CHURCH CANONS 5
THE 30 CANONS OF THE HOLY AND ECUMENICAL FOURTH COUNCIL
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CANON I
We pronounce it just and right that the Canons
promulgated by the Holy Fathers, in each and every
Council down to the present time, continue in full force
and effect.
CANON II
If any Bishop ordain anyone for money, and make
merchandise of the unvendible grace, and perform the
ordination of a Bishop, Chorepiscopus, Presbyter, Deacon,
or any one on the roll of the Clergy, with a view to
gain; or nominate any Steward, Ecdicus, 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 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 III
It is come to the (knowledge of the) Council 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 Council 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
the 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
(or penances).
CANON IV
Let them 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
whereunto 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 prover provision for monasteries.
CANON V
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 VI
It is decreed that no one shall be ordained at large
either a Presbyter 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
Council has determined that any such chirothesy shall be
null and void, and that such ordinees shall not be
allowed to officiate anywhere, to the dishonor of the
ordainer.
CANON VII
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 VIII
As for the Clergymen attached to poorhouses or
monasteries or rnartyries 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 IX
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 X
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 Council, this
holy Council has decided that he shall forfeit his own
rank.
CANON XI
As for all those who are indigent and in need of
assistance, upon proof, me 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 XII
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 Council 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 XIII
Strange Clergymen and Anagnosts are not to be allowed to
conduct services anywhere in a different city without
having letters recommendatory from their own Bishop.
CANON XIV
Inasmuch as Anagnosts and Psalts in some provinces have
been permitted to marry, the holy Council 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
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 Greek, 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
Council, let him be liable to a Canonical penalty.
CANON XV
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 chirothesy 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 XVI
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 therefrom. 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 XVII
As touching 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 XVIII
The crime of conspiracy, or of faction (i.e., of factious
partisanship), already prohibited by secular laws, ought
still more to be forbidden to obtain in the Church of
God. If, therefore, there be found any Clergymen, or
Monastics, to be conspiring or to he engaged in
factiousness of any kind, or hatching plots against
Bishops or Fellow Clergymen, they shall forfeit their own
rank altogether.
CANON XIX
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 Council, 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 XX
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 XXI
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 h as
been examined into.
CANON XXII
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 shorn of their own
offices.
CANON XXIII
It has come to the ears of the holy Council 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 the
ecclesiastical situation, and engender upheavals in the
households of some persons. Hence the holy Council has
decreed that they first be reminded, through the Defensor
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 XXIV
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
penances provided by the Canons.
CANON XXV
Whereas some Metropolitans, as we have been informed,
neglect the flocks committed to their care, and postpone
the ordinations of Bishops, the holy Council has decreed
that they must perform ordinations within three months.
unless some unavoidable necessity require the time to be
lengthened. If they fails to carry out this rule, they
shall be liable to ecclesiastical penances; and the means
profits of the widow church shall be preserved to be
retained by the Steward (or Oeconomus) of the same
church.
CANON XXVI
Since in some churches, as we have been informed, the
Bishops are administering the ecclesiastical affairs with
the services of a Steward, 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 XXVII
The holy Council 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 Iaymen they shall be anathematized.
CANON XXVIII
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 XXIX
For a Bishop to bear the rank of Presbyter is sacrilege.
If, however, any just reason determines their removal
from practice as Bishops, then neither ought they to oc
cupy the position of Presbyter. 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 XXX
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.
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