APPENDIX CONTAINING CANONS AND RULINGS NOT HAVING CONCILIAR ORIGIN BUT
APPROVED BY NAME IN CANON II OF THE SYNOD IN TRULLO.
APPENDIX CONTAINING CANONS AND RULINGS NOT HAVING CONCILIAR ORIGIN BUT
APPROVED BY NAME IN CANON II. OF THE SYNOD IN TRULLO.
Elenchus.
Prefatory note.
Introduction to the Apostolical Canons. The 85 Apostolical Canons.
Epitome of the Canons of the following:
I. Dionysius of Alexandria.
II. Peter of Alexandria.
III. Gregory Thaumaturgus.
IV. Athanasius of Alexandria.
V. F. Basil of Coesarea.
VI. Gregory Nyssen.
VII. Gregory Theologus.
VIII. Amphilochius of Iconium. IX. Timothy of Alexandria.
X. Theophilus of Alexandria.
XI. Cyril of Alexandria.
XII. Gennadius of Constantinople.[1]
PREFATORY NOTE.
As this volume only professes to contain the conciliar decrees of the
Ecumenical Councils, it would seem that canons and rulings which were of private or
quasi-private origin should have no place in it; and yet a very considerable
number of such determinations are expressly approved by name in the Canons of
the Synod in Trullo, which canons were received, to some extent at least (as we
have seen), by the Seventh Ecumenical Council. Under these circumstances I have
felt that the reader might justly expect to find some mention made of these
decrees, which while indeed non-conciliar in origin, yet had received such high
conciliar sanction, I have therefore placed a translation of the text of the
"Apostolical Canons" with a brief introduction, and have reprinted Johnson's
epitome of the other decrees and canons, supplying a few omissions and adding a few
notes, chiefly taken from the Greek scholiasts, Zonaras and Balsamon. It is
hoped that thus the present volume has been made practically complete, and that
from it, any student can obtain a satisfactory knowledge of all the doctrinal
definitions and of all the disciplinary enactments of the undivided Church.
THE APOSTOLICAL CANONS.
INTRODUCTION.
To affirm that the "Apostolical Canons" were a collection of canons made
by the Apostles would be about as sensible as to affirm that the "Psalterium
Davidicum"[1] was a collection of his own psalms made by David, or that the
"Proverbs of Solomon" was a collection of proverbs made by Solomon.
Many of the Psalms had David for their composer; many of the Proverbs had
Solomon for their originator; but neither the book we call "The Psalter" nor
the book we call "The Proverbs" had David or Solomon for its compiler. the matter
contained in the one is largely, many think chiefly, of Davidic origin, the
matter contained in the oilier is no doubt Solomonic; and just so "The
Apostolical Canons" may well be to a great extent of Apostolic origin, committed to
writing, some possibly by the Apostles themselves, others by their immediate
successors, who heard them at their mouth; and these at so,he period not far removed
from the date of the Nicene Council (A. D. 325), probably earlier than the
Council of Antioch, were gathered together into a code which has since then been
somewhat enlarged and modified. This is the view of the matter to which the
general drift of the learned seems to be moving, and it is substantially the view so
ably defended by Bishop Beveridge in his Synodicon, and in his remarkably
learned and convincing answer to his French opponent,[2] entitled Codex Canonum
Ecclesioe Primitivoe vindicatus ac illustratus. (This last volume, together with
the "Preface to the Notes on the Apostolical Canons" has been reprinted in Vol.
XII. of Bishop Beveridge's Works in the "Library of Anglo-Catholic
Theology.")[3]
In thus accepting in the main the old conclusions I am far from intending
to imply that more recent research has not shewn some of the details of the
bishop's view to be erroneous. In brief, the proposition which seems to be most
tenable is that in the main the Apostolic Canons represent the very early
canon-law of the Church, that the canons which make up the collection are of various
dates, but that most of them are earlier than the year 300, and that while it is
not possible to say exactly when the collection, as we now have it, was made,
there is good reason for assigning it a date not later than the middle of the
fourth century. With regard to the name "Apostolic Canons" there need be no more
hesitation in applying it to these canons than in calling Ignatius an
"Apostolic Father," the adjective necessarily meaning nothing more than that the canons
set forth the disciplinary principles which were given to the early Church by
the Apostles, just as we speak of the "Apostles' Creed."
While this is true there can be no question that in the East the Apostolic
Canons were very generally looked upon as a genuine work prepared by the Holy
Apostles. I proceed now to quote Bishop Hefele, but I have already (Cf. Council
in Trullo) expressed my own opinion that there is not contained in the
Quinisext decree any absolute definition of what is technically known as the
"authenticity" of the Canons of the Apostles.
(Hefele. Hist. of the Councils, Vol. I., p. 451 et seqq.).
The Synod in Trullo being, as is well known, regarded as ecumenical by the
Greek Church, the authenticity of the eighty-five canons was decided in the
East for all future time. It was otherwise in the West. At the same period that
Dionysius Exiguus translated the collection question for Bishop Stephen, Pope
Gelasius promulgated his celebrated decree de libris non recipiendis. Drey
mentions it, but in a way which requires correction. Following in this the usual
opinion, he says that the Synod at Rome in which Gelasius published this decree was
held in 494; but we shall see hereafter that this synod was held in 496. Also
Drey considers himself obliged to adopt another erroneous opinion, according to
which Gelasius declared in the same decree the Apostolic Canons to be
apocryphal. This opinion is to be maintained only so long as the usual text of this
decree is consulted, since the original text as it is given in the ancient
manuscripts does not contain the passage which mentions the Apostolic Canons.[1] This
passage was certainly added subsequently, with many others, probably by Pope
Hormisdas (511-543) when he made a new edition of the decree of Gelasius. As
Dionysius Exiguus published his collection in all probability subsequently to the
publication of the decree of Gelasius, properly so called, in 496, we can
understand why this decree did not mention the Apostolical Canons. Dionysius did not
go to Rome while Gelasius was living, and did not know him personally, as he
himself says plainly in the Proefatio of his collection of the papal decrees. It
is hence also plain how it was that in another collection of canons
subsequently made by Dionysius, of which the preface still remains to us, he does not
insert the Apostolic Canons, but has simply this remark: Quos non admisit
uniniversalitas, ego quoque in hoc opere proetermisi. Dionysius Exiguus in fact compiled
this new collection at a time when Pope Hormisdas had already explicitly
declared the Apostolic Canons to be apocryphal.
Notwithstanding this, these canons, and particularly the fifty mentioned
by Dionysius, did not entirely fall into discredit in the West; but rather they
came to be received, because the first collection of Dionysius was considered
of great authority. They also passed into other collections, and particularly
into that of the pseudo-Isidore; and in 1054, Humbert, legate of Pope Leo IX.,
made the following declaration: Clementis libel, id est itinerarium Petri
Apostoli et Canones Apostolorum numerantur inter apocrypha, EXCETIS CAPITULIS
QUISQUAGINTA, quoe decreverunt regulis orthodoxis adjungenda. Gratian also, in his
decree, borrowed from the fifty Apostolic Canons, and they gradually obtained the
force of laws. But many writers, especially Hinemar of Rheims, like Dionysius
Exiguus, raised doubts upon the apostolical origin of these canons. From the
sixteenth century the opinion has been universal that these documents are not
authentic; with the exception, however, of the French Jesuit Turrianus, who
endeavoured to defend their genuineness, as well as the authenticity of the
pseudo-Isidorian decrees. According to the Centuriators of Magdeburg, it was especially
Gabriel d' Aubespine, Bishop of Orleans, the celebrated Archbishop Peter de
Marca, and the Anglican Beveridge, wire proved that they were not really compiled
by the Apostles, but were made partly in the second and chiefly in the third
century. Beveridge considered this collection to be a repertory of ancient
canons given by synods in the second and third centuries. In opposition to them,
the Calvinist Dullaeus (Daille) regarded it as the work of a forger who lived in
the fifth and sixth centuries; but Beveridge refuted him so convincingly, that
from that time his opinion, i with some few modifications, has been that of
all the learned.
Beveridge begins with the principle, that the Church in the very earliest
times must have had a collection of canons; and he demonstrates that from the
commencement of the fourth century, bishops, synods, and other authorities often
quote, as documents
in common use, a <greek>kanwn</greek> <greek>apostolikos</greek>, or
<greek>ekklhsiastikos</greek>, or <greek>arkaios</greek>; as was done, for instance, at
the Council of Nice, by Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, and by the Emperor
Constantine, etc.[2] According to Beveridge, these quotations make allusion to the
Apostolic Canons, and prove that they were already in use before the fourth
century.
In opposition to Beveridge Dr. von Drey wrote with profound learning;[3]
and Bickell, in his work just quoted, to a great degree accepts his conclusions
as being well-founded. These conclusions in short are that the so-called
"Apostolic Canons" are a patchwork taken from the "Apostolic Constitutions," which
are said to have been of Eastern origin and to date from the latter part of the
third century, and from the canons of various synods, notably Nice, Antioch, and
Chalcedon.
But this last reference to Chalcedon is too much for Bickell to stomach;
and for many reasons he makes the date of the collection earlier.
Hefele points out a rather significant document which he says both "Drey
and Bickell have overlooked. In 1738 Scipio Maffei published three ancient
documents, the first of which was a Latin translation of a letter written on the
subject of Meletius by the Egyptian bishops Hesychius, Phileas, etc. This letter
was written during the persecution of Diocletian, that is, between 303 and 305:
it is addressed to Meletius himself, and especially accuses him of having
ordained priests in other dioceses. This conduct, they tell him, is contrary to all
ecclesiastical rule (aliena a more divino et regula ecclesiastica), and
Meletius himself knows very well that it is a lex patrum et propatrum ... in alienis
paroeciis non licere alicui episcoporum ordinationes celebrare. Maffei himself
supposes that the Egyptian bishops were here referring to the thirty-fifth canon
(the thirty-sixth according to the enumeration of Dionysius), and this opinion
can hardly be controverted."3
After Bickell and Drey about ten years passed and then Bunsen and Ultzen
wrote on the subject. Of these Bunsen renewed Beveridge's arguments, and
considers the "Apostolic Canons" as a reflex of the customs of the Primitive Church,
if not in the Johannean age, at latest in that which immediately succeeded; and
he is of opinion that the legend attributing them to the Apostles is earlier in
date than the Council of Nice. Ultzen does not express himself definitely on
the point, but in a note to p. xvj. of the Preface to his book regrets that
Bunsen should have renewed Beveridge's argument with regard to the relative age of
the Apostolic Canons and those of Antioch because in his judgment "all the more
recent judges of this matter had refuted it."
