoros
If perchance a holy antimension (altar cloth with relics) be washed unwittingly, it does not lose its sanctity, nor does it become unclean because of its having been washed.

Canon 2 of Saint Nikephoros
A digamist is not blessed with crowns but, on the contrary, is even amerced to abstain from Communion for two years; and a trigamist, for three years.

Canon 3 of Saint Nikephoros
If anyone remain in the narthex of the church under stress of necessity and for a short time only, it is not to be condemned. But if he tarries therefore any undue length of time, he is to be expelled from there and punished with amercements, while the church itself is to get back its own rights, that is to say, that it is not to be treated on that account as a common and unprivileged house.

Canon 4 of Saint Nikephoros
Alms for the souls of those who have died must be accepted, without the necessity of their having made a will and last testament disposing of their property. In such a case, if they themselves while alive had intended and wanted such alms to be made for themselves; and, in general, if they had been willing to give alms, that is to be the decisive factor.

Canon 5 of Saint Nikephoros
If Annunciation falls on Great and Holy Thursday or Great and Holy Friday, we are not sinning if on that day we partake of wine and fish.

Canon 6 of Saint Nikephoros
Any priest who has the prayer (blessing) of an abbot (hegumen) is competent to ordain a reader and a subdeacon for his monastery.

Canon 7 of Saint Nikephoros
If perchance a [faithful] man has lived in profligacy for twenty years or more but afterwards does works of virtue, he ought not to be ordained a priest, because the temple is clean and unpolluted.

Canon 8 of Saint Nikephoros
Any children born of a concubine, or of persons who have married a second or a third time, though with the proviso that they be worthy of Holy Orders and have lived a life worthy thereof, may be made priests.

Canon 9 of Saint Nikephoros
A priest must administer Communion to a person in danger of dying even though it be after the person in question has eaten.

Canon 10 of Saint Nikephoros
One must bend his knee for the sake of bestowing a kiss [to a priest] on Sunday and throughout Pentecost, but ought not to make the usual prostrations.

Canon 11 of Saint Nikephoros
One is not sinning if perchance he offers a single offering on behalf of three persons or lights but one candle for the three.

Canon 12 of Saint Nikephoros
A priest must not make a seal over the holy Chalice during the prayer of the sacristy (Proskomide).

Canon 13 of Saint Nikephoros
A priest must not celebrate the Liturgy without zeon, or hot water, unless it be under the stress of great necessity, and when there is no hot water available there.

Canon 14 of Saint Nikephoros
A monk who has discarded his habit but has returned and repented must put on again the monastic habit which he took off, without, however, incurring the necessity of having the [tonsure] prayers repeated to him that were said over the habit.

Canon 15 of Saint Nikephoros
Nuns must enter the holy bema (sanctuary) in order to light a taper or candle and in order to sweep it.

Canon 16 of Saint Nikephoros
Monks must not do farm work in the Holy Forty Days, and on this pretext or excuse [of weariness] indulge in wine and olive oil, since those are results of gluttony.

Canon 17 of Saint Nikephoros
A monk is permitted to leave his monastery for three reasons: 1) if perchance the abbot is a heretic; 2) if women come into the monastery; and 3) if children are learning secular letters in the monastery; because it is untoward in the midst of such children for the things being done in the monastery to be revealed to seculars.

Canon 18 of Saint Nikephoros
All Caloyers who are under a canon (disciplinary penance) must eat together with the rest of the monks and pray together with them and must also eat evlogia, or, more expressly, antidoron, along with their confession.

Canon 19 of Saint Nikephoros
During the Fast of the Holy Apostles and of Saint Philip (Nativity Fast), monks sitting in a monastery ought to eat once a day on Wednesday and Friday. But monks engaged in work or labor may eat twice, after the sixth hour and in the evening.

Canon 20 of Saint Nikephoros
If perchance a nun be raped by barbarians or disorderly men and her previous life had been pure, she is to be canonized only for ten days to abstain from participation. But if her previous life [in the monastery] had been polluted, she is to be canonized as an adulteress or, more explicitly, to abstain from Communion for three years, in accordance with Canon 13 of the Faster.

Canon 21 of Saint Nikephoros
If anyone for fear of being compelled to join the army, or with respect to some other piece of roguery, has donned the habit of monks, thereby mocking it, then, after being stripped of the habit, in consideration of his fear and this piece of hypocrisy and of roguery of his, he shall be canonized for this to go without Communion for one hundred and twenty days (or for three times as many days as there are in the Great Fast).

Canon 22 of Saint Nikephoros
If perchance a young priest-monk is serving nuns by administering Communion to them and celebrating the Liturgy for them, we ought not to receive Communion from him of the divine Mysteries.

Canon 23 of Saint Nikephoros
An abbot must not remove the hood of a Caloger (penanced monk) who is under his obedience and thus drive him away from the monastery.

Canon 24 of Saint Nikephoros
No one ought to admit any monk into his home that has discarded his holy habit and is incorrigible, nor ought anyone to greet him.

Canon 25 of Saint Nikephoros
If anyone is ill and asks to be baptized or to become a monk, we must without delay bestow upon him the grace of Baptism or of the habit and not deny it to him.

Canon 26 of Saint Nikephoros
A priest-monk must not celebrate the divine services without wearing a mantia (outer garment).

Canon 27 of Saint Nikephoros
A father-confessor ought to forbid divine Communion to those persons who confess secret sins to him, but he ought to let them enter the church, and he ought not to reveal their sins but ought to advise them gently to remain repentant and to keep praying, and he ought to adjust the amercements to befit each one of them according to his best judgment.

Canon 28 of Saint Nikephoros
As for adulterers, and those guilty of the crime of bestiality, and murderers, and other such persons, if of their own accord they confess the sin they committed, which was a secret to men at large, they are to be denied divine Communion and are to receive the canon of their sins. When they enter the church, they are to stand until the prayer of catechumens and are then to depart. If, however, their sins are known to the others, then they are to be canonized in accordance with the laws of the Church, or, more explicitly speaking, they are to be prohibited from entering the church but are to stand in the group of those who are weeping outside of the portals of the temple or of those who are listening in the narthex.

Canon 29 of Saint Nikephoros
If a secular confess his sins of his own free will, the Father Confessor may make an adjustment for him.

Canon 30 of Saint Nikephoros
With the permission of the bishop even a priest may make a stavropegion (cross in the ground).

Canon 31 of Saint Nikephoros
A priest ought not to communicate those who charge interest, nor eat with them, if they persist in this transgression.

Canon 32 of Saint Nikephoros
Monks must fast on Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week; and after the Presanctified Liturgy is dismissed, they may eat cheese wherever it is available or on the market, or, in other words, wherever it can be had, in refutation of the heresy of the Jacobites and of that of the Tetradites.

Canon 33 of Saint Nikephoros
If anyone has a concubine and refuses either to leave her or to have her blessed as his wife, we ought not to accept any offerings he makes to the Church, whose laws he is actually insulting and scorning.

Canon 34 of Saint Nikephoros
If perchance any monk discard the holy habit and eat meat and take a wife, such a monk ought to be anathematized. If he refuses to return, he ought to be forced to don the habit and to be shut up in a monastery.

Canon 35 of Saint Nikephoros
Any man who even once only has committed fornication ought not to be made a priest, even though he has given up the sin. For Basil the Great asserts that such a man cannot be made a priest even though he bring dead men back to life.

Canon 36 of Saint Nikephoros
When the apostle says: “If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator,...with such a one we must not even eat” (I Corinthians 5:11), it appears that he is referring not to a man whom one or two other men know to be fornicating but to a man whom everybody knows to be fornicating and who is called a fornicator by everybody; since all sinful deeds that are committed brazenly and provoke a public scandal are subject to greater punishment than those which are done secretly.

Canon 37 of Saint Nikephoros
If a woman gives birth and the baby is in danger of dying when it is but three or five days old, let the baby be baptized, but [if possible,] another woman who is baptized and clean must suckle the baby; and its mother must not even enter the room where the child is, nor handle it at all, until after the lapse of forty days she has become purified and has received a prayerful blessing from the priest.

There are also seven more canons, herein below, not found in the manuscript books of the Holy Mountain, but included in Volume II of the Minutes, page 918, and in the book called Juris Graeco-Romani, page 196 of the printed edition.

[Epitome: One should not travel anywhere on Sunday unnecessarily (1) or read books containing divination, astrology, or omens (2), as well as apocryphal texts or spurious martyrdoms or numerology books (3) or work during Bright Week (4). Patricide is severly condemned (5). In case of necessity, a deacon or monk (6) or the father or any Orthodox Christian may baptize a child (7).]

Canon 1 (2nd series)
One ought not to walk abroad on the Lord’s Day unless it is necessary and he is forced to do so.

Canon 2 (2nd series)
We ought not to give any credence to the Revelation of Paul, or to the so-called Brontologia and Selenodromia and Calandologia, as all of them are taboo.

Canon 3 (2nd series)
We ought not to give any credence to the Revelation of Esdras and Zosimas, or to the two martyrdoms of Saint George, or to the two martyrdoms of Kyrikos and Julitta, or the book of Marcus and of Diadochus, as these are disapproved and unrecognized.

Canon 4 (2nd series)
One ought not to work during Renewal Week (Bright Week), nor chant the Hymn to the Faultless One on the Saturday of the concluding week (apolysimos), nor ought one to keep the Thursdays [as non-work days].

Canon 5 (2nd series)
Anyone who willfully murders his father shall be canonized for thirty-five years.

Canon 6 (2nd series)
In case of necessity, even a monk who is neither a clergyman nor a priest may baptize a child, and likewise may a deacon.

Canon 7 (2nd series)
When no priest is available, unbaptized infants must be baptized by anyone present, even though he be their own father, or anyone else, provided he is a Christian and he is not sinning.