I think I should here interrupt my narrative to warn the reader that
Beveridge has been often misunderstood and misrepresented. For example he expressly
says that according to his theory[1] "these canons were set forth by various
synods, so too they seem to us to have been collected by different persons, of
whom some collected more, some fewer. ... And these canons, thus collected, some
called ecclesiastical and some called them Apostolical; not that they believed
them to have been written by the very Apostles,for they had made the collection
themselves, but because they were consonant to the doctrine and traditions of
the Apostles, and they were persuaded that they had been originally established
at least by apostolic men." This is Beveridge's position in his own words.
I come now to the most recent writings upon the subject. Harnack has
developed a theory which is partly his own with regard to the Apostolical
Constitutions, in his edition of the "Didache," and has also considered the question of
the Apostolic Canons. The fullest discussion however of the matter is in a work
entitled, Die Apostolischen Konstitutionem, Eine Litteran-historische
Untersuchung, von Franz Zaver Funk. Rottenburg am Neckar. 1891.
Funk gives the history of the controversy, and refuses to allow that
Hefele's citation of the Letter of the Egyptian bishops throws any light upon the
point. In most matters he agrees with Bickell, and declares (p. 188) that "the
Synod of Antioch is certainly to be regarded as the source of the Apostolic
Canons," and that thus by comparing the canons, it is manifest that the Apostolic
"are certainly to be regarded as the dependent writing" (p. 185). And after
considering their relation to the Apostolical Constitutions, Funk states his
conclusion as follows (p. 190): "The drawing up of the canons falls therefore not
earlier than the interpolation of the Didaskalia and the preparation of the two
last books of the Constitution, hence not before the beginning of the fifth
century. On the other hand there is no ground for fixing the writing at a later
period, not a single canon bears the mark of a later time."
Such was the state of things until Mar. Rihmani, the Syrian Archbishop of
Aleppo, gave notice that he had found in a codex at Mossul a Syrian version of
the Apocryphal book known as the Testamentum Jesu Christi. It is stated that
in the discoverer's opinion the Testamentum is earlier in date than the
Apostolic Canons, than the Canons of Hippolytus, and than the VIIIth Book of the
Apostolic Constitutions; and further that it was the direct source of the Apostolic
Canons. As I know nothing further of this matter, I must simply note it for the
guidance of the reader in his further study of the subject.
Having now traced the history of the discussion, I need only add that Mr.
Turner has just issued a very critical text of the version of Dionysius
Exiguus, the full title of which is as follows:
Ecclesiae Occidentalis Monvmenta Jvris Antiqvissima Canonvm et Conciliorvm
Graecorum, Interpretationes Latinae. Edidit Cvthbertvs Hamilton Turner, A.M.
Fascicvli Primiei Pars Prior Canones Apostolorvm Nicaenorvm Patrvm
Svbscriptiones. And that I have taken, except where noted to the contrary, Hammond's
translation.
THE CANONS OF THE HOLY AND ALTOGETHER AUGUST APOSTLES.[1]
CANON I.[2]
Let a bishop be ordained by two or three bishops.
CANON II.
Let a presbyter, deacon, and the rest of the clergy, be oraldined by one
bishop.
CANON III. (III. and IV.)
If any bishop or presbyter offer any other things at the altar, besides
that which the Lord ordained for the sacrifice, as honey, or milk, or strong-made
drink instead of wine,[3] or birds, or any living things, or vegetables,
besides that which is ordained, let him be deposed. Excepting only new ears of corn,
and grapes at the suitable season. Neither is it allowed to bring anything
else to the altar at the time of the holy oblation, excepting oil for the lamps,
and incense.
CANON IV. (V.)
Let all other fruits be sent home as first-fruits for the bishops and
presbyters, but not offered at the altar. But the bishops and presbyters should of
course give a share of these things to the deacons, and the rest of the clergy.
CANON V. (VI.)
Let not a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, put away his wife under pretence
of religion; but if he put her away, let him be excommunicated; and if he
persists, let him be deposed.
CANON VI. (VII.)
Let not a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, undertake worldly business;
otherwise let him be deposed.
CANON VII. (VIII.)
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall celebrate the holy day of
Easter before the vernal equinox, with the Jews, let him be deposed.
CANON VIII (IX.)
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any one on the sacerdotal list,
when the offering is made, does not partake of it, let him declare the cause; and
if it be a reasonable one, let him be excused; but if he does not declare it,
let him be excommunicated, as being a cause of offence to the people, and
occasioning a suspicion against the offerer, as if he had not made the offering
properly.
CANON IX. (X.)
All the faithful who come in and hear the Scriptures, but do not stay for
the prayers and the Holy Communion, are to be excommunicated, as causing
disorder in the Church.
CANON X. (XI.)
If any one shall pray, even in a private house, with an excommunicated
person, let him also be excommunicated.
CANON XI. (XII.)
If any clergyman shall join in prayer with a deposed clergyman, as if he
were a clergyman,[4] let him also be deposed.
CANON XII. and XIII (XIII.)
If any one of the clergy or laity who is excommunicated, or not to be
received, shall go away, and be received in another city without commendatory
letters, let both the receiver and the received be excommunicated.
But if he be excommunicated already, let the time of his excommunication
be lengthened.
CANON XIV.
A bishop is not to be allowed to leave his own parish, and pass over into
another, although he may be pressed by many to do so, unless there be some
proper cause constraining him. as if he can confer some greater benefit upon the
persons of that place in the word of godliness. And this must be done not of his
own accord, but by the judgment of many bishops, and at their earnest
exhortation.
CANON XV.
If any presbyter, or deacon, or any other of the list of the clergy,
shall leave his own parish, and go into another, and having entirely forsaken his
own, shall make his abode in the other parish without the permission of his own
bishop, we ordain that he shall no longer perform divine service; more
especially if his own bishop having exhorted him to return he has refused to do so, and
persists in his disorderly conduct. But let him communicate there as a layman.
CANON XVI.
If, however, the bishop, with whom any such persons are staying, shall
disregard the command that they are to cease from performing divine offices, and
shall receive them as clergymen, let him be excommunicated, as a teacher of
disorder.
CANON XVII.
He who has been twice married after baptism, or who has had a concubine,
cannot become a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any other of the sacerdotal
list.
CANON XVIII.
He who married a widow, or a divorced woman, or an harlot, or a
servant-maid, or an actress, cannot be a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any other of
the sacerdotal list.
CANON XIX.
He who has married two sisters, or a niece, cannot become a clergyman.
CANON XX.
If a clergyman becomes surety for any one, let him be deposed.
CANON XXI.
An eunuch, if he has been made so by the violence of men or [if his
virilia have been amputated[1] ] in times of persecution, or if he has been born so,
if in other respects he is worthy, may be made a bishop.
CANON XXII.
He who has mutilated himself, cannot become a clergyman, for he is a
self-murderer, and an enemy to the workmanship of God.
CANON XXIII.
If any man being a clergyman shall mutilate himself, let him be deposed,
for he is a self-murderer.
CANON XXIV.
If a layman mutilate himself, let him be excommunicated for three years,
as practising against his own life.
CANON XXV. (XXV. and XXVI.)
If a bishop, presbyter, or deacon be found guilty of fornication, perjury,
or theft, let him be deposed, but let him not be excommunicated; for the
Scripture says, "thou shall not punish a man twice for the same offence."
In like manner the other clergy shall be subject to the same proceeding.
CANON XXVI. (XXVII.)
Of those who have been admitted to the clergy unmarried, we ordain, that
the readers and singers only may, if they will, marry.
CANON XXVII. (XXVIII.)
If a bishop, presbyter, or deacon shall strike any of the faithful who
have sinned, or of the unbelievers who have done wrong, with the intention of
frightening them, we command that he be deposed. For our Lord has by no means
taught us to do so, but, on the contrary, when he was smitten he smote not again,
when he was reviled he reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not.
CANON XXVIII. (XXIX.)
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, having been justly deposed upon open
accusations, shall dare to meddle with any of the divine offices which had been
intrusted to him, let him be altogether cut off from the Church.
CANON XXIX. (XXX.)
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall obtain possession of that
dignity by money, let both him and the person who ordained him be deposed, and also
altogether cut off from all communion, as Simon Magus was by me Peter.
CANON XXX. (XXXI.)
If any bishop obtain possession of a church by the aid of the temporal
powers, let him be deposed and excommunicated, and all who communicate with him.
CANON XXXI. (XXXII.)
If any presbyter, despising his own bishop, shall collect a separate
congregation, and erect another altar, not having any grounds for condemning the
bishop with regard to religion or justice, let him be deposed for his ambition;
for he is a tyrant; in like manner also the rest of the clergy, and as many as
join him; and let laymen be excommunicated. Let this, however, be done after a
first, second, and third admonition from the bishop.
CANON XXXII. (XXXIII.)
If any presbyter or deacon has been excommunicated by a bishop, he may not
be received into communion again by any other than by him who excommunicated
him, unless it happen that the bishop who excommunicated him be dead.
CANON XXXIII. (XXXIV.)