QUESTIONS#

of certain monks exercising outside of the city limits and answers thereto of the holy Synod in Constantinople, when Nicholas was patriarch and Alexios Komnenos was emperor (11th C.), translated into vernacular Greek

[Epitome: A monk may not read from the pulpit without being ordained, but he may enter the sanctuary to light the candles (1). Prostrations may be made on Saturday (2). Many people kept the fast of August [which later became the Dormition Fast] (3), and the demonized may receive Communion if they are not energizing or blaspheming (4). The entirety of the Eucharist must be consumed inside the church, but other prosphora may be eaten elsewhere, unmixed with other food (5). A monk may leave his monastery if his soul is being severely harmed and the superior refuses to rectify the situation (6), and if an abbot appoints a successor by constraint who is unable to govern the monastery, he may be released from this obligation by the bishop (7). A deposed priest may not recite any part of the service or cense or commune inside the sanctuary (8), and the excommunicated may not eat prosphora blessed over the chalice (10). One may be deprived of antidoron for minor faults (9), and using too great leniency in assigning penances can lead souls to perdition (11).]

Question 1 to the Synod in Constantinople
Ought a monk go into the holy sacrificial altar? For this is forbidden by Canon 69 and Canon 33 of the 6th Ecumenical Synod, which does not allow anyone to chant or to read from the pulpit who has no seal [of ordination] or who is a monk. Likewise do Canon 15 of Laodicea and Canon 14 of the 7th Ecumenical Synod.
Answer: It is forbidden for a monk to perform the services of a reader in the pulpit without an imposition of the hand; but for that monk to go into the holy bema in order to light the candles and tapers when he is not guilty of any crime, is something I do not think ought to be forbidden, on account of the respectability of the monastic habits.

Question 2 to the Synod in Constantinople
Ought one to refrain from bending a knee on Saturday, just as one does not bend it on the Lord’s Day and during Pentecost?
Answer: It has not been forbidden by this canon; the majority, however, because of the fact that Saturday is not accompanied by fasting, refrain by consequence from even bending a knee.

Question 3 to the Synod in Constantinople
Must we keep the fast of August?
Answer: The fast of August used to be earlier, but afterwards it was shifted in order to avoid its coinciding with fasts of the heathen, which the latter observe during this season. Yet even nowadays many persons keep this fast.

Question 4 to the Synod in Constantinople
Ought one who is possessed to commune? For on this point Timothy and the divine apostles differ, and later authorities differ likewise.
Answer: If perchance anyone is so troubled by black bile (melancholy) as to appear on this account to be possessed, he is not forbidden to commune. But if perchance anyone is really possessed by a demon, he cannot commune, since light hath no communion with darkness.

Question 5 to the Synod in Constantinople
Whether a priest may indifferently eat things offered to the Church—offered as oblations, that is to say, or as sacrificial wine; and whether he may eat these like common bread; and what ought he to do when such oblations and quantities of wine accumulate in excess of what is needed?
Answer: The pieces that are left from the elevated Offering ought not to be eaten in any other place than in the church alone, until they are entirely consumed no matter how much of them there may be. But as for pieces left from other offerings (prosphora) that have not been elevated, they must all be eaten outside of the church, not, however, with milk and cheese and fish, say, like common bread, but alone without other food.

Question 6 to the Synod in Constantinople
If perchance anyone is tonsured as a monk, at whatever place he may be, and afterwards finds that he is being harmed there as respects his soul and he wishes to depart from there on account of the harm but receives a prohibitive tether from his superior not to leave, what ought he himself to do—ignore the harm his soul is suffering or ignore the superior’s tether?
Answer: He ought first to tell his superior the cause of the harm he is suffering, and if that harm and the peril incurred by his soul are manifest, he ought to depart from there and not bother about the superior’s tether.

Question 7 to the Synod in Constantinople
If it be supposed that an abbot upon dying has left another abbot in his place and has given him a prohibitive tether not to depart from that monastery, and that later, being reproved by his own conscience as too weak and feeble to govern the monastery, such successor of that monk has departed, what ought he in consequence do about that tether?
Answer: That tether is an unreasonable one, and on this account is also an impossible one. Hence the person who has been tied by it will be loosed if he goes to the bishop and explains his predicament.

Question 8 to the Synod in Constantinople
When a priest has been deposed for canonical crimes of his, when voluntarily resigning from the priesthood because his own conscience accuses him, ought he to recite the words “Blessed be God” or the words “Christ our true God” (dismissal)? Or ought he to cense with the incense or to commune within the bema?
Answer: No. These things must not be done by either the one or the other; instead, the deposed priest ought to be relegated to the position of laymen.

Question 9 to the Synod in Constantinople
What is meant by what Saint Basil the Great says in regard to minor amercements: “According to the proportionality and difference of the mistake, or, at any rate, ‘Let it be from an evlogia’”?
Answer: For one to be deprived of the evlogia (antidoron) given in church.

Question 10 to the Synod in Constantinople
Ought those who are prohibited from communing to eat the elevated prosphora?
Answer: In the Life of Saint Theodore the Sykeote we find it written that such persons are prohibited from eating such prosphora (offerings).

Question 11 to the Synod in Constantinople
Ought one to canonize penitents in accordance with the Canonicon or canons of the Faster?
Answer: That Canonicon, because of the fact that it encourages too great leniency, has led many persons to perdition. For this reason those who have knowledge of what is good and fail to keep it ought to be corrected.