No foreign bishop, presbyter, or deacon, may be received without
commendatory letters; and when they are produced let the persons be examined; and if
they be preachers of godliness, let them be received. Otherwise, although you
supply them with what they need, you must not receive them into communion, for many
things are done surreptitiously.
CANON XXXIV. (XXXV.)
The bishops of every nation must acknowledge him who is first among them
and account him as their head, and do nothing of consequence without his
consent; but each may do those things only which concern his own parish, and the
country places which belong to it. But neither let him (who is the first) do
anything without the consent of all; for so there will be unanimity, and God will be
glorified through the Lord in the Holy Spirit.[1]
CANON XXXV. (XXXVI.)
Let not a bishop dare to ordain beyond his own limits, in cities and
places not subject to him. But if he be convicted of doing so, without the consent
of those persons who have authority over such cities and places, let him be
deposed, and those also whom he has ordained.
CANON XXXVI. (XXXVII.)
If any person, having been ordained bishop, does not undertake the
ministry, and the care of the people committed to him, let him be excommunicated until
he does undertake it. In like manner a presbyter or deacon· But if he has gone
and has not been received, not of his own will but from the perverseness of
the people, let him continue bishop; and let the clergy of the city be
excommunicated, because they have not corrected the disobedient people.
CANON XXXVII. (XXXVIII.)
Let there be a meeting of the bishops twice a year, and let them examine
amongst themselves the decrees concerning religion and settle the ecclesiastical
controversies which may have occurred. One meeting to be held in the fourth
week of Pentecost [i.e., the fourth week after Easter], and the other on the 12th
day of the month Hyperberetaeus [i.e., October].
CANON XXXVIII. (XXXIX.)
Let the bishop have the care of all the goods of the Church, and let him
administer them as under the inspection of God. But he must not alienate any of
them or give the things which belong to God to his own relations. If they be
poor let him relieve them as poor; but let him not, under that pretence, sell the
goods of the Church.
CANON XXXIX. (XL.)
Let not the presbyters or deacons do anything without the sanction of the
bishop; for he it is who is intrusted with the people of the Lord, and of whom
will be required the account of their souls.
CANON XL. (XL. continued.)
Let the private goods of the bishop, if he have any such, and those of the
Lord, be clearly distinguished, that the bishop may have the power of leaving
his own goods, when he dies, to whom he will, and how he will, and that the
bishop's own property may not be lost under pretence of its being the property of
the Church: for it may be that he has a wife, or children, or relations, or
servants; and it is just before God and man, that neither should the Church suffer
any loss through ignorance of the bishop's own property, nor the bishop or his
relations be injured under pretext of the Church: nor that those who belong to
him should be involved in contests, and cast reproaches upon his death.
CANON XLI.
We ordain that the bishop have authority over the goods of the Church: for
if he is to be intrusted with the precious souls of men, much more are
temporal possessions to be intrusted to him. He is therefore to administer them all of
his own authority, and sup ply those who need, through the presbyters and
deacons, in the fear of God, and with all reverence. He may also, if need be, take
what is required for his own necessary wants, and for the brethren to whom he
has to show hospitality, so that he may not be in any want. For the law of God
has ordained, that they who wait at the altar should be hourished of the altar.
Neither does any soldier bear arms against an enemy at his own cost.
CANON XLII.
If a bishop or presbyter, or deacon, is addicted to dice or drinking, let
him either give it over, or be deposed.
CANON XLIII.
If a subdeacon, reader, or singer, commits the same things, let him either
give over, or be excommunicated. So also laymen.
CANON XLIV.
Let a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, who takes usury from those who borrow
of him, give up doing so, or be deposed.
CANON XLV.
Let a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, who has only prayed with heretics, be
excommunicated: but if he has permitted them to perform any clerical office,
let him be deposed.
CANON XLVI.
We ordain that a bishop, or presbyter, who has admitted the baptism or
sacrifice of heretics, be deposed. For what concord hath Christ with Belial, or
what part hath a believer with an infidel?
CANON XLVII.
Let a bishop or presbyter who shall baptize again one who has rightly
received baptism, or who shall not baptize one who has been polluted by the
ungodly, be deposed, as despising the cross and death of the Lord, and not making a
distinction between the true priests and the false.
CANON XLVIII.
If any layman put away his wife and marry another, or one who has been
divorced by another man, let him be excommunicated.
CANON XLIX.
If any bishop or presbyter, contrary to the ordinance of the Lord, does
not baptize into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but into three
Unoriginated Beings, or three Sons, or three Comforters, let him be deposed.
CANON L.
If any bishop or presbyter does not perform the one initiation with three
immersions, but with giving one immersion only, into the death of the Lord, let
him be deposed. For the Lord said not, Baptize into my death, but, "Go, make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
CANON LI.
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any one of the sacerdotal list,
abstains from marriage, or flesh, or wine, not by way of religious restraint, but
as abhorring them, forgetting that God made all things very good, and that he
made man male and female, and blaspheming the work of creation, let him be
corrected, or else be deposed, and cast out of the Church. In like manner a layman.
CANON LII.
If any bishop or presbyter,[1] does not receive him who turns away from
his sin, but rejects him, let him be deposed; for he grieveth Christ who said,
"There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."
CANON LIII.
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, does not on festival days partake of
flesh and wine, from an abhorrence of them, and not out of religious restraint,
let him be deposed, as being seared in his own conscience, and being the cause
of offence to many.
CANON LIV.
If any of the clergy be found eating in a tavern, let him be
excommunicated, unless he has been constrained by necessity, on a journey, to lodge in an
inn.
CANON LV.
If any of the clergy insult the bishop, let him be deposed: for "thou
shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people."
CANON LVI.
If any of the clergy insult a presbyter, or deacon, let him be
excommunicated.
CANON LVII.
If any of the clergy mock the lame, or the deaf, or the blind, or him who
is infirm in his legs, let him be excommunicated.In like manner any of the
laity.
CANON LVIII.
If any bishop or presbyter neglects the clergy or the people, and does not
instruct them in the way of godliness, let him be excommunicated, and if he
persists in his negligence and idleness, let him be deposed.
CANON LIX.
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, when any of the clergy is in want,
does not supply him with what he needs, let him be excommunicated; but if he
persists, let him be deposed, as one who has killed his brother.
CANON LX.
If any one reads publicly in the church the falsely inscribed[1] books of
impious men, as if they were holy Scripture, to the destruction of the people
and clergy, let him be deposed.
CANON LXI.
If any accusation be brought against a believer of fornication or
adultery, or any forbidden action, and he be convicted, let him not be promoted to the
clergy.
CANON LXII.
If any of the clergy, through fear of men, whether Jew, heathen, or
heretic, shall deny the name of Christ, let him be cast out. If he deny the name of a
clergyman, let him be deposed. If he repent, let him be received as a layman.
CANON LXIII.
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any one of the sacerdotal order,
shall eat flesh, with the blood of the life thereof, or anything killed by
beasts, or that dies of itself, let him be deposed. For the law has forbidden this.
If he be a layman, let him be excommunicated.
CANON LXIV.
If any clergyman or layman shall enter into a synagogue of Jews or
heretics to pray, let the former be deposed and let the latter be excommunicated.[2]
CANON LXV.
If any clergyman shall strike anyone in a contest, and kill him with one
blow, let him be deposed for his violence. If a layman do so, let him be
excommunicated.
CANON LXVI.
If any of the clergy be found fasting on the Lord's day, or on the
Sabbath,[3] excepting the one only, let him be deposed.If a layman, let him be
excommunicated.
CANON LXVII.
If anyone shall force and keep a virgin not espoused, let him be
excommunicated. And he may not take any other, but must retain her whom he has chosen,
though she be a poor person.
CANON LXVIII.
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall receive from anyone a second
ordination, let both the ordained and the ordainer be deposed; unless indeed it
be proved that he had his ordination from heretics; for those who have been
baptized or ordained by such persons cannot be either of the faithful or of the
clergy.
CANON LXIX.
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or reader, or singer, does not fast
the holy Quadragesimal fast of Easter, or the fourth day, or the day of
Preparation, let him be deposed, unless he be hindered by some bodily infirmity. If he
be a layman, let him be excommunicated.
CANON LXX.
If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any one of the list of clergy,
keeps fast or festival with the Jews, or receives from them any of the gifts of
their feasts, as unleavened bread, any such things, let him be deposed. If he be
a layman, let him be excommunicated.
CANON LXXI.
If any Christian brings oil into a temple of the heathen or into a
synagogue of the Jews at their feast, or lights lamps, let him be excommunicated.
CANON LXXII.
If any clergyman or layman takes away wax or oil from the holy Church, let
him be excommunicated, [and let him restore a fifth part more than he took.][4]
CANON LXXIII.
Let no one convert to his own use any vessel of gold or silver, or any
veil which has been sanctified, for it is contrary to law; and if anyone be
detected doing so, let him be excommunicated.
CANON LXXIV.
If any bishop has been accused of anything by men worthy of credit, he
must be summoned by the bishops; and if he appears, and confesses, or is
convicted, a suitable punishment must be inflicted upon him. But if when he is summoned
he does not attend, let him be summoned a second time, two bishops being sent
to him, for that purpose. [If even then he will not attend, let him be summoned
a third time, two bishops being again sent to him.[1]] But if even then he
shall disregard the summons and not come, let the synod pronounce such sentence
against him as appears right, that he may not seem to profit by avoiding judgment.
CANON LXXV.
An heretic is not to be received as witness against a bishop, neither only
one believer; for "in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be
established."
CANON LXXVI.
A bishop must not out of favour to a brother or a son, or any other
relation, ordain whom he will to the episcopal dignity; for it is not right to make
heirs of the bishopric, giving the things of God to human affections. Neither is
it fitting to subject the Church of God to heirs. But if anyone shall do so
let the ordination be void, and the oradainer himself be punished with
excommunication.
CANON LXXVII.
If any one be deprived of an eye, or lame of a leg, but in other respects
be worthy of a bishopric, he may be ordained, for the defect of the body does
not defile a man, but the pollution of the soul.
CANON LXXVIII.
But if a man be deaf or blind, he may not be made a bishop, not indeed as
if he were thus defiled, but that the affairs of the Church may not be hindered.
CANON LXXIX.
If anyone has a devil, let him not be made a clergyman, neither let him
pray with the faithful; but if he be freed, let him be received into communion,
and if he is worthy he may be ordained.
CANON LXXX.
It is not allowed that a man who has come over from an heathen life, and
been baptized or who has been converted from an evil course of living, should be
immediately made a bishop, for it is not right that he who has not been tried
himself should be a teacher of others. Unless indeed this be done upon a
special manifestation of Divine grace in his favour.
CANON LXXXI.
We have said that a bishop or presbyter must not give himself to the
management of public affairs, but devote himself to ecclesiastical business. Let him
then be persuaded to do so, or let him be deposed, for no man can serve two
masters, according to the Lord's declaration.
CANON LXXXII.
We do not allow any servants to be promoted to the clergy without the
consent of their masters, [to the troubling of their houses.[2]] But if any servant
should appear worthy of receiving an order,[3] as our Onesimus appeared, and
his masters agree and liberate him, and send him out of their house, he may be
ordained.
CANON LXXXIII.
If a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall serve in the army, and wish to
retain both the Roman magistracy and the priestly office, let him be deposed; for
the things of Caesar belong to Caesar, and those of God to God.
CANON LXXXIV.
Whosoever shall insult the King, or a ruler, contrary to what is right,
let him suffer punishment. If he be a clergyman, let him be deposed; if a layman,
excommunicated.
CANON LXXXV.
Let the following books be counted venerable and sacred by all of you,
both clergy and Laity. Of the Old Testament, five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; of Joshua the Son of Nun, one; of the Judges,
one; of Ruth, one; of the Kings, four; of the Chronicles of the book of the
days, two; of Ezra, two; of Esther, one; [some texts read "of Judith, one" ;] of
the Maccabees, three; of Job, one; of the Psalter, one; of Solomon, three,
viz.: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs; of the Prophets, twelve; of
Isaiah, one; of Jeremiah, one; of Ezekiel, one; of Daniel, one. But besides these
you are recommended to teach your young persons the Wisdom of the very learned
Sirach. Our own books, that is, those of the New Testament, are: the four
Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; fourteen Epistles of Paul; two Epistles
of Peter; three of John; one of James, and one of Jude. Two Epistles of Clemens,
and the Constitutions of me Clemens, addressed to you Bishops, in eight books,
Which are not to be published to all on account of the mystical things in
them. And the Acts of us the Apostles.[1]
THE LETTER OF THE BLESSED DIONYSIUS, THE ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA TO BASILIDES
THE BISHOP, WHO MADE ENQUIRIES ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, TO WHICH DIONYSIUS MADE
ANSWER IN THIS EPISTLE, WHICH ANSWERS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED AS CANONS.[2]
Dionysius to my beloved son, and brother, and fellow minister in holy
things, Basilides faithful to God, salutation in the Lord.
NOTE
Dionysius, Johnson says, wrote in about A.D. 247.
CANON I.[3]
When the Paschal fast is to be broken depends on the precise hour of our
Saviour's resurrection, and this was not certainly to be known from the Four
Evangelists; therefore they who have not fasted the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday before Easter, do no great thing if they fast the Friday and
Saturday, and so till past three on Easter morning. But they who have fasted the whole
six days, are not to be blamed if they break their fast after midnight.Some do
not fast any of these days.
CANON II.
Menstruous women ought not to come to the Holy Table, or touch the Holy of
Holies,[4] nor to churches, but pray elsewhere.
NOTE.
Balsamon notes how the canon educes the example of the woman who had had
an issue of blood for twelve years and who therefore did not dare to touch the
Lord, but only the "hem of his garment." He also notes that the question
proposed, was whether Christian women should be excluded from the church and need
follow the example of the Hebrews, who "when the menstrual flux was upon them, sat
in a solitary place by themselves and waited for seven days to pass, and their
flux should be over."The answer given is as above.
CANON III.
They that can contain and are aged ought to judge for themselves. They
have heard St. Paul say; that they should "for a time give themselves to prayer,
and then come together again."
NOTE.
In this epitome Johnson has set forth the meaning of the canon, as
understood by the Greek scholiasts, rather than translated and epitomized the canon
itself.
CANON IV.
They who have had involuntary nocturnal pollutions be at their own
discretion [whether to communicate or not].
NOTE.
The Saint ends this canon with these words: "I have given opinion on the
points about which you have consulted me, not as a doctor, but in all simplicity
as it is suitable the relation between us should be. And when you have
examined, my most leaned son, what I have written you will let me know what seems to
you better or whether you agree with my opinions. Farewell, dear son, may your
ministry be in the peace of the Lord."
II. THE CANONS OF THE BLESSED PETER, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, AND MARTYR,[1]
WHICH ARE FOUND IN HIS SERMON ON PENITENCE.
CANON I.
The fourth Easter from the beginning of the persecution was now come; and
orders, that they who did not fall till after they had endured severe torments,
and have already been "Mourners" three years, after forty days' fast, are to
be admitted to communion, although they have not been before received [to
penance].[2]
CANON II.
But if they endured imprisonment only, without torments, let a year be
added to their former penance.
CANON III.
If they fell voluntarily, without torments or imprisonments, but are come
to repentance, four years are added to their former penance.
CANON IV.
The case of them who do not repent pronounced desperate.
CANON V.
They that used evasion, and did not right down subscribe the abnegation,
or with their own hands incense the idols, but sent a heathen to do it for them,
are enjoined six months' penance, though they have been pardoned by some of
the Confessors.
CANON VI.
Slaves forced by their masters to incense idols, and doing it in their
master's stead, are enjoined a year's penance.
CANON VII.
The masters who forced them to it, are enjoined three years' penance, as
being hypocrites, and as forcing their slaves to sacrifice.
CANON VIII.
They who first fell, and afterwards recovered themselves, by professing
themselves Christians, and endured torments, are forthwith admitted to communion.
CANON IX.
That they who provoked the magistrates to persecute themselves and others
are to be blamed, yet not to be denied communion.
CANON X.
That clergymen, who run themselves into persecution, and fell, though they
did afterward recover themselves, and suffer torments, yet are not to be
admitted to perform the sacred offices.
CANON XI.
That they who prayed for them who fell after long torments, be connived
at, and we pray together with them, since they lament for what they have done,
with anguish and mortification.[3]
CANON XII.
That they who with money purchased their ease and freedom, are to be
commended.
CANON XIII.
Nor should we accuse those who ran away, and left all, though others left
behind might fare the worse for it. [4]
CANON XIV.
That they who endured tortures, and afterwards, when they were deprived of
speech and motion, had their hands forced into the fire, to offer unholy
sacrifice, be placed in the Liturgy [i.e., in the diptychs] among the Confessors.
CANON XV.
Wednesday is to be fasted, because then the Jews conspired to betray
Jesus; Friday, because he then suffered for us. We keep the Lord's Day as a day of
joy, because then our Lord rose. Our tradition is, not to kneel on that day.
III. THE CANONICAL EPISTLE OF ST. GREGORY, ARCHBISHOP OF NEOCAESAREA, WHO IS
CALLED THAUMATURGUS, CONCERNING THEM THAT, DURING THE INCURSION OF THE
BARBARIANS, ATE OF THINGS OFFERED TO IDOLS AND COMMITTED CERTAIN OTHER SINS.[1]
CANON I.
That they who have been taken captives by the barbarians, and have eaten
with them, be not treated as persons that have eaten things offered to idols;
especially because it is universally reported, that they do not sacrifice to
idols; nor shall those women who have been ravished by them, be treated as guilty
of fornication, unless they were before of lewd lives.
CANON II.
That those Christians who plundered their brethren during the invasion. be
excommunicated, lest wrath come on the people, and especially on the
presidents,[2] who enquire not into these matters.
CANONS III., IV., V.
The pretence of having found those goods, or that they themselves lost
things of equal value, shall stand them in no stead, but that they be excluded
from prayer.[3]
CANON VI.
Against those who detain them prisoners who had escaped from the
barbarians, the holy man[1] expects that such should be thunder-struck, and therefore
desires that some enquiry be made upon the spot by persons sent for this purpose.
CANON VII.
That they who joined the barbarians in their murder and ravages, or were
guides or informers to them, be not permitted to be hearers, till holy men
assembled together do agree in common upon what shall seem good, first to the Holy
Ghost, then to themselves.
CANON VIII.
But if they discover themselves, and make restitution, they shall be
admitted to be Prostrators.
CANON IX.
They that are convicted to have found (though in their own houses)
anything [of their neighbours'] left by the barbarians shall also be Prostrators; but
if they shall confess themselves they shall communicate in prayer.
CANON X.
This last privilege is restrained to such as demand nothing as a reward
for their discovery, and salvage, or under any pretence whatsoever.
CANON XI.
The station of Mourners is without the gate of the oratory; the station of
the Hearers is within the oratory, in the porch with the catechumens; the
station of Prostrators is within the door of the temple; the station of Co-slanders
is among the communicants; the last is the participation of Holy Mysteries.[5]
IV. THE EPISTLE OF ST. ATHANASIUS TO THE MONK AMMUS.[6]
(<greek>Panta</greek> <greek>men</greek> <greek>kala</greek>,
<greek>k</greek>. <greek>t</greek>. <greek>l</greek>)
(This, as Epistle XLVIII, will be found translated in Vol. IV. of the
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2d Series) p. 556 et seq.)
Involuntary nocturnal pollutions are not sinful, [I add to Johnson the
exact words of the Saint. "For what sin or uncleanness can any natural excrement
have in itself? Think of the absurdity of making a sin of the wax which comes
from the ears or of the spittle from the mouth. Moreover we might add many things
and explain how the excretions from the belly are necessary to animal life.
But if we believe that man is the work of God's hand, as we are taught in holy
Scripture, how can it be supposed necessary that we perform anything impure? And
if we are the children of God, as the holy Acts of the Apostles teaches, we
have in us nothing unclean, etc., etc."]; nor is matrimony unclean, though
virginity ["which is angelic and than which nothing can be more excellent"] is to be
preferred before it.
THE EPISTLE OF THE SAME ATHANASIUS TAKEN FROM THE XXXIX. FESTAL EPISTLE.
(Found translated in Vol. IV, of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2d
series), pp. 551 and 552.)
[Johnson's epitome is so unsatisfactory that I hate been compelled to
relegate it to a footnote and to make one in its room of my own.[*]]
As the heretics are quoting apocryphal writings, an evil which was rife
even as early as when St. Luke wrote his gospel, therefore I have thought good to
set forth clearly what books have been received by us through tradition as
belonging to the Canon, and which we believe to be divine. For there are in all
twenty-two books of the Old Testament. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy. After this comes Joshua, and Judges, and Ruth. The four books of the
Kings, counted as two. Then Chronicles, counted the two as one. Then First and
Second Esdras [i.e. Ezra and Nehemiah]. After these Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, and Cantica. To these follow Job, and the Twelve Prophets, counted as one
book. Then Isaiah, Jeremiah together with the Epistle of Baruch, the
Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
Of the New Testament these are the books [then follows the complete list
ending with "the Apocalypse of John"]. These are the fountains of salvation,
that whoso thirsteth, may be satisfied by the eloquence which is in them. In them
alone (<greek>en</greek> <greek>toutois</greek> <greek>monois</greek>) is set
forth the doctrine of piety. Let no one add to them, nor take aught therefrom.
I also add for further accuracy that there are certain other books, not
edited in the Canon, but established by the Fathers, to be read by those who have
just come to us and wish to be instructed in the doctrine of piety. The Wisdom
of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit, the Doctrine
(<greek>Didakh</greek>) of the Apostles and the Pastor. And let none of the Apocrypha
of the heretics be read among you.
THE EPISTLE OF ST ATHANASIUS TO RUFFINIAN.
<greek>Su</greek> <greek>men</greek> <greek>ta</greek> <greek>uiw</greek>,
<greek>k</greek>. <greek>t</greek>.<greek>l</greek>.
(Found translated as Epistle LV. in Vol. IV. of the Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers (2d Series) pp. 566 and 567.)
It has been determined by synods in Greece, Spain, France, that they who
have fallen, or been leaders of impiety [Arianism], be pardoned upon repentance,
but that they have not the place of the clergy; but that they who were only
drawn away by force, or that complied for fear the people should be corrupted,
have the place of the clergy too. Let the people who have been deceived, or
forced, be pardoned, upon repentance and pronouncing anathema against the miscreancy
of Eudoxius and Euzoius, ringleaders of the Arians (who assert that Christ is
a creature); and upon professing the faith of the Fathers at Nice, and that no
synod can prejudice that.
V. THE FIRST CANONICAL EPISTLE OF OUR HOLY FATHER BASIL, ARCHBISHOP OF
CAESAREA IN CAPPADOCIA TO AMPHILOCHIUS, BISHOP OF ICONIUM.[1]
(This Epistle, number ct xxxviij., is found translated in Volume VIII. of
the Second Series of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, p. 223 et seqq.)
CANON I.
As to the question concerning the Puritans the custom of every country is
to be observed, since they who have discussed this point are of various
sentiments. The [baptism] of the Pepuzenes I make no account of, and I wonder that
Dionysius the canonist was of another mind. The ancients speak of heresies, which
entirely break men off, and make them aliens from the faith. Such are the
Manichaeans, Valentinians, Marcionites and Pepuzenes, who sin against the Holy
Ghost, who baptize into the Father, Son and Montanus, or Priscilla. Schisms are
caused by ecclesiastical disputes, and for causes that are not incurable, and for
differences concerning penance. The Puritans are such schismatics. The ancients,
viz. Cyprian and Fermilian, put these, and the Encratites, and
Hydroparastatae, and Apotactites, under the same condemnation; because they have no longer the
communication of the Holy Ghost, who have broken the succession. They who
first made the departure had the spiritual gift; but by being schismatics, they
became laymen; and therefore they ordered those that were baptized by them, and
came over to the Church, to be purged by the true baptism, as those that are
baptized by laymen. Because some in Asia have otherwise determined, let [their
baptism] be allowed: but not that of the Encratites; for they have altered their
baptism, to make themselves incapable of being received by the Church. Yet custom
and the Fathers, that is bishops, who have the administration, must be
followed; for I am afraid of putting an impediment to the saved; while I would raise
fears in them concerning their baptism. We are not to allow their baptism,
because they allow ours, but strictly to observe the canons. But let none be
received without unction. When we received Zois and Saturninus to the Episcopal chair,
we made, as it were, a canon to receive those in communion with them.
CANON II.
Let her that procures abortion undergo ten years' penance, whether the
embryo were perfectly formed, or not.
CANON III
A deacon guilty of fornication, is deposed, not excommunicated; for the
ancient canon forbids a single crime to be twice punished. And further, a layman
excommunicated may be restored to the degree from which he falls, but a
clergyman deposed cannot. Yet it is better to cure men of their sins by mortification,
and to execute the canon only in cases where we cannot reach what is more
perfect.
CANON IV.
They that marry a second time, used to be under penance a year or two.
They that marry a third time, three or four years. But we have a custom, that he
who marries a third time be under penance five years, not by canon, but
tradition. Half of this time they are to be hearers, afterwards Co-standers; but to
abstain from the communion of the Good Thing, when they have shewed some fruit of
repentance.
CANON V.
Heretics, upon their death-bed, giving good signs of their conversion, to
be received.
CANON VI.
Let it not be counted a marriage, when one belonging to the canon commits
fornication, but let them be forced to part."
CANON VII.
They who have committed sodomy with men or brutes, murderers, wizards,
adulterers, and idolaters, have been thought worthy of the same punishment;
therefore observe the same method with these which you do with others. We ought not
to make any doubt of receiving those who have repented thirty years for the
uncleanness which they committed through ignorance; for their ignorance pleads
their pardon, and their willingness in confessing it; therefore command them to be
forthwith received, especially if they have tears to prevail on your
tenderness, and have [since their lapse] led such a life as to deserve your compassion.
CANON VIII.
He that kills another with a sword, or hurls an axe at his own wife and
kills her, is guilty of wilful murder; not he who throws a stone at a dog, and
undesignedly kills a man, or who corrects one with a rod, or scourge, in order to
reform him, or who kills a man in his own defence, when he only designed to
hurt him. But the man, or woman, is a murderer that gives a philtrum, if the man
that takes it die upon it; so are they who take medicines to procure abortion;
and so are they who kill on the highway, and rapparees.
CANON IX.
Our Lord is equal, to the man and woman forbidding divorce, save in case
of fornication; but custom requires women to retain their husbands, though they
be guilty of fornication. The man deserted by his wife may take another, and
though he were deserted for adultery, yet St. Basil will be positive, that the
other woman who afterward takes him is guilty of adultery; but the wife is not
allowed this liberty. And the man who deserts an innocent wife is not allowed to
marry.
CANON X.
That they who swear that they will not be ordained, be not forced to break
their oath. Severus, Bishop of Masada, who had ordained Cyriacus priest to a
country church, subject to the Bishop of Mesthia, is referred to the divine
tribunal, upon his pretending that he did it by surprise. Cyriacus had upon his
ordination, been forced, contrary to canon, to swear that he would continue in
that country church; but the Bishop of Mesthia, to whom that church properly
belonged, forced him out. St. Basil advises Amphilochius to lay the country
church to Masada, and make it subject to Severus, and to permit Cyriacus to return
to it and save his oath; and by this means he supposes that Longinus, the lord
of that country, would be prevailed upon to alter his resolution of laying that
church desolate, as he declared he would upon Cyriacus's expulsion.
CANON XI.
He that is guilty of involuntary murder, shall do eleven years'
penance--that is, if the murdered person, after he had here received the wound, do again
go abroad, and yet afterward die of the wound.
CANON XII.
The canon excludes from the ministry those who are guilty of digamy.
CANON XIII.
Our fathers did not think that killing in war was murder; yet I think it
advisable for such as have been guilty of it to forbear communion three years.
CANON XIV.
An usurer, giving his unjust gain to the poor, and renouncing his love of
money, may be admitted into the clergy.
CANONS XV. and XVI.
Not properly canons, but explications of Scripture, and therefore neither
Balsamon, nor Aristenus, regard them as canons.
THE SECOND CANONICAL EPISTLE OF THE SAME.
(This is found translated in the same volume last referred to, Epistle
cxcix., p. 236 et seqq.)
CANON XVII.
I made a canon, that they at Antioch, who had sworn not to perform the
sacred offices should not do it publicly, but in private only: As to Bianor, he is
removed from thence to Iconium, and therefore is more at liberty; but let him
repent of his rash oath which he made to an infidel for avoiding a small danger.
CANON XVIII.
That the ancients received a professed virgin that had married, as one
guilty of digamy, viz., upon one year's penance; but they ought to be dealt with
more severely than widows professing continency, and even as adulterers: But
they ought not to be admitted to profess virginity till they are above sixteen or
seventeen years of age, after trial, and at their own earnest request; whereas
relations often offer them that are under age, for their own secular ends, but
such ought not easily to be admitted.
CANON XIX.
That men, though they seem tacitly to promise celibacy, by becoming monks,
yet do it not expressly; yet I think fit that they be interrogated too, and
that a profession should be demanded of them, that if they betake themselves to a
carnal life, they may be punished as fornicators.
CANON XX.
Women professing virginity, though they did marry while they were
heretics, or catechumens, yet are pardoned by baptism. What is done by persons in the
state of catechumens, is never laid to their charge.
CANON XXI.
A married man committing lewdness with a single woman, is severely
punished as guilty of fornication, but we have no canon to treat such a man as an
adulterer; but the wife must co-habit with such a one: But if the wife be lewd, she
is divorced, and he that retains her is [thought] impious; such is the custom,
but the reason of it does not appear.
CANON XXII.
That they who have stolen virgins, and will not restore them, be treated
as fornicators; that they be one year mourners, the second hearers, the third
received to repentance and the fourth be co-standers, and then admitted to
communion of the Good Thing. If the virgins be restored to those who had espoused
them, it is at their discretion to marry them, or not; if to their guardians, it
is at their discretion to give them in marriage to the raptors, or not.
CANON XXIII.
That a man ought not to marry two sisters, nor a woman two brothers: That
he who marries his brother's wife, be not admitted till he dismiss her.
CANON XXIV.
A widow put into the catalogue of widows, that is, a deaconess being sixty
years old, and marrying, is not to be admitted to communion of the Good Thing,
till she cease from her uncleanness; but to a widower that marries no penance
is appointed, but that of digamy. If the widow be less than sixty, it is the
bishop's fault who admitted her deaconess, not the woman's.
CANON XXV.
He that marries a woman that he has corrupted, shall be under penance for
corrupting her, but may retain her for his wife.
CANON XXVI.
Fornication is neither marriage, nor the beginning of marriage. If it may
be, it is better that they who have committed fornication together be parted;
but if they be passionate lovers, let them not separate, for fear of what is
worse.
CANON XXVII.
As for the priest that is engaged, through ignorance, in an unlawful
marriage, I have decreed, that he retain the honour of the chair; but forbear all
sacred operations, and not give the blessing either in private, or public, nor
distribute the Body of Christ to another, nor perform any liturgy; but let him
bewail himself to the Lord, and to men, that his sin of ignorance may be pardoned.
CANON XXVIII.
That it is ridiculous to vow not to eat swine's flesh, and to abstain from
it is not necessary.
CANON XXIX.
That princes ought not to swear to wrong their subjects: that such rash
oaths ought to be repented of, and evil not to be justified under pretence of
religion.
CANON XXX.
That they who steal women, and their accomplices, be not admitted to
prayers, or be co-standers for three years. Where no violence is used, there no
crime is committed, except there be lewdness in the case. A widow is at her own
discretion. We must not mind vain pretences.
CANON XXXI.
She, whose husband is absent from home, if she co-habits with another man,
before she is persuaded of his death, commits adultery.
CANON XXXII.
The clergyman who is deposed for mortal sin, shall not be excommunicated.
CANON XXXIII.
That a woman being delivered of a child in a journey, and taking no care
of it, shall be reputed guilty of murder.
CANON XXXIV.
That the crime of women under penance for adultery, upon their own
confession, or otherwise convicted, be not published, lest it occasion their death;
but that they remain out of communion the appointed time.
CANON XXXV.
If a woman leave her husband, and if it do upon inquiry appear, that she
did it without reason, she deserves to be punished; but let him continue in
communion.
CANON XXXVI.
A soldier's wife marrying after the long absence of her husband, but
before she is certified of his death, is more pardonable than another woman, because
it is more credible that he may be dead.
CANON XXXVII.
That he, who having another man's wife or spouse taken away from him,
marries another, is guilty of adultery with the first, not with the second.
CANON XXXVIII.
If a woman run after him that has corrupted her, she shall be under
penance three years, though the parents be reconciled to her.
CANON XXXIX.
She, who continues to live with an adulterer, is all that time an
adulteress.
CANON XL.
She that [being a slave] gives herself up to the will of a man, without
the consent of her master, commits fornication; for pacts of those who are under
the power of others are null.
CANON XLI.
A widow being at her own discretion, may marry to whom she will.
CANON XLII.
Slaves marrying without the consent of their masters, or children without
consent of their fathers, it is not matrimony but fornication, till they ratify
it by consenting.
CANON XLIII.
That he who gives a mortal wound to another is a murderer, whether he were
the first, aggressor, or did it in his own defence.
CANON XLIV.
The deaconess that has committed lewdness with a pagan is not to be
received to communion, but shall be admitted to the oblation, in the seventh
year--that is, if she live in chastity. The pagan, who after [he has professed] the
faith, betakes himself again to sacrilege, returns [like the dog] to his vomit: we
therefore do not permit the sacred body of a deaconess to be carnally used.
CANON XLV.
He that assumes the name of a Christian, but reproaches Christ, shall have
no advantage from his name.
CANON XLVI.
She that marries a man who was deserted for a while by his wife, but is
afterward dismissed upon the return of the man's former wife, commits
fornication, but ignorantly: she shall not be prohibited marriage, but it is better that
she do not marry.
CANON XLVII.
Encratites, Saccophorians, and Apotactites, are in the same case with the
Novatians. We re-baptize them all. There is a diversity in the canons relating
to the Novatians, no canon concerning the other. If it be forbid with you, as
it is at Rome for prudential causes, yet let reason prevail. They are a branch
of the Marcionists; and though they baptize in the name of the three divine
Persons, yet they make God the author of evil, and assert, that wine and the
creatures of God, are defiled. The bishops ought to meet, and so to explain the
canon, that he who does [baptize such heretics] may be out of danger, and that one
may have a positive answer to give to those that ask it.
CANON XLVIII.
A woman dismissed from her husband, ought to remain unmarried, in my
judgment.
CANON XLIX.
If a slave be forced by her master, she is innocent.
CANON L.
We look on third marriages as disgraceful to the Church, but do not
absolutely condemn them, as being better than a vague fornication.
THE THIRD EPISTLE OF THE SAME TO THE SAME.
(Found in lib. cit., p. 255, et seqq.Epistle ccxvij.)
CANON LI.
That one punishment be inflicted on lapsing clergymen, viz.: deposition,
whether they be in dignity, or in, the ministry which is given without
imposition of hands.
CANON LII.
A woman delivered in the road, and neglecting her child, is guilty of
murder, unless she was under necessity by reason of the solitude of the place, and
the want of necessaries.
CANON LIII.
A widow slave desiring to be married a second time, has, perhaps, been
guilty of no great crime in pretending that she was ravished; not her pretence,
but voluntary choice is to be condemned; but it is clear, that the punishment of
digamy is due to her.
CANON LIV.
That it is in the bishop's power to increase or lessen penance for
involuntary murder.
CANON LV.
They that are not ecclesiastics setting upon highwaymen, are repelled from
the communion of the Good Thing; clergymen are deposed.
CANON LVI.
He that wilfully commits murder, and afterwards repents, shall for twenty
years remain without communicating of the Holy Sacrament. Four years he must
mourn without the door of the oratory, and beg of the communicants that go in,
that prayer be offered for him; then for five years he shall be admitted among
the hearers, for seven years among the prostrators; for four years he shall be a
co-stander with the communicants, but shall not partake of the oblation; when
these years are completed, he shall partake of the Holy Sacrament.
CANON LVII.
The involuntary murderer for two years shall be a mourner, for three years
a hearer, four years a prostrator, one year a co-stander, and then communicate.
CANON LVIII.
The adulterer shall be four years a mourner, five a hearer, four a
prostrator, two a co-stander.
CANON LIX.
The fornicator shall be a mourner two years, two a hearer, two a
prostrator, one a co-stander.
CANON LX.
Professed virgins and monks, if they fall from their profession, shall
undergo the penance of adulterers.
CANON LXI.
The thief, if he discover himself, shall do one year's penance; if he be
discovered [by others] two; half the time he shall be a prostrator, the other
half a co-stander.
CANON LXII.
He that abuses himself with mankind, shall do the penance of an adulterer.
CANON LXIII.
And so shall he who abuses himself with beasts, if they voluntarily
confess it.
CANON LXIV.
The perjured person shall be a mourner two years, a hearer three, a
prostrator four, a co-stander one.
CANON LXV.
He that confesses conjuration, or pharmacy, shall do penance as long as a
murderer.
CANON LXVI.
He that digs the dead out of their graves, shall be a mourner two years, a
hearer three years, a prostrator four years, a co-stander one year.
CANON LXVII.
Incest with a sister is punished as murder.
CANON LXVIII.
All incestuous conjunction, as adultery.
CANON LXIX.
A reader or minister lying with a woman he has only espoused, shall cease
from his function one year; but if he have not espoused her, he shall [wholly]
cease from his ministry.
CANON LXX.
The priest or deacon that is polluted in lips, shall be made to cease from
his function, but shall communicate with the priests or deacons. He that does
more shall be deposed.
CANON LXXI.
He that is convicted to have been conscious to any of these crimes, but
not discovered it, shall be treated as the principal.
CANON LXXII.
He that gives himself to divination, shall be treated as a murderer.
CANON LXXIII.
He that denied Christ, is to be communicated at the hour of death, if he
confess it, and be a mourner till that time.
CANON LXXIV.
[The bishop] that has the power of binding and loosing, may lessen the
time of penance, to an earnest penitent.
CANON LXXV.
He that commits incest with a half-sister, shall be a mourner three years,
a hearer three years, a co-stander two years.
CANON LXXVI.
And so shall he be who takes in marriage his son's wife.
CANON LXXVII.
He that divorces his wife, and marries another, is an adulterer; and
according to the canons of the Fathers, he shall be a mourner one year, a hearer two
years, a prostrator three years, a co-stander one year, if they repent with
tears.
CANON LXXVIII.
So shall he who successively marries two sisters.
CANON LXXIX.
So shall he who madly loves his mother-in-law, or sister.
CANON LXXX.
The Fathers say nothing of polygamy as being beastly, and a thing
unagreeable to human nature. To us it appears a greater: sin than fornication: Let
therefore such [as are guilty of it] be liable to the canons, viz.: after they
have been mourners one year--let them be prostrators three years--and then be
received,
CANON LXXXI.
They who in the invasion of the barbarians have after long torments, eaten
of magical things offered to idols, and have sworn heathen oaths, let them not
be received for three years; for two years let them be hearers, for three
years prostrators, so let them be received; but they who did it without force, let
them be ejected three years, be hearers two years, prostrators three years,
co-standers three years, so let them be admitted to communion.
CANON LXXXII.
They who by force have been driven to perjury, let them be admitted after
six years; but if without force, let them be mourners two years, hearers two
years, the fifth year prostrators, two years co-standers.
CANON LXXXIII.
They that follow heathenish customs, or bring men into their houses for
the contriving pharmacies, or repelling them, shall be one year mourners, one
year hearers, three years prostrators, one year co-standers.
CANON LXXXIV.
We do not judge altogether by the length of time, but by the circumstances
of the penance. If any will not be drawn from their carnal pleasures, and
choose to serve them rather than the Lord, we have no communication with them.
CANON LXXXV.
Let us take care that we do not perish with them; let us warn them by
night and day, that we may deliver them out of the snare or however save ourselves
from their condemnation.
FROM AN EPISTLE OF THE SAME TO THE BLESSED AMPHILOCHIUS ON THE DIFFERENCE OF
MEATS.
(Found translated in lib. cit., p. 287, part of Epistle ccxxxvj.)
CANON LXXXVI.
Against the Encratites, who would not eat flesh.
OF THE SAME TO DIODORUS BISHOP OF TARSUS, CONCERNING A MAN WHO HAD TAKEN TWO
SISTERS TO WIFE.
(Fouled translated in lib. cit., p. 212 et seqq. Epistle clx.)
CANON LXXXVII.
Contains the preface of his letter to Diodorus Bishop of Tarsus, in which
he tells him of a letter shewed him in justification of a man's marrying two
sisters bearing his name; but he hopes it was forged.
CANON LXXXVIII.
Contains the rest of the letter, in which he argues and inveighs against
this practice.
OF THE SAME TO GREGORY A PRESBYTER, THAT HE SHOULD SEPARATE FROM A WOMAN WHO
DWELT WITH HIM.
CANON LXXXIX.
A letter to Gregory, an unmarried priest, charging him to dismiss a woman
whom he kept, though he was 70 years of age, and declared himself free from all
amorous affections; and St. Basil would seem to believe him in this
particular; but cites the III. canon of Nice against this practice, bids him avoid
scandal, place the woman in a monastery, and be attended by men: he threatens him
that if he does not comply, he shall die suspended from his office, and give
account to God: that he shall be an anathema to all the people, and they who receive
him [to communion] be excommunicated.
OF THE SAME TO THE CHOREPISCOPI, THAT NO ORDINATIONS SHOULD BE MADE CONTRARY
TO THE CANONS.
(Found translated in Vol. VIII. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, p. 157.
Epistle liv.)
CANON XC.
A letter to his Village-bishop:(1) he complains of the want of discipline
of the multiplying of the clergy, and that without due examination and enquiry
into their morals; that they had dropped the old custom, which was for the
priests and deacons to recommend to the Village Bishop, who taking the
testimonial, and giving notice of it to the [City] Bishop, did afterwards admit the
minister into the sacerdotal list; that the number of the inferior clergy was
unreasonably increased, especially in time of war, when men got into orders to avoid
the press: he orders a list of the clergy in every village to be sent to him,
and who admitted him, if any have been admitted into the inferior orders by
priests, that they be looked on as laymen. Let not who will, put his name into the
list. Re-examine those who are there, expel the unworthy, admit none without my
consent for the future; if you do he shall be counted a layman.
OF THE SAME TO HIS SUFFRAGANS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT ORDAIN FOR MONEY.
(Found translated in lib. cit., pp. 156 and 157. Epistle liii.)
CANON XCI.
One letter to the bishop subject to him, wherein he prohibits to take
money for orders, and to bring merchandize into the church, which is entrusted with
the Body, and Blood of Christ; they had their pay after the ordination was
performed; this he calls an artifice, and declares, that he who is guilty of it
shall depart from the altar in his country, and go buy and sell the gift of God
where he can.
FROM CHAPTER XVII. OF THE BOOK ST. BASIL WROTE TO BLESSED AMPHILOCHIUS ON THE
HOLY GHOST.
(Found translated in lib. cit., p. 40 et seqq.)
CANON XCII.
He speaks of the written doctrine, and the unwritten tradition of the
Apostles, and says, that both have the same efficacy as to religion. The unwritten
traditions which he mentions, are the signing those who hope in Christ with the
Cross; praying toward the East, to denote, that we are in quest of Eden, that
garden in the East from whence our first parents were ejected (as he afterwards
explains it), the words of invocation at the consecration of the Bread of
Eucharist, and the cup of eulogy; the benediction of the baptismal water, the
chrism and of the baptized person; the trine immersion, and the renunciations made
at baptism; all which the Fathers concealed from those who were not initiated.
He says the dogmata were always kept secret, the Kerugmata published; he adds
the tradition of standing at prayer on the first day of the week, and the whole
Pentecost (that is, from Easter to Whitsunday), not only to denote our rising
with Christ, but as a prefiguration of our expecting an eternal perfect day, for
the enjoyment of which we erect ourselves; and lastly, the profession of our
faith in Father, Son and Holy Ghost at baptism.
CANON XCIII.
He asserts the Doxology [in these words] "with the Holy Spirit," to be an
unwritten, Apostolic tradition. For this is a dogma full of authority,
venerable for its antiquity.
FROM THE LETTER OF BASIL THE GREAT TO THE NICOPOLITANS.
There is also in Tilius and Bishop Beveridge here(1) inserted an epistle
of St. Basil the Great to the Nicopolitans, comforting them under the loss of
their church or oratory, and telling them, that they ought not to be concerned
that they worship God in the open air, for that the eleven Apostles worshipped
God in an upper room, where they were cooped up, while they that crucified Jesus
performed their worship in a most famous Temple.
VI. THE CANONICAL EPISTLE OF ST. GREGORY, BISHOP OF NYSSA, TO ST. LETOIUS,
BISHOP OF MELITENE.(2)
CANON I.
At Easter not only they who are transformed by the grace of the layer,
i.e. baptism, but they who are penitents and converts, are to be brought to God,
i.e. to the Communion: for Easter is that Catholic feast in which there is a
resurrection from the fall of sin.
CANON II.
They who lapse without any force, so as to deny Christ, or do by choice
turn Jews, idolaters, or Manichees, or infidels of any sort, not to be admitted
to communion till the hour of death; and if they chance to recover beyond
expectation, to return to their penance. But they who were forced by torments, to do
the penance of fornication.
CANON III.
If they who run to conjurers or diviners, do it through unbelief, they
shall be treated as they who wilfully lapse, but if through want of sense, and
through a vain hope of being relieved under their necessities, they shall be
treated as those who lapse through the violence of torment.
CANON IV.
That fornicators be three years wholly ejected from prayer, three years
hearers, three years prostrators, and then admitted to communion; but the time of
heating and prostrating may be lessened to them who of their own accord
confess, and are earnest penitents. That this time be doubled in case of adultery,
and unlawful lusts, but discretion to be used.
CANON V.
Voluntary murderers shall be nine years ejected out of the church, nine
years hearers, nine years prostrators; but every one of these nine years may be
reduced to seven or six, or even five, if the penitents be very diligent.
Involuntary murderers to be treated as fornicators, but still with discretion, and
allowing the communion on a death-bed, but on condition, that they return to
penance if they survive.
CANON VI.
That the Fathers have been too gentle toward the idolatry of covetous
persons, in condemning to penance only robbery, digging of graves, and sacrilege,
whereas usury and oppression, though under colour of contract, are forbidden by
Scripture. That highwaymen returning to the Church, be treated as murderers.
They that pilfer, and then confess their sin to the priest, are only obliged to
amendment, and to be liberal to the poor; and if they have nothing, to labour
and give their earnings.
CANON VII.
They who dig into graves, and rake into the ashes and bones of the dead,
in order to find some valuable flying buffed together with the corpse, (not they
who only take some stones belonging to a sepulchre, in order to use them in
building) to do the penance of fornicators.
CANON VIII.
He observes that by the law of Moses, sacrilege was punished as murder,
and that the guilty person was stoned to death, and thinks the Fathers too
gentle, in imposing a shorter penance on sacrilege than adultery.
VII. FROM THE METRE POEMS OF ST. GREGORY THEOLOGUS, SPECIFYING WHICH BOOKS OF
THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT SHOULD BE READ.(1)
Let not other books seduce your mind: for many malignant writings have
been disseminated. The historical books are twelve in number by the Hebrew count,
[then follow the names of the books of the Old Testament but Esther is omitted,
one Esdras, and all the Deutero-Canonical books]. Thus there are twenty-two
books of the Old Testament which correspond to the Hebrew letters. The number of
the books of the New Mystery are Matthew, who wrote the Miracles of Christ for
the Hebrews; Mark for Italy; Luke, for Greece; John, the enterer of heaven,(2)
was a preacher to all, then the Acts, the xiv. Epistles of Paul, the vii.
Catholic Epistles, and so you have all the books. If there is any beside these, do
not repute it genuine.
VIII. FROM THE IAMBICS OF ST. AMPHILOCHIUS THE BISHOP TO SELEUCUS, ON THE SAME
SUBJECT.(3)
We should know that not every book which is called Scripture is to be
received as a safe guide. For some are tolerably sound and others are more than
doubtful. Therefore the books which the inspiration of God hath given I will
enumerate. [Then follows a list of the proto-canonical books of the Old Testament,
Esther alone being omitted. All the, deutero-canonical books are omitted. He
then continues] to these some add Esther. I must now show what are the books of
the New Testament. [Then follow all the books of the New Testament except the
Revelation. He continues,] But some add to these the Revelation of John, but by
far the majority say that it is spurious. This is the most true canon of the
divinely given Scriptures.
NOTE.
We have thus four [five if we accept the Laodicean list as genuine,]
different canons of Holy Scripture, all having the approval of the Council in Trullo
and of the Seventh Ecumenical. From this there seems but one conclusion
possible, viz.: that the approval given was not specific but general.
IX. THE CANONICAL ANSWERS OF TIMOTHY, THE MOST HOLY BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, WHO
WAS ONE OF THE CL FATHERS GATHERED TOGETHER AT CONSTANTINOPLE, TO THE QUESTIONS
PROPOSED TO HIM CONCERNING BISHOPS AND CLERICS.(4)
QUESTION I.
If a lad of seven years old, or a man, being a catechumen, being present
at the oblation, does eat of it through ignorance, what shall be done in this
case?
Answer. Let him be illuminated, i.e. baptized, for he is called by God.
QUESTION II.
If baptism be desired for a catechumen that is possessed, what shall be
done?
Answer. Let him be baptized at the hour of death, not otherwise.I
QUESTION III.
Ought a communicant to communicate, if he be possessed?
Answer. If he do not expose or blaspheme the Mysteries, let him communicate not
always, but at certain times.
QUESTION IV.
If a catechumen be sick, and in a frenzy, so that he cannot make
profession of his faith, can he be baptized, at the entreaty of his friends?
Answer. He may, if he be not possessed.
QUESTION V.
Can a man or woman communicate after performing the conjugal act over
night?
Answer. No. 1 Cor. vii. 5.
QUESTION VI.
The day appointed for the baptism of a woman; on that day it happened that
the custom of women was upon her; ought she then to be baptized?
Answer. No, not till she be clean.
QUESTION VII.
Can a menstruous woman communicate?
Answer. Not until she be clean.
QUESTION VIII.
Ought a woman in child-bed to keep the Paschal fast?
Answer. No.
QUESTION IX.
Ought a clergyman to perform the oblation, or pray, while an Arian or
heretic is present?
Answer. As to the divine oblation, the deacon, after the kiss, makes a proclamation,
"Let all that are not Communicants walk off;" therefore such persons ought not
to be present, except they promise to repent, and renounce their heresy.
QUESTION X.
Is a sick man obliged to keep the Paschal fast?
Answer. No.
QUESTION XI.
If a clergyman be called to celebrate a marriage, and have heard that it
is incestuous; ought he to comply, and perform the oblation?
Answer. No; he must not be partaker of other men's sins.
QUESTION XII.
If a layman ask a clergyman whether he may communicate after a nocturnal
pollution?
Answer. If it proceed from the desire of a woman, he ought not: but if it be a
temptation from Satan, he ought; for the tempter will ply him when he is to
communicate.
QUESTION XIII.
When are man and wife to forbear the conjugal act?
Answer. On Saturday, and the Lord's day; for on those days the spiritual sacrifice is
offered.
QUESTION XIV.
Shall there be an oblation for him, who being distracted, murders himself?
Answer. Not except the case be very clear that he was distracted.
QUESTION XV.
If one's wife be possessed to such a degree, as that she be bound with
irons, and the man cannot contain, may he marry another?
Answer. I can only say it would be adultery so to do.
QUESTION XVI.
If a man in washing or bathing, swallow a drop of water, may he
communicate after it?
Answer. If Satan find an occasion of hindering us from the communion, he will the
oftener do it.
QUESTION XVII.
Are they, who hear the Word, and do it not, damned?
Answer. If we neither do it, or repent that we have not done it.
QUESTION XVIII.
At what age are sins imputed to us by God?
Answer. According to every one's capacity and understanding; to one at ten, to
another when older.
X. THE PROSPHONESUS OF THEOPHILUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, WHEN THE HOLY
EPIPHANIES HAPPENED TO FALL ON A SUNDAY.(1)
CANON I.
Because the fast of Epiphany chances to fall on a Lord's day, let us take
a few dates, and so break our fast, and honour the Lord's day, and shew our
dislike of heresy, and yet not wholly neglect the fast which should be observed on
this day; eating no more till our evening assembly at three afternoon.
THE COMMONITORY OF THE SAME WHICH AMMON RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT OF LYCUS.
CANON II.
Let [the priests] who have communicated with the Arians, be retained or
rejected, as the custom of every church is; but so, that other orthodox [priests]
be ordained, though the others continue. As the orthodox bishops did in
Thebais, so let it be in other cities. They who were ordained by Bishop Apollo, and
afterwards communicated with the Arians, if they did it of their own accord, let
them be censured; but if they only did it in obedience to the bishop, let them
be continued; but if all the people abdicate them, others must be ordained.
And if Bistus the priest be found to have committed uncleanness with a woman
dismissed from her husband, let him not be permitted to be a priest. But this is no
prejudice to the bishop who ordained him, if he did it ignorantly; since the
Holy Synod commands unworthy men to be ejected, though they be not convicted
until after ordination.
CANON III.
Let Bishop Apollo's sentence against his priest Sur prevail, though he has
the liberty of being further heard.
CANON IV.
If Panuph the deacon married his brother's daughter before baptism, let
him continue among the clergy, if she be dead, and he had not to do with her
after his baptism; but if he married her, and cohabited with her while he was a
communicant, let him be ejected from the clergy, without prejudice to the bishop
who ordained him, if he did it ignorantly.
CANON V.
If it do evidently appear, that Jacob, while he was reader, did commit
fornication, and was ejected by the priests (<greek>presbuterwn</greek>), and yet
afterwards ordained, let him be ejected, and not otherwise.
CANON VI.
That all in holy orders unanimously choose those who are to be ordained,
and then the bishop examine [them]; or that the bishop ordain them in the midst
of the church, all that are in holy orders consenting, and the bishop with a
loud voice asking the people, who are then to be present, whether they can give
their testimony [to the parties to be ordained]; and that ordination be not
performed in private; if there be in the remote country, who while they were
communicants [with the Arians] communicated in their opinions, let them not be
ordained until they be examined by orthodox clergymen, in the presence of the bishop,
who is to charge the people, that there be no running up and down in the
middle of the church, or service.
CANON VII.
Let the clergymen distribute all that is offered by way of sacrifice,
after so much as was necessary has been consumed in the Mysteries. Let not the
catechumens taste of them, but clergymen and communicants only. (1)
CANON VIII.
One, Hierax, had delated a clergyman as guilty of fornication. Bishop
Apollo defended him. Theophilus orders the matter to be examined.
CANON IX.
That an OEconomus he created, by the consent of all that are in Holy
Orders, with the concurrence of Bishop Apollo, that so the goods of the Church be
expended as they ought.
CANON X.
That the widows, poor, and travellers be not disturbed; and that no one
make a property of the goods of the Church.
OF THE SAME TO AGATHO THE BISHOP.
Whereas Maximus has for ten years lived in unlawful marriage, but pretends
that it was through ignorance, and that they are now parted by mutual consent,
let them stand among the catechumens, if it appear that they be in earnest.
OF THE SAME TO MENAS THE BISHOP.
Theophilus was informed, that the priest in Geminus, a village, had
repelled Kyradium (a woman) from the communion: Theophilus approves of it, because
she had done wrong, and was unwilling to make satisfaction; but orders her to be
admitted to communion upon repentance.
THE NARRATIVE OF THE SAME CONCERNING THOSE CALLED CATHARI.
Because the great synod held at Nice has decreed, That [the clergymen] who
come over to the Church from the Novatians be ordained; do you ordain those
that come over, if their life be upright, and there be no objection.
XI. THE CANONICAL EPISTLE OF OUR HOLY FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS, CYRIL,
ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, ON THE HYMNS.(1)
CYRIL TO DOMNUS.
This letter contains a complaint of one, Peter, deposed from his See, yet
retaining the character of a bishop, who thought his cause good, but complains
that he had not time and opportunity given him for his defence; and that
whatever he had, was taken away from him. He desires Domnus, who was a Metropolitan,
that he would call a synod, and let him have a hearing; and that such bishops
as Peter suspected of prejudice against him should not be permitted to be his
judges. He thinks it very hard, that not only what belonged to the Church, but
every thing else was taken from him; and complains that all bishops were called
to account for every thing they received, whether from the Church, or by any
other means. Peter had indeed signed an instrument of resignation; but Cyril says,
that he was terrified into it; and that he would have no such resignation be
of force except he that made it deserved deposition.
OF THE SAME TO THE BISHOPS OF LIBYA AND PENTAPOLIS.
There is another Epistle of the same father, complaining to the bishops of
Libya and Pentapolis. That some who had been refused ordination by their own
bishop, or east out of the monasteries for their irregularity, were ordained by
a surprise upon some other bishop, and that just as they came from their
bride-bed, and then went and performed the oblation, or any other office, in the
monasteries from which they had been ejected, which gave great offence. He charges
the bishops to take care of this for the future and, if any were to be
ordained, to enquire into their lives, and whether they are married, and when, and how;
and orders, that catechumens, who had been separated for lapsing, be baptized
at the hour of death.
XII.(2) THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF GENNADIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND OF
THE HOLY SYNOD MET WITH HIM TO ALL THE HOLY METROPOLITANS AND TO THE POPE OF
THE CITY OF ROME.(3)
To the most beloved of God, fellow-minister, Gennadius and the most holy
synod assembled in the royal city which is New Rome, sendeth greeting.
As our Lord without money and without price ordained his Apostles, so
should we ordain the clergy, for the Lord has placed us in their grade and in their
stead (<greek>eis</greek> <greek>ton</greek> <greek>ekeinwn</greek>
<greek>baqhon</greek> <greek>te</greek> <greek>kai</greek> <greek>topon</greek>). Nor
should we use any ingenious sophisms to avoid this plain duty, explicitly laid
upon us, not only by the words of the Gospel but also by a canon of the great
Ecumenical Synod of Chalcedon